Wild Boar Ragu on a dark and stormy night...

Since we have nothing but time on our hands while we wait out the tail end of Hurricane Sandy, we're all on a cooking spree. John's home from work, Mummy's here, and I'm here, so there is no shortage of hands to hold, bounce, rock, feed, and burp Julian; and meanwhile, that leaves the other two sets of hands free for more exciting culinary endeavors!

John and I are currently marinating the beginnings of a Wild Boar Ragu in the refrigerator, and have high hopes for tonight's dinner. The recipe is included below-- so if you've got a grocery store open around you on this stormy afternoon-- you too can enjoy Wild Boar Ragu...

*Note Prep-Time: 3-1/2 hours plus overnight marinating

1 pound wild boar shoulder or leg, cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces

1 sprig rosemary, torn in half

1 tablespoon mixed whole black, pink and white peppercorns

4 cloves garlic, peeled

2 cups Chianti or other red wine, or as needed

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small carrot, finely chopped

1 small celery stalk, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 cup canned tomatoes with liquid

2 cups vegetable stock or water

Tagliatelle, or other pasta, for serving.

1. The night before making the ragù, place the meat in a bowl with the rosemary, peppercorns, garlic and enough wine to cover. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Discard the rosemary and garlic. Drain the meat in a strainer set over a bowl, reserving the wine. In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering, and add the carrot, celery and onion. Sauté until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the meat and cook, stirring frequently, until all the liquid released by the meat has evaporated and the meat is browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the reserved wine and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is dry, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon. Add 1 cup water, reduce heat to very low, and cook, partly covered, at a low simmer for 1 hour.

4. Add vegetable stock and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the meat begins to break apart, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove from heat and, using a whisk or spoon, break the meat into very fine shreds. Serve, if desired, over tagliatelle or other pasta.

*Note Serving Size Too: 4 first-course servings.

We'll report back with any revisions to this recipe once we've made it through the final steps and tasted it! Pretty sure it's going to be great! 

Holy Pietmontese Hazelnut Cake!

Mummy just sent me the cookbook "The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook" and after lustily flipping through the book, we/she decided to make a Pietmontese Hazelnut Cake. The results were beyond delicious, so if you've got some spare time on your hands (trapped inside due to a hurricane, for instance...) this is an excellent and rewarding pastime. Planning to eat another slice for dessert tonight, come hell or high water! (Sorry- I couldn't resist.)

Mummy served the hazelnut cake with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato, and it was truly a slice of happiness... Highly recommended! 

Piedmontese Hazelnut Cake

Makes one 9-inch cake

7 T unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
¼ C semolina, plus more for the plan

2 C hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and cooled

½ C cake flour

1 t baking powder

1 t kosher salt

1C packed brown sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

2 T pure vanilla extract

2 T olive oil

Powdered sugar as needed for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

• Butter a 9-inch cake pan. Line with a 9 inch round of parchment paper. Butter the paper. Dust the pan with the extra semolina, shaking out excess. Put the pan in the fridge to set the coating while you’re making the batter. 

• Put toasted, skinned hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. 
• In a small bowl, combine the cake flour, remaining semolina, baking powder and salt. 

• Put the remaining butter and the brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream together for a few minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next egg. Scrape down the bowl. Add the hazelnuts and beat briefly to combine.

• Remove bowl from mixer then add dry ingredients, folding together gently with rubber spatula.  Fold in vanilla extract and olive oil, then scrape into prepared cake pan.

Bake cake until top is browned... 30 – 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool on rack for about 15 minutes. To unmold, run a small knife around the cake. Turn out on to a plate or a piece of cardboard. Turn right side up on to another plate. When completely cool, sift powdered sugar on to the top of the cake.

Slice and serve.

This is a European-style cake, so it’s not as moist as an American cake.  A slice of this cake calls for a glass of Vin Santo or Moscato d’Asti.

Finally some time on our hands!

I know it's been a while. I think we should all agree that I have become a completely unreliable blogger, and we can all just accept my inadequacies. You, the readers, can come to expect my inconsistencies, and I, the writer, can come to terms with my guilt about said inconsistencies. Perfect.

We have actually been busy-- not just with baby-related stuff-- but lots of other ventures too... I've been cooking up a storm, designing two new shop windows at showrooms on the Upper East Side, and getting Fox Ridge prepared for the oncoming winter season. The following posts will update you on all our progress! Read on...

When Julian was born, we had the idea that we'd like to plant a tree that would grow along with him-- something we and he could watch get bigger and stronger each year, just as he gets bigger and stronger. Because we like to keep things simple, we chose to plant a Bartlett pear tree. Evidently this requires another pear tree to pollinate it to produce flowers and fruit, so then we had to plant another pear tree...

Fast forward to last weekend, when we planted two lovely little pear trees out at Fox Ridge, and now, assuming they hold up against the blustery winds of Hurricane Sandy, we'll have Bartlett and Bosc fruits popping up next summer (or a couple of summers later)! Such a wonderful landmark to celebrate Julian's birth and each of his ensuing birthdays!!

Nice and toasty!

John and I realized, as soon as the weather got chilly, that both our apartment and Fox Ridge were too cold for a little fella like Julian. When we first renovated the cottage, we installed two of these highly efficient wall panel heaters in the living room, and they've been keeping us toasty and warm ever since.

So when we decided we needed to add some extra heat to both places, they were an easy go-to solution. They're reasonably priced (less than $90.00), SUPER EASY to install, mega energy efficient without being too hot to the touch, and not too costly to run either! I tell you, is there nothing these heaters don't do???

What is even more incredible-- these heaters are paintable-- so you can paint them the same color as the walls and they're almost invisible.

For the worry-warts who are reading: I do realize that we'll probably have to warn Julian not to touch these heaters once he's on the move, but they really don't get very hot to the touch, so hopefully it won't be too much of a hazard in the future... 

Now that John has put these babies up (lickity split, 1,2,3), we've just got to find the time to get them painted... Next up! : )

Yummy Autumn Veggies (with a twist)!

You might remember that last fall I went on a roasted-tuber-tear, living on a diet of almost exclusively sweet potatoes, yukon golds, beets, brussel sprouts, and squash; roasted merrily together with some garlic and olive oil until irresistibly delicious (approx. 30-45 minutes in a 375 degree oven). Surprisingly, this fall looks like it may be no different, with one little twist added into the mix.

Mummy recently turned me onto a recipe for roasted vegetables that is positively terrific and just as easy...

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Take all of the usual suspects (any kind of tuber-- turnip, parsnip, beets, squash of all sizes, carrots, potatoes, you name it! I also love adding brussel sprouts!) then prep and peel. (I like to leave the skin on the potatoes and sweet potatoes so it crisps up a bit, plus it makes things a tad healthier...)
• Chop into relatively uniform sizes, so that you end up with about 4-5 cups of veggies. 
• Whisk together 1/4 cup of olive oil with 3/4 cup of good quality maple syrup (the better the syrup, the better the flavor, so don't cheap out here. This is NOT the time for Aunt Jemima!) 
• Season mixture with salt & pepper and then pour chopped vegetables into this mixture and gently toss until coated. 
• Pour into one or two large shallow oven pans so that you can spread the vegetables out without having them overlap onto eachother. 
•  Bake at 375 degrees for 30-50 minutes, checking and gently flipping the vegetables every 15 minutes to make sure they don't get overly crisp. 

Note: It's important to keep an eye on these as they cook! Burned tubers just taste like burned flavor. Highly disappointing... I'm coming from an informed place here! 

This makes a wonderful side dish all through the autumn and winter, serving 3-4 people. There are a couple of yummy sounding variations on this recipe which I have yet to explore... adding grainy mustard or balsamic vinegar to the mixture... both of which sound pretty delish. I'll report back!

Oh No! Falling Victim...

The perils of online shopping... I have fallen victim to another throw pillow. Well-- I guess I'm not its victim yet, but I'm deeply smitten and caught in its tantalizing web of over-spending. : )

Look at this pillow, found at Anthropologie for a mere $198.00... Do I know how to pick 'em or what?So very cute for a nursery though... Mummy used to sing this song to me when I was little, which makes it especially sweet. I'm thinking maybe I could buy some fabric paint and a stencil and whip up a similar pillow up myself. That seems considerably easier than trying to make the crewel-stitched forest animal pillow that I fell in love with last week. : )

And considerably cheaper! 

Oooohhhh! Covet!

While searching online for throw pillows for a client project, I bumped into this gorgeous pillow on the Horchow website. Sadly, priced at $195.00, it is WAY out of my price range, but it sure is fabulous! It would be beyond adorable in Julian's nursery-- especially with the little forest animals to complement the orange Dwell Studios Fox Blanket and his woodland mobile...

Ah well. In another lifetime... 

I'm pretty sure it is not a responsible use of funds to buy a baby a $200.00 pillow! : )

Sliver O' Celebrity!

A long while ago, Nate Berkus and his crew came out to Fox Ridge and filmed our little house in all its splendor, and included the segment on his day-time television show, "The Nate Show".

Many months later, I was approached by his publicist to participate in a book that he was compiling about people and their homes, and how their collections speak to who they are... Of course I was thrilled to be included, and happily hosted his crew back at the house for another round of photos and an interview. Totally cool!  

Fast forward to a few months ago, when I got a call from Nate Berkus himself, telling me that the vast majority of my piece had been cut from the book (bummer!) along with Maya Angelou's and Julianne Moore's (at least I was cut in good company), but that he'd like to include us all in a sub-section called "Things that Matter to..." which would focus on the one object in our home that we hold most dear and why...

Since beggars can't be choosers, I obligingly obliged, and today a copy of the book arrived in the mail!  Check out my little snippet below, and the lovely little sketch that accompanied it! And if you want to buy a copy of Nate's new book, you can find it here!