What does Mississippi have to do with pot roast?

I tried a recipe for Sunday supper tonight that I have seen on Pinterest and Facebook enigmatically called Mississippi Pot Roast. I have no idea what Mississippi has to do with it, but it is a very simple way to make a pot roast...in your crock pot! I don't even know who to credit for the recipe, but I will explain the very simple methodology.

Start with a three-pound beef chuck roast, or whatever will fit in your slow cooker. None of the versions of the recipe that I found called for searing the roast first, but I think it's an important step. It ultimately makes the meat look and taste better! So brown the roast on both sides in a little olive oil in a large skillet over high heat, then transfer it to the crock pot. Sprinkle one dry ranch dressing packet and one dry au jus mix packet over the seared roast. Place a stick of butter on top of all that, and lastly, add five to seven whole pepperoncini peppers. Cook on low for five to seven hours, or until the roast is fork-tender.

After the meat was done cooking, I used a bulb baster to transfer all of the liquid from the crock pot into a gravy strainer (there will be a lot of fat that you will want to separate). I served the pot roast over a big pile of mashed potatoes drizzled with the savory gravy from the pot.

Now, for the big question: Would I make pot roast this way again? I must confess that the "recipe" is super-simple, and that part is appealing. And it is tasty. BUT as I suspected, with the two sodium-bomb seasoning packets, the resulting dish is very salty. So unless I could find lower-sodium versions of those packets, I would probably just use my own combination of seasonings to be able to control the salt. Also, why do we need a whole stick of butter? A chuck roast is very fatty anyway, and is basically self-basting, producing a rich, tender result when cooked low and slow. So I would prefer to use a different cooking liquid, like beef stock or red wine or even Coca-Cola, and eliminate the additional fat. But you make your own decision--you're grown! ;-)

P.S. Whether or not I return to this particular pot roast recipe, I will DEFINITELY make the salad we had tonight again and again. I used fresh, local baby spinach, Castello blue cheese (hand-crumbled), Honey Crisp apple chunks, toasted pepitas, slivered shallots, all dressed with a blue cheese vinaigrette and a good grinding of black pepper. SO YUMMY!
 

A Tasty Twist on the Pumpkin Spice Craze

I confess, on Friday night at the end of a long week of work and extracurricular commitments, my roommate and I often go out to eat, or if even that seems like too much effort, we order a pizza or Chinese to be delivered. But tonight, I had just enough energy left to prepare something fairly quick and easy, something that I saw recently on Facebook on Aida Mollenkamp's page, called Pumpkin Almond Butter Red Curry Noodle Tangle. Yes, that title is a mouthful, but once you get a mouthful of this stuff, it will become your new favorite kind of "pumpkin spice."

Notes: I didn't have any broccoli on hand, so I used extra chard (from my garden--in November!), and I also threw in some of the pickled garlic scapes that I made in the spring. And I added a squirt ot two of sriracha to give it a little kick.

Pumpkin Almond Butter Red Curry Noodle Tangle
(Source: Aida Mollenkamp)

 

8 ounces whole wheat or quinoa spaghetti (I used regular linguini)

8 ounces baby broccoli, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and ends discarded

3 ounces baby spinach, kale, or chard (about 3 packed cups)

2/3 cup 100% pure pumpkin puree

1/3 cup natural creamy almond butter (I used maple almond butter which was a little chunky)

1/4 cup white wine vinegar (next time, I might try rice vinegar)

2 to 3 tablespoons red curry paste

4 cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup hot water

6 green onions (aka scallions), thinly sliced and ends discarded

12 ounces cooked chicken, shredded into bite-sized pieces (I used half a deli rotisserie chicken)

2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds  

1. Bring a medium pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and cook 2 minutes short of the suggested cooking time. Add the baby broccoli to the noodles and cook until noodles are tender and broccoli is bright green and knife tender, about 2 minutes more. Meanwhile, place the baby greens in a colander then drain the noodles and broccoli into the colander (so that you pour the water over the noodles and you flash blanch the greens).
   Tip: If you don't have cooked chicken on hand, you can use storebought roasted chicken or poach a piece of boneless, skinless chicken breast while you cook the noodles.
2. Meanwhile make the pumpkin-almond curry sauce: whisk together the pumpkin puree, almond butter, vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the curry paste, garlic, and honey. Add the hot water (you could use some of the noodle cooking water here) and whisk until everything is evenly combined and smooth (you should have a pourable sauce that is about as thick as a whole milk). Taste, and add more salt or curry paste if desired.
   Tip: If you can't find red curry paste, you could use a garlic-chile paste (such as sriracha) but you'll have to add it little by little and taste as you go because they can vary in flavor, heat, and saltiness.
3. Combine the noodles and broccoli mixture with the scallions, chicken, and the sauce in a large bowl and toss well, making sure all the noodles get coated. Garnish with toasted almonds and serve.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me and to June!

My birthday was Saturday, and I enjoyed a whole celebratory weekend! It began with a noontime party at work on Friday with my colleagues, a lovely dinner out with friends Friday night, and then a whole day in Burlington (VT) on Saturday visiting the farmer's market and the arts and crafts and antique shows at the Expo. Just perfect!

My dear friend June's birthday is just two days after mine, and I sometimes feel like I get celebrated too much and she, too little. So I wanted to make her a very special birthday cake to prove to her how glad I am that she was born!

On the most recent episode of The Pioneer Woman's show on Food Network, and she made something with her famous Texas sheet cake that she called Chocolate Devils. They looked sort of like Ding Dongs, two rounds of chocolate cake with a thick white filling, glazed on top with ganache and topped with maraschino cherries.

This sounded like the sort of thing that June would LOVE, as she adores the chocolate-cherry combination, but I wanted to rework it into a layered birthday cake and pump up the cherry component. My kitchen floor is uneven, so the layers always come out a little lopsided, and the sides looked like they've been spackled with chocolate 'cuz I suck at frosting/decorating. But I know it tasted good, and I do believe that the birthday girl loved it! (And it's the thought that counts, or so my momma always told me.)

Chocolate Devil Cake
(Source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Cake Layers:
Baking spray with flour added 

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

4 heaping tablespoons cocoa

1 cup cola (or water)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

 

Cherry-Vanilla Filling:
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

1 jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

Ganache:

3 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

24 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1 jar maraschino cherries

 

For the cake layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9-inch cake pans with flour-added baking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar and salt. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the cocoa to the butter and stir together. Add one cup cola (or boiling water) to the pan and then allow the mixture to boil for 30 seconds. Pour over the flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

Pour the buttermilk into a bowl and add the baking soda, vanilla and beaten eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the butter/flour mixture. Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 20 minutes. Cool the cake layers completely on a wire rack, then refrigerate to make sure there is no warmth to the cakes at all. (The frosting is so light and fluffy, the coolness will help keep it all together.)

For the filling: In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick--thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. If in a hurry, place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about ten minutes or so until the mixture cools. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. You don't want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream, then gently fold in the chopped cherries by hand. 

For the ganache: Heat the cream until very hot. Add the vanilla, and then pour over the chocolate pieces. Stir to completely melt. Spread two of the cooled cake layers with ganache and return to the fridge to let the ganache set up.

To assemble: Place one cake layer (glazed with ganache) on a cake plate, ganache side up. Spread on half of the cherry-vanilla filling. Place a second layer (again, ganache side up) on top of that. Spread on the rest of the filling. Top with the last layer of (unglazed) cake. Using a ladle, pour ganache over the top of cake, allowing the chocolate to run over the sides. Place cherries on top in a decorative pattern. Chill the cake until ready to serve.

Think you don't like spaghetti squash? THINK AGAIN!

On Pinterest awhile back, I saw a picture of a quiche with a "crust" made of spaghetti squash. I think it was a gluten-free or Paleo/Whole 30 recipe, but I just thought it looked yummy. So I picked up a lovely squash at the farmer's market, and then made up my own "recipe" which I will now describe.

So, you cut a smaller spaghetti squash in half and scrape the guts out. Drizzle with EVOO (or coconut oil or whatever you Whole30/Paleo people like to do), sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tender. Use a fork to separate the strings. Add a pat of butter and a couple of tablespoons of shredded parmesan and set aside to cool. (Clarify the butter and skip the cheese for Paleo.) Then press evenly into a pie dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Brown 1/2 pound of sausage with one large chopped onion. (If I had had some around, I would have thrown some mushrooms into the mix.) Drain off the fat. Now I added some quartered roasted potatoes and sliced carrots that I had left over from dinner last night. Use what you have and like in your quiche. Asparagus might be nice...and low carb. Or use roasted sweet potatoes instead of the deadly white kind. Season with a couple of pinches of salt, pepper to taste, granulated garlic and ground celery (about 1/2 teaspoon each), and about a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs. Let this mixture cool a bit as well.

Whisk together six eggs and a half cup of milk (I suppose the Whole30 crowd could skip the milk), then add the cooled meat and veggie mixture, a half cup of grated Swiss cheese (I like Emmenthal best--but no cheese of any kind for the Paleos), and stir to combine. Pour into your squash crust and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until set.

I think even those who think they don't like spaghetti squash this would enjoy this!

Bow Down Before This QUEENLY Salmon!

Dear readers, I may not be rich in material possessions, but I am extremely wealthy when it comes to friendships. One of my favorite people on the planet is my colleague and friend, Chris Ford. Chris teaches computer science at my school, but he is a man of many talents, including kiteboarding, jump-roping (earning him an appearance on The Gong Show in his youth!), filmmaking, cooking, and fortunately for me, fishing! Last week, he brought in some extra-smoky salmon to work to share with me that he had caught and smoked himself. It was SO delicious--savory and salty, not unlike bacon. I used it on a wonderful entrée salad for dinner one night.

As if that weren't enough, Chris showed up at pub trivia at a bar in Peru, NY called Pasquale's where my team was playing Tuesday night, and hand-delivered the amusing cooler pictured below which contained fresh salmon (already cleaned and filleted!), a little baggie of wood-smoking chips, and two recipes. One was for the extra-smoky fish that I used on the salad, and the other was for a preparation called Kingly Salmon, from Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.

So tonight, in perhaps the last firing of the R2D2 smoker unit for the season, I prepared a QUEENLY salmon that literally had my roommate and I groaning in pleasure as we ate it. It is CRAZY good! So now I am going to have to work out a bartering system, baked goods for salmon, while they are still running and Chris is still fishing. And I also want to try creating a stovetop smoker to do it inside during the colder months. (I will report back on that.)

If the salmon are running where you are (or even if you find some nice fillets from your local fishmonger), you MUST try this recipe! By the bye, I used only half of the recipe as written, and that was perfect for four fillets.

 

Kingly Salmon
(Source: Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Pacific king salmon butterflied tail section (or use coho or silver salmon)

Alder wood for smoking

Rub:

1/4 cup dill, dried

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons fresh-ground black pepper
*I added 2 teaspoons granulated garlic, optional

 

Optional Mop:

Remaining rub

1 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup oil (canola or corn)

The night before you plan to barbecue, combine dill, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Open the salmon flat and massage it well with about 2/3 of the rub, reserving the rest of the mixture. Fold the salmon back into its original shape, place it in a plastic bag, and refrigerate it overnight.

Prepare the smoker for barbecuing, bringing the temperature to 180 to 200 degrees F. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you plan to baste the fish, stir the remaining rub together with cider vinegar and oil in a small saucepan and warm the mixture over low heat.

Transfer the salmon to the smoker skin side down, placing the fish as far from the fire as possible. Cook for 50 to 60 minutes, mopping it after 10 and 30 minutes in a wood-burning pit, or as appropriate for your style of smoker. The salmon should flake easily when done. Have a large spatula and a platter ready when taking the salmon off the smoker, because it can fall apart easily. Serve hot or chilled.

BBQ Tips:
Alder remains the best wood for smoking Pacific salmon. Alder chips are fairly common across the country, but you may have more difficulty finding the wood in chunks or logs. Fruit woods are the best substitute, particularly when mixed with smaller pieces of alder.

Yield: 8 servings

Boring Sunday Night Chicken Goes on Spanish Holiday

I was driving home from choir practice last week, and I happened to catch a snippet of some program from Martha's Sirius Radio channel...it might have been Everyday Food? Anyway, they were discussing new and interesting ways to prepare chicken. One was a recipe calling for spatchcocking (one of my favorite words) and cooking the bird on top of thick bread so that you end up with a big, chickeny crouton at the end (yum and YUM!).

And then the following recipe is for a Spanish-style chicken that sounded equally delicious. It is a one-pot wonder kind of like chicken cacciatore, but lighter, tangier, and zippier (from the sherry vinegar, green olives, and piquillo peppers). I suppose you could serve it however you like, but we had some leftover ziti knocking about, so that's what I used. However, a crusty loaf of bread to soak up the delicious juices would be ideal. Also, I'd like to note (mostly so I remember to make it again) that we started our meal with an awesome salad made with local Bibb lettuce, local apples, shallots, gorgonzola crumbles, and sliced almonds, all dressed with a lemon-herb vinaigrette.
 

Spanish-Style Chicken

(Source: Martha Stewart Living, October 2013)

 

1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), cut into 10 pieces      

coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

6 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons)

1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste

1/3 cup sherry vinegar

2 cups chicken broth

6 jarred marinated piquillo peppers, cut into strips (about 2/3 cup)

1/2 cup green olives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken on both sides with salt and paprika. Heat an ovenproof 12-inch skillet or shallow braising pan over medium-high heat. Swirl in oil. Working in two batches, add chicken to pan and cook until well browned, about 2 minutes on each side, adding more oil as needed. Transfer chicken as it is browned to a plate.

Reduce heat to low and stir in garlic, then tomato paste, scraping up browned bits in pan with a wooden spoon. Return chicken to skillet, increase heat to high, and pour in vinegar. Boil, stirring, until reduced to a glaze.

Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Add peppers and olives. Transfer to oven and braise until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast (do not touch bone) reaches 160 degrees and liquid is reduced by half, 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

Harvest Holiday

WHEW! Thank goodness it's finally Columbus Day weekend/Fall Break! I can't remember a busier autumn in recent memory, and I need a little break. Besides sleeping in and trying to clear out the dvr, I didn't have any grand travel plans, other than a few local and regional entertainments. But some folks did have leaf-peeping guests in from out of town, so my friend June decided to host a harvest holiday party and potluck.

Hailing from New Orleans, June prepared Cajun fare such as gumbo and pralines for dessert. But I was told that we did not have to adhere to a particular theme. So I made an easy bruschetta-topped pizza, taking the elements along with me and assembling and baking it at the party.

I hope there will be no audible gasps out there, but I started with a "cheater" crust, a thin-crust Boboli, which I really like. So there! I spread on a thin layer of pesto (homemade is best, of course), then topped it with shredded mozzarella and aged provolone (two cups?). I baked this in the oven at 450 for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese had melted and just started to brown at the edges. Then I added what is probably the last bruschetta of the season (seeded and chopped tomatoes, a little chopped onion, a big drizzle of olive oil, several cloves of minced garlic, a good glug or two of balsamic, and a handful of chopped fresh basil leaves) to the top and drizzled on a little balsamic glaze to finish. YUMMY!

 

Then for my dessert offering, I made a pumpkin cheesecake pie with ginger thin crust that I had originally made just for us to have at home, but it turned out so perfectly, I decided to take it to the party to share. (And I think the guests were very glad that I did!) I used a recipe I found online for the filling, but I was pleased with the crust that I fashioned from a package of Anna's Ginger Thins that I discovered in the freezer. Such a DELICIOUS combination! And don't you just love this time of year, where one can enjoy both the last of the tomatoes and basil and the first of the pumpkin spice deluge soon to follow?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Ginger Thin Crust

(Source: adapted from Southern Food at about.com)

 

Crust:
1 package ginger thin cookies, crushed

4 to 5 tablespoons melted butter

pinch of salt

 

Filling:
2 packages (16 ounces total) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup pumpkin purée

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

dash cloves

2 large eggs

1 9-inch graham cracker pie crust

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cookie crumbs with enough melted butter and the salt until it all holds together when squeezed lightly. Press into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until firm and a little darker in color Cool on a rack for a least five minutes.

Meanwhile, combine cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, and spices; mix with a hand mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended. Pour into the prepared crust. Bake at 350° F. for 35 to 45 minutes, or until set. Cool completely. Refrigerate at least three hours, or overnight. Serve garnished with sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping.

Seems a little fishy to me...

Last night, my friends and I went to see another wonderful Shakespearean production (The Comedy of Errors) by the National Players at Clinton Community College. Before the show, we had dinner at the bistro just down the hill, Latitude 44. I've been there a few times, and mostly I prefer it for brunch. I have yet to try a dinner entrée there that really knocked my socks off...until now.

I ordered the Crab-Stuffed Sole with Roasted Red Pepper Cream sauce--gorgeous and so delicious! In fact, it was so good, I wanted to try and prepare something similar at home. Now, I didn't bother with rolling my fish, but topped it with the "stuffing" instead, Southern style. Also, I used both red and yellow roasted peppers, so my sauce was orange in color, but equally flavorful. And I served it all over some yellow rice with fresh corn and black beans for a zesty complement.

Baked Haddock with Crabmeat Stuffing

(Source: Epicurious)

Notes: You could use cod instead of haddock, and milk instead of half and half. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired. This stuffing is also good in baked stuffed mushrooms.

2 pounds haddock (or cod), rinsed and patted dry
1 to 2 teaspoon lemon juice
Butter to grease baking dish

Stuffing:
1 tablesoon butter
3 scallions, sliced
7 ounces fresh Maine crabmeat
1/2 cup fine, plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons half and half
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Lay prepared fish in pan, cutting as necessary to fit, layering thinner pieces on top of one another to make a uniform thickness (I fold the thinner bits underneath). Brush fish with lemon juice.

Prepare Stuffing:
Saute scallions in one tablespoon butter in nonstick skillet over medium heat until slightly soft, but tops still bright green. Remove pan from heat; cool two to three minutes. Add the rest of the stuffing ingredients, tossing lightly to mix. Larger pieces of crab should still be intact.

Spoon stuffing evenly over haddock. Bake at 350 degrees, or until the fish flakes. Do not over bake, or fish will be dry and tough.

Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
(Source: adapted from AllRecipes)

1 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and cut into chunks

2 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper

 
Combine the peppers and heavy cream in a pot and bring to boil over medium heat; reduce heat to medium-low and continue simmering, stirring occasionally, until the cream reduces to about one cup, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the paprika, lemon juice, salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Pour the sauce into a blender (I used a stick blender in the pot). Hold the lid firmly with a towel while blending, using a few quick pulses to get the sauce moving before leaving it on to blend until smooth. Serve hot.

Vicky's Sixty: An Adirondack Celebration!

My friend Vicky turned SIXTY today, and to celebrate in grand fashion, she rented out an entire campground (Camp Pok-o-MacCready in Willsboro, NY) and invited all of her friends to celebrate her over the weekend in the glorious Adirondacks! My other friends, June and Lee Ann, and I were the party planning committee, mainly in charge of meals. We are expecting as many as 60 people for dinner tomorrow night, and Vicky wanted comforting but elegant dishes served buffet-style.

We decided to let the appetizers be a true potluck from the attendees, and we will also make salads, procure baguettes from Panera, and assemble an ice cream sundae bar (by request from the birthday girl) for dessert. Moreover, each of us food preppers opted to provide a crock pot of soup and two lasagna pans of a particular entrée. Lee Ann's mother-in-law will bring a seafood bisque and Lee Ann is making her popular spinach alfredo pasta. June is bringing her famous pumpkin soup with cran-apple relish (a la Rachael Ray) and making jambalaya.

As for me, I decided to make pasta fagiole in the style of Olive Garden and the world's most involved version of cottage pie that turned out FABULOUSLY, if I do say so myself! First, the beefy vegetable soup. I pretty much followed the recipe below, but instead of canned beans, I started with my beloved Rancho Gordo beans that I cooked in the crock pot overnight in beef broth with a couple of bay leaves. Then when I made the soup, I added some chopped zucchini to the other ingredients, and as it turned out very thick, I thinned it to a desired consistency with a spicy Bloody Mary mix that I happened to have in the fridge. Also, I cooked the pasta separately, and I will stir it in right before serving so that it doesn't go mushy. (The picture below doesn't have the ditalini in it yet.)

Olive Garden Pasta Fagiole
(Source: Top Secret Recipes)

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion diced (1 cup)
1 large carrot, julienned (1 cup)
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 15 ounce can great northern beans (with liquid)

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 12 ounce can V8 juice
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 pound ditali pasta

Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat, drain off most of the fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for ten minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for one hour. About 50 minutes into simmer time, cook pasta, drain. Add the pasta to the large pot of soup and simmer for five to ten minutes and serve.

This cottage pie may turn out to be my finest creation. It is an EXTRAORDINARY pain in the ___ to make, but lordy, is it GOOD, and certainly worth the effort for a special occasion. Instead of shepherd's pie (which is made with lamb), or a low-rent ground beef version of cottage pie, I opted for chuck roast, like you'd use to make a Sunday pot roast. Also, instead of peas or green beans or what have you, I decided to use roasted root vegetables as a nod to the harvest season. And lastly, to add some color and extra flavor to the mashed potatoes, I threw in a couple of roasted sweet potatoes with the Yukon Golds. I assembled all this, sprinkled it with paprika, and stashed it in the fridge overnight. I will bake it off tomorrow night before the party. I declare this the ultimate meat-and-potatoes comfort food...taken to the next level!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cottage Pie

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 1/2 to 3 lbs. boneless chuck roast
3 teaspoons steak seasoning, divided
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced--divided
bay leaf
1 stem of tarragon
bunch of thyme, tied with string
2 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
2 lbs. carrots, peeled and diced
1 lb. parsnips, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced (leaves reserved)
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves
4 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon chicken soup base
1 stick butter
1 cup half-and-half, more or less as desired
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
paprika
 
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of the roast with steak seasoning, and brown on both sides. Pour off excess oil, add balsamic and red wine over the meat, and toss in the bay leaves, tarragon, and thyme bundle. Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours, or until fork-tender. While you are braising the meat, throw the sweet potatoes (unpeeled) in the oven to roast at the same time, for about an hour or until tender.

When the meat is tender, remove it from the Dutch oven. Whisk in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes until thick, then whisk in the balsamic vinegar and beef broth to make a gravy. Shred the reserved meat by hand, removing excess fat, and add the meat back to the pot.

Place the carrots, parsnips, celery and onions on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of steak seasoning and roast for about 30 minutes or until tender and slightly browned. Add the roasted vegetables to the meat and gravy, along with the parsley and celery leaves, and gently stir to combine.

In a stock pot, cover the potatoes with cold water and add the chicken soup base. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender all the way through. Drain the potatoes, and add the stick of butter and half-and-half. Peel the roasted sweet potatoes, add those to the pot, and then mash everything to desired consistency. Stir in fresh chives, granulated garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.

Scoop the mashed potatoes on top of the meat and vegetable mixture and smooth the top. Sprinkle with some paprika, and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven (probably 45 minutes to an hour from cold).

 

 

Maybe I don't hate oatmeal.

 

 

I have always hated oatmeal, but I made the Padula-meets-Gaiman version this morning, and I must say, it was YUM! I toasted whole oats in a dab of butter, then added fresh milk (from Woven Meadows Farm) a half cup at a time until they absorbed as much as they could--risotto-style--then finished it with a little brown sugar and vanilla (to taste). To serve, you add a blob of your favorite jam and a good splodge of fresh cream. What's that? You say you don't have farm-fresh cream? Well, it sucks to be you, and you should probably reevaluate your priorities and start living right!

Update: Ok, now I've done it. Instead of plain oats, I took a five-grain blend from Bob's Red Mill and prepared it Padula/risotto-style with farm-fresh milk, cooking until tender. When the porridge was almost done, I threw in some chopped Honey Crisp apple. Before serving, I swirled in a spoonful of Biscoff (speculoos) spread and garnished it with some toasted almond slices and the requisite splodge of cream. My roommate Cyd declared it "the best thing she's ever eaten."

Build me up, buttercup.

 

 

My friend June made a lovely autumnal butternut squash soup last weekend , and when I spied a especially big and gorgeous buttercup squash at my local farmer's market, I thought I might make my own version...in the crock pot, of course! What could be more heart-and-soul-warming than this? WELCOME FALL!

Buttercup Squash Soup

 

1/2 pound bacon, chopped (I used smoky end pieces)

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 large shallots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 large buttercup squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks (or the winter squash of your choosing)
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
1 tablespoon chicken soup base
1 large bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick (break in half)
big pinch of peppercorns
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 star anise
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup cream, optional
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until brown and crispy. Strain out the bacon bits and set aside. In the bacon fat, sauté onions, shallots, and garlic until tender. Deglaze the pan with white wine, and cook until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the veggies.

In the meantime, add the chunks of squash to the crock pot and cover with a quart of stock. Stir in the chicken soup base. To a tea ball/strainer, add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and star anise. Throw the tea ball of spices into the pot along with the sautéed veggie mixture.

Cook on high for about three hours or low for six. Remove the spice ball and purée the soup with an immersion blender. Add the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cream (if using). Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with a sprinkling of the reserved bacon bits on top!

Book Club: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

My book club FINALLY got around to meeting again today. We read a short book--Neil Gaiman's dark fairy tale, The Ocean at the End of the Lane--but it seemed nearly impossible to find a date and time when we all could get together! But at long last, we made it happen, and the menu was comfort food in general with some specific dishes that appeared in the story. My favorite thing on the buffet was "porridge" with blackberry-beer jam and a good slosh of cream from my favorite Strafford Organic Creamery in Vermont. So simple, so incredible...and I don't even like oatmeal!

“'We have breakfast here early,' she said. 'Milking starts at first light. But there’s porridge in the saucepan, and jam to put in it.' She gave me a china bowl filled with warm porridge ...from the stovetop, with a lump of homemade blackberry jam, my favorite, in the middle of the porridge, then she poured cream on it. I swished it around with my spoon before I ate it, swirling it into a purple mess, and was as happy as I have ever been about anything. It tasted perfect." --Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

In the picture, you can see the big casserole dish full of oatmeal that my lovely friends, the Padulas, brought, along with a cauldron of incredible chicken and dumplings as well (not appearing in the book, but delicious and comforting nonetheless). Another highlight was this unusual meatloaf that had rye bread in it (pictured at the top of the frame) giving it a wonderful tangy quality. I will have to ask our hostess, Kathleen, for the recipe. As for my contribution, I ran across an article online where Gaiman himself shared his family recipe for the lemon crepes featured in his magical tale, so of course, that's what I made and took to the party, although instead of filling them with plum jam as in the story, I topped them with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Nail Gaiman’s Lemon Pancakes

(Excerpted in total from Joe Hill’s interview on Omnivoracious)

JH: There’s a lot of wonderful food writing in this book. I had to put the thing down several times to rummage desperately through my fridge. Can you give us the recipe for the Hempstocks’ lemon pancakes? Please don’t let that part be make-believe.
NG: There is no make-believe in cooking. There were few things I took as much fun in cooking, when I was a boy, as pancakes. (I liked making toffee, too, because it was a little like a science experiment.)

Right. The night before you are going to make them, you mix:
1 cup of ordinary white flour
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups of milk and water (a cup and a half of milk and a cup of water mixed)
1 tablespoon of either vegetable oil or melted butter
(You’ll also need some granulated sugar, and a couple of lemons to put on the pancakes, along with other things like jams and possibly even maple syrup because you’re American.)

Put the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Crack the eggs in and whisk/fork the egg into the flour. Slowly add the milk/water mixture, stirring as you go, until there are no lumps and you have a liquid the consistency of a not too thick cream. Then put the mixture in the fridge overnight.

Grease or butter or oil a non-stick frying pan. Heat it until it’s really hot (377 degrees according to one website, but basically, it has to be hot for the pancake to become a pancake. And these are crepes, French style, not thick American round pancakes). Stir the mixture you just took from the fridge thoroughly because the flour will all be at the bottom. Get an even, consistency. Then ladle some mixture into the pan, thinly covering the whole of the base of the pan. When the base is golden, flip it (or, if you are brave, toss it). Cook another 30 seconds on the other side.

For reasons I do not quite understand (although pan heat is probably the reason), the first one is always a bit disappointing. Often it’s a burnt, sludgy, weird thing, (always, in my family, eaten by the cook) (which was me). Just keep going, and the rest will be fine. Sprinkle sugar in the middle. And then squeeze some lemon juice in, preferably from a lemon. Then wrap it like a cigar and feed it to a child.

(You can experiment with other things in the middle, like Nutella, or jam, or even maple syrup–but remember that these pancakes are not syrup-absorbent like American style pancakes.)

Picnic at the Agility Trial

My friend, June, invite me to another agility trial with her poodle, Beau, today. I had to be at her house at zero-dark-thirty to travel to lovely Lewis, NY, but we had a very nice day. It started off quite chilly, but the sun came out by the afternoon. And June and Beau qualified and placed first on all of their runs! But best of all was the picnic lunch that we prepared.

June brought two thermoses full of this wonderfully spiced butternut squash soup. She said she based it off of a recipe that she found on Epicurious that she will direct me to later, but basically, she started with bacon and shallots, vegetable broth and white wine, the squash, of course, and then star anise, peppercorns, and a bay leaf in a tea ball, and a sprinkling of cinnamon and fresh nutmeg at the end. So warming, filling, and DELICIOUS!

Since June did soup, my job was sandwiches. And I began by pondering the eternal question, why couldn't you combine a BLT and a Caprese salad into one incredible sandwich? As it turns out, you definitely can! So for the BLT part of the equation, I used local Bibb lettuce, peppered bacon, yellow heirloom tomatoes and a little mayo on a toasted crusty roll (ciabatta would be awesome, too). Then for the Caprese elements, I added fresh mozzarella slices, basil leaves from my herb garden, and a drizzle of thick balsamic glaze--the tomato being the common denominator, of course. You could also blend the mayo and basil leaves to make an herby spread, but I just layered on the whole basil leaves. SO YUMMY! The ultimate end-of-summer sandwich!

Early Oktoberfest

As much I as ADORE fall, there is one thing that I can't stand about it, and that's the beginning of football season. On Sundays, my roommate commandeers the television to watch her beloved Patriots, and I usually scurry off to the kitchen to catch up on my favorite Sirius Radio shows from the previous week and cook something more elaborate than usual for our Sunday supper.

Last night, I made this interesting casserole that might be more fitting for Oktoberfest than early September, so file this one away for a few weeks. I particularly liked this dish because it made use of some potatoes that were starting to get eyes on them, a half a jar of leftover sauerkraut that was banging about the fridge, and a piece of good Emmenthal cheese that needed to be used up before it spoiled, and some polska kielbasa that I found in the back of the freezer. (Can you tell I'm Frugie McFrugal?)

Oktoberfest Bake

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
6 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (peeled if you prefer)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 lb. polska kielbasa, cut in half lengthwise and sliced*
2 cups Emmenthal (or Swiss) cheese, shredded or thinly sliced
1/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half

In a large skillet, melt the butter and olive oil together. Add the sliced onions and stir to coat. Cook on low until deep golden brown, stirring occasionally (30-45 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Coat a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray. Layer in half of the sliced potatoes, overlapping them. Sprinkle with half of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then half the sauerkraut, half the sausage slices, half of the reserved onions, and top with half the cheese. Repeat this process to form the second layer of the casserole. Before you get to the final layer of cheese, pour the milk evenly over the top of everything. Top with cheese, cover loosely with foil, and bake for two hours at 300 degrees.

 

*Note: When I make this again in the future, I might brown the pieces of sausage first before building the casserole.

Getting fizzy with it (na na na na na na na)!

A week ago, a couple of my PBGV/dog show friends came to my region to do some hiking in the Adirondacks. My roommate and I met them in Lake Placid last Sunday night for dinner at one of our favorite (semi-)local eateries, Liquids and Solids at the Handle Bar. The food, weather, and company were all delicious, but I was especially taken with a cocktail that we tried called a Lavendula. Their drink had just raspberry puree and a lavender simple syrup, but when I tried to recreate a similar version at home, I used a triple berry blend and basil from my garden instead of the lavender. Also, I used less sugar and swapped out Fresca for club soda because that's what I had on hand. DELISH!

Berry Gin Fizz
(Source: adapted from Bon Appetit and Smitten Kitchen)

1 cup fresh berries (I used blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces or just shy of 3 shots) gin
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from two juicy limes)
one can of Fresca
2 sprigs sweet basil

Purée berries and sugar in a blender until as liquefied as possible. Strain purée through a fine-mesh sieve then discard the seeds. (You won't use all of this--it's probably enough for two more cocktails, yay!)

Fill two 16 oz. glasses 3/4 of the way with ice. Divide gin and lime juice between glasses, add 1/4 cup of the berry purée to each glass and stir to combine. Top with soda and a sprig of basil. (Might need another quick stir to combine.) Share with someone you like.