New Year's Eve 2012: Jazz, Drinks, and Hors D'Oeuvres

New Year's Eve 2011 was a night longed to recapture throughout the entire year following it; the first party I threw on my own. So as New Year's Eve 2012 (and my birthday) rolled around again I was excited to celebrate in style and aimed to match or top last year's Moroccan fête. The Moroccan bug had bitten me hard last year. There was no turning back once I'd set the menu - full of tagines and salads. I waffled a lot over this year’s theme but finally decided on “Jazz” and opted to serve only appetizers. The idea carried through tremendously well.

This year's party was in my new apartment, which is luckily a lot bigger than my old place . Throughout the course of the night almost everyone that had been invited, plus guests of theirs showed up! My home felt full and joyous, never crowded and stuffy. Everyone brought sparkling wines, and their own beverages of choice. A few of my friends even brought a signature cocktail - the Wild Hibiscus Royale made with whole hibiscus flowers in syrup, rose water, mint and topped with sparkling wine. Floral and bubbly - just my style! As the jazz music improvised and played on a full and vibrant menu was served.... 

To start, I decided I had to have a homemade vegetable platter – done in my style. The ladies of my family always make their own vegetable platters for parties; why pay someone to breakdown and arrange raw produce? My way includes: celery and carrots (never baby carrots), red pepper (no need for gassy green or other colors), cucumber spears (better than crinkle cut rounds), green beans (a favorite of my Aunt Maureen’s vegetable tray), and finally cauliflower (a different splash of color than broccoli and one of my favorite things to eat everyday). The arrangement was done by alternating the green selections amid the rainbow of colors around a dish of homemade (but admittedly rather flavorless) yogurt and herb dip:

Next was creating a fruit platter I’d want to see served at a party. In general I avoid fruit salads when I’m out and about in the world. So much melon! Damn filler fruit! My guests deserved a mix of luscious fresh and dried (it is winter, after all) fruits. Blood oranges made an appearance last year in the romaine and orange flower water salad so they were in, along with navel oranges. Grapes, watermelon, blueberries and strawberries are always party pleasers so they joined, too. Then I happily found cherries at Fairway so they made the cut and for dried fruit I chose apricots and cranberries. In all, it was the most colorful platter on the table:

For the main appetizers I went with a mix of hot and room temperature choices to make for easy timing throughout the evening. Last year’s planning happened quickly and organically way ahead of December 31st thanks to Paula Wolfert’s wonderful tome on Moroccan cuisine. Literally a few days before this year’s party I found myself scrambling for hors d’oeuvre ideas I could easily make without too much preparation. I hit the cookbooks hard and came out with a stellar mix of recipes from some of my go-to cookbook authors and a few creations of my own.

Cheryl Sternman Rule’s Ripe became one of my favorite cookbooks in the time it took me to get home on the 6 train from the IACP Book and Blog Festival this past April. I’d made her Watercress Butter over the summer and saw it spread on water crackers and being gobbled down by my guests. My predictions were spot on and full mouths questioned “mmm, what is this!?” The garlic and lemon laden appetizer was a total pleaser.

When You Can’t Stand the Heat but Want to be in The Kitchen…

If you’re anything like me when it comes to feeding yourself, you feel off balance if its been a while since you made a full blown meal, baked a batch of cookies for loved ones, or simply tried making something new. With this heat wave that’s been riding through Manhattan I’ve had a hard time mustering up energy to cook much of anything. Today I resolved to spend sometime at the counter making some recipes I’ve had on my mind for a while- neither of which required heat. I also noticed that many of my favorite cookbooks have a blurb from Ms. Alice Waters on their covers today while cooking from my library. First I made a trip to Fairway to gather supplies. I stocked up on things for making lunch during the week, lots of green things, ice cream, and a whole pound of coffee with the hope that I’ll find the nerve to let the beans cold-brew for 15 hours according to the recipe in this month’s Bon Appetit.

A few weeks ago I purchased watercress for the first time with the very good intention of trying out Cheryl Sternman Rule’s recipe from Ripe for watercress butter. Time passed, the greens wilted, tired and dried and no butter was made. The super green compound didn’t leave my mind when the first bunch went in the trash, though. I decided this would be a perfect hot-weather recipe to make and have on hand. Corn keeps showing up on my dinner plate demanding something more enticing than regular butter and salt so it seemed excellent timing to try Rule’s butter.

I softened my butter, cleaned then plucked away the thick stems of the watercress, peeled and roughly chopped some garlic, delicately measured out just enough honey, zested a lemon and whizzed it all together in my dear food processor. Some salt and pepper and a little tasting and recipe number one was done. I am happy to report the butter is as good as I imagined. I had a few done as the recipe calls for—on crackers, using Carr’s water crackers. These do indeed make for elegant appetizers I will gladly serve at parties in the future. I also tried it out on some toasted mini bagels I picked up at Fairway- so very delicious. If I swap this in for my regular salty French butter in the morning, will I be starting out my day healthier? I hope so! Cheryl also recommends tossing the leftover butter with hot pasta, potatoes or on bread. I’m thinking of combining it with my other recent love—soft-centered boiled eggs. So many possibilities! Just a note: when used with something hot the butter in the spread melts and heats up the watercress and turns the mixture dark green. The recipe can be found on page 226 of Ripe.

Ripe: The Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook of Your Dreams

A few months back someone Tweeted the book trailer for a breath-taking cookbook all about fruits and vegetables. The book was Ripe and the author Cheryl Sternman Rule with luscious photography by Paulette Phlipot. I immediately shared the trailer with my Twitter followers and exclaimed my excitement over this vegetarian cookbook that looked like it would put all other vegetarian cookbooks to shame. I'm happy to report my gut feeling about the book was spot on. 

Fortunately, both Cheryl and Paulette were at the IACP Book and Blog Festival so I was able to meet them and finally get my hands on the book. On my subway ride home I carefully turned each glossy, high-color page. Fruits and vegetables never looked so good. Cheryl's introduction is the perfect beginning. She explains that this, yes, is a vegetarian cookbook but that, no, she won't emphasize that fact throughout. Also, the book is not arranged by season, as many produce-forward books are. Instead the book is a rainbow of nature's bounty, organized by color and alphabetically by the names of the highlighted fruits and vegetables. There has even been discussion about fore-edge of the book since it creates a bright waterfall of color.  

Each item has a corresponding recipe: Butternut Squash - Red Curry Glazed Butternut Squash with Coconut Rice (page 76), Blueberries - Blueberry Nutmeg Cake (page 240), Mushrooms - Cremini Farro Hash with Poached Eggs (page 294). Cheryl gets to the essence of each main ingredient while giving tips for how to buy, store and generally prepare. In addition to the main recipe every item has a list of three "Simple Uses"- recipes without directions. I love this part of the book- half the time when I look through food magazines, cookbooks, or blogs I see photos and get ideas about what to make and rarely follow the given recipe if I have a sense of how to make it already. This amplifies the amount of recipes in the book from seventy-five up to three hundred. And isn't the main thing we're always trying to get more creative with in the kitchen our produce? 

So, I love this book. And I highly recommend you check it out in your book store and give in to the urge to run home with it, make a list, then run back out to the farmer's market. When I got off the subway I ducked off to Fairway on the way to scoop up a mix of produce to get started. I ended up making a few Chocolate Covered Strawberries (page 60) [a genius, fruit based lunchtime dessert during the work week] and marking the Polenta-Stuffed Chard with Bubbly Parmesean (page 222) for a later date. 

$5 Challenge and Melissa Clark's Genius Ratatouille

When I heard about the Slow Food USA $5 Challenge I immediately started thinking of what I might be able to make and what I could easily share with friends on September 17th. I knew whatever I made would be primarily vegetable based and that meat would probably not be included. Soups, salads, pastas and sandwiches all came to mind and then passed. When the October issue of Food & Wine arrived in my mailbox I flipped through it like I always do but was stopped short on Melissa Clark's "Speedy Ratatouille with Goat Cheese" because it looked so enticing I wanted to eat it off the page. At this point, it was less than a week away from the 17th and I realized how perfect ratatouille would be to for the $5 meal; all the vegetables it uses would be in season and at the market, I knew just who to buy goat cheese from at Union Square and a lovely locally made baguette would go great with the stew.   Also, since I wanted to picnic in the park, for serving, ratatouille would travel well and be easy to serve alfresco. I had found a winner! 

Saturday morning I headed to the Union Square Greenmarket in the crisp pre-autumn air to find all the ingredients I needed for the ratatouille. After dropping off my compost I tend to start out on the Saturday market by heading directly to Migliorelli for some zucchini, maybe some radishes or greens and then carry on. From Migliorelli I bought the eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, plum tomatoes, and basil. 

Next I made my way through the crowded market in search of those elusive red bell peppers. I found a good one at S&SO Produce Farms and the onions I needed, too. (And filled with the excitement of fall's onset I picked up a small acorn squash which got curried for dinner this week.) Next I needed some goat cheese so I headed straight for Patches of Star Dairy and picked up 4 oz. of lightly salted chèvre (which FYI is seriously amazing). At home I already had garlic that I probably bought from Paffenroth at Union Square and the only two non-local (but still pretty "slow") ingredients I used were olive oil I'd bought at Stew Leonard's and a lemon from Fairway Market. On my way home I picked up a baguette from Bread Alone at the East 82nd street greenmarket (they are at Union Square on Fridays). 

When it was time to start cooking I took everything out of the fridge and set out to do a complete mise-en-place. Melissa Clark's recipe is so wonderful because she cooks all the vegetables in shifts to keep them bright and fresh tasting and only at the end does everything stew together for about 15 minutes. So it was very important that I had everything set-up to go into the pot one at a time.  

Creamed Spinach Ravioli and Eating for Beginners Giveaway!

This past October I attended the New York Public Library event The Locavore's Dilemma where I met Melanie Rehak and bought her book "Eating for Beginners." As you may have read in the post about the event, I thoroughly enjoyed reading her book and taking an adventure through the food system with her. Today I am writing about Rehak's book again because I've been given the opportunity to giveaway TWO copies of "Eating for Beginners" that has freshly arrived in paperback form! Her publisher was kind enough to send me two copies to giveaway to you, my readers! I know any of you will relate to Rehak and enjoy her prose and story, as well. The book is also a mini cookbook with one or two recipes after most sections. For the giveaway, I thought it would be a fun idea to make one of her recipes in a wild and crazy way and share it here. 



In autumn I made the tasty, heavily buttered and baconed Brussels sprouts that were a discussion point at the NYPL event and they came out great (page 186). The other recipe that always stood out to me from her book was her "Lucky Dog Creamed Spinach" (page 14, you could say I have a thing for green leafy vegetables slathered in butter). All of the recipes have a fun title like this that usually reflect where the ingredients came from or how the recipe came about. Lucky Dog is a farm that supplies produce to the place Rehak works throughout the book, applewood restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. As part of Rehak's locavore education, she takes to tracing the ingredients in the restaurant back to their source and learning how they get from farm or sea to table. When she visits Lucky Dog she spends the cold, damp, pre-dawn day picking spinach out in the field. Upon arrival to work at the restaurant the next day, the very same spinach she helped pick had been delivered and ready to be used for the restaurant's dinner service. Rehak makes it into creamed spinach and Lucky Dog Creamed Spinach is born. 


Since there is a half pound of butter in her recipe and I wasn't expecting company- I decided I would quarter her recipe, make it for one and actually created creamed spinach raviolis from it with wonton wrappers I bought the other day. As odd as it sounds, the spinach mixture works really well as a ravioli filling. The béchamel around the spinach makes for a silky, hearty and flavorful inside to the raviolis. Don't have ricotta on hand? Use this instead! You could also add bits of meat or other vegetables to this. Little bits of bacon would add a meaty pop to each bite. 

Welcome Autumn! Squash, pumpkin, and all things orange!

"When autumn comes, it doesnt ask. It just walks in, where it left you last." -John Mayer

Autumn is by and large my favorite season! I love all the colors, the crispness of the air, the smell of fallen leaves, and all the warm delicious food that comes back after a summer of cool foods and homes too hot to cook in. Many a harbinger signals the change of seasons before the equinox arrives; children head back to school, the temperatures start staying below 80*, Starbucks brings back my favorite drink- the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and you see the vibrant colors of the summer harvest mixing with the muted colors of fall-- dark green acorn squash, pale sandy colored butternut squash, bumpy gourds, bright orange pumpkins, light and dark green mini cabbage- brussel sprouts, flowers of deep burgandy, marigold yellow, and rich burnt orange. 

Locavore Limelight: Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Vegetable Miracle"

Just finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver. This food/memoir/local eating guide follows Kingsolver, her husband, Steven Hopp, and two daughters, Camille and Lily, on their quest to eat local for a full calendar year-- producing much of their food from their own garden and animals. Their venture is very successful and Kingsolver's literary voice is a pleasure to hear from about this hot topic. 

In 2005, when Kingsolver and her clan were moving from their Arizona home back to their farm in Virginia to begin a life of locavore eating this way of life had yet to become popular yet. By the end of their year of food locavore was a buzz word and trying to eat closer and closer to home was trending. They are largely successful and this books give great insights into the trials and tribulations of feeding oneself off one's own land. 

Conjuring my own memories --- Making Ratatouille

In the movie "Ratatouille" Remy makes the food critic Anton Ego a dish of ratatouille which quickly takes him back via taste memory to when he was a little boy, hurt himself and his mommy made him warm soothing vegetable stew. For me, the first time I had the dish was in Paris while staying at the Foyer la Vigie. The dinners we were served were always a bit questionable and sometimes just inedible, but we had enough to eat and got to see some French cuisine a la cafeteria. The ratatouille was just fine though! Remy's always looks so delicious and chic that I knew I would have to make it myself someday. Tonight I set out with zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and red peppers in tow to make my first! There are a couple ways to make ratatouille. Most of them are just stewed stove-top which makes it a very easy dish for anyone to make. I consulted a couple recipes before deciding how to make it. I wanted to make a version that would turn out as decadent looking as Remy's and I found someone who claimed to be giving the "official" movie recipe online but it was far too involved and time consuming so I opted for a rustic stew version from Judith Jones' The Pleasures of Cooking for One. Mirelle Guillano's (the author of French Women Don't Get Fat) was a stove-top version, that used sliced vegetables instead of chunks. Her's said the vegetables had to cook for 2 hours compared to Jones' which took me about 40 minutes to make. The dish is very easy and enjoyable to make with superbly satisfying results!

The stew is very rich and quite delicious on its own. Best served with a chunk of fresh French bread with a bit of butter. I made enough for about three single servings so I froze two servings in sandwich bags. One serving I enjoyed with my friend Jocelin with herbes de provence roasted chicken breast and rice (since split in two would not be enough). The rice is definitely a goo choice to serve the stew over (and how I was served it at La Vigie). The third serving I enjoyed tonight with just a cut-up hot dog-- my way of celebrating the Yankees home opener!!

All in all ratatouille is delicious, easy to make, wonderful to enjoy, and great to share. Definitely going to be one I will make over and over again and perfect to my liking over the years.

What came first: the chicken or the egg?! (the mushrooms!!)

After multiple sources of inspiration about poached eggs, I began to think of them as silky and appealing though I had yet to have them. The March MS Everyday Food "How To" is all about poaching eggs. One evening, watching some late night programming, dissatisfied with whatever I had (or had not) eaten for dinner I decided why not try to poach my first egg!

I did and the result was exactly the silken smooth goodness Julie Powell raved about after enjoying her FIRST egg ever -- prepared by poaching in red wine, a la Julia Child, of course.

The following evening I prepared a batch of duxelles to keep in the freezer, using Judith Jones' good advice, and decided to prepare some chicken legs (in the duxelles pan) and make a pan sauce with chicken stock and some of the mushrooms and serve it over some boston lettuce with a poached egg. Very satisfying!

The more I cook the more I learn. End results for a lot of food preparation seem so impressive that without ever knowing the technique they can be intimidating to even imagine cooking. Again, fearlessness in the kitchen is one of the best tools any chef can have! The worst that can happen usually won't and the worst that is likely to happen is that one prepares something inedible. Trial & error-- without fear!!

Busy night!: Roasted garlic, chopping veggies, BEST burger EVER!

I've begun preparing for my first 'real' dinner party at my apartment. The idea is a faux Seder (verrry faux)/Holy Thursday last supper. We have matzos and brisket and lots of wine on the way. Tonight was roasting the garlic to mix into the mashed potatoes, cleaning/peeling/chopping the veggies so they are ready to go Thursday night.

It was my first time roasting garlic and it worked out well for my needs, but I think I over roasted the cloves a little bit because they did not come out as full cloves only as roasted garlic paste. Since I'm going to be mixing them into the mashed potatoes its easier that I already have the paste set.

I peeled & chopped 3lbs of carrots which I am going to boil and toss with fresh parsley and butter to serve. Then I prepared a bunch of green beans by French-cutting them; this just means cutting them lengthwise. This is definitely my favorite way to have green beans (one of my top 5 favorite veggies!) and I've only ever had them this way from frozen. It is obviously easy to prepare them, just cutting-- its easiest to cut the green beans at an angle and then split them. Can't wait to have them at dinner!

After all this prep work I was HUNGRY! From reading NYT's Peter Meehan's T Magazine blog article "Homeburgers" (http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/grass-fed-homeburgers/) I was inspired to get ground beef in my Fresh Direct this week and make some tasty beef burgers (instead of turkey, which I have been whenever I've made burgers for months lately). This burger ended up being the BEST burger I've ever made and maybe the best I've ever eaten!! Of course I topped it with bacon, american cheese (deli sliced-- way different than the packaged kind), a leaf of Boston lettuce, and bottomed my baguette roll with BUTTER (Meehan's suggestion from "How to cook everything's" Mark Bittman). It was royally delicious. I RARELY finish a whole homemade burger (btw, McDonalds does not count!). I ate every last bit of it! So so so delicious!

Bienvenue Printemps!: Pea Soup with Bacon & Irish Cheddar

Inspired by some pea soup my friend enjoyed this weekend in Central Park and the new Bon Appetit's suggestion for an Easter meal first course I decided making some fresh for myself would be a great rainy-day dinner tonight.

Unfortunately I already had frozen green peas and opted out of buying some freshly shelledpeas, even though the soup would have been fresher and more delicious. Instead of keeping it as basic as the BA recipe I decided to bump it up with some extra veggies and toppings.

I added some carrot and red pepper to the mix and opted for fresh (Italian/Flat leaf, of course!) parsley over any other herbs. And I believe most savory things are better with BACON! so I crisped up some cut-up bacon in the soup pot before adding the butter and topped the soup with the crumbles to serve.

As usual I used a shallot, not an onion. I'm big on scent memory and am beginning to think that the scent of shallots softening in melted butter will take me back to this very kitchen on the UES. I guess I'll have to wait to see what the future will hold for me and my shallots! I let the pepper and carrot cook together before adding the frozen (unthawed peas). I used chicken stock instead of a vegetable broth for the same reason as bacon-- extra flavor! Never will I be a vegetarian!! I had to remove a little bit of the broth before I pureed the soup with my immersion blender so it would be thick (I'm not into 'soupy' soups, very much into thick-French style soups). The outcome was most delicious! The Irish cheddar and bacon really brought the fresh veggie flavor to a deeper taste level.

Enjoy!