Cooking with Bourbon... and other things

I owe you this update on the weekly menu from last week. Actually I owe you two posts, but I haven't finished the one on my priorities yet. Stay tuned!

Click here for the What is being served on our table this week and here for Priorities. 

First up was the Basil Pesto Turkey Panini on Ciabatta with Cheese Sauce. It was a great and fast one!

Notice the cheese sauce

 You could make this sandwich any way you choose, but this time we used ciabatta bread, Boar's Head turkey, provolone cheese, baby spinach, and basil pesto. After grilling, we dipped them in the cheese sauce. Other ideas: You could mix the basil pesto with mayo to make a creamy pesto sauce. You could use ham instead of turkey. You could add bacon. You could leave off the cheese on the sandwich since you are dipping it in cheese :)

Turkey Panini

The worst part about paninis (how do you make this word plural?!) is cleaning the George Foreman. Usually what happens is that I dread it so that I leave it sitting out on the counter for a few days...until my wonderful husband catches on and decides to clean it for me. Clever huh?!

Basil Pesto in the food chopper

We used the leftover pesto on a variety of things. See my post on Pizza To Die For to see how we use it on pizza.

Below was our anniversary dinner!! I'll be honest, the picture looks a little bland, but it was one of the best meals we have cooked. 

Baked Grouper (in lemon, parmesan, butter, and panko), Onion Risotto, and sauteed squash and zucchini.

However, the picture of the dessert is worth a thousand words!! OMG!

Glazed Peaches and Yogurt Ice Cream

Seriously this was the best dessert I have cooked. It is restaurant material for sure! Don't let this peach season go by without giving it at try. It is super easy so if you want to please, make this!!! (Click above on the name for the recipe). 

Since I had leftover bourbon from the dessert above (I was able to buy a pint for about $4.50), I decided to make a few recipes I had saved that called for the ingredient. We enjoyed Bourbon and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin last Tuesday. Tonight I am making Grilled Chicken with Bourbon Peach Butter. And today, I went to a lunch cooking class at Coastal Cupboard with a few girlfriends (more to come) and our dessert was ice cream with a caramel and bourbon glaze. I am going to make it soon! See a theme?!

The raspberry preserve and mango chutney dressing was different but good! To make: Combine 1/2 cup each chicken broth, white wine, raspberry preserves, and mango chutney. Simmer approximately 20 minutes or until slightly thickened. I brought it to room temperature to use it as a salad dressing. It was a little thick, but tasty. My mom has used this dressing to cover chicken on a spinach salad, which I think is a better fit. It also tasted great as a sauce on the pork (see below). 

The White Bean, Mushroom, and Asparagus Cassoulet was a good vegetarian dish. I doubled the homemade breadcrumbs and added an extra can of white beans. The breadcrumbs would be great on other things too. I never got around to Thursdays dinner because somehow I forgot Cole had Bible Study (and they feed him there!!). Later in the week, we ended up stuffing miniature biscuits with the leftover pork and using the raspberry mango salad dressing instead of the Blackberry Basil Butter as planned. I will definitely use this combo again. These biscuits would be a perfect hor d'eouvre.