Easter Feasts

This past Easter weekend, we had a family mini-reunion at my Aunt and Uncle's home.

A lot of Vitullos in the same place at the same time can only mean one thing:

ABBONDANZA!

On Good Friday, we dined on a feast of many fishes...

Grilled shrimp that I briefly marinated in a bit of lemon, wine, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Flounder Amandine. Aunt Margaret used corn flour instead of regular flour so I could eat this. And I'm so glad she did because it was unexpectedly my favorite of all the fishes. So good.

Pepper-crusted ahi. Perfectly cooked by the Uncles.

A giant bowl of mussels, Cousin Lucas' and my favorite. Also, two types of crab cakes. Because one type would never be enough.

We tried to make natural egg dyes...

It looked pretty, but the colors didn't really take...even after an overnight soak. So we resorted to the Paas.

The Paas worked.

Saturday, I made a Meyer Lemon Upside Down Cake.
It came from this recipe.

Prepping ingredients. The lemons I brought to DC from San Francisco. They came from the tree in my boss' backyard!

Prepping the pan.

Layering in the lemons. I love this picture. The lemons smell delicious.

Baked. Perhaps a little overbaked...

But at least the cake unmolded from the pan successfully.  That's always scary, flipping the pan and hoping the goods land in one piece.

Hmmm...

I've got to say, this is the first time Martha Stewart has failed me. The thinly sliced meyer lemons were positively bitter. I think this could be fixed by candying them first, so I'm going to try that, because I have high hopes in the future success of this recipe.

At least it came out pretty!
 

We made table decorations by stuffing jumbo cupcake wrappers with Easter grass and putting candied eggs in them. Cute and delicious!

We also introduced the cousins to the Easter Aardvark. The Easter Aardvark likes to sleep in on Easter Sunday, but when he does eventually show up, he brings candy and toys. Good deal.

Happy (belated) Easter!

My Gift to You

As previously mentioned on this blog, I used to have a job at a Williams-Sonoma store. This was during my glamorous phase of being 23 and underemployed and living the dream. I’m not kidding.  Living. The. Dream. 

I know I was living the dream because a busy day for me constituted picking up clothes at the dry cleaner and I frequently was able to take advantage of our apartment complex pool, on, say, a Tuesday. At 1pm.

The holiday season at Williams-Sonoma was enough to make any sane person seek out anti-psychotic drugs. I’ve discussed some of this insanity here.  The jars of Turkey Gravy, for example, sold out so rapidly and inspired such fervor in our customers that you would have thought we were dealing heroin or something. I mean, for God’s sake, people, it’s just jarred gravy. It’s not even that hard to make your own from scratch. If you own a whisk, you can make gravy. End of story.

Another total Chuck Williams racket was the holiday peppermint bark. You know exactly what I am talking about. It’s famous. It comes in a little tin and it sells for approximately the same per ounce price as uranium. 

It’s time to stop this holiday madness. You can make your own peppermint bark. 

No, stop right there. I am raising a hand to you in Heisman-fashion. 

Hear me out.

This is one of those things that you don’t even need cooking skills for. You can be incompetent in the kitchen and still be successful at this. 

Trust me. 

I wouldn’t lie to you about food.

The glory will come when you make this. Handel’s Messiah will play in the background, the heavens will open, and sun will shine down upon you. Everyone will think you bought this fabulous candy, but then you can tell them that, actually, you made it. From scratch. Jaws will drop. I’m telling you, they will drop on the floor. It will almost be awkward, but you’re gracious and will handle it with aplomb.

Do me a favor and try this, just once. You’ll never buy the pre-made stuff again and you’ll save a boatload of cash. Unless you have more money than you know what do to with. In which case, here’s my Christmas list…

Kate’s Perfect Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

6-7 ounces of really good quality dark chocolate, chopped.  I used Lindt because it was on sale (at Walgreens!) but any really good quality dark chocolate bars will do - Callebaut and Valhrona are both awesome

6-7 ounces of really good quality white chocolate, chopped. Again, I used Lindt, but Callebaut is great if you want to get fancy about it and Baker’s is good if you want to be ultra-cheap about it

1 teaspoon of flavorless vegetable oil (like canola), divided

6 full-size candy canes, peeled and crushed.

I like to crush my candy canes with the bottom edge of a small sauce pan, like so.

Directions:

1. Prepare an 8x8 baking pan by lining it with foil.

2. Melt the dark chocolate in either a double boiler, or the way I do it, which is as follows:

Put the chocolate and ½ teaspoon of oil in a microwaveable mixing bowl.

Microwave on high for one minute.

Stir and stir and stir until it seems that the chocolate bits are not melting any more.
           

Microwave another 30 seconds.

Stir and stir and stir. 

After a couple of minutes of stirring, all the chocolate should be smooth and melted. If it’s not, you can microwave it for another 15 seconds (no more!) and continue stirring. If you need subsequent microwavings, keep them to no more than 15 seconds apiece and really stir for a couple of minutes in between as you do not want to over heat the chocolate. (You’ll use the same method for the white chocolate, but that typically takes even less time to melt because of the higher cocoa butter content.)

3.  Pour the dark chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so that the chocolate evenly covers the bottom of the pan.

Pour.

Tilt.

4. Refrigerate the dark chocolate for 30 minutes, until solid.

5. Melt the white chocolate using the same process you used for the dark chocolate. Don’t forget to add the ½ teaspoon of oil before you start the melting. 

6. Pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate, and working relatively quickly so there are no streaks, tilt the pan so that the white chocolate completely coats the dark chocolate. 

7. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top of the melted white chocolate. Once you’ve coated the surface with candy cane bits, press them gently into the white chocolate. Two notes here:

• Put more candy canes on top than you think is reasonable. Plenty will fall off when you break the bark into bits
• When you’re pressing the candy canes into the chocolate, use a light hand. Your fingers should not touch the white chocolate, only the candy canes.

8. Refrigerate for at least an hour to cool completely. Longer is fine. 

9. When the bark is solid, remove from the pan and peel off the foil. Place the bark on a large cutting board and get out your nice, sharp, heavy chef’s knife. Cut the bark into irregular pieces. Keep in mind that you’re aiming for pieces that are no more than an inch or two in surface area as people typically just want a nice little bite-sized piece of candy. Before they eat another one. And another.

That’s it.  This keeps for two weeks in the fridge in an airtight container or plastic zip-top bag. It makes an excellent holiday hostess gift.

Sorry, this picture is totally blurry!

Let me know if you try it!

Sharing is Caring

I’m a terrible sharer. Know thyself, right? Well, I really am terrible at sharing.

And honestly, I always have been. I remember this moment in kindergarten, when some kid in my class (who will go unnamed because we’re no doubt Facebook friends now) borrowed my beloved box of Cray-Pas – those awesome waxy pastel crayons, and by far my favorite art supply, ever – and broke half of them and gummed up the other half, by, for example, running the light yellow one over a dark purple. I mean, what kind of uncouth barbarian does that to the colors? Ugh.

  

Sharing is something I’ve really had to work on as an adult…for me, it takes active mindfulness to not be fazed when a friend borrows something and accidentally breaks it…or never returns it. My own personal version of therapy for this problem is part of the reason I got a white sofa. If you’re going to be upset about people spilling on your white sofa, you shouldn’t have one. For me, throwing parties and having a white sofa is a lesson in personal development.

I’m not kidding.

I don’t really know what my problem is. Maybe this is all because I was an only child half the time, and a fussily particular one at that. Maybe it’s because the rest of the time I was an eldest child in a house where my personal items – clothing, jewelry, books etc. – were always under threat of disappearance at the hands of an admiring younger sibling.

But as an adult I have come to understand that there are times for being selfish and times for sharing and when four pounds of cured pork shows up at your doorstep, that is definitely a time for sharing. A Tasty Salted Pig Parts Party was obviously in order.

A while ago, Gilt Taste had a steal of a deal on a bunch of delicious cured pork from La Quercia, an artisanal producer in Iowa. You might not necessarily think of Iowa first when you’re thinking of fine prosciutto or coppa, but then again, you also probably wouldn’t think of Iowa as having any ski hills, and yet, I have downhill skied in Iowa. It’s a very surprising state.

Obviously, given the lardo-lonza-coppa-prosciutto bounty delivered unto me by FedEx (and unpacked by dear Meredith while I was on a business trip to no doubt somewhere in the Midwest), I felt compelled to do a vaguely Tuscan theme for the rest of the food. Here was the final menu lineup for the cocktail party:

 

Piggy Parts // Coppa Piccante, Coppa Americano, Lonza, Prosciutto Piccante

Italian Cheeses // Brigante / Asiago / Aged Provolone

Accompaniments:

Assorted Breads / Crackers / Grissini

Melon / Figs / Grapes

Homemade Tomato Jam / Homemade Cherry Jam / Pumpkin Jam from Eataly

Lardo Spread (Which is literally seasoned lard. And it’s awesome.)

Pickled Items // Spicy Okra / String Beans / Olives (All from Whole Foods. I suck at pickling.)

Stuffed Peppadew Peppers // Boursin

Baby BLTs // butter lettuce / heirloom tomatoes / basil mayo / brioche

Crostini Bar

Sauteed Mushrooms / Fontina

Broccoli Rabe Pesto / Fresh Mozzarella

Honey-Roasted Tomatoes / Ricotta

All, served with Grilled Bread

Tirami su

Mini Peach Pies with Amaretti Topping (adapted from here, with this crust)

Baci

Amarettini

Wine / Italian Beer / Campari & Soda

I loved doing the shopping for this particular party because it gave me an excuse to go to North Beach – the "Italian Neighborhood" in San Francisco – to pick up some authentic grissini, Perugina Baci candies, and of course, the Amaretti di Saronno in a new tin from A. Molinari, an Italian deli that's been around for ages. 

Here are some images of the food. I’ve linked the recipes above and included my very favorite Tirami su recipe even though “Tirami su is so passé” (per Mom). Whatever Mom, it’s delicious.

Setting a Tuscan mood with sunflowers. Ok, ok, not really. In truth, I just wanted an excuse to buy flowers.

Peaches, scored and getting ready for their dip in boiling water before peeling.

Peach filling for the mini pies. Are peaches not the most beautiful fruit, all sunny and blushing at the same time? They remind me of the hybrid tea rose Peace, which we always had in the rose garden at home.

I love these amarettini cookies. The best is after the tin has been open for a couple of weeks and they get a little bit chewy. Yum. For the mini peach pies, I crushed them and added them to both the topping and the filling. I had never done that before, and it was a little risky, but I will definitely do it again.

Campari and soda. My favorite aperitif!

Fruits of the season.

MEAT.

I love the ingredients on the lardo. It's disturbing how delicious it is. Delicious enough to consider eschewing butter forever. And I really love butter.

A bad picture of the remaining BLTs.

More meat!

The mini peach pies.

Part of the crostini bar: (clockwise from upper left) honey roasted cherry tomatoes, broccoli rabe pesto, lardo.  The grilled bread (unforutnately unphotographed) was a major hit and so easy. Brush slices of ciabatta with olive oil and throw on the grill pan until they smoke. Done!

Rosemary crostini, ricotta, sauteed mushrooms with fontina.

What was left of the tirami su.

Yum.

I know! You just have to make this, right? 

Ok, here's the recipe:

Vitullo Tirami Su (adapted from The Italian Baker by Carole Field)
 

1 pound 2 ounces (500 grams) fresh mascarpone (get the latest expiration date you can)
3 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
Grand Marnier, approx. ½ cup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ladyfingers – the soft kind, not the crunchy kind. Either get two packages (you can usually get them in the bakery at any big supermarket) or make them from scratch. I recommend the former.
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

With a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the mascarpone on medium speed until smooth. (DO NOT OVERBEAT OR IT WILL GET CHUNKY AND GROSS.)
Add the cream, 1 ½ cups confectioners sugar, 3-4 tablespoons of Grand Marnier and the vanilla. Beat on high speed until thickened, smooth and creamy. (It should have the consistency of thick pudding). In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar with a spoon and set aside.

