Archive for October, 2007
A Trick for Treats
For all its charms, it’s a crying shame around Halloween that I live back away from the street in a little enclave that most people fail to notice. I never get any trick o’ treaters. Lil’ ol’ me, who has so many great ideas for unusual treats, doesn’t get a single bed sheet ghost or garbage bag pumpkin of which to speak. These kids today just don’t know what they’re missing.
But luckily I have a captive audience this year for my newest trick for Halloween treats. D’s coworkers have a collective birthday bash this week, and he kindly asked that I make something yummy for him to take to the celebration. Initially when I had conjured up this twist on serving cookies and cupcakes, I was thinking more along the lines of child consumers who would be lured in by the cute individual packaging that let them run off with it and use their gooey fingers to dig out the baked goodness for themselves. But D suggested adults might not be so eager to deconstruct their desserts. I went back to the drawing board and realized that once these “pop-ups” were removed from their cups, they made delightfully grown-up looking treats.
If you have either a kids or adult bash coming up this week or next for All Hallows’ Eve, I’d suggest giving these a try. I’m not sure where I got the idea of using little paper cups (not cupcake papers) – I guess I was staring at them in the store one evening and thought “Huh, I bet those would make for interesting baking vessels. They’d be sturdier than cupcake liners and more upright. I’ll buy a bunch and see what I can come up with sometime. I’d better not get the waxed kind though as that can’t be good in a hot oven.” Yes, I really had this little conversation with myself, parts of it out loud even, while rooted in the middle of the paper products aisle of Acme. Yes, I’m strange. Anyway, since then I’ve been mulling over what type of recipe would work in my repurposing efforts for three ounce Dixie bathroom cups – cake, cookie, muffin, brownie, maybe even pie?? I settled on a cookie for this time around. I wanted to send D off to his October birthday party with a seasonally appropriate treat, and the pumpkin cookie recipe I have is always a crowd pleaser. Besides, using a pumpkin recipe also meant I could use up more of the puree from my pumpkin roll and post this fun idea to the blog. A win-win situation if ever I saw one!
I have to take a minute to give props for the brown sugar icing in this recipe. I’d had the pumpkin cookie recipe for awhile when I was visiting at my friend Christine’s house one evening and she served a pumpkin cookie of her own with the most heavenly icing on top. Of course, being the generous and dear friend she is, she shared the recipe with me. I ended up keeping my pumpkin cookie base but topped them with her brown sugar icing from there on out. The icing is particularly useful for these pop-ups as it gives them an added dimension that says, “we’re funky and special; come eat us,” (I’ve got to stop having these conversations in my head!) particularly when served on a plate with a drizzle of extra icing. Add at least the first round of icing while the pop-ups are still in the cups; they’ll soak it soak up more as it makes its way down between the cookie and the cup. My mouth’s watering just thinking about it.
Having tried my experiment with baking in Dixie cups, I’ll call it a rousing success and plan to use the remaining 180 in the box for other fun treats. My only regret this time around? That I didn’t make a double batch so I could keep some for myself. Trick or treat, give ME something good to eat!!
PS – I have a quick aside/rant I can’t resist adding. I had a near disaster on my hands when I almost failed to notice that my newly bought baking SODA was in a very similar can as that of the baking POWDER. Now, I could be some sort of delirious, under cultured freak, but hasn’t baking soda traditionally come in a box, saving us less observant bakers from constant confusion and mishaps? I really must protest that the packaging is so similar for these two. I’m half tempted to throw out this current can of soda and trek back to the store to by a box instead. But I’m pretty darn sure that’s all they had, which annoys me.
Okay, I’m done with the rant. Thank you for humoring me. Enjoy the pop-ups and happy Halloween to you all!
PUMPKIN “POP-UPS” WITH BROWN SUGAR ICING
Adapted from The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Baking
Pop-Ups
1.5 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. raw sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 c. butter or margarine
pinch of salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. freshly ground nutmeg
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. butterscotch bits
20 no-wax 3 oz. paper cups
Icing
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 T. butter
1 T. milk
1 c. confectioners’ sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 F. Place paper cups out on a baking sheet and lightly spray with non-stick spray. Leave a little space between each cup to ensure even baking.
Cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the pumpkin and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ones just until dry ingredients are moistened. Using a large knife, roughly chop the butterscotch bits and add to the mixing bowl and add to batter. Stir just until incorporated.
Fill each prepared cup a little bit more than half way with batter. Use a small spatula or spoon to push batter down into the bottom of the cups. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes until tops are slightly coloring and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not over bake as these pop-ups are meant to be very moist. If some appear to be done before others, remove the ones that are ready and continue to bake the rest.
