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Mom and Dad’s visit to The Country House

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:01:21 +0000

As you know, last weekend was my first time hosting my mom and dad at The Country House. The family activities kicked off when they arrived at dinner time on Friday night. As luck would have it, Mom and Dad had brought along a prize for us from their home. We inherited one of my favorite chairs from their house in Michigan. I didn’t know quite where it was going to fit into our place – until we tried it in the dining room – we immediately had a winner!I served appetizers out on the screened in porch. It was dark, and there was a chill in the air. I lit candles. I brought blankets out for our laps. I served antipasto. Dad sipped a Manhattan cocktail, and we drank wine. I made angel hair pasta with vegetables and chicken sausage with a garlic/red pepper/white wine/olive oil sauce for dinner. We finished the evening off with dark chocolate dipped coconut macaroons. After years of returning to Michigan to visit them, it was so fun to see finally see my parents in our home!Off the topic: See what I mean about articulating brass table lamps? In my opinion, the side tables are just begging for them!Back to flowers: I absolutely adore how the color of the flowers pop against our chalk board color walls, don’t you? Not only do the windows frame the nature and views outside the space, but the color of the walls intensify every color I bring into the room. I like it a lot! The Gladiolus flowers are arranged in the very first engagement present we received. Appropriately enough, the vase came from my mom and dad.I did small hand-tied nosegay arrangements for both the half bath, the master bathroom, and the screened-in porch. Helpful flower tip: when purchasing your flowers at the market, you can stretch your flower budget by buying the same flower en-masse. Often times, they’ll price a large group of the same flowers for much less than if you bought a little of this and a bit of that. In total, I spent $75.00 on my weekend flowers and I ended up with four large arrangements and three small nosegays. Flowers were on display in nearly every room in the house. Considering that you could easily spend $75.00 on an arrangement from the florist, that’s a pretty efficient floral budget, don’t you think?As mothers and daughters do, Mom and I did a little bit of shopping over the weekend. She was kind enough to purchase this pottery by Jason Mahlke for me. I have had my eye on it for some time and immediately swapped out the crystal rose bowl on the dining room table for this smirking face the moment we walked in the door on Saturday afternoon. He’s a little bit creepy, but I’ve learned that I happen to be drawn to faces in art.My post is late today because my stone mason showed up to start the patio project off the back of the house. I spent the morning outside with him making certain that we’re on the same page. He may be starting the project a month later than expected, but it’s going to be a wonderful improvement for our yard and the livability of our property.
I adore my new perch in the dining room. The upholstery looks like it was hand selected for our home. From here, I have a view of the living room and the kitchen. The sunshine is streaming in on my laptop – it’s a lovely place to work. Not to mention, I can easily keep my eye on the stone mason’s progress from here!

Baked Asparagus and Egg {Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Dinner}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:18:07 +0000

We’ve been overwhelmed with piles of great looking asparagus in the market for a few months now. While asparagus is available year round, the crops are harvested from late February to June. (April being the prime month to indulge.) I am sure by this point in the harvest you’re wondering “How many different ways can I prepare this stuff?” I usually drizzle asparagus stocks in olive oil, sprinkle in salt and pepper and roast them as a side dish. There are certain times in which I want the asparagus to take center stage on the plate – and this fantastic recipe is one that does just that! We’re almost to that time in the season where asparagus becomes tougher, the stalks are larger, and the flavor isn’t what it once was earlier in the Spring.My favorite recipe for asparagus puts Eggs and asparagus together. Asparagus and eggs are most frequently spotted paired as asparagus with hollandaise sauce. And no one can deny that is a yummy combination, right? The recipe that I am sharing with you today is composed with similar flavors, but is a deconstructed take on the pairing. However, if you want to make the dish heartier…Baked Asparagus and Egg ingredients
36 green (or white) asparagus spears, peeled and trimmed
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3 cups coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
6 eggs
Salt and cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation: I got this recipe for Baked Asparagus and Egg by Frank De Carlo out of NY Mag way back in 2003 and it hasn’t failed me yet! I love to serve it with a nice antipasto plate. My thought being that not only does it balance the flavors of the dish, but it will also satiate any of my guests who’d prefer to have meat on their plate at dinner time.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Steam the asparagus until just tender.

Set out 6 individual baking dishes and place 6 asparagus spears in each dish. (I have also prepared this dish in a 9×11 baking pan. It’s not as pretty served up, but for family style it works just fine)

Pour 1 tablespoon butter over each batch of asparagus, and sprinkle with one-half cup of the cheese.

Make a shallow “nest” in the middle of the cheese and crack an egg into each “nest.”

Season lightly with salt and pepper, and bake in the oven until the eggs set and the cheese is golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drizzle very lightly with olive oil.

Serve immediately.Images The Bitten Word, Top left: Kitchenist Bottom left: Asparagus with soft eggs from Real Simple Bottom right: Kitchenist serves a fancy lunch of Asparagus with a Poached Egg and Vanilla-Mint Vinaigrette, Simply Recipes, Skinny Taste, Closet Cooking, XO Breakfast As always, click the links for more recipe inspiration!

Kitchen 101: how to make Roasted Vegetables

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:47:48 +0000

The other day I mentioned that I made a pan of roasted vegetables with artichoke and feta chicken sausage for our house guests. One reader commented that she wanted that recipe. To be honest, I never thought to write that recipe here as I always thought it was ‘too easy.’ But inquiring minds want to know, so I am happy to oblige!Vegetables, good quality olive oil, salt and pepper. That is all you need for a delicious pan of roasted vegetables. I know you’re saying “But that is too easy!” To be honest, I find that when you use quality ingredients, a simple preparation is often far better tasting than some multi-step, intricate recipe. Simplicity is what allows the fresh flavor to shine through.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. You can go hotter or slightly cooler, depending upon the amount of caramelization you desire. In my opinion, 425 is a good place to start if you have not tried to roast vegetables before. Wash the vegetables and cut them into 1-1.5 inch, bite-sized pieces.I usually like to look at my smallest vegetable and cut the rest to match. If all of the vegetable pieces are of a similar size, they will roast more evenly. If the veggie is particularly hard, (A root vegetable: carrot, parsnip, or potato) take that into consideration and cut it smaller than the other, more watery, or soft vegetables.
Place the vegetables in a sheet pan or in a Pyrex baking dish. You’ll want something large and flat with a bit of a lip to keep the veggies from falling off the pan into the oven. The key with roasting vegetables is to let each vegetable touch the surface of the pan. The vegetables may be crowded into the pan – just not layered on top of one another. If you have more veggies than the pan allows, I encourage you to use multiple baking sheets/pans.Use enough olive oil to give each piece a nice sheen. I always drizzle directly from the bottle into the pan making a snake ‘S’ shape over the vegetables. (My hunch is that it ends up being about 2 Tablespoons of oil.) After one pass on the pan, I stir the vegetables around to make sure that each piece has a good coating. If not, add a little bit more. Next, add salt. I fill my cupped left palm and sprinkle it on with my right making sure that it’s evenly distributed over the vegetables. (For me, it’s about 1.5 teaspoons) The salt helps the vegetables to release water which will aid in the roasting process. It should be enough salt that if you were to eat one of the pieces raw out of the pan that you’d taste the salt pretty sharply.Add freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir the vegetables up again in the pan to insure that all the vegetables are evenly seasoned and coated in oil. Sometimes I add chopped garlic at this point. I add about 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic.Place the pan on the top shelf in your oven. In about 10-12 minutes you’ll hear a sizzling sound. It might take a little longer if your veggies are too crowded in the pan or if the pieces are not cut small enough. No worries, just hang out a little longer and it will happen!When you hear or see them sizzling, remove the pan from the oven. Close the oven to preserve the oven temperature. Check the bottom of the vegetables. Are they brown? If so, flip them over and pop them back into your oven for a while longer. If they are not brown and are still light in color: wait to flip them until they are nice and brown, but not burned.When they go back into the oven, listen for the sizzling to start back up again. Keep your eyes on the pan through the glass in your oven while this is happening. You don’t want to risk burning your vegetables! Open the oven and taste a piece. Are they ready? If they’re as brown as you want them to be, but not tender enough you can turn down the heat (around 325 degrees) and move them to the middle rack. Put a few tablespoons of water into the bottom of the pan to aid in cooking the vegetables the rest of the way.
I use 2 large or 3 small peppers, 1 large onion, a package of mushrooms, (as well as any leftover vegetables I have in the fridge) and one package of Applegate Farms Organic Sausage. They make many different varieties of sausage and each one gives the dish a different flair. I like Applegate Farms because they’re organic, they don’t add nitrates, and because the sausages are fully cooked out of the package. As long as I cut them to a similar size to the vegetables, everything will roast evenly. I use about 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Chopped Garlic (as specified in the roasting directions above) and serve hot over organic whole wheat pasta, with the olive oil drippings from the pan and shaved parmesan. Easy-breezy, no?Please note: this is not in any way intended to be an advertisement for a specific brand of pasta or sausage – I just happen to like these products and use them when I am making this recipe. Also, all of the images in todays post link to other recipes for roasted vegetables. Please be sure to click through for more recipe inspiration!

ABCD Design on ‘Recipes for a Happy Marriage’ series

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:44:11 +0000

I am so pleased to tell you that Courtney from Merriment Events asked me to share one of my ‘Recipes for a Happy Marriage’ on The Merriments Blog today. For this recipe series, I revitalized a recipe that I shared here on ABCD Design many, many moons ago. It is buried way back in the archives here and I figured since so many of you are new to ABCD that you might NEVER ever find the recipe here. I am certain you’ve heard the saying “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” – right?Thanks to Courtney for for hosting me. I truly hope that you all enjoy this recipe as much as Me and the Mr. do! P.S. it’s an awesome dish for entertaining!

Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:04:28 +0000

Since I have mentioned Spaghetti Carbonara not once but twice in the last week or so – I figured I should share a recipe for one of my favorite dishes with you today. Mr. D looked over my shoulder when I was researching the topic and he said “Wife, do you really obsess this much over a good carbonara?” I answered “Why yes honey, I most certainly do obsess. Indeed, I do.”I first fell in love with the dish the Summer of 2007 when we were living in London. You see, it’s prepared in a different manner across the pond. Here in the States people will often add cream to their carbonara recipe -and I was never a big fan of how heavy it was. Over in the UK *closer distance to Italy and where many Italians have settled* they prepare the dish simply. Pasta, pancetta, pepper, egg, and parmigiano cheese. Perfection, isn’t it?Do you know where the name Carbonara comes from? I found the wikipedia definition quite interesting. The name is derived from the Italian word for charcoal. Some believe that the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers. Spaghetti alla Carbonara: pasta of the charcoal workers! Another rumor about the origin of the name: it’s about the black pepper added to the dish. The black flakes among the whiteish sauce look like charcoal soot! Whatever the case- I adore the combination of egg, cheese and bacon so spaghetti carbonara lands near the top of my favorite dish list.Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe: this Spaghetti Carbonara recipe comes from Ruth Reichl’s first book Mmmmm: A Feastiary Recipes

Ingredients: As always, I suggest you use the highest quality ingredients. Select fresh, organic, and free range, hormone-free products whenever possible. The egg yolks will be higher and the flavor will be more intense and pure. When you’re cooking with so few elements, the quality of the ingredients are that much more important! I promise, you’ll see and taste the difference.

1 pound spaghetti
1/4 to 1/2 pound thickly sliced good quality bacon or pancetta
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 large eggs
Black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese, plus extra for the table

Method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. When the water boils, throw the spaghetti in. Dried spaghetti takes 9 to 10 minutes to cook. The sauce is easy enough to prepare in that amount of time.

Cut the bacon crosswise into pieces about 1/2 inch wide. Place in a skillet and cook for about 2 minutes. The fat will begin to render. At that point, add the two whole cloves of garlic and cook another 5 minutes or so, until the edges of the bacon just begin to get crisp. Do not overcook the bacon. If it becomes too crisp it won’t meld with the pasta. Break the eggs into the bowl you will serve the pasta in. Beat them with a fork. Grind pepper into the bowl with the raw eggs.

When it is cooked, drain the pasta and immediately throw it into the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly. The heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs and turn them into a sauce. Remove the garlic from the bacon pan. Toss the bacon with most of its fat into the pasta, toss again, add cheese and serve.