Chocolate Mousse

The other night, my friend Kendall and I decided to have a "50 Shades of Chicken" Dinner Party, using a recipe from the 50 Shades of Chicken cookbook I gave her for Christmas (it was actually delicious and I'll post that recipe another time). In the spirit of romance, I decided to test drive a dessert I'd never done before and something that Christian Grey would have just loved to feed what's-her-face in the non food oriented version of the book. We served it with a little mini brownie sundae that our friend Bambi made, so it was a chocolate lover's dream! It was so easy and good that I made it again for my charity cooking group meeting this week, and wanted to share it with you all. It can be made in advance and easily transported off site. In addition, there are so many fun ways you can serve it- by itself in a bowl or teacup, with fruit, with fresh whipped cream (always my choice), with a little cookie on the side, the list goes on. If I was going to jazz it up even further (like for a date that I was trying to impress), I'd probably serve it with raspberries, a Chambord-laced whipped cream (Chambord is a raspberry liquer- add 1-2tsp to whipped cream), and a little glass of Chambord on the side. You know, to get them nice and liquored up. Just kidding.

Ingredients:
1 cup whipping/heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1 shot of espresso or strong coffee
1 pinch of salt
4 tbs sugar
1 6 oz good semisweet chocolate bar, chopped (I used Ghiradelli)
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
-Whip 1/2 cup of the cream in a bowl. You can use an electric mixer or a whisk. I use a whisk because if you get any fat on the electric beaters then the egg whites won't beat, and IMO using a whisk+elbow grease is easier than cleaning the electric mixer as well as you have to in order to make sure there is no cream anywhere on the beaters. Whipping the cream takes about 5-7 minutes of beating with a whisk so it's not that bad but your arm will be tired. Set the whipped cream aside for a few.

-In the top of a double boiler or glass or metal bowl (glass is risky but that's what I use and it's usually fine), whisk together the 4 egg yolks, 2 tbs of the sugar, 1 pinch of salt, and the shot of room temp coffee (make sure it's not hot or it will cook the egg. If you are fresh brewing, but the shot in an ice water bath for 5 min and it will be cool).

-Cook this coffee/egg mixture over a pot of simmering water for about 10 minutes, whisking the entire time (again, so the egg doesn't scramble but instead cooks smoothly), until it reaches a temp of about 160 degrees. The mixture should be really light in color and should have nearly doubled in size. It will look foamy and creamy.

-When the mixture reaches 160 degrees, remove it from the heat and whisk in the chopped chocolate until it is melted and blended in. Continue to whisk occasionally until it is at room temp. Set aside.

-In an electric mixer (you don't want to whisk these by hand), beat the egg whites until they are foamy and form peaks. Beat in the remaining tbs of sugar.

-Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in 2 batches, gently. You don't want to beat the air out of the whites but get them mixed in.
-Fold in the whipped cream until it is just barely blended in.
-Pour or spoon mousse into individual ramekins, teacups, clear plastic cups, demitasse cups, or whatever you want to serve it in. You can make as few as 4 servings, or as many as 12 depending on how much you pour in. Note: it is pretty rich so you don't need a whole big bowl for each guest.

-Chill for at least 1-2 hours.
-Before serving, whip another 1/2 cup of the heavy cream. This time, add 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla to it. Put a dollop on each dish of mousse before serving and enjoy!

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

In my book, there is absolutely no better night than having a nice, homemade dinner and a good bottle of wine with an old friend. Even if you ruin everything and order pizza, when you are with a great friend it doesn't matter! I am so fortunate that one of my best friends from Tulane, Jessica Blake, lives right down the street from me in Georgetown now, and we have a wonderful time trying new recipes as well as making old ones. I wish more of my college friends were close by! Right before Christmas, we were trying to decide what to make for dinner. She lamented that she was always unimpressed with linguine and clam sauce (I'm not surprised, she's from TX so I can't imagine what kind of clams they got there!), but agreed to try this recipe. We went to the fish market and got fresh clams (they are pretty reasonably priced) and then up to the grocery store for the rest of the ingredients. I made an arugula salad with a lemon vinaigrette to go with the pasta, and we had an incredible meal. We had a nice bottle of Pouilly Fuisse which we used to drink more often than any college students should, and it was a really lovely, low key evening. This particular recipe is a variation on one from Marcella Hazan's "Art of Italian Cooking" book that I received for my 23rd birthday and use very often. I cannot wait to make this again! The whole meal took about 20 minutes to prepare so it is perfect for a weeknight. 

