Update: Mom's Party!

A few weeks ago we posted a teaser about the surprise party we were about to throw for our mom's 60'th birthday. Well, great news, it was a huge success!! Our little mommy was so surprised, and so happy!! AND, the food was a big hit. We went with a Spanish theme with red decor, and made red sangria and lots of tapas... perfect little nibbles for a party!

Wait, first of all, before I talk about tapas, we need to have a moment for the cake Siobhan made - the cake you may have noticed in the aforementioned post. It was a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and man alive, it was delicious. After Mom blew out her candles, it was gone within minutes. Maybe if you are lucky Siobhan will talk about the recipe soon...

...She also made these tiny chocolate cupcakes, which were adorable as well as yummy.

By the way, they are displayed on the cupcake stand our step-dad made for Siobhan for Christmas. Isn't it pretty?

So, in all of the excitement we didn't get pictures of all the tapas. For example, we made some really amazing tiny meatballs (recipe here) that got eaten up so quick that we didn't have a chance to snap a photo. There was also a delightful orange and fennel salad, some really great marinaded olives involving cumin and fennel seeds (which I am for SURE making again soon so stay tuned), and these paprika-spiced almonds: 

Basically, you blanch about 1 lb raw almonds, remove their skins then toast them for about 7-9 minutes at 400°F, stirring occasionally, until golden and aromatic. Toss them with a tbsp of Spanish olive oil, then sprinkle with a mixture of coarse sea salt and smoked Spanish paprika, which has been ground in a mortar and pestle to a fine powder. Stir again and serve. 

We also made prosciutto wrapped asparagus, a Spanish tortilla, homemade hummus, and the cutest dish by far, these tasty little cheese & olive empanadillas:

These were particularly fun to make, so here's the full recipe for you: 

(makes 26)

3 oz firm or soft cheese (we used feta), diced

1/2 cup pitted green olives, diced

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil, drained & diced

1¾ oz canned anchovies, drained & diced

pepper

2 tbsp sundried tomato paste (I think we just used regular tomato paste)

plain flour, for dusting

1 lb 2 oz ready-made puff pastry, thawed if frozen

beaten egg, to glaze

fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, to garnish

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put all the chopped ingredients in a bowl, season with pepper to taste and gently mix together. Stir in the tomato paste.

On a lightly floured work surface, thinly roll out the puff pastry. Using a plain, round 3¼-inch cutter, cut into 18 circles. Gently pile the trimmings together, roll out again, then cut out an additional 8 circles. Using a teaspoon, put a little of the prepared filling in the center of each circle.

Dampen the edges of the pastry with a little water, then bring up the sides to cover the filling completely and pinch the edges together with your fingers (I used a fork) to seal them. With the tip of a sharp knife, make a small slit in the top of each pastry. Store the pastries in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake them.

Place the pastries onto dampened baking sheets and brush each with a little beaten egg to glaze. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, crisp and well risen.

Serve the empanadillas piping hot, warm or cold, garnished with parsley sprigs.
Enjoy!

And Happy Birthday again Mom, we love you!!!!! xoxox

Nutella and Cheese Turnover

I had a little leftover ricotta cheese and wanted to do something with it.  We also have a supply of Nutella that never seems to end.  So I decided to make a turnover stuffed with these wonderful gems.  I mixed the ricotta with cream cheese in about a 2:1 ratio, added a few tablespoons of sugar, about a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one egg.  I used ready-made pastry dough and cut each sheet into 4 squares, then spooned on a little cheese mixture followed by some Nutella.  I brushed a little beaten egg on the edges of the dough and folded them into triangles.  They baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Anything with Nutella is dreamy so you can imagine how these were!

Caprese Salad

I love a caprese salad!  Anytime, anywhere!  It's so easy and so good!  Last night I went to TJ's and they had these brown tomatoes called Kumatos that looked like they could be tasty, so I decided to try them and make a caprese salad.

I sliced the "kumatos" and mozzarella and topped them with some chopped basil.  Then I put a pile of arugula in the center, and drizzled olive oil over the entire thing along with some freshly ground salt & pepper. Yum! Yum! and Yum!

Oktoberfest!

A couple weeks ago, Jimmy and I had a little mini Oktoberfest at home. I made one of my favorite things that I learned how to make when I lived in Austria, which I used to make all the time but hadn't made in way too long... Käse Knödel! Knödel are traditional dumplings found in German and Austrian food; there are many different kinds: Käse Knödel, made with cheese; Speck Knödel, made with Tyrolian cured ham, Spinach Knödel, Liver Knödel, and more. Sometimes they are served in a soup, sometimes with meats and gravies. I love them so much! But my favorites are definitely the cheesy ones. We had them with our favorite tiny bratwursts from TJ's, and some yummy sauteed kale, and a good German beer.

Knödel are easy to make, and a good thing to do when you have bread that is a couple days old and has dried out (or you can just toast some in the oven). Cut the bread up into small cubes, then brown some butter and add that to the bread. Whisk 2 eggs with some milk and add to bread; add salt and pepper. Chop up a little onion and garlic, and some chopped fresh parsley, (and optional, a little bit of lemon zest and a pinch of nutmeg) add to mixture. Finally, add your cheese, chopped into small cubes, (cheese should be one that melts easily - I've always used Austrian or Swiss cheeses with a nice nutty flavor) and some flour to thicken it all up. The dough must be moist but not too sticky; adjust with flour and milk. Wet hands with cold water and roll the dough into round balls, about the size of a baseball. Drop into hot salted water (not boiling or they'll fall apart) and cook until done, 10-15 minutes.

