My Love

The holidays are rough on all our pocketbooks, but my poor boyfriend also has our anniversary and my birthday in December to manage. For our recent anniversary he put together what is simply my favorite thing to eat - a spread of lovely cheeses and meats, olives, fruit, bread, etc. I could close my eyes and imagine I am in some Provencal country house, but sitting on our old couch with him is almost as good!

The cheese plate included Humboldt Fog, Danish Blue, Triple Creme, Parrana, St. Andre, Smoked Rambol and Sharp cheddar. In the rectangular dish there is a Pate de Campagna, mixed olives, boursin and blueberries. Finally, he served some peppery French sausage, French bread and crackers. Just think of all the combinations you can make!

Garlicky Madeira Chicken

This was a quick dinner last night. Preheat oven to 375F. Brown four chicken breasts in a little olive oil. Remove chicken to oven-proof pan and put in oven. Saute 4 minced garlic cloves in skillet (add more olive oil if needed). Once cooked through, add 1/4 cup Madeira wine, 1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock, and 1/2 tspn minced thyme. Scrape up brown bits on bottom of skillet and turn heat to high. Reduce until thick, about 10 minutes. Cook chicken about 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. Pour sauce over top. I served these with steamed asparagus and Boursin mashed potatoes.

Turkey, Barley and Asparagus Soup

Yup, Thanksgiving leftovers are still haunting us and its DECEMBER. I got the turkey carcass from Mom's Thanksgiving, and yesterday made lots and lots of stock. Tonight I made a soup out of the stock, cooked turkey, barley and veggies. It was simple yet very well-flavored, though next time I will use a little less barley. The recipe I used is below. As I said, probably should use a little less barley than I have listed below. Also, my stock was very well flavored with bay leaf, salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. If you are using store-bought stock, you might want a add a pinch of these seasonings.

4 cups turkey stock (feel free to substitute chicken stock)
1/4 cup diced onion
2 celery ribs, chopped
3/4 cup diced cooked turkey (feel free to substitute diced chicken)
1/2 tspn dried thyme
3/4 cup pearl barley
1 carrot, chopped
4-5 asparagus stalks, ends cut off, and stems chopped into 1 1/2-inch pieces
salt and pepper

Bring stock, onion, celery, turkey and thyme to a boil. Add barley and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes. Add carrot and cook for 10 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for 3 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper seasoning.

Serves 2.

To Hell with Teeth - the Brittle Edition

The holiday gift-making has begun! Today I made brittle for the first time, based on a recipe in this month's Gourmet. It's a little different than the normal peanut brittle. It has a mixture of nuts - pistachio, almond and cashew. It calls for sliced almonds, though I used slivered and just chopped them up, and, when I ran out of those, I used chopped pecans. What makes this brittle special, however, is the cardamom, that heavenly scented seed. Cardamom would make a lovely perfume!

I found the recipe pretty easy to do, and didn't need to put it into the oven at any point. Next I'll wrap them up and include in my gift baskets.

Mulled Cider

To keep us warm this past weekend while walking around a local holiday festival, I made my friends and I some mulled cider. It's 30 degrees out! Not fair! But the cider helped. In the local supermarket's picnic supplies aisle, I found coffee cups with lids we could carry around with us. Also, I didn't, but you should feel free to add a splash of rum to get even warmer!

Here's the recipe:

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 orange slice
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and cut in half
2 cinnamon sticks
4-5 whole cloves

In a medium-to-large pot, simmer all ingredients for 20-25 minutes. Makes 4 large servings, probably 6-8 small cups.