A Toast to the New Year - Nocino

Hi there! I hope you all had a most wonderful holiday season and got everything you wanted under your tree. I know that I'm ridiculously behind with this post, but for the last two weeks I've been in serious cleaning mode. It's not exactly a resolution as much as clearing the path so that I can see the floor and maybe make time to make a resolution. Now that the dining room table is sporting just the centerpiece, now that the stacks of boxes/bags/magazines have been cleared from the living room, now that jars/boxes/pots/pans/cookie sheets have been put away in the kitchen and the piles of clothes washed and put away in the bedroom, now I can look around and start thinking about new projects.


I had finished and gifted the quilt I had started for my mom way back in March. It was one of my biggest projects this year and supposed to have been a Mother's day gift, but instead turned into a gift for New Years. I got the design from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, extending it on each side with the colors used in the wheel and adding family photos printed on fabric. Considering it was my first quilt, I'm rather proud...just don't look to closely at the quilting on the back!



I had also gotten around to bottling and giving out as gifts the Green Walnut Wine and the Nocino I had told you all about back in July. Both came out wonderfully, but I think the next time I make these - and believe me I'll definitely be making these again - I'm going to reduce the amount of sugar and get better coffee filters. The cheap ones kept tearing and I went through almost half the box trying to make sure that the liquor ended up clear and clean.

The wine had almost a port-like thickness to it with a nice spicy warmth and the elusive certain something that the walnuts added, but the Nocino was by far my favorite. It has the citrus notes from the lemon and orange peel in the background, the warmth from the cinnamon and vanilla, but none of these overpowered the actual walnut. When I was little there used to be a dozen walnut trees in our back yard. We lived in an apartment complex so the trees didn't really belong to anyone and as kids we used to climb the trees and eat the walnuts before they were quite ripe, and this liquor reminded me very strongly of those summers of scraped knees and endlessly torn/stained dresses. I let one of my friends smell the jar before it was ready and she proclaimed that even if it doesn't end up tasting good, it can be bottled as cologne because it smelled amazing. I'm glad to say that a small glass, chilled, makes for a wonderful aperitif.

Now I know that June and walnut season seem like a lifetime away, but there's nothing better then enjoying a taste of summer in the winter and planning for the summer ahead. 



Nocino Recipe
Adapted from Simply Recipes, I doubled the recipe, reduced the sugar a bit, added some personal twists, and incorporated ideas found in other recipes across the web.  

Walnut juice will permanently stain anything it touches a deep brown, so you definitely want to wear gloves while cutting them and be sure to wash the cutting board with soap as soon as you are done. 

75 green walnuts, you want them while they're still soft and easily cut with a knife
4 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves (I don't like cloves so I reduced the amount, next time I might leave them out completely)
1 whole vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
Zest of one lemon, make sure to leave out the white pith
Zest of one orange, leave out the pith here as well
16 walnut leaves, optional
4 cups granulated sugar
2 liters vodka or everclear

Great big glass jar

1. Rinse and pat dry the walnuts. Carefully cut them into quarters with a sharp knife making sure that none of the walnuts have started forming a hard shell yet. I wasn't sure what adverse affects the late walnuts would cause, so I tossed the two I had encountered in my batch. One site recommended sticking a needle through each walnut prior to cutting to ensure that it was good.

2. Put walnuts, spices, zest, leaves, and vodka into a large glass container making sure that the vodka covers the walnuts. Cover and shake or stir to mix well. Store for at least 6 weeks, giving it a shake every couple of days or so. I read somewhere, and I really wish I could remember where, that the jar should be kept in a nice shaded area outside, and I liked the whimsy of it so I kept it on my kitchen windowsill (my apartment has no back yard/porch or balcony so it's as close as I was going to get). This had the benefit of me actually remembering to shake it once in a while.

3. After 6 weeks (or two months in my case) remove the walnuts and solids with a slotted metal spoon, again being careful as this mixture will still stain. Strain the liquid through several layers of cheesecloth and then through a coffee filter back into into the rinsed jar to get rid of any debris or sediment, and add the sugar. Shake well and leave for another month or so, again shaking every couple of days.

4. Once you're ready to bottle, just siphon into bottles and cork tightly. Like most liquors it should last several years stored in a cool, dry place and will soften and mellow out with age. Keep a bottle or two in the back of the cabinet and try it every couple of months to see what you like best. I poured myself a taste a month after bottling and it was quite good. I ended up with almost 10 half-bottles (375mL) in the end.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart and OhNuts!

A few weeks ago I got an email from the nice folks at OhNuts! asking me if I'd like to give their products a try and maybe make something and write about it. Now, I've been placing orders with them off and on for a while now and since I love them, I said "Sure!" They have the best prices and quality for hazelnut flour I'd been able to find anywhere online, so of course I asked for that. They also carry amazing pistachios and pecans, and are quite fast and reliable when it comes to shipping, so if its not too late for your holiday baking, I would definitely recommend them.

Hazelnut flour in hand, it took me all of 5 minutes to decide what to make. My coworker's birthday was going to be that Friday and as she can't have eggs, a chocolate hazelnut tart would make for the perfect treat...well, one of three, but I'll tell you more about the others later.



Last year, during that glorious week between Christmas and New Years when stores discount everything and anything remotely seasonal, I got myself a cute oblong tart pan....and promptly forgot all about it. I dug the poor neglected thing out, made a really quick tart crust and caught up on holiday cards while it was cooling. These days between crazy long work hours and holiday related preparations, if I don't multitask I'll never sleep. I'm pretty sure that's true for all of you too.



A quick honeyed and lightly spiced ganache got poured into the cooled crust and left on the counter to set overnight. I probably could have popped it into the fridge, but I wanted it to stay a bit on the softer side and there was time till the next day for it to set. In the morning, I slid it into an emptied Scrabble box (the only thing on hand that was the perfect shape for transport) and took it to work, where it most definitely did not disappoint. Despite someone bringing in donuts, and a giant cookie cake and various other sweets, the tart disappeared and not a single crumb remained.



Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup hazelnut flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp cold water
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp of ground cardamom or 1 crushed cardamom pod

- In a large bowl, sift together the first two flours with salt, sugar and cocoa. Don't skip this step or you might end up with weird cocoa chunks.
- Use a fork to cut in the shortening until coarse meal texture then add in hazelnut flour and vanilla and stir a few times.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cold water over and mix lightly. If your dough seems dry, add more water a Tablespoon at a time. Mine needed two more, but keep an eye on it. You want it to stick together but not get wet.
- Dump the mixture into the bottom and sides of your tart pan, or pie pan, and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes or so.
- Preheat the oven to 400F while the crust is cooling. Prick crust all over with a fork and bake for about 30 minutes. Check the tart at 20 min, you want it to look dry but not much darker then when you put it in.
- While the tart is cooling, put the chocolate in a medium bowl, and combine the rest of the ingredients in a small pot set over medium high heat.
- Stir the cream until the butter melts and the mixture just comes barely to a simmer, then pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes. If you used a whole cardamom pod, pour the mixture in through a sieve to make sure the pod doesn't stay in there.
- Whisk the ganache until it's nice and smooth, pour it into the tart shell and either let it set on the counter overnight or in the fridge for an hour or so before decorating with a few berries and serving.
Note: The tart is pretty rich so a small slice goes a long way.

Leek and Butternut Squash Soup

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had plans to pop in and post a recipe or at least send some wishes closer to the holiday, but life and work intervened and I'd been crazy busy. I mean look, it's almost Christmas! Shame on me for abandoning you guys for so long, especially since I've been giving up sleep to squeeze in baking experiments. Before I jump into the sweets though, and I promise that I'll post one or two ideas for the upcoming holidays, I'll give you what I'd been eating all last week. You know what's good to have in the fridge when you're too busy to even order a pizza? A great big pot of soup.



The wonderful thing about squash is that it can sit in the pantry for quite some time without a single complaint. You can forget all about it right up to the moment you find yourself in front of an empty fridge (to quote my dad "You can ride a bike in there!") looking for some scraps to throw together for dinner that will keep you from once again ordering Thai.



The soup came together in just a little while and made enough to keep the delivery guy away for a few days. So here's my pre-sugar-coma contribution to myself and to you guys. It's healthy, it freezes well, and it's delicious. Oh, and there's no chocolate in it :D



Leek and Butternut Squash Soup
by me, because who has time to search for recipes these days?

2 Tbsp olive oil or a small pat of butter
1 great big butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 pretty leeks, white stalk sliced
1 plump onion, sliced
2 smallish potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups of your favorite stock, either veggie or chicken will work
a sprig of fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

- Pour the olive oil (or butter if that's what you have on hand) into a deep pot set over medium high heat, add your sliced leeks and onion and sautee until starting to soften. Add the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about a minute.
- Add the squash chunks, the potatoes, your stock and your sprig of thyme. I like to keep the thyme whole so that I can fish it out later, but if you don't mind either way, feel free to chop it up. Bring everything up to a low boil, cover and cook until both the squash and the potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes.
- Take the pot off the heat and blend the contents to smithereens either with an immersion blender (my favorite tool) or in smaller batches in your blender. Return to pot and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot in a pretty bowl with an optional dollop or sour cream or drizzle of plain yogurt.

Chicago Food Film Festival - Suck 'n Shuck

Before I get absorbed in Thanksgiving plans I want to share with you the amazing event I was lucky enough to make it to this weekend:

This would be the 2nd annual Chicago Food Film Festival and I got a last minute ticket to the Suck 'n Shuck event. The idea behind this festival is to feature food related short films and literally giving the festival goers a taste of what they see on the screen. It was held at Kendall College and even before the lights dimmed for the films, the organizers delivered on their promise to give us a taste of what the event was all about. While people were arriving and mingling several appetizers were being passed around. The Arancini, breaded and deep fried rice balls served with a mildly spicy aioli, were delicious:

The pulled pork croquettes weren't as picturesque, but they were cooked to perfection and the little cup fit perfectly over my little cup of wine:



I did switch from the wine to the amazing Jasmine Tea Ginger Ale, made by Fresh Ginger Ale. I'm normally not a fan of ginger ale, but they use fresh ginger in theirs and I love jasmine, so I was intrigued and now I'm sold! Next time I'll give Pomegranate and Hibiscus one a try:



The lights dimmed and with a brief intro from George Motz, who directed one of the films being shown and was in charge of the post-viewing festivities, the show was on. Some films were better then others, and of course there were commercials from the sponsors before things got started (with a favorite being this one from Chipotle).

The first film was XXX by Joe Pacheo and Stavros Stavropoulos, a 1 minute "canimated" piece on the private bedroom lives of tuna cans and a rogue can of franks. I tried to find you more information about this film online, but couldn't find anything. The film was cute, so if you feel like digging around a bit, it is definitely worth it.

The second film was called Amor Pulpo by John Craig Ross. It's described as a story of an octopus who caught a boat and came to the city where he met the woman who dreamed him to be, and less poetic but more to the point, it shows how this creature goes from the bottom of the sea to your plate in less then 12 hours. I liked the idea and there were some really beautiful shots, but I thought the film itself was a bit lacking on the story-line. A small taste of the dish served in the film was passed around, but it was lacking in flavor and very chewy.



Next up was Zergut by Natasha Subramaniam and Alisa Lapidus, and tells the story of how the moldy and forgotten foods in the back of the refrigerator rise up against the oppression of the fresh foods residing up in front. It was beautiful and perfectly orchestrated to the moody music used. At one point I got a very unsettling feeling deep in my stomach, almost as if I'd be the one cleaning up the mess when the battle was over. I'm kind of happy no food was served with this one.

Pastry Paris, which I saw a few years back in book form, made an appearance. The film sets to music a few of the images from the book, which in turn featured several Parisian landmarks in comparison to their doppelganger French pastries. You can take a look at a couple of them over here on Susan Hochbaum's website. With the film little plates of perfectly buttery and crispy Palmiers (french take on an elephant ears) were passed around. There are no pictures of these because the lights stayed off and I ate mine instead of waiting for a photo op.

There was What's Virgin Mean?, by Michael Davies, which was a funny little take on "the question" that kids ask. It was cute and you should check it out if you've got two minutes.

Fine Cooking magazine submitted a little video called Dinner for Two, which was essentially a how-to video on making a Valentine's Dinner for two, including a salad, vodka spiked lobsters and chocolate pots de creme. Little portions of the latter were passed around for us to try, but again there was no light for taking pictures.

The last film of the evening was The Mud and the Blood, directed by George Motz, told a story about collecting and roasting oysters in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It was interesting to see how oysters live and grow, plus how loyal the locals are to their harvest.

After the films were over everyone was invited outside for an old fashioned Southern Oyster Boil, hosted by George Motz and his family who brought bags and bags of the very oysters we just learned about, set up a few fire pits outside and steamed them under wet burlap sacks, same as they do back home. I took a million pictures of the process and this being my first boil of any variety, I had a blast shucking oysters, drinking Jameson cocktails, and listening to the live band they brought in for this event.

One of the hosts showing us how to shuck oysters, being careful not to cut ourselves on the sharp shells and instructing us to toss the empties into the holes in the middle of the tables, set up just for this occasion.





I've never had steamed oysters before this, but they were amazing! Not cooked all the way, but slightly warmed through, just to make opening the shells easier, they still had that slippery texture of your regular half-shell variety, but were amazingly flavorful and salty. If you closed your eyes, you could believe you were right there on the coast breathing in the salty breeze.





I took way too many shots of the steaming oysters, but outside, with the Chicago skyline in the background and the steam rolling off in waves and the intoxicating smells of salty oysters and the wood logs burning underneath was irresistible.

As the oysters finished cooking, the hosts would fill up shovels of them and toss them onto the tables surrounded by eager diners wielding knives.

Making a mess hasn't been this much fun in a long time...and not just because I wouldn't be the one to clean it up.





I will definitely be looking for this event next year to see what amazingness they come up with.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

It may have snowed here on Friday, but it's been in the 60s the entire weekend, which is bizarre but I'm most definitely not complaining. Despite the heatwave, I'm well on my way to soup season. Last weekend as I was walking up and down every single aisle of the last outdoor farmers market by me for the season, I ran across little baskets filled to the brim with what looked like shiny ginger, but were labeled as Jerusalem Artichokes.



They looked absolutely nothing like regular artichokes and I eavesdropped as the sales guy recommended just roasting them with some olive oil, salt and pepper to the woman ahead of me. Intrigued, I picked out the fullest carton, dragged them home, and then promptly forgot all about them for a week.



I found the bag a few days back and luckily they still looked good as new. I'd been roasting everything in sight, so I wanted to do something a little bit different with these and so they went into a soup.


Please ignore my dusty table, Suzy homemaker I will never be.

The wonderful thing about soups is that they're incredibly hard to ruin and super easy to make up on the spot. I normally start mine with some caramelized onions and a few smashed cloves of garlic, but I had a bunch of leeks in the fridge and not an onion in sight, so plans changed. A few tiny potatoes left over from the hasselback experiment went in with peeled sunchokes (another name for the jerusalem artichokes, and one that I like more since in my opinion these tasted nothing like artichokes), a few cups of stock, some seasoning, and a bit of yogurt and dinner was served.



Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Recipe made up by me

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed or minced
1/2 lb Jerusalem Artichokes (or sunchokes), peeled and halved
2 small potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 sprig fresh thyme, or just a pinch of dried
1/4 cup cream or lowfat yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

- In a medium pot set over medium high heat combine the sliced leeks with the olive oil and cook until they're limp and just barely starting to brown, stirring often. I over-browned mine a bit, which is why my soup came out darker, but it was still good so don't worry if you do the same.
- Add the garlic and stir it in for about a minute, just to get it to mellow a bit.
- Add the sunchokes, potatoes, stock and thyme, bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes begin to fall apart (about 15-20 min).
- Take the pot off the heat, pull out the thyme sprig, stir in the cream or the yogurt, and blend the soup either in your blender in batches, or in the pot with a stick blender (my favorite tool ever). Adjust the seasonings adding salt and pepper and scoop into bowls. It gets even better the 2nd day, just warm it back up and it's ready to go.