Archives for December 2012

Happy Holidays!

December 25, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

No recipe today, just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and to let you know how grateful we all are that you choose to spend part of your busy cyber-life here with us at Oui, Chef.

As we settle in with family for a delightfully white Christmas, and we all take a few moments to count our blessings, we'll certainly take a moment to thank all or our Oui, Chef family for your enthusiasm and support, without you we wouldn't have nearly as much fun here as we do with you along for the ride.

This year, we'll also be sending special prayers to all in the world who are suffering greatly, even as we enjoy our most bountiful holidays. Whether they be in Newtown, CT. or Aleppo, Syria we extend to them our deepest wishes for a 2013 full of peace, healing and grace.

Signing off for a few days now, we'll see you next year!

Cheers – Steve

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

December 21, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

These cookies may look a bit like the ubiquitous Peanut Butter Blossoms, but they are something else entirely. I'm a fan of the blossoms, but mostly for the peanut flavored cookie because let's face it, the Hershey Kiss is a rather disappointing piece of chocolate. I know…it has a pretty shape and a cute name, but its waxy mouthfeel and boring flavor always leaves me wanting.

Not so with these thumbprint cookies, these little morsels totally satisfy with their almond-shortbread base studded with crunchy crystal sugar, and their filling of a simple ganache made with the finest bittersweet chocolate. They're a breeze to make, and the ideal cookie to bake and share as the recipe as written here will easily make 6 dozen of these little gems. In case math isn't your thing, that means 5 dozen for you to enjoy, 1 dozen to share 😉

Chicken Pot Pie-less

December 18, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

As I've stressed here more than once, and as I always tell my Cooking Matters students, when you're making a roast of any kind you should double your recipe (which hardly takes any more effort) to ensure that you have some easy leftovers to use later in the week. So it was some time ago when I roasted two chickens for Sunday dinner figuring that at the very least I'd have some tasty morsels leftover to use for lunch over a couple of days. As it turned out, the girls returned home late from travel and missed Sunday dinner, leaving me with lots of chicken to re-purpose later in the week.

Raspberry Linzer Cookies

December 12, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

One of the best sweets I learned to make while at Le Cordon Bleu was the classic Linzer Torte. The thin tart with a nut-rich crust, sweet jammy filling and decorative lattice top is standard fare during the holidays throughout Europe. I had enjoyed a slice here and there while travelling through Austria years before, but only fell in love with it when I finally got around to making my own when in Paris.

I haven't made a full tart in years (we'll have to change that soon), but when devising my baking plan for our 2nd Annual Dunn Sibling Holiday Cookie Swap, I decided to do the next best thing and work up some of these super tasty Linzer Cookies. Their warm spiced cookie laced with hazelnuts and cloves, along with their glowing red center of raspberry jam and snow-like dusting of confectioner's sugar make them an ideal holiday treat.

Butternut-Fennel Ravioli with Hazelnut-Sage Brown Butter Sauce

December 7, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

A few weeks back I set out to organize our freezer (AGAIN) in order to take stock of things and to set a meal plan in motion that would allow me to free up some space for the inevitable soups, braises and stews that we turn to for cold weather fare. Much of what I found in the cold depths of the ice box were dribs and drabs of various meats that required little more than defrosting and a few minutes spent on a hot grill to move out of inventory. A few other things, such as the wonton wrappers that we used in this dish required a little more thought and creativity in order to put them to good use.