Za'atar Roasted Beets with Honeyed Yogurt, Orange + Pistachio

We had our neighbors over for dinner on Sunday. They're a lot of fun. By that I mean that they like to imbibe just as much as we do (and they're really nice, thoughtful guys). We've been known to get sucked into the vortex of their porch, where wine is poured freely and in great quantity. A quick hello turns into a three hour gossip session.

When we lived in South Boston, we knew our neighbors but we didn't have a close relationship with any of them. Most of them were pleasant. Others, not so much.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't think much about the whole neighbor thing until we'd been here for a few weeks and got to meet everyone. We live on a smaller, dead end street. Everyone's been here for a number of years. Many grew up on the street, which I think says a lot about the area.  They all look out for one another, helping with yard work or cleaning the gutters or shoveling. It's all very sweet, in a Pleasantville kind of way. (Except this is Massachusetts... where everyone has a bit of an edge)

Well, I got off track a bit. Our neighbors. Dinner. Sunday. They came over (at 4, because I know our track record and figured it'd be best to start our martini consumption early). Eric smoked a duck on the grill, I made the sides. One of those sides was this roasted beet dish, which our guests enjoyed immensely. In fact, I knew these two were good people when one of them said, "Oh, are these beets? I love beets!" I hear so much from the naysayers (They taste like dirt! Beets? Gross!) that I was thrilled to have a fan in our midst.

Za'atar Roasted Beets with Honeyed Yogurt, Orange and Pistachio

Servings: 4-6 as a side

Ingredients 6 medium-sized beets, trimmed, peeled and quartered (if larger, cut into smaller pieces) Olive oil Kosher salt 1 tablespoon za'atar, plus more for plating 1 naval orange, segmented 3 tablespoons full fat Greek yogurt 2 teaspoons honey 1 tablespoon chopped unsalted pistachios Black sesame seeds, optional Parsley leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Add the cut beets to the pan, drizzle with olive oil and season with Kosher salt and the za'atar. Roast beets for 40 minutes, checking on them every 10-15 minutes and giving them a flip to ensure even cooking.  Once they're done, remove from oven and let cool slightly. They can be served warm or at room temperature.

2. Whisk together the Greek yogurt and honey. Spoon onto a serving platter. Add the cooked beets to the plate, along with the segmented orange.

3. Sprinkle pistachios on top of the beets, followed by a little more za'atar, black sesame seeds, and fresh parsley.

Fettuccine with Grapefruit Sauce, Brussels Sprouts + Manchego

We got home late Sunday evening, unpacked the car, put up a pot of tea, and got ourselves situated on the couch. Maki promptly passed out. We read a little, before heading to bed. I knew that last week wasn't going to be relaxing. We had a lot on our plates. There was the drive down, the multiple days of cooking, which was then followed by a family brunch, a trip to New York to see Hedwig (our second time this year), and a wedding shoot in Brooklyn. It's not that we didn't have fun. We did. But it was the kind of trip where we came back and just crashed.

I avoided work as much as possible on Monday. I took long walks with Maki, watched a movie, and I even got myself on the elliptical for a few minutes (having not used it in over a month, it wasn't the best experience). There was a little time spent in the kitchen, too. For a while now, I've been meaning to create a Brussels sprout recipe. My family is well aware of my love of these guys. The web is inundated with Brussels sprout recipes, though (do a search for "roasted Brussels sprouts" and you'll see what I'm talking about). The goal was to come up with something a little different and yet keep the dish familiar. As I started thinking of what to do with them, I figured throwing pasta into the mix couldn't hurt. But how to bring it all together? A creamy grapefruit sauce, rich and slightly tangy.  A touch of thyme. A sprinkle of cheese and a hearty dose of freshly ground pepper. And... done.

Fettuccine with Grapefruit Sauce, Brussels Sprouts + Manchego

Servings: 4-6 

Ingredients
For the grapefruit sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, leaves only
1/2 cup fresh pink grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons dry vermouth
1/4 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
Black pepper

For the Brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 lb Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and sprouts halved or quartered (depending on size)
Salt
Black pepper

1 lb fettuccine
1/4 cup grated manchego cheese

Instructions

1. To cook the Brussels sprouts, set a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and let it heat up in the pan.  After a minute, add the Brussels sprouts and season with a generous amount of salt and black pepper. Let the Brussels sprouts cook for a few minutes and then give them a quick stir. Once they have browned, remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

2. In the same saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot and a pinch of salt and cook for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes translucent. Stir in the thyme and cook for another minute or two. Pour in the grapefruit juice and dry vermouth. Cook for two minutes and then stir in the heavy cream.  Season with salt and pepper.  Turn off heat and add the Brussels sprouts back to the pan.

3. Cook the fettuccine according to the directions on the packaging (if using fresh pasta, boil for 2-3 minutes in salted water). Toss cooked pasta with the sauce and Brussels sprouts. Taste for seasoning and, if necessary, season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowls. Sprinkle manchego cheese on top before eating.

Cranberry Sauce Ice Cream

I've been on an ice cream kick recently. And by recently I mean since the beginning of the summer. It was such a harmless idea. My sister-in-law thought it'd be fun to bring an ice cream machine down to the Cape house to show her kids how to make it from scratch. A great rainy day activity. They loved the ice cream, but were less interested in the process of preparing it. The adults, on the other hand, became obsessed. The vanilla ice cream we made using a recipe from Melissa Clark over at the New York Times was wonderful; smooth, creamy, and not overly sweet. At that point, we were hooked. What would should we make next? 

While there have been a few misses, most have been hugely successful. Favorites were coffee, Oreo, and, the biggest hit, blueberry crumble. I took a short break from making ice cream, but, over the last month, have gotten back into it. Pumpkin was delicious, as was this cranberry sauce ice cream that I prepared for Friendsgiving. Served with apple cake, it was the perfect balance of sweet and tart. Having made four batches of it over the course of a week, I think I could do with my eyes closed.

Part of the joy of making ice cream comes from watching your creation churn in the mixer. For a while, I'd been using a machine that was a gift from my mom. It worked well enough, but it was starting to slow down. Time for an upgrade! I'd heard from a number of people, including my mom, who's also fallen hard for homemade ice cream, that the KitchenAid attachment worked well. So, I reached out to my friends over there, who were generous enough to send it over for me to play with. Since receiving the attachment, I've used it a half a dozen times, and it's worked beautifully on each occasion. I find that the bowl freezes quickly, which was not the case with my last machine. The paddle does a great job scraping the sides of the bowl, too. Overall, I've been pretty happy with it.

Cranberry Sauce Ice Cream

Yield: 1 quart Source:  Adapted from Melissa Clark's recipe

Ingredients For the ice cream base 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 tsp Kosher salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 6 egg yolks

For the cranberry sauce 12 oz cranberries 1/2 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan set over low heat, whisk together the heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, Kosher salt and vanilla extract until the sugar has dissolved. Add the egg yolks to a separate bowl and give a quick whisk to break them up.

2. When the cream mixture becomes hot, slowly whisk in a third of the liquid to the egg yolks. Then, whisk the egg-cream mixture back into the pot. Continue to heat it, stirring often. Once the base is thick enough to start to coat the back of a wooden spoon, it's done. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Strain the base through a fine mesh sieve and, once it reaches room temperature, transfer to a container with a lid. Refrigerate for at least four hours.

4. Put the cranberries, orange juice, cinnamon and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Stir and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let cook until the cranberries burst. Stir sauce. Once it thickens a bit, remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Let cool to room temperature and then transfer to a container with a lid. Let chill in the refrigerator.

5. Once the ice cream base and cranberry sauce has chilled, churn the base in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. When it's done churning, prepare the ice cream for the freezer. Start by putting a third of the cranberry sauce in the bottom of a container with a lid, then top with ice cream. Repeat with remaining base and sauce. If you like really soft ice cream, enjoy immediately.  However, if you want your ice cream harder (like you get at the store) place the container in the freezer for at least four hours.