Passion Food

Easter!

Limoncello Spritzer (Giada’s Family Dinners)
Goat Cheese, Tapenades & Crackers (Whole Foods)
Bread Sticks (Barefoot in Paris)
Asparagus Risotto (ICE All About Risotto Class)
Grilled Leg of Lamb 
Roasted Potatoes 
Buttered Peas (Cooking)
Sautéed Carrots
Roasted Beets w/ Vinaigrette (Cooking) 
Chocolate Fondue 
Lamb Cake 
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Fruit   
Cheesecake 
Coconut Cake (Barefoot at Home)
Lemon Meringue Tart (Barefoot in Paris)

The Story Behind It:
When it comes to entertaining I like to think of John and me as peanut butter and jelly; one just isn’t as good without the other. I handle planning the menu and all of the cooking, while John takes care of cleaning the house, setting the table and any special extras (and after a drink or two he’s usually the entertainment as well.). He even cleans me up before our close up.

With a sit-down Easter dinner for twelve, our teamwork would be essential.

The Story About It:
I had asked John to take care of the drinks (remember our experiment with the limoncello spritzers?) and my brother Scott to take care of all the photography, it’s really cool to have a photographer in the family! I wanted to start with something light so my best friend Emee suggested some spreads and cheeses from Whole Foods and with that I served my homemade breadsticks.

The focus of the meal would be butterflied leg of lamb, which John grilled and Brie and Asparagus Risotto, which we all went nuts for.

Since Easter is all about welcoming Spring, plenty of fresh vegetables were in order. So we had sautéed carrots, beets tossed with vinaigrette, buttered peas and roasted potatoes.

Like all of our holidays the dessert is built on tradition. On Easter we have chocolate fondue, which Mom and Michele brought. Usually we take our fondue sticks and joust one another first, but this year we all just got down to business and I was happy to see that the tradition was not lost on my niece Elisa.

Aunt Charlotte brought amazing chocolate covered strawberries, and my cousin Toni and her son Mark brought the fruit – it even had mangos in it! Dad made his famous cheesecake, Mom made the traditional lamb cake and I finished the dessert selection with coconut cake and lemon meringue tart.

In the meantime, my brother Chris manned his spot in the sunroom watching ESPN, he’s the sportscaster of the family. I think I can speak for all of us when I say life is good!
 
Their Side of the Story:
Easter Sunday, a special holiday and Marissa definitely made a special dinner. The grilled lamb was perfect, a little pink and very tender. Along with the lamb was a colorful array of vegetables, green peas, bright orange carrots, deep purple and pink beets and a very creamy asparagus risotto! (Mom)

As I sat down to this glorious dinner, what impressed me was how much like a painting it resembled. The bright orange carrots, the rich green peas, jewel red beets and a blend of textures truly gave this dinner an artistic flare. For one who will agree to eat lamb on a once-a-year basis, I have to say that I actually went for seconds! I can’t ignore hubby in this mix though, John did a great job decorating the table and making those great martinis. Together they make a great team! (Aunt Charlotte)

Ok, I’m not so good at writing, but I can tell you… I’m good at eating and this meal was more than delightful. The risotto was so creamy and the asparagus gave it just the right soft/crunchy texture. The meat was cooked to perfection. The meal as a whole was a colorful rainbow of good eats. (Michele)

Easter dinner was delicious! The table was an array of spring colors. The grilled lamb was tasty and cooked to perfection. The risotto was creamy and the asparagus was an interesting addition to it. The dessert table rivaled the display case in a bakery. It was hard to pick, so I had some of everything! I knew today would be a true culinary experience and I was not disappointed. (Toni)

It’s Risen!

No I’m not becoming an evangelist, I’m talking about my Easter bread! Our Italian family tradition is to eat Easter bread, a recipe and tradition from my grandmother, on Easter morning. And I am happy to say that I’ve passed the tradition on to my boss Mary’s family. Now her Italian mother says it’s not Easter without the Easter bread! Since my brother Scott is getting married in July, I thought it was high time that he learned the tradition for himself. I invited him over for a lesson and he took me up on my offer. He was a fabulous assistant and while he was over he took spectacular photos of my cat, Versace (Scott is a professional photographer.)

We got to work right away. I explained to him about how the yeast works and that it is really important to be careful since this the most critical part of the process. It was just then when I effed up -– I was so busy instructing that I didn’t pay attention to the order of my ingredients. I had to run to the store to get more yeast –- I even ran a yellow light to get there and back fast (everyone knows I drive my VW like a grandma –- so you can see I was under pressure -– our Easter tradition was at stake!) .

Once I returned, we got back on track. Scott mixed the ingredients for the dough.

Then I showed him how to knead (then he took over).

We let the dough rise and then Scott punched it down.

