GG's Tea Party - Nov 23, 2012

Chicken Mandarin Orange Spread Sandwiches

This is slightly out of order, but since I'm still playing catch up from two months ago, I'm not too worried about it.  These pictures are from a birthday party for Nick's Grandma, known affectionately as GG, held the day after Thanksgiving.  GG turned 90 this year and we celebrated in style.

Cucumber-Salmon-Watercress Sandwiches

Specifically, we had an afternoon tea party where hats, of any kind, were required.  Nick and I were in charge of organizing the finger sandwiches for the party.  Nan wanted four different kinds, one of them being a pimento cheese sandwich, because it's not a Southern tea party without the pimento cheese sandwiches.

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Nick and I picked out three other recipes from this list.  A grocery list was compiled between Nick and me in Minnesota, and Chip and Nan in South Carolina.  Some math was required, but Nick and Chip are good guys to have on your team when that happens.  We got the numbers figured out without incident.  Nick's parents did the shopping, plus pimento cheese making, and Nick and I did the prep work (making the chicken and salmon salads, plus the compound butter for the ham sandwiches) Thursday evening, once the Thanksgiving feast had been cleared from the kitchen.

Party Ham Sandwiches

Then, bright and early Friday morning, a whole crew of family and friends gathered around the kitchen island. Uncles worked next to nephews, sisters worked next to brothers, fathers-in-law worked next to cousins, nieces worked next to girlfriends, and everybody pitched in to make hundreds of tiny tea sandwiches in record time.  We had so much help, in fact, that I had nothing to do besides answer the random question and stand back and admire the flurry of activity, as inside jokes and friendly barbs flew back and forth across the counter.  The rookies were included into the fold as though they had always been there, and the whole, wild and crazy assortment of family members became a happy, and quite efficient, team.   It was my favorite moment of the whole weekend.

Spiced Beef Corn Bread Cobbler - Dec 5, 2012

I found this recipe while flipping through our "Sixty-Five Years of Gourmet" cookbook from Chip and Nan.  The book describes this as a "sloppy Joe with a corn bread and cheddar crust."

It was better than that. 

It came together quickly and all the ingredients are pantry staples at our house.  The spices are a mix of all those warm spices I crave this time of year: cinnamon; cayenne; allspice; and ginger.  Adding the cheesy biscuits on top is genius (and I think would be nearly as good with regular biscuits if corn must be avoided).  This also meets the "my Dad would eat this" criteria.

Stuffing with Roasted Winter Squash - Nov 28, 2012

The other downside to never hosting Thanksgiving is that we never have those wonderful leftovers stocking our refrigerator.  The Thanksgiving stuffing is my favorite.  Nick's dad makes great stuffing, but my favorite is the stuffing I grew up with.  I should probably get that recipe from my Mom at some point. 

This was my attempt at recreating my childhood food memory.  I think I may have used a Mark Bittman recipe, but I'm sure that I made enough tweaks to it that he wouldn't recognize it as his.  I know I added a lot more chicken broth than the recipe called for, but my end result was still too dry. 

Yes, I must make it a priority to get Mom's recipe. 

Along with our slightly dry stuffing, I roasted a little winter squash, which Nick and I split between the two of us.  I made it in the pressure cooker, my new favorite way to cook squash (10 minutes!).  Even sub-par stuffing is delicious.

Winter Greens Gratin - Nov 27, 2012

Since Nick and I usually travel for Thanksgiving, I tend to spend the following week cooking things that I would have made for dinner, had I been cooking it.  This recipe caught my eye in the December 2012 issue of Bon Appetit (which I thought was a great issue).  I made it with a motley assortment of greens from our CSA farm and it turned out deliciously.  It was a great use for all those hearty winter greens that show up in our box, that I'm not always sure what to do with.  Thanks to this recipe, I won't have that problem anymore.  This is a rich and satisfying meatless main dish, no turkey needed!

Pumpkin Pie Hors d'Oeurvers - November 16, 2012

Nick and I never host Thanksgiving.  We usually spend that holiday with Nick's parents, who, quite frankly, can cook the pants off of Thanksgiving dinner.  The one downside is that we rarely get to prepare any of those fun Thanksgiving foods.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've never cooked a turkey in my life.  Luckily, this year my sister and brother in law hosted a little pre-Thanksgiving happy hour at their new home, aptly coined "Dranksgiving."  Natalie said I could bring some appetizers to share.



I decided to make single serving pumpkin pies (and bacon-wrapped Brussels sprouts, but I didn't snap a photo of those).  After searching around a bit to find the proper method, I ended up making these in muffin tins.  I used my traditional pie crust recipe, listed below, and the pumpkin pie filling recipe from my "Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book."  Aside from being very tedious, these were just like making a normal sized pumpkin pie.  I did have to keep a close eye on them while baking, because I wasn't sure how long they would take.  As you can see, the middles totally caved in, which may have been due to mis-calculating said baking time.  It was nothing, however, that a little home-made whipped cream couldn't hide.

This was a fun afternoon project, but the real fun came at Dranksgiving, our kick-off to the holiday season.  I hope Nat and Jamie make it an annual event!

Double Crust Pie Pastry

2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 Cup unsalted butter (cold)
1/3 Cup lard (cold)
6-7 Tbsp cold water

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the salt and flour.  Add butter and lard and pulse until you have pea-sized pieces.  Add one Tbsp of cold water at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the dough is just moistened (it should still be very crumbly).  Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and form into two equally sized balls.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 20-30 minutes.  Roll out as needed for your pie recipe.

For more mini-pie inspiration see here, and here

Chickpea and Tomato Stew - Nov 15, 2012

Chickpea and tomato stew, or, a very Americanized version of Chana Masala, if you will.  Nick and I like to follow up our meat-centric meals with a little vegetarian love.  It helps us feel balanced and not overly indulgent.  Our digestive systems thank us, as well.  After that Kima curry, however, I was still craving a bowl of warm, spicy, hearty something over rice.  This is what I came up with.  I searched around a bit online until I found a recipe that sounded good to me, while accommodating what we had stocked in the pantry.  Of course, two months later I can't for the life of me find the one I used.  It's one of the many hazards of delinquent posting, I guess.

It appears to be onions, my home-canned tomatoes, chickpeas, and some fresh green herb (Cilantro?  Parsley? Your guess is as good as mine.), combined with garlic, ginger, and some warm Indian spices (Curry powder? Cinnamon? Tumeric? Garam Masala? I can't rightly say.), and served over the aforementioned bowl of Jasmine rice.  For my own future reference, here are some recipes involving similar ingredients:

Chana Masala from Smitten Kitchen
Chickpea Tomato Stew with Moroccan Flavors from epicurious
Chickpea Tomato Curry from Chowhound*

*this seems closest to the one I used.

Kima Curry - Nov 14, 2012

This is another one of our treasured recipes from JJ, my sister-in-law, an amazing cook, and someone that always inspires me.  According to JJ, Kima Curry is a Kenyan ground beef curry.  According to me it is an amazingly flavorful dish to make with a pound of ground beef, a can of tomatoes, and some rice.  My Mom made countless meals with those same three mid-western kitchen staples when I was growing up.  I think they could be considered the busy mom's go-to ingredients for a quick weeknight dinner, able to be combined in a myriad of ways.  Well, this rendition is now firmly on my list.  I love that the addition of a few herbs and spices makes these familiar ingredients come together in a new and interesting way.   The recipe is from the cookbook, "Extending the Table," and can be found online here.  Nick and I both really enjoyed it, and this dinner also meets my "My Dad would eat this" criteria, meaning that I could make this for dinner on a night that he joins us and he (a notoriously picky eater) wouldn't go hungry.

What the Pho? - Nov 8, 2012

How sad that I'm posting a dinner from a full two months ago.  Oh well, I'm sure you all know how busy things get around the holidays.  Better late than never, I say.  This is the Vietnamese dish known as pho.  Nick and I make ours from the recipe in "The Splendid Table's How to Cook Supper," by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift.  The cookbook was a gift from my sister, Kate, a couple Christmases ago.  I utilize the recipe for the Cheaters' Asian Broth all the time, but rarely do we go all out with the whole pho recipe.  It's excellent, especially when feeling a little under the weather.  I hear it's a brutal flu season this year, so keep this one within easy reach. 

Pork Chops with Apples and Shallots

I have been a terrible blog contributer lately and I have no excuse! We have been eating, of course, but am lacking inspiration and creativity these days. I need new ideas for every day meals! This is a dish I have made before and enjoy this time of year. The apples are among the last of those we picked earlier this fall in Maryland. I also made some wilted spinach and heated up the "cheesy potatoes" leftover from our Thanksgiving dinner contribution.

