Too Busy to Blog

I have been too damn busy to blog. I am also too busy to cook, but I have been doing it anyway. I made Thanktober dinner last Saturday for my family since neither my son or daughter will be home for Thanksgiving. It was pretty good, not my best effort. I couldn't get any chestnuts for the stuffing, it was too early. And I overcooked the pumpkin pie for reasons too complicated to explain.

I will leave you with a cool recipe though. This is from my dear, dear friend Diane in California. It is deceptively simple. It is sooooo good. She made it for me once while she and her husband were visiting. We cooked while drinking copious amounts of champagne, my VERY MOST FAVORITIST DRINK IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Course, I drink copious amounts of champagne ever weekend, but Diane is the only one who likes it as much as I do.

Diane's
Balsamic Glazed Scallops

16 Sea Scallops
seasalt, white ground pepper
1/2 c Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp very shap dijon mustard
1/2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
dash cayenne
4 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs chopped chervil

Pat scallops dry and season with salt and pepper In small bow, whisk vinegar, mustard, tamari and cayenne Heat butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Lay scallops in sizzling butter and cook until crusty brown on first side (about 1 to 2 minutes) Turn each scallop over Immediatly pour vinegar mixture over scallops.
Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until just cooked through spoon remaining glaze around scallops and sprinkle with chevril Serve immediatlely.

A blogger's dilemma

Writing this blog has been more fun than I could have imagined, so far at least. I really need to thank Laura for getting me started on it, as well as for being a good sport about me making fun of her cooking.

(Oh, BTW, guess what I caught her doing NOW? Using lemon juice from a bottle. You know, the concentrated, stale, shelf-stable stuff that never goes bad? Can you guess what I think about that? I would never deny myself the pleasure of reaming a lemon up the behind and smelling its fresh scent as I pour it into or onto whatever it is I am cooking. I LOVE lemons. Remember what Martha Stewart said she missed while in prison? Lemons. Not her family. Lemons. Five days a month, I'm sure I would give the same answer, unless I wasn't properly medicated with large amounts of wine and chocolate.)

All that aside, here is my dilemma: my friends are becoming afraid of me. Prissie and Laura are the only ones about whom I can write with impunity. Within the last two weeks, I ran into the same friend three times at the grocery store. I know this friend doesn't like to cook; she has a great career, and she doesn't have time. I don't care if she doesn't cook, I love her. I love having friends that worship my kitchen abilities. It gives me a way to feel slightly superior. (kidding) So I do my best not to look in her cart. But, inevitably, I can't help but seeing what is in her cart. And I don't say ANYTHING. Nothing. No comment. But she goes pale, and says, "My husband really likes this. You can't use his real name." As if I would skewer him for LIKING some disgusting, pre-packaged dinner. Not so. There is no accounting for taste. Okay, I might skewer someone for liking that stuff, but only if I knew them intimately and knew they could take my (sometimes) good-natured ribbing.

And then there is another good friend. I have been friends with her for years. She is a decent cook. She makes some really good things. I have eaten them. She even invented a meal herself that her husband absolutely loves. He asks for it regularly. And the only reason I would make fun of it is because she calls it "fajitas" although it bears no resemblance to fajitas. Whatsoever. But hey, her family likes it, so what the heck? Anyway, I asked her if I could write a description of it and she said, "No!" Next time, I won't ask first.

You guys gotta loosen up. It is all in good fun. At least until you start making fun of my cooking. But then, there's nothing really to make fun of, is there?

Pie Crust

Beautiful fall weather returns and our thoughts turn to pie. Nothing says "get out your woolies, winter is on its way" quite as much as hot pie. Okay, that was way too sappy for me, but you get my drift.

So, I tried to drag the kids out to the apple orchard last Sunday, but no luck. Seems my two youngest have even now outgrown the simple pleasure of plucking apples direct from the tree, biting into its juicy crispness, and eating it right there in the orchard, thus stealing it from the farmer. I guess I'll have to wait for grandchildren to have the fun of seeing the little kids get excited by a wagon ride again. Time to get crackin', Meagan. Oh wait. You're not married yet. Well, the wedding's next summer, so I'm sure it won't be long after that. No pressure though, honey. Anyway, since I couldn't persuade any kids to go with me, Laura went. It wasn't quite the same, since she didn't want to take the wagon ride and we had to HIKE up the hill to the orchard. I hate hiking. But, I showed her, I complained the whole time, so she'll never ask me to go hiking with her again!

Having lugged home twenty pounds of apples, I had no choice but to make pie.I read a recipe for Ginger Apple Pie and was a little intrigued. But of course I didn't follow the recipe. Instead, I made my Super Simple Pie Crust and threw a filling together. For the filling, I peeled and sliced five apples and then tossed them with 1/2 c brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 3 T cornstarch (I was out of tapioca starch) 1 T lemon juice, 2 T apple cider and two heaping spoonfuls of ginger preserves. Next time I am going to try crystallized ginger instead of ginger preserves.

