Tag Archives: Epicurious

Easter Eggs to Deviled Eggs

by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Deviled-Eggs

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

This Easter was a bit divergent for us.  Joe’s spring break was very short (making up snow days) and we didn’t go to see my family in Florida.  Even though we were home, we didn’t host the neighborhood Easter egg hunt and picnic lunch (which we have done in years past).

We did do something new, though.  We went to the circus!

Circus

A shower of confetti at the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus show.
Photo: John Penovich

 

I still remember the first time my dad took me to the ‘big’ circus in St. Paul at the convention center.  The thrill of it all:  the crowd, the tightrope walkers, the clowns, the smell of popcorn and elephant poop!

Oh maybe not that.

The circus in 2014 was an exciting and updated show with live pop music, dancers, basketball-playing unicyclers, and death-defying daredevils flying through the air but the spectacle was tempered by our feelings for the elephants and the tigers knowing what we know as responsible adults and citizens of the planet.

Plus, the Ringling Brothers shot John’s wallet out of a cannon.

Jelly-Beans-Easter

This is not a photo of what John’s wallet would look like if it exploded.  But close.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

After the circus outing, we received an impromptu invitation from our next-door neighbors to join them for dinner and we ambled on over.

Now that Joe is almost 12 and has grown out of ‘baby-ish’ egg hunts and decorating eggs, I was missing some of the Easter traditions.  Much to my delight our host and hostess (who are both fine artists) broke out the dye, crayons, brushes, wax, and hard-boiled eggs and we went to town at their dining room table while drinking Pimm’s Cups and wine.

John's rendition of the Mona Lisa on his Easter egg.

John’s rendition of the Mona Lisa on his Easter egg.

 

Easter-Eggs

Photo: Rebecca Penovich

 

Quite fun even without children!

Some things never go out of style (like the circus and Easter eggs), so here is a classic deviled egg recipe for you (with a spicy twist).

 

Ingredients

  • 1 dozen large eggs (hard boiled and peeled)
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise (Hellman’s  preferred)
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon bottled horseradish
  • 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt (to your taste)
  • Couple of grinds of fresh black pepper (optional)
  • Sweet paprika and/or small capers for garnish

Directions

This is the Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) method:

  • In a medium saucepan, cover the eggs with cold water and bring to a rolling boil. Cover, remove from the heat and let stand for exactly 12 minutes. (NOTE:  Set a timer!  If you use less than the dozen eggs and thus, a smaller pan you will need to adjust the time accordingly.)
  • Immediately drain the warm water and  cover the eggs in the pan with cold water. Let stand until the eggs are cool.
  • Drain and peel the eggs; pat dry. Cut the eggs in half lengthwise.
  • Scoop out the yolks and transfer to a bowl.  Smash the yolks with a fork.
  • Add the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, sriracha, horseradish and blend together until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.
  • Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or a teaspoon, fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture.  (NOTE:  In lieu of a pastry bag I use a plastic sandwich bag and cut a small slit in one corner.)
  • Arrange the eggs on a platter, sprinkle with paprika and place a small caper on each egg half.

 

Classic deviled eggs (with a kick of horseradish and sriracha.)

Classic deviled eggs (with a kick of horseradish and sriracha)
Plate by Wedgwood, a reproduction of a Queensware service designed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1770.

 

Happy birthday, Oreo!

by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Oreo-cookies

Cookies and milk, anyone?
Photo credit:  Allison Beuker Photography

 

Today is Oreos 102nd birthday!

Now before you get all food-preachy on me, I know they are commercial cookies and have all kinds of  processed *stuff* in them, but my house likes Oreos and I buy them as a treat.

Plus, they are great with milk!  Milk is healthy!

