Kerrygold Mantequilla a Latina con Amigos

Childhood memories and my Hispanic roots made it easy for me to enter my very first food contest featuring Kerrygold Butter. Easy might not be the correct adjective.  Less reluctant is more accurate. I have foodie friends, cook book author friends, famous baker and blogger friends and then there is me, the person who raves about them, admires them and follows their recipes.

This summer I committed to spending more time recognizing, developing and honoring my creativity with food. My recent cooking experiences have been expanded recently and  I’m constantly discovering that I’m more creative in the kitchen than I ever realized.  Many of my clients and Twitter followers are more like my foodie friends than like me, a latent foodie, so this set of recipes will not be too challenging for them.  Regardless of how you categorize yourself, you will be delighted to see this come together. This is a Saturday event when you have time to enjoy the process and get the kids or friends involved in the process.

My experiences with Kerrygold go back to our first meeting at the Grand Opening of a new store of a major natural grocery chain in Lone Tree (Centennial) Colorado in May of 2009.  I was doing my first product sampling for a new gluten free bread company and Kerrygold Butter was offering a taste of their over the top delicious cheese and butter.

“I’m eating great gluten free bread for the first time in 17 years,” I gushed, “and I was wondering if I could have you take some butter from the opposite end the cube so I don’t get any crumbs on my butter and I could put it on my untoasted bread?” “I can even do better than that,” the Irishman replied, “I’ll open a new one.”

If you know me, you know that I was overjoyed and my passion was spilling out of the corners of my eyes at this generous offer.  The thought of eating a moist slice of bread from the grocery store topped with deeply yellow, rich, creamy butter still brings tears to my eyes. In the previous 17 years, I honestly didn’t think there would ever be such a day.

Since I was being bold, I told my new best friend that I’ve dreamed of butter thick as frosting on a soft piece of bread for 17 years, so “if you’d be so kind….” The bite of Kerrygold butter reminded me of the butter I lovingly churned in Mrs. Davis’ kindergarten class at Goldrick Elementary School in 60’s. Of course, I share that story with my new Irish friend while tears streamed down my cheeks. What a life!

 

Fast Forward to October 2011. My friends at Kerrygold invited me to be part of a group of 50 bloggers who would receive their newest products, Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter for easy spreading and Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter with 25 percent less fat and 50 percent less sodium. A spreadable Kerrygold sounded great to me!

After several conversations with friends, a handful of inspiring dining experiences and some fun experimentation, I opted to go the savory route. Everything in the fiesta for 6 is gluten free.  I present to you:

Kerrygold Mantequilla a Latina con Amigos

 

Marinated Buffalo Tenderloins con Mantequilla Pablano

Mantequilla Polenta con Mozzerella

Grilled Hearts de Ensenada Romaine

Mise en Place

This cool French word means everything in its place.  I did not grow up with any concept of this in the kitchen or anywhere in the house.  It was a delightful idea when I read about it in one of my favorite cookbooks.  Wow! That makes everything so much easier. If you are blessed with the gift of ADHD like I am, you have learned to manage pretty well with chaos but let me tell you, cooking is so much more fun without it!

Here is the suggested order to simplify your life:

1. Make the marinade the day before the fiesta con amigos and get the meat soaking (day before)
2. Roast the Pablano peppers or green bell peppers and remove their skin (day before) – you may want to add some heat with your favorite chili – next time I’ll add a Jalapeno to the Pablano
3. If you want to substitute the Onion Trio or Chili Seasoning Mix, create your product a month, week or day before you need it. I had the seasoning on hand so I used it. (day before)
4. Finely chop 2 roasted Pablano peppers (using a great knife makes this SOOO much simpler!)(day before)
5. Make the Mantequilla Pablano so the flavors meld with the butter (day before)
6. Wash the outside of the Honey Dew and ball the fruit (day before)
7. Chop yellow onion & cover it so it doesn’t absorb all the germs in the room
8. Slice Elephant Garlic Bulb
9. Slice Mushrooms
10. Wash fresh Tarragon, Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Cilantro Leaves, Romaine lettuce
11. Cube fresh Mozzerella

Roasted Pablano

Grill or broil chili on a cookie sheet or directly on the grill until each side is bubbly.  Remove and put in zip lock baggie or paper bag so it steams the skin off.  Once it is cooled, scrape the charred skin off with a sharp knife.  Dice finely.

 

 

 

Mantequilla Pablano

8 oz Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter

1 large roasted and diced Pablano (add other roasted chili to taste)

Mix together in medium bowl.  Use to top grilled steak and polenta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marinated Buffalo Tenderloins con Mantequilla Pablano

Buffalo is a lean meat that is rich and decadent tasting.  4 – 24 hours before grilling time mix marinade and completely immerse buffalo steaks.  Once the steaks are out of the marinade, we’ll reduce the sauce by cooking it over medium heat.  No need to add anything to it to thicken it up.  This keeps the flavor intact and leaves it naturally gluten free! This sauce was so delicious I’d double it next time so I could have more on each plate or just have some left over.

