My Grandmother’s China
By applesandonions | March 9, 2010
by Lydia Ellison
Last time we were in the South (right after we were engaged), Drew estimated that 75% of all conversations we had with his family were about china patterns. China is an important part of a family’s lineage in the South, all of the women in Drew’s family have at least three sets of china (everyday, wedding and Christmas) and maybe one or two sets they have inherited from a grandmother. I love to look at all the sets and hear the stories about the women who owned them and the time in which each pattern was popular. Just image the meals some of that china has tasted, the conversations it has absorbed over the decades.
For me the penultimate in china patterns has always been my Grandmother Mary Sullivan’s. It’s the Castleton Turquoise that she received for her wedding to my Grandfather, 55 years ago.
It’s Tiffany blue-turquoise color captured my childhood heart and has reigned supreme all these years. I always knew I would “register” for this same pattern in honor of my Grandmother and her classic good taste. Today she gave us two settings from her collection as an engagement gift. I’m so touched and honored.
She also gave us six linen cocktail and dinner napkins handmade by my great Grandmother as part of my Grandmother’s wedding trousseau. The linen color matches the china and they are embellished with silver thread to pick up the platinum edge of the china pattern.
I couldn’t help but do some mix and matching with some dishes I already own…
accent plates from Anthropologie.
And, after Gram left today and I laid out the plates to show Drew he said “I couldn’t have designed a more perfect china pattern myself, I love that blue.”
Wow! Last words I ever expected to hear him say…
Thanks again Gram. We will treasure these always.
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Lydia’s Dinner Party Advice
By applesandonions | March 1, 2010
by Lydia Ellison
Got this question yesterday from a dear friend…
“So I have 5 women coming over (in their 50’s, 40’s and 30’s) and I want to really do it up. Something impressive, but also, not terribly hard to make as I am an amateur.”
This was my response…
Ok this is my advice on entertaining, much of it I learned from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa books and cooking show. Her two biggest rules are…
1. Only serve 3 dishes for dinner and a dessert and only cook 2 of the dishes (i.e. a store bought dessert, or one dish a green salad.) Trust me, cooking is fun but tiring and you have to shop and get the house ready so don’t over do it. Just make 2 really yummy dishes and simplify the other dishes.
2. NEVER make a dish that requires lots of last minute work, you won’t be able to hang out with your guests if you are stirring risotto during cocktails!
So for your party based on that above advice these are my suggestions…
Do 1 store bought appetizers and a signature drink (the sig. drink adds the “wow” factor)
Appetizers ideas-
soft goat cheese drizzled with honey, wafer crackers or bread and walnuts
proscuitto wrapped around bread sticks
sliced cucumber and pita bread with store bought taziki
sliced baguette topped with blue cheese, melt in the oven and then top with a drizzle of honey
olive tapenade and bread and mini mozzeralla balls
Signature Drinks-
prosecco with a spoonful of lemon or raspberry sorbet mixed in the glass
Gwyneth’s dirty martinis
white wine sangria- fruity Savingon Blanc with sliced citrus fruit and a cup of lemonade all mixed in a pitcher
bottle of rose champagne (so chic)
Salad Course- (you must make your own dressing, this one is good)
grilled eggplant with goat cheese
mixed greens with a round of goat cheese on a baguette round toasted in the oven
butter lettuce with a creamy vinaigrette
roast butternut squash salad
Dinner Course-
Vegetable Lasagna this recipe is SO GOOD and you can make it in advance warm it up during cocktails
Indonesia Ginger chicken with garlic smashed potatoes (so so yum)
Baked Shrimp Scampi- incredible!! serve with white wine, french bread and this
Dessert course- no bake ideas
store bought pound cake served with fresh berries and lemon yogurt sauce
good chocolate cookies (from a bakery) and fresh strawberries
good brownies (from a bakery) warmed slightly topped with vanilla ice cream
chocolate sorbet with this raspberry sauce (very light which is good for women) salad
Thought this might be helpful to some of you out there!
xo,
LE
Topics: Dinner Party, Lunch, Salads, Table | No Comments »
I Carry Your Heart with Me…
By applesandonions | February 15, 2010
By Sarah Lagrotteria
I carry it in my heart.
Mortadella and cheddar hearts for a Valentine’s Day cured meats and cheese platter. The mortadella was sliced so thin it was almost translucent (the right thickness for an upscale bologna and cheese bite). When gently cookie cutter-ed into little hearts it looks like a lacy pink valentine. Who knew?
