Do you sometimes have an experience, create a memory you just want to wrap your arms around and hold on to forever? Without seeming really sappy – drip, drip, drip – may I share with you a recent evening of friendship, nourishment and reminiscence.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Wilderness Act of 1964, last week three local environmental groups threw a party, the Maroon Bells Birthday Bash. The Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, designating the original 54 wilderness areas. That’s when our beloved Maroon Bells-Snowmass area, visited by over 100,000 visitors each year, was saved in perpetuity.
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act with the magnificent Maroon Bells as a background.
Partying on, Sunday afternoon, at the Aspen Musical Festival’s weekly concert, the orchestra got into the act of honoring the Act by playing Richard Strauss’s magnificent Alpine Symphony. Strauss created his musical homage to a trek in the Alps. For the purposes of the weekend, his Alps was to become our Rockies. That’s when I decided to call my friend, Judy Schramm, and plan a bash of our own.
Judy and I have been friends, it seems like, forever, but we never have time for each other. Sounds crazy, huh, but don’t you get that? We were among the 16 original volunteers who our mentor, Joanne Lyon, corralled into becoming forest rangers. But it was Judy and Joanne who, in 2001, founded the Forest Conservancy and nurtured it to the 120 boots on the ground we have today. We lost Joanne last year.
The best of the supper menu: Roasted Shrimp Salad, Roasted Artichoke Hearts and Colorado tomatoes.
I called Judy and suggested we attend the concert together and then have dinner at my condo. We would have an opportunity to celebrate, savor and recollect some priceless mountain memories only we share. Game on. She’d bring the vino. I’d make the food. We’d both bring the laughter and remembrances.
For an after-concert supper, I needed something simple and made ahead. Turning to Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? cookbook, I found the perfect menu. The following two recipes were especially delicious. Although these are Garten’s recipes, I changed them some to save calories. Kept the flavor. Lost some fat.
Call a friend you don’t see often. Plan something special. It’s magic.
Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there. Anonymous
Roasted Shrimp Salad, adapted from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 pounds (16 to 25 count, jumbo) cooked, tails on, peeled shrimp
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon good white wine vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 tablespoons diced shallots
2 tablespoons diced canned Jalapeño peppers
Preparations:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
1. Defrost shrimp according to package directions. Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels.
2. Place shrimp on a sheet pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle on 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper before toss together. Spread the shrimp in one layer and roast for 4 minutes, turning once. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
4. When the shrimp are cool, add them to the sauce and toss. Add the dill, capers, red onion, and jalepeno and toss again well. Because I substituted yogurt for some mayo, my dressing is thinner than Ida’s. Place the salad in a colander to drain off the extra sauce to serve at the table in a pitcher. The flavors will improve when you allow the salad to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Otherwise, chill but serve at room temperature.
Roasted Artichoke Hearts, adapted from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa
Serves 8
(The only change made to this recipe is the addition of preserved lemons. Use your leftovers in a pizza or as part of an antipasto platter.)
Ingredients:
2 boxes/bags (9 ounces each) frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup diced preserved lemons
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoons capers, drained
1 jarred roasted red pepper, small-diced
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
1/4 cup minced red onion
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1.Place the artichoke hearts on a sheet pan in a single layer. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and roast for 20 minutes, turning once.
2. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. Place the shallot, diced preserved lemons, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a blender or in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend for 5 seconds. Add the basil and blend to make a purée. With the blender running at low speed, slowly pour in 1/2 cup olive oil until all is incorporated and the vinaigrette is an emulsion.
3.When the artichokes are done, place them in a bowl and toss with enough dressing to moisten. Add the capers, red pepper, red onion, parsley, and vinegar and toss gently. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. If you do refrigerate this, bring to room temperature before serving.
Quick Preserved Lemons, Mark Bittman, The New York Times
To prepare the preserved lemons, first slice.
Then, dice.
Ingredients:
4 lemons, organic (or, scrubbed of wax)
(To remove wax, blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then rub off the wax with a towel.)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar.
Preparation:
1.Dice lemons, including peel, removing as many seeds as possible.
