Master Recipe: Cast Iron Chicken

by EP

Cast. Iron. Skillet. The grand-daddy of cookware. For many years, I didn't have one of my own, but I know how great and versatile they can be, and how many delicious things can come out of them. For instance, we brought Xani's cast iron skillet to the beach with us this past summer (yes, along with 5000 lbs of beach stuff and lots of food, booze, and other kitchen tools), and we used it almost every time we cooked.

Only recently did I come into possession of a cast iron skillet.* I've wanted one for a long time but never got around to buying one, and I have so many great pans (gifts from the BCD parents, to be sure) that I didn't really need one. Now that I have my own, however, I can't stop using it and thinking of ways to use it - I want to make everything in it! Steak, corn bread, apple tarte tatin, fried chicken, buttery croutons for Caesar salad.

Advanced Intuitive Cooking

by Xani

These days, I don’t use many recipes.  For one, most of my cookbooks are packed away in a storage unit, awaiting their fate in a new kitchen (TBD).  There are millions of recipes at my fingertips on the internet, but I’m not using those, either.  Instead, I make up my own recipes as I go, also known as “winging it.”  Developing the “winging it” technique (mostly a combination of familiarity with basic cooking skills, with a little self-confidence mixed in) has been an interesting evolution in my cooking life.  I used to cling to a recipe like a life preserver, now I find freedom in trusting my instincts.

Now, that’s all well and good when you are talking about winging an omelette, vinaigrette, or other simple dish using a few pennies worth of ingredients. If it ends up terrible you throw it away (or give it to the dog) and start over.  But the stakes get higher when you are dealing with a pricey steak, or in this case, a veal breast.

Salad Days

by Xani


I never thought I would do two posts on salad. Thought I said it all in the first one. After all, its just salad. We talked dressing, we talked greens, what's left??   Well, another year of salads has allowed me to discover a few more salad secrets. The biggest one is an adjustment in technique for my life-changing vinaigrette master recipe. Want to know how to make dressing one time but have a different flavor every night of the week?  Read on....

"Master" Recipes

by Xani

The other day I embraced an empty house, some free time, and an abundance of summer produce.  I cooked, cooked, and cooked some more, and loved every minute of it.  Later, while reflecting on all I made that day, I realized that all my creations were essentially building blocks, which could be combined with each other and other staples to create hundreds, maybe thousands of dishes.  For me, this was something of a revelation, and I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before.  When you prepare one ingredient or element for a particular recipe, be it a sauce, filling, cooked starch, whatever, there is no rule that says that all of that element must be used for just that recipe!  Why not make double the "element" and use the rest for some entirely different preparation?  Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?  Wait, maybe it doesn't.  Let me show by example:

When is a Recipe YOURS?

by Xani

As some of you may know, EP and I are lawyers.  So are our parents, and so is Dave, my boyfriend.  I mention this as background/explanation for why, on Sunday night, after many, many cocktails, and many, many pounds of lobster, the five of us were discussing not family memories, not the fate of the O's season, but copyright infringement and the intricacies of changing, using, re-printing, and selling a recipe.

This is normal for us.  In fact, Dad recently purchased this little torture device so that, when we run out of our own hypothetical questions, we now have literally thousands of legal quandaries at our fingertips.  Joy.  But this past Sunday we were discussing a real-world scenario involving pie.

You see, we had just finished an amazing, belated Father's Day dinner.  We drank champagne, slurped uni shooters (not for the faint of heart, as they included uni, ponzu, tobiko, sake, hot sauce, and a raw quail egg yolk), ate the season's first green tomatoes, pan-fried with remoulade sauce, then tucked into 12.5 pounds of lobster and my best-ever batch of onion rings.  And then, it was time for pie.

Potato Non Grata

by Xani

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter may have seen recent posts/tweets grumbling about carbs, or lack thereof.  Yes, I've decided that this year, December 1st is the new January 1st, and instead of indulging in every cake, cookie, candy cane, and cup of cocoa that comes along this month, I'm following the South Beach diet until I head to Boston for Xmas (T-minus, 14 days-- I already have a list of things I will be eating that week!).  Yes, it kindof sucks.  But, hopefully it will be worth it to feel sure no one will mistake me for Santa in my red winter coat this year!

So, what does a self-proclaimed food snob eat for "diet" food.  The South Beach diet requires that you forsake all white flour and sugar, and restrict your intake of other delicious, carbohydrate-laden things such as fruit, alcohol, and my beloved potatoes.  That is SAD potatoes, indeed.  But, there's still plenty of yummy foods to be had.  I thought I'd do a short series of posts to share a few of my go-to meals and snacks for any of you who might be looking for lower-carb recipe ideas, or those who want to laugh at me through a mouth full of french fries.

Lesson 1, Salad:  OK, no-brainer, right?  If you're on a diet, you're pretty much signing up to eat a lot of salad.  Luckily, I love salad.  And I make a damn good one.  Just ask my boyfriend-- I have made him a salad convert!  Right now, I'm going to share with you one of my kitchen secrets, something that I make/eat almost every day of my life-- my vinaigrette.  This vinaigrette will change your life.  DO NOT buy bottled vinaigrette.  They almost always contain lots of sugar and god knows what else-- but even if you are NOT dieting, you can make a delicious vinaigrette at home that will be fresher, cheaper, and more delicious than anything from a bottle.  It takes only SIX ingredients, and two of those are salt and pepper.  People LOVE this dressing, and it is sosososo easy and can be made from whatever you have lying around in your house-- try it sometime!

Basic Vinaigrette technique (not a recipe, because it can be adapted hundreds of ways!)
Ingredients:
-1 part acid (I usually use lemon juice [fresh-squeezed only, please!  That little plastic lemon full of "juice" should be illegal], but you can use lime juice, or any type of vinegar.  About a tablespoon for a large salad for two people.)
-shallot, garlic, or herbs, minced/finely chopped (optional, based on what you have around the house and what flavor you are looking for in the dressing- about 1 teaspoon for a large salad for two.)
-kosher salt (to taste, about 1/2 a teaspoon for this amount of acid)
-coarse ground pepper (to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon for this amount of acid)
-djion mustard (1/2 teaspoon for this much acid)
-2 parts extra virgin olive oil (so 2 tablespoons for this much acid, but essentially just double the amount of acid, whether its tablespoons, cups, shot glasses, etc.  I always use extra virgin olive oil for dressings-- do NOT use "light" olive oil or canola or vegetable oil, you will regret it.)
Method:
You can make this in the bowl you are serving your salad in.  I usually make the dressing in the bottom of the bowl, then pile the salad stuff on top, then toss.  Or, if you are making more than 1 salad's worth (great time saver), you can mix it in a bowl and then pour into a jar, and store in the fridge)
1.  Put your acid, chopped garlic/shallots/herbs (if any), salt and pepper in a medium bowl (or your salad bowl), and stir it around a little until the salt dissolves.  If you are using garlic/shallots, you can let them sit in the acid for a few minutes to help soften their flavor.

Shallots in lemon juice, S&P

2. Add the mustard, and stir well to combine.  The mustard adds flavor but also acts as an emulsifier, which keeps the acid and oil from separating.  You can also use a raw egg yolk in place of the mustard, but remember you will be serving the dressing raw.  Also, I think mustard adds a nice flavor.

in goes the mustard

3. Begin whisking the acid/mustard mixture, and slowly begin adding the olive oil in a thin stream, whisking the whole time (again this is for emulsification). After all the oil is incorporated, taste the dressing.  It should be fairly acidic and have a nice tang, but if you want it a bit milder, add some more oil.  I like mine pretty tangy! (Traditional vinaigrettes are usually 3:1 oil to water, where this one is 2:1.  You can adjust yours to taste.  You can also add a drop or two of honey to the dressing to sweeten it up a bit if you like.)

whisk whisk whisk!

4. That's it!  It's just that easy.  If you've made a larger batch and are storing it in a jar for future use, you will need to shake the jar before each use to reincorporate the ingredients.

jar of goodness!

So, that's the dressing.  But dressing alone does not a salad make.  What else do I throw in there??
The musts:
Lettuce: romaine or, gasp, iceberg if that's all I've got, but ideally a nice spring mix, local lettuces from the farmers' market, or recently I've discovered that BJ's Wholesale Club carries some very good, very fresh "gourmet" lettuces in bulk.  When you eat as much salad as we do, you can buy lettuce in bulk.  Make sure to wash and dry all lettuce thoroughly, nothing worse than gritty or soggy salad-- yuck!
Tomatoes: yes, even out of season I require tomatoes in my salad.  I find the little grape tomatoes to have the most flavor this time of year.  Don't buy anything that doesn't at least LOOK ripe in the store-- those pale pink suckers will never ripen and are going to taste like mealy cardboard.
Cucumbers: English, kirby, whatever-- crunchy cuke slices are in every salad I make.
Onion: a little sliced red onion or scallion is a nice touch, although I omit them if it's a lunch salad and I have to talk to anyone afterwards.

