In A Nutshell

Most of my life I found the idea of eggnog to be disgusting until I tried real homemade eggnog. (Awkward sentence coming...) My daughter's friend Audrey's mom, Lee used to host this super fancy holiday dinner party every year- by far the fanciest sort of thing we had ever attended. She looked glamorous like a film star and the first thing she put in your hand upon entering was a glass of delicious, and as we subsequently found out, strong!!! eggnog. It's nothing like that stuff that comes out of a carton.   I now make it every year in homage to Lee; this year it took me two tries: the first was Scrambled Egg Nog which nobody likes. I, of course, am blameless in this debacle; Saveur said to whisk the custard until "very thick" which is not possible and ends in a combination of sorrow and scrambled eggs. Now I ignore that prompt and simply adhere to the time direction. I like to serve additional bourbon on the side because.... well, because I like bourbon. You can a

 I found the inspiration for this recipe in an old edition of Food & Wine magazine; it took some tweaking but its final incarnation is delicious and festive. I added an egg white to mine but that's optional; if you choose to add it, dry shake it first in the shaker and then add the ice and other ingredients. For the salted rim, I like to add Tajin or chili powder to the salt for a little extra pep! Also, this is a great recipe for the holidays because you can batch mix it before you need it and if you have a lot of guests, skip the shaker part and serve on the rocks. 1 1/2 cups silver tequila 3/4 cup triple sec 3/4 cup lime juice 3/4 cup pomegranate syrup (recipe follows) 24 dashes of orange bitters salt for rim  Mix all the ingredients in a pitcher; you can chill this if you are not using it immediately. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add some of the mix from the pitcher- how much mix is up to you: how large of a drink do you want? Shake and strain into a pretty cocktail

This recipe is adapted from Gourmet magazine (back when that still existed); the rolls are delicious and tender-perfect for Thanksgiving! 1/4 cup warm milk  3 T warm water 5 T unsalted butter, melted 2 t instant yeast 1 T honey 1/3 c canned pumpkin 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk 2 3/4 c all-purpose flour 1 1/2 t salt Egg wash: 1 egg beaten lightly plus 1 T water In the bowl of the mixer, stir together flour, salt and yeast. Stir together milk, water, butter, honey, pumpkin, egg and egg yolk and add to the flour mixture. Knead with dough hook for about 8 minutes until dough is smooth. It should have the consistency of moist, freshly opened Play-dough; if it doesn't add water just 1 teaspoon at a time. You want to avoid a dry, stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl; cover and let rise until doubled and very puffy. The recipe says 1 1/2 hours but it was a cold day and I keep my house cool so it took around 3 hours.* Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled counter (I spray cooking spray on t

This is the whiskey version of the  Gin Tin Tin . I can't help but notice that the blog is becoming very drink-heavy.... it must be the pandemic.... 2 oz. whiskey 1 oz. fresh lemon juice* 1 oz. red wine syrup l Luxardo cherry orange peel or lemon peel or both- rub on the rim of the glass first Shake with ice and pour over ice or serve straight up. *always fresh- never the bottled stuff Red Wine Syrup: equal parts red wine and sugar, stirred over low heat just until sugar is dissolved; cooled

I realize that cobbler recipes are a dime a dozen; I have made many different recipes and find there is some little issue each time: watery filling, stodgy biscuits, dull flavor etc. This time I wed two recipes- the filling from Joanne Chang's book Pastry Love and a really good cobbler biscuit recipe from the NYT Cooking section.  I thought I should note it here for my own sake so that I'm not fishing out two different recipes (and trying to remember which two were the best combo) each time I make cobbler. For the filling: 1000 g (8 cups) blueberries 1 1/2 lbs (680 g) peaches, sliced unpeeled 3/4 cup sugar 4 T cornstarch zest from 1 lemon In a medium saucepan, combine half the blueberries, all the peaches, sugar, zest and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the juice released is nice and purple and looks like a thickened pie filling. Add the remaining blueberries and put it into a 13 x 9 ceramic baking dish. Preheat oven to 350º. For the b

The recipe for these cakes comes from the NYT cooking section; I used  these precious little pans . The key to getting the cakes out perfectly is to generously spray them with Baker's Joy (and I am very specific about this particular product- trust me, I've tried different sprays). I made a few changes to the recipe (would it be cocky to say improvements?) namely swapping out butter for olive oil and reducing the amount of sugar. If you have leftover peach puree you can use it in cocktails or to make margaritas. Also, I always use weights when possible rather than dry measures as I find you typically get a much better result. Don't be tempted to peel the peaches- the skin adds beautiful colored flecks and texture. My love of alcohol may tempt me to add a bit of peach liqueur or bourbon the next time. 1 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin) 2 1/2 cups (320 grams) all-purpose flour 4 ripe, red-hued peaches (a little more than a pound), pitted 1 T fresh lemon juice 3 la

I tore this recipe out of the Chicago Tribune (10 years ago, as my husband pointed out!); I'm sad that I went for 10 years without these tasty treats but happy that I hung on to the recipe all these years. I made a few changes from the original. I would add that if the corn is not super super fresh and sweet, blanch it for about a minute before using. 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels, divided 1 cup buttermilk 4 eggs, separated 2 T melted butter or bacon drippings 1 t salt 2 t baking powder 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal 1 3/4 cups flour 2 T sugar 8 slices bacon, chopped small and cooked to a crisp Puree 1/2  cup of corn along with the milk, melted butter and egg yolks in a blender until very smooth. In a large bowl, whisk flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt. Add the liquid ingredients from the blender to the dry ingredients and stir just to moisten. Fold in half  the bacon bits and remaining  1cup  of corn. Meanwhile, whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff but not d

 

The recipe comes from Saveur magazine; it was featured in an article about Georgian (the country, not the state) cuisine. The beets are absolutely delicious! I made a few little changes (namely roasting  peeled, cubed beets as well as using less oil and butter than the original recipe suggested). 4 medium beets, peeled and cubed in 1 1/2” chunks (roughly- don’t get the ruler out!) Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling on beets 1 T butter 1 T EVOO 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced 1/2 cup dried tart cherries (I used Montmorency tart cherries) 1 T lemon juice 2 T chopped cilantro 1 T chopped parsley  Preheat the oven to 400º; place the beets in a ceramic roasting dish and drizzle with EVOO; season with salt and pepper and cover with foil tightly. Roast for about 45 minutes and then remove the foil and continue roasting for another 15-30 minutes. Check on them after 15 to see if they are getting soft as well as caramel

Do you have any misfit bottles of red wine? Or one you didn’t finish in a timely fashion (admittedly a rare occurrence during a pandemic). This is the perfect way to use up unwanted red wine. I adapted the recipe for this drink from Food & Wine (and by “adapted”, I mean I changed the proportions to make it stronger). Super-delish! Red Wine Syrup: Equal proportions red wine and sugar stirred over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Since bar math can be quite difficult (at least for me), what this means is if you use 1 cup of red wine, use 1 cup sugar etc. You can store this in the fridge for some time. For the Cocktail: 2 oz. gin 1 oz. fresh lemon juice 1 oz. red wine syrup Rub the rim of an ice-filled glass with a nice fat lemon rind. Add the drink ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds (or until your arm gives out) and pour into the cocktail glass. Serve with the aforementioned generous lemon twist. A delicious variation is

Divine! 4 oz. bourbon 1.5 oz. lemon juice 1.5 oz. Créme de Pêche liqueur 1 oz. simple syrup (1:1 ratio) Add to a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds; pour over ice and add peach slice for garnish. Makes two drinks.