I actually made two pies and took one of them to a meeting I had to go to. One of the people there was very impressed that I had made my own pie crust. Now ordinarily, I would sneer and say, "Well, of course I made it, what kind of person do you think I am?" but my journey to homemade pie crust has not been easy. I tried and failed many times to make good crust, and once when I used pre-made crusts in desperation, my huisband couldn't tell the difference. So I didn't make pie crust for fifteen years. And then I got sick of paying too much for packaged, and having to go to the store to buy them. I sent my friend this pie crust recipe later that night:

Here is super simple pie crust. I used to use packaged ones, but I read and read many pie crust recipes until I understood what actually needed to happen to have great pie crust. Now, I cannot make a beautiful pie crust to save my soul, one summer I even decided to make a pie every day until I had mastered rolling out crust. Alas, I couldn’t keep up with a pie a day, (putting aside completely my families’ collective waistline) but I did make some progress. Tonight’s crust was not one of my better, and I don’t think I really like the ginger preserves in the pie, but as I said, it was an experiment.

Super Simple pie crust:

2 Cups cold flour (I use pastry flour when I can get it. I store the bag in the freezer so it is ready to go when I am)

1 stick cold butter cut into small pieces

1 tsp vinegar

2-3 T ice water

Put the flour into your food processor, add the butter and process with on/off turns until butter is thoroughly cut in. With processor running, add vinegar and just enough water so that pastry clumps into a ball. You can wrap in plastic and keep for a day or two, or roll out immediately. I use this crust for everything. Most crusts have 2-3 T of sugar added, but I find it unnecessary. I always brush the crust with cream and dust with sanding sugar, which I think adds crispness. My other tip is to use powdered tapioca instead of cornstarch in your filling. It thickens a little better. I hate runny pie!

Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe was sent to my by one of the choir moms. We made it this weekend, and even Alex ate it, which is amazing. I served it as a first course with some croutons made from a day-old baguette. (Melt butter in pan, sprinkle garlic powder, add baguette slices brown on both sides, sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Not from a can, as if I have to say it.) Yes, I know, garlic powder is not normally acceptable, but it is in this case. Because I say so. I also prefer to use homemade stock. In these days of trying to save money, making your own stock is a good strategy, especially since I really only like the expensive kind in the box. For $3.00 each. But hey, you do what you want. Anyway, the soup was really good. Thanks Deb!

I made this with half a butternut squash. I had used the other half a few days earlier to make Butternut squash risotto with sage. While I was doing that, I popped the other half in the oven and roasted it. I kept in the fridge for a few days and it was fine. Next, we must try to make Butternut squash ravioli with browned butter sage sauce. I'll let you know how it goes. A lot of times my ravioli making ends with cursing, but also with some pretty fantastic ravioli.

A head of garlic
A butternut squash
A small handful of fresh basil
ground pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste
salt to taste
heavy cream to finish

Split a butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and put the two halves in a roasting pan "face up" so you can see the inside. Put a pat of butter inside the "bowl" part of each side of the squash. I also slather some butter over the top "smooth" half of the squash, and score it with a knife so that the butter sinks in.

Roast in a 400-degree oven for about an hour, or until the thick part of the squash is easy to slip a butter knife into.

At the same time, take a whole head of garlic and slice off the top part so that you can see a tiny bit of the inside of most of the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, put in a small pan, and roast it in the oven along with the squash. It should only take about half an hour to roast, though. Then remove the garlic and peel it when it is cool. Or roast the garlic however you personally like to roast garlic, I don't care.

When the squash is done, scoop out the insides and place them in a food processor along with the garlic. Put in about 1/4 cup of olive oil, and a can of chicken broth. Start the food processor going. Feed in the fresh basil and keep processing until that's thoroughly chopped. Grind in some salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. A little bit of nutmeg goes a long way.

Then transfer to a pot, and simmer for a while. (Yes, a while. It's not as though anything really needs to cook, but the basil needs to be simmering to get the flavor out.) Depending on the size of the squash, you may want to add in up to another can of chicken broth to get the consistency of soup you want, and to increase the volume because everyone will want some and that way you might possibly get leftovers out of the deal. You might keep adding nutmeg or pepper, it depends on your taste. The thing is, keep tasting, because this is delicious, and there's no sense in your family getting to eat most of it. You're doing all the work.

When you feel like it's done, ladle the soup into bowls. And then, put a splash of heavy cream in the center and swirl it around. You can swirl it into a pattern like they do in fancy restaurants if you want your family to think you're hot stuff, or you can just blend it in like we unpretentious people do. Also, you could use a spoonful of sour cream instead of heavy cream if that floats your boat, but I've tried that and I think plain old heavy cream is best. If you're trying to be calorie-conscious you could go with milk, probably, but I'm not calorie-conscious enough to try it. Who needs to be calorie-conscious when the rest of this recipe is so darned good for you, anyway.

Note: This soup is so healthful that you should probably offset it with the best accompaniment in the world: A Wegmans french baguette and Irish butter. Cut a slice of the bread, smear it with butter, dip it in the soup, totally awesome. This is a good way to taste the soup when it's simmering in the pot. You have to keep making sure it's okay, after all.

Another note: If you can get cheap butternut squash in the fall, load up and they keep for a while. And, you can always roast and freeze...it defrosts just fine for using in the soup.

Yet one more note: If you like garlic, roast up to two heads of garlic and put them in instead of just one. As long as your spouse is also consuming this meal, it shouldn't be a big deal. But you'll be aware of garlic for the next day.

Sometimes You Have to Make a New Plan

Today I was lucky enough to find a tri-tip roast at Wegmans. A tri-tip is a tender, fairly inexpensive cut of beef from the bottom of the sirloin. It is very popular in California, where I lived until I was thirty-two. Since moving to Upstate New York, I have begged the butchers at the grocery to order them, and they have told me they were unavailable. That is if they had heard of them at all. I have found them at a few smaller specialty meat stores in Rochester. So I was happily surprised when I found one at Wegmans today. I plucked it up and dropped it into my cart. I thought I would make Barbecued Tri-tip with Carmelized Onions and Red Wine Barbecue Sauce. I grabbed some baby romaine and a pear to make a quick salad with some blue cheese I had in the fredge at home, and some carrots and parsnips to roast in olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme along with the potatoes I still had from the farm co-op produce from last week. I even considered making a quick foccacia from scratch because Ben is home for a while and he loves it.

When I got home, I dragged the kids out to help prepare the driveway to be sealed tomorrow. They all lasted about twenty minutes, so I worked for two hours and did it all by myself.

We ordered pizza.

Cooks Who Have Influenced Me

1. My Mom. My mom is the most amazing cook ever. She cooks everything fearlessly and with great style and panache. She travels with a lemon reamer in her RV, and in my opinion, that is the mark of someone who will produce fabulous meals wherever she goes. Or at least lemony ones.

There used to be a show on the travel channel called "Great Chefs of the World". The show would go to the most exclusive restaurants in the world and show their chefs cooking world-class cuisine. Meals that would easily cost you $100.00 a plate. Well, my mom is the only person I know who ever attempted to make one of the recipes from that show. Now we're not talking about accessible, tailored to the home cook food. We're talking cuisine. When Mom is visiting she and I cook together, but most of the time, she is driving the bus. She has great ideas, and even better, when she is here she pays for most of the food. So one day she says, "Hey, I made the most amazing salmon, with mango, melted brie, tomato coulis, napa cabbage, all sitting on top of Parmesan mashed potatoes. Now, my first thought was, "You're kidding. That sounds disgusting!" But I just looked warily at her and said, "Um, okay, sounds good." So off to Wegman's we went and procured the vast array of ingredients needed to make this dish. It took a long time. We came back and she started the elaborate preparations, while I kept my reservations to myself about how these tastes would intermingle with each other. Well, boy, was I wrong. But I should have known better. It was FANTASTIC! Even my kids liked it. It took hours to make, but it was worth it. My mom is the only one I know who could pull it off. Oh, except me. I have since made this dish. I would love to publish the recipe, but alas, I cannot. And even if I did, most people would be too intimidated to make it. BUT, you can buy the recipe for .25 from the Great Chefs of the World. Or you can beg me for a dinner invitation and bribe me with cheap champagne to cook it for you. You never know, I just might do it.

I have many more stories to tell about Mom's fabulous cooking. And I will. Stay tuned. Next up on Chefs who Have Influenced Me: the Galloping Gourmet. More from the kitchen later.

Tastefully Stupid

Have you ever been to one of those parties where the hostess is actually a shill for some product you don't really want or need? Well, I certainly have, and really I shouldn't bitch about it too much, as my great-grandfather actually invented the home-product party. So all of my family money, of which I personally have none, came from the home-party business. But all of that aside, I have been to the ones where they pitch beer bread mixes and assorted dip mixes. And yeah, after about four glasses of wine I coughed up fifty bucks for assorted seasoning mixes, marinades, and no-work pound cakes.

Of course after I sobered up I felt really stupid. Those mixes are a complete rip-off! Most of the products can be reproduced at home for one-tenth the cost and not much more work.

Take the beer bread mix, for instance. For around $7.00 a box you get a mix to which you have to add one 12 ounce bottle of beer and 3 T of butter. Guess what? To make it at home the only other things you need are: 3 C of flour, 1 T of baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 3 T of brown sugar. And the homemade one comes out with a nice crisp crust and a more robust, fuller flavor. For exactly one minute thirty seconds more work. Try it this fall, and save your money for something you need. Like an organic flour baguette at Wegmans with some really expensive cheese. Or smoked Maldon sea salt.

Beer Bread

3 C all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
3 T brown sugar
12 ounces of beer
4 T melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients. Pour in beer and stir to combine. Pour into prepared(that means greased) loaf pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes.