Irish Cheddar Soup
I wanted to make a very civilized Irish dinner for St. Patrick’s Day this year. None of this guzzling of Irish brews. No more hopping around like a crazed leprechaun. All of that St. Paddy’s day tomfoolery, well I’m putting it in my past, I thought to myself while flipping through Irish cookbooks. After all, my husband Greg and I were hosting friends for the Holiday. And we were determined to have a proper dinner.
Help—I think I’m having a loaf overdose. A loaferdose! That’s the medical term for what happens when a person bakes loaf after loaf and ends up with a counter so covered in cranberry-orange breads, that you can’t tell where one bread ends and the other begins. I’m almost expecting a knock on the door from the producers of Hoarders: Buried Alive, who would say to me, “Maam, we hear you have a loaf problem,” which would be confirmed when I let them in, since they would be overcome by a cloud of flour and see my child swimming in a cranberry bath.
But there’s a reason to this bread baking spree that I’m on, and that is to get away from the Christmas cookie chaos that we experienced last year. On the dessert table, we were looking at a cookie to person ratio of about 17 to 1, which translates into getting sent home with a doggie bag of cookies that you end up eating for breakfast for the next week straight–and promising yourself every time you dunk the shortbread into your coffee ,that the next day you’re going to make up for it by eating Shredded Wheat.
Enter these cranberry-orange breads. They’re festive, just as delicious as cookies, even more giftable when wrapped in cellophane and ribbon, and totally passable as a breakfast item.
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I’m going to be the first to admit that I’ve been a bit of a slacker about updating my blog lately. I’d love to blame my negligence on the daily mayhem of being a new mom, and if I went with that excuse, I bet I’d even get a free pass from you. But the truth is one that I have a feeling won’t get me any sort of pity: I’ve been on a tropical vacation.
Okay, so fine, it’s not like I’ve been sunning since my last post, but I was in St. Thomas last week hanging around with this little sand crab, and sipping what the locals call “pain killers”–a drink that I’m happy to share with you here.
Now, I know you’re thinking: ‘Why are you sharing an island-inspired cocktail recipe in December?’ And to that I would answer. First, it’s really not cool to question my decision. Secondly, because this drink tastes just like the tropical version of eggnog— minus the “I just downed 8 ounces of heavy cream” effect. It’s crowd friendly, too. I’ve posted the amounts for one cocktail, but this could easily be quadrupled or even decupled (that’s a fancy term for “multiplied by 10″) to serve in a pitcher or punch bowl.
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Here’s the thing about Thanksgiving: After I’ve spent a full day consuming the world’s most delicious pumpkin appetizer, plus turkey, stuffing, cranberry, potatoes, and—in my husband’s Italian family tradition—lasagna on top of it all, my ready-to-explode stomach always forces me to choose but one of the many delicious desserts.
This dessert, which can also be eaten as Thanksgiving breakfast if you’re going all in like that (cough, cough, raises hand), solves that sugary snafu. It combines all the things that make the Thanksgiving dessert table so amazing: pumpkin pie, bread pudding, custard–all baked together into one dish that is so good you’ll want to bathe in it, roll around in it, screw the spoon and stick your face in it. And no, I’m not exaggerating. If you can get over the very long ingredient list, and okay, the slightly annoying several steps (hint: get the family member who’s always looking over your shoulder to pitch in), I promise you a final product that will have you licking your plate clean.
Pumpkin bread pudding
Adapted from REDBOOK
Ingredients:
For the bread pudding:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound or 10 cups brioche loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1 15-oz can pure pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the custard sauce:
6 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange
Directions:
For the Bread Pudding: Heat oven to 350°F. Bake bread cubes in a roasting pan, tossing several times, about 15 minutes. Turn off oven. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, cream, milk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, syrup, pumpkin-pie spice, vanilla, and salt. Add bread cubes, tossing to coat. Pour mixture into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish. Cover and chill overnight.
Heat oven to 350°F. Place baking dish in a roasting pan and pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of dish. Bake 50 minutes or until a knife tests clean.
For Orange-Vanilla Custard Sauce: In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar, about 3 minutes. In a saucepan, heat cream and milk over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge. Slowly whisk cream mixture into yolk mixture, adding a little at a time to prevent curdling; pour mixture back into saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until sauce coats back of a spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and zest. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Serve warm, drizzled over bread pudding.
We’re in the final countdown to my absolute favorite day of the year. And besides the eyeball cookies and mummy hotdogs that have become a staple at our annual Halloween party, one other thing is guaranteed: Reeses is always up for a good costume party.
Adding to the fun this year is the fact that I also have a baby to dress as ridiculously as possible–a situation that I’m taking full advantage of in anticipation that once he learns how to speak, he won’t be as cooperative as good old woman’s best friend. But that’s another story.
Another new thing this year is this spooky new brew. Don’t you love the “eyeballs”?
The eyeballs are made from canned lychees that are stuffed with a blueberry, then frozen so they stick together and act like an ice cube in your drink that’s swimming around in a pool of cranberry-vodka blood. I’m obsessed.
Bloody eyeball brew
To make the eyeballs: Drain lychees from a 20-ounce can of cannned lychees, reserving the liquid. (You will have around 19 lychees. Stuff each with one blueberry (frozen or fresh work equally well). Line the eyeballs on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least one hour or until ready to use.
To make the drink: Combine three parts cranberry juice to one part vodka. Sweeten with lychee juice, adding one tablespoon at a time to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, pour over ice and eyeballs, and serve with additional eyeballs on the side.
