Choice of Pies

grilled cheese

2009-05-25T15:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! What are you up to? No cook-outs for us today - we're just lounging at home, working on our film notes (for Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry and Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind) and updating our "Six Feet Under: Death and Dying in the Movies" series proposal (first vote on Fall 2009 series takes place at tonight's meeting).

As I write this, I'm heating up the Foreman for a grilled cheese sandwich. The nice thing about using the grill for these is you don't need to use any butter, so you save some fat and calories there, and you still get a nice, golden, crunchy outer crust. Grilled cheese was my favorite sandwich growing up, and I've stayed a fan as an adult, but lately, I really can't get enough of them!

I especially love grilled cheese with ketchup. Most people think this is really strange, but if you think about it, it makes sense. What side dish do you usually get with grilled cheese sandwiches? French fries. You put ketchup on french fries, right? From there it's one step to the sandwich itself. Delicious!

hot weather meal

2009-05-24T23:29:00.005-04:00

Now that the weather has turned, I can barely convince myself to turn on the stove. Our kitchen has a big, beautiful skylight through which the sun pours in, which is lovely, but also hot. Once the temperatures get up above 85 or so, the kitchen stays hot. That's when I turn to our little countertop grill ( a George Foreman model we bought a couple of years ago).

Lately my standard go-to meal has been turkey burgers with crudites. The burgers only take about seven minutes on the grill, and I use that time to prep the veggies. They are nice and cool and crunchy - perfect for a hot evening like tonight.

Out to Eat: Tuckerbox

2009-05-14T21:45:00.000-04:00

Tuckerbox
1 S. Main St.
White River Junction, VT

There's a new coffee shop in town, and boy, did we need it! Hanover coffee king Dirt Cowboy closes at 6 pm, and going there on a Saturday means finding (and paying for) parking in the congested downtown area. But newcomer Tuckerbox, across from the train station in WRJ, is exactly one mile from our place -- a pleasant walk across a bridge and through a park.

Their espresso-based drinks are excellent. On this trip , Dan got a mocha.

And of course, we had to try the peanut butter and bacon sandwich. I wasn't sure I would like it, but how could we pass it up? When else would we get the chance? It was just so odd -sounding that we had to try it.

It was tastier than I expected, but I wouldn't necessarily order it again. I think it was missing something. Maybe it would be better with Nutella? I wanted more of a jolt, more contrast between the bacon and the peanut butter. The bacon, from Claremont's North County Smokehouse, was excellent.

The star menu item, though, is the beignets. These puffy little donuts are served hot and tossed with your choice of seasoning - cinnamon sugar, vanilla sugar, or spicy chocolate powder. The texture is absolutely perfect - light and fluffy on the inside, with a perfectly crisp crust.

But, they are deep fried. So as much as I have enjoyed my visits to Tuckerbox so far - did I mention they have a huge wooden table, great for getting freelance done, and several comfy chairs? - I need to find a way to go there and not order beignets every single time. Luckily, their lunch options - salads, soups, and sandwiches - are much healthier.

apologies

2009-05-12T21:58:00.002-04:00

No doubt about it: I've been a delinquent blogger. I'm adjusting to full-time work out of the house again (no more freelancer schedule!) while still hanging on to a couple major freelance projects; one, a survey, just launched a few days ago. On top of that, I was planning a student/alumni retreat for my old college house, which took place the day after the launch.

Now that I've passed both of those hurdles, I'm turning my attention back to my poor, neglected blog. I'm blowing the dust off the keyboard and getting to work.

This week, I promise four (count 'em, four!) restaurant reviews, and next week I'll be back to posting actual meals that I cooked.

Thanks for sticking around. ;-)

Daring Bakers: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake Recipe

2009-04-29T22:43:00.001-04:00

(recipe via Jenny Bakes)

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Daring Bakers: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

2009-04-28T22:24:00.006-04:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This is a basic cheesecake recipe developed by her friend Abbey T., who has made infinite flavor modifications to this basic recipe with great success. Basically, you can take this recipe and easily tweak it to create any flavor cheesecake you desire. I decided to go for a Neapolitan effect, inspired by the classic ice cream flavor.

I planned to make the basic batter, then split it in thirds and add strawberry puree to one portion and melted chocolate to another, but then I realized how neatly the recipe divides in to third. Since it calls for three blocks of cream cheese and three eggs, and all the flavorings are listed in tablespoons (1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons), making the batter in thirds seemed like a really easy way to ensure even flavor distribution.

Oddly, despite my equitable distribrution of ingredients, the chocolate portion came out notably thicker than the other two. I expected the strawberry puree to thin the batter a bit, but it didn't really: the pink and plain batters had the same consistency. I ended up using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate, but even so, I used about a tablespoon, which doesn't seem like enough to significantly alter the consistency. But it did. Once baked, there wasn't a noticeably difference in texture, but the chocolate layer held up better than the strawberry and vanilla.

To top it off, I dipped some strawberries in dark chocolate. Delicious!

I would definitely recommend this cheesecake recipe. It's definitely rich, but not so rich that just a bite or two makes you say, "Enough!" In that way, it's actually pretty dangerous - it's just mild enough to make you want one more bite. Every time. So, with that in mind, proceed with caution.

This post is already long, so I'll post the recipe separately.

Sandwiches, part 2

2009-04-15T21:52:00.005-04:00

Sandwiches again! This time on mini pita bread, but once again grilled. I had turkey with apple slices and cheddar, with more apple slices and some red pepper strips on the side.

Dan had roast beef, turkey, cheddar, and red peppers in his sandwich, with apples slices and some leftover pasta salad (orzo with olive oil, tomato, and feta). His metabolism is so fast it should require a seatbelt, so he can handle the extra carbs.

These are store-bought mini pitas. I keep meaning to make pitas - they are really simple, only a handful of ingredients - but I just haven't had the time recently. Maybe next week!

Cheese, glorious cheese!

2009-04-15T21:50:00.003-04:00

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: we are serious cheese freaks. We LOVE cheese. We'd basically eat nothing but cheese if I didn't exert serious restraint and monitor our cheese consumption. Of course, living on the Vermont border, we have access to loads of amazing local cheeses, which we enjoy, but because we eat so much cheese, we also need a more utilitarian, run-of-the-mill, basic, everyday cheese. We call this "snack cheese" (as opposed to "special cheese" or "cooking cheese").

Lately our grocery store has been having amazing specials on cheese, bringing our standard snacking cheddar down to only $2.99 a pound, so of course we've been stocking up. With all that cheese on hand, however, the danger is that we'll go overboard and eat way too much cheese (yes, hard to believe, but there is such a thing). So we've rationed it. I figure that between the two of us, one 8-oz bar of cheddar per week is sufficient (especially since that's not the only cheese we eat - that's just for simple snacks). When the price drops this low, the limit is six bars at a time, so in theory, the supply should last six weeks.

We've done shockingly well with this allotment, even having some bars of cheese last longer than a week. The timing also works out well because it seems like Price Chopper runs this special around every six weeks - so right as we're running out, we can stock up again. Perfect.

When we lived in London, there was a greater variety of cheap cheeses in the supermarkets there, and we enjoyed trying out as many different kinds as possible. I especially liked to toss some Red Leicester in my mac and cheese, and we enjoyed Stilton with apricots on oat cakes. Mmmm, yummy! And of course the cheddar was great - more sharp and crumbly than supermarket cheddar here. Hard to believe it's been four years since we moved back!

What are your favorite cheeses? Anything we should try? I'm thinking a cheese taste-test series on the blog would be an excellent excuse to buy more cheese!

Sandwiches, part 1

2009-04-14T06:25:00.000-04:00

To tell the truth, I've never really liked sandwiches. Other than peanut butter and fluff, which is really more like dessert (and we all know I love dessert), squishing things between bread has just never had much appeal for me. I like a lot of the things that go in to sandwiches, but given the choice, I'd rather eat them separately. I would often do just that; when I started packing my own lunches in third grade, I'd often pack some bread, a chunk of cheese, a piece of meat, maybe some sliced cucumbers... all wrapped and eaten separately.

But there is one caveat: throw a sandwich, even one I would normally gag at, on the grill, and bingo! I'm salivating. I think I first encountered the concept of panini when I first went to London at seventeen; there were a lot of little panini shops near my fashion school in the Tottenham Court Road area, and, other than the carrot-ginger soup from Pret a Manger, the panini became my favorite lunch option.

Last week was cold and drizzly here, and one day in particular was absolutely a grilled-cheese-and-tomato-soup kind of day. (Grilled cheese, of course, has always been the one exception to my sandwich indifference.) We had neither bread nor tomato soup nor ingredients for tomato soup on hand, so I called Dan and asked him to pick up sandwich fixings; by the time we got off the phone, we agreed that some kind of deli meat would be good. My only specific request was avocado (I'm on an avocado kick again) but left the details up to him.

He brought home turkey, roast beef, provolone, a tomato, some crimini mushrooms, and the obligatory avocado, along with a nice, crusty loaf of sourdough. We used everything for the sandwiches except the mushrooms (later served sauteed with scrambled eggs). After a few minutes on our little Foreman grill, the bread was toasty, the cheese was melted, and the combination was perfect. We ate at the kitchen table while tossing the Yahtzee dice, under cover of the skylight, hammered by the rain.

This Should Help

2009-04-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to cleaning out and organizing my fridge this weekend; this should help somewhat with meal planning, since it will be much easier now to see what we have on hand. I bought the white plastic baskets on the middle shelf at Walmart - only $1 for the pair. One holds deli meat, which we don't often buy, but we've been on a sandwich kick lately; the other holds some of the many, many different kinds of cheese we have. (We are serious cheese addicts.)

On Friday, I stocked up on lunch items and healthy snacks to prepare for my month-long stint in a real office. Working from home, I don't really plan what I eat, since I can just wander to the kitchen whenever I'm hungry and cook whatever I feel like. Since I won't be able to do that anymore, I want to have healthy options to bring for lunch and snacks. I splurged a bit and bought some pre-packaged items I usually avoid (e.g., individually-wrapped Laughing Cow cheese wedges, Breyer's yogurts with mix-ins, etc.), so our grocery bills will be higher this month, but I figure it's an okay price to pay in order to ensure that I don't get hungry mid-afternoon and hit the vending machine.

I also bought some Fiber One toaster pastries as a grab-and-go breakfast option; since I can no longer set my own work (and therefore sleep) hours, I may be in a rush some mornings and I figure one of those plus an apple is better (and cheaper) than heading to the Dirt Cowboy (local coffee shop) for a steamer and a pastry.

Book Review: Tender at the Bone

2009-04-09T22:06:00.001-04:00

Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone is a fantastic read for any foodie. Reichl, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and a former New York Times food critic, transports us with mouthwatering details back to her most formative food experiences as she immerses herself in everything from finest French cuisine to freeganism. Through various iterations of her identity - lonely schoolgirl, rebellious teen, frugal young housewife, blossoming professional - there is one constant: her passion for good food. Along the way we meet a crazy cast of characters, and each chapter is peppered with meaningful recipes from that point in her life. Tender at the Bone is a fabulous fusion of autobiography and cookbook; I was frankly jealous of her amazing culinary experiences, and yet at the same time grateful that she has written them down for us to share. If you love to cook and eat, don't wait any longer to read this book.

Mom's Mac and Cheese

2009-04-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

Mom's Mac and Cheese

2 cups cooked macaroni (about one cup dry)
1 cup assorted, cubed cheese
milk
salt
pepper
bread crumbs (optional)

In a lightly-greased casserole dish, mix the macaroni with the cheese. This dish works best with a mix of different cheeses; I usually use three (e.g., swiss, sharp cheddar, jack). Pour in the milk until you can see it start to rise up through the macaroni - about halfway up the dish. Salt and pepper and if you want, sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake for about 30 minutes ina 350 degree oven, or until all the cheese is melted and gooey and the top is golden.

I've been a bad, bad blogger.

2009-04-08T22:47:00.002-04:00

Yes, I've been slacking on the blog front. There's just a lot going on; my newest freelance client asked me to work for them in-house, full-time for about a month or so this spring, so I'm scurrying to make headway on other freelance projects before that starts, since I'll be in an office forty hours per week for the first time in a long time. I'm really excited for the change of pace; I'll get to work on some interesting projects and put on real clothes and speak with someone other than my cat.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and drop a few photos before I put up some more substantial posts later this week.

If you've been reading Choice of Pies, you know about my culinary slump, and the great news is I'm finally starting to crawl out of it. I decided, in a fit of frustration, to go back to the basics, and that has helped a lot. Over the past couple of weeks, I've made a few dishes that used to be old standbys for me that somehow dropped out of the rotation. Like stuffed shells:

The filling is so easy: low-fat ricotta, part-skim mozzarella cheese, maybe some parmesan or asiago if you have it, an egg, and some dried Italian herb blend (or fresh herbs, if you have them). I had some leftover spaghetti sauce that I used, but since there wasn't much of it, I sauteed a bunch of frozen spinach and mixed it in to stretch the sauce. I stuffed the boiled shells, topped them with my "Florentine" sauce, and sprinkled some mozzarella on top, then baked it at 375 for about half an hour. Easy, not very expensive, and very tasty served with a big green salad; Dan was thrilled.

I also made one of Dan's favorites: my mom's mac and cheese. It's the easiest mac and cheese ever - one dish, no white sauce - and it comes out perfectly every time. I'll post the recipe tomorrow. This is not the healthiest recipe I've got, but it's delicious and worth it and since almost all my dinners are low-fat I figure I can splurge once in a while.

And lastly, that old classic beef stew: perfect for the drizzly mud-season weather we've got now. I made this on Saturday afternoon, while we stayed home and watched movies; the whole house smelled great as it bubbled away, and I let it cook so long that the meat was falling-apart tender. We ate it while watching another movie (on Dan's laptop, since our DVD player is broken) and enjoyed sopping up the broth with spiced Ethiopian honey bread that we had picked up that morning at the farmer's market. I'm going to have to look for a recipe, because that bread was tasty.

So there you have it: there is a light at the end of my takeout tunnel, and I'm finally crawling out of this slump. Check back tomorrow for Mom's mac and cheese recipe and a review of a great food memoir that I read recently.

The Best-Laid Plans...

2009-04-02T23:20:00.002-04:00

So, as I mentioned last week, I've tried a few different techniques to shake myself out of my kitchen slump. One thing I've tried is to write down a meal plan in advance. So early last week, I brainstormed a list of about four dozen meals I can cook without a recipe (more on that later) and set to work on filling out a weekly meal plan.

The thing about a meal plan is, the planning doesn't end once you've filled in a little chart. Take last Saturday for example: I had written "squash casserole" in the box for that night. There's a feta, pepper, and squash casserole from The New Moosewood Cookbook that Dan and I absolutely love - it's amazing with pilaf or warm pitas, and it hits a dinner grand slam: tasty, easy, healthy, cheap.

So great - squash casserole it is for Saturday night. Cut to Saturday afternoon, when I realize that I didn't get the feta - or the pepper - so it's going to be hard to make it for dinner in a couple of hours.

No problem - we were planning to go to the grocery store that night anyway; we would go sooner rather than later. We go and we get various things for dinner tonight and the next few days, sticking to our shopping list (for the most part). Once we hit the checkout and we start loading the conveyor belt with all our yummy groceries, it hits me: I didn't thaw the frozen squash. "Oh, shoot!" I tell Dan, and he shrugs while I momentarily debate whether I could make something else with what we're already buying or whether I should pick up something else right now.

"I guess I'll just cook the squash before I make the casserole," I say. It's an extra step - since the frozen squash is precooked, I usually just thaw it, but I can heat it in a pan with a little water. But no big deal - that adds, what, ten minutes to the overall cooking time? It's okay. It's Saturday. We have no place to be, and we're going to have our favorite casserole for dinner.

At home, we lug all our groceries up to our third-floor apartment and I start unpacking while Dan immediately zeroes in on the sink full of dirty dishes. I put everything away except for the red pepper and the feta for dinner. I start pulling the other ingredients - plain yogurt, sunflower seeds, frozen green peppers. And the squash - where's the damn squash?

Normally I keep my freezer pretty organized - veggies on one side, meats on the other, fruit and juices in the front, tiny Tupperware tubs of tomato sauce on the right next to my frozen homemade pizza dough - but lately I haven't really stuck to this scheme and the whole thing has fallen in to disarray. So I start shuffling through, and pulling things out and setting them on the kitchen table, until suddenly, the table is full and my freezer is empty. And still no squash.

And then I realize - I've had the same box of grocery-store frozen squash in the freezer for a few months now. It kept getting pushed away as I used the homemade frozen packets that I put aside when we couldn't keep up with the endless stream of CSA squash last fall. Why use the boxed stuff when we had the local, organic kind? And then we used the last of the CSA squash in January, and still the lone box sat in the freezer.

Until I cooked it a month ago to eat with - chicken, pork chops? I don't remember. But the key point: A MONTH AGO. I had been planning all week to cook a meal based on a box of squash that had ceased to exist weeks before.

We got Chinese food from the place down the block.

Turkey Ragu Recipe

2009-04-01T08:57:00.004-04:00

Here's the turkey ragu I made up during the March Daring Bakers challenge.

TURKEY RAGU
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 shallots, minced (or equivalent amount of any onion)
1 large carrot, minced
2 stalks celery, minced
1/2 pound ground turkey
2 hot Italian turkey sausages
20 slices turkey pepperoni, minced
2 cups hot turkey, chicken, or vegetable stock
4 whole canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons pureed tomato (optional - I was just trying to use this up, so I threw it in there)

Heat olive oil over medium in large skillet (regular, not non-stick, if possible). Add shallots, carrot, and celery and cook until vegetables start to soften. Add ground turkey and sausage, breaking up as much as possible. Once meats are cooked through, lower heat to medium-low and add minced turkey pepperoni. Cook until ground meats take on a faint golden-brown hue, stirring occasionally. You probably have a brown glaze on the bottom of the pan and some meat might be sticking. Transfer meat and vegetables to saucepan, then add half a cup of stock to skillet and scrape as much of the brown glaze up as possible, stirring it in to the stock. When you've got the pan pretty well scraped, dump the stock and brown stuff in to the saucepan with the meats and vegetables. Simmer over low heat until almost all liquid is absorbed. Add remaining stock to the saucepan 1/2 cup at a time, simmering until almost totally absorbed after each addition. Break up meats as much as possible every time you stir more stock in. Once almost all stock is absorbed, add tomatoes and break them up as much as possible. Simmer for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Daring Bakers: Lasagna of Emilia-Romana

2009-03-30T11:28:00.004-04:00

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

In the introduction to the recipe, Kasper writes, "Mere films of béchamel sauce and meat ragu coat the sheerest spinach pasta.... The results are splendid."

Maybe in her world. I followed the pasta portion of the recipe faithfully, letting the dough rest for as long as possible - anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours is recommended. I waited the full three hours before starting to roll it out, in order to give the gluten maximum opportunity to develop, and still, my sheets were anything but sheer. It seemed impossible: before I'd stretched it even as thin as boxed dry lasagna, holes were popping up everywhere. This was an exercise in frustration, as you can see.

I found the dough stretched a little better if I sprinkled a few drops of water on the surface. Following Daring Baker Audax's recommendation, I also allowed the stretched sheets to stick to the counter for several minutes; if you pick them up right away, they will shrink and become thick again. Still, my lasagne was nowhere near thin enough "to see color through," as the recipe calls for. Only the last few sheets even approached that level of thinness, and that was after I picked them up from where they had been resting on the counter and found they stretched very thin and long in my hands. Unfortunately, by this point, I had already boiled the rest of my (too-thick) lasagne. If I were to try this again (let's face it: not anytime soon!), I would let the pasta rest much longer - probably five hours - before I started rolling it.

Here are my (leathery-looking) lasagne, my ragu, and my bechamel sauce. Or rather, Dan's bechamel sauce - he made it! Rolling the lasagne was taking so long that I began to get frustrated and worried that I wouldn't have this mess done in time for dinner, so I enlisted his help.

Our deal is I do the cooking, he does the dishes. This works for us: I like to cook, and he actually enjoys washing dishes. To me, that is as foreign as saying "I enjoy drinking toilet water," but hey, I'm not going to argue. We 've had this arrangement for years and rarely deviate from it. Sometimes I'll fill the sink with soapy water for him or he'll put water on to boil for me, but that's about it. But yesterday, I was desperate, and he could tell, and he cheerfully agreed to help me out. So while I called out directions from my lasagne-rolling spot, Dan made the bechamel (and did a great job of it, too!).

The recipe includes instructions for a country-style ragu, and while it sounded amazing, it called for veal, pork loin, skirt steak, pancetta, prosciutto, and red wine - a definite budget-buster. So, having already spent more on groceries than I wanted to this month, I made up my own turkey ragu, using ground turkey, hot Italian turkey sausage, and turkey pepperoni that I had on hand. The turkey ragu was the saving grace of this experience for me; I rarely make meat sauce for pasta, but this ragu was so delicious that I will definitely have to make it again, and I probably wouldn't have come up with it if not for this challenge.

So here it is: the labor-intensive lasagne that ate my Sunday (completely with big, ugly hunk of ragu - yeah, at this point, I didn't really care about getting a pretty picture). Sadly, after all of that work, it wasn't even that good. It wasn't bad, certainly, but it was nothing special. Maybe if I had been able to get the whisper-thin, ethereal lasagne that Kasper writes about, I would feel differently. At least I got an awesome ragu sauce out of the deal, and Dan learned how to make bechamel. (What should I teach him next - bearnaise? Beurre blanc? Why do all white sauces start with b?)

This post has gone on long enough, so I'll post my turkey ragu sauce in a separate post tomorrow. Hope you all had a nice weekend!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Notice a pattern?

2009-03-26T06:52:00.000-04:00

Here's a shot of a recent meal: brown rice and lentils, topped with fried onions with garam masala and plain yogurt, served with a side of shredded root veg salad on romaine.

And here's another recent dinner: grilled cheese sandwiches, sliced cucumbers, and shredded root veg salad on a bed of romaine.

And you've seen this one before: a recent fish dinner served with - what else? - shredded root veg salad and romaine.

Yep, it's fair to say I've fallen in to a rut. The root veg salad is great, especially with goat cheese and pecans, but I've come to rely on it a little too much. And it's not just the salad: I've been in a cooking slump, which partially accounts for my light posting lately. Even Dan, who normally loves my cooking, has gently noted that my meals have been a bit boring lately. The good news is, I think I've finally - finally! - started to climb out of it. I'll write more next week about a couple of the things I've been doing to shake the dust off my shoulders and get moving in the kitchen.

Cake and Punch

2009-03-25T11:41:00.005-04:00

I made a lemon cake and some chocolate cupcakes for the baby shower last weekend. I did all the baking at home, then transported the unfrosted cakes to my mom's house, because I didn't want to risk taking finished cakes on a three-and-a-half hour drive. It was a good call, because a few of the cupcakes got smooshed along the way, so I can just imagine what would have happened to a frosted cake.

I made a last-minute choice to make two cake flavors; I had originally planned to do one large lemon cake and I had a really cool crane design worked out for it. I thought that some people might not like lemon, however, so I did a regular lemon layer cake and the cupcakes. As it turns out, lemon was actually much more popular than chocolate, so it would have been fine, but oh well.

Anyway, I busted out my piping tips and this spontaneous, swirly design is what came out. Overall not too bad, although the writing could have been more centered. I had so much trouble with the frosting that day. I usually use only butter in my frosting, but for these cakes I used half butter, half shortening, as my grandmother taught me; it was my first time using the "new" (trans-fat-free) Crisco and now I see what everyone on the cake decorating boards has been complaining about. It is prone to cracking and in order to get a smooth result, I had to make the frosting softer than I normally would.

The frosting was also frustrating when it came to the cupcakes; it seemed to deflate and looked sort of sad and melted. My mom said no one would notice but me, but I was definitely annoyed - one of the few times lately when I actually get to share something I've baked with a larger group, and they weren't up to my usual standards.

The shower was nice and intimate, with just under twenty guests at my mother's house. I insisted that we have a punch bowl, which my mom thought was funny and old-fashioned - "Who drinks punch anymore?" - but it turned out to be a hit! I used this recipe, which was just right - not overly sweet like some punches - and the leftovers mixed well with rum, although vodka or amaretto would have worked, too.

GRAMMY'S BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
*A note on buttercream: what constitutes buttercream is a matter of raging debate across the internet and in various cookbooks. Many will argue that buttercream must contain eggs. I grew up calling this buttercream; it has no eggs, and is not a cooked frosting, but since you start by creaming the butter, buttercream seems like a fitting name to me.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar mil
1 tablespoon

Cream butter and Crisco together until light, fluffy, and completely blended. Add vanilla and half a cup powdered sugar and beat until well-incorporated. Continue adding sugar in 1/2 cup increments until all has been added. If necessary, add some or all milk to adjust consistency.

These are the quantities my grandmother dictated to eight-year-old me when she gave me the recipe, but it's really only enough to frost one layer. For 8" or 9" layer cakes or a 9"x13" sheet pan, double the quantities.

SARAH'S BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Follow directions for Grammy's buttercream, but substitute butter for Crisco (so instead 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup Crisco, use 1/2 cup butter). This frosting will have a slightly stronger butter flavor. What can I say? I love butter. Not everyone does.

Serendipitous Design

2009-03-24T11:22:00.001-04:00

This weekend we went home to Maine for my sister-in-law's baby shower. We had a nice, small shower at my mom's house. My mom is an artist (check out her art education blog) and her painter's eye carries over well to food presentation. Take, for example, this veggie platter:

She used a melamine set of one large platter and six removable paisley-shaped sections. A really neat touch, though, was the celery "flower" in the middle: while prepping the celery sticks, she chopped off the bottom in one fell swoop and was going to toss it when she noticed that it looked like a flower, so instead she placed it in the center and instantly added more visual interest. (She also commented on how cool it would be to use the celery "flower" as a printing block, as detailed in her post about vegetable printing.) This is just one example of how the most mundane objects can be beautiful if you stop to look at them, and it was a cheap (free!) way of adding a little more spark to the decor.

Time to Get Growing

2009-03-20T09:51:00.001-04:00

Due to the tough economy and rising food prices, more people are turning to gardening as a major food source. I want this economic slump to end as much as anybody, but I'm happy to see a silver lining: more Americans will be eating fresh, local (as local as it gets!) food - good for our budgets, our waistlines, and our taste buds, too.

According to this article, flower seed sales are down, but vegetable seed sales are way up, and the National Gardening Association predicts that there will be 40% more homes with vegetable gardens this summer than there were two years ago.

Even the White House is getting its own vegetable garden (for the first time since World War II): an 1100-square-foot plot will host 55 varieties of plants, including spinach, chard, collards, kale, lettuces, hot peppers, tomatillos, berries, and herbs. The total cost for seeds, mulch, etc: $200.

Are you planning a garden this year? What will you grow?

Making Progress

2009-03-17T07:15:00.001-04:00

Remember my New Year's resolutions? I'm not doing so well with the tea, but I am making progress with the fish. Last week I stocked up on frozen fish fillets, buying swai (Asian river catfish) and Cape Capensis (South African hake). I realize that both selections are about as far from local as you can get; I've got to do some research and see if I can find a store that sells affordable, local fish. In the meantime, I've got enough fish for the time being to last several weeks; I'm trying to start us off at fish dinner once per week and work our way up to twice weekly. Hopefully then we can maintain the habit.

I dipped the swai in a blend of fine cornmeal and Old Bay seasoning, then baked it at 450 for about twenty-five minutes - until cooked through and flaky. I also baked some potatoes from our latest CSA share and served the shredded root veggie salad on a bed of romaine. The fish was okay, but a little bland. I'm looking for more interesting ways to cook it, since it's apparently not the most flavorful fillet. Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Last year I made corned beef and cabbage. This year I'm making barbecue ribs, for no particular reason at all.

Sunday breakfast

2009-03-16T06:51:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely weekend here at Chez Choice of Pies. For once, we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything; Dan didn't have to put in any overtime hours, and I didn't have any deadlines. So we slept in, lounged around, caught up on some television shows, and took a nice long walk together. Sunday morning - actually, Sunday noon - we enjoyed a big breakfast.

I made biscuits (have I mentioned how much I LOVE BISCUITS?), using my usual King Arthur white whole wheat flour, and served them up with fluffy scrambled eggs and cantaloupe slices. If I were more a morning person, I would love to make us a big breakfast every day, but as a night owl and an insomniac, I'm usually getting my best sleep just as Dan is rolling out the door. Thank goodness for weekends (and 24-hour diners).

I yam what I yam...

2009-03-11T18:51:00.005-04:00

... and that's a lady who loves her spinach. Baby spinach, especially. Fresh, local, organic baby spinach for the first time in months! This salad was amazing - just spinach, a shredded carrot, and some sprouts with a very lemony dressing (lemon juice + salt + EVOO). I had some last night with homemade cheese pizza (this dough recipe is still amazing - I made another quadruple batch yesterday and froze three extra balls).

I buy shredded mozzarella in a big two-pound bag for $7.99. Two pounds yields approximately eight cups, which is enough for at least eight pizzas, depending on how cheesy I'm feeling. I use tomato puree (one 28oz can has enough for at least twelve pizzas) and I buy the flour and yeast for the dough from the Coop bulk bins, so pizza is a very cheap meal (and if you go easy on the cheese, it's pretty healthy paired with a salad). Each pizza provides dinner and lunch the next day for the two of us, so I'd wager it comes out to less than fifty cents per serving. Even when we have to buy lettuce from the grocery store, I'm pretty sure pizza and a salad comes out to around $1.00 per serving. Definitely thrifty, tasty, and easy!

Winter CSA - March

2009-03-10T21:47:00.004-04:00

Here's the March share that we picked up a few days ago. Notice anything... unusual?

That's right! GREENS!!! That's a bag of fresh baby spinach in the top left. Thank goodness for greenhouses (the ground's still frozen here). There's also a bag of alfalfa-radish sprouts, which have a slightly spicy bite. Other than that, we've got the winter usual - potatoes, carrots, daikon, celeriac, beets, and rutabagas. A few of the potatoes are huge, so I'm thinking they are good candidates for baking. Maybe we'll top them with some veggie chili.

Does anyone have any rutabaga recipes to share? I'd like to try something a bit different with these. I'll use most of the carrots, celeriac, and beets to make more of that amazing shredded salad, and I'm toying with a few different options for the daikon.

mini-break

2009-03-05T08:45:00.002-05:00

I've got a lot going on this week, including some deadlines for work, so I'm going to take a few days off to rest and give my food brain a chance to come alive again. I've really enjoyed the books that I picked up last week: they are so interesting and I'm getting some really fun recipe ideas! I think that they are just what I need to help rouse me from these mid-winter doldrums. I'll be back next week with a shot of our March CSA pickup and a book review or two.

Cooking with Sarah: Bourbon Caramel Sauce

2009-03-03T08:44:00.002-05:00

Here is video number two, in which I make the bourbon caramel sauce that I served with the chocolate cake and ice cream from my first Daring Bakers challenge. (I think it's better than the first video - what do you think? I know I felt more comfortable in front of the camera the second time around.)

Oops!

2009-03-02T21:44:00.002-05:00

I know I promised to post the caramel video today, but life got in the way. Specifically, Dartmouth announced their next president today, which means my poor hubby had to work all weekend to get video material ready for the announcement. He was spirited away to Boston on Friday (under cover of a signed confidentiality agreement) to tape an interview of the new guy, Dr. Kim, and then worked all weekend to edit the clips. So while he was racking up loads of overtime pay (yay!), my video is not quite yet ready to go. See, I do the first edit (the "rough cut"), but I'm reliant on Dan to finish it up by mixing the sound and correcting the color. (Since we shoot in our kitchen, which has only one window - a large skylight - the light color and quality can change drastically over the short period of time that we are actively shooting.) My saint of a husband is now putting on the finishing touches (instead of catching up on sleep, as he should be) so hopefully I can post the video tomorrow.

In the meantime, however, let's take a tea break.

Remember my resolution to drink more green tea? I'm not doing so well with that. I'm still drinking mostly black tea. I think I've had three cups of green tea so far this year. Bad Sarah! (I've also made no progress with the fish resolution, but that should change soon - pollock filets are on sale this week and I plan to stock up!)

But can you blame me, really, when such delectable teas as this Twinings Lady Grey are tempting me? The decorative flecks of cornflower almost make this too pretty to drink. I'll have to use this tea in some scones or tea cookies soon. I picked it up right after Christmas. Dan loves the tins that Twinings loose tea comes in because they are so useful for storing small items; we keep our laundry quarters in one.

The little tea house was a Christmas gift from my Aunt Gail. It's perfect for brewing a single cup and comes with a tiny tray to set it on when you take it out. The enormous round cup was a Listen Center find; after trolling Home Goods, the Christmas Tree Shop, and numerous other stores in search of the perfect oversized mug, I gave up - and promptly found this beauty for only a quarter.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Valentino with Ice Cream

2009-02-28T12:40:00.003-05:00

Here it is - my first Daring Bakers challenge result!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They have chosen a chocolate valentino cake by Chef Wan, a vanilla ice cream recipe from Dharm, and a vanilla ice cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The flourless chocolate cake requires only three ingredients - chocolate, eggs, and butter - and pretty much tastes exactly like the chocolate that you use. I selected Scharffen Berger 70%, which is dark and not very sweet, with subtle fruity hints. The cake is supposed to be very dense and fudgy, but I'm sorry to say mine came out rather dry. There could be a few reasons for this. I've heard that the cake is best after sitting for a day, but I ate my first serving the day I made the cake, and my second serving straight out of the fridge. Other servings (which we gave away) that weren't straight out of the refridgerator looked a bit more moist, but I can't say for sure. The other possible cause for the dryness might be the egg whites; the recipe calls for stiff peaks, which I thought I had, but notes that overbeating may cause a dry cake. I guess my peaks should have been a little softer.

The challenge hosts, Wendy and Dharm, each provided a vanilla ice cream recipe (one custard-style, one Philadelphia-style), but they also stated that we didn't have to make vanilla - we were free to experiment. I made a custard-based coffee ice cream (since Dan loves coffee!). I hobbled together a recipe (included below) after looking at dozens of non-coffee recipes (every coffee recipe I could find used instant - yuck!). After spilling half of the ice cream mix (oops), I dumped the rest in my ice cream machine only to discover that the motor had died. It wasn't completely gone - a sickly hum emanated from somewhere within - but it couldn't summon the power to turn the paddle, so it was useless. I had to pour the mix in to a Tupperware container and use the old "take it out of the freezer to stir every half hour" method, which worked fine, but it wasn't as smooth as it would have been with a machine.

I also made a bourbon caramel sauce, which was fantastic. I used Bulleit, which has undertones of tobacco and coffee, so it worked very well with the coffee ice cream. The caramel sauce is the subject of my next video, which will be posted here Monday, so come back then for the recipe. (If you haven't seen the first video, click here to watch it.)

CUSTARD-STYLE COFFEE ICE CREAM
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup coffee

Put milk, sugar, and 1 cup of the cream in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until just before boiling. Do not let it boil! Remove from heat and let cool for five minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, then slowly add a small amount of warm milk mixture (about 1/2 cup) while whisking rapidly to temper the eggs. Add egg mixture to the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture and stir. Return to moderate heat and cook (without boiling) until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and stir in coffee and remaining cream. Place custard in refridgerator for several hours or overnight. For freezing, if using a machine, follow manufacturer's directions; to freeze without a machine, follow David Lebowitz's directions here.
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The Most Important Meal

2009-02-27T09:18:00.001-05:00

Remember how your parents and teachers would say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I firmly believe this. Chances are you haven't eaten in at least eight hours - of course you need to refuel! I'm always ravenous in the morning, so I start almost every day with oatmeal. I always add milk (to boost the protein), and usually fruit and nuts. Some of my favorite combos are dried cranberries and almonds or applesauce with cinnamon and walnuts. I hardly ever use brown sugar or maple syrup anymore - fruit is usually sweet enough. I always use old-fashioned oats, not quick or instant, which cook faster because some of the fiber is removed; old-fashioned oats take only a few more minutes (about five, as opposed to two or three) but they have a lot more fiber so they will keep you sated for longer.

On weekends, however, I try to make something a little special, and I'm a little more lenient on the health front. One of my favorite breakfast treats is the popover. I've written about these before; they still fall flat some days (as seen below) but they taste just as lovely. I like to put out a platter of popovers, a pot of tea, and some toppings like butter and jam. (Once we used lemon curd, which was spectacular!) One recent Sunday morning, we slathered our popovers with Stonewall Kitchen Blackberry Jam, a gift from our landlords (hi Holly!). This jam was so delicious that we used it all up within six weeks - it usually takes us a year to use up any given pot.

See the Yahtzee score sheet in the background? This is the other part of our weekend breakfast ritual. We've fallen in to the wonderful habit of playing Yahtzee while we eat on weekend mornings. It's a nice game of chance and strategy, and it takes us back to our first year of marriage, when we played endless rounds of Yahtzee, Uno, and Sequence on the fold-up table in our shoebox-sized studio apartment in London.

Here are some chocolate-chip pancakes - a very rare indulgence. I actually haven't made pancakes in quite a while because we're just about out of maple syrup and I've held off on buying more since the next sugaring season is just a few weeks away. We've actually been invited to a maple sugaring weekend in Vermont, which I'm really excited about.

Have a great weekend, and check back here tomorrow for the big reveal of my first Daring Bakers challenge!

Time to wake up!

2009-02-26T20:49:00.001-05:00

Readers, I'm tired. Whatever this bug is that I have, it is draining all the energy from me. I'm a night owl and an insomniac. Usually it's very difficult for me to fall asleep before two or three in the morning. But all this week, I've been asleep by midnight, and last night, I could have easily fallen asleep at eight (but I made myself stay up to watch Lost!).

I'm also tired in the kitchen. It's that time of year when we've used up all the lovely CSA produce that we froze during the summer months. We have no squash, no kale, not even any pesto left. But we're three and a half months away from the start of the summer harvest, so for the time being, we're stuck with purchased frozen veggies and some not-so-fresh, definitely-not-local produce from the grocery store.

I need to shake myself out of this slumber, and so I'm looking for new inspiration in the kitchen. Today I went to the library and checked out several food-related books, including one on fads, one on local eating, and one memoir. I'm hoping that by looking for new ideas and new perspectives, I'll be able to reinvigorate myself. I also realized today that we're almost through the winter, but I have yet to make three of my winter staples: beef burgundy, chili with polenta, and squash casserole. I'm planning to make these in the next few weeks so I can post about them here, and I'm also going to make a real effort in March to try out some new recipes.

Pizza Party

2009-02-25T22:13:00.003-05:00

One of the nice things about living near our alma mater is that when college friends come back to campus, a visit with us is usually on their itineraries. The weekend before last was Winter Carnival, so several of our friends came back. A cup of coffee with my friend Emily on Friday afternoon led to an impromptu pizza-dough-making session that night and a pizza party at our old college house Saturday evening.

We used the pizza dough recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Savoring Italy cookbook. It's a very simple recipe - only yeast, water, flour, and salt - but it was fantastic. We actually made a quadruple batch in my stand mixer (using the paddle hook for the initial stirring and the dough hook for the rest of the stirring and kneading). I've since made another quadruple batch and found that this dough freezes and thaws well. (A single batch of dough, as listed below, makes one 12" thin-crust pizza). For the crispiest crust, I bake the pizza at the highest heat possible (my oven goes to 550) for a short time (about nine minutes). I bake the plain crust first for about five minutes, then top it and put in back the oven - this way, the crust doesn't have a chance to get soggy.

With four pizzas to play with, we used a variety of toppings; the best combination by far was one that Emily suggested which was based on a recipe in the Cheese Board Collective cookbook. The Cheese Board Collective is a cooperatively-run company in Berkeley that produces cheese, pizza, and baked goods. All of the employees own an equal stake in the company and receive the same hourly wage. Emily highly recommends the cookbook, so I plan to check it out soon. Anyway, the Cheeseboard pizza combines kale, walnuts, and white sauce; we used the last of my frozen summer kale and pecans that I had on hand. Emily made a basic roux, spiced with paprika, nutmeg, cardamom, and pepper. We sauteed the kale to remove as much of the moisture as possible, then layered the roux, kale, mozzarella, and pecans on the parbaked pizza. For a final touch, we brushed the finished pizza with garlic-infused olive oil. Although I love kale, I've never before had it on pizza and was surprised by how wonderful it was. I was especially pleased by the surprising crunch the kale took on the edges. We also made a pesto, chevre, and mushroom pizza (with the last of my frozen pesto), as well as a few other veggie combos. We rounded out the meal with a salad of romaine and shredded root veggie mix.

Stand-Mixer Pizza Dough
adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Savoring Italy, by Michele Scicolone

1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups flour *recipe calls for unbleached all-purpose, but I use King Arthur's white whole wheat
1 teaspoon salt

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand until creamy, about five minutes. Stir until dissolved.

Add yeast mixture, salt, and half of flour to stand mixer bowl and stir at low speed with paddle attachment until blended. Switch to dough hook and add the rest of the flour. Stir on low until well-blended. If you are making multiple batches at once, add flour one cup at a time, stirring after each addition until thoroughly incorporated. Switch to medium speed and kneed until smooth and elastic, about seven minutes.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk. The recipe says this should take about two hours, but I've found that most of the rising happens in the first forty-five minutes.

Punch down the dough and knead breifly on a floured work surface to remove any air bubbles. If you are going to freeze any dough, now is the time to do it. I wrap each ball in plastic wrap and then put the wrapped dough balls together in a Ziploc freezer bag. If you are going to cook the dough today, leave the ball on the floured surface and invert a bowl over it. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.

Bake at the highest heat possible for four or five minutes; remove from oven, add toppings, and bake for a few more minutes, until crust edges are golden.

a slight delay

2009-02-24T21:05:00.002-05:00

Just popping in to apologize for the lack of posts this week. I've been feeling lousy for a few days now (some sort of stomach bug) but I'm working on some posts for tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday - and don't forget to check in Saturday for my first Daring Bakers challenge!

A Few Announcements

2009-02-20T06:28:00.003-05:00

--I've joined a challenge group called The Daring Bakers. Every month, The Daring Bakers tackle a specific recipe and post pictures and write-ups on the designated "reveal" day. I can't say what this month's recipe is until the reveal, but I promise that it will be decadent! I'm making it today and we're having friends over to share the spoils (because honestly, the amount of butter and cream going in to this thing would be criminal if split between only the two of us). This month's challenge will be revealed on February 28th, so check back then for pictures and a description of what I've made.

--I'm working on a recipe index for Choice of Pies, which will hopefully appear in a sidebar within the next few weeks.

--Dan and I are shooting the next Cooking with Sarah video this Saturday! I'm excited about the recipe and I hope we can make this video look better than the last. I plan to post it in early March.

That's all for now. I still haven't posted about the amazing impromptu pizza party we had last week because there are so many photos to sort through - I just haven't been able to narrow them down yet. I promise to post about that (including a fabulous pizza bianca recipe!) next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Food Budgeting

2009-02-19T09:36:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I mentioned that I had budgeted $10 for nice cheese for Valentine's Day. It's been at least two years since I've done any formal food budgeting - I usually just keep a rough estimate in my head and try not to go over a target - but since we're really trying to save money, I decided to try a new and very formal budget. At the beginning of the month, I sat down and wrote out a list of all the food I thought we might need to buy in February. I then assigned a dollar amount to each category; for example, I budgeted $15 for salad greens for the month. I gave us a little leeway with an "other" category that would bring the total for the month to $200. It's not an extremely thrifty amount for two people, but for the first month, I wanted to make sure the goal was realistic.

I then put the whole list in Excel, as shown above. (The graphic shows a total of $155 because we had already spent $45 stocking up on February 1st.) Whenever I buy food, I save the receipt and enter the amount in each category. The column on the right shows me whether or not I've gone over budget for that item. You can see that my estimates were not perfect. Because of Dan's birthday and Valentine's Day this month, there were some more extravagant purchases than usual. Also, because of a food challenge I'm doing (more on that tomorrow), I'll definitely go over budget in the "other" category. However, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to stay within the overall budget and not go over $155/200.

Having a strict budget like this has been helpful for me because I'm less likely to toss random things (like, say, kalamata olives) in to the cart if I know I'll have to account for them later. You may have noticed that there is no meat on the list; that's because I fill the freezer when I find a good deal and such purchases usually last for a long time, since we don't eat much meat anyway. I think the only meat I bought this month was two slices of deli ham (accounted for under "other") for a macaroni dish we had a couple of weeks ago. We've had chicken a few times, using frozen breasts that I bought in bulk. Mostly, however, we get our protein from beans, cheese, or nuts.

What's not in this budget? Household items like cleaning supplies - we haven't needed to buy any this month. Personal care items - I did buy a toothbrush this month, but that's it. I didn't include personal care as a category in the budget because we spend so little on stuff like that anyway. We buy the cheapest shampoo and we stock up on things like shaving cream and soap when they are on sale, so we only have to restock every few months. We also buy toilet paper and tissues in bulk, and it's not like we could cut back on that sort of thing, anyway. Really, I built the budget around food because a) we already spend minimally on non-food groceries and b) food is where we can easily spend in excess; if we aren't careful, we can add $100 or more to our monthly bill by tossing stuff like crackers, wine, and cantaloupe in to the cart.

The list above clearly does not include everything that we are eating this month; it's just everything we are buying. We won't eat all of it (for example, the tomatoes and lentils should last us at least another month) and what we do eat will be supplemented by food we already have on hand. Our CSA provides us with all the root vegetables we could ever hope to eat and we also have a lot of frozen vegetables and fruit (put aside last summer or bought in bulk on sale).

I've started the list for March:

milk
cheese
butter
yogurt
eggs
salad greens
frozen broccoli
canned fruit
dried cranberries
flour
yeast
oatmeal
nuts
whole chicken
turkey sausage
12 pack beer

So far I've budgeted $115 for the items above. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I will need. If this is it, I'll add an "other" category for $35 and see if I can try to keep all food costs in March down to $150.

Salad Days: Root Veg with Chevre and Toasted Pecans

2009-02-18T19:04:00.007-05:00

This week's salad is without question the best salad I have ever had. The recipe for the shredded root veg slaw came via email from a fellow CSA member after several people had asked for recommendations on how to deal with all the root veggies. The root veg mix is delicious and keeps well in the fridge for several days; I've enjoyed having it on hand so I can serve it as a side dish, add some color to a tossed salad, or, as in this case, make it the centerpiece of a hearty salad entree.

We enjoyed this salad on Friday the 13th as part of our early Valentine's celebration, since we had plans with friends on the day itself. For the past few years, our Valentine's routine has been to pop a bottle of champagne, order Thai or Chinese, and make creme brulee (Dan's favorite). However, this year, since we're trying to spend less, I nixed the takeout and budgeted $10 for good cheese instead, planning to serve it along with a salad. We also postponed the creme brulee since this month is packed with desserts already (some of which you've already seen).

Picking the cheese was hard because there were so many amazing selections at the Coop. I went in thinking I'd like something local and made from raw goat's milk. Since we live right on the border with Vermont, the local options are abundant. However, some of the imported cheeses looked so tempting that my resolve wavered. Ultimately, I decided to split the budget, selecting one imported, semisoft, raw, cow's milk cheese and one local, soft, pasteurized, goat's milk cheese. We snacked on the imported cheese, a Morbier from France, while I grated the veggies for the salad and Dan did the dishes. Morbier is a creamy, slightly bitter cheese with a pungent smell but a mild and faintly nutty taste. It is made of two layers, separated by ash; traditionally, farmers would pour leftover curds from Gruyere de Comte in to a mold in the evening, then cover it with a layer of ash to preserve it, and top it off with more curds from the next morning's batch. Now it is generally made from one batch but the ash layer is kept for tradition. We both enjoyed this cheese very much, but I'm not sure I'd buy it again soon; there are just too many cheeses out there that I haven't tried yet.

The local chevre went on top of the root veg slaw, along with some toasted pecans, all with a bed of mesclun. The combination was simple but fantastic. You know how when you taste something delicious, the first few bites taste the best, but then you sort of get used to it? That didn't happen with this salad. With every bite, I was surprised; every forkful was bursting with flavor and new taste. I think it's just the perfect balance of earthy, tangy, sweet, and nutty flavors, and the mix of textures - smooth, crunchy, crisp - offers so much variety that it stays interesting even if you eat a huge platter. We've already repeated this salad and I know it will become a regular menu item for us.

Judi's Winter Root Salad

8 cups grated root vegetables (beets, turnips, carrots, daikon, celeriac, etc., plus one garlic clove)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 tablespoons vinegar

Mix it all together. Lasts in the refrigerator for several days. I omitted the garlic and used a German stone-ground mustard instead. I only used beets, carrots, and celeriac in mine. Grating all these veggies by hand would be a pain (literally, for my bad wrists); my yard-sale Salad Shooter does the trick in two minutes.
Best Winter Salad

4 cups mesclun (rinsed and spun)
3 cups Judi's Winter Root Salad
2 oz chevre (about half a small log)
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Set oven to 300. Spread pecans on an ungreased cookie sheet and toast in oven until they smell wonderful (about eight minutes). Divide mesclun between two plates. Scoop half of the root veg slaw on to each plate. Top each serving with dollops of chevre and toasted pecans. Serves 2.

Valentine's Cupcakes

2009-02-17T07:02:00.002-05:00

I tell you, I'm exhausted. It's only Tuesday morning and already it's a hell of week. Between dealing with car issues and meeting with clients, I feel like my brainpower has already been sapped for the next few days. So I'm not going to say too much about these cupcakes - I'll just post the pictures. We can all appreciate a little eye candy, right?

ETA: You can read about how I made the royal icing decorations here and see where I used the rest of them here.

LOST Birthday Cake

2009-02-16T15:47:00.004-05:00

Wow, what a hectic weekend! I'm getting a late start today because, after bidding our guests adieu, Dan and I had to deal with some car maintainence stuff this morning. I finally got some time to upload photos and write, but my computer is being PAINFULLY slow - and it's huffing and puffing and making all sorts of strange noises. I fear the end is near for this reliable old hunk of metal. I'm just hoping it can hold out long enough for me to save the money for a new one.
Anyway, yesterday was Dan's twenty-ninth birthday, and per his request, I made a cake based on Lost, our favorite TV show. If you don't know the show this cake must look very strange. I drew on the extensive mythology of the show and made a collage design using some of the most iconic images - the smoke monster, the polar bear, and the lock-down hieroglyphs. There's also the beach, of course, with "Happy Birthday Dan!" written as a message in the sand, and the numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) hiding in the waves. The whole thing is framed by jungle foliage. I made the leaves in advance with royal icing, but otherwise, everything you see is buttercream. Since this weekend was just packed for us, I did something very out of character and used a cake mix; and to stick with the theme, I made it banana-flavored by adding a box of banana pudding to a plain white cake mix. I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon-sugar on the beach to give it a more sand-like texture.

Valentine's Cookies

2009-02-12T21:31:00.006-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures of the cookies I made this week. Rolled sugar cookies (using this recipe) with vanilla glaze, royal icing motifs, and piped buttercream. I had so much fun making these! I need to do this more. Enough blather - I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.S. To see more of my cookie photos, click here.

An Easy Lunch

2009-02-12T06:40:00.003-05:00

Since I posted royal icing yesterday and will post cookie photos tomorrow, I thought I'd post something a bit healthier today. This is a recent lunch: cheese ravioli with broccoli, chicken, and pesto. The broccoli and chicken were left over from the previous night's dinner. I say left over, but actually, I intentionally steamed extra broccoli and grilled extra chicken so we could have some for lunch. I used one cube of frozen pesto (made from fresh basil last summer) and added some grated cheese. The ravioli was a steal, as our grocery store recently had a buy one, get TWO free special, so we stocked up. I try not to eat a lot of pasta, but we both enjoy ravioli and since it cooks up so quickly, it is nice to have on hand.

What I Am Doing This Week

2009-02-11T10:28:00.003-05:00

Man, this week is crazy! No Salad Days today. Usually we have a salad entree on Tuesdays but yesterday I didn't drink enough water during my workout and I ended up with a whopper of a dehydration headache, so we got takeout from the Chinese place down the block. (It's actually in a gas station, but it's the best Chinese around - true, that's not saying much, but some Chinese students at the med school told me that it's the best and that's where they all order from.)

This week is the busiest one of my month (I hope). In addition to work, I'm making Dan's birthday present (he turns 29 on Sunday), I took on three major baking projects, I turned it my film notes today, and our weekend is packed with plans already - no downtime for us.

If you're wondering what film notes are, let me tell you: the single best thing about living in the Upper Valley for me is the Dartmouth Film Society. They project over two hundred films per year and if you're on directorate, like I am, every single one of them is FREE. Directorate is the board that decides on the program for each term. To stay on directorate, each term you have to attend at least five meetings (did I mention that the meetings include free dinner?) and write one set of notes, which are distributed at the screenings in the larger theater. I got on the directorate my first term of freshman year and convinced Dan to join a few years later. When we moved back to the area, our directorate status immediately reactivated, so we've been enjoying free films and cinephilic camaraderie every since. This week, I wrote the notes for G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box, a silent Weimar masterpiece starring Louise Brooks.

And about those three baking projects - the first (cookies) is almost done, the second (cupcakes) will take place on Friday and Saturday, and the third - no idea, but it has to be done by Sunday evening because it's Dan's birthday cake. All three will make use of a new technique for me: royal icing motifs. I've used royal icing for assembling a gingerbread house, but since I had some meringue powder on hand, I wanted to try making decorative royal icing shapes in advance for later application to cakes and cookies. Here are the results:

Fun, right? Some of the hearts and squiggles and things are now on sugar cookies which are only awaiting some final buttercream touches; the rest are going to be used on Valentine cupcakes that I'm bringing to a brunch on Saturday. The green leaves are mostly for Dan's birthday cake; he requested a Lost theme (it's our favorite TV show), and I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet, but I know it has to involve lots and lots of jungle foliage. Hence the leaves.

I know some bakers consider royal icing to be inedible because it's too hard, but I actually really like the crunch and the tangy taste. What do you think? Do you pick off royal icing decorations or just eat them?

I'll post pictures of all these projects as I finish them. Now I'm off to complete the cookies!

Food News Roundup

2009-02-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

With the economy as it is, thrifty eating is a hot topic and I come across articles about it every day. Here are a few links that you might find interesting:

--The "food stamp challenge" has been done by bloggers, journalists, and politicians before; CNN's Sean Callebs is doing it this month and is documenting his experience on the "Living on Food Stamps" blog. (Side note: "food stamps" is an outdated phrase, but one we are all used to; the program is now called Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP - and uses debit cards, not stamps.) Callebs is going with the budget of $176 per month, the maximum a single person can qualify for where he lives. It's interesting and worth a read; I'll be following it throughout.

--This is old news, but Rebecca Blood (whose lentils and rice recipe I've referenced multiple times) spent a month eating according to the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan (on which SNAP allotments are based). That works out to $320.80 per month for Rebecca and her husband. But Rebecca added a twist: she wanted to continue eating primarily local and organic, and she insisted on a daily glass of wine with dinner. Start here and follow her journey through one month of thrifty eating; it's fascinating and inspiring.

--If you read her intro post, you'll see that Rebecca acknowledges that she has some advantages in eating thrifty: she's educated about nutrition, she has time to prepare food from scratch, and she has access to fresh and local goods. This article from a USDA report on the economics of food discusses some of the challenges that low-income Americans face in eating balanced, healthy diets.

--Speaking of access, a group of farmers and sustainability groups are banding together to increase access to locally-grown foods in my home state of Maine. Plans include cooperative storage space, a website for easy ordering, and a GPS-guided delivery system. They hope to have it all ready to go next year.

Winter CSA - February

2009-02-09T06:29:00.001-05:00

No pretty produce shots this time. I haven't had time yet to scrub and sort the veggies, and I wanted to take a picture before we start using it up (in fact, I grabbed a beet and a carrot for tonight's salad immediately after taking this pic). Plus, a more rustic view might be good for a change. After all, this is how we receive it: tumbled together and covered with dirt. The summer deliveries are usually cleaner but the winter veggies are stored in dirt-filled bins at the farm.

I mentioned recently that it's time to sign up for 2009 CSAs. This goes for most winter CSAs as well. While we are certainly signing up for another summer share, we've decided to pass on the winter share. The first month was amazing, but the rest of them have been like this (only with cabbage). We haven't made the best use of our share and have thrown out more gone-by produce than I care to admit. The sad fact is, I just can't handle so many root vegetables. (My Scandinavian and Irish ancestors are now rolling over in their graves.)

Where we live, nothing else is available locally in the winter, so other than the fresh lettuce for our salads and the occasionally indulgence of imported fruit, we've been relying on frozen vegetables. Some are summer share surplus that we froze for exactly this purpose; others are bags that we've purchased at our local grocery store. Frozen seems to work well for us. While I feel bad about the food we've wasted from the winter CSA, we've learned an important lesson - a winter CSA is just not for us. (Now, I'd be singing a different tune if we lived in say, California, and a winter share included fresh citrus and greens - but alas, we live in a land of thrice-weekly blizzards.)

So the plan for this year is to sign up for our summer share - once again, a small share from Luna Bleu Farm - and to take the money that would go for a winter share and designate it for farmer's market purchases. That way, when our favorites like kale and spinach are in abundance, we can buy a lot and immediately freeze it for winter use.

The Special Project

2009-02-06T07:11:00.004-05:00

Here it is - my first ever video blog post! Join me as I make okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory supper pancake that is simpler than it sounds. This was a first for me - I'm much more comfortable operating a camera or manning an edit bay than I am on screen. But it was fun and I'll probably do it again. And I'd love to hear your thoughts - good or bad. Do you like cooking videos? Would you like to see more? What improvements would you make?

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Cooking with Sarah: Okonomiyaki from Daniel Maxell Crosby on Vimeo.

Another bread shot

2009-02-05T22:39:00.004-05:00

This time as toast. It's still not a great shot, but I wasn't planning on posting about this bread yet. Might as well, though. I made the sourdough honey wheat bread from the Panera cookbook, but I added a cup of my own multigrain blend. I based the blend on this one from the King Arthur store; by shopping the bulk bins at the Coop, I was able to make the same blend for about half the price (and I could leave out the poppy seeds - for me, they don't really add anything other than the potential for embarrassment when they get stuck in my teeth). I also used King Arthur's white whole wheat flour, which I can get from the Coop bulk bins for $.59 a pound (more than 40% off the normal retail price).

Dan loved the bread; while I thought it was tasty, I'm not completely satisfied with it. It was very, very dense, and I'm not sure whether that's due to too much kneading or not enough rising time. It did make great toast, as pictured above; I had some breakfast the other morning alongside a bowl of nonfat plain yogurt with a touch of blackberry jam and some canned peaches.

One batch of dough makes two loaves; I put the other half in the freezer (before the first rise, per the cookbook directions) and will probably bake it tomorrow. I'm going to keep experimenting with this recipe and others until I find the perfect balance. One thing I am satisfied with: the price. I can make my own bread for about $1.00 a loaf, which is a good deal better than the $4.oo or $5.oo that I would pay for the artisan bread that I love. Also, multigrain sourdough, my bread of choice, is hard to find in this area; a lot of bakeries only make it once a week or periodically as a monthly/seasonal special.

Salad Days: The Ploughman's

2009-02-05T22:17:00.003-05:00

I'm running a little behind this week. The special project that I've been talking about for the past couple weeks will finally be posted here TOMORROW, so hopefully that will make up for it.

Anyway, on to this week's salad. I had big plans for this week. These plans involved corn, sauteed with scallions and garlic, and an avocado, and a salsa dressing. I was excited about this salad. It was almost finished, too, when I popped a piece of avocado in my mouth - and promptly spit it back out again. I'm not sure why, but it was horribly bitter, and the awful taste lingered for a long time.

Without the avocado, I had nothing - it was to be the centerpiece of this salad. But we still needed to eat. Luckily, I had baked some fresh bread that day (my first ever loaf from scratch - a 7-grain sourdough boule), and that had actually turned out pretty well. So I quickly added some cucumbers to the prepared lettuce to make a simple side salad, and shifted the focus of our dinner to an old favorite from our time in the UK - the ploughman's lunch. The ploughman's, a staple of British pubs, is simply bread and cheese, usually served with some sort of pickle relish and some greens on the side. Depending on how fancy the pub is, you might get a token shred of wilted lettuce or a full, fresh salad, and either one hunk of cheese or a nice assortment. All we had on hand was some sharp Vermont cheddar, but that was good enough, especially paired with the homemade bread.

This meal was just another reminder that in the kitchen, as elsewhere in life, things don't always go according to plan - but they usually turn out okay.

Out to Eat: Spike's Junkyard Dogs

2009-02-02T17:55:00.005-05:00

My little brother, Zach, a college student who lives just off Newbury Street in Boston, has been raving about Spike's Junkyard Dogs for months. After our visit last Friday night, I can finally say I understand what all the fuss was about.

Now, if you're like me, and you eat mostly fresh veggies and whole grains, and you're concerned about maintaining a nutritious, sustainable, and predominantly local diet, you're probably thinking hot dogs? Is she crazy? Allow me to explain. Spike's is a small chain of franchises scattered through Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Their hot dogs are 100% beef, with no sugars, sweeteners, by-products, or fillers. Their soft French rolls are made on the premises daily and are a huge leap from the spongy, preservative-laden hot dog rolls we're all used to.

Check out those buns!

When it comes down to it, these hot dogs are certainly not the healthiest option you could possibly choose. But I believe in moderation, not deprivation, and that means occasionally eating something just because it tastes great, even if it's not nutritionally perfect. Spike's dogs are a worthy indulgence. But if you're more strict than I am, Spike's does offer fat-free veggie dogs at the same (low) price. I haven't tried them, so I can't vouch for their taste.

Spike's dogs come plain ("The Mutt") or with a variety of toppings; Zach ordered the Texas Ranger (BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheddar), Dan selected the Ball Park Dog (onions, cheddar, and mustard), and I opted for the German Shephard (mustard and sauerkraut). All the dogs cost between $2.99 and $3.99, depending on toppings, and unless your appetite is an untamed beast, one dog will certainly do the trick. For $6.65, you can get any dog, plus curly fries and a soda; the fries are excellent, clearly freshly made and never frozen. Maria always gets the chicken tenders, and I could see why: they were juicy and yes, tender, with a perfectly crisp and slightly spicy crust. Spike's also offers salads, subs, and grilled chicken sandwiches.

The only part of the meal that was even slightly disappointing was the sauerkraut; it wasn't "sauer" enough for my taste. But, as I've mentioned before, I really like vinegar and very tangy flavors, so this falls more to personal preference than to any error on Spike's part. Ultimately, Spike's offers delicious dogs at great low prices, and I will definitely eat there again.

Spike's Junkyard Dogs
1076 Boylston Street (Corner of Mass Ave)
Boston, MA
-eight other locations throughout New England

My Second Quilt

2009-02-02T17:34:00.002-05:00

Yay! I can finally post this here now. I had to wait because this quilt was a Christmas gift for Maria and I know she reads the blog. Now, you may be thinking, Christmas?! Christmas was over a month ago! Yes, but I didn't see Maria at Christmas, since she was home in Austin, and the quilt was a little too bulky for Zach to take it down during his New Year's visit. Since we knew we'd go visit Zach and Maria in Boston at the end of January, I just held on to the quilt and delivered it in person.

This is, as I said in the title, my second quilt. My first measures about 5" x 12" and was made to go along with a doll bed as a Christmas gift for our niece in 2007. So I've moved from doll quilt to lap quilt; hopefully my next one (on the sewing schedule for September of this year) will be big enough for a full/queen bed.

I had a lot of fun picking the fabrics for this project; the blue and chocolate was the starting point, since Maria loves that combination. The top was machine-pieced, but the quilting was done by hand; I used embroidery floss and did long running stitches along the length of every other strip. The hardest part was putting on the bias tape, since the quilt was so thick; I used contrast stitching, which sounded like a good idea at the time, but it makes my mistakes a bit more evident. But that's okay. It will be nice and warm to help keep Maria cozy through New England winters.

Shipping Off to Boston!

2009-01-30T11:37:00.002-05:00

We're heading down to Boston tonight to spend the weekend with Zach and Maria - always a good time. Remember when I raved about Anthropologie? Well, this weekend I'm going to set foot in one of their stores for the first time, and I won't have to walk away disappointed, since Z&M gave me a gift certificate for Christmas (thanks guys!). I'll be back next week with a restaurant review or two, a wrap-up of my Anthro experience, and the special surprise project I mentioned recently. And don't miss the return of Salad Days next Wednesday.

What about you? Any plans for the weekend? Please share in the comments, and have a great one!

Get Ready for Summer!

2009-01-30T09:37:00.000-05:00

Despite what you might think from the headline, I haven't lost it yet. Even though it's still January and we're being regaled with another six inches of snow two or three times a week, it's time to think about summer CSA sign-ups. The first deadline for the CSA that we use, at Luna Bleu Farm, is March 1, and Suzanne expects it to be full by then (so no late sign-ups).

My mom recently said to me, "Your CSA looks really great, but I don't think they have any near me." They do - in fact, there are more than twenty to choose from in her area. The Local Harvest CSA finder lets you search by zip code or by city and state. Unless you live in an extraordinarily dry, mountainous, or remote area, there is probably a CSA near you. Even then, it's worth a shot - Local Harvest's map shows CSAs in all 48 continental states. You can also try Eatwellguide.org's search - their CSA listings aren't as extensive, but they do have listings for Canada. If you're abroad, try Googling your country or region and CSA or whatever it may be called where you live. For example, in Britain, CSAs are usually referred to as "veg box schemes." If you're not sure, try searching "farm share" or looking at the website for your country's department of agriculture. The USDA website lists a few other CSA finders beside the ones that I mentioned, plus some more great links about CSAs.

And before you settle on a CSA, take the time to investigate your options. Not all CSAs are the same. Some require volunteer time on the farm (ours doesn't, but they do host occasional harvest days/potluck parties). Some have weekly drop-offs or pick-ups, some biweekly. Some require you to come to the farm, others offer pickups at central locations, and some even deliver to your door. There are CSAs where you choose nothing (all box contents determined by the farmer) and others that are more like discount programs at farm stands, where, for instance, you pay $200 in advance and in return you get $250 in credit to buy whatever you want. Some CSAs include things like herbs, fresh flowers, meat, bread, honey, milk, or eggs. There are so many variations, and chances are, whether you know it or not, you probably have options in your area.

If you decide to sign up for a CSA near you, PLEASE comment here and tell me what you've found! I'm really curious to know what you've chosen and why.

End-of-the-Month Soup

2009-01-29T11:37:00.006-05:00

My camera battery is dead and the charger has disappeared, so the picture for this post is currently trapped on the camera. I'll upload it as soon as I can.

ETA: Woohoo! Charger recovered, battery charged, picture posted!

You may have noticed that I skipped the Salad Days post yesterday. It wasn't an oversight, and I'm not canceling the Salad Days series. In fact, I didn't do a salad entree this week for a very simple reason: we had run out of fresh greens, but we still had plenty of other ingredients on hand, and since it's the end of the month and I wanted to stick to our January budget, I decided not to buy more salad greens this week. So, no salad entree. Instead, I made a simple vegetable-bean soup. The carrots that we got at the beginning of the month from our winter CSA had gone a bit soft, so they weren't great for crunching raw, but they would work just fine in a soup. Ditto for the celery we bought a couple of weeks ago. These withering vegetables made the basis for a tasty, satisfying, and very cheap meal. I served it with some homemade focaccia - a first for me, and since I'm not fully satisfied with that recipe yet, I'm not posting it here.

End-of-the-Month Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium-size onion or 3-4 shallots
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 small potatoes, diced
2 cups cooked chickpeas (frozen or canned okay)
28oz can tomatoes (whole or diced)
broth, any flavor (optional)
2 teaspoons Italian herb blend
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large soup pot. Add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add the carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3-5 minutes. Add potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, and spices. Fill the now-empty tomato can with water and add the water to the pot. You can substitute stock for some or all of the water. I used some water, plus a small wedge of frozen concentrated turkey stock that I made with Thanksgiving leftovers. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender.

This is just a very basic bean and veggie soup and you can easily substitute whatever you have on hand. This would be great with fresh or frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and corn, too. I used chickpeas straight from the freezer, but you could also us canned chickpeas or any other kind of bean (black, kidney, etc.).

A note on carrots: if your carrots are organic, or if you're not concerned about pesticides, don't peel them first - just scrub them well. The carrot skin has a lot of great fiber in it that gets lost when you peel. The same goes for the potatoes.

Also, a note on canned tomatoes: yesterday I said that canned vegetables aren't the best and today I'm writing up a recipe with canned tomatoes in it. What gives? Well, tomatoes are rare in that their nutritional content actually improves in the canning process. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant which is less available to us in raw tomatoes. Heat helps break down the cell walls and release more lycopene, so canned or cooked tomatoes actually offer more benefits than raw ones.

Freezing!

2009-01-28T08:24:00.002-05:00

Outside, that is. It's about 15 degrees Fahrenheit as I type. Of course, that's thirty or forty degrees warmer than the worst temperatures we had a few weeks ago. But still, it's cold, and I'm happy to be inside and comfortable. The freezing weather outside has inspired me to write about freezing inside - that is, freezing vegetables for later use.

This was a delicious meal - roast pork loin with sage rub, roasted butternut squash with cinnamon and butter, and French green beans. Thanks to the freezer, this meal was actually made on quite short notice and with little effort.

The pork loin, which was not frozen, did take some time to roast, but it was hands-off time so I could be productive elsewhere. The sage rub I used was actually a prepared seasoning mix, something I found in my cupboard and thought, "Why do I have this? I don't remember buying this. Oh well, might as well use it!"

Both side dishes came from the freezer. I had roasted, mashed, and frozen the squash from our winter CSA weeks before, so all I had to do was pull it out to thaw when I put the roast in and then put it in the oven to warm up during the last twenty minutes or so of roasting time. The green beans were originally from a summer CSA box. When they arrived, I knew we wouldn't use them that week, so instead I washed, trimmed, and froze them raw; when I wanted to use them, the frozen beans went right in to the steamer basket and cooked for about seven minutes.

The freezer is particularly essential for me in winter when I can't get fresh vegetables locally. Freezing the excess from the abundance of my summer CSA share means that food doesn't go to waste. I also buy a lot of frozen veggies from the grocery store. Most of these veggies are now flash-frozen right after harvesting, so they actually retain more nutritional value than the "fresh" produce that is shipped thousands of miles. Frozen vegetables are also better than canned because canned vegetables often have a lot of added sodium and the heat from the canning processes destroys some nutrients. Plus, frozen veggies are cheap: I stock up at my local PriceChopper when they go on sale for $1.00 or $1.50 for a two-pound bag, but even at the normal price, they cost about $1.00 per pound.

What's your favorite frozen vegetable? I just love having the little packets of mashed roasted squash on hand; also, lately I can't get enough broccoli!

Stashbusting

2009-01-27T07:13:00.004-05:00

When I said the word "stashbusting," my husband yelled, "WHAT?!" and quickly covered his face. You see, he heard "'stache busting" and assumed I was going after his beloved handlebar mustache. I have no such intentions; I actually love his 'stache, as it perfectly expresses his quirkitude. No, the stash I intend to bust is my fabric stash. This weekend I pulled it all out of storage so I could take inventory and actually, you know, use it. Well, it turns out I have amassed over 100 yards (!) of fabric, most of it in lengths of two yards or less.

Some of my 34 different quilting fabrics.

I'm not going to turn Choice of Pies into a sewing blog, but I did want to let you know of my plans. I created a monthly calendar with two or three sewing projects listed next to each month; if I can keep up with this schedule, a good portion of my stash should be obliterated by August. Pictures of all the fabrics are in my Stashbusting 2009 Flickr set, and I will add pictures of the projects (which include a hoodie, five dresses, two blouses, two aprons, and more) as they are completed.

I also have some pantry stashbusting planned; I recently reorganized and realized I have seven different kinds of rice (wild, jasmine, sushi, brown basmati, brown nishiki, long-grain brown, and arborio) and six kinds of dried beans (chick peas, lentils, adzuki, pink, small white, and rattlesnake) just waiting to be used, so I'm probably going to do a lot of variations of rice and beans in the comings week. Clearly I have some packrat tendencies. There's nothing wrong with having so many different kinds of rice and beans on hand - each serves its own purpose, and long-term storage isn't a problem - but it's been a while since I've tried to do anything different with these humble and nutritious ingredients. Best of all, they are all cheap, and even cheaper (free) since I already have them on hand. I anticipate lower grocery costs in February while I shop from my own pantry.

Comfort Food

2009-01-26T12:33:00.004-05:00

I have a cockroach of a cold - it just can't be vanquished. It's like the horror movie killer that roars back to life every time you think that you can relax, that he's finally gone. I woke up Friday to find my throat under siege, and even though I managed to be productive, by dinner time, I was completely wiped out. I almost succumbed to takeout but after December's convenience-food spree, we're trying to cut back. I definitely needed comfort food, and after rifling through my pantry, one option jumped to the fore: American chop suey.

Chop suey is a comfort food for me because I ate it a lot growing up. I used to have dinner at my grandparents' house once a week, if not more, and chop suey is one of my grandmother's classics. Luckily it is simple and requires few ingredients, so even in my exhausted state, I was able to throw this together. Eaten on the futon, next to my hubby, while watching mindless TV, it was the perfect ending to a long and tiring week.

***This recipe is an approximation, thrown together with what I have, but the result tasted exactly like Grammy's. I'm not sure, but she might use some tomato paste as well - Mom, if you're reading, can you weigh in in the comments and let me know if I'm missing anything?

Grammy's Chop Suey

1 lb ground beef or turkey
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (I used three or four shallots)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
28 oz can whole tomatoes
2 teaspoons Italian herb blend
pinch of sugar
4 cups cooked macaroni (about 2 cups dry)
salt and pepper, to taste

Add olive oil to saute pan and warm over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic 3-5 minutes. Add ground beef, crumble, and stir occasionally until meat is cook through and onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, herbs, and sugar. Add up to half a can of water if necessary - it depends on how much juice was in the can with the tomatoes. You don't want the mixture to be dry but you don't want soup, either. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. This is a good time to cook your macaroni if you haven't already. When tomatoes are good and cooked, stir in cooked macaroni and season to taste. Top with grated parmesan or asiago if desired. Serves 4.

Dinner, Part 3: Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cake

2009-01-23T08:29:00.001-05:00

Here it is: the last (and best?) part of Sunday's dinner. I wanted to make something but had limited ingredients in the house and didn't want to go to the store since the snow was coming down hard. I also wanted something rich and gooey. I had very little butter and only three squares of Baker's chocolate (no cocoa powder), so I couldn't make my usual chocolate cake. After searching for recipes online and scouring my cookbooks, I finally came across a recipe that would work with what I had.

I found the recipe in All About Baking, a 1935 publication from the Consumer Service Department of General Foods Corporation, the producers of Swan's Down Cake Flour, Calumet Baking Powder, and other brands. It's a great little book containing about 100 recipes. What I like most about it is the concept: twenty-three "picture lessons" use a recipe to demonstrate a technique, while several related recipes for each lesson follow. For example, after the Lady Baltimore Cake recipe, there are three recipes for different cakes made using the same basic method. For this cake, I used the caramel devil's food cake recipe, transcribed below. The biggest difference between this and other devil's food recipes I have used is that this one calls for brown sugar, which I imagine works nicely with the caramel frosting.

I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle caramel frosting without a candy thermometer, and I'd pretty much decided on making peanut butter frosting anyway. I had a bit of peanut butter from two jars left (salted and unsalted). I only use natural peanut butter, and I usually get the Teddie brand since it is tasty, cheap, and made right here in New England. I started using natural peanut butter a few years ago when I realized how much junk they put in the processed brands: corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and all kinds of unpronounceable chemical compounds. By contrast, Teddie contains peanuts and, if you get the salted version, salt. That's it. Since I grew up eating Skippy, it took a while for my taste buds to adjust, but now natural peanut butter tastes better to me.

Anyway, for this peanut butter frosting, I scraped out the two jars and ended up with about 2/3 cup of peanut butter. Normally for a peanut-butter frosting I would use some butter, but I'd used the last of my butter in the cake. So I just added powdered sugar and milk, alternately, beating well between each addition, until I found a consistency that I liked. I stopped when the frosting had a thick but gooey texture, similar to caramel, and I didn't so much spread the frosting on the cake as drop it on there, the frosting falling in a lazy drape from the spatula and, upon contact with the cake top, oozing to a smooth finish. After some time, the frosting firmed up, and the end result looked somewhat like fondant. To finish the cake, I dusted the top with sifted chocolate malt powder (Ovaltine) and a sprinkling of kosher salt. Some people have asked me about the salt; I think salt intensifies the taste of the chocolate, and injects the rather soft taste of the peanut butter frosting with more spunk. It was a risk, but one I was pretty sure Amanda and Gordie wouldn't mind, since I knew that Amanda likes chocolate with pretzels.

The end result: really good stuff. So good that we each had a small second serving while playing Yahtzee after our guests left. Thankfully Dan took the rest in to work the next morning so we didn't have to face temptation again. And if you were reading last week, you know that I said I was avoiding sweets. For the most part, I have been. But I decided before I made it that I would have a piece (or two) of this cake, and I'm glad I did. So worth it! But don't take my word for it. Try it yourseldf.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Caramel Devil's Food Cake
adapted from All About Home Baking

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or other shorting
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, unbeaten
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add chocolate and blend. Add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add vanilla. Bake in two deep greased 9-inch layer pans for 25 minutes.*

*My cake passed the toothpick test after only 19 minutes, so I took it out then and it was done. I would suggest checking on your cake around the 20-minute mark just in case.

Gooey Peanut Butter Frosting

2/3 cup natural peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk

Beat peanut butter at medium speed with about 1 cup powdered sugar. Alternately add milk and remaining powdered sugar, beating well after each addition. Adjust amounts until desired consistency is reached.

Dinner, Part 2: Chicken with Rosemary and Tomatoes

2009-01-22T07:45:00.000-05:00

I don't have a picture of this dish, since I was caught up in hosting and forgot to snap one, but you'll just have to trust me that it looks really tasty. Or you should make it, so you can see for yourself. It's a really simple combination that comes together beautifully, and once you try it, you will want to make it again and again. I was given this recipe by someone on a wedding planning website several years ago. Throughout my senior year of college, I made this dish at least two or three times per month. My then-fiance's apartment was a great refuge from the stress of thesis writing and grad school applications, and using his kitchen to cook for us was my favorite way to unwind. Since the recipe calls for a bit of wine, you also have a great excuse to open a bottle and sip a glass while you cook. On Sunday, I served this with risotto cakes and a simple salad, but it's also wonderful with crusty bread to soak up the juices.

Chicken with Rosemary and Tomatoes

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1 small can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1/3 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio work well)
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
salt, to taste

Add olive oil to deep saute pan and heat over medium. When hot, add chicken breasts and cook on one side until browned, 5-7 minutes. Flip breasts. Add can of tomatoes (including juice), a generous splash of white wine, and copious amounts of rosemary. Add salt if desired. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Chicken should be very tender and moist. All measurements are approximate, so don't measure too carefully - just relax and have fun with it.

Salad Days: Butternut Squash with Spiced Pecans and Roasted-Garlic Vinaigrette

2009-01-21T07:12:00.003-05:00

We received several butternut squashes in the first two winter CSA pick-ups; most were roasted, mashed, and frozen for later use. It has been helpful to have on hand; I move it to the fridge in the morning, then heat it up in a casserole dish in the oven while I get the rest of the meal ready. (You could use a microwave, too, but I don't have one, so oven it is!) But I still had a few whole butternuts and I wanted to try something different, so I came up with this salad.

The butternut is cubed and roasted. Near the end of the cooking time, some garlic cloves are tossed in the oven; they become the basis for a crunchy, garlicky vinaigrette that is drizzled over the warm squash and fresh greens. The finishing touch is a spicy, sweet, crunchy sprinkle of pecans, pan-toasted with some butter and garam masala (yes, I love this spice mix!). The end result is a hearty and satisfying mix of textures and flavors. This salad was an experiment, and I would call it a success; Dan managed to wolf his down before I could even ask if he liked it (about five minutes after handing him the plate).

Butternut Squash Salad with Spiced Pecans and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

1 small butternut squash
salad greens (enough for two people)
four cloves garlic
1 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
salt, to taste

Set oven to 350. Roast whole squash for twenty minutes; remove and set aside until cool enough to comfortably handle. When cool, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds and stringy bits. Peel and chop into large (1") chunks. Spread on cookie sheet lightly greased with cooking spray (such as Pam). Return to oven and roast for another thirty minutes or until very tender, stirring occasionally.

While squash is roasting, wash and spin your greens and place in salad bowl.

When squash chunks have about fifteen minutes left, toss garlic cloves with one teaspoon olive oil in small baking or casserole dish; place in oven.

While garlic and squash roast, prepare your pecans. Melt butter in large saute pan over medium low heat. Add pecans and garam masala, stirring frequently for about five minutes, or until pecans smell nice and toasty.

Remove squash and garlic from oven. Place garlic in food processor with one tablespoon olive oil, cider vinegar, mustard, and salt, and blend. Add squash and vinaigrette to salad bowl and toss. Sprinkle pecans on top before serving.

Dinner, Part 1: Roasted Chickpeas

2009-01-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

Yes, today's post is late, late, late! I had some technical difficulties, but if you're reading this, then I finally got everything worked out. Anyway, here's the first part of the menu from Sunday's dinner with Amanda and Gordie: roasted chickpeas. I wouldn't exactly call them an appetizer - more a light pre-dinner snack, something to nibble on during the last few minutes of cooking.

Chickpeas are great because they are packed with both fiber and protein; roasting them makes a tasty, crunchy snack that is akin to popcorn but more nutritious. You can use canned chickpeas for convenience, but they are more expensive than the dried ones and often have lots of added salt and preservatives. I buy Goya dried chickpeas in one-pound bags from my local Price Chopper, where they usually cost between $1.00 and $1.50 per pound, but you might be able to find them even cheaper in the bulk section of your co-op or supermarket. Cooking them takes some time, but it's basically hands-off, so it's great for a day when you are doing things around the house: I'll usually soak them overnight on Friday, cook them Saturday, and freeze whatever I don't use that day. They keep well frozen and if placed in the fridge in the morning, they'll be thawed and ready to use by dinner.

Roasted Chickpeas

2-3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or 1/2 pound dried chickpeas, cooked
2 tablespoons olive oil
garam masala* or spice of your choice, to taste
salt, to taste

Set oven to 375. Toss chickpeas with olive oil and spread in one layer on a cookie sheet. Season liberally with spice of your choice; sprinkle lightly with salt. Roast for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chickpeas are ready when they are golden, crispy on the outside, and tender inside.

*A note about garam masala: garam masala is an Indian spice blend that is readily available in most supermarkets. If you can't find it in the spice section, check the natural foods section, which is where I found mine. The specific combination of spices can vary widely but often included are cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, and coriander. The version I have also includes cloves and black pepper. It's a wonderful way to add sweet and savory flavors to a dish. Roasted chickpeas can be made with any seasoning you think you'd like - for instance, chili powder or garlic salt - but garam masala is by far my favorite.

Wild Weekend and World's Healthiest Foods

2009-01-19T14:50:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a busy weekend we had! Yesterday our friends Gordie and Amanda came for dinner (Amanda posts wonderful recipes at http://milkandblackberries.blogspot.com!). Since our apartment looked like a federal disaster area, we spent a lot of time fixing things up beforehand. Saturday afternoon was occupied by a special project that you'll see here on the blog at some point in the next week or two. And late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, our cat Ashley discovered an uninvited guest in our apartment and made such a ruckus that she woke us up. She had trapped something under my dresser. When I got up to see what all the fuss was about, I peered underneath and saw what I thought was a mouse. Only in the light of day, when the little creature escaped from the dresser and ran a few laps around the apartment while we made several attempts to catch it, did we realize that this was not any ordinary mouse. In fact, it's a dormouse (and it's still here, hiding behind the trash can). Since dormice are not native to this area, this little fella must be someone's pet. I've been emailing local small mammal breeders to see if anyone wants to rescue him. In the meantime, he stays hidden and Ashley occasionally makes a half-hearted attempt to catch him, then proceeds to go back to sleep for another four hours. Looks like our pampered puss has lost her hunting skills.

Tomorrow I'll write more about last night's dinner, but today, I want to share with you one of my favorite food-related websites. World's Healthiest Foods is a great resource for information about the foods we all should be eating. The site is packed with nutritional information and tasty recipes for over 120 nutrient-dense whole foods, including not only fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains but also such categories as sweeteners and spices/herbs. I often search the site when confronted with a new ingredient so I can learn more about it and get ideas for using it. If you're looking for healthier ways to prepare your favorite foods or new ways to include healthier foods (such as, for instance, flax seeds) in your diet, this site is a great place to start. Are there foods that you know you should eat more often, but are difficult to work in to your diet? Search for them on the World's Healthiest Foods site and let us know what helpful ideas you find!

Let's end the week on a sweet note!

2009-01-16T06:59:00.000-05:00

Here is the long-awaited shot of some amazing German pastries!

The one on the left was a moist cake topped with a cream layer and a gelatin layer studded with fresh raspberries. On the right is a classic cream puff. Both were amazing. The cream puff was hands down the best I have ever had (and I make a damn good cream puff). These came from a bakery on Rosegartenstrasse in the old town section of Konstanz. It was actually some sort of chain coffee shop. We went back several times during our short stay. Can you imagine having such spectacular treats available at your generic Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts? Don't get me wrong, they have their place, but these pastries left those from most specialty bakeries in the dust.

It's been a sweet-filled week here on the blog - first chocolate pretzel tart, then biscotti, and now these. I guess I have sugar on the brain, which is only fitting, I guess, since it's not in my tummy. I've been relying on flavored teas (including pomegranate, tropical fruit, and caffeine-free vanilla) to trick my taste buds and stay off the sweets. It's working so far.

We're having friends over for dinner on Sunday, so I'll post about that next week. In the meantime, have a sweet weekend!

Last Christmas

2009-01-15T08:04:00.002-05:00

Last Christmas post, that is. Not the cheesy synth-song that's been covered by every pop star for the past twenty years. Yes, I know we're well in to the new year, but I couldn't post about these biscotti until the last of them reached their final destination. You see, I made several batches of these to give as Christmas gifts to Dan's co-workers and a few friends who had done us enormous favors this year. We also sent an almond-anise batch (not pictured) to Dan's parents for Armenian Little Christmas (Epiphany).

I don't know why I started making biscotti - I think it was because they charge so much for them in coffee shops and gourmet stores, but they just didn't seem that difficult to make. And - surprise! - they aren't. They are simple cookies, and yes, they are twice-baked, but it's one extra step and not so bad. I made my first batch of biscotti a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Now baking biscotti is a part of my annual Christmas preparations.

I dipped the chocolate-peppermint biscotti in white chocolate and crushed Starlight mints. The other kind is orange-almond, dipped in dark chocolate. Both were delicious, although very, very rich. We left some plain for ourselves. I almost like the plain ones better, since you can get away with having one at breakfast, but it's nice to go decadent for gifts.

Biscotti for Dan's co-workers, Mike and Michael (aka "The Mikes"), went in brown paper bags that I decorated with a silver Sharpie. I also doctored up some plain address label stickers to indicate what lay within. I had fun coming up with different design motifs. I don't doodle enough anymore.

The ones for friends were wrapped in parchment paper, tied with twine, and decked with hand-drawn labels. The labels would not stick to the parchment paper, so I had to bust out my trusty dollar-store glue gun to attach them.

When I first started baking biscotti, I must have tried eighteen or twenty different recipes. This one was by far the best. I use this as a jumping-off point for all biscotti, changing the flavorings as necessary. One other change: instead of brandy, I've always used Captain Morgan spiced rum. It just happened to be what I had on hand the first time I tried this recipe, and it's so perfect I can't imagine using anything else. Although if you really want to taste something amazing, try a little of the raw biscotti dough. Cookie dough + liquor = so divine it must be sinful!

I leave you with one last glamor shot and an exhoration to give these a try. Once you do, you'll scoff at ever paying $3.00 for a coffee-shop compressed-sawdust version again.

Salad Days: Wilted Baby Spinach with Toasted Pine Nuts and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

2009-01-14T07:02:00.001-05:00

In the winter, when root vegetables dominate, I try to make sure that we have salad as an entree at least once a week - there's something so refreshing about fresh greens breaking up the starchy monotony. In this spirit, I'm introducing a new series: salad days. Once a week, through the winter, I'll post a different salad recipe that is hearty and filling enough to serve as a main dish.

The first offering, warm spinach salad with pomegranate and pine nuts, is one I first came across about a year ago. After making it once, I was hooked. I made this salad several times last winter while pomegranates were in season, and I've been waiting all year for them to come back so I could make it again.

I found the recipe in The Armenian Table by Victoria Jenanyan Wise. I've tweaked it slightly. I use pomegranate juice instead of pomegranate molasses; I couldn't find the molasses and I think it would be too sweet for my taste, anyway. I love the sour tang of the juice. Also, Wise's recipe calls for walnuts, and I've made it that way, but once I substituted pine nuts, I could never go back - it just added so much more depth and contrast of flavor.

Wilted Baby Spinach Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts and Pomegranate Vinaigrette
adapted from The Armenian Table: More than 165 Treasured Recipes That Bring Together Ancient Flavors and 21st-Century Style by Victoria Jenanyan Wise

8 cups baby spinach leaves
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
seeds from one pomegranate

Rinse and spin dry spinach and place in salad bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until toasted, 2-3 minutes. When the smell becomes strong and the nuts start to turn golden, they are done. Turn the heat off, add the pomegranate juice and vinegar, and stir to mix. Add hot dressing to spinach and toss. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top.

Here it is! Winter CSA, Month 3

2009-01-12T22:45:00.003-05:00

We picked up our January share at the monthly indoor winter farmer's market in Norwich, VT. It's nice that it continues through the winter, but it's not nearly as interesting as the weekly summer market. In winter, we basically go just to get our share (and maybe a scone and a cup of coffee for the road). We're in and out in fifteen minutes, tops. At the summer market, however, there's so much more to look at and there is usually live music, as long as the weather is good. We like to take our time, check out all the booths, and do a few laps.

Anyway, January's share is not too bad. No more parsnips (woohoo!). The rundown:

-two cabbages
-four rutabagas
-four celeriacs
-six beets of varying size
-one enormous daikon radish (it must be at least 15" long!)
-about four or five pounds of carrots
-about five pounds of potatoes, some small (great for roasting) and some large (great for baking)
-one random bulb of garlic thrown in at the last minute

We also purchased some fingerling potatoes. Yes, five pounds of potatoes is plenty for the two of us for a month, but I just can't resist those wonderful fingerlings. I toss them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs, and roast them until the skin is golden and crackling and the flesh is meltingly soft.

I think this is a good assortment. I'm working on a new carrot soup recipe, and the daikon will come in handy when I make something from one of my Japanese cookbooks (per my resolution). We used to eat rutabagas a lot when we lived in London, although we didn't know it at the time: the Brits call them "swede," and we used to get this pre-chopped carrot & swede blend that we could steam or roast. I'll have to do a little research on new (to me) ways to prepare them. I'm also looking for new beet recipes; I usually roast them, but the antioxidant levels drop when exposed to heat, so I'd like to add some raw beet recipes to my arsenal.

Anyone have any good root vegetable recipes to share?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

2009-01-12T07:07:00.002-05:00

I promised a picture of this month's share, which we just picked up on Saturday, but due to technical difficulties (i.e., I left my camera elsewhere and can't get it back until this afternoon), that will have to come tomorrow. Instead, I offer a sweet and salty treat to perk up your Monday morning.

Remember the chocolate pretzel tart I mentioned in my review of the Harrison? Well, Food and Wine got The Harrison's pastry chef to share her recipe as part of a feature on milk chocolate in this month's issue. The recipe is online here, so you can try it at home! I would, but after a December filled with cookies and biscotti and all kinds of indulgence, I'm trying to cut back on sweets for a while. If you don't like chocolate with pretzels (shock! horror!!), you can try one of the other recipes, found here, such as milk chocolate pots-du-creme, or milk chocolate cookies with malted cream, or... okay, I'd better stop before my willpower disappears. Back to my sugar-free, caffeine-free, vanilla tea, which tastes like cake batter and can hopefully distract me from all that chocolatey temptation.

Winter CSA, Month 1

2009-01-09T07:12:00.001-05:00

I have been remiss in posting pictures of our winter share. This is a shot of the first winter share, which we picked up in early November:

Pretty incredible, isn't it? And yes, those are my pink-stockinged feet in the corner. I had to stand on a chair in order to get far enough away to get everything in frame. And this isn't actually everything: we also had a huge bag of onions, shallots, and garlic bulbs (to last throughout the winter), a bunch of dried rattlesnake beans, still in the pods, and as much basil as we could pick.

The basil was turned into pesto and frozen in cubes; likewise, I roasted most of the squash and steamed all of the kale to freeze for future use. I have a few pictures of meals made from this harvest, which I will post eventually. A lot of my pictures from this time did not turn out very well. The days were getting shorter and the light more elusive, and by mid-November, it was usually dark out before I even started cooking dinner.

What about month 2, which we picked up in early December? Well, I never photographed it. As I mentioned, I kept getting sick, and I was very busy, and frankly, what we got in month 2 was just not as pretty. Think parsnips. Lots and lots of parsnips. Plus carrots, potatoes, and more cabbage than I will ever know what to do with. We still have some cabbage in the fridge, and we're going to pick up month 3 tomorrow!

Check back Monday for a picture of tomorrow's haul, and have a wonderful weekend.

Sorta-Stuffed Squash

2009-01-08T07:30:00.002-05:00

Here's the stuffed squash post I mentioned last Friday. I call it Sorta-Stuffed Squash because every stuffed squash recipe I've ever seen involves stuffing the squash and then baking it. Sometimes the squash is partially baked first, but it always ends up in the oven after being stuffed with some sort of mixture, usually rice-based. This recipe cheats by cooking the filling separately from the squash and just throwing them together at the end.

You might think cooking the squash and the filling separately is more complicated, but both steps are actually very easy and totally hands-off once you've got them on the heat. After halving the squash and scooping out the seeds, put a pat of butter in the hollow of each half and roast them, cut side up, for about 35 minutes at 400 degrees. The exact time will vary from squash to squash, but they should be tender when you stick a fork in them.

Once the squash is in the oven, make Rebecca Blood's brown rice and lentil recipe, which I've mentioned before. It couldn't be simpler - just lentils, rice, and water - then add salt and/or a little red wine vinegar when it's done. The lentils take about 25-30 minutes to cook, so your squash and your lentils will be done around the same time. Meanwhile, rinse and spin your lettuce, make your dressing, and you've still got twenty minutes to check email, watch the news, or - my favorite - enjoy a glass of wine.

When both the squash and the lentils are ready, scoop the lentils into the squash hollow. Tada! You're done. The rice and lentils absorb some of the melted butter from the squash, and the sweetness of the roasted squash nicely complements the salted, earthy taste of the lentils. This meal is a hat trick: easy, healthy, and cheap.

Year in Review: Cooking in North Carolina, Part 2

2009-01-07T09:27:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of the week, Dan, Rob, and I went to the closest grocery store in order to stock up on cereal and sandwich provisions and the like for breakfasts and lunches. This grocery store happened to be inside a Super Walmart. When I went to select some fruit for snacks, I was disappointed to see that the peaches were from California. It just didn't make sense to me. When you are in one of the best peach-producing states in the country, at the peak of peach season, why are you shipping peaches from three thousand miles away? Yes, peaches are delicate, and they don't travel well, but it seems like madness to me to waste all that gasoline trucking things across a continent when better-tasting ones are growing an hour away. Okay, rant over.

Since the market wasn't until later in the week, for the first few days we reluctantly snacked on the California peaches, which were firm enough to survive the cross-country trip but frankly not that exciting. When Wednesday finally came around and we could purchase local peaches, they did not disappoint. They were twice the size of the California peaches with one hundred times the flavor. I am not exaggerating. All the peaches I've ever eaten in my life, added up, would not have the impact of a single bite of one of these peaches. It was like eating the sun.

So it was with great reluctance that Dan and I sliced up all these peaches to make gallettes. We briefly debated not serving dessert and eating all the peaches ourselves - they were that good! - but decided that would not be in the spirit of the week. With such excellent main ingredients, I wanted to keep the preparation as simple as possible, so we tossed the peaches with a small amount of brown sugar and a generous dose of cinnamon and piled them on top of roll-out pie crusts, casually folding over the edges to hold in the juices. We baked them at around 400 for twenty-five minutes or so: until the smell was unbearably good and the crusts were golden. We went with gallettes instead of regular pies for a few reasons. One, the open face shows off the beautiful color of the peaches. Two, with peaches that good, who wants a double pie crust? This kept the fruit-to-crust ratio high. And three, there were no pie pans in the rental, so this was also a practical decision that allowed us to use the pans on hand.

The gallettes were served a la mode. Sorry for the lousy final picture: we were in a rush to serve and eat these. I'm sure you can understand.

Year in Review: Cooking in North Carolina, Part 1

2009-01-06T10:54:00.002-05:00

Last summer, Dan and I had the pleasure of spending four days on the beach in North Carolina with his extended family. They've been renting a beach house on the same little island every summer for years, and this was the first time since Dan and I got together that we'd been able to attend. There are a lot of traditions associated with the Holden Beach week, and one is that each night, a different couple cooks dinner for the entire family. Dan's dad Rob teamed up with us, and the men agreed to follow my lead. Now, at this point, we were several weeks in to our first CSA experience, and so I was excited to find out what North Carolina had to offer in terms of fresh, local produce. I used this search tool to find a farmer's market in the Holden Beach area.

The nearest market turned out to be in Southport, a short drive from Holden Beach. Southport, you may remember, is where we enjoyed a wonderful meal over the water at Provision Co. It's an idyllic village on the coast, and the farmer's market is held on Wednesday mornings at a park overlooking the harbor. It was a small market but the produce selection was more than satisfactory and a bluegrass band on the steps of the town hall enthusiastically provided the soundtrack throughout our visit.

When deciding what to cook, I originally thought of ribs, but it turns out Uncle David and Aunt Maureen always make the ribs. So then I thought maybe fajitas. Well, Scott and Melanie do tacos. So then I decided to stop making plans and just see what was available at the market. The first thing we bought, and the best, I think, was the amazing peas pictured above. Mississippi red crowder peas, according to the farmer who sold them to us.

The farmer recommended shelling the purple (drier) ones, slicing the green ones like green beans, steaming both lightly, and tossing them with any kind of oil. She also said a bit of bacon would bring out a natural smoky flavor. I followed her directions almost exactly, but instead of just oil, I used Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette. These peas were amazing. I never thought I would enjoy peas so much. For me, a big bowl of these would have made a satisfying dinner on their own. I'm drooling just thinking about them.

But just peas wouldn't cut it, I knew. Nevertheless, at least we had our one local dish. Looking around the market, I found great vegetables for grilling and decided we would do kebabs as a main dish. We picked up big, fat, Vidalia onions, red and green peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini. Later we got chicken, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes from the grocery store and spent the afternoon chopping almost everything into large (1-1.5") chunks (leaving the mushrooms and tomatoes whole) and threading them on skewers. Kebabs look prettier when you mix everything up, but the reality is a mushroom and a chunk of zucchini and a piece of chicken all cook at different rates, so for the best taste, we threaded like with like so everything could cook how long it needed to, no more and no less. When it was all done, we dumped it all on a huge platter. I had planned to make Thai peanut sauce but when we found out there were a couple of people with peanut allergies, we switched that to an apricot-mustard dipping sauce (recipe below).

Part two, which covers the dessert we made, will be published tomorrow.

APRICOT-MUSTARD SAUCE
*learned from Alexia in college

2 tablespoons apricot jelly
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 cup plain yogurt (fat-free, lowfat, or whole milk is fine)

Put everything together in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until warm and blended.

That's it. It couldn't be easier, and it's very yummy. Adjust the jelly and mustard amounts to your taste. Serve over poached chicken, or grilled chicken or shrimp, or with grilled veggie kebabs. Whatever you can think of, it will probably taste good with this sauce.

Scones Are Simple

2009-01-05T06:44:00.003-05:00

If you look at the new banner above you'll see a close-up of one my homemade scones. Scones are actually really easy to make and require only a handful of ingredients. My super-easy customizable recipe follows; have fun experimenting with different flavors and let me know what your favorites are (I like almonds, dried cranberries, almond flavoring, and orange zest).

SARAH'S ANY-FLAVOR SCONES
1/2 c. butter, COLD
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. milk
flavorings of your choice

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut together butter and flour into a fine meal. You can leave it coarser if you want; it makes for a more crumbly scone.

Stir in baking powder, salt, and any dry flavorings (i.e. nuts, citrus zest, dried fruit, chocolate chips, ground tea leaves - whatever you can think of!).

Add any liquid flavorings (e.g., vanilla or almond extract) to the milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid. Stir just until the dough comes together.

Now comes the time to make a decision: do you want crumbly scones, like you get in American coffee shops? Or do you want a fluffier scone, which is more English-style?

For crumbly scones, immediately turn dough on to a floured surface and knead about eight times. Do not over-knead! Form into a cirle, about 3/4" thick, and slice into six or eight triangles. Separate the triangles and place them on a lightly-greased cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

If you want fluffier scones, you can knead immediately a lot more than 8 times, or you can take the lazy route and let the dough sit for 25-30 minute before kneading 8 times. The more you knead it (or the longer you let it sit), the more the gluten gets activated, the more fluffy and less crumbly the scones will be. Form in to triangles and bake as described above.

Serve with butter, jam, lemon curd, or clotted cream. Enjoy!

2009-01-02T12:17:00.005-05:00

I had planned to write about a simple stuffed squash recipe today, but last night, the sniffles that I thought were just from allergies developed into a full-fledged headbanger of a cold. I'm holed up on the recliner with my fleece blanket and my hubby's gone to get me cold-fighting provisions. So I wanted to ask, what are your favorite home remedies? Dan's getting me chicken soup, of course, which is probably helpful because it's warm and mild and slides easily down an irritated throat. I've also requested ginger tea, which we usually have on hand but just used up, and fresh lemons.

In high school, whenever I got sick, which was a lot, I'd get the fresh lemon slices from the dining hall salad bar and mash them with hot water and honey. Both honey and lemon are packed with immune-boosting antioxidants, and some studies suggest that honey may also function as a cough suppressant. This page recommends adding onion broth to your hot lemon and honey drink; maybe it works, but I won't find out, because just the thought of that makes me gag! I guess I'll stick to ginger tea with honey and lemon -- ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. And of course, my number-one sickness fighter: sleep. I'm going to settle in for a long nap right after I get my chicken noodle soup.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Resolutions

2009-01-01T17:46:00.002-05:00

I'm not usually the New Year's resolution sort. I've made a few half-hearted attempts in the past, but they never seem to stick. I guess I find something odd in the idea that this date is somehow different from any other when it comes to making a change. I've certainly made resolutions in the past that I have successfully met, but never on January 1. I've found that making one small change at a time, when the time is right, works for me.

That said, I do have a few changes I would like to make in terms of food and cooking choices. And I might as well announce them now, since I hope you'll see a difference here, although I am by no means promising to take on all these challenges fervently and immediately. Instead, I'll try to make these changes a little at a time, gradually building speed, until they become habitual.

1) Eat more fish. A few years ago I started cutting back on meat. I had no intention of going completely vegetarian, but after reading a lot on the subject, I became convinced that most us here in the US eat way more meat than is necessary or healthy. I also wanted to cut back on my grocery bills, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to buy less meat. Pretty soon, we were down to about one meal with meat per week and still getting a balanced diet thanks to other protein sources like beans and dairy.

However, with all the strength training I've been doing this year, I really needed to increase my lean protein consumption, and for health reasons, I can't eat too much soy, so we're back to eating chicken or turkey two or three times a week. Fish is an excellent alternative, loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your heart and your brain, so I'd like to work my way up to eating fish at least once per week.

2) Drink more green tea. I drink A LOT of tea. Seriously. I give my husband a hard time about drinking a whole pot of coffee by himself every day but I definitely rival that with my tea consumption. Especially now that I work from home, it's all too easy to pop in to the kitchen and fix another cup of tea. Now, there are worse vices, of course, but since I drink so much tea, I'm going to try to swap some green tea in for my normal cups of Irish Breakfast or Constant Comment. I drink my black tea, whatever the flavor, with some milk and one teaspoon of sugar. It's not terrible, but when you drink as much tea as I do, it sure adds up. Switching to green tea for two or three cups per day will help me cut back on sugar and its empty calories. Also, while tea in general is loaded with antioxidants, higher levels are found in green tea, so that's a plus. For more on the health benefits (and risks) of green tea, go here.

3) Use my cookbooks more. I have a great collection of cookbooks, some handed down to me, some purchased, and some received as gifts. I particularly love my regional Italian cookbooks (Tuscan and Istrian) as well as the Thai, Armenian, and Japanese ones. With the exception of the Japanese, I've made at most one recipe from each of those books - and some I have never used. I love to look through the books, read the recipes, get ideas, and drool over the amazing photography, but ingredient lists of fifteen or more tend to earn a "no way" from me. As I've mentioned before, patience isn't one of my strong suits, and I'm more apt to fake it by picking out the few strongest flavors and tossing together whatever I have in a simplified mock version. While there's no way I'm going to start grinding exotic spice blends in my mortar and pestle on a daily or even weekly basis, I really ought to try to make some of these recipes as written once in a while. If I'm feeling up to the challenge (and the cost of the unusual ingredients), I may even have to look for the most complicated recipe from each book and give each one a shot. At the very least, this year, I want to make one recipe from each book that I have not made before and without cutting corners.

So there we go. Three food-related resolutions that I hope to achieve at some point over the next year. What about you? What changes do you want to make in 2009? Don't forget, you don't have to have a Blogger account to comment!

What do you think?

2009-01-01T13:45:00.002-05:00

Here's the new look! Please bear with me as I tweak it over the next few days. Some older posts might look a little odd with the new formatting, so I'm going back in to the archives and making adjustments. I've also added a list of some of my favorite blogs and websites, which you can find on the right if you scroll down.

Goodbye, 2008!

2008-12-31T18:10:00.002-05:00

And so we come to the end of another year. This year has not been an easy one for me. Sure, there were a lot of high points. We attended four weddings, and it was truly a blessing to witness our friends pledging vows and starting new lives with partners that in every case seemed like perfect matches. We also spent four beautiful days by the ocean with Dan's extended family. But these trips, though pleasant, formed but a small part of a year that was filled with challenges, including many frustrating setbacks and Dan's emergency surgery. It was a year rife with hard decisions and difficult circumstances, punctuated by brief but wonderful experiences. Today, in the snow, walking back from the video store, Dan remarked that this year had been a roller coaster, and I said that I hoped next year would be a more of an ascent; that a year from now, we would look back and say, "Look how far we've come."

One of the high points of the year for me has been starting this blog, and I thank you for joining me here. Improving Choice of Pies is high on my list of goals for 2009, and I plan to start tomorrow with a new look. I'll post a few of my cooking-related resolutions tomorrow, and I hope you'll join me throughout 2009 as I attempt to make these changes. In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a few days off to ping-pong back and forth between the houses of Dan's parents and mine. I'll be back shortly before the new year. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Family Tradition: Grammy's Cookies

2008-12-24T09:00:00.002-05:00

In my family, on Christmas Eve, desserts take center stage. Yes, the ham and the macaroni and cheese are important -- God forbid anyone try to change that menu -- but that spread pales in comparison to a dessert table so weighted down with homemade cookies and candy that it is shocking the table still stands. My mother and grandmother would spend the month of December crafting peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, needhams (aka potato candy), penuche, peanut butter cups, and out-of-this-world candies. The cookies might vary a bit from year to year but the old standbys are peanut butter blossoms, spritz, and sugar cookies.

Oh, the sugar cookies! For years, my grandmother would spend days rolling and cutting Christmas trees, stars, stockings, candy canes, reindeer, elephants (my grandmother collects elephant figurines), and Santas. Another day would be devoted to glazing the cookies and, once the glaze dried to a shiny finish, piping on the final details. The cookies are highly coded, the decorations painstakingly proscribed; the specific design patterns are as much a tradition as the Christmas Eve gathering itself.

Growing up, just about every year, I would help my grandmother decorate the cookies. It was from her that I learned how to make a vanilla glaze, how to make buttercream frosting, how to use gel colors and how to pipe intricate designs. This year, for the first time, instead of aiding Grammy, I got to take responsibility for the whole process. I had a lot of fun making these cookies, and I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures. Click here to see more.

Year in Review: Autumn Afternoon Tea

2008-12-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

Remember when we took Grammy to the tea room? While we were comparing our cups and plates and playfully arguing over who was using the prettiest ones, Grammy remarked that she had a beautiful teacup collection of her own and lamented that her lovely cups and saucers sat on a shelf and were never used. "Why not have a tea party?" asked Dan, and so a plan was hatched.

Grammy and I worked out the menu and settled on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a date, since many people (including Dan and I) would be back in Maine that weekend. I printed invitations at the letterpress studio on campus. The day after Thanksgiving, the three of us shopped for ingredients and prepared the table. The hardest part of this was choosing our ten favorite cup and saucer sets out of Grammy's collection of around three dozen.

The next morning, I made two batches of scones while Dan and Grammy made all the sandwiches. Grammy had already made some cookies and I had previously baked an applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

The full menu:
-Earl Grey scones
-cranberry-almond scones
-blueberry muffins (brought by Aunt Gail)
-lemon curd, clotted cream, and apricot jam for the pastries
-chicken salad on French bread
-cucumber sandwiches (no crusts)
-rye toasts with cream cheese and olives
-almond-raspberry cookies
-applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting
-cream puffs (purchased)
-Swiss rolls (also purchased)
-three kinds of tea: Earl Grey, Scottish Breakfast, and classic orange pekoe

We had a wonderful time! We sipped and nibbled and chatted the afternoon away. As the only female out of seven grandchildren, I've always been surrounded by boys. I like boys, I really do, but having a room full of women at Grammy's house was a refreshing change.

Dan was allowed to attend, despite not being a woman, because, well, the party was his idea! But he's also a wonderful man who can appreciate a nice, civilized tea. However, he did spend most of the party in the other room, having been dragged there by our niece, Leah, who, at two years old, has better things to do than sit at a table while we drink tea. Instead, she and Dan played bedtime: she ordered him to lie down on the couch, covered him with a blanket, said goodnight, and then commanded, "My turn! Switch!" This was the pattern for about an hour and a half, although at one point, Dan asked for a lullaby and was gifted with a rare live performance of Leah's hit John Denver cover, "Sunshine on My Shoulders Makes Me Happy."

Year in Review: Thanksgivings

2008-12-22T08:05:00.006-05:00

When it comes to holidays, we are a family cemented to tradition. Change and innovation do not come lightly. Something as a simple as the suggestion of a change to the Christmas Eve menu has been known to cause actual rioting. So it's no surprise that on Thanksgiving, our table has always been filled with traditional fare: turkey, of course, plus gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and roughly one 9" pie for every two people in attendance. Delicious, indulgent, tryptophan-triggering? Of course. But I felt something was missing: the color green. So I asked my mom, who hosted this year's get-together, if I could bring brussels sprouts.

As I mentioned in my review of The Harrison, I love brussels sprouts. This is not an enduring affection but rather a newfound passion, still young and bright and wallowing in the puppy-love stage. You see, prior to this fall, I had never tasted brussels sprouts. Never. But we got some in our CSA one week and for me, it was love at first bite.

For Thanksgiving, I sliced three pounds of loose sprouts in to halves and roasted them with a little olive oil at 400 degrees for about forty minutes. The outsides turn dark, nearly black, but the inside becomes a soft, creamy treat. I tossed the roasted sprouts with crisped pancetta, grated parmesano-reggiano, and some lemon juice. The sprout eaters at the table were very satisfied, and I got to eat the leftovers for days.

Incidentally, this year there was another green dish: Aunt Liz's spinach casserole, which is absolutely delicious. I'm going to get the recipe from her and will write about it in a separate post soon after I do.

You may have noticed the s in the title and thought it a typo. It's not; this year, we were blessed with two Thanksgiving dinners, as my in-laws decided to push their celebration up a few weeks and have a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings in late October, to coincide with a visit from Great-Aunt Rose. The menu was similar to that at my mother's, with a few variations. Lynn, my mother-in-law, makes an awesome homemade cranberry sauce (while my side of the family is married to the canned kind). Also, because Lynn is Armenian, instead of mashed potatoes, she serves pilaf. (Pilaf holds a very special place in my husband's heart, so years ago I secured his mother's/grandmother's recipe; when he asks what's for dinner and my response includes pilaf, I'm guaranteed praise for days.)

For this early Thanksgiving dinner, I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and busted out my piping tips to add some old-school decorations. The pattern was not planned: I just went where the frosting took me, which was apparently back to the 1970s, as the bright orange frosting, inspired by the frosting carrots that top bakery carrot cakes, reminds me of nothing more than the orange formica countertops in the chalet my family once owned.

The carrot cake (based on this recipe -- I skipped the pineapple and used whole wheat flour) was moist and delicious and I had fun making it. My decorating skills have deteriorated, though, so I might have to start using my piping tips more often.

Not dead yet!

2008-12-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

December has been absolutely insane. I've been battling a cold on and off since the month began -- just when I think I'm over the cough, congestion, and nausea, they bounce back up like whack-a-moles. On my healthy days, I've been baking up a storm, and in the midst of regular holiday madness, two work projects that had been languishing for months both suddenly needed attention. But with the month almost over and thirty things crossed off my to-do list in the last three days, I can finally turn my attention back to this poor, neglected blog.

Between being ill and being inundated, I haven't done as much cooking as I should have. Too many times this month I have resorted to takeout, frozen pizza, or pasta sauce from a jar. But I have done a little cooking and a whole lot of baking, which I'll post about over the next week or so. I'm also preparing some year in review posts, where I'll look back at some of the meals and events that somehow never made it on the blog. And I can promise a new and improved Choice of Pies for the new year: look for a relaunch early in 2009.

Bagel Time!

2008-11-25T12:55:00.005-05:00

When Mom turned to me during the car ride down to the train station and declared, "I have to get a bagel before we leave the city!" she echoed my thoughts perfectly. Thursday morning we went to the deli across the street from Grace's apartment and got bagels, juice, and fruit salad. We watched all the New Yorkers rushing in and out to grab their breakfasts on the way to work and enjoyed quietly pointing out the particularly interesting ones: the man wearing a vicuna coat with a baseball cap, the Spanish woman with a very cool minidress with long belled sleeves and an agressive, full-length frontal zipper, the young Russian man behind us who was almost too pretty to be real. It was nice to sit and relax in the midst of all that hubbub. And there's really nothing like a New York City bagel. We both chose multigrain with cream cheese; Mom opted for scallions on hers while mine, pictured above, was slathered with strawberry-flavored spread. I don't eat bagels very often, but when there's a really good bagel to be had, I can be tempted. My favorite combo? Salt bagel with veggie cream cheese. Mmm....

The Harrison, NYC

2008-11-24T16:12:00.006-05:00

I'm back from a fantastic but short trip to the city. It was great to finally see the movie I worked on three years ago and to meet up with some old friends. My mom and I carpooled down to New Haven, took a train in to Penn Station, and stayed at my friend Grace's apartment. Grace joined us for the movie and for dinner beforehand. She is a devoted foodie and assembled a fabulous list of restaurant options; after some debate we narrowed the list to two and Grace made the final choice of The Harrison.

Please excuse the lousy photos; the restaurant's candlelight made for great atmosphere but terrible shooting conditions. It was just too dark and I had to resort to using the flash. With food this tempting, we could barely hold off on digging in long enough for me to take pictures, so I snapped just one quick photo of each dish.

Above is Mom's appetizer of black mission figs with blue cheese and prosciutto; it was absolutely delicious and something we will definitely make at home. It's such a simple but satisfying combination.

Grace opted for the oven-roasted sardines with breadcrumbs and garlic oil. It was tasty, but I'm not sure I'm a sardine fan. I've only had them once before, at my second grade class's Oktoberfest (my teacher was German).

And here is the dish that caught my eye from the very first moment I opened the online menu: kabocha, delicata, and brussels sprout salad with pumpkin seed vinaigrette. It was spectacular - the squashes perfectly roasted, the textures pleasingly various, and the sprouts - oh, the sprouts! The sprouts had been marinated and were very, very vinegary, which was fine with me, because I love vinegar. They were plump and juicy and when I bit down they let loose bursts of tangy, green flavor. Brussels sprouts are my new favorite vegetable, and while so far I've tried roasting and pan-searing, now I'm determined to make some sour, mouth-puckering, marinated sprouts like these.

Apparently I'm not alone in my love of vinegar; the chef at The Harrison must love it, too, as he uses it liberally. Sometimes a bit too much, it seems. This is Mom's entree of red snapper with graffiti eggplant, tomatoes, and fregola (a Sardinian pasta akin to couscous). The snapper had a really nice texture, with a surprisingly crisp crust, considering it didn't appear to be breaded, and a nice, flaky interior. But it was a little bland and didn't quite stand up to the robust flavors offered up by the rest of the dish. The server had warned us that the graffiti eggplant was very sweet that day; the sweetness wasn't a problem, but the excessive vinegar was. On its own, I rather liked the eggplant (again, I love vinegar), but it was too much vinegar for my Mom, who ordered the dish, and it definitely overpowered the delicate flavor of the snapper.

I ordered the Black Angus flank steak with red potatoes, pommery mustard, and sweet red onions. I love, love, love stone-ground mustard, and since no other entree really jumped out and screamed "EAT ME!" I ordered this. It was a good choice; the steak was incredible tender, the potatoes and onions were perfect, and there was just the right amount of mustard. The greens that you can see peeking out from under the onions were also doused with vinegar, but since there weren't a ton of greens, it was just the right pop to wake up the tastebuds.

Grace chose the monkfish special with broccoli rabe and spaghetti squash and I believe she enjoyed it. (Grace, if you're reading, can you weigh in in the comments?) She certainly came closer to finishing her entree than either Mom or I did. That's another thing about The Harrison- the portions are quite large. I hardly ever leave anything on my plate when I go out to eat, but I left probably a quarter to a third of my food on the plate. Not because it wasn't good, but because I didn't have room.

Of course, not being able to finish our entrees didn't stop us from ordering dessert. The three of us split the chocolate pretzel tart with sea salt potato chip and malted anglaise. The cream on top seemed to be creme fraiche; Grace also detected a hint of creme fraiche in the chocolate fudge filling of the tart. The crust was similar to a graham cracker crust, only made with crushed pretzels. The tart was good, the chocolate very rich, but I think the salt could have been stronger. It was a little too subtle.

As you can see, we had quite a feast. Not pictured: an order of duck fat fries with malt vinegar aioli. It was the first time I had duck fat fries and I was suitably impressed. I kept thinking they were like regular fries, but then the richer and more complex flavor would rise up. We also started the meal with cocktails - Mom and Grace had cranberry-ginger martinis, which were delicious! I'm not usually a martini drinker, but these were so smooth going down. We're going to try to recreate them for Thanksgiving. I ordered an Apple Bulleit, which was a blend of bourbon, apple cider, lemon juice, grenadine, and something else that I can't remember. It was very good; Mom thought it was too sweet, but it didn't taste sweet to me at all. It tasted like autumn - fresh apples and pumpkin pie spices! I also had a glass of O'Leary Walker 2005 Shiraz, which I enjoyed very much; it had a wonderful smell and a plummy taste that stood up well against strong flavors in the food.

Overall, our meal at The Harrison was satisfying, with interesting choices and food that was generally well-prepared, but certainly not perfect. If, like me, you have a taste for the sour stuff, order away; otherwise you may want to ask your server about how much vinegar a dish contains before making your selection.

The Harrison
355 Greenwich St.
New York, NY

Out of the Box: Final Week of the Summer

2008-11-18T22:11:00.006-05:00

Our CSA "summer" share actually lasted well in to October. Here's a shot of our final weekly pickup, which included potatoes, beets, celeriac, leeks, rainbow chard, dinosaur kale, cabbage, carrots, butternut squash, delicata squash, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.

Both the butternut squash and the kale I cooked and then froze for later use. Everything else I used in various dishes that I will post about over the next week or so, except for the celeriac, which I still haven't used! Luckily it's a root vegetable and keeps very well.

Here's the delicata squash after I sliced off the ends and cut it lengthwise, but before I scooped out the seeds. We received delicatas several times over the summer; the first time, I roasted the two squash halves with some water in the pan, and the result was indeed very delicate, with the texture of a very soft puree and a taste reminiscent of apples and pears. I also tried a delicata and gruyere soup, which was a huge disappointment: it was somehow too bland and too sweet at the same time (to me, anyway; Dan enjoyed it, but he's easy to please).

With this delicata, I think I finally found a method that really brings out the best flavor of the squash. I left the skin on and chopped the squash in to small chunks, which I tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted at 400 degrees for about twenty-five minutes, stirring once or twice. The result was amazing: the flesh was tender, the skin crispy, and the salt and pepper provided a nice, kicky contrast to the natural sweetness of the squash.

I tossed the warm, roasted squash cubes with dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts and added a simple side salad with mustard vinaigrette. This was a very satisfying and delicious meal, and the leftovers were not leftover for long; Dan couldn't pass through the kitchen without grabbing a few more bites, and I certainly couldn't blame him.

Popovers That Didn't Pop

2008-11-17T22:38:00.007-05:00

At least once every weekend, I try to make something a little special for breakfast. Popovers are one of my favorite treats to make as they require very few ingredients, take only a few minutes to whip up, and are delicious with butter, jam, and a pot of tea. You have to be careful not to open the oven while they are cooking, as that will make them fall flat, and when you do pull them out, you're supposed to immediately pierce each one with a fork to let the steam out so they don't collapse. Sometimes, though, they fall anyway.

I've heard it helps to have the eggs and milk at room temperature before you mix up the batter; if they are too cold to start with, they just can't get and stay puffy. This time, I was impatient and took the ingredients straight from the fridge, so my popovers didn't pop. At least they still tasted wonderful.

For a simple popover recipe, go here. A note about pans: some people have special popover pans. Even though I sometimes go on popover sprees and make them several times over the course of a few weeks, I just can't justify another specialized piece of kitchen equipment, so I use a muffin tin. It works just as well (as long as you have the patience to make them properly).

And I'm back

2008-11-17T22:22:00.003-05:00

I apologize for the recent posting drought. My computer almost crashed. It turns out I had more than 7500 photos on it and was using all available hard drive space. I couldn't even back up my photos on disc so I could clear up my hard drive because I didn't have enough memory to operate the burner, so I had to borrow Dan's drive and export thousands of photos in order to make my computer functional again. I'm now down to about 1500 photos, a third of which I just imported. So I have tons of pictures to post and things to write about.

I'm heading to New York City this week for the premiere of an independent film I worked on a few years ago. I am so excited! This will be the first time I've ever seen it. My mom and I are traveling together and we've got a reservation at The Harrison, which looks amazing! I'll definitely take photos and write up a review. I'm particularly excited about the kabocha, delicata, and brussel sprout salad and the chocolate pretzel tart. Take a look at the menu. What would you order?

Update: Roasted Vegetable Soup

2008-11-06T12:50:00.004-05:00

I found a few more pictures of the roasted vegetable soup that I posted about the other day. Here's a shot of the tomatoes, leeks, and carrots in the lightly-oiled pan, about to go in the oven:

And here's a shot of the finished product, served with smoked cheddar and a whole wheat biscuit. This makes a wonderful meal for the cold, drizzly, late-fall days.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

2008-10-31T17:36:00.004-04:00

One of the best things about our CSA boxes this summer was the amazing array of heirloom tomatoes that came in August and September. My husband, Dan, is crazy about tomatoes, so most of them were eaten raw. As the weather started to cool, however, I wanted to try something a little different. I came across this roasted vegetable soup recipe while searching for a use for fennel and decided to give it shot. The method is incredibly simple and could work for almost any combination of vegetables. Basically, you roast the vegetables until soft, then puree them with some stock or broth and heat before serving. The first time I made it, I used leeks, carrots, and tomatoes, and the result was spectacular. Roasting the vegetables, rather than just boiling them, adds an incredible depth of flavor to a very simple dish. This recipe inspired me to create a new pasta sauce, which I'll describe in another post. I've since made the soup a few more times with different combinations, and it's sure to be a go-to recipe for me in the future.

Trip Wrap-up: Konstanz, Germany

2008-10-30T16:19:00.007-04:00

Remember when we went to Germany in August for a wedding, and I promised to have some great food posts when we got back? Well, I failed. I got so caught up in visiting with dear friends that I haven't seen in years that I just forgot to take pictures most of the time. But it's okay; sometimes you just need to put down the camera and enjoy the moment.

I did get a lot of pictures of people, and some of places, and one decent food photo (German pastries! Hallelujah!), which deserves its own post later. So for now, here's a little photo essay to share our amazing trip with you.

We stayed in Konstanz, a beautiful old town on what the Swiss call Lake Konstanz and the Germans call the Bodensee. Konstanz also borders Switzerland and is about 45 minutes by train from the Zurich airport. We stayed at the Golden Tulip Halm, which was conveniently located across from the train station, in the Old Town, near the lake front, and a short walk from the wedding venue. The room was nicely decorated and comfortable, and the service was good, for the most part, although the concierge got snippy at check-out time when I pointed out that she had charged us for breakfast ($30 per person per day!) every day even though we hadn't eaten there at all.

We had a great time walking around the Old Town and gawking at buildings several centuries old yet integrated in to modern life. Bakeries, electronics stores, pharmacies, and even a Woolworth's are housed in and next to medieval buildings. Many of the buildings have signs like these carved in to the stucco that provide historical information (i.e. year of construction, name, and original purpose). Every sign is different and there are some really beautiful and creative designs.

Between wedding events and rambling around the Old Town, we took breaks in coffee shops like this one. This picture was taken at Aran, which is sort of the German equivalent of Starbucks. There were big, wooden tables spread with beautiful food and design books, and the coffee came steaming hot in huge, round bowls that you had to cup with your hands. I tried the German version of a bagel and schmear, which was a thick slice of dark, multigrain bread topped with three different spreads. There must have been thirty options, and since my German is not very strong, I couldn't understand many of the labels, so we picked the prettiest colors. We ended up with an avocado spread, an olive spread, and a pinkish-orange thing that turned out to be a mixture of onions and cheese. This was one of the instances when, caught up in conversation with friends who live thousands of miles away from me, I ate almost the whole thing before looking down at a few lousy bites and realizing I should have taken a picture. Oops! It was tasty, relatively cheap, and we had a good time.

The wedding took place at the Inselhotel, a former Dominican monastery on a small private island very close to the Old Town. They have done an incredible job with the conversion, preserving as many elements of the old monastery as possible while integrating modern design elements, creating beautiful, light-filled spaces that maintain a sense of history. The reception was held in what must have been the church sanctuary, given the placement of the soaring stone columns. Fragments of frescoes punctuate the crisp white walls. The cloister, seen above, has been glassed in to create a central courtyard with a corridor running around the edge.

The day after the wedding, we all went to the bride's parents' house on the island of Reichenau. We sat for hours at the long table on their patio, surrounded by greenery (including grapevines) with views of sailboats on the lake and Switzerland beyond. We ate pastries and warm fleishkase (literally, "meat cheese," a pate-like loaf) on seed-encrusted buns. Later we grilled various types of German sausages and drank wine. In between, some people took a dip in the lake, and most of us went for a walk around the island. There's a pathway that follows the coast, and it is peppered with views like the one above.

Here's another shot from the pathway: one of the three medieval churches on the island. I believe this one is the Abbey.

It's hard to believe we were only there for a few days. This was my second trip to the area and Dan's first; neither of us has been anywhere else in Germany. When I told my German client that I was going to the Bodensee for a wedding, she gasped and declared, "That's the prettiest part of Germany!" I, for one, am inclined to believe her.

Whoa!

2008-10-29T22:26:00.002-04:00

Where did October go? The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of house guests and homecomings, punctuated by the health and behavioral problems of one very stubborn cat. (I think I hate going to the vet even more than she does, although when the doctor holds her down for her steroid shot, she does give a remarkable Linda Blair impression.) While I have been too caught up to post, rest assured that I never forget to eat, so I have lots of memorable meals to write about. I'll also add some more (not-even-close-to) Daily Threads, as well as a few travel posts and some reviews.

Why We Chose a CSA

2008-10-09T14:58:00.003-04:00

It's good for our budget. We elected both summer and winter CSAs; the summer season goes from June through October, while winter spreads from November to May. When we signed up last spring, then, we essentially pre-purchased a year's worth of vegetables. The total for both seasons came to about $500 -- this breaks down to less than $10 a week. A look at any of our weekly portions shows that we are getting a good deal here; the equivalent amount of fresh produce from our local Price Chopper would unquestionably cost quite a bit more, even if we bought the less-expensive non-organic vegetables.

It's good for our health. We selected an organic farm for our CSA; many, though not all, farms that offer CSAs follow organic practices. Among other things, organic means they don't use any chemical pesticides, so we don't have to worry about ingesting them. Also, because they don't travel as far, we receive the veggies much sooner after they are harvested. Typical grocery-store produce travels an average of two to three weeks before it is even sold. Since the nutritional value starts to decline immediately upon harvest, the sooner the produce is eaten, the better it is for your body.

Our CSA also offers a third health benefit: because we receive such a bounty each week, our vegetable consumption has gone up. While I would always buy vegetables when I went to the grocery store before, I rarely bought enough. It's too easy to get distracted by things like cereal or boxed mac and cheese. Now, every Friday, there's a boxful of veggies in our kitchen, and we are forced to consume them - or deal with the guilt of letting good veggies go to waste. Most of the time, we successfully consume (or preserve) the whole load.

It's good for our taste buds. Because these vegetables have a shorter and quicker trip from farm to table, they are fresher and more flavorful when we consume them. Also, much of the produce available in grocery stores is of varieties that are bred for durability and uniformity rather than taste. Because the veggies don't have to travel so far, our farmer can grow heirloom varieties that offer richer and more complex flavors.

It's good for our community. CSAs help farmers because they get some guaranteed income early in the year during a period when most aren't able to sell much produce. By signing up during the off-season, we provide farmers with a much-needed cash-flow injection at the hardest time of the year. They can then use the money from CSA subscriptions to buy seeds for the new crops. It also helps them judge how much to plant, because they know how much they need to produce to satisfy the CSA subscriptions.

Keeping small, family-run farms going is important to me because I appreciate the rural qualities of the area I live in. I like driving by farmland, seeing productive fields, and knowing that there are lots of places very nearby where I can go to pick berries or apples. I also like that most of my food is coming from fellow community members rather than from an enormous, impersonal, factory-style organization thousands of miles away. CSAs help farmers, but as I made clear above, CSA subscribers also benefit enormously from the relationship. This is not charity; it's good old-fashioned commerce, working in such a way that it benefits all parties involved - just as it should.

It's good for the environment. Organic farms don't use synthetic pesticides, which run off in to our rivers and seep in to our groundwater. Most small farms also rely on old-fashioned practices to keep soil productive. Rather than planting the same crop over and over on the same space, which can leech the soil of its nutrients, small farmers, who have to make the most of their limited land to survive, often practice crop rotation that allows the soil to stay productive. This means they are getting the best use out of the land.

Also, because CSAs are local in nature, they help to conserve our energy resources. Much of the produce in grocery stores has been transported thousands of miles, either by boat or truck. That requires vast amounts of oil and gasoline. Buying locally ensures that these limited resources aren't wasted. When we went to North Carolina this summer, I was flabbergasted to see only California peaches for sale. Why would you ship something from three thousand miles away when the same product was growing all around? A few days later, we made it to a nearby farmers' market, where to my delight, we found fresh North Carolina peaches. They were twice the size of the grocery-store peaches, packed with twenty times the flavor, and hadn't wasted valuable resources in getting to us.

So there you have it: my many reasons for CSA participation. There are a few downsides, which I will address in another post, but they are far, far outweighed by the benefits.

potato-leek soup

2008-10-08T11:17:00.002-04:00

Remember the potato-leek soup in progress that I posted the other day? Here is a shot of the finished product from another batch. We had this for lunch on Saturday with a side salad of field greens, carrots, and Macintosh apples in Greek dressing.

POTATO-LEEK SOUP
2 leeks
5-6 medium russet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
1 can broth of your choice (I like fat-free, low-sodium chicken)
water
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the leeks thoroughly. Since dirt gets between the layers, I find the best way to do this is to cut the green part off, then slice the white part in half down the center and gently peel back the layers under running water, looking for clods of dirt. Slice the white parts thinly and saute them in butter or oil in a deep stock pot.

While the leeks are cooking, wash and thinly slice the potatoes. You can peel them first if you want, but the peel has fiber and adds a nice shot of color. Once the leeks are soft, add the potatoes and the can of broth. Add one or two cans full of water - enough to cover all the potatoes and leeks. Add chopped leek greens. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes, until potatoes are very tender. Remove from heat. Using a potato masher, break up the potatoes. If you want a really smooth soup, you could use a hand-held blender, but I prefer a slightly chunky texture. Stir to incorporate and season to taste. Makes four servings.

Daily Thread #2

2008-10-07T09:39:00.002-04:00

Anthropologie is my favorite store. I say that without ever having set foot in one of their storefronts or having purchased a single garment. For years, however, it has been my virtual shopping destination of choice. If I won the lottery, along with buying a house, endowing a scholarship, and taking the whole family on a trip, one of the first things I would do is go to an Anthropologie store and buy anything that I liked, which would be damn near everything.

This adorable pullover from Anthropologie embodies everything that I like about their clothes: it's cute, interesting, wearable, and would not look dated in a year or even five. It's quirky enough to stand the test of time and not be slaughtered by the trend wave, but there's something very classy about it, too. The angled lines, nipped waist, and slightly flared peplum would all flatter my curvy shape. It could go over a camisole in the warmer months or a longer-sleeved shirt in the winter. If it didn't cost $98, it would be in my closet right now.

Photo from Anthropologie.com.

pumpkin bread

2008-10-07T09:08:00.002-04:00

I have an absurd love of pumpkins. As autumn rolls in and all of a sudden piles of pumpkins pop up along these country roads, I become giddy and can't help but squeal, "Look! PUMPKINS!" every time we pass a patch. To me, they are the most beautiful vegetable. I love their rotund form, their twisting stumps, and their relentlessly bold color. No wallflowers, pumpkins declare themselves proudly.

For several years, starting when I was around eight years old, I had a backyard vegetable garden. One year I grew pumpkins. I got a small crop and picked most of them, but left the largest one on the vine to get bigger. Every day I went out to check on it and decided to let it grow just a bit longer. Finally one morning I decided it was time, but when I went out to the garden, my pumpkin was gone. Fat and happy the day before, it had been attacked by slugs in the night. All that remained was the stump and a few sad, stringy seeds. It was an important lesson: patience may be a virtue, but hesitation can get you screwed.

As much as I love pumpkins, I rarely bother with roasting them and scooping out the sweet flesh. Why go to all that trouble when the canned puree is flavorful, perfectly smooth, and cheap? I always get the plain pumpkin, not the pie mix with all its added sugars and spices, because I prefer to spice it myself and I actually rarely make pie. My three favorite things to make with canned pumpkin are pumpkin ravioli, curried pumpkin soup, and pumpkin bread.

I made the season's first batch of pumpkin bread last Friday using the recipe from my circa 1970 Betty Crocker cookbook, which I picked up in a thrift store just before moving in to my first apartment. The recipe, which uses one 15oz can or half a large can of pumpkin, makes two 8" loaves. The bread is so irresistible that the two of us could easily go through a whole loaf in a day or two, so I split the batter among four mini loaf pans and freeze some. Later in the season we can pull one out of the freezer at night and have it ready for breakfast in the morning.

Daily Thread #1

2008-10-06T14:55:00.001-04:00

When I started this blog, I said I would mostly focus on food in the beginning but eventually expand to other topics. Since the regular CSA season is winding down and my life is (almost) no longer dominated by what to do with all those veggies, now is a good time to branch out.

If you know me in real life, you know that one of my passions is clothing. Not necessarily fashion, per se, with its endless label obsessions, but clothing, in all its wonderful forms. I even went to grad school to study its history. As times are tight and I don't have the means to purchase or create many of the things I would like to, I'm going on a window shopping spree. In addition to continuting to write about cooking and restaurants, I'm debuting a new series for the blog called "Daily Threads." The idea is that I'll post an interesting item of clothing (just about) every day.

For our first Daily Thread, check out this shift dress from Banana Republic. It may not look like much at first, but this is actually a very rare breed: a shift dress that works for curvy girls. As a textbook hourglass (bust and hip measurements identical, with waist exactly ten inches less), shift dresses have long been out of the question for me. They tend to make my midsection disappear under a shapeless swath of fabric. But my friend Amelia, who has a very similar build, just bought this dress and raves about it. The secret in this case is the curved bodice seams and seamed waist; unlike the usual darts, this construction, along with the knit material, allows the dress to conform to our curves rather than hiding them. And at $59.99, it's a pretty good deal.

photo from BananaRepublic.com

Smorgasboard!

2008-10-02T10:03:00.001-04:00

Here is a shot of that applesauce spice cake I blogged about earlier. Now that I know to build in at least eight hours for the flavor to develop, it's earned a place in my baking arsenal. This time I topped it with - what else? - cream cheese frosting.

This is the beginning of a pot of potato-leek soup I made a few weeks back. It was simple, delicious, and perfect for the gray, rainy days we've been doomed with lately. No picture of the finished soup because it didn't come out well (too late for natural light - the days are getting shorter). I served it with popovers.

Whole-wheat pancakes with walnuts, dried cranberries, and Vermont maple syrup - the perfect beginning for a Saturday. I apologize for the lousy picture quality; this was during the borrowed-camera phase and this particular camera was definitely my least favorite. I'm so glad to have my new Canon now!

Kale and azuki beans is a very simple but delicious and healthy dish. Azuki beans are small, red beans popular in Japan; they are usually sold in the bulk bins at the grocery store. This dish starts with sauteing greens (in this case, fresh kale, but I've used frozen spinach many times before) with a little garlic and oil, then adding the cooked beans. I usually spritz the combo with Bragg's Liquid Aminos, but you could use soy sauce instead. Serve over brown rice and you have a tasty, nutritious, and cheap meal.

And lastly, no food story here, but I snapped this shot at a rest stop on the way back last weekend. This is why I live in New Hampshire.

Out to Eat: Jacqueline's Tea Room

2008-09-30T12:51:00.001-04:00

I recently visited Jacqueline's Tea Room, a lovely little house in Freeport, Maine, where for $23.75 per person, you get a pre-set four-course menu and all the tea you could possibly drink (from a selection of about seventy varieties!).

Jacqueline sets the tables with teapots, cups, saucers, and plates from her extensive personal collection.

Grammy came along for the first time. White wrought iron, floral prints, and pearl-bedecked crystal chandeliers make up the little-girl's-fantasy decor.

For Dan and I, this was the second visit. On display throughout the house are books, stationery, scarves, jewelry, and of course, tea implements, all of which are for sale. You can also purchase any of the dozens of teas on the menu.

We started with scones. Here's a delicious almond scone with clotted cream and lemon curd. Strawberry-raspberry-cherry jam was also available.

Next came the tea sandwiches. Clockwise from the top: chicken salad, peach and ginger, salmon roll, cucumber with lavender. All were tasty, but this was the best chicken salad I've ever had: bedecked with cranberries, almonds, and celery, and held together with something that didn't quite taste like mayonnaise (a plus, since I am not a mayo fan). The peach and ginger was delicious, too, and could have easily been included on the pastry plate.

And what a pastry selection it was! Clockwise from top left: nut cakes with caramel, chocolate-cherry cake, jam tarts with Earl Grey cream, and almond macaroons with passion-fruit curd. The maraschino cherry baked in a chocolate cupcake was my least favorite; it's a cute concept, but the flavor was just not as interesting as anything else on the plate.

Both Dan and I agreed that the nut cake was the best. The texture was moist and incredibly velvety, and the caramel was just right.

For the final course, a touch of berry sorbet graced with a nasturtium. In the cooler months, instead of ending with sorbet, the meal begins with a cup of soup. By this point we were absolutely stuffed; between the three of us, we'd gone through at least six pots of tea.

Having been twice now, I can definitely say that I love Jacqueline's Tea Room. It's the perfect place for a bridal or baby shower or just a special treat!

Jacqueline's Tea Room is open Tuesday through Friday and every other weekend, with seatings at 11am and 1pm. Reservations required.

Jacqueline's Tea Room
201 Main Street
Freeport, Maine
207-865-2123

Out of the Box, Week 14

2008-09-29T11:19:00.001-04:00

I'm back! I apologize for the posting drought. After a frustrating month of borrowed cameras, I finally got a new camera and will resume regular posting. These tomatillos came in the box on week 14 (September 19th). I've always been intrigued by tomatillos - their brilliant color! the contrast between smooth skin and papery husk! - but I've never actually tried them. Once again, this CSA has expanded my boundaries.

The weekend the tomatillos arrived, Dan and I went back to Maine for our niece's birthday party. We got in late after picking up my little brother Zach and his girlfriend Maria from the bus station. As I unpacked the CSA box, we all stood around the kitchen chatting. When I pulled out the tomatillos, Maria, who's from Texas, got very excited. She described the flavor as like a tomato, but more tangy and sour - as though infused with lime. This description fueled my excitement, as lime is one of my all-time favorite flavors. If the acid weren't so bad for my teeth, I would eat a whole lime every single day.

I took Maria's advice and decided to use the tomatillos for a green salsa. I was surprised to find the tomatillos were much more firm than tomatoes, but it gave the salsa a nice, chunky texture without too much juice. I husked and sliced three tomatillos and threw them in the mini-Cuisinart with an onion, a jalapeno, a few cloves of garlic, and a squirt of lemon juice. The result was delicious, but way too hot! My mistake was throwing in the whole jalapeno (and some seeds) without testing it first. I've made salsa before with the same kind of jalapeno and found it too mild; I forgot that every pepper can be different.

I first served the tomatillo salsa with burritos filled with brown rice, black beans, and chopped heirloom tomatoes, covered with some cheese and baked in the oven. Because the salsa was so hot, we could only use a little bit at a time. However, we had plenty of leftover beans and rice, so we ate that for lunch a few times with the green salsa mixed in.

While the tomatillo salsa was great, and I would definitely like to experiment more with tomatillos in the future, there was another surprise benefit to this experience. As I went to throw away the waste - tomatillo husks, garlic peels, onion skin, and jalapeno seeds - I suddenly saw a beautiful combination of colors and textures in my hands, and decided a photo shoot detour was necessary before heading to the trash can. Here's a few examples. Now am I crazy, or is this beautiful?

More husk photos here.

Woohoo!

2008-09-09T17:08:00.001-04:00

I finally opened my Etsy shop! Earrings by me, artwork by my mother. Check it out:

Etsy
Buy Handmade
TwoLadies

http://twoladies.etsy.com

funk update

2008-09-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

Remember the funk? Sleep, fresh air, and veggies are a wonderful combination. I felt and looked infinitely better after my weekend detox. My skin got better in less than a day and has stayed above par since then.

Time may not heal all wounds, but it sure helps lousy spice cakes. The applesauce spice cake that was so terrible when I made it tasted much better the following day. It just needed time for the flavors to develop. Now that I know this, the recipe is definitely in my keeper pile.

catching up

2008-09-08T16:02:00.001-04:00

There are always a few meals that, for whatever reason, don't make it on the blog during the week I make them. They linger in the corners of my memory, haunting my "to blog" list, and are borne ever farther back by the waves of new photos in my Flickr photostream. They are perfectly good meals, decently photographed, so there's no reason not to post about them. So now, when I don't have regular access to a camera, is actually a perfect time to sweep the corners and post the pieces that I've missed.

This was a fantastic and satisfying veggie-only dinner from week 10. I made a simple red sauce from mushrooms, onions, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and rosemary, and I served it over faux-fried eggplant. Tasty as it is, I don't fry eggplant (or much of anything, really) - most of the time, fried foods just aren't worth the calories to me. I'd rather have ice cream. So my favorite way to prepare eggplant (and zucchini) is to fake-fry it: I dip the sliced veggies in milk or plain yogurt, then in bread crumbs (seasoned with herbs and sometimes parmesan cheese) and bake them in the oven at 375 for 20-30 minutes. The result is unbeatable - all of the crispiness of fried eggplant (or zucchini) with none of the grease. In this case, I also served corn on the cob and sliced cucumbers.

One of my favorite vegetables this summer is yellow squash. It's a new favorite for me; while I liked it alright before, for some reason this summer I just can't get enough of it. I especially love the teeny, tiny baby squashes we've received so often in our CSA box; they are awesome raw - crunchy yet tender. The larger ones usually end up grilled, with peanut sauce and other grilled veggies, or sometimes very lightly steamed. Several weeks back, I decided to experiment with the squash and use up several pantry items at the same time.

I ended up with this tasty, if a little strange, concotion: sliced squash, sauteed and sprinkled with balsamic vinaigrette, tossed with Wacky Mac and feta cheese. I was inspired in part by recipe that I stumbled across for pan-seared balsamic squash; since my squash was only lightly cooked and not seared, I'm not sure it quite stood up to the balsamic. Maybe it's just me, since I'm actually not a big fan of balsamic vinegar in general. But the feta worked nicely with both the squash and the balsamic, and Dan enjoyed the dish. Luckily, he's pretty easy to please.

Out of the Box, Week 10

2008-08-23T20:10:00.001-04:00

Just popping in to post a picture of this week's spectacular haul.
It's almost too much to fit in the frame!
Okay, let's pull out and see it all:

The quantity of vegetables this week is mind-boggling. We have:
--two small heads of lettuce
--two small bunches of bitter field greens
--two heads of bok choy
--assorted potatoes
--half a dozen onions
--SEVENTEEN tomatoes!
--a pint of assorted baby tomatoes
--three cucumbers
--two small yellow squash
--one delicata squash
--green beans
--six ears of corn

We already had an eggplant, four ears of corn, hot peppers, and garlic left over from last week, as well as a big bag of cucumbers from Dan's boss. I should have no problem sticking to just vegetables this weekend. In fact, I think I'll have to in order to get through all of this.

(By the way, these photos were taken with a borrowed camera - mine's almost certainly beyond repair.)

blech

2008-08-22T11:02:00.001-04:00

There's no denying it: I'm in a funk.

Our whirlwind trip to Germany was amazing and wonderful and all that, and I'll post about it as soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off my broken camera.

See where the funk begins? The last night in Konstanz, I dropped my camera and now it doesn't work.

We left Germany on Sunday and were supposed to arrive in Boston that night, but when a mechanical error canceled the first flight, we missed our connection and had an unplanned stay in Paris.

This is where everyone goes, "Ooh! Paris! How nice!" Not exactly. Not even close. We didn't have enough time to go in to the city at all; we did manage a reasonable night's sleep at a lousy, institutional-style hostel masquerading as a chain hotel.

Between not getting enough sleep before the trip, not getting enough sleep during the trip, and the extra day of travel, I was exhausted. Add to that complete overindulgence (I don't think I ate anything in Germany other than meat products, pastries, and wine), and I look and feel like utter dog retch. My omnipresent purple eye circles have gotten darker. My lower lids are puffing out like a bullfrog's chest. I've got flaming blotches all over the left side of my face. I can barely drag my sorry carcass out of bed and when I do, I have a headache more often than not.

Yesterday I tried baking to cheer myself up and that completely failed. I made this applesauce spice cake with a cream cheese frosting. It smelled amazing, but what a disappointment! The cake was bland and was completely overwhelmed by the too-sweet frosting. I can't remember the last time I baked something and didn't like it. I blame the funk.

So what to do? I have a three-part plan for this weekend.

1. SLEEP. Loads of it. Early to bed and naps in the afternoon.

2. FRESH AIR. To counteract the sleep. I don't want to sleep myself into sluggishness, and I could probably use the shot of Vitamin D.

3. FRUITS & VEGGIES. The only fruit I got in Germany had either been pressed & fermented or baked in to decadence. I don't remember vegetables at all, except for french fries at the 24-hour McDonald's (thickly-cut wedges -- much better than the shoestring ones). Otherwise it was sausage, fleishkase, more sausage, trout, and ribs. I'm going to try to avoid meat, dairy, and grains, and just load my system full of veggies - a nutrient reboot.

We'll see if my plan works. Cross your fingers! I'll report back Monday.

leaving (yet again)

2008-08-12T23:57:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow morning we're heading to Konstanz, Germany for a friend's wedding. The region we're visiting is known for its excellent wines and fish and the hotel we're staying at has a Moroccan restaurant that is supposed to be spectacular, so I should have some great posts when we get back next week.