that magical time

It must be the holidays because I’m writing this from my kitchen table, where I can hear the jingle jangle of two mental cats slowly dismantling my tree and eating all of my favorite ornaments. Yes, it’s that magical time of year where we increase our sugar intake six fold and rediscover the sheer joy of weekday morning hangovers. What better drink to mark this magical season than a beverage made of whole eggs and milk (and sometimes bourbon)? Eggnog is kind of messed up if you think about it. While I love the flavor of nog I can only drink about a half cup serving of it before I get short of breath.



So what I like to do with eggnog is drink just a tiny bit of it, but use the rest to bake with. Last year I whipped up an eggnog bread pudding with the last of my nog and it was amazing. These cookies are this year’s addition to my “Baking with Nog” series…they are a bit “rustic” looking (a/k/a lumpy and a little ugly) but I have to tell you, they taste delicious. Just like eggnog, only with the crumble of a cookie. You can’t beat that.



EGGNOG COOKIES
(found on allrecipes.com)

1 ¼ cups white sugar
¾ cup butter, softened at room temp.
½ cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (plus a little more for sprinkling)
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Look how pretty the inside of nutmeg is. Like a fine wood grain:



Preheat oven to 300 degrees (my oven runs low, so I found 325 was a much better temp). Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks; beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth. Incorporate flour mixture in batches until just combined. Do not over mix. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat liner and sprinkle a touch more nutmeg over.



Bake 20-23 minutes until the bottoms turn light brown (the cookies will still be quite pale). Remove from oven and let cool.

Store in an airtight container. These will keep for several days and in fact, they tasted much better two days after they were made.



I am spending the remainder of my day working on some edible gifts. If you have the time, I think including a couple homemade treats at Christmas is always nice. Here’s some inspiration for simple homemade edibles from Porky’s past:

Got someone who likes pickled anything? Whip them up a jar of these easy pickled red onions, hot and spicy pickled jalapenos or straight up pickles.

Giving a gift to your favorite lovable boozebag? They’ll love my Cranberry Moonshine. It’s perfect to drizzle into a glass of bubbly or spoon over vanilla ice cream for an Adult Sundae.

Sweet tooth? Last year’s Almond Joy Balls were super delicious and shockingly pain free for my first foray into making candy.

for love and cured meats

The first time I cooked dinner for Paul I made cod wrapped in prosciutto. I thought it would read as impressive without being too labor intensive (I had to look cute and be able to flirt and cook at the same time). Last week, we sat down over pan seared pork chops and drafted the guest list to our wedding(!). This morning, I got up early to make him a prosciutto and pesto calzone for his work potluck lunch (like a total wife) and you know what? I secretly really it. The point is I’m not saying that cooking with prosciutto and related pork products is the key to romantic success, but I’m just sayin’ if you use them liberally, they might just get you hitched.





We have been engaged for two months now and neither of us can say the word “fiancée” without wincing awkwardly or saying it like Elaine from Seinfeld. I’ve found Paul has jumped straight to calling me “wife” while I prefer the more scientific sounding “Future Husband” (picture him in a space suit). I held off on writing a post about the engagement on here (not because I didn’t want to) so that we could tell friends the good news in person. This isn’t the last I’ll mention the upcoming nuptials, but details I share on here will be sparse, I promise. The last thing the world needs is another wedding blog to teach it how to spend thousands of dollars on bedazzled sea shell favors and the difference between light blue, baby blue, robin’s egg blue and periwinkle. Totally mental.



So enough about love, let’s get back to the salt cured pork, shall we? That’s what you come for right? I’ve been heavy into prosciutto ever since college, when I lived on Arthur Avenue (the real Little Italy) in the Bronx. A deli called Tino’s has always, and (hopefully) will always have the World’s Greatest Prosciutto, Mozzarella and Basil sandwich known by mankind, in this century or any other. This calzone is a take on that classic combination. If it works as a sandwich, trust me it will work rolled up and baked into pizza dough. I mean, really, what wouldn’t?



TINO’S PESTO and PROSCIUTTO CALZONE

Pizza dough (store bought or homemade, enough for one pizza)
Shredded part skim mozzarella or Italian 4 cheese blend* (approx. 1-1 ½ cups)
¼ lb. thinly sliced prosciutto
¼ lb. Genoa salami
Approx. ½ cup pesto (either homemade or store bought)

Olive oil or olive oil spray
2 tbsp. butter



*while I’m normally an advocate of buying blocks or cheese and grating it yourself (it’s cheaper, tastes better), in this case I do think that a bagged shredded cheese works well. Because it’s pre-shredded, it has less moisture, so your calzone won’t get soggy on the bottom. I like Cabot or Sargento is fine as well.



Preheat your oven to 400. Let your dough hang out at room temperature for a bit while you gather your ingredients; if you live in a drafty old house like me, place the dough near to the heat of the stove as it preheats, to give it a little help. Dust your countertop or cutting board with flour and roll out the dough to a wide rectangular shape. Use a spoon or spatula to spread a layer of pesto right in the middle of this rectangle (about half a store bought package or approx. ½- ¾ of a cup). Leave room at the front and back or your dough for folding over and a little edge on either side for sealing the ends. Sprinkle a layer of cheese on top of the pesto and then arrange a layer of prosciutto on top. You will only use half of the ¼ pounds of prosciutto and salami; I saved the rest and made another calzone with the same ingredients. It’s calzone-central around here these days. Also, I should mention, I pulled any large, fatty edges off of my prosciutto just so no one eating the calzone would have one of those experiences where they take a bite and pull the whole filling out with that bite (that’s the worst).



Following the prosciutto, sprinkle a bit more cheese and then layer slices of salami. Top this with remaining cheese (the most yet) and then fold the bottom half up and then layer the top half on top, using your fingers to pinch it closed. Fold the ends over and tuck them in, giving them a quick pinch to seal. Transfer your calzone to a lightly oiled cookie sheet and then microwave the butter in a small bowl or ramekin for about 20 seconds, or until it is liquefied. Use a brush to brush a layer of butter over the top of the calzone and then cut a couple small slits in the top of the dough for ventilation. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes*, or until the bottom is lightly browned, as well as the top. You may also be able to see cheese bubbling out of the ventilation holes. When you take it out give it a tap with your finger tips to make sure that the dough is cooked.

*My oven runs cool, so I ended up cooking this at 425 for about 12 minutes, but if your oven tends to run hotter, check it between 8 and 10 minutes of cooking.



QUICK MARINARA SAUCE (optional for dipping)

1 can diced tomatoes in sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely diced
Good quality dried oregano and basil
Salt, pepper, sugar

I let this simmer while I prepared my calzone so that we would have a little something to dip it in. Tomatoes out of the can taste very acidic so you need to give them a little love. What I did was heated up a sauce pan with a generous splash of olive oil, added the onion, then the garlic and the can of tomatoes. I let it simmer a few minutes and then added about scant tablespoon each of the oregano and basil then a generous amount of salt, pepper and a big pinch of sugar to cut the acid. I turned the heat down and let it simmer for about an hour. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.



Serve on the side of the calzones. It’s a nice balance to serve sauce with this particular calzone because the prosciutto makes it pretty salty. These travel well and are delicious re-warmed in an oven or at room temp.

some assembly required

On Sunday we had a Quiche Eating Contest, I mean Baby Shower Brunch, for my cousin at my aunt's house. I was told to bring an appetizer. But what exactly is an appropriate appetizer for brunch? I figured something with smoked salmon would be a good fit, so I threw these little bites together. I'm quite sure I saw a recipe of this sort on the internet somewhere a long time ago but what my mother heard was "she just made it up on the spot and she's a GENIUS!" Come to think of it that scenario describes every culinary achievement of mine my mother has ever crowed about. I think we know where I get my inflated sense of self esteem.



Regardless of that, these are perfect tasty little bites and here's why this appetizer is worth sharing here: you can pick up the ingredients at the store on the way to your party and assemble them there as you chat and catch up with the host(ess). At this time of year when time is at a premium, you can't get much better than that.


SMOKED SALMON POTATO CHIP BITES

one package Scottish smoked salmon
Small container sour cream
fresh dill
bag of kettle cooked potato chips. Either salted or salt and pepper*

*I prefer Kettle brand for these, the chips tend to be bigger than Cape Cods. But I prefer Cape Cods in real life because I gotta represent (throws up coastal New England gang sign that looks like a lighthouse).

