On the first morning there I discovered why these mountains are called the Smokey Mountains – the fog that would hover in the valley created the most heavenly, breath taking scenary that lasted throughout most of the morning. My mom and I would make coffee (or hot chocolate!) in the morning and leisurely watched the birds eat out of the bird feeder while we took took in the view.

My mom is the one that taught my sister and I how cook. She always made a point of having everyone come together for dinner, no matter how crazy our schedules were, and included us in the preparation of the meal. As we moved around the world she tried very hard to learn to cook the local dishes and diligently included them in our holiday celebrations. One of our favorite family traditions is eating Raclette on either Christmas Night or New Year’s Eve. Raclette is a type of cheese from Switzerland that gets ridiculously melty and gooey when heated. I found it at Wegman’s and Whole Foods and my mom found it at her gourmet store in Durango.

The traditional way of eating Raclette is by using a Raclette machine, kind of a table-top electric grill. The grill is two-tiered with the grill plate on top of electric coils and then there’s a space below the coils where you can put a little pan filled with veggies/potatoes/whatever you want and LOTS of cheese. The meats, fish, shrimp (again, up to you) cook on top and then you muddle everything together when it’s cooked. It’s perfect for a lot of people because everyone gets what they want.  I took the liberty of listing the condiments that we like to use, but as always, feel free to use your favorites!!  You can also flip the grill pan (most will do this) and make crepes on the other side for a tasty dessert!

Eating communally lends itself to great conversation and laughter – it’s my favorite way to share the dinner table. Please share with us your communal eating stories and ideas!

Possible Raclette Vegetables:

Chopped Zucchini

Broccoli Florets (cut pretty small)

Cauliflower Florets (also cut pretty small)

Corn

Boiled Red Potatoes – We usually have these on the side, mash them with a fork onto the plate and top the potato with the cooked veggies and cheese.

Possible Meats:

Prociutto

Soppressatta

Shrimp

Canadian Bacon

Salami

My husband was a Marine and as we just celebrated both Veteran’s Day and the Marine Corps Birthday he and his buddies have been calling each other to catch up and celebrate their collective Birthday. His bond with this group of distinguished men is extraordinary, powerful and unique – it is a relationship that most people cannot understand. I don’t know the whole story of their friendship (they’re a pretty stoic bunch of guys), but over the last 6 years I’ve learned a lot from them about what it truly means to be a friend.

This group of men were in Iraq together in 2005, working to keep their Marines safe. I know that there were cigars shared in foxholes after a particularly gruesome and intense attack, and that there were more than a few near misses as mortars attacked their base daily. These Marines trusted each other with their lives in a very tangible way and it is this trust that sealed their bond for life.   Even today, with everyone in different states and timezones, my husband’s friends remember to call each other on birthdays, wedding anniversaries and they are eternally planning their next get together.

As an outsider, I always learn something new about my husband when he’s with one of his Marine friends – it’s like I get to see a whole different side of him and I absolutely love it. He’s such a quiet person around his “civilian” friends, it takes a lot for him to open up, but with these guys there’s no shell, no fear of not being accepted, he’s just…. him. It’s absolutely wonderful.  I must admit that I don’t have relationships exactly like the one described, but I am lucky to say that I do have friends whose company I treasure and who  make me incredibly happy. Friends with whom I feel I can be genuine self.  I was fortunate enough to see some of those happy, friendly faces a couple of nights ago at a fun little restaurant in Foggy Bottom (Washington, DC) and it reminded me (to bring it all back around to food!!) that when you bring together people that warm your heart, and food that makes you smile, magic can happen.

This time of year those of us that cook tend to get overwhelmed with planning the perfect holiday meal – I know that I have been guilty of stressing out about whether I wanted to put chestnuts in the stuffing or what I should brine the turkey with – that sometimes we don’t realize the warmth and breath of the people around us. SO here’s the thing – no one is going to be mad at you for not offering a 15-course meal, but they will feel pretty cheated if they only get to steal 3 minutes with you. Please, please enjoy this holiday season, cook your brains out but remember that the people eating the food are the reason for the season!

Photo: ZomppaB (aka Belinda)

And because I can’t not include a recipe in this email, here‘s the recipe for the lasagna I made for Ronnie his first weekend back in the states after coming home from Iraq. It’s a LOT LOT LOT of work, but if you have a snowy weekend with nothing to do it is totally worth it!!!

First off, over Labor Day weekend I was introduced to a GREAT little website called Pinterest. This is SUCH a great website for life because it collects all of your web discoveries in one place (brilliant!). It was invaluable for my challenge because I could float all over the internet looking for perfect recipes and just “pin” them to my board and have them all in one place for review. Seriously, brilliant, I wish that I had thought of this!

To start things off, my challenge was to use Bananas, Almonds and Beef. Beef was the kicker for me, there’s not a lot of ways for beef and bananas to go together in this world and I wanted to do something fun. I also wanted to do something with the bananas in addition to the dessert (because I was going bananas and nutella all the way!!!) In the end, I found a tasty little champagne cocktail that used creme de banana and that suited my purposes very nicely. Here’s the final menu with notes:

Cocktail: Caribbean Royale

1/2 oz. light rum

1/2 oz. creme de banana

3 to 5 oz. chilled champagne

Dash of orange bitters (I couldn’t find this, so I just used regular bitters)

Banana Slice

Pour all liquid ingredients but the champagne into a chilled champagne flute. Slowly top with champagne. Garnish with banana slice (very important, it brings it all together!

Appetizer: Carpaccio

From Alton Brown

Carpaccio is one of my most favorite appetizers and I’ve always wanted to try to make it. Definitely not for the squeamish as it does involve raw meat. Most sites will tell you to ask your butcher to slice your tenderloin for you, but mine couldn’t. I just got a tiny little 1/4 pound filet and froze it for about an hour. Then I tried to slice it as thinly as possible (very tricky). THEN, I put it between two Silpats and banged it for a while with the bottom of a frying pan and then finally used a rolling pin. The rolling pin was key – that got the meat SUPER thin. I topped mine with arugola, shaved parmesan, salt and pepper, olive oil and some balsamic reduction that I got from my mom last year. Finally sprinkle fresh lemon juice over the top and voila! Delicious carpaccio!!

Main Dish: Steak Sandwiches with Sun-Dried Tomato and Almond Pesto

For the Pesto (From “Get Saucy” by Grace Parisi)

1 cup loosely packed oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained, 1/4 c. oil reserved

1/4 c. sliced almonds

2 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced

1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crumbled

1 tbs. red wine vinegar

1/3 finely crumbled feta cheese

Salt

Cayenne Pepper

Heat 1 tsp. of the reserved tomato oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool completely. Add another teaspoon of the oil to the skillet and the garlic and cook, stirring, over medium heat until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Add the oregano and rosemary and cook for 30 seconds.

Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, almonds and remaining reserved tomato oil in a food processor and pulse until coarsely pureed. Add the feta and pulse just until combined. Season with salt and cayenne.

To complete the sandwich I seasoned some flank steak with salt and pepper and cooked it on the grill until medium rare. Once it had rested, I sliced it thin and put it on a toasted ciabatta roll with some white cheddar cheese, arugala and the pesto. Delish!

Finally (and I know that this post has gotten super long!!) Dessert:  I made banana/nutella/almond wontons for dessert. Recipe is super simple:

Take a wonton wrapper and put a dollop of nutella and a few thinly sliced pieces of banana. Take some water on your finger and run it along the edges of the wonton and fold it in half diagonally to seal. Brush some water on the top of the wonton and sprinkle it with some sugar, cinnamon and sliced almonds. Bake at 375 for about 12 or so minutes. They will be SUPER hot when they get out of the oven, so give them a few moments before trying. Note that I do not have a photo of the wontons since they just looked so good and I forgot to take one!

I hope that you enjoy these recipes as much as I did – keep cookin’!

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love appetizers… finger foods… anything that I can eat standing up and walking around. There’s something so great about grazing while you cook and chat with friends. Who needs dinner when you have freshly smoked salmon and homemade crackers?

In the interest of full-disclosure I cannot take credit for the salmon. That luscious looking salmon is from our good friend Justin who catches wild salmon in Alaska every summer and then smokes it himself. Let me just tell you that it [my friend's smoked salmon] has converted my fish-averse husband into a smoked salmon devotee. We look forward to our little care package every year and savor every morsel.

I did, however, make the crackers myself (need to earn my keep somehow) and they were super easy. Here’s the link to the basic recipe, I add pepper and black sesame seeds to mine for a hint of color.

Our friends in North Carolina recently introduced me to another fun finger food that is so delightfully simple. They were inspired by this Anthony Bourdain clip and we tried it when we were together this weekend.

Just take some green onions (the bigger the better, check the farmers market for some big ‘uns) and put them on the grill until they get little grill marks on them. Then, when they are quite hot quickly wrap them up, we used parchment but Anthony used newspaper. Let them steam for about half an hour and voila! Sprinkle some salt on them, dip them in tomato sauce, whatever floats your boat!

Have a delicious rest of your summer everyone!

If asked, I don’t know that I could put my finger on the exact thing that I love most about this state -  it’s just a feeling that I get that says “I am so glad that I live here!” When I lived in DC the first time around, my friends and I would come ‘out here’ (Virginia) every once and a while, but back then I was living in the city or in Maryland and coming ‘out here’ just took too long (its not that far, but felt far).  Currently, we live in the “cow pastures” (according to my coworker, though really it’s just the outskirts of the suburbs) and we’re enjoying every minute. We take walks though the Manassas Battlefield with our dog Oliver and go to local wineries to enjoy a glass of Viognier and the view – life doesn’t get much better than this.

Rather than going on and on, though, I wanted to show it to you. My good friend and co-worker, Ms. Rachel, is often with me on these jaunts to the country and she is a much better photographer than I am. I usually showcase a recipe or two in my posts, but this time I wanted to showcase some of her work. These two sets of photos are from recent trips to Pearmund Cellars and Hume Vineyards. This was the first time that we went to Pearmund and we loved it because we could take the dogs and enjoy our little feast outdoors. It was also super fun because they have chickens! I love chickens! A great find and not super far from DC.

We are no stranger to Hume, it’s one of our favorite spots. It’s tiny, it’s about an hour or so from where we live, and the people are lovely. We found it on the way out to Rappahannock Cellars (another fav) and we just started stopping there every month on the way to pick up our wine from Rappahannock. Over time we’ve gotten to know Joanne, who works behind the counter, and the vintner – we always feel very welcome. As you can see, the red barn is so picturesque (Ms. Rachel did a great job capturing it) and we just sit out there for hours enjoying the landscape and the wine.

We hope to see you out there soon!

Since the initial heat-wave slap in the face, we have had some pretty amazing days to celebrate. Now that we have our new house and a deck (very exciting) we’ve been grilling many of our meals. One of our favorite things to grill is a pork shoulder, for three important reasons: 1) it’s cheap, 2) it’s delicious 3) it makes SO much food!

One 9# pork shoulder can usually feed us for nearly 2 weeks. Not bad for a $10 piece of meat! The condiments that go with the shoulder are simple – we like our pulled pork sandwiches “Memphis style” which means that we make coleslaw to go on top. This time we used an Emeril recipe, but any ol’ coleslaw would do great. I also made these homemade buns (which I believe I’ve posted about before… they’re amazing and hold up to the sauciness of everything else). Finally, the coup de grace, I made Kool-Aid pickles. I know, it sounds so weird, but trust me when I say that it pulls everything together. We first had this combo at a great DC beer bar (where else?) called Church Key and I’ve been dying to try it since.

NPR has been doing a survey of their listeners lately asking what sound reminds them of summer most, I would love to know what FLAVOR reminds you of summer most! Enjoy the sun where ever you are!!

Pulled Pork – from “Webster’s Real Grilling”

Rub:

1 tbs. light brown sugar

1 tbs. prepared chili powder

1 tbs. kosher salt

1 bone-in pork shoulder roast (also called Boston Butt), 5-6 pounds is recommended, if you go bigger it will take longer and require more rub mix

Hickory/Mesquite chips, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes

To make the rub: In a small bowl, mix the rub ingredients with your fingertips. Allow the roast to stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before grilling. Massage rub mixture all over roast.

Grill over Indirect Medium Heat until the meat is very tender but still juicy (the internal temperature next to, but not touching, the bone should be 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit), about 5-6 hours, turning every hour or so. Add the soaked wood chips to the smoker box or coals about halfway through grilling time. When done, remove the pork shoulder from the grill, lightly cover with a piece of aluminum foil and let rest for 30 minutes. It’s okay if it looks a little charred on the outside, it’s the juiciness on the inside the counts!

Sometime while it’s cooking, make the sauce:

Sauce

1 c. cider vinegar

1 c. ketchup

3 tbs. granulated sugar

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine the sauce ingredients with 1 cup of water and bring to a boil of high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Keep warm.

When everything is done, pull the pork into shreds with two forks or your fingers. Discard any outer sections that may have burned or any large bits of fat inside. In a large bowl, moisten the shredded meat with the sauce and mix well. Serve warm on toasted buns brushed with mayo, adding the coleslaw and pickles if desired.

Kool-Aid Pickles*

Slice however many pickles you want lengthwise and place in a small jar. Cover the pickles with some pickle juice. Add about a tablespoon or so (depending on the amount of pickles you have) of kool-aid mix. I added cherry flavored, but you could probably use any red fruit flavor. Stir, cover and place in the fridge for a day or so. Don’t hate on it till you’ve tried it! It’s so good!!!!

* For those with Kool-Aid reservations, feel free to try an alternative and tell us about it!

Though my sister and I were both born in Wyoming, over our childhood we spent time in Africa, Houston and Colorado. Immediately after I went to college, my family moved to Geneva, Switzerland. I feel very fortunate to have been able to grow up in many different countries, surrounded by people with diverse traditions and cultures.

Consequently my idea of “home” is very different than that of my peers. For many of them, home is where their parents live or where they grew up. I have a friend who has lived away from her parents for 7 years, but insists that she is going “home” when she heads to Pennsylvania to see her family.

My husband and I have gotten into some fairly intense discussions about home and what home means. In his perspective, home is where the two of us live with our crazy cats and Oliver our dog (so sweet). He’s an engineer, so he’s pretty black and white, I feel like I am a bit more gray.

Personally, home is a place where I’ve made good memories, cooked good food and laughed with friends. I think that maybe, I interpret the phrase “home is where the heart is” a bit too literally.

I feel at home at my mom’s house, with my best friends and at the dinner table in Virginia with my husband. Sometimes I even feel at home in nature, watching a beautiful sunset or hiking in the mountains. Is that weird? Too broad? Does a home need to be a house or can it just be a feeling?

Here’s a recipe for one of my most favorite dishes, appropriately named “Home Fries”

Elyssa’s Home Fries

Red Potatoes – however many you want to eat, cut up in small wedges

Toss with:

Smoked Paprika (the more the better, I love this stuff!)

Salt (herbed salt is very delicious)

Olive Oil

Pepper

Cook in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes, stirring half way through.

What foods remind you most of home? Happy Trails!!

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My favorite part about this house is that: 1) this is the first time in over a decade that I will not be sharing walls with anyone (huge) and 2) we have a yard! Not just a small yard, but it’s almost a full 1/4 acre (for us city folks this is a huge deal)! There’s even a little stream and a bird bath – believe me when I tell you I am dreaming BIG on this one. We haven’t even gotten the keys and I’m already planning out where we’re going to plant herbs and researching how one grows peanuts.

The reasonable one in this relationship said “Elyssa, let’s wait to see what kind of sun we get back here and who knows, maybe the yard has pre-existing bulbs that will sprout….” At this point I am already diagramming our vegetable garden and I am only half-listening…. After all of the food safety scares that we have had over the last few years, I am really excited to start growing our own food, knowing that we are reducing our footprint by just a tad and at the same time increasing the amount of nutrients that we consume.

To celebrate this glorious spring, we made a lovely and colorful meal: chicken lettuce wraps with peanut sauce, saffron rice and a lovely Virginia Rose. The recipe for the chicken follows, we just used saffron rice from the store but of course you can make your own if you’d like. Enjoy!

Zomppa’s Peanut Sauce

Peanut Sauce

Adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Mix together everything but the cilantro, add that just before serving. Take some cubed chicken breast and toss with some sauce (however much you like). Take a big leaf from Boston lettuce and fill with chicken mixture, add shredded carrots, cucumbers and green onions. Serve with a side of saffron rice. Enjoy!

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I am happy to report that all of these things played a starring role during our time in Spain (especially the Sangria) and one of our favorite memories is at this little Italian restaurant across from our hotel in Estepona. I know, I know, Italian food in Spain?! Oh yes my friends, and HOW.

