I love cooking for friends....

I love cooking for anyone actually but especially friends and this special friend Cristina  loves to cook as much as I do.  For years and years we've gotten  together on Sunday afternoons with our husbands  and played bridge and had dinner.  Not as often lately because they started going to CA in the winter and her mother has been sick and required trips away.  So to have our "usual" Sunday get-together was  special. 


I didn't get a picture of the table setting  but it was fall colors as that is where we are headed now.    The menu included broiled halibut, crispy rice cakes (made with a mix of brown rice, wild rice and white rice), sliced tomatoes from the farmer's market and a side dish of spaghetti squash mixed with kale, caramelized onions, chickpeas and grated parmesan cheese.  For dessert I baked cannoncini and filled them with Italian cream and wild huckleberries.  They were pretty sad looking when I was first learning how to wrap the puff pastry on the molds but now I can do them very quickly.  Its a great dessert because you can do the pastry the day ahead and it's not too sweet and you can fill them with anything.  I did some filled with peach sherbet and berries...

How often do you need a centerpiece of hot pink, orange, yellow and lime green... Not often and luckily I had all those colors in my garden.

I purchased this tablecloth at the thrift store last winter because it was such nice cotton and planned to cut it up to replace my raggedy kitchen towels.  But when I was setting the table in the gazebo I drug it out.

We hadn't eaten out there for a year or so.  It gets harder and harder to get everything out and back to the house.  But it was the perfect weather.

I wanted to make polenta "stacks" so I got out my polenta maker.  A gift hand carried all the way from Italy several years ago by one of my dearest friends,  Cristina.  I had to get a special adapter to use it on our electrical system.

After I cooked the polenta I let it firm up in a loaf pan and cut it in slices.

Then just before dinner I sautéed the slices in butter and olive oil until they were crisp on the outside.  Then I put down one slice and spread it with a mix of pesto and ricotta cheese and topped that with another slice.  Then I topped that with a fresh corn relish with red peppers, cilantro, and sweet onion and finished it with a tomato on a skewer.  It was so festive and delicious
and perfect with barbecued ribs.

Buttons, duck, and succulents!!

I had asked for suggestions for new things to paint on buttons and two I received were a panda and raggedy ann and andy... so I gave them a try.. Another reader asked if I could fit a cat, a mouse and some cheese on a 1" button,  It took a few tries but I managed.  I also added a new woodpecker to my collection... a pileated woodpecker with its red bonnet.  They are all now loaded up on the Etsy site. https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose   Getting all the buttons organized is a top priority.

And in the kitchen I made duck wellington for a company on Sunday.  Not having done them before I was a bit nervous but as it turned out there was an excellent YouTube video on how to assemble them.  You spread pate on a layer of prosciutto  and added the duck , rolled it up and then encased it in puff pastry... This is a show stopper main course that could be assembled the day ahead.  Before I have done duck crepes but making the crepes at the last minute is hectic.  The puff pastry was perfect.  Instead of the recommended blackberry sauce I used our local huckleberries as a sauce.  Yummy all the way around.

I snagged this cool picture  off of facebook because I thought it was a great idea for a balcony.  It won't be long now before we have to make a decision about selling the farm and moving to town... I will require at least a balcony if I can't get a bit of actual ground and succulents would be just the ticket and I'm thinking I need to get a head start.  My dear friend Susie Wolfe has a fabulous collection of succulents on her patio and I'm thinking she may be coaxed into sending me some starts....hint/hint/hint,

Walking a LOT and we joined the Y so I am stronger than I've been for years and all the heart drama is a thing of the past. My goal is 6000 steps each day and mostly make it and if I hesitate DH gives me a nudge and encouragement.  I have a small patch in front that is free if snow and I am out there tomorrow rain or shine...

Post with three threads

I had to think a bit in how to pull all this together because this post really has three separate threads that end up weaving together.

First last August I wrote a post about my quest to add more beans to our diet and I am always on the lookout for new recipes.

Second Saturday DH game home with a package of beautiful locally grown lentils that I am eager to try.

Third  when I have my sister out for lunch I try to fix something that not only fits into here diabetic diet but also something that would be different which she wouldn't try herself.

So with my lentils in mind I went searching for a enticing

lentil soup recipe but instead ran across this cool site.... Lucini Italia ... gourmet Italian recipes and the first one I see is this black bean/lentil salad.  Good for beans, good for lentils and good for my sister who is coming to lunch on Saturday.

The recipe calls for mango which right off I do not have but do have some fresh pineapple.  I will serve it as a side to a piece of broiled fish.

Ingredients

1/2 cup mango, chopped
1 cup black beans, canned; rinsed and drained
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1/2 cup lentils, prepared
1 cup jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1/4 cup red onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fine
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons Lucini® Robust Garlic Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

Mix ingredients well in serving bowl. Chill for 20 minutes and then bring to room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe By: LUCINI ITALIA

Lucini's work with small regional farmers, celebrated chefs, health and wellness experts continues to provide us with an unmatched selection of ingredients and gourmet recipes to share.

Now back to the site to see if they indeed have a lentil soup as well....

 

Today everything is ducky!!!

With the bad weather, being gone and being sick it has been more than a month since I have fixed a "company" meal and I  am on Sunday..  DH especially requested I serve duck crepes (one of his favorites)  and I found a recipe  for duck breast in sweet potato crepes with a blackberry sauce..

I wonder why so few people cook duck... It couldn't be easier to cook than in a slow cooker. Besides being delicious it is really quite economical for a special meal. When on a restaurant menu it is usually a very pricy meal but I can get a duck for $2.98 a pound which compared to beef or seafood, is quite cheap and I can get 3  meals out of a six pound duck..  So today I thawed a duck, cut it up and it is in the slow cooker... I put it on a bed of onions, rubbed it with poultry seasoning and stuffed the breast with parts of an orange....added a little white wine and it will be done tonight and I will cool it overnight in the frig and take the meat off the bone tomorrow. I save the skin separately and put it under the broiler until it is crispy and delicious and then slice it thin and use it as a  garnish.


We can have one meal with the legs as they are large, another meal  (or two)using the breast meat  and finally I get a lot of "confit" (which is a fancy word for bits) from the wings, neck, back, heart etc. and it can be used with pasta, dumplings, etc..  The Maple Leaf Farm site is loaded with recipes using duck and has everything from appetizers to duck soup.

When it is cool I save the duck fat and freeze it to use later. There is a long, delicious culinary tradition of cooking with duck fat.  If you google "duck fat" there is no end to the sites singing its praises.   The high smoke point of duck fat makes it a chef favorite; it can be cooked at high temperatures without smoking or altering   flavors. The French have known all along: duck fat is low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fat, making it one of healthiest animal fats you can eat. And a large selection of brands of duck fat are even sold on Amazon.

The day started out well with the duck but when I tried to finish the last of the cookbooks the last albums I bought didn't have enough pages and then I decided to work on the fiesta necklace and became discouraged and packed it all up and it is history for now.. So I wrote the blog and now will take a nice nap to rest my eyes and hope the afternoon goes better.

My easiest fancy dessert!!!

 

Sometimes I plan to write an update on a post only to learn I never blogged about it in the first place.  Such is the case with "cornetti de crema"  I would swear I had blogged all about this culinary learning experience but on searching the blog have decided I never wrote about it at all... 

Years and years ago I picked up this little raggedy box of vintage "cream horn moulds" and they had been sitting unused in my basket  of really cool cookie cutters which are also unused.  But last spring I decided I was going to either learn how to use these or get rid of them.

The first time was a disaster and out of 18 little pastries I think only two were recognizable.  I buried them in pastry cream and berries and vowed to keep trying.

Now they are my favorite go-to fancy dessert and are a breeze to make.  Let me tell you my secrets.

First always have sheets of puff pastry in the freezer.

The first time I did these I cut all the little long strips individually.  Now I use a pasta cutter and I can whip the out in seconds.  Works great.

Next I tried to wrap the strips around the molds and the strips twist and stretch and are a mess.
The trick is not the touch the strip after it is attached at the tip.  The trick is to just let it hang and rotate the mold until the strip of pastry is wrapped around the mold.  This is a VERY BIG tip.....

The next tip is once the mold is wrapped is to give it a little roll with some pressure so all the strips are secured to each other.

The last tip is not to try to remove the mold too soon.  Once baked let them cool with the mold inside..  If you try to remove the mold when they are too warm they will crumble.


Mine are still not perfect but I can whip them out in minutes because I keep puff pastry on hand and when done not have a dirty dish in the kitchen.  You can fill them with anything... I prefer filling them with pastry cream, dusting with powdered sugar, add a few berries and WOW!! But you can also fill them with whipped cream or pie filling or whatever you have in your pantry.  These are for a dinner tomorrow.

I just found a site that had them filled with smoked salmon mousse for an appetizer.  Now you know I have to try that.

The potting of pies about to begin.....

We went to London in 2015 and fell in love with   Beef and Ale  pies in the pubs.  On return I started making them at home when I found a recipe for "proper" English beef and ale pies.  Last winter I branched out and added seafood and turkey pies.  Each time I made about eight and froze them... There's always soup in the freezer for nights I can't cook but the pot pies were a nice alternative.  Now we are down to the last two in the freezer and I've been giving them some thought before I started on a "pot pie" marathon...

Even though the meats are different I pretty much use the same vegetables... onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, peas and red peppers and top them all with a pie crusts.  This winter I want to add lamb and pork pies to our list and I want each type of pie to have a unique taste so I have been trolling through some recipes for ideas and here is what I have come up with for inspiration.

Yesterday and today I did:

Chicken pie with stuffing crust..... usual veggies but added prosciutto, sweet potatoes,  and spaghetti squash.

Pork pie with corn bread crust .... usual veggies plus broccoli, corn, sausage and apples in a apple cider cream sauce.

In the future I'll try these:

Lamb pie with puff pastry crust .... usual veggies plus extra garlic, sun dried tomatoes, wine, spinach and garbanzo beans.  I have one very large lamb shank in the freezer and it would be perfect.

Seafood pie with pie crust....shrimp and cod.... usual veggies plus frozen whole onions, fennel seeds, pernod, kale, tomatoes and clam juice.

Beef pie topped with mashed potatoes... usual veggies but cooked in stout and added a variety of mushrooms, parsnips and leeks.

I have over the winter acquired a large supply of pot pie dishes from the thrift store that go well from freezer to oven...  Let the potting of pies begin.  Soon be ready for looooooong winter.

Gnocchi triumph and dismal Downton Abbey

For years and years I've tried various gnocchi (little potato dumplings) recipes and they have always turned out gummy, dense, and rubbery... practically inedible but I keep trying because good gnocchi is a culinary delight.  Fluffy, tender, and delicious.... they should be   cloud-like, holding their shape just long enough to dissolve on your tongue—

   I mentioned last post I was going to try beet gnocchi...  So last night I searched the internet for tips on gnocchi... First what potato ...definitely divided opinions between russets and Yukon gold.  Mute point since I only had Yukon Gold. Egg or no eggs.  Recipes varied...2 eggs, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk or no egg... But one site recommended the 1 yolk for beginners so decided to start there...  The most informative site covered everything.

Recipes were also divided on whether to bake or boil potatoes..  My recipe called for baking and then cooling to peel.  But I remembered Cristina said it was most important to work with them hot.  I roasted the beets, peeled and put them in the food processor.  All the beet gnocchi recipes called for a 2-1   ratio of potatoes put through a ricer and   beets.

Here I'm ready to roll out the long tubes to cut the little individual dumplings..  I really felt I needed more flour at this point but I was paranoid about adding too much.  Next time I will add a bit more flour at this point to have a firmer dough.. But the color is gorgeous.

I cut them, dropped them in boiling water until they rose to the top, and then sautéed them in brown butter... and they were definitely "cloud-like" and  delicious.  Also the color was so pretty with the fish.   The shape needs working on but next time with a little extra flour I can solve that problem...  No more gummy, dense, rubbery gnocchi.  The coleslaw was a happy accident... I only had half a small head of leftover cabbage so added  a leftover piece of celeriac and they were perfect together with some mandarin orange and baby kale added.

Everyone has always urged me to watch Downton Abbey, telling me that I would just love it... So last month I started and managed to get through the first 8 episodes but the cast went from one disaster and crisis to another and I found it terribly depressing.. Just when I thought their lives couldn't get worse, the war started.. That was it!!!I knew I could never get through all the seasons... so I skipped to the last 3 episodes in the last season and got to the happy stuff...requited love, marriages and babies.. But I do admit that Maggie Smith was a treasure... I will continue the recipe site though.
This cartoon really summed it up...and I'm back to the food channel.

Culinary tidbits and a squash bomb!!!!

I hate trying to peel or cut up a squash so for the last 60 years I have prepared squash the same way... baking it whole.  I stick the whole squash in the oven on a low temperature and when I can pierce the skin with a fork, I remove it, easily cut it in half and scoop out seeds and pulp... works like a charm... But yesterday I was roasting a squash in this manner and heard a big KABOOM and found this mess in my oven... I just shut the oven door and hoping the next time I open it the mess will have disappeared.
Obviously from now on I will wrap the squash in foil first. I had laundry baskets full of squash from the garden this year and I bake one every few days as a treat for the chickens...they just love it...


 The only TV I have is in my workroom and I have it on when I paint buttons so I really only listen to it....and it is mostly on the food channel and invariably I'm inspired to cook something different.  Just recently it was seedless red grapes which I love.  But a chef roasted them and served them with salmon and a cream sauce..... I had never thought to roast them but they were absolutely delicious. It made me think of other ways to use them and with roast pork came to mind first. But  Epicurious magazine has a whole web page on ways to use roasted grapes.  I will definitely try them on crostini with ricotta or goat cheese but what sounded the best was warm roasted red grapes on ice cream... I can almost taste the warm sweet grapes on cold ice cream......

In my freezer I have a lot of rockfish  from my son ...  It is a white fish and I usually serve it with roasted sweet potatoes but am always looking for an alternate side dish that is colorful and I want to try one I saw on TV yesterday.  It's a dish from northern Italy .... beet gnocchi with brown butter and sage.

I have to admit two things.... first I absolutely love gnocchi and second I fail miserably every time I make it.  My dear friend Cristina makes gnocchi that is light and fluffy and melts in your mouth.  Mine is more like gummy lumps of dough..  but I keep trying.  Cristina even gave me a lesson on gnocchi one Sunday and shared all her tips.  I blogged about it several years ago.

I love it when she sends me home with a bag of frozen gnocchi but she is wintering in California so I'm on my own.  This recipe calls for an egg and Cristina would laugh as she says only Americans put an egg in gnocchi..  I roasted the beets yesterday and think I will give it a try tomorrow.  Wish me luck....

August.... and "gastrique"

The August cqjp2015 block was fun because I was able to find a use for some funky 3-D rose fabric I have had in my stash "f o r e v e r....."  and do a few fun seam treatments as well..  and I am still in love with ribbon folding for seams.... I think I got the fabric from Cathy Kizerian when we visited Susie in LA.  I had to kinda mooch  and manipulate it to get it to work but I like it.  Have a little left.

 

The other day I found a recipe for chicken crepes topped with a raspberry gastrique... I had no idea what a "gastrique" was but since then I have found recipes for raspberry gastrique used on pork, salmon, and duck..  It is a sweet and sour sauce and it can be made with other fruits besides raspberries.  Here is squab with a blueberry gastrique.   Now OF COURSE I have to try it on the chicken crepe recipe and luckily for me Emeril Lagasse has a video on the internet with excellent instructions. 

I haven't made crepes since the 1970's when they were all the rage... But I ran across my beloved crepe cookbook and am inspired to try some of my old favorites. My kids loved them and it was always a cool way to sneak extra veggies into their diet.  They balked at broccoli just by itself but tuck it in a crepe with a little cheese sauce and they devoured it eagerly.