Chicken Liver Pate With Quince, Pancetta & Calvados

I have a distinct memory of being a six year old at the dinner table with a plate full of liverwurst. I wasn't a fan of liverwurst in my younger years and if memory serves me correctly, I don't think I touched it. Fast forward 36 years, liverwurst has been reimagined as pâté and not only do I eat it with verve, I make it on a regular basis. I have to admit, my pâté bears very little resemblance to the Oscar Meyer liverwurst of my youth— it's not wrapped in yellow plastic, pancetta from Northern Waters Smokehaus plays a strong supporting role, the quince adds a hint of floral sweetness and chestnuts give it a satisfying crunch. Perhaps if I was presented with a fancy liverwurst/pâté at the tender age of six, I would've jumped on the organ meat bandwagon a lot sooner. Regardless, I'm on the bandwagon now and it's proving to be a pretty sweet ride.

Chicken Liver Pate With Pancetta, Quince And Calvados (Adapted From Fine Cooking Party Food)

3 containers (15 ounces each) fresh, all natural chicken livers
6 tbsp olive oil
1 pound pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice
3 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 quince, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 cup Calvados
2 sticks of butter (16 tbsp), at room temperature
3/4 cup chestnuts, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation
Rinse the livers and trim off the tough tissue that connects the lobes; pat dry.

In a sauté pan over medium high heat, sauté the chestnuts until they are fragrant and start to turn golden brown. Set aside.

In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and add the chicken livers, seasoning with a small amount of salt. Cook the livers, turning once or twice, to medium rare, lightly browning on both sides, about 4 minutes. Set the livers aside and add the pancetta, shallots, garlic, quince, rosemary and thyme to the pan. Gently sauté over medium heat until the pancetta is slightly colored and the shallots and quince are softened. Add the Calvados and deglaze the pan, scraping with a wooden spoon and cooking until the Calvados is reduced to about 1/3 cup. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a food processor, combine the cooled livers, pancetta mixture and butter; process until well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Line small bowls or ramekins with plastic wrap. equally divide the chestnuts among the bowls and then add the pâté, lightly it covering with the plastic wrap and refrigerate until set. Grind additional pepper over the top before serving with crackers or slices of baguette. Keeps for a week in the refrigerator and up to 3 months (well-wrapped) in the freezer.

The Best Corn Chowder

What's not to love about corn, potatoes, cheese and bacon? Not much, in my book. There is even less wrong when the recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Corn chowder is my favorite harbinger of the shorter days and colder temperatures of autumn. I make a huge batch every fall and freeze it to eat over the winter— there is something about corn and potatoes that makes me so happy. It's always a good idea to have a couple of soups or chowders in your repertoire so if you need a quick and dirty dinner idea, you are in business. This chowder can be easily doubled or tripled and freezes brilliantly.

Corn Chowder With Cheddar Cheese(Adapted From The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten)

8 ounces bacon, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cups chopped yellow onions (4 large onions)
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
12 cups chicken stock, preferably home-made or low sodium
6 cups medium-diced red boiling potatoes, unpeeled (2 pounds)
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (3 pounds)
2 1/2  cups half-and-half
1/2 pound sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

Preparation
If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain and reserve. Place the corn cob and half and half in a sauté pan and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step).

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. ) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.

A Dougherty Snow Day

It turned out to be a splendid day. We were all looking forward to a snowy Sunday but as the hours marched on towards Monday, I started to lose hope. The weather people had been downgrading the storm all day and by 8:30, I d resigned myself to a measly dusting of snow (while my family in Minneapolis was literally rolling in it).

An hour later, we were celebrating. Jack came downstairs with the most marvelous news— a new winter storm warning had been issued and there were 5 to 9 inches of snow on the way.  I love a snow day like a George loves his Chuck-it and judging from Charlie's happy dance, I think he does as well. I couldn't wait to wake up on Monday morning to a world of white.

The kids technically had school but we live 12 miles away, the roads were bad and it was still snowing when we woke up; I decided a Dougherty Day was in order (a Dougherty day is an unplanned day off to lounge around the house and play hooky). Last week was a blur— between ski team, volleyball and Christmas Carol, we were running around constantly. Today was a much-needed break from the treadmill of commitments the kids have each week. We played with the dogs outside, went for a walk downtown, baked cookies, played cards and assembled Christmas treats. It was a perfect Dougherty snow day.

Bayfield loves a fresh coat of snow, it looked like a Norman Rockwell painting today.

