food from books

Pizza!

2012-01-27T19:21:00.002-05:00

I don't know if you can hear me sighing with contentment, all the way over where you are, but a good, simple homemade pizza has been on my wish list for a very long time. I've clipped and bookmarked a lot of recipes, and made one or two that weren't good at all {too bready, mostly} and one that was (this one, which I really should make again}. I even bought a pizza stone in an after-Christmas sale so I'd be ready.

But when the February issue of Better Homes & Gardens arrived last week or the week before, with 'Artisan Pizza At Home' on the cover, I thought I'd just be clipping another recipe to try someday. But then I saw that the recipes were from Peter Reinhart, and I looked at his crusts, his sauces, and his toppings, and this suddenly seemed to be the time. {Besides, I already had another pizza recipe of his bookmarked....} The only problem was that I didn't read the recipe carefully, and forgot that the dough needs to sit overnight in the refrigerator, and it took a week to find two days in a row when I'd be home to make the dough and then make the pizza.

So easy, and so, so good. I am so happy with this pizza! There are variations in the magazine for the dough ('all-purpose' and 'multigrain with honey'), the sauce (a tomato sauce and an herb oil), and the toppings (including a pizza with caramelized garlic and mushrooms that I might be making tomorrow with the other half of my dough). There's good advice in the article, and some details that seem to have been forgotten (four pizzas, but how big are they supposed to be?), and I would say it's worth buying this issue, if you don't get the magazine already, to get all five pages.

This is the version I made -- essentially a pizza margherita with tomatoes, fresh basil (I had a little left over) and mozzarella, on the multigrain crust. The dough is made in a stand mixer and was beautiful to work with, both in the mixing and in the shaping. I do need a little more practice with that (the edges were thicker than the middle), but the dough baked up into a not-too-bready {look at those holes!} thin-crust pizza with good color (you can't see this, but it was nicely browned on the bottom) and very good flavor. {And it doesn't taste too wheaty. Like most things labeled 'multigrain,' this crust has only 1 extra gram of fiber, but we can still feel virtuous about that.}

The uncooked sauce is made with canned crushed tomatoes, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, and a lot of dried herbs, and is bright and fresh-tasting. This was another spot where the recipe seemed a little vague; it's important for the sauce to not be too thick, so it won't be 'pasty' when the pizza is baked, but how thin is it supposed to be? I ended up adding only the initial 1/4 cup of water; this made the sauce seem thin enough without being runny. The article also says that it's important to not use too much sauce -- only about 1/4 cup for an 8 to 10-inch pizza (oh, there's that missing information!); 'the sauce should just kiss the dough.' {I used a little more than 1/4 cup; it did seem to be too little, but it was right in the end.}

My other notes {and some of Peter Reinhart's} are in the recipe below, which I already know is going to end up on next year's list of this year's favorites. :)

Artisan Pizza at Home
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens (February, 2012)
enough dough for four 10-inch pizzas; enough sauce for about twelve {I'll freeze some}

Multigrain Pizza Dough with Honey
4 cups unbleached bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour {I used white whole wheat flour}
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons olive oil {hint: if you measure out the olive oil first, it's easier to measure the honey into the same, now greased, measuring spoon}
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt or 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups room-temperature water

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted (at first) with the paddle attachment, mix all the ingredients together on low speed for about 3 minutes, until all of the flour is moistened. Switch to the dough hook, increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and supple. {It was! It also tended to climb up one side of the bowl and stand there, so I stopped the mixer a few times to push it back down under the dough hook.} If the dough is too stiff, sprinkle in more water, a teaspoon at a time; if it seems too slack, sprinkle in a little more flour. {Mine seemed perfect.} It should be tacky but not sticky.

Lightly grease a mixing bowl with olive oil or cooking spray. Form the dough into a smooth ball and place it in the oiled bowl, turning it to coat the surface with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (the wrap shouldn't touch the dough) and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then place the bowl in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight or for up to three days. The dough will rise somewhat in the refrigerator and then 'go dormant from the cold.'

All-Purpose Pizza Sauce
one 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
a few generous grindings of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 cup water, more if needed

In a medium bowl, whisk together the tomatoes, the vinegar, the dried herbs and the pepper. Taste the sauce and whisk in salt to taste, and the 1/4 cup of water. If necessary, add more water to thin out the sauce {'it should easily spread over the dough'}. Taste again and add more salt if needed. This makes about 3 cups of sauce.

For the Pizza
fresh basil leaves, sliced into a chiffonade
mozzarella cheese {I used a very finely shredded one; I liked my pizza with a fairly light coating of cheese, about a generous 1/4 cup per pizza}
olive oil for brushing the edges

About two hours before you plan to bake the pizzas, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Spray a small rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray or lightly brush it with olive oil. Divide the dough into four equal pieces, and shape each one into a smooth ball. Place the balls of dough on the greased baking sheet and cover them lightly with a sheet of plastic wrap. {They will rise during this time, but not dramatically.}

About 45 minutes before baking, set your pizza stone on an oven rack set about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the oven, and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. {You can of course also bake these pizzas on a baking sheet.) Place a sheet of parchment paper on a flat cookie sheet (or a rimmed cookie sheet, turned over), or a pizza peel if you have one

There's a video here about shaping the pizza dough. Working with one ball of dough at a time, you essentially flatten the dough into a round disk about 5 inches across. Then form one of your hands into a fist, with your thumb left free, and drape the dough over the lower part of your curled fingers. Work your other hand in under the dough in the same way and use your thumbs to turn the dough and gently stretch it into a circle. {The dough is very easy to work with.} When the circle is about 8 to 10 inches across, lay it on the parchment-lined cookie sheet and gently press it out with your fingers to form a round, fairly even crust, a little built up at the edges.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the pizza sauce onto the crust and spread it out to within about half an inch of the edges {the back of a tablespoon was a good tool for this}. It will seem thinly sauced {at least it did to me}, but it will be fine. Sprinkle the basil and then the mozzarella cheese over the sauce, then brush the exposed edges of the dough lightly with olive oil.

Using the flat or overturned baking sheet as a peel, carefully slide the parchment paper with the pizza on top onto the pizza stone. Bake the pizza for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until the sauce and cheese are bubbling and the edges are starting to turn golden. You can shape and assemble a second pizza while the first one is baking. To remove the pizza from the (very!) hot pizza stone, bring your improvised pizza peel to the edge of the stone and carefully pull the parchment paper, with the pizza on top, back onto it. It'll be fine. Serve right away. {That was one thing I noticed; this pizza did not stay very hot for very long.}

Spiced Applesauce Bread

2012-01-11T15:02:00.002-05:00

I do know it's going to happen. One day, I'll make one of the straightforward, well-written, appealing, not-overly-tofu-ey recipes from this book and it won't be very good. It won't slip into my recipe binder as quickly as this corn bread or this other tea bread or this simple side dish did. If that sad day comes, it'll be okay ... I'm sure it will be an isolated incident. :)

What I like best about this recipe {besides its very good texture and flavor :) } is that during the fall and winter, anyway, I would almost always have all of the ingredients -- except the cider -- on hand. It's also nice to {finally} find another applesauce bread/cake that I really like. That has seemed hard, somehow. The America's Test Kitchen/The Way The Cookie Crumbles one is still {and will probably always be} the best one I've ever tasted, but this one has its own spot beside it. {P.S: Both the flavor and texture are even better -- richer, moister, smoother -- after the bread has sat, cooled and well-wrapped, overnight.}

Spiced Applesauce Bread
adapted from Vegetarian Classics, by Jeanne Lemlin
for one 9x5 inch loaf

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger {a little less, for me, than the 1 teaspoon in the original recipe}
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 teaspoon salt
two large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup apple cider

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan{or just spray it with nonstick cooking spray}.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, nuts and salt. In a separate, medium-sized bowl {a 4-cup glass measuring cup worked well} whisk together the eggs, canola oil, applesauce and cider until well combined. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until evenly moistened. {If you're using your electric mixer, mix at low speed, then use a rubber spatula to make sure the dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl are incorporated.}

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake the bread for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. For the neatest presentation, let the bread cool completely, for about two hours, before slicing, but for the best treat, try to eat at least one slice, even if it crumbles a little, while it's still warm.

Chicken Loaves with Marsala Mushroom Sauce

2012-01-09T19:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, yes, this is another old favorite instead of something sparkly and new. {I've only found time to try two new recipes since the beginning of the year -- a pasta sauce and a cookie -- and neither one was very sparkly.}

This recipe was published in Gourmet a long time ago, in the column in the front of the magazine where readers could request recipes from restaurants. It's essentially chicken marsala, but instead of a sauteed chicken breast, there's a tender little meatloaf for each person, sauteed first for some color and then poached in chicken broth and marsala so they stay very moist.

To be honest, the mushrooms could be better {this recipe breaks all the mushroom-cooking rules learned elsewhere}, but they're not bad, and it's nice, one in a while, to do things the easy way. But it wouldn't be the worst idea to saute them ahead of time, like you do here, and then add them back in at the end.

Chicken Loaves with Marsala Mushroom Sauce
adapted slightly from Gourmet
for six to eight servings

one small onion, very finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
two pounds ground chicken
two garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
two large eggs
1/4 cup milk {low-fat milk is fine}
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
. . .
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
one 8 or 10-ounce carton sliced mushrooms {button or baby bella}
1 cup Marsala
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons unsalted butter {good, but optional}
more finely chopped fresh parsley, if you have some, as a garnish

In a small skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and saute the diced onion, stirring occasionally, until it is soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the minced or pressed garlic and saute for another 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sauteed onion and garlic, ground chicken, parsley, eggs, milk, parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs, using a big rubber spatula {or, even better, if messier, your hands}. Cover a large plate or a baking sheet with wax paper. Shape the mixture in six or eight individual oval loaves, setting each one on the plate as you form it. {Note: The mixture is very soft and gloppy. I find it easier to use one of my metal dry measuring cups to scoop out and form the loaves. The numbers don't add up somehow, but I get eight nicely sized round loaves using my 1/2 cup measuring cup, filled to just over the rim. Then I just press gently on two opposite sides to make them oval.}

To cook the chicken loaves, you'll need a large deep saute pan or low Dutch oven, at least 12 inches in diameter, with a lid. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan. Using a silicone spatula, gently place the chicken loaves in the pan, arranging them so they aren't touching each other. Cook them until they have a nice golden color on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Add the marsala and the sliced mushrooms to the pan, using a wooden spoon to tuck the mushrooms in between the chicken loaves. Cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by about half. Then add the chicken broth, cover the pan, and poach the chicken loaves in the simmering broth for about 20 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the largest one registers 170 degrees. {I like to gently turn them over once or twice so both sides have some time in the broth, and to baste the tops of the loaves once in a while with some of the broth.}

When the loaves are cooked through, use a slotted spoon or turner to lift them onto a serving dish; tent them with foil to keep them warm. Turn the heat up under the sauce remaining in the skillet and let it bubble and reduce for about 5 minutes. Off the heat, add the butter, if you're using it, and whisk it in the sauce. Pour the sauce over the loaves and garnish with more chopped parsley. Leftovers make great sandwiches!

Beef Ragout with Sundried Tomatoes and Winter Vegetables

2012-01-04T19:22:00.003-05:00

Are you in the same sudden snap of bitterly cold air? It's supposed to be over by tomorrow, when it will be just reasonably cold, but after the warm fall and December we've had, it almost feels good to bundle up and shiver a little.

I decided to celebrate by making my first beef stew of the season, some for dinner last night and tonight and some for the freezer. What ended up in my Dutch oven this time was based on a recipe in Diane Rossen Worthington's book American Bistro. This is a recipe I've experimented with before; the flavors that go into it {balsamic vinegar, butternut squash} are some of my favorites, and the techniques {caramelizing the onions, cooking some of the vegetables separately and adding them in at the end} are simple and worthwhile, but stew isn't, or shouldn't be, something you ever have to be rigid about. :)

I used less meat and more veggies than in the original, and chicken broth instead of beef or veal broth {with all the rich flavors in the sauce, I think it would be hard to notice the difference). I also roasted the butternut squash and parsnips in the oven while the meat was cooking, instead of simmering them in more broth {I knew that I would}. What I ended up with was so good: a deeply flavored sauce, tender beef, some of the vegetables {onions, sundried tomatoes} melting into nothing but flavor, and others {the butternut squash and the parsnips} staying whole and tasting sweet, or sweet and peppery, like themselves.

Beef Ragout with Sundried Tomatoes and Winter Vegetables
adapted from American Bistro, by Diane Rossen Worthington
for six generous servings

about ten sundried tomatoes {dry, not packed in oil}, sliced into strips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
about two pounds beef chuck (not 'lean stew meat'!), cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes, patted dry
two large onions, peeled, halved and sliced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
four to six small to medium-sized carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
4 tablespoons tomato paste
four garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 1/2 cups beef or veal stock, or even low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup red wine, such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon
four sprigs fresh parsley and two sprigs fresh thyme, preferably tied together with twine for easy removal
about 3 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
four to six parsnips, peeled and cut into half-inch chunks
about 1 cup frozen peas
finely chopped fresh parsley, as a garnish

Put the sliced sundried tomatoes in a boil and rehydrate them by pouring in enough boiling water to cover them; let them sit for 10 minutes, then drain the water off and set the softened tomatoes aside.

In a Dutch oven {holding about four to six quarts}, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, put the flour in a bowl or a large plastic bag, season it with salt and pepper, and dredge about half of the beef cubes in the flour. Shake off the excess flour and place the dredged beef in the hot oil {add only enough beef to cover the bottom of the pan without letting the meat crowd together}. Brown the beef. in batches, turning it to brown the pieces on all sides, for about 5 to 7 minutes per batch. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to lift the browned meat into a bowl.

Add another tablespoon or two of oil to the Dutch oven, add the sliced onions, and saute them, stirring often, over medium-high heat, until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Pour in the balsamic vinegar and continue stirring and cooking the onions, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the onions are browned and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the carrots and continue cooking and stirring for another 3 minutes or so, until the carrots start to soften. Then add the tomato paste, cook and stir for another minute or so to bring out its flavor, then add the garlic and saute for another minute.

Add the stock or broth, the red wine, the parsley and thyme sprigs, and the rehydrated sundried tomatoes to the pot, turn up the heat, scraping the browned bits again, and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the seared beef back into the pot and lower the heat to a low simmer. Cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about two hours, until the meat is very tender.

Meanwhile, about an hour after after you start simmering the stew, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cubed squash and parsnips with about a tablespoon of olive oil, season them with salt and pepper, spread them out in a shallow baking pan, and roast the vegetables in the oven for about 45 minutes, until they are tender and lightly browned. If they are ready before the stew is, remove the pan from the oven and cover it with foil.

When the meat is tender, uncover the pan, turn up the heat to medium, and simmer the stew for a final 10 to 15 minutes, to help thicken the sauce. About five minutes before serving, stir the roasted vegetables and the peas into the stew and toss gently. Garnish the stew with some finely chopped fresh parsley.

New favorites from this year

2011-12-25T17:40:00.001-05:00

I think I've mentioned before that I keep a running list of the new recipes I try, with a very simple 'yes, no or maybe' notation as to whether I think I would make them again. This year - so far :) -- I've experimented with 108 new recipes, a few more than last year, with about 35 that I will probably hold on to. It didn't exactly feel like a great year for new favorites, but things definitely looked rosier when I remembered recipes like these:

{in order of appearance}

Applesauce Snack Cake {January}

Fettuccine with Chestnuts, Pancetta and Sage {February}

Simple Drop Biscuits {June}

Homemade Dressing for Caesar Salad {July}

Chicken with Plum Chutney {September}

Butternut Squash Lasagna Rolls {December}

I kind of like the mix! There are two that I've already made again and again, one that I probably won't make more than once a year {but I'll feel oh-so-sophisticated when I do}, one that I can't believe I've only made the one time, one that I had been looking for for a while, and one that I might make again on New Year's Eve {along with a new dessert}. I'm already thinking about recipes and foods I want to try next year, but I like knowing that these will be there too.

A New Cookie

2011-12-23T21:53:00.006-05:00

{Updated}

In a lot of ways, this has been a season for old loves instead of new ones, and since I made these cookies again, and tucked these and these into the freezer, that's not such a bad thing. But it was also nice to find time to try one new recipe.

Lemony Slice-and-Bakes {you can find the recipe here} are just what they sound like: a simple, buttery dough, flavored with a lot {a lot} of fresh lemon zest, rolled into a log, chilled (or frozen), sliced and baked. Then the cookies are drizzled with a simple lemon juice-and-powdered-sugar glaze and sprinkled (if you want to) with decorating sugar. The cookies themselves aren't very sweet -- they're almost a little sharp -- so the glaze gives them a good balance, and it's very pretty.

{This dough seemed a little softer than it should be for rolling into a log, so it helped to chill it before shaping the log, as well as after.}

It's good knowing that these cookies would seem right at other times of the year (with a cup of tea, especially), and I'm so happy that the recipe was from this month's issue of Bon Appetit, an old love which just doesn't draw me in the way it used to. It feels so good to have something new from its pages. {And -- updated -- these were a big hit with the cookie eating public.}

Thank you for visiting here this year. I appreciate it! -- and I hope your holiday, and your new year, is filled with sweet things.

Simple and good: Quick Tomato Sauce

2011-12-18T21:00:00.003-05:00

A week or so ago I was trying to make some room on my DVR, and I decided to watch and then erase some of the cooking shows I had collected there. One of them was an episode of America's Test Kitchen featuring ciabatta and this quick tomato sauce. I ended up keeping it there, because I want to make the ciabatta, too, but there was something so interesting and promising about this simple sauce that I wanted to get to it sooner.

The idea to create a pasta sauce that would be better {mostly, less cloyingly sweet} than the ones in a jar, but still simple and quick to make. The Test Kitchen chef explained that sauteing onions in olive oil can release some bitter flavors, so what he did to add sweetness, and counter the acidity in the tomatoes, was to slowly caramelize some grated onion in butter and add only a tiny bit of sugar. He added olive oil and some fresh basil at the very end to add richness and fragrance to the sauce. {The other key point was to use canned crushed tomatoes that were mostly tomato -- it should be the first ingredient listed.}

What I did -- something I'm reminding myself to do more often -- was to taste the sauce along the way to see how it changed. When I first added the tomatoes to the sauteed onion and garlic, the flavor on the spoon was sharp and a little unpleasant. At the end of the very short (10-minute) cooking time, the sharpness had mellowed, and when I had added the olive oil and the basil, the sauce was instantly smoother, richer and fuller tasting. Even with something this simple, even for 10 minutes, I felt like I was cooking, and that was nice. This is really very good -- light, fresh-tasting, a good pantry recipe, and a wonderful early start to a new year of new recipes. :)

Quick Tomato Sauce
from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
for about 3 cups of sauce, enough for one pound of pasta

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated onion {a good-sized onion, peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater}
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt
two medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
one 28-ounce can high-quality crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a medium-saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, the dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and sugar. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Take the sauce off the heat and stir in the basil and olive oil; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Butternut Squash Lasagna Rolls

2011-12-08T18:44:00.001-05:00

I only watched The Fabulous Beekman Boys once or twice {but I thought it was very funny}. So I wasn't looking out for the companion cookbook, but when I saw it on the library's new books shelf last week I brought it home. It's a little over the top, like the boys and the show, but it was fun to look through it and I saw appealing recipes for an asparagus torte, a mint-lemon cooler, a mushroom pilaf, a caramelized pear bread pudding, and macaroni and cheese with mushrooms and kale {though I'd probably use spinach}. And this one, which is SO good.

My first instinct was to peel, cube and roast the butternut squash, because I know deep down and forever how good it is that way. But it was worth trying the easier method described in the recipe {essentially cutting the whole squash into quarters and roasting them, cut side down, in a covered roasting pan}. I think my instincts were right. This way, the squash seems to steam more than to roast, and it doesn't have that incredible flavor. But it's much easier, and there's enough other flavors in the filling, so it's OK.

The only other change I made was to dial down the mustard a little. It's just not a flavor that I really like {except in this}, so I only added about half a teaspoon. For me, that was enough to change the flavor of the filling from rich and slightly sweet to rich and slightly savory, so I think I'd do that again. {There are two other quick notes I made for next time: to cook an extra noodle or two, because inevitably one will tear or break in the cooking, and before filling the first one, to roughly divide the filling, right in the bowl, into eight parts, otherwise inevitably the first lasagna roll will have a lot more stuff in it than the last one. :)}

I already knew that I would like the butternut squash + sage + parmesan cheese + pasta combination, and I loved the idea of an easier way to make a butternut squash lasagna, or (as the recipe's headnote says) to imitate the flavors of butternut squash ravioli. And this is perfect on all counts. The cream doesn't really turn into a sauce, but it keeps the lasagna rolls moist and I didn't miss having one. It's elegant and delicious, and I just loved it. {I might try making this with light cream or half-and-half, but then again the cream is the only rich thing in it. On the other hand, the original recipe says that this serves four, but serving two rolls per person is sensible but a little unsatisfying, With a little more filling and an extra noodle, you could make three servings of three.}

Butternut Squash-Filled Lasagna Rolls
adapted from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook, by Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell with Sandy Gluck
for four servings {but see note above}

one medium-sized butternut squash, about two pounds
eight to ten dried lasagna noodles {about half a one-pound box}
1 1/3 cups grated parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup natural, unblanched almonds, finely ground {I used blanched, slivered almonds, and that was fine}
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon {my way} to 1 tablespoon {their way} Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
one large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the very top and the very bottom (root end} off the squash, then separate the long neck from the rounded bottom part. Slice each section of the squash lengthwise; scoop out and discard the seeds and stringy fibers at the bottom. Place the four pieces, cut side down, in a roasting pan or on a rimmed baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until the squash is very tender. {Make sure, when you test it, that the squash is tender all the way through.} Let the squash cool until you can handle it, then, using a fork or a tablespoon, pull the flesh off the skin. Or {this is my favorite way to cook it} cut up and peel the squash, discard the seeds and strings, cut the flesh into small pieces, and lay them in a lightly greased pan in one layer. Roast them at 400 degrees for about 40 to 45 minutes. until they are very soft, slightly caramelized, and incredibly hard to resist. Put the cooked pieces into a large bowl and mash them with a heavy fork, a wooden spoon or even a potato masher. You will need about 1 1/2 cups of squash for the filling; if you have a little more, you can use all of it. Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles {eight for the recipe, and one or two extra for insurance} according to the package directions. Drain and run the cooked noodles under cold water.

