Party Tips from the Jordan Halloween Bash

Photo credit: Damon Mattson
Jordan Winery has a philosophy of hospitality that shines in everything they do. Their wines are elegant and balanced and are amazingly food friendly. You have likely seen their chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon on restaurant menus since both are very popular with sommeliers.

At the winery are two secret weapons to creating incredible experiences, Todd and Nitsa Knoll. Todd was a chef at the Ritz-Carlton before coming to the winery where each season he creates new recipes that go up on the winery website. I got a chance to spend some time with him in his kitchen and see the way he literally sketches out his ideas before cooking. He sources the finest ingredients and can tell you things such as why the white asparagus in the US isn't as good as the white asparagus in France (because it's imported from Latin America). His wife Nitsa was also a cook at the Ritz Carlton and has a real knack for hosting events and making guests feel welcome.

The halloween parties at Jordan are legendary and I was lucky enough to attend this year. You don't have to have professionals on staff to throw a great party (though it certainly helps!). Here is what I learned are some of the keys to success:



Photo credit: Damon Mattson
1. Theme. A theme creates excitement. In this case the theme was True Grit and the invitation which was inside a cigar box containing a bandana, movie DVD and horseshoe created such enthusiasm that hardly a soul didn't dress up in costume. The theme was evident in the decorations, the music and even the cocktails.



Photo credit: Damon Mattson 2. Entertainment. The atmosphere of the party was set by the entertainers greeting the guests and the live music inside. Entertainment gets everyone in the party mood right away.



Photo credit: Damon Mattson 3. Variety. There were quite a number of cheeses, there was an oyster bar, there were passed bites with ahi, ribs, beef and even alligator. There was wine and there were cocktails. Later in the evening there were sodas, whisky and beer. There was literally something for everybody when it came to food and drink.



Photo credit: Damon Mattson
4. Activities. The party had a "shooting gallery" a casino and a lounge for dancing. If that wasn't enough you could head outside to mingle with guests and enjoy the starry night.

5. Details. Because the winery is in Healdsburg there were going to be plenty of people coming from out of town. In addition to booking blocks of rooms, the winery also arranged for shuttles to take guests to and from the hotels so parking (not to mention drinking and driving) would not be a problem.

What are your tips for throwing a great party? Share them in the comments.

Banana-Raspberry Belgian Waffles

Breakfasts in our house can be a bit boring – toast, hardboiled egg, slices of apples. Every now and then, though, we need something to break up the monotony.  Banana-raspberry Belgian Waffles bring some serious decadence to the morning.  A heaping pile of Belgian waffles slathered in maple syrup and homemade whipped cream is like eating dessert for breakfast, and what could be more fun than that?

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ - 1 cup banana puree
6 ounces raspberries, halved

Instructions
In a medium sized bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a large bowl, mix buttermilk, eggs, butter, almond extract, and banana puree.  Slowly stir the flour mixture into the buttermilk mixture, being sure to get rid of all the lumps.  Carefully stir in raspberries.  Pour batter into preheated waffle iron and cook until waffles are crisp and golden.  Serve with maple syrup, raspberries, and some home-made whipped cream.

Day 167! Spain - Artichokes with Clams (Alcachofas con Almejas) Up Next, Sri Lanka

Many years ago, so many I don't remember, except that it was b.c. marriage and children, my Mom spontaneously decided to take my sister, Anna, and me to Spain. My adventurous Mom is a world class traveler who speaks fluent French, Haitian Creole and near fluent Spanish, as does my sister. I speak French, but Spanish? Sólo un poco, thank you, Google Translate. So off we went. We landed in Madrid on a rainy afternoon, rented a tiny tin Fiat and hit the highway, where we immediately learned that one does NOT drive the speed limit if one wants to stay alive on Spanish roadways. After a slight detour into a way sketchy road-side bar due to engine trouble, we were on our way. We drove up the southern coast of this beautiful country, stopping at little family-owned restaurants, b&b's and small hotels where we were warmly greeted and fed like queens, and visited Granada, Barcelona and Valencia (the best oranges I've ever had). We spent the night at an ancient paradores (an old monastery), in central Spain, the land of Don Quixote, where we immediately went to a local bar for tapas and wine. Later, we checked into our our room which was said to be haunted. It was in that paradores that we had the most delicious roasted chicken, platter of grilled artichoke hearts and crispy fries I'd ever had then or since. Oh, and several bottles of earthy Spanish.

Officially the Kingdom of Spain, Spain is situated in south west Europe on the Iberian Penninsula. Bordered by the Mediteranean Sea, a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, as well as France, Andorra, the Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and a number of smaller islands. Said to date back to 12,000 BC based on human remains found in caves, the earliest humans to arrive in Spain came from Africa. Numerous Stone Age hunters also included Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and other Europeans. Berber tribes from Morocco and Phoenicians, Jews and Arabs from the Middle East also inhabited Spain. Spain became a unified country in the 15 century, and has grown to be a global empire with over 500 million Spanish speakers. The country is ademocracy that operates under a constitutional monarchy. Smaller than France and slightly bigger than California, Spain claims the 3rd largest Volcanic peak in the world, The Teide.

Cuisine in Spain varies depending on region and climate. In the Mediterranean section of the country, seafood, gazpacho, paella and arroz negro are common. Inner Spain leans toward hot, thick soups and stews, salted, cured hams and heavenly olive oil. On the Atlantic side of the country, vegetables, fish, stews, lightly cured hams, cod, albacore, anchovy and octopus based dishes are common. I can't say enough great things about food in this beautiful, warm country.

Scrubbed little neck clams

Roasted and plain artichoke hearts

White wine, vegetable stock, garlic and basis (for garnish)

Cook until clams open - discard any that remain closed

Serve up as an appetizer, or as a meal along side a salad and bread to mop up the sauce!

Artichokes with Clams - Recipe adapted from spain.recipes.com

20 preserved artichokes hearts (I used a combination of roasted and plain)
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup vegetable or fish stock (I used vegetable)
1 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. dry, white wine
24 clean clams (I used little necks)

Drain the artichoke hearts. Brown the garlic cloves in the hot oil in a deep frying pan or earthenware dish. Add the flour then mix in the white wine and stock. Add the clams and cook until they are open, discarding any that remain closed. Then add the artichoke hearts and cook for a few minutes before serving.

Final Assessment: This dish could hardly be easier. If I'd been able to find baby artichoke hearts, I would have used them, instead I used a combination of roasted and plain, because that's what was in my pantry. This makes a wonderful appetizer, served with chilled white wine. To enjoy as a meal, serve along side a green salad and good crusty bread to mop up the sauce, which is just slightly thickened with flour. A+

© 2010-2011, What's Cooking in Your World? Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved

Ferran Adrià & The Family Meal

Ferran Adrià, his translator & props. Photo credit: Sabrina Modelle
Ferran Adrià is considered one of the best chefs in the world. His food at elBulli was wildly creative and influential. For better, and in some camps, for worse, he is best known as a leading proponent of the cutting edge cuisine associated with the much reviled term "molecular gastronomy." Operating like a mad scientist, he closed his restaurant for a good part of the year so he could create 150 new recipes each season. But while diners at the esteemed elBulli marveled at food made into foam and paper, the staff ate relatively simple meals.

At a sold-out lecture earlier this month, Adrià a man inextricably tied to creativity said the very word "creativity" was pretentious. Cuisine he said, can be a social tool, an instrument for peace and can change the world. In introducing his book The Family Meal about the staff meals at the restaurant, he said what he has done with this book is as avant-garde as anything in the restaurant. In person Ferran Adrià is funny, charismatic, fascinating, and frankly a bundle of contradictions. He seems to make a point of being down to earth but at times says things that are fairly outrageous.

He claimed elBulli was not just about eating but about creating "an experience" for diners. But after coming to the conclusion that "if you eat well you will cook well" Adrià focused on the meals that the staff ate at the restaurant. The goal was to serve 3 courses for a budget of 3-4 euros that were as varied as possible. His new cookbook, The Family Meal, is uniquely formatted to show you how family meals were created at elBulli. It is a guidebook for restaurants but also for home cooks. The pictorial layout of the book is brilliant and better than a lot of other books that attempt to simplify menu planning and cooking but end up complicating such as Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes.

I like the book. A lot. Perhaps surprisingly, there are plenty of good ideas for a creative cook without a thermal immersion circulator or liquid nitrogen. But if there is a weakness it is that the recipes were photographed for larger yields. Sometimes the photographs may be confusing for a home cook who does not use things like hotel pans. And while siphons and chargers may be standard equipment at elBulli, they are not likely to be found in most American households. Not yet anyway.

So what recipes inspired me? I love the simple fruit desserts, oranges with honey, olive oil and salt, pineapple with molasses and lime, strawberries in vinegar. The bread and garlic soup and the grilled lettuce hearts with mint and whole grain mustard vinaigrette both look divine. I have already made my own variation on the chicken wings with mushrooms and the barbecue spareribs. Is any of it reminiscent of what you'd eat at elBulli? No. But it's infinitely more practical (and if you really want to cook like they did at elBulli you can plunk down $49.95 for A Day at elBulli).

Chocolate Orange Muffins

It is always a pleasant surprise when you encounter unexpected, harmonious flavor combinations.  I remember the first time I had chocolate-coated candied orange peel – it was a revelation! Chocolate’s silky, creamy taste meets the sweet and sour citrus notes of orange to create a culinary symphony.  These muffins capture that chocolaty orange combination. 

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
6 ounces dark chocolate chunks
2 eggs
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
¾ cup fresh orange juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
orange zest from 2 oranges

Instructions
Heat oven to 350.  Grease muffin tin.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl and set aside.  In another bowl, beat sugar and butter.  Add eggs and combine.  Add orange juice and orange zest, yogurt, and vanilla until combined.  Slowly mix flour mixture into the wet ingredients.  Pour batter into muffin cups.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

To change these up a bit, I will sometimes coat them with a chocolate ganache.  When I do that, I heat three tablespoons of milk or cream in the microwave and then mix in 1/3 cup of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips.  Just dip the muffins in the ganache and enjoy.

Chile Cheddar Bacon Waffle recipe

Dining out is one of the best favorite forms of culinary inspiration. Last weekend I went out for brunch at "Eats" on Clement Street and ordered the Waffle Bacon which was described as bacon pressed in a waffle, cheddar, Hungarian peppers and a sunny up egg. It was a wonderful combination of gooey, chewy and crisp and had many classic flavors associated with breakfast. It was definitely the sauteed peppers that tied the bacon, egg, cheese and waffle together and took the dish to the next level. I knew this was something I had to order again or better yet, try to duplicate at home.

Instead of using Hungarian peppers I took the easy route and used diced green chiles from a can. The result? Oh my. It was delicious! The truth is, a bacon waffle topped with chiles and cheese is actually quite good without the egg as well, though you can imagine how the yolk forms a lovely sauce for the bacon waffle. Sometimes more is better, and it's the excess of this recipe that makes it so satisfying. Who doesn't love bacon, cheddar or green chiles? They are my go to ingredients for making everything from eggs to soups or stews taste better.

I'm not a huge proponent of packaged foods like pancake and waffle mix, but in this case it's a good shortcut. While I often make pancakes or waffles from scratch, having a mix on hand is worthwhile. You can even make your own mix if you like. What restaurant dish will inspire my next recipe? I can't wait to find out...

Chile Cheddar Bacon Waffle
Makes one serving (multiply to serve as many as you like)

Ingredients

Waffle batter, homemade or from a mix
2 strips bacon, cooked and cut into 4 pieces
2 Tablespoons cheddar, shredded
2 Tablespoons fire roasted green chiles (such as Ortega brand)

Optional:
1 teaspoon butter or oil
1 egg

Instructions

Heat waffle iron and grease as directed. Pour in the batter and lay a piece of bacon in each quadrant. Close cover and cook until done. Meanwhile heat a small nonstick pan. Add the butter or oil and fry the egg. Meanwhile place the chiles in a microwave safe container and gently heat in the microwave until warm, about 1 minute. Place the waffle on a plate, top with the chiles, cheese and egg, if desired.

Enjoy!

Brown Butter and Sage Ravioli

Brown butter is a handy tool to have at your disposal.  Within just a few minutes, a simple, yet versatile, sauce is born.   You can use brown butter to coat everything from vegetables to veal, and it adds unexpected notes of flavor to baked goods such as brownies and cookies.  Infusing a nutty brown butter with broken leaves of sage and a bit of nutmeg makes a lovely meal when tossed with some cheese ravioli.

Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter
12 sage leaves, torn
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice from half a lemon
¾ cup parmesan
9 ounces fresh cheese ravioli

Instructions
Cook ravioli according to package directions.  Meanwhile, in large sauté pan, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Add sage leaves and let the butter brown, about two minutes.  You will see brown specks that have formed on the bottom of the pan.  Be careful to not burn the butter, otherwise the taste will be altered.  Add ground pepper, salt and nutmeg.  Take off heat and add lemon juice.  Once ravioli is cooked, add pasta to the brown butter mixture and toss with cheese.