From My Mother's Kitchen: Pan-Fried Trout with Pecans

DISH: Pan-Fried Trout with Pecans
TYPE: Nostalgic, Experimental
MAIN INGREDIENT: Trout, Nuts
MENU: Warm White Bean and Arugula Salad; Fennel-Potato Puree

Since we started the blog, my mother, on occasion, has taken to shooting me an email with whatever foodie whim has occupied her thoughts on a given day. Earlier this year, it was an escarole-wrapped fish and rice dish that she wanted to run by me. After I said, “can’t help you with that one,” she served it to me weeks later with a delicious avgolomeno sauce. We both agreed that the recipe as a whole needed work, but the meal itself still had my mother’s signature style, and, to me, was absolutely delicious.

Though I don’t always try my hand at my mother’s dishes (the escarole rice being one), often times I am the one pleading for advice, asking how she prepared her striped bass once upon a time, or whether she had used preserved lemons in her quinoa or just regular lemon juice. More often than not, she has no recollection of recently making striped bass, or of ever putting preserved lemons in quinoa. And I am left to try and recreate the memory, putting myself in her kitchen shoes, and invoking the instincts she instilled in me during my childhood by letting me watch her stir, fry, and sauté while I chopped herbs on the sidelines.

The preparations I’ve most envied and tried to emulate are the ones that revolve around fish. So when she emailed me the other day, out of the blue, that I should cook more trout ("affordable and easy," she said), I was all ears. Before I typed back and asked how she recommended I prepare it, there was the answer in my inbox:

Just get the butcher to take head and tail off, boned and butterflied, dry it off both sides with paper towels, get the butter or oil or combo pretty hot, lay fish flesh side down so it gets browned and crispy on the one side, then once it's cooked through (so thin it only takes minutes), transfer to a plate flesh up, then fry up some nuts in the butter, add some lemon, pour over the fish, then chopped parsley for color. No time at all.

I recalled a similar email from a year back about cooking skate with caper brown butter, and with her advice, the fish turned out perfectly. Without hesitation, I planned Pan-Fried Trout with Pecans for my next meal. To round it out in my mother’s style, I made a quick sauté of arugula, one of her favorite leafy greens, with a little lemon juice, and some cannelloni beans for more protein. The fish was delicious, a product of the accurate (if a bit stream-of-consciousness) instructions, which for the purpose of my recipe, have been re-written in complete sentences.

Whenever I am home and eating my mother’s cooking, I am always happy when the plate I’m served is familiar, a product of all her old tricks. Not that I don’t love the occasional escarole leaf stuffed with rice, but I prefer it when she leaves the experimenting to me. Sometimes the new method she recommends requires more instruction than at others. But with or without an email as impetus, it feels natural to improvise with my mother in mind, using her techniques, practices, and tastes to create plates that seem familiar, experimental, and all at once new again in my kitchen.

From my kitchen, wishing my mother a happy birthday, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipes**

Pan-Fried Trout with Pecans
Makes 2 servings

Make friends with your fish monger and have him prepare the butterflied trout from the whole fish. The fish store will likely have fillets available in the case, but it is really more beautiful to serve the whole fish, head and tail removed, opened up and deboned. Make sure you buy rainbow or white trout--sea trout are much thicker, and a very different texture and preparation than the delicate fresh water variety.

Ingredients

2 boned, butterflied trouts with head and tail removed (each fish should be around .75 lb)
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp chopped pecans
½ lemon, juiced
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Pat the filets dry with paper towels.

Coat a large skillet with a thin sheet of olive oil and melt 1 tablespoon of butter over high heat. Get the oil/butter nice and hot (you can flick some water into the pan and see if it sizzles). Add the trout flesh-side down, and fry until cooked through and lightly browned, about 2-4 minutes. Flip in the pan to skin-side down, and slide off the pan onto a plate. Season generously with salt and set aside. Repeat with the remaining piece of fish.

When the fish is fried, add the rest of the butter to the pan and melt. Stir in the nuts and cook until they are lightly toasted. Off the heat, ddd the lemon juice (careful this doesn't spatter), swirl around the pan, and spoon over the fish. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side.


Warm White Bean and Arugula Salad
Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp white vinegar
½ lemon, juiced
1 tsp sugar
1 15oz can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch arugula leaves (or 5oz baby arugula)

In a medium skillet, heat the oil, shallot, and garlic until they begin to lightly fry. Whisk in the vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar. Toss the beans in the vinaigrette and allow to warm on a low flame. When the beans are heated through, remove from the heat and toss with the arugula. Season with salt, and serve immediately alongside the trout.

Read more...

Big Girls, Global Kitchen: Umami, No Cheese

DISH: Genovese Pesto Pasta with Potatoes and String Beans
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Basil, Pasta, Olive Oil, Pine Nuts

Sometimes it seems as though the whole blogosphere is about to explode in one big umami-gasm. People seem to obsess over that perfect taste sensation that is umami--a self-defining, you've-got-to-experience-it-to-believe-it flavor. Though I'm a food blogger, I'm not really one to think about food overly much, at least not when I'm in front of it. I much prefer to eat it than to dissect it.

But then I went and made as authentic a Genovese pesto as my skills and ingredients would allow, and it put an interesting thought into my head. I decided to run with it. The idea was this: that the taste of pesto before you add in the Parmesan cheese tastes something like the Parmesan cheese itself. Both very umami. In other words, the thought boiled down to the following:

fresh herbs + olive oil + toasted pine nuts + garlic = cheese

or

zing + fat + rich nuttiness + pungent spiciness = cheese

Now this may not be a perfect equation, but I do think it's a noteworthy observation, especially for those who prefer to use little or no dairy in meals. I don't mean to claim, necessarily, that dairy is so insanely good (insanely good though it may be) it must be emulated with non-dairy products. But I do think it's interesting to taste how the flavors we most enjoy and crave may converge to hit many of the same notes. And I think, as well, that somewhere therein, among the savory and the sweet and the fatty tastes, must lie this umami of which everyone speaks. Perhaps I may be the newest disciple of its mystique.

Anyway, that's all the opining about food you'll get from me today. To say it straight: you should make this pasta, especially in winter, when its freshness will be particularly resonant and unexpected (and of course you should make it in summer, too).

From my kitchen, where I'm back to cooking and eating--and not theorizing--to yours,

Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipe**

Genovesey-Not So Cheesy Pesto Pasta
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 cup small potatoes, sliced
1/2 cup string beans, cut into thirds
8 ounces fettucine or other pasta, whole wheat if you choose (fresh is good too)

large bunch basil (about 1 1/2 cups, packed)
2 small cloves garlic
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 or 2 tablespoons as needed*
generous pinch salt

Parmesan for serving (optional)

*I used about 2 tablespoons of the wonderful O&Co Basil Olive Oil, which I received as a gift from none other than Alex, the dairy-free person in my life. Especially in winter, this really amps up the taste of basil. In any event, use the best-tasting olive oil you can.

To make the pesto: Toast the pine nuts in a small pan over medium heat until just browned. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a mini food processor, grind the garlic to a paste. Add the basil leaves, pine nuts, and salt and process, pouring in olive oil by the tablespoon as needed. Remove to a small bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour to let the flavors meld.

Meanwhile, set a big pot of water to boil. Add the sliced potatoes to the cold water, then once it's boiling, let them cook until tender, 6-8 minutes. Check to see if your knife inserted into one goes in very easily and smoothly. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and keep them nearby in a bowl or colander.

When you're ready to eat, add the string beans to the pot of boiling water. After 2-3 minutes, add the pasta and cook al dente (8-9 minutes for fettucine. The string beans should cook for a total of 10-12 minutes, so if you're using quicker-cooking pasta, add them even earlier). Just before the pasta is done, throw the potatoes back in to warm them up.

Drain all, reserving about a cup of pasta water.

Toss the hot pasta with the pesto, adding in pasta water as needed. Taste for salt and richness, adding more salt and olive oil as necessary. Garnish with basil and pass cheese around with a grater if you'd like.
Read more...

Cooking For Others: All I Want For Christmas is Whitney

EVENT: "Welcome Home Whitney" Holiday Dinner
VENUE: Sophie's Apartment, West Village
PARTY SIZE: 20
TYPE: Festive, All-American Buffet
MENU: Pigs in a Blanket; Assorted Cheeses; Mustard-y Turkey Meatloaf; Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Carrots & Parsnips; Fennel-Potato Puree with Mascapone; Ginger Pear Cake (Steph); Insomnia Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

After six months of living abroad in London, our beloved friend Whitney realized she wasn’t in Kansas anymore and decided to make a great pilgrimage home for the holidays. But before she moseyed on over to spend Christmas with her family in the Midwest, she decided to make a pit stop in New York to pay a visit to all her adoring fans, like myself, who have been mourning her departure ever since May by refusing to partake in refined activities like eating oysters, drinking Spanish wines, and constructing grammatically correct sentences.

(For those of you who know Whitney and don’t mind oxford commas, that last sentence will make sense. Those that don’t might be better off reading her send-off post for some historical back-story on our friendship.)

When we got word of Whitney’s arrival, Steph, Sophie, and I went into a planning frenzy. Holiday party season had already begun, so we were itching for a reason to celebrate as is, and what better way to honor Santa than by making an American-themed meal for his best Christmas present ever: Whitney?

The menu was filled with creative spins on Midwestern classics: Turkey Meatloaf loaded with two kinds of delicious mustard, Mashed Potatoes made creamy by marscapone cheese and intensified by a hint of anise flavor from fennel, and to kick of the meal, Pigs in a Blanket, wrapped up tight in puff pastry by Whitney’s gentle touch. As the list of attendees grew from 8 to 18, I was happy to have some little elves in the kitchen to help chop all the potatoes, onions, and fennel, and the resulting spread turned out to be a fairly crowd-friendly one.

After we successfully inhaled all 48 pigs and a good percentage of the meatloaf, the evening moved onto ice cream cookie sandwiches, Steph’s mother’s delicious Ginger Pear Cake, and another American family classic: charades. Well, not your typical game. "Rounds" or "Fish Bowl" as our game was called is more of a taboo-charade fusion, in which the players can write down anything as clues from crude humor (Dirty Sanchez) and historical figures (Pablo Escobar) to produce (cranberry beans) and leisure activities (piggy-back rides). The evening ended with tears of laughter, as Mark gave the clue “writer of the Kite Runner” for the slip of paper that read Hamid Karzai, and some more subtle tears of sadness, as some of us knew we would have to wait until the Easter Bunny lays its eggs to see Whitney again.

From my kitchen, where all I want for Christmas is Whitney, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipes**

Old School Pigs in a Blanket
Makes 48 mini dogs

Ingredients
16 all beef hot dogs
2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescent dough (8 pieces in each)
Honey mustard
Spicy mustard

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut each of the hot dogs into three even pieces. Cut each of the dough pieces into three semi-even triangles (these do not have to be perfect). Place the dog in the center of the dough triangle and wrap all the way around so it overlaps. This does not have to be that pretty—the dough will expand and make up for any mistakes. Repeat with the rest of the dogs.

Place the pigs on a greased cookie sheet (use the Pam or a paper towel doused in oil) leaving a little space between each one.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the dough is puffed and golden brown. Serve on a platter with two types of mustard. My favorites for this are honey mustard and whole grain spicy mustard.

NOTE: If you don’t have small bowls for the mustard, shot glasses are an incredibly useful alternative. They are the perfect size for the pigs, and you won’t have too much excess as you would using a larger bowl.

Mustard-y Midwestern Turkey Meatloaf
Makes 20 servings (two large loaves)

I started making Ina Garten’s Turkey Meatloaf back in college for my token “Meatloaf and Margarita Night.” It’s such an easy dish to make for a crowd and was always a hit. Over the years, I’ve added anything and everything from my pantry to her original recipe. My favorite addition is two types of mustard. But if you aren’t the type of person who keeps up to 5 types of mustard in your fridge, as I am, feel free to stick to her original recipe for a fantastic result.

Ingredients
5 large sweet onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp fresh chopped thyme leaves
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp whole grain mustard
10 pounds ground turkey breast (dark meat has more flavor)
3 cups plain dry bread crumbs
6 extra-large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups ketchup

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven (big enough to serve as your mixing bowl), sauté the onions with a little olive oil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes or so until beginning to become tender, and then add the salt and thyme. Saute for another 5 minutes, until fully soft and translucent, but not browned. Off the heat, add the worchestershire, chicken stock, tomato paste, and both mustards. Stir until all the ingredients are combined. Allow to cool to room temperature.

NOTE: If you want to speed up the process, once the mixture is not piping hot, add the bread crumbs and some of the turkey to bring the temperature down. You just want to make sure the eggs don’t scramble.

With clean hands, fold in the meat, eggs, and bread crumbs. Make sure the meat is well distributed, without breaking it apart into mush. Turn out onto two rimmed cookie sheets and form into loaves.

Squirt ketchup over the top of both loaves and glaze evenly with a spatula, making sure to go all the way around the sides.

Cook in the oven for 1 ½ hours. Let stand under foil for ten minutes, and then serve along side roasted vegetables, like carrots, parsnips, or Brussels Sprouts.


Fennel-Potato Puree with Marscapone
Makes 15-20 servings

This recipe was inspired by Giada’s Fennel Puree. While mine is still rather thin, I added more potato than fennel to bulk it up a bit and make it more substantial next to the meatloaf. She used mint to freshen the mixture, but I thought this would be a little weird with the traditional flavors of the meatloaf, and decided to use parsley instead. Either way, the mascarpone is what truly makes this dish special.

Ingredients

8 large fennel bulbs, trimmed, hearts removed, and thinly sliced
5 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, crushed and skins removed
2 quarts chicken stock
1 quart milk
1lb mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoon salt
¼ cup fresh parsley leaves
In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, combine the fennel, potato, garlic cloves, stock, and milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer over high heat, then turn it down to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the solids to a food processor and puree until smooth. Alternatively, you can drain most of the liquids from the pot by using the lid to catch the solids, and then puree with an immersion blender. Add the mascarpone, salt, and parsley, and blend until combined. Taste for seasoning, and set aside for at least 15 minutes, but up to an hour (this will allow it to thicken slightly). Serve room temperature with the meatloaf, or reheat right before service.

