How to Cook a Prom Dinner that Will Impress Your Date

Appetizer: Mushrooms Neptune

Entrée: Pork Schnitzel with Potato Wedges

Beverage: Pellegrino & Apple Juice or Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse

Serves four people

Beverage Pairing

San Pellegrino sparkling water mixed with apple juice, equal parts. Or, if your parents are more liberal and allow moderate, supervised under-age drinking, and you're not driving, the German wheat beer, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, is highly recommended. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/142/1946/

You can learn how to properly pour Franziskaner from this YouTube video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDc2jGJi2d0&feature=related

Mushrooms Neptune

Ingredients:

8 ounces of softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons of sour cream
¼ cup grated Swiss cheese
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 cup cooked shrimp, finely diced
1 cup imitation crab, finely diced
1/3 cup green onion, chopped
36 mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed (the stems can be sautéed and used in the schnitzel sauce)

Instructions:

1. Combine all 8 ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and blend together. A hand mixer or food processor work the best, but a large wooden spoon and elbow grease will do the trick.

2. Fill the mushroom caps. You can put the filling into a plastic bag and cut one of the corners off to dispense it. A spoon works just as well. (This prep work could be done the day before so all you would need to do is bake them in the oven. Cover and store the appetizers in the refrigerator.)

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

6 small potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
1/3 cup of olive oil
Pam cooking spray
Seasonings (you can season with whatever you prefer. Recommended: season salt, dill, parsley, pepper)

Instructions:

1. Put the potato wedges in a medium mixing bowl or pot.

2. Pour the olive oil over them, stirring or mixing to cover all of the potatoes evenly.

3. Spay Pam onto a cooking sheet.

4. Place the wedges evenly in a single layer on the sheet.

5. Sprinkle with desired seasonings.

6. Bake at 375 degrees until the potatoes are brown.

7. Turn off oven, but leave them inside so they stay warm until ready to serve.

Pork Schnitzel

Ingredients:

4 boneless pork chops, ½ inch thick (roughly 1 pound total)
1/3 cup flour
1tablespoon fresh ground pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon paprika
3 tablespoons cooking oil
¾ cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons fresh chopped dill (1 teaspoon of dry dill will also work)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream (full fat)

Instructions:

1. Using a meat hammer, pound the pork cutlets to a thickness of ¼ to 1/8 of an inch. Cut small slits around the edges of the cutlets to prevent curling in the frying pan.

2. Set out three shallow bowls. The first one will contain a mixture of the flour, season salt and pepper. The second will have the milk and egg whisked together. In the third, mix together the bread crumbs and paprika.

3. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet on medium to medium high heat. Take each cutlet, one by one, and then dredge it first in the seasoned flour, then dip the cutlets in the egg mixture and finally into the bread crumb/paprika mixture, coating each one entirely. You may need to add a bit more oil for each batch.

4. Working in batches, sauté each cutlet for three to four minutes on each side. Remove the cutlet and place into the oven with the potatoes to keep warm until ready to serve.

5. Add the chicken stock into the skillet, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen the brown bits. In a small bowl mix the sour cream, salt and dill. Whisk the sour cream mixture into the chicken stock. Heat and stir until the mixture thickens, DO NOT BRING TO A BOIL.

Serve the cutlets with the potato wedges and sauce, garnish with a lemon slice.

Enjoy!