Rose's Kitchen

Chocolate Banana Icebox Cake

2008-03-25T07:03:00.002-04:00

My friend Jesse talks about a lot of different kinds of food. One lazy evening, he brought up his ex-girlfriend's mom's icebox cake. He worked himself up so much, I figured, whatever, I'll make it. After consulting him on ingredients and my boyfriend got a little grilling, I think I had a handle on it. Some cookies, some pudding, some bananas, more pudding, some crumb topping. Of course, that's way too simple. Where was the upscale factor, particularly for a dinner party?

I'll make my own homemade pudding! And so I went. And here is the first of many icebox cakes that I will make. I already have ideas on how to play with it. Orange and cream icebox cake. Berry icebox cake. Double chocolate icebox cake. Oh, I'm going to have some fun.

Chocolate Banana Icebox Cake
Ingredients
Graham crackers
Chocolate wafer cookies
Vanilla pudding (about 2 cups) recipe follows
Chocolate pudding (about 4 cups) recipe follows
Sliced bananas (about 3 bananas-worth)

Procedure
1. Spray a 13x9 pan, lay down the graham crackers in a single layer.

2. Spread warm chocolate pudding.

3. Layer the banana slices.

4. Layer the chocolate wafer cookies.

5. Spread in warm vanilla pudding.

6. Put about 5 chocolate wafer cookies and 2 graham crackers in a plastic zip storage bag. Bang on it with a rolling pin until crumbs. Press a layer of crumbs into the vanilla pudding.

7. Refrigerate at least one day. Add whipped cream if you'd like!

Vanilla Pudding
adapted from Homemade Vanilla Pudding at Allrecipes.com
(I added egg yolks--pudding needs egg yolk)

Ingredients
2 cups milk
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter

Procedure
1. In a heat safe bowl, mix 1/2 cup milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt and egg yolks. Beat until smooth.

2. In a medium saucepan rinsed with cold water then shaken (this keeps milk from scalding, apparently), heat the remaining milk until just bubbling at the edges.

3. Pour a little milk into the milk and sugar mixture, whisking enthusiastically. Slowly at the rest of the milk as the mixture tempers.

4. Once smooth, return the mixture to the saucepan (now rinsed of milk skin bits) on a medium low flame. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens.

5. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter until combined.

6. Serve warm, put in icebox cake or refrigerate. If you don't like pudding skin, cover with plastic wrap and press the wrap into the pudding surface, then refrigerate.

Chocolate Pudding
recipe slightly adapted from Joy of Baking's Chocolate Pudding Recipe, but it's mostly hers

Ingredients
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour)
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (the original recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate, so feel free to use that, but the bittersweet really adds a gourmet twist)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature (cut into small pieces)

Procedure
1. In a large stainless steel (heatproof) bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Then whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk until you have a thick paste. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking to blend into the cocoa paste mixture. Set aside while you heat the milk and cream.

2. First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. Doing this step prevents the milk from scorching. Then pour in the remaining 2 cups milk with the cream.

3. Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean large, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 3 - 5 minutes). At this point, in the original recipe, it asks that you strain the pudding to remove lumps. I found that whisking the crap out of the pudding while it cooks keeps it from lumping, but if you get lumps, strain the pudding after removing it from heat.

3. Add the finely chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and butter, stirring gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth.

4. Serve warm, put in icebox cake or refrigerate. If you don't like pudding skin, cover with plastic wrap and press the wrap into the pudding surface, then refrigerate.

Test Kitchen: Icebox Cake /Research

2008-03-16T19:14:00.002-04:00

So a friend of mine loves icebox cake and requested it for dessert at my next dinner party. What he described to me doesn't sound like cake, but I think I can figure it out, but clearly, Googling it first is a must.

Smitten Kitchen has a version that involved chocolate wafer cookies (apparently Nabisco does the original) and whipped cream here, but the one my friend described definitely had pudding. I remember Nilla wafers had a pie version with bananas (I think he said bananas were in his version) and vanilla pudding. I found something interesting sounding--this eclair icebox cake at Cooks.com, but I don't want to use instant pudding--not for a dinner party! I remember Dorie Greenspan talking about making your own pudding, so I think I'll swank it up that way. Plus a quick text just confirmed that the version my friend's craving has bananas in it. And chocolate. There's a recipe for chocolate pudding in that Dorie post...

Another text came in and a consult with the boyfriend and I think it's going to be layers of graham cracker, homemade vanilla and chocolate puddings, plus sliced bananas. Probably whipped cream, too, because I have heavy cream from the farmer's market, too. Mmmm...and honey...

Photos...I promise!

Homemade Corned Beef on Homemade Rye

2008-03-10T07:39:00.007-04:00

In honor of Parade Day, I set out to make my own sandwiches-- corned beef on rye, of course. I took a couple of recipes off the internet and made everything at home. No, I didn't "corn" the beef (I don't even know how that works, actually), but I did boil the 8 pounder myself and baked some fresh rye. I thought I would share because they were delicious!

A few notes on the recipes, first, though. I made the two loaves of rye, but I highly recommend at least doubling it. You end up with a nice dense bread, but not a whole lot of it. There were maybe 8 workable slices (I'm not counting the end pieces, because those are really more for chewing on yourself, right?) per loaf, so for two loaves, you may get 8 sandwiches. And trust me, depending on the size of your corned beef, you'll end up with enough meat for more than 8 sandwiches. I certainly did.

And as far as the corned beef is concerned, keep an eye on the water and the flame. You do not want to boil it! You want it to be at a very slow simmer. And seriously let it take 4 or 5 hours (or even a little more) to cook. That's what makes it beautiful. Taste it a little before you pull it out. Also, it doesn't get that red color on the outside until after it rests for a little while, so don't worry that you've ruined it (like I did).

Slow Cooked Corned Beef for Sandwiches
via this recipe at AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
6 pounds of corned beef (I ended up using an 8 pounder and this recipe worked fine)

1/4 cup of peppercorns (I used black, but would like to try to use white sometime)

2 12 oz beers (I used Bud Light because it's what we had in the house, but I bet Sam Adams would be fine, too)

2 bay leaves (I think I ended up using about 4, because they were a bit broken up)

1 bulb's worth of garlic cloves, peeled and separated

That seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef

Procedure

1. Use a large pot and put everything in there, plus enough water to cover the corned beef and including the liquids that came with the meat.

2. Cover and crank up the heat. Don't let it boil! Turn down the heat once it starts to simmer and let it cook low for at least 4 hours, although mine went about 5 and a half hours, including the half an hour it took for the water to simmer.

3. Carefully take out the corned beef and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Slice and serve on rye bread (see below) with a little mustard. You could add sauerkraut or coleslaw or cheese, too.

Country-Style Rye
via this recipe at CDKitchen.com

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour instead and only ended up using 3 cups)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 packages Active Dry or Rapid Rise Yeast

1 tablespoon caraway seed ( didn't use caraway seed because I didn't have it, but I'd like to try this again with the seeds)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups very warm water (120 to 130 F)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil because that's what I had and it tasted just fine)

2 cups rye flour

1 egg white lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Procedure
1. In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, sugar, caraway seed (if using) and salt.

2. In smaller bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water (I find that a temperature of 110 degrees F is good for this). Cover and let sit for at least 5 minutes. The original recipe did not have you do this, but I've had bad yeast before and prefer to proof it this way before I add it to the dough. It should be a little foamy on the top if the yeast is good.

3. Add proofed yeast and oil to the dry ingredients. Mix until all is combined.

4. Sprinkle in the rye flour and mix.

5. Now add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

6. Knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough, about 6 to 8 minutes. It's a tough little sucker of a dough, so make sure you hands are ready for a workout.

7. Grease a bowl and turn the ball of dough around in it so it's greased all over. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

8. Punch down the dour and divide it into two balls. Shape these well and place on a slightly greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled (probably another hour). I usually start pre-heating the oven at this stage of bread baking, just to give the loaves an extra oomph to rise.

9. Make slashes with a sharp knife to score the dough. I went with a diamond pattern. Brush the loaves with the egg white mixture.

10. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 35 minutes or until done. I found that it was browning fast, so I turned it down to 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

11. Remove from pan and let cool. And really do let them cool, because if not, you end up destroying the bread when you slice it. I live to cool my bread covered. I feel like it keeps it moist.

Simple Chocolate Mousse

2008-03-05T07:13:00.003-05:00

I use my Google Reader to keep track of all my RSS feeds for things I want to read on the web. One great feature is that I can "star" my favorites and I tend to star a lot of recipes. One Saturday I decided to try Simple Chocolate Mousse from Serious Eats, which was a Cook the Book feature there from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme, which Dorie Greenspan, my favorite baker ever, helped write. This was posted for Valentine's Day and I ended up making it shortly after.

It really is simple and delicious. I wish my photos were better, but I'm not going to let a couple lousy shots keep me from sharing with you. If you've never made mousse, this is the perfect beginner's recipe.

Simple Chocolate Mousse
blatantly stolen from Serious Eats
(to the left is my bad photo of the last mousse)

Ingredients
6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup (80 grams) whole milk
1 large egg yolk
4 large egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar

Procedure
1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over—not touching—simmering water or in the microwave oven. If necessary, transfer the chocolate to a bowl that is large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Keep the chocolate on the counter until needed. The chocolate should still feel warm to the touch when you’re ready to use it.

2. Bring the milk to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Using a small whisk, gently blend the milk into the chocolate. Add the egg yolk and whisk it into the chocolate, again working gently; stop when the yolk is incorporated.

3. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed just until they hold soft peaks. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat the whites until they are firm but still glossy. Scoop one-third of the whites out of the bowl onto the chocolate mixture. Working with a whisk, beat the whites into the chocolate to lighten the mixture. Now, with either the whisk or a large flexible rubber spatula, delicately but thoroughly fold the rest of the beaten whites into the chocolate.

4. Turn the mousse into a large serving bowl—glass is very nice for this dessert—or into individual coupes or cups, and refrigerate for 1 hour to set.

Keeping: Although the texture of the mousse will be lighter if you serve it shortly after chilling it, it can be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days – after which time it will be just as delicious, if a little denser.

Test Kitchen: Questions

2008-02-26T21:09:00.002-05:00

Rice Cubes? Can I make rice cubes with stuff in them in a non-stick sprayed ice cube tray? I bet I can. And maybe put a fat strip of nori around them. Squish in vinegared sushi rice, push in a piece of cooked shrimp or tuna, add more rice. Set in freezer a few minutes. Hmmm...will let you know. [Inspired by this post at Lunch in a Box.net]

Pasta e Fagioli Veggie Burger? A patty made with millet, beans slightly mushed, with or without some sweet italian turkey sausage, parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella. Would have to use the food processor. Ohh, garlic. Yes. Roasted and smooth. [inspired by this post at The Teacher Learns to Cook]

Whatever happened to the malted milk muffins? Uhm, dunno. But buttermilk probably needs to be in the house.

Silken tofu cheesecake? I do have silken tofu. This recipe does the calorie math for me. This one looks really yummy. Okay...I'll try it in the next few days, although I still haven't gotten to the flatbread (grumble, grumble).

Superbowl Cake (A Week Late)

2008-02-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

I should have posted this last Monday, but I didn't.

Now, before you judge--yes, the Giants goalposts are crooked and the Patriots logo is missing a dot on the "i"--remember it was my first fondant decorating attempt. I think I would have had more time if I hadn't had a dinner party the night before...

The letters in the Giants logo were hand cut with a little paring knife and a reference shot. My friend Jesse left his sunglasses at my house the night before and I was just getting started when he walked in the door. He sat at the kitchen table with me for a couple of hours, trying to see how it was all going to come out. He was impressed, but since I'm inspired by Duff at Charm City Cakes, I was not entirely happy, but since it was my first try, it turned out okay. I didn't fondant the field so that people wouldn't be cracking their teeth on hardened fondant when it came to actually cut into the cake. It's a cream cheese frosting dyed green, with a chocolate cake in the middle. I used this recipe from Serious Eats, just halving it because I was not baking two cakes. It was pretty tasty, but I think I prefer a moister crumb. But then, I might just have left it in the oven too long. The lines on the field were done with Wilton cookie icing in a bottle, which made it easier to draw straight lines. There are actually the right number or lines, which is only thanks to my little sketch.

So this is the Patriots side, with the missing dot on the "i." I know, I know. But I really rushed this job because I was a little tired after Saturday's dinner party. I don't know why I thought a cooking marathon was a good idea, but I learned a lot. For the Pats logo I just rolled out a thin snake of white fondant and shaped it into letters, then rolled it with a rolling pin onto the red blob of fondant. I really wanted a cool looking Superbowl logo in the middle, but as that piece went on 5 minutes before we walked out the door, I just put a Roman numeral 42 up there. The goal posts were put on once we arrived at the party we were going to. They're pretzel sticks covered in fondant. I think the Patriots one had more time to dry, which is why the Giants one is crooked. I fussed with it all night, really, but whatever. I think the next time I try a cake I'll make sure it's a little bigger, because it would have been a thousand times easier to create all of it a little bigger. And I really wish I would have had time to make the mini Tom Brady and Eli Manning football players.

Maybe next year.

Experimenting: Butternut Squash Update

2008-02-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

The butternut squash quinoa applesauce (abbreviated to BSQIAS and then playfully named Basqias) muffins were good. They need another 1/4 cup of flour, and the white flour should be half white flour and half whole wheat, but they're good. I do like them.

Not so much the butternut squash quinoa applesauce cream cheese mash. Yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

And making it into a custard? Yeah, no way. After further examination, that wouldn't be the best combination. Although adding quinoa to an omelette is not a bad idea.

And the malted milk muffins? They worked really, really well. But I want to up that malted taste very, very badly. And I think some chocolate would be a-okay. I think, calorie-wise, they can totally swing it. And I was so proud of myself, because I got them to puff up good. Yay, chemistry!

Oh--and I had a grilled cheese of provolone and prosciutto with a little raspberry honey drizzled over two slices of homemade millet quinoa whole wheat bread (I call this Saturday Farm bread, because I was inspired by a loaf I had when I had egg salad when I visited Kim at the Farm). You know you wish you were me.

I know, I know. Photos. I promise, soon.

Experimenting: Butternut Squash Pancakes

2008-02-05T21:56:00.000-05:00

Actually, this post should be titled:

Experimenting: Butternut Squash Applesauce Quinoa Pancakes

but that's just a little pretentious, right?

Maybe because I read a lot of food blogs and today was World Pancake Day, I had a hankering for pancakes. But, in my desire to experiment and try different things, I couldn't leave well enough alone.

There aren't any photos of this experiment, mostly because I didn't think it would necessarily be something worth blogging. And while they were not a complete success, I found a flavor combination that I really liked and already have plans to do something with tomorrow morning, so this is more of a sketchbook post.

To explain my lack of butter and eggs, as well as oil, I'm trying to see what I can do with certain vegan restrictions and an eye on calories. These were not necessarily low-calorie, but they work as a dinner-time plate. I'm also just mildly obsessed with applesauce at the moment, as well as whole grains, which explains the quinoa.

I was lame and used waffle mix as my base for this. It was there and the calories were already added up. I added a cup of cubed boiled butternut squash, some applesauce, lots of cinnamon, a hair of nutmeg, a sprinkling of ginger and some allspice and some cooked quinoa. Red quinoa, because that's what was at the organic store. A good amount of time on a griddle and they were warm and feel good in my tummy.

But thinking about it now, I think that the one thing I need to subtract is the pancake factor. I'm thinking adding butternut squash mash and applesauce, along with the spices, on the stove with some quinoa. Something has to go in to add some creaminess, so I'm thinking a dollop of cream cheese melted in with some vanilla extract, a splash of milk, perhaps.

But then add a couple eggs (or really, just the yolks), put it in a ramekin and cook it slow and low in the oven for custard. Not vegan, but that's okay. I'm not one.

And since I love muffins, I think this would make a nice whole wheat muffin. I have vital wheat gluten, so I know I can lift the whole wheat, although without yeast, I don't know if I can use it. I think I'll try anyway, for a cakey crumb. That's the idea, anyway.

So, tomorrow will be a test of all three.

And since the oven will be on, maybe I'll try that malted milk muffin I've been wanting to make up. That'll probably take a few tries. I'm imagining a milkshake muffin, really. Chocolate may become involved, perhaps as chips, melted and glazing the tops or as a gooey dollop in the middle.

And I'm starting to feel like noodles and rice balls again. Oh--there's carrots, parsnips and turkey sausage, too.

Is this what it feels like to work in food every day? Because it's work, but it's also just a little blissful.

Picnic Bento

2008-01-26T23:13:00.001-05:00

My favorite bento yet...

The nutrition facts of each component

Left: Tomato and lettuce salad with pimentos
Right: Prosciutto potato salad made with soft Laughing Cow cheese

Left: A roasted spinach and artichoke wrap with parmesan
Right: Mushroom stuffed with turkey sausage

From the Formica Top #6: Test Kitchen (+ Other Things)

2008-01-26T18:03:00.000-05:00

From the Formica Top #6

Test Kitchen
I have gotten bored. Very bored. After a marathon of holiday baking (and some holiday eating), I'm ready to try something new and not eat the same old thing because I know it's healthy. It's time to find new healthy things!

By healthy, I do not mean creative salads. I mean using whole grains like millet and quinoa, seafood like salmon and scallops, leaner options for the fatty classics like turkey and chicken sausage instead of the greasy pork versions, trying new things like tempeh and all sorts of mushrooms.

This has translated into millet and quinoa whole wheat bread, portabella mushrooms stuffed with turkey sausage, pimentos, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, smoked salmon and cream cheese pizza and new bentos.

All of these, of course, will eventually end up here, but I thought I would fill you in lest you think me a lazy cook in the New Year. In fact, next week is a busy cooking week, but I'll talk about all that in the next sections.

Hold your breath for new features like Investigating, a series on trying things I've never tried before, Cook the Book: Tapas by Penelope Casas, which I got for the holidays, and, come full-blown farm season, recipes local to Connecticut, stories about the farms and other bits that I haven't come up for a name with yet.

I have big plans for this blog this year...

A Week of Cooking
I'm hosting a meeting at my center at work on Friday and I'm determined to provide not only coffee, but a nice little table of refreshments--understated but delicious. It's not a big deal of a meeting, but it is a little important, especially to me.

I think a dozen muffins, a yummy loaf of bread with jam and butter, coffee and juice would be just fine. But with Baking by Dorie Greenspan still checked out of the library (they very nicely allowed me to extend my check out, mostly because I begged and pleaded), the choices are never easy.

Then Saturday is Imbolc (or Candlemas), the first pagan sabbat of the year. I'm looking to a tapas inspired dinner that isn't too over the top. I've learned my lesson about making dinner parties hard for myself, so an affair of appetizers seems doable.

Penelope Casas has some lovely recipes in her Tapas book and I've tested a few things out lately that I'd like to share, like stuffed mushrooms and a leaner spinach artichoke "dip." There are a few recipes with Serrano ham that I'm dying to try.

Then a cake for a Superbowl party on Sunday. I might have watched too much of Ace of Cakes lately, but my plan is a football field with football players. Yes, Duff made a Superbowl cake and that episode aired recently, so I have ideas. Little football players, goal posts, shredded coconut for grass (which informs the flavor of the cake, really), precise work.

This will require a trip to a craft store for fondant and icing tips. I'll also need a cake pan, one of those 9x13 jobs with cornered edges, like my brownie pans. And, yeah, the grocery store. I'm planning on baking the cake during the week and doing little things, as well, so I don't end up with a crazy Sunday morning, after a nutty Saturday night.

Reports will come. I promise.

Functional Kitchen
So, at my more diary/journal like blog, I posted about using chalkboard paint in my kitchen. This idea hasn't died, I just need to do a little more hunting around for the actual paint. I'm excited about the idea of posting a dinner party menu on the board, like a restaurant menu, being creative with chalk, adding one more surface to write on, putting up poems and other things.

Since I'm doing a lot more experimenting with recipes, I got myself a new recipe "sketchbook" of sorts, where I can track attempts at different things and keep a handle of how many calories there are in certain things. If I know there's 250 calories in the cupcake than I'll eat it and account for it the rest of the day. But if I have no clue, than I'm less likely to eat it. And I'm sick of that.

Clipboards have also been added, with the idea being that I can Velcro them to the cabinets and put recipes on there, so I can read them while I cook and not have it be in the way or get completely filthy. A cookbook shelf will also be necessary, but I'm working out the construction of that. Probably a shelf with a lip in front and a clip to hold open the book.

I'll let you know how all these go...

Interesting Things on Foodie Blogs

2008-01-16T06:55:00.000-05:00

Since I read a few different foodie blogs, I thought I'd let you in on a few nifty things I've seen lately...

@Serious Eats
If you don't read Serious Eats and you love food, I definitely recommend it! They do a great job and Dorie Greenspan runs a column there called Baking with Dorie.

Photo of the Day: Edible Tic Tac Toe - I love the Photo of the Day posts; there's always something interesting!

Barbecue Turkey Meatball Sliders - I think these are a nice lean alternative for Superbowl snacking.

Sunday Brunch: Dorie Greenspan's Oatmeal Breakfast Bread - Nothing that's come out of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours has been bad and I'm excited to try this particular recipe.

Chocolate Purist: An Interview with Sam Madell - Incredibly enlightening information about chocolate farming and production, refuting any idea that "all chocolate is organic" and discussing the political/economic ramifications of cocoa farmers.

@Amateur Gourmet
Adam is funny and doesn't pound you over the head with elitism. I like him an awful lot. He also wrote a book, The Amateur Gourmet.

Egg Salad Soliloquy - A letter from Egg Salad, with some interesting tips (you mean, there's a way to boil an egg and not get a green ring?).

Alice Waters Shopping at the Union Square Green Market - Where else, but on the Amateur Gourmet?

@Farmgirl Fare
A city girl turned country farmer, almost all of her recipes fall into the slow food/seasonal recipes/local eating category.

The Year in Bread has some fantastic recipes I must try!

Her collection of heart rocks is charming. And a bizarre, in the "Is the earth talking to her?" kind of way.

Other Food Blogs I Read
Have I done this before?

Just Bento - As I am now a bento-luncher, I love her ideas, especially since she focuses on healthy (not cute) bento.

Eggbeater - Shuna has some really interesting and eye-opening things to say about the food industiry. And the way she writes about creating pastry and desserts is inspirational.

Matt Bites - A foodie and a photographer, he straddles two of my great interests/hobbies/someday-maybe careers.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

2008-01-10T05:45:00.000-05:00

I made a million of these this holiday season, for my cookie boxes, in the shape of Yule trees (pictured at left). It's a solid recipe I've used since I was about ten and my mom made cookies for Easter. The little trick to these is the almond extract--it makes them taste fancy, almost like wedding cake. The confectioners sugar in the dough makes for a fine-textured cookie. Of course, keep the dough chilled for rolling, but not too cold. Leave these overnight in the fridge, and you'll want to take the dough out at least an hour before rolling.

Also, watch these in the oven! Seriously. They really do take about 7-8 minutes to bake and you really want a barely golden brown bottom on this cookie, especially if you don't exactly cool your cookies on a a separate cooling rack (I don't, mostly because I don't have the room)--they'll continue to cook a little out of the oven (carryover cooking it's called, which I learned from Alton Brown). These keep really well, especially with icing. They also ship well!

Have fun with the shapes, but if you're going for quantity, stick with one shape, frosting color and additional decors--it'll be much easier, trust me.

By the way, this recipe came with train and bear cookie cutters that was a very involved little design--the cutters made indentations into the cookies with details on the bear's face and body and the train engine's little parts. I don't know where those cookie cutters are anymore, but the recipe is live and kicking. I finally wrote it down next year, instead of making my mom dig through her ancient version of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, where she had stuck the card with the recipe on it, every time I wanted to make them.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (use the real, not imitation)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Procedure
1. Cream the butter with the sugar, stirring until combined.
2. Add the egg, mix until good and combined.
3. Add the extracts. Again, use the real almond stuff. The imitation really doesn't taste the same.
4. Separately sift the flour and baking soda.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet in 3 batches, combining thoroughly before adding the next bit.
6. Chill 2-3 hours in the fridge, or blast it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
8. Roll to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use your cutesy cookie cutters.
9. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until lightly golden brown around the edges. Taste one warm, just because they're so yummy.
10. Frost (frosting recipe below) or eat plain.

Sugar Cookie Frosting

Ingredients
1 pound confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 large egg white
Water, on the cold side
Food coloring (optional, but so much fun)

Procedure
1. Mix the confectioners sugar and egg white. It won't really mix well, because there's not enough liquid, but you don't want to dump water in immediately.
2. Add water by tablespoons until you get a thick frosting. Thankfully, this is a forgiving frosting, so if it turns out to be too runny, just add more sugar. Too thick? More water! Add food coloring to your desired color.
3. Spread onto cookies in a thin layer. This frosting sets hard, so let the cookies dry a while before storing. 30 minutes will work, overnight is better (especially if shipping).

This frosting keeps well in the fridge. All it needs is a little time at room temperature and a good stir--it'll be good as new.

These really are the best sugar cookies I've tried for cut-outs and I've tried several. They are incredibly tasty.

Redesign! (Not Quite Done)

2008-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

What do you think? There's still some tinkering to be done, but I'm tired. Tomorrow morning, I promise.

Hey, Karen, commenting should work now!

Meal Diary: Dinner - Chicken Tikka Masala with Grains

2007-12-30T19:08:00.000-05:00

Bored hath set in my kitchen, so away I went, to the ethnic foods aisle in the grocery store, which sorely lacks in Puerto Rican condiments and seasonings, but does contain some interesting Asian foods that seem interesting, albeit not exactly authentic.

Well, I found Tikka Masala sauce and got excited. I threw this together tonight and it was delicious and definitely not boring.

I browned 4 oz of chicken breast, cubed, added 1/4 cup of the Tikka Masala sauce, 1/2 cup of vegetable stock, and 1/6 cup of Near East Roasted Garlic flavor rice and bulgur wheat (this stuff actually comes in a box, but it was still good). A little Adobo thrown in there, a pinch salt and a long simmer until the grains were done and, yay! Dinner.

Calories: 315, Fat: 11 grams, Protein: 29 grams

Meal Diary: Lunch - Chicken Sausage on Bread

2007-12-30T19:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I pretty much don't eat sausage--at least not the non-veggie kind. Morningstar Farms makes an adequate veggie sausage and that works for me, except on the days that I want something, well, meatier.

Enter these new chicken sausages I picked up at the grocery store (I cringed, a little, getting produce from the store instead of the farmers market, but my choices were a little limited--at least I tried to get organic foods).

It was an easy lunch that I really savored. Cut the sausage in half, grill it up in a skillet, put it on a slice of Wonder Light bread and, easy-peasy, lunch!

Calories: 180, Fat: 7 grams, Protein: 17 grams

Introducing the Meal Diary

2007-12-30T19:01:00.000-05:00

Some days I eat some interesting stuff or put together a nice little combination. So I'll start blogging what I'm eating every now and again, as a meal diary.

I just think it'll be an interesting little addition to this blog.

Expect some more new topics around here...

Cook the Book: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

2007-12-26T05:47:00.001-05:00

These made it into my Holiday Cookie boxes this year--it was one of the first recipes I bookmarked from this fantastic book.

It has been a man/boy pleaser from the start. It tastes a little like a milkshake, a little like a light brownie and don't think of using regular old grocery store chocolate for these. Honestly. Invest in some good bittersweet chocolate for a more grown-up taste. By the end of my holiday baking marathon, I was using bittersweet chips, but at the beginning I was chopping up Ghirardelli and Scharffenberger bittersweet chocolate bars.

You don't have to go as high end on the malted milk balls--Whoppers are fine, although I think you might consider buying these in bulk, because once you make a dozen of these, you're pretty much committing to making at least 10 more dozen.

The ingredient, oddly enough, that I had the most trouble finding was malted milk powder. I love the stuff, mostly because it's great for soda shoppe milkshakes at home. But once I went looking for it, I couldn't find it. Malted Ovaltine works fine, too, though, thank goodness. I did end up finding some for my last few batches.

This recipe is easy enough, a lot like making chocolate chip cookies. Have fun chopping up the malted milk balls--they will be easier to chop at room temperature because the chocolate coating is softer and doesn't allow the balls to roll around as much.

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours, page 85

Makes 30 cookies, but you can stretch it to make more

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup malted milk powder (or Ovaltine, regular malted or chocolate malt flavored)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups (6 ounces) chocolate covered malted milk balls (Dorie and I use Whoppers), coarsely chopped
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Procedure
1. Position your oven racks to divide your oven into thirds and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Dorie does not specify an oven temperature in this recipe, which I think is just an editorial oversight. I guessed 350 degrees and that worked perfectly.

2. Sift (or stir) together the flour, malted milk powder, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

3. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until very smooth. I actually just hand mixed this and it was fine, not wanted to dirty my hand mixer a thousand times in my baking marathon--besides, I love hand mixing, so I can infuse a little extra love into the dough.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla (Dorie adds: Don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled--it will even out when the dry ingredients are added).

5. Add half the dry ingredients, mixing until they just disappear in the wet ingredients (turn your mixer down low!). Add milk, mix, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Dorie says: The batter will look more like fudge frosting than cookie dough--and that's fine.

6. Add the malted milk balls and the chocolate chunks/chips, by hand.

7. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between spoonfuls. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and fron to back after 6 minutes. Please do this. It's a bit of a pain, but it works, because malted milk balls may burn when melted.

8. When done, the cookies will be puffed and set but slightly soft to the touch. Let the cookies rest for 2 minutes before using a wide metal spatula to transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

9. Repeat with the rest of the dough, but let your pans cool first!

10. Hide from any men in your life (boyfriends, little cousins, uncles, dads, brothers, husbands, the mailman, neighbors, etc.) if you actually want to give these out or take them somewhere.

Any genius comments or recipe-writing is the sole ownership of Dorie Greenspan. The other stuff in italics is just me.

Cook the Book: Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

2007-12-03T06:25:00.000-05:00

After Thanksgiving I had canned pumpkin left in my cupboard and buttermilk in my fridge. The canned pumpkin was my back up, in case my roasted pumpkin didn't work out for pumpkin pie--but it worked out fine. The buttermilk was for the Cook's Illustrated Best Drop Biscuits, which I didn't make for Thanksgiving, but I did make later in the weekend. But buttermilk comes in such large quantities, I still had some.

So I went investigating into Dorie Greenspan's Baking book and found pumpkin muffins. And then realized that I have no muffin tins. None. How this happens in a fairly well-equipped kitchen (sans KitchenAid mixer and pastry cutter), I don't know. So I made pumpkin bread, instead. Now, in the cute photo, I have two loaves of the stuff, but in a repeat of the recipe, I made one and got a thicker loaf, which worked much better.

Pumpkin Bread
adapted from "Pumpkin Muffins" in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 13

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I didn't have this, so I just used ground nutmeg)
Pinch of ground allspice
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree (one 15 oz can renders enough for a double batch of this stuff)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup moist golden raisins (I only had regular, dried out purple raisins, but I soaked them in warm water for a few minutes and they plumped up nicely)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (pecans were left over from cornbread stuffing, so in they went)

About 1/3 cup unsalted raw sunflower seeds, for topping (I skipped this because I didn't have it, but it looked delicious in the book).

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray loaf pan and center a rack in the oven.

2. What will we do with all those dry ingredients? Of course we'll whisk them together (that'd be the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices).

3. Beat (or hand-stir) the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the pumpkin and buttermilk, stir.

4. Now add the dry ingredients a bit at a time and don't overmix.

5. Add the raisins and nuts.

6. Pour/spread into loaf pan.

7. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

8. Cool for a few minutes, remove from pan and let continue to cool.

Yummy warm from the oven or toasted and topped with a little cream cheese frosting, cream cheese being another ingredient left from Thanksgiving. Dorie's recipe for this, from "Bill's Big Carrot Cake" recipe (pages 254-255):

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound (3 3/4 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice or 1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional and I didn't use it)

Procedure
1. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.

2. Add sugar, beat until smooth.

3. Add the lemon juice.

4. Go ahead and add the coconut, if you must.

<--This photo is the dinner Lenny got the evening I baked the pumpkin bread (which I made in the morning). It's just plain scrambled egg, a piece of sausage I didn't use to stuff my onions for Thanksgiving, and two thick slices of pumpkin bread, toasted, with cream cheese frosting melting all over it like a glaze.

This bread got good reviews and has this amazing orange-mustard color when cut into. Without nuts and raisins, I baked up another round (making only one loaf) and served it for snack at my youth center, with the cream cheese frosting. It was demolished fairly quickly, although the kids hesitated at first--its color is pretty pronounced. But it has a nice texture and very wintry taste.

Now to get me some muffin tins...

I'm Cooking This Book: Baking by Dorie Greenspan

2007-12-02T20:58:00.000-05:00

I have fallen in love with Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. It's a timely check-out from my public library, what with holiday cookie making around the corner.

I'm going to be posting recipes here, with this nifty little image. I am desperately head over heels for this book and I can't wait to share my forays into it.

I'll be adding a sidebar bit for it, as well.

Triple Protein Bento

2007-11-27T07:56:00.000-05:00

Triple Protein Bento

From left to right:
Stir fry of shrimp, sugar snap peas and yakisoba noodles with toasted sesame seeds (245 cal)
Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patty over butternut squash mash (160 cal)
Boiled egg (80 cal)

From the Formica Top: Thanksgiving Coverage

2007-11-27T07:26:00.000-05:00

From the Formica Top #5
What's been going on around my kitchen lately

I'm consolidating all my Thanksgiving reports in one place...

Report #1: Sunday, Bloody Sunday
The hunt for a turkey is successful!
Report #2: Crumbs (Garlic and Herb)
So much to do! (Not a post on how to make bread crumbs, but metaphorical "crumbs")
Report #3: Adaptation - Kielbasa Stuffed Onions
Tinkering around with onions and black rice
Report #4: I'm Getting Very Sleepy
Posted around midnight on Wednesday before the Big Day
Report #5: Prepwork (Photo Collage)
Ah, photos from my kitchen
Report #6: The Final Menu (+ Commentary)
Pretty self-explanatory
Report #7: Leftovers
What to do with all that stuff in the fridge

Thanks 07 Report #7: Leftovers

2007-11-27T06:32:00.000-05:00

As I skimped on photo heavy posts for Thanksgiving, here's one that shows what I did with my leftovers...

Lenny's Leftovers Breakfast
This is a three egg omelette made with the extra stuffing for the "Forbidden Onions" (as I sort of made up the recipe, I get to name it!), which has black rice (often called Forbidden Rice), local kielbasa, celery, onions and a little chicken stock. On the side are reheated Frijoles Enpuercados (made by Evelyn, they're refried beans with chorizo) topped with some shredded Mexican cheese and two mash potato patties, made by simply shaping some mashed potatoes into a ball and flattening them.

It was fairly easy to make and very filling--Lenny didn't quite finish it. I think it could be scaled back and made with one or two eggs for a less Paul Bunyan-like breakfast. I don't know where I got the idea for the mashed potato patties, but I thought they stood in for hash browns or potato pancakes just fine. If you flattened them a little more, you could top them with a fried egg and sausage for another yummy breakfast.

Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie
Please excuse the blazing light in the background of this photo. I wasn't paying enough attention to composition. I should have used my mobile studio, but I was lazy and, as I was serving this to Lenny, didn't want to let it get cold.

From the bottom up: cornbread stuffing with pecans and bacon, packed on the bottom for a good crust, then Evelyn's ground beef stuffing, smothered in a gravy I made from a Bechamel sauce with cream and chicken stock, then some of my homemade cranberry sauce, mash potatoes as the final layer, with sliced sweet potato pressed into them for a pretty accent. I put a few pats of butter on the top, wrapped in aluminum foil and threw it into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, until bubbly. Lenny said it was very good. I think it's all the good bits of Thanksgiving, sans turkey, which was made into sandwiches a lot (with Miracle Whip and pepper, as Lenny orders).

Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie was the inspiration for this, particularly the stuffing base and sweet potatoes. And of course, this Serious Eats post got my butt in gear.

Brown-nosing Leftover Bento for Two
Not really a bento, because I wouldn't eat all the components cold, but packed like one.

When I went to work yesterday and told two co-workers about my Thanksgiving, they sent over dirty looks.

"What?"

"You didn't bring us any!"

So I've packed them a lunch for two, a sampler. This is a terrific way to get rid of leftovers and brown-nose your way into someone's heart. Because no matter how much everyone has eaten, everyone is always a little jealous of someone else's Thanksgiving.

Above is the top layer, with pumpkin pie with a gingerbread crust and Evelyn's beans, topped with cheese (of course!).

<--Here is the real meat of the "bento"--the Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie, two Forbidden Onions (I had to supply one red and one yellow, just for prettiness) and two chicken enchiladas (thanks, Evelyn!). Real enchiladas are not smothered in sauce, but actually quite dry and so won't get all mixed in with the others. Have I mentioned that these were quite impressive? They're also getting some of my flan, but as that has a sugary sauce, I didn't want to mix it in and get everything else sugary. They're not getting turkey, mostly because I'm being a little greedy with it, as I put so much time and love into it (not to mention money!) that I wanted to hold onto it. So I'm almost down to an empty fridge now, but some things were still packed away in there. Enter the greatest invention in food preservation...

Stuffing the Freezer
I really did have to make a list on my fridge whiteboard of everything in my freezer, because I literally forget what's in there.

Wouldn't you? I mean, I've been stacking things in there since I started going to the farmers market.

Turkey guts (meaning bones and skin) went in, because I didn't have the patience for stock.

Turkey went in, to make turkey stew.

Evelyn's beans went in, because I had so much. Same with the cornbread stuffing, but I dried it out a bit on a baking pan before I froze it, which I'll reconstitute (bring back to life) by pouring hot stock over it. Perhaps even the turkey stock. Cranberry sauce went in, too, as well as the leftover six-grain spelt, because it has such a great dark color that would look awesome in a stuffing.

And I've collected quite a few proteins from local sellers: lamb, petite tender and London broil steaks, pork shoulder, bacon and two whole chickens. I'm saving the rind of my Pleasant Cow cheese to throw into a soup at some point. And there's chicken breasts, tilapia, homemade shrimp and chicken stocks, some store-bought eggrolls, turkey patties and burritos.

Look, it's stuffed! I've been seriously considering a huge freezer, because I have all sorts of cookie doughs to store in there, too, for holiday baking. I could always borrow some space in my neighbor's though, because she's offered...

And that concludes my Thanksgiving 2007 coverage...'til next year!

Thanks 07 Report #6: The Final Menu (+ Commentary)

2007-11-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving 2007

My Vision
In staying with my efforts to eat much more locally in general, I went that way for Thanksgiving. I really want the quality of the products to shine and maybe, just maybe, convince people a little bit. I don't get on a soapbox. I just feed people and hope that they get it, or at least that they get full. And, I really wanted to share my house.

I have been terribly homesick lately and having my house full of people, women asking questions in the kitchen, football on the tv, a million pans in the oven, drinks refilling, dinner running late and general hubub, I felt like it was a holiday. I don't think I could skip this holiday ever, regardless of whether or not we travel. But travel we will, next year, because I'm ready for a cycle of not hosting. It was fun, but really, rotating plans keeps you fresh.

The Guest List
We ended up with 10 people: Lenny and I (of course we were there), Tom and Fran (neighbors), Beth and Teddy (Fran's daughter and her husband), Evelyn (the world's best sous chef) and her friend Ivan, and our last-minute vegetarians, Jesse and Leisl. We actually managed okay, setting things aside before they were meat-ified and they ate quite well, so that was a successful wrench in the works. I'm glad they ended up coming, actually, as it added a little youth to the proceedings.

Evelyn wasn't so much a guest, as she was kidnapped Wednesday night and cooked with me for the duration. She made a whole bunch of stuff, too, and it was us taking turns in the kitchen. I learned a whole bunch of Mexican techniques, too, and asked a lot of questions. I'm excited to try them out.

Menu

Drinks
Northern Spy - Oooooh, was this good. And it was a sneaky drink. I definitely stayed close to this one. I really enjoyed it and I hogged it a bit. But, to be perfectly fair, I cooked for close to 24 hours straight, with an hour or three of sleep snatched while things baked in the oven and I really wanted to enjoy this drink, which had been on my mind since I bookmarked it through my Serious Eats feed.

Spiked Eggnog (Eggnog from Trinity Farms) - This got drunk, so I'm assuming it was pretty good, although I only tasted it when it was first spiked to make sure that it was up to snuff.

Appetizers
Dawn’s Stuffed Celery - Lenny's favorite, and simple. This was his only request for the entire meal. It's just chopped up green olives and garlic powder in cream cheese spread over the celery.

Deviled Eggs (Courtesy of Fran) - These are always good. Always.

Abuela’s Little Sausages in Sauce - My grandmother used to put little sausages in a hot sauce. My sauce wasn't hot, but it was still pretty good (ketchup, molasses, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, a hot sauce from Herban Spices which is a local seller, red pepper flake, white and black ground pepper). These were a hit with the men.

Breads
Six Grain Spelt and Pecan Raisin Bread (from Cityseed Market) - Mostly got munched on for breakfast this morning, but Evelyn really liked it dipped in her Mexican hot chocolate--and I agree.

Homemade Bread (courtesy of Fran) - I was going to make Cook’s Illustrated Best Drop Biscuits, but when Fran came through the door with her bread at the last hour, I was so happy I didn't have to. Since we have a beautiful long weekend and I bought the ingredients, I will be making them at some point.

Main Course
Heritage Bronze Good Eats Roast Turkey (Turkey from Woodbridge Farm) - Yum. Yes, I splashed brine everywhere when I turned the turkey halfway through, but it pot I used actually fit in my fridge, so it was okay in the end.

Chicken Enchiladas (Courtesy of Evelyn) - Good and spicy.

Cornbread Stuffing with Bacon and Pecans (Bacon from Woodbridge Farm) - Very good and sweet and really delicious. It actually surprised me.

Diaz Stuffing (Courtesy of Evelyn) - A ground beef based stuffing that I have Shepherd's Pie plans for. It was good on it's own, too, especially with gravy.

Pleasant Valley Mac 'n' Cheese (Pleasant Cow Cheese from Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm) - This is my local mac 'n' cheese I blogged about recently and Jesse still loves it. It really is all about the cheese. Reheated on the stove with some cream it made yummy dins tonight.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Potatoes from Waldingfield Farm) - A standard that I had to make, but wouldn't have, given the choice. They were okay and will be turned into Shepherd's Pie.

Frijoles Enpuercados (Courtesy of Evelyn) - Refried beans with chorizo. And so good. Spicy and smoky, which is not exactly how they were meant to, but it was a happy accident. I can imagine that they're good with eggs in the morning.

Kielbasa Stuffed Onions (Kielbasa from Four Mile River Farm) - This was the experiment that went well. Really well. I talked about using the idea of stuffing onions earlier, and I was totally happy with it. Impressive looking and the forbidden rice has a great flavor. The stuffing was the black rice, the kielbasa, onions and celery. I had so much extra stuffing that I put the rest around the onions for a great presentation. I was really proud of these.

Candied Beets (Courtesy of Fran) - I'm not a beets person, but Lenny was very excited to eat this and was pleased with it.

Sauces included gravy (of course) and homemade cranberry sauce which is so easy that is makes no sense to use the canned stuff.

Dessert
Apple Pie (Apples from Coulton’s Corner) - I used the Cook's Illustrated Fool Proof Pie Crust and we finally dug into it today, the day after Thanksgiving. People were too full for dessert, I think. The crust is great. I loved it. It really is flaky and I suppose the vodka in the crust really worked. It's an impossibly sticky dough to work with, but it's worth the pain in the butt aspect.

Pumpkin Pie in Gingerbread Crust (Pumpkin from Northfordy Farms) - This has remained untouched. We had way too much food and the dessert of choice was flan. But I did taste the filling and crust as I was making it and it seemed good.

Darlene's Flan (Eggs from Four Mile River Farm) - A royal pain to make, but my special present to myself. It was good. A little sweet, but good. I've been enjoying it today.

There you go...

Thanks 07 Report #5: Prepwork

2007-11-22T02:44:00.000-05:00

Thanks 07 Report #4: I'm Getting Very Sleepy

2007-11-22T01:17:00.000-05:00

It's 1:16am and I'm still up (and the neighbors are still tromping up and down their stairs).

The second shopping trip is done (which included the farmers market downtown--finding parking was h*ll--the liquor store and supermarket).
Flan is done (I managed not to burn myself).
Forbidden rice for stuffed onions is done (it has an amazing flavor and a sticky purple-ish sauce at the bottom which tastes delicious).
Pumpkin and apple pies are just about ready to hit the oven (the gingerbread crust on the pumpkin one is a pretty brown).
The turkey brine is done.
Stuffing bread is chopped up (going stale as I write).
Little sausages are in sauce.
Stuffed celery spread is done (this is going to make Lenny really happy).
Cranberry sauce is bubbling on the stove.
Unexpected guests have called to say they're coming (ooooh, long story).
Fridge has been rearranged a few times (at least).
Evelyn and I have done dishes at least once an hour for the last six hours.

And there's still so much to do!

But I'm loving on my Calphalon cookware and new IKEA table that became a work surface this evening.

I may just get three hours of sleep.

Thanks 07 Report #3: Adaptation - Kielbasa Stuffed Onions

2007-11-20T20:29:00.000-05:00

In my blog reading, I ended up at Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Roasted Stuffed Onions, which was taken from November 2002's Gourmet Magazine. I decided I needed to use this, to highlight the sausage I had from Four Mile River Farm, which was going to get schlepped into a sweet and sour sauce, but that didn't feel right. When I saw this recipe, I decided that I was going to skip the bread stuffing mixture (I'm already pretty committed to the Cornbread Stuffing with Bacon and Pecans at Serious Eats and someone else is making another stuffing, so it'd be too much bread) and replace it with a sausage-featuring stuffing.

These are notes in adapting the recipe, in green. The bits I'm keeping from the recipe will be orange colored. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ingredients

The only thing I'm keeping for sure from this recipe's ingredient list is using the onions to stuff. All the other ingredients I'm scrapping and starting over.

10 medium red and yellow onions (4 lb)
1 lb sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide pieces
3 celery ribs, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
15 oz baby spinach, trimmed and coarsely chopped (14 cups)
1 (9-inch) round loaf country-style bread (1 1/4 lb), cut into 1/2-inch cubes (10 cups), lightly toasted
2 cups salted roasted cashews (10 oz), coarsely chopped
1 stick (1/2cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups turkey giblet stock

I'm going to use my sausage, but I can't decide about an additional filler. Rice is a promising option, mostly because I've used it in stuffing peppers with ground beef. I think cheese needs to factor into this as well.

In looking for other recipes I could riff off, I also just discovered Google's fantastic recipe search as part of their Base Beta--you can search by ingredients, meal type, calories (!). Very cool.

Anyway, a search of sausage and onion turned up some ideas. Cabbage may be an option, but it's too reminiscent of cabbage rolls. Cheese is perhaps a better option. In fact, in thinking what goes with sausage and onion (correction, it's actually kielbasa, I keep forgetting), I thought of peppers. A cheesy, rice, peppers and kielbasa stuffed onion. Perhaps. I want a farm cheese here, though. A cheddar type or a hard cheese to grate in like Parmesan. That might work really well.

I have to keep the following step. This might be the tricky part, scooping out onion insides. This part can be done ahead, and I think I will, mostly because if I screw it up, I can just scrap the idea and use the onions. Obviously I'd use the insides of the onions to flavor something that's going back inside, but it's a lot of onion, so some of it will probably end up in the cornbread stuffing.

Make onion shells: Cut a 1/2-inch-thick slice from tops of onions, discarding tops, and trim just enough from bottoms for onions to stand upright. Scoop out all but outer 2 or 3 layers from each using a small ice cream scoop or spoon (don’t worry if you make a hole in the bottom), reserving scooped-out onion and onion shells separately.

Don't need these steps, but rather, will replace them!

Make stuffing: Coarsely chop enough scooped-out onion to measure 3 cups. Cook bacon in 2 batches in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp, about 10 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, reserving about 1/3 cup fat in skillet.

Chop up a bunch of the onion and caramelize it until golden and reduced. Cook the sausage with the onions. Some spices will go in here, and I'm contemplating using that sumac I got at the farmers market a few weeks ago. I'm sure I'll add garlic, as well. From there I couldn't tell you. Probably some celery, too, some thyme and rosemary, too.

Add chopped onion, celery, salt, and pepper to skillet and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté, stirring, 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in spinach, bread, cashews, butter, 1 cup stock, and bacon, then cool completely.

These steps are a definite keep.

Roast onions: Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange onion shells, open sides up, in a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then add 1/2cup water and cover pan tightly with foil. Roast onions in middle of oven until tender but not falling apart, 25 to 30 minutes.

Stuff and bake onions: Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Transfer shells to a work surface and pour off water in pan. Fill shells with stuffing, mounding it, and return to pan. Reserve 5 to 7 cups stuffing for turkey cavity, then put remaining stuffing in a buttered shallow 3 1/2-quart baking dish and drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup stock. Bake stuffed onions and stuffing in dish in middle of oven, uncovered, until heated through, about 25 minutes.

So we'll see. It's my one real experiment for this meal, aside from brining the turkey. Although Alton Brown has never let me down and I'm using his process for it, so I'm not too concerned. Although he'll have to be satisfied with powdered allspice, because I haven't found allspice berries yet.

I'll be posting photos throughout the next couple of days, as well.

Thanks 07 Report #2: Crumbs (Garlic and Herb)

2007-11-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

This is a duplicate post for today, 11/20, from my Starry Saltwater blog, detailing the journey to Thanksgiving Day 2007:

Thanksgiving Tasks Completed

Yesterday (11/19)

First shopping trip (which involved a drive to Wallingford, due to a water main breaking on Rt. 80, near the Walmart Supercenter I wanted to go to)
Lenny and Tom assembled my kitchen table (and I am completely charmed by its delicious clean lines and all the walking space in the kitchen--it makes me absurdly happy, so there might be something to this feng shui thing)

Thanksgiving Tasks To Do Today

Today (11/20)

Make something for work potluck
Make cornbread to go stale
2nd shopping trip
Roast pumpkin
What about plates? I hate paper plates, but don't have enough nice ones...
Plus lots more I haven't figured out yet

Trickle, Trickle, Drop, Drop

No fire in my oven! My neighbors had be thoroughly OCD'ed out when I mentioned I cleaned my oven, swearing I had to clean every crevice to get all the oven cleaner out, or I'd have a fire. Sheesh. Don't they know?

I've been washing my face with a washcloth and it is a very calming ritual.

I got homesick yesterday shopping. I haven't been home for Thanksgiving in years and I'd love to shove my mom out of the kitchen to "do it up" for them, although I suppose part of the fun is that everyone cooks together. All right, all right. I'd let them help.

And there I go, making light of an unpleasant feeling. I miss my family.

It's Tuesday and I'm making rice con salchichas for the Thanksgiving potluck at my youth program. One of the kids asked for "the rice with the little sausages in it." So I oblige. Plus, I figured I'd make an extra cornbread, since I made two to let get stale for stuffing. So there.

R, the cartoonist teaching my kids to draw comics, seems to like chatting with me and I see, in his eyes, the same hunger for another artist that might actually know what they're talking about.

I completely forgot to talk to Janeen about this video project thing.

Ooooh, my first video blog is coming up soon. Stay tuned!

I'm already on version 2 of my menu, and version 3 seems very close. Although I'll get to five drafts before the end of the day.

Gotta go...

Thanks 07 Report #1: Sunday, Bloody Sunday

2007-11-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

This is a duplicate post for Sunday, 11/18/07, from my Starry Saltwater blog, detailing the journey to Thanksgiving Day 2007:

Thanksgiving Tasks Completed

Yesterday (11/17)

Went to Farmers Market for eggs, milk, cream, eggnog, cheese, sausage, bread
Emailed Woodbridge Farm about the meager chance of turkey availability and got completely lucky that a turkey buyer had changed plans and one had become up for grabs; made arrangements for pick up on Sunday

Today (11/18)

Made toilet presentable for guests (and nearly gagged in the process, having found hidden disgustingness--and I thought I was so clean!)
Cleaned oven to the best of my ability
Moved my kitchen around a little to accommodate new furniture
Lenny went to IKEA and bought the Bjursta table
Swept the house (my cat lets loose so much hair!)
Mopped downstairs (the Pine-Sol smell made me a little tipsy)
Scrubbed up the kitchen for efficient cooking
Drove to Salem, CT to pick up turkey (a Heritage Bronze with a rich looking dark meat, almost like duck), pork shoulder and 2 lbs of bacon (and dropped an amazing amount of money); added bonus: Evelyn and I got to see Kim (more below)

The Turkey Adventure
Honestly, I usually plan everything, but I was pretty discouraged about finding a turkey that was local, organic, small farm raised--I didn't do the research and work. On a lark I thought I'd give it a shot--so I did a little online searching and the only place that turned up not sold out was Woodbridge Farm, the biodynamic farm that my friend Kim moved away to apprentice at. I figured it was still a long shot--but I emailed anyway and managed to snag a bird that someone else didn't want anymore.

So I made plans to pick it up, bringing Evelyn with me, both because I needed a navigator and she wanted to see Kim, too. I waited for Ev to get out of work and we set out just as the sun started going down--around 4:30pm now in these Daylights Savings weeks (augh--let me just say that we should just get rid of it). The drive up the 95 was fine, but once we left the highway for back roads, the darkness was definitely a little overwhelming, then normalized, as I realized it wasn't all that different from home.

We pulled in and wandered into a garage where we heard voices and there was Kim, talking to Priyanka and Kathy who had also come for a visit. David (I assume) was parceling out proteins. I was lustful at this point, because not only did I snag one of the only heritage turkeys left in the state, I was also picking up bacon and Winter Solstice's pork shoulder.

I was not disappointed. I promise to post a pic of the turkey, because it was beautiful. I only got an 11 pound bird, mostly because I'm only feeding 7-8 people and the sucker was $5 a pound. Yes, let's not discuss the pricing please. Because the earth put this turkey in my path and I am grateful for both being able to serve and eat a bird that I know was well taken care of, even if it was going to be eaten. It's especially special that it comes from the farm that Kim lives and works on. The dark meat on the drumsticks is a color I just find incredibly rich. I was really excited.

The pork shoulder has that layer of skin and fat that makes it a perfect pernil (pork shoulder roasted Puerto Rican style). It's only six pounds, but I'll live with it.

Ah, and two pounds of bacon, some of which will be Lenny's dinner tomorrow night, some of which will be Thanksgiving breakfast (served by French Toast made with Cityseed pecan raisin bread, soaked in Trinity Farms eggnog) and some which will hide out in the freezer until a right time comes along.

My freezer is now stocked with Cedar Meadow Farm chicken, Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm lamb, Four Mile River Farm steaks and sausage and Woodbridge Farm pork (or at least via that farm). I imagine we'll get through the winter.

Kim gave us a tour of the farm, at least what we could see at night. We saw cows (Devon Reds, I believe) that the farm has been raising since the 1700s (the farmhouse dates from back then, too). They had lovely auburn cots. We saw horses, a Peruvian breed. One was named Estrella and she was the mare "who keeps everyone in line," Kim explained.

The chicken coop was the best. A red light illuminated it and we peeked in. There was a whole social thing that Kim explained and they were lovely looking hens and roosters.

We went to Kim's house for tea and then had to head out, unfortunately, back into the gloom, then orangey streetlights of the city. It seemed impossible that we had been at Kim's, out in the country, examining cows, Peeping Tom the chickens, squishing through bloody grass near the day's poultry slaughtering site, seeing the best sky I've seen in a long time.

I may have come a bit late to understanding the whole small farm, local eating, seasonal creativity thing, but I'm glad I came. It connects me to the earth, the Goddess, and makes me a better Pagan, I think. I more spiritual one, anyway, conscious of how my beliefs have a practical application in the world, how I can connect magic to myself.

I leave you with my favorite bit of Woodbridge Farm lore, via Kim:

We take the horn [of the cows] and stuff it with cow manure and bury it for a year. Then we dig it up and make a tea out of it. It takes an hour. You stir it, create a vortex and then break it, then do it the other way. Then we spray it all over the fields, to enrich them.

Sounds like magic, wonderful magic, to me.

Local Mac 'n' Cheese

2007-11-13T08:03:00.000-05:00

Amazing. It really is. I highly recommend giving this dish a go and exploring local artisan cheeses and dairies in the process. This one is obviously specific to Connecticut, and New Haven's Cityseed market particularly. The Pleasant Cow cheese I used is from Beaver Brook Farm and has become a staple in my fridge since I started going to the market. They describe it as "an aged Jersey cow's milk cheese with a smooth, mild flavor and a creamy texture." I think it has tiny hints of Gruyere, a cheddary smoothness and something that I can't name, but that just makes me happy. It's fantastic on a cheese board or in grilled cheese (oooh, on a sourdough boule from the market) and it makes amazing mac 'n' cheese. I also used Trinity Farms heavy cream, who are the only people we buy milk from now. I love the glass bottles! And Lenny inevitably drinks an entire quart in the first day.

Ingredients
1/2 lb of pasta (I like using pipette, shells or something else that can trap the cheesy goodness)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1-2 cups of heavy cream
White pepper
Salt
6 ounces of shredded (or chopped small) Pleasant Cow cheese

Procedure
1. There's nothing too hard about this. You boil the pasta and set aside.

2. In a pot, melt the two tablespoons of butter at low heat. Add the flour and mix until you get a paste. Yes, we're making bechamel, so be nice and slow when doing the next step, or you'll end up with chunks of flour-butter.

