Conquering Broiling

Minutes spent doing psych GRE review, 0; minutes spent working on the incredibly lame beginnings of a personal statement, 15; minutes spent reading Northanger Abbey, 150.

Like many good stories I know, this one starts not with my own experiences but with someone else's. I was testing with a coworker, and he was relating to me his very eventful night, which included winning at a poker tournament he was trying to lose at because he wanted to leave and then getting drunk at a local bar and challenging the bartender to a cook-off. I then asked whether he knew how to cook at all, and he answered that he doesn't, really, actually - but sometimes he'll just make something up out of nowhere, like once he marinaded chicken in pomegranate juice and then sprinkled the seeds over. As far as I know, the bartender hasn't called him to schedule the cook-off, but I was really more intrigued by the pomegranate idea anyway.
You know how sometimes something sticks in your mind, and resists being a fleeting thought? There needed to be pomegranate chicken.
A online search brought up almost immediately a post on words to eat by (the first blog I ever started reading, way before appetitive came to be), which sounded beautiful. I can't hold a candle to Debbie's photos, but mine came out rather prettily as well if I do say so myself.

I did sneak a taste of marinade before the chicken went in, and adjusted the juice up a bit to counteract the balsamic. It's really tasty. (POM juice has an online site with a bunch of other recipes to try as well, if you're like me and now are wondering what to do with the rest of a giant juice bottle . . . the grilled eggplant, pomegranate vinagrette, and pretty much any of the drinks are ones I'd go to first.) This was actually the first time using the broiler on this particular oven, and I am still mystified by it being so close to the floor, but it did a splendid job on the chicken keeping it nice and moist. Though I like the chicken as is, I don't think this fully comes into its own until you have the sauce with it - oh my gosh, that's good.

POMEGRANATE CHICKEN
adapted from Debbie's recipe at words to eat by

1/4 to 1/2 c pomegranate juice
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 scant Tbsp honey
1/4 c olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves
1-2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp salt
cracked black pepper
boneless, skinless chicken breasts

In a large measuring cup or bowl mix together all the marinade ingredients. Taste and adjust the pomegranate juice and other seasonings. Place the chicken in a ziploc bag and pour the marinade over. Seal the bag tightly and place in a bowl; let marinade in the refrigerator for at least half an hour (mine was in 2 hours).
Preheat the broiler. Cover a broiler pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Place the chicken on the broiler pan and cook for about five minutes a side. When the chicken's done, remove from the pan and let rest for five minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, place the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for several minutes until it reaches a suitable consistency. Serve the chicken with the sauce spooned over.

Quaker Has Nothing on Alton Brown

You know, I completely racked my brain trying to write this post today (you can tell it was a verrrrry slooooooooooow workday), and I came up with nothing.
Oatmeal, you see, is simply not going to be gussied up and paraded around. Oatmeal is comfort food, when it's cold out in the morning; it is substantial food, when you have an early morning drive ahead of you; and most importantly, oatmeal, as I found out, is lazy food. This is not the only reason to make this recipe - for instance, you get better quality oats and far better taste and far less strange-sounding preservative-related words than a regular packet of instant - but it's definitely a selling point for me.
Granted, you do need to start this the night before, but with about a minute of prep time it's not that big a deal. I had a moment of panic the next morning when I spooned it out of the crockpot and found it just slightly sour, but the lightest sprinkle of salt and a half-spoonful of brown sugar later - magically delicious. I'd advise you to taste first before that though; I found out my parents had tried the same recipe last winter and found it too sweet. I'm not certain if this is because I used a bit less fruit, or because I and AB share a sweet tooth, but either way. I have never really been a fan of your so-called breakfast foods (I maintain that the three best things to eat for breakfast are, in no particular order, leftover pizza, leftover Chinese takeout, and leftover tuna casserole), but the next time oatmeal crosses my mind, this is definitely going to be it.
There are no pictures here (sorry, Adam) sadly, in part because when you are rushing around in the morning it is not the optimal time to be playing around with the camera, and secondly because well, oatmeal isn't the most photogenic of foods to begin with.

OVERNIGHT OATMEAL
adapted from Alton Brown via the Food Network

1 c steel-cut oats (such as McCann's Irish)
3/4 c dried cranberries
3/4 c dried tart apples
4 c water
1/2 c half-and-half
1 good slug of vanilla extract, probably about a tsp or so

Spray the inside of a small (mine is 3 1/2 qt) crockpot with nonstick cook spray. Pour in everything a stir a bit to combine. Cover and set the crockpot to low. Let cook for eight to eight and a half hours.
Happily, leftover oatmeal can be refrigerated and individual size portions can be reheated successfully in the microwave, on high for about 2 minutes (stir well after heating; you may want just a splash of milk or butter when reheating).

SHF: Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes

I sort of put off this SHF for some time, mainly because I'm indecisive like that. And in a flash of inspiration suddenly, I thought I'd just make an unusual paired flavor thing - namely, these chocolate cabernet cupcakes I've always been intrigued by. Only there was no cabernet, but by that point I was too far sold on it, so off I went in search of alternatives. Lo and behold, there seems to be one single recipe for chocolate merlot cake on the entire web, so I thought that clearly that must be the one.
I had visions of perfect, lovely little cupcakes, with a luscious chocolate taste and a background of winey-ness - and not only that, a surprise inside of black cherry and wine jelly nestled in as an extra treat.
Well. Life is full of surprises. Not to be too anthropomorphic about it, but the cupcakes apparently had other plans and ideas of their own on how to be presented, and did not feel like cooperating. The tops came out nicely, as did the bottoms, but unfortunately not at the same time. Surprise!

the stubborn, sorry lot of misfits

Somehow, when you unmold a whole cupcake and split it down the center to reveal its insides, it can be artsy and elegant; when the cupcake does it for you, especially not in the direction you might have chosen, it is rather less so.
Following the advice of previous recipe reviewers, I did add more butter than originally called for, though I don't think that's the culprit - I think here overfilling is the problem. Perhaps, with filling the cups less full, it might have solved the splitting problem. Nearly every one split in the same place, at the juncture of the well and edge, and with less filling, less overflow, maybe less splitting.N.B.: you may wish then to make additional wine jelly to ensure you can fill all the cupcakes. I did have some leftover batter, which I used to make some miniatures. Though it's not quite a good comparison, I did fill the cups less full and they turned out better. With these I didn't bother buttering and cocoacing, but sprayed it with nonstick spray. I actually think the butter/cocoa does a better job of it, but might also consider dabbing a bit of spray or butter above and around the edges of each well to prevent tops from sticking also.

the rather more well-behaved relations, sans jelly filling

Lest you be put off by their unruly appearances, I do feel obligated to say on behalf of the cupcake components that they're really quite tasty - dark and close-to-but-not-dense fudgy, with the gorgeous red-brown crumb from the cocoa. I'd have no hesitation in making the full cake with the wine jelly sandwiched between for an impressive and unusual finale, but perhaps they weren't at full potential here.

CHOCOLATE MERLOT CUPCAKES
adapted from Anne Willan's Chocolate Merlot Cake recipe and reviewer comments on Epicurious

2 c flour
3/4 c good-quality Dutch cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks/1 c butter
1 3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c Merlot wine
wine jelly
heaping 1/2 c Polaner black cherry all-fruit spread
3 Tbsp Merlot wine

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter (at least 12, and likely more) standard muffin tins and dust with cocoa powder.
Make the wine jelly: carefully melt together the all-fruit spread and wine in a small saucepan over medium heat until smooth, about 7 or so minutes. Remove and let cool a bit.
Sift twice together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
In a mixer cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes on medium-high speed, stopping to scrape the beater, until combined (light and fluffy and pale golden). Add in the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Mixin the vanilla and cream together an additional minute or two until all is smooth.
Sift a third of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and fold in carefully. Pour over and fold in a third of the wine. Repeat, alternating the remaining flour mixture and wine in two batches.
What I did: fill the muffin tins about half full and push batter to the sides to make a small well. Add about 2 tsp of the wine jelly mixture. Spoon over batter to fill the rest of the cup to the brim. Additional batter may be used to make small cupcakes.
What I suggest you do instead: fill the muffin tin about a third full, pushing batter to the sides to make a small well if you like. Add 1-2 tsp jelly as you like. Cover with batter to fill each tin about 2/3 full.
Bake in the heated oven about 20 minutes, checking after 15. If you make miniatures, they will take just about 10-12 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before, very carefully, attempting to turn them out onto a rack to cool fully.

