Canadian Christmas

We spent Christmas in Canada, braving the cold with extra layers of borrowed woolies. Lots of family, food, and board games. And we got a pasta maker!

Thanksgiving Extravaganza

We waffled around on cooking a Thanksgiving meal. We didn't travel, and we eat so well the rest of the time that Adam, at one point, even said "maybe we should just go out for dinner." But we didn't, and instead we conquered our first Thanksgiving together in Brooklyn by devouring two tiny Cornish hens and about 3 pounds of other food on the side (each).



Adam picked up two Cornish hens, about 1.5 pounds each. We washed them and then rubbed them with lemon, minced garlic, sage and, of course, salt and fresh-ground pepper. We'd never really made a stuffing before, but we riffed on the basics we already knew. Three pieces of multi-grain bread we already had in the fridge went into the oven for about 15 minutes to dry out. In the meantime, half a shallot, some sage, marjoram, and thyme went into a bowl, along with about a cup of diced fennel and salt and pepper. We browned some sweet sausage we already had in the fridge and added it to the fennel, etc. Once the bread was dry, we diced it and tossed it in with everything else. Hands got gooey, and the stuffing got delicious.





We stuffed as much as we could into the hens. They're little, but their cavities are actually pretty capacious. They cooked pretty quickly—about an hour and fifteen minutes at 350 degrees (after 15 minutes at 450 degrees to get the skin crispy and seal in the juices). We used toothpicks to keep the skin closed.






I roasted some Brussels sprouts with bacon and garlic. Seriously, I can't believe there are people who are still boiling their Brussels sprouts. Olive oil, and a little salt and pepper will do it every time, and you can add flavor on top of that with sausage or mushrooms, or even herbs. They come out crispy, flavorful and still nutritious. The bacon was a little decadent, but so was everything else. That's why it's called Thanksgiving. I didn't do it this time, but I sometimes splash a little bit of balsamic vinegar on the roasted sprouts. It helps bring out the tangy roasting flavors.



The final product was pretty amazing. I made a quick white wine gravy with the drippings from the hens. Add about a tablespoon of flour to the drippings over heat, stir until the flour is dissolved. Splash in around 1/2 a cup of whatever white wine you have around and just stir until the gravy thickens up and comes to a boil. Boiling will cook off the taste of the flour and evaporate a little of the alcohol, leaving just the flavor of the wine. We'd also made some insanely creamy mashed potatoes with garlic and butter and sour cream. They appear on this plate looking the least attractive, but they were kind of a must in terms of texture and flavor. (Not pictured, an essential condiment to this meal: home-made cranberry sauce.)



Happy Thanksgiving!

Scallops n' Latkes

OK, here's what happened. I started by cooking two strips of bacon. It just felt right. While the bacon was cooking, I shredded two peeled potatoes with a wide-gauge cheese grater. I was thinkin' latkes. Into the potatoes I broke one egg and added half a chopped shallot, a heaping tablespoon of flour, salt, and pepper. On an impulse, I threw in a tiny dash of champagne vinegar. Once the bacon was done, I put half the grease into a smaller no-stick pan. In this pan I sauteed some chopped garlic after adding a little bit of butter. I removed the bacon from the first pan, kept the oil hot, and made three latkes with the potato mixture, cooking them so that they were crispy and brown on both sides. Then I seared the scallops for about two minutes on each side. I anointed one latke with a dollop of sour cream (of course) and some chopped fresh dill, then I strewed crumbled bacon over the scallops. On the side I had a butter lettuce, tomato, marinated cucumber, and feta salad with a German mustard balsamic vinaigrette.

This dish got a 7 out of 10. I overcooked the scallops slightly (probably three minutes a side instead of two), and the prep in general was a little hectic. My sous chef is in Canada at the moment, so I was flying solo. I'm not convinced that potato latkes and scallops are the most fortuitous food combination ever. However, I did discover that the best way to enjoy this dish is by eating it all at once, i.e., creating a perfectly proportioned combo bite rather than tasting each element individually. So a morsel of scallop on top of a sour-cream-slathered piece of latke is really the way to go. It's a rich dish, obviously, so small portions are recommended, and the salad is a refreshing accompaniment. Please feel free to post ideas for improving this recipe.

