I was captivated by the Champagne brownies made by Kelli from Lovescool, but the price tag threw me off. One commenter said she'd paid over $50 for the ingredients. I'm just a little bit lush, so I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea: enact the brownies with all Oregon ingredients. Domaine St. Michelle Blanc de Noirs from nearby pinor noir country. Cremerie Classique butter from Clackamas, Oregon. Dagoba chocodrops.

I made the brownies almost following the directions, leaving off the champagne jelly (that seemed just a bit over-the-top to me) and replacing six ounces of the dark chocolate with a cup of first-quality cocoa and six extra tablespoons of butter. The texture? Amazing, fudgy, moist, absolutely transcendant. The flavor? A bit too rich and bitter for my taste. My three-year-old took a huge bite and then spit it out (it's not exactly preschooler speed). It's a recipe worth making, but I'd make certain your audience was properly prepped to appreciate the richness, the expense, the work.

I'd been itching to try this recipe since it came out in October's Gourmet . I am a sucker for alchemy cuisine, anything that rises or changes color or shape and turns into something else, so the idea of purple wine-soaked spaghetti thrilled me. This recipe is basically a version of my favorite broccoli and ziti standby, only with the addition of red wine. I had assumed before reading the recipe that the noodles would be boiled in the wine but it was actually a process that involved parboiling both the pasta and the broccoli.

The wine is added to the partially-cooked pasta. The fun part is watching it slowly change color as you boil it. The recipe calls for a red zinfandel, and you could probably use any red, but I think a heavier wine like a zinfandel or a cabernet sauvignon adds a nice purple hue. I was curious to see if it would taste wine-heavy. It definitely had a wine taste although it wasn't overpowering.

Overall I'm not sure if it added enough bang for my buck to cook pasta this way again, but it was fun for novelty's sake. One caveat to those who are making this recipe is to have extra wine on hand if you want to recreate the deep purple shown in the Gourmet article. It's definitely festive for the holidays.

1 cup white sugar
1 cup orange juice
12 oz package of fresh cranberries

Put ingredients in a sauce pan and dissolve the sugar in the o.j. over medium heat. Stir in the cranberries and cook unti they start to pop, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl. Add splash of Campari very carefully. The sauce will get thicker as it cools.

I make chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons each year for the holidays but in honor of today's event I decided to perform a few boozy experiments. I am a firm believer that anything can be made better with a little booze. I think every cook who has experimented with cooking with liquor probably has a few bottles of half-finished liqueurs around the house. My recipe uses the same proportions as this one only I use almond instead of vanilla extract. In order to get the maximum flavor for my experiments, I upped the flour a bit so that I could include more liqueur. The results were mixed.

Continue reading Cooking with Liqueurs: Coconut Macaroons

This sounds like something Homer Simpson would have a wet dream over. 

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 tablespoons dried buttermilk powder
2 large eggs
3 oz. IPA beer
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled

The recipe seems rather easy to make. Just make sure you pay close attention to the directions (especially when it comes to making sure you don't overmix and don't overbrown the donuts).

We at Slashfood love our French Onion Soup.

To be quite honest, I would be okay without the soup and just eating the crouton topped with the melted, bubbling, gurgling, broiled cheese, but then, all my guests would wonder why their soups were naked.

I tweaked a recipe for an onion soup that's like a French onion soup, but has a broth base made with a lot of white wine and (specifically, Riesling) and chicken rather than beef stock. It was my first time ever making an onion soup, and though it was different from a regular brown French Onion Soup, it tasted pretty good. Then again, the extra Riesling I drank while the onions were sweating might have made me a more generous critic than normal.

Continue reading Cooking with Riesling - Riesling Onion Soup

I am all for quick and simple dishes - the freshest and best ingredients need little in my experience to shine. This recipe, a highly adaptable one I should add, comes from Rick Stein's Food Heroes:another helping. It is adaptable as the crayfish (he recommends fresh water crayfish which are abundant in the UK's rivers) can be substituted with langoustines, lobster or large prawns.

