BOURBON BALLS

December 24th, 2011 4 comments »

Merry Christmas!
What a sexy, decandent and lovely little ball to have around during the toasts tonight. These go very well with champagne. They are so easy to make and you can roll them in different toppings. My mom always made these at Christmas and rolled them in confectionars sugar but I have added dark cocoa and pistachios. There are a lot of recipes around for bourbon balls and rum balls but I think this is one of the best I’ve come across and very similar to my friend Karen French’s extraordinary bourbon balls. Here’s to all of you with chocolate and champagne!

Bourbon Balls

  • 1 cup of pecans or walnuts – toasted
  • 2 cups of vanilla wafers
  • 1/2 cup of confectionars sugar
  • 2 tab of cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tab of light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup of bourbon

Toppings: pistaschios, cocoa powder & confectionars sugar

Toast the nuts in a small saucepan

In a food processor chop the vanilla wafers and nuts. Add the sugar to combine, then the corn syrup and bourbon. Mix all well and refridgerate for a couple of hours. Now the fun, roll the balls into small rounds and then into desired topping.

4 comments »

Posted in Desserts, Holidays, Holidays and Special Occasions, Recipes

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Baby Scallop Ceviche

July 23rd, 2011 2 comments »

Last year we found ourselves happily in Playa del Carmen for a much needed rest. Our friend Charles knew of a fabulous cervicheria called Aquas Calientes. This place is amazing with the freshest seafood ceviches. The varieties were astounding and we keep wishing we were there again. Here is a recreation of one of the offers on the menu. Of course it tasted better in Mexico!

  • 1 pound of bay scallops
  • 3 limes
  • 1 lemon
  • 1/4 of fresh orange juice
  • 1/4 cup of onion
  • 1 jalapeno
  • 3 small orange tomatoes
  • 1 avocado

Rinse scallops, dry and cut in half. Juice the citrus and add to the scallops, chop the onion, jalapeno and tomatoes and refrigerate all for at least 2 hours. Right before serving add the chopped avocado and  a little salt and pepper. Serve with tortilla chips and or quesidillas!

2 comments »

Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Recipes, Seafood, Soups and Salads, Travel

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Fried Prosciutto Stuffed Olives

April 17th, 2011 1 comment »


Delicious easy, elegant appetizers to keep the starving hungry guys at bay!

FRIED OLIVES

  • Big green olives,  pitted
  • prosciutto or salami or anchovies
  • beaten egg
  • flour
  • bread crumbs
  • canola oil

Stuff the olives with your choice of meat or cheese
Roll in a small handful of flour
Roll in the egg
Roll in the Italian breadcrumbs

Flash fry in a small amount of oil in a small skillet

Toast some french bread or don’t toast it and top with pesto and radishes

1 comment »

Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Cookbooks, Everything Else..., Recipes, Uncategorized

I LOVE MY PIZZA STONE!

March 28th, 2011 No comments »


My wonderful husband, Jesse, bought me a fabulous Emile Henry pizza stone for Christmas and I love it. It may indeed be my new favorite kitchen toy. I like to make pizza but I have never been able to get a crispy, darkened crust with my oven, voila use a pizza stone, it really works! Pizza is fun!You can put anything on it and for us it often becomes a base for salad. I love to top it with arugula or caesar salad.  It’s a great Friday night meal.

To make a fast pizza you can use Pillsbury pizza dough or Central Market in Austin has a very good frozen dough that rivals home-made. Last night our pizza was very simple and oh so delicuous with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzerlla.

PIZZA

  • 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, I used yellow ones, nice & sweet
  • 1/2  pound of fresh mozzerlla
  • 1 regular round pizza dough

To start I carmelized the tomatoes in a saucepan with a little olive oil, pinch of salt & pepper and about a 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and a few fennel seeds. Just let the tomatoes melt on low heat while you get the oven heated and the cheese sliced.

I heated my oven at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes with the stone in it.

Roll the dough out on a pizza peel that you have sprinkled with flour. Add some olive oil to the dough and smooth it around and then add the tomates and mozzerlla. Bake for about 12 minutes and enjoy home-made delicious pizza!

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Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Gadgets & Favorites, Recipes, Uncategorized

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Spaghetti & Meatballs

February 1st, 2011 No comments »


When I want comfort I want spaghetti and I mean strings like linguine, fettucine or thin spaghetti. No cute little shapes but strings as Dashiell calls it. Add a few meatballs and you’re on your way to cozy. Well the weather just turned a little chilly here in Austin, I think we are down to 35 degrees at night so spaghetti and meat balls come to mind. I don’t make this dish very often because I can’t stop eating it. I am going to uses my mom’s recipe for the meat balls  except I am not using pork or veal. I’m against veal even though I’m eating beef. Okay, let me know what you think..

Meatballs

  • 1 pound of ground beef; with 15% fat
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup of Contadina Italian bread crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon fennel
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon parsley
  • 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

Beat the egg in a medium mixing bowl and add the meat and gently mix.  Add all of the seasonings and then form the meat into 1 inch balls. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch over at medium heat then start adding your meat balls. Don’t overcrowd as you want them to brown on all sides. Once they are brown take them out and set aside.

Tomato Sauce or gravy

In the same dutch oven add a little more olive oil and heat on low then ad

  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic

Sautee until onion and garlic are tender

  • Add 2  14 ounce cans of crushed tomatos
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1 teaspoon  basil
  • 1 teaspoon oregano

Bring to a boil

Turn down to a simmer and add the meatballs and cook on low for an hour.

Boil 4 quarts of water with a teaspoon of salt and add your favorite pasta shape!

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Antipasto A-Go-Go

October 4th, 2010 No comments »

Antipasto literally means “before the meal” in Italian. Starters, hors d’oeurves, appetizers may signify the same thing in other languages but in our case this was the meal. On the eve of Labor Day, hot and humid as usual in Austin, Texas, I decided we should indulge in a few of my favorites things. A little store bought Calabrase salame, delicious fresh mozzerella, and home baked eggplant and tomotoes. We ended up with platter full of color, texture and flavor.

Start with the tomatoes as they take the longest. The recipe for the tomatoes is on this blog under “oven roasted tomatoes”.

After the tomatoes come out of the oven and they are cooling, start the eggplant. This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman at the NY Times.

  • Heat the oven to broil. Cut an eggplant in 1/2, chop an onion ad 2 cloves of garlic and put the mixture into the eggplant. Place in the lowest rack from the broil and check on it in 15 minutes or until the eggplant has collapsed. Let it cool, scoop out the eggplant, onion and garlic and add about 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt. Mix it up and add some garlic powder, salt, pepper and lemon. Season to taste! Delicious, simple and rustic!

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Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Cocktails and Wine, Everything Else..., Recipes, Vegetarian

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Shrimp Scampi

November 5th, 2009 6 comments »

Shrimp Scampi

Define an easy after work dinner….Shrimp Scampi! Who needs 30 minute meals when you can have a delicious 15 minute meal? Right on! This is so delicious and simple. Toss with pasta or rice or load on to grilled bread or go light as we did with a big salad.

  • 1 lbs of medium shrimp–cleaned and deveined
  • 2 cloves of garlic–minced
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of fennel
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of oregano
  • 1/2 cup of white wine

Heat the olive oil on low heat and add the garlic. Stir the garlic and add the fennel seeds and let both cook for a few minutes. Add the shrimp and the other spices and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the shrimp are pink. Don’t overcook the shrimp. Add the white wine and stir for a minute or two to absorb the flavor. Dig in!

6 comments »

Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Recipes, Seafood, Uncategorized

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Pizza Again!

October 24th, 2009 5 comments »

Salami, mozzarella & fresh peppers & onion...

Well, why not pizza again? It is one of the easiest, quickest and most creative dishes I can think of. Christina and Jasmine came over after work and I have to tell you I was really excited to cook with them. We spend a lot of time at work talking about food and both gals have great food blogs (Fattened Calf & Glitter Shrimp) and food pedigree. Yaz went to culinary school and Christina’s fiance is a chef at Uchi, and they cook together all the time, so it’s food, food, food! They brought cheeses (goat and mozzerella), olives, arugula, salami, pesto, proscuitto and we doused one of the pizzas with truffle oil. I sauteed some onion with a fresh jalapeno and green pepper from Jaz’s mom’s garden until soft and fragrant and then threw in some fennel seed, salt & pepper and that is a pretty darn good pizza topping. We then assembled two store bought pizza doughs and had a feast. Don’t forgot the wine!

5 comments »

Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Cocktails and Wine, Everything Else...

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Boeuf Bourguignon & Beef Stew

October 4th, 2009 3 comments »

beef stew
boeuf bBoeuf Bourguignon and Beef Stew and  are both homey, hearty, comforting and delicious dishes. They are similar, but Beef stew is more simple and American. Boeuf Bourguignon has a French name and it is a little more elegant with the addition of cognac, red wine and bacon and is famous because of Julia Child and the movie Julie & Julia. Boeuf Bourguignon has pearl onions and beef stew has an yellow onion.  Of course you could add those fabulous ingredients to beef stew if you want to but I don’t or else it would be Boeuf Bourguignon. My mom likes simple food so I made her the beef stew this Sunday. However, last Sunday I made the Boeuf Bourguignon for Sara & Dan proud parents of Charlie. Sara is part of the book club that I mentioned a few posts ago. As a way to help the new parents out each of us brought a dish for them and my contribution was Boeuf Bourguignon.

I am including the beef stew recipe but you can easily find your favorite Boeuf Bourguignon recipe, hint Julia Child.  Make both and decide which one your prefer. Beef Stew is fast and simple. Boeuf Bourguignon is a little more involved and it will have a deeper flavor but I’d eat either anytime.

Beef  Stew

  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 lb of beef stew meat, dredged in flour
  • 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 stalk of celery, chopped
  • 2 quarts of chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
  • 2 teaspoons of thyme

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch Oven, I use Le Creuset, heat the olive oil and saute the onions, carrots and celery, when they are tender add the garlic. Take the vegetables out and set aside add another tablespoon of olive oil and dd the beef and saute until brown. Add the chicken broth and tomatoe paste and the vegetables and cover tightly and place in the oven for 2 hours.

    Boeuf Bourguignon

    This recipe is everywhere so choose the one that you like. I like Ina Garten’s, the Barefoot Contessa, www.barefootcontessa.com, from her book “Barefood In Paris” or you could use Julia Child’s. Regardless it is basically beef stew with the addition of bacon, pearl onions, cognac and red wine. Ahhh….


    3 comments »

    Posted in Chicken, Beef, Pork, Cocktails and Wine, Holidays and Special Occasions, Recipes

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    Happy Birthday Dashiell!

    September 25th, 2009 7 comments »

    Dashiell's homemade chocolate birthday cakeSweet 16!Today is the 16th birthday of my beautiful, talented, smart and wonderful son, Dashiell. He loves chocolate so I wanted to bake a cake for him made with chocolate and lots of love. The best recipe that I’ve found for chocolate cake if by Nigella Lawson in her “Nigella Bites” cookbook. Check it out. I made the cake last night and it does have a lot of ingrediants but it is fairly easy.  All of the steps make perfect sense. The cake came out beautiful and it is so moist and loaded with flavor without the heavy chocolate that some chocolate cakes have.  The icing is the cat’s meow, so silky and smooth and decadent. Here’s to Dashiell on his special day! Love MOM.

    7 comments »

    Posted in Cookbooks, Holidays and Special Occasions

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