Sweet Blog O'Mine

Tag: cooking

  • Holiday Gift Guide o’ Mine

    I know, I know. It's a bit late in the game for a holiday gift guide, but hey — you can always save it for next year.

    – If you are in NYC and haven't been to Hearth or Terroir, you should. If you live elsewhere, make sure they are on your list for when you come to town.  Marco Canora, Paul Greico and their amazing team have created a mini-empire of high caliber but not high falutin' wine bars with food that's as high quality as the dishes they create at their mother ship restaurant. Whomever is the recipient of one of their gift certificates will be a happy camper. I guarantee it.

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    – I am not a big fan of heavily peated Scotches. I continue to taste them as I'm learning about Scotch generally, and I appreciate why others may like them, but they are not for me. My kind of Scotch is the Bowmore 15 Years Old "Darkest", balanced with a hint of smoke and prominent rich chocolate notes. It's finished in Oloroso sherry casks — probably another reason I like it. It retails for approximately $70.

    – On the complete opposite end of the booze spectrum, Lillet's newest iteration,  Lillet Rosé, is a perfect apéritif on it's own or serves as a lively fruity, floral and bright addition to a cocktail recipe. It retails for about $17.

    – Avuá Cachaça Amburana: This newly launched, small-batch cachaça is made by one of Brazil's few female distillers and is aged in Amburana wood (hence the name). The end result is a smooth spirit with sugarcane and vegetal notes, with a touch of spice, suitable for cocktails or sipping neat. It won't be available for a few more months, but it will retail for about $45.

    – And while you're shopping for cocktail ingredients, make sure you visit The Liquid Chef Junior Merino's newly launched online store, which is chock-full of bitters, aromatics, syrups, tools, and more. Having had the opportunity to test them out in the Liquid Lab, I'm a huge fan of his salts/sugars designed to rim cocktail glasses, adding a level of unique flavor to your personal libation creations — pasilla chile & cinnamon, hibiscus & rose, Hawaiian salt & saffron and more.

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    – For those more food-driven, I'd suggest two new books from bloggers that I've known for years: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook & The Amateur Gourmet's Secrets of the Best Chefs. Trust these people. I do.

    – For the pinot noir drinkers on your list, check out the David Family Wine Black List. This exclusive club gives you access to their  limited-release Black Label pinot noirs a full six to twelve months before anyone else (at a 20-30% discount, no less) plus a discount code that you can use for their full portfolio. Sounds like my kind of club.  There are limited slots available, and although there's no cost for membership, you must purchase three bottles per year to keep your place.

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    – Last, but by no means least, for your friends of the canine persuasion, Bocce's Bakery Biscuits uses organic local ingredients to create dog treats that sound so tempting you might try to steal them. Who wouldn't drool over truffle mac & cheese, beef bourignon, or the Elvis (peanut butter, bananas & bacon)? I know Moxie would. Although sometimes I feel like she deserves some lumps of coal (they've got those, too).

  • Brownies!

    This has been my go-to brownie recipe for well over 20 years. I originally copied it from the back of a package of Nestle Toll House morsels onto an index card, which I have long since lost, but the recipe has remained in my repertoire. They are simple, rich, easily tricked out to your liking, and always get rave reviews. You can thank me (and/or curse me) later.

    ¾ cup unsifted flour
    ¼ teaspoon baking soda
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    1⁄3 cup butter
    ¾ cup sugar
    2 tablespoons water
    1 (12 ounce) packages Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    2 eggs
    ½ cup nuts, chopped (optional)

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
    In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
    In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and water.
    Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.
    Add 6 ounces (1 cup) chocolate morsels and vanilla extract.
    Stir until morsels melt and mixture is smooth.
    Transfer to a large bowl (I often skip this step and just do it all in the saucepan).
    Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    Gradually blend in flour mixture.
    Stir in remaining 6 ounces (1 cup) of chocolate morsels and the nuts.
    Spread into a greased 9-inch square baking pan.
    Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
    Cool completely before cutting.

  • Life Skills

    I took an advanced knife skills class this weekend at The Brooklyn Kitchen. A few of the people to whom I mentioned it thought I was saying "life skills." As far as I'm concerned, they're one and the same. I've now fine-tuned my ability to break down a chicken and learned to fillet a fish — life skills, indeed.  Plus I have a cool new boning knife. Here's their demo for the chicken — learn it, save yourself some cash and make some chicken stock. 


  • Cooking Up A Storm

    Lobsters 
    I was supposed to go to Maine this past weekend, but was foiled by Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene. That said, I had serious lobster on the brain, and between that and Mark Bittman's timely piece on lobster in the Sunday NYT magazine, I decided that lobster bisque was just what I needed to make it through the storm. I stockpiled everything I needed, but as Saturday morning arrived, I realized I needed a tomato, so headed to my local natural foods market, where I picked up a bunch of tomatoes, corn, and an artichoke. As of about 2 p.m. on Saturday, after a workout, I hunkered down and started to cook, thinking that friends within walking distance might come over that night. After brunch (egg, Flying Pigs Farm bacon, skim latte), I made lobster stock from some shells I had in the freezer, cooked the two lobsters I had bought the night before, then proceeded to make bisque, corn and tomato salad, and a steamed artichoke. As I was taking out the garbage, I ran into my next door neighbors, and we arranged for an impromptu dinner party later that evening. In addition to the bisque, I whipped up some brownies (using my favorite recipe, but substituting some espresso-laced chocolate), and we feasted — Arturo's pizza;  tomato, corn, shallot & arugula salad; bisque and brownies.

    Day two of the storm seemed a little calmer, and true to our nature, my fellow New Yorkers were ansty from being inside all day and night on Saturday. Roopa, Karen, Enzo, Noel, Caroline & Kevin came over and we feasted on a hodgepodge of canned goods (pickled herring, anyone?), made Ramos Gin Fizzes and Bloody Marys/Red Snappers and a killer batch of fried rice, spearheaded by Noel. We followed that up with A Fish Called Wanda and truffle-parmesan popcorn. 

    Almost everyone I talked to ate and drank their way through the storm. Wonder if that's just a reflection of my friends and family or if people generally find it comforting?

  • Eat This: Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken with Ginger and Yogurt

    I'm going to let you in on a secret.  This recipe is dreadfully easy, relatively healthy (I skip the white rice and use brown basmati cooked with onions and Indian aromatics), and has received rave reviews every single time I've made it for company.  In fact, it's cooking away in my slow cooker while I'm at work today (thanks again for the slow cooker, Bill!). My gift to you: Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken with Ginger and Yogurt | Real Simple Recipes. Enjoy!

  • Next Year in Jerusalem!

    Seder plate

    Another successful Seder. Many thanks to Mom, Beth, John, Roopa and Scott for participating, and bringing wine and tasty goodies, including Russ & Daughters gefilte fish and homemade chopped duck liver. I have to say that this year's matzo ball soup was pretty damn killer. The freshly-made chicken stock didn't hurt! The Zuni Cafe roast chicken recipe and Cook's Illustrated slow cooker brisket recipe have yet to fail me, and the Chozen ice cream and a Slivovitz digestif capped off the evening nicely. If I can't make it to Jerusalem next year, my place will have to do.

  • A Boozy Taste of Summer

    Maraschino Cherries!

    What you see here is a jar of homemade Maraschino cherries — got the cherries at the Greenmarket last weekend and put them in to macerate on Monday morning.  Perhaps I'll taste them this weekend, but I'm sure they just get better with age.  Recipe from the New York Times:

    Time: 20 minutes, plus 2 days' macerating

    1 cup maraschino liqueur

    1 pint sour cherries, stemmed and pitted (or substitute one 24-ounce
    jar sour cherries in light syrup, drained).

    Bring maraschino liqueur to a simmer in a small pot. Turn off heat
    and add cherries. Let mixture cool, then store in a jar in refrigerator
    for at least 2 days before using, and up to several months.

    Yield: About 1 pint.

  • Preserving the Summer

    Plums

    I have had a crazy overload of peaches and plums over the past two weeks, and although I adore them, there's only so many of them I can eat before they go bad.  I've also been away on the weekend and super-busy during the week and haven't had time to bake or cook them up into something magnificent.  The solution?  The freezer.  I sliced them up and placed them on a sheet tray to freeze overnight, then sealed them in a plastic back, removing as much air as possible.  We'll see how they are in a few weeks or even a few months, when I need a taste of summer.