Cocktail Hour

I think I’ve mentioned here before that I don’t really drink.  It’s not for any moral or philosophical reason – I just don’t care for the taste of most alcohol, and I’d rather eat my calories than drink them.  But, for the sake of this project (insert martyr sigh here), I decided to try again.

My husband and I try to get out for a date night whenever we can, but sometimes our schedules and our budget don’t allow for a babysitter and a night out.  So, we made our own date night on our screen porch.  We turned off the TV and turned on the baby monitors, lit some candles, and listened to the crickets.  We laughed.  We sipped.  We didn’t really talk about the kids for once.

He had the “real margarita” (Barefoot Contessa Parties!):

He said it tasted like a real margarita.  I remember wanting to buy margarita glasses when we first got married.  Now I’m glad we didn’t, because in almost 8 years of marriage, this was our first homemade margarita.  I’m glad I know how to make them at home now, though, because one of our favorite Mexican restaurants has gone downhill in recent months.  They always had cheap margaritas, but the food has become so bad there that we won’t go back for the drinks.

I had the whiskey sour (Barefoot Contessa at Home):

It’s pink because I added a little maraschino cherry juice.  Sadly, the maraschino cherries were my favorite part of the drink.  I remember trying (and liking) these in law school, so maybe my taste for whiskey has just disappeared.  I don’t know.  My husband tasted it and liked it, because I went light on the whiskey.  Blech.

I’m just going to have to try harder if I’m going to become a lush.  On the other hand, I highly recommend the stay at home date night.  Within an hour of these photos being taken, the baby woke up and we tended to him.  A few hours later, the 3-year-old woke up.  I’m glad we enjoyed our fleeting quiet time while it lasted, drink or no drink.

Spring Green Risotto

This risotto (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics) was incredible – the lemon zest and lemon juice really added a nice zing that other risottos don’t have.  And it’s a great way to eat a ton of vegetables – I’m thinking about substituting spinach and other green CSA vegetables when they’re in season this spring and summer.  This would be great for vegetarian dinner guests if you substituted vegetable stock for chicken stock.

Lemon Meringue Tart

I was in charge of dessert for this year’s family Easter celebration.  This tart (Barefoot in Paris) represents one-half of my contribution.  Because I am ultimately lazy, I regretfully used a shortcut.  I used (whispering now) a store-bought pie crust.  It was foolish.  Rolling out pie dough is really no big deal, but between my rhinovirus-infected child, absent-for-Holy-Week husband, and the desire to clean the food processor and counter one less time, I resorted to my favorite back-up:  the Trader Joe’s frozen pie crust.  I don’t know if homemade crust would have made a difference here, but the results were less than perfect:  the crust shrank (shrunk?) back from the edges.  The failings of this recipe aren’t completely due to my laziness, though.  The instructions for the lemon filling indicate that stirring it over medium low heat for 8-10 minutes will result in a thick filling.  Try, instead, stirring it for 30 minutes on medium to medium-high heat (and I have the carpal tunnel syndrome to prove it).  At the end of the day, though, I would say that the results were good.  I should have known that a three-page recipe on a holiday weekend was not my best decision, and I shouldn’t take my poor decision out on this recipe.  I didn’t end up piping the meringue on top as instructed, for two reasons:  1.  My laziness (see again, supra), and 2.  I kind of like how the old-fashioned lemon meringue pies look with all their swirls and curlicues.

Fresh Lemon Mousse

This recipe (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics) was rather involved, with multiple steps for a lemon custard, egg whites, and whipped cream, but none of the steps were all that complicated or difficult to follow, and it all came together beautifully.  If I were interested in a more beautiful presentation, I would have found a smaller souffle dish, and I would have piped the whipped cream on top in a decorative pattern with lemon slices.  As it was, this was going straight from the souffle dish into our gaping maws, so the presentation would have been wasted.  Again, the fresh whipped cream impressed my husband beyond words.  I love that simple man.

When Life Hands You Lemons…

… make fresh lemonade!  This recipe (Barefoot Contessa Cookbook) calls for superfine sugar, which may also be called ultrafine sugar or baker’s sugar.  My blender, while lovely and powerful, did not accommodate this entire batch, so I improvised by mixing some of the water and ice with the rest of the ingredients in a pitcher.  The result?  So much better than anything a powder can offer.

Baked Shrimp Scampi

So, this is not nearly as pretty as it would have been had I followed the instructions and used a proper gratin dish.  Still, there were no complaints as we liked the Pyrex clean.

Barefoot Contessa at Home

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I’ve made this before with great success, but this time I overcooked the linguine, so it was a bit mushy.  Oh well.  It was still good, and well worth the effort of removing the tails and poop trails from two pounds of shrimp.  (Why don’t they do that while they’re deveining and peeling anyway?  Yuck.)  Anyway, it was a quick and yummy dinner, and I felt like we were doing something to fight off all these nasty winter germs with all the lemon, garlic, and fresh parsley tossed in.

Barefoot Contessa Family Style, p. 106

Lemon Bars

Much like recipes for lasagna, most people I know have a beloved recipe for lemon bars stashed away in a well-worn cookbook or recipe file.  Mine is in an ancient Lutheran cookbook that my mother used for years.  We know which lemon bar recipe and peanut butter cookie recipe are the favorites by the grease stains on the cookbook pages.  So, I’d never tried this recipe (Barefoot Contessa Parties!, p. 200) for lemon bars before, knowing that I had an old family favorite waiting in the wings.  The recipe was easily halved to fit into a 9×9 pan, and they quite frankly blew other lemon bars right out of the water.  If anyone can judge a lemon bar, it’s an Episcopal priest who has lived in the South and the Midwest, and has been to more funeral receptions than either of us can count.  At those receptions, lemon bars reign supreme.  My dear husband (said priest) has eaten his share of cloyingly sweet bars, as well as too-tart-to-finish bars.  Some have a chemically aftertaste (probably from bottled lemon juice and dehydrated lemon zest).  These were apparently the best lemon bars he’s ever tasted.  The confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on top reminds me of the fresh snow we’ve been getting here lately.

Broccoli with Bow Ties

This is listed under the kids’ section of Barefoot Contessa Families (p. 205), but the garlic, lemon zest, and pine nuts definitely jazz it up for an adult audience, too.

Avocado and Endive Salad

There’s nothing that makes me want to eat salad quite like an avocado.

 

Barefoot Contessa Parties!, p. 137