Our official menu was rack of lamb, Honey baked ham, roasted potatoes, green beans, carrot souffle and apple/cranberry crumble pies (from a local bakery - Big Sugar).
For the Rack of Lamb, I didn't find one recipe that really worked for me so I took bits and pieces from a bunch and sort of created my own. I made a homemade breadcrumb mixture in the Cuisinart by processing some wheat bread, some fresh garlic, some fresh rosemary, some salt and then added some olive oil to give it a good texture for staying on the lamb chops.
I put the racks of lamb on a large roasting pan, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, smeared on a small layer of Dijon mustard and then put a good thick coating of the bread crumb mixture. Preheated the over to 450. Roasted for a good 10 minutes and then reduced the heat to 400. The lamb chops took much longer than I expected, probably close to a good 30 minutes. They turned out pretty good (and my nephew who is rather picky ate at least 8-10 lamb chops himself!)
For the roasted potatoes, I just took small fingerling-type potatoes, cut then into small slices, added some olive oil, fresh chopped rosemary, and salt. Put in a large casserole dish and roasted at 375 for a good 2 hours (stirring now and then and also checking to make sure not overly cooked earlier).
For the carrot souffle, I found this on-line and always wanted to try it. I'm really glad I did - I just need to plan better next time. I decided to make this only after I was only about an hour or so out from needing to serve everything. I had to go with the individual ramekins so they'd have the shorter cooking time.
Here's the link and recipe for the carrot souffle:
http://www.stephmodo.com/2007/12/carrot-souffle.html
Carrot Souffle
1 3/4 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla
2 tB. all purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter
confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large pot of boiling water, cook the carrots until very tender. Drain, and transfer to a large mixing bowl. While the carrots are warm, use an electric mixer to beat with sugar, baking powder and vanilla extract until smooth (I think my steamed carrots were not quick soft enough when I started mixing everything so I transferred the mixture to my Cuisinart and pureed with that - made things super smooth and definitely easy). Mix in the flour, eggs, and butter. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish. Bake one hour in the preheated oven, or until top is golden brown. Dust lightly with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Note: If you want to use individual ramekins instead of one dish, adjust the cooking time to about 30-35 minutes depending on your oven. Keep an eye on them to avoid over-cooking them. I read online that one person liked to puree the carrots with the butter, sugar and vanilla and then add in the baking powder with the eggs and flour. Apparently the souffle rises better. I think I'll try that next time.
1 3/4 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla
2 tB. all purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter
confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large pot of boiling water, cook the carrots until very tender. Drain, and transfer to a large mixing bowl. While the carrots are warm, use an electric mixer to beat with sugar, baking powder and vanilla extract until smooth (I think my steamed carrots were not quick soft enough when I started mixing everything so I transferred the mixture to my Cuisinart and pureed with that - made things super smooth and definitely easy). Mix in the flour, eggs, and butter. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish. Bake one hour in the preheated oven, or until top is golden brown. Dust lightly with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Note: If you want to use individual ramekins instead of one dish, adjust the cooking time to about 30-35 minutes depending on your oven. Keep an eye on them to avoid over-cooking them. I read online that one person liked to puree the carrots with the butter, sugar and vanilla and then add in the baking powder with the eggs and flour. Apparently the souffle rises better. I think I'll try that next time.
