sauced

Lamb and Black Bean Chili w/ Red Onion Relish

By Karena:

So sue us for watching the Food Network and being inspired to make a Lamb Chili from one of Bobby Flay's shows.  I blamed my husband until I tasted the chili and decided the Food Network wasn't so bad...this time.  We decided to use our own dried chiles and toast them in the lamb fat, instead of adding flavor with the various chili powders suggested, which I believe made all the difference.  (A technique I wish we could take credit for, but it all goes to the Lee Bros. and their Russwood Circle Chili Recipe in the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook).  (Serves 8)

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 2.5 lbs lamb from the leg, boned and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 large red onion, finely diced
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup dark beer
• 1 16-oz. can whole tomatoes, drained and pureed
• 1 T chipotle in adobo
• 2 dried ancho and/or pasilla chiles, seeded and torn into 2 inch pieces
• 1 T ground cumin
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups black beans from a can
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cilantro, Avocado, Queso Fresco, Sour Cream, lime juice, if desired on top
• (If you'd like to use chili powders instead of dried chilis, it calls for 3 T of ancho and 1 T of pasilla chili powder)

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Add the lamb, season with salt and pepper, and cook until seared and brown on all sides.  Remove the lamb to a plate with a slotted spoon.
2. Add the ancho/pasilla chile pieces and toast in the lamb fat, about 30 seconds.  Remove and drain on a paper towel.
3. Add the onions and the garlic to the pan and cook until soft.  Remove and place in a food processor with the toasted chiles.  Chop until diced finely and return all contents to the pot.
4. Add the tomatoes, chipotle in adobo, cumin and chicken stock, stir well and simmer for 45 minutes. 
5. Add the beans and continue cooking for 15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve over tortilla chips and top with cilantro, avocado, queso fresco, hot sauce, sour cream, lime juice, etc!  Enjoy!

Jambalaya

By Karena:

We know that there are as many jambalaya recipes as there are people in Louisiana, but so far our favorite starting point is the Lee Bros.' version.  Shrimp, Andouille sausage, chicken thighs, yum. A meal in-one that you can eat for days.  You wouldn't expect such bold flavors from two skinny white guys, but hey, when it's good, it's good.

Jambalaya:

• 1 lb. headless medium shrimp, shells on
• 3.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 T Lee Bros. Shrimp Boil (we keep a batch of this in our cupboard)
• 1 T canola oil
• 10 oz. smoked andouille sausage or chorizo, cut on the bias 3/4 inch thick
• 6 chicken thighs, skinned (about 2 lbs).
• 2 t salt and 2 t pepper
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• thyme sprigs
• We like to add spicy paprika, cayenne, or hot sauce into the tomatoes at the end

Shrimp Boil: (Makes about a cup)

• 1 T peppercorns
• 1 T celery seeds
• 6 bay leaves, shredded with scissors
• 1/2 kosher salt
• 3 T ground cayenne pepper
• (Grind all ingredients except for the cayenne, place in a bowl and add the cayenne pepper and shake to combine.  It will store for up to 2 months).

1. Peel the shrimp and place in a bowl, reserving the shells separately.  In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-heat. Add the shrimp shells and the shrimp boil, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the shells and discard.  Turn off the heat.

2. In a broad-bottomed 4-qt pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Add the sausage, turning the pieces with tongs until the outer surface of the sausage pieces are browned all over, about 6 minutes total.  Remove to a plate and reserve the sausage.

3. Brown the chicken.  Add the chicken thighs to the sausage fat in the pot (yum), in batches, if necessary.  Sprinkle them with pinches of salt and pepper.  Saute them on one side until they are a rich golden brown, about 4 minutes, agitating them every so often and adding drops of oil to keep them from sticking.  Turn the thighs, sprinkle them again with salt and pepper and saute until the other side is nicely browned.  Remove to a plate and reserve.

4. Add the onion, garlic, and 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice (add hot sauce/cayenne/paprika, if using) to the pot and saute, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from the bottom, until the vegetables are softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, crushing them as you add them.  Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and thickly soupy, 4-6 minutes.  Add the chicken, nestling the thighs in the stew.  Then add the sausage and any juices that may have drained from the chicken and sausage.

5.  Strain the broth into a measuring cup and add enough of the remaining tomato juice to make 3 cups of liquid.  Add the liquid to the pot and then add the rice.  Cover and cook over low heat for 25 minutes, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid.  Turn off the heat and add the shrimp, stirring to distribute.

6. Let the jambalaya rest for 10 minutes before serving.  The rice should be plump and very moist but not soupy.  Serve in bowls, garnish with thyme (and avocado, and sour cream and more hot sauce and whatever you want!)

Roast Chicken and Frites!

By Karena:

Dave and I are in grilling withdrawal.  Every time we think of a good idea for dinner, we stare longingly at our cold, sheathed grill on the balcony, banished by the Apartment-Complex Gods for being a fire hazard.  On April 1st the ban will be no more as we move to our new East Bay alcove of an apartment, complete with a place to grill and eat outside just in time for Spring and Summer. Until then, we've turned to roasting, and this recipe adapted from Thomas Keller's Poulet Roti is no disappointment.  Quick to make and pairs well with so much.  We fried our own hand-cut frites, made a simple arugula and radish salad, finished a bottle of Beaujolais between us, and truly enjoyed one of our last evenings in our soon to be vacated apartment.

 

Roast Chicken:

• 1 2-3 lb farm-raised chicken
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 t of minced thyme
• 2 t of minced rosemary
• Unsalted butter
• Dijon mustard (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
2. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out
3. Salt and Pepper the cavity, then truss the bird
4. Salt the chicken.
5. Place the chicken in a saute pan (we did this and it worked great!) or roasting pan and place in the oven.
6. Roast until its done (50-60 min), then take it out and add the thyme and rosemary to the drippings in the pan.  Baste the chicken with the juices and herbs and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
7. Slather with butter and carve and serve with Dijon mustard (optional)

Home-made Frites: (or chips - adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "The River Cottage Meat Book"

• 2 large, floury potatoes, such as Russet (serves 2-4)
• A quart of vegetable oil or peanut oil for frying
• Sea salt
• Old Bay

1. Cut the potatoes into fairly thin frites and put in a large bowl of cold water and swish them around to remove some of the starch
2. Drain well on a kitchen towel
3. Heat plenty of oil to 285 degrees F in a deep-fat fryer or deep saucepan (We used our large Le Creuset pot)
4. Put a batch of the frites into the basket or oil and fry for about 5 minutes, until they are soft and flabby, but not colored.  (This takes some practice, some of ours colored too quickly and tasted burnt)
5. Drain on paper towels and do the same with the other batches. (All of the above steps can be completed several hours ahead of time)
6. Just before you want to serve the frites, heat the oil to 375 degrees F and fry the frites in batches again, until crisp and brown (Only about 2 minutes)
7. Drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with sea salt and Old Bay, if desired

We served with homemade Aioli (third time's the charm!) and they were delicious!

Homemade Buttermilk Waffles with Cardamom and Golden Raspberries

By Karena,

Ah, Sunday morning.  We either trek the 45 minutes to Saul's (The closest Berkeley's going to get to a legit Jewish deli), or we stay in our pajamas and concoct something from our cupboard.  These waffles fit into the latter category, but taste as if you've trekked to Northern Europe.  This is adapted from a Saveur Magazine recipe, and the cardamom is a suggested touch from my Norwegian Grandfather, Grandpa Arne Ronning. 

Buttermilk Waffles with Cardamom: (Makes 4-6 waffles)

• Waffle Iron needed (For authenticity, use the Heart-shaped one, vice the Belgian Sqaure one, but both work!)
• 1/2 t freshly ground cardamom
• 1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 T granulated sugar
• 1 t Baking powder
• 1 t Baking soda
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 T butter, melted

1. Sift dry ingredients together
2. Beat egg yolks in a bowl and add buttermilk and melted butter.  Add to flour mixture
3. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold gently into flour mixture (it will seem lumpy, but that's ok!)
4. Spread batter 3/4 full on waffle iron and follow the manufacturer's instructions for cooking the batter
5. Serve with a Pat of Butter, Maple Syrup and fruit of your choice!

Creamy Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs and Broccoli Rabe

By Liz

For me, cooking is like writing. You start with basic points, and assemble them into patterns.

Tonight, after a writing whiplash at work, a whirlwind where my talented colleagues saw patterns before I even saw points, I wanted a dinner built of simple flavors.

I was struck by two lovely flavors this week. First, broccoli rabe, whose slightly bitter bite gave a lovely crunch to our orechiette sauce. Second, a smooth white bean dip Nora made on Monday night, suffused with garlic, rosemary and thyme.

So I set out to combine the two. There’s no better balm for an intense day than simmering garlic and a glass of viognier.

I cooked down onions and garlic and stirred in thyme and rosemary, conveniently luxuriant on my windowsill. I simmered with chickpeas, white beans and chicken stock, stirred in some sage and blanched broccoli rabe, and dinner was done.

To add a touch of pizzazz, I topped my bowl with a grind of fresh salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and crispy fried sage. The resulting dinner was lovely, simple and subtle.

Creamy Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs and Broccoli Rabe
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 15-oz. can white beans, drained
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained 

1 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped and blanched
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
Handful of whole sage leaves, for frying
Extra-virgin olive oil

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Add rosemary and thyme and stir 1 minute. Add all broth and beans. Bring soup to boil; reduce to medium-low and simmer until flavors blend, about 10 minutes.

Transfer soup to food processor and puree until smooth; return to pot. Mix in broccoli and sage. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls.

Heat olive oil in a small fry pan until nearly smoking; drop in sage leaves 5 seconds at a time until just crispy. Top soup with a drizzle olive oil and sage leaves. Would also be good topped with grated parmesan or fresh croutons.

 

Spicy Lemon-Rosemary Shrimp

By Liz

Today was a grumpy Monday. It wasn’t a terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day, simply one of those days where nothing very bad happens, but nothing good does either. It kicked off with my accidentally silencing my alarm, and when I awoke a panicked hour later, the day slid slowly but surely into a tickytack funk.

It was one of those days that would normally be salvaged by coming home to a warm kitchen with Shravan enveloped in a cloud of coriander, stirring up some fragrant spicy sauce and pouring me wine. But Shravan’s in Africa, and as much as I love Skype, it doesn’t cook me dinner.

So there was only one course of action: I sought refuge in the mother of all fallback meals, a spicy lemon-rosemary shrimp that practically cooks itself and then does the dishes.

­The first thing I did when I got home was pop a bottle of pinot and the last of Judy’s bourbon balls. (A friendly mason jar is shuttling back and forth between our two apartments, each time bearing decadent sweets.)

Feeling a bit better, I set rice on to boil and shrimp out to thaw. The beauty of this dish is it requires exactly one bag of frozen shrimp and one lemon; the rest of the ingredients reside in any well-stocked cupboard.

It’s adapted from a recipe that Mandy Warmbier, sister of Sauced co-blogger Karena, submitted to The Barefoot Cookbook, a collection of recipe favorites that we compiled for Karena’s wedding. I believe Mandy adapted it from a restaurant originally, and while I love her version, it requires far more patience and butter than I usually have at the ready.

Mine is a quick stovetop deal, intended for nights you’re hungry and harried and just want a warm bowl of fragrant food. After inhaling the spoonfuls of spicy shrimp, I felt almost human again.

Spicy Lemon-Rosemary Shrimp

1 1/2 c. rice, steamed
1 lb. of shrimp, defrosted and shelled
1 T. of butter
2 T. of olive oil
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp. crushed rosemary
dried red chilies
1 T. Worcestire sauce
1 lemon, juiced
Tabasco to taste
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Steam rice. Grate garlic. Heat butter and olive oil in a nonstick pan over low heat (technically, you could do with less oil, but heck, I’ve had a crummy day). Add in garlic, rosemary and chili flakes. Be careful not to let the garlic burn – if it starts to brown, turn the heat down immediately. Cook until garlic and chilies are fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add shrimp and turn heat to high. Cook until shrimp is just pink (1-2 minutes), and add Worcestire, lemon, Tabasco and salt/pepper to taste. Continue stirring until shrimp is cooked through. Serve over rice with a squeeze of lemon.

French Onion Soup

By Dave

Most people in this country do not realize that American football and French culinary tradition have a proud, shared history.  Walter Camp, often referred to as the “Estranged, Biological-Father of American Football,” was a Francophile.  While on a semester abroad at the Sorbonne, studying the influence of rugby upon the social stratification of agrarian communities in Provence, Camp met legendary chef and restaurateur Auguste Escoffier.  The two shared a mutual love of rugby, food, and mind-altering, psychoactive drugs.  It was on a fateful spring afternoon in 1880 that Camp and Escoffier, after ingesting a plate of  Psilocybin mushrooms à la grecque, invented the forward pass on the rugby pitch at the Parc du Champ de Mars. 

    Upon Camp’s return to Yale University he shared not only his revolutionary ideas for the game, but also his love of Haute cuisine with other founders such as Knute Rockne, Glenn “Pop” Warner, and Bill Belichick (yes, Belichick has the ability to warp space-time).  For decades both game and cuisine flourished together in symbiosis.  Some people say the original Super Bowl was intended to be a competition between rival NFL and AFL cassoulet recipes until Pete Rozelle got involved.  It was not until 1975, after Super Bowl IX received record-low ratings due to a confusing and surreal halftime show entitled Philippe et Le Pomme de Terre, that former Michigan-center-turned-Unelected-President Gerald Ford issued an executive order to the Ministry of Truth permanently separating the two institutions and destroying all evidence of their combined past.  To honor this secret history I made French onion soup for Super Bowl Sunday.  This recipe comes from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook and is severely long. 

Ingredients:

Sachet                                                        Croutons
2 bay leaves                                                1 baguette
12 black peppercorns                                   extra virgin olive oil
6 large thyme sprigs                                     kosher salt

                                                                    6 to 12 thick slices of aged Comte
Soup
8 lbs yellow onions
8 tbs unsalted butter
kosher salt
1 ½ tsp all-purpose flour
3 qts beef stock
freshly ground black pepper
sherry wine vinegar

For the sachet: Cut a piece of cheesecloth about 7 inches square.  Place the bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme in the center and tie with kitchen twine.

For the Soup:  Slice the onions length wise into ¼ in pieces.  Melt the butter in a large heavy stock pot over medium heat.  Add the onions and 1 tbs salt and reduce the heat to low.  Cook, stirring every 15 minutes and regulating the heat to keep the mixture bubbling gently, or about 1 hour or until the onions have wilted and released a lot of liquid.  Turn up the heat slightly to reduce the liquid and continue to cook slowly, stirring the onions every 15 min for about 4 MORE HOURS (read: Thomas Keller hates you) until the onions are caramelized throughout and a rich deep brown.  Remove from the heat and retain 1 ½ cups of the onions for the soup.  What you do with the rest of them is up to you.  Seriously, that’s what Thomas Keller says (read:  Thomas Keller hates poor people). 

Transfer the caramelized onions to a 5 qt pot.  Sift in the flour and cook over medium high heat, stirring for 2 to 3 min.  Add the beef stock and sachet, bring to a simmer, and simmer for about AN HOUR, until the liquid is reduced to 2 ½ qts.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and a few drops of vinegar.  Remove from heat.

For the croutons:  Preheat the broiler.  Cut twelve 3/8-in-thick (read: Thomas Keller is CRAZY) slices from the baguette and place on a baking sheet.  If they are 5/16-in-thick, throw everything away and start over because you are a failure!  Brush the bread lightly on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Place under the broiler and toast the first side until golden brown, then turn and brown the second side.  Set aside and leave the broiler on.

To complete:  Return the soup to a simmer.  Place six flameproof soup tureens with about 1 ½ cups capacity on a baking sheet to catch any spills.  Add the hot soup to the tureens, filling them to within ½ in of the tops.  Top each serving with 2 croutons and lay the slices of cheese over the croutons so that the cheese overlaps the edges of the tureens by about ½ in.  Place the tureens under the broiler for a few minutes, until the cheese bubbles, browns and forms a thick crust.  Eat carefully; the soup will be very hot.

Baked Acorn Squash with Fruit and Gruyere

By Liz

I’m blown away by my coworkers. They’re eloquent, intelligent and passionate, and none more so than my boss, a published poet with a gift for precise phrasing. As the new kid in town, I’m determined to prove my communications chops.

For my first assignment, I was asked to remake the Press, a clunky company newsletter that could be a case study against layout in Word. I love blogging, so I figured I’d pretty the Press up by taking it digital… what could possibly go wrong?

After over 100 painstaking hours of designing Press 2.0, I held my breath and emailed the link to all 190 staff. I just forgot one thing: 160 of them work from school district offices… that block outside blogs. As I copied my pretty Press down from the Web and back into Word, defeated, I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony.

So at the end of the day, I wanted nothing more than a glass of wine and Dinner 1.0, something comforting, casual, and impossible to mess up. A while back, Sauced reader Heather (herself a talented poet and editor of the Blood Orange Review) had emailed me a recipe for baked acorn squash, her comfort food of choice as a poor, tired grad student in the Pacific Northwest.

She described the dish as a foodie’s mac and cheese, and it fit that description to a T. Each warm spoonful was a buttery bite of contentment, a perfect end to an imperfect day.

Baked Acorn Squash with Fruit and Gruyere Stuffing
From Heather Hummel  

2 Acorn Squash
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/8 tsp pepper
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
2 TBS butter
1 pear, cored and chopped
1 apple, cored and chopped
1 1/3 cups cubed french bread (or darker bread for a richer taste)
4 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
2 TBS minced chives
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Heat oven to 400. Halve and bake the squash until tender. Sprinkle squash with half of the salt and pepper. While squash is baking, cook leeks in butter, in a skillet for 12-15 minutes (medium temp) until tender and browned. Increase temp to medium-high; add fruit and cook about five minutes until fruit is tender too. Stir in remaining ingredients, including remaining salt and pepper. Stuff into squash and bake for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

Coq Au Vin and Blood Orange Salad

By Liz

I have to hand it to Eric Ripert: his food is really good. When John, Judy and I decided to spend our evening cooking coq au vin, we viewed it largely as an excuse to drink wine and dabble in food photography.

The recipes looked simple, and unexceptional. So we were surprised to find ourselves exclaiming over oranges and moaning over silken chicken.

Turns out, another word for simple is understated. It was a great reminder that a few good ingredients, cooked well, can be extraordinary. As Judy said, “I thought the food would be good. I didn’t realize it would be sumptuous.”

The only hiccup: AvecEric.com only accepts horizontal contest images, and they only tell you that when you’re finally ready to upload, which is rather unsporting. That means Sauced gets first dibs at our best shots, below, and Eric gets the castoffs. Hopefully, they’ll still be good enough for a camera… or two…

Frisee Salad with Roasted Blood Orange, Hazelnut, and Feta

Serves 8

3 small heads frisée (curly endive)
5 blood oranges
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and lightly chopped
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Wash and trim the frisee into bite size pieces.

Remove the skin and pith from 4 of the blood oranges and slice crosswise 1/4- inch thick. Lay the orange slices in a single layer on a baking tray and set aside.

Juice the remaining blood orange into a mixing bowl and add lemon juice and sugar; slowly whisk in canola oil and season with salt and pepper.

Adjust the oven rack as close to the heating element as possible and heat the broiler on high.

Drizzle olive oil over the blood orange slices and season with salt and pepper, broil the orange slices about 5 minutes, just until they start to caramelize. Cool to room temperature and arrange on the bottom of a serving tray or on individual plates.

Dress the frisee in a large mixing bowl with the blood orange vinaigrette and arrange on top of the roasted oranges. Sprinkle with hazelnuts and feta.

Eric Ripert’s Coq au Vin

Serves 8

2 chickens, cut up
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup canola oil
1 slice smoked bacon (optional)
1 cup celery, medium diced
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced onion
4 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
6 ounces button mushroom, washed and diced
1 cup brandy
2 bottles red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 sprig fresh thyme
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 package egg noodles, cooked

Lay the chicken pieces on a parchment lined baking pan; season chicken with salt and pepper and lightly dust with flour.

Heat canola oil in a heavy bottomed stock pot, slowly add the chicken and cook over medium heat until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Turn chicken and continue cooking until golden brown.

Remove chicken from pan and discard all but 1 tablespoon of oil. Render the bacon until crisp and add the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and mushroom; cook until lightly caramelized.

Deglaze the pan with the brandy and add the browned chicken, red wine and tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer on very low heat for about 3 hours, until the chicken is very tender and starts falling off the bone.

Carefully remove the chicken from the sauce and reduce the sauce by half. Once the sauce had thickened, add the chicken and season to taste. Serve over egg noodles.

 

I Pledge Allegiance... to Swedish Meatballs

By Liz

The highlight of Saturday’s party was most definitely the food. In addition to the six appetizers already mentioned, John and Judy decided to throw in three more -- Swedish meatballs, Manchego and quince paste, and prosciutto-wrapped melon -- the morning of.

A close runner up: somewhere around midnight, Shravan decided the entire room needed a shot of whiskey. The entire room decided Shravan needed to celebrate his new greencard by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Shravan, confronted by a mass of people chanting patriotic phrases in unison, looked momentarily taken aback, then recovered his composure and shouted, “Communists!”

As John said, we’re gonna have to work on that for the citizenship test.

Delicious Swedish Meatballs
By Waldemar Edwin Ernst Larson, John's grandfather and a true Laplander

1 slice white bread
milk
1 lb. ground beef round
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
Allspice, salt, and pepper, to taste
2 T. flour
2 cubes beef bouillon
water
more allspice to taste

Put bread in a large bowl and pour on as much milk as will soak in.  Add meat, onion, and spices and blend well.  Form mixture into small meatballs.  Cook gently in large frying pan.

When meatballs are browned, sprinkle with flour; continue cooking a few minutes, then add water to make gravy. Add bouillon and allspice and continue until meatballs are cooked through. Continue to add water to keep gravy at proper consistency.

Keep them warm when serving because they will congeal!

Rolling Lamb Phyllo Cigars

The finished products cooling on the multi-purpose fridge/fire escape

Madison surveying the interlopers in her kitchen (not impressed)

Manchego and quince paste (sneak a pre-party bite from that plate at your peril)

Madison inspecting the apple turnovers (still not impressed)