Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cuban Supper Club

Posted on by

We just entered our 5th year of Supper Clubbing with the same three couples — a marvelous feat. We started the group in 2011 and despite moves, job changes and babies, the eight of us still manage to get together every other month or so for a themed dinner. I love this crowd and have enjoyed getting to know everyone through great food and wine over the years.

Saturday night was a Cuban-themed meal chosen by our lovely burb-dwelling hosts (it’s always an adventure for us city folk to cruise on through the suburbs). It’s like a different planet out there. So. Far. Away.

Appetizers:  fried plantains and crunchy ham and potato croquettes with a heavenly smoky aioli.

Main Dish: Ropa vieja (Cuban meat stew) over rice, black beans with bacon and green beans with bacon. The ropa vieja is a slow-cooker wonder. One of those dishes that makes me want to bust out my crock pot.

Dessert:  Cuban coconut rum flan. I was (scarily) assigned dessert for this particular evening, not my strong suit. In fact, this was the first time since the group’s inception that I have been charged with making dessert. I welcomed the challenge, however, as it pushed me out of my cooking comfort zone.

IMG_1136

 

Not too pretty to look at, I must say, but the men all went back for seconds and demolished the thing, so I will take that as a good sign. Perhaps I shall start making dessert more often …

 

Clementine & Kalamata Compote

Posted on by

 

Easy, delicious and a spectacular way to liven up leftover roast chicken. I definitely made this less “candied” than the recipe called for by cutting way back on the sugar. The result? A bright and savory relish to adorn just about anything — spoon it into yogurt, sprinkle it over roast duck or just eat it right out of the jar. Enjoy!

Candied Clementine and Kalamata Compote 

1 cup sugar (I used about 1/4 cup)

10 to to 12 clementines, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

2 TBSP orange liqueur

24 pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped

Scatter half the amount of sugar you are using over the bottom of a slow cooker. Layer the clementine slices over the sugar, then scatter remaining sugar over the top. Cover the crock with a kitchen towel, cover with the lid and cook on high for 4 hours or until the clementines are soft and a syrup has formed at the bottom. Uncover and drizzle the liqueur over the top. Cool the compote and then gently mix in the chopped olives. Refrigerate and enjoy.

(recipe adapted from Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss)

Ultimate Roast Chicken

Posted on by

This is, hands-down, the best roast chicken I have ever pulled out of my oven. I have tried so many different recipes and tricks and flips and rubs and butter bastes, etc., but this wins every category — taste, moist meat, crispy skin and EASE! Go get yourself a birdie and get brining.

Feta-Brined Roast Chicken

feta brined chicken

If you have feta cheese already swimming in brine (as I did), go ahead and use that brine rather than blend water and feta chunks. Just make sure you cover your remaining cheese with water afterward and don’t wait too long to finish it up.

Enjoy!

Paris in Baltimore

Posted on by

IMG_1131

Nothing quite beats an evening of good wine, good food and great friends — especially when there is a cozy fireplace involved and a lovely Parisian atmosphere. The four of us enormously enjoyed our meals at Petit Louis and, in fact, closed the house down. We plowed through our cheese course finale and then lingered over coffee, tea and one sinfully indulgent chocolate Pot de Creme. Four forks please!

Oh the delights of French bistro fare.

IMG_1128

I started with my absolute favorite salad — frisee, lardons, poached egg and Roquefort. Salty, crispy, crunchy, creamy deliciousness in a bowl. My husband, who rarely orders what I do, followed suit. He recalls trying to steal (unsuccessfully) this salad from me the last time we dined at the restaurant. He is now wise. Our friends enjoyed a house-made country pate with a tiny crock of cornichons as well as a beet salad with fresh goat cheese.

Next up, steak tartare. Heaven in raw meat form.

IMG_1130

It was steak tartare night and three of us took advantage. I am a huge fan of the stuff and have sampled it all over Baltimore, NYC, Washington D.C., California and even France, where it’s often served with a lovely raw egg yolk glistening on top. Although I have never had a bad steak tartare,  it can be somewhat unpleasant at times. The delicate flavors of raw beef can easily be crushed by overly pungent shallots or other oddball ingredients, such as smoked oysters or (unbelievably) fried falafel balls.

The preparation at Petit Louis, however, was classic and perfect. The beef was hand-chopped and seasoned mildly with delicate shallots, capers and just the right amount of Dijon mustard. It’s a light meal (well, it is if you ignore the enormous cone of hot, salty pommes frites) yet feels indulgent. I am looking forward to a return trip, and soon! Did ya get that, dear husband?

À bientôt!

 

Kitchen Project: Applesauce

Posted on by

We had a blizzard. My office was closed for days. I am nursing a foot injury and was leery of venturing outside. So, I was scrounging through my rapidly depleting pantry and fridge for ingredients to embark on some sort of cooking project.

I had some ideas:

Beef broth. Yes! Great idea! Alas, no beef bones.

Chicken broth. Yes! Great idea! And I have roasted chicken parts in my freezer! But, I also have several enormous jugs of frozen chicken broth already taking up space.

Lemon curd. Yes! I love lemon curd. I already have a jar in my freezer.

Homemade fresh mozzarella. Yes! I made cheese curds a couple of months ago and they are waiting patiently in my freezer to be stretched into cheese. Of course, they are frozen. I cannot work with frozen curds. I have no patience.

Bread: Yes! No, no, no, no, no. I cannot live with fresh bread in the house. It will be devoured. I am enduring limited exercise right now and my psyche cannot handle a total bread binge. So, this also rules out cookies, quick breads, any sort of delightful carby baked good.

Applesauce: Ugh. Applesauce? Well, I had a huge bag of apples that would otherwise likely turn brown and rot. So why not? I decided to make a cross between a true applesauce and something more akin to apple pie filling. It worked! I now have several bowls of a mildly sweet, tart, highly spiced apple-pie-type filling. It’s delicious and I have been enjoying it dolloped over oatmeal or stirred into my Greek yogurt in the mornings for breakfast.

It’s so easy I urge you to try it. And, the best part, you can customize it anyway you wish. Make it chunky, make it smooth, make it crazy-sweet, whatever suits your fancy. I happen to like it tart with just a bit of sugar and plenty of spice — cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and a splash of vanilla.

applesauce

Applesauce: (made in a 6 quart slow-cooker)

  • 15 or so apples of any type (a mix is great), cored and cut into chunks. I left the peel on.
  • Toss apple chunks into slow-cooker. Sprinkle with sugar (a mix of brown and white) and any spices you wish. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours. Stir. Add more sugar and/or vanilla to taste.
  • Eat with a spoon.