Four Bean and Beef Chili - Nov 3, 2012

This was good chili.  I made it in the crock pot to sustain Nick and I through a football Sunday, and I didn't really follow a recipe.  I used two cups worth of a motley assortment of dried beans that I found in the cupboard.  The mix included pinto, red kidney, black, and snow caps (an heirloom variety from Rancho Gordo).  For vegetables, in addition to the quart of home-canned tomatoes, I chopped up an onion and a carrot or two, plus some cubed sweet potato that I had leftover from another dinner.  I also added a pound of ground beef.  Once the beef and beans were cooked (I used the pressure cooker for the beans!), I tossed everything into the crock pot and seasoned with chili powder, cumin, coriander, smoked Spanish paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper.

It turned out deliciously.  We topped our bowls with sour cream, shredded sharp cheddar and some crumbled corn tortilla chips.

CSA Hash - Nov 2, 2012

Another hash made from a mish-mash of our CSA goodies and garnished with a fried egg and cheesy toast.  This version contains turnips, carrots, potatoes, onions, kale, and bacon.  Nick and I usually do this earlier in the day than dinner, but too late to really call it breakfast.  Maybe it qualifies as a late lunch?  I'm happy, however, to eat it any time of day.

Honeynut Squash with Warm Wild Rice and Kale Salad - Nov 1, 2012

Nick and I made a similar dinner last year.  This go around I used my pressure cooker to prepare the squash, so it was cooked in about ten minutes.  These Honeynut squash that we get from our CSA share are so cute I can hardly stand it.  Each is about the size of a large russet potato, and a perfect serving size.  They are also, of course, delicious.

The salad is made of wild rice (also made in the pressure cooker), roasted kale leaves, dried cranberries, and feta cheese crumbles.  I served the salad warm with dinner, but it is equally good at room temperature or even chilled.  Because of this, it makes a nice lunch for packing.

Moroccan Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes - Oct 25, 2012

A recipe shared and recommended by JJ, this chicken stew was a delicious use of some of our sweet potatoes.  I changed up a few things...first, I used chicken breasts rather than the thighs called for in the recipe, but only because that was what I had on hand.  I think this would be even richer with thigh meat.  Next, I served this over white jasmine rice rather than couscous, which probably makes it a little less "Moroccan."  JJ's notes stated that she uses rice, so I followed her lead here.  I think any grain would be an easy substitute. The rice was quite nice.



Nick and I really enjoyed this dinner.  In fact, it made enough so that we were able to enjoy it twice. 

Roasted Poblano "Hot Dish" - Oct 22, 2012

This is what Nick and I did with those Poblano peppers that didn't go into our roasted peppers and onions dinner.  I am having trouble remembering where I found the recipe, but I know there was a recipe.  This did not come out of my brain.  Perhaps I will need to ruminate on my source a bit more and update this when my memory starts behaving again.

What I do remember about this dish is that I roasted the Poblanos over the flames from our gas stove and then sliced them into wide, flat halves.  These were layered into a loaf pan with chopped, canned tomatoes and Cotija cheese, like a lasagna.  The last layer is crumbled corn tortilla chips.  This baked until the cheese melted, which didn't take long.  We topped our servings with sour cream and served it alongside some of the cornbread I made for another dinner.

The dish had great flavor, with a little heat from the peppers, but it was a bit soggy.  If I repeat this, I may layer in some additional tortillas to help absorb some of the liquid from the tomatoes and peppers.

Peppers and Onions over Cornbread - Oct 20, 2012

Nick and I had a large bag of assorted peppers from our CSA deliveries in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  This colorful dish was what we came up with.  We used a recipe from our 'How to Cook Everything' book for sauteed peppers and onions.  Mark Bittman attributes this recipe to his mother and mentions that it was a staple at his house when he was growing up.  I traditionally think of these ingredients being combined with sausage (and there is a recipe for that too), but it was nice to let the peppers shine here.



Here is our colorful pile of peppers and onions ready to go into the pan.  I reserved the dark green poblanos for another use, but all the rest got thrown into the mix.



I also used a cornbread recipe from the same cookbook.  It is, after all, how to cook everything.  It's a very standard cornbread recipe and the only thing I changed was using coconut oil in place of the oil called for.  Nick and I like the slight hint of tropical flavor that coconut oil brings to the table, although I'm sure it's not for everyone. 

This is a fine way to use up a bounty of peppers, and we enjoyed our dinner.

Apricot-Glazed Ribs - Oct 7, 2012

One of Nick's and my favorite Sunday suppers, especially during football season, are these amazing ribs.  The recipe is an old one, that has shown up here before.  We've even made them for Jaime and Richie once when they stopped by during one of their tours of the Midwest.



So there's nothing really new here.  This is not a recipe that I tweak.  Mostly because it's so perfect, and simple as it is.  That being said, I did mistakenly purchase St. Louis style ribs, which have a lot more fat on them than the called for baby backs, which changed things up a bit.  Specifically, there was quite a bit more fat to cook through, and so the meat wasn't as tender as it normally is.  Also, these things were so rich...pretty overpoweringly so.  We have some leftovers.



Nick and I served these with a side of delicata squash from our CSA box.  I think delicata might be my current favorite squash variety.  And, here's something else that I'm excited about...I cooked this squash in my pressure cooker.  Yep, my shiny Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker that's been sitting neglected in the back of a cupboard for the past 6 years or so.  Ellen reminded me that I should pull it out and play with it when she asked to borrow it for a baked bean recipe of her grandmother's.  Now I'm rediscovering how wonderful it is to be able to cook squash in 10 minutes, and rice in five.  And beans in 20 minutes!  This thing is revolutionizing our weeknight dinner options, especially since I've been so much busier lately.  Stay tuned for more pressure cooking fun. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread - Oct 6, 2012

It snowed today in Minneapolis.  SNOW.  You know what I like to do on snowy days?  Bake.  I think I may make some peanut butter cookies later this afternoon.  But for now, let's talk about this pumpkin chocolate chip bread that I love this time of year.  This is my mother-in-law, Nan's, recipe.  I have, of course, made some tweaks to it.  I find it entirely irresistible (as previous posts can attest to). 

Here is how the recipe has evolved:

4 eggs
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1 C coconut oil
2/3 C water

Mix these together with an electric mixer

3 1/2 C flour

Mix into above mixture one cup at a time

1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t ground cloves
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cinnamon

Mix into batter

2 C sugar

Mix

1 C chocolate chips
(I use the Pound Plus 72% Dark Chocolate bar from Trader Joe's and pound it into small, roughly chip-sized pieces)

Mix in chocolate and pour batter into two sprayed and lined loaf pans.  Bake at 350 deg F for 45 min.  After initial 45 min, cover pans with foil tent and bake for an additional 40 min, or until toothpick inserted in center pulls out cleanly.




The coconut oil is my addition, and I love the subtle coconut flavor it imparts.  I've also increased the spices a bit to make their contribution richer and deeper.  The chocolate chunk method is extra work, but I love the little surprise the erratically sized "chips" bring to the experience.

Snow, or no, this is a lovely recipe to make on an October afternoon.

Potato Leek Soup with Tarragon and Truffle Oil - Oct 2, 2012

It's been raining most of the day here in Minneapolis, which I'm so grateful for, after our very dry summer.  Rainy days seem made for soup, even if this soup appeared much earlier in the month.  Just because it's long gone from our bowls, doesn't mean it's too late to talk about it here.  This simple soup is one of my go-to recipes* for an easy, but delicious dinner.  When we received potatoes and leeks in our CSA delivery, it was a given that this would show up on our table.  I dressed this version up with some fresh tarragon and a drizzle of luxurious truffle oil.  This was belly-filling and spirit-lifting...just what one needs on a rainy day.

* I omit the yogurt and cream and puree all the other ingredients together for a smooth, creamy texture with no dairy needed.

Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Saute Greens and Mashed Potatoes - Sept 21, 2012

Picking up where I left off, a month or so ago (!), here is our dinner from September 21st.  It's pretty self-explanatory, really.  Nick and I sauteed the pork chops on the stove top, and then tossed our bag of saute greens from the CSA box in with the juices left over from that process.  The potatoes are boiled and then passed through a potato ricer for perfect fluffiness every time.

Life is busy, and consequently I find I have less desire to blog about our eats of late.  In fact, planning and cooking in general has seemed more of a chore than a pleasure in the past several weeks. It's not an excuse, but an explanation, Dinner Clubbers. I am hoping to find my inspiration again soon, and I think with the cooler weather approaching I will start to get excited about cooking heartier fall and winter dishes.

I have more to post from the last four weeks and I will try to stay consistent and motivated in my blogging in the weeks to come.

Jess & Nick's CSA Deliery #11 - Sept 20, 2012

CSA delivery number 11 is here.  In it I found poblano peppers; Japanese rose daikon radishes; cauliflower; tomatoes; peppers; more peppers and more celery; golden beets; leeks; and desiree potatoes.  Not pictured are green and red baby romaine lettuce, spigarello, garlic, onions, saute mix, and edamame.

Thank you Harmony Valley Farm!