Confident Kitchen

Original recipe here. This one is easy to adapt to the season or what you have on hand. I usually pull this one out in the fall, when the wind starts to carry a bite in it, and I start digging through my sock drawer.

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn or delicata squash, halved. (Any squash with a sweet flavor will work)
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/4lb Italian sausage (I used some homemade that we had in the freezer)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 bunch chard, stems and leaves separated, stems chopped.
• 1/2 cup cooked farro
• garlic cloves, chopped (I used about 8, but we are crazy for garlic)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• feta cheese, to taste

Halve the squash, remove seeds, place face down on an oiled cookie sheet.  Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated 350F oven.  In the meantime, cook the sausage in a medium-sized skillet.  The sausage should have enough fat that you won’t need to add any oil, but feel free to add a dash or two if you want.  Once the sausage is almost cooked, add chopped onion, bell peppers, chard, and garlic.  Saute until the veggies start to soften, then add cumin and chili powder.  Stir to incorporate the spices, then add chopped chard leaves.  Cover the pan and let the leaves wilt, about 2-3 minutes.  Stir the mixture.

Remove squash from the oven.  Set bottoms in rammikins so they are upright.  Fill cavities with sausage/veggie mixture.  Add feta cheese on top.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until feta is browned.

Forgive this photo, I ate 1/3 of it before remembering to take a photo. Oh man it was so good that we are repeating it tonight with the leftover filling. Last night we used acorn squash, tonight we will use delicata squash.

Comments(0)

I’ve asked myself multiple times why this isn’t on my recipe blog, though I’ve made it half a dozen times.  It’s versatile, either cake or cupcakes.  I’ve even used it for birthday cakes before. It holds up well with frosting, stuffed with whipped cream for moon pies, covered in ganache, or plain with strawberries.

Ingredients:

• 3c flour
• 2c sugar
• 6T cocoa powder
• 2t baking soda
• 1t salt
• 2c cold water
• 3/4c veg oil
• 2T vinegar (I like basamic, it adds a certain depth of flavor)
• 2t vanilla

Whisk up the dry ingredients, add the wet. bake @ 350 for ~ 30-40 minutes.  If making cupcakes, start checking around 7 minutes.

Comments(0)

Ingredients:

• 2 peaches
• 6 plums
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1.5 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

Slice peaches and plums into bite-size pieces. Mix with 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch.  Place mixture in bottom of baking dish.

Heat oven to 400.  Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.  Layer on top of fruit mixture.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top if golden.

Comments(0)

Carl prefers to call this a chutney, but it’s definitely a jam to me.

Ingredients:

• 4lbs tomatoes, the meatier the better.
• 2 cups sugar (note, the ratio is 1/2 cup sugar to 1lb tomatoes)
• chopped ginger (as much as you want)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 2 jalapenos, chopped (remove seeds if you like)
• juice from 3 lemons

Throw everything in a medium saucepan.  Stir together.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes (give or take 15 minutes).  Stir often.  Remove jam from pot into a bowl to cool.  You can then pour it into containers to keep in the fridge or put into jars and given a hot water bath (boil for 40 minutes) and keep in the pantry.

Comments(0)

Ingredients:

• 1lb tomatillos, husk removed, quartered
• 1-2 jalapenos, halved
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1.5lbs chicken thighs
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 4 cups chicken broth
• cilantro, chopped
• salt to taste

Blend jalapenos and tomatillos in blender.  Set aside.

Heat oil in dutch oven.  Brown thighs, 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked.  Remove from pot and set aside to cool.  Add onion to remaining oil and saute until golden.  Add garlic, spices, broth and bring to a simmer.  Remove chicken from bones, add to pot.  Simmer for 45 minutes.

Add cilantro and salt, serve over rice.

Comments(0)

Ingredients:

Stock:

• 1 ham hock
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 bay leaf
• thyme

Lentils:

• 1.5 cups lentils (I prefer French green lentils, they do not get soggy like regular lentils)
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 bunch chard
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt & pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1. Blanching the ham hock:  place ham hock in a large saucepan, cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute.  Pour off the hot water, rinse with cold water.
   
