Late to the party: Garlic Scape Pesto

Hey there.  It's Ms. Late to the Party telling you to do That Thing Everyone Else Was Already Doing Anyway.

But seriously, on the off chance that one of my fair readers hasn't heard of garlic scapes yet (despite their recent media saturation), go forth and find some!  They're just going out of season now (in New England) but if you can still find some at the markets, they're quite surprising and delicious!

What to do with them: apparently you can use them anytime you would normally use a green onion, or you can saute them like asparagus, throw them in a stir fry (this would be delish), or just eat them in a salad.  The most popular choice, though: make pesto.

Here's what I did:


I roughly chopped the scapes and threw them into the food processor.  Then I threw in a hunk of pecorino romano and a few leaves of basil (not many).  Then I processed until that was all looking sort of chunky and happy.  Then I slowly poured in olive oil until I liked the consistency.  (I used a half pound of scapes, probably a quarter pound of cheese, and a half cup or so of olive oil.   But I didn't measure and neither should you.)  This pesto is delicious over pasta and I think it would be be a nice topping for some roasted chicken (or fish, maybe?) and it's tasty spread on bread.

I also had some leftover homemade ricotta, so, after I filled an ice cube tray with the fresh pesto, I left a half cup or so in the food processor bowl and dumped in about a half cup of ricotta and buzzed it up.  This made a delicious, creamy, immensely spreadable cheesy garlicky deliciousness.  Slathered on fresh focaccia (with grape tomato halves nestled in) it was exceptionally delicious.

Also, if you didn't notice, I mentioned freezing this stuff.  It's a good idea and you should try it.  This stuff will keep for a while if frozen and if you squish it into icecube trays, you have the perfect dose for a bowl of pasta.

Great egg-spectations .... har har.

Most mornings I wake up with fuzzy eyes and a slightly aching head, both of which nasty symptoms disappear within about a half hour of my first cup of coffee.  Needless to say, I don't accomplish much in that first, oh, forty-five minutes of the day.  Some mornings, though, I wake up hungry but patient and a little inspired.

Such was the case on one of the early brilliant spring mornings a few weeks ago, when I woke with an appetite and an idea.  Last summer, on our anniversary, my sister made Dan and me a tortilla espanola - eggs gently hugging delicious potatoes with a little oniony bite.  While I was in Germany, all those many years ago, one of the reliably affordable and filling menu options on brunch and bar menus all over the place was a Bauernfrühstück - eggs scrambled with potatoes (Bratkartoffel) and, basically, whatever was handy.  And then there's the frittata I used to order when visiting my sister on Beacon Hill.

All of these things represent the egg dishes that are un-eggy enough that I can eat a lot of them without wanting to ralph.  (I have a thing about eggs.  You will not see me waxing poetic about the perfect poached egg and I will not be topping my bowl of greens with a fried egg, even though abstractly these ideas have a strong appeal.)

...

In fact, it occurs to me that I've only ever eaten a whole fried egg once - and that was in the service of a near-fatal crush on a cruelly imperceptive man-child.  Otherwise do you think I would have eaten this?  I shudder to remember it.

...

Anyway, this one morning I woke up with a craving for something a little heartier and more toothsome than the oatmeal to which I've become so accustomed.

So I peeled some potatoes and cut them into chunks and set them to cooking.  When they were done, I threw some sausage (plain ol', ordinary ol' Jimmy Dean) into a pan with some roughly chopped garlic and let them go to town.  I then removed the sausage and garlic, leaving the fat in the pan.

Into the pan then went the potatoes (drained), some mushrooms (quartered), and some salt and pepper.  When those were all brown and beginning to crisp, I threw the sausage and garlic back in, then poured in three eggs beaten with a smidgen of milk.  I cooked that until the bottom was stable (i.e. I could slide it back and forth in the pan in one big chunk.), but the top was still liquidy, then I popped it into the oven at about 375 for about 15 minutes.

Once it was baked, I topped the whole thing with a heavy grating of parmesan and some roughly chopped thyme.

The eggs puffed up, the tastes all went together and the result was delicious.  The eggs bound all the other morsels together without tasting too much like eggs and the chunks of sausage and potato and mushroom solved the egg-texture-conundrum.  Sure, the end product of all this early-morning dithering wasn't really a frittata or a tortilla or a Bauernfrühstück, but it was damn tasty and I recommend you give it a try.

Obviously, if you like eggs, you should add a couple more.  And, you should throw in whatever's handy and tasty.  If you don't have mushrooms, don't use them.  Now that there are fresh veggies coming in, add those!  Asparagus would be delicious, as would peppers.  Basically anything.

So, you see, there's no real recipe this time around.  Consider this a mad-libs style recipe, maybe.

1. Cook potatoes.
2. Add [meat].
3. Add [something oniony/garlicky].
4. Add [any number of veggies].
5. Add [desired number of] eggs.
6. Top with [cheese].
7. Enjoy.

New recipe adventures: Barbara Lynch's Stir

Occasionally you find yourself (by which I mean I find myself) arrested by an outfit, a magazine, a dish, a piece of cake or some other thing that you simply must own. This happened with me several weeks ago when, browsing in a bookstore, I found Barbara Lynch's Stir:Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition. It's a very pretty book - not fluffy or silly in any way, but also not willfully plain.

Barbara Lynch's story is compelling - rags to riches, Southie to Beacon Hill. It's like a foodie fairy tale. And let me tell you, the recipes are simply divine. For my first outing with this book, I decided to try two things I'd never done before: homemade ricotta and homemade gnocchi. In her book, Barbara tells us that the first time you have hand-made gnocchi is a transformative experience and wow. She's right. The gnocchi I made with her help was tender, yet toothsome, with a very delicate potato flavor and divine texture. The dough was very tender and a little sticky. Perhaps it needed a little more flour? But I think my restraint with the flour, while it made forming the happy little nuggets difficult, probably resulted in the staggering tenderness of the finished product.

I topped the gnocchi with some simple tomato sauce and dollops of homemade ricotta. Before I go on to the tomato sauce recipe (very simple, so if you have even the vaguest idea how to make tomato sauce, don't bother reading on), a note on making ricotta: as with hand-made gnocchi, homemade ricotta is transformative. The flavor is intense, the texture is smooth, and it cooks up beautifully. If you haven't ever tried this, DO IT. It's the easiest thing in the world and the results are stunning.

My tomato sauce doesn't really follow a recipe as such, so take the following lightly and feel free to riff as you please. Also, the recipes for gnocchi and ricotta are in StirStir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition, so have a look there!

Simple Tomato Sauce

• ~2 T olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large (15 oz?) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering.
2. Add garlic and cook until you can just smell it strongly, before it starts to brown.
3. Immediately add crushed tomatoes and cook until creamy.
4. Add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste. Be sure you taste it before seasoning, as canned tomatoes have unpredictable saltiness.

To assemble this thing, I placed the gnocchi in baking dishes, topped with tomato sauce, and dollopped (yes, that is a verb) some ricotta on top. Then I grated pecorino romano on top and popped the whole thing in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400.

It's also possible that I am so very happy with this recipe because we ate it on the roof! It was the first rooftop meal of the year - first of very, very many this summer.

Ice Cream Social

I grew up going to church ice cream socials, eating casseroles, cakes, and ice creams from generations-old recipes. Some of those things weren't too tasty (I have a particularly strong memory of some dis-GUST-ing meatballs), but some flavors from those rambling dinners stay with me. One that comes to mind (and one I'm going to try very soon) is a particular kind of ice cream that was made by one of the parishoners at my grandparents' church when I was little. The texture was airy, but a little icy. Not so rich that you couldn't eat three bowls, but so tasty that you couldn't not eat three bowls. Preferred flavors at those socials were vanilla (naturally), strawberry (always made from hand-picked strawberries, most likely), and butter pecan (heavy on the butter).

Ice cream is a habit that seems to follow me around from place to place. During my three happy years in Northampton, trips to Herrel's or Bart's (incidentally, Bart's was the scene of my most spectacular - and hilarious - lack of inhibitions ever. It resulted in such a shock that my dearest friend was accidentally punched in the face by another of our friends. I'll tell you that story someday.) were nearly daily occurrences (featured flavors: oreo mint, Caramel Heath Bar). On the days we didn't go there, we went to Davis (and later the Campus Center) for mudslides (mint chip ice cream - some chose coffee, oreos, chocolate syrup, blender).

I spent a year in Hamburg, where they are rumored to eat more ice cream per capita than anywhere in the world. Needless to say, I ate a lot of ice cream there (Generally I ate lemon or strawberry, as the ice cream more nearly resembled gelato and those are the superior gelato flavors. Late in the year, however, I discovered Eiszeit, where I stuck to anything with Caramel in the name. Or anything I couldn't identify.)

And now I'm in Boston, which as it does in so many things, resembles Hamburg in the natives' feelings about ice cream. Now it's J.P. Licks (Cake Batter Oreo) or Christina's (Chai or Khulfi) or Toscanini's (Bourbon or Burnt Caramel). When I was a kid it was Lic's all the time (grape sherbert, please, or caramel praline).

You see, I like ice cream. I'm not always in the mood for it, but when I am, absolutely nothing else will satisfy.I've got a whole stack of those old Ice Cream Social recipes that I want to try, but a few weeks ago, I found myself in possession of a craving and a pile of clementines on the brink and I decided to try something new. The result? Delicious, creamy, light, but intensely flavored Clementine-Cinnamon Gelato. (By the way, I'm convinced that orange-cinnamon is the next Great Flavor Combination.) It's like being smacked in the face by a bag of clementines, but liking it and asking for more. It's like drowning in a sea of clementine and preferring the juice to air. It's an avalanche of clementines and, rather than run for cover, you stand there and wait to be bowled over. It's not subtle, but why should it be?

I suggest trying this while you can still get your mitts on some good citrus. You might come out the other side slightly battered and orange-stained, but you'll thank me. I promise.

Clementine-Cinnamon Gelato

• ~8 clementines, pureed and strained
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 c water
• 1 c sugar
• 1 t egg white, beaten until foamy

1. Mix everything but egg together until blended.
   
2. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Fold in the egg white.
   
4. Bang all this in your ice cream maker and press go.

Way back: Hobo Packs

When I was little, there were a few meals that inspired dread in me like nothing else I knew - Stuffed Peppers (which I oddly now crave) and Polynesian Chicken (which I still loathe to think of) come to mind. There were other meals (Spaghetti Casserole, Chili, Pasta) that would, without fail, improve a bad mood or turn a proverbial frown, proverbially, upside-down. Another of those, one that my grandma (who was not an adventurous cook, and whom I miss every single day) made often, is very, very simple - it's the kind of dish that makes it feel wrong to write down a recipe, but it's also the kind that everyone - but everyone - should try, at least once.

I speak of hobo packs. I know, I know, how hard can it be to bang some ingredients into an envelope of aluminum foil and pop it in the oven? It's not hard at all, but the taste - oh, it's divine.

Hobo packs. I always thought my grandma's adherence to this recipe was a result of her having grown up in The Depression and I always imagined my grandpa and his friends dressed as hobos (battered trilby hats, patched clothes, a hankie tied onto a stick) poking around in the fire waiting for the meat to cook, breaking into the packets with pocket knives under a starry sky. My grandpa wasn't a hobo, but I thought it would have been so cool, if he had been.

Instead of huddling around a fire, we busted into the steamy packets while gathered around the dining room table, me always sitting next to my grandpa and waiting impatiently for one of the grown-ups to open my hobo pack since I always burned my fingers. I always ate mine with lots of ketchup.

The taste of my hobo packs wasn't the same. I don't have home-grown, home-canned green beans (with bacon in) to throw in there, and I did add some mushrooms and broccoli for good measure. The taste wasn't the same, but the spirit was. I reverse engineered my version from a rather distant memory, but a few things I remembered paid off. Most important, I remembered the bread squished into the meat, which makes for a few smooth, almost custardy bites in between meaty morsels. That's an important thing. Don't leave it out.

So, with no further ado, here's today's dinner.
Hobo Packs
(campfire optional)

• 1/4 lb ground pork
• 1/4 lb ground sirloin
• 1 T olive oil
• salt and pepper
• dash cayenne pepper
• dash garlic powder
• 1 t balsamic
• 1 piece white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
• 1 large yukon gold potato, cut lengthwise into eighths or so, steak-fry style
• 1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets
• mushrooms, cut into chunks

1. Squish meat and seasonings together with the bread and form into two patties.
2. Place meat patties, potatoes, mushrooms, and broccoli on top of large square of aluminum foil.
3. Sprinkle food with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Place another piece of aluminum foil on top and roll the edges up to seal each packet.
5. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.
6. Break into aluminum foil packet with a fork and enjoy.

Treasure Trove

This week, my dear friend K gave me a whole pile of castoff cookbooks (how could anyone abandon so many cookbooks!) to pick through and keep what I liked. As you all know, I'm a sucker for crusty old cookbooks with odd titles and odder illustrations. The musty smell and crumbly texture of old cookbooks and the pages that have clearly been best-loved make me very, very happy.

