Before I took a break, I had mentioned receiving my December issue of Food & Wine magazine. I believe I said that I might share some of the articles and recipes that tickled my fancy and as usual, no disappointment on this side. I tried a few of the recipes while our friend was visiting and only one was not warmly welcomed but that could’ve been my bad. Sometimes I say this when I don’t want to believe that someone or something gave me a faulty recipe or directions and sometimes, I say this because I flat-out screwed up.
I’ll get to that later but first, let’s talk about the things I found, haven’t tried but think I would love- lentil soup with smoked turkey by Eugenia Bone and a number of other recipes from her. Eugenia wrote probably my favorite article this month about her month’s recipes and life which read much like mine or what I imagine mine would be in a perfect world. (Even in my perfect world, some things go wrong just to keep me on my toes but all works out in the end.)
If you haven’t noticed, I am a fan of wine especially wine under $20. I buy bottles under $10 but for gatherings might splurge, depending on the guest’s tastes-splurge up to $30ish. The hubs is glad we don’t have many gathering to go to which is something I hope changes once we get to know people better. I also hope my bottle budget goes up as we age, which I will mark as a plus for growing older along with “gaining wisdom” and no more acne. The acne part is wishful thinking, I just have to face that I will probably have it into my 80’s. Anyway, my point is that the magazine contains suggestions for red wines under $20 which you can read here.
I love mulled drinks, I have a few recipes on this site ( mulled cider and mulled red wine) and I found another amazing, slightly different mulled cider recipe using white wine, quince (optional I thought) and rosemary that I will surely make again.
The recipe that didn’t work for us, I know you won’t believe me, was fondue with white wine and whiskey. I liked all the ingredients separately but there was an overpowering whiskey flavor that didn’t go well with Monterey Jack and extra-sharp cheddar, in my opinion. This coming from a whiskey lover, I will not be having this again.
Something not from Food & Wine that I made was S’mores Brownies from Joy the Baker. I know how much our visitor likes brownies and sweets so they seemed perfect and I think there were a huge hit-it’s hard to go wrong with chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. (I could probably manage it though but not this time.) I used my newfound adored Lindt dark chocolate bar with sea salt but you can use an unsweetened chocolate of your choice. I loved this recipe and wish I had one right now.
S’mores Brownies from Joy the Baker
Makes 12
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
5 large eggs
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
12 big marshmallows
Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a 9×13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Stir the butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir the chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl and stir in the warm chocolate mix, then add the dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers and pour the batter into the pan. Place the 12 large marshmallows into the batter and bake until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 to 35 minutes.
Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool. Cool for at least 20 minutes then slice with a knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky.