Last week in food...

I will be the first to admit that sometimes I feel hopelessly technologically challenged. I seriously have been trying to upload a picture of pie for 45 minutes. Good thing the Boy-O is tired out from a long weekend and taking a deservedly long nap...

I've had this problem before: I take a photo horizontally, upload it into Picasa, and then somehow the computer sprites tweak it into vertical mode. I go in, change, save, reload - and it is still miraculously vertical. I've repeated this process now so many times that I'm about out of patience. So, If you would like to see this photo, click here.

And now, on with the Post:

Last week was busy in preparation for E and Laura's visit on Friday. I do like to clean and organize, this is true, but somehow I never felt like I had enough hours in the day. I realised around Wednesday that I feel this way since Daylight Savings time has robbed me of 60 precious daylight minutes. I now wake at 6:30 am, and am shocked to be turning on lights promptly around 5 pm. I know I'll get used to it, but the initial week always sends me into denial a little bit. Thankfully with the onset of shorter days and cooler weather, I feel re-inspired to cook. Some highlights from last week:

Spinach and bacon pizza with jalapeno Monterrey Jack cheese. I've decided on giving up my food snobbery of pizza dough construction (Sorry, Alex Guarneschelli...) and going with the "whatever is in the icebox" approach. It's good! I let a portion of the Artisan Bread in Five stored dough sit out covered with a towel for about an hour, and then added the toppings.

One pizza truth I will forevermore adhere to is the addition of the cheese after the pizza has baked 2/3 of the way. Oh, and bake at 500 degrees f. My own, unwritten rule is to only include 3 ingredients as toppings (not including the cheese), but I forgot about the onions until it was too late, so this one only had two. I just remembered that I also sauteed the spinach with sliced garlic, and that was a great idea.

It was even better a couple days later when I had it for lunch. I was cooking my beans via the Parson's Method (more on that below), and slipped it into the oven on its foil for 10 minutes.

Bay scallops with mushrooms, sherry "cream" sauce and polenta. I Loved this. My Husband Liked it, since he's not a huge fan of polenta. I hate to hear this, but secretly plan on making it for lunch every once in a while.

CSA farm box. I got a Harvest Share box from my new CSA, Highcross Farms on Thursday. Lots of late season produce including kale, arugula, parsley (even though mine has suddenly turned into a hedge in the back yard), squashes, onions, brussel sprouts... 10 minutes after I lugged it in the door, I had the beets on a sheet pan destined for roasting.

Friday, the girls were coming, and I planned to make Crispy Kale, since I remembered reading about it in Bon Appetitseveral months ago. I actually received Tuscan Kale in my box, and was so excited since I have never seen it anywhere before. I went ahead and tried the same baking method with another spicy green (unknown variety to me) and some curly kale as well.

I think I preferred the curly kale, since it literally melted in your mouth, but they were all delicious. And my Husband loved it too. Crispy kale, yes and polenta, no? Go figure... another 10 years, and I should have this down pat!

Friday, I decided on a bean soup since it's flexible in the serving time. Rancho Gordo Midnight blacks, cooked via the Parson's Method mentioned in the book Heirloom Beans. I was so curious when I read this, I just had to try it. I figured a soup pot of beans was the best way to experiment.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. In a dutch oven, bring one pound of unsoaked beans to a boil in 6 cups of water. After it boils, put on the lid and slip it into the oven for 1-2 hours. I checked at 1 hour, and then again at 1:20. They were done enough to add the salt, so I added 1 t. and then back in the oven for another 20. Perfect black beans! And, a delicious soup. But some things no matter how delicious, do not translate well on film.

Now, PIE! All the pie talk last week did really wet my appetite for pie in the home. I wasn't sure what kind to make. I did know that I wanted to make Cook's Illustrated Magazine's vodka pie crust. I call it this to differentiate it from all the other pie doughs I've made. This one is really great, and the vodka allows for easier rolling since the liquid evaporates in the oven. It's flaky and tender so Alton Brown would be proud, and my friends agreed that it was pretty darn tasty, so I'll take it.

The guts included a layer of what was essentially cranberry jam. The recipe was peeking out at me from behind the vodka pie dough recipe. I don't know why I never thought to make it before. I do know that I'll be making it again. As for a photo of the finished product? You will have to click on over to my Flickr stream, since I'm nearing the end of my allotted computer time for one day. And, all this pie talk is making me hungry.

Recent Carbohydrate Consumption...(and a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake recipe.)

Friday, we ate out at Honeypie. I never, never order dessert out since I need all the excuses I can get for making my own. But fortunately for me, I did decide to take out a piece of pie to try out after my fullness subsided. This was not a mistake, let me tell you, since I took out a piece called Hazelnut Coffee Pie (or something similar). I had the opportunity to work for a pie shop, Gina's Pies are Square, and did my share of weight gaining in my early 20's due to "Pie Day, Friday's" the day fellow co-worker Brittany and I decided to eat pie each week. Our pies were great! But since leaving, I seldom make pie, or eat pie, and sometimes forget that I do really love the stuff.

Earlier this fall, I made a banana cream pie - I made an enlightened version of pastry cream, and layered the bananas on top of it, but underneath the splurgy amounts of whipping cream. My Husband said that he liked banana cream pie, and that is why I decided to make it. Did he eat exactly no pieces? Did I eat the entire thing myself? Both answers here are YES. It did take me all week, and a piece was sacrificed to Boy-O who just ate the whipped cream off the top... But all this pie talk is making me want to make another one.

Honeypie's pie was the kind of piece of pie that you will drive miles for, just to eat it by itself, and maybe even in place of a meal. I warmed it up slightly in the microwave. As you can see above, though it wasn't the hugest slice of pie I've ever eaten, I felt as though I ate a whole meal upon its completion. It was a coffee-ish, toffee-ish, pecan pie-ish delight with loads of toasted hazelnuts. Oh, and pie crust that you can know is homemade. Usually I abstain from restaurant desserts partially due to the lack of Homemadeness. If you are anywhere in the Southeastern part of Wisconsin I'm telling you, go to Honeypie and eat a piece of pie already. If you happen to be in the greater Wilton area of Southwestern Wisconsin, opt for Gina's since she's bound to have Cranberry Walnut Pie on hand due to the season - and it too is worth the drive.

I love the change of seasons, partly because I don't feel guilty at all turning on the oven for extra warmth. Though I am a habitual bread baker, bread just seems to taste better in the colder weather. I just keep to varying my grains in the Artisan Bread in Five method. Today, as I smelled the loaf above cooking, I realized that their new book is out and I'm going to order today it without further delay. I loved the first book, but their second is comprised of whole grain recipes, so I'm sure I will love it as well. If you are intrepid about yeasted dough making, do try their method since it is pain free and yields results that will be deeply encouraging.

I needed to find a dairy-free and egg free cupcake recipe: and altered one to fit my (lofty) chocolate cake standards. I'd bet that you would never know that it was also vegan! I upped the cocoa powder to flour ratio and added powdered espresso to the water, along with a heavy pinch of aleppo pepper! When I was at the Spice House last week, replenishing my stock, I told the guy I loved that aleppo. He asked if I ever tried it with Chocolate. Chocolate?! Why I didn't think of this, I don't know. This suggestion made me want to run home, make some truffles, and sprinkle them liberally with aleppo. While that is on my to-do list, I settled for slipping a bit into the cupcakes.

Since I altered the recipe from a stock recipe site so liberally, I will include it here for the vegan and non-vegan alike. One note: you can fill the cupcake papers fairly full since there is not a huge amount of rise in these. They are, however, dark, dense and delicious!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 1 1/4 c. ap flour
• 1/4 c. plus 3 T. cocoa powder (use the best you can... I like the organic Frontier cocoa powder from my co-op)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. white vinegar
• 5 T. veg. oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 c. strong coffee (or water with 2 t. of instant espresso powder)
• 1/4 to 1/2 t. salt, to your taste
• heavy pinch of aleppo pepper, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients, then pour in the wet - and stir. Portion into 12 cupcakes, you may get up to 15 depending on how full you fill...

Bake about 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

I like to frost with chocolate buttercream, which does include butter (and thus would render these non-vegan) but you can use whatever chocolate or vanilla (or dare I say, peanut butter) frosting you love. I'm wagering that a simple dusting of powdered sugar would be pretty posh as well, or maybe a fruit or berry coulis of some kind. Once you have them out of the oven, I'm sure you will think of something!

Happy Halloween: My First Reader Giveaway!

Not really in the spirit of Halloween, but maybe in the spirit of Pomegranate season, I am giving away one jar of my POM Pomegranate Jelly and one jar of my homemade Muesli to one lucky commenter!

I recently won an online blog giveaway from Loop Yarn Shop, and I was so excited - so I hope I can pass on the joy of winning to someone else! I really enjoy pomegranates, I think since about the 7th grade when we learned this story from Ms. Colburn when we were studying Greek and Roman Mythology in English class: I have pasted it here from Wikipedia...

The myth of Persephone, the chthonic goddess of the Underworld, also prominently features the pomegranate. In one version of Greek mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), went into mourning for her lost daughter and thus all green things ceased to grow. Zeus, the highest ranking of the Greek gods, could not leave the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return Persephone. It was the rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating four pomegranate seeds while she was still his prisoner and so, because of this, she was condemned to spend four months in the Underworld every year. During these four months, when Persephone is sitting on the throne of the Underworld next to her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourns and no longer gives fertility to the earth. This became an ancient Greek explanation for the seasons. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Persephona depicts Persephone holding the fatal fruit. It should be noted that the number of seeds that Persephone ate varies, depending on which version of the story is told. The number of seeds she is said to have eaten ranges from three to seven, which accounts for just one barren season if it is just three or four seeds, or two barren seasons (half the year) if she ate six or seven seeds. There is no set number.

I recall that she ate 4 seeds, and that is why we have roughly 4 months of winter - but I suspect that the myth changes with each geographical zone according to the cold times...

At any rate, I have been enjoying my POM Jelly for breakfasts this week stirred into my homemade yogurt. I use this yogurt culture:

Photo from Amazon

which is widely available online and in health food stores. I think it has a very tart edge, but I tend to prefer things tart. I've also taken to adding 5 T. of dried milk to each quart of yogurt I make, and it becomes nicely thickened. The best thing about the dried culture is that it is pantry stable, and always there when I need it. I did splurge on a carton of Fage to use as culture, and it did have that amazing Fage taste. But that was before I was adding the dried milk, so I will need to try this again for the true Greek Yogurt experience.

Strangely, when I add a T. or so of the POM Jelly, the yogurt seems less tart. Little lumps of ruby jelly explode in my mouth, and make me one very happy breakfaster. Then, I decided later in the week to mix in my homemade muesli, or rather Pukkolla, since I snagged the proportions from Jamie Oliver's cookbook. This time, my version includes walnuts and hazelnuts. I love this soaked in milk overnight, but find that if I mix it in last minute to the yogurt/POM Jelly concoction, the yogurt tenderizes the oats nicely. Addiction has set in, or dare I say Obsession.

I will be selecting one comment via a random number generator on November 10th, so be sure to leave a comment before midnight on November 9th on this post.

Good Luck! Meanwhile, you can bet that most of my breakfasts between now and then will include the above. I hope my winner will be as excited as I am about this jelly, and enjoy many breakfasts on me!

October 2009 Daring Baker Challenge: French Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I was excited to try these macaroons, since I am feverishly enamored of its coconut macaroon cousin. Why then, pray tell, did I put off doing this challenge until yesterday? It's a mystery to me. I like these challenges, since it gives me a since of a job to accomplish. Since I am unemployed, or rather, "employed in the home", I don't often have deadlines. When I worked, I was queen of multitasking, a trait that I think carries into my home-employness. Sometimes, I'm surprised at how many things I get going at one time, and think maybe I should stop and start juggling or spinning plates just for laughs. I think though, that I'm learning that the Daring Baker Challenges are a bit like my dreaded high school Geometry class: do the homework (and learn the theorems), and then you will know how to effectively accomplish the task at hand.

Last month, I did more homework. I watched Julia Child making puff pastry dough, and when it was time for me to do it, I just did it. After all, I watched her and a Frenchman just do it, what could be so hard? But these little buggers were different. They had the reputation of being tricky to master, and I didn't do much homework. Of the challenges so far, besides puff pastry, I am going to try this one again, since I KNOW I can do better. And so, dear reader, read on:

This recipe for French Macarons called for 5 egg whites. I had 4 frozen in my freezer from the September challenge that required 4 egg yolks. I do take to freezing multiples of yolks or whites, after Alton Brown told me that you can freeze them separately. I've made Jamie Oliver's sheet meringue out of frozen egg whites with perfect results, so I figured that they would be fine for this application as well, as long as they were at room temperature.

Now, I'm not so sure. The first thing I do when I wake up on Daring Baker Challenge Post Day is check on Audax Artifex. He does post on the forum for members earlier, but I think I'm intimidated by him...so I wait until the 27th. He left his egg whites out for 3 days, covered and at room temperature. I am doing this next time.

The only variation to the batter I made was to add about 1 t. of almond extract. It is my most favorite flavoring, and I couldn't resist amping it up. I did opt to grind my own almonds, which I used by weight. I ground them in the food pro with a cup of the confectioner's sugar, as the directions directed, and then I ground them some more. I don't know why they all didn't succumb to powdery fineness, so I sieved them. I had about this much left over... and saved it to use on ice cream.

I thought the batter looked nice, I didn't feel that I over-folded the dry ingredients into the egg whites, and I was originally happy with how they looked when I piped them out:

I think in retrospect, I did pipe them too close, and also that since I didn't re-grind the portion of almond that I sieved, I had a slightly less dense batter.

Still, to this point in our adventures, I thought everything was going pretty well. Until they started coming out of the oven. The premise of the macaron is that you bake them at 200 degrees for 5 minutes to set them. Then, crank the oven to 375 degrees and finish them until browned slightly, about 7-8 minutes. After the 8 minute mark, I slid them hopefully out of the oven...

...and was able to hold them up to the light. I tried both parchment and a silicone baking mat, and both had the same reaction. I started trying to peel them off the sheet after they cooled about 5 minutes. It wasn't going to happen. I had forgotten that I believe there is a reason that the punks of yesteryear used egg whites to shellac their mohawks into shape: they are the stickiest substance on earth. I also had forgotten that in my Christmas cookie cache a few of years ago, I tried a Amaretti recipe from Martha Stewart that I think went entirly into the trash can, it was so miserably mangled. I am insanely curious to know if aging my egg whites for several days will eliminate this sticking problem, or if it is just par for the course since sugar is involved.

After I slipped the parchments and silicone mat into the freezer for several minutes, this released them instantly. I still didn't have the "Macaron Look" that I was so hoping would appear. They tasted great, though, which I always will count as a triumph!

I decided to fill with chocolate buttercream, which isn't all that imaginative, but is my favorite thing in the world, especially with almond. My non-dessert eating Husband ate them all up, since I only filled 4 or 5. I unfortunately left the rest on the racks when I turned my kitchen into a sauna via my canning project last night. When I went to attend to the rest, they were hopelessly sticky. No matter, I peeled them off and popped them all into the freezer. I love cookies from the freezer anyway. And they must be good, since before I came up here to write this, he asked me for some more macarons! This is a triumph! I had to fill some, but did so gladly since I am gushing that I may be gradually cultivating a dessert eater.

Lately, I think if I have any leftover crumbs or sweet bits I freeze them in thoughts of making ice cream. I adore homemade ice cream, but don't adore that I'm the only one to eat it - thus challenging the proportions of my figure. I am daydreaming about these almond flavored bits, however, and think that if I chop up some of my alcohol soaked cherries, and add it to vanilla or maybe chocolate ice cream, I could be very happy. Maybe shave some dark chocolate over the whole works, since I'm dreaming away. I've had so many ice cream options in my mind lately, I may just have to go and freeze my canister, so it will be ready when my dessert options wane - not that that happens so often. I am backlogged on things to try, partly due to my obsessive food blog reading. I guess that the reading is probably healthier than the eating, but as long as I stick to my "everything in moderation" mantra, all will be well.

You can find the recipe for French Macarons at the Daring Kitchen site, and as always, click on a few members on the blogroll. I'll be trolling through to see what I can do to improve my macaron making skills. After all, if I have a keeper of a recipe for my sugar-challenged Husband, what better motivation?

Magic Monday, October 26th 2009 (or in which I make Magic Chile Soup and POM Jelly)

I was really only gone since last Wednesday, but it feels like in the meantime, a whole season has passed. By the time I returned, the tree in front of my house, (perennially the last to turn) was half golden, and many other trees had shed their leaves completely. On my journey around the state, I got to see snow in the Northwoods (one of my most favorite things) and varying stages of color throughout Central Wisconsin.

This time of year is always amazing to me, as things start to wind down, I almost automatically start to calculate the weeks until planting season will begin again. Somehow, every winter I become a Master Gardener in my mind, and have oh so lofty plans for spring. This winter will be no different, I suppose. I have plans to turn the shady garden into a shade perennial garden and then somehow build some raised beds for the sunny center of my back (south-facing) yard. We'll see, I guess. Half the fun is in the daydreaming.

When we returned Sunday afternoon, I figured since I'm a newly crowned "bean freak" I would have to make something beany on Monday, since there was no made food in the house due to my absence. I soaked some red beans (like how very technical I am for being said bean freak?) that my Mom gave me overnight. I started them at 8 am this morning per the Steve Sando book method: I sauteed some veg, added my beans and their soaking water, brought them to a boil and boiled 5 minutes, then reduced the heat to very low, and simmered for 5,6, then 7 hours. Still no soft beans. Beautiful beans, yes, but not edible.

Now, I have really been reading up about this beanery stuff, and it seems to me that the least preferred method is to pressure cook. But when I was up North, my Mom and Uncle pressure cooked a pot of pintos and I have to say that they were really the most delicious pintos I ever ate. I tasted them before they lovingly became frijoles refritos, and they were creamy and delicious. After they were mashed up, they were just short of divinity.

When I woke up this morning, it was overcast and rainy. A nice day for a bean pot on the stove...

The dried beans, then after cooking for about 7 hours...

I figured since I had just eaten some successful pressure cooked beans, I'd try pressure cooking my 7 hour cooked beans. I used my mysterious Magic Seal pot, that I have no idea where I acquired, and pressured them for 30 minutes. I released the seal, (after safely reducing the pressure by running the pot under cold water) and I had beautiful, creamy delicious beans! And with, my favorite new term, wonderful "pot liquor". By this time, there was really no way to turn them into dinner tonight, but they will be dinner tomorrow (and probably lunch too). I added a quart bag of frozen pork that I made with guajillo chile, some salt, Mexican oregano, cumin, powedered jalepeno and chile powder, and was pretty happy with myself.

Magic Seal. A Quality Saucepan.

Coincidentally, I took out a pint of leftover canned tomatoes that I had popped into the freezer before I left - and the jar happened to be Magic as well. Nice. My Husband likes more brothy soups, and tends to leave all the veg and bits (aka "the good stuff") behind, so I needed more liquid/nutrition anyway. I think I'll call this the Magic Chile Soup.

end part 1.

Intermission.

begin part 2.

I was feeling pretty bad about not making something with this POM pomegranate juice that I received from the nice people at POM... but I just have been so busy. That and I couldn't decide what to make. I Googled to get some ideas, and it seems like a lot of other food bloggers had similar ideas to mine. Now, I am not really a thorough Googler, since I don't really spend that much time on the computer. When I Google, I usually look at just the first 3 or 4 pages of the search. In this search, I didn't find anyone who had tried making jelly, so I figured I'd give it a go.

My first order of business last night was to start bread dough, and make a batch of yogurt. I think the POM Jelly is going to be great mixed into the plain yogurt. I actually love the bitterness of straight pomegranate juice, but I know it's not for everyone. In fact, in most posts I perused, people actually detest it plain. They were hiding it in all sorts of things. If I was going to hide it, I'd probably do it in a chocolate cake, but only since it would add to the antioxidant properties. Dark cocoa powder and pomegranate in one cake? Why, it would be practically saintly! If you are curious what you can do with POM juice, there are a lot of great recipes on the POM site.

I followed the Sure-Jell for reduced sugar package instructions for Grape Jelly, and used POM instead... so it was 5 1/2 c. of juice and 3 1/2 c. of sugar (plus the pectin). I'm figuring, if I use this to sweeten my plain yogurt, it will still be pretty healthy, not to mention a cheerful shade of pink. This particular pectin will allow you to use sucralose (Splenda) instead of sugar, but I would never recommend using that stuff unless you had an unfortunate dietary restriction to the natural stuff. Even then, I'd probably just do without, and drink the delicious POM plain!

Ready for breakfast tomorrow...

I had a little jelly jar leftover, and got 2 8 oz. jars and 3 12 oz. jars. It was the most marvelous ruby color in the light. I fear these dark, shorter days are going to do nothing for my photographing hobby, however.

After the jelly sets, and I eat it, I will photograph it in the light. I am also considering my first blog giveaway of a jar of POM Jelly... but I am going to do a little research on this kind of thing first. Keep checking back for updates!

So, on top of this day spent in the kitchen, it is the 26th. So that means Daring Baker Challenge day tomorrow! Did I leave this until the last minute? Did I find success in yet another challenge of my baking prowess? Tune in tomorrow, same time, same place...