The books ranged from the grim Tasty Cooking for Ulcer Diets wherein we learn how the ulcer patient should be able to enjoy his dinner as much as his family does......to the shameless promotion of mayonnaise (as if it needed any help to start with) seen here.From the political, Jimmy Carter themed peanut cookbook...
...to the jolly squid peeping through a porthole! How versatile!Fodder for experimentation and gentle mockery will be found in other titles such as Mushroom Recipes by one "Countess Morphy" - I need to do some biographical research before launching into that one -, The Good Housekeeping Cake Book, The Annisquam Village Cookbook, and so forth. Expect good things.

Another ugly, but delicious dinner

Before we start, Happy Birthday to my dear mother! Go read her brand-new baby blog!

I got this great present for Christmas - my mom and I both have copies of 660 Curries and I was lamenting just before the holidays that I wanted to cook more things from it, but I never have the right spices on hand (or enough cash in hand to stock up). So my parents made a list of all the spices I could need, went to Penzey's and stocked up for me. It was a truly inspired gift.

Anyway, this gift was given to me on condition that I start cooking more of the curries, so over the last month, Dan and I have been cooking our way through the book, trying at least five new curries since we got back early this month. All the recipes have been delicious (with one notable exception, where I somehow went awry with the salt, but we won't get into that), but the most interesting thing has been getting more familiar with the taste of all the spices and how they fit together.

Last night we found ourselves in a bare-cupboard situation and I decided to make our traditional bare-cupboard dinner of lentil stew. We did, luckily, have beautiful vegetables that arrived in our Boston Organics box yesterday, so I threw in a few of them and let myself be sort of inspired by a recipe in the Curry Book. I didn't follow the recipe completely, as I didn't think to consult a recipe until after I started the lentils.

The result was a very delicious spicy, curry-y lentil stew which stood on its own and satisfied both of our very hungry stomachs with aplomb.

So far, I've used prepared spice mixes for most of the curries (I have three different garam masalas that I've been using), but I think this weekend I'll be spending some time making my own ginger paste, grinding up some of my own spice mixes, and maybe even making some spiced tomato sauce, so that I can actually sample the precise flavor profile of some of these recipes. I used to be so intimidated by cooking curry, but this book makes it totally manageable. If you're at all remotely inclined to cook curry, buy this book.

Spicy Indian/American Lentil Stew
Inspired by Five-Lentil Stew with cumin and cayenne - Panchmela Dal in 660 Curries by Raghavan IyerI call it Indian/American because I started off with the onion/carrot/celery combination that I would use to start any old American soup or stew, but ended with an Indian-inspired spice profile. I say spicy because I added cayenne twice. I'm not sure that was necessary. Feel free to dial it back to 1/8 t both times or just 1/4 t in the butter sauce at the end.

For the lentils

• 1 small red onion, chopped finely
• 1 stalk celery, chopped finely
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• about a cup of dried lentils
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 t ground turmeric
• 1 t grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  
• salt to taste
• 4 fingerling (or 1 large) potatoes (I used purple ones!)
  

For the baghaar*

• 2 T butter (ghee if you have it)
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 t garam masala (I used the garam masala I bought at Christina's)
  
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  

1. Heatsome olive oil in a Dutch oven. When it's shimmering, add the onion, celery, and carrots. Saute until vegetables soften.
2. Add the lentils (washed and picked over) and broth to the vegetables and bring to a boil.
3. Stir in a little salt, the turmeric, ginger and cayenne.
4. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. When the liquid is mostly absorbed and the lentils are mostly softened, start the baghaar.
   
6. Melt 2 T butter (or ghee) in a small skillet.
7. Add cumin seeds, bay leaves, garam masala, and cayenne pepper.
8. Reduce heat to medium and stir while the spices sizzle. When the cumin seeds turn dark reddish brown and start to smell toasty, remove from the heat. (Be very careful - it is EASY to burn the spices, which causes an unholy stink. Trust me.)
9. Stir this mixture into lentils, add salt to taste and serve.

*my Curry Book tells me this is what it's called when you sizzle spices in ghee (butter in my case) to add to the dish at the last minute.

Good morning - and a new addiction

Oatmeal.

I've always loved breakfast food - pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs (as a kid, less so as an adult), muffins, bagels, and I've documented my deep love of biscuits and gravy more than once. Oatmeal, however, is a pretty new addition to my breakfast routine, but, oh, it's entrenched. It's not going anywhere.I enjoyed oatmeal for the first time in college - it was one breakfast food that never went wrong in good old Tyler House. Add some raisins, a little butter, some brown sugar and sometimes a tiny squeeze of lemon and it's delicious.
Last winter I lapsed into instant oatmeal. It's quick, but it's pretty nasty. Done with that.

Anyway, this is how we do oatmeal around here lately. It's good.

To-die-for Oatmeal

• 1 c Old Fashioned Oats
• 1 c milk (I use 2%)
• 2 c water
• 2 t butter
• 1/2 t salt

1. Melt the butter in a pan. Throw in the oats and toast them until they absorb the butter and begin to brown and smell nutty.
2. Just before the oats start to burn, add the milk and water to the pan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat way down.
3. Go take a shower. Or check your email. Or read the front page of the newspaper.
4. Come back in 15 minutes. Add the salt, stir.
5. Go away for another 5 minutes. Then you'll want to be near the stove to be sure you get your oatmeal just the right consistency, stir it frequently so that it doesn't burn or stick, and smell the lovely, oaty scent of breakfast.
6. When it's done (or when you can't wait any longer), plop some oatmeal in a bowl. Garnish with your choice of toppings. I usually go for another little pat of butter (obscene, I know), a sprinkle of cinnamon and a spoonful of brown sugar. Or occasionally I just plop in some of my favorite preserves (lately, home-canned apple/pear butter or spiced plum jam). Or top it with raisins and nuts.
7. Eat. This recipe should serve two people rather large bowls of steaming happy.

I know, I know, you're all so sick of hearing about the party. But this recipe was SO good I just made another batch of it. So it's not just a party-recipe.
I've always had a giant-sized sweet tooth and have traditionally eaten candy of various sorts until I feel very ill every Christmas. My parents always set out dishes of M&M's (both peanut and plain - separately, because everyone's a purist one way or the other), Hershey's miniature bars (I love the Mr. Goodbar miniatures), and all kinds of other things. Walking through the house from kitchen to living room is like walking through a veritable minefield of chocolate. And that's not even to mention my dad's annual millions of batches of fudge. Mind you, I'm not complaining.

I thought I'd give my candy-making chops a try, and did so with these DELICIOUS chocolate-dipped vanilla caramels from this month's Food and Wine. A few tips from my adventure trying this recipe out:

• GENEROUSLY oil the aluminum foil into which you plan on pouring the caramel to chew. It is a REAL pain when it sticks because you underestimated the stickiness of hot caramel.
• Don't stop at the recipe's suggestion of bittersweet caramel for the dipping. I also dipped a batch in white chocolate, which resulted in a very sweet, but delicious treat. And when I got tired of dipping, I just salted the leftover pieces so they wouldn't stick together. Salted caramel = genius. but you all know that.

Try this recipe! So delicious.

December, Day 13: Party, Part 1

I have many, many recipes and stories to share from our lovely little party last night, but right now, I'm too tired and too full of latkes from Jess and Eli's little party to get into all that. One thing I made for the Par-tay was very simple: cheese straws. These little snacks are delicious, look way more impressive than they ought to, and are a snap to make.
Here's what you do. Buy some frozen puff pastry. Thaw it. Grate some good quality hard cheese (parm, asiago, etc.) and sprinkle it over the dough. Slice into 3/4 inch stripes. Pick them up, twist them three or four times (lengthwise), and place them on a baking sheet. Bake until they're puffy and golden brown. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for more highlights, including the Best Punch Ever, Ginger Sandwich Cookies with lemon cream, Two kinds of brown butter tarts, vanilla caramels dipped in chocolate, and more. Happy Sunday to you all. I'm off to bed now!

December, Day 11: Party Prep Day 1

Getting myself and my kitchen ready for guests tomorrow. If you're not coming, now would be the time to start feeling sorry for yourself. Tonight I've...

1. Made Vanilla Caramel - which will be cut into tiny bites and dipped into chocolate tomorrow.
2. Made Cookie Dough for Bowtie Cookies - to be assembled and baked tomorrow.
3. Made Cookie Dough for Ginger Sandwich Cookies - to be baked and assembled tomorrow. (This dough is disconcertingly wet... we'll see how they work out.)
   
4. Started the St. Cecilia's Society Punch - lemons macerating in brandy, green tea syrup made.
5. Made puff-pastry cheese straws.
   

Things to do tomorrow:

1. Bake/assemble cookies.
2. Finish punch.
3. Bake one or two tarts (orange and maybe cranberry).
4. Bake gougeres.
5. Make a batch of benedictine.
6. Set up the house.

Totally doable, right? Oh, and I'm going to a Latke party at 2 PM. Hm. Early morning, perhaps.

December, Day 10: Cooking in Literature

Tomorrow begins party prep, so today just a little note. Here's one of my favorite brief passages from literature about cooking, from one of my favorite books EVER.

From Possession, By A.S. Byatt:

"When he got home that evening he could smell that Val was in a mood. The basement was full of the sharp warmth of frying onions, which meant she was cooking something complicated. When she was not in a mood, when she was apathetic, she opened tins or boiled eggs, or at most dressed an avocado. When she was either very cheerful or very angry, she cooked. She stood at the sink, chopping courgettes and aubergines, when he came in, and did not look up, so he surmised that the mood was bad. [...] Val put before him grilled marinated lamb, ratatouille and hot Greek bread."

December, Day 9: Liveblogging Top Chef Finale!

10:59 PM: When's the next season?

10:58 PM: Well, that was obvious. He was obviously really great all the way through. Crazy creative, absurdly talented, but I just don't like him, don't really like the sound of a lot of his food, and think he should have been nicer to his brother.

10:57 PM: Brothers are the last two standing. Bryan is STILL so much nicer.

10: 56 PM: Moment of Truth: NO! Poor Kevin.

10:55 PM: Kevin's the fan favorite! Shocking.

10:52 PM: Anyway, back to me. Drinks are fairly settled, but what about the food? Should I make sugar cookies? More of the apricot almond pine nut cookies? Something entirely new? I'm thinking about making a gougeres ring or maybe a couple tomato & mozzarella tarts, or maybe cheese fondue for something savory. Any suggestions for finger food for 25? I'm not afraid of new/difficult things, but need a couple of EASY fallbacks... Tell me!

10:51 PM: COME ON, you can't knock Kevin for his mushroom and not tear Michael a new one for screwing up the cake! Michael's going to win. BLEH.

10:50 PM: Michael fails! Bryan wins! Kevin's falling flat.

10:49 PM: Michael, Michael, Michael.

10:48 PM: I NEED to own the table where the chefs sit around talking while they're being judged. Also, Michael says "none of us were stoked about what we did in the kitchen." Read: "I screwed up."

10:47 PM: Michael sucks.

10:46 PM: Michael's matsutakes were good, apparently. Lots of layers. Tom LOVES and has LOVED Michael the whole time. At least he admits the cake was overdone. It's like they're making excuses for him because they already think he's going to win.

10:45 PM: Kevin's chicken skin and squash wins. Pork belly FAIL, though. Uh-oh.

10:44 PM: Bryan's restraint is not a fault. Venison was "a story of my style." Sounds like it was tasty, though.

10:42 PM: Guest list for Saturday's little shindig is up to 24. I haven't yet planned the menu. St. Cecilia's Society Punch, Glühwein, etc. to drink.

10:40 PM: $125,000 on the line. Michael's nervous, Kevin's feeling good, Bryan's confident. I think Bryan will win, but I WANT Kevin to win. The brothers are just to froufy. I like Kevin's good, honest food. The others may be extremely well trained and brilliant and all that, but I think Kevin's got really good instincts.

10:38 PM: If you're still bored during the commercials go here and see why I want a "private writer's residence."

10:36 PM: Michael says, "me me me me me." Also, careful editing makes it very unclear who's in the lead. I'm also kind of sad that they've scaled back the finale. I miss the days of the hoedown, cooking in a barn for 400 people finales. That being said, it feels like they got more serious chefs and decided to give them a more serious challenge and more serious surroundings. Nice.

10:34 PM: Kevin: Bacon in his dessert, but was it enough? Michael: they are ON to you! Good pumpkin seeds, though. Uh oh: almost very good. Bryan: Cheesecake was pleasant, finessed, fig sorbet! Win: Bryan.

10:34 PM: Time for chaos in the kitchen: Michael has OVER COOKED his cakes, people!

10:32 PM: Kevin: pork with pork. I like it. Bryan: talent, delicious, pungent. Michael: excellent squab, mushrooms were gimmicky, though. Kevin: undercooked pork, good sauce, but Tom is scowling.

10:31 PM: Kevin: good broth, bad mushroom. Bryan: underseasoned curry, bland plating, well-cooked fish. But it's safe! Don't bore the judges. Michael: squash + lemon = win. Win: Michael.

10:30 PM: I kind of love Southern pride. You know, the nice kind.

10:28 PM: Bryan! Underseasoning! Oh no! Michael's prawn undercooked! Noooooo! Fried broccoli interesting, though. Win: Kevin.

10:27 PM: Kevin: Southern fried chicken with squash & tomatoes. Bryan: Tuna noodle casserole via sardines. Michael: Cream of dehydrated broccoli. He wins for creativity. But weird.

10:23 PM: "My mom's never eaten a sardine before." Snob.

10:22 PM: If you're looking to kill some time during commercials, go here, where Jess gives you a little peek at the life of a grad student. Except we don't all come through so gracefully.

10:20 PM: Did Michael bleach his hair for the finale? What's that about? He's bringing N'sync to the kitchen.

10:18 PM: Mystery box - matsutake, rockfish, meyer lemon, and squash? Whaa? Also, did you all see the big new sous vide machine that's on the market? Want. Also, YES cook the fish in duckfat, Kevin. Badass.

10:17 PM: I like Bryan SO much better than Michael. But dude. If I were a tenth as organized as these guys...

10:16 PM: FOURTH course inspired by favorite childhood dish! Thank you, Tom!

10:14 PM: How could Kevin and his mom be cuter?

10:13 PM: Aww, it's their moms! Are they going to have to sous as well? But that could be awfully tricky with the bros.

10:12 PM: One thing I really like about Top Chef: they all sit around and discuss how they can divide up kitchen space - so collegial.

10:11 PM: Just looking at the menu for Cyrus to pass the time during the commercials - what's with Red Wine Risotto? Have you tried it? Is it any good? I'm inclined to say ewww. But then I've been wrong before.

10:10 PM: Favorite tweet of the day - I just remembered because of the M&M commercial: "Well, my Xmas present to Jessica went bust: M&M wouldn't let me put Lagerfeld and Wintour's faces on M&Ms. GFY HQ is a sad place today. -H" @fuggirls

10:09 PM: WHO WAS AT THE DOOR? Either Tom or Padma, I'm guessing. Surprise quickfire?

10:08 PM: Bryan = captain obvious. "It's going to come down to execution." REALLY.

10:06 PM: They're cooking at Cyrus. Oh, and it's Iron Chef Top Chef! Mystery box!

10:04 PM: Aaand here come the old chefs. My picks: Jennifer and Eli. NOT ROBYN.

10:03 PM: Not judging Padma for being pregnant, but what is WITH her wardrobe the last couple episodes?! Also, do we like her bangs?

10:02 PM: Bryan and Michael are really kind of mean to each other. I'm rooting for Kevin.

10:01 PM: Now I have to actually figure out how to tell the brothers apart.

December, Day 4: Ho, ho, ho!

Today is my day of birth, as some of you know, and I'm out celebrating. But I thought I'd leave you with a couple of the gifts I'm sending out to the Euorpean contingent - Wiebke, shut your eyes! (Not really. You already know about this one.)
While I was home over Thanksgiving, I was struck by a mood. My mom took me to the cake decorating store (!) and I ran into a display of LorAnn Gourmet flavors and next to it, a recipe for hard candy. The rest is history. I made eight batches (clove, cinnamon, wintergreen, cranberry, lemon, English toffee, grape, and a swirled double batch of cheesecake and amaretto) to send to our family abroad, take to the department for Nikolaustag (a day late), and to munch on while puttering around the house. It's a REALLY easy process (except for the scoring and breaking parts) and kind of fascinating if you find sugar's behavior as mystifying as I do.
Hard Candy

• 2 c sugar
• 2/3 c light corn syrup
• 3/4 c water
• 1 dram (like in Shakespeare!) flavor oil
• food coloring as desired
• powdered sugar

1. Mix the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Insert candy thermometer. Bring sugar to a boil without stirring.
3. Continue boiling mixture until temperature reaches 260 degrees or 'hard ball' stage.
4. Add any coloring desired. Do not stir - the boiling distributes the color.
5. Continue cooking until temperature reaches 300 degrees. Remove from the heat.
6. After boiling stops, add flavoring and stir. BE CAREFUL because there will be a big cloud of steam that may or may not burn your lungs.
7. Pour the candy onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Score the candy when it is partially cooled. Break candy along scored lines. This is where it gets sticky. Literally. I found a pizza cutter to be very useful. Basically, you want to score lines into the candy when it's cooled enough to hold a scored line. You just have to play around with it. I also found that a good, sharp, sturdy pair of kitchen scissors (like Joyce Chen) was good for cutting stubborn pieces. Just accept that your first couple of batches won't be very pretty.

Our human relatives aside, there is one very special dog we won't be seeing over Christmas. I baked a batch of Blue Jean Gourmet's peanut butter dog treats for my Lucy, my parents' Poppy and Daisy, and one Bulldog named Oscar (pictured below). I can tell you already that Lucy, Poppy, and Daisy LOVE them.

Liveblogging Turkey Day

6:02 PM - Mission accomplished.

3:09 PM - First rounds of eights out of the oven. Fluffy and delicious.

2:51 PM - Turkey done, stuffing done, corn souffle done, first round of eights in the oven, gravy done.

1:56 PM - Beans blanched, ginger grated, bacon being chopped, turkey at 140°, stuffing and corn casserole in oven, potatoes for mashing on the stove. Eights rising.

1:11 PM - T-2 hours, approximately. Potatoes being peeled, beans being blanched, turkey still in oven. For me: last minute snack to take the edge off so that I don't nibble from now until dinner. Leftover shepherd's pie from last night should do the trick.

12:44 PM - Corn Souffle, stuffing ready to go. Eights cut/formed/ready to rise. Now cleaning up, then starting the green beans.

12:12 PM - Time to make eights!

12:00 PM - Turkey breasts IN

11:45 AM - Using a lull in cooking time (pecan pie in oven) to set my mom up with her own blog (finally). Details TBD.

10:30 AM - Roasting the turkey on a bed of celery to keep it off the bottom and give the stock good flavor.

10:11 AM - Executive decision to add apple to the stuffing.

10:03 AM - Getting a bit of a late start with the liveblogging today - I woke at 8 to the smell of onions and celery cooking down in butter (the start of the stuffing). After trundling downstairs and waking myself up a little more, we had Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls (best cinnamon roll recipe ever - like a certain unnamed mall chain, but without the sickly sweetness and the chemically after taste). After breakfast, things shift into a higher gear - stuffing being assembled (onion + celery + mix + lots of mushrooms), homemade dark turkey stock coming out of the fridge for stuffing and, eventually, gravy. Corn 'souffle' being mixed up (that's a recipe that you'll be seeing soon). Philosophical discussion of eggs in stuffing (mom says no, her grandma said yes). Last night was a thanksgiving prep orgy: dough for 'eights' (potato dinner rolls), cinnamon rolls, pie crust for pecan pie, orange pieapple fluff.

Score

A few weeks ago, Dan and I went to the Brattle Book Shop in search of cool old books and I hit the Mother Lode. (I mean, the real mother lode was upstairs in the rare book room where they had a first edition of Ulysses among many other drool-worthy items, but I liked my bargain basement find a lot.) I found the 1950 Gourmet Magazine Cookbook and the second Volume, from 1957. Since the magazine was so cruelly taken away from us, I was doubly excited to find these books intact and available to me at such a reasonable price!
Both volumes are pretty beat up, but still in good working order - I don't do a very good job of keeping my cookbooks clean, after all. This one also had a bunch of things between the pages, one magazine cutting with an apple pie recipe, a postcard with some notes on the back, and one little slip with notes about a day's worth of menus. Apparently they had oeuf au miroir for breakfast (p. 503 in Volume II) and Chinese fried rice (with either chicken or ham) for lunch. I'm also kind of obsessed with the handwriting on these notes. Relics of a kind. Was it some fifties-style optimistic and ambitious newlywed, planning menus for each menu? A man teaching himself to cook? Who owned these books before? I'm especially intrigued because there's no inscription! (This is why I always write my name in my books.)
These books are full of all sorts of old school images and recipes that I think (it's safe to say) have fallen somewhat out of favor. The chapter titles are charming and hilarious. My favorite (above) is Man's Meat. The Scottish poem just below the meaty illustration also makes me smile. More lovely chapter titles below.
And then there are the full color illustrations. Some look good (Black Bean Soup, Crêpes Suzette, Chocolate Cake Florence) and others are, well, glazed meat. In this most disgusting example, Cold Glazed Ox Tongue. It has flower shapes cut out of, I believe, ham.
In any case, expect to hear more about this book. At some point, I'm going to start cooking out of it - none of the more exotic meats and certainly no aspic in the near future - but I do want to try some of these recipes! I'll keep you posted. (More images of the books here.)I'll leave you with a favorite cookbook-reading guilty pleasure: biscuits (the kind from a can) with honey and butter.

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!