Whiskey Cake

I enjoyed a slice of this cake on Saturday night. (Red Breast Irish Whiskey is what I prefer)

Ingredients

• 2 cups              flour
• 1 teaspoon      baking powder
• ½ teaspoon     salt
• ½ lb                 butter
• 1 2/3 cup         sugar
• 5                      eggs
• 1 teaspoon      vanilla

Preparation for Cake

Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously butter tube pan; dust with flour

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt,

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

Slowly stir in flour mixture until incorporated.  Then pour into the tube pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 75 minutes. Remove from oven and prick the top. Prepare glaze.

Preparation for Glaze

• ½ cup of butter
• ½ cup of sugar
• ½ cup  whiskey

Stir sugar, butter and 1/2 cup whiskey in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts, sugar dissolves and syrup bubbles, about 5 minutes. Spoon the hot syrup over cake. Cool cake completely in pan. Turn cake out of pan.

Note: This can be made 2 days ahead.  Cover and store airtight at room temperature.

Apricots with Bleu De Bresse

The following recipe is appropriate for any time of the year and can be dressed up for Christmas with the addition of a pomegranate seed.

Ingredients:

Dried Apricots

Shelled Pistachios

Mild Creamy Bleu Cheese

Directions:

Pipe or smear a mound of cheese on the apricot

Top with a pistachio.

Add a pomegranate seed, or two, if wanted.

Arrange on a platter and serve

Beurre & Sel

I had not been up to la Marqueta under the Park Avenue 1290 Park Avenue (113 Street -115 Street) railroad tracks in many years.  Established by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1936 as the Park Avenue Retail Market to give the street peddlers a home base, it changed with the neighborhood.  Now known as La Marqueta it has since fallen into disuse.  It is on its way back: The HOT BREAD KITCHEN has their production bakery there as well as a retail counter and Dorrie Greenspan has opened BEURRE & SEL in a small space to produce and sell her cookies.

Ms. Greenspan has teamed up with her son and to make very sharp edged , well crumbed tasty cookies in a variety of flavors and two sizes.  My two favorites are the classic butter sable and coconut lime.  The cookies are cut out and baked in round stainless steel forms to maintain their sharp edge.

The three inch cookies sell for $2.00-$3.75 each, the smaller size is smartly packaged in a clear tube holding 14 cookies for $14.00

Chanukah/Christmas Soiree

A close friend and chef, Alison, committed to come for the weekend from Connecticut. What better reason to throw a Chanukah/Christmas Soiree. Invitations were extended to friends and the pheasant breasts from a South Dakota hunting expedition were pulled from the freezer and would be seared and braised. I would augment the pheasant with two large Magret duck breasts that would grilled and finished in the oven  and links of wild boar sausage* that would come off the grill as well. The three meats would be our “Mixed Grill of Game” entrée to celebrate Chanukah and Christmas.

The day before, the pheasant breasts were placed in a marinade of apple cider and ginger and the duck breast were marinated in rosemary, peppercorn and orange.  I had wanted Black Barley to accompany the protein but it was not to be found.  A bag of Wild Rice from Lund’s**, my favorite Minneapolis grocer, was substituted from the cupboard. It would need a brunoises of carrots and celery for color and flavor.  Roasted Green Beans would complete the entrée plate.

With the entrée plate complete, I now focused on finding an appropriate first course and a seasonally inspired dessert. The starter should be something slightly indulgent. I decided on Seared Sea Scallops with Roasted Garlic Sabayon. The sabayon would be a liquid cloud of roasted garlic!  Micro greens were purchased to add color and texture to the plate.

What dessert would evoke childhood memories of holidays past? One of my favorites is warm Gingerbread Cake. On its own it would be too simple…  I would have to dress it up for a sweet finale!  I baked the gingerbread in individual 3” porcelain ramekins and topped them with a molasses flavored whipped cream and a dollop of cranberry apple chutney (which I make in the fall and have a large container in my refrigerator for the winter.)  The dessert was received with a soulful oohs and aahs.

It was the first night of Chanukah and the last time before Christmas that we would be at the house. The decorations were quite simple. I purchased a large poinsettia for the living room, silver Chanukah gelt (dark chocolate) along with 2 sets of Latke Bingo. Sprigs of White Pine and assorted pods from the yard were picked and sprayed silver for the table arrangement.  The Chanukah gelt was distributed on the table top for after dinner nibbling.

Sweet Potato Latkes were served with sour cream before dinner with Spiced Rum Cranberry Cocktail.

Dinner was served, Cairanne, Cotes du Rhone Villages, 2010, was poured and enjoyed.  People talked and laughed a lot and talked some more.  Unfortunately, there was not enough time for a game of Latke Bingo…next year for certain!

*Broken Arrow Ranch, www.brokenarrowranch.com , 3296 Junction Highway Ingram, TX 78025    830.367.5875 

**Lunds, www.lundsandbyerlys.com

Lamb with Autumn Vegetable Stew