2. Quarter the onion, break the carrot and celery into large chunks, and add to pot with ham hock, bay leaf, and thyme.  Fill with enough water to cover the hock.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2-2.5 hours.  When the hock is cooked, the small bone next to the large bone can be easily removed.  Pull hock from stock and set aside to cool.  Strain the broth.
3. Blanch the lentils by pouring boiling water over them, then rinsing in cold water.



4. In a large pot, melt butter.  Add chopped onions, carrots, celery, and chard stems.  Cover and let sit without stirring for 5 minutes.  Add lentils, 2 cups stock, and garlic.  Simmer, stirring often and adding more stock as lentils absorb the liquid for 20 minutes.
   
5. In the meantime, pull meat from hock.  The hock I used produced 7oz of meat.  Add meat, salt, and chopped chardleaves to the pot and simmer for 10 more minutes or until lentils are soft.
6. Serve with fresh ground pepper to taste and a tablespoon of finely grated Parmesan cheese.

Comments(0)

Lately we’ve been dishing up some vanilla ice cream with fresh peaches and blueberries from the Broadway Farmer’s Market.

Comments(0)

When we let corporations do the cooking, they’re bound to go heavy on sugar, fat and salt; these are three tastes we’re hard-wired to like, which happen to be dirt cheap to add and do a good job masking the shortcomings of processed food. And if you make special-occasion foods cheap and easy enough to eat every day, we will eat them every day. The time and work involved in cooking, as well as the delay in gratification built into the process, served as an important check on our appetite. Now that check is gone, and we’re struggling to deal with the consequences.
The question is, Can we ever put the genie back into the bottle? Once it has been destroyed, can a culture of everyday cooking be rebuilt? One in which men share equally in the work? One in which the cooking shows on television once again teach people how to cook from scratch and, as Julia Child once did, actually empower them to do it?

Let us hope so. Because it’s hard to imagine ever reforming the American way of eating or, for that matter, the American food system unless millions of Americans — women and men — are willing to make cooking a part of daily life. The path to a diet of fresher, unprocessed food, not to mention to a revitalized local-food economy, passes straight through the home kitchen.

But if this is a dream you find appealing, you might not want to call Harry Balzer right away to discuss it.

“Not going to happen,” he told me. “Why? Because we’re basically cheap and lazy. And besides, the skills are already lost. Who is going to teach the next generation to cook? I don’t see it.”

Full article by Michael Pollan here. Well worth the read (though it took me 4 days to get around to reading the entire thing). So have the skills been lost or is it the motivation? The archives are there: Julia’s cooking shows are available to watch. We have cookbooks that teach technique. We have a plethora of cultures to learn from that haven’t lost the skills or the inclination. We just need the motivation. In our house, we eat over 90% of our meals from scratch. I have made it a priority to eat well, which has led to numerous health benefits as well as peace of mind. Has it been worth it? Oh yes.

Comments(0)

So easy and so much better than store-bought.  Personally, I hate store-bought marshmallows and found that once again, making my own tastes so much more appealing than settling for factory-made.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 packets unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water, divided
• 1 cup regular sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg white
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• vegetable oil

Directions:  In mixing bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and 2 packets gelatin.  Set aside.

Oil a 9×11 baking dish.  Sprinkle half of the powdered sugar over oil using a fine-mesh strainer.  Set aside.

In saucepan bring sugar, 1/4 cup water, corn syrup, and salt to a simmer.  Heat until candy thermometer reaches 240?, then pour over water/gelatin mixture.  Beat on high for 10 minutes or until mixture is white and fluffy.

Meanwhile, beat 1 egg white until it is white and forms stiff peaks.  I used my immersion blender with whisk attachment for this stage, but you can also use the electric stand mixer after first mixture is done.

Add egg whites and vanilla to gelatin mixture, beat to combine.  Pour into prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle the rest of the powdered sugar over mixture, then place dish in the fridge for 3 hours, minimum.

When marshmallows have set, slide a thin knife around the edges, then using your hands, pull out of the pan.  Cut into squares.  Store in air-tight container.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Comments(0)