Styles

For the Maddening Crowd: Feed a Crowd Sans Stress With Horde-Pleasing Dishes

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:33 -0500

BIG-BIRD DINNERS for your ginormous family. Sunday brunches for a zillion co-workers. New Year's drinks for a mob. During this season of hosting, entertaining on a grand scale might seem more folly than jolly.

But having a crowd over should be about bringing loved ones together, not freaking out about whether you have enough stuffing for everyone, says Eric Ziebold, chef at CityZen (1330 Maryland Ave. SW; 202-787-6006). "When you welcome people for a family-style meal, everyone wants to be in the spirit of eating, not stressing."

Whether you're hosting a holiday feast for Kate Gosselin and kids or a spirited Sunday supper for 45, the recipe for success is the same: Balance the workload so you make something delicious and still see guests. The goal: you sitting down at the table, not slaving over a tray of Beef Wellingtons for 200.

Put It in the Pocket: Discover Empanadas

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:41 -0500

LISTEN, D.C., we know you love your jumbo slices, Big Macs and Subway sandwiches. But for the safety of your arteries and the sake of your palates, try adding another fast food option into the mix: the almighty empanada. This tasty Latin American treat is a healthy, affordable meal that can really spice up your diet — literally and figuratively.

We know the first thing some of you are probably wondering — and it's pronounced "em-pah-nah-dah." Moving on to your second question, the word usually refers to a mix of veggies, spices and often meat (or sometimes desserty fillings), all stuffed neatly into a pastry pocket.

This turnover-type food likely originated in Spain, but as settlers and colonists spread it throughout the Spanish-speaking world, it morphed into a host of regional variations. Empanadas might be fried or baked, sweeter or more savory, a carnivore's dream or a vegetarian's delight.

Recipe File: Oyster and Sausage Dressing

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:41 -0500

GIVE THE HOLIDAYS a salty kick this season with this twist on traditional dressing. That turkey — and possibly your taste buds — won't know what hit it when you stuff this inside.

Ingredients:
» 4 quarts cubed at least day-old bread or cornbread (a mix is fine)
» 1/2 cup sweet onion, finely diced
» 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
» 2 cloves garlic, minced
» 3 sprigs each sage and thyme, leaves only, finely chopped
» 1/2 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
» 1/4 lb unsalted butter
» 1/2 lb smoked sausage
» 1 pint shucked fresh oysters, liquor drained and reserved
» 2 to 3 cups chicken stock
» Salt and pepper to taste

Oysters, A Perfect Pick: 'Tis the Season to Learn What Type of Oyster is Best for You

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:40 -0500

IF YOU'RE AN OYSTER-ORDERING NOVICE, flipping open a menu stocked with Blue Points, Wiannos, Kumamotos and an array of other confusing varieties can make you wish for a shell of your own to snap shut.

We're now in the thick of oyster season (they're edible all year but at their best when the water's cold, during months that have an "r" in them) but choosing a type can be as intimidating as ordering that first glass of wine.

The first step to picking the right one? Relax.

"In my opinion, they're all good," said Mallory Buford, executive chef at Kinkead's Restaurant in Foggy Bottom.

Buford said there's really only one key difference that diners have to keep in mind when ordering oysters: East Coast versus West Coast.

Recipe File: Basic Pie and Tart Pastry Dough (Pate Brisee)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:21 -0500

MANY RECIPES FOR savory tarts, such as quiches, or for dessert tarts or pies with very sweet fillings call for unsweetened pastry. And if the filling is rich you may want to use a minimum amount of butter in your crust. Traditional recipes for this basic pastry, called pate brisee in French, call for half as much butter by weight as flour. The pastry dough is moistened with water and includes no sugar. In this recipe, you have a choice of liquids, because water activates gluten and using eggs or a bit of heavy cream instead helps to keep the pastry from becoming tough. Water makes dough crispy and light, while cream and eggs make it softer and richer. A sweetened version, what professionals call pete brisee sucree, is included as a variation below.

Take care not to overwork the pastry dough; keep it cold and resist the temptation to make the finished pastry dough perfectly smooth and homogeneous — when you roll it out it should look a little ragged, with pieces of butter suspended throughout.

This recipe gives full instructions for a variety of mixing methods — by hand, in a stand mixer, and with a food processor. The stages look similar whether you mix by hand in a bowl or on a surface, or use a stand mixer or food processor.

It's a Wonderful Slice: Dangerously Delicious Pies

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:20 -0500

FOR MANY DESSERT DEVOTEES, the idiom "pie in the sky" is nothing short of gospel. Synonymous with heaven, perfect pie is no cakewalk for amateur pastry chefs. (Easy as pie? Not so much.)

But before trading your apron for a Costco card, take it from flour-splattered pros: You, too, can achieve flaky goodness — no Sara Leegene required.

"Everybody's mom or grandma made pies. It's wholesome," says Rodney Henry, who brings Dangerously Delicious Pies, the pie shop he founded a decade ago in Baltimore, to D.C. this month (1339 H St. NE; 202-398-7437).

But pie goes back much further than your childhood kitchen. "It's a holdover from Anglo-Saxon cooking," says James Peterson, author of "Baking," ($40, Ten Speed Press). "It's a very old French technique to wrap things in pastry then stick them on the hearth to cook." In the olden days, bakers didn't stress about crust, since the dough wasn't eaten but functioned simply as an archaic ancestor of Pyrex.

Recipe File: Cherry Pie

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Ingredients:
» 2 recipes for pie crust (see below)
»5 cups Bing or sour cherries, pitted; or frozen pitted cherries, thawed
» 1/2 cup sugar if using Bing cherries, 3/4 cup if using sour cherries
» 3 Tbsp cornstarch

Makes one 9- to 10-inch pie

The Gingerbread Man: Gingerbread Mount Vernon

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:20 -0500

THIS WEEK: We've always thought Mt. Vernon was just about beautiful enough to eat — and finally, someone agrees with us. Former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier is making our dreams come true this week.

Chef Mesnier will be inside Mt. Vernon constructing a gigantic replica of George Washington's former home out of gingerbread for Christmas. The structure will be highly-detailed and will include a number of figurines made out of marzipan. Drop by any time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to watch him while he works and smell some of that delicious, delicious gingerbread.

We're salivating already.

» Mt. Vernon, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon; through Tue., Nov. 24, free; 703-780-2000.

Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo by Frank Johnston/The Washington Post

Vive le Vin: Alliance Francaise

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:18 -0500

FRIDAY: This year's Beaujolais nouveau will be released on Thursday, so by Friday we know you'll be jonesing for some. You could drink it alone on your couch, or at a divey bar with your friends, but you do that every year.

If you're looking for a somewhat stately, grown-up party that celebrates an alcoholic beverage, try the Alliance Francaise's wine and cheese party. A mix of French music — some dancey, some Piaf-y — will accompany the boozing, and your $35 ticket gets you three glasses of Beaujolais.

» Alliance Francaise de Washington, 2142 Wyoming Ave. NW; Fri., Nov. 20, 6:30 p.m., $35; 202-234-7911.

Photo by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post

Recipe File: Skillet Green Beans with Orange

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:21 -0500

THE SLENDER, TENDER French haricots verts that have emerged in upscale food markets in recent years bear no resemblance to the leathery-skinned, stout green beans our parents grew when we were kids, the kind that seemed suited only to long simmering in a pot with a chunk of really good bacon. In this recipe, we "skillet-toast" those fat beans, which adds a charred, smoky dimension to them, transforming even the toughest beans — which, truth be told, is the kind we find most often in the precincts of the U.S. we inhabit — into something as addictively delicious as salted popcorn.

Serves four. Time: 10 minutes preparation, 10 minutes cooking.
Serve these beans with Pimento-Cheese Potato Gratin and Skirt Steak With Parsley Sauce, and you have a well-rounded, knockout menu that takes only an hour to prepare.