Sweet Vinegar

Pineapple Bread Pudding

2012-01-10T23:56:00.006-05:00

I love pineapples. Quite a bit of my early teens was spent sitting on our front steps scooping pineapple rings out of a can with a fork and eating them, while my friend Robin and I watched cars go by. We lived in a small suburb... watching cars go by was a way to pass the endless amount of time that summer seemed to be, since we couldn't go to the beach until the weekend.

Unlike big hair, Wham!, and acid-washed jeans, my love of pineapple has stood the test of time. It is quite versatile, but one of my favorite ways to eat it has to be sliced into huge, watermelon-like wedges, or tucked into this bread pudding. My kids love this for breakfast the next day, but I love it when it is still barely warm.

Pineapple bread pudding

2/3 cup granulated sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

4 eggs

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, in its own juice, drained

6 slices white or wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed, diced into 1/2 inch cubes

2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F; butter an 8x8 pan; set aside.

Cream the butter and granulated sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Add salt and stir until well blended. Add pineapple, stir until mixed thoroughly, then stir in bread cubes. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Small-Batch Red Currant Apple Jelly

2012-01-08T20:37:00.007-05:00

Since I moved to the wild tropics (also known as Florida), I'm a bit thrown back at the endless summery season here. The great bonus, of course, is the abundance of local fruit and veg all year around.

I happened upon a couple of half-pints of red currants on offer at my local grocery store. I snatched them up and headed home to make the tart, versatile jelly that I love so much. Slather it on toast, croissants, or mix it with a bit of Dijon mustard and glaze some chicken breasts with it.

You'll find that the measurements don't require a certain amount of currants, but as long as you have at least a cupful, you can make enough of this ruby red jelly to last you for a week or so. This recipe doesn't require any additional pectin, it will softly gel thanks to the apple. The jelly is unprocessed, and is unsuitable for long-term storage.

Small-Batch Red Currant Apple Jelly

1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled and grated
minimum 1 cup red currants, stems removed
1/3 cup water
granulated sugar
cheesecloth

Prepare several layers of cheesecloth in a sieve, and place it over a liquid measuring cup In a nonreactive pan, heat the water, apple, and currants until it comes to a simmer. Gently crush the berries with a spatula or a spoon to encourage them to release their juices. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and scrape into the cheesecloth-prepared sieve. Allow to drain. Resist the urge to press the solids into the cheesecloth; this will result in cloudy jelly. If cloudy jelly doesn't bother you, of course, go right ahead and squeeze the last essence from the simmered fruit.

Measure the liquid. Wash out the nonreactive pan, and pour the liquid back into the pan. Add the same measure of sugar as there is liquid to the pan. I had a little under 3/4 of a cup, and added enough water to bring it to 3/4 cup. Have a couple of clean heat-safe glass containers (I use Pyrex 6 oz. custard cups, but feel free to use a proper canning jar). Heat the juice and sugar to a rolling boil, stirring. Keep an eye on it, as it does have a tendency to boil over. Once the mixture boils, time 5 minutes for a batch under 2 cups of liquid, and 10 minutes for a batch over 2 cups of liquid. Pour hot liquid into the glass jars, and allow to cool to room temperature. Cover and store in the refrigerator. Eat within a couple of weeks, if you can manage to make it last that long.

Pudding, two ways

2011-05-15T13:43:00.003-04:00

I have a thing for pudding. It is comforting and creamy and delicious. I grew up with pudding out of a box, and never really had anything outside of it. Of course, I preferred the cooked over the instant, which I find has an odd, gritty, fake flavor about it.

The first homemade pudding I had was made by MB, my college roommate, in the tiny galley kitchen of the apartment we rented. Little did I know, MB was about to change my view of pudding forever. There were eggs in her pudding, which apparently is more of a cooked custard, but it was lush and silky and delicious. I loved the stuff. I also had no idea how to make it. Since the hallmark of the starving college student is a lack of cashflow, I wasn't about to waste precious quantities of milk on the chance that I'd make chocolate scrambled eggs.

It wasn't until I was searching for a from-scratch recipe for banana pudding that I came across something that resembled MB's recipe ingredients, which she refused to share. I tweaked it and whatnot, and came up with the silky glorious result that will follow your constant stirring.

The uses of pudding are nearly endless. Use it to drench torn layers of pound cake topped with berries (for the vanilla) or dribbles of salted caramel (for the chocolate). Tuck it into the soft folds of a baked meringue. Put it into the ice cream maker after it cools for a dense, frozen custard. Or, do what I'm doing today; sit by the fire with a still-warm bowl of pudding on a chilly, rainy sort of day.

The Pudding

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup sugar for vanilla, or 1/3 cup sugar for chocolate

2 large eggs

1/4 plus 2 tsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

In a 2-qt, heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk sugar and eggs together until well blended. Add flour, and whisk until no visible lumps remain. Slowly add the milk until all is incorporated. Turn the heat to medium, and whisking constantly, stir the pudding mixture until it is thickened and coats the whisk, about 5 minutes. As the mixture begins to thicken, turn the heat to low. It is important to stir the pudding mixture the entire time, or else it will begin to curdle on the bottom of the pan, and will result in a grainy texture. Once the pudding coats the tines of the whisk, turn off and remove from heat. Add vanilla. Add chocolate, if desired, and whisk until all of the chocolate is melted. Pour into a heat-safe bowl and lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.

Of Poison and Delight...

2010-05-20T19:58:00.011-04:00

There's just something about rhubarb that is delightfully forbidden. After all, the oxalic acid in the leaves is toxic (and to some extent,also found in minute quantities in the stalks).

That said, I love the stuff. My brother and I used to dip raw stalks in sugar and crunch on them like celery sticks. Most people mix rhubarb with strawberries and hide the whole lot inside of a pie.

Not me. Rhubarb is for jam. Open some of the stuff in the dead of winter, close your eyes, and you can feel spring creeping in. I generally don't like traditional rhubarb jam recipes because they all have an abundance of strawberries in them.. or... heaven forbid--Jell-O.

Jell-O does NOT belong in jam, in my opinion.

I do throw a few strawberries in to give the jam some depth of flavor and a hint of sweet fruit... but for the most part, this jam is *pow!* sweet-tart delicious goodness.

If you've never grown rhubarb before, I would highly suggest dropping $6 or so at your local garden center for a gallon-sized potted plant. Hide it in the corner of a garden, and you'll be rewarded with an abundance of the first fruit to ripen in the next spring (okay, it's a stalk, but I'm calling it a fruit.) You should divide it every 3-5 years or so, and relocate the entire plant every 6 years. Always cut it before it sends up a seed stalk (if it does, do not harvest).

Rhubarb Jam
10 cups rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar
zest of one navel orange (a small one)
juice of above orange
1 1/4 cup strawberries, chopped into small pieces (about 10 large strawberries)
one envelope of liquid pectin (such as Certo brand)

Combine rhubarb, sugar, orange zest and juice in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set inside refrigerator for 12 hours. Start water bath and add canning jars, lids, and rings to boiling water to sterlize. Strain the rhubarb mixture into a heavy stockpot, pressing on the rhubarb to extract all of the liquids. Set rhubarb aside. If any sugar remains in the bowl, scrape it out with a rubber spatula and add to the liquid in the pan. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and allow to reduce in volume by half, making sure that the mixture does not burn. Add strawberries and reserved rhubarb. Cook until rhubarb is tender and breaking down; about 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, put a small ceramic plate into the freezer. Add Certo to the jam pot, bring mixture back to a boil, and stir for one minute. Turn heat off. Take plate from freezer and drop about a tablespoon of jam onto it. Wait 30 seconds and tilt the plate then run a finger through the jam, it should leave a clean trail. The jam should not be liquid enough to fill the space where your finger went through. If it is not done, boil for another minute. It does thicken and set when it is completely cooled, but in the case that your finished product is too liquid, it makes a great topping for waffles, pancakes, and ice cream. Fill sterilized jars with jam, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe off the rims of the jars using a cloth dipped in hot water. Place lids on the jars, and screw rings onto the jars, but do not tighten completely (you want them on firmly, but not so that air cannot escape from the jars when you process them). Return filled and sealed jars to the hot water bath and boil (process) for 10 minutes. Remove from water and allow to cool completely overnight. Yield: 8-10 half pint jars.

Any remaining jam should be refrigerated if it lasts that long.

Ricotta Cheese in the Microwave.

2010-04-25T22:50:00.003-04:00

I made my own ricotta cheese tonight, and let me tell you, it was so simple that I cannot believe that I haven't been making it all along. If you have a microwave-safe bowl that can fit about a quart of liquid, either some cheesecloth (which you can find in larger grocery stores in whatever isle they're hiding "gadgets" and the like) or a fine sieve, you can make it too.

How to go about it:

1 large microwave safe bowl. I use a Pyrex 3 quart glass bowl.
several layers of cheesecloth set into a colander OR a fine-mesh sieve
1 quart of whole milk
1 fresh lemon (bottled lemon juice is not going to work in this), juiced.
1/4 tsp salt (or 3/4 tsp salt, for ricotta salata, which follows)

Pour milk into bowl.
Put the bowl into a microwave. I tested my time on a 1000-watt microwave, so your time may be more or less depending on the power of yours. Set time for 3 and a half minutes. When time is up, stir milk. Microwave for another minute. Stir. Microwave for 45 seconds. Test the temperature. The milk should NOT be boiling or simmering. It should just be hot with steam rising off of the surface. Remove bowl from microwave carefully.
Stir salt into the milk.
Stir 2 Tbsp lemon juice into the milk, stir gently for a moment, then let the mixture sit undisturbed for 30 minutes.

The curds should separate from the whey... this generally looks like little white chunks (curds) in a clearish yellow liquid (that's whey). Strain the mixture into the sieve or cheesecloth until all of the liquid is drained out. If you're using cheesecloth, you can gather up the ends and give the cheese a gentle squeeze to drain it.**

Put your cheese into an airtight container and use it within the week. Yield: about 1 cup of cheese.

**If you want to make ricotta salata... which is salted ricotta that has a firm texture, the cheesecloth method will be the best method for this. Follow all of the above steps, but gather the ends of the cheesecloth and gather them over the cheese. Place the colander into a larger bowl. Top the cheeseclothed cheese with a plate, then weigh it down with some cans. Place in the refrigerator for 2 days. Serve cheese with crusty bread and sliced fresh fruit (figs are amazing with this).

Butterscotch Blast Cookies

2009-08-19T12:29:00.004-04:00

The whole whirlwind of getting things ready for school also includes making cookie dough and cookie mixes so that when the kids need either something in their lunchbox or an afterschool snack... I'm at the ready. This particular recipe can also be put into quart-sized jars and given as gifts, with instructions to add the butter, egg, and vanilla. I usually just blend the dry ingredients, pop it in a freezer bag, and leave them in the freezer until I need them. One can also mix the wet ingredients in and freeze the dough. Either way, this makes a dozen and a half 2 inch cookies.

Butterscotch Blast Cookies

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup english toffee baking bits (such as Heath Bits-o-Brickle)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*F. Blend flour, salt, soda together in a bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg, and blend to combine. Add vanilla. Add the flour mixture slowly, until well mixed. Stir in oats, pecans, chips, and toffee bits. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drop by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool on the baking sheet for one minute longer. Makes 18 cookies.

For Gift Jar instructions: Mix 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract together. Add dry ingredients and stir until well combined. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drop by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool on the baking sheet for one minute longer. Makes 18 cookies.

Huevos Mom-cheros

2009-08-17T08:46:00.003-04:00

Since there is no possible way to make huevos mom-cheros look appetizing on film, I am not posting a photo with this one. Just make it. Trust me... it's a fantastic (albeit healthy) way to start the day. And its quick. Really quick.

Huevos Mom-cheros

4 egg whites
1/2 cup salsa
2 Tbsp. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 Haas avocado, diced

In a microwave-safe bowl, cook the egg whites in the microwave (I use 1000 watt) on high for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Remove from microwave; caution, bowl may be hot. Sprinkle cheese on the eggs and top with the remaining ingredients. Serves one.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

2009-02-01T22:45:00.009-05:00

I really like lemons. Zesting a lemon is by far, one of the most fragrant experiences you can have, in my opinion. Nothing smells quite as alive as a lemon. Lemons clear your head, shooing away the fog of the day.

This loaf is my version of Dorie Greenspan's Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze which appeared in the February 2005 issue of Bon Appetit. I usually have a slice with a cup of tea in the middle of the night after the kids have long been asleep. It both relaxes and recharges me, and if you think that is a juxtaposition of sorts, just try it and you'll know what I mean.

Lemon Yogurt Loaf

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup fat-free Greek style yogurt (or regular fat free yogurt if Greek isn't available)
1 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp (packed) finely grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened, for greasing the loaf pan

For Glaze:
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 lemon (with peel), sliced extremely thinly, seeded, and chopped

Preheat oven to 350*F.
Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch nonstick loaf pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir the flour and baking powder together with a fork. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon extract, lemon peel, and vanilla; whisk until well blended. Add all of the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture and whisk until combined and there are only smallish lumps. Whisk in oil until combined and no lumps appear. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.

While loaf is baking, place glaze ingredients in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat over medium low heat until mixture starts to bubble. Gently swirl pan until all of the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for an additional 3 minutes, or until the lemon peel becomes translucent. Turn heat off and set aside.

When the loaf is finished baking, allow to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Place loaf right side up on cooling rack, and set rack over a piece of aluminum foil or back over the empty loaf pan. Using a toothpick, bamboo skewer, or a fork; pierce the top of the loaf every half inch or so. Spoon glaze and lemon peel over the loaf slowly, covering the entire top of the loaf. Let cool completely before slicing.

I promise you that I'm still cooking. Really.

2009-01-28T22:42:00.003-05:00

Fava Bean & Greens Soup with Ciabatta Croutons

2008-07-02T11:50:00.006-04:00

In the summertime, I tend to flit about like the ants in the proverb of the ants and the grasshopper, making sure that I have enough "put up" for winter. These past few weeks I've been canning jam (strawberry, triple berry, banana-rum, and today, sour cherry.) Tomorrow, I'll be making mulberry jelly, which is a new recipe, since I came across a glut of mulberries yesterday at the cherry picking farm.

This soup is easily created from a few pantry items, some spring greens, and some mushrooms. The ciabatta croutons add a nice crunch to the soup, should you feel you need a bit more substance. Dried fava beans can be found in larger grocery stores with the dry beans, or by mail order. Feel free to substitute cannellini beans or white kidney beans, just don't worry about peeling them first.

Fava Bean & Greens Soup

1 lb dry fava beans, picked through and rinsed, soaked overnight, and peeled

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1/4 cup finely minced carrot

1/4 cup finely minced celery

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary, divided

2 Tbsp. minced fresh sage, divided

1 tsp. each salt and ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 cup diced shiitake mushroom

32 oz vegetable or chicken stock

32 oz water

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 cups chopped swiss chard, collard greens, beet greens,or turnip greens, main stem removed

Garnish: Ciabatta croutons, recipe follows

In a 6-qt stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until onion is translucent; about 5 minutes. Add garlic and 1 Tbsp each of the rosemary and sage, and 1 tsp each of the salt and pepper. Saute until the garlic is fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add shiitake mushrooms and turn heat to medium-high. Saute the mixture until the mushrooms start to brown; about 5 minutes. Add stock, water, and beans to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender and begin to fall apart. Turn off heat and allow soup to cool to room temperature.

Using a blender, puree the soup until a smooth consistency is achieved. Return soup to pot and bring to just boiing. Add greens, remaining rosemary and sage, and stir to combine. Cook until greens are tender; about 5 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: About four 2 1/2 cup servings

Ciabatta Croutons

Ciabatta bread, about three slices, each one-inch thick

2 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, sliced in half

Preheat oven to 400*F. Rub the slices of bread with the garlic. Slice the bread into one inch cubes to yield 2 cups or so. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and cheese, tossing to coat. Bake cubes for 15 minutes, or until well toasted. Yield: Four 1/2 cup servings

Agave Glazed Shrimp

2008-07-02T11:33:00.005-04:00

This is my go-to recipe when I have about 10 minutes to whip something together. It is the ultimate quick & dirty dinner. If you cannot find agave nectar (which hides around the sugar section natural food department around these parts), you can substitute Lyle's Golden Syrup. This is really great on top of some buttery cheddar grits mixed in with some fresh corn scraped off of the cob.

