Even though we had  (all in one day, mind you) snow, sleet, rain, clouds/fog, beautiful blue skies, then more snow again, our group of friends felt the urge to fire up the  barbecues and smokers and have ourselves a cook-off. We are more than ready for spring here in Seattle! The categories were the standard trio: meat, sauces, and sides.

I made Barnaby’s famous potato salad, which is easy as pie and always a winner – even though I felt a bit like a slacker – but I felt it best to steer clear of the serious grillers. Plus, I was the photographer and the unofficial Official Wine Taster (even though that wasn’t a category, nor were we doing any wine tasting). Still, I looked official seated on the leather barstool.

With all the meat being smoked and grilled (tri-tip, pork ribs, flank steak) I felt we needed to add some fish to the “red meat mix.” Especially after last week’s pork gluttony at Cochon. I vaguely remember swearing off meat for a month, didn’t I? That obviously didn’t last long.

Barnaby threw four whole trout in the smoker and let them swim in alder smoke for about an hour. The pellets we use are all-natural wood pellets from BBQr’s Delight, by far the best we’ve found.

We mixed fresh finely chopped chives with whipped cream cheese, smeared a bit on water crackers, and placed a lovely tender hunk of trout on each. Then our friend’s five-year old son, Sammy, topped them off with more fresh chives. As he put it, “My dad was a sous chef, I know how to do it.” Ahh, the child of my dreams!

Stay tuned for the rest of the menu…

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Categories:	Cheese • Cooking tips • Entertaining • Fish & Seafood • Herbs • Meat & Poultry	Leave a Comment
Tags:	appetizer • BBQr's Delight • chives • cream cheese • hors d'oeuvres • small bites • smoked fish • smoked trout • trout • wood pellets

I love hosting cocktail parties, and the best advice I was given from a catering master for hosting such parties was this: make half of your hors d’oeuvres and buy half. Brilliant! All too often we get caught up in elaborate menus and are exhausted by the time the guests arrive. It’s really not pretty answering the door when you’re all sweaty.

One of the things I love to make, but one would think was purchased from some fine delicatessen, is a creamy delicious pâté. Over the holidays Barnaby created a chicken liver pâté that proved at more than one party to be a crowd pleaser. In fact, among the spread of hors d’oeuvres his pâté clearly stood out as the gold winner, and best of all it was inexpensive to make and took only a few minutes.

Easy Crowd Pleaser Pâté

1 pound chicken livers
1 small yellow onion, sliced
Olive oil
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup heavy cream
Sel gris for garnish

Heat about one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and cook onions until soft. Add chicken livers and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add brandy and simmer until alcohol has cooked off. Toss into a blender and blend on high. Periodically stop the blender and push down larger pieces with a wooden spoon to incorporate. Add cream and continue to blend until smooth. Place a mesh sieve over a bowl. Transfer mixture to the sieve and press through with a silicone spatula to remove any unsmooth pieces. Spoon pâté into one serving bowl or a few small ones, and smooth out the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Garnish with a sprinkle of sel gris or other fine salt. Excellent served with cornichon, Dijon mustard and a grainy mustard on the side.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Entertaining • Meat & Poultry	Leave a Comment
Tags:	appetizers • chicken liver pate • easy pate • Entertaining • hors d'oeuvres • pate

You know those beautiful little artisan goat cheeses you see in fancy food stores? The ones that are about the size of a smashed golf ball and cost about $8? They’re so pretty with their dainty nasturtium flower on top, or the ones ever so lightly dusted “artisan-like” with peppercorns. Let me let you in on a little secret: it’s a racket those goat cheeses! Now, unless the cheese itself was milked from the teat of the artisan’s own goat (which some of them are, so don’t yell at me, but some of them are not), they take about two seconds to make. Well, maybe two minutes.

Don’t get me wrong, I truly appreciate the craft and the beauty of those little jewels, but who has $8 to spend these days on a tiny piece of cheese that wasn’t flown in from some moldy cave in France?

We had guests coming over to wish us a Happy New Year and I hadn’t yet been out to replenish “the larder.” Heck, it was noon and I still hadn’t even made it into the shower! Fortunately I had one of those long logs of goat cheese that I got at either Costco or Trader Joe’s during my holiday provisioning. Perfectly decent goat cheese for under $6. I cut the log into quarters and made half with some ground Turkish sweet chili peppers and the other with a blend of Italian herbs, red pepper flakes, and ground pepper. Beautiful and tasty.

Make your own blend of herbs that you already have in your spice cabinet (maybe some herbes de Provence and a little lavender or some smoked paprika), roll your petite cuts of goat cheese in it – and voilà – you’re a cheese artisan!

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Categories:	Cheese	4 Comments
Tags:	appetizers • Cheese • cheese and crackers • goat cheese • herb goat cheese • hors d'oeuvres • spiced goat cheese

Even though we tend to stuff ourselves to the gills during the holidays it’s always nice to have some snacks to nibble and nosh on. The hors d’oeuvres line-up just wouldn’t be right without a bowl of mixed nuts. Here’s the perfect alternative to the plain salt roasted variety – a nice sweet and spicy mix.

Spiced Nuts

1 large egg white
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1-3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2-1/2 cups pecan halves or assorted nuts, such as cashews, walnuts or almonds

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Beat egg white until soft and foamy. Combine all remaining ingredients except nuts; whisk into egg white. Stir in nuts until well coated; spread mixture in single layer onto an ungreased baking pan.

Bake nuts for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Using a metal spatula, toss, stir and separate nuts. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees and return nuts to bake until medium brown, about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven; toss, and stir again. Place baking pan on wire rack to cool. Break up any nuts that stick together.

Store in an airtight container up to two weeks.

Makes 2-1/2 cups.

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Categories:	Entertaining • Holiday • Nuts	5 Comments
Tags:	almonds • hors d'oeuvres • mixed nuts • Nuts • pecans • snacks • spiced nuts • spicy nuts

Dukkah, or duqqa, (DOO-ka) is an Egyptian mixture of toasted and ground nuts, seeds and spices into which olive oil-dabbed bread is dipped.

Apparently dukkah is all the rage Down Under, and reading about it inspired me to whip up a batch myself. Boy, am I glad I did! As I toasted the ingredients the aromas burst open, filled my kitchen with nutty perfume and transported me back to Egypt. My mother and I visited Egypt in the late 80’s and dukkah reminded me of how it smelled: fragrant, earthy and bold.

This tasty mixture makes me want to blacken my eyes with kohl, smudge perfumed oil behind my ears and dance to percussions and lutes on the banks of the Nile!

Dukkah
Use the following recipe as a starting point. You may find, as I did, that you want more or less of a particular spice. I added a bit more mint.

1/2 C hazelnuts
3 T sesame seeds
1/4 C coriander seeds
2 T cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 T black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dried mint leaves
1 teaspoon salt

In a very hot skillet (or in a 375 degree oven) dry-toast hazelnuts until golden. Wrap the hot nuts in a kitchen towel and let cool for a few minutes. When they have cooled slightly, rub the nuts vigorously in the towel to loosen and remove the skins. Place peeled nuts in a bowl and allow to further cool.

Put sesame seeds into the skillet and over medium heat toast until lightly golden, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add seeds to the hazelnuts.

In the same pan, toast coriander, cumin and fennel seeds until they begin to color and become fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add all the above ingredients to a food processor (or mortar if you are going to hand grind) and let cool completely. When the mixture has cooled, add the black peppercorns, salt and mint, and pulse (or grind in mortar) until the mixture is coarse.

Serve with olive oil and bread.

Store in a tightly sealed container for up to a month.

Other dukkah uses to inspire you:

• Drizzle a little olive oil over feta and sprinkle with dukkah
• Use as a rub on lamb, chicken or steak
• How about with a little honey on a toasted English muffin?

Check out Stonesoup for her hazelnut macadamia version of dukkah. She also offers a number of wonderful uses for dukkah.

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Categories:	North African • Seasoning & Spices	2 Comments
Tags:	appetizer • caraway • cumin • dukkah • duqqa • egypt • egyptian • fennel • Food • foodista • hazelnuts • hors d'oeuvres • mint • olive oil • salt • sesame • spices

The other day Barnaby and I decided to check out the new Persian restaurant down the road. Unfortunately, it had been years since I last had Persian food. But that is going to change! Why had I waited so long? It’s so Puurrrrsia-licious! Wonderfully fragrant cinnamon, saffron, sumac and mint are just a few of the delicate flavors that lend balance to a dish.

For an appetizer we were brought a basket filled with walnuts, herbs, feta and a thin pita-like bread. I could have made a meal from this herby delight alone. We were told it was called panir sabzi.

Panir sabzi consists of fresh mint, lemony Persian basil, Persian tarragon, garlic chives, walnuts, feta cheese and flat bread. The walnuts are soaked overnight in salt water making them soft, moist and salty.

We recreated this dish at home and while I could not find the exact Persian herbs and bread my substitutions were just as good.

Panir Sabzi

Fresh mint
Fresh basil
Garlic chives
Feta (in brine is best as it’s the most moist)
Pita, cut into quarters
Soaked walnuts (we were told to soak overnight in very salty water, like Dead Sea salty!)

Put a little bit of each on a piece of pita and enjoy! I think a sprinkle of sumac on top would add a lovely bit of color and lemony flavor, too.

Check out Chow for more Persian delights such as Pomegranates, Dried Lemons, Rose Water.

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Categories:	Cheese • Herbs • Middle Eastern	4 Comments
Tags:	appetizer • cuisine • eating • Food • foodista • hors d'oeuvres • Iranian • panir sabzi • Persian • recipe • recipes

Forgive me, mi scusi, but I can no longer remain silent. I have a burning desire to correct those out there who keep saying, “bruSHetta.” Please, my friends, it’s pronounced broo -SKE – ta. We don’t say shool, do we? Well, we do if we’re Jewish and off to learn Hebrew. No, we say school.

So there, I’m off my high horse. I’ve said it. Now let’s collectively work on making all Italian servers smile jubilantly when we correctly order this tasty appetizer. On behalf of my Italian friends, grazie mille!

Bruschetta is a food that dates back to 15th century Italy. Traditionally, olive growers will take country bread to the mill at pressing time and toast pieces in order to sample the freshly pressed oil. Then, they’ll rub the toasted oiled bread with garlic and sprinkle with salt. Dio mio, makes working in a mill sound divine, eh? Sign me up!

In the summer when my tomatoes are ripe, I love to rub them – sun-warmed – on toasty garlicky slices of ciabatta. Topped with a slice of proscuitto is molto bene too.

Check out Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil from Simply Recipes.

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Categories:	Italian	1 Comment
Tags:	appetizer • bruschetta • cooking • eating • Food • foodista • hors d'oeuvres • Italian • recipe • recipes