3. Pour a tablespoon or so of cream and either whisk or stir (I only have a metal whisk, which is a big no-no in my new Calphalon cookware, so I just used a small silicone spatula). Once incorporated, add a little more, until you get a consistency you like. I prefer to err on the side of a bit thin, since the cheese is going to thicken the sauce up. Add a few sprinkles of salt and pepper.

4. Add the cheese, a bit at a time, stirring and letting it melt before adding more. This is mostly so that you can gauge how much cheese you actually need. No need to go overboard, since it has a strong flavor.

5. Add the pasta and stir into yummy goey-ness. Too thick? Add a little cream.

6. Serve warm with a side of garlic bread. Seriously.

Variations
Feel free to add just about anything--broccoli, a little spinach, sauteed mushrooms, crispy bacon or prosciutto, pan-fried bits of ham, veggie sausage, peas. Oh, and you can double the recipe. Just know that at $16 a pound, this dish is not a potluck or big dinner dish (unless you're just rolling in money), but it makes a wonderful side to any comfort-type meal. I wish I could ship everyone some of this cheese! It's phenomenal and melts beautifully.

Um, no photo because my friend Jesse and I ate it all. ALL.

My First Bento

2007-11-05T08:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Vegetable Bento
From left to right:
Roasted butternut squash, Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patty and queso blanco (255 cal);
Grilled tofu, tomatoes and olives over mesclun greens with Italian dressing (170 cal);
Cabbage cooked with garlic and vinegar (20 cal)

Beige and Lavender Snack Bento

From left to right:
Lovely pear from the farmers market, sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey (130 cal);
Light and Fit Raspberry Yogurt (45 cal)

From the Formica Top: I Tried Tofu (+ More)

2007-11-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

From the Formica Top #4
What's been going on around my kitchen lately

I Tried Tofu
In an effort to get some lean proteins into my body, I picked up some extra firm tofu, mostly because I planned on pan grilling it and not swirling it into something. The extra firm kind (after a lot of the moisture is gone) has a consistency like paneer or fresh cheese.

I just cubed it and cooked it in a pan, letting it brown, tossed it with vegetables and a store-bought red wine vinegarette. I really liked it. It'll taste like anything I make it taste like, which, while having a weirdness to it (I miss building on a basic flavor like pork, beef or chicken), is kinda cool. I actually like the texture.

I'm interested in using a softer variety to mimic ricotta cheese in Italian foods, such as ravioli (hey, a little in the butternut squash ravioli would make the dish much healthier) and lasagna (I'm dreaming of a funky fall lasagna with layers of butternut squash, a tofu mixed with some goat cheese and maybe herbs de Provence, roasted peppers...hmmm).

Anyway, I'm not exactly sure why I hadn't tried tofu, but maybe it was its guilty association with a heavy dose of activism. Also, I wasn't sure what to do with it. At this point, though, I was just figuring it's out there and I've seen enough recipes to kinda get the idea. You pretty much put it in place of meat where meat is not chopped, but kept whole or in cubes.

I imagine, though, that there's much more to it, because I've seen it used in ice cream. And I wonder...okay, I'll be posting tofu experiments here, I suppose.

A Week Away From Foodie Blogs
I just today caught up on Serious Eats, one of my favorite foodie blogs. I barely touched my Google Reader feeds the week before Citywide Open Studios (you can read about that experience at Starry Saltwater) and just got through everything. Holy cow. I wasn't so much surprised at the volume of posts I had to catch up on, but at my mild obsession with checking all of them and then getting lost in a maze of clicks.

In that maze, I found Just Bento, which has inspired...

Bento Experimentation
I spent a significant portion of today prepping things for availability in my bento construction all week. So the whole idea behind bento (or obento) is a lunch in a box (Bento #2 from Just Bento). Sometimes the box has dividers and is very fancy. There's a whole "cute bento" hobby out there, too, but that's not my line on this.

I was hopelessly bored with my lunches--they were repetitive and not suiting the maintenance part of my diet, nor my recent explorations into local and seasonal eating. I liked the idea behind Just Bento, that it was a way to have a yummy, healthy lunch with a little creativity and preparation.

So perhaps, like I labeled my posts about eating local (and I will continue to do so), I'll post a particularly good bento and label it that way. Why not?

So what did I make today to get me started on my bento making adventure? I roasted butternut squash, made parmesan arepas (a Goya thing, using a white corn flour), cooked cabbage down (the leftovers from making a small batch of cabbage rolls for Lenny) and tested a few ingredients. Havarti melts very nice. Morningstar Farms Spinach and Artichoke Bites and Garden Veggie Patties are excellent.

Some bento ideas:
Mexican Autumn - Butternut squash with Garden Veggie Patty and queso blanco, some cooked cabbage, salad of mesclun greens, tomatoes and roasted red peppers in Italian dressing

Breakfast for Lunch Bento - Havarti cheese and crispy turkey bacon (or lean salami or bologna) over a parmesan arepa, boiled egg with a light thick dressing (like fat free Miracle Whip) with baked apples

New England Bento - Crab cake, salmon and caper salad over Boston bib lettuce and shrimp bisque

And I'm completely charmed by this bento set on Ebay. Although I imagine I'll just end up being imaginative with Gladware.

Thanksgiving Is Coming...
I'm already bookmarking recipes and the such-like. We will have Thanksgiving at our house and collect anyone without a place to go. I like these types of holidays, because you sit around and relax and I still get to cook like a demon.

It's a marathon of cooking and I can't wait...

My Alice Waters Sighting

2007-10-14T10:31:00.000-04:00

Alice Waters has been ubiquitous lately. Serious Eats discussed her guest spot on The View, as did the Amateur Gourmet (who also admitted he Tivos the show). Adam from the Amateur Gourmet featured a video of Alice Waters at the Union Square Greenmarket. If you remember, I made her Warm Olives, inspired by Becky's post at Day Street Pages. Bex had read the article about Alice in the NY Times (because she actually reads the Times and I just wait until she emails me something interesting). And so I was very excited when a note about her appearance in New Haven landed in my inbox.

She was brought to New Haven by the Yale Sustainable Food Project, which also has a booth at the Cityseed Market that I stop by at every week. She spoke at Battel Chapel, a place that has horrible lighting and is built in the New England church tradition--so we sat in pews as Alice stood at the podium, the sheep of her "eat local, eat seasonal" flock.

She was pretty much preaching to the choir, but I think the amazing thing was that there is a large enough group of people to fill most of the chapel. I didn't necessarily gather any new information, although it was wonderful to hear details about the Edible Schoolyard. Once she quoted John Dewey and said she was a Montessori teacher, the whole concept of "gardening and cooking as curriculum" made perfect sense--and it also made sense why I liked her.

One of the questions during the Q&A was "How do I learn how to cook?" Alice jokingly said, "Buy my book," but used the question to explain why a place like the Edible Schoolyard is so important. I wonder, though, what is an older person to do, someone who really feels like a kitchen is an alien world? I thought of an eating and cooking club--and then, of course, I thought of hosting one. How wonderful would it be to bring 5 or 6 people who truly want to learn into a kitchen...and teach them?

A once-monthly meet-up at the market, picking up fresh food, then off to a kitchen (mine or someone's) and a fantastic afternoon of cooking, with plenty of red or white wine to carry us to a huge supper. Sigh. I think Alice would approve. Anyone up for a November meal?

Goat Cheese Risotto

2007-10-09T06:56:00.000-04:00

So this weekend's foray into new recipes served up some outstanding dishes. In my effort to find a recipe for risotto with goat cheese, all I kept coming up with were risottos with little wimpy slices of goat cheese on top. Lame. I wanted to melt the cheese into the risotto, so I gave it a go with my basic risotto recipe, with a few minor changes. This received rave reviews (from my neighbors) and I really enjoyed it--the slight tangy flavor of the goat cheese elevated this basic risotto to loveliness. Oh, I got the goat cheese from Beltane Farm at the Cityseed Farmers Market.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or minced)
1 cup of arborio rice
A little olive oil
4 cups of heated chicken stock
1 package of chevre (the soft stuff) goat cheese (probably 4-6 ounces)
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

Procedure
1. Melt the butter in a medium pot. Drop in the onions and cook slow and low, as if you were making French onion soup. This normally takes about 30 minutes, with a little stirring here and there. You want the onions to go golden and soft slowly. There will be bits that caramelize. That's okay.
2. Raise the heat a little and throw in the garlic. Let that cook a minute or two, then add the rice. Pour a little olive oil on the rice and stir, until it gets shiny. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add about two cups of chicken stock and stir. Lower the heat. Pay attention to it! I'm not of the "stir risotto constantly" school of thought, but you do need to stir it fairly often.
4. When the liquid comes to the "shoulders" of the rice (an expression I heard Mario Batali use on Molto Mario), add another cup of stock. Repeat. If the risotto is still not tender after you've used up your stock, you can always add water. I find that overdoing the stock overdoes the flavor of the stock in your risotto.
5. Once the risotto is creamy and cooked to taste, cut up the goat cheese and stir the risotto until it melts. Add a few tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Don't put in too much Parmesan, because the real star is the goat cheese. Now taste and add a little salt and pepper accordingly. Eat warm and gooey.

This serves about four people. Also, feel free to cook up cut up bits of sausage, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon or ham in Step 2, when you crank up the heat and add the garlic. That's one of my favorite ways to eat risotto, with a little meat. On the other end, you can use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock and make a completely vegetarian meal.

Exploring CT Resources

2007-10-07T20:46:00.000-04:00

Although September is over, which was the official Eat Local Challenge month, I am still really interested in keeping it up. Of course, the challenge is that winter is coming, so I have to figure out how to preserve things and new recipes for foods that I've never cooked before. And I've been looking at restaurants that buy local (Chez Panisse style). In this research mode, I've found some good resources. I've already extolled the virtues of the Cityseed Farmers Markets (here and here), but I've found a few other helpful things in my quest to eat locally:

Zinc, a restaurant on Chapel Street in New Haven, has a market fresh menu on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Anyone want to save up a little money and go with me to see what this tastes like?

Cityseed has a Connecticut Crop Calendar of what is in season when, which is helpful for planning what I'll be cooking.

HarvestEating.com has a whole slew of video recipes for seasonal eating. You can search them by season, too.

Not that I know where Wilton, CT is, but the restaurant The Schoolhouse at Cannondale is apparently really into local ingredients in their menu items.

Bishop's Orchards has a farm market and is only in Guilford, which isn't that far.

Seasonal Eating is a blog focusing on...okay, that should be obvious.

That's about it...for now.

From the Formica Top: Cheat Day Luncheon

2007-10-04T20:32:00.001-04:00

From the Formica Top #3
What's going on around my kitchen lately

Cheat Day Luncheon
So, I completely disrupt my healthy eating once a week and take advantage of that day to make things that are both new and a bit gourmet. After last week's cheat at the oh-so-not-sophisticated Texas Roadhouse (I was going to write a review, but no one that likes good, unique food would even think of eating at a franchise where the goal is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, so it would be silly to say I didn't really like it), I think I deserve something amazing.

And so I have assembled a late luncheon menu that I am so excited about that I've started wearing a bib to catch all the drool.

A Food Network Newsletter that included a link to recipes for farm produce led me to Everyday Italian Giada DiLaurentis' recipe for Butternut Squash Tortellini in Brown Butter Sauce.

A mostly intact container of chevre goat cheese from Beltane Farm (purchased at last week's Wooster Park market which I wrote about recently here) and my current obsession with cheesy risotto (uhm, there's some simmering now) inspired me to look for a recipe for goat cheese risotto. I got a quite a few recipes from my Googling, but decided on doing it myself, because none of them looked appetizing. I'll let you know how it goes. Plus write notes so I can actually tell you what I did. Seriously...beets in risotto?

Serious Eats' current obsession with grilled cheese sandwiches and the 1/3 of a pound of Pleasant Cow cheese has me twisting new recipes in my head. What about a little of that local honey, lightly spread, on those fantastic sourdough boules from the Farmers Market, with the cheese, grilled with butter (for sure!).

Such an earthy meal deserves a good cup of chai.

Anyone want to come to a late lunch on Saturday?

Chili

2007-10-04T06:27:00.000-04:00

I have been fairly reluctant to share this recipe, if only because people, in general are fairly secretive with their chili recipes (as well as cookie, lasagna and other common recipes). I've also thought about entering this recipe in some sort of contest, because it's been fine-tuned and is actually very good. So, beware--if I find out you've used my recipe for personal gain, the chili monster will come and find you! Yes, that's a joke, but I'm kinda serious.

The trick to this chili is really the fresh ingredients. P-shaw on the canned tomatoes, although in the winter they are a fair substitute. Hot peppers are best from a garden, not a grocery store. If any of my recipes needed to be made locally, this is it. It makes a significant difference. This is also better the next day--so if you're trying to wow a crowd, make this the night before and let it sit. The flavors really punch up and intensify.

Ingredients (bear with me, this list is long)
*3 sweet onions, diced
*6 medium to large tomatoes
Olive oil
*Fresh cilantro
*4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Goya Recaito
2 packs of Goya Sazon
*1.5 pounds of ground beef
2 cups of dry pink beans, soaked overnight in water
1 can of enchilada sauce
Red pepper flake
1/2 can of tomato paste
Black pepper
Worcestershire sauce
Goya Adobo
Paprika
Ground cumin
1-2 bay leaves
Frank's Red Hot
1/2 light colored beer (Corona, Bud Light and Coors Light have all been used)
1 hot pepper

Procedure
1. Boil a pot of water. Score the tomatoes, then drop them in the boiling water for about 5 minutes, until you see the peels start to come up. Drain in a strainer and run cool water on them. They're really hot at this point, so let them cool while you do the next steps.
2. In a large pot, drop a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onions. Let them get nice and brown and soft. This could take up to 15 minutes. Be patient with them! You want them to almost melt in the chili.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of Goya Recaito, about 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro and the garlic. Stir.
4. Add the ground beef and let it get nice and browned up, sprinkling Adobo on it and chopping it up with your spatula so you don't get huge hunks.
5. Okay, now that the tomatoes have had a few minutes to cool down, cube them up and add them (I have seriously hurt my hands by chopping them hot, so be warned). Stir.
6. Add the beans. You could use two cans of pink beans instead, but the soaked dry beans made a different the last time I made this. I use pink beans because those are the beans I grew up with in a Puerto Rican household--plus, red kidney beans are way too huge and pinto beans don't have quite the same texture and consistency I look for. Pour in the can of enchilada sauce (about a cup or so). Choose the desired heat on this: mild, medium or hot. I prefer to control the heat with other ingredients, so I use a mild version.
7. Now, time to spice it up! Add the Sazon packets (disclaimer: these do contain MSG, so I'm working on replacing this in my cooking with ground annatto and coriander, but can't seem to find them, so if you can, use that instead). Add a good sprinkling of black pepper, red pepper flake to taste, dash of Worcestershire sauce, a generous amount of paprika, a good teaspoon or two of ground cumin and chili powder, the bay leaf (or leaves), three good shakes of Frank's Red Hot and the 1/2 can of tomato paste. Stir.
8. Taste it! Make sure the flavors meld. Need more smokiness? Add more cumin. Need more heat? Add more red pepper flake or Frank's Red Hot (or my new favorite, white pepper). Too thick? Add a little beef stock. Let this simmer for a good half hour, until it's reduced a bit.
9. It's beer time! Pour in half a bottled beer (yellow, lighter beers are best) slowly, because it does fizz up. Stir. It will stink to high heaven, but it will make it taste good. Trust me. Add the hot pepper you have, pricking it first (the type you use--or whether you use it at all--will vary depending on the amount of heat you want).
10. Let it be. Seriously. Add some beef stock if it gets too thick. It's best served the next day, really, but I'd be crazy to say that always happens in my house. Chili brings people from everywhere in the complex, straight to the door.

*Local ingredient

My variations: Sometimes I don't have enchilada sauce, so I don't use it. Sometimes I have fresh bell pepper around, so I'll add them in Step 3, diced medium. Variate to your hearts content. The key factors I look for in chili is one that will hit your tongue in a few places--a little sweet, some hot and a good base. Smokiness is nice, too.

From the Formica Top: Mabon Dinner

2007-10-01T06:38:00.000-04:00

From the Formica Top #2
What's been going on around my kitchen lately

Mabon Dinner
Last Sunday, September 23, I hosted a Mabon Supper to celebrate, in my pagan way, the first day of fall. I ended up with 12 dinner guests. I cooked for two days, which may sound like complaining, but is really the exact opposite. I couldn't wait to get through my work week to start cooking! I chopped, boiled, roasted and baked--and loved every second of it.

The whole idea about Mabon is that we are celebrating the bounty of the harvest (yes, I know that traditionally people celebrate this in November as Thanksgiving, but there is so much great produce right now!). I decided, in my attempt to eat local, that I would make as much of my meal from local foods as possible and share them with my friends, so that they would be introduced to a lot of the foods out there. Doing dinner this way both honored the Eat Local Challenge and the spirit of the holiday, which was to appreciate the earth's generosity, most importantly, the local earth's bounty.

I wanted organic, local chicken, but that didn't come through in time (but I will be going to Cedar Meadow Farm this Sunday to pick some up, so keep your eyes peeled for that post), so I went with roasters from the grocery store. Many of the dishes contained mostly local ingredients (I couldn't track down butter and didn't have the time to make stock--that would have added another day to the two-day marathon). Here is my menu, and a glimpse of the decorating scheme:

Mabon Supper Menu

Appetizers
Spinach Artichoke Dip - See my recipe
Warm Olives - An Alice Waters recipe, taken from Becky's blog, who took it from the New York Times
Deviled Eggs - Prepared by my neighbor, Fran, from local eggs
Pleasant Cow Cheese - From Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm

Dinner
Butternut Squash Soup - See my recipe
Roasted Chicken - See my recipe
Good Bread Stuffing - See my recipe
String Bean Bake - See my recipe
Salad - With ingredients from the local farmers market, including a delicious mix of greens from Starlight Gardens, sweet and tart Sun Gold tomatoes from Northfordy Farm, red onion and yellow peppers

Dessert
Oreo Pie - Janeen made this after a minor disaster with her pumpkin pie (no eggnog and lots of stress)

Goodie Bags
I couldn't send my guests home empty-handed, so they each received:
Pumpkin Whoopie Pie - A fall twist on the standard whoopie pie, from Rachael Ray Magazine's October 2007 issue, these are amazingly moist (and who doesn't love cream cheese filling?); see the recipe
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - I used the Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as a base, then added 12 oz of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of Macadamia nuts instead of the chocolate chips and walnuts
Sample Size Voda Soap - I purchased sample packs ($5 for 5 little bars of assorted soaps) from Debbie of Voda Soap at the farmers market and added one to each bag

I added some red wine to the mix and we had a fantastic time. I was so pleased that even my non-Pagan friends had a great time, everyone loved the food (even Janeen's 14-month-old daughter!) and we ushered in this season all together. Some photos (none of food, I know, but it was dark by dinner; we were too hungry to do it, too):

Centerpiece for one of two tables; the "Happy Fall" pumpkin Janeen painted for the occasion

Dinner guests Evelyn and Anjanine; the vegetarian: Jesse (looking crazy)

For more photos, check out my Mabon Supper Photo Album

String Bean Bake

2007-10-01T06:32:00.001-04:00

This is so easy and so yummy. I made this for my Mabon dinner, after I realized a vegetarian was coming and I wanted to make sure he was full. The string beans came from my neighbor's daughter's garden and the onions from the local market. It's a great way to dress up string beans without doing the same old casserole.

Another plus? The string beans were free!

Ingredients
*1 lb green and yellow string beans, trimmed
*One medium onion, chopped
Tablespoon of butter
1 cup of vegetable stock
Salt
Black pepper

Procedure
1. Melt the butter in a skillet. Brown the onions until soft.
2. Toss the onions with the string beans. Salt and pepper to taste. Put in a baking dish.
3. Pour the vegetable stock over the onion and bean mix.
4. Bake in a 350 degree oven, covered, for 15-30 minutes, until beans are tender, but still firm. Serve warm.

*Local ingredient

Good Bread Stuffing

2007-10-01T05:42:00.001-04:00

This is a completely original recipe. My favorite part of Thanksgiving has always been the stuffing (or dressing, in some places). I've been making stuffing out of the bag or box for years as a quick side dish with chicken or pork. Sometimes I make a variation of Shepherd's Pie by topping chicken with gravy with stuffing and baking it. I've added a zillion things to my stuffings: sausage, prosciutto, bacon, ham. But this recipe is the epitome of my stuffing experiments. I decided that I wasn't going to use anything bagged or boxed (I was doing a pretty fresh dinner here), so I would buy good crusty bread from the market and use that. I made a huge quantity, so feel free to half the recipe, or even quarter it. Remember, I was feeding 12 people. I also took a little of the stuffing before adding the meat to it and added veggie sausage for my vegetarian guest. He both appreciated the gesture and enjoyed the stuffing.

Ingredients
*2 baguettes, cut into cubes
*2 medium onions, chopped
*4 cloves of garlic, chopped
*2 bunches of cutting celery, chopped
4 cups of vegetable stock
*1 pound of kielbasa
Goya Adobo
Ground sage
Ground thyme
Ground black pepper
Butter

Procedure
1. Sprinkle sage and thyme on the baguette cubes, then toast in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.
2. In a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Brown the onions, then add in the celery and garlic. Sprinkle a little sage, thyme, black pepper and Adobo on them, then let them cook a little.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock. Let this simmer for a little while (maybe 10 minutes, can go as long as 20 when you forget about it while cooking a thousand other things).
4. Put the toasted baguette cubes in a large bowl (large is very important here). Spoon out the vegetables from the stock into the bowl, then gradually add stock until your bread cubes are softened, but not soggy, stirring to make sure those cubes at the bottom of the bowl are getting adequate treatment. If you have leftover stock, don't worry about it. Let it cool, put it in a container, refrigerate and you'll have something to add to soup later. You might want to add a tablespoon or two of butter at this stage.
5. Cube the kielbasa and grill it up for a few minutes, until brown. Keep it going if you want really crispy stuff. Add the kielbasa to the stuffing.
6. Stir it all together and put in a large baking dish. Pop it into a 350 degree over for 10-15 minutes, making sure not to dry it out. Serve warm.

*Local ingredient

I didn't add gravy to this, but you certainly could. I wish I had! But a lot of guests topped theirs with my Butternut Squash Soup and really liked that.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

2007-10-01T05:26:00.001-04:00

I've been making this recipe for the past year and I haven't had anyone hate it yet. Even people who hate artichokes (okay, so I didn't tell them there were artichokes in it, but they didn't spit it back out, either). For Mabon dinner, I carved a big chuck out of a Sourdough Boule from the Cityseed Farmer's Market and cut said chunk into smaller pieces, which were toasted. The hot dip went into the bowl and the bread was consumed--all of it. Everyone was eating the dip fast so that we could destroy the bread bowl. This is also good with crackers, pita chips, tortilla chips, etc. I can't remember where I got the original recipe, but I think it's from Allrecipes.com. Yup, looks like it is (see here).

Ingredients
4 cloves of garlic
1 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (by all means, wilt your own spinach!)
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (okay, so the can will probably say 16 oz--or something like that--then say 14 oz drained)
1 10 oz container of Alfredo Sauce (oddly enough, they don't really come in this size, but get a bigger one and guesstimate--I recommend the Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo)
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (fresh is better!)
4 oz of cream cheese

Procedure
1. In a baking dish (in the original recipe, it says to use a smaller dish for this, which you can, or you can do it in the 8x8 baking dish you're making the dip in), roast garlic cloves (skin on) at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Let cool! Then squeeze the pasty garlic mush out of the skins.
2. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the dish and stir up. You can do this in a bowl separately, if that's easier.
3. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until the cheese is bubbly. Serve warm.

You can change the measurements on the ingredients to taste. Sometimes the dip seems too thick and I add a little milk or cream to thin it out. It's supposed to be fairly thick, but you don't want a concrete block of cheese.

PR Style Roasted Chicken

2007-09-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

I made this for my Mabon dinner and it was met with good reviews. I used a Puerto Rican traditional seasoning for pork and the smell was amazing. The meat turned out tender and moist.

Ingredients
1 roasting chicken
Goya Adobo
1 large bunch of cilantro
2 heads of garlic
Olive oil
1 lemon
1 onion

Procedure
1. To make the marinade, chop the cilantro, put into a glass jar. Peel and chop all the garlic (that's two heads, not cloves). Add the garlic to the jar and pour enough olive oil in to cover the garlic and cilantro, then shake in a generous amount of Goya Adobo. This marinade is best after it has set at least a week, but you can use it immediately, also.
2. Now, with the chicken, make sure you take out the giblets. There's an oft-repeated family story about my aunt not taking the giblets in their sack out of a turkey at her first Thanksgiving--it was a mess, but fabulous fodder at family dinners. Slip your hand under the skin and add the marinade beneath the skin, as much as you can. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and season with a little more Adobo. Squeeze lemon all over the chicken, then put the lemon halves and quartered onion into the chicken cavity. Let sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours, 24 is better and 48 is great (if you do the 48 hour soak, wait until the last 24 hours to squeeze the lemon over the chicken).
3. Roast the chicken in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, then turn down to 350. It'll take anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to cook. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the bird is 165 degrees internally before taking it out. Let it rest about 20-30 minutes. Then carve and serve.

Just a note: make sure you roast the chicken breast side up. Also, this will make good chicken salad, if you have leftovers. And, of course, if you're roasting the chicken, might as well make chicken stock from it, too!

Wooster Park Market: Everything Promised and More!

2007-09-26T07:28:00.000-04:00

I hit up the Cityseed Wooster Park Market last Saturday for ingredients for my Mabon dinner on Sunday. And it was everything and more that had been promised. Parking was difficult, but I managed it just fine (I'm a horrible parker, so if you're good at parallel parking, have no fear). It's in Russo Park on DePalma Court, which I found by driving around a little in the Wooster Park area, but which I have now found for you and you can just Mapquest it.

I walked the whole block of stands, just to get a handle on what was there (a trick I learned at the Edgewood Park Market). There was everything: honey, cheese (goat and cow and sheep!), milk in glass bottles, eggs, lamb, beef, a million vegetables, bread--and even places selling dips, spreads and hot breakfast.

I ended up with local honey, a wildflower variety (by the time I bought honey I was low on funds, so I didn't even try the buckwheat and other honeys available. It came in handy this week, when I needed to make some tea for Lenny's sore throat. In fact, when I showed it to Lenny, he hid the honey in the pantry closet, so that no one would "accidentally" walk out with it.

The milk was amazing (it's from Trinity Dairy Farms in Enfield, CT). Honestly. I love the glass bottles and Lenny says the 1% milk tastes like whole. The milk lasted less than 24 hours in my house, so I'll be back next week to return my bottles and get some more. I also bought cream, for my butternut squash soup.

I purchased half a pound of Pleasant Cow cheese (from Sankow Beaver Brook Farm in Lyme, CT), which I put out as a munchie on Sunday. It literally disappeared. At $16 a pound, I'm glad it didn't get a chance to go bad, but it's definitely a special occasion luxury. It has a little sharpness to it, but it's not a cheddar sharp at all. It would make amazing tomato and grilled cheese sandwiches and would be a welcome addition into fondue or baked macaroni and cheese. It actually was featured as one of 50 in the article "Our Favorite American Cheese" in the April 2005 issue of Saveur magazine.

The stand for Starlight Farms in Durham, CT lets you mix your own salad greens in a bag and it's perfect. I got a lot of comments on Sunday about the salad, which had a little heat to it, due to one of the greens I picked up. Oh, if you find Sun Gold tomatoes, buy them! They're tart and sweet and not like ordinary cherry tomatoes. I can't remember which stand I bought them at, but they're yellow and labeled, so dig in.

The kielbasa from Four Mile River Farm is excellent (I bought this at the first market I went to and was requested to buy more). It went into the stuffing on Sunday, along with good bread (bought at the market) and cutting celery (amazing fragrant, but less crunchy, stuff from the Yale Sustainable Food Project), and again, well received. And speaking of good bread, the Sourdough Boule is amazing and makes a great bread bowl, especially for Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Northfordy Farm had fresh cilantro, with roots, and I was hit with a little homesickness. That cilantro went into the roast chicken and I can't tell you how that smelled while cooking.

Again, no photos of the market or the goodies--but when I go back this weekend, I will take photos. The light was kind of crappy when I went--it was cloudy and dark.

This market is by far the best and most bountiful and it also goes until December, so I'm happy with that.

The only problem is that I dropped quite a bit of cash this time (and every time). Sigh. I will have to be a little more frugal, but I'm a convert to this market, so I'll survive. Hey, at least I don't buy $100 shoes or $75 sweaters (and speaking of sweaters, I believe it was Barberry Hill Farm in Madison that had wool sweaters and wool).

Anyone want to come this Saturday? I could use someone to help me carry things.

I'll be posting recipes from Mabon dinner over the next few days.

Butternut Squash Soup

2007-09-26T07:06:00.000-04:00

So this soup was the hit of my Mabon dinner on Sunday night (to celebrate the first day of autumn). I've been asked to post this a couple times, so, being the generous and obliging blogger that I am, I will. Please be careful with the white pepper, because it really has a kick that I wasn't expecting. I've never used it before and just assumed that white pepper (like vanilla and white chocolate) would be a milder version of black pepper. Nope. It's hotter, but it leaves a nice warmth in the back of your throat. Really great soup overall and, of course, I used mostly local ingredients. I adapted this Butternut Squash Soup recipe at Fine Dining (please ignore the obnoxious ads on that page). I had a vegetarian coming to dinner, so I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock and it was totally fine.

Unfortunately, by the time dinner was served everyone was hungry and I didn't get pictures!

Ingredients
*3 fair-sized butternut squash (I think it was about 7 lbs)
3 tbsp butter
*1 large sweet onion, or 2-3 medium ones
*3 garlic cloves sliced
2 boxes (about 8 cups) vegetable broth (you can use a little less)
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
*1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream (this depends how "creamy" you want it)

Procedure
1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Roast the squash to enhance the flavor on a baking sheet at 400° for at least an hour (it doesn't have to be falling apart, because the later steps will do that). Remove from the oven, scrape the flesh into a bowl; discard shells.
2. In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium high heat and sauté the onion until tender (this could take 5-15 minutes), then add garlic, letting it cook up for a couple minutes. Stir in the squash, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes to an hour (until all the flavors meld and the squash is very soft).
3. Puree in a food processor until smooth; return soup to the saucepan; add cream stirring constantly without boiling until heated through.

*Local ingredient

You can modify the recipe, as well, for a thinner soup. This one was fairly thick. Add more stock or water after pureeing and adding the cream if you feel that it's too thick. I made this the day before and let it sit overnight before pureeing, which I think added to the layers of flavor. I also probably added some Goya Adobo at some point, because I always do.

Salsa Verde

2007-09-21T08:05:00.000-04:00

A recipe made because I had a pound of tomatillos from the Farmers Market and I wanted to dress up my chili. It was met with a curious response--reluctance to try something so incredibly green and then people started digging in. I riffed off this Epicurious recipe, changing a few things, like skipping the cream (I thought the consistency was fine), omitting the Anaheim and serrano chiles (I didn't have any) and adding a whole bunch of cilantro from the grocery store, instead of only a 1/4 cup (oh, to get it fresh from my yard in Puerto Rico!). I used green peppers, too, mostly because they were some more local-ness I had around. My changes, of course, make for a non-traditional salsa, but it was incredibly good.

Ingredients
2 large sweet onions, chopped
1 pound of tomatillos, diced
2 green peppers, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 cups of chicken stock
1 jalapeno (add more for heat)

Procedure
1. In a medium pot, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and brown the onions.
2. Toss in the tomatillos and green peppers, giving them a stir to start drawing out the flavor.
3. Add garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and chicken stock. Simmer on low heat until reduced.
4. Toss the whole messy thing into a food processor and let it rip until the salsa is smooth.
5. I recommend serving this sauce warm, with some natural tortilla chips like Garden of Eatin' Pico de Gallo chips.

Mine ended up looking like this:
The Epicurious recipe also recommends this over salmon and eggs. I didn't try it over salmon, but I imagine making huevos rancheros would involve some of this and Lenny (the guinea pig) liked it over his eggs (see Farmer's Breakfast, Local Style). Or at least, I can imagine that a breakfast of fried eggs with Mexican cheese melted over them, refried beans and this sauce over everything would be pretty good, especially with a couple of warm, buttered tortillas on the side. It's actually a fairly healthy dip, too, being made of veggies. Even if I would have added the tablespoon of whipping cream, I think that it would still be a lot healthier than, say, a gooey cheese dip. Not that gooey cheese dip isn't amazing.

*By the way, I had my friend Evelyn try this last night. She's Mexican, so I wanted to see what she thought. She doesn't like really hot stuff, so the lack of chiles was fine with her. She thought it was pretty good. Yay!

Peach Pie

2007-09-18T06:50:00.000-04:00

I always turn to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook when it comes to basic recipes and baked goods. I've been making pies from there for years and I always get good reviews. I had a pile of peaches from the Edgewood Park Farmers Market and a dinner to attend, where I wanted to bring something, so peach pie it was. To get the peels off the peaches, start at the bottom (not where the stem is) and cut an X all the way to the stem (so, four lines down the peach), not cutting too deep into the flesh. Then throw them into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, until the peel begins to curl. Shock them in ice water and it should be fairly easy to peel them.

DO NOT skimp on peaches, because they will cook down. And although I use prepared pie crust from the grocery store (I used to make the crust, but it's very time consuming), I've included Fannie's pie crust recipe, in case you are ambitious, or, like I was years ago, stubborn when it comes to making absolutely EVERYTHING from scratch. Also, this is a little edited, in that I combined Fannie's deep dish and regular peach pie. It may seem like a lot of peaches for a pie, but you really think it's too much, make pancakes the next morning and top with peaches.

Peach Pie
Ingredients
1 recipe (bottom and top) of Basic Pastry Dough for 9-inch pie shell (see below)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
6 cups peeled, pitted, sliced peaches (about 8 slices per peach)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (that's Fahrenheit). Prepare the pastry dough and set it aside.
2. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the peaches in a large bowl.
3. Mix 1 1/4 cups sugar with the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour, then add to the peaches and toss until they are evenly coated.
4. Line a 9-inch pie pan with half the dough (rolled out to 1/4 inch thickness). Pour in the peaches (be generous!) and dot with the butter (this makes it taste very, very good, but you don't have to use four tablespoons, if you think it's overkill).
5. Top with the rest of the dough, rolled out. Pinch and flute the edges. Cut at least three vents (I like to do five, resembling a star). Sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30 minutes to an hour, or when the crust is yummy golden brown.

Pie Crust
Ingredients
2 1/1 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
6-7 tablespoons water

Procedure
1. Mix flour and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives.
2. Combine shortening and dry ingredients lightly, until the mixture resembles coarse meal or very tiny peas. Basically, you want a mix of bits and pieces.
3. Sprinkle water over the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with a fork until the pastry holds together in a ball. Use only enough water to achieve this state.
4. Divide the ball into two and roll out one ball two inches larger than your pie pan--this will be the bottom. The top can be rolled out or turned into lattice strips. Always vent your pies!

Fannie's tips:

Don't handle this pastry dough any more than necessary or it will be tough: treat it firmly, not timidly, but don't fuss with it. The flour and shortening should not be blended too well: it is the bits of shortening left in the dough that puff and expand during baking and give the pastry its flaky identity. For that reason, the dough cannot be mixed as successfully in a food processor.

Farmer's Breakfast, Local Style

2007-09-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning is the only time I actually get to make breakfast and it's usually for Lenny. Otherwise, omelettes are relegated to dinner. And I've been known to make pancakes for the same. But this morning, Lenny was home (which was a nice surprise, because he was supposed to work) and I had my bounty from the market (more about that in another post), plus new Calphalon cookware. So I made a fairly basic breakfast, all dressed up: local kielbasa and three eggs over easy (from Four Mile River Farm), with a salsa verde (I have to post this recipe, because it's amazing--plus, I made it with local tomatillos) and a little hot sauce, with local bread toasted and buttered on the side. I really wish I had local butter.

The Calphalon omelette pan was amazing. I have never made such perfect fried eggs. No busted yolks. I was able to flip them just right. Honestly, they were fairly expensive, next to all the other sets in Target, but a good friend gave me a $100 gift card, which defrayed the cost. I was so impressed with their performance, though. I've been using a cheapie set for years, so to have something with some heft and quality is amazing.

Here it is, Lenny's local breakfast:

Eating At Miya in New Haven, CT

2007-09-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

More Than Just A Dragon Roll
Eating at Miya at 68 Howe St, New Haven, CT

Miya in New Haven is one those kinds of restaurants that even the New York Times has noticed.

I saw Becky today, in one of our rare "New Haven Days," and she was hungry, feeling on some sushi. So I said, "Miya?"

It was a crisp fall day (a week before the equinox) that started rainy and then blue-skyed up, sun falling all over the place. I was excited to see tables out in from of Miya, because sitting outside sounded perfect.

We were handed menus and Miso Soup, like any good sushi place. I love the tradition of hospitality I've found at all the sushi places I go to. Becky was a little overwhelmed with the all the choices, but our lunchtime budget made the decision a little easier. There were very different ingredients in the rolls--papaya, goat cheese, coconut, cranberries and more. The menu is pretty quirky, with humorous roll names and hilarious descriptions.

I ended up ordering a regular salmon roll with a Water Piglet Roll, which consisted of rare-fried tuna, goat cheese and cranberries. Becky ordered the Kwanzaa Bananza Roll and a seaweed salad. Well, the salad showed up and it was not your ordinary pile of seaweed on a plate, but a huge, Italian-sized bowl of greens, tomatoes, seaweed and a sweet vinaigrette. Becky looked up at me and I dug my chopsticks in, as it was way too big for her to finish alone. I really like seaweed, so I wasn't sad at the added appetizer.

My meal is in the pic above. In the background is the plain salmon roll. Since I was ordering something complex, I went with a simple roll for balance. Salmon rolls are good, because salmon is good. I really appreciated the toasted black and brown sesame seeds, especially when I was all done with the meal and the nutty, roasted flavor lingered on my tongue.

Now, the Water Piglet Roll was amazing (that's it in the foreground of the above pic). I learned somewhere that goat cheese and cranberries go well together and have made an appetizer of said ingredients on toast, warmed in the oven. In a sushi roll it was amazing. The goat cheese certainly grabs your tongue first, but when you get to the tuna the meaty taste of the fish really melded. The sweetness of the dried cranberries popped and I enjoyed every bite of my roll.

Becky's Kwanzaa Bananza Roll was almost ridiculously huge (pictured at left). It had avocado, papaya, cream cheese, shrimp and rolled with shredded coconut. I'm sure it had more stuff in it that I can't remember. I didn't try it, because we were very possessive with our rolls. I should have traded her a Water Piglet piece, but I didn't. I was really greedy with my goat cheese.

Thankfully we were walking around after lunch, because we were pretty stuffed. And all for 26 bucks. Not a bad deal. The only thing I regret is that I couldn't try one piece of everything on the menu, but I suppose that's what brings you back again.

There's very little traditional at this sushi place (aside from the many, many kinds of sake), so if that's what you're going for, you might steer clear of this spot. But I highly recommend otherwise. Eating at Miya is an adventure, especially if you're craving sushi and creative cuisine.

Simple Turkey Chili (Low Calorie Style)

2007-09-11T23:14:00.000-04:00

I felt like chili, but didn't want the calories or the work. I was surprised this tasted as good as it did. It really filled me up and left me with warm, sweet chili mouth. This is quick and simple and goes well with a little Mexican blend shredded cheese.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped onions
4 oz. ground turkey patty
1/2 cup of pink beans
1 tablespoon Goya Recaito (or 1 tablespoon of dried cilantro)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup of tomato juice
1 pack of Goya Sazon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Procedure
1. Saute the chopped onions.
2. Throw in the turkey patty and break it up, until browned.
3. Add beans, garlic, tomato juice, Goya Sazon and chili powder. Stir and simmer.
4. Honestly, it's that easy.

Calories and Fat
295 calories, 8 grams of fat

Eat Local Challenge and Me

2007-09-11T09:30:00.001-04:00

I've decided to tackle the Eat Local Challenge, albeit in my own way. The September 2007 Challenge suggests eating only local foods for 30 days, to encourage creativity, research and awareness about local eating. I've decided that I am not going the hard-core way on this one, but am, instead, going to eat more local foods, because I don't eat very many at the moment. I am going to commit to being creative, researching options and sharing my local meals with friends. This way I'll be working in the spirit of the challenge. One big challenge I am making for myself is to do an all-local Autumnal Equinox dinner on September 23, since I am pagan and do celebrate these things--not to mention, local and organic foods are very in tune with pagan beliefs about being good to the earth.

I'll also be posting recipes here made with local foods and tagging each one with the Eat Local Challenge Logo, as well as creating a section in the sidebar with all Eat Local Challenge posts, both from this blog and my daily journal blog, Starry Saltwater.

I'm really excited to push myself to eat local, especially since my experience at the Edgewood Park Farmers Market was both bountiful and communal. My boyfriend grew up in extreme-northern, rural Maine and often ate locally, due to all the farms in the area. In fact, his first job was shoveling cow manure at a dairy farm. He loves farm eggs and vegetables, so this will not be difficult for him at all.

I encourage everyone to find a way to participate in the challenge, even if it's only in small ways. Be good to the earth, local economies, yourself and your friends.

Edgewood Park Farmers Market

2007-09-09T21:03:00.001-04:00

So I finally made it to a Cityseed Farmers Market this year. I went to the Edgewood Park Market (click here for info on the vendors and farmers). I grabbed forty dollars and went local. I went specifically for eggs, but I arrived too late (around 1pm and the party had been going on since 10am) and they're weren't any left. As you can see from my photo at the bottom of this post, though, I did grab some really great stuff.

I stopped by the Common Ground stand first, since I've met a lot of the staff over there when I used to work in that neighborhood. It's a high school run by the New Haven Ecology Project and I love the idea of purchasing both organic and educational vegetables. I bumped into Gammy at the booth, an old co-worker and we caught up. I loved the communal feel of it.

I zoned in on eggplant (which will be an eggplant parmesan later this week, which will not be mushy because Alton Brown has taught me how to purge eggplant), then green peppers (I always buy these) then my eyes lit on the hot peppers. My big plan is to make chili soon, because I'll have enough tomatoes in another few days. So, I picked up a habanero, jalapeno and (I think) a cayenne.

But it was the sweet nardello peppers that were the first score of the day (here's this Bon Appetit Editor's blog on them at Epicurious). I sort of gestured to them and asked, "Sweet peppers?" And the girl at the booth said, "Yeah, have you had a nardello?" I shook my head. "Here, try one." They had little bits of pepper on a plate and I tasted one. "Wow. Yeah, I'll take three." It's very sweet and roasting should bring out the sugars, so I'm very stoked to try these in something.

I peeked a couple pounds of ground beef in someone's basket (a real wooden one!) and asked her where she got them. She pointed to the booth and I went right away. It was the Four Mile River Farm and the owner was chatting with a small crowd about livers and kidneys for dog food. He turned to me when he was done. I knew I wanted ground beef, but I had read his list while he was chatting and was curious about a cut called petite tender. So I asked him about it and he explained it would eat like a tenderloin but was cut from the chuck area, so you couldn't overcook it. He cut me a tiny deal on two packages of them, plus the ground beef. Second score!

I wandered through the other booths, seeking eggs and finding peaches (for a free-form peach and raspberry tart) and tomatillos (salsa verde and fried up!). Then I saw Debbie, who makes Voda Soaps. I met her when I was a more regular installment of the Westville/West Rock neighborhood (when I used to work there), through a co-worker and a festival. I got a present of four soaps and loved them. So I took advantage and picked up a bar of my favorite, Medicine Woman (score number three!). I chatted with her for awhile and she mentioned that the Wooster Park Farmer's Market on Saturdays is huge and fun and cool. I think I'll have to make it out there with Becky, my fellow foodie, next week. Then it was time to take my bounty home.

Some of Debbie's Voda Soaps

From left to right, Top: Petite tender steak, Ground beef, Eggplant, Green peppers, Peaches;
Bottom: Tomatillos, Cayenne pepper, Jalapeno pepper, Habanero pepper, Sweet nardello peppers, Voda Medicine Woman soap

I seriously can't wait to cook this stuff up. Expect more recipes up (and this time I'll take pictures)!

Cheesy Risotto (Low Calorie Style)

2007-09-09T20:46:00.000-04:00

Something I missed when dieting was a big bowl of cheesy risotto, so I modified the recipe and have had at least two bowls of this yummy stuff in the last week.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 slices of Hebrew National Lean Beef Salami, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of arborio (risotto) rice
1 cup of chicken stock (I used Emeril's because that's what they had)
2 teaspoons of Reduced Fat Kraft Parmesan
1 Kraft Polly-O 2% String Cheese

Procedure
1. Give a small saucepan a little spritz with cooking spray.
2. Saute the chopped onions until they caramelize. If you're using the salami, crisp it up after the onions have started to caramelize.
3. Throw in the risotto, give another spray and just let it become a little transparent.
4. Pour in half the cup of chicken stock, stir, turn stove down to simmer. Add a couple shakes of the saltshaker. Stir every once in a while until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Add 1/4 cup of the chicken stock, stir, keep an eye on it until it's almost all absorbed. Repeat with the last of the stock.
6. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, add the parmesan cheese and string cheese. Stir until melted.
7. Serve it up in a bowl and chow!

Calories and Fat
Without salami: 305 calories, 5 grams of fat
With salami: 350 calories, 7.5 grams of fat

Bar Harbor Seafood Dip

2007-06-02T09:51:00.001-04:00

I had this dip in Bar Harbor and came home determined to re-create it. This is the recipe!

Ingredients
Two 4 oz cans of tiny shrimp
Two 4 oz cans of lump crabmeat
8 oz of cream cheese
1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese
1 6.5 oz jar of Goya red peppers
1 cup of garlic and herb bread crumbs
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp butter melted
Old Bay seasoning
Goya Adobo

Procedure
1. In a medium bowl, add the drained cans of tiny shrimp and crabmeat.
2. Add the cream cheese. I find that putting the cream cheese in the microwave for about a minute on high makes it much easier to mix and you don't have to wait for it to soften.
3. Finely chop the red peppers and add to the bowl.
4. Mince the garlic and add to the bowl.
5. Stir this mixture until combined.
6. Add the bread crumbs and stir.
7. Season liberally with Old Bay (about 2 tbsp) and lightly with Goya Adobo. Stir to combine.
8. Add the Mexican shredded cheese (this is the four cheese blend and it melts very well). Stir. Add the melted butter. Stir.
9. If the dip is very thick, add a little milk or heavy cream to thin it out.
10. Spread in a cooking sprayed baking dish (I used a glass 10-inch pie pan).
11. Take a little extra bread crumbs, cheese and Old Bay season in a small bowl. Mix them up, until the cheese is coated with the bread crumbs and spices. Top the dip with this mixture.
12. Pop into a 350 degree oven. Let cook until the edges are brown and the top is crispy.
13. Serve with tortilla chips (thick ones or the ones with a scoop) or crackers. This also makes a delicious sandwich spread!

Fiddlehead Quiche

2007-06-02T09:37:00.000-04:00

I made this dish in Northern Maine, where fiddlehead were all over the place. My soon-to-be brother-in-law requested this, as he didn't know how to make quiche and wanted to see how it was done.

Ingredients
Fresh fiddlehead
Thick-cut bacon
Shredded cheddar cheese
Pie crust
6 eggs
Heavy cream
Salt
Pepper

Procedure
1. Clean the fiddlehead. Take the ends off and rinse them. Boil until tender and squishy. Drain and take a kitchen towel to push on the top of them, squeezing the water out. This could take a towel or two.
2. Cook the bacon. I highly recommend thick-cut bacon, but regular bacon will do, as well.
3. Take the pie crust (I use whatever prepared one they have in the grocery store) and put it in the pie plate, creating a ridge. Put in a 400 degree oven for five minutes.
4. Crack and beat all the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in about half a cup of heavy cream. Beat well until fluffy.
5. In the slightly baked pie crust, layer fiddlehead, bacon and shredded cheddar twice, making sure to not compact the filling.
6. Pour the egg mixture over the filling.
7. Put in a 350 degree oven for about half an hour. As all ovens are different, it could take up to an hour to properly cook. Check the quiche for doneness by pressing slightly on the top. If it feels firm, then it's all done!

I had to make five of these in Maine, they were such a big hit!

Pork Dumplings

2006-05-03T17:22:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
1 lb. ground pork (the leaner the better)
4 stalks of celery
4 stalks of scallion
Fennel seed (optional)
Goya Adobo
Ground pepper
Package of wonton skins

Procedure
1. Finely chop celery and scallion.
2. Mix celery, scallion, fennel seed (optional, but if you're using it, use about a teaspoon or two), Adobo and pepper into the ground pork.
3. Layout half of the wonton skins, dropping small spoonfuls of the pork mixture into the middle of the wonton squares.
4. With warm water, brush the edges of the wonton skins and then lay the other half of the skins on top of the first skin and pork mixture, sealing the edges tightly. The dumplings will look like ravioli.
5. Steam the wontons until cooked through (about 10 minutes, but double check to be sure). If you don't have a bamboo steamer, just use a steel strainer inside a deep pot filled with water just below the strainer. Only steam a few of the dumplings at a time, as they will stick. Definitely spray the strainer with cooking spray so that they slide off easily when cooked.
6. Serve with soy sauce and be prepared to make a whole bunch of these. They will disappear very quickly.

Alternative Preparation Ideas
>Use eggroll wrapper and use more pork mixture to stuff it, roll it up into an eggroll and steam. This will make a lot less work; you won't have to make 20-30 dumplings, but only about 10 eggrolls.
>Put less mixture in the wonton skins and make wontons from only one skin, as opposed to using two skins to make a dumpling. This takes forever, but if you have a few friends to help, have fun.

Chicken-Fried Steak Strips

2006-03-07T10:03:00.000-05:00

Well, Lenny loved everything I made last night, but his favorite was the Chicken-Fried Steak Strips.

Ingredients
1lb. grill steak (like a London Broil cut, something that will cut into nice strips)
Worcestershire
Goya Adobo (or salt, pepper and cumin)
Cornmeal
Flour
2 Eggs
Frying oil (not olive oil!)

Procedure
1. Marinate steak in Worcestershire and Goya Adobo (especially if the steak says it's specifically for marinading) for a few hours.
2. Cut steak into thin strips.
3. Dredge the strips in beaten eggs with a little salt, pepper and cumin (or Goya Adobo).
4. Dredge the egg-coated strips in a mix of cornmeal, flour and Goya Adobo (plus some dried herbs, like cilantro, if you'd like; make the cornmeal/flour mixture 1 to 1).
5. Fry until crispy.
6. Eat!

Alternate Serving Suggestions
>Serve in a sandwich with cooked onions, tomato and lettuce or anything else you'd like.
>Create dipping sauces and use as a appetizer plate at a party.
>Add mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits and gravy for a typical Southern meal.
>Serve with eggs and hash browns for a twist on the steak and eggs breakfast.

I find that the steak strips work better than an entire steak: the strips are more manageable, fry quicker without the worry that the center isn't fully cooked, they have the advantage of being easy to eat without cutting, the crust stays on better, and it's a little more elegant. They're like steak nuggets!

From the Formica Top: Mini Iron Chef - Angus Beef Marinating Steak

2006-03-06T09:44:00.000-05:00

From the Formica Top #1
What's been going on around my kitchen lately

Mini Iron Chef - Angus Beef Marinating Steak
So, to test myself, I have decided to take a piece of Angus beef marinating steak we bought at the grocery store (weighing in at 1.92 lbs) and create four almost tapas like dishes with it for dinner tonight. I am not sticking to the 1 hour time limit at all. I got this crackpot idea at 11:30pm last night, so I started prep work. A little manic? Perhaps...or maybe I just wasn't sleepy after that nap at a quarter to six at night.

So, this is the menu, and I'll let you know how it goes...

Steak Sandwich with caramelized onions, scallion mayonaise and melted taco-blend cheeses
(steak marinaded in onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Goya Sazon with cilantro and annato, Goya Recaito and extra virgin olive oil)

Chicken-Fried Steak Strips with barbecue dipping sauce
(batter made from flour, cornmeal and herbs; steak marinaded in Worcestershire sauce and Goya Adobo with cumin)

Steak Bruschetta with prosciutto, melted mozzarella, tomato and garlic-herb butter
(steak marinaded in red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, lots of garlic and extra virgin olive oil)

Steak Pepper Potato Layer with beef gravy and orange zest
(steak marinaded in Worcestershire sauce, juice of one orange and Goya Adobo with cumin)

I think Lenny's pretty damn lucky...

Judy's Macaroni Salad

2006-03-02T16:42:00.000-05:00

Lenny's sister gave me this recipe and he eats it all in one day.

Ingredients
Package of crab meat (the fake stuff's okay)
Can of sweet peas
About 3/4 of a box os elbow macaroni
Miracle Whip
Milk
Salt
Pepper

Procedure
1. Boil the macaroni. If you don't know how to do this, this site might be a little advanced for you.
2. Chop up the crab meat, toss it in a medium bowl.
3. Add the macaroni and as much Miracle Whip (or mayonaise, if you prefer) as you want. Add a little milk to make it creamy.
4. Put in the peas last, because if you don't, they get all mushy.
5. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Serve chilled.

This goes really well with Jim's Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I promise to post it soon, because they're really awesome and can be adapted for you non-beef eaters.

Welcome to Rose's Kitchen!

2006-03-02T16:26:00.000-05:00

I've been cooking since I was ten years old. I started with Old El Paso Taco Kits and Bisquick Biscuits. I moved up to pizza and bread, brownies and cookies. In college, I cooked for my friends, as a happy alternative to the dining hall food, in my first apartment. Now I cook for my friends and my fiance. I jump at any opportunity to show off my grub.

I love cooking and creating foods that make people happy. I truly believe that sitting around a warm kitchen, with drinks, good food and great company is better than any club, any night of the week.

Here I'll be posting, for the benefit of my family, friends and other foodies, my favorite recipes--some are altered recipes from several sources (The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and Foodnetwork.com, for example), some are family recipes from my and my fiance's families, and some I just made up and put together myself.

Enjoy and happy eating!

Generally Food

2006-02-25T07:28:00.000-05:00

These are posts that are just about food or food links

Generally Food
Interesting Things on Foodie Blogs

Test Kitchen

2006-02-25T07:23:00.002-05:00

Every cook plays around and so do I!

Test Kitchen Posts
Icebox Cake Research
Questions (Like Silken Tofu)
Playing with Fondant for the Superbowl
Butternut Squash Update
Butternut Squash Pancakes

My Restaurant Reviews

2006-02-25T06:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not Frank Bruni, but I do have an opinion about restaurants I eat at.

My Reviews
Eating at Miya

Cook the Book: Baking by Dorie Greenspan

2006-02-25T06:26:00.000-05:00

I love this book by Dorie Greenspan. Here are some recipes.

Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

Recipes
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Links
Dorie Greenspan.com
Baking with Dorie at Serious Eats

Meal Diary

2006-02-25T06:24:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I just like to share what I've been eating

Meal Diary Entries
December 30, 2007: Dinner - Chicken Tikka Masala with Grains and Lunch - Chicken Sausage

Bentos

2006-02-25T06:20:00.000-05:00

Inspired by JustBento.com, I've been making much more creative (as well as balanced and creative) bento lunches.

Bentos
Picnic Bento
Triple Protein Bento
My First Bento

From the Formica Top

2006-02-25T06:13:00.000-05:00

Posts about what's been going on in my kitchen, a bit like a newsletter

Editions
January 26, 2008: Test Kitchen (+ Other Things)
November 27, 2007: Thanksgiving Coverage
November 4, 2007: I Tried Tofu (+ More)
October 4, 2007: Cheat Day Luncheon
October 1, 2007: Mabon Dinner
March 6, 2006: Mini Iron Chef - Angus Beef Marinating Steak

Eating Locally

2006-02-25T06:07:00.000-05:00

In an effort to discover new foods, learn more about where my food comes from, contribute to small farm sustainability, eat healthier and for many more reasons, I am trying to eat as locally as I can.

My Reports
Posts about the experience of learning, exploring and eating locally

October 2007
My Alice Waters Sighting
Exploring CT Resources
Mabon Dinner

September 2007
Wooster Park Market: Everything Promised and More!
Farmer's Breakfast, Local Style
How I've Eaten Local Lately
Eat Local Challenge and Me
Edgewood Park Farmers Market

Recipes Made Local
Recipes on this site made with primarily local ingredients
Local Mac 'n' Cheese
Goat Cheese Risotto
Chili
String Bean Bake
Good Bread Stuffing
Butternut Squash Soup
Salsa Verde
Peach Pie

Eat Local Links
Some good links for eating locally in Connecticut and elsewhere
Eat Local Challenge Blog
About Sept 2007 Challenge
Eat Wild.com
Pick Your Own.org

Recipes at Rose's Kitchen

2006-02-25T05:54:00.003-05:00

Recipes are listed newest to oldest

Savory
Homemade Corned Beef on Homemade Rye
Local Mac 'n' Cheese
Goat Cheese Risotto
Chili
String Bean Bake
Good Bread Stuffing
Butternut Squash Soup
Salsa Verde
Bar Harbor Seafood Dip
Fiddlehead Quiche
Pork Dumplings
Chicken-Fried Steak Strips
Judy's Macaroni Salad

Healthy
Simple Turkey Chili
Cheesy Risotto

Baking and Desserts
Chocolate Banana Icebox Cake
Peach Pie
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Simple Chocolate Mousse

Cook the Book: Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting