Apples and Onions Recipe Ideas and Entertaining Tips

The Weekend Dish

June 18, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

Friends, what are you up to this weekend?

Lydia is heading to Napa so her hometown friends and family can shower our bride-to-be with love, attention and good wine.

The literary ladies are coming to my place Sunday morning to discuss Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. We’ll drink sweet mint tea and iced coffee and snack on summer berries and whole-grain zucchini bread with mint and basil from Kim Boyce‘s Good to the Grain.

I hope to take my new deck towel to the beach. The man behind these eco-chic throwbacks to a happier, more effortlessly elegant time is none other than Lydia’s baby brother Buck! Talent runs deep in the Ellison clan.

Here are a few more great posts-new and old-for your reading pleasure.
xoxosl

Here’s where I want to linger over breakfast.

Molly’s Chinese noodles make for happy slurping on a hot day.

Will we ever tire of these latté bowls? Not likely.

Anjali’s back!

My summer napkins of choice.

For laughs-The Unbearable Sadness of Vegetables.

Enjoy the beautiful weather!

xoxosl

Service on a Silver Tray

June 15, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

French macaroons on a silver tray

Here’s a great hostessing technique courtesy of my friend Aerin. She and her boyfriend hosted a barbecue last weekend and as the evening progressed and we abandoned the grill for small group conversations here and there about the yard, Aerin emerged from the house carrying a silver tray stacked high with chocolate, hazelnut and coffee-flavored French macaroons (my favorite!). She personally offered them up to each and every guest which was an adorable way to make us all feel special. I love the surprise of a chic dessert served so elegantly after burgers and beer. Wouldn’t it also be fun to serve a simple homemade dessert–like these classic cookies or these ice-cream sandwiches— at an elegant cocktail party?
xoxosl

Karen & Mike’s Wedding

June 8, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

There was so much to love about Karen & Mike’s wedding in Berkeley over Memorial Day Weekend. Inspired by California’s natural beauty, the bride and groom used vintage postcards of state parks and monuments as table markers (we were Mount Tamalpais) and designated each place with a potted succulent.

We sat down to two beautiful loaves of pain d’epi–baguettes hand-shaped to look like individual sheaths of wheat–and ceramic crocks of grilled spring asparagus, marinated mushrooms caps and a coppery harissa-spiked sundried tomato tapenade. We hesitated — are we allowed to tear the bread? Maybe it’s just decoration?–and in our moment of mutual awkwardness broke the proverbial ice.

While our table got to know one another over the tearing and dipping and passing, two waiters came by hauling a steaming pan of paella so we could appreciate our main course all together before tucking into individual plates of smoky richness (food by Anne Walker Catering.)

On the drive home, Angus and I conducted the usual wedding postmortem: how happy the groom looked, how exquisite the bride was in her dress, how fun it was to reconnect with old friends, etc. But what I’ll remember most is how Karen & Mike wanted us to have our own intimate table party: how simply placing bread and appetizers across the table transformed a formal event into a hands-on experience, how the fun of breaking bread with strangers made us fast friends and how pausing to collectively inhale paella’s particular blend of smoke and sea reminded us that the best eating is a shared experience.

xoxosl

The Beach

June 4, 2010 by applesandonions

by Lydia Ellison

We at Apples & Onions have been SO BUSY this spring! We have cooked and decorated our tails off for our clients and we did some celebrating on our own time too! I’m headed to my annual vacation with Drew’s family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Beach perfection. Here’s a taste of what I’m in for…

enough said.

Little House in the Big Woods in the NYTimes!

April 5, 2010 by applesandonions

by Sarah Lagrotteria

littlehouse

in our love of Laura Ingalls Wilder (see Why A &O? on our homepage). This made me very, very happy. The wannabe writer in me has always remembered and loved the line Wells picks out for how gracefully it expresses a child’s understanding of the rhythms of farm life- “And that was the end of the pig’s tail. There would not be another one till next year.”

I confess that while reading these books as a child I had a hard time connecting the pig slaughter and the tree tapping episodes to actual food. As a little girl I was more interested in “dress up”-specifically Laura’s Aunt Ruby putting on her garnet earrings and brushing her hair for a dance party. Cue Pa’s fiddle! -than I was in food production. Not that I’m the only one. As a country, we weren’t much for the process of farm-to-table in those days. It’s nice to watch things change.

xoxosl

My Grandmother’s China

March 9, 2010 by applesandonions

by Lydia Ellison

Last time we were in the South (right after we were engaged), Drew estimated that 75% of all conversations we had with his family were about china patterns. China is an important part of a family’s lineage in the South, all of the women in Drew’s family have at least three sets of china (everyday, wedding and Christmas) and maybe one or two sets they have inherited from a grandmother. I love to look at all the sets and hear the stories about the women who owned them and the time in which each pattern was popular. Just image the meals some of that china has tasted, the conversations it has absorbed over the decades.

For me the penultimate in china patterns has always been my Grandmother Mary Sullivan’s. It’s the Castleton Turquoise that she received for her wedding to my Grandfather, 55 years ago.

It’s Tiffany blue-turquoise color captured my childhood heart and has reigned supreme all these years. I always knew I would “register” for this same pattern in honor of my Grandmother and her classic good taste. Today she gave us two settings from her collection as an engagement gift. I’m so touched and honored.

She also gave us six linen cocktail and dinner napkins handmade by my great Grandmother as part of my Grandmother’s wedding trousseau. The linen color matches the china and they are embellished with silver thread to pick up the platinum edge of the china pattern.

I couldn’t help but do some mix and matching with some dishes I already own…

accent plates from Anthropologie.

And, after Gram left today and I laid out the plates to show Drew he said “I couldn’t have designed a more perfect china pattern myself, I love that blue.”

Wow! Last words I ever expected to hear him say…

Thanks again Gram. We will treasure these always.

Lydia’s Dinner Party Advice

March 1, 2010 by applesandonions

by Lydia Ellison

IMGP4880

Got this question yesterday from a dear friend…

“So I have 5 women coming over (in their 50’s, 40’s and 30’s) and I want to really do it up. Something impressive, but also, not terribly hard to make as I am an amateur.”

This was my response…

Ok this is my advice on entertaining, much of it I learned from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa books and cooking show. Her two biggest rules are…

1. Only serve 3 dishes for dinner and a dessert and only cook 2 of the dishes (i.e. a store bought dessert, or one dish a green salad.) Trust me, cooking is fun but tiring and you have to shop and get the house ready so don’t over do it. Just make 2 really yummy dishes and simplify the other dishes.

2. NEVER make a dish that requires lots of last minute work, you won’t be able to hang out with your guests if you are stirring risotto during cocktails!

So for your party based on that above advice these are my suggestions…

Do 1 store bought appetizers and a signature drink (the sig. drink adds the “wow” factor)
Appetizers ideas-
soft goat cheese drizzled with honey, wafer crackers or bread and walnuts
proscuitto wrapped around bread sticks
sliced cucumber and pita bread with store bought taziki
sliced baguette topped with blue cheese, melt in the oven and then top with a drizzle of honey
olive tapenade and bread and mini mozzeralla balls

Signature Drinks-
prosecco with a spoonful of lemon or raspberry sorbet mixed in the glass
Gwyneth’s dirty martinis
white wine sangria- fruity Savingon Blanc with sliced citrus fruit and a cup of lemonade all mixed in a pitcher
bottle of rose champagne (so chic)

Salad Course– (you must make your own dressing, this one is good)
grilled eggplant with goat cheese
mixed greens with a round of goat cheese on a baguette round toasted in the oven
butter lettuce with a creamy vinaigrette
roast butternut squash salad

Dinner Course-
Vegetable Lasagna this recipe is SO GOOD and you can make it in advance warm it up during cocktails
Indonesia Ginger chicken with garlic smashed potatoes (so so yum)
Baked Shrimp Scampi– incredible!! serve with white wine, french bread and this

Dessert course- no bake ideas
store bought pound cake served with fresh berries and lemon yogurt sauce
good chocolate cookies (from a bakery) and fresh strawberries
good brownies (from a bakery) warmed slightly topped with vanilla ice cream
chocolate sorbet with this raspberry sauce (very light which is good for women) salad

Thought this might be helpful to some of you out there!

xo,

LE

I Carry Your Heart with Me…

February 15, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

I carry it in my heart.

Mortadella and cheddar hearts for a Valentine’s Day cured meats and cheese platter. The mortadella was sliced so thin it was almost translucent (the right thickness for an upscale bologna and cheese bite). When gently cookie cutter-ed into little hearts it looks like a lacy pink valentine. Who knew?

I hope you’re having a lovely holiday weekend.

xoxosl

Parmesan Pudding

February 12, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

It felt like the gods were against me Tuesday morning. The rain was torrential, my umbrella was “missing” (I know exactly who filched it and I’m legally stuck with him), and the only firm bell pepper I could find at the market fell out of of my shopping basket, out of the car and rolled all red and rosy into the nearest sewage drain.

Sigh.

But the world got a bit brighter when I pulled this savory Parmesan pudding out of the oven. Mind you, the literal storm clouds had not cleared, hence the overcast image below, but my inner tempestuousness was soothed by satiny texture of this very rich, very impressive and very easy-to-do dish. I served it alongside grilled lamb chops. It needs something firm and strong tasting (lamb, beef, root vegetable ragu. etc.) to counteract all the soft cheesy-ness of the pudding.

Suzanne Goin’s Parmesan Pudding from Sunday Suppers at Lucques sunday suppersjpg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole milk (or low fat milk works great too)
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 extra-large egg
1 extra-large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a medium pot over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the butter, and when it foams, whisk in the flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and cook for about 5 minutes, being careful not to let the flour burn. Slowly pour in the milk and cream, whisking constantly to incorporate it. The butter and flour will seize up and get pasty first. Continue whisking vigorously as you add the liquid, and the mixture will become smooth. Cook a few more minutes, until warm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk the egg and egg yolk together in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle the eggs into the cream mixture, whisking continuously until combined. Stir in the cheese, and seaon with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour the mixture into an 8×6-inch (or equivalent) baking dish, and cover tightly with foil. Place the baking dish in a roasting pan, and add hot water tot he pan until it comes halfway up the outside of the custard dish. Place the pan in the oven and bake about 1 hour, until the pudding is just set.

xoxosl

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

February 7, 2010 by applesandonions

By Sarah Lagrotteria

My morning tradition consists of propping myself up amongst the pillows and reading the news on my blackberry while Angus showers. And by news, I mean Facebook.

This Saturday what a “friend” was doing was enjoying pancakes, coffee and some Otis Redding. Inspiration indeed. I immediately dispatched a freshly-showered Angus to the market for some maple syrup, which in my pancake dreams is always served hot in a little pitcher (see photo, below), and these blueberry lemon pancakes were born.

Serve with coffee and your favorite radio station.

xoxosl

Blueberry Lemon Pancakes

1-1/2 cup AP flour

3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1-1/4 cup milk (or 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup buttermilk, if you have some on hand)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 tablespoons melted butter

Zest from 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup frozen (or fresh if in season) blueberries

1. Sift together the dry ingredients, flour through sugar. Sifting is key here as baking powder tends to clump and harden, especially if it’s been in your cupboard awhile.

2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk, vanilla, egg, butter and lemon zest. Whisk until homogenous and only slightly lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries.

3. Heat a griddle or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Use a 1/4 cup scoop to add the batter to the hot pan and cook until the edges form a crust and the top bubbles. Flip and cook until the second side is also golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter.

Yield: about 10 pancakes

A little tip–I keep the finished pancakes warm in a 250 degree (toaster) oven while I make rest. Just wrap the stack in some tin foil and keep adding each finish pancake until you can sit down and enjoy them all.