Norwegian Easter Orange Cake

I know it has been forever, and most likely you have all given up on me completely. But I am back, and I am hoping to make it a regular thing again. A lot has happened that has made it hard for me to sit down and write anything here. The main thing being the outrageous pressure that develops the longer I let it go, like if I come back to writing, not only does the thing I've made need to be of the most impressive level, made with layers of homemade ingredients that required fermentation, canning, smoking, straining, cultures and foraging all rolled into one, but also, the pressure for the description to be filled with clever bon mots and important musings and observations on the food movement... Well you are not going to get any of that here, just a lame pick up where we left off...

I am still making a lot of food from scratch, and or just not buying much that is processed in any way. I can't say I am living with the strictness that I was in the early days of this blog, however the return to normal has been slow. These days we do buy yogurt, bread, mayo & mustard. I even have to admit that this week I broke down and bought a couple of emergency cans of turkey chili and split pea soup. From time to time we buy cheese, but we don't consume it anywhere near as much as we once did. I do regularly buy the string cheese and little things of apple sauce for (no longer baby) J to take in his lunch to preschool. There are other sins I am omitting here, but today is not about full confessions, it's about moving forward. I have made a good number of fun and interesting things in the last year that I have wanted to share and haven't so let's just get to it.

In the Los Angeles Times food section the week before Easter they did a whole spread about Scandinavian Easter traditions. My strongest connection to that culture is being very susceptible to sunburn and a big fan of Tales from Lake Wobegon. But for some reason I have been very drawn to the food from that region recently. The most interesting thing in that article said that in Norway, a country of about 5 million people, 20 million oranges and a few million tangerines and clementines are consumed Easter Weekend every year. That is more than 5 citrus fruits per person. And that is three times as many as are consumed the entire rest of the year. Of course oranges do not crow in Norway at all, so it is not a show of national pride in the bounty the native land provides. I googled around a bit, and found several other references to the popular consumption of oranges in the Easter Season, but not any definitive reasons for it. The most logical hypothesis is that Easter seems to have it's pre-religious origins in the celebration of the end of winter and welcoming of spring. Oranges, with their striking visual similarity to the sun, and juicy deliciousness symbolize warm days on the horizon and coming out of the long, dark days of Scandinavian Winter. It is funny to me living in Southern California, where oranges are extremely abundant, citrus is the symbol of winter to me now and spring is marked by strawberries and blueberries and the moving away from a steady diet of oranges and clementines. I forget how spoiled we are. This recipe is more of a fond farewell to winter than a welcome to spring, but I like it either way.

Norwegian orange cake

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes plus cooling time
Servings: 10 to 16

3/4 cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
Grated zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons orange juice, divided
1 1/3 cups (5.7 ounces) flour (I made this twice, the first time with all-purpose flour and I thought it was dry, so I tried it again with cake flour and thought it was much better)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 ounces dark chocolate (preferably 70%), finely chopped
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Candied orange peel for garnish (I didn't have this because I didn't have time to shop for it, but I'm sure it makes it look more impressive)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the beater attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the orange zest and one-third cup juice.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. With the mixer running, slowly add the flour mixture until combined to form the cake batter. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

3. Place the batter into a greased and floured 9-inch bundt pan, smoothing the top of the batter. (The batter will come slightly less than halfway up the sides of the pan.)

4. Bake the cake until puffed and lightly browned on top and a toothpick or cake tester inserted comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. (The first time I made this I cooked it for 45 min and it seemed a little overdone, the second time for 37 min and even then maybe it could have come out sooner. This is odd because as you may have noticed, I usually have to cook things way longer than is recommended.) Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a cooling rack, then remove from the mold. The finished cake will be about 3 inches tall in the center.

5. While the cake is cooling, make the icing: In a medium bowl, sift the powdered sugar. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons orange juice and whisk to form the icing.

6. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake, then garnish with the candied orange.

Vancouver Olympics

In honor of the Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony I made Pacific Northwest Salmon with salt, pepper and honey in the broiler. It was a pretty easy and simple meal, but delicious, served with a salad of mixed greens from my garden, avocado and green peppers and ranch dressing. I'm guessing there are not a lot of fresh veggies in Canada right now, but I bet they like ranch dressing, I mean  french fries covered in cheese and gravy is their national dish after all.

I really enjoyed the opening ceremonies. It was of course no match for the precision and scale of the Beijing show, but seeing as Canada is a sparsely populated parliamentary democracy and not a totalitarian regime of 1.3 billion people, I think it is fitting that their demonstration of culture would be on a smaller scale, with a loser and more individual sensibility. They had lots of open space in the production which is fitting for the country. I'm glad that they didn't try to directly compete with the Chinese for spectacle.

 

(of course I didn't take this picture)

Tamales for Diá de la Candelaria

February 2nd is a major holiday that I don't think has been getting it's due. First of all, it's Groundhog's Day, which is best celebrated with a viewing of the Bill Murray movie of the same name. But I think lesser known is the Catholic Celebration of Candelmas or Candelaria as it is known in Mexico where it is more widely celebrated. Jesus had remarkable timing, coinciding so many major events of his life with existing pagan holidays, making it conveniently unnecessary for banks and government agencies to change their closure schedules. Candelaria is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. It was traditional in those days for a baby to be presented at the temple 40 days after birth. This just happened to coincide with the mid-way point between the winter solstice (Christmas) and the spring equinox (Easter).

In Mexican household this event is marked with a feast of tamales. The tamales are made by the person who found the figurine of the Baby Jesus in the King Cake (Rosca de Reyes) on Three Kings Day (Diá de los Tres Reyes), January 6th the day the Three Kings arrived to see Jesus. This is also known as Twelfth Night, or the last day of Christmas.

I missed celebrating Three Kings Day this year, so I figured if I didn't make the tamales for Candelaria this year, it would slip by unnoticed as well. I searched around a bit for a recipe and decided on one I found on epicurious.com. I doubt it's the most authentic one I could come up with, but it was un-intimidating enough for this novice gringa to try.

Originally my friend Jan Smelk was going to join me for the adventure, but a homeless kitten ended up in her life on Tuesday morning, so she had to spend the day acclimating said kitty to the luxuries of a litter box, food that isn't scavaged and a cat roommate. So I was on  my own. Jan was also supposed to bring a large stock pot and steamer insert, so not having those was my first set back.

I had bought the masa flour a couple weeks ago when I got it in my head that I wanted to celebrate Candelaria.

 

 On Sunday I bought the tomatillos and serrano chiles, both first time purchases for me. My friend SuperTerrific offered me her large container of lard that she didn't think she would have cause to use up in exchange for the opportunity to eat some tamales and I had everything else on hand except the corn husks.

Tuesday:

I set about preparing the filling. I husked the tomatillos 

and put arranged them on aluminum foil in a broiler pan, and broiled them for about 5 minutes on each side until they were black in spots.

  

Then I poured the blackened tomatillos and accumulated juices into the blender and let them cool for a while while I chopped up the garlic and serrano chiles. 

Here is where our second problem started. I began very carefully, scraping the seeds out of the chiles with a knife, not touching them with my hands at all. Then around the third chile, for some reason I decided such care was not necessary and just started scraping the seeds out with my fingers, using my thumbnails to dig out the ones that clung to the flesh of the chile. Why did I do this, you are probably wondering... I am wondering this myself. I distinctly remember the thought process of "I must be careful with these seeds or my hands will be burning from the oils" and I sort of remember a mental switch to a more careless approach. I don't know why my more cautious and reasonable self didn't prevail, and I am very sorry for that fact. It was gradual, but slowly over the next half hour or so three fingers on my right hand, the tips of my left index and ring fingers and especially underneath both of my thumbnails began to heat up. No amount of hand washing in hot or cold water had any effect. I took a break from the cooking and gave Baby J a bath. The twenty minutes of submerging my hands in bath water did nothing to assuage the heat. I did a little internet searching. Most of the advice said, "Where gloves"... thanks, that helps a lot right now. Some of the more useful suggestions where, soak your hands in alcohol (No rubbing alcohol here, so I tried rum), bleach, milk, lavender lotion, washing in very hot water... I tried all of these things. They each seemed to work for about five minutes, then the heat would just creep back. It's a miracle I didn't rub my eyes during this odyssey. Eventually after about three hours of being driven to distraction the discomfort sort of ebbed away and I was able to turn my thoughts to something other than relief, but my zeal for this project was rather deflated for the day. 

As I had mentioned before, Jan Smelk was going to bring a stock pot and steamer insert, so I had to forage for one on my own. I had intended to make the tomatillo sauce then go out and search for one. I had looked on line and the options for getting a Calphalon steamer insert to go with my stock pot was around $70, which was way more than I wanted to invest in making tamales. I was hoping a cheaper solution could be found in some of the strange housewares markets in my neighborhood. As I said, after the burning hands incident, I couldn't face another challenge, so that had to wait until the next day... so much for celebrating Candelaria on the day, but I'm guessing Jesus hung around the temple for a few days.

Back to the cooking. I added the diced garlic and chiles to the tomatillos and blended it all up into a nice puree. At the same time I heated some oil in a pot, then added the puree and boiled it for 5 minutes. Then I added 2 cups of chicken stock, reduced the heat and let it simmer until it reduced to about one cup, about 40 minutes. 

At this point you are supposed to add four cups of shredded chicken, (They suggest purchasing a rotisserie chicken - but you know I can't do that.) I had to roast a chicken. 

 

So the tomatillo sauce went in the fridge and the chicken went in the oven. I threw some potatoes in the roasting pan as well because it seems a waste of an opportunity to have some delicious potatoes if you are going to the effort of roasting anyway, and I was getting pretty hungry and I knew no tamales were going to be eaten that day. So I ate the chicken wings and potatoes while the rest of the chicken cooled, then I put the whole chicken in a ziploc bag and went to bed.

Wednesday:

I pulled all the chicken off the bone and shredded it. It made just over four cups, packed. Then I chopped about 2/3 cup cilantro in the mini chopper and mixed it with the chicken and poured the tomatillo sauce over the whole thing.

Next I set out to find the steamer insert needed to actually cook this mess. I got Baby J into his enormous stroller that is awkward and unwieldily in small shops. Just perfect this kind of adventure. On my third shop I found just the thing. 

  

It cost $6, was tall enough for the tamales to stand up and would slide right into a stock pot. One problem. It is about 2" too wide to fit into my stock pot. I observed this when I was purchasing it. Now, you may have perceived already that sometimes I don't think things all the way through, so it may comes as no surprise to you to learn that I bought it anyway, did not investigate the possibility of also buying a stock pot that would accommodate this steamer, and took it home certain I could rig something up. (Rigging things up is not really a skill I possess. Misguided optimism is.) Well I got home, confirmed that it didn't fit in my stock pot, pulled out several other types of pots, confirmed that it didn't fit in any of those either and had to go back to the store to see if they had a stock pot that would fit. They did. It cost $10, cheap enough that I should have bought it the first time, even if I believed that rigging was a possibility.

 

While out buying the steamer I also picked up a bag of corn husks and I put them in water to soak before I went back out for the stock pot. 

At this point I realized that I had used up all of my reserves of chicken stock making the filling and didn't have any for the dough. Luckily, I saved the carcass from the chicken I roasted, so I threw that in my other, too narrow stock pot with a bag of potato, onion, carrot, parsley, etc. clippings I had been keeping in the freezer... Only about four hours to wait until that's ready to go...

In the interim I made a lovely Butternut Squash Puree with a squash that needed to be used.

On to the dough. This was my second opportunity to use my beautiful new standing mixer. So exciting! To begin you mix 1 & 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (or lard) with salt & baking powder. (If your masa doesn't contain those ingredients already, mine does not)

 

Beat this in the mixer until it is nice and fluffy.

 

Then beat in 4 cups of masa in four 1 cup additions. 

 

Reduce the speed to low, and gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock.

 

Use the remaining half cup of stock to soften the dough to your desired consistency. (This is where having a grandmother whose been making tamales for fifty years would come in handy, to tell you what your desired consistency is...I don't have one of those.)

Assembly:

Now fill your pot with enough water so that it is just touching the bottom of the steamer insert. Line the bottom of the steamer with softened corn husks. Then tear three large husks in to 1/4" wide strips to use as ties and set aside.

Open a husk on your work surface. Scoop 1/4 cup of dough onto the center and spread our into a four inch squareish shape. Leaving about 2-3" clear at the narrow end of the husk.

 

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling in a strip down the center of the dough. (You will probably want to shred the chicken more than I did. It's too chunky, as you can see here, I think it would make the whole thing juicier.)

  

Fold long sides of husk and dough over filling to cover. Fold up narrow end of husk. Tie folded portion with strip of husk to secure, leaving wide end of tamale open.

  

Repeat until all the dough or filling has been used. (I still had about half of the filling left when I ran out of dough, but the recipe says it makes about 26 tamales and I only ended up with 16, so I probably used too much dough.)

Stand tamales in the steamer basket.

Bring water in pot to boil. Cover pot and steam tamales until dough is firm to touch and separates easily from husk, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then serve.

  

I ate this by myself at about 11pm on February 3rd. So I wouldn't say it was a traditional Candelaria celebration. But I'm pretty sure that Baby Jesus appreciates a long journey towards a goal, and I'm all set for next year now. 

Though I read that traditionally tamales are served dry and that sauce is more of a Mexican-American thing, since I am in America, I recommend making some extra tomatilla sauce to spoon over the top. 

Here is the recipe in a more concise form

Filling
1 8-ounce package dried corn husks

1 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed
4 3-inch-long serrano chiles, stemmed, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
4 cups (packed) coarsely shredded cooked chicken (about 1 pound; from purchased rotisserie chicken)
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dough
1 1/3 cups lard or solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (omit if masa mixture contains salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (omit if masa mixture contains baking powder)
4 cups freshly ground masa dough for tamales (34 to 36 ounces), or make masa dough with 31/2 cups masa harina (corn tortilla mix; about 17 ounces) mixed with 2 1/4 cups warm water
2 cups (about) low-salt chicken broth

For filling:
Place husks in large pot or large bowl; add water to cover. Place heavy plate on husks to keep submerged. Let stand until husks soften, turning occasionally, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.
Preheat broiler. Line heavy baking sheet with foil. Arrange tomatillos on prepared sheet. Broil until tomatillos blacken in spots, turning once, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer tomatillos and any juices on sheet to processor and cool. Add chiles and garlic to processor and blend until smooth puree forms. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add tomatillo puree and boil 5 minutes, stirring often. Add broth. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until sauce coats spoon thickly and is reduced to 1 cup, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. Season with salt. Mix in chicken and cilantro. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

