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  • Jennine 3:35 pm on December 24, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Holiday Sugar Cookies 

    On our tree-lined street in South Orange, there is a tradition between our neighbors. Today, after my husband dropped the hint a few months ago, our neighbors “up the hill” dropped off the best rum cake on the face of the earth. Soon, our neighbors “down the hill” will come bearing some sort of homemade heaven. And now, the pressure is on. The empty cookie boxes are calling, so we set out to bake our favorite holiday sugar cookies and mix up some royal icing. After a visit to the NY Cake store last weekend, I am now fully stocked with a rainbow of sanding sugars and a new cookie decorating kit by Kuhn Rikon. (For me, the cake decorating supply store on 22nd street is the equivalent to Barneys) Armed with five squeeze bottles with interchangeable decorator tips, this year was a breeze. Unlike pastry bags, these bottles are super easy for kids to handle. The most beautiful thing is that once the icing is made and the bottles are filled, they can last for up to a week at room temperature.

    I have tried a bunch of sugar cookie recipes over the years but my favorite comes from The Joy of Cooking. The trick is to roll out the dough between sheets of wax paper then put them in the fridge- or the freezer if you are impatient. You can re-roll scraps and re-chill over and over and the dough never gets tough (I think this is because there is no extra dusting flour involved.)

    Make ahead tip: Sometimes I make a double batch and roll out four or five sheets of dough, stack them on a cookie sheet, wrap them in cellophane, and freeze. When ready to bake, let them thaw on the counter a bit until they are a little pliable and you are set to go with the cookie cutters.

    Rolled Sugar Cookie Recipe

    2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
    2/3 cups sugar
    1 large egg
    1/4 tsp. baking powder
    1/8 tsp. salt
    1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
    2 1/3 cups flour

    Beat the sugar and butter on medium until very fluffy. Add the egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and beat until well combined.

    Stir in the flour little by little and beat gently until smooth.

    Divide the dough into two balls and roll each between sheets of wax paper. Chill until firm.

    Position a rack in the middle to upper third of the oven. Working with one sheet at a time, cut out cookies and place on a cookie sheet lined either with parchment paper or a SILPAT. (These are amazing)

    Bake for 6-10 minutes at 350 degrees, depending on how cold the dough is. Keep a watch out to avoid browned edges.
    Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

    A few notes: This recipe doubles really easily and then you have plenty to decorate, especially if you have kids involved. My son eats his cookies as fast as he decorates them. Also, it is worth buying a good quality organic butter because the cookies will taste much better.

    Royal Icing

    Royal Icing is great for holiday cookies because it dries hard and sanding sugars adhere to it like glitter on glue. I don’t remember where I learned this recipe, but I think it is pretty standard.
    You will need:
    Box of confectioner’s sugar (1 pound)
    2 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder
    4-6ish Tablespoons of warm water

    Pour sugar and powder into mixer and mix on low for a few seconds. Add 3-4 Tablespoons of warm water and mix. Very gradually add more water until the consistency is not too thick and not too runny. It should make a ribbon when you spoon it rather than a peak. If it is too thick, your squeeze bottle will feel like a hand exerciser. (If you happen to add too much water then you can fix it by adding more powdered sugar.)

    Divide the frosting into little bowls and add food coloring. Put it into bottles or pastry bags and it will keep at room temperature for up to a week.

    For the kids, I made a double batch of cookies and a double batch of frosting-red, green, white, yellow, and blue. I put the sprinkles and sanding sugars in ramekins with little spoons and they had a great time. I set aside about half of the cookies for myself for later.

    After the kids were all snug in their beds, I sat down with some spiked egg nog, lit my “Home for the Holidays” Yankee Candle, and turned on my Charlie Brown Christmas album. Zen and the art of making holiday cookies…

     

    Holiday Sugar Cookies
     

  • Doug Ferguson 4:26 pm on December 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    CheeseBurger Casserole for the Soul 

    What happens when the casserole meets the cheeseburger? Well, they do a magic dance and happy bellies from young to old rejoice with smiles and song.

    If we’re talking about holiday comfort food, this little number will hit the spot.  So simple too.

    The key, buying a really delicious bread to cube up.  Like a baguette or a sourdough loaf, just make sure it’s got a little chew so that it holds up during baking.

    Cut the bread into cubes.

    Brown 1 1/2 pounds of good ground beef over high heat.

