The Bitten Word

Happy Holidays from Zach & Clay

Our wish for you this holiday:

We hope you find something delicious to eat, that your family is nice to you (and that you're nice to them), and that you're able to find something that makes you happy in the final days of this year. 

And most of all, we hope your holiday smells better than this pine-scented air freshener tree. 

Have a great one -- we'll see you back here in January!

-- Zach & Clay 

 

 

Sparkling Rum Punch

Southern Living (December 2012)

A couple days ago, we mentioned that it's the season for sweets.

That's true, but it's also the season of the champagne toast. Between the first raising of your glass at Thanksgiving dinner and the last mimosa toast on New Year's Day morning, there's enough "cheersing" going on to give you tennis elbow.

Here's a fun sparkling wine cocktail to mix things up. It's an unexpected combination of rum, orange and sparkling wine. 

Rum and orange juice sounds like something a pre-motherhood Snooki would've drunk with breakfast. But rum, orange juice and sparkling wine? That, friends, is a classy combination. 

This sparkling rum punch is a festive, sweet concoction, just the sort of thing you want to be able to whip up on a whim during the holidays when friends are coming by.

Cheers! 

Crunch Bars with Popcorn and Pretzels

Bon Appétit (December 2012)

'Tis the season for sweets. Ever since Thanksgiving, it seems like we've never been more than arm's reach from a tempting treat or confection -- at parties, at the office, at the bank. There was a plate of cookies at the gym one day last week, for Pete's sake.

Nevertheless, we wanted to try out these Crunch Bars. (Oh, the lengths we go to for you Bittens....)

Mixed Herb Salad with Pickled Radish Vinaigrette

Food & Wine (December 2012)

There's something about a bracing winter salad that can be so satisfying for the holidays. It's like a clean knife cutting through all the heavy, rich, sweet flavors that dominate the menu this time of year.

When we had four friends -- Drew, Ralph, Ken and Jeff -- over for dinner last week, we served that wonderful Roast Lamb with Fennel and Apples, and we finished the evening with the Peppermint-Meringue Brownie Cake.

This Mixed Herb Salad was a great way to kick off that meal.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Apples and Fennel

Saveur (December 2012)

Just the other day we were saying that you don't need to worry about things being perfect when you serve them at the dinner table -- especially at the holidays, when things can get a little crazy.

We meant that. But come on. Isn't there still a little part of you that still wants that perfection? Especially at the holidays?

Don't you still fantasize just a little bit about striding triumphantly to a table full of applauding guests, carrying a huge platter laden with roast holiday fare? Like Charles Dickens meets Norman Rockwell meets Martha Stewart?

We'll totally cop to that ourselves. 

And guess what? With this Roast Leg of Lamb with Apples and Fennel, you're well on your way to that Dickensian Rockwellian Stewartian vision of holiday perfection. The good news is, it's darn easy. 

Peppermint-Meringue Brownie Cake

Everyday Food (December 2012)

This is our kind of holiday dessert: chocolate, vaguely impressive looking, but also a bit imperfect.

This Peppermint-Meringue Brownie Cake is a home run on all three of those counts. 

The chocolate, well, that's self-explanatory. The bottom half of this cake is a fudgy, rich brownie base. We'll wager that will be a hit with most of you, unless brownies have somehow done you wrong in a past life (if so, you have our condolences).

Vaguely impressive? It is, isn't it? Doesn't it look complicated? Like we spent hours toiling away at this cake? Like we needed some special skill to pull it off? We definitely didn't. (We did, however, need an electric mixer. So we suppose our superpower is "owns a mixer.") 

But this cake is also imperfect, in the very best way possible. The holidays, while lovely, can also be tough. There's a lot going on. Families are messy. You, dear Bitten, need not also arrive at the dinner table with "perfect" dishes. We don't subscribe to "perfect" -- imperfect is the name of our game. And here's why it applies to this cake. 

Cherry Brandy Old-Fashioned

Food Network Magazine (December 2012)

The first time Zach had an Old-Fashioned -- or at least the most memorable time -- was the first Thanksgiving he spent in D.C. A friend, Heather, invited Zach and several other folks to her family's huge Thanksgiving dinner in Northern Virginia. Awaiting the guests when they arrived was a 5-gallon glass jug full of Heather's dad's signature Old-Fashioned cocktail.

There was much ladling, and ladling, and more ladling. Suffice it to say, things got a little hazy. Zach's night ended quite eventfully, when he fell asleep on the Metro at midnight and rode the Orange Line straight through D.C. all the way to the end of the line in Maryland. A cab was called. An ATM was visited. Heather's dad's Old-Fashioneds were forsworned.

We're sure you can handle yourself better when it comes to these Cherry Brandy Old-Fashioneds. But be warned. They are strong. And they are amazing.

Cajun Chicken Cassoulet

Southern Living (December 2012)

Playwrights often use the metaphor of Chekhov's gun: If you're going to introduce a gun in the first act, it'd better be fired by the end of the play. 

The same goes for recipe titles. In this case, if you're going to use the word "Cajun," there'd better be a pay-off in terms of spice.

This Cajun Chicken Cassoulet simply doesn't have enough spice. But we'll get to that in a moment.

Roast Chicken with Fig-and-Pancetta Stuffing

Martha Stewart Living (December 2012)

Stuffing was a much discussed topic at the Thanksgiving dinner we attended. (That dinner, by the way, was an amazing spread prepared by Zach's sister, Cassidy. We didn't cook a thing -- it was glorious.) 

As we expect happens at many Thanksgivings, there was talk of stuffing (cooked inside the bird) versus dressing (cooked separately, in a casserole dish). There wasn't a lot of love for stuffing at the table. Zach's mom said that every stuffing she had prepared had turned out greasy. It didn't help stuffing's case that Cassidy had prepared two fantastic dressings.

But in that moment it occurred to us that while we've made countless dressings, we've never cooked an actual stuffing inside a turkey or chicken. We took this recipe for Roast Chicken with Fig-and-Pancetta Stuffing as a sign that it was time to try it.