A Dessert Party Yes

 The holidays give us all sorts of parties. Cocktail, tree trimming, even cookie exchange ones. However one that is always welcome and with out the "stuffedness" of a full dinner is a dessert one. Imagine a gathering of delicious sweets, coffee ro tea and great conversation.It can be had and done in a very easy way.

Regular contributor and baker extraordinary Genevieve Ko wrote about such a party in today s New York Times Wednesday Food section.She gives elegant recipes from such professional bakers as Nicola Lamb and Yossy Aref. These are cakes that look like they belong in a Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century oil painting. These are the cakes, according to Chef KO, that need elegant cake stands to show off their beauty (although decorative wood blocks or even a stick of classic leather bound books can do the trick too). There is a tiramisu pie instead of the usual espresso soaked block. The pie  crust is that crumbled classic Oreos mixed with melted salted butter. The layers are made with marsacapone whipped with separated egg whites and yolks. Around twenty lady fingers are used  along with a cup and a quarter of strongly brewed coffee (think espresso here).The marscapone filling acts as the topping and dark chocolate curls are scattered all over the top of the chilled pie.

The other recipes are the truly elegant pastis Gascon. apple pie's classy French cousin.It's also known as croustade aux pommes. The crust is a buttery flaky phyllo dough , lighter than the traditional recipe. Another Gascon staple Armagnac, one of Frances  oldest brandies is also added in to elevate the apples.It is rich in butter with ten tablespoons of butter added .Granulate sugar  and light brown sugar are also added as well as apple cider vinegar to give it some zing. There is not need for cinnamon here, The Armagnac and butter give it flavor. What apples should be used ? Chef Ko recommends Pink Lady. France is also fused with Japan with yuzu, a citrussy flavored berry in a buttery tart.It's mixed into an eggy curd  that's baked into a super buttery tart crust. Dubai chocolate is becoming so popular.It's no wonder that it's been made into a simple yet flavor rich cake. Youssy Aref creates a tender chocolate cake with a filling  of  the Arabic ingredient kataifi or shredded phylo dough separated and chopped. The top is a rich chocolate ganache that goes perfectly with the cake and pistachio filling.

These would be perfect during a dessert party. They cam also be stand alone desserts at any holiday feast. Make them all.Make one for a festive and sweet holiday.

Still Up In the Air

 Christmas is a  week away and there are some home chefswho still have no clue as to what to make? Ham ? Turkey? Prime rib?  Should  it be vegan? What about the desserts? All cookies or something fancier.

It's OK to still be indecisive a week out.Plns change as do the guest list. You may have more leat lovers than originally planned or a few vegans and vegetarians were added to the list. There's also the tomec constraint. Many home chefs are working up until Tuesday next week. Between office Christmas parties and  end of the year work, there's little time to take off and go grocery shopping. Add in school pageants and tree trimming parties with family and friends and there's zero time to do a proper trip around the market. One way to look at this is to go simple. If it's only two people keep the amount  of food to four servings each. You could serve a tree pound breast which is more than adequate serinv wise. Add I stand stuffing like Stovetop or Lidl's version along with one or two frozen vegetables. It's still a festive dinner but without all the fuss.. For larger groups such a as three or four, what about a capon? This is a gelded (fixed )rooster and the bird can get as big as a small turkey. You can still have all the trimmings and add a jar of turkey dressing for the stuffing. 

What about sides? You could replicate Thanksgiving for an easy cook. There's stuffing cranberry sauce and some kind of veggie .Yams or sweet potatoes can be added too.  However you many want something fancier.Stringbeans amandine are a nice side. This Gallic classic involves toasting or sauteing almond sauces in butter and adding chopped shallots, a cousin of both garlic and onions. It's then mixing the sauce with the more tender haricot verts (if you can't find these then frozen green beans will do). This is the perfect side with any dish, from chicken to beef to fish. Another elegant side are Brussels sprouts Piedmontese style. This is from the northwestern part where butter and cheese figure prominently in cooking. The Brussells sprouts are cooked and then drenched with  melted butter(you can also use I Can't Believe It;'s Not Butter). Give them a liberal sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. What about pork or even ham as a main dish. Then try spiced apples. These are cubing apples and then cooking them in  a skillet.Add butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon for a tasty sweet savory flavor. Cornstarch is stirred in to t hicken the sauce. This is perfect ladled by a slice of roast pork and perfect with its' dressing.

Christmas dinner menu still up in the air? Don;t sweat it. Make what you think is best. Get  the ingredients now or Christmas Eve. What matters is a tasty dinner that makes  for a good holiday dinner.

One Potato Too Good

 One of the easiest Monday meals to make is air fryer sweet potatoes. These are a longish cook  but so worth it. The result is a filling , quick meal that's good for you and good tasting.

It starts with any kind of sweet potato  and an air fryer.

Sweet potatoes are like regular potatoes .They do take a lot  of time. I had one that was short and squat while the other looked like a typical tuber. Yet they both needed the same amount of time to cook.I set the temperature at 400 as was suggested in a AI overview. It should be half an hour but I added five extra minutes to get a crispy skin. Cook these at twenty minutes , then fifteen.,

Prep is easy>I brushed them all over with Lidl olive oil and then they were coated on sea salt and freshly ground pepper. This not only produced a crackly , crisp skin but also a tasty one too.The skin should be well coated with e salt and pepper mix.

The end result was this. Yes I put a huge blobs of I Can't Beleive I'ts Not Butter which took the crackliness away from the skin. Yet it was delicious and perfect for a quick dinner but also nutritious. They help with strengthening the immune system thanks to them being loaded with Vitamins A and C along with much needed potassium.They  also has manganese and copper in them as well.

One sweet potato is the perfect meal.It's light but heavy in good minerals. It's tasty and bright, a perfect light on a dark winter's night. Make them for dinner and enjoy their goodness!!!

A Glazing Guide

 What makes a holiday table sing? A perfectly glazed ham . Yet glazing is a headache to many home chefs, including the most experienced. Can the perfect glaze be made? Yes. It just takes  some good ingredients and knowing how togive ham that glossy look.

Ham is nothing new at Christmas. Long before Germanic tribes embraced Christianity ,Teutonic pagans celebrated the winter solstice  or  Yule with roasted wold boar. Throughout the centuries ha was the star of any German Christmas table. It went over to England and then to the American colonies where many Founding  Fathers enjoyed cured ham as part of their holiday meal. yet glazing ham come about in the 1880's and it was usually with a savory stock that was either reduce or thickened with butter and flour .This was flavored with various herbs and spices. Any sweetness came from added wine . Ale could be added to this glaze too.The modern glaze that we know came about in the 1930's created by Harry Hoensellar in Detroit, Michigan He offered honey glazed hams to curious housewives.It clicked .The sweetness was a great foil for the meat's cured saltiness. He also in vented the spiral cut ham which made it easier for home chefs to carve at the holiday table

Throughout the recent decades home chefs have used all sorts of sweet ingredients to glaze holiday  hams, both Christmas and Easter. They include  everything from ginger ale to pineapple juice / A simple one includes dark brown sugar (which as more flavor than light brown sugar) along with honey or real maple syrup. Kickiness comes from the addition of Dijon mustard and ground cloves. Ground cinnamon and nut meg can also be added. You could go 1950's and create a different and fruity pineapple glaze. this  is more than just pouring juice onto an uncooked ham. The glaze also has brown sugar and honey to give that skin that burnished, glossy caramel look.Dijon or stone ground mustard along with apple cider vinegar cuts all that sweetness (no one want a ham that tastes like a candy). Cinnamon and clove can also be added. How do you glaze a ham? Usually with a brush and its done during the last hour or so of baking. This is usually done four times - figure every fifteen minutes.. This is also the time to score the game -r creating those squares on the outside. Add water so the bottom doesn't;t burn either.

The perfect Christmas ham is a glazed one. You can go from a simple glaze or a more elaborate one. Pick the one that you feel the most comfortable with using. The result with be a perfect marriage for salty and sweet with a kick for mustard and spices.

Favorite Holiday Cooks

 Every home chef has a favorite part of holiday food prep .It could be roasting a turkey or creating layers of lasagna,It could be baking batches of cookies or cutting squares of rich fudge.

Here's the question - do you like cooking savory or sweet during this holiday time. Mine is definitely savory. I love the idea of making stuffing or cooking up a good Christmas pot of risotto along with sauteing the mushrooms that go with it.

Let us know whether you're savory or sweet.

THe Best Of The Best

This is the time of year for lists. Everyone has them. what was their favorite restaurants? Or meals? Or even desserts. There have been countless compilations of what's tasty and good. Here's a fun guide to them.

