champaign supernova

hello! a week ago sam and i were just boarding a plane back to new york - we had the most fantastic week in champaign & chicago, it was tough to head home knowing i'd be working ten days straight upon my return. we landed in chicago last thursday, right as temperatures peaked in the worst heat wave in chicago in years - the perfect time to schlep luggage to and fro before taking the red line down to meet my little sister, who picked us up and whisked us away to champaign, where she lives and goes to school.

we had a great dinner that night at big grove tavern then went to mike & molly's for some more beers and a little swing dancing - a great band was playing, and esther and i took classes together years and years ago so we literally kicked off our shoes and danced until the band went off (i have the blisters to prove it.) it was a great time.




pardon my softball player calves. too many years at second base.

top: ann taylor loft
shorts: need supply
shoes: carven (similar here)

the next day was the main event: a big dinner party for esther's birthday. we planned the menu in advance, so sam and i had stopped at publican quality meats to snag some duck confit to make what is now an old standard of hers: duck, arugula, and ricotta ravioli. (she made it the first time about a year ago, and i posted the recipe here.) she made the filling while i got to work making the pasta dough, rolling, and filling the raviolis.









also on the menu were the truffle oil and goat cheese stuffed fingerling potatoes, a constant at me &sam's dinner parties; various kebabs; and a watermelon salad that esther spotted and modified from one of my favorite food blogs, luxirare.





my cutie pie little sister, spicing away







you guys, this salad was so, so good and so easy. perfect for this crazy hot, sticky weather we've been having. even sam, who is pretty anti fruit-in-salad, was blown away by it. do it.

the food all turned out fabulously - we were sure we'd have too much but by the end every bit of food had been nibbled away.





we served the ravioli in a brown butter, pine nut and sage sauce.




once the plates had been cleared away, and people had moved outside for, well, mostly more drinking and chatting, i set about putting dessert together - grilled peaches with a vanilla bean gelato i'd made earlier in the afternoon. i didn't bother to clean the grill before putting the peaches on, and i think it actually was a nice touch - there was a slight hint of meatiness from the sausages we'd grilled for lunch balancing the sweetness of the peaches and gelato. i marinated the peaches in sweet white wine and honey before grilling them, and drizzled the whole thing with a tiny bit of olive oil and topped it off with sea salt. it was divine.




all in all, a fantastic meal and such a fun night. cooking for other people is, no question, my favorite pastime; sam is always amazed that i bake all day in a hot kitchen then come home and only want to cook some more. i'm pretty darn lucky to get to do what i love all day.

more from me, including some pretty big news that i can't share just yet. thank you so much for reading!

xo audrey

breakfast for dinner

hello! last night i scurried all the way to the upper east side, to an event thrown by decades to benefit sloan-kettering hospital's cancer center. basically, i got to sip champagne and feast my eyes on some of the most beautiful designer vintage clothing i've ever seen in person - none of which i could afford, of course. still, it was fun, and i got to catch up with a long-lost friend, which is always a good thing.
 

top: thrifted vintage
scarf: thrifted
boots & skirt: madewell
earrings: c/o charming charlie

 i got home and set straight to work on dinner - i'd scored some duck eggs and house-made corned beef hash from work, so i had a vague plan for breakfast for dinner. i heated up the oven, got some pizza dough rising, and set about chopping.

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breakfast pizza 

one batch pizza dough - i use this recipe
white or red sauce - i made a bechamel sauce (basic recipe here) with onions, mushrooms, ramps and fresh ricotta
toppings of your choice - i used baby heirloom tomatoes, duck prosciutto, avocado and an egg

heat your oven as high as it will go without broiling - mine was up to about 550. put your pizza stone or a sheet pan inside to heat up with the oven. make your sauce, then roll out your pizza dough on a piece of parchment so you can easily slide it onto your sheet pan/pizza stone. bake it for 2-3 minutes, then pull it out and spread your sauce over the dough, and add the toppings that need more time - for me, it was the tomatoes and prosciutto. bake these for 5-6 minutes, then pull out and add the egg and avocado; bake for five more minutes or so, until the white of the egg is fully cooked.
 

while everything was baking, i quickly threw together some corned beef hash.

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corned beef hash

 3 large idaho potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
a spring of rosemary, finely chopped
1 cup of prepared corned beef hash (mine was dressed with some mustard and mustard seeds, salt, and pepper)
butter
3 eggs (i used duck eggs, just because.)

once everything is chopped, it's quite simple; use a cast-iron pan and add a couple tablespoons of butter. add the onion, and sautee until soft and transparent; add the potatoes, turn the heat down to medium-low, and just let those potatoes cook through. don't worry too much about them sticking to the pan; add a bit of butter if this happens (my favorite solution to any problem) and you'll just have some nice crispy bits. add the rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste, and the corned beef (chopped into bite sized pieces) once the potatoes have cooked through, and stir occasionally; i put mine in the super hot oven with the pizza, still baking, so they'd be ready at the same time. while the hash crisped up in the oven, i fried the duck eggs to place on top.
 

i didn't get home to start cooking until nearly ten o'clock, so by the time we sat down to dinner it was a rather unhealthy 11:20; it felt sort of right, though, eating breakfast in the pitch black, all sleepy-like. but instead of just waking up, i got to go to bed right after. bonus. have a wonderful week, and more from me soon -

xo audrey

brunch

sunday afternoon, four old friends from culinary school came over for brunch. in other words, five pastry chefs gathered at my apartment sunday and they all brought food. for my part, despite two late nights in a row - friday night was my going away party at work, and saturday night was a close friend's birthday - i roused myself at a reasonable hour (10 am is reasonable, right?) and started cookin'.













the apple cake i made can be found here; it was great, nice and light, not like a lot of apple cakes which end up really dense (also delicious, but when you're got a zucchini, asparagus & goat cheese strata, 2 kinds of eclairs, chocolates, a spice bundt with caramel icing to get through, you've got to keep it light any way you can.)

my other contribution (aside from some fresh-squeezed juice to house the champagne) was a smoked duck, beet and goat cheese hash, a variation on one of my favorite breakfasts of all time. it takes a bit of time (mostly for the beets to roast) but it so well worth it.


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smoked duck, beet and goat cheese hash

1 smoked duck breast, cubed
2 large beets, roasted until soft when pricked with a fork and cubed
3 medium sized potatoes, peeled, boiled and cubed
1 4 oz goat cheese log
4 thyme sprigs
salt & pepper

start a large saucepan on medium high heat; add duck. sear it on all sides, then add thyme, beets and potatoes; cook until crispy on the sides, remove from heat, and stir in goat cheese. salt and pepper to taste; serve with fried eggs atop if desired.

easy as pie! and so, so savory or delicious. you can really sub in any meat you like, but the duck did work great with the beets and goat cheese.

i started the new job yesterday, and i have to say, it's pretty incredible. now that i've emptied my camera of brunch photos, i'll be sure to document my goings-on in there. and i'm off work around 2 every day, so i should have some daylight time for an outfit post or two. . . as long as i don't fall asleep watching netflix at 3 like i may or may not have done upon arriving home today.

hope all is well, and more from me soon -

xo audrey