holidays

Holiday Edition: Spiced Wine-Poached Pears with Mascarpone

December 25, 2013 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

I’ve been waiting to make these spiced wine-poached pears, literally for months since I first had them on an amazing trip to South Africa. I decided Christmas Eve dinner was the perfect opportunity to serve them. On top of being simple, elegant and extremely fragrant, I love the idea of serving poached pears to offset all the chocolate and cookie-eating my family does this time of year. It’s nice to have something on the lighter side. I also love these because whatever doesn’t get finished during dessert can be used to pour over pancakes or waffles the next morning.

I used Food 52’s Red Wine Poached Pears recipe. It was a great recipe but too sweet for my taste, so I’ve adjusted it slightly. I also added cloves which really upped the spice factor. And though I didn’t think of it until after, I could have added some knobs of fresh ginger left over from my holiday cocktail which would have been lovely.

Serves 6

4 cups red wine ( inexpensive, medium-dry wine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 cup orange juice
Peels from 2 oranges
1 whole orange (without peel)
10 -12 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
A small handful of thyme
6 firm but ripe pears, peeled, stems left intact

After removing the skin from 1 orange, pierce the orange with the cloves, making sure they are well fastened.
Combine everything except for the pears in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. Add pears, and bring everything back up to a simmer.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer slowly until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes. (But start checking at 20 minutes! Depending on the ripeness of your pears, this could take slightly less or more time.)
Transfer pears to a plate or platter. Boil liquid in saucepan until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead — just cover and chill pears in the poaching liquid.) Before serving, rewarm over medium-low heat until pears are heated through, or simply serve them at room temperature.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or mascarpone cheese.

Holiday Edition: Evie’s Festive Punch

December 25, 2013 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

I would be lying if I said I didn’t obsess trying to find THE perfect cocktail for this Christmas season. After many hours of googling and deep, personal reflection (at the liquor store), I landed on a Pear and Ginger Rum Punch, laced with a nutty spank of amaretto.

The drink is strong (hello, it has dark rum in it…), it’s nutty from the amaretto, sweet from the pear juice and spicy from the fresh grated ginger. I test-drove the recipe among friends at a cocktail party the other night and it went over well. I added a seltzer water floater to ensure it didn’t taste too sweet, and added a cranberry and crystallized ginger skewer as garnish (too cute, I know!)

Here’s the approximate recipe for this lil’ festive drank.

Makes 1 crazy strong cocktail:

1.5 oz dark rum (Meyers, Mount gay)
3/4 oz amaretto (go for Luxardo, not Disaronno. It’s cheaper and made with 100% almond)
2 oz pear juice (Ceres brand preferred)
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger (peel away skin and use a micro plane/ fine zester.)
Ice
Soda/seltzer water
Garnish: crystallized ginger and dried cranberry on a toothpick

1. Fill low ball glass with ice

2. Grate fresh ginger directly into glass

3. Pour in rum, amaretto and pear juice

4. Add a splash of soda water on top

5. Stir well and serve!

If you’re going to do a large batch of pre-made punch (recommended) , just make sure to do 1 part rum, 1.5 parts pear juice and slightly less than 1/2 part amaretto. Grate in a generous amount of ginger and adjust flavors accordingly. For extra credit you can freeze the pear juice in ice cub trays beforehand, then add to the punch bowl so it stays cold.

A serious bouche-amuser: Crispy Polenta and Garlic Shrimp

December 26, 2012 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

…because everyone has a food model handy.

In order to understand the above picture, you need to understand my family around Christmas time. We’re Jewish, with a Catholic dad. This means– thankfully–we are not subjected to the Chinese Food + TBS movie on Christmas Eve cliché, but we’re not exactly celebrating Jesus’ birthday either. So, naturally, we do as any other family in a similar situation does… put on a series of elaborate Christmas dinners, where the five of us take an imaginary adventure to some other time/place in bizarre costumes and toast to each other with bad accents, acting in line with offensive and/or inaccurate stereotypes. (Some gems from years past are below).

