answers to my less than popular game
OK, I give in. Since a couple more people played and a few of you sent me emails – I concede. Here are the answers for the second edition of “What the Heck is That?!?” And very impressively, this time we had one person get all three items correct. Kudos to my super smart (and super sweet!) friend, Kim!
Object #1
This is a manche à gigot, otherwise known as a leg of lamb holder clamp. Gigot is the French word for leg of lamb or mutton and manche means handle. So this tool is used when slicing leg of lamb. It is attached to the shank and then tightened to provide a clean grip for the carver.
January 19, 2012 4 Comments
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
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
margaritaville in the fall
If you’re anything like me, when you think of margaritas, you think of a warm summer day. Last week I was introduced to a cold-weather margarita that will knock your socks off! Chef Jeff Smedstad was the visiting chef teaching at Barbara Fenzl’s Les Gourmettes Cooking School last Monday night and everyone in the class swooned when he served this luxurious (de lujo) concoction.
Chef Smedstad is the chef/owner of Elote Cafe in Sedona. Dave and I dined at Elote the first night we were up in Sedona, last month. I failed to mention it before, because back then, it was all about my sprained ankle. And that’s a shame because it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a very long time. For a fantastic rundown (with drop-dead gorgeous pictures) on Elote go to my friend, Gwen Walter’s blog and check out her professional and spot-on review.
While you’re reading the review and drooling over the photos, enjoy this somehow “warming” cold margarita. Chef Smedstad calls for Añejo tequila. Añejo, or “aged” tequila sits in oak barrels for at least one year and up to two years, eleven months, and thirty days. On the next day (3 years), it would be called Extra Añejo. Although the Añejo or Extra Añejo really make this drink shine (see Chef’s notes at the bottom of the recipe) you may use Blanco (white) tequila or Reposado (rested) tequila, just be sure to use a high quality tequila and not anything along the lines of the dreaded José Cuervo!
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November 16, 2011 4 Comments
cooking together
We had our friends, Steve and Tram, over for dinner on Sunday. Well, golf and dinner for the boys and antiquing and dinner for Tram and I. As an added bonus, Marissa arrived home at about 5:00, just in time for dinner. She had been in Tucson for UofA’s Homecoming and was able to drop in on Scottsdale for a whirlwind 22 hours.
- Tram the Reporter (writing down the recipe for me), Steve the Chef, and Marissa the Photographer
This was a new sort of dinner party for us, I had a co-chef in the kitchen! Steve is a fabulous cook and he actually ended up making more dishes than I did. Plus he and Tram provided the main ingredient – halibut – that they caught themselves, in Alaska last summer. So Good! Steve and I each took half of the halibut and cooked it our own way.
To top off the perfect day, Tram brought THE MOST gorgeous and delicious angel food cake that I have ever seen or have had the pleasure of eating. She made it from a recipe recently given to her from her mother-in-law. It was divine! If she decides to share it with me (I didn’t even ask yet – I mean she just got it from her MIL!), and if she gives me permission, I will share it with you. Until then just drool over that picture above! Oh my!
Today I am sharing with you Steve’s recipe for halibut with limoncello sauce. If you were smart enough to make the homemade limoncello I taught you how to make last year, then you are ready to crank this out. If not, purchased limoncello is perfectly wonderful to use too.
Thank you Tram and Steve! xoxo
November 8, 2011 4 Comments
tip time and birthdays
Before your tip of the week… a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my “birthday sister”, Laura Dileen Galloway Heffron! Laura and I have been friends since high school, when we discovered our birthdays were only one day apart. Laura was my maid-of-honor 26 years ago and is Marissa’s godmother. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding and I am godmother to 2 of her 3 sons. Happy Birthday, Laura! I love you!
This picture is of Laura and I visiting my Aunt Beverly in Del Mar, CA back in the summer of ’78 or ’79. Laura and I were just high school girls standing there all awkward – while Bev poses all sexy… too funny! Bev’s birthday is Sunday, so I’ll take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday, Aunt Bev, I love you too!
October 28, 2011 No Comments
love 10/27
It’s no secret, I love my birthday. You know that person who complains that they are another year older? Yeah, I am the complete opposite of that person. Birthdays are a gift unto themselves.
I love October, I love the 27th, I love that I was born in a year ending with zero, what can I say, I just love my birthday. In fact, when I schedule posts in advance on this very blog, I set them up to post at 10:27 AM. So there you go, now you know.
October 27, 2011 8 Comments
no accident
On Sunday night, Peggy and I attended a wonderful event at a fun new venue called The Accidental Yard, in Old Town Scottsdale. Doesn’t she look so pretty standing in front of the door that is the address of The Accidental Yard? Although I’m not actually certain that the door opens or if it really leads to anywhere… since we followed the cute signs and walked around the corner to the entrance.
The property is between the Cavalliere Blacksmith Shop (est. 1910) and the Mission Restaurant and Lounge on Brown Avenue and Second Street. The Accidental Yard will encompass about 10,000 square feet on the L-shaped property that includes the two buildings and a yard that stretches to an area behind the blacksmith shop. The property had been vacant for years. It is being renovated by co-owners and founders, Joe and Kelly Garcia, into an urban garden which will soon have an attached coffeehouse, bakery, and restaurant. Joe and Kelly, are long-time vendors at the Old Town Farmer’s Market and Kelly owns Butter & Me Cupcakery.
October 18, 2011 No Comments
misc and tip of the week
I’m off to tape a television segment today for Channel 3- Your Life A to Z. It will air tomorrow, Friday, October 14th, at 10:100 AM. So, instead of posting a recipe I have some miscellaneous, fun, and important items tell you about.
The last couple of days I’ve been sharing with you items from my weekend shopping extravaganza with Peggy. Both of us are in love with birdcages and we found the perfect one for Peggy’s house. She had an open corner in her dining room and we decided the birdcage would fit perfectly there. She will change it out throughout the year and create holiday and casual vignettes, using the cage as the canvass. Above you can see what we did for her Halloween Birdcage Vignette and below is a closeup. Doesn’t that look great?!
October 13, 2011 7 Comments
more “found” stuff
Yesterday I told you about the new trend that has retail stores selling “found” stuff for big bucks. Well, during my shopping excursion with Peggy last weekend, I found some stuff on my own that has been, or is currently, being offered in Pottery Barn’s “found” section.
One of the very first things I remember PB offering was these soda crates for $24 each. Somehow they’ve sold out of them and they are no longer available in stores or on their web site.
I lusted after them, especially when I saw the way they were being used in the dining room at Estate, a gorgeous and delicious restaurant in Sonoma, California. Even so, I wasn’t willing to pay $24 each for old crates.
October 12, 2011 1 Comment
