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Chef Greg shared the perfect make at home recipe for Mothers day because Dad can work his magic grilling the lamb while the kids prepare the “salsa “ to accompany the lamb. Serve this delicious lamb with some sautéed baby spinach, roast potatoes with fresh oregano and garlic and a loaf of crusty calamata olive bread and you are sure to make points with your wife.

Char grilled rack of lamb with golden raisin , mint and pine nut “salsa”

Recipe by: Chef Greg Ziegenfuss
Lamb:

• 3 racks of lamb, 8 bone  racks, 1.5 pounds each “frenched” by your butcher
• 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
• Zest and juice of 8 lemons
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 medium yellow onion fine diced
• 2 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoon sea salt
• I Tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients except the lamb in a mixing bowl. Place the lamb in a non reactive dish and pour the marinade over. Allow to marinate over night refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator one hour before planning on grilling. Grill over a hot charcoal fire turning often so not to burn for approximately 20 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 125 degrees. Allow to rest for ten minutes , carve and serve with the golden raisin “salsa” (recipe follows)

Golden Raisin, mint and pine nut salsa:

• 1 cup fresh mint leaves chiffonade
• ½ cup golden raisins rehydrated 1 cup apple juice and 1 cup dry white wine heated to a boil and allow to rest for 10 minutes
• ½ cup toasted pine nuts
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

In a small bowl combine all ingredients , season to taste with salt and pepper. Can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Allow to come to room temperature for an hour before serving.

Parmesan Spring Rolls

By: Executive Chef Greg Ziegenfuss

(User note, at Butlers Pantry we make our own pastry for this “spring roll.” For the sake of ease I am suggesting using pre-made frozen puff pastry dough.)

• Ingredients:

• 12 ea. fresh spears of asparagus, blanched and trimmed to 5 inches

• 12 ea.  5inch by 2inch pieces of thawed puff pastry dough

• 1.5 cups shredded parmesan cheese

• Egg wash

Steps:
1. Egg wash each piece of puff pastry, lay one asparagus on each piece of dough.

2. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese and roll up like rolling a cigar.

3. Repeat with all pastry and asparagus.

4. Egg wash the outside of each spring roll and again sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese.

5. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven until browned and crisp, approx. 10 – 15 minutes depending on your oven.

6. Cut in half and serve immediately. Serve with your favorite aioli

Note: May be made up to 6 hours in advance and reheated for service.

Q • I would like the recipe for the Moroccan Pasta Salad served at Café Madeleine at the Piper Palm House on Mother’s Day last year. It has bowtie pasta, green olives and dried fruit; the dressing is outstanding. — Lea Ann Baker, Creve Coeur

A • The Piper Palm House’s tall, stately windows stream light onto a lush tropical garden. The building was once Henry Shaw’s greenhouse; it’s located in Tower Grove Park. Inside, Café Madeleine is open for special events and Sunday brunch where diners find made-to-order omelets, biscuits and gravy, and in-house smoked salmon; a selection of fresh salads; plus house-made pastries, including the restaurant’s signature sweet, shell-shaped French cookies called “madeleines.”

The salads vary from week to week, depending on what’s in season and what captures the chefs’ imaginations, says Greg Ziegenfuss, executive chef at Butler’s Pantry, the full-service catering company with exclusive arrangements for food preparation at the Piper Palm House plus other St. Louis venues such as Bixby’s at the Missouri History Museum and the just-restored Palladium St. Louis, once the laundry for City Hospital. In a typical January and February, Ziegenfuss says, salads might well feature local greens, beets and Brussels sprouts but in 2013, Café Madeleine will serve Moroccan Pasta Salad, along with other seasonal salads, each Sunday in January when it celebrates the restaurant’s 10th anniversary.

Moroccan Pasta Salad is savory, not sweet, with plenty of warm, not hot, spices and a balance of salty olives, sweet dried fruit and wet, crunchy vegetables. For home cooks who’d like to re-create the salad, Ziegenfuss offers a quick tip. Slice the onions as thinly as you can, then “cook” them in a little lemon juice before mixing with cooked pasta and other ingredients. “This makes the onion almost sweet, not sharp. You don’t want it to overpower.”

Moroccan Pasta Salad  Recipe

3 hours ago

Yield: 10-1/2 cups,

about 14 ¾-cup servings

1. Cook pasta. Bring water, salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, cool with cold water and while still warm, toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Let cool.

2. In a small bowl, “quick pickle” the onion by soaking in lemon juice and zest. Prep remaining pasta salad ingredients.

3. Make vinaigrette. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, garlic and spices. Slowly pour in olive oil, whisking all the time to emulsify.

4. Stir in cooked pasta, onion (including lemon juice and zest), peppers, olive, dried cherries and raisins. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

5. To allow flavors to meld, make salad 4 to 12 hours ahead of time. Just before serving, stir in fresh oregano.

Notes: Butler’s Pantry uses a picholine olive, a green olive used in cocktails. These can be difficult to find, a good substitute is a pimento-stuffed green olive.

• Look for dried tart cherries at Trader Joe’s or Global Foods in Kirkwood.

Per serving: 280 calories; 13g fat; 2g saturated fat; no cholesterol; 4g protein; 37g carbohydrate; 12g sugar; 4g fiber; 550mg sodium; 20mg calcium.

Recipe adapted for home kitchens by the Post-Dispatch.

Special Request: Moroccan Pasta Salad from Café Madeleine : Stltoday

A popular New Year’s Resolution is to get your personal budget under control.  Why not start a little early and begin your resolution while celebrating?  On the market today, there are many great bottles of bubbly that are around $20.00 or less.  Here is a list of sparkling wines hailing from wine growing regions from France to California:

Roederer Estate Brut (starting at $20) from California

Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut (starting at $13) from California

Freixenet Cordon Negro Extra Dry (starting at $9) from Spain

Lucien Albrecht Cremant d’Alsace Brut (starting at $16) from France

Nino Franco Rustico (starting at $12) from Italy

Naveran Brut Cava 2010 (starting at $13) from Spain

Mionetto Prosecco Brut (starting at $10) from Italy

Segura Viudas Brut Reserva (starting at $7) from Spain

Korbel Brut (starting at $10) from California

Gruet Brut Rosé (starting at $16) from New Mexico

*list provided by Shine on Yahoo.com 

To stretch these bottles a little further while making them more festive, set up a display of mixers in pretty bottles to create specialty bellinis and champagne cocktails.  At a recent event of ours, we used wintery flavors like mandarin orange and cranberry to dress up basic sparkling wine.  Interesting garnishes, like rock candy sticks or clementine sections takes the celebration one step further.

White Sparkling Cosmopolitan

2 oz sparkling wine

1 oz citron vodka

1/2 oz cointreau

splash of white or traditional cranberry juice

serve in champagne glass and garnish with a fresh cranberry skewer

Here’s to a Happy & Healthy 2013 from your friends at Butler’s Pantry!!!!!

Written by Cassidy Cleveland

When hosting a party, it’s not only important to have a good time; you also want to “wow” your guests. Butler’s Pantry Executive Chef Greg Ziegenfuss offers tips for creating party-perfect appetizers that will wow your guests and make you the life of the party.

1. Depending on the number of guests, prepare 2-3 appetizers
   from scratch, and purchase and assemble the rest. For example, purchase a
   delicious assortment of meats, cheeses, olives, tomatoes and crackers and use beautiful platters and bowls to serve them.
2. Prepare home-made items in advance whenever possible. Save the final reheating, plating and garnishing for right before guests arrive.
3. Roasted asparagus with honey-lime vinaigrette is an easy and fresh appetizer. Simply toss the asparagus in olive oil, lime juice, a pinch of sea salt and white pepper. Roast for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Make a honey-lime sauce by blending olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, honey, salt and pepper together. Drizzle the honey-lime sauce on top of asparagus. Serve chilled. This is a good appetizer to prepare in advance – simply add the dressing right before “show time.”
4. Think color. Place platters of colorful fruits around the serving table. Fresh sprigs of mint and fresh flowers make pretty garnishes, both on the platters and in small vases.
5. Serve one hot dish in a crock pot. Whether it’s spinach-artichoke dip or melt-in-your-mouth meatballs, serving one dish in the crock pot is always easy and everyone will know it’s homemade.
6. Don’t forget the beverages. Consider offering pitchers of a “signature” drink – pink lemonade (from scratch) for an outdoor event, or pitchers of adult drinks – martinis or Manhattans.
7. Everyone enjoys tempting desserts. To take the pressure off party day, either bake and freeze items in advance, or visit your favorite bakery the morning of the party and buy a selection of tasty treats. Make sure and set out a pot of hot coffee near the dessert station.

If thinking about hosting a party and preparing appetizers is too daunting, simply hire Butler’s Pantry and we’ll do it all for you. We’ll even clean up so you don’t have to lift a finger.

For more information, visit www.butlerspantry.com.

About Butler’s Pantry
Butler’s Pantry, a second-generation business founded in 1966, is a St. Louis food-service company that provides innovative and creative catering services for corporate functions, social and special events, and weddings of all sizes. Butler’s Pantry has provided catering services for some of the most notable St. Louis events, including the 2008 BMW Championship, the Mayor’s Ball, the visit of Pope John Paul II and the U. S. Senior Open. Butler’s Pantry presents their own premier event venue, Palladium Saint Louis. Located in Historic Lafayette Square, Palladium Saint Louis is a sophisticated space accommodating up to 700 people.

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ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – Butler`s Pantry Executive Chef Greg Ziegenfuss and Director of Visual Design Brian Blasingame have tips on how to host the perfect patio party. Learn how to how to ‘DIY’ at home with the perfect ingredients.

Sauce Magazine
June, 2012

Chef Greg will be on Show Me St. Louis Friday, May 25th at the 12 o’clock hour. He’ll be offering advice on how to plan the perfect graduation party. Don’t miss it!

Chef Greg with his featured chicken dish

Chef Greg and his chicken recipe were featured in The Best of the Bird section of this months Saint Louis Bride Magazine! See the sneak preview below…

Food-drink pairings add flair to parties

by Karen Deer

read full article here