Civil War-era soft ginger cookies

Bowl 1: Beat together 2/3 cup oil and 1 cup sugar. Add 1 cup molasses, mix well. Add 1 medium well-beaten egg and mix well. Add 3 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.

Bowl 2: Sift together 5 1/2 cups flour, 3 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp salt, and then add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.

Chill overnight if possible, roll out 1/4-inch thick (on a floured and sugared table). Cut out and bake on a greased sheet for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Survival Muffins!

I have a slight breakfast problem -- I always roll out of bed about twenty minutes before I have to be out the door to catch a bus. Once I get to work, these muffins are useful, portable, extruded-soy-protein-free, healthy little breakfast-delivery-mechanisms, if light on protein. They also work for airplanes, long meetings, late nights and any other scenarios where a quick 275 calories would come in handy.

In bowl A, whisk together:
3/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1 cup oat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg

The proportions of the floury part can vary enormously as long as it adds up to three cups. The choice and proportions of spices can also vary.

In bowl B, whisk together:
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup buttermilk, thinned yogurt, or milk soured with vinegar

The liquidy part can also vary as long as it adds up to one cup and is acidic. Be sure ingredients are at room temperature or warmer to prevent coconut oil solidification.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups.

Add the contents of bowl A to bowl B and mix with a wooden spoon. Fold in 3/4 cup chopped walnuts. Spoon evenly into muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in muffin pan(s) for 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a rack or plate. Enjoy when survival is at stake.

Provencal Tomatoes

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your dining and shopping companion fancies some juicy tomatoes that aren't even in season yet and before you know it they're in yr fridge, expectantly awaiting a suitable preparation. When that happens, pull out the old Provencal Tomatoes recipe and show your aforementioned dining and shopping companion who's boss (or at least, show him what you'll be forced to do if he purchases un-planned-for tomatoes).

For two large tomatoes (makes 4 side-dish servings):
1. Prepare 1.5 cups of either cooked quinoa or fresh breadcrumbs.
2. Mix the quinoa in a bowl with:
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped shallot, green garlic or green onion
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp dried lavender flowers
1 tsp olive oil
3. Slice the tomatoes in half around the equator. Squeeze lightly over the sink to expel seeds. Place cut sides up in a baking dish and stuff with the quinoa mixture. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until the stuffing begins to brown on top.

i heart pork

I've decided bacon -- juicy, free-range, organic, salty, greasy bacon -- is my new favorite food. Possibly also guanciale or pancetta. Anyway, I've been playing with pig products lately and made some delicious things over the weekend:

First off was some yummy Carolina barbecue on Saturday. I adore Carolina barbecue, but I've always figured it wouldn't taste right if I tried to make it myself. Fortunately, I was wrong, and the stuff I made was delicious (though not identical to the real thing). I used the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, which calls for pork shoulder rubbed with something they call Southern Spice Rub and slow-roasted in a covered dish, then shredded and doused with vinegar sauce. The recipe works as written, with two changes: less cumin in the Spice Rub, and keep it well-covered -- any juices that collect in the pan should go right into the vinegar sauce. Very easy to put together and hard to screw up.

Next was a Pate Grandmere/Maison to use up the delicious pork liver in my freezer. I dipped into various recipes and freely substituted to come up with the following modernized approximation:

1. Keep all mixing bowls, implements and ingredients as cold as possible until the pate goes in the oven.
2. Combine about 1/4 cup pork fat with 1 pound pork liver in a food processor, pulsing until just pureed.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 pound ground buffalo, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup cream (or whole-milk yogurt), 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg, 1/4 cup brandy, 1 tbsp kirsch, 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 1 tsp dried thyme, and 1 tsp dried marjoram.
4. Add the pork fat/liver mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Add 3/4 cup fresh raspberries and fold gently into the mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into a pyrex loaf pan and cover tightly with foil.
7. Place the loaf pan into a larger casserole dish and fill the casserole dish with hot water to halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
8. Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until juices run clear. If, like me, you stab your meat thermometer into a buried raspberry, don't be surprised if the juices aren't clear.

The recipes I was looking at call for lining the loaf pan with bacon strips. I don't approve of this, myself; the pate is fatty enough on its own, and flavorful enough without the distracting smokiness of the bacon. Although I do love bacon (see above).

The only problem is that a whole pork liver makes much too much pate for two people to eat by themselves. I've been having it for lunch and dinner for the past three days and it's less than half gone. Save it for a party.

Italian Sausage Puttanesca Pasta Casserole

Cook about 2/3 of a pound of organic whole-wheat penne.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Meanwhile, chop and saute an onion, some garlic, some green pepper if you got it. Add about half a pound of delicious hot Italian sausage made from a happy and delicious pig. (I used to find pork products so boring and would never buy pork in the store. Now that I think about it, I also used to find supermarket beef and chicken boring too. The only interesting meat for me was lamb -- which is often grass-fed, coincidentally perhaps. Anyway, this fresh, free-range, organically-grown, real-food-fed pork is a COMPLETELY different animal, with a completely different taste, from the Smithfield special.) Brown and break apart the sausage.

Add a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup chopped olives, 2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley, and a few mashed anchovies. Simmer for a bit but don't boil it. If your tomatoes were juicy, as mine were, I highly recommend pouring off the watery portion into a separate shallow pan and boiling it down into a delicious concentrated paste, which you can then return to the main event. This really didn't take long.

When the pasta's done cooking, drain and toss with the sauce. Put the mixture in a casserole dish and sprinkle with about half a cup of grated parmesan. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and some of the pasta on top is nice and chewy. Add a veggie or salad and serve.

Roasted Onion Tart

The leftover leeks, spring onions, and green garlic from the farm tend to accumulate in the bottom fridge drawer, leaves turning brown, since they're my least favorite part of the box by far. I don't much care for the flavor of green garlic and I'd much rather have a solid workhorse of an onion that I can chop, saute and forget about than these green things that dry up and burn. Fresh green onions I can accommodate at the rate of about one every two weeks. Anyway, this is a great way to use up those lonely leftover alliums.

Roasted Onion Tart

1 pound assorted onion-family veggies (I used 1 large and 2 small spring onions, 1 medium leek, and 3 stalks green garlic, tough outer leaves and leaf tips removed)

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt

10 sheets phyllo (about 12 x 12 in. square)
1/8 cup melted butter OR olive oil

2 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage

Chop up the oniony stuff into fairly even chunks. (I quartered the large bulb ends and chopped the long stems into 1-inch lengths.) Mix the next five ingredients together and toss with the onions. Roast at 425 for about 30 minutes or until softened and getting brown around the edges.

Layer the phyllo in an 8- or 9-inch pie pan, drizzling a bit of the melted butter or olive oil between every couple of layers. Blind-bake the phyllo crust by sticking it in the oven during the last 10-15 minutes of onion roasting, and remove when the edges look browned.

Scrape the roasted onions into the phyllo shell with their delicious juices. Sprinkle the fresh sage on top, then sprinkle the blue cheese over that. Put the assembled tart back into the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Slice & serve, yum.

The recipe on which this one is loosely based called for a can of refrigerated pizza crust dough, which I never have lying around, so I changed it to a phyllo crust. The phyllo worked fine with the freshly made tart but reheated the next day a bit soggy, so in this version of the recipe I recommend blind-baking the tart for a longer time.

Coeur de Porc au Vin

Sorry for the long delay. It's been a while since I both worked up a recipe worth talking about and then had time to post about it afterwards. But this one was pretty good:

Coeur de Porc au Vin

Melt a tablespoon of butter or lard in a saucepan with a splash of olive oil.
Finely chop one medium onion and cook over medium heat until softened, along with a bit of bacon.
Take one whole Clark Summit Farm pig heart, split and rinse it.
Brown the heart with the onions, then add 1 cup stock and 1 cup red wine, along with 1 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, 1 clove finely chopped garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer, but do not allow to boil, for about 1 hour or so or until tender.
Remove heart from stock and wine and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
In the meantime, make a roux and whisk into the cooking liquid. Reduce the cooking liquid to a sauce.
Slice the heart in thin slices against the grain, pour sauce over, and serve.
Serves 2-3 people who like heart and 4-6 who don't.

I served mine with steamed quinoa and a salad. The quinoa was tasty but the salad couldn't stand up to the heart's flavor. The heart itself was delicious, chewy and fine-grained; it reminded me of duck. Even the chief taster, who confessed he'd been dreading this dish, was favorably impressed (though he did doubt its palatability for children).

Greek Barley Salad (aka My new favorite way to make arugula)

Arugula has always been hard for me, because we get big bunches of it, more than enough for a salad for two, but it's really too strong to have on its own unless it's perfectly fresh and perfectly spicy (i.e., not quite as spicy as the stuff we usually get). So it glares balefully from the fridge at me each night until around Sunday or Monday, when it starts to glare morosely and look jaundiced and there's nothing to be done but chop it up with the rest of the orphaned greens and have the usual Tuesday night soup. And that's a shame, because I love arugula. For this salad I wanted something that would use fresh arugula well without either souping it or leaving it nakedly fresh. A quick saute with garlic might work, except that it's boring and this arugula is slightly too bitter to stand alone. But match it with some nice sweet barley, and it's great.

1 bunch fresh arugula, washed and thick stems removed
1 cup pearl barley
2 cups water or vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt

Cook the barley in the water or stock. Mix together one (minced) clove garlic and the following five ingredients in a bowl. Throw the barley in and toss it around until coated. Very briefly, saute the other clove of garlic (also minced) with the arugula until the greens have just barely wilted, then add to the barley mixture. Dish out and top with:

1/3 cup diced feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped olives
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup chopped salami
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 avocado, cubed

Tamagoyaki

This was an excellent, quick, healthy dinner that tasted yummy:

For tamagoyaki:
4 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp mirin or rice wine or white wine
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Mix everything together with a fork in a bowl, but do not beat air into the mixture. Heat a small saute pan and brush lightly with the end of a stick of butter. Pour in two or three tablespoons of egg mixture and cook until almost done, tear off a piece of nori and throw it on there, then roll up and off to one side with a spatula. Add two more tablespoons and repeat until mixture is all gone, then tip the roll of egg out onto a sushi mat and roll it up tightly for a few minutes.

For noodle salad:
Simmer a couple packs of soba noodles for 4 minutes or until done, then drain.
Saute together a green onion or two, some garlic, 3/4 tsp ginger or so, and a bunch of shredded carrot. Then add a pile of chopped broccoli or romanesco and a splash of white wine to steam it with, and cover. Toward the end, add some spinach and saute until wilted. Throw in about a tablespoon of miso and a tablespoon of soy sauce.

To serve, dish out the noodles, top with vegetable mix, then add slices of tamagoyaki.

My favorite way to cook calves' liver

Slowly cook an onion or leek with a little salt until it begins to caramelize.
Throw in some chopped carrot and a healthy sprinkle of dried rosemary, maybe half a teaspoon.
While the carrot cooks, thinly slice a head of savoy cabbage.
Once the carrot has softened, turn the heat up to high and quickly saute the cabbage until wilted, along with a minced clove of garlic. Remove to a bowl.

Meanwhile, chop 1/4 cup pecans and toast in a dry pan.

In the same pan as the cabbage was cooked, melt a tablespoon of butter.
Over medium-high heat, cook 1/4-inch slices of liver for about 30 seconds per side, or until just cooked through.
Remove liver to a plate.

Add 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil.
Add the cabbage mixture to the pan and toss briefly to reheat.

To serve, place cabbage on a plate, top with a few slices of liver, then sprinkle with toasted pecans and another splash of balsamic vinegar.

My favorite way to cook rapini

Very fast, very easy: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in a pound or two of rapini and simmer for a couple of minutes, then pull it all out. Let the water come back to a boil and drop in a pound of whole-wheat pasta.

While that's cooking, add the following to a pot over medium heat, in this order:
Olive oil
Garlic
A sausage, cut up (optional)
The blanched rapini, coarsely chopped
Sundried tomato, coarsely chopped
Pine nuts
Salt and pepper

Cook, stirring occasionally, until rapini is tender.