    While your meat cooks chop an onion, a red bell pepper and about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic.

    Remove your meat to a plate and sweat your veggies for a few minutes with some of the remaining fat from the meat.

    Once sweated down incorporate meat back into the pan along with:

    • 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
    • 28 ounce can of diced tomatos
    • 5 dashes of worcestershire sauce
    • couple squirts of good old yellow mustard
    • any spices you’d like.  I used a bit of onion powder and a half tablespoon of oregano
    • salt and pepper
    Cook it and taste.  If you want it more mustardy, add mustard, if you want it more tomato-ey, at some ketchup, maybe you want to spice it up with some hot sauce, go for it!

    To make the bread topping you’ll need:

    • one super cute and super eager sous-chef
    • a whole mound of freshly grated cheese. (No packaged stuff, it doesn’t melt the same.) That’s probably 2 cups right there.
    • a little olive oil
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Once the meat mixture has cooked and blended together, probably 20 minutes or so, dump it into a greased casserole dish.  Smother it with the bread and cheese mixture.

    Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, until the bread starts to crust up and all the cheese is nice and melty.

    Serving it with a nice dill pickle might be a fun thing to do as well.  Good way to get something green on the plate so you can, without reservation, refer to this as a Holiday Dish.

    Do the dance and rejoice.

    CheeseBurger Casserole for the Soul
     

  • Doug Ferguson 3:57 pm on December 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Fan APP-reciation Day – Rutabaga Chips with Parmesan 

    Shout out to Kris O from Minnesota, who suggested Rutabaga as the ingredient for Fan APP-reciation day.  It was probably a joke, but hey, we took it as a challenge having never worked with rutabaga before.

    So, we sliced them on the mandolin and deep fried them in the Frydaddy.  Voila, Rutabaga Chips!

    When we removed them from the oil we quickly salted them and grated a healthy dose of parmigiano reggiano (the good stuff) all over them.

    Similar to sweet potato fries it’s hard to get them super crisp.  They fall somewhere between a potato and sweet potato on the sweetness scale.

    Overall, pretty fun and the kids loved them.

    Cheers to all the Suburban Cookbook fans!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Fan APP-reciation Day – Rutabaga Chips with Parmesan
     

  • Doug Ferguson 2:57 pm on November 22, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Our 2011 Thanksgiving Cocktail – The Pumpkin Martini 

    We make a special cocktail every year for Thanksgiving. Beth said, “I think this year I’m going to go with a Pumpkin Martini for Thanksgiving.”

    It immediately conjured up thoughts of a cloying, overly sweet cocktail I may have found myself drinking at a chain restaurant while a student at Florida.

    She disregarded my stink face and did a test run last night.  The result was an impressively dry cocktail with sweet notes of honey and cinnamon and a nice, clean pumpkin finish.    In fact, I suggested that it could even be sweetened a tad.  Or maybe a splash of Grand Marnier?

    It was fun to experiment with a little extra vodka, a little less pumpkin, a little more Creme do Cacao, a little less milk.  (noticing a trend?)

    She adapted the drink from this Pumpkin Pie Martini recipe on allrecipes.com.

    The dusting of the rim with crushed graham cracker brought it all together.

    Happy Thanksdrinking!

    p.s. we’ll be serving a magnum of this Red Burgundy.  Know nothing about it but hey, it says Cru on it!

    Our 2011 Thanksgiving Cocktail – The Pumpkin Martini
     

    • Christine 9:50 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink

      You both did such a beautiful job !! I loved the martinis, all of the amazing food and of course the company !! It was a Thanksgiving Blast !! Thank you for a wonderful day.
      The pictures on this blog are gorgeous ! :)

  • Doug Ferguson 12:56 pm on November 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Sorry Norman Rockwell, We Break Down Our Turkeys Before We Cook Them 

    We’ll be hosting our 7th Thanksgiving this week.  For the first 5 of those Thanksgiving celebrations I managed to prepare and cook a whole bird with no disasters to report.

    But cooking a 20lb turkey can be a tricky procedure.  For me, every time I’ve done this, it seems that as soon as the breast is perfectly done and perfectly juicy the base of the thighs are still pink.

    I tried a variety of turkey techniques over the years.  One year I used bacon to wrap the breasts and hold in moisture while the thighs cooked through.  Another year I did the Alton Brown method and zapped the turkey at a high temperature then covered the breast with tin foil.  I’ve tried flipping the bird and cooking it half the time upside down.  I’ve cooked it at lower temperature for 6 1/2 hours.  I’ve brined, I’ve injected, I’ve re-buttered, I’ve spritzed, I’ve basted, I’ve… well you get the idea.

    It always works out pretty well but it’s hard to be nimble with such a big bird and a house full of hungry guests.

    Last year however I came across an article in the NY Times dining section where a number of well know chefs advocated for the method of breaking down your bird, meaning cut into parts, and then cook.  I said, what the heck, let’s give it a shot.

    See below for a video I produced that demonstrates how to butcher the turkey, removing the legs/thighs, wings and breasts as well as the breast skin. With some knife sharpening in there for good measure.

    I then slathered the legs and wings with an herb butter and then cooked them on a bed of garlic, onions, celery, carrots, thyme, sage and rosemary.

    Then the fun part, I put the two turkey breasts together and slathered them with the herb butter and then wrapped them both up with the skin.  I then trussed it up with butcher twine like a pork roast.  It can be a bit tricky because everything starts to get pretty slippery as the butter melts from the heat of your hands.

    Cook at 350°F until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 175°F.  By that time the turkey breast roast should be perfect.

    It worked out really well and the platter looked fantastic.  I used an electric knife to cut perfect discs from the turkey breast roast.  So much easier than cutting slices off of a whole bird.

    After you butcher, the leftover carcass can be used to make a perfect turkey gravy.  But you can just as easily use the drippings from the pans you used to cook the bird as well.

    The best part, I cooked a 20lb Turkey in under 2 hours!

    I actually felt guilty at how easy it was and how chill my day turned out to be. I probably have enough time to make a pie crust from scratch this year, but hey, let’s not get carried away, I mean there some serious football this Thanksgiving.  The Detroit Lions are actually good!

    This year I plan to put a D’Artagnan Duck Sausage in the center of the Turkey roast. Heck, I may even wrap the thing in bacon.

    Regardless of how you’d like to prepare your turkey, I hope every one has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  Cheers!

    Suburban Cookbook Ep 114 – Sharp Knives and Breaking Down Your Thanksgiving Bird from doug ferguson on Vimeo.



     

    Sorry Norman Rockwell, We Break Down Our Turkeys Before We Cook Them
     

  • Jennine 4:09 pm on November 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: candy corn, Rice Krispie Treats, Thanksiving   

    Thanksgiving Turkey Treats 

    If you are looking for a cute Thanksgiving treat for the kids, this a great one that could also be a fun addition to your Thanksgiving table. These were a hit with my son’s kindergarten class! We can call this an educational experience too since he enjoyed measuring the rice krispies and counting out the candy corn (one for the turkey, two for me…) I adapted this from the Kelloggs website to be a bit more travel friendly and peanut free.


    You will need:

    • 1  helper with a measuring cup
    • 3 Tablespoons butter
    • 1 package marshmallows
    • 6 cups rice krispies
    • half bag of chocolate chips, melted in a double boiler
    • 2 sizes of pastry cutters for bodies and heads
    • white and black decorating gel (Wilton’s is the best)
    • 2 bags of candy corn, different colors

    (this makes 10)

    In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add 6 cups KELLOGG’S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated. Dump onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Coat your hands in butter (because this is sticky stuff) and spread out the mix with your hands until it is about 1 inch thick. Cut warm cereal mixture into two different sized circles for the turkey bodies and heads. You have to work fast because this can be a challenge when the mix gets hard! Let the circles cool on a sheet as your chocolate is melting.

    With a spoon, spread some chocolate (this is the glue) in a half circle on the large cut out. Arrange seven candy corn along the top edge, (point in) and then press a small circle in the center.

    Let the chocolate cool and harden. Pour the some of melted chocolate into a Ziploc freezer bag and make a tiny cut at one corner (really tiny). When the chocolate is cool enough to handle the bag, squeeze out a dollop of feather hair on each head. I found another helper, my daughter Andie. She was in charge of candy corn quality and happy to eat any that were not up to par.

    For the nose, carefully cut a candy corn in half longways and trim a bit. Dip the wide end in chocolate and stick it onto your head. Lastly, dot two white eyes on each head and add a tiny dot of black on each one. I love to make the turkeys cross-eyed or gazing in one direction–it gives them character. Enjoy!

     

    Jennine is an amazing dancer, choreographer and you guessed it, cook and baker.  We’ve enjoyed many tasty treats from her over the years and we’re so glad she’s now an official contributor to the Suburban Cookbook!  Be sure to check out her amazing dance company, Third Rail Projects on facebook.

     

    Thanksgiving Turkey Treats
     

    • daniel Millman 9:22 pm on November 16, 2011 Permalink

      I think it’s great

    • Tasty 4:53 pm on November 17, 2011 Permalink

      If the Pilgrims had learned to grow rice, I have no doubt there would be one on every table! Now all you vegetarian wimps finally have something to eat that actually tastes good!

  • Doug Ferguson 10:20 am on November 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Our Power is Back, So Let’s Go with a Powerful Gumbo 

    We were without power for almost an entire week after this freakish October snowstorm.  So many trees fell in our neighborhood we’ve got firewood for a decade.

    I’ve received numerous emails asking “what happened to the Suburban Cookbook?”  ”Why have you stopped posting?”

    Well we’re back and back with a super, flavorful Gumbo.

    The key for me is this amazing D’Artagnan Andouille Sausage.  It’s an awesome product.  It’s super spicy and flavors the oil for all the frying.  Almost like the way a good chorizo flavors the oil in a paella.

    If you want to serve the Gumbo to your kids though I’d recommend a nice Kielbasa, which is also smoked but not too spicy.  This D’Artagnan was a tad too spicy for my 5 yr old daughter… and she puts Cholula Hot Sauce on her eggs!

    My other key is chicken thighs.  I use diced chicken breasts in this recipe as well but serve a full chicken thigh in each dish.  The meat is just more flavorful.

    Lastly, I don’t do green bell peppers.  Would you eat a green banana?  That’s what a green bell pepper is to me.  A red bell pepper that hasn’t ripened.  So I go with Red bell peppers.  They just taste better.

    I add black eyed peas near the end of the 1 1/2 simmer, some people add okra, others collard greens.  You should feel free to experiment.

    Here are two good recipes I recommend.  Emeril’s, of course  and also a great one from Annie’s Eats.  They both spend the extra time developing a really dark roux.  I cheat a little bit.

    I basically sprinkle in about a half cup of flour and 2 tbsps of butter right over the vegetables (along with all my spices) and find that it thickens up quite nicely.  Perhaps it doesn’t get the same deep, caramel flavor if you forgo that extra mile, but hey, I didn’t hear anybody complaining.

     

     

     

    Our Power is Back, So Let’s Go with a Powerful Gumbo
     

  • Doug Ferguson 3:52 pm on September 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Getting Cooler Out – Roasted Tomato and Kale Soup 

    The swimming pool is closed, the radiant heat is on in the bathroom, youth Soccer season has started, all tell tale signs that Summer is in the rearview mirror and it’s starting to get chilly out.

    So let’s whip up some healthy soup!

    To start out I’ll say that this is a perfect time to let the kids work on their slicing and chopping skills.  It’s always scary to hand your child a sharp knife but better they learn from you I say.  Since we’re making soup, it’s all going to get blended, so it doesn’t matter if the pieces are different sizes.

    Slicing an onion is a great thing to teach your kids.  But be careful!

    Anyway, so I got some nice tomatoes from the farmers market and along with an onion and about 5 cloves of garlic we chopped and dumped them into a copule roasting pans with olive oil, salt and pepper.  And to throw a healthy twist in there I added kale.  I’m slightly obsessed with this super food and have written about it in the past.

    We roasted them in the oven at 400 for about 20 mins, basically to the point where everything starts to brown and caramelize a little bit.


    I placed them in a pot along with carton of stock (chicken or vegatable) and brought the thing up to a boil.

    Once they’re boiling I gave the whole thing a buzz with my emersion blender until it all came together.  I let simmer for another 15 minutes and checked the seasoning multiple times.

    And yes, the kids ate it.  ”Eat your soup and you’ll get some mac & cheese” is a nifty trick, fyi.

     

    Getting Cooler Out – Roasted Tomato and Kale Soup
     

  • Doug Ferguson 2:58 pm on September 16, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Clams Casino on the Grill – Locavore at the Shore 

    At the beginning of our vacation hurricane Irene had just finished blasting the Northeast Coast and clams were unavailable.

    I was like, “Oh no, I can’t spend a Summer vacation without clams.  Raw clams, deep fried clams, fettucini with clams and the king of all clam recipes, Clams Casino!”

    Is it safe to say I had a relaxing vacation if  ’no clams at the fish market’ was the most stressful thing I had to endure?

    It didn’t last long, by mid-week they were back fishing and the clams starting pouring into the market.

    Buying local clams at the shore is almost a tradition for us. So when they finally came in I was like, we’re doing Clams Casino.

    But first let me start off by saying my clams casino were off to a bad start that morning.  Some might even say, they’re not real clams casino but the truth of the matter is, I made the bacon for breakfast and totally forgot to buy more.

    They weren’t the same without the bacon.  Yes, #clamfail.

    They were still good though.  I think we need to call them Clams Casinobacon.

    Preparing the breading and grilling them is a piece of cake.  The shucking, eh, not so much.  Oysters are a breeze compared to Clams in terms of shucking but you just have to man up, put your head down and pop those hinges.

    Before you begin shucking though, put them in a bowl of cold water and stir in a 1/4 cup of flour.  After an hour in the fridge the clams will have purged a good amount of the sand they were holding on to.  Not really sure what biological process happens, but it works.  You’ll see the sand at the bottom of the bowl as your proof.

    I think I shucked about 30 or so.  It’s tricky, but when you’re opening them and loosening the clam, try to lose too much of the juice.

    For the breading mixture I minced 5 cloves of garlic and half bunch of parsley.  I tossed that into about 2 cups of panko bread crumbs along with a few glugs of good olive oil and some salt and pepper.   I also grated a big hunk of parmesan in there and mixed.

    Put about a half tablespoon of breading mixture on top of each clam.  Not too much or it will over power the clam.

    This is where you should then top the clam with a little piece of bacon, but remember my #clamfail, right?

    Instead I used a little piece of butter, just to be decadent.

    Grill until brown and bubbly.  Watch out, the clam shells will be hot for a while after they come off the grill.

    Yes, sometimes I act like an idiot.

    Oh, and p.s. my wife is going to kill me for posting this picture, but that’s how I sacrifice for the enjoyment of the Suburban Cookbook readers.

    p.s.s I also made clams with fettucini for the main course.

     

     

    Clams Casino on the Grill – Locavore at the Shore
     

    • jere 10:20 pm on September 22, 2011 Permalink

      awesomesome recipe need more

    • Isabelle 10:37 pm on September 22, 2011 Permalink

      What liberating konwledge. Give me liberty or give me death.

  • Doug Ferguson 1:21 pm on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Last Day at Point Pleasant – The Summer is Over : ( 

    I’ve postponed uploading these shots all week.  I wasn’t sure why but I think it’s because I don’t want to admit that Summer is over.  We had so much fun cooking, playing, swimming and all around laughing our butts off with literally the best friends anyone could dream of.

    Wake up gang, last day at the beach.  A little groggy?  How about The Perfect Egg Sandwich to get you going?  Yes Please!

    Scramble eggs with a few splashes of whole milk. I preheat a non stick on low and melt in 1 tbspn of butter for every two eggs.

    Cook low and slow, gently folding them over.  Try not to break the eggs up too much.

    The result is super fluffy, light egg clouds.

    I prefer whole wheat toast and Cholula is my hot sauce of choice.  Authentic chili pepper taste but won’t blow your head off.

     

    I put the cheese on right when the toast comes out of the toaster and put the hot eggs on top.  This will melt it just enough.

     

     

    Drip castles are cool.

    Jersey Mikes truly makes an amazing sub.  I usually go with his Philly Cheesesteak, but they’re all really fantastic.

     


    And the famous Jenkinson’s Screwdriver to wash it down. Cheers!

     

    Cooling off in the Pool.

    Pooped, but look what I won at the arcade!

     

    Evening time.  You know what that means… Games!

    And Rides!

     

    And of course, the dreaded Ring Toss, 5 Summers and hundreds of dollars, still no winner.  I’ve learned my lesson, I’m never playing ring toss again…. oh, who am I kidding.  Summer 2012 is my year!

    Summer’s Over. So I guess,  Peace Out Y’all!

     

    Last Day at Point Pleasant – The Summer is Over : (
     

    • AllieD 3:16 pm on September 9, 2011 Permalink

      Great vacation… great friends… great food!!! Thanks a million, buddy! xo, The D’s

    • Karsen 2:15 am on September 23, 2011 Permalink

      I never thought I would find such an evreyady topic so enthralling!

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