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Wednesday, October 3, 2001

Brunch for a bunch

Local woman cooks up monthly meals for 20 of her closest friends

By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Marcela Pineda removes spinach quiche tartlets from the oven to transfer them to a serving tray. She makes twice-baked potatoes (foreground) using new potatoes to create an easy-to-manage finger food.

Marcela Pineda's doorbell started ringing at 11 a.m. Sunday. As her brunch guests filed in, Pineda offered them juice, coffee, a Bloody Mary or a mimosa.
   Stations set up in Pineda's two living areas and her dining room are filled to overflowing with Sunday brunch fare you'd expect from an upscale restaurant. Fillets of smoked salmon stretch out on a tray, surrounded by diced eggs, diced red onion and capers. Or, guests can reach for cold boiled shrimp, marinated vegetables with ginger dressing, or a morsel off the cheese tray.
   There's beef tenderloin with bearnaise sauce, spinach and bacon quiche tartlets and tiny twice-baked potatoes made from new potatoes for easy handling.
   Oh, did you think that was the main course? Hope you saved room for the made-to-order omelets with your choice of vegetables and meats.
   Prop a raisin puff or a slice of chocolate-and-cinnamon babka on the side of your plate if you dare, but save room for the Kaluha crème brulee, carrot cake and lemon tarts.
   This spread is standard practice for Pineda, who thinks nothing of hosting a party for 15 to 20 people once a month in the home she shares with her husband, Christian, and her daughter, Marcela.
   Checking the list twice
   Pineda, a contract administrator for a petrochemical services company, is an admitted cook-a-holic. If she won the lottery, she'd probably never leave her kitchen. For now, she relieves stress by cooking. If that's true, these monthly shindigs must be her equivalent to a day at the spa.

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Spinach quiche tartlets, warmed and ready to eat. Pineda, who said she's an organizational nut, keeps a to-do list that includes, 'Take out serving platters (polish if necessary).'

   The key, Pineda said, is her love of lists and being organized. Each month, she sits down and creates a menu, complete with shopping list to help her stick to her $200 budget. Then, she writes out a schedule, mapping everything out from making room in the refrigerator for the extra food to starting the coffee just before guests arrive. The list starts out as a tidy, typed affair. By the time the doorbell rings for the fist time, it will be blotched with cooking stains and highlighted with a pink marker.
   "I spent most of the money on the tenderloin, the shrimp and the salmon," Pineda said. "A lot of the other things I already had on hand. I probably have 10 pounds of butter in the fridge outside."
   Entertaining a crowd
   Pineda started these monthly feasts about a year ago, when she and her husband bought a house she declared large enough to hold all the guests. Her love of cooking has grown since college, she said, when she started cooking as a way to entertain with friends.
   "It might look like I'm going crazy," said Pineda, who looks remarkably calm amid the endless platters of food and stacks of dirty dishes. "But I find it relaxing."
   A half-hour before the guests arrive, Pineda, 30, is bustling about her

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Brunch desserts included lemon tarts and carrot cake. Pineda recommends refrigerating desserts separately so the sweets don't absorb other food odors.

