Dinner Party for Six on under $40 bucks!

Last weekend we had our first formal dinner party at the new house. Sit down, linen napkins, good Clay Coyote Pottery, you get the picture. Even though we are one a super budget to pay for the new kitchen, we wanted to put on a good feast. So here is my new installment of “Cookin’ with Morgan” the $40 dinner party.

Also, one note, I apologize for not putting up as many photos, especially of the dessert, but since we had people over I got carried away chatting.

For the menu: Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with BBQ-beer glaze, sesame-soy green beans, rosemary baby red potatoes, and my all time favorite key lime tort with a new twist.

First, find a cute yet handy man to be your Grill Master (thank you ISSB). Prepare the pork loin, by laying the raw bacon flat on a cutting board, then placing the lion in the center. Then wrap each peace (bacon stretches) around the loin and use skewers to fasten the bacon in place. Remember, do not attempt to pick up the whole thing by the skewers at anytime, they will snap under the weight. Place the pork loin on the grill on high for 10 minutes to sear it, turning ever 2 ½ minutes so that the Bacon doesn’t char. Then turn the heat of the grill down to low and let cook until inside of the pork is 180 degrees (we used a meat thermometer to get it just right. The 2.5 pound loin was on the grill for about 1 hour on low. Ten minutes before the pork comes off baste the whole thing turning every 2 ½ minutes to let the BBQ sauce bake in. We used Sweet Baby Ray’s with a ¼ of a cup of beer whisked in.

While the pork is on the grill you can complete the potatoes and green beans in the house. Wash then cut the baby red potatoes in to halves. Place in boiling water for about 25 minutes. When the potatoes are done, drain them and set aside. Heat skillet (or seen her wok) to high, add in butter (enough to coat all the potatoes, I used Pure Irish Butter for a treat). Sauté onions, garlic, and fresh rosemary in the pan until light brown. Add in potatoes and lightly sauté all ingredients together, should take 10 minutes to brown the potatoes. If the potatoes fall apart a little that is ok, in fact I like it that way.

Now, for the beans. I use fresh green beans, snap the ends off, and then boil them for about 7 minutes. After that, I drain them and toss them in to a skillet where I douse them with a little soy sauce (I prefer the low sodium version). And then sprinkle sesame seeds over them and sauté for 3-4 minutes on medium-high heat.
Finally, on Saturday night, we ended the dinner with a lovely ice wine brought by one of the guests and a slice each of my infamous key lime tort. I can say infamous, because I truly believe that no one will argue, for fear they may not get more (wink-wink). Anyways, I am on a Cooking Light kick and magazine recently taught me a new trick for an old favorite. Graham cracker crusts are traditionally mad with fatty, wonderful, butter. But Cooking Light suggested I try it with egg whites – and low and behold it works, and it takes just as good. In fact, the end result appears to be LESS crumbly.

Well the real twist to my tort was that I used chocolate graham cracker crumbs instead of the traditional honey grahams. I put ½ the box in to a plastic bag, beat the living crap out of it with my rolling pin, and then used a fork and two egg whites to make it moist enough to fit to the pie plate. I then baked it for 10 minutes at 350. While that cooled, I blended two egg yokes (the ones left over) in with one 14oz can of fat free sweetened condensed milk and a ½ cup of key lime juice. Then I poured that in to the crust and baked for 15 more minutes at 350. I like to let this cool for at least 4-5 hours before serving. To top off my tort I cut up strawberries and coat them in a teaspoon of sugar (get the juices flowing) and let them sit until right before I serve the tort. Then at the moment of truth, I put the strawberries over the top of the tort, with a few lime wedges and present it to the table.

Over all it was a wonderful dinner, the guests ranted and raved and we had a smashing time. But, how did I do it for $40?

• Pork: $5.50
• Bacon: $3.00
• BBQ sauce: $2.00
• Beer: keep on hand
• Green Beans: $4.00
• Soy: keep on hand
• Sesame seeds: keep on hand
• Baby Reds: $3.00
• Pure Irish Butter: $4.00
• Onion: $0.50
• Garlic: keep on hand
• Chocolate Graham Crackers $1.50
• Key Lime Juice: $3.00
• Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk: $0.75
• Eggs: keep on hand
• Strawberries: $2.50
• Sugar: keep on hand
• Filet of Salmon for the vegetarian: $6.00

Grand total: $35.75

PS: With the left over money I got a nice bouquet of flowers for the table!