Chez Belaire

A month or two ago, hubby won an award at work for being kick-ass. Part of the award was dinner at a nice restaurant with other coworkers who kick ass. Sadly, that dinner has been postponed FOUR times now, the most recent being Monday. I decided it was about damn time my man had himself dinner at a nice restaurant, so I made one.. Chez Belaire, open 1 night with a very limited menu. I tried these mushroom-potato muffin appetizers and had some ready when he got home. Dinner consisted of steaks (marinated in Stubbs Beef Marinade.. sooo good) and brussels sprouts. For dessert, I made a raspberry angel food cake.


The recipe, as is, makes 48 mini-muffins. This is quite a few for just two people; adjust the recipe accordingly. Here's the recipe as I did it.. I apologize to the creator because I am not vegan, so it follows that my version won't be either.

Mushroom Potato Mini Muffins :
5 cups potatoes - about 6 medium potatoes, mashed
2 cups chopped mushrooms - I just used one of the packs of portabello mushrooms from Target
4 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
3/4 cup flour
4 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Okay. Obviously, you're first going to have to boil and mash the potatoes. Add 2 tbsp butter to the potatoes. Put into a large bowl.
Saute mushrooms and onions in 2 tbsp butter. Let them cook down a bit. (At this point, I would season the mushrooms and onions with salt and perhaps Chachere's. I would also add minced garlic to the saute mix - it's much better than adding garlic powder at the end.)
Add the mushrooms and onion mix as well as the rest of the ingredients to the mashed potatoes. Mix well.
Spoon the mixture into a greased mini muffin pan. They won't rise, so you don't need to follow the whole 2/3 of the cup full rule. Keep in mind that how they look at this point is how they'll look baked, except a bit more golden.
Bake for 40 minutes or until golden

Hubby and I both enjoyed these. We love potatoes, and we love mushrooms; it's the perfect marriage. They could have used a bit more seasoning, as I mentioned above; the stark potato flavor dominated; perhaps my potato-mushroom ratio was off. Hubby suggested adding bacon, as he is, well, himself. I can see that working. As stated at the original recipe, you could try basically any veggie in these.

Side note: these could also be tasty dipped in a light sauce, perhaps something sour cream based. Hubby dipped some of his in ranch, but he'll dip anything he can in ranch. They're good by themselves and easy to make; if we ever throw a party, these will probably be in circulation.

P.S. Amanda liked them, too! I always appreciate her seal of approval.



We'll skip over the steak and brussels sprouts (which you've heard plenty about) and go straight to dessert. I used a recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook my momma gave me recently. My grandmother has given her a few of their cookbooks over the years, and I've always lusted after them. Finally, I have my own!


So, I didn't have a tube pan and used a bundt pan instead. That, along with the raspberries, made the cake not entirely pretty when it came out of the pan. {sigh} Oh well.

Raspberry Angel Food Cake:
1-1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 eggs)
1 cup flour
1-1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tbsps
1-1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
the recipe calls for 2 cups raspberries. I would advise NO raspberries. I'll explain later.

After separating the egg whites, let them sit at room temp for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, thoroughly combine the cup of flour and 2 tbsps of sugar. The recipe says to sift; I say, if you mix well enough, you don't need to. Just do a damn fine job.
In a LARGE bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, extracts, and salt. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Next, add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in 2 tbsp increments. Beat on high until stiff peaks form and the sugar is dissolved. If stiff peaks have formed, you should be fine. This will take a while, but it is well worth it. Next, fold the flour mixture in a fourth at a time. This will be difficult if your bowl isn't sufficiently large. Mine was not.
*If you want to add the raspberries, fold them in at this point.
Gently spoon the mixture into an "ungreased 10-in tube pan." I put that in quote marks because I disagree with a part of that. Lightly grease the pan. Cut through the batter with a knife.
Bake at 375F on the lowest rack in the oven for 30-35 minutes. If your oven is like mine, I would start checking the cake after 20-25 minutes. The cake is done if it springs back when touched and the cracks look dry.
Invert the cake, using a bottom or funnel or something. Let it cool completely, then run a knife around the edges to release. Invert onto serving dish.

I wish I had not baked the raspberries in the cake; instead, I should have made a light sauce. As the raspberries cook, they release liquid which kind of screws with the surrounding cake. Soggy areas occurred. It didn't taste wrong, but the sogginess was unappealing. So no more fruit in angel food cakes.

P.S. I think angel food cakes are my favorite.