Xmas Cookie time!

Last Thursday I got together with 3 awesome friends to make 4 different kinds of cookies & a toffee/chocolate bark. The day started at noon with yummy lunch of homemade lentil & ham soup (thanks Mo!), right after that we got to work — our cookies to make: Sugar (double recipe), Chocolate-dipped Peanut Butter (double recipe), Gingersnaps & Linzer — a nice mix! We fist made all the batches of dough because they needed to chill for about 1 hr. 

B planned ahead and made the Linzer cookie dough at home, which was great coz they took a while to make. We started cutting them up, making sure we got even number for the tops and bottoms. As you can see the tops get cut on the inside too so the jam comes through. Bianca melted the blackberry jam a bit and topped the bottom cookies, in the meantime, I sprinkled the tops with lots powder sugar. Look how pretty these are!



Then we moved to the Gingersnaps, which where super easy to make. The only thing I did different was adding more sugar on top after they came out of the oven. These cookies are super crispy and taste like the holidays. 

Mo worked her magic on her toffee/choco bark. She learned how to make it at a class she took a few years ago. I just watched her make it — you have to move fast and make sure you have a candy thermometer!

Then was Peanut Butter time, which where also super easy, just had to scoop them, make balls and flat them out a bit. After they cooled I dipped half of each one in chocolate which makes them even more heavenly. 

Mo & B worked on the sugar cookies making them into tons of cute xmas shapes. By this time it was almost 6pm and I had to run, so I took some dough and made & decorated them the day after.
Overall it was a SUPER successful cookie day :) we got a lot done and all the cookies came out fabulous. Thanks to Mo for hosting, B for finding the amazing Linzer recipe and J for helping out and taking pictures. Oh, and of course thanks to little C for being such a good baby. Hope we do this every year!!

Top Chef Tapas Extravaganza!

Last week my friend Amanda wanted to throw a little pot-luck get together to watch the TOP CHEF finale. I'm a huge fan so i of course said yes and suggested a tapas theme. Us two—plus our friend Marcus—jumped in to it and started looking for great tapas recipes. I decided to make bacon-wrapped dates and a Basque Piperade with eggs and crusty bread (both recipes from our Portland shoot from my favorite tapas restaurant in town: Toro Bravo / Chef John Gorham). Amanda made some amazing beef empanadas (she cooked the beef for hours the night before) and a super fresh salad. Marcus got inspired by his favorite dish from Andina and made a crab, shrimp and avocado salad on top of  home made chips (he actually cut up tortillas in cute holiday shapes and fried them!). He also made some super tender ribs that where delish! 

This is the "Basque Paperade" Dish. I cooked it all in a large skillet on the stove, then cracked the eggs and popped it in the oven for about 15 min. I did have to fudge the recipe a bit because it makes pretty large quantities. I used: 1 1/2 onions, a 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes and a 12oz roasted red peppers. I also used regular eggs (not duck eggs), then followed the rest of the recipe.

_My bacon-wrapped dates

_Marcus's Ribs

_Amandas Empanadas

_Marcus Crab, Shrimp & Avocado salad on home made chips

The whole night was super fun and all the dishes where super delicious. We all really enjoyed it and want to do it again soon... what should be our next theme?

After Thanksgiving

I know it's been over a week after Thanksgiving, but i wanted to share a few pics of our meal. We where only 3 people (my hubby, my auntie AA and me) but we sure cooked for a lot more! which was a good thing 'cause we had plenty of leftovers — just finished them up this weekend. I really enjoyed the cooking and trying new recipes, but next year I'll be VERY happy to go to someone else's house :) Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!!

cranberry sauce / turkey brining / stuffed mushrooms app

turkey all buttered up and filled with citrus & herbs / cooked cornbread stuffing

cooked turkey & mashed garlic potatoes / my plate!

three desserts: apple pie, pumping pie and flan

Prepping for Turkey Day!

One of the things I've learned the most from cooking for Thanksgiving is prepping big time the day before. That way I'm not overwhelmed making all the sides and stand in the kitchen for 5 hrs. I don't usually cook for a lot of people, but we do make a lot of food — the hubby loves the leftovers — so the more I prep the better. Here is what I'm doing today to get ready for tomorrow... just wanted to share some tips!


Sides::

- Make the cornbread (from a mix of course!) for my cornbread, bacon & sage stuffing. I might also cook all the veggies for this, then just assemble & bake tomorrow. 

- Roast the chestnuts for my brussels sprouts w/ caramelized mushrooms and shallots side. 

- Roast 1 garlic head for my garlic mashed potatoes.

- Make the cranberry sauce. It'll be even better and thicker tomorrow.
Desserts::

- Make pie doughs. I'm making 1 apple and 1 pumpkin pie, so Ill just make the dough, separate them into disks, wrap them in plastic and pop them in the fridge.
- Mix pumpkin filling. The recipe says it's better to make it the day before so that sounds good to me!
Turkey::

- Make turkey brine. I'll be brining it over night, so I want to make sure the brine cools so it's ready tonight.

It might sound like a lot to do, but it'll be worth it! Tomorrow I'll get a chance focus on our 12lb turkey, relax with my hubby and auntie and drink good wine :) You might not want to do it all, but I hope this helps you and gives you some ideas on what to start today. 

Have a great Turkey day!!

Ven a comer a PDX!

Last week, Lynne from how2heroes.com came to shoot a bunch of videos here in Portland. I was lucky enough to help pick a mix of food carts, chefs and home cooks to shoot. We had a blast, ate amazing food and even got a chance to take a quick day trip to a few wineries and try some great wines. Here are some pics of our adventures!

Monday was food cart day: Jalapeño popper grill cheese from The Grill Cheese Grill, Potato Leek soup from Savor Soup House and Gingersnap cookies from The Sugar Cube. I also "made" Lynne try a ham, cheese & honey butter waffle sandwich from Flavour Spot.

For home cooks we shot 2 great friends: Jason (that's him getting ready for the shoot) made a delicious side dish of Brussels sprouts, caramelized mushrooms & shallots. Brian made a family favorite, shrimp scampi (that's us eating his leftovers).

We where also lucky to have 2 amazing restaurants participate: Screen Door made Grits & Grillades (the pic here is of a waffle & pears we had for brunch and some grits they made for a video). Toro bravo made 2 amazing dishes: piperade with baked duck egg and bacon wrapped dates... all delish!

On thursday we took a super fun trip to Dundee/Dayton area. It was my first time there so it was great to see how close Portland is from some great wineries. I also loved that they are literally across the street from each other, so it takes minutes to go from one to the next. My only advice: if you're planning on trying a few, bring your own snacks — only one offered few crackers. Here are the ones we went to:

_ Domaine Serene: Really nice with amazing views. It also had a fireplace that really made the experience great. Our favorite wines where from here.

_ Domaine Drouhin: Great views here too, they have a deck that'll be great to enjoy on summertime.

_ De Ponte Cellars: Small but nice, the girl was super friendly and she was a De Ponte.

_ Archery Summit: This was the only place that offered us crackers and water. It was a bit small too but really cozy.

So pretty much I had the greatest job for 4 days. I'll keep you posted to when the videos are up. Thanks to all the heroes to helped us make this an amazing week. In the meantime you should definitely subscribe to the how2heroes newsletter to be the first one to know when the videos are up, and to find any last minute thanksgiving ideas!