by Cleo Coyle
1 boneless beef rump roast (eye round), 3 to 5 pounds
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper, coarsely ground
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil (olive, canola, corn, or vegetable)
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cumin
Step 1—Prep: Rinse your raw beef, pat it dry, and place it on the rack of your roasting pan. Allow the beef to rest outside of the refrigerator for at least 40 minutes or up to an hour. If you put cold meat in a hot oven, you risk uneven cooking and tough meat.
Step 2—Encrust: Preheat oven to 350°F. In a dry bowl, combine sea salt, two peppers, and (optional) cumin. Mix thoroughly and pour on a flat dish or cutting board. Coat the beef completely with cooking oil, and roll all sides in the pepper mixture, crusting well.
Step 3—Roast: Place the beef, fat side up, on the pan’s rack. Roast the meat at 350°F for 17–19 minutes a pound for rare (or to an internal temperature of 145°); for medium rare to medium, roast the meat for 20–25 minutes a pound (or an internal temperature of 150° to 160°). For well-done meat, roast 27–30 minutes a pound (or an internal temperature of 165°F). Clare roasts her meat to an internal temperature of 150°F, because, she notes, “the meat’s temperature continues to rise about 10 degrees after it’s taken out of the oven.”
Clare’s Tip: To take the internal temperature of a roast, use an Instant Read Meat Thermometer. Do not stick the meat too often with the thermometer or you’ll lose valuable meat juices. Wait until you’re near the end of the cooking time to test the meat and (if possible) do it only once or twice.
Step 4—Rest: An important step. After the beef comes out of the oven, let it sit for at least 30 minutes before slicing or those lovely meat juices will run out and you’ll be left with a roast that’s far too dry. Place a loose tent of aluminum foil over the beef to keep it warm; then slice it up and eat with joy!
Clare’s Horsey Sauce
1⁄3 cup mayonnaise
1⁄4 cup bottled horseradish (hot or mild)
1⁄8 teaspoon white pepper
1⁄8 teaspoon white cider vinegar
Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix well. The mixture will seem watery, but after chilling in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes, the sauce will thicken up. Serve with hot or cold roast beef, or other meat sandwiches.
Clare’s Chicken Marsala for Mike
Chicken Marsala is one of the most popular dishes in Italian restaurants worldwide. The chicken melts like butter, the mushrooms provide an earthy richness, but the key ingredient (and the secret to this dish’s charm) is dry Marsala, a fortified wine from Sicily similar to sherry or port.
Clare adds an extra step to this one-skillet recipe—an easy marinade. Do not skip this step. The marinade truly heightens the flavor, bringing this dish to a whole new level.
Though Chicken Marsala is traditionally dished over pasta or presented with potatoes, Clare served Mike Quinn her Marsala the way many Italian eateries in New York City do—on a crispy, fresh Italian roll, the perfect late- night sandwich for Quinn after a day of holiday sightseeing with his children.
Makes 4 servings
1 to 11⁄2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
13⁄4 cups dry Marsala (divided, see recipe directions)
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter (divided)
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1⁄4 teaspoon Kosher salt or ground sea salt (divided)
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (divided)
1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, diced
3 cups sliced mushrooms (baby bellas, cremini, button, or a mix)
1 cup chicken stock
Step 1—Prep the chicken and marinate: Wash chicken breasts and slice in half. On a cutting board, use a meat hammer to pound breasts thin. (Or you can buy pre-filleted breasts, but because the goal is tenderness, you still must pound the chicken.) In a covered bowl, mix 3⁄4 cup of Marsala with 1 tablespoon olive oil, six cloves of smashed garlic, 1⁄8 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄8 teaspoon pepper. Place the chicken in the marinade and refrigerate for thirty minutes, or up to three hours.
Step 2—Dredge marinated chicken and sauté: Remove chicken from marinade, do not rinse. (Discard the liquid.) Dredge in 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the hot oil, then gently sauté the coated chicken until golden brown (three minutes per side should do it, turning once). When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the oil and set aside.
