Party of Five: This Cook's Story

Party of Five: My First Dinner Party

Menu

Wine

White & Reds of various sorts, courtesy of my guests and Pasanella & Sons, a local wine shop that I adore.

Note: I’m purposely not getting too detailed about wine because it’s a beast I’m not ready to tackle. I enjoy drinking all kinds, so let’s just leave it at that. Also, note, that if you ever come to one of my dinner parties, champers holds a special place in my heart…

Appetizers

Goat Cheese Toasts courtesy of Giada’s Everyday Pasta

Manchego & Cheddar Cheese courtesy of my friend Beth (who also brought me lovely tulips)

Main Course

Filet Mignon

Asparagus bundles tied with Scallions

Potato Gnocchi with Thyme Butter sauce courtesy of Giada’s Everyday pasta

Dessert

Strawberry Ice Cream

To Go Bags

Pistachio Macaroons

Snickerdoodles

ATTENDEES:

Beth, Joe, Paul & Kristen plus me makes it a party of 5!

THIS COOK’S STORY

I made the big move. I have a great cooking kitchen and FINALLY, some space to entertain. The time had come to throw my first real, grown up, sit down, dinner party. And throw one, I did. Here’s how it went…

Choosing the Menu

I chose the Goat Cheese Toasts because I had made them before and knew I could prep them ahead of time which was going to be clutch. My main course inspiration came from Bridge Café. I ate there recently and it was delicious. One of their signature items is Buffalo Steak and it was served with a Lingonberry sauce and sides of Broccoli Rabe and Potato Gnocchi. Since I knew I could make gnocchi, I decided on doing a red meat with gnocchi on the side and instead of Broccoli Rabe, I chose Asparagus (because I like it and it’s in season). I cheated a little on the dessert…I had received an awesome ice cream making attachment for my Kitchenaid as a housewarming gift, so I made a batch of strawberry ice cream with it last week which I still had. I mean, who doesn’t like ice cream?

I also wanted to give out some goodies as party favors and I had bought this cute stamp that says “from the kitchen of” to put on bags, so I had to think of a small dessert-y item. I dusted off my Nigella Lawson, “How To Be A Domestic Goddess” book and found what appeared to be a simple recipe for Pistachio Macaroons. I guess the fact that I’d use simple and macaroons in the same sentence illustrates just how much of an amateur I am. But when I needed a quick and easy replacement in a fix, I went to the fail safe, 6^th grade home economics, impossible to mess up: Snickerdoodles! More on that later…

The Prep

I went into this knowing I needed a solid game plan. Getting everything timed out correctly so everything could be served…and be hot…was going to take some serious organization. This is how I divided things up (and also a unique insight into what a dork I am about planning things):

Saturday

-Whole Foods Grocery shopping

Sunday

-Shopping for meat at The Meat Hook in Brooklyn

-Making the macaroons (I had a feeling they’d be a fail, so I wanted to give myself time to make a replacement if I needed to)

-Making the crostini & spread for the goat cheese toasts

Monday: D-Day!

-Making the Snickerdoodles (nice move with the macaroon planning ahead)

-Make gnocchi in afternoon and store in fridge until dinner time then cook with sauce while filet is resting

-Prep final toppings for the Goat Cheese toasts

-Prep Asparagus

The shopping for this was pretty easy. The ingredients were basic and there weren’t really any surprises or mishaps. Except for one issue I need to address with Whole Foods: Please, please, please, label your food better. You have tons of fresh produce & foods but your labeling just sucks. By sucks I mean: usually missing from items I need or cannot identify. My suggestion would be to stop wasting time with elaborate signage that goes into historical diatribes and recipe suggestions for easy to identify and familiar foods like lemons, limes, carrots, etc. PLEASE label things that no one (ie: me) knows how to identify: chives, scallions, different mushroom varieties, shallots, etc.

This problem also occurs at the olive bar. The sign said the olives I chose didn’t have pits. They did. That meant I had to cut them up with a knife and take the pits out to make the Goat Cheese Toast topping and I wasn’t able to use the food processor. Not good, not good, Whole Foods. I love you, but you need to work on your communication skills. And by the way Whole Foods, I don’t think Scallions and Chives are the same thing. But when I asked for Chives, the guy showed me what was labeled as Scallions. I felt so stupid that I didn’t know they were the same thing, but then when I told someone about it they said they are NOT the same thing. So, god knows what I have in my refrigerator but I used whatever it is as both a scallion in one recipe and a chive in another---welcome to my kitchen!

Macarooned

Ok, Nigella. You and me are going to have some words.

I guess it was my bad that I didn’t realize how deceiving the simple recipe for Macaroons appeared. Perhaps my first clue should’ve been that you described this cookie as “the world’s most elegant macaroon” and of the recipes in your book, “the one of which I think I’m most proud: cookie bliss.” Clearly, I should’ve read the writing on the wall and abandoned ship immediately after reading that. But, in my defense, you, Nigella, the experienced and professional chef and baker should’ve put a warning in there about the difficulty of this recipe! If you had, the following culinary calamity could’ve been avoided.

Let’s start at the beginning…with the Pistachios. I bought a bag of Pistachios and Nigella, I know it’s common sense that you’d have to shell them, but you could’ve mentioned that it was A TIME CONSUMING PROCESS THAT SHOULD BE ACCOUNTED FOR. I spent an hour shelling pistachios---yes, it took me an hour to shell a total of about ¾ cup needed for the cookies and the cream filling. Granted, I’d never done the shelling before and I’m slow, but it is labor intensive. Thank god you didn’t need that much of them.

Now it was time to grind them into dust with confectioner’s sugar (Whole Foods, take note that confectioners sugar and powdered sugar actually ARE the same thing) in my food processor. Sweet. That was easy. This pistachio sugar dust seems right. Moving on.

And now the trouble starts: “Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the sugar over and whisk until very stiff.”

Um, Nigella may as well have asked me to butcher my own cow. I am such a cooking idiot that I actually started to whisk the egg whites in a bowl with a hand whisk. I quickly realized that that wasn’t doing anything. Ok, so, I’ll put them in the Kitchenaid, my little machine of wonder. Thanks Nigella, for making it seem like it would take a few seconds with a hand whisk---you needed to say you HAVE TO USE A MACHINE FOR THIS, human hands can’t whisk egg whites (at least not in 2010). While the Kitchenaid was going, I realized this was going to take a while and I started to put the pieces together that this whole egg white situation might be a lot more complicated than I thought. So, I did what everyone in doubt does: I took to the interweb. I Googled how long does it take to whisk egg whites or how do you know when egg whites are done and the types of results I got indicated immediately that this would most likely be the downfall of my macaroon experience.

Apparently, there are ways to tell when they are done, like, they make these little ‘waves’ that don’t fall down, but stay stiff. Really, really, interweb? There were some pics…and words like Meringue came up…all indicators that I was in for a hurtn’. So, I went back and reread Nigella’s recipe…’fairly stiff, but not dry.’ Fairly is not a word to be used in a recipe. And how are egg whites ever dry? Clearly there is a legit answer to that but I did not have it. And clearly, egg whites are something complicated. No wonder they have whole Top Chef challenges about eggs. So, when it looked like I had some ‘fairly stiff’ waves, I decided to call it a day and fold the egg whites into my pistachio dust. That’s about when I found out my dust was more of a gravely mix. Whether it was poor lighting or the dust was on the top, covering the Pistachio gravel, as I folded in the egg whites (which I’m pretty sure I did incorrectly as I had to interweb folding too---thanks again, Nigella), I realized my dust wasn’t so dusty. And, at this point I also realized my egg whites were pretty foamy. But, for all I knew, they were supposed to be foamy---Nigella, a hint at to what they should look like visually would’ve been nice instead of all this dry, stiff talk (which is sort of dirty and gross in itself).

And now it was time to ‘pipe’ the cookies onto the ‘lined’ baking sheet. First of all, I had interwebbed ‘piping’ the other day since I figured it meant use some sort of pastry bag because it also mentioned a ½ inch nozzle. So, I had gone to Sur La Table and bought disposable bags and a ½ inch nozzle. But, nonetheless, some helpful hints about that IN THE RECIPE would’ve been nice. You know what else would’ve been nice was to tell me what to line the baking sheet with. I figured wax paper or something? But I didn’t have that, so I used tin foil which I clearly think was a BAD idea. Hindsight friends, hindsight. Oh and you know what else would’ve been helpful, if she said how big you should make the cookies. Yes, the nozzle is ½ inches but it comes out in a stream, how do I make the circles, how big should they be? Nigella, are you kidding me with this?

My piping bag or as I like to call it: my bagpipe:

It was at this point as I was ‘piping’ that I started to go over some back up plans in my head because I knew there was no way my bizarre looking cookies were going to come out of that oven looking anything like macaroons yet alone the ‘elegant’ ones in the picture. But, I went through with it…although I waited until I took the cookies out to make the cream filling since I wasn’t going to make that if the macaroons were a bust.

So, after letting them sit out for 10 minutes to form a ‘skin’ (which I have no idea if mine did, but I’m assuming not since I didn’t notice much difference), I put them in the oven.

Uhh, here’s what they looked like when they came out:

And here's Nigella's pic:

Yeah, macaroons? Not so much. And thus, they hit the garbage and the butter cream filling never saw the light of day. And so, this cook was officially: Macarooned.

Thankfully, I was rescued by Emeril’s delicious recipe for Snickerdoodles…which I had all the ingredients for in my kitchen (except the cinnamon, which I quickly bought)

Let’s get this party started!

I’m going to be completely honest…once I started really prepping and the cooking really got going, I was so absorbed that looking now at my phone, I realize I forgot to take a lot of pics, meaning I took pretty much zero pics of the food. Sorry about that…I promise to do better next time. And since reading my rants isn’t nearly as entertaining as reading them with illustration, I’ll spare you the details and give you a few of the highlights:

· Meat: I got an awesome filet from The Meat Hook and conquered my fear of cooking meat—it’s really so easy! sorry the only pic is of it while its packaged sitting out getting to room temp before I cooked it (yeah...there's a little tip for you...)

· In related meat news: My meat thermometer is totally broken. I had tried to use it the other week to get the temp of a liquid when I was making ice cream and it didn’t work then, but I assumed it was because: a) you can’t use a meat thermometer to take liquid temps b) I was doing it wrong or c) I left the cover on it like a total dumbass. Well, turns out besides being a dumbass, my meat thermometer is just plain broken

· The Asparagus was really good…I drizzled it in oil & seasoned it with salt & pepper before baking it in the oven. I saw a recipe that said to cook scallions with it and then tie them around the asparagus in bundles. Uh yeah, that doesn’t work because it’s all hot when you take it out of the oven. So bundle, I did not. A minor visual detail. And who knows if that was scallions or chives in there---I’m still not sure.

· I set a lovely table…which I DID take pics of:

· I improved on my gnocchi making process so they were all uniform size. I rolled all the ropes at once & lined them up together so they matched, then cut them in giant cuts that went through all the ropes. God, I’m getting good. And I got a pic of that too:

· I made these adorable goodie bags filled with Snickerdoodles & tied them with buttons & twine for my guests to take home with them…they were a hit!

· I used lovely cloth napkins. And everybody knows if you use cloth napkins you are officially a grown up.

· Everyone had fun and no one got sick: Awesome!

And so ends the tale of my first dinner party…stay tuned, dinner party number 2 is up next Friday and I’m turning up the fance for that one---hello, champers!!!!

Oyster School: This Cook's Story

THIS COOK’S STORY

Oysters 101 Class at The Brooklyn Kitchen taught by W&T Seafood

Ingredients

Lots of Oysters

The Brooklyn Kitchen

Nellie & Mathew from W&T Seafood

Beth, friend and fellow food lover

Directions

Put on your name tag. Learn. Shuck. Eat. Shuck some more. Learn some more. Cook. Eat. Eat. Eat.

THIS COOK’S STORY

Everyone is aware my knife skills suck and I decided it was time to do something about it. I had read about a class offered at The Brooklyn Kitchen, so I hit up the interweb to check it out. Bad news: the April knife skills class was filled up. Good news: there were tons of other classes including: Oysters 101!

Oysters?

Why Oysters 101 as my first foray into obtaining a culinary education? Over the past few years I’ve started to eat oysters and while I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had them, I’ve always enjoyed them. But, I don’t really know much about those enigmatic sea creatures…and gd, I wanted to know more. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I haven’t really tackled any meat or seafood yet. The reason for that is pretty simple: fear. I don’t know how to cook either. So, when the weather turned summery and the opportunity presented itself, Oysters 101 seemed like the perfect idea.

Oh and of course, I thought that shucking and serving oysters would be a pretty impressive dinner party trick. I know I’d be really impressed if someone had me over and they did that…

First things first.

I wasn’t about to attend my first cooking class alone, no matter how friendly and fun it looked online. I believe in safety in numbers, especially in foreign social situations. So, I enlisted my friend Beth who loves food as much as I do (and def knows way more about it than I do) to come along for the great Oyster adventure.

In order to take Oysters 101 at The Brooklyn Kitchen, we had to get to Brooklyn. And while I used to shudder at the thought of leaving the island, I must admit that over the past couple years the distant land known as Brooklyn, has grown on me. But, while I may be warming up to Brooklyn, I still have pretty much zero navigational skills when I’m there and every time I surface from the subway I feel like I took a portal into a foreign country—and I may as well be in one for how much I know about my new, non-Manhattan surroundings. Luckily, The Brooklyn Kitchen is very easy to find and thanks to my beloved Hop Stop, we made it to our destination with time to spare.

Let’s get learned!

As we approach The Brooklyn Kitchen, I immediately sense that I could end up doing some serious shopping damage there. But I push on past the racks of awesome things I want to buy because I came here to LEARN, not buy. Buying is for the trip I immediately plan in my mind for the weekend. Ok, so up the steps we go and into the kitchen learning area.

We met Nellie and Mathew, our Oyster gurus from W&T Seafood, slapped on some name tags and picked out spots. I knew immediately this class was going to be awesome for several reasons:

· it smelled great

· all the ingredients layed out made me immediately hungry

· there were handouts at all the spots with recipes & oyster learning information

· as soon as we were all sitting, Natalie put a full plate of oysters in front of us

· there were handouts (yes, I mentioned that already, but I LOVE handouts)

Nellie started off the class by teaching us some Oyster basics and general info which was cool. Here are just a few of the things I learned:

· east coast oysters are brinier than west coast oysters

· oysters are one of the most sustainable kinds of seafood

· Blue Point oysters can come from anywhere on the Long Island Sound

· almost all the oysters we eat are farm raised

· oysters taste different when they are spawning, and while you can eat them then, its better not to.

They spawn in months ending in R, so that’s when you don’t eat oysters and they are out of season

(except when they are farm raised, then you can eat them all year round since the farm raised ones are

special, sexless oysters that don’t spawn)

· the water, conditions and areas oysters grow in all contribute to their taste and flavor

· If an oyster’s bill is opening then it means its dead or dieing and is not good to eat

· When storing oysters you should put them in the refrigerator, never the freezer and put them in a bowl and

cover them with damp dishtowels. You should never submerge them in water because it will get inside them

and wash out their flavor.

*note: I’m pretty sure all of this is right, but I was very distracted by hunger and anticipation of shucking and eating, so I can’t be fully responsible for all info.

Here a shuck, there a shuck, everywhere a shuck, shuck!

After we got the lowdown on Oysters, it was time to learn how to shuck! I had visions of seeing a Top Chef challenge where the professional chef contestants struggled through shucking and one even had a bloody dishtowel as a result of shuck related injuries. Uh oh. Was I gonna injure myself? God knows, I am not graceful or agile in the kitchen…

But, Mathew & Nellie walked us through the shucking and taught us how to hold the oyster and use the knife to pop the hinge before cutting through the muscle & opening it up. And guess what? I did it! I successfully shucked!

Ok, here’s the one and only thing I learned last night that I could’ve done without learning. I think I probably knew this somewhere deep down but chose to block it out. We were shucking, and at one point during a particularly difficult oyster to unhinge, I heard Mathew say something like, “Oh, this one is really fighting back.” Uh, what? Oh yeah, that’s right, they are alive when we eat them. While the thought is pretty gross, it’s really not that bad since they don’t have any nervous systems, so I’ve decided they aren’t really animals, they are plants that live underwater in shells. Problem solved!

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that before we started shucking we made 2 sauces: cocktail & Mignonette, so we could eat as we shucked. Excellent idea.

Fire up the burners!

After we took a small shucking break (where I browsed the store and picked out tons of things to buy on my weekend shopping trip) we came back for some more shucking, so we could prep for the Oyster Stew & Oysters Rockefeller we were going to make. Beth and I were responsible for shucking 12 more oysters: cake---we were pros now (sort of, kind of, maybe…not). So, we put our 12 oysters into a pan that was filled with salt (to hold the shells in place) and got to making the topping for the Oysters Rockefeller.

The topping consisted of cooked spinach, shallots, garlic, blah, blah---the only real ingredient you need to know about is the BACON. It was from The Meat Hook downstairs at The Brooklyn Kitchen and Mathew had told us it was amazing, but boy was it AMAZING. I think what really made it insanely delicious was that we cooked the spinach and other ingredients in the bacon fat from when Mathew had prep’d the bacon. Ummmm: DELICIOUS. So delicious in fact, I was too distracted to even take photos of the topping making process (sorry).

While the Oysters baked in the oven, I tore myself away from gorging myself on the extra topping I was now eating out of a bowl to make some Oyster Stew. Wanna know how you make Oyster Stew? You put butter, oysters and half in half in a pan, and cook it until it bubbles and then you eat it. It was so good…and soooo rich. The fact that it consisted solely of butter and cream made me think Paula Deen would also really enjoy it too, so I'll file this away in my 'recipes to make if Paula Deen comes over' file. And you're welcome for the sweet action shot of Oysters being poured into the pan:

Just as I slurp down my last spoon of the stew, the Oysters Rockefeller are done---yay, more eating!

And so my first adventure in culinary education ended as I hope they all do: with a full belly, some sweet new skills and handouts---did I mention before, they had handouts, I love handouts!

And a very special thanks to our Oyster gurus, Nellie and Mathew---it was such a fun night & I can’t wait until you guys have another class---I’m ready to conquer the sea!!!

Pizza Gain: This Cook's Easter Story!

THE RECIPE

Easter Pizza Gain

Nancer’s special recipe

Ingredients

5 pizza doughs

30 eggs

1 egg yolk

about 2-3 cups of milk

Lots of:

-Salami, Prosciutto, Capicola, Pepperoni, Provolone

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut all of the meat & cheese into small squares. Combine 3 pizza doughs and work out the dough, stretching and rolling it until it fits across one giant sized pan (a standard sized lasagne pan or other rectangular roasting pan). Once dough is spread in bottom of pan, dump in all of the cut up meats & cheeses. Whisk together about 18 eggs and 1 ½ cups of milk until well mixed. Pour mixture over meats & cheeses. You will now see you need to make more of this egg & milk mixture. Make some more using another dozen eggs and 1 ½ cups of milk. Pour mixture over meat and cheeses. Combine the remaining 2 pizza doughs, work out, stretching and rolling until it fits over top the giant pan like a doughy tent/lid. Brush egg yolk over the top of the dough and place in oven.

Cook as long as necessary, meaning until dough looks golden brown and egg is cooked through (you can test by placing a knife into center & seeing if it comes out clean). And don’t forget to line the bottom of your oven with tin foil as sometimes Pizza Gain gets a mind of its own while its cooking and some of the 30 eggs can bubble through the top crust and out onto your oven floor---which can lead to burning smells, smoke and smoke alarms, none of which contribute to a calm and peaceful cooking atmosphere. Cooking time can range from 60-120 minutes. (yes, I’m aware this is a long window)

When Pizza Gain is done cooking, take out and let cool. Once cool, cut into large chunks. When you cut your chunks, some of the filling will fall out. Push it back in and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or other food wrap. Put in the refrigerator to chill. When you are ready to serve, take out of the refrigerator cut into small slices (like Stromboli). Since you wrapped it tightly and chilled it in the fridge, the filling will no longer fall out. Place your slices on a microwave safe plate, cover & microwave until it heats to the temp you prefer, remove and serve.

THIS COOK’S STORY: The Easter Edition

Every year, my Mom and I have Easter brunch at Nancer’s house. Nancer is an excellent cook who specializes in Italian and who is also a close family friend, second mother and now guest Chef of the blog!

And while I don’t love Easter as a holiday in general---I think because of the pastel colors and visions of ham that dance in my head alongside church-y smelling Easter flowers, I have always looked forward to eating Pizza Gain (among many other delicious concoctions) at her house. This year was no exception. But, I was also in for a very special treat, because she taught me how to make the beloved Pizza Gain & I did!

Here’s our Easter story...

What is Pizza Gain?

While I know Pizza Gain as something delicious I eat on Easter, I knew it had a legitimate story so I took to the interweb to find out more about it and here’s what I discovered

· Pizza Gain is also known as: Pizza Piena (stuffed pie), Pizza Rustica, Italian Easter Pie & I’m sure, many more names…

· Pizza Gain is the traditional ‘Italian American’ nomer for the meat & cheese filled pizza pie

· What goes into a Pizza Gain varies based on regions & areas of origin in Italy:

o Some contain ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, sausage and even macaroni (sidenote: isn’t macaroni a funny word? I always think of the Yankee Doodle Dandy song when I hear ‘macaroni’; I also think macaroni should only be used by adults when talking to children about pasta.)

· The tradition is said to have started when women in Italian villages would cook up the overflow of meats not eaten during Lent. They’d make the Pizza Gain on Good Friday, then not serve it until after noon on Easter Saturday (the end of Lent---or so I’m told) when it was legit to gorge on meats and bad for you food again.

· It tastes very good.

Pizza Gain: A Warning

Having the honor of this recipe bestowed upon me comes with responsibility. Therefore, as I pass on my newfound knowledge it becomes my duty and obligation to present you with the below info and warnings.

Pizza gain should not be consumed on a regular basis. It’s heart attack inducing and cholesterol building ingredients are best enjoyed sporadically throughout the calendar year even though once tasted, they can become habit-forming drugs. Symptoms that can result from over-indulgence of Pizza Gain include, but are not limited to:

· Meat Sweats

· Meat coma induced euphoria

· A sense of feeling so full you will never be able to eat again

· The need to eat one more piece even though you have experienced the above 3 symptoms simultaneously

If you or someone you love develops an addiction to Pizza Gain, you should seek the professional help.

i.e.: get your butt to the gym and stop stuffing your face with this fatty food, you fatty.

Commence Cooking!

Making the pizza gain was pretty easy, but that’s because I was an apprentice chef to Nancer who was there directing my every move. I pretty much followed the instructions I wrote above which she walked me through and voila: Pizza Gain!

I would highly recommend employing the tin foil to line your oven like I noted in the directions as well…that was really the only bump in the road. That and coming to terms with the fact that THIRTY, yes 30, THIRTY, eggs are used in the making of this dish. If you can accept that and own it, you’ll be able to make Pizza Gain anytime (and by anytime, I mean rarely, please see Pizza Gain: A Warning, above). Since the ingredients are so plentiful, I felt a pictorial guide to the process would be the best way to illustrate the process. Enjoy:

Step 1: Cutting up the meat & cheese. This photo doesn't do the sheer quantity justice. I know the recipe calls for 'a lot', I should've done a better job of noting just how much, but I'd say a 1/2 lb of each ingredient, at least...

Step 2: Battling the dough to get it spread in the pan can be tough. But keep at it tiger, you'll get it!

Step 3: Put the meet & cheese in its new doughy home

Step 4: Put in first 18 eggs & 1 1/2 cups of milk. Realize you need more, prepare another dozen and some more milk.

Step 5: Put on the 2 dough lid

Step 6: Bake that bad boy!

Step 7: Cut into chunks for refrigeration. This is what a chunk looks like after its been wrapped & chilled:

Step 8: Cut into slices and serve up. Sorry, I was so busy eating, I forgot a pic of this! You'll just have to see for yourself when you make your own Pizza Gain!

SPECIAL THANKS!

I’d like to give a special thanks to Chef Nancer who made this post and all the scrumptious deliciousness that resulted from it possible. Ciao!