OMG, you guys, don't wake me up!

I am siting down to a year's worth of Gourmet and Cooking Light, EACH, with a pencil and notebook and a HUGE stack of post-its.

I'll be awhile.

(Thanks to Mrs. Branch for the donation!!)

Post-Holiday Meltdown

We've spent the past week eschewing vegetables and grains in favor of Mom's Christmas Treats (you would, too!!!), including, but not limited to, fudge, chocolate chip meringues, peanut-butter bon-bons, kielbasa, cheese - and also cabbage - pierogi (best eaten cold, with your fingers, on Christmas morning while your myriad nieces and nephews disappear in a blizzard of wrapping paper and flying bows), lasagna (which had spinach in it, so that was unavoidable!!), pork roast with cherry coulis, and Rum Cake! All this sandwiched between two days on the road, to AND from, filled with In-n-Out, Pringles (for some reason, I only ever eat these when we travel by car. Any other time, I can't stand the sight of them!), fast-food breakfast sandwiches (Matt, not me. Sometimes I don't even let him eat them in car, I hate them so much!), and a chicken-fried steak that for some God-awful reason sounded like a good idea at the time (see above re: bizarre road-trip munchies). Throughout the car trips, though, I was taking great comfort in V-8's promise of "3 servings of vegetables per bottle!" and pounding them almost continuously.

Even so, we feel a little, how you say, BLOATED, so I'm back in action, trawling Teh Interwebs for some clean-you-out raw-food recipes.

This is good, (I've made it before; it's kind of a more crunchy hummous) and I could even serve it as an appetizer tonight, when Sarah and Matt and Baby Rebekah bring Grandma and Grandpa Harvey for dinner.

This sounds kinda summery, but we DO live in California. Compared to the snowy, blowy weather we encountered over Christmas in Colorado, it's positively tropical, here!

And who doesn't like falafel? (I wish I had a dehydrator.)

We'll see how all of this goes...

(This post has been hastily written out of guilt for the long absence, goaded in part by a new link from the ladies at Barefoot in the Kitchen, which made me realize just how long it's been since I've tended to my OWN virtual kitchen!)

Perfect with Sparkling Wine

12-07 156
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Cumin Shortbreads
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed in mortar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) Pure Vanilla Extract

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the cumin seeds, ground cumin and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick. Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown. Cool on rack.
Shortbread will keep in an airtight container for about a week or frozen for several months.
Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.

busy, busy

busy, busy
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Overheard in the kitchen

After spending the afternoon making cranberry-tangerine sauce, two cakes and a pumpkin pie:


Erin: No, I'm not done in here yet.
Rich: Wait, WHAT?
Erin: I still have to make that layer cake I promised for the church bake sale on Friday.
Rich: You don't HAVE to to do that, it's CHURCH, not the GesTAPo.
Erin: Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Yet another BAKING recipe

We had borscht at Matt and Sarah's last night, and I'll be doing a bit of preparing for all of the Thanksgiving guests who have suddenly and slightly last-minutely accepted our invitations, so I've not been doing a lot of cooking. (Although this looks delicious...)

What we have been doing is decluttering our house, starting back when we thought we'd be moving from our current two-bedroom sprawler into a refrigerator box with no storage, and continuing, even after we got the stay-notice, through this weekend, when we realized how satisfying it's been!

The suddenly large rooms with minimal furniture and no surface clutter had left me, at the end of the weekend, feeling a little frazzly about my "workspace", most specifically my spices and recipes area. I have two spice areas, since the first area we set up was too small for my incredible collection of pretty much every spice there is except for...(Hmm...I can't think of one I don't have. Challenge me, anyone? I'm about spices like some women are about shoes and if there's one I don't have, I'd sure like to know about it so I can get it! I even have REAL Hungarian paprika, thanks to Emma!) The two areas are on opposite sides of the baking counter, and sometimes the Basil would be here, sometimes it'd be over there, but mostly it's wherever I put it down the last time I used it. (Which would be in a precarious balance on the edge of that narrow shelf by the stove, because I'd just made soup...) Rinse, repeat for every other bottle and jar.

Yesterday I organized the spices. Baking spices on the right hand side, above the jars of flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda, and the weeny jar of crystallized ginger I use for muffins, cooking spices on the left, farther from the stove, but there's more room for them there.

Today, I bravely unhooked my recipe clipboard from its nail between the spice shelves, and spent the morning sorting through the pile of recipes that have been accumulating for a looooong time. "Keep and file", "keep, and copy into my little notebook I put The Favorites in, and file", or "realize that this particular project will never happen and recycle it to someone else".

In the process, I found this recipe for Apple Cake that Matt Newhall helped me make the last time he was here. Which was the end of October, and that paper was not even halfway down the stack! I think it's from allrecipes.com.

Apple Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Combine 2 c peeled, cored and diced apples with 1 tbs white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, and set aside.

Sift together 3 c flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine 2 c white sugar (I usually use half white half brown, actually, when baking with apples of pears), 1 c vegetable oil , 1/4 c orange juice, 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 4 eggs. Beat until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture, then fold in 1 c chopped walnuts.

Pour a third of the batter into the pan, and top with 1/2 the apple mixture. Repeat. Top with remaining third of batter.

Bake 55-60 minutes, or until the top springs back when gently touched. Cool in pan ten minutes before turning onto rack.

Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar. (We actually did not do this.)

This cake was moist and delicious, with a crispness to the edges that was absolutely dreamy!

Pushing the Envelope

Nothing is affirmed yet, but Matt think we should do deep fried turkey this year. If we can get a 32 quart deep fryer in three days, without buying one, that is. Stay tuned.


Update: Probably not. Unless, of course, some kind soul answers my ad on Craigslist...

The rest of the story

Well, Sarah and I are a rousing success as bakers! Two different people told us we should open our own bakery, especially when they found out that the goodies that they were scarfing down were mostly vegan!! (There are quite a lot of older people in our parish, and we were being cholesterol-conscious!)

Bonus recipes, for you.

Amazing Apple Cake from allrecipes.com

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 5 1/2 cups chopped apples

I added a half cup of cranberries, only used 2 1/2 c. apple, and used half white, half brown sugar.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well. Add the nuts and apple, mix until all of the apples are evenly coated. (Apparently, you DON'T have to oil the pan, because it doesn't say to, and I didn't...) Pour into a 9x9 inch pan.
3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve warm or cool.

Vegan Alert!!
Cinnamon Raisin Bread from theppk.com.

Oil 2 loaf pans, preheat oven to 350.

Soak 1 1/2 c. raisins in 1/2 c. apple or orange juice.

Whisk together 3 c flour, 3 tsp baking POWDER, 1 tsp baking SODA, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tsp cinnamon, 2 c. oats and 1 1/2 c brown sugar.

Add 2 1/2 c applesauce, 1/2 c vegetable oil, 4 tbs ground flax seed mixed with 12 tbs water {which equals 4 eggs}, and 1/2 c soymilk (I used almond milk for the nuttier flavor).

Mix until just combined. Fold in raisins/juice. Divide into loaf pans, and bake 50-60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean. (I don't know if it was necessary, but I did rotate the pans halfway through the baking process.)

There were NOT many leftovers!

Business and pleasure

It's my turn to provide the refreshments for the church coffee social. I have been hoarding the leftover fruit from the Guest House and downloading and testing all sorts of cake, muffin and quick bread recipes from The Internet. Here's one I made yesterday, which I found here.

It is sitting in the freezer, alongside a loaf of Cinnamon-Apple Bread and Cinnamon-Apple-Pear bread (same original recipe, but I had a LOT of pears, and limited apples).

Now I'm off to the grocery store to pick up more flour, sugar and apples and pears, and some soy yogurt and vegan butter, so I can make "heart-healthy" muffins.




Fresh Pear Bread

* 2 or 3 fresh pears
* 1/2 cup salad oil
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour -- sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 cup walnuts -- chopped


Pare, halve and core pears; chop to make 1 cup. In large mixer bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time; add sour cream and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to oil-sugar mixture and continue to beat until well blended. Add nuts and pears; mix well with a large spoon. Spoon into well-greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 to 15 minutes. Turn out and cool on rack.
From "Just a Spoonful" by Phyllis Harper

To-Do Thursday

There are three doubled breakfast bread recipes waiting for me in the kitchen. That's where I'll be.

Ta!

New things with old stuff.

An undisclosed friend of ours in an undisclosed location received a still for his birthday from another friend of his, whom we don't know (but beLIEVE me, we are angling for an introduction!), and whipped up a batch of grappa as his first experiment. Matt and Andrew, who was still with us at the time, LOVED the 375 ml bottle of it that we were given. I still have my reservations about it. I think it smells like grape-turpentine and tastes like grape-nail polish remover*. There's about half that bottle left, at the moment.**

But then I carted home a fruit bowl's worth of "not-perfect" pears from work, googled pear recipes and found this. Move over, rum-cake! (Text below, in small, in case the link dies.)

It smells HEAVENLY in this house right now. I cannot WAIT until after dinner (chicken pot-pie at Matthew and Sarah's) to see how it tastes!

(And, yes, there will be an update to let y'all know!)


UPDATE: Yeah, it was awesome.





*Not that I know what that TASTES like, but...
**Even with the cake in the oven!



For pear cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon grappa
1 firm-ripe Bose pears
1/2 cup raisins or chopped pitted prunes
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted lightly and cooled

For grappa sauce:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon grappa
Preparation
Make pear cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly butter and flour an 8 1/2-inch springform pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating until just combined after each addition, and stir in grappa. Peel and core pears and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Fold pears int batter with raisins or prunes and pine nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack and remove side of pan.

Make grappa sauce:
In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together eggs, sugar, and cinnamon until thick and pale. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt butter and stir in egg mixture. Cook sauce, stirring constantly, until thickened and it registers 165°F on a candy thermometer, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from pan and stir in cream and grappa.

Serve cake with warm sauce.

Fettuccine and Saffron Butter with Spinach and Roasted Peppers

From The Greens Cookbook.

Slice 2 bell peppers in half, removing seeds and cores, and brush both sides with light olive oil. Bake cut side down in hot oven until skins are wrinkled and loose. When they are cool enough to handle, scrape off skins and cut them into narrow strips.

While peppers are baking, put the pasta water on to boil. Cream 6 tbs unsalted butter with 1 large shallot, diced fine, 1 tbs fresh marjoram or basil and 1 tbs parsley, roughly chopped, 1/8 tsp saffron thread, soaked in 1 tsp hot water, a pinch of cayenne pepper, grated peel of either 1 lemon of 1/2 orange and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and set aside.

Stem one bunch of spinach, wash well and cut into wide strips. Quarter and slice thin one red onion. Chop finely three cloves of garlic.

Add 1 package fettuccine to boiling water, gradually, to avoid sticking. (Fettucine is one sticky pasta.)

Fry the onion over medium heat in 1 tbs olive oil for one minute, then ass 1 cup water, garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook together another minute, and then add the spinach. Stir with a pair of tongs until the spinach wilts. Lower the heat and add all but a tablespoon of the saffron butter. (Add a little more water if the first cup has evaporated, so that the butter and pan juices create a sauce.)

In a smaller pan, over medium heat, toast 1/4 cup pine nuts until golden.

Add the cooked noodles to the vegetables, along with the remaining tablespoon of saffron butter. Mix well, transfer to serving bowl, top with pine nuts and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Nom nom.

New Things for Fall

In-depth research has shown that there is a Farmer's Market somewhere within a twenty mile radius EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. (Except Sunday, that one's forty miles away.) Sometimes there's two. Or three.

The past several Mondays have seen trips out to the sleepy little beach town of Los Osos with Sarah and Baby Rebekah, with lots of raspberries that don't make it back to the car unconsumed, and some mild heckling from those really annoying people who stand at the entrances to these markets trying to get you to sign something (and most likely being paid for it rather than really caring about the issue. I really dislike those people). We never buy the baked goods, though, because we've also been meeting up at the house for "Baking Days". I don't know how to make bread, which makes the gas oven kind of wasted on me; she was having the devil's own time making their bread in the electric oven at their house. It's kind of a perfect partnership that way.


Our bibles are The Greens Cookbook (mine), the Laurel's Kitchen books (hers, and I'm jealous, but not for long, seeing as there's now a second income in this house...), with a smattering of Ranch House wisdom and Julia Child. (And, of course, the internet.)

Our next big project is the baked goods for the coffee social at church a week from Sunday. Last year I hadn't prepared nearly enough food*. Here's hoping this year is different with an extra set of hands.

Her husband, Matthew, shot a deer last hunting season, so our job is also to help them eat it, since she's getting tired of preparing it. You can all imagine how thrilled my husband was at the prospect of handling and preparing WILD GAME!! Like a kid in a candy store, he got down HIS cookbooks and started downloading recipes for sauces and reductions like a house afire. He's hoping Matthew will bag another one this year, so that the fun will never stop.

I'll keep you posted.





*At least, according to the kids, when we ran out of chocolate chip cookies and all that remained were molasses and applesauce-walnut. The horror!

The Sassiness of the Seasons

We love GINGER. We love it in lemonade in the summer, in cookies and muffins in the winter, and in tea after dinner.

The other day, I stumbled across a recipe for a lemon-ginger infused simple syrup, complete with (of course) suggestions for mixing it with alcohol.

I went and purchased a knob of fresh ginger (I usually substitute powdered in any recipe that calls for fresh...) and a pound of lemons and Matt and I chopped and zested and simmered away an afternoon.

Here's how:

Three inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced fine
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Pile the sugar and ginger in a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering for five minutes, stirring frequently. Allow the syrup to cool.

Squeeze a cup of lemon juice (about four lemons), first zesting one of them into a small bowl. (It is easier, we found, to zest a LEMON as opposed to two halves of the empty peel...)

Pour off the cooled ginger-slices syrup into the blender and puree. (This will take a couple of minutes, due to the strings in the ginger. And you will STILL get strings in the finished product, but oh WELL!)

Strain the pureed syrup into a glass jar, add the lemon juice with the zest and shake vigorously.

Immediately rim a martini glass with 1/4 powdered ginger, 3/4 sugar (we keep a mix of this in our spice rack, nom nom deee-lishus). Pour 2 oz syrup and 2 oz vodka into an chilled cocktail mixer, add ice and shake. Pour into rimmed glass. Place glass jar of lemon-ginger syrup in the fridge, where it will keep for a week. (Two weeks in the freezer.)

Sit down and enjoy your lemon-ginger martini. The dirty blender, sticky saucepan, lemony zester and messy countertop can wait.


Salut!

Autumn Treats

As promised, one of the recipes from our Young-uns Gathering here at the house:

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a loaf pan

Sift together, in a larger bowl (since the wet ingredients are being added TO the dry, in this one):
2 c whole wheat pastry* flour
2 tsp baking POWDER
1 tsp baking SODA
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground/powdered ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves.

Combine, in another bowl:

2 c canned pumpkin
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c apple butter **
1 tbs canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until everything is evenly moist. (The batter will be stiff.) Fold in 1 c golden raisins.

Evenly spoon the batter along the length of the pan, but don't press down or spread it to the edges, as it expands during the baking. (And beLIEVE me, you do not want this to stick!)


Bake 50 minutes to an hour, until a knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven and turn out onto a cooling rack. Slice when cool.

Leftovers, if any, should keep in an airtight container for about a week.



From The Post Punk Kitchen.


* WW all-purpose is also fine, but bread is slightly more dense
** Substituted the same amount of apple sauce, because I had no apple butter.


Next up: Mocha Chip Muffins with Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting!

Breakfast goodies

This is a placeholder until I can retrieve, from under the piles of flour and cookware, all the recipes I used for this past week's "young people's get-together" we held at our house after church. It was not a big crowd, as the "youngsters" (the under-forties) number about seven, including one six-month old baby girl, but it was still a challenge as it turned out that one of our guests is a long-time vegan!

I love baking vegan recipes, though, since they always turn out light and slightly nutty in flavor; never rich or heavy. I ate three mocha-chip muffins, guilt free, knowing there were no eggs or butter or anything remotely fattening or heart-unhealthy in them at all!

Recipes later. My chicken needs to come out of the oven!

Man proposes, God disposes.

Tomorrow morning I am going to wash a five pound chicken and put it in a bag with 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (I guess that I will also be squeezing several limes) 1/4 cup oliv oil, 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1 tablespoon grated onion (or 2 tsp. onion powder...) 2 tablespoons minced cilantro and 1/2 tsp chile powder, and stick it back in the fridge.

Then I'll make a salsa verde, and let it sit in the fridge all day, to absorb.

About 6:30 p.m., I'll heat the oven to 450 and remove the chicken from the marinade, rinsing off the cilantro (so it doesn't burn) and roast the chicken breast, 15-20 minutes per pound.

I'm making bread right now.

When the chicken is done, I'll remove it from the dish to a cutting board and let it sit for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I'll heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil and saute a clove or two minced garlic until almost toasted. Throw in a handful of string beans and stir until just wilted, then remove to a covered dish on the back of the stove to keep warm.

Then, set out the salsa verde with a serving spoon for pouring over the otherwise bland string beans, slice up some day-old homemade whole wheat bread, and call the men* to dinner.


Let's see how well this pans out.
*Andrew is still here, and we have a church friend coming over tomorrow night.

Getting rid of ALL THOSE TOMATOES

We have a visitor, so while Matt worked this morning, I made several pots of coffee, and egg-tomato-bakes. (We're not sure what they're really called, but I'm trying to come up with a better name...)

Cut off the bottom teeny bit of tomato, so it can stand on end, and then slice off the top (and pop it in your mouth, if you are like me!) and hollow out the seeds and stuff. (I put these aside for later.) Chop up and pop in some garden fresh basil, grind some salt and pepper over them, and then CAREFULLY crack an egg into the basil-pepper-salt hollow of tomato. Place on baking sheet in 450 oven, top with grated cheese (some delish sheep's milk that someone left here on Wednesday night) and pop into the oven. Cook until cheese is throughly melted. Place in a bowl (MESSY!) and cut the tomato away from the egg, letting the yolk run EVERYWHERE. Scoop the mess, bite by bite, onto a slice of freshly made whole wheat bread and chomp away. Use the crusts of the bread to soak up every last bit of basil-tomato-cheese-yolky goodness. Nyam!

(The seeds and stuff I added to this latest batch of stewed tomatoes. All GONE! Until someone else harvests theirs...)

Life hands me lemons pretty much every day.

Had a surplus of lemons and limes, and also a box full of glass bottles to be filled with something (we use them for simple syrup and homemade kahlua), sooooo:

Juice two ripe* lemons, strain out seeds, separate pulp. Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar to 1/2 cup of water, boil down, stirring constantly, for simple syrup**. Add the lemon juice and pulp, if desired. Congratulations! You now have lemonade concentrate that you made yourself!! Chill until ready to use. Add 4 1/2 cups of ice water for ready-to-go, homemade lemonade!!

(I made another batch using four limes and one lemon, + 1 1/2 c. simple syrup, calling it lemon-limeade.)


*My lemons were overripe, so I did not have to do this, but this recipe recommended softening them either by poking holes in them with a fork and sticking them in the microwave, which we do not have, or dunking them in boiling water for thirty seconds and rolling them around the counter top.

**See above re: bottles of simple syrup; I added 1 1/2 cups of our pre-made simple syrup from the fridge.

With a Cherry on Top

With a Cherry on Top
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Sinfully delicious artichokes

Last night, we hosted an international dinner. Four of the guests were a Chilean family, one guy was Canadian, and the rest were American of varied backgrounds. Pretty much everyone agreed that the artichokes were phenom, so we re-resurrect this blog to bring you the Ranch House version of heart attack on a plate:

Prepare 4 artichokes (we adjusted the recipe for six) the normal way (tops down in three inches of water with olive oil and garlic, covered, boil for thirty-forty-five minutes). If you are like me, you always over cook them, but this is good, because it is then easier to spread the leaves, which you do after draining them and placing them on a baking sheet.

While the chokes boil, put four tbs of olive oil, four tbs of butter, one clove of garlic (minced) and two cups of fine white bread crumbs (I made my own from a loaf of stale rye, seemed to work out alright) into a pot, and stir until browned.

Toss the bread crumb mixture with 1/2 tsp herb salt* and 1/2 tsp dried marjoram.

Divide the mixture among the artichokes, making sure it gets down in there among all the leaves. Place in a warm oven to keep warm (I put a bowl of water in with them so they wouldn't dry out too much).

Served with an herb-salt-butter dipping sauce, and I was sure our cholesterol skyrocketed, but it was WORTH it!

*I keep a jar of this stocked up: 1 tsp garlic salt, 2 tsp onion salt, 1/2 tsp dry parsley, 1/8 tsp dry basil, 1/8 tsp marjoram, 1/4 tsp celery salt, 1/8 tsp thyme, all ground up in the mortar.

All's well that ends well!

Cake,
originally uploaded by gaffentine.

This was supposed to be a three-layer cake for our birthday celebration, but I was blissfully unaware, until the night before the party, that while we may or may not have registered for layer pans, we do not actually have any. So I had to improvise, and I filled a springform pan about two-thirds of the way, and then made cupcakes of the rest of the batter. Unfortunately, since I did not have three layers to frost and stick together, I had a TON of icing left over. Fortunately, Anthony did as he was bid and brought strawberries, which we dipped into the icing and ate.

I culled this recipe from the New York Times.

Red Velvet Cake.

The night before the party, after realizing that we do not have layer pans*, I whipped 2 cups of cold heavy cream, and set aside in the fridge. I then blended 12 ounces of room temperature cream cheese with 12 ounces of marscapone (hello! expensive!) until it was smooth, then added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar and blended. I added the chilled whipped cream, folded it in, and placed the (covered) bowl in the refrigerator. Then I went to bed.


The next morning, after coffee, I preheated the oven to 350, and dropped a tablespoon of unsalted butter into my springform pan. I put the pan in the oven for a few minutes, watching very carefully. When the butter started to melt, I took out the pan and brushed the butter all over the bottom and sides of the pan, then lined the bottom with parchment paper and set it on top of the stove so that the butter wouldn't cool and congeal.

Then I whisked together 3 1/2 cups of cake flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch-process (I subbed in carob powder, in case someone was allergic to chocolate...not much I could do about the dairy, at this point!), and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.

With an electric mixer, I beat together 2 cups canola oil and 2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar. Added three eggs, one at a time. Turned the mixer down low, and SLOWLY added "6" tablespoons of red food coloring (which is three ounces, which is a lot, and more than I had. The cake came out more pink than red, which was fine as this was a party for the girls. If it had been a party for the boys, I would have put my apron over my head and cried, and then ordered a pizza.) Then added the flour mixture alternately with 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, in two batches. Scraped down the sides of the bowl, and beat just long enough to combine.

In a separate dish, I combined 2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar with 2 teaspoons baking SODA. Added this to the batter, with the mixer still going, beating for ten seconds.

Then, I was supposed to fill the pans (or, pan and muffin tin), and place them in the oven and bake until cake tester came out clean (recipe says 40-45 minutes. The cupcakes took about fifteen or so).

Let cool in pans for twenty minutes, then remove, peel off parchement paper and cool completely before constructing/frosting the cake.

It was a huge hit. Also, I was glad I made the cupcakes, because some people had to leave early, so we sent them off with "cake"!

*which should have tipped me off about not making so much icing! Duh.

Adventures in Culinary Art

This tickled me exceedingly.

A snippet:

"Artists were also invited weekly to serve as guest chefs, and the whole dinner was considered a performance art piece. One of the most fabled, costing $4, was Matta-Clark’s 'bone dinner,' which featured oxtail soup, roasted marrow bones and frogs’ legs, among other bony entrees. After the plates were cleared, the bones were scrubbed and strung together so that diners could wear their leftovers home."

Warm weather eatin'

Finished,
originally uploaded by gaffentine.

Yesterday being as warm and sunny as it was, I made an unscheduled trip to the store to stock up on the key ingredients for our favorite warm-weather food: Gazpacho. There are a number of different ways to make it, and hundreds of recipes to choose from, but we kind of tend to do our own thing with this. For example, one recipe called for 4 cups of tomato juice. I had never, before yesterday, put more than a half cup of (spicy) tomato juice, aka Bloody Mary Mix, into my gazpacho. I like it to more chunky than soupy. Another recipe told me to put *everything* into the blender until it was all pulverized. I see this as a form of cheating: instead of forty-five minutes of peeling, seeding, chopping, dicing and mincing, you have five minutes of blender action! I did cheat this time and put about a fifth of the ingredients into the blender, but the result was...BROWN, and so I am glad I didn't do it with the whole thing!! Without further ado:

Slice two stalks of celery extra thin.
Seed and dice two yellow bell peppers (I used three mini ones that were on sale!)
Dice one purple onion
Dice one shallot
Quarter eight tomatoes. Remove the seed beds, and reserve for the blender action.
Peel, seed and dice one large cucumber.
Throw about a fifth of these ingredients into the blender with 1 cup spicy tomato juice.
Slice and dice the remaining tomato parts into 1/8 inch pieces. (See?! Time-consuming!)
Chop two green onions into 1/4 inch chunks.
Mince four cloves of garlic.
Take a handful of cilantro, wash thoroughly, pat dry and mince fine.
Add all ingredients to pulpy stuff in a non-metal bowl, stir VERY well.
Grind salt and pepper over top, squeeze the juice of one lime over it, and drizzle a bit of olive oil over all, and stir again.
Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors absorb.
Serve with slices of lemon as garnish, and make Tapatio available for the more adventurous!

The first time I made gazpacho, I was doing it mostly from memory, having had an excellent serving of it the night before at a now-closed restaurant downtown. (It's always the good ones...) I also did not know about the overnight-absorbing thing, so I kept tasting it and adding garlic! I could not figure out why it tasted so mild!!! When I took it out to serve the next night at dinner, though, boy howdy. I had quickly chopped up several more tomatoes and added regular tomato juice to try and cut the GARLIC MONSTER rearing out of the bowl!! Thankfully, all of our guests were garlic-fiends, so it wasn't so bad...

Amuse bouche? Not hardly. Update.

Another food-related non-recipe post. Matt and I went out with some friends last night, to a local wine shop that has tastings on Friday nights. They usually have a local winery pour their latest and/or greatest, with the winemaker there to talk about it etc. Last night, though they had a tasting of South American wines. They were pouring Montes Cabernet, with which we are familiar, and a Viognier that was absolutely to DIE for, called Tupungato Mendoza. (What does that mean in English? Am intriqued.) It's from Argentina. The evening ambled on, and suddenly we were all hungry, so we decided to go to a nearby Italian Bistro, a place that I have heard a lot about, and where Matt goes for lunch quite often. We were kind of excited to try this place for the first time. It's a family restaurant, and quite pretty. The menu looked amazing, and we ordered our pasta dishes and opened a bottle of Pinot that Hangover brought (what, did you think we ever go anywhere without him? Psh.) and settled in for a long, warm evening of fun and relaxation.

Except.

We were kind of a big group (about ten), so the restaurant had set up a table in the middle of the room, rather than along the wall, which was fine. The only problem was the table I was facing, a four-cover table with two young men sitting at it, obviously at the tail end of their meal. Obviously at the tail end of their bottle of wine, as well. They were talking rather loudly, which normally isn't a problem for anyone, especially in a crowded restaurant, but their volume made it impossible to ignore their language. If I closed my eyes I could almost convince myself I was in a truck stop, it was *that* bad. Literally (and I don't use that word lightly!) every. other. word. started with F. It was incredbile.

Can you believe I actually lost my appetite?

Reconnoitering in the ladies' room, we (the girls, not Hangover and Matt and I) just hoped that they would pay their check and go. They ended up not leaving until just before we did, and we took our sweet time, too.

What do you all think? Should we have said something to the manager? (There were only two other tables in that room, so it might have been obvious who had complained, and that kind of drama is not the kind we like, so...)

Updated to ask: What do they do about this in China?

Bummer

In an attempt to de-clutter and streamline our lives, we are cleaning out the freezer, and so, no interesting dinner last night. Just Trader Joe's Frozen Pork Potstickers, which, according to someone who ought to know, have been DIS.CON.TIN.UED since the last time we bought them. Which was a couple of months ago.

Saaaaavooooooor the potstickers!!!

(Also a green salad.)

Today is a baking day

On the recipe clip board:

Applesauce Cookies, from California Herb Cookery.

Cream together 1/2 lb room temperature butter and 2 c. sugar.

Add, and beat in well, 1 egg.
Mix together, then beat in,
3 c. flour,
1 tsp. cinnamon,
1/2 tsp powdered/ground cloves,
1/8 tsp. salt,
1 tsp. baking soda.

Add and stir in well
1 c. unsweetened applesauce and
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional).

Drop onto greased cookie sheet, flatten slightly (I've found this goes faster if you keep your fingers wet) and bake at 425 until brown. (My gas oven does it best between 350-375 for 10-12 minutes).

Makes about 36 biggish cookies.

Housekeeping meme

Fortunately, I already had it drafted!! Tagged by Nutmeg.

Aprons – Y/N?
Always. I am also always looking for “frilly” ones. The only ones we can find in the “big box” stores are those standard (aka BORING) bar-b-q style aprons.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Muffins, cupcakes, cookies. I once made an angelfood cake from scratch that turned out very well.

Clothesline – Y/N?
Yes. It needs to be re-strung, though.

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
No.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day:
Wash Dishes.

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Not yet.

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
No. We're working on a compost pile.

Handbook?
California Herb Cookery

Ironing – Love it or hate it?
Love it. Taking a page from my MIL's book, I let it pile up, and then watch a movie while I iron. The only downside: no foreign films while ironing!!

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Sort of. It's more a “batteries/scissors/allergy medicine for our allergic-to-cats-friends” drawer.

Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
This Is A Baking Kitchen. Lots of cabinets and drawers, nasty old linoleum, butcher block island. All white, except for the nasty linoleum, which will never be white again!

Love: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Making it look like a magazine, whether it's the food ro the room.

Mop - Y/N?
Oh yes. Every week, sometimes more.

Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Washing machine. That is, if they make it through one wearing without snagging or running! (I don't wear nylons very often...)

Oven - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?
Ours doesn't have a window. :( I try to wait until the minimum suggested baking time before opening the door, though.

Pizza - What do you put on yours?
Cheese, bacon, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, GARLIC, vodka sauce.

Quiet- What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?

Read a book. Surprise!


Recipe card box- Y/N?
No, I have a filing system.


Style of house-
1930's "ranch", aka "slapped together with no foundation, can't believe it's still standing, are you sure we're supposed to be living here" style.


Tablecloths and napkins- Y/N?

Placemats and napkins.

Under the kitchen sink- Organized or toxic wasteland?

Compost bin, cleaning rags and white vinager


Vacuum- How many times a week?

2, sometimes more, right kitty?


Wash- How many loads do you do a week?

On average, about four or five. Depends on how many home-improvement projects we've done.

X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
No, unfortunately. With FlyLady's help, though, I am hoping to get out of my ADD cleaning style...

Yard - Who does what?
Matt mows. He also carts the heavy stuff around, and the patio is his project. I do weeding and planting, but I can't bring myself to even go out there right now...all our plants froze and died. :(

Zzz's - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Clean the kitchen.

A little affirmation never hurt anyone

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning. It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

Weekenders

This weekend, we hosted the newest installment of Froula, seen here in the "barrel room" at the winery closest to our house.

They came with us to our Catechism class, followed by Mass, and then we returned home for a lazy Sunday afternoon, capped off with a late lunch, which was prepared thusly:

While Matt and Justin dusted off the backgammon board and set up shop in the living room, Rose and I prepped the kitchen for lunch-making, she by washing the breakfast dishes and I by preparing the chicken. (Free-range organic, of course!)

Heat the oven to 400. Remove the giblet-things from the 3-4 lb chicken, and rinse it in cold water, patting dry with a clean rag. (We buy plain white bar-towels in bulk, to save paper-towel waste.) Rub all over with olive oil and salt, and place in a glass dish in the oven. Mix one 1 lb bag of frozen sliced peaches (if fresh are not available, which they are not right now) with six halved shallots, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, six sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. If the peaches are fresh, use four, halved, and add the mixture to the dish immediately. If not, add this mixture to the chicken about a half hour into the roasting time. Total roasting time is about one hour, ten minutes, or until thermometer in the thigh registers 180.

Forty minutes into the roasting time, I washed, peeled, cut and boiled four Japanese sweet potatoes*. While they boiled, I trimmed 1/3 lb of green beans and set them aside. Then, I diced two shallots and one clove of garlic, browning them in a tablespoon of butter. Add the green beans, and, while they sizzle, squeeze the juice of one lime over all. When the beans got tender (about five minutes) I placed them in a covered dish on the table. The yams were ready, and I added 1/4 cup heavy cream (forgot to buy milk, oops!) 1 tbs butter, and mashed them up. By this time, the chicken was done and had been resting for ten minutes, so we sat down to eat!

The potatoes were VERY dry: I wish I had remembered to buy milk; then I could have put more in and they would have been creamier. The chicken was perfect: tender, juicy, the peaches added sweetness, and the balsamic vinegar kept the sweetness from being too cloying. The lime in the beans added a bit of zing to our plates.

This meal is definitely one that we will be serving again!!

*I'd planned on sweet potatoes for this meal. At the store, there were these "Japanese Yams" which I thought would be fun. They turned out to be a pale yellow color, and a little stringier than I liked, but the taste was pleasing.

Link "repair"

Much to my disappointment, the Post Punk Kitchen's website is down (looks like a domain-expiration thing) and all my links to them are consequently irrelevant. Because of this, I am posting in its entirety the recipe I linked to in my first post. I mentioned earlier that I was having difficulty finding one of the ingredients, fenugreek, and my mother has sent me some, and so I re-made it last night, and let me tell you, that fenugreek makes a HUGE difference! Gives it quite a kick...

Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew

Boil 1 cup brown lentils for 45 minutes, or until tender. (I have used green lentils, with no disastrous results.)
Prep: Dice 1 large yellow onion and peel and dice 2 carrots. Grate two tablespoons of fresh ginger, and mince 4 cloves of garlic. Mix together: 2 tsps ground cumin, 1 tsp ground fenugreek (I ground mine in the blender), 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/8 tsp ground all-spice, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt. Open and measure out 1/2 c tomato paste, measure out 1 cup vegetable stock, and quarter four large tomatoes (or halve eight cherry/plum tomatoes).

In a large pot, over medium heat, saute the onion and carrots. Add the garlic, ginger and spices. Saute 5 more minutes.

Add tomato paste and mix, add vegetable stock and tomato pieces and simmer until bubbling. Add the cooked lentils and 1 cup frozen peas, simmer 15 more minutes.

This takes me a little less than an hour to make. The peas may sound optional, but without them, this stew looks...um, well, it looks unappetizing, and if you have small children, they will fill in the details for you! ;)
We think this is the perfect lunch AND dinner for a Friday in the wintertime! Very warming and filling.
Enjoy!

Announcement

Two things.

Number one: My dear mother found me some Fenugreek, and sent it to me. It smells SO good! (The wrappings it came in smell good, too!) Thank you, Mom!

Number two: We are entertaining this week, and I have to try the Ethiopian Stew again, to see what difference the fenugreek makes. Stay tuned...

The Latest Challenge

OK, last night, my best friend turns to me and says, "So, the doctor thinks I'm allergic to wheat."

I'll keep ya'll posted.

The Bloody Aftermath of the Holiday Season.

Unfortunately, I STILL feel like it's the holidays. Maybe something to do with the fact that we haven't been home for longer than three days together since, well, ThanksGIVing???! We've been pretty much running in the door, cycling through four loads of laundry, repacking our bags, and running out again, with Wallace in the background going "What the HELL???" like the bystanders in the Tasmanian Devil cartoons. Anyway, I guess it's over, and so I've thought back to the pre-Christmas preparations and dug out one of the more popular "Christmas Treat" recipes. Also from the PPK.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting.
(Preheat oven to 350 F. Line tins with paper cupcake liners.)

Sift together 1 ¼ cups flour, 3 tsps ground ginger, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp ground cloves and ¼ tsp salt.

Whisk together ½ cup vegetable oil, 1/3 cup molasses, ½ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup soymilk and 2 tbs soy yogurt until well emulsified.

Fold dry ingredients into wet, whisking to combine.

Fold in 1 ½ tsps lemon zest and ¼ cup crystalized ginger, finely chopped

Pour into tins, 2/3 of the way.
Bake 17 - 22 minutes, until top springs back when touched or a toothpick comes out clean.
When fully cooled frost them with frosting below.

Prepare the frosting
In a round bottom bowl cream ¼ cup soybean margarine and ¼ cup vegetable shortening with a strong fork. (Make sure they are thoroughly blended and smooth.) Add 1/3 cup confectioner sugar and mix, gradually adding ¼ cup soymilk. Add juice of one lemon, and keep creaming away until everything is perfectly smooth. Refrigerate until cupcakes are ready for frosting.

My favorite thing about their dessert recipes is that they taste and feel good. We regularly eat their cupcakes for breakfast.

***every time I made these, the centers would fall a little. I'm not sure why; maybe the yogurt I was using was too heavy or something...

Christening the Accommodating Chef

The other night, we had some friends over for dinner. He is a big meat and potatoes Mid-West guy. She is a native Oregonian and hard-core vegetarian. What to eat?

I marinated lamb LOIN chops (not regular chops; loin is more tender) in olive oil, fennel seed and cumin for two hours.

In the meantime, I put this together. Although we have been unable to locate fenugreek anywhere, it came out alright. I undercooked the lentils a bit, but it ended up working out perfectly, since I started it too early. It's a stew, so it's not supposed to sit around simmering for an hour, unlike other lentil soup recipe we like. One word of advice: I feel that I should have prepped the ingredients for every stage before I dove in; it's kind of hard to grate two tablespoonfuls of fresh ginger when the onions are beyond caramelized. I usually do it as I go, but that didn't work out so well this time. That's what those miniature bowls in the mixing set are for, I guess.

While the stew was heating through one last time, I shaved three medium-sized carrots into strips, and then we scraped the fennel seeds off the lamb and heated olive oil in a cast iron skillet medium high. We seared the chops, one-two minutes per side, and then transferred them to a baking sheet in a 350 oven.

I dumped a 15 ounce drained can of garbanzo beans into a pan, on medium, stirred them around for a few minutes and then added the carrot strips, stirred around a few more times and put them in a serving dish. (This is supposed to the bed which the chops are served on, but I've found that vegetarians are "no-touch" when it comes to meat and their food.)

Dish up the lamb chops, garbanzo beans/carrots on the side, with an entree of lentil stew for the veggie-girl, and Bon Appetit.

A big hit all around, with madeleines and ginger tea for dessert.