My two girls in the snow. We went for our walk before we spent the afternoon in the kitchen. I'm not much of a baker but we decided to tackle some Christmas cookies and treats. Overall, it went well. We have about 2 million mints, I misread the directions and ended up quadrupling the recipe. Thank God the kids like butter mints.

George was acting horridly on the way down to the dock so I decided to let him loose rather than fall flat on my face because he refused to stop tugging me along. He took off and didn't look back, that dog knows how to have a good time.

George prefers to handle the leash himself.

This may be kind of a lame Christmas treat but it's totally within my skill set and it's a big hit around here. Who doesn't like pretzels dipped in almond bark and rolled in crushed candy canes?

Butter mints are going to be the name of the game around here for a while, we have a lot of them. The combination of my utter disregard for reading recipes and lack of reading glasses resulted in a miscalculation with the powdered sugar.  We have a lot of mints to eat, give away, vacuum pack, pave the driveway with...you get the idea. The good news is that it's a super easy recipe and they remind me of the mints my Grandmas Duffy always had at her house.

Butter Mints(From Williams Sonoma Holiday Cooking With Kids)

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp peppermint extract, plus extra as needed
red and green food coloring

Preparation
Put one cup of the sugar, butter and 1 tbsp of water in the bowl of a mixer. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Slowly add the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 tsp water, continuing to beat at medium speed until the mixture is smooth. The sugar mixture should be soft and not sticky. Add more water if it's crumbly and if it's too sticky, add more sugar. It should have the consistency of pie crust dough.

Remove dough from the mixer, separate it into 1 to 4 smaller balls, and add one ball back into the mixer. Add the food coloring of your choice to the ball by squirting the droplets on top of the dough (careful when you turn on the mixer), and paddle on low-speed until coloring is well-blended. Coloring will not blend completely into each and every speck of dough if examined extremely closely, but overall, mix until color is uniform.

Wash the mixing bowl and the paddle in between each color change and repeat until all the balls are colored. After the dough has been colored, either wrap it with plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator to be rolled out later or roll it immediately.

Place a golf-ball sized amount of dough in your hands and roll dough into long thin cylinders about 1 centimeter wide. Place cylinders on countertop and with a pizza cutter slice cylinder into bite size pieces. You can make any size or shape of mint that strikes your fancy— go crazy! Store mints in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for many weeks.

Cranberry & Quince Preserves

The Owl And The Pussycat Edward Lear

Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

In my search to find a new preserve to serve with pâté and cheese, I ran across a recipe with what seemed like a beautiful combination— quince, cranberry and ginger. Not being one to let a little thing like difficulty in locating or unfamiliarity with an ingredient stop me, I decided this preserve was 'the one'. The entire breadth and depth of my experience with quince could be summed in five words: quince paste and manchego cheese, I had never eaten or even seen a quince before. Given the fact I live in Bayfield and exotic fruits are not part of the food scene up here, I knew I may have a problem. Julie came to my rescue, went to the Co-op in Ashland and special ordered a case of the most lovely yellow misshapen orbs I had laid eyes on.

Quince are an ancient fruit, cultivated sometime between 200 B.C.E and 100 B.C.E in Mesopotamia. While they are a member of the apple and pear family, they were cultivated long before apples and many ancient references, like Eve's forbidden fruit, were most likely quince, not apple. They are also associated, in Greek mythology, with love, marriage, fertility and Aphrodite. I had no idea quinces were basically the fruit equivalent of love potion number 9, a matchmaker and a fertility goddess all rolled into a baseball sized package. While it's pretty much inedible raw (it has a tart, astringent flavor and dry texture), it comes to life when cooked. It's unique fragrance, a mixture of pineapple, guava and pear, combined with its sweet apple and rose petal perfumey flavor are enough to make me swoon, or dance by the light of the moon.

Cranberry & Quince Preserves(Adapted from Apt. 2B Baking Co.)

1 1/2 lbs fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/2 lbs peeled, cored, and diced quince (1/2'' sized pieces)
4 cups dark brown sugar
3 cups water
2 oz peeled and grated fresh ginger, about a 3'' long piece
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
1/4 tsp cloves
Zest and juice of one lemon
Zest and juice of one orange
Cleaned and sterilized jars and lids

Preparation
In a large pot over medium high heat dissolve the sugar into the water, then add the cranberries, chopped quince, grated ginger, crystallized ginger, cloves, lemon zest and juice, and the orange zest and juice. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the quince is soft, the cranberries have popped and the mixture has thickened slightly, about 45 minutes.

Ladle the hot preserves into prepared jars, wipe the rims with a clean towel and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Makes about 4 pints.

