Christmas Present Nightmare

One of the Christmas presents we bought for ourselves was a new bookcase for our kitchen.  Furniture is always a great gift!  Along with everything else we had to do to get ready for Xmas yesterday - finish wrapping gifts, make Amigurumi Snowmen,  and grocery shop for family brunch.  We had to wait for a furniture delivery.

 Now, it is always a challenge to get furniture delivered upstate.  You have to order furniture through catalog companies that actually deliver here.  We have had some disasters in the past but last night was by far one of the worst.  We ordered this very large bookcase for our kitchen and bought something that had to be assembled because the scale was so large.  The delivery men showed up late as usual - an hour after their four hour window in the dark with snow falling.  The worst part - they had assembled the bookcase already.  Big problem since it won't fit through the door.  We had two  choices - refuse it and send it back and God knows when we would ever see it again or disassemble it and then reassemble it once it was in the house.  I asked the movers if they could see if it could be pulled apart.  They were completely useless.  So, they had to deliver the bookcase intact and sit it outside our back door in 4 inches of snow on the ground.  Then, we had to disassemble it ourselves in the dark in the snow and Tim and I had to move it indoors ourselves and reassemble.  Needless to say, there is going to be a nasty phone call made on Monday!  However, we love the bookcase and it's always nice that there will be a little story attached when people ask about it.

Lamb and Apricot Stew

This had to be the best stew we have ever tasted!  Christmas weekend with 4 inches of snow on the ground and a crazy day of gift wrapping and finalizing our Holidays.   Perfect evening for stew and watching Netflix and the snow fall.

Lamb and Apricot Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pound boneless lamb stew meat
Salt and pepper
1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 two inch piece fresh ginger peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup dried apricots
Toasted sliced almonds for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees . In a large heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high.  Season lamb with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 9 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, transfer lamb to a plate.  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is softened.  5 minutes.  Return lamb to pot. along with tomatoes, ginger, cinnamon, and 2 cups water; season with salt and pepper.  Cover and transfer to oven; cook 45 minutes.  Stir in apricots, cover, and cook until lamb is tender 45 minutes more.  Serve stew sprinkled with almonds. ( To store, refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 3 days.)

Buttermilk Waffles

Slow, December morning.  Bessie Smith singing in the background. Good day to make some homemade waffles.  Easy, and lighter with the egg whites whipped.  Tasty.

Buttermilk Homemade Waffles

8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, plus more for waffle iron
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Grease waffle iron with a small amount of melted butter, and heat.  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar , baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour into dry mixture, and combine.

3.  In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.   Fold whites into batter.

4. Ladle about 1/3 cup batter onto each section of the waffle grid; spread batter almost to the edges.  Close lid, and bake 3 to 5 minutes, until no steam emerges from waffle iron.

5. Transfer cooked waffles to a baking sheet; place in an oven set to low heat. about 200 degrees, while using remaining batter.

Yarn Art 2 Lion Brand Christmas Window

Lion Brand is one of my secret little pleasures in the city.  I love this store and I wish they would just expand their yarn offering to better fibers.  I go to Purl for better yarns and Lion Brand for blends and less expensive wool however there's not a broad enough color offering.  However, I do have to give them a huge thumbs up to their contribution to yarn art offerings in their store.  Their windows are always amazing. I  get so inspired when I walk into the store and see new throw, scarf and sweater techniques and patterns.  They do an incredible job.  Their Christmas windows are spectacular this year.  Swan Lake?  The Ice Queen from Narnia?  Whatever the reference - it is gorgeous and the yarn artists who work on these projects do an unbelievable job.  It is a must see.

Robson's Christmas Trees

Robson's Christmas Trees

Sunday was a gorgeous day.  Unexpected.  We took our house guests for a brunch at Two Tarts in downtown Bovina.  While we were there, we decided it would be fun to go get Xmas trees and why not do it in Bovina? We happened to be sitting next to this very nice couple from Margaretville who had just gotten their trees from Robson's and gave us directions out to the tree farm.  We drove back to our house to pick up the truck because the BMW would have drowned in the road mud and drove out to Robson's.  What a perfect day to do this.  We walked around the farm looking for perfect specimens - we have become obsessed with Grand Fir Trees which have this beautiful yew - like leaf and are so soft and scented.  We spent an hour looking at trees and purchased trees and wreathes and drove home.  Such a nice afternoon and great tree farm.

This has to be our favorite desert recipe .  It is moist, flavorful, simple, delicious.

Citrus-Almond Poundcake

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus more for pan

Flour for pan

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

7-ounce tube almond paste

7 large eggs

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons orange zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-cup Bundt pan. Put lemon juice, orange juice and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan over low heat; cook until the sugar dissolves and remove from heat.

2. Put almond paste and remaining 2 cups sugar in food processor and process until well combined; add butter and continue processing until light and fluffy. With the machine running, add eggs one at a time along with zest and vanilla, and continue to process until smooth.

3. Stop the machine, add the flour, baking powder and salt, and pulse a few times — just until the dry ingredients are integrated (be careful not to over process, or the cake will become tough). Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. When a skewer or thin-bladed knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let cool slightly.

4. Pour the citrus soak over the cake and let it sit for about 30 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the cake releases from the pan easily. Cut into slices.

Ravioli with Lamb, Spinach and Ricotta Filling with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

 We decided that it would be fun to make homemade pasta with our house guests for dinner. Well, maybe if we hadn't had so much alcohol - it would have made more sense but too late - the pasta making was a little dysfunctional.  Tim had prepped everything else but the pasta  but we were beyond capable of making pasta - so the ravioli was a little misshapen. However, all the flavors were fantastic.
The pasta was delicious.

Ravioli with Lamb, Spinach and Ricotta Filling

Make Pasta but do not have too much to drink prior to pasta making.

For the stuffing:

1/2 lb ground lamb
3/4 lb young spinach leaves
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons butter
6 fresh sage leaves
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

1. Saute the lamb and set aside.
2. Put the spinach in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water and cook until starting to wilt, 2 minutes at most.  Drain and plunge into ice-cold water, then drain thoroughly and press out as much of the remaining water as possible.  Chop the spinach coarsely and mix with the ricotta. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and stir in the grated Parmesan and egg yolks.  Add lamb as well and mix.
3. If the ravioli are to be stuffed without the aid of special molds, roll out the dough as thinly as possible and cut into 2 sheets, each about 20 x 12 inches.  Using the back of a knife and a ruler, score a grid of 2 inch  squares on one of the sheets.  Put an equal amount of stuffing on each of the squares.  If this process takes a long time , the dough will start to dry out, so you will need to brush a little egg white around each bit of stuffing, so that the second sheet of dough will stick.  Lay the second sheet loosely over the first one and press down lightly around the stuffing, so  that the edges are well sealed.  Using a ruler and a fluted pasty wheel, cut out the squares and lay them on a lightly floured cloth.   Cook the stuffed pasta in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, remove with s a slotted spoon , and arrange on plates.

Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons  flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup cream
5 ounces Gorgonzola cheese

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, sprinkle in the flour, and cook gently, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes; do not brown.   Pour in the stock, whisking constantly.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and simmer 20 minutes, whisking occasionally.
2. Remove the pan from the heat.  Mix together the egg yolk and cream.  Add a little of the hot sauce to the egg yolk and cream mixture, then stir into the rest of the sauce.  Strain the sauce.  Reheat gently (do not boil  or the sauce will curdle), then add the melted gorgonzola cheese and blend thoroughly.