The optional:
Cheese: I almost always sprinkle a bit of feta cheese over my salads, but you can add almost any cheese, or none at all.  Blue cheese crumbles are nice, or shredded sharp cheddar.
Other veggies: Anything in my fridge is at risk for ending up in a salad- peppers, avocados, broccoli, or almost anything else you want to get rid of and can be eaten raw.  Even a cooked potato (in non SB times) or some sliced apple or pear can go in there!
Nuts: Especially if I'm not eating any other protein in the meal, I love nuts in salad.  Pepitas are my aboslute favorite.  They are the roasted inner kernel of pumpkin seeds, and they are delicious.  They add nice flavor and crunch to salad (especially when you can't have croutons!)
Protein: Crumbled cooked bacon, sliced turkey breast, salmon, tofu, or almost anything you might put in a sandwich, go ahead and throw it in that salad.  This will add substance and make the salad more of a meal.  Some chopped hard-boiled egg can be good, too.

yum

All dressed up!

So there you have it-- a bcd post on SALAD, you thought it would never happen (and, in fact, I did have to create a new salad "tag"for this post.  I think I see a pig flying by my window!  MMmm... pig.  See, I haven't changed that much!

So, what do you put in YOUR salads??

X

Back in the Kitchen

By Xani

Well as you all know, last weekend we were in NYC, letting others do the cooking. This weekend, I'm back in my kitchen. So far today I've cranked out perfect popovers (ok, Dave did those-- they tasted even better than they looked!), a big batch of my Dad's famous Rule of One spaghetti sauce, and chopped eggplant. (I emailed him asking for the recipes and not an hour later, they were in my hands. Thanks for the quick response, Dad!  I can always count on BCD Dad to provide good, well-written recipes.  I think it's his engineering background.  The Rule of One spaghetti sauce recipe is a work of art.)

love a prompt response!

saucy

 Meatballs are up next. And who knows what else I might get into before the sun sets on this gorgeous fall day. Hope everyone is enjoying their extra hour- would you mind using one minute of that extra hour to vote for BCD in the Mobbies?? We need your votes to win the Foodie category!

More cooking updates to come...
X

Taking Stock, Making Stock

by Xani

Let me not waste time explaining why I haven't blogged in so long. Yes, I've eaten at wonderful restaurants and cooked fabulous foods, yet the blogging hasn't happened. I wish it had, but let's not dwell on the ancient past, let's look to the recent past/future! This weekend I cooked up a storm and I want to tell you all about it! This post will be light on the pics, but let's not let that keep me from blogging. Here we go!

The first thing I want to share with you is the awesome technique for making chicken stock that I discovered this weekend. I was feeling the need for a freezer-full of stock as so many cozy fall recipes for soups, stews, etc require stock or broth. While BCD mom raised us on a diet of College Inn chicken broth, hoarding dozens of cans in the pantry at all times, I've become sufficiently brainwashed to think that only homemade stock will do. But, we haven't been eating that much chicken at home lately, and we didn't have a stockpile of bones to make the base of the stock. So, I remembered this recipe for chicken stock which starts with three whole chickens, and after reading the comments, decided I could modify this technique to serve my purposes. Here's how it went:

