The Little Luxury of Eating Beauty

I went to a wedding a few weeks ago. My husband was doing the music for the wedding, and although I knew the couple getting married, our slightly uninvited status allowed me to look in to a window a bit more than had I been more involved in the wedding myself. It was a startlingly beautiful day, blue sky, gold leaves, gentle temperature perfect for any fashion choice one might have made. The kids were with my mother, so my husband and I had a little date out of it. And as he fiddled with the broken speaker system, I got a bit reflective, and decided that I had to photograph this cake. This is a Persian love cake, saturated through and through with saffron and rose water, topped with an incredibly mellow frosting, pistachios, and- here's the kicker- Hand sugared rose petals. Now is this isn't the cake you would want to feed to your naked lover, I don't know what is.
I started thinking about how truly beautiful food can make us feel beautiful, like royalty, or gods. And while we cannot have Persian love cake every day (pity), I wanted to share another beautiful food that brings luxury to my day. I don't know about you, but sometimes I need it.

Lemon Verbena Sugar (adapted from Debora Madison's Local Flavors)

two cups of good quality sugar
25 Fresh Lemon Verbena leaves
1 T lemon or orange zest

Combine in a sealed jar. Shake every few days. After a couple of weeks, strain out the leaves and zest. Use in tea, on desserts, or really anything you can think of.

This recipe will also work with other herbs that you are harvesting, lavender, mint, or whatever inspires you.

Stuffed Winter Squash

Okay, as if you really need convincing, these are the reasons why stuffed squash is just about the best thing that you could make for dinner these days:

1. Everything in your fridge can go into the stuffing.
2. If you put cheese on it, your kid's will eat it.
3. It will impress your neighbors.
4. If some of your squash seeds end up in your compost, you'll get free squash next year! (This drives some people crazy, but I must say that squash growing out of my compost makes me very happy).
5. Oh it's just so yummy.


So here is what I made the other day. But this is definitely a freeform recipe that you can use a loose inspiration. Get artistic! Get creative! If you're anything like me, maybe your art suffered a bit when your children were born, but now is your time to shine!

Stuffed Winter Squash

However many Winter Squash you would like to eat... This recipe will work with any winter squash, but my personal favorites here are carnivale and delicata, because you can eat the skin.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Roast the seeds for overachiever points. You can use them in the stuffing if you like. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put the squash face down on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is getting soft. You've got to keep your eye on this here, because different squash take different amounts of time.

While the squash is baking, make the stuffing. This is what was in my stuffing the other day:
First, butter in a skillet, then onions, celery, garlic. Season with salt and pepper and a few fresh herbs you might be trying to use before the frost hits them. Then sliced apples, cook for a few minutes.
Then, local chorizo, that I had boiled, cut up in little bites.
Then, cooked brown rice, and chopped almonds.

When the squash is ready, take it out and turn your oven down to 375. Turn the squash over so that it makes nice little cups for your beautiful artistic stuffing that you have just created. Fill the squash halves with stuffing, sprinkle with grated cheese of your choice, and put back in the oven for about half an hour.

Oh, so fabulous, and what an artist you are.....

The Granola Recipe

Okay, Here it is. I'm not even going to try to sell you this one, because if you are here, you are probably in search of it. I'll just say that my husband attributes a bit of the success of our marriage to this recipe. Try it. You'll like it.

Maple Nut Granola

1 1/2 lbs. rolled oats (about six cups, but buy a scale, they're really fabulous!)
3/4 cup hulled sesame seeds
3/4 cup pepitas
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 cup non-instant dry milk
1 1/2 T cinnamon

1 1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup maple syrup (you can up this to a full cup if you want it really sweet)
1 1/2 T vanilla extract
3/4 T almond extract

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Mix all of the dry ingredients in your biggest bowl. Then whisk all of the wet ingredients together in a bowl or 4 c measuring cup. Combine and stir stir stir. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Spread the granola evenly on the baking sheets. Put them in the oven. Set your timer for 30 minutes and go do something else. When the timer goes off, take the baking sheets out of the oven, shuffle the granola around with a spatula, and switch the trays to different positions in your oven. Set the time again for 30 minutes, go do something else again, and repeat the shuffling and switching process again. One more time, set your timer, off you go, and this time it's done. Now you have gotten many things accomplished, your house smells excellent, and you have granola. Let it cool and place into an airtight container or the fridge or freezer if you're planning to make it last. (good luck with that)

trust me on this one

So let's be clear here- I grew up with a lot of lentil soup- you know the recipe from the original Moosewood cookbook- this was a major staple in our little family. And I like lentil soup, I really do, but I'm not going to claim that there is much artistry in it. Argue with me if you like here, it's just a good, basic soup. And this is all that I have ever used lentils for, until my friend Jen introduced me to a recipe from 366 Healthful ways to cook leafy greens. And I was dubious here, I really was. But what I learned was this- lentils and lemons are totally magical together. Magical. So if you are staring at your slightly bare pantry, and maybe your almost done garden and you are trying to figure out what astounding and easy thing to make for dinner, here you go. I've changed this quite a bit from the original recipe, and you can try your own variations on this one too. You can serve this with any grain, even noodles if you like.

Warm Lentils and Corn with Lemon Vinaigrette

1 cup dried french lentils
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh green (broccoli raab, arugula, swiss chard, kale, spinach....) shredded
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered (or chopped tomatoes will do)
2 ribs celery diced
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Rinse the lentils and discard any stones.

Combine the lentils with two cups of water in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 25-35 minutes until tender, adding more water if necessary. Add the corn during the last five minutes of cooking. Drain.

To prepare the vinaigrette, whisk the oil, lemon juice and salt together in a small saucepan over low heat until warm.

Spoon the lentils and corn into a serving bowl. Add the greens , tomatoes, celery and parsley.
Pour the warm dressing over the salad and toss. Serve immediately.