UPCOMING CLASSES!

We're very pleased to announce our next series of classes at Sunday Suppers:

Sunday Supper :: Fall Harvest
Sunday Nov 15, 2009
Tickets available online at Brown Paper Tickets
Chef: Casey Solomon

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Sunday Supper :: A Winter Dinner
Sunday Dec. 6, 2009
Tickets available online at Brown Paper Tickets

Guest Chefs: The Jewels of NY
Diana Yen and Lisel Arroyo

Sunday Supper :: Picnic, Fennel Slaw

The last salad from our picnic was a fennel slaw with pickled red onion, raisin, hazelnuts & mint. The fennel and hazelnuts give a nice crispness along with the sweetness of the golden raisins and a hint of mint, it's the perfect bite (way better than coleslaw :). Below are the recipes for both the pickled red onions and the fennel slaw.



All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipe Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

Pickled Red Onion

1 pound red onions, peeled
3 cups red wine vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
1 cup sugar
10 peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 Thai bird chili

Cut the onion in half lengthwise and cut thin slices.

In a non-reactive saucepan combine the vinegar, red wine, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and the chili. Heat until the sugar has dissolved. Pour over the red onion and allow it to sit overnight.

This can be refrigerated for up to one month and goes great on sandwiches.

Fennel Slaw
pickled red onion, raisin, hazelnuts & mint
Serves 4

1/4 cup golden raisins
4 cups fennel, sliced thin, preferably on a mandolin
1/2 cup pickled onion, drained (recipe below)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup mint, coarsely chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon
sea salt
pepper

Place raisins in a bowl and cover with water allowing them to soften and plump up, about 15-20 minutes.
Toss all the ingredients in a bowl, adjust seasoning and serve immediately.
For picnics or parties, layer ingredients to prevent the pickled red onion from bleeding and discoloring the other components. The fennel layer is dressed with the lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. As well, the pickled onion should be the bottom layer.

Sunday Supper, Picnic :: Tomato & Cantaloupe Salad

A note from Camille : A perfect end of summer salad when cantaloupes at the market are extremely fragrant and sweet and tomatoes are full of flavor. The combination of the two, sweet and acid, is what makes this salad so special. The addition of the mustard seed oil brings in a slight spiciness, a pleasant surprise and the lemon I find enhances all the different flavors. I enjoy using green and yellow heirloom tomatoes in this dish strictly for the color combination in relation to orange of the cantaloupe.




All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipe Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers


Tomato & Cantaloupe Salad
mustard seed oil & lemon
Serves 4

2 cups tomato, cut into 3/4” cubes
2 cups cantaloupe, cut into 3/4” cubes
1 tbl mustard seed oil
1/4 tsp salt
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Mix all together in a bowl, taste and adjust seasonings. I usually add a little more mustard seed oil so the spice is more pronounced. I suggest you play around to suit your preference.

Sunday Supper, Picnic :: Burrata Salad

Camille created this wonderful burrata salad by simply layering, in a small jar we used these:
using a slice of ripe red tomato
a slice of burrata or buffalo mozzarella (if burrata is unavailable) then topped it with a couple heaping spoonfuls of the cauliflower relish.

We are absolutely obsessed with burata ? In Italian it literally means "buttered" - a perfect description...It's a version of fresh mozarella, a silky exterior and a creamy gorgeous inside. It can be hard to find, since it's imported from Italy. But we recently spotted it at the Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn. It can also be used in a classic caprese (tomato, basil and lots of great olive oil). If you haven't tried it yet, seek it out - it's truly wonderful.





All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipe Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

Sunday Supper Picnic :: Cauliflower Relish

The Burrata Salad was a layering of burrata (more about that deliciousness coming soon) heirloom tomato, and a spicy cauliflower relish. Below is part one...the cauliflower relish. It is absolutely delicious. We packaged small jars of this for our guests to take home as favors...and were very happy to keep one jar for ourselves. It is wonderful over fish, in pasta or on toast with avocados.









All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipe Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

Cauliflower Relish
recipe makes about 3 cups of Relish (8-10 servings)

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Thai bird chilies
2 anchovies
2 cloves of garlic, diced fine
8 sprigs of thyme
2 tsp of course ground peppercorns
1 red bell pepper, small dice
1 cup red onion, diced small
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger, a micro plane works best
fresh lemon juice and salt to taste

Blanch the cauliflower.
Saute whole chilies, garlic, anchovies in oil till the anchovies melt.
Add the thyme springs, peppercorns, bell pepper, red onion and bay leaves and saute till the onion cooks through.
Add the cauliflower and season mixture with salt.
Transfer mixture to a bowl and add white balsamic to the pan just used to make the cauliflower, reduce vinegar by half.
Once reduce add to the cauliflower along with the fresh ginger and lemon juice.
Adjust seasoning.
Allow to sit in refrigerator one day to allow all the flavors to bloom.

Frittata of Rice, Baby Zucchini & Feta + Fennel Pollen Yogurt

All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipe Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

Frittata of Rice, Baby Zucchini & Feta
served with fennel pollen yogurt

1 cup cooked white rice
2 tbl butter
2 tbl olive oil
10 baby zucchini, sliced length wise
4 scallion, sliced
1/2 bunch of chopped mint
2 tbl of chopped dill
6 eggs
1/4 cup of heavy cream
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup feta

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a cast iron skillet saute zucchini and scallion in butter and oil until soft. Mix in the rice and herbs.
Whisk eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Pour over rice mixture. Cook without stirring for 3 minutes. Add crumbled feta on top.
Transfer into oven, bake 12 minutes.

Fennel Pollen Yogurt
1 cups Greek yogurt
2 pinches of fennel pollen
2 tbl olive oil

Combine all the ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the fennel pollen to release its flavor and aroma.

Sunday Supper, Picnic :: Meat Pies with Chicken, Baby Carrots & Nigella

Camille's food focuses on farm fresh and seasonal ingredients, our favorite kind ! The meat pies are a bit of an English tradition with a twist. They were perfect for a picnic outing because they hold well at room temperature. The crust was a flaky buttery outside, complimented with the unique yummy filling inside. Camille also infuses some unique flavors like nigella (an onion seed) which we had never tasted before, and the results are absolutely delicious. Scroll down for the full recipe below.





All Food Styling + Photography by Karen Mordechai
Recipes Courtesy of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

Meat Pies with Chicken, Baby Carrots & Nigella

Savory Pie Dough
3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
20 twist of a pepper mill
2 sticks cold butter cut in cubes
1/4 cup ice-cold water

Measure out flour, salt and pepper into a food processor. Mix well. Add the butter and pulse till butter resembles small pea size pieces. Add water while pulsing processor. Stop once the dough becomes a ball. Lay out a piece of clear wrap, lay the dough on it, flatten to a thick disk while wrapping. Allow to rest for at least 1/2 hour.

For meat pies lightly spray muffin tins with spray oil. Roll out dough and cut individual circles using a cookie cutter or rim of a glass slightly larger that the round of the muffin mold. Lay each circle in the molds and using a pastry brush brush edges with water. Fill with meat filling. Top with dough circle cut out, and with a fork seal edges. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with course sea salt.

Bake 20 minutes or till golden brown on the top and bottoms.


Chicken, Carrot and Nigella Meat Pie Filling
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
4 thai bird chilis
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup sofrito
2 tsp. nigella seed
8 baby carrots, chopped into 1/4" rounds
2 cups chicken pieces
1 bunch cilantro

Gently warm the oil and add chiles allowing them to cook over a low heat. Increase the heat and add the onion, sauteing till soft. Add and saute the sofito and nigella for a few minutes. Add the carrots, chicken and wine. Lower heat, put a lid on it and allow to simmer till the wine has reduced. Remove mixture from pan and cool. Wash and coarsely chop the cilantro. With your hands shred the chicken to allow more of the flavor to be absorbed by the chicken. Add and mix in the cilantro.

Sunday Supper, Picnic :: Flowers

We're kind of in love with these little flower arrangements, we bought a mismatch of glass salt and pepper shakers and created wild arrangements to decorate our picnic. Aren't they cute? xoxo

Sunday Supper :: Picnic

Our last ss was an urban picnic in the park - an ode to the end of summer. Our guest chef was the incredibly talented Camille Becerra.
Camille's menu was the perfect picnic in our eyes... we started off with Watermelon Aqua Fresca Cocktails and served:
Meat Pies
chicken, baby carrots & nigella
Frittatta
rice, baby zucchini & feta with fennel pollen yogurt
Burrata Salad
spicy cauliflower relish & crostini
Tomato & Cantalope Salad
mustard seed oil & lemon
Fennel Slaw
pickled red onion, raisin, hazelnuts & mint

After a class at our loft in williamsburg, we set up our picnic down on the waterfront with a great view of the bridges & city across the river.
We had a great time basking in the last days of sun. Below are a few photos from the day, and coming next will be recipes...class photos and more.

Merci, Paris: Part 2

Part 2 of our Paris post was a visit to the amazing "merci" store in the marais. Housed in a former wallpaper factory "merci" is an incredible 16,000 square foot industrial conversion on the boulevard beaumarchais. The store is a 4-story haven, featuring a flower store, a used book shop, a perfume bar, designer clothing, a kids boutique, a fabric shop and more. It's truly like nothing we've ever seen. We loved the cute red vintage car when you enter, the vintage crates as wall shelves, and the little herb garden below, it was all very parisian and so chic. Scroll down for some photos below.

And are you ready for the best part? Furniture, clothing, and other pieces for the home are all donated by designers like YSL, Stella McCartney, Azzaro, Alexis Mabille and Marni. 100% of the proceeds from Merci go to a homeless charity in Madagascar called Accueil des Sans-abri. The store was started by Bernard and Marie-France Cohen, founders of Bonpoint clothing, (by the way- the most gorgeous french kids clothing line).

The Perfume bar is an Annick Goutal laboratory where you can create your own fragrance. Since the brand is not taking any profit on sales, the scents cost 40 percent less at Merci than at the brand's own boutique. The bottom floor houses kitchen goods, and decor items, where we stocked up on some wonderful pieces for our last sunday supper. There is also a communal cafe, serving coffees and treats. From the concept to the design- merci is a flawless project, and for such a good cause...we came back inspired & excited to share !
Merci is located at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris 75003. Next time you're in paris, you must go!

A Day in Paris: Part One

Hello all, back from a wonderful trip to Paris, and so much catching up to do. My husband and I spent 3 days in paris and the strategy was simple: eat, drink, eat a bit more. For those of you who have met ken at a sunday supper, you know he is so sweet and charming (if I do say so myself) ; he is also the perfect travel mate. We were not going to attempt the tourist sites, just dally around the streets, take in the gorgeous atmosphere, and see where our little feet took us. Every morning we had a delightful breakfast at Carette in Trocadero Square. The parisian breakfast consisted of croissants and pastries, the most divine scrambled eggs we'd ever had...and one too many cappuccinos. We strolled around paris, cafe & pastry hopping along the way. We bought macaroons and treats at Gerard Mulot. The thing about paris is that everything is just gorgeous, you really can't go wrong. We enjoyed every little bit: riding the metro, taking afternoon breaks at a local cafe, discovering quiet streets in the evening hours and feeling like paris was all ours. Walking along the Seine and down to the Pantheon at night. A perfect day in Paris.

The next day we payed a visit to the most perfect store (ever)...stay tuned- k.

Sunday Supper, Summer - Thank you

My apologies for the few scattered posts, turns out blogging and traveling is a bit tougher than it looks ! Thank you for all your sweet comments and emails ! I've just returned from my trip and it was just wonderful...lots and lots of photos coming soon ! In the meantime...I'm behind on this last post, our favors for our guests from the last sunday supper. As a celebration of the sweet and savory we made a sugar and a salt for guests to take home. A lavender strawberry sugar and a fresh mint salt. These are so easy to make at home, just add your favorite spice/herb and blend it in a blender on high for a few seconds. We used wonderful dehydrated berries (which you can find at whole foods, fairway and trader joe's) and fresh lavender for the sugar and a big bunch of mint from our garden along with a nice coarse salt. easy ! - k.

New Class :: Picnic Sunday Sept 20th

We are very excited to announce our next class Sept 20th a Sunday Supper Picnic, celebrating the end of summer. Our guest chef will be Camille Becerra, chef and restaurateur in NYC, former TopChef contestant. Camille formerly owned Paloma in Greenpoint, a neighborhood restaurant that offered a daily changing menu reflective of the current availability of local product and the creativity of its staff. A fire last November shuttered it's doors. Camille is currently consulting on restaurants, writing recipes and cooking at various dinner parties. We are very honored to have her!
Tickets will go on sale Thursday Sept 10th @ 10 am on brown paper tickets

Summer Supper :: Pearl Couscous Salad

All Photos by Karen Mordechai
Recipes by Casey Solomon for Sunday Suppers

Pearl Couscous Salad

2 cups couscous
1 3/4 cups fresh orange juice
juice of one lemon
juice of one lime
splash of white vinegar
splash of olive oil
half a stick of butter melted
salt and freshly ground black pepper

one red onion finely diced
2 roma tomates finely diced
1/2 bunch of parsley (the market variety, not the small bunches from the supermarket)
1/2 bunch of cilantro (as above)
toasted slivered almonds

Combine orange juice, lemon and lime juice, white vinegar, olive oil and butter in a pan on the stove. Season. When this mixture is boiling pour it over the cous cous and mix it through with a fork. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave for ten minutes.
Remove the plastic wrap and separate the grains of cous cous with a fork. Add the red onion, tomato, parsley, cilantro and toasted almonds. Check the seasoning, it may need a bit more olive oil, salt and pepper.

Summer Supper :: swordfish and salmon kabobs with market vegetables

All Photos by Karen Mordechai
Recipes by Casey Solomon for Sunday Suppers

Kabobs of Artic Char, Swordfish, Green Pepper, Red Onion and Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb Artic Char
1 lb Swordfish
2 lb Peppers
Two handfuls of Cherry Tomatoes
1 Red Onion

Soak the wooden skewers in water for a few hours.
Cut the swordfish and artic char into cubes.
Cut the green pepper and red onion into pieces that are similar in size to the fish.
Thread a piece of fish, pepper, onion and tomato, repeating three times.
Barbecue skewers for 10 to 15 minutes, or until vegetables are softened/browned and fish is cooked.
Note that these skewers cook very quickly over hot coals - be sure to turn them more regularly than you would with meat.

Pine Nut, Caper and Golden Raisin Butter

3 ounces of pine nuts
1 ounce of salted capers rinsed and drained
3 ounces of golden raisins
2 sticks of butter

Gently warm the butter, when it starts to foam, add pine nuts. As these start to golden, add raisins and capers. Check for seasoning and finish with a squeeze of lemon.

Pour this wonderful mixture over the grilled fish & enjoy.