HAPPY PUMPKIN DAY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everybody! I trust that everyone is having a spook-tacular day...har, har, har. Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I'm celebrating on the DL this year. It seems wrong to do anything too Halloween-y with Cyd still being in Minnesota. :-( Plus, after having the walking pneumonia throughout the month of September, I only managed to stay well for 2-3 weeks before catching another annoying cold. So there were no decorations this year, nor even a costume to speak of. But I have managed to bake a couple of goodies lately featuring that seasonal globe that is ribbed for our pleasure, the mighty pumpkin.

First, I made some yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from King Arthur. Pumpkin and chocolate together has always sounded a little off-putting to me, but they were delicious! The pumpkin made the cookies incredibly moist, and the chocolate played nicely with the spices. And so easy to make, too! These are definitely winners. A note about the photo: I took this picture a couple of days after baking the cookies, and they were so moist from the pumpkin in the dough that the icing had softened and nearly dissolved on top. But initially, the glaze set up very nicely so that you could even stack the cookies on top of each other. They still taste great, though, and they keep for quite a long time, again, due to the pumpkin making them soft and moist.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Source: King Arthur Flour)

Cookies:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 orange, optional (I left this out)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cookies: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper (or Silpats). Set aside.

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl,
3. Then add the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla and orange zest, beating well to blend.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients, beating well to blend. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Using a tablespoon scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake on the middle oven rack for about 18 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool.
6. While the cookies are still warm, press two chocolate chips into the cookie to make eyes for the pumpkin.

For the glaze: Stir together the sugar, milk and vanilla until the glaze is smooth. Dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze and put back on the racks to set, or drizzle in a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern pattern.

The cookies were for my colleagues at work, but I also decided to try baking some experimental pumpkin bread for myself at home. You see, I was goaded into doing so by the weekly email that I get from my darling baker boys, John and Keith, in my beloved homeland of Oregon. They bake bread for customers every Sunday in their ginormous wood-fired outdoor brick oven, and recently, they have added a pumpkin walnut sourdough to their menu. I became sick with jealousy that I couldn't sample their wares all the way out here on the other coast, so my only option was to bake some for myself. But darned if I could find a recipe on these interwebs. All I could find was (spiced) pumpkin quick breads.

Thus, I decided to go my own way and see if I could devise a workable recipe of my own. My first attempt turned out reasonably well, but I'd still call it a work in progress. I overhydrated my dough, so I didn't get a great rise. And next time, I'll split this amount of dough into two boules or baguettes, rather than one big blob of bread. And the taste was good, but VERRRY tangy. I think it would be nicely balanced with some sweetness, like from the addition of craisins, or perhaps I'll play around with bringing some Grade B maple to the party next time*. Still, this initial experiment yielded some tasty bread that was especially yummy when toasted and buttered for breakfast! One other caveat: I expected orange bread, but it was just yellowish on the outside and almost a purple-grey on the inside! I think the oil from the walnuts turned it that color. So I either need to switch nuts (pecans or perhaps sunflowers seeds?), or maybe I could try kneading the walnuts in before the last rise. Hmm...like I said, it's a work in progress!

*Follow-up: My suspicions were confirmed when I made some terrific French toast with this bread. The tangy, nutty slices, coated with custard, browned, buttered, and drenched in maple syrup was a decadent and heavenly marriage of flavors!

Pumpkin Walnut Sourdough

1/2 cup (refreshed) sourdough starter
generous 1/2 cup water (start with 9 tablespoons and increase as needed)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups bread flour (all-purpose can be substituted)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (or whole sunflower seeds)
1 cup dried cranberries, optional (but highly recommended!)
pepitas, optional

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand, if you prefer), blend the refreshed sourdough starter with the water and the pumpkin puree until smooth. Add the flour and salt, and "knead" with the dough hook for about five minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add more water a tablespoon at a time if need be. (You don't want a thick batter or even a terribly sticky dough, but a soft ball.) When the dough has come together, place into a large, greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (at least four hours, I should think).

When doubled, turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface, knead in the walnuts and craisins, and let rest for about a half hour. When the dough has rested, shape it into two boules or baguettes, cover loosely with sprayed plastic wrap, and let rise until puffy and nearly doubled (as much as four more hours*). When risen, uncover carefully, spritz the loaves with water (and sprinkle some pepitas/toasted pumpkin seeds on top, if you like), and bake in a very hot (450-degree) oven for about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

*You can certainly make this bread in stages. If you have to go to work or to sleep, just chuck it in the fridge (if you don't have a very cold house like mine!), and slow down the rise until you're ready to proceed.

Apples to Apples (and Lasagna, Too!)

WHOA! You blink, and it's two weeks later! Forgive me, friends. Midterm chaos has kept me from my blogging duties. But I have a little break today between seeing High School Musical 3 with my seven-year-old friend, K (but it was MY birthday wish!) and going to the new Thai food place in town for dinner with friends who wish to celebrate my agedness. Sidebar: for any Plattsburghers who have not yet tried Sawatdee, you are missing out! It is FABULOUS! It is also quite healthy, has many options for your vegetarian friends, and is inexpensive to boot. You MUST check it out. I myself am trying hard to refrain from eating there more than twice a week! ;-)

Anyway, I never finished reporting on my Columbus Day weekend adventures, so let me catch up on that. After my travels through the southern cantons of Quebec, I stopped at the big grocery store in Ormstown to pick up some things to make a lasagna. I had been watching a new show on Food Network called "Ask Aida," and she made a sausage and three-cheese version that looked wonderful. And she made it with those no-boil noodles, which I have always been afraid to try. But Aida says that the way to avoid a sloppy, slip-sliding lasagna is to use the no-boil noodles which wick up excess moisture. (By the way, why does everyone on Food Network have to look like a bobble-head, stick-figure supermodel these days? Oh well, at least this Aida person is authentically Italian, kinda like Giada. But that's about all I have to say that's positive about the gimmicky, internet-infused show.) Anyway, I found everything I needed in the Canadian IGA, but MAN, was it expensive! My blogger pal, Randi, who lives in Ontario has often complained about the cost of many food items, especially certain dairy products like cream cheese, and she wasn't kidding! They didn't even have ricotta in the regular dairy section, and the store employees seemed perplexed when I asked about it. I finally found it in the "gourmet" cheese section of the deli, and at a premium price. Ditto with the parmesan. But I figured I'd spend more in gas money to go all the way over to the Champlain (NY) Price Chopper, so I just sucked it up.

When I got home, I started the sauce, using my own home-canned whole tomatoes (one quart), plus one pint of seasoned tomato sauce, also homemade. This was mistake #1, as I really needed to use at least two quarts of tomatoes. Also, I had to use a combination of sweet Italian sausage and ground beef, because I didn't have any ground pork, and I was NOT going back (to another country) to the store! But that was okay--it was excellent with the combination of meats. Then I let the sauce simmer for more than an hour while I did some other things, and worked on layering the lasagna. That was mistake #2, because the sauce should be quite thin so that the no-boil noodles have plenty of liquid in which to cook. As I assembled the lasagna, I knew that I did not have enough sauce for all the layers, particularly for the top. Then, not having worked with the no-boil noodles before, I was frustrated that they didn't cover the whole 9x13 pan, so I took some scissors and tried to sort of cut and paste to fill in the gaps. That was mistake #3, as the no-boil noodles will expand as they cook (duh, Gina!). Mistake #4 was somewhat by choice. Aida says that she and her mom argue about how much ricotta to use. Aida says 24 oz. while her mom opts for just 16 oz. I would have preferred to use the greater amount, but given how expensive the ricotta was in the Canadian grocery, I bought some strange metric amount that looked to be about a pound. Then, when my back was turned in the kitchen for a split-second, Grady the PBGV, reached up to the counter, knocked down the ricotta container, and had gulped down a tablespoon or two before I could stop him (mistake #5)! So I ended up with quite a bit less ricotta than would have been ideal. Boo hiss.

Now I knew that this dish was really to be made for a crowd, or else I'd be eating it for a week (or two!) by myself. So I emailed by dear friend, June, who was hosting a friend and former colleague for the weekend, and I said if there were board games to be played, I would bring a lasagna and an apple pie (since I still have a TON of apples left over from my last canning class). She agreed, and a plan came together. My vision was the make the lasagna the night before, and then bake it off right before heading off for the dinner party. This may have been the one thing that I did right with this recipe! Making it ahead of time gives the no-boil noodles extra time to soften up. Still, that night, I was awake, tossing and turning, worrying that the dish would be dry and chewy or chalky or pasty due to the lack of sauce, the scant amount of ricotta, and the extra noodles. So the next morning, I proceeded to do some delicate surgery on my perfectly constructed lasagna, gently lifting up each quadrant of the top layer and spooning on another pint of homemade seasoned tomato sauce. I also spooned some down the sides and on each end. At this point, Cyd dubbed it the Franken-lasagna, but I was still hoping it would turn out. And guess what? It did! It really was delicious, and it held together beautifully without being either too dry or too sloppy with sauce. And I thought it had the perfect level of spiciness, too, as I added a couple of golden cayenne peppers from my garden to kick up the heat a bit. June's husband, Tom, a notoriously finicky eater, even requested that I leave some leftovers behind for him to lunch on. High praise indeed, from that curmudgeon! ;-)

After dinner, we enjoyed a homemade apple pie for dessert. It was quite beautiful (if I do say so myself!) and tasty, too, but sadly, I overbaked it and the apples were kind of mushy--oh well (sigh). Then we played a fun board game called Apples to Apples, so the Columbus Day weekend apple theme continued. Despite the nerve-racking lasagna and the mushy pie, it was a nice, cozy evening with friends, which is the best way to spend a day off, in my humble opinion.

Sweet Sausage and Three-Cheese Lasagna
(Source: "Ask Aida," Food Network)

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cayenne peppers, finely chopped, optional (I added these to kick up the spice!)
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings and crumbled
1/2 pound lean ground pork (I used ground beef here)
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 (28-ounce) containers crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 medium dried bay leaves

For the lasagna:
1 (9-ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles (I used Barilla brand)
24 ounces ricotta cheese (I only used 16 oz., but I would advise using the full amount)
1 pound mozzarella cheese, low-moisture or fresh, thinly sliced (I used shredded)
2 cups finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2 ounces)

For the meat sauce:
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion 9and peppers, if using) and garlic, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook until just softened. Add sausage and ground pork (or beef) and stir to break up meat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meat starts to color, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add wine and cook, scraping bottom of pan to incorporate browned bits, until the alcohol smell is cooked off. Add tomatoes, one tablespoon salt, basil, oregano, bay leaf, and season well with freshly ground black pepper. Stir until well mixed and tomatoes start to simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors meld, at least 10 minutes and up to one hour. (Don't reduce it too much--you want it on the thin side so the no-boil noodles will have something to suck up!)

For the lasagna:
Heat oven to 375 degrees F and arrange rack in middle. Spread two cups sauce in a thin layer over the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Layer four noodles over sauce, top with two cups sauce and spread it evenly over the noodles. Evenly dollop 1/4 of the ricotta across the sauce, top with 1/4 of the mozzarella, and sprinkle evenly with 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cover with foil and bake until liquids are bubbling and noodles are beginning to soften, about 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until top is golden brown and noodles are completely tender, about 20 minutes more. Allow to rest 20 minutes before cutting.

Fall Break: The View from Route 202

Last weekend, we had a four-day Columbus Day/Fall Break from school (also, Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends!). Since I knew I’d be going to a dog show the following weekend, I didn’t have any grand plans for the break. But I did get a lot of nagging chores and errands accomplished, caught up on my sleep a bit, and even managed to squeeze in a few special events. Friday night, I took a glorious drive through the Adirondacks up to Saranac Lake to see Cheryl Wheeler in concert. My dear friend, John, has always been her biggest fan, and I can see why. Not only is she a gifted songwriter and singer, but she is a delightful performer—an engaging storyteller and wickedly funny to boot!

On Saturday, I was supposed to go to Montreal with my next-door neighbor, Ken, to see a movie and go out to dinner. But he wasn’t feeling well that day, so I was on my own.

I decided, instead of going into the city proper, that I would take a lovely drive from Hemmingford, QC west on the Covey Hill Road (Route 202) to Franklin and stop at some of the beautiful orchards and see what kinds of fall activities that they had going on.

One of my favorite places is Blair’s, where they have live Quebecois music and country dancing under a big outdoor pavilion.




They also serve the best thing in the world—known in these parts as a “beaver tail”—but you may know it as an elephant ear or just plain old fried dough. But plain it is NOT, especially if you get it slathered with real maple cream as I did. YUM!
















As I was enjoying my treat, I looked up and saw this. Her name, I learned, was Axelle, and though she was previously munching on a freshly-picked apple, I guess it paled in comparison to my beaver tail. But I told her in no uncertain terms that it was MINE and to go away! (Just kidding…I offered her some of mine, but her mom assured me that they would get her one of her own.)

At Blair’s and also at another place up the road called Arthur’s in Rockburn, they had petting zoos, so besides new human friends, I made some animal pals as well.



This sassy boy, though technically not part of the petting zoo, was my favorite.






I ended my autumnal tour at Huntingdon, a lovely place with a river dam in the middle of town, and home to some of the best poutine in the province.















Behold, friends, the national dish of Quebec! Fresh-cut fries with brown gravy and melty cheese curds—so gluttonously good, it should come with a side of Lipitor. Nevertheless, it is some good Frenchie eats!





After Huntingdon, I headed up to Ormstown to the IGA to procure provisions for the next night’s dinner, inspired, as usual on the weekends, by a show on the Food Network. But that’s another story for another post. In the meantime, dear readers, I urge you to get out there and have some breathtaking fall adventures of your own. I’m not sure what the conditions are like where you live, but this is my eighth autumn in the North Country, and it is the most amazing color season that I have ever seen. And it’s so fleeting (leading into the six dreadful months of winter that we endure here—that’s our trade-off), that we must make haste to go out into the glory of it and soak it all in before it’s gone.

Wilkommen zum Oktoberfest!

So, naturally, I needed a hearty, autumnal soup to go alongside my meatloaf sandwiches, and I found the perfect recipe for Beer, Brat and Cheese Soup. I adapted it from the blog, Culinary in the Country (and the author, in turn, adapted it from Penzey's Spices), and man, is it delicious...and easy! And now that the weather has turned nippy, it will definitely warm you up as it fills you up. Plus, with beer as a central ingredient, it couldn't be more perfect for an Oktoberfest celebration, especially if you serve it with some tasty beer bread. JA, JA!

Brat, Beer and Cheese Soup
(Source: adapted from Penzey's Spices via Culinary in the Country)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 cup onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cups chicken broth
12 ounces beer
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder (I substituted 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne)
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable season salt (or kosher salt)
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley (or fresh, if you have it)
3/4 cup half-and-half (or milk)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
12 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
3 cooked bratwursts, sliced (I used two large smoked sausages instead)

In a stock pot, heat oil over medium. Stir in carrot, celery and onion - cook until very tender, stirring often, about 12 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook for one minute.

Add potatoes, broth and beer - bring mixture to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Season with mustard powder and chipotle (or chili/cayenne) powder, along with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and parsley.

Stir half-and-half and Worcestershire sauce into the soup. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the cheese until melted and smooth. Stir in cooked bratwurst - heat until the soup has warmed through, about 5 more minutes.

Makes about 8 servings.

Confusing times...

No, no...I do refer to the economic crisis (though I made the mistake of looking at my quarterly retirement statement yesterday--bad idea). I refer to the strange seasonal shifts. On the one hand, I look out my office window and see this:

On the other hand, I went out to my garden two days ago (October 7th!), and harvested all of THESE:

Furthermore, this week, I have been dining on chicken caesar salads made from the crispiest iceberg lettuce acquired at a local farm stand (Shield's on Rt. 22), and the best corn on the cob I've had all season, also local (from Rulf's in Peru). Though the farmers' markets are all but done, we are lucky to still have fresh produce trickling out of our home gardens and from local farmers. But the handwriting is on the wall, my friends. I finally pulled the AC unit out of my bedroom window earlier this week because my head was getting too cold at night. Though I haven't switched to flannel sheets yet, I did throw a heavy sleeping bag on top of my down comforter. And though I vow not to turn on the heat until November, I have already plugged in my electric mattress pad to warm up the sheets before I get in bed. To top it all off, I would SWEAR that I saw flecks of snow mixed in with a drizzle of rain on my windshield as I drove home last night!

Thus, I think it is right and good, as the seasons transition, to begin to embrace cozier cuisines. I feel some rib-sticking soups and stews coming on, but in the meantime, I have been craving meatloaf. I blame those Neeleys. As I was gathering stuff up to take for my canning class last Saturday, I had the Food Network on in the background, as I usually do on the weekends. And they were making a barbecue turkey meatloaf which sounded awesome. However, I didn't have any ground turkey on hand, so I made a regular beef version, and I created my own recipe that highlighted those barbecue flavors. It turned out really well--moist and tender, but still holding together, and flavorful without being overpowering. And most importantly, it made a damn fine sandwich, which is the main reason for making meatloaf in the first place! The perfect meatloaf sandwich for me begins with very soft, squishy bread slathered in mayo and perhaps tinted with mustard, loaded with homemade dill pickle slices, and topped with a thick slab of meatloaf that has been just warmed (warm, not hot!). MMM-MMM! Heaven! Give this one a try...

Gina's (but not Gina Neely's) BBQ Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground beef (feel free to swap out some ground pork if you like)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or better yet, a few cloves, minced)
2 tablespoons barbecue spice rub, your favorite
1/2 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for basting (I have fallen in love with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce!)
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup quick oats
1 egg

Mix all ingredients (gently--don't overwork the meat), then place into a large loaf pan. Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes, then remove from the oven, drain off the fat, and brush on more BBQ sauce to glaze the top. Return to the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or so.

Last Canning Class, but Not the Last of the Canning!

Saturday was my last in a series of three canning classes, this one covering jam and applesauce/apple butter. Unfortunately, I thought we were going to go out with a sad whimper rather than a big bang. I had a terrible morning trying to get everything ready to haul into town, and I realized at the last minute that I was out of dry pectin. So even though I was already running late, I had to squeeze in a stop at Aubuchon Hardware to buy the very last box of pectin on the shelf (whew!). Then when I got to school, someone in his or her infinite wisdom had unplugged the refrigerator! So the first student to arrive found me stomping around and using highly inappropriate language. But the thing that nearly reduced me to tears was getting the whole tomato/apple press set up only to realize that I left the crank handle at home! Mind you, I live a half hour away, so running to Sciota and back was out of the question. But I had to do something, as I didn't even bring peelers or a masher to do the apples "old school." So I left poor Cindy from Continuing Ed. to hold down the fort, and I raced back down the hill, back to the hardware store to buy some emergency supplies. As I passed the subdivision known as Cliff Haven, I spied my friends Jen and Angela's house and had a flash of brilliance. Angela makes homemade applesauce every year--surely she would have a food mill or at least a peeler and a masher that I could borrow? And indeed, I was able to nab a pristine Foley food mill, and my class was saved!

We made applesauce with a hint of cinnamon, as well as the legendary blueberry-lime jam. I also took them each a jar of apple butter, since we didn't have time to cook it down in class. I used the wonderful recipe from last year, but I made two changes. One, I cut back on some of the sugars and swapped out some Grade B maple syrup, making it Maple Apple Butter. YUM! And instead of reducing it on the stove top and having to deal with all those painful and messy volcanic eruptions, I used my crock pot instead. I started with it on low and the lid vented, but after leaving it to do its thing overnight and it had barely changed by morning, I took the lid off and cranked it up to high until I got home that evening. Despite the fact that I had covered all surrounding surfaces with towels just in case, there was no spattering at all! That is an excellent tip for all you apple butter fans out there. In fact, I may have to make another batch or two, as one of the nice ladies from class brought us each a bushel of apples from her own trees! I am now up to my eyebrows in apples! Ah...the blessings of excess in the North Country. (Am I making anyone jealous from non-apple-bearing regions? Tee hee.)

Anyway...while our jars were processing, we sampled the maple apple butter that I brought and the little bit of leftover blueberry jam from the pot that wasn't enough to make another full jar. Of course, we needed something yummy to spread the preserves on, so that morning before class, I made some excellent scones from the Joy of Baking's website. I made them plain, so that we could really taste the jam and the apple butter, but I already have a vision of a lemon poppy seed version using this recipe as a base:

Cream Scones
(Source: Joy of Baking)

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (76 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or use a Silpat).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a small measuring cup combine the cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.

Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round. Then, you may either cut the circle diagonally four times to make eight wedges, or using a 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Place the scones on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Brush the tops of the scones with a little egg wash (an egg beaten with a little cream). This helps to brown the tops of the scones during baking. You may also wish to sprinkle the tops with a little sugar for some sparkle and crunch.

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve with Devon cream or softly whipped cream and your favorite jam.

You might think after three straight weekends of canning classes that I would be OVER any preserving projects for awhile, but you would be quite mistaken. In fact, being around enthusiastic canners only fans the flames of my desire to put up more little jars of deliciousness. And despite our crisp weather, there hasn't been a hard freeze yet (knock wood), and my garden continues to bear. On Sunday, I went out and harvested a few pounds of summer squashes from which I made the most delicious squash chutney! The recipe was actually not all that different from the beloved zucchini relish, but this has an Asian flair with the addition of crystallized ginger. Like all pickle recipes, it will not reach its full flavor for another month or two, but the tidbits that I tasted as I went along were outstanding! I followed the recipe pretty carefully, as you must when canning, but I did amp up the heat quite a bit, and added some garlic and extra spices (cutting back by one carrot to compensate for the addition of low-acid ingredients). Oh, and most importantly, I processed the final product in a hot water bath for ten minutes as a safety precaution. (NO OPEN KETTLE! I don't care if your grandma never did kill anyone--it's just not safe!) If you still have squash coming out of your garden, this is an excellent and savory way to use them up.

Squash Chutney
(Source: Preserving by Oded Schwartz, DK Publishing, 1996)

2 pounds summer squash, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used a mix of zucchini and yellow crookneck)
2 tablespoons canning salt
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
about 5 carrots, grated (cut back by one carrot if you add the garlic and extra peppers)
3 1/2 ounces crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped
1-2 fresh red chilies, finely chopped (I used one red cayenne and a few super chilies!)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced, optional
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon celery seed, optional
1 tablespoon coriander, optional
1 teaspoon black pepper, optional
3 cups cider vinegar
1 cup sugar (I used half white and half brown sugar)

Put the squash in a colander and sprinkle with half the salt. Let stand for one hour. Rinse and dry. Put in a non-corrosive saucepan with all the ingredients, except the sugar and remaining salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are just soft.

Add the sugar and salt and simmer for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until most of the liquid evaporates and the chutney is thick. Ladle into hot jars, then process in a boiling water bath (10 minutes for half-pints, 15 minutes for pints). It will be ready in one to two months.

Makes about 3 pints

Even after cranking out nine jars of chutney, I still had the energy and drive to make myself a special treat. Of course, by that point, I was looking for something fairly easy, and I found a scrumptious-looking toffee bar recipe made with sweetened condensed milk on Eagle Brand's website. The resulting cookies taste a lot like seven-layer or magic cookie bars but without the coconut that offends me. The only change I made to the recipe was to add a little salt to counter the sweetness, and to reverse the nut-to-chocolate chip ratio in favor of more nuts (as is my way). These are really excellent, but unless you're baking for a crowd, you might want to halve the recipe and use an 8x8 pan. I made the mistake of preparing a full batch in a 9x13 pan, and that just yields TOO many, as each piece is very rich and filling. But no problem--I will take most of them to my friends Tom and June's house tonight to enjoy as we watch the second round of presidential debates. I'm sure they will be consumed readily and happily as we root for Mr. Obama! ("Yes, we can! Yes, we can!")

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars
(Source: Eagle Brand's website)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
good pinch of salt, optional (I think all the sweetness needs a little salt for balance)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided (I reduced this to 1 1/2 cups total)
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I increased this to 1 1/2 cups)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 3/4 cups (10 ounces) toffee bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir together flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg; mix well.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and nuts. Reserve 1 1/2 cups mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch greased (or sprayed) baking pan. Bake ten minutes.

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust; top with 1 1/2 cups toffee bits. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture and remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips over top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup toffee bits. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Store leftovers covered.

Pickling Class and Autumn at Northern Orchards

My dear readers, it is that most blessed and hallowed of times--that magical intersection of seasons where there are still tomatoes, peppers and corn, but now the winter squashes are upon us, and the pears and apples have begun! There are simply not enough words to convey how much I LOVE this time of year! It's what makes enduring the eternal North Country winters worth it. But of course, this season is all too ephemeral. In fact, this week is the last for my favorite local farmers' market. Boo hiss. So from here on out, we must go to the farmers ourselves, which is what I have already begun doing. I have a new favorite haunt called Northern Orchards in Peru (NY) that I have been frequently lately. I first met a nice woman named Deb from Northern Orchards at the Thursday green market last year who always provides me with the most delicious produce at the most reasonable prices. I saw her this past Thursday, and she still had some marvelously plump green beans which I wanted to buy for my canning class on Saturday. But I really needed fresh-picked beans to use for pickling, so she gave me directions to the orchard, and I headed down there Saturday morning before my class. Well, my goodness, was it a charming place--and all decked out for fall! Observe the glorious abundance of the harvest:


Stunning, eh? You gotta love autumn. Have to. No choice, no free will about it. Anyway...I collected my five pounds of green beans from the farm stand and headed off to the college for my second of three canning classes, this one featuring pickles and relishes. Originally, I had planned on teaching them the secrets of the amazing, unparalleled Blesi Dill Pickles, but since we had to back up the classes by a couple of weeks, pickling cukes had become too scarce. So I went with dilly beans. Everyone loves them, and they're easy. Then we also made zucchini relish, which is perfect for the end of the season when you're trying to use up every last tidbit from your garden. It was a fun class. There were three people that returned from last week, one new lady, and then we also had both the mother and the daughter of one my colleagues at school. My friend Chrisa's daughter Madeleine is 13, and she came with her grandma, Barbara. It was just so CUTE to watch grandmother and granddaughter canning together! Don't believe me? Look... (I hear that "awwwwww" sound escaping your lips! Don't deny it!)

So two classes down, one to go. The last class will focus on fruit, including jam and applesauce. I really wanted to do apple butter, but it just takes too darn long! Nevertheless, I wanted to make some at home for the students to try, so today after work, I headed back down to Northern Orchards to acquire some apples. I also took a little token gift for Deb with me, since she has always been so kind, and particularly because she hooked me up with the fresh-picked beans last weekend. I took her some of the beloved paradise jelly that I made last season. She seemed delighted--so much so, in fact, that she sold me a half bushel of antique/heirloom apples at half price! (Ah, the fringe benefits of networking with other market vendors! Tee hee.) I chose a mix of Milton, Hume, and Red Wealthy in order to give the apple butter a depth of apple flavor. I also bought a half gallon of fresh cider to simmer the apples in, and a couple of honeycrisps just for my own personal munching. Yum! On the way home, the car smelled delicious and apple-y, but that was nothing compared to the stock pot full of apples simmering on the stove all evening, wafting spicy, autumnal vapors throughout the house. Fall is literally in the air, my friends. Make sure you get out and enjoy it. It's all over far too soon.

Canning Class and The. Best. Cupcakes. EVER.

In my last post, I made reference to some beginning canning classes that I was going to teach through Continuing Education at my college. The first one was this past Saturday, and though I was so worried about how it would go, I must report that I think it went GREAT! (I hope the students agree.) The first class focused on canning tomato sauce and salsa, and I had originally planned to teach it on September 6th. Unfortunately, the kitchen that I was assigned to use wasn't "up to code" yet, so we had to delay. I was worried that the tomatoes might have slowed down due a couple of nights of near-frost conditions. But we were fine, and I had no trouble procuring all my ingredients either from my own garden or the green market held on Thursday afternoons at the Nazarene Church in town. As it turned out, the hardest part of planning for the class was that, although the kitchen has "new" (to us) commercial applicances, it doesn't have anything else that you might need! So I basically had to haul EVERYTHING from my kitchen in Sciota to school (half hour away), making multiple trips from my car using the cart that I snitched from the mailroom. UGH! I mean, they didn't even have so much as a sponge and dish soap in there! (I had to go steal some from a kitchenette in the main building.) Surprisingly, given all the tidbits that I had to remember, the only thing I forgot was a can opener. So we had to mangle cans open with a bottle opener. Oh well. Crisis averted.

I arrived early (good thing, too, with all the running around, procuring and hauling in supplies) and got everything unpacked and set up. Then I put myself to work, washing the half bushel of tomatoes and also the peppers that I brought. Then I got a start on coring and seeding tomatoes while I preheated the canning kettle on the big, industrial stove. (Wow! I want one of those at home! The water boiled in the blink of an eye!) When the students arrived (all five of them!), I started the class with a basic how-to and safety lecture, handing out a comprehensive packet of notes, resources, and recipes. I explained to them how I had practiced making every kind of preserved tomato while I was waiting for the kitchen to be outfitted, and that I had come to the conclusion that it was really only worth our time and energy to make prepared sauces, such as those for pasta and of course, everyone's favorite, Annie's Salsa.

After the mini-lecture, I offered them a chance to take a break, but they all stayed around, waiting to be put to work! So I started them all cutting and chopping ingredients for the tomato sauce and the salsa. And can I just say that it was AMAZING having all those hands making light work? I wish that team would come help me at home every time I can! The worst part of canning is always the food preparation, which is why it's best to can in pairs or small groups--making a memorable family event out of it or a little party with your friends--and then everyone can share the bounty when you're done. That way, the project is actually FUN! We were so efficient, that when we had some "down time," I busted open some tortilla chips and tore off chunks from a roasted garlic bread loaf, and opened some sample jars of both of the products that we were making that day. I also brought a couple of two-liters of soda, and there's actually an ice machine in that little kitchen, so we chatted and snacked and had a fun little tasting party while we were waiting for things to cook and process. It was highly enjoyable!

We made the tomato sauce first, as it takes awhile to cook down. In fact, we had the salsa prepped, cooked, and in the canner before the tomato sauce was even done reducing. That was the only kink in my plan. Class time was up (three hours sure flies by!), and the tomato sauce still had a half hour to process. But luckily, most of the students are coming back for next week's class on pickles and relishes, so I told them I would bring their finished jars of sauce next time (and I work with one student's mom, so I gave his jar to her the next day to take home). In the meantime, I sent them each home with a quart of whole tomatoes, a pint of plain tomato sauce, and a pint of salsa that they made themselves (ok, I might need to remember potholders next week, too--note to self). This was my little group (pictured below). Don't they look very knowledgeable and oh-so-happy about preserving tomatoes? (The lady in the middle in the blue shirt works in Continuing Education. A plant! A ringer! A spy in our midst! I wonder if she was there to keep an eye on me and report back to Big Brother if the class was awful?! Just kidding!) I think we all had fun, and it went off with only very minor hitches. Not too shabby for a first effort in teaching a non-credit workshop, if I do say so myself! And I must confess, though it pains me to do so, it was SO MUCH DIFFERENT teaching students that actually wanted to be there and were excited about participating and learning (as opposed to my regular students who often loathe the subject of public speaking and are coerced into being in the class by the dictates of their academic programs)!

By the time I finished processing the tomato sauce, cleaning the kitchen, packing and hauling everything back to the car, I was nigh unto death. My feet hurt, my back felt broken, and I still had to make a harrowing trip to the Wal-Mart before heading home. I had considered staying in town to go see the new Coen Brothers' movie and perhaps have some Chinese food, but I was too tired even for that. I just wanted to go home and crash. And despite the fact that I had three buckets of my own tomatoes waiting to be dealt with (picked in haste last Thursday evening due to the first frost warning of the season), I put my foot down and declared, NO MORE CANNING this weekend! I can't face one more tomato! Let them rot! See if I care! I even went to bed early that night (well, early for me at midnight, right after the news on SNL).

I woke up at 6am having to go to the bathroom, so I let the dogs out, too (the basset hound has become old and leaky...like me, ha ha), fed them, and checked my email. By then it was 7am, and I said screw it, and took my doggies and went back to bed, sleeping until 11! Whew! I needed that! And of course, I felt so good and re-energized that I went ahead and made a batch of spicy chili sauce from the good old Ball Blue Book to use up the harvested tomatoes before they went bad. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing with the chili sauce, but I'm thinking that it would make a tasty dip for shrimp cocktail, a yummy meatloaf topping, or there's always the classic crockpot meatballs with grape jelly! Basically, you can use it anywhere you might use ketchup to add a little extra zing. So if you are getting sick of making tomato sauce and salsa, here's yet another recipe to help you deal with an abundant tomato harvest.

Spicy Chili Sauce
(Source: Ball Blue Book)

4 quarts red tomatoes (about 24), seeded
3 tablespoons salt
2 cups onions, chopped
2 cups sweet red pepper, chopped
1 hot chili pepper, finely chopped (I cut back on some of the sweet pepper and added more hot chilis)
3 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 (to 1 1/2) cups sugar (taste it to check the sweetness)
2 1/2 cups vinegar

Combine tomatoes, onions, sweet and hot peppers, sugar and salt in a large sauce pot. Cook gently 45 minutes. Tie spices in a cheesecloth bag; add to tomato mixture; cook until mixture is reduced by 1/2, about 45 minutes. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add vinegar and cook slowly until as thick as desired. Remove spice bag. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yields 6 pints.

After I made the cauldron of chili sauce, I was so proud of all my hard work over the weekend, that I decided to celebrate by making myself a special sweet treat. Naturally, I wasn't up for anything too involved or complicated, so I chose a quick and simple recipe that has been in my "to-try" pile for months now. I spied it on a blog amusingly titled, How to Eat a Cupcake, where apparently, the readers choose which cupcakes she's going to make each week and then she blogs about how they turned out. The one I chose is a very easy recipe made with pre-fab ingredients (mainly, a box mix and a package of Oreos), but the cupcakes are the best I've ever had! I used half sour cream and half vanilla yogurt in the batter, and they turned out sturdy but soft, and freckled with rich Oreo bits and chunks. On the bottom of the cupcakes, you will find a little surprise--half an Oreo as a crispy base for the tender cake above. The frosting is perfect, too--buttery, creamy, and not too sweet, even with the cookie bits mixed in. And the recipe makes just enough to adequately frost the two dozen cupcakes without lending itself to frosting overload. (Mind you, I say this, and I don't even like frosting as a general rule.) These cupcakes are just delicious! You have to try them!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
(Source: How to Eat a Cupcake)
Makes 22 to 24

30 Oreo cookies
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream (or 1/2 cup sour cream plus 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
2. Count out 12 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining 18 Oreos between sheets of waxed paper or in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.
3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cup­cake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.
4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you plan to freeze them, don't add the cookie-crumb frosting. Wrap them in aluminum foil or in a cake saver and freeze for up to six months. Thaw the cup­cakes overnight in the refrigerator and top with frosting before serving.

Cookies and Cream Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
remaining crushed Oreos

Mix together butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt until it’s creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until its smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

The Crimson Tide

"Where the HELL have you been??!!"

You have every right to demand to know, but if you'd just take a peek at your calendar--or take a walk through your vegetable garden--I think you'd be able to make a pretty good guess at where I've been, what I've been doing, and why I've been MIA on this blog for more than a week and a half! That's right, dear friends, it's that glorious, crazy, exhausting, delicious time of year at long last. The peak moment that we could only dream of back in February as we started our humble flats of seeds under grow lights in the deep, darkness of winter. It's TOMATO TIME! If you don't believe me, observe. I picked one row on Sunday (and mind you, there are five rows), and this was what I got (picture below). And if you can even conceive of it, I have also been buying tomatoes by the half-bushel. You see, in a weak moment, I offered to teach some canning classes through my college's continuing education program. This Saturday will be my first one, featuring tomatoes and salsa.

So, I've been practicing. I started with whole tomatoes. Surprisingly, I'd never done them before, as I always figured they would be more trouble than they're worth. And guess what? I was RIGHT! By the time I washed, blanched, peeled, deseeded, and halved or quartered the tomatoes, then packed the jars, covered them with hot tomato juice, and processed them in two batches for a total of THREE HOURS, an entire day was gone. And for what? Eight ugly jars that all but exploded in the canner, leaving two inches of unsightly head space and an inch of clear liquid at the bottom. And when you finally get around to using these tomatoes, they are probably going to cook down to practically nothing. If you're making chili or stew or something, you'll no doubt need two jars, or 25% of your yield! Stupid. Totally not worth it. Spend two dollars for a large can of imported Italian San Marzanos at the store and get on with your life!

So my next brilliant idea was to buy one of those tomato press/food mill thingies that old Italian grandmothers use so that I didn't have to peel or seed the tomatoes. I bought another half bushel and went to work. I still needed to wash them, and upon the recommendation of one knowledgeable fellow on the Harvest Forum, after cutting the tomatoes, I gave each one a squeeze to get the excess liquid out so I wouldn't have to cook the sauce down as long. Basically, I was still deseeding them! The press worked pretty well and was easy to use, yielding a beautiful, seedless puree. And the work probably took a couple of hours of active time, then three hours of passive time to cook it down and reduce the puree by half. I got six gorgeous red pints, but a yield which, again, seems pitiful. However, it's concentrated, so one pint will do for a recipe. Still, plain tomato sauce just doesn't do much for me. I want to be able to open a jar, heat it up, pour it over pasta, and chow down. I don't want to have to cook something for three hours initially, then add other things and cook it again before I use it.

So here's the conclusion I've come to, taking me full circle back around to where I started. Canning plain tomatoes is pointless and just not worth the work and expense when commercial products are just as good, or dare I say, superior. However, when the garden tomatoes are exploding and you just can't eat them all fresh, it is a fine idea to put up some tomato sauce. But I much prefer to make a pasta sauce involving other veggies--onions, peppers, squash, herbs, or all of the above. You end up with a better yield, great flavor, and a product that can be used immediately upon opening without further fuss. You are also preserving other things from your garden that will be very welcome in the dead of winter when they are scarce and/or expensive. And best of all, you can have a batch done from unwashed tomatoes to jars cooling on the counter in about two hours. This is possible if you abandon blanching and peeling, which I do happily and with no remorse. If I want a chunky sauce, I just tolerate the little pieces of peel in the sauce, calling it "rustic." But if they offend me, I can always whiz the sauce through the food processor or the blender for 30 seconds and that will take care of the problem. Or the best solution of all, in my opinion, is to take the stick blender to your stock pot of sauce after it's finished cooking. You'll get a smooth sauce, of course, but the bits of peel and any seeds will be dealt with quite effectively.

I tried a different sauce this year, a recipe from my beloved Harvest Forum called Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce, which involved a good bit of red wine and a lot of fresh herbs, among other tasty things. When it finished cooking and I sampled it, I found it pretty acidic (it also calls for red wine vinegar in addition to the red wine), even though I added some extra sugar to counterbalance the flavors. It was late, so I chucked the cooked sauce in the fridge to be jarred and processed the next day. The following day, I liked it much better, and I suspect that it will mellow more in the jars. In fact, I have decided that it would make a terrific pizza sauce, especially if I had cooked it down a little further until it was super-thick. However, I think I prefer the basic Ball Blue Book Seasoned Tomato Sauce that I made last year. That's the one that we'll make in my canning class this weekend, along with Annie's Salsa, of course.

By reading this lengthy post, you have saved yourself three hours and 25 bucks by not having to take my class. And I'll even give you one more bonus gift for free. As I have been up to my...er...eyeballs in red sauce lately, I haven't had much time for any other cooking that didn't involve tomatoes. Plus, school is back in full swing, so I'm working my usual long hours. And my roommate is still in Minneapolis for work, so cooking for one sometimes seems like too much effort. Hence, I have been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. What a sad but typical picture--me, hunched over the kitchen island, eating a sammy while a cauldron of tomato sauce bubbles behind me. Rather, it would be sad, if I hadn't recently invented what may be among the world's greatest sandwiches! I will call it The Fire and Ice Wrap. Here's what you do: you take a sandwich wrap (preferably a red one, like tomato-basil), spread this with a little garlic mayo (mayo with a smashed garlic clove mixed in) and a tablespoon of Wickles' fiery hoagie and sub relish (available in the pickle section of your megamart), then top with thinly-sliced buffalo-style chicken from the deli, slices of smoked provolone, slivers of zesty red onion, and finally--to cool the fire--slices of ripe avocado. Roll, cut in half, plate, and enjoy. This fabulous sandwich will give you the energy and will to make it through even the most tedious of canning projects.

Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce
(Source: posted on GardenWeb's Harvest Forum)

8 cups coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes , about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lbs (I washed but did not peel mine)
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
2/3 cup red wine
1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 5% strength
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon pickling salt (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons!)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar (I used about 1/4 cup)
16 oz. can tomato paste

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, pepper flakes, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently.

Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch of rim (head space). Process 35 minutes for pints jars and 40 minutes for quarts in a boiling water bath. Yield: 8 cups

Fall Preview

My goodness! How unpredictable our weather is of late! On Friday afternoon, it was quite hot and made that much worse by the tail-end winds of Hurricane Hannah whipping up from the south. Sticky humidity is always the worst, but being dehydrated like beef jerky by pummeling winds that blast you with heat is a close second. By the time I got home that day, everything outside was as crispy as I felt, and in desperate need of a good soaking. So yesterday, I got out there and watered and watered until I ran our pump dry, just in time for the late afternoon rains to come...UGH! Friday night, I needed the AC to sleep, but today (Sunday), I woke up and had to resist the urge to run around the house, closing all the windows and finding myself a sweater! Weirdness!

The unseasonably cool temperatures have had strange effects on all of us. The dogs have been crazed, tearing through the house, busting things up and pestering the cats to within an inch of their lives. I, on the other hand, felt less destructive, but equally as frisky and quite inclined to turn on the oven and bake something. I had a few competing ideas, but all involved chocolate. And then, of course, there was the matter of two large zucchini that I harvested yesterday, staring at me on the counter. So that decided it--chocolate zucchini cake it would be! I did an internet search and found two recipes that I couldn't make up my mind between, so I made a combination of the two. I know, I know. You're not supposed to futz around too much with the ingredients when baking, because it's "an exact science," as everyone likes to tell you. But the two recipes were really quite similar, and the only thing that gave me pause was the leavening. One recipe called for a combination of baking powder and soda, and the other called for soda only. I have had the unfortunate experience of exploding chocolate cakes in my past because of improper substitution of leavening, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And what do you know, it turned out AMAZING! It is dark and lush and incredibly moist--and no one would even know that there's zucchini in it unless you told them. Plus, it's so rich, it doesn't even need frosting. Yum!

However, it ended up making enough for a bundt cake and a loaf on the side, so the math-inclined among you may wish to scale the following back by a third or so. But as far as I'm concerned, you might as well make the whole thing and throw the extra loaf into the freezer to enjoy mid-winter. In fact, you could make three large loaves, eat one and freeze two. Now that's the kind of food preservation everyone can get behind! (Barbara Kingsolver would be proud.) As for me, I shall take my big old bundt to work tomorrow to share because it is huge and more than a bit decadent. And I will freeze the leftover loaf to share with Cyd when she comes home...if she behaves herself. ;-)

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake
(Source: adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1995 and a reader who posted a recipe in the comments section of Simply Recipes)

2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably, Hershey's Special Dark)
1 cup vegetable oil (for a lower fat option, swap out some or all of the oil with applesauce)
2 3/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
3 cups zucchini, grated (I peel mine so that it disappears in the cake)
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
2 cups chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet)

powdered sugar to garnish

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray one 12-cup bundt pan and a large loaf pan.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the two squares of unsweetened chocolate with the butter (about two minutes total, stopping and stirring once or twice). Mix in the cocoa powder and set aside to cool a bit.

Beat oil and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until well blended. Slowly add in the chocolate and butter mixture and mix. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Mix in dry ingredients in thirds, alternately with yogurt or buttermilk. Mix in grated zucchini, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about an hour and five minutes for the bundt, 55 minutes for the loaf. Cool cake for about 15 minutes in pans before turning out to cool completely on a rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving*. This is such a moist cake that it will keep (covered) for up to a week.

*Like most cakes of its kind, it's even better if you let it age for at least 24 hours before cutting and devouring.