Thanksgiving Auditions

Around here, the Thanksgiving menu changes once every few decades. I remember when I was quite small, my mother would make three kinds of stuffing. There was bread stuffing with olives onions,celery and sage (icky), mashed potato and hamburger stuffing (I think I would have a bite or two of this) and there was the good old southern cornbread and sausage stuffing. Somehow over the years the cornbread stuffing emerged victorious (thank heavens). We've gone through various pie phases as well. Although apple and pumpkin are constants, we only have mince pie when my Nana is around and we only get the heavenly mocha pecan pie if my Aunt Shirley is cooking. I know, I know, that makes it sound like we're flibbertigibbets when it comes to pie, but I should point out that the mince reigned from the beginning of my memory until sometime in the 1990s and Aunt Shirley's pie was in for the early 2000s. And now we're down to apple and pumpkin. So, it would be a rash act if I suddenly introduced rolls to our Thanksgiving table. And considering that I won't even be cooking in my own kitchen, I won't be whipping up any rolls this year. But I did audition a recipe, just in case you needed one. See how giving I am? It had absolutely nothing to do with my overwhelming desire to chow down on buttery goodness on a weeknight. Just pure selflessness. Really.

PS - You really don't want to make these on a weeknight unless it's for a special occasion. You probably don't have this kind of time. I don't have this kind of time either which is why when I tried to make them I completely messed up the timing for dinner and had to make emergency mashed potatoes just to put enough food on the table and then had to freeze and defrost the rolls the next night for baking. But we could pretend that I did that just so you'd know that yes, you can freeze them (before the rise) and then bring them to room temp, then rise them, then bake.

BUTTERY CHEWY ROLLS
adapted from Cooking Light, I'd tell you which one but I tore out the page ages ago

INGREDIENTS:

3 T sugar
1 package dry yeast
1 C warm milk (Cooking light recommends 100F to 110F, I don't temp my milk, just don't make it so hot that you kill your yeast).
2 3/4 C flour (approximately, more for flouring your board)
3/4 t salt
3 tablespoons butter softened (I used melted).

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the yeast and sugar and milk. Let proof for 5 minutes. It should increase in volume. I did this in the bowl of my stand mixer. Add the flour and salt and mix until a dough forms. You can either let your mixer knead it or do it by hand. I don't think I found it sticky like they said, so I did it by hand. You want it smooth and elastic. Cover your dough with plastic and let stand for 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough to a 12 x 10 rectangle. Smear it with butter. I used a pastry brush. Then fold it in thirds lengthwise so you have a 12 x 3 rectangle. Pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes. If you use the fridge instead when you get to the next step, the butter will ooze out of every bit of the dough and you will feel annoyed.

Roll out the dough again to a 12 x 10 rectangle. Fold it in thirds again, the same way. Pop it back in the freezer (they say 10 minutes). Don't freeze for too long or you will find it incredibly difficult to roll it back out. I over froze mine at this point and there was no way in heck I was going to be able to roll it back out to an 12 x 8 rectangle. NO WAY.

Roll the dough out to an 12 x 8 rectangle. Roll it up like a jelly roll (start at one edge, roll carefully to the other edge). Pinch the crease to seal. Since there was no way I was getting a 12 x 8 rectangle I just rolled it as big as I could and then rolled like a jelly roll. No ill effects. Slice into 12 discs. Pop in a greased muffin pan and let rise 45 minutes. Then bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Let cool.

I froze my rolls before the final rise. I bring them to room temp, allow time for the rise then bake.

Farm Fresh?

I grew up in a small town, the kind that seems almost made up, with one traffic light in the center of town, and the four corners of that intersection marked with a post office, a drugstore, a bank and a church. Outside the snug one mile border of the town, in almost every direction, there were farms. The closest was nothing but a small stand run by the parents of a boy I went to school with. But there were so many others. One lay across the border in another state and had delicious caramel apples. Another one was up in the hills and felt forever away from my small child perspective. But the one we used the most had corn you could feed to the animals, a cement outbuilding with a window where you could buy fresh cider and a small red painted farm store. We would go and look at the animals, and on the way back stop and my daddy would buy me an apple and polish it up on his flannel shirt. When I got a little older, they branched out and started selling cider doughnuts, plain and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Now that farm is packed weekends. People that moved into the subdivisions that have been slowly eating away open space pack up their children into their extra-large SUVs and descend upon my tranquil childhood farm like locusts. Last time I went I stood in a line that wrapped around the whole farm store and down the porch just to buy my cider doughnuts. I don't begrudge them their success; many local farms have been forced to sell, but I do miss the way thing were. Also sad? I read the ingredient list on the back on the doughnut bag. I don't think I could identify anything after the first three ingredients. So I think the time has come for me to part ways with the farm and their doughnuts. But I do have a back-up plan. Come next fall, expect to hear my opinion on these cider doughnuts from Smitten Kitchen.

