smitten kitchen

most of the time i cook, i do it without a recipe. this is less because i am some kind of expert and more because i have this weird chip on my shoulder where i feel like i can't really take credit for a good meal unless i made it up. despite this oddity, i spend an inordinate amount of time browsing food blogs and the new york times' dining & style pages; i've been mentally collecting recipes i wanted to try, and this weekend i decided to give them a go. i found out rather last-minute that i'd be making dinner for sam's family up in connecticut, so i fell back on a couple old reliable recipes, and tried two i've been saving for just such an occasion.

smitten kitchen, if you haven't heard of it, is one of my favorite food blogs to peek at. actually, it's one of my favorites even if you HAVE heard of it. the photos are gorgeous but feel like real life, not staged food photography, and she makes everything in her small brooklyn kitchen, which leaves me well assured i'll be able to do the same. and every recipe i've tried has been straight forward & delicious.






recipe here. mine even came out looking almost IDENTICAL to hers, until i smothered it with bacon.

i also roasted a couple of chickens - this has become a sort of 'old reliable' for me, as sam likes them so much that i've gotten pretty good at making crispy skin without drying out the meat. i stuffed 'em with a bunch of corn we picked up from the farm stand; that, and the extra meat, came in really handy the next day, too, when i made a chicken pot pie (recipe tomorrow!)



sam's sister had a ton of tomatoes that she'd offered up for use in the meal, so i pulled out this beaut i'd been eyeballing for some time now: the new york times' tomato tart tatin. my theory: finish anything with a sheet of puff pastry and it will be delicious. (again, a theory i put into action with my pot pie on sunday.)





sam, ever my fishing-lovin' man, had caught some perch and a trout the day before, so i whipped up our honeymoon soup and used the trout in place of the salmon - DIVINE. a lovely amuse bouche.




and lastly, my in-laws have a beautiful yard (it's where sam and i got married) with a couple of pear trees absolutely jammed full of pears, so i peeled a few and poached them in a sweet white wine with a bit of honey until soft. tip: i really meant to cut them in half and core them before i started poaching, but in my rush to get everything done i totally spaced it and they were impossible to cleanly cut - sam's mom did me a huge solid and chopped them up for me, but they'd be a lot easier to handle - and a lot prettier - if you cut & core them first. i served them atop vanilla ice cream with a quick caramel sauce & toasted almonds i whipped up. (i had to serve 'em quick before the hot caramel and almonds melted the ice cream, so no finished product photos.) this is a great way to use pears if they aren't ripe yet.




and that's the meal! it was a lot of food, and several dishes, but really only took a couple of hours - i find that if you mix a couple of dishes that take some time on the front end, then bake for a long time (for example, the potato roast or the chickens,) and mix those in with a couple of dishes that have some prep involved and need your attention for the whole process, but don't take much time to bake (the tart tatin and the soup,) it's really quite manageable to make a four course meal all on your own. a dishwasher helps.

thanks as always for reading, and i'm sorry i've been kind of slack on answering comments and getting back to folks lately - i'm getting back on the horse this week, i've just been a little busier than usual lately.

xo audrey

anniversary dinner

i had a fantastically busy weekend, spent watching the food network, dismembering crabs, and accidentally sunburning - which is extra embarrassing when i think about the stockpile of hawaiian tropic i have in my apartment. i forgot to bring any and instead rubbed what turned out to be expired burt's bees sunblock all over my body, and i tell you, even sitting here typing this is painful. fortunately i think it's juuuuust mild enough that it won't peel, and maybe i'll even end this summer with a bit of color! maybe.

before it gets any fuzzier in my memory, though, i want to write about the dinner my sisters and i made for my parents for their anniversary. thirty years! they are absolutely my heros and number one role models, in life and in love. so we made them a ten-course, pretty-darn-fancy dinner, in hopes of giving them a celebration worthy of their big day.



the menu for the evening:

sourdough rolls with a trio of butters: truffle, tarragon and honey vanilla bean

west coast oysters served with fresh horseradish and lemon

salmon mustard amuse bouche

my sister emily's roasted carrot and avocado salad (which was DELICIOUS but i didn't get a photo of it - as was, sadly, the case with many of the courses. it was pretty hectic in the kitchen, as we were really trying to push out the courses one right after the other so dinner didn't take four hours. . . we managed it in about an hour and a half, which tells you what hustlers my sisters are, and why i don't have photos of about half the courses. i'm going to try to make this at home, photograph it, and put up the recipe, if emily okays it, because i only had one bite but it was heaven.)

