A Rotarian For Dinner

Paul and his wife Pat 

are from Colorado -- Colorado Springs to be exact

They're going on the same cruise next year as we are 

and that's how we got acquainted with them.

Cruise Critic!

Paul is a Rotarian and he and Husband Jim "connected"

Paul emailed and was driving through our part of the

prairie and wondered if we would be free for dinner Sunday night.

They would take us out, his email said.

So we said okay to Paul

That we would be happy to have them stop by

He, however, doesn't know our little town on the prairie

There isn't much open on Sunday night here

but Mexican, Chinese and Fast Food.

Husband Jim and I, however, knew that dinner would be at Linderhof.

A casual table in the dining room for an early Sunday evening dinner.

In the dining room

A casual dinner

The sunflower is our State flower

With garden sunflowers for a centerpiece

A gift from the birds

We served family style so left plenty of room for the bowl, casserole and platter.

With four in the dining room we like to sit two by two

With our blue and white transfer ware, a Williams Sonoma Provencal tablecloth and green napkins

Dinner?

There can never be too many ribs.    We always serve them "bare" and let people sauce there own.

A big platter of ribs smoked by Husband Jim

A recipe from Daughter Sarah and both she and I vary the cheese -- this night I made them
with Pepper Jack and a sprinkle of Cheddar on top.

A casserole of cheesy grits made by me!

(for we like either crispy fried or soft, creamy and cheese with ribs)

I love individual desserts -- everyone gets a whole one!

And individual apple tarts topped with cinnamon and Calvados flavored whipped cream.

INDIVIDUAL APPLE TARTS

Pastry:

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1 stick cold butter, cut into cubes

2 T sugar

1 egg yolk

2 to 3 T. very cold water

In large bowl mix together flour, sugar and salt.   Using your hand or pastry cutter, rub the cold butter into the flour until it resembles coarse cornmeal or breadcrumbs (I used my food processor).

Add in egg yolk and cold water and mix until dough comes together (again I used the food processor).   Form it into a disk and chill the dough for an hour before using.

FOR THE APPLE FILLING:

4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and slice thinly

4 T. brown sugar (more if you like sweeter)

1 T. butter

1 t. cinnamon

1 egg beaten

In a pan, warm up butter and add in the apple and sugar.    Cook until the apple soften and juice reduced.    Turn off heat and add in cinnamon.   Let it cool.

Grease tart molds with some butter.   Roll out the pastry to about 1/8 inch and line the pastry into the tart pan.

Put the filling into the tart pan and cover the top with the balance of the pastry.

Brush the top with beaten egg and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 45 minutes or until golden.

It's Thursday and I'm sharing my Sunday Dinner with Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish.