I was brainstorming things to have around as snacks in the stomach-gurgling hours before Thanksgiving dinner (oh yes, I am hosting a family Thanksgiving again). I came up with a lot of cheese. And bread and crackers. And spiced nuts. But I needed something to provide a little relief from such things. Something… pickled, it turns out. So I went on a long stroll through the Union Square greenmarket and picked up a few things that caught my eye: carrots of all colors, green cauliflower, a bulb of fennel, a small orb of kohlrabi, and celery that I need for other stuff anyway. The carrots and cauliflower were lightly blanched before going in the jars with everything else. The brine consists of apple cider vinegar, water, salt, sugar, garlic, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, and black peppercorns. They will hang out in the fridge until Turkey Day (which will be celebrated with pork chez Mitch and John, actually). As long as these taste okay and don’t contain botulinum toxin (don’t worry family, they don’t), I think Thanksgiving will start out quite nicely.
I feel weird devoting a post to “just a salad,” but I’ve eaten some version of this so many times in the past few weeks that it almost feels weird not to share. It started with a recipe I found while trying to figure out what to do with kohlrabi, but I don’t think it’s a recipe you really need to follow closely. It’s more of a framework for how to make nutritious, filling, un-boring chopped salads. Start with a variety of leafy, crunchy, sweet, and bitter vegetables. Mix with beans, salty olives, and some ripe avocado. Toss with a creamy, tangy homemade dressing and some toasted nuts or seeds. And hey, if you have leftover cooked chicken, hard-boiled eggs, crumbly cheese, roasted beets, or orange segments, add them (all of them!) too. And I looove using a piece of bread to wipe every last smear of dressing and avocado from the bowl.
This granola is fantastic and I will probably make it over and over, especially because the recipe is easy and so very straightforward. It’s unconventionally salty and crisps up in olive oil instead of butter, but I eat it in the most conventional of ways: sprinkled heavy handedly on top of plain yogurt or shoved straight into my mouth by the fistful. I never thought I’d say this about something as… granola as granola, but this stuff has upgraded my weekday breakfasts to something a little more alluring than usual.
I may be getting into homemade soup these days, now that autumn is in full swing and now that this recipe has won me over. It’s the most velvety smooth soup I’ve made in awhile. I think it looks fancy and tastes expensive (John’s palate puts a flattering but outrageous $10 price tag on it), but is good and unfussy enough for everyday dinners (using an immersion blender helps). You can make a big batch and save the rest for later. My favorite-smelling part of the whole process occurs at the beginning, when leeks, onions, and garlic cook in butter. I modified the recipe a bit by using milk instead of cream (and more of it) and adding a few squeezes of lemon juice.
Sunchokes, by the way, are also called Jerusalem artichokes. Guess what: they’re not from Jerusalem and they’re not even artichokes. The sunchoke is a sunflower tuber whose Italian name (Girasole) sounds like “Jerusalem” and whose taste resembles that of the artichoke. I found mine at the farmers’ market for a few bucks a pound.
And finally, a warning: sunchokes may give you (rather horrible smelling) intestinal gas. Plan accordingly.
Here’s another way to not waste leaves (previously: carrot top pesto), one of many many great ideas I’ve picked up from 101 Cookbooks. A tiny bit of effort for a whole lot of seasoned salt that you can sprinkle on almost anything to give it a bit of toasty celery flavor.
I kicked off this blustery week with a new take on fennel, a vegetable I usually have raw and thinly shaved in salads. The difficulty-of-preparation-to-deliciousness ratio is very low. You cut up some fennel and while it’s roasting in the oven, you combine raisins, walnuts, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil. When it’s all done, you get softened, licorice-y pieces of fennel coated in a bright lemony dressing, chewy raisins, and crunchy walnuts. It’s probably obvious by now, but this is a simple and worthwhile fall vegetable side dish to try out, in my opinion. The recipe is from The Meatball Shop, featured in New York Magazine.
This is something I’ve found myself making a few times over the past week in some form or another. A few nights ago I found myself bumbling around the kitchen at 9:30 pm, wondering what to eat. I tossed some pasta with leftover cooked vegetables, chickpeas, garlic, sundried tomatoes, and cream. On a more recent weekday afternoon, I found myself wearing my “house clothes” (you know, old t-shirts and sweatpants), bumbling around the kitchen yet again thanks to a canceled meeting. So I made the same pasta again, this time with some prosciutto that I was going to save for pizza later in the week. Minimal cooking, chopping, and vegetable-washing are involved, thanks to the convenience of cured meat and pre-washed baby greens.
To make it: Cook pasta (I used whole wheat linguine) in boiling salted water. Drain and set aside. Using the same water-less pot the pasta was cooked in, add a little knob of butter, some chopped garlic, and a big splash of cream. Season with a little bit of salt and a lot of black pepper. Let it heat through for a couple minutes. Add chopped sundried tomatoes, torn prosciutto, and pasta. Toss everything together to coat the pasta well. Turn the heat off and add baby arugula or spinach, tossing until greens are wilted. Finish with grated cheese.
Continuing my baking spree… That first yogurt cake I made was great and all, but I wanted to revise it into something less spongy, less greasy, and more breakfasty. I wanted it to be something I could eat with hot coffee during class, without getting translucent oily-finger spots all over my notes. (Or in transit without greasing up the handrails because I am a train pig occasionally.)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed
sliced almonds and sugar, for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.
Combine flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. In a small bowl, beat eggs then add sugar, yogurt, and extracts. Mix in oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix gently just until batter is completely moistened. Pour into pan and sprinkle sugar and sliced almonds on top. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top of the cake is lightly browned.
It was finally time to deal with the grapes sitting in my fridge. After you’ve had a fresh Concord grape, you realize it’s what all the artificially flavored grape stuff is trying to mimic. Delicious as the grapes are on their own, I’ve been baking a little more than usual and felt like keeping it up.
Schiacciata con l’uva is a little something they do in Tuscany with leftover wine grapes from the harvest. I ended up baking a version of this grape focaccia with (a very limited amount of) pine nuts and rosemary, which is exactly as delicious as it sounds. You could also try it with a bit of grappa.
One glimpse at this recipe and I knew I had to try it. Are these cookies supposed to be eaten for dessert? Breakfast? Late-night snack?
Who cares, they’re delicious. I want to start carrying them around in my pockets so I can eat them whenever I want.
A few notes: I didn’t peel the apples and I finely chopped them instead of grating them. I ran out of golden raisins so I added dried cranberries. Chill the dough before baking to get chewy, tall cookies. Best when fresh and gooey and crisp on the outside, in my opinion.