This is more assembly instructions than an actual recipe per se, but here's how to put them together:

Take a single chip, smear with a touch of sour cream, top with a small slice of smoked salmon and a pinch of dill. Repeat times a million until you run out of salmon. I made a quick onion dip with the rest of the sour cream and served it with all the leftover chips. These things move fast, you may want to assemble them out of grabbing range of hungry people.

what i know

Now that I am an esteemed wine professional, simply everyone wants to know what I’m drinking this Thanksgiving. And by “everyone” I of course mean that my mom said my Aunt Lisa asked her what I might recommend. The fan base is strong and growing rapidly. Since I’m still pretty green at the wine game, I can only tell people what I know. I’ve got some time yet before I’m explaining in great detail the wine makers of particular villages in Southwestern France or anything like that but I can tell you at this point in time is what I’m drinking and why I like it.



This Thanksgiving we’re heading to Paul’s aunt’s house and I’m bringing some nice cheese and crackers and three current faves: a bottle of bubbles, a red and a white. For the sparkler, I chose the Hi! Prosecco. I’ve never met a prosecco I didn’t like and this is one I sampled the other night at our Thanksgiving Wine Education Dinner is no exception. It’s the perfect drink to get the party started. For me whenever a cork pops out of a bottle of bubbles, whether it be a fine champagne (pronounced: cham panyah) some cava or prosecco it’s exciting. When I’m in mixed company I have to resist the constant urge to go “WOOOO!” when I hear a cork pop, because to me it’s the sound of a good time.



The white is a French blend called Chat en Oeuf (from my 7th grade French education, that’s “cat on egg” the phrase itself is a play on words). Full disclosure: I love it solely based on the graphic on the label of a fat, striped cat sitting on an egg. I happen to have a fat, striped cat sitting directly on my feet right now and if something reminds me of Bruce, well then my heart softens for it a bit. So yeah, I picked this wine because it reminds me of my kitty. I hope it’s tasty. I’m officially a crazy cat lady. Someone call the Sad Police.



The red I’m bringing I’m currently obsessed with. It’s a delicious, light, but nuanced Pinot Noir from California. Pinot Noir has been pushed by wine geeks as THE Thanksgiving Wine and honestly, that’s just because it works. There are so many flavors on the Thanksgiving table that you don’t want a giant, heavy red wine competing for your attention. You want something subtle and elegant. This Block Nine Pinot fits the bill for me. It’s delicious, it’s reasonably priced and the design on the front is really gorgeous. For me I need the bottle to look good too. It’s nice when you find something that pleases you from the label all the way to the finish.



As much as this holiday sort of snuck up on me, I’m really looking forward to Thursday. I have an enormous amount to be thankful for right now and taking a little time to reflect on that for which I am grateful, enjoy some wine and food and wash it all down with a gravy chaser sounds good to me! Hey remember, at this time last year I was getting ready to make the Worst Pie of All Time. So really, anything is an improvement! Happy Thanksgiving. xo, jess

the new normal

There’s a lot of newness going on for me right now. I’m typing this post on my new computer, in a new place, where I have never written before, on a new day of the week where I never normally would have time to myself to work on a post. This is part of my new normal and I can report with full confidence after two weeks (plus a month and a half) of transitional life that the new normal is very, very good.



Speaking of very, very good, I looked at the calendar yesterday and realized that this time next week I will be sitting down to bust a grub at the Thanksgiving table (fist pump!). The foods and flavors of fall snuck right up while I was busy making Giant Life Changes. The good news on this front: the changes are all good and the flavors of fall are still delicious.



I got this recipe from a lady I work with at my new job. She was sampling both this soup and a butternut squash bruschetta last weekend and I tried both and swiped copies of the recipes. I just had one bit of constructive criticism that ran through my head as I scarfed down her samples: needs bacon. But really, what couldn’t benefit from a couple crumbles of salt pork?



This soup is a delicious fix to start off your Thanksgiving week right. It comes together fast and easy and is, for the most part, both healthy and filling, so you can save the bulk of your calorie consumption for putting the hurt on next Thursday. It would also make an awesome starter if you were serving a sit down Thanksgiving meal and wanted to include a soup.



PUMPKIN LEEK SOUP with CRUMBLED PANCETTA,
HERBED GOAT CHEESE and POMEGRANATE SEEDS
(adapted from a Real Simple recipe)

¼ lb. pancetta, chopped into a dice
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1-2 tbs. butter
2 leeks (white and light green parts only) cut in ¼ inch
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can pumpkin puree (not pie mix)
½ of a butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into cubes*
6 cups chicken stock (store bought or homemade)
Salt and pepper



Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pancetta to pan and fry until crisped. Remove the crumbled pancetta and set to drain on a folded paper towel. Set aside for future use. Reduce the heat on your burner just a touch, add a bit of olive oil and the leeks. Add the butter and sauté the leeks for about 5 minutes, until wilted and fragrant, add the garlic cloves and cook together another minute or so.



Add the cubed squash, your can of pumpkin and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and let cook until the squash is completely tender (about 20 minutes). Add salt and pepper (quite a bit of these- the original recipe called for 1 ¾ tsp. salt and a ¼ tsp. pepper) taste test for seasoning. Mine was plenty salty, because I started it with pancetta- which is an extraordinarily salty meat, especially when crisped up.



Reduce heat to low and using an immersion blender, puree the soup completely. If you don’t have an immersion blender puree in batches in a conventional blender and return to the pot. But, be careful! Hot liquids expand. Ladle the soup into a bowl and garnish with a few crumbles of herbed goat cheese, some of the crumbled pancetta and a few pomegranate seeds for color. Admire the colors (soooo pretty) and devour immediately.



Make this soup vegetarian: use vegetable stock instead of chicken, omit the pancetta and just sauté the leeks in oil.

Make this soup vegan: by changing the stock to veggie and omitting the pancetta, butter and goat cheese.

*chop the other half into cubes, toss with a little olive oil and roast them in a 400 degree oven while you make your soup. They are delicious on salads or, on a pizza, like I’m making tonight. I’m going to top wheat dough with some of the roasted squash, some crumbled gorgonzola cheese, caramelized onions and maybe, just maybe, some more pancetta.

ridiculous good

A couple weeks ago I bought some almond butter because sometimes I like to think I’m the kind of person who eats almond butter and enjoys it. This is the same as when I purchase a tub of yogurt thinking that I’m all the sudden going to be the type of person who enjoys plain yogurt because it’s so gosh darn good for my bones.



The problem is I am not this type of person. I am the type of person who eats leftover Halloween candy lying on my futon watching terrible wedding industry propaganda (do people really like it when David Tutera turns their wedding into cirque du soleil? and basically takes all the things they have chosen so far and says: this is NOT good enough?) In my next life I will be more virtuous and I will eat apples and almond butter as a snack instead of Almond Joys and Rolos that have seen better days. And I will watch documentaries on important things or perhaps put down the clicker and read a book (that isn’t young adult fiction) but until further notice it’s stale candy and WE TV and you know what I’m more than okay with that. Self acceptance is an important trait.



So about the almond butter: instead of cleaning out my household’s peanut butter supply with one batch of these cookies (because Paul would abandon ship if I used the last of his Teddie’s. You don’t mess with a man’s breakfast), I decided to see what would happen if I halved the peanut butter and added part almond butter. You know what happened? Awesome happened, that’s what. These cookies are ridiculous good. Next Level. I mean it. And guess what? It turns out I am the kind of virtuous food hippie that eats almond butter, I just wrap mine in regular butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips. Which is fiiine.

SALTED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
(from this recipe featured on Orangette)

2 cups plus 1 tsp. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks plus 3.5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
about 1 ¼ cup, packed, dark brown sugar
¾ cup plus 2.5 tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs
¾ cup natural salted creamy peanut butter
¾ almond butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate



A quick note about the peanut butter: you absolutely must use good quality natural peanut butter for these cookies. Even if you’re a Jif gal (or guy) in your day to day life. I strongly recommend Teddie’s. It’s a local company. The peanut butter is the best and it’s available at most major supermarkets (at least in Massachusetts).



Preheat the oven to 350°, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, and whisk well. Set aside.



In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the peanut butter, almond butter and vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed to blend. Quick tip when working with peanut butter, or any nut butter (hee) for that matter: give your measuring cup a spritz of oil or butter spray before measuring, then it will slide right out.



Add the dry ingredients in three batches, mixing on low speed until incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the chocolate, and beat briefly on low speed, just until evenly incorporated.



Use a big spoon or ice cream scoop to scoop the batter on to your prepared cookie sheets. You want the scoops of dough to be pretty sizable (almost ¼ cup) and be sure to space them far apart- they will spread.



Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and a little golden around the edges- but the tops have no color. The key to successful peanut butter cookies is that you must err towards under cooking them. They will not look fully baked- but that is what you will want. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for a bit. They will not only firm up, but their taste will improve. If you try to move them while they are hot (or eat them- I did both) they will crumble and they also won’t taste “all that.” Patience grasshopper. These little guys are worth the wait.



Repeat with the remaining dough. Makes a good batch of cookies (about 20).