Sometimes its All About the Beverage You Serve

I know a lot of the articles I've been sharing have been all about food, but I have to tell you, sometimes its all about the beverage.

Here in the Lehigh Valley we have a great community of vineyards. I have my favorites listed on the side of the blog with links to their sites, but today I am going to focus on just one of them, Franklin Hills Vineyards. It is located in Bangor, PA, but has several satellite locations that sell their wines so that we don't have to drive 45 minutes into the mountains to get our fix.

My favorite location is in The Shoppes at the Main Street Commons in Historic Downtown Bethlehem, PA. Not only do they have great wines, but the shop is chock full of great gift items for you and your favorite wino :o).

Currently, I've been drinking a lot of their Simply Red, it is a very nice table red that is not too dry or too sweet. I've been getting a bottle every Thursday because the shoppe in Bethlehem is located right across the street from the Sun Inn and during the months of May and June they play host to Tunes at Twilight, a free night of music provided by local bands. I find that it pairs well with everything we've been eating from the local restaurants on concert night. So far I've enjoyed it with eggplant pasta from Mama Nina's, hot dogs from the Sun Inn and just last week I drank it while eating an Italian BLT from the Apollo Grill. Not sure what it is on the menu for dinner this Thursday, but I can assure you, Simply Red will be in my travel wine glass.

I'm sure you realize that Simply Red is not the only wine creations they offer. There are several other great choices too, so let's move onto something we decided to do for fun with a few of their fruit wines.

During one of the concert nights last spring we bought a bottle of their Envy wine, it is a green apple that is bright and tart and the prettiest green you've ever seen and also seasonal. Never one to just be satisfied with what I have and always looking for the next burst of new flavor, a group of my girlfriends and I decided that these fruit wines might make a great base for martinis. We were right on the money! We took that bottle of Envy and a bottle of green apple vodka and mixed it 2-1, shook it with some ice and voila a very yummy martini that packs a very nice punch was born.

Did we stop there? Absolutely NOT!

Franklin Hills also offers the following wines and thanks to vodka brands like Three Olives, Van Gogh and Absolut who have introduced dozens of flavor infused vodkas to the marketplace the martini combinations are endless.

Passion (Strawberry-Kiwi)
Desire (Mango)
Bliss (Blueberry)
Fainting Goat (Black Cherry)

For even more ideas on how to use these wines, visit their website for some delicious recipes for both beverages and food.

I hope you will take a few minutes the next time you are in the area to visit our Wine Trail, while we are not the Finger Lakes in NY, we sure do have a good thing growing in the Lehigh Valley.

Cin Cin!
dina

Party Party Paaarty Party

What a month! My oldest daughter started school, she is participating in the Aesthetics program at Metro Beauty Academy and my youngest daughter graduated with her Associates in Applied Sciences of Business Management from Lehigh Carbon Community College and will be participating in the Cosmetology program at the same school starting in June. They have promised to make sure that I never look older than I do right now...okay, I threatened them that if I ever look older than I do right now with two kids in the beauty business we were going to have a problem.

But anyway, this is not a blog about the beauty of face and body. It is a blog about he beauty and deliciousness of food.

With that in mind, let me tell you about the party we are having this weekend to celebrate my youngest daughter's graduation.

The menu isn't huge, but guaranteed to be delicious. It is a family affair, as all great parties are.

My sister Diane is making the most delicious Pulled Roast Beef. She has definitely figure out the best way to do it and it couldn't be more simple. I hope she doesn't mind that I am sharing it here.

My parents are making Sausage with peppers and onions.

My sister Eileen is making her family loved Macaroni and Potato Salads.

My sister-in-law Sherri and her husband Jon are making the Turkey Meatballs that our graduate loves and I'm making regular Italian Meatballs.

There will also be pickled eggs and a whole bunch of baked goods...Italian Cookies, Chocolate Cherry Port Wine Reduction Cookies, German Butter Cake, Molasses Cake and Boozey Bites.

