Candy Corn

I have never been a fan of Halloween.  But I love Halloween candy.

"I bought you a bag of candy corn."
"Candy corn?"
"Yes.  Candy corn. You love candy corn."
" I know, but I don't buy candy corn.  I walk past every bag in the market so that I won't eat the candy corn."    
" You only eat candy corn once a year and you're not overweight."
"Thank you, that was very thoughtful."

Remembrance of Things Past

John and I had just finished off a bag of Maria's biscotti which we came across at a farmer's market in western New Jersey. They were black olive biscotti.  Perfect with a glass of wine or as an accompaniment to an antipasto platter.

It got me thinking. I've made savory biscotti in the past, but not for a long time.  As I started to look around for inspiration, I came across this recipe which very much reminded me of the delicious cheese straws I used to make in my youth for all of our dinner parties. They were light, flaky, buttery twists filled with sharp cheddar cheese and spiced with cayenne pepper. They were also labor intensive and time consuming. My youth has long since passed, and I no longer spend my time twisting cheese straws. So I thought why not combine the flavors of those gorgeous flaky treats with the ease of biscotti?

Of course, me being me, I had to tinker with the recipe adding butter and playing with the amount of flour.  They didn't turn out as expected, so I went back to the original.  These biscotti lack the buttery flavor, and I  do think a bit more tinkering may be in order. But  they hit the spot when you want something uncomplicated with a touch of heat.

A Fall Dinner

Fall appeared in all its glory this past weekend, and it brought with it the desire to cook something for the season.  Since T and J were coming for dinner on Saturday night, it was a good excuse to cook up a favorite one-pot meal of chicken fragrant with honey and cinnamon and simmered with apricots and golden raisins. 

Pre dinner nibbles

The chicken was served on a platter over couscous and accompanied by a Shiraz

And an apple crostata for dessert

HONEYED CHICKEN WITH RAISINS AND APRICOTS
Adapted from a recipe by All-Clad

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 chicken, 3/12-4 lbs., cut into 8 pieces
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Heat oil in a dutch over medium-high heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown chicken well, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken.  (At this point, I remove the skin from the chicken as I do not like the mouth feel of stewed chicken skin.  Leaving it on while browning, helps retain its moisture and add flavor.)

Add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pan and saute 2 minutes. Add honey, cinnamon, salt, pepper and turmeric.  Stir, adding a small amount of the broth to deglaze the pan. Cook for 30-60 seconds.  Return the chicken to the pan and add the rest of the chicken broth. Cover, turn heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add apricots and raisins and cook for 30 minutes longer until chicken is done.

Brown almonds in the butter and sprinkle over chicken to serve.

Note:  I smelled this recipe being tested three years ago in a department store, and I've been a fan ever since. I often use a larger chicken or add thighs to the recipe.  If you choose to do that, the recipe is very   forgiving--just add a little more broth and season to taste.  Enjoy!

Biscotti

As I have said before, biscotti are my favorite cookies to bake. These twice-baked cookies are easy to make and the perfect sweet, and sometimes savory, treat for any occasion.

I came across a forgotten bag of coconut hiding in my freezer. My friend, L, loves coconut, and I was at home all day. So it should come as no surprise that biscotti is what I chose to bring to dinner with friends last weekend.

COCONUT BISCOTTI

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 heaping cup sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

In a food processor, process sugar and butter until creamy.  Add vanilla extract and eggs, and process until combined. Then add dry ingredients and pulse until just incorporated. Stir in coconut.

Form dough into two logs on a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle logs with additional coconut and bake for about 30 minutes until logs begin to color.  Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes.

Cut each log into slices and place standing up on baking sheet. Return to oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. If they color too quickly, turn oven down to 300 degrees.

Cool completely and enjoy!

Note:
You may or may not want to decrease the sugar a bit, as the coconut adds additional sweetness.
Makes about 20 cookies, depending on how large you choose to cut the slices.

September Days

I've never been one to lament the end of summer. Don't get me wrong, I love the days at the beach and the plethora of fruits and vegetables that summer brings, but by the beginning of September I'm looking forward to fall. The idea of pulling on my favorite jeans and cozy cashmere sweater is quite appealing after the heat and humidity of a New Jersey summer.

John and I spent a few days last week on Cape Cod where our friends P and K have a home. While we anticipated spending the last days of summer on the beach, the brisk winds and chilly weather made that idea moot. Fall is arriving in New England.

I can see the changes already taking place in the markets. Gone are the juicy, fuzzy peaches which now are replaced with towers of shiny red apples and golden pears along with multiple varieties of  brightly colored winter squash.  It makes me excited to think of cooking with these ingredients that have been more or less hibernating for the summer.

The afternoon before we left the Cape, K and I stopped at Cape Abilities farm stand on Route 6A in Dennis. Along with their display of pumpkins and apples, they had an amazing number of ripe tomatoes, and we immediately thought, "tomato soup."

I must admit I've had tomato soup on my mind ever since I read Kath's post over at The Ordinary Cook, in the beginning of September. Her idea of roasting the tomatoes with garlic sounds perfect. But I defaulted to my fallback recipe--one that first appeared in Food and Wine in 1979. Yes, I know my last post, regrettably, was filled with typos--but I really have been making this soup since 1979.

It's a flavorful soup made with a base of onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Add some fully ripened tomatoes, chicken broth and some seasonings and you are on your way to a very comforting dinner. If you have some end-of-summer tomatoes and some time to spare, give it a try.

Tomato Soup
              Broadly based on a recipe by Richard Sax   Serves 6-8

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
5 medium onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 ribs celery, with leaves if you like, sliced
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
Large pinch fresh basil, chopped
3-4 sprigs parsley, chopped
4 lbs. ripe tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
5 cups chicken stock

In a large pot, melt butter with olive oil. Add onions and toss to coat with fat. Cover pot and sweat the onions over medium heat, tossing occasionally, for 5-6 minutes, or until slightly softened.  Add the celery and carrots, toss to coat, and salt, pepper, cayenne, basil and parsley. Toss, cover, and sweat until vegetables are slightly soft, about 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, prepare the tomatoes. Cut out stems and core; cut in half horizontally and squeeze out seeds; then cut each half in two.  Add tomatoes to pot along with the sugar and nutmeg.  Heat the mixture uncovered; when it comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, stirring often breaking up the tomatoes, until the vegetables are beginning to cook down and thicken, about 10-12 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, and bring mixture to boil. Lower heat and simmer, partially covered, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pass the soup through a food mill, pressing the cooked vegetables through firmly.  Reheat the soup, and correct seasonings to taste.

NOTE:

Since my food mill has been lost in action for quite some time--and I never realize this until I go to use it-I peeled the tomatoes before seeding and used my immersion blender to do the pureeing.  I served the soup garnished with a chiffonade of basil along with crostini topped with Gorgonzola cheese run under the broiler.  My friend K, served hers topped with herbed croutons.


"By all these love tokens
  September days are here,
  with summer's best of weather
  And autumn's best of cheer."
            Helen Hunt Jackson

Alone In The Kitchen With A Tomato

I found myself at home for lunch the other day with a few very ripe tomatoes and a small piece of fresh mozzarella.

I decided to cut one of the tomatoes in half, sprinkled the halves with some thinly sliced garlic, salt and olive oil. I then roasted the tomato in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes until softened.

Meanwhile, I cut a slice from the mozzarella. When the tomato was soft I removed it from the oven and sandwiched the cheese between the two slices as the heat from the tomato began to melt the cheese. Served with a slice of crusty bread, it made the perfect summer lunch.

Actually, I roasted the tomato a little longer, about 20 minutes, so it would be oozing its juices. I figured it was just me for lunch, and soaking up the juices with bread was an enticing though messy event.

If you roast the tomato until just done, then add a thin slice of mozzarella until it just turns soft, this would make a great first course for an end-of-summer dinner.

Since the rest of the tomatoes needed to be eaten that I day, I ran with it and continud the tomato theme for dinner with panzella salad. Bread salad. What could be better than that?

Cubes of crusty bread, chunks of tomatoes, cucumbers and thinly sliced red onions. All tossed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and basil. 

With a shrimp vinaigrette on the side, it was the perfect light dinner for a hot evening.

The Figs

"Why are we surprised when fig trees bear figs?" Margaret Titzel

Although I grew up eating figs straight from the fig trees in our backyard, I am still amazed one can grow figs in New Jersey.

It's pleasