paper anniversary

hello! i feel like i all-too-often start out posts apologizing for the big gap of time between, but i feel i've barely been keeping my head above ground lately - working lots, but more than that, working extraordinarily odd hours that have turned the idea of a "sleep schedule" into a sadistic joke and me into an exhausted, cranky pastrarian (pastry chef/contrarian.) the little bakery where i work is lovely in almost every way, but it is un-air-conditioned and poorly ventilated and that basically means there are precious few daytime hours when i can work without my butter melting all over the table; i end up working in the middle of the night here, the early morning there, a regular day between and basically yawning my way through the rest of the week. so - my apologies. ac is (fingers crossed) being installed as we speak and i hope to return to a semi-normal work schedule.

but this is a post long overdue - sam and i celebrated our one year wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, in quiet, old-married-people fashion, as is our way; we stayed in, made a big seafood feast, and watched back-to-back episodes of law and order: svu, aka the most romantic show on television.

sam visited our favorite fish market in new jersey and grabbed a couple of live lobsters, a dozen fresh oysters, and some jersey corn on the cob; i picked up some fingerling potatoes and truffle oil with a vague idea for a fancy potato salad. we decided to keep it simple - boil the lobster and serve with drawn butter, serve the raw oysters with a simple mignonette, steam the corn and make the salad.

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potato & arugula salad with truffle oil & goat cheese

1 bag of fingerling potatoes

1/2 container washed baby arugula

about 1/2 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme leaves

a couple teaspoons of truffle oil

a splash of olive oil

about 4 oz goat cheese

salt & pepper

steam the potatoes and cut them into quarters (or so - bite sized pieces.) sauté them for a bit, to crisp them up, with some olive oil, then just toss it with everything else. ta-da! so simple, so delicious.

i sprinkled the corn with a little old bay, just to add a little something.

we even ate a bit of our extremely freezer burned cake, which was. . . extremely freezer burned. ah well. it was a lovely night, and very us; i feel so incredibly lucky to have found such a smart, funny, incredibly considerate, loving and thoughtful man to spend my time with; it definitely helps that he's crazy tan, handsome, and talented too.

and a happy birthday to my little sister, esther, who is one of my favorite people on the planet (and who is finally starting to like seafood, hallelujah!) love you lady!

office food

hey y'all! i'm scrambling to get all my work done before i leave town tonight - sam and i are heading up to portland, maine for a long weekend with some very good friends of mine who fled there from new york about a year ago. in the meantime, i wanted to do a quick food post of some snacks i've made for my officemates lately.

i'm a pastry chef by trade, but currently working in an office full time while sam & i save our pennies towards opening a bakery of our own someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. i'm fortunate to have enough down time at work, along with a fully functional kitchen, to be able to practice my passion on an almost-daily basis, whipping up snacks for the office; no one's complained yet. a couple weeks ago it was lobster rolls, and today i made an apple-pear crumble to usher in the fall (and make my absence tomorrow a little less painful.)




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tarragon lobster rolls

(makes 10 full sized rolls)

2 lbs lobster meat, cooked
1 package standard hot dog buns
2 T melted butter
1 T chopped tarragon
1 t good, smoked spanish paprika
~ 1/2 cup mayonnaise (to your taste)
salt & pepper

very simple - set aside the hot dog buns and butter; mix everything else in a bowl, tasting as you go. add paprika, salt, pepper & mayo as you want to get it the consistency you like - this is a jumping off point (i like mine pretty salty and a little heavy on the mayo.) then turn your oven to 300, brush the hot dog buns with butter, and toast them for just a couple of minutes; fill and serve immediately, as they'll get soggy if you let them sit around.




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easy apple & pear crumble

i say "easy" because i made this entirely with stuff that was in my office already - no need for anything fancy. i even used a pre-made pie crust, which is a NEVER for me except that there are no pie pans in the office and i don't have a choice.

filling:
3 apples
2 pears
about 2 T unsalted butter
about 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt
about 2 T flour

crumble:
about 1 1/2 cups whole almonds
pinch ginger
pinch cinnamon
4 T unsalted butter
3 T flour

heat oven to 350. put your pre-made crust in and bake it until it's just browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. take it out and set aside.

peel & core apples and pears; cut into thin slices and set aside. start the butter in a medium pot. once the butter is browned, add the pears & apples and cook until softened. add sugar and spices and cook until the liquid has thickened and there isn't much of it, stirring occasionally. remove from heat.

to make the crumble, start the almonds, sugar, flour and spices in a blender or food processor; pulse until the almond has been chopped up into little bits. add the butter and pulse until it forms a clumpy crumb. put it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

pour the filling into the crust and smooth it out; place the crumble on top, crumbling it into bite sized pieces, and bake until the top and crust have browned, about 10-15 minutes. let it cook for ten minutes or so, and voila! delicious. i whipped up a little vanilla whipped cream to top them off. deeeelicious, and perfect for this season change (pears are so good right now.)







so have a great weekend everyone! i hope to come back refreshed, lungs full of northeastern air and legs exhausted from many dance-a-thons. i'll do my best to take lots of pictures.

much love,

xo audrey

*** edited to add lobster roll recipe for susanelle.

dinner for one

when sam isn't around, i am really, really lazy about cooking. what's my favorite thing in the world becomes something of a chore when there is no one exclaiming over how delicious the pasta is or how well this flavor pairs with that. a night home alone is usually a night of chinese takeout or cereal for dinner. i didn't have plans for anything grand when i came home last night - i carried my wedding dress, fresh from the tailor, all the way home on the subway, then stopped to pick up some dry cleaning (that i'd literally dropped of last november. the lady at the shop laughed in my face) and struggled to open the door to find a pile of mail and a big box from crate and barrel. i teetered up the stairs and barely managed to open the door without dropping everything; finally inside, i dumped everything on the couch and attacked the crate and barrel box with my keys. and voila.



new dishes. after my kvetching on sunday, i could hardly believe my luck - my sweet sister's mother-in-law, kathy, either read my mind or just happened to order the very things i wanted most of my registry. i texted sam "MOST EXCITING NEWS EVER," resolved to scrub up my kitchen and head to the grocery store so that i could get some ingredients to break these plates in with the tastiness they deserve.



lobster strawberry risotto. i took my inspiration from a couple of places - one of my favorite cookbooks includes a peach and pancetta risotto that is absolutely to die for, and i worked at a sushi restaurant when i lived in chicago that made a lobster strawberry maki special in the summer months. i had to deal with frozen lobster tail, which isn't ideal, but i have to say this was damn delicious.



lobster strawberry risotto

prep time: about 30 minutes
serves: 2 (or one pastry chef who eats like renee zellwegger preparing for her role as bridget jones.)

ingredients:
1 frozen lobster tail (or two if you'd like it to me a little more lobster-y)
1/2 tiny yellow onion, diced
about 1 cup of strawberries, cut into small cubes
1 T butter
3/4 cup of arborio rice
~ 1 1/4 cups of chicken stock
~ 3/4 cup of dry white wine
a few sprigs of thyme
1/4 t white pepper
1/2 t ground fennel
2 T marscarpone cheese




so. if you decide to make this more than an hour in advance, thaw out your lobster tail in the fridge the night before. much easier than what i had to do here. and just skip this step if you do. if not, get a pot with a little water and put a steaming basket in there; steam the lobster for just 3 minutes or so - you just want it to be thawed and easy to remove from the shell, not cooked at all, if possible. take it out and let it cool off a minute, then use some kitchen shears to cut the shell of the thing; rinse it, and chop it into bite-sized pieces.

start your butter in a good sized saucepan. once it's sizzling, turn the heat down to medium low and add your onion; toss it around until it starts to be transparent, then add your lobster for like 30 seconds, then your rice. mix this around the pot to keep it from sticking for a couple of minutes, then add half of the wine and half the chicken stock, turn it to low, and let it simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking.



once most of the liquid has been absorbed, add the thyme, the fennel, and more chicken stock & wine. basically, just keep tasting and adding until it comes to the texture you want. make sure you keep it on low heat all the while. once the liquid is gone and the rice is nice and creamy but al dente, remove it from the heat, stir in the marscarpone cheese and the strawberries, and serve.



i also threw together a little side dish, just to ensure that i dirtied every new porringer. i am a hollandaise freak - i would eat a bowl for breakfast if i could - but every recipe i find makes way too much for one person. i thought i'd toast up some bread, grill some asparagus, and make my own recipe for solo hollandaise.

hollandaise sauce for one

1 egg yolk
2 T butter, divided
about 1/2 t lemon juice (1 quick squeeze of a lemon)
a dash of paprika & salt

in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, start 1T butter melting on the absolute lowest heat you can manage. once melted, stir in the yolk and whisk whisk whisk whisk whisk; add the other tablespoon of butter and whisk and whisk until melted. squeeze in your lemon juice and continue to stir; sauce is done when you can coat the back of a spoon and drag your finger through it and it stays put. nice and thick. add your paprika and salt and serve. they key to this is really to cook it on the lowest setting possible - if your butter is bubbling at all, your egg will cook up as soon as you add it and it's no good. slow and low, that is the tempo.