Some fun facts about America’s favorite cookie:

  • Nabisco came up with the cookie on March 6, 1912, the same year the South Pole was discovered and the Titanic sank.
  • The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks.
  • It would become the largest selling cookie of all time.
  • The origin of the name Oreo is unknown, but there are many theories, including derivations from the French word ‘Or’, meaning gold (as early packaging was gold), or the Greek word ‘Oreo’, meaning beautiful, nice or well done.
  • In January 2006, Nabisco replaced the trans fat in the Oreo cookie with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Source:  Foodimentary

garnished cake 3

 

So go get some Oreos and some organic milk and have a cookie that a happy kid first enjoyed 102 years ago.

Or say Happy Birthday, Oreo by making someone you love this delicious Oreo Cookie Ice Cream Cake.

 

Enjoy!

 

P.S.  No one compensated me for this post and all thoughts and opinions about Oreo cookies are my own.  We just like Oreos!

 

Artful drizzle. Photo by Rebecca Penovich.

Artful drizzle.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

Strawberry ‘Carpaccio’ with Ginger Creme Anglaise & Balsamic Syrup

by Rebecca Penovich | 3 Comments

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

This dessert looks so fancy yet it is very simple.  I loved the combination of ginger cream with the strawberries and the pop of balsamic syrup.  In fact, I loved the ginger cream so much I ate it with a spoon like crème brûlée.

You could even serve this at breakfast (with or without the balsamic syrup).  Simply provide the crème anglaise in a little pitcher and let your guests pour it over their sliced berries.

Sliced-strawberries

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Ingredients

  • 8-10 fresh whole strawberries (to serve 2 guests)
  • drizzle of balsamic syrup (I used Isola Imports ‘Classic Cream with aceto balsamico Di Modena’)
  • 1 batch of crème anglaise (recipe follows) (you will have extra leftover, eat it with a spoon out of the fridge!)
You can buy this in grocery stores or you can make your own by reducing balsamic vinegar. Be sure to use the highest quality balsamic vinegar from Italy that you can afford. It makes a difference!

You can buy this syrup in grocery stores or you can make your own by reducing balsamic vinegar. Be sure to use the highest quality balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy that you can afford.  It makes a difference!

I took the time to hull the strawberries very carefully in a ‘V’ pattern because I wanted the slices to look like hearts.
After hulling the tops, I sliced each strawberry in half lengthwise.  With my sharpest knife I sliced each half into thin slices and laid them flat on a serving plate as you would carpaccio.
Not all your slices will turn out perfectly.  But that’s okay!  I saved my ugly slices and hunks and put them in a bowl and drizzled them with the ginger cream as a cook’s treat.
In fact, you don’t need to be persnickety about slicing at all – I was going for a Valentine’s day effect for the picture.

Ingredients

This recipe is from Gourmet January 1998 via Epicurious.com
  • a 4-inch piece peeled fresh gingerroot (or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger paste)
  • 1 cup half-and-half
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

  • Cut gingerroot into 4 pieces and smash with flat side of a knife.
  • In a small heavy saucepan bring half-and-half and gingerroot just to a simmer over moderately low heat, about 10 minutes (do not let boil). [NOTE: Or use 1 teaspoon of refrigerated ginger paste from a tube and add that to the half-and-half.)
  • While mixture is heating, in a bowl whisk together yolks and sugar until smooth.
  • (If you’ve used gingerroot pieces, fish them out and discard when half-and-half is warm and infused.  If you’ve used ginger paste you can leave that in as it will melt into sauce.)
  • Add hot half-and-half mixture to the egg yolks in a slow stream, whisking constantly, then transfer custard back to pan.
  • Cook custard over very low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly (do not let boil).
  • Pour custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and cool. (Crème anglaise may be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring crème anglaise to room temperature before serving.)
Creme anglaise on plate

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Spread 1-2 tablespoons of the ginger creme anglaise on a dessert plate (the amount will depend on the size of your plate.

Then carefully arrange the strawberry slices in a circular pattern until the entire plate is covered.

Drizzle the balsamic syrup lightly across the strawberries in a decorative pattern (a little syrup goes a long way.)

Enjoy with your Valentine!

 

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

Here’s a quick video tutorial from Epicurious to show you how to make a créme anglaise without curdling the eggs.  It’s important to not overcook the cream and to temper the eggs before adding them back to the cream.  Once you have the hang of it, you are set to make all kinds of custard desserts.

