Christmas Past

Every other year, my grandparents would come for Christmas. I went to school exactly one block away from my house. From school, you'd cross the street, walk to the end of the block and turn the corner. As I approached that corner I would be so excited hoping for a glimpse of their car parked in front of our house. Nana and I had a special Christmas ritual when she came; we'd make the bows for all the gifts. Since she and Grampy drove down from Cape Cod, they'd have wrapped the presents, but bows would have been smooshed on the journey. Nana and I would sit down with long strings of ribbon and she'd show me just how to make the first loop over my thumb, then each loop to the side growing in size until the bow was finished. We'd staple the middle and tape our handiwork to each gift. It was something special we always did, just the two of us. I didn't often cook with Nana. The treats at her house were usually made and waiting when I arrived, but I do remember making applesauce with her. Once you're old enough to be trusted around a stove, it's the perfect thing for a child to make, since other than the chopping and peeling, all the stirring, tasting and sweetening and spicing can be done by even the smallest of cooks. NANA'S APPLESAUCE

INGREDIENTS:
2 apples (although make as much as you want!!)
1 t lemon juice
1 T water
1 tsp sugar (although this you should change depending on how sweet your apples are and how you like your applesauce).
1/2 t cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Peel, core and chop your apples (this is the job an adult needs to do). Put them in a saucepan on the stove. Add the lemon juice and water and let the apples cook down until they are soft and mushy. Add the sugar and cinnamon, I wrote you how I like it, but this is a perfect experiment for beginning chefs to try adding a bit more of each until it's how they enjoy it. You can serve it homestyle or make it smoother by putting it through a food mill or mashing it with a potato masher.

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

I'm not sure it's a good sign that it's 8am and I already can't get the song from Nightmare Before Christmas out of my head! However, if you don't already have Halloween cookies, you may need to start making them now, because in my opinion this is really a whole day affair. Between the mixing of the dough, the refrigerating of the dough, the rolling of the dough, the cutting of the cookies, the freezing of the cookies, the baking of the cookies, the cooling of the cookies, the mixing of the royal icing, the dyeing of the royal icing, the frosting and decorating of the cookies, you can absolutely keep yourself (or your kids) occupied until the witching hour.

I used Martha Stewart's Maple Roll Out Cookie recipe for the dough. It's really delicious, but a the flavor is a bit delicate and I felt it was a bit of a waste on the ghosties who needed to be drowned in royal icing anyway. Far better to save the maple recipe for something unfrosted. Also, and I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me before, but your brain is really anticipating "sugar cookie" when you bite into one, so there's always this element of "huh" followed by "Oh yeah! This is yummy!" which is perhaps a bit more mental processing than I'd like with my dessert.

What you need to know about using Martha's recipe:
I know this is probably not going to come as a surprise to you, but the lady is a liar. I made a half recipe, because being a sane rational person who is not giving gift boxes to everyone I'd ever met, I don't need 8 dozen cookies. The half recipe made 2 and a half dozen and it's probable that I rolled them too thin to try to eke out that many. And although this is certainly enough for the two of us, it's possibly fewer than you want. If do you choose to make half recipe, really try to savor the moment where you need half an egg yolk. Afterward, try to figure out who you can feed three quarters of an egg to - my answer? Ryan. You also might want to start with a shorter cook time. Mine took about 10 minutes. Blame my oven or how thin I rolled them - either way we would have been looking at some burnt treats if I'd let it go as long as her.

Colored Pumpkins, oh boy!!:
To get half your cookies pumpkin colored, separate your dough in half. Set half aside for ghosties. Then mix 5 drops yellow food coloring and 4 drops red of McCormick Assorted Food Coloring. You can blend with a mixer a bit, but do finish kneading by hand to get rid of any streakiness.

I am a complete disaster when it comes to royal icing. Seriously. Don't listen to me. I'm not showing you the ghosts that didn't come out well. Also, I made a really small amount because I didn't actually need that much, which meant whipping by hand. Stupid. Update: You'll be a happier person if you check in with Words to Eat By. Debbie knows her stuff.

Royal Icing Advice:
If you're making them for anyone who is squicked out by raw egg, or you know is a child, pregnant woman, elderly person, person with a compromised immune system, use meringue powder. I used the recipe on the back of the meringue powder container. Not fancy, but functional. I piped on details by putting the icing in plastic baggies and poking a teensy hole in the corner. Mix your color in a bowl, not the baggies, ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. They are sadists and are probably cackling evilly as they write that direction. I poured the icing over the ghosts which takes somewhat more icing than you may think. Also let that harden completely before doing eyeballs. It takes a few hours to harden.