1 lb. raw jumbo (21-26) shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp. canola oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. sliced green onion/scallion, light green parts only

Sprinkle the shrimp with cayenne, salt, and pepper. In a heavy-bottomed saute pan, heat the oil on high heat until hot, but not smoking. Add shrimp and cook about 1 minute on each side, until shrimp are opaque. Drizzle the agave nectar over the shrimp and toss the shrimp until it is evenly coated. Remove from heat and sprinkle with scallion. Serve immediately.

Quick & Dirty Dinners: Taco Casserole

2008-04-30T10:50:00.002-04:00

Last night was a Quick & Dirty night. Easy to throw together and filling, this will pretty much cancel any plans for take-out mexican food. It's a big hit with the kids too. A simple salad with ranch dressing rounds this out if you don't feel like throwing some chopped lettuce and ranch dressing on top and acting like a heathen.

Taco Casserole

1 lb lean ground beef, cooked and drained.
1 10 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes, drained (such as Muir Glen) or 1 can of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with green chiles (if you want it spicy)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 10 oz can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese condensed soup
1 envelope reduced-sodium taco seasoning (such as Old El Paso)
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 8-ounce bag shredded sharp cheddar cheese
12 corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Serving suggestion:
shredded lettuce, black olives, sliced spring (green) onion, ranch salad dressing

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix the ground beef, tomatoes, sauce, soup, sour cream and seasoning together until well-blended. Simmer for 5 minutes. Spray a 11 x 7 casserole dish with cooking spray (or a 2-qt oval casserole dish) and place about 1/3 of the tortillas in a single layer. Top with 1/2 of the meat mixture, and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat tortilla layer, top with 1/2 meat, 1/3 cheese, top with tortillas and remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes until heated through and bubbling, and top layer of cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Top with lettuce, olives, onion, and dressing.

Samosa Pot Pie

2008-04-30T10:29:00.005-04:00

The filling for this is best made the day before, only because the flavors really have time to meld and intensify. The pastry throws you for a loop at first, as it is the most impossible stuff to work with, but trust me... it will be smooth and lovely when you let it stand for a bit. This is my quintessential potluck recipe. If you're pressed for time, you can always use a refrigerated pie crust (such as Pillsbury) but this one really is easier than it sounds.

Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. canola oil
6 Tbsp. water

Filling:

6 medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes, boiled in their skins and cooled.
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 bag of frozen peas (about 2 cups)
1 minced hot chili pepper (I use a red jalapeno), ribs and seeds removed, optional
1/2 tsp ground ginger, or 1 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp garam masala
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice

For serving:
1-2 cups of chutney, preferably tamarind (Naturally India makes a great jarred chutney) or McQuade's Fig & Ginger Chutney

Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch dice. Heat the oil in a large, oven-proof saute pan over med-high heat (or a large saute pan, but plan on transferring the mixture to a 13x9 inch pan to bake in the oven.) When hot, but not smoking, add the onion and saute until onion is translucent and browning at edges. Add the peas, ginger, cilantro, and water. Cover, lower heat, and simmer until peas are cooked. Stir every minute or so and add more water if it seems to dry out. Add the potatoes, salt, coriander, garam masala, cumin, cayenne, and lemon/lime juice. Stir to mix. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Taste, and adjust salt and lemon/lime juice. Remove from heat and let cool before putting it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

For the pastry: Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the oil, and rub the flour mixture between your fingers (like you're rubbing cold hands together) until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix with your hands until you can form a very stiff ball. It doesn't hold toether at first, so do not add more water to it, just keep at it. Empty the ball onto a clean work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it is nearly smooth (well, smooth for a very stiff ball. It is still not going to hold together very well.) Form a ball and place it in a zip-top bag with a few drops of oil (about 1/2 tsp) making sure to coat the ball with the oil. Let stand for 30 minutes or longer at room temperature. The dough will soften as it rests. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness to cover whichever sized pan you're using.

Preheat oven to 400*F. Cover filling mixture with dough, cutting a vent in the middle. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until pastry is dark golden brown and filling is hot. Serve hot, or at room temperature with chutney.

Not Quite

2008-04-30T10:21:00.003-04:00

So, no, we're not quite over the pox on our house (I'm seriously considering taking out stock in Kleenex.) I didn't even make Samosa Pot Pie, but I will post the recipe today, come hell or high water.

Recouperated

2008-04-26T19:29:00.003-04:00

After what seemed like a nonstop cycle of everyone in our family being horrendously ill (you name it, we had it).

I'm going to make Samosa Pot Pie tomorrow, as I received a jar of Fig & Ginger Chutney from McQuade's Celtic Chutneys. It is chock full of good stuff, with nice juicy chunks of fruit and it smells heavenly. I made Turkish Lamb Burgers last night (from the latest issue of Eating Well Magazine) and I put a dollop of chutney on one of my burgers, as I was out of the yogurt topping. Well, it was better than any commerical chutney I've had. It really was a homemade experience with crisp chunks of apple, chewy raisins, spicy ginger, and lovely chunks and strips of fig. Half of the jar is now gone, but I did make sure to reserve enough for Samosa Pot Pie. If it's too hot for SPP, I'm going to wrap the potatoes and peas in tortillas instead of baking it in the oven. Either way, recipe tomorrow.

Reminder

2008-04-01T22:22:00.003-04:00

I think it is fair to say that most people don't "put up" summer produce anymore. My great-grandmother used to walk for miles in a rural part of southern Italy to forage for wild foods like truffles and other mushrooms, sometimes walking over 15 miles, roundtrip. She had a dry, cool space in her house where she kept these culinary treasures, and would preserve them carefully so that all winter long she would be able to make delicious foods that no one else in the neighborhood had during that season.

Now, it is a great production to venture to a pick-your-own or to get to the farmer's market (to think, there's lately been a "status" about going to the farmer's market which I will blame solely on Martha Stewart and those photographers of hers.) That said, my yard this year and next will be in complete upheaval as we prepare to remove the old garage base and put in a fence. This year, most of the gardening will be done in containers, and at my mother's house (who very generously asked if we would like one of her three garden plots which we jumped at the chance to get.) We will drive 30 minutes to plant, sow, weed, and eventually reap the harvest.

Last summer, I had the good fortune to come upon a glut of gorgeous, perfect peaches; some of which I made into Vanilla Peach Preserves, and the small remainder, into frozen peach pie filling. I like to thicken my pies with tapioca starch, as it allows the clear, bright flavor of the peaches to really come through. I pour it into cling-film-lined pans until frozen solid, then take them out and vacuum seal the frozen brick. Every now and again, I pull one out and cover it with either a crumble topping, biscuit topping, or a roughly-made pie crust, usually torn into pieces for peach pandowdy.

Tonight was a pandowdy night. I like to drizzle it with a tiny bit of cream when it is still warm from the oven. The taste alone screams summer. Loudly. In your ear via your tastebuds.

Hedonism

2008-03-19T14:50:00.005-04:00

I have a slight obsession with making sure there is dessert after dinner at least once a week. Growing up, dessert after dinner was pretty much a birthday thing. If it wasn't someone's birthday, there was no dessert. That is just not how Italian households *do* dinner. I envied my friends for having American moms who would, after having the table cleared, pull out a pie, cake, or cookies. They had moms that baked. On the other hand, my friends' moms didn't know the first thing about homemade soprassata with a good loaf of crackling bread and some fresh figs, so there was the tradeoff.

