At a friend's table

Yesterday:

A friend and I were going to have dinner at a popular restaurant (Waterboy). Then something came up and we couldn't. Instead we shared leftovers at Janie's place, and I made oatmeal cookies.  It was just as much fun.

Oatmeal cookies
(from Gourmet cookbook)

Beat together until fluffy:

10 T. butter, softened
1/3 C. light brown sugar
1/4 C. granulated sugar

Mix in:
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Add and mix until just combined:
1 3/4 C. rolled oats (not quick variety)
3/4 C. flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

At this point it's all done. But you can add chocolate chips, fruits, etc. I used about a cup of toasted walnuts and 1/2 C. dried cranberries.

The recipe says make huge cookies of 1 heaping tablespoon each. I made smaller cookies. Put on parchment-covered baking sheets. Run your fingers under water and press each cookie down lightly. Bake at 375° about 12 minutes.

Sunday, sweet and easy

Written last night:

Dear Friends,
It was a relaxing Sunday, and also mild and spring-like. Perfect. I kept the windows open and think the allergies came in, but it was worth it. 

Church, dog park, driving around to explore the town — that was the first half, and the second was making a delicious but simple dinner for Patrick and Steph, who were here with Gully and Bruiser. We sat and talked on the balcony before dinner. Recipes below: easy roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, brownies. 

A perfect Sunday. 

Love,
k

Go-to Menu 
 Roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, brownies (Takes about 1.5 hours Total)

Smitten Kitchen Flat Roasted Chicken

My words: I bought a 4.5 pound organic chicken. Using a kitchen scissors, I cut out the backbone. Dry the chicken. Sprinkle lots of salt inside it. Grind some pepper. Flatten the chicken. Put it into the iron skillet, breast side up. Salt and pepper the top. Stick some rosemary stems under the skin, all over. Dot with butter or drop some olive oil over it. Preheat the oven to 450. Roast the chicken 45 minutes, more or less, until the thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 165. Squeeze one lemon. Pour the lemon juice over the chicken. You can let the chicken rest until you're ready to eat.

Gratin Dauphinois

2 pounds potatoes (I used a bag of baking potatoes) to make 5 to 6 cups when sliced
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 C. milk
1 1/2 C heavy cream
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. butter (for buttering pan)
1/2 C. grated Swiss cheese (I use Gruyere)

Wash and dry the whole potatoes thoroughly. No need to peel them. Slice thin. Don't put them in water now because you need to conserve the potato starch. Combine potatoes with garlic, milk, cream, salt and pepper in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium, stirring to prevent scorching. I use the low-heat burner because I have burned them many times.

Bring to a boil, stirring, until mixture thickens slightly.

Butter a shallow (1 1/2 inch)  baking dish (I usually use the oval copper gratin pan; yesterday it was a 9" x 13" foil pan) and pour the potatoes in. Cover with grated cheese.  I usually put the pan on a cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake at 400° for an hour or until potatoes are soft and top is browned. (You can bake at 450° if you are roasting a chicken at the same time.) These are even good cold.

Serve with asparagus or some other green vegetable. Spinach, maybe.

Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Brownies

3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped (Sometimes I use 70% bittersweet and it is fine.)
1 stick (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
1 1/3 cups (265 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt (about 2 grams)
2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour 

Heat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment, extending it up two sides, or foil. Butter the parchment or foil or spray it with a nonstick cooking spray. 

In a medium heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together until only a couple unmelted bits remain. Off the heat, stir until smooth and fully melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and salt. Stir in flour with a spoon or flexible spatula and scrape batter into prepared pan, spread until even. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free. 

Dust the brownies with powdered sugar before serving. (Gretchen, would you consider a sprinkle of sea salt before baking?)

Cooking up Mardi Gras

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Happy Mardi Gras! For some reason I love this day -- the all-out, anything goes spirit. For me that meant cooking. I made Smitten Kitchen's butterscotch brownies for Darrius (She gave me the turquoise purse), who came to pick them up, but really to check out how my three rooms are decorated. I know a kindred spirit when I meet one. In general, I think she approved. She especially liked the easy chair in the kitchen. She swooped in and out quickly — Last I saw of her was a swirl of fluffy red bathrobe and bright pink slippers. She was nibbling a brownie on her way past the elevator.

I also cooked little chicken tidbits for Zing, so I can hide his peace pills in them. I have already hidden pills in cheese balls and hotdog slices, each time thinking “I’ve finally fooled him.” It works for maybe two days, and then Zing will daintily eat around the pill, which he drops to the floor and ignores. I’ve resorted to professionally-produced "pill pockets” and plastic syringes that stick all the way to the end of his tongue, and I’ve even pried his jaws wide, only to drop his little squirming body and the pills with it onto the floor. I’ve even hidden pills in chunks of leftover beef. Each attempt has ended in failure. So I’m not very hopeful, even though the chicken treats worked today. But I am refining my technique: make the treats bite-sized, so he’s likely to swallow without chewing; offer some chicken bites without pills, along with the others. This chicken recipe better work because there is no more Plan B.

