Dinner Party

A few Saturdays ago, Eric and I hosted a dinner party at our house. Our friend Karen had suggested that we ladies cook dinner for our hard working men, while I give them a few pointers in the kitchen. So we did.

I spent a significant amount of time planning the menu, wanting to make sure that all the bases were covered - meat, grain and vegetable - and that nothing was too terribly complicated; I didn't want the poor girls covered in flour and slaving away at 9:30 at night, calling out, "I promise guys, we're almost ready!" I decided on Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic (a Provençal classic), Couscous with Currants and Pignoli, a Waldorf Salad and for dessert, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Cake. I drew up shopping lists for each of the girls and wished them luck on finding their items.

Saturday rolled around and friends started arriving. Guests for the evening were Todd and Sarah, Cory and Karen and Tim and Cathy. While the guys sat outside on the porch, we ladies were cooking away in the kitchen. It was really fun giving the girls pointers and I felt that they were actually interested in what I had to allow. A few hours later, we were finally ready to sit down to dinner. Everything was delicious and I was so grateful to the ladies for helping out! And as my dad always says, "It was so nice to have all our feet under the same table." We will have to do it again.

Thanks for the pictures, Sarah!

Fall Fashion Show Tonight!

Tonight is the Mason's/Three Monkeys Fall Fashion Show at the Town Center here in Fayetteville. Darling Desserts will be catering the event with such delicious treats as lemon olive oil cake with fresh raspberries, flourless chocolate espresso cake and everyone's favorite, chocolate bundles, just to name a few!

The first 300 people through the door will receive a $20 Mason's gift certificate. Your admission ticket also puts you in the drawing for fabulous raffle prizes, such as Hobo bags, Tano bags, a $500 Sephora gift basket, a Bordino's gift certificate and a whole lot more.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and your entire admission fee will be donated to the Peace at Home Women and Children's Shelter. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30. Come out tonight and support your local boutiques, your local shelter and of course, Darling Desserts!

Easy as Jam

I recently caved and got a membership to Sam's Club. Not that I ever really need 40 rolls of paper towels or 180 granola bars - but I do buy some of my Darling Desserts ingredients there. Something else that I discovered is that Sam's carries the most plump, delicious (and organic!) raspberries I have ever encountered. I have seriously gone out of my way to drive the 15 minutes to Sam's Club just to buy these raspberries. They're that good.

So, this Sunday afternoon was partially devoted to trying my hand at raspberry jam. I had seen Ina Garten cook a simplified version on her show recently and it looked easy enough. For some reason, I had always been under the impression that making jam was a long, arduous process from beginning to end - the pectin, the perfect temperature, the sterilization. This was quite the opposite, much to my surprise.

I started by bringing two cups of sugar and the zest and juice of a large lemon to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat. Pectin is usually added to the mixture to ensure that the jam sets properly, but the pectin content of the lemon juice is high enough to forego it altogether. Once the sugar was completely dissolved, I added a pint and a half of the raspberries.

I kept the heat on low and let the mixture simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring it whenever I remembered. I was looking for a consistency that would stay separated when I wiped my finger down the middle of it on a cold plate. Here's what the consistency should be like:

The raspberries were completely dissolved and the consistency was just right. I strained the seeds out of the mixture - a step I did only because Eric likens eating jam with seeds to eating popcorn kernels.

After cooling about 5 minutes, the jam was ready to be jarred. I was able to get about 12 ounces out of this batch, which should last us a while. I had it on my english muffin this morning and I must say that it beats any expensive jam you could buy at the store. I think next time around, I might try strawberries.

A Lot o' Risotto

Risotto is one of my favorite meals. Although labor intensive, the creamy results are definitely worth the wait. Risotto is made with arborio rice, an Italian-grown grain that's shorter and fatter than any other short-grain rice. Arborio is traditionally used for risotto because its high starch content lends this classic dish its requisite creamy texture. Here's a look at regular long-grained enriched rice on the left, arborio rice in the center and on the right, its longer and leaner counterpart, basmati rice.

Risotto is a virtual blank slate for a variety of flavors. For tonight's risotto, I chose to add some ground Italian sausage, red bell pepper, zucchini and thyme. I started by browning the sausage in the pan.

In another pan, I sauteed the zucchini and red bell pepper in a little olive oil, then added the thyme right as I took the vegetables off the heat. Because the vegetables were going to be added to the finished risotto, I was sure not to overcook them.

Once the sausage had browned, I removed it from the pan and set it aside. I then added chopped onion to the pan and allowed it to brown as well, and then added minced garlic. Once the onion and garlic were cooked, the uncooked rice was added to the pan and gently toasted.

The rice starts to crackle when it's good and toasted - this is a sign that the pan is ready to be deglazed. I poured in about a cup of wine and started to loosen the flavorful brown bits from the bottom of the pan. The rule is, always cook with a wine that you're willing to drink. I'm partial to B&G Vouvray.