For the filling, in a large bowl, combine the squash, 2/3 cup of the parmesan, the ground almonds, panko, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning, then stir in the beaten egg. Using a table knife or a tablespoon, divide the filling, right into the bowl, into eight roughly-even portions.

Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking dish {though a rectangular baking dish works better...}. Lay one or two lasagna noodles on a work surface, with a short end facing you; pat them dry with a paper towel if needed, and cover each one with its 1/8th share of the filling. Roll each noodle up into a compact bundle and place it in the baking dish, seam side down.

Pour the heavy cream evenly over the lasagna rolls, and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2/3 cup of parmesan cheese. Bake in the 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream is bubbling and the top of the dish is lightly browned.

Apple Brownies

2011-12-03T12:31:00.001-05:00

This is the second recipe I've tried (not enough!) from Amy Traverso's beautiful new book, The Apple Lover's Cookbook, and it's as simple and lovely as the first one was.

In this book, Amy gives specific advice {and lists}on what kinds of apples to use in each recipe {but she does say that this one is 'extremely adaptable' ...). I had already guessed that, and to be honest I wanted to use up some of the apples in my crisper. As it turned out, I had one from the correct list {a 'firm'sweet' Golden Delicious} and one from Column C {a 'tender-tart' Cortland} but that was all okay. Other than that, and partly because I wasn't paying attention, I changed the recipe a tiny bit, using unsalted butter and little extra salt in the batter, leaving out the walnuts {I just forgot them, but I would definitely add them next time} and substituting a teaspoon of vanilla for the cinnamon. {I've been making a lot of spiced apple cakes this fall, and I was just in the mood for something different. I liked it!}

The only thing brownie-like about this recipe, in my humble opinion, is the shape {they're cut into bars} and the pan they're baked in{that hard-to-find-now-but-fortunately-I-have-one 11x7 inch brownie pan}. What it really gives you is a delicately flavored, light-as-air cake/bar cookie with a crackly top and edges, stuffed with soft, gooey apples, and that's even better than chocolate sometimes. :)

Apple Brownies
adapted very slightly from The Apple Lover's Cookbook, by Amy Traverso
for 12 bar cookies

one stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing the pan {I just used a little from the one stick}
1 cup granulated sugar
one large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon {or 1 teaspoon vanilla, added with the apples}
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
two large firm-sweet apples {such as Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Gravenstein, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, or Mutsu}, peeled, cored and cut into half-inch cubes {I cut mine smaller}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the middle position. Generously grease an 11x7 inch brownie pan with melted butter.

Using a mixer at high speed, beat together the melted butter, sugar and egg until the mixture is pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cinnamon {if you're using it}, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl or even a large measuring cup.

Add the walnuts and apples {and the vanilla, if you're using it} to the egg mixture and stir by hand until evenly combined. Then add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan {it will make a thin layer, and there might not seem to be enough; just spread it as evenly as possible}, and bake until golden brown and lightly firm to the touch, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then cut into 12 bars and transfer to a serving platter. {These are delicious warm from the oven, but easier to cut and a little less messy when they have set.}

Crusty French Boules

2011-11-16T16:33:00.004-05:00

My bread-baking efforts, lately, haven't been all that rewarding, and of all the kinds of baking we do, it seems to me that making yeast breads really should be. A little bit of calm, comfortable, relaxing work, a little bit of art mixed in with the science, all to end in one of the most wonderful smells your kitchen can have and a basic food risen {oh...sorry!} to new heights.

But if I needed a recipe with just enough of 'rewarding' to encourage me to keep trying, not to mention an excellent, simple bread to add to my repertoire, this one would be it. It starts a day or two ahead with a pate fermentee {a little dough 'starter'), to add extra flavor, and adds some tips (a pan of water in the oven, and a spritz of water on the risen boules before they go into the oven) to ensure a crisp crust. What came out of the oven were two small {and that's a little bit of a downside...I want to experiment with forming this amount of dough into one larger loaf}, golden, almost hard-crusted {though the crust does soften a as the bread cools), pretty loaves, with a firm {that is, not airy/holey) crumb that (at the same time) isn't too dense. This bread would be great for toasting, or for reasonably-sized sandwiches, or even for croutons.

But what happens before it goes into the oven is even better. This bread was so easy to make, and there wasn't even anything messy {like a flour-covered counter, or a flour-covered shirt} to clean up. After the pate fermentee has fermented (?), there's just six minutes of kneading in a stand mixer, a rise, a simple shaping into two boules, and a second rise. It was an incredibly beautiful dough to work with, doing everything it was supposed to, and soft and supple in my hands as I shaped it. To be honest, I'm not sure it's the best bread I'll ever make, or ever taste, but it's very, very good, and a great recipe and method to have on hand.

The recipe for Crusty French Boules, from the November issue of Cooking Light, is posted here. {I'm sending these loaves to Yeastspotting, a weekly collection of yeast bread recipes}.

Autumn Chicken with Dijon Cider Sauce

2011-11-09T19:13:00.002-05:00

You know you're anticipating something delicious when you get out your nicest serving utensils {inspired, possibly, by the three different sets of Thanksgiving Countdown email blasts you've subscribed yourself to} and you actually use them to serve yourself dinner {they're not just a prop}. :)

I know I've made other chicken-apple-cider dishes, but what I love about this one is the sauce. It's thick and creamy, like a good gravy, with a little kick from the Dijon mustard and extra flavor from the sherry, and as it's mostly made with reduced apple cider, low-fat milk and cornstarch {not a buttery roux} you don't even have to feel bad about how good it is.

I made a few changes from the original recipe. Because I've read elsewhere that you shouldn't cook certain things, like mustard, over heat {is that even true?} I stirred it into the sauce at the end instead of toward the beginning. I dredged the chicken in seasoned Wondra flour, instead of all-purpose flour, and found I needed to add a little olive oil {just a tiny splash} to the pan when I was sauteing the chicken instead of relying on the butter left over from the apples. {So instead of 7 grams of fat in a serving, I might have 8 or 9. ;) } Instead of coring the apples and cutting them crosswise into rings, I cut mine in half, sliced out the core, and cut the halves into slices. And, finally, instead of keeping the apples and chicken warm in a low oven while I reheated the sauce, I put them back into the skillet and let everything heat through, gently, together.

Autumn Chicken with Dijon Cider Sauce
adapted from More Healthy Homestyle Cooking
for six servings

For the sauce:
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups low-fat (1%) milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard {more, or less, to taste}
salt and freshly ground black pepper
. . .
For the apples:
2 tablespoons butter
two large red-skinned apples, with peel, cored and sliced {see notes above}
. . .
For the chicken:
1/3 cup Wondra flour {or unbleached all-purpose flour}
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
six boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, thin-sliced {thinner than mine were!} or pounded to about 1/4 inch thick
1 tablespoon dry sherry

To make the sauce, bring the cider to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. {This might take longer, and don't worry if the cider 'separates'; it won't matter.} Transfer the cider to a cup and let cool. Pour the milk into the same saucepan, holding back or spooning out 2 tablespoons. Mix the 2 tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch in a small cup or ramekin, whisking to dissolve the cornstarch. Add the cornstarch slurry, salt and pepper to the milk in the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the reduced cider and cook until the sauce bubbles. Remove from the heat, stir in the mustard, and set the sauce aside. {If the sauce seems lumpy -- mine was -- you can pour it through a fine sieve, press on the solids, and return the strained sauce to the saucepan.}

To make the apples, melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet. Add the apples in a single layer and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side, or until they're tender. Gently spoon them onto a plate and tent with foil. Leave the butter {if there is any} in the skillet for cooking the chicken.

To cook the chicken, combine the flour, salt and pepper on a plate or in a shallow dish. Dredge the chicken on both sides and shake off any excess. Heat the skillet you used for the apples over medium-high heat, adding a little bit of olive oil if the skillet seems very dry. Saute the chicken on both sides until it is golden brown and cooked through. Place the chicken on the plate with the apples and keep both of them warm.

Add the sherry to the hot skillet. Cook over medium heat for about a minute, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour the cider sauce back into the skillet and cook for a minute or two to heat it through. You can either place the chicken and apples back in the sauce to glaze them {I would!} or place a chicken breast on each plate, spoon some apples on each one, and pour the sauce over.

{Ellie Krieger's} Grandma's Chocolate Pudding

2011-11-07T11:38:00.001-05:00

{To distinguish it from my grandma's chocolate pudding. Both of my grandmothers made beautiful, nourishing food for us, so many things I still miss and would love to recreate, but not pudding, at least not that I remember, and nothing with chocolate really, except a unique thick, soft, chocolate chip cookie from a recipe she found on a box of cake mix.}

My cousin was visiting this past weekend, and when we went to lunch at a little creperie in my neighborhood, I was telling her that the space was originally a pudding shop. I guess I can understand why that concept wasn't long-lasting, but it was fun to go there while it did. So, with pudding floating around in the back of my mind, when I curled up on the couch later that night to look at Ellie Krieger's new cookbook, Comfort Food Fix, I guess I can understand why I was trying this recipe about five minutes later.

I made mine with Hershey's cocoa and the end of a crumbly block of bittersweet chocolate from my baking stash, and I thought it was very good; it would be even better with fancier chocolates. On the other hand, knowing that I could make this little treat {the servings are very sensible, and small, and not very likely} almost anytime is very appealing. Of course, it's also {according to Ellie} a good source of calcium, copper, iodine, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, protein, riboflavin, and vitamin D, and that's the real reason I'm going to be making it again. :)

Grandma's Chocolate Pudding

from Comfort Food Fix, by Ellie Krieger

for four {sensible, and small, and not very likely} servings

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons cornstarch

{a tiny pinch of salt}

2 cups cold low-fat (1%) milk

1 ounce dark chocolate (60 to 70% cocoa solids), very finely chopped

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch {I added the tiny pinch of salt}. Gradually add the milk, whisking until smooth {I also used a small rubber spatula to get into the edges of the pan}. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 6 minutes. {It will take a few minutes for the thickening to start, and then it will thicken like mad.} Let it boil for about a minute, then remove the pan from the heat.

Place the chopped chocolate in the bottom of a medium-sized mixing bowl {or a 4-cup measuring cup}, Spoon the hot pudding over the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the pudding is smooth. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 3 hours, until the pudding is set.

Vegetable Soup with Wild Rice

2011-10-24T08:51:00.002-04:00

I think {no, I'm pretty certain} that thick, creamy {even if there isn't any cream in it} butternut squash soup is the soup I want most in fall and winter. But when I was sorting through and organizing some recipes last week, I came across this one, which is the first butternut squash soup I learned to make. And since I will probably be making the other kind every other week from now until February, it's nice to visit this one again.

It's simple and very good (and also very pretty, prettier than I could capture...), a little earthy and a little sweet. In a nutshell, you saute onion, leeks, carrots, celery {or an extra carrot} and cubes of peeled butternut squash, along with bay leaves and lots of garlic, in olive oil, then add chicken broth, a little bit of wild rice, and some herbs, and cook the soup until the wild rice is tender.

Since this is a chunky vegetable soup rather than a pureed one, I like to be a little refined in the way I cut the vegetables {small dice for the onion and carrots, thin ribbons for the leeks, and half-inch cubes for the squash}. On the other hand, almost as soon as you add the broth, some (but not all) of the squash breaks down a little, adding some gloss and thickness to the brothy part of the soup. {That's one of my favorite things about it.}

The wild rice adds a little bit of a pleasantly chewy texture to the soup, and this is a perfect way to sometimes use this lovely but expensive grain almost as a garnish instead of a main ingredient. Speaking of lovely, this next thing is going to sound idiotic, but as soon as you start cooking the vegetables your kitchen will start smelling like soup. I think that's because of the leeks, and it's the best thing about making this.

This soup is fine (and gorgeous) without them, but adding some green vegetables to it is good, too. If I think I'm going to freeze the soup, or have leftovers {which I usually do}, I try to add a fresh handful of the green beans or peas each time I reheat it, so they'll stay a fresher green.

Vegetable Soup with Wild Rice
Source not noted (with apologies; this has been in my recipe box for a long time)
for four generous servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
one medium onion, finely diced
one leek, white and light green parts,, split lengthwise for washing, then sliced crosswise into thin ribbons
two carrots, finely chopped {I cut mine in half crosswise, cut each half lengthwise into four sticks, then slice across them to make a delicate dice}
one stalk celery, peeled if the outside is stringy, finely chopped {or another carrot}
one small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 2 cups of cut-up squash; a little more than that is fine|
two bay leaves
three garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press
4 cups chicken broth {with all the vegetables in this, using canned chicken broth is very OK here}
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup uncooked wild rice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
. . .
frozen broccoli florets, fresh or frozen cut green beans, or peas, or julienned fresh spinach, added at the end {see note}, and/or
finely chopped fresh parsley {very pretty, if you have some}

Warm a large soup pot {a recipe with these words at the beginning has me, already} over medium heat. Add the olive oil; when it's hot, add the onion, leek, carrots, celery, butternut squash, bay leaves and garlic. Saute, stirring gently, until the vegetables are fragrant, a little caramelized {but not dark brown} and just wilted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and the water, add the wild rice, and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to simmer, partially covered, adding the dried herbs about halfway through, until the wild rice has 'popped' and is tender, about 45 minutes {taste a grain to see}.

{A large handful of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into one-inch pieces, can be added about 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, but I've had even better luck adding frozen green beans, broccoli florets, or peas a few minutes before the end, just long enough to heat them through.} If I had any fresh parsley, I would definitely put some in.

Don't forget {because I would} to remove the bay leaves before serving. :)

Baked Apple Oatmeal

2011-10-23T11:53:00.004-04:00

{updated}

'This is like a bread pudding made with oatmeal.'

It wouldn't have taken much more {OK, anything more} than that opening sentence for me to try this recipe, but it had the added promise of being from The Apple Lover's Cookbook, a new book by Amy Traverso that I've been looking forward to cooking from. There's a list of the recipes on the book's web site, and if I'm teasing or torturing you by mentioning Apple, Cheddar, and Caramelized Onion Pastry Puffs, Apple Risotto, Duck Panzanella with Apples and Thyme, Apple and Chestnut–Stuffed Pork Loin with Cider Sauce, Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns, Apple-Pumpkin Walnut Muffins or Buttermilk Apple Buckle, I'm very, very sorry, but if it helps I'm inflicting that on myself, too. :)

I've read other recipes for baked oatmeal {including a savory, meatloaf-ish version}, but after seeing different ones I wasn't quite sure what it would be like. Some made it seem brown and crispy, almost like a granola bar, but 'a bread pudding made with oatmeal' is exactly what I had been hoping for. This is so easy and so good. It's moist, sort of a cross between a bread pudding and a muffin that doesn't quite hold together {but in a good way}, with juicy bites of apple, chewy dried fruit, crunchy pecans, and a little bit of sweetness and spice.

I haven't tried this yet, but the recipe says that you can make this the night before for overnight guests, or 'you can bake a batch on Sunday for cozy and nutritious breakfasts during the week.' Doesn't that sound good? I've been looking forward to oatmeal, the weather is finally changing here, and I just loved this.

{Update: definitely just as good reheated; a portion, scooped into a bowl and into the microwave for 60 seconds, is a very very nice thing to wake up to on a Monday morning.}

Baked Apple Oatmeal

adapted from The Apple Lover's Cookbook, by Amy Traverso, via The Boston Globe

for six generous servings

{I made a half recipe {sadly at first, but then I realized it was the perfect quantity for me for three days*, cutting all the ingredients in half and using one egg and about half of another, and baked it in a smaller -- 1.5-quart -- souffle dish. This worked fine, but I think I'll use a square pan next time, if only because it might be a little prettier cut into squares instead of wedges.}

butter {or cooking spray} for greasing the pan
2 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned oatmeal}
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit, such as cranberries, apricots and raisins {I used this excellent mixture}
about 1 3/4 cups diced firm-sweet apples (about 1 1/2 large apples), such as Cameo, Baldwin, Jazz, Jonagold, Pinata, or SweeTango, peeled or unpeeled {I would leave mine unpeeled next time, for more color, and I used the apples I had, which were good but not as interesting...}
2 cups low-fat milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
creme fraiche or yogurt for topping

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, with a rack in the center. Grease a 2 1/2 quart souffle dish {that's a big one!} or an 8x8 inch square baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oatmeal, baking powder, salt, chopped pecans, dried fruit, and diced apples. Measure the milk into another bowl {a large 4-cup measuring cup is perfect, if you have one} and whisk in the eggs, brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour this mixture over the oatmeal and stir gently to combine.

Spoon this mixture into the greased baking dish. {I pressed on the top lightly with a spoon to make sure the top layer of oatmeal was moistened.} Bake the pudding for about 55 to 60 minutes, until it is golden brown and the center is no longer liquid {it will feel 'set' if you press lightly on it}. Spoon into bowls and serve warm, with a little bit of yogurt or creme fraiche spooned on top if you have them, or a light dusting of confectioners' sugar, or nothing, if you don't.

* The recipe says that you can bake the pudding up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it, then cover the baking dish with foil and reheat it in the oven at 250 degrees until it's warmed through, about 25 minutes. It's pretty good at room temperature, too {I speak from experience...} so I think it would also be a perfect way to take some oatmeal to the office {and see update}.

Apple cakes!

2011-10-10T11:29:00.000-04:00

Nuts. I baked...and thought I might be sharing...a new apple cake, today, but it was kind of...eh. Simple, good, and uninteresting. I honestly think my kitchen is protesting against 85 degrees in October. So am I. :)

Still, I love discovering new ones, and I'll keep looking. In the meantime, these are some of my favorite apple cakes, and I hope you'll enjoy one, or all, of them.

Apple Bundt Cake, from a Willliams-Sonoma recipe

Apple Snacking Spice Cake, from Joanne Chang's Flour

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake, from Dorie Greenspan's
Around My French Table

Oatmeal-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2011-09-28T13:20:00.003-04:00

{Updated}

Whenever I see a recipe with the words 'sour cream coffee cake' in the title, I think I'm going to find one of those bundt or tube cakes with a gooey ribbon of buttery cinnamon running through it. {I still haven't found a version of that cake that I really like, but I want to.} This recipe was appealing because it was different: it's a round cake, with a buttery batter and a streusel topping, with both the batter and the streusel scented with toasted oats. {The kitchen was scented, too, while this was baking.}

The recipes that end up in my personal recipe box come from many different places -- from cookbooks, from magazines, from cooking shows, from blogs, and from family and friends. I really couldn't point to any of these sources as being the best, but Cooking Light is definitely among them. Among others {including some baked goods}, it was the source of my almost once-a-week spring and summer chicken breast recipe, my almost once-a-week fall and winter chicken breast recipe, my almost once-a-week fall pasta, and the pasta sauce I make whenever I want something quick and nice for dinner and I haven't thought up anything else.

When they publish a cookbook, the photography is usually warmly-lit and gorgeous, and a lot of the recipes seem like old friends, because I've seen (and sometimes made) them before, but it's another little push to try them. I found this coffee cake in their newest book, Cooking Light Comfort Food. I don't remember seeing this one before, but I have a feeling it's going to join those other Cooking Light recipes that I make all the time. The cake is moist and buttery {and a beautiful soft golden color, and little bit more interesting, because of the brown sugar}, the topping is cinnamony and nicely textured from the nuts and oatmeal, and the combination is wonderful. It's not a very tall cake, so I might try baking it in an 8-inch pan next time, to see if it looks better that way.

Oatmeal-Sour Cream Coffee Cake
adapted from Cooking Light Comfort Food (2011)
for one round cake, about 10 servings

3/4 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
cooking spray for the cake pan
1 cup (4.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 ounce) whole wheat flour {I used white whole wheat, as that's what I had}
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar, divided
1/3 cup softened butter {about 5 1/2 tablespoons, it's marked on the stick. Before softening it, reserve 1 tablespoon from the stick for the topping and keep it chilled.}
two large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8 ounces) light sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the rolled oats out on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast them at 350 for about 6 minutes, until they are lightly scented and lightly brown. Measure out 1/4 cup of the toasted oats and set them aside for the topping.

Coat a 9-inch springform pan {see note} with cooking spray.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup of toasted oats in a food processor and process for about 5 seconds, or until finely ground. Weigh or lightly spoon the all-purpose and whole wheat flours to measure them out. Combine the ground oats, flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; whisk to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, and the softened butter and cream them together for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. {The batter may suddenly look curdled.} Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. The batter will be a little lumpy-looking. Spoon the batter into the greased springform pan and smooth it into an even layer {the batter layer will not fill the pan very much}.

