This was a question posed to Jason Hammel, a Chicago chef, in the July, 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine. I had hoped to just link you to the article online, but alas, it doesn’t appear to BE online. So I’m going to type it out here. His answers got me to thinking . . .

I had a grandmother who could really bake. Her lard-soft pumpkin cookies would greet me at the door, always tasting exactly the same. But their consistency didn’t become a marvel until she died, and I was left to my own devices with a recipe on an index card. Not one of my batches tasted the way I remembered.

I soon realized that the recipe alone would never bring back a flavor I had lost. And it got me thinking about my life as a chef. Were recipes necessary?

In my kitchens, cooks always carry a notebook with them. Inside are lists of ingredients, reading like poetry:

leeks, melted
Riesling
goat butter
chopped dill

These become sauces and vinaigrettes. They are guides and inspirations, meant to be explored. Following a chef’s vision is what teaches young cooks to taste and learn and interact with ingredients. An over-wintered leek will not behave the same as a hot summer leek; it won’t need the same amount of wine, butter or dill. Instead of writing down measurements, we should teach how to explore the craft of cooking with our senses. When I imagine my cookbook, I see words and images, not cups and ounces.

I would write my grandmother’s cookie recipe this way:
Creamed sugar and lard
1 small can pumpkin
3 eggs
Some nutmeg
A simple frosting
Lined in parchment in red Tupperware container almost out of reach
Sun coming in from a mountain road
The cookies baked gently, remaining soft, so that they stick to your fingers and you have to lick them off, one by one.

Isn’t that just beautiful? I’ve recently finished reading a book about a chef. Kathleen Flinn’s The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School. Flinn realized a dream – to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. It’s a detailed story about her cooking school journey, the people she met, the chefs who sometimes ridiculed her, some who encouraged her, about the discipline required and grueling hours at the school, day after day, week after week. Trying to learn, when she didn’t speak French. She never talked about her notebook, other than she said she took copious notes during all of her classes and would transcribe them at the end of the day. There’s a recipe at the end of every chapter, usually related some to the chapter subject. She wanted to be a journalist, but in the food biz. She’s received many accolades for her book. It’s written well, and as I read it I felt she did begin using her senses rather than an exact formula, although there were some formulas that were mandatory. She graduated and did very well. And the parting word at graduation from one of her chef teachers was “Miz Fleen, taste, taste, taste.” There’s a love story woven into the book as well. Worth reading.

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Remember, I told you we’d be fixing that chicken dish – the one that my hubby made for me on about our 3rd or 4th date, way back 32 years ago? Here it is . . . you make it all in one pan (except for a carb if you choose to make one). It’s incredibly easy.

If you didn’t read my post a few days ago about my hubby Dave’s favorites, you won’t have the back story on this dish. Go read that if you care to. Here’s a bit more of the background. In 1981, Dave and his son lived about a block or two from our local fairgrounds, and often on Saturdays they’d go over to the weekly swap meet there (that still goes on at that location). Dave remembers vividly one Saturday as they walked up and down the rows, that he could smell something wonderful. Finally they came to a stand where a couple of Aussie guys were making chicken. It was only about 9:30 in the morning, and both Dave and his son gobbled down a sample of this dish, and Dave promptly bought a set of seasonings from this company, Benson’s Gourmet Seasonings.

The company is still in business, and this recipe – the same one they were fixing at the swap meet in 1981, is still the one they demonstrate, and is their #1 selling mixture. It uses their Supreme Garlic and Herb Salt Free Seasoning 2 oz Bottle – the link here is to Amazon, and they carry the whole line, if you’re interested.

Dave made this dish for me, back in 1981 right after I met him, and he made it at least one other time, and the bottles of seasoning mixes have sat dormant on my pantry shelf ever since. Not in the regular place, but Dave didn’t want to throw them away – when we moved to this house 10 years ago I was going to toss them out. You know, herb and spice mixtures lose all their potency after a few weeks or at most a month. But Dave said, no, don’t throw them out. So they sat in an obscure and out of the way space. I generally don’t use those pre-packed seasoning mixes just because I know they don’t retain flavor well. I like to make my own combos at the moment when I need them. The only one I’ve been known to make in quantity is the North African Grilled Corn on the Cob spice mix. I make up a batch at the beginning of corn season and try to use it up by the time corn season has passed.

Having laughed over the chicken dinner story the other day, I dug out the bottle (that is 32 years old), went online, not expecting to find anything, and found the company’s website and their recipe easily enough. And decided that Dave needed to renew his acquaintance with this dish.

Here he is at our kitchen island. I cut up a whole chicken for him (next time we will make it with just chicken thighs, I think – much easier). I set him there at the cutting board with all of the vegetables he needed to chop. A lot. First you must have half a chopped onion and half a bell pepper. This dish takes 60 minutes to make, hence you want to start with medium-low heat. The herb mixture is added in at 3 junctures in the process.

The pictures here show the progression of the dish. First you put the raw chicken pieces in there (no seasonings, no oil, nothing) in a big honkin’ pan (we used a 12-inch nonstick pan with 4” high sides) skin side down with the heat at medium-low. The first set of veggies are added on top and down in any crevices you can find.

In the 2nd picture, after 20 minutes, you turn the chicken over. See, nicely browned chicken pieces.

Then after another 20 minutes of browning you add all the vegetables (more onion, peppers, zucchini, carrots, celery and mushrooms). The veggies kind of sit there on top and you wonder if they’ll ever cook through.

Ten minutes later  you stir it all up (you do that several times so the veggies will get done). You never add a lid. But you do add 1/2 cup of white wine (we used vermouth) during the last 10 minutes and continue cooking until the chicken is done and the veggies are cooked.

Actually, we removed the chicken pieces to a hot plate and very briefly cooked the veggies for about 2 minutes – there were a few pieces of carrot and zucchini that weren’t quite done.

Meanwhile, make some rice. We made pasta (Dave’s choice), but I really think it would be easier to eat and more tasty with rice. Your choice, of course. I made linguine and thought it was too difficult to handle.

There is NO SALT in this dish. There is NO FAT added to this dish. And it’s delicious. Because the spice mixture was SO old, I measured out double the amount of it (so 2 T. rather than just 1). I think I need to order a new bottle, although the seasoning did have some smell and taste.

What’s GOOD: it’s a make-in-one-pot kind of dinner (except for a carb if you choose to make one). There’s lots of good flavor in it. It’s easy, really, but you do need to do a bunch of veggie chopping and prepping. Makes a big batch – I think it might feed more than 4 if you have a larger chicken. We had a 4-pound one and will likely get 3 meals out of it. It’s a pretty dish – lots of color. We don’t like green bell pepper, but it would have added even more color to the pan. The wine makes a kind of juicy sauce (unthickened, of course) – scoop some of it out with each serving onto the carb. Love that this has not one speck of added salt or added oil. You won’t miss it – really.
What’s NOT: just the time you need to spend tending to this – not hard – but you don’t want to go off and leave this as it requires a lot of chopping at first, then mixing around during the last 20 minutes. The chicken breasts were a little overdone, we thought, so I’d probably add them later or remove them early.

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Remember, I mentioned the other day how I was blown away by the flavor of buffalo mozzarella? Well, I had another 8-ounce tub with a soon to expire date on it. I hadn’t decided what to do with it . . . ah, this is heaven on a slice of bread.

We went shopping the other day and I bought a big loaf (a boule) of country bread (see it in the photo down below). I left it out on the kitchen counter that day and planned to saw off a slice each for us to eat with dinner, and I had the idea that maybe I could use that buffalo mozzarella (Trader Joe’s little tub, 8 ounces at right). I did get the idea from a recipe on the Food Network and after reading comments and suggestions from several people, I incorporated those into the tomato mixture and a new recipe was born.

It started with thinking about bruschetta – an antipasto that dates back to the 15th century and usually incorporates tomatoes, herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper on small pieces of bread or toast. And I would suppose any Italian would say that this version above is a bruschetta too – just a different one. And if Italians do cook with mozzarella, it’s most likely the fresh stuff, not that processed tasteless mozzarella we buy in vacuum sealed balls that require grating. And I think in Italy, all the fresh mozzarella is made with buffalo milk.

First I made the tomato mixture – and I did it in the food processor. With the machine running I dropped in a couple cloves of fresh garlic, then added the fresh tomatoes all at once and only pulsed it until the tomatoes were chopped. You don’t want mush. I drained them – actually I scooped them out to a bowl and I added some olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh basil AND a little bit of balsamic vinegar. I left it to sit on the kitchen counter while I prepared everything else.  With most of the juice discarded,I was left with just tomatoes and all the seasonings.

Next, I sliced up the 8-ounce ball of buffalo mozzarella. I used my tomato knife to do that (serrated) and it was relatively easy to do. The 8-ounce ball made enough to cover 3 long slices of the country loaf of bread, FYI. The bread was sliced, then I toasted them (one side only) in the oven at 425°F for just a few minutes. The cheese was laid on top and I turned the oven on to broil and watched the toasts very carefully so they wouldn’t burn. Didn’t take long at all!

Once out of the oven I just drizzled the tomato mixture on top and we ate them immediately. Well, within about a minute. They cool off quickly and they’re best eaten when the cheese is hot. Some of the juices soaked down into the bread, but not much (if you drizzle much juice on top the bread will be totally soggy).

What’s GOOD: what can I tell you, other than that buffalo mozzarella has such wonderful flavor. It’s just different. It has flavor depth. Something. And the fresh tomatoes were wonderful; fresh basil on it adds a perfect brightness. Then the little bit of balsamic? Oh, delicious. Do use good bread, okay?
What’s NOT: not one thing. It was sensational.

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Most of the blogs I follow are related to food. But I have a few that are not. One is called The Big Picture. Someone told me about it years ago, and I’ve been following it ever since. Let me tell you about it . . . The Boston Globe newspaper has reporters and photographers all over the world. They all send in their stories. And more stories. And the photos to go with. Some stories and photos make it to the newspaper’s pages and some do not. This blog is about the ones that don’t make it. It’s a pictorial blog – some are horrific like an earthquake or a tsunami, or a riot. But sometimes it’s about celebrating life and beauty.

This one is about Fall. Fall in all of its disguises and permutations from leaves to flowers to ponds to animals.

One little caveat – after you’ve looked at this or any of their  posts (where they generally post about 30-40 photos about a single subject) for a bit, you’ll encounter a little survey. It’s no big deal – usually they ask a simple question – you DO have to answer the question (and if you don’t like the question, there’s a little line below it that says ask me another question, perhaps something easier for you to answer) before you can move on and look at the remaining photos.

This post is so worth scrolling through. If you’re interested, you can subscribe to it and it’ll come into your RSS mailbox or reader every time they post.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/10/autumn_around_the_world_2013.html

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My husband Dave and I have been married for over 30 years. The happiest years of my life, as I’ve probably mentioned before. It’s a 2nd marriage for us both. We each had a teenager living with us when we met, and it’s a long story, but we managed to weather blending a family and even had all 3 of the children living with us for some years. When we met, I was 38 and Dave was 40.

After we met, a 3+ hour blind date for lunch, I invited him to a brunch I was throwing the following Sunday for a group of my friends. After the brunch we went to the beach near us to walk, and ended up at his house because he offered to fix dinner. (My daughter was home with a girlfriend of mine who was staying with me at the time; Dave’s son had been away for the weekend and returned just in time for dinner.)

After we arrived at his house, I asked Dave if he liked to cook, and he said “sure.” Thrilled that I’d met someone who enjoyed cooking like I do, I sat back with a glass of wine in my hand as he cooked a fairly simple dinner of steak on the grill, baked potatoes and all the trimmings, plus a green salad with bottled dressing (Catalina dressing, if you remember that one). I didn’t offer to help (he remembers this). For such a simple meal I thought two cooks in the kitchen might be a bit much.

In the subsequent weekends when we got together, usually at his house, he prepared 3 more dinners (I remember this) – grilled country ribs with bottled barbecue sauce, salad and garlic bread. The third meal he made a big stovetop dish of chicken (in his new set of orange Le Creuset). It had onions, peppers and zucchini cooked with it. And he also could grill chicken with the same said bottled barbecue sauce. In that time I think I’d fallen in love with him. As he tells it, it’s a good thing because those four meals exhausted his repertoire of cooking. Period.

As I learned within a short time . . .when Dave’s son came to live with him (when he was 11, about 9 months or so before I met Dave) he really didn’t cook. He had a job that required a lot of after-work schmoozing with customers, and happy hour food was Dave’s dinner of choice. He was in electronics sales and had an expense account. Most weekdays he took customers or distributors out for a very hearty lunch. Dinner didn’t need to be big, so the happy hour food was fine for him. But with a hungry 11-year old boy at home, he had to figure out something. He learned to do hot dogs (maybe hamburgers), and those 3-4 dinners I mentioned above. They lived on that, in constant rotation, having left overs on the nights in between, and going out at least once a week. Out of desperation, his son learned to cook some himself. In fact, he really got into it, and one weekend I was visiting HE made eggs Benedict, which were really good. I was impressed.

So, the rest is history. I took over the cooking. Really, as I learned quickly enough, Dave doesn’t even know how to cook. He enjoys good food – the eating of it – but even after all these years, he still doesn’t know the how of cooking. He does help now and then, especially if we’re entertaining – if I show him how to do something, he’ll chop onions, or watch a pot or stir something. He’s a whiz at washing dishes. He puts everything away (not always where it’s supposed to be, but at least he finds a home for every item I use). I’m very grateful that he doesn’t mind – in fact he loves washing dishes.

Last week I was reading Charmian Christie’s blog about her and her husband’s 11th wedding anniversary, and she told a cute story about discussing with him what his favorite foods were when they’d met – steak, turkey, scalloped potatoes and apple pie. Then she asked him what his favorite foods are now, and he rattled off a list – all things she makes and things he’s crazy about.

Therefore, after reading about that, I turned to Dave and said: “Honey, what were your favorite things you liked to make and eat when we met?” He looked at me. And stared. And said “uhm, steak, I guess.” I said “that’s it? Steak?” I waited, and there were no additions. So, I went on. “Okay, so after 30 years of marriage, what are your favorite things I cook?” He looked at me again, blankly. [I was expecting him to rattle off half a dozen things that I make that I know he loves.] At that point, we actually had a short discussion about his perception of our meals – he thinks that because I write a food blog I never cook anything twice.

Surely, I needed to correct him about THAT. So I went to my Carolyn’s Favs list on my blog and asked him about most of the recipes. Some he doesn’t recognize by the title. But, yes, as soon as I listed some or explained something about this one or that one, he said “oh yes, I love that.” “Yes, that too.” “Sure, that’s a really good one!” He finally agreed that yes, there are lots of favorites, but when put to the test, he absolutely couldn’t name them. He loves to barbecue, and he thinks he’s pretty good at it (I agree). As I read the items, I made some scribbled notes. I thought it might be worthy of a blog post – to tell you which things I prepare are HIS favorites. Only the first one (steak) is in order of importance:

Ribeye Steaks with Amazing Glaze – indeed, steak is still his #1 favorite dinner. And it’s really the meat he’s after, not necessarily the sauce, but yes, he remembered the sauce.

Baked Onions with Thyme – very easy baked onions with red wine and dried thyme. They’re a family favorite over the holidays, particularly.

BLT Salad – Love this salad, especially in the summer when tomatoes are at their peak. Dave loves all the bacon in it. I think.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Apples – For several years I made this soup every Fall. It’s on the sweet side, and is not a quick one to make since the squash, onions, apples, etc. all must spend time in the oven to reach some caramelization.

Cabbage Patch Stew – one of my favorite soup-stew type things too – this one goes back to the 1960’s; has a scoop of mashed potatoes on top. Very simple to make. With ground beef and kidney beans.

Calabacitas con Crema – There is something unique about corn, zucchini and poblano chiles all mixed up with a jot of cream in it. Dave’s favorite “veg” is corn.

Corn, Green Chile and Cheese Dip – Dave could easily make this his entire meal. He professes to not like Mexican food very much, but he loves this stuff. It’s hot and you dip tortilla chips or Frito scoops in it.

Cranberry Relish – Dave didn’t think he’d like this when I first made it for him (our first Thanksgiving together), but oh yes he does! Since he’s diabetic, he can’t have much of it (I use part Splenda) but he enjoys every morsel with turkey or on turkey sandwiches.

Cream of Cucumber Soup – COLD – He surprised me with this one – I haven’t made it in a couple of years, but as soon as I mentioned it he said yes, he really liked it a lot.

Crisp Apple Pudding – I make this 2-3 times a year, for sure. My mother’s recipe. I use part Splenda for Dave’s sake. It’s not so sweet you couldn’t even have it for breakfast. It has a crispy dough top, no oatmeal or crumbly stuff. Lots of cinnamon.

Crumbled Asparagus – he actually DID remember this one as soon as we discussed veggies. Dipped in mayo and Parmigiano cheese, roasted at high temp. Very easy and absolutely addictive.

French Hamburgers – this is a Julia Child recipe. It’s not put in a bun, but pan fried and served with a red wine and butter sauce. This recipe is THE most re-pinned recipe from my Board on Pinterest.

Garlic Green Beans – this recipe came from a friend of Dave’s (Meredith, a beau from college days). It’s her recipe, and it’s an absolute winner. My friend Cherrie makes this all the time, too.

Greek Lamb with Pasta – this is a recent recipe in my repertoire. What makes it is the Feta cheese sprinkled on top. It’s a sensational dish and feeds a bunch of people (8, with just 1 lb. ground lamb). Dave loves lamb any time, any day.

Ham and Egg Cups – A great brunch dish – thin slices of deli ham, an egg, some fresh tomatoes and a dollop of pesto. Baked in the oven. Very easy.

Kurobuta Ham – you might think a ham is just a ham, but even Dave knows now that Kurobuta (Berkshire pork) ham is something else again. He loves the mustard sauce that goes with it too.

Lemon Velvet Ice Cream – I’ve tinkered with the original recipe a bit, but it does remain one of our very favorites – primarily because we have 2 lemon trees on our property and the Meyer lemon juice is just so good in this.

Monterey Scalloped Potatoes – I only make this once or twice a year because it’s so rich and decadent. Made with Monterey Jack cheese. Not difficult.

Joan’s Pasta Salad – Our friend Joan makes a wicked basil-scented pasta salad. Not difficult. Has Feta cheese in it. Relatively healthy as well.

Pork Loin Roast with Apricot Glaze – what makes this is the apricot sauce on the side. It’s intensely apricot-y. Dave loves pork roast, but this one especially because of the apricots.

Grilled Salmon on Watercress Salad – Dave just loves this dish and often asks me – if he spies salmon on the counter – if I’m going to make it with the watercress. He particularly likes roasted red, yellow and orange bell peppers alongside. Makes a great presentation.

Shepherd’s Pie with Chipotle Sweet Potatoes – truthfully, I haven’t made this in a couple of years – and every time I do fix it, Dave raves. Make 2, and stick one in the freezer. It’s standard shepherd’s pie, but uses sweet potatoes flavored with chipotle to give it a kick.

Savory Tomato Pie – or, another version I did more recently – Tomato Corn Pie – make one or the other when tomatoes are in the peak of flavor. Contains mayo (I think that’s what Dave likes about it, although you can’t tell the mayo is there, exactly).

Watermelon Salad with Feta & Mint – I just made this last night and we both dug into the bowl for more, even after we’d finished dinner. There’s something about the salty Feta and the sweet watermelon in combo. Last night I used basil, but it’s best with mint.

Zucchini Gratin – An Ina Garten recipe. Not difficult to make, but does require a whole lot of slicing. It’s the topping that makes it, and that’s what Dave loves about it, I think.

What I haven’t pictured or listed here are the standard salad dressings I make all the time. The ones with asterisks are my regulars that I make in erratic rotation. He loves all of them, including the ones that contain blue cheese, although if you ask him he’ll tell you he’s not a fan of blue cheese dressing, or blue cheese in general.

I enjoyed writing this list, and read the entire story to Dave (to make sure I hadn’t veered from the truth anywhere – I didn’t). I asked Dave about that chicken dish he used to make in his new Le Creuset pan. I decided to go hunting – would you believe I found the original plastic spice mix bottle that Dave used to use in that dish? It means it’s at least 30 years old. I was shocked when I opened it to find that it still has a nice scent. We’re going to make it tomorrow, so you’ll hear all about it. Maybe I’ll get Dave to make it – that would be especially fun for me! I’ll take pictures. I have a brand new pan that will be perfect for it. If it’s all that good, I’ll order more of the seasoning mix, which is still available.

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When we did our Israeli dinner a couple of weeks ago, we surely needed salad. With all the richness from the lamb and sides, I was looking forward to fattoush. I have another fattoush on my blog – it’s called Syrian Pita Bread Salad. And it’s a favorite of mine (from my friend Joanne) that I’ve been loving for over 20 years – mostly because of the greens and the lemon juice dressing. But this fattoush is altogether different because it’s about the veggies.

In some Middle Eastern cultures, a fattoush salad is mostly about the BREAD. In others it’s more about the GREENS with the bread almost as a garnish (and that’s what the Syrian Pita Bread Salad is). In this salad, it’s all about the VEGETABLES. In the cookbook, Jerusalem: A Cookbook the authors explain that throughout Israel an every meal must-have is some kind of vegetable salad – tomato, cucumber and onion. It’s what they call an affliction! What a strange word to use for a food!

In some previous post I know I mentioned that when we visited Egypt in 1997 (we were IN the Valley of the Kings a mere 2 days before the massacre there . . . wow, was God ever looking out after us on that trip!), and then for 3 weeks in Turkey, we both enjoyed (yet got tired of) the breakfasts offered to us: platters of tomato wedges, big blocks of very salty Feta cheese, bread (pita, rolls or bagels) and hard boiled eggs. And little bowls or shakers of the herb mixture za’atar. That’s when I first tried za’atar and liked the lemony taste (from the sumac in it). So, I learned how important tomatoes are, for sure. Middle Easterners [it seems to me] eat tomatoes 365 days a year – not an altogether bad thing, but I think I’d get tired of it if I ate it daily at one or more meals.

Anyway, this salad – is a predominantly vegetable salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes), with an ample amount of stale flatbread, herbs (mint and sumac) and soaked with a yogurt and buttermilk dressing. The dressing contains both lemon juice and vinegar, and olive oil is drizzled all over the top before serving. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. My friend Cherrie made this, and she tossed it just before serving.

What’s GOOD: I liked the yogurt-buttermilk dressing. I liked how it soaked into the bread, but not completely, so there was still some crunch (wouldn’t have been, though, with the left overs, so make only what you know you’ll eat). I liked all the fresh veggies. I liked the mint. Would I make it again? Maybe, but I know I’d probably fix the Syrian Pita Bread Salad first. The two salads are hard to compare because this one is so vegetable-centric and the Syrian one is greens-centric. So it’s like comparing apples and oranges.

What’s NOT: there are a lot of ingredients, for sure. But once you get everything all ready, it’s easy to put it together at the last minute. It just needs 10 minutes sit. And if your tomatoes are not at their peak, this salad would be lacking in flavor.

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I’m a sucker for anything pumpkin. Have always loved it in its many guises. Since some of you haven’t been reading my blog for all that long, I thought I’d do a review of most of the pumpkin recipes you’ll find here on my blog – not in any order of preference. I left out a couple that weren’t particularly memorable – these are all memorable to me.

Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins – oh gosh, are these good. I think I found this recipe in a magazine lo these many years ago.

Ginger Pumpkin Bars – kind of like pumpkin pie – all the traditional flavorings, but it’s made in bar form with crumbled cookies as the base. Very sweet. 

Harvest Pumpkin Scones – if you like pumpkin, you’ll love pumpkin in scones. These are made in round form (big) and you cut them into wedges.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Orange Ginger Sauce – the bread pudding is delicious all on its own, but the sauce. Oh gosh. The sauce is so delish and if you make enough the sauce can be a pudding dessert a few nights later.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Ball – easy to make, and so perfect for this Fall season of the year. Also good to use up some left over canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice Gingerbread Trifle – oh gosh, so good. So beautiful. I served this some years ago for a Thanksgiving dinner. Best served IN a trifle bowl, but still delicious even if you don’t have one.

Pumpkin and Golden Raisin Scones – can you tell I like scones? Yet I never make them just for us – only when we have guests. You can freeze them (if they last that long) but eat up within a week or so.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding – all the deliciousness you would expect from a bread pudding, but made with pumpkin and all the great spicy flavors.

Pumpkin Praline Custard – LOVE this stuff – it’s very low calorie, but if you’re a pumpkin fan and don’t want the calories from pie or trifle, try this. Easy – easy to make too.

Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake – you might not think pumpkin goes well with coffeecake, but oh yes, it does. Perfect for the holidays.

Pumpkin Raisin Bread  – this is a yeast bread – not sweet particularly. Makes the most wonderful turkey sandwiches with a little cranberry relish with it. My mouth is watering. I’ve been making this bread for about 30 years.

Thai Pumpkin and Shrimp Soup – I had this at a restaurant and promptly went home and created it myself from several recipes I found online. Fabulous soup.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie with Caramelized Pumpkin – mostly I buy Costco’s pumpkin pie (because they’re so darned good) but in years past I made my own. This was a really good one.

And what will I be making this year? The Thai soup for sure. The yeast pumpkin bread. The easy Pumpkin Praline custard (cuz it’s so easy and low calorie) and the Pumpkin Bread Pudding with the Orange Ginger Sauce.

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To say that my husband was in food ecstasy when I made this is almost an understatement. He swooned. Hmm – do men swoon? Well, for sure he purred! Eggplant Parmesan is one of his all-time favorite meals. And I haven’t made it in years because the usual method uses SO much oil to fry the eggplant. Not any more, with this recipe. It’s a keeper.

When we dine out at an Italian restaurant, my DH almost always orders Eggplant Parmesan. He adores it, and no matter how big the portion, he eats it all. A few times over the 30+ years of our marriage I’ve made it at home, and just cringed at all the oil the eggplant soaks up during the browning/frying process. And how heavy it tasted when you eat it – from all that oil. Eggplant is like a sponge!

Then I read this recipe over at Food52. It struck a chord for me. The raw eggplant first gets lightly floured and baked – then you use the slightly dried planks to layer the casserole. You also simmer down (reduce) a tomato type sauce until it’s thick. And of course there’s Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese AND some fresh Mozzie.

I will give you a heads-up here – it takes a bit of time to make this. A lot more than I’d anticipated, at least. I should have used 2 of my big baking sheets to roast the eggplant – but still, you’ll have to make at least 2 batches of eggplant to roast/dry out in the oven.

After baking the eggplant slices, this (at left) is what I got. Maybe the two on the left toward the top you can see how “crisp” they are, sticking out sideways as they are. That’s why I call them PLANKS. There is still some moisture in them, but not much. They’re not dry like toast or chips. But a good bit of the water in the eggplant has been baked out of them, so they totally hold their shape. They need to bake at least 30 minutes (15 minutes per side), and you want them to get just a bit golden brown.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce – it’s nothing but good canned tomatoes (use San Marzano brand if you can), some shallot and a bit of herbs (I added the herbs – they weren’t in the original recipe). You need to simmer the tomatoes over a relatively low heat – once it gets thick it’s going to sputter out and all over, so I used a mesh cover. It won’t reduce if you leave a lid on the pan as the point is to evaporate the extra water in the tomatoes.

Now you can see the casserole as I began to layer it. I’d made the sauce while the eggplant was baking. I pulled out a big wide casserole dish and put a bit of sauce in the bottom so the eggplant wouldn’t stick. I layered in some eggplant first (the Food52 contributor says press the pieces in like a jigsaw puzzle), then some little globs of sauce that I spread around some, some Parmesan, then a new layer. In one of the middle layers you’ll use the mozzarella. I used more Parmigiano-Reggiano than the recipe called for – and I like an ample amount on the top.

Outside of Italy, until the other day, I’d never had [water] buffalo-milk Mozzarella. My guess is that most restaurants don’t use it. I’d never cooked with it for sure. Why? I don’t know – just cuz I’ve thought that the cow’s milk mozzie was good enough. Well, I’m here to tell you, there is a HUGE difference between cow’s milk mozzie and buffalo-milk mozzie. True mozzie is made with the milk from water buffalo, but then, you all knew that already, right? And it has a wholly different taste. Whereas cow’s milk mozzie is bland, this stuff is positively umami in every way. I bought an 8-ounce little tub of it at Trader Joe’s, and it was a couple dollars more than the cow’s milk version. It was one big ball, which I sliced as thinly as I could. I took a taste. Oh my! It was full-flavored, broad, deep. Wonderful. It’s a bit sour – kind of like the difference between cow cheese and goat cheese. But the umami – it’s there – like you get in balsamic vinegar, anchovies, chiles, mushrooms.

The umami flavor aspect is kind of like the difference between cottage cheese and goat cheese. Or white bread and wheat grain. Or instant oatmeal and steel cut.

So, when you make this, do go to the extra trouble to find and buy buffalo-milk mozzarella. Truly it makes a difference. And I suggest you taste it. I may never use cow’s milk mozzie again. It’s that good.

If I make this again – oh yes, I WILL be doing that – I’ll be sure to have at least 6 layers of eggplant. I managed to have just 4 (because one of the eggplants we bought was spoiled – couldn’t tell from looking at the skin), so I made do with 2 pounds of eggplant (6 small servings). It was a little bit on the thin side (see picture at top). Not that it made any difference in the taste.  There at left you can see the casserole just before I stuck it in the oven. Not all that exciting looking, but wait until you taste it!

What’s GOOD: Oh my goodness, where do I start. Taste, texture, even the eggplant itself. The umami is all over the place. Worth the trouble. Make extra – you’ll be SO glad to have left overs!
What’s NOT: As I mentioned, it takes some time to make. Allow over an hour to prep the eggplant (unless you have 2 ovens – I do, but I used only one, so it took longer, of course), and at least another 30 minutes to do the rest of the prep. Baking will take about 30-40 minutes, plus some resting time (or you’ll burn your mouth big-time). So, that’s over 2 hours. Not a dish you can make after work unless you have other helping hands.

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Yes, I know . . . the photo says Clementine and I titled it Tangerine. You could use either, depending on the citrus season. It could even be orange for that matter. Sounds more elegant to say it’s clementine, though, doesn’t it? Whatever citrus you DO use, it’s a really nice cake from Israel.

And isn’t that honeycomb Bundt cake shape just the cutest thing? My friend Dianne made this for our Israeli dinner we had a couple of weeks ago, and a friend of hers, who is Jewish, loaned her the pan. These 2 gals work at Sur la Table, and Dianne loves to bake. Dianne thought the pan was available at the store, but it isn’t on their website. In the event you want one of these, here’s the Amazon link for the Nordicware Jubilee Bundt Pan.

The recipe, is another one from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Ottolenghi & Tamimi. In deciding on the menu, this dessert, of the many in the cookbook, sounded the most interesting to me. Since I know Dianne loves to bake and some of the other recipes were really complex (even more than I’d want to do), I chose this one.

The only thing unusual about the cake is the use of almond meal. I spent some time looking at lots of other bloggers who have posted this recipe already, and some did it the way the recipe indicated – grinding up almonds to get finely minced almonds. Dianne used almond meal (you can buy it at some markets – Trader Joe’s carries it at a more reasonable price). I think (and I can’t guarantee it, but it’s my humble opinion) that people who ground up nuts ended up with a heavier cake. I suspect this is because whatever machine type you use to grind the nuts (blender, food processor, coffee grinder) could vary – if you stopped it 3 seconds before the next person did it, you’d end up with different textures in the finished cake. I think the Trader Joe’s almond meal is a lighter – and less dense meal.

Now some stores have a completely white almond meal (no skins used) and perhaps that would be the best, but it shouldn’t make any difference, really. Almond meal is done in some process that gets it to a dry meal – not a wet and moist mixture, which would make a difference in the end texture. So, just keep all that in mind. The way to counteract all this is to use weight rather than volume. The recipe calls for 280 grams of ground almonds. So if you used whole almonds, it might be less than 2 1/2 cups. And that would make a difference for sure. And the flour – 100 grams are called for.

Anyway, the cake is a cake – eggs, butter, flour, salt and the ground almonds. The original was baked in a 9 1/2 inch springform pan. Do not use an 8-inch or a 10-inch. Use a 9 or a 9 1/2 incher. Several bloggers said that the size variation made a big difference. Dianne used the Bundt cake pan. Whatever you do, measure the internal temp of the cake – and remove it when it reaches 200°F. The recipe says when  a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. As we learn more about the chemistry of cakes, it’s pretty reliable to do the internal temp method.

As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, you’ll need the syrup to be ready. Pour it all over. If you want, use a wooden pick or toothpick to help get the syrup to ooze further down into the cake. That info wasn’t in the original recipe, but I’ve included it below because we noticed the syrup stayed mostly at the surface and you want it disbursed as much as possible. Allow the cake to cool (if using the Bundt, remove the cake after about 20 minutes) and frost when it’s reached room temp.

What’s GOOD: The texture – it’s a heavier cake – don’t expect lightness here. But it’s far from being a brick, either! Enjoyed the flavor. Also liked that it wasn’t too sweet. The chocolate just melts in your mouth. All good.
What’s NOT: really nothing other than making or finding almond meal.

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Why don’t I bake bread more often? This recipe was so darned easy and the bread was so darned GOOD. You just have to plan ahead, that’s all. It takes no time at all to mix up the batter and it lives in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake. Allow about 2 hours on the day you decide to bake it.

Remember when the no-knead sensation hit a few years ago? It was a revelation to me. And I baked No Knead Bread using the Sullivan Street Bakery method. I even bought a cute little enameled pot just to make it in a small 2-person shape and size. And then I just got out of the habit. In the interim I bought the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg. He made the process so easy and gives all manner of variations on the theme. His method is slightly different than the Sullivan Street method, but they’re similar. Hertzberg gives you options, though, for whole wheat, rye, and other flour types.

Hertzberg’s method involves mixing up the dough (a batter, because it’s really wet and sticky) and refrigerating it. He says it will last for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. I made a half of a recipe (half of the one shown below) and it made 2 loaves. I mixed it in my Kitchen Aid, just because it was easy. You want to cover it, but not seal it airtight as the batter needs a little bit of air. Several days later, the day I made the Spicy Moroccan Lamb Soup with Lentils and Chickpeas, I pulled out the bowl and set to work.

You sprinkle the top of the batter with a little flour. This helps. And surprisingly, once you coax the batter out of the bowl, it’s easy to work with. I took off my rings (DO do that!) and go in there with the dough and a bit of flour. I cut the batch in half (remember, I made half) and gently tried to sculpt the round boule by pulling the dough down the sides with my thumbs and pulling the dough together underneath and pinching it. Not hard to do, and it takes but a minute or so to do it. What you DON’T do is knead it – at all. Next you place the round balls on top of a pizza peel (or something that has no raised edge). You do this to let the bread rest a bit (the next step) and you want it to be on a bunch of cornmeal so that when you open the oven door awhile later the dough will hopefully slide right off. Mine didn’t, exactly. It stuck some, so that’s why I say use ample cornmeal.

So you let the boules rest on the cornmeal and on the pizza peel for about 40 minutes. After 20 minutes you preheat the oven (450°) with 2 things in it: (1) a low edged baking pan (a broiler pan? a sheet pan is what I used) on the lowest shelf; and (2) a pizza stone on the middle shelf (where you’ll slide the bread onto). You’ll not notice much difference in the size of the dough during this resting period. I was concerned, but didn’t do anything different. Just before baking you slash the top of the dough with a serrated knife – this helps it to expand properly when it begins to rise during baking. Don’t cut too far towards the side – you want the rising to happen on the top, not the sides. I slit it a bit too far the first time. Now I know better.

Carefully move the dough onto the pizza stone then pour a cup of hot tap water into the pan below the bread. Because the pan and oven are HOT, it makes a huge billow of steam. Shut the oven quickly so the steam stays in the oven. That’s what helps it get the wonderful chewy and crunchy crust. Since home ovens don’t have steam injection, this is a marvelous substitute! It works like a charm.

The bread is baked for about 35 minutes and it’s done. Remove the pizza stone – or at least remove the bread and place on a cooling rack. They’re hot, so be careful. Allow to cool at least 30-40 minutes before slicing.

What’s GOOD: everything about the no-knead method. Texture of the bread was really good – not exactly hole-y, or as much as I’d have liked. Maybe my yeast was old – it had been in the refrigerator for about a year. I’ll buy new the next time. But the bread was wonderful and I liked the whole wheat and rye additions – neither predominated. Definitely I’d make this again.
What’s NOT: it’s pretty straight forward, really, though it does take planning ahead. At least a day.

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