This restaurant is right on the Mediterranean and is little more than a house with a backyard. Our table was by the swimming pool (literally, it was like a house) and the dinner was a revelation. We got sun-warmed marinated olives, freshly made bread and the coup de grace – the special house cannellonis. They were delicate, resting in this light and rich and flavorful bechamel and the inside contained….. a mystery. We are still not sure what was inside, we’re thinking that maybe it was veal… maybe some onion…. such a scrumptious mystery to try to solve.

And try we have.

We’ve tried at least 3 different ways of making the cannelloni and nothing has come close. However, this past weekend in honor of Valentine’s Day (albeit a little late), I thought that perhaps we could try to recreate our wonderful meal. I marinated green olives in garlic, orange and lemon peel, thyme and olive oil. I made white sangria (in a pitcher that was a wedding gift  – romantic, no?) and then found a recipe that looked like “the one” – Cannelloni, Barcelona Style – from Saveur.com. It had everything and more!

It’s a blend of ground chicken, veal and pork and some minced chicken livers, stewed with onions and garlic. I was going to wrap this delectable concoction in freshly made pasta but, to be honest, I was not in the mood to make homemade pasta on top of everything else, so I bought fresh lasagna sheets from Wegmans and cut them to size. After wrapping up our little Italian delicacies we topped them with homemade bechemel and parmigiano-reggiano and popped it in the oven.

Now I will preface this next paragraph by saying that this is VERY tasty…. but not perfect. Next time I will probably do the following: add carrots and celery to the onions at the beginning to make a mire poix. Double the bechamel recipe and add nutmeg to it – it needs more punch to make it stand up to the pasta.

And I’ll probably eat it by the Mediterranean under the Spanish sun next time too…. why mess with a great thing?

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Source: National Sports Beat & Technorati

For those of you that have read any of my previous posts, you may or may not remember that my husband and I have a little weekly challenge for one another. We trade off every Sunday and give the other person three random ingredients and on Sundays we have to make a meal featuring them. It’s gone really well so far, I think that my husband has an edge on me, and I’ve gotten to enjoy some great meals.

This week, as it is Championship Sunday, we really wanted cheeseburgers and my ingredients were : sweet potatoes, eggs, bacon. Our cravings definitely directed my meal this week and I think that it ended up fairly spectacular. Besides, who doesn’t love a juicy cheeseburger?

First: The Meat. We are big fans of Bison and at my local Wegman’s (my new favorite grocery store, it’s amazing!!! I could do an entirely separate post extolling the wonders of that store) they carry organic Bison at a very reasonable price. I roasted a little garlic earlier in the day and added it to the mixture of meat, salt, pepper and egg (Bison tends to be really lean).

Second: The Buns. I have baked these buns at least four times and I think that I’ve finally figured them out. I love brioche bread, it’s so soft and gets a nice crunchy exterior. I’ve used them for burgers, pulled pork sandwiches and then of course just regular sandwiches. They’re always delicious, but I have struggled to get them to rise high enough. This time – success! They turned out so fluffy, if anyone has questions I’m happy to chat with you about it! Plus, brioche is an egg bread and fulfilled my ingredient requirement (yeah I know, it’s a stretch!)

Third, and some would argue the most important: Toppings! I make caramelized onions about once every two weeks, we put them on everything – sandwiches, eggs, mashed potatoes, whatever you can think of. They are a must on burgers, animal style all the way. Also – guacamole. I didn’t take any pictures of me making the guac, I was too focused on the task at hand and had a hungry football fan waiting eagerly on the couch. I put a lot of stuff in my guac – red onions, some kind of mild chile (hungarian or anaheim), roasted garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper and a healthy squeeze of lime. This time at the suggestion of other bloggers I also added some plain greek yogurt which gave it a great creaminess. Tonight we added bacon (my bacon requirement) and some maple smoked cheddar (it’s great, trust me).

Lastly: A Side. Tonight I tried something a little bit different so that I could meet the sweet potato requirement. I’ve made sweet potato fries before and they always end up a bit soggy. I found this post and said “that’s for me!”. They turned out really great, though I baked them longer than the recipe calls for. They would also make a great appetizer at a party, very portable!

I would love to hear what you’re doing for Super Bowl! Feel free to post your recipes and ideas here! Go Packers!

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