Girls Night Out, In

Dean Pollak gives Southern Charm star, Cameran Eubanks, a lesson on how to host a pre-party with your besties before a Charleston Fashion Week event.

Richard Avedon said style is based on repetition, not duplication.  All you need are a few signature recipes and drinks - and own them.  No need to reinvent the wheel every time you entertain.  Guests will look forward to your specialty.

Instructions as per the Deans:

• Serve one specialty cocktail -- for this party we recommend making a pitcher of a refreshing tequila, citrus & soda mixture
• Pass 3 hors d'oeuvres -- steak bites, warm olives & cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto
• Make sure you have all items in place -- ice on the bar, powder room ready, and party music playing
• Don't forget cocktail napkins

The Many Benefits of Hosting a Pre-Party Cocktail Hour:

1. Party where you get all the credit with very little work.
2. Party takes less than a half hour to put together.
3. Party is so easy it can be last minute (some of our favorite parties have been last minute).
4. Party is over before you know it.  One hour and your hosting is done.
5. Party expense is minimal, but impact is big, lasting and fun.

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A PITCHER OF COCKTAILS

INGREDIENTS

1  1/2 cups tequila

1 cup citrus juice (mixture of freshly squeezed lime, orange, lemon & tangerine juices)

3/4 cup (or more) soda water

Ice cubes

1.  Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher and stir.

2.  Pour into cocktail glasses and serve over ice.

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WARM OLIVES

INGREDIENTS

1 cup olives with pits (use assorted colors)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 strip orange peel

1 chili

1 teaspoon fennel or Herbs de Province

1.  Heat small sauté pan over medium heat for a minute; add olive oil, and then remaining ingredients.

2.  Cook over low heat, stirring, for a few minutes until olives are warm.  Turn off heat and pour olives in a small bowl.

3.  Place a smaller bowl, or cup, near the olive bowl for the pits.

5 Things to Make in Charleston This Fall

1.        Rye Cocktail

2 ounces of rye whiskey, 1/2 teaspoon demora sugar, 2 dashes of Angostura, 2 dashes of Orange Bitters. Pour over large ice cubes. Makes one cocktail. 

And yet another great drink. . .

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2.       Wild Mushrooms on Puff Pastry

          Serves 4

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 shallots, minced

1 tablespoon minced thyme

1 pound wild mushrooms, roughly chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 package of Dufour's Puff Pastry

1 egg

Melt the butter in a hot skillet and when the foam subsides lower the heat and add the shallots.  After two minutes add the mushroom and cook until they release most of their liquid.  Add the cream and thyme and heat until hot and the cream has reduced by half.  

Meanwhile, thaw the pastry and cut into a square and line the outside of the square with strips of pastry to form a box.  Brush with the egg.  Bake according to directions and when puffed and golden remove from oven. Place mushrooms in the center of the pastry and serve. 

Serve with a tart side salad for a lunch or a light dinner.  So woodsy and autumnal. Dean-licious.

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3.       Charleston Banh Mi 

Fill soft rolls with roasted sliced okra, peanuts, mayo, herbs, sweet soy and jalenpeos, shredded carrot and cucumbers.

The key to a Banh Mi is a soft roll. 

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4.       Benne Dressing 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1 teaspoon mustard

1 chopped shallot

Juice of 1 lemon 

1 teaspoon benne seeds

Whisk together. Use on any lettuce. 

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5.       Fall Vegetable Melange  

2-3 large yellow beets 

1 large butternut squash

2 onions

1/4 pound wild mushrooms,

Flat leaf parsley

Olive oil 

Place large yellow beets, scrubbed clean, in a shallow casserole. Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and a splash of water. Cover with tin foil and roast at 425 degrees for 60-75 minutes, until a knife inserted in beet can pierce flesh easily.  

After putting beets in the oven, toss large chunks of peeled butternut squash and peeled onion quarters with a little olive oil to lightly coat. Place on a baking sheet and roast on another rack in the same oven  turning once, for 45 minutes.

Wipe any dirt off of mushrooms, cut off woody stems, toss very lightly with olive oil and place on baking sheet. When butternut squash comes out of oven, put mushrooms in the oven. Butternut squash and mushrooms should crisp at the edges.

When beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into large wedges. Place all roasted vegetables in a large bowl, toss with chopped parsley leaves, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Delicious hot, room temperature, or cold. 

Bourbon Feast

There was a special group in town the Deans could not say no to. These men wanted bourbon and lots of it. Class syllabus comprised bourbon bacon highballs, Kentucky bourbon chicken, bourbon glazed ham, our patented bourbon coconut pie and, most importantly, a designated drive. Ocifer.