The Best Kind of Evenings

Sometimes you just get really lucky on a Sunday evening, that's what happened to me here. Don't you just love dinner parties where you get to show up, sip, relax, indulge, marvel, and generally just enjoy a really special moment? Those moments where you realize you are probably taking part in the most enchanting meal happening in your entire town at the moment? And all you have to do is sit and take it all in? Those moments always require a great host or hostess. My friend Mallory is pretty much the queen of hostessing delightful dinners. She takes such pleasure in it and is also very good at it. This is where I get lucky being her friend. I wanted to post some of the moments from this Sunday Evening Dinner to inspire you and get you reminded or turned on to the greatness that is the Dinner Party.

To create a truly special dinner, styling and decorating your table especially is really key in my opinion. Mallory is passionate about tablescapes like none other I know. These extra touches and really add atmosphere and charm! Don't you just love the moss runner?

No soiree is complete without a good drink. Even it's virgin, there are a lot of dazzling beverages out there that don't involve alcohol. I make them at home quite often actually. But when socializing, I happen to be a fan of the slightly amped-up options. This was a lemon and berry concoction of some kind. I go absolutely nuts for straws with polka dots. They make drinking a beverage oh-so-fun.

A little bite to start things off is certainly a good idea. In this instance, Mo fried up some cornichon and served them with a mustard sauce. These came with mixed reviews but as you will soon see, I loved them.

The fancy little cornichon were very crunchy to begin with, but when you dredge them in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs they develop this irresistible crispy coating. Salty, briny, oh my.

The main course can be ultra fancy and complicated, or as simple and perfect as slow-roasted pork shoulder which we all know usually turns into succulent, saucy BBQ pulled pork, which Mallory heaped a homemade burger bun. She picked them up from a local, gourmet burger joint Fiamma Burger downtown, they make them fresh daily. She also made a fabulous slaw to accompany them along with store-bought extra-salted sweet potato fries. Ina Garten always emphasizes the importance of not making every single thing from scratch when entertaining and after plenty of rebellion of my own to that theory, I've wizened up and heeded those words. You never want to be so exhausted and sick of being in the kitchen by the time your guests arrive! They will feel it!

I wasn't able to nab a shot of the the dessert fully plated but I did get a picture of the little homemade shortbread numbers Mallory made to go with fresh fruit, ice cream, and vanilla whipped cream! I'm a major sucker for scones and these little biscuits were like scones, sugar cookies, biscuits, and shortbread all rolled into one heavenly vessel. I know that Mallory has the recipe on her blog and referred to it recently.

Here is our adorable hostess in all of her charming glory!

Ending the evening around a fire doesn't hurt either...

Thanks, Mo! xx

Happy summer entertaining and eating, friends...

Chocolate-Cherry & Rose Layer Cake

I've been a bad blogger. It's true. The trouble is that I've just been feeling so uninspired. Food and cooking isn't really the problem either. It's more of a logistical thing. My camera is ancient and insufficient at times, my workspace needs a makeover, and my little blog feels inadequate. Wow, someone is being a big cry baby! It's just that my dear friend recently turned me onto a gorgeous blog, Sunday Suppers, and ever since viewing it I have come down with a serious case of envy, greed, and slothfulness. Sunday Suppers is a beautiful piece of work, check it out, the palette is clean and elegant, I love the logo... I WISH IT WAS MINE! It's so well-designed and lovely, makes me turn my nose up at my own and obsess about higher classes of blogdom! I know, I know. Buck up and get over it. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do today! Speaking of those deadly sins I mentioned earlier, they are the perfect introduction to this cake story.

It's a bit pitiful that I actually made this cake over a month ago! As many of you know, I'm part of a completely delightful and special gourmet cooking club, Around the Table. For the month of June our theme was The Seven Deadly Sins. This theme was one of the most exciting for me to date, I don't know why exactly, perhaps the drama and promise of such passionate themes and dishes. I got lucky and ended up with dessert course and lust. Chocolate seemed like a must, berries or fruit also seemed necessary. Through some different phases and planning I came up with the idea to follow the natural course of lusty exchanges. I knew it would be a lot going on on the plate, but I thought it might work. On a large, white rounded square plate I placed three frozen raspberry chocolate kisses to start. Cold, tangy zingers to get things rolling in the mouth. Then came a big hunk of this moist, chocolaty cake filled with silky rose butter cream and Bing cherry bits. This was the big act you could say. Then, I took some Strawberry Poprocks and tossed them in cocoa powder, clever I thought, it disguised their identity and the chocolate kept them in line with the theme. They were popping and carrying on before I even got the plates on the table for my lovely lady diners. So now that we had the fireworks it's time for a smoke, right? Now, I'm down for the occasional Saturday Night Smoke. Maybe twice a year if the feeling is right? It gives me a headache every time and basically lets me down! So, being aware of this and the fact that many of the girls may not be into smoking nicotine, I talked with my sister and she suggested this herbal smoke blend that the local specialty tea shop sells. Bam. Perfect. So her and I rolled up six, herbal ciggies. So to finish the plates presentation, I took a tablespoon of sugar or so to make a sandy platform for the cigarette to rest on and voila. I thought it was pretty fun and thankfully, so did my fellow food lovers.

The base for this cake is a recipe I make time and time again. I found it years ago when googling the best chocolate cake ever. If you google Only Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Need, several sources will pop up boasting the greatness of this recipe. It is pretty great. First of all, no mixer. Also, no creaming of butter and sugar, not that I really mind doing that anyway, but sometimes when you are making a cake and must oil and line baking pans, create icing, etc. it's just kind of nice to skip a couple steps if possible. This cake calls for very ordinary ingredients that should typically be laying around in your pantry. And, the best part is that it's like mixing up pancakes. Stir together the wet ingredients, whisk the dry, and combine. I'm going to say it again... Bam. It's easy, it's very moist and pretty much fail-proof, and really, it's the Only Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Need. It has a tons of liquid and is a very runny batter which ensures moistness. It's basically a Devils Food Cake that you could enhance with peppermint oil, chocolate chunks, etc. It's great. The original recipe calls for vegetable oil only, I melt butter to create a half oil, half butter ratio because I just like the taste butter imparts into baked goods. To skip another step and make it easier, you could just use all oil... I also make 1.5 times the recipe to make really tall, full 9" rounds.

Only Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Need

2 C. AP Flour

1 t. Salt

1 t. Powder

1 t. Soda

3/4 C. Cocoa Powder

2 C. Sugar

1 C. total oil/melted butter

1 C. hot coffee

1 C. Milk or buttermilk

2 Lg. Eggs

1 t. Vanilla

Easy as pie. Oil a 9 x 13 inch pan, oil and line 8 or 9" cake rounds, or prepare cupcake tins. Preheat the oven to about 325'.

In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.

In another medium bowl, whisk thoroughly all wet ingredients, about two minutes.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until smooth. Expect batter to be very thin.

Pour batter into baking vessels and bake until top just springs back. There's nothing worse than over-baked, dry cake. A good sign to start checking it is when the luscious smell of cake starts filling your home! For two 9" rounds, about thirty minutes. If you fill them extra full like I do, add another five or ten minutes, just check in near the end.

It's great smothered in a buttery, chocolate icing. Or cream cheese!

Cultured Vegetables

Alright. Let's get in an afternoon quickie, shall we? My last two posts were pretty long-winded! I'm about to do something I rarely do on this site, tell you about something healthy! You may have noticed that I gravitate to comfort foods and foods that aren't so good for you! Truthfully, with all of this love for foods that don't always love me I've had to pause and evaluate my health. Look into the business of balance. The culinary school I went to was big into the idea of acid and alkaline balancing. Since then, I've always believed in its validity but never made it a priority in my diet or in my stomach! After reading a book called the Body Ecology Diet, I have become aware of the value of cultured vegetables. They do wonders in aiding with the digestion of protein and help to create a overall balance with your internal flora. The standard American diet isn't dotted with many bitter foods. The taste is not something we gravitate to and is not usually present in our favorite foods. Other cultures, especially Asian, are much better in the department of consuming alkalizing, bitter, and fermented foods. Yogurt is a good start but there is really so much more you can do! Kefir, raw apple cider vinegar, and cultured vegetables!

I have to be honest. These are funky. Think sauerkraut only quite a bit more funky. I think they are most palatable tossed into a green salad. You hardly notice them there and are in fact a nice addition in flavor to a basic green salad. Throw some avocado, croutons, or anything else delicious into the salad and then you really don't even notice their presence. The photo of above is day one of the process. They don't look quite that beautiful on day four. Here's how make them...

Basically, you just need to buy a good amount of organic vegetables. I used red and green cabbage, yellow beets, carrots, kale, and a bit of arame. You wash and put all of the veggies through the shredder on your food processor. It's a very healthy process, you will feel so wonderful going through all of these veggies and creating a colorful shredded pile. Then, you take a few handfuls of the mixture and put it into a blender with enough purified water to make a liquidy brine. You can also add dill, caraway , mustard, or cumin seeds or whatever else to flavor if you'd like. Then you just pack the mixture into a large glass and pour the brine over the top. You want to leave room in the top for the expansion that will take place through out the process. Then you roll up some cabbage leaves and stuff them on the very top, seal it up, and leave it out on your counter for 4-6 days at room temperature, make sure your home is 70 degrees or higher. I had to take mine to work where I know it is always quite warm. You will start to notice little changes day by day, bubbles form, the liquid moves to different areas, the color changes, the mixture grows. When you open the jar at the end a large popping sound will occur. You can salt the mixture if you'd like afterwards. It keeps in the refrigerator for months. Cultured vegetables take some getting used to! But eating them is something you can feel really good and proactive about! Your stomach will thank you!

BBQ Beer Can Chicken & Carrots Vichy

BBQ Beer Can Chicken. You can see it there below. My sister made me painfully aware of the fact that she does not find the picture below the least bit appetizing... I suppose I can see her point, it's just that I really wanted to show you how brilliant the beer can really is, and I wanted you to see it! Do you see it peeking out down there? You can also see the tasty and very simple rub I massaged into the little baby. I've said it here before, I'm not a huge fan of chicken. If it's not seasoned quite heavily or just the palette for say curry or tacos, I'm usually just not that into it. I really like don't how 'fleshy' it can taste. I haven't completely lost all my vegan repulsions. Though a juicy, rare steak doesn't give me one problem anymore. I really can't make sense of it. But, I will end there by saying this chicken is amazing. And I like it. We've made it three times in the last month now! And it couldn't be easier or better in my opinion. And then there are the Carrots Vichy...

There is the start of them below. Carrots à la Vichy are basically thinly-sliced carrots authentically cooked in sparkling Vichy water, which is apparently mineral water that comes from the springs surrounding Vichy, Frances well-known spa city. Add some butter and sugar, then simmer it all down gently until the water reduces and the carrots are oh-so-perfectly glazed and without any added color. Sprinkle with parsley and then voila as the French would say. I stumbled across this dish at my new job surprisingly. I didn't use Vichy water of course, that would really call for some serious ooh-la-la but I did use San Pellegrino and I think my carrots were quite happy in it.

Okay, back to the chicken. As I just wrote, this beautiful grilled chicken couldn't be any easier. Simply choose the right chicken, you know, there is always the right one. Mine always makes itself known to me. I usually glance down in the refrigerated case and it's usually the first or second one my eyes land on and return to after a quick scanning look over. I pick it up, feel it, meet it. That's usually the one. Sometimes, you get lucky and the wrapping is clear so you can make sure there aren't any gross and unsightly big red marks or weird discolorations. For a girl who isn't always so crazy for chicken, my birds have to be gorgeous if you know what I mean.

I hope you had a nap or snack recently, I'm really yanking you around in different directions here. Chicken, carrots, chicken, back to carrots... Stay with me. So the carrots, basically, thinly slice about four cups of carrots. Barely cover with water, sparkling is ideal if you have it, and half a teaspoon of salt and simmer until al dente. Drain. Heat one-quarter of a cup of butter and two tablespoons sugar in a pan over medium heat until melted and mixed, then toss the carrots gently in the pan until coated and cooked through. Additionally, season with salt and white pepper to taste and garnish with minced fresh parsley. These are kind of like candy. And so, so good straight off the heat. Be ready to pop the little glazed, butter slices like caramel corn. They're that good.

Okay, back to the chicken. So, now that you've selected the right bird and brought it home. Get it out of the fridge. Grab a twelve ounce can of beer and drink about half of it. Fire up your barbie while you're at it. You need nice hot heat, mound the coals on one side of your grill by the way. You will place the chicken near the coals, but not directly on top of them. Rinse your chicken with cool water and pat completely dry with good paper towels. I'm a fan of white Viva. Set the chicken on top of the beer can, it will stand up nicely for you. Then, make a rub. If you already have a purchased one that's fine, we make our own mix with about two tablespoons of salt, two tablespoons of paprika, two tablespoons of brown sugar, and a good pinch or two of cayenne pepper. Some granulated garlic would be great in there as well. Mix it up. Then simply oil the outside of the chicken with a good amount of vegetable oil. Massage it around thoroughly and then sprinkle and rub on seasonings. That's it. It takes about ten minutes from start to finish. As I mentioned, place your chicken on the other side of the grill away from the coals, we put the breast side towards the coals. Cover and for a 4 pound chicken, it takes about a hour and fifteen minutes. All three times we've made this the chicken is always so juicy it almost seems wrong. It gets this great color and is much a like a rotisserie. Flavorful, tender, juicy, dare I even say succulent? You'll know it's ready when a knife inserted into the thigh produces clear juices. The thigh will also pull right out...

We got crazy and had a Thanksgiving in June. We had the chicken and carrots with buttermilk-mashed potatoes and Stovetop Stuffing. The stuffing is a bit embarrassing but it was our last plastic bag of the stuff. When we lived in our old apartment near the University, students would move out and live very miscellaneous boxes of things in the hallways or out in the front lawn. One day I came home and saw a large box of food items sitting at the base of the first flight stairs, tan cardboard box sitting on dusty hardwood floor, seemed innocent. I scored some good canned olives and for some reason grabbed a few bags of stuffing. For those poor, ramen noodle type meals, maybe? It isn't bad. I kind of like it's basic, gooey goodness. If only it didn't have hydrogenated oil...

So there you have it, BBQ Beer Can Chicken and Carrots à la Vichy. And, my thoughts on Stovetop Stuffing. My husband and I actually like this chicken so much we are considering making it on Real Thanksgiving as opposed to fussing with a turkey that somehow always gives me a headache. It's really, really good poultry. And that says a lot coming from me! Now that it's officially summer, well, almost, it's really the perfect time to start grilling. You could also serve this with that Barefoot Contessa salad I told you about! That and some lightly sauteed asparagus, a glass of crisp Pinot Grigio... Voila! Happy, happy summer, friends!

Crack Slaw

It seems a little crack-like that I'm sitting here at midnight in a quiet, quiet house writing to you about this unbelievably delightful dish that is Crack Slaw. I've just come over the mountains and through the woods to my Mother's home, it's my Dad's too, he's the reason we're really here this weekend. It's just that my Mother's home oozes her personality and touch so I think of it as mostly hers. The house is quiet tonight. All of it's inhabitants are peacefully sleeping. I peeked in on my sister and nephew Charlie in the other guest room, heavy sighs of deep breathing swirled through the dark black air. I just had to turn on the nearby restroom light so I could look for the tiny and very precious silhouette of my dear little Charles! What a treasure that little boy is. I should be sleeping too, but my husband and I only arrived here about an hour ago and while my late-night shower in a nicer bathroom than my usual (I have a thing for nice bathrooms) was terribly relaxing I'm just not ready to turn in. Outside, it's quite enchanting as well, there is a light, rainy breeze. And it's the kind of early summer breeze where you can't tell if the air is more warm or more cool. It's a bit beguiling. So, it seems like the perfect opportunity to come and tell you about something I've been meaning to share with you for over a year. Not too mention that I'm a wee (possibly more than a wee) behind in blogging.

Coleslaw is one of those dishes that we've all experienced our whole lives but can sometimes be quite boring and under appreciated. It's often made poorly: way too much mayonnaise if it's the creamy variety, under seasoned, or just plain uninspired! It's one of those dishes you could just toss easily together with very little thought or care. But why would you? It's such a necessary fresh and crunchy component to so many foods. I completely adore it on top of a salty, snappy hot dog. How about nestled between a warm, buttery bun and lots of BBQ pulled pork? It's also just lovely beside fried chicken or other rich, flavorful meats. Ina made a slaw once on her show that was gorgeous, I've never forgotten it and I've never made it either. I will though. She used mainly the usual suspect ingredients but it seems like she added something very green, I don't know if they were collards or kale? But she shredded them in such a way that the stands were very long and rather unwieldy and vibrantly colored. This slaw is of the Asian-flare I know, I know. We've all had the cabbage-ramen noodle concoction in a sweet, balanced dressing. But this version is different. It's out-of-control. It's best within the first few minutes it's made and in those first few minutes I guarantee that you cannot even begin to shovel it in fast enough. It's perfection for the mouth. No joke. You'll see. I'm not going to rattle on about it any further. I just really, really suggest you make it. Soon.

I have only a couple of things to stress about this recipe. The first is, you HAVE to let the nut mixture cool completely before adding it to the cabbage. Otherwise you can imagine what will happen, it will quickly heat and wilt the cabbage and that will totally take away from the crack effect. The other thing is that you really do have to eat this right away. It's best when the cabbage and noodles and everything else is super, super crunchy! I stumbled across the recipe at East Village Kitchen.

Crack Slaw

1 14 oz. bag of coleslaw mix

5 scallions, sliced on the diagonal

3 T. butter

2 T. sesame seeds

1 C. sliced almonds

1 package ramen noodles, crushed, don't use seasoning packet

Dressing:

1/2 C. vegetable oil (I love Wesson's)

1/4 C. sugar, or less to taste

2 T. soy sauce

Combine the coleslaw mix and scallions. Over medium heat, melt the butter. Add noodles, sesame seeds, and almonds. Stir often and heat until mixture is light and golden brown. Remove and cool completely. Stir up dressing ingredients and then combine with cooled nut mixture and vegetables. Stir quickly, serve up quickly, and eat quickly! Your fellow diners will adore it and it will become part of your recipe world!

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Enjoy it, let me know if you love it as much as I do! I see a Rihanna-covered Elle lying on the carpet nearby, might have to thumb through it and then it's finally to bed for me!