I showed him how to braid the dough, and we let it rise again. Then we brushed the dough with egg wash and covered it with sprinkles.

Into the oven it went.

And soon it was golden brown and it smelled like Easter -- Buon Pasqua!

Note: Check in next week for a full report on Easter dinner, Scott will be taking the pictures and John will be mixing the drinks.

Easter Bread
(Makes 12+ Servings)
1 cup of milk
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
12 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
1 cup of warm water
4 packages of active dry yeast
4 eggs, beaten
9 cups of flour
12 eggs, hardboiled and colored
Multi-colored sprinkles
Egg wash

1. Heat milk until bubbles form around edge. Remove from heat, add sugar, salt, butter and let cool.

2. Sprinkle yeast over warm water (100-110 degrees) and stir until dissolved.

3. In a very large glass or ceramic bowl add milk mixture, eggs & 6 cups of flour. Beat with wooden spoon until smooth. Add the rest of flour and again beat with wooden spoon until smooth (there may be some flour in the bottom of the bowl, it is ok if you don’t use all of it.) .

4. Place dough on lightly floured board and knead until satiny and elastic (at least 10 minutes). Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise (in a draft-free place) for 1 ½ hours.

5. Punch dough down and knead. Take piece of bread and roll into a log, wrap around a hardboiled egg, set aside. (Note: you may also take two logs and braid around up to four eggs, then attach the ends of the braid to form a circle.) Place dough on lightly greased baking sheets. Cover with kitchen towel and let the dough rise (in a draft-free place) again for 1 ½ hours.

6. Make an egg wash by beating an egg with one tablespoon of water. Brush egg on dough and add sprinkles. Bake at 325 degrees until golden brown. Let cool. 

I make this the day before and after it has cooled I wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Serve at breakfast with butter and fruit jam or marmalade.

My Toughest Critic

Chicken Fingers
Mac & Cheese
Sautéed Carrots
Chocolate Ice Cream! 

The Story Behind It:
This weekend I am having a sleepover with my five-year-old niece Elisa and she will be my critic. If you think John is a tough judge just wait; I am ready to hear the hard honest truth about my cooking. And don’t let her age fool you, as she says it herself, “being a five-year-old is stupendous!”. 

I thought I’d keep it simple this week so we are having baked chicken fingers that I’ll bread in panko, homemade mac  & cheese (I hope she’s not expecting the  orange stuff that comes out of a box!) and carrots that I’ll steam and then lightly sauté in butter. For dessert we are making chocolate ice cream together.

The Story About It:
So on Saturday morning I got up early and prepped my chicken fingers, carrots and mac & cheese. I was particularly excited about the mac & cheese. This recipe came from a chef who taught a week-long level II class that I took at the ICE (she was demonstrating béchamel). I’ve experimented with different mac & cheese recipes and this one seemed to be it. I thought John would like it too. I put everything in the fridge and picked up my buddy so we could spend the day together. We went to see Horton Hears a Who (go see it -– it’s great) before coming home for dinner. That’s when things started to get shaky.

First we made the ice cream and after an hour of it churning I realized I forgot to add the heavy cream, so it never got thick. I announced no worries, we had some cherry vanilla in the fridge, we could top it with magic shell and marshmallows (Elisa’s favorite). Next Elisa asked for juice. Juice?! I gave her the only juice I had--pomegranate--it only took her one sip to say ewwwww!! I realized Uncle John had a ton of Snapple in the fridge… that of course would do the trick. Then my chicken fingers did not brown as much as a wanted them, but the carrots looked right on track (Elisa loves carrots) and the mac & cheese looked good; I couldn’t wait to try it. I put everything on the table and let my critic get to work.   

Elisa’s Side of the Story:
Without being prompted, the first thing Elisa tasted was the mac & cheese. Immediately she said: “I don’t like it, I like my mom’s but I don’t like this.” Always wanting to improve, I said, “OK, can you be more specific why don’t you like it?” She said, “It’s yucky, can I have an apple instead?” And so this week’s review was crystal clear, but I'm still wondering if I should give that mac & cheese one more shot or if John will agree with Elisa.   

The Perfect Storm

Limoncello Spritzers (Giada’s Family Dinners)
Winter Steak Salad (Cooking)
Black-and-White Banana Loaf (Baking, From My Home to Yours)

The Story Behind It:
The day was rainy and dreary and I spent the morning running a million errands (but meeting up with my sister-in-law Ashley for a manicure, a bright spot in this otherwise washout of a day). With this kind of weather, I decided a comfort cake was in order. So I turned to my old friend Dorie Greenspan and found the perfect chocolate-marbled banana loaf with just the right shot of rum. This particular recipe seemed to use every bowl in my cabinet, but since the downpour was keeping me in I thought no worries--I have all afternoon to clean up.

In the meantime as I added each layer of ingredients I felt my day being to brighten and when I ran my knife through the vanilla and chocolate batters to make the perfect marble, I swear even the sun began to shine (ok that was my imagination). It was right after that imagined ray of sunshine that the perfect storm blasted through. Maybe I was too busy dreaming about sunny days, but when I went to put the loaf in the oven I missed the oven rack (I MISSED THE RACK!!) and my pan flipped and the batter was all over my oven door. First startled, and then almost reduced to tears, I did what any smart baker would do: I scooped my batter off the door, put it back in the pan and then licked the spoon. John can tackle cleaning the oven. 

The Story About It:
Before the big batter spill my plan was to tell you about a Winter Steak salad from James Peterson’s Cooking. I try to focus on a batch of recipes or techniques for a while and right now I am going to work my way through creating some salads. Being wise to John’s particular tastes and also because frisee was $8.99 a pound, I took liberties with the original recipe. I used arugula, radicchio and endive and tossed it with crisp-boiled asparagus, fingerling potatoes, homemade croutons and gorgonzola. I seasoned the salad with salt and pepper and then dressed it with lemon juice and olive oil. I had grill master John grill skirt steak, which we thinly sliced and placed on top of the salad. When we sat down I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised and it was a delicious dinner.

And speaking of being pleasantly surprised, my near-disaster cake came out great too! 

Note: I know I haven’t been diligent about posting recipes, but if something looks interesting to you please feel free to ask me. I am happy to share the recipe!

John’s Side of the Story:
Well hello everyone.  I can’t believe it is blog night again. Needless to say I had a crazy day as usual.  We had a lot of rain today and that is not a good thing when the roof at work is leaking into my office as well as on the rest of the staff.  After a day of dealing with a mess at work, on a Saturday I might add, I stopped at the gas station to fill up Mistress. In case you are wondering, Mistress is the name of my car.  As I was standing there, the heavens opened up and there I am pumping gas in a deluge of rain. Now, I am now soaked to my underwear. Things got worse when I walked in the front door to Marissa greeting me with a steak and informing me that I am grilling tonight. My response was simple: I need a martini.  Well even my drink became work because now Marissa announces I have to experiment making a limoncello martini since she wants to serve them at Easter dinner.

I proceeded to strip off my wet clothes at the front door and now I got yelled at because Marissa thinks the neighbors can see in the house (if they are looking in that’s their problem). I grabbed a robe and proceed to make a great limoncello martini.  I was pleased because I hate my beverage to be a lot of work. After a few sips, I was ready to go back outside to heat up the grill and take care of the steak. 

I wasn’t looking forward to going back outside since it was still very windy and raining. All I have to say is that I hope the neighbors were not looking into my yard. If Marissa was worried about what they saw at the front door, God only knows what they saw when gusts of wind blew past (don’t forget I was still in my robe!).

In any event, the steak came out perfect. I let it rest and then proceeded to slice it and placed the slices over the top of the salad.  I must say, dinner was very good. The flavor of the potatoes and the dressing were very tasty and I of course loved the fresh bread croutons.  I am very happy Marissa adjusted the recipe to my taste.  Dessert looks very good considering it had to be saved off of the oven door.  I can’t wait to clean the oven. Joy for me, I already started to scrape off the crusty remnents.  I apologize if I am babbling this week but as I said before the limoncello martini was very good!
   

We All Scream!

For our anniversary in January, John gave me an ice cream maker (don’t worry -– I got big whopper diamond earrings for Christmas). I know summer is still a dream away, but I decided to give making ice cream a try. I turned to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything for a simple recipe. I love Mark Bittman. First he’s a self-taught cook. Second, he writes a great column each week for The New York Times Food Section called The Minimalist (he also has a good show on PBS) and lastly he looks like my sister in law’s dad (I think anyway).

For my inaugural batch of ice cream I decided to go with vanilla custard, but I did chop up some bittersweet chocolate to add in. The recipe is pretty simple.

Heat up some milk on the stove with sugar. While that’s happening six egg yolks are added with sugar and combined in the mixer.

Once the eggs are light and fluffy they get tempered, meaning you add in about a quarter of the hot milk into the eggs. Then the warmed eggs get mixed in with the rest of the warm milk and it remains on the stove until it gets thick.

Once it’s nice and thick, it gets taken off of the heat and vanilla and some heavy cream are added. I strained this mixture into a bowl and sat the bowl in a sink of ice to bring down the temperature.

After that the ice cream machine does the rest of the work.

Pour it in, flip the switch and voila… 25 minutes later I had some pretty darned tasty ice cream on my hands!

Note: The other thing I love about Mark Bittman is that in How to Cook Everything, he gives samples menus for a million different occassions -- like for celebrating your 30th birthday to celebrating the first day of summer. So much fun!