What did we eat this week? It's been cold, seasonably cold, so the wood is stacked and ready to go in the stove, and the oven has been doing its thing. Although I didn't make the gingerbread house below (it was from my son's preschool class--each kid got their own house to decorate!), I did suddenly decide to make fruitcake after decanting some boozy cherries. Usually I forget about my fruit in booze, sitting and steeping in the basement, which is just fine for the booze, but the fruit suffers. After about two or three months, the fruit will go from boozy delight to shriveled and desiccated, depending on the fruit. I caught these cherries in time, and once the brandy was free --gorgeously red and full of cherry and almond flavors--I pitted the soaked cherries and thought: fruitcake. I also used some local, and home-dried apricots and prunes. At the moment the cake is being basted with cherry pit liqueur. I can't wait 'til Christmas!

Home dried prunes. 

I used the first recipe I saw, this Free Range Fruitcake from Alton Brown. Yeah, yeah, I know Food Network whatever, but it was a very honest and easy recipe. Speaking of bashing things, people are over their weirdness about fruitcake, right? Because fruitcake is really very special. Especially with brandy soaked cherries. And all local fruit. If I don't say so myself. But it's still special even if it's not all local fruit, for goodness sakes! Make some fruitcake! I liked using a round spring form pan for mine, instead of a loaf. Someone made a suggestion that I eat it for breakfast with mascarpone on it. That sounded like a good idea to me.

The fruitcake.

The other night we had braised short ribs followed by apple pie for desert. The short ribs were gifted to me from a friend--do my people know me or what? Grass-fed local beef, big huge blocks of meaty short ribs. My quandary: no red wine in the house (gasp!), which if you do a search on short ribs you will see that few recipes don't ask for at least a bit of red wine. The two just go together. No worries though, I'm not big on requirements. The ribs came together nicely with red wine vinegar and red wine syrup--two homemade things in my pantry. I also added tomato paste and very reduced pork stock, both of which were frozen in cubes, handy in the freezer. The ribs cooked, after browning in cast iron over a flame, in a slow cooker for about six hours on high. They were perfect when I came home, and we had them on mashed potatoes. (It looks like I'm not the only one with these kinds of ideas: Michael's beef stew sounds perfect, though I think I'd really like to make his rouladen recipe.)

Apple pie with leaf lard crust.

We had this apple pie for dessert, and it was made with leaf lard using this recipe. I have decided that the best leaf lard pie has four ounces of leaf lard in it. Any more, as in this case there were equal parts butter and lard, the finished product in my case was crumby, fell apart easily, much like a soft shortbread. Still we ate it all up!

Bananas with chopped cashew-date-cocoa truffles.

Yes, lots of baking this week. This is the beginnings of the banana bread recipe from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. It's an incredible recipe, especially if you happen to have four very ripe bananas hanging around. You can see the recipe here (pretty much exact same ingredients). I chose to put mine in a cake tin (and nested it in another cake tin, as Laurel suggests to keep it from burning at the edges). I also added chopped up cashew-date-cocoa truffles instead of nuts. This took it to a really stellar level, I might add. Plus a thick layer of crunchy sugar on top, that I'm pretty sure took this quite away from the healthy bread that Laurel intended. But I'm okay with that.

Laurel's Bread Book Banana Bread

Soup Season

A rich broth with udon and pork.

Eat more soup! When the cold weather comes around my house, soup season begins. It's, in most cases, the quickest, cheapest, and healthiest thing for breakfast, lunch or and/or dinner.

The soup above came about from some extreme frugality. A bag of bones came with my half-pig order. Because the freezer was so full, I immediately made some stock from the meaty bones. I roasted the bones until browned, picked the meat off them, and then made the stock with the bones. With two large quart containers of wiggly stock in the fridge and a pint of picked roasted meat, I was armored against the new war on winter. One night, craving a pho-ish kind of dish, I poured one of the quarts into my soup pot, and added a good pour of tamari, and some fish sauce. No spices, instead, once boiling I threw in some sliced scallions and dried udon noodles. While this was happening, the shredded leftover meat sizzled in a hot cast iron pan, making it crispy and chewy. A bowl, some broth and noodles, topped with that sticky meat: and it was just what was needed for dinner. Taking all of fifteen minutes. Soup!!

Roasted butternut and celery root soup, with savory bread pudding.

Then, there's this one: a soup that turned into a meal, and then the meal turned back into the soup. A full circle, if you will. Roasted celeriac and butternut squash, pureed and married to turkey stock (I'm pretty sure there wasn't even an onion in this) turned into a velvety soup topped with rosemary olive oil. (Here's my plug for a Vitamix: I love immersion blenders, to be sure, but it really has nothing on the velvet-making power of the Vitamix.)

The next day, I had a leftover baguette (which always makes me happy--I buy more than I need because the benefits of day old bread are many) that I wanted to make into a savory bread pudding. I used the leftover soup, buttermilk, some cheese and eggs--the standard bread pudding mixture--and within less than an hour (that's mostly baking time) I had a main course to be served aside a salad. Seemingly healthy, but I made a warm bacon dressing for the salad. Oops.

Fish chowder.

And fish chowder. May a winter never go by without fish chowder. And to think that dark thought is not so far-fetched! Sad, but true. Aside from the fish, this is a "pantry essential dish," like many other soups. That is, you can make it with what you have in the house. An onion, bay leaf, a potato, butter and some milk. This is a traditional New England-style chowder. (Say it! Chowdah!) to be sure. There are a million variations. And we will get to them. It's only December. We have plenty of time.

p.s. I feel compelled to apologize for the shoddy pictures; when I am about to eat my concentration goes out the window!

Wintry Mix

Today I finished sugaring the Meyer lemon peels I candied, and I started making the next batch of candied peels, those being sour oranges. I almost gave up on them for being too bitter, but the fourth dip in boiling water did the trick and most of the bitterness is gone. But not all! I must say, I do prefer the Meyer candies--they are so sweet and lovely, I was snacking on them constantly. The sour oranges I am seeing as more of a cocktail garnish, not really a sweet. They have a bit of a bite. I might even just can them in their syrup, instead of drying them. We'll see where I am when they are done with their sugar baths.

What kind of day did I have today? Well, the above picture looks so tranquil, doesn't it? I'm sugaring candy while my docile child plays. What a lovely image. But it's really not what happened. It happened for about ten minutes, which was dreamy, and then it abruptly ended. That's why I love all these kitchen tasks that take days and barely any attention. I can put the candy away and be there for the incessant question: "what's next" which will one day very soon turn into, "I'm bored!" 

Advent-ageous.

We did get an advent calendar today from a friend of ours. Lucky us! It has toys instead of candy, which I like a lot. Advent calendars are a lot harder to explain to a four year old than you would think, but he was very patient when I explained we didn't open it until tomorrow, and even then it's only one door a day. Patience is a virtue, as they say.

White whole wheat buttermilk pancakes.

We made some pancakes. And chocolate chip cookies. They are required on a frozen day filled with little flurries buzzing down from a gray forbidding sky. I used coconut oil in the chocolate chip cookies for the first time. That is the ticket, I want you to know. Coconut oil in any kind of chocolate-y dessert is a good thing in my book. Then you can tell yourself it's good for you!

Toasted buckwheat is kasha. 

Lest you think all we eat are sugary treats, I did toast these buckwheat groats to make a recipe from Food in Jars' cookbook. Well, I guess it was for granola, so maybe I don't eat anything healthy. Actually, now that I think of it, I had breakfast all day long today. Steel cut oats with maple syrup for breakfast, the rest of the oats with parmesan cheese and pepper for lunch--oh, wait, I had turkey noodle soup for dinner. There's something not breakfast-y. Whew!

In the afternoon, we had a pre-cookie tea party which ended up with a broken teacup. This is what happens when you use real glass (and nice vintage ones, at that) for tea cups for a four year old boy. I knew what I was up against. In this picture, I was setting up a shot in which life would look so easy and wonderful: some tea, some cookies, a cozy kitchen. My little fantasy turned into a crying boy and a harried woman vacuuming the grimy floor, making sure no slivers of glass remained to cut little (or big or feline) feet.

The cozy life of a stay at home mom looks pretty idyllic from the outside, doesn't it? But really you go a little insane from the incessant tedium. The pretty tea parties belie broken cups, the endless trains make you a little crazy, and cold days are your nemesis. That's why you see so many of those crazy craft blogs by mommies who are trying to fill a freaking day! I sometimes find myself wondering how some people do it: three kids and not a day goes by without gorgeous pictures documenting it all. I guess humans like the glossy ideal or the train wreck, and the in between dailies aren't often as appealing, whether you are taking the pictures or viewing them. And that's the beauty of photos. A snapshot of a train set looks so inviting, but five hours of it can crush your soul, and leave you a gasping for a few minutes of frosty outside air. 

But then you come back in and breathe in the warmth, and it's all okay again.

Candied Meyer Lemon Peel

Back in the early spring, when I was flush with citrus, I squirreled away a large ziploc of Meyer lemon peels. I had juiced many lemons for curd and was left with perfect cups scraped clean of flesh and pith. I put them all in a good freezer ziploc and froze them for a wintry day to turn into candied peels. It's certainly a winter time task, especially before the holidays when you may want to dole out the candies dipped in sugar. Or to fold them into a special dessert. And if there is any left over, to brighten a February day. 

Candying citrus peel is really very easy, it just takes a long time. Basically, you are infusing the peel with sugar. How can you go wrong? Well, it's possible. There are also about a million different recipes out there, which confuses it further. I'm still figuring out my particular method, so until I have it down pat, I won't be writing it down here!

It's possible to make a mess with just about anything, even if it's something you've done a million times. Today, even though these candied peels came out great, I had a stellar fail when I scorched some apricot jam. It's the first time I've pretty much ruined a batch of jam. It could not be saved. And my pan suffered, too. I also boiled the syrup from the peels a little too much, and I believe I have canned some lemon candy. Sigh. Things could be worse, of course, but it's days like this that have me going to sleep a little earlier with a good story. 

The Apple Pie Bakery Café

Vanilla Sugar Brioche Doughnut

I won't lie. I really liked taking the weekend off. Actually, I needed to take the weekend off from writing. I had no time to do so on Saturday (preparing for a party), and no ability whatsoever on Sunday (recuperating from said party). And I've finally gotten to the point in my life where obsessions are recognized for exactly what they are and are treated accordingly. That is, they are indulged when possible. Like this trip to the Culinary Institute of America. There are a few restaurants there, but for now, with four-year-old in tow, I have to settle for their bakery, which is really one of the nicest little cafés in the area. And not to mention, a pretty spiffy setting.

We walked all over the campus, the blustery winds whisking in from the dull greenish-gray river that the buildings look over. We talked about the young chefs walking all over in their checked pants and white jackets, with various accessories, like ear buds, phones and knit caps. There were so many young women! And it smelled amazing right outside the main building, but as we walked towards the dorms the smell changed dramatically. Laundry detergent, cigarette smoke and the smell of junk food, like potato chips and cheap bowls of ramen (and not in a particularly good way). Still students!

We had fun running through the gardens by the Ristorante Caterina de Medici. (Did you know my middle name is Caterina? Now you know.) Last time I was here I saw a fat woodchuck nibbling on some lovage here. He was gone, but this time we found an old staircase that led to nothing. My favorite kind of staircase!

We were happy with our small, but filling, meal of doughnut, a savory spinach and goat cheese turnover and sweet apple turnover. We could have done so much more damage. See below. I think I enjoyed looking at these beauties more than I would have eating them. Maybe?

The serious pastries.