Meat is not something I really love - I can take it or leave it. But I have a really hard time getting excited about anything that bills itself as vegan or vegetarian. A friend recently cooked and served a vegan chili for a meeting I was attending and before I even tried it I felt sorry for myself for having to eat it. I assumed it was going to be loaded with some weird fake meat. It turned out to be a Rick Bayless recipe, one I enjoyed immensely, have cooked myself and passed along. There's no fake meat - it's really a rice and beans dish. I cooked it for a crowd of over 100 for a catering event, along with the usual suspects (chopped fresh cilantro and red onion, jalapeno rounds, hot sauce, sour cream and shredded Jack) and had zero left over. Being a RB recipe the chili is really healthy, though you can throw it all off kilter with the addition of dairy. I like my chili flourished with a burst of cilantro and red onion.
On the other end of the vegan-carnivore spectrum is the two-meat-feast that has become our modus operandi for holiday entertaining. It's decadent, to be sure, and extraordinary, in the truest sense of the word. This year our Thanksgiving buffet included the traditional turkey but also a beef tenderloin. My good friend Robin counseled me through my first beef tenderloin this summer. It's really quite simple. The hardest thing for me was overcoming my fear or ruining an expensive piece of meat. But if you follow Ina Garten's straightforward method you can't go wrong. Well, you can if you cut it poorly. I had a helper at a party this summer who cut the gorgeous filet in very thin slices reducing it to a deli platter of roast beef. That was unfortunate. My husband did the honors at Thanksgiving, and set out of gorgeous platter of nearly one-inch thick slices, plated in an overlapping line on a long platter.
And somewhere in the middle are the smaller portions of animal protein we eat most nights. Four ounces of that beef filet has just under 3 grams of saturated fat. I generally serve 4 to five-ounce portions of lean animal protein, including fish and skinless chicken breasts. That amount suits our bodies and never weighs us down. My portions are always challenged by the butcher or fishmonger, though. I guessing it's a combination of them trying to drive sales and me purchasing smaller portions than most. What size portions do you serve at home?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Zero to Two: Pondering meat quantity
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
On Steve Jobs and Potato and Maui Onion Soup
I've been thinking about making this soup since last week when Steve Jobs died. The link? Kona Village Resort, where my husband and I honeymooned (sixteen years ago this week!) and spent several subsequent family vacations. Jobs was a frequent visitor there and we saw him once or twice.
There were strict but unstated rules about technology at Kona Village: no phones, devices or laptops allowed on the beach (or really in the public areas). There were no telephones or televisions in the hales (thatch roofed bungalows). Being at KVR meant unplugging. Relaxing. But no one ever bothered Steve, who I recall on one particular morning, plunking away on his laptop on the lanai, as other guests mingled between tables and the outdoor breakfast buffet.
The food there was good. Entrees were not usually anything to write home about but the fresh fruit, local veggies and fish were always wonderful. Two things were my favorite on the menu: the French Toast, which I ate with ying-yang puddles of maple and coconut syrup, and the Cream of Potato and Maui Onion soup. Both contained enough dairy fat to sink an outrigger canoe.
KVR made other food introductions for me. Thanks to the generosity of my west coast family for whom a trip to Hawaiʻi is just a hop, skip and a jump, I almost always have a bottle of coconut syrup and a jar of Volcano Island White Honey in my pantry.
Kona Village suffered substantial damages as a result of the March 2011 tsunami and has been closed since. I do hope they reopen. Where else can you wake to the delicate but relentless chirping of a thousand birds? Where else can you watch a donkey picking its way over a hardened mass of black lava? Where else is the air is scented by plumeria? Next door at the Four Seasons Hualalai? Death first!
Well, soup first, anyway. Now is a good time of year to pick up a sweet onion. I got a fairly generic one at Trader Joes. Other varieties of sweet onions include Vidalia, from Georgia, and Walla Walla, from Washington State. Just pick up a big one. I use a scale for this soup to make sure the proportions are right, though I did include rough estimates so you can make the soup without a scale.
Potato and Maui Onion Soup
Print recipe only here
INGREDIENTS
2 T olive oil (or 1 T oil and 1 T unsalted butter)
1 large sweet onion - Maui, Vidalia - trimmed and chopped (250 g)
4 medium-large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped (500 g)
32 ounces Imagine Organic chicken broth
1/2 cup water
Salt and fresh ground white pepper (if you have it, otherwise use black)
METHOD
Set a medium-large soup pan over a medium flame and add the olive oil (or combination with butter). Add the onion and turn down the flame a bit. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the potatoes and stir to combine. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add the broth and water and bring to a low boil. Turn down flame and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Turn off heat and allow to cool. If you are in a rush, transfer it to a bowl and set that bowl in a bigger bowl filled with ice. Stir until the soup is at room temperature.
Blend the soup, working in batches, and strain through your finest mesh strainer into a clean soup pot. Reheat and taste for seasoning. If it's too think you can add more stock or dairy (nonfat, lowfat, heavy cream - your choice, but please no that the soup is plenty cream without the addition of any dairy). But if you deem it too thick you can add up to a cup of liquid.
Serve and enjoy.
If you want to fancy it up a bit, you could add one of three accoutrements:
1. Sautéed leek - Trim white park of leek into 3 inch pieces, then cut in half so you have two half circles. Separate the leaves a bit, then slice very thin strips. Sauté gently in a bit of olive oil until just softened, then spoon them into a light, floating puddle in the center of the soup.
2. Chives - finely chopped and scattered in the center of the bowl.
3. Old school dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche, in the center.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Quick and Hearty Mexican Beef You Won't Want to Share
I always feel just a little bad when I won’t share with my dog. He got up from his nap only because I was reheating leftover Poblano Beef. He even followed me upstairs (he rarely does the stairs anymore) so I would take pity on him and toss him a bite. It just doesn't seem right to try poblanos on him at this point in the game.
The recipe below is (slightly) adapted from Rick Bayless' great cookbook, Mexican Everyday. It's quick, easy, healthy (if you use a nice lean beef) and incredibly flavorful. And amazingly enough, even though I wasn't planning on making it this week, I had the critical ingredients on hand: three poblano peppers and two lean sirloin steaks from Trader Joe's. The steaks were supposed to be used for Coriander Dry-Rubbed Steaks with Avocado Salsa later in the week, but the timing of my ripening avocados wasn’t going to be right.
Anyway, you simply must try the Poblano Beef sometime - if only for the possibility of leftovers for lunch. As good as it was for dinner, it was even better for lunch the next day.
Poblano Beef
Print recipe only here
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
3 fresh poblano peppers
1 T canola oil
1# lean sirloin steak, cubed
1 medium onion, sliced
3-4 medium potatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic, pressed
½ cup water, beer, beef broth or white wine
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
METHOD
First, roast the poblanos. I did this on my stovetop - just put them right on the burner over the flame and turn them with tongs. You could also broil them. You want them nice and charred - it’ll take at least 5 minutes. When they’re done, place them in a bowl, cover them with a plate or towel and reserve until cooled.
Get all your veggies prepped, the onions, garlic and potatoes. And cube the beef. Don’t forget to dry it with paper towels.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle the beef with salt and add to the skillet, browning it all over. Transfer the beef to a plate once browned.
Add the onions and potatoes to the skillet and cook over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes. Then add the garlic. Sauté together for another minute, then add the water/stock/beer and Worcestershire.
Reduce heat to low and cook about 7-8 minutes.
Meanwhile, rub the blackened skin off the poblanos and peel off the inside membrane and remove the seeds and tops of the peppers. Rinse to remove the remaining bits of seeds and skin, and then cut into strips, about ¼-inch wide. Add the poblano strips to the skillet and continue to cook for a few more minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Return the beef to the skillet and heat thru. Sprinkle with cilantro and add more salt if necessary. Serve and enjoy.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Best Seasonal Addition to Coffee
Updated from the Pinch Archives
Many a coffee purist would shudder the thought of adding eggnog to coffee, but not this one.
I've loved the eggnog latte for years, since my days frequenting Monorail Espresso in the nation's espresso capital. No Portland, not you.
The eggnog latte is probably loaded with as many calories as one of those Dunkin' Donuts muffins I've heard tale of (700-plus, if memory serves). I don't want those calories to end up on my tail, so I steer clear of Starbucks this time of year.
But this, this most wonderful lowfat eggnog from the good folks at Horizon, fills the void. The easiest way to enjoy it is to pour an inch or so into your mug and zap it up in the microwave for 10 seconds or so. Then fill your mug the rest of the way with coffee. Yum. Oh, and don't add sugar - the eggnog is pretty sweet. [2009 update: This year, thanks to Miss Sylvia, I'll be cocktailing my eggnog with an equal amount of nonfat milk (about 2 ounces each) and steaming the the elixir for a delicious double short eggnog latte. And it will be nice and good.]
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Best Muffin of the Season
Today really began at the farmer's market. But it didn't get good until I pulled these pumpkin muffins out of the oven later in the morning.
They are so light and airy, so perfectly soft. And they mix up pretty quickly - I had them mixed, baked and served in not much more than 30 minutes. Pumpkin has hit the shelf of every grocery store in the continental US by now.
I topped half the batch with streusel as a sop to the children. It's early in the fall, and they sort of forgot that they like pumpkin. But streusel they KNOW they love.
Pumpkin Muffins
Print recipe only here
Makes one dozen muffins
INGREDIENTS
½ cup canola oil
scant 1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
½ t salt
¾ t cinnamon
scant ½ t nutmeg
1/3 cup buttermilk
METHOD
Spray a muffin tin with canola spray and preheat oven to 350° (or 300° convection)
Cream canola oil and sugar in a mixer with paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes.
Add pumpkin puree and eggs and mix well to combine.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Add one half of the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend slowly for half a minute.
Add buttermilk and mix.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Finish mixing by hand with a spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of bowl to incorporate.
Transfer to greased muffin tin (I like to use an ice cream scoop to do this). If you want to use streusel add it on here, just 1-2 teaspoons atop each unbaked muffin.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until just done. Cool for five minutes in the pan, then serve. Can be stored in a covered container at room temperature for a few days - but they're best right outta the oven.
Monday, October 26, 2009
On the Menu This Week
I've mentioned about the seasons in Chicago, right? How there are more than four? It's sort of like Eskimos and snow for me...lots of kinds of seasons. Here they are, enumerated:
1. Summer (Memorial-Labor Day)
2. Back to School (Labor Day-September 30)
3. Fall (October 1-24)
4. Holiday (October 24-January 1)
5. Long Monkey Winter (January 2 -Spring Break)
6. Soggy Spring (Spring Break-May 14)
7. Spring (May 15-31)
We are squarely in Holiday right now with Halloween around the corner. We got jiggy with costume-making this year, and are festooned with pumpkins and Brach's Candy Corn, the only candy corn. Soon enough we roll into Thanksgiving and Christmas, with even more decorating, cooking and caroling. Holiday is AWESOME! I love Holiday as much as I loathe Long Monkey Winter. Chicago's cold, interminable drear of January, February and March remains a sticking point for me. I don't think I'll ever stop missing the sparkle of sun on snow in the mountains.
Anyway, the outside temperature is inversely proportional to the magnitude of hot peppers used in the Pinch kitchen. I'm not talking about full-on SPICY food, here - just a little sprinkle of cayenne here and an extra shake of chili flakes there does wonders for raising your body temp, keeping you toasty and just maybe fighting infection. It's like Green Eggs - just try it and you may like it.
Tomorrow will feature Adventures in Mole, Part 2, when Araceli (of Mole Verde fame) teaches me a red mole. I shopped for the chilis recently - pasilla, ancho and mulato - they're big and plump and I can't wait to try em.
Also on the menu this week is Rice Penne Pasta with Lemon and Artichoke Hearts, Salmon Sandwich with Dill Aioli, Chicken Pesto Salad with Jicama and Late Season Tomatoes, Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Broccoli Rabe and an Asian-inspired night including Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Wonton Soup.
Oh, and I'm learning how to steep my own Yogi tea! Will include that recipe once I get it down. Happy Holiday!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Ice cream, not just a summertime treat
I mentioned the horrible Chicago summer, right? Well, today, mid-Labor Day Weekend, it is going to rain. And I was going to paint my front stairs!
Instead, I will be installed in my kitchen. I'm making salsa verde (roasting tomatillos and various peppers harvested from my neighbor's CSA delivery) and cinnamon ice cream to bring to a rainy BBQ. Both are going to be supergood. I made David Lebovitz's wonderful Chocolate Sherbet the other day, and the mood strikes to make use of my ice cream freezer again. If you choose to make the chocolate sherbet I recommend only doing so with the finest cocoa and chocolate on hand. Oh, and I used nonfat milk since it was an option and was very pleased with the result.
But back to today...Cinnamon happens to be my daughters' favorite ice cream flavor and generally available only from the Pinch kitchen. And it's a lovely accompaniment on the fall dessert plate (thinking about fall fruits and tarts - apples, pears, still available stone fruits - all very cinnamon friendly). Ice cream, despite its frozen state, is not often refreshing enough on a hot summer day; sorbet is preferred for that purpose. As long as it's not too sweet.
Ice creams are so season-inspired. Summertime features Mint, Peach and Strawberry as my favorite flavors. In the fall I always think about Caramel, Espresso and Cinnamon. Mid-winter I'm thinking Coconut (alongside all those tropical fruits) and Prune Armagnac, if only because I once spent a dreary Seattle winter making loads of Prune Armagnac ice cream for a French restaurant.
To be sure, summer has left the building. Cinnamon it is.
Cinnamon Ice Cream
INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 cups milk
* 2 strips orange peel (just take a veggie peeler to an orange and carefully peel JUST THE ORANGE part off the top - try not to get ANY of the white pith on the peel)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 1 t ground cinnamon
* 5 egg yolks
* 2 cups cream
METHOD
1. Whisk together egg yolks in a medium/large mixing bowl.
2. Set a heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat and add milk, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon stick and ground spice. Heat until steaming but not boiling, lower heat and stir until sugar is dissolved (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20-30 minutes.
3. Reheat the mixture to steaming. Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly. This is called TEMPERING. Whisk a few more ladles into the eggs and keep whisking. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk, still whisking away. Set over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly (I like to use a heat resistant spatula at this point, or an odor-free wooden spoon), until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path) - it should take about 5 to 6 minutes. Strain into large bowl and stir in heavy cream. Chill until cold, either in an ice bath or overnight in the refrigerator.
Note: If your heat was too high and the eggs curdled or cooked, just toss the whole thing and start over. There’s no way to save it.
4. When ready to freeze, strain the mixture once more. Process cold cream base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. When it's done spinning, transfer to airtight container, cover well and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.
Got more time to kill?
For a detailed analysis of the myriad reasons the Summer of 2009 was worse than you might have previously perceived, read this from yesterday's WSJ:
The Summer of Our Discontent
Town-hall brawls. Tomato blight. Woodstock nostalgia. Rain. Not hiking the Appalachian Trail. Joe Queenan says good riddance to the summer of '09.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Baking Without Butter: Pumpkin Bundt Cake
This cake was added on to the Thanksgiving menu at the eleventh hour at the insistence of my youngest daughter. Thank goodness! It's a great cake to have around. It was nibbled on by house guests over the weekend.
I made cupcakes out of the same batter last year, and frosted them with Cream Cheese Frosting. They were good, but this lighter cake was much more popular. Besides, what good is it to bake without butter and then slather the finished cake with butter, cream cheese and sugar?
The recipe came from a 1997 issue of Food & Wine which I clipped and stored in my cookbook (my cookbook is a binder filled with page protectors). I've only tinkered with it slightly.
Years ago, at the request of a client in Telluride, I made a pumpkin by baking two bundt cakes and inverting one on top of the other, with a layer of frosting in between. For a stem, I inserted an upside down cupcake in the hole on the top cake. I frosted the orb with orange-tinted cream cheese frosting and the stem with green. It was a hit.
Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Print recipe only here
Makes one 12-cup bundt cake. Half the recipe makes 12 cupcakes or a 6-cup bundt.
Preheat oven to 350°
Spray a bundt pan or muffin tin with canola spray.
Sift together:
* 3 1/3 cups flour
* 1 ½ t salt
* 1 t baking soda
* 1 t baking powder
* 1 T ginger
* 2 t cinnamon
* 1 t nutmeg
* ½ t cloves
In a mixing bowl, beat together (I use my stand mixer here):
* 2 ¾ cup sugar
* ¾ cup canola oil
* 4 eggs
Add and combine:
* One 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
* 2/3 cup warm water
Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix well, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl to incorporate thoroughly. Transfer to the pan and bake (about 25 minutes for cupcakes and about 50 minutes for the large bundt). The cake will be golden, firm and pull from the sides when it is done. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
I've waxed snarky on Rachel Ray in the past, but here's a recipe from her that is great: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. My good friend Crissy fed me these and I loved every bite. Ray Ray calls for something called pumpkin pie spice which I don't buy. If you don't either, just substitute 1 ½ t ginger, 1 t cinnamon, ½ t nutmeg and a pinch of cloves. Read Full Post
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Warm Goat Cheese on Mixed Greens
Remember the late 80s when every restaurant had a warm goat cheese salad on the menu? Neither do I. The late 80s held more SAT prep and college visits than California cuisine for me.
Dating myself here makes me feel so young! This is way better than last week when the report Footloose is 25 years old made me feel like a prune of a lady.
Baked goat cheese on greens has been on the menu at Berkeley's Chez Panisse since the restaurant opened it's doors in 1971. It's a salad I enjoy this time of year, paired with autumnal accompaniments like roasted beets, walnuts and pear.
Warm Goat Cheese on Mixed Greens
Print recipe only here
Serves 4
YOU WILL NEED:
6 cups mixed greens
8 ounces goat cheese
¼ cup bread crumbs mixed with fresh herbs, salt and pepper
For the dressing:
5-6 T olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
½ small clove garlic, pressed
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
Also Wik (Optional):
2 beets, roasted, peeled and sliced
1-2 ripe pears, quartered, cored and sliced
Roasted walnuts or pecans
METHOD
Preheat toaster oven to 350°
In a small bowl combine breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and some chopped fresh herbs if you have them.
Portion goat cheese and flatten into a disc.
Coat the goat cheese rounds in breadcrumbs and place on a baking tray (or refrigerate for later use).
Bake for 10-12 minutes. If using nuts, roast them now for 3-5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine dressing ingredients.
Peel and slice beets or pear.
Remove goat cheese rounds from oven and reserve.
Toss greens in dressing and portion evenly among four plates.
Add beet or pear slices to each plate and scatter roasted nuts.
Add the goat cheese to each plate and serve immediately.
Click here to see Alice Waters' recipe.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Roasting on an Open Fire
This morning as Cold November Rain simultaneously fell and played on my iPhod I happily realized it won't be long until my mix of Holiday Classics takes to the home airwaves. It has been suggested to me that caroling is really only welcome between Thanksgiving and New Year's day. But it's November now. Soon Jack Frost will be nipping at my nose and I'll be cleared for caroling.
I love Christmas carols (the nose-nipping not so much). Christmas carols are the most appropriate way to express holiday cheer. Most carols, anyway. There's nothing appropriate about "Santa Baby," though love it I do.
If the market appearance of eggnog did not sufficiently herald the coming holiday season, then the availability of chestnuts at the market last week surely did. I nearly broke into yuletide song right there among the farmers.
I loved chestnuts as a kid. There was a chestnut tree on the property of the church and we used to huck the burr-encased nuts at each other after Sunday school. Good times. Back at home, my dad oven-roasted them (as far as I know he did not harvest them from the church grounds) and hooked me for life.
Scoring prior to roasting is absolutely essential. Even if they did not explode (the meat expands when roasted) they'd be impossible to peel (twice! Chestnuts have an inner and outer peel) without a starting place. I'm out of practice scoring and my knives are sorely in need of good sharpening so scoring was more difficult than I remembered. I ended up using a serrated utility knife and sawing a small X in each nut.
Roast them in a preheated oven at 350° for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so. Peel the inner and outer layers away to reveal the brainy-looking nut and enjoy.
Friday, October 31, 2008
It's Baaaaack: The best seasonal addition to coffee
Many a coffee purist would shudder the thought of adding eggnog to coffee, but not this one.
I've loved the eggnog latte for years, since my days frequenting Monorail Espresso in the nation's espresso capital. No Portland, not you. Portland doesn't wait for Halloween to dress up as Seattle.
The eggnog latte is probably loaded with as many calories as one of those Dunkin' Donuts muffins I've heard tale of (700-plus, if memory serves). I don't want those calories to end up on my tail, so I steer clear of Starbucks this time of year.
But this, this most wonderful lowfat eggnog from the good folks at Horizon, fills the void. The best way to enjoy it is to pour an inch or so into your mug and zap it up in the microwave for 10 seconds or so. Then fill your mug the rest of the way with coffee. Yum. Oh, and don't add sugar - the eggnog is pretty sweet.
Eggnog lovers, rejoyce! It's eggnog season!
Happy Halloween.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Cranberry Orange Tea Cake
When cranberries popped up at the market last week Cranberry Orange Tea Cake was inevitable. Plus, I wanted something lighter after the butter cake from last week. It's the oil-based (rather than butter based) cakes that we like so much in the Pinch kitchen.
I love this tea cake at the start of fall, with eggnog lattes on the horizon and brilliant oranges and reds coloring the arboreal landscape. It looks like autumn, doesn't it?
There's a short list of truly excellent tea breads and cakes that are just perfect this time of year. What else is on that list? Gingerbread. Rosemary Raisin Bread. Spice cake. Pumpkin cake.
I'll enjoy this last piece with some Irish Breakfast tea at teatime, as long as no one else beats me to it.
Cranberry Orange Tea Cake
Print recipe only here
INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
1 ½ t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
¾ cup sugar
3 T canola oil
1 egg
¾ cup orange juice
Zest of one orange
1 cup cranberries, rinsed
½ cup toasted pecans or walnuts (optional)
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray a 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ loaf pan with canola spray.
If using nuts, toast them on a baking sheet in the oven for 5-10 minutes until fragrant. Allow to cool.
Sift or whisk together dry ingredients.
Add to the bowl of a food processor the sugar, egg, oil, orange juice and zest and process to combine. If you don’t have a food processor, just whisk everything together in a mixing bowl.
Add cranberries and pulse a few times to roughly chop them up. If you’re not using the food processor, just roughly chop the cranberries by hand and add them to the liquid ingredients.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients, add nuts if you’re using them, and combine gently with a few swift strokes.
Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until it pulls away from the sides of the pan and passes the toothpick test.
Let cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Best Recipes for Fall
As much as I love (LOVE!) summer there's always a bit of excitement in the Pinch kitchen when a new season blows in. I've spent the last week enjoying hot tea and warm soups, and even have a batch of maple sugar cookies on the way.
I've also been writing more recipes and have added some seasonal favorites to the recipe catalog. Perusing my personal cookbook is like looking at old photos and recalling events in need of a sequel. Like going to Hawaii. Autumnal bliss only lasts so long. I'll be itching to get out of Dodge as soon as the Bitter Winter Ice Queen rears her ugly head.
Anyway, the trip down memory lane has allowed me to bring some foods back into rotation. Tortilla Soup and the always stupendous Flank Steak Sandwich are two items I haven't made recently. Fall foliage and temperatures always make Chili (shown above left) a warmly received dinner, all the better when the recipe has been pinched of unhealthy fats.
Other newly added recipes I highly recommend are Lentil Soup, a fantastic Chicken Soup with Rice and, for the adventurous shopper, Miso Soup.
Recipe reorganization within RECIPES & MENUS will help you find healthy meals for you to enjoy throughout the year. Happy soup season.
Monday, September 29, 2008
I Picked Them Apples
Gala, McIntosh , Golden Delicious and Jubilee FujiOur annual Indiana apple picking extravaganza was later than usual this year and we missed the Honeycrisp apple picking season. The apples we brought home were consolation enough. Plus, they're still available further north. Honeycrisp season extends into October in northern Michigan, Wisconsin and its native Minnesota and several farmers are still bringing them to market in Chicago.
For those unacquainted with the variety, the Honeycrisp is a product of cross-breeding the Macoun and Honeygold varieties. The coupling produces an apple that is notably crisp and simultaneously sweet and tart. Also, there's less shedding.
So what are we going to do with them apples? Most of them will be eaten whole or with peanut butter. But a few lucky ones will be braised with cider and cinnamon and heaped on tomorrow morning's oatmeal. Mmm. Read Full Post
