In the new work from home world, it can sometimes be hard to figure out when the work day ends and the evening begins. To celebrate the end of the day and to keep a little bit of pandemic sanity intact, we have implemented a nearly-mandatory happy hour each night with a snack and a glass of wine or cocktail. While a cheeseboard will certainly do, below are a couple of our favorite snacks that are easy to prepare and will be just as good after a busy Tuesday or before your next dinner party.
With something this simple, having great ingredients makes a big difference - aim for the best bread and tomatoes you can get, but also know that this one is going to be super solid no matter what.
Lightly brush a large slice of bread with olive oil and place under the broiler for a few minutes until it begins to toast. Remove. In the meantime, slice a tomato in half and grate on a box grater, pressing the cut side into the holes - the goal here is to get the tomato flesh broken down and to separate out the skin. Collect the tomato in a bowl and stir in some olive oil and salt to taste. Rub the toast with a cut open garlic clove and then spoon on the tomato mixture.
Buttermilk biscuits are amazing (see below…), but leftover buttermilk less so. This recipe, which comes from one of our Atlanta favorite restaurants Miller Union, is a delicious solution to that problem.
Take eight ounces of feta cheese (use feta in brine but discard the brine) and break it into small chunks in a bowl using a whisk or fork. Pour in buttermilk a quarter cup at a time and stir to incorporate. Continue to add buttermilk until the mixture reaches a cottage cheese consistency. Transfer to a small serving bowl and top with good olive oil, flaky sea salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Serve with toasts or vegetables
Start with the flatbread recipe from Ben’s 2020 Quarantine Cookbook. You’ve memorized it, right?! If not, shame on you and see below:
Dough:
Add 2 ½ teaspoons (one package) of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to 1 ¼ cup of warm water. Stir until the yeast begins to activate.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine 530g of all-purpose flour, 45g of semolina flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix to incorporate and then begin to add the yeast and water mixture. Mix until dough is uniform and smooth. Shape into a ball and transfer into a large bowl that is coated with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 ½ hours.
Cut dough in four parts and shape into balls. From here it comes down to process, but you can’t really go wrong. Roll a ball into a thin disc (think very thin pizza shape). Brush with a lot of olive oil and sprinkle with feta and chopped green onions. Roll it up (think pizza shape becoming snake shape with everything inside). Next, coil up the snake into a small thicker disc (this time we are going snake becoming sweetroll). Using a rolling pin, roll the whole thing back into a pizza shape (I’m getting confused at this point too and it is my recipe - feel free to just Facetime me…). The goal here is to have lots of laminated layers that will become flaky goodness when you cook everything up.
Cook dough in a skillet with a neutral oil over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides. These are great on their own or with a dip.
These Sardines https://www.zingermans.com/Product/portuguese-sardines/P-SAR and your favorite crackers. Perfection.
I could go with snacks all day, but sometimes things call for entrees and sides...
Literally French for rooster with wine - I typically opt for grocery store chicken quarters per Bridget’s preference but if you have a neighbor with a rooster which hasn’t quite adjusted to daylight savings time, by all means feel free to make this one old school.
Pull the chicken from the fridge an hour or two before cooking and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a Dutch oven with oil over medium high heat, brown chicken quarters on both sides and then remove to a plate. Reduce heat to medium low. Add a few tablespoons of butter, chopped onions, carrots, and celery to Dutch oven, scraping the pan to reduce and stuck brown bits. After about 5 minutes, add a heavy squeeze of tomato paste (isn’t the 21st century great? Tomato paste comes in resealable tubes now!) and stir. Cook for three minutes until the tomato paste deepens in color and then add three tablespoons of flour. Stir and allow the mixture to thicken before adding half a bottle of red wine (I like a nice $4 twist off Trader Joe’s Pinot Noir for this). Add the chicken back to the pot, being sure to include any juices that accumulated, and season with salt, pepper, and Herbs de Provence. Cover and cook until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Serve over mashed potatoes.
Inspired by Alison Roman’s “Luckiest Biscuits in America,” this recipe takes the philosophy that anything great can be made better with the addition of cheese.
In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, 1.5 teaspoons sugar, and .25 teaspoons baking soda. Stir to combine. Cut two sticks of unsalted butter into small cubes and add to the dry mix. Using your hands, press the butter into the flour, forming small discs of butter throughout the dry mix. This will allow the biscuits to become flaky later on.
Add as much shredded cheddar cheese as you dare and a finely diced jalapeno, stirring to incorporate. Pour in 1.25 cups of buttermilk and mix to create a shaggy dough. Transfer to a sheet pan and knead until the dough holds in a loaf shape, about half an inch thick. Cut into eight similarly shaped pieces and spread across the baking sheet (I have never succeeded in making any two biscuits the same size or shape, but perhaps you’ll fare better). Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning the baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through being sure to add an additional cheese topping during the turn.