Halloween

Jamie's, mine, Maria's, Bryce's

I have always loved Halloween. I used to start planning my costumes in the summer and give my mom detailed designs of the various outfits she had to sew for me in time for the parties and trick-or-treating. Lots of trips to the fabric store and arguing over hem length. Aside from dressing up (and meeting my loving husband), one of my favorite things about Halloween is pumpkin carving. We had our friends Bryce and Maria over to carve pumpkins last night. It was so fun! And they all turned out to be so different. I highly recommend you all have a little pumpkin carving get together this weekend!

Also, Halloween is now even more amazingly special because on Halloween three years ago (October 31, 2009) I met Jamie. Now I don't only get to dress up and carve pumpkins, but I get to do it all with my Jameball. I love you!!

Maison du Macaron

I know everyone is into La Durée, but if you live downtown, there's an amazing macaron spot on 23rd - La Maison du Macaron. They have a great selection or colors and flavors and they look so beautiful. I got a box of the prettiest colors/tastiest-sounding flavors to bring to my sister-in-law's house last weekend, but we accidentally left them at home. Luckily for us, that meant we got to eat them. They're not that cheap ($20 for a box of 8) but they are rich and flavorful and decadent, and I think the perfect hostess present. (Anyone coming over to our apartment, I would be psyched to get a box of these : ) ) The salted caramel is amaaazing, and the port wine and pear (the pretty purple one with the gold leaf) was a close second. Yum!

Minestrone

On a cold fall day, what beats a big bowl of minestrone? I'm not talking Progresso. Homemade minestrone is hard to mess up, and sooo tasty and warm, and healthy! This make A LOT so feel free to cut back. (Probably enough for 8 people.) Cooking it with an old Pecorino rind gives the broth an amazing flavor, and topping it with a fresh dab of pesto gives it a little zip. I also like to grate a little Pecorino on top. I'm having two friends over tonight to help me with the leftovers. Mm mm mmm.

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pieces turkey bacon (you can use pancetta, too), diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large leek, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 large celery stalks, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes and their juice
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Lara's Chocolate Mousse

My sweet friends gave me a cook book at my wedding shower and everyone put in a recipe. For my first one, I tried Lara's chocolate mousse. She had told me about it before and it sounded delicious, and also easy. It was fabulous! Thank you for the recipe, Lara! It's so easy and so rich and chocolatey. I only wish I could find the amazing Belgian Cote D'Or chocolate in the US, but maybe she can bring me some next time she's in Belgium...

Ingredients:
Cote D'Or dark chocolate (or another kind - I used Ghirardelli)
Eggs (one egg per bar)
Milk
Sugar (one small spoon per bar)

Directions:

Bolognese

Another Barbara Lynch recipe here. She said that her secret ingredient was chicken livers and I really wanted to test it out. It's a great, hearty sauce. It's very meaty and not very tomatoey, so different than what I would normally think of for bolognese, but it was so flavorful and rich and a perfect Sunday dinner with a little pasta and some Pecorino.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
5 oz chicken livers, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground meat, 1/2lb each pork, veal, and lamb (or beef if you can't find lamb)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5-oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions

I wanted to use my braiser and saw this recipe on epicurious and thought it sounded perfect for fall! Plus, our friend Rob was coming over and he loves pork, so I wanted to make something pork-related. Since it takes about 3 hours to cook, I had to make it the day before so we could eat at the reasonable hour, which also helped for skimming the fat. It was really juicy and tasty, and I actually liked it even better the next day! I took the leftover pork and sauce and added a little extra cider and heated it up and shredded it. Yum! It was so rich and falltastic. It also makes me want to cook up an apple cider-based BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb bone-in pork shoulder (I could only find boneless)
1 cup apple cider
5 yellow onions, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4" slices
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle power (I added this because I think cider and chipotle go really well together)

Tuscan White Bean Dip

I'm crazy for not taking pictures during this - the infusing oil is so pretty - because now I have nothing to show for myself. But this recipe is really delicious. It's rich and has a great depth of flavor and it's sort of subtle, too. All the flavor comes from the infused oil - a great way to get a bunch of flavors into the dip completely seamlessly. I had a few people for dinner last night and served this and it was gone in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
1 can cannellini beans
3 garlic cloves, smashed and skin removed
1 large sprig rosemary
1 dried chili (I used Chinese, but you could use Arbol or something, too)
2 long pieces of lemon zest
About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a small sauce pan and go up about an eighth of an inch)

Directions:
Put the oil, garlic, rosemary, chili, zest, and oil in a small sauce pan. Heat over very low until it starts to really lightly simmer. Stir. When the garlic starts to brown, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Drain the beans but do not rinse them. Put them in the bowl of a small food processor and strain the oil into the processor with them. Add a pinch of salt and blend until smooth. Put into a bowl and with a rubber spatula, scrape out any oil remaining in the sauce pan and drizzle it on top of the dip. Serve with carrots and light crackers or pita.

Olives Al Forno

My second try from the wonderful Mozza cookbook - thanks Siobhan! - was olives al forno. They're great! Something about having the olives warm and roasted and soft makes them totally different and really tasty hors d'oeuvres. And oh my gosh, the garlic confit is amaaazing. Yum!

Ingredients:
4 cups mixed, unpitted olives (I used a mix of picholine, nicoise, and kalamata)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Wide zest strips of 1 lemon and 1 orange
4 dried bay leaves
1/2 cup fresh rosemary needles
garlic confit (recipe below)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Combine olives in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, orange rind, lemon rind, bay leaves, and rosemary. Add the garlic confit, including the chilis, and toss to combine.

Bibb Lettuce with Creamy Parmesan Dressing and Cheese Crisps

Another recipe from the wonderful "Stir" cookbook by Barbara Lynch. She said she'd so tired of Mesclun, and I kind of get it. The Bibb lettuce is so crispy and nice. The dressing is creamy and subtle and the cheese crisps are awesome.

Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup grapeseed oil
3 1/2 cups finely grated Pecorino Romano (she says parm, but I used Pecorino)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large head Bibb lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into pieces
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
Parsley and tarragon, finely chopped

Bucatini All'amatriciana

The bucatini all'amatriciana at Lupa is totally delicious, so when I got my new Kitchen Aid and pasta extruder attachment I immediately broke it out to make fresh bucatini. (I know, I'm a weirdo.) Feel free to just buy bucatini like a normal person, but definitely make the sauce. To save a little time, I also used marinara from Faicco's instead of making the basic tomato sauce the recipe calls for, so that makes it easier. The sauce is rich and tart and has a little kick. It really is wonderful. And if you can't find bucatini or perciatelli, spaghetti will work, too. (And if you can't find guanciale you can use pancetta, but guanciale is definitely better in this.)

I got the recipe from Babbo's recipe archive site. Yum!

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 lb guanciale, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 red onions, cut in half in 1/2" slices
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups marinara sauce
1 big handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 1/2 lb bucatini
Pecorino Romano for grating