The Last Hurrah

Five parties, seven months and more happier moments than I can count later, the wedding season officially draws to a close.

New Hampshire welcomed us with open arms!   (Home truly is where the heart is.)

Here's to celebrating and picking up where we left off!    Time and space occur, but love and friendship remain.  

To great food prepared by great people.   (If you are in New England, check out A Day to Remember... can't recommend highly enough!   They made our day seamless and are true professionals in every sense.)

To new friends who look fabulous in black and white and whom I'd love to drag along with me on my next trip to Italy!

To two of my favorite men.    (that allowed me to pose with them and have given a permanent and unstated consent to have their pictures posted in my blog :)

To family friends who loved my mother dearly and shared this with me in a way that no one else could.   (I didn't capture pictures of all of you, but you know who you are, and thank you... your words and memories mean so much to me.   And for those that are pictured below, if you squint real hard and look to the upper right...)

To early summer outdoor dining with dear friends and neighbors, great food and lots of laughter and celebrating!

To my kitty babies, who still recognize me after all these years and even offered a pose or two. 

To my husband, who indulges my need to take cheesy pictures of myself and loves me anyway. 

Cheers to it all!  A special thanks to our parents for all of your love and support and lots and lots of fun along the way!   We appreciate and cherish each and every moment. 

I couldn't have asked for a better visit to New Hampshire.   It's been a great week, but I'm ready to return to my new home where I know I will be welcomed by another set of open arms that made all of this possible.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Mexican Corn Cakes with Shredded Pork

Some days just call out for party food.   Minus the party.

I'm having one of those weeks.  

I don't know if it is the heat or the sharp realization that my wedding is now less than three months away and I'm still casually checking off things on the list.    Well, casually, until I started to panic a tiny bit.    I so don't want to be 'that' bride.    In fact, this was a week where I've questioned, yes, out loud, for the umpteenth time, why on earth we didn't just elope in Italy?    Sigh.

We're so beyond that point now.   BUT...  I suppose this entitles me to a minor breakdown once in awhile. You know the one way venom spewing kind where you kind of feel like you are having an out of body experience and wonder to yourself (internally of course) how you could be annoyed at this man who has done absolutely nothing wrong.   But it doesn't matter, because he just happened to be on the receiving end when the stars aligned and the timing was just right.   He's so good to me.

Note to any family or friends reading this, it's okay, I'm really okay now.   No intervention needed.

Anyway, I'm just a little stressed.   Anxious.   Whatever you want to call it.   And hot.  

It is time for a little fun.   I am done with the temporary insanity bridezilla thing.

Looking at all of the gorgeous pictures in my enormous collection of cookbooks always relaxes me.       So I picked up a lovely Martha book and told myself that Martha would never be acting like me and it was time to pull it together and make something nice and fun and summery.    Sort of an apology and a party all in one happy dish.

I found this recipe in Martha Stewart's "Dinner at Home" and made very few changes.   It is fantastic.   It made us both very happy.    Next time I make this, I will make party size version by downsizing the corn cakes.   Truly perfect party food.  Fun, colorful and really really good.    Kind of like summer comfort food.    

I don't know if this is southern or mexican or southwestern or what, but I do know it is fabulous.    Plus it worked.    Little miss sunshine is back... for the moment.

Mexican Corn Cakes

1 and 1/2 cups masa harina or cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 cups free corn (2 large ears worth)
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 ripe avocado, halved, sliced
Tender Shredded Pork (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

Mix together masa harina, flour, baking powder and salt.   Stir in cheese and corn.   Keep stirring and add in the water, 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture begins to hold together.

Heat oil in large skillet (cast iron if you have it) until hot but not smoking.    Form corn patties using 1/3 cup mixture.   They should be about 1/2 inch thick.   Repeat forming 8 patties total.  

Fry in two batches, turning once, until golden brown, 4 or 5 minutes per side.    Transfer to paper towels.    Top with avocado, shredded pork, 1 tablespoon sour cream and tomato wedges.   Garnish with cilantro if you'd like.    I ended up topping this with green onion.



Tender Shredded Pork 

1 pound pork tenderloin
4 cups chicken stock
2 small onions, finely chopped
1/2 jalepeno chile (I left this out)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 dried bay leaf
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Add pork, stock, half the onions, jalapeno, cilantro, cumin, bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium saucepan.    Boil.   Reduce to simmer.   Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pork reaches 138 degrees.   This takes about 10 to 15 minutes.   (Note, mine took longer and still was too pink when I removed it, so I chopped it all up and added it back to the simmering liquid for another two minutes.   Perfection.)

Heat broiler.   Remove pork from liquid and cut into 2 to 3 inch long pieces.   Transfer to baking sheet.  Shred and add in remaining onion and mix in butter and oil.   Season with salt and pepper.   Broil pork until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.   Serve warm.

Seriously good.    The pork was juicy and full of warm flavor.    Not greasy.   The corn cakes were actually light.  I was afraid they'd be heavy, but they were light, a little crispy on the outside and bursting with freshness with the corn and feta tucked away inside.    Bright and lush accents with the sour cream, avocado and tomatoes.  A great dish.

I know I shouldn't use food as comfort, but after this weeks temporary craziness, my little party for two worked and that's all that matters!

Grilled Pizza with Italian Sausage

Grilled pizza is kind of like the epitome of summer for me.    It is easy, colorful and fresh.    What's not to love?   The preparation is actually also an incredibly fun social activity if you get others involved.     Perfect for informal evening parties or family gatherings on the deck.

This is one of those foods that brings back deep memories of growing up in New Hampshire.   My mother went through a grilled pizza phase for a couple of summers.  Once you get the basics down, this is a perfect food for experimenting with and it is so flexible since everyone can choose their own toppings.    I remember those summer evenings like they were yesterday.   So much fun.  While summer in New England isn't long, those perfect summer days and nights are truly memorable.

One other note on this, if you've been following me around since Italy, you'll also know that I am a huge fan of super thin crispy pizza, the kind that can only be achieved in ovens heated to a gazillion degrees.   I have found that while not exactly the same, I can achieve a similar effect on the grill.   Super high temps help crisp the dough and prepare for toppings and it imparts a lovely smokiness that adds so much flavor and depth.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com.   One of my favorite sites for browsing (aka time wasting).  If you search for grilled pizza, you'll find a bunch of recipes, but I'd start with this one because it is so amazingly fantastic.    It is honestly not hard, even though the instructions look super long.     I'd also encourage you to make this exactly as noted.  I have a tendency to change things around, but this recipe is seriously perfect as is.    Oh, and the fresh rosemary in here is outstanding, it really makes a difference.

Grilled Pizza with Spicy Italian Sausage

I will confess to one small variation.   We substituted mild for spicy sausage.   I love spicy.   John doesn't.   I've learned to compromise when needed!

Oops, actually two.  I used cherry tomatoes since we had those available.

John and I made this together.  I made the dough and prepped all the fun and colorful ingredients.   He was in charge of the grilling activity.   Everything came together just beautifully.

It is a gorgeous dish to look at with all of the color and contrast.     The flavors are also a perfect balance of sweet, smoky, fresh and tangy.    We looked at each other after the first bite and literally almost did a happy dance in the kitchen.  

Love, love, love this recipe.    Definitely a summer keeper, although next time we'll invite friends over for a fun evening.   Lots of versatility with wine pairing too.   This would be perfect with a crisp pinot grigio or lightly sweet rose or even a chianti to pick up the smokiness in the sausage.  

Bon Appetit!