Filling the Larder

Just took a quick shopping foray and wanted to preview an upcoming post by highlighting a few of my purchases.

At the Greenpoint/Williamsburg greenmarket in Brooklyn, I got 1/2 pound of scallops, the big kind. This works out to about ten scallops. I also got some bacon at Met Food. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the bacon, but I think it's an important item to have in your household. Bacon has a slightly sketchy reputation due to its high content of sodium and animal fat. But I happen to think the goods outweigh the bads, not to mention that bacon can help cure childhood epilepsy.

The other important items I picked up were sour cream and cream cheese. I know the sour cream will come in handy, and I'm not opposed to eating it with three meals in a day, especially a Saturday. Plus, it was on sale, so bonus. The cream cheese is part of my campaign to introduce items traditionally seen as decadent into an otherwise balanced, healthy diet. I make a killer cream cheese dip with garlic and dill, but more on that later.

Having stocked up on three of the deadliest ingredients known to man, I assuaged my conscience with something unambiguously wholesome .... dental floss! Seriously people, floss. Every morning. It's OK to eat bacon, as long as you make sure to unwedge it from between your teeth within 24 hours.

Sometimes when you're trying to form a new habit, such as flossing, it helps to listen to some inspiring new music. I enjoy unpacking groceries to the The Ghost Inside by Broken Bells.

Omelet Endeavor

Here's what I like to do: wake up on a Saturday morning and make an omelet with whatever's in the fridge. Sometimes I hit the jackpot, sometimes not. But there's something thrilling about opening that door and taking up the challenge of the random items that happen to be in there.

Today, I knew the pickins would be slim. Fortunately, there were eggs, for a start. Then I espied the tail end of some spicy Sopressata. I diced up two thick slices of that. Then I finely chopped about half a shallot. I sauteed the shallot with the Sopressata, and in a separate bowl mixed up two eggs with a chunk of crumbled Feta. There was also some fresh dill going limp in the veggie drawer, so I chopped up some of that and added it to the egg mixture.

Once the shallots were getting brown and the Sopressata sweating out its oils, I added the eggs. I did a single-fold omelet, forget the fancy Julia Child fluffing. Gave it an extra flip and served it up with a healthy dollop of sour cream (is there anything wrong with sour cream? I don't think so—it's pretty much a perfect condiment) and some more chopped dill.

This was one of my better inventions. I give it an 8 out of 10. It tasted sort of like Russian Pelmeni (dumplings) melting in my mouth with each bite. The sour cream didn't hurt. The Sopressata got very tangy and chewy. One word of advice: should you be tempted to try this recipe, go easy on the salt, as there's already lots of salty tang in the salami. Since this concoction has a bit of Italian influence and some Russian flava, let me just say, "Buono Zdarovya!"

Pork Chops and Pancetta

Last weekend we were in Jamestown, Rhode Island and had some really great fresh oysters that we picked up from a little shack by the ocean. Inspired by my new-found ability to shuck, I picked up some oysters from the Union Square farmers market yesterday. They were from Long Island and they were huge.



I improvised an mignonette, with some chopped shallots and chives, red wine vinegar, white wine, sugar, salt and pepper, and we had lots of lemon.



We ate for about five hours last night and the final course was gigantic pork chops with an arugula, pear, pancetta, and salted ricotta salad (inspiration here).

Also had the most amazing cheese from the East Village Cheese Shop but failed to take photos. Three pounds of cheese cost us $6, and we had a manchego, a Danish blue Gouda, and a milky nutty cheese with a red wine rind which we can't remember the name of. Failed to take photos as well, but there are leftovers.

Good Reasons to Eat Butter

Lately, Adam and I have been on a pancake binge. We have a huge container of Canadian maple syrup in the fridge we've been working our way through.

We've been using this Epicurious recipe for blueberry buttermilk pancakes and it's delicious. The batter will seem really thick, but the pancakes turn out crispy on the outside, and perfectly cakey/goey in the middle.