In spite of the prevailing trends, traditional (read: decadent) dishes continue to anchor our holiday dinner tables, from Thanksgiving right on through New Year’s Day. The likes of stuffing and any kind of casserole almost sound foreign in our modern vocabulary. Yet, the thought of bellying up and not reaching for one or the other (and then, instinctively, the gravy boat) would be downright sacrilegious. In that vein, we’re offering up a dish for your consideration that may not be as familiar but should fit in quite nicely with your rotation. If we’re going to indulge, why hold back?
Recipe + photography by Yelena Strokin
Chicken Liver Pâté with Red Wine and Cranberry Jelly Serves four.
FOR THE PÂTÉ 3 tbsps. extra-virgin olive oil 4 tbsps. unsalted butter 1 large yellow onion, chopped 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped 5-6 white button mushrooms, sliced 1 small garlic clove, crushed 1 lb. fresh chicken livers, cleaned and trimmed 2 tbsps. dry Marsala wine Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
FOR THE JELLY 1 cup red wine ½ cup cranberries (fresh or frozen) 2-3 tbsps. sugar Pinch of salt ½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg Zest from half a lemon 1 tsp. gelatin
TO SERVE 1 baguette, cut into inch-thick slices
To make the jelly In a small saucepan over a medium heat, mix together the red wine and cranberries and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Then, add the sugar, salt, nutmeg and lemon zest and mix well. Add the gelatin next and stir until it dissolves.
Turn the heat off and let the mixture sit for a minute or two. Then, carefully strain it through a fine sieve into another pot, where it will sit and cool.
To make the pâté
In a large frying pan over a medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot and mushrooms and sauté them until they soften, about five minutes. Then, add the garlic and cook until it becomes lightly fragrant, about two minutes.
Add the chicken livers next, season with salt and stir to coat them in the olive oil. Then, add the Marsala wine and allow the alcohol to cook down, about three minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered, occasionally—and gently—turning the livers until they achieve a rich brown on the outside and a light pink on the inside, eight to 10 minutes.
At that point, allow the livers to cool slightly. Then, using a food processor, blend them until they reach the consistency of a thick paste. Blend in the butter next until it completely dissolves into the paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Divide the pâté among small glasses. Reserve the last quarter of the glass for the jelly. Once you’ve topped them off, stick the glasses in the refrigerator so the jelly can set.
To serve, simply slather the baguette slices—toast them lightly first—with generous portions of the pâté, making sure to get a good dose of the jelly on there, too.
Yelena Strokin is a Newtown-based food stylist and photographer and the founder of the blog Cooking Melangery.
We’re heading into hibernation with big appetites and familiar cravings.
Recipes and photography by Yelena Strokin
The return to cool days and cold nights sparks a hunger that almost feels insatiable. Overnight, we find ourselves craving the kind of hearty meals that are going to anchor us to the dinner table for a couple hours at a time and leave us not just full but warmed, too. Once the holidays pass, it won’t be long before we’ll start to feel boxed in by root veggies. But, for now, the scent of roasting meats and baking desserts smells like the start of a cozy new existence.
Rosemary Roast Leg of Lamb Serves six to eight.
5 lbs. leg of lamb, bone removed, untied 3 tbsps. vegetable oil 1 cup dry white wine 6-7 garlic cloves, minced 2 tbsps. fresh rosemary, chopped 1 onion, peeled and minced 5-6 potatoes, peeled and quartered 3 turnips, peeled and quartered 3 tsps. salt Freshly ground pepper to taste
• Place the lamb in a glass baking dish.
• In a bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, wine, garlic, rosemary, onion, salt and pepper, then pour it over the lamb. Move the lamb to the refrigerator to marinate for anywhere from three hours to overnight (the longer the better), turning it occasionally.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Move the lamb to a rack in a roasting pan and add half of the marinade. Roast it for about two hours, or until the lamb becomes tender. An hour in, add the potatoes and the turnips, along with the remaining marinade. Baste the lamb frequently.
• Place the lamb and the veggies on a hot serving platter and let them stand for 10 minutes before carving.
Baked Acorn Squash with Chestnuts, Mushrooms and Quinoa Serves four.
3-4 acorn squash (about 1 pound each), halved lengthwise and deseeded 6 tbsps. extra-virgin olive oil Pinch of cinnamon ½ tsp. paprika 5 ozs. chestnuts, roasted, peeled and chopped 1½ cups cooked quinoa 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 cups assorted mushrooms, chopped 1 small carrot, peeled and grated Bleu cheese Fresh sage Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small bowl, mix together three tablespoons of the olive oil with the cinnamon, paprika and salt and pepper. Brush the cut sides of the squash with the mixture. Then place the squash, cut side down, on two baking sheets and roast until they begin to tenderize, about 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining olive oil over a medium heat. Then add the onion, carrot and mushrooms. Stirring occasionally, cook until softened, about five to eight minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Turn the squash cut side up. Spoon the onions, carrots and mushrooms into the cavities, top with a few crumbles of bleu cheese, then return the squash to the oven until the stuffing turns golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer to plates, garnish with sage and serve hot.
Apple-Almond Tart with Baked Apple Chips
A couple of notes: Don’t add sugar to the apples. It’ll draw all of the liquid out of them. There will be plenty of sweetness in the pastry. And, if the tart seems too full after adding the apple slices, it’s OK; they’ll shrink as they bake.
For the pastry 1½ cups plain all-purpose flour 6 tbsps. unsalted butter, diced (and kept cold) ¼ cup ground almonds 2 tbsps. superfine sugar 1 egg yolk 1 tbsp. cold water ¼ tsp. almond extract
For the topping and filling 1 cup plain all-purpose flour ¼ tsp. mixed spice ¼ cup (4 tbsps.) unsalted butter, diced ¼ cup raw sugar ¼ cup sliced almonds 1½ lbs. cooking apples 3 tbsps. raisins Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
For the chips 1-2 apples Cinnamon
The apple chips
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
• Cut the apples into eighth-inch-thick slices with a mandolin. Then, arrange the slices in a single layer across a parchment-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the cinnamon evenly.
• Bake in the bottom third of the oven until the apples are dry and crisp, about an hour to an hour-and-a-half. Then, let them cool completely.
The pastry and the topping
• Add the flour to a food processor or a mixing bowl, fold in the butter and mix until it takes on the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Then, stir in the almonds and sugar. Separately, whisk the yolk with the water and almond extract, then add it to the food processor/mixing bowl. The dough should now be soft and pliable. Knead it until becomes smooth, then wrap it in clear film and leave it in a cool place for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, make the topping. In a large bowl, sift the flour and the mixed spice. Knead in the butter, then stir in the sugar and almond slices.
• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured counter. Then, line a quiche dish with it, taking care to press it into the nooks and form a lip over the top edge. Use a rolling pin to trim off the excess. Then, stick it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Put a baking sheet in the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees.
• Peel, core and thinly slice the cooking apples. Then arrange them in the quiche dish, overlapping, in concentric circles, doming in the center. Top with the raisins, then, with light pressure, the topping mixture.
• Place the quiche dish on the hot baking sheet and bake until the top of the tart turns golden brown and the apples, tender, about 30 minutes. (Test them with a fine-gauge skewer.)
• Let the tart stand for 10 minutes. Dust with the confectioner’s sugar and serve warm.
Yelena Strokin is a Newtown-based food stylist and photographer and the founder of the blog Cooking Melangery
[divider]What I’m Drinking Right Now[/divider]
Brandywine Branch Distillers The Revivalist Botanical Gin
$41.75 to $50.95 (750ml)
I’m a brown-spirits guy. But this summer, I began exploring the suddenly-evolving world of gin. Gone are the days when the juniper-heavy London dry style was about the extent of your options. Now, they come in so many unique varieties, it hardly seems right to refer to them all simply as gin. Among the most intriguing is this series of four, small-batch, seasonal gins being made right in our own backyard, at Brandywine Branch Distillers in Chester County. Each kind is infused with its own unique blend of botanicals and spices that plays to the season. Harvest Expression, out now, bears the essence of orange and clove. Solstice Expression marries dried cherry, anise, orange peel and ginger. If you left the gin and tonic behind with your white jeans, it’s time to reconsider.
In this humidity, everything tastes better in popsicle-form. Start with these foolproof combos, then go crazy.
One afternoon, when I was a boy, my neighbor walked over to the corner of her yard where I was digging with her son and held out a funny-looking ice tray. She was a short and squat French woman who I’d become used to offering me foods I didn’t eat at home. This time, it was a popsicle. Made from orange juice. Blew my mind. I must’ve slurped down three or four of them. Naturally, I went home and emptied a carton of OJ into a couple of ice trays—they were all we had. Orange juice ice cubes are nothing like orange juice popsicles. It was an important day in my maturation. —Scott Edwards
Recipes and photography by Yelena Strokin
Currant Popsicles
(Pictured, top) Serves six.
2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt
2 cups red or black currants
(or a combination of both)
2 tsps. honey or agave
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Strawberry Smoothie Popsicles Serves six.
1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
2 tsps. honey or agave
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Mango Popsicles Serves six.
½ cup heavy cream
3 mangos
1 tsp. honey
Juice from half a lime
The directions are the same for all three popsicles: Add everything to a blender, then puree the mixture until it achieves a smooth consistency. Pour it into a popsicle tray, plant a popsicle stick in each mold and freeze for at least four hours.
Mango-Strawberry Popsicles
(Pictured, right) Serves six.
1 mango
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
2 tsps. honey
Juice from one orange
Juice from one grapefruit
Add the mango, orange juice and 1 tsp. of honey to a blender and puree the mixture until it achieves a smooth consistency. Then, spoon it into a popsicle tray, filling each mold halfway.
Puree the strawberries, grapefruit juice and 1 tsp. of honey next, and top off the molds. Plant a popsicle stick in each, then freeze for at least four hours.
Yelena Strokin is a Newtown-based food stylist and photographer and the founder of the blog Cooking Melangery.com.
I can’t say I’ve ever met a whiskey that I haven’t liked, and I’ve met a lot of whiskeys. But never one like Amador’s 10-Barrel. Hits of citrus, toffee, clove, leather and hoppy spice weave together to create a bottomless complexity. The limited release is 60 percent straight malt whiskey sourced from high-end distillers and 40 percent hop-flavored whiskey distilled from Bear Republic Brewery’s Racer 5 IPA. The beer’s full-bodied flavor contributes a malty hoppy-ness without overwhelming the whiskey’s flavor profile. The components were aged separately for over two years in French oak wine barrels before they were combined and aged for another couple of years in chardonnay barrels. You taste every day of that.
On a lighter note, I’m not big on fruity beers, but Free Will Brewing Company’s Mango Wheat has just enough of a mango overtone to keep it refreshing. It also happens to pair really well with some of my favorite summer foods: ceviche, crab and corn.
ADAM JUNKINS Partner/Sommelier Sovana Bistro
(Kennett Square)
Even now, especially now, when everything’s fresh and within easy reach, less is more.
We hear it all the time these days from chefs of every walk: Keep it simple. Have faith in the ingredients. But that’s easy to say when you’ve been formally schooled and challenged by an elite mentor. For the rest of us, keeping it simple looks like a lot of disparate (and under-seasoned) ingredients spread across a plate. The trick isn’t just keeping the complicated techniques to a minimum, it’s also keeping the ingredients to a minimum. With almost everything in season right now, the tendency is to pick the garden clean and make it all somehow work together. But it won’t, and it never will, no matter how fresh everything is. Think smaller and lighter. It’s how you really want to eat when you’re not doing it with your eyes. Three to five ingredients tops, and they should all complement each other, as they do here in this bright salad and hearty sandwich. This time of year, if it takes longer to make than it does to eat, you’re overthinking it.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the olive oil to a skillet and warm it over a medium heat. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices, then stir them in. Reduce the heat to low and cook them until they’re soft and blackened.
In a small bowl, mix together the mayo and the garlic. Spread it across one side of each bread slice. Then add a piece of Swiss to one of those slices. On top of that, layer the cucumber, avocado and mushroom. Top it with a handful of microgreens and the other slices of cheese and bread.
Place the sandwich in the oven just long enough for the cheese to begin melting, about three to five minutes. Then move it to a cutting board and cut it diagonally—because sandwiches always taste better when they’re cut diagonally.
Cabbage and Beet Salad Serves one.
For the salad
½ medium head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
3-4 small beets, peeled and grated
¼ bunch scallions, finely chopped
For the dressing
2 tbsps. lemon juice
2 tbsps. avocado oil
1 tsp. dry-roasted tomatoes
1 tsp. dry dill
Salt and white pepper to taste
Sugar to taste
To make the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, dry-roasted tomatoes, dill, sugar, salt and pepper. Once it’s thoroughly mixed, whisk in the avocado oil. Set the dressing aside at that point to allow the flavors to marry. After about 10 minutes, taste it and season accordingly with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, carrot, beets and scallions. Add the dressing, then toss once more.
Yelena Strokin is a Newtown-based food stylist and photographer and the founder of the blog melangery.com.
[divider]What I’m Drinking Right Now[/divider]
Sangria Makes about 15 portions.
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 pint fresh strawberries
2 medium apples, diced small*
2 oranges, peeled, seeded and diced small*
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced into quarter-inch chunks
12 medium to large basil leaves, chiffonade
12 medium to large mint leaves, chiffonade
1 bottle Art in the Age Rhubarb Tea Liqueur
3 bottles crisp white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc)
1 bottle moscato d’asti (or another semisweet sparkling wine)
* These ingredients can be swapped out for just about any other seasonal fruit you prefer. Peaches, nectarines and cherries all work especially well, too.
Combine all of the ingredients, save for the wine, cover/seal and let it sit overnight. The next day, add the wine and stir well.
Ladle the sangria, along with a healthy helping of the fruit, into a wine glass or goblet filled with ice. Top with two to three ounces of the moscato d’asti.
Barbeque Pairings
Stocking the bar for a barbeque is a little more complicated than it first seems. Cold beer and white wine—no brainer. Until an old-school southerner (or wannabe) slips in and you’re caught without brown spirits. Load up on these and you’ll be loved by all comers. —AJ
Wine Vinho verde
It’s a dry, super-acidic wine from Portugal. Big on citrus flavor, low on alcohol (about nine percent). And at 10 bucks a bottle, it encourages a generous pour.
SpiritsJ.M. Rhum Agricole Vieux 10-year-old
Imagine nursing this smoky, leathery, bourbon barrel-aged rum while you man those ribs, and tell me your mouth doesn’t water at the thought.
