Mary Brown Malouf

1 oz Vida Añejo
2 oz Kahlua
2-3 oz cream
1 oz Baileys Irish Cream
1/4 oz peppermint simple syrup

IN VOGUE… AGAIN

The champagne cocktail proves the classics never go out of style. Good sparkling wine can make a celebration out of any occasion. The current vogue for cocktails has revived interest in the champagne cocktail, and new versions of this classic are on bar menus all over Utah.

The Classic Champagne Cocktail Recipe:

3 oz. champagne or sparkling wine
1/3 oz. cognac
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube

Place the sugar cube in a champagne glass. Saturate with Angostura bitters. Add champagne and cognac. Enjoy.

BUDGET BUBBLIES

Three wallet-friendly bubblies when concocting a champagne cocktail.

1. Gruet Winery in New Mexico makes several styles of sparkling wine, but the flagship is the Gruet Brut, NV, a crisp but complex, classic wine; food-friendly, but great alone and a deal at $14.99.

2.  Simonnet-Febvre produces several made in the methode champenoise but called Cremant de Bourgogne. One of my faves is the 100% pinot noir, with a food-friendly sturdiness sometimes lacking in less expensive bubblies. $18.99

3.  Gloria Ferrer’s newish sparkler, Va de Vi Ultra Cuvee, is slightly sweet at first sip, but the sugar fades immediately to a tart fruit flavor with a toasty backbone. $17.99

How to make liqueurs 

Start with a high-proof, mild to no-flavored alcohol. For a 750 ml. bottle of limoncello, you’ll need the peel of 7 or 8 lemons. Just the zest—none of the white part. Put the peel in the alcohol in a glass bottle and close tightly. Set it aside in a dark place for 5 or 6 days. If you want it stronger, let it steep longer. When the alcohol is lemony enough, add some simple syrup (sugar and water boiled to the syrup stage), about 1 part syrup to 3 parts alcohol. Strain it through a sieve, strain it again through a coffee filter, and store it.

How to make flavor pearls 

Mix 1 teaspooon sodium alginate with 1 cup desired liquid (we used Campari). Stir vigorously until dissolved. Mix 2 teaspoons calcium chloride with 2 cups of distilled water. Chill thoroughly. Using a squeeze bottle or plastic syringe, push drops of the flavored liquid into the calcium water. Let set a few minutes, then strain off liquid and rinse gently. Float on a drink. Impress everyone.

How to make bitters

Bitters are essential to mixology. Keep a bottle of Angostura on hand, but try making your own—Frida’s Stephanie Hatfield makes chocolate-chipotle bitters. Here’s a simple recipe—but the fun is experimenting. Place 8 oz. citrus zest in a mason jar. Add a teaspoon each of whole cardamom and coriander, some star anise or caraway. Cover with 2 cups of high-proof white alcohol, seal the jar and let stand in a cool, dark place for two weeks. Strain through cheesecloth and use.

Taking this one from my good friend Val Rasmussen, who wrote this recipe for an issue of Utah Bride & Groom.

Seared Romanesco, just one of the recipes served by caterters The Blended Table, partnering with Chef Tom Grant of Martine.

Ingredients

• 4 heads romanesco
  salt and pepper
  2 cloves garlic
  olive oil
  herbes de Provence

Instructions

Trim the outer leaves of the romanesco, then blanch for three to five minutes in boiling water or until tender. Immediately, chill in an ice bath.  Heat olive oil, garlic and seasoning in a saute pan, add romanesco and sear until golden brown.

PUMPKIN SAGE RISOTTO WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

Ingredients

1 small pie pumpkin (also known as sugar pumpkin)
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1⁄2 cup dry white wine plus 1 tablespoon for mushrooms
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1⁄4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Salt and ground pepper to taste
8 ounces wild mushrooms, sliced

Garnish

3 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
Parmesan shavings

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut pumpkin in half, scrape out seeds and place cut-side down on baking sheet lined with lightly oiled parchment paper. Bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Allow pumpkin to cool. Scrape pumpkin from skin, mash pumpkin and discard the skin. Set pumpkin aside.

Heat chicken stock in saucepan until barely simmering. In a large saute pan, melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add shallot and sauté until soft. Add rice, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Add 1⁄2 cup wine and cook, stirring, until wine is nearly absorbed. Add chicken stock, about 1⁄2 cup at a time, cooking and stirring after each addition until stock is nearly absorbed. When 2 cups of stock has been added, add pumpkin (you should have about 1-–1 1⁄2 cups mashed pumpkin). Add remaining stock 1⁄2 cup at a time (you may not need it all) until rice is creamy but still al dente (total cooking time is about 20 minutes). Stir in scallion, sage and Parmesan.

While risotto is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in small sauté  pan over medium-high heat. When butter is bubbling, add mushrooms. Sauté, stirring until they are soft. Add 1 tablespoon wine and cook until all wine has evaporated. Remove from heat.

Spoon mushrooms over risotto, top with pumpkin seeds and Parmesan curls; serve immediately. Serves 4.

After years of big family meals around a big bird, we treasure our new tradition, Thanksgiving for two (not counting the cat) in the trailer in the middle of nowhere.

In our 1956 vintage Shasta trailer (commonly known as a canned ham), we are home for the holidays, wherever we’re parked.

The thing is, as much as I love camping, I don’t love making any culinary concessions to it. No freeze-dried food for me. The Shasta has a tiny oven and 3 propane burners in its Princess stove, and I use it all. With a minimum of at-home prep, I dish out a pretty full feast-day menu–this year, loin of pork stuffed with herbs and nuts, mashed potatoes with garlic, roasted sweet potatoes, blistered peppered green beans, green salad with balsamic vinaigrette and slivered apple, and hot rolls. A sip of High West Boureye before, Simonnet Febvre cremant and Meiomi pinot noir during.

The only tricky part is the hot rolls–and fresh bread is essential to any meal even pretending to mark an occasion much less merit the name of “feast”– but my second favorite biscuit recipe gets me through that, and provides fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast, too.

My favorite biscuit recipe is of course my mother’s–proper, very short, flaky biscuits that are fantastic when they’re hot but turn to clunkers overnight. I need something hardier to bake on the road and I use this Dallas Junior League cookbook standby, called “angel biscuits.” With three different leavenings, they’re bound to rise, and the yeast means you can keep the dough, chilled, for a day or so. I make a batch of dough, divide it in three, stuff it in Ziplocs, and pack it in the icebox.

When it’s time to eat, just pat it out, cut it in squares so there’s no scraps, and bake. For cinnamon rolls, I pat it out, sprinkle it with brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon, roll it up and slice it. Bake these in a buttered pan, so the sugar doesn’t stick. You can also put a pat of butter on a square or round of dough and fold over for pocket rolls.

Fantastic.

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast

2 cups buttermilk

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar (I use a little less)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup chilled shortening (I use butter)

Preheat oven to 400.

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, yeast and salt. Cut in butter or shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some small pea-size pieces of fat. Stir in buttermilk, blending well. Knead lightly. Pat out to about 1/2-inch thick. Cut in squares or with biscuit cutter or proceed for cinnamon rolls. Place cut out biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for about 15 to 20 minutes. Makes about 2 to 3 dozen  biscuits, depending on size.

Usually, bruschetta calls to mind the flavors of summer-grill smoke, ripe tomatoes and fresh basil. But bruschetta is a great cold weather nosh or appetizer, too. The secret is mushrooms.

Ingredients

1 baguette, sliced diagonally

3 to 4 Tbsp. olive oil

3 minced garlic cloves

1 pound mixed mushrooms, sliced or chopped into similar-sized pieces

3 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Instructions

Toast the bread slices. Gently sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it’s soft, then add the mushrooms and turn up the heat. Cook 3 or 4 minutes, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Stir in the parsley and thyme and spoon the mushrooms over the toast. You can spread the toast with soft goat cheese or ricotta before spooning on the mushrooms. You can add a couple of teaspoons of balsamic vinegar to the mushrooms while they cook. You can crumble blue cheese over the mushrooms. We could go on and on with variations, but you get the idea.

Thank Utah Style & Design editor Brad Mee for this great idea for figs, along with the rest of the copy in this post:

Contrary to what many people feel, figs are not frightening. There is so much to do with this luscious, exotic fruit. But don’t wait to give them a go. The highly perishable fruit won’t be around long. While in Whole Foods Market this morning, I noticed the fabulous display of fresh figs. Does this give you any ideas? If you need a bit of a nudge, here is an appetizer I recently made with figs – maybe it will inspire you to fashion one of your own.

Begin with goat cheese, fresh mint, fresh figs, and prociutto

Toast slices of rustic Italian bread and top with olive oil.

Spread goat cheese on each bread slice and top with prociutto, a “smashed” fig (releasing the flesh), and chopped mint. Drizzle with olive oil.

Serve on a rusic serving board and enjoy!

To begin, choose four similarly-sized sweet potaatoes and wash them thoroughly. Poke a few holes in the skin with a fork. Rub skins lightly with vegetable oil, wrap in foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, or until tender. Split each potato lengthwise to show off its graceful shap and spoon any of our features toppings over the flesh.

Spiced Pecans

Cook 1/2 cup pecan halves in 1/4 cup butter and 3 Tbps. maplesugar in a skillit until sugar dissolves. Stir in 1/4 tsp. allspice.

Rich Ricotta

Mix 1/4 cup ricotta cheese with 1/4 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp. sugar. Put a scoop on top of each potato. Garnish with orange peel.

Scallions

Grate 2 Tbsp. fresh ginger and slice the green part of four scallions. Saute the ginger quickly in 1 tsp. peanut oil, then mash it into the potao and sprinkle the top with scallions.

Sweet Bacon

Fry 4 bacon strips until crisp; sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. brown sugar while in pan. Remove, drain and crumble over potatoes.

Then, read below for Cuisine’s recipe for filling your shot glass with pumpkin pie.

Serves 12

Ingredients

Pumpkin Custard

1 can 15 oz. pumpkin puree
2 Eggs
1 c. Cream
2/3 c. Packed brown sugar
1⁄2 tsp. Cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. Ground cloves
1⁄4 tsp. All spice
Maple Syrup Swirl
2 c. 100% maple syrup

Whipped Cream

1 c. Cream
1⁄4 c. Granulated sugar
1⁄2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Tuille Chip
1/3 c. Flour
1⁄2 c. Granulated sugar
3 Egg whites
2 1⁄2 Tbsp. Melted butter

Directions

Pumpkin Custard: Combine all ingredients into large bowl & beat until smooth. Pour into greased 9×9” baking pan & bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Whipped Cream: In mixer whip cream until soft peaks begin to form. Slowly add sugar & vanilla and whip until cream holds medium peaks. Set aside in refrigerator.

Tuille Chips: Combine flour & sugar into medium bowl. Add egg whites and melted butter & whisk until combined. Using off-set spatula, spread batter in thin layer on silpat or heavily greased parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until the edges of the tuille are golden brown. Let cool and break into shards.

Assembly: Scoop pumpkin custard into pastry bag with a star tip. Layer pumpkin custard and maple syrup in tequila or pilsner style shot glasses. Top with dollop of whipped cream and tuille shard. Enjoy!