Lenten Meals

My husband Randy and I had the best Ash Wednesday dinner last night – Pasta Primavera with Shrimp. I was in the house all day with the wood floor installers and didn’t have a chance to get to the supermarket, so an hour before dinner, I opened the fridge and cupboards to see what my options were. Lots of fresh veggies in the crisper, a block of Romano cheese in the drawer below, a package of thin spaghetti and a can of vegetable broth in the vault, and a partial bag of shrimp in the freezer – everything I needed to put together a tasty, meatless dinner in less than an hour.

Now before I go any farther, you may be asking why I keep spaghetti and vegetable broth in a vault! The answer goes back 112 years to when Swan’s Nest was constructed. The owner and designer of the house, Ben Revett was a gold baron, and he built our home as a gift for his bride. The smaller kitchen we’re currently using was originally Ben Revett’s office, and he had a gold vault built adjacent to his office to store his fortune. With rock walls 2-feet thick and steel rails in the ceiling, it was a secure place to store the gold he dredged from nearby rivers and streams.

Since I’m a little short on gold, we converted the vault into a butler’s pantry with storage for wine and glassware, plus a temporary mini-pantry. Once the large kitchen addition is complete in a few weeks, I’ll move food items into my new spacious pantry, and the gold vault will become a wine vault.

So, let’s get back to last night’s dinner because I know you’re looking for something tasty, quick, inexpensive, and ideal for Lenten Friday’s. While the water is heating for the pasta, chop 2 stalks of celery, a small onion, a green bell pepper, broccoli, and a small bunch of asparagus, place the veggies on a large platter and set it aside. Place the frozen raw shrimp into a medium bowl, fill with cold water, and set it aside to thaw, about 15 minutes.

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat for the vegetables, and peel the shrimp, placing them on a paper towel to dry. When the water comes to a boil, add coarse salt and the spaghetti, and cook until the pasta is al dente, about 8 minutes. Pour 1 cup of the pasta cooking water into a Pyrex measuring cup and set it aside, then drain the spaghetti in a colander, reserving a few tablespoons of pasta water in the bottom of the pot. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and a dash of coarse salt to the pot, swirl to mix, and return the drained pasta to the pot, tossing well.

While the pasta is cooking, pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into the skillet and add onion, celery and broccoli, stirring frequently until they are almost crisp-tender. Stir in the bell pepper, asparagus, and 2 cloves of minced garlic, and cook several minutes until they are almost crisp-tender. Deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup vegetable broth and 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook 2 minutes until the liquid in reduced by half. Season the veggies with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Preheat a small skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and the shrimp, and cook until the bottoms turned pink, about 1 minute. Turn them over and cook 1-2 minutes more. Sprinkle the shrimp with Cajun seasoning and deglaze the pan with 3 tablespoons vegetable broth, stirring well to scrape cooking bits from the bottom of the pan. To serve, transfer the pasta to serving bowls, top with sautéed vegetables and the shrimp, along with juices from the pans. Garnish with freshly grated Romano cheese and enjoy a fabulous Friday meal. Scrumptious!

Cook’s Note: The shrimp may be sautéed with the vegetables, but for allergy reasons, I cook them separately.

-Christy

Valentine Greetings

Red Valentine hearts have been hanging in the bay window of my Swan’s Nest kitchen since the 1^st of February. It’s a tradition I carried with me to Colorado from our Dallas home – one established when our sons were little. I’m sure my neighbors still think I do it for the neighborhood kids, but truth-be-told, I hang those Valentine hearts in the window each year for ME.

You see, I have an almost-Valentine birthday, and when I was little, my mother would host a party at home for me each year. The table was draped with a white linen cloth and there were red Valentine hearts everywhere – in the windows next to the front door, on the party invitations, pasted to the ruffled, white crepe paper candy cups filled with red cinnamon hearts at each guest’s place, and incorporated into the centerpiece.

As Valentine’s Day approaches each year, I’m transported back to memories of those annual celebrations, and I can hardly wait to hang the hearts in my windows. No doubt, the thrill of those childhood parties contributed to why birthdays and special meals have always been huge in our family – so important that I have devoted my career to food and celebration. There’s nothing like walking into the kitchen a million times a day and smiling at the sight of those red hearts in the window. Such a simple thing, and yet they generate so much joy.

I’m smiling these days for another reason. Our new kitchen addition is almost complete. Last week, we filmed the installation of the new quartz countertops and several of the large appliances for a future episode of At Home with Christy Rost. Later in the week, our tile experts Sean and Ryan installed the travertine backsplash, and our plumber Robert hooked up the sinks, disposals, and exterior venting system to the cooktop’s downdraft. Next week, our good friend, Phil with Colorado Custom Wood Floors will begin installing the select-grade hickory wood floor over our in-floor heating system. I’m certain the kitchen will be transformed before my eyes as the floor goes down.

As snowflakes drift past my window, I’m headed to the kitchen to bake a batch of Valentine cookies to share with friends. This year, I’m baking them in Swan’s Nest’s “old kitchen”, but it won’t be long before I start cooking up a storm in the new one. May your Valentine’s Day be filled with hearts….

-Christy

A New Year - A New Kitchen

My husband, Randy and I left Swan’s Nest right after the holidays and flew to our home in Dallas to help move his mother and her husband into a retirement community. It was an intense, mini-version of “Extreme Home Makeover” as both families pitched in to pack, move, unpack, and create an elegant, comfortable home for Mom and Jim in their new apartment.

Now that we’ve returned to our beloved Swan’s Nest, Randy and I are involved in another sort of makeover – the completion of the “new” kitchen addition we built onto Swan’s Nest. Not many homes have two kitchens, and I’ll admit it does raise some eyebrows, but the beautifully-remodeled “old” kitchen was originally Ben Revett’s office in 1898, and its storage capacity is very limited – especially for a woman who makes her living from cooking. There’s no room for a breakfast room table – not even a tiny one – and the windows behind the island create a lighting issue each time we film there.

So, it was decided early in the restoration process that Swan’s Nest would have a large, new kitchen addition that would provide me room enough to cook, entertain, develop recipes, write cookbooks, and film television shows. This is my “dream kitchen” – the first in my life. I’ve always made do with whatever kitchen I inherited, so the thrill of having a kitchen of my own design is almost intoxicating.

We’re on a tight timeframe to complete the kitchen. There’s a magazine photo shoot scheduled for mid-March and there’s still much to be done before the photographer arrives. The framing, roof, windows, sheetrock, electrical, texturing, painting, and cabinetry installation are all complete. In the four days since we returned to Swan’s Nest, the major appliances were delivered, we picked up the terrazzo tile for the backsplash, we decided on how the terrazzo would be laid out, the select-grade hickory was delivered for the flooring, and Mike from Trimworks, one of our carpenters, adjusted the island to ensure it is level for the countertops.

Next week, our Colorado Springs countertop fabricators will produce our countertops using Zodiaq® “Space Black” by DuPont. I chose quartz because it’s durable, non-porous, it won’t stain, and it’s easy to care for. Monday February 1^st is a big day. The countertops will be delivered and installed, the KitchenAid appliances will be installed, and my production company will film the entire process for an upcoming episode of At Home with Christy Rost, a production for American Public Television.

By way of disclosure, I should mention that DuPont has contributed the Zodiaq® quartz material for our countertops, KitchenAid has contributed all of the major appliances, and Waypoint™ Living Spaces by American Woodmark has contributed the cabinetry for my television shows.

The New Year has taken off at a very quick pace, but it comes with a brand new kitchen, and our final major project in Swan’s Nest’s 3-year restoration process. I look forward to sharing the excitement with you.

Christy

The Christmas Tree Surprise

The Christmas rush is over and my family and I have settled down to enjoying a post-Christmas glow.  It's a gloriously clear, cold mountain morning -- a day filled with infinite possiblilities.  Randy and our older son, Timothy are planning a cross country ski excursion, while I run a few errands and enjoy some quiet "home time" near our tall, fragrant Christmas tree.

It's a funny tree.  It's been such a busy year with the launch of our Thanksgiving television special, Randy announced a couple of weeks before Christmas that he thought a smaller tree would be a good idea this year -- 7 or 8 feet tall instead of last year's 13-foot tree.  That was fine with me, as I pictured in my mind the "perfect" seven foot Christmas tree, decorated with lights and glistening ornaments.  The afternoon we hiked into Swan's Nest's forest, we got a later start than we had intended, and the sun was already dropping near the mountain peaks.  It was cold and there was a fresh layer of fluffy snow on the trees, and as Randy and I started up the hill, I was mindful that we needed to find a tree without wasting too much time, cut it down, and head back to the warmth of the house before darkness fell.

We went from tree to tree, taking note of a few, rejecting others, but always wondering what was a few feet higher up the mountain.  At last, we found it -- a tree with a straight trunk and full branches, perched on a fairly steep slope.  It looked to be about 8 feet tall, which was close enough to our targeted height.  A few photos later, I knelt in the snow with Randy's tree saw and set to work.  Before long, the tree was cut and we were headed back down the hill toward home.  It wasn't until we reached the front porch that we realized this tree was a bit longer than it looked on the side of the hill.  In fact, once we inserted the trunk into the tree stand, we realized it was actually about 12 feet tall.  Oops!  So much for good intentions.  And what was with the lower half of the tree that looked so full against our boots?  With the hillside's sharp angle, Randy and I had been level with the tree's top five feet, which was indeed very full, but the lower half could only be described as sparse.  We couldn't help but laugh at the "Charlie Brown" tree before us -- tall, straight, thick at the top, sparse at the bottom -- and whatever happened to the branches in the back?  Okay, so it isn't a tree  that will ever grace the cover of a magazine, but hey.....laughter during the Christmas season is a good thing.  Some lights and ornaments, and it will be beautiful.

I never did find all the ornaments this year.  I remember packing them carefully, wrapping each fragile glass swan in tissue paper before placing them in the boxes.  Countless trips to the upstairs storage room and up to the barn proved futile.  No doubt, I'll discover the box of swan ornaments months from now when searching for something else.  Somehow, their temporary loss seems appropriate for our surprise of a tree this year.  With fewer ornaments, its quirks remain easily visible, but the best part of this year's tree has been the joy we've found while gathering around it.  Our time together as a family has been rich and full, like the top five feet of our tree.  We'll laugh about this tree for years to come, but the sweet memories will last a lifetime.

The Launch Party

Our launch party this weekend to celebrate A Home for Christy Rost: Thanksgiving was an overwhelming success. The doorbell rang precisely at 5 o’clock when Angel and Curt, our dear friends, neighbors and organizers of this party arrived, and the remaining guests quickly followed. Hugs were exchanged, gifts were given, and everyone got down to the serious business of sipping wine, sampling cheeses, and getting acquainted, all while standing in the kitchen – naturally.

Most of my menu was prepared the day before or earlier in the day, so my main task as the party got underway was putting all the casserole dishes into the ovens – Italian Sausage Cornbread Dressing, Autumn Roasted Vegetables, Sweet Potato and Apple Gratin, Brown Rice with Apples, Dates and Raisins (I substituted dried cranberries this time), and Green Beans Amadine with Roasted Garlic. Oh, I almost forgot the succulent 20-pound turkey I roasted the day of the party!

I had intended to serve Three Cheese Macaroni for the kid in all of us, but ran out of time, so that recipe fell by the wayside. Yes, even the most experienced cooks run out of time on occasion, especially when this particular experienced cook is also the housekeeper and party decorator!

About an hour after folks arrived, and after plenty of cheese and beef sausage had been consumed and I had led tours of Swan’s Nest, the buffet dinner was served. Obviously, no one seemed to mind having turkey again so soon after Thanksgiving, as the 20-pound bird was nearly wiped out. Another big hit was the cornbread dressing, followed by the brown rice dish and the sweet potatoes. And then there were the green beans with all that roasted garlic, and….Okay, I guess the entire menu was a hands-down winner. There’s no doubt about it – these guests came to EAT!

Around 7:15pm, everyone reconvened two doors down at Angel and Curt’s lovely home for dessert and a screening of the show. Angel and Curt’s home was a beautiful holiday vision. In the dining room, a gorgeous selection of glazed fruit tarts awaited guests, as well as a Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake.

Once guests were served, I introduced some of the guests and told a little bit about them – Jon Clark, my A Home for Christy Rost director; Bill Tinker, owner of All-Electric and a featured character in the show; Sharon Bellina, the artist who restored and transformed Swan’s Nest’s woodwork; Mary Ellen Gilliland, a prolific author and Summit County historian who provided a historic perspective of Swan’s Nest in the show; Phil Stevens, who painstakingly restored our 111 year-old fir floors; Bud Wheeler, an expert in foam insulation; Tim Seeling, who crawled through Swan’s Nest’s every nook and cranny to document and create house plans before any construction began; JD Bidwell, the carpenter who installed all the new cabinetry in the “new” kitchen wing and designed and built closets in the master suite and a phenomenal new pantry in the kitchen addition, our dear friends and neighbors Al and Liz Wickert and Angel and Curt Caughey, who appeared in the show around our Thanksgiving table, and last but not least, my dear Randy, who did a masterful job in the show and as Swan’s Nest’s general contractor.

At last, it was on to the screening. Eleven guests settled themselves in the state-of-the-art theater Curt installed downstairs, while the remainder of us cozied up on sofas, leather chairs, and bar stools to watch the show upstairs. I handed out red and white striped cardboard popcorn boxes filled with homemade Hazelnut Caramel Popcorn, and the show began. There was hardly a sound from our guests as they absorbed every facet of the show – the holiday cooking and decorating segments, the bits of history provided by Mary Ellen, and the fascinating highlights of Swan’s Nest’s restoration. For many, this was the first time they saw themselves on film, and they didn’t want to miss an instant of their national television debut.

It was a memorable evening of celebration – one Randy and I will never forget – nor the kindness of Angel and Curt in making it possible. But there’s one more celebration I can’t wait to share with you….An elegant launch party held a couple of weeks ago in Dallas, Texas. Please check back to read about the kindness of my Dallas friends that resulted in another wondrous celebration.

-Christy