Another Family Favorite: Mashed Rutabagas

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My family's Thanksgiving celebrations are different every year.  Some years it's a relatively small group, just my immediate family, a few close friends, and whoever else can make it, and some years we have 35 people, half of whom aren't technically family, and we have to rent tables and silverware and cook three separate turkeys three different ways.  Sometimes we have traditional roast turkey, or Moroccan spiced turkey, or deep-fried turkey – one year we even had turkey tacos, which went over like a lead balloon with the younger generation.

No matter where we are, though, or how many of us gather, or what we decide to do with the bird, there are always a few dishes that are absolute must-haves.  Pumpkin pie is the most important, of course, followed closely by some kind of crisp.  We always have turkey of some sort, and gravy, and a big salad.  And we're likely to have mashed potatoes, but much more important (an absolute must, in my opinion) are the roods.

Old Favorites Remembered: Gram's Deviled Eggs

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One of my favorite treats when I was growing up was my grandmother's deviled eggs (and her chocolate chip cookies, and the Mexican brownies...).  She used to bring them sometimes when she drove to visit us, and I just remember my mouth watering as she peeled back the cling film from the plate and set them on the kitchen table.  The minute I was given the go-ahead from my mother, I'd dart forward like a small rodent and grab an egg, stuff it whole into my mouth, and bite down into the rich, soft, yolky center.

My mouth would fill to bursting with contrasts: firm white and silky yolk; smoky paprika and sweet relish; spicy mustard and cool bland egg.  I was convinced I could eat a whole plateful by myself, if I'd been allowed to be so glutinous.

New York, New York: City Cravings and Cold Sesame Noodles

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The BF and I are headed to New York this evening; I have a one-week layover on my way to a good friend's wedding, and he's coming along for the first two nights in one of our favorite cities in the world.  I'm so looking forward to it.  No work drama, no book stress, just pastrami and sushi and bagels and central park and wide sidewalks and all the other things I miss so much when I'm away from NYC.

One of the foods I crave heavily when I haven't been to the city in a while is cold sesame noodles.  If you've never tried them (and chances are if you've never been to New York, you haven't, as I've never seen them anywhere else), you should.  They're salty and peanutty and cool – a wonderful summer lunch dish, although I made these on a chilly day and they were just as satisfying.

Another weird veggie I'd never cooked: Chard with White Wine and Garlic

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Contrary to what you might think from reading this blog, I do in fact eat healthy foods.  Real foods, like meats and veggies and fresh, non-baked-in-sugar-and-butter fruits.  It's true, I swear!  The problem is, anything interesting enough to share is usually cooked for dinner... at night... (so please excuse the bad pics in this post) but I promise I do eat, and enjoy, healthy foodstuffs. 

Take, for example, this beautiful chard that came in our organics box last week.  Isn't it pretty?  And, amazingly, my tastebuds finally grew up about a year ago and decided they liked chard!  Especially when it's cooked in lots of butter and cheese, but that's neither here nor there. 

Summer Lovin': Heirloom Tomato and Corn Salad

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I'm often heard to lament the woeful state of tomatoes in England.  Although London has made leaps and bounds on the food scene in the past ten years, there are a few things* you just cannot get here, and tomatoes are one of those things.  The little cherry ones are okay, but the big-'uns are just sad, flavorless lumps of dried-out depression.

Which is exactly why, when I have the opportunity to go home to the Bay Area for a month (as I just did), I eat as many tomatoes as I can get my hands on.  And my favorites, hands down, are the big, bright, juicy, luscious heirlooms that were just coming into season as my plane landed at SFO.

What to do when you're buried in potatoes: make Pommes Anna

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I was never a big potato eater.  My mom is the kind of health-conscious, California cook who generally prefers green veggies to root ones.  We had carrots, but usually raw as a healthy snack, and we had baked potatoes sometimes, with nonfat cottage cheese (tastier than it sounds), but otherwise they were pretty much eschewed as bland, unnecessary carbs.  So of course I ordered buttery roasted or mashed potatoes in restaurants whenever I had the chance.

But once I was out from under her healthy thumb I found I wasn't that interested in potatoes after all.  I really did genuinely like green vegetables!  It was pretty shocking.

Educating the Europeans: Buttermilk Cornbread

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Last weekend, I found myself with leftover buttermilk.  Again.  You see, it was Pancake Day a couple of weeks ago, and over here in the UK they take their food-related holidays extremely seriously.  I didn't even know what Pancake Day was until I moved here, but I kid you not, by Tuesday morning all the stores I checked (about 5) were out of maple syrup– that's how serious they are.  Anyway. any holiday about eating something delicious, especially if it involves breakfast for dinner, is a holiday I'm on board with, so we bought buttermilk and whipped up some tasty buttermilk pancakes.  But alas, we only used about 1/3 of the carton.  What to do?* 

 

Think you don't like olives?

Pin It Well, think again!

Both my father and the bf claim to hate olives.  Usually when we go out to dinner with my parents, bowls of marinated olives are left entirely to my mom and me, the salt/vinegar lovers.  But a few years ago, my parents were visiting London and we went to a restaurant called Pied à Terre for lunch.  The food was very good, and the service was pleasant, if a bit obsequious, but what we still talk about to this day were the olives. 

Homemade potato chips, or: How you know you're truly a master procrastinator!

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In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of controlled by my cravings.  That's one of the dangers of being both anti-dieting and home all day.  You end up making all kinds of random things in pursuit of a craving. 

Well... in pursuit of a craving while also trying to outrun a deadline.  Yeah, yeah, I was supposed to be writing my book.  But I needed salty crunch!  Don't judge me.

An impromptu brunch, with only a *little* hair-tearing!

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When my friend Miranda suggested brunch last weekend, I immediately offered to host.  I’d been out and about a lot the week before, and I was kind of tired of the rat race (and paying people to cook my food), so I was psyched when she accepted.  I started planning right away: something savory, something sweet, some fruit, maybe a salad, something else sweet…  I spent hours on Allrecipes, cruising brunch recipes and looking for something new and different.  And I found three recipes that seemed perfect, at which point I printed them out and spent another couple of hours (book?  What book?  Was I supposed to be writing something other than blog posts?) reading the reviews and compiling tips in the margins so I could idiot-proof the recipes. 

Week of the baking brown thumb

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I know it may seem like I’ve got this whole baking thing figured out (if you ignore all my posts about hair-tearing), but I do sometimes make mistakes.  Usually, though, they’re few and far between in the grand scheme of things.  But not last week.  Last week was the week of baking disasters.

Vegetables! With butter...

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I was hoping to post about how I do, on occasion, eat things that don't involve butter/sugar/flour, but unfortunately these steamed artichokes were delicious dipped in a lemon-butter mishmash of my own making.  Still, they were green and healthy and savory, so that's something new and different for this blog!

How much more could I POSSIBLY love bread?!

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Tons more, as it turns out.  Who knew that making bread myself would make it taste that much sweeter?  Or, saltier, if we're talking about my sea-salt-crusted preference.  Anyway, I'm sure it has less to do with the hard work than with the delectable smell of baking bread, which makes my stomach growl and my boyfriend harass until the loaf comes out of the oven and we inevitably ignore the instruction to let it cool completely before slicing.  Whether we're missing out on something by slicing too early, I'll never know, because I doubt we'll ever be able to wait to break open a loaf like this:

I can make real dinner too!

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 Duly noted: broccoli in the oven is easy and delicious with minimal cleanup!

I just wanted to share that I am capable of cooking healthy, non-butter-based dishes.  Like garlic sauteed chicken (olive oil, not butter, so there) with chili-flake roasted broccoli and baked sweet potato.  HA!

That is all.  Now I'm off to go bake some cookies.

Easy biscuits, easy cleanup!

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And that's the best kind of recipe, in my opinion!  Although the delicious results don't hurt either:

And now, as promised, instead of writing about the biscuit-making, I'll just let the pics and captions speak for themselves.  That last post got kind of long-winded...

Normally I sift for no man, but I'd had enough mistakes to allow for a little humility.

Easy cleanup point number one: cling film instead of flour on your surface.  Easy peasy!

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew?

Pin It Not me, apparently.  No candyman am I.

I've been trying to make candy all week.  I can't make it to my boyfriend's families houses for the holidays, so I wanted to send him with a big, pretty jar of caramels (I was going to make toffee, with chocolate and nuts, but his dad hates chocolate.  I KNOW).  I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com, which is my new favorite hunting ground because of the number of reviewers and the helpful suggestions they make about cooking time, flavors, etc.

The recipe, found here, looks really easy.  There are only 7 ingredients, and the process is basically: put all ingredients in saucepan, bring to boil over medium heat, and when a candy thermometer reads 250 (or 240, as most reviewers suggested), pop it into a greased tray to cool.  A few hours later, Bob's-yer-uncle!  Easy peasy caramels!

So far, so good.

But in this instance, even 217 reviewers and all their collective wisdom couldn't help me.  First, there was the problem of the corn syrup the recipe calls for.  They don't really do corn syrup here in the UK, so I was back to substituting.  The first time around, I used a combo of something called liquid glucose and honey.  The consistency seemed right, and I didn't think honey flavor would be a problem.  And it wasn't, although it was noticeable.