Little Dinner Parties, As Easy As That

Ina Garten has it together - an amazing home in the Hampton's, the effortless ability to throw a dinner party together as easy as that, and fabulous friends. I love her.

So when I decided to have my best friend and her husband over for dinner, Ina was a natural inspiration for my main course choice. Lemon Chicken Breasts, from her newest book How Easy Is That?, won the vote and did not disappoint! After I smashed some potatoes, sauteed asparagus and baked an apple tart, my little dinner party was born.

not my finest photo, but you get the idea

The chicken baked in a dish with olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano & thyme. Mixed with the juices from the chicken you end up with a great 'sauce' to spoon over the finished product. The recipe calls for skin on, boneless breasts, but Safeway didn't have boneless breasts, so I went skin on bone in - amazing. Between the bone and the skin the breasts remain moist and tender (save for a little over cooking...)

My rustic mashed potatoes were red potatoes (skins on) with some chives, sour cream and cream - I loved these potatoes! Creamy and just a little tangy, with no pressure to be perfectly smooth. I sauteed the asparagus with olive oil, salt & pepper and finished with a sprinkle of parmesan. It all came together so well, with some left overs to spare.

And what about the apple tart? I have been making this most simple dessert for over a year now and it really deserves its own post... but all of this was prepared in a small kitchen with a late start, proof that having friends over for dinner really can be as easy as that.

rainy day delight

Soup and a grilled cheese is the ultimate rainy day food for me. Takes me way back to being a kid when my mom would make us tomato soup and a melted velveeta sandwich - oh so good.

Rainy Saturday creation numer two was Broccoli & Leek Soup with Thyme. I used dried thyme because it's what I had, and added a quarter cup of cream at the end because I think thats the way creamed soups should be finished, and it turned out great. Blended soups are SO easy - I love them. Start with some onions, add veggie(s) of your choice, cover with broth, boild until tender and blend... and of course, finish with a little cream ;)

Even though it wasn't raining today, I paired it with a sourdough+swiss+ham+apple grilled cheese sandwich, which is the perfect combo to melty+nutty+sweet+crisp.

I highly recommend this lunch or any variation of the soup method mentioned above on your next rainy day in.

best-ever brownies

I'm about to get the March issue of Bon Appetit any day now and realized I still hadn't made anything from Feb! So my rainy Saturday turned into a lovely cook day - first up the cover story brownies:

Brown Butter Brownies with Walnuts

I don't usually make brownies from scratch, I think the box does just fine in most cases, but these are truly amazing and worth the extra effort! The cover boasts 'best-ever brownies' and they just might be right...

The key is that you melt a ton of butter (fat is flavor, folks, don't be shy) and let it get toasty. The rest of the ingredients get added straight to the sauce pan you melt the butter in and it really is just that easy. Aside from the walnuts, the butter contributes to batter's nutty, almost savory profile - they're rich and fudgy and despite the generous amount of sugar are not painfully sweet. These chocolate squares of love definitely require a milk chaser and are the perfect way to soothe your soul on a rainy day.

my version of 'the best brownie ever'

Fun fact: the recipe says you get a crisp, shiny top, which is actually kind of like a meringue! I learned this from reading Bakewise a while back. It said if you beat the eggs too much in brownies or cookies you can end up with that meringue-like top layer. This recipe did indeed instruct me to 'vigorously' beat in each egg. Interesting, no?

does bacon say 'i love you'?

Soooo... It's Valentine's Day. After a quick drink with friends after work, I came home to prepare myself a 'special meal'. And by special I mean another dish with bacon.

Let's set the scene: I had the Turkey BLT at the Grove on Chestnut which was AMAZING. Seriously one of the best BLT's I've ever had - once you see the photo, I'm sure you'll be able to imagine a bit of what I'm talking about. The bread was solid and soft, just perfect, thick savory slabs of bacon paired so well with juicy turkey, fresh lettuce and tomato rounded out the textures and creamy mayo topped it off.

the inspiration: The Grove's Turkey BLT

This fabulous sandwich reminded me of a BLT Panzanella my friends told me about from Food & Wine and I knew I had to give it a go. I bought all the ingredients last week (hence the french toast and bacon Saturday) and threw it together tonight.

So easy: toasted some bread in the oven, added lettuce, tomato, bacon and a little avocado. A sprinkle of parm to finish, just lovely. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette with lemon juice, oil, shallot, touch of mayo. I let it sit for a bit for the bread to soak up the dressing, definitely the right choice.

the creation: BBLTA Salad

While I'd love to think everything I prepare is amazing, there are definitely things to be learned - so in the event you attempt your own BBLTA (bread, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado) Salad, which I highly recommend, take with you some of my learnings:

- use a good solid bread (sourdough or ciabatta would be great) my bread was a little too airy and flaky after being toasted

- make sure there's enough bacon!

- experiment with different dressings, a little dijon or something creamy would have been oh so good.

Give it a go!

Eggs+Bread+Bacon

The breakfast trend continues!

It's amazing what you can do with the standard breakfast ingredients: eggs, bread and bacon. You can traditionally scramble, fry, toast OR you can soak, brown and enjoy a morning bread pudding - that's right: French Toast!

I love french toast because it's easy, works perfectly for one AND the proportions don't have to be perfect! Two eggs, a good helping of milk, dash of vanilla, sprinkle of nutmeg and you're good to go. Soak the bread, brown on both sides until it's a little solid, and it's done. The end result is almost custardy, so creamy and sweet, which I can't resist.

Bacon makes everything better, no explanation needed, but the fact that a little syrup on it is all the more tasty, means its a perfect side for my 'toast'.

All in all a great way to start the morning. And so long as you don't drown it in syrup, use heavy cream or overload the bacon - I can't imagine it's all that bad for you ;)

a new kitchen

Diverging from the essence of the blog today to share some fun news - I moved!!

I took the leap and jumped into a place of my own! A cute little studio, which costs about 50% more, and has a kitchen less than half the size I had before (and no granite counter tops either) but it's all mine :)

I've got a gas stove and a big dining area, so there are endless possibilities to the cooking and hosting I can do in the coming months. I promise the next post will be about food, but photos for now to share my new space...