Linguine with Crayfish - serves 2

• 225g (8oz) cooked freshwater crayfish tail meat
• 225g (8oz) dired linguine
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 4 tomatoes skinned, seeded and finely chopped
• 50ml (2 fl oz) dry white wine
• 2-3 tablespoons double cream
• 1 small bunch of basil torn into small pieces
• salt and pepper

Cook the linguine for 8-9 minutes until al dente. Fry the garlic in the olive oil, add the tomatoes, white wine and some seasoning, Cook 4-5 minutes until the liquids have reduced a little. Add the crayfish, the cream and simmer for a minute until the crayfish is warmed through. Add the basil, check the seasoning, and toss into the drained pasta.

A note on the wine - I tend to use unoaked wines in cooking. Those heavily oaked chardonnays can add oak/woody flavours so I generally go for Italian whites or cheaper wines from the South of France. Sauvignon Blanc works well too.

[Photo Andrew Barrow]

If I could, I'd drink Bailey's Irish Cream right out of the bottle as if it were a giant Starbucks Frappucino. But since it's Spirited Cooking today, I restrained myself, poured it on the rocks, and waited for inspiration to strike.

Cheesecake.

I've done a pure Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake before. This time, I swirled it with coffee. Who know's what else I would have swirled it with if I had a little more than two glasses?!?

Continue reading Baking with Bailey's - Bailey's Irish Coffee Cheesecake

The first thing that you'll notice when you make your own eggnog is that it is not nearly as thick as store-bought eggnog. This is because the carton packaged drink is cooked, ensuring that there is no harmful bacteria in the drink, from raw eggs or otherwise. It is actually a sort of very thin pudding or custard, rather than simply a rich drink, as is traditional eggnog. If you choose to make eggnog at home, most likely you have decided to tempt fate by using uncooked eggs or paid the few extra dollars for in-shell pasteurized eggs, just in case. I looked at the .005% risk of finding an egg with salmonella and decided to use raw eggs anyway.

Eggnog is no health food, all salmonella concerns aside. I used Alton Brown's recipe, which contains several egg yolks and a fair bit of heavy cream. It wasn't difficult to put together and the 'nog was light, with a foamy, fluffy top, in sharp contrast to the heaviness of store-bought stuff. Feel free to increase it as you see fit. It might be a little rich for my usual tastes, but it makes a great once a year treat.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Continue reading Spirited Cooking: Homemade Eggnog

I can't remember ever having a French onion soup that I loved. Sure, it was a dish I'd eat without complaint. But never have I longed for a cheese-crusted bowl of sweet oniony butteriness. Until now.

I was idly flipping through Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, my favorite coffee table cookbook, when I came across this recipe. I had a huge bag of onions and I was intrigued: evidently, Jacques preferred white wine for "extra flavor" in his onion soup, while Julia Child preferred red. As I identify more with Julia than Jacques - and I had a bottle of red wine at the ready - I figured, why not? Off went my hubby to the market to get Gruyere, and some more wine, just for good measure.

Little did I know I was only an hour away from addiction.

Continue reading Cooking with Cotes du Rhone: French Onion soup

Tres Leches Cake is in my list of favorite cakes of all time. I would have said that Tres Leches is in my Top 20, but that sounds a bit gluttonous, doesn't it? I can't narrow the list down to a manageable five because, come on, it changes depending on the time of the month, you know.

Tres Leches translates to "three milks," sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. These milks, along with rum, make up a sticky sweet syrup that get poured over a simple, somewhat dry, sponge cake that soaks it all up. When it's all said and done, Tres Leches cake is not pretty. It weeps the sticky milk syrup from underneath, and when you cut or bite into it, the cake falls apart and oozes milk syrup all over the plate, your chin, the front of your shirt. A delicious, but very worth the drycleaning, mess.

Typically, the cake is made in a 9x13" rectangular pan, but I made them into cupcakes so I could restrict myself to just one. Otherwise, I'd eat the whole damn thing.

Continue reading Baking with Rum - Tres Leches Cupcakes

Let's face it: eggnog is not quite the same without a little something to warm you up. And when you're making big batches of punch laced with bottled holiday cheer, you don't always stop to consider all the options for non-drinking guests. Whether you have kids, are the designated driver or simply choose not to drink, you may have to come up with some nonalcoholic options during the holidays. The familiar, but excellent, standby is definitely Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, which is always a hit in any crowd with its bright, sweet taste and pleasant fizz. Other sparkling fruit juices, like Cranberry and Pear are good alternatives.

Moving away from the champagne-like drinks, "mocktails" can be a good option at the bar. Try mixing Sprite or lemonade with a splash of grenadine for a Shirley Temple or tomato juice, Worcestershire and Tabasco for a Virgin Mary. Hot drinks are also nice on cold nights and holiday classics like Hot Cocoa and Mulled Cider, or coffee drinks like a Pumpkin Spiced Mocha.

When we first decided on Spirited Cooking for Slashfood's December theme day, I promptly went out and bought a bottle of Bailey's to replace the bottle I'd be finishing off on the rocks, as well as another bottle of Kahlua because, really now, you can never have enough coffee flavored liqueur in your cabinet, right?

I like Kahlua in coffee, but I'll tell you, it tastes pretty damn good in a brownie, too.

Continue reading Baking with Kahlua - Kahlua Fudge Cheesecake Brownies

This is simplicity itself and tastes just gorgeous! The ingredients list is long but worthwhile I feel. It is adapted from The Wine Lover Cooks Italian by Brian St. Pierre.

Marsala Turkey Stuffing

• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1lb minced pork
• 8 ounces Italian sausages removed from casing
• 2 cups cubed sourdough bread
• zest of 1 orange
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 1/4 cups quartered prunes
• 3 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 cup dry Marsala
• pepper and olive oil

Cook the onion and the garlic in olive oil until soft. Add pork and sausage meat and cook until lightly brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a bowl combine breadcrumbs, zest and juice, sage, thyme, prunes, nuts, parmesan, Marsala and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the cooked meats and mix well. And there you go - stuff the bird!

This Christmas I was going to serve goose for the main meal; until I found out how hideously expensive they are. And I was going to serve it with this sauce (as detailed in the Times recently). Traditionally Cumberland Sauce is served with ham but it is supposed to be good with both turkey and goose. No goose for me though; it's lamb shanks this year.

Cumberland Sauce - serves 4

• 1 orange
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 4 tbsp redcurrant jelly
• 50ml port
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• Pinch ground ginger

Zest the orange and lemon and cut into pithless fine strips like those in marmalade. Put in a saucepan cover with boiling water and simmer for 4 minutes to remove the bitterness. Drain. Place the shallots in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for a minute and then press out the excess liquid. Add the shallots to the the drained zest. Melt the jelly and stir in the port. Add the zest and shallots. Let it boil for a minute or two then add the juice from the orange and the lemon plus the mustard and the ginger. Mix and serve hot or cold.

Continue reading Cooking with Red Wine: Coq "Faux" Vin

The advantage of using Grand Marnier in cooking is that the miniature bottles are readily available (at least they are in the UK). This sauce recipe was given to me by a trainee chef I know with the suggestion it is served with créme brûlée, poached fruit or a steamed pudding. I can't wait to give it a try...

Marmalade-Liqueur Sauce

• 15g marmalade orange, lime or tangerine
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange-based liqueur

In a saucepan combine the first three ingredients. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat then reduce heat and simmer gently for just a couple of minutes. Remove from heat. If serving hot, stir in the Grand Marnier and serve immediately or allow to cool a little before adding the liqueur and serving.

If you have spalshed out on a full bottle, the Grand Marnier website offers six recipes you could play with. Or you could just drink it over ice...

Continue reading Cooking with Spirits: Penne alla Vodka

Not a great fan of parsnips me - in fact along with mushy peas they are perhaps one of my most detested foods. Still a lot of people enjoy them (for some odd reason) and may relish this recipe. It comes from Jill Norman's New Penguin Cookery Book (ISBN 0140276556 £14.99/US$22.68).  

Parsnips with Ginger

• 3 tbsp butter
• 500g parsnips finely sliced length-ways
• 3 pieces stem ginger in syrup drained and finely chopped
• 100ml Madeira
• Pinch Nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

Melt butter in a pan and add the parsnips. Stew, stirring over a gentle heat for 15 minutes until soft but not browned. Add ginger, Madeira and nutmeg plus the seasonings. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add more Madeira during cooking if it looks a little too dry.