New Year's recipes

These recipes are for menu items served at The Stanton Social. They’re easy to cook and eat, and would make great appetizers for your party.

Grilled cheddar sandwiches with bacon and fried green tomatoes

Ingredients:
Aioli (to make, mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, finely grated lemon peel to taste)
Cheddar cheese
Bacon – cooked until crisped, then cut into thirds
Fried green tomatoes (to make, slice the green tomatoes thinly, then dip in flour, egg and seasoned bread crumbs and fry in 4 tablespoons of veggie oil until crispy)
Fresh cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. To start, you’ll need some two-year aged cheddar (Santos likes Jasper Hill Farms cheddar from Vermont) and a loaf of thinly sliced brioche, or any other hearty bread of your choice.
2. To assemble the sandwich, stack the ingredients in the above order between slices of bread.
3. Butter the bread and throw it on a pan or on a grill.

Mini "potato skins" filled with goat cheese fondue

Potatoes:
2 lbs small, round potatoes, such as Yukon golds size c, or baby red bliss.

Take a slice of potato off one end of each potato so it will sit steady.

With a melon ball scoop, take one full scoop of potato from each potato leaving a deep "well" to later be filled with cheese fondue.

Toss with ½ cup olive oil, and enough salt and pepper to coat, and roast in a 400 degree oven until crispy and golden; approx 25-30 minutes. Set aside.

Fondue

1-cup milk

1-cup evaporated milk

1-cup heavy (whipping) cream

2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

3 cups softened goat cheese

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped thoroughly

1 tsp chopped thyme

1 tsp chopped basil

Bring milk, evaporated milk and cream to a low boil over medium heat and slowly whisk in cheeses. Fold in chopped tomatoes, thyme and basil. Fill "potato skins" with this "fondue".

Place filled potatoes back in the oven for 2-3 minutes or until hot. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped chives.

Grilled Crostinis with roasted poblano pepper and white bean puree

Ingredients
1 loaf crusty bread or baguette, cut into ½" slices for grilling/toasting

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp cumin

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 bunch cilantro, picked but not chopped

Directions
1 Roast peppers on the grill until blackened and charred. Place in a bowl and cover with saran wrap for 20 minutes. Peel peppers.

2 Heat olive oil over medium heat and fry cilantro very quickly (about 30 seconds). Remove and pat dry with slotted spoon. Reserve.

3 Puree beans with garlic, cumin, lemon juice and poblano peppers.
Serve warm on grilled bread. Garnish with crumbled fried cilantro.

Portuguese style Chorizo and three pepper "sliders"

Ingredients
Small brioche or potato rolls

4 links chorizo sausage, sliced

1/2 lb lean ground beef

1 red pepper, julieened

1 poblano pepper, julieened

1 yellow pepper, julieened

1 Spanish onion, julieened

3 cups whole peeled tomatoes, drained

½ cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

Directions
1 Sauté garlic and parsley in olive oil over low to medium heat until oil turns a bright green. Turn up heat and add ground beef and chorizo; sauté for 5-6 minutes.

2 Add onions and peppers and sauté for 5 additional minutes. Add tomatoes and cook over low heat, covered for 1 hour. Season with salt, pepper. Serve in soft, split rolls and offer hot sauce on the side.

COCKTAILS

Instead of buying a whole bar’s worth of liquor, follow Chef Santos’s advice and steal one of these sexy cocktail recipes to use as your party’s house cocktail.

Pink Grapefruit Mint Martini

Ingredients
1.5 oz Stoli Lemon
splash lemon simple syrup
2 oz grapefruit juice
sprig of mint

Directions
shake well, strain into martini glass
Garnish with a mint sprig

1940’s Champagne Julep
Flute
Fill flute w crushed ice
Top with 3 shredded mint leaves and 2 dashes of bitters
Add 1 part sherry mix (45% fino, 45 % lemon simple syrup, 10% peach schnapps)
Top with 1 part sparkling white (we are using Piper Heidseck)
Garnish with a carmelized lime chip
 

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