Put one layer of ladyfingers in a 9x13 pan. Brush the ladyfingers with Grand Marnier. (Don’t soak them in booze. The tops of the ladyfingers should be just dampened.)
Spread half the mascarpone mixture on this layer. Sift half of the cocoa-sugar mixture on the mascarpone layer. Add another layer of ladyfingers, brush with liqueur, and spread the rest of the mascarpone on top. Sift the remaining cocoa-sugar mixture on top. If you want to be fancy, grate the semi-sweet chocolate over the cocoa using a vegetable peeler.

NOTE: This is MUCH better if made at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in advance.
Another note: You can make this in any size pan you want, but I recommend not doing more than 3 layers of ladyfingers or it gets a little overwhelming.

Truffles and Baci in a little piggy bowl.

Seriously, how cute is this?

The best part of the party was actually that I sliced my right index finger pretty aggressively with a huge serrated knife while slicing some of the coppa, just minutes before guests were due to arrive.  I managed to clean up the trail of blood leading from kitchen through breakfast room to bathroom and grab some gauze for my finger before anyone arrived, but I knew the finger situation was a bit dire…it wouldn’t stop bleeding…

Despite personal injury, here's why it was the best part: part of the reason I absolutely love and adore my friends is that when they showed up, I was able to easily hand over the entire party to them (while I made a quick trip to the ER for wound irrigation and assessment of whether stitches were necessary) without batting an eyelash. When I got back from the ER an hour or so later, the party was in full effect and everyone was having a good time. It was kind of awesome.

Big thanks to Jeff for letting people in the door, and Rayleen, Britta, and Blake for ensuring everyone was welcomed, well fed and wine-d in my absence.  And of course, even more thanks to Meredith for accompanying me to the ER and not making fun of me for flirting shamelessly with Dr. McDreamy…er…McDermott.

It was a good party.

Have a Heart

I had an absolutely delightful day today. It went something like this:

I got up at a reasonable hour after a reasonable amount of sleep, for a 9am flight.

I got to the airport and parked in the first spot next to the elevators in the parking garage.

I checked in and got upgraded.

My flight was on time.

I got to Hertz and they upgraded me (which has NEVER happened before) to this:

I drove with the top down 55 miles to Camarillo.

It was sunny and gorgeous. An excellent day for singing in the car.

Somewhere near Thousand Oaks, I belted Eternal Flame at the top of my lungs.

I arrived an hour before my meeting and found a lovely cafe at which to lunch. I had a delicious spinach salad with grilled chicken, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and caramelized walnuts.

I got to the client meeting, and it was delightfully productive.

I drove back to LAX in almost no rush hour traffic, returned the car, and had a quick chat with my favorite Hertz employee, who is so kind and always remembers me.

There was no line at airport security.

I went to the gate area for an earlier flight that was leaving in 10 minutes.

I got a seat on the earlier flight. It was in the bulkhead, so I could put my feet up.

There was no one in the middle seat.

And no traffic on the way home.

I found a parking spot right away.

I checked my mail and got an absolutely wonderful and sweet note from my fabulous stepmom, Lindy.

I sat down to a Valentine's smorgasbord dinner of leftovers from Saturday's party, a menu consisting dominantly of cheese and chocolate.

And now I'm working on this blog entry.

In my world, Valentine's Day rarely gets better than this, a day where everything almost magically goes exactly, perfectly right. It got me to thinking about past Valentine's Days - some of which have been good, some decidedly less so, some downright disastrous. I will leave those stories to my memories. Suffice it to say, food poisoning and potted plants do not make for a romantic Valentine's Day. Trust me.

At some point in my life, I decided that I wasn't going to be a Valentine's hater. What I am a hater about is people bitching about Valentine's Day. What is the problem, people?? It's a day when you have license to eat chocolate without feeling guilty, and project love to everyone. How can anyone be bitter about that? All you need is love! Just because I'm single doesn't mean there aren't people that I love, and who love me. I refer to these people as "family and friends." And I like to celebrate them today, because they are wonderful people.

In all honesty, I didn't get my act together as much this year as in years past - I usually make and send Valentines but the two weeks of traveling prior to today really precluded serious crafts. (I still have those darn cocktail napkins I've been planning to make since October on my project list.) What I did do was manage to get a few things together for a Valentine's-themed party on Saturday. I think it was a good party because the last guests left after 3am Sunday morning. And it's taken me a few days to clean up.

Herewith, the menu:

Savory
Heart Goat Cheese, Heart Brie, Manchego and Mahon with Jams (Pumpkin and Violet) and Grapes
Mango-Avocado Salsa and Chips
Peppadew Peppers Stuffed with Boursin
O-love and Artichoke Heart Tapenade with Crostini and Carrot Sticks
Meatball Parmigiana Sliders

Sweet
Outrageous Heart Brownies
Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes
Peanut Butter and Jam Heart Cookies
Conversation Hearts Candy
Hershey Kisses

Liquid
Cherub’s Cup
Wine, Champagne, Beer

And now, in pictures:


The beginning of the brownies. Lots of chocolate and butter.
These brownies could probably kill you.

Ok, not probably. The will definitely kill you. At least this recipe makes 100+ brownies!

Now, with flour. I used half whole wheat and half all-purpose. It worked well.

Brownie batter spread in the pan.
 I saw this trick on Martha Stewart's show - what a brilliant idea to use binder clips to keep the parchment paper in place! I now keep four of these in the kitchen drawer.



These look done to me. A toothpick confirms the diagnosis.


 

I cut half the brownies into squares for Jen & Ryan's Super-Housewarming-Bowl Party last weekend, then froze the remaining brownies. (They freeze really well.) The day of my party, I took them out of the freezer in the morning and used a cookie cutter to cut them into heart shapes. Super cute and super easy.

   

Peanut Butter and Jam Heart Cookies. Another recipe from Martha. She and her minions are geniuses for coming up with this stuff. I mean, seriously. How cute is this? I can't wait to make these again next year. I might make them "heartless" in the interim. Turns out they are delicious for breakfast, too.  



Valentine's Torta - goat cheese and sundried tomatoes.

I couldn't pass up this heart-shaped bamboo cutting board. It was the perfect way to serve two of my favorite cheeses - Manchego and Mahon.

The olive and artichoke tapenade. Mer (who, along with Christine, came over early to help)

assembled the platter. I normally split my veggies and carbs into quarters instead of sixths, but Mer's way looks better. Definitely doing this next time!



Christine added the "e" to this label on the wine. It looked so professional, everyone thought the wine was really named "Valentine".  (She also took over assembly of the sliders, of which I do not have a picture. But they turned out looking just like the picture in the recipe link above.)

  

Mango-Avocado salsa and chips. Honestly, the salsa was not as well-loved as some of the other things I made, but I had two mangos from the farm box that were ripe and needed to be used. One perhaps slightly inebriated guest who shall remain nameless offered the suggestion that "the guacamole needs to be smushed up more."

Oh well. I thought it was tasty and am looking forward to having it on a piece of grilled fish tomorrow for dinner.

This stuff will knock you on your ass. Kind of like the little diapered man's arrow, I suppose.
(Tito's, for those of you unfamiliar, is the best vodka on God's green Earth.)

Heart-shaped brownies and mini black bottom cupcakes. A veritable tower of choco-love.

Stuffed peppadews. This is the EASIEST "recipe" and a crowd pleaser to boot. Take a jar of peppadew peppers, drain them and pat them dry with paper towels. Pipe boursin that's been softened with a little cream or milk into their centers. The end. (You can pipe them with a plastic sandwich bag with a tiny corner cut off if you don't have a pastry bag and tips.)

Requisite candy.

If it can be made into a heart, I will make it so. No food is safe from my paring knife when there's a Valentine's theme at stake.

Hearts over the bar table.

Red roses, of course!

Happy Valentine's Day!