all right. i actually like my outfit but didn't get out of the shower in time for any outfit pics this am - more from me later!

xo audrey

rainbow brite

hello everyone! i hope you're having a lovely saturday. i am most definitely spending mine inside, as new york has been drenched in a cold, weepy rain for the last 36 hours. i did venture out last night, though, and i got a little gussied up to do so.

i don't know what it is about the cold, rainy weather that makes people dress in blacks and browns. looking down the subway platform last night, i felt like a sore thumb in my tiffany blue coat and bright yellow shoes; we mourn winter in funeral gear and don't bring out the bright colors and fun patterns until it gets nice outside. i think this is all wrong. certainly, i was walking to the subway to go home last night with my teeth all a-chatter and my knees practically knocking together, but dressing in dark colors all the time is just too much of a bummer.



dress: anthropologie
silk jacket: guy baxter
knee highs: american apparel
shoes: shop in union square
belt: anthropologie
necklace: ebay
purse: kate spade

i think i'm going to have to start wearing my glasses more. i really should wear them every day but i am in that weird in between zone of people who really SHOULD wear glasses but can totally get by without them - i have trouble identifying friends in bars, for example, but it's not like i'm driving, or trying to copy notes from a blackboard, so i've just kind of gone without them. i haven't ever gotten used to the way the world looks through them and i find myself taking them off and putting them on constantly throughout the day, so i tend to just leave them behind. it is nice to be able to see things, though. i should probably make a habit of it.

so, sam has been a vegetarian for years but i have finally worn him down to the point that he's agreed to eat seafood. i went seafood insane this week as a result; i started sunday night with homemade lobster thermidor, a super old-fashioned meal that is incredibly decadent and not very good for you but oh so delicious. i got my recipe from the red cat cookbook - one i got as a gift from my little sister a few years ago and i HIGHLY recommend to any home chefs looking for some not-too-complicated but absolutely beautiful and delicious recipes. it's never let me down. (try the peach and pancetta risotto. do it.) i made many adjustments to the recipe, as i went grocery shopping for it from memory and without a shopping list; i kind of improvised along the way, and i think it turned out very nicely. i guess you could call this a poor-man's thermidor - i substituted dried herbs for fresh in many cases, and subbed brandy for cognac, etc. recipe follows.

poor man's lobster thermidor*

*relatively poor. it still ran us about $32 for two pound-and-a-half lobsters.

estimated prep time: 45 minutes
cook time: 10-15 minutes







2 1-1/2 lb lobsters
about a cup of cream
2 T olive oil
1/2 small sweet yellow onion, diced
1 T dried, ground fennel
8-10 button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced (i always just clean off mushrooms with a dry towel - i think my older sister told me that if you wash them in water, they soak it all in and get rubbery when you cook them.)
about 1/4 cup dry white wine (i used a pinot grigio)
2 T cheap, cheap brandy (or nicer stuff, or cognac)
about 1 t chopped fresh thyme
1 t dried tarragon
couple dashes of cayenne (to your taste)
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 T butter, melted
a couple handfuls of finely grated pecorino-romano cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon

preheat the oven to 400. bring the biggest pot of water you can find to boil. drop the lobsters in, LIVE, and cook 'em for about a minute to kill them. let them cool enough that you can handle them, then flip 'em tummy open and cut through the meat all the way (but not through the bottom shell, if you can help it.) spread them wide open. clean out the stuff that looks like it should be removed - there are clearly intestines and muck in there you wouldn't want to eat. when you're done it should be clean and white inside.



twist off the claws and drop them back in the boiling water for about 5 minutes; use a slotted spoon to scoop 'em out and set them aside to cool.

put the lobsters tummy-side up on a sheet pan and pour a little bit of the cream into them, just enough to fill the bottom of the shell. put them in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes, then let them cool elsewhere.

i used a nutcracker (and sam) to break open the claws and remove all the meat. remove it from the tail as well. cut all this meat into 1 inch dice. start the oil heating in the sauté pan and add the yellow onion, cooking it at a medium heat for a minute or two before adding the mushrooms. cook them until they start to get soft and then add the wine and brandy, and cook until most of the liquid is gone. add the cream and reduce until there is just a few tablespoons of liquid left. add the thyme, ground fennel, cayenne, and tarragon. add the lobster meat and lemon juice and season, cook for just a minute or two, then scoop the mixture into the cooled lobster shells. top with the cheese and the tablespoon of butter. bake for about 10 minutes, and bam. a most delicious meal.





all right. i've got beer to brew, chores to do, and i am suddenly itching to bake a layer cake today, so i've got to get a-running. lots of cooking happened this week, though, so more posts soon!

have a lovely evening!

xo audrey