To prepare icing, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir as the mixture melts, being careful to get out any lumps. You can prepare this icing ahead of time, but you’ll need to melt it again just before applying to the pop-ups. On COOL pop-ups, drizzle a spoonful of icing over the top. Allow icing to cool and set up. Once icing is set, store in an airtight container.
Serve in the paper cups or, if you prefer a fancier presentation, remove each pop-up from its cup by gently tearing the paper away from it. Then plate pop-ups individually and serve with an extra drizzle of brown sugar icing.
(makes about 20 pop-ups)
Bittersweet
With both the farmers out of town this weekend, I didn’t need to spend Sunday at the Headhouse Market. Instead I took this extra time to leisurely harvest some flowers for drying and to take some end-of-season photos of the farm. With all the hustle and bustle that my typical Sunday mornings at the farm require in the hurry to get to market, I hadn’t slowed down enough lately to notice how the season is coming to an obvious halt.
I’m no stranger to the changing of the seasons, having grown up on a farm that ebbed and flowed with the shortening and lengthening of the days. But somehow this year on this farm, I’m still in disbelief that it’s almost over for 2007. Now that’s not to say that there won’t be harvesting going on for another month or more at Weavers Way, particularly if this warm streak keeps up. There’ll be plenty of turnips, radishes, greens, and beets to come along yet. It’s just that now instead of lush row-upon-row of tomato vines and shoulder-high okra stalks, there are mostly empty beds with fuzzy baby sprouts of the clover we’re using for a winter covering. I’m just not prepared for this decline…not yet. The past six months have zipped along at light speed, more so than usual. With each passing week, the farm’s fields haven’t just fed my body with amazing produce. They’ve also been feeding my heart and soul with passion and energy.
But autumn is my favorite season, and winter is a good time to work on those projects I’ve put to the side in the flurry of the growing season (hello knitting needles, my old friends!). I’m sure the work for the farm will continue too; just in a different way. I’ll have seed catalogs to pour over, picking out new flowers to suggest trying for next year’s mixed bouquets and maybe even some edible varieties. And there’s the chance to try out all the goodies in my bevy of dried and canned preserves. Not to mention the interesting facts and stories I plan to share with you about urban farming and my personal “foodie” heroes who championed eating locally and seasonally long before it was trendy. And together we’ll find out how long one can store beets and turnips on the basement floor.
So you see, the sight of brown declining tomato vines and the likes is bittersweet for me. I have no doubt that a lot of wonderful exchanges have yet to take this year…I anticipate exploring lots of new avenues and ideas myself and with you. And goodness knows the farmers need a break – they’ve been working 10+ hours a day, six days a week since March. But as I help plant hundreds of tulip and daffodil bulbs at the farm over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be dreaming of springtime blooms and a booming farm again.
I suspect contemplative thoughts like these are what moved me to put bitter mustard greens with sweet apples in a dish that’s easy to make and rich in flavor. Any greens would work here – mustard, kale, collards, chard, beet tops, or even sorrel if you like a really intense bitterness. I choose to give the farm’s new dark purple mustard greens, a variety called Osaka Purple, a try this time around. Did you know mustard greens, much like swiss chard, have ridiculously high amounts of vitamin K, vitamin C, calcium and fiber, among other things? Since this variety is purple, it also has potential cancer-fighting phytochemicals. And the addition of toasted pine nuts really rounded out the trio of taste sensations on the tongue.
I guess this switch to autumn crops isn’t so bad. After all, there’re only so many fresh tomatoes a girl can eat. Though I’m sure I’ll retract that statement by January.
BITTERSWEET AND NUTTY MIXED GREENS
A Straight from the Farm original
1 large bunch of mustard greens, about 20 leaves
2 baby leeks
1 baby bok choy
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. soy sauce
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 small firm apples (I used Nittany)
1 T. butter
1 T. raw sugar
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 c. pine nuts
Wash and dry apples. Cut out core and dice into 1/2 inch cubes. Melt butter in a medium skillet and add apples. Sprinkle with raw sugar and cook over medium low heat until soft and somewhat caramelized/browned. Remove from heat and set aside on your serving dish.
Toast pine nuts on a small baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 5-7 minutes until golden.
Wash greens, leeks and bok choy thoroughly. Cut off any tough stems on the greens, roots and tough green tops of the leeks, and base of the baby bok choy. Cut everything into one inch wide strips. Using the same skillet as before, heat olive oil over medium high heat and saute garlic slices until golden. Add chopped greens, leeks and bok choy, stirring constantly until everything is noticeably wilted (about 90 seconds). Lower heat to low and stir in soy sauce. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until greens are tender. Salt and pepper to taste.
Combine apples and pine nuts with the greens in the skillet. Toss well and serve immediately.
(serves 3-4 as a side)
Like this:
Show ‘n Tell
The last in the Super Secret Getaway series of recipes, I kept waiting for some cold weather to make this soup more “appropriate” and thus have greater appeal, but Mother Nature just isn’t cooperating with my plans (how dare she?!?). I’ll roll with it anyway. Don’t get me wrong, this soup needs no helping hand to make its flavors appealing. In fact, it’s exceptionally hearty, flavorful and filling – a perfect ward-off-the-chill soup. It’s just that I doubt any of you are going to be interested in making it this week with another 85 degree day forecasted for Philly on Monday.
You’re all quite familiar with swiss chard by now, I’m sure. No need to wax lyrical about it again. Suffice to say, it never disappoints me. However, you could easily use collards, kale, mustard or even beet greens for this soup. Satiate the beast within after a romp outdoors with chewy barely, smoky cumin, sweet potatoes and bright chard – the soup’s flavor is really rather complex, in a good way. This is one of those soups that ages really well…leftovers are even better than the first taste. I didn’t freeze any of this batch, but I’m sure it would do well if you wish to stock up for the darker month ahead.
I keep hearing about how much you guys like my photos (you make me blush, but thank you) and since I have several for this recipe, I think I’ll cease with the “tell” portion of this post and commence with the “show”. I promise a return to the witty banter on Monday.
Swiss Chard Barely Lentil Stew
Adapted from Epicurious.com/Bon Appetit
1 T. olive oil
1.5 c. minced onion
1.5 c. chopped unpeeled sweet potato
4 garlic cloves, minced
2.5 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground/rubbed sage (about 4 dried leaves)
10 c. vegetable broth
2/3 c. pearl barley
14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 small fresh tomato, diced
2/3 c. dried lentils
1 rind of parmesan cheese (optional)
4 c. (packed) coarsely chopped Swiss Chard (about 15 large stems)*
2 T. chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
*To prep chard, cut out the thick stem from the leaves before chopping.
Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sweet potatoes and sauté until onions are golden brown (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and sauté for another minute before adding cumin and sage. Stir well and add to a large soup pot with the vegetable broth. Add barely and bring the pot up to a rolling boil before reducing heat to medium-low. Simmer for 25 minutes, partially covered.
Stir in tomatoes with juice and lentils. If you have a leftover rind of parmesan in your freeze like I do, stir it in now for added flavor. Cover and simmer until both barley and lentils are tender, about another 25 minutes. Add swiss chard to soup and simmer for 5 minutes until chard is tender. Stir in the dill and season liberally with salt and pepper to taste before serving.
(serves 10 as a starter or 6 as a main)
Handy Dandy!
I’ve finally gotten myself around to compiling a RECIPE INDEX to make this site a little more handy for those of you who have come here for ideas on how to use your CSA shares or unusual famers market finds. As the index page notes, this is still a work in progress and will take me a week or two to complete. Please continue to use the “search” function on the sidebar to the right to look for recipes that haven’t made it onto the idex page yet.
Enjoy! And feel free to make suggestions on how to further enhance the usefulness of this blog. Thanks to all of you who stop by to read it each day!!
A wreath I made using flowers and herbs harvested from the farm. Will be making these for sale at Headhouse over the next couple of weeks now that the fresh flowers are dying off.
Childhood Favorites = Today’s Comfort Food
I’m starting to feel like a broken record here but it’s really true…I love cooking with my mom. Besides the fact that she’s a great cook herself, she’s got all this amazing know-how that you just don’t find in cookbooks. And she has a couple of recipes that I don’t dare mess with on my own. I’m talking about those childhood favorites that never taste the same when you attempt to recreate them yourself as an adult.
I don’t think I’ll ever make mac & cheese on my own. It’s a shame really because I love mac & cheese and when the dreaded day comes that my mom is no longer in the kitchen, I’ll have to go without mac & cheese for the rest of my life. See, she makes the best mac & cheese…with raw cows milk, lots of velvety cheese and then this amazing bread crumb topping that gets all crusty and golden. And she bakes it in the same casserole dish every time, which seems to be the perfect size for what is a precise ratio of chewy golden pasta bites around the edges and melty cheesy bites in the middle. Pardon me while I wipe this bit of drool off my keyboard.
I also love her mashed potatoes, but I finally got myself to make those by deciding I wasn’t going to try to recreate hers, but rather to come up with my own variation. Mine includes goat cheese stirred and melted into the hot potatoes (instead of her hunk of butter) and an extra pinch of sea salt. I still like hers better, if only for sentimental and/or the-wiring-in-my-brain-was-set-for-life-at-age-five reasons. Mashed potatoes and mac & cheese…the second and third best comfort foods.