I also made an Apple Strudel with chocolate sauce for dessert. It was tasty, but I don't think I'll make it again. It was pretty difficult to put together, and I'm not convinced it turned out right. However I did really enjoy making the filling:

Simmering star anise, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean in apple juice, then adding the apples and dried cherries... the smell really got me in the mood for yummy fall desserts!!! More to come!

Mini Frittatas

I wanted to make something for a snack during the week that involved some protein so I thought of these little fellers: mini frittatas.  They're so easy to make and so cute!

Here goes the recipe I used:

Whisk together 4 eggs, a little milk,  S&P, 3 slices of prosciutto (sauteed and chopped), a little chopped parsley, and some grated Grana Padano.  Grease a muffin pan then spoon egg mixture in.  Bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes or until the eggs have puffed up and are cooked through.

Of course you can use any ingredients with this...ham, cheddar, scallions, tomatoes...the possibilities are endless!  But they are perfect for an elevensies snack, or of course for breakfast.  Hell! I would eat these at any point during the day!

Clean-out-your-fridge - Lavash Pizza

So here is a slightly healthier take on pizza, using lavash bread as the dough.  It's as easy as pie to make!...well actually it's WAY easier than pie! All you do is preheat your oven to 450, lay a piece of lavash on a baking sheet, and brush some olive oil onto the top of it.  On mine I put some cherry tomatoes that were on their way out which I cut in half, some sliced onion and fennel, and lastly some slices of leftover steak from the previous night's dinner.  After all that I grated some Parmesan cheese on top.  I then baked it for about 5 minutes or until the cheese was melted.  While it was baking I combined some arugula, a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and S&P and tossed that up.  After the lavash came out of the oven, I topped it with the arugula mixture and enjoyed the tasty creation.

This is super easy and you can really put whatever you want on top.  I just put whatever I had that I didn't want to go to waste and it came out great.  Next time I may try with eggplant and maybe a little mozzarella like in this recipe from Bon Appetit.

Cheese!!!!!

I love cheese!!!! The stinkier the better!!! Last week I went to another cheese class at Murray's, this time with Jimmy and Heather. This one was pairing cheeses with beer and cider.

In case you didn't know, cheese pairs much better with beer than it does with wine. And, as I discovered, with hard cider. My favorite pairing was an Etienne Dupont Cider from Normandy with one of my favorite cheeses, Camembert. Even in it's pasteurized form (the real stuff's illegal here) one bite of this cheese brings me back to the 2 weeks I spent in Normandy, where every single night with dinner Camembert was served with the salad course. Sooo grassy and earthy and delicious; and for those of you who are afraid of rind (I'm lookin at you mom and Siobhan), a bite with this bloomy rind adds another layer of complexity. As I exclaimed in the class, "it tastes like a steak!" ...that good. Anyway, it was so good with the cider, which arguably makes sense because they come from the same region. So we took home a little wheel of this Le Chatelain Camembert, and although the stench it has created knocks us over every time we open the fridge, the taste is worth it.

Our other favorite was the Prairie Fruits Farm Black Sheep - another creamy, gooey wheel of deliciousness. I don't always love sheep's milk cheese, but oh man this one was divine. SO yummy!!!!

A Couple Things I Love

The first  gem I have loved for a long time...our love runs deep.  It is dried mango from Trader Joes that is unsweetened but it is so naturally sweet!  I eat some when I want dessert but don't want to eat anything bad, and it satisfies that craving!

The other gem is one that I just discovered.  They were giving samples at Trader Joes and I had to buy it.  It is called Toscana Cheese with Black Pepper.  It reminds me of a cheese that mom gets at Whole Foods that is a Parmesan/Gouda mix, but this one has black pepper on the edge that adds a nice element to the cheese.  Try it!

Zucchini-Ricotta Fritters

I am not a big fan of zucchini, but last time I went to TJ's I bought some to put in Minestrone that I made last week.  And at TJ's they only have a package of four zucchinis, of which I only used one.  So I have been trying to figure out what I was going to do with the other three that I would enjoy eating.  Then I came across this recipe for Zucchini-Ricotta Fritters in the latest Food and Wine magazine.  It is a recipe from Batals (Mario Batali) and they came out really good!  I could hardly tell I was eating zucchini!

Lunchtime leftovers snack.

By the way, if you've never tried Finn Crisps, you should.

Farmer's Market!

From May through December, we've got the farmer's market in Van Vorst Park every Saturday, and in the Grove Street Plaza on Mondays and Thursdays; both right around the corner from us. Here's Saturday's bounty:

With the lovely Jersey tomatoes, domestic mootzy and basil from our little fire escape herb garden (which, by the way, is growing like crazy!) I made a nice Caprese Salad. Jimmy grilled up a piece of tuna and sauteed some asparagus and squash. Fresh, easy and delish.