For the topping, combine the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, the chopped walnuts, the reserved 1/4 cup of toasted oatmeal, the cinnamon, and the cold butter, and mix with a heavy fork or your fingers to combine and to cut in the butter. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees for about 38 minutes {I tested mine at 35 minutes, then gave it 5 minutes more} or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, the top is golden, and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes before loosening the sides of the pan and removing the cake.

{Update: this coffee cake is a good keeper! Stored the leftovers at room temperature under a cake dome; the last slice is still fresh and enjoyable three days later.}

Apple and Thyme-Scented Chicken Meat Loaf with Mushroom Gravy

2011-09-25T18:53:00.004-04:00

Betty Rosbottom's Cooking School Cookbook (published in 1987) is one of the first cookbooks I ever bought. This meat loaf is from her second cookbook, American Favorites. The recipes in both books have a lot of the same simple elegance, and I haven't tried enough of them.

I made these chicken loaves (I'm guessing you shape the mixture into two loaves, instead of one, for faster cooking and less drying-out) almost exactly as written {I had one leek left over, exactly enough), except that I used fresh thyme {because I had some} and left out the celery {because I didn't}. The original mushroom sauce was very similar to the one I made, but it had a more Oriental feel, with sliced green onions, shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce. I went in a different direction, using shallots, a carton of creminis, a splash of Marsala, and fresh flat-leaf parsley for some desperately needed color. :)

I love meatloaf, and I would be happy enough if the simple tomato sauce-infused one I learned from my mom were the only one in my recipe box. But there will definitely be room in there for this one: it has gravy, it's relatively low-fat, and it's only a little more complicated. The loaf itself is very moist and has a lot of flavor {the meatloaf might not be apple-scented, exactly, but the apple contributes a lot to these last two qualities}. I'm not very experienced, still, with the butter-flour gravy-making process; I had to strain out some lumps, behind the scenes, and although the gravy ended up with a perfect consistency, it was a little salty and one-dimensional. A little more Marsala, or a little more added at the end, might have helped. But still, it was gravy, on meatloaf. I'm not complaining.

Apple and Thyme-Scented Chicken Meat Loaf
adapted from American Favorites, by Betty Rosbottom (1996)
for four to six servings

For the meat loaf:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup finely diced carrots {about two slender carrots, peeled, diced in 1/4 inch pieces}
1/3 cup finely diced leek {one medium leek, white and palest green part only, tough outer leaves stripped; wondering how to dice a leek, I sliced mine into 1/4 inch rounds, piled them up on my cutting board, and chopped them as small as I could; they do cook down but you want small pieces}
1/3 cup finely diced celery, 1/4 inch dice
one pound ground chicken or turkey {not the very lean, all breast meat kind}
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme {or the leaves from five or six fresh thyme sprigs}
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
one medium-sized, unpeeled fresh apple, grated {the recipe suggested a tart apple, such as a Granny Smith; I used a Gala because that's what I had}
two egg whites, lightly beaten
. . .
For the mushroom gravy:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup finely minced shallot
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly {or 4 ounces cremini or white button mushrooms and
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems discarded, cut into 1/4 inch strips}
a splash of Marsala (about 1 tablespoon)
salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth {if you use canned broth, it should be low-sodium}
about 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

For the meat loaf, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a small to medium-sized casserole dish {mine was 8 inches square} with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. When it's hot, saute the leek, carrot and celery, stirring, until the vegetables have softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape the sauteed vegetables into a small bowl and let them cool slightly. Wipe the skillet out with a paper towel {you don't need to wash it, necessarily} and set it aside to use again for the gravy.

Place the slightly cooled vegetables, the ground chicken or turkey, the breadcrumbs, the thyme, the salt and pepper, the grated apple and the beaten egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula {or your hands} mix everything together, lightly, just to combine and distribute the ingredients evenly. Divide the mixture in half (it will be soft and wet) and shape it into two ovals. Place the two loaves in the casserole dish {they can be formed ahead of time, covered and refrigerated}. Bake them in the preheated oven for about 40 to 45 minutes, until cooked through {mine were at 165 degrees on an instant thermometer). Let them stand, tented with foil, for 5 to 10 minutes so they will set a little bit before you slice them.

Meanwhile, to make the gravy, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the skillet. When it's hot, add the shallots and cook, stirring, for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are browned and tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add a splash of Marsala, about a tablespoon, and stir until most of the liquid had cooked off. Season to taste with salt, then scrape the mushroom mixture into a small bowl and set it aside.

Melt the second tablespoon of butter in the skillet. When it's hot, add the flour and toast it, stirring or whisking, for about 2 minutes, until the flour is golden. Slowly add the broth and whisk until the sauce is smooth and thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and the fresh parsley, taste, and season with more salt if needed. {The gravy can also be made ahead and refrigerated.}

Slice the meat loaf into half-inch thick slices and serve with the mushroom gravy.

Corn Bread Loaf

2011-09-23T16:41:00.001-04:00

This corn bread loaf isn't extraordinary, really. It's just my idea exactly of what cornbread should be: a little dense, a little bit sweet, very moist, and studded with corn kernels. {And isn't it pretty? Look at the dome!} I liked the idea of corn bread baked in a loaf pan even before I read the headnote, describing it as 'at once familiar and different.' {Somehow, that's the best kind of comfort food.}

One of the nicest things about this recipe is that I've now had a perfect winning streak with this cookbook -- everything I've made from it {this sweet potato bread, and an applesauce loaf I had almost forgotten about, and this simple orzo pilaf, and a lemon poppy seed bundt cake} has been simple and very, very good, and the recipes work. While I had the book out for this one I bookmarked about ten more recipes to try this fall. There are some vegetable soups, some muffins, a broccoli or mushroom tart on puff pastry, a vegetable tagine...and a classic hippie 'mock meat loaf' {made with wheat bread, walnuts, onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes} that, if you stop and imagine it for a minute, sounds really good.

Corn Bread Loaf
adapted from Vegetarian Classics, by Jeanne Lemlin
for one 9x5 inch loaf

butter and flour {or Baker's Joy spray} for preparing the pan
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
two large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup low-fat milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed, or canned niblets, drained

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan, or spray it with butter-flour spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt until everything is blended.

In a smaller mixing bowl, lightly beat the two eggs. Whisk in the oil and milk, and blend until well mixed. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir or fold just until the batter is evenly moistened. Gently stir in the corn.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn the oven heat down to 325 degrees and bake the corn bread for another 55 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Let the corn bread cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn it out on a wire rack to cool completely. The bread should keep foe a few days, well wrapped and refrigerated, and is VERY good toasted the next day, for breakfast, or with soup, or both.

Broccoli-Leek Soup with Parmesan Cream

2011-09-22T15:00:00.004-04:00

Broccoli is so good in September (have you noticed?) Even in the supermarket, you can find broccoli heads or crowns where the stems are almost sweet and the florets are small and bright green I was remembering this last week, when it was suddenly soup weather, and part of me wishes I hadn't waited till today to try this new recipe, when we're back to the late August muggies, and it's not really a hot soup lunch kind of day.

No matter This is exactly what I wanted it to be: a very good, very simple, 'cream of broccoli' soup That's in quotes because the wonderful thing about this recipe is that you end up with a thick, glossy, beautifully green soup that isn't heavy and doesn't need cream or even milk to make it good. Instead, it's garnished with a little bit of a savory condiment: just sour cream {mine was low-fat} mixed with finely grated parmesan cheese and some white pepper. {I wasn't sure I liked the idea of dolloping sour cream on my soup, but I did! Another time, I would probably sprinkle on some croutons,}

This soup is a little less interesting, but a lot less complicated, than the 'cooking without recipes' recipe I followed last time. I think I'll end up using ideas from both versions. I did change a few things in this one, based on things I learned from that earlier recipe. I used broccoli crowns, so I would have a good balance of stems and florets. Also, instead of adding all the broccoli at once (with the potatoes), I separated the stems from the florets, sliced the stems thinly, and let the stems cook with the potatoes and leeks, adding the florets later. Then, after sauteing them in the olive oil, I let the leeks, potatoes and broccoli stems simmer in the broth for about 5 to 10 minutes before I added the florets. I was hoping that both of these efforts would give me a prettier color in my soup, and I think they did. I also grated in some fresh nutmeg at the end.

The original recipe said it made four servings, but those would be big, dinner-sized bowlsful. When fall really arrives, that's going to be a something to look forward to.

Broccoli-Leek Soup with Parmesan Cream
adapted from The California Cook, by Diane Rossen Worthington
for (I would say) six to eight servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
two medium leeks, any tired outer leaves removed, white and pale green parts only, sliced very thinly
three medium-sized red potatoes (about one pound), peeled and diced
three good-sized broccoli crowns (about 1 1/2 pounds), stems and florets separated, stems trimmed and very thinly sliced, florets cut into small pieces
6 cups chicken broth {or three 14.5 ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth and 1 cup water}
1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper (or more to taste)
a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg
. . .
1/2 cup sour cream {mine was low-fat} or plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
pinch of white pepper

In a large soup pot {as you'll see, you''ll need room for a lot of vegetables before they cook down}, over medium heat, warm the olive oil, then add the leeks, and saute them for 3 to 5 minutes or until they soften {don't let them get too brown}. Add the diced potatoes and the sliced broccoli stems and continue cooking the vegetables for another 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the broth, bring the broth to a simmer,partially cover the pan, and let the vegetables continue cooking for about 8 to 10 minutes more, until they're very tender {fish out a piece of broccoli stem to see}. Add the broccoli florets, and continue simmering until they're also softened. another 8 to 10 minutes. {Watch them; I think you want them to be a little softer than you'd want them to be if you were serving them as a vegetable, but not mushy and still bright green.}

Meanwhile, to make the parmesan cream, stir the finely grated parmesan into the sour cream or yogurt, and add a little bit of white pepper to spice it up.

Let the soup cool for a minute or two, then carefully puree it in batches in a blender. {If the soup is still very hot, remove or loosen the center circle from the blender lid, don't overfill the blender, and rest a folder dishtowel under your hand on top of the lid to protect yourself from any potential explosion.} Return the pureed soup to the soup pot and reheat it gently before serving. Spoon or dribble a little bit of the parmesan cream on each serving. {The soup and the parmesan cream can be made a day ahead, stored separately in the refrigerator. Since the recipe made so much more that I expected, I'm hoping the soup part will freeze well. It should....}

Sweets to the sweet...

2011-09-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

Did you know that sweet potatoes have a season? Apparently, they're best from August to October. That's fine with me, as long as I can eat them out of season {in other words, from now till next May or so :) }.

I made this sweet potato salad {from the Hay Day Country Market Cookbook} again yesterday, and it's still as wonderful as I remembered. I did one thing differently this time; I sauteed the red onions in a tiny bit of olive oil, just to take some of the raw-onion sharpness out.

And I still had two sweet potatoes left, roasted along with the others, so I just made this Sweet Potato Bread (from Vegetarian Classics, by Jeanne Lemlin), too. There's nothing that I've made from this book, so far, that hasn't been good.

Anyway, happy September!

Chicken with Plum Chutney

2011-09-07T19:21:00.002-04:00

While I was cooking, I was thinking about all the things I could say about this recipe if it turned out well. Quick and easy, gorgeous colors, simple but rich flavors, warmly spicy, all stuff from the pantry, and maybe even a way to add a serving of fruit to the day. But I'm a little too smitten with my dinner to go on and on about it. :)

Chicken with Plum Chutney

adapted from Everyday Food

for two servings

two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

salt and pepper

olive oil

1/4 cup diced red onion

two or three red-skinned plums, pitted and cut into half-inch pieces

2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons water {more if needed}

scant 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/8 teaspoon {a good dash} ground ginger

a sprinkling of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

{This is half of the original recipe. I left out the 1/4 jalapeno chile, ribs and seeds removed and chopped for less heat; if you want to add it back in, it goes into the skillet with the onion. The parsley and almonds were my additions.}

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In an 8 to 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat about 1/2 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until it's cooked through and opaque throughout, about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Set the chicken aside.

If the skillet seems dry {mine wasn't}, add another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, and cook the chopped onion over medium heat until it has softened, about 3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high; add the plums, brown sugar, cider vinegar, curry powder, ginger and water. Bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer and cook until the plums are soft and the sauce is syrupy, about 8 minutes. {If the sauce reduces too much, too quickly -- mine did -- you can add a little bit of water to it as needed.}

Add the chicken, any juices that have accumulated on the plate, the parsley and the slivered almonds {I think they're prettier if they are glazed with the sauce} and simmer gently until the chicken is glazed and heated through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Serve the chicken with the plum chutney spooned on top.

Chicken Tetrazzini

2011-09-01T07:28:00.000-04:00

If they put it to a vote, I'm one of the people who would agree to starting the new year on September 1. {I say 'the people' because I know there are others in my party. Think about joining us. There's a back-to-school feeling in the air, even for those of us who only wish we were going, the weather is beautiful, the best season for cooking and baking is about to start...}

In the meantime, I can always think of today as my own personal holiday, new year, new start {and I do}. One of the nicest things about looking forward is thinking about all the recipes that it's time to make again, but anticipation can be difficult in months like September {or May} when the things you're waiting for aren't here yet. We need transitional recipes, ones that feel different from what we've been eating.

This casserole (warm, homey, just a little fall-like) is one of my favorites. Because it's from Cook's Illustrated, there are a few extra steps (and an extra pan), but I think they're well worth it. One is that you pre-toast the breadcrumbs in the oven, so they'll turn more golden and crispy when you bake the casserole. And you bake the casserole at higher heat for less time so it won't be dry. It isn't! When you spoon some out, the pasta is not very saucy, but every bite is moist and infused with the longish-list of flavors (thyme, nutmeg, cheese, sherry, lemon) that go into the sauce. This casserole is rich (I cut back on the butter in the topping a little), but it's very, very good.

Chicken Tetrazzini
adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe
for six to eight servings

For the breadcrumb topping:
about 1 cup coarse, fresh bread crumbs {I used homemade bread crumbs from my freezer stash; you can also use six slices high quality white sandwich bread, torn into quarters and pulsed in a food processor to make coarse crumbs, as in the original recipe}
2 tablespoons melted butter {cut back from 4 tablespoons}
pinch of salt
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
. . .
8 tablespoons (one stick) unsalted butter, divided, plus more for buttering the casserole dish {or use cooking spray there}
8 ounces button or baby bella mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced thinly
two medium onions, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces spaghetti, fettuccine or linguine, strands broken in half
2 cups frozen peas
6 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth {I use a 14.5 ounce can and add water to make 2 cups}
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
4 cups leftover cooked chicken {or turkey}, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the breadcrumbs, melted butter and salt together and spread them in a small baking dish. Bake until golden brown and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes. Let them cool while you're finishing the rest of the casserole. When they've cooled, stir in the parmesan cheese. Leave the oven on {the short time cooking time for the casserole assumes that everything that goes into it is freshly made and still warm...}

Meanwhile, for the filling, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute, stirring often, until the mushrooms start to turn golden, the onions are soft and translucent, and the liquid given off by the mushrooms has cooked away, about 12 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then transfer the vegetables to a small bowl and set aside. Wipe out the skillet with a damp paper towel.

While the mushrooms and onions are cooking, bring a large pot of water {salted, if you want to} to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to the timing on the package. A minute or so before the pasta should be ready, add the frozen peas to the water so they can defrost. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Pour the drained pasta and peas, and the cooking water, back into the pot and set aside.

For the sauce, melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in the skillet over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour turns golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Still whisking constantly, gradually pour in the chicken broth, whisking in each addition before adding more. Turn the heat up to medium-high and simmer the sauce until it thickens and turns glossy, 3 to 4 minutes. {Mine always seems to be 'thick' right away, so I just simmer it for a few minutes anyway.} Off the heat, whisk in the parmesan cheese, sherry, lemon juice, thyme, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add this sauce, the mushrooms and onions, and the chicken to the pasta and peas and mix well so that all the pasta is moistened with sauce. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Spoon the pasta into a buttered 9x13 inch casserole dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top. Bake until the breadcrumbs brown and the casserole is bubbly, about 13 to 15 minutes.

Goodnight, Irene: Raspberry-Pecan Blondies

2011-08-28T18:25:00.002-04:00

We were so lucky here. Even though we over-prepared and over-worried, we were barely touched by the hurricane, and not even inconvenienced. A tree did come down on my street, but we haven't even lost power {watch that happen now, just to smite me!}

The only damage was to the bundt cake I made yesterday morning, which, due I think to an experiment with buttering and flouring the pan, looked like a tree had come down on it. So I'll share these instead. These blondies are my favorite summer dessert, half traditional and expected, half unusual {and the experts did say that we should stock up on desserts for a week, or something like that...}.

One quick note: I should probably mention that the baking time/doneness for these can be hard to judge {just ask my cousin Meg}. After making them a few times, I found that I got more consistent results when I made them in an 11x7 inch 'brownie pan' than in a square pan. If there's a baking science reason for that, I can only guess that it might be that there's less distance to the middle.

Raspberry Pecan Blondies
from Bon Appetit
for sixteen blondies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
two large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
about 1 cup (a half-pint basket) of fresh or frozen raspberries {if frozen, don’t thaw them}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To make the blondies easier to remove, line a 9x9x2 inch square (or — my preference — an 11x7-inch) metal baking pan with aluminum foil, extending foil over sides by two inches. Butter and flour the foil.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in another large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Gently stir in chopped pecans and raspberries. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake dessert until top is golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into sixteen squares. If you’re making these ahead, or storing leftovers, wrap them carefully in plastic wrap (when cool) and refrigerate.

Pasta al pomodoro

2011-08-20T07:29:00.001-04:00

This recipe, from Bon Appetit, was tucked into an article on making perfect pasta. There were some familiar ideas {use enough salt, save some of the pasta cooking water} and some new ones {cook the sauce in a skillet, add butter at the end for silkiness}. There's even a lesson how to twirl it into the bowl {'it should look like a bird's nest'}.I always look forward to this kind of cooking, where I'm learning as I go along.

Once it's on the pasta, this isn't a very vibrant red sauce, but it is delicious. The tomato flavor is soft, but it's infused in the pasta and is there in every bite. Interesting, too, the bit about letting large sprigs of basil sit in the sauce, but discarding them before serving. I've never seen that before. I was trying to see if I could still detect the basil's flavor in the sauce, and I'm telling myself that I could.

Pasta al Pomodoro
from Bon Appétit, May 2011
for four servings

{The recipe was presented in this format in the article; it's easy to follow, though.}

Heat 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 minced medium onion and cook, stirring until soft, about 12 minutes. Add 4 minced garlic cloves and cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes. {I think the low heat is important here, both for long, slow cooking of the onions, so they're very soft, and so the garlic won't burn during its relatively-long cooking.} Add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute more. Increase the heat to medium; add one 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes, pureed in a food processor {Cook's Illustrated also seems to recommend pureeing whole tomatoes, instead of using tomato puree or crushed tomatoes} and season lightly with kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and the flavors meld, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat; stir in 3 large fresh basil sprigs and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a 5-quart pot {less water, smaller pot, faster process!}. Season with salt; add 12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti {I even thought I had bucatini in my pantry, but it was perciatelli, which is like very thick but hollow spaghetti}. Cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender {important, as it cooks further in the sauce}. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.

Discard the basil and reheat the sauce over high heat. Stir in the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce; bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add 2 tablespoons cubed unsalted butter and 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino; toss until cheese melts. Transfer to warm bowls; serve with more cheese, if desired.

A good recipe for pesto

2011-08-14T17:03:00.001-04:00

I almost resisted the temptation to make pesto this summer.

But I love the scent of fresh basil, I've found a recipe that I like a lot, I bought an enormous, beautiful, inexpensive bunch at the farmers' market on Thursday, after using it in two recipes {this one and a new pasta sauce} there was still a lot left, and I do honestly like pesto. It's just that. every year, I seem to make a big batch for the winter, then I tuck it into the freezer and forget all about it. I know there are lots of things that I could make with it, but I just never do.

Since this recipe is from Cook's Illustrated, there are some interesting/useful/unusual ideas in it. One is blanching the garlic, so it's a little less harsh or strong in the finished pesto {I do this in this other pesto recipe, now, too}; another is adding parsley, to help keep the pesto bright green; the third is bruising the leaves to release more of their oils. It's a good, basic, tried-and-true recipe for me, one that I make {apparently} every summer. :)

Basil Pesto
adapted slightly from a Cook's Illustrated recipe
for about a cup of pesto

1/4 cup pine nuts, walnuts or almonds {almonds are good in this}
three medium cloves garlic {whole and unpeeled -- oops; doesn't really matter but if peeling isn't necessary, why do it?}
2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Toast the nuts in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently until just golden and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop in the garlic cloves and blanch them for 45 seconds. Use a skimmer or a slotted spoon to fish them out, then run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. The skins will slip off easily. Mince the garlic {this will give the next step a head start}.

Place the basil and parsley in a heavy-duty, quart-size, resealable plastic bag; pound with the flat side of a meat pounder or rolling pin until all the leaves look bruised.

Place the nuts, blanched and minced garlic, basil and parsley, olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade; process until smooth, stopping as needed to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer this mixture to a small mixing bowl, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and adjust the salt.

You can cover the surface of the pesto with plastic wrap {pressed up against it, to keep the air out, so the pesto won't discolor} or a thin film of olive oil and refrigerate it for up to five days, or portion it into small containers or an ice cube tray and freeze it until you forget that it's in there. :)

Soft Sandwich Bread and Rolls

2011-08-09T12:16:00.006-04:00

{updated}

Let's see.

1. This recipe (the first one I've made from Peter Reinhart's book Artisan Breads Every Day} creates a dough that is beautiful {smooth, supple, silky} to work with, and does what it's supposed to do at every step along the way. 2. It's incredibly easy to make, especially if you have a heavy-duty stand mixer, and even only minimally messy. 3. The dough rises for the first time overnight in the refrigerator. That means that it's perfectly feasible to make the dough after dinner and have bread in time for the next day's lunch {if, for instance, nothing in the bread aisle looked very appealing when you went shopping earlier}. Or, you can wait up to four days to bake it, or you can divide the dough before you refrigerate it {but please see note below}, bake a loaf the next day, and then make the rolls a day or two later.

4. It rises, slowly but definitely, again in the pan and again in the oven, giving the finished loaf a beautiful shape. 5. It's definitely white bread {though I want to try subbing in some white wheat flour, or trying, because I'm so encouraged, the rye and whole wheat sandwich breads in this book}, but with a deeper flavor. {Did I mention that I could smell the honey, at least I think so, while it was baking?} 6. It has an even crumb, and slices cleanly into reasonable, sandwich-thin slices, even when it's still slightly warm.

Other than that, it doesn't have much going for it. :)

Soft Sandwich Bread
from Artisan Breads Every Day, by Peter Reinhart
for two loaves, or one loaf and a batch of rolls

1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk, any kind {mine was whole milk}, at about 95 degrees {about 40 seconds in my microwave from fridge-cold}
6 1/4 cups (28 ounces or 794 grams) unbleached bread flour {see note below}
2 teaspoons salt, or 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
5 1/2 tablespoons (2.75 ounces or 78 grams) sugar, or 1/4 cup honey or agave nectar (if you use honey or agave nectar, increase the amount of flour by 3 1/2 to 7 tablespoons - 1 to 2 ounces, 28.5 to 56.5 grams)
6 tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams) vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter
1 egg
{I made this first loaf with honey, plus about 4 to 5 tablespoons of extra flour, and canola oil. and used my beloved KitchenAid. I think that butter would be a little better; I was trying to be good.}

The night before:
Whisk the yeast into the lukewarm milk until dissolved. Set aside for 1 to 5 minutes.

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, oil, and egg in a mixing bowl {right in the bowl of your stand mixer, with the paddle attachment in place}. Mix briefly, then pour in the milk. Mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes. The dough should be coarse and slightly {definitely} sticky. {If you aren't using a mixer, stir the dough with a large spoon for about 2 minutes.}

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured work surface for 4 to 5 minutes, until the dough is soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky. Finish by kneading the dough by hand for a minute, then form it into a ball.

Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl {use a BIG one; it will almost triple in size in the fridge}, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days {the book says that it will diminish in quality if held longer than that}. If you plan to bake the dough in batches on different days, you can portion the dough and place it in two or more smaller bowls at this stage {see weights below}.

{Update) It seems to be important to divide the dough before the refrigerator rise {that is, instead of taking it from the fridge, dividing it, and putting the second half back in the fridge for another day. That's what I did, and the second batch didn't rise when I put it in the pan. The recipe does say to do this, without saying not to do what I did. Disappointing, but I learned something!}

On baking day:
Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 1/2 hours before you plan to bake it. Divide it as follows:

to bake a loaf in a 9x5 inch pan, use about 28 to 32 ounces; set aside the rest for rolls
for two loaves, to be baked in 8 x 4 1/2 inch pans {that's an odd size, isn't it?}, divide it in half; each piece should weigh about 25 ounces

To shape a sandwich loaf, flatten the dough into a 5x8 inch rectangle. Fold in the two long sides; then, working from a 5-inch end, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the seam closed {I pinched the end-edges, too}, and then gently roll the log on the counter to smooth it. Keep the log rounded and even (don't taper the ends). Place the log, seam side down, in a greased loaf pan.

Mist the dough with spray oil and cover the pan(s) loosely with plastic wrap; then let the dough rise at room temperature {my kitchen was on the cool side, finally!} for about 2 1/2 hours, or until it domes about one inch above the rim of the pan(s). {I think Peter R. slashed his loaf the long way, without telling us. That's gorgeous.}

About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the bread for 20 minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes {my large loaf took 40 minutes in total}, until the top is golden brown, the sides are firm and brown, the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, and the internal temperature is at least 185 degrees in the center {I love that test}. Remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack for at least an hour {I did this, because I was so in love with how my loaf looked} before slicing or serving.

{I'm sharing this recipe with Yeastspotting, a weekly collection of yeast bread recipes.}

Peach Brown Betty for two

2011-08-06T19:34:00.000-04:00

A 'brown betty' is one of those old-fashioned, New-Englandy-sounding desserts with an equally New-Englandy-sounding name {like a grunt, or a buckle, or a slump, or a pandowdy}, 'traditionally made by layering fruit and buttery bread crumbs in a deep dish and baking until the fruit is tender and the crumb topping is crisp.' Are you sighing, or even moaning a little, yet?

A brown betty is more often made with apples (and there's probably no reason why you couldn't use apples instead of peaches here). I know there have now been three peach recipes in a row, or almost, but this one didn't belong stuffed in a drafts folder just because of that. It's so simple, and so good. Of the three, I think it's the one I'm going to make again first, and most often.

{The America's Test Kitchen lessons are that processing the cold butter with the breadcrumbs keeps them crisp and not too dark, and that sauteing the peaches helps to concentrate the juices, to prevent wateriness and to deepen their flavor. I, personally, have never needed a reason to saute fruit. I know a breakfast recipe and a tea cake (or two) that call for doing that, with pears and apples, and the fragrance and taste of warm. sweet fruit is wonderful.}

Thinking about a much-too-sweet peach crumble that I made last summer or the summer before, I used only half as much sugar (granulated and brown) in the peach mixture {1 tablespoon of each}, and I think that worked well. I'd want to add something to the instructions in the original recipe, too. Once you have put your betty into the oven, you should definitely not leave the kitchen. It's not because you have to watch it carefully; it's because it would be a shame not to be standing as close as you can when the sweet smell of peaches, cinnamon and butter starts to waft from your oven.

Peach Brown Betty
adapted from Cooking for Two 2011: the year's best recipes cut down to size, from the editors of America's Test Kitchen
for two servings

For the topping:
one slice good-quality white sandwich bread, torn into one-inch pieces
a 1-tablespoon pat of cold unsalted butter, cut into four pieces
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
a pinch of cinnamon

For the filling:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
about one pound of peaches {two to three; four if they're small}, peeled*, pitted and cut into half-inch wedges
1 tablespoon granulated sugar {there's 2 in the original recipe}
1 tablespoon brown sugar {same}
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
pinch of salt

Set an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pulse the bread and the cold butter in a food processor 6 to 8 times, until it forms chunky crumbs. Set aside. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together and have that standing by, too.

For the filling, melt the butter in an 8-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat. {If you don't have a small frying pan -- I don't, and I need one, or if it's not oven-safe, you can use a larger frying pan to cook the peaches and then bake the dessertrt in a small casserole dish.} Saute the peaches, stirring occasionally, until they begin to caramelize, abouty 6 to 9 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, and gently fold in half of the breadcrumbs, the granulated and brown sugars, the lemon juice, the vanilla and the salt. {If you're using a casserole, transfer the peach filling into the baking dish.}

Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs evenly over the peaches, then sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar. Bake the brown betty for about 15 minutes, until the breadcrumb topping is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes and serve warm.

{*The original recipe gives detailed instructions for scoring a small X in the base of each peach, shocking them in boiling, then ice water, and slipping the skins off, but I used a good serrated peeler and that works well too.}

Peach Nutmeg Scones

2011-08-03T10:21:00.000-04:00

Another peach recipe {I've really come to love them} and another recipe that I've made before, but not in a long time. And {yay!} another scone recipe that can be labeled tried and true.

I'm not sure I used an entire teaspoon of nutmeg (recipes always warn us that it's strong and can be overpowering) but I grated in much more than I normally would. :) I diced my cold butter and worked it in with my fingertips, until the pieces were pea-sized or smaller. {The original recipe is a little vague about this -- recipes from King Arthur Flour often are, have you noticed? I just know I've had trouble -- messy trouble -- with leaving larger pieces in scones.} Also, I didn't have vanilla yogurt, so I added about a teaspoon of vanilla extract to my plain low-fat yogurt. I couldn't detect it in the yogurt or the baked scones, but I'm sure I'm glad it was there, even as a nuance. :)

And speaking of the original recipe, figuring out how to cut a rectangle of dough into ten triangles is beyond my mathematical paygrade first thing in morning (though I did figure out, at least in my head*). I patted my dough into a circle and cut it into eight triangles. Trouble is, this dough is very soft, and hard to move around, resulting in slightly shapeless scones. next time, I think I'll either pat out the circle right on the baking sheet and then deeply score it, or just make drop scones.

But none of this matters. These scones are very tender, even a little on the cakey side, crusty on the bottom and just a little crunchy on top, simple and very good, with lovely chunks of warm, sweet fruit.

Peach Nutmeg Scones
adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe
for 8 or 10 or 12 scones

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt {or plain yogurt plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or possibly more}
1/4 teaspoon almond extract {I dialed this back from the original 1/2 teaspoon}
1 cup diced peaches {from 1 to 1 1/2 large peaches}
2 tablespoons melted butter {I only used about half of it}
2 tablespoons sugar {granulated or coarse white sugar; coarse brown sugar would probably be wonderful}

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, sift {or whisk} together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Work the butter into the diced ingredients, using your fingertips, a fork or a pastry blender.

Measure the yogurt into a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Stir in the eggs and the almond extract to combine. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients {don't overmix at this point, as you still have to stir in the peaches}. Add the diced peaches and stir again just to combine and moisten all the flour.

{Original instructions here. See my notes above.} Liberally flour the counter and your hands. Put the dough on the counter and pat it into a one-inch rectangle . Cut into ten triangular scones. {*Long and narrow? Cut into five squares, then into ten triangles? See, I can do this! And, OK, the recipe as reprinted in the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion cookbook says to shape a 6x9 rectangle, cut into six squares and 12 triangles.}

Place scones on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until nicely browned and firm to the touch (a cake tester inserted into a scone should come out dry). Serve warm.

Food photography, before we wrote blogs

2011-07-31T14:15:00.002-04:00

In the course of devoting so many hours to The Book, Paul and I came up with a new way to illustrate the making of recipes: rather than the standard depiction of a cook working away at a table, we thought, why not illustrate, say, the trussing of a chicken from the cook's standpoint? Paul pointed out that an artist would practically have to sit in the cook's lap to achieve the right combination of technical exactitude and ideal point-of-view; the answer, clearly, was to use photographs. ...the photos could be the basis for simple line drawings that showed the cook's hands and whatever food and tools would be required. Besides, a drawing can actually be simpler and clearer, not to mention more aesthetically pleasing with type, than a photograph.
As we talked, a plan evolved: I would cook something, Paul would photograph over my shoulder, and we'd send the resulting prints to an artist who would make drawings for the book. We spent a very enjoyable two hours experimenting on this in the kitchen. We discussed light angles, camera angles, proper backgrounds, how to position my hands to show a technique properly, exposure times, and all the other variables we'd have to bring into harmony. ...
A few days later, we spent an entire afternoon shooting photographs of the various steps in cleaning and cutting up a chicken. The salon was tangled with light-wires, chicken gizzards, rolls of film, notebooks, knives and a big tarpaulin. The camera was high up on a tripod. Paul stood behind it on a stool, attempting to focus without toppling over. Far below, a chicken was splayed on a cutting board on the floor, and I was lying on my stomach with my arms outstretched as I strained to demonstrate proper knifework.

circa 1954, from My Life in France, by Julia Child
with Alex Prud'homme

Ratatouille, 2011 vintage

2011-07-29T17:23:00.003-04:00

It happens every summer. Suddenly, it's time.

I love ratatouille, and I try to make some (to make a lot) around this time, every year. There's usually a week when all or most of the vegetables that go into are on sale at the same time, and that's sometimes my signal. That's what happened this week, and there was also a sudden. welcome, temporary drop in temperature, between two heat waves, that added a little bit of better-now-than-later to the spur-of-the-moment decision. {What I told myself last summer still stands, about this always being less work and less mess than I remember it being. On the other hand, you do have to stand in front of the stove for a good hour-and-a-half, not constantly, but more than is nice in late July or early August}.

I have learned so much from the recipe for Sauteed Ratatouille in my beloved Fine Cooking {no. 68, September 2006}, especially in the proportions for each vegetable and the recommended, separate cooking temperatures and times. But the part at the end, where I simmer everything together, is something that they tell us, right up front, NOT to do. In big red letters, couldn't be clearer: 'Saute or roast -- but don't simmer -- to make this classic Provencal vegetable dish truly delicious.' The writer explains: 'Looking through a half-dozen cookbooks, I saw instructions to 'simmer,' 'stew' or even 'boil' -- the idea being to marry the flavors of the vegetables. But for me, too much togetherness just makes the dish bland. The vegetables lose their own personalities, and the texture gets so mushy.' I would never say that she's wrong, but I like my ratatouille soft and stewy and luscious. So I respectfully disagree, and gently simmer.
I thought I would experiment a little, so I did two things differently. I cut all the vegetables into smaller pieces (about 1/4 inch dice for everything), hoping for a different {softer, prettier?} texture and look. And then, because I love how it tastes with tomatoes, I thought I would try balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice as a brightener. Oh, and because I forgot to cover the pan during the final simmer, there weren't any juices left to reduce, though it was still moist. I'm very happy with all three ideas. Next year, if I can remember the mint, I think I'll have perfection. :)

{This version made a little less -- about 4 generous cups -- either because it's more compact, or because more was tasted along the way. I really can't say for sure. :)}

Ratatouille
adapted mostly from Fine Cooking {and last year's}
for about 4 cups {I recommend doubling the recipe; it's nice to have some for the freezer}

olive oil {a tablespoon or so at a time … aboutt 1/2 cup, or a little more, in total)
one medium eggplant (about one pound), peeled {or not, as you like} and cut into ¼ inch dice
salt {like the olive oil, used a bit here and there}
two medium onions, peeled and cut into ¼ inch dice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
two medium-sized bell peppers, preferably one red and one yellow, cored, seeds and white stuff removed, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary {or about ½ teaspoon dried}
3 to 4 small summer squash (about one pound), preferably a mixture of green zucchini and yellow crookneck, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and cut into half-inch cubes
6 to 8 large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped (about ¼ cup)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar {more to taste}
2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into one-inch chunks {or, if no one’s looking, a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained}
a handful of fresh basil, sliced in a chiffonade
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
{a smaller handful of fresh mint, sliced in a chiffonade, optional}

Put the peeled and diced eggplant in a colander in the sink and toss it with a generous sprinkling of salt. Let it sit for 30 to 60 minutes while you prepare the other vegetables.

Then, in a large (12-inch) skillet {a deeper pot if you’re doubling the recipe}, sauté the vegetables one at a time:

{Tip from Fine Cooking: if the juices in the pan look black and burned at any time, rinse the pan with water and wipe it out. If not, leave the cooked-on juices in the pan; they’ll add flavor to the final dish.}

{Onions, low and slow}: Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, the thyme and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape the onions into a large bowl.

{Peppers, high then medium}: In the same skillet, heat another 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften and brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the rosemary, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re extremely soft and sweet, another 10 to 15 minutes. Gently fold into the onions in the bowl.

{Zucchini and squash, higher heat and less time}: Heat another tablespoon of oil over high heat, and as soon as you see the first whisp of smoke add the zucchini, squash and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir to distribute the pieces so they’ll be in one even layer. {I did this in two batches.} Cook over high heat until tender and nicely browned on both sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Add to the bowl and gently fold in with the onions and

{Eggplant, high then slow}: Dump the eggplant onto some paper towels, and pat to blot dry. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet over high heat, add the eggplant (no salt needed}, and stir to distribute evenly in the pan so all the pieces will brown. Cook over high heat, turning occasionally, until lightly browned on several sides, about 5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium. Cook until the eggplant is very tender, another 13 to 15 minutes. Fold into the other vegetables.

{Garlic and tomatoes, just a little}: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and let it sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the balsamic vinegar, then the tomatoes and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook until the tomatoes collapse slightly and the juices thicken and reduce a little, about 3 to 5 minutes. As you’re cooking, scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze all the cooked-on vegetable juices.} Leave this mixture in the pan.

Return all the vegetables to the cooking pot, with any juices in the bowl, stir well, and simmer the ratatouille, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. {If there is still a lot of liquid, see last year.} Add the fresh basil and parsley and gently fold together. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Fresh Peach Cobbler

2011-07-15T14:51:00.005-04:00

Don't worry -- I know this isn't what most of us would call a cobbler. I'm not sure why the original recipe calls it a cobbler (esp. since the headnote described it as being similar to a German coffee cake...), but I'm sticking with it, in honor of the source. :)

It is more like a very simple, tender, delicate cake topped with warm, sweet fresh fruit (more like a buckle, possibly, and similar to this gorgeous blueberry cake). I've been re-organizing my recipe binder; this one, from Beth Hensperger's book The Art of Quick Breads, has been in there for a long time. I was curious (as I've been with other old recipes) to see if I would still like it. I remember now; it's wonderful!

Sometimes, I think that in our rush to try the dozens or hundreds of recipes that we've clipped or bookmarked, we forgot about the old, good ones. {Now that I think of it, I remember carrying one of these, still hot from the oven, on the T, on the fourth of July, probably the second summer, 17 years ago, that I lived here.}

And if it's a recipe like one, made from pantry ingredients, with almost any fruit that you have, for breakfast or dessert, in about 45 minutes, that's especially good.

The original recipe says that you can make this with many different kinds of fruit -- '...sweet Tartarian cherries from my local farmer's market Peeled and diced ripe summer peaches...Santa Rosa plums, apricots or nectarines; field-grown red rhubarb; delicate winter pears; even sliced bananas or big Watsonville raspberries.' {I love the notes in her books. The recipe just calls for 'milk,' and when I went to the notes section to see if she meant any particular kind, she wasn't specific about that; but I learned that I should look for 'excellent jersey and guernsey milks' for 'a slightly different taste.' I made my cobbler with 1% milk, most likely from holstein-friesian cows apparently, because that's what I had open, and low-fat milk works well.}

The little squeeze of lemon juice might not seem necessary (it didn't to me), but I think it adds just another little nuance to all the flavors.

It also says, so you'll have all the information, for when you make this, that it can be baked in an 8-inch springform pan, two 6-inch pans, or an 8-inch square pan, or doubled and baked in a 12-inch round pan or a 9x13 rectangle {I think that's what I carried on the train...} The ingredients make a scant amount of batter, but it puffs and bakes up around the fruit. The recipe says that this is best served warm (true), on the day it is made {see note*) , but it can be wrapped and frozen for up to two weeks and then reheated.

Fresh Peach Cobbler
from The Art of Quick Breads, by Beth Hensperger
for one 8-inch round cake

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
one egg
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk {low-fat was fine}
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
four small to medium peaches, peeled and diced (about 3 cups of your chosen fruit, pitted and halved or sliced}
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon {I used about half of this cinnamon-sugar}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan (or see pan variations, above).

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon), cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg,

In another bowl, or on a sheet of wax paper, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, mix together the milk and the vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk mixture, into the creamed mixture, mixing them into a smooth batter.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Cover with all of the fruit in a thick single layer, then sprinkle the fruit first with the lemon juice, then with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake the cobbler in the preheated oven until the fruit is bubbly and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes for the 8-inch pan {mine needed 5 minutes longer} or 25-30 minutes for the 6-inch pans {times for the doubled recipe not given}. Serve warm or at room temperature, unmolded {it's pretty!} or straight from the pan.

{* While this is still best fresh and warm from the oven, I'm having a piece of yesterday's for breakfast, out of the fridge, warmed in the microwave for 30 seeconds, and I'm happy!}

The Barefoot Contessa's {Lovely} Lemon Yogurt Cake

2011-07-14T00:01:00.003-04:00

I want to collect an entire library of perfect recipes for tea cakes, one in every flavor. {I’m off to very good start, I think… I just looked through my recipe box and found apple, apple raspberry, apple thyme, apple zucchini, applesauce, banana, banana-chocolate, banana-chocolate chip, blueberry-lemon, carrot, chocolate marble {ooh…it use yogurt!), date, cranberry, lemon and blueberry (not the same as blueberry-lemon), lemon-glazed zucchini, lemon poppy seed (several), oatmeal, orange cranberry, pear, pumpkin, strawberry, and sweet potato.} I also want to cross-reference them by kinds of dairy or fat {milk, sour cream, buttermilk, butter, oil, yogurt}, not {just} because I’m a nerd, but because then I could make a tea cake whenever I wanted to, with something or other that I have on hand.

This week, that was what was left of a quart of plain yogurt (and blueberries, and lots and lots of lemons), so I was originally planning to make this blueberry loaf cake from Smitten Kitchen. But then I was drawn to the recipe that Deb credits as her source: the Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Yogurt Cake. I’m sure a lot of people have made this cake already. I know I’ve seen it myself, on the TV show and in one of the cookbooks. I just wish someone could tell me why I waited so long to try it.

It’s wonderful, excellent, easy, perfect. Moist, lemony, sticky, refreshing. Tea breads or loaf cakes seem so simple, but they can be tricky. I make one that has a gorgeous crumb and lovely flavor, but the edges rise up and the middle sinks, so it looks a little like a ditch or a gulley. This lemon cake even has one of these…

I used the sugar syrup, but not the confectioners’ sugar glaze; even for me, there’s a place where the sugar stops. But I will try the glaze sometime; I know I’ll be making this again and again and again, and someday with blueberries. {The entry on Smitten Kitchen offers a long list of other possible variations, too.}

Do you have any favorite recipes for tea breads or loaf cakes?