I hope you had your own kind of Mardi Gras fun!

Love,

k

Tears and cookies

Written last night:

All day today I’ve been sad and sometimes crying. I’m telling you this because maybe it has happened to you. Maybe not. It’s normal, though, I guess. Everyone responds differently to death and other traumas, they say. (I kind of thought I was over this part.)

So tonight I’m baking cookies. Biscotti. They smell delicious. If you need it, here’s the recipe: David Liebovitz’ Cornmeal Biscotti. Cornmeal makes them crunchy rather than hard, as most biscotti are. I substituted California almonds for the walnuts, and I smashed whole nuts with a meat mallet. Nothing is as satisfying as smashing something with a mallet. 

I should never have called Capital City Bank in Tallahassee this morning. For some reason, I cry every time I hang up from them. (The last time I saw my favorite teller at the North Monroe Street branch, he had placed a box of Kleenex on the ledge in front of his window.) But it was essential — clearing up automatic bill-pays in Tallahassee. 

The thing is, you can’t know when the sadness is going to hit; it just does. I think what’s happening is I was acting normal in a kind of numb way and now the numbness is fading and I’m actually feeling loss. I miss Clark. Today it hit me hard that I’ll be living without him. 

But  it was a busy day: The A/C guy was here at about 7 a.m. Now the place cools down right. Oddly, today it was cool enough to go without A/C. You walk along N Street and see a lot of open windows. I also dealt with Wells-Fargo Bank, the plumber (toilets!), found a new dentist (thanks to Mary Kaye), arranged a haircut (I sketched the shop front a few months ago, so I feel connected to it.), updated magazine subscriptions, scheduled a bookshelf delivery, had a massage (I was just 15 minutes late!), went to the grocery…   

If you’ve dealt with online service, you know how long and complex some of these “simple” chores can be. As I was waiting for a magazine response (to change address), I realized that we, the customers, are doing the work. An automated “nice person / maybe with music/ maybe with ads” directs us. How many times have you clicked the wrong button accidentally and had to start a tedious process all over? I love it when an actual human being comes on the phone! This morning an actual banker in Tallahassee spent precious minutes helping me solve a problem. When I thanked him, he said he enjoyed the challenge.

On a food note: I was wondering how good the fish here could be. In Florida — both in Miami and then in Tallahassee  (Love you, Southern Seafood!) we had superb fresh fish. I didn’t expect California to compete. But Saturday I bought fresh sea trout at the farmers market. It’s red, like salmon, but milder and not as fatty. It tastes like fish, not salmon. Yesterday I rubbed it with olive oil and salt and baked it at 425 F for 10 minutes/inch of thickness. It was delicious! Today I had the leftovers with salad. I’ll be checking more varieties of fish, but this first trial is a winner! I don’t remember sea trout in Florida or the Midwest, but if you see one, give it a try!

Ooops! the timer said the cookies are done!

Love,

k

I made an appointment for a haircut with Marisa at Spanish Fly hair garage on J Street

Quick and good: Mary's Brownies

I'm counting moments; I want to make art and I want to eat deliciousness. I used to make great things and lose them in a maelstrom of recipe clippings, never to be seen again. And many times I would add this or that -- make changes and improvements without noting it. I am learning -- late indeed! -- to get organized.  I'm really paying attention to recipes we love. I'm going to add the label Quick for good food that is quick. Now, I'm going to draw!

Mary's brownies

Melt together:
1 C. butter
2/3 C. cocoa

Mix in:
4 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
*May also add 1 tsp. instant espresso.

Then mix in:
2 C. sugar
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix just until combined. Pour into 9" x 13" pan or two 8" x 8" pans. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.

Variations:
1. Mix the brownie dough with 1 C. salted, roasted peanuts, or more -- to taste. When brownies are cool, top with 1 C. peanut butter mixed with 1/2 C. powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Let that cool and harden and then top with 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted with 2 T. butter and then mixed with 2 T. cream.
2. When cool, ice with 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted with 2 T. butter and then mixed with about 1/2 C. powdered sugar and a little cream -- enough to make it spread easily.
3.When brownies are cool, top with cream cheese filling:

Mix together:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 C. confectioners' sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

Chill, then top with the glaze in # 1. 

Lebkuchen, step one: Candied orange peel

Candied orange peel
good by itself,
dipped in chocolate.
or flavoring lbekuchen

Can't help myself -- I've just got to bake lebkuchen, a traditional German cookie, for Christmas. Yesterday I took the first step -- candied orange peel. I used a slightly different recipe from the one I posted a couple years ago. Right off, I can't really tell the difference, except this one is a little easier. Most of this will go in the cookies, and any peel left over will get dipped in melted Belgian chocolate. Truly, that is as delicious as the lebkuchen. But Christmas will not happen without lebkuchen.

Candied orange peel

2 large oranges (I used navel oranges, and I used three, since they weren't that big.)
4 C. sugar, divided
3 C. water

Cut 1/4 inch from the top and bottom of the oranges. Cut the peel down to the flesh in half, then in half again. Remove the peel, pith and all.  You will have four pieces per orange. Cut each into quarter-inch-wide strips. Cook the peel in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain it, then rinse it and drain it again.

Bring 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water to a boil and cook it until the sugar dissolves. This won't take long. Put the peel in and boil it again. Reduce the heat and let it simmer until the peel is soft; 45 minutes worked fine for me.

Drain the peel. Put a cup of sugar onto a rimmed baking sheet. (I use the large crystals that you can find in the baking department of fancier grocery stores. It adds crunch. This time I didn't have quite enough, so I mixed it with regular sugar.) Toss the peel in the sugar. The peel will be limp, but don't worry.

Transfer the peel to a sheet of foil. Make sure it is not bunched up. Each strip of peel should have a little air around it. Let it stand until dry. This could take two days, depending.

64 square inches of brownies

I made these, but there's no photo.  The brownies are all gone. Testimony to this recipe from Mary. It's for an 8" pan -- Years back, when our kids were at home she gave me my standby brownie recipe for a bigger pan. This one has icing made with a tablespoon of honey. I swear I could taste it.

Best Brownies


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

To Make Frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm.


Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-brownies/detail.aspx

Chips off the old chocolate block

Sometimes I want to smash something and know it will end up delicious. Like a couple of days ago ... I  hammered 8 ounces of Kallebut, the best chocolate, on the step outside our kitchen door. Talk about satisfying! There were shards and lumps, sweet and dark multipliers of the 3-inch thick wedge I started with. (I made sure to put the chocolate in a plastic bag first.)

It made the best chocolate chip cookies I know. Here's the recipe, and I've copied it below too. It's worth the $1/ounce you will pay for chocolate, and the $6 (minimum) for two vanilla beans. You won't make them often. Think twice before sharing.

Zingerman's Funky Chunky Dark Chocolate Cookies

1 2/3 C. flour
3/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. fine sea salt
2 vanilla beans
1/2 C. butter, at room temperature
1/2 C. firmly packed muscovado or dark brown sugar
1/4 C. plus 2 T. sugar
1 large egg
8 oz. dark chocolate, broken or chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 oz. walnut halves and pieces, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Whisk together flour, soda, and salt.
3. Split the vanilla beans lengthwise with a small, sharp knife. With the tip of a small spoon, scrape out the seeds into a large bowl. Add the butter and mix together. Stir in the sugars and egg and mix until creamy. Gradually add the flour mixture. When thoroughly combined, stir in chocolate and nuts. Chill dough 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment. For each cookie, form 1/4 C. of dough into a ball, then press out on the cookie sheet to about 1/4" thick and about 3 1/2" diameter. (You can also make smaller cookies.)
5. Bake one sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes. (We like them crisper, so I baked them for 13 minutes.), or until cookies are golden brown and baked through. Cool on the baking sheet for one minute, then transfer to a rack.
6. Serve hot or cool. Store for up to two weeks. 

Praline cookies

I made a cake for C to serve his football friends. "Oh, this is good!" he said, "and it's really small.  Let's eat it ourselves." So I made some cookies with fresh pecans from the farmers' market for the football guys. "Mmmm..." C said. "These are even better. Do I have to share?"








Praline cookies
(This recipe is an old one I cut from some newspaper. I can't say more.)

1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. brown sugar. (I used part light/ part dark because I ran out of light brown. I think the dark made the cookies both crisp and chewy, so I'm going to do this combo again. It is about 2:1 :: light:dark)
1 egg
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. chopped toasted pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter, sugar, and egg.
Stir in flour, vanilla, and pecans.
Mix well.
Shape into balls.  Place on parchment-covered cookie sheet.

Flatten to about 1/8 inch.
Bake 10-12 min. (I baked at least 5 extra minutes.), or until brown.
Makes 3 dozen.

Butter facts

Dear Gretchen,
We talked about ingredients--how choice of  flour, sugar, butter, and eggs defines a baker. Once,  I cut info about butter from a newspaper and pasted it onto a card. As promised, here are the highlights:
1. For mixing and creaming, 65 degrees. Don't let it melt: at 68 degrees.
2. Wrap butter in foil if it's not going to be used immediately. Seal with tape.
3. Never use a microwave to soften butter because it melts, even when it appears solid.
4. Cut butter into chunks to prepare for softening. It's ready to be creamed if it takes a fingerprint when gently pressed.
5.  Cream butter with mixer's paddle blade. Don't go above medium because that will heat the butter.

That was a refresher for me too. Now, to make crust for Thanksgiving pie!

Double chocolate chip cookies to the rescue

Double chocolate chip cookies

I did ruin the birthday cake yesterday. It was a bubbling mass of chocolate muck because I measured the flour and sugar wrong. So I dumped it down the drain and remembered that Janice loves these cookies. Who needs cake?

Double chocolate chip cookies

Sift together:
1 3/4 C. flour
1/4 t. soda

Beat:
1 C. butter, softened

Add:
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. dark brown sugar
Beat until fluffy.

Add and mix in:
1 egg

Add:
1/3 C. cocoa
2 T. milk

Mix in dry ingredients.

Stir in
12 ounces milk chocolate chips
1 C. toasted nuts (optional)

Shape rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
Bake at 350° for 15-17 minutes.
I like them crisp. If you want them soft, bake for 12-13 minutes.

Shortbread Cookies

Just one? Ha! Impossible.

I made these this morning for C's football friends. I've had the recipe forever. They are rich and delicious. If you eat them right out of the oven (how would I know?), the powdered sugar is hot and liquid.

Shortbread

Mix:
1 C. butter
3/4 C. sugar

Add:
2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
2 t. vanilla

Spread on ungreased cookie sheet, 1/4" - 1/2" thick. Sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar (no need to sift it through a strainer, just glop it on. Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes -- maybe less, if you've spread them thin. They get a little browned. C and I like them quite brown, but I think traditionally they are less well-done. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar, as soon as they come out of the oven. Then quickly cut them into diamonds, using a pizza cutter. Cool and then remove from pan.

Oatmeal cookies

Forgot to take cookies in back out of the oven

We've been eating light lately, or at least it seems light -- remember, Mom made dessert every night when I was growing up! Gradually we choose fewer desserts and less meat. So these oatmeal cookies are a treat, especially for C. They're his favorites. They're from the big Gourmet cookbook.

Oatmeal cookies

Beat together until fluffy:

10 T. butter, softened
1/3 C. light brown sugar
1/4 C. granulated sugar

Mix in:
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Add and mix until just combined:
1 3/4 C. rolled oats (not quick variety)
3/4 C. flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

At this point it's all done. But you can add chocolate chips, fruits, etc. Today I added about a half cup each of coconut, toasted walnuts, and golden raisins.

The recipe says make huge cookies of 1 heaping tablespoon each. I made smaller cookies. Put on parchment-covered baking sheets. Run your fingers under water and press each cookie down lightly. Bake at 375° about 12 minutes. I like 15 minutes. The cookies in the back of the photo got more than that!

Grandma Krumm's Vanilla Strips

Grandma made these every Christmas, but you could make them for New Year's Eve. As I remember, hers weren't this good. They were kind of flat. Must be my Kitchen Aid. Could be our Serenity Farm eggs ... I do remember an awful-smelling henhouse out back, so Grandma had natural eggs too. But that was a long time ago. This is half of Grandma (Josephine Krumm)'s recipe. It's German.

Vanilla Strips

4 egg whites at room temperature
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. toasted walnuts, ground fine (I use the Muehli mill that is a gift from Dale, but a food processor should work too. Or just chop them like crazy.)
3/4 C. fine, sifted bread crumbs (I had some in the freezer, made from leftover stale bread.)

Start beating the egg whites. Gradually add sugar, while beating them for about 15 minutes. (The old recipe says this, but Grandma's mixer was different. I've done it in less time. This year, though, I followed the directions, dribbling sugar in slowly.) It should be fluffy and stiff and almost intolerably sweet.

Divide the mixture into two equal parts (says Grandma -- I do 1/3 to 2/3.) Add crumbs and nuts to the small part and vanilla to the other. Roll out the crumb/nut mixture on a floured board to about 1/8." Cut in trips 1" x 2." Put them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment. They don't spread, so you can put them pretty close together. Cover with the vanilla mixture. I just use a spoon, but you could use one of those press things for a professional look. Bake at 325° about 7 minutes, or until just lightly brown.

Note: This year I ended up beating another couple of whites with more vanilla and sugar.  I must have been extra generous with the topping; I needed more. Also, I forgot the bread crumbs, but added more nuts. It was delicious, maybe a little crisper than usual.  It made three nicely crowded cookie sheets.