Ingredients
2 (5-pound) roasting chickens
2 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
4 carrots, unpeeled and halved
3 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds
3 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half
15 sprigs fresh parsley
10 sprigs fresh thyme
10 sprigs fresh dill
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Method:
1. Wash chickens and remove and discard/find another use for the packet or innards. Put chickens in LARGE pot, cover with cold water. Bring to boil, reduce to a very slow simmer, simmer for 1 hour, skim scum/impurities off the surface periodically.
2. Carefully remove chickens from water. Let cool until they can be handled, then carefully pick the meat from the carcass (after 1 hour the meat should be mostly cooked, but not over-cooked. I harvested almost 3 pounds of meat from the chickens, which I separated into white and dark, and packaged and froze for later use such as chicken soup, enchiladas, or chicken pot pie).
3. Put all bones, skin, carcasses, etc back into the pot as you pick the meat (also pour back in any liquid that came out with the chickens). Continue to barely simmer (just a small bubble coming up here and there- if you cook too aggressively your stock will get cloudy) for another 2 hours.
4. Now it's time to add the veggies, herbs and seasonings. Many stock recipes have you add everything at the very beginning, but Michael Ruhlman recommends adding them only for the last hour of cooking, and for good reason-- too much cooking and the veggies break down/get soggy. This can cloud your stock, plus the water-logged veggies soak up so much of your precious stock! So just add them for the last hour, and keep the pot at that bare simmer...
5. It's been four hours, the stock is (almost) done!. Remove all solids, using tongs and a slotted spoon/strainer, pressing the veggies gently on the side of the pot to press out absorbed stock. At this point, I chose to keep simmering my stock for a while to reduce and concentrate the flavor a bit. When it reaches your desired intensity, let cool a bit and strain through cheesecloth.
6. Put stock in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Any fat will congeal on the top and can be skimmed off easily (mine had almost no fat even though I started with whole chicken).
7. Now you should be left with a large quantity of rich, flavorful chicken stock! This can easily be frozen for future use.

So there it is, my best stock yet! Mine came out a beautiful brown color, completely clear, with a nice roasted flavor (even though i started with all raw ingredients), and good sweetness and aroma from the veggies. I have already used some for risotto and chicken pot pie, and I'm so excited to have all that "poached" meat reserved for later. This is a lot more cost effective than just throwing the meat away after stock-making, too.

I cooked up a bunch of other recipes this weekend, too. No time to blog about each in detail, but here are some links and notes, and I'm happy to discuss with you in the comments, if you have questions.

New Year's Eve eggnog: Why am I making eggnog for a party on December 31 in mid-October?? Because this aged eggnog is supposed to be a revelation, and needs weeks or months in the fridge to mature. We'll break it out to ring in the new year, and hopefully not give our guests food poisoning.

Angel Food cake: I had 12 egg whites leftover from the nog-making, and a brand new tube pan that just arrived in the mail this week. I HAD to attempt my first angel food cake-- and I think it came out pretty good!

Lobster-ish Risotto with shrimp: I had a bit of frozen lobster stock in the freezer (made from the remnants of one of BCD Dad's big lobster gorge-fests) and decided to supplement it with some of my freshly made chicken stock and make risotto. I served it with some large pan-seared shrimp on top, and Mom's Caesar salad on the side. While I thought the risotto texture was good, the lobster flavor was very mild.

Buttermilk Waffles with apple topping: We had 2 cups of buttermilk hanging out in the fridge, so we tried this recipe on Sunday morning. It was just ok, I think next time I'll go to the trouble of separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites, to try and achieve a lighter, fluffier waffle. I also made a warm cinnamon apple topping from some of the apples still lingering from our apple-picking trip 2 weeks ago. Cooked the sliced apples with a little water, brown sugar, and cinnamon until apples were soft and the liquid had mostly evaporated. Finished with some lemon juice, butter, and a touch of cream. So much better than plain old syrup!

Chicken pot pie: Perhaps the pièce de résistance of the entire weekend, I made this for Sunday dinner. I used Ina Garten's recipe for the filling, but used a baking powder biscuit recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Book as the topping (instead of doing a pastry topping). The filling was AMAZING-- loaded with veggies, and yes, delicious, moist meat from the stock-making. The sauce (which used 5 cups of my fab new stock) was SO rich, flavorful, and velvety. The biscuits were very simple, I added a bit of chopped thyme to the dough and also laminated the dough (folding it into thirds and rolling out, repeating, as in puff pastry) to make it extra flaky. I baked them right on top of the pot pie filling in my Le Crueset dutch oven. Perfect hearty fall dinner fare, with plenty of leftovers.

...And would you look at that, it's lunchtime, and I've got some of those leftovers waiting for me in the fridge! Hope you enjoyed my return to blogging, even though it was light on pictures. Now that I'm back in to the swing of things, it's time to dust off my camera again!

Happy cooking,

X

Eat THAT, Pharoah!

by Erin and Xani

This past weekend, the BCD family traveled to sunny Detroit, MI for our annual Passover celebration with our family. Celebrating in Detroit at the home of cousins Karen and Don and their two adorable girls is a relatively new tradition for our family, but it's SO fun and I'm sure we'll be coming back for years to come. Recently our tradition has been that both BCD girls go up to Detroit a day before the BCD parents get there to help Karen with the cooking and to spend some QT together. Then the rest of the family shows up on Friday night or Saturday morning (this year family members came from Las Vegas, Chicago, and Baltimore), and we all spend the weekend together.

But, enough blathering on about tradition ("TRADITIOOOON, TRADITION!"), let's get to the food! Karen, EP, and Xani had been planning the menu via email for months, and we decided to go with some old favorites but also try some new recipes. The final menu was:

• Chopped Liver
• Seder Snacks (haroset, parsley dipped in salt water...mmmm)
• Gefilte Fish
• Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls
• Prime Rib with Horseradish Sauce
• Braised Endive
• Potato-Parsnip Kugel
• Dessert (including Matzo Candy, Macaroons, Brownies, Almond Jamprint Cookies, and Fruit Plate)

To keep things clear, let's discuss in terms of order of courses, shall we? Good - I'm so glad we're on the same page.

So, to begin, while we were catching up and enjoying some delicious champagne before we sat down for seder, we enjoyed some homemade chopped liver courtesy of BCD Mom, who made it at home in Columbia and brought it with her to Detroit. (We're sort of surprised it got through security. Doesn't TSA consider chopped liver to be a hazardous material?!). She bought kosher livers from a kosher grocery store up in Pikesville, MD called Seven Mile Market, which is a really cool place in general if you're into that sort of thing. She bought THREE POUNDS of livers and reports that it is the most chopped liver she's ever made! As usual, it was GREAT! We're told that BCD Dad was the tester to make sure all the ingredients (most important: chicken fat) were in their correct proportion, so thanks go to him as well.

After cocktails and chopped liver, we sat down to begin the seder. The seder (which means "order" in Hebrew) is a traditional ceremony where we listen to the story of how the Jews were slaves in Egypt and how Moses helped them escape from the evil Pharaoh. (Remember the "10 Commandments" with the late Charleton Heston? That's the story we're talking about.) Throughout the seder there are many symbols, such as when we eat bitter herbs (usually parsley) dipped in salt water, which represents the bitterness of slavery and the tears of the Hebrew slaves. We also eat haroset, a mixture of apples, honey, wine, nuts, and cinnamon, which represents the mortar used when the slaves had to lay brick for Pharoah. A main theme running throughout the seder is that we should be thankful for the freedom we have today to do as we please and we should remember those who are still not free. To learn more about seders, go here.

Seder plate (notice our "shank bone" - we didn't have one so we had Zoe draw one!)

Ingredients for haroset

The family (minus a few in the kitchen)! Going clockwise, that's BCD Dad in the back, then Xani, John, Yelena, Zoe, Stephanie, Great Uncle Sheldon, and BCD Mom

Anyway, after the seder was over, it was time to eat! The first course we had was gefilte fish. Gefilte fish are made from ground fish (usually carp or pike) that is mixed with eggs, onions, and matzo meal and poached in a fish stock. The BCD parents contemplated making their own gefilte fish but they nixed the idea because they didn't want to make guinea pigs out of the family. So, we had store-bought GF, per our tradition. (Note: Xani's very favorite Passover e-card of the season references gefilte fish. See it here).

Next, we had homemade chicken soup with matzo balls. Karen made the soup in advance, and we all made the matzo balls together. As some of you may know, there is a raging debate in the Jewish community that often rears its head around this time of the year: "sinkers" versus "floaters". Some like fluffy, cloud-like matzo balls, while others prefer matzo balls that require a (sharp) knife and fork. Our family is in the latter camp, and we pulled out all the stops to make sure the matzo balls were true "sinkers." To make them, we followed BCD Mom's advice: we used the recipe on the matzo meal cannister, but made a few changes, including adding about twice as much matzo meal as the recipe called for, using soup instead of water, using chicken fat instead of oil, and keeping the batter in the fridge for only 10 minutes or so, not the recommended 15 minutes. Upon cooking, they barely expanded and were quite firm and DELICIOUS in the yummy homemade soup.

