Holiday Traditions: Christmas Wontons

It is so nice to hear about all of your holiday traditions… traditional (Prime Rib) and nontraditional (Kentucky Fried Chicken)! So let’s keep this holiday train going…

Every year, my parents have a holiday cocktail party. Otherwise known as, “The day my mother shows off her Christmas decorations to nonfamily members.” The holiday cocktail party is the culmination of everything that embodies my mother… Decorating, Christmas and food… And a bit of screaming. Traditionally, there is always at least one person in my family either screaming, pouting, firing off a rude email, having a pity party or crying. Without fail. Does this happen in your family? There’s plenty of laughing, hugging, and loving but there’s always a side platter of hysteria. You would think were Italian with all of the drama, but we’re not, we are just overly emotional Irish folk.

 

 

However, we set all of this aside when “company” arrives like any other dysfunctional family. My parent’s holiday parties are a blast. Plenty of interesting guests, cocktails, music, appetizers and holiday cheer. It wouldn’t be a holiday party at our house if there wasn’t one thing… My mother’s appetizers! In my Christmas book, A Very Chic Christmas, there is a compilation of her best party appetizers but there is one particular appetizer that is everyone’s favorite… Her Christmas wontons!

Continuing our holiday tradition sharing, I thought I would share the Christmas Wonton Recipe with all of you here on the blog! (For the rest of her recipes, you can purchase, A Very Chic Christmas, HERE.)

Anne's Famous Wontons with Apricot Dipping Sauce

My mother, Anne, says, “This is my original recipe.  I have made it so many times and it is a little different each time...which is just fine.

You can change this if you want because I do most of the time.  But it always turns out great.  Here it goes...

I just make as many as I have sausages.”

Ingredients:

Wonton skins in package

Italian Sausage in package as links.  2 packages. I use the hot and they are great!

Large package of cream cheese

Green onions  2 to 3 bunches

Sesame Seed Oil

Chili Garlic Sauce  this is in the Asian section and it is red with a green lid. 

Peanut Oil

Remove the thin skin/casing from the sausage and put the sausage in a skillet on a med high heat.  You do not need any oil because the sausage has enough.  I like to take a spoon and cut up the sausages into small pieces.

While this is cooking cut up the green onions.  Put in a large bowl.

The cream cheese is for binding this all together.  Use as much as you like but remember that you want the sausage to be the main flavor you taste and not the cream cheese.

Add the cooked sausage to the green onions in the bowl.  Now while the sausage is hot add the cream cheese.  Start out with half of the package and see how it goes. Then add more if needed. Then add some sesame seed oil.  Just a little bit goes a long way. Like a 1/2 teaspoon. Now add the chili garlic sauce.  I just like a little...like 1 teaspoon and go from there.  Remember that the Italian Hot sausage has a lot of heat....so go easy with the Chili Garlic Sauce.

Taste this and see how you like it...it needs to taste good at this point.

Now get the wonton skins and get a little bowl of water.

Place one wonton skin on some parchment paper.  Put a spoonful of the mixture in the middle of the wonton skin.  Now take a little pastry brush or I just use my finger and put some water around all of the edges of the wonton skin.  This will seal it.  Now pull the 4 edges up and press them together. You want this to look like a little pouch.  You can twist the top if you like...Make it look nice. Repeat.

Now in a deep sauce pan or a skillet....Heat the oil.  I like to use peanut oil because it can get the hottest. Have enough to cover all of the wonton.   Turn it up to high and when it is hot...drop the little wontons into the hot oil.  I like to do just a few at a time because they go pretty fast.  Take out and put on paper towel as soon as they become light brown...

Dipping Sauce:

4 tablespoons peach preserves

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

 Mix together and serve with Wontons.

Make as many as you have time for.  It is best to do them just before your company comes. (Editor’s note: mother still refers to guests as “company.”)  The wontons are not really good cold nor are they very good reheated.  You can assemble them ahead and cover with a slightly slightly slightly damp tea towel so that they do not dry out and then fry them as the guests are arriving.

Voilà! Christmas wontons!

What is my Christmas book, A Very Chic Christmas, all about? It’s about how to have a beautiful Christmas. Simple as that.… By following a few rules. My sister likes to refer to it as, “A judgmental Christmas book with humor.” It’s all about how to decorate for Christmas, Christmas guidelines, my Christmas stories and of course, our family holiday recipes. There are over 50 recipes including menus for a Christmas Cocktail Party (Lemon spiced shrimp with horsey dipping sauce), Christmas Morning Breakfast (Biscuits with Sorghum), Casual Christmas Eve Dinner (chicken pot pie), Fancy Christmas Eve Dinner (Beef Wellington), Christmas Dinner (Crown roast with crispy roasted potatoes with goose fat and herbs), and New Year’s Eve Cocktail Party (Crispy crab stuffed mushrooms and mini roast beef sandwiches with onion confit and horseradish sauce). And desserts and cocktails!

 

To have a softback book delivered to your door, purchase HERE.

To have an e-book delivered to your device instantly, purchase HERE. 

*Christmas in Provence is starting off nicely. We found a giant Christmas tree and will start decorating today… Stay tuned for details in the next blog.

Holiday Traditions: Fondue, Baby!

 

 

Bonjour! Welcome to the holiday season!

I thought it would be fun to spend the next few weeks blogging about holiday traditions. Yours and mine.

Today it’s all about fondue. My family never made fondue because my mother hates cheese, therefore fondue was obsolete at our house. However, when I met my French husband nine years ago, fondue became a big part of my holiday tradition. My husband, David, also known as Bunny, is the master of fondue and we always have fondue during the cold holiday months. I thought it would be fun to share his recipe with all of you! And then, I thought I would share a few other fondue variations… The Barefoot Contessa’s take on fondue, a smoky cheese fondue with garlicky croissants and a twist on the classic chocolate fondue.

Let me tell you something…Bunny can cook. He learned everything from his mother who is a marvelous cook. I have been trying to convince David’s mother for years to let me help her write a cookbook. She has refused unfortunately (probably because she hates me) and will take her recipes to the grave. However, David’s fondue recipe is at least based on his mother’s original recipe… but David took it to a whole new level. Check it out:

 

This is David and his little boy, David.

Bunny and Bunny Jr.

 



Bunny’s Fondue

Let’s start with the cheese. I think that the secret to David’s fondue is the three types of cheeses he uses. Equal parts Beaufort, Comte and Gruyere cheese. Next up, David uses a dry sparkling white wine, a Brut Sec. David gets his dry sparkling white wine, Vin d’Ayse, from a little village in the French Alps, his mother’s hometown of Bonneville, but you can use any good dry sparkling white wine. His next little secret is to throw in two girolles clou mushrooms. Cube a delicious loaf of crusty French baguette and put into a couple of different baskets to pass.

 

 

 

 

Okay, those are the ingredients, now let’s talk about how to make it. Cut up all the cheeses into equal rectangular shaped thin slices and put in a nonstick pot, add enough sparkling white wine to cover the cheese, and start cooking… Medium to high heat for 10 minutes. Do not boil the cheese! A big non, non! Just get the cheese to a liquid consistency. Lower heat to medium and continue cooking for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, throw in the two mushrooms for a pop of earthy flavor. Add salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Pour all of this into your fondue pot and enjoy!

Now, here’s the special part. At the end of the fondue when you are thoroughly stuffed like a French pig and when you have about half an inch left of cheese left in your fondue pot, take an egg and crack it into the fondue pot. Use your fondue fork with a piece of the crusty baguette on it and start stirring the egg and cheese mixture, cooking the egg. At our house, this is everyone’s favorite part because it makes a little cheesy egg omelette on your piece of baguette. Divine!

Okay, now let’s take a look at some other fondue variations:

 

 The Barefoot Contessa's Baked Fontina Fondue-ish

Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Smoked 3 Cheese Fondue with Toasted Garlic Buttered Croissants

Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

Caramel Fondue

Click HERE for recipe.

 

What? You don’t have a fondue pot? Have no fear, I’m here to help. David’s favorite fondue pot is from a company called Emile Henry. Click HERE. My favorite fondue pot is from a company called Mauviel, it’s copper and it’s gorgeous. Click HERE.

 

 

 

What are some of your cooking holiday traditions? Leave your thoughts in the comment section! Stephen, we are waiting…

 A toute!

 

My Adventures in Provence Part Two: La Cuisine

* If you missed Part One of my Adventures in Provence series, click HERE.

Not a day goes by that I do not have a discussion about food… An in-depth discussion about food. I have been doing this my entire life and you can safely say that my life revolves around food. I grew up surrounded by food conversations. My mother is an amazing cook, had a cookware store and even taught cooking classes out of our house. Her mother was an amazing cook and her recipe box is more coveted that her pearls. My aunt is an amazing cook and was the Chief Culinary Officer for the Food Channel. Then, I married a Frenchman whose mother is such an amazing cook that even when we are at lunch we are talking about what she’s going to make for dinner. I said the word “amazing” in this paragraph four times and meant it each time.

The first year that I had ALS, I remember reading an article about a gentleman who also had ALS but he could no longer eat. He listed three pages of all the foods that he missed...Beef Bourguignon, Caesar salad, grilled cheese, sushi, cheeseburgers, cereal, Eggplant Parmesan, Eggs Benedict etc. I remember thinking to myself, “That might possibly be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” I made a vow to myself right then and there that I would savor and cherish every moment that I had left “to eat.” Don’t laugh or judge… Imagine for one second that you could never eat again. Hell on earth.

My friend Romy Grace, as I call her, whom we visited, as you know, in Provence recently shares my same enthusiasm towards food. I can’t even tell you how many conversations we’ve had over the years regarding pizza crust, sea urchin, pasta and our favorite hotel buffets. We also share the same aesthetics when it comes to setting the table… The dishes, napkins, the flowers, the candles… even down to the little honey and jam pots. We actually derive true pleasure in the whole presentation.                                                                                                                

So, without further ado, I bring you our weekend of food in Provence.

We arrived to my friend’s house rather late after our train ride from Paris but as we pulled up into the courtyard of their house the outdoor dining table was all set and the twinkly lights in the canopy trees could not have begged a more beautiful setting. A midnight snack of Provençal cheeses sent us off to bed for a dreamy sleep for our first evening. The entire weekend we ate every single meal outdoors… As God intended. Our host’s wonderful house staff of Christina and Joaquim lovingly cooked every meal with regional produce fresh picked at the Provence farmers market.

I woke up to a beautiful breakfast served on the breakfast terrace with plenty of sunshine and the most beautiful blue sky that you’ve ever seen with an ancient stone fountain providing the music. This might be as close to paradise on earth as anyone’s ever going to get.

 

 

 

The goat cheese was like butta!

 

 

Organic eggs from the house chickens, of course. The dishes are from the La Mamounia Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco.

Breakfast slid into lunch and we found ourselves on another terrace having another glorious meal. Saturday’s lunch was served under a shaded canopy of chestnut trees overlooking a vast view of Provence with only the sound of a peaceful fountain nearby and the chirping of birds. Living in a bustling city like Paris you come to cherish the fact that silence is golden. I could visually see David, Grace and I actually start to relax. Phones were set aside, shoulders started to drop and we were nearly one yawn away from a nap every second.

 

Homemade Pesto Pasta

 

 

 Spinach salade with homemade vinaigrette and herbed foie gras.

 

Farmers market tomatoes with fresh burrata.

Saturday called for a day at the pool but not without plenty of fruit.

 

After a little downtime, we reconvened on yet another terrace for a little pre-dinner aperitif. This particular terrace hosted a sunset view surrounded by the parterres of an herb garden and yet another ancient fountain.

We were spoiled by Joaquim's famous mojitos and Christina’s hors d’oeuvres. Olive tapenade, bruschetta, smoked salmon with crème fraîche and fresh dill from the garden…

  Saturday evening’s dinner brought us back to our Santa Barbara roots and a barbecue by the pool was served!

Chicken shish kebabs, North African merguez sausages, grilled steaks, potatoes with herbs, grilled zucchini, grilled eggplant, and Christina’s famous Tomate Provençal and raspberry cheesecake.

 Romy Grace and the Apricot on a chilly evening in Provence.

 

Sunday’s lunch was a very special event but I will save that story for later this week.

Before we boarded our Sunday evening train back to Paris, we were treated to one more fabulous little snack. Afternoon tea with Christina’s homemade cake and Madeleines.