Mrs Malloch's Ginger Pear Cake
Makes 1 delicious cake

My friend Steph’s mother makes 20 batches of this cake to give away as holiday gifts, which means, though her kitchen is no doubt transformed into a cake factory during this time, the dessert is both easy and affordable. When I watched Steph make it at Sophie’s it seemed simple enough to add on one batch to any holiday dinner. Not to mention, the batter was outrageously delicious.

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
1tsp nutmeg
1 24oz can pears cut up (no syrup)
1 ½ tbsp fresh grated ginger
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
¾ cup vegetable oil
1cup diced crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 350.

Thoroughly spray a bundt pan or loaf pan with Pam for baking (or regular Pam and a dusting of flour). Combine flour, soda, salt and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla with a whisk or electric mixer. Slowly add the oil. Add the fresh ginger and stir to combine. Add flour mixture and pears in alternating batches. Stir in diced crystal ginger. Pour into pan and bake for about an hour. Use the toothpick test (the pear and ginger will be a bit sticky, so dont mistake them for the batter and over bake). Cool, unmold and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Be sure not to forget the LOVE.
Read more...

Big Girls, Global Kitchen: Thai Takeout Time

It's Christmas Eve. For many, we hear that means carols, eggnog, and prettily lit Christmas trees. For Jewish New Yorkers, it means something else entirely: takeout Chinese.

I have a slightly different experience than most NYC Jews, though: my grandmother was born on Christmas Day, and my mother grew up celebrating the day both as Christmas and as a birthday. For much of my childhood, we went to Grandma Jane and Poppy's house in Westchester for the annual Christmas-Birthday party where my main activity was playing with my sisters and cousin on my grandparents' very cool red, orange, and yellow shag carpet left over from the 60s. These days, the celebration is a bit smaller, but we continue to spend the day with my mom's side of the family. We open gifts, and sometimes we even eat bagels and smoked salmon. But, this being an afternoon affair, there's often still room left in the evening to fit in some Spicy Sesame Noodles and Scallion Pancakes.

In any event, Christmas Eve seemed as good a time as any to share the Pad See Ew rice noodles I've been making recently, ever since a recent trip to Chinatown equipped me with a bottle of mysterious, delicious Black Soy Sauce. Though the place I now turn to for emotional and physical sustenance in the form of noodles makes a delicious and cost-efficient (if you pick it up yourself, it's $7.50 and usually lasts for two meals) rendition, I got it in my head to go deeper and make some of the noodles on my own.

I could list all the ways that this satisfying noodle dish is different from the one at the local Thai joint. But though the noodles may be narrower and the portion size smaller, homemade Pad See Ew genuinely hits the spot. To make it, you just have to stock up on a few Thai staples and you'll be ready to go. Part of why it's so straightforward is because its flavoring is actually based on a purchased sauce--black soy sauce--which the blogger Chez Pim alerted me to and which I bought for a couple bucks at Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown (Healthy Boy Brand is what I got). If you add this condiment to your pantry along with a few others, you'll be able to make many of the other Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese meals we've featured before on the blog. So if you're not spending the day eating ham and opening gifts, why not try a few?

From my kitchen, embracing some kind of tradition, to yours,

Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipe**

Pad See Ew
Serves 2

This is a vegetarian recipe with egg as its only protein, so if you want to add meat, shrimp, or tofu, just saute it in the wok first with some garlic and soy or oyster sauce, then set aside and add it back in when you return the cabbage to the wok.

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch Napa cabbage, Chinese broccoli, or bok choy, cleaned and sliced
4 tablespoons safflower, canola, or vegetable oil
6 ounces wide rice noodles
2 lemon wedges
2 eggs
3-4 tablespoons black soy sauce (see introduction for details)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 dash fish sauce

Cook or soak the rice noodles according to package directions until they're just soft. Drain and toss with a teaspoon or two of the oil. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs with a teaspoon or two of the soy sauce. Set aside.

In a wok over high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds, then add the cabbage or other green veggie. Cook, tossing constantly, for a few minutes, until the cabbage is wilted. Remove from the wok to a plate.

Add another tablespoon of the oil, heat for a moment, then throw in the noodles. You want to get some brown parts on the noodles, so don't stir constantly. Drip in a few tablespoons of black soy sauce and toss to coat. Add the fish sauce, the sugar, and the juice from one of the lemon wedges and mix. Taste a noodle to see if you need any more black soy sauce or sugar to balance the flavors.

Add the cabbage and garlic to the noodles. Toss for a moment, then pull everything to one side of the wok and pour in the eggs. Let cook for a moment, then scramble a bit and when they're fully cooked, toss back in with the rest of the noodles.

Serve immediately, garnished with the lemon wedges.

**Other Takeout-at-Home Ideas**

Other "takeout" dishes to add to your Christmas repertoire:

Bibimbap
Fried Rice
Summer Rolls
Green Curry Chicken
Spicy Thai Beef Salad
Rice Noodle Salad
Sesame Tofu Satay
Udon Noodles with BGSK Peanut Sauce
Teriyaki-Dressed Soba Salad
Asian BBQ Chicken Satays
Manchurian Cauliflower
Free-Form Samosas with Apple-Cranberry Chutney

Read more...

Recipe Flash: Alta Brussels Sprouts & Other Holiday Vegetables

HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY MENU: Red Wine Braised Short Ribs; Butternut Squash & White Bean Puree with Bacon-Sage Croutons; Alta Brussels Sprouts; Pear Almond Tart

For a month or so this fall, my friend Sophie started having Monday night Gossip Girl and Brussels Sprouts dates with our friend Mark. I’m not sure why they decided those two joys needed to go together—perhaps to analyze the misunderstood Manhattanites along with the misunderstood vegetable? They would cook other things too, mind you, but the centerpiece of their meal was always some delicious variety of sprouts.

When I heard about this tradition (after I got over the fact that I was not involved in it), I asked Sophie about her range of preparations. She told me that her favorite was an experiment to recreate the Brussels Sprouts at Alta restaurant, where they roast the vegetables until they're nice and crispy, then toss them with a balsamic-honey reduction, sliced gala apples, and pistachios. To make the end result all the more decadent and stunning at the restaurant, they top each mound with a healthy dollop of crème fraiche, which seeps into each sprout as you dig in. Hearing this made me all the more jealous.

So with a little push in the right direction from Sophie, and some help from Alexandra’s Kitchen, who also attempted the famed Alta sprouts, I sat down to an evening of Gossip Girl, green vegetables, and a little wine to tie the two together. These sprouts are also great for nights with other humans instead of TV--so below for other vegetable preparations that are festive and fabulous for parties this time of year.

From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Soph!

**Recipe**

Alta Brussels Sprouts with Apple, Pistachios, & Crème Fraiche
Makes 2 servings
Adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

Ingredients

10 oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 Fuji Apple, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1 large dollop of crème fraiche

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On a cookie sheet, toss the sprouts together with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, redistributing once or twice, until properly brown and crispy.

In the meantime, in a small saucepan, stir together the balsamic and honey over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Let bubble for two minutes or so, until the mixture is reduced by half. Remove from the heat and pour over the apples, pistachios, and sprouts. Toss together, taste for seasoning, and serve immediately with a generous dollop of crème fraiche.

**Other Holiday Vegetables**

Some other ideas for incorporating vegetables onto your holiday table:

Green Beans with Spiced Nuts and Cider Vinaigrette
Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables
Caramelized Corn
Root Vegetable Gratin
Potato and Cabbage Gratin
Squash Rings
Squash and Sweet Potato Croquettes
Rosemary Potato Galette
Cumin-Roasted Cauliflower
Pink Greens
String Beans a la Marc
Spiced Carrot-Potato Puree
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Bacon
Butternut Squash & White Bean Puree with Bacon-Sage Croutons

Read more...

Working With What You Have: The Hanukkah Challenge

EVENTS: Family Hanukkah Brunch at Uncle Michael and Aunt Cindy's; Surprise-Ingredient Sunday Night Dinner
DISHES: Forgotten Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars; Potato Latkes; Breaded Flounder with Parsley Aioli
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Chocolate, Potatoes
FISH & LATKE PHOTOS BY: Alex

Paradoxically enough, I spent last Friday night, the first night of Hanukkah 2009, decorating Christmas cookies with Phoebe at Kate's house, in preparation for the following night's holiday party. In between icing a stocking and a candy cane, we lit the first two candles.

I spent Saturday, the first day of Hanukkah, with my family at Uncle Michael and Aunt Cindy's house in Westchester. My sister Jill picked me, and a container of wings (anything deep-fried goes!), up at the subway, and we drove together. When we walked into their house, the first thing that grabbed me was the scent of latkes, which Uncle Michael was warming up in the oven. The next thing that grabbed me was my mom. "There's no dessert!" she told me. "Would you rather drive back out and get something, or want to make something here?" The fact that I can't navigate White Plains by car had nothing on the fact that I'm always in the mood to bake. Duh.

Uncle Michael's latkes--photo by the cook himself

Fortunately, Uncle Michael has a very well equipped pantry and probably the best set of kitchen gadgets I've ever laid eyes on. He set me up with everything I'd need to make one of the few recipes I could genuinely bake up while asleep: classic chocolate chip cookies--or "twenty-minute cookies" as my mom was calling them. The reason they had to be done so fast was because we wouldn't start opening gifts until they were in the oven. So to prevent a riot, I pressed the dough I'd just pulled together into a baking pan; rolling out balls would have taken far longer. I did have help: mom took a turn chopping the chocolate, and Uncle Michael cleaned up after me.

The timer beeped just about when we were finishing the gift-giving and heading towards the spread of bagels and salmon. By the time we were finished eating, the huge rectangle of cookie was cool enough to cut. And then when we were ready for dessert, we were happy to find the cookie-bars were still warm.

Everyone went for them, having, of course, saved room since their scent was even more pervasive than the latkes'.

Randi and Jordyn taking bites

Uncle Brad goes for one. Jordyn looks on with crazy eyes.

Now, skip to Sunday. Saturday's Christmas party was fun and also exhausting, and Sunday was a relaxing, rainy day. Around noon, Alex told me that he had a surprise challenge for me for dinner. He was going to bring an ingredient over, and I was going to incorporate it into the meal. Why not? I figured. It was much too gloomy to to go outside, and while I was waiting to find out what on earth he'd bring (I got it out of him that it was a protein), I started going through the contents of my fridge, shelves, and pantry. I settled on the potates and got to thinking again about latkes. It goes without saying that making potato pancakes is a bit of a pain, and that, if it's possible, you should be an eater of them and not a fryer--as I had been the day before. That said, after a lazy Sunday, making 8 or 10 latkes to serve only two didn't sound all that daunting.

Alex arrived with four beautiful filets of flounder, and my mind, already on frying, couldn't help but want to bread them. The problem is that I have only one good-sized skillet, and if I were frying latkes, I wouldn't be able to fry fish. I decided, then, to bake the flounder, racking my brain for how best to eat hot latkes without overcooking the fish. There was more to do, too: I didn't have any applesauce, but I did have apples, so I made an impromptu sauce, peeling and coring the apples before cooking, since I don't have a mouli.

I sliced and roasted a zucchini. And, fearing the fish would be dry without a sauce, I made a quick homemade mayo and mixed it with some parsley pesto I had made with a bunch of leftover parsley the week before. With Alex's help grating the potatoes, I swear, it took me less time to do all this than to make the cookies the day before.
From my kitchen, where food is my Hanukkah gift, to yours,

Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipes**

Forgotten Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Makes 36 squares

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make 1 recipe of this milk chocolate-dark chocolate cookie dough.

Press the dough as evenly as possible into an ungreased 9x13" pan. Bake for 25 minutes until the top is just firm and the edges are barely golden. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then gently remove it and cut into rectangles, diamonds, or squares.

My Mom's Potato Latkes
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes or 1-2 larger baking potatoes
1 small onion
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

Grate the potatoes and the onion into a mixing bowl. They will oxidize and brown quite quickly--don't worry too much, but do work fast if possible. Add the salt and the egg, then stir in the flour. If the batter still seems too liquid, add another tablespoon or so of flour.

Heat about a 1/2 inch of oil in a large, cast-iron skillet. Add a few shreds of potato; when they start sizzling, you can start making pancakes.

Form latkes out of about 1/4 cup of batter, draining off excess liquid as you work. Fry for 3-4 minutes, then flip and fry on the second side. Let rest on paper towels until ready to eat, reheating in the oven if they've gotten cold.

Applesauce
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
2 apples
1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

Peel, core, and roughly chop the apples. Put them in a small saucepan with about 1/4 cup of water and the sugar. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn heat to low, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the apples have disintegrated. Mash any remaining large pieces, then taste and add any extra sugar to taste.

Breaded Flounder
Serves 2-4

Ingredients
4 flounder filets
2 slices bread (I used wholegrain, and, surprisingly, it worked fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 egg
another pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar or juice from half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray or brush a roasting pan with olive oil.

Toast the bread lightly and tear it into rough pieces. Pulse in a food processor to make breadcrumbs--it's fine if they're uneven. Toss the crumbs with the red pepper, oregano, thyme, and salt. Arrange on a shallow plate.

In another shallow plate, beat the egg. Add another small pinch of salt and a grind or two of fresh pepper.

Put one filet in the egg, turning to coat both sides. Move to the plate of breadcrumbs, again turning to coat both sides, and using your hand to press in any extra crumbs. Transfer to the baking dish.

Repeat with the remaining filets. Coat them with another spray of olive oil.

Cook for 6-10 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are slightly crisp and the fish flakes when you insert an knife into it--it should be completely translucent.

Serve with tarter sauce or homemade herbed mayo. I used a parsley pesto I happened to have, but truthfully--delicious as it was--it's too involved to start from scratch for a relatively easy dinner. As it turns out, the flounder is not at all dry and is thus quite good on its own.

Read more...

Baking For Others: Overly Obsessive Christmas Cookies

EVENT: The Kenner Family Christmas Party
VENUE: Kate’s Parents' Apartment, Upper East Side
PARTY SIZE: 100
TYPE: Large-Scale Holiday Dinner Buffet
MENU: Beef Bourguignon; Scalloped Potatoes; Corn Pudding; Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Just Salad Fixings; Lemon Bars; Pecan Bars; Chocolate Fudge; Christmas Cookies; Cranberry Punch; Spiked Cider

The holiday season is an especially busy time for us Quarter-Life Cooks. Among our twenty-something friends, our expertise is in high demand for planning, prepping, and decorating all sorts of festive gatherings. But one particular grown-up event we always look forward to attending is the Kenner holiday party. Last year we were rather delinquent helpers for Kate and her family—Cara had just flown back from Spain and could barely keep her eyes open, and I was busy all afternoon running around the city in a Santa suit. But this year, we were honored to be brought on board early in the process to decide what dishes would make it to the large banquet table for 100 of their closest friends.

As can be imagined, a meal for so many people is quite an impressive undertaking, especially with the high expectation for quality that Kate’s mother, Barb, has upheld for the gathering year after year. Over Indian food sometime in November, Cara and I talked about the menu with Barb and Kate. There was a universal consensus that the famed corn pudding, scalloped potatoes, and spiked cider were must-have staples. Some newer additions: beef bourguignon for the main course, and lemon bars for the dessert spread. And as always, there were to be dozens of decorated Christmas cookies, the centerpiece of the table.

Friday evening, Cara and I showed up at the Kenners’ to offer our helpful hands. We thought, perhaps, the tasks ahead of us might involve browning 30 pounds of beef, peeling a large bag full of potatoes, or juicing lemon upon lemon for the squares, and we came prepared for blisters and exhaustion. Unsurprisingly though, given her all-powerful planning genius, complete with shopping lists from the last ten years, Barb had done almost all the work before we got there. The stew was simmering in the oven, the lemon bars were sitting on a beautiful glass platter, and all that was left for us to do was decorate the Christmas cookies.

Cara was elated by this news, but I, on the other hand, was a little worried. As my baking days have slipped away from me, I’ve become a little rusty when it comes to multiple icing shades, colored sugar, and snowflake shaped sprinkles. Summoning my artistry from 15 years ago, I got to work sprinkling green sugar on my Christmas trees, and haphazardly pasting candy cane morsels on the green shading. Cara looked over at my work, and looked at me with slight disappointment in her eyes. “Maybe try to make them a little fancier?” she said. Horrified by my apparent failure, I ate two cookies and started over.

Little did Cara know: she created a monster. For three hours, I obsessed over my cookies, picking out all the red colored balls to line stripes on my stockings, stringing ornaments in perfect bowing lines on my trees, and striping my candy canes in perfectly measured patches of color. The result was more beautiful than my seven-year-old memories, if involving way more patience and attention than should ever be imparted on a single cookie. Kate, holiday cheer master, was more than pleased with the results, as were we, until she plucked up one of my stockings and took a bite, and I suddenly felt like I had lost my best friend.

From our kitchen, where we're like obsessive cookie elves, to yours,

Phoebe and Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOKS

**Recipes**

Martha's Icing

Ices about 2 dozen of your favorite sugar cookies

Ingredients

1 egg white
2 cups powdered sugar
a few drops of lemon juice

food coloring

lots of sprinkles

Whisk ingredients together. Separate into bowls and add food coloring to create your desired scheme. Use knifes or offset spatulas for decorating. If you're ambitious, use icing bags with tips.

Read more...

Working With What You Have: Pink Greens

DISH: Pink Greens; Arugula and Beet Salad
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Beets and their Greens

I don’t know why, but I always seem to over-estimate how many beets I will need for any given meal that features them. There was certainly no exception when it came to our latest catering gig—I roasted nearly double the number of beets I would need for my relish, and still came away from the baby shower with leftovers of that to add to the beets still sitting in my fridge. Despite the fact that cooking these pink veggies en masse transforms my small kitchen into a bloody crime scene, they are a wonderful accent to any meal, and I never tire of having random zip lock bags of roasted beets stuffed in the corners of my fridge.

After the shower, I not only had the whole beets and relish at my disposal but three bunches of beet greens as well. Tired by my usual garlic and olive oil sauté, I remembered reading an interesting recipe for Beet Greens on Food52 for their Best Way to Cook Greens Contest and decided to give it a try. The “Pink Greens” turned out so well, I ate the entire bowl. Luckily I still had my relish for the next day’s fix of pink & green.

From my kitchen, with just a touch of pink, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipes**

Pink Greens
Makes 2 servings

Marissa Grace's original recipe called for sherry vinegar. For some reason, this isn't one of my staple pantry vinegars that I usually have on hand. I substituted just a tablespoon of white vinegar, and rounded out the flavor combination with some lemon juice.

Ingredients
1 bunch beet greens (from 8-10 beets), roughly chopped, most of the stalk removed
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white vinegar
½ lemon juiced

Coat a large sauté pan or Dutch oven with olive oil and sauté the garlic, shallot and red pepper until slightly browned. Add the sugar and salt and stir until just combined. Add the beet greens to the pan, pour the water on and immediately cover.

Do not remove the lid for a few minutes to allow the greens to wilt. Once they have cooked down, remove the lid. Cook for a few more minutes allowing the water to evaporate.

Just before removing pour the vinegar and lemon juice over the greens. Cook for a minute longer, taste for seasoning, and serve.

Arugula and Beet Salad
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
4oz baby arugula
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp minced pickled shallot (recipe here)
1 roasted beet, minced (recipe for roasted beets)

In a small bowl, mix together the dill, beet and shallot. Season with salt, add a tablespoon of pickling liquid, and drizzle in a tablespoon or two of olive oil.

Toss the pink mixture together with the arugula, and serve. For a more substantial salad, add a Dill Turkey Burger to the bed of greens.
Read more...

Recipe Flash: Teriyaki-Dressed Soba Salad

VEGGIE-CARNIVORE DINNER PARTY MENU: BBQ Chicken Satay; Soy-Sesame Tofu Skewers; Teriyaki-Dressed Soba, served warm; Mixed Greens with Creamy Mango Vinaigrette; Coconut Shortbread

When I turn to tasty soba noodles to offer me some sustenance, I'm more likely than not to dress them with julienned raw veggies and the sesame oil vinaigrette I threw on these rice noodles I made a while back. For a recent mag club, though, I wanted something a little different--but I also wanted something different from the hearty fall dishes like gratins I was starting to feel like I was eating ad nauseum (not literally). So I mixed in the seasonal sweet potato, an untraditional vegetable for a soba salad. I also threw in some edamame, then tied everything together with a simple, quick-to-make teriyaki sauce and some toasted sesame seeds. Served just warm of room temperature, the noodles were slightly unexpected, pleasantly light, and for whatever unknown reason just right next to the sundried tomato paninis Phoebe brought. It must have been some kind of cross-cultural synergy.