2. Put the lemons and their juice in a bowl, sprinkle with the salt and sugar; tossing well before transferring to a jar.
3. Let the mixture sit for at least 3 hours at room temperature, shaking the jar periodically. It can be served at that point or refrigerated for up to a week.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Time: At least 3 hours, largely unattended
This week’s FFWD recipe choice, Skate with Capers, Cornichons, and Brown Butter Sauce, was another Are you kidding me? moment in my French Fridays career. First, I was not that familiar with skate. Okay, to be truthful, I probably didn’t even remember it was a fish and member of the stingray family. Skate is another French favorite. In America, not so much.
In the late 90’s, skate wings, the edible part of this fish, flew over the pond, landing on plates in Manhattan’s fancier restaurants. Although still not a popular entrée throughout this country, you will find it on menus in tonier restaurants. If I ever see it on the menu, I will order it.
Sauteed spinach and tomatoes made a perfect pillow for my fish.
But for now, let’s turn to wild Alaskan Pacific cod, the mild-tasting whitefish I substituted in this week’s recipe. Unlike it’s maligned, overfished Atlantic cousin, this cod is an ocean-friendly seafood choice. According to Fishwatch, “Alaska fisheries for Pacific cod account for more than two-thirds of the world’s Pacific cod supply, and are considered among the best managed fisheries in the world.”
The result was cod-licious, thanks to the killer sauce Dorie suggested for this dish. After dredging four 6-ounce cod filets in flour, salt and pepper, drop them in a heavy skillet coated with 2 ounces of melted butter. I cooked the cod four minutes on each side until it was lightly browned and flaked easily. After transferring the fish to a heatproof platter and tenting with foil, I put it in the oven to remain warm while I made the (killer) sauce (recipe below).
Wild Alaskan Pacific cod on a bed of Sauteed Spinach and tomatoes……totally, totally.
Although Dorie suggests serving this entrée on a pillow of mashed potatoes or Celery Root Purée, I detoured down the veggie highway and mixed together Sautéed Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes. Since this (killer) sauce has so much going on – grainy mustard, brown butter, cornichons and capers -, I didn’t want “my pillow” to muscle into the spotlight.
Not only was this a satisfying dinner but also a lovely breakfast and afternoon snack. The following morning I flaked a fillet, added it to the vegetables and made a frittata. Pretty darn delicious.
Cod, Spinach, Cheese & Tomato Frittata (a great use of leftovers)
The 2014 Food & Wine Classic begins in Aspen today, continuing through Sunday, June 22nd. It’s the 32nd year for this festival, bringing together celebrity chefs, corporates (food purveyors, wine professionals and spirit reps) and folks who like to eat and drink and can cough up $1250 for the weekend pass. There will be nearly 100 official events including cooking demonstrations, food, wine and cheese seminars, tastings, conversations and book signings.
Tents like these two have been put up all over Aspen for activities for the 5,000 participants in the 2014 Food & Wine Classic.
Our local community has a long history of volunteering in exchange for a Pass to the Classic. In the past I helped set up tables and chairs and poured wine during seminar tastings. For more years than probably necessary, I sliced baguettes, filling hundreds of bread baskets for the two daily Grand Tastings. Obviously that’s where my talent lies but this year I joined the Green Team. My job, as I understand it, is to help the attendees remember the meaning of recyclable, compostable and trash.
I’m hoping to see Marcus Samuelsson’s demo in the Cooking Tent and Laura Werlin’s seminar, “Mountain Wines, MountainCheeses” and more. Giada DeLaurentiis is here as well as José Andrés, Michael Chiarello and Tyler Florence, to name a few. I promise to share more about the F&W Classic next week. French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. To see how my colleagues skated through this week’s recipe choice, go here.
Technique:
Put 6 tablespoons of butter into a skillet on medium heat. Cook the butter, swirling the pan, until it starts to turn a light brown. Add the vinegar and swirl again. Stir in the mustard, sliced cornichons and capers. Mix together.
Let’s just call a leek, a leek and put a name to it. LOVE. This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice, Leeks Vinaigrette with Mimosa, made my heart flutter. Oui, oui, il était délicieux.
I’d wager my winnings from California Chrome’s victory in the Derby that few of you cook with leeks. If I’d open your veggie bin, I probably would not discover this nutritional, high-in-protein allium. Called the poor man’s asparagus, although it’s now pricier, and first cultivated over 5,000 years ago, it’s time for us to take a leap into leek country.
After simmering until tender, about twenty minutes, drain, dry, cover tightly and put in the refrigerator.
Last Saturday evening my friend, Ann O’Brien, and I made dinner to welcome home our neighbors, Fred Venrick and Cathy O’Connell, who had just returned from two months in Europe. (Yeah, Readers, I know. I know. Me, too.) Bernie Grauer, a weekend bachelor, also joined us. Spur of the moment. Not much planning. The menu All-Stars would be Mint Juleps and Leeks Vinaigrette with Mimosa. Everything else was fair game.
I just had to make a bed of walnuts and the leeks dish would be ready for the table.
Liz Weber Berg’s Glazed Leg of Lamb with Garlic & Rosemary
I even turned to Susan and John Lester at Create Amazing Meals for my wine choices. When the Lesters visited me in Cambria in February, John suggested I try local winery Peachy Canyon’s 2012 Vognier “Concrete Blanc”. A good recommendation. With the lamb, I opened an Italian wine, 2006 Conte Ottavio Piccolomini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane, a gift to me from the Lesters. (Memo from Bernie: Hey, John, send more.)
Asparagus, Lamb, Leeks, Potatoes – Buffet Ready
As the pictures hopefully show, the meal was wonderful, thanks, in part, to the many talented chefs and food bloggers who inspire me every day. I urge you to try this week’s FFWD recipe which, as usual, is written very carefully and clearly by our Dorie. Since I could not find young, smaller leeks, I bought large and cut them closer to the white part called the shank. Unlike other vegetables, you want leeks to be tender, not crunchy. For this recipe, in a normal altitude, try simmering them for twenty minutes. Because I live in the mountains, mine took thirty minutes.
Joy the Baker’s Pistachio-crusted Asparagus with Feta. I also mixed Dukkah, a nut & spice blend, in with the pistachios.
When the leeks were tender, I drained and dried them, untying each packet of three before plating. Next I covered them tightly to put in the refrigerator. Before serving I brought the vegetable to room temperature, poured on the vinaigrette and garnished with a chopped egg. Mimosa refers to the hard-boiled egg garnish which is thought to resemble the edible yellow mimosa flower. I used walnut oil in the recipe so also garnished the platter with walnuts. (Although I do think some refrigeration to “set” the tender shanks is necessary, you may choose to warm the leeks just before saucing and serving.)
Cathy and Bernie are dishing up their food.
Ann and I were both pleased with our efforts. We certainly fed those efforts to an appreciative crowd. Everything about the evening was happy, joyful and even quietly raucous. You will not be seeing photos of Ann’s and my Welcome Home dance/skit which, like the dinner, was spur-of-the-moment. We used the fireplace hearth as our stage. Although our dance moves were, in our opinions, Usher-extraordinary, those photos were deleted.
We even had room for Martha Stewart’s Chocolate, Peanut Butter Icebox Cake. Photo by marthastewart.com
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. Although all the recipes in this post are already linked, you can again grab the recipe for leeks here. If you wish to see the efforts of my colleagues, go to our FFWD site.
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Green-as-Spring Lamb Stew, is the perfect entrée for the winter weary. “The dish is really meant for spring,” Dorie says. “The stew’s vibrant color and deep vegetal flavor will match the landscape.”
What an understatement, to call the sauce green. Composed of arugula, spinach, parsley, dill, and tarragon, this is a brazen, in-your-face, do-I-really-want-to-taste-this dish? Green eggs and ham, okay. A shamrock shake? Yum. Green stew? That’s a stretch. It’s tasty. An ugly duckling, perhaps, but unique in its greenish sort of way.
The lamb simmers for 90 minutes in its vegetable broth.
Although Dorie’s meat choice is veal, I opted for lamb. Otherwise, Mary Had a Little Veal would not have worked as a title. Before tossing the lamb into a broth to simmer for 90 minutes, Dorie had us boil the meat in water for one minute to rid it of impurities that might cloud the sauce. After draining and rinsing the meat, I put it into the chicken broth along with carrots, celery, onions, garlic, thyme and bay.
Once the meat is cooked and set aside, the remaining ingredients are discarded, leaving just the broth. Reduced by half, it becomes a rich base for the sauce. Now here’s where we go green. That fresh arugula, spinach, parsley, dill and tarragon (six packed cups) are added to the boiling broth and cooked for one minute. The entire mixture is then blitzed to a thick liquid. Whisk in creme fraîche and lemon juice. Pull it all together and you’ve got stew. Green stew.
Green stew tastes better than it looks. Served with boiled new potatoes and curried beets with orange zest, it was a good and nutritious dinner last night.
This recipe, which included eleven different herbs and vegetables, and last week’s Baby Bok Choy & Company En Papillote were the perfect recipes to assist me in another project this month. Last year when I returned to Aspen, I was invited to join a nature study group of five other women, all volunteer USForest Rangers. To be truthful, I was never really invited to join. I heard they were having a meeting at the local library. By coincidence, I needed to return some books. I lingered at the library meeting room’s glass window with my nose pressed against it until they, guess what, let me in.
The two Donnas, cooking with Food Families: radishes (Brassicaceae Family); asparagus (Asparagaceae Family) and Lettuce ( Asteraceae Family)
We all share a passion for the great outdoors. During the past year we’ve studied, in depth, Rocky Mountain geology and it’s flora and fauna. We are learning more about western expansion, beginning with Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark expedition. This month we explored twelve of the families from the edible plant kingdom by coupling the common and recognizable foods we eat everyday with their wild flowering relatives who thrive in their natural setting in the Rockies.
Cooking from our food families, Donna G made Grilled Eggplant Rounds with ricotta cheese, basil and Dorie’s Slow-Roasted Tomatoes.
Using Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy cookbook and Janis Huggins Wild at Heart natural history guide, we cooked, we foraged, we read and we analyzed. Last Thursday, at our monthly meeting, we presented papers on our chosen families. One of my families, Brassicaceae (mustard family), includes arugula, bok choy, broccoli rabe, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, napa cabbage, cauliflower and turnips, all vegetables I used in my FFWD recipes this winter.
Our group sometimes needs taste testers. Donna C’s husband, Steve, is always a volunteer and good sport.
Twelve members of this mustard family grow wild in the Rockies. All of them, Cardamine cordifolia (bittercress) or Noccaca montana (mountain candytuft), for example, can be used as herbs. Yes, I am becoming a forager. (Note to future dinner guests: I will not poison you.)
At our meeting Thursday we tried to identify the plants that are just peeking their noses out to see if winter is really over.
Food for thought: In this week’s recipe isn’t it amazing to realize the many ingredients we used, all representing many different families or sources, each with its individual characteristics and edible parts: Carrots, Celery, Dill and Parsley – Umbelliferae or Apiaceae Family; Onion and Garlic – Amaryllidaceae Family; Thyme – Labiatae Family; Bay Leaf – Lauraceae Family; Arugula – Brassicaceae Family; Spinach – Chenopodiaceae Family; Salt – Maldon, Blackwater Estuary, U.K.; Meat, Broth and Cream Fraîche – Cow, Lamb or Chicken.
Just think about it.
The two Donnas are trying to decide what can be served safely at dinner parties and what cannot!
Bringing the outside inside and putting it under the microscope. (The microscope was an anniversary present for Donna C (standing) from her husband, Steve, who is pictured above. Group gift. We were all thrilled.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. You can grab the recipe and go green here. To see what my Dorista family cooked up this week, check out our FFWD site.
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Quiche Maraîchère. What an appropriate choice for my last FFWD posting from Cambria. A loose translation of the french word, maraîchère, is truck farming. “When you see the word,” Dorie says, “you know market-fresh produce is in the mix.”
My quiche is ready for the 400-degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes before adding grated cheese.
Cambria’s Friday afternoon farmer’s market has been a constant delight. ( In Aspen our market begins in late-June.) This quiche, filled with celery, leeks, carrots, and red pepper, was a nourishing market bonanza for me. In the spirit of full disclosure, I purchased my tart shell. The flavorful filling, however, of fresh-grown veggies mixed with heavy cream and eggs masked the humiliation of store-bought. The grated cheese on top provided a needed punch.
I added extra cheese to give the quiche an added level of flavor.
I head back to Snow Country this weekend. You’ve already read about my central coast explorations and wine shenanigans. Now let me stroll down Cambria’s lane to show what’s made this winter so special. To my thinking every long-term living situation needs structure, routine and a support system. (Well, mine does.) This sleepy, generous community has provided that to me.
Although I had visited here before, I arrived in January knowing only Heidi and Janet Huff, the mother/daughter duo who owns Cambria Vacation Rentals and rented me my house. I’d often climb the 50-some steps to their office just for free red licorice and chit-chat, Cambria-style. Juanita Poff and Suzie Hiatt, who own Cambria Business Center, took care of my mail and business needs. A daily and friendly stop.
Janet Huff, who with her daughter, Heidi, owns Cambria Vacation Rentals.
It was also Suzie who helped me find my Gym. I wanted to continue Zumba this winter so she suggested the Dance Fitness class at Gym One. Why I thought Dance Fitness translated into Zumba, I will never know. I showed up for my first class with my Zumba shoes on! There were about 20 very fit women in the gym, ranging from annoyingly-young to 75 years old. They were barefoot. The instructor, Calico, who was also barefoot, explained that this was a sensory-based movement class called Nia and since the first class was free, why didn’t I just try it. I agreed to try it but I kept my shoes on.
Suzie Hiatt (l) and Juanita Poff (r) own Cambria Business Center
Calico is my Nia Instructor.
I may have walked into this class as a hotsy-totsy Zumba student from Aspen but I crawled out humbled. And, sweating. And, my knee hurt. But I decided I had 14 weeks, 3 lessons a week, to look like Calico so I joined up. Nia is not easy, my friends. There are 16 different hour-long routines, your hands are supposed to coordinate with your feet and you make guttural sounds. I never was very good but by class #3, I was barefoot. The best part – my fellow Nia-ers. I will miss them.
I tip my toque to the women in the Gym One Nia Class.
For the 6 years I previously visited Cambria, the town was always fund-raising for a new library. Every year I’d return to stop by the same cramped and small library. This year, Holy Andrew Carnegie, they’d raised the money, had just moved in and were soon to host a grand opening. I picked up my library card and planned to join the celebration, a 5pm-7pm Open House a week later. When I arrived the entire town was already jammed into the library for the reception. I’ve never seen a community so pleased and proud of an accomplishment.
The grand opening celebration at the new Cambria Library.
Although I usually prepared my own meals, when I’d run out to lunch, my favorite spots were the uniquely appealing Ruddell’s Smokehouse in nearby Cayugos or Boni’s Tacos, Cambria’s only food wagon, where their authentic tacos are $2. My scandalous snack of choice this winter has been the Caramel Glazed Kettle Corn. Every Friday I would buy a $6 sack at our farmer’s market and throughout the week, eat the whole thing. Yep, I did.
My souvenir t-shirt should read: I SPENT THE WINTER IN CAMBRIA AND SURVIVED THE DROUGHT RESTRICTIONS. It’s been a new experience to share my shower with a big black bucket but we’ve bonded and become friends.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours. The recipe for Quiche Maraîchère is here. To see if real Doristas eat quiche, check out our FFWD site. Next week I’ll be home, posting from Aspen, Colorado — where, since it is still snowing, I will not be going barefoot.
Notice anything? Lights onBright went in for routine maintenance and emerged with a total makeover.
This week New York City’s Salome Chamber Ensemble performed at Guyomar Wine Cellars during their 2014 California Tour. Photo by Gail Gresham
#1 Happening
Here’s how it happened. Last Christmas Eve I joined our SilverKing Drive neighbors who annually gather at the O’Leary’s home for dinner. This marked my first December in Aspen in a decade. To join those who knew the Hirschs through happier times seemed comfortable to me.
My dinner partners that night were two whiz-kids from Denver I did not know. Ten years. A neighborhood changes. The short version is: Zoe; Kenneth; Partners of Peak Solutions Marketing; Lightbulb Moment for Mary. Since I was already planning a blog redesign, I thought they might know some tech designers. “Why, Mary,” Zoe quickly interrupted as I was asking that question, “that’s what we do.”
Duringthe next few weeks Zoe and I talked. Well, to be truthful, Zoe talked, I listened. That young lady was relentless in promoting her company and sharing ideas. (I loved that.) We signed a contract. They went to work. I left to spend the winter on the central California coast, drinking great wine, eating fresh food and meeting the farmers who grow the goods.
Guyomar Wine Cellars in Templeton, California Photo by Guyomar
Ishka Stanislaus of Guyomar poured his 2010 blends at the 2014 Paso Robles Rhone Rangers Experience.
#2 Happening
Since arriving in Cambria, that’s been my focus. However, nothing prepared me for the celebratory evening I enjoyed this week that will arguably be the highlight of my winter’s work here.
Here’s how it happened. In mid-February I joined 600 others and 50 local Rhone wine producers for a day-long seminar at Broken Earth Winery. One of those pouring during the Grand Tasting was Ishka Stanislaus who owns Guyomar Wine Cellars. At my luncheon table that day was winemaker Matt Ortman of Villa San Juliette Winery. After lunch, Matt said to me, “My friend, Ishka, is making some very interesting wine. Would you like to meet him?”
Matt introduced us. I tasted Ishka’s 2010 Monsignor, a Petite Syrah-based blend and was impressed. Surprisingly, a few weeks later I received an invitation to an Evening Musical Soirée and Sri Lankan feast hosted by Ishka and his wife, Mareeni, a local Ob/Gyn. The affair was in their home at the Guyomar winery. I hesitated. From Cambria it was a 30-minute drive to TempletonGap to their vineyard. I knew no “and, guest” to accompany me. The other attendees, I suspected, would be locals, all acquainted.
Because Guyomar’s has no tasting room yet, this would be my only opportunity to visit the winery. I decided to go. Good decision, Mary. Words cannot effectively describe the evening. When I arrived, I was greeted by both Stanislaus at the entrance door (pictured above). I was about to reintroduce myself when Ishka said, “Mary, thank you for coming. I’m glad to see you again. Meet Mareeni.” (Readers, that guy had done his homework.)
Yes, the group, about 65-strong, was local but I didn’t lack for dinner partners. As I’ve said before, folks in this area are kind to strays. The Manhattan-based Salome String Chamber Ensemble presented a 45-minute concert. They are talented, accomplished and create a gorgeous sound. The Sri Lankan dinner, prepared by Ishka, reminded me what turmeric, ginger, cumin, saffron and garam masala, can bring to a dish.
#3 Happening
The Mise En Place for Sausage-stuffed Cornish Hens, our French Fridays with Dorie recipe this week.
As for French Fridays,here’s how it happened. This week’s recipe is Sausage-Stuffed Cornish Hens. When was the last time you roasted one of those tiny darlings? For me, it’s been twenty years. The two-pound hefties I bought at my local market are not the Cornish Hens of my memory.
The sausage stuffing is ready for the birds.
Look at those thighs. I’ve never before met a Cornish Hen who looked like that.
The first step was making the sausage stuffing which is easily mixed together after browning the sausage, shallot and garlic. I then buttered and brushed each hen with olive oil before stuffing them and tying their legs together. Using the side-side-back,15-15-10, roasting method, I gently placed them in my cast iron skillet and put into my 425 degrees oven. They baked for 40 minutes. The birds rested for 5 minutes while I drained the fat, replacing it with butter and wine to create pan jus. The result was tasty although in a blind test I might guess it was chicken. That’s why I probably will not return to this recipe again. I blame Mr. Tyson.
Almost ready to eat – I covered the wings with tinfoil and flipped the hens on their backs for 10 more minutes of roasting.