Lemon Yogurt Cake

From The Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten, via The Food Network, thanks to Smitten Kitchen

for one 8½-inch loaf cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided

3 extra-large eggs {mine were just ‘large’; I’ve read that if you’re using fewer than five eggs or so in a recipe, the difference isn't significant}

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from two lemons)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice {from two lemons, exactly!}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

In a large mixing bowl {use a good-sized one; you’ll see why later}, sift {or whisk} together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup of the sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

{This is why you want to use the large mixing bowl. Fold slowly and neatly, and it will be fine.} With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. {Really, use this set-up. Sticky, messy, worth it.} While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

{For the glaze, combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice: pour over the {cooled} cake.}

Hail, {homemade} Caesar!

2011-07-10T13:52:00.008-04:00

Oh, excellent. I found a good recipe for a homemade Caesar salad dressing.

After years of ordering (very expensive) ones at restaurant work lunches or buying (slightly less expensive) ones from Au Bon Pain to eat at my desk, I still sometimes have a craving for a very simple, very ordinary Caesar salad. For years, my 'recipe' for making them at home was the one I got at a work friend's baby shower: a local brand of bottled Caesar dressing freshened with lemon juice.

I think I was put off from making my own because of the anchovies. {I thought I had bought some last year, but when I got home, I couldn't find them. If I did, I'm still hoping that they were left on the checkout counter at Whole Foods, because if they weren't, they're lodged in that dark corner under the front seat of my car and I'll only find them when the can explodes.}

Cook's Illustrated included a recipe for chicken Caesar salad for two in its new book, and (perfect!) also explained that you can roll up and freeze the little leftover fishies. That's great news, because they won't go to waste, and I thought this dressing tasted just the way I think of Caesar salad tasting. Everything else that goes into it is almost always in my pantry, and now I have enough anchovies stashed way to make this, in small batches, five or six more times over the summer.

{The recipe also includes methods for cooking boneless chicken breasts and making homemade croutons. I had leftovers of both this time, but I know I'll try the complete recipe sometime soon, when I don't. One thing they mentioned is that it's important to thoroughly dry the romaine after washing it, so the thick, creamy dressing will cling to the leaves and not slip off.}

Caesar Salad Dressing
adapted from Cooking for Two 2011: The Year's Best Recipes Cut Down to Size, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated
for about 1/2 cup of dressing, enough for two entree salads *

1 1/2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
one small clove garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons buttermilk
4 teaspoons {a slightly heaping tablespoon} light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons good Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper to taste

{I like to make salad dressings -- sounds like I do it all the time, doesn't it? -- and other little sauces in my mini food processor, so this is a slight change I made to the method. If you're using a blender, as the original recipe says, mince the garlic clove by hand and add it, and the anchovy fillets, with the rest of the ingredients.}

Put the anchovy fillets and the {whole} garlic clove in the bowl of a mini food processor and pulse about 6 to 8 times so they'll blend in better with the rest of the ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, water, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Blend for about 30 seconds, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until smooth. With the processor or blender running, add the olive oil in a steady stream and process until it's incorporated, about 10 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the grated parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Before tossing it with the salad, whisk the dressing again to recombine.

* I know that using a 1/4 cup of dressing on a salad seems wrong, but I should have also mentioned that the Cook's Illustrated cooks looked for ways to create a rich, creamy dressing that was relatively low in fat. And this salad, in particular, seems to want a generous amount of dressing, doesn't it?

{And is that corn in there? A habit from my salad-bar-lunch days, and it seems to happen a lot when you order a salad in France, of all places. It's good! -- especially when the salad has bitter edges, like this one.}

{Eighteen things to make this summer, no. 6}

Boston's best blueberry cake

2011-07-04T10:18:00.003-04:00

I had a stack of new blueberry cake recipes pulled out for the Fourth of July already, but then last Wednesday our newspaper's food section (which is excellent) had a blueberry cake bake-off. This Blueberry Cake with Streusel Topping was one of the winners, but I'm going to save the recipes for some of the runners-up, too.

Simple, delicious, more blueberries than cake, not too much streusel, not too fat-laden, and from the scent alone, worth turning on the oven for. (And it's always so interesting to me when such a thick, stodgy batter turns into such a delicate crumb.)

This was a perfect Fourth of July breakfast. {And since I have a feeling I'm going to be watching Jimmy Smits (I mean the National Symphony Orchestra) instead of Keith Lockhart (I mean the Boston Pops) tonight, I think it's important for me to show some civic pride and loyalty ... }

{The Fourth of July, 1916, by Childe Hassam. Thank you to Joan of the lovely blog For the Love of a House for leading me to it.}

Summer Squash Soup

2011-06-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

I look forward to this soup every summer, and to be honest it's usually the only soup I make from June till September.

Even so, every time I make soup, I wonder why I don't do it more often. It can be elegant, but still comforting; it can be very simple to make; it's nutritious and economical; and (I've been noticing this lately) it's often beautiful. This one is a lovely, glossy golden-yellow. The original recipe says to add milk or even half-and-half, but I usually add very little, or even none. I would almost rather use a pretty dribble of cream as a garnish.

This soup has a gentle, very slightly sweet, fresh flavor, and with that and its pretty color it's a great backdrop for garnishes. I love crunchy croutons in a smooth soup, but I've been noting some other ideas in my recipe binder {please see below}.

Summer Squash Soup
adapted from Good Friends, Great Dinners, by Susan Costner
for about six servings

one medium onion {don't be tempted to use a sweet onion, such as a Vidalia; I tried that, and it doesn't give enough flavor}
3 to 4 small to medium carrots
3 to 4 medium yellow summer squash, washed but not peeled (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, at room temperature
1 cup milk or half-and-half {or less, or none}
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground white pepper, to taste
. . .
Garnishes:
crunchy croutons {preferably flavored with herbs and/or parmesan}
a swirl of basil or sun-dried tomato pesto
a dribble of cream
a few slivers of roasted red pepper
finely chopped fresh parsley
slivered almonds

Keeping them in separate piles, peel, trim and dice the onion and carrots. Wash and trim the ends from the squash, then cut across into thin slices. {You'll end up with about 2/3 cup diced onion, 1 cup of diced carrots, and 4 cups of sliced squash.}

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy, deep three or four-quart saucepan over low heat. Add the onions, cover the pan and cook until the onion is limp but not brown, about 10 minutes. {If they start to brown, a splash of water in the pan can help.} Add the carrots and yellow squash, and stir to coat them with the butter. Keeping the heat low, cover the pan again and let the vegetables cook, undisturbed, for another 10 minutes or so, until they are very soft. {The pan will seem dry at first but the vegetables will release liquid as they cook.}

Add the chicken broth to the vegetables. Simmer, uncovered, for another 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender but still firm. Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer the vegetables and some of the broth, in batches, to a blender or food processor and puree until very smooth.

If you want to freeze some (or all) of the soup, let the puree cool and freeze it in small containers. To finish all or some of the soup right away, return the puree to the saucepan. Pour in the milk or cream, if using, and season with salt and ground white pepper to taste. Reheat gently over low heat, then ladle the soup into warm bowls or mugs and garnish as you want to.

Eighteen things to make this summer

2011-06-25T06:30:00.009-04:00

blueberry pancakes
corn chowder
tomato jam
cucumber sandwiches
a really good BLT
a caesar salad with chicken {and a homemade caesar dressing}
a new pasta salad
homemade pizza
a tomato or vegetable tart or galette
corn pudding
something new with peas, sugar snaps or snow peas {or all three}
a summer squash or zucchini casserole or gratin
focaccia with fresh herbs
blueberry buckle
madeleines
a peach tart or galette
homemade ice cream
a semifreddo

{painting by Janet Hill}

Simple Drop Biscuits

2011-06-23T06:40:00.029-04:00

I don't know anything about making biscuits, truly I don't. So I don't know if these are exceptionally good, or about average, or authentic, or expeditious, but I really, really liked them. They're very tender and light, with a nice little bit of crustiness all around, and they have a delicate taste, a little buttery, a little tangy from the buttermilk. They're so good warm. {They would be even better with honey butter, or strawberry butter, but they honestly don't need them.}

I was hoping that they would be this good, because I want to be the kind of baker who can put something like these together on the spur of the moment. The introduction explains that the secret is the warm butter and the cold buttermilk; when you mix them together, the mixture becomes clumpy, and when you put the biscuits into the oven, 'the lumps [turn] to steam and [help] create more rise.' {It's also very easy not to overmix this dough, because you're working with such small amounts of ingredients.}

Simple Drop Biscuits
from Cooking for Two 2011: The Year's Best Recipes Cut Down to Size, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated
for four biscuits

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled {I did this first, in the microwave, and let it sit while I mixed the dry ingredients}, plus about 1 teaspoon more for brushing on the baked biscuits
2/3 cup (3 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled buttermilk

Set the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Measure the buttermilk into a glass measuring cup and stir in the melted butter; mix with a fork until it forms small clumps.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir {using the fork worked well} until the flour is incorporated and everything comes together to form a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Use a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup {this works perfectly} to scoop out and drop four biscuits, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the tops are golden brown and crisp, about 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through the baking time.

Brush the baked biscuits with a little bit of extra melted butter {you don't need much, but it adds nice flavor}, transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes {oh, just skip all that} and serve warm.

Tuscan Lemon Muffins

2011-06-18T08:48:00.003-04:00

I made a mental note of these muffins as soon as I saw them in Cooking Light, and all it took was eight glowing reviews on the magazine's web site (and, to be honest, some leftover part-skim ricotta cheese that I didn't want to throw away) for me to try them. {And -- !!! -- I finally, finally used my rose muffin pan. I fell in love with this pan when I first saw it, but although I've clipped five or six recipes that would be 'perfect for the rose pan!' I've never gotten around to trying it. Gorgeous, right? The only challenge is that you have to invert the pan to get the muffins out successfully, and it's a little heavy and awkward for that.}

These muffins are 'Tuscan' not only because of the ricotta cheese (I've made muffins with it before, maple ones from a Mollie Katzen recipe) but also because they're made with olive oil. Their texture is a little different than what I'd normally expect in a muffin; they're not cakey or dense, almost more like sponge cake, with nicely crispy edges. And very light. I could almost see serving them for dessert. As almost everyone said in the reviews, they could be a little more lemony (a drop or two of lemon oil, maybe?), but they're very, very good, especially for a muffin that's low in fat.

You can find the recipe, from the May issue of Cooking Light, here.

Food in books: French breakfast

2011-06-17T21:11:00.000-04:00

There are few things bought with money that are more delightful than a French breakfast. If you take it in your room it appears in the shape of two small vessels, one of coffee and one of hot milk, two kinds of bread, with a thin, printed slice of butter, and one or two of some thirty dishes from which you can choose, the latter flavored exquisitely enough to make one wish to be always at breakfast, but cooked and composed I know not how or of what. The coffee has an aroma peculiarly exquisite, something quite different than any I have ever tasted before; and the petit pain, a slender biscuit between bread and cake, is, when crisp and warm, a delightful accompaniment.

Nathaniel Parker Willis, Pencillings by the Way (1854), quoted in
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, by David McCullough

{Table Dressee, by Edouard Vuillard, c. 1902}

Buttermilk-Coconut Chicken

2011-06-15T19:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, after being terribly, terribly adult, responsible and estimated-tax-paying, I thought it would be fun to treat myself to a favorite dinner from childhood. I didn't follow the recipe we used then (from Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook, c. 1965) -- though I could have! -- but turned instead to one from the nice people who ask things like 'Would you make 28 lemon meringue pies to find the best version? We did.' on the front of their cookbooks. Their recipes are almost always excellent, but this one wasn't. Drat. When you're going to reward yourself by making something on purpose that isn't all that good for you, it should taste a lot better than that. :)

This treat of a dinner was a lot better. I've made this chicken before, and I'd forgotten how good it is. I think it's common to soak chicken for frying or grilling in buttermilk, and doing that with these quickly-baked chicken strips keeps them moist and (together with the coconut, garlic and curry powder) gives the chicken a very interesting and appealing flavor. {The trick of preheating the baking sheet while you preheat the oven is pretty cool, too; you can hear a very promising sizzle as soon as you place the chicken on the pan.}

{The original recipe, which you can find here, is from Cooking Light. I've been following the recipe mostly as written, except that I use Special K (because that's what I eat for breakfast) instead of corn flakes. I pour the cereal into a waxed bag -- another relic from my childhood! -- so it's easy to crush under a rolling pan or even with my hands. And I don't bother chopping the coconut, or adding the final spritz of cooking spray.}

Beautiful Onion Buns

2011-06-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

This is a variation (theirs, not mine) on King Arthur Flour’s recipe for Beautiful Burger Buns. Those have a following on the King Arthur Flour web site, and some of my baking friends make them, too. I haven’t tried the original recipe, but I can tell you that these are very easy to make and incredibly good.

They’re made from a simple dough enriched with an egg and some butter, and sweetened with sugar. {In the end, though, they’re oniony-sweet, but not sugary sweet.} The recipe offers a range of amounts for the water, and some very helpful advice:

Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

It was (suddenly) hot the day I made these, and probably a little humid, so I used ¾ cup of water and that worked perfectly. The dough is soft and sticky, but it did hold together around the dough hook and didn’t need a lot of bench flour when I was hand kneading it for a minute or so at the end.

To add the onion flavor, you sprinkle some onion powder into the dough, and after it has risen, you roll the dough into a flat rectangle, sprinkle some dried minced onion on the top, and then roll it up and slice it as though you’re making cinnamon rolls. {Oooh. Good idea.} To be honest, I didn’t have onion powder, and the rolls were flavorful enough without it. The only difficult thing about making these might be finding the dried minced onions. {You can find them at Penzey’s and in the King Arthur Baker’s Catalog — that’s where I got mine, and the bagful will probably last me all summer.} You won’t necessarily see them in the finished buns, but you’ll know they’re there.

One quick note: my rolls didn’t begin to take on color until the last 6 or 7 minutes of baking, but then they were beautifully golden. The recipe offers you a choice of brushing the unbaked rolls with an egg white/water wash (for a golden, shiny crust) or with melted butter, before and after baking (for a soft, buttery crust). Since I wasn’t putting seeds on top of mine, I used the melted butter, which just makes these even nicer than they already were.

They have a light, almost-creamy tasting crumb, a soft, appealing crust, and a wonderful onion scent and flavor. It’s also nice that the recipe makes only eight, normal-sized buns, instead of a freezer-full. That’s enough for me, if I make them a couple of times, to enable, not to mention enhance, my annual turkey burger cravings.

Here's a link to the recipe, and another to a Baker’s Banter post on how to make them.

This time last year

2011-05-27T06:00:00.024-04:00

While I'm on a short break, I thought I could re-introduce some of the recipes that I discovered at this time last year. Good things sometimes seem to come in spurts (does that happen to you?)

Sonoma Chicken Salad, from Whole Foods

Fleur de Lait, from The Perfect Scoop

Pasta Ponza, from Giada de Laurentiis

Israeli Couscous with Apples, Cranberries and Herbs,
also from Giada de Laurentiis

Baked Chicken Meatballs, from Gourmet via Smitten Kitchen

East Blue Hill Blueberry Coffee Cake, from Maida Heatter's Cakes

I think I'll make two, possibly three, of these again over this long weekend. I hope your cooking makes you just as happy.

Baked Manicotti à Deux

2011-05-18T19:44:00.003-04:00

I almost never cook just enough dinner for one night. In a way, that works so well for me, not only because my schedule usually doesn’t leave enough time for cooking dinner from scratch when I get home from work, but also because I’m very happy with leftovers. Or planned-overs (in the winter, especially, I stock my freezer with little tubs of stew, or pasta sauce, to have another night).

But it also means that I can’t/don’t cook as often as I might like to, and I don’t have as many opportunities to try new things. I’m sure it’s an issue for portion control, too (too easy to spoon up just a little bit more before putting everything away for the next day). If I could sometimes make meals one at a time, or two at a time, that might be the best plan.

In the last two years (I think there’s a 2011 edition coming soon, too), Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen has been publishing annual cookbooks called Cooking for Two, where they have scaled down (and tested the scaling-down of) the year's best recipes. There’s a great range of appealing recipes — from soups to pie — and I have a long list of ones that I want to try (the tiny raspberry-peach pie is so cute).

And -- not that I’ve taken advantage of it yet, but -- there’s a great feature in the front of these books each book called ‘Making the Most of the Recipes in this Book.’ In most cookbooks, that would a page or two about how to measure flour and reminding you that eggs are always large and butter is always unsalted {does anyone ever read those pages?}. But in these, it’s a chart showing you what you can do with the rest of the can or package or vegetable. So, for instance, after I use a cup of ricotta cheese here, I can use what's remaining in the carton to make lasagna (needs 4 ounces), ricotta spread (4 to 6 ounces), ricotta gnocchi (10 ounces), or pasta with lighter roasted red pepper pesto (1/4 cup). I think that shopping efficiently, or using food up if you don’t, is one of the hardest parts about cooking for one or two, and this was a brilliant and thoughtful idea.

Manicotti should freeze well, so normally it would be a perfect candidate for the full-recipe approach. But I was intrigued by this recipe, and I had half a small tub of ricotta cheese to finish up. This is a fairly traditional baked manicotti recipe, flavorwise {the filling is almost exactly the same as the one I use for stuffed shells}, but one of CI’s new ideas here is to use no-boil lasagna noodles, softened in boiling water until they’re pliable, in place of the homemade crepes or dried manicotti tubes. The other unusual idea is the uncooked sauce (just canned diced tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper pureed in a food processor). I was a little worried when I saw how watery it seemed, but if I had read the recipe through {the way we’re supposed to} I would have known that they did this on purpose. The extra moisture is absorbed by the no-boil noodles and helps to keep them moist. {My dish was still a little watery, especially when it first came out of the oven, but some of the liquid was absorbed as it sat.}

So good, and SO simple and fast to put together. {It's not exactly a quick weeknight meal, because it has to bake for 40 minutes, but it could be ready in under an hour, start to finish, with only 10 to 15 minutes of prep time.} Don't let the fact that my manicotti unrolled a little as I was spooning them out of the pan worry you; these are delicious. The sauce is fresh-tasting, with a kick from the garlic and the red pepper (something I'm getting to like, surprisingly to myself), and the pasta is beautifully tender.

Baked Manicotti
adapted from Cooking for Two 2009, by the editors of America's Test Kitchen
for two servings

For the sauce:
two garlic cloves, peeled
one 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, with their juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil {or...shhhh...a good sprinkling of dried}

For the filling and pasta:
8 ounces (about 1 cup) whole milk or part-skim ricotta cheese {CI says 'do not substitute fat-free ricotta cheese here'}
3 ounces whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 3/4 cup)
2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup), divided
one large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil {again, shhhh...}
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
six no-boil lasagna noodles {CI recommends Barilla 'because their thin, delicate texture makes them easier to roll into uniform manicotti' ... and, I'm guessing, they're the right size for the pan recommended}

Set an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

To make the sauce, mince the peeled garlic cloves, or pulse them in a food processor to give them a head start. In the same food processor bowl, puree the tomatoes (with their juices, the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper flakes until smooth, about 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the basil. {The sauce will seem thin; see note above.}

For the filling, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, half of the parmesan, the egg, the second dose of basil, salt and pepper and stir to blend.

For the noodles, bring a pot of water -- a large, deep saute pan works well -- to a boil, then take the pot off the heat. {Or you can boil the water in a teakettle and pour it into a large mixing bowl.} Slip the no-boil lasagna noodles into the water one at a time, moving them gently as you add each one so they don't stick together. Let the noodles sit in the hot water for about 5 minutes, until they are soft and pliable. Lift them out of the water carefully {this is a little difficult; I found slinging each one over the handle of a wooden spoon and lifting them out was the best method} and lay them in a single layer on a clean dishtowel.

Spread 1/2 cup of the uncooked tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Working with one noodle at a time, spread about 1/4 cup of the ricotta cheese mixture over 3/4ths of the noodle, leaving the top 1/4th empty. Starting from the short, cheesy end, roll the noodle up in a cylinder and place it, seam side down, in the loaf pan. {The six manicotti will just fit, perfectly.}

Pour the remaining sauce over the six manicotti, spreading it so it covers them completely; sprinkle on the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan. Cover the loaf pan with foil and bake the manicotti for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake, uncovered, until the cheese is lightly browned, another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the dish sit for 10 minutes or so before serving.

A simple side dish: Oven-baked Brown Rice

2011-05-15T18:14:00.005-04:00

For someone who hasn't made anything new in weeks, this has to be about the dullest comeback imaginable. However, I would simply like to say that if:

you decide that, at your age, if you're going to eat carbs, they should be healthy and whole grainy ones
you buy a package of rice labeled Golden Rose, because of that first thing, and because it has such a pretty name
you're always a little bit embarrassed to realize how many simple, basic cooking tasks, like making rice, are still outside of your comfort zone
you need a cup of cooked brown rice for a more intriguing recipe you bookmarked yesterday
in the meantime, you're making a delicious chicken dish that you first discovered almost exactly a year ago and are very happy to be having again, and you know you're going to want something to sop up the sauce

or all, or any combination, of the above, this is a good recipe to know about.

This method of cooking brown rice is easy, it isn't fussy, and it works very well. The key (according to the recipe notes) is to cover the saucepan while boiling the water, and add it to the rice as soon as it has boiled, just so the water won't evaporate and lead to drier rice. You won't save any time with this method, CI tells us, but since the oven's heat is gentler than the stovetop's, there's less risk of scorching.

