Whew! That’s a mouthful of a title, isn’t it? Nah, I didn’t dream it up. Phillis Carey did, and in the cooking class she laughed at herself and how she titles recipes she’s developed. She wants to make sure you know at the outset exactly what kind of good stuff is going to be included in the recipe.

Here’s a shot of the classroom at Great News, in Pacific Beach (San Diego). It’s by far the most glamorous and functional demonstration class kitchen I’ve ever seen. Six large screens are mounted above so you won’t miss anything of the prep going on below.

Phillis poured a bunch of sliced almonds in a big plastic bag and used her flat pounder to crunch the almonds. Do not use a food processor as it will make the almonds too much like meal. You want chunky, crunchy. You dip the fish in flour, egg, then the almond/parsley/lemon zest mixture, then pan fry it in a tiny bit of oil until done. Meanwhile you will have made the sauce first – leeks, butter, lemon juice and whipping cream. Oh yea. Whipping cream. This is a company-type meal; certainly not something you’d want to serve for everyday family cooking. The leek sauce is pureed in a blender, then you sieve it to remove the leeks. Use a medium gauge sieve; otherwise you’ll never get the sauce to strain through.

Cook’s Notes: be sure to dry off the fish fillets before you start dredging. If using a thicker kind of fish, like halibut, for instance, do the frying process, but just brown the fish, then put them on a parchment-lined pan in a 375 oven for 15 minutes. Thicker fish is harder to cook correctly in a pan saute. You can make the sauce ahead of time, but the dredging and frying have to be done at the last minute. Oh yes, and don’t use a food processor for the almonds. If you are in a hurry to puree the leek sauce, be very careful because a hot sauce will explode right out of the blender. Best advice: puree in two smaller batches instead of just one.
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I’m always on the lookout for a new and different side vegetable. One that isn’t too difficult, but is attractive looking (for a company meal) and tastes good. This recipe was one from “the stack” I’ve talked about recently, of recipes I needed to file. It seemed like it would fit well with the grilled dinner we did about a week ago. There were a couple of different techniques in this recipe (using grated potatoes in a muffin tin) and gently smushing a red onion slice into the bottom beforehand.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart Living, November, 2006. It’s not difficult, but does take a bit of fussing just before baking it. I got all the ingredients out, measured out what I’d need and had everything mis en place (ingredients in place, on a tray with everything I’d need) before I started. This must be constructed just before putting it in the oven because potatoes don’t keep once they’re grated. But I did what I could prior to that.

Ideally you need a 6-place large muffin tin. (You could use individual ramekins, no problem.) And since I don’t bake muffins all that often, I was happy to find another use for the tin! First you butter the tin, sprinkle each cup with salt, pepper and a bit of brown sugar (all in the bottom). Then you drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic and red wine vinegars in the bottom of each cup, and artfully arrange a sprig of fresh rosemary across the bottom. Thin slices of red onion go in the bottom next (hopefully just the size of the bottom of the cup), then you grate the potatoes (quick work in the food processor) and toss with salt and pepper, and an egg yolk. Those are pressed firmly into the cup and you dot the top with a bit of butter. Bake for 30 minutes and you’re done. You slide a knife around the edges and lift them out. Or, you could invert the whole pan. But I was concerned they wouldn’t come out cleanly, so did them individually. I had to try several utensils before I found the right one. Very quickly place them on a HOT plate. They cool off quickly because they’re kind of airy (the grated potato) so be ready to sit down to eat or serve them immediately. I’d make these again, just because they’re pretty, and went well with a grilled dinner. These weren’t a “wow” dish, but they were very good, and making some changes (see next paragraph) might make them “wow.”
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I know, I can hear it already in your thoughts. What is this? Bean dip? Brie? Huh? What kind of nonsense is this? In a word: EASY. In another word: TASTY. Believe it or not, this is really very good. And ever so easy to make. I’ll insert the full recipe below, but it’s nothing more than a can of bean dip mixed up with little tiny cubes of brie (rind removed), and microwaved for about a minute. Serve.

It does take a little bit of time to cut off the rinds, but that’s the hardest part. You can serve it with tortilla chips, but it makes it a bit more elegant if you serve it with crackers. I made lavash crisps from a post the other day for Coriander Lime Shrimp. Using crackers might make your guests think you didn’t just open a can of bean dip and add cheese.

