Baby, it’s cold outside and while the holiday spirit makes me warm and bright, it was the vision of steaming hot buttered rum that kept me trekking through the tree farm in search of the perfect Christmas tree.

From the moment we tied the big, busy tree to the top of the car and began the drive home, I could smell the cinnamon and nutmeg and practically taste the creamy rum. Hot buttered rum—the perfect drink for our tree decorating party later in the evening.

There are lots of recipes for hot buttered rum—one of the earliest appeared in The Ideal Bartender in 1917—but mine is beyond wonderful! It comes from my friend, Pete Woll, known throughout French Gulch for the best hot buttered rums. The treat is traditionally made from a simple butter batter, aged dark rum and boiling water, but Pete’s combines best-quality vanilla ice cream, butter (not margarine), brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for an extra rich, fragrant indulgence. Each winter, I whip up a large batch of the batter and freeze it to make quick drinks throughout the season.

This drink is a wonderful Christmas memory from my childhood when Dad made a non-alcoholic version for my brother and me. Today, all our kids love theirs in Santa mugs with a dollop of softened ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg.

As family and friends gathered to decorate the tree with treasured ornaments collected over the years, I felt the magic of the season, and realized that while I’m now old enough for rum, I still thrill at drinking from my Santa mug.

Happy holidays!
Print a copy of  Hot Buttered Rum for your convenience.

 

 

Sprinkle the kitchen liberally with fairy dust, crank up the rockin’ holiday music and they will come. Lots of them. Earlier this week tiny Christmas elves turned my kitchen into Santa’s workshop as they decorated dozens of holiday sugar cookies and gingerbread people.

 

 

Eyes wide-bright, they oohed and ahhed at the site of my long kitchen table laden with yummy pots of brightly colored buttercream frosting, sprinkles, edible glitter, red hearts and whimsical decorations.

 

 

Their eyes darted to sideboard where large trays of delicious cookies waited for their magic. Soon little hands eagerly collected favorite angels, stars, trees, bells and gingerbread mamas, daddies and babies.

 

 

As head elf, I pile on the holiday spirit with Santa hats, aprons and festive party favors. Nothing breaks the ice like blinking necklaces of colored lights and silly, flashing Rudolf noses to remind kids of their friends at the North Pole.

 

 

Three little guys got into the party spirit as Santa, Rudolph and Jango the elf.

 

 

Look at that black tongue! This cutie-pie swiped his mini spatula in the black frosting and immediately started eating it. In a flash all the boys joined in, giggling and showing their black tongues to the other kids. Soon all the guests—young and old—got in on the silly fun.

 

 

The joy of creativity is infectious. Each year I get a special thrill when the kids tire of the cookies and run off to play, only to be replaced by their moms and dads, eager for a shot at the frosting. Even our oldest guest (85 years young!) hung three masterpieces on the kitchen cookie tree.

 

 

Beyond Wonderful intern Theo Anderson donned a full Santa suit and burst into the room with a robust, “Ho-ho-ho—Merry Christmas!” He listened to each child’s wish and distributed candy canes to all. This Santa is always hungry and happily accepted cookies!

 

 

To keep the elf energy up and prevent a sugar overdose, I set out lots of tasty savory snacks on a low table for easy access. Deli meats like salami and ham are always popular. Add some cheese, bread and crackers with fresh fruit and veggies, a few drinks and you’re set. This time I included black olives, too.

 

 

After a few hours, the elves of all ages were ready to carry their cookie treasures home. I find that inexpensive, different-sized cardboard gift boxes with tissue paper do the job well. Close each with a festive sticker to make it feel special.

 

 

This year I am reminded, as always, that kids are magic—especially when surrounded by so much sugar and creativity.

 

 

Take your cue from them, and your own cookie party is sure to be sweet success.

Get printable copies of  Sugar Cookies  and Gingerbread Cookies  for easy reference.