 

The best part about all of these meals was that I was lucky enough to have them with my friends. Our hosts, nicknamed Romy Grace and The Apricot, could not have been more warm or hospitable. The Apricot starts the stories, always making me giggle, and Romy Grace sprinkles every conversation with her endearing joie de vivre. And the best part about our meals together is that Romy Grace is always holding someone’s hand… Her husband’s, mine or their new baby’s. More on that new baby later!

And now for a little treat! Christina and Joaquim have been so kind as to lend two of their recipes to us! First we have Joaquim's famous mojitos and then we have Christina’s famous tomate Provençal!

Joaquim and Cristina in the kitchen.

 

 

JOAQUIM’S FAMOUS MOJITOS (For one portion of cocktail)

5 cl of white rum

7  leaves of fresh peppermint 

juice of 1/2 a lime

1 spoon of powder sugar

Crashed ice

In one glass crush the peppermint leaves and the lime together with the sugar. Then add the ice and the rum. Serve with a slice of lime and a fresh leaf of peppermint.

CRISTINA’S FAMOUS TOMATE PROVENÇALE (serves 6 people)

6 ripe tomatoes, for instance coeur de boeuf

2 gloves of garlic

1 big spoon of fresh cut basil 

1 big spoon of freshly cut persil

1 big spoon of freshly cut thyme

a couple of big spoons of breadcrumbs for the crust

olive oil

salt and pepper

Cut the tomatoes in thick slices and take off the seeds. Then put a bit of olive oil into a baking dish, add the tomatoes slices, top with the chopped garlic and the herbes, season with salt and pepper and add a bit of water.

Let simmer for about 30 minutes, then cover with the breadcrumbs and toast in the oven at a temperature of 180°C for about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Merci beaucoup Christina and Joaquim.

Thank you for sharing my weekend in Provence and I am so happy you came along for the ride. Remember, life is too short not to enjoy the beautiful things.

Stay tuned for the next installment of our Provence series. This next one involves four-legged friends and finned friends. I think you will just love it!

*Something you don’t know about me? I love learning all about you. Thank you for sending in all of your comments about yourselves. Seems like birds of a feather flock together, non? Don’t forget to go check out Stephen’s recipe for horseradish croutons in the comments! Thank you Stephen, you are my favorite human being on earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             

Summer Series: Boozy Popsicles

Blueberry Mojito Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

Do you know what’s better than a popsicle? A popsicle with alcohol. Why didn’t the world think of this earlier? Don’t kid yourself, this is a recent phenomenon. It’s right up there with the glorious invention of Uber, Instagram and Pinterest. And Netflix. And Hulu. And digital magazine subscriptions. Isn’t life grand these days? Now if only I could just have a GPS tracking system inserted under Gracie’s skin, all would be good in the world. But let’s be happy with what we do have, popsicles… Boozy popsicles.

We are a popsicle family. Growing up, there were more popsicles in our house than fruit. It was my mother’s only bargaining tool. “If you stop hitting your brother with your tennis racket, I’ll let you guys have popsicles.” My mother had us, all three of us brats, before she was 24 years old. I think she married Mr. O’Connell when she was like 19 years old. Children raising children. Good thing she was rich otherwise it would’ve been a scene straight out of “Teen Mom.”

We lived in a neighborhood where there was an ice cream truck that came around every afternoon during the summer. Pure childhood bliss. Isn’t it amazing the thrill it gives a child (even an adult) to hear the sound of the bells and the music of an ice cream truck. The good news is that our ice cream truck man wasn’t a child molester or at least we don’t think he was, but he probably was because they all are. However, all we cared about were those popsicles. We probably had 10 boxes of fudgesicles in our freezer at home but we just wanted those Bombpop popsicles from the ice cream truck. My little brother, sister and I would wait on our porch gripping our dollars in our dirty little hands, just waiting for the sound of the ice cream truck. The second we heard it we would start running with our dog, chasing that truck, worried that he wasn’t going to stop. Why were we so worried? We were his best customers, and he knew it. Of course he was going to stop but we still panicked. We would run barefoot with our crazy little dog after that ice cream truck. We were screaming, the dog was barking and the ice cream man would taunt us and park at the end of the block (next to that kid’s house who killed his parents or neighbors, I forgot which), secretly laughing that he caused severe anxiety in the O’Connell children.

