Domestic Tuesdays - Once Again, Booze Saves the Day

A couple months ago I threw a little brunch party in my new apartment. I wanted my friends to come over and see my new place, and also, frankly, my friends are really fun when they all congregate in order to do some serious eating and drinking. As we've already established, my apartment is pretty tiny. I wasn't really nervous about cramming everyone in there, though, as I had borrowed some extra chairs from my grandmother (cool vintage chairs from my grandmother's old card table, to boot!) and moved my drum kit out of the way (which also ensured that no one would get drunk and suddenly decide to show off their drum skills, including myself).

No, I wasn't worried about space, or the inevitable sweating that would come from my cramped and badly ventilated apartment...what I was worried about was, say it with me now, "the food". I had nothing to worry about, though. That's not because everything I made turned out alright, no no, I wouldn't be me if that were the case, nor is it because I have enough Xanax to calm a small nation, it's because it turns out that if you make a bowl of sangria big enough for a toddler to bathe in, nothing else really matters.

The salmon tartine I attempted to make; so lovingly laid down pieces of salmon over toasted bread, topped with thin slices of cucumber, salt & pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil? The bread was incredibly chewy, making them difficult to eat. Fail.

The tomato basil elephant ears, which I've made many times in the past with great success, were foiled due to The Great Basil Mishap of '09. The photographic evidence has been destroyed.

And as for the roasted red pepper and goat cheese frittata I intended to make and present with great gusto??? The eggs never left their carton, due to the oven adding unneeded heat into my already sweltering apartment.

So that left me with very little domestic edibles to impress my friends with. Add to that, my friend Jonah swooped in and "threw together" a few things that ended up tasting and looking way better than I could have hoped for my own meager contributions (I'm stealing his photos from the party for this post, as revenge).

Luckily, the easiest, tastiest, most photographable of my menu items turned out spectacular, and I'm happy to be able to share it with you should you ever find yourself in a pickle when entertaining your friends and a tub of sangria won't sufice.

Nutella Croissants

The recipe I found for these called for those tubes of ready-made croissants you find at the grocery store, but I wanted to make something a little more fancy, so I opted for puff pastry. Don't be intimidated if you've never worked with puff pastry before - it's incredibly simple and fool proof. The ethnic market by my house sold frozen squares of puff pastry for pretty cheap, so I bought a few packages, and picked up a tub of hazelnut spread (Nutella works, as does any generic brand).

Start by cutting the squares in half, so they are triangles, and spreading about a tablespoon of hazelnut spread in the center so the outer edges are bare.

Using your fingers and a dab of water, wet the bare sides to ensure it stays together once you roll. Starting a the bottom, roll until you get to the tip.

At the tip (god this is starting to sound dirty...or else I just have a dirty mind) press down lightly to ensure the croissant stays sealed when it puffs up in the oven.

Now bring the ends around, and press firmly to seal them together.

Like this.

Pretty already!!!

Place them on a sprayed or tin foiled baking sheet and pop them into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes (keeping an eye on them so they don't burn!). Then pull those fuckers apart and scald the ever-loving-hell out of the roof of your mouth...wait five more minutes, then try again.

Pretty successful party, I would say...

the sangria would agree.