There’s the photo of it in a ceramic bowl, ready for its minute of melting in the microwave. I didn’t get an after picture, but I have some leftovers, so maybe I’ll add another photo to this post later.

If you are in a hurry and want something really good and really quick, this is your ticket. The recipe came from Andrew Schloss, a chef and author, from his book Almost From Scratch. He taught a cooking class a few years ago. His schtick is about how to make things ahead, and make entertaining easier on yourself. He certainly scored on both counts.
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When entertaining last weekend, we did a mixed grill: racks of lamb (3), Sicilian-Italian sausage with cheese in it (about 2 pounds), and some marinated chicken breasts too. We had grilled provolone cheese (I’ll post the recipe soon) and some wonderful coriander lime shrimp as appetizers, so wanted a fairly simple side to serve with the meat.

This salad came to mind as it’s just wonderful with grilled meats, and it has a kind of Italian bent with the Mediterranean olives mixed in.The recipe came from Nicole Aloni, a Hollywood caterer and cookbook author. She taught a cooking class some years ago, and we all enjoyed the food, but her stories about entertaining the celebs in Hollywood was most interesting. She kind of became a caterer to the stars by default – lucky, I guess – but her food is very good. Nothing healthy about it, usually, although this salad isn’t a bad choice. She particularly works at preparing food the day before a party.

A disclaimer: You’ve GOT to love parsley, or you won’t like this salad one bit since it’s mostly composed of the curly type and toasted walnuts. But it’s accented with Kalamata olives, green onions and fresh tomatoes, then tossed with a cumin, lemony dressing. Oh, and a bit of red chile flakes.

Cook’s Notes: You could easily change the proportions of these items to suit your tastes, but the parsley needs to be the featured green. Ideally, make this one day ahead, but any longer than that and the parsley wilts down to nothing. Once you’ve made the salad, taste it and decide if you’d like to add more tomatoes, or parsley. Or perhaps more olives. Chop the olives fairly small, as they can overpower your taste buds if you get much of it in one bite. And don’t skip the walnut toasting step – they add a wonderful grace note to the flavor in the overall salad.
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This looks like some sweet cream-based blended cocktail. It’s not. And it’s not really all that sweet, either. What it has in it is egg white (raw) which is shaken with the other ingredients, so when it’s first poured it does have a bit of a cloudy look. This is kind of a martini. Or kind of like a margarita, in a way.

I had all the ingredients standing ready, and you could easily make two of them at a time. You need fresh lemons, triple sec (or Cointreau, which is what I had), very good gin (Cherrie brought Bombay Sapphire, which in the opinion of many, the best out there), egg whites (which I very slightly whipped so I could actually use a measuring spoon to dip into it) and some ice. The ingredients go into a shaker and you pour it out. The recipe said to strain out the ice, but this is one gutsy drink, so I left the ice cubes in the drink. Your choice.

Several people had two of these cocktails, they were that good. The recipe came from Bon Appetit, January 2006. And it’s a drink concocted by the Pegu Club (a bar) in New York City.

At the dinner party last weekend, we decided to offer not only wine, but a cocktail too. This was yet another recipe that found its way to the top of the “try me” file. And it was scrumptious, if you can describe a cocktail by that word. I’m looking forward to making it again. Even just for myself. The glasses are my friend Cherrie’s. I don’t own any martini type glasses. I need to look for some, but oh, dear. Where in the world am I going to store them? They’re an awkward shape to store with any efficiency.
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The photo is a bit distorted – the glass isn’t really that bowl shaped at the top. I served the soup in these small 4-ounce glasses, with a small spoon. Even though it was served hot, you could hold onto the bottom or top of the glass without burning your fingers.

My theory must have been, back when I clipped this recipe from Bon Appetit, that it was unusual, therefore, I’d like to try it. Unusual it is. Good? A resounding YES. Perhaps it’s not the right first course for just any dinner, but it made a big hit at our recent dinner party. I made it two days ahead, then reheated it, added the cornstarch thickener (so little of it, I hardly think it mattered) and the Armagnac. The recipe comes from a now-defunct restaurant in Oxford, Maryland, called Mathilda’s.