Once we had those popsicles in our disgusting little paws, we would head directly to our backyard because my mother wouldn’t let us in the house with popsicles. My mother was usually decorating something and would kill us if our cherry popsicles dripped all over her Pierre Deux sofa even if it was in the family room where children are supposed to be! No resentment here. :-)

Instead, we retreated to the steps off of our back porch leading to the backyard. That’s where the air conditioner unit was and it blew out hot air and we cuddled up next to it in our bathing suits licking our freezing cold popsicles. After that we would just throw the popsicle sticks on the ground and go about our merry way causing destruction in our wake. We were complete hellions and if you don’t believe me, just ask any of our neighbors. We put up a good front though, my sister and I in our Florence Eiseman dresses and knee socks, my brother in his little blazer, but no one was safe in our house. Mostly babysitters. My little brother once locked himself in the bathroom and cut his finger with a butter knife and flung the blood all over the walls of the bathroom just to scare the babysitter. Needless to say she never came back. Other babysitters would just stand there in horror as we climbed to the tops of trees, rode the handlebars of our bikes, performed death defying gymnastics in the front yard and circus tricks in the backyard. There were lots of stitches, bloodied noses and tetanus shots at our house. My parents just ended up hiring a nurse as our nanny… To triage. My aunt, who I hate, was also a nurse and would come over to our house and try to give us throat cultures and wonder if she should call the authorities.

It’s not my parents fault though. My father was just busy getting richer and my mother was busy painting the dining room French blue. I do remember repercussions, but they just didn’t stick. We had our sweet side though… My sister would play with her Mrs. Beasley dolls, I would quietly and incessantly read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle novels, and my brother would just be fucking adorable. My mother would drop us off at First and Calvary Presbyterian Sunday school every single Sunday just to get a much-needed one hour break from us and I guess God just seeped in by osmosis and we all three turned out okay... But that's debatable.

Brat # 1, 2 and 3, the dog and my mother. Isn't my mother pretty? Her eyes are closed... She's probably asleep.

 

 

If I can think of anyone who needed an adult popsicle, it would be my mother. But the funny thing is that she doesn’t drink alcohol “because it makes her cough.” Eye roll.

But for the rest of us adults, alcohol laced popsicles hit the spot and are slightly chicer than standing around at a summer barbecue sipping a Real Housewives of New York Ramona Singer Pinot Grigio.

Let’s take a look at some recipes…

 

 Rum and Coke Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Citrus Basil Mojito Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Coconut Cinnamon Amaretto Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Bloody Mary Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Mint Julep Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Blackberry Chèvre Bourbon Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

Gin and Tonic Pomegranate Popsicles. Click HERE for recipe.

 

Voilà! Adult popsicles. Stay tuned for my last installment of my summer series. Your girl, Ellie, is heading to Provence on Friday to wind down summer in Europe and start my official decline into the depression of fall in Paris even if it is très jolie. The good news is that my husband announced last night that I could “move to Provence if I wanted to.” I guess my week of fake crying, empty threats and the silent treatment worked. Take note girls. While I am in Provence, I will beg my girlfriend Madame B, our host for the weekend, if I can take photos of her big fat South of France mansion because I know you guys will love it. Keep your fingers crossed! I am taking the train with Gracie and my caregivers and David and 400 pieces of luggage, extra breathing machines, cough assist machines, feeding tube formula and my beloved Haelen 951. This should be interesting.

Yes, after the incident a few days ago regarding the terrorist trying to kill everyone on the Paris bound train, I started to worry a little bit about my upcoming train ride. But then I remembered an email that I received from my friend Carol who passed away from ALS last year. It’s kind of morbidly funny but just stick with me. She was in such pain and so miserable about how ALS affected her life. She wasn’t exactly jovial like me but I liked her anyway because sometimes her outward thoughts were my inner thoughts. Anyway, she wrote me an email and said, “Sometimes I wish a mad man would just burst through my living room and shoot me in the back of the head.” Let me interpret: sometimes with ALS you just wish it would all be over in a second. So I thought, “Well if another crazy man boards our train… So be it.” It’s kind of liberating to have this attitude. But with my luck, I’m sure I would survive. :-)

Bon week-end! It’s the last weekend of summer, so enjoy it!