eat make read

I was so excited to open an email from Brooklyn Based yesterday to read about a great site called Tasting Table. Not only is the site super lovely to look at, it’s filled with great nyc food-related info. From where to eat to where to exotic Halloween treats, this site is a great resource.

As I was browsing through the site I was pumped to see an interview with Bierkraft’s Ben Granger. We visit Bierkraft almost weekly for a fresh supply of beer or cheese or both and let me tell you, this guy knows his stuff. I swear, if you ask him about any cheese or beer, he most certainly will know where it was made, who made it and what their favorite color is. Ok, maybe not the color thing, but I’m always amazed by his knowledge of the store’s products.

It’s funny, I never tire of reading about food and people’s experiences related to it. When reader Keavy suggested I might like Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, I went ahead and picked it up. I like to pace my reading, so usually I’ll read something a little dense and then read something that’s a bit lighter to give my brain a break. I picked this book up right after reading Omnivore’s Dilemma and it was the perfect fix after reading such an information laden book.

Alone in the Kitchen is a collection of people’s experiences eating and cooking for themselves. They range from funny to comforting to a little depressing, but all are worth the read. Each story is also followed up by a recipe related to the story. Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant is a great, quick read. Definitely worth a read.

I just need to start this out by saying you pronounce the name of the recipe like the word “past” with a “y” on the end. A pasty is a savory pastry popular in Northern Michigan and is very similar to a chicken pot pie or empanada. Unfortunately it’s name is a little too close to pasties for comfort. But what are you gonna do, you know? So let’s move beyond my weirdness and on to the delicious pastry so popular in my home state.

I actually found this recipe in an old newspaper my grandma sent me and wrote a little note that said “pasties!”, which seemed like a good sign. Even though I grew up in Michigan, I never indulged in the meaty pastry, so better late than never, right?

In the past, dough has given me problems. All that rolling and chilling usually ends up in a disaster, but thankfully this recipe created a perfectly flaking dough that left me stunned. Honestly, I hardly had to work at it and this dough was amazing… you could even see the different layers in it. I decided to fill the dough with a mixture of ground beef, purple and yellow fingerling potatoes, celery and onions. I covered the toppings with an additional layer of dough and popped them in the oven. Yum, yum, yum. The smells started drifting and I started getting excited. When the timer beeped, I pulled my two pasties out of the oven to see golden circles bursting with goodness. I cut one into quarters and froze the other for a later date.

Aaron and I dove right in. The result was really good. Like I mentioned before, the crust was amazing. The filling was full of delicious stuff, although next time I think I might add peas and a liquid, maybe some milk or broth to give it a little more moisture. Also, even one pasty was too much for the two of us, so I think next time I’ll make them into smaller pockets. Regardless, these things were delicious.

Pasties
makes 2 10″ pasties

Preheat oven to 375°

Crust:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1/2 cup cold water

1
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in large bowl.
2
Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3
Mix beaten egg, vinegar and water in small bowl. Stir into flour mixture until moistened.
4
Knead dough lightly. Shape into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.

Meat filling:
5 medium potatoes, unpeeled and diced
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup celery
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons butter, cut into pieces

1
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll 2 parts on lightly floured surface into 10-inch rounds, about 1/4 inch thick.
2
Place each round on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
3
Combine all meat filling ingredients in large bowl. Place half of mixture on each round. Dot each eith half the butter.
4
Roll out 2 remaining parts of dough into 12-inch rounds.
5
Place the 12 inch rounds over the meat mixture and seal well. Cut slits into the top for steam vents. Bake 1 hour.

Since the weather has been getting colder, bread has been on my mind more and more. As in, baking bread… I’m always into eating it. When I went to the market this weekend I picked up a bunch of rosemary and immediately thought of baking a savory bread infused with it. I am addicted to these little Carr Rosemary Crackers and I was thinking it would be great if I could get something with that kind of flavor into a loaf of bread. I did a bit of searching on a few of my favorite sites and finally found this walnut/rosemary combo.

Bread making is what it is, you know. It’s not the easiest thing, it takes a little patience and muscle, along with a bit of time, but more times that not the outcome is totally worth it. To start, I 100% love the smell of baking bread. That yeasty aroma just seems to floats around the apartment, enticing me with what’s to come. And then you get to open to oven to see a beautiful golden loaf of bread. This bread was so dang delicious. The crust turned out perfectly shiny and crisp while the inside was dense and delicious. The walnuts were perfectly chopped to add texture without being a surprise. The rosemary gives the bread a rich flavor without being overwhelming… just perfect in fact. Spread a little butter over top and you’ve got yourself a perfect snack.

shaker-style walnut & rosemary bread
makes 2 loaves*

2 1/4 cups very warm whole milk (120°F)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, room temperature
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)

2 envelopes active dry yeast
1 large egg, beaten to blend
6 1/2 cups (about) all purpose flour

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
Vegetable oil

1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 tablespoon whole milk (for glaze)

* I actually divided the recipe in half and only made one loaf. As for the egg, I just whipped one up and estimated how much half would be.

1
Pour milk into large bowl. Mix in sugar, butter, and salt; cool to lukewarm
2
Place 1/4 cup warm water in small bowl; mix in yeast. Let stand 6 minutes.
3
Stir yeast mixture and 1 egg into lukewarm milk mixture. Mix in 4 cups flour. Beat with wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sponge stand until bubbles appear at edge, about 15 minutes.
4
Mix nuts and rosemary into sponge. Mix in flour, 1/3 cupful at a time, until soft, slightly sticky dough forms. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, sprinkling with flour as needed, about 10 minutes. Brush clean large bowl with oil. Add dough; turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
5
Brush two 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2-inch nonstick loaf pans with oil. Punch dough down and turn out onto work surface; shape into two 8-inch-long loaves. Place in pans. Let rise, uncovered, until almost doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
6
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Using serrated knife, make shallow cut down center of each loaf. Brush loaves with glaze. Bake until golden and crusty, about 35 minutes. Turn breads out of pans. Cool on racks.

I thought I’d start the week out with this refreshing take on pancakes. As I’m reading through Kenny Shopsin’s cookbook there have been more than a few recipes that make me want to run to the kitchen and started whipping something up. That happened when I saw one for lemon ricotta pancakes. It just sounded so fresh and tasty, a good way to start the day.

I didn’t have any lemons in the house but I had picked up a few blood oranges so I thought I’d substitute those in for the lemons. A little sidenote here… Have you ever had a blood orange? I am so in love with them! They’re like an orange but a little sweeter and bursting with flavor. If you haven’t tried one yet, go out and pick one up! Anywho, back the the pancakes. I made my usual batter and then gently folded the zest of an orange along with some ricotta cheese. I eagerly cooked them up on the stovetop and brought them to the table. I wasn’t sure if I’d need syrup for them or not, so first tried them without. Oh boy, the pancakes were soft and pillowy with hints of the orange woven throughout. Every now and then a little pocket of ricotta would break open full of goodness. I ended up adding a little bit of syrup, but they could certainly be eaten without. These were seriously delicious!

blood orange ricotta pancakes
based on kenny shopsin’s lemon ricotta pancakes

3 cups pancake batter, like this one
zest of 1 blood orange
2/3 cup ricotta cheese

1
Zest an orange and gently fold into the pancake batter.
2
Gently fold in ricotta cheese.
3
Pour pancakes onto hot griddle or pan so they are about 5″ diameter and cook about 2 minutes on each side.

After whipping up a delicious side for dinner I had to do something with all those pumpkin seeds. There’s certainly nothing wrong with good old baked and salted pumpkin seeds, but I was looking for something with a little more pizazz. When I stumbled upon this one for sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds it’s like it was calling my name. Sweet and spicy? It’s one of my favorite taste sensations.

The process of making them is pretty simple. Baking the seeds takes the longest, but once you get past that it’s pretty quick. Mmm and the result is super tasty. First you taste the sweetness of sugar, ginger and cinnamon followed up by the cumin, cayenne and the roasted flavor of the baked seeds. These would make a great party snack.

Oh, and have a fantastic fall weekend!

sweet & spicy pumpkin seeds
from martha

1 medium pumpkin
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

1
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut pumpkin open from the bottom, removing seeds with a long-handled spoon. Separate flesh from seeds, and reserve the flesh for another use (see Pumpkin Pie). Pumpkin should yield 1 cup seeds. Spread seeds on parchment in an even layer. Bake until dry, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Let cool.
2
In a medium bowl combine 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne.
3
Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook until sugar melts and pumpkin seeds begin to caramelize, about 45 to 60 seconds.
4
Transfer to bowl with spices, and stir well to coat. Let cool. These may be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

I picked up my first pumpkin of the season at the market last weekend. I was a little unsure of what to do with it until I was inspired by the ladies at Savatore Bklyn who suggested a recipe that included pumpkin, ricotta and pepper flakes. Spicy pumpkin? Sign me up!

I came home and sliced open my little pumpkin and cut in half. I left one half as is and cut the other half into 4 slices. I popped all the slices in to oven and started mixing up the sauce. I combined some butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, pecans and cayenne pepper. I poured half the sauce over the already warmed pumpkins and let them cook awhile. As the pumkin softened, I added the other half of the sauce. The sweet aroma of cinnamon wafted through the apartment, making my stomach ache for dinnertime.

As I pulled them out of the oven, I had to stop and admire them. Sometimes I’m amazed by how lovely food can look without doing anything to it. These little pumkin slices, draped with the spicy pecan sauce would win a pageant. I topped them off with a mixture of ricotta and red pepper flakes to add a cool, creamy texture with a bit pizazz. The final result was incredibly delicious. The pumpkin was best right in the middle where it was super soft and saturated with the cinnamony butter. I love the little spike of spicy that you get by adding the cayenne and red pepper flakes.

This recipe definitely feels like fall. Rich with spices, soft and warm from the oven, these pumpkin slices are great way to mix things up.

pumpkin slices with spicy pecan sauce.
makes 4 slices, plus half a pumpkin for making puree. double the recipe if you use the whole pumpkin.

1 small pumpkin
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1
Cut open pumpkin, divide in half and de-seed it. Slice one of the halves into quarters, the other half will be left over to make puree or whatever you’d like to do with it.
2
Place the pumpkin on a rimmed baking sheet and pop it in the oven.
3
In a small bowl, combine the butter, cinnamon, cayenne and pecans. Mix until combined.
4
Open the oven and pour half the mixture over the pumpkin slices. Set the timer for 20 minutes.
5
Once the timer goes off, add the remaining mixture and set the timer for another 20 minutes or until the pumpkin slices are soft to the touch.
6
Mix the ricotta and red pepper flakes together. Top each slice with a dollop of the cheese and serve. I think you’ll have rave reviews.

Oh and look for a recipe about what to do with the seeds coming soon!

The Times just ran a piece on new fall cookbooks that has me biting my tongue. In the past few months I’ve picked up Nigella Lawson’s Good Food Fast, Shopsin’s Eat Me and the new Baked cookbook to my collection. I promised myself I wouldn’t buy anymore for a while but after reading this it’s going to be hard. The one that might get me: A Platter of Figs and other recipes.

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I just can’t shake it. I had some left over cream in the fridge and was thinking about what I could do with it. Of course caramel came to mind, but I’ve had enough of caramel apples and I couldn’t do plain old caramels again. That’s when chocolate cookies with caramel chips came to mind. Sure it’s a bit of work, but I could almost taste the result and I knew it would be worth it.

First things first. I made a batch of these tried and true caramels and let them cool. I cut them into tiny pieces the size of chocolate chips so I could toss them in the cookie batter. Next I whipped up a batch of chocolate dough and added the caramels to it. I used a cookie scoop to make my cookies a uniform size and placed them about 2 inches apart. I was expecting lovely, fluffy cookies, but what came out was flat crispy cookies. My heart sank a little bit, but then I tasted them and realized this was no failure. I quickly sprinkled some sea salt over top to add an extra level of taste and let them cool. I then cut them into quarters, so they were more like crisps rather than full fledged cookies. In fact, I kind of think (although I haven’t tried) you could spread the dough along the bottom of a rectangular cake pan instead of making individual cookies.

Although they’re not exactly what I imagined when I dreamed up this recipe, these puppies are irresistible! The chocolate and caramel team up to make a rich base while the salt adds a touch of contrast to the crispy treat. They are an addictive and unique sweet treat that would be a great party snack.

salted chocolate caramel crisps

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups caramels, cut into 1/4 inch squares*

* I used half of this recipe

Preheat oven to 350°

1
Measure flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.
2
Cream the butter and two sugars in another bowl.
3
Add the vanilla and egg until well mixed.
4
Add egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir in the caramels.
5
Scoop teaspoons of the dough onto a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, or if you’re feeling daring, spread dough in a cake pan.**
6
Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7
Remove from oven and sprinkle sea salt over top. If you make cookies, you may want to cut them into quarters to make them bite sized.

**I haven’t tried this yet, but my cookies spread quite a bit, so I think it might work, it’s up to you.

I’ve been a little slack when it comes to writing about reading. But don’t you fret, I’ve been reading away for the past month or so and I have a few good books to tell you about.

Omnivore’s Dilemma is one of those book that I always picked up at the bookstore but always carefully put it back on the shelf before it leaving. It just seemed too intimidating. I mean, do I really want to know all that stuff about my food? Am I really ready to contemplate the lifecyle of each ingredient of my dinner each night? These are the questions that ran through my head each time I looked at that dang book. But then my friend was reading it and had really good things to say about it. So I took the leap and I’m glad I did.

I find the things I was worried about knowing, such as the way my food is treated before it gets to my plate, whether it be an animal or a vegetable, are things I’m really glad to know more about. The book is divided into three sections, the first being industrial farming where he sees the life cycle of corn, something I’d never given a ton of though to. In second section he looks into organic farming and exactly what “organic” means these days. The last section follows the author as he makes the meal of his life, hunting or growing each element of the meal.

I think what I liked best about the book is that it made me stop reading and contemplate what is being said. It put things into perspective that I’ve never really given that much time to. I think you’ll be happy you read it. I am.