About Crisp

Growing up in a family of Italian immigrants, I learned to cook at a very young age. Dinnertime was a time for our family—me, my three sisters, and my parents—to gather around the table, and the food. We grew a large garden and canned a bit of the harvest for the year, always enough tomatoes to last through the next season. Holidays were always about the food and, of course, the Italian dishes that dominated the table. I didn’t realize the importance of cooking until I left home and started a life of my own. After getting married and having a son, I began experimenting with cuisine from all over the world and inviting friends—sometimes 15 or more! —to help eat my prepared feasts. What memories are made around a table of friends and good food!


Now, I am creating a table for friends to meet and enjoy my cooking exactly where it is meant to be enjoyed: in the home. Any home will do! You can attend my monthly Crisp dinners, or I can come to your home and create a special dining experience for any occasion from start to finish. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, or just bringing friends together, Crisp services include helping to create the perfect menu, setting a beautiful table, cooking and serving the meal, and clean-up. As the host or hostess, you get to relax and enjoy yourself with your guests and Crisp does the rest. Please contact us at 518-956-0534 to discuss your special event.

This past weekend, I decided to open my house to friends to come and try out some of my treats. I served some of my past favorites along with a couple new dishes. The menu:

veggie sushi rolls

summer rolls
beet and fennel salad
spinach salad with orange wedges, dates, and a orange blossom vinaigrette
spicy chicken wings
profiterols
date, fig, and almond pastries

Fiesta Sonsole: March 26, 2010

Crisp
new friends and exquisite
food in an inspired setting

Let me tell you, when I am preparing food for an event, unlike other chefs who talk about tasting everything, I seem to do the opposite. Normally I eat very little and sometimes don't even test what I am serving. I will confess that since my strong cooking skills are not in the dessert area, I did taste it, just to be sure.

Good news...the vegetable paella was good. I didn't tell anyone that I had never made that version before, but how can you go wrong with fresh artichokes, fennel, shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, and homemade veggie stock.

I also broke out a bit and ended up with several guests that had never attended. I was so excited and a bit nervous. The mix of the group was really special.  I really love getting a group of folks together that are strangers, serve them some yummy food and see at the end of the night everyone has met and made new friends.

for starters:
tapas trio that included manchego cheese, marinated olives, and mushrooms and garlic. my friend kate, who did an awesome job helping me, did a great job plating these and they looked fabulous.

next came:

roasted vegetable salad that included red and yellow peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and eggplant. A light dressing of olive oil and vinegar was all it needed.

the main course:
meat/seafood paella or vegetable...some of my guest who requested one version also asked to try the other.

something sweet:
burnt cream--which was more like a custard than a creme brulee.

I try to have time at the end of the evening to mingle with the guests and I know I miss out on the conversations and stories that happen during dinner, but so happy to provide a space for this to happen.

If you are interested in any of the recipes or would like more information about how I can help you create a special evening (birthday, family gathering, anniversary) for you please contact me at 518.956.0534.

Crisp Pizza Party, guest chef, Mike Watson 1-22-10

Well, it has been a few months since my last event....during the holidays we invited  a few friends over and my husband made pizza, I made chicken wings, and my son made a flourless chocolate cake. It was a party.


Everyone raved about the food, so I thought, why not do a crisp event featuring pizza.

Trying to serve eight guests hot pizza, while only using a conventional oven with two pizza stones was a bit of a challenge.....but I think that in the end everyone loved the pizza. My pizza-making husband, Mike, sure makes a delicious pizza and the only way he can do it is by making a huge mess.  Thanks to my trusty helper Natasha, she was able to help in keeping Mike on track and helping him along.

We started out with the chicken wing course. I started to prepare these wings at about 2:00 pm that day.  They take a long time to cook, and the longer you cook them, the tastier and tender they get.  I also needed to get them out of the oven in time to heat up the oven for pizza.  I did use my trusty gas outside grill to keep them warm.

Next, the salad--which was a traditional Italian-style salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, carrots, roasted red peppers, and cured black olives. The dressing, a simple oil and vinegar, that included salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried basil.

On to the main course. Three different pizzas: cheese, sausage and mushroom, and feta and spinach. I was told from one of the guests, that she didn't like spinach, but loved the pizza. In my opinion, spinach is a tuff veggie, done correctly I believe many folks who say they don't like spinach could change their minds.