The saddest thing about turning 30 (besides, you know, actually being 30) is is the death of the “21st birthday” I’ve celebrated for the past nine years. Now what do I have to do–pretend like I’m 29? That’s no fun. Waiters don’t bring over free shots for fake 29 year olds—and if they did, I’d probably blow my cover by requesting some fancy chilled Cafe Patron and only taking half of it. Compare that to my 21-year-old self who would have thrown back warm SoCo and then asked for another, on the house obviously. Ah, the days of warm booze and regrets.
But I’m going to fill you in on a little secret. There’s a trick to aging well that comes in the form of this cocktail right here. It contains papaya nectar, a fruit, which very reliable sources have confirmed actually fades sun spots and improves complexion. It’s mixed with a little spiced rum to get the decade off to a spicy start, and it’s topped off with bubbles, since no birthday is complete without cheap champagne. What? Just because I’m 30 doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a bottle of bottom shelf bubbly.
Warning: Consuming too many of these drinks may make the reflection in the mirror appear younger and more attractive.
My favorite thing about a campfire is the way it brings out people’s inner pyromaniac. When the fire begins to wane, it becomes: “What can we throw in there to make the flame bigger? Newspaper! Beer boxes! Leaves! Logs! Whenever we go to the Poconos each summer, there’s always the one camper who becomes obsessed with poking at the logs in an attempt to stoke the flame (I’m looking at you, Christine) until the fire grows bigger and hotter once more.
My second favorite thing about a campfire are smores. There’s nothing like picking up a dirty stick in the woods, sticking a marshmallow on it, toasting it patiently until it’s golden brown (my preference), sticking it between chocolate and graham crackers, and taking a big gooey bite.
Sadly, campfire season is officially over. Also burnt out is my own personal pyromania, which I leave in the Poconos each summer (my condo association frowns on people who set fires for fun in their apartments). But smores season doesn’t have to end. These cookies have all the components of the campfire favorite: a graham cracker base topped with a Hershey bar and a perfectly toasted marshmallow—that almost, almost, tastes like the real thing. Continue reading
I take it a little too hard when a restaurant I love close–from being a little too dramatic (“Does nobody have good taste anymore?”) to blaming myself (“Did I not go enough?”), and I’m still mourning my favorite Mexican place down the shore, Pop’s Garage, which didn’t reopen this summer. It was a teeny BYOB with amazing food a short bike ride from our house (side note: Do you know you can get pulled over for a BWI: Biking While Intoxicated? Not like I would know…). And it had the most delicious Mexican corn–slathered with butter, cheese, lime and hot pepper perfection. I couldn’t possibly get through a summer without it.
So I called on my inner Pop, picked up a few ears, and went right to it. And even though they didn’t come out quite the same as the restaurant version, they’re pretty darn close–and taste even better when washed down with an ice cold Corona and lime.
Mexican Corn on the Cob
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
4 ears corn
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. mayo
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (or cotija cheese if you can find it)
1 tbsp. lime, cut into wedges
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven or grill to 350. Spread cheese on a shallow baking dish or plate. Soak the cobs in a pot of cold water for 15 minutes. After soaking, pull the husks back and discard only the silk. Pull the husks back up and roast in the oven for 25 minutes (if you are grilling, grill for 15 minutes, rotating the corn to ensure it cooks evenly). Remove the corn from the oven and pull back the husks.
Rub each ear first with 1/2 tablespoon of butter and then 1/2 tablespoon of mayo.
Roll each ear in cheese, then top each with a sprinkle with cayenne, a squirt of lime, and a pinch of cilantro. Serve warm.
It seems as though someone has hacked into both my blog and my kitchen. You see, I would never make a dish that contains 3 cups of heavy cream. Then I would never whip that cream with sugar and peanut butter until it comes together to become one cloud-like peanut butter dream. And I wouldn’t dare to take that heavenly mixture and layer it over and over again with chocolate cookies until it becomes a peanut butter mountain topped so sinfully with Reeses peanut butter cups. And I certainly wouldn’t suggest that you recreate this madness in your own home, or that you spread some of that whipped cream mixture on a cookie and eat it as you’re layering, just to make sure the taste is right. No, that doesn’t sound like anything I would ever do. So proceed with caution. There’s a hacker among us. Continue reading
As a woman who’s participated in a handful of beer olympics in her lifetime, I know first-hand what it’s like to be an Olympian. I’ve felt the pressure to perform when the rest of my team got voted off during survivor flip cup; I’ve witnessed the embarrassing defeat that comes when a person stumbles during dizzy-bat races; and I’ve felt the physical agony of a true athlete during the five-legged race when the rope dug into my ankles.
But for the 2012 Olympic games–you know, the ones that require actual hard work and talent–I’ll leave the competing to the pros and the spectating to moi. And I’ll be doing it with this drink in hand. It’s a festive red, white and blue, and it’s made with a type of vodka that contains protein (yes, protein!), so you can feel a little better about your own biceps as you watch the gymnasts flex theirs.
Red, white and blue cocktail
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons sugar
Red food coloring
1 lemon wedge
1 ounce Devotion Vodka
1 ounce Blue Curacao
3 ounces Sprite
Directions:
Stir together sugar and four drops of red food coloring and pour onto a dish. Rim the glass with sugar by first rubbing the lemon wedge along the rim of the glass, then dipping the rim in the red sugar.
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour in vodka and blue curacao and shake well. Pour into the sugar-lined glass and top with sprite.
