Catching Up

Things have been really crazy. My "real job" hit it's busy season full force and catering picked up at the same time. Time to play catch up. Here's a few things I've been able to capture the last few months:

Once upon a time as a wedding photographer I gave all my brides a free baby shoot. One of my brides who had moved to San Diego was in town visiting her family and asked if I would come shoot her little one. Elizabeth is adorable and tolerated the shoot so well and it was great to see the Ihrig family again.

Here's a couple of dishes I served at a private party not long ago:

Supper Club

Last night was Supper Club with the Lehman's. Fortunately I am house sitting and we were able to take advantage of HUGE kitchen that I have available to me for the next week. (Joanie's kitchen is really not that small but this one is even bigger). We had lamp shanks, "risotto" style brown rice with asiago cheese and beet greens, as well as roasted beets and creme brulee for dessert. I do believe that creme brulee is one of those desserts that can be served after any meal and is just delicious.

Braised Lamb Shanks:

4 large lamb shanks
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 bottle of read wine
2 onions roughled chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic (can be left whole)
1 bay leaf
1 t. of fennel seeds
1 t. or chilli powder
1 oz of chocolate

salt and pepper

coat the bottom of a dutch oven with olive oil. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper and sear on high on all sides; remove from pan and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Sautee until onion starts to get soft, add the can of diced tomatoes; be sure to scrap up all the yummy brown bits that have formed on the bottom of the pan. Add the bottle of red wine and bring to boil; Let mixture boil for about 5 minutes, add the bay leaf, fennel seeds, chilli powder and return the lamb shanks to the pot. Put the lid on and place in an over for about 3 hours at 325;

After 3 hours remove the lamb shanks from the pan and drain the sauce through a sieve. Boil the sauce until it reduces to half it's volume and add 1 oz of chocolate. Pour sauce over lamb shanks and serve.

Morganne

A good friend of mine brought his daughter by to see me last week and we had a little impromptu photo shoot in my living room. She is such a happy baby, and cute as can be. I nicknamed her happy feet because when she laughs she kicks her feet really fast (and HARD)

Ronald McDonald House

A couple of weeks ago, my friends Sallie and Patrick joined me in cooking dinner at our local Ronald McDonald house. What a fun opportunity for us to give back doing something that we all love so much.

Of course because I had cooked it so many times in December already, and knew I could prepare enough to feed 20 in a relatively short period of time, we had French Bistro Chicken (see previous post), sauteed green beans with mushrooms, white wine and red pepper; and for dessert...dump cake...I know I know that's so unlike me, but when you're feeding 20, you just go with it. Plus dump cake tastes good.

Christmas/New Years

I am terrible at keeping this updated...But here's a recap (with photos!) on the holidays.

Christmas plans were derailed from NYC (pending ice storm) and relocated to my house, which was totally fine by me.

Christmas Eve eve, the Dupier's joined me for a lovely dinner (minus two of their family members) of French Bistro Chicken (made with canned tomatoes, shallots, red peppers, pancetta etc.) served over rice, roasted broccolini with red pepper, and a sort of pound cake trifle type thing. Sallie makes awesome pound cake, and I make pretty darn good creme anglaise and together it was fabulous. My favorite part of the evening was that Sallie and I exchanged gifts, we both gave each other kitchenware, I gave her a potato ricer (so she can make "crack taters") and she gave me a large cast iron skillet...

Christmas Eve, my parents and Anita (aka: mom2) came over to my house where we enjoyed the sauce I had made from the previous night over seared tuna steaks, and a chicken breast for dad. Anita made gingerbread cake, yum, and it was a lovely evening.

Christmas Day, my parents and mom2 joined me again. On the menu: honey baked ham, potato gratin, steamed green beans, roasted beets with goat cheese, sweet potatoes, gingerbread cake and pots de creme.

New Years Eve I was hired to cater a small party for 50. Sallie was my waitstaff and we, like always, had a blast. Sallie does an excellent job at quality control.

On the menu:
roasted fingerling potatoes, with smoked salmon, caviar, and a sprig of dill;
crab cake sliders with tarragon remoulade;
Mediterranean Mezze station with assorted vegetables, hummus, pita, baked olives with oranges and oregano, roasted beet puree;
sushi tuna stacks;
mojito chicken bites;

chocolate truffles; and assorted cookies!

Recipes:

French Bistro Chicken

4 bone in skin on chicken breasts (or 1 whole chicken broken down)
2 red bell peppers finely diced
6 oz of pancetta
1-2 shallots diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 large cans of diced tomatoes
olive oil
salt/pepper

*cut pancetta into small pieces and cook until crispy in a hot pan with some olive oil
*once the pancetta is crispy remove from pan
*in the same pan, sear the chicken on all sides until a nice golden crust is formed (sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper first)
*remove chicken from pan
*saute the diced shallots for 1-2 minutes until soft; add the garlic and cook just a minute; add the diced red peppers and cook until soft.
*return the chicken to the pan, add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and continue cooking until chicken is done.
*add salt and pepper to taste



Serve over rice; leftover sauce can be re-purposed on tuna steaks or frozen for future use.

Holiday Party!

So Friday evening I opened my house up to the procurement department from work and a select few from other departments. I was too busy entertaining guests and cooking food to take pictures but a good time was had and the menu was awesome if I do say so myself:

Honey Baked Ham (which is now currently being made into soup)
Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Potato Gratin (aka CRACK potatoes)
Baked Corn (AKA CRACK corn)
sweet potatoes (not my best but they were decent)
mixed greens salad with blue cheese, walnuts, pears and white balsamic reduction
chocolate fondue for dessert...soooooooooooo yum!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a success this year if I do say so myself. I had the fortunate opportunity to be house sitting in a house that has a HUGE kitchen which made my life much easier. We were joined by my aunt and uncle (who brought a fabulous free range turkey), dear friends Lance, Mary, Jason and Anita. The total head count was 9 (ten if you count the dog that I'm watching who partook in a few little turkey bites), I think my largest thanksgiving yet.

On the menu:

FRIED TURKEY (dad did all the work on this, although I prepped the bird)
mashed potatoes (also known as Crack Taters...)
sweet potatoes (mom makes really good sweet potatoes)
green beans
roasted beets
baked corn
rolls
stuffing
gravy
pumpkin cheesecake
pecan pie (Anita made a fantastic pecan pie)


We had to jerry rig the fryer but it was worth it, probably the best turkey yet.


Christmas decorations are going up, what a great time of year!