Hi, everyone! Happy September. Believe it or not I’m out of town again! Out of the country again, in fact, this time visiting my father’s birth country of Lebanon. I have no plans to be away for the rest of the year, so I will finally be able to chat with you all again next month.

Today we wrap up our formal meal with everyone’s favorite: Dessert. Important for our elegant lovers not to be too stuffed before they, ahem, retire, so I passed on the heavy cakes and pies in favor of cream puffs filled with chocolate cognac cream and sauced (this cracks me up as a verb) with raspberries. I adore pretty much anything with raspberries, cream and chocolate, and this dessert is a winner. Serve with coffee or snifters of cognac. Or both. Mmmm. Then imagine our lovers wafting sensually up to the bedroom . . . Of course in my world they’d spend an hour going over every detail of the meal first. Food and sex, both passionate pursuits.

Here is the recipe, once again c/o that most venerable of foodie websites, epicurious.com:

Chocolate-Cognac Profiteroles with Raspberry Sauce

Next month we’ll start another, more casual meal. Maybe something to celebrate the oncoming chilly fall weather (in case you live somewhere there is some). In the meantime, keep warm reading Blaze and I will “see” you in October!

Isabel
www.IsabelSharpe.com

Greetings to all. I’m writing this the night before I start our August vacation. I won’t be able to get online on the 15th because we’ll be at our house in Maine which has no electricity. It is so great to get away from it all and relax without TV, computers, phones, anything. Life slows down, we talk to each other, we play games, we spent as much time as possible outdoors. Blissful. Not that we really rough it, gas refrigerator, gas water heater, gas lights, etc. All the comforts of home, but no ads, no spam, nothing. Ahhh. Like going back in time.

As for our recipe this month, so far our hero and heroine have had meat for their main course but not much else. I’d like to share a salad recipe from Food and Wine. The dressing is the best part, so feel free to switch ingredients in and out. I’ve made it with diced red pepper when pomegranates were out of season, or in winter when I was too cheap to spring for fresh herbs, I’ve left half of them out, I’ve also made it with whatever lettuce I had on hand. But if you can try it as written, do, at least once. It’s fabulous.

Escarole and Fresh Herb Salad with Apples and Pomegranates

Next month, dessert!

Enjoy your summer until then.

Cheers,

Isabel
www.IsabelSharpe.com

Hello Blazers, hope you are enjoying summer. Today I’m bringing you another course in our fancy celebration meal. We last left our romantic couple dining on the beach by candlelight (and since it’s our fantasy, the servers are hot, barely clothed men of our choosing even though of course we only have eyes for our hero, koff koff), champagne cocktails, puff pastry pinwheels, a zucchini/pea soup, and now . . . oh yes, The Meat.

I come from a family of foodies (remember, foodies aren’t just about fancy food, we’re about all food). Ridiculous amounts of our conversation at the table surrounds eating: past, present and future. When people ask my parents what they do during their annual month in Paris, my father’s response is invariably, “You mean between meals?”

When I got married and my husband made no comments about the dishes I’d prepared every night, I couldn’t believe it. What was wrong with him? There was all this food on the table to discuss, who cared about the state of the world?

This month another elegant, classy and absolutely simple recipe, brought to us by that most wonderful of foodie sites, epicurious.com:

Porcini-Crusted Filet Mignon with Fresh Herb Butter.

Sounds soooo chic! But all you do is stick dried mushrooms into a blender or food processor or spice grinder, and roll the steaks in the resulting powder, then cook. Herb butter involves chopping and stirring. The flavors are incredible.

Give it a try. And enjoy!

Isabel

Hello, ladies! I’m writing to you in the midst of planning an outing with girlfriends to a local champagne bar (In Milwaukee, who knew?). Very exciting. I’ve lived here twelve years and had no idea there was such a thing until I was doing research for a bar my heroine could go to in a certain neighborhood and stumbled across it.

Now onto the next course in our 60th anniversary celebration dinner!

First, set the scene, let’s imagine this is a dinner party for you and Mr. Fill-In-the-Blank. Since this is a fancy meal (we’ll do other kinds later) you need a guy who can wear a tux. So picture your fantasy man (Gerard Butler for me) with a nice buzz going from the champagne, wowed by your class and beauty, and getting hungrier all the time. You escort him to the lovely table for two, set anywhere you want (darkened beach? deck of a cruise ship? your charming mansion? You tell me!), and seat him. Then you (or your minions) bring out this soup, which is one of my favorites because it’s good hot, cold or room temperature, it’s easy and it tastes fabulous. I can’t remember where I got the recipe, so if I’m impinging on anyone’s copyright, feel free to sue me.

Pea Zucchini Soup

Serves 4-6

3/4 lb zucchini (3 medium), chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped white of scallion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (e.g. Swanson’s)
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
salt and pepper
sour cream for garnish

In large saucepan, saute zucchini, onion and scallions in vegetable oil, three minutes. Add thyme and broth, bring to boil and lower heat to simmer, covered, six minutes. Reserve 1/3 cup peas for garnish, add the rest and simmer uncovered for six minutes. Puree (let cool slightly if using blender, hot liquids can explode out of them and you don’t want this soup on your ceiling). Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve, garnished with reserved peas and sour cream.

Until next month!

Isabel

Greetings! It’s the fifteenth of the month and time for another recipe! Last month we had a fabulous champagne cocktail flavored with pomegranate and ginger. This month I thought I’d offer something to eat alongside, because if you’re like me, champagne goes straight to your brain and begins its work in a big (and sometimes embarrassing) way.

I’ve picked out what I consider a perfect hors d’oeuvre to serve at your next cocktail party (snort, yeah, we all throw those weekly) or with drinks before dinner, as long as your meal isn’t incredibly rich. It’s my favorite type of recipe—elegant, impressive, delicious, and e-e-e-e-asy. You can toss it together and pop in the oven before your guests have time to towel off from their swim off your yacht. Or wipe their feet after a step or two in your inflatable wading pool.

The source is once again that recipe collection of all recipe collections, epicurious.com. Prosciutto and Gruyere Pinwheels.

Try smoked ham if you’d rather, cheat with Swiss cheese if you’re perennially on a budget like me, and experiment with fresh basil or rosemary in place of the sage. Then serve to your guests and prepare to be worshiped. We Blaze babes deserve nothing less.

Until next month!

Isabel

Good morning, Isabel Sharpe here, from Wi(ll-it-ever-be-spring?)sconsin. On the 15th of each month I’ll be providing a Blaze-appropriate recipe for your enjoyment, everything from mood-brightening cocktails to tantalizing appetizers to hot main dishes and happy-after sweet endings, because as a devoted foodie, I believe when it comes to pleasures of the body, eating and drinking are right up there with . . . you know.

Today’s recipe is about celebration: of our Blaze blog’s first month, of Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, and of course, of love and everything wonderful about it, especially the naughty bits. What better way to celebrate than with champagne, my very favorite indulgence? I’m one of those people who sees athletes spraying the stuff around the locker room and thinks, “God, I hope that’s cheap Asti.”

On my refrigerator I have a comic strip: Man comes up to the bar and says, “A bottle of your very best champagne!” The bartender asks, “What’s the occasion?” and the man says, “Thirst.” That’s my kind of thinking. When I grow up I want to be able to have a bottle of the “good stuff” in my refrigerator at all times for when the mood strikes. Until then I have to be content with a bottle of the “okay stuff” in my basement.

In this recipe, the champagne is mixed with pomegranate juice flavored with orange and ginger. Don’t bother buying expensive champagne when you’re mixing, but don’t buy garbage either. Domaine Ste. Michelle, made in Washington State, is my current favorite lower-priced sparkling wine (if it doesn’t come from the Champagne region in France, it can’t be called champagne.).

Epicurious.com will allow me to post the link, but not reproduce the recipe

Isabel’s tips: Mix the non-champagne ingredients together rather than measuring them individually in each glass, and try using only a tablespoon of the mixture first, unless you like your drinks sweet (I don’t) in which case use a couple.

Enjoy!

Isabel

P.S. I’m sending this for posting early because I’ll be on a road trip with my kids on the 15th. I will do everything possible to find wireless Internet so I can check in during the day, but can’t promise. So apologies ahead of time if I don’t respond to comments right away!