Roasted Bone Marrow & David Sedaris

Okay, I bet you are wondering where I'm going with this one; what does a satirist like Sedaris have to do with roasted bones? Allow me to explain. David and marrow will forever be entwined in my food memory because I ordered roasted veal marrow for the very first time at Lake Avenue Cafe before we went to see Sedaris at the DECC. It was a big moment for me. I have a book, My Last Supper , which asks famous chefs 'what would be your last meal on earth?' and Anthony Bourdain, sans clothing, answers, 'roast bone marrow with parsley and caper salad, with a few toasted slices of baguette and some good sea salt'. If it's good enough for his last meal, it would be sublime for my Friday night dinner.

I'd heard about the joy of beefy buttery marrow but my dogs eat raw bones and it was hard to imagine making a dinner out of what they are gnawing on under the table. It's not that I'm adverse to sharing with the dogs but other members of my household might take umbrage with such a dinner plan. Up to this point, bones at the Dougherty's were for canines only but it was all about to change. I'm tremendously glad I ordered them— it truly tastes like beefy butter and the tangy parsley and caper pesto was the perfect counterpoint to the rich and subtly sweet marrow.

As we were leaving the restaurant, I knew what I wanted to eat on Saturday night, more marrow, but wasn't sure where to procure veal bones in Bayfield. I buy the dog bones at the IGA (which are essentially the same thing) but I figured I would have a much higher chance of success in getting Ted to slather his toasted baguette with marrow if it came in a different package than George's bones. I called my favorite grocery store in Duluth, Mount Royal, and sure enough, they had beef bones and were open until midnight. This is when I knew I had some of the very best friends in the world, they agreed to be dragged along on my marrow quest at 11 o'clock after we saw Sedaris. We headed back to Bayfield with my groceries (they also carry my favorite butter from Eau Claire) and I went to bed a happy girl.

In case you are thinking, beefy butter? That sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen. Let me put your mind at ease, marrow is seriously good for you (within reason). While there is a fair amount of fat in each luscious spoonful, it's also full of vitamins and minerals, has a healthy dose of monounsaturated fatty acids and has zero saturated fat. Plus, you can share with your dogs after you've cleaned out the marrow— now that's my kind of meal.

Roasted Beef Marrow with Parsley and Caper Pesto (adapted from The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson) 

8 3"-4" long pieces beef marrow bones
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
2 small shallots (about 1/3 cup)
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 - 10 slices baguette, brushed with olive oil and toasted

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°. Place bones, wider cut side down, in a roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast bones until marrow is soft and begins to separate from the bone but before it begins to melt, 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of bones.

Meanwhile, place parsley, shallots, garlic, oil, lemon juice, and capers in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Season pesto with salt and pepper.

Serve the bones, pesto, parmesan cheese, toasted baguette slices and additional Maldon salt and pepper on a platter. Using a long, thin spoon, scoop marrow onto toast, top with pesto and garnish with a pinch or two of salt and parmesan.

God Bless You, Everyone

As I sat in the theater last night and listened to Noah, Liesl and Tom speak to the kids before the dress rehearsal, I was reminded once again of why I love living in this little town. The message from the adults on stage to a theater full of excited young actors was perfect: have fun, keep growing and developing your character and we are so proud of you. What a gift they gave to the kids— the opportunity to stretch their wings and take chances in a nurturing and supportive environment. What more could I ask for?

Charlie and Will scored the good dressing room this year, they're in the basement with 6 or 7 other boys complete with a recliner, internet and power for their iPods, Kindles and Nintendos. Meg is up in the kitchen area with me and that is a whole different scene— lots of girls with lots of things to say and not a recliner in sight. Quiet is the name of the game backstage after the curtain goes up— kind of tough with 8 girls in a dressing room. They are tremendously enthusiastic about everything— the costumes, hairdo's, snacks, Minecraft, homework and Christmas Carol. It's fun to get know the kids outside of schoool— they are a tremendously funny and interesting troupe of characters.

If I had to try to capture the essence of Charlie, this photo pretty much sums it all up— happy, happy, joy, joy.

Meghan is Man A (and she gets to say, is it an ass? in a party scene...she's pretty pumped about that), Will is Father and Charlie is Mr Fezziwig (Julie's daughter, Caroline, is Mrs Fezziwig and for the next three weeks we get to be Mother-In-Laws).

I love these pictures of the boys, they are growing into such handsome young men.

Meg's soon to be famous 'is it an ass' scene.

Sunset On Lake Superior

Praying
Mary Oliver

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway 

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Shrimp & Tomato Bisque

I picked up an old cookbook, Soup A Way Of Life by Barbara Kafka the other day and started leafing through it. It had been quite a while since I used it, I rarely need a recipe when I make soup— most of the time my inspiration comes from leftovers in the fridge. Shrimp bisque seemed like a whole different deal—the combination of big flavor, smooth texture and pieces of tender shrimp required some finesse and technique. This recipe delivers on all counts, it's one of the best shrimp bisques I've eaten.

Barbara said in the preface of her cookbook, 'Soup is easy food, easy for the eater and easy for the cook. Aside from a few basically restaurant soups, traditional and complex, a little variation in ingredients or technique will only personalize the soup rather than causing disaster'. Personalization instead of dinner disaster, now that's the kind of food I can wrap my head around. Another bonus of becoming a soup making fiend— leftovers in the freezer. They come in remarkably handy when you realize it's 8 o'clock and you haven't even started thinking about dinner. Don't freeze the cooked shrimp in the soup. It's best to add new uncooked shrimp to the re-heated soup before you serve it (make sure to cook the shrimp thoroughly in the soup prior to serving it). There is nothing more disappointing than rubbery shrimp in a beautiful tomato bisque.

Shrimp Bisque(Adapted From Soup A Way Of Life By Barbara Kafka)

6 cups seafood stock (I used this one, or you can make your own)
2 cups dry white wine
12 - 14 large shrimp in the shell
7 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
 carrot, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 whole cloves
1 sprig thyme
1/2 cup of Cognac or brandy
One 28 ounce can of tomatoes and purée (I used Carmelina's, my favorite)
2 tsp tomato paste
8 tbsp flour
2 tbsp mild paprika
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
5 tsp kosher salt
Hot red pepper sauce, to taste (I used Frank's Hot Sauce)
Fresh lemon juice, to taste

Preparation
Peel the shrimp, reserving the shells, quarter and refrigerate. In a medium stockpot, heat 2 tbsp of butter and the olive oil over medium-high heat, add the shells and cook for 8 - 10 minutes. Remove the shells and add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, cloves and thyme. Lower the heat to the lowest possible level and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Pour in 2 cups of white wine and the brandy. Raise the heat. Bring just to a boil. Add the seafood stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the tomatoes (with the purée or juices) and tomato paste and bring to a boil again. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Very carefully, purée the stock with an immersion blender or a counter top blender until it's very smooth. Keep warm on the stove top.

In another medium stockpot, melt the remaining butter over low heat. Stir in the flour and paprika to make a roux. Cook, alternatively stirring and mashing the roux down in the pan, for about 5 minutes.

Whisk in 1 cup of the pureed stock into the pan until smooth. Slowly whisk in the remaining liquid. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently, to ensure a smooth soup. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring with a wooden spoon, especially around the edges of the pan, for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cream, salt, red pepper hot sauce, lemon juice and shrimp. Cook until shrimp is pink and heated through, about 3 - 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Knock Your Socks Off Duck- Yes, It's That Good

It's going to be a good winter around the Dougherty house. My exploration of meatballs is well underway and I've recently added duck to the agenda. For some reason, cooking a duck in my very own oven never occurred to me. Which is really strange given the steady stream of cookery ideas that pop into my head randomly throughout the day. I don't know if it was the whole fancy French confit bit or that there aren't any duck hunters under this roof but up to this point, my kitchen has been a quack-free zone.

It all changed when I was strolling through the Washburn IGA. I happened to look in the frozen meat case and there it was— 5 pounds of duck, wrapped in white plastic and ready to come home with me. I had a new cookbook on the shelf, Canal House Cooking Vol. 2 with a recipe for duck with apples and onions— perfect for my two IGA frozen lovelies. The Canal House series wasn't on my radar until Jill gave me the cookbook for my birthday— I was immediately taken with the pictures, layout and recipes (it's good to have friends who love good food and design). There are 8 or 9 volumes, each book costs about 10.00 and they are so pretty to look at— I can't wait to cook my way through all of these lovely pages.

Duck With Apples And Onions(Adapted From Canal House Cooking Volume 2)

One 5 - 6 pound duck, cut into 8 - 10 pieces, including excess skin and fat, diced (I spatchcocked the duck, instead of cutting into pieces)
4 small onions, halved lengthwise
4 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra for garnish
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup port
Salt and pepper (I used my herbed garlic salt)

Preparation
Season the duck on all sides with salt and pepper. Arrange the duck skin side down in a large skillet with a cover. Scatter the skin and fat around the duck. Cook over medium-high heat (resist the temptation to turn the duck; leave it skin side down the whole time) until the duck is very well browned, about 20 minutes. Leave the duck skin side down, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes more. Transfer the duck and most of the cracklings from the skillet to a platter with a slotted spoon. Place in a warm oven (don't cover, the skin will get soggy) .

Add the onions cut side down along with the apples, thyme and rosemary to the skillet with all the duck fat and juices. Increase the heat to medium-high and brown the onions and apples, taking care to keep the onion halves whole, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the apples and onions are tender, about 15 minutes more. Remove the onions and apples from the skillet and arrange them around the duck.

Pour off and discard the fat from the skillet. Add the port and cream to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits form the bottom of the skillet. Pour the sauce over the duck, garnish with reserved thyme and rosemary and serve.

Will's Dark & Foggy Photo Safari

Will captured some beautiful images of the harbor last night during his solo photo safari.

He's such a gifted photographer and I love seeing the world through his eyes.

What Do You Do With The Ham Bone?

Monte's ham was the gift that just kept giving and giving and giving. Eventually, there's only so much ham a girl can eat, I froze the remaining meat and spent a couple of minutes contemplating the rather large ham bone sitting on my counter. Split pea soup was the first thought that came to mind but since I  find the texture of pea soup akin to mealy gruel, I needed another idea. When I make my Cuban black beans, I throw a little ham in for a subtle smoky (and porky) flavor. What if I added more broth to the Cuban beans and made it a soup? I had nothing to lose, there was a ham bone on my counter, black beans in the drawer and assorted vegetables in the refrigerator. Don't you love it when you come up with an entire meal from leftovers and ingredients you have lying around your kitchen? I felt thrifty and inventive— all at the same time.

Ham and Black Bean Soup

16 ounces dry black beans
2 quarts water bone from a large ham
2 red peppers, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 poblano pepper, minced
2 chipotle peppers, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
28 ounce can of diced tomatoes with the juice
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp dried oregano
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup dry white wine chicken or vegetable broth (preferably home-made or low sodium), enough to just cover the other ingredients
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Preparation
The night before you make the soup, pick through the beans and remove any bad ones. Put the beans into the pot and add 2 quarts of water. Remove the beans that float. Allow to soak overnight. Drain.

Place the ham bone in the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Add the soaked beans, all the peppers, onion, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic and white wine. Add broth, just enough to cover everything. Put on the lid and cook on high for about 6 to 7 hours or on low for 9 to 10 hours, until the beans are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the cilantro, stir and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream, avocados and chopped green onions.

An Italian Take On Ham & Rice Hot Dish

Comfort food comes in lots of shapes and sizes. Whether you are making a rice hot dish with ham and peas or a ham and pea risotto, it's all about a creamy pot of rice and ham. There were a lot of leftovers from my Monte's ham dinner and since it's gets dark in what used to be the mid-afternoon,  carbs and salty meat sounded like just the thing for dinner. I have nothing against a good, old-fashioned hot dish (I have a few standbys from the Our Lady of Grace cookbook) but I was in the mood for risotto. I love the process of standing at the stove and adding the broth little by little until you have a beautiful creamy sauce. Perfect for a dark and cold winter night.

Ham and Pea Risotto

3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup shallots, chopped
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice
1 cup dry white wine
6-8 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade or low sodium)
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup diced or shredded ham
1 cup peas
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a large saucepan bring the broth to a simmer.  Cover and keep warm over low heat.

Heat the butter in a heavy large (and preferably shallow) pot over medium heat.  Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until just tender, about 5 - 7 minutes.

Add the rice and cook over medium-high heat for about one minute, stirring to coat with the butter. Add the white wine and stir until the wine is absorbed, about 30 seconds.

Add the first addition of simmering stock, about 1/2 cup. Stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add another addition of stock and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Repeat this process until the mixture is creamy and a bit loose; the rice should still have some chew to it. The process will take about 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped ham, peas and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Oh, What A Night

It started with pâté and a trio of Sassy Nanny cheese, went straight into turkey and then ended up with pie. All in all, a perfect Thanksgiving. In between all the food and wine, there were my beautiful nieces and nephews (and one pug named Homer with a stylish Christmas sweater). I think at last count, there were 24 people at dinner. As I looked around, I felt the blessings of a large family who genuinely love each other. This year was pretty tame compared to last year's dance party in the living room to Meatloaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Lights (requested by the matriarch of this clan, Nana).

Nana bought a tablecloth for the kitchen table that the kids could illustrate— it was a big hit.

Cate was contemplating her next move.

Emma— possibly the sweetest and most loving little girl I have ever met.