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

Ingredients:

- 2-3 dozen littleneck clams, depending on size (these are sometimes called cherrystones and you can find them at almost any fish market or grocery)

- 6 tbs olive oil

- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced as thinly as you can

- 2 tbs chopped parsley (I used Italian flat leaf)

- 1 fresh chili pepper, seeds removed and minced

- 1 plum tomato, juice drained and seeds removed, diced

- 1/2 c dry white wine (we used a Pouilly Fuisse, any pinto grigio, chardonnay, or sauv blanc would be fine as long as it is a decent tasting bottle)

- 1/2-1 pound of long pasta (we used linguine- since it was only the two of us, we only cooked 1/2 of the box which was perfect but you can make the whole box and it would be fine)

- 6 fresh basil leaves, torn or chopped into smaller pieces 

Directions:

- Chop/slice the vegetables. Set aside.

- Boil a pot of salted water (I usually put about 3-4 tbs of salt in the water) for the pasta.

- Rinse the clams in a colander in cold water to remove any sand.

- Place the clams in a pot or skillet on the stove over medium heat until they have just barely opened. Reserve any clam juice.

-  Remove the clams once they have opened, and take the clams out of the shells. Make sure to save any juice. Pour clam juice into a cup or bowl, strain or pour the sand out, set aside.

- Chop the clams into smaller pieces. Put them in a small bowl and cover with about 3 tbs olive oil. Set aside. 

- In a pot or skillet big enough to hold the pasta later, pour 3 tbs of olive oil with the sliced garlic. Cook on medium high for about 30 seconds, without letting the garlic become colored at all. 

- To the garlic and olive oil, add the chopped parsley and chili pepper. Stir for a few seconds.

- Add the diced tomato, cook for 1-2 mins.

- Add the wine, simmer for about 30 seconds and then turn off the heat.

- Cook the pasta until it is almost done, about 1 min less than the suggested cook time on the box.

- Put the sauce heat back on high. Using a pasta fork (I don't have one) or tongs/grabbers, take the pasta out of the water and put it into the sauce mixture. Add about 1/2 cup of pasta water to the sauce mixture with the pasta. Do not throw away the pasta water, you might need more!

- Add the filtered clam juice to the pasta/sauce mixture, toss everything and cook until the liquid is evaporated. If the pasta is not cooked perfectly, or the sauce starts to look like it needs more liquid, keep adding pasta water until it is how you want it. I also added more pasta water when we reheated the dish and had seconds! The pasta water ends up making the sauce creamy and really good, so don't be afraid to use as much as you see fit.

- Add the chopped clams in olive oil, and the torn basil. Toss everything together and serve. Feel free to garnish each plate with a little piece of fresh parsley, or sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on top of each plate.

Arugula Salad with Shaved Parmesan and Lemon Vinaigrette

For the Vinaigrette:

- Whisk together 1.5 tbs of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3-4 tbs of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Toss dressing with salad and serve immediately.

For the Salad:

- Put about 2 handfuls of arugula per person in a salad bowl.

- Shave fresh parmesan over the salad (I used a vegetable peeler). You can also grate it with a cheese grater if you prefer.

Lobster Pasta x2

My friend Cori Sue of the blog, Bitches Who Brunch, sent out a pretty funny email for lobster night. It read:

Ladies,

We're throwing an intimate dinner party this Friday at Diana's home.

Why: 
It's December!

Lindsey is in town, and recently started culinary school up in New York City. She's gifted in the kitchen.

Diana just returned from France, and blogs away about her culinary prowess at the Happy Hostess Blog.

Cori Sue didn't return from anywhere, nor can she cook. But, she snagged some complimentary lobsters from the Lobster Man

So, we're cooking a fancy pants meal of salad, lobster, dessert, wine, prosecco and the like!

After a lead in like that, I spent an entire week trying to come up with some good recipes using the lobster that was being sent this way courtesy of The Lobster Man. We tossed around idea after idea (Lindsey's were far more culinarily advanced than mine), and I finally settled on a pasta dish out of the Silver Palate cookbook, Lobster with Tarragon. It is a red sauce with tons of lobster meat, cream, and obviously tarragon. I put my own spin on it by using fresh tarragon instead of dried, as well as adding tons of crushed red pepper flakes to give it a little kick. I am not used to having people I don't know very well for dinner, and I never cook anything I haven't test driven before, so I was a little nervous about this dinner party and really wanted everything to go smoothly. I always get a little nervous about having enough food, wine, whether everyone will mesh well, etc, but when using someone else's resources, I really don't want to screw anything up. A phone call was placed to The Suz, who, for those of you who have not met her, is the ultimate in dinner party throwing. The authority. She puts my mind at ease every time I freak out, and her wisdom about everyone being too many wines deep to notice if your dessert is terrible is genius. She totally came through this time with not only a hand decorated wreath for my front door (obviously, who wouldn't make a hand decorated wreath), but another amazing recipe for a lobster sauce. And it was a really good thing too, because I did not realize how much sauce #1 would cook down- cautionary tale about test driving recipes at higher-than-normal-pressure dinner parties. The recipe she gave me was actually for a dipping sauce which I just put the chopped lobster meat in and tossed with the pasta. It is actually an amazing recipe from wayyyy back in the day when she and my dad still had pretty aggressive dinner parties. They had a good friend that was the chef at a French restaurant, and one time when he was at the house and they were making lobsters, he whipped up this sauce. It is super French, super 90s, and super delicious. I loved it. It only has four ingredients and no one ever measured anything, so I had to use my best judgment. Major props to The Suz for, yet again, totally coming through on this one.

Luckily both of the sauces turned out really well! I ended up deciding to do one tossed with ziti and one with spaghetti so they would be different. I was really pleased with both results and will definitely make each of these again when I have lobster meat on hand.

Lobster with Tarragon and Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
-2 tbs olive oil

-1 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
-1 large can stewed whole tomatoes
-1/3 c fresh tarragon
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 c heavy cream
-crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper
-1/2 lb lobster meat
-1 box of pasta (I used ziti)
-sprig of fresh tarragon for garnish

Directions:
-Saute the onion in the olive oil in a heavy saucepan (pot) until the onion is tender
-Drain and chop the tomatoes and add to the onions
-Add the tarragon and salt and pepper to taste, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 min
-Remove mixture from heat and let it cool slightly. Puree in a food processor or food mill (this step is optional but if you would like a smooth sauce then go ahead and puree it)
-Return puree to the saucepan and add the cream. Feel free to add extra cream if you would like the sauce lighter (I did)
-Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until it is slightly reduced
-Taste the sauce, add more salt and pepper if needed, and then add about 1-2 tsp of crushed red pepper or 1/2 tsp of cayenne, to taste
-Add the chopped, cooked lobster meat and cook another 5 minutes until the lobster is heated through
-Boil the pasta in salted water. Toss with the sauce, and garnish with the fresh tarragon.

Marcel's Lobster Sauce

Ingredients:
-2 sticks of butter
-1 c of drained and chopped sundried tomatoes
-1- 1.5 c of creme fraiche, depending on taste
-1- 1.5 c chopped fresh basil
-1/2- 1 lb of chopped, cooked lobster meat
-1 box pasta (I used spaghetti)
Directions:
-Melt butter in a heavy saucepan
-Add chopped sundried tomatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes
-Add creme fraiche and simmer for another 3 minutes
-Add the lobster and cook until heated through, about 3 mins
-Boil the pasta in salted water until cooked
-Right before serving, add the chopped basil to the sauce and stir in.
-Toss the sauce with the pasta, garnish with fresh basil.

Salmon with Lentils

This is a great variation on one of Ina Garten's recipes, the classic salmon with lentils. It is the perfect pairing for winter as it is comforting and filling without being too heavy. The whole recipe only takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, so perfectly doable on a weeknight. My friend Liz and I had a simple green salad with it which was perfect. Both the salmon and lentils are very forgiving so if you make a mistake it should still turn out beautifully.

For the Lentils

Ingredients:
-1 cup of lentils
-3 tbs olive oil
-1 onion, diced
-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 carrot, diced

-1 rib of celery, diced

-2 tsp fresh thyme (optional)

-1-2 tbs tomato paste

-2 cups chicken stock or broth

-1 tsp salt

-1 tsp pepper

Directions:

-Pour boiling water over the lentils (in a heat proof bowl) and let sit for 15 mins

-Saute onions in olive oil until translucent.

-Add garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

-Add carrots, celery, thyme, tomato paste, lentils, salt, pepper, and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

-Simmer for about 20 minutes until the lentils are soft. Add more chicken stock if it looks dry, if you add too much don't worry- just use a slotted spoon to scoop everything out when you serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the Salmon

Ingredients:

-2-4 salmon filets, with skin on

-2 tbs olive oil

-2 tsp each salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Heat an ovenproof skillet/pan on high until it is hot.

-Rub olive oil over salmon

-Sprinkle each filet all over with salt and pepper

-Place the salmon filets, skin side down, on the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes and then turn over and cook for another 2 min on the other side.

-Place entire skillet/pan in the over for another 5-7 min, or until salmon is cooked to your desired temperature. 

-Serve each piece of salmon over a bed of lentils.

Festive Table Scape

A good friend of mine, Cori Sue Morris, writes a really awesome blog, Bitches Who Brunch. She recently mentioned that she had 10 lobster tails being sent to her, and would I be interested in cohosting a lobster dinner party with her and our other friend, Lindsey Becker, who has recently started cooking school! I of course said yes and started thinking about recipes, etc. One of my favorite parts of having a dinner party is setting a fun, festive table. Mine are always very basic but I think it is nice to spruce it up with colored napkins and other small items on the table. This is a particularly easy and inexpensive one to recreate, as it requires very little- a white or grey tablecloth (I borrowed another one of my friend Kendall's...again), burgundy or red napkins, an assortment of silver napkin rings (or silver ribbon!), a few silver ornaments (you could spraypaint pinecones, holly leaves or glass ball ornaments if you wanted to DIY), 2 pillar candles and some hurricanes, and some white roses for the centerpiece. I wish I could have gone totally above and beyond, but most of us (myself included) are on budgets so I improvised with what I wanted to spend. Usually when I buy entertaining gear, my go to stops are Homegoods (far away so only if I'm feeling ambitious), World Market, and Crate and Barrel. C&B has cloth napkins for $3.95 each which I think are a great deal since you can throw them in the washing machine and dryer. Everything I used in this table scape is from there, save for the hurricanes which are from World Market. At both places (WM especially) you can get nice looking silverware, glassware, and plates etc. on the cheap which I love. I think that food looks best on plain white plates, but depending on the season I'll add in some color.

Today when I went to C&B, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the table. All I had was 6 napkin rings (I needed 8) and the tablecloth. I wanted to match the napkin rings, but they were out of the ones I had previously bought so I bought 2 each of the other silver ones that were there and decided to mix and match which I think is cute and slightly less predictable than using the same one for each person. I also got some silver ribbon in case I decided to use that instead, which I think is awesome in place of a napkin ring and sometimes even cuter. When I am setting a table, I like to start with either the tablecloth or placemats, then pick the napkins, followed by candles and centerpiece, followed by the "accessories." It is kind of like putting an outfit together, and you want to get things that coordinate with each other as well as other items in your entertaining "wardrobe." Some of the items are not necessary, but my mother always sets a beautiful table which includes more than all of those so I like to try to recreate as much as possible (my tables will never be as nice as hers but I continue to try!).

Today, I had no idea what color napkins to get and originally grabbed red. After thinking my table would be a little too Christmasey, I went with a burgundy color I thought would be really pretty against silver and grey but still festive. I then picked out some grey candles (white would have been fine but the grey are awesome), and realized all of the silver ornaments were on sale. I grabbed a bunch of the less than $2 ones (12 or so) to spread around the table. If you were feeling generous, you could put a few at each guest's place as a take away. You can also use them on your tree after dinner, or put them in a glass bowl on your front hall table for a festive decoration.

In terms of centerpieces, I always prefer to do a simple one on my own. You can buy a bunch of flowers at the grocery store and arrange them yourself which is about $80 less than buying a pre made arrangement. I decided to stick with the white/silver/grey/burgundy theme and do an arrangement of white roses. While I was checking out, it dawned on me that adding some fresh cranberries to the flowers would tie everything together nicely so I grabbed a bag of those and figured I'd fit them in somewhere, either on the table (which I opted against since I am on a borrowed tablecloth and do not want to stain) or with the flowers. Short arrangements are preferable so that your guests can all see each other, so I used a short vase and cut the flowers down a little more than half way and removed the leaves for a cleaner look. I put the flower food in the water and added some cranberries. I ended up adding more at the end, about 1/2 the bag total. I am pretty pleased with myself and it was incredibly easy to do, you just have to fuss with and keep cutting/rearranging the flowers until they look right.

Once I had the flowers, candles, plates, and napkins on the table (I don't put glassware because guests are always drinking already), I spread out the ornaments. I was worried it was going to take me about 5 hours of arranging and rearranging to make it look like I hadn't arranged them at all, but for whatever reason it worked out perfectly on my first try. I wanted them to be sort of grouped but also random. Anyway I like how they look and am going to leave them be. Last stop is silverware, most of which I got on there save for a few place settings (which I will need for dinner tonight). Again, this is very basic but so much nicer than seeing a wood table with white paper napkins and nothing else. Now off to make some Christmas Candy!

Roasted Chicken from Bistro de l'Hotel

I recently went to a great French restaurant with my family and a group of people. The menu was set because the local experts we were with had wanted to make sure that we got to eat "the best chicken ever." Granted, they were very nice Bresse chickens (all white with blue legs/feet and delicious) which we don't have access to in Washington (that I know of). I swapped in an organic whole chicken from Whole Foods which was totally fine and tasted about the same. Usually when I roast a chicken, I stuff it with either lemons or onions/garlic and bake it with a few pads of butter on the skin at 350 for an hour and a half. The method that the restaurant used was totally different- they used a mixture of olive oil and clarified butter (which burns at a higher temp than regular butter) and cooked the chickens at a temp of 475 for a total of 45 minutes (nothing inside the chicken). The result is a really juicy chicken with crispy, perfectly browned skin that comes out surrounded in the best chicken juice ever. We also had roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes with our chicken where were the perfect accompaniment (both recipes for those are on my blog under the lambchops recipe). One whole chicken serves 4 very well but can definitely be stretched to serve 6, or you can make 2 chickens and have leftovers.

For the Clarified Butter:

-Bring 2 sticks of unsalted butter to a boil in a small pan. Use a sieve to scrape the white foam off the top of the butter as it boils. Once you have gotten most of it off, strain the rest through the sieve or a pice of cheesecloth. Put aside. All you are doing is removing the white milk proteins that will burn if you cook the butter at a high temp and we don't want that.

For the Chicken:

Ingredients:

-2/3 c clarified butter

-1/3 c olive oil

-1 whole chicken

-2 tbs fresh pepper

-2-3 tbs salt

Directions:

-Set oven to 475 degrees.

-Mix the clarified butter with the olive oil and let cool until it turns into gel.

-Rinse and dry the chicken (sometimes it comes with liver/kidneys/neck inside the cavity. If it does, make sure you remove these and throw them away or save for stock). It is important to dry the chicken thoroughly, if there is water on the skin then the chicken skin will steam instead of brown nicely.

-Spread about 2/3 of the butter/oil mixture on the chicken (I used the rest of it in the mashed potatoes in place of regular butter which was great, or you can save it in the fridge for another chicken). Make sure you get the butter/oil on both sides of the chicken.

-Sprinkle half of the salt and pepper on one side of the chicken, and half on the other side of the chicken.

-Place the chicken in a roasting pan (brownie pan will work just fine) upside down and roast for 20 minutes, upside down. 

-After 20 minutes, turn the chicken break side up and continue to roast for 25 more minutes or until a food thermometer reads 165 degrees for internal meat temp.

-Cut off the legs and breast meat, let sit in the chicken juices while everyone serves themselves. 

Vanilla Bean Creme Anglaise

Now that the kids in my family are all old enough, we usually each make something for Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. My task last year was dessert, and everyone liked it so much that they asked me to make the same thing again. Part of the dessert involves a vanilla bean creme anglaise, which, if you have not had it, is absolutely to die for. I just dunked a strawberry in it and was in heaven. It goes with everything. It is incredible with chocolate cake, fresh fruit, apple tarts, pumpkin pie, and everything in between. It is a little bit like a much tastier and slightly thicker melted vanilla ice cream. If your task is dessert this year, or if you have a dessert coming up that you need to serve (even if it is store bought pumpkin pie) your homemade creme anglaise will take it to the next level and everyone will be licking their plates. It is super easy and only takes about 15 minutes to make, from start to finish. You can serve it warm, cold, or at room temp.

Ingredients:

-1 cup whole milk (you can also use cream- I used 2/3 c 1% milk and 1/3 c heavy whipping cream)

-1 vanilla bean, cut in half and seeds scraped out into the milk (use 1 tsp of vanilla extract in a pinch)

-4 egg yolks (reserve the whites for meringues later or an egg white omelette)

-1/3 c granulated sugar

Directions:

-Scald the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds in it (this means bring to a boil for about 25 seconds and then shut the heat off. A skin will form on the milk which will be strained out later). Turn off stove and leave there while you do the eggs/sugar

-In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar

-Pour about 1/3 c of the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. (This is a process called "tempering," which ensures that the yolks will not scramble)

-Pour the egg/milk mixture into the pot of milk and whisk. Cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes until the creme anglaise is the consistency that you would like.

-Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl and set aside to cool.

(I accidentally made mine a little thicker than I wanted so I added about 1/4 c heavy cream and thinned it out a little. It still tastes amazing and now there is more. You can also use milk or half and half to thin it out after you are finished).

The creme anglaise will keep for 3 days refrigerated so feel free to make it in advance like I did.