Because nearly every meal in this house is made by me, dessert is usually something that can quickly be thrown together. Sometimes it is a bowl of freshly sliced peaches with a dollop of whipped cream and a crumbled gingersnap on top. Sometimes it is something gloriously rich, like chocolate mocha syrup cake, which makes its own sauce by some small chemical miracle. I have seen recipes that call something like this "pudding" cake, but the resulting product isn't pudding by any means (meaning custard. It is pudding in all sense of the British meaning, though.) The basic premise of the recipe is that you make a thick batter, pour a hot liquid on the top, bake it, and it magically becomes something altogether sinful. I will warn you that a tiny bit goes a very long way. You will also need something to cut the richness of this dessert, like a scoop of vanilla ice cream or very, very lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Chocolate Mocha Syrup Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/3 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I like the acidic bite of the regular reddish cocoa)

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter (half of a stick)

1 oz square unsweetened chocolate, chopped finely

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups strong coffee (I just use whatever is left over from that morning's pot of coffee.)

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375*F

In a small saucepan, or in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt, cocoa, and baking powder together. Add milk, vanilla, and butter/chocolate mixture, stirring until smooth. Set aside.

Combine remaining sugar and coffee in a small saucepan. Simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spray a 10-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and spread the batter into the pan evenly. Slowly pour the coffee mixture over the batter - DO NOT STIR - and carefully place the pan into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Spoon servings making sure to get a bit of the syrup with every serving. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream (below) or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Whipped cream:

Using a mixer, beat the cream with the powdered sugar until firm peaks form.

Cold Comfort Farm... Redux

2008-03-15T15:12:00.004-04:00

I am much too anxious for the arrival of spring. I want to turn my heat off, open the windows, and banish the stale winter air out of my home. I want to scrub everything and paint other things, wash windows, prep the flower beds, and just *do* things outside.

Alas, it is not to happen, as the forcast for tonight is snow. I saw a robin and a mourning dove today, so spring cannot be to terribly far away. I'm tired of being chilled to the bone.

Marie, a glorious woman in England, created a dish that looks to be quite delicious, with a lovely salmon cream sauce and cheesy biscuits baked on top. Find it Here.

(after dinner) Well, I can certainly tell you that while this was cooking, we couldn't wait to sit down to eat. I used buttermilk in the biscuits rather than regular milk, because I like the tender crumb that the resulting biscuit has. The olives had me a bit skeptical, but I'm so glad I put them in there. I chopped them extremely fine and it provided a lovely salty depth of flavor that didn't scream "OLIVE!". The salmon cream mixture reduced a bit too much, mostly because I had children climbing up my leg while I was cooking. I think the next go-round I'll increase the amount of milk by a cup and use a third cup of flour. This was lovely and delicious, and my husband, who doesn't really care for fish or peppers ate it all. Thanks Marie!

Impatient

2008-03-14T15:08:00.006-04:00

I cannot wait for spring to arrive. Each year in this area, spring is hailed with the arrival of wild leeks, also known as ramps. They grow in the woods, and I make the trek onto state forest grounds to search for the bright kelly green oval leaves peeking through the leaf litter. They're not like the thick, round leeks at the store; they are much more delicately structured than that. These require digging and careful separation of dirt from plant. The roots are usually in a tangle, and if you're not careful, you'll snap the tender bulb, leaving it in the dirt (which is okay, since another leek will just grow there next year.) The bulb is pungent, and the leaves have a delicate onion/chive flavor that are fantastic strewn upon potatoes O'Brien.

In these parts, one can usually find a ham & leek dinner, where the leeks are usually steamed whole and eaten as "greens", sometimes with butter and a splash of malt vinegar. I much prefer to clean them, separate the greens from the whites, and use the greens in cream sauces or as one would use chives. The sharp bulbs, in my opinion, are best when roasted, which allows their sweetness to shine through the strong flavor. The caramelization also gives them great depth of flavor, and are wonderful pureed and added to a simple carbonara sauce, or anywhere you'd use roasted garlic.

I suppose leeks wouldn't be as prized as they are if they were easy to gather. The next few weeks, we'll drive into the woods and look for signs of leek growth. We'll wait until the signs start going up at local churches, advertising leek dinners, and we'll hike onto our "secret" hillside, enjoy the sounds of the creek as the water meanders through the rocks, and we'll forage for our green gold.

That's our sign that winter is officially over.

Hot & Wild Leek Dip

1/2 cup wild leeks (ramps) cleaned and chopped roughly (if you cannot get wild leeks, use scallions/green onions, but use 3/4 cup)

16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature, cut into cubes

3 tsp cayenne pepper sauce, we like Frank's Red Hot

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp crumbled bacon, cooked crisp

Preheat oven to 375*F. In a food processor, process the ramps until they are well-chopped. Add the cream cheese, cheddar, and cayenne until well-blended. Transfer mixture to an 8" baking pan sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle with bacon pieces. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and heated through. Serve with crackers.

The dregs of February

2008-02-25T10:31:00.003-05:00

I'm not a big fan of being cold. While I do enjoy a Fall day when the air is crisp and I need to wear something under a sweater, the bone-chilling, bitter cold of a western Pennsylvania February has me craving something hot and steamy.

A blog-favorite of mine posted her recipe for Sweet Potato and Molasses Beef Stew on her website, but, of course, I changed it to suit my fancy. The recipe directions she includes are excellent. I leave out the celery, the carrots, and the white potato and double (or triple) the amount of sweet potatoes. I also doubled the amount of molasses, because although I did not want a pronounced molasses flavor, I did want to be able to taste a hint of it. The last thing I did was make a small amount of butter and flour roux, which I cooked to a deep brown (about 10-12 min; 3 Tbsp butter, 1/4 cup flour.) It added another depth of flavor and thickened this up in a most fantastic way. Due to the wee littles, I like stews to be rather thick; less dribbling down shirts is a good thing.

This is hearty and delicious and something that makes the bleak and icy landscape a bit more tolerable. I highly recommend that you make it.

Oh, as an aside, do be sure to try her Salmon Noodle Casserole. It has become a family favorite 'round these parts.

Five Spice Crispychews

2007-12-10T15:09:00.000-05:00

I'm relatively obsessed with five spice. I have a tendency to use it in anything that calls for- or looks like it may call for- cinnamon. Don't get me wrong, cinnamon has its place. Heck, five spice has cinnamon in it. But, when you compare five spice to cinnamon... cinnamon shows up as a dowdy, quiet cousin who comes to visit from Iowa or Kansas and no, doesn't want to go out clubbing with you and your friends. Cinnamon wants to say home and do economics homework.

Five Spice Crispychews are the sophisticated version of a molasses cookie recipe I had. While the traditional molasses cookie is a bit up front in spiciness, Five Spice Crispychews flirt with you from across the room.

Five Spice Crispychews

1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco (I don't recommend substituting)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses (not blackstrap)

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp Five Spice powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup demarara sugar (or granulated sugar) for decoration

Cream the Crisco, butter, and sugars together until very well combined. Add egg and mix well. Add molasses and vanilla, mixing until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients, then add all at once to the butter mixture. Mix until all of the flour is combined. Cover and chill for 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls (about the size of a walnut.) Roll the balls in the demarara sugar and place on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 11 minutes. Let cool for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Yield: 3 dozen

Quick and Dirty Dinners

2007-12-09T11:46:00.001-05:00

There are times when one needs to just throw something together for dinner in order to get "other things" done. While this is all fine and good, I feel that it is essential that said dinner also has to be delicious and not at all in resemblance of the fast-food genre.

I am a firm believer that a small amount of time dedicated to prep work makes the Quick & Dirty dinner such a success. I'm also fond of having a well-packed freezer of items that make Q&D such a staple.

It is inevitable that at some point of an early acquaintance I will ask what a favorite food is. My exhusband's favorite food is stuffed shells. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach; I say it's actually through his sternum.

Quick & Dirty Stuffed Shells

1 lb package large pasta shells, cooked just almost al-dente, drained, and set aside in cold water (they will cook a bit more when you bake them; you don't want mushy shells)

Filling ingredients:
2 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs (or 1 large egg and 1 egg white; or the equivalent egg-substitute product)
1 cup pulverized crumbs made from prepackaged Caesar-seasoned croutons
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried Italian-style seasoning blend (or 1/4 tsp each dried oregano and dried basil)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
optional: 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, 1/2 lb italian sausage cooked, crumbled, and drained.
______________
3 cups of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Freezing equipment: gallon-sized freezer bags, baking sheets lined with plastic wrap

Mix all of the filling ingredients until well-blended. Scoop a rounded tablespoon into each pasta shell and set the filled shells aside on the baking sheet. Once the sheet (s) are full, place the sheets in the freezer and freeze the shells until they are completely solidly frozen. Remove from baking sheets and place in the freezer bags.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400*F. Spray a shallow baking pan (8x8 for 2-4 servings; 9 x 13 for 6 servings) with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup sauce in the bottom of the pan, arrange shells in a single layer, then top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes for small pan; 40 minutes for a large pan. Remove foil and sprinkle with cheese; bake 15-20 additional minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serving size: 2-3 shells

I'm somewhat annoyed

2007-11-01T23:22:00.002-04:00

I lost the entire post due to some strange error that Blogger is having. I haven't the energy or the memory cells to reiterate what it was that I wrote in the first place. I recall something about my rosebushes and winter coming and needing to be tucked in for a long sleep. At some point, thinking of all of the above today made me think of my favorite bread. It is perfection toasted and slathered with summer preserves in the bleakness of January.

Honey-Oatmeal Bread

2 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, cut in small pieces
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105-115*F)
1 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, uncooked
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
3 Tbsp. toasted wheat germ
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

Combine milk, honey, butter, and salt in a saucepan; heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Cool to 105-115*F.Combine 1 3/4 cups (each) whole wheat and all purpose flour in a bowl. Set aside.Combine yeast and warm water in a 1 cup liquid measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes. combine yeast mixture, liquid mixture, oats, flaxseed, and remaining flour (not the flour you set aside in the bowl) in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Stir in remaining flour. Dough should be soft but sticky. If using a stand mixer with a dough-hook attachment, knead dough by machine until dough is smooth and sides of the bowl are clean; about 3 minutes. If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic; about 8-10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, then flip it over so the entire dough ball is greased. Cover, and let rise in a warm place free from drafts for about an hour; until doubled in bulk (or in the refrigerator overnight; but let come to room temp before proceeding.) Punch dough down; cover and let stand 10 minutes. Divide dough in half. Place on a floured surface. Roll each half into a 15" x 9" rectangle. Roll up, jellyroll fashion, starting at narrow end; pinch seams and ends to seal. Place loaves, seam side down in 2 greased 9" x 5" loaf pans. Brush with butter.Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375*F for 45 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Remove loaves from pans; cool on wire racks.

Wherein Daniela eats meat once again.

2007-10-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

There was an undeniable craving for roasted chicken that I just could not deny. Therefore, this ends what shall be known as "the vegetarian streak."

Swedish Apple Pie

2007-10-10T23:22:00.000-04:00

After the excitement of the first day of school died down, the thing I looked forward to most was apple picking. It was almost magical to me to go into the pristine rows of gnarled trees, Cortlands and Mackintoshes sparkling in the sun like rubies. We had free roam of the orchard, the musty fragrance of fallen leaves mixed with the crisp coolness of fall air, the softness of my favorite sweatshirt, the crunch of the oranges, reds, greens, and yellows of the foliage underfoot.

My mother's pies never really came out too well. The bottom crust was always doughy and I'd gingerly pick out the delicious filling, being careful not to get any of the crust mixed with my bite.

As I grew older, I baked the ubiquitous all-American apple pie. After a day or so, my bottom crust would get soggy, usually causing me to toss the leftover pie in the disposal. The solution? A pie without a bottom crust, is a cinch to put together, and tastes like you're eleven years old and sitting in the orchard. The top is crispy, delicate and tender at the same time. Take care to get it in the oven as soon as you finish spreading the batter on the apples.

Vegan Swedish Apple Pie

2 1/2 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples; I used a blend of Granny Smith and Cortland
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup margarine, melted (such as Earth's Best)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup soy yogurt*
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9-inch glass pie plate with margarine. Toss apples with brown sugar and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, soy yogurt, and vanilla with the melted margarine. Whip with an electric mixer until the mixture is very aerated and nearly white. Stir together flour, soda and salt. Add all at once to margarine mixture and mix until just combined but with no lumps. Spread mixture over the apples. Bake in preheated oven for 65 minutes, or until golden brown.

*(If you eat eggs and dairy products, you can omit the yogurt and the baking soda and substitute a beaten egg; and use butter in place of margarine for similar results.)

Breakfast Bars (Autumn and Tropical versions)

2007-10-07T11:11:00.000-04:00

By now, the entire planet is well aware that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The number one reason for not eating breakfast has something to do with morning time constraints, the snooze button, and the fact that you thought you could stay up all night watching the Gene Simmons Family Values marathon on A&E.

On a lovely Sunday, you could spend 10 minutes whipping these badboys up and you can eat them in the car on your way to work (or rehab, if that's your gig.) They pack a nutritional punch, they're healthy, and they're rather addictive. Though the ingredient list looks daunting, it tends to be of the sort of things that are usually lurking about in your pantry with nothing else better to do. You don't have soy flour? No big. Just leave it out. Don't like pumpkin? Use applesauce. Not a fan of pecans? Use whichever nut you'd like, or leave them out. Hate cranberries? Use raisins. Hate cranberries AND raisins? Use dried apples. I think you get the gist here. These are egg-free, diary-free, and they're full of oaty goodness, which will probably lower your cholesterol. You can thank me later.

Autumn Breakfast Bars

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup oat flour (conveniently made from pulverizing old-fashioned rolled oats in a blender or food processor)
1/3 cup flaxseeds, toasted in a dry skillet until fragrant, and pulverized in a blender or food processor.
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 cup Craisins or raisins or chopped dried apples.
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree; not the pumpkin pie mix (or natural applesauce)
1 medium Granny Smith or Gala apple, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped into small pieces (1/4 inch or so)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375*F. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl, stirring to combine. In a separate bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients along with the apple, dried fruit, and nuts. Stir until the mixture is well combined and spread into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares while the bars are still warm, but do not remove them from the pan until they are completely cool (as they will fall apart if you take them out when still warm.)

Tropical Version: Reduce packed brown sugar to 2 Tbsp. Omit the maple syrup and water, the fresh apple, the pumpkin, the cinnamon, and the Craisins and pecans and substitute with the following:
1 cup canned pineapple tidbits (not crushed pineapple) well-drained and dried (reserve juice)
1 cup reserved pineapple juice from above; add enough water or apple juice to make one cup if you don't have enough.
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup packed sweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped dried mango and papaya
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts or cashews
1/4 tsp allspice

Chocolate Silk Pie

2007-09-19T12:20:00.000-04:00

Oh, just yum. Glorious, creamy, happy yum. And easy. So pathetically easy you could sleep while making it, and it'd still come out perfectly. It is rich and decadent and chocolate all around. It's not my recipe, since every vegan seems to know how to make it. You can mess with it a bit and it still comes out muy delicioso. It's like discovering Blackbeard's treasure.

Chocolate Silk Pie

1 lb silken tofu, room temperature

12 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao)

one ready-made pie crust; I used the Oreo sort.

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate chips in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Put the tofu in a blender with the vanilla and puree it on high for about 30 seconds, until it is smooth; don't remove the tofu from the blender. Add the chocolate to the blender, and puree it on high with the tofu until the mixture doesn't have any more white streaks. You may have to scrape the sides of the blender down with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared pie crust and chill for at least 3 hours.

This pie is great. It has sinful mouthfeel but doesn't leave your mouth coated in fat (that would be a clean finish, methinks.) If you've never had tofu, or if tofu makes you all squeevish, give this a shot. Even my husband ate it and gave it high reviews.

I've come to discover...

2007-09-17T16:35:00.000-04:00

Vegetarianism really isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It's quite surprising, really.

In the past week, I've eaten more tofu than I've ever eaten before. It is quite good (when combined with spices and flavorful foods.) I tried it on its own and it's quite bland. Today, I made a stew, and it is amazing. Today is chilly and I've eaten 2 bowls of this hearty, filling stuff.

