Homemade Marshmallows

We were homebound last weekend, along with most of the northeast. It was perfect hot chocolate weather. We have some great, 100% chocolate from Peru that we use to make hot chocolate, and I wanted to up our game a little and try making fresh marshmallows. It's pretty easy! You need to make them a few hours before you want to eat them, though, so it's not a spur of the moment thing. They're so light and fluffy and definitely worth the effort (it's not that much effort - just cleaning is sticky). They melt so nicely into hot chocolate. Can't wait to try them for s'mores! They would also be a great hostess gift along with supplies for either hot chocolate or s'mores. If it's another cold weekend when you'll be holed up at home, I recommend trying these out! (Got the recipe from Martha and halved it.)

Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake is delicious. The crushed up Oreos mixed with magical shell make the perfect crispy filling. So decadent and sweet. Who doesn't love ice cream cake? It takes a while to make it with all the freezing, but if you're home for most of the day it's not bad. You can do it over the course of a couple of days, too. It's so good! I ate mine and half of Jamie's.

Ingredients:

2 quarts ice cream, whatever flavors you want (I used chocolate and Oreo)

1.5 sleeves Oreos, filling removed (or if you can find them, chocolate wafers)

A few tbsp magic shell

Hot fudge (I used Hershey's but you can also make your own)

Whipped cream

Cherries and sprinkles (optional)

Lobster Corn Chowder

I made this for myself (and Jamie) for my birthday dinner - such a treat! It has such a great corn flavor, and the lobster makes it decadent and perfect for a special occasion. I went off a mix of two recipes - this from Ina and this from Martha - and tweaked them a bit. The result is a deliciously corntastic chowder. Ina uses heavy cream, so I lightened it up with a mix of corn stock, whole milk, and half and half. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 1.5 lb lobster 

2 tbsp butter

1 large yellow onion, diced and divided in two

4 cups corn stock

1 cup whole milk

1 cup half and half

4 strips bacon, chopped

4 cups corn (fresh or frozen)

1 russet or Idaho potato, peeled and cut into 1/4"-1/2" dice

2 stocks celery, diced

2 tbsp chives, minced, plus more to serve

pinch of cayenne

1/8 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

Cook the lobster

Bring 8 cups water to a boil. Add lobsters and cook 15 minutes. Set them over a colander set in a large bowl. Take the meat out of the lobster over the bowl, reserving the juices and discarding any roe or tamale. Keep the shells. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and put in a bowl. Refrigerate until you need them. 

Mini Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie with Ice Cream

Yum! I want to eat this again right now. It's a big, gooey, melty chocolate chip cookies covered in vanilla ice cream. What's not to love? This serves two in a 5" inch skillet, but there's leftover dough. You can also do ramekins to make individual servings. 

Ingredients:

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large eff

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Vanilla ice cream

Tarte Soleil

I saw this beautiful snack on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. It's so easy! It looks really fancy, but it's super simple. Very tasty and would be great to have out for a cocktail party. You can fill it with anything (cheese, chocolate, nutella...) but I tried a savory one first with tapenade. I did a mini one using just one sheet of puff pastry, but you can do a bigger one using two. 

Ingredients:

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

tapenade (I made some by pureeing black olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, garlic, anchovy paste, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, but store-bought works, too!)

grated pecorino

1 egg, beaten up with some water

Fettuccine with Truffle Sauce

Yum! This is an Ina recipe that my mother-in-law loves. It's decadent and delicious and if you love truffles, it's so great. It is on the heavy side, so great for a cold winter night and a special dinner. We had our friends Kara and Jon over for dinner and served it - big hit. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

6oz truffle butter

1lb fresh fettuccine 

6 oz pecorino, shaved thin with a vegetable peeler

Directions:

Heat the cream in a sauté pan over medium heat until it simmers. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta.

Fettuccine with Red Wine Sauce

Sorry for the delay! December was busy and we went down to Florida for a week between Christmas and New Year's. Now winter has descended on New York and it's freezing. Nice, cozy pasta dishes sound so appealing, which could also partially be because... I'm pregnant! Jamie and I are expecting a little girl at the end of May. SO so excited! Probably fewer cocktail recipes on here for a few months...

My missing red wine may have played a role in this recipe's invention. Over the summer, my friend Kara and I had dinner at Ciccio and had this great red wine pasta. I'd been wanting to try to recreate it and tried tonight. Yum! It's really simple and goes perfectly with good, fresh pasta. It's a somewhat subtle sauce, but again, with fresh pasta you don't need too much. I served it with lots of grated pecorino and cracked black pepper.