Food 52 recently featured a story for the New Year, containing a number of food (or rather, cooking) resolutions. One was to bake more bread. Now I’m not really one for resolutions (“I want to contribute to world peace!”), but baking bread has been something I’ve had my eye on. Specifically yeasted breads. I’ve definitely got the quickbreads down, but that’s like saying you are an expert pizza maker when you still buy Boboli pizza crust. (Do they still make Boboli, or am I dating myself as a child of the 80′s?).

I love working with yeast dough, the few times I have. The rising is so satisfying, the punching, the kneading, the smell. A couple of weekends ago I found myself with no plans and the weather report predicting frigid weather. That, my friends, is perfect bread baking weather.

I chose the Food 52 winner for best yeast bread recipe, Buttermilk Oatmeal Bread. It is very simple as far as yeast breads go, no starter, no overnight rise, so it’s a good beginner recipe. The crumb is indeed very dense (as you can see from the picture), which makes it easy to slice and really good as toast. I wouldn’t call it the best bread in the universe, which frankly is probably because I didn’t knead it properly or for long enough….if only I knew more about this! But it was still a success in my book. Now on to the next one!

Cabbage is an especially unsexy food. It’s sounds even less alluring than kale, though I admit to loving kale with abandon. But when I got an enormous (and I mean ENORMOUS) head of cabbage at the farmer’s market for $2, I realized maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

Braised cabbage with a bit of butter and fresh ginger is pretty darn good, which is how I used half of it. But that other half has been sitting in my fridge for nearly a week now, taunting me. Yesterday I subsisted almost entirely on cheese and cheese-related things (like bread, with melted cheese), and so I decided dinner should be light and healthy tonight, and darn it, I would use the rest of that cabbage.

And so, voila, cabbage slaw and miso-ginger cabbage soup!

The cabbage slaw inspiration came from here. I weirdly happened to have both celery and radishes (just 2 stalks & 3 radishes respectively, but the perfect amount to add to 1/4 of a head of cabbage). I modified the dressing a bit, as I did have blue cheese and did not have chives (I had a couple of scallions, which I scattered on top instead). This dressing would be good on any bowl of very crunchy things — creamy dressings only appeal to me in contrast with toothsome veggies. And, crap, I just realized I used cheese in this. SO CLOSE.

Buttermilk (Blue Cheese) Dressing

1/2 c. buttermilk, well shaken
1 T. mayonnaise or sour cream
1 t. sugar
2 T. apple cider vinegar
2-3 T. crumbled blue cheese (opt.)
healthy pinch of salt

The cabbage soup doesn’t so much deserve a recipe — basically I simmered a bunch of coins of ginger in 6 c. water, added a couple of big tablespoons of white miso paste (a brilliant pantry item, definite must-have), and then the shredded cabbage. A bit of soy sauce and scallions to finish and you’re done!

It has been just over one year since my last post. I won’t bore you with a lengthy explanation for why I stopped — let’s just say it’s been a hectic year. But lately, more and more, when I cook something, I want to share it. Even if for the sole reason of documenting meals as proxy for documenting the rest of my life (which I certainly don’t want to immortalize on a blog). As I scroll back through old posts, memories flood back — and isn’t that the greatest gift of food? That the senses of smell and taste are a conduit to other emotions, remembrances, places and people.

I don’t mean to get all sappy in my first post back…and I can’t promise I’ll continue posting with any regularity. But I recently read Tamar Adler’s fantastic book An Everlasting Meal, and had the privilege of meeting her at a small reading. Her approach to food is profound, poetic, and yet humble. It has been inspiring me anew to cook and record it here. Read her book, as soon as you can.

I bought leeks and potatoes last week in order to make leek & potato soup, which just never came to pass. So I decided to make a tart instead, for a small Golden Globes get-together. I also had a hunk of roasted cauliflower left over, which I chopped up and included, lest it go to waste. Mustard and thyme seemed like nice supporting players, so here’s the tart, recipe after the jump.

Leek and Potato Tart
Serves 6

1 large or 2 small leeks, cut in half and then into 1/4″ half-moons (rinse very well!!)
1 small onion, sliced
1T chopped thyme
1 T butter
1/2 – 3/4 lb. small, waxy potatoes, cut into 1/4″ slices
2 eggs
1/2 cup half & half or whole milk
1 T. whole grain mustard
salt
parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a saute pan until foamy, over medium heat. Add the onions and leeks, and stir a bit. Sprinkle with some salt and let the leeks and onions cook, slowly, until lightly caramelized. The heat should be low enough that you’re sweating the vegetables — they will slowly release water and soften. If they get brown right away, lower your head and add a tiny bit of water. The cooking / caramelizing process should take 20 minutes at least. In the last few minutes, stir in the thyme and taste for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.

Add your potato slices to a small pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 – 10 minutes, until potatoes are mostly tender but still hold together. Drain.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Assemble your tart (see link for tart shell recipe below). Layer your leeks & onions on the bottom and then spiral the potatoes on top. Salt the potatoes. In a bowl, mix together the 2 eggs and half & half or milk. Add the mustard and a pinch of salt. Slowly pour over the tart. If you want, grate a bit of parmesan cheese on top of the potatoes before baking.

I always bake tarts on a baking sheet covered in foil, just in case spillage of any kind occurs. It’s much better to toss a crusty piece of tin foil than to scrub your oven!

Bake the tart for about 40 minutes, or until the middle is set and the potatoes & cheese are nicely browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Tart Shell

Recipe on Smitten Kitchen.
note: I ran out of all purpose flour so used about 1/2 c. of white whole wheat and a few extra drops of water. I also decided to par bake mine, because I am paranoid about soggy crusts!

(there’s something so Andy Goldsworthy about these leeks!)

I don’t think anyone would argue with the statement that it is soup weather in New York. Everyone’s freaking out, preparing for this next bout of snow. So I’ve been having an intense craving for brothy noodle soups. And gumbo. Opposite end of the soup spectrum, but equally delicious. So I made both!

Saturday night was a chicken and sausage gumbo, accompanied by a friend’s delicious salad with blue cheese, apples and walnuts, and some incredibly tasty (and dangerous) tequila cocktails.

Tonight was brothy noodle night – I saw a delicious-looking recipe on 101 Cookbooks and went to buy all the ingredients only to find that the nice grocery store in my neighborhood was out of vegetable broth. Not believing this to be a neighborhood-wide epidemic, I went to the crappy grocery store in my neighborhood and guess what? NO VEGETABLE BROTH. I was not in the mood to concede and buy Swenson chicken broth instead, nor did I want to trek to another store in the impending storm, so I bought a few items and harumphed my way home, cursing the city.

But this is why I always have miso paste on hand. A soup can be had! I then discovered that I had two cups of frozen homemade vegetable broth too. So here’s what I did. Vegetable broth + 4 cups of water + several coins of ginger + 1/2 finely diced jalapeno + dried shitake mushrooms. Simmer for 10 minutes, fish out the ginger. Add 1 T. miso paste and stir in, plus a couple tablespoons of soy sauce (taste after adding the miso to make sure it’s not already too salty). Add 1/4 package of angle hair pasta or other thin noodles, cook until just shy of al dente (a few minutes). Turn off the heat. Add a few big handfuls of baby spinach leaves, a generous squeeze of lime juice, and some cilantro. Enjoy!

The name of this is somewhat deceiving – I imagine a coffee cake to have a light crumb, some kind of brown sugar topping, and to distinctly be….cake-like. But this Martha (yes, I refer to her as Martha – is there really any Martha besides Stewart?) coffee cake, a yeast dough studded with lots of citrus zest and filled with cream cheese, is really much more of a modified cinnamon bun recipe. The dough is quite similar and the swirl (though in one large and strangely shaped piece instead of separate pieces) evokes buns.

Unfortunately the recipe isn’t online officially, but another industrious blogger copied the full recipe from Martha’s book The New Classics (or whatever issue of the magazine it appeared in). See the recipe and instructions here. I reduced the amount of poppy seeds by about half (it just seemed like overkill) and skipped the egg wash (hence my end product is not as shiny) but otherwise I followed the recipe completely. It was a huge hit at the brunch party I took it to, and I have to say, quite tasty (given how much work it was to make, I was glad of that). Thanks Martha!

I would say this is a good recipe for New Year’s Day, but who am I kidding? You won’t be making this hungover. Perhaps it will do on January 2?

It has been way too long since I’ve made a pizza! Trader Joe’s pizza crust makes it too easy not to, and it’s also really fun and easy to have a pizza party. I had half a bunch of kale left over from my Thanksgiving quiche, and was looking up recipes for inspiration. I came across a pizza recipe on epicurious with mozzarella, goat cheese, and kale. I threw on some capers (because I will never say no to a caper on a pizza) and lots of red pepper flakes. Delish! Plus, all the greens mitigate the damage from the cheese. Trust me.

Sauceless pizzas are the best, just brush a slick of olive oil on thinly rolled out crust, and top as you please. I sauteed the kale until nice and tender with just a bit of salt, and used about 8 oz. of mozzarella and 2 oz. of goat cheese. Added a tablespoon of chopped capers for tang. Cooked at 450 on just a regular cookie sheet (look, I’d love a pizza stone but I only have so much room in my kitchen) for about 20 minutes and it was good to go.

Usually, all you have to say is “browned butter” and I’m game. But browned butter muffins swirled with leftover cranberry sauce? Even better than you can imagine. Gemma’s cranberry sauce (more of a relish, really) had the advantage of including lots of fresh ginger, thus making these muffins a perfect storm of bright cranberry, spicy ginger, and nutty browned butter and pecans.

The only adjustment I made to this Serious Eats recipe was to include about 1/2 cup of chopped, toasted pecans to the mix, stirred in at the last minute. Of course I couldn’t resist topping with a lovely pecan half either, but that’s more for aesthetics than anything. Beware the directions in this recipe — they don’t actually tell you when to add the salt, so don’t forget! I reduced the salt to about 3/4 t. because 1 t. seemed a bit much for only 12 muffins. Mine weren’t any worse for the wear, either.

If you have some useless, jellied cranberry sauce just languishing in your fridge (I bet you do!), then this is the perfect recipe for you. And if you don’t, it’s almost worth making cranberry sauce just for this purpose. If your sauce is more traditional and lacking in fresh ginger or other strong flavors, I might add some orange zest to give these a bit of extra zing.

I didn’t manage to fully document the day of cooking. I’ll be honest, lighting and taking pictures while dealing with not enough surface area in your kitchen, washing the same dishes 10 times, and trying not to burn /ruin anything is a tall order. Once again, we made an obscene amount of food for 5 people, but hey, I’m going to live on those leftovers for the next 4 days so it’ll be perfect. I am definitely a sneak-a-bit-of-pie-with-the-fridge-door-open-and-no-utensils kind of person and not ashamed.

You’d think that all the cooking I’ve done in the last couple of weeks (most of which undocumented here) would leave me longing for take-out and slices of pizza and no dishes. But honestly, it’s made me want to cook more. Particularly, as is the theme of this blog, for the purpose of sharing. It’s the best kind of satisfaction to make something from scratch to enjoy with friends and loved ones. I’ve got some browned butter cranberry muffins on the docket if we’ve still got cranberry sauce around in a couple of days, and pizza with chard and goat cheese and chili oil too. I’ve got salted caramels on the brain and fresh baked bread and roasted squash. If there’s one thing that’s a-okay about the impending cold, it’s that I’ll be more than happy to be cozied up at home leaning over a hot stove with a glass of wine in hand.

So here’s to baking season, to the holidays (as much as they stress us out) and to not forgetting to be thankful all the time, not just when there’s a turkey in the oven. It may sound trite, but when everyone is saying how thankful they are in their facebook status updates, it can’t seem that off-kilter!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite holiday (do you wonder why?). I was literally dreaming of cooking Thanksgiving last night — although in my dream I was making Empanadas. Random. Right now I’m drinking coffee with Charlie Brown on in the background, soon I’ll put on Home for the Holidays, by far my favorite holiday movie. I think I’ve watched it approximately 50 times by now, but somehow it never gets old.

Anyway, Gemma and I are about to be cooking up a storm — here’s what’s on the menu for our (Vegetarian) Thanksgiving:

Appetizers
Baked Brie (wrapped in crescent roll dough with caramelized onions. this one’s a tradition for us.)
Rosemary Cashews
Roasted Fennel Dip with Parmesan

Main
Leek and Swiss Chard Tart

Sides (it’s all about the sides, let’s not even pretend otherwise)
Mashed Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts two ways – roasted with hazelnuts & hashed
Arugula Salad with Pomegranate Seeds, Goat Cheese and Pickled Red Onions
Angel Biscuits with Cranberry Butter
Stuffing with Mushrooms, Sage and Chestnuts
Cranberry Relish

Dessert
Spiced Pumpkin Pie
I’m also debating whether to make these Cranberry Curd Bars because they sound SO GOOD.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

OK time to freak outttttt! I’m back! (and just in time for Thanksgiving).

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cooked something in the past few months and thought “I should take a picture of this” and just didn’t. I didn’t have my camera for about a month, but that’s no excuse, since I do have my iPhone camera after all. I also no longer have a computer at home, which complicates things…but I’ve just gotten a new work laptop that I think I’ll have with me a lot more (mostly because I have to work more, but let’s just pretend it’s because I like the computer). All that to say, no more excuses, I’m going to try to post at least a couple times a week. I mean, it’s baking season and Thanksgiving season and I’m drooling just thinking of all the pies I’m going to make and I hate just leaving this thing languishing out there in the vast internet wasteland.

So what started out as “I’m sick, I’m going to make soup” turned into a fall feast — don’t worry, this was a couple weeks ago, so not totally competing with Thanksgiving’s feastiness. When Gemma and I cook, we COOK if you know what I mean. I made a tomato fennel soup (a variation on one I’ve made many times before), and she made a fall panzanella salad from smitten kitchen, and then I made a sweet potato buttermilk pie, also courtesy of Deb. Seriously, when I feel too crap to go outside, sometimes whisking is the only thing that makes me feel better. This pie is incredibly light and fluffy, like a souffle. It’s tart and not too sweet thanks to the buttermilk, and the spices hearken back to my favorite of all pies, pumpkin. This is a great option for Thanksgiving, and the lightness would be an added benefit on a day when your stomach usually feels like it’s full of bricks by the time it’s all over.

I also FINALLY just watched Julie & Julia, so I am feeling a bit more motivated to blog (look, I’m under no illusion that Amanda Hesser is going to come knocking on my door any time soon, or that I’ll be in the New York Times, but a girl can dream about a book advance right?). I’m also not going to be deboning a whole duck either, but that’s ok. I’ve actually returned (mostly) to my vegetarian roots lately for a plethora of reasons that I won’t go into here, so this entire meal is vegetarian. And, did I mention, totally awesomely delicious?? The garlic parmesan croutons in the salad alone are enough to make me weep with joy. Recipe for the soup after the jump, salad here and pie here.

Simple Fennel Tomato Soup
Serves 4

1 bulb fennel, quartered and thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced and rinsed well
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 15-0z. can diced tomatoes
3 c. vegetable stock
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the vegetables and garlic and cook them over medium heat for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until they are soft and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and add the red pepper flakes. Add the can of tomatoes (with the juice) and the broth and bring to a simmer, cover. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, taste and adjust seasoning, and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice stirred in at the very end.