The turkey spoon that has scooped and the dish that has held the stuffing for as long as I can remember. Katie made the green bean casserole with fresh green beans, a definite improvement over frozen beans. And really, those Durkee french onions aren't that bad— they have crunchy and salty on their side.

Yup, that's a Jeroboam of 2008 Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel behind Eleanor, we had lots of glasses to fill.

It's hard to take a bad picture of Jimmy, he is joy personified.

Sadie and Nana were discussing the finer points of properly whipped cream.

Homer says, 'On to Christmas, I already have my outfit picked out.'

Monte's Ham & Dijon Roasted Potatoes

I once told my friend, Tammy, as we were putting in the garden at my house— 'hostas are the ham of the garden world. They're not fussy, are a crowd pleaser and deliver every time'. Hostas and ham, who knew? We all need a couple things in our lives that require very little intervention and feed a crowd or fill a shady garden. I had seen Monte's ham recipe in a number of magazines but the preface to the recipe in The 150 Best American Recipes sealed the deal, "Watching the other guests devour the glazed, glistening hunk o' pork, he (Monte) begged his hostess for the recipe. 'Buy the cheapest ham possible, glaze the hell out of it, and cook it for a long time' was her pithy, right-on response." With those Dorothy Parker-esque directions,  I knew what kind of ham I was making for dinner.

Of course, there were potatoes to accompany Monte's ham masterpiece. While I am a big fan of au gratin potatoes, I was in the mood for something less creamy with a little more bite. These mustard and rosemary potatoes were just the ticket— they're flavorful and develop a beautiful crust as they are roasting. I even found the Fine Cooking magazine from December 2000 in a pile of magazines I had in a box, complete with the original recipe and a piece of rosemary tucked between the wrinkled pages.

Mustard and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes(From Fine Cooking Magazine & Molly Stevens)

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tbsp dry white vermouth or other dry white wine
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1 inch dice

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mustard, olive oil, vermouth, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and toss to coat. Dump the potatoes onto a large rimmed baking sheet and spread them in a single layer. Roast, tossing with a spatula a few times, until the potatoes are crusty on the outside and tender throughout, 50 - 55 minutes. Serve immediately.

Ted Makes Dinner

I remember the first dinner I made for Ted— chicken fajitas with the Lawry spice package, flour tortillas and shredded cheese. I was 19 years old and while I had eaten, walked through and emptied the dishwasher in my Mom's kitchen, I hadn't ever cooked a full on dinner. I was so happy when Ted walked in the apartment that evening so many years ago and said, 'it smells good in here'. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that's where it started for me— the realization that cooking is more than eating, it's about creating space for nurturing and loving the people in our lives (even new boyfriends).

That first fajita meal awakened my inner cookery maven but I still had a lot to learn. I wanted to stretch my fledgling culinary wings beyond fajitas and toasted tomatoes with provolone but didn't know where to start. I was working at Ki Clayton in Southdale and we carried a couple of cookbooks by Susan Branch, I purchased them one afternoon and started planning my first 'real' meal made entirely from scratch. As it turns out, it was the best place to start— the recipes were easy, nearly foolproof and Susan lived in Martha's Vineyard (I've always a thing for Cape Cod). I lost the original cookbooks somewhere along the way (too many moves using the famous 'throw everything in black garbage bags and hope for the best' method). I found them this summer at a used book store and it was so good to turn those pages again. Looking through the cookbooks, I traveled back to the first time I made pesto, green bean salad with basil dip, ribs and cherry tomatoes stuffed with bacon and cream cheese. Food is truly my conduit to the past and memories I thought I had forgotten.

Ted had a couple of signature dishes from Susan's cookbooks and this smoked salmon pasta was his pièce de résistance. I was not, and still am not, good at anything resembling mise en place. I prefer to cut, mince and measure as I go along my merry way making dinner, not the best method if you are sauteing anything. Thankfully, Ted is very good at the prep work and I tended to leave the recipes where you needed to have everything ready to go into the sauté pan in quick succession to him. He also makes a mean Kung Pao chicken but I'll leave that for another post.

We were casting about for dinner ideas last week and as I was scanning the bookshelf, Susan's cookbook, Heart Of The Home, jumped out at me. I knew exactly what to eat for dinner and Ted was game to tackle the prep and execution of one of our favorite pasta dishes from our early years in Lowertown. It was as good as I remembered— smoky fish, white wine, shallots and pine nuts. It was nice to sit in the kitchen with a glass of wine, chatting with Ted and watching him cook. We have changed and grown in ways we couldn't have foreseen as a young couple but sitting in our kitchen, I realized it's everything I had hoped for and more.