Boozey Bites are cupcakes that I make in all different flavors that are close replicas to your favorite happy hour cocktails, complete with icing flavored with delicious liquors. I sell them through my catering business Passionate Kisses Catering.

Now for Diane's Pulled Roast Beef. I am not going to give weights and measures because this is not that type of recipe. Don't be afraid, this is very simple and you won't mess it up.

1 beef roast, the size your family will consume
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Adobo seasoning
red wine
water

Freeze your beef roast at least for 24 hours. When ready to bake your beef roast, preheat your oven to 250 degrees F. Place your frozen beef roast into your roasting pan, we use one of the black speckled enamel roasting pans. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Adobo seasoning. Pour about 1/2 cup of red wine and a 1/2 cup of water into the pan around the beef roast. Cover and place into your oven. Allow to cook all day. My sister told me that she has started her's as early at 6 a.m. and eaten as late as 6 p.m. and it was still delicious. I've cooked it from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. and it was delicious. In fact, one day I put it in at 11 a.m. and we ate it at 5:00 p.m., I just upped the temperature to 275 degrees F.

We served it with small rolls so that our guests could make sandwiches.

The next two recipes are definitely in party size quantities, so let the party begin.

I make meatballs a lot, not in this amount, but often.

Meatballs (party quantity)
22.5 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 tblsps. salt
2 tblsps. pepper
2 tblsps. garlic powder
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
12 eggs

Mix all the ingredients together. You may need to do it in batches if you don't have a large enough bowl to mix it in. Form into meatballs in the size you prefer. I used a 1 1/2 oz. cookie scoop to make them all uniform in size. Then drop into your cooking sauce. Cook in the sauce about 2 hours, remove and set aside while sauce continues to cook. If you let them in for the duration of the sauce cooking time, they will disintegrate in the sauce.

Spaghetti Sauce
2 6lb. cans tomato sauce
4 20oz. cans tomato paste
10-15 cloves garlic
4-5 bay leaves
2-3 tblsps. pepper
2-3 tblsps. salt
water

Put all the ingredients in a very large pot, I really meant it, a very large pot. I had to use two pots for all those meatballs. Use the two large cans of sauce to add the water, rinsing out all the little bits of sauce in the crevices. I usually add about 1 1/2 cans or so of water. Stir well as the paste doesn't disolve quickly when it is still cold, but will burn to the bottom if you don't stir often and well as it heats up. Turn your burner to medium - high until it starts to boil slightly. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook for about 8 hours. Yes, 8 hours. We've been making this sauce in my family forever, my grandmother used to make sauce this way and I imagine her mother did too.


It is always good. In fact, I have a friend in Missouri that I made sauce while visiting last year and then sent home with more sauce the last time she visited. She is coming again this weekend and I imagine I'll be sending her home with more.

Buon Appetito!

Hugs,
dina

Comfort Food for the Extra Kids

I learned how to make chicken and dumplings from watching my mom for the first 19 years of my life and have been making it for more than 20 years in my house. About 10 years ago I had planned on making chicken noodle soup (sometimes when time is tight I substitute noodles for home made dumplings), but something came up and my husband stepped in and made it for me (using my instructions and my recipe). It just so happened to be the day my youngest daughter had her very bestest friend in the whole wide world Amanda over for dinner. She went crazy over this soup and has requested it every visit since, she lives 2 1/2 hours away from us now, but she always refers to as "Kaylin's Dad's Soup."

She is coming to visit this weekend to celebrate Kaylin graduating from college and despite the high humidity we are having "Kaylin's Dad's Soup," but with dumplings is for dinner tonight.

Chicken Dumplings

Broth
4 chicken legs, thighs attached with skin and bone
1 onion, peeled, kept whole
3-4 carrots, scrubbed, chopped in half, ends removed
garlic powder/salt/pepper to taste
2-3 large containers chicken broth

Dumplings
5 cups flour
5 eggs
broth or water, as needed
salt, to taste

In the biggest pot you can find, until I bought my restaurant grade pots, I used my most treasured pot that my mom gave me. It is a yellow enameled stainless steel pot that has been used and washed so much that it barely has any yellow left on it. Now I use my 10 quart heavy bottomed stainless steel pot.

Heat pot on medium high heat. Toss in your carrots, onion and chicken parts and allow the chicken to brown lightly on all sides. Fill pot about half way with water and return to heat. Add salt/pepper and garlic powder (you will probably add more throughout the cooking process) and allow pot to come to a boil.

Allow soup to boil for approximately 20 minutes, then reduce to medium heat and cook until chicken is cooked through, about another 30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and said aside to cool. Reduce heat on soup broth, add canned chicken broth and allow to simmer while you make the dumplings.

Dumplings

Put the five cups of flour into a large bowl, make a well in the middle and put eggs in the well. Working from the center, beat eggs drawing the flour into the eggs. Continue this until the flour is mixed in enough that it would be easier to use your hands than to keep mixing with a fork.

Continue to knead dough until all is combined to make a pretty stiff dry dough. It may be necessary to add more liquid to incorporate all the flour. I usually use a little bit of broth ladled from the soup pot if I need more liquid.

Don't worry about adding too much liquid, you can always just add more flour. I only gave you measurements to give you a guide, dumplings are far from being a science. They are made more with the soul than your brain.

After the dumplings are done, you're going to want to wash all the dough off, its hard to get off, but its easier to tear off the dumplings if your hands are clean. Turn the broth up so that it boils and start dropping teaspoon sized pieces of dough into the broth, stirring occasionally so that they don't clump together. Allow to boil while dropping in the rest of the dumplings. Please do not squeeze the dumplings when making them, they need to stay loose and unformed to cook properly. If you shape them, they will become lumps of lead and never cook all the way through.

Allow dumplings to cook till done, about 20 minutes or so. If you cut one open, it will be soft and slightly mushy in appearance and not look like the dough before you dropped it in the pot.

Enjoy with some crusty bread.
hugs!
dina

Porky vs. the Green Grocer

I love vegetables. My husband and oldest daughter love meat. Sometimes it is really difficult to balance the two out so that there is enough of both to make everyone happy.

Tonight I hit pay dirt with a dish that I put together after a visit to our local Produce Junction (my winter vegetable shopping hot spot) and my two favorite butchers, Thomson's Meat Market and Clover Farms.

So here we go. I am calling this dish Porky vs. the Green Grocer and here is the list of ingredients that I used this time. Any combination of meats and vegetables will work so feel free to change it up to make you happy.

1 lb. American Pie Sausage, removed from casing and diced (from Clover Farms)
4 slices pepper bacon, cut very thick, diced (Thomson's Meat Market)
5-6 slices hill billy bacon, diced
1 lb. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 onions, sliced
1 lb. brussel sprouts, cleaned and halved
1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth
2-3 tblsps. olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
about 2 lbs. red and russet potatoes, scrubbed really well and sliced thick
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves

The first thing I did was scrub my potatoes really well, removing any eyes or blemishes that may be on them. I then sliced them in 1/4 inch slices. In a large 11x17ish baking dish drizzle a little olive on the bottom of the pan, layer potatoes with half of the onions and sprinkle the garlic cloves in between. Drizzle the top of the mixture with a little more olive oil and distribute the butter evenly over the top. Salt and pepper liberally to taste, cover with foil and bake till potatoes are fork tender in a 350 degree oven about 1 1/2 hours, removing foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to allow potatoes and onions to crisp up and become a little brown.

About an hour into the potatoes cooking I started my vegetable prep. Since the veg never takes as long to cook, I don't like to start it too soon or everything will be soggy till we eat it.

In a large heavy bottomed skillet set on medium - high heat drizzle a little olive oil. When olive oil is hot, add meats and saute till sausage is no longer pink. Push meats to the edges of the pan and add the vegetables. Stir vegetables and cook until onions start to become translucent and peppers start to soften. Salt and pepper to taste. Add about half of the chicken broth to de-glaze the pan, don't forget to stir up all the meaty bits, this gives great flavor to the vegetables.

Add the rest of the chicken broth and cover the pan and allow to cook on medium until the brussels sprouts are fork tender.

Serve over the roasted potatoes.

I got rave reviews from my husband, but alas, my daughter was not seduced by the meat flavored vegetables and still picked them out. I may never win on this as far as the kids are concerned, but my husband and I loved it. We are using the leftovers with some eggs today for lunch.

hugs,
dina

Another dinner for two...ooh la la

This being a parent of two adults is really weird, but something a person could get used to. My husband is more eager and usually more accepting of my experiments, so when my daughters aren't going to be home making dinner is always a little easier.

In the case of last night, we had steaks topped with scallops and shrimp that were sauteed in pepper bacon and shallots. It was delicious. It was a great meal for a kid-less night because one child won't eat steak or anything from the sea and the other won't seafood.

As always I like to treat my steaks very simple so that the flavor from the beef shines through. I prefer a drizzling of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic gently massaged into the meat a few hours prior to cooking, but think one of these days I'm going to have to try some of seasoning applications that Michael Chiarello uses, they always look amazing.

I approach seafood the same way. I rinsed and removed the abductor muscle from all of my scallops, peeled and deveined my shrimp. I mixed them gently with salt and pepper and set them aside while I sauteed the pepper bacon and shallots in a little olive oil. I wish I would have had a red pepper to add to the mix because that would have added a little zing to brighten things up. That's the great thing about cooking, you can always do it a little different the next time because there is always room for improvement.

Shrimp and Scallops

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 lb. scallops, rinsed with abductor muscle removed
3-4 tblsps. olive oil
3 thick cut slices of pepper bacon, diced (could use pancetta or regular bacon too)
2 shallots, sliced
salt/pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed skillet (I got all my pots and pans from our local Restaurant Store) drizzle olive oil, heat on medium - high heat. When oil is hot, add pepper bacon and shallots. Saute till shallots are transparent and bacon begins to crisp. Push bacon and shallots to the edges of the pan. Place scallops, one at a time, in the center of the pan. Sear scallops on each side between 2-3 minutes or until it is nicely caramelized and starts to become white about half way up the side. Flip scallop and repeat above on other side. Remove scallops to a warm plate and tent with tin foil to keep warm. Add cleaned and de-veined shrimp to center of the pan where the scallops were and stir gently until bright pink, maybe another 2-3 minutes. Shrimp cook even faster than scallops. Remove shrimp to the plate with scallops. I didn't put the shrimp and scallops in the pan to cook until the steaks had come off the grill and were set aside to rest so that the juices had a chance to absorb back into the meat.

Steaks
I always go to the butcher and get what ever is fresh and looks good that day. I don't always get the same cut of meat, but am always certain it will be nice because I shop at the same places all the time.

After seasoning my steaks I let them marinate in a plastic bag in the fridge after massaging the seasonings in.

Looking forward to more dinner for two. The possibilities are endless and I'm going to take advantage of it until he is tired of trying new things :O).
hugs
dina

Summer is Coming...Summer is Coming....

...and with it comes the most amazing weather for picnics and grilling and family gatherings.

But can you believe that when I ask my family what they want the most at picnics they choose burgers? They choose burgers because they know that I never make them the same way twice and always incorporate fresh ingredients into the mix that makes them moist and delicious.

Yesterdays burgers were just like that, big and thick with juices dripping. I had hoped to take a picture and post it, but sadly (or not), before I could get the camera out of the case they had been devoured.

This week's Burger Recipe

3 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey (we did both this week)
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 large red pepper, diced
1 large onion or 2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
salt/pepper/red pepper flakes to taste
4-5 tblsps. olive oil

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on high heat. Drizzle oil over bottom of pan. Saute peppers, onions and garlic in hot oil. Sprinkle with salt and stir gently until onions are translucent and peppers begin to soften. (I do all of this on high heat usually, but not everyone likes to cook that way, so turn the heat down if it makes you more comfortable.) Sprinkle with black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir in seasonings and then remove from the heat to cool.

In a large bowl break up your ground beef or turkey. Sprinkle with more salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste. Add sauteed vegetables, eggs and bread crumbs. Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Do not manhandle it or you will end up with a very tough mixture.

Using your ice cream scoop, scoop up equal size balls of mixture. Flatten out to make your burger. Chill burgers in the refrigerator while you heat your grill. Then place the burgers on the grill and cook slowly to the desired internal temperature. We usually cook them to between 150 - 180 degrees depending on who we are cooking for.

We then serve them on simple buns with cheese, lettuce, tomato, sliced onion rings, ketchup, mustard and sometimes mayonnaise.

Variations I've tried:
Sauteed onions, peppers and garlic
Sauteed onions and mushrooms. Plus about a cup of parmesan cheese in the mixture.
Sauteed onions. Parmesan cheese in the mixture. Topped with Mozzarella cheese, a basil leaf and roasted red peppers.


Next week I want to try the onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic and diced zucchini and then topping it with mozzarella cheese and basil pesto or maybe some sun-dried tomatoes with all the veg or maybe some diced sauteed pancetta or bacon and a really nice cheddar cheese....ugh...there are no limitations as to what they can be. I think this is going to be a very burgerful summer. Come back to find out what combination we do next.

hugs,
dina

Great Friends and Family Night

What a great night!! I had such a good time and was so excited to see my girls Jean, Angelica and Vanessa. It has been far too long since we go together.

The afternoon started with Angelica and I digging out a bunch of plants that no longer serve a purpose in my yard, I am trying to open space to plant more vegetables and these plants had to go. An enormous clump of purple irises that was too big and heavy to move once it was dug out and bagged, a hydrangea that didn't look that big but had roots connecting it to the earth's core, an astilbe, an echinacea, a little white lilac, a bunch of liatris and some ground cover that will put all the weeds in their place once its established. We tried really hard to give her a part of our white fig tree, but the tree won and she didn't get any...maybe the Turkey fig will be more willing to pro-create in someone else's yard once we open it this weekend.

After all that hard work we came back in the house and opened the first bottle of wine...it was a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon - Tempranillo named The Spanish Quarter.

Jean arrived around 6:30, we threw the steaks on the grill and got ready for a few hours of great food and conversations.

The menu changed from what I posted the other day because, well, I had received other inspirations.

Dinner for the night ended up being:

New York Strip Steak with Bourbon Onions
Twice Baked Potatoes
Sauteed Asparagus


Dessert was:
Chocolate Espresso Ganache Martini Cake
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with swirls of Candied Nuts (pecans, almonds and walnuts) and espresso ganache

The New York Strip Steaks were beautiful, my husband David got them at Thompson's Meat Market in Walnutport. I seasoned them my favorite way, simply, with olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed garlic and let them marinate for about 5 hours in a ziploc bag in the fridge.







I used a recipe for Bourbon Onions that I came across from a website called Life's Ambrosia and they were delicious and crazy easy to make.







The Twiced Baked Pototoes were an inspiration from one of my favorite websites, Food Porn Daily. In their rendition of these potatoes they scooped out of their shells mashed with warmed milk and butter and then combined with caramalized onion, mushrooms and bacon. Since I had used my mushrooms up a couple of nights ago in the pasta, I substituted diced red peppers in the saute instead. I loved them and am very happy that there are left overs for lunch today.







The asparagus was also simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and then sauteed with shallots and garlic just long enough to heat them through but not long enough for them to lose their snap. We kept picking them out off the plate and eating them just as is even though we were stuffed to the gills.







But I think dessert was the best. Chocolate Espresso Ganache Martini Cake was rich and moist and wonderful. My family has a secret chocolate cake recipe that we have loved forever and ever. I have been messing around with and turning it into other types of chocolate cake to fit the menu of the day. Since it is a secret, I can't share the whole recipe, but lets just say a cup of espresso in place of regular coffee made a world of difference in the taste.







The ganache on the other hand is a tradtional ganache that I've tweaked a little.
Chocolate Espresso Ganache
1 lb. of your favorite dark chocolate chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Espresso Vodka

Heat the heavy whipping cream over a low to medium heat until it just barely bubbles around the edges, you do not want it to boil, just get hot enough to melt the chocolate. Pour over your chocolate, let set for one minute and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and combined smoothly with the cream. Whisk in the vodka. Set aside to cool.

After a few hours, the chocolate will get a little thicker. I take a portion of this out of the bowl (maybe about a cup) and put it another bowl and then refrigerate the two bowls until chilled completely through and kind of thick.

Take the smaller bowl of chocolate yumminess and mix with your electric mixer until double in size and lighter in color. I use this as the middle layer of my two layer chocolate cake.

Its at this point that I gently lift up the sides of my cake and insert pieces of parchment paper to cover the plate on all sides of the cake. I then take the larger bowl of chocolate and ladle it over the top tier of your cake and let it drizzle/run/drip down the sides of the cake. It is a little messy, which is why you need the parchment paper as it will pool around the bottom of the cake in a most unattractive way. Once I know that the cake is covered, I put it in the fridge to set up. At the start of dinner, I remove the cake from the refrigerator and take away the paper. This is just enough time for the cake to reach room temperature without melting.

Last night we served this cake with homemade ice cream. A few years ago my husband bought me an ice cream maker for Christmas, it is one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.

Making ice cream is easy and very rewarding. The best part is that you can make your own mixtures to match whatever else you are serving. Last night's ice cream was as followed:

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with candied nuts and espresso ganache swirls
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
pinch salt

2 tblsps. of espresso ganache (use recipe above)
1/4 - 1/2 cup candied nuts, broken into the small pieces

Prepared Ice Cream Maker

Combine 1 cup heavy cream, milk and vanilla bean in a heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a light simmer, you do not want this to boil. Turn burner off, cover pot and let steep for about 30 minutes.

While waiting for the cream/vanilla mixture to steep, beat your egg yolks with the remaining cream and salt until well mixed.

Slowly pour the warmed cream/vanilla mixture into your egg mixture while beating it. (Watch out for the vanilla bean, you don't want to mix this into the eggs, but I like to leave in the pot for the rest of the cooking process.) You need to do this a little at a time so that you can bring the eggs up to the temperature of the cream slowly or you will end up with a curdled scrambled egg mess.

Return combined mixture to the pot with vanilla bean. On a low to medium heat stir mixture constantly until it coats the back of your spoon. Strain into a bowl and refrigerate until cold.

Once the ice cream custard is cold, add it to the ice cream freezer according to your manufacturers directions. I keep my ice cream freezer's tub in the freezer at all times. You never know when you will want to whip up a yummy frozen dessert.

About 5 minutes into the freezing process start drizzling small dollops of ganache into the machine, then drop in the candied nuts a little at a time allowing it to mix through. Allow to freeze to the consistency that you want it. I usually end up with soft serve, but it is possible to put the ice cream into another container, put it into the freezer and then use it later when it is scoopable.

Serve with your cake.

Candied Nuts
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup of your favorite nuts (I used almonds, pecans and walnuts)
1/4 cup cognac, brandy or bourbon
parchment paper lined cookie sheet

Combine sugar and water in a heavy bottomed skillet on a medium to high heat. Stir until all the sugar melts and is combined with the water. You are making a simple syrup. Allow to cook until it starts to thicken and reduce, keep an eye on it because it can burn in a blink of an eye and then you have to start all over...that is no fun. When the sugar starts to get just slightly, I mean slightly caramalized in color stir in your nuts. Coat the nuts completely. Add the cognac and stir until well mixed. Cook until the nuts are all shiny and the sugar mixture has bubbled and looks like caramel. Remove from heat and pour onto the parchment lined cookie sheet, spread thinly so that it can cool. When cooled, break into pieces and hide somewhere that no one knows where it is but you or you will not have it for your ice cream :O)

The night was a huge success. We finished it off with a bottle of red wine from Chile called Escudo Rojo. It was a perfect ending to a perfect night! I can't wait till they can all come back and do it again.

See you soon!
hugs
dina