Crêpe Party

The French conversation group I attend convenes on Thursdays now.  We decided to switch it up and do a crêpe party instead of our regular conversation at the coffee shop.  One of the members was kind enough to offer her apartment up as a place to host it.  The apartment is a section of a red brick Denver mansion that has been split into multiple accomodations.  The host also prepared her special crêpe batter from a recipe that her host family in France gave her.  Another batch of batter was provided by our own native Parisian.  The two of them cooked crêpes up in the kitchen and took orders for what to put in them.

The crêpe party was an excellent idea.  I would like to copy it with my friends.  The host can provide the batter and the guests can bring the ingredients they would like to fill them with.  I brought a big wheel of Président brie and a jar of tomato pesto.  I wasn’t sure how brie would taste in the crêpes.  Usually, a melty cheese like gruyere is used.  It turned out to be hugely popular.  Not to toot my own horn but... most of the crêpes that were made were with my brie and tomato pesto.  The tomato pesto also helped add some flavor to the other mild cheeses.  I got the idea to bring it from the crêpes I’d had at the Fat Frog Café.  

People also brought plenty more savory crêpe options.  We had gruyere cheese, fontina cheese, and mushrooms.  There were many dessert ingredients as well.  We had Nutella (a chocolate and hazelnut spread), bananas, strawberries, whipped cream, apricot jam, and caramel sauce.  I had a Nutella and strawberry crêpe that was heavenly.  Melted Nutella is the only way to go.  And of course there was wine!  We had at least three bottles of different types of red wine.  One member even made an amazing chocolate cake with graham crackers in with the layers.

It was a wonderful social event.  We crammed in the small Denver apartment and got cozy.  We listened to French music bouncing out of the laptop.  Luckily, the host didn’t get tired of making crêpes for us.  That could be one downside of hosting.  The chef is stuck in the kitchen for most of the party.  But luckily, in a small apartment, it’s hard to feel isolated in the kitchen.  I believe the next social event the French group will have is a movie hosted in my apartment.  I have my eyes on a French horror movie for Halloween.

Mabon Festival

I was invited to a Wiccan equinox celebration by my friend Maya.  She was hosting the Mabon festival at her house.  The tradition is to serve vegetarian dishes during the fall equinox.  The guests all brought interesting treats they’d made.  I cheated and bought mine at the store.  I brought a little antipasto platter from King Soopers.  I got garlic olives and spicy olives.  I also got red and yellow peppadew peppers with sun-dried tomatoes.  To go with these treats, I got some hummus and pita chips.  It was all tasty and went very well together.

Maya made her curry couscous stuffed acorn squash that I’d gotten to try previously.  However, she made it vegan style since one of the guests is a vegan.  This meant replacing the butter on the squash with a vegetarian option and using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock in the couscous.  I didn’t taste a difference from the excellent dish I’d had before.  Still amazing.  She also whipped up a spinach salad with pine nuts, blueberries, and strawberries.  I think the dressing she made was cranberry pear vinegar and walnut olive oil.  I really enjoyed the combination of pine nuts and fresh blueberries.  Those two flavors alone would make for an amazing snack.  Maya also prepared hot apple cider that stayed warm in her crock pot.  I liked the spices in it.  There were big orange slices and pieces of clove floating in it.

Jana prepared lentils in a crock pot.  She said it was meant to be lentils but turned into mush.  It still looked appetizing to me.  It had great flavor as well.  I was surprised just how yummy it was.  Vicki prepared some saffron cookies that were supposed to be crescents.  Since they were round, we called them full moon cookies.  They tasted more like biscuits than cookies.  Another dessert we had was Rachel’s homemade mini cheesecakes.  I had one with chocolate and raspberry in it.

There were even more dishes that I didn’t have the room for at the time.  One was Hana’s pumpkin muffins.  They looked very good but were unfortunately hidden under the centerpiece.  I took one for later and ate it at home.  It was tasty and had flax seeds in it which I adore.

It was great meeting new people and getting to know them through their dishes.  We played card games until it was time to leave.  I’m so happy it’s finally fall!

Chili Poppers

The weather is finally turning into fall.  Even though it’s still a bit hot out, I know that sweater weather is just around the corner.  In the late summer and early fall, there’s an addition to the farmer’s markets that is hard to resist.  My parents bought some of the roasted Anaheim chilies.  I have a favorite appetizer that I invented using these.  It takes a long time to prepare but is always worth it.

I take the green chilies and tear or cut them into thin strips (about a half an inch wide at the thicker end).  I used to make these too large and they were hard to eat.  I put about a teaspoon or so of cream cheese on the end of the chili and roll it up.  Then, I take a strip of prosciutto and wrap that around the rolled chili.  I stick a toothpick in it to hold it all together and make it easier to eat.  If you want to be more environmentally friendly, the poppers can sometimes stick without the toothpicks.  I put these all on a baking sheet covered in foil.

I bake them at 350° or 375°.  I always forget how long they might take.  The batch I just made needed about 30 minutes.  Just keep checking on them until the prosciutto crisps a bit.  It’s up to you how crispy you want it.

We usually get medium chilies.  We’ve done these poppers with hot chilies before and they’re killer.  The cream cheese helps with the fire a little but usually the ratio isn’t enough to put it out completely.

I’ve brought these to book club and they’ve always been a hit.  I am thinking of trying a different version on a slice of baguette.  I would spread cream cheese on it and put the chili and prosciutto on top.  It might make it easier to prepare and eat.  Food for thought.

Ratatouille

This dish is my specialty.  Here’s a little background story on my cooking abilities.  The first time I lived on my own was in France in 2005.  The first time I tried making a meal for myself, I had chicken thighs that weren’t thawed completely.  I ended up overcooking it out of paranoia to the point of jerky.  Then I poured too much salt in it.  It was horrible but I forced myself to eat it.  I was depressed that I wasn’t an amazing cook like my mom.

Flash forward to 2008 when I returned to France to live in Paris for a year.  I had bought a frozen bag of ratatouille with all of the vegetables and frozen sauce cubes.  I loved it and decided to challenge myself.  Just by looking and tasting, I set out to make the dish without looking at a recipe or ingredients.  I was able to do it to great success.  That was when I knew I’d finally arrived at my mother’s intuitive cooking level.  I’ve tweaked it a bit through the years but it’s still my signature dish.

I find it easiest to prepare in a Crockpot.  First, I turn it on high heat and pour in a little olive oil.  I chop up about three large garlic cloves and a medium onion and throw those in first.  Next, I chop up two zucchinis, one or two yellow squash, one eggplant, five tomatoes, and half each of a red, orange and yellow bell pepper.  I also add a couple of cans of tomato sauce to help the juices along.  If I have to leave it unattended, I add water so that it can cook down without burning.  For spices, I add Herbes de Provence, pepper, salt, dried basil, and a little granulated garlic to help pump up that flavor.  I usually let it cook for about three or four hours until the vegetables soften and soak up each other’s flavors.

When I first made ratatouille, I instinctively served it over couscous thinking it would be a good match.  It turns out that this is a very popular way to serve ratatouille.  I recently made this dish for my brother and I served it on Near East roasted pine nut couscous.  The mixes are very quick and easy.  I would recommend using the garlic seasoning of this brand of couscous with ratatouille though.  I knew Tyler would also need some protein so I ended up cooking a couple of chicken breasts in chipotle and lemon olive oil with salt, pepper and garlic.  I think the ratatouille tends to go better with beef but chicken is what I had.  It was actually a good match as well.

Tyler raided my parents’ wine collection and brought a Mark West pinot noir to have with dinner.  It seemed to pair well with the ratatouille.  One of my favorite things about ratatouille is that it’s very delicious and very healthy.  You can eat as much as you want!

Oskar Blues

Oskar Blue's website

303 Main Street

Lyons, Colorado 80540

303-823-6685

After a fun day at the Highlands Festival in Estes Park, my friends and I stopped for dinner on the way back into Denver.  We ended up in Lyons at Oskar Blues.  It’s a brewery and restaurant that boasts Cajun and southern cooking.  I have been on a healthy food kick as of late so I had to resist the urge to order the burgers, sandwiches, and fried entrees.  I ended up going with the Portobello Pesto Sandwich.  This has a marinated and grilled Portobello mushroom with pesto, grilled peppers and mozzarella on focaccia roll.  It’s usually served with a side of fries but I went with the side salad with Italian dressing.  The sandwich was amazing.  I loved the melted mozzarella cheese.  The pesto and mushroom had incredible flavor as well.  I didn’t miss meat at all.  The Italian dressing was an interesting homemade variety.  It had a lot of herbs mixed in olive oil and a little vinegar.  The sandwich was a healthy option that I would be tempted to order again even if I wasn't on a diet.

The friend across from me ordered the nacho appetizer as his dinner.  It was a huge plate of food.  I was quite impressed by it.  I may have to go back and pig out on that.

Highlands Festival

Estes Park

A journey to the Highlands doesn’t have to be as long as you’d think.  My friends and I drove to Estes Park for the Highlands Celtic and Scottish Festival.  I must admit that I greatly enjoyed the sight of so many kilts.

The festival had many events such as caber tossing and jousting.  There was also plenty to eat in the food stands.  Some were typical American festival foods and some were attempts at more Scottish and Irish dishes.  I got to try a couple of different food items.  Megan, my Scottish friend, had described haggis to me when she was here.  The way she described it made it sound much more delicious than the typical description.  The description that I find on Wikipedia is that haggis is “a savory pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock.”  The traditional preparation is to cook this in the sheep’s stomach but commercially it’s usually cooked in sausage casing.  The one that I tried was served in a cardboard bowl with the sausage casing cut open and crackers on the side.  It was meant to be eaten with a fork and was also covered in brown gravy.  I really enjoyed it.  It does taste slightly like organ meats, but since I am a fan of liver pâté I’m used to the flavor.  It was well spiced and along with the oats in it, it made for a yummy lunch.  I recommend giving it a try if you get a chance.

The other dish that I got to try was the Scottish meat pie.  I can’t remember the exact meat that was in it.  I think it may have been a mixture of lamb and beef.  It reminded me of the pot pies I used to eat as a kid.  It was in a circular pastry shell much like a miniature pie.  When I bit into it, I tasted a peppery ground meat.  It also had some vegetables like peas and carrots in it.  I was a bit overzealous and probably burned the roof of my mouth on the hot interior of the pie.  I regret nothing.  It was a tasty treat I enjoyed while sitting in the grass.  Thinking of it makes me want one right now.