I hope you’re having a lovely holiday weekend.
xoxosl
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Parmesan Pudding
By applesandonions | February 12, 2010
By Sarah Lagrotteria
It felt like the gods were against me Tuesday morning. The rain was torrential, my umbrella was “missing” (I know exactly who filched it and I’m legally stuck with him), and the only firm bell pepper I could find at the market fell out of of my shopping basket, out of the car and rolled all red and rosy into the nearest sewage drain.
Sigh.
But the world got a bit brighter when I pulled this savory Parmesan pudding out of the oven. Mind you, the literal storm clouds had not cleared, hence the overcast image below, but my inner tempestuousness was soothed by satiny texture of this very rich, very impressive and very easy-to-do dish. I served it alongside grilled lamb chops. It needs something firm and strong tasting (lamb, beef, root vegetable ragu. etc.) to counteract all the soft cheesy-ness of the pudding.
Suzanne Goin’s Parmesan Pudding from Sunday Suppers at Lucques
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole milk (or low fat milk works great too)
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 extra-large egg
1 extra-large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat a medium pot over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the butter, and when it foams, whisk in the flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and cook for about 5 minutes, being careful not to let the flour burn. Slowly pour in the milk and cream, whisking constantly to incorporate it. The butter and flour will seize up and get pasty first. Continue whisking vigorously as you add the liquid, and the mixture will become smooth. Cook a few more minutes, until warm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat.
Whisk the egg and egg yolk together in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle the eggs into the cream mixture, whisking continuously until combined. Stir in the cheese, and seaon with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour the mixture into an 8×6-inch (or equivalent) baking dish, and cover tightly with foil. Place the baking dish in a roasting pan, and add hot water tot he pan until it comes halfway up the outside of the custard dish. Place the pan in the oven and bake about 1 hour, until the pudding is just set.
xoxosl
Topics: Cookbooks, Dinner Party, Holiday, LA restaurants, Los Angeles, People We Like, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
A Berry Morning
By applesandonions | February 7, 2010
By Sarah Lagrotteria
Morning traditions are sacred to us all. Some enjoy an early jog or can’t wait for that first coffee while others forgo mornings spent “up” and burrow deeper into their beds. My current morning tradition consists of propping myself up amongst the pillows and reading the news on my blackberry while Angus showers. And by news, I mean Facebook. (I read the news too, but I can’t resist that little blue app and getting my ‘what everyone I know is doing’ fix).
This Saturday what a friend was doing was enjoying pancakes, coffee and some Otis Redding. Inspiration indeed. I immediately dispatched a freshly-showered Angus to the market for some maple syrup, which in my pancake dreams is always served hot in a little pitcher (see photo, below), and these blueberry lemon pancakes were born.
Serve with coffee and your favorite radio station.
xoxosl
Blueberry Lemon Pancakes
1-1/2 cup AP flour
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1-1/4 cup milk (or 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup buttermilk, if you have some on hand)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
Zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup frozen (or fresh if in season) blueberries
1. Sift together the dry ingredients, flour through sugar. Sifting is key here as baking powder tends to clump and harden, especially if it’s been in your cupboard awhile.
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk, vanilla, egg, butter and lemon zest. Whisk until homogenous and only slightly lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries.
3. Heat a griddle or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Use a 1/4 cup scoop to add the batter to the hot pan and cook until the edges form a crust and the top bubbles. Flip and cook until the second side is also golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter.
Yield: about 10 pancakes
A little tip–I keep the finished pancakes warm in a 250 degree (toaster) oven while I make rest. Just wrap the stack in some tin foil and keep adding each finish pancake until you can sit down and enjoy them all.
Topics: Breakfast, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Mr. Boddington’s Studio
By applesandonions | January 14, 2010
By Lydia Ellison
Hello! As you all know I am planning my wedding. This is the most stylish stationary/wedding invites/note card shop I have ever seen. Below is a montage of their favorite save the dates of 2009. Visit Mr. Boddington’s Studio for much more gloss.
Mr. Boddington’s Save the Dates, happy browsing!
A round up of our favorite save-the-dates in the past year:
Topics: Dinner Party, Holiday, News, Sites We Like, Uncategorized, Wedding, gifts | 3 Comments »
Mushroom Barley Soup
By applesandonions | January 3, 2010
By Sarah Lagrotteria
We went to a Christmas/birthday potluck dinner while we were in Philadelphia that had all the magical holiday ingredients–roast turkey, chocolate hazelnut crunch cake, a little girl in ruby red sparkle slippers and a big friendly dog named Poe. Our friend Jess made mushroom barley soup and it wasn’t until I was walking home through the snow that I realized I had never made it round to the stove for my own bowl. So I made this one last week and I must say, it was every bit as heavenly as the party. The mushroom flavor is so complex that it’s really a very special soup, not your average veg and grains in a pot. As with most, this soup is even better the next day.
Mushroom Barley Soup
1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 quart vegetable stock
1 quart mushroom stock (can substitute veg if you can’t find mushroom)
2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced into rounds
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
2 pounds assorted mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup white wine or sherry
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup barley
3 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
1. Pour hot water over the porcini mushrooms in a heat-proof bowl. Let soften, about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving both the liquid and the softened mushrooms for the soup. Coarsely chop the softened mushrooms.
2. Combine the vegetable and mushroom stocks in a medium pot over medium heat. Let come to a simmer while you prepare the soup. You want to the stocks warm when you add them to the soup pot so the soup doesn’t have to come back to temperature to cook the barley.
3. In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, melt the butter then add the vegetables (onion through fresh mushrooms) and the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.
4. Add the wine and continue cooking until the wine burns off. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until you can no longer see any white flour in the pot, about 5 minutes. Add the warm stock, the reserved porcini mushroom juice, the reserved porcini mushrooms and the barley. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cover, until barley is soft and chewy, about 50 minutes.
5. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the cream. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with seasoned and toasted baguette slices.
Topics: Dinner Party, Lunch, Uncategorized, fall produce, winter produce | 2 Comments »
Auld Lang Syne
By applesandonions | December 31, 2009
By Sarah Lagrotteria
This New Year’s Eve I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes from times gone past: my mom’s chocolate cake with buttermilk frosting. Actually, it’s my mom’s friend’s Fern’s recipe and I’m sure Fern (don’t you love her name?) got it from a friend who probably got it from a classic cookbook, but to me it’s my mom’s cake and simply the best, most versatile chocolate cake recipe. My mom used it to make our birthday cakes and I used it just a few weeks ago to make Lydia’s birthday cupcakes. It’s also the last recipe featured in this cookbook under the name “Recipe 66.” Yes, it’s so delectable that it’s the only recipe I considered contributing to Max Brenner’s Chocolate: a Love Story. You can use the recipe below to make one 9-inch round cake, a square 8×8, a rectangular 8×13 (for a very thin but rich cake) or to fill 2 cupcake or mini-cupcake tins. It is equally delicious, I swear, gluten-free, which is how I make it for Lydia’s FIANCEE (!!), dear Drew.
What you’re looking at are the cupcakes from Lydia’s birthday which I gilded and silvered because it was fun and unlike how I normally handle foodstuffs (I like my food to look like food, not mini spaceships). But Lydia’s birthday had a retro theme and I decided to turn these cupcakes into homemade Hostess Cupcakes, complete with a mascarpone cream-stuffed center. I got the idea from Sarah Magid’s charming Organic and Chic. Her baked goodies are beautiful and whimsical and fun and her voice is thoughtful and loving and kind. And she likes to use paints, such as these. So I went for it and the cakes sparkled and shone and felt extra special.
Had I remembered to take a shot before I began painting (again, very very fun!), you’d see the a shiny, crackly buttermilk frosting that is, quite simply, the bomb, and a definite upgrade from the original Hostess Cupcake glaze.
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Buttermilk Frosting from Sarah’s Mom’s friend Fern*
Cake
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (I like Droste or Green & Black)
1 cup water
2 cups AP flour (or gluten-free equivalent)
2 cups granulates sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (for the gluten-free version, I use 2 teaspoon vanilla extract and a tablespoon of espresso to cover the chickpea flavor of the gluten-free flour. You can add espresso to the traditional recipe as well)
Frosting
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (I like Droste or Green & Black)
3 tablespoons buttermilk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
you can also add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts to the frosting if desired.
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour the cake pan of your choice or line your cupcake tins.
2. Make the cake. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and water. Bring to a boil them remove from the heat. Let cool.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Blend well using a hand held mixer or a strong hand and whisk. Add the cooled cocoa mixture, stirring until just combined. The batter will be thinner than regular cake batters, but this only means you are on your way to making a great cake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean, about 20-25 minutes for large cakes, about 12-15 for cupcakes and 8-10 for minis. Let cool completely before frosting.
4. Make the frosting. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and buttermilk. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat and let cool. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
5. Using a handheld mixer, beat the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and walnuts into the cocoa mixer. Mix until thoroughly combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Pour or spread over cooled cake. The frosting will set into a shiny glaze that crackles like thin ice when you cut into it. Beautiful.
6. The secret step. Wrap the cooled and frosted cake loosely in cling wrap and refrigerate it, even if only for an hour or so before serving. Whereas refrigerating tends to dry out baked goods, it dampens this cake so that it’s amazingly dark, dense and most, just how I envisioned mud pies when I was little.
Enjoy and best wishes for a happy, healthy 2010.
xoxosl
* Fern gave Angus and I a beautiful pewter cake server as a wedding present-little does she know how perfectly appropriate a gift it was.
Topics: Cookbooks, Dinner Party, Holiday, People We Like, Uncategorized, gluten free, sweets | 2 Comments »
Sugar and Spice Pecans
By applesandonions | December 18, 2009
By Lydia Ellison
This is the most perfect homemade holiday treat to gift to family, friends and co workers. Buttery toasted pecans laced with nutmeg, allspice and cloves! These pecans are easy to make, package up beautifully and they keep for a few weeks in an air tight container.
The recipe is from Drew’s mother, Janice Howerton (my soon to be mother-in-law!) In her Christmas kitchen, these pecans star along side crispy buttermilk sugar cookies and white chocolate peppermint bark. She uses special Elliot pecans for this recipe which are smaller and richer than the varietal I find in stores. If you can find these then use them though “normal” pecans work just fine.
Nibble on these over cocktails, toss them into a festive salad or just stand at the counter gabbing and shoving them in your face like I usually do with Janice.
Sugar and Spice Pecans
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg white
2 1/2 tablespoons water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2- 1 pound bags pecans
Froth the egg white lightly in a large bowl. Combine all the toppings into the egg white mixture and toss in the pecans until coated. Spread on 2 greased lined sheets covered in parchment or a silpat, bake at 275 for 50-55 minutes. Remove from the pan immediately and once cool to the touch, separate each pecan. Store in an airtight container.
PS- Sarah and I made these this year (as well as this which was almost as good as Anjali’s caramel salt corn) as a thank you to our clients and co-workers. Yum.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Birthday Breakfast
By applesandonions | December 15, 2009
By Sarah Lagrotteria
We at Apples & Onions have had a very exciting weekend! It was both Lyd and Angus’ birthday this weekend which means I got to feel extra appreciative of two of my most special dears all at once. We’ll have some photos and recipes for you from Lydia’s very chic retro soiree later in the week, but first a quick look at Angus’ birthday breakfast.
It’s my lot in life to have married someone who, unlike me, does not have a fat tooth. The idea of birthday cake does nothing for Angus, so I have to think outside the butter, sugar, flour and egg box to come up with a birthday treat. This year it was a breakfast featuring a salad of cantaloupe and pretty pomegranate seeds, long slices of toasted rustic bread, cream cheese, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and homemade gravlax which is the closest I can come to smoked salmon in my own kitchen. I used this recipe, which is the simplest I’ve tried and the only one that doesn’t require weighing the salmon down while it cures–no cans of tomatoes stacked suspiciously on top of the foil-wrapped dish!–which means I was able to hide it successfully in plain sight. Angus didn’t have a clue until the coffee was already brewed and the bread hot and toasty.
I used wild Pacific Northwest salmon that had been flash frozen. You must use previously frozen fish when making gravlax as the freezing process kills any parasites that would otherwise, er, grow during the curing process. Also, it’s best to season with white pepper as the recipe suggests. I only had black peppercorns on hand hence the slightly dark spots where the peppercorns stained the salmon flesh. Even sightly mottled, it was still a beautiful piece of fish.
It takes longer to make toast and set the table than it does to get the salmon ready for curing and it’s such a special treat. I’ll be doing it again. Angus ate a pound and a half!
xoxosl
Topics: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
