Last minute party food

I'm sitting here wracking my brain for a bright food idea.  My husband just told me this evening that we should bring food to a baby shower the day after tomorrow when the next two days are more-than-full workdays.  There really isn't much food in the house so a trip to the store is definitely in order.  Oh, and we still need to buy a baby gift.  Yikes!

What shall I cook?  It will have to be very quick to prepare and all ingredients have to be available at our local grocery store.  It also needs to be a little more hearty than most finger food appetizers because so far people are bringing either doritos and beer or salad.  So....I'm thinking Rosemary Biscuits.  Simple ingredients, quick to make, and can be served warm or cold.  I'll bring a Spiral Ham and 2 Mustards to accompany.

The biscuits are headily scented with rosemary.  They can be flaky and more scone-like or sturdier so they can provide the basis for a little biscuit sandwich.  Either way they go really well slathered with fresh strawberry jam, but I don't have any of that to bring along so the ham and mustards will have to do.

The original recipe (Shaker Rosemary Biscuits) comes from my time long ago at The Herbfarm in Washington State.  Back then everything was located on the original farm, including a restaurant and shop. The farm grew and sold every imaginable herb from medicinal to culinary.  I learned a lot in those days and wish I had a green thumb to grow all that I love to cook with.

Roberta's Rosemary Biscuits (adapted from The Herbfarm's Shaker Rosemary Biscuits)

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup very cold butter cut into small chunks
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried)
• 3/4 cup milk (or 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk)

Preparation

Heat oven to 425F degrees.  Sift dry ingredients together and stir in rosemary.  Cut in butter until most chunks are the size of english peas.  Make a well in the center and add milk (if using milk/egg combo beat the egg slightly before adding to the flour mixture).  Stir wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.  Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly 10-12 times.  Cut or roll into golf-ball size pieces.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Notes: If you use the egg/milk combination the biscuits are a little sturdier whereas with just the milk they are very fragile and flaky -  more like a scone.   In the picture the biscuits on the left are made with the milk/egg combo. Those on the right are made with only milk.

Almost any herb can be substituted for rosemary such as sage or thyme. The key is using fresh herbs if you can.

Basil Shrimp Risotto



It's been a hot and wet summer this year and our basil is at its peak. We have two varieties growing -  genovese and thai.  The genovese is the common, large shiny-leaf variety used in dishes like caprese salad and pesto. It's slightly peppery and sweet. Thai basil, which has a slight licorice flavor, has smaller darker leaves with purple blossoms and is used in thai dishes such as basil chicken. There are many other basil varieties: lemon, lime, cinnamon, globe...almost a flavor for everything.

Today I want to use the genovese basil to make Basil Shrimp Risotto. It would be ideal for the height of basil season to coincide with asparagus and spring pea season, but alas, that is not the case.  Nevertheless, if you can get either good asparagus or peas when basil is also available, this dish suits itself to either of those additions. I've already picked the basil and have the shrimp thawing in the refrigerator.  Now I just have to wait until dinner time.  Maybe I'll make a honey lemon cake while I wait!

Basil Shrimp Risotto

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
• 1 pound shrimp (shells on, I recommend 21-30s)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup bacon, cut crosswise in 1/4"-wide strips
• 1/4 cup shallots, minced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups shrimp, fish or chicken stock
• 3/4 cup asparagus, 1" pieces lightly steamed or fresh peas, lightly steamed
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup cream, optional
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tablespoon fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced for garnish
• 2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese, shaved for garnish

Preparation

Shell and clean the shrimp. Rinse both the shells and shrimp. Refrigerate the shrimp until needed later on.  Put the shells in a pot and cover with 1" of water.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Strain and return to a clean pan, add enough stock to bring the quantity to 4 cups and keep warm on a low flame.

In a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and bacon.  Cook down until bacon renders its fat.  Lower heat and add shallots.  Saute shallots until transparent, do not allow them to brown if possible.  Add rice and stir to coat with oil.  Cook for 1 minute.  Increase heat to medium and add white wine.  Stir until wine has been absorbed.

Begin adding stock one ladle full at a time.  Stir the rice until each ladle has been absorbed and then add another.  Continue to add stock until rice is almost tender.  Stir in rest of ingredients, cover and let stand while you prepare the shrimp.

Heat a 12" saute pan (do NOT use a non-stick surface pan for this) over the highest heat you have.  The next few steps need to be done as quickly as you can.  When hot, add canola oil.  Let heat for a few seconds, then add the shrimp.  Try to get them in a single layer as best you can.  As soon as they start turning pink on the one side, which is almost instantaneous, turn them over.  As soon as they are all turned over, turn off the heat (if you are using an electric stove take it off the burner), throw in 2 Tablespoons of butter (cut into a few pieces so it melts quickly), add the basil and put the lid on.  Do not lift the lid for 3 minutes.  After 3 minutes you are ready to assemble your dish.

Pour all the contents from the shrimp pan into the rice and gently stir. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.  If the risotto seems too stiff, gently stir in more cream or stock.  Serve with a few shaves of parmesan and basil on top.

My favorite summer cocktails - #4

Hot weather has a way of making watermelon more refreshing than beer, water, or soda. Add two more cooling ingredients - cucumber and mint - and you have the ultimate cool, refreshing cocktail.  Throw some carne adovada and tortillas on the grill, toss together a quick roasted corn, poblano and zucchini side and you've got yourself a stellar summer meal and drink.