avocado and yellowtail tartar with kumquats

truffle egg custard with sauteed oyster mushrooms and crispy duck skin (very similar to this.)

emily's beet & ginger risotto (again, beautiful and delicious with no photos. fail.)

esther's duck ricotta ravioli (arguably the big hit of the evening - there were a few extra which disappeared in NO time. recipe below, with compliments to the chef!)

steak three ways - one served with a classic bechamel and topped with half a baby heirloom tomato; one "steak frites"; one a deconstructed steak salad, with baby arugula, blue cheese, and a drizzle of good, thick balsamic dressing.

a duo of desserts - esther's champagne raspberry sorbet, served in a hollowed out orange and garnished with a raspberry; and my crepe cake with dark chocolate ganache and a cherry vanilla compote. this was so gorgeous and SO tasty, i really blew it not getting photos. will have to recreate sometime.










and some completed courses. . .


avocado & yellowtail tartar


truffle egg custard with sauteed mushrooms and crispy duck skin


steak three ways


and esther's astonishingly beautiful (and delicious) duck ricotta ravioli. recipe follows.


little sister esther's duck & ricotta ravioli

filling:
2 duck legs
about 3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of baby arugula, plus more for garnish
about 3 T finely chopped shallot and garlic
salt & pepper to taste

for sauce:
about 1 cup blanched & chopped tomatoes, skins reserved

1/2 batch pasta dough (recipe and directions in the link, though you have to scroll through some awkward to get it.)
1 egg, beaten





start off by putting a good, thick pan on the stove and turn to medium high heat. add the duck with just a smidge of olive oil. salt & pepper it. allow it to get nice and crispy and lots of fat to render out - i placed another pan on top to help it cook through. flip it over; it should be good and crispy on both sides. let it cool.

once cooled enough, you'll want to rip it apart. we reserved the skin so i could use it on the custard, but it would also be good crisped up as a garnish for the ravioli, on a salad, or whathaveyou. rip the meat into smallish strands, and start the garlic & shallots in the pan that you used to cook the duck in - it should still be full of duck fat. once these start to turn transparent, add the duck, sautee for a minute or so, and then remove and put in a bowl to cool. once cooled to touch, add ricotta, then arugula, and stir up.



ready your pasta; make a sheet, brush it with the egg, and put a rounded tablespoon of filling every inch and a half or so, fold the sheet over, and stamp away.



carefully store these on a sheet pan in the freezer until you're ready to cook them.



get a pot of water boiling; use a pasta basket if you have it. throw in the raviolis and cook them for 5-6 minutes, until they have paled in color and float to the top of the water. heat the pan you used for the duck back up to medium high; toss cooked raviolis in there and sautee until they've got a bit of brown on them, then add the chopped tomatoes and toss in the pan for a few seconds before removing from heat. crisp up the tomato skins in the pan, and serve the raviolis on a plate, garnished with some baby arugula and the crispy tomato skins. voila!

thanks, esther, for letting me share your glory! so many more recipes to come - i know this blog has been food, food, food lately (i secretly prefer it that way) but i promise some outfitty stuff soon - i left my tripod attachment in california and i'm waiting for it to make its way back to me.

xo audrey

the summer wasting

friday i went out, as planned, with three friends it seems impossible to get in one room these days - 3 years ago, when i moved to the city, we were all relatively new to new york and hung out easily and often, all of us single or practically so and easy to gather up for a night on the town. flash forward three years and we're all living with our significant others, and i got MARRIED somehow. life's funny. so i got dressed up, drank too much, and had the best time out i have in ages.





top: american apparel
skirt: super sale anthropologie
scarf: thrifted
shoes: devotte [who sadly seem to be defunct]
bag: cambridge satchel co

i ordered this bag months ago and had it embossed with my new initials - AEL. you married ladies, how did you make the transition to your new name (if you changed it?) i'm overwhelmed by all i have to do - it's official, on our marriage certificate, but there are still drivers licenses, passports, credit cards, and email addresses to change, not to mention the fact that whenever someone asks my name my auto-response is still "audrey dettmar." when does a workin' woman get to the dmv?! /rant.

after friday's shenanigans i slept until almost noon on saturday and then spent most of the day working on invitations for a shindig my parents are throwing for some friends and coworkers at the end of the summer. yep, my dad hired me to design the invitations! nepotism at its best. i made sure to give him his money's worth, though, working from noon til almost 11 pm to hand sew, assemble, and then decorate each and every envelope. thank goodness it's a small party.







the idea was simply to try to convey summer with some graphic elements, so i made a template of a wine bottle and cut it out of each card, then formatted some type with the who, what, where, & when in illustrator to fill the wine bottle, and printed it on vellum; put the thing through my sewing machine to attach and add a bit of texture, and slipped it inside a little sleeve to hold it in place with the tag line, of sorts, of the party - "where did the summer go? come help us search for what remains." then i drew flags on each envelope, just to make 'em a bit more festive. pretty simple, but i'm happy with how they turned out.

after finishing the invites, i retreated to bed with my laptop and fell asleep watching so you think you can dance. the exciting life on a 20-something in the big city! the weekend was somewhat rescued, though, by a long bike ride to the farmer's market yesterday and a barbecue with friends to end the evening. all in all, not a bad showing.

more from me soon!

xo audrey

in sickness and in health

hi there friends! as far as wedding posts go, this'll be the meat and potatoes - the ceremony, the portraits, a lot of kisses. if lots of smooching isn't your bag, this may not be up your alley. but let's not waste any time, shall we?

sam's little sister, sheila, is one of my absolute favorite people of all time - she's hilarious, smart, sweet and wise way beyond her years. we asked her to serve as the minister for us, and she wrote some really beautiful vows. i have no idea what she and sam are giggling about.

sam's older sister, rita, led her daughter and sam's niece, sunny, down the aisle as our flower girl and she was perfect! she can be a shy kid so it was a nice surprise that she seemed to really enjoy it. (and you can see our moms in the front row! my beautiful mama on the left side, and sam's seated on the right.)

my beautiful bridesmaids. (a better look at them soon.) my older sister, emily, is wearing my cutie-pie nephew pete, esther is in yellow, then ashlee, erika, rachel, amy and katie.

sam waits with his groomsmen (his best man is his older brother mike, and then his friends johannes [who makes a mean lobster roll,] brendan, tj, tommy, ryan, and mike) and my poppa walks my down the aisle.












honestly, i can barely remember the vows. i was just staring at sam, grinning like an idiot. i remember he had a hard time getting the ring over my knuckle, and i remember saying i do, and trying not to kiss him too hard in front of all our friends and family. we walked back into the house, hugged everyone we could get our hands on, and then went back out for portraits.




first up, bridesmaids! emily is my older sister, in the red; esther my younger sister, in yellow; ashlee is an old friend from chicago, in the seafoam and headscarf; katie, in blue, introduced sam and i in brooklyn; rachel, another friend from chicago whom i followed to new york, is in the bright green; and erika, the brunette in purple, is another dear friend from chicago, as is amy, the blonde in purple who now lives in portland, oregon. whew! i told them all to pick a bright color and get whatever dress they wanted, so long as the hemline came to their knees-ish. i'm really happy with the way all the colors turned out. and i have to give a HUGE thank you to seychelles - the sweetest people ever - they outfitted not only me, but several of my bridesmaids in the shoes of our choosing and i am so delighted with mine!


that's my sam.


the whole crew.


and now, forgive me, but a round of obligatory sam and audrey kissy shots:




i changed into my original dress for the end of the photos and the reception - much better for dancing (and much less of a disaster if i spilled something on it.)

my siblings and i. . . (colin, my little brother, is on the left, then emily, me, and esther,)

and my wonderful parents.


all right. . . i'll wrap up tomorrow. thank you guys so much for all your sweet words, as always - i really have the nicest readers ever, it always blows me away. if anyone has any questions about anything or would like advice, i'm happy to chat, anytime.


yep, that's me, blowing the jump shot.