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!

Grandma

Over the summer my family and I had the opportunity to get to know a fantastic family from Utah while their father is stationed here for work. What a blessing it was to meet and get to know them. All of their children are fantastic and Lance and Tiffany are wonderful people. Their youngest took to calling my mom "grandma"...I jokingly asked if that meant I was off the hook for having grand kids. Towards the end of the summer we went downtown to take a few pictures in front of the monuments. It was a hot day (as it gets that way in DC in the middle of August) but the kids pulled through.

More Photos from the Market

It's not often that I make my way downtown to the Dupont Circle market but it is always a good time when I do go...

Let the Holiday's Begin

With family coming into town on Tuesday I try to have a few dishes ready and waiting to pop in the oven for dinner Tuesday and Wednesday night. Yesterday morning I visited the farmers market with my mom it was a nice morning spending time with her and shopping for the week (well we did some shopping for ourselves as well). So to start things off I made some potato and leek soup...due to the fact that I have 100 pounds of potatoes in my guest bedroom-that is a whole other story. I used a recipe from cooks illustrated, it's not my favorite I think I may need to add more leeks, so another batch of it will need to be made to mix with the current batch.
This morning I made sour cream blueberry muffins (found in this months food and wine magazine), it's a great recipe, I think I will jazz it up a bit with more lemon zest and possibly change the crumble topping but the muffin itself was great. This afternoon I made a lasagna (with homemade sauce of course) and if I can find more motivation I will get the start of a chicken pot pie going, or we'll just have lasagna two nights in a row. I plan to make some sort of apple tart for dessert to have both evenings as well.

Visions of Summer

Over the summer I try my best to shop at the farmers market as much as possible. Not that I don't shop there during the winter, but the summer market is full of color and variety and it's beautiful. I also had the opportunity to belong to a CSA this year (community supported agriculture). This was an awesome experience and I often went out to our farm for a little extra picking and relaxing with my dear friend Sallie. We took her dogs (who were in dogie heaven) and always had a fabulous time at the farm, followed by a relaxing couple of hours at the vineyard across the street. The view was amazing from the vineyard, the people there were great, and we were even allowed to bring our own picnic. I also took my mom out to the farm, and other friends...below are some photos from the market and the farm. Fall is by far my favorite season of the year, but it is rather bitter sweet as the fresh fruits and vegetables of summer begin to fade away.

World's Best Potatoes

Ok, we've all had wonderful mashed potatoes. But this takes mashed potatoes to a whole new level. These are the fluffiest, smoothest, mashed potatoes you will ever eat. I learned how to make these potatoes in school, (we had an entire night devoted to potatoes...it was heaven). Our teacher discussed the scientific aspects of this recipe, but I know I won't repeat them correctly, so visit Cooks Illustrated, they recently ran an article about potatoes made the same way and it explains all about the starch and the effects of cutting the potatoes up verses boiling whole, etc. There are a couple of key things that you MUST do in this recipe. Otherwise you will not get the same results, I promise it's worth it in the end.

Now I'm not a big fan of having lots of kitchen "toys" so to speak. I have the basics (kitchen aide, dutch oven, etc) and I buy the good ones so they last (I see them as tools). So when my teacher pulled out a potato ricer in class I thought I can make these in my kitchen aide and have the same results...that was a big fat fantasy, AND don't buy a cheap ricer-they're just that-cheap. A ricer can be found at any basic kitchen store, and run about $50, but if you buy a good one, you shouldn't need a new one for years.

I use heavy cream and European butter (which you can find at whole foods and trader joe's-not cheap but worth it for this recipe). So yes they are loaded in fat...but oh so worth it for special occasions.

To start, peel and rinse desired amount of potatoes. Place WHOLE, peeled potatoes into cold water with a few teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until they are fork tender.
(this is one of those key things-you must start with cold water, and don't cut the potatoes, you squish the starch when you do that)


Once the potatoes are cooked, press each one through a ricer into a heat proof boil placed over a pot of simmering water, otherwise known as a bain-marie (I just stick it on top of the pot I used to boil the potatoes in)

The amount of butter and cream you use will depend on how many potatoes you're fixing. But I add few tablespoons of butter first, gently folding them into the potatoes. Once the butter is melted add a few tablespoons of heavy cream a little at a time, again gently folding them in. Finish with salt and pepper to taste. If you prefer a more buttery taste add more butter, but I always add the butter first and allow it to melt into the potatoes before adding the cream.

You can keep the potatoes warm covered on the stove in the bain-marie until you're ready to serve them. You may need to add a touch of cream if they've been sitting a little while and give them a quick stir.

ENJOY!

Highlights from Easter

Here's a couple of recipes that I cooked Easter Sunday. I love to try new recipes at holiday dinners, and fortunately my mom and our dear friend (who is a regular at our family gatherings) are open to trying new things. My dad on the other hand...well lets just say if it has any nutritional value he won't touch it. (often times I will put something on his plate to try...and it will still be there at the end of dinner...oh well)

So here were two highlights from dinner.

Braised Fennel

Now before you turn your nose up at the fennel, know that this changes its taste completely! For those of you who don't know what fennel is it has an anise (licorice) flavor to it. But this is a very simple recipe and it's delicious! Great addition to any dinner as it pairs well with most dishes and is something a little different.

One fennel bulb-top and core removed
you can either slice it in thick slices or quarter the bulb
olive oil
butter
about a teaspoon of honey
about a half a cup of balsamic vinegar (use good balsamic vinegar)
about a half a cup of chicken stock
salt and pepper

Heat about a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and butter in saute pan over medium high heat. Add the fennel and saute for a few minutes until the fennel has soften somewhat. Add the honey and balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt. Continue sauteing until the fennel has soften even more, add chicken stock, bring to boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until the fennel is very tender, add more chicken stock if more cooking liquid is needed. Finish with salt and pepper.


Baked Corn

One box of corn break mix
(I prefer Trader Joe's corn bread mix, but Jiffy will work as well)
One can of creamed corn
One can of whole kernel corn (drained well)
cup of sour cream
stick of melted butter
one egg lightly beaten
3/4 cup of milk

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, pour into baking dish and bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Pantry Staples

Here's a list of things that I always have on hand to cook with...(I'll probably update this a few more times)



*Olive oil

*grape seed oil

*balsamic vinegar (both white and the regular kind-both of which you can find at Trader Joes reasonably priced)

*garlic

*onions

*chicken stock (homemade and store bought)

*Parmesan cheese

*various grains (basmati rice, brown rice, wheat berries, risotto, etc.)

*various pastas (couscous, penne, bow tie, etc. Trader Joe's has a wonderful Couscous blend that has other grains added to it as well, it has a wonderful nutty flavor)

*canned tomatoes

*tomato paste (best to buy the kind in a tube, which you can find sometimes at Trader Joe's)

*potatoes (I usually have red potatoes and sweet potatoes on hand)

*frozen spinach

*capers

*eggs

*fresh herbs (typically basil and parsley)

*canned tuna fish (packed in olive oil)

*red and white wine to cook with (never cook with a wine you wouldn't want to drink)

Chicken Soup

The first time I officially catered a party...and got paid to do it, I came home with TONS of left over chicken parts and an entire Ziploc gallon bag of veggies (squash, zucchini, green beans) The next day was one of those cold rainy winter days where leaving the house seems like a very bad idea. With all this leftover chicken and veggies I'd decided to make some soup and share some with my neighbor above me. A few weeks prior he'd stopped me on my way out to work to apologize about all the noise he'd created that morning, (around 5am I heard tons of footsteps and what sounded like dropping heavy objects). He explained to me that his mother had just been diagnosed with cancer and was moving in with him. Half way through cooking this my power went out...for five hours! So I finished the soup by candlelight and my neighbor was very grateful not to have to attempt to cook in the dark. (thank goodness for my gas stove)

This is truly one of those recipes where I just through some stuff in the pot, tasted, added some more stuff etc.

Find the biggest pot you have, if you're going to make this it's worth making a lot at one time and you can freeze the base (the broth, chicken, spices) and add veggies and stuff later.


Start by sauteing (sauteing is when you cook something quickly at a high heat for a short period of time...sweating is when you cook something at a low heat for a long period of time) a finely diced onion and one or two carrots in a little olive oil. I used one clove of minced garlic which I added to the onions after they became clear (you can omit the garlic if you'd like). Then I added the chicken (cubed and skin removed) and let it saute just for a minute or so. After which add enough broth to completely cover the chicken with about 3 inches of broth sitting on top of it. (this will vary on your pot, and the amount your making but you get the idea).

If you want to freeze some of this, this is the point where you stop.

I then add a couple of herbs, whole thyme, a bay leaf, what ever you'd like. I let the broth and chicken simmer for a while so that the flavors can develop...about 30-60 min. No real time frame here. When you're ready you can add the rest of the veggies...squash, zucchini, green beans, really anything you have lying around. This is also the point where you can add pasta or couscous. I personally prefer to use an Israeli couscous mix that I get at Trader Joe's that has other grains in it as well. I like to add veggies and pasta right before I plan to serve because I like them to still have texture. Before serving remove the thyme and bay leaf. Salt and Pepper to taste.

If you add the veggies and pasta prior to freezing it, when they thaw everything will be rather mushy.

You can mix things up a bit and add a can of diced tomatoes and finish the dish off with some Parmesan cheese for an Italian twist.

I always use homemade broth when I'm making soup, there's a BIG difference in flavor. However if you're going to buy broth I recommend Swanson's All Natural Organic low sodium chicken broth. (yes the all natural organic tastes different...seriously)

Favorite Dinner Party

The following recipe is one of my all time things to make for a dinner party. It's easy and delicious and only requires a few ingredients. It does require a little advanced planning as it's best to make the sauce part in the morning and let it sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours. Serve with warm crusty bread, and a beautiful fresh salad and dinner is served.

Helpful hints:
To remove the rind from the wheel of brie it's best to put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or until it's firm so you can slice it off, and cut up the brie. Buy good brie, triple creme if you can find it. It's a little more expensive than the double creme but well worth it.

I love garlic, it's easy to want to add more than 3 cloves to this recipe...don't. The sauce doesn't actually "cook", so the garlic stays very potent; 3 cloves is plenty-use 2 if you're not a huge garlic fan. (speaking from experience here on this one...)

You must use vine ripe tomatoes or very fresh tomatoes from a garden or farmers market to even be worth making this dish. Same for basil. Because there are so few ingredients, you need to use the freshest you can find. Those tomatoes you find in the grocery store that are hard as rocks will not cut it for this dish; even if you let them ripen. (please don't try with canned tomatoes)

The easiest way to cut basil is to stack up the leaves, roll them up into a roll, and slice across the roll. You'll end up with thin slices that are perfect. For those of you interested-this is called a julienne.

This recipe is easy to halve for 2 people and have some for lunch the next day. It's actually better the next day as the sauces flavors have come together even more and it's soaked into pasta (if you've over cooked the pasta you may be able to get away with serving it that night, but with the leftovers you'll notice that it's become very mushy)

Brie Pasta (serves about 4-6)
1 lb of Brie (rind removed and cut into cubes)
3-4 medium tomatoes diced (or as much or little as you'd like)
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
good handful of fresh basil leaves sliced into thin strips
olive oil

pound of linguine

salt and pepper to taste

Combine the brie, diced tomatoes, garlic basil leaves in a bowl and toss gently. Pour about 1/2 cup of olive oil on top, sprinkle with a little salt, and let this sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours. Don't worry the brie will be fine, and it won't come together if you try and refrigerate it.

When you're ready for dinner boil a very large pot of salted water. Cook the pasta until it's almost done, it should still have some bit to it and it will cook further when you finish up the dish. Before you drain the pasta save about a cup of the cooking water...this will come in handy. After draining the pasta return it to the pot and pour the brie mixture on top, the heat from the pasta will start to melt the cheese. Add the saved pasta water as needed to thin the sauce enough to melt and coat the linguine. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

That's it! Dinner is served.

I first had this dish one summer while at the beach. A family I babysat for in high school used to take me to the outter banks every summer. Their mother was a wonderful cook, and it was the family tradition that she would make this the first night we were there. She'd make the sauce as her husband was packing the car the morning we left, and by the time we got down there and settled it was the perfect dinner. I know that she got this recipe from a cookbook that was complied by a restaurant, but I have no idea what the cookbook was. I stopped using the recipe years ago.

Last year while in Germany, Brian and I decided that each of us would cook dinner one night for the family that we stayed with. Brian being the expert chef that he is said that they would not like this dish, that they don't eat food like this, that not every one is a "food snob" like me, blah blah blah. I said fine then I'll roast a couple chickens to serve with it, and if they don't like it then they can just eat chicken. I'm not even sure if I had real Brie...I could not find a translation and I just picked what looked to be the closest thing to Brie out of the cheese case at...of all places WalMart. Anyhow everyone enjoyed dinner and ate it so I figured it couldn't have been that bad. About a week after we returned to the states my phone rang at 6:15 on a Saturday morning. It was our host calling for the recipe. I stopped listening to Brian about what he thought people would or would not eat at my dinner parties after that.

It's about time!

So I am constantly on the hunt for fabulous recipes, as many of you know. So I decided it's about time I started a recipe blog.

Here's a brief overview of how it all began...

About 10 years ago I started working for a family as a nanny who had me cook for them every night of the week. Now I never minded cooking in the past, and for the most part enjoyed it somewhat, particularly when I had people to cook for. But the thought of having to be creative 5 nights a week for a family of 4 terrified me. Being the perfectionist that I am I started pouring over cookbooks, magazines, etc. They in turn, started giving me recipes out of Bon Appetite to cook for them. Now most recipes are not that difficult in Bon Appetite, however as a novice they are a little overwhelming. No worries though because I was practicing ALL the time.

Fast forward a few years and my love of cooking was increasing all the time. I was no longer a nanny and was looking to fill the void of cooking for people so some friends and I started a "supper club". I was never more excited about planning menus. I was free to cook just about anything I wanted on my designated night and was loving every minute of it.

Shortly after our "supper club" split up I started dating a chef. Never have I been so terrified to cook for someone. It took me about 3 month to work up the courage to cook dinner for us one night and the entire time I kept asking him "is it ok?!". Everyone thought how perfect that I'd met someone who was a chef, wasn't it great to have someone to cook for you they all said. WRONG, chef's do not cook when they get home. CHEF's make hot pockets and sloppy joes out of a can for dinner (or rather at least this chef did...however I discovered that this is not uncommon amongst chefs)

So as our relationship developed my cooking skills DRASTICALLY improved. I am,, a perfectionist and would not be ok with serving something to him that was anything less than delicious. Through this my love of cooking blossomed even more and I contemplated with the idea of going to culinary school. This however is practically impossible if you need to also have a job to pay bills. Culinary school is full time for a year, so you can see how this would interfere with a job to pay bills. So to find a happy medium I decided I'd take a 22 week course at a local culinary school. We started with the basics and covered everything. I will hopefully find the time to write a week by week synopsis of my class and share a couple of the recipes that we went over in school.

I am probably one of very few people who love to sit down and actually read recipes. Don't ask, I don't know where this came from but I can read a cookbook like a novel and enjoy it. So here's what you can expect from my blog; although I warn you now, all of you looking for precise recipes...you may want to look elsewhere. I am the type of person who uses a little of this and a little of that. Of course there are precise cooking methods that I will do my best to share (I am no where near being a pro at this). But I usually take a recipe read through it, and cook it without looking at it again. Sometimes I forget things, sometimes I add things, sometimes I completely alter things. Consequently you will probably see the measurements for the basic ingredients with a little of this and a little of that to add. Occasionally I will post my favorite recipes (or where to find them).

Happy cooking!