kitchen, setting out platters and answering questions for her neighbor and guest-turned-sous chef, Audrey Sykes. Sykes deftly cuts the tenderloin that has been grilled the night before and re-heated in the oven that morning. Sykes also keeps an eye on obscene amounts of bacon crackling in a large skillet on the stove.
   "The food is always awesome," said Sykes, a regular at Pineda's parties. "I'm never embarrassed to eat a lot. I used to entertain, but I don't need to anymore. I'm just happy being a guest here."
   Pineda was running behind this morning, she said, but she generally does all the preparation herself.
   "I usually don't like people in the kitchen with me," she said. "If I'm stressed, I'll come into the kitchen and cook something."
   Show time
   Pineda wears one pink and one purple slipper until just before her guests arrive, when she slips away to put on heels. She trades the apron she's been wearing since about 6 a.m. for a white lace number that complements her navy strapless dress. She's a real cook; she actually wipes her hands on the pretty apron as she works.
   Sykes dashes home to trade her shorts and T-shirt for brunch attire. Pineda places warmed spinach quiche tartlets on a silver tray and rings the cheesecake with freshly-washed strawberries. Pineda is one of those people who actually use all those fancy serving dishes that most people receive as wedding gifts and promptly store in the deep recesses of kitchen cabinets. She even lists "Take out serving platters (polish if necessary)"on her to-do list.
   Even though she says she ran late, Pineda finishes her kitchen duties in short order and enjoys a plate with her guests before returning to the kitchen to make omelets.
   "I'm always like, 'If I just had another half-hour,'" Pineda said.
   One more bite
   While the guests groan and protest they couldn't possibly eat more, at least half a dozen file in the kitchen to place an order. Shannon Wilde requests an omelet with onion, serrano pepper and tomato.
   "I had-what was that chocolate and cinnamon bread again? - babka," Wilde, 29, said, counting off his appetizers. "I had some fruit and a sausage sandwich. This is amazing."
   The only drawback Wilde could see was how he and his wife, Pat, would be able to reciprocate.
   "We're afraid if we had Marcela over to our house, we'd have to have it catered," he said.
   RAISIN PUFFS
   1 cup water
   1 stick unsalted butter
   ½ teaspoon salt
   1 tablespoon sugar
   1 cup flour
   4 eggs
   ½ cup raisins (soaked in hot water to moisten)
   In medium sauce pan, bring to a boil the water, butter, salt and sugar. Add the flour all at once. Stir the mixture constantly until the flour is thoroughly blended and forms a ball that pulls away from the pan, about 1 ½ minutes, stirring constantly.
   Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't scramble.
   Squeeze the excess water from the raisins and stir into the dough mixture. Drop by teaspoons on to cookie pan and bake for 40 minutes at 3500 until golden brown and puffed.
   Drizzle with glaze while still hot and serve warm.
   Glaze:
   1 tablespoon melted butter
   1 ½ teaspoons milk
   1 cup powdered sugar
   ½ teaspoon vanilla
   ½ teaspoon lemon juice
   Combine all ingredients and stir until well blended.
   Yield: 12 servings
   Source: Marcela Pineda
   SPINACH QUICHE TARTS
   12 4-inch tart shells
   1 package ready-made pie crust
   1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
   2 tablespoons butter
   ½ cup white onion, finely chopped
   2 stalks scallion onion, finely chopped
   ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
   2 tablespoons flour
   1 teaspoon salt
   ½ teaspoon black pepper
   ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
   1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
   1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
   dash Tabasco sauce
   1 ½ cups heavy cream
   ¼ cup milk
   4 eggs, lightly beaten
   ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
   1 cup Swiss cheese
   1 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
   Lightly spray 12 4-inch tart shells lightly with cooking spray. Press ready-made pie crust dough into the forms (if you get any tears or holes, just fill in with another piece of dough). Arrange prepared shells on a large cookie pan for easy handling in the oven, and set aside.
   Saute onions, scallions and parsley in butter. Add spinach and mix well. Add flour, salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, worchester sauce, and Tabasco sauce and mix well. Remove from heat and set aside.
   In large bowl (or large measuring cup), mix the heavy cream, milk, eggs, and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   Sprinkle cooked bacon in bottoms of prepared tart shells. Follow with spoonful of spinach mixture and a generous sprinkling of Swiss cheese. Smooth out fillings.
   Pour egg and cream mixture over spinach mixture (about ¾ full to allow for "puffing").
   Bake at 4000 for about 1 hour, or until tops are golden brown and puffed.
   These can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for two days or frozen for up to one month. This recipe can be made in one 10-inch quiche pan or pie dish.
   Yield: 12 servings
   Source: Marcela Pineda
   CARROT CAKE
   2 cups flour
   2 teaspoons baking soda
   2 teaspoons baking powder
   2 teaspoons cinnamon
   ½ teaspoon salt
   ½ teaspoon Allspice
   4 large eggs
   ¾ cup vegetable oil
   ¾ cup white sugar
   1 cup brown sugar
   ½ cup buttermilk
   3 cups grated carrots (I buy the pre-grated carrots from the grocery - time saver)
   In medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and Allspice. In large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, white sugar, brown sugar and buttermilk until blended.
   Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then fold in the carrots.
   Divide batter evenly into 2 9-inch cake pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray (Pam).
   Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
   Cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting.
   Cream Cheese Frosting:
   1 pound softened cream cheese
   6 tablespoons butter
   1 teaspoon vanilla
   1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
   With electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and beat until mixed.
   Yield: 10 to 12 servings
   Source: Marcela Pineda
   Marcela's brunch tips
  

Make a full menu, grocery list and timetable to keep yourself on schedule and within your budget.
  

Set the table Friday night. It seems like a last-minute task, but you'll be glad it's done if you're running late on Sunday.
  

Put chopped omelet ingredients in plastic bags. Cut the tops off when you begin cooking so it's easy to spoon out ingredients and throw them away when you're done.
  

If you have two refrigerators, keep desserts separate from other foods so food odors don't transfer.
  
  
  

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Contact Leanne Libby at 886-3615 or libbyl@caller.com

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