I can state that I didn't think I would feel as well as I do today. In fact, I didn't realize how badly I was feeling previously. Other than the non-consumption of meat, nothing really has changed. Physically, I feel like I could swim the English Channel. I do start shaking every now and again, but my blood sugar has been fine. I'm wondering what was actually in the food I was eating if I'm possibly going through withdrawal symptoms.

Burger King has veggie burgers. I found this out because I was hungry and thirsty, and I was about to settle on drinking a Coke and not eating a darn thing, until I saw "BK Veggie Burger" on the menu. It comes with mayo on it, so if you're vegan, ask for it without. It is GOOD. I think it actually tastes better than the other menu options. Give one a shot. It doesn't taste like a hockey puck like some veggie burgers did back in the day when they first came out.

I purchased more produce than I think I can possibly get through in a week. Call it farmer's market gluttony. This is what happens when one's market bag is bigger than one's stomach. I'm going to roast a mess of veggies and do a few things with it. I did so on Saturday, and suffice it to say, I ate the whole thing. I even ate it for breakfast on Sunday. Yes, it was indeed that good.

I just ordered two cookbooks by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, one of them called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which is quite possibly the best title for a book to date. She has a blog as well, and has recently posted a recipe for Vegan Milano cookies; a spinoff on the Pepperidge Farm cookie of the same name, minus the vegan. I don't know about you, but vegan or not, making these cookies at home would kick butt. You can Google Vegan Milano cookies and her site will show up.

Butternut Squash Stew (loosely based on the Southwestern Stew from Vegetarian Times magazine.)

1 large butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes (or so, doesn't have to be perfect)
2 large sweet onions, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, minced (the whole thing if you want more of a kick)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 dried bay leaf
1 package extra-firm tofu, drained, cubed, and squeezed dry with paper towels.
3 Tbsp. canola oil, divided
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour

In a stock pot, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil until it is very hot, but not smoking. Add the onions, cooking over medium heat until the onions are browned, stirring often. Increase heat to high. Add the tofu to the pot with the spices, bay leaf, and sugar, stirring to coat the tofu/onions. Allow tofu to brown a bit, about 5 minutes. Add squash and stock to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer until the squash is cooked through and tender, about 25-30 minutes. Mix the remaining oil and the flour together in a small bowl. Add to the stew, stirring constantly. The liquid should thicken. Turn off heat and allow the stew to sit for about 20-30 minutes, reheat if necessary. Remove bay leaf. Serve stew with crusty bread. Yields about 6 servings.

Thirty-seven

2007-09-11T11:45:00.000-04:00

For my birthday, I've decided that I'm going vegetarian. That's right; no more eating animals and contributing to the pocketbook of factory farming.

I hope those of you reading the blog will stay and discover the versatility of a meat-free diet. If not, that's fine too, of course. To each his own, as they say.

My wonderful husband got me a subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine and new sneakers (which I desperately wanted) and an MP3 player so that my walks will now be skip-free.

It is a good day.

Helen of Troy

2007-09-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

I'm quite certain that if David Lebovitz's Cheesecake Ice Cream were a woman in ancient Greece, she would be the ice cream to launch a thousand cones. Everyone as a whole would have been much happier and there wouldn't have been any of that whole murderous mess going on. After all, no one can be angry whilst holding an ice cream cone.

Many would argue that ice cream wasn't brought about until the Victorian era or so (rather, that is when it really increased in popularity,) but this is my blog, and my fantasy, and you should just leave all reason out of it. Reason indeed has absolutely no place in your thoughts if you're eating cheesecake ice cream. I followed the recipe unflinchingly, and whizzed the whole mess up in the blender. It took all of 5 minutes. After the lovely concoction was done churning, I stirred in crumbled bits of graham cracker pie crust. It was rich, creamy, subtly tangy from the sour cream, with a nice hit citrus from the zest. It is the frozen essence of cheesecake. It will make you smile. A lot. You may even find yourself calling your little tub of ice cream, "my precioussssssss," defending your stash while wielding your almighty spoon. Tricksy indeed.

If you haven't purchased an ice cream maker, I have no idea what you are waiting for. You know that box of fluffy cold stuff that you pick up at the grocery store? It's about 80% air. And it is disgusting to boot. Carageenan? I like to pronounce my ingredients, thank you very much. Even the wee million-dollar pints that those two guys make (I'll admit, they do make some mean ice cream) cannot compare to the lusciousness of all that is contained in The Perfect Scoop.

2007-09-07T19:47:00.000-04:00

Growing up, there were always herbs right outside my door. My grandparents, who lived with us, would send whomever was passing through the kitchen outside to the little patch of ground right outside the door whenever something was needed. My grandmother would taste whatever she was making at the time, and would tilt her head like she was listening to bats sing to each other.

"Fraaa... va piu basilico. Na poco."** (Fraaaa... go get basil. Just a little.)

My grandmother would call to my grandfather, whose name was Francesco (whom she lovingly called Fra. When she called his name, it faded nicely and the "ahh" sound was always drawn out like a sigh.) **(this is all phonetic spelling; I have no idea how to actually spell things in Italian.)

He would look at me, usually engrossed in my homework, stare until I realized someone was looking at me, then say,

"Dani-eh... va pia basilico per la vostra nonna; va." (Daniela, go get basil for your grandmother; go!)

I would drop what I was doing (seriously, you did not mess with dinner,) run outside, and pick basil until my Nonna would shout out the window, "basta!" (stop!) I'd run in, drop the basil next to the sink, run in the bathroom and wash my hands, and continue whatever it was that I was doing in the first place.

I have mentioned before that I don't really like pasta, since eating it nearly every single night for my entire childhood pretty much ensured that once on my own, I would do everything in my power not to eat it again, unless it was an absolute craving.

"Dani-eh, perche non statei mangare?" ("Why aren't you eating?") This was their typical reaction when I'd see pasta on the table in my late teens. "Non sonno affama," I'd say, promptly call my best friend Debbie, and see what her family was having for dinner.

My grandmother did make a mean pesto, which I would slather on thick slices of toasted bread, top with a bit of mozzarella, and reek of garlic for about an hour or three. This is my version of her recipe, since I never could reach in and measure things that she made. She would toss in a few heads of garlic into the oven whenever she happened to turn it on.

Nonna's Pesto

(I'm allergic to pine nuts, so I never put them in. Do feel free to add 1/2 cup of pine nuts, toasted until they are lightly golden brown.)

2 cups packed basil leaves, meaning that you have to pack them tightly into the cup to measure them.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 cup pecorino romano cheese

1 head roasted garlic

1/4 baking soda

Heat about 6 cups of water and baking soda in a large saucepan until boiling. Blanch the basil for about 5-10 seconds, and quickly remove it to an ice bath. Dry basil. Place the basil, cheese, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Add 1/2 cup of olive oil, and puree until blended. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the remaining oil. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. It will separate, but give it a good stir and all will be well.

It can be slathered on chicken breasts, bread, pizza, steak, tomatoes, mixed with cheese and marinated, mixed with cream cheese for a dip, mixed with roasted red potatoes, the list goes on and on.

Nonna would want you to clean your plate.

Redux

2007-09-07T12:15:00.000-04:00

I'm quite sorry that I do not have anything new to post about today. I'm currently in the process of canning another round of tomato soup. Please see changes to the recipe, as I've adjusted the amount of sugar to start with. I personally like it quite spicy and slightly sweet, and my kids love it when it is sweet enough to offset a grilled sharp cheddar sandwich. They won't touch it if it even slightly tingles their tongue. So, please heed my advice and start off with only 1/4 cup of sugar.

That said, I'm also chilling a double-batch of David Lebovitz's Chocolate Coconut Sherbet (or Coconut chocolate sherbet.. I don't recall which comes first.) I went to the store this morning and picked up the ingredients for his Cheesecake Ice Cream as well. I'll post how that goes. I received his latest book, The Perfect Scoop, yesterday in the mail and was surprised at how exhaustive it is. I love the anecdotes of how certain flavors came to be; my favorite involves standing in the Barcelona train station at gunpoint. You'll have to read the book for specifics. If you thought ice cream required tempering egg yolks just so and didn't want to deal with that whole mess; The Perfect Scoop is the exact thing that you need. Sure, some of the recipes start off with a French custard base (see yolks.) Most of them do not. I'm dying to make the Lemon Ice Cream, and it is in the plans for sometime next week. I have 4 ice cream cookbooks, and this one definitely trumps them all.

Pommes d'amour

2007-09-05T19:20:00.000-04:00

If the only tomato soup you've ever had coincidentally was also the subject of an Andy Warhol piece of artwork, you, my dear friend, are missing out. Fresh tomato soup is like a bowl of sunshine in the dead of winter. It reminds you that in the midst of all of the cold and grey and sharp wind there is an oasis of warmth. You can close your eyes and remember being on the patio listening to the birds chirp, bees humming, the explosion of color all around.

This is liquid hope.

Tomato Soup

(yields about 5 quarts)

12 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes. I use a mixture of whatever I have, usually beefsteak, plum tomatoes, and my mom's yellow tomatoes

half a bunch of celery (about 7 stalks), washed, ends trimmed and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces. If you're up to it, peel the long fibrous strings off.

6 medium-sized onions, chopped

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems removed

2 cups water

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar, depending on how sweet your tomatoes are

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. ground black pepper

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. cayenne pepper sauce (ie. Frank's Red Hot), or more, depending on personal preference.

Core, seed, and chop the tomatoes and place them in a 10-qt stock pot. Bring the tomatoes, water, celery, onion, lemon juice, cloves, and parsley to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until the celery is tender, about 20 minutes. Skim off any foam that has formed. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, puree in a blender or food processor in small batches until all of the soup has been pureed. Return to stock pot and bring to a boil once again. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne sauce, stirring until sugar completely dissolves. In a small saucepan, melt the butter completely. Whisk the flour into the butter, cooking over medium heat for one minute (roux). Add to the soup mixture, stirring until all of the roux is incorporated into the soup, and the soup has slightly thickened. Taste and add more sugar by the tablespoonful until you reach desired sweetness. Remove soup from heat.

At this point, you can fill hot, sterilized quart jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process them in a hot water bath for 35 minutes. Alternately, you can freeze the cooled soup in plastic freezer bags, or plastic freezer containers; just remove as much air as possible from the freezer containers. It will keep in the freezer for about 6 months... if you can manage not to eat it all by then.

This post has been submitted to September's "Grow Your Own" blog event, hosted by Andrea of http://www.andreasrecipes.com/. Do join us!

Astonishingly Similar to the Post Previous...

2007-09-05T18:36:00.000-04:00

... but altogether different. Alas, I did not photograph last night's dinner. I will tell you that it was absolutely delicious, and extremely easy to make (c'mon.. you essentially chuck stuff in a pot and call it done.) You may have come to notice that I cook with the spirits a lot. No, that doesn't mean that Elvis is in my kitchen. I cook with far more alcohol than I'd ever have time to drink. It can elevate the simplest ingredients to something noteworthy.

Rustic Beef with Potatoes, Parsnips, and Onion
(serves 4)

2-3 lb chuck roast, trimmed of extra fat
1 large onion, chopped in large pieces
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into about 1 1/2 inch chunks
4 parsnips, peeled and sliced into 2 inch slices, on the diagonal
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 cups cabernet sauvignon
1/2 cup ketchup (really!)
3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt and ground black pepper

Pat the chuck roast dry and season liberally with salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix wine, water, ketchup and vinegar until combined. Set aside. In a large saute pan (preferably NOT nonstick,) heat the oil over high heat. Sear the roast on each side until it is dark brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Add parsnips, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute until the parnsips and onion start to caramelize. Add rosemary to pan. Once mixture becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds, add wine mixture, stirring to scrape up any brown bits (fond) on the bottom of the pan. Let mixture come to a rolling boil. Turn heat down to low, add the roast back to the pot, add the potatoes in a single layer and cover. Simmer for 40 minutes over very low heat. Remove roast from pan and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes before slicing. While the roast is resting, remove cover from pan, increase heat to medium high, and reduce the pan sauce by half.

And yes, licking your plate is uncouth.

Cold Comfort Farm

2007-09-03T08:58:00.000-04:00

Herb roasted chicken with roasted potatoes is quite possibly my favorite fall meal. Simple, hearty, and extremely versatile. This requires very little preparation, but tastes like a five-star meal. The potatoes are at once lush and crisp and meltingly good. A glass of pinot gris or sauvignon blanc, and dessert of apple crisp can round out the meal for company. Or you can just lock yourself in the dining room and eat it all yourself. Not that I'm condoning such a thing, but still. You could. It's that good.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

1 whole chicken (about 4 lb), rinsed, patted dry, and butterflied (cut the backbone so you can lay the chicken flat. This will ensure crispy skin throughout.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt, divided

1 tsp ground black pepper, more to taste, divided

various fresh herbs, several sprigs of each. I use whatever looks good from the kitchen garden; usually parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (much like the song.)

1 head of garlic, individual cloves peeled (I smash them with my chefs knife to peel them quickly.)

6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes

1 large sweet onion

Season the chicken with 1 tsp salt and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Stuff the herbs and half of the garlic cloves under the skin of the chicken. Slice the potatoes and the onion into 1/2 inch slices. In a bowl or a Ziploc bag, toss the potatoes, onions, and remaining garlic with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Place in refrigerator to marinate. Rub the remaining olive oil onto the chicken, place in a separate bowl or bag, and allow to marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator. About 2 hours prior to the time you would like to serve dinner, preheat the oven.

Preheat oven to 400*F. Place the potato mixture in the bottom of a roasting pan. Attempt to get them all in a single layer. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. Place a roasting rack in the pan on top of the potatoes. Lay the chicken on the rack, breast side up (see photo.) Roast for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until a meat thermometer registers 170*F in the thigh (do not touch a bone when you measure the temperature.) Remove from the oven and allow the chicken to rest for about 20 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter and scoop up the potato loveliness into a bowl. Allow your family and friends to think that you are a domestic wunderkind, mostly because you are.

The Jam Pot

2007-09-03T00:20:00.000-04:00

Out of all of the acoutrements in my mother's kitchen, the jam pot is the one I covet the most. It's not as if I'm allowed to use it at all, which could be the very reason for its unnatural appeal. I do know that it will be part of my inheritance, if only because I said so. The jam pot is shiny and made of stainless steel, but it has a rather curvy profile. Tallish, like a stock pot, but with a distinctive shape... like a corset.

I have no idea how this pot came to be, where she got it, or why she decided to start cooking jam in it. I want it. I have looked everywhere and haven't seen a pot like it.

My mother entered the jam-making foray a bit late in life. For the past 10 years or so, the entire family looks forward to the time when my mom decides to make the trip to Massachusetts and bequeath upon them the bounty of the jam pot. Nearly half of the conversations I have with my cousins end with, "Oh, and tell your mom that I'm out of raspberry." The more gluttonous cousins eat the jam straight out of the jar with a spoon, usually hidden in an obscure corner of the house so no one else sees them. Closer to home, my mom's pantry would be lined with hundreds of half-pint jars each summer. Raspberry, strawberry, elderberry, blueberry, rhubarb, grape, and currant were all represented, sometimes sharing space with my mother's exotic experiments, like cantaloupe jelly and fig jam.

She'd stand there in the basement kitchen (for that is where jam is made, since it is the coolest place in the house during the sweltering Pennsylvania summers,) stirring with the wooden spoon that my Zio Gabe made for her. When my dad was alive, he'd pitch in by pitting cherries, making labels for the zillions of jars, making toast so he could eat the "dredges" of the jam pot. My parents making jam together is quite possibly one of my favorite memories.

This weekend, I made plum preserves, plum chutney (the recipe on Chow.com is fantastic,) vanilla peach preserves, and tomato soup. I do not have a pantry, but I have plenty of cabinet space.

Vanilla Peach Preserves
(yield: about 5 half-pint jars)

5 cups peaches, peeled, pit removed, and chopped
4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. antioxidant powder (such as Fruit Fresh)
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 whole vanilla beans, sliced down the middle and seeds scraped out
3 oz pouch of liquid pectin (such as Certo)
pinch salt

In a non-reactive bowl, mix peaches with antioxidant powder, sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature. Transfer peaches to a heavy-bottomed 6-qt stock pot and add vanilla beans. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, stirring frequently until all sugar is dissolved. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off any foam that may have formed. Return to heat, bring to a boil, and add pectin. Boil for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, remove vanilla beans, and let the preserves stand for 5 minutes before filling hot, sterilized jars. Leave one-half inch of headspace (the space between the top of the jam and the rim of the jar.) Process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. Let cool completely. Check for proper seals once cooled. If there is leftover preserves or jars that have not sealed properly, refrigerate and use within 2 weeks.

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Coconut Sherbet

2007-08-31T20:55:00.000-04:00

I will have to admit that I was a bit wary about the whole "this doesn't have dairy" vibe that this recipe was giving off. I was worried it would be an icy, watery consistency, giving way to what I call, "chocolate water flavor..." (Think chocolate milk, and substitute water for the milk. Got it? Ick.)

I was gloriously wrong. This sherbet is what the Hope Diamond would be like if you could freeze it, add chocolate to it, and eat it with a spoon. It is velvety, dark, and dare I say - naughty. It whispers coconutty sonnets to you.

If you have the patience to wait long enough for it to ripen for a day, by all means do so (Elizabeth couldn't wait, as evidenced by her soft-servishness cone above.)

By all means, get thee an ice cream maker and whip some of this up.

David, you're a genius.

(You can procure the recipe from http://www.chow.com, or pick up a copy of The Perfect Scoop, David's new book.)

Sea Scallops with With Brown Butter and Lime

2007-08-31T20:47:00.000-04:00

I have this rule that I don't eat seafood this far inland. Rules, as you know, are sometimes meant to be broken. This is especially true if you love scallops, haven't had them in a year (due to said rule) and find that there are 6 or so pristine looking scallops at the grocery store fishmonger.

It's a simple sauce, really. After pan frying the scallops in a bit of butter, I added some white wine to deglaze (about 1/4 cup) which was reduced to about a tablespoon or so, added a squeeze of lime juice, a half-teaspoon of sugar, and a tablespoon of butter. I flipped the whole mess on medium-high until the butter browned. A bit tart, a bit sweet, and a bit sour.

Eight thousand degrees

2007-08-31T12:40:00.001-04:00

Alas, there is not much to say, other than the fact that it has been ungodly hot here and I have been eating nothing but the Catalan Tomato Bread from Amanda's blog, Figs, Olives, Wine (http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/08/catalan-tomato-bread-pa-amb-tomquet.html.)

I currently have no idea on how to do a sexy html cut, as I am rather braindead at this very moment. I'm starving after doing some yard work and taking a walk most of the morning. And the tomato bread smells like heaven.

Brie and Pear Confit

2007-08-26T08:29:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite breakfast. There's nothing like the crunchy, gooey, sticky, slightly salty, sweet, and heady combination of pear confit with brie on a baguette. If you've only had brie baked en croute, I beg you to try this. If you could put love on a plate, I'm quite sure that this is what it would look like.

Brie and Pear Sandwich

(makes 1 sandwich)

6-inch piece of baguette

3 oz brie, rind removed

3 Tbsp. pear confit (recipe follows)

Slice the baguette lengthwise; spread the cheese on one half and the jam on the other half. Place each half on a foil-lined baking sheet, and set under the broiler until cheese is melted; about 45 seconds. Let cool slightly and assemble sandwich.

Quick Pear Confit

3 ripe Bartlett Pears, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat so that the pear mixture is just simmering. Simmer until the mixture is thick and of jam-like consistency, stirring every few minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Yield: about 3/4 cup.

Brunch

2007-08-22T13:12:00.000-04:00

Evie and Emily are coming down with something, so in the vast nose-wiping marathon - where the finish line is a tissue, not a sleeve - I have not ingested anything other than a cup of coffee.

Until now. I'd give you the recipe for these chocolate chip pecan cookies, but it is not mine. You will find it conveniently located on the reverse package of Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips. I substitute half of the butter for butter flavored Crisco (trans fats be damned!) and increase the vanilla to 1 tablespoon.

I am a vanilla whore. There, I said it. Luckily, I can get beans at a really low price (pathetically low, even... and they're excellent, fat, gorgeous beans.) I make my own extract... for those of you wondering why I had a few bottles of vodka laying about. Making your own extract is pathetically easy. I will never understand why someone will pay five dollars for a few tablespoons of the stuff when they can make a liter of it for about $15. It nearly lasts forever, but it does take a bit of time to steep. With my method, I've cut out some of the time altogether, so that your extract will be deep, dark, and delicious in no time.

Vanilla Extract

20 Grade A Tahitian vanilla beans, divided.

1 liter good-quality vodka

A large glass container with a lid, or at least enough rubber bands to make a plastic wrap lid. Glass is important, because if you happen to use plastic, you may get some off-gassing and some funky flavors may ensue.

Chop 18 of the vanilla beans into 1-inch pieces. Reserve the remaining 2 beans. Pour half of the vodka into a food processor with the vanilla beans. Puree those bad boys as well as you can and pour it into the glass container. Keep the original vodka bottle and cap (we're all about recycling, folks.) Add the remaining vodka, cover, and let steep in a cool, dry, dark place for about 3 weeks. Strain the extract through a couple of layers of cheesecloth, squeezing the pulp to coax out any remaining extract. Vanilla beans will sneak into the mix. This is good. Pour the extract back into the bottle from whence the vodka came. Add the reserved 2 vanilla beans. I tend to store it for another few weeks before I use it, but at about halfway through the bottle, I'll start a new one.

Zia Anna's Breadcrumbs

2007-08-21T23:53:00.000-04:00

My Zia Anna was the best cook in the family (I'd like to think that I've moved up in rank.) Every single time I went to Cambridge to visit, she had a plate of cold chicken cutlets in the fridge, just for me to take on my trip home... they never made it as far as the I-90 onramp. Hell, sometimes they didn't make it out of the driveway!

The instructions are a bit simple, but crucial. They were dictated over the phone to me by Zia and I guarantee you that you'll never buy prepackaged Italian breadcrumbs from the store ever again (unless you're really in a pinch, and then you'll complain how they taste like sawdust.)

Zia Anna's Breadcrumbs

3 cups homemade breadcrumbs made from stale Italian or French bread
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup minced flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup fresh garlic, minced fine
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups finely grated Reggio Parmigiano cheese

Chuck all of the above ingredients into the food processor until everything is very well blended. Taste the mixture: You should be able to taste the cheese and spicy garlic flavor very well (if not, add more of each until your mouth tastes of garlic and cheese.) Store in the freezer.

Like I said, quite easy to make, but you do have to taste it to make sure the flavor is coming through and hitting you in the face like an errantly thrown shoe. I make so much at a time that I keep one in one of those plastic cereal containers in the fridge, and a few ziploc bags in the freezer. Soon, you'll find yourself using them for everything... even tofu.

So this is tofu.

2007-08-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

I must say that I'm rather impressed by my first foray into "plain" tofu. Of course, I've had tofu IN other things, but the only way I've really had it on a stand-out basis was in the hot-and-sour soup from my local Chinese take-out.

I had a real hankering for my aunt Anna's chicken cutlets. Conveniently, I had the breadcrumbs from her recipe in my freezer, but no chicken. Nor did I feel like going to the market to purchase chicken and wait until it thawed, pound it to annoying thinness, and fry away.

I did have a package of extra-firm tofu. I sliced it up, killed a few trees by the embarrassing amount of paper towels that I used to press the excess moisture from them, dipped them in beaten egg, breaded them, and pan-fried them.

Of course, the perfect condiment for cutlets (other than homemade marinara) is hot pepper jelly. They came out crispy and delicious! Not unlike a chicken cutlet (and really, we eat the cutlets for the breading anyway.) They had a very tender quality as well.

So, my leftover tofu is neatly sliced, pressed, and is marinating in some chicken broth that I had in the fridge. Breadcrumb recipe to follow soon.