Pasta With Smoked Salmon And Peas(From Heart Of The Home By Susan Branch)

3/4 cup dry white wine
4 tbsp shallots, minced
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup cooked peas
3 tbsp fresh dill, snipped
1/3 pound smoked salmon, sliced
4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
8 ounce narrow egg noodles (or whatever pasta you prefer)

Toast the pine nuts in a small skillet with a tablespoon of butter. Set aside on a paper towel to drain. Cook the peas and set aside.

Put the white wine and shallots together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow the wine to reduce by about a tablespoon. Stir in cream; bring to a boil and simmer for 5 - 6 minutes. Cover the pan and remove from heat. Put the pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente, rinse in cool water and drain. Put the pasta into a serving dish. Bring the sauce back to a boil, remove from heat and add peas, dill, pine nuts and smoked salmon. Stir to combine and pour over pasta, toss to coat. Serve immediately.

What's For Breakfast After The First Snowfall??

Popovers, of course. Okay, maybe not 'of course', there are lots of good options for breakfast on a snowy morning but we are on a popover kick around here. I've spent most of my life as a true popover failure— they flopped instead of popped. Sadie's good friend, Emma, comes from a family of popover masters and I even tried their recipe with zero success (Emma was very sweet and said some encouraging words as we ate our custardy and flat popunders). It all changed last weekend when I bought a new popover pan in at the Blue Heron Trading Company and we have popovers popping all over the place.

One of the blogs I follow, David Lebovitz, had a post about sugar crusted popovers— perfect for the morning after our first snowfall. I used the Meeker's recipe, buttered and sugared the popovers and had the most lovely morning watching the snow fall outside my kitchen window.

Meeker's Famous Popover Batter

Popover Batter 3 eggs
3 tbsp oil (I used melted butter)
1 1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Sugar Coating
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

Softened butter, for greasing the pan

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and butter the popover pan.

In a blender, combine eggs, oil, milk and salt. Turn on blender and slowly add flour. Continue blending until it takes on a heavy, smooth, consistency.

Fill each popover tine 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 min. on middle oven shelf. Resist temptation to open the oven and peek in. Popovers should be puffed and golden.

Remove from the oven, wait a few minutes until cool enough to handle, then remove the popovers from the pans and set them on a cooling rack.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Thoroughly brush each popover all over with the 1/4 cup of melted butter, then dredge each puff generously in the sugar and cinnamon mixture to coat them completely. Let cool on the wire rack.

A Day Of Mindful Gratitude

I'm blessed to have a life I only dreamed of— full of people I hold dear, dogs who give me untold joy, trees who stand sentry in my yard, food that feeds my body and spirit and the natural world who reminds me to live with wonderment and gratitude every day. As I head towards the meal to end all meals tonight, I'm most looking forward to sitting in my Mom's kitchen with my wild and passionate family. There is nothing like being with people who have known you since the beginning and that's what I'm most thankful for today.

Mindful

Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver

What Makes A Pie A Tart??

I have to admit, I looked up the difference between a pie and a tart. For some reason, the word tart always reminds me of Bernadette Peter's character in Blazing Saddles and I knew what made her different from a pie. It turns out, the difference has to do with the pan and where the crust is located. My dessert creation was a hybrid because I used a tart pan but the crust goes up the sides (like a pie). Regardless of its hybrid nature, it was a delicious dessert— not too sweet with a buttery crumb topping. I used a Pillsbury pie crust and it worked out brilliantly. Some day I'll tackle pastry dough, maybe sometime in 2015.

Apple, Strawberry & Sour Cherry Tart

4 Honeycrisp apples, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups strawberries, sliced
3/4 cup sour cherries, roughly chopped
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Pillsbury pie crust

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out the pie dough and place in a buttered tart pan. Place the apples, strawberries and sour cherries in a medium bowl and toss with 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Evenly scatter the apples, strawberries and cherries in the tart pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 cup of butter. Mix thoroughly and place on top of the fruit in the tart pan. Place the tart pan on a sheet tray and bake for 1 hour or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

A Few Good Wines

'In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also as a great giver of happiness and well-being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary'. Ernest Hemingway A Moveable Feast

I really like red blends and I really, really like blends with Petite Sirah, Syrah and Zinfandel. I just ran across a great wine blog (Reverse Wine Snob) and read his recommendation for this wine. He was right on— it's a bold blend with beautiful flavors of  black cherries, blackberries and spice box with a subtle nose of mocha and nutmeg. It's a great value at 11.99 (I bought my bottles at Marketview Liquor).

A spectacular bottle of Pinot Noir always makes me happy and this bottle certainly put a smile on my face. It is definitely a splurge wine (I bought it at Bayfield Wine & Spirits) with a birthday gift certificate from Liz. It is about as close to a perfect California Pinot as you can get— lots of lush fruit, spice and earthiness. It has a beautiful acidity which balances the ripe fruit on the long and silky finish. Truly a special Pinot and one I hope to meet again.

Oh Kermit, let me count the ways I love you. When I was buying the wine for Good Thyme, Bill (my wine guy) gave me a book (Adventures on the Wine Route) to read about a wine importer from California who brought high quality, small producer wines to the United States. Not only was the book a pleasure to read, the wines he imports are a pleasure to drink. This is one of the first Kermit wines I bought for Good Thyme and it's still one of my favorites. This is a big, elegant wine with lots of dark fruit and spice flavor and has a lingering finish that will make you reach for another glass.

Another Kermit wine and another favorite. Marcel Lapierre made the most divine Morgon (a Cru Beaujolais) that I ever tasted. He passed away in 2010 and his son has taken over the winery— by the taste of things he's following in his father's footsteps. This is a young, light bodied Gamay with a heady nose of cedar, red cherry, earth and pepper. It's acidity is balanced by the wild strawberry, raspberry and prune flavors in your mouth. It's a truly refreshing wine— not too dear to drink on a Wednesday night but with enough structure and nuance to make me happy.

Okay, this is a seriously good wine. I have a thing for Washington wines and the Buty winery is one of my favorites. Every year, they make a limited production 'Beast' wine with the bits and pieces left over from their vineyards. It changes every year and 2009 was clearly a good year. This blend is Syrah, Cabernet and Malbec and it's a showstopper. The wine has aromas of vanilla and cedar followed by flavors of tart cherry, blackberry and licorice. Absolutely amazing.

Petite Sirah is typically used a blending grape but it's perfectly delightful on its own. Ironically, there is nothing petite about this wine— it's a big, gnarly, dark purple and deeply extracted wine. This wine needs to gather itself before you drink it, definitely let it sit in a decanter or open the bottle a couple of hours before you plan to drink it. It has plenty of dark, ripe fruit and roasted coffee flavors with firm tannins that would stand up nicely to a steak or roasted game. I bought this wine at Bayfield Wine & Spirits in Bayfield.

Another not so petite yet oh so lovely wine— this time it's a Petite Verdot from Argentina. This is one of the darkest purple wines I've seen for a while, it's almost black in the glass. There is some fruit in this wine but I'd say the predominant flavors are black pepper, spice, chocolate and fig. It had a remarkably soft, dense and velvety mouth feel and nicely integrated tannins. This wine definitely needs to be decanted in order to really shine, it's tight and kind of flat right out of the bottle. Bayfield Wine & Spirits carries this wine in Bayfield.

This is a great, easy drinking wine from a vineyard adjacent to the famous Chateauneuf du Pape appellation in Southern France. It's a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Grenache and it delivers on all fronts— aromas of cassis, spice and pipe tobacco with lush fruit flavors and soft tannins. The Rhone Report gave it a well deserved 90 points and I wholeheartedly agree with their assessment.

I need to learn to speak Italian— if only to correctly pronounce the lyrical names of some of my favorite wines. Who wouldn't like to have the words Valpolicella or Montepulciano roll off their tongue like a beautiful song? This wine is another blend— this time it's Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. It was aged in stainless steel and has a ton of bright, clean jammy fruit and spice flavors with a decent, but not overwhelming, acidity. This was another wine recommendation from The Reverse Wine Snob — he partnered Marketview Liquor in October and offered free shipping on his recommended wines. I am so glad I took a chance on this one, it's delightful.

Pumpkin Dog Biscuits For The Boys

I'll be the first to admit, Dougherty dogs have a pretty nice life. In fact, I doubt they are aware they're of the canine persuasion— they definitely prefer chairs at the table and riding shotgun (with the seat warmer on) to the floor or back seat. After my persimmon bread mishap, I decided homemade dog treats are the way to go— the target audience will always appreciate the effort and they are super easy to make. Since Thanksgiving is in a couple of days and pumpkin pie is too messy to feed to the dogs, I found a recipe for pumpkin dog biscuits. The boys were pleased.

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats from Allrecipes.com

7 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add water as needed to make the dough workable, but the dough should be dry and stiff. Roll the dough out to about a 1/2 inch thickness and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 40 minutes, or until hard.