1 ½ Cup Beef Broth

1 ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce

¼ Cup Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Onion Trio (substitute dehydrated green, white and yellow onion)

2 tsp Chili Seasoning

2 cloves freshly minced garlic

2 lbs Buffalo Tenderloins

Remove your steak from the marinade and put on plate or cutting board.  Grill your steaks at 300 degrees.  Start the grill at 350. The heat will drop when you add the cold meat.  Cook medium rare for easiest digestion as the meat is still enzymaticaly active. Serve on top of Marinade Reduction leaving room for the Polenta. Top with Mantequilla Pablano and watch it magically drip down the side of your steak.  OMG Delish! The visual is almost as good as the taste, but not quite!

 

 

Marinade Reduction

When the steaks are on the grill, cook the marinade on medium heat until it reduces into a thick sauce.  Stir constantly. The Tenderloin and Polenta will be served over marinade reduction spread in a half moon across the plate. The salad will be on the other half of the plate.

 

 

 

 

Mantequilla Polenta con Mozzerella

This is a simple and quick dish that is “show-off-y” in its presentation. Once cooked, the polenta forms nicely in a metal measuring cup and look pretty spectacular once it is browned under the broiler. For Valentine’s Day, I’d cut the polenta with a heart shaped cookie cutter to add a loving thought to the same dish! You can use a cookie cutter in the shape of a letter for someone’s birthday. Play with it.  It’s pretty hearty.  Just move quickly to a shape once the polenta has thickened in the skillet and cooled.

 

2 Cups polenta

2 Cups beef broth (I prefer the flavor of Savory Choice Broth Concentrate)

1 Cup water

¼ Cups Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter

1 tbs fine sea salt

½ tbs cracked pepper (more to taste or for color)

1 roasted Pablano pepper, finely chopped

2 Cups cubed fresh Mozzerella (small cubes to melt)

Over medium heat, add polenta, beef broth, water salt and pepper.  Stir until thickened over med heat.  Just as it begins to thicken, add the Pablano pepper.  Once thickened, add the Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter and continue to stir.  Remove from heat.  Let it cool 5 minutes. Shape in ½ cup measuring cup.  Drop onto cookie sheet. Flatten slightly.  Cover with plastic so they don’t dry out.

(You can test one under the broiler to see how long it takes to brown the first time. Once completed, add the fresh Mozzerella and brown some more to gauge the time need to sync time with steaks on the grill)

 

Brown under broiler on each side.  This adds a nice crunch to the soft center.  Remove from broiler. Top with mozzarella.  Return to broiler until the cheese begins to brown and gets bubbly. To serve, cut in half.  Place on the plate on top of the Marinade Reduction with the top half off set and lifted by the first in an L. See the picture. Top with Mantequilla Pablano while hot so it melts into the polenta. Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Hearts de Ensalada Romaine

½ tub Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter

¼ Cup chopped yellow onion

6 medium Mushrooms (everyday mushrooms)

1 large elephant garlic bulb

Add butter to sauté pan over medium heat. Melt butter then add the onion.  Sauté about 3 minutes or until the onion begins to caramelize.  Add the mushrooms, stir a few times then add the garlic.  Stir for 1 minute then remove from heat.  There will be extra butter to drizzle on the salad.

3 large Hearts of Romaine

Fresh Tarragon

Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Honey Dew Melon Balled

Cilantro Leaves

 

Grill cleaned Hearts of Romaine about 20 seconds in grill at 450 degrees. The grilling brings out the naturally sweet flavor of the lettuce! It also makes it more interesting on the plate. Put one large and one small piece of grilled lettuce on each plate.  Spoon sautéed mix over lettuce.  Add Honey Dew, Yellow Pear Tomatoes, a few sprigs of Tarragon and a Cilantro sprig on top of the sautéed mix and lettuce.  Drizzle with remaining butter from sauté pan. This will be tastier than you expect!

This is a great collection of dishes for friends or family to prepare together.  This will also ensure that everything is hot when served.  Kerrygold butters are truly magic in these dishes. Remember that butter is a vital fat and that the French eat more than we do and they don’t have weight issues. Enjoy the process and when it comes to eating your creations, the taste will be enhanced.

 

Thanks for this opportunity Kerrygold! I’ve created new memories and tied my Hispanic roots to butter in all kinds of unexpected ways! I would have never done it without your invitation to enter this contest.  I’m thankful for the experience.  It was the most delicious experiment of my life!

 

 

Disclaimer: I did not get paid to write this blog and I received the products free of charge from Kerrygold USA.   I am one of 50 bloggers invited to participate in this recipe contest.