Though it seems odd to type, I just took my very first non-family-event vacation. Eva and I needed a break from our respective toils (hers of the PhD variety in Colorado, and mine the actor grind in NYC) and bought tickets to Portland for four days of adventuring. What I thought might be a week of restaurant feasting turned into days spent outdoors exploring Portland's expansive green offerings. Of course, we ate plenty as well. But the outstretched limbs of moss-covered trees are what remain with me as I sit at my desk in Brooklyn, their embrace as we hiked through Forest Park was as refreshing as any hug I've had lately.
PDX Party: Props
A proper housewarming gift is a necessity (especially when one will be an extended guest). For my dear friend, I brought them the patron saint of the kitchen to bless their meals and fill their tables.
PDX Party: The Score
PDX Party Recipe: Beets and Chorizo
Beets are always paired with blue cheese, which is lovely but needed a kick in bum for this dinner party. Cheese provides fat and acid which match well with beets, so I opted to trade them for chorizo. Spicy, fatty, crisp, they make the perfect accompaniment to luscious beets.
PDX Party Recipe: Cumin Roasted Carrots
Appetizers don't have to be fried and starchy (though I am a fan of a good french fry), start your next party with an extra serving of veggies. Carrots are perfect finger food.
PDX Party Recipe: Apple Cobbler
Screw pie, I want cobbler. Cobbler is easy (I’m never one to turn down an easy date). I cook the apples in a skillet a bit with sugar and spices before pouring them into a baking dish, it speeds up their time in the oven. And for the crust? Whip out your food processor and dump in the ingredients for this biscuit dough. It comes together in a few minutes and is easy to scatter on top of the tender apples.
PDX Party Recipe: Butternut Risotto
The most important ingredient in your risotto (and by far, the most often overlooked) is the stock. Go ahead and bicker over the rice (arborio or carnaroli?), the fat (olive oil or butter?), the acid (lemon juice or wine?), you’re just wasting time. No matter what combination of rice+fat+acid you settle on, if you use boxed vegetable or chicken stock your risotto will grow fat on that antiseptic flavor, the sanitized taste of cartoned stock.
Continue for the recipe...
PDX Party Recipe: Seared Chicken Legs
Stop baking chicken breasts and boring your guests. Buy whole legs, learn how to cut them at the joint, and impress your friends with impeccably crisp skin.