This was the dessert for Joanne Weir’s classes at Les Gourmettes last week. Barb kindly gave me the batches that Joanne made in class.

I used my Simac ice cream maker to freeze. I’ll be serving it with a citrus cake I’m making for Easter.

This was our Easter cocktail. For the non-drinkers, I made up a batch of the citrus mix, sans the brandy, and added flavored La Croix sparkling water instead of Prosecco.

The lemonade ice cubes make the drink so festive. Since I have this long ice-cube tray to work with, I served the cocktail in champagne glasses. If I was using a standard tray, I’d have used wine glasses instead.

Sparkling Citrus Brunch Cocktail

Ice Cubes

• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 lime, thinly sliced
• 1 orange, thinly sliced
• 1 to 2 cups prepared lemonade

Cocktail

• 1 ½ cups fresh orange juice
• 1 cup fresh Ruby Red grapefruit juice
• 1 (750-milliliter) bottle Prosecco, chilled
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) brandy
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• Citrus slices for garnish

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Two of the three instructors who taught cooking classes at Les Gourmettes Cooking School this April have made refreshing and colorful citrus salads. And why not? We all love to use local ingredients and Arizona offers some of the best citruses around.

Another coincidence was that both of the chefs used a variety of orange called Cara Cara. I don’t recall this variety ever being used at the school before and then suddenly two consecutive teachers use them. Amazingly, they are even available at Costco.

The Cara Cara orange is an all-natural hybrid orange, the result of the cross-pollination of a Washington Navel Orange and a Brazilian Bahia Navel Orange.

They were discovered in 1976 in Venezuela at the Hacienda da Cara Cara. The oranges found their way into very limited US markets in the 1980s.

The next citrus tree I plant is going to be a Cara Cara! I love the sweetness of the fruit and the gorgeous reddish-pink color of the flesh. The photo above shows the blood orange, the Cara Cara and the navel next to each other. Beautiful!

I enjoyed and was inspired so much by the cooking class salads that I decided to pick up a bag of Cara Cara oranges at Costco and use my backyard bounty of lemons, grapefruit, blood and navel oranges for my dad’s birthday dinner.

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Our friends, Lori and Jonathan Vento, were in town last week. We wanted to get together with them along with Tram and Steve, but none of us felt like cooking. Come on – It’s August – It’s hot – Our energy level is low, at best!

I offered our house for Friday night and Lori had the great idea of just getting take-out. We decided the thing to do was a Chinese Take-Out Pot-Luck Dinner Party.

Coincidentally, my friend, Chef Joshua Hebert of Posh was selling some excess kitchen and dining wares he’d recently acquired from a restaurant that closed. I met him at a hangar at the Scottsdale Airpark on Thursday and purchased some lovely Asian dishware.

One little thing like this is all it takes for me to go all out with a theme! Now it’s ON like Donkey Kong!

The Ventos are former neighbors of ours, so as a surprise for them, I invited two other neighbor couples, the Codys, and the Cavans. On Thursday afternoon, I learned that Friday was Lori and Jonathan’s 27th wedding anniversary. Now we really did have a party! Tram and Steve picked up a cake, and everyone brought their favorite Chinese take-out to share and an anniversary for the adorable couple!

Since I was hosting, I didn’t want to leave the house to get take-out, so I made a cocktail, soup, and a fruit dessert. Today, I’ll share the cocktail recipe. Tomorrow we’ll have another entry for the new weekly Travel Tuesday feature. Then, on Wednesday I’ll post the soup recipe, and Thursday I’ll share the dessert (no oven, no-bake, in other words – the perfect dessert!) recipe.

Chinese Take-Out Pot-Luck Dinner Party Menu

~Orange-Ginger Sake Champagne Cocktail

~Lemongrass-Ginger Coconut Chicken Soup

~ Tram & Steve brought Chow Mein and Beef & Broccoli from Nee House Chinese Restaurant

~ The Anniversary couple also brought Chow Mein, along with Orange Chicken, from Chop and Wok and some cookies and candies from Sprouts. (which I forgot to put out, so I have them all to myself! Just kidding, I gave the cookies to my dad and the candies are destined for Connor’s house.)

~ The Codys picked up Chicken Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang’s, which Whitney beautifully served on a lovely wooden tray with a vintage covered serving dish and a stoneware pitcher for the sauce. They also brought a big bowl of fortune cookies. It’s not a Chinese dinner without fortune cookies!

~ The Cavans brought Fried Rice from Yume Sushi Grill, which Dana transferred to a big chafing dish to keep it piping hot. Smart girl!

~ Tropical Fruit stuffed Pineapples with Coconut Yogurt Sauce

~ Chocolate Mousse Anniversary Cake

It was all delicious! Even having two types of chow mein was fun since it was great to taste them side-by-side and compare.

I have a TIP to share for this cocktail recipe. Actually, it’s a good tip for any recipe where you are using herbs in the body of the dish and again for garnish. When removing the leaves, in this case, the mint leaves, strip the leaves below the tip of each sprig and save the tops, the tip of each sprig, for garnish. Too many times, people strip off all the leaves and realize too late that they need some pretty pieces to use at the end of the recipe. Get in the habit of always reserving the pretty tips and you’ll never have that issue again.

Orange-Ginger Sake Champagne Cocktail

• 1 bottle sake, chilled
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh ginger
• 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, plus 8 to 10 sprig tips for garnish
• 5 navel oranges, divided
• 1 bottle champagne or sparkling wine, chilled

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One of my favorite Valley chefs, Kevin Binkley, was the teacher at Les Gourmettes this week. I’ve mentioned Kevin and his stellar restaurant, Binkley’s, many times before on this site.

Photo

Kevin was able to do something that no one else has done, make me a kale salad lover – as long as it’s this salad! I could eat it every single day for lunch and dinner and be a happy camper.

Kevin calls it a crushed kale salad. It is the same technique you’ll find all over the internet, only they are calling it massaging the kale instead of crushing it. One thing he does differently is to tear the kale into bite-sized pieces instead of cutting it into ribbons or chiffonade.

In this video, I’m holding the camera with my left hand and only using my right to massage the kale. You’ll use both hands.

So why crush or massage the kale? Because doing so helps break down the very strong cell structure of the leaves. After a couple of minutes, you’ll notice a visible difference as you massage the kale; the leaves darken, they shrink and wilt and become quite silky, and most importantly, palatable. Raw kale is bitter and tough, massaging or crushing is key to enjoying it uncooked.

One big takeaway for me from the class was the way Kevin toasts nuts. Instead of spreading them on a dry baking sheet, like I usually do, he tosses the nuts in a little oil and salt. If you’ve ever toasted nuts before, you know that when they are done, they are dry. So dry that salt, sugar, or spice won’t stick to them. Tossing them in the oil and seasoning before toasting is so much better!

Two points I need to make: You’ll notice the recipe calls for raspberries, I didn’t have any, but they are a beautiful, colorful, and yummy addition to the salad. Also, be sure to buy bunches of kale, not the bagged chopped-up variety. The bagged stuff has the center ribs included, you don’t want the ribs. I used one bunch of dinosaur or black kale and one bunch of curly kale. A mix is a nice way to go.

Oh, and if you’re interested in learning more about Kevin Binkley – enjoy this great documentary.

Binkley’s Crushed Kale Salad

Toasted Walnuts

• 1 cup raw walnut halves
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• Egg yolk from 1 small egg (or 1/2 yolk from a large egg)
• 1 tablespoon peeled and diced shallot
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Salad

• 2 bunches kale (a mix of dinosaur, curly, and/or red)
• 1 ½ cups finely shredded Parmesan, divided
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 navel oranges
• 1 container raspberries

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Yesterday we had Lori’s Honey Paloma Cocktail, today it’s Jonathan’s turn.

Now I can share with you that this cocktail was our unanimous favorite. Lori’s was good but side-by-side, this lemonade won, hands down!

I will also let you know that since I have both navel orange and blood orange plus lemon and Meyer lemon trees in my backyard, we used a mix of all four citrus varieties for our juice base. It’s possible that made all the difference… or maybe it’s just a good recipe no matter which citrus varieties you use.

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This recipe is one I found on Pinterest and nipped, tucked, and tweaked to make this killer vegetable side dish.

I hadn’t planned to post it until the end of the week, but a couple of you asked for it ASAP, so here it is.

The 4-ounce package of diced pancetta is from Trader Joe’s and makes this dish a snap.

When you’re in the produce department looking at leeks, always pick out the leeks with the most white. The dark green goes in the trash. White and light green = Good. Dark green = Waste.

Also, always wash your leeks after you’ve sliced or diced them. To do so, fill a bowl with cold water, drop the leeks in and swish around. Then use your hands to lift the leeks out of the water, transferring them to a dish or plate. Next, pour out the dirty water and do it all over again. Pour out that water and if it’s clear, your leeks are ready to use. If that water is still sandy and dirty, do it again and again as needed. It’s important to not pour the leeks into a strainer. Doing so will leave the dirt you removed from the leeks all over them again.

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That may be THE most misleading title for a post I have ever made!

I’m sorry about that. The fact is that you don’t need a recipe or a post to make this “2 ingredient no-calorie dessert.” All you need is to buy a box of Angel Food Cake Mix to achieve the same end result.

Except for one minor little change…

The Angel Food Cake Mix called for water as ingredient #2, I used diet orange soda to make this a Creamsicle Angel Food Cake.

Keep reading if you’re intrigued, if not, come back tomorrow. But know before you go, Creamsicles were my favorite thing on earth when I was 8 years old.

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With Thanksgiving only a few days away, I was thinking that this might be a nontraditional but lovely way to serve a small turkey for a party of two or four. Mind you, I would not be able to bring myself to do it, I need my traditional roast turkey, but for a very savoir-faire sort of hostess.

Otherwise, it’s just a perfect winter heartwarming and hearty dish to serve at a dinner party or to your family on a special night.

When a recipe calls for a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, the eight pieces consist of the 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and the breast that is cut in half to make two pieces. The back is not used but is the perfect piece of chicken to use to make chicken broth.

To cut a chicken into pieces, you begin with either the wing or the leg and move it around until you locate the joint.

Cut through the skin and through the joint, which the knife slides through quite easily. If there is a lot of resistance, you’ve hit the bone, so move the knife to one side or the other until you located the joint. Easy, once you get the hang of it.

Finally, if it looks like I have a ton of chicken and a double amount of polenta in the photos below – it’s because I do. This was the main dish I taught at my first class in the three-week series at Les Gourmettes last Wednesday night. Obviously, the recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

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I love everything about this meal. There is very little prep, only minutes of hands-on time, and only 1 knife, 1 Microplane, and 1 pan to clean. You pop it in the oven, set the timer, and go about your business.

I wish I would have created this fabulous recipe, but alas it was the lovely Nigella Lawson. I have a few minor revisions. For instance – the addition of one of my favorite ingredients – smoked paprika.  Enjoy!

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