Sunday, December 26, 2010

Snowy night Stew!!!

It is a cold and snowy night here in Boston. So, I'm thinking it's a great night for stew. For Christmas dinner I made a really simple Beef Stew with a cheap cut of beef, baby carrots, button mushrooms, pearl onions, Pinot Noir, beef stock and fresh thyme. As always we have tons of left over at my mom's and tonight is the perfect night for hot stew. Here is my recipe for Beef Stew (I did borrow one of Julia Child's tips, which is to dry the meat before you sear it. It gets a better caramelization on the meat).

Serves 6
1 lb cubed beef (chuck or top round)
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter, plus 2 tablespoons at room temp
1 bunch baby carrots, peeled and left whole
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms, brushed clean and left whole
1/2 cup pearl onions (fresh or frozen)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup Pinot Noir
3 cups beef stock

Preheat oven to 350degrees
In a dutch oven, melt the butter. When it is warm, sear off the beef, ensuring each side is seared. Remove the beef and set aside. Throw in carrots, mushrooms and onions and saute for about 5-7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the thyme. Return the beef to the pot and deglaze with the wine. Let the alcohol cook off about 5 minutes. Add beef broth and cover with lid. Place in oven and cook for about four to five hours. Check the stew about two hours in. If the liquid has reduced too much add more stock or even water. Adjust seasonings at the midpoint. When stew is done beef should be fork tender. Remove from oven and put on a medium-high burner. In a bowl knead the flour and the butter to make a beurre manie, add this to the stew and allow it to thicken the sauce. If you would like to keep the broth thin, skip this step.
Serve stew with mashed potatoes or biscuits or if you want to be good, a crisp salad. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

12 Days of Recipes..Salad


This year I decided we would do a little recipe borrowing for our salad. Year after year we serve the same salad on our Christmas table, mixed greens with balsamic and extra virgin olive oil. Simple and classic, but this year I wanted to change it up a bit and make a salad I loved eating when I worked at Sportello. So, we will be borrowing Chef Barbara Lynch's recipe for Fennel and Celery Salad. It is crisp and refreshing with a light lemon and oil dressing.

Serves 4
1 fennel bulb, cleaned, tops cut off and shaved using a mandolin slicer
2 celery stalks, sliced thin
3 cups arugula
about 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
parmesan shavings to serve



Really simple, in a large bowl or platter toss the ingredients in, season with salt and pepper. For the dressing go twice around the bowl or platter with the oil and then once around with the lemon juice. Toss and taste. The salad should not be dripping wet, just lightly dressed. Balance the dressing to your liking. Top with shaved parmesan to serve. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

12 Days of Recipes..Side Dishes

Cauliflower has become a vegetable I enjoy eating. I like it cooked all sorts of ways, blanched, pickled, roasted and sauteed, just not raw! For Christmas this year, cauliflower will be one of our side dishes and here is how we are making it.

Serves 4

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets and blanched
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
1 tablespoon rosemary
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

In a large saute pan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and let brown then add the rosemary. You should smell the garlic and rosemary in the air. Be sure not to burn these two ingredients as you will have to start over. Toss in the blanched cauliflower and saute. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Simple! Enjoy!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Butternut Squash Risotto

All right risotto lovers, here is a great recipe for a very seasonal risotto, with pureed butternut squash, sage, nutmeg and finished with mascarpone cheese. This dish is not for the impatient, risotto needs to be nurtured and tended to while you are cooking it. You need two tools to make the perfect risotto, a wooden spoon and a heavy bottom wide mouthed pot. Here is my recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto....

For the squash puree
1 whole butternut squash, peeled, cut in half, seeded and then cubed
2 cups water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

For the risotto
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
5 whole sage leaves
1 1/2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice
1/4 cup dry vermouth
4-5 cups hot vegetable stock
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

For the puree
Place the squash and water in a pot bring to a boil, go once around the pan with kosher salt. Cook squash until tender. Strain water and put squash in a mixing bowl. Using a potato masher, mash squash with the butter and nutmeg. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Set aside

For the risotto
In a saucepan place vegetable stock and bring to a simmer, keep on the heat for the duration of the cooking process. In a wide mouth pot, melt the butter and then add the sage leaves. Let the herb flavor the butter. Add the rice and stir with wooden spoon. Make sure all the rice is coated with the butter. Add the vermouth and let alcohol cook off (if using gas stove, you may want to remove pan from the flame before adding vermouth), stirring the rice. When the liquid is absorbed add two ladles full of stock, making sure the rice is covered and have the flame on medium. When liquid is absorbed, add two more ladles full of stock and repeat this process. Keep doing this until rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in the squash and Parmesan and right before serving fold in mascarpone cheese. The final dish should not be dry, it should be creamy and the rice should be tender, not mush. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

More Appetizers....

This year I am making stuffed tomatoes as part of the first course. My grandma Alda would make stuffed tomatoes sometimes as the vegetable part of our meal and I always would wish that there would be leftovers so I could have one for lunch the next day. Hers were filled with grandma love along with lots of oil!! I cut down on the oil in my recipe a little to make the stuffing lighter and give it more a tomato taste. Here is my recipe for stuffed tomatoes.

Recipe yields 4 tomatoes:

4 vine ripe tomatoes (they should be the size of a tennis ball), washed with the core taken out
1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
1/2 grated Romano cheese
1 clove of garlic
2 teaspoons of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil plus, 2 tablespoons to cook

Preheat oven to 35o degrees

Cut the tops off the tomato, set aside and using a spoon scoop the inside out and place in a bowl. Salt and pepper the inside of each tomato to prep for stuffing. In a mixing bowl, mix breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, zest, and using a grater, grate garlic directly over bowl. Mix ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Add oil and then add 1/2 cup of the reserved tomato and mix the stuffing. It should be slightly wet and stick together, but not soaked. With the tomato tops, dice these real fine and add to the stuffing. Be sure to taste the stuffing before you begin to stuff the tomatoes and adjust seasoning as necessary. Stuff each tomato using a teaspoon and place in a baking dish. Drizzle each tomato with olive oil and cover baking dish with tin foil. Bake covered for 45 minutes and then uncover for the last 15 minutes. The tops should be golden and the tomato should be fork tender (put a cake tester right through the middle of one tomato, to see if it is tender). These are delicious served right out o the oven or at room temp, they are even good right from the fridge, you decide. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

12 Days of Recipes...Appetizers

I know I skipped a day, but I am back on track and we are talking appetizers. Traditionally on Christmas day we enjoy an Antipasto platter filled with assorted salami, prosciutto, mortadella, provolone and various vegetables. When talking about Italian cold cuts, there is only one place to go and that is Jerry's on Everett st in East Boston. I remember my Uncle Augie taking me to Jerry's to get mortadella to make sandwiches or sangwiches like he would say, for lunch! It honestly looks like a dive inside with shelves filled with different Italian products and the same guys working behind the counter. My favorite thing at Jerry's is to watch him grate the Romano cheese, I am still fascinated by it and when he grates the cheese, he leaves the skin of cheese which is like a treat to eat later when you get home!

So, meats taken care of, but I also like to do some vegetables like roasted peppers, beets, marinated olives and I think this year I am going to quick pickle some vegetables. Here is my recipe for marinated beets.

2 bunches of beets, top parts cut off and washed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a baking dishes place the beets, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Mix ingredients and cover with tinfoil. Place in oven and bake until fork tender, about 1 1/2 hours. When beets are cooked, cool slightly and peel using a towel, this will rub the skin off and not effect the shape of the beet. I like to cut my beets into cubes, I toss it with some of the pan drippings and serve at room temp. Enjoy!

Monday, December 13, 2010

12 Days of Recipes!

It being December 13th and only 12 more days until the holiday, I figured I would share with you some of my favorite recipes I will be cooking up this Christmas. First things first, cocktails! On Christmas we always have a cocktail at my parent's house and it is usually a Pomegranate Bellini. One of the simplest recipes to have in your pocket and here it is.

1 chilled bottle of your favorite Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine)
10 oz cold pomegranate juice (POM brand)
Rind of a lemon, sliced thin to use as garnish

In a chilled pitcher, combine the Prosecco and the POM juice. Stir to combine and the pour into cold (place them in the freezer for a few minutes) champagne flutes. Garnish each glass with a "twist" of lemon. Cheers!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Peppermint Bark for sale!


I just added peppermint bark to my etsy shop. Peppermint bark is a great sweet during the holiday season and can also make a great gift. I am packaging the bark in one pound quantities. The peppermint bark will come in a mason jar topped with a colorful ribbon and will be ready for gift giving! Visit me at jennathome.etsy.com.

Friday, December 3, 2010

It's Party Time!!

The party is just about to start. Phil and I have the music going and the wines are opened! For my last few dishes, I wanted to do something pub classic so I went with sliders and pigs in a blanket. They are both in the oven as I write this.

With the burgers and dogs, I made a fennel, cucumber and roasted potato salad with a greek yogurt dressing, courtesy of one of my favorite chefs out there, Barbara Lynch (it's her recipe).

For dessert I bought a bunch of holiday inspired brownies and cakes because sometimes it's easier to buy dessert! Though I didn't make a cake, I did make something sweet by making a star anise and cinnamon simple syrup and marinating red grapefruit and oranges. I will pour all my friends a glass a sparkling and top each glass with some of this marinated fruit. It's a really simple recipe, that takes no time and is a perfect way to enjoy the season's citrus!

My friends are about to arrive, so I need to get myself together and get the table together! Have a great night! Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Vegans need to eat too!

All right, on Friday two of my friends coming to the party are vegan. I have been going over all sorts of different ideas in my head on what type of food I could make for them. Someone suggested tofu, to be honest I don't have much experience with tofu, so I canned that idea and another suggestion was the obvious, hummus. Don't get me wrong, hummus will probably make it on the table Friday night, but I wanted to cook something up that they could enjoy and that I could pair with a wine!

Here's what I'm thinking. I want to pair a dish with a bottle of Chianti, which is the wine of the Tuscan region. Since the people that live in the Tuscan region of Italy are known as the bean eaters, I thought I would incorporate a bean dish into the night. So, here is the dish, a hearty white bean stew cooked down with mirepoix, sage and a little garlic. The beans will be tossed with an uccelletto sauce, a tomato sauce cooked down with fresh sage and then finished with a drizzle of extra virggin olive oil. With it I will have some toasted sour dough bread for dunking and enjoying all the sauce. This will be perfect with a bottle of Chianti.

I decided not to stop there with vegan delights, I think a platter full of assorted vegetables, all cooked in different ways would also pair well with this wine. On the platter I see, eggplant caponata (minus the anchovy), roasted beets, grilled rapini, quick pickled onions, marinated olives and some kind of mushroom (sauted, shaved or roasted?). Maybe for the dairy and meat lovers, I will add some sharp provolone cheese and salami to the platter. For this platter, I may look for a bottle of Barbera which is sightly dry and can stand up to sharp flavors.

Tomorrows post, we'll talk sliders, beer and pickles! Enjoy!