Easter Dinner Menu: Asparagus & Salmon

This Easter, impress friends and family with delicious recipes that allow you to entertain with ease so you can spend more time with guests and less time in the kitchen. I'm planning a delicious and healthy meal of Oven-roasted Asparagus and Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. 

Salmon is filled with vitamins and essential oils that are so good for your body.  As an added bonus, it's very easy and quick to cook. Asparagus is a great seasonal side dish and when roasted in the oven it becomes slightly caramelized and crunchy.

You can find these recipe and more in my book, Coming Home. The Calypso serveware can be purchased on our web site.  

For dessert, I like to make Cindy's Bunny Cake. (Click here for this recipe.)  When we were little, every year around Easter, my mother would make the Bunny Cake to celebrate my sister, Cindy's April birthday, and the arrival of Spring.  It makes a great centerpiece! 

R O S A N N A I N C . C O M

The Bowl: A Vessel For Tradition

Bowls are among the oldest vessels found by archeologists, dating back thousands of years, and continue to be used daily across the globe, from morning meals through evening dinners.    Because bowls are the items we use most in the kitchen, I designed two sets of daily bowls, with the hopes that you could use these bowls to begin family traditions and rituals.

The Comfort Food Bowls Collection

The Comfort Food bowls are a hearty bowl, perfect for serving vegetables,  grains, popcorn, and everything from hot soups to ice cream without any worry of cracking or crazing.  They are made of a sturdy stoneware which is dishwasher and microwave safe, great for everyday family use.  The colors are rich, earth tones and remind us to eat healthy.

I designed the Comfort Food bowls while thinking about the Lentil Soup my mother used to make us from scratch when I was a child.  I felt my mother’s care and love each time she made the soup, as it warmed my body and my heart, and gave me proper nutrition. 

Fall temperatures are just around the corner, and most of us crave warm meals as the temperatures drop.  Use these bowls to start your own family tradition of a Soup Night, by making your own nutritious soup from scratch, and gathering the family around the table to share it. 

Another childhood tradition that I’ve carried on to my own children is Family Movie Night.   When I was younger, my grandmother would make popcorn the old fashioned way on the stove in a pan, while we watched a movie.  I wanted a bowl that was the perfect size and perfect portion for Family Movie Night with my daughters, so I created the Rosanna Bowls.  

The Rosanna Bowls Collection

The Rosanna Bowls can lead to a variety of family traditions—whether it is a Popcorn Night, Ice Cream Night, chips & salsa, berries, or another tasty snack—make a tradition around coming together as a family, eating healthy, and spending time together.

These bowls were so important to me when I designed them that I named them The Rosanna Bowls, as a play on my name, Rosanna Bowles.  They are my go-to bowl in my own kitchen, and over the past few years have been brought back season after season due to their popularity.    

So as fall signals a return to our daily rituals of work and school, let it also signal a time for new and continued family traditions.  You can make every day special by starting your own family traditions today!

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Note:  If you’d like to try my mother’s delicious Lentil Soup, you can find it on page 131 of my book, Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions.  Also, my Homemade Popcorn in a Pan recipe can be found on page 49.

If you'd like to find out more about my Comfort Food & Rosanna Bowls, as well as tips for creating family traditions, visit Rosanna TV: Episode 1, on my YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/RosannasTable.

Preparing An Independence Day To Remember

The USA has a birthday that’s just around the corner, and it’s time to think about how we’re going to celebrate.

Here are some tips to help create a delightful and delicious 4^th of July gathering.

Decorate with Vintage Americana

I like my 4^th of July decorations to make a statement. Over the years, I’ve acquired a collection of vintage flags and Americana, which I mix and match with newer decorations and dinnerware. I find that incorporating vintage and antique decorations into the mix adds some soul to the aesthetic of the event.

There are numerous inventive ways you can decorate with your flags—place smaller flags in a vase as a centerpiece on your table, or use an extra large flag as a tablecloth.

You can collect vintage flags and decorations at flea markets or your local vintage store. You can also find some gems online at sites like Etsy and even eBay.

Tablesetting

Always have a set of 12 white dinner plates and 12 white napkins.  This is one of my little secrets.   Doing this allows you to mix and match salad plates to create hundreds of possible tablescapes, depending on the occasion.  For Independence Day, choose a patriotic-looking or an Americana salad plate.  If you don’t have one, find red or blue---after all, you’ve already got the white in your dinner plates!

Coordinate Your Costumes

To create a more festive feel for the event, encourage your guests to wear red white and blue clothing. The sillier, more flamboyant, and outrageous the clothing, the better.

Make One Special Drink

Make sure to have all the usuals—juice, beer, wine, water, and soda—on hand. In addition, make one special, summer-themed punch. This one drink can bring a surprising amount of cohesion to your meal and the event as a whole. Drinks that feature a refreshing summer fruit like peach, watermelon, or strawberry are always well received on hot days.

American Food with a Twist

Because the 4^th of July is all about celebrating America, and America is famous for its cultural and ethnic diversity, take a truly American approach to the holiday by incorporating your family’s food heritage into traditional American dishes. Make hamburgers with the spices traditionally used in your ethnic background. The same thing goes for pies, ice cream toppings, and fruit salads. Prepare a traditional side dish unique to your family’s heritage.   Better yet, ask your guests to showcase their heritage through a side dish they prepare.

Honor US History

When my children were little, one of the things they loved most about the 4^th of July was putting on an annual play. In the play, we reenacted important moments in US history. We performed Paul Revere’s famous ride, a scene in which George Washington asks Betsy Ross to sew the American flag, and the Martin Luther King Jr I Have A Dream Speech. We interwove these important events with the story of our own family in America, starting with our ancestors’ arrival to Ellis Island. We always ended the show with a rousing rendition of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” Putting on a play can start with a fun brainstorming activity in which you ask children to think of important events in America. Later you can turn these into the plot for the play. Pick up a few white wigs and tricorn hats at your local costume store to add to what you have at home, and costumes won’t be too hard to devise.

Good, Old-Fashioned Games

Organizing a few games throughout the day, like croquet, bocce ball, Frisbee, softball, or charades, brings guests together and creates a spirit of conviviality.  On those sweltering Independence Days, have a water balloon toss with the kids.

           

Fireworks

Every state has different laws when it comes to setting off fireworks, but no 4^th of July celebration is complete without a few flashes in the night. At the very least, make sure to have some sparklers.

Family Tradition

Whatever you decide to do, make sure to create family tradition.  Teach your children about their own heritage and how it plays a part of the American Dream.  As I mention in my book, Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions, celebrating any festive occasion is always richer when personal meaning is attached.

Note:  Photos by John Granen, for “Coming Home,” published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang

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Living In The Seasons--Spring

For centuries people lived in the seasons.  Their diets were determined by their geographic location, the temperature, weather, and the food they had access to.  Nowadays we are able to shop in grocery stores where most fresh fruits and vegetables are available year-round.  However, as we learn to eat fruits and veggies in their seasons, the tastes are so much more vivid, alive, and delicious.  Every spring I look forward to the fresh crop of artichokes that hits the local farmers markets.  The artichoke is an unusual vegetable, and some may find its spiny appearance intimidating, but it's so easy to prepare and so rewarding--especially when you get to the toothsome, flavorful heart--that it will likely become a regular feature of your spring menus as well.  A special bonus that the artichoke offers is healthfulness:  One large artichoke has only 25 calories, no fat, and 170 milligrams of potassiums, and is an excellent source of vitamin C.  Artichokes also contain folate, magnesium, and lots of dietary fiber.  Try this delicious and healthy recipe from my book, Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions.

Spring Artichokes With Lemon Butter (serves 4)

4 large California globe artichokes

Juice of 2 lemons

1 clove garlic, smashed, plus 2 cloves minced

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) good quality-salted butter

ARTICHOKES

Wash the artichokes under cold water.
Cut off the stems at the base and remove any small leaves.
Fill a large pot with 2 to 3 inches of water.
Add half of the lemon juice and the 1 smashed garlic clove.
Bring to a boil.
Place the artichokes upright in the pot.
Cover and cook at a low boil for 35 to 45 minutes, until the artichoke's base can be pierced with a fork or you can easily pull off a leaf.
Drain the artichokes upside down.

LEMON BUTTER DIPPING SAUCE

In a small saucepan, heat the butter, minced garlic, and the remaining lemon juice.
When the butter is melted, pour it into individual ramekins.
Serve the artichokes with the lemon butter as a dipping sauce.

Tell your guests to pull one leaf at a time from the artichoke and dip it in the sauce, then scrape the leaf with their teeth to pull off the tender inner flesh of the artichoke.  After the large outer leaves are all eaten, paper-thin leaves remain.  These can be pulled out in sections and eaten, but the best part of an artichoke is the heart.  After you've eaten all of the leaves, remove the hairy choke with a tablespoon until you reach the heart.  Dip the heart in the butter sauce, and enjoy!

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Music

Music is a primal pursuit. In the bustle of activity, it can slip easily out of our days and we forget the power it holds. Making the effort to keep music in your life is worth it because music is vital. As we open our ears, we also open our eyes. Music creates new awareness of the world in which we live.

In my book Coming Home, I talk about the crucial role of music, and dance, to building an enlivened existence:

"Music and dance can temper any mood, elevate the spirit and release a rush of endorphins. The sense of well-being that comes from dancing is a priceless gift that we experience far too infrequently. Music and dance release tension, allowing our souls to become free."

Today I want to talk about the music that, the first time I experienced it, touched me deeply and now enriches my life on a regular basis.

Five years ago, a friend brought me to the opera. We saw La Boheme by the composer Giacomo Puccini. Experiencing this tragic story through arias that trembled, glimmered and thundered with emotion changed my life in more ways than one.

Opera has a rich legacy with influences, contributors and innovations from all over the world. It is a medium that spans a wide swath of eras and finds inspiration in some of the most unlikely places. Attending operas has given me a blossoming awareness of its many traditions in opera. And the more I learned, the more the music opened me to the spiraling complexity of this beautiful art form.

About a year after I saw my first opera, I began designing products for the Metropolitan Opera. This ongoing project has been immensely fulfilling and vastly educational. It has allowed me to delve deeper into the music, and, in so doing, feel more alive.

Music of all kinds frees our souls. Different sounds speak to different people. Opera may not be the music that touches your soul, but there is music out there that will call to you, wake you and transport you to new places. All you have to do is find it and listen.

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*Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions, Published by Abrams: Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Chicken Soup

"It's so cold outside!"

In January, the heart of winter, staying warm is just about the only thing we can think about. In this time of year, we crave food that heats us from the inside out. However, we're not so far away from the holidays either. Light, clean cooking is the order du jour. But there's the bur--we want warm and filling but also light and clean. How to strike a balance? It's tricky.

I start with Leftover Chicken Soup. The clear broth keeps this dish from becoming too substantial. The vegetables make it fresh. The carcass of a previously roasted chicken imparts a wonderful, satisfying depth of flavor, and the noodles make this soup a classic comfort food dish. Leftover Chicken Soup makes a good winter meal because you can cook a big pot, eat some and freeze the rest for another blustery winter's night. Enjoy with a full-bodied red wine, Umbrian Montefalco and Montepulciano from Tuscany are two of my favorites, along with a loaf of fresh, crusty bread.

Leftover Chicken Soup (serves 8)

Ingredients
2 large carrots - cut into 1/4 inch rounds
2 large celery ribs  - chopped into 2 inch crescents
Carcass and pan drippings from a roasted chicken
1 lb parpardelle noodles (wide egg noodles)

1. Fill a large stock pot halfway full with water. Add the carrots, celery, chicken carass and pan drippings. Bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Boil for 5 minutes then reduce to a simmer.
3. Remove carcass, stripping off all loose meat. Add meat back to pot.
4. Cook over low heat for 1 hour.
5. Just before serving, add the pasta. Parpardelle comes in nests. Crack the uncooked nests in two before adding so the noodles aren't too long.
6. Cook at a simmer for 15 min or until noodles are soft.
7. Serve hot in low, shallow bowls
8. Make sure to save some for your children's lunch tomorrow!

*Photo courtesy of John Granen for Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions. Published by Abrams: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.

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Unexpected Blessings

Since the release of Coming Home I’ve been on an extended adventure around the country known as a book tour.

Though I’ve done many “dish signings” and public meet-and-greet events, I’ve come to realize that book signings are something special. It’s been a surprising and gratifying experience. I am touched when people approach me to tell me how the book has touched their lives, inspired them, and how they used the suggestions inside to make their lives more satisfying

I’ve been consistently delighted to bump into people from my past at these events. At one book signing I reconnected with a woman I knew as a toddler and young child in Portland, OR. I love these moments of unexpected connection with people after many years of silence, in some case 50-plus.

I am most proud of Coming Home for its ability to serve as a point of reconnection. It is a wonderful gift to rediscover people I never would have seen again had I not written this book.

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Coming Home Book Update

ART, our Italian distributors, just wrote us to report the enthusiastic response Coming Home received at the Italian trade show in Milan. People loved the book, despite the fact that it’s written in English. I was so excited to hear that the book resonates across cultures. I take this embrace of the Rosanna brand halfway across the world as a testament to the strength and appeal of the brand.




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Coming Home is coming out soon!

The launch of Coming Home is just around the corner! Copies of my new book will available for wholesale purchase at the New York Gift Show this March. We’ll also have copies of the book on our booth for people to see. I’m so excited! Also, make sure to take a look at our website. Our 2010 Spring Collection designs echo the sentiments of the book-- eating ice cream, having a tea party, indulging in dessert, throwing a dinner party with a beautifully illuminated table—we designed these dishes especially to help create moments and events that bring people together around food and to cultivate joy, which is what the book is all about.













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