From the Perspectives’ Holiday Happy Hour BarHow you doin’? I want to talk about Eggnog—not the store bought stuff—the eggnog you make yourself. It’s really not that hard. Eggnog is a holiday staple that has been gracing glasses for centuries. It’s made of eggs, cream, sugar, spice and a spirit, but within that definition lies a lot of room for experimentation. Eggnog can be consumed hot or cold. Some people make it with bourbon, some with rum, while others choose cognac or sherry or a combination of spirits. Many recipes suggest shaking the ingredients with ice, while others treat the drink more like a baked good, enlisting bowls, whisks and spatulas to whip and combine eggs. There’s not one right way to make Eggnog, but if you’re going to follow someone’s lead, you might as well follow my lead—I’ve been doing this for years. My Eggnog recipe features a split between bourbon and spiced rum. The ingredients are simple—spirits, eggs, sugar, milk and cream—but the procedure requires a few steps. Egg whites and yolks are separated and mixed with the other ingredients, then eventually combined, yielding a fluffy, richer version of the drink. Make a batch for the holidays as a sweet and creamy treat for yourself and your guests. This recipe yields 12 servings, so once the punch bowl is filled, set out cups and a ladle, and then sit back and relax. Your job is done. Prep time: allow 20 minutes Yield: 12 servings Ingredients 6 large, pasteurized eggs, separated (you can buy pasteurized eggs in most grocery stores, or you do it yourself—see the ChefSecret below) 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided 8 ounces bourbon 4 ounces spiced rum 1 quart whole milk 1 pint heavy cream Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick Directions
RAW EGG WARNING Consuming raw and lightly cooked eggs poses a risk of food-borne illness. ChefSecret: How to Pasteurize Eggs
Quip of the Day: Q. Why are Christians boycotting eggnog this year? A. They heard that if you drink it, you become eggnostic. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #Cocktail #HappyHour #FestiveEggnog #Eggnog #Bourbon #Rum #MerryChristmas #HappyNewYear #Cheers#Holidays2023 #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023
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From the Perspectives’ Holiday KitchenHow you doin’? Aren’t Cream Puffs a scream? You’ll yell with pleasure with each delightful, indulgent bite. You will enjoy flavors of a light, eggy pastry with a delicate crunch, plus, a luscious, subtly sweet creamy custard filling. For this recipe I have used a vanilla-infused custard pastry cream. It’s part whipped cream and part pastry cream—the perfect balance of airy and rich. Finish them with a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate, as we did, and you find yourself with a truly luxurious treat. Of course, the Holiday Cream Puff could not exist if it weren’t for wonderful choux pastry, or pâte à choux as the French call it. It may sound highfalutin, but it’s actually quite simple to make. There’s a little boiling, stirring and mixing with a short list of ingredients: butter, flour, eggs, salt and some liquid. What kind of liquid? Either milk or water, depending on what you’re making. For gougères, those amazing French cheese puffs, we like to use milk to get a more custardy center. For cream puffs (and éclairs and croquembouches), we like to use water for the choux — as well as bread flour. The combination makes the puffs firmer and sturdier, so they hold up longer against the slow migration of moisture from the cream custard and whipped cream filling. Prep time: 35 minutes Bake time: 30 to 35 minutes Custard cook time: 15 minutes Yield: 2 dozen Ingredients For the choux pastry 1 cup water 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, rough chopped 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 cup bread flour 4 large room temperature eggs For the custard cream filling 1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided 2 cups whole milk 3 large egg yolks 2 whole large eggs 2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste 1 cup heavy whipping cream For the cream puffs 2 dozen baked cream puffs 5 oz tempered dark chocolate (68%) or compound Directions To make the choux pastry
ChefSecret: To help you get positively perfect choux pastry puffs, dip your fingers in water so you can move and adjust the piped mounds as needed or dab out any imperfections. Baking the choux puffs at two different temperatures is the secret. Baking at 425° for the first half makes the puff glorious; baking at a cooler 375° for the second half creates that beautiful golden brown exterior. And you’ll wind up with light, pillowy puffs that won’t have any major cracks. Serving Suggestions: Puffs of choux are good for more than just cream puffs! We sometimes fill them with a mini scoop of our favorite ice cream, or a mound of chicken salad or smoked salmon mousse for party appetizer. Quip of the Day: I have a lactose intolerant friend who sells cream puffs for a living. He can’t take it, but he can dish it out. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #ChristmasRecipes #Desserts #HolidayCreamPuffs #Holidays2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #RedCross #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023 From the Perspectives’ Holiday Happy Hour BarHow you doin’? Wow, where did November go? There are just 10 more days until Christmas. ‘Tis the season to be merry! And what a great way to begin to celebrate the end of the year holidays than with a Champagne cocktail—you can also substitute with California Sparkling Wine or Italian Prosecco. For those of you trying to make an impression on a new love… ladies love cocktails that tickle their noses. Adding fresh fruit and cranberry juice to sparkling wine makes for an easy and tasty pre-holiday beverage. This cocktail is easy to convert to a non-alcoholic version as well—just sub the bubbly wine for bubbly soda water and let the kiddies join in the celebration. Prep time: 5 minutes Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 4 cups cranberry juice 2 cups apple juice 1/3 cup grenadine syrup 1 bottle Champagne (or your favorite sparkling wine or Sprite) A little water and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar for rimming the glasses Garnish: fresh or frozen cranberries, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries Directions
