Pork and Porcini Stew for Lois and Jon

Friday 3 February

Jon and Lois came for a weekend visit.  They are great cooks themselves, so we love to serve them big, flavorful food.  But first, for a big flavorful drink after their 3-hour drive, we served them Chimayo cocktails.  We had these at Rancho de Chimayo last June, and we loved them enough to get a box of Demarara sugar to coat the rims of our Nogales glass goblets for them.

It's easier if you make Chimayo cocktails (or anything else) by the pitcher, so here are the measurements for 8 gobletsful.

2 cups unfiltered apple cider (ours was local, from Findlay Market)

1 cup tequila, preferably gold (add a little extra)

1/4 cup crème de cassis

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 1/2 lemons)

Ice cubes, as needed

Demarara sugar

Unpeeled apple slices, for an optional garnish

Stir up in a pitcher the cider, tequila, crème de cassis, and lemon juice.  Put a couple of Tablespoons of Demarara sugar into a little plate.  Take out 4 goblets, run the lemon rinds around the rims, and dip upside-down into the plate of sugar, until the rims are coated with sparkle.  When guests arrive, fill the goblets halfway with ice. Pour the drink into the glasses, garnish each with an apple slice if you want, and serve.  Keep a swizzler in the pitcher and ice in the freezer to refresh as necessary.

Of course, One Must Have Snacks to keep body and soul together during chat-time before dinner.  So Holt made a batch of olive oil bread rolls, from his favorite Carol Fields recipe, substituting a little bran for some of the flour, and rolling them small for quick baking.  As it happens, they came out of the oven as soon as Lois and Jon arrived.  With the rolls we laid out a cheese plate of manchego, brie, gorgonzola, cheveron, and 6 oz. more goat cheese whizzed up with some garlic, arugula, and a little olive oil.  Oh and a little smoked salmon didn't hurt.

We like to have a big stoo for arrival night; it only gets better the longer it cooks.  This one was Marcella Hazan's pork and porcini, beefed up with an extra pound of chopped portobello mushrooms.  It made a delicious splodge on top of more little rolls. 

And we had some beautiful wines: J&L's Rhone red, Domaine Jaume Vinsobres Altitude 420; and our beloved Niagara wine, Megalomaniac Sonofabitch pinot noir 2006.

Dessert was Lois' triple ginger cookies (did she make them according to Fee's favorite recipe?), served with Graeter's peach ice cream - our favorite, saved from the summer for special friends.