Oven-Baked Brown Rice
from The Best Chicken Recipes, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated
for four {very generous} servings

1 1/2 cups long, medium or short-grain brown rice {mine was medium}
2 1/3 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the raw rice in an 8-inch square glass {or ceramic} baking dish.

Bring the water and oil to a boil, covered, in a medium saucepan over high heat. Once the water is boiling, immediately stir in the salt and pour the water over the rice. Cover the baking dish tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil. {If your baking dish has a lid, you can use that instead.} Put the dish in the oven right away and bake until the rice is tender, about an hour.

Take the pan out of the oven, uncover it, and fluff the rice with a fork. {Don't worry if the rice is sticking around the edges of the pan. Mine did, but it loosened up as the rice sat. Just scrape it a little.} Cover the dish with a clean dishtowel and let it sit for 5 minutes. Uncover and let the rice stand for another 5 minutes before serving.

If you want to double the recipe, according to the notes, use a 13x9 inch pan; the baking time is the same.

Zebra Cookies

2011-05-06T21:08:00.001-04:00

{Though, come to think of it, not zebras, not really. Giraffes, maybe?}

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. Sweet, gentle, reliable, there when you need them, and much loved, and the people you share them with will think you're a genius even if your skills as an artist (or pastry chef) are still a little elementary. Suddenly, they remind me of the mothers that I'm baking them for.

Just one suggestion: the dough for these cookies is very soft, especially the half that you add the chocolate to. That's good, because the cookies themselves are very tender, but it can make it challenging to marble the two colors and shape a nicely rounded log. I find that it helps to chill the dough, even for 10 minutes, at key points: after each one is mixed, so they hold together a little better when you start marbling, and after the initial marbling and rolling, so that you can come back later and smooth out the log before the real chilling. All of this just helps keep the colors from mushing together too much.

Otherwise, this is a simple, trustworthy recipe, and the cookies are delicate, softly-flavored, fragrant and pretty. I hope you all have a lovely Mothers' Day!

Zebra Cookies
adapted from The Art of the Cookie, by Jann Johnson
for about 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies {the recipe can easily be doubled to make two logs of dough}

1 ounce (one square) unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
one large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water {or -- I think this works much better with such a small amount -- in the microwave}; set aside to cool slightly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, in another mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the egg and the vanilla. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-and-sugar mixture and combine well; use a rubber spatula, if you need to, to make sure all the dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl are incorporated.

Remove half of the dough {measured by eye or with a scale} from the mixing bowl. Add the melted chocolate to the half remaining in the bowl and blend it in until the color is uniform. {At this point, as noted above, though this isn't necessary, you can chill the two doughs separately for 10 minutes or so; not enough to harden them, but enough to firm them up a little so you can handle them better.}

On a rolling surface, roll each dough into a rough cylinder and set them side by side, touching each other. Working gently, so you don't mush them into one color, roll and twist the doughs together into one log, creating a marbled pattern. Continue rolling gently into a smooth, nicely rounded 12 x 1 inch log. {Again, if the dough is on the soft side, you can form the log, chill it a little, then work on the smoothness.} Wrap the log tightly in waxed paper or plastic wrap and twist the ends closed. Chill the log for 2 to 3 hours or until it's very firm. {You can also freeze the logs at this point. I wrap mine in plastic wrap, then put the log into a plastic bag for extra protection.}

When you're ready to bake the cookies, set an oven rack in the center position, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut the chilled dough into 1/4 inch slices, rotating the log after every slice or two to help keep it rounded. Place the cookies one inch apart on the baking sheet {they don't spread very much}. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are set and slightly golden at the edges. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes {they're delicate} and then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Savory Chicken Crumble

2011-05-01T06:03:00.014-04:00

Just in case you were wondering, if a recipe calls for chicken, mushrooms, and some kind of sauce, it will almost definitely catch my attention. If it adds a crusty/crunchy topping and is baked till bubbly, you can feel certain that I'll want to make it soon. If it calls for chicken thighs, and it's May, you should probably expect it even sooner, because I'll probably still have some in the freezer, from the recipes that I didn't get around to this winter, that I need to use up.

Savory crumbles also bring back a memory of spending a few days in Paris with my sister, and eating lunch at a tiny cafe in the Marais that served, oddly enough, crumbles. According to the little notebook that I kept during my trip, we ordered chicken and broccoli crumble and cappuccino, and the cafe was called Marais Plus. I just looked it up, and it seems now to be a gift shop instead of a restaurant. So I'm not sure if this is the right place; if you get to Paris before I do, could you just check and let me know?

I first saw this recipe in Cook's Illustrated last fall (right before or after I saw this recipe), and it was published again in their newest cookbook, The Best One-Dish Suppers. In the magazine, they focused on how to make chicken pot pie in half the time, and how to add unexpectedly deep flavor with soy sauce and tomato paste, which they remind you not to leave out. This all looks more complicated than it is, and even though this isn't really a one-dish recipe, you can do most of the prep in one pan.

This is good, simple, homey comfort food, a little unusual and beautifully put together. The chicken (if you use thighs, for sure) is tender and silky, the sauce is so nicely flavored and not too gloppy, the carrots and mushrooms aren't overcooked, and the crumble topping is addictive. {Do you like sprinkling croutons on a creamy soup?} It's perfect for this time of year, at least around here, when we might still want something hot for dinner, but stew seems too wintry.

What I like about the crumble topping is that it gives you the sense of a piecrust or a biscuit topping but it's much easier, and more foolproof, to make. And just for a extra gift, I usually rely on roasting skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts, but simmering boneless chicken thighs in chicken broth was a great way to quickly get some moist, tender cooked chicken for a casserole. I have to remember this!

The original recipe makes a 13x9 inch panful, for six to eight servings. I didn't need that much, so I simply cut the recipe in half (this worked fine), and then baked one small crumble for the first night and stored the rest of the filling and topping separately to bake fresh for Sunday supper. {You can store the filling and the topping in separate covered dishes in the fridge for up to two days. If you do that, the recipe suggests that you reheat the filling before you assemble and bake the crumble, With the short baking time, even in that hot oven, it may not get hot enough in the oven if it's too cold to start with.} Other than that, the only thing I did differently was to use all chicken thighs (instead of thighs and/or boneless breasts) and to add an extra carrot or two in place of the celery. {I have nothing against celery...I just never have any.}

Savory Chicken Crumble with Carrots, Mushrooms and Peas
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated (October 2010) and The Best One-Dish Recipes, by its editors
for about four servings {halving the original recipe}

For the crumble:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a heaping ¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
a good pinch of cayenne pepper {it won't be spicy}
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into half-inch cubes
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
7 tablespoons {or 1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon} heavy cream {the recipe warns you not to substitute milk or half-and-half}

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and both peppers. Sprinkle the cold butter cubes over the top and, using your fingers, rub and crumble in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Stir in the parmesan cheese. Add the cream, and stir just until the mixture is combined and holds together (try not to overwork it). Using your fingers again, break off ½ to ¾-inch pieces {keep them craggy and irregular} and scatter them in one layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the crumble is fragrant and just beginning to brown, 10 to 13 minutes. {Remember that it will bake more in the final cooking.} Set aside.

For the filling:
four boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12-13 ounces total)
1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
one small onion, minced
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
salt and ground black pepper
10 to 12 cremini mushrooms (about 5 ounces), wiped clean, trimmed and sliced thin
½ teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup whole milk
½ cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice {the sauce will be fresh-tasting, but not lemony}
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Place the chicken thighs and the broth in a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, cover, bring to a simmer, and poach the chicken until the thigh meat registers 175 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove the chicken from the both using tongs or a skimmer and set it aside to cool slightly. Pour the broth in a large glass measuring cup and reserve. When the chicken has cooled, shred it into bite-sized pieces and set it aside in a mixing bowl.

Use a paper towel to wipe the pot dry, add half of the oil, and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, carrots and 1/8 teaspoon salt, cover the pan, and cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the shredded chicken.

Add the remaining 1½ teaspoons of oil to the pot and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the sliced mushrooms, cover and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid, about 5 minutes. Uncover the pot, increase the heat to medium-high, and stir in the soy sauce and tomato paste. Continue to cook, stirring often, until the mushroom are dry and browned and a dark fond begins to form on the surface of the pan, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to the bowl with the chicken.

Add the butter to the pot and melt over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Gradually whisk in the reserved chicken broth and the milk. Bring a simmer, scraping up the browned bits, and cook until the sauce thickens, about one minute, whisking to remove any floury lumps. Take the pan off the heat, put the chicken and vegetables back into the sauce, and add the peas, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spread the filling into an 8-inch square baking dish {or a baking dish of similar size} and scatter the crumble topping evenly over the top. Place the casserole dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the casserole cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve.

Hot Cross Buns and Easter wishes

2011-04-22T16:15:00.003-04:00

It’s been two or three Easters since I’ve made these, but baking them today reminded me of how much I like to. I found this recipe years ago (eight? ten?) in the weekly flyer from Whole Foods {I still have it… Easter was in early April that year, and there was a special on milk chocolate carrots and Sini Fulvi Drunken Goat from the cheese department. Would you believe that 'its delicate flavor complements figs, almonds and pears'? No, me neither.}

In addition to producing lovely, light, golden, fragrant, tender hot cross buns, what I loved about this recipe the first time I made it, and every time since, is that the dough can be mixed and kneaded in a stand mixer. I think making these, way back then, was the first time I had ever tried that. Even though it’s so nice to knead bread by hand — and this one, with its warm spices, would be even nicer — using the mixer is easier and less likely to spread flour all over everything. That‘s especially good in the jumble of holiday baking and house-cleaning, isn’t it?

Notes on making these ahead: I’ve never tried this, but the original recipe says that you can shape the buns and set them on the baking sheets, then cover and refrigerate them, the night before. You would take them out of the refrigerator about 1½ to 2 hours before you plan to bake them to let them rise. I know the buns freeze well after baking, but I was wondering whether — only because it would work better for me — if I could ice them before freezing and if the icing would hold up. I asked the nice people at the King Arthur Flour Baker's Hotline and I thought so, they advised against it.

If you are celebrating, I wish you and your loved ones a happy and blessed Easter.

Hot Cross Buns
adapted from a Whole Foods recipe
for 24 buns

½ cup (one stick) unsalted butter
1 cup warm milk (105 to 115 degrees)
two ¼-ounce packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
. . .
5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
three eggs, beaten
2/3 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup golden raisins
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
one egg yolk, for brushing on before baking
. . .
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted or sieved to eliminate any lumps
4 to 6 tablespoons milk, or as needed

Cut the butter into pats and melt it in a small saucepan or in the microwave. {If you’re doing this in the microwave, try using a 4-cup measuring cup; you’ll have room to combine it with the other wet ingredients before adding them to the dry.} Set it aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the warm, milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes or until foamy. When the butter has cooled and the yeast has proofed, mix them together with the beaten eggs.

In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of your electric mixer, sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter/egg/yeast mixture. Stir mixture with a wooden spoon or with the mixer’s paddle attachment, until a dough forms. Add golden raisins, cranberries and orange peel. The dough will be fairly sticky.

Transfer dough to a floured surface and with floured hands, knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 to 15 minutes. If you are using your mixer, switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on medium speed for 8 to 10 minutes. This works beautifully! ... although you may have to scrape down the dough hook every once in a while.

Place kneaded dough in a large oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover the dough with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm place for about 1½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and cut evenly into four pieces. Knead each piece into a 6-inch log. Cut each log into six equal pieces. Lightly roll each piece into a ball, then pleat, pinch and tuck the edges of the dough towards the center. {You’ll see. We learned that this helps create surface tension; the finished buns will be rounder and prettier, and as an extra blessing, the smell of this dough in your warm hands is lovely.} Place on large rimmed baking sheets, lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart, tucked side down.

Let the buns rise, lightly covered in plastic wrap or a clean soft cloth, for 40 to 50 minutes until almost doubled in size.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg yolk with a few teaspoons of water and lightly brush the top of each bun. With kitchen scissors or a serrated knife, cut an X pattern lightly into the top. [Or try this: holding good kitchen shears straight up and down, open them to the edges of the bun, and gently snip inward. Though I'm thinking I might skip this step next time. The lines make the buns a little more craggier on top, but they're sometimes lost in the oven spring.} Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown, turning baking sheets once for even baking.

In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk until icing falls from the spoon in a ribbon. {You want it to be fairly stiff, though, I think, so it will make nice lines on the top of the buns and not dribble off.} When the buns have cooled slightly, pipe or spoon icing in an X across the top of each bun, following the scored lines. If possible, serve these warm.

{Twenty recipes to try this spring, no. 20}

Skillet Baked Ziti

2011-04-16T06:53:00.030-04:00

Baked ziti is one of the meals I know I can rely on. For example, during a period when I suddenly seemed to be moving once a year (and I'm not a kid anymore: I have grown-up furniture, and books, and place settings of delicate china, and stuff), and, in between, helped my parents with a monumental move, it became my traditional first-homemade-meal-in-the-new-kitchen. As soon as I could find the pasta pot, a baking dish, some forks and a couple of plates, and go to the store for a box of pasta, a jar of pasta sauce and a package of shredded mozzarella, I could celebrate a safe arrival, mine or someone else's, by cooking a hot, comforting, welcome meal.

That simple concoction is probably exactly what the people at Cook's Illustrated are warning us against {'Although the dish is simple enough, requiring only cheese, sauce and pasta, the result is often dry and bland or overly heavy and gooey.'} I think mine is usually perfectly acceptable, but it can be hard to get the pasta to sauce to cheese right {too much, not enough, too blah}. I've been noticing this recipe in various Cook's Illustrated books for a while, and when I wanted to just try something (anything) new, without spending all day in the kitchen, it fit the bill, finally.

It starts with a simple sauce made from whole peeled canned tomatoes {canned, so they'll be dependable all year round}, garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Then {this is the neat part, and you don't have to worry about whether it works, because I did that worrying for you}, you add water and cook the pasta right in the sauce. It might seem impossibly soupy, but the pasta absorbs the liquid as it cooks.

The headnotes tell us that the CI cooks and tasters wanted a creamier sauce, so they added heavy cream. To be honest, this is the part I'd rather do without. I'd like to try adding less cream next time, or leaving it out. It's not that it isn't luscious and silky and delicious, it's just that I want to be judicious about what I'm adding cream to, and I don't want to turn comfort food into something to feel guilty about.

Is this better than my usual version? Yes, truly. It's moister, creamier (but see hesitation above), and zippier (I'm a convert to that little bit of red pepper), and not that much more work or time-consuming to put together. The flavors and creaminess remind me of penne alla vodka, with a little more cheese. The pasta takes longer than usual to cook, but the time in the oven is short. And {if you don't count the food processor and the cheese grater, and since the food processor parts go in the dishwasher, I don't...) it's all made in one pan. That's a nice present on those nights when the chief cook and bottle washer are the same person.

Skillet Baked Ziti
adapted from The Best Skillet Recipes, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated, and also spotted in other CI cookbooks
for four {generous} servings

Notes: the headnote mentions that you can substitute other pasta shapes, such as penne, campanelle, shells, farfalle or orrechiette for the ziti, but warns that the cup measurements might be different. I'm sure this makes a difference in the final sauce to pasta proportions, so that would be why it matters. It's probably best to weigh it and use 12 ounces of your chosen shape.}

You will need a large (12-inch) ovensafe skillet with a cover {preferably nonstick, but this will work in a regular skillet; just stir often, especially after the pasta is added}.

one 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes {with their juices}
1 tablespoon olive oil
six medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 tablespoons) {since I had the food processor out for the tomatoes, I minced the garlic in it first...}
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt
3 cups water
12 ounces (about 3 3/4 cups) ziti {see note}
1/2 cup heavy cream {sigh}
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese {about 1 ounce}
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
ground black pepper
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup}

Set an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

Pulse the tomatoes, with their juices, in a food processor until they are coarsely ground with no large pieces remaining, about 12 pulses.

Heat the olive oil, garlic and red pepper together in the skillet over medium-high for about a minute, or until fragrant. Add the pureed tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. {The notes say that it's important that you simmer gently, so the sauce doesn't reduce too much and become too thick.}

Stir in the water, then add the pasta. Cover the pan, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook for 15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through, stirring often (the pasta will tend to stick!) and adjusting the heat to maintain a vigorous simmer. {Try not to overcook it, even possibly cook it a little less, because it will soften further as it bakes.}

Stir in the cream, parmesan cheese and basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the mozzarella cheese has melted and browned, 10 to 15 minutes.

Promising!

2011-04-12T17:11:00.003-04:00

I had a bread machine for a while, when they first came out. After trying countless recipes, I ended up with only one that I really liked -- a crusty, salty white bread that was addictive warm from the machine and part of which usually ended up as breadcrumbs. {I miss that bread. I miss those breadcrumbs!} I've been looking for a replacement for that recipe...a good, simple sandwich bread, good for lunches, or toast, or breadcrumbs, something that I could make whenever there's the need. Today I came close!

This is a recipe that's been on my mental to-bake list for ever. {It's from Cook's Illustrated issue no.20, and the newest one, which I just brought home yesterday, is no. 110.} Officially, it's the Master Recipe for American Loaf Bread, Oatmeal Loaf variation + {see below} Slow-Rise Loaf variation.

The idea behind this recipe is that you can make a very good loaf of white sandwich bread in about two hours, using a stand-mixer or a food processor, and using rapid-rise yeast and a warm oven to accelerate the rising times. You also put a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to help make a good crust. Beyond the basic honey-sweetened white bread, there are five variations -- Buttermilk, Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Cornmeal and Anadama -- plus instructions for what to do if you don't have rapid rise yeast. {Or if you do have rapid rise yeast but your package expired last October. That's why we've cleaning out the pantry, after all...}

It seems to happen that when I bake bread, nothing ever goes according to plan and I still sometimes end up with good bread. This time, instead of 'coming together' and being 'smooth and satiny,' my dough was slack beyond belief; the first rise, even using regular active dry yeast, was rocket-fast; and the bread that came out of the oven was beautifully browned and risen, but suspiciously airy in the middle {I was sure it was going to collapse, though it didn't}. But the bread is very promising: lovely color, light crumb, and nicely salty. I'm not sure what it is about salty bread, but it's very appealing to me.

I want to try this again once or twice before I share a recipe for it, maybe to see how the rapid rise method works, and maybe to see if on another try my dough behaves a little like the original recipe says it should. {I also want to try the cornmeal variation. Can't you just imagine a BLT on toasted cornmeal bread?} In the meantime, if you're interested in looking at the recipe, it's in several Cook's Illustrated cookbooks, including Baking Illustrated (page 75). I'm happy enough with this first try to send a slice over to Yeastspotting, an excellent weekly round-up of yeast bread recipes.

A talk with your lunch

2011-04-11T12:51:00.000-04:00

'In my mother's kitchen, everything is potential sandwich fodder. As long as it's small enough to be squashed in between two slices of bread, chances are that it will be, much to my parent's delight. ...
      In addition to being an extraordinarily creative sandwich maker, my mother has a theory about sandwiches and the people who eat them.
      'Good sandwiches are like interesting people, unpredictable and filled with surprises,' she once told me over grilled cheese and tomato at a diner.
      'Each bite should be a little different, otherwise it gets boring,' she continued, rearranging the tomatoes just so and shaking on a little hot sauce from the tiny bottle she always carried in her purse.
      'It's like a conversation. If you can anticipate the next sentence, why bother? If you know exactly what the next bite of a sandwich will taste like, why eat it?'

-- from 'My Mother's Sandwich Theory of Life,'

in In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite, by Melissa Clark

I haven't had a chance to cook from this book yet {there are five or six bookmarks in the pages, though} but I have been reading all the introductions to the recipes. It's inspiring to read the work of an excellent food writer...I'm just working on getting that inspired feeling back in my kitchen. {That will happen soon; I just know it.}

Until then, here, from my recipe box, is my favorite unexpected sandwich. Weird as it sounds (and I know it does), I really like this. I love baked sweet potatoes...they're creamy, and luscious, and have a little bit of an almost caramelly flavor. Then, you have the rich, silky, salty mushrooms, with a little taste of sherry, and the fresh spinach. They're eaten warm, and that's different, too.

Sweet Potato and Shiitake Mushroom Rolls
adapted from Wrap it Up! by Amy Cotler (1998)
for two wraps

one medium-sized sweet potato, cooked in the microwave as noted below {or baked...I had leftovers}
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
a 3.5 ounce carton sliced shiitake mushrooms {my package had just the caps; tough stems already removed)
two shallots, peeled and finely diced
pinch of dried thyme
2 teaspoons flour
1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon (a good glug) sherry
salt and freshly ground pepper {reducing the chicken broth will make the mushrooms salty, though}
two large sandwich wraps
about twelve leaves of baby spinach

Pierce the sweet potato several times with a fork and cook in the microwave on HIGH until very tender, about 15 minutes. Cut in half lengthwise, then peel it when it's cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the shiitakes, shallots and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are wilted and the shallots are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and continue stirring for another minute. Add the chicken or vegetable broth and the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens and reduces, about another 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay a sandwich wrap on a work surface. Smash half of the cooked sweet potato onto the lower third of the wrap. Top with half the spinach and half of the mushroom sauce, making sure the ingredients don't quite touch the sides. Fold in the bottom and the two sides and roll the wrap away from you. Cut in half on a slight diagonal.

Leftovers can be wrapped in wax paper, plastic wrap or foil, and refrigerated until the next day. Reheat just until warmed through, sealed in foil in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes or in the microwave, unwrapped, for about one minute. Serve warm.

From my recipe box: Moroccan Lamb Stew

2011-04-06T10:04:00.005-04:00

I was meant to be trying something new with lamb (and I still will ... I have a recipe or two picked out), but lately I've been in more of a mood for the favorites tucked into my recipe binder. {I must admit I'm also still looking for ways to use up all the wintry-seeming foods in my freezer and cupboards.} This stew is a little sweet, a little savory, a little exotic, not too complicated, and very, very good.

{The original recipe calls for 3 pounds of lamb stew meat; as I often do with stews, I used less meat and more vegetables. That's just me. And though I use fresh ginger when I buy some on purpose to make this, a good sprinkle of ground ginger in with the other spices works in a pinch.}

Moroccan Lamb Stew
adapted from a Williams-Sonoma recipe
for about six servings

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
two yellow onions, finely chopped
three carrots, peeled and chopped {you can add more}
{two to three} pounds lamb stew meat
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
three garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin {cinnamon is also surprisingly good with tomatoes}
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger {I sprinkled in some ground ginger with the other spices}
2 1/2 cups beef {or chicken} stock
1 cup canned crushed {or diced} tomatoes
1 cup chopped dried dates
grated zest and juice of one orange
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Pat the lamb dry with paper towels. Place the flour in a large bowl or sealable plastic bag and season with salt and pepper. Add the lamb in batches and stir or shake to coat thoroughly with the seasoned flour.

Warm the remaining 3 Tbs. oil in the pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches to avoid crowding, add the lamb and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes for each batch. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Return the onion mixture and the lamb along with any accumulated juices to the pot. Add the garlic, cumin, saffron and ginger and stir to coat the meat and vegetables. Add the stock and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Add the tomatoes, dates, and orange zest and juice and bring to a boil over high heat.

Cover the pot, transfer to the oven and bake until the meat is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If the sauce seems too thin, using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat and vegetables to a bowl and boil the sauce on the stovetop until thickened. Return the meat and vegetables to the pot.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. Transfer the stew to a serving bowl and garnish with the parsley.

{Twenty recipes to try this spring, no. 8}

Carrot Bread

2011-04-02T06:38:00.025-04:00

When I found out that pastry chef Emily Luchetti was writing a new book, I was thrilled, but when I saw a preview of the book, I was a little uncertain. It’s great that someone with her talent has written a book for beginning bakers, but I wonder whether the format (a lot of encouraging dialogues between Emily and her now-fearless bakers) would be confusing, or even a little tiresome, for a new baker to work with. But, as in all her books, the recipes are very appealing, and there are still, and will always be, things that I would learn.

The book has a simple recipe for carrot bread, something that was on my list of things to make this spring. The recipe worried me right away, because it seemed to go against things I’ve learned {fearless baker that I am}. The amount of grated carrot was precise, but the amount of pureed carrots wasn’t. {Isn't a 'medium carrot' in the eye of the beholder? Don't grated vegetables add moisture, and wouldn't the amount of moisture affect the texture?}. The dry ingredients are added all at once. {Why aren't we adding them alternately with the wet ingredients, as we're often told to?} The recipe says to add the dry ingredients and ‘mix until well blended.’ {Where’s the warning about not overmixing?} I was tempted to see what would happen if I pretended not to wonder about these things, but instinct kept creeping in.

Maybe this is a good beginner tea bread recipe because, for once, these things might not matter. {Though we might still need to fiddle with the carrots.} This is a moist, soft-crumbed, lovely bread. Many of the other recipes I’ve seen are more like carrot cake, with pineapple, coconut, etc. etc. mixed in, but this one was exactly what I was hoping for. It tastes so sweetly, and so simply, of carrots, that you can almost close your eyes and imagine eating some for dinner, instead of after.

Some of the other recipes that I’m looking forward to trying:

cinnamon sugar cookies
pecan shortbread
cornmeal thumbprints
chocolate-hazelnut torte
honey-cinnamon pound cake
fig-marsala-walnut tart
apple puff pastry galette
apple cinnamon scones
peach-raspberry crumble
golden raisin toasting bread

Carrot Bread
adapted from The Fearless Baker, by Emily Luchetti and Lisa Weiss
for one 9x5 inch loaf {or one small bundt cake, baked in a 6-cup pan}

eight medium carrots {see notes}
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt {plus a pinch more for the carrots}
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
two eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk or 1/3 cup whole milk mixed with ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the baking pan well, using butter or nonstick spray.

Peel and trim the carrots. Using a food processor or a box grater, grate enough of the carrots {about five of them} to yield 2 cups. Slice the remaining carrots {about three of them} into ¼-inch slices. Put the sliced carrots into a small saucepan with cold, salted water to cover, bring the water to a boil, and cook the carrot slices for about 10 minutes, until they are tender. Drain them in a colander, let them cool, and puree them in the food processor. {I had about 3/4 cup of puree. The puree may not be completely smooth.}

In a small bowl or on a sheet of wax paper, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a mixer, or a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the eggs, then the grated carrots, carrot puree and buttermilk; stir to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the carrot bread for about 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes, loosen the sides, as needed, with a thin knife, and turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely.

{The Fearless Baker, by Emily Luchetti and Lisa Weiss, will be published in May by Little Brown and Company. I’m reading a preview of the book, kindly provided by the publisher.}

{Twenty recipes to try this spring, no. 15}

Still another simple side dish: Carrots with Shallots and Parsley

2011-03-22T19:07:00.002-04:00

This is the kind of thing I always forget to do...to take something very ordinary, like carrots, and a few other fresh ingredients, and a little imagination (mine or someone else's), and put together something a lot more interesting. Besides being easy {you can cook the carrots ahead of time, leave them at room temperature, and add to them to the shallot butter at the end to reheat them}, and delicious {I love shallots}, I think this is a perfect way to save soapy-tasting supermarket carrots. When I do think of doing this kind of thing, it doesn't matter if the other side dish comes out of a box {a very good box, something I always hope will be in the cupboard} and I'm making my favorite chicken again. This was a good (and very pretty, all golden) dinner!

Carrots with Shallots and Parsley
adapted from At Home with Magnolia: Classic American Recipes from the Owner of Magnolia Bakery, by Allysa Torey
for four to six servings

10 to 12 medium-sized carrots, peeled and cut into half-inch pieces {about 1 1/2 pounds}
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
a splash of chicken broth, if you have some {see note}
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put the carrots in a saucepan of cold water and bring it to a boil. Add the carrots and cook until they are tender, about 10 minutes from the time the water boils. {Taste one to see.} Drain the carrots into a small bowl and set them aside.

Put the saucepan back on the stove and melt the butter in it over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. {If the pan is getting dry, and if you just happen to be using some chicken broth for another dinner dish, adding a splash to the pan will help soften the shallots and deglaze the pan.} Stir in the carrots, chopped parsley and salt, and stir for a minute or two to glaze the carrots and reheat them.

{Twenty recipes to try this spring, no. 12}

Twenty recipes to try this spring

2011-03-20T07:08:00.007-04:00

a new homemade salad dressing
baked | shirred | coddled eggs
a yeasted coffee cake
a crustless quiche
tea sandwiches {on pullman bread or little finger rolls...}
buttermilk scones
one or two new recipes for fish {in this late Lent}
something with lamb
a homemade pizza or vegetable tart
risotto with spring flavors {asparagus, carrots, lemon, mushroom}
one or two new recipes for asparagus
one or two new recipes for carrots
homemade French bread
focaccia with herbs
a carrot tea bread
a glazed lemon cake
madeleines
shortbread
a strawberry dessert {mousse, ice cream, gelato...}
hot cross buns

{Painting by Carl Vilhelm Holsoe.}

Another simple side dish: Green Beans with Almond Crumbs

2011-03-18T06:46:00.000-04:00

I found this recipe last week when I was looking through The Gourmet Cookbook (the big yellow one). It's a recipe that might take longer to describe than to make, but there are two main ideas. First, there's the restaurant trick (I've read that's what this is) of pre-blanching vegetables, shocking them in cold water to stop the cooking and keep them fresh-looking, and then sauteing them briefly at the last minute to re-heat them. Then, there's the presentation, which is very pretty, as well as delicious. Instead of just tossing in some slivered almonds, the nuts are finely chopped, then sauteed with a little bit of garlic.

I used blanched slivered almonds, pulsing them carefully in my mini food processor. (I think it's important to make sure you don't grind the nuts into a powder.)

One more note: the pretty almond crumbs won't stick to the green beans, even if you're tempted to add another pat of butter to the saute pan at the end. I think the solution to this difficulty is to serve these with something creamy, or something mashed, so you have more opportunities to scoop up the garnish from your plate. :)

Green Beans with Almond Crumbs
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
for four servings

one pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
one garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds, coarsely chopped in a food processor (see note above)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the green beans in a saucepan of boiling, well-salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. (They should be a little firmer than you might want them at the end.) Drain the beans into a colander and run very cold tap water over them.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 to 60 seconds, or until it just starts to turn golden. Add the almonds and cook, stirring, just until they start to color slightly, about another 2 minutes. Add the green beans and cook, tossing gently, until they are tender and heated through, about 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bostonian-Ukrainian-American Irish Soda Bread

2011-03-17T20:38:00.000-04:00

The time lapse from recipe-spotting to recipe-making is usually a lot longer around here, but I was in the kitchen mixing this bread together about 60 seconds after the recipe popped up in my sidebar. To be honest, less because of St. Patrick's Day than because I was looking forward to baking something yesterday, and then didn't have time to make the cookies I had planned on. {But they do say that everyone in Boston is Irish today, and it's not everywhere that someone would hear my Ukrainian last name for the first time and hear the Irish in it -- true story.}

This recipe underlines the quick in quick breads -- it was very easy and fast to mix together. I happened to have a bag of King Arthur Flour's Perfect Pastry Blend ('a softer, Southern-style flour ... a nice compromise (10.3% protein) between extra-soft pastry flour and all-purpose flour'), bought for the pie crusts I still haven't gotten around to making. {You can also make this with unbleached all-purpose flour, or a mix -- this sounds even better -- of ub.a.p.f and white whole wheat flour.}

The flour(s), sugar, salt, leaveners, currants {and caraway seeds, if you have some}, melted butter, egg and buttermilk mix up in a thick, soft batter, which is glazed with milk and coarse sparkling sugar (demerara sugar would probably be good, too). There's a slightly confusing note in the recipe about making a moat around the edges so the milk will stay on top of the bread and not pool down the sides, creating burnt corners, but it seems that what they mean is to spoon in the batter so the edges are higher than the middle. {The moat was just misplaced...}

It was good to have the temperature test for doneness (200 to 210 degrees F in the center on an instant-read thermometer), because my bread was beautifully golden, but not done inside, until it had been in the oven for the full hour (and it could probably have baked a little longer). I didn't get as nicely rounded a top as the KAF bakers did, but I did get the perfect light crumb and 'lacy strength.' (I found that phrase, applied to a novelist's writing, in a biography I've been reading, and I just love it.) It's buttery and rich, considering how it isn't, and the flavor is wonderful, too -- the sweetness is exotic and fruity, and you may sense spices that aren't really there.

P.S.: can be made the day before; phenomenal toasted.

You can find extensive notes, beautiful golden, crusty pictures, and a link to the recipe for American Irish Soda Bread here, on Baker's Banter, King Arthur Flour's excellent blog.

Dorie's Great Grains Muffins, revisited

2011-03-15T06:11:00.007-04:00

Just a quick note to say that I finally had a chance to make Dorie Greenspan's Great Grains Muffins again, properly this time, and I am adding my voice to the chorus of people who loved them. They're very light, with a beautiful, tender crumb (a wonderful thing in a muffin), and they're sweetened softly, not overpoweringly, with maple syrup. There's just one thing: in the recipe, Dorie says that it's very good to add chopped prunes to these muffins, but I'm pretty sure she meant leftover figs...

This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's incredible book, Baking from my home to yours; you can also find it here.

Oh, bring me some figgy recipes...

2011-03-13T13:56:00.003-04:00

One of our French Fridays friends was lucky enough to be able to buy just eight perfect, plump, hand-selected black mission figs for the amazing pasta we made last week, but I had to buy about five times the number of not-the-right-figs that I needed. So, even before I made the linguine, I spent a few minutes looking for some additional recipes using dried figs. I found homemade Fig Newtons (named for the next town over!), lots of fruitcakes, three recipes for fig scones (I might still try one of those), and this one, which was perfect for another easy dinner, and as quick and elegant as the pasta was.

This is essentially a simple sauteed chicken breast with a richly flavored pan sauce. (Can you ever have too many of those in your recipe box?) It's a little bit sweet-and-sour, but not too much of either, and I loved the warm figs with the chicken. I'm going to tuck a copy of this recipe into Around My French Table, so I'll always know what to do with the rest of the figs. And speaking of the rest, this chicken was perfect (accidentally, happily) with the rest of these.

Chicken with Balsamic-Fig Sauce
adapted slightly from Cooking Light, May 2006
for two servings (half of the original recipe)

two 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
a scant tablespoon of butter (a thin pat)
1/3 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth {hopefully, you have some of this left over from something}
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/4 cup finely chopped dried figs
finely chopped fresh parsley, if you have some

Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken for about 4 to 6 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked through and golden. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil.

Reduce heat to medium; add the butter to the pan and saute the onions in it for about 3 to 4 minutes, so they start to become tender. Add the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and chopped figs. Simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Add the thyme, and season again with salt to taste. Put the chicken breasts back in the pan briefly and turn them in the sauce to give them a pretty glaze. Serve the figs spooned over the chicken, with a sprinkling of parsley if you have some.

French Fridays with Dorie: Beggar's Linguine

2011-03-11T06:19:00.002-05:00

A dozen years ago, for one of Those Birthdays, I bought myself a round-trip ticket to Paris. Ten days in Paris! In almost-April! Who cared how vielle I would be getting? When the day came, I planned to be too jet-lagged to notice.

I remember feeling very sophisticated and carefree about traveling alone, until I actually got there. The thing I dreaded most was eating on my own. But finally, on the second or third night, I dressed in something nice, walked over to the little restaurant I had picked out, and then had to walk around the block two or three times before I finally went in. But it was part of my strategy to eat early, before any self-respecting Parisian would consider it, and when I opened the door the restaurant was still empty. I will always remember, and be grateful for, the gentle kindness of the maitre d’, who escorted me to a table by the window, looking out at the Seine and Notre Dame, and responded respectfully to my accurate but nervous French.

Sadly, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but I think it was around the corner from here …

…and not too far from here.

I guess I'll just have to go back and look for it again.

I was thinking about this because there's a different kind of Paris restaurant story, another warm and comforting one, in Dorie Greenspan’s notes for this recipe. {You can find the complete recipe, here, on Dorie's blog.} She also tells the story behind its name: a mendiant is a beggar, and also a French confection, representing the four orders of monks known for living on alms, 'a chocolate disk topped with nuts and dried fruits, sometimes accented with a candied orange zest ... Anyone can imagine how good the mix would be with chocolate, but it takes a very creative culinary mind to imagine the concoction as a savory dish, and that's just what the chef {at her neighborhood bistro} did when he mixed pasta with browned butter, chopped almonds, pistachios, raisins, snipped dried figs, grated parmesan and a pinch of orange zest.' {As mine would have been if I had remembered to buy an orange.}

Unusual, even strange, as it sounds when you read the recipe for the first time, I thought this pasta was amazing. The sauteed figs almost taste a little like unsalty bacon, and there's nothing that could possibly be wrong with adding crunchy nuts and a little bit of sweetness to pasta, butter, and cheese. {I used a little bit of my favorite dried fruit mix, instead of just the raisins, and I safely lessened the amount of butter in the pan to about 4 tablespoons (for a half recipe). I am also very happy to report that I am no longer intimidated by beurre noisette. I can do that.}

This was one of the recipes that caught my eye when I first looked through Around My French Table, back in October, and I was very glad to see it chosen as this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie.

Cooking without Recipes: Creamy Broccoli Soup

2011-03-10T14:52:00.005-05:00

If you ever read Fine Cooking (or if you have carefully saved almost every issue and carted them all around with you the last four times you've moved), you may have noticed a regular feature called 'Cooking without Recipes.' {This month, it's meatloaf.} You can also go on their website and find an interactive version, where you can drag ingredients into and out of a virtual mixing bowl (much geeky fun). If you've been visiting here for a while (and thank you,so much, if you have!) you probably know that I tend to cook with recipes, and shy away from being too improvisational. The great thing about these Fine Cooking articles is that they offer so much information for every step of the process. Sometimes it's nice to go exploring with someone holding your hand, and sometimes it's beneficial to have an eight-page recipe for cooking without a recipe. :)

I bought some broccoli yesterday because I know I haven't been eating enough vegetables lately, and broccoli is one of my favorites. I also had a little bit of a craving for cream of broccoli soup. That always seems to me like something you should be able to make without a recipe, and as it turned out the soup I just made with FC's help was a lot like the one I used to just throw together. Just a simple, flavorful, light, very good soup, but more well-thought-out, a much nicer color, and a little more sparkly.

What happens in these articles is that they teach you the basic steps and proportions, give you a long list of possibilities for the ingredients you can use in each step, and then (thankfully) offer some examples of how to put everything together. For example, they suggested garnishing creamy broccoli soup with bacon. I did not go there. I wanted to, oh how I wanted to, but I was good.

This is my new non-recipe (with some of the things I learned along the way).

Creamy Broccoli Soup
created from Fine Cooking, February/March 2009
for about eight servings

Step 1: Choose your ingredients. Broccoli, extra virgin olive oil, butter, carrots, onions, chicken broth, vermouth, garnishes (more on those in a minute).

Step 2: Cook the aromatics. 'Aromatic vegetables become the flavor foundation of your soup. The best blend of aromatics starts with garlic and includes some onions, leeks or shallots. From there, move on to your other choices, selecting those that are most complementary to your main vegetable.' Use one or a combination of cooking fats for a total of 2 tablespoons. (I used a tablespoon each of evoo and butter). Heat these in a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven or saucepan over medium-low heat. When hot, add the aromatic vegetables and a pinch of salt. {I used two minced garlic cloves, and then diced onions and peeled, thinly sliced carrots to equal about 1 1/4 cups. FC recommended leeks for a broccoli soup; I do like them and would add some another time. } Stir well, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the aromatics are softened, but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in another teaspoon of salt, and consider adding a spice 'to give your soup a global twist.' (I didn't, though I did grate in some nutmeg at the end.)

Step 3: Simmer the vegetables. 'Broth makes up the body of the soup, while liquids like wine and juice add extra flavor.' Add the main vegetable {about 1 1/2 pounds when prepped; following FC's suggestions, the broccoli florets were coarsely chopped and the stems were sliced very thinly, with the tough ends trimmed off) and liquids (2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth plus 2 1/2 cups water, and 3 tablespoons dry vermouth) to the aromatics, stir well, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. {Interesting that the amount of chicken broth was seemingly cut in half...too much salt? wanting to let the vegetables shine through? Also, I'm not sure I liked the taste of vermouth -- my long-storing white-wine standby -- in this soup. There was a little bit of a sour note in there somewhere.} Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very tender, 7 to 20 minutes, depending on the vegetable. (I let my broccoli cook for about 15 minutes.)

Step 4: Puree. Let the soup cool off the heat for about 5 minutes. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender. Wipe the pot clean and put the pureed soup back in.

Step 5. Finish. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper and add your choice of dairy and acid. (I didn't like the idea of adding a tangy note from buttermilk or yogurt, and I was going to be virtuous about not adding cream, but then I saw that the author (Susie Middleton) recommended using only about 1/4 cup for eight servings. So I added a little. It really did smooth out and add something to the texture and taste of the soup.) 'A bit of citrus juice or vinegar will give your soup an additional touch of brightness and bring out the vegetable flavor.' (I've heard this before; I tried apple cider vinegar, and added only 1/2 teaspoon because I didn't want to diminish the vegetable-y sweetness of the soup.)

Ladle the soup into soup bowls and sprinkle a garnish {croutons, bacon, oils, nuts, herbs} over each serving. (This was, of course, the fun part. I tasted the soup with a little drizzle of walnut oil and some chopped nuts (nice, but not all that interesting; I really wanted to use toasted sesame oil, but I didn't have any. Next time. Then I added grated cheddar cheese and croutons. More ordinary, but perfect... and I liked a little sprinkle of cheese better than a lot of cheese added to the soup itself.)

A simple side dish: Roasted Sweet Potato Puree

2011-03-09T08:18:00.003-05:00

Sometimes, the simplest things escape me. I love sweet potatoes, just love them, really adore them, (I have to work in this one, too), but I never think of serving them as a mash or a puree. I was already convinced that roasting sweet potatoes, like roasting butternut squash, is the easiest and best way to cook them. They're incredibly good even before you add anything to them, but these simple additions round out their caramelly sweetness perfectly.

I need to spend more time with this cookbook! I bought it several years ago, after I was treated to dinner at Lucia's in Minneapolis during a business trip, and it's full of wonderful-sounding recipes, 'blending bold, new flavors with the traditional foods of the upper Midwest.' Doesn't that sound good?

Roasted Sweet Potato Puree
from Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland, by Beth Dooley and Lucia Watson
for six to eight servings (can be easily halved)

{about four medium to large}sweet potatoes (about three pounds)
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk {I used low-fat milk}, plus a little more if needed
1 tablespoon honey, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg, plus more for garnish
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Scrub the potatoes and poke them several times with a fork; bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about an hour, or until they are very soft. Slit them open and scrape the meat into a medium bowl or into a food processor fitted with a steel blade. {Two notes: if you can handle the sweet potatoes soon after they come out of the oven, the skins should slip right off. And, unlike regular potatoes, you can mash or puree sweet potatoes in a food processor; they won't turn into glue. You can also do this in a standing mixer.} Add the butter, half-and-half or milk, honey, nutmeg, salt and pepper and process for about 3 minutes, adding a little more half-and-half or milk as need, until they reach the consistency you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

{Whole Grain} Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread

2011-03-05T07:12:00.027-05:00

"You shouldn't read at the dinner table.' This is good advice because, for instance, you might be eating pasta for dinner (homemade, low-fat sauce! meatless version! even some dried fruit!!), and reading the latest issue of the Nutrition Action Health Letter, and then you'd learn something you already knew, which is that we're all eating too many refined grains.You’d then read about all the diseases that will kill you if you also eat too many SoFAS (solid fats and added sugars). You might regain a small measure of self-respect from the fact that, for once, you weren’t eating your pasta on the sofa.

{A good sofa.}

'Whole grains are healthier than refined grains.' This recipe is a baby step in the right direction. Only a baby step, because it has as many SoFAS (a stick of butter, a cup of sugar) as most of my favorite tea breads, redeemed a little by the white whole wheat flour and oat flour. That’s an interesting new ingredient for me, one that I learned about from a friend (Nancy also tested this recipe as muffins, and recommended it). Reading your blogs, and learning from all of you, is a kind of reading that’s always good for me.

Even if it’s not exactly healthful, I'm very happy to be adding this recipe to my tea bread collection. It’s definitely wheatier than other l.p.s. breads I’ve made, but it has deep lemon flavor and it isn’t too dense or heavy (I was worried about that). It’s also very good-looking, with a golden crust, a tender, beautifully-colored crumb (prettier than my photo suggests) and a softly rounded top.

I skipped the optional confectioners’s sugar/lemon juice/milk glaze, though I really wanted it. {I should get extra points for that, right?}

Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread
from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
for one large loaf

1 1/2 cup (6 ounces) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (1 5/8 ounces) oat flour
3/4 cup (3 1/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
one stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from three large lemons)
3/4 cup lemon yogurt, non-fat to full fat (I couldn't find lemon, so I used plain non-fat yogurt)
two drops of lemon oil {to make up for the non-lemon yogurt)
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a large (9x5 inch) loaf pan.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until it is incorporated. Mix in the lemon zest.

Alternating the dry and wet ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then lemon juice, then another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then the yogurt and poppy seeds, and finally the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Bake the bread for about an hour and five minutes {that was exactly right for mine} or until a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in its pan on a rack for 15 minutes or so, then run a knife around the edge (if you need to) to loosen the edges and turn it out on the rack to cool completely.

Food from other books: Kitchen Essays

2011-02-27T17:50:00.001-05:00

Over in my reading life, I've been taking part in an online reading weekend of Persephone Books. Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, I spent time with two books that were just about perfect for me. One of them, Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll, is a collection of pieces on cooking and entertaining that the author wrote for The Times (of London) in 1921 and 1922. She was funny, and witty, but it was also really interesting to read recipes published almost 90 years ago. There's an assumption that you have a cook, or that you already know how to cook ('For six people, allow about 6 oz. of a good toasting cheese...shred it finely, and mix it with a breakfastcupful of good white sauce, made with milk, butter and a very little flour in the usual way...'). Some measurements and instructions are precise, some are nonexistent. Some of the food is a little frightening ('Having removed the brains from half a calf's head, put it in a stewpan with a little salt and water to cover...'), but some of it sounds delicious, and it would be fun to try and 'convert' some of the recipes to modern measurements and ovens.

I liked this one:

Serve with this, freshly baked Cat's Tongue Biscuits. Here is the jealously guarded formula: --

Two oz. white sugar, 2 oz. fine pastry flour, mixed together with fresh cream, and a little milk well flavoured with vanilla pod added. Force this mixture through a forcing bag on to a greased baking sheet in long 8-inch lengths, narrow as a little finger, but splaying out into a heavy thumb at either end. After 5 to 10 minutes in a hot oven they should be of a deep cream colour, merging along their edges into the delicate brown of fading magnolias.

I haven't stitched this one yet, but it's one of my favorites.

This is another one I could see trying:

Soles a la Dorchester.

Fold in half required number of fillets of sole and poach them carefully. Lay them in a buttered fireproof or glass oven dish, and sprinkle freely with some previously cooked and cut up asparagus sprue {?!}, or tips (or green peas). Pour over some good bechamel sauce {probably also made in the usual way, right?} to which a tablespoon of grated parmesan has been added. Put into the oven till slightly browned, and serve in the same dish. The same fillets might be served a la Dorothea, on a round metal dish with a suspicion of tomato sauce around thier moist and creamily poached folds, lying round a timbale of savoury yellowish rice, enriched with plenty of butter and seasoning, and a pinch of saffron, a suspiciion {'a suspicion'...I love the writing!} of the same rather thick tomato sauce, and a certainty {love it!} of finely-chopped mushrooms, or, if permissible, of truffle peelings.

That would be fine with me. And I was curious about this recipe, wondering how those ingenious American mushroom cookers would work:

Mushrooms are useful for savouries, but great care must be exercised in their selection, and any stale or doubtful ones rejected. American cuisine has invented special Pyrex glass saucers with bell glasses fitting over them, in which mushrooms are cooked very simply with salt, pepper, cream and butter, so as to retain their juices and fugitive flavour; but this might be thought too profuse a savoury for the end of a varied dinner, when these little Croutes de Champignons would be considered daintier.

Make a puree by frying about 1/2 lb. mushrooms, or steaming them, in some butter. When cooked, pass through a wire sieve, mix with a little stiff bechamel sauce, salt and pepper, heap this on some fried or toasted croutons of bread, and on the top of each little mound place a small whole grilled mushroom and serve very hot.

{The recipe sounds delicious, too. Giada de Laurentiis made something like it...that recipe is in my clippings box, still untried.}

I'm one of those people, like a lot of us, who like to 'read' cookbooks...but I forget how much fun it is to read vintage ones.

Savory Corn, Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding

2011-02-26T16:18:00.084-05:00

This is another recipe brought to you courtesy of my recipe clippings box; it's from the Boston Globe, circa (as far as I can tell) 2002.

Last week, Whole Foods was selling crusty baguettes for $1, and when I found a basketful full of still-warm ones, I bought three (one to munch on and make a sandwich with, the other two for the freezer). In my current predicament, it feels empowering (and it's fun) to read the grocery store fliers on Thursday morning and build meal ideas around them; that's why I brought home cremini mushrooms and asparagus too. {Tres chic for a girl on a budget, n'est-ce pas?}

Often, when you make a bread pudding, or a strata, the recipe recommends letting the unbaked casserole sit for a while, even overnight, so the custard can really soak into the bread. In this one, that happens more quickly, but the crusty baguettes soften more than you might expect.

The person who thought of using canned creamed corn in the 'custard' was brilliant! The gentle taste of corn ends up into every bite. Then again, it just didn't look corny enough to me, so I added in a big handful (maybe a cup) of frozen corn kernels, run under hot water first. I think you could easily build up all the vegetables (I'm still always surprised how a carton of mushrooms cooks down to nothing,)

In the end, I liked this very much. As you add the vegetables and cheese to the soaked bread, it all starts to look better and better, and when it comes out of the oven, it's crusty and golden on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. {We like our Thanksgiving stuffing that way, too.} And it doesn't seem heavy, in spite of all the bread. These flavors are simple and fresh, but there are probably hundreds of things you could do to spice them up if you wanted to. {If I had thought of it sooner, I could have mixed some leftover cheese bread -- more on that Friday -- in with the French bread.}

Savory Corn, Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
adapted from The Boston Globe, c. 2002
for six servings as a light meal, or eight as a side dish
{This recipe can easily be halved; that's what I did. I used two eggs, cut all the other quantities in half, and still baked the casserole for about an hour.}

2 cups milk {I used whole milk}
two 14-ounce cans creamed corn
1 1/2 crusty baguettes
. . .
one bunch of asparagus (about one pound), tough bottom ends removed where they snap naturally
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups mixed mushrooms (cremini, white, shiitake), sliced
three eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
a few generous grindings of pepper, to taste
4 ounces fontina cheese, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a shallow two-quart casserole {mine was about 8x11}.

In a large bowl, mix together the milk and the creamed corn. Crumble the French bread into bite-sized pieces and soak them in the milk mixture for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill a large skillet with water and bring it to a boil. Cut the asparagus into one-inch lengths and cook it at the boil for about five minutes. Drain {I like to run it under cold tap water to help stop the cooking and preserve the color}. In the now-empty skillet, melt the butter, and saute the mushrooms for about 10 minutes. Let them cool, off the heat, for a minute or two. Add the cooked asparagus and mushrooms to the bread mixture, then stir in the beaten eggs, and mix well. Add the salt, pepper and fontina, and mix again.

Turn this mixture into the casserole dish, and press lightly on the top with a spoon to moisten everything evenly. {I recommend putting the casserole on a baking sheet, just in case of eggy drips.} Bake for about an hour, until the liquid is absorbed, a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the top is a light golden brown. Serve warm.

Fettuccine with Chestnuts, Pancetta and Sage

2011-02-24T19:07:00.002-05:00

This Thursday-night dinner (I missed lunch, so I ate early) comes to you courtesy of my over-stuffed recipe clippings box, some impulsively stocked holiday foods, and my secret wish to cook and eat more interesting things more often.

The funniest thing about this recipe, which I came across during a fit of recipe organization, is that I had all the ingredients, except the fresh parsley (the bunches at the supermarket were very sad, so I left it out this first time). I fell in love with chestnuts a couple of years ago (the kind that come already cooked, peeled and packaged, not the roasting-on-an-open-fire kind, though I did once experiment unsuccessfully with oven-roasting them), and every November or December I treat myself to a jar at Whole Foods. With everything that has been happening, I still hadn't opened this year's. The pancetta was in the freezer, left over from these, and the sage was from...I'm not sure why I bought the sage, but I used some in this and the remaining leaves were still fresh enough.

This was lovely, possibly one of the best simple pasta dishes I will ever learn to make. It might be a good way to try chestnuts for the first time, if you haven't. I think they taste a little bit like sweet potatoes, and this is a delicious combination of buttery pasta, salty pancetta and parmesan, musty sage and sweet onion, garlic and chestnuts. In case you're wondering, as I was, the simple sauce (just pasta water, parmesan and a little bit of butter) is enough to moisten the pasta and make it seem very rich, without being very rich.

I will make this again (and often) next year, even just for myself, because I can't think of anyone I know who likes chestnuts. Do you? I could make extra.

Fettuccine with Chestnuts, Pancetta and Sage
adapted from Gourmet, February 2005, through Epicurious {look! February! It's not unseasonal!}
for two main-course servings {this is based on the original recipe, halved}

a scant 1/2 cup pancetta, chopped or in small cubes {I love the ones I find at Trader Joes}
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
half of a small onion, very finely diced (a couple of tablespoons) {you want it to be small, so it softens quickly}
two garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3/4 cup bottled peeled roasted whole chestnuts, coarsely chopped
4 ounces (1/4 of a package) dried flat pasta, such as fettuccine or tagliatelle
1/2 cup (about 1 ounce) finely grated parmigiano-reggiano
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a sprinkling of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Set a large pot of salted water to boil for the fettuccine. Depending on the cooking time indicated on the brand of pasta you use, you'll probably want to start cooking the pasta about when you start making the sauce.

Choose a large (10 or 12-inch), heavy skillet to cook the sauce in, as you will add the cooked pasta to this pan later. Cook the pancetta in the oil over medium heat, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and half of the sage and cook, stirring, for another minute. Stir in the chestnuts and remove the pan from the heat.

When the pasta is cooked, reserve about 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, then drain the pasta in a colander and add it to the pancetta mixture in the skillet. Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water along with the parmesan cheese and butter, turn the heat up to high, and cook, tossing constantly {I used my trusty tongs}, until the pasta is well coated, about one minute, adding more of the pasta cooking water if you want to. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve garnished with the parsley and the remaining sage.

Expect chestnuts, too...

2011-02-23T10:18:00.005-05:00

Please don’t be surprised, or turn me in to the blogging police, if in the next few weeks you see some non-seasonal recipes here. There always seem to be a few times a year (September, March) when non-seasonal food is perfect for the season, if you know what I mean. Sometimes it’s pantry-clearing (those chestnuts), sometimes it’s New England weather, and sometimes it’s just a last gasp (as in, I probably won’t make this again till next year, and I’ll miss it…)

This focaccia, with its crusty crust and jammy grapes, was a delicious part of dinner last night, with some butternut squash soup from the freezer. {Yesterday started with a flop of a breakfast from a new cookbook, so it felt especially good to end it with an old favorite that always turn out well.}

This recipe (I promise!) is much easier than it looks, because it can be mixed in a mixer. It probably should be, because the dough is very often (not yesterday, so not always) very slack, very sticky, and almost impossible to handle by hand. The trickiest thing about it is timing the starter, so it will be ready when you want to make the dough, so I included the ‘schedule’ that I work with when I think of it. {I also divided up some of the dough ingredients into their stages, so please read the recipe through for full amounts.}

Harvest Focaccia
from Bon Appetit, November 2001
for a large focaccia, 10 to 12 servings

Friday night, for the starter:
3/4 cup water, at room temperature {I run the tap until it feels neutral, neither hot nor cold}
1/4 teaspoons dry yeast {I use instant yeast}
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

Combine the water and yeast in a medium bowl. Add this first amount of flour and whisk until smooth. Cover {so it won’t develop a skin} and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Then refrigerate this starter for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Sunday morning (up till Monday afternoon or even Tuesday morning), for the dough:
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
1 teaspoon yeast
3 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine the starter, the 1 1/2 cups water and the 1 teaspoon yeast in the large bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with dough hook. Beat 1 minute. Add salt and remaining 3 3/4 cups flour. Beat 5 minutes; you will probably need to scrape down the sides of the bowl and/or the dough hook. Continue to beat until a very {sometimes very, very} soft, slightly {same} sticky dough forms, about 5 minutes longer. Let stand 5 minutes. Scrape dough into large oiled bowl; cover with plastic. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

While dough is rising, for the topping
1 cup seedless red grapes, rinsed, patted dry {I like to cut them in half}
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional olive oil for brushing later
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
nonstick cooking spray
yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts {or pecans}
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary {I leave this out, unless I happen to have some}
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel {more is also good, even a small lemon's worth}
1 tablespoon raw (demerara) sugar
coarsely cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine grapes, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon thyme in medium bowl; toss to coat. Turn mixture out onto small rimmed baking sheet. Roast until grapes begin to soften, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely on sheet.

{Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray, not necessary but for adds extra insurance} and then sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Turn dough out onto prepared sheet. Using floured fingertips, pull and spread dough into a large rectangle {the original recipe says 18x10 inches, but mine is never that big, maybe 14x10?). Press dough all over with fingertips to dimple. Brush dough with additional oil. Sprinkle with grapes, then remaining 1 teaspoon thyme, walnuts, rosemary, and lemon peel. Sprinkle with raw sugar and lightly with coarsely cracked black pepper. Cover loosely with towel; let rise until light and puffy, about 45 minutes. {It doesn’t rise dramatically.}

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake focaccia until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to board; brush edges with oil. {This final brushing adds a lot, especially on the edges.} Serve warm or at room temperature.

{Like most focaccias, this is best warm and fresh from the oven. I do find that you can cut the leftovers into squares, wrap them well and freeze them.}

In praise of casseroles

2011-02-22T10:53:00.002-05:00

Those who have persuaded their cooks to send things up as far as possible in the fireproof dishes or oven-glass in which they can often be admirably cooked, or appetizingly finished off, as well as served, will not willingly revert to that destructive transfer from cozy casseroles to chilly silver or china dishes, thereby depriving themselves of that good savour of the fire which lurks in brown marmites, but never penetrates into the glacial tureen.

from Kitchen Essays, by Agnes Jekyll (1921)

Charming, delightful, funny book! A brown marmite, in this case, is something like this:

not this.

Buttery Peas with Thyme

2011-02-21T18:08:00.001-05:00

Although they're one of my favorite vegetables, it's been a long time since I've cooked or even eaten peas, all on their own, as a side dish. I almost always have a bag, or two, in my freezer because I like to add them to casseroles. Every summer, I tell myself that it would be fun to shell and cook fresh peas from the pod, but still I've never done it. Everyone, including Cook's Illustrated, says that they can be disappointing, and that peas are one of those things that are often much better frozen.

This is a little like the Pancetta Green Beans we made the other day: a way to dress up a simple vegetable with some fresh and unexpected seasonings. This time, it's a chance to add some of my favorite flavorings -- shallots, garlic, butter and fresh thyme -- all at once, to freshen up something I've loved all my life. I said it then, and I'll say it again, the more of that, the better!

{I definitely don't want to complicate a four-sentence, five-minute recipe, but I did learn one or two things for next time. I'm not sure these need the sugar (or maybe only a pinch). And, there's a real risk of burning the butter/shallots/garlic before you add the peas. You might want to cut the shallots a little larger, and/or cook them at a lower heat for a longer time, so they will soften with less risk of burning. You can safely turn the heat back up when you add the peas, so they will heat through quickly.}

Buttery Peas with Thyme
adapted from The Best Chicken Recipes, by {and spotted in other cookbooks from) the editors of Cook's Illustrated
for four to six servings {this recipe can easily be halved; that's what I did}

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
one shallot, minced {not too small}
one medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons sugar {or to taste}
one pound frozen peas (do not thaw)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, stripped from the stem
salt and ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot, garlic, and sugar; cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Turn up the heat a notch, stir in the peas and cook, stirring often, until just heated through, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Date Oatmeal Cookies

2011-02-19T11:37:00.109-05:00

I know I'm not breaking any new ground here. (Oh, wait...I should use a baking metaphor.) Whipping up something new and different. (Oh, forget it.) I was planning to make my favorite oatmeal raisin cookies this weekend, just to restock. (When you find yourself suddenly making a lot of 2 1/2-hour drives, there's nothing better than pulling a homemade cookie or two from the freezer for sustenance on the road.) I am very, very fond of the 'house' oatmeal cookie, but over the last few weeks I have actually tried two new recipes, both using applesauce and one adding cubes of fresh apple. Both were good, but I'm discovering that I don't especially like applesauce and/or apples in my oatmeal cookies. (Almost anywhere else, very much.)

But I do sometimes use a dried fruit blend instead of golden raisins in mine, and I picked this recipe out because of the dates. I fell for dates when I found out that they were the source of the little bit of sweetness in my favorite bakery seven-grain bread, and since then I've used them in a lamb stew and in very traditional date-nut bread (the one from The Joy of Cooking). (I haven't made either in a while...note to self.) But when I read it, I saw that it's not all that different from the Quaker Oats recipe. The goal of this one (it's from Cook's Illustrated, so it has goals) is to increase the oatmeal flavor and add moistness. Side by side with mine, it uses nutmeg instead of cinnamon (overwhelms the oats), and more white sugar, and the cookies are made much bigger so the centers will be more moist and chewy.

The measuring and mixing for this recipe is pretty straightforward, cookie-wise. (It's so nice to have weights to work with, but interesting that we didn't get weights for the oatmeal or the raisins/dates. Maybe it's less critical to weigh the oatmeal? It doesn't seem like you can really fluff or compact them enough to make a big difference in the yield.)

But -- and this is going to be shocking, so you might want to prepare yourself -- there's a mistake in this recipe. A mistake. In a measurement. In a Cook's Illustrated recipe. The original recipe says that you should use a generous 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and shape it into a 2-inch ball. The trouble is that 2 tablespoons of dough doesn't equal a two-inch ball; that requires almost 1/4 cup (or 3 heaping tablespoons, at least). I know, because I measured the dough for the first cookie or two just to get a visual on what 2 tablespoons look like. I read the headnotes and the recipe again, and it's not really clear which they really meant.

I was going to experiment with different measurements, but after the first tray I decided I liked the look of the 2-tablespoon cookies. I would watch the baking time carefully and just enjoy being a little snarky about CI. :) In the end, I rotated the cookie sheet halfway through (I don't like to bake two sheets at a time, in my uneven oven), and got to 'golden brown on the edges, but still very pale in the center' at about 18 minutes.

Excellent cookies, They definitely weren't dry, even when made a little smaller (sometimes mine are, sometimes they aren't). I did think they were a little more sugary-sweet, with less of the butterscotchiness that I like when mine come out especially well (that's the added white sugar, overspreading the brown sugar). And I did love the dates. They have an exotic sweetness that makes a simple cookie much more interesting. These two recipes aren't really very different, but I'll probably use parts of both of them going forward.

Date Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Baking Illustrated, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated (a variation on Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies, page 439)
for about 30 cookies {if you make them smaller, as below}

16 tablespoons (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
two large eggs
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon {a very generous grating} freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups chopped dates {same amount of raisins, if you want to use them instead}

Adjust the oven racks to the low and middle positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick spray.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (a minute or two). Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes {scraping down once or twice along the way}. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt, and stir these dry ingredients into the butter-sugar-egg mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula {or, if you're careful not to overmix, in your mixer on low speed}. Stir in the oats and dates.

{Now, here's where things get confusing.} CI : Working with a generous 2 tablespoons of dough, roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Audrey: Working with a generous 2 tablespoons of dough, roll the dough into 1-1/2 inch balls. Both: Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. {With the larger cookies, you'll probably fit 9 on a big baking sheet. They do spread. Oh, and you don't have to, and probably don't want to, flatten the balls at all. They shape themselves very well.}

Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, but the rest of the cookie is still very light in color, about 22 to 25 minutes (if you're following the letter of the original recipe) or about 18 minutes (if your cookies were smaller). Let them cool on the baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool.