In the Kitchen With the McColls

All Aboard: Sarah McColl, left, and sister Katy McColl Lukens.

SARAH MCCOLL AND Katy McColl Lukens are media mavens, design junkies and fantastic cooks, all in one lovely, red-headed sisterly package.  We asked them to share some fave holiday recipes, along with some details about their cooking—together, and apart.

Sarah (left) is a Senior Editor for a network of Condé Nast blogs and author of her own blog, Pink of Perfection (touted on The New York Times site Dec. 12). She lives in Brooklyn. Katy is Executive Editor at Country Living magazine and lives in Princeton, New Jersey, where she restores junk furniture and invents cocktails.

Katie invents with what's on hand.

The McColl sisters were raised in Dallas, Texas, “on chips and salsa, chile con queso, and frito salad,” the story as they tell it goes. By her late teens, Katy could make stellar meals out of any odds and ends in the fridge. (“Caulifower, crushed red pepper, and heavy cream? Done.”)

Sarah preps with Katy at work behind.

Sarah made it through the trauma of high school by baking zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookies, and inviting her history teacher to her first dinner party. (“Awkward!”)  She is still baking, from brownies to bouche de Noel. Today, Katy calls Sarah’s apartment her favorite restaurant.

After college, Sarah moved to New York and in with Katy, which led to many nights of burrito-eating and Alias-watching. Then Katy got married, moved out, and Sarah mourned her sister as if she were dead.

There was no need for such dramatics, of course: They saw much more of each hanging out together in Katy’s wee Hell’s Kitchen apartment, making guacamole and drinking (Katy should be a mixologist in her next life). Even now, their mutual favorite evening is “sinking into a comfortable piece of furniture together, sipping something, and nibbling things (preferably with dips and sauces), and getting to talk as if the night has no end,” Sarah says. At this festive holiday season, brie with cranberries on wholemeal crackers will do (below, with recipes for it and another McColl favorite, chicken-liver pate, at bottom of the page).

Brie with cranberries, served on wholemeal crackers.

THE TSP INTERVIEW WITH THE MCCOLL SISTERS

Q. “You know you’re a sister when…”

A. SM: “…there’s no one you’d rather do just about anything with. I think Katy knows the most honest version of me—the best and the worst of it—and we still have more fun together than is fair.”

KML: “…you can complete each other’s sentences? Kidding!…it’s like having a low-maintenance best friend.”

Q. Best of/worst of experiences with your sister?

A. SM: “One of the best experiences with Katy was traveling through France together. We drank an astonishing amount of champagne, ate a ludicrous amount of foie gras, and we couldn’t stop laughing (maybe it was all the champagne). I felt so beautiful, so alive, so loved. It was really the perfect sister trip, and I think when my interest in food really started to take shape in a more serious way.

“The worst was…probably the entire time Katy was in high school and I was a pre-pubescent pipsqueak.”

Katy recalls a lost weekend in Paris.

KML: “Our lost weekend in Paris where our mom had given us cash in an envelope to blow on a great meal. Sarah had been studying in Florence, and I was overworked in New York. She took an overnight train, I took an overnight flight, and we met for a reunion lunch with champagne and oysters…a lunch that lasted all afternoon long.

“Worst: Anytime I think my sister is disappointed in me.”

Q. Are there specific cultural (pop, or highbrow) references that make you think of your sister?

A. SM: “Oh my gosh, we have an entire language of references that only we ‘get,’ and most of them are embarrassingly low brow: Big Business, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Mary Poppins (specifically saying, ‘Rrrrrum punch’ when something is delicious), The Parent Trap (‘I shahn’t tell my auhnt about the auh—ants, nor the debutantes, shall I?’), Six Degrees of Separation (‘chaos, control, chaos, control’)…

Sarah: Jobim, REM also shared loves.

“Katy spent what seemed like an entire summer listening to You Can Leave Your Hat On (don’t ask), while I was trying to master Left Eye’s rap in Waterfalls. Katy is fond of saying she only likes songs she already knows the words to, and I’m more interested in seeking out new music. But we both have an irrepressible love for Antonio Carlos Jobim and REM.

“Synchronized swimming, tap dancing, and steel drums all make me think of Katy.”

Q. What does the word ‘sister’ mean to you?

A. SM: “Sister means…being related to your role model, who is also your best friend.”

KML: “The same DNA in different proportions.”

SM: “Katy’s answer is better.”

Q. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from your sister?

A. SM: “Make an entrance. Know what you’re worth and don’t take less. Wear lipstick. Don’t let your fear stop you. Believe that you’re beautiful. Lillet on the rocks and a hot bath cures all. Presentation counts (and glitter never hurts!).”

KML: “The art of simple pleasures. And also….personal style and how to accessorize.”

BRIE WITH CRANBERRIES
Wedge of brie (any size) brought to room temperature
Bag of frozen cranberries

An easy, festive appetizer.

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1 Tablespoon butter
In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add frozen cranberries. Cook over medium heat until cranberries defrost and are starting to break down. Sprinkle with minced rosemary,  stir to combine, and pour cranberries over the brie. Pairs well with wholemeal biscuits or good crusty bread.

CHICKEN-LIVER PATE
15 Tablespoons (1 7/8 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 pound chicken livers, rinsed and drained
1/2 pound white mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup chopped shallots
3 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Mushrooms, livers and butter for pate.

1. In a large skillet, melt 3 Tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add livers, mushrooms, shallots, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until livers are no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt, wine, and thyme. Reduce heat to low and cover. Continue to cook until mushrooms are very soft, about 10 minutes more. Let mixture cool.
2. Once the mixture has cooled, transfer to the bowl of a food processor and add in remaining 12 Tablespoons butter. Process until smooth. Stir in an additional 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste.
3. Pour mixture into a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap if you’d like to serve the pate sliced, or a souffle dish or large ramekin if you’d prefer to have people dig in and spread the pate, family-style. Chill in refrigerator until firm with plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming.

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The Pink of Perfection blog has many more easy, delicious recipes by Sarah and also by Katy, the occasional guest correspondent, along with other tips on various subjects that you’d expect from “A Thrifty Girl’s Guide to La Dolce Vita” (as its subtitle reads). Earlier in 2008, Sarah published an interview with Margaret Roach, a founding sister in the TSP network. Her fantastic Spicy, Sweet and Salty Rosemary Nuts were in Bon Appetit this holiday season.

(TSP’s curator of gallery shows like this one is Paige Smith Orloff, one of our founding sisters. Learn more about Paige on her blog, “Hey, Little Sister.”)

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