Quick note about the chicken fat: When we started to gather the ingredients for the matzo balls, Karen pulled out the chicken fat she bought at the store, but it was unrendered, a state which we were not expecting. But have no fear! The BCD girls know how to render chicken fat, of course! Just cut up the fat into cubes, put in a little water, and when it begins to melt down, throw in some chopped onion. Cook together until the onion starts to turn golden brown and voila! Now you have rendered chicken fat. PLUS, you also have gribenes! This is the best food ever. Period.

Ta da! Gribenes! Sometimes known as "chicken bacon"

After the fish and the soup, it was time for the main course! For this course, we served prime rib, braised endive, and potato-parsnip kugel. We used our traditional prime rib recipe, adapted from James Beard, where you slather the meat in butter (hey, we never said the meal was totally kosher!), salt, and pepper, then place it in a 500 degree oven for 5 minutes per pound, then turn the oven off and do not open the door for two hours or until the meat reaches 123 degrees (for rare-medium rare) on an instant-read thermometer. Karen bought a 14.5 lb roast (oy!) but the method described above only works for roasts greater than 5 lbs and less than 10 lbs, so we had master butcher Xani cut the meat in half (we then named the roasts Thing One and Thing Two). Then we cooked each roast separately and served it at room temperature. Xani had the honor of carving the meat, with BCD Dad giving guidance. This method is amazing - it works every time!! The meat turned out great - so flavorful and perfectly cooked.

Thing One and Thing Two

Before

After

Dad helps Xani and Zoe looks on

Perfectly cooked!

Along with the meat, we served a horseradish sauce (aka "horsey sauce"), which EP quickly whipped up by mixing together sour cream, a bit of mayonnaise, a lot of horseradish, and salt and pepper. Yum!

For the braised endive, we referred to a recipe from Orangette, a beautiful and well-written food blog (one much more popular than our dog-and-pony show), for Braised Endive with Proscuitto. We omitted the proscuitto because even we thought that was going a little far for a traditional Jewish meal. This was a brand new recipe and we were eager to see how it would turn out, especially because most of us had never had cooked endive before. The recipe was relatively simple: trim and clean the endive, then slice in half lengthwise, brown in butter and oil for a few minutes, then place on a sheet pan and add chicken stock (we used the soup!). Then cover the pan and let the endive braise in the stock for 35 minutes or until tender, then uncover and cook some more, then add a bit of heavy cream and cook for a few minutes more until browned. The verdict? The endive had great flavor and a nice richness to them, though they were still quite bitter. All that cooking just didn't get the bitterness out. Maybe we should have cooked them longer? Or is this bitterness in until the bitter end? Har har.

Last we had the potato-parsnip kugel, a dish we made for the first time last year and it was so good we had it again this year. This recipe was also pretty simple, but it had a lot of steps so it took some time. First, you boil together peeled and cubed potatoes and parsnips. Then, you saute chopped onions in chicken fat (though we used butter because we forgot), and then mash the potatoes, parsnips, and onions together. Then add eggs, salt, pepper, matzo meal, and a bit of nutmeg to the mixture. The recipe says to then put the potato mixtured into a greased and matzo-mealed pan and bake. But, we used a little trick from BCD Mom where you put extra matzo meal on the top and dot it with chicken fat, which results in a nice crust on the top of the kugel. The kugel turned out great - there was great flavor from the potatoes and the sweetness from the parsnips and onions was a nice added bonus. And in the end, who doesn't love mashed potatoes?? No friend of mine!

After all the dishes were cleared from the big meal, it was time to start thinking of dessert. As some of you loyal readers may recall from last week, EP was having a bit of a dilemma about what to make. Thanks to your votes, she chose to make macaroons using Ina Garten's recipe (of course). They were so simple to make, even in EP's ill-equipped kitchen. Simply take sweetened shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and some vanilla, and mix together in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whip egg whites with some salt until they make medium-firm peaks, then fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. Then drop spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until golden. EP made the cookies smaller than the recipe called for since they are so sweet, and they were such a hit! There is really no need to buy macaroons at the store - this recipe was so delicious and SO easy.

Check out those medium-firm peaks!

In addition to the macaroons, our cousin Stephanie (aka Motherocker) made several desserts, including matzo candy, brownies, and almond jamprint cookies. All of them were delicious (a feat for Passover desserts, which usually taste like cardboard!), especially the matzo candy - that stuff is like crack! In addition to all the bad-for-you sweets, we also had a fruit plate with some delicious strawberries, watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew, and blueberries.

It was such a fun evening with three generations present. We are so thankful to be able to get together with our family, even if it's only once or twice per year. It's an added bonus that we are all lovers of food and wine and we are perfectly content to talk about food all night if we want. ;) I guess it's genetic...

Happy Passover to those who are celebrating! Yay freedom!! And stay tuned: posts about the OTHER meals we had in Detroit coming soon!

Team Passover 2008

Happy noshing,

EP & X

.

Thank G-d It's...Fried

by Erin & Xani

We know it's been a while since we've shared one our Sunday dinners with you, and that's because due to the MPILP auction and some other events (post coming soon!), we haven't had a chance to make dinner together recently. We have one fabulous Sunday dinner in our archives though, and we are just now getting the chance to write it up, so enjoy!

As some of you may know, the BCD parents are building a house on the Eastern shore of Maryland, near Cambridge. (We lovingly refer to the house as "Blackacre" - if you don't get it, you're probably not a lawyer/law student; ask one if you're truly curious.) Because they travel to the shore often to check on the progress of the house, they have started coming home with great local seafood. We didn't hesitate to incorporate some great-looking shucked oysters and clams (whole belly clams! no strips here!) into our menu, which was:

• Cocktails!
• Cornmeal-crusted fried belly clams with homemade tartar sauce
• Oyster stew
• Buffalo chicken wings with Mom's famous bleu cheese dressing
• Garlic fries

Wow, fried anyone? We went a little crazy with the amount of fried items, but they were so good! Every once in a while isn't so bad, right? Right. Anyway, we started off with cocktails (the ladies each had champagne cocktails and Dad had a martini) as we began cooking each of the different items.

Dad was in charge of the clams. First he dipped the clams into a mixture of milk, eggs, salt, and pepper, and then he dipped them into yellow cornmeal. We busted out the Fry Daddy (yes, we actually own one) and in they went! Meanwhile, Xani put together a quick tartar sauce made from mayonnaise, relish, and hot sauce.

Caught stealin'!

These clams turned out great! They had a great texture without being too chewy (is this because they are belly and not strips?), and the cornmeal coating was nice and crunchy. Served with the tartar sauce, they were a great nosh as we continued to cook the rest of the meal.

EP was in charge of putting together the oyster stew. Now, oyster stew is not really a stew at all. It's basically a creamy soup with oysters in it - yum! We used a recipe from The New York Times Cookbook, which began by sauteeing some thinly-sliced garlic and grated shallot in butter. Then milk and cream are a little white pepper are added and heated through, and then the oysters and their liquor (the liquid that they come in) are added until they oysters are cooked (only a few minutes). The dish is finished with some salt and chopped parsley.

We enjoyed the stew in mugs and it was so awesome - rich, creamy, and oyster-y. This is a great simple recipe if you have some extra oysters lying around (who has oysters just lying around? Get a job, oysters!).

For the main course, we had WINGS! BCD Mom makes some killer Buffalo wings and the best bleu cheese dressing ever. It is a real treat when we have them because (a) they are so good!, and (b) they are a huge pain in the ass so we don't do it often. Mom uses the Hooters recipe (we're classy like that) and they turn out great every time.

The wings are coated in a light coating of flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt. Then they are refrigerated for a bit so the coating sticks better. Then the wings are fried up (we use an electric fry pan for more even heat), drained on wire racks, and then tossed with the wing sauce (butter, hot sauce, ground black pepper, and garlic powder) while still hot. Yum!

The wings were served with Mom's famous bleu cheese dressing, a (secret?) family recipe made with sour cream, mayo, bleu cheese, garlic pepper, ground black pepper, and hot sauce. OMG this is good stuff, even on a salad!

Lastly, Xani made her famous fries (wow, that link is from our first post ever!), and this time she tried to emulate the great garlic fries at Don't Know. She took finely chopped garlic and tossed it on the almost-done fries while they were in the hot oven. They turned out great, but next time she says she wants to use even MORE garlic to give them even more flavor. More garlic? Yes, please!

Gellie loves fries...can't blame him

Finished plate - yum!

Our little chicken- and fish-fry was a really fun, casual Sunday dinner filled with new experimental recipes and old family favorites. Good times!

Happy frying,

E & X