Have you ever hosted a dinner party? You know how it goes: you want to be really impressive so you slave away in order to make something fancy and involved. And then you’re like, Crap, what about dessert? You can’t serve slice-n-bake cookies, now can you? Embarrassing. But you don’t have half a day to bake a cake or a tart or a torte. You need to stick with simple, but the old berries-and-whipped-cream stand-by seems so… obvious. Lean in closer, my friend. Let’s talk.

RASPBERRY COULIS
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking
1 pint fresh raspberries (you can also use frozen – just make sure there’s no sugar added)
3 T sugar (or more)
2 T fresh lemon juice (or orange juice, or a combination of both)

Coulis (coo-LEE) is a fancy word for sauce. That’s it.

You put everything in the food processor and pulse till it’s smooth. That’s it.

Then you use a rubber spatula to push it through a sieve to get rid of the seeds.

Do this twice just to make sure you really get all the seeds. That’s it.

Pour your pretentious raspberry coulis over a brownie sundae (hello!), or leftover Key lime pie, or I’ll show you what I did after we talk about…

CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking (perhaps you are starting to notice a pattern with me)
3/4 C heavy cream
8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 T liqueur or 1 t vanilla (optional)

Ganache (gan-AHSH) is a French term that refers to any combination of chocolate and cream.

Bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir until most of the chocolate is melted. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir or whisk until completely smooth. Stir in liqueur or vanilla if using.

For a pourable glaze, let your ganache stand at room temperature until the mixture cools slightly. For frosting, let stand until spreadable. If it gets too stiff, you can pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. It keeps for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 1 week refrigerated.

This makes a fabulous cake frosting, or you could spread it over brownies made from a store-bought mix, or you could stand at the counter and eat it all with a spoon, or you could keep it even simpler and do this:

That bottle of Magic Shell in your fridge is going to feel really bashful. And it should. You are going to feel really fancy. And you should. 🙂

Tell your book club friends to tune in tomorrow for a Q&A with one of the stars of the soon-to-be-filmed movie adaptation of The Help!!!

xoxo,

Do you ever have one of those dreams where you’re standing in your underwear (or less) in front of a crowd of people? Well today I am going to let my blog post be a little bit like that by exposing a once closely-held secret to you, but only because we are such close friends.

Some of the fanciest-sounding things are actually among the simplest to make. To prove it to you, I will show you step by step how to make one very fancy-sounding hors d’oeuvre, with some very fancy-sounding dessert items to come in a later post. You are going to laugh and laugh when you see how simple this is.

CROSTINI WITH CHEVRE AND CARAMELIZED LEEKS
Caramelized leeks adapted from the Joy of Cooking
1 baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces
1 small roll of chevre (aka goat cheese)
6 leeks (this should provide hors d’oeuvres for 6-8 people)
butter, olive oil, and salt & pepper

The leeks take a couple of hours to caramelize, but the work is easy peasy. You can caramelize the leeks the night before, store them covered in the fridge, then warm them up the next day or use them at room temperature to assemble your crostini.

Leeks are part of the onion family, but they’re milder and sweeter. For this you want just the white and light green parts of the leeks. Leeks are grown down in the ground to keep the white parts white, which also allows some dirt and sand to get trapped in between the layers…

… so give your leeks a thorough rinse, then cut them into 1/4-inch thick (ish) slices.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large, heavy pot. Cook the leeks on the lowest heat possible until they are soft. This can take about 45-60 minutes, depending on how many leeks you have.

When they’re soft, turn up the heat to medium, stirring them constantly. The bottom of the pan will start to brown. You can pour in a little white wine, scrape the bottom with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, and the brown bits will come right up. Stir this into your leeks – it will help them to keep browning. You can repeat this several times, and it will smell fantastic each time.

Keep going until the leeks are sufficiently caramelized. This can take an additional hour, but don’t watch the clock – watch the leeks. Sometimes I cheat and add a teaspoon or so of sugar at the end. I like stuff to be reeeal sweet, seeing as you are what you eat and all 🙂

Salt and pepper your leeks at the end of cooking, and transfer them to a bowl. Can you believe how much you started with versus how little you end up with? Kind of like spinach.

The actually crostini part is the easiest thing ever. Lightly brush each slice of bread with olive oil, stick it under the broiler to toast on each side, and you’re dunzo.

Spread each crostini piece with goat cheese.

Top with caramelized leeks. Change your name to Fancypants and serve as a Fancypants hors d’oeuvre. Fancypants.

If you have leftover leeks and goat cheese, store them in the fridge and make yourself an omelet the next morning 🙂

If you don’t have a couple of hours to caramelize leeks (oh what, do you have to go to work?), you can try any number of other crostini variations:

• sliced figs, manchego cheese, and a drizzle of honey
• garlic butter and melted gorgonzola
• sliced heirloom tomato, burrata, basil, and balsamic vinegar
• pesto and parmesan
• proscuitto and finely diced melon
• wasabi mayo, sushi-grade ahi, black sesame seeds, and a splash of ponzu

Or make up your own! You guests will think you are all kinds of fancy. Which you are.

Fancy Schmancy Part 2 coming soon… Happy JULY, y’all!