In case you don’t know about Armagnac, here’s the lowdown from Wikipedia: Armagnac pronounced ar-mahn-yak] is a distinctive kind of brandy or eau de vie, made of mainly the same grapes as cognac and undergoing the same aging in oak barrels, but mainly with column still distillation (cognac and part of armagnac is distilled in pot stills.

It comes from the mountainous regions in France near the Pyrenees. I always thought Armagnac had some affinity with apples, but no, it’s all grapes. It’s just the method of distillation and barreling that differentiates it. Much of the soil is rocky. Anyway, Armagnac is not an everyday staple in liquor stores, so you may have to seek it out. But you could also use Cognac or brandy instead. Just don’t use some $4.99 bottle of rot-gut. The flavor does come through in this soup.
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You know what I mean when it’s 6:00 and you need to get something on the table for dinner? Like right NOW. I have a go-to chicken recipe – it’s not a 4-star winner, but it’s certainly better than okay. My DH always says it’s good, and I think it is too, as long as you know your purpose is to eat quickly.

It’s nothing but this:

This is a can – a spice mix. It’s imported from Hungary, although everything on the can is in English. The brand is “Pride of Szeged,” “The World’s Best Chicken Rub.” It contains garlic, basil, paprika, oregano, salt and “spices.” It can be purchased at some specialty grocery stores. The recipe on the back of the can suggests the following:

• Mix 1/4 cup of seasoning mix with 4 T. oil. Add 2 T. lemon juice or vinegar. Brush entire mixture on chicken [it doesn’t say how much chicken]. Grill, bake or broil. For best result, refrigerate chicken in seasoning for 2-6 hours.

When I’m in a hurry I do nothing but sprinkle the spice mixture on chicken pieces and pan fry them in a bit of olive oil. That’s it. Sometimes after the chicken has browned on both sides, I’ll pour in a splash of vermouth, or red wine, sometimes a squeeze of lemon juice, as suggested in the above recipe. Then I may put a lid on the pan to just steam the chicken completely. Serve.

This time I had boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and some Siciliana Sauce (a sweet and sour, cold, chunky tomato based sauce I blogged about last year) that is absolutely great with chicken. Our friends, Sue & Lynn, brought some over when they came for dinner a week ago. But I’ve often served the chicken with nothing but this rub.

I bought the chicken rub at a German deli (in 2005), but I’ve seen it other places. And I did find it online also at a mailorder site. There is a website for the product, but it’s not displaying. Don’t know what that means. The company also makes other rubs, but this is the only one I’ve found. I’m not posting a printer friendly recipe for this since it’s so simple. As long as you have the spice mix.
 
For your information, I served this with brussels sprouts that I cut in half and simmered in a bit of chicken broth and thyme. They were ready at the same time the chicken was ready. From start to finish I had dinner on the table in about 25 minutes.

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A week or so ago we visited the farmer’s market by UCI (Univ. of California, Irvine) near us. It’s the largest in our area, but about 6 miles away, so we don’t visit this one very often. I’m glad we did, though. All the vegies I bought that day were so very fresh. Certainly fresher than what I buy at the grocery store. There was a lot of repetition, of course, because of the winter season – lots of carrots, root vegetables, cauliflower, winter squashes, apples, oranges and pears. But at one stand they had all different kinds of greens. The proprietor said, in her halting Asian accented English, that this bunch of green stuff was the tops of sugar snap peas. They were such a beautiful color. I should have snapped a photo of the before picture. A huge bunch was just enough for two servings.

I hadn’t a clue what to do with them. A search on the internet for “sugar snap pea tops” disclosed nary a hit. So, I did what I thought was the best thing: first I washed them thoroughly. The larger stems were big enough that I thought they might be tough, so I pinched them off, leaving me with a huge mound of the pure tops, leaves and tendrils. I thoroughly enjoyed tossing them (for a total of about 3 -4 minutes) in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil, garlic and butter. I hit them with a shot of salt and pepper, and served. We both lapped it up in nothing flat. DH wanted seconds. Sorry, honey, all gone.

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Another fabulous Phillis Carey cooking class recipe. Shrimp in a marinade (which also is a dipping sauce), made with fresh lime juice, cilantro (fresh coriander, hence the coriander in the title), soy sauce, garlic and marmalade. The shrimp are quick fried in a nonstick skillet and you serve it with the wonderful, tasty, tender lavash crisps on the side. The lavash crisp doubles as a little “plate” to put the shrimp upon. One nice mouthful of deliciousness. After learning about this recipe at a class, my friend Cherrie brought this to a dinner party at our home the other night. She brought 3 pounds of shrimp; there were 8 people in attendance; we ate all but a smidgen. Does that tell you how good it was?
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The photo doesn’t do justice to this delicious dessert. As some other blogger wrote recently, “beige” food doesn’t photograph well. Beige (pear) ice cream. Beige pears. Beige tart pastry. The only contrast is the chocolate horizontal stripe you can barely see at the bottom. That’s not just a shadow, but chocolate. Good chocolate. We were entertaining guests for dinner, and I didn’t take the dessert dish over to my good light (see photo below) I’ve put in the butler’s pantry. It’s just adjacent to the dining room. I didn’t want to disturb our guests sitting but a few feet away. This blogging business is a bit distracting sometimes. Distracting to our guests. Distracting even to me sometimes. So I took a photo with ambient light.

This doesn’t look like much, but it’s my new Lowel EGO blogging light. It lives in my butler’s pantry (for now anyway). It’s kind of innocuous looking, although larger than I’d thought. I’d like to hide it, but for now it lives out there in the open. It creates a very bright but diffused light to get better photos of the food. All for you, dear readers.

I know the drill! A picture is worth a thousand words, and I know photos make a food blog interesting. Photos make people read on. So, through hectic food prep, making merry, washing dishes and everything else that goes along with producing a dinner party, I gotta have PICTURES! Fortunately, our family & friends who had dinner with us were patient with me. They may be thinking I’m totally NUTS doing what I’m doing – maybe even rude. Hope not, but it’s possible! They all know I have a food blog, but it’s one thing to talk about it, another to pause and prop pictures in the midst of a party.

So, back to this dessert. Which is delicious, if I didn’t mention that before. I know I did – I’m just repeating it for emphasis. It’s a subtle dessert – cooked pears aren’t exactly bold, and there are just 8 ounces of chocolate in this, so you don’t get a huge punch of it. But the combination of the two, with the tender pastry and the cool frosty ice cream on the side, make for one great dessert. This dessert is NOT difficult to make, despite the list of ingredients, and the long list of instructions. It’s just that the steps are a bit detailed. You also need to have some Poire William, or pear brandy. Here’s a photo of my bottle of Poire William, purchased some years ago. It was dear, that I remember, but you only use a little bit at a time. Do note the pear in the bottom of the bottle. How do they do that, you ask? They place the bottle over the pear when it’s teeny tiny, somehow strap it to the tree branch, put an opaque cover over the top (otherwise the pear would burn in the sunshine), then let the pear mature.

This liqueur is not sweet – it’s not really for sipping. Although perhaps the French do. I only use it for cooking, and the rare item, to be sure.

So, where’d the recipe come from? Another cooking class. From Kate Hill, an American woman, who moved to France probably 20 years ago. She bought an old barge, the Julia Hoyt, from Holland and sailed it down to Southern France where she parks it on the side of a canal. She bought a small cottage there, and even takes paying guests on the barge now and then. She’s written a cookbook, called A Culinary Journey in Gascony, about her experiences, and with lots of peasant style recipes. She taught a cooking class about 5 years or so ago, right after her cookbook was published. This was the dessert she prepared. She has a blog, in case you’re interested in reading. She posts recipes occasionally, but mostly the blog is about her life. Her day to day, with her adorable dog Bacon.

Cook’s Notes: There are a few things to mention here. First, and most important, be certain your pears are the right stage of ripeness. I seem to have the toughest time with pears. The day they finally ripen, is not the day I’m ready to cook them. One day more and they’ve become grainy and inedible. So, this particular time I bought the pears 4 days before the event, and they were just the perfect shade of ripe. Thank goodness. Also, don’t roll the dough too thin, as it will break when you try to pull up the sides. If you do that, the cream fraiche topping will ooze out all over everywhere. Take it from someone who knows from first hand experience about that! So read the directions carefully.
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