A Lunch Meeting

By Luci

I’m a board member of a very worthwhile charity, The Christopher Whitehouse Foundation (CWF: https://thechristopherwhitehousefoundation.org). It’s a local nonprofit that provides small grants that make a big difference in the lives of needy students. These grants are typically for needs not covered by the usual charities. CWF, working through school guidance counselors and similar professionals, will fund a prom dress, transportation to a learning center, an iPad, a sports uniform, etc. These little things can transform a student’s life from one of despair to one of comfort, encouragement and hopefulness. In the end, the grants facilitate learning. That is the mission of CWF. 

Working on a project with two other board members, I reasoned that lunch with a nice glass of wine would facilitate our work. It did.

LUNCH

The table showed off decorative pumpkins and small napkins from Indonesia in a flower design.

THE MENU

SOUP

Butternut Squash and Apple

SANDWICHES

Egg Salad with Black Olives

Roast Chicken Breast with Bacon & White Cheddar Cheese

Potato Chips

DESSERT

Persimmons and Pomegranate Seeds in Almond/Pear Sauce 

THE RECIPES

Soup

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

8-10 servings

Ingredients 

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 large butternut squash, halved

2 sweet apples  (I used Fuji), peeled, cored, chopped

2 tart apples (I used Granny Smith), peeled, cored, chopped

4 cups chicken stock, divided

6 tablespoons sage, chopped and divided

1 cup dry white wine

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Salt to taste (I used 1 tablespoon)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a large, rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil. Spread 2 tablespoons olive oil over the foil. Place the 4 halves of squash onto foil, skin side up. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until squash is easily pierced with a fork.

2. Peel squash (it should be simple to lift away the skin after it is baked).

3. While squash is baking, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and butter is a large soup pot. Sauté the onions for 7-8 minutes, until very soft. 

4. Add the squash, apples and 3 cups stock. Stir. Add 2 tablespoons chopped sage and the wine. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, heat to high the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet. When very hot, toss in the remaining 4 tablespoons of chopped sage. The sage will quickly, in abut 1 minute, cook to shriveled. Remove from pan to a paper towel to blot the oil.

6. To serve, fill individual bowls with soup and garnish with a portion of the fried sage.

Sandwiches

Note: The photo shows open-face sandwiches that were then covered with lettuce and another slice of bread before serving.

Egg Salad

Doesn’t everyone like egg salad sandwiches? As a child I loved them with dill pickle. As an adult, I go for black olives that add a salty, savory punch. Guests were in favor, very much so.

Ingredients

4 large eggs, hard boiled, chopped

2 scallions, white and light green parts only, sliced thin

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon brown mustard

1/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1/4 cup small black olives, halved (I used castellino)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Combine all ingredients. Spread on bread  and top with lettuce. My guests chose a whole grain, whole wheat bread for both sandwiches.

Roast Chicken Salad with Bacon

Chicken, bacon and mayo with some onion, lemon, or parsley topped with romaine lettuce makes a great sandwich. But not at this lunch. I usually make it with a chicken I have roasted. But stressed for time, I used the breast meat from a rotisserie chicken from Costco (often said to be the best of rotisserie birds). It was not a good choice; rarely have I tasted chicken salad so tasteless and dry. My guests agreed, judging by their lack of verbal enthusiasm or encore portions. 

Would more mayo help? I added some to what was leftover. While the salad was more moist, it tasted too much of mayo. I had to conclude that, either this Costco chicken was a lemon or just like other rotisserie chickens, the breast tends to be dry and not too flavorful. I’ll stick to home roasted chickens, flavored with herbs and butter tucked under the skin before roasting.

Ingredients

3 large strips of bacon

1 1/2 cups chicken breast, shredded

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon sweet onion, minced1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Slowly brown the bacon over low heat. Blot dry and chop into small bits.

2. Mix all ingredients, taste and add more mayo, lemon or seasoning.

Dessert

Persimmon and Pomegranate with Pear Sauce

With cold weather, persimmons arrive and they are a joy: brilliant orange in color, pleasantly crisp texture, sweet and slightly spicy in taste. Hint: I stick to Fuyus because the other main variety, Hachiya, are horribly astringent when unripe, marvelous for just a day or two when ripe, then soft and yucky. Fuyus become sweeter and sweeter as they ripen and are good for many days. 

I paired Fuyu slices with a generous amount of pomegranate seeds and bathed it all in a sauce I had leftover from poaching pears. The recipe gives the amounts used to poach 6 pears, then reduced to a thick sauce.

Ingredients

2-3 cups pear nectar

2-3 cups water

2 tablespoons sugar or more to taste

1 tablespoon Amaretto or other almond-flavored liqueur

2 large Fuyu persimmons, sliced

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Preparation

1. Bring the pear nectar, water and sugar to a boil, then reduce to a thick syrup. Cool, then add the Amaretto

2. Combine the persimmons, pomegranate seeds and pear sauce in a bowl.