For dough:
Using electric mixer, beat lard (with salt and baking powder, if using) in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in fresh masa or masa harina mixture in 4 additions. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups broth, forming tender dough. If dough seems firm, beat in enough broth, 2 tablespoons at a time, to soften.
Fill bottom of pot with steamer insert with enough water (about 2 inches) to reach bottom of insert. Line bottom of insert with some softened corn husks. Tear 3 large husks into 1/4-inch-wide strips to use as ties and set aside. Open 2 large husks on work surface. Spread 1/4 cup dough in 4-inch square in center of each, leaving 2- to 3-inch plain border at narrow end of husk. Spoon heaping tablespoon filling in strip down center of each dough square. Fold long sides of husk and dough over filling to cover. Fold up narrow end of husk. Tie folded portion with strip of husk to secure, leaving wide end of tamale open. Stand tamales in steamer basket. Repeat with more husks, dough, and filling until all filling has been used. If necessary to keep tamales upright in steamer, insert pieces of crumpled foil between them.
Bring water in pot to boil. Cover pot and steam tamales until dough is firm to touch and separates easily from husk, adding more water to pot as necessary, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cool 1 hour. Cover and chill. Before serving, re-steam tamales until hot, about 35 minutes.)

Brother's Bacon for Christmas Brunch

This post was posted by my older brother PBC:

For the Do it your self Christmas meal my assignment was bacon for the morning brunch.
Now I had not given a lot of thought to where bacon comes from prior to this project, earlier in my life when I was more curious and slightly more gullible had I asked my Grandpa Barrett, "I get ham and pork come from parts of a pig but where does bacon come from?" and he told me it was from the curly tail of the pig I took that at face value (i mean it is curly after you fry it) so I never really thought of the origin of bacon again, untill now. 
I am not much for the Internet research on activities such as this, I usually like to do things my own way and hope they turn out, however in this case I did need some kind of direction as I did not even know what cut of meat to ask the butcher for.  Luckily my sister colleen provided me with a couple of recipes and the main ingredient called for was pork belly.  I went to the local independent grocery store, they have an excellent butcher shop.  I told them of my plan for making bacon and they were all quite impressed but did not have pork belly so I had to special order it.  The recipe called for 2 1/2 lbs skin on, but i thought I would need more for the large group and left overs (the recipe said the uncooked should keep for two weeks) I ordered 4 lbs at $3.99 a pound it was about 16 dollars however they did not have "skin on"  I dont know if that affected the overall product very much or not.  The butcher said it would be in a few days, so I picked it up and then went to a Creighton Bluejays game with Brother John after the game John and I made a dry rub in the coffee grinder using

5 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoon caraway seed
2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoon dried thyme

This is used to "brine" the meat.  we cut the pork belly in two and rubbed it down generously with the rub, then put it in the plastic bag to begin the brineing process.  The instructions called for 7 days turning daily but we only had six, I don't think that was a big issue.  Also on the last day I was to wash the meat and cover for 24 more hours however I on cleaned it off the brine with a clean towel and covered it for 12 hours (this may account for the "extra salty" taste).  On Christmas eve morning the plan was to get the smoker going outside and smoke the bellys for 2 to 2 1/2  hours, unfortunately mother nature and my flu symptoms did not allow for that plan so I had to cook in the oven at 200 for 2 hours.  Brother John picked up the cooked meat took it back to the local butcher where it was sliced into "real Bacon"  The family enjoyed it Christmas morning, unfortunatly i was unable to enjoy but there were good reviews from the not sick and not quite so sick.

The bacon did keep for two weeks and I was able to cook up the leftovers this weekend all in all it was a tasty adventure!

Johndor's Snowpocalypse Mashed Potatoes

This post is from my cousin Johndor who braved the elements to bring us these perfectly mashed potatoes:


As the family’s Senior Adjutant for Potato Mashing, I have long been an advocate of food made from scratch, as has always been my approach to potatoes. The extension of this principle meal-wide was, therefore, a welcome one. What follows are my ruminations on family, Christmas Mass, blizzards, and potatoes.


The harrowing ordeal of the Nativity Blizzard of 2009 couldn’t stop us from celebrating the chief tenets of an Irish Christmas: Mass and potatoes.

We departed my mother’s house at approximately a quarter past six in the evening, tasked with collecting Father George and bringing to the house to say Mass and spend Christmas with us. Such are the conveniences of families that befriend their spiritual advisors. The nine-mile journey to pick up Father and get to the party took an hour, most of which was spent listening to the incessant buzzing of a broken open-door alarm.

Needless to say, between the snow and the noise, when I arrived at the house, I was very much in need of some spiritual fortification. And I wanted Mass to start too.

Upon arrival, hurried greetings were exchanged, and a reading from First Timothy was thrust into my hand. “Aha!” I thought. “Lectering and potato mashing! Truly this is a Christmas miracle.”

Mass was beautifully done, and, feeling refreshed and renewed, I turned my attention to the main event. The potatoes had already been peeled and cooked. All that was left was for me to whip them into shape.

At this point, I feel some back story may be appropriate. I don’t really recall when I was placed in charge of mashed potatoes. I think it happened, as many things do in the family, when someone assumed I knew how to do something I didn’t know how to do and made me do it. In that situation, I assume I performed adequately, and was thus deemed an expert by Aunt Kate. I’ve been mashing ever since.

The ingredients for Johndor’ Famous Smashed Potatoes are as follows:

    •    A bunch of big potatoes- Russets work well, get about 10 or 12. Peel them, and if you are in a hurry, chop ‘em into quarters. They are less fun to mash that way though

    •    A stick of butter

    •    Milk- Probably 2 cups, but I usually just eyeball it. My mom claims that you have to warm it up, but she only started insisting that at Thanksgiving, so I don’t know what she’s talking about. I always have used cold milk and it works fine. But in the interest of keeping my mother happy, you should probably warm up the milk

    •    Salt and Pepper- Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper taste better

    •    A healthy knowledge of the history of Irish oppression

Once you get your potatoes peeled, toss them into a pot of boiling water. When they are cooked all the way through, drain them and set to work. First start to break up the potatoes with your masher. Once you’ve got them smooshed a bit, begin to pour in some milk and about a quarter of the stick of butter. Mix the milk and butter around evenly and keep smashing. At this point, begin to season with salt and pepper. Add more milk and butter.

Around here, I change my technique. It becomes less smashing and more like slowly mixing. Use a rocking motion and go in circles. Continue with that, the season and the milk and butter until you get rid of all the big lumps of potato. Whip it around a bit to make them a little fluffier, and you’ve got yourself a big heaping pot of mashed potatoes.

I’ve made myself indispensible to my family by placing myself in charge of lay spiritual affairs and mashed potatoes. That way, no matter how many Christmas or birthdays I ruin with my off-color humor, I keep getting invited back. So remember: for every joke you tell out of your copy of Milton Berle’s Private Collection, you have to deliver one heartfelt grace and make one pot of potatoes. Follow my advice and you too will fast become the most popular member of your family!

A Very Some Assembly Required Christmas

Oh my goodness. I hope I haven't lost you all. It's been a shamefully long time since I last wrote. You've probably been imagining me consuming frozen pizza and burritos in a massive post-holiday backslide, unable to right the ship and 'fess up... but no, it's just laziness and lack of will that have kept me from writing. I have been faithful in deed to the project for the most part. We traveled to my homeland (Nebraska) for the Christmas, where my wonderful family gamely participated in a wonderful Some Assembly Required Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day Brunch. (I think the daunting task of getting all of the recipes collected has been part of what has kept me away so long.) It was great fun and very sweet that everyone got on board. It made it seem like a real old-fashioned Christmas. That feeling was largely aided by the Snowpocalypse. A giant blizzard on Christmas Eve that made it impossible to reach my parents house in anything short of a military grade SUV. Our family friends, the Laughlins who always come for a Christmas Eve cocktail party had to abandon their minivan about 3 miles from our house. They shuttled the remaining family back and forth in a Chevy Tahoe, luckily the newborn twins and their five month old cousin were in the first carload. It snowed steadily all night, so everyone was eager to get back to their homes for fear of spending all of Christmas stuck with us. I felt for everyone who had to drive, but since I had no place to go I said "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

But the food is what we are here to discuss, not the weather. I am going to try to remember everything we had. My sister KK spearheaded the efforts and deserves most of the credit. For the cocktail hour we had, Babaganoush, Hummus, Artichoke Dip (I made the Mayonnaise and Sour Cream), Bruschetta,
Jumbo Shrimp with Creole Cocktail Sauce (I made this). Cranberry Walnut Bread (Which is the simple bread recipe with cranberries and walnuts added for holiday flair). KK made several loaves of French Bread for the bruschetta, the artichoke dip and to serve with dinner. My cousins Erin and Diane made croissants, a yummy yogurt dip and candied nuts. (Am I forgetting something?)

For dinner we had pork tenderloin, prepared by my dad, master chef and overseer. My cousin Johndor took charge of the mashed potatoes, salad was the domain of my sister Maur Maur, but I think she had to slavishly work some OT in Santa's Workshop, so KK ended up handling it. There were also carrots with raisins, focaccia bread and the afore mentioned French Bread.

My brother Chewy made a wonderful Vegetarian Bean Soup, that ended up getting shuttled to Christmas Day eating because of the abundance of other options for this meal.

For dessert my Aunt Cathie made an apple bake, which is like an apple pie, but on a cookie sheet so it could feed more people.

Anyone who attended, feel free to let me know if I forgot anything... I will be coming back to edit this one as I get the rest of the recipes posted.

Baby J's Birthday

Friday was Baby J's birthday. He is one year old! It is pretty hard to believe. I remember writing about how difficult it is cooking with a 10-month old in the kitchen when I started this craziness and already he is a year! That doesn't seem possible. That's not even to mention the fast-forward whirlwind of the previous 10 months!

We had a great little celebration for him. It was small and low-key, and he was the only kid, but I think he liked it that way. His grandparents from Seal Beach came, he saw his Omaha grandparents and cousins on Skype and all his other grandparents and aunts and uncles called wished him their best.

One of the things that I was celebrating, besides keeping him alive for a year, was the fact that this kid loves  to eat all kinds of food. He is a connoisseur of haute cuisine, and rustic home cooking. Bring it on, whatever you've got, he'll it with relish.

The party started at 5pm since it was a work day, and our guests trickled in between 5:15 & 7pm. So I fed him his dinner ahead of the guests to avoid a grumpy, hungry guy. He had a simple meal of pasta shells, mixed vegetables and chicken. We moved on to the cocktail hour, where I served Winter Sunshine Latkas in honor of it also being the first day of Hanukkah. (We are not Jewish, but I love cultural food traditions and celebrations of any kind.) These latkas were a big hit, and very delicious if I do say so myself. (What's not to like about fried potatoes, sweet potatoes and rutabagas?) Baby J showed himself to be a worldly man at age one and probably ate three whole latkas himself. As a result of his gluttony Superterrific didn't get one when she arrived a little late.

We moved from appetizers straight to cake, which as I described in the recipe was a bit of a disappointment. It was a traditional Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

 

But like a blind man seeing for the first time, this being Baby J's first cake experience he wasn't complaining.

 

After cake the grown ups had chili, corn bread and salad. It was a cozy, winter meal that was easy to prepare in advance and required no fussing in the kitchen. Or it would have required no fussing if I had been more organized and made the salad in advance, but time got away from me and DR had to throw it together at the last minute, but he is better at salads than me anyway.

We had a great time on a happy occasion and we are looking forward to all the birthdays to come.

 

Thanksgiving Desserts a la Cousin Tammy

Hi all! It is a sincere pleasure to be able to post on CCA's ever impressive blog. I am in awe of the time, effort and commitment that have gone into this project. My cousins are amazing!

So, my go-to recipe for potluck/dinner desserts is an old family recipe -- Buttermilk Pie. If I'm not mistaken, my mom actually got this recipe off of the back of a box of Bisquick when I was very young. Since it is so cheap and easy to make, it was a regular at my house growing up in Oklahoma. We passed the recipe around a bit and it eventually became a staple at holidays and special events back home. I realized when I moved to California that no one had ever heard of this gem of sweetness, so I began sharing the recipe with friends in college and have always gotten rave reviews. Fast forward to this Thanksgiving where I was graciously invited over for the big event. I mentioned to CCA that I might bring my favorite dessert and she informed me that they weren't familiar with it at all! I guess the family recipe didn't quite extend to the whole family.

So the Buttermilk Pie was my primary dessert, but I always fear that people will not love the rich flavors. I usually compare it to cheesecake, as it is the closest thing I can think of, and I know not everyone loves cheesecake like I do. So....to be safe, I also included a second dessert (from the old arsenal of Bisquick recipes passed down from Mom) that I love -- Peach Cobbler. I love fruit cobblers, but I generally don't love the labor intensive cooking and making crusts, etc. The beauty of both of these recipes is that you mix a few simple ingredients and throw them in the oven and you have beautiful, tasty desserts with minimal effort (or expense). As CCA mentioned, I also brought some sliced strawberries for the Buttermilk Pie...it isn't in the recipe, but I have learned over the years that a lot of people enjoy the combination of the fruit with the sweet/sour of the pie.

Overall, I think the desserts were a success. I had a bit of a snafu with the cobbler, as I mistakenly mixed the sugar in with the rest of the batter mix, rather than the peaches, so it made it a bit more doughy than I had hoped. (I have been making these recipes for so many years, I only have the ingredients written down, not the instructions...I only remembered how it was supposed to go AFTER I had mixed all of the ingredients together.) Otherwise, it all worked out well and EASY. Here are the recipes for you to enjoy!

Buttermilk Pie

1 ½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Bisquick® Mix
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Stick Butter (Melted)
3 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Beat until smooth. Pour into a 9” pie plate (lightly greased around the sides for non-stick). Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until golden and firm on top. Serve warm or room temperature for best results.

Peach Cobbler

1 Cup Bisquick® Mix
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Butter (Melted)
½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 29 Oz Can Sliced Peaches (Drained)

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix Bisquick, milk and nutmeg together in a bowl, beat until smooth. Stir in butter until blended. Pour into ungreased 8” square baking dish (double the recipe for full 9”x13” baking dish). Stir together the sugar and peaches in a bowl, then spoon over mixture in baking dish, distributing evenly to sides/corners. Bake 50 minutes or until golden and firm on top.

Many thanks to the cousins for including me in their holiday! It was great to hang out with Baby J...I don't see him nearly enough and he's growing up so fast. I couldn't have had a better Thanksgiving and enjoyed being with my favorite cousins and their loving friends. It was a fantastic day. I am truly blessed!

Poultry Seasoning

1 Tablespoon each:
Dried Rosemary
Dried Sage
Dried Thyme
Dried Majoram
Celery Seed

1 teaspoon whole peppercorns or 3/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Grind ingredients together in a mini-chopper, spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Makes about 1/3 cup.

Leftovers

That's all I've been eating since Thursday, with the exception of the new pie (Paper Bag Apple Pie with Sour Cherries) that our friend Elizabeth brought over on Friday.

DR came up with a brilliant use for the leftover cranberries for breakfast. On Friday he just added them to oatmeal, which was pretty delicious, but on Sunday he made corn grits with cranberries and chopped pecans. We had it again this morning. I think that was finally the last of the cranberries...very sad.

On Friday I was too tired to be very creative, so we just heated up plates of leftovers as is for various meals. But on Saturday night I made Pilgrim's Pie. This is a recipe from Wednesday's LA Times, and it had that perfect, comforting, Thanksgiving leftovers taste. It was exactly what you imagine when you dream of eating leftovers. We ate it in warm bowls with cranberries on the side, so good. All along we've been doing our best to get through the desserts. On Saturday EM came over and did what she could for the cause. She even helped drink some of the wine that was open, and ate a shortbread cookie for good measure.

We finished off the pilgrim's pie last night, and the apple pie. We also made a salad of turkey, beets, celery and red onion, because it's good to throw some raw veggie's in the mix in these circumstances. Also, I don't have the luxury of falling down on the veggie eating front for too long. The CSA box requires you keep it up all week long or the guilt will destroy you. The pilgrim's pie finished off the mashed potatoes and dark meat turkey. We still have almost a full turkey breast, some stuffing/dressing, pumpkin pie, peach cobbler and buttermilk pie to go.

Cornbread

This is from Bon Appétit, November 2007. It is for the cornbread to accompany the Cornbread Dressing. But it could be used for just eating too.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Generously butter 9x9x2" metal baking pan.
Whisk together in a large bowl until well blended:
13/4 cups buttermilk. (I made the butter milk by combining milk and 13/4 tablespoons lemon juice.)
5 large eggs
2 Tablespoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
1.5 teaspoons baking powder (I'm still using what I have. But I plan to make some soon.)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Then whisk in 21/4 cups cornmeal
Then 3 Tablespoons melted butter.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until top is golden brown and tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. (It took about 35 minutes for me.)
Cool cornbread in pan on rack.

If you make this one day ahead, cool completely then cover and store at room temperature.

Cornbread Dressing with Roasted Fall Vegetables

This recipe is from Bon Appétit from November 2007

1 10 ounce bag pearl onions (if you can get multi-colored ones it is really beautiful)
2.5 cups carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch diagonal slices (about 3/4lb)
2.5 cups peeled and sliced parsnips (about 3/4lb)
2 cups 1/2 cubes peeled rutabagas (about 3/4lb)
2/3 cup olive oil divided
1 pound crimini (baby bella mushrooms) stemmed, caps halved (I don't like mushrooms so we didn't use any.)
6 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried crushed rosemary
1.5 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
6 cups 1/2 inch cubes Cornbread
3 large eggs, beated to blend (I forgot to beat them, just cracked them over the mixture and stirred... it was fine.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 cups chicken stock

Position one rack in the top third and one rack in the bottom third of the oven; Preheat to 425ºF. Cook onions is a small saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. (This will take the tearing burn out of them.) Drain.
Cool slightly, trim and peel. Place onions, carrots, parsnips and rutabagas in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle 1/3 cup oil over and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper; toss to coat. 

Place mushrooms and garlic on another rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with remaining 1/3 cup oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat. Roast mushrooms and garlic on top rack until tender, stirring once for about 30 minutes. (Since I was not using mushrooms I didn't use as much oil and only roasted them for about 15 minutes). Roast root vegetables on the lower rack until tender and brown around the edges, stirring every 15 minutes for about 1 hour. (I gave them an extra 15 minutes). Add mushrooms, if using to root vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mash garlic with a fork until it's pureed. Add pureed garlic and herbs to vegetables and toss to coat. (I accidently mixed the herbs with the pureed garlic, which made it hard to toss with the vegetables, but I think it turned out OK.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

**You can do up to this point and make the cornbread a day ahead, which is a good idea because it is time consuming. Just let it cool, cover and stick in the fridge. Bring mixture to room temperature before continuing.

Place cornbread cubes on large rimmed baking sheet. Let bread cubes stand at room temperature to dry slightly for about an hour. 

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Butter 13x9x2 inch oval baking dish. Add cornbread cubes to vegetables; toss to distribute evenly. Add eggs, toss to coat. Drizzle with melted butter, toss to coat. Add chicken stock and stir to combine. (Mixture will be very moist) Transfer to prepared dish.

Bake uncovered until lightly browned and crisp around the edges, about 45 minutes. (We put this in the oven as soon as we took the turkey out. The timing worked out perfectly.)

 

 

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for ten people. It was a fun and delicious event. We made the Turkey, stuffing and gravy. Our guests brought everything else. My adorable brother Mike brought Bacon Wrapped Dates for the cocktail hour. Rich and delicious.

Jan Smelk brought Smashed Potatoes, I was thrilled that she went so far as to make her own Sour Cream. It's a good friend who is willing to indulge your craziness to that extent.

 EM made brussel sprouts and cranberries, both of which were tasty and fresh.We forgot to put the brussel sprouts out until we sat down, and I had already photographed the food, and I am a terrible blogger and picture taker, so I apologize for that. But they were good. Here are the beautiful cranberries.

We used a recipe for a Lemon-Herb Turkey we found in Bon Appétit Magazine. It was very good, but not the most amazing turkey I've ever had. I think simple might be more the way to go with turkey, as I have discovered with roast chicken. Next time I think we will try just brining the turkey overnight. This was a pretty beautiful bird, however.

We also did a lemon herb gravy. I liked it, but my husband thought it was too zesty. So again, I think simple can be better in these circumstances. It's fun to jazz things up with the traditional meals, but it's not always better than the traditional staples. I didn't get a picture of the gravy, again because I am the worst at taking pictures. Both of my sisters are great about things like that, and I wish they had been here because it would have been beautifully documented. But you are stuck with me, so it is hapharzard and incomplete.

I think the Roasted Vegetable and Corn Bread Stuffing was a top notch entry into the menu. I guess technically it is a dressing and not a stuffing since it was never stuffed into the bird. But I just can't get my head around calling it dressing because that makes me think of buttermilk ranch or thousand island, not a bread and vegetable side dish.

Of course I forgot to take a good picture of the finished project, so this one of the buffet will have to do. You can kind see how autumnal and beautiful it looks. Behind the stuffing are the cornbread muffins my friend the Yam Queen made for the festivities. She is a certified Southern Belle and these are her specialty. They were a great compliment to the meal.

Now for dessert!

It's kind of obscene how much dessert we had, and still have. I've been working hard to get through the leftovers, but it is a daunting task. Jan Smelk brought shortbread sugar cookies. Our cousin Tammy brought a buttermilk pie with strawberries AND a peach cobbler. My friend Lex, who just came back from Paris brought a Clafoutis. And Ben brought a pumpkin pie and real whipped cream to keep us from loosing site of tradition. Jan Smelk had the brilliant idea of adding whipped cream to her coffee and many of us followed suit, for just a little extra dose of decadence.

Here is a photo of our party right before eating. I am so thankful for every person at that table and everything about that meal. We ate so much delicious food, and sat around the table laughing and talking for hours after eating. To have such entertaining, generous and loving friends and family is no small thing and to have the time and resources to make and share so much good food is such a luxury I couldn't ask for more. It is a happy life I am leading and I hope I can always remember how lucky I am.

Thanksgiving Smashed Potatoes

Hi all! Jan Smelk here with the potato recipe! Ok, so I kept on finding these awesome recipes for potatoes that all involved cheese. Since the process of "single ingredient" was encouraged (read: demanded), my BFF, cheese was not invited to the party. I had to figure out another way to attain rich dairy satisfaction. The answer: sour cream. But I had to make it! Shock, horror and disbelief were heard at the Smelk household when this was announced. But it was the easiest thing ever.

1 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. buttermilk (turns out you can make that in five minutes!)

Put both liquids mixed in a jar (or a pint glass, like me) cover with lid or plastic wrap and leave in a warmish place for 24 hours. Then refridgerate. OMG it worked. And was tasty! And had no xanthum gum or gelatin. Wowza.

So that was done.
To make my potatoes, I read a whole bunch of recipes then made it up with stuff I thought would be good. I roasted two heads of garlic with olive oil in tin foil for an hour at 350. Sauteed a big shallot in a stick of butter for a bit, then added the roasted garlic by squeezing the heads in a rather disgusting and messy display of immaturity, giggling madly. They made farting noises, and plopped into the butter! I couldn't help it! I put that mixture in a tupperware, my sour cream in a tupperware, and 2 bunches of chopped green onion in a tupperware. I took these guys and a bag of yukon golds to CCA's house.

Boiled the potatoes for an hour, strained, then mashed with all the stuff in my tupperwares, adding the green onion last. I will admit, there were more potatoes than I had originally planned for, so I did add another half stick of butter and (don't tell CCA)a big splash of 1/2 and 1/2. But that evened the texture out to nearly perfect then we ate the heck out of them.

Everything served was delicious. The only thing that was better than the food was the company.