Saturday, May 8, 2010

GIRL'S NIGHT OUT

NEWSLETTER - APRIL 23, 2010 - GIRL'S NIGHT OUT

Greetings to all the great fans of Rosalie Serving Cookbooks.
Hopefully I have an audience that likes to cook or at least pretends
to like it, since it is a means to our daily survival. But if you are
one that rather have someone else cook it and you eat it, then I have
just the solution….Girl's Night Out!

To where?…Cooking class, of course. If you have never experienced
attending a cooking class with a bunch of eager-to-learn cookbook
fanatics, then you have definitely missed out. It is a night filled
with fun and always rewarded with good food to eat right on the spot.

I have been very privileged to be one the cooking instructors for the
Dierbergs School of Cooking that hold classes in the St. Louis, MO and
Edwardsville IL, locations. The schools are held right in the
Dierbergs Grocery Stores and are available at 5 locations: Bogey
Hills in St. Charles, MO, Clarkson, at Clarkson & Clayton Roads, in
Ellisville, MO, Edwardsville in Edwardsville, IL, Southroads at Tesson
Ferry Road and I-270, and West Oak at Craig Road & Olive Boulevard in
Creve Coeur, MO.

All Dierbergs have free schedules of the classes, so you can pick one
up and find out exactly what classes are in process at any time. I was
at the Southroads Dierbergs this past Wednesday night and taught a
class of 14 ladies. The class title was, *Country Cottage Lunch,*
taken from my cookbook, Rosalie Serving Country, and the menu was
awesome, featuring; Rosalie's Homemade Dinner Rolls, Baked Potato
Soup, Beef Stuffed Peppers, Wedge Salad with Crumbles, and Key Lime
Pie.

There were moms with daughters, aunts with nieces, and just long time
friends in groups of three or more. I usually introduce myself by
saying: Hi, I'm Rosalie. I am 100% Italian, and my husband, Bill, is
100 pounds Italian. While they are laughing, I sneak one or two of my
famous jokes…like…Knock Knock, who's there? Cash. Cash who? I
didn't realize you were some kind of nut.

We then get right into the cooking, and this past Wednesday, I started
off with demonstrating the Homemade Dinner Rolls. I bring dough from
home, punch it down, and make it into rolls so they can rise while
class is going on. Then I make the rolls from scratch, and pass
around a little snip so everyone can feel how elastic the dough should
feel. I then tell the story how the husband and wife were about to
get a divorce, but after taking my class on bread making, the wife
made bread one night for supper. The husband went directly out to the
flower shop and brought back a bunch of roses…they now live happily
ever after.

The evening goes on like this, with more great dishes and jokes
galore. This past evening the Wedge Salad with Crumbles seemed to be
the big hit. While the hot dinner rolls, the great baked potato soup
and delicious stuffed peppers over rice were no less than phenomenal,
the salad was eaten with 'oohs and ahs.'

So the next time you need a fun night out, don't walk around the Mall
and spend money in the food court, do something exciting…come to
*Rosalie's Cooking Class*! It is the perfect Girl's Night Out!

Have fun,
Rosalie

Recipe from Rosalie Serving Country Cookbook, Page 66

Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing and Crumbles

NOTE: The Wedge Salad has become famous in the last few years and is
featured at many restaurants. It looks so elegant standing upright
along with the condiments and wonderful Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
streaming down. Make this for your special company and they will
forever have a memory of goodness.

1 large head Iceberg lettuce, cut into 8 wedges
1 large tomato,or 2 to 3 Roma tomatoes, diced small
½ cup green onions with tops included, diced small
1 cucumber, peeled and diced small, optional
1 cup cooked crisp bacon, crumbled
1 cup candied walnuts, chopped

crumbled blue cheese

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing (Time: 5 minutes)

¼ pound crumbled blue cheese
¼ cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
ground black pepper

1. To make the dressing, combine the blue cheese, sour cream,
buttermilk, red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, garlic and ground
black pepper in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix all the
ingredients just until combined. If possible, make the dressing
earlier in the day and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours
before using.

2, Inspect lettuce and remove any wilted outside leaves. On cutting
board, cut the head of lettuce in half, and then into 8 wedges. Using
8 salad plates, stand each wedge on its side.

3. In large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, onions, cucumber,
bacon, and walnuts. Mix together and evenly divide the vegetable mix
over the lettuce wedges. Crumble a little blue cheese over each
wedge, if desired.

4. Divide the chilled dressing over each wedge, letting it stream
down over the salsa. Makes 8 wedges.

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