This year, I was passed the baton and was charged with taking my family on a culinary journey on Christmas Eve. Equipped with a sous-chef (my little brother), I, Frau Lulu, countess of a small Swiss village, served my esteemed guests an elaborate four-course meal in my modest country home. First on the menu, presented above ever so elegantly by one of my guests, the internationally recognized singer-model Ze Frau Emilie, was the amuse-bouche: polenta discs with garlic shrimp, marinara sauce and goat cheese.

Serves about 14 discs, 2-3 per person

1 tube pre-cooked polenta (in the pasta aisle)
12 shrimp, raw, de-shelled and de-veined
garlic
marinara sauce, preferably homemade
goat cheese
S/P
Italian seasoning

1) slice the polenta into about 12-14 even slices. Season them each with S/P and Italian seasoning

2) heat a large skillet with olive oil to medium-high heat and saute the polenta. About 10 mins

3) While polenta cooks, heat another skillet. Mix shrimp with 2 T olive oil and 3 crushed garlic cloves in a small bowl. Season with S/P and place gently into skillet. Once the shrimp hit the pan, do not flip them for 2 minutes to ensure they get good color. Turn off heat once they are pink and seared.

4) Once the polenta are crispy, place them on a large ungreased cookie sheet. Place 1 shrimp on each polenta disc, then add 1 teaspoon of marinara. Crumble an ample amount of goat cheese on top of each disk.

5) place in the oven and broil for about 5 minutes. Watch constantly to make sure nothing burns.

6) wait about 5 minutes before transferring to a pretty plate. Serve and enjoy!

Here are some of those gems mentioned above:

Disco Christmas 2010

“Arabian Nights”…yea, this happened too. Christmas 2011

Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli

December 23, 2012 by Eva Louise 3 Comments

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage-Infused Olive Oil

Christmas is coming and one of the nice things about this time of year is, of course, gathering with family. There are several of my recipes that I reserve especially for these times, so I can take advantage of the extra man-power. Homemade butternut squash raviolis definitely fall into this category. A simple but labor-intensive dish, these raviolis are a great way to incorporate the whole family so everyone feels like they are part of the meal.

I adapted my recipe from Emril Lagasse’s and used wonton papers instead of fresh pasta dough. For my sauce, I used olive oil simmered with rosemary and sage, instead of the butter that Emril’s recipe calls for. One trick I use to finish this dish is to purposely allow the starchy pasta water to drip into the serving dish when I transfer the raviolis. This makes the sauce sauce-ier and more delicious.

Butternut squash and Parmigiano-Reggiano are the stars of this dish, but they could be easily substituted with different combos like crispy prosciutto and ricotta, goat cheese and mushrooms, salmon and chives (with a cream sauce instead). You could even do sweet raviolis with cinnamon-apples and mascarpone with a caramel sauce…mmm.

Cubes of squash are simmered with chicken broth and herbs while onions are softened. Their powers combine in the Cuisinart to make the filling.

A little Ecuadorian princess delicately folds the wonton papers filled with sweet and savory squash into perfect raviolis

Two Coudies Archive: “Corn on the Cob”

July 4, 2012 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

Happy 4th of July! Everyone is surely out grillin’ and chillin’ in celebration of this great nation. I pulled this Two Coudies post from our 4th of July party from 2009 where I made a disastrous (but precious) batch of cupcakes decorated to look like corn on the cob.

**********************************************************************

This is by far my most amazing food feat: cupcakes in the guise of corn on the cob. Too cute for words, I know. I found the idea in this cupcake book I stumbled upon at a specialty bookstore. It was as if the gods had heard my prayers and gifted me with this totally useless but equally precious cupcake decorating book. I was saved and it only took me $ 16.95.

I made the cupcakes from a box of cornbread muffin mix, jazzed up with a can of creamed corn, a half cup of sour cream and one cup of cheddar cheese baked according to the instructions on the box. The frosting was two packs if cream cheese and powdered sugar and a teaspoon of lemon juice. For the kernels I used yellow, white and butter flavored jelly beans. The “pad of butter” is actually a yellow saltwater taffy candy and the “parsley flakes” are green sugar crystals. I put three each in corn trays and pierced the ends with corncob handles.

My only advice if you decide to do this is to make sure you do it in an air-conditioned house. I did in my Cape Cod kitchen with no AC and everything was sliding off the frosting. I almost lost my marbles over that one. Oh, and don’t drink coffee that day either because when I finally finished them, my hand twitched and I dropped the cupcakes face down on the table. I died. Cute though, huh?

Two Coudies Archive: Fine Investment Father’s Day Rockfish

June 17, 2012 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

Daddy-Happy Father’s Day! Along with great hair, thank you for gifting me with a discerning and rather expensive palette. You’ve programmed me to thrive best when consuming fine wines and champagne, imported cheeses, charcuterie, caviar and fresh seafood. While my wallet doesn’t appreciate it, my belly definitely does.

Since it is Father’s Day I’ve pulled from the Two Coudies Archive this Father’s Day fish post. It reminds me of such a great Father-Daughters trip we took a couple of years ago, I’m happy to have a place in cyber space to remember it forever. Love you, Dad!

*************************************************************************

For Father’s Day, my sister and I took Dad to St. Michael’s, Maryland (GO THERE!) for a nautically-inclined weekend. Amidst sunset sailing, an antique boat show and a private plane ride over the Chesapeake Bay (!), we set him up with a fishing guide. Luckily for me he caught three HUGE Rockfish (called Striped Bass, where I’m from). He couldn’t take them back on the plane with him so when I returned to DC, I invited some of my girlfriends over and made a super simple Parmesan Rockfish. To celebrate summer I added a feta and watermelon salad. While we ate the meal with rice, I’ve added a recipe for some insanely rich mashed potatoes…because that’s what the rockfish would have wanted. Thanks to my girl Nicole GoodHat Aguirre of Worn Magazine for the photos.

Parmesan & Parsley Fish:

Preheat oven to 350 and begin marinating fish.

Marinade:

2 large garlic cloves crushed
2 1lb filets of rockfish (or any other white fish)
the juice of 1 lemon
splash of white wine
2 tsp salt and pepper
3 tsp olive oil
2 shakes of chili flake if you want to get KrAZy

Topping:

1/2 cup Parmesan
2 tsp finely chopped parsley

Mix fish and marinade ingredients together in gallon-size Ziploc and stick in fridge. After it’s chilled again, place in buttered glass dish large enough for filets to lay flat. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh chopped parsley.

Depending on thickness, bake for approx 13-15 minutes. The fish should flake when you pull a fork through it.

**WiLd SiDe:turn on the broiler at the end of cook time for 2 minutes to brown the top.

They will love you Forever Boursin Mashed Potatoes:

Russet, Yukon Gold or bliss potatoes
1-3 garlic cloves
3/4 small package of Boursin or Alouette herbed cheese
2 T butter
2 T sour cream
splash of milk or cream
1 egg
salt/pepper

Quarter and boil potatoes in large pot for about 30 mins. Potatoes will be ready when you can pass a fork or knife straight through with little pressure. When cooked and tender, drain and return to large pot and turn heat to low. Mash slightly with with masher or hand mixer. Incorporate all other ingredients except for egg. Continue to taste to adjust flavors and consistency to your liking. Add raw egg and blend.*

*If you have a Jewish family member in the kitchen, do this discreetly. If you get caught, deny everything.

I-Am-A-Sex-MaH-Cheen Watermelon and Feta Salad:

Vinaigrette:

1 part lemon juice
2 parts Extra Virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt/pepper
1 tsp sugar
the leaves of 4 thyme sprigs, finely chopped
5 raspberries, optional
splash of any good quality fruit juice in the frig (lemonade, limeade, raspberry juice)
1 T dijon mustard

Mix all together in blender until smooth. If it’s too sweet, add one more lemon and/or pepper. Too tart, more olive oil, then more sugar.

Place a handful of washed spring mix, arugula or spinach on a salad plate. Serve with a slice of watermelon and a feta cube, drizzle with vinaigrette.