Sweet Leisure - Part 30

BEST COFFEE IN ROME

Sant'Eustachio

SANT’EUSTACHIO IL CAFFÈ

Many places in Rome make good coffee, but Sant’Eustachio (in the Piazza Sant’Eustachio near the Pantheon) wins local accolades for being best of the best. Here is the quintessential Italian coffee bar/ shop that does everything right including purchasing beans from a variety of free-trade growers, roasting the beans over a wood-burning fire and brewing the coffee with water sent to the city by an aqueduct built in19 B.C.

COFFEE LOVERS CANNOT LEAVE ROME WITHOUT TRYING COFFEE AT SANT’EUSTACHIO’S.

That said, coffee drinking habits in Italy are quite distinct and distinctly different than in the States, so when in Sant’Eustachio do as the Romans do. First, order the coffee and pay at the cashier. Then head to the bar (which can be two to four people deep) and hand the receipt to the barista who will serve the coffee to you. Coffee bar at Sant'Eustachio Of course, two minutes in Sant’Eustachio and you can figure out the system yourself, but what you may not know, because it is so different from other countries, is that Romans generally drink standing at the bar and gulp the intense brew rather quickly. Words of warning: in Italy, coffee consumed at a table generally cost more and Sant’Eustachio serves its coffee sweetened, so when ordering be sure to specify no sugar if you can’t abide the sweet stuff.

¶ Posted 16 September 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § COFFEE § DRINKS § TRAVEL ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: COFFEE, Italy, Rome

HEATHROW AIRPORT BREAKFAST

FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST AT V BAR

Airport food can be dismal, but Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 provides some far-better-than-average options. I found one of the simpler outlets, V Bar, while trudging through the terminal at 3:30 a.m. Midwest time, transferring from a Chicago-to-Rome-through-London flight.

“Morning special,” lured the chalkboard outside the bar, “Bacon sandwich on thick homemade country bread. Beers on tap.” OMG, beer and bacon—gotta have it. A spa couldn’t offer better restoration from a child-packed, coach-class overnight and an in-flight breakfast of truly terrible coffee and cardboard croissant.

V bar is slightly more sleek than old-fashioned pub-like, particularly if one chooses to sit in the pleasant light-bright seating area outside the main bar. And the bar’s morning menu offered some traditional English fare updated with surprisingly “healthful” items.

I went for the full English breakfast which came with bacon (of course), cut into thin medallions like ham in the United States; free-range eggs, scrambled with fresh chives; a plump leek and turkey sausage (wonderful); two large grilled baby portabella mushrooms, a small broiled tomato and whole wheat toast.

Fruit smoothies, rich coffee and a decent selection of wines supplement the beer.

I am not saying it is worth booking through Heathrow to have a meal, but if you are stuck in Terminal 5 for any length of time, you’ll find food good enough to be grateful for the wait.

¶ Posted 14 September 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § AIRPORTS § BREAKFAST § ENGLAND § LONDON § RESTAURANTS § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: BREAKFAST, English, Heathrow, Terminal 5, V Bar

BEST EVER BROWNIES

Mojo My dog ate a brownie. He managed to jump on a table at a party and devour the sweet before anyone noticed. This was a disaster on several levels. As chocolate can be lethal to dogs (especially adored poodles like Mojo), I rushed him to the emergency hospital, where vets did icky things equivalent to pumping the stomach. The whole deal took several hours and we didn’t return home until hopelessly late. Needless to say, my guests had left, Mojo was shaky and I was totally drained, but the camel straw of irritants was that the brownies were gone. I confess, I love Mojo to neurotic distraction, but I also confess (this is not pretty) I was irritated that he got a brownie and I didn’t. Of course these were not ordinary brownies. Patty Padawer, a St. Louis and Los Angeles cooking teacher and one of the best cooks I know, made them for the party. Rather than beg Patty for more, I begged for the recipe, which, always generous, Patty sent immediately. Of course, I will share the recipe with you, but I will take great care to never again share the brownies with anyone who bark begs.

PATTY PADAWER’S CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

P1020190

CHEESE MIX

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

BROWNIE MIX

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

ICING

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons cream or milk — more if needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X13 inch baking pan. In a mixing bowl combine the ingredients for the cheese mixture and set aside. In another bowl (for the brownie mix), beat eggs with sugar. Add the melted butter, and then add the flour, cocoa, salt and vanilla, mix to combine. Pour all the brownie mix into the prepared baking pan, and then top with the cream cheese mix. Lightly spread cheese mix over chocolate, but do not mix. Bake in the preheated oven 45- 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely. Make the frosting, combining the butter, sugar and cocoa. Add the vanilla and 3 tablespoons cream, adding more cream as needed to spreading consistency. For cutting into neat squares remove the brownies from the pan before icing. Let icing set up before cutting. Store in the refrigerator, or freeze. They are great right out of the freezer.

Yield: about 30

¶ Posted 01 September 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § DESSERTS § PETS § RECIPES ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: brownies, CHOCOLATE, dogs

CRUISE CONTROL

Crystal Serenity

DIETING ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

If there is anytime to dish the diet it is on a cruise where you can have food 24/7. And if any cruise overloads with quality as well as quantity, it is a Crystal Cruise, where the food is always a feast. So it is odd that Michael Falla, the hunky 24-year old, sports scientist and personal trainer on the Crystal Serenity offers terrific advice for dieting. Michael encourages dieters to: (1) eat within one hour of waking up (YES!); (2) eat every three to four hours (no problem there); (3) eat in moderation (the catch); and (4) make wise choices.

As to those choices, Michael explained his concept of hand-to-mouth eating.

“Look at your hand,” he said. “A reasonable meal should have no more than one closed fist portion of bad carbohydrates (white rice, potatoes, white bread) and two closed fists full of good carbs (whole grains, leafy greens, veggies). The protein portion of the meal should match your open palm without the digits. And you can add as many beans, lentils and the like that can sit, in one layer, on the outstretched palm without falling off. As to fat, the top of your thumb, up from the first notch is what you get in way of butter, oil, etc.—and that is for the whole meal—not just as a spread.”

I’d like to add another secret to cruise control that is especially Buffet on Crystal Serenity easy on the Serenity. Aim for the luxuries in your choices. Pick caviar over the donuts, salmon for breakfast over the bacon and eggs and the low-calorie frozen yogurt over the…well, you get the picture.

¶ Posted 27 August 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § CRUISING § DIETS § HELPFUL HINTS ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: CRUISING, Crystal Serenity, DIETS, eating well

COZUMEL COFFEE SOUVENIR

If you are lucky enough to visit Cozumel, that sunshine island off the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, you’ll find, a cornucopia of souvenirs to tote home. But if you are a coffee devotee and/or want a remembrance more special than silver jewelry, onyx chess set and peacock colored hammocks don’t miss a stop at Café Optima de Chiapas (Calle 2 Norte between 5th and 10th Avenues)—a block from the main square.

This family-run shop roasts, packages and sells a special coffee cultivated in the mountain area of Mexican state of Chiapas.

Ermilo Juarez, owner Cafe Optima De Chiapas

Although you can’t tell a coffee from it’s package, you can glimpse the quality that goes into Café Artesanal by the coffee’s leather-looking cardboard containers made by orphans, widows, seniors and other’s who might find trouble finding jobs. The shop has a small coffee bar where you can taste the coffee and the artisanal brew is surprisingly served at Casa Denis, a casual, been-there-forever, authentic Yucatan restaurant indowntown Cozumel. I say surprisingly served, as the coffee is quite expensive and Casa Denis is not.

¶ Posted 25 August 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § COFFEE § RESTAURANTS ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: Cafe Optima de Chiapas, Casa Denis, COFFEE, Cozumel, shopping

BERRY STAINS

RASPBERRY BLUEBERRY BLACKBERRY

Talking of berries—no need to worry about those red and blue bruise-colored stains juicy berries leave on your favorite shirt and best table linens. Barbara Gibbs Ostmann, co-author of The Recipe Writer’s Handbook (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2001), told me her mother’s secret for dissolving berry stains. (Disclaimer: proceed at your own risk; neither this blogger nor Barbara Ostmann’s mother will assume responsibility for anything.) Stretch the stained part of the fabric over the drain in your sink. Slowly pour boiling water over the stain. The stain will disappear. Works for me and has never damaged my clothes or linens.

¶ Posted 24 August 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § HELPFUL HINTS ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: berries, stains

FABULOUS BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Right now. Immediately. Blueberries are at their most succulent, plentiful and affordable best. Quick before the season wanes, stock up. Gorge.

My single favorite blueberry recipe comes from my husband’s grandmother, Esther Milder. Esther would be about 120 years old if alive today, which of course she isn’t, but her recipe is, and it keeps her alive in the hearts of generation after generation of blueberry muffin lovers.

ESTHER MILDER’S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Shortening to grease muffin cups
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk, undiluted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons butter, to make crumbs for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 24 muffin cups and set aside.

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup butter with a pastry blender or two knives used scissor fashion (or use your fingers to squish the flour and butter into crumbs). Put one cup of crumb mixture in a small bowl and set aside. To mixture in large bowl, add eggs, milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gently fold blueberries into batter. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and dribble over flour mixture in small bowl. Toss with a fork to make crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs on top of batter in muffin cups, dividing crumbs equally. Bake until muffins are light golden brown on top, 20 to 30 minutes.

Cool muffins before removing from pan.

¶ Posted 05 August 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § BREADS ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: blueberries, muffins

EASY LAST-MINUTE DINNER PARTY

SHRIMP/SAUSAGE BOIL

So let’s say in a fit of madness you invited the _________(fill in the blank: family, neighbors, office friends, beer-drinking pals) for an impromptu mid-summer dinner. You have less than two hours to shop, cook and otherwise get ready. Watta ya do? First head to a grocer that has it all: shrimp, plump smoked sausages, small flavorful potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh green beans, crab/shrimp boil seasoning (such as Old Bay and/or Zatarain’s), great crusty bakery bread, butter, an assortment of mustards, cocktail sauce, and a truly fine dessert—oh, yes, cold beer and a few cheery bottles of wine, butcher paper and plastic table cover (or you can use trash bags).

Once home, line your dining table with plastic. Top with butcher paper. Add plenty of napkins, bread and butter, and the condiments. Shuck the corn and break in half. Scrub the potatoes. Trim ends off the beans. Cut sausages into pieces. Have a beer or glass of wine. Pick some garden flowers for the table.

When your guests arrive, while they have a drink—oops, while at the store you should also have bought some chips and dips, crackers and cheese or other appetizers). Put a large pot of water on to boil (size of pot depends on the amount of ingredients you bought which depends on how many guests you expect). Pot should hold all of the ingredients with room to spare for lots of water. (Think large stockpot for small group and turkey fryer for a crowd.) Add the seasoning. When water boils rapidly, add the ingredients in order of the time it takes them to cook: potatoes first, then sausages and corn, beans and finally shrimp. Call people to dinner. Drain the boil. Spread the feast directly onto the paper covered table. Voila! Done. Eat with fingers. This shrimp/sausage boil (aka Low Country Boil) is not only simple and easy to produce, but the eating with fingers encourages camaraderie and clean up is a snap. One pot to wash. No utensils or plates to complicate. EASY. Gotta do it again—and again—and again…

¶ Posted 04 August 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § ENTERTAINING § ENTREES § RECIPES ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: corn, easy dinner, potatoes, sausage, shrimp

PICASSO/SANGRIA/SPAIN

In his early years Picasso painted birds and flowers and sweet little landscapes (truly—you can see them at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona www.musupicasso.bcn.cat),then he started frequenting Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats), a tavern/café in Barcelona, and his painting changed. Could be the influence of other artists who made the bar a bohemian enclave of historic importance, but I don’t think so. If today’s 4 Gats is anything like the hang out of the 1890s—-and it is said to be the same both in style and substance—then I am convinced that Picasso’s ground-breaking painting style can be blamed on sangria. The 4 Gats sangria is as creative as the artists who make the bar famous. Based on Cava, the quintessential Spanish sparkler from Catalonia, the drink is potent enough to knock out the senses and forever change the way one looks at the world.

4 GATS SANGRIA

Put 1-1/2 cups cut fruit (pineapple, kiwi, honeydew, lingonberries, etc.) in a large pitcher. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Add 1/4 cup Cointreau, 1/4 cup gin, 1/4 cup brandy, 1 to 2 cups orange soda pop, 1 tablespoon grenadine and 1 bottle of brut cava. Fill the pitcher with ice. Let the good times roll.

¶ Posted 29 July 2009 † Susan Manlin Katzman § BARCELONA § DRINKS § RECIPES ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: 4 Cats Cafe, Barcelona, Picasso, sangria

SWEET LEISURE CAKE

I am going to try and seduce you with a wonderful cake recipe. Hopefully you’ll try it, fall in love and come back for more.

The cake base came from the Alden House Inn in Belfast. Maine. Innkeepers served sweets at check-in time and the day I checked-in white-chocolate brownies graced the table. I embarrassingly devoured a plateful and made getting the recipe a condition of paying my bill.

Shortly thereafter my friend Ina had a birthday and I volunteered to make the cake. As Ina is unique and totally special, her cake had to be equally worthy—it also had to be easy to make and accommodate a crowd (by the time I started baking, the 15 guests originally invited had grown to 137).

So I made several batches of the brownies. Cut them in squares, then as the guest list continued to grow, cut the squares into triangles. For the birthday, I arranged the triangles, pointing in all directions, in a very large shallow dish, then dotted the top with small spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream and finally poured a hot caramel sauce over all.The sauce sort of melts the ice cream and covers the cake in a rich, velvety caramel. I stuck long skinny candles at random into various cake pieces and have been receiving requests for this recipe happily ever after. The cake delivers far more pizzazz than the work involved—and is a great vehicle for birthday parties when ordinary cakes won’t do.

SWEET LEISURE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13-by 9-by 2-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving two-inch overhang at each end of pan. Generously butter foil. Set pan aside.

In a medium saucepan, set over low heat, melt 1 cup unsalted butter with 12 ounces white chocolate chips, stirring frequently until mixture is smooth and well blended. Remove saucepan from heat.
With a wooden spoon, stir in 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar. Add 4 eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla and beat until well blended. Add 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt; stir just until blended. Stir in 1 cup chopped walnuts. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake until cake is “set” and top is light golden brown, but center still a little soft when pressed lightly, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cover pan and refrigerate cake at least 4 hours before removing from pan.

To cut, use foil to lift cake from pan. Carefully peel off all foil. Cut cake into squares and cut squares into triangles.

Yield: 48 triangles—-about 20 servings.

To make CARAMEL SAUCE combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until well blended. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream and boil until sugar dissolves completely. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Cool to warm or room temperature. Or cool and refrigerate and reheat before serving. If sauce “sugars,” add more cream and heat, stirring constantly until crystals melt and sauce is smooth.

Arrange cake triangles in irregular pattern in a shallow serving dish. Top with scoops of ice cream and drizzle caramel sauce over all.