Jazz at Downton Abbey: Mrs. Patmore Gets Jiggy With It

by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

“Shall we dance?”
Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

 

Last week, Rose hired a jazz band for Lord Grantham’s surprise party, and unlike the house party where the kitchen staff were invited upstairs to hear the opera singer perform, this time they have to stay and listen at the bottom of the pantry stairs.

Nevertheless, one of my favorite lines of the night came from my favorite character, Mrs. Patmore.

Mrs. P:  “They sound good from down here.”

Carson: “If you like that sort of thing.”

Mrs. P: “It makes you want to jig about though, doesn’t it?”

Carson: (horrified) “Certainly not!”

Good on ya, Mrs. Patmore. We are glad you didn't keel over. Photo credit?

“I might just loosen my corset and get down with this music!”
Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

 

Clueless as Lady Rose is (really, she had no clue that 6 more mouths to feed,  6 more bedrooms to have ready, and 6 more fireplaces to light in said bedrooms, would be an imposition for Mrs. Hughes and her housekeeping staff), she’s keeping the Abbey jumping with her modern ways and tastes! 

mrshughes-char-01_crop_648x327

“Six American minstrels to feed and house in addition to Lord Grantham’s party guests? No problem, your Ladyship. I am Mrs. Hughes, after all.”
Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

 

Mrs. Patmore, Daisy, and Ivy would be able to keep up their part to feed the extra downstairs guests by making this Vegetable Barley Soup with Ham (using the leftover ham bone from a previous meal) and stretching it with homemade bread and butter.

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Mrs. Patmore is very resourceful so we know she must also have some homemade apple sauce “put by.”

Add some farmstead cheddar from the village and maybe some treacle sponge cake leftover from the birthday festivities, and those American musicians would have eaten very well after their gig!

Vegetable Barley Soup with Ham

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1 cup sliced leeks (white parts only)
  • 1/2 cup chopped shallots
  • 1 1/2 T. chopped garlic
  • 1 smoked ham bone (about 1 pound, chop some leftover meat from the bone and reserve to add to the soup)
  • 6  cups chicken stock (I used homemade, watch the salt if your ham is salty)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 14.5 ounce diced tomatoes in juice
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 cup frozen corn (defrost by letting it sit out on counter while you prepare soup)
  • 1/2 cup chopped ham from the bone
  • 1/3 cup uncooked pearl barley
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • chopped parsley, for garnish

Directions

  • Warm the olive oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot. Add the onion, leeks, shallot, celery, carrots and cook over medium low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until softened.
  • Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes more, stirring frequently.  (Don’t let the garlic brown, turn down the heat if you must.)
  • Add the stock and the ham bone.
  • Add the bay leaf.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer, and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Add the 14.5 can of diced tomatoes and their juices.
  • Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, then fish out the ham bone.
  • Stir in the pearl barley, and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Add the 1/2 cup of chopped ham, the Worcestershire and black pepper.
  • Cook 10 minutes more and add the corn (defrosted if frozen.)
  • Taste to see if barley is soft, and add salt as needed.
  • Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
Tune in to your local PBS station February 9, 2014, for Downton Abbey’s next episode! Only 3 more left in season 4!

 

A hearty winter soup to eat by the fire. Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

A hearty winter soup to eat by the fire.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Poached Salmon with Shallot, Tarragon, Dill Sauce

by Rebecca Penovich | 2 Comments

 

Poached Salmon with Shallot, Tarragon, Dill Sauce

Poached salmon is lovely and light for lunch or dinner.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

I was inspired to make salmon with a dill sauce in tribute to the Sochi Olympics 2014 kicking off on Friday.  As I researched online about traditional Russian foods and in a book I own called A Year of Russian Feasts by Catherine Cheremeteff Jones, I realized I know very little about Russian cuisine.

Not one salmon recipe in “A Year of Russian Feasts.”   No salmon in this well-researched article from the Vancouver Sun, “Russian Food, Beyond Pierogies and Cabbage Rolls.”

"Meat, Fowl and Brussels Sprouts Against the Window" by Pyotr Konchalovsky (1937)

“Meat, Fowl and Brussels Sprouts Against the Window” by Pyotr Konchalovsky (1937)

What I discovered were lots of recipes with walnuts (chicken with walnuts, salads with walnuts, walnut sauces, walnut cakes), dumplings, cheese blini, kasha, beets, cabbage, and a popular potato salad called Olivier which incorporates peas, carrots, and salted cucumbers with mayonnaise dressing.

There is much to explore and the cuisine is as vast and varied as the country itself. Mia Stainsby enlightens us in her article “Russian Food, Beyond Pierogies and Cabbage Rolls”:

“Russian food is closely connected to the food of neighbouring countries like Ukraine, the Baltic Republics, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan; they were formerly part of the former Soviet Union.”

While the skiers, snowboarders, and figure skaters in Sochi will be tucking into shish kebab with lamb and vegetables, smoked fish and pickled vegetables, you can make this poached salmon with an easy side of pirozhki from the refrigerator case.

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Poached Salmon with Shallot, Tarragon, & Dill Sauce

Ingredients

  • 4 salmon filets (about 6 oz each, 1-inch thick) (I leave the skin on to protect it from drying out while simmering)
  • 4 cups chicken stock (I used homemade but you could also use a white wine and water/stock combination)
  • 1 T. chopped shallot
  • Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

For the sauce:

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 T. poaching liquid from the salmon
  • 1 T. chopped shallot
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
  • pinch of kosher salt

Directions

  • In a deep 10-inch skillet with straight sides, bring stock to a simmer.
  • Add the chopped shallot and simmer 2 minutes.
  • Season salmon filets on both sides with a pinch of salt and pepper.
  • Submerge 4 salmon filets, skin sides down, in one layer in the simmering liquid. Cover and poach at a bare simmer, about 8 minutes, or until just cooked through and light pink.
  • Transfer cooked salmon with a slotted spatula to a platter.
  • When salmon is cool enough to handle, peel off skin if desired.  Salmon may be cooked 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

To make the sauce:

  • Gently heat the sour cream in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan over very low heat. (You don’t want it to curdle.)
  • Add 1 T. of the poaching liquid and the chopped shallots
  • Warm the sour cream (don’t simmer it) and stir with wooden spoon for 3 minutes to let shallots release their juice.
  • Take off the heat and add tarragon, dill, and pinch of salt.
  • Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste. (If you like more dill, add it.  I like lots of tarragon flavor.)

Go team USA!

U.S. skier Joss Christensen gets in a practice run for Ski Slopestyle ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Extreme Park at Rosa Khutor Mountain. (Lars Baron / Getty Images / February 4, 2014)

U.S. skier Joss Christensen gets in a practice run for Ski Slopestyle ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Extreme Park at Rosa Khutor Mountain. (Lars Baron / Getty Images / February 4, 2014)

Top Chef on Downton Abbey

by Rebecca Penovich | 6 Comments

Cold potato soup?! That's what we ate on the farm when we ran out of wood for the fire. Now it's vichyisoisse. Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE.

“Cold potato soup?! That’s what we ate on the farm when we ran out of wood for the fire. Now it’s vichyssoise.”
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE.

Downton Abbey’s episode 4 (airing January 26, 2014) kept the plot moving along and although I can’t say I thought it was a strong episode, it had its moments.

For one, is Bates a sociopath?  Anna and Mrs. Hughes are convinced he will go out and murder someone (again!).  If he would so easily do that, WHY are you married to him?

He menaces sweet Mrs. Hughes to get her to swear on her dear mother’s grave and tell the secret that she promised Anna she’d keep.  Bates, get a a grip on yourself!

The Alfred “I dream a dream of being top chef” plot line continues and he travels to the Ritz Hotel London to test for a position in the hotel kitchen.

I am French and so a better cook than you! Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

I am French and a better cook than you!
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

The culinary test sequence was short but we know they were to make 4 dishes, one of them vichyssoise (cold potato and leek soup.)  In a subsequent scene, we see the French chef tasting what looks to be a poached pear with chocolate sauce and two other preparations smothered in white sauce (one which looks like a chicken leg quarter and one which looks like a hamburger patty, blech!)

We may never know what he was tested on because Alfred placed #5 and there are only 4 positions to be filled.

"Oh, Alfred. You are so cute when you are studying Larousse Gastronomique." (Note to reader: that French gastronomy tome won't actually be published until 1938.) Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

“Oh, Alfred. You are so cute when you are studying Larousse Gastronomique.” (Note to reader: that French gastronomy tome won’t actually be published until 1938.)
Photo credit: ITV for MASTERPIECE

Mr. Carson said it best when he said:  “To fail at the first attempt does not mean you won’t succeed later.”

Did you know that Julia Child failed her first try at the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris?  (She was set up by the wicked school administrator who didn’t like her very much, or Americans for that matter.)  For more on that story, read this New York Times article by Julia and her nephew, Alex Prud’homme “Eat, Memory:  Sacré Cordon Bleu!”

Photo courtesy: Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women

Photo courtesy: Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

So try, try, try again!

If you think you can’t make a soufflé, try this one from Food & Wine called “Fallen Cheese Souffle.”  See, even if you fail, it’s supposed to be that way!  And it’s delicious.

Eggs-in-Bowl

 

Cheese-Souffle-With-Salad-Vinaigrette

And everyone should have a favorite homemade vinaigrette in their repertoire.  Here’s mine:

Dijon vinaigrette is a useful staple! Toss it with green beans, boiled potatoes, braised leeks. Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Dijon vinaigrette is a useful staple! Toss it with green beans, boiled potatoes, braised leeks.
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • Squeeze of 1/4 quarter fresh lemon
  • Optional: fresh herbs, chopped shallots, salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a small, shallow bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, optional salt and pepper with a small whisk or fork until the mixture is emulsified. Add the olive oil and canola oil in slow stream and whisk again until emulsified.  (NOTE:  I like to turn the bowl with my fingers (1/4 turns) while whisking with the other hand.)

Tune in to your local PBS station on February 2, 2014, 9 pm ET for more Downton Abbey.  

Lord Grantham is going to have a surprise birthday party.  I wonder what his favorite food is?  (I’m guessing leg of lamb!)

Downton Abbey Goes Clubbing: Jazz & Cocktails

by Rebecca Penovich

Lady Rose-Downton-Abbey-jazz-band-leader-dance

Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

It’s the Roaring Twenties and Lady Rose is determined to break away from aristocratic stuffiness and go dancing to the latest music and tipple some hip 1920s cocktails. (Teenagers!)

Prohibition in America inspired bartenders (were they called mixologists back then?) to come up with some interesting creations to mask the taste of hastily made, illegal hooch (or so the story goes.) 

All the rage in American clubs and speakeasies, the cocktail culture infused the social lives of Brits across the pond and Europeans on the continent.

Maggie-Smith-as-Dowager-Countess

Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

Lord Grantham:  “Can I tempt you to one of these new cocktails?”

Dowager Countess:  “I don’t think so. They look too exciting for so early in the evening.”

According to Jared Brown, in his article “The Surprising History of the Cocktail,” American Bar nights were popular and hotels and restaurants in London caught on to the trend.  None were as influential as the one at The Savoy where a female bartender (yay 1920s feminism!) developed this cocktail: 

Hanky Panky

This classic cocktail recipe is credited to Ada Coleman, head bartender at the American Bar in The Savoy in 1925.

  • 1 1/2 oz. gin
  • 1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
  • 2 dashes Fernet Branca
  • Ice cubes
  • Garnish: orange twist

Stir ingredients well in a mixing glass and strain into a chilled glass. Twist a small swath of orange peel over the surface of the drink.

Adapted from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh

Fernet Branca (which I had never heard of until researching vintage cocktails) is described as a bitter, astringent spirit from Italy – not one I’m keen on trying.

So in the spirit of Lady Rose, Lady Edith, Lady Mary, jazz, dancing, and breaking free of social norms, “Sex in the City-style,” I mixed up a very modern:

Blood Orange Cosmo

Cocktails 1920s

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

Ingredients

  • 6 parts vodka
  • 6 parts cranberry juice
  • 2 parts Triple Sec
  • 1 part blood orange juice
  • 1 part lime juice, fresh-squeezed

Fill a shaker with ice cubes.  Add all ingredients.  Shake and strain into cocktail glasses.

A very good libation to precede some ‘hanky panky’ even if the cocktail is not named that.

(Credit for cocktail recipe: Absolut Vodka).

Photo credit:

Shall we have Hanky Panky cocktails or champagne?
Photo credit: Nick Briggs for MASTERPIECE

 

For an excellent resource on vintage cocktails I recommend:

“The 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book”

Cheers!

Rebecca

Tune in January 19, 2014 to your local PBS station for Episode 3, Season 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” — Vincent Van Gogh

by Rebecca Penovich | Leave a comment

Oranges

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

A wise friend once remarked, “You are never sorry when you eat an orange.”

And that is so true.  Oranges pick you up and make you feel brighter, cleaner, sunnier. I’m in need of a pick-me-up this morning as we’ve received news of a favorite elderly relative who has died.  I’m too sad to reminisce now but I will share thoughts in a later post.

Instead I will share some of my favorite things, inspired by orange.  Then maybe I’ll feel better and fortified for the upcoming travel to say goodbye to someone I loved.

 

Chinese saucer

This saucer looks great in our light grey bathroom. It looks antique to me but it’s not. $1 at the thrift store.
Now THAT makes me happy.
Photo credit:  Rebecca Penovich

 

My friend, Josie, works at a local farm stand and once gifted me with a huge box of vegetables at the end of their selling day.  I was challenged to find recipes for cooking them all.  (Note to self:  need to cook and eat more vegetables so it won’t seem so daunting.)

IMG_1078

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Here are a some of the recipes I made:

My favorite roasted carrot recipe:

Carrots

Simple Roasted Carrots

Ingredients

  • 6 large carrots, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper, liberal amounts
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I’ll also use chopped fresh mint or thyme if I have them on hand)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400°.
  • Toss the carrots with the olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
  • Place in casserole dish, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until tender and lightly browned.  (NOTE: You don’t need to fuss with parchment paper; I just laid the cooked carrots on parchment for the photo.)
  • Toss with the fresh herbs.
  • Feel good about yourself because you ate your carrots!

I think the key to this recipe is roasting the carrots covered instead of exposed in the oven like other roasts.  It gives them the tender texture like the carrots you braise with a pot roast but they are not mushy.  Try it sometime!

And in closing, some bright flowers I arranged earlier this year.

I buy flowers for myself all the time (from the grocery store.)  Go ahead and disassemble the supermarket arrangement and break up the bouquet into 2-3 different vases.  Grab something green from your yard (a sprig from a bush, a small branch with some leaves on it) and go for it.  It will make you smile when you look at it.

Orange flowers

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

“Be calm. God awaits you at the door.”
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

English Country House Party at Downton Abbey–Part 2

by Rebecca Penovich | 2 Comments

lady mary on horseback

Lady Mary is back in the saddle, in more ways than one.
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

Those who watched Downton Abbey’s episode 2 on Sunday know that writer Sir Julian Fellowes certainly knows how to ruin a good house party.

I won’t spoil it here for you in case you haven’t watched yet.  In addition to the shocker, there were moments of comedy and drama upstairs and downstairs, including Mrs. Patmore working herself into a tither over the syllabub, the béchamel, and the lemon dill sauce for the salmon.

She wouldn’t if she had a recipe for blender hollandaise.  And an actual blender of course.

The splattered and battered cookbook I learned to cook from (with my mom by my side.)

The splattered and battered cookbook from which I learned to cook the classic sauces
(with my mom by my side.)
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

The sauces Mrs. Patmore frets about are known as the Mother Sauces of French cuisine:

  • Béchamel – classic milk-based white sauce
  • Velouté – white sauce similar to béchamel, using chicken stock instead of milk
  • Espagnole –  brown meat stock-based sauce
  • Hollandaise – an emulsified sauce using egg yolks and butter
  • Tomato – tomato-based sauce

Mrs. Patmore’s lemon dill sauce for salmon could have been either a velouté or a hollandaise, with extra lemon and dill added.  Once you’ve mastered the Mother sauces you can create almost any other sauce by adding different flavor profiles with aromatics, stocks, vinegars, vegetables and fats.

I learned to make hollandaise from my mother’s old copy of Verna Meyer’s Menu Cookbook: Dining at Home in Style, Dillon Press, Inc., Minneapolis, MN 1980.

Verna Meyer's Menu CookbookWe started with vinaigrette (which arguably could be considered a Mother or Master sauce, along with mayonnaise.)  From there I conquered Caesar Salad Dressing and then moved on to hollandaise (my favorite.)

On a teenaged dinner date I had discovered Veal Oscar (veal cutlets topped with crabmeat, asparagus, and hollandaise) and I was immediately in love.  With the dish if not with the boy.

Verna Meyer’s book is so splattered and battered in the Dressings and Sauces chapter that they literally stick together and I have to pry them apart when I want to refresh my memory for her Blender Hollandaise.

Ingredients

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 1/2 T. lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
  • Dash of cayenne pepper (more to taste)
  • Dash of kosher salt

Directions

  • In a blender, place egg yolks, lemon juice, cayenne and salt and pulse once or twice to blend.
  • Melt the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan until it is hot and bubbling.
  • Turn the blender on high (make sure the cap is on!) and add the hot butter slowly in a very thin stream until the mixture thickens and all the butter has been incorporated (leaving the white solids behind).

French chef Eric Ripert (whose recipes I love) has published his recipe for blender hollandaise and it can be found all over the internet with instructional videos and such.  I encourage you to check it out to see the method.  His recipe calls for 2 1/2 sticks of butter and that is a lot of sauce.

Verna’s recipe will give you 1 cup–plenty of hollandaise to serve 6 eggs benedict with extra sauce for dipping.  I sometimes add more lemon juice to Verna’s when I want it citrusy and have used fresh squeezed orange juice in place of the lemon.

Undoubtedly at the Abbey, Mrs. Patmore would also have served the classic Asparagus Hollandaise.

 

Asparagus Hollandaise

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

Mrs. Patmore, Daisy, and Ivy would have been taxed to the hilt cooking breakfast, luncheon, canapés, multi-coursed dinners, and tea (with scones, sandwiches, jams and cake) for 16 house guests throughout a weekend.

“She will bust a gut if she keeps that up.” Ivy says.

Highclere Castle-StateDiningRoom

The actual dining room at Highclere Castle
(ancestral home of the Earl of Carnavon) and setting for Downton Abbey.
Photo credit: Highclere Castle

 

From what I could tell from rewinding through the episode (yes, I’m that obsessed), Mrs. Patmore’s menu for the first night’s formal dinner might have been:

First course

Chilled soup, possibly vichyssoise or cold asparagus soup

Second Course

Crabmeat in pastry shells with béchamel sauce

Third Course

Poached salmon with lemon dill hollandaise

Main Course

Squab au vin with roasted mushrooms and vegetables

Dessert

Syllabub with orange peel and brandy

Presented in French, on menu cards, with the accompanying wines, which we know from Earl Grantham’s instructions to Carson included a Château Haut-Brion and a Château Margaux.  (He cavalierly let Carson choose the white wines for the fish courses.)

Interestingly in the episode, Alfred finishes the sauces and saves the dinner while Mrs. Patmore is having her anxiety attack and turns out that he wants to be a chef!

alfred the footman serving food

Alfred, now that you have mastered the classic mother sauces of French cuisine, you are on your way to being a chef.
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

 

Good on ya, Mrs. Patmore. We are glad you didn't keel over. Photo credit?

Good on ya, Mrs. Patmore. We are glad you didn’t keel over.
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

 

So there we have it, a very eventful Country House Party at Downton Abbey.

Tune in to your local PBS station on Sunday, January 19, 9 pm ET.  Looks like we are going clubbing in London with Lady Rose so we’ll be shaking up some cocktails 1922-style here at Corks & Cake.

Cheers!

Rebecca

Asparagus and Herbed Butter Canape: English Country House Party at Downton Abbey

by Rebecca Penovich | 2 Comments

Lord Gillingham

Hunky Lord Gillingham in the drawing room.
Photo credit:  Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

You are invited to The Abbey for an English Country House Party

(well, vicariously through television anyway)

If you WERE actually invited you would be expected to arrive on time, and according to Emily Post’s Etiquette, Chapter XXV, “The Country House and Its Hospitality,” published in 1922:

“A week-end means from Friday afternoon or from Saturday lunch to Monday morning.

On whichever day the party begins, everyone arrives in the neighborhood of five o’clock, or a day later at lunch time. Many come in their own cars, the others are met at the station—sometimes by the host or a son, or, if it is to be a young party, by a daughter.

The hostess herself rarely, if ever, goes to the station, not because of indifference or discourtesy but because other guests coming by motor might find the house empty.”

English Roadster Dowton 2

Please someone, DO pick me up at the station in this.
Photo credit Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

 

Before dinner (for which you will be dressed to the nines by your lady’s maid) you might be served canapé which is a type of hors d’oeuvres: a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.

Or what Mrs. Patmore has referred to as “fiddley bits” in a previous episode. (See Deviled Ham Tea Sandwiches.)

A canapé consists of a base (e.g., bread or pancake), a spread, a main item, and a garnish. The spread is traditionally either a compound butter or a flavored cream cheese. Common garnishes include finely chopped vegetables, scallions, chives, herbs and caviar (Source: Wikipedia).

Asparagus and Herb Butter Canape

Asparagus and Herb Butter Canapé

Ingredients

  • 12 asparagus spears (thin spears, stalks trimmed of their woody bottom)
  • 12 slices thin white bread, crusts removed (I use Pepperidge Farm)
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened for the compound butter
  • 2 tsp. additional butter for sautéing the shallot
  •  4 T. additional butter for melting and brushing on the asparagus rolls
  • 2 T. chopped shallots
  • 2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 tsp. chopped fresh dill
  • 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 tsp. salt, to taste
  • Snipped chives for garnish (optional)
IMG_1395

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Directions

  • In a large skillet, bring 1/2 in. of water to a boil. Add asparagus and boil for 3 minutes, until tender. (This will depend on how thick or thin your asparagus spears are.)
  • Drain and immediately plunge asparagus in ice water bath to retain their color. Drain and pat dry. Set aside.
  • Flatten bread with a rolling pin.
  • In a small skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of butter and sauté the shallot until softened, about 2 minutes.  Watch the heat as you do not want the shallot to burn.
  • Combine the softened butter (1 stick) with the cooked shallots, add the chopped parsley and dill, 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice, and the salt to taste.
  • Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons herbed butter on each slice of bread. Top with an asparagus spear. Roll up tightly; place seam side down on a greased baking sheet.  Pinch slightly to seal the edge.
  • Melt the remaining 4 T. of butter and brush the asparagus rolls all over with butter.
  • Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cut rolls in half to serve.  Sprinkle with snipped chives.

Makes 24 appetizers.

Asparagus rolls toasted

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

The Abbey hosts a house party

When the dinner gong rings, it is time to ‘go through’ to the dining room, where everyone will be seated according to their ‘precedence’ or rank. Countesses before duchesses, everyone. Or is it duchesses before countesses?  Oh dear!  At least we know there will be place cards.
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

Tune in tonight, January 12, 9 pm ET on your local PBS station.