Bedeviled Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think I have already confessed to you that Ryan and I watch an inordinate number of cooking shows? Particularly cooking contest shows like Dinner Impossible, The Next Iron Chef, Chopped and The Next Food Network Star? Anyway, we started watching Ten Dollar Dinners after Melissa D'Arabian won The Next Food Network star a few years ago. I watch it because her recipes tend to turn out really well. Ryan watches it so he can heckle. He takes exception to what they claim costs under $10. Recently she roasted a chicken with potatoes, a side of swiss chard and made a dessert with Nutella and called it under ten bucks. Around here the going rate for a jar of Nutella is about $6.00 (yes, I know there's some serious price gouging in these parts). Even if you're not using the whole thing, you still have to shell out the six bucks to get it. Also, she always talks about proteins going on sale. Maybe it's this whole East-Coast-big-city thing I've got working, but I've yet to see sale chicken or steak. The one thing I do have though, is the dollar vegetable bags at the produce stand in Reading Terminal Market. This week Ryan scored a cauliflower for $1.50. I know, not a dollar, but it was a huge whomping cauliflower. With the cauliflower and the pasta being the main ingredients in this dish, I'm pretty sure we've got a real candidate for Ten Dollar Dinners here.

BEDEVILED CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE
I'm calling this bedeviled because the spicing is pretty much the same as if you wanted to devil something else, like chicken or eggs.

INGREDIENTS:
4 C chopped cauliflower
1/2 lb medium shell pasta
3 T butter
1 3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese (use bright orange if you'd like your bedeviling to turn out holiday colored)
1 T flour
1/2 C milk
1 T dijon
1 t paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
topping: 1/3 C breadcrumbs + 1-2 T melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325F. Chop your cauliflower into shell sized florets. I use a steamer basket in a pot, and started from ice cold - it took about 15 minutes until tender. If you add the cauliflower when the water is boiling it shouldn't take nearly as long. Or maybe I just had a rough day. I'd check it starting at about 5 minutes.

Boil water for the pasta and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. In the pasta pot (I used a huge one), melt the 3 T of butter. Add the flour and stir well. Cook for 2-3 minutes over low heat until the flour is golden. Slowly add the milk, stirring or whisking well to incorporate the flour. Continue to stir and add the dijon, paprika and cayenne. Then slowly add the cheese until the cheese is all melted in the sauce. Add the cooked shells to the sauce and toss gently. Finally add the steamed cauliflower and again toss gently until everything is coated in cheesy goodness. Pour into a greased casserole dish (I used a 1.5 quart dish). On the stove top melt the 1-2 tablespoons of butter for the topping. Add the breadcrumbs. Toss a few times until the breadcrumbs are golden and fluffy. Top the cauliflower and shells with the breadcrumbs and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Happy October!!

I've always been a big fan of October. The World Series, livable temperatures, beautiful foliage, adorable children in Halloween costumes, pumpkins - what's not to like? I love October so much that I always try my hardest to squeeze every bit of Octobery goodness out of it. I watch Halloweeny movies to get in the mood. Over on Between These Pages I'll be blogging about all sorts of witchy and wizardy children's books. And here is the perfect accompaniment to all of my festive plans - Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. Oh yes. They are every bit as good as they sound.

PUMPKIN SNICKERDOODLES
a mad hybrid of Smitten Kitchen, We are not Martha with some necessary adjustments by me.
Makes an obscene 5 dozen (or a bit more) cookies. Half of mine are in the freezer waiting.

INGREDIENTS:
3 1/2 C flour
2 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt (only if using unsalted butter)
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C +3 T canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
for rolling:
1/4 C sugar
2 T cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400F. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin and mix well. Add the eggs and stir until incorporated. Sift together the flour, baking soda and cream of tarter. Add half the dry mixture to the wet. Stir. Add the rest. Stir. You will now have some incredibly wet batter. It will be beautiful and orange and it will taste delicious. Stop eating it. Don't you know there's a salmonella scare people? Stay away from the raw egg!Refrigerate for 30 minutes. At least. Please. You'll thank me. Roll into small balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture like so:

Arrange on a baking sheet. These do not spread as much as traditional snickerdoodles, but still need a bit of space. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack. Please all your little pumpkin eaters.

Shepherd's Pie

Around here we thoroughly enjoy television shows, especially ones about food. Yesterday we were watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which isn't exactly the best food show around, but we're both drawn to anything that addresses Americans eating large amounts of processed foods. Jamie's basic goal is to get people to eat foods made from scratch rather than crap from a box. We're not exactly Jamie's target audience, since my idea of crap for dinner is frozen ravioli, but we still were struck with a need for shepherd's pie after he served it on the show. It's such a nice comforting dish, and it was cold as heck yesterday for all of the beautiful spring sunshine.

SHEPHERD'S PIE

INGREDIENTS
for potatoes
1.5 pounds boiling potatoes
1/2 C milk (I used 1/4 C heavy cream and 1/4 C milk, so decadent)
3-4 T butter, melted
salt and pepper
for the pie
2 T oil (I used 1 T oil and 1 T duck fat, the duck fat adds richness)
1 C onion chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey (regular shepherd's pie would be lamb, or beef, or a combination)
2 T flour (use brown rice flour to make it gf)
1 C chicken stock
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T tomato paste
2-3 t salt
pepper
1/2 C frozen peas
1/2 C frozen or fresh corn kernels

gluten-free note: Lee and Perrin's Worcestershire is gf. Red wine vinegar should be gluten-free.

DIRECTIONS:
Set the water to boil for the potatoes. When it comes to a boil, add the potatoes (halve them if they're large) and cook for 15-20 minutes until a fork slides in easily. Then mash with 1/2 C of milk and 3-4 T of butter. Season well with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Add the oil/fat to a large pan or dutch oven. Add the onions and carrots and cook 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ground meat. Season with 1 t of salt and some pepper. Brown the meat, about 3-4 minutes, stirring as needed. Once the meat is browned add the 2 T of flour and mix well. Cook for 1 minute longer. Then add the chicken stock, the tomato paste, the Worcestershire sauce and the red wine vinegar. Cook 10-12 minutes until a nice sauce has formed. Taste and add the rest of salt and pepper as needed. Add the peas and corn and cook 1-2 more minutes. Pour into a 1.5 Q baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, taking care to seal the potatoes against the edge of the dish so that the pie part doesn't bubble up and take over. I did a lousy job of this.
See?

Bake for 25 minutes and allow to cool a bit before cutting into it.

Aftermath

It's been a week, and I'm still reeling from Thanksgiving. First there's the marathon cooking sessions leading up to the big day (which thankfully, I was spared this year because my mother did just about everything herself), then there's the mad dash to eat, freeze and reinvent all the leftovers before anything spoils. And of course, the rush to post it all here before I forget what the hell it is I'm talking about.

This year my one contribution to Thanksgiving dinner (or dessert rather) was a sweet potato pie. I'd been eyeing it ever since I got my Best of the Best cookbook and the deal was sealed when my mother announced that no way no how was she making a pumpkin pie. I couldn't wait to report back. Then smittenkitchen waxed poetic about it and frankly, I lost momentum. I mean, no one cares what I have to say about the stupid pie, especially not when there are, you know, real food bloggers talking about it.

But it was heavenly and delicious and something I very cheerfully continued to eat in the days after Thanksgiving when turkey was becoming my sworn enemy. It is light and yet cheesecakey. It's really amazing I didn't just eat the whole thing in one sitting.

SWEET POTATO PIE
courtesy of the Lee Brothers, as featured in Best of the Best

CRUST:
Ingredients:
1.5 C sifted all purpose flour
1 T sugar
8 T butter
1/4 cup(ish) ice water

*original recipe called for 4 T of lard and 4 t of butter. I don't do lard, so I used all butter. I use salted butter. The original recipe also called for 1 t of salt. That in combination with the salted butter makes the crust nasty like a salt lick. Then you have to make another crust. Don't do that. If you use unsalted butter you can add a small pinch of salt, but I'd stay away from anything so large as a teaspoon.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Sift the dry ingredients together. Cut the butter into small chunks and cut it in using a pastry cutter or two knives. When the mixture gets a sandy texture like coarse crumbs you can add the water a tablespoon at a time. Make sure it's ice water. Toss with a fork to combine after each addition of water. When the dough holds together, form a round disk, wrap tightly and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until ready to use.

Roll out the dough (use flour as needed) until large enough for a 9" pie plate. Transfer the dough to a pie plate, trim the edges and crimp as desired. Again, refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Prebake the crust. First lay a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the dough and use pie weights (or beans or pennies) to weight it down. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Then remove the weights, use a fork to prick the bottom all over and then bake for 10 more minutes.

FILLING:

Ingredients:
1. 5 lbs sweet potatoes (about 2 medium sweet potatoes), peeled and chopped to a 1/2 inch dice
4 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T lemon juice *
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t kosher salt
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 C sugar
2 T flour
1/4 C buttermilk

*the lemon juice is pretty strong in the pie, the Lee brothers ask for 2 T, and even being a lemon lover that seemed a bit much. I do like how it cuts the richness, so I hesitate to eliminate it entirely.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Pour 1.5 inches of water into a large pot. Insert a strainer and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the sweet potatoes and steam until tender about 20 minutes. Drain them, place them in a large bowl and allow to cool. Then mash until smooth. You'll want 1 and 1/4 C puree, so you can just eat the excess (or make another pie). Add the butter, lemon juice, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Separate the eggs. The whites can go in the base of your mixer (or another bowl, but I like to do egg whites in the stand mixer), the yolks go in a small bowl. Whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until creamy and pale yellow. Then add to the sweet potato mixture. Add the flour and mix until thoroughly blended. Then add the buttermilk and mix that in.

In your mixer, whisk your egg whites to soft peaks. Then with a spatula fold the egg whites into the sweet potatoes and buttermilk. When well combined, pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely on a rack and serve at room temperature or chilled from the fridge. Whipped cream is fabulous on top.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

I've been away from the blog for the last two weeks for many reasons. Some fun, some stressful, but let's pretend it's just because all my energy has been focused on bringing you more ways to make butternut squash, which I consider to be one of the true joys of fall. I'd been working on perfecting my butternut squash risotto recipe when I got distracted by the idea of butternut squash lasagna. This recipe seemed to be very highly recommended, but as someone who's spent a day picking the tiny shards of skin off a pan of hazelnuts, I'll admit, I was daunted. So I found one by Giata that did not require any earth-shattering efforts on my part and was quite pleased. It's sweet and cheesy and just may be that vegetarian entree you were looking to serve at Thanksgiving.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNA
from Giata De Laurentiis
INGREDIENTS:
3 T olive oil
1 (1.5 -2lb) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into 1 inch cubes
salt and pepper
3 amaretti cookies*, crumbled
1/4 C butter
1/4 C flour
3 1/2 C whole milk
pinch nutmeg
1/2 C fresh sage leaves
12 no boil lasagna noodles
2 1/2 C shredded mozzarella
1/3 C grated parm (I always mean the real stuff, parmigiano reggiano, not a shaker from Kraft)

*You may be able to find amaretti cookies at your local grocery store, but definitely at your Italian market or grocer. For heaven's sake, unless you love amaretti cookies, don't pay the premium to get Lazzaroni which are easily double or triple the price of less famous brands.

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 450 F. Toss the squash with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes, until tender. Cool slightly then puree the squash together with the amaretti cookies in a food processor. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Reduce oven temp to 375 F.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes until all flour is coated with butter and is sort of goldeny sludge. Add the milk slowly, whisking to incorporate the flour butter mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. You are looking for slight thickening, the sauce should coat a spoon lightly. Add the nutmeg and stir through. Mince your sage and add that as well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble your lasagna. Lightly butter a 9 by 13 baking dish. On the bottom, put down a layer of the sauce, you should have plenty so be generous. Then add a layer of noodles. Cover with a layer of squash, then a layer of the mozzarella, then a layer of the sauce - I had a lot of extra sauce and just poured it over, it all got soaked up and the lasagna was not watery at all. Repeat three times. On the top add a bit more shredded mozzarella and the parm. Cover the top tightly with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for 15 minutes more. Finally, remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving. It will look delicious and golden and bubbly. Like so:

Candy Alternative

The next few weeks will be marked by furtive rustlings of wrappers, chocolate stained fingers and lips, and the general sugar induced mayhem that is the aftermath of Halloween. Once you've finished your binge, you may want something more homey and old-fashioned to serve as your dessert to tide you over 'til Thankgiving. Giant oatmeal cookies studded with walnuts, apples and raisins will definitely help you recover. They're the sort of thing just longing for a good cookie jar.

OATMEAL APPLE WALNUT RAISIN COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:
2 sticks butter
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs (or equivalent amount of egg substitute)
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 C oats
1 C raisins
1 C chopped nuts (I use walnuts)
1 apple cored and diced (I peel mine too).

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix until blended. Add the vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well. Add the oats and blend until incorporated. Then add the chopped nuts and raisins and mix. Finally add the apple and mix gently. I've made these regular cookie size before, but I'm kind of loving the giant cookie jar filling size. To make regular cookies, use rounded tablespoons. To make giant cookies, form smallish patties, like you were making burgers, but a bit littler. You can use a greased cookie sheet, but parchment or a silpat is even better. Bake 10-12 for the little ones 12-13 for the big ones. Cool on the pan for a minute or so, don't try to transfer right away or they will fall apart on you. Then cool on a rack until completely cool.

All Pumpkin, All the Time

Last weekend, just like clockwork, my annual fall pumpkin craving began. Ever since I was in college, and discovered the delicious pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins at Lyman Orchards I have found myself wanting, needing, pumpkin products. I've been reduced to checking restaurant menus, stopping in Dunkin' Donuts to determine if the pumpkin muffins are back yet, but now, I am master of my own fate. I have a recipe for a delicious pumpkin cake. Which could be made into muffins or loaves if you like, but I do love a bundt. In fact, in the past week, I have baked not one, but two of these pumpkin spice bundt cakes. They're that good. Special bonus? They use up a whole can of pumpkin. Seriously, this is a big deal. So many pumpkin product recipes use a cup. What the heck am I supposed to do with the rest of the can, people?

PUMPKIN SPICE BUNDT CAKE
recipe slightly altered from the one J posted in the comments of last year's pumpkin disaster, Pumpkin Dreams Smashed

INGREDIENTS:
2 c. sugar
1 c. veg oil
3 eggs
1 16 oz can pumpkin
3 c. flour
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp bking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. bk powder
(1 c chopped walnuts if you want but why would you?)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix together the sugar and oil. Add the eggs and pumpkin and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet, mix until incorporated, then add the other half. Pour into a well greased bundt pan, bake at 350 for about 55 minutes or until a knife in the middle comes out clean. If you like, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Procrastination

I have a bad habit of putting things off. And then the more I put them off, the more I dread dealing with them. Case in point. A while ago I asked my husband to buy me some plain yogurt, so that I could have it for breakfast. He is not a procrastinator, so he went out and got some that very day. Then it sat in my fridge. Every time I made breakfast, I'd look at it and think "ooh, I should really use that yogurt." But I didn't do anything about it. So with the sell by date fast approaching, I went into full panic mode. I baked two cakes using yogurt as an ingredient. One was a chocolate cake, and the other was a delicious apple cake. I really meant to write up that apple cake recipe for you. I did. I swear. But I hadn't taken a picture of it, so I kept putting it off. The thing about procrastination is, if you wait long enough, decisions are made for you. In this case, we ate the whole cake, so there is no picture to take. But I will try to make it up to you, with a recipe.

