Rain, rain, go away

When it rains, they say, it pours. One raindrop opens a crack and suddenly everything rushes in and you find yourself suddenly inundated. This is true with the Good, but is at least equally as true with the Bad. When you find yourself up to your ankles and sinking fast in late work, missed deadlines, debts piling up, and emails that have long gone unanswered, it's easy to get mired down in self-pity and despair.

That's where I found myself yesterday, badness lapping up around my knees and threatening to swallow me whole. Today is better, though, and I haven't decided where to give credit. Maybe it's the good talking-to I gave myself last night, maybe it's the many hours of mindless, but delicious TV I sank into last night (Oh, Bill Compton, you can bite me anytime!), or maybe, just maybe, it was the cookies.

I thought the smell of something delicious baking would cheer me up and went in search of chocolate chips. No luck. I pulled a lot of extraneous foodstuffs out of the cabinets and found, to my shock and surprise, that I had a whole unopened package of rolled oats. You can see where this is going.I pulled out the big yellow baking book and found their recipe for oatmeal cookies. This book is amazing not only because the recipes are really quite delicious, but because they explain how they arrived at the recipe through their testing process. Of course, you all know me well enough by now to know that I just don't follow recipes to the letter. So, I added a spice or two here an there, threw in some vanilla and chopped almonds and ended with a cookie with a delicate flavor balance and crazy texture. I think I over-baked them. Either that or I needed a little extra butter to compensate for the extra dryness of the almonds or something. They were a little dry, a little crunchy, but awfully tasty. Best served warm and without bitterness. Bake these and set your worries aside.

Spiced Oatmeal-Almond-Raisin Cookies
adapted from Baking Illustrated

• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cardamom
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 c packed light brown sugar
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 c old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 c chopped sliced almonds
• 1 c golden raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt together in a bowl.
3. Mix the oats, raisins, and almonds together in another bowl.
4. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the butter and sugar with a rubber spatula (but be sure not to accidentally fling dough all over the kitchen - I did).
6. Stir in the oats, almonds, and raisins. This takes some patience and persistence, but you don't want to leave some cookies high and dry without the good stuff!
7. Roll the dough into large balls - the book suggests two-inch balls, but I did them a wee bit smaller (probably 1 1/2 inches) - and place on prepared baking sheets (lined with parchment, or silpat, or generously buttered) about 2 inches apart. I was able to fit a dozen on each of two half-sheets and made two mondo-cookies on another baking sheet.
8. Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, 22-25 minutes (this is where I screwed up - do NOT overbake, as the recipe does indeed warn you). Let cool two minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a wire cooling rack.
9. Try not to eat them all. They go great with a cup of hot tea or a glass of cold milk, if you're into that sort of thing.

Beach Day

Yesterday we did a rather un-November-first activity and went to the beach for one of the last warm days I expect we'll have. We headed up to Manchester-by-the-Sea and chilled out on the beach for a while. My crazy friends went swimming, but Lucy and I stayed safe, dry, and warm on the sand. It was a perfect perfect day. A lovely last-hurrah before Winter.

Small Clip Show

Figure 1. Lucy is susceptible to wind.
Figure 2. My baby orchid bloomed!

Five star makeover: Macaroni & Cheese - Savory & Sweet

When I saw the Five Star Foodie's challenge to make over Macaroni and Cheese, I knew this was the five star makeover for me. As you all know, I have a deep and abiding love of Mac and Cheese. I toyed with a bunch of different options, including an Indian Mac and Cheese with paneer and spices, and a pimped out Mac and Cheese with brie and cranberry chutney, but when I talked to my mom about it, I knew I was out of my depth. Her ideas were amazing. So, while she was in town last week, she and I made two different macaroni makeovers. We decided to go the savory and sweet route. The first makeover is a savory Macaroni and Cheese terrine with butternut squash and bacon. For the sweet portion, we made a dessert Macaroni and Mascarpone pudding with white chocolate and bourbon.(Credits: These recipes are my mom's and the photo credits go to some combination of me, my dad, and my sister. As we were all passing the camera around, it's hard to tell who took what.)
Both of these may sound like candidates for the Gallery of Regrettable Food, but I assure you, they were delicious. (I may even have made myself a little sick eating the leftovers the last few days.)

Savory: Layered Mac & Cheese Terrine Ingredients

• 1 box macaroni noodles (I used Barilla Elbows)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• nutmeg to taste (ca. 1 t)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 quart milk
• 1/2 lb aged Gruyere, shredded
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 10 oz. bacon, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to about 400.
2. Place butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Roast until tender, but don't burn.
3. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a pan. Drain grease and set bacon aside.
4. Cook pasta in generously salted water for approximately 3/4 of the suggested time. Drain and set aside.
5. Shred aged Gruyere on the largest holes on a box grater. Set aside.
6. Make a roux: Melt the stick of butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Add milk and cook over medium-low heat until sauce bubbles, thickens, and just begins to brown. Add nutmeg.
7. Add cheese and stir until melted and smooth.
8. Add pasta to cheese sauce and stir until well coated.
9. Spread a layer of mac and cheese into a loaf pan that has been lined with aluminum foil (with edges sticking out the sides) and then liberally buttered. Tamp down quite firmly.
10. Spread a layer of butternut squash cubes on top of the M&C. Press down, but do not mix with mac and cheese layer.
11. Spread another layer of mac and cheese - make sure the squash is entirely covered. Press down.
12. Create a layer of the bacon. Cover mac and cheese as completely as possible.
13. Finally, spread a final thick layer of mac and cheese. Press down as firmly as possible.
14. Bake for about 20 minutes or until top layer of mac and cheese begins to brown.
15. Allow terrine to cool for about fifteen minutes and invert onto serving platter using foil to ease the form out of the pan. Carefully remove foil from mac and cheese terrine.
    
16. Using a sawing motion and a very sharp knife, slice for serving.

**This recipe is almost certainly enough for two loaf pans. Also, a note on the aluminum foil technique - it helped, but maybe not enough to make it worth the effort. If your loaf pans are reliably non-stick, you may want to skip it. If there's any doubt about the pans being potentially sticky, do it.

Macaroni & Mascarpone Pudding with White Chocolate and Bourbon
For the Macaroni & Mascarpone

• 1 lb small elbow macaroni
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 2 T bourbon
• 1 T vanilla
• sugar to taste

1. Prepare 1 pound of small elbow macaroni in well-salted water and cook until "almost" al dente--remember it will cook in the oven as the dessert bakes.
2. Drain the mac very well.
3. While the macaroni is cooking--combine 8 ounces of mascarpone cheese that has been mixed with and "lightened" with 1-2 tablespoons of bourbon (or to taste) and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Add sugar to taste.
4. Combine this cheese mixture with the hot macaroni and blend well. Set aside while preparing the custard mixture.

For the Custard:

• 2 Cups of heavy cream
• 2/3 Cup of milk
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 8 ounces of high quality (containing cocoa butter) white chocolate
• 2 eggs

1. Combine cream, milk,sugar and vanilla bean in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. Add 1 Vanilla bean that has been split and the seeds scraped.
2. When mixture is very warm (not boiling) add the white chocolate. Stir to allow the chocolate to melt.
3. Meanwhile beat 2 eggs until well blended and light in color.
4. Add a small amount (a ladle-full) of the hot cream/chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs to temper the mixture. Add another ladle-full of hot mixture slowly while beating vigorously. When the eggs are tempered and very warm, add to the remaining cream/chocolate mixture.
5. Remove the vanilla bean.

Assembly

1. Place macaroni in oven safe baking dish that has been well buttered.
2. Pour the custard mixure over the macaroni mixture and gently stir to combine.
3. Place in a 325 degree oven and bake until set and lightly browned.
4. Serve while warm with white chocolate cream sauce.

For the Sauce:

• 3/4 Cup of heavy cream
• 4 ounces of chopped white chocolate.

1. Heat the cream and reduce if you desire a thicker sauce.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and stir to melt the chocolate.
3. Spoon this warm sauce over the warm macaroni and ENJOY!

Munching on Sunshine

Yes, it's getting colder and yes, it's getting darker. I fully expect the snow to come down any minute and I fully expect to not see the sun again until April - March, if we're lucky. Last week, however, in a last-minute fit of denial, I decided to make the summeriest, most cheerful dessert I could think of: a lemon tart.

What you should know: I have a passionate love of desserts that involve lemons. On trips to southern France and the Amalfi coast in Italy, I made it a point to eat at least one, preferably two or three lemon desserts or pastries every day. There was one particular lemon tart that I ate in Nice that has stuck in my memory for lo, these many years. The tangy lemony-ness and the smooth, silky texture of the filling, the flaky, yet tender crust, the sweet note that lingered after the sour had passed - just thinking about it takes me right back.
That taste - the 7th grade poet in me would call it the taste of sunshine - is what I had a longing for. I have been sitting on a lemon tart recipe for a long time, waiting for a rainy day (I didn't intend to wait for a literal rainy day, but that's how it worked out). This one comes from a genuine Parisienne who spent a year at my lovely alma mater, and with whom one of my dearest friends and most loyal readers is still in close contact. The text of this recipe is written in somewhat eccentric English and has very little in the way of concrete instruction, but luckily my mom (my CIA-trained, kitchen-ruling mom) was on hand to help fill in the blanks, as it was the very first tart I've ever made.

The result? It was stunning. Every bite embodied that sunshiny, liquid-light, tart-yet-sweet, creamy, silky perfection I've been dreaming about since that very first day in Nice what - six years ago? (Actually, I think this tart might have been better than that tart, but nostalgia does gild that memory a bit.) No, it didn't stave off the cold, the rain, the coming three-months darkness. But it did make being alive on that one day a little more worthwhile.The Famous Fanélie's Lemon Tart
*I've adapted the recipe rather heavily and will mark my additions and changes with asterisks.

For the tart shell:

• 150 g flour
• 125 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• *dash salt

1. The original recipe called for the ingredients to be mixed by hand. *Being lazy and inclined to repetitive stress injury, I took the easy way out and used a food processor. This necessitated the addition of a couple of tablespoons of water to bring the dough together. In the future, I would not do this, as I'm afraid that step caused my crust to shrink almost beyond rescue.
2. After the dough is smooth and homogeneous, put it in the fridge for a half an hour.
3. Then, press it into a tart pan with a removable bottom.
4. Put it in the freezer for at least ten minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375.

For the lemon curd: (I've doubled this recipe, as we were afraid - and rightly so - that the original would not fill my tart shell.)

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 300 g of sugar
• the juice and zest of two lemons
• 120 g of butter
• *pinch salt

1. *The original recipe called for a pan over direct heat, but given my propensity for burning everything, my mom's suggestion to use a double-boiler (in our case, a tempered-glass bowl positioned on top of a saucepan of simmering water) sounded like a very, very good idea.
2. Melt the butter in the top bowl, very slowly.
3. When the butter is melted, keep the pan on the fire, but on low. Add the lemon juice and zest, sugar, and salt.
4. Mix the ingredients very slowly, with circular motions until the mixture is fully combined and the sugar melting.
5. Add the egg very slowly and stir constantly, but slowly.
6. Continue cooking the curd on low/medium-low heat until it thickens up and turns whitish and less transparent.
7. *While preparing the curd, remove the tart shell from the freezer and partially bake the shell (between five and ten minutes).
8. When the curd is "à point" (anyone have a good translation for this?), pour it into the pastry shell and bake the tart at 375 for about 15 minutes. The shell will hopefully brown a bit and the top of the curd may brown and begin to bubble.
9. If you can, wait until it's cooled to serve. Be very careful, and you'll get gorgeous slices of semi-transparent neon yellow on crumby, flaky, cream-colored crust.