Neiman Marcus Chef

Helen Corbitt Cooks for Company
Copyright © 1974 by Helen Corbitt. All rights reserved
Illustrations by Suzanne Lubberly Street
Houghton Mifflin Company Boston
ISBN 0-395-18491-6
pages: 434

1. The book is broken out into different events, Mid-morning entertainment, Suppers, Luncheons, and everything in-between
2. Each chapter is then broken out within menus, and each menu is broken out within categories from expensive, less expensive, and inexpensive. 
3. Helen not only gives recipes but an informative narrative on entertaining. 
4. Helen’s poppy seed dressing is the one used at Neiman Marcus at which she was the Director of Food Services.
5. All the recipes are for events, so if you try them, you might want to either invite friends or scale down.

Oriental Roasted Chicken
2 cups soy sauce
¼ cup gin
3 tablespoons honey
8 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bunches scallions, chopped
3 tablespoons shredded ginger root
2 teaspoons salt
3 2 ½ pound roasting chickens or 4 1 ¾ pound
Mix all the ingredients and rub the chickens inside and out with some of the mixture; then pour rest of the marinade over the chickens. Cover and marinate several hours or overnight, but turn the chickens occasionally. If you like a lighter flavor, marinate 45 minutes. Roast at 350˚F for 1 hour or until the fleshy part of the leg feels soft. Or you may fry in vegetable oil as the Asians do. Disjoint and serve with any of the remaining hot marinade.
P.S. Don’t get up in the middle of the night to turn the chickens. Anytime in the morning will do.

Lasagne Verde Al Forno
Bolognese Sauce:
½ pound ground salt pork
1 ½ pounds ground top round of beef
½ pound ground lean veal
2 cups thinly sliced onion
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves
2 cups beef consommé
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
Few twists from pepper grinder
1 cup water
½ pound mushrooms, diced
2 chicken livers, diced
1 cup heavy cream
Pull salt pork into a deep skillet and fry until brown. Pour off the melted fat. Put in beef and veal, onions, carrots, celery and cloves. Brown over low heat. Add the consommé and cook until it evaporates. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper and water. Cover skillet and cook at low heat for 1 hour. Add mushrooms and chicken livers and cook 15 minutes longer. Just before assembling lasagna add cream and reheat.
Béchamel Sauce
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 cups chicken broth or milk
Salt and pepper
¼ heavy cream
Melt the butter. Add flour and cook until bubbly. Stir in onion and cook 1 minute. Pour in broth or milk, stirring constantly with a French whip until thickened. Season to taste. Add cream and simmer until thoroughly heated. Strain
Next:
1 pound spinach lasagna noodles or strips
2 cups grated parmesan cheese
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
Cook noodles in boiling salted water until just tender, but not soft. Drain, but do not wash. Place a layer in a shallow 3-quart oblong casserole. Cover with a layer of the meat sauce, then a layer of Béchamel, then grated cheese. Continue layering in the same order, ending with crated cheese on top. Bake in 375˚ oven until brown and bubbling. Let stand outside of oven 10 minutes before serving.

Eggplant Caviar
1 eggplant, medium size
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and cracked pepper
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
bake the eggplant at 400˚ for 30 minutes. Cook and peel. Chop fine and mix with onion, garlic, tomato, oil, vinegar and sugar. Season with salt and cracked pepper. Cover with chopped parsley and chill several hours. Serve with slices of dark rye bread or Lahvash- or on a thick slice of tomato as a salad.

Poppy Seed Dressing
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons onion juice
2 cups salad oil, not olive oil
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
Mix sugar, mustard, salt and vinegar. Add onion juice and stir in thoroughly. Slowly add oil, beating constantly, and continue to beat until thick. When you think the mixture is thick enough, beat 5 minutes longer. Add poppy seeds and beat for a few minutes. Store in a cool place or in the refrigerator, but not near the freezing coil.
this dressing is easier and better to make with an electric mixer of blender, using medium speed, but if your endurance is good you may make it by hand with a rotary beater. The onion juice is obtained by grating a large white onion on the fine side of a grater, or putting a medium onion in an electric blender, then straining. (prepare to weep in either case). If the dressing separates, pour off the clear part and beat again, adding the poppy seed mixture slowly, but it will not separate unless it becomes too cold or too hot.

Chinese Chews
This cookie has many names and when I serve them they disappear like magic. Here is the often-requested recipe.
1 cup butter (1/2 pound)
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cups flour
Mix and spread evenly over a 8×12 inch pan (approximately). Bake at 350˚F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Mix together:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup flour
3 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup Angelflake coconut
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
Spread on baked layer. Bake at 325˚ for 35 to 40 minutes or until cookie is firm. Dribble over top while cookie is warm:
1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon orange juice and ½ teaspoon orange rind. When cold, cut in fingers.