APPLE CAKE
from epicurious
INGREDIENTS:
2 T butter
2 large baking apples (such as Macoun, Jonamac, Granny Smith, or the ultimate baking apple Northern Spy)
1 1/2 T apple juice or apple cider
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 C + 1 T sugar
2/3 C plain yogurt
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 C vegetable oil
3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core and roughly dice the apples. Melt the butter in a saute pan, then add the apples and cook on medium for 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Add the juice, 1 T sugar and cinnamon. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and yogurt, whisking until very smooth. Then add the eggs and oil, again, mixing well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking soda, and then add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until well blended. Finally, stir in the apple mixture. Put in a well-greased 8" round pan and cook for 45-50 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Americana

Lately, the United States haven't seemed very United. In fifteen days, we will have an election, where we will either elect the first black president or the first woman vice president. And yet, instead all of the hope and joy that should come with having these historic candidates, there is hatred and fear.

For tonight, focus on easier times, simple pleasures. Think of America, the country of apple pie and baseball. Because tonight the Boston Red Sox will play the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League Championship. And I will be eating apple turnovers to celebrate. If you don't have time to make them tonight, it's okay. The World Series starts Wednesday. Plenty of time to rekindle a warm and fuzzy feeling towards your country before you get out and vote.

APPLE TURNOVERS
adapted from Ina Garten's recipe and Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
makes 6 turnovers

Ingredients:
1 package frozen puff pastry (only one sheet of puff pastry needed)
1 T lemon juice
2 cooking apples - I used Jonagold and Stayman Winesap.
1.5 T sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 t flour
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t ground cloves
1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Allow puff pastry to defrost according to package directions.
Prepare the apples. Peel, core and cut apples into a small dice. Mark Bittman who has considerably more free time than I do says to grate the apples, Ina favors a large dice. I split the difference. As you dice, toss the apples in a bowl where the lemon juice is already waiting. This will slow the process of the apples turning brown. Then add the sugar, flour and spices. When you've mixed it all well, check out the puff pastry. When it's thawed, cut into three pieces (if you buy Pepperidge Farm, it will likely be in three sections anyway). Then roll out each piece until it is about 3 or 4 inches wide, and cut in half to make squares. You should end up with 6 squares. Fill each square with between a 1/4 C and 1/3 C of the apple mixture. Fold each square into a triangle and use your finger, wet with water to seal by dampening the edge of the triangle before pressing the top layer of dough down. Then use a fork to crimp the edges. Mix the egg with a bit of water and then use a basting brush to apply the egg wash to the turnovers. The sprinkle each with sugar. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Pumpkin Dreams, Smashed

I have long loved pumpkin flavored baked goods and desserts. It's practically a holiday when Dunkin Donuts begins stocking their pumpkin muffins. I stopped eating my favorite dinner at our favorite restaurant once I learned they had pumpkin creme brulee for dessert. I made smitten kitchen's pumpkin bread pudding even though I don't like bread pudding because it was pumpkin and dessert.

Much to my dismay, I have been met with failure after failure when making pumpkin treats at home. I didn't love the pumpkin bread pudding, because of the whole not liking bread pudding bit. There were those "interesting" pumpkin pies I made last year. And now, I have failed at making pumpkin muffins. I found the recipe on a blog. It wasn't a food blog. That should have been a clue. I was taken in. Hoodwinked. I made the muffins. They contained whole wheat which made me somehow feel healthy and noble, like I was making the muffins as healthy snacks, and not treats to be scarfed down at every snack opportunity. But the muffins? Not so great. Everyone who has eaten one tells me they are good. And fresh out of the oven, they weren't so bad. But let me tell you, they don't improve. Day one, I was convinced that they were just another mediocre muffin. Day 2 I had a nightmare that my husband said they were gross and wanted to throw them all out. Day 3, I tried toasting it (for reasons to be explained later) and threw it out after 2 bites. I'm ready to toss the remaining 15. I'll wait to see if my husband eats anymore, but after that, they're going. Food waste is wrong, but so is having nightmares about having to keep eating something.

For your consideration, the problems with the muffins were as follows:
They were awfully whole wheat-y. It overwhelmed the taste of the pumpkin, the added spices and the extraordinary amount of brown sugar they used. They baked up small and sad. You could blame me for not filling my muffin tin enough, but I'll tell you, I only got two dozen and the recipe said it made three, so I will refuse culpability in that matter. The tops of them are mushy. Perhaps underbaked. I'm not sure how that happened. It was the second batch of muffins this happened to, and they baked as long as the first, in an oven that had been hot longer. All I can think is perhaps they are getting squishier upon storing, and I don't really want to think about that. Just ick.

I am very sorry to not be giving you another recipe, but honestly, if you knew, you'd thank me for not sharing it. I promise if I am every successful in my pumpkin quest, you'll be the first to know.

Honey Cakes

At the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, honey symbolizes the hope that the new year will be sweet. I think that there are a lot of us out there who need to believe that this new year will be a sweet one. And while you're waiting and hoping, maybe some honey cakes will help. These are delicate, light, and just the right kind of sweet without being cloying.

Honey Cakes
from Donna Hay's Off the Shelf

Ingredients:
2/3 C superfine sugar (you can make superfine sugar by putting regular sugar in a food processor and pulsing on high)
6 oz (a stick and a half) butter
3 T honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 C flour, sifted
1 t baking powder

Topping:
whipping cream (the recipe calls for double thick cream which I have yet to see in the US, you can make your own whipped cream using heavy cream, I didn't add sugar to mine, but you may want a tsp of sugar in yours)
honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325
Mix together the sugar, butter and honey until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and continue to mix until creamy. Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the eggs and sugar mixture. Mix well. Pour into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 min. Top with whipped cream and a drizzle of chilled honey. DO NOT drizzle the honey until the last possible moment. As it warms it will squiggle down your cake. Still tasty, but not so pretty for company.

P.S.

See, now that's what the cider-gingerbread spice cake is supposed to look like. Pretty, yes?

Failure and Redemption

I'm just now getting around to writing about Thursday's dinner, things have been a bit hectic around here. Also, I wasn't so sure I wanted to share with you yet another failure. But it wasn't all failure, so for the sake of impending Thanksgiving dinners everywhere, I'll share with you orange dinner number 1,548 - Sweet Potato Soup with Pumpkin Pie for dessert. Clearly, I'm only eating orange foods these days. Maybe now that it's getting deeper into November, I'll branch out. Maybe.

So, I came home on Thursday, and immediately set about figuring out my new! improved! pumpkin pie plan. I had these delicious spice cookies, and I felt that they would make a delicious and more interesting version of the graham cracker crust. So I promptly whipped one up, popped it in the oven and set about reinventing pumpkin pie filling. About 10 minutes later, I pulled out these delightful looking treats. All of the crust had crept back down the sides and pooled at the bottom and the whole mess was slightly blackened. So after a few heart-wrenching moments and a phone call to my mom, I decided to scrap the whole bunch. Which made me wince, because I can't bear throwing out perfectly good food, but then again, you might argue that a burnt solid mass of cookie crumbs does not qualify as perfectly good food. With the filling already mixed, I didn't have time to experiment with another crust and went for the old standby crust I've been making since I was twelve. With my trusty crust, I managed to turn out some slightly sad looking little pies, which people kindly proclaimed "interesting." What they really meant was: This doesn't taste like what I'm used to, and I am so much in shock I cannot possibly give you my actual thoughts on whether or not this is tasty. After eating a few of them myself I can tell you that they are indeed, tasty, but not very related to the standard Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Which is good to know if you plan on making this ever. Considering the fact that I managed to peel my thumb and burn a finger during the making of this meal, it really is a godsend that I managed to fix the sweet potato soup recipe so that it is no longer a sweet potato broth. See I told you it wasn't all failure.


INTERESTING PUMPKIN PIE (This is NOT gluten-free)
INGREDIENTS:
1 recipe crust - see below
1 can packed pumpkin puree
2 T + 1 t maple syrup
1/3 T molasses
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 C whipped cream (I felt this was a little much, maybe try 3/4 cup?)
2 eggs
DIRECTIONS:
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into pie crust. Cook at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 cook for 40-50 minutes more.

CRUST
1 C flour
1 T sugar
pinch salt
1/3 C butter
4-6 + T of ice water
DIRECTIONS:
This is a million times easier with a KitchenAid mixer. Cutting shortening/butter in by hand is no fun. So, mix together dry ingredients in the mixer. Add butter (still cold from the fridge, make sure it's not warm or room temp) in small chunks (I tend to cut my in tablespoon sized slabs). Mix until the whole mixture has a coarse sand or pebbley consistency. And this is where it gets hard. Add water. The amount you need varies based on where you live, the weather, the mood of your crust. You'll need to learn to add enough that it all holds together as a dough, but not so much that it's a wet mess. Go slowly, mix carefully. I don't measure anymore. I pour straight from my Brita of ice water into the mix (while the mixer is running) and see if it becomes a ball.

REDEMPTION SWEET POTATO SOUP (This is gluten-free)
INGREDIENTS:
1 c onion diced
1 leek (cleaned by soaking the rings), sliced
1 carrot peeled and diced
2 bay leaves
2 large sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into 1/2" or 1/4" cubes)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 large regular potato (same as above)
salt and pepper
1/4 C white wine (or vermouth)
4 C chicken broth (or veggie, if you want it to be vegetarian)
1 C water for thinning (at the end, if needed)
butter/olive oil
sour cream (for topping at the end)
1 recipe buttered pecans (see below)
DIRECTIONS:
Add a few T of butter or olive oil to a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, leek, garlic, bay and salt and pepper. Cook over medium until vegetables are soft and translucent. Use the wine or vermouth to deglaze. Then add the potatoes (sweet and regular) and cover with chicken broth. Simmer for 20 minutes or until a fork goes into the potatoes easily. Remove the bay leaves. Puree mixture in a blender (I use an immersion blender). It may take a while to get smooth. Check the consistency, if it's a bit thick or lumpy, add the cup of water, and reblend until it's smoother. Pour in a bowl, and top with a big dollop of sour cream and some buttered pecans.

BUTTERED PECANS:
pecans
butter
Add a few T of butter to a skillet on low-medium. Add the pecans (maybe a bit under a cup) and stir until well coated. Let cook about 5-10 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Not that I've ever done that. No not an expert chef like me!

Dinner Candy

The Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions, again. I have much to be grateful for. Like the Sox beating the Rockies, and also, not having children. Because if I did have children, they would inevitably be referring to this as my squash period and would spend much of their adolescence recounting tales of how mom made them eat all this disgusting squash and swearing they'd never eat it again. I wouldn't know anything personally about the extent of emotional scarring that can occur due to overexposing children to something like maybe zucchini or classical music, but I've heard it can get ugly. Thankfully, I have nothing to worry about. I can wallow in the glory of my favorite team being the best in baseball while eating what basically amounts to dessert as dinner: Fresh Fettucini with Roast Butternut Squash and Brown Butter and Sage. I adapted this recipe from one in Donna Hay's Off the Shelf Cookbook, because as it turns out, finding a pumpkin to cook is a lot harder than you think. I went in search of a "pie pumpkin" which are supposedly little and tasty. I got a lot of weird looks, and also helpfully informed by one supermarket employee that he was pretty sure that some of the pumpkins out front didn't have faces already painted on them. He then offered me canned pumpkin puree, which as you might guess, isn't my top choice for cutting into cubes. Fortunately, the recipe is pretty darn good (if not crazy sweet) with the squash.

FRESH FETTUCINE WITH ROAST BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND BROWN BUTTER AND SAGE
Ingredients:
1/2 lb fresh fettucine
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (.5 inch cubes maybe? a titch smaller?)
3-4 T butter
fresh sage leaves (maybe 6-8 leaves - stems cut off)
.5 cup grated parm
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
Spread the cubed, peeled squash on a baking sheet, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook at 400 for 30 minutes, or until a fork goes in easily. When the squash is almost done, boil the pasta water, and cook the pasta according to the package. Add the butter and sage to a skillet, heat at medium until the butter is a rich brown color. Drain pasta, top with squash and parm then pour the butter and sage over top.

Squashapalooza

A baked stuffed squash - "Brilliant!" I thought. What better vessel to fill with the flavors of fall than a squash? All those rich, earthy tastes mingling in the oven. Problem is, I'd never cooked a squash, didn't know where to buy one, and found out a little late in the process that your pickings among online baked stuffed squash recipes are pretty slim. Armed with absolutely nothing but vague craving I went to the farm stands that are set up around a nearby square. I walked away with two very small sweet dumpling squash. Entirely unconvinced that what I'd bought was even intended to be used as food, I went to the local produce store and invested in that familiar, comforting squash - the butternut. I felt better. I'd just about settled on a stuffing of sausage, onion, mushroom and wild rice, to be topped with provolone cheese, when I came upon this recipe and became obsessed with the idea of sausage and blue cheese and thyme. In the end, there was no reasoning with myself, and after I'd popped the squash in the oven, I ran out to buy blue cheese. And therefore, we have squashapalooza. Refusing to bow to sanity, I made 2 different kinds of baked squash and stuffed each with two different stuffings. Now, this can't be done without consequences, and sadly, you all are the ones to suffer, because my recipes are hazy at best. But hey, I know what else is out there and you might even end up grateful.

SQUASHAPALOOZA

SQUASH PREP:
pre-heat oven to 450 , cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and all stringy matter, melt 1 T of butter and brush the flesh of the squash with the butter. Place squash face down on a foil covered baking pan. Cook for 50-80 minutes depending on the size of your squash. It can be done a tiny bit before the fork goes in smoothly if you want, because it's going back in for 10 minutes later, but I found it easiest to just let it cook completely.

SAUSAGE, BLUE CHEESE AND THYME STUFFING: - NOT GLUTEN FREE
1.5 sausages, casing removed (I used hot turkey sausage)
.5 C onion diced
1 T olive oil
.75 C homemade croutons - I used 3/4 of a deli roll
.25 C blue cheese, crumbled - I like blue d'auvergne
salt and pepper to taste
fresh thyme
drizzle of honey

DIRECTIONS: heat olive oil in a non-stick pan, add diced onions and cook until soft and translucent. Add salt and pepper, cook a minute or two more, and set aside. Add sausage to the same pan (don't even bother to clean, you like lazy don't you?) and brown. Break apart the sausage with a wooden spoon as you go. Drain sausage, add to cooked onions. While everything is cooking you can make the bread crumbs. Cut up a roll into crouton sized chunks, toast. Mix toasted bread, sausage, onion, with crumbled blue cheese, drizzle of honey and a few teaspoons of fresh thyme.

SAUSAGE, WILD RICE, MUSHROOM AND SAGE STUFFING: GLUTEN FREE
1.5 sausages, casing removed ( I used hot turkey sausage) - check labels to ensure gf
.5 C onion diced
1 T olive oil
.75 C mushroom diced (I used baby bellas)
.75-1 C wild rice cooked
1 T fresh sage, chopped
.75 C mixed grated provolone and mozzarella - shred your own or check labels, some pre-shredded cheese contains gluten
DIRECTIONS: heat olive oil in a non-stick pan, add diced onions and mushrooms and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Add salt and pepper, cook a minute or two more, and set aside. Add sausage to the same pan (don't even bother to clean, you like lazy don't you?) and brown. Break apart the sausage with a wooden spoon as you go. Drain sausage. Mix sausage, onion, cooked rice, sage. After stuffing squash (see below) top by pressing provolone and mozzarella on top.

STUFFING OF THE SQUASH:
After the squash has finished cooking, scoop a bit out of the squash and mix well with the filling. Leave enough squash to hold the edges up, the skin is very soft after this much cooking. After mixing the squash with the stuffing of your choice, spoon it back into the squash. Put it back in the oven and cook for 10 more minutes until nice and melty.

Both are delicious, the wild rice one really tastes like Thanksgiving and the blue cheese stuffing is sweet and salty goodness. So far, Ryan prefers the blue cheese stuffing in the butternut squash, but we haven't tried all possible combinations yet, so the final verdict is still out. Also, both of these can be made vegetarian simply by leaving out the sausage. Make some extra mushrooms or something. I've forgotten to add the sausage many a time with no ill effects.

Beauty's Only Skin Deep

Today I made my one of my favorite fall desserts, apple cider gingerbread bundt cake. It is moist, sweet, spicy, apple-y and very hard to stop eating. Luckily, it's not even that bad for you! The recipe is from Cooking Light, so all this fall goodness is yours without the guilt. The only trouble I've ever run into is that certain brands of molasses result in the cake cooking up with a slight bitter aftertaste, but most people don't even notice this. Usually, the cake comes out beautifully, but today I was left trying to resmoosh the top part back on after it refused to part ways with the bundt pan. Ah well, at least it still tastes delicious.

Hey - want to see what it looks like when it's all pretty? Click here!

OLD-FASHIONED CIDER-GINGERBREAD BUNDT CAKE
Source: Cooking Light November 1998
Yield: 16 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup apple butter
1-1/3 cups shredded peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 apple)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup egg substitute or 1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. In your stand mixer, combine granulated sugar, molasses, cider, apple butter, vegetable oil and egg or egg substitute in a large bowl. Mix on medium speed until everything is incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, mixing well to incorporate. Add apple; beat well. Pour batter into a 12-cup Bundt pan coated with cooking spray. They are seriously not kidding about this cooking spray. I've made this many, many times and it's only stuck once, but boy did it stick that time. I think I totally forgot to spray it that time. Bake cake at 350°F for 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes; invert cake onto a wire rack and remove from pan, and cool completely.

My Pot Runneth Over

I love Sara Moulton. When I first started watching cooking shows, hers didn't interest me, because honestly, she hasn't really got a fabulous stoveside manner. But after awhile I realized that none of that mattered, because she was good at what she did. Really good. And moreover, her recipes actually turn out. And so I was totally excited to make Sweet
Potato Soup With Buttered Pecans.

Now, I can fit suitcases in the trunk of my car like none other (ask me about the time I drove from New Jersey to Connecticut with 4 passengers, a cat, and all their assorted luggage in a Honda Civic), but sadly, my spatial prowess does not extend to liquid measures.
And so I ended up with about a quarter inch between the top edge of my soup and the top edge of the soup pot. But did I transfer the soup to another pot? Hells no. I just smacked a cover on it, and watched it closely. What can I say, it was a long week at work. Turns out, there was only a minimal loss of liquid due to boil over. Also turns out, this is a bad thing. I poured some off to a second bowl in order to let my immersion blender work its magic, but at this point, I was feeling mighty skeptical. You see, the recipe called for a ratio of liquid to potato that was far higher than any I've ever seen in a soup recipe before. And I didn't question it, because it's Sara Moulton, and she does not screw this kind of thing up. And after blending? Too soupy. I ended up adding back in only the solids of the part I'd poured off, and that helped thicken a little, but in the future I will definitely not be using all 7 1/4 C of liquid.

The upside is, that even though it was a little brothier than I would like, the soup was delicious and I will make it again. And hey, with less liquid, it might even fit in the pot.