Snowy Weekend - Part 2

I'm not sure any of my ramblings could amplify this classic cold weather feast.  The picture kinda says it all.  It's one of those dishes that challenge you to resist closing your eyes to savor each bite.  I should be moderately embarrassed for that remark, but it's my sad and hungry truth.

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs (Click here for recipe)



I didn't adapt the recipe itself, but I deviated slightly on presentation.  It instructs to strain the sauce entirely, which I did.  But I just couldn't abandon those sweet, tender carrots and celery, so on the plate they went... well, before the kids devoured them.  Also, instead of serving atop mashed potatoes, I opted for buttered egg noodles coated sprinkled with grated Parmesan on the side.  Um, not sure why I haven't had those in about 10 years??  Divine! 

Well, now that temperatures are climbing to over 70 degrees (in February!!) less than week after the snow fell, I'm guessing that these cold weather dishes are not as inspirational as I hoped they'd be. But please tuck this seriously fab and cozy recipe away for if/when winter decides to return!

Snowy Weekend - Part 1

Finally!  It was about darn time for a frosty weekend at home, as our "winter" thus far hasn't offered its typical font of seasonal culinary inspiration.  I almost forgot how much I adore a pot-of-delicious-something bubbling away on the stove, its aromas filling the house while the snow falls quietly outside.  Call me cheesy; you'll be correct.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my dear friend Maura, who provided me with a recipe from Martha Stewart's January issue, which tragically did not make it into my mailbox for reasons unknown.  I've felt the void.  I've mourned.  But I'm moving on now, thanks to February's delivery and, more importantly, this amazingly delicious recipe that makes me feel like I never missed out in the first place.

Pork Sausages with White Beans

What a completely unworthy title.  I know I get pretty enthusiastic about food in general, but trust me that this a stand-out.  Why?  Imagine savory sausage nestled in a divine stew of white beans, diced tomatoes, white wine, chicken stock, onions, herbs, and yup -- bacon.  THEN this goodness is topped with a layer fresh breadcrumbs sauteed until golden.  Two minutes under the broiler puts the exclamation point on this dish.  It's cozy, super tasty, kid-friendly, and makes great leftovers.

Kinda looks like stuffing on top, huh?   Well, thanks to the wee bit of butter in which the bread sautes, I beg you to believe that it's even BETTER. 

Martha and Maura, you are both my heroes!  On to the recipe.

Pork Sausages and White Beans

(courtesy of Martha Stewart)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 ounces diced bacon

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes (from one 14.5 ounce can)

1 1/4 cups chicken stock

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 pounds cooked pork sausages (French garlic or bratwurst,) left whole or sliced 1 inch thick

5 cups homemade breadcrumbs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (sourdough is delicious!)

1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 325.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large braiser or high-sided ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  Add bacon; cook until crisp.  Add onion; cook until tender.  Add garlic and thyme; cook for 1 minute.  Add wine; cook for 1 minute.  Add tomatoes; cook until sauce is thickened.  Add stock and beans; bring to a simmer.  Add sausages.  Bake for 30 minutes.  

Toast breadcrumbs in remaining butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until golden, 8-10 minutes.  Stir in parsley.  Season with coarse salt.  

Remove skillet from oven.  Heat broiler.  Scatter bread-crumbs over top of sausage mixture.  Broil 6 inches from heat source until top is deep golden brown, 1-2 minutes.

Just cuz

So I had this dark beer lying around leftover from a whole grain mustard beer battered onion ring adventure (I forgot to take photos, darnit, or I'd share.).  We are not huge dark beer drinkers, and I wondered whether we'd end up tossing it....until I was mercilessly beckoned by a recipe for Beer-Pretzel Caramels.  Sold.

I casually mentioned them to my sister, who inquired "what will you do with all those caramels?".  I realized I hadn't considered that a bit, and at this point, said caramels were prepared and chilling in the fridge.  While it was a good question in light of it still being early in the New Year, Paula Deen's diabetes diagnosis, general caloric awareness, etc, I nevertheless paused and confidently replied, "consume them".   Sometimes there is no agenda necessary to make a delicous treat.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.