Lastly, homemade ice-cream sundays....all homemade--the ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Topped with a fresh cherry and walnuts.

My guests graciously let me take their photos....it was  a really great evening, see for yourself .

Thanks Jess A. for your support in my endeavor, and being a supporter by attending many of my dinners....much luck for you in Boston!

Holidays

Since I am on a roll I have one last post to start the new year.....the holiday season. This year I took a break from hosting the holiday feast at my house and enjoyed being with friends and families. I did decide to host my own birthday part, with the help of my husband Mike, and son Dylan, who was visiting from Chicago. It was a last minute idea, but I had 10 friends come. We ate chicken wings, pizza (homemade of course) made by my incredibly talented pizza-maker husband, salad and a flour less chocolate birthday cake that Dylan made for me. It was a really nice time and it was fun to celebrate my birthday, since my birthday is on December 25. Another really fun thing that I did for my birthday was to go to NYC with my friend Laura and mosh the the most awesome tunes of Gogol Bordello.

We spent bringing in the New Year with a few close friends.....we hoola hooped, we danced, we of course ate, and manifested all of our dreams for 2010 with friends on skype, we took a walk, and we lit sparklers at midnight. The last thing we did was we picked our words for 2010...in both English and Italian. Louver won according to the American Heritage, definition: a framed opening, as in a wall, door or window, fitted with fixed or movable horizontal slats used in such an opening; and Innesto from the Italian dictionary, which means connection. Based on these words, I am confident that 2010 is going to be most excellent.

Bringing in the New Year I decided to make Cinnamon rolls--something I have never made, but saw a recipe that included cottage cheese and buttermilk. I had to make them since I had the two ingredients, two items I would not typically have on hand, especially at the same time.

Speaking of 2010 I am starting Crisp events beginning on January 22, with upcoming dates of February 26 and March 26. With menus featuring Mike's homemade pizza, braised beef ribs, and a tribute to my Spanish friend, with a Paella main course. I hope to see you soon

Holiday Gifts 2009-Marinara Sauce

What to make for a holiday gift? It took me a while to decide what it would be. I wanted something simple, and something that wouldn't cost me a ton of money. I also wanted it to be something that I could give to many of my friends that have special diets. What would be more appropriate than to make marinara sauce. I grew up on this stuff....homemade canned tomatoes from our huge garden waiting for Sunday to be opened and eaten. You could smell the sauce stepping outside your door. It was a tradition on Sunday, in my family, and in many families around, to eat pasta with homemade sauce on Sunday at, no later than 2:00 pm.

The recipe is simple, unfortunately, I don't measure when I cook, but I will give you approximates based on 2-14.5 ounce cans of tomatoes.

2 cans San Marzano tomatoes

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 teaspoons oregano

splash of olive oil

salt & pepper to your liking

Simmer for no less than 2 hours and viola....homemade marinara sauce that can be used for pasta, pizza, eggplant parmigiana, chicken parmigiana, or as my one friend who received a bottle told me she did with the sauce--put it on a brown rice tortilla, topped with cheese and into her toaster oven.

San Francisco

I know it has been a while and wanted to update you on what I have been up to. First off, I did take a vacation the beginning of November. My husband and I met up with our friends Mary and Rick in California.

After meeting up at at the airport, getting our rental van--a Faurfeneugen, how California, we headed to Sausalito for the famous fish tacos that our friends had been bragging about. What else could we all do, but order fish tacos. They lived up to the description.

Our next destination was a small town in Sonoma, located in the Russian River Valley--Guernville, CA....of course on our way, as I had already prepared the menu for our stay, we hit a market and bought our food for the 3-night stay ahead of us.

It was a long day--leaving the east coast at 6 am and not arriving to our rented apartment until after 4 pm. Since we had a late lunch, we decided to eat some cheese, french bread, and dried sausage. Of course we opened a bottle of red wine--being in wine country, how could we resist.

Since my body was still on east coast time, I woke up at 4 am.....stepped outside and it saw the most amazing sky....the sky was filled stars....I had never seen so many stars in the sky....it was definitely an ahh haa moment.

We grabbed breakfast and went for a hike in the Armstrong Redwood Forest--beautiful and amazing.

Off to do some wine tasting.....we visited mostly small family-run wineries. One of the wineries we visited had a bocci ball court and the winners got a free bottle of wine. Of course the ladies took the prize, but I think either way we would have left with a bottle. We took a picnic lunch and had lunch at the wineries we visited. the weather was beautiful and the views, amazing.

Dinner the second night was paella. back east, my neighbor Sonsoles, from Almeria, Spain, shared her mothers paella recipe with me. I winged it and used the following ingredients:

chicken wings
shrimp
calamari
chorizo sausage

I did use canned fish stock, although the fish monger did tell me that he would give me some fish heads so I could make my own. Being on vacation and not having a lot of time, I opted for the canned fish stock, which was more than adequate.

The kitchen was tiny, but had all the items needed to cook.....good pans, knives and a small stove top.

I decided to make dinner for the next night at the same time--something that we could heat up easily. Unfortunately, I, Rick, Mike, or was it Mary that forgot to put it in the refrigerator before going to bed. We didn't want to risk getting sick on vacation so we voted and decided to toss it. We would have had chicken with lots of garlic and white wine sauce--I had recently made it for Rick and Mary a few months back when they came for a visit. That being said, we had to come up with a new plan.

I decided to make a quick and easy coconut curry fish--we did stop at a small, local store for our supplies and in no time, we were sitting down eating dinner.

We had the honor and please during our stay to attend a fundraiser--what an amazing once in a lifetime moment, when concert violinist Christopher Collins Lee played, it seemed, to me. After the song was over I met and thanked him for his warmth and kindness I felt as he played. It really showed me how an artists love for what he does makes love and happiness.

On our way back to San Fransisco we drove to the coast and down highway one. We made a stop at Blind Beach and walked down the cliff to the sandy beach. Another beautiful day--the natural coastline was incredible.

I had been to San Fransisco about 10 years ago, and this was my first time back. We walked through Chinatown, to the pier, to Haight and Ashbury. For a special treat we went out to dinner to celebrate my friend Mary's birthday at the Zuni Cafe....the atmosphere was incredible and the food was great. We also made a pit stop at Magnolia Pub and Brewery had a couple home brewed beverages, including their very own soda. The food is fresh and delicious.

On our way back to the east coast. It was a much needed vacation and we had a great time.

French Feast--October 16, 2009 at crisp

What a lovely evening with lovely people. Another small intimate group of folks for the fourth Crisp event. It never amazes me what can happen when you gather people around a table and serve them a home-cooked meal. After the soup was served I noticed that everyone stopped talking....a sign that what was just served was a hit.

The menu:

french onion soup--I prepared homemade beef stock the week before. Sauteed thinly sliced onions, salt and pepper, and fresh thyme, which simmered for a few hours. Topped off with toasted bread and Gruyere cheese. My husband told me, this was the best french onion soup he had tasted. Not too salty (which seems to be what you get when you order at a restaurant).

mixed green and arugula salad with toasted pecans, Anjou pears and chevre. Topped with a light vinaigrette dressing.

chicken with lots of garlic--the sauce on this dish is what makes it so special. The chicken is cooked in wine, broth, all the yummy garlic and thyme. The sauce is made at the end by reducing the liquid and adding flour and a splash of cream. The garlic is so soft and tender that is becomes part of the sauce.

delicata squash with wild rice stuffing--Here is were I did a bit of experimenting. I decided against adding any sweet fruit to the stuffing since the squash is already really sweet and buttery. I wanted the squash really cooked so that when it was being eaten all of the flesh of the squash would come away from the skin. The end result was a wild rice stuffing with onions, mushrooms, sage and pomegranate. The result was compliments around the table.

The last and most important course....

profiteroles--I hadn't made this in a while and it seems that my first attempt each time I remake them is a flop and then I remember--I need to cook the batter longer. The second attempt--perfect; stuffed with pastry cream and drizzled with dark chocolate.

After dessert and coffee/tea was served, I then got to sit at the table and boy did we all giggle. It was probably my favorite night so far!! As you can see from the picture of one of the guests......

Thanks to all of you to help me make my dream come true.

photos: Mike Watson