Rounding the Year out: Holiday Sips with The New York Times (Another Page 1!), Walnut Recipes with Food52, and More

The last few weeks have gone quickly by. There's a flurry of work which you should know about. Much great food and drink for winter days to keep you and your loves cozy, or, just yourself.

So important to give special things to yourself, and, hey, it all starts with you. Is there a little pep talk in there? Maybe. But if so, it's for me, as the start of New Years aren't an easy thing. It's like I have to figure out where I am, all over again….

Anyway. These are all great eating and drinking, so get some. :)

This feature was sparkly and huge on Page 1 - always something I relish - Christmas Eve. Both cocktails are lovely. I especially like the Apple Brandy-Islay Scotch-Champagne riff on the French 75. I have made similar at my own bar for a while, but used a Lapsang Suchong infused spirit I'd created instead of the Scotch. Bright, warming, and surprising.

Also with The Times is this tasty recipe, prepared with fresh pasta, chopped tarragon, yuzu juice, togarashi pepper (if you can find it - though cayenne makes a fine substitute), and delicious plump crabmeat.

Good eating indeed. And, this extra-special gingersnap cookie recipe.

While looking at these sweets, I was reminded of the gorgeous brownies I produced for the December Birmingham Magazine. They are utterly scrumptious. Use this recipe if you're looking to make a batch for yourself.

AND, there's more…. now you can see how the days go by in a blur over here!

My "What to do with a bulk of Walnuts" story is the newest installment for Food52's Halfway to Dinner column. If you haven't seen my other features, I also created recipes and the stories for capers (to die for), preserved lemons, and red quinoa!

 Roasted kabocha, celery, pomegranate, walnut, and fried sage salad

Beet, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, walnut, and mint salad

 Walnut pesto

 Bourbon-roasted squash soup with blue cheese and candied walnuts

This last recipe - a persimmon-walnut bread pudding - has a special place in my heart. And belly. I basically threw a bunch of stuff together while keeping the tenants of bread pudding in my back pocket, and came to the other side with an outrageously delightful dessert (or breakfast!). Please do let me know if you try it.

Well, that's almost all of it.

Christmas was spent somewhat uneventfully here, with the beau home but fiercely under the weather. We are both emerging, and if I have my way, I'll have a New Year's post up in a couple days. Please hold me to it! There are some other tasty bites I've been keen to share.

I hope you have had a joyous Holiday Season, and that you are feeling light with the days remaining in 2014. Woo-hoooo! xxx

More! Delicious Bites and Scenes from Southern Living

With the holidays approaching, there's been a lot of glitter on set, along with ample china finery and general mayhem. This beautiful floral scene features in the current issue, as do most of the images which follow. Celebrating Thanksgiving elegance and good eating,  the November issue is sure to please. 

Delectable jambalaya. With this mix of ingredients, you can't go wrong...

Curried chicken and veg chowder with toasted coconut - totally yummy. Try it out, here.

A sausage-grits quiche-style dish. Surprisingly tasty....

There's so much happening right now. These morsels are a keyhole to satisfaction, as I prepare the next great thing.... 

Some highlights looking ahead: a chef in the garden story we're shooting, right-around-the-corner, a gorgeous French rustic Tart Tatin feature, a fall picnic fantasy, and more. :) Thanks, as always, for your continued enthusiasm and support. xoxo

Fall, Fairytale Mushrooms, and the 2012 Food & Nutrition Conference Workshop

Wild Mushrooms and Pasta with Gremolata - scroll to bottom for recipe

 

Participants having their chance at the beauties on set...

This is the set photograph. My set-up AND shots done in minus-5 minutes! I need a rematch...

 Roasted Delicata Squash salad - scroll to bottom for recipe

 

Garlic Chive Cream Cheese-Crème Fraîche Spread with Grissini - scroll to bottom for recipe

Highlighting specific tools, their benefits, and ways to make "the familiar"  in food fresh or new

Photo: courtesy Liz Weiss

Photo: courtesy Rebecca Bitzer

Last week, I taught a four-hour workshop to over 80 registered nutritionists and dietitians as a new addition to their annual conference. With time - though not enough! - for everyone to get hands-on experience at three different sets, a slide presentation (about all kinds of goodies), and discussion on cooking and styling tips, tools, and sourcing  ingredients, it was nonstop. I had a wonderful time. Between sharing my wisdom hard-earned over the years, to running around during a ten-minute break to set up food at each of the three sets and pop a few shots to compare later (aaaahhhhh!! plus thirty or so pairs of eyes watching my every move as I worked my "magic"), I was at my most adaptable best. The eagerness and clarity of attention given to me by this group was so heartening. Thank you everyone, for helping make the day such a success. And, a special thanks to Janet, Liz, and Regan for helping create this essential piece in the conference puzzle.

To prepare, I had a blast getting up early to source the above mushrooms from great wild food gatherers Les Hook and Nova Kim, at the lovely New Amsterdam Market. I also felt a certain satisfaction at throwing together the quintessentially autumn salad of delicata squash, celery, toasted hazelnuts, and pomegranate seeds (which nicely held up - for an hour! - as people photographed it). As a surprise at the end of the day, I gave away all of the props laid out on the tables, passing along a piece of my studio to all who came. Fun!

Here are the recipes:

Wild Mushrooms and Pasta with Gremolata 
Adapted from the New York Times recipe, printed last week

A few handfuls of wild mushrooms of any kind that please you - I used Lobster, Matsutake, Red-capped Scabers, and some Slippery Jacks
Zest from 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
good extra virgin olive oil
a knob of butter
pasta whose shapes will catch the bits of gremolata mixture - think creases and folds, curls, etc. - I used nodi marini, which translates to "mariner's knot", and which you can find here

Combine the garlic, lemon zest, and parsely. Cover and set aside. Heat a couple glugs of olive oil and the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush clean any debris from the mushrooms and slice thinly, and toss them in. Let the mushrooms sweat, and then stir to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add more olive oil or butter as necessary, along with s & p to taste. Meanwhile, boil pasta in salted water timed according to package instructions, al dente. Drain, toss into a bowl with gremolata, adding additional olive oil to lubricate the mixture, and stir in mushrooms. Season with s & p to taste. You may add grated pecorino or parmesan, but with mushrooms this good, their rich flavors are so savory that the cheese would lay them to waste. Add a nice black-fruit round red wine, and you are set.

Roasted Delicata Squash Salad
This recipe is less about specific quantities, and more about what you are in the mood for, proportion-wise...

Delicata squash, rinsed, halved and sliced into 1/4-inch thick pieces
1 pomegranate, seeds removed
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted
celery ribs, sliced thinly on a mandoline
good extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
s & p to taste

Lay the squash half-rings onto a baking sheet. Paint with olive oil and season with s & p. Roast at 325 degrees for a half hour, or until nicely caramelized on one side. Let cool on a wire rack. Toss together the delicata, celery, and pomegranate seeds in a mixing bowl, and transfer to a serving platter. Scatter hazelnuts and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Season with freshly cracked pepper and sea salt, and enjoy.

Garlic Chive-Cream Cheese-Crème Fraîche Spread
...kind of like the best boursin around...

2 8-oz packages cream cheese (buy grass-fed if you can)
2 heaping tbsp crème fraîche (same, here)
2 good tbsp finely chopped garlic chives
s & p to taste

Fold all ingredients together until well combined. Great with grissini, olive bread, tortilla chips, as a veg dip, and with many other foods. Easy-peasy!

I am having so many great experiences. Now that the workshop is behind me, there are many other projects on which to apply the finishing touches, or dive in and create. I will have a story in an internationally produced magazine which you can look forward to in 2013, along with just-completing new branding materials for a lifestyle guru, as well as numerous NYC locations I've scouted and photographed for a website soon-to-launch. There are more great projects coming to fruition....I feel quite grateful at the chance to get creative with all of the wonderful people in each different realm. Wooo-hooo!!!

Making Pasta

I was invited to take a class at the Institute for Culinary Education, and after browsing various options, decided on a pasta and sauce making course. I love a good fresh pasta, and am a total sucker for the process.

It was a grey, wet day, but I was energized to cook! Our chef instructor reviewed several pasta variations we would attempt as groups: a saffron-based dough, a whole wheat version, and one formed using spinach (or other similar greens). We were also going to create sauces to accompany these delicious noodles: a fresh tomato sauce (and another, with the addition of meat), an alfredo, a fresh herb-style, a Bolognese, and a roasted pepper-cream sauce.

We made our way into smaller groups and Chef Loren demonstrated each process to insure a success of our efforts. After all, we were going to eat the results.... :) I had so much fun photographing everything, I had to remind myself to stop and actually perform each process so that they would gel for later (in real life!). I hope you all enjoy the photographs.  Note: you can click on each series to see them larger! It's worth it.

Measuring flour and making a well

Incorporating the egg into the flour, bit by bit

Incorporating the mixture using a bench scraper, then by hand

Loren describing the gluten network

Birthday Celebrating

Now a little while ago already (where does the time go??), I made sure to celebrate my birthday this year properly, by making trips to two of New York's most fantastic and specialized markets, back-to-back! Smorgasburg on Saturday, and The New Amsterdam Market on Sunday, my special day. Smorgasburg was with my dear friend D. In the sultry sun, I didn't want to make a big deal of taking pictures so the series is shot completely on my iphone. Sunday was with my sweet man, and he was kind enough to be the official camera chaperone when I didn't feel like shouldering it. :-)  As you'll see there was lots of good eating to be done between the two. I am so lucky to call New York my home with this incredible bounty of interesting foods.

The most incredible avocado ice cream (really!) from La Newyorkina

 

Neill with the goods at Bon Chovie

The lawn, looking out onto the East River

Toothsome organic pastas from Flour City

The impressive menu from I8NY - seriously tasty

It was a bright, sultry day

New Amsterdam Market, at the old Fulton Fish Market in lower Manhattan

 

Heirloom fruits at Flying Fox Fruiterer

We took home a wonderful sunflower rye loaf from Nordic Breads

 

Stone Barns' vegetable harvest

The Dumpling Diva and her poffertjes

poffertjes, with a smear of butter and confectioners' sugar

Pour-overs from Blue Bottle Coffee

The ice block at People's Pops

Sampling the hay (earthy, honey, yummy!) and basil ice cream from Early Bird Cookery