There's more to all-purpose cream than ref cakes and milkshakes. You can use it in savory cooking, too—think sauces and soups, dishes with heaps of cheese, pretty much anything you’d describe as “creamy”.
For Father’s Day, we drew up a short but sweet menu that will make any dad feel special:
- Classic Wedge Salad
- Ribeye Steak with Creamy Truffle Pan Sauce
- Garlic-Infused Cream Pasta with Parmesan
Nestlé All-Purpose Cream makes an appearance in all three dishes. It pairs particularly well with earthy ingredients like truffle and cheese—both fancy ingredients that are shorthand for a celebration. Splurge on the good stuff, if you can!
Classic Wedge Salad
Sturdy greens can hold cream-based salad dressings without getting soggy. In a wedge salad, a quarters of iceberg lettuce form cool, crisp cradles for blue cheese dressing. Dig into it with a fork and knife, like a steak.
Ingredients
Salad Dressing
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ⅛ cup Nestlé All-Purpose Cream, at room temperature
- 1 ½ tbsp blue cheese or gorgonzola
- ½ tbsp mayonnaise, preferably Japanese
- ½ tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste
- 1–1 ½ tsp hot sauce
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
Wedge Salad
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ⅓ cup chopped picnic bacon, in ½-inch pieces
- 1 large head iceberg lettuce, cored & halved into wedges
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ⅛ cup toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish
- dill sprigs, for garnish
- ½ tbsp fresh lemon juice, for garnish
Make dressing: Combine sour cream, Nestlé All-Purpose Cream, blue cheese, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Whisk until mixture is smooth and homogenous. Season with hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper; whisk again to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired with more lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Prepare tomatoes: Add cherry tomatoes to a bowl. Season with salt and let sit for 5 minutes. Discard excess juices and set aside until ready to serve.
Cook bacon: Heat pan over medium heat. Add bacon and sear until lightly golden on all sides. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to blot the excess fat off. Set aside until cool and crispy.
Prepare and serve salad: Get your serving plate. Using a spoon, dress the bottom of the plate with salad dressing, moving in a circular motion. Arrange the lettuce wedges, curved side down, on the plate. Season each wedge with salt and pepper. Drizzle more dressing over the lettuce wedges, working into the crevices between the leaves. Finish with crispy bacon, toasted sesame, cherry tomatoes, dill, and lemon juice. Season one last time with pepper before serving.
Ribeye Steak with Creamy Truffle Pan Sauce
Three reminders: Season your ribeye well. Preheat your pan; once the steak touches the oiled pan, it needs to sizzle, not steam. And rest your steak before slicing!
Ingredients
Ribeye Steak
- 1 ribeye steak, 1- to 1 ½-inch thick
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
- flaky sea salt, for serving
Creamy Truffle Pan Sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup finely chopped white onions or shallots
- 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- ¼ cup beef stock or water
- ½ cup Nestlé All-Purpose Cream
- ¼ tsp truffle oil
- finely chopped parsley
Prepare steak: Let steak sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour before searing. Pat the steak dry with paper towels, then heavily season all over with salt and pepper.
Cook steak: Heat a stainless steel or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add neutral oil to the skillet and swirl to coat the bottom fully. When hot, add steak to the pan using tongs. Cook until underside has formed a deep golden brown crust, about 2 minutes.
Flip the steak and add smashed garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs, and 1 ½ tbsp butter. Cook until the second side is deeply golden brown, carefully tilting the pan towards you to baste the steak with butter every 30 seconds, another 2 minutes. If you have a thermometer (for cooking steak, you should!), aim for 130°F at the center of the steak.
Remove pan from heat and transfer steak to a cutting board to rest, at least 5–10 minutes. Let pan cool for about 3–5 minutes before making the pan sauce.
Make pan sauce: Remove excess fat from the pan until you have 1–2 tbsp fat behind. (Do not remove the brown bits at the bottom.)
Place pan over medium-low heat. Add butter, chopped onions, and diced garlic. Cook until onions are translucent and fragrant. Deglaze the pan with beef stock or water, scraping the bottom of the pan to release all the fond. Add Nestlé All-Purpose Cream and whisk until sauce has emulsified. Season with salt and just a bit of pepper. Remove pan from heat, then add truffle oil and some parsley. Whisk to combine.
Serve: Slice steak against the grain, about ½-inch thick. Arrange steak on a plate, garnish with flaky sea salt, and serve with creamy truffle sauce—either on the side or over the steak.
Garlic-Infused Cream Pasta with Parmesan
Steep garlic, anchovies, and a fresh lemon rind (like tea!) in warm Nestlé All-Purpose Cream. Get a fresh block of Parmesan cheese and grate it as finely as you can, using a Microplane or your box grater’s side with the smallest holes. Finely grated cheese will melt more smoothly into the simmering cream.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup Nestlé All-Purpose Cream
- 3–4 anchovy fillets
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- ½ bunch parsley, stems and leave separated, leaves finely chopped
- 200g uncooked long pasta, like spaghetti or pappardelle
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- ¼–½ cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- salt and pepper, to taste
Prepare lemon: Using a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife, get a 1-inch thick strip of lemon peel from the lemon. Next, use a Microplane or fine grater to get half a lemon’s worth of fine lemon zest. Last: Slice the lemon into two, and juice one half. You’ll end up with lemon three ways: peel, zest, and juice.
Make sauce: Combine lemon peel, Nestlé All-Purpose Cream, anchovy fillets, garlic cloves, and parsley stems in a small saucepan over medium heat. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the cream mixture reaches a gentle simmer, remove pan from heat, cover, and leave cream to infuse for 10 minutes.
Uncover pan and discard parsley stems. Using a fork, mash the garlic cloves and anchovies into the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt or pepper. Set aside.
Cook pasta: In a pot of heavily salted boiling water, cook spaghetti to al dente, or 3 minutes less from the box instructions. Save ½ cup pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.
Toss pasta in sauce: Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add cream mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer. Add cooked pasta and ¼ cup pasta water. Begin to vigorously stir the pasta with tongs, mixing until the sauce emulsifies and coats the pasta. Add Parmigiano Reggiano, stirring constantly to emulsify the cheese, 2 minutes. If the pasta still looks dry, add small splashes of pasta water at a time. Finish with lemon juice, lemon zest, and chopped parsley leaves. Stir 1 more minute, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed, then serve immediately.
