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Menu Help Needed


birder53

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I'm serving grilled pork tenderloin with an orange balsamic glaze and sauce along with a fruit salsa (mango, pineapple, peach). What should I serve with this? A green salad, corn (too heavy - right?), how about a salad of grilled zucchini and couscous? First course is grilled salt & pepper shrimp with a lemony horseradish cocktail sauce. Dessert will probably be grilled pineapple with a butter rum sauce over vanilla ice cream and maybe pound cake. Any suggestions???

KathyM

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I was afraid rice would be too heavy. I did consider a brown basmati rice (isn't basmati rice lighter than long/short grain rice) with cinnamon and dried currants but thought I needed to get something green in there. The zucchini/couscous salad has orange zest and cinnamon which I thought might compliment the pork and salsa. I wish every recipe came with suggestions of what to serve with it! :wacko:

KathyM

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The fritter suggestions sound wonderful but they are a bit more labor intensive than I can handle. I'm trying to prepare as much as possible before my guests arrive. The saffron basmati rice sounds like a good fit. Keep 'em coming! :biggrin:

KathyM

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You could make the zucchini fritters ahead of time. Do a quick fry and freeze. Reheat at 450.

Same kind of thing with the saffron rice. Make the rice, short cook about 14 minutes. It should still be stiff.

Just before your guest arrive back on the oven with a mix of broth and half & half or cream. Let it could another 3 to 4 minutes. Rice will be ready to roll.

You might also consider adding some almonds and green beans to your rice.

Never trust a skinny chef

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Another idea is do two batches of polenta.

Batch 1 the day before. Spread it on a half sheet. Let it dry.

The day of the party fry the poletna. You don't have to dip fry a simple pan fry works fine.

Serve your fresh polenta with the fried.

Never trust a skinny chef

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If the corn is really, really fresh, I would add tomotoes (heirlooms picked and served straight from the vine) and forget the pork. But, then again, I'm a corn fanatic. But, only if it's really, really fresh.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I think your entree plate sounds pretty sweet, what with the glaze and the fruit salsa. I'd look for a green with some bitterness to it as a complement--perhaps the "bright lights" rainbow swiss chard I find at my local markets, or some grilled broccolini.

I think corn is hard to say no to at this time of year.

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How about a rice and corn based salad? I'm thinking you could add diced red pepper and green onion, with a lime based salad dressing. You could blend the flavors to match your salsa, and the acid in the dressing would balance the sweetness of the pork and salsa.

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Thanks for all the great suggestions. We ended up with the following menu:

Grilled salt & pepper shrimp with a lemony horseradish cocktail sauce/ Prosecco

Grilled pork tenderloin with an orange/rosemary glaze and an orange rosemary balsamic sauce. A Trimbach Reisling and an unidentified New Zealand red wine( contributed by our guests).

Pineapple, mango, peach salsa w/ lime juice, scallions and cilantro.

Warm salad of couscous w/ grilled zucchini & red onion dressed with fresh orange juice & zest & cilantro. The zucchini were coated with a cumin, cinnamon, brown sugar spice mix prior to grilling.

A mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries in a vanilla infused sugar sauce.

Unfortunately I requested your expert assistance the evening before the meal was to take place which left me with precious little time to do much prep work or attempt anything too new. As it was, I left all the work until Saturday and was still rinsing off all the berries for dessert when our guests arrived. Even though I have learned that everything will take longer than I thought it would, I still don't allow myself enough time. :wacko: Anyway, the meal was a big hit, with guests asking for recipes for everything! I brined the tenderloins prior to cooking which made them absolutely tender and juicy. Even those who feared dry pork asked for seconds. No leftovers. :sad:

I will use some of your suggestions for future menu planning. I'll have to try the fritters soon to see how I can easily make them without making too much of a greasy mess in the kitchen. I remember my mother making fritters each summer, corn and peach. They were scrumptious!

KathyM

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