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Featured Title:
Living with What You Love
about the book
Famed portrait photographer Monica Rich Kosann has spent a career helping people add a final layer of personality to their homes once the interior designer's work is done. Monica's clients—celebrities, designers, socialites—want to find ways to add warmth and love to rooms, celebrating what they cherish most—be it family, pets, jewelry, books, or travel. Having helped countless families artfully present their family photographs, heirlooms, and collectibles, she now divulges the secrets to her skill in this book. Living with What You Love shows you how to integrate your treasured objects with your home's décor.
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Grilled Stuffed Peppers
From The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook
makes 6 small stuffed pepper halves
 Stuffed peppers come out well on the grill if you don't make them too big. I like to mix ground meats and season the stuffed peppers heavily. Be sure to cook a little of the meat mixture to test the seasonings before you stuff the peppers, since the salt and spice levels of the various sausage meats and seasoning mixes vary widely.
- 2 tablespoons seasoning blend of your choice
- 1 teaspoon salt (omit if there is salt in the seasoning mix)
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ pound breakfast sausage meat
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ cup minced fresh parsley leaves
- Cayenne pepper
- Ground cumin
- Oil, for frying
- 3 small green bell peppers (four lobes preferred)
Mix the seasoning blend, salt, and wine in a small bowl and stir well. Then combine the mixture with all the other ingredients except the oil and peppers in a mixing bowl and mash with your hands until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Put the meat in the refrigerator for an hour or more to allow the flavors to blend.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan and place a teaspoon of the meat mixture in the hot oil. Cook, turning frequently, until done on both sides. Taste, and adjust the salt and seasonings in the remaining meat mixture.
Cut the peppers in half through the stem so that they form six half-pepper cups. Fill each half pepper with meat mixture. Mound the meat no more than a ½ inch over the top edge of each pepper. The stuffed peppers can be made in advance to this point and stored covered in the refrigerator for several days.
Light the grill. Cook pepper side down over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until the pepper is charred and soft. Turn the stuffed peppers over and cook on the meat side for 10 minutes. Test for doneness. Serve immediately with your choice of salsas. These are also great cold or cut into slices for sandwiches.
VARIATIONS
LEB-MEX PEPPERS: Use kebab seasoning such as Sadaf, available in Middle Eastern grocery stores.
CAJUN PEPPERS: Use a Cajun spice blend such as Tony Chachere's or Zatarain's and omit the salt.
Classic Chocolate Gelato
From The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato & Sorbetto
Chocolate perfection, pure and simple. Ciao Bella Classic Chocolate Gelato is simply our deep Chocolate Base in its basic form; it stands alone in its sophisticated simplicity or can be used for infinite variations. Try experimenting with spice and different percentages of chocolate—milk chocolate for kids and dark and single-origin chocolates for chocolate connoisseurs. We recommend using a bittersweet chocolate with about 60% cacao for our chocolate recipes, but you could go up or down a bit according to your preference.
makes enough for about 1 quart of gelato
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (about 60% cacao), finely chopped
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup sugar
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn't form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170°F. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Add the chopped chocolate, and stir or whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture, whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185°F. Do not bring to a boil.
Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring every 5 minutes or so. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir the custard until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
To make the gelato, pour the custard into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
|  "There may be nothing better in the world of frozen comestibles than the original Ciao Bella vanilla gelato. It was great when they started more than 20 years ago and it is great now; just take a peek in my freezer at home . . . . And now, I'll be able to make my own. Yum!"—Mario Batali, chef and author |
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Broadway Books/Publishers
Clarkson Potter/Publishers