Asparagus with Toasted Walnut, Ginger and Saffron Aioli
This aioli is so delicious and it is also great as a veggie dip, goes great with roast beef or turkey sandwiches, and is good tossed with warm new potatoes. For optimal flavor it’s best if you can make it the day before so the flavors all mellow together. The saffron adds a beautiful yellow hue and the ginger and garlic add a little bite. When I bring it to parties I never take leftovers home. Click here for the recipe….
Royal Wedding Tea Party
With all the celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics in London, I thought I would share a tea party I did. My parents are British and my Mom has been a member of the British Friendship group for years. When William and Kate got married last year, she asked me to have a tea party for her British friends so they could watch the wedding together. It was fun to make some of our favorite family sweets like Butterfly Cakes, Scones with Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream, Lemon Curd Tartlets and several types of biscuits. I also made some traditional British tea sandwiches ~Egg with Cress, Cucumber and Butter Sandwiches, Plowman’s Rolls and of course served cups and cups of tea. On one of my trips to England, I started collecting Victorian silver posy vases and antique handmade lace doilies. To decorate the table, I scattered the lace doilies all over and put pink roses and freesia in the silver posies. I have a 3-tiered silver plated cookie stand that I used as the centerpiece and filled it with cookies and used all the silver serving pieces I have to put the food on. Click here for more photos….
Greek Salad
Greek salad is so refreshing and I love the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes and the saltiness of the olives and feta cheese. I use Persian cucumbers which are smaller and more dense than an English cucumber and have less seeds. Use fresh oregano for optimal flavor, but dried oregano works in a pinch. I like to use kalamata olives but didn’t have any on hand so I used supermarket olives from a can which I don’t think have the flavor that kalamata olives have. It’s a great year round salad because you can usually find good cherry tomatoes year round, and in the summer you can use fresh heirloom tomatoes. If you have the time, it is best to make this salad a few hours before you serve it so it has time for all the flavors to meld together. Click here for the recipe….
Paella
Paella is a traditional Spanish rice and seafood dish with chicken and chorizo sausage and a wonderful dish to make for a dinner party. There are several steps to put it all together, but quite a few of them can be made ahead and cooked together at the last minute. I have a very large paella pan and made this dish for about 14 of us, but the regular size paella pan is 15 inches and serves 6. Since my paella pan was so large, I made it on my gas barbeque and used almond wood chips to impart a smoky flavor to mimic the traditional open fire the Spaniards usually use. You can make the entire dish in the oven and on the stove top. Try to use Valencia rice which is a short starchy rice and is the traditional rice in this dish, or you can use Arborio. Soccarat is the prized crusty browned rice at the bottom of the pan which most Spaniards would agree is the best part of paella. I wasn’t so worried about getting a great soccarat as I was making sure the rice and seafood was perfectly cooked! Serve some sangria, a great salad and some bread and you have a wonderful dinner party. Click here for the recipe….
Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Pecans
This is my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe because they are so soft, chewy and full of caramel flavors from the dark brown sugar. I always use dark brown sugar in all of my baking because I think it imparts a much richer flavor. I also always use twice the amount of vanilla called for in a recipe because vanilla makes everything better! I mix in all sorts of things depending on my mood. It is a great oatmeal cookie all on its own, or I often add cinnamon and a touch cloves if I want a spice cookie. I love to add chocolate chips and nuts, and use walnut, pecan, pistachio – whatever I have on hand. Dried cranberries, raisins, blueberries or cherries are also a great addition. I always use a cookie scoop to make the job quicker and the cookies more uniform in size so they bake evenly. I like to chill the dough to make sure they bake properly and another tip is not to use a warm cookie tray when your are adding the dough because it starts to melt the dough and they don’t rise properly. I have about six 17×14-inch aluminum baking trays that I have had for years and use all the time to make sure I can make cookies quickly and easily. They also come in really handy for entertaining and roasting anything you want. You can buy them at a restaurant supply store and they are indispensable in my kitchen. Click here for the recipe….
Niçoise Olive Aioli with Garlic Croutons
This appetizer is my quick go to for unexpected company or when I want to add another appetizer without a lot of prep. I always have Niçoise pitted olives in the fridge that I get from Trader Joe’s and use my mini food processor to mix mayonnaise, garlic, thyme and olives. I buy a thinly sliced baguette and make croutons, or use purchased croutons or crackers to serve alongside. It’s also a great spread for roast beef or turkey sandwiches and goes great with fresh veggies. Click here for the recipe….
Lemon Cheesecake
This is a great recipe for a rich and creamy lemon cheesecake that I got from Cook’s. My easy cheat is buying lemon curd from Trader Joe’s for the topping. It is delicious, easier, and probably even less expensive than making your own, but go ahead and knock yourself out and make it from scratch if you want! The big tip is to use room temperature cream cheese (and eggs) and really beat it well to get all the lumps out before you add the sugar and eggs. I suggest using a large over sized piece of foil to wrap the cheesecake in before you put it in the water bath. I have tried to fold 2 pieces of foil together, but inevitably, water always gets into the crust. It is also better to make it the day before you want to serve it and allow it to chill really well before serving. Click here for the recipe….
Stuffed Zucchini
My Dad loves to garden and gave me a monster 20-inch zucchini. I didn’t really know what to do with it, so I decided to stuff it with a filling of ground beef, tomatoes, red pepper and rice with lots of cheese. I like to have frozen rice in my freezer that I get at Trader Joe’s so I can make quick pilafs, fried rice and stuffings, or freeze leftover rice I make. It was so big it fed 8 people! I made the filling and then baked it (which took forever – I think an hour and a half total!). Next time I would partially roast the zucchini before I stuffed it. Since the zucchini was so big it really held it’s texture and was more like a pumpkin texture which was delicious. This recipe would also work for “normal” zucchini but just use more of them. Click here for the recipe….
Grilled Vegetables
I still love my grill basket and made a yummy combination of grilled zucchini, squash, red and yellow peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes with fresh thyme. You can grill them ahead of time and serve them at room temperature so they are great for a summer dinner party. It’s good to make extras so you can have them for leftovers and fold them into an omelet, frittata, or make a vinaigrette or mayonnaise and serve them as a salad. I like to add the tomatoes after the vegetables are almost cooked so they don’t become too soggy but hold their shape and keep their vibrant color. It’s not so much of a recipe as using your favorite vegetable combination and cutting all the veggies the same size, tossing them with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic if you want, and adding any herbs you like. Tumble them onto a hot grill basket on your barbeque and cook. Click here for the recipe….
Summer Berry Trifle
One of my Dad’s favorite desserts is trifle, and in the summer I like to make a summer berry trifle with all the fresh berries that are available. You can make your own pound cake, or cheat and buy one at the store. In a large bowl, add strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries and add a little sugar and Cointreau (orange liquor) or Chambord (raspberry liquor) and let sit on the counter for 30 minutes so it can macerate and allow the juices to form. Since my family is British, we grew up on Bird’s custard powder to make custard, but you can make it from scratch if you want or buy a container of vanilla pudding (it’s summer – you shouldn’t have to work so hard!). Cut the pound cake into 1-inch cubes. Whip 2 cups of heavy cream with some powdered sugar and vanilla and set aside. In a clear glass trifle bowl or a glass bowl put a layer of pound cake and sprinkle some liquor over. Add a layer of fruit, and then a layer of whip cream and put some pound cake on top of that. Add the liquor and continue layering until you end up with whipped cream on the top and add some fresh berries, toasted almond slices and mint to decorate. You can make this several hours before you want to serve and keep it in the refrigerator. Click here for the recipe….
