Black Garlic-Roasted Cornish Game Hen

This is a simple and tasty weeknight dinner. I used black garlic, but you can swap in regular garlic - just halve it and mash it to a paste. The black garlic is a sweeter more subtle garlic flavor. 

Thai Chicken Soup

This is a really light and flavorful soup. I recommend making your own stock, but store-bought is fine, too. 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 lemongrass stalks, 1-2 hard outer layers discarded

2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced 

2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced 

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

2 quarts chicken stock

1 14oz can diced tomatoes, drained but reserving juice

2oz tamarind paste

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 Serrano chiles, thinly sliced

A little lime zest

Chicken Stock

Everyone always says one should make her own chicken broth. It's not always in the cards to have several hours to kill before you want to whip up some soup for dinner. This is why Sundays are great days for soup. I made this fantastic broth to go with a Thai Chicken Soup (recipe coming) that really depended on a flavorful broth. Yum! There was luckily a bit leftover so I poured the extra broth into a ziploc bag and popped it in the freezer to use on my next soup.

Makes about 3 quarts

Ingredients:

3 lb chicken wings

any extra chicken bones you've been storing in your freezer (or just get a few more wings or other chicken parts)

4 quarts water

1 onion, quartered

8 garlic cloves, skin on

1 celery rib, quartered

1 carrot, quartered

6 parsley sprigs

1 large thyme sprig

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a large stock put and bring to a boil, skimming any froth. Reduce to a bare simmer and cook, uncovered, for 3.5 hours, occasionally skimming any foam and fat. Pour the stock through a sieve lined with damp paper towels and discard solids. Skim any fat. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I have never been a big cheesecake person (unless it's like this). I don't think I've ever ordered it at a restaurant. It always seems too rich and heavy, and that says a lot coming from me. Pumpkin cheesecake is the exception to the rule. It's a hybrid of pumpkin pie and cheese cake; lighter than cheesecake and with warm, aromatic pumpkin pie spice. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. My advice - drench the batter bowl in water before you can eat too much of it because it is fantastic.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 6 full graham crackers)

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

Mustard and Creme Fraiche-Roasted Fish

This is a quick, easy, and tasty Ina Garten recipe. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. The sauce is so flavorful.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 filets of fish (I used striped bass - wonder why?)

1/2 cup creme fraiche 

1.5 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tbsp grainy mustard

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 tsp capers, drained

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425. Mix the creme fraiche, mustards, shallot, and capers and season with salt and pepper. 

Coq a la Biere (Chicken Cooked in Beer)

I made this years ago when I was abroad in Paris but hadn't thought of it again until today. It's basically the same as coq au vin but with beer instead of red wine. It has such a great flavor and it a perfect fall or winter hearty dinner served over some buttered egg noodles. It also makes your house smell wonderful.

Champagne to go

I picked up a few of these as a hostess present. The champagne is pretty good. It's from Francis Ford Coppola's winery. The concesus was that it's weird to drink champagne out of a can with a straw, so we poured them into champagne glasses. I do think it would be perfect for a picnic as it's a bit inconspicuous.