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.

No wonder she picked it

Of all of the fruit picking that we do around here, apples are my favorite. Quick, shady, and cheap- for these reasons, I pick numerous times over the course of the fall. Only with apple picking do I get a fulfillment of my expectations of how the experience will really be- a nice brisk walk up the hill, twenty minutes of humming quiet while I pretend I'm twelve and climb up to the higher limbs thinking of how resourceful and fabulous I am to be climbing trees for cheap apples, a back spasm on the way down the hill as I carry a really heavy bag of apples, pay my 12 bucks plus an extra 75 cents for an apple cider donut and I'm off to contemplate my many many apples. I must say that most fruit picking experiences don't work out this easily (although they are all totally worth it, sunburn, tick bites and all), but apples are just like that. Last week, I picked a half bushel of honeycrisps, and my kids are eating two to three of these a day.
Of course apple recipes are as numerous as apple varieties. but here's a good one for apple bread adapted from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. It's kind of healthy and works pretty well for school lunches.

Apple Bread

2 Cups coarsely grated apple (you can keep the skins on if you like)
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon rind
1/3 cup light brown sugar
4 Tbs. melted butter
1 large egg, beaten

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup finally chopped nuts (whatever you have around except peanuts)

Combine grated apple, lemon juice and rind.
Beat together sugar, butter and egg. Combine with apple.
Sift dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl. Make a well, and pour in the first mixture. Add vanilla and nuts. Stir until combined.
Spread into buttered loaf pan.
Bake 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees.
Makes one loaf.

the great tomato debate

For the second week in a row, as I was picking my farm share, I once again thought that it was a fabulous idea to purchase a box filled with 25 pounds of tomatoes that needed to be dealt with within the next 6 hours. No matter that I have had a rough time of freezing tomatoes. My eyes went all glassy and I probably mumbled something about food for the winter. And that is how I found myself making tomato sauce at 11:00 last night.
People make all sorts of claims on the freezability of tomatoes. All I know is the ways that I have tried have resulted in me defrosting curdled tomatoes with a texture of really old milk. So I'm trying it two ways this year. Last week's tomatoes I treated in the following manner:

Core and quarter the tomatoes. Spread on a parchment lined backing sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and fresh herbs and crushed garlic if you wish. Roast in a 400 degree oven until the tomatoes dry out, about an hour. If you have more time, roast in a 250 degree oven for two to four hours, and this will be a bit more superior. Cool and load into freezer bags. This is the method prescribed by my friend Elizabeth Keen of Indian Line Farm. And she certainly knows how to deal with an excess of tomatoes.

Last night (and nearly into the morning), however, I made sauce. And let it be known here that I have always been lazy with my tomato sauce. I don't tend to take the skins off, and I have never "coaxed the seeds out" as Alice Waters puts it. But last night, I did it all. And oh, the horror.


Yup, I really showed those tomatoes. Here is my recipe...

Ingredients:
25 pounds of tomatoes
4 White onions (I used fresh eating onions), diced
2 heads of garlic, diced
the leaves of 3 large stems of basil, roughly chopped
fresh oregano leaves (to taste)
3/4 cup really good olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Set aside a large work area. Cut a small t in the bottom of each tomato (thank you Molly for this tip). Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute, or until the skin starts to separate. Then drop in ice water for a moment. Peel off the skins.
Okay, here's the part where you make a big mess and stop wanting to ever see a tomato again.
Core and seed the skinless tomatoes. I did the majority of this work with my hands, but a knife will come in handy at times. Try to preserve as much of the meat as possible. And save whatever juice you can scoop up from the counter.
Get a very large pot. Heat the olive oil a bit, throw in the onions and then stir them around every so often for about 10 minutes, or until they are nice and shiny. Then add the garlic, then the tomatoes and juice. Gently boil for about 45 minutes, adding the herbs, salt and pepper along the way. Cover, then bring to a full boil. Don't take the lid off! Turn off the stove and finally fall into bed. Your sauce will stay sealed and sterile all night, and the flavors will meld. (Thank you Molly, again) In the morning, cook uncovered for another 30 minutes or so. Then, eith put some of the sauce in the blender for a few seconds, or better yet, use an immersion blender till it's blended but still chunky. Cool and freeze.

So those are the two methods. In a few months, we will revisit this issue, to see how they froze.

I can hardly bear the suspense...

Breakfast With Elmer

There is a little town in the hills of Western Massachusetts called Ashfield. It is a mysterious town, not quite close to anything, but in itself it is a mecca for those desiring the certain food experience that Ashfield has to offer. Beyond the single block main street, there are a plethora of farms that offer angelically raised meat, raw milk, and perfect and chemical free tomatoes. Ashfield is also the home of the New England Cheese Making Supply Company, the spiritual center of home cheesemakers nationwide.
On this beautiful autumn Sunday morning however, I didn't come to worship the homemade cheese or to take my children to the llama farm. I came to have breakfast at Elmer's.
Elmer's has all of the traditionally fabulous elements of a local breakfast place. Almost all of the ingredients on the menu are locally sourced. The eggs are a deep pasture-fed yellow and the bread is made right there in the kitchen. They even give a choice between powdered hot chocolate and real melted chocolate hot chocolate (there must be people out there who like the powder better, I guess).
What brings Elmer's into the realm of the extraordinary, however, is the fact that the food is really, really good. It is worth a very long drive, even with gas prices as they are. The eggs, homemade toast, and sausage patty nearly brought me to my knees in that Sunday morning house of breakfast worship. The pancakes are cloud-like and you can even order a plate of 35 pieces of french toast for $105.50 if you are really hungry and really rich.

For those of us with more humble means, breakfast runs between about 5 and 9 bucks, but you'll like your waitress so much that you'll spend you're grocery money on the tip. And after breakfast, there's a little store to walk around, with everything from local potatoes to fancy candy. And we must take a saunter saunter around the store, as we all know that no trip out is complete without the experience of at least one child throwing a tantrum because they cannot have an Elmer's T-Shirt.

Okay, so maybe skip the store if there are small children involved. But definitely eat Breakfast.