I might love brunch more than any meal...perhaps I like the laid-back time involved or the old-school approach. There’s barely a noted beginning –sitting around drinking coffee as the food is put out — and there needn’t be any end. (Movie with the coffee and brandy??) It’s almost always a group. Nearly certainly a special occasion. More fun at home than at some swanky, pay-through-the-nose, eat-til-you-drop place, I think. Even the dogs are at ease.
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| Do we get any? |
After the dough’s risen, I punch it down, divide it in half and place each half in a gallon plasic bag.
It goes in the refrigerator until the next day. Leave a corner of the bag open to make sure the bag doesn’t burst. The dough will rise more in the bag (even in the refrigerator.)
Next morning, when you’re ready to bake the rolls, grease a 9x12x2 baking pan.
Take the dough out, punch it down to get the air out, and firmly pat or roll it out into a rectangular shape using a rolling pin or wine bottle or can of PAM if you’re really desperate.
It needn’t be perfect, but an approximate 11-inch by 15-inch rectangle is the goal.
Using your warm hands, spread about a tablespoon of soft butter over the dough.
Sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar mixture. (1/4 cup white sugar to 2 teaspoon sugar)
Using your thumbs, begin to tightly roll up the dough at the long side. Your goal is a tight roll.
Once the entire rectangle is rolled, pinch the end of the roll into the rest of the dough so that the entire roll is sealed except for the ends.
Cut the roll in half, then in half again, repeating until you have 15-16 slices–
An end might be too small to cut again.
Places the rolls, cut side down as possible, in the prepared pan, spreading them out as evenly as possible as they’ll expand when they rise.
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| These needn’t look perfect; they’ll all rise together and make a beautiful pan of rolls. |
Let the rolls rise to fill the pan–30-60 minutes, depending on how warm your room is. You can put them in a hot oven for a minute or two to “push” the rise, pull them out, and then cover them while they sit on the stove. That’ll save a bit of time. However you do it, you want the rolls to rise in a warm spot, not a cold one. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the rolls about 15 minutes until just beginning to brown nicely.
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| See? |
While the rolls bake, mix up a glaze (see icing recipe below)…and…….
Drizzle the rolls with a tiny bit of glaze while hot.
Serve with the Egg-Cheese-Sausage Casserole, of course.
Cinnamon Rolls–Courtesy early ’70’s Betty Crocker Sweet Roll Dough:
use half of this dough for 1 pan of cinnamon rolls … or all of it for two pans … or 1/2 for cinnamon rolls (15)
and 1/2 for 12-16 dinner rolls, depending on the style and size
1/2 cup water warm to the touch (test it on your wrist–you want it warm like a baby’s bottle–any
warmer and it’ll kill the yeast.)
2 packages dry yeast or 4 1/2 teaspoons
1/2 cup just barely warm milk
1/2 cup white, granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons butter, soft
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour, divided
original directions:
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, and eggs. Mix well. Beat in 2 1/2 cups flour and beat until smooth. Mix in enough additional flour to make the dough easy to handle.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn greased side up. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated 3-4 days.) Cover; let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 1/2 hours. (Dough is ready if impression remains when touched.)
Punch down dough. Shape dough into desired rolls or coffee cakes. Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake as directed.
This dough could the be made into cinnamon rolls, frosted orange rolls, chocolate cinnamon rolls, butterfly rolls, cheese diamonds, balloon buns, or various coffee cakes.
For cinnamon rolls:
Icing:
Mix 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla together until smooth.
Directions:
For crescent dinner rolls, using the other half of the dough: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take the other half of the dough and roll it into a large circle, about 12″ in diameter. Spread with soft butter. Cut into 16 wedges. Roll up, beginning at rounded edge. Place rolls, with point underneath (or pinch points into body of roll), on greased baking sheet. Brush with butter. Bake 15 minutes or until golden.
egg–cheese-sausage casserole
6-8 servings
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat together milk, eggs, mustard, and salt. Stir in bread, sausage and cheese. Pour into 2 quart rectangular casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible. Remove from refrigerator. Bake 45 minutes or until firm, golden, and crispy at the edges. Remove and let sit 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Variation: After preparing casserole and before baking, top with 1/4 cup each chopped onions, mushrooms, and red bell peppers. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.