Once the majority of the wine cooked off, it was time to start slowly adding the chicken stock. I had a saucepan full of hot chicken stock on the stove and added it, two ladlefulls at a time, to the risotto. Between each addition of chicken stock, the rice was constantly stirred, allowing the rice to soak up the stock and release its starches, creating a thick, creamy texture. This process takes about 20 minutes, and it's important that the risotto be carefully watched to avoid sticking or burning.

Once the rice became soft, the risotto was ready to be flavored. I added the sausage and the vegetables to the risotto, as well as two tablespoons of butter and a good handful of shaved parmesan. Dinner was served!

Buon Appetito!

My Cup of Tea

I'm a tea girl. In the mornings, instead of groggily chugging a bitter cup of coffee to force caffeine into my veins, I enjoy the daily ritual of tea - boiling the water, carefully wrapping the string around the handle of my mug, steeping the tea, gently squeezing the bag to release the most concentrated flavors, and, of course, sweetening and sipping. For my birthday, I even invested in a cordless electric tea kettle, something that's not often seen here in the States. I go through tea phases, where I'll drink nothing but black tea, then I'll switch to green, then green jasmine, the latest endeavor being white tea. For years I drank nothing but Earl Grey, which I occasionally revert back to these days - Earl Grey with a splash of heavy cream and two sugars on a chilly, rainy afternoon? Heaven.

The tea choices at the local grocery store aren't the best, but I recently stumbled upon something that caught my eye. Lipton has come out with a new line of teas that they're calling their Pyramid Teas, which remind me of a lot of the teas that you'll find overseas. The bags are made from a gossamer mesh, which allows for better water-tea infusion, and their shape allows the tea more room to mingle with the hot water.

This is by far the best tea I've ever purchased from Lipton. The tea and dried fruit inside the bag are completely identifiable, and the tea is so fresh that once it's steeped, it swells up so much that the bag is burgeoning with swollen tea leaves by the time you take it out of the water.

I've tried the white tea with peach and the green tea with mandarin orange, both hot and iced, and they're equally delicious and flavorful. I hope this isn't a fad that Lipton is going through and within six months, these teas will be pulled from the shelves because people just love their Luzianne too much. I would choose these over Luzianne anyday. I'm already looking forward to my ritual tomorrow morning.

Darling's Latest Ad and Postcard!

Thanks, Tim!

Thanks, Michelle!

Le Creuset

For the longest time, I've wanted to own a Le Creuset dutch oven. Coveted by foodies and chefs around the world, Le Creuset makes some of the most durable enameled cast iron and ceramics available.

The Le Creuset factory is at Fresnoy-Le-Grand in Northern France. In 1925, the foundry began producing cast iron by hand-casting molten iron in sand molds. Even today, after casting, each mold is destroyed and the cookware is polished and sanded by hand then scrutinized for imperfections. Once declared good for enameling, the items are sprayed with two separate coats of enamel and fired after each process at a temperature of 800°C. The enamel then becomes extremely hard and durable, making it almost completely resistant to damage during normal use. Since much of the finishing is done by hand, each Le Creuset piece is completely unique. (Source)

A few weeks ago, I noticed that T.J. Maxx was carrying Le Creuset Seconds. After a thorough once over, I couldn't find a single flaw in any of the seconds, minus a few tiny bubbles in the enamel, and the price was almost half of what one would pay for a "perfect" specimen. Tonight, I bit the bullet and bought one. Lime green color and weighing in at almost 20 pounds, this dutch oven will most likely last me the rest of my years.

Like Two Peas in a Pod

I never ate many peas growing up. I guess Mom just didn't make them very often. Therefore, I grew up having a vision in my head of peas being this shriveled, grey-green pile of mush, often eaten with boiled pearl onions and gravy-laden mashed potatoes. Ugh.

When I got married, Eric divulged to me that he loves peas, so I thought this to be the perfect opportunity to give peas a chance (insert canned laughter here). I first learned that buying frozen peas was superior to buying canned peas, as the freezing process these days is down to a fine-tuned science, where vegetables are flash frozen at the peak of their freshness. One step up from frozen peas, of course, are fresh peas. Lately at the market, I've been seeing prepackaged fresh sugar snap peas. These are delectable both raw and cooked.

On my latest pea venture, I combined them with the leftover asparagus from Sunday's Jamie Oliver meal. I quickly blanched them in boiling salted water for about a minute, then immediately transferred them to an ice bath to stop the cooking and maintain that beautiful bright green color. Dried on a paper towel, I put the peas and asparagus in a saute pan with butter and fresh grated ginger, tossing them around for another minute. I was careful not to overcook them, trying to avoid that wilted, deflated look these delicate vegetables so easily get. Once plated, I sprinkled them with some lemon zest and sea salt.

Delicious!

This Ain't No Bangers and Mash

I've owned this Jamie Oliver cookbook, Jamie's Kitchen, for a good six months now. Since my purchase, it's been perched upon my countertop just looking pretty. I've skimmed the recipes a few times and thought that the vast majority of them were either too complicated or the ingredients too obscure. I decided that this weekend, I would give Jamie a second chance.

I once again skimmed the book, flipping past all the haddock, cod and lamb recipes, only to stumble upon something that seemed easy and relatively straight forward: Pork Cutlets with Asparagus. What I liked most about this recipe was using a griddle rather than the grill. Stored deep in a crowded cabinet and only pulled out for pancakes, our griddle is rarely used, so it was a nice change of pace.

I spread a mixture of thyme, garlic and olive oil over the pork cutlets and then pounded them to about a quarter inch thickness. I got the griddle nice and hot and quickly seared the asparagus, squash and zucchini with a little olive oil, then did the same thing with the cutlets.

After the squash, zucchini, asparagus and cutlets were all cooked, I tossed everything in a white wine and mint vinaigrette, garnished it with feta and fresh mint leaves, and voila - dinner was served.

Eric and I didn't even bother with our own plates, we just ate right off the serving platter. The flavors were all so bright and fresh - the crisp mint flavor, the salty feta and the lemony thyme on the cutlets all went so well together. The recipe is also a versatile one - I think any kind of meat could be used, and you could certainly substitute the vegetables. So I must say I was very pleased with Jamie's recipe, and I regret not diving into the cookbook sooner.

Thursday's Selection

This past Thursday, Darling Desserts catered an event for Mason's on the Creeks. While some customers shopped for clothing, accessories and diamonds, others snacked on the assortment of goodies Darling Desserts was serving. Most had tough decisions to make: a milk chocolate dipped coconut macaroon or a mini Italian Cream cake? A soft almond blueberry cookie or a crispy, flaky chocolate bundle? Here's what Darling Desserts was serving that evening:

Chocolate Bundles


Lemon Curd Tarts with Glazed Strawberries


Cafe Mocha Cream Tarts


Mini Italian Cream Cakes with Candied Citrus


Mini Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with a Cayenne Pecan Glaze


Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Raspberries


Almond Blueberry Cookies with Turbinado Sugar


Milk Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons

A big thank you to Emily, Cathy and the rest of the Mason's crew for making Darling Desserts feel so welcome!

Diamonds and Desserts on Thursday Night!

Drop by Mason's on the Creeks in Rogers between 5:00 and 7:00 on Thursday, September 7th to take a first peek at the new SYdney Evan jewelry line, featuring true diamonds set in white and yellow gold. This jewelry collection is regularly mentioned in Lucky, Vogue and InStyle, and is a favorite among today's top celebrities.

Catering the event will be Darling Desserts, featuring a select array of items from their menu, including cafe mocha cream tarts, lemon olive oil cake with fresh raspberries and mini Mexican chocolate cakes with a decadent pecan glaze.

Please stop by for a look at some beautiful jewelry, a bite of something delicious and a glass of champagne. We hope to see you there!

Farewell to the Weekend

As a farewell to the long weekend, I thought I would make a nice dinner on Monday night. I was tossing around the idea of grilled steak filets with a veggie or potato on the side. I asked Eric what he thought, and he suggested a Thai steak salad that I had made a few weeks before. I thought it was a perfect idea - a good combination of hearty and healthy, with a lean piece of beef on a bed of fresh greens.

I chose a flank steak for the salad because of its lower fat content and because it's a good cut of meat for grilling and slicing. Marinated in lime juice, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar and red chili flakes, I grilled the steak to a medium rare and allowed it to rest about ten minutes while assembling the salads. I added ribboned carrots, bean sprouts, mint and chopped peanuts to the mix and dressed the salads with the unused marinade. The result was delicious, and I didn't feel like I was going to pop after eating. That, of course, means I had extra room for dessert - but that's another post for another day.

Laborless Day

It was indescribably nice to be able to wake up at a leisurely hour this Monday morning and not have to trudge to work. Today will entail some grocery shopping, tart making and plenty of TV watching. Three day weekends should become mandatory.

I woke up before Eric this morning and remembered something he'd said last night about wanting pancakes for breakfast. I pulled out my trusty Joy of Cooking and looked up the buttermilk pancake recipe: flour, baking powder, baking soda, a teaspoon of sugar, buttermilk, an egg and some melted butter. Easy enough, but I wanted to make them even tastier. I took stock of what we have on hand and I decided on cinnamon pecan pancakes. I also added a bit more sugar and some vanilla, just to bring out the sweetness in them a bit more.

Eric woke up just in time to be dubbed the official pancake flipper, as his flipping skills are superior to mine. A cup of jasmine tea, a stack of pancakes and an episode of Nip/Tuck later, I am fully ready to start my laborless day.