Cheddar Apple Scones

If we're talking literally here, I am a Jersey girl. I was born in Jersey and raised in Jersey. But my heart, and often my tastebuds, belong to New England. I love the spicy taste of ginger ice cream which is so hard to find outside of New England. I made pilgrimages to Herrell's. I was fed bites from my father's Jordan's blueberry muffins (although not often, my father's pretty stingy with those muffins). I would give almost anything for the recipe to Ma Glockner's Sticky Buns (well, not anything, but if you have the recipe, contact me immediately. I will send cookies. Or Sticky Buns). And although I've never really done it myself, I get the old New England tradition of cheddar cheese on apple pie. My grandmother loved it.

And yes, I will sadly acknowledge that there are many people who are now living in New England who don't know about Jordan's, or Ma Glockner's, or think the cheddar/apple pie thing is hogwash, but they're probably the same people who don't know what Dirty Water is, and can't tell you where they were in 1986 when their hearts broke (a farm house in Antietam), or where they were 18 years later when Foulke threw to first to end an 86 year drought (Cleveland Circle). And I'll tell you this. I'm not sharing my cheddar cheese and apple scones with them. Not if they get to live up there while I'm down here in exile.

CHEDDAR APPLE SCONES
adapted from SmittenKitchen

Ingredients:
2 apples (I used MacIntosh, but I'd love to try Northern Spies)
1 1/2 C flour (plus at least 1/4 C for the board, this is a seriously sticky dough)
1/4 C sugar
1/2 T baking powder (I know, awkward to measure)
6 T cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 t salt (omit this if you use salted butter)
3/4 C cheddar
1/4 C heavy cream
1 egg

Directions:
Peel and core the apples and cut them into 16 pieces each. Seriously. Have fun counting with that. Then put them on a lined baking sheet (I used my silpat, you could use parchment) and bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Allow them time to cool.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter, apples, cheese, cream and egg. Mix on low to combine. Then sift together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Add to the mixer slowly, in batches. Once combine, remove dough from the mixer to a well floured surface.

Gently roll or pat your dough into a 6 inch circle. I just patted mine, no need to dirty the rolling pin. Then cut your dough into 6 equal wedges. It will now be a very delicate operation getting those scones off your counter, use a spatula if you need to, and transfer the scones to a baking sheet lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper.

Bake for 20-30 minutes (come on, you know my oven is running hot these days) until golden and firm. If you can, cool them on a rack before eating.

SmittenKitchen strongly recommends not saving them for more than 2 days. So I just froze my whole batch. They did take about 30 minutes from frozen, but if they were fresh I'd certainly want to check before that.

Dinner and Movie

I have to say, I admire my parents' style of entertaining. Back in the day, they'd have friends in for fabulous dinner parties. The next morning, while my parents and their guests were still in bed, I would pad through the living room and dining room in my jammies surveying the damage. Empty bottles of wine were lined up along the mantle; small plates holding uneaten chocolate bonbons waited on the table (fine, maybe I stole a few for breakfast). So where was I whilst all the merry-making took place? My parents hired the best babysitter money can buy - Fred Astaire (actually, he was totally free). Since TV watching was a rare treat, and eating in front of the TV, absolutely verboten, my Saturday night dinner and a movie set-up was just about the biggest treat I could imagine. My father would make me a special pasta dinner and set me up with an old musical and I'd be in heaven. It became such a tradition for me that when I was old enough to babysit on weekends instead of stay home I really missed my special movie time.

Start out with Swing Time, one of my favorite Astaire-Rogers films, and another classic, chicken with shells. And while this very first dinner and a movie post is perfect for occupying small children so that you can have an evening to yourself on the cheap, stay tuned. I'm planning on featuring some of my favorite movies and meals that would perfect accompaniments, because even though I'm a grown-up now I still love settling down to a delicious dinner in front of a terrific film.


