The night started with champagne and Gougères. Plenty of bubbly was consumed as everyone enjoyed these delightful little cheese puffs.

As guests took their seats, Rene and his sous chef were busy in the back preparing the first course…

…a Roasted Beet Salad with orange segments, served over a bed of arugula with homemade vinaigrette and pecans. The simplicity of this salad won me over – it seemed so basic yet so tasty, packed with different flavors and textures. Definitely a wonderful way to start the meal.

As guests worked through their salads, they were again busy in the kitchen, plating up these Eggplant Quinoa Rolls.

Served with a vibrant red pepper sauce and a cilantro garnish, these rolls were surprisingly flavorful, and such a delight to eat. I’ve never enjoyed quinoa more! Our vegetarian guests got an extra serving of these, and I admittedly was very jealous.

The star of the meal was a Leg of Lamb, rubbed with plenty of rosemary and garlic, and then cooked on the grill to impart a mild smokey flavor. The result was a wildly flavorful and juicy piece of meat – and for a non-lamb-lover, I was shocked at how delicious it tasted.

After Rene presented the finished lamb leg to the table, he got to work slicing it up to serve… using an Epicurean cutting board from Local Root, of course!

The lamb was served with roasted potatoes and sauteed asparagus – simple accoutrements that brought the whole dish together.

For dessert, one of the Hi-Rise pastry chefs made us some Fresh Rhubarb Tarts, with brown sugar and almond cream.

The finished tarts were served at room temperature, garnished with a large dollop of crème fraîche. The rhubarb imparted a slightly tart taste, but cooked into the brown sugar custard and buttery tart crust, it was a delightful and balanced dish. The perfect way to round out this springtime meal!

In addition to each of these courses, there were also wine pairings hand-picked by Rene, and a special port opening “ceremony” of sorts at the end. It was a fun evening, and everyone left full and happy.

During the planning of this meal, we were delighted to learn that Hi-Rise has plans to do more dinners like this in the future. Their bakery space is perfect for entertaining, and we’re excited to see what they do with it!

A big THANK YOU to Hallie’s Flower Garden for the gorgeous flowers that adorned our spring dinner table, and of course to Hi-Rise as well for welcoming us into their space and serving such a fantastic meal. We’re already looking forward to our next event!

Click image to enlarge

Knife Sharpening and Maintenance

There’s nothing worse than a dull knife, and not just because it’s lost it’s edge. A dull knife is actually more dangerous than a sharp blade, because it’s blunt and clumsy, and can do a lot of damage that way. To stay safe and keep on slicing, make sure you get your knives sharpened regularly, and in between sharpening, maintain the blade yourself.

• Professional sharpening: available at some kitchen stores, or by dedicated knife sharpening professionals. Using a variety of tools and knife sharpening machines, these professionals can grind down your blade to remove any imperfections, and create a brand new sharp edge.
• At-home sharpening: if you’re feeling ambitious, you can purchase at-home sharpening tools and follow the manufacturer instructions. At home tools can either be electric, or can involve some sort of manual sharpening mechanism, like a whet stone.
• Sharpening steel: once you’ve gone through the steps to sharpen your knife, using a sharpening steel regularly can help keep the molecules along your blade aligned, prolonging the sharp edge.

Knife Storage Options

• Knife guard: A simple plastic cover that slides snugly over your knife blade, and keeps it from getting scratched when storing knifes in a drawer, or amongst other kitchen tools. Best to use for stray kitchen knives that aren’t stored in a more permanent way.
• Knife block: A large unit made for housing multiple knives. Generally made out of wood, these storage units feature several different-sized slots for your knives to fit into. You can also get a magnetic knife block, which allows you to “attach” your knives to the exterior of the block, eliminating the guess-work required with a traditional knife block which hides blades from view.
• Magnetic Knife Strip: A magnetic strip designed to be attached to a kitchen wall, which can hold all of your kitchen knives magnetically. This option is best for those looking to optimize space and keep their counter-tops clear.

Weeks before the event was held, the team at Didriks got to work planning this stunning table setting, a spring-based theme that incorporated a several new products, loads of color, and an air of rustic whimsy that suited the space and the meal so perfectly.

We left the table mostly bare, to let the lovely rustic wood look come through. To dress it up just slightly, we placed two Chilewich Lattice Table Runners in Mica down the center of the table, which added just enough color and texture to the long, narrow table.

Each of the 14 place settings was comprised of three Heath Ceramics Coupe collection pieces – shown here, the Coupe Dinner Plate in Redwood, and the Coupe Salad Plate in Fawn/Cocoa. We also featured the Coupe Pasta Bowl in Mist/Linen, which we held in the kitchen for serving the first course (menu images coming in the second recap post!). The napkins we chose – new Libeco Home Lisbon Napkins – brought a lot of color and life to the table as well. You can’t help but feel cheerful when you look at them!

We also featured an assortment of Heath Ceramics vases in new 2013 colors, including Lemongrass, Tangerine and Indigo. Above you can see the Heath Ceramics Bud Vase in Aqua, and the Heath Ceramics Bulb Vase in Indigo. Below, a Heath Ceramics Bud Vase in tangerine. We also had two Heath Ceramics Single-Stem Vases, in Tangerine and Indigo, set along the center of the table.

Hallie from Hallie’s Flower Garden, another great Observatory Hill business, arranged the flowers for this event. We gave her little direction – just asked her to do something fresh and springy utilizing white flowers, and what she came up with was positively stunning! The perfect accoutrements for this table setting.

For the flatware, we chose another new collection, the Alessi Nuovo Milano Flatware, with a table fork, dessert fork, table knife and table spoon. This collection also includes a teaspoon, which we chose to omit since it wasn’t necessary for the evening’s menu.

The Didriks store manager Melissa came up with this crafty idea to use iittala Vitriini Boxes as place card holders. We used an assortment of different colored boxes, including a new salmon pink that was introduced this year, and also a new cork box.

As mentioned earlier, we used two Heath Ceramics Single-Stem Vases, one of which you can see below in Indigo.

Since we knew that the dinner had multiple courses, each with different wine pairings, we chose a wine glass that would be suitable to take us through each course without having to change it out. That wine glass was the  Simon Pearce Hampton Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio Glass, which has a real classic look, and feels wonderful in your hands. Simon Pearce glassware tends to be heavier than traditional, more delicate stemware, which fit this setting perfectly.

The water glass we chose was the Schott Zwiesel Basic Bar Softdrink Glass, another simple classic, with thin, straight sides.

Along the center of the table, we placed a couple of water pitchers with lemon, so guests could stay hydrated – in style of course! Pictured here is the Simon Pearce Ascutney Straight Glass Cocktail Pitcher, a visually stunning yet practical pitcher, perfect for both indoor and outdoor dining alike.

To add some light to the table, we chose to feature the Orrefors Lightstone Votive set of 3, which you can see in the picture below. None two of the votives are the same shape, giving the collection a fun mismatched feel. They paired wonderfully with all of the rest of the glassware and dinnerware we chose.

Overall, the table setting set the perfect tone for the evening. The wide variety of different brands, product lines, shapes sizes and colors worked together to create a picture perfect springtime dinner setting. The meal we served on this table was even more impressive, so be sure to check back for the menu recap sometime next week!

Anchor Knocking Glass Measuring Cup

Paderno Measuring Cup in action

Since I knew ahead of time I’d be making the savory pasta recipe, I decided to go with crepes sweetened with a touch of sugar and orange liqueur.  If you were planning to fill these crepes with savory ingredients, you’d just omit those two sweet components and still be left with a really wonderful canvas.

The batter for these crepes comes together quickly and easily. You simply places all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend until the mixture is thick and smooth. It does need to rest for a couple of hours before it’s ready to use, so planning ahead is key!

Since we were making these in the store and working on an induction cook-top, we couldn’t use a proper crepe pan (no heat conduction!), so we used an All-Clad Nonstick Fry Pan 12″. This is not something I’d recommend, especially if you’re trying crepes for the first time, and I will tell you why.

Crepe pans are engineered to have the perfect cooking surface to execute these delicate, egg-y pancakes perfectly. The diameter is smaller, the sides of the pan flatter, which makes spreading the batter and flipping the crepes both much easier. Using the nonstick fry pan, the crepes had no trouble coming loose for flipping, but the cooking surface was simply too large, and not conducive to properly cooking and flipping the crepes. We still ended up with a tasty product, but they weren’t the prettiest crepes, and they were definitely a bit thicker than I’d have liked.

Fortunately, since the crepes still tasted divine – slightly sweet, with citrus notes and a wonderful texture – we filled them up with fresh strawberries and a touch of jam, gave them a generous grating of lemon zest, and sprinkled them with sugar. A simple preparation that looked beautiful, and tasted even better!

Using a Microplane Zester to garnish finished crepes with lemon zest, served on an Alessi Bavero Dinner Plate

Finished crepes on an iittala Sarjaton Dinner Plate

Dessert Crepes
Ingredients
3/4 cup cold milk
3/4 cup cold water
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, rum or brandy
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons melted butter
Optional, for filling: fresh berries, your favorite jam

Directions
Place each ingredient into an electric blender in the order in which they are listed. Place cover on blender, and turn on to top speed for 1 minute. If bits of flour get stuck to the sides of the blender, use a rubber spatula to re-incorporate them, then blend for another few seconds. Once batter is thick and smooth, and you see no lumps, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

When ready to cook, heat crepe pan to medium-medium/high heat, and grease lightly with oil. Once pan is hot, remove pan from heat, pour a scant 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan, and swirl quickly to coat pan bottom with batter.  Return pan to heat, and cook for about 2 minutes. The crepe will start to have little bubbles all over it, and will begin to look cooked around the edges.

Remove pan from heat again, and shake pan back and forth a bit to loosen up the crepe. Once it is sufficiently loosened, carefully flip the crepe over, either using a spatula or your fingers. Exercise caution here, or you’ll risk ripping your delicate crepe in half. Once your crepe is safely flipped, cook for an additional minute, just to be sure the crepes are cooked through.

Slide finished crepes onto a sheet pan, and let cool before using, or stacking to store. Repeat process with remaining batter.

These crepes can be used immediately, or kept in a just-warm oven for an hour or so until ready to use. They also freeze beautifully!

Yield: 10-18 crepes, depending on pan size

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You can’t make this dish without:

A Crepe Pan: As evidenced by our experience executing this recipe, a crepe pan is really imperative. The shape, low sides, and pan construction all allow for much easier execution than using a pan not specifically meant for this purpose. With a crepe pan, you can much more quickly and easily spread crepe batter once it’s poured into the pan, and flip the crepes. As if that’s not enough, crepe pans also ensure a perfectly round crepe with clean edges and a more polished look. We recommend the Mauviel Copper and Stainless Steel Crepe Pan.

Measuring Cups: Measuring cups are dual-purpose in this recipe, using them first for measuring ingredients, and second for measuring out batter. Most crepe recipes, this one included, will give you a volume amount of batter to use for each crepe, so it’s important to have measuring cups around instead of eye-balling, which will often yield a thick, doughy crepe. We used this Paderno Measuring Cup Set.

A Blender: Using a high-powered blender ensures that your batter becomes smooth and thick, free of any lumps. This is imperative, because you can’t achieve the silky smooth, tender and delicate crepes without a spot-on consistency to your batter.

For now, let’s get a bit deeper into the information shared here. Think you know your knives? Let’s find out!

Chef’s Knife
A Chef’s Knife – also known as a French knife – is a popular all-purpose knife that is generally between 8-12 inches long, but can range from 6-14 inches depending on the brand and model. It’s shaped like a large utility knife designed to tackle a variety of different kitchen tasks. A chef’s knife is suitable for:

• Mincing
• Chopping
• Slicing
• Disjointing

Boning Knife
A Boning Knife (generally about 5-6 inches long, but can be as long as 9 inches) has a sharp point and a thin, narrow blade. This knife is designed to be able to remove bones from meat, poultry and fish. Depending on the type of meat you’re de-boning, the thickness and durability of the boning knife may change. Use for:

• De-boning fish or chicken
• Separating a fish filet from the skin
• Removing silver skin from a piece of meat

Serrated Knife
A Serrated Knife has a scalloped, tooth-like edge, which makes it ideal for cutting through things that have a hard exterior but a soft, tender interior. Use it for tricky ingredients like:

• a loaf of crusty bread
• tomatoes or citrus fruits
• a layer cake, which you can masterfully slice in half

Paring Knife
A Paring Knife is a small knife with a short blade, used predominantly for peeling fruits and vegetables. It’s also good at precise detail work, and any cutting tasks that require intricate work. Use for:

• removing a blemish from produce
• cutting a piece of fruit into a particular shape
• slicing a single clove of garlic

Santoku Knife
A Santoku Knife, meaning “three uses” in Japanese, is an all-purpose knife that generally measures between 5-8 inches long. This knife has a “Sheep’s Foot” tip, meaning it slopes at an angle of 60% right at the point. A Santoku knife is suitable for a variety of uses, including the primary three uses it’s named after:

• Slicing
• Dicing
• Mincing

Cleaver
A Cleaver is a large rectangular knife with a heavy, broad blade that is used by butchers (and adventurous home cooks!) to break down meat and cut through bones. Best for:

• Cleaving
• Breaking

What’s your go-to kitchen knife?

This week, I tackled to recipe basics – homemade fresh pasta and crepes. Today, I’m sharing the recipes for fresh pasta, which I took from Barbara Lynch’s cookbook Stir. It is a perfect baseline fresh pasta recipe, which practically begs to be dressed up with your favorite seasonings and toppings.

I decided to make the pasta very simple, just as stated in the cookbook. If I were to make it again, I’d be interested in mixing flours, or adding in herbs and spices.

We ran it through an Atlas Pasta Machine first to get long, flat sheets of pasta, and then through the linguine attachment. The pasta came out beautifully, nice and golden yellow.

With the fresh pasta, we decided to make a full-on meal. For this we consulted another one of our cookbooks, this time The Farm by Ian Knauer. He had a simple and delicious sounding recipe for Ramp Tagliatelle – a very basic preparation with ramps, olive oil, heavy cream and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Since it was a bit too early for ramps season when I made this dish, I opted for spring onions, and added in seasonal asparagus, plus some beautiful shitake and button mushrooms I picked up at Formaggio. Just a little splash of cream and a sprinkle of Pecorino Romano on top finished it off!

Homemade Fresh Pasta Dough
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks

Directions
1) Combine flour and salt in a small mound on a clean work surface. Using your fingers, create a small well in the center of the flour.Crack the whole eggs into the well, then add the egg yolks. Whisk the egs gently with a fork, just to break them up a little.

2) Continue to whisk the eggs, slowly incorporating flour from the perimeter of the flour mound. Do this slowly until the dough becomes too stiff to mix with a fork, and then use your hands to continue mixing. You may not need all of the flour (I didn’t), so only add more until the dough starts to come together and doesn’t stick to your hands.

3) Once enough flour has been incorporated, push any excess to the side, and continue to knead your ball of dough until, as the book says, “it feels as soft and supple as your earlobe.” This could take anywhere from 5-8 minutes.

4) Once your dough is sufficiently kneaded, cover it with a light dusting of flour and plastic wrap, and let it rest for one hour.

5) When ready to roll, set your pasta maker to it’s widest setting, and cut your dough in half. Begin by running each half through the machine on it’s widest setting.

6) Continue to run each piece of dough through the machine, moving up the settings as you go. Our machine has 9 settings, and I didn’t run the dough through all 9, but probably 6 or 7 of the settings. You are looking to gradually thin your dough, so if it’s soft and supple and not tearing or ripping, you could try to skip one setting, say go from 5-7 without putting it through 6. If the dough does tear or start to shred, simply gold it over itself, and run it through a wider setting again until smooth. Continue until your dough has gone through the thinnest setting.

7) At this point, your dough is ready to use! You could keep it in sheets and use it for lasagna, but I’d suggest running it through a fettuccine or spaghetti attachment like we did here. For thicker pasta like a papperdelle, you could use a pastry cutter and make 1″ strips – it’s really up to you! Cook immediately (for 3-4 minutes, until it rises to the surface of a pot of boiling water), or freeze. To freeze, simply wrap pasta strands around your hand, creating a small nest, and place on a floured baking sheet until frozen. From there, they nests can be transferred to a tupperware for more long-term freezer storage.

On cooking days, we have a chance to test out new merchandise, try out recipes from our selection of cookbooks, and get a little creative in the kitchen. Last Friday I opted to test out our pasta maker, which we made into a delicious spring-inspired dish, and to try my hand at a Julie Childs crepe recipe.

I’ll get to sharing those recipes sometime next week, but in the meantime wanted to give you a glimpse at the process!

Flour + egg waiting to be made into pasta dough.

Making homemade pasta in the Atlas Pasta Machine.

Boiling pasta in a Paderno 18qt Stainless Steel Stock Pot.

Straining cooked pasta with Alessi Spaghetti Tongs.

Portioning crepe batter into an All-Clad nonstick pan.

Finished crepes waiting for assembly on an iittala Sarjaton dinner plate.

Stuffed crepes with strawberries and lemon sugar.

If you’re in the market for new dinnerware, glassware, or really any tabletop decor – head on over the the Didriks website. Missing a cooking utensil? Take a peek at what Local Root has to offer.

Happy entertaining!

Easter is right around the corner, so in case you haven’t figured out what you’re making for the holiday, these recipes can provide some guidance and inspiration. Not celebrating Easter? No worries! Most of these  recipes double as seasonal spring recipes too :)

Breakfast/Brunch

Easter Bread with decorative eggs (from Bon Appetit)

Baked Orange French Toast with Almond Crumble (from Foodie Crush)

Baked Eggs with Kale and Sausage (from Good Life Eats)

Breakfast Stuffed Mushrooms with Leek and Gruyere Scrambled Eggs (from Willow Bird Baking)

Deviled Eggs (from The Little Kitchen)

Lemon Poppyseed Yogurt Pancakes (from Two Peas and Their Pod)

Fried Egg Basil BLT Sandwich (from Savory Sweet Life)

Savory Mains and Sides

Savory Italian Easter Pie (from Brown Eyed Baker)

Rosemary Garlic Roast with Raspberry-Chili Glaze (from Cheeky Kitchen)

Honey Orange Butter Wheat Rolls (from Faux Martha)

Smoky Beet Burgers (from Sprouted Kitchen)

Honey Pomegranate Glazed Brussels Sprouts (from Simple Bites)

Sweet Stuff

Carrot Cake Cookies (from Bake at 350)

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Easter Nests (from The Novice Chef)

Honey Lemon Lavendar Cupcakes (from Sweetly Serendipity)

Loaded Candy Cookie Bars (from My Baking Addiction)

Easter DIY Chocolate Mousse Filled Eggs (from Chocolate Shavings)

Upside Down Blood Orange Cake (from Bakers Royale)

What are you planning to make for Easter?

The first project we decided to tackle with the new burner was testing a pressure cooker from our Kuhn Rikon line. We started carrying this line a couple of months ago, but hadn’t given them a try ourselves, so we gave one a go with a recipe from one of our cookbooks, Modernist Cuisine.

The recipe we picked was for Barley with Red Wine and Mushrooms. We went with something simple so as not to complicate the process, and got to work. The pressure cooker we used is the one pictured above, a Kuhn Rikon 5 Qt. Duromatic Saucepan. I found it to be the perfect size, and can see it being suitable for a wide variety of cooking projects.

We prepped the materials right in the store, using some Local Root merchandise in the process. Here, we used a Rosle Medium Grater to grate Gruyere cheese, and a Rosle Can Opener with Pliers Grip to open up our beef broth.

We also used a Friedr Dick 8″ Chef’s Knife to chop up shallots, and we did so on an Epicurean Kitchen Board (natural color).

We used Paderno measuring cups to portion our ingredients…

…and a Le Creuset Spatula for stirring, and releasing pressure from the pot! Since it was our first time using this contraption, we played it extra safe and didn’t let our hands get too close at the end.

And here’s what we found when the pressure was gone and we opened it up. Perfectly cooked barely and mushrooms!

All that was left was to stir in the cheese, and serve. We used a Revol France Belle Cuisine Cocotte for the final presentation.

Overall, a really successful first attempt – and the barely tasted amazing! I found it to be well cooked – slightly al dente, and the mushrooms kept their shape and integrity well. It was surprisingly flavorful, and enjoyed by all. A special afternoon snack in the store, for sure!

Have you ever used a pressure cooker?