I say second and third best because there’s another dish that stands at the front of that comfort food line. Homemade old-fashioned apple dumplings were a thing of sheer indulgence during my childhood. We didn’t have them all that often, but when we did, it meant life was good. Truth be told though, I’d almost forgotten about them until a month or so ago, when I was eating out and saw them on the menu. Of course I ordered a dumpling for dessert, but it just wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. The apple dumplings of my childhood were large – gianormous really – made with a whole apple brimming with cinnamon sugary delight and snuggly down in a flaky sugary crust. What I had at the restaurant was a small half apple with scant cinnamon and a dark egg-washed glossy crust around it. I knew then and there that I’d have to recreate the apple dumplings of my memory. But I wasn’t about to do it on my own.
Yep, back to good ol’ mom. I roped her into teaching me all about apple dumplings at the same time we ferreted out the method for pickling pears. Her recipe for dumplings also comes from a Pennsylvania Grange Cookbook, just like the pickled pears recipe, although the dumplings are in a different edition. I’m glad I went to the source for the original recipe. Left to my own devices, I would have likely used a basic pie dough recipe for the pastry. Turns out the dough for the dumplings has the addition of milk, making it more elastic and granting greater forgiveness when pulling it up around the apples, something a novice like me needed. But really, the apple dumplings turned out to be pretty simple. Thanks to the little mom tutorial, I’m confident I can successfully recreate this childhood favorite on my own now.
Never content to leave well enough alone, we did take a few liberties with the recipe just for fun. I wanted to leave out the butter that usually got drizzled over the apples before they’re wrapped up. Despite the obvious health benefits of this, I just didn’t think it was necessary with the buttery dough too. I didn’t miss it at all when chowing down on the hot dumplings topped with vanilla ice cream. We also added some dried cranberries in the hollowed out core of the apples. They were a nice little surprise that I’d add again next time. We doubled the cinnamon and sugar (which is reflected in the recipe below because I think you should too). We got rid of the red food coloring in the syrup…it just seemed stupid. Our hypothesis is that food coloring was still a novelty when the recipe’s cookbook was printed so housewives were probably eager to show off their status as a culinary expert by “enhancing” colors wherever they could. And finally, we topped the completed (but still unbaked) dumplings with little cinnamon drops/red hots to add visual interest and an extra punch of cinnamon flavor at first bite.
A quick word about the apples themselves: We don’t grow them (yet) at Weavers Way Farm so I snagged mine from the lovely folks at Three Springs Fruit Farm, a neighboring stand to ours at the Headhouse Farmers Market. These guys have the best apples! For these dumplings, I selected a large sweet baking apple (that I can’t remember the name of for the life of me right now) from their many crates. My mom also made a second batch with Granny Smiths at the same time we made these. Both varieties turned out delicious dumplings. The only rule of thumb here is to use solid apples that will hold their shape once baked. Avoid soft eating apples like Red Delicious as they’ll sag and likely cause the pastry crust to crack and cave in.
Childhood memories were never so sweet as these apple dumplings were for me. What’s your favorite childhood dish that equals the ultimate comfort food for you as an adult?
OLD-FASHIONED APPLE DUMPLINGS
My mom’s recipe (taken originally from an old PA Grange cookbook)
Dough
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2/3 c. butter (still cold)
1/2 c. milk
Apples
4 large apples
6 T. white sugar
3 T. ground cinnamon
2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional)
Syrup
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 c. water
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel apples and, using a kitchen gadget or sharp knife, remove all of the cores. Slice off just a small amount at the top and bottom of each apple to flatten them out so they’ll wrap in the dough easier. Rinse off the apples in cold water and dab dry with a paper towel. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter, using your hands to squish everything together, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in milk all at once and stir to form a dough. Add a little more flour if needed to make the dough less sticky. Do not overwork the dough as you want it to remain light and tender. Split the dough ball in half and on a floured surface, roll out one half to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into two 6″ squares.
Place a whole apple in the center of a dough square. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg listed under “Apples” above. Generously dust each apple with this mixture and fill the core with cranberries and a little more sugar mixture. Moisten the edges of the pastry square with a finger dipped in cool water and bring the corners together at the top of the apple. Press edges together to seal and pinch together any tears in the dough around the apple.
Repeat the rolling out of the second half of the dough and creating the other two dumplings. Place all four dumplings in a baking dish, one inch apart, and decorate with dough cut-outs of leaves or any other creative flare you can think to use.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the ingredients listed under “Syrup” above. Bring to a boil then remove from heat to cool slightly. Pour the syrup over the dumplings and sprinkle with additional sugar (this forms a delectable golden crust once baked). Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until apples are tender (use a fork poked into them to test) and dough is nicely browned.
Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Can be stored in fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven at 200 F for 15 minutes.
(serves 4)
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