Crafts 101 – Part 3
In the top photo, you are feasting your eyes upon Peggy’s scrumptious “Feliz Navidad” wreath. And below is my “Joyoux Noel” banner, not yet attached to a wreath. I still need to get to Trader Joe’s to pick up my fresh wreath… I’ll get there…
December 7, 2011 2 Comments
individual sweetness
I made these luxurious little toffee cakes for the last class of my three-week series at Les Gourmettes Cooking School last Wednesday night and then served them again for a dinner party at a friend’s home last night. They are a true Christmas treat. Make, share, and enjoy!
December 5, 2011 No Comments
lovely crème fraîche
Weekly Tip #9
According to the “source of all knowledge” – Wikipedia – “Crème fraîche originates from Normandy in France, where the crème fraîche from a defined area around the town of Isigny-sur-Mer in the Calvados department of Normandy is highly regarded, and is the only cream to have AOC (‘Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée’) status, which was awarded in 1986.”
Crème fraîche is a matured thickened cream with a slightly tangy, nutty flavor and a velvety rich texture, thicker and richer than sour cream. Crème fraîche is particularly useful in finishing sauces in French cooking because it does not curdle.
Although you can find it at Trader Joe’s and many other grocery stores today, that was not the case only a few short years ago. What’s a French loving person to do? Make your own, of course! And I often still choose to do so. It is easy and less expensive, and with the holidays on the doorstep, I am sure to be using plenty of it. And what a wonderful hostess gift to give to a cook! I love the packaging in that top photo… I just may have to do this! GO HERE to order the labels and HERE for the tags, if you would like.
December 4, 2011 No Comments
festive duck
First things first - Happy Birthday to my BBF, Jennifer Markett, who lives in Illinois! I LOVE YOU! And if you were here with me, I would be serving you this wonderful duck strudel! xoxo
Pictured above is my collection of authentic vintage French confit pots. Pretty, aren’t they? Duck confit has been a preservation method, for cooking and keeping duck in its rendered fat in France, for centuries. It results in supremely tender, moist, and extremely flavorful duck. You can then sear the duck legs in a hot skillet and serve them as is, or shred the meat and add it to salads, or into the delicious and festive strudel recipe I have for you below.
One of the great things about this strudel is that you can assemble the entire thing a month in advance and freeze it. Pop it in the oven for your Christmas celebrations and impress your guests! It is out of this world glorious!
A sealed glass jar of confit may be kept in the refrigerator for up to six months, or several weeks if kept in a reusable plastic container. To maximize preservation, the fat should top the meat by at least one inch. As the fat turns solid, and prevents any air from reaching the meat, so basically the confit technique is a way of hermetically sealing the meat. The cooking fat acts as both a seal and preservative and results in a very rich taste.
I have been collecting authentic confit pots from France for a while now. Before refrigerators, the pots were used to “refrigerate” the confit. The entire inside of the pot is glazed and the glaze drips decoratively down the outside rim of the pot. The rest of the outside of the pot is left unglazed. The pot was filled with the duck and sealed with the fat. The pot was then buried in the cold mud and the unglazed outside of the pot would soak up that coldness and keep the duck confit perfectly chilled until ready to dig out and use.
The amount of duck confit used in this recipe is small, only 4 ounces. So instead of going to the trouble to make my own confit, I purchased a leg quarter from Chef Vincent Guerithault of the famed Vincent’s on Camelback. Call ahead, and Chef Guerithault will happily sell you some too. Or you can make our own duck confit, I’ve included a recipe from Epicurious.com at the bottom of this post. It is not difficult, just time consuming. You will need to salt the duck for at least 24 hours before beginning and you have to render duck fat from the duck skin, which I have posted about before. The link on how to do that, is there in the recipe too. But if you just purchase the confit, you can get going on the strudel recipe…. right now!
December 3, 2011 1 Comment
pink and green…
… is kinda like red and green, which makes this very pretty appetizer or brunch pizza perfect for Christmas.
Naan can be found on the bread aisle at most grocery stores, at Trader Joe’s, or at Costco. And smoked mozzarella with other specialty cheeses. But if you can’t find the mozzarella, substitute smoked Gouda.
December 2, 2011 1 Comment
Tip Time – Rum!
Weekly Tip #8
Today, I’m actually giving you more bang for your buck – two tips and a recipe – my gift to you!
The first tip is for you Facebook users. Go to THIS LINK and “like” (or maybe it’s now “follow”) this page for Chow Bella. Chow Bella is the informative, fun, sometimes irreverent New Times food blog. You will get more food info and learn more about what’s going on in the Valley of Sun (and beyond) than you ever thought there was to know about! Plus, tomorrow, I will be featured in their “Perfect Food Day” series. I think you’ll like it! And…. while you’re on Facebook – if you haven’t “liked” or “followed” the Les Petites Gourmettes page – do that too! Here is THE LINK for that page. Now on to the second (and real) tip for today…
Holiday baking time is upon us. Here is shortcut from Chef Anne Willian for making rum balls while using up leftover or stale muffins at the same time.
November 29, 2011 No Comments
84 days till Christmas!
Does that scare you? Yeah, me neither. Because this year is going to be different. This year, we are going to get ready for the big season early. This year, just like a good boy scout, we are going to be prepared. I’m going to help you get started on that quest. Today I’m going to start you down the path of making awesome homemade gifts of goodness for your loved ones. It is an easy 3-step process, well maybe a 4-step process if you don’t have a cabinet full of booze, like I do… and you have to stop at a liquor store to buy the alcohol needed. Please take that into consideration when you map out your steps. Oh, and be sure to read to the bottom, bonus story there for everyone… here we go:
- Step 1: Go to Cost Plus World Market and purchase 3 packages of Madagascar vanilla beans (a package of two for $2.99) and 6 cute and decorative little bottles or jars to use for gift giving, and 6 pretty dish towels for gift wrapping. Each bottle or jar should hold only about 3-ounces of liquid… like I said, cute and little.
- Step 2: Come home with your purchases and set those little bottles and dish towels aside, you won’t be needing them until Saturday, December 10th. This is what I’m talking about – being prepared! Now make the homemade vanilla extract as instructed below.
- Step 3: On Saturday, December 10th it is time to package your little gifts. Using a funnel, divide the homemade vanilla extract evenly between the 6 cute and little bottles, slip one of the soaked vanilla beans into each. Seal and wrap up in the pretty dish towel and tie up with huge bow and place under your tree to give to the ones you love the most. Maybe include an awesome dessert recipe card that uses real vanilla extract and remind the loved ones how much you love dessert and how you hope they will love you back by sharing with you.
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October 1, 2011 12 Comments
working up the motivation
Guess what that big pile of citrus that I showed you last week, looks like now? Exactly the same as it did then, except it has a blanket covering it. It’s all still overflowing in the crates, still sitting on the back patio, right outside the French doors, staring through the windows at me. Mocking me and saying, “Hey, you there – stop what you are doing and get to the work at hand; zesting and squeezing us!” But I continue to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to that pile and TRY and keep motivated enough to get all the Christmas stuff taken down and put away. I’m not getting very far on that either.
January 5, 2011 4 Comments
red & green
We all know how important incorporating more color into our diets is for good health. I love focusing on the specific colors red and green during the holidays and this recipe fits the bill perfectly.
December 30, 2010 No Comments
special occasion beef
For Christmas dinner I made everyone’s favorite cut of beef – tenderloin. Although filet mignons are always a treat, preparing a whole tenderloin feels wonderfully decadent. And when you throw in a creamy brandy sauce, well that puts it above and beyond. Unfortunately, while in the rush to make all the plates perfect and get them to the table hot on Christmas night, I didn’t get a picture snapped before all the sauce was gone… so the picture above is with the remaining beef, sans sauce. Be sure you run out today to buy your tenderloin if you want to serve this on New Year’s Eve. I picked up mine at Costco, of course!
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December 29, 2010 No Comments