A Meme!

I got tagged by Ellie for my first meme, and am completely tickled pink by this. Thanks!


I am thinking about: how much I miss my car. First it was leaking and they replaced a faulty seal. But then it kept leaking, and turned out they nicked a hose while they were replacing a seal. So they ordered a new one. But the hose they ordered was wrong and didn't fit. So they ordered a new new one. But the new new one didn't have the right holes. So they ordered a new new new one again. I haven't seen her in a week. Mindy says they're taking it out for joyrides and I sincerely hope she's wrong.

I said: "would you excuse me, please" about a thousand times trying to make it onto the morning subway.

I want: a puppy.

I wish: graduate school and applications were an easier decision process.

I regret: not seeing my girlfriends as often as I'd like.

I hear: O.A.R.'s Love and Memories. It sticks in your head something fierce.

I am: attempting to re-grow my hair long enough so that it can all be pulled into a braid or ponytail.

I dance: along with my little workout dvds in the living room.

I sing: in my car. I am one of those people who go all out with it, drum solos on the steering wheel and everything, alarming other drivers, and am of the school that if you can't sing well - you sing loudly.

I cry: at almost anything that could be construed as a chick flick, whether they deserve it (the reunion scene in Wicker Park, In Her Shoes, Spanglish) or not (The Wedding Singer), and when the Eagles have an excellent lead but then decide to be complete idiots and throw it out the window.

I am not: not addicted to caffeine.

I am: a Jersey girl.

I write: lists, and on anything nearby - I'm not above paper napkins and coffee filters, but bound lined index cards are my downfall.

I confuse: easily.

I need: a copy of Peter James Quirk's Trail of Vengeance, which is the selection for the Yours in Crime (my nerdy mystery book group) author talk Monday, which I haven't yet read.

I also regret perhaps that I don't really know if I've got enough readers that I can specifically tag anyone else to continue . . . but if you're reading, well, consider yourself tagged - and leave me a note so I can then visit you. I love discovering new (to me, at least) blogs.

Not Basic Leftovers

I've made this recipe with just sage and onion for some years now (the original recipe calls for porcini thrown in there, but the mushroom allergy prevails against this), as I'm a huge fan of both. Recently though I've decided this is also now my favorite medium for leftover roast chicken. Having the chicken at room temperature and then stirring it into the hot rice ensures it doesn't dry out. Being the resourceful one that I am, the leftover onions of the other night got plopped into here as well - rather than overpowering the rest of the risotto (they are rather winey), they mellow out and just add a nice soft undercurrent of extra flavor.

ROAST CHICKEN, CARAMELIZED ONION AND SAGE RISOTTO
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Risotto

7 c chicken broth
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp truffle oil or olive oil
1 1/2 onions, thinly sliced
~ 1/2 c or so leftover cipollino in agrodolce (optional)
2 c Arborio rice
1 c white wine
2 tsp dried sage
2-3 c diced roast chicken (white and dark meat), room temperature
1 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Pour the broth into a saucepan and bring to a simmer; adjust to keep hot.
In a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the onions and saute until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir until white spots appear in the middle of the grains, about 1 minute Add the cipollini and the wine and stir until the rice is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add the sage and a ladleful of broth. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth a ladleful at a time and stirring, until the rice is tender to your liking and the mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes.
Add the diced chicken and fold in gently. Add the Parmesan and stir gently to mix well. Serve while still quite warm.

Autumn Classics II: Back to (Quasi) Basics

After last week’s introduction to autumn, I was left wondering what other seasonal dishes would be appropriate to begin serving up. Amazingly enough, both Rob and I started thinking about roast chicken, when it occurred to me that I never have actually made a roast chicken. I have a habit of assuming I can make pretty much any recipe I can read, and so it wasn’t exactly a daunting thought to tackle something like that – I’ve cooked two massive turkeys successfully for group Thanksgivings; how difficult could a chicken really be?

The final answer is not very at all, actually, but the devil in the details is that there seem to be thousands of ways to roast a chicken, perhaps more variations than I have seen of roast turkey. While roasting a chicken is in itself darned simple, finding a recipe is perhaps, for a novice, just shy of overwhelming. To make it easier, I started sorting the recipes in one of three categories: Basic, which are unpretentious and seem to be more what you’ve actually seen your relatives make and eat for a meal; Not Basic, which is a backlash category against Basic recipes, and may involve famous chefs, novel seasoning combinations or ethnic-style variations in order to make plain ole chicken interesting; and Quasi Basic, which is a backlash category against Not Basic recipes, and resemble Basic recipes except they’re likely to be sort of snooty because they have returned to the true quintessential chicken after rejecting Not Basic things, and they can’t quite help themselves from trying to vary upon and one-upping the Basics.

This recipe would fall into the Quasi Basic category, written for fellow novice roasters. There is some seasoning to be done, some temperature changing, some basting; but no flipping (sidenote: has anyone ever flipped a chicken with lemons or stuffing inside? Is it difficult? Inquiring minds want to know if real people do these things - without burning themselves), no brining, no de-boning, no trussing.

Since I cannot fathom roast chicken without gravy, there is a recipe for that as well. Gravy is supersimple, as the not-so-secret is simply to whisk the hell out of it and there won’t be lumps. This one did produce a rather dark gravy, but if you want a light one forego the pan juices and just use broth.

QUASI BASIC ROAST CHICKEN

1 6-7 lb chicken

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 lemons

~ tsp garlic powder

~ tsp dried sage

~ tsp dried thyme

Bell’s poultry seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper

2 c chicken stock or broth (low-salt, fat-free if you’re using canned)

½ c white wine

2 Tbsp honey (optional)

30 minutes before: Preheat your oven to 450 F. Spray a roasting rack with nonstick cook spray and place inside a roasting pan.

Make your herb butter: Microplane or finely grate the zest of 1 lemon. Add to the softened butter, along with the garlic powder, thyme, sage, Bell’s, and some salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.

Take the chicken out of its packaging. Stick your hand inside and take out any packets inside, making sure you’ve got everything out of the cavity – you can either dump these in the garbage or roast them alongside. Turn the chicken on its neck and let it drain. Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt and rinse it off in cold water, again letting it drain. Set it down on a good large size plate and pat dry with paper towels.

Loosen the skin on the chicken by sliding at first a finger or two between the chicken and the skin at the top of the breast by the neck cavity, and working in until you can fit several fingers or maybe your palm. Turn the chicken around and repeat from the opposite end going towards the breast. The skin should now be loose over the top and towards the sides of the chicken. Take small portions of the herb butter and slide it under the skin, rubbing over the meat to coat and sliding the skin back into place. When you’ve used about a third to half of the butter, take small portions again and smear over the entire chicken, including the drumsticks, wings, and thighs. Sprinkle a small pinch of salt over the surface of the chicken. Take the other lemon and quarter it and stuff it inside the cavity.

Set the chicken on the prepared rack in the pan. Place it in the 450 F oven for about 20-25 minutes (you may wish to turn the pan around halfway through). The skin should be beginning to color. Reduce the heat to 325 F.

Open the oven and carefully add the chicken broth and wine to the pan. Baste the chicken with the pan juices. Let roast at 325 for 30 minutes and baste again. Let roast for another 30 minutes and check the temperature though it will likely need more before it has reached 170 F. Baste and let roast for 15 minutes, and check again. Suck up some pan juices and place in a small bowl with the honey. Stir to combine and thin the honey a bit. Brush on the skin of the chicken all over. This will brown the chicken a bit more and leave just a hint of flavor, but at this point the honey shouldn’t burn. I like a rather dark chicken, but feel free to skip that. Let roast again 15 minutes and at this point it should be done and registering 170 F. Take the roasting pan out and let the chicken sit uncarved for about fifteen to twenty minutes, which is plenty of time to make . . . .

BASIC GRAVY

2-3 Tbsp pan drippings from 1 roast chicken

2-3 Tbsp flour

2 ½ c pan juices from 1 roast chicken, plus broth or wine to make up any difference

To get pan drippings, transfer the chicken out of the pan to a safe spot. Scrape the bottom of the roasting pan (this is really easy if you have a nonstick roaster) and carefully pour the liquid and scrapings into fine strainer set over a gravy separator or wide-mouth bowl. Take 2-3 Tbsp of the pan drippings and place in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Take an equal amount of the flour and whisk in the drippings to make a roux, the paste that forms. You probably want a light colored one for chicken, so cook it just 30 seconds maybe until it is a deep golden but not yet brown. Have your liquid measured out. While you are whisking like crazy, carefully in a steady slow stream pour the liquid in. Keep whisking furiously for a minute or two, at which point it should be all incorporated. Bring to a boil and then lower to a slight simmer to keep warm; if you want thicker gravy, simply boil it a bit longer, if you want thinner gravy, whisk in some more hot liquid.

Onions, On Their Own

Following up on the success of Martha's soup, I turned to her again for an innovative side with my first attempt at roast chicken. I don't often think of onions as a vegetable in and of themselves; I tend rather to use them as a background aromatic note to enhance something else. Here, they have a starring role and I must say it's a rather nice change.

The onions have some tannic aftertaste from the wine, yet I don't think it's too overpowering. I had to resort to jarred pearl onions, which may have some residual flavor left from that process. Although they worked wonderfully, I can't help but feel that this will be even better in a month or two when packages of small onions come out in the market.

CIPOLLINI IN AGRODOLCE
adapted from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

2 lbs cipollini or pearl onions OR 2 jars (15 oz each) whole pearl onions
2 scant Tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
~ tsp dried thyme
1/3 c red-wine vinegar
~ 1/3 c red wine (I used Merlot)
1 heaping Tbsp sugar
1 scant tsp salt

If using fresh onions: bring a large pot of water to boil. Trim the root ends of the onions and add to the water; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer onions until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain, let cool, and peel onions.
If using jarred onions: make sure you have not bought cocktail onions by mistake. Rinse and soak the onions in 2-3 changes of cold water; drain well.
Heat the oil with bay leaf in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the thyme. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until deep golden brown in spots, about 5 minutes (resist the temptation to increase the heat; mine didn't color until just the last few moments).
Stir together vineger, wine, sugar and salt; add to pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is syrupy and the onions have glazed, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with pepper and additional thyme.

Now With Indexed Goodness

When one has to start googling one's own blog to see what one did on particular recipes, one clearly is in need of a better organized blog. Appetitive has become not only an expression of my cooking, but also a convenient way to avoid having to keep track of a thousand pieces of paper with recipes written down on them, littering up the apartment.
And so I present to you, a work in progress, the Supercool Very Exciting Appetitive Behavior Recipe Index.


SOUP
Fresh Pea Soup
Chilled Cream of Tomato Soup
Corn Chowder
Spinach and Polenta Soup
Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
Galangal, Chicken and Coconut Soup
Onion Soup
Creamy Eggplant, Cannellini Bean and Ricotta Soup

SALADS
Beans and Tuna Salad (Lunchbox)
Basil Green Bean Salad (Lunchbox)
Watermelon Salad (Lunchbox)
Greek Salad with Chicken (Lunchbox)
Spinach and Chickpea Salad (Lunchbox)
Thai Cucumber Salad
Salad with Baked Goat Cheese
Chickpea-Kidney Salad with Parsley, Lemon and Dried Tomatoes (Lunchbox)
Cranberry Vinaigrette
Tuna, Tomato and Haricot Verts with Mustard Vinaigrette (Lunchbox)
Indian Cucumber-Peanut Salad (scroll down)
Avocado, Red Onion and Mandarin Salad with Orange-Muscat Vinaigrette

CHICKEN & TURKEY
Coconut Chicken
Summer Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Herb Buerre Blanc
Chicken and Snap Peas with Orange Sauce
Quasi Basic Roast Chickenwith Basic Gravy
Roast Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Sage Risotto
Pomegranate Chicken
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken and Dumplings
Turkey Calzones (Lunchbox)
Turkey Thai Basil (Lunchbox)
Spicy Turkey Meatballs (Lunchbox)

BEEF & LAMB
(East-Coast) California Casserole
Asparagus Beef with Oyster Sauce
Beef Roast Braised With Onions
Grilled Marinated London Broil
Claudia's German Sauerbraten
Crockpot Red-Cooked Beef
Thick Beef Curry in Sweet Peanut Sauce
Lamb and Couscous with Light Dill Tzatziki
Lamb with Eggplant and Onions

PORK
Pork Loin Braised in Milk (Lunchbox)
Pork Loin with Cherry Gravy
Pork with White Wine Marinade/Sauce
Sage Pork Tenderloin
White Bean and Pork Chili
Five-Spice Char Siu

SEAFOOD
Crab Fondue for Two
Mussels in Saffron-Garlic Broth
Mussels with Basil Cream Sauce
Warm Mussel Sauce with Pasta
Shrimp in Tomato-Wine Scampi Sauce
Roasted Soft-Shell Crab with Buerre Noisette
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Chili-Vanilla Shrimp with Avocado Salsa
Toasted Nori and Sesame Salmon

EGGS
Egg White and Gruyere-Cheddar Puff
Darling Mini-Quiches
Crustless Veggie and Mozzarella Mini-Quiches
Zucchini and Spinach Skillet Frittata

VEGETATIVE MATTER & SOME SIDES
Grilled Eggplant Rolls with Shortcut Amatriciana Sauce
Cider Apples and Roasted Squash and Potatoes
Coconut Risotto
Sesame-Roasted Vegetable Soba (Lunchbox)
Cipollini in Agrodolce
Pumpkin and Sage Risotto (Lunchbox)
Stuffed Acorn Squash (Lunchbox)
Hungry Girl's Baked Onion Rings post and recipe
Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini and Chicken Sausage (Lunchbox)
Fried Rice

QUICK BREADS . . . AND SOME OTHER STUFF
Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing
Cappuccino Walnut Scones
Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins
Herb Flatbread with Ham, Red Onion and Gruyere
La Beth's Vanilla Cornbread
Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti
Banana-Coconut Muffins

MISCELLANEOUS
Overnight Oatmeal
Scarlett O'Hara
Fresh Homemade Ricotta
Croque Monsieur Panini
Quick Garlic Mayonnaise

DESSERTISH THINGS
Gingered Coffeecake
Frozen Gianduia Mousse
Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream
Irish Pecan Brownies
Fresh Plum Kuchen
Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes
Gold Cake
Buttermilk Pie Crust Dough
Paula Deen's Bourbon Pecan Pie
Thomas Keller's Pecan Pie
Perfect Pecan Pie
Chocolate Chip Biscotti with Cinnamon and Cacao Nibs
Cashew-Cashew Butter Cookies
Milk Chocolate Brownies

A Real Thirty-Minute Meal

Number of schools which have not written back yet, 2; number of professors not taking students, 1; additional possible options yet to look into, 3; number of times this week have considered scrapping psychology entirely, approximately 4 billion.

This week’s been rather busy, and it’s been a week of quick meals and leftovers, mainly. To my credit, I have not once eaten popcorn or chex mix for dinner, though it has come close. In a measure of true desperation the other night I ate an omelet for dinner. This is a noteworthy event because for twenty-three years now I have maintained that I don’t like eggs. This was eroded by tortilla española in Spain, and since then I’ve been slowly breaking ground into soufflés and quiches and other things where if you put so much else into them they don’t taste really like eggs at all and are therefore ok. It came to me as a great shock this past weekend when I actually asked for an omelet for our version of brunch, and packed with leftover steak and onion and tomato and cheese it was fantastic. The other night was egg and hashbrown potatoes and spinach and cheese. I don’t really understand where all this egg-liking came from all of a sudden. It’s like my bizarro food world.

Yesterday was a bit different. Sandwiched in between nights of doctor appointments and sitting at the garage waiting for them to fix and re-fix the car, Wednesday seemed the only possible time before the weekend to get errands and a bit of proper cooking done. I picked up my new glasses, bought some sweaters before I’m allergic to everything that’s out, and had a lovely perusal around the grocery store stocking up. When I got home, I turned to one of the pages I’d bookmarked in Martha Stewart Living 2005 collection, a real find due back at the library all too soon. Though it’s a bit strangely laid out, organized in recipes by month rather than courses, I find that just encourages me to page through often. It’s one of the first cookbooks in a while I actually intend to buy, in part because so many recipes are actually ones I’d use rather than just drool over.
Case in point with the spinach and polenta soup. With total time in about half an hour, I was able to grill some sausages on the side and then curled up with a lovely meal and the rest of Bend It Like Beckham. The soup's filling but not heavy, with a silky texture from the cornmeal and a sweet smell of garlic oil, and forgiving when I put in all the olive oil at the beginning instead of splitting it up throughout. It's a very simple recipe and though not one I've had as a combination in soup before, it came together beautifully. Well done, Martha.

SPINACH AND POLENTA SOUP
basically from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2005

1/2 c olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
6 c water
1/2 c fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 c finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups baby spinach leaves, torn into pieces
1 tsp sea salt
ground pepper to taste

Heat the oil and the garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the water and bring to a boil. Whisking constantly, add the cornmeal in a slow steady stream (works well if you sift it through your fingers). Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the soup has thickened slightly, about 8 minutes. Add the cheese and cook for 1 minute longer.
Stir in the spinach and salt and cook, stirring, until the spinach is bright green and wilted, about 1 minute more. Season to taste with pepper and serve while still quite warm.

An Autumn Classic

This was a beautiful weekend to kick off fall: sun shining, the breeze coming through with just a hint of coolness in it, and best of all, Rob’s stove was working.

I love the word autumn – it’s beautiful to say, elegant to write, and sounds as crisp and clean as the outdoors is at this time. I could go on and on, but I realized I love autumn in particular for two things, the fact that it is Goldilocks weather in not too hot, not too cold and I can be comfortable but not yet need long sleeves, and the cooking: edging into winter without yet feeling like it mandates something hot and heavy to warm up with, but just pleasantly cozy. We ate this with all the windows open and it was just beautiful. The apple cider was my first taste for this season; a tall glass of it makes a great accompaniment.
While this may look like a lengthy recipe, the whole shebang takes just over an hour - quick and easy.

SAGE PORK WITH CIDER APPLES AND ROASTED SQUASH AND POTATOES

About 1 ½ to 2 lbs assorted small potatoes (TJ’s confetti mix uses baby Yukon golds, red bliss, and purple)

20 oz peeled butternut squash, cut into largeish chunks

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried sage

salt and pepper

2 lbs pork tenderloins, well trimmed

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp white wine

1 tsp dried sage

½ tsp salt

pepper

3 Tbsp butter

3 large white boiling onions

2 very large apples (we used huge Braeburns, but anything crisp and sweet or sweet-tart is good)

1 ½ tsp lemon juice

½ - ¾ c apple cider

salt and pepper to taste

Place the tenderloins in a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, wine, sage, and salt and pepper until well combined. Pour over the tenderloins and turn to coat, smearing both sides with seasonings. If you’ve got time, cover and let sit in the refrigerator; if not, let marinade at room temperature for fifteen minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 F and have two racks in. Spray a very large or two smaller Pyrex or similar roasting pans with nonstick cook spray. Wash and gently dry the potatoes and cut into halves or even quarters. Add the butternut squash to the pan. Toss the vegetables with the oil, sage, and salt and pepper. Place on the lower rack in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Check on the vegetables and move around gently with a spoon. Place the dish with the pork in the oven at this time and let both of them roast together for 20 minutes. Check the pork at this time and remove to let rest if ready; the potatoes and squash can take another five or so to brown.

While the pork and vegetables are in the oven, prepare the apples: peel and core the apples. Slice each apple lengthwise into twelve pieces; each should be no less then ½ inch at the thickest part. Slice the onions into half-moon pieces.

Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook without browning until beginning to soften, just on three minutes. Add the apple slices gently and press down into the butter (they can brown if you like) and gently turn as needed, just about a minute or two. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add the apple cider and increase the heat slightly until it reaches a gentle boil. Stir the apples in the pan gently to coat. Cover and let cook for three to four minutes, until liquid has reduced and apples are tender.

Serve medallions of the pork tenderloin with the cider apples poured over and the sage roasted squash and potatoes on the side.

Lunchbox: Turkey Thai Basil

Contacts sent, 5. Replies that made me panic I hadn't written a good enough letter, 1; incredibly overwhelmingly positive replies after writing different letter, 1.

Appetitive was sorely and sadly neglected the past two weeks. It just didn’t happen. In the wake of the frantic graduate school application business, everything else sort of got pushed aside. I skipped book club. I overslept forty minutes every day. I didn't do all the vaccuuming - ok, maybe that's not such a unique thing. It was not a pretty week. I’m trying to be rather upbeat about it, as my current non-psych reading material, The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey, hit home with a well-placed dryly noted mental meandering of the detective: Cynicism is easy; optimism takes real effort. Never let it be said I do anything the easy way.
Getting back on track with the entries – and the cooking! - then, this week’s Lunchbox is actually the second effort of a recipe I made two weeks back I’d meant to blog but just never found the motivation for. After the Great Plant Fiasco, I decided my life would be incomplete without Thai basil from here on out. Among myriad other essentials in my freezer there are now two ginormous bags of frozen Thai basil stalks and a separate bag of Kaffir lime leaves. The hint about freezing the basil whole came from some skilled googling and a comment on Is It EDible? from a while back. There doesn’t seem to be so far any of the messiness of regular basil, that demands all sorts of fussiness with grinding it in food processors with oil and freezing it in little bits so it doesn’t turn black. I actually debating experimenting with this in terms of taking a ton of the Thai basil leaves, whirling them up with sesame oil and freezing them in that matter, but took my chances on simply Ziplocking them in. So far, so good – they start to thaw instantly and not very prettily, so you need to know what you’re doing with them before you even open the freezer door. But if they go straight to the pan, they cook just as well as fresh ones with no textural or taste difference, and it is nice to have them in whole leaves rather than tiny bits.
Two points of importance here: the lime leaves really need to be very finely slivered here (you can see them in the picture below, much finer than that is needed); otherwise I found them to be a bit waxy-tasting and strange. And despite the recipe's seasonings quantity, it's actually spot-on. First time I was hesitant with the fish sauce, as the bottle just smells so sweetly fishy to me I think it's a mistake to put any in and then I end up dashing more on the plate later. It seems so strange, given that smell is such a huge component of flavor, that I could like the taste and not the smell, but I’m not letting it keep me up nights. Nor do I let the fact that this has an unholy amount of garlic in it stop me from taking it to work - I figure I've already gone and stunk the building up with mercaptans once, they can handle garlic emanating from the microwave.


TURKEY THAI BASIL
varied only slightly from here

2 Tbsp canola oil
10-12 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced in thin half moons and then cut down the centers
1 1/4 lb lean ground turkey
6 dried Thai chilis, cut in half
2 kaffir lime leaves, very finely slivered
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp or so lime juice
leaves and flowers from 3 full stalks frozen Thai basil

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir around for 20 seconds; add the onion and cook for about a minute and a half. Add the ground turkey and break up using a plastic spatula; cook until just no longer pink.
Add the dried split chilis and the lime leaves. In a small bowl stir to combine the soy, fish sauce, and lime juice and sprinkle over. Toss well to combine and then add the frozen Thai basil. Increase the heat if necessary to maintain a boil of the liquid and stir-fry another three minutes so that little if any liquid remains in the pan. Serve with hot jasmine rice. Extremely addictive.