From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,

Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Recipe**

Teriyaki-Dressed Soba Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 teaspoon peanut or safflower oil, plus more for roasted the sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds.
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon honey
1 large carrot, julienned
1/2 cup frozen, shelled edamame
1 small sweet potato, cut in 3/4-inch dice
1 cup napa cabbage, finely shredded
1 carrot
5 oz soba noodles

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the sweet potato with a little bit of oil (I used the fabulous Misto sprayer) and lay the cubes out on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until nearly soft, then toss with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and bake for 5-10 more minutes, until browned and cooked through.

Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in an un-oiled pan until fragrant and golden. Set aside.

Saute the garlic and ginger in the 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. When the garlic is translucent, add the remaining soy sauce, the rice wine, the honey, and 1/3 cup of water. Bring to a boil slowly, simmer for a minute or two, then add the julienned carrots, simmer another minute or two, then add the cabbage and most of the sesame seeds. Continue to cook until the carrots have softened (you don't want them too limp) and the cabbage has wilted.

While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the soba noodles, and cook until tender, according to package directions. About 2 minutes before cooking time is complete, add the edamame. Drain both in a colander, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Toss the teriyaki sauce with the noodles and edamame and the sweet potatoes, adding some of the cooking water if the noodles seem dry. Taste and add more soy sauce as needed. Serve hot or warm, garnished with the remaining sesame seeds.

Read more...

Cooking For Others: For a Living

EVENT: Mary's Baby Shower
VENUE: Rebbecca's Apartment, Chelsea
PARTY SIZE: 40
TYPE: Afternoon Sit Down Tea
MENU: (Cocktail Fare) Caprese Skewers with Pesto Dipping Sauce; Deviled Eggs; Asparagus in Parmesan Puff Pastry; (Sit Down) Sexy Ugly Caramelized Onion Tarts; Green Apple & Brie Sandwiches with Honey Mustard; Turkey & Beet Relish Sandwiches with Dill Mayonnaise; Mixed Greens with Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette; Zucchini & Walnut Bread; Chocolate Chip Banana Bread; Cherry Scones; Apple Cinnamon Scones; Magnolia Cupcakes

Our friend Jocelyn is lucky enough to have two older sisters who have made her an aunt three times over. We love to hear about her nieces and nephews and see pictures of them--Helena, her sister Rebecca's daughter, modeled for us as our pretend "love child"--but more importantly for us gals of BGSK, Jocelyn's sister was the one to grant us our first catering gig two weekends ago.

Rebecca’s friend, Mary, is pregnant with her first child. And since Rebecca is the one who set Mary up with her husband in the first place, she held the baby shower at her loft, co-hosting with Mary's two sisters. Rebecca had contacted us about cooking for the afternoon tea in October, back when Cara still had her full-time job, and we were really excited to give this fifty-person catering gig a shot, though not as much for the professional opportunity as for the fact that we simply thought it would be fun.

Skip forward a few months, and the catering opportunity, while still seeming fun, also started to feel like a very exciting step on the way to another side of our foodie careers. Of course, Rebecca's call was not completely out of the blue: Cara did a bunch of catering in college--especially of this type of afternoon tea event--and Phoebe has been hired by parents' friends to make all the food for their dinner parties.

(thanks to Phoebe's mom for these very official looking aprons.)

We spent a few weeks developing a catering menu, not specifically for Rebecca, but with plenty of options that would work for her event--afternoon, tea, lots of women. An email chain later, we had whittled the menu down to only the best and the brightest. There were three passed hors d'oeuvres:

the elegant puff pastry-wrapped asparagus with Parmesan,

deviled eggs: a little bit retro,

and caprese skewers with Phoebe's famous pesto sauce for dipping.

On each table, platters of scones and quickbreads, as well as two kinds of tea sandwiches:

brie, apple & honey-dijon on wheat; turkey, beet relish, dill mayo & arugula on white

In the arms of our trusty servers, Alex and Matt, we passed a caramelized onion tart that was the epitome of teamwork (Cara made the pastry, Phoebe the filling), and a salad with an herb vinaigrette, the epitome of amnesia (don't ask).

Fortunately (with respect to prep time) and unfortunately (regarding Cara's baking obsession), Rebecca said she'd be supplying dessert: pink Magnolia cupcakes displayed in an adorable, wire-branched cupcake tree.

The most exciting moment by far was when the guests devoured the platters of sandwiches with an unforeseen gusto and we had to make more and more of them, with a dwindling bread supply and in fast forward. Runner up was when, before we located the oven mitts, we had to remove the asparagus from the oven with our bare hands. Ouch.

Though we swear our muscles were tired the next day, as if catering were some kind of contact sport, we really did have the fun we'd anticipated in October. Without being coy, we'd like to point out that if you ever did have an event and wanted to hire some able-bodied and semi-experienced young caterers to take charge of the food, you could do worse than to think of us. In fact, if you email us, you can see our catering menu for yourself.

From our kitchen, happy from our first professional gig and excited for our next, to yours,

Phoebe and Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOKS

**Recipes**

Sexy Ugly Caramelized Onion Tarts
Makes 2 tarts

The dough is made in my mini food processor, so I have to halve the recipe. It means splitting the egg yolk, which is a bit awkward but nonetheless endurable. If you own a bigger processor, by all means make the dough at once. It's also easy enough to make the pastry by hand.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

2 cups flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 sticks cold butter
1 egg yolk
4-5 tablespoons cold water

For the onion filling:

3 tablespoons oil
4 - 5 (depending on how prone you are to nibbling) large sweet Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
dash cayenne

To finish:
4 tablespoons butter

a few sprigs fresh thyme

In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Cut the butter into roughly tablespoon-sized pieces and add, then pulse until the mixture looks a bit crumbly. Put in the egg yolk and about 3 tablespoons of the water, then run the processor until the dough starts to come together. It should clump into a big ball; if it doesn't, drizzle in another tablespoon of the water. You want to add as little liquid as possible.

Remove from the food processor and flatten into two 7-inch disks. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, make the filling: Sauté the onions in the oil over a medium flame, stirring very infrequently. Once they soften and begin to brown on each side, return the flame to low and allow to slowly caramelize. During this time, it is important to make sure the onions are spread as evenly as possible across the pan. Every few minutes, scrape the bottom and redistribute the onions so each gains the maximum amount of surface area. The intention is to slowly crisp the onions by enticing the remaining liquids to sweat out, and for the onions to sweeten by condensing in their own juices. If you stir too often, the onions will turn to mush. This process takes about 40 minutes.

When the onions are dark brown, but not burnt, add the thyme, cumin, and season with salt and a touch of cayenne. Set aside.

When ready to make the tarts, preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll out each disk into a rough circle. No need to be perfect, you just want the dough fairly even. Fold about 1 inch of the edges in all the way around, pinching every inch or so to seal. Slide onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Spread about 3/4 cup of the onion filling onto each crust. Top with 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into little squares. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden. Garnish with fresh thyme, then cut into 8 wedges and serve.

Caprese Skewers

Serves 15

You can really make as many of these bites as you want to fit your party size. We offered around 1.5 bites per person, which is always a safe assumption.

Ingredients

25 cherry tomatoes
25 basil leaves
25 bocconcini (bite-sized mozzarella balls)
1 cup basil-parsley pesto (recipe follows)
toothpicks

Thread the cherry tomato, followed by a basil leaf (folded in half) through the toothpick. Top with a bocconcini ball pressed halfway through with the skewer so the end is not revealed. Place pesto in a serving bowl in the middle of the platter and arrange skewers around the edge.

Basil-Parsley Pesto
Makes 1-2 cups

2 garlic cloves
2-3 cups basil
1 cup parsley
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 - ½ cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 lemon, juiced

Combine the garlic, herbs, and nuts in a food processor. Pulse to grind. Add the oil slowly to reach desired consistency (a thick paste). Remove to a bowl, add the Parmesan and the lemon juice, then taste for salt. Serve in a pretty bowl beside the caprese skewers.

Classic Deviled Eggs

Serves 12

Ingredients

6 eggs

small handful arugula, finely chopped

2 teaspoons mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup mayonnaise (I made homemade, since it's such a prominent taste in these eggs)

a few grinds fresh pepper

smoked or regular paprika for garnish

Hard boil the eggs: put 6 raw eggs in a pot with water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. When the water has cooled to the point where it's comfortable to stick your hand in to grab the eggs, that means they're done. Remove and cool completely in the fridge. Peel and then cut in half along the longer axis.

Take the egg yolk out from both halves and place in a bowl. Gently mash them, then add the salt, mustard, mayo, pepper, and arugula. Taste for seasonings and correct if necessary.

Arrange the 12 halves on a serving platter. Carefully scoop about 1 tablespoon of filling into the concavity of each egg. Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika, preferably smoked.

For homemade mayo:

1 fresh, organic egg yolk

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

pinch salt

1/2 cup oil

Place 1 fresh organic egg yolk in the bottom of your food processor or in a small bowl that won't shift when you whisk. Add 1 teaspoon water and the vinegar and salt, then pulse/whisk to combine. Drizzle in the oil little by little--going especially slowly at first

Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus

Makes 40 appetizers

Ingredients

about 40 asparagus spears

1 package puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge for 24 hours

oil in a spray bottle, or a few tablespoons in a small bowl to apply with a brush

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Rinse the asparagus and pat them dry. Snap the woody bottom off of each one (it will snap naturally when you bend the bottom) and discard.

Unwrap the puff pastry and unfold each sheet. If the pastry refuses to unroll, grab a rolling pin and flatten the dough into a rectangle measuring about 10 x 12".

Cut the pastry into strips that are about 1/4-inch thick and 10 inches long. Fasten the strip of dough at the base of an asparagus spear by winding it all the way around. Then spiral the dough attractively around the spear until you reach the top.

Place the asparagus on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the loose end at the bottom. Repeat with the remaining vegetables, leaving about an inch between them on the tray. Spray or brush with olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with both salt and Parmesan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the asparagus are wrinkled and browned and the pastry is golden. Serve warm or within 2 hours of making them.

Dill Turkey Sandwiches with Beet Relish

Makes 30 small sandwiches

Ingredients

1 package Pepperidge Farm "Thin Slice" white sandwich bread
8oz mayonnaise
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 cups beet relish (minced very very fine)
1lb turkey (at least 30 slices)
2 handfuls arugula leaves

Mix the mayo and dill together in a small mixing bowl. Spread a thin layer of the dill mayo on one slice of the bread. Top with two slices of turkey.

On another slice of bread, spread a thing layer of beet relish. Top with a few leaves of arugula. Sandwich two halves together and press down gently.

Using a serrated knife, cut the crusts off the bread (using a damp cloth to clean the knife after each pass). Slice the sandwich across the diagonal into two pieces. Arrange sandwiches on a platter, and serve.

Read more...

Big Girls, Test Kitchen: The Perfect Holiday Dinner

EVENT: The Ina-Inspired Perfect Holiday Dinner
VENUE: Phoebe’s Apartment, Flatiron
PARTY SIZE: 8
TYPE: Festive, Fancy-ish Sit-Down Feast
MENU: Caramelized Onion Pizzettes with Smoked Mozzarella and Arugula; Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter; Chicken with Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato; Roasted Root Vegetables; Individual Red Berry Parfaits with Olive Oil Pound Cake
BUDGET: $60 (not including dessert)

I’ve been extremely lucky to have a very venerable cooking mentor over the years: Ina Garten. My dad met Ina back in high school in Stamford, Connecticut, and they have been friends, save for a twenty year gap somewhere in mid-life, ever since.

I’m not sure when exactly they reconnected after so many years. But one of my most vivid cooking memories is of helping Ina make German Chocolate Cake for my dad’s 50th birthday when I was 13. This was pre-Food Network superstardom, and I remember how she swept through my childhood kitchen in Westchester with expert catering prowess, assessing the platters, grabbing small silver serving bowls that hadn’t see the light of day since my parents unpacked them with the rest of their wedding china, and whipping out a large tin of caviar from her supply bag which we ate with potato chips and champagne (or, at least, the adults did).

Everything we made that night was simple, elegant, and perfect for the occasion, from the pumpernickel smoked salmon tartines with herb butter to the cake, which stood tall and proud on its stand, flaunting three dense chocolate-y layers and decadent icing. But more importantly, the items were perfectly attuned to the tastes of her audience. Though there were probably more colorful, impressive-looking desserts for the celebration (like, say, Red Berry Trifle), she chose this cake because she knew it was my father’s favorite; the caviar was served with rustic, golden brown kettle potato chips instead of atop a fancy blini, because, well, potato chips are absolutely delicious, regardless of their position as humble snack food. And though the meal still exhibited the special quality worthy of such a milestone birthday, it also retained the manner of comfort that would make hosts and guests alike want to eat the meal again and again.

From this cooking experience with Ina, I realized that comfort cravings—for Meatloaf, Pot Roast, Perfect Mac 'n Cheese—are shared by every crowd. And from her cookbooks, which were among my first, and still to this day most treasured, I learned that an elegant platter of Spaghetti and Meatballs can elevate the quality of a meal to something warm, satisfying, and unexpectedly special for the twenty-somethings at my table, and adults alike.

Back in 2006, Cara and I had the pleasure of being guests on Ina’s show, returning from college to be pampered by a huge platter of gravlox, fresh fruit, and a basket of sour cream blueberry muffins in the episode Good Home Cooking. This holiday season, I had the honor of actually cooking a festive meal with Ina on her show, and afterwards, I couldn’t wait to get home and make this perfect holiday dinner for Cara and some of our other close friends.

Since our dinner happened to fall on the first night of Hanukkah, Leora and her boyfriend, Adam, brought festive decorations that attempted to make this non-denominational holiday meal as denominational as possible. Like the children we sometimes are, we embraced her Hanukkah rubber duckies and star of David napkins in place of Ina’s beautiful votives and glowing branches. The dinner itself hit all the perfect comfort notes—creamy pasta; cheesy, perfectly roasted chicken; bright, beautiful berries and cream—but, like the 50th birthday dinner 12 years ago, it was simultaneously elevated above the everyday classics to create something truly special for the occasion.

Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter

Since we, like Ina, are true believers that brownies in boxes are the most genuine expression of appreciation, we sent Ina a tin of treats containing Cara's M&M Blondies to thank her for her endless generosity, friendship, and the best gift of all: a perfect holiday dinner.

From my kitchen, where Ina knows best, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK

**Tips and Tricks**

Budget

As Ina promised, this dinner was budget friendly. For the savory part of the meal, I spent $60 dollars, averaging out to less than $10 per person, which is my usual measure for whether or not a meal is affordable to make a larger group (I'd invited 8 people).

Some ways to save: instead of using a dried handmade pasta, I went to my favorite mom n’ pop Italian grocer and had them cut me two pounds of fresh pasta into the size of tagliatelle for only $5. The truffle butter is relatively affordable, but if you order it from D’artagnan, the shipping can kill your wallet. Since I made Ina’s Truffle Mac 'n Cheese for my birthday, I made a large order for the truffle butter so I would have it on hand in my freezer for the rest of the year. The shipping, amortized between 5 containers of truffle butter, only added $3 dollars to each container.

Since the tagliarelle needed to be served immediately, I knew I would be cooking while the guests were at my apartment. For my dinner with Ina, this worked out perfectly, since she let me cook with her! But because I have an open kitchen, I needed to give my guests another activity lest they all stand around and watch as I reduce heavy cream on the fire and receive a pasta facial as the tagliarelle drained. I always find the best distraction to be finger food. For this meal, I had some leftover caramelized onions from a savory tart we made for a catering gig (recipe to come!). I also had some leftover arugula, so I decided to pick up some pizza dough from my favorite pizza place (you can easily use frozen...or homemade) and make an appetizer around them. The fresh dough, enough for a large pie, only cost me $3.

One thing that I always do to stay on budget: make Cara bring dessert. When not involving fruit, nuts, or chocolate, this can be the cheapest part of the meal anyway—baking cookies or a cake can usually be managed with the flour and sugar in your pantry, and an add-in or two. But it really helps take the burden of the host to not have to share your oven rack(s) with too many dishes.

Since Cara’s boyfriend doesn't eat butter, Cara made a slight variation on the original trifle by using Olive-Oil Pound Cake and making individual servings in punch glasses (the larger, composed version would have been a little difficult to bring from Brooklyn!). Though she also tweaked a few of the ingredients (omitting framboise and cognac in the whipped cream) that made Ina's dish so particularly special, the result was a beautifully colorful dessert to round out the perfect, festive holiday meal.


Quarter-Life Table Settings

I’m always impressed by how elegant and beautiful Ina’s tablescapes look on her show (and in person). As quarter-life cooks, we don’t usually think about the table first and foremost because we hardly ever use our dining room tables (if we have one at all). My “dining room” fabric collection is a rather sorry sight: mismatched cloth napkins (about 3 of one kind, 3 of another), and a few bright pink placemats that don’t match any of these napkins. I’ve inherited all of these elements from my parents who, no doubt, passed them down to me because they had no use for them without the missing members of the original set. I’m not about to invest in any myself, but the one thing I have bought since moving into my apartment is a tablecloth.

It's worth having one simple, cheap tablecloth to present a more refined, clean aesthetic when entertaining for special occasions. I have two, both of which I spent less than $20 dollars on and use all the time. They are good for big parties and dinners alike. When I set up the bar on my table, I always put the tablecloth down so I know I won’t have to deal with sticky tonic water on my wood the next day, and then I just toss it in the laundry bin for next time. For dinners, you only really have to wash it if there are stains, unlike napkins which people wipe their grubby mouths with, and should definitely not be reused without a good trip through a rinse cycle.

The point: I think my table looks rather adult, even with paper napkins, and it didn’t cost that much to make it this way. Buy a tablecloth.

**Recipes**

You can find the recipes Ina and I made on the show on foodnetwork.com:

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato

Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter

Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

Caramelized Onion Pizzettes with Smoked Mozzarella and Arugula
Makes 16 Pizzettes

You can use a few different cheeses here—regular mozzarella, fontina, gouda, ricotta, or, most practical of all, some of the goat cheese you bought for the chicken. If using a soft cheese, make sure to put it down on the dough first, then follow with the onions.

Ingredients

1 ball pizza dough (if buying fresh, ask for enough for a large pie)
1 cup caramelized onions
1/2lb smoked mozzarella, shredded
2 cups loosely packed arugula leaves
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Roll the pizza dough out on a floured surface (if you don’t own a rolling pin, cover an empty wine bottle in plastic wrap). Cut the dough into small rounds with a cookie cutter, or by using the bottom of a water glass and a paring knife.

Oil a cookie sheet and arrange the rounds on it. Brush with olive oil, top with a spoonful of onions and a sprinkle of mozzarella. Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes, until the crust is browned and crispy, and the cheese is fully melted. Top with a handful of arugula, and serve immediately.

Cara's Kinda Makeshift Trifle with Olive Oil Pound Cake
Serves 8

Ingredients
1/2 recipe Orange-Olive Oil Pound Cake, from Alice Medrich via Not Derby Pie
1/3 cup apricot jam
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
3 tablespoons sugar
juice from 1 large orange
1 1/3 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup toasted almond slices for garnish (optional)
1 pint fresh raspberries for garnish (optional)

Cut the pound cake into 1/2-inch thick slices. Thinly cover one side of each slice with the jam. Set aside.

To make the raspberry compote: combine the raspberries with the sugar and the orange juice. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook, stirring nearly constantly, for about 10 minutes, until the raspberries have slightly melted and the liquid they produced has reduced by half. Turn off the heat, scrape into a bowl, and set aside.
Whip the cream: put the cream, confectioners sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. With a mixer, handheld mixer, or a whisk, whip until the cream holds soft peaks. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble, cut a slice of pound cake to fit the bottom of an individual serving dish or a pretty glass. Cover with a tablespoon or two of cream, then drizzle on some raspberry compote. Cut the remainder of the slice into 1/2-inch cubes and sprinkle them on top. Add more compote, then more cream, then finish with some toasted almonds, some cake crumbs, and/or some fresh raspberries.

Cara's individual trifles, keeping cool on the windowsill

Orange Olive Oil Poundcake

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 cups sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
zest from 1 medium orange (save the juice for the raspberry compote)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sherry, cognac, or Grand Marnier

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease an 8 x 3 3/4" loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using a stand or hand-held mixer, beat the sugar, oil, and orange zest on high speed until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat until the mixture is thick and pale, 3 to 5 minutes. Turning the mixer to low, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix for a moment, then add half of the sherry, beating until just blended. Repeat with another third of the flour, followed by the remaining sherry, and then the remaining flour.

Scrape the batter into the pan(s). Bake until the cake tester comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan(s) on a rack for about 15 minutes before unmolding.

You can make this cake 2-3 days ahead for the trifle; in fact it's great if it's a tiny bit stale.

my roommate Caitlyn's beautiful handiwork: a swan doggy bag for Alex

Read more...