Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Jordan and I decided to stay in Reno for Christmas, rather than drive to LA, due to all the storms scheduled to come through this area. We did get a fair amount of snow over the last several days.

Sunday started off with Pannetone French toast for breakfast. I love the holidays because you see so many special items only made during this time, like Pannetone. We have a little Italian store in Reno that stocks all things Italian. I love walking through this store to see what they have-Torrone, Pannetone, Italian cookies, canned tomatoes, olive oil, and 00 flour, among other things.

After breakfast I started making a Hazelnut-Chocolate Meringue Cake to take to Gas Lamp (one of our favorite restaurants, owned by Chef Danny, who was kind enough to let me use his kitchen for my catering job). Just a thank you. I also hoped he would order this dessert from me for Christmas or New Years as a special. Usually Gas Lamp is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but this year the restaurant stayed open for Christmas eve and will be open for New Years Eve. They are taking Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Nice. Chef Danny did put in an order with me for the meringue cake made in individual portions (as the larger cake is hard to cut unless you freeze it first, then cut it and let it warm up to room temperature before serving it. He did that without even tasting it! Lest you think this was easy, I have to admit I made this cake twice. The first time I made it with egg whites I had left over from another project. Bad idea to use old egg whites. You draw 8 inch circles on parchment paper and keep your meringue in those circles. Well, the first time, the meringue spread so much, I couldn't use them. Hence, the second cake with fresh egg whites. That cake turned out well, thank goodness!

After we delivered the cake, we stayed for a drink, then left to have dinner at Outback Steak House (Jordan's choice). Terrible wine list but the food was ok.

Monday I cooked for my personal chef client. Lots of good food on his menu list! Dijon-Maple Glazed Ham, Yams with Brown-Butter Vinaigrette, Tangy Almond Garlic String Beans, Sausage and apple stuffed Pork Loin, Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries, Mashed Potatoes, Stracotto (Italian Pot Roast) with Porcini Mushrooms, Roasted Cabbage with Warm Walnut Rosemary Dressing, more Mashed Potatoes,

Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast,

Petits Pois a la Francaise, more Mashed Potatoes,

Pasta with Chicken, Sun-dried Tomatoe and Pine nuts, Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce, Ribollita (an Italian soup),

Pasta Pan-Fried with Butternut Squash, Fried Sage and Pine Nuts. Dessert was a Super-Quick Mocha Yule Log, a take-off of an icebox cake. Yum!!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were quiet, perhaps as it should be. I made more of the Stracotto (Italian Pot Roast) for our Christmas Eve dinner. The roast is braised with dried porcini mushrooms, onions and beef stock. Once the roast is done, you take the liquid and vegetables and puree them and use them as a sauce over the beef. The sauce had so much flavor, wow! Thank you Giada (Food Network recipe)!

When we work up this morning, it was snowing, and still coming down lightly. Very pretty if you don't have anywhere to go! I did have to go out for more catfood as well as a couple other things. Jordan had cleaned off part of my car (as well as his own) but there was at least six inches of snow still on the car! I made a quick trip, then came home, just as it started snowing again. Time to just chill out (no pun intended)