Grandma's Kitchen Table

Sunday's Snippets

Photo Fun:  Ali and Grace at BU in their Halloween cat costumes. 

READING:  Communards in Paris and generally 1871 in France.
SWIMMING NEWS:  Emails from readers wanting to know where the old group of guys are swimming now, so here's the list:  Mike at U of Iowa, Kiernan at Xavier, Nik at Boston University, Daniel and Harrison at Princeton, John at Navy, JJ is swimming in the Grand Prix meets via the US Air Force, Charles and Tyler at Wabash; girls: Lauren at IU with Matt, Devon at IU on B team, Carly and Rhiannon at Purdue, Sam at University of Kentucky.  Ali and Reyn aren't swimming in college.  
COOKING BYTES:  As you can see...I found persimmons by the cartload...at the Asian market.    Aren't they pretty?  Katie and I also journeyed to Penzy's Spices and I stocked up on small bottles of odd spices I was missing and needing. Left the store without their cookbook, too close to Christmas to be buying something for myself.
FAV NEW FIND:  New doggie hotel for The Dog when we travel to swim meets as The Dog is not that great of a traveling companion as he is a little more needy than I envision anyone ought to be for a few days away.  Click here, and yes, he gets one of the little arched gated daybed, tv suites.  
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Weather here this past week was absolutely beautiful and wonderful.  The trees are at their peak colors and it has been just such a treat to be out and about in it all each day.  One of the days I was subbing was WWII history and the assignment for the students was to look through old Life magazines during war period for various types of articles, advertising, etc. relating to the war. That was the best sub day EVER...so much fun to spend a whole day with those little history capsules, I can't believe they paid me for doing that...the history nerd in me was loving every minute of it.

More photo fun:  Reyn and Ashley dressed in their Thing 1 and Thing 2 Halloween costumes at IU.

WEEK IN REVIEW:  The week went really fast with work, enjoying various days out (thanks Katie for being my roaming companion), Mark had a three day weekend with his dad while his mom and three siblings went to St. Louis for a family wedding, apparently they read a lot, watched tv (the beloved Cardinals winning the World Series a big deal for them), and going out to eat...a great guys' weekend.  IU lost their homecoming game to Northwestern and the Hawks lost to the Gophers in a game that was frustrating to watch but I did it anyway because I thought somehow my attendance would pull out a win. Guess not.  There was a wonderful tribute to Xavier Murphy during the Notre Dame game, it would have been Xav's 23rd birthday that day, players all had an X in the shamrock on their helmets for him. 
LOOKING FORWARD TO:  Checking out Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure at the Eiteljorg opens this week, check this out: 8 G Scale trains, etc.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week: Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies (show tunes).   
PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for all those on the roads, in the air, and going by sea, please join me.

Flavors: Duck - Duck Breast with Wilted Spinach, Mushrooms, and Fig Gastrique

      The fourth week's featured seasonal ingredient for the Flavors challenge was Duck.  We don't really eat duck here, I'm not sure why, I guess it just never seemed mainstream enough for me to include it in the menu planning.  I have made duck exactly one time in my entire life.  When we were doing the Le Cordon Bleu at Home book in Whisk Wednesdays, we needed to make a duck, so I made a duck.  It was very good and we all enjoyed it.  That was a couple of years ago and duck hasn't graced our dining table since. 

      When I decided I was going to get involved with this Flavors group, I decided I was going to try to make all of the ingredients on the schedule and learn from doing it all in new ways, so to the store I went in search of duck...well, at least duck breast anyway as that is what I decided I was going to make.  (Easily found at my favorite store, a good sign for future duck undertakings.) 

      I searched through all my cookbooks (easy to do when you subscribe to Eat Your Books which has them all indexed for your according to ingredients) for duck breast preparation recipes and found several that used the exact same method, so I decided that would be the one I used, safety in numbers and all. 

      I had already decided that I was going to serve it on a bed of barely wilted spinach with some sauteed mushrooms on the side.  I had also decided I wanted to make something with figs because I had some lovely fresh figs and found several recipes for a fig gastrique (a kind of fig jam is my best description of that) and decided that I would make that using the Flavors book and its list of compatible ingredients with duck.  All this came together in surprisingly short order. 

      Okay, I know you are all looking at the photo and saying that duck is supposed to be bloody rare in the middle and I set out to do it that way, but when I pulled it from the oven and let it rest, and cut into it, it made me a little queasy and I knew I wouldn't eat it that way, so back into the oven it went for another few minutes so it came out just moist and pink and that made me a lot happier.  It was really good that way, so I'm thinking duck at our house is going to be cooked this way from now on...or at least until I can get the courage up to eat it bloody rare. 

      The fig gastrique with the duck was excellent, a sort of sweet and sour taste to compliment the duck, definitely thinking of other uses for that soon.  Definitely visiting duck breast again soon as well.  They have some wonderful duck recipes in the Flavors blog, go check it out. 

      The Flavors challenge is based on the book The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg.  Every week for a year the seven group members will each create a recipe using the featured ingredient and match it with the flavors that enhance it best by consulting those pages in the book.  They have invited others to join along in the cooking and posting, posting a chart detailing the featured seasonal ingredient for each week, so if you'd like to pop in now and again and try your hand at it, just make your recipe, post it, and link the post in the comments section (click here) that week.  While you are there you can check out the seven recipes submitted that week by the group members. 

Duck Breast
Serves 1

Buy 1 half of one duck breast, wash and pat dry
Score the duck fat portion of the breast to make the fat drain away easier
SALT and PEPPER both sides of the breast

Put 1 teaspoon of CANOLA OIL into an oven-proof skillet, heat on high setting on stovetop
Just before the oil gets to the smoking point, add the duck breast, skin side down

Let cook for 4 minutes, do not disturb it while cooking
After 4 minutes, turn the duck breast over and sear on fatty side for 1 additional minute
After that minute, place duck breast in the oven in the same skillet (wipe out pan if there is a lot of additional grease before doing so)

Bake in the oven for 6-10 minutes (depends on size of duck breast), check internal temperature, should be 128 degrees, if not, bake additional time to get to 128 degrees
Remove duck from pan and place on a plate, covering it with foil to let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing

Fig Gastrique
1/3 cup cider VINEGAR

1/4 cup SUGAR
1.5 ounces Grand Marnier
1 small SHALLOT finely diced
1 small sprig of thyme
5-6 small ripe mission figs, diced, stems removed
SALT and PEPPER
1/4 teaspoon ground GINGER

Heat the sugar in a heavy bottom saucepan until it dissolves and turns a deep golden color
Carefully add in the vinegar and alcohol (it will sputter so don't have face too near the pot)
Add the diced shallot, diced figs, thyme sprig, salt, pepper, and ginger.
Stir and cook until reduced until thick syrupy consistency.

The duck and fig gastrique were served with MUSHROOMS and wilted spinach.

Note:  Ingredients in CAPITAL BOLD letters are strongest choices; ingredients in bold are good choices; ingredients underlined are desirable choices.

Flavors: Mushrooms - Enoki Salad, Enoki Soup, Enoki Summer Rolls, Enoki Pancakes

      The third week's featured seasonal ingredient for the Flavors challenge was Mushrooms.  We love mushrooms here and I cook with them often.  I first developed my love of mushrooms growing up in northeast Iowa where we had "mushroom hunting season" in the early spring and we would all go in search of the best morels we could find.  We would bring them home, soak them to relieve them of their little buggies, and then saute them in farm-fresh butter and eat them right out of the pan, they didn't need a single other thing.  From there, the experimentation continued over the years with different mushrooms, and when I saw this challenge, I knew that I wanted to use it to explore a mushroom that would be new to me, that I had never really had time to learn about, use, enjoy, etc. 

      I settled on the enoki mushroom, as although I had eaten it once or twice, it wasn't something I reached for regularly, or even really knew how to cook.  Turns out that enoki mushrooms are best enjoyed with minimal cooking as they are tender and flavorful just as they are.  I mostly associate this type of mushroom with Japanese cuisine, something else I have yet to explore more deeply, and I have a bento box, so I decided early on that I was going to make several recipes using the enoki mushroom, enough to fill up the bento box compartments, i.e. four. 

      The four compartments (in photo above) contain a greens salad, a mushroom soup, a summer roll, and enoki pancakes (sort of like a little mushroom omelet actually). 

      The enoki mushrooms have a deep flavor, which surprised me as I thought they would be light on mushroom taste, but no, they have a very deep mushroom taste, much like a heartier mushroom.  They easily standout nicely when combined with other ingredients, clearly a mushroom taste in each of the dishes I made...and that was a wonderful thing indeed. 

      I found the packages of enokis at the Asian market and they were inexpensive, 2 packages for $1.00.  I used a package and three quarters total in these four recipes, the rest I sort of nibbled on as I was cooking.  Oh, and the cute factor in these is just so fun...sometimes I am all about the cute and fun in food, this is one of those times.  I will be continuing my use of these little guys from here on out, and that mushroom soup is going to be something I throw together often for winter lunches. Sources say that these mushrooms are a good source of antioxidants and protein 5. 

      The Flavors challenge is based on the book The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg.  Every week for a year the seven group members will each create a recipe using the featured ingredient and match it with the flavors that enhance it best by consulting those pages in the book.  They have invited others to join along in the cooking and posting, posting a chart detailing the featured seasonal ingredient for each week, so if you'd like to pop in now and again and try your hand at it, just make your recipe, post it, and link the post in the comments section (click here) that week.  While you are there you can check out the seven recipes submitted that week by the group members. 

Enoki Greens Salad
Serves 2

Lettuce greens of your choice
1/2 carrot, grated (half a normal size carrot)
1 sliced scallion, green and white part
1/4 cucumber, grated

Dressing
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon vegetable OIL
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Place all dressing ingredients into a small jar and shake 

Enoki Mushroom Soup
Makes about 12 ounces of soup

1 Tablespoon finely chopped onion
1/2 Tablespoon BUTTER
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1/4 of a bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of SALT
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated PEPPER
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1 ounce of dry white WINE
6 ounces of chicken stock
1 Tablespoon flour
1 handful of Enoki mushrooms, base cut off, removed, and thrown away.
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon of sherry
PARSLEY for garnish

Saute onion in butter until soft and slightly brown.
Add in the thyme, bay leaf, salt, paprika, wine, and 4 ounces of the chicken broth.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf.  Add flour to reserved chicken stock and whisk before adding to the soup pot.
Stir in the milk and sherry. 
Add the enoki mushrooms.
Simmer a few minutes.  Do not boil.  Serve warm.

Enoki Summer Rolls

Rice paper wrappers, softened
Enoki Mushrooms
Carrot sticks, sliced thin, about 3" lengths
Scallion sliced thin lengthwise in 3" lengths
Cucumber, peeled, sliced thin in 3" lengths
Shrimp, cooked, sliced in half lengthwise, 3 medium-small per roll

Assemble these summer rolls as you would any other summer rolls, using the ingredients in amounts you enjoy.

Dipping Sauce for Summer Rolls

2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon Chinese mustard

Enoki Pancakes
Makes about 4 small pancakes

1 egg
1/4 of an onion, finely diced
4 stalks of garlic chives, finely snipped
1/3 small carrot
SALT and PEPPER
1 Tablespoon white flour
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 handful of Enoki mushrooms, separated from base, base thrown away

Beat egg and sesame oil together.
Mix egg mixture into the vegetables.
Toss mushrooms with flour and add to egg/vegetable mix.
Preheat pan with a small amount of BUTTER.
Scoop a bit of mixture into the pan and arrange the mushrooms lengthwise (I used small bamboo tongs to do this).
Brown on one side, flip, and brown the other side until pancakes are set.
Serve warm.

Note:  Ingredients in CAPITAL BOLD letters are strongest choices; ingredients in bold are good choices; ingredients underlined are desirable choices.

IHCC: Tessa Kiros - Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon Zest, and Yogurt

 

      The theme this fifth week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Club is "Harvest Moon:  Food Celebrating Fall's Bounty/Halloween-Themed Foods."  More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week:  "The Harvest Moon is a beautiful and magical time to celebrate autumn's beauty, color, and splendor.  How will you enjoy the bountiful gifts of autumn?  Will it be with spicy baked goods, something hearty and comforting, or maybe even a spooky treat..." 

      I figured this whole idea of comforting food gave me carte blanche to make soup, right?  I knew you would agree.  Now, which soup would showcase the harvest bounty around here?  I found it:  Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon Zest, and Yogurt, found in the Tessa Kiros book Falling Cloudberries on page 343. 

      Isn't this a beautiful soup?  It tastes even better than it looks...the smokey red pepper, with tomatoes, the slight bite of the Kalamata olives, the fresh clean zip of the lemon zest, the piney goodness of the rosemary, and the creamy tang of the Greek yogurt.  Seriously good soup...it moved right up to the number two spot on my soup list, right under French Onion Soup and right before Ellie's Chicken Orzo Soup.  I will be making this one over and over this winter. 

      Click here and visit the list of links to connections for this week, which ends Sunday night.
  

Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon Zest, and Yogurt
Serves 6

Ingredients:
4 red peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic lightly crushed with the flat of a knife
1 small red onion, sliced
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 (14 oz) can tomatoes, chopped
1-1/4 cups plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup pitted black olives, roughly chopped
Finely grated zest of one lemon
Leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

Preheat the broiler to high.  Line a large baking sheet with foil and arrange the peppers, skin side up, in a single layer.  Broil for about 30 minutes, until the skin has darkened in places and swelled up and the peppers are soft.  You might need to move them around on the sheet so they are evenly broiled or remove the halves that are blackened and leave some in for longer.

Transfer the peppers to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or put in a plastic bag and seal) and let sweat for 10 minutes to make peeling easier.  Peel off the skin.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and saute the garlic and onion for about 5 minutes.  Add the tomato and cook until it begins to bubble.  Add the pepper halves, tearing them into large chunks as you put them in the pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer gently for about 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and puree.  The soup should be fairly thick:  if it seems too watery, simmer uncovered for a while longer.  If it seems too thick, add a little more water.

Check the seasoning and serve the soup hot with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkling of chopped olives, lemon zest, and rosemary.

CEiMB: Cherry-Almond-Chocolate Clusters

      This week for CEiMB, I chose to make the Cherry-Almond-Chocolate Clusters on page 214 of Ellie Krieger's book, So Easy.  You can find the recipe online here.  

      Ingredient list:  whole roasted almonds, dried, cherries, and bittersweet chocolate. 

      Mark hasn't had a chocolate treat all week, so I decided to make these as they were quick and easy.  I also had all the ingredients on hand.  The whole thing takes less than five minutes to make, and when dealing with chocolate, I have found that it's best to just get in and out as fast as possible.  It makes 12, 150 calories each, for those of you wondering.  Definitely a repeat. 

      To check out other Ellie recipes, you can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Conchiglie al Burro e Parmigiano (Shells with Butter and Cheese)

      This week for the thirtieth recipe I've made forThirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and Margaret and whoever else wants to join us, I made Conchiglie al Burro e Parmigiano (Shells with Butter and Cheese), on page 95. 

      The ingredient list:  butter, cream, salt, pepper, medium-sized shells (I used elbow macaroni because I was going between two recipes and decided on this one and then got the pasta part wrong, sigh), and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      Despite my grabbing the wrong box of pasta type, I made the rest as directed.  It was delicious, not a lot of butter and cream in it, so it is lighter than you would think, and the grated cheese makes it taste fresh and lovely.  It was a nice little side dish.  Definitely a repeat.  

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Various sources on the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the end of the Second Empire in France.

SWIMMING NEWS: Friday we left for Tennessee to attend Matt's first college swimming competition meet at the University of Tennessee, a 3-way meet between IU/Tennessee/Kentucky.  The meet was Saturday and we stayed an extra day, driving back Sunday. The IU boys beat both Tennessee and Kentucky while the girls beat Kentucky but fell to the Tennessee Lady Vols.
Photo: Matt swimming the backstroke at a meet for the first time in about a year and a half...he did well with a nice finish time.  Watching Matt swim was so much fun, he did really well, no new best times yet as it is early in the season, but he was very close to his best times, so that was encouraging and he was chosen to swim on the A relay, so he was very happy about that, a great deal for a freshman.
Photo:  Matt in white cap with red "Indiana" in lane 5. 100 Freestyle, Matt finished first in heat 1 of 2...was so much fun to see his name up on the board with that "IU" affiliation and that number 1 finish...let's hope we keep seeing a lot of that through the years!
He swam the 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Back, and on the 200 Free A Relay.
Photo:  IU guys getting fired up, Matt is at the top.  Coach Mike at the left, Coach Loos at the right in the white shirt, Coach Donny seated.  Matt really likes all his coaches, which is terribly nice to hear as a parent!

Photo:  Matt seated in red towel...just in case you thought I was kidding last week about how much his body has changed with the weight lifting...look at those shoulders...he did not have those two months ago!

Here's the connect for the college swimming site with the article about the meet, girls at the top (Lauren did a great job but I unfortunately did not get a good photo...next time!), boys further down in the page, and Matt's name is mentioned four times, so that is fun.  

Photo right:  Matt and Ian (Ian is Matt's roommate)

Anyway, we all had a great time and Ian made the travel squad as well so we enjoyed sitting with Ian's parents at the meet and getting to know them better.  The Tennessee pool is just a few years old and it is gorgeous, a wonderful place to watch swimming. 
COOKING BYTES: I still cannot find fresh persimmons at the market.  They are fast becoming the most elusive thing to locate and I am going to need them soon for the Thanksgiving round-up post the Twitter pals are participating in.  The search continues.  Where are these things hiding out?  Anyone?  I am figuring they were/are in season as Mitchell, IN had their big persimmon festival a few weeks ago, surely they were ripe by then, right?  It's a mystery.
FAV NEW FIND:  Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker:  Time-Saving Techniques for Breads, Tarts, Pies, Cakes, and Cookies cookbook has been reissued and is now out in very nice paperback book with beautiful photos.  This is a wonderful book of recipes and I was so happy to hear that it is available again for order.  You might want to put this on your Christmas list as the recipes are delicious, well-written, and, best of all, you get successful results on the first try, so here's a connect for you, nice and handy, click here.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Going to Tennessee was very nice.  The drive was lovely with all the changing leaf colors and the beauty of the mountains of eastern Tennessee.  We had terrific weather all three days.
WEEK IN REVIEW:  The week went really fast with work, getting ready for the trip, driving to Tennessee, etc.  All fun.  The Hawks beat the Hoos in football in IC, no surprise.  It's a win/win when one is a HooHawk fan...I like either team to win...this does not, however, hold true when it is basketball season...I'm Hoo all the way then, except when Hawks are playing the Boilermakers, then I'm definitely on the Hawk side of the blacks and golds.  Big Ten Basketball season cannot get here fast enough. 
LOOKING FORWARD TO:  Checking out this Heartland exhibit at the ISM.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week: Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony.   
PRAYING FOR:  Stuart, a 16 year old boy at GCHS battling cancer for the past 17 months, please join me.

CEiMB: Cheddar-Apple Quesadilla

      This week for CEiMB, I chose to make the Cheddar-Apple Quesadilla on page 26 of Ellie Krieger's book, So Easy.  You can find the recipe online here.  

      Ingredient list:  apple, tortilla, and cheddar cheese. 

      I was looking for a simple easy quick lunch, my eyes landed on this in the book and in about ten minutes I had a delicious lunch.  It's that easy.  And, it's very good.  The melty cheese on the crispy apple is a wonderful combination.  Definitely making this again and again...love recipes that you usually have everything to make it on hand at any time.  This would make a good ball-game watching snack as well.  Why did it take me so long to make this?  (Note: the photo is a little deceptive as this is a small plate and it is one half of one quesadilla, so you can use the whole quesadilla if you are feeding guys with this for snacks.)

      To check out other Ellie recipes, you can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

IHCC: Tessa Kiros - Salsicce e Fagioli (Sausages and Beans)

 

      The theme this fourth week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Peasant Food."  More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week:  "Characteristic recipes often include hearty one-dish meals like soups, stews and casseroles, vegetables, beans, breads, and pastas..." 

      I confess, I was running a little short of time, so I just started skimming my TK books for photos of something, anything, that looked like peasant food that I would happen to have ingredients on hand (which, incidentally is not a bad way to go through books looking for recipes), and I ended up with a lovely photo of beans and sausage and knew at once that I had found my recipe:  Salsicce e Fagioli (Sausages and Beans), found in the Tessa Kiros book Twelve on page 56.  In the book it says that Tuscans are well known for their love of beans and this one is a favorite.  Works for me. 

      It's not complicated, needs some time to cook, definitely a slow cooking thing with soaking and cooking beans involved, but a very nice thing to have going on a cold rainy day, which it was here. 

      The flavors are wonderfully satisfying, tomatoes, beans, sausage, garlic, sage...all of it just blends well together and a little goes a long way as it feels very rich and filling, i.e. the portion in the photo works well for one, it's a little 5" dish. 

      If you'd like to see more of this week's peasant food recipes, click here and visit the list of links to connections for this week, which ends Sunday night when the recipes for next week will include Harvest Moon, recipes celebrating Fall's bounty.

 

Salsicce e Fagioli (Sausages and Beans)
Serves 6

Ingredients:
500 g (1 lb. 2 oz) dried cannellini beans (or other white beans) soaked overnight in cold water
3 cloves of garlic peeled
3 sprigs of sage
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
6 large Italian pork sausages, about 100 g (3.5 ounces) each
400 g (14 oz can) peeled tomatoes with their juice, chopped

Rinse the beans and put them into a large saucepan.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Skim the surface scum with a slotted spoon.  Add two whole garlic cloves and one of the sage sprigs.  Cook for 1-1.5 hours or until the beans are tender.  Season with salt and pepper in the last half hour of cooking time.

In a separate large sauce pan, heat the olive oil.  Prick the sausages in a couple of places with a fork and add them to the pan.  Fry on medium-high heat to brown on all sides.  Add the remaining garlic clove and sage, and as soon as it begins to sizzle, add the tomatoes.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes have melded into a sauce.

Drain the beans reserving a little of the cooking liquid and add the beans to the sausage pot.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper, if necessary.  Simmer for 10 minutes more, adding 1/2-1 cup of the reserved bean water to thin it out a little.  Serve warm.

 

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Farfalle al Salame e Pomodoro (Farfalle with Salami and Tomatoes)

      This week for the twenty-ninth recipe I've made for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and Margaret and whoever else wants to join us, I made Farfalle al Salame e Pomodoro (Farfalle with Salami and Tomatoes), on page 153. 

      The ingredient list:  onion, butter, salami, fresh tomatoes, rosemary, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and farfalle (butterfly/bowtie pasta). 

      Again, another winner here, so simple to put together, quick, delicious, why are you waiting to make it?  Definitely a repeat.  

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Ginger-Jazzed Brownies

      Thanks to Hindy, from Bubie's Little Baker, for her pick of Ginger-Jazzed Brownies, found on page 101 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe. 

      Mark always loves TWD brownie weeks...apparently we have had a lot of good brownies from this book and these were no exception, he loved them.  The ginger brought a nice little kick to the flavor and he declared them, "Excellent!"  I guess we will be adding these to the "make again" category, that list from this book is very long!

        One note:  To get the brownies to this degree of doneness, I needed to bake them for 15 extra minutes.  Mark likes them at this chewy-fudgy stage.

        Next week:  Ursula from Cookie Rookie has chosen A Fig Cake For Fall, found on page 198. TWD blogroll found here.

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Cookbooks, trying to figure out the whole Flavors challenge thing and what I can make this next week for Ingredient Mushroom.

Matt's new swim team:  Go IU!  Matt is toward back of group, looking backwards sideways...can you believe the size of those shoulders now???
SWIMMING NEWS: Friday we went to Matt's first college swimming meet, an intrasquad meet.  He swam four events: 50, 100, 200 Freestyles and the 200 Freestyle Relay.  It was so exciting to see him swim with all the other college guys.  He did really well.  I can't believe he is starting his 13th year of swimming! One amusing side note:  When we first arrived (and we have been swimming in the IU pool for years so that was not at all disorienting (although they do have a new redo on the walls that is quite nice) as it feels familiar), we sat down and looked for Matt amongst the swimmers in the water and could not find him!  I was beginning to think he wasn't there.  Such a strange feeling as always before there can be a thousand swimmers, literally, at some of these larger meets and still my eye could always locate Matt within a couple of seconds, both in or out of the water.  You just get that used to seeing your swimmer and what they look like and how they move in the water as well as on land.  Not only that, I can locate Harrison, Mike, Kiernan, Nik, Daniel, Charles, John, Jonathan, etc. as well from watching them swim all those years.  Anyway, Mark could not locate him either.  Ian's dad was sitting beside us and he couldn't find Ian either.  Then we all said, "Oh my goodness, there he is...." at the same time.  Matt has grown an inch and with all the weight training and running these past two months, his body just looks different!  He moves differently in the water, and he just looks so much bigger all around...no wonder I couldn't find him!  Same with Ian!  Look at those shoulders (photo above right)!
Lauren on one end, Matt on the other...the two Carmel freshmen on the team. So good to get to continue to watch Lauren swim in college, too.
COOKING BYTES: I didn't post anything for the blog-alongs all week, so I posted 8 posts tonight for them...never done that before.  I hope to be more timely this week. Hope. To.
FAV NEW FIND:  Hearing from college kids that are settling in at school and dropping me emails sharing bits of things going on in their new surroundings. Very nice, I miss them all. 
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Going to IU to watch Matt swim and take him out for dinner...a perfect day.  We also got to see Reyn during the meet as she and her best friend Savannah came over to cheer for Matt. 
WEEK IN REVIEW:  The week was busy with normal things, work, etc., lunch with Cindy always a fun time, Bloomington for the swim meet, some sadness at the death of a young friend, a trip to Elwood to visit Mark's parents and run some errands, etc. for them, we finished watching the Ken Burns' Prohibition shows and moved into Engineering an Empire series.
LOOKING FORWARD TO:  Checking out this Jason Wesaw exhibit at the Eiteljorg.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week: Brahms Symphony No. 3.   
PRAYING FOR:  In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Xavier M. and for those he left behind struggling to deal with the loss, and include all people suffering from leukemia. 

Photo below:  Lauren, Reyn, Kiernan, Brittany, and Matt going to Hoosier Hysteria Saturday night (opening of IU Basketball season!).  Kiernan and Brittany came to visit from Xavier U...it's nice to see them all still hanging out together.

 

CEiMB: Sirloin Steak with Grainy Mustard Sauce and Parmesan Steak Fries

      This week for CEiMB, I chose to make the Sirloin Steak with Grainy Mustard Sauce and Parmesan Steak Fries on pages 169-170 of Ellie Krieger's book, So Easy.  You can find both of the recipes online here.  

      Ingredient list for steak:  steak, shallots, flour, canola oil, chicken broth, salt, pepper, whole-grain mustard.  The ingredient list for the fries:  potatoes, canola oil, grated Parmesan cheese, and salt. 

      Easy enough, steak and fries.  The fries were quick and baked in the oven and not fried in oil...they were nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which is how we like them. 

      The steak is really just how you like it and then you drizzle on the mustard sauce which is really good.  Really good.  It's made with chicken broth, mustard, and a little flour to thicken it up.  Did I say that this was really good on steak?  This is really good on steak.  I can think of several other things this would be good on as well...chicken, pork, fish, vegetables...I am thinking this is a new "go to" sauce recipe, you know, the kind that you print off and tape to the inside of your kitchen cabinet because that way you don't have to go looking for the book when you want to make it often.  I'll have this one memorized soon, no doubt, mustard-loving family that we are and all.  

      To check out other Ellie recipes, you can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

Flavors: Apples - Apple Celery Soup and Apple Cheddar Herb Bread

      The second week's featured seasonal ingredient for the Flavors challenge is Apples. 

      We have several apple orchards nearby that we frequent in the fall each year, so I was excited about this week's ingredient as I knew I could get lovely fresh apples with no problem at all. 

      I made two recipes as they sort of go together and I had a lot of apples on hand.  The first recipe is Apple Celery Soup, nice and creamy and comforting in the soup sort of way, and it gave me a chance to pair apples and celery in something other than Waldorf Salad.  It's delicious both the first day and the next, the separate flavors of the apples and the celery each still pronounced the second day, and yet each still walking hand in hand in a very tasty manner. 

      The second recipe is Apple Cheddar Herb Bread, a flavorful bread that accompanies the soup I made in a wonderful marrying kind of way.  The bread recipe gave me a chance to throw in some fresh herbs still growing in my pots, i.e. chives and rosemary, as well as some scallions which were a nice accompaniment in the bread with the apples and cheddar cheese.  I made the bread into little mini loaves just for fun...I'm all about the cute on a regular basis.  The recipe makes one loaf or 8 of the little mini loaves.  The flavors of the all the ingredients managed to come through, each one pleasant with the others. 

      Would I make either of the recipes again?  Yes I would, it was a wonderful lunch on a crisp fall day. 

      The Flavors challenge is based on the book The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg.  Every week for a year the seven group members will each create a recipe using the featured ingredient and match it with the flavors that enhance it best by consulting those pages in the book.  They have invited others to join along in the cooking and posting, posting a chart detailing the featured seasonal ingredient for each week, so if you'd like to pop in now and again and try your hand at it, just make your recipe, post it, and link the post in the comments section (click here) that week.  While you are there you can check out the seven recipes submitted that week by the group members. 

Apple Celery Soup
2-4 servings

1 Tablespoon UNSALTED BUTTER
6 celery stalks, with leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium sweet APPLE, coarsely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon ginger (bold print)
1 small bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
1 Tablespoon snipped chives
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tablespoons heavy CREAM

Melt butter in medium soup pot over low heat. 
Add in the celery, onion, and apple. 
Season with salt, pepper and ginger.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes until soft.
Add the broth and the herbs.
Bring to a boil, lower the heat, add the cream, and simmer 30 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and what is left of the sprig of thyme.
Blend the soup with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender in batches) until smooth.
Serve warm.

Apple Cheddar Herb Bread
Makes one 8x4.5x2.75" loaf or 8 mini loaves

1-3/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (bold print)
2 Tablespoons snipped fresh chives
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
4 finely sliced scallions (white and green parts)
1/3 cup toasted chopped WALNUTS
1 large APPLE, peeled and diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, rack in the center.
Butter and flour an 8x4.5x2.75" loaf pan or 8 small mini loaf pans.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and white pepper in a bowl.
In another bowl of medium size, whisk eggs until well blended.  Add in the milk and olive oil.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix only until just mixed.
Stir in gently the cheese, herbs, scallions, walnuts, and apples.
Spoon into prepared pan and smooth top.
Bake for 40 minutes for the loaf pan; 38 minutes for the mini loaves.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes on baking rack, then turn out of pan to finish cooling right side up.
Serve warm or room temperature.

Note:  Ingredients in CAPITAL BOLD letters are strongest choices; ingredients in bold are good choices; ingredients underlined are desirable choices.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Penne agli Asparagi e Prosciutto (Penne with Asparagus and Prosciutto)

      This week for the twenty-eighth recipe I've made forThirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and Margaret and whoever else wants to join us, I made Penne agli Asparagi e Prosciutto (Penne with Asparagus and Prosciutto), on page 140. 

      The ingredient list:  asparagus, yellow onion, butter, prosciutto, ground black pepper, cream, freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and penne. 

      As promised, this goes together well within the 30 minutes, the most time involved is boiling the pasta.  The combination of pasta, cheese, meat, onion, and asparagus is light yet satisfying.  Definitely doing this one again and again.  This is a good recipe for those nights when you look into your refrigerator and see just bits of this and that left at the end of the week (you could vary the vegetable you use with no problem at all) as you probably have most of the ingredients on hand.  Delicious and Mark quickly claimed the leftovers for his lunch the next day.   

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

IHCC: Tessa Kiros - Apple Cake with Toffee Toppping

      The theme this third week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Club is "From the Orchard."  More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week:  "Possibilities abound...apples, pears, cherries, and plums...to oranges, lemons, limes, and kumquats...to pomegranates, crabapples, passionfruit, persimmons, or even guavas..." 

      I paged through the books and landed on a recipe for Apple Cake with Toffee Topping from Tessa Kiros' book Falling Cloudberries on page 269.  Apples and Toffee...oh yeah, that was the one for sure. 

      Since we are numbered only two here now, I made a third of the recipe which fit nicely into two little 4" round springform pans.  Okay, I made a third of the cake batter, etc., but when it came to the topping, I made half the recipe...I figured you would be onto me so I might as well confess it now.  We happen to love toffee, maybe a little too much.  The little cakes baked for 35 minutes and tested done.
      I was feeling really good about my little cakes until I hopped on the home site, saw that Michelle had done this recipe as well AND did it so much better than I did...she poked holes in her cake so the toffee topping would ooze down into the cake (why do I never think of these things) and she added some nuts on the top which look just lovely.  Anyway, go see her cake, and if you want the recipe, she has it posted on her site ever so nicely.  Great job, Michelle. 

      This cake was so delicious as is, but you can bet next time, I'm poking holes and tossing nuts on the top, too.  The other recipes made this week are here, give a click and enjoy!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Basic Biscuits

      Thanks to Jennifer, from Cooking for Comfort, for her pick of Basic Biscuits, found on page 21 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe. 

      This recipe represented another chance to practice my mediocre biscuit-making skills.  I'm not sure how well I did, but my husband loved them, eating five of them with bacon and eggs as breakfast sandwiches...don't panic, the little biscuits are just 2" in size, the total count of eggs was 2 and I used 2 pieces of bacon, so the totals on all that, while adding up, seem a little more discreet than saying Mark ate 5 breakfast sandwiches.  I think. 

      Anyway, these were light an fluffy inside and crunchy on the outside, and tasted delicious with a swipe of butter and a little honey drizzled on them as well.  I know.  I ate two.  And I'm not a biscuit person, so I guess we can say these are repeat worthy every now and again as they are easy, quick, and delicious...what's not to like about all that?  

        Next week:  Hindy from Bubie's Little Baker has chosen Ginger-Jazzed Brownies, found on page 101. TWD blogroll found here.

More Dorie: Around My French Table - Chicken Breasts Diable

 

      The thirty-third recipe I made from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, was Chicken Breasts Diable found on page 217.

      Phyl and I were tweeting back and forth late one afternoon a few weeks ago when the discussion turned to what we were making for dinner.  One thing led to another and we both decided to make this recipe as it looked easy enough to pull together on a week night and the mix of ingredients sounded wonderful. 

      Ingredient list:  skinless, boneless chicken breasts, butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, shallot, garlic, white wine, cream, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. 

      This is just basically the cooked chicken breasts we all make with a little sauce to make it something a little more special for a week night.  The sauce is delicious, creamy, mustard-y, wine-y, butter-y...in small doses we all need this in our lives, right?  Right.  Easy, delicious, give this one a try soon, you'll impress everyone with taste alone.   

      I am no longer officially cooking with the French Fridays with Dorie group as I just could not keep up with everything going on here cooking-wise, but I did want to keep cooking from this wonderful book, so if you would like to see more recipes from the book, you can click here. Enrollment is open, feel free to follow along officially or unofficially. The group posts weekly on Fridays.

Bake! Thin-Crusted Pizza

 

      The twenty-third recipe that I made from Bake!  by Nick Malgieri was the one for Thin-Crusted Pizza , found on page 96. 

      This was Abby's pick for the group and I think we were all really happy to see this one appear on the list.  Homemade pizza crusts are always appreciated around here and I never tire of trying new ones as truth be told, I haven't made one yet that we didn't like.  Surprisingly, they all take about the same ingredients and they all taste just a little different, how does that happen?

      The ingredient list for the pizza crust:  flour, salt, yeast, water, and oil.  The book gives various suggestions for toppings, i.e. ingredients, amounts, and combinations.  I had mushrooms, onions, and a few pepperoni all lurking about, so that all with mozzarella seemed like a fine combination for toppings. 
      The crust is easy to make in a bowl, takes less than five minutes, it rises until doubled, then it can be parked in the frig or frozen if you aren't going to use it right away.  I was going to use it right away so I will try all that another day.  I made half of a recipe which was enough for one large pizza.  The crust was not ultra-thin, but definitely on the thinner side, it was perfect.
      This is a great crust recipe, it's so easy that I will no doubt keep it pinned to the inside cabinet for future use as it makes no sense to me to pay a lot for a mix or dairy case crusts which don't have near the great flavor of this one when this one is so easy and delicious.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Here's what the others thought:  Abby here, Margaret here.

      Get the book and Bake! with us, we will even let you choose recipes in rotation with us, yes, we will!

Bake! Lattice-topped Apple Tart

 

      The twenty-second recipe that I made from Bake!  by Nick Malgieri was the one for Lattice-topped Apple Tart, found on page 31 . 

      This was my pick for the group as I always look forward to apple season, getting apples fresh from the orchards, and being able to make things that reflect the season with seasonal ingredients.  We can eat a lot of apple things around here and never tire of them.

      The ingredient list for the tart crust:  flour, salt, baking powder, butter, and eggs.  The ingredient list for the apple filling:  apples, sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and unsalted butter.  I made a 6" size tart, it took 1/3 of the pastry recipe and a little less than 1/3 of the filling recipe.

      The crust is easy to make in the food processor.  The filling comes together quickly, like most apple pie fillings.  The only time-consuming portion, and even that is not exactly time-consuming, is making the lattice crust.  I have made lattice crusts before...it involves weaving strips of dough to form a woven lattice pattern, but NM has directions for just sort of laying the strips across the pie...it gives a lattice-like look, but it is not exactly what I think of when I see a lattice-topped tart/pie.  This technique is a bit quicker, I will say that.  That said, I like the look of the other style of woven lattice work better, so will probably not do this lattice style again, but I will make this tart again as it is absolutely delicious!

 

      Here's what the others thought:  Phyl here, Abby here.

      Get the book and Bake! with us, we will even let you choose recipes in rotation with us, yes, we will!

   

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Another of Tessa Kiros' books, Venezia.  Food, travel, life in Venice, Italy. Lovely.
SWIMMING NEWS: College swimming is gearing up for swim season with some intrasquad meets to showcase the talent.  Matt's team has one this week and it will be great to see him back in the water competing.
COOKING BYTES: Embarked on a new cooking blog-along this week, Flavors, and my copy of The Flavor Bible arrived so I have been reading through that trying to figure out how it all works, etc.  It's not a recipe book.  It lists ingredients and flavors that go well with them, best pairings in  bold capitalized letters, lesser in bold non-capitalized letters, least but still acceptable in no bold print at all.  The object of the group is for each person to come up with her/his own recipes (can be based on recipes one finds with their own interpretation of it all).  So far I made a couple of recipes for the blog posts, and used the information in the book every single day since it arrived to give different flavors and takes on foods I make normally around here.  It's fun and I am learning a lot.  This is going to be a good thing.
FAV NEW FIND:  All week we had warmer than normal temperatures and it is continuing a bit for this coming week.  Keeping winter at bay as long as possible, always a favorite thing with me.  Outdoor swimming still an option.  The trees might be losing their leaves, but the pool is still open...until the end of the week, that is.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Spending time with friends, always a nice deal.  
WEEK IN REVIEW:  The week had ups and downs (I had the flu for a couple of days), subbing was nice, the swimming this week was nice, we had a nice visit with Mark's parents on Saturday to check on them and do a few things for them around the house, etc. Mark and Alex spent a couple of hours Sunday afternoon playing Frisbee golf (Alex, photo left), while I opted to swim on this day of 78 degrees.   Matt was busy at IU with recruit entertaining, practices, going to the football game (photo right taken by Reyn at the game) and cheering for the Hoos, even though they lost, as did the Hawks this week out in Happy Valley.  All in all, a nice week.

    
  Photos:  Alex (left) and Matt (right)  
 

 

 

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  Checking out this Brian McCutcheon exhibit at the IMA.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week: Beethoven, Biss, & Bartok.   
PRAYING FOR:  Lots of weddings this time of year...prayers for happy and long marriages for them all, please join me.  Also, in your charity, please continue to pray for Bill as he and Margaret got both good news and not-so-good news this week and Bill will need additional surgery.  

It's Pumpkin Time! Pumpkin Cookie Bites

      The buzz around Twitter with my baking/cooking pals for the past few weeks has been all about pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin.  'Tis the season for it and all. 

      I'm not a big fan actually, but there are some exceptions and this recipe is one of them...I think it is the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting in the middle of the cookies that elevates it to "not bad at all" status (interpretation:  these are really good).
      Phyl decided to put a call out for a Pumpkin Dinner Round-Up, all participants submitting their intended recipe to him so he could post them all.  I declined at first, again because pumpkin is not my favorite ingredient, and offered to send some carved Jack-o-Lantern photos as my submission instead.
      One thing led to another, and I succumbed to peer pressure within the week:  only because I saw this recipe/post on Susan's blog two years ago when she first made them and thought it looked like something the guys would love.  (Click here for the recipe and while you are there, take a look around as Susan has beautifully decorated cakes and wonderful food on her blog.)
      I bookmarked the recipe and used excuse after excuse for the past two years not to make it happen.  This week, however, I made the cookies to a resounding round of applause from my appreciative husband who loves pumpkin things and would like to see more them around here.  Being appreciative goes a long way with me, so I will check out Phyl's Pumpkin Dinner Round-Up and see if there might be something else that Mark would enjoy during this pumpkin season.  Here's where to go if you want to check it out as well:  click here for the Pumpkin Dinner recipes and then stay a bit and look around as Phyl has great food with great process photos on his blog.

CEiMB: Savory Peach Chicken

      This week for CEiMB, I chose to make the Savory Peach Chicken on page 143 of Ellie Krieger's book, So Easy.  You can find the recipe online here.  

      Ingredient list:  orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, canola oil, boneless skinless chicken breasts, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, chicken broth, peaches, brown rice, almonds, and broccoli spears (I subbed in asparagus as that is what we had on hand at the time). 

      This dish has a definite Chinese-type flavor profile, combined with the fruit, made it a nice change of pace around here as we rarely make things like this.  It came together quickly, so is perfect for a weeknight dinner.  The soy sauce, rice, and asparagus tamed the sweetness of the peaches/orange juice/brown sugar combination nicely.  Definitely worth making again sometime when we are in a chicken-rice-asparagus-Chinese kind of mood. 

      To check out other Ellie recipes, you can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

Flavors: Plums - Plum Ice Cream and Plum Cookies

      Yes, I know, I need to simplify somewhere along the line with cooking/baking blog-alongs but I am just not sure where to do that as I enjoy them all and it keeps me from actually having to think of creative meals/menus myself.  I am, however, pretty sure that adding another one is not necessarily simplifying.  Or maybe it is, as somewhere along the line, if I am enjoying this one as much as I think I am going to enjoy this one, another will need to be allocated to a lesser status. 

      That said, a couple will be ending shortly, so welcome, welcome to The Flavors Challenge (see link here).  I first found out about this challenge through a group of bloggers (and primarily Jerry, who I have followed for years as his blog is full of food, travel, fun) who made and blogged all the recipes in Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking cookbook.  They posted daily and followed the book in order of presentation, each member committing for certain recipes for each section.  The book itself does not contain photographs of the completed recipes, so if you ever want to know what a recipe looks like, you should definitely mark this site for future reference as they are ALL there, all the recipes have photos.  What a deal for me when I am cooking from that cookbook. 

      Forgive me, I digress, but in a good way.   The Flavors challenge is based on the book The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg (click here).  What attracted me to the challenge was that this group is doing something I think will make me a better cook...i.e. they provide the main ingredient, the book provides flavors that go well with it, and you yourself choose what you will do with it each week.  This is something new and different for me as my other blog-alongs are all recipe-based.  The only stipulation is that you use the ingredient, one of the BOLD in CAPITAL letters ingredients, one of the bold print ingredients (not capitalized), and one of the other ingredients listed which do not appear in bold type at all. 

      It sounds fun.  It sounds like something that will definitely make my meals and recipes even tastier, something the guys will really appreciate as they love good food.  So without further ado, the first week's featured seasonal ingredient is plums. 

      I wanted to pick something that would really bring out the flavor of the plums as we love plum season with those nice juicy plums easily found in the stores and markets.  I happened to hit a farmer's market for these this week, and they were big (about 4 ounces each, nice and fleshy and juicy, plums are rather sexy, aren't they?).  After some consideration, I decided to make plum ice cream and maybe a plum cookie to go along with it.
From the sliced plums, to the pot of cooked plums...
To the ice cream maker full of churned plum goodness...
To the beauty that the plums imparted to this ice cream...
To the finished presentation, because, let's face it, I live in a household of guys and if you expect them to eat PINK food, it must be accompanied by something a little more masculine, and something cookie never hurts either.
     The plum ice cream features several ingredient add-ins, in small amounts (with the exception of the 2 teaspoons of black pepper), to give just a hint of flavor, but not enough to overpower the flavor of the plums, which I did not want to do, I wanted the plum flavor to really shine. 

      The cookies have a small amount of chocolate in them (guys here think it might not possibly be considered true dessert without some chocolate in the mix somewhere along the line, that's how they roll), but again, Mark says that the chocolate is just sort of there to compliment the plum taste and that the plum flavor is primarily present in the cookie. 

      I made the cookie a sort of cake-cookie so that it would seem that one was eating ice cream and cake, a nice soft cake-like texture.  In the photo you can see the plum bits in the cookie, as you can also see in the ice cream (along with the black pepper bits...don't be afraid of this, it tasted sweet and creamy with just a tiny little kick from the pepper which works so beautifully with the plums). 

Plum Ice Cream
Makes 1 Quart

1 pound of PLUMS (do not peel)
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup SUGAR
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon CINNAMON
1/2 teaspoon VANILLA
1/2 teaspoon dark rum
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1)  Slice the plums into 8 wedges, discarding the center pit.  Place into a medium nonreactive saucepan with the water, cover, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until tender, about 10-12 minutes. 
2)  Remove from heat and stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.
3)  After it is cooled, puree in food processor with the remaining ingredients.
4)  Chill thoroughly and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Plum Cookies
Makes 18 Medium-large cookies

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup SUGAR
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon CINNAMON
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cooked pureed PLUMS (skins left on and I left them rather chunky so they would be visible in the cookie)

1)  In mixer beat butter and sugar together until well blended.
2)  Add egg and mix just until blended.
3)  Add baking soda, a pinch of salt, sour cream, chocolate and mix just until blended.
4)  Add flour, cinnamon, pepper and mix just until blended.
5)  Stir in pureed plums until mixed in nicely.
6)  Drop by spoonfuls (I used a 2 oz ice cream scoop) onto a greased and floured cookie sheet (I used Silpat mat on cookie sheet), about 9 per sheet as they spread a little bit while baking.
7)  Bake, one cookie sheet at a time, for 18 minutes at 350 degrees.
8)  Let cool on pan for about 3 minutes and then remove with a sturdy spatula to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

      If you are interested in cooking/baking along with the challenge, the main group consists of only 7 members, each one assigned a certain day to post their creation, the site I linked here explains how to do that, and if you go to this link, you can view the Seasonal List of Featured Ingredients for the entire 52 weeks of the challenge (and no, you do not have to do all of them, as stated on the site, you can just post when the spirit moves you and leave your link).  Here is the main page for the Flavors challenge so you can see and keep current with what is being made each day/week, click here. Would love to see you there...if nothing else, visit the blog for the recipes...at the end of the year you will have at least 365 of them, all new!

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Penne agli Spinaci e Ricotta (Penne with Spinach and Ricotta)

      This week for the twenty-seventh recipe I've made forThirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Margaret and whoever else wants to join us, I made Penne ai Funghi agli Spinaci e Ricotta (Penne with Spinach and Ricotta), on page 85. 

      The ingredient list:  spinach, yellow onion, butter, whole-milk ricotta, nutmeg, pepper, cream, freshly  grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and penne. 

      Sometimes I go through the book selecting a recipe because of seasonal ingredients, sometimes just because I like the looks/sound of a recipe, sometimes just because I have a limited amount of time/budget/energy/desire...this week I went through the book with my refrigerator in mind as I had a little bit of this and that to use up and this recipe fit the need exactly. 

      I want to say this:  I do know that serving pasta at the peak of doneness, immediately from the pot to the table is the best way, I do know that.  That said, however, there are times I end up with more pasta than we eat (particularly now that my pasta-loving swimmer is at college), so I just park the leftovers in the frig with a mental note that I have pasta already made if I need something really quicker than 30 minutes. 

      This was one of those times.  I had some penne left, a little ricotta, the end of a bag of spinach, the end of a jug of cream, and onion and Parm always on hand...this recipe went together in about fifteen minutes tops.  The pasta was still nice (I pulled it out just slightly ahead of the other knowing that I would be reheating it in a couple of days) and the other ingredients just made it all come together beautifully. 

      The two cheeses with the penne and the spinach was a perfect combination of flavors.  Delicious, fast, and definitely a repeat. 

      Don't be afraid to cook double the pasta you need, park half in the frig and pull it out when you make the sauces fresh from this book...I have done it several times and it always works beautifully.  It is definitely a time-saver on busy nights, and much better than resorting to something from the freezer pre-packaged from the store because you are pressed for time.  The fresh sauces from the book are really wonderful and easy/quick, and I have found that they showcase the pasta with their vibrancy. 

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

IHCC: Tessa Kiros - Finocchi Gratinati (Baked Fennel)

 

      The theme this second week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Club is "Potluck."  More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week:  "Tessa Kiros is a world traveler and, more importantly, a worldly cook. So throw open your boundaries and try something new this week."   

       I paged through the books and landed on a recipe for Finocchi Gratinati (Baked Fennel) from Tessa Kiros' book Twelve.  Twelve divides the recipes into chapters named for the 12 months of the year, this recipe came from September. 

      Fennel is something I cook with on the rare occasion when I need to do a recipe for a blog-along that requires it.  Other than that, fennel is not on the weekly grocery list.  I'm never really sure how I feel about it.  I generally like it, but it's not something I pursue outside the nice little box I have allocated for it.  It's time to visit fennel a little more aggressively because I think I would like it better if I was more comfortable with it.  (Fennel is good for regulating blood pressure, digestion, blood purification, eyesight, coughs, etc. so it seems like something worthy of incorporating into menu planning.)
      This is a great recipe, takes a little time to prepare as you cook the fennel twice, but so worth it because the flavor is fresh and delicious.  The combination in this oozy and cheesy casserole reminded me of scalloped potatoes or macaroni and cheese, but yet very different because of that special taste that fennel has, that sort of anise flavor that gives it a zip that you aren't quite expecting. 

      I think the anise flavor is less pronounced in baked fennel than in raw fennel that I use in salads.  I like both, and this recipe is really wonderful.  Definitely picking up fennel more often...and definitely making this recipe again.

Finocchi Gratinati (Baked Fennel)
Serves 6-8

5 medium-large fennel bulbs, washed and trimmed
60 g (1/2 cup) flour for dusting the fennel
120 g (4.5 oz) butter
375 ml (1.5 cups) milk
nutmeg
60 g (2/3 cup) freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 
1)  Boil the whole fennel in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes or until they are soft, yet firm.
2)  Drain well and divide each one in half lengthwise.  Cut each half into 3-4 pieces vertically, so the pieces remain attached at the stem.
3)  Pat the pieces in flour.
4)  Grease an oven dish with a little of the butter.
5)  Put the fennel in the oven dish in a single layer.
6)  Season with a little more salt and pepper, add the milk. 
7)  Dot with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the Parmigiano Reggiano. 
8)  Grate over some nutmeg.
9)  Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is golden with a little thickened sauce.
10)  Remove from the oven and serve hot or at room temperature.

Twitter Chef Avatar Fun: Mark Bittman's Stuffed Acorn Squash

      We are having a bit of avatar fun over at Twitter, my baking/cooking pals and I, just to shake things up a bit and confuse everyone each month as to who is who and all.  Nancy came up with the great idea of each of us picking a different chef for each month, all of us making anything we each selected to make from that chef's recipes, taking a photo of our efforts, and using that photo as our avatar for that month. 

      October's avatar chef is Mark Bittman, chosen by Abby.  The recipe I chose was his recipe for Stuffed Acorn Squash.  I tried to find the recipe online for you all, but it turns out that he has dozens of baked acorn squash recipes, each slightly different, so I will post what I used for this one. 

      I own one Mark Bittman cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and it is just full of recipes (about 2,000 of them) that are user-friendly and delicious.  When I am looking around at 5:00 p.m. for what to make for dinner, this book comes off the shelf as I always find something that I have ingredients for, or that he tells me how to sub ingredients for, a big help on a weekly basis!  This squash was a spur of the moment decision (at 5:23 p.m. actually, needed for dinner at 6:30).  I had been to a farmer's market and gotten some lovely squash this afternoon, I had everything else on hand for this recipe, and before 6:30 it was finished and ready for the table.  Delicious, healthy, and definitely a repeat.

                                          Stuffed Acorn Squash
                                                  Serves 2

1)  Halve one smallish sized acorn squash (cut a small slice from the tip and bottom of the squash so they will sit firmly after they have been stuffed), scrape out the seeds, and rub the insides with a tiny bit of butter, roast (cut side down) at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
2)  In the meantime, caramelize one large onion (cut into thin slices) in a saute pan on the stove with 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar. 
3)  When onions are caramelized, remove from heat, stir in 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, the zest and juice of 1 orange.
4)  When the squash has baked 25 minutes, remove from oven, flip the halves over, give them a little salt and freshly ground pepper and spoon the onion/cranberry/pecan filling into the squash cavities.
5)  Put back into the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.   

Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple Nut Muffin Cake

 

     Thanks to Katrina, from Baking and Boys, for her pick of the Apple Nut Muffin Cake, found on page 37 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe. 

      A cake made from a muffin recipe, who knew?  It all came together quickly and easily...I had a few things to make this week for other baking blog-alongs so I just made a quarter of the recipe, used a 5" round pan, and it worked perfectly.  Isn't that a cute little cake?  I took a little slice and enjoyed it out in the beautiful sunshine on our deck, a perfect pair.
      The taste is wonderful, cinnamon with apples, raisins, and nuts, just full of flavors we love.  I will certainly make this one again. 

      Thanks for the pick, Katrina...I can't even believe you did not pick something chocolate!  Parker and I are very appreciative...this was delicious.

        Next week:  Jennifer from Cooking for Comfort has chosen Basic Biscuits, found on page 21. TWD blogroll found here.

 

More Dorie: Around My French Table - Roasted Rhubarb

 

      The thirty-third recipe I made from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, was Roasted Rhubarb found on page 397.  The FFwD group made this back in rhubarb season but I didn't quite get to it then, so I used frozen rhubarb and it worked out very nicely. 

      Ingredient list:  rhubarb, sugar, orange zest.  We love tangy things here at the house, a little zip is always appreciated, so I didn't use the optional honey in the recipe as I didn't think it needed it. 

      The recipe is very simple, just put it all in a glass pie plate, cover with foil, and roast for 20 minutes, uncover, roast 5 minutes more and you have a wonderful cooked rhubarb ready to eat plain by itself, or maybe with its little friend, ice cream.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Definitely will make this again, I like putting it in the oven to let it cook and not needing to stand over it like on top of the stove.  Delicious and tangy.  

      I am no longer officially cooking with the French Fridays with Dorie group, but if you would like to see more recipes from this book, you can click here. Enrollment is open, feel free to follow along officially or unofficially. The group posts weekly on Fridays.

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Four of Tessa Kiros' books, although they are recipe books primarily they have great travel photographs and stories:  Apples for Jam, Food From Many Greek Kitchens, Twelve, and Falling Cloudberries. 
LISTENING TO: Indianapolis Symphony featured Mahler's Symphony No. 1 this week, so carrying that forward. 
SWIMMING NEWS: Matt had an exciting week around the pool, the team got all their new team clothing, etc. and he also got an IU parka, so he was pretty excited about all that.  He was moved up to the fastest practice group, a very nice thing for a freshman.  A parka and a move up probably translates to traveling varsity team.  (A more inspiring thing heading into swimming season in two weeks, I cannot think there is for a young swimmer.)
COOKING BYTES: With the beginning of the Tessa Kiros recipes at IHCC, after looking through four of her books, I have marked a dozen recipes that I may try just for the pure fun of trying to make something I haven't made or am not sure we will even like...ingredients we don't always have readily available (like maybe trying to cook an octopus) and some that we have readily available but I just have not really utilized (beets, fennel, etc.), and one or two that I don't like and maybe I will give a try because I just need to update the taste buds perhaps (pumpkin, anchovies, dried salt cod).
FAV NEW FIND:  Alex has a job starting this week, so we are hoping this is a nice start to good things coming.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  The anniversary party for Mark's parents brought all the siblings, etc. to town and we all sat down to dinner together and enjoyed catching up with everyone's lives.  We have been extremely lucky to have Mark's parents close and in fairly good health all these years.  At ages 85 and 89, celebrating these anniversary occasions is always a big deal! While the original party at the restaurant had to be changed due to Emil's health right now, we all had a fine time at their home after moving the party location there...and, as the younger generation put it, "Great! We don't have to dress up now, do we? No suits and ties, we can just wear regular clothes?"  It was decided a fine casual relaxing day was in order and everyone went the casual route and had a wonderful day/evening.
Photo: Dorothy, Brian, Phil, Luke, Emil, Al, Nancy, and Mark...the parents and all six of their kids.
WEEK IN REVIEW:  The anniversary gathering was the biggest thing this week, having Matt home for that part of Saturday and Sunday was wonderful, having Alex come to the party for Grandma and Grandpa was a big deal and very nice, Reyn came home from IU to come to the party as well, the IU football game was another "near win," always encouraging (although in Indiana football is just something to pass the time until basketball season begins, right?).    Matt and Reyn wanted to stop at the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for their dorm rooms/to carve for Halloween, so we did that on the way back to IU, and "one of the greatest things ever," according to Matt, is that I did all the laundry he brought home from college.  Apparently there is great appreciation for this sort of thing as doing one's own laundry at college isn't part of the lineup of things he enjoys all that much.  The pumpkins were very small and when I inquired why that was, they both said at the same time, "These are DORM SIZE, we don't have a lot of extra room."  Ah, yes, silly me.  Mark and Alex went here for the afternoon while I was driving to Bloomington and back, and they had a nice day of walking and exploring  a good bit of the 100 acres as it was a gorgeous day for an activity like that, and they enjoyed spending some time together outdoors. 
PRAYING FOR:  Prayers of thanksgiving for Margaret and Bill...enough said, they have had a horrendous year battling Bill's cancer, prayers answered, Bill got the "cancer free" report last week, please join me in praying for thanks for all the answered prayers in your lives.

 

A last shot of the guys at the anniversary party...Alex, Mark, and Matt.  

Bake! Truffle Brownies

 

      The twenty-first recipe that I made from Bake!  by Nick Malgieri was the one for Truffle Brownies, found on page 199. 

      This was Glennis' pick for the group and a very popular one it was, those who made them just raved about them.

      The ingredient list:  butter, chocolate, light brown sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and vanilla extract. 

      Brownies are always so easy to make, always popular with the guys here, and disappear in record time.

      The author declares these "almost as rich as chocolate truffles."  The majority of them went down with the swimmer to college, need to make these again soon apparently as Mark didn't really get his fair share.
      Here's what the others thought:  Phyl here, Margaret here, Abby here.

      Get the book and Bake! with us, we will even let you choose recipes in rotation with us, yes, we will!

Bread Alone: BOM - Pumpkin Knot Yeast Rolls

 

      My blogging buddy Phyl runs BOM (Bread of the Month) on FB and I joined in last month for Nick Malgieri's Fig and Almond Bread.  This month is a recipe for Pumpkin Knot Yeast Rolls.  I am ever so happy that I decided to make these rolls, despite not being fond of pumpkin, as they are gorgeous in color and delicious with a rich buttery taste.  The recipe suggested serving them warm or room temperature with butter or honey butter, but trust me, these rolls were just lovely without a single other thing.

      Ingredient list:  flour, pumpkin, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and yeast.  (I know, I know...pumpkin is not my favorite ingredient but everyone assured me that the pumpkin flavor is not all that pronounced and I weighed the obvious benefits of adding pumpkin to the recipe from a nutrition standpoint and figured I would give it a try.) 

      The dough came together quickly and beautifully, the kneading time was about 8 minutes of pure joy as the dough is absolutely buttery silky smooth to knead.  It rose for 1.5 hours (directions said about an hour but my kitchen was a little cool), dividing the dough into 12 pieces and rolling it into 10" ropes was fun.  I'm not an expert at shaping dough by a long shot but the knots seemed fairly easy to make, I'm sure I could do better the more I practice. 

      The knots rose for another half hour, baked for 15 minutes and smelled absolutely wonderful.  I could not resist a warm roll, so I sampled.
      Did it taste like pumpkin?  No, not really...it was delicious and rich-tasting but not pumpkin-y at all.  Love these rolls.  I'm so happy I made them and I will make them again...easy, fairly fast, delicious, and just a little more nutritious with that pumpkin in there!  Thanks for the pick, Phyl, we loved them.   

      If you would like the complete recipe, click here.  I highly recommend giving these rolls playing time at your place, I think you will be very happy with the results.

 

Bread Alone: Tapenade Fan Rolls from Dan Lepard

      Last spring Nancy was making Tapenade Fan Rolls from Dan Lepard, see link here for the recipe.  We all love olives, so I knew these rolls would be something of high interest if I made them, but I didn't have time the day she was making them to join in, so I put it high on my "to make" list.  I'm surprised it took me so long to get around to them actually.  I finally got to them the week before last when I knew Matt would be home for the day to enjoy them with us.
      These were a hit, definitely a wonderful recipe and one I will make again. 

      The rolls themselves are easy to make, the dough recipe in the style of the Milk Loaf Bread we all make.  Dividing the dough into 3 pieces, rolling those out, spreading the olive paste on two layers, and cutting them to fit as fans into muffin tins was a snap.

      I used plenty of tapenade and they were perfectly delicious. Not a single one went to waste, in fact there was a search for more later in the evening. Guess I will need to make these again soon.  Bread and olives, what's not to love?