Wine Wednesdays — A Rough Day at Work!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by AnnieM

I wanted to share some photos of what was going on in the store last week. We had a very grueling morning of being trained to lead wine tastings – what a what to start a Friday morning! Each Friday and Saturday afternoon from noon until 4pm we have award-winning local wines available for tastings — and purchase if you like them — in our Watsonville store. It’s a great way to support the amazing things that local vintners are doing. And good wine is as much a part of great entertaining as Annieglass is.

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A Pancake Recipe for Fat Tuesday

Posted on February 21, 2012 by AnnieM

 

Photo by smittenkittenorig

Today is Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Or Pancake Day. It’s known as a day of indulgence, but those extravagances have their roots in abstinence — the custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins. Even if you aren’t abstaining until Easter, these pancakes are a treat. If you want to add fruit or chocolate chips, sprinkle them right on the pancakes when you pour them on the griddle or in the pan — if you add things directly to the batter they will sink to the bottom!

Perfect Pancake Recipe
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar

In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together all your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients, then add the wet ingredients to the dry. Gently stir them together until you stop seeing bits of flour. Be careful not to over mix, that will make the batter tough. Leaving a few lumps makes for tender pancakes.

Place a lightly-oiled pan over a medium-high flame and let the surface get hot. It is one of the great mysteries of the universe that the first pancake is usually a complete disaster. Accept this, don’t feel bad and move on to pancake number 2.

For each pancake, gently pour 1/2 cup of batter into the pan, using a ladle or a measuring cup. You can use the back of a spoon to spread the batter into a circle. Watch the pancakes carefully — as they cook, bubbles will form in the batter. When the bubbles begin to pop, the pancakes are ready to be flipped. Turn over gently with the spatula and cook for about one minute on the flip side.

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Holiday Weekend Brunch — Asparagus Scrambled Eggs Recipe

Posted on February 20, 2012 by AnnieM

Are you enjoying a three-day weekend this week? A great thing about Monday holidays is that it gives you another chance to have a leisurely brunch. President’s Day also coincides with the start of asparagus season, so consider making these creamy asparagus studded scrambled eggs for a special brunch today.

Asparagus Scrambled Eggs Recipe
1 pound, asparagus
olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Break or cut off the tough ends of the asparagus. If the stalks are particularly thick or large you can peel them with a vegetable peeler. Cut the asparagus stalks into 1/2-inch pieces. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet or in a small roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and toss the asparagus until it is coated. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp — you don’t want mushy veggies here.

When the asparagus is done roasting, whisk the eggs in a bowl with the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, to taste. Melt 1/2 the butter in a large skillet. Pour the egg mixture into the melted butter and sprinkle the asparagus pieces on top. Cook the eggs on very low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the eggs are softly cooked. Remove from the heat, add the remaining butter, and stir until it melts.

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Recipe Swap Potluck Party

Posted on February 17, 2012 by AnnieM

If you are having foodie friends over for dinner, why not make it more interactive and fun with a recipe swap potluck party. Each person brings a dish and enough copies of the recipe to the party. This way you get to try each other specialities and maybe take home some new cooking ideas. If you are looking to  organize a recipe swap potluck party of your own, here are some tips.

Create an invite list. You want to keep the party fairly intimate, so that everyone gets to try every dish. Once you have all of your RSVPs, let everyone know how many guests there will be so they know how many servings to prepare and also how many copies of the recipe to bring.

Decide on a theme and/or assign courses. Do you want to have an all dessert evening? Or maybe everyone brings a different soup. If you don’t want to have a theme, then assign your guest courses — have a third of the people bring appetizers or hors d’oeuvres, a third bring main courses and the last third bring dessert. That way you ensure that there will be an actual meal and not 20 plates of potato salad or brownies.

Set your table. Since you aren’t making all of the food, you will have the time to have fun with your table setting. If you can, this sort of party works as a buffet where you can lay out all the dishes with the recipes next to them.

Eat and enjoy!

 

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Some of the Wetsuit Art from the Wet Art Auction

Posted on February 16, 2012 by AnnieM
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