Watermelon Mint Margarita

Ingredients

• 1/4 to 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 3 Tablespoons mint-infused simple syrup (see mint post)
• 1 Tablespoon Cointreau (or Triple Sec)
• 1/2 cup Tequila
• 2 generous cups of frozen watermelon, 1" chunks
• 1" peeled english cucumber, roughly chopped (if seedy, remove seeds)
• 15-20 fresh mint leaves
• 2 mint sprigs for garnish
• Sugar or kosher salt, optional

Preparation

Ahead of time cut up a watermelon into 1" chunks and make sure you get all the seeds out - even the white ones if you can.  Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze for several hours at least.  If you are preparing this ahead or making more than you will use, once frozen ply off the sheet and put into a ziploc bag and keep frozen until needed.  Add liquid ingredients to a blender then add the rest of the ingredients.  Blend in short bursts until watermelon is pureed.  If you like, use a slice of lime to wet the rims of the margarita glasses and dip rims into sugar or kosher salt (I prefer a light dip into salt).  Pour in frozen margarita mixture and garnish with a mint sprig.

Makes 2 drinks, depending on the size of your margarita glasses!

BBQ Sides

The famous Club Yankeelov (aka "The Club") came over for dinner tonight and Todd BBQ'd a pork shoulder. I find it hard to pair healthy foods with BBQ. It just cries out for deep fried sides and/or lots of starch. However, I had to try for a healthy starter and sides so that we could splurge a little on dessert. Given that 7-month old Lexie the Great was coming to dinner as well, I knew that dinner would not be a long drawn out affair.  So, a quick simple appetizer, healthy-ish main course, and a satisfying chocolate-y dessert (The Club loves chocolate!) were in order for the menu.

For the appetizer I settled on dried apricot halves slathered with a little goat cheese (I used blue goat cheese for half of them and a French chèvre coated with dried tarragon for the other half), and I topped each with a roasted Marcona almond and drizzled them with a touch of honey. Inspiration came from a recent Sunset Magazine. The ingredients make all the difference in this little morsel.  If you can, use Blenheim variety dried apricots. They are the best apricot for eating outright. If you were going to cook apricots I might suggest something else, but for eating out of the bag I haven't found any dried apricot better than the Blenheim variety I buy at Trader Joe's, well, other than those my Grandmother dried from her own little tree that she rescued from the cherry orchard.  Use high quality goat cheese (good French chèvre is unbelievable - you could mix it with a little fresh basil or thyme if you have a plain variety).  Only use Marcona almonds - luckily these are fairly easy to find now.  I've seen them at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and even Costco. Yes, they cost more than regular almonds, but they are totally worth it.  Regular run of the mill apricots, almonds, or goat cheese will just not be the same experience.

For the sides, I made a double salad.  The bottom layer was a stripped down spinach salad with a roasted garlic and smoked paprika caesar dressing.  The top was a roasted corn, Vidalia onion, basil and cherry tomato salad layer (in the most recent, July 2011, Sunset Magazine).  Along with the BBQ'd pork and buns, it was a fairly light meal as BBQ goes.

To finish the meal we had crepes stuffed with peanut butter & chocolate (a la "Reeses") topped with vanilla bean ice cream.  The stuffing was made with a little creamy peanut butter mixed with grated Mexican chocolate (yes, the stuff you melt in milk to make hot chocolate - "Ibarra" is a common variety). I used about 2 Tablespoons peanut butter to 1/3 cup grated chocolate.  Microplane the chocolate before mixing with the peanut butter.  Because the chocolate has an almost gritty sugar texture, the filling ends up having a slight crunch to it.  Mmmm. 'Twas good. However, if that crunch doesn't appeal to you just - your favorite chocolate instead.  If you need a good crepe recipe, French Classics Made Easy has a good one with detailed drawings and instructions (although it neglects the "always throw out the first" one rule).

That's my menu planning for the week!

French Menus

I am in heaven. All my cooking geek sensors are going off.  I am deep into The French Menu Cookbook, by the late Richard Olney, just re-released by Ten Speed Press with a new introduction. The original book is from 1970, but there are parts of it that could have been written yesterday. The subtitle is: "The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season - in Beautifully Composed Menus for American Dining and Entertaining by an American Living in Paris and Provence".  One of my pet obsessions is creating menus and I don't know how I went so long without reading this book. To quote my friend, Joy, "I love, love, love" this book.

Now, if you are expecting a traditional cookbook you will be sorely disappointed. You actually have to *read* this book. I've read many a fine cookbook, but this is one of the best. Did you know there are three different cooking surface skimming types and techniques?

Olney has a wonderful section on French wines - making them accessible to the un-initiated. The turns of phrase he summons make me almost giddy, "...it is difficult to touch with words the soul of a wine" (p. 39).  Maybe one day I'll figure out this writing thing and come within 1/32 of the quality of his work.

Now the menu and recipe portion of the book will throw you back to the 1970s and before.  It reads like a delightful history book and evokes a time when cooking was about the food and less about artistic interpretation. Imagine yourself living in New York trying to impress your friends with your knowledge and skill of French cooking - these are the menus you might have tried to make.  A warning - they are not easy menus if you are looking to lift one for your next dinner party, nor are they composed of dishes that find their way on to many menus today (e.g., stuffed calves' ears, organ meats of various animals -  lamb kidneys, beef tripe, etc.), but they are thought-provoking.  They make the micro/emulsion/sous vide (boiling-a-bag) trends seem positively space age.

If you're a cooking geek like me, this is an important book to have in your library.  It's a testament to the fact that cookbooks can be about much more than recipes and pictures.