DADDY'S CHICKEN AND SHELLS
serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
1 large breast of chicken
6 slices bacon
1 C frozen peas
1/2 lb shells
1/2 C chicken stock
1/4 C - 1/2 C cream
2 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/4 C Parmigiano-Reggiano

DIRECTIONS:
Chop the bacon into medium sized squares. Cook in a skillet for 5-7 minutes or until crisp. Set aside. Then raise the heat to high and add your tablespoon of olive oil. Sear for 2 minutes per side, then add the 1/2 C of stock and reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. When it's done remove it from the pan and let it stand for a few minutes so the juices don't all run out when you cut it. After it has rested cut it into bite sized pieces. Cook the shells according to the package directions. When they're done drain them quite thoroughly. Make sure to shake them a bit to get the water out. Then melt 2 T of butter over them and mix gently to coat. Cook off half the chicken broth, then add 1 C of frozen peas and cook them for 3 minutes. Add the 1/4 C of cream and the chicken to the broth and peas. Add the shells and 1/4 C parm. Add the bacon. Mix gently and serve.

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.

Stars Align

You know how I'd been thinking about my repertoire, and how I didn't have enough fancy things that I could make for company? Well, about a week ago, someone was asking about for a scallop/mushroom/white wine recipe and something just clicked. Didn't my dad make some type of delicious scallop-y mushroom thing? The next night, I was a guest at my parents house and lo and behold my father was making exactly that for dinner. So for both my own purposes, and for the good of others, I followed him around as he cooked, diligently scribbling on a small scrap of paper and peppering him with questions. The result: We have a recipe! Now you (and I) can cook fancy scallops any time we feel like.

FANCY SCALLOPS
adapted from Julia Child - Julia doesn't have mushrooms. Poor Julia.
serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 lbs crimini/baby bella mushrooms (buttons only in a pinch) or 1 lb fresh chanterelles (if you'd like to go super upscale - DO NOT attempt with dried, it won't work)
1 1/2 lbs sea scallops
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 C minced yellow onion
2 T shallot minced
1/4 t dried thyme
1/2 bay leaf
1/2 C flour
1/2 T olive oil + 1 T olive oil
1 T butter + 1 T butter + a bit more for greasing casserole dish
1/2 C vermouth or white wine
1/3 emmenthaler or gruyere
1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare your scallops. Place them in a colander and rinse, then pat them dry. Be thorough. Then carefully trim off the foot/muscle area. Halve or quarter them (depending on size), you want uniform scallop chunks of about 1". Quarter or halve your mushrooms so they are in chunks only slightly smaller than the scallops. Mince up your garlic, onion and shallot. Prepare two skillets. In one, toss a 1/2 T of olive oil and the mushrooms. Cook on medium to sweat out the liquid from the mushrooms. In the other, melt the butter and cook the onions on medium low until they are translucent (about 5 minutes), then add the garlic and shallot and cook a few minutes more, then set aside. When the mushrooms are golden and there is no liquid in the bottom of the mushroom pan (5-7 minutes) set aside your mushrooms. In another small bowl, combine the thyme and bay leaf. Grate your emmenthaler. See?

Now, back to the scallops. Season with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. In a large ziploc bag, combine the scallops and the flour. Gently shake to coat the scallops. Remove scallops from the bag and shake off all excess flour. Get a pan very hot and add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the remaining tablespoon of butter. When the pan sizzles with the addition of a drop of water, it's ready for the scallops. Sear for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per side, you want a nice crust. DO NOT attempt to move the scallops before that time, or you will ruin everything. When the second side is seared and has a nice crust, add the vermouth or white wine, the shallot, garlic, onion, bay, thyme and mushrooms and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes, covered. Remove the cover (and the bay leaf). The sauce should have thickened nicely, if not, reduce a bit more. Pour into a greased pyrex or casserole, sprinkle with the cheese (emmenthaler is terrific, if you use gruyere, use less as it is a bit stronger). Broil until the cheese is bubbly, about 2 minutes.

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.

Pay Attention

The other day at lunch I was chatting with some friends about how I simply feel as though I have too much to keep track of. So much in fact, that I worry that perhaps some of the things I am supposed to be responsible for will ooze out of my brain and trickle out my ears. There was a general consensus that LISTS! would save the day. "Write a list!" They said. Amateurs.

A List of My Current Lists:
1. to do for work (on my desk at work)*
2. daily to do (in my planner)
3. dinner menu for the week (Excel spreadsheet)
4. books for my book blog and which week to read them (Excel spreadsheet)
5. library book due dates (on my computer)
6. a list of my current lists (you're reading it baby)
7. a list of epiphanies I had in SuperFresh (stay with me)

*Confession: Sometimes my friend L and I keep lists for each other. So that I know what she has to do and she knows what I have to do.

It's not enough. Do you know how I know this? Last weekend, as I walked through SuperFresh, I eyed a giant display of sundae topping sauces, you know, caramel, butterscotch, hot fudge. And I had a moment of smug glee as I thought of the homemade caramel sauce sitting at home, and how I could pour it over a sundae, or dip apples in it or what-have-you. At which point I had so many epiphanies I nearly got whiplash.

1. There is no caramel sauce at home.
2. I poured all the caramel sauce into the brownies.
3. The recipe called for half the caramel sauce to go into the brownies.
4. This is why the brownies NEVER SET.
5. If it takes me TWO WEEKS to realize that I screwed up a recipe, I have TOO MUCH stuff inside my head.

So folks, today you will not be getting my version of "turtle brownies". You will get a link to She's Becoming Doughmesstic's Sea Salt Caramel Brownies with a firm admonishment to follow the damn directions. If your brain is not leaking out your ears, you could add some pecans to make them more turtle-y. I'll be here, starting some new lists.

J-U-I-C-E spells Love

Let me tell you a love story. Once a long time ago, at a party, a thirteen year old girl with beautiful dark curls, fell into the lap of a handsome blue-eyed young man. He picked up a gold cigar band, slid it on her finger and told her he'd give her a real one someday. Six years later, he made good on his promise, and they were married. Like many couples they went through some difficult times, but their marriage lasted for over 60 years. My grampy is gone now, but yesterday would have been their 66th anniversary.
My grampy would show my nana he loved her in a million different ways. He would always call her "my bride". She loved having birds in the yard, so he would trap squirrels and then drive several towns over to release them so they wouldn't scare off the birds or monopolize the feeders. All over the house that he built, in the strangest places, there would be tiny notes, saying "Alice, I love you." She found one of them after he passed away. It was on a small light that had been mounted in a closet in their old house. But I remember one ritual he always had as one of the quieter ways he said "I love you."

My grampy was a carpenter and he woke up very early. Even earlier than any early bird, very small, grandchildren that might be visiting. Every morning he would bring my grandmother a glass of orange juice, with a tiny dish on top to protect it. When I was small, he would do the same for me. In that one small glass of juice, there were a million I love yous.

We should all be so lucky to have a love like theirs.

Simple Comfort

This is what to have for dinner if you are feeling like a fractious five year old. Or possibly what to make for dinner if you have a fractious five year old. It is not fancy or complex. It is simple and comforting. There is nothing unexpected or deep about it. Just a nice simple chicken and pasta casserole. It would be great to have for dinner if you've had a bad day.

If, for example, you'd spent a solid 10 minutes hyperventilating this morning because when you walked to where you'd parked your car, it WASN'T THERE. And you realized that not only was your car GONE, but there was NO ONE you could call for help, because your husband was in New York, or Boston, or somewhere in between New York and Boston, and your parents were in Canada and you know NO ONE in the stupid city you live in. And you couldn't decide whether you should call 911 or the tow lot first. And you knew that if (when) your husband found out your car was stolen he would say "that's it, that's enough, we're moving out of this hellhole" never mind that we have a lease, no movers and no where to go. And besides all that, HOW WERE YOU SUPPOSED TO GET TO WORK WITH NO CAR?? And about when you'd decided to head home and start calling the tow lot and 911 and your boss and possibly Canada, you walked one more block and found your poor, sad, 15 year old car tucked into a parking space and breathed a sigh of relief so great it probably reached Canada...If that had been your morning? You definitely would want this for dinner. I wouldn't know that first hand of course. I'm just guessing.


BAKED CHICKEN AND DITALINI
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

INGREDIENTS:
1 C ditalini
1 -2 C cooked chicken breast, diced. I used one very large breast, probably yielding about 1.5 C
14 oz of canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 C onion chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oregano
1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
2-4 T olive oil
1-2 T butter
1/4 C bread crumbs
1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400 F. Put a pot of water on the stove, and bring it to a boil. Cook 1 C of ditalini according to the package directions. Drain, toss with 1 T of olive oil and set aside.
Put some olive oil in a pan and bring to medium high heat. Salt and pepper your chicken and chop it into medium sized pieces, like this:Add your chicken to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes until done, turn often. Chop into bite sized pieces. In another pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil, the chopped onions and the chopped garlic. Cook for 3 minutes until the onions and garlic and softened. Add the 14 oz of tomatoes and the oregano. Stir until mixed. Butter an 8x8 baking dish. Add the ditalini and chicken to the sauce. Add the grated mozzarella and stir until well combined. Pour into the baking dish. In a small pan, melt the butter and add the bread crumbs. Toss until they are all buttery and golden. Off heat, add the parm, then use that to top the chicken pasta mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and melty, like so: