October Dinner Party {monthly menu}

Fall is my favorite season, and October is my absolute favorite month. The heat clicks on, the sweaters come out, and now it is time to crank up the oven. 

We'd been kicking around the idea of making carnitas since the middle of summer, but we kept putting it off. Once we experienced our first cold snap, the idea of pork quietly simmering all day sounded like just the thing. We developed a somewhat-Mexican-inspired menu around the carnitas. 

October Dinner Party Menu

• Smoky bacon pumpkin soup
• Pork carnitas with green chile
• Apple crisp
• Cocktail: golden watermelon margarita

The smoky bacon pumpkin soup was thick with a creamy texture and sweetened with a bit of maple syrup. We topped it off with crumbled queso fresco and finely chopped cilantro.

I got my very lovely DeLonghi slow cooker almost a year ago, and although I use it regularly to prepare meals for my family, this is the first time we've ever used it for a Two Tarts' recipe. A crockpot is perfect for a dish like carnitas which needs to simmer slowly for hours. We threw the meat under the broiler just before serving to brown it up a bit. 

Slow Cooker Carnitas

• 3 1/2 pounds pork shoulder

• 2 oranges

• 2 limes

• 10 cloves garlic

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

• 2 tablespoon cumin

• 1 cup beef broth

Mix salt and cumin together and rub all over the pork shoulder. Place the pork shoulder into the slow cooker, along with the whole garlic cloves. Squeeze the oranges and limes and add the juice to the slow cooker. Pour the beef broth over the top, and cook on low for 10 hours. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, and turn on the broiler. When the carnitas has cooled a bit, gently shred with your fingers. (Remove all the fatty bits and discard.) Place the shredded carnitas onto the baking sheet and broil until the meat starts to caramelize and brown around the edges, about 5 minutes.

We topped our carnitas tacos with a delicious green chile (recipe forthcoming!) as well as queso fresco, cilantro, and chopped white onions. We finished our meal off with individual ramekins of apple crisp topped with vanilla whipped cream. Not a very Mexican way to end the evening, but I had a bag of lovely, tiny apples from a friend's apple tree and they were just begging to be placed in a crisp.

The same gentleman who gave us the tasty little apples gave us a golden watermelon. We whipped up a cocktail which is essentially a watermelon margarita. It was awesome, and the recipe is right here.

We listened to:

August Dinner Party {monthly menu}

Things have been a little crazy around these parts. Sarah has been moving into her lovely new home, and I've been very helpful in telling her where all her things should go. (Helpful... right, Sarah? Right?) Anyway, it has been a busy month. But we made some time for a very simple dinner party to celebrate August's harvest.

Between the plants in our backyards and our CSA boxes, we've been enjoying a lot of tomatoes these days. These tomatoes are so ripe and luscious, they don't need any cooking at all. Good thing, because we don't want to spend that time slaving over a hot stove anyway.

August Dinner Party Menu

• Plate of assorted cheeses, dates, almonds, and honeycomb
• Pasta with cherry tomatoes and spicy greens
• Homemade raspberry ice cream with chewy almond cookies
• Wine: Layer Cake primitivo (zinfandel)
• Beer: Breckenridge Brewery 471 IPA

Determined to keep kitchen time at a minimum, we headed off to the Cheese Importers Warehouse to pick out selections for our first course. Our plate consisted of Triple Cream Goat Brie by Woolwich Dairy Inc, followed by a firm but slightly sweet Blue Ovin Sardo made from sheeps milk.  Last but not least, we sampled the pungent Bermuda Triangle which is another goats milk cheese, this one made in Northern California.

A couple years ago, I came across a tasty-sounding recipe in the NY Times which is the starting point for this recipe. It is only now at this moment, after referring to the recipe several times over the past two years that I realize the author of the recipe is Martha Rose Shulman whose great cookbook Mediterranean Harvest is in heavy rotation in my kitchen. We adapted the recipe to use the produce we already had, subbing in a couple handfuls of spicy mixed greens that Sarah received in her CSA box for the arugula that Shulman suggests.

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Greens

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 large garlic clove or a couple small, minced

• Kosher salt to taste

• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

• 1 cup spicy mixed greens, coarsely chopped

• 1 tablespoon slivered fresh basil

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 3/4 pound gemelli

• 1/4 cup freshly grated ricotta salata (more to taste)

1. Combine the tomatoes, garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar, arugula, basil, and olive oil in a wide bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a generous amount of salt and the pasta. Cook al dente, until the pasta is firm to the bite. Drain, toss with the tomatoes, sprinkle on the cheese, and serve.

 This summer has been my first foray into the art of making ice cream. I bought myself this lovely, cherry red Cuisinart ice cream maker, and I couldn't be happier. This raspberry ice cream is my favorite recipe yet, and I'll be sharing it on Two Tarts soon here it is. We served the ice cream along with the chewy almond cookies we made recently.

We listened to:
Washed Out - Within & Without

July Dinner Party {monthly menu}

Those proverbial dog days of summer are upon us. We've been seeing temperatures hovering around 90 for days. For our monthly get-together, we wanted a menu that was seasonal, as local as possible, and with minimal oven time.

Sarah and I have both ordered weekly produce from CSAs this year, although my box actually comes from Door-to-Door Organics and is not a true CSA. (But for an extra buck a box, my fruit and veggies come entirely from Colorado farms. Well worth it to me.) Putting our big boxes of produce to work is a challenge that we've been enjoying.

July Dinner Party Menu

• Snap Pea, Strawberry, & Goat Cheese Salad
  
• Prosciutto, Gruyere, and Arugula Tart
  
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
  
• Cabernet Sauvignon from California. The vintner has been forgotten…

The salad was refreshing and pretty: sugar snap peas and strawberries were from Aspen Moon Farms, Sarah's CSA farm of choice.  We tossed them both with baby greens and a lemony thyme vinaigrette.

The prosciutto, gruyere, and arugula tart was fabulously easy to make, and a bit like a dressed up pizza. In fact, we tried to sell it to our toddlers as pizza, but they weren't entirely convinced by all that leafy (delicious!) arugula. The puffed pastry minimizes time in a hot summer kitchen, and it only needs 20 minutes or so in the oven.

Prosciutto, Gruyere, and Arugula Tart

• 1 sheet of frozen puffed pastry, thawed
  
• 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere
  
• 3 oz prosciutto, cut into strips
  
• a couple handfuls baby arugula
  
• 1 tb olive oil
  
• 1 tb lemon juice
  
• salt
  
• pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out the puffed pastry to about 10 x 14 inches. Fold the edges inward about 1/2 inch and crimp down with the tines of a fork all the way around, sealing it together and creating a pretty pattern. Using a fork, pierce the pastry all over. Place on a cookie sheet, and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Spread 1 cup (saving 1/2 cup) of the Gruyere around the crust. Place the strips of prosciutto around the crust, and then sprinkle the final 1/2 cup of cheese on top.
3. In a bowl, toss the arugula with the olive oil, lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to taste. Place the lightly-dressed arugula on top of the tart.
4. Bake until golden, around 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

For dessert, we indulged in one of our childhood pleasures by recreating the Chipwich (i.e., a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich). You can read more about that deliciousness here.

And of course, our summertime cooking soundtrack:

May Brunch Party {Monthly Menu}

It’s finally the time of year where we can have brunch parties outside on the patio.  We’ve been excited for warm weather for a few months now and when it finally hit us this weekend we could barely handle it.  Complaining about the heat and sun almost happened, but then we realized how ridiculous that would be and restrained ourselves.

Instead we celebrated with a delicious May brunch.  The star of the show was this French toast smothered in homemade mascarpone and strawberry rhubarb compote.

May Brunch Menu

• French Toast topped with
• Homemade Mascarpone and
• Fresh Rhubarb Strawberry Compote
• Frittata modified with asparagus, goat cheese, and pepitas (101 Cookbooks)
• Lemon Cucumber Thyme Water
• Bacon

The mascarpone that topped the french toast was almost like butter – but better.  Just as rich and decadent in flavor, but more closely resembling a very creamy cheese in texture.

The tangy strawberry rhubarb compote was made with fresh fruit and just a bit of sugar. 

We threw in some delicious and healthy egg dishes to even things out a bit.  Oh but then we added back in a platter of crisp bacon; not so healthy.  But it’s a party! What do you expect?

Flowers were arranged, tables were set, umbrellas to shade from the suddenly powerful sun were procured.  Spring is here!

French Toast for Brunch

• 1 large loaf French bread, sliced 1” thick. Approx 10 slices.
• 4 eggs
• 1 c whole milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• butter (for frying)

Whisk together the eggs, whole milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Pour mixture into a fairly shallow dish to allow for easy dipping of the slices of bread.

Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, then flip over to coat the other side.  I don’t let my bread soak in the egg mixture for long – just enough to completely coat it.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat, and fry each side of the dipped bread until golden brown.

Top with Mascarpone and Strawberry Rhubarb Compote.

A Spring Brunch

This weekend we celebrated the glorious spring weather in Colorado with a brunch gathering out in the backyard. Really, it was just a good excuse to try out some recipes that we'd been salivating over.

An Early Spring Brunch Menu

• Almond Cream Coffeecake (recipe below)
  
• Lemon Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream
  
• Raspberry Jam Scones
  
• Fresh Fruit
  
• Hard-boiled Eggs
  
• Grapefruit Juice

Sarah pulled out all the stops with her pick, a decadent almond cream coffeecake. (This brunch was definitely not for those who are sugar-averse. We got a little over excited about baking!) This one came from danatreat.com and was originally from Cook's Country.

It is a yeasted coffee cake (as opposed to a more quick-bread style coffee cake), filled with an almond cream and drizzled with cream cheese icing and toasted almonds.

Almond Cream Coffee Cake

Yield: 2 coffee cakes, each serves 8.  Before the final rise (*noted in instructions below), the coffee cakes can be frozen for future use if desired.
Filling

• 1 tube almond paste (7 ounces). We used our homemade almond paste
• 6 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened

Dough

• 1 1/3 cups warm milk (110ºF)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 egg yolks (reserve whites for topping)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4½ cups flour, plus extra for work surface
• 1 package rapid-rise or instant yeast
• 2 tsp. salt

Topping

• 3 large egg whites
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp. milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling Fit stand mixer with paddle attachment and mix almond paste, confectioners’ sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and cream cheese until smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. For the dough Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 200ºF.  When oven reaches 200, shut it off.  Lightly grease large bowl with nonstick cooking spray.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix milk, honey, melted butter, yolks, and vanilla in large measuring cup.  Mix flour, yeast, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook.  Turn mixer to low and slowly add milk mixture.  After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until shiny and smooth, 4 to 6 minutes.  (Dough will be sticky.)  Turn dough onto heavily floured work surface, shape into ball, and transfer to greased bowl.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough is nearly doubled, about 20 minutes. On lightly floured work surface, divide dough into 2 equal pieces.  Working with one piece at a time, roll dough into 18-by-9-inch rectangle with long side facing you.  Spread with half of filling and roll up dough.  Brush top edge with water, then press to seal and transfer, seam side down, to parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough and filling.  Shape each cylinder into a ring or horseshoe. *Once dough is shaped into a horseshoe, it can be wrapped in foil and frozen for future use.
Using paring knife, make cuts around outside of dough, about 1½ inches apart, leaving about an inch of intact dough at the top of your cut.  In other words you are making slices but keeping the cake together as one unit.  With your fingers, turn each “slice” of dough so that the filling is showing. Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray and return to oven until rings have puffed slightly, about 30 to 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and heat oven to 375ºF. For the topping, whisk reserved egg whites in a small bowl, then brush rings with egg whites.  Sprinkle with almonds and bake until deep brown, about 25 minutes, switching and rotating pans halfway through baking. 
For the Icing While rings are baking or cooling, whisk confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla in small bowl until smooth.  Drizzle icing over baked coffee cakes and serve warm.

The raspberry jam scones are an old favorite of mine from the no longer in print Hay Day Country Market Cookbook. These scones are made with cream, not butter, so they are very tender. The dough is also unsweetened, but the raspberry jam filling more than makes up for that.

The lemon cake {recipe here} is from a cookbook that I just bought and that I am very excited about: French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis. While perusing through my copy of Bittman's How to Cook Everything, I read Bittman's high praise of this book. I've been wanting a good French cookbook for a while so I immediately ordered a used copy through Amazon. This book is also sadly out of print. The lemon cake was my very first recipe out of this book and it was absolutely delicious. I can't wait to try out more in the near future.

April Dinner Party {Monthly Menu}

Here in Colorado, we have relatively mild winters, but it can snow as early as September and as late as May. This winter we've had gorgeous weather, and spring seems to have arrived early. Lucky us! But Colorado has a short growing season so we still have to wait another month for our local farmer's market to open... and even longer to get some really good local produce. Still, we've been chomping at the proverbial bit to sample some typical spring fare. For our April dinner party we decided to focus on lamb, asparagus, artichoke, and rhubarb.

April Dinner Party Menu

• Lamb Sausage Patties with Fresh Mint, Feta, and Garlic from Bon Appetit
• Tzatziki
• Ricotta Gnudi with Asparagus in Lemon Truffle Sauce
• Stuffed Artichokes from Mediterranean Harvest
• Strawberry Rhubarb Tarts
• Cocktail: Tomate (pastis with grenadine)

The lamb sausage patties, while not gorgeous (note the suspicious lack of photos!), were so good and beyond easy. I was initially considering a leg of lamb or something a bit more grand, but I was won over by the great reviews of this recipe and the relatively inexpensive cost of ground lamb.

Lamb Sausage Patties with Fresh Mint, Feta, and Garlic

Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds cup ground lamb shoulder
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation
Place lamb in large bowl. Sprinkle garlic and salt over. Gently toss lamb to blend. Combine feta and mint in small bowl.
Divide lamb into 12 equal mounds. Using damp hands, shape each into ball. Working with 1 ball at a time, poke thumb into center to make hole. Press 1 teaspoon feta-mint filling into hole. Pinch hole closed, then press ball between palms to flatten into 3/4-inch-thick disk. Repeat with remaining lamb and feta-mint filling.
Preheat oven to 250°F. Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Working in 2 batches, cook lamb sausages until browned on both sides and cooked to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium. Transfer sausages to rimmed baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm. Serve hot.

• 
  This was the first time that I ever attempted stuffed artichokes, and I'm not sure that I'll do them again! While they were tasty, it seemed like a lot of extra fuss for a food which is really at its best steamed and then dipped in butter.
  
  
  Speaking of extra fuss, the delicious ricotta gnudi required four days to make! But they were really delicious, and the best part was the fact that my toddler liked them too! Do you think she appreciated the touch of truffle? She clearly has a very refined palate.
  
  Sarah whipped up these rustic strawberry rhubarb tarts using the seriously awesome pastry crust from Alice Waters' Art of Simple Food. So good.
  
  You may have noticed that we took a small tour around the Mediterranean for this menu. The lamb was Greek, the artichokes and the gnudi were Italian... where did those rustic tarts fit in? Well, that's just pure Americana I suppose. Well, our cocktail was French. We decided to try out some pastis, the anise-flavored liqueur. We still have some homemade grenadine on hand, so we poured ourselves some tomates, pastis with grenadine. If you aren't a big fan of licorice, this one is not for you.
  We listened to:
  
  
  
  
  
  

March Dinner Party {monthly menu}

This month was our first attempt at capturing one of our get-togethers on film (er, pixels?), and it was no surprise that the process was a bit bumpy. Still, we got all of the food on the table, kept the toddlers entertained (props to the husbands on that account), and shot a few nice photos as well.

March Dinner Party Menu

Tortellini Gratinata with Mushrooms and Parsnip "Bechamel" from Bon Appetit

Braised Fennel in White Wine

Roasted Pears with Ricotta, Blackberries, and Lavender Sugar from Bon Appetit

Cocktail: Gin and Ginger from design*sponge

Parties with toddlers start early in the day, but not too early for some alcoholic beverages. This cocktail was very tasty, and it was fun to try a different liqueur: Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur. 

Gin & Ginger
1 ½ oz gin
1 oz canton ginger liquor
4 oz ginger ale
juice of ½ lime

Mix all ingredients together with ice and enjoy.

The Gin & Ginger was a zesty complement to what turned out to be a very homey (and beige!) meal. The tortellini gratinata was delicious, but how could it not be when it was almost entirely cheese, butter, and pasta? The fennel was mildly sweet and tasted a bit of the white wine it was braised in. 

Pretty, but pretty beige too. Next time we'll be incorporating a bit more color!

Our dessert was where things went a bit awry. Like the follower that I am, I went blindly along with the Bon Appetit recipe. Either my oven is way way too hot, or the times provided are way way too long. My pears were definitely on the charred side of "roasted." The recipe also asked me to make a lifetime supply of lavender sugar for no apparent reason. At least the lavender sugar is good (and was already incorporated into my pancakes this morning!)

If we did this recipe again, I'd certainly keep closer watch on my pears. I'd also skip the ricotta, and use fresh whipped cream sweetened with the lavender sugar.

We listened to: