Nom's 2011 Last Minute Gift Guide

Everyone loves gift giving....when they get their shopping done as early as I do. (those presents were purchased, wrapped and under my decorated tree before Dec 1st....I know its not a game but I win at Christmas...well I at least level up)

So while save for a few small last minute things, I am done with Christams. However, I realize I am in a minority and most of you will spend this last week before the holiday clawing bitches in the eye at the mall. This is of course unless you are Jewish in which case TODAY you will be clawing bitches in the eye at the mall because Chanukah starts tonight so move yo ass!

So in light of this pending holiday here are some last minute gift ideas for the foodies in your life:


For Your Friend Who Loves Good Food And Wants To Learn To Cook:

Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Brilliant foundation book that covers all the basics of cooking.






For Your Friend Who Is….Long Story Short….On The $20 Gift List

Ikea Coffee Accessories http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70149125/

For Your Friend Who Is….Long Story Short….On The $20 Gift List….and Kathy Lee
Wine Tasting Sampler: This is cool. You get six bottles of wine, can taste a few different vintages then buy big-kid sized bottles of the ones you like

http://www.tastingroom.com/

For Your Friend Who Likes To Hit The Sauce In Style
A Bottle Of Quality Bourbon and Whisky Stones

http://www.amazon.com/Teroforma-1220-Whisky-Stones/dp/B002GZX2DE

For Your Friend Who’s Like….Whatever
S’Well Water Bottles
http://swellbottle.com/shop-now



For Your Friend You Secretly Hate
Julie & Julia By Julie Powell: Your friend is really a freinamy so why not reward her by giving her a book she’ll think is right up her alley but is really a chronicling of the worlds most self-indulgent blogger/home cook’s attempts to garner fame off the greatness of Mrs. Julia Child by writing a mind-numbing detailed account of her chronic temper tantrums and boring life stories….what can you say. You saw it and it made you think of her.
http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Julia-Recipes-Apartment-Kitchen/dp/031610969X

Top Five Ways To Host A Party Like It's Yo Job!!!

I love magazines (who doesn’t) but I hate clutter so I try as routinely as possible to go through my old magazines and remove any items I want to keep (for my Recipe, fashion and design books respectively) then discard the rest. Well I was flipping through a Bon Appetit on entertaining and read an article by The Foodist called My (Highly Debatable) Rules of Entertaining. So in light of my (I think) successful diner party this past week I thought I should write a list of my rules for entertaining:

1. You Are Only As Good As The Company You Keep. I’m not too big of a fan of mantras, the utterance of which does tend to suggest considerable time in support groups, or an overly enthusiastic amount of attention is paid to one’s self. However even I have a few. And one of them is “life it too short to eat bad food, drink bad wine, read bad books and hang out with people who suck” (yes I did just quote myself) I try to think of this simple phrase whenever I am in the diner-party planning stage. As a rule then only those who can contribute lively conversation and appreciate good eats can earn a seat at my table and by setting my quality of guest as high as I do, a delicious menu follows suit. It’s the least I can do for the guests who will inevitably make my evening a success. Plus passion follows passion; I love to surround myself with awesome people and therefore people I want to treat right. I should also note that adventurous eaters are nice, but not necessary; However, picky eaters will not be tolerated. No one wants to slave over an elaborate meal only to have one or more of their guests inform them that they cannot eat XY or Z because even though they have never had it “they don’t like it”.

2. Hire a Cruise Director: Everyone means well. Remember that when your pots are boiling over and there are now three apex markers in the kitchen where you are trying to keep the tasty in meal who’s delicious doesn’t materialize till the fourth quarter. Your friends love you! And to some of them, the idea that they are sitting by idly while you work your ass off over a hot stove makes them crazy. (for the record I am not one of those people and will keep planted on my fanny while you work). And as a practical matter, people are coming to the door, need to be greeted, want to thank you for inviting them etc etc. This is why I ask at least one of my friends to come about an hour early to help me prep. They have the important job of getting coats, ushering people out of my kitchen and beginning the boozing process (I have found that even the most helpful of friends desire to elevate your taxing chores is easily put in check with a stiff cocktail)

2.5: Hire a Cruise Director: This is also the code name I put in my notebook when I’m planning everything out for the cocktail I serve before dinner. It serves an invaluable social function (see above) as well as it wets the whistle and prepares the palette for the Armageddon of tasty it’s about to experience.

3. It’s Your Party: but please don’t cry even if you want to. It’s unbecoming. Do feel free to steer conversations, declare start and finish times and tell people when it’s time to quit hittin the sauce.

4. Write This Shit Down: I am basically a moron and cannot remember anything ever. So I always make a “plan” for my parties. I write down a slew of recipe ideas, note which are easy/hard/time consuming/ etc and then make my final decisions as to what to serve. From that I generate my grocery list. It seems simple but taking the two seconds to write this down helps insure nothing is forgotten, not purchased, etc.

5. Have Fun: if hosting parties stresses you out don’t do it! I always approach every function I host with the same attitude of utter relaxation: if things go wrong so what, if the dinner is crappy, whatevs. If someone has a shit fit or gets into a fight who cares. I took the time to surround myself with people who love to eat good food but they love me more and no matter what everyone is going to have something to talk about the next day, even if it is because my subpar cooking ended up forcefully pushed into someone elses face during post- hours devours fisticuffs. S’all good

Happy Birthday to Me Bitches

So yours truly has just turned 26, and as a way of staving off the pending quarter-life crisis that one associates with turning 4 years shy of 30 I threw a party.

Now I know what you’re thinking (mostly because everyone I knew asked me this) if it’s your birthday why are you doing all the work? Well reader, I decided that my birthday is about more than just turning another year older: it’s about celebrating me and what better way to celebrate me and all I bring to the world then by letting me show off my mad-skillz in the kitchen.

The menu:
Apple, Rosemerry Beacon Braciole with Stout Gravy
Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts
Roasted potatoes
Devils food cake with 7-minute frosting.

Let’s start with the Braciole. I make it a habit of routinely breaking the “don’t make something new for a party” rule and this party was no exception. And I wanted to take it one step further and make up the recipe too. I have to say I was pleased as punch with the result though so as always my reckless party planning went without a hitch.

Stout Braciole
2 lb flank steak
1 cup bread crumbs
4 pieces beacon
1 green apple
2 sprigs rosemary
I bottle of Guinness
2 carrots
1 onion
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
Beef stock
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- In a Dutch Oven, cook the beacon on med-low until the beacon is crispy and to render out the fat. Remove beacon and add to a bowl with diced apple, breadcrumbs and 1 sprig of chopped rosemary. (remove Dutch Oven from meat until you use it so it doesn’t smoke).
- Butterfly the flank steak (ie split in half, leaving an inch at the end of the steak so you can open it like a book.

- Stuff the barciole with the stuffing, and roll like a jelly role. Tie with cotton kitchen twine.
- Heat the Dutch Oven over med, and add a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to the pan along with the reserved beacon fat. (this is to give the meat a little more of that beacon taste but it certainly could be skipped if you wanted to prepare the braciole up to this point a day ahead. Then just brown in olive oil) Brown the braciole on all sides (between a minute or two per side). Remove
- In the same oven, cook the onion, carrots and celery till softened and onions are translucent (4 mins) then add garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Add the bottle of Stout and about a cup of beef stock, season with salt and pepper, and boil briefly (5 mins). Add the braciole and cover.
- Place in oven for 1 hour, basting half way. Then uncover, baste and cook 30 minutes more.
- Remove and slice steak. Cook down sauce over high for 5-10 minutes and then puree.
- Serve.
Side note: my future husband Josh Groban was on Live! With Kelly Ripa and they made braised short ribs in Stout. Copycats….marriage is off Mr. Groban

Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts
- So this recipe was sortof a Bobby Flay recipe in that I saw a recipe by Bobby Flay that sounded delicious decided to make it, and then when it presented me with two substantial problems I made it completely different. First it asked for a pomegranate molasses which I had no idea how to locate nor did I care to so I opted to make a vinaigrette instead. Then I went to roast the Brussels and found I had no more room so I cooked them in a pan. The result is nothing like the original but was pretty tasty. My only grip with it was I went to Fitzies to get the Brussels and I could only get them in small containers. The result was unnecessarily priced and I had no control over the size of the sprouts which ranged from the size of a normal Brussels sprout to the size of a small cabbage so they were not cooked as evenly as I wanted.
Vinaigrette: Halve a pomegranate and remove seeds. Reserve juice from this process and whisk into it Champagne Vinegar and salt and pepper. Then add EVOO until you have a vinaigrette.
Take Brussels sprouts and slice in half. Brown lightly in a large pan, and then add a cup or so of water and cover, steaming until cooked through and soft. Remove from heat and toss with vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts.

All and all the party was quite a success: god food, good friends and four bottles of wine….the Niezabitowski recipe for success