Step 3—Sauté the aromatics: Add the diced onion to the oil, cook over medium heat until the onions are clear and tender (about five minutes). Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet. When melted, throw in your sliced mushrooms and sauté. The mushrooms will quickly absorb the oil, but keep cooking until the edges are brown and they begin to release their juices again.
Step 4—Add wine, reduce: Now pour into the pan your remaining 1 cup of dry Marsala. Increase the heat and bring to a low boil. Simmer until the liquid has been reduced by half (5 to 6 minutes). Add the chicken stock and simmer for another three minutes.
Step 5—Sauce the chicken: Return the chicken breasts to the pan along with any juices that might have accumulated in the holding dish. Lower the heat, and cook until the chicken is heated through and the sauce thickens (about 5 to 7 minutes). Toss in that final 1 tablespoon of butter, 1⁄8 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper. Serve hot.
Clare’s Apple Crumb Pie with Mrs. Li’s Warm Custard Sauce
After serving Mike her Chicken Marsala, Clare wanted to share a dessert that conveyed all the sweet, wholesome warmth of a fire-lit home on a cold winter night. This Apple Crumb Pie hit the mark. Mike swooned over the combination of fruity-sweetness, crunchy topping, and warm, creamy custard (adapted from a recipe that Clare snagged from her favorite Chinatown baker, Mrs. Li).
Clare finds cooking the apples before baking helps to caramelize the fruit, and the crumb topping in place of a traditional top crust provides a homey hint of old fashioned cobbler, making it an uplifting dessert for any dark winter night.
Makes one 9-inch pie
3 pounds apples (Clare uses 7 Golden Delicious)
2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1⁄4 cup white, granulated sugar
1⁄4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 uncooked pie crust (premade or homemade)
Step 1—Prepare the fruit: Peel and core the apples and slice them in 1⁄4-inch-thick pieces. Use clean hands to toss first with the lemon juice and then the two sugars. Place a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter, add the apples, and cook until tender, stirring often for 8 to 10 minutes. Now stir in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and cook for another minute or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Step 2—Assemble the pie: Fill the pie crust with the cooled apple mixture. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the fruit (recipe follows). Now prep for cooking by sculpting strips of aluminum foil around the crust’s thick edges. This foil shield will prevent your crust from burning. If you have a store-bought pie shield, put it to use now. Place a loose sheet of foil over the top of the pie to protect the crumb topping from burning. Set the pie in the refrigerator while you prepare the oven.
Step 3—Bake the pie: Preheat oven to 425°F and place a baking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven. Heat the sheet for thirty minutes. Place the chilled pie on the hot baking sheet and lower the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil from the top and the crust edges and finish baking for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool on a rack before slicing and servin
g with warm custard sauce (recipe follows).
Clare’s Crumb Topping
3⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1⁄4 cup white, granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
First a warning from Clare—your butter must be cold for this recipe or you won’t make crumbs; you’ll make a sticky messy dough, so be sure your butter is well chilled.
To prepare with a food processor: Place all ingredients inside and pulse until you see pea-sized clumps. To mix by hand: Place flour, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon into a bowl. Whisk together to blend. Add the cubes of cold butter and using clean fingers or a pastry blender, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture turns into pea-sized clumps. Store in a plastic container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.
Mrs. Li’s Warm Custard Sauce
Clare Cosi first met Mrs. Li when she visited the woman’s Chinatown kitchen under false pretenses. That rather unusual situation ended in a demonstration of an ancient martial art known only to Chinese grandmothers—but that’s another story (namely, A Brew to a Kill). Despite their rocky beginnings, Clare and this traditional Hong Kong baker were soon in business together, and swapping trade secrets. Clare happily gave up her superb Eggnog Crumb Muffin recipe for the secret behind a warm, rich, traditional custard sauce. The method is old school—no shortcuts with cornstarch or other thickeners—just the purity of egg yolks, milk, sugar, and a dash of vanilla. Add a little heat, and a lot of patient stirring. Though time consuming to prepare, once the custard sauce sets it can be cooled, then whisked and reheated and paired with many fall and winter desserts. Try this warm custard as a lush, silky topping for fruit pies, cobblers, or cakes, especially spice cakes. During the holiday season, Clare often serves this warm custard with Janelle’s “New Orleans Gingerbread,” aka Gâteau de Sirop. You can find that recipe at www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.
Makes approximately 1 cup
6 egg yolks
3 tablespoons white, granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk (or half-and-half for richer sauce*)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*Holiday Variation: For the holiday season, when eggnog is available, Clare sometimes replaces half of the milk with eggnog, adds a splash of rum extract, and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Either way, this custard is a delightful add-on to pies, cakes, fruit, or ice cream.
Step 1—Whisk eggs: In a heat-proof bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is a lemony yellow color. Set aside.
Step 2—Heat and mix: Place the milk in a saucepan and simmer over medium-high heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla. Now very slowly pour the warm milk and vanilla mixture into the bowl with the egg and sugar mixture while stirring continually. You must add the warm milk gradually to avoiding cooking or curdling the eggs.
Step 3—Cook for up to 45 minutes: Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan and return to low heat. Stir constantly until mixture starts to thicken. This is a traditional custard recipe with pure ingredients and no thickeners like cornstarch, which means it will take a long time to thicken up. Once it starts to thicken, check for doneness by tilting the pan. When the mixture begins to coat the side, you’re close to finished. Draw the tip of the spoon through the coating. If the cut fills in, continue heating. When the cut remains clear, remove from heat and serve the finished custard sauce warm.
Clare makes it in advance, places it in a small heatproof pan with a lid and keeps it at low, holding temperature in her oven. Then she stirs it up, making it smooth again before serving it with fall and winter pies and cobblers.
Clare’s Frozen Eggnog Latte for Mike
Ever since he moved to Washington, DC, Clare noticed Quinn drinking more alcohol, especially at night. In an effort to keep him sharp on the night after Moirin’s murder, she served him this creamy, refreshing holiday treat. It worked, too, although Quinn soon persuaded Clare to give her own worries a rest and turn her thoughts elsewhere.
Okay, technically this is not a latte (because the milk is not steamed), but Quinn loved the rich chilly creaminess of the drink so much that he convinced Clare to add it to the Village Blend’s holiday menu.
Makes one 10-ounce beverage
1⁄3 cup cold milk (whole or 2% for richness)
2⁄3 cup cold eggnog
6 coffee ice cubes (pour super-strong coffee into trays and freeze)
Whipped cream
Dash of ground nutmeg
Add the milk, eggnog, and coffee ice cubes to a blender and mix for around a minute, until the ice is pulverized. Pour into a serving glass, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Serve as cold as the North Pole!
The Village Blend’s Gumdrop Spritzers
Clare and her baristas put their espresso bar syrups to good use on the night of the toy store Cookie Swap, creating colorful gumdrop flavored drinks. They were a ginormous hit for the Village Blend, especially with the kids. Clare wasn’t all that surprised. Europeans have long had a passion for adding flavored “gourmet espresso bar” syrups to sparkling water to create delicious “Italian sodas.”
In North America, syrups are more commonly used to flavor lattes and cappuccinos, but in recent years the companies that make these syrups are providing a dizzying array of possibilities, not just for coffee bars but consumers at home—butter rum, carrot cake, pink grapefruit, kiwi, watermelon, mandarin orange, English toffee, pistachio, piña colada, toasted marshmallow, even tiramisu. The combinations can make your head spin—and your mouth water.
Here are a few simple tips that will help you become a barista in your own home. The next time you plan a party, assemble a number of bottled syrups, place them on a table with ice, club soda, a bowl of gumdrops, and a stack of swizzle sticks, and invite guests to mix their own gumdrop drinks. (And take Clare’s advice—buy extra swizzle sticks!)
Makes one 16-ounce beverage
11⁄2–2 ounces* flavored syrup (3–4 tablespoons)
10 ounces club soda
4 ounces ice cubes (approximately 4 cubes)
*Note: 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons
Mixing directions: Fill a 16-ounce glass about one-third full of ice (approximately 4 cubes). Pour the syrup and club soda over the ice and stir well.
Tips for blending flavors: When blending two syrups to create a third taste (say lemon syrup and lime syrup to make lemon-lime), you can either use equal amounts, or you can try for a dominant taste. For example, try 1 ounce of one syrup and 1⁄2 ounce of another. Here’s a more specific example: Mix 1 ounce of orange and 1⁄2 ounce of cranberry, and you’ve made orange cranberry. If you flip the ratio, you will then make cranberry orange. Use your imagination and your taste buds, mix, match, experiment, and . . . drink with joy!
Where to find syrups: Here are three brand names and their websites to get you started. You can learn more about the flavors they offer and where to purchase them, and you’ll even find recipes.
Torani—This is the oldest American brand of gourmet syrup, started in 1925 by Italian immigrants in San Francisco. www.torani.com.
Monin—Monin was founded in France in 1912. Enjoyed for nearly a century by Europeans, it hit the American market in the early 1990s. www.monin.com.
DaVinci Gourmet—This respected brand was launched in Seattle in 1989. www.davincigourmet.com.
Easy Candy Cane Latte with Homemade Peppermint Syrup
Matt drank a version of this delicious peppermint-flavored latte at the annual Village Blend Secret Santa party. Matt makes all of his own coffee drinks and (being Matt), he slipped a shot of peppermint schnapps into his Candy Cane Latte for an extra holiday kick. Here’s Clare’s virgin recipe, but feel free to add schnapps, Jägermeister, mint-flavored vodka, or mint liqueur in Step Three to get your own holiday buzz.
Makes two 8-ounce drinks
1 cup milk
1⁄2 cup white cho
colate, chopped, or white chocolate chips
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Clare’s homemade peppermint syrup (see next recipe or substitute 1⁄4–1⁄2 teaspoon peppermint extract)
2 to 4 shots hot espresso or strong coffee (divided)
Whipped cream (optional)
Step 1—Melt the chocolate: Combine milk and white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and place over a saucepan about one-third full of boiling water. (The water level should be under the bowl but not touching it.) Stir constantly until chocolate is melted. Be careful and make sure not a drop of water gets close to the chocolate.
Step 2—Whisk until frothy: Using a whisk or handheld electric beater, whip in the vanilla and peppermint syrup or extract. Continue to whip about a minute until the warm mixture is loosely frothy.
Step 3—Assemble the drink: Take out 2 large mugs and pour 1 to 2 shots of espresso into each (more shots will give you more coffee flavor and caffeine in the drink). Divide the steamed white chocolate milk between the mugs and stir to blend the flavors. Top with whipped cream, sprinkle with chopped candy canes, and serve with a whole candy cane in the mug as a stirrer. (This drink is absolute heaven. It tastes like a rich, warm coffee-infused peppermint milkshake! Enjoy!)
Clare Cosi’s Peppermint Syrup Homemade from Candy Canes
Got leftover candy canes? Put them to great use with this outstanding peppermint syrup. This sweet, potent syrup is delicious licked right off the spoon, but you may also want to serve it over ice cream, stir it into hot chocolate, or use it the way Clare Cosi and her barista crew do—to make their amazing Candy Cane Lattes and Cappuccinos.
1 cup water
11⁄2 cups granulated sugar
8 large candy canes, broken up
Pour the water and sugar into a large saucepan. Stir until the sugar and water are mixed fairly well, then place over medium heat. Add the candy cane pieces to the mix and continue stirring. When the candy canes begin to melt, the mix will turn a milky pink. Keep cooking until the mix comes to a boil. Boil for 3–4 minutes, then remove from heat. Allow the syrup to cool in the pan before transferring to a storage jar or bottle. If the syrup is too thick to pour, warm in hot water or microwave for ten seconds.
