Return of the Cook

It was a little chilly this past weekend, y'all. It had that snap, that bite, that autumnness about it. I love new seasons and particularly am fond of fall. I mentioned last time that we've had a great grilling season and so many peaceful nights on the back deck, but I miss COOKING. So I kicked off the chill in the air with an impulse-cake, a spontaneously made applesauce spice cake. I have this bundt pan that I acquired, probably at a yard sale, for roughly $1, and every so often the big, heavy, 1978-mustard-yellow thing must be used. So, here we are.

It's not super-apple-y but even still seemed the right thing to make on Rosh Hashanah. I took a recipe and tweaked it a few times over, so it's kind a "choose-your-own-ending" sort of cake (for example, it would be just fine if you skipped the nuts). It's not an extremely sweet cake, which was sort of intentional. I opted not to glaze it, but if you're looking for something very dessert-y you might want to do so. I don't have an enormous sweet tooth and prefer the delicate dusting of confectioners' sugar - plus it looks pretty, y'all. (If you do that, I suggest putting some plastic wrap under the cooling rack to catch all the extra sugar.)

As I mentioned it's not really apple-y, so if you arrived here looking for an apple cake - you can just chop up an apple and mix it in. I encourage Pink Lady apples in baking, but Granny Smith or Honeycrisp would work well too.

Autumn Kickoff Cake

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups applesauce

[*Note: my applesauce was really excessively sugary, which is what made me look for a recipe in the first place - so I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup of white and 1/3 cup of brown. Adjust per your preferences.*]

1 cup vegetable oil [*I ran out and used half olive oil, which is healthier anyway - can't taste a difference at all.*]
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans [*Important: not huge chunks! They'll overwhelm.*]
sifted confectioners' sugar or vanilla glaze (recipe below)

Lightly butter and flour a bundt pan or a loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg until well blended. Stir in chopped walnuts or pecans (and apple(s) if using). Pour batter into prepared bundt pan or loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool cake for 10 minutes in pan on rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or drizzle with vanilla glaze.

Vanilla Glaze  
(courtesy southernfood.about.com)

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sift before measuring
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, soft
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Combine all icing ingredients in small mixing bowl. Stir until smooth and well blended. Adjust for spreading consistency if necessary, adding more milk or more confectioners' sugar. Spread icing or drizzle on warm cookies, Bundt cake, or pound cake.

The parting of the (cardboard box) sea

Hello from our (town)house! 

We're slowly tiptoeing towards being fully settled in and unpacked -- it'll be a bit yet, but I can say with confidence that we are more unpacked now than we ever were in Seattle. Which is exciting and sad all at once. There've been a few broken things but not too many (and one mug that I'm secretly glad to see go), and then the exploded green food coloring that I'm so glad I double bagged. I've seen quite a lot of family already, with plans to see more of them soon, and we even made it down the shore one weekend in September. We've found a couple farm markets, including one that's part of the local ag school and promises to have fresh produce all winter (no small thing here in Pennsylvania). And I've had oh so much delicious scrapple. 

We're getting to know our kitchen - storage quirks, oven that runs closer to true than any of the ovens I've worked with thus far, fridge door that is prone to swinging back open if you aren't paying attention...that sort of thing. A nice feature of this kitchen is that the design elements were clearly thought through by a cook - the long skinny cookie sheet cabinet in just the right spot, the sliding shelves for easy loading, the deep pantry for...everything. And a big island, which is AWESOME for cooking - consistently clear counterspace is my friend. So far I haven't had any dramatic cooking episodes to report on here - there's been red sauce, coq au vin, carnitas, a pork roast that I sadly overcooked, your basic baked chicken thighs. All tasty, but nothing to write home(page) about. Plus EPH has been traveling quite a bit, and I'm much more likely to do something simple and pasta based when it's just me. 

I'm cooking a double birthday dinner for my parents this weekend, though -- trying to find that menu that is interesting and festive, but without committing the cardinal sin of dinner parties: the slippery slope of overambitious experimentation. I'll keep you posted, friends. 

Autumn! One of the two top cooking seasons...so much comfort food and baking to do. (Late spring, with fresh produce coming from every which way, is the second best)

Autumn: when I get it together, usually

You've all been pretty patient with me this past month as I've veered way off topic - nothing food or plant related in the nomadic life! Today, though, a recipe.

We are currently living in my parents' home. Our movers haven't arrived and won't till next week, so while we have keys then new home stands empty for now. Such is life. I have run out of patience with take out, restaurants, other people cooking for me. Last night, I made dinner. My mother happened upon a lot of eggplant at the farm stand last week, so I asked her to leave one and last night I made the eggplant parmesan I have mentioned in a couple early posts but never actually shared. This is a fairly simple recipe and not wildly unhealthy, and fast enough that it could be a weeknight meal (plus you probably have most of the ingredients on hand, save the eggplant). As we get back into the fall, with the busier schedules and cooler weather, it seems like as good a time as any!

Easy Baked Eggplant Parmesan
(adapted from Whole Foods)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces (about eight) [I do the more traditional crosswise slicing - makes it tidier]
2 eggs, beaten with a fork
1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (sundried tomato or plain) [I suppose you could use regular bread crumbs, but the panko gives it that nice crunch that you would normally get from frying the slices]
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (25-ounce) jar pasta sauce (roasted vegetable or any variety) [I make my own tomato sauce, and know many people who do, but jarred is actually good for this recipe. I don't use sugar when I make my sauce and the extra sweetness that the jarred stuff has actually balances the salt of the cheese nicely.]
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven with a baking sheet inside to 375°F. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with panko crumbs. Spread oil on hot baking sheet and place eggplant slices on it in a single layer. Bake 15 minutes, flip and bake another 10 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. In an 8x10-inch ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant, and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. [It's almost like an eggplant napoleon when you're done...using a bigger baking dish will help you have less density in the end result if this seems like an issue for you.] Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 15 minutes.

The recipe suggests a side dish of sautéed broccoli rabe. I agree that this sounds delicious, but two things -- that's something you can't put on and then walk away from, which makes it somewhat less weeknight-friendly. Also we don't happen to have any right now, but we do have whole grain thin spaghetti, which I like. I made a small amount of that with some garlic oil, added a salad, and felt fine about it. As, apparently, did everyone else.

Thanksgiving Sides: 101. Also, don't trust a celebrity chef.

And then it was the day after the first feast of Thanksgiving 2013. And I rested. EPF is running around being all kinds of productive - apparently the collection of people inspired him to think about what he'd like to be improved around the house. Me? I'm sitting still. 

Round One of Thanksgiving 2013 went quite well last night - good times with some friends and some family (and a special shout of appreciation to James for providing the photography for this entry!). I had some recipe successes, and some recipe failures, and some random snafus along the way. As promised, here's the story, with all recipes listed in a clump at the bottom (with links to original posts where applicable). 

The turkey, of course, was great. It was surprisingly huge (19lbs!) but that's okay - EPF is a big fan of smoked turkey. (Bonus preview: I'm working on some guest blogger events, and he'll be one of them - he makes mean mashed potatoes, without overcomplicating them - and he also can smoke a turkey like a boss.)

My Super Stuffing returned, and this year I actually stuck to the recipe - well, sort of. In the past I've used pre-dried/cubed bread, croutons really - but they're marketed as stuffing starter so OBVIOUSLY it's different. Anyway, this year I got actual sourdough - and you know, the slight extra tang really made a difference, so I vote for that always. Also, the recipe calls for onion, and I did that the first time but per a tiny note I seem to have used shallots last year. I like them better. So that's what I did this year, and I don't know that it makes a massive difference but I still like them better. I had batted around tweaking the recipe - adding some nuts, or some loose sausage, or something - but in the end couldn't bring myself to mess with perfection. When you've nailed something and it's a crucial part of a holiday, it's a pretty bad idea to mess with it - and I did enough of that, as you will read. 

I needed something green on the table, and green bean casserole has been vetoed in this house so I opted for fresh green beans. Those of you that are 55-year olds like me all have the November Good Housekeeping laying around the house somewhere, and in there you saw a story on Ina Garten, and her recipe for Green Bean Gremolata. You maybe thought to yourself "huh, that sounds good - fresh and bright and interesting but uncomplicated. I'll try it." Well, don't. Or if you do at least change a couple things. If I had THOUGHT about it, I would have realized that huge amounts of parsley are gross and so is raw garlic. But I didn't. I'll say this: fresh green beans are still good, and the rest of the topping is good. Just skip the nasty bits.

Also, funny story: these green beans were supposed to be steamed in the steamer pot, but we had an unfortunate incident wherein the steamer pot nearly went up in flames and as of this typing remains on the balcony, de-stinking. So, the beans were microwaved, and they were still nice and crisp and hot. Improv and recovery will get you through the holidays. And the recipe actually called for blanching, which is boiling and then ice-bathing, but that is just too many bowls and complications so that wasn't going to happen anyway. Come on, Ina. 

We skipped yams this year and did roasted acorn squash, which - the way I prepare it - tastes pretty much the same but looks prettier.

 Unless you are a six year old boy, that is. Then, well, it looks like squash and that's yucky. But if you're a one and a half year old boy, then it's so delicious the only reasonable thing to do - after pulling out as much as you can with your little fingers - is pick up the rind and mash it right into your face. So I guess the moral of the story there is know your audience. 

I've got a pretty easy and tasty homemade cranberry sauce - I made it last year and it was good, but a little too tart, so I overruled the recipe's recommendation for entire chunks of rind. Much better result this year. I needed a little less than half an orange's worth of zest for my pumpkin pie (next up) so used the rest of the orange here.

Remember that Good Housekeeping I mentioned? Well, Ina also has a pumpkin pie recipe. I fussed and fiddled with that too -- and the truth is, it's more a pumpkin custard pie. But if you normally find pumpkin pie a little too dense (and, uh, you aren't too worried about your cholesterol), then this might be the pie for you. I also attempted to decorate with leftover crust bits. This is trickier than one might think, as I couldn't put it on till a good ways through the baking due to the pie being liquidy. This led to not-fully cooked crust atop the pie, and it had already been in the oven too long so more baking was out. My next thought was EPF's culinary torch, purchased specifically for creme brulee. That, however, is somewhere in a box in the garage, and may not be seen for quite some time. So I ended up toasting the dough to completion with a barbecue lighter. Let me be clear: I do not recommend this as a strategy. It's just one of those things that sometimes has to happen at the holidays. You know? Oh! And Ina neglects to inform you that you're going to need pie weights, which I don't have, and I didn't have dried beans laying around, so scavenged various things together - rice, lentils, some barley - and put them on parchment. It worked, but caused some anxiety. 

And finally, the Toll House cookies. These were a success with both of the aforementioned boys, so I imagine will be with your home as well. I changed nothing about the recipe since my last posting. They remain delicious. Thanks, Grandmom. 

And that, my friends, is the story of Thanksgiving round 1. While I had a great time hosting, cooking, etc, I look forward to round 2 - when I will come bearing stuffing, and that is all. 

(Recipes after the jump)

Menu? I gotcha menu right here (turkey excepted)

It's Saturday. Do you know where your Thanksgiving shopping list is? 

Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. It's all going to be okay. I'm here! With a menu! And it's not hard! I'm not going to cover the main dish - the turkey - because EPF is in charge of that. He smokes it. (Not in the way that is now legal here in Washington....like over woodchips) but for sides, I've got your back. We're having Thanksgiving, part 1, tonight - so you'll have all the recipes and reviews you need tomorrow, in plenty of time to shop and cook. It's going to be great. Some of these I've written about previously, so they're linked.

Your menu (pick and choose what you want):

Turkey (like I say, I'm no help here. Sorry.)

Gravy (I cheat and buy it. Want to trick people? Ask at the butcher counter - they might be able to guide you to a good imitation of homemade.)

The Best Stuffing Ever

Green beans (not the mushroom casserole - gremolata)

Roasted acorn squash

Homemade cranberry sauce (you have the canned gel too, if you want. We do both.)

Mashed potatoes

Pumpkin pie, with decor 

Toll house cookies

Plus, a bonus Brussels sprouts recipe - we're not having it for Thanksgiving but I just made it and it's great, so it's an option.

All pretty simple, although it's a lot so scheduling is key. But you can do this! 

More tomorrow...

No Strings Attached

In my ongoing full immersion into autumn and all things cozy and homey, it was inevitable that I was going to want pot roast at some point. I haven't had pot roast in a long, long time - we had it when I was younger but not much since then, and I've never made it. So clearly it had to happen. While I was open to doing it the old school way - big chuck roast, crock pot, Lipton's soup mix, etc - we were rapidly running out of room in our fridge, and minimizing leftovers was key. Meanwhile, somewhere along the line I had clipped a recipe I'd been meaning to try -- "individual" pot roasts. A little more effort than the traditional, sure, but SO GOOD. Kind of a hybrid of pot roast and boeuf bourguignon - not quite as complicated though. The meat was tender, not at all stringy, and flavorful, and it has been officially placed in EPF's top five dishes. Try it - it's worth the extra effort. It does take a little time, so probably more of a weekend than a weekday dish, but it reheats well.

Late Dinners

Last week, I was in a deeply autumnal mood. This meant hearty things, autumn-colored food, and at least one use of the slow cooker and/or dutch oven. This slow cooker thing is new to me - I haven't owned a full size one previously, but EPF came with one - so I'm making the most of it. As I was flailing about for ideas I remembered that on Facebook recently my friend Johnny had shared his split pea soup recipe, and as it fit all the criteria, I gave it a whirl. EPF was pretty fond of it - I was too, although I wasn't sure going in. I haven't had split pea in a very, very long time so couldn't even remember what it was actually supposed to taste like, making this a experiment on many levels. It worked out deliciously, though. I may play with the variety of meat in my next batch - the andouille gave it a great kick, so I'd leave most of it, but we've been getting this amazing smoky bacon from the awesome new butcher in our neighborhood - maybe a few slices of that in place of one of the andouille links, to see what that flavor does.

Adulthood is tricky and other obvious things

The sky is blue! 

This may seem like a given to you...but it's not so normal this time of year out here. So, I celebrate. This day last year, Hurricane Sandy whacked into the Northeast, leaving many friends and loved ones in a bad spot. Here in Seattle we got a bit of a gift out of it - my aunt and uncle ended up extending their visit with us as they couldn't get a flight home. Not so fun for them but we loved having them, and that's what I'll choose to focus on - I've spent enough time on various blogs climbing upon my government-response-after-disasters soapbox. And this is a happy place! With food! 

In honor of the region of my roots, this week's menu...well, it has nothing to do with Sandy. Unless you consider some seafood. It does, however, include a recipe from my friend Johnny from New Jersey, so we'll count that. Unfortunately I do not have a new produce adventure to report on: a late night Saturday led to missing the Farmer's Market Sunday, so no new acquisitions. I still have last week's emergency acorn squash, though, so am carrying that through with a promise to do better next week. I'm sticking with the goal of menu planning, though, so here's this week's menu. 

• Monday: pan-seared local salmon & acorn squash. We stocked up on sockeye when it was coming in fresh over the summer, so this is a "reach into the freezer for a fast entree", and the aforementioned semi-new produce. 
• Tuesday: Johnny's slow cooker split pea soup & homemade corn bread. Johnny is a guy with a busy and stressful job, and the recipe he shared seems easy and well-suited for that kind of life. EPF teaches Tuesday nights and I'll be out voluworking (why didn't spellcheck catch what seems like a clearly made up word combining volunteering and working?) all afternoon, so this seems like something that will be just right for a late dinner. The cornbread is something I haven't made in a long time - and never the recipe I'm eyeing - but seemed like it would go well with this. 
• Wednesday: Individual Pot Roasts. Another new recipe, this is a dutch oven thing - love me some one-pot cooking. 
• Thursday: Leftover night! Assuming the weather cooperates we'll be trick or treating with our friends and their sweet little boy, so leftovers will be quick and easy - and we're going to run out of plastic containers if we don't clean out the fridge soon anyway.
• Friday: Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I'm trying a new recipe that calls this "healthy" and "easy". We'll see if it is either. 

And that's the plan! Last week, while a success in terms of planning, was also kind of a tip toe into this plan, with only two nights of real cooking - only one of which was "new". This week is a little more ambitious, although not hugely. Hopefully these will all turns out to be as not-enormously-complicated as I hope. 

Results to follow, friends...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, 
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth 
seeking the successive autumns."

-George Eliot

Planning is for Adults

Tonight begins Project: Meg Cooks Like a Grown-up. The menu: slow cooker carnitas & delicata squash. The inadvertant theme: "quick" is in the...mind of the time-challenged. While both of these things involved minimal effort - and one was in a Crock-Pot, the modern originator of "the machine cooks it for you" - they both involved forethought and quite a lot of time. The Crock-Pot obviously does, although the assembly is about 10-15 minutes, tops. But if you're like me and can barely get out the door in time what with the clothing putting on and the coffee making and the whatnot, well, then, make it on a weekend. Being of the non-working variety, this was a Monday attempt for me. The delicata is also not very labor intensive, but does take about 30 minutes and needs tending, so can't really be put in and then left alone for 30 minutes. But once it's in, you can do the prep for the carnitas toppings and shred the meat, so it works out.

First up, carnitas. I might be the only person out there who hasn't made carnitas yet, so this seemed like a good thing to get in the repertoire. I mostly followed one recipe...but tweaked it based on another and then added a random fridge leftover. So, the end result is below (which shortcuts noted where possible), and aside from a deliciously fragrant house it was also super tasty. Not overwhelming but just snappy enough to perk up the evening. We did feel it needed a little kick, so the hot sauce was employed - but that can be optional. We added chopped avocado, a little sour cream and some flour tortillas, and it was creamy and tangy deliciousness. (The avocado was of course hard as a rock...October in the PacNW isn't exactly their time. It spent the afternoon snuggling with an apple in the Paper Bag Hotel, and the results were workable.) The original recipe suggested toppings of diced green chiles and carmelized onions. Neither of us is really into fiery hot food, so I scratched the chiles, and I wasn't feeling onions today but may try them out another time. 

Getting back in the groove

It's time to wake this thing back up. It's time for cold (permanently foggy) days and fireplaces. It's time to refocus from the depressing cesspool of our country's "government" to food, family, friends, festivities. It's Time To Cook.

It was a summer of minimal cooking - life was busy, EPF and I moved, and, well, it was summer, when a lack of both a/c and a grill means lots of salads and sushi. What with my patio garden doing really truly terribly, my domestic inspiration level was low, low, looooow. But now that we're sharing a home and eating together, there is some actual planning that needs to happen for us to eat like normal people (read: not takeout every night, which we could easily slip into with the wealth of options in this neighborhood). So: while I'm without garden for now (of the outdoor plants, only the rosemary and now-struggling sage made the move - the others went to the Garden Intake Shelter, aka my next door neighbors' patio), I do need menu planning motivation and this blog is going to be it! Because I said so! And so it is! (Do I sound fired up yet? I'm still working on the coffee.)

This week I'm also embarking on a new low-grade project: each week I'm attempting a new, ideally seasonal, produce that I haven't messed with previously (or at least don't do on a regular basis). I feel like incorporating fresh produce outside of the summer is challenging, but I know it can be done, so will now shame myself into doing so. This week, squash. I acquired delicata and acorn at the farmer's market yesterday, and am starting with delicata since I've never made it. (Acorn I have made, so it's in case of crisis - this is the first week, after all)

The week's plan:

• Monday: Slow cooker carnitas & roasted delicata squash. This is a double experiment as I've never made carnitas either, but nothing in the slow cooker is that complex - so how hard can it be? I'm combining a couple recipes - we'll see how it goes.
• Tuesday: Roast chicken thighs with carrot-fennel soup (yay for carrot and fennel season!)
• Wednesday: (nothing: we have dinner plans, so a nicely timed break)
• Thursday: Roast chicken a la EPF. Somehow I have reached the distinguished age of...uh...over 28 without mastering the art of roast chicken (intact, that is - I can handle pieces - see Tuesday). I can make one, but it won't be amazing. EPF, on the other hand, creates a masterpiece, so he is in charge of this one. If the acorn squash is still around, it may go with this. TBD.
• Friday: Leftover red sauce & pasta. It's Friday, people. C'mon. 

Lots of white meat, but then again we've been eating a lot of lamb and bacon lately so it's probably a good thing to err away from the highest possible cholesterol levels for a bit, no?

"Ask not what you can do for your country. 
Ask what's for lunch."
-Orson Wells