Forget turkey and all the fancy foods. The hands-down favorite dish at my Thanksgiving celebration every year is mashed potatoes—mounds and mounds of them. No one can resist the simple spud dressed to perfection with lots of cream, milk and butter then whipped to sublime fluffiness. Myself included.

Even novice holiday cooks can wow the crowd with this easy-to-prepare dish. All that’s needed is my perfect Classic Mashed Potatoes recipe and a few tips for success.

1.    Select Idaho or Yukon Gold potatoes for best results.

2.    Prepare the mashed potatoes earlier in the day and warm them just before serving. Otherwise, it’s crazy busy when you start peeling, mashing, and mixing while trying to get the rest of the meal on the table.

3.    Use a simple potato ricer for mashing the potatoes. They are inexpensive and available at kitchen stores and select supermarkets. (Stores like Sur le table carry the larger sized ones that make mashing faster.)

4.    Never, never, never mash the potatoes in a food processor or they become gummy. Yummy but gummy.

5.    Heat the cream, milk and butter together until the liquid is hot to the touch and the butter melted. Pour the hot cream mixture over the potatoes and mix thoroughly.

6.    Check the consistency of the potatoes and add more warm milk if needed. They should have a soft, creamy texture. Don’t fret if you have lumps unless smooth is the goal. In that case, scoop all of the mashed potatoes in to the bowl of an electric mixer, set it to medium and whip to your desired consistency.

7.    Re-heat the mashed potatoes in a heavy pot, stirring constantly over a medium heat. Add more liquid as required to restore the original soft texture. Adjust the seasonings and serve.

With this much pleasure on a plate, I ask that you leave your guilt at the door, grab a fork and dig in!

Print a copy of Classic Mashed Potatoes for your convenience.

Some nights I leave my office dog-tired and hungry. The last thing on my mind is a stop at the market, but take-out food is expensive and often mediocre. At times like this my well-stocked pantry saves the day. I keep it filled with basic and specialty ingredients for my every mood, making meals like pasta puttanesca possible at a moment’s notice.

“Sugo alla puttanesca” literally translates to “whore’s sauce.” The bold, spicy dish was originally conjured up by the prostitutes of Naples, Italy. As word of this amazing sauce spread beyond its native region, puttanesca became wildly popular in the 1960’s. Today, cooks like me depend on its lusty goodness when throwing together a quick meal of pasta, garlic bread and red wine.

I grabbed my big iron skillet and the puttanesca basics: a large tin of Modena tomatoes, some black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, dried herbs and a bag of pasta. Over the years I’ve pumped up the flavor with sautéed onions, a bit of red wine and parmesan-reggiano cheese.

Like magic, the woes of the day faded as quickly as the sauce came together, filling the house with its pungent garlic scent. Soon the family made their way to the kitchen in anticipation.

I poured some wine, stirred the sauce and told everyone how the Neapolitan ladies-of-the-night enticed customers in with their simmering sauce. This was an especially clever tactic when you consider that brothels were required to keep their windows covered to avoid offending the neighbors. Unable to visually flaunt their wares, the savvy professionals appealed to their customers’ sense of smell instead. How, they must have reasoned, could men returning home after a hard day’s work resist the scent of garlic and all good things to come?

Pasta puttanesca is one of the easiest dishes around when you know a few secrets. First, unless you are surrounded with anchovy lovers, never, never volunteer that you’ve included them in the sauce. People get positively wiggy, wrinkle their noses, flail their hands in disgust and often pass on the sauce. Trust me—anchovies do not make puttanesca fishy or evil-tasting. In fact, they cook down and disappear into the liquid, adding a sophisticated layer of flavor not possible without the little critters.

Great sauce requires well-prepared—restaurant quality—pasta. Puttanesca is traditionally served with spaghetti or fettuccini but I prefer large pasta shells. They are “meatier” and fill with the warm spicy sauce, providing savory bursts of flavor with every bite. For perfectly cooked pasta, salt your cooking water like the Mediterranean—a handful in a big pot of water. Go ahead – don’t be shy; the pasta only absorbs a small amount of the salt.