You can also use ham or cooked, chopped bacon instead of sausage. Other options are to stir in 2-3 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a clove or two of chopped garlic that you have lightly sauteed beforehand. I have also added chopped green chiles once or twice!
Sing a new song,
Alyce
There are meals when the main course is light, delicate — a brothy-frothy soup or a small piece of white fish with a few vegetables. Or maybe you just have some squash leftover you’d like to make into a pretty “meaty” meal. On the other hand, this would also be a decidedly different and total side for a few great slices of pork loin or a lovely duck breast over the holidays. If any of those things is the case or even if none is, this is your salad.
It starts with cooking a whole acorn squash and about half of a normal-sized butternut squash (I do both in the microwave for recipes like this.*) If you like, a Hubbard or a Turban squash could be used instead. Let the squash cool a bit and then peel and cut it into one-inch pieces. Meantime, a few mushrooms are sautéed, stirred into the squash pieces, and gathered together with a decadent vinaigrette. A bit of cheese, a handful of fresh spinach and arugula, some chopped nuts for crunch and you have your salad. Couldn’t be easier, quicker, or more luscious. So winter. So warming. So if you’re cooking squash one night for dinner, fix an extra couple so you have have this the next day. Here’s how:
winter squash-mushroom salad with sherry-truffle oil vinaigrette
1. In a large bowl, mix squash and mushrooms with sage and parsley. Salt and pepper generously.
2. Stir in the peeled Parmesan carefully.
3. Drizzle salad with enough vinaigrette to moisten lightly. Toss gently, but thoroughly to make sure all of the ingredients are covered with dressing.
4. Divide the salad between four salad plates and top each with a tablespoon of chopped nuts and 1/2 tablespoon of chopped cranberries, if using.
5. Serve immediately.
*To cook squash in the microwave: Pour 2 tablespoons water in a 3 quart Pyrex or microwave-safe dish. Carefully cut acorn or butternut squash in half; scoop our seeds and strings. Add a peeled clove of garlic or a peeled shallot to each squash half. Place squash in dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high about five minutes, remove from oven with mitts and, with a small sharp knife, check for doneness. You want the squash just tender, not mushy. If it’s not done, put it back in the microwave and cook another minute or two and check again until the knife is easily inserted. Repeat if necessary. Add the garlic/shallot (mince them) to the salad.
**If you don’t have fresh sage, use 1/2 teaspoon (dry) rubbed sage.
Sherry-Truffle Oil Vinaigrette*
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegars, shallot, salt and peppers, and mustard. Drizzle in oils, whisking, until well-combined.
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| A book you can trust from beginning to end–wonderful recipes and great wine advice, ideas, and thoughts. Nearly ten years old now, it has stood the test of time in my kitchen. |
*This vinaigrette is one, with a bit of change, from Andrea Immer’s (Robinson) book, Everyday Cooking with Wine, which is one of my favorites. She uses a recipe much like this for her Warm Wild Mushroom salad, which is one I often make.
**Can use all olive oil.
around the ‘hood
My choir’s (I use the pronoun loosely) cantata was last weekend and they blew it out of the sanctuary! In between a Taize Advent supper, Lectio Divina and service, the last rehearsals and worship, the wind whipped and more than 12 inches of snow covered our world. More than 600 crashes and 1,000 cars in ditches in a 24-hour period! Two of the crashes happened to my folk trying to get to worship or rehearsals in the hilly terrain of our church, Prospect Park United Methodist in Minneapolis. (Everyone’s ok.)
The temperature sits at 8 degrees Fahrenheit now (way below zero with windchill) and the pups and I are inside except for quick forays out into the white for pee breaks.
Here are some of my favorite pics from our yard:
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| Hydrangea in snow. |
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| South yard lilacs. |
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| West fence picket. |
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| Hello, snow. How gorgeous you can be. |
Sing a new song and put on your favorite holiday album,
Alyce
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| “Get Mother to help.” |
edited with some new photos added November, 2020
As my family well knows, there comes a day in November (December is just too late) when I do nothing but bake cranberry bread. We have it for Thanksgiving morning breakfast, take a loaf or two to friends, and then have one squirreled away in the freezer for Christmas morning as well. I make a fun production out of the day (no other activities, favorite music on, microwaved lunch) and have nearly an assembly line in the kitchen so that loaf after loaf is mixed individually and baked on the center rack. It does require a number of pans, but I’m good at finding extras at Good Will or splurging on a great pan with a Williams-Sonoma gift card. I also bake this bread in coffee cups for large size muffins or in tiny pans as little gifts for special folks.
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| A tender, quite moist gingerbread from Nigella. |
Gingerbread is Christmas, right? Maybe New Year’s Day? Certainly a cold-weather dessert. Except that I love it. I’d eat it in July if I were willing to turn the oven on. Which I’m not.* So that’s why it’s April and there’s Nigella Lawson’s gorgeous Guinness Gingerbread on the blog. (Two “n’s” and two “s’s” in Guinness–tells you alot about how much I know about Guinness. I did tour the brewery in Dublin once and actually drank a tall one.) If you’ve been following along on this trip, I’ve joined a group of great food bloggers who are each week cooking, testing, and writing about one of Gourmet Live’s 50 Women Game-Changers. And, you guessed it, this week (number 44) is Nigella’s week–I’m so grateful. After all, I needed a reason to make gingerbread in the spring. Didn’t I? (Cold and nasty in St. Paul today after a great, warm spring. I was happy to have a warm kitchen.)
*I have just installed a combination microwave/convection oven above my range. This may help with summer baking. More later!
If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Nigella on tv or reading one of her books, you just need to do it. Picture a well-fed, very pretty British woman with a great accent sneaking out of bed in the dark to raid the refrigerator of crispy fried pork fat or snarfing down the last, well-hid piece of flourless chocolate cake. Not only is she real with a capital R, but she’s fun and brings more than a bit of the seductive into the kitchen, where it surely belongs. Whatever…it’s great to watch someone enjoy what they do and Nigella does that in spades. Isn’t that what really draws us to people? I adore friends who are happy in what they do.
For a biographical sketch that may surprise you, check out Nigella’s Food Network biography page here. Not only has Nigella been a food tv star for several years and written a variety of best-selling cookbooks, but she was Deputy Literary Critic of the (London) Sunday Times before setting out to follow her own drummer as a free-lancer. No small apples.
For a list of all of Nigella’s books, lots more info and recipes, check out her website.
But! If you’re intrigued by the gingerbread: get out a 9×13 pan and get baking. Easy as pie (which isn’t easy–who said that?) you warm up some butter, a cup of Guinness stout and a couple of other things, whisk in a few dry ingredients, pour into a greased pan and bake for 45 minutes. Cool, cut, and serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or Crème fraîche. Nothing better. My own notes are in red. Enjoy!
Guinness Gingerbread by Nigella Lawson
Put the butter, syrup, dark brown sugar, stout, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves into a pan (2-3qt saucepan) and melt gently over a low heat.
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| Organic Corn Syrup with a little molasses poured in…quite pretty. |
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| Dave was so sad that I bought a whole 6-pack. |
Take off the heat and whisk in the flour and baking soda. You will need to be patient and whisk thoroughly to get rid of any lumps.
Whisk the sour cream and eggs together in a measuring jug (4c glass measuring cup) and then beat into the gingerbread mixture, whisking again to get a smooth batter.
Pour this into your cake/foil pan, and bake for about 45 minutes; when it’s ready it will be gleamingly risen at the centre, and coming away from the pan at the sides.
Let the gingerbread cool before cutting into slices or squares.
Add sweetened or spiced whipped cream, Crème fraîche, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired. Just a winter dusting of powdered sugar is lovely if you’re into simplicity:
For grin and giggles, watch this Nigella Interview:
If you’d like to read more great recipes, try one of the other blogs on our trip visiting 50 Women Game-Changers in Food:
Val – More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan – The Spice Garden
Heather – girlichef, Miranda – Mangoes and Chutney, Amrita – Beetles Kitchen Escapades
Mary – One Perfect Bite, Sue – The View from Great Island, Barbara – Movable Feasts
Linda A – There and Back Again, Nancy – Picadillo, Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica – My Catholic Kitchen, Annie – Most Lovely Things, Jeanette – Healthy Living
Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce – More Time at the Table
Kathy – Bakeaway with Me, Martha – Simple Nourished Living, Jill – Saucy Cooks
Sara – Everything in the Kitchen Sink
Next week we’ll feature Diana Kennedy, the very fine Mexican cookbook author. Join us!
Sing a new song,
Alyce
After a busy season of church, family, and travel, I’m back. I missed blogging, but simply couldn’t find a good way to do it with pictures from my ipad, which is what I take away from home. First blog must be about how we came home…
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| Hot Spiced Cider with or without Rum (Pum Pum Pum) |
An afternoon open house is the perfect party … No main course. Everyone’s gone by dinner time… And folks show up because other commitments are for evening. Few dishes to wash. Food that’s easy to prepare ahead. Your goal: everything out and ready for guests to help themselves. Your reward: To be able to enter your own party!
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| Ginger cookies, Chocolate Snowballs, Date bars–Made ahead and frozen |
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A couple of perfect festive drinks (Sparkler and Hot Cider), as well as a pot of strong coffee and some thick cream (for those who must dunk cookies or are heading to a serious evening party), make set-up much easier than a cocktail or dinner party. People come dressed comfortably. Yes.
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| A festive few dishes and a candle or two. Not much more needed. |
Your best cookies, a couple of great nibbles…Always vegetables…A bit of cheese-
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| Lots of vegetables–some fresh, some grilled. Herb Garlic Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts |
Something they’ll remember later…like my taste-like-jelly-filled-donut shortbread sandwiches:
Raspberry Shortbread Sandwiches
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| Crowded is ok. They’ll come and go. |
All set up ahead leaves time for visiting and listening to the great Christmas playlist you put together for the party. Everything from Revels to Tony Bennett to Harry Connick, Jr. to Cambridge Singers.
Something filling for those who skipped lunch. Here, a great tapenade. Don’t skimp on the olives; buy the best you can find. Grill your sliced baguette on the stove if it’s too cold outside.
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| Spicy Tapenade with Crostini |
Spanish Cava is a lovely, inexpensive sparkler. Whatever’s leftover can be used for New Year’s or for
mimosas for brunch. There’s usually a discount if you buy a case. Think ahead.
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| Cava and Cranberries. Back-up bottles all chilled in the frig. |
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| Leave flutes set up with cranberries and folks will pour the sparkler over them. |
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| David Lebovitz famous Pretzel and Nut Mix. No Chex Mix needed. |
Something crunchy is a must. Nuts, pretzels, chips…for the salty people.
My take on Eli Zabar’s shortbread recipe..Bittersweet chocolate and sea salt.. I like Valrhona chocolate for dipping, but could only find Callebaut locally this year. Makes excellent hot chocolate, too, by the way if you’ve any leftover from dipping. Valrhona is French chocolate; Callebaut is made in many places, but is basically Belgian-French in origin.
Menu:
*Hot Cider with or without Rum (I leave the rum plainly marked in a pitcher on counter.)
*Pot of strong coffee and Hot Water for tea. The best cream you can find. Lemon, sugar.
*Cava (or your favorite bubbly)–Add a couple of fresh cranberries to the $1. glasses
*Cookies–4 of your favorites. Homemade or beg from friends-even buy at great bakery.
*Garlicky Rosemary Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts and Lots of Veggies (Recipe below)
*Spicy Tapenade and Crostini (Grilled Bread) – Recipe Below
*Cranberry Almond Bars with Tangerine —You must have chocolate. Make it yourself.
*Alyce’s Go Nuts! Salty, hot, and sweet pecans. Great protein.
*David Lebovitz Pretzel and Nut Mix–gotta have something that crunches.
Other Recipes
Herb Garlic Cheese Dip with Pine Nuts
12 oz goat’s cheese (chevre), softened
32 oz (4 c) ricotta cheese
Zest of one lemon
Hot sauce- a few drops
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
2T fresh dill, minced (Can choose just one herb if you like.)
2T fresh basil chiffonade
2T fresh chives, minced
1T fresh thyme, chopped (plus a few sprigs for garnish)
1T fresh Rosemary, finely minced
1/2 t coarsely ground black pepper (or more to taste)
Pinch of kosher salt
Garnishes:
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1/4 cup sweet red pepper, diced
Rosemary sprigs
Place all ingredients except garnishes in the food processor and pulse until well-blended. Taste and readjust seasoning. If making the day before, the garlic will settle down a lot overnight in the frig. Store in a tightly-covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Spoon into serving bowl and garnish with pine nuts, peppers, and sprigs of rosemary Serve with fresh vegetables or crackers. If too thick, add a few drops of milk and stir well before serving.
Spicy Tapenade (Basic recipe courtesy Tyler Florence)
Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the ‘Hood
This week, we’re buying a few small gifts, making a vat of barbequed brisket, going to a choir party, taking some friends out to dinner and to a Rose Ensemble concert, baking a manger scene (yes!) and stollen, watching every Christmas movie we can, and picking up my sister at the airport. Emily and I are getting our hair done together tomorrow, so we’ll be all cleaned up for the whole deal. Work is slowing down, though I still have a couple of pieces to rehearse and direct. Probably need to get that Rutter out and practice! Dave’s week will be intense and then crawl, alternately….as co-workers world-wide try to get ready for Dell’s week-long break, but still make time for Christmas parties.
We’ll be at church on Christmas Eve, of course…it’s my favorite service. If there’s time, we’ll stop by a couple of open houses, but we’ll come home to cookies and eggnog in the wee early hours of Christmas morning and fall into bed to listen for the sleigh bells.
Christmas Day is a different story:
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| Last year’s Christmas Day rolled flank steak with roasted tomatoes. |
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| Christmas Day. Toys, movies, the pups. |
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| Gabby and Tuck have been good all year, but they’re still worried there’ll be nothing in their stockings.
Maybe there are others with the same fears…. |
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| courtesy Share Our Strength |
Want to feed some kids before the end of 2011?
With your help this holiday season, we can connect hungry children with nutritious meals all year long! Every $1 you donate to Share Our Strength helps connect a child with up to 10 meals. Through December 31, our No Kid Hungry Partners are matching the first $500,000 donated during the holiday season. Click here to donate.
Merry Days to you! Do the fun things.
Alyce
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| Take your toys to Alyce’s favorite coffee store: Dunn Brothers. |
OR….WANT TO SHOP THE EASY WAY? TRY OXFAM:
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| Late afternoon, 12/30/2010 |
When it’s nice and cold,
I can hold my baby closer to me–
and collect the kisses that are due me.
I love the winter weather
’cause I’ve got my love to keep me warm….
