So this is brunch?

A lazy Sunday brunch, on a sunny day, with mimosas and friends.  Doesn't get much better than that.  Plus the nice thing about Sunday brunch is that you don't have to get a baby sitter, just some kid friendly food and a room that they can more or less safely dismantle.  So we invited 3 families in our neighborhood over for Sunday brunch.  Amazingly the house withstood the 7 kids, all under the age of 10.  And the cooking was actually pretty simple.  Well, except for the homemade croissants, which I had to start 3 days in advance and use a bulldozer to roll all the butter into.  But otherwise it was pretty simple.

Menu:

• Mimosas
• Blood Mary's
• Croissants, with butter and jam
• Sticky Buns (made with croissant dough)
• Ham and guyere quiche
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Waffles (for the kids)
• Fresh fruit (so we could all pretend like we ate something healthy)

I was most proud of the croissants and sticky buns.  The dough took 3 days, and lots and lots of rolling.  But they turned out the perfect fluffy layered croissants that I've had in Paris.  Of course they were about 50% butter by weight.  But hey, its not like I make them every week.  The quiche was kind of made up.  Quiche is a great brunch food because its savory and eggy, but unlike omelets and scrambled eggs it doesn't taste so bad if it isn't perfectly warm.  And it went pretty well with the vaguely French theme that seemed to crop up as I planned out the menu.  Which is good because cooking for 15 people, 7 of which are picky by nature, is no small feat especially for a Sunday morning.

As usual, we all gathered in the kitchen for drinks and then the 3-ring circus of feeding the 7 kids.  Afterward we sat down to what was a very nice brunch.  It ended a little earlier than I was expecting, and there was only 1 bottle of champagne and 2/3 bottle of vodka consumed, so it was a pretty mild event. But I am pregnant, so its not as if I was able to contribute.  I ate extra croissants to make up for it.  I can't wait for the next one.

Ham and Guyere Quiche (approximately)

1 round pre-made pie crust (refrigerated type)

1/2 medium onion, chopped in 1/2in pieces

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 lb thinly sliced smoked ham, diced

6 oz Gruyère, coarsely grated (1 cup)

2 oz Italian Fontina, coarsely grated (2/3 cup)

3 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375.  Bake pie crust for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.  Cool pie crust but leave oven on.  Saute onion in butter until golden and caramelized.   Whisk eggs, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in ham, cheese, and caramelized onions.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and put back in the oven.  Check part way through and cover crust with aluminum foil if it becomes too dark or dry.  Bake for a total of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until center is set.  Serve warm or room temperature.

That's It! Right There!

I found it.  The sweet spot.  The perfect combination.  I've been trying for a couple years to find the perfect sourdough recipe recipe.  Its partly the right starter and its partly the recipe.  Recipes with just starter, flour, and water are a little bland.  So after searching and trying and growing what probably amounts to gallons of sourdough starter, I found the right combo of richness (milk and sugar in the dough) that still lets the sour starter show through.


One note about sourdough bread.  People will think you are crazy.  Apparently it was standard in California kitchens about a century to century and a half ago that you could always find sourdough starter bubbling.   However, in this modern day of making sure everything is hermetically sealed and preserved beyond recognition, having something bubbling, growing, and smelling sour on your countertop will make people worry about your sanity and the cleanliness of your kitchen.  Perhaps talking to it and feeding it periodically doesn't help the matter........  But really, its the best way to get good sourdough.  And there is nothing better than hot sourdough straight from the oven with a good smear of butter.  Real butter.


San Francisco Sourdough Bread

• 4 3/4 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
• 1 extra large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 
  

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast. Add milk and softened butter or margarine. Stir in starter. Mix in up to 3 3/4 cups flour gradually, you may need more depending on your climate.
2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to oil surface, and cover. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.
3. Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking pan. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
4. Brush egg wash over tops of loaves.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or till done.

A is for Apple Cake

It's getting cold. And rainy. Yes, yes, go ahead and get your "world's smallest violins" out to go along with my whining. I like winter, when it's crisp cold and I don't have to go outside much. Right now it's just wet cold and I have to walk to work. What better thing to make me feel better than to steal some of Trey's apples that he keeps around for healthy snacks and turn them into a butter-laden, caramel-topped spice cake. That's right. Call me the grump who stole the healthy snacks. But I did make a very nice dark, spicy, rich and utterly perfect apple cake. Especially when you pour caramel over the top part way through baking so it comes out a little more like sticky toffee pudding than actual cake. Even Charlotte liked the cake. Of course she called it "big cookie" and demanded it for breakfast. But if I was eating it for breakfast its kind of hard to tell her no.

Well, I'm sitting here watching the movers pack up my kitchen for what I really hope is the last move for a very very very VERY long time. I'll let you know how the new Wolf stove works out. Perhaps I'll even get to make pancakes this weekend.

Man I'm hungry. Too bad we finished the apple cake yesterday. Well, I suppose it's time to put something in my stomach before I get so hungry the packing paper starts looking good. Next post from the new house!

In the kitchen

Why is it that when you have a party everyone ends up in the kitchen?   It never fails.  We had our house warming party last weekend.  About 20 people, lots of new neighbors and great fun.  We cleaned the whole house, had a ton of food in the dining room, nicely arranged the chairs and tables in the living room.......  And everyone ended up in the kitchen.  Its probably because it allows for the most table room to set glasses, or the most mingling because people are standing and moving.  Or, most likely, because that is where the drinks are.  In a nod to our previous Christmas's in Germany we served hot Gluhwein.  Plus mulled cider.

My big accomplishment for the party was my mom's chocolate coconut balls and a completely invented eggnog cheesecake in chocolate cups.  Trey's big accomplishment was cleaning up the enormous mess I left in the kitchen from above mentioned treats.  I also made the savory cheesecake with caramelized onions that I think I've blogged about before.  The rest was pretty standard crudites with a garlic and dijon dip, ham with sandwich fixings, cheese plate, meat plate, cookies, a few more cookies, and last but not least more cookies.  As a matter of fact, I think there are so many cookies, cakes, pies, and candies in this house that I'm getting a sugar high through osmosis.

And then follow that up with family in town so of course I had to make a gingerbread cake with cream cheese icing.  Its pretty sad when the cashier at the grocery store recognizes you, looks in your basket, and shakes her head disapprovingly.  And then you remember that she was the one that checked you out earlier in the week, when you again had 5 lbs. of sugar and 2 lbs. of butter in your cart.  Sigh.  Even the cashier at the grocery store thinks I have too much sugar in my house.

So, here are some of the recipes I've made lately.  Please, please, please come take some of this off my hands!  And when you do, could you bring a candy thermometer?   My bourbon caramels just aren't coming out right......

Eggnog Cheesecake Candies
Pre-made chocolate shells (about 2 dozen)
1/2 C Store Bought Eggnog
3/4 C Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 C Powdered Sugar

Place eggnog, cream cheese, and sugar into a bowl.  Pour an extra glass of eggnog.  Whip eggnog, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until thick.  Refill glass of eggnog.  Stiff peaks should appear and hold their shape.  If too wet, add more cream cheese and powdered sugar.  If too thick, add more eggnog, and refill glass of eggnog.  Pipe into chocolate shells.  Chill.  Contemplate the amount of eggnog you just drank.  Wish it had more alcohol in it.  (or if you aren't pregnant, drink the stuff with alcohol)

Mom's Coconut Chocolate Balls
1/2 lbs. butter
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1- 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1- 16 oz bag of shredded coconut (sweetened is fine)
1  tsp vanilla
Cream the butter and add the remaining ingredients.  Roll the mixture into small balls and place on foil lined trays. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Melt in a double boiler:
1/2 block paraffin wax (about a 2 x 2 1/2 piece) used for canning (I don't use this, but it is part of the recipe)
24 oz semisweet chocolate chips
Dip the chilled balls into chocolate and place on foil sheets and cool.  Pretend that you are going to put them into pretty tins and give them as gifts.  Then realize that between you and the other people in the house you have consumed half and don't really want to give the rest away.  Give gift certificates instead.


Gingerbread Cake recipes from Epicurious.  I didn't do the pistachios, but the rest was awesome.

Jet Lagged Shopping

Don't go grocery shopping hungry. Don't go grocery shopping drunk. And now I must add:

Don't go grocery shopping tired and jet lagged. I did this coming back from Germany. With a couple friends coming over for dinner a couple days later. I had no idea what I was going to make. Which should have set off big, loud, fire alarm style warning bells. Of course I was tired and jet lagged so the bells fell on foggy inattentive ears. And off to Whole Foods I went. Remembering my previous debacle with the fish counter I avoided that. However that was where my good judgement for the day ended. I moved straight to the red meat counter. And what happened after that was kind of a blur. There was some sort of ordering, a parcel was handed to me, and a few minutes later money exchanged hands.

Fast forward to when I actually woke up and thout about cooking dinner. Opening the fridge was like Christmas when you are a teenager. Are you going to get that perfect pink Walkman you have been begging for? Or will it be pink socks that you father will try to make some joke about that he got the color right and you have to pretend you like it. Well, to my surprise I had actually bought butterflied leg of lamb. Have I ever cooked this cut of meat? No. Did I even know what this piece of meat was when I bought it? No. Did I have a recipe? Well, the Internet is an amazing thing. After an hour or so of searching and being totally unsatisfied with all the options I decided to make something up. Garlic and rosemary stuffed lamb based in a balsamic and red wine glaze. Came out amazing. I was thoroughly impressed. And not as fatty as I thought it would be. Meat was beautiful. The sides were pretty standard oven roasted potatoes and spinach salad with bacon and goat cheese. Desert was also something I completely made up.

I saw a pie recipe for salted caramel pie. But I couldn't for the life of me remember where I saw it. So I made the caramel part I thought I remembered and pored it over apples sautéed with cinnamon. And there you have it, Caramel Apple Pie. And it was darn good. Caramel could have been slightly softer, but overall it was pretty awesome.

Recipes for both to follow later. Time to land. Off the Charleston. The land of decadent seafood!

Visions of Sugarplums

We just put a contract on a new house. And by new I mean brand-spankin', smellin' the paint, picking out the granite new. In Annapolis, MD. A block from the water. And best of all it has an enormous kitchen. A feeding the masses sort of kitchen. And since it is new I get to pick out appliances! So, I'm taking a poll. Do I need a 48" Wolf range with an infrared grill?

Do you have any idea what I could cook with a stove and an oven like that? First meal, Tur-Duck-In! We are hoping to close around thanksgiving. That could mean Christmas in the new house. And cooking all sorts of sweets and savories and snacks and big meals in the new kitchen. Tur-Duck-In may be a little much, but I can't wait to do something equally outlandish. Now, do I really need a 48" stove?

After all, I did cook thanksgiving dinner for more than 20 people in my shoebox sized kitchen in Germany. And it was pretty successful. But the big stove would be so fun! And maybe I would do more entertaining like I did in charleston. Like the time I cooked beef Wellington for Trey's boss. Or the Chinese New Years party that had more people than our wedding. Or the Oktoberfest party with schnitzel, kase spatzle, and apfel strudel. There are definite benefits to being "the commander's wife." ok, so the plastered on smile and small talk with the other wives about the price of cabbage isn't so much fun. Or that silent pressure that the response to every question is either "we're just so excited about (fill in something inane and mandatory like having to listen to someone drone on for hours about how important it is to volunteer for the presidents day fund raiser)" or "of course I didn't mind the deployment.".

So fast forward the couple weeks since I started this. We actually did buy the Wolf range. And Sub-Zero fridge. Yes, I am spoiled. So......

Tur-Duck-In at my place!

Warm and Soft

When I'm sick there is nohing that I want to be more than someplace warm and soft. Right now my throat feels like someone has taken a power sander to the inside. And my head has a full orchestra of jackhammers and cement drills going on. And don't get me started on how I can barely take a breath because a 400 pound gorilla is sitting on my chest. So what did I decide to do? Yup, you guessed it, NOT stay in my nice warm bed and continue to eat the velvety garlic chicken soup I made from scratch yesterday. No. I got up at 4 am and took a flight to New Jersey. Where it is raining.  And I'm lost.  Of course I have my GPS with me.  I still got lost.  I'm good like that.

Fast forward a few hours and I made it through, made the plane by seconds, sat on the runway for an hour (grumble grumble grumble).  But I did make it back to the house in time for bath time and one more cup of soup before crawling into my bed.  Aaaaaahhhhhhh.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of soup.  Something about being force-fed vegetable soup that was "healthy" when I was a kid.  Just to be clear, anytime you tell your kids something is healthy they will hate it.  Healthy means it tastes bad.  So, this soup is NOT healthy, it is actually just tasty.  Especially if you like garlic.  The best thing about this soup is that it is creamy and almost velvety.  Perfect for soothing a sore throat.

Chicken, Garlic and Bacon Soup 

10 Cloves of garlic, sliced thin

2 Pieces thick bacon

3T Butter

1/4C Flour

6C Chicken Stock (homemade is best)

3 Egg Whites

Salt and Pepper to taste

Render the fat from the bacon slices and remove bacon when crisp.  Add butter.  Saute garlic in butter and bacon fat until translucent and sweet smelling (yes, garlic does smell sweet when cooked, I promise, its really really good, even 10 cloves of it).  Whisk flour into mixture and cook, stirring often, until mixture looks medium brown and smells nutty (or just rely on look if your nose is all stuffed up like mine was).  Pour in 3-4 cups chicken stock and whisk to remove lumps.  Bring to low boil and cook for 10-15min.  If soup appears too thick, add additional stock.  Soup should coat the back of a spoon but not be too dense.  While whisking, add egg whites and cook additional 2min whisking constantly.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with crusty french bread and crumbled bacon on top.  Best eaten curled up in bed on a rainy day.