After draining, never rinse your pasta with water or you’ll remove all the starch needed for the sauce to adhere. You also run the risk of creating a watery sauce. That said, always retain a cup or two of the salted cooking water to thin the sauce if required. It’s much better than using plain water.

I swear by one final professional touch: remove the pasta from its cooking water a minute early, drain it and mix it into the simmering sauce to finish cooking. The pasta absorbs all of the sauce’s good flavors, making your dish truly memorable.

Breathe in—then dig in. This is my idea of spicy, fast and easy. Now please excuse me while I close the blinds.

Print a copy of  Pasta Puttanesca and How To Cook Perfect Pasta.

Grab your hammers and cleavers, we’re roasting pumpkins for holiday pies, cakes, breads—and the most scrumptious pumpkin pancakes around. So are you up for roasting pumpkins? “No, no, no, no”, you say. “That’s not for me.” As a novice cook, I felt the same way. Pumpkins came in a can from the supermarket for the express purpose of making pies once a year. Who knew that fresh pumpkins were easy to use—and suitable for so many dishes?

My friend and produce expert, Dan Avakian, encouraged me to start roasting my own pumpkins then taught me how. It was painless from the start, and now it’s so easy that I can roast and freeze a year’s supply in one afternoon.

Today, my kitchen counter is filled with edible pumpkins that I bought at Dan’s open-air produce market last Saturday. I stocked up on my favorite, orange Sugar Pie variety. Dan showed me other possibilities like the Green Fairytale, Cinderella, Australian Queensland Blue (aka Jarradale) and Lumina whites. With so many choices, I had lots of questions and felt lucky that someone as knowledgeable as Dan was there to answer them. It reminded me that you should always get to know your local produce people and fearlessly ask them anything on your mind. Not only will they guide you to your best options and values, but they’ll also suggest new ideas that will enhance your menus.

The one thing about roasting pumpkins that most people don’t know is that you cannot eat the decorative varieties grown for Halloween jack o’ lanterns. If you have some uncut ones left over, use them as autumn decorations.

Let’s get to work. The pumpkin roasting process takes a few hours of prepping, baking and pureeing—so if I’m doing a large batch, I set up an assembly line to move things along efficiently. Of course if you’re just doing one pumpkin it’s all even easier. Either way, it’s great fun to knock off the pumpkin stem with a hammer, split it with one good whack of a cleaver and scoop out slimy pumpkin goop and seeds with your hands. Your reward is a deeply flavorful and marvelously textured product that beats anything in a supermarket can.

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Remove the pumpkin stem by giving it a good whack with a hammer.

3.  Cut the pumpkin in half—top to bottom—using a sharp cleaver or chef’s knife.
NOTE: Never use a dull or thin knife or you may cut yourself or break the knife.

 

 4.  Pull the sides of the pumpkin apart.

 

5.  Scoop out the stringy pumpkin goop and seeds with a large spoon or your clean hands. Save the seeds for roasting.

6.  Place the pumpkin halves—cavity side down—on a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

 

7.  Remove the pumpkins from the oven and turn them over—cavity side up. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 15–30 minutes, or until a fork goes through the flesh easily.

 

 8.  Remove the pumpkin halves from the oven and let them cool for one hour.

Peel the outer skin away with your fingers. (The peel comes off easily once cooked.)

9.  Puree the pumpkin using a food mill, food processor, blender or immersion blender.

Add a few tablespoons of water to the pumpkin get the process going.

 10. Store the pumpkin puree in the refrigerator for several days or freeze it in airtight zip-top bags. Be sure to lay the freezer bags on a cookie sheet when freezing so that they will remain flat and easy to handle. Otherwise you’ll end up struggling to pry bags off of your freezer shelf.

Print out my illustrated step-by-step How To Roast Pumpkins and recipe for
Pumpkin Pancakes for easy reference.