Personal Chef for a Night


Recently I participated in a silent auction to raise funds for a family at our church.  I decided to put my services as a person chef up for bid.  You may not have known that I was a personal chef and well, neither did I!  This was my first time.  I just felt like I had to do something for this lovely family and I feel like God has blessed me with the ability to cook pretty well so I went for it!  Some generous friends of mine ended up winning the bidding and I had an absolute blast cooking for them.
This was actually the first time I had ever made any of the recipes I chose.  Brilliant, right?  I had meant to try them all out ahead of time but never got around to it.  I also didn't have a recipe really for the Baked Alaskas - I just kind of used a technique I saw on TV for making one big one and made it up as I went along.  They turned out great - good thing!  I definitely plan on making them again using different ice cream flavors and maybe cake for a base just to try something different.  The mint chip with a brownie base was delicious though!     
We decided on a menu together with a (mostly) Italian theme:
Mixed greens with blue cheese dressing and croutons
Classic tomato, basil, and garlic bruschetta drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Chicken piccata (chicken with a lemon, white wine, and butter sauce) with angel hair pasta - you can find the recipe here, plus I added some capers towards the end of reducing the sauce.
Roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese
Mini baked Alaskas with a brownie base and mint chip ice cream

The winners!
Just looking at this makes my mouth water - I love chicken piccata and it's actually very easy to make!

Mini Baked Alaska!  Isn't it so cute?!

The inside view.  I wish I had a creme brulee torch so that I could have gotten the sides more brown.
Justin is enjoying his dessert!

As far as making this gluten free you could easily do it by not breading the chicken (or using GF breadcrumbs).  The sauce thickens by butter and reducing alone so that is already safe and you could serve it with GF pasta.  For the dessert you would just have to use a GF brownie or cake and make sure the ice cream is safe.  Meringue is already safe so you're good to go there.  If you make one big one it feeds a huge crowd and would be great for a party.


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