ChefSecret: For a more festive presentation, use red, green or blue sugar for rimming the glass. Quip of the Day: People who wonder if the cocktail glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable! ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #Cocktail #HappyHour #ChampagneWinterBerryCocktail #Champagne #SparklingWine #Prosecco #MerryChristmas #HappyNewYear #Cheers#Holidays2023 #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023 …from the Perspectives’ Kitchen How you doin’? One of the best comfort foods is Lasagna—and you don’t have to be Italian to be well-comforted. Many home cooks have their own secret family recipes and there are countless ways to make this classic comfort food. If you want to serve lasagna using my recipe, it may become your new family heritage lasagna. My recipe for the "Best" Lasagna utilizes a method I have used for years because it makes the creamiest lasagna you’ve ever tasted. I take the typical ingredient—ricotta cheese—and turn it into a secret sauce that elevates the whole experience. My recipe combines popular, easy-to-find, family-friendly ingredients, with an old-school, authentic Italian technique to make this lasagna unique and over the top. The creamy béchamel melts in your mouth and together with the fresh herbs, it really balances out the hearty flavor of the acidic meat sauce." Of course, we're used to seeing ricotta cheese in lasagna, but it’s usually dropped in clumps on each layer. My Ricotta Béchamel Sauce gets perfect coverage for extra decadent results. Making my secret sauce for this creamy comfort food is simple. It starts out like a traditional béchamel—make a roux by melting butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes, making sure to continue whisking so nothing sticks or burns. Slowly pour in the milk and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce your heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Once you season, remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the ricotta cheese until smooth. Let it stand for 10 minutes before using it to build your lasagna. You can also make it a day before, as béchamel can easily be held in the refrigerator for a day. My recipe calls for a flavorful meat sauce with fresh herbs, ricotta béchamel, al dente noodles and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. You will discover that your first bite was extra creamy and delicious. You will experience a velvety touch on the tongue from the bechamel sauce balanced with big, bright flavor from the red meat. The firm chew from the noodles and meat round it all out, along with the signature flavor and texture from the melted mozzarella. I don’t want to brag, but I think you will find this is, hands down, the best lasagna recipe ever! The béchamel sauce makes it that much more special. The homemade sauce is well-balanced. It does take some extra time, but it is so worth it! Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 1 hour 50 minutes Cool time: 15 minutes Additional time: 15 mins Total time: 2 hrs 30 mins Ingredients For the basic meat sauce 1 pound ground sirloin (80/20) 1/2 pound spicy ground Italian sausage 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic 4 cups canned crushed tomatoes 1/4 cup cheap red cooking wine 3 tablespoons tomato paste 1 teaspoon honey 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf or Italian parsley For the ricotta bechamel 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1-2/3 cups whole milk 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese For the construction of the lasagna cooking spray 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Directions To prepare the meat sauce
ChefSecret: This lasagna freezes well. I like to make a large baking dish and cut it into 12 cuts and then wrap and freeze. It will keep well for 90 days. The meat sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and the bechamel sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. Quip of the Day: Why did the lasagna go to therapy? It had too many layers to peel back! ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #ChristmasRecipes #Lasagna #BechamelSauce #Ricotta #Holidays2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #RedCross #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023 …from the Perspectives' Candy KitchenHow you doin’? There are just 13 days ‘till Christmas! I found out my good friend Linda is quite a holiday cook. She writes me quite often regarding some of the blog recipes that we send. This time she sent one to me… she told me that No-Cook M&M’s Christmas Casserole is quite popular this time of year. It can be ready in no time—just as long as it takes to open 4 bags of the beloved panned candy. Forrest Mars Sr., son of the Mars Company founder, Frank C. Mars, copied the idea for the candy in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating British-made Smarties, chocolate pellets with a colored shell of what confectioners call hard panning (essentially hardened sugar syrup) surrounding the outside, preventing the sweets (candies) from melting. Mars received a patent for his own process on March 3, 1941. Production began in 1941 in a factory located at Clinton Hill, Newark, New Jersey. The company's first big customer was the U.S. Army, which saw the invention as a way to allow soldiers to carry chocolate in tropical climates without it melting. During World War II, the candies were exclusively sold to the military. The resulting demand for the candies caused an increase in production and the company moved its factory to bigger quarters. In 1949, the brand introduced the tagline "The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” And now you know the rest of the story! Prep time: 5 minutes Yield: 20 servings Ingredients 1 bag plain M&M’s 1 bag peanut M&M’s 1 bag almond M&M’s 1 bag peanut butter M&M’s Directions
ChefSecret: There are all sorts of different flavors these days—regular and holiday. Mix and match as you please. Quip of the Day: Why was the M&M staring at the computer? It wanted to learn how to be a “smartie!” ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross. #ChristmasRecipes #M&MsCasserole #Smarties #Holidays2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #RedCross #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023 |
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