Recipes

Refreshing Summer Sparkler
When citrus fruits are plentiful, buy a bunch. Peel and dry the zest as outlined in the Cognac Currant Cheesecake Hints section and juice the fruits, freeze the juice. Make your syrup when the mint is abundant in your garden and freeze that. When guests drop by, you have the components already at hand for a beverage that looks like you planned for their visit.
Ingredients:
· Mint Syrup (recipe follows)
· Fresh Lemon Juice ( Grapefruit, Lime or Orange juice also works well)
· Club Soda ( or Pellegrino-still water will also make a refreshing drink
Fill pitcher with ice. Splash in a little lemon juice in, sweeten to taste with mint syrup and fill with club soda. Garnish with lemon slices and springs of fresh mint.
Mint Syrup:
I make this all summer long when the garden produces copious amounts of mint then enjoy it at my leisure!
INGREDIENTS:
· 2 parts sugar
· 1 part water
· Fair amount of mint.
Preparation:
1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, boil a minute and remove from the heat.
4. Stir in handfuls of mint.
5. Allow to cool completely and thicken, then bottle.
I make this all summer long when the garden produces copious amounts of mint then enjoy it at my leisure!

Savory Cognac Currant Cheesecake
Yield: 1 small cheesecake which can serve up to 20 depending on other items served
INGREDIENTS:
7 Tablespoons toasted Almonds (chop 5T. 1/8”and reserve 2 T. for garnish)
1 cup currants macerated in cognac to cover (approx ¼ cup cognac)
2/3 lb cream cheese- room temperature
2/3 cup ricotta or sour cream- room temperature
2 extra-large eggs + 1 yolk- room temperature
1 Tablespoon orange zest (no white pith)-finely grated (a microplane works great for this)
2 teaspoons sugar
Light ¼ teaspoon ground Cardamom
Pinch of ground nutmeg (try to use whole nutmeg and grate with microplane or better yet, nutmeg grater….the flavor cannot be compared to the sawdust purchased in those small expensive jars)
Pinch ground white pepper
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon almond extract
6”- 8” spring form pan with bottom wrapped in foil.

MIXER METHOD:
Measure all dry spices/sugar, almonds, grated zest and put aside.
Beat cream cheese till smooth, scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time till incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl after each egg.
Add spices/sugar/zest/almonds and lightly mix in, scrape down sides of bowl.
Add ricotta (or sour cream), till incorporated, scrape down sides of bowl.
Drain currants (reserve liquid – see Tips) and stir in.
Add extract, beat till all mixed in. Do not overbeat.
FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD:
Measure all dry spices/sugar and put aside.
Peel ¼ of orange and chop till fine, and almonds and chop coarse (remember, they will continue to be ground up as you add other ingredients)
Add cream cheese and pulse till mixed smooth; add eggs, 1 at a time till each egg is incorporated periodically scraping down sides of work bowl.
Add ricotta or sour cream and spices/sugar. Pulse a couple of times and scrape down sides of bowl.
Add extract and pulse till incorporated. Drain currants (reserve liquid-see tips) and pulse VERY lightly to mix in. Do not over process. You may have to additionally stir manually to mix currants in so they do not become chopped.
BAKING:
Pour into prepared spingform pan.
Bake at 300 degrees 30- 40 minutes depending on your oven. Try not to open your oven door for the first 20 ish minutes, use the light to check the action and see Tips and Hints for determining when your cheesecake is done. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in oven for at least 1 hour, I have left it in till the oven has cooled. Chill for 1 day. Remove cheesecake from pan by removing foil from pan. Gently release latch of pan. Run knife along the interior of the pan. Release the sides of the pan all the way.
At this point I remove the cake from the bottom of the pan and move onto a bakers cardboard round. These are available at party stores and craft stores like Michael’s.
SERVING:
For the Tour I spread the top with our own Meyer Lemon Vanilla Bean Marmalade. Other garnish ideas could be:
a quality store bought orange marmalade
sour cream mixed with a bit of orange zest and a touch of sugar would work
and for the lazy day-leave it alone!
After dressing the top, holding the cheesecake from the cardboard disk underneath (or a plate) gently press the reserved almonds into the sides.
Serve with crackers, thinly sliced baguettes, sliced apples or pears and definitely cocktails!

TIPS, HINTS & THOUGHTS
1. How to tell when your cheesecake is done.
Don’t open your oven door more than you have to during baking. Watch the action by using your oven light. Once the cheesecake rises a bit, this is when you can turn it.
2. You want the center of the cake to not completely set during baking. When you gently shake the pan, the middle should – ok, pardon me for this one, and try not to laugh too loudly- the middle should move like a silicone breast implant- not that I have firsthand experience with this….. The sides of the cheesecake also look like they have set and have JUST begun to move away from the pan.
Once you have achieved this state, shut the oven off, close the door and leave the cheesecakes to come down gently in temperature. This should prevent cracking.
Save the cognac which the currants have macerated in. You can add more currants for the next time you make this, add this liquid to a sauce for winter meat dishes, use for a winter dried fruit compote or vegetable stew.
3. I have tripled and quadrupled this recipe when needed. If you are heading into entertaining season or want to bring something along during the holiday parties, make these ahead and freeze them UNGARNISHED. Pull them out a day before and place in the refrigerator to defrost and garnish the day of.
4. My original recipe was for ricotta, in the midst of making the m for a catering, I realized I had to ricotta; hence the sour cream version was born. Please do not be afraid to substitute. No oranges, use lemons. Use dried peel. No almond extract, try orange or lemon. EXPERIMENT!!!
5. If your cake split and you really don’t want to put it out the way it looks, change the shape of it. Use it as a spread, smoosh the cheesecake into an attractive bowl and surround with the crackers and fruits. Same can be said for leftover cheesecake.
6. DRIED PEELS. Citrus is essential to my cooking. Sometimes I need tons of juice and have no use for the peel, when that happens, first I lightly peel the fruit and place this peel (no white pith) on a sheet pan and place in my turned off oven for a couple of days. Once the peel has dried, I pulverize it in the food processor and jar it up for that day when I may have run out of that particular fruit or I just need something extra! Uses for dried citrus peel are ENDLESS! Mix with salt and pepper and place on chicken or fish for grilling or broiling. Add to salad dressings, stews, sauces. Use in baking.

It's All About The Dress

The call comes in from a woman who found me on the internet, they are having a birthday party, not too large, at their property in my neck of the woods, and can I come and meet them? No problem.

As I make the turn into their property I realize this is going to be a joy, and then I meet the clients, Jeff & Julie. Now I know it is going to be a rare treat. Their property is huge by anyone’s standards and they are this generations caretakers in a most grand fashion. Creating organic and sustainable gardens, keeping bees and going geo-thermal to be off the grid. Chickens, dogs, beekeepers, gardeners, landscape designers, the property is a bucolic hive of activity.

Our hostess, Julie found a dress in Europe, a perfectly girly girl dress that inspired not only having the party, but the party. In our discussions a budget was set, a generous budget in this economy but we had a great deal to accomplish and concessions were still made. The biggest three decisions were the DJ, it had to be someone who knew all types of music as this was a well traveled crowd, there had to be a rocking bar with a signature cocktail and the décor had to enhance the property and be a backdrop to “the dress”. Food was important but came 4th on the list. I mention these points because when you are planning where to spend your money, your priorities need to be in place, like life.

In creating the tent, our first choice was to create a South Beach Lounge, till the price tag came in. No matter how I tried to tweak that idea it came in at too much money. We opted for tall and short cocktail tables, everything in white. We wrapped the tent poles in satin and using spray glue and “fairy dust” glitter, gave them a shimmer that candlelight would catch. We had strand lights on a dimmer around the interior perimeter of the tent and the DJ brought dance lighting with him to create a disco ambiance that had guests dancing well into the night. The barn, had exterior lighting that supplied enough light for all to move around safely. Their landscape designer had recently completed lighting that area of the property so the garden, certain trees and the pond which also pulled guests here and there to enjoy the full setting.

For the center of the tables we took purple cabbage leaves, phlox, hydrangea and other flowers from their own gardens, judiciously sprayed the glue on the half the leaf with the stem are threw fairy dust at that. These larger leaves became the anchor with the dusted hydrangea in the hostesses own crystal glasses, votives, glass beads and flowers tucked here and there. Paper party poppers were also strewn about to entertain the children and lend a quirky touch. The actual cost was minimal; using their own items gave a more personal feeling to the evening and kept much needed money in the budget for their key areas.

I found a recipe for a Honeyed Cosmopolitan which worked their newly developed hives into the party which was a smash but I think Champagne with Chambord and Blackberries was the elegant drink of choice. Guests nibbled on our seasons’ favorite, the satay garden, with the barest of passed hors d’ouvres which kept the labor to a minimum.

Choosing your planner is key to accomplishing your catering and event goals. We were willing to take on more work to help the client achieve their goal of a memorable evening. A comment we continually heard from this well heeled group was one of amazement “How did you find someone who knew what to do UP HERE?”

Celebrate Party Showcase at the Greenwich Hyatt

We had a ball this Sunday at the Celebrate! Showcase (http://www.celebratepartyshowcase.com/) Greenwich Hyatt meeting new friends and strengthening old relationships. This event vendor showcase is one of our favorite things to do; we roll out new ideas, new displays and get immediate feedback from the public. On Sunday, we rolled out our answer to the new economy with décor and food that meets the tightened budget. The Crudité and Satay Garden became a talking point for every person that walked by with most people coming back to get a better look. Just what you want for your event!

If you are planning a major event visiting one of the three showcases this company holds a year is a very good idea. Entertainment, flowers, photographers, venues, décor, cakes, invitations, and all manners of craziness is right there for you to see. Of course we have our favorite vendors whom we like to work with, who we know deliver a top shelf product, but the fit has to be yours.

MitzvahMarket.com is a new resource for all Bar/Bat Mitzvah planning families. Their Website has a unique vendor directory and you can sign up for their free email newsletters filled with clever, useful and entertaining ideas. There is a lot of information on this site and we were lucky enough to be interviewed by creator Sheri Lapidus on why we are regular participants in this showcase. Here is a link to our interview with the Mitzvah Moms :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUCVR3AHxQ4