Today, Emi and I ran out to get a video game, hit Whole Foods and King Sooper’s. In the middle, we just had to have lunch together. As we sat by the window of the restaurant, I looked outside and said, “We’ve got to get home.” There’s just this look in the skies and about the air when all hell’s about to break loose. The snow began to fly as we drove south, but it let up by the time we got to the grocery store. I ran in the liquor store to grab a little Cotes du Rhone to round off the bean soup and wienies for dinner, while she got started on the grocery list. Five minutes later, I walked in to find no carts at all. I knew we were in trouble. It was us and everybody else in Colorado Springs. All at King Sooper’s. Together. The bread aisle was slim indeed and I was thanking God I got my bread earlier at Great Harvest. Milk? Same story, but thanks be I only needed heavy cream for a horseradish sauce for a friend’s New Year’s Eve tenderloin. The lines were 6 deep, but all of registers were open. Thanks for good planning, store manager. Emi said, “This is how the store where I live is all the time… and people are not happy in line. No one talks or smiles. New Jersey, ugh.” I seldom wait for more than one or two people in front of me; often I’m first. Wow.
By the time we got out to the car, visibility was zero. Snow was flying in all directions, mostly sideways. The wind had picked up to an amazing pitch and the temperature had dropped ten degrees. Two inches of snow were on the ground and it was a freezing mess to just open the trunk door and throw the bags in. We felt our way home behind a crawling car in front of us and were very grateful to see the little grey, wooden house coming up on the right…finally. It was about 2pm and it was obvious it would be dark early, which it is.
Thanks, God, for a warm house, heat, hot water, loving family, a working stove (where the bean soup bubbles) and a lovely fireplace where we’ll roast wienies tonight. Why not?
If you don’t cook in the fireplace, try it sometime. Fun, fun. This pic if one I took last spring when the menu was the same as tonight.
Meantime, I thought I’d leave you with a great New Year’s Eve dinner that you might really like to make–either now or later. But I think it’d be a wonderful celebration for 6-8. Not a tenderloin and not the price, this time-taking (yes) prep is made with flank steak. Cool thing is, it braises slowly in the oven while you share a bubbly or two with your friends and put your feet up on the coffee table. Once the prep’s done, the work is nearly done.
Here’s what it looks like from nearly the beginning to end…. I like some skinny green beans cooked in the microwave, a great baguette, and some fresh pasta with it. You could make do with a salad and bread.
Ultimate Beef Braciole (Tyler Florence)-—Alyce’s altitude/seasoning adjustments in italics
Note: do not try and get this tender in the amount of time allotted if you’re at altitude
Ingredients
To make the Braciole: Toast the panko bread crumbs in a dry skillet with a little olive oil over low heat, until golden. Add to a large mixing bowl along with the anchovy, garlic, bocconcini, red peppers, parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper, to taste. Stir together until well combined.
Set the flank steak on a piece of plastic wrap. Make a deep horizontal slice along the steak almost all the way through and fan open like a book. Lay another piece of plastic wrap on top. Using the smooth side of a meat mallet, gently flatten the steak until about 1/2-inch thick; take care not to tear. Discard the top sheet of plastic wrap; rub the surface with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread the stuffing evenly over the meat, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Arrange the eggs lengthwise down the center of the meat and roll up like a jelly roll log, using the plastic wrap as support. Tie the roll with kitchen twine in 4 to 5 places to secure – this will help hold the shape and keep the filling from falling out. Season outside of roll very well indeed with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put a roasting pan across 2 burners and heat over medium heat. Add a 3-count of olive oil and add the thyme and garlic. Cook for about a minute until fragrant. Carefully add the braciole and sear until evenly browned all over, approximately 2 minutes each side.
Add the sliced onions and bay leaves, then stir in the beef broth to deglaze. Add the canned tomatoes over the top, then nestle in the whole vine tomatoes around the braciole. Bring to a simmer, then cover with foil and put in the oven to braise for 45 to 60 minutes. Add 20-30 minutes if at altitude…serve when tender. When done, remove the foil and remove the braciole to a carving board to rest. Carefully remove the whole vine tomatoes, with a slotted spoon, to a plate. Let the sauce cool for about 5 minutes. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaf, then add the sauce to a blender and puree. Pour the sauce back into the pan and set over medium heat to bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add the balsamic vinegar. Remove the kitchen twine from the beef and cut into 1-inch thick “pin-wheel” slices. Arrange the slices on a platter and arrange the whole vine tomatoes around the beef. Pour the sauce over the top, garnish with
chopped parsley and serve.
Haricots Verts with Lemon
1.5 # haricots verts
1 t freshly grated lemon rind
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
In a large, microwave proof bowl, place beans with 1/4 cup water. Cover tightly and cook in microwave at full power for about five minutes. Test for doneness. Drain and place in serving bowl. Dust with lemon rind, salt and pepper to taste.
Fresh Pasta
Here in the Springs, I buy pasta (linguine for this) at Mollica’s on Garden of the Gods. Two pounds for 8 people is plenty and will cost you about $11. Call ahead to make sure they have some; you can order some a few days ahead to make sure. Bring 10 qts of water, well salted and peppered, to a boil and gently place raw pasta into the water… you’ll need to carefully separate the strands of linguine. Cook until al dente…perhaps five or six minutes. Remove from water or drain and, after placing in a serving bowl, add 1T olive oil and 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley.
Wine
We liked a Barbera ($) or a Barolo ($$) with this. Vintages Wine on Tejon has some lovely choices.
Baguette
Get your baguette at Marigold or La Baguette.
Starters
I like a little sparkler and some spiced nuts…not much more. This is a big meal. Gruet (New Mexico) makes a sweet sparkler that’s not overly priced and is nearly local. Otherwise, grab some prosecco and be glad.
Stay warm, be happy in 2011. You will be if you eat this for New Year’s Eve.
Alyce
If you live in the Springs, I’m thinking you should have bought New Year’s Eve dinner already.
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Chocolate Begins Here….
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| Chocolate, chocolate everywhere and lots of drops to drink. |
Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. Christmas is chocolate. Sounds like a good song. And it’s just the fourth day of Christmas. Four calling birds. And so on. Until Epiphany…which can also go on.
The chocolate bark from our goodie tray this year is a bark that Dave had made for me for Valentine’s Day a couple of years ago. Truth to be told, his bark is better than mine. Candy maker, I’m not, though my toffee was to die for this year. (pat pat)
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| This bark is at the top and center of the goodie tray. Gotta have chocolate on a holiday cookie platter. |
If you’re bringing a little goodie to the New Year’s Eve party, maybe you might want to try this sweet bark, which is tres lovely with a nice red. Of course, I favor Pinot Noir, but you might like a big Cabernet Sauvignon, a Zin or even an Italian red. No special dessert wine needed. Just have a little plate of this chocolate ready for dessert. If you have a neighbor drop by for coffee, this is just the thing to pull out. Make someone happy. This recipe came from the Food Network (courtesy Dave Lieberman), as do so many scrumptious things these days. There is hardly an easier dessert to make except perhaps to clean strawberries and arrange them in a bowl come summer. And that’s not really making dessert.
Dave’s Cranberry Almond Chocolate Bars with Tangerine Zest
1/2 c slivered almonds
3 cups chocolate morsels (I like 1/2 milk chocolate and 1/2 bittersweet)
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 tangerine, zested
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Line a 13×9″ baking pan with aluminum foil.
Lay out almond slivers on baking sheet. Bake in oven until light brown, shaking the baking pan occasionally to mix them around, about 10-15 minutes.
Melt the chocolate morsels in a double boiler over low heat. Mix in the cranberries, almond slivers and tangerine zest.
Pour into prepared pan. Smooth the chocolate mixture out into an even layer. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until hard, at least 1 hour. Use a knife to break up chocolate into jagged, varied sized bars.
Oh, I almost forgot this…Jen gets Emi’s Hair all beautiful for Christmas!
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