Chicken Pot Pie

The first chilly, rainy days of the fall make me feel like comfort food. Chicken pot pie was my favorite meal when I was little. Everyone got his own little Swanson's pie in the metal pan, and the steam billowed out when you broke through the crust with your fork. Here is the pie unbaked and egg-washed:


And here it is baked, with the filling. I didn't use a recipe. I roasted a chicken, made a bechamel sauce and mixed it all together with onions and mixed vegetables, fresh sage and thyme and parsley. The crust is whole wheat. It didn't brown as nicely as I would have liked. I think that's partly because it's whole wheat, and partly because I used the convection oven.


I made some little tarts with the leftover dough and filling, with vegetable and leaf cut-outs. Fresh tomato and parmesan tarts used up the last of the dough.

I think I can put these in R's lunch, but I would have to put them in a thermos and break up the decorative crust. She still had fun rolling out the dough and cutting shapes with me. She keeps these tins in her play kitchen downstairs, and I always have to go retrieve them before I bake with them. I bought them when we were planning our wedding, thinking the caterer could use them, and I remember how the man at the garage sale said, "I would think you would not want any little tarts at your wedding." We bought a giant crystal ice bucket at that same sale. It broke when R was a baby and I still grieve for it.

Pizza Margherita with Our Tomatoes

The best thing about tomato harvest:  Pizza Margherita with a whole wheat crust. I bake it on a terra cotta stone at 500 degrees. D likes it with half the basil cooked, and half fresh on top after it comes out of the oven. We didn't even get smoked out last night--usually a cheese drip hits the blast-hot oven, but this batch was very tidy.

Birthday Bento

My R is 8 today! Here is her birthday bento for school: Watermelon cut-outs with oranges and watermelon in the middle; homemade whole-grain cornmeal, parmesan and flax cracker flowers; same crackers for the "happy birthday" letters; ranch dip and imitation crab legs (she loves those); Caesar salad (another favorite); and white Toblerone chocolate in the middle.

Butterfly cookies to bring to school for her class treat. I used this King Arthur Flour recipe for whole wheat & oatmeal cookies.

Happy birthday little one. Your Dad and I love you so.

Strawberry Sweet Woodruff Preserves Day 1

This is my second summer of canning and preserving. Last year, I learned that what sells fastest at farmer's markets and makes the best gifts to friends, is berry preserves. That's what we use the most of in our house too. All winter long we bring jars up from the basement. We met our goal of no store-bought jam for a year, even after giving lots of jars away.
A trifle dish holds four pounds of strawberries.

I don't like commercial pectin, so I have learned the French method where you macerate the fruit in sugar overnight, then bring it to a boil and let it sit for another six hours or overnight. Then you boil only the syrup to the gelling point, and add the fruit at the end, so the fruit stays whole and doesn't overcook while you're boiling away to the gel point.This year for the first time, I'm adding the sweet woodruff while the berries macerate, instead of while they are cooking.

Sweet woodruff is an herb that's a natural accompaniment to berries. It tastes like vanilla and grass. We have it all over our backyard, and I am so grateful to whoever planted it years ago.

Strawberry Sweet Woodruff Preserves Day 2

After the strawberries have steeped overnight in sugar and sweet woodruff, put them in a sturdy pot and bring them to a boil. I like a lot of bright, clean lemon flavor, so I add lemon slices to infuse while it boils.

Then let the mixture sit for another two or three hours at room temperature, or six hours in the fridge. This two-step process helps separate the liquid from the fruit, so you can reduce just the liquid and then add the fruit at the end. This is the only way for fragile fruit like strawberries to keep their shape and not turn into mush. Put the fruit in a colander, and drain the syrup into a pot.

Strawberries are very low in pectin, so I add a high-pectin fruit like green apples to help the jam to set without overcooking. I dice the apples and put them in the syrup. I also put the skins and seeds and cores in a mesh bag, and float that bag in the boiling syrup. Skins and cores have a lot of pectin, and it will leach out of the bag. You can push on the apple bag with a spoon to release more pectin, but be careful not to splash yourself with boiling jam.

Sterilize your jars and lids and tools in boiling water while you wait for the syrup to reach gel point. Waiting for gel point takes some patience and attention. Each batch took about 40 minutes for me today, at mile-high altitude. It's easier and faster to use commercial pectin, but it requires much more sugar, and I don't like the texture. This method makes a luxurious preserve, with strawberries and little squares of candied apple suspended in clear, ruby-red jelly.

Keep a close eye on the jam while it's boiling.

Just before it reaches gel point, the frothing reduces and the bubbles get bigger. You can almost feel it seizing up a bit when you stir it. The color is amazing, a deep, glowing pomegranate-red.

To check the set, use the plate test. Put a plate in the freezer, and drop some jam on the cold plate. Put it back in the freezer for a minute or two. If the jam wrinkles when you push it with a finger, it's done. Add the strawberries back in, and boil for another 5 minutes or so, until they are hot through.

Ladle the hot preserves into the sterilized jar. A jam funnel helps keep the outside of the jar clean. Remove air bubbles, cap the jar with a hot lid, and screw on a ring.

Place the filled jars in a boiling water bath, with rapidly boiling water to cover the lids by at least two inches. Follow boiling instructions for your altitude.

Nine pounds of strawberries turned into 14 pints of preserves. I used four cups of sugar and four and a half pounds of strawberries for each batch. There is nothing better than the 'ping' sound as the jars seal when you take them out of the boiling water bath.


The preserves are silky and gorgeous. The familiar strawberry taste, with a note of vanilla and grass from the sweet woodruff, and a bright citrus pop from the lemon.

Please note that this is not meant to be a comprehensive instruction about canning. It's important to follow all the rules carefully for a safe end product, so be sure to follow an approved method.

Happy Birthday Amanda

Summer birthdays are the best. We had a party Thursday night for my friend Amanda.

I love this picture, with her Mom's arm around her.

I made this Cake for her, still my favorite cake recipe, Classic Yellow cake from Sylvia Weinstock. I doubled the recipe and made four layers. It was the tallest cake I've ever tried. I put plastic drinking straws through the layers to keep them from sliding around in the heat.

It's such a moist cake, it works really well at high altitude with the adjustments I made. Raspberry filling is between the layers. I carved it to make it even all around, which made it pretty crumby . . .

. . . but buckets of buttercream cover everything.

The cake is almost level, but then I piped the top in a crooked circle so it looks like it's not. Everything is a learning experience.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Right before the party, I put edible flowers from our garden on the cake.

Amanda's littlest son is a big fan of cake, and, as you can see from his face, ketchup.

Our neighbor Julie made this beautiful tribute to Amanda, using words we all gave to describe her.

Success! We made her cry.


Lemonade on the alligator as the sun goes down. Summer is good.

Acorn Squash and Tempeh

Tonight we had roasted acorn squash with tempeh, brown rice and vegetable stuffing. I sauteed onions, carrots, red and yellow peppers (frozen, from our summer garden), scallions and walnuts, with some brown rice and cubes of tempeh that I brushed with soy sauce and browned. I hollowed out the squashes and baked them with the stuffing inside. The squash was soft and buttery and the stuffing was rich and crunchy. We had also had a spring green salad, mangoes, blueberries and little oranges.

And here is a picture that R drew for our wonderful neighbor Bernie. D's car that he drives to the train is not that good in the snow, and Bernie lent him his big SUV the past two days when we had a lot of snow and slick roads. R drew a picture of Charlie holding hands with Katie, Bernie's German Shepherd puppy. Charlie and Katie are the best of friends. If any dogs would hold hands, it would be those two.

Spinach Polenta Lasagna

Tonight we had polenta lasagna, lemon broccoli, and grapefruit with pomegranate arils. This is such a free-form recipe. It can be infinitely expanded or contracted, and adapted to what you have on hand.

Spinach Polenta Lasagna
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 2 cups chopped fresh spinach, or 1 1/2 c frozen that has been thawed
and squeezed dry
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• A few gratings of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped in a chiffonade, or thin ribbons
• 1 egg
• 1 sheet pan of polenta
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 jar or 4 cups tomato sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Brown the onion and garlic in olive oil and cool slightly. You could add other vegetables--zucchini, peppers, or mushrooms. Mix with ricotta, egg, spinach, salt and pepper to taste, and grated nutmeg.

Spoon tomato sauce into bottom of a square or round pan.

I made polenta the day before from the recipe on the Bob's Red Mill package, spread it out on a buttered sheet pan in a layer about 1/2 inch high, and refrigerated it. You could also make the polenta the same day, or use the ready-made tube of polenta from the grocery store. Cut this polenta into squares or circles, whatever shapes will fit best in your pan, and lay it on top of the tomato sauce in one layer.

Top with a half of the ricotta mixture, a layer of basil ribbons, and half of the mozzarella. Top with more sauce, and then repeat the layering. Polenta, ricotta, basil, mozzarella. Finish with the last of the sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. Parmesan would be nice here if you have it.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for 10 - 15 minutes to brown the top.


We also had Yogurt Cake from my favorite blog and cookbook and source for recipes, Chocolate & Zucchini. I make this cake so often. My adjustments are half whole wheat pastry flour and half all purpose flour, with some flax meal, and equal parts sugar and honey. The original recipe uses yogurt containers as measuring cups, and that's the way I memorized it. So that I can throw it together in the right proportions without thinking about it. I folded in some frozen mixed berries. The honey and wheat make it bake up browner than the original and with a crisper crust. I can also give it to R for breakfast, with fruit and maybe a little more yogurt--which I wouldn't do with white cake.

It's wonderful with whipped cream and berries on top, and a little windowsill mint.

Roasted Beets with Lemon Ricotta

Dinner tonight was salmon on spring greens with a honey dijon marinade; beets and carrots wrapped in foil and roasted with a head of garlic; the greens and red stems from the beets chopped and sauteed with olive oil and garlic; plain brown basmati rice; and another whole grain quickbread. My new favorite thing with roasted vegetables is mixing a little lemon zest into ricotta cheese and letting dollops of it melt onto the vegetables. Tonight I mixed in some of the roasted garlic, and some chopped chives from the windowsill.


This bread is my favorite quick bread yet, from the New York Times. I made the lighter version without molasses, and with part white flour. I used agave instead of honey, and added some flax meal. It's quick to mix up, and then there's warm fresh bread on the table in an hour. It has a beautiful crust. The cornmeal gives it some crunch. It's fantastic with butter and honey on it, or plain like D likes it.

I'm getting discouraged at how long it's taking me to figure out how to take good pictures with the new camera. I'm still happy that I can get usable shots in such low light. I finally broke down and ordered the full version of Photoshop to replace my old, unusable one. And it seems to be lost in transit. Now there's a delay to confirm that it hasn't been delivered, and to send a replacement copy . . . after waiting for it for so long, this last part is frustrating.

Fear of Frying

My R loves eggrolls, and I make them for her with a filling of carrots, cabbage, ginger, garbanzo beans, scallions and ground turkey. I lay spinach leaves on top of the filling and sprinkle ground flax seeds on top before I roll them up. I brush them with olive oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake them in the oven.

I don't really like them this way--they don't cook evenly, and much of the skin stays tough and chewy or worse, bakes to sharp edges that can cut your mouth. I have a fear of deep-frying, but I can't seem to replicate the bubbly, shatteringly crisp skin of a fried eggroll in the oven.

So today I emptied a quart of canola oil into my favorite All-Clad dutch oven, waited for it to get up to 350 on my jam thermometer, and put the eggrolls in.

R said, "That's what I'm talkin' about. This is just like Chinese Dinner." Which is what she has called take-out since she was two.

I made a batch the old way, to compare. This time I steamed the unbaked rolls for a few minutes, like you do with gyoza dumplings. That seemed to make the skin more tender once it baked, but half of them fell apart while they were steaming, and it's an extra step.

Here they are, baked on the left, fried on the right. I wonder how much oil they really absorb in frying, versus being slathered before baking. If they have so much good stuff inside and we don't have them very often, I think it's ok that they're fried. The bubbles and the crispy skin really are beautiful.

I also broke down and bought a new camera, with some help from my generous parents. I'm embarrassed to mention it because I have such a steep learning curve and it will be awhile before I can take competent pictures. But I'll keep practicing, and I'm excited to have a 35mm f/1.8 lens that works so well in close-up and low light.

Tilapia

I don't think R has ever seen me cook a whole fish before. The summer savory and marjoram and rosemary are big enough now to start snipping, and they should be good on Tilapia with some butter and shallot salt, white wine and lemon. I doubt I'll take a picture when it's cooked, because I'm never very good at getting dinner on the table and taking a picture at the same time.

She wasn't freaked out, but she wanted to look at it. "Take it outside so I can see it in the sun. Is that his eye? Can I touch it?" She has also never been fishing, which is a shame and I hope we can fix that this summer. She wanted to know how the fish dies, and we talked about animals giving their life so you can eat them. I hate the mealy-mouthed sound of my voice whenever we talk about that. It always sounds sanctimonious or too flippant--I never know how to talk about it, even though I've thought so much about it and it's so important. That is, in fact her nightgown in the picture--she changed clothes four times after school today and finally settled on her nightgown.

Asparagus Lasagna

For dinner with D's family on Friday, I made asparagus lasagna with homemade noodles, in individual ramekins. I wish I had taken a picture of R making the noodles with me. She loves to crank the handle on the pasta roller.

Salad; broccoli rabe, black pepper & parmesan crostini; and soup made from the tomatoes from our garden that I canned this summer. It's topped with Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of smoked paprika, microgreens from the windowsill, and cheese toasts. Then there is the Extra-Fancy screw-top sparkling juice. I am the only champagne drinker, or I would have splurged.

And baked lemon custard for dessert, with raspberries and a geranium blossom. This custard bakes creamy on the bottom, but cakelike on the top. I couldn't figure it out until D pointed out that it bakes with a water bath that goes 3/4 of the way up the ramekins, and the cake texture starts where the water bath leaves off.

This picture is small because it's a screen grab from the video camera. The girls went into the kitchen after dinner with their juice boxes and told knock-knock jokes to each other. Here's an example of one of R's knock-knock jokes: "Knock knock. Who's there. Water bottle. Water bottle who? Charlie! Bad dog! Spray you with the water bottle!" (water squirting noises.) Oh dear. Poor Charlie, but it does work to stop him from barking at the fence and digging in the garden.