A Sweet Send Off for the New Year

One of the things New Englanders love about living here is the distinct changes in seasons. Each season brings new visual beauty to the landscape as well as a variety of local foods that follow the weather changes, such as fresh fruit and corn in summer, apples in fall, and root veggies in winter.

As I sit here writing this column, we are experiencing the first blizzard of the winter. But if you love our other seasons, you will find a special joy in this time of the year, too. Winter is also a season of traditions, which certainly includes dinners at home with friends and family.

This New Year’s Eve finds half my family skiing in Colorado and half swimming in the Bahamas. My wife Leslie’s family is at home in Baltimore and Vermont, respectively, which leaves us to celebrate our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner with close friends.

For the past two years, the same group of four to five couples has met monthly for a “theme” dinner with the venue rotating among all of us. The host chooses the theme and assigns the other courses, i.e., hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, soup, salad, vegetables and dessert. Everyone is free to use their imagination, keeping true (loosely) to the central dish.

We have tried many ideas, such as Italian, French, Indian, Jewish, Greek, vegetarian, comfort food, Spanish and Mexican, to name a few.

This last group dinner of 2010 is also the last meal of the year. It will be held at our home with the main course being my shrimp scampi. The group has enjoyed this dish before, but I chose it for two reasons. First, I have made this particular recipe many times and refined it to a point where it is consistently successful. Since it is likely some drinks will be served earlier in the evening, I didn’t think it was a good time to try something new.

Second, the shrimp scampi recipe can be prepared early in the day, ready to be popped into a pre-heated oven just before dinner. This allows the host to enjoy the pre-dinner activities without hiding in the kitchen. But I’ll save that for a future column.

Instead, I can’t think of a better way to end the year than with a sweet send-off, a wonderful flourless chocolate torte that my wife and favorite baker has perfected. If you have any leftovers, this cake will freeze well. Because the cake is made without flour, it is a good choice for those who are on a gluten-free diet. Enjoy.

A happy and healthy New Year to all.

Cake Ingredients

·        4 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

·        1 oz. unsweetened chocolate

·        2 cups shelled pecans or walnuts or a combination of both

·        2 tbsp. plus ½ cup sugar

·        8 tbsp. unsalted butter (do not melt)

·        3 large eggs, room temperature

·        1 tbsp. Grand Marnier or rum

·        1 tsp. vanilla

1.     Preheat oven to 375°. Grease an 8-by-3-inch round layer cake pan with a removable bottom. Cut a round of parchment paper to fit the bottom and grease the paper, as well, and tap it into place.

2.     In the top of a double boiler over hot water, melt the semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3.     In the meantime, place two cups of pecans or walnuts or a combination of both with two tbsp. of sugar in a food processor and pulse on and off with a metal blade until the nuts are well ground. Remove to a separate bowl.

4.     Next, place the butter and ½ cup sugar in the food processor bowl and process until well blended. Pour in the cooled melted chocolate and mix until smooth—a few pulses. Add eggs, Grand Marnier and vanilla and pulse until incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl and add the ground nuts. Pulse once or twice until the nuts are incorporated.

5.     Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared cake pan. Bake in the 375° oven for 25 minutes. Cake will be soft but will firm up as it cools. Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes or longer on a rack. Invert cake onto rack. Remove paper and cool completely. Cover well and refrigerate at least one hour until ready to glaze.

Glaze & Decoration

Ingredients

·        5 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

·        1 oz. un-sweetened chocolate

·        3 tbsp. unsalted butter

·        2 tbsp. salted butter

·        16 pecans for decoration

1.     Preheat oven to 350°. (I use my toaster oven.) Line tray with tin foil. Bake pecans for three minutes. Be watchful that they don’t burn. Remove and cool. 

2.     In the top of a double boiler over hot water, melt the semi-sweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate with both butters. Stir until smooth.

3.     Line small tray with wax paper. Dip half of each of the 16 toasted pecans into the melted chocolate and butter mixture and place on waxed paper. Place tray in freezer until chocolate sets.

4.     Next, place cake on serving plate, which has been outfitted with 3-inch wax paper strips just under the circumference of the cake. (This will catch chocolate drips and keep the serving plate clean.) 

5.     Pour the glaze in the middle of the cake. Use a spatula to help distribute the glaze over the top and down the sides. As the glaze thickens, use the spatula to pull drips up the side to the top of the cake.

6.     Arrange chocolate dipped pecans around the top of the cake.

7.     Refrigerate until chocolate sets. Lightly run a knife around the base of the cake. Remove the waxed paper strips. Cover and keep refrigerated until an hour before serving. You can garnish with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or dust with cocoa powder or confectioner’s sugar.

8.     Enjoy.

A Full-bodied Winter Soup

Last week, in my personal chef capacity, I was asked to serve a luncheon for eight to celebrate the holiday season. The host requested that the main course be chicken, a challenge to prepare a dish that goes beyond the ordinary. For this lunch, I did a variation of Chicken Marsala, which appeared to be a crowd pleaser.

Chicken needs a good supporting cast. In the tradition of the theater, I decided to give them a great opening “act” and a rousing “finale.”

About the finale first—my wife, Leslie, is a wonderful baker and she was responsible for the dessert in the form of a flourless chocolate torte plus melt-in-your mouth mini-chocolate chip meringue cookies. Four of the eight guests were also celebrating birthdays, so on each plate I included a bite-size cupcake with a birthday candle, where appropriate, to make a beautiful dessert presentation, leaving everyone with a satisfied sweet tooth.

But to begin with, I wanted to start with a spectacular soup that is a perfect starter for meals in this season. As I would be cooking the main dish immediately before serving, I chose a soup that could be prepared a day or two in advance allowing the flavor to deepen; this soup is a little different.

I assume readers of this column can follow a recipe easily, so I will try to include some tips I use to make cooking easier. Look for these “Rick’s tricks” and let me know if you have your own favorite tips.

Carrots and Parsnip Soup with Ginger and Apples

Ingredients (serves 10)

1.     1 ½ lbs. carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise.  (Rick’s tricks: use bags of baby carrots, already peeled and need no cutting.)

2.     1 lb. parsnips – peeled, quartered (be sure to trim hard center on the end of the very big ones)

3.     1 large onion, sliced

4.     Fresh ginger—3 to 4 inches—peeled and chopped (Rick’s tricks: place a couple of sheets of newspaper on the counter, peel and clean everything, roll up the newspaper and there’s no mess!)

5.     6 tbsps. unsalted butter –or substitute extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

6.     6 tbsps. packed dark brown sugar (you can use light, if you prefer)

7.     8 cups chicken brother (a bit more if you need it)

8.     Salt to taste—I tend to under salt my dishes to allow people to add more later, according to their preferences

9.     1 Granny Smith apple—peeled and chopped coarsely

10.   1 cup orange juice (consider using apple cider or a combination of the two)

11.   2 tbsps. grated orange rind

12.   Dash or two of nutmeg

13.   Snipped fresh chives for garnish, if desired.

Steps

1.     Pre-heat oven to 350°.

2.     Combine parsnips, onion, carrots and ginger in a shallow roasting pan. Drizzle with EVOO (or dot with butter) and sprinkle with sugar.

3.     Pour two cups of broth into the pan, cover tightly and bake about two hours until veggies are very tender.

4.     Transfer vegetables and broth to large soup pot and add remaining six cups of broth, orange juice, apple and orange rind. Season with salt.

5.     Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, partially covered.

6.     Puree the soup. Some use a food processor, but I use an immersion stick hand blender which works perfectly with all of my soups. These blenders are inexpensive and really do the job. Add more stock if necessary.

7.     If you like a little “bite,” add a pinch or two of cayenne pepper. Serve warm to hot.

Meet Chef Rick

My love for cooking began at age eight when my wise mother told me that if I was a good boy and did well in school, I could make my own breakfast! The thrill of cooking my first scrambled eggs was enough to send me on a life time of enjoyment in the world of food preparation.

