hors d'oeuvres math

Question: Sally has to bring a dish to a New Year's Eve party at 7:00 PM but she only has $12 to spend. It is 6:00 PM. The supermarket is a five minute walk away. The party is a twenty minute drive away. What can she make and still get to the party on time?

Answer:
A (spicy sausage):


Plus B (Rick's Picks pickled green beans):
Equals C (instant appetizer):


You get an A plus! Happy New Year!

the very best cold-weather meal

'Twas the night before Christmas; a cold, rainy evening when we started out for our friend E's house. After a long walk from the subway (we got a little lost) Dan and I were soggy and freezing, not to mention 45 minutes late. Which isn't cool when you're the one bringing appetizers. Sorry, guys! Luckily, E already had a pot on the stove that was full of the very thing you want to eat when you're coming in from the cold: ragu.

When E originally emailed me saying he was making pasta with lamb ragu, I thought he meant Ragu. So I was totally surprised to find no empty pasta jars lying around, just a tall stockpot full of a thick, aromatic sauce. This was an all-day kind of sauce, a stay-in-and-stir kind of recipe. And when he told me it was his fifth or sixth time making it, I have to say I discovered a newfound love for the guy. And lamb ragu.

So I am willing to take bids on this fine gentleman. If you're a single lady living in the Brooklyn area (preferably off the G line) leave a note in the comments. You will not be disappointed. And E's not too shabby either.

Dinner at E'sCheese, crackers, spiced cashews, and salami-wrapped Rick's Picks Mean Beans
Pasta with lamb ragu
Arugula with parmesan and fennel
Gummy bears
Dark and Stormys (someone's been reading this blog...)


Pasta with lamb ragu
E originally found this recipe in the New York Times and has made a few tweaks since, mainly adding extra vegetables and a shit load of garlic. (His words, not mine.) He suggests cooking the vegetable puree, the base of the sauce, on low heat stirring a lot. E served this pasta over egg noodles, which I think is the very best choice. If you can't eat gluten, I recommend Sam Mills brand pasta, which is made with corn and is gluten- and wheat-free. The ziti noodles I bought tasted surprisingly like regular pasta.

(Serves 6 to 8 people)

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

3 lbs. ground lamb leg or shoulder

1 cup tomato paste

3 cups of hearty red wine (basically one bottle)

2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary chopped

3 bay leaves

2 Tbsp. fresh thyme

Ground black pepper

2 large bags egg noodles
Parmesan to top the pasta

Using a food processor, puree the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to a coarse paste. Coat a large pan generously with olive oil and set over medium heat. Add the pureed vegetables, season with salt and cook until the water has evaporated and the vegetables begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir frequently and be patient--this is where big flavor develops.

Add the lamb, season generously with salt and cook until it is browned, about 25 to 30 minutes--brown food tastes good, don't rush this step. Add the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the red wine, rosemary, and bay leaves. Cook at a lively simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Add the thyme and enough water to cover lamb by 1 inch. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours, stirring and tasting frequently and adding more water as it evaporates.

Skim the fat off the surface. Remove the bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with al dente pasta and grated parmesan.

home for the holidays

How was everyone's holiday? Great, I hope.

We had a leisurely late-afternoon Christmas lunch here in Brooklyn with our Australian neighbors, Jennifer and Mark Henry. It was the kind of cozy day spent cooking, eating, and lazing about, in between playing with their two daughters, April and Rose. They not only believe in Santa, they left him a beer--how could you not fall in love with these girls?


It was such a nice day that I won't dwell on the accident. I feel like I write about mishaps a lot here and this blog isn't called Dinner Party Disasters. So I won't really get into the misfortune that was the walk downstairs with all of the food we made. And how the uncooked potato gratin started leaking out of the baking dish, dripping down someone's coat and all over the stairs. And how when someone pointed out the mess, the other person tried to set down the potatoes, inadvertently dropping a bag holding caramel sauce and six dessert bowls, so that there was a caramel explosion all over the stairs as well. (Note to landlords: we cleaned. And the stairs are a filthy mess to begin with.) And then someone twisted an ankle trying to reach for the falling dishes and missing a stair. Luckily no dishes or ankles were broken and the caramel was superfluous anyway. But let's just say that if we were discussing mishaps, it wasn't exactly the smoothest start to Christmas dinner.

Soo, moving on.

Christmas celebrated without your family always feels a little strange even though the holiday is usually spent in a universal way for most people: opening gifts, eating a big meal, possibly attending church. The difference is in the particulars. Do you eat turkey or ham? Do you open gifts before or after dinner? Do you say grace before the meal? Are you from Australia and eat roasted pumpkin? It's the little specific things that make it your family's holiday.

Last Christmas, Dan and I stayed in Brooklyn and had a quiet day by ourselves. But because we were spending the day with another family this year, I think I felt more conscious of being away from my own relatives. Instead of helping my mom make her sweet potato casserole, I made a potato gratin by myself in our apartment. Instead of catching up on the breezy back porch with Nanny, Dan and I chatted with Jennifer and Mark Henry and ate roasted chestnuts in their warm living room. Instead of being peppered with questions like "So, how is work?" and "How much snow have you gotten in New York?" around the dinner table, we had a late lunch and talked about traveling and food and our neighborhood. We ate turkey of course, but instead of Nanny's cranberry sauce I made cranberry relish. Instead of Mom's sweet potatoes, we ate the aforementioned roasted pumpkin. And instead of watching my parents doze off on the couch post-dinner, we played Brooklyn Monopoly after watching the girls do an impromptu dance performance, making dizzy circles in the kitchen.

In many ways I missed my family, but in many ways this was a more relaxing and fun way to spend Christmas. It was a holiday that felt more like my adult life, rather than re-entering my childhood again and again. Although that's what makes the holidays the holidays.

Christmas with the Henrys
Roasted turkey with gravy
Chestnut and barley stuffing
Potato gratin with goat cheese and garlic
Roasted pumpkin
Green beans
Cranberry relish
Apple-cherry crisp with cinnamon whipped cream

Cranberry relish
This is cranberry relish the way I like it: spicy, tart, and chock-full of whole berries. The original recipe is by Jasper White, a chef who specializes in New England cuisine. Be sure to make the relish one day in advance and chill it in the refrigerator so the mixture takes on a jelly-like consistency and the flavors deepen.
(Makes 3 cups)

2 oranges

1 cup sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 bag (12 ounces) fresh cranberries
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Peel 1 orange and cut the zest (orange part only) into a very fine julienne, as thin as possible; set aside. Squeeze both oranges for juice; set aside. Combine sugar and lemon juice in a small pan. Heat up slowly and continue cooking until the sugar begins to caramelize. If necessary, wash down the sides of the pan by brushing with a little water to keep the sugar from burning.
When the sugar is caramel colored, add the julienned ginger and orange zest. Cook for about 1 minute, then add the cranberries, orange juice and pepper. Continue to cook on medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the cranberries are slightly broken but not mushy. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Potato gratin with goat cheese and garlic
Christmas dinner isn't complete without potatoes of some sort, and while I love them mashed, I wanted to try something new this year. This gratin, from Bon Appétit, is mild and creamy, with a slight tang from the goat cheese and a hint of spice from a little nutmeg. To make the potatoes a little livelier, you could add one tablespoon of thyme or rosemary. Carry with care if uncooked.
(Serves 6 to 8 people)

1 cup whole milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese (about 5 ounces)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter an 11 by 7 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk the first 7 ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Arrange 1/3 of potatoes in bottom of prepared dish, overlapping slightly and covering completely. Pour 1/3 of cream mixture over. Repeat layering potatoes and cream mixture 2 more times. Bake uncovered until potatoes are tender and top is golden brown in spots, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Roasted pumpkin

This Aussie specialty was the surprise of the meal--in my opinion, the best thing on the table next to the turkey. Here is Jennifer's recipe.
(Serves 4 to 6 people)

1 butternut squash or Japanese pumpkin

Roasting fat, bacon fat or olive oil

1 head of garlic, broken into cloves

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, or 350 if you are roasting meat simultaneously. Remove the skin from the pumpkin and cut the flesh into small, fist-sized chunks of about 2 to 3 ounces each, allowing about 3 chunks per person. Place in a baking dish with a few tablespoons of fat or oil, throw in the garlic cloves, and sprinkle liberally with salt, and then add pepper to taste. Shake the dish to coat all pumpkin pieces, then put in oven and roast around 1 hour. Baste the pumpkin with fat every 15 minutes or so. The pumpkin is cooked when it feels tender when tested with a skewer or fork.

merry christmas

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all eating well today, but more importantly, spending time with people you love. More posts to come next week. As always, thanks for reading!

xo,
Lisa

the taste of christmas

For me, the holidays don't begin with Black Friday shopping, or putting up the Christmas tree (no thanks, not in our teeny apartment), or getting that first holiday card in the mail. The season begins with a box from my grandparents in New Mexico containing an aluminum foil-wrapped log of potica. My grandma has been making potica since way before I was born and every December she ships it to various relatives scattered across the country. She also sends cookies, and dense cubes of walnut fudge, jars of homemade preserves, and I even remember getting bread and butter pickles one year. But it's the potica, a sweet yeast bread spiraled with cinnamon, dates, and nuts, that I always look forward to the most.

Not too long ago, my editor Mark and I were reminiscing about potica. I always assumed it was strictly Italian, but he told me it's also a Polish specialty. As with most things, he was right: it's even more common in Croatia, Slovenia, and most of Eastern Europe, often called povitica. So how did it become a tradition in my family? After some more research I discovered the Italy connection—in a way that is surprisingly specific to the Cericola family. Southwestern writer Sharon Niederman says that the recipe was brought to the American west by Slovenian miners, who shared it with their Italian and Hispanic neighbors in coal mining communities including Raton, the small town in New Mexico where my grandma (and great-grandma) lived for some time.

After Raton, my grandparents stayed in New Mexico and raised three kids, moving around a bit, eventually to Santa Fe and later, Albuquerque. My dad didn't stay out west. As a young man, he moved to Florida, met my mother, and later, they had me. I visited New Mexico many times as a kid and loved it, but I've never spent the holidays with my grandparents. We exchange cards and emails and the big box of year-end sweets, but our relationship has always been somewhat distant.

Which is why I'm always a little surprised at how nostalgic I am for this stuff. Even though I've never been there to help Grandma make potica, I can see her rolling out the dough on the kitchen table, wrapping the baked loaves in foil, and labeling the silver logs with family members' names. It's a memory I wish I had experienced in person, but I've imagined it so many times now that it's real to me. When I bite into a soft slice of the bread, I taste sweetness and Christmas morning, but also New Mexico—juniper bushes, and posole, and dried chiles, and every food memory of that place and my family intertwined.

Potica
My grandma Jennie's recipe. This bread is significantly better hot out of the oven or warmed up in a toaster. I like it for breakfast, but it's kind of an all-day-long snack food.
(Makes 3 loaves)


For the filling:
1 lb. pecans, chopped
2 lbs. sun palm dates, chopped
1 cup half and half
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

For the dough:
8 oz. sour cream
3 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 packages yeast
2 eggs
3 cups flour

Make the filling: In a saucepan, warm the half and half over medium heat. Add sugar, egg yolks, cinnamon, honey, butter, pecans, and vanilla. Stir until combined then remove from the heat, and let cool to lukewarm. Beat the egg whites until stiff, fold into the nut mixture.

Make the dough: In a saucepan, warm the sour cream. Remove from heat and add the butter, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Cool to lukewarm, then add the yeast and eggs, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add in the flour, mix well, and let stand 15 minutes. Roll the dough out onto a floured counter. Spread on the filling, then roll it up. Let it stand one and half hours. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

a dark and stormy holiday night

What have you been drinking at holiday get-togethers? This year, I'm going with the dark and stormy. It's a mix of ginger beer, rum, and lime; therefore, always made me think of little cocktail umbrellas and resort wear and sand in your toes. But really, ginger and rum are the essence of the holidays. Sure, it's not as HO!! HO!! HO!! (eek) as egg nog or some sort of cranberry juice concoction, but think of it as a more unassuming, cool nod to the season. If you're really angling for a wintery vibe, another variation is to substitute one quarter of an orange or one half of a clementine for the lime. It won't add as much tartness, but the flavors work really well together.

Dark and Stormy
(Makes 1 drink)
Ice
2 oz. dark rum
10 oz. ginger beer (I used ginger ale, but a spicy ginger beer like Reed's would be ideal for this)
1/2 lime

Fill a tall (drinking glass-sized) glass with ice. Add 2 ounces dark rum and enough ginger beer to fill the glass. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lime into the drink, add the wedge if you'd like. Stir and serve.

link-o-rama

One week to go, people! Let's get inspired with some links.

50 homemade gift ideas: breadsticks, chocolate-covered orange peels, spice rubs, etc. [via the LA Times]

A host gift is always nice to bring along if someone else is cooking the holiday meal. [via Apartment Therapy]

Hanukkah menus from Gourmet. [via Gourmet]

Smitten Kitchen tackles the seven-layer cookie. I only wish I were as brave (and photographically talented) as Deb. [via Smitten Kitchen]

Something to help you get through the rest of this jam-packed month: Bon Appetit's Drink a Day Calendar. [via BA]

And something for the Flight of the Conchords fans out there, some very fun holiday party ideas from Mel (Kristen Schaal). Yis! [via NY Mag]

Also, one small, personal plug: I am a finalist in the Marx Foods holiday recipe contest. If you could take five seconds to vote for me by clicking the box below, I'd really appreciate it. I am listed under "Lisa: Sweet and Spicy Peanuts." Voting is open until Monday at 4 p.m. PST. Thanks, guys!