My Last Supper

My time in Tennessee is coming to a close and a new chapter begins.  This has been a wonderful five plus months and I have made so many wonderful friends that I will dearly miss.  I will miss the politeness in the language.  I will miss being called honey, sweetie or Miss Sarah by complete strangers who just want to be nice. 

This also takes me into a new chapter with my blogging.  To celebrate this milestone I have decided to enjoy meals from my blogging friends.  I started with the thought it would be a 'Last Supper'.  But  that left out too many people.  So I have decided to have a 'Last Breakfast', a 'Last Lunch' and a 'Last Supper'.

I am choosing recipes from many of my new blogging friends.  I am doing this backwards because I thought the title of this blog was catchy.  So today honors my blogging friends with their input to my last real cooked dinner before I start my long journey back to Canada.

I have chosen Chicken a la Nantaise from lostpastremembered as my entree.   This was way easier to prepare than it looked from her beautiful presentation. 

This is a tough act to pair.  Her meal is so complete.  I want just a little pre-dinner bite.
You all have such hearty appetizers!  It was difficult to choose one.  But I did find a nice little bite from Tomatoes on the Vine - Prosciutto Wrapped Greens.  This also honors another blogger, La Table de Nana, because I will be using her recipe to prepare the prosciutto.

I used mache greens with a light lemon vinaigrette.  It was perfect - almost an amuse bouche.   Making the prosciutto was a no-brainer, just like Nana said.  I like it sliced very thinly so I will be buying a meat slicer.

Dessert posed a particular challenge.  I have no pie plates, muffin tins, springform pans, hand mixer, stand mixer, nada.  I only have a baking sheet.  So that leaves out all pies, tartes, ice creams, meringues and almost everything that comes to mind.  But no fear!  Winter Guest gave me a wonderful dessert called Postre de Musico.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed simple raisins with the Moscato.  I also included  marcona almonds, dried apricots and my candied Meyer lemon slices.

Chickens a la Nantaise

2 boneless chicken breasts (the original recipe called for pieces)

2 T butter

½ c mushroom broth (from rehydrating dried mushrooms)

½ c Madeira Wine (Charleston Sercial)

1 ½ c béchamel sauce

½ c cream

3 small artichoke hearts

2 thin slices ham

1 egg, beaten

1 c breadcrumbs

6 jumbo shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp chopped herbs

Chop the artichoke hearts and ham into small dice. Season with salt and pepper and moisten with ½ c béchamel sauce. Make into tablespoon size croquettes and freeze for 20 minutes as they will be very sloppy.

Take them out and roll them into the egg, then the breadcrumbs and refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat oil to 350º to deep-fry the croquettes.

Fry the chicken breasts in 1T butter until gently browned and nearly done and remove. Deglaze the pan with the mushroom broth and Madeira and reduce while scraping off the brown bits in the pan. Add the béchamel sauce and the cream. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer the chicken gently until cooked through.

Sauté the shrimps in butter, add lemon and herbs. Keep warm and set aside.

Fry the croquettes in the oil until brown.

Place the croquettes and shrimp decoratively on the plate with the chicken. Spoon the sauce over all. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Serves 2, generously

To  make the prosciutto, purchase a small pork tenderloin.  Lay out a linen or cotton tea towel and envelope the tenderloin with sea salt and Herbes de Provence.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 4 or 5 days.  Voila!  It cures and makes a nice prosciutto.

I will be posting my lunch and petit dejeuner next.