My first wife disliked cooking but didn’t mind cleaning up. Since I didn’t care for the latter task, it was a perfect arrangement. Sadly, other parts of our marriage weren’t so perfect and much later I found myself living alone in New Orleans. There I was introduced into a world of food, cooking and fabulous restaurants.  A change in chefs at a major restaurant in New Orleans was front page news!

I shopped daily at the open-air French Market trying exotic fruits and vegetables from all over the world. The fish markets had fresh shrimps (with heads) and cooking dinners became a treat to which I looked forward. Most of all, New Orleans gave me a different appreciation of food; Cajun and Creole cooking became part of my expanding recipe file, and some of my favorite meals reflect this style.

With a job change, I moved back to New York. Still single and hoping to meet someone, I decided the best way for me to find a date was not in the singles bars (so popular at the time) or through personal ads. Instead, I joined an upscale cooking class taught by the food editor of Harpers Bazaar. I was the only male in a class of 15 and we all had something in common—our interest in cooking. Once again, cooking helped shape my life. It is curious to note how many relationships begin over a meal, which is exactly how I met Leslie, my wife of nearly 27 years, but that’s a story for another time.

We bought our house in Kent 26 years ago and spent the next 12 years as “weekenders.” I found eating out was something I did often during the week (business dinners), and besides, dinner with friends at a restaurant didn’t give me a chance to cook and/or spend an hour or so after dinner in good conversations. So Saturday nights in Kent became “eat at home” most weekends.

During the years I lived and worked as a TV executive in Manhattan, I also found that the best way for me to unwind from the high pressured days at the office was to come home and cook. And when I travel abroad, I love to frequent the local markets, as well as the supermarkets. You can learn a great deal about other cultures by the varieties of food offered in their shops. I find that shopping is an enjoyable part of the whole food experience.

In Kent, my friends seemed to enjoy their meals at our home and I’ve yet to have anyone say “no” to an invitation to dine at Chez Levy. Eventually I began offering my services as a chef at small dinner parties—this as an auction item at various charity events and found it to be a quite successful fund raising item. Recently I began teaching small groups of children how to cook and this has proven to be very popular here in Kent.

And now I have been asked to write a food column for the Litchfield County Times online.  Some of you may have read my previous food columns for www.kenttribune.com and for the Kent Good Times Dispatch. I will share some of my favorite recipes, cooking hints and love of this activity that has been part of my life for so long. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

My column will appear bi-monthly. For starters, here’s one of my favorite holiday side dishes.

It comes as no surprise that sweet potatoes are so often served at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The prime time for harvesting them is fall and winter. Thanks to good storage, sweet potatoes are available year round, but the best and freshest are in your market right now.

Yams and sweet potatoes are varieties of the same root vegetable. Yams tend to have a moist, orange flesh, while sweet potatoes often have a yellow/white flesh. Either one works well in any recipe.

Most families have their favorite sweet potato recipe handed down from “Grandma” and changed slightly with each generation. My memories of Thanksgiving include a baked, mashed sweet potato dish topped with mini-marshmallows. My Grandma is gone now and my guests prefer a less sweet side dish. This variation will make any meal special and may become your family favorite to pass along to future generations.

Rick’s Famous Brandied Sweet Potatoes

(serves 4)

Ingredients

·        4 medium size sweet potatoes

·        2/3 cup brown sugar

·        ¼ cup water

·        2 Tablespoons sweet butter

·        ¼ cup seedless raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

·        ¼ cup cognac

1.     Wash sweet potatoes but do not peel.

2.     Boil in water to cover, 15-20 minutes.

3.     Drain, cool and then peel.

4.     Slice thinly into a greased casserole.

5.     Put brown sugar, water, butter and raisins/dried cranberries in sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Turn off flame and add cognac.

6.     Pour mixture over potatoes.

7.     In pre-heated oven (350°), bake uncovered for 30 minutes, basting several times with syrup in casserole.

Note: Dish may be prepared through step 6, covered, refrigerated and cooked the next day. Be sure to remove dish from refrigerator one hour before baking.