Savory Tarts With Artichoke and Goat Cheese

Nothing like kneading tart crust to calm frazzled nerves!  After an unsettling incident i settled down with these yesterday.  The evening took a turn for the better as the oven's warmth and a subtly delicious aroma filled my kitchen.

Savory Tarts With Artichoke and Goat Cheese

filling
2 eggs
3 tsp sour cream
1/3 cup goat cheese
1 cup artichoke hearts
1/4 cup summer squash
1/2 a tomato

crust 
1 cup wheat flour
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup ice water

Knead dough until smooth.  Roll, cut and fit dough circlets into tart cups, ramekins or a muffin tin.  Pat each round with about 1/3 of a tsp of honey and pre-bake about 5 mins.  Place vegetables in a glass baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and roast veggies until tender.  Whisk ingredients together.  Fill tart cups and bake until firm.  Serve warm on a plate drizzled with balsamic vinegar.


xo

Rainy Day Antidote

It's bleh outside but I'm pretty chipper thanks to these:

Lemon-Strawberry Scones

 (recipe makes 4 large scones) 

1 cup flour

1 egg

¼ cup sugar

¾ tsp baking powder

4 tbsps softened butter

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

½ cup strawberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

Whip cream until stiff.  Fold in dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Add butter and egg.  Blend until smooth. 

Cut strawberries into halves and then slice each half lengthwise into fourths.  Add strawberries, lemon zest and juice to dough. 

Knead fruit and juice into dough.  Form dough into dense rectangles.  Dough should have a moist sticky texture.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.   Bon Appetit! 

Parties 101

Ina Garten's Parties cookbook is one of my all-time favorites.  More so even than the recipes it is Ina's entertaining philosophy that I find so engaging.  One revolutionary idea the domestic diva introduces in her classic tome is when you can "buy food don't make it."  I was stunned that a chef and consummate hostess would say such a scandalous thing in print?!  Buy food?!  Moi. Never.

I have since learned the wisdom of her words.  A great party is just a group of great people in a room.  The more relaxed the hostess the happier the guests.

This Sunday I hosted an absolutely delightful 6hr brunch.  You know you've done good when your guests linger. The food was good but my girls made it great and one of the biggest hits on the menu was store bought.  You see Ina was right!

Trader Joe's has absolutely marvelous frozen croissants.  I stuffed them with Prosciutto and Gruyere for added yumm.

Prosciutto & Gruyere Croissants

2 packs of Trader Joe's Frozen Croissants (16)
1 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
6 slices of prosciutto

Allow croissants to proof overnight.  Lift the uppermost pastry layer and gently fill croissants with a thin wedge of ham and about a tablespoon of cheese.

Brush pastry with an egg wash for shine.  Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes.

Modern Tea Room

It's rather sad to see formerly opulent environs descend into shabbiness.  I find those temples of elegance which welcome scores of visitors each year to be far too prone to this fate.  It's a tale often told through fading upholstery, lackluster service, and a reputation which has come to rest soley and rather undeservedly upon a well-known name, teetering precipitously on the past.

Located just off Trafalgar Square, London's glamorous Corinthia Hotel is a welcome respite from the faded glories of London's storied tea rooms.  The Corinthia is a model of modern chic.

The hotel lobby boasts a tiny Harrods so richly bowered in luscious florals you'll be instantly transported to Eliza Doolittle's corner of Tottenham Court Road. The service is solicitous and the pastry's divine.  The delicate gold flecked macarons were the best I have ever tasted.

Next time you're in London and feel like a spot of tea do stop at the Corinthia and enjoy afternoon tea as it should be, the most indulgent of rituals! 

Bar Accompli

Perusing my favorite design blogs, books and magazines I come across a covetable bar almost weekly.  The perfect bar is a mix of spirits and whimsy, a medley of tchotchkes and taste.

Target debuted the ideal bar cart this holiday season.  The burnished gold finish gives the piece a festive flair.

The Target cart has been featured in magazine spreads and fashionable homes galore.  I've placed it in my virtual shopping cart half a dozen times.  Each time my fingers hovered hesitantly over the checkout button.  "It's too big" cried a nagging voice in my head.

I wanted a bar.  A hollywood regency bar on a bargain basement budget and one that wouldn't overwhelm my tiny office (aka the fox den)  Oila, enter Target's diminutive gold and faux bone accent table!

Bar Cart Styling Tips

Choose items that feature variations on a single shade or design motif:  I used gold and polka dots. Petit prosecco bottles play off the blingy theme.  Gold dots grace the interior of a gorgeous porcelain camellia bowl and rainbow colored ones adorn a book cover.

I spray painted a wicker basket a punchy champagne gold and used it for storage.

Add an element of surprise:  The "Hello Darling" letterpress print adds a playful unexpected touch.

Pick your poison: and make it pretty! Midori, chambord and patron feature among the array of lovely liquers I assembled.

     

       xo

Ladies Who Lunch

I like spaces that are both aspirational and accessible, opulent yet...dare I say it cozy.  BG is such a space.  Designed by the brilliant Kelly Weastler, the domed chairs, fresh palette and outstanding cuisine make BG well worth a visit.  

Go in the springtime.  The restaurant boasts breathtaking panoramic views of Central Park.  BG is located on the seventh floor of Bergdorf Goodman along New York's Fifth Avenue.  For reservations call (212) 872-8708.

This illustration captures the charm of the space.

Lobster mac n cheese, asparagus soup and deviled eggs.

Lobster salad with avocado & champagne vinaigrette.  

Soho's long-awaited Ladurée tea salon has finally arrived from Paris. Entering Laduree is like stepping onto the Champs Élysées, albeit via Broadway.  Laduree specializes in rainbow hued macarons and haute-couture desserts.  The salon serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner  and everything is absolument délicieux.

Lavender Shortbread

I have a weakness for sweets with savory or herbal flavors.  A hint of rosemary or even a subtle floral accent can make your favorite dessert even more aromatic and decadent.

Adapted from a James Beard recipe, these shortbread have a velvety texture that comes from using ultra fine confectioners sugar and just a touch of honey.  Roll these sweet treats in lavender vanilla bean sugar, available at your local spice shop, to enhance the yumm factor.

Lavender Shortbread

1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter
1 tsp lavender honey
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 cup lavender vanilla sugar


Cream the butter, sugar, honey
and salt until thoroughly combined.

Add the flour to butter mixture and knead until smooth.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/4 inch in thickness.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Cut the cookies and roll their edges in lavender sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes

These super moist chocolate cupcakes were the byproduct of a series of happy accidents...

Chocolate Cupcakes 

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup hot coffee

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

1/3 cup Ghiradelli chocolate

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

Honey Honey Suga Suga

The madeline, a petite french cake, originated in the Lorraine region of northeastern France.  I love french pastry.  Madelines, macarons, the secret to such delights is more alchemy than chemistry.           

     

Deceptively simple in texture and shape, it took me a while to get these right.  The key ingredient: honey.  Don't scoff.  I certainly did, initially at least.  

Honey as an ingredient evokes those infamous Upson daiquiris from Auntie Mame, a vile concoction only a passel of babbity, bourgeois, bigots would consider imbibing.  

In this case however, honey enhances the citrus in the cake and imbues it with a sublime sticky sweetness.  I'm in love!  

Madelines
(recipe from Rachel Khoo's "Little Paris Kitchen")

3/4 cup  sugar

3 whole eggs

1  1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

zest of 1/2 lemon

4 teaspoons honey

4 tablespoons whole milk

confectioners sugar for dusting

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 5 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

Whisk the butter, sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Fold the flour into the butter mixture, then add the honey, lemon zest and milk.

Whisk until smooth.

Add the batter to your tin and drop a ripe raspberry in the center

Bake for 5 minutes at 375′ then turn the oven off for 1 minute, turn the oven back on at 325′ and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Cheese-atarian

I've been subsisting almost exclusively on veggies....ok veggies and carbs smothered in cheese. This must stop! Seriously!

Lunch today was sautéed kale, black beans and mac and cheese. That's not too bad.  But it seems like every time i see a nice wholesome veggie i feel an uncontrollable urge to drape cheese over it. Good cheese...we're talking Gruyere béchamels here.  It's a strange and delicious compulsion.  I shall reform. I must.  Bridesmaid bootcamp starts tomorrow!

Baked Mac & Cheese
1 egg
2 cups milk

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup cheddar

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

1 box elbow macaroni
1 cup shredded gruyere & swiss


Cook pasta and set aside.  Bring milk to a simmer.  Add butter and gruyere.  Whisk gently until well blended.  Whisk in egg until mixture is smooth.

Add white sauce and pasta to a medium baking dish.  Stir until pasta is completely covered with sauce.  Top with cheddar  and breadcrumbs.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

ps: it's rather gratifying to know my food pics look way better than Martha Stewart's.  i still love you Martha!

Roasted Acorn Squash

Many of my friends are Pioneer Woman enthusiasts so it is with some embarrassment that I confess I have never made a Rhee Drummond recipe before today.  But oh what a recipe!

Dreyer Farms has been offering local seasonal produce in Cranford since 1904.  I recently received a generous array of Dreyer's goodies and I've enjoyed preparing and consuming them all week.

I confess I felt very veggie ignorant going through my Dreyer's box.  I had to use google to identify two of the squash varieties therein.  Once I figured out that the pumpkin-esque green squash was acorn squash the next challenge was how to prepare it...enter inspired pioneer woman recipe. This dish was not only fresh, seasonal and local, it was also extraordinarily delicious.

bon appetit!
dani

• 1 Acorn Squash
• a pinch of Kosher Salt 
• 2 tsp of butter
• 2 tsp Brown Sugar
• 3 tsp Pure Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Halve each squash, then scrape out the seeds. Place the halves, flesh side up, on a baking sheet and sprinkle each half with salt.

Add butter to the center of each squash followed by brown sugar. Drizzle squash with maple syrup.

Pour 1/2 water in the bottom of the baking pan.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 30-45 minutes, or until squash is golden brown.

In the last 5 minutes of baking, turn on the broiler and allow tops to get a little more brown and the butter/sugar mixture to bubble.

Croissant French Toast

My latest experiment was inspired by the cronut craze.  Fried croissants anyone?  It sounds absolutely mad but day old croissants turn sublime when served up french toast style 

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp saigon cinnamon

1 tsp butter

2 croissants 

Whisk egg, milk & cinnamon together. Dredge croissants in egg mixture.  

Melt butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Pan fry croissants. 

Serve warm with berries, syrup, fresh whip creme and a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Danibucks

The title of this post is admittedly a bad pun but not one intended to indicate that our authoress has money; she does not.

No the title in question was simply meant to convey my glee at economically satisfying a Starbucks craving at home.  I made pumpkin scones this morning and a pumpkin latte with fresh whipped cream!  yumm...





Pumpkin Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of cream
1 egg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup walnuts


Combine butter, sugar, egg, cream, pumpkin and cinnamon until smooth.  Add flour, baking powder and nuts.  Knead into a smooth dough.  Shape scones on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Pesto Crusted Tilapia with Insalata Caprese

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 clove garlic
1/8 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup parmesan shavings
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add half the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. 

Add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese. 

Coat tilapia filets with a generous even layer of pesto.  Bake at 500 degrees Fareneheit for about 15 minutes until fish appears opaque and flaky with a lightly browned coating on top.  Freeze leftover pesto.  

Toss tomatoes with balsamic and use to garnish fish along with parmesan shavings. Bon Appetit.  

Crave VS Save

Fashion Tangent -  We're veering away from our normal format into "Cupcakes and Cashmere" territory.  I was so taken with this clutch that I had to search out an affordable facsimile Emily Schuman style. 

  behold...The Givenchy Antigona Clutch

I'm not gonna....but I really want to.  

The price is very...gasp, shudder, walk away inducing. 

   

affordable alternative: BCBG Croc Embossed Clutch

Found a more moderately priced option at Neiman Marcus of all places. 

 Hmmm now I just have to hunt down the perfect shade of burgundy lipstick.

While I'm on the topic of Emily Schuman, I must say I'm just dying to try her Rosemary Butter Cookies!  

I love desserts with herbal flavors.  My Lemon & Rosemary Olive Oil Cake, with its subtle traces of star anise, is one of my all time favorite sweets.  

I'll soon be adding Schuman's cookies to my dessert repertoire.  They'd be perfect for Saturday's picnic although I may opt to prepare more populous fare.

xx

dani

Frosting Rugelach

Do not be misled by my title.  You don't frost Rugelach, you egg wash it.  A flaky Jewish strudel composed of yummy fillings and a cream cheese dough, Rugelach is my favorite pastry!  You see a girl simply cannot be born and raised in Brooklyn without acquiring a measure of affection for Jewish food.  Potato latkes, lox and bagels, matzo; your average Brooklyn girl loves it all.

The other day I found myself craving Rugelach and reluctant to pay $10.00/lb for it at my local bakery.  I had no cream cheese in my fridge and Rugelach requires either cream cheese or sour cream.  I was dismayed until inspiration struck.

I think most bakers eventually come down with cupcake fatigue.  The dainty delectables are such a fixture at parties and showers, the average baker frosts thousands in a lifetime.

Last week I went to a friends annual pig roast and brought what else, cupcakes. After the first dozen I found I'd tired of forming frosting spirals atop the petite treats.  So I wound up with a bowl of surplus frosting in my fridge.

Normally excess frosting just goes to waste. However the ingredients in frosting are the same components that make Rugelach so irresistible;  cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Combining 1 1/2 cups of frosting with 2 cups all-purpose flour I kneaded the mixture into a smooth dough. I rolled the dough on a floured surface and topped it with crushed pecans & melted chocolate.

Traditional rugelach is cut into triangles.  I used strips which I then rolled up into the crescent shaped delights i was craving.

I cook. I do not craft.

As I type these words my mother is probably embroidering handkerchiefs and professing her love of "handwork."  Alas, I am not my mother.

Crafting requires patience and manual dexterity, virtues i possess in very small measure.  Sure I've re-upholstered chairs and watercolored invitations, with varying degrees of success, but I am mostly a fan of insta-projects.  As in 1, 2, 3 done with minimal time or effort invested.  My latest fast craft:  Chalkboard Jars!

My Crate & Barrel chalkboard canisters were the first things I purchased for my new kitchen.  I love anything that injects character and storage into a space.

It occurred to me the other day that while i had a place to stow my sugar, flour, coffee and rice there was one neglected staple in my cabinet, popcorn.  You see at my house dinner often looks like this:

All you need is a lidded glass jar, chalkboard paint, tape, scissors and a medium bristle brush.

Tape off the area you intend to paint.  Cover with a smooth coat of chalkboard paint.  Allow the paint to dry for one hour and apply another coat.  Let dry over night.  Oila.  Storage with a handy writing surface!

xx

dani

Southwestern Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

My ideal meal is more fueling than filling; a mix of lean protein and antioxidant rich seasonal veggies.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

1 red pepper, halved

1 cup quinoa

1/4 cup black beans

1/8 cup sweet corn

2 tbsp diced red onion

1/8 cup diced tomatoes

1/8 cup white cheddar

Combine ingredients.  Stuff peppers and bake for 15 mins at 350 degrees.

What's for Dinner?

For many of us the answer to that question is determined by whatever ingredients you have on hand. It's noon and i'm chomping on arugula sans dressing.  Friends call what i usually consume "not even a salad really,  more of a vegetable medley" and I'm cool with that.  Drowning greens in mayonnaise does not a salad make.

Back to dinner..."What's for dinner?" I asked myself and nothing came to mind.  There's nothing in my fridge, as per usual.  I mean there's like 6 varieties of cheese, organic zucchini, red pepper....zucchini, red pepper...GREEN CURRY!  One of my favorite things in life.  I have basil too.  Nothing like having the right array of almost nothing to make something truly divine.

Thai Green Curry

1/2 cup white cooking wine
1 cup coconut milk
2 chicken breasts
1 zucchini
1/2 a red pepper
1 tsp minced ginger
1tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp canola oil
1/8 cup green curry powder
1 tbsp flour

Sautee ginger and garlic in oil until garlic is lightly browned.  Cut chicken into strips and pan fry over medium heat until cooked through, about 6 mins.

Add coconut milk, cooking wine, vegetables and green curry powder.  Sift flour into pan stirring slowly to avoid clumps.  Simmer over medium heat until thickened.

Quinoa Risotto with Portabella Mushrooms

I really need to stop sabotaging perfectly healthy food with things like cream and cheese and chicken stock.  Next time I promise i'll do normal vegan quinoa.  For an even heartier dish add chicken sausage.

Quinoa Risotto with Portabella Mushrooms

4 tbsp olive oil
2 portabella mushrooms, cleaned & sliced thin
3 cups quinoa
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 shallot diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Saute mushrooms, garlic and shallots until browned.  Add quinoa and stir about 3 minutes until lightly toasted.

Bring broth and water to a simmer over medium heat.  Transfer liquid 1/2 cup at a time to quinoa mixture.  Allow quinoa to fully absorb liquid before adding more.

Continue adding liquid for about 20 minutes until quinoa is tender and fluffy.  Stir in cheese and cream.  Cover and let stand for about 2 minutes on low heat.

enjoy!

xx

dani