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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

chicken liver pâté

chicken liver pâté

All right, I’ll get quickly to the point here. If you are celebrating Christmas, you are probably either traveling to your celebration destination or cooking a meal and preparing for the festive holiday. This is for those of you in the kitchen who might be looking for a quick appetizer that makes you look like a three star French chef, while your guests ooh and aah, and you feign hard work and great kitchen skills – this is for you. You can thank me later, but first go and see for yourself how easy and awesome this is.

chicken livers

I will warn you now that this requires three (that’s 3!) sticks of butter which is probably why it tastes so amazing and luxurious. When I served this at book club, the ladies dove right in – a sign of great success. You can make this tonight and serve this during the cocktail hour tomorrow. When you pour the warm pâté into the dish where you will serve it, don’t worry that it might seem too liquid – it will set, I promise. If you are having a bunch of people over, it might work to chill the pâté in several small dishes that you can set around your apartment or house.

i know raw liver - EW!

Or, if you are running short on small gifts to hand out, these make perfect homemade gifts. Pour the pâté into a small jar, affix a double layer of wax paper with a piece of twine or ribbon and attach a gift tag. And in an instant you have a thoughtful and luxurious gift! An appetizer that doubles as a gift too? Now that’s holiday cooking worth spending a few minutes on!

Wishing everyone celebrating Christmas a wonderful and festive holiday!

Continue reading chicken liver pâté.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

thanksgiving ideas

Thanksgiving_2006 (12)

In the eleventh hour, I wanted to perhaps collect a few of my favorite holiday recipes here and organize them here for you – in case you were still looking for sides, turkey tips and other ideas. These are not numerous, but it’s a few more recipes and they’re organized here. So rather than search this site, you can just glance down the list and click on what you like.

I hope that you all have a very happy, palate-satisfying Thanksgiving holiday!

My favorite turkey recipe here.

Soup:
Porcini Barley Soup (better picture coming soon!)
Red Pepper Soup

veggies for the stuffing

Sides:
Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Acorn Squash with Spicy Dressing
Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Onions and Lemon Zest
Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Acorn Squash with Wine Reduction
Spiced Glazed Carrots
Apple Celery Salad with Walnuts

Thanksgiving_2006 (5)

Pies, Etc.:
Apple Cranberry Pie
Apple Pear Pie
Pumpkin Bread Pudding Souffle — seriously my favorite thing ever, pardon the nasty pic!
Cornbread Ricotta Cake with Cranberries and Orange Zest
Pumpkin Ricotta Pancakes — for the morning after when you are lounging in your pajamas