Holidays are Here!

And that means we are taking advantage of the last few days where we can get away with saying, "It's the holidays, I do what I want!" when it comes to our attitude towards food. So that's why I'm trying to take full advantage of this time of allowed gluttony when it comes to the Ina recipes. Life is good!

*kitchen update: the stovetop has been replaced. we're back in action!

weeknight bolognese

That's right! Mac got me the new Barefoot Contessa Cookbook How Easy is That? for Christmas. We had to try this super easy and delicious bolognese. Make sure to use good red wine, it determines a lot of the flavor of the sauce!

jam thumbprint cookies

These delightful gems come from Family Style cookbook, and they're featured in the kids' section, because they are the kind of treat that everyone likes. They're made with a really simple shortbread dough, tasty jam of your choosing (Ina recommended raspberry and apricot, so that's what I went with), and sweetened coconut flakes. Classic.

easy lobster paella

I still wish I had one of those awesome copper paella pans, but this is so easy you don't need one of those to find success and tasty dinner. I went to Dirk's Fish to pick up some frozen, cooked lobster to use in keeping with the "easy" theme of the recipe. It was done in less than 45 minutes and good enough to serve to company for sure. Though admittedly, I've had much better paella in restaurants - this won't become one of those dishes you won't want to order out anymore because you like the way you make it better. But it's a good version to make at home.

baba au rhum

I went to New York in November with Mac and we went with some friends to Sarabeth's restaurant across the street from Central Park. Naturally, I bought her cookbook after perusing the perfect looking desserts and breads and jams. She had several recipes for cakes that required the use of the kugelhopf pan so I was pretty excited to have a reason to buy one for the blog and this rum cake. I don't know why, but I decided to substitute half-and-half for milk in the recipe and I think that may be why it didn't rise as much as it was supposed to and fill out the whole mold. Aside from that, the texture and flavor of the cake was right on. The rum syrup tasted a little too much like rum for me, but maybe I just don't like rum cake. The whipped cream in the middle definitely does cut the rum taste, making it really good, but I'm not dying to make this one again. (Except to correct my half-and-half error.)

recipes in this post:

weeknight bolognese - not available online. how easy is that? cookbook.

jam thumbprint cookies - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/jam-thumbprint-cookies-recipe/index.html

easy lobster paella - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-lobster-paella-recipe/index.html

baba au rhum - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/baba-au-rhum-recipe/index.html