Details Make a House a Home

It has been 3 weeks since we got the keys to our house! It has been full of lots of projects, hard work, and nothing but joy in all of it! For those of you who didn't read it, I posted some of my inspirations and ideas a few weeks ago of projects I wanted to do. http://biggestlittleblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/happiest-friday.html

I love details; I feel like all the details are what make a house a home. Personalized touches that make your house uniquely yours. I just wanted to share with you some of my favorite details in my new home!!!

My entry way! I have always wanted a cozy and inviting entry way. I blogged about a picture that inspired this in the link above. The shelf in the original picture was pottery barn and hundreds of dollars! Instead, we went to home depot and got 2, 6 foot long boards, molding for the edges, white paint and hooks. We built the whole shelf for under $30! I still want to play with decor for it, but I love the shelf and its super sturdy so all my guests can hang their coats and purses with no fear of falling! The bench will be perfect for little feet one day; walk in, take off shoes and coats...kind of like an entry way/mud room idea.

My dining room is one of the rooms that is uniquely our style, and not for everyone. We had a good friend who is an artist come and mimic Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc pig on our wall. For two foodies, we LOVE our dining room. If nothing else, it has become quite a conversation piece when people come over.



I love our family picture wall down our hallway. I have pictures of us both as babies, our families, travel we have done, etc. It is full of all the people we love and tons of memories. Eventually, I want the pictures to cover the entire wall.

I adore how my office turned out. I work from home so I wanted an office that was going to be calming and comfortable. We have this cute nook that had a built in desk and shelves so we painted the whole thing white to lighten it up. I love butterflies, (http://biggestlittleblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/rainbows-and-butterflies.html) and my sister sent me some beautiful prints she took that I framed and hung up. We took some puddy, and added three coats to flatten the wall from texture. I then painted three coats of chalk board paint over it. We then took some molding, painted it white, and framed the whole area out. I love my chalk board, I think its useful but also adds a lot of character.

What are some of your favorite details of your home?



Beef Stroganoff

Continuing to work through my Ad Hoc cooking book by Thomas Keller, I was so excited to find a recipe for Beef Stroganoff. There are so many interpretations of this dish, some made with beef stock, some made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup; Thomas Keller's recipe is a dressed up version of the classic and is just as much about the mushrooms as the beef. 

What You'll Need:

Cream Sauce

1 pound cremini mushrooms, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup chopped onion
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups heavy cream
1 sachet of 1 bay leaf, 3 thyme sprigs, 10 peppercorns
1/3 cup créme fraîche (you can substitute with sour cream if you need to)

Mushrooms

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons  canola oil
1 pound  cremini mushrooms sliced 1/4 inch thick
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

braised beef ribs, chilled
pappardelle noodles (or whatever flat noodles you prefer)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
gray salt or coarse sea salt

To make the Cream Sauce

Process the mushrooms for the sauce in a food processor until finely chopped. (Can I just say I LOVE my food processor! If you don't have one yet it is worth investing in...easier to prepare dishes and you can rinse off quickly and put in dishwasher.)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the mushrooms, increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated, about 10-15 minutes.

Pour in the cream, add the sachet and bring to a boil. To make a sachet, use cheese clothe (or you can you gauze) and put your ingredients in and tie with cooking string. 

Reduce to a medium-low and simmer until the cream is reduced by about one-third, about 35 minutes. When the cream has thickened, discard the sachet, and strain the mushroom bits out. Heat the sauce on medium low heat, stir in the créme fraîche and add 3/4 of the sautéed mushrooms. Keep the sauce warm over very low heat. It will be very thick.

To make Mushrooms and Beef

Heat a large frying pan over medium-heat and add the butter and oil. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and brown without stirring for about 3 minutes. Flip and brown, about 1-2 minutes.  They key here is not to crowd your mushrooms so work in batches to cook them all. Also, if you toss or turn your mushrooms too early or often, they will steam instead of brown. 

Bring a giant pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pappardelle  or other noodles according to package directions. Drain.

Heat the oven to 350˚F. Cut the chilled short ribs into 2-inch cubes and brown in an oven safe pan, presentation-side down for about 2 minutes, flip and then transfer to the oven and heat for about 10 minutes.

Toss the pasta with butter and sauce. 

Arrange pasta on a platter and top with the remaining 1/4 sauteed mushrooms, browned short ribs, flat leaf parsley and salt.

I hope you all love this recipe as much as I did! It's a much more elegant version of this family style meal! 

Bon Appetit! 

Scallion Potato Cake Recipe

I am continuing to work through some of Thomas Keller’s recipes from his cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. In full disclosure, I felt a very un-confident in cooking this recipe. This is not something I would typically make so I didn't know if i was doing it right, or what its supposed to look like. However, now having done it, I am excited to make it again and realize how silly I was being. Rule number 1 in the kitchen is have fun, and for wahtever reason, my insecurity with this dish I lost that. However, proud to report after finishing this recipe, I have move past it. PLEASE try this recipe and don't let my silliness scare you! 

What you will need: 

1 large russet potato
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
canola oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Food Processor
Frying pan

Peel and grate potatoes by hand and wash.  Get out you food processor with a coarse shredding blade. Add 1 peeled potato at a time till all the potatoes are shredded. Transfer the shredded potatoes to a large bowl of cold water and swirl and rinse the potatoes. Lift them from the water and dry in a salad spinner or pat dry with paper towel and transfer to a large dry bowl. Sprinkle the cornstarch around the sides of the bowl and toss the potatoes to coat. From here, I spread all the potatoes on the counter and separated into thirds as you will be making 3 potato pancakes.

Heat some canola oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Turn down the heat to medium. 

Take 1 of your 3 piles of potatoes and divide in half; spread that half to the frying pan and spread into a 5 to 6 inch circle. Do not press down on the potatoes; you want to keep the cake light and airy. Sprinkle a generous amount of green onions on the cake, season with salt and pepper and top with the other half of your potato pile. Cook for 6-7 minutes to brown the bottom. If needed, add a bit of canola oil to the pan; you want to hear the potatoes sizzling. 

Carefully turn the pancake to brown the second side and cook until it is browned and crisp. 

Allow to cook for 5 to 6 more minutes. Once golden brown, remove from oil and place on a cooling rack to allow to drain. Since I had two more pancakes to make, I kit hot in the over on low heat. 

Take your 2 pile of potatoes and divide in half. Again, add half to oil and spread into 5 to 6 in circle. Repeat above steps for this pile and pile 3. 

Take your three pancakes and cut into wedges and serve hot. I served as a side dish with chicken. 

Bon Appetit!

Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel

My amazing husband bought me Thomas Keller's cook book, Ad Hoc at Home. I am in love with it because all the recipes are rustic, (which I have learned that is what my cook style leans towards) and pretty easy to navigate through. I am excited to work my way through this cookbook and share some tips and recipes with you all along my way! 

What you need:

3 large fennel bulbs
12 chicken thighs
kosher salt
canola oil
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
¼ cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc (I used Robert Mondovi and then served the rest with the meal)
1 cup large green olives
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 fresh or 2 dried Bay leaves
4 strips lemon zest – removed with vegetable peeler
8 thyme sprigs
1 cup Chicken Stock
about ¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves (I didn't have so I used dried parsley)

Directions:

Cut off the fennel stalks. Trim the bottom of the bulbs and peel back the layers until you reach the core; reserve the core for another use. Discard any bruised layers, and cut the fennel into 2-by-½-inch batons. You need 3 cups fennel for this recipe; reserve any remaining fennel for another use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt. Heat some canola oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan or roasting pan that will hold all the thighs in one layer over medium-high heat. Its really important to make sure your oil is hot and sizzling when you add your chicken. Add the thighs skin-side-down and brown on the skin side, about 4 minutes. 

Turn the thighs over and cook for about 1 minute to sear meat. Transfer to cooling rack.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion to the pan and cook for 1½ minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in the fennel, turn the heat up to medium, and cook, stirring often, until the fennel is crisp-tender, about 10 minutes.

Pour in the wine and simmer for about 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol. Stir in the olives, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, lemon zest and thyme, then pour in the chicken stock. Increase the heat, bring the liquid to a simmer, and cook until the fennel is tender, about 1 minute.

Taste the stock and season with salt, as needed. I didn't add more salt at this point because I felt it was salty enough, but I did add a little ground pepper. Return the chicken to the pan skin-side-up, in a single layer. When the liquid returns to a simmer, transfer to the oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Turn on the broiler, and put the pan under the broiler for a minute or two to crisp and brown the chicken skin. Remove from oven, and transfer to a plate, spoon sauce over each chicken. Garnish with parsley leaves.

This meal was a HUGE hit at my house. The suggestions I got was to add a little bit more fennel to the sauce so each person could have more than a fe slices because it complimented the chicken so well. I served with a side salad and potato pancakes. 

Let me know what you think! 

Bon Appetit!