Yesterday's New York Times Food section has compiled a pretty extensive coast to coast. list. This is perfect for people who are visiting the area or just discovering what's just around the corner. There are some newcomer's mentioned in Manhattan, the mecca of good food and gourmet dining. What stood out this year?The Vietnamese newcomer Banh Anh Em. diners love its' signature crackly golden loaves to make such sandwiches filled with barbecued pork and rib eye steak.Another Vietnamese eatery  that fused with French  flavor is HR's Snack bar , owned by husband and wife team, Anthony Ha and his wife Saf=die Mae Burns -Ha. Hr's gives Pho onion soup and chanterelle toast., take on avocado toast. There's also a tangy carrot salad and to finish an espresso granita.Chinatown gives Sunn's.a Korean drop in place where diners can get small plates of rice and a variety of spicy eggplant and marinated mushrooms.The four star Smithereens may sound intimidating and even scary but the restaurant is a comforting drop in with New England seafood dishes. They offer a taste of summer in winter. Seaweed is as prevalent as lobster. .It's in it's butter and in its'delicate crudos.

Another standout list is the coast to coast one of great desserts.They come from such diverse areas as Maine and the Pacific Northwest. Yes, the restaurants have good food  but its' their endings that make people happy. Mcloon's Lobster Shack may have grilled clams and classic lobster roll but there is also their standout blueberry bread pudding.It's dotted with white chocolate chips and served with a vanilla custard sauce. Houston Gives the exotic konofa, , gooey cheese under a sticky sweet layer of semolina.Michigan is known for it's cherries.Beulah Michigan 's Cherry Hut has a standout cherry pie.It's a full quarter(!!!!) served in a old fashioned flaky lard crust.Diners looking for a good Southern icebox cake should visit Bayonet's in North Birmingham, Alabama.This seafood based restaurant has the summery flavor of watermelon infused semifreddo.Diced fruit and watermelon granita crown it while a quenelle of frozen creme fraiche is added. New Yorkers can enjoy fiery Caribbean cuisine at Kabawa but it;'s the giant coconut turnover that's the star. It's Cinnabon with an island twist, and even has a rich coconut infused  cream cheese frosting on top.

These are some of the best of the best. Go to these restaurants. Try them out. ENjoy and see if theymake any lists.

 

A Tasty Tray Of Party Bites

 What makes a good party? Some say it's the fun array of cocktails.Others say it's the parking conversations and witty guests. Bottom line is it's the food. Trays of tasty nibbles are te real star. They're what' makes any gathering festive and memorable.

Regular contributor and chef Yewande Komolafe wrote about them as well as giving recipes in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. she brings a Nigerian spin to this from her homeland that makes every bite unique and flavorful. She does have three rules - one is no utensils while the second one is nothing too salty or cloyingly sweet. The third rule is there should be something for everyone. The worst thing is attending a party and there's nothing likable to eat. There are three recipes (and keep in mind that these can be made for a wintry movie night in with the family). Her's is guguru ati epa, or salty popcorn and peanuts. This is popping the corn with not only vegetable oil but mixing the popped kernels with sweet paprika, salt and sugar. Peanuts are added and stirred with a wooden spoon to combine with the popcorn mix. Let it cool for six to seven minutes(actually ten would be better) and break into chunks. It can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days but this will probably be all gone during the first night.

Chef Komolafe also gives a savory holiday nut mix, perfect with cocktails and mock tails This is an elaborate recipe that first starts off with mincing orange zest and whipping egg whites into a kind of meringue. In the meantime, fennel, cumin black pepper and salt. These two blends are mixed with an array of nuts and seeds. She recommends a combination of walnuts. almonds pecans and cashews. Add in pepitas or pumpkin seeds  along with flax and sesame seeds. These are coated and then baked in a 300 degree Farenheit oven. Roast first for around thirteen minutes. take out , cool and taste. Put back in the oven for another ten to twelve minutes. Cool and break into clusters. Coconut can be fun too.Usually anything with this can  be cloying and overly tropical. Not Chef Komolafe'ss recipe. Coconut flakes are added to a simple syrup made of honey ,sugar and water. Ground pepper and cloves along with nutmeg give it eye opening spiciness. These are baked in a 325 degree Farenheit oven for ten to twelve  minutes. They're then cut into squares to be served.

Holiday treats always add to a party. Try these three to spice up any kind of gathering. They're f un, crunchy and good.