Pretzels are a brilliant addition to anything sweet, but they are particularly divine nestled in gorgeously rich caramel.

I love a recipe with a brief ingredient list.



The prep is fun and fast.  Half of the beer reduces to a beautiful, thick syrup...



...while the second half of the beer is stirred into the other ingredients and then cooked to reach 235 degrees of amber perfection. 



These two pots do their simultaneous magic in about 12 minutes.  Once the mixtures are combined, along with crumbled pretzels, the whole concoction is poured into a buttered dish to be refrigerated until firm - but still luxuriously chewy, just as I had hoped!

While the boys were playing in the family room last night, Molly and I sneaked into the kitchen for an "our little secret" caramelfest.  I'll excuse the indulgence for mother-daughter bonding!


Beer-Pretzel Caramels
courtesy of Food Network

1 12 oz bottle brown ale
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
 11/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed thin pretzels

1.  Pour the beer into a glass; let sit until flat, about 1 hour.
2.  Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.  Bring half of the beer to a boil in small saucepan over medium heat; cook until reduced to 2 tsp, about 10 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, combine the remaining beer, the brown sugar, corn syrup, cream and butter in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer registers 235 degrees (10-12 minutes).  Remove from the heat and stir in the beer syrup and pretzels.  Spread in the prepared dish and chill until firm, 45 minutes to an hour.

Warm and Fuzzies

I did the happy dance on our last visit to my parents' house when my dad suggested preparing one of my favorite childhood breakfast feasts:  crepes.  A handful, okay a lot, of experiences evoke total giddiness in me -  like the coffee maker's "I'm ready!" beep, the smell of freshly cut grass, an empty dishwasher, a good pedicure, a perfectly folded fitted sheet (oops, secret's out: I'm indeed insane), to name a few - and my dad's crepes have a special place on that list.

Memories of giggling with my sisters in our pj's over our plates of powdered sugar dusted, jam filled crepes rank pretty high on my warm and fuzzy scale.  I'm certain we each inhaled at least six of them at a sitting, which I, as a parent now, can imagine elevated the giggles to an irritating decibel given the sugar content.  I am so thankful for those sweet moments, and I just love the opportunity to now be able to share them with my kids.   

An integral part of this story is this pan... a pan that made a wholelotta crepes in its (clearly) long life.  Its magical crepe powers, along with the perfection of my dad's technique of course, yield the perfect batch.



A little tidbit I just learned in Bon Appetit, by the way, is that the ceramic coated frying pan has totally made a comeback.  Holla. 

Anyway, here is the pile of fluffy goodness before they are rolled into their classic sugar/jam tunnel.


And then, the real deal.  Just.Divine.



Here is the recipe, but I have to confess that I have yet to try to make them!  I kind of love that I - and now my little ones - associate them affectionately with Poppop Kevin and Grandma Connie's house.  Yes, I am a total sucker for nostalgia.  But since my sweet parents have graciously bequeathed The Crepe Pan to me, I clearly have no option but to summon courage and attempt them myself one of these days!

NYE

Dear Times Square party planners/Dick Clark/whoever makes this decision,

Instead of dropping that dreadfully heavy ball made of glass or crystal or whatever it is, you should consider a big fat one of these instead....

White Chocolate Cranberry Popcorn Balls (Click here for recipe)



They are just that festive!  Imagine popcorn pieces adhered with a sweet mixture of marshmallow and white chocolate and dotted with dried cranberries.  So now you know they are festive AND delicious. The original recipe calls for crystallized ginger as well, but I omitted it for a ginger-opposed dinner guest.  (That reminds me:  I have a large container of crystallized ginger that mustn't be neglected...what to make??).

Sweet New Year, everyone!

(-- and don't forgot to watch Cupcake Wars on New Year's Day to catch the awesome Matt Fraker represent his fabulous Richmond cupcake shop, Frostings!)

Let's Party

Friends, this is it: the last hurrah of "oh just one more lap around" the hors d'oeuvres table, nibbling one or two (ahem, six) Christmas cookies for breakfast, all-day grazing from the cheese platter, and 4 pm extra meals holiday happy hours before DUM DUM DUM - January 1st drops the gavel to put all resolutions in session.  Time for the gym to get crowded again and Lean Cuisines to go flying off the shelves like hotcakes. Wait, I'm pretty sure we can't eat hotcakes after the New Year.

Wow, that sounds bleak.  Good news: we're not there yet!  We've still got 10 glorious days of guilt free indulgence remaining.  So let's live it up, shall we?  Here are some holiday apps to help get the party started.

This is my version of (yet another) Pinterest idea to simply fancy up the presentation a little!  I've already gabbed about how I love me a big, fat antipasto platter and have no shame in calling it dinner. Here's an old picture:



Now here's the fancied up version.  It's pretty much the same stuff, but way cuter, huh?



Up next is something I've seen all over blogland and the Food Network Magazine:  Toasted Ravioli!
  

Courtesy of landolakes.com






















This actually is not that bad for you!  Though nearly every recipe I found renders "toasted" synonymous with "fried in oil", I knew there had to be a version that didn't require the splattering and calories of a quarter cup of oil.  After some digging, I found this baked recipe in a totally random place:  Landolakes.com.  Whowouldathunkit.  Here is the recipe, and I made Barefoot Contessa's easy marinara sauce on the side for dipping.  We actually prepared a whole wheat version of these as a main course instead of an app one night, and they were seriously awesome.  They were tasty, satisfying, and pleasantly crunchy (without frying!).   Sorry, by the way, that the above is not my photo.  In the midst of our evening chaos, they were on plates and then in our bellies before the thought crossed my mind to pick up the camera. 

Butternut Squash, Sage and Ricotta Crostini (Click here for recipe)



I saved the best for last.  Okay, so I know in my last breath I was all anti-fried food and health conscious.  Can you ignore that I said that for a sec?  Fried sage is my new best friend, and I don't regret it in the slightest.  Its savory freshness is just perfect against the sweet caramelized butternut squash, creamy ricotta and fresh lemon.  And a crunchy toasted baguette offers a divine backdrop to all this goodness.  Sold.

Merry Christmas all, and of course, happy feasting!

Tis the Season

...to not update my blog for five weeks let the laundry pile overflow into the hallway stay up all night addressing Christmas cards threaten children that bad behavior will make Santa pass us by be thankful for Jesus and make goodies, make goodies, make goodies.   How completely fabulous it is that this season considers baking and consuming sugar filled snacks without shame not only acceptable, but expected.

Pinterest is just the best thing since sliced bread, and it is OVERFLOWING with fun holiday ideas from crafting to decorating to table settings to how to hang Christmas cards.  I really can't help myself.




But this is a food blog, isn't it.  Lucky me -- I've found some tasty treat ideas there as well.  This first one is a marriage of a recipe (chocolate pretzel fudge) and presentation idea (the reindeer brownies and cookies we've seen floating around).  Like many others, I adore salty/sweet combos, and I'm happy to report that this is a totally easy technique.  Love it.



Chocolate Pretzel Fudge

12 oz bag milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup broken pretzel pieces

Melt together first four ingredients on the stove.  Stir in pretzel pieces.   Pour in a foil lined, square baking pan and chill for at least three hours.



More salty sweet goodness = potato chips dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate.  Nuff said.



Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies (Click here for recipe)



This recipe was not a Pinterest find, but something I clipped about a hundred years ago.  After it glared at me for the gazillionth time from its glossy page protector in my recipe binder (I just re-read that...wow....), I declared that the 'toss it' or 'make it' decision was imminent.  I chose the latter, and boy am I glad.  I expected a modestly dense cookie, but these are more pillowy, like whoopie pies.  The filling is heaven, which is convenient given that a bite of this sandwich will leave you covered in it.  BTW, serious kudos to whoever glued two cookies together with something divinely gooey and sweet and called it something other than "two cookies glued together with something divinely gooey and sweet".  The sandwich term makes me feel a lot better about things.

Happy treating, everyone!