After pasta has cooked, return to pot and grate several tablespoons of cheese over. Can also add a tablespoon or two of broth or cooking liquid from the rapini. Serve rapini mixture over pasta.

My favorite Meyer lemons

I very much enjoyed the Lemon Confit Shortbread Tart from the New York Times, although it wasn't to everyone's taste. Although preserved Meyer lemons are delicious, it almost strikes me as a waste of their Meyeriness to salt them to death and then just cook them with chicken -- though now that I think about it, the Meyer aroma does come through.

The amount of shortbread seemed like a lot to me, but it's necessary in order to muffle the lemons, which tend to shout otherwise.

To make the crust, mix 3 cups flour, 1 tsp lavender salt, 1 cup sugar, and 2 sticks butter in a bowl, until it forms flaky crumbs. Throw in 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 2 tbsp lemon juice, and mix until it starts clumping together. Refrigerate.

Thinly slice 7-8 Meyer lemons, minus the ends, and toss with 3/4 cup sugar. Marinate for a couple of hours. Then bring to boil in a saucepan, and cook down until the lemons are candied and the remaining liquid is somewhat syrupy, about 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into halves and roll them out to a little over 9 inches in diameter. Place one in the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan. Pour the confit over and spread it around. Top with the other half of the dough. Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes. Dust the top with 1/4 cup sugar and return to the oven for about ten more minutes, until the top gets a bit brown. I threw mine under the broiler for a bit too long -- it got dark brown in spots, but the sugar turned out nicely crunchy.

My favorite baby bok choy

Splash of olive oil, few drops sesame oil. Heat pretty high, then drop in a clove of crushed garlic and some baby bok choy and toss rapidly until bok choy starts to wilt. Throw in a dash of soy sauce and a dash of Tabasco sauce, then quickly pop a lid on and turn off the heat. The bok choy will finish cooking by steaming in the water from the soy sauce for the next few minutes, as long as you don't take the lid off too soon.

My favorite carrots

Preheat oven to 400F.
Peel and chop carrots into 2-3 inch strips or fingers.
Toss with olive oil, rosemary salt and balsamic vinegar.
Roast for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and add more balsamic vinegar, then roast for 10 more minutes or until carrots can be pierced with a fork.
Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

My favorite turnips

Peel turnips and chop into 1-inch cubes.
Braise in the greasiest, savoriest, saltiest chicken broth you can find. If it happens to be next to a roasting chicken, that's great as long as there is enough broth to cover most of the turnips. Otherwise they tend to roast rather than braise, and I find them sort of hard and too chewy unless roasted to a crisp.
Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and serve.

My favorite quick butternut squash

Chop an onion and saute it in olive oil with a pinch of salt in a large saucepan.
Peel, de-seed and cube one butternut squash.
Add squash to saucepan and add chicken broth to cover.
Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to maintain a simmer.
Add a tsp of dried thyme or other tasty herb.
Simmer until squash can be pierced with a fork but isn't mushy, about 15-20 minutes.
Puree in batches in a food processor.
While puree is still hot, add a tablespoon or two of butter and stir.
Serve with sour cream or chopped cilantro or chives.

Quick brown rice

Add 1 cup brown rice and 2 cups water to a saucepan with a dash of salt.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute an onion or leek in olive oil in a separate pan.
Add 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp salt and a tiny pinch of cinnamon.
Add about 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup water or broth and simmer uncovered for about ten minutes.

When the rice is done, mix together, sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.

My favorite sweet potatoes

Preheat oven to 425F.
Peel sweet potatoes.
Chop into either fries or 1-inch chunks (fries cook somewhat faster but can be limp).
In a large bowl, mix 2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp fine salt, 1 tsp garlic powder if available, and 1/4 tsp fresh pepper.
Toss the freshly sliced sweet potato chunks, which should be ever so slightly damp, with the powdered spice mixture so that they are evenly coated.
Spread the spiced sweet potato chunks in a baking pan.
Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil over them and toss gently to distribute.
Roast for 30-40 minutes or until soft.

My favorite quick spinach side dish

With ungraded bunch spinach:

Dump spinach into a bowl of water in the sink.
Remove dead or bruised leaves from the outside of each bunch and cut off the root end to separate the leaves.
Change the water in the bowl at least once to remove mud and grit.
Drop washed spinach into a colander or salad spinner and let water drain away.

Heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large saucepan.
Mince 1 clove garlic and saute for about ten seconds.
Throw in spinach and stir briskly until wilted but still bright green, about 45 seconds.
Add a pinch of fine sea salt, a grind of pepper, and a squirt of lemon juice if desired and serve.

New series: my favorite ways

Due to the way I've structured my grocery purchasing habits, I almost never go shopping with the intent of picking up the ingredients for a particular recipe. Instead, once a week an assortment of plant parts comes to me, the content of which I have no control over; once every week or two I pick up an assortment of plant parts that are in season; and once every four to six weeks I refresh my supply of frequently-used, long-keeping staples.

This means that when I come home at night and want to make dinner, I first look in the fridge to see which plant parts seem most eager to be eaten. Usually leaves are at the head of the line, then fruits (peppers and tomatillos) and buds (broccoli and cauliflower), then roots and durable fruits like winter squash when everything else has been used up. Once I've selected a victim, I poke around in a cookbook or online to find a new recipe that showcases the vegetable. This is a fun process, but lately I've started thinking it takes too long. Also, I rarely make the same thing twice, and this seems inefficient.

Instead, I want to amass a collection of short recipes that serve as the best quick way to dispose of any given vegetable. I'll still post other tasty recipes that I'm moved to test out, but hopefully over the course of a year I'll cover ways to prepare each vegetable as it comes into season (and other ingredients too).

Stout Gingerbread Cake

I ran across this recipe in Sunset and made it for the aforementioned gathering. I made three changes, substituting 1/2 cup coconut oil for one of the three (!!) sticks of butter, switching in Bison Brewing's Organic Chocolate Stout for the Guinness, and using a 13x9 pan instead of the two 8x8s. It came out moist and dark and tasted reasonably interesting, though it's much better the day after it's made. Right after it comes out of the oven, before the flavors have mellowed together, it has a weird sort of bitter taste.

It's not difficult to make, despite the lengthy ingredient list. It requires three vessels: a pot for the molasses, beer and baking soda; a bowl for the flour, salt and spices; and a bowl for the sugar, butter, eggs, ginger, and lemon peel. Mix separately and then combine, very easy, and since the fat is melted it doesn't require the use of a mixer.

Escarole/Spinach/Cilantro Salad with Anchovy Vinagrette

I picked up a lovely head of escarole on a whim Saturday, and promptly stumbled across a version of this recipe in Sunset magazine. Since I was cooking for five or six people on Monday, I added half a bag of spinach and a clump of cilantro to the escarole. It was just enough for five, though everyone wanted more.

1 head escarole, cored and roughly chopped
1/2 bag baby savoy spinach
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Dressing:
2 cloves garlic
4 anchovies, deboned if necessary
1/4 tsp salt (heaping)
1/4 tsp pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup good olive oil (you may not need this much)

Mash garlic, anchovies, salt and pepper in a mortar. Scrape into small mixing bowl and slowly whisk in lemon juice and some of the olive oil. Taste periodically to ensure the dressing doesn't get too oily. Toss leaves together and drizzle with some of the dressing. Toss, taste and add dressing as necessary.

I added the 1/2 tsp salt the recipe originally called for, but in combination with the anchovies this was slightly too much salt. I believe it also called for more olive oil, but I used less than half a cup and the result verged on unpleasantly slick (though still delicious).

I wasn't very familiar with escarole before I picked up this head at the farmers' market (because it was cheap and beautiful). Wish I could remember which stand it was. I was expecting something bitter, perhaps suitable only for braising, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it slightly nutty and almost sweet.

Delish Roasted Cauliflower

Roasted cauliflower is much better than basic steamed or boiled cauliflower -- slightly nutty-tasting, and the texture is much better. This recipe makes it very tasty:

1 large or 2 small heads of cauliflower, broken into florets
2 tbsp melted butter
Zest from one lemon
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Roast cauliflower in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes. Mix all other ingredients and pour over the cauliflower, then roast for about 15 more minutes. Terribly easy, very quick, tastes lemony and good.

Gumbo Aux Herbes

This week's veggie box yielded five or six bags of assorted leaves. That's too many. I usually have a hard time coming up with interesting things to do with radish greens and beet greens and chard and such, and I'm tired of sauteeing them with sausage and garlic and pine nuts for the umpteenth time. So this week I finally bit the bullet and tried this recipe for gumbo z'herbes, despite the low ratings and its rather boring appearance. It turned out very well and tasted savory and filling. I made some modifications as usual. My version went like this:

Greens:
Half a bag of tired week-old arugula
1 bag mustard greens
1 bunch radish greens
1 bunch beet greens
1 bag assorted dandelion, radicchio, escarole, etc.
Outer leaves from 1 head savoy cabbage
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium carrot
2 tbsp paprika
A healthy dash of Tabasco
1 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Cooked brown rice for serving

Melt the butter in a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or so, until chestnut brown. (Mine got to peanut-butter brown or so and then seemed to stall out. Worked fine anyway.)

In the meantime, heat the chicken broth and water to a simmer in a large pot. Wash and chop up all the greens and add to the pot in order of toughness, cabbage first, and including oregano and thyme. Add the kidney beans and a few cloves of garlic.

Chop the onion and carrot. When the roux is brown enough, saute the onion and carrot in the cast-iron skillet with the roux until softened.

Stir the roux mixture into the greens pot by spoonfuls. Add paprika, Tabasco, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Taste and correct seasonings if necessary. Serve over rice.

This took about an hour or so the first time, probably less with subsequent attempts.

Turnip Magic

The only thing to do with turnips is braise them in salty liquid. I made an ersatz approximation of clay-pot chicken the other night, involving chicken and quartered onions and quartered turnips in a covered casserole dish in the oven, covered with a bizarre soy sauce/worcestershire/molasses/mustard/other stuff mixture (it worked okay, trust me). The turnips, which softened and tenderized and soaked up sauce and poached in chicken juice, were lovely, the best part of the meal.

Rice Cooker Magic

The Chief Taster espied an orphaned rice cooker the other day on what I fondly call our local "sidewalks o' plenty," and in his immeasurable wisdom, made off with it (as well as a slightly outdated postal scale and a toaster oven). At first I was suspicious, having in the past observed rice cookers used solely to make plain white rice -- and white rice is just so not me, you know?

Tonight, however, I came home from work late. I had a craving for stuffed acorn squash, but I knew it would take forever . . . and yet, that rice cooker gleamed seductively on the table. What the heck, I thought, so I threw in:

1/2 cup wild rice
1 cup pearl barley
5 dried shiitakes, stemmed and broken into pieces
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
2.25 cups water

In the plastic veggie steamer insert, I placed:
1 acorn squash, halved and trimmed to fit

Closed the lid, plugged it in, did a load or two of laundry . . . dinner! (Some assembly required.)

This thing is going to revolutionize my late-working nights.

Roast Chicken Revised

Came across a couple of new ways to roast chicken that promised to keep it juicy and succulent, so I combined a few techniques last night and came up with something really good.

1. Thaw whole chicken, remove giblets. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, lots of salt (1/2 to 1 cup), or soak in brine (~1 cup salt in 1 gallon water). Leave in refrigerator for a few hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 F or so. Chop up a few potatoes and sweet potatoes and heads of garlic or what-have-you, and toss them in a roasting pan with olive oil, salt, and thyme. Throw these in the oven 10-15 minutes before the chicken is ready.

3. Mash together garlic, oregano, sage, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil to form a runny paste. Spread the paste under the chicken skin all over and smear any extra outside the skin.

4. Place the chicken on top of the potatoes in the roasting pan, breast side down. Roast for 50-60 minutes (for a 4.5-pound bird) and check for doneness.

This version makes the chicken skin a dark, dark golden brown, which was somewhat scary for this timid roaster, but the relatively fast hot cooking of pre-brined chicken didn't make the meat dry out. The timing was perfect for the potatoes and other veggies.

Roasted Lamb

Having done the roasted-Costco-boneless-lamb-leg thing three or four times now, I think I have my technique down pat (good thing, since there're two more in the freezer).

First thing is to pare off the fat layer. This is easier when the meat is still partially frozen (though not so cold that the de-boned leg can't be unfolded). I still don't know quite how obsessive I have to be about getting every last speck of surface fat, and I think I spent the better part of an hour paring the fat off the last one, so maybe next time I'll be less careful and see if everything still tastes pretty much the same.

Then the marinade. I use some combination of the following ingredients:

black olives (1/2 to 3/4 cup)
garlic (1 whole bulb)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
sage
cumin
basil
other dried green herbs

Slather this all over the meat, then fold it back up into a ball, stuff it back into the netting it came in (or tie it up with kitchen twine), and let it marinate for a few hours.

Then roast at 350 for 90 minutes or so. I usually take it out and make a cut somewhere near the middle to check for doneness.

Braised Asian Greens

Last week we got a few bunches of bok choy and tatsoi that I didn't get around to until last night. Some friends brought over an excellent and simple bok choy dish last week that I really enjoyed, but my preparation didn't turn out much like theirs. First, my bunches weren't quite as "baby" as theirs, so I separated the leaves instead of leaving them whole. Since there was plenty of dirt at the bunches' bases that didn't come out with soaking, this turned out to be a good idea.

I sauteed the leaves in a bit of olive oil over fairly high heat for a bit, then added a splash of water and a dash of salt and covered the pan. I let the leaves steam for a while, then added three drops of fish sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and a splash of rice vinegar. In deference to the chief taster's tastes, I steamed them a bit longer than I might otherwise have, and was worried that they'd be too limp, but they turned out just fine really.

The entire bag of bok choy and tatsoi turned out to be just enough for the two of us when prepared this way. This preparation is quick and doesn't mind if you don't bother to carefully measure ingredients or cooking time.

Weekend Waffles

I've been relying on the basic Joy of Cooking recipe for waffles, but this morning I tweaked it somewhat and came up with a good recipe that fills up the two of us just fine, with nicely browned crispy-edged waffles. Without further ado:

1/2 cup fine-ground whole wheat flour
Heaping 1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp lavender salt

2 small eggs
1/2 cup milk
Heaping 1/4 cup yogurt
3-4 tbsp butter, melted

Whisk dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk just until blended. Pour onto preheated waffle iron by 1/2-cupfuls and cook until nicely browned. Serve with jam or what-have-you. Quick, easy, seems to work for the chief taster fellow.

Meat cheat

The other week at the farmers' market the Prather Ranch dude caught me cheating with the Marin Sun dude. So embarrassing! A smart meatdulteress would, of course, shop at each on alternate weekends . . . but my freezer is getting bare, and I wanted to fill it up with good meat before our every-six-weeks carnival of TJ's/Costco temptation, where I might otherwise give in and buy TJ's ground buffalo (grain-fed, alas) and other strange flesh at Costco. So I splurged at Marin Sun and picked up a roast and a couple of steaks, and skipped merrily over to PR for the regular buffalo and maybe a bonus steak. PR guy rang up my order, then peered over the counter suspiciously, spying my conspicuous bag of . . . someone else's meat. I turned scarlet with shame. In a fit of jealousy he insisted that I take a skirt steak and compare theirs with his.

So now I have two skirt steaks and two tri-tips. The prices differ by a couple of bucks per pound, but PR is pricier on one cut and MS is more expensive on the other -- a wash. As far as I can tell, Marin Sun is 100% grass-fed, whereas PR's is mostly grass-fed and finished on alfalfa hay, barley, and rice. Here's a quote from PR Steve on that topic: "Our beef is grass fed for the majority of it's life, then finished on a mixture of barley, rice and alfalfa, which allows for more intramuscular fat and marbling and that gives the beef a 'beefier' flavor. One hundred percent grass fed can be a little too lean and can be inconsistent because grass is inconsistent, when it's dry the beef may not be as good." (Follow the link for a picture!)

FirstI did up the Marin Sun tri-tip (having run out of time to marinate the skirt steak). I decided to broil it and make crepes.

While composing the rest, I briefly marinated the steak in a little dish of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, pepper, and rosemary salt:






Then, cherry tomato relish! I chopped up most of a pint of Eatwell's cherry tomatoes with a splash of balsamic vinegar, Eatwell's rosemary salt, dried oregano, a few sliced black olives, and a chopped green onion, also from (you guessed it) Eatwell. Later I added a pair of delicious ripe bell peppers that had gone under the broiler with the steak, peeled and chopped.






I made just enough crepe batter for two large ones. (Whisk together 1 small egg, 1 tbsp melted butter, 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup flour, and 1/8 tsp salt. Pour into hot nonstick pan, swirl to coat, and cook briefly on each side until slightly browned.)

While making the crepes, I broiled the steak for a few minutes on each side. It turned out just about perfect -- medium rare.

And the finished crepe:

The steak in this was fantastic; juicy, tender, extremely flavorful. It tasted strongly of cow the way good goat cheese tastes like goat. I know that's a terrible analogy, but there doesn't seem to be a tasting wheel for beef. Salt, rust, blood, grass?


A few days later I marinated and broiled the Prather Ranch tri-tip in exactly the same way. While doing that I put together a massive salad nicoise:
I boiled some new potatoes, beets, and a couple of (beautifully orange-yolked) eggs, and simmered some zucchini and yellow carrots. Also in starring roles are cucumbers, olives, salad greens, tomatoes, radishes, fresh figs, red peppers, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. All dressed with a nice dressing of mustard, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Mmm!

And with the steak draped atop:

This steak, though also excellent, was not quite as cow-y in flavor. It was a tiny bit less tender, but the most noticeable fault, relative to the other, was the loss in rich flavor. It's conceivable that pairing the first steak with tomatoes, and this with mainly other veggies, gave the first an advantage. I'll have to test this theory with the pair of skirt steaks.

Deformed children of a twisted mind

For every delicious quick enchilada there is a secret mutant evil twin carbohydrate-like substance locked in a closet somewhere, and in this case that would be Monday night's well-meaning but bizarre and unnatural pasta feast. I had a delicious tagliatelle dish the previous Friday at Citizen Cake. It was a lovely shade of deep but pleasant yellow, with a perfectly clingy, faintly cheesy, delicate savory sauce wending its way among luscious organic veggie bits and toothsome noodles.

On Monday, when I thought about making pasta, the only adjective that seemed important happened to be "yellow," and my primitive reptile brain leapt to the conclusion that if only I could make my pasta sauce the same shade of yellow as that wonderful stuff from last time, it would be just as good! But I wanted some tomato in there, and there were some mushrooms in the fridge. Following this train of thought to its logical conclusion, I created the most inedible dish of the year, whole-wheat pasta with turmeric-tomato-shiitake-olive sauce. I admit, it's difficult to add enough turmeric to overpower those other strong savory flavors, but in my single-minded pursuit of yellowness, I somehow succeeded. For future reference, it takes about a heaping tablespoon.

The result was bitter and disgusting, but I didn't give up. Proving that an alien with no taste buds had taken over my brain, I then remembered that a little sugar can sometimes correct and enhance the flavor of a sauce, so I added three or four tablespoons. Yep, although I don't quite remember through the haze of insanity, it's true that I may have added an entire quarter-cup of brown sugar to a small pot of tomato sauce. This officially converted the mess to turmeric-shiitake-olive ketchup.

I gave up and went out for crepes.

Quick Tomatillo Enchiladas

All measurements are approximate:

8-9 corn tortillas
3/4 lb chicken breasts
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup tomato puree (NOT paste) (optional)

Sauce:
1 lb tomatillos
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup fresh basil or cilantro
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper, or 1 fresh jalapeno

Poach chicken in barely simmering water for about 5 minutes, then turn off heat and cover pot. Leave for 15 minutes, then remove chicken, drain and shred with a fork. If it's pink in the middle, throw it back in the water and return to a simmer for a couple more minutes.

Mix shredded chicken, shredded cheese, and (optional) tomato puree in a bowl. Divide mixture between tortillas. Place a cylinder of filling on each tortilla, roll up tortillas, and arrange tightly in an 8x8 baking pan.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Blend all sauce ingredients except tomatillos in food processor until pureed. Add tomatillos and blend until tomatillos are mostly pureed but a few small chunks remain.

Pour tomatillo sauce over and around rolled enchiladas and bake for about 20 minutes, or until sauce no longer looks terribly wet, or browns slightly. Actually I have no idea how long, the original recipe called for 1 cup cream instead of the yogurt and probably turns out a lot saucier. This version got sort of cakey on top, which was fine with me.

Garnish with lettuce and olives and sliced radishes and what have you.

Fresh out of the oven, this was way too lemony, but the leftovers were perfectly mellow. Next time I might cut back on the lemon juice and the tomato puree; I forgot how citrusy those tomatillos are. The tortillas get totally squishy. I don't know if toasting them or pre-frying them would help. Flour tortillas would not be as nice in this dish.

This is a quick recipe: in under an hour everything was ready down to the garnishes and I'd washed my hair.

Meyer Lemon Tart

2 large Meyer lemons
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter

1 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup ice water

Make crust: Preheat oven to 400 F. Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle ice water over and mix in with spatula until mixture holds together when pressed. Roll out on flat surface into a circle about 12 inches across. Press into 9-inch pie plate and crimp edges. Prick all over with a fork and bake at 400 F for about 15 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove and allow to cool.

Make filling: Zest both lemons. Juice both lemons into a separate bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugar and lemon zest. Add lemon juice and butter and heat over a double boiler, whisking constantly, until butter melts. Stir with a spatula, brushing down sides, until custard thickens. Continue stirring for a few seconds and then pour custard through a sieve into a bowl.

Test custard for sweetness and add powdered sugar if necessary. Pour into prepared crust and chill for four hours.

The original recipe called for only a tablespoon of zest, or the zest of only one lemon, or something like that. I wanted to use as much Meyery goodness as possible, so I zested both. I think this made the custard a tad too sour/bitter/zesty, so I had to add some powdered sugar after the custard was done.

Apple Walnut Cream Tart (quick)

A few sheets of phyllo (6-12)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter
3-4 apples, thinly sliced
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup walnuts, ground in food processor until smooth
1/8 tsp salt, preferably lavender

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Toast the walnuts before grinding them if you like; I didn't bother and this turned out fine anyway. Whisk together the walnut butter, egg, milk, salt, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Set aside.

Saute the apples in 1 tbsp melted butter for about five minutes. Add 3 tbsp brown sugar and set aside.

Mix 1 tbsp brown sugar with cinnamon.

Layer phyllo sheets in 9-inch pie pan. Brush every other sheet with part of the remaining 1 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Fold down corners that extend above the rim of the pan.

Fill pan with sauteed apples; top with walnut mixture. Bake in 350 F oven for about 50 minutes, or until center of topping is set.

I was pressed for time and skipped the apple-sauteing step, thinking the long baking would suffice. Because I used my spiffy slaw slicer from Lehman's, the apples were cut thinly enough that this worked. Sauteing them might have been a good idea if they were slightly thicker. It also would have cut down the apple volume a bit.

This turned out very tasty and creamy. The chief taster seemed to like it very much; I found it less satisfying than a plain old apple pie. This is still a good way to use up the end of a phyllo package, and it's quicker than making pastry.

Yay, it's Cabbage! (quick)

1/2 large head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2 links italian-style or other sausage, peeled and crumbled or sliced
1 apple, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 quarter lemon

Over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until limp. Add sausage and cook for 2 minutes. Add cabbage and all other ingredients except the lemon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until cabbage begins to soften. Stir occasionally. Uncover, add lemon, and cook for 10 more minutes or until cabbage is soft, stirring occasionally. Taste and correct with a little bit of balsamic vinegar, salt, or sugar as necessary.

This is a fairly complete one-dish meal, especially with popovers on the side or some other bready thing. It's also a nice shade of deep pink, as are most of my experimental recipes for some reason. My theory is that there are too few good recipes for pink and purple foods like beets, beet greens, and red cabbage, and so I'm disproportionately forced to come up with such recipes on my own. Anybody can cook a normal-colored food, but it takes some doing to serve up something that invariably ends up looking like shredded yard flamingo.

Flamboyance notwithstanding, cabbage and sausage is extremely tasty and this recipe is extremely easy and quick.

Double-Crusted Berry Pie

Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour (I use up to 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt (if you use salted butter, omit at least half the salt)
1 1/2 sticks cold butter (can replace less than half with cold coconut oil)
1/3 cup plus one tablespoon ice water

Filling:
5-6 cups berries, fresh or frozen
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
4-5 tbsp cornstarch (I like a thicker filling and use more cornstarch)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in cold butter, but do not overwork the pastry; leave lumps the size of peas. Sprinkle ice water over and cut in with a spatula. Do not overwork; use water only until the dough just coheres.

Mix the filling ingredients. Place bottom crust in pie pan; add filling; dot with butter; add top crust. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes, then at 350 F for another 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for about four hours.

Almost always works out well. The more cornstarch the better; my pie failures usually have to do with runny fillings. Too much cornstarch will generate the gummy filling associated with McDonald's fruit pies and other crap, but I don't mind that problem so much if the fruit is good. Adding whole wheat flour to the pastry definitely brings it down a notch, but it's still more than edible.

Fabulous Roasted Lamb

This recipe was loosely based on the Roasted Butterflied Leg of Lamb recipe in the Joy of Cooking, with the (also loosely interpreted) Tapenade Stuffing variation.

4.5 pound boneless leg of lamb

Marinade:
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Remove as much fat and membrane as possible from the lamb, then unfold and flatten the meat as much as possible.

Mix marinade ingredients together in food processor and process until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

Spread the marinade over the inside of the lamb leg. Roll the meat tightly and tie with kitchen string. If any marinade leaks out during rolling, spread it over the outside of the roll. The roll will not look neat; mine was sort of an amorphous ball.

Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

Remove from refrigerator about 1/2 hour prior to cooking. Preheat oven to 325 F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and slowly roast the meat for about 1 1/2 hours. It is not possible to speed up this process; roasting slowly at a low temperature ensures that the meat remains tender and pink, but not rare, throughout. If you have a meat thermometer you might check the meat for doneness at this point. Having no such thermometer, I stabbed mine with a knife and peeked around for doneness; it seemed a little too juicy and pink in there, so I raised the temperature to 425 F and roasted for another 15 minutes to make sure.

This turned out perfectly. I was expecting more of a showing from the marinade/stuffing, but it kind of disappeared into the meat somehow. The original recipe called for two cups of olives, but I suspected that might be too powerful and salty a stuffing, so I pared it down substantially and added much more garlic, a significant hit of mustard, and some herbs that I liked. The very very center of this roast was still a tad rare, but the outside edges got only to medium well done, and remained very tender. It turned out to be the best lamb I've had in a while.

The 4.5 pound leg, after I removed at least a pound of fat, made about six servings.

Matt's Favorite Blondies

These are adapted from some Sheila Lukins book:
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp hot water
2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping cup chocolate chips

Grease a 9x13 baking pan.
Melt coconut oil, butter and brown sugar together over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Dissolve coffee powder in hot water; add to oil-sugar mixture and stir. Allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, then beat into the rest of the ingredients in three additions.
Stir in the chocolate chips, then spread in prepared pan.
Bake about 25 minutes. Cool completely and cut into small squares.

These were pleasantly moist rather than cakey. The middle ones, slightly underdone, verged on gummy, but nobody other than me seemed to notice. With lavender salt, and with a bit of extra cooking to caramelize the sugar and oils together, these were unusually complex-flavored for mere cookies. They went well with an excellent V. Sattui red.

Japaneseiness

Argh, I haven't updated this blog for a month now! But now I'm back. Part of that month was spent off traveling anyway, so it doesn't count. I've been cooking Japanese food the past couple of days. Here are the favorites so far:

Zucchini and Onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchinis, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
ground black pepper
Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini, and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Stir in teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Cook until zucchini are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in ground pepper, and serve immediately.

Teriyaki Braised Chicken
4 chicken thighs
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small dried pepper, seeds removed
Place all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Increase heat, turning thighs frequently, and cook until liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze. Serve over rice.

Japanese Pumpkin Salad
1 small pumpkin or butternut squash, seeded and quartered
salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for basting
8 oz frozen chestnuts (I used vacuum-packed)
Dressing
1.5in fresh ginger, grated
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Roast the pumpkin, sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled with oil, for 20 minutes, then add the chestnuts and roast for a further 15 minutes.
3. Leave to cool.
4. If using butternut squash, roast for 30 minutes before adding the nuts.
5. Scoop or chop the squash and chestnuts into bite-sized pieces.
6. For the dressing, whisk the dressing ingredients together, pour over the salad and toss well before serving.
(This was the chief taster's very favorite dish of all.)

Braised Japanese-style Mushrooms
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water
1/2 tbsp sake
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms. Mix the sake with the soy sauce in a cup.
Heat a dry non-stick frying pan, then add the mushrooms, gill side down. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Turn the mushrooms over and cook for about 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until water starts to come out.
Pour in the sake/soy sauce mixture and keep stirring for 30 seconds to 1 minute, turning the mushrooms over, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are shrunken and well-flavored.
Serve hot; or cool in pan and serve at room temperature. Can also be sliced.

Soba with Sesame Seed dressing
1/2 cup sesame seeds
8 ounces dried soba noodles
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 sheet nori, rolled and cut into thin ribbons
Cook noodles in boiling water for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
Mix together the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil. Add the noodles, and toasted sesame seeds. Toss well, then stir in the nori ribbons. Let the dish sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving. If serving the chief taster, who hates cold noodles, toss it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes before serving.

Some recipes I'd like to try:
Black Moon's Japanese Recipe Page
Marinated Daikon and Carrot
Chicken Katsu
Just Hungry's Japanese Page
Kake's Japanese Page

Tarte Tatin

For pastry:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter
1/3 cup cold sour cream or yogurt

For filling:
3 pounds or so of apples, peeled, quartered, and cored
1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar

Melt butter and sugar together in a cast-iron pan. Arrange apple quarters on their sides in the skillet, packing them tightly together, as many as will fit. Cook over medium heat, boiling syrup until thick and medium brown, about 45 minutes. Watch pan to prevent burning.

Meanwhile, prepare pastry by blending flour, sugar, and salt; then cut in butter until pea-sized crumbs form. Add sour cream or yogurt and blend. Roll out pastry into a circle about the same size as the pan.

When the apples and caramel are done, lay pastry circle over the apples in the skillet and press down around the edges. Place entire skillet in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.

Allow to cool at least 5-10 minutes. Loosen edges of pastry by running a knife around the edges of the pan. Invert pan onto a plate and shake gently until the tart falls out. Allow to cool 30 more minutes and serve.

Frozen puff pastry is not acceptable!

Quick, Easy, Foolproof Cheesecake

8-10 graham crackers
1/2 stick butter

2 8-oz pkgs cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs

For crust: Put graham crackers in a food processor and process until they form coarse crumbs. Melt the butter and add to the processor; process until the crumbs begin to stick together. Pat the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan.

For filling: Blend cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt until the cream cheese is smooth. Add flour and beat until smooth. Add eggs and beat until well-combined. Pour filling into crust.

Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for about 45 minutes, or until edges are puffed and browning. Top with fruit.

This cheesecake seems relatively immune from overcooking. When I pulled it out of the oven and saw how brown and cracked the sides had gotten, I was sure it would be too dry, but it comes out as a pleasant, light custardy stuff. I have a detailed article in an old cooking magazine about how to make the perfect cheesecake and it discusses ingredient proportions and cooking time in great detail and depth. I couldn't find that article before cooking this cheesecake, but I'm fairly sure this recipe breaks all of those rules. It still comes out very nicely.

the left's answer to bacon

Perhaps I am a bit slow, but I've just discovered for myself the joys of brown butter, or beurre noisette if you're one of those people. It is pure bliss. I might even say it is a better flavor enhancer than bacon, although I am admittedly biased against smoky flavors and in favor of caramelly sweet fat stuff. And brown butter is approximately as easy to make as it is to hack off a slice of bacon from the packet in the freezer.

All you have to do is plunk a stick of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for about ten minutes. When it melts and simmers long enough to turn a medium to dark amber color, pour it through a thickness of paper towel over a strainer into a jar. Then bring the jar to your lips and take a long luxurious pull. Just kidding, you can just smell it. Mmmmmm!

I used this to dress some nasty bitter sauteed greens and they turned into nasty bitter greens coated with ambrosia. It was awesome, they were fabulous, yum, the end.

Honey Lemon Bars

Found this recipe while looking for a way to use up the six pounds of honey that attacked me at Costco and wrestled their way into my cart.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 stick butter

Mix flour and sugar. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Pat into the bottom of an 8x8 pan and bake for 12 minutes in a 350F oven.

Filling:
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon rind
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

While crust is baking, whisk together honey and eggs. Add rest of ingredients and whisk well. (The salt I used was too coarse and didn't dissolve.) Pour over baked crust and put back in the 350F oven for about 25-30 minutes or until filling is set.

Next time I'm going to put it in the oven a little longer at a little lower temperature. In my oven the edges and top of this got rather too caramelized and chewy while the filling was still too runny. Tasted great anyway. The honey makes this much more interesting than the usual plain sugary lemon bars. I also used lavender salt, which gave these a barely-perceptible boost. The chief taster agrees: they're good!

Spring Veggies with Lemon Vinaigrette

This was so good, the chief taster requested a second round just as soon as the farm sends us more snap peas. I substantially modified this recipe from one found in Field of Greens, a vegetarian cookbook associated with Greens restaurant in SF. My version isn't vegetarian anymore, sadly, but I'm sure even the original version would have been good. It took about half an hour to assemble and cook.

4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 stalk green garlic, very thinly sliced
3 or 4 small young carrots, quartered and chopped
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, de-veined
1 strip cooked bacon, crumbled
3 canned artichoke hearts, sliced

Boil potatoes 15 minutes or until tender. Boil peas and carrots 2-3 minutes or until tender. Combine and toss with artichoke hearts, crumbled bacon, and sliced garlic. Add lemon vinaigrette:

Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1/2 tsp rosemary salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp bacon grease
2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk all together. Add a little mustard if desired. Pour over veggie salad and toss.

So tasty!

Caramel Popcorn

To make good popcorn, heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a covered pan with four or five kernels until the kernels start to pop. Immediately add 1/3 cup popcorn and cover again. Shake the pan frequently to prevent burning. I did this twice and not a single kernel remained unpopped either time.

While the popcorn is popping, melt 1/4 stick butter in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar (or maple syrup) and 1/4 tsp salt and boil for about 10 minutes. Throw a couple of handfuls of salted peanuts in with the popcorn and then drizzle the caramel over while stirring.

When I made this I had the proportions wrong -- too much butter and too little sugar. The result was good, in a greasy sort of way, but it wasn't very sweet and it seemed excessively buttery. It didn't need to be much sweeter, but less butter next time will be nice.

Spinach and Green Garlic Souffle

This recipe was from the Eatwell farm newsletter last week. I modified it slightly to account for my lack of cream (I don't really make recipes involving cream anymore, except for special occasions and occasions for which I need to go out and buy specific ingredients).

Butter and flour (or dust with cheese) a 6-cup souffle dish and preheat the oven to 375 F.

1 cup minced green garlic (Cuisinarted)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 stick butter
1 sprig thyme

Combine in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat, cover, and steep for 15 minutes.

1 bunch spinach, stems removed, or about a pound spinach leaves (Cuisinarted)
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
4 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites

Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, cook for 1 minute while stirring. Whisk in milk and stir until it thickens. Add salt, goat cheese, and Parmesan. Turn off heat, stir in egg yolks, spinach, and garlic-milk mixture from above. Season with pepper.

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form medium-firm peaks. Fold the whites into the rest of the mixture. Bake in prepared dish until set. The recipe called for 30 minutes but for me it seemed to take more like 45 minutes to an hour.

This got rave reviews from the chief taster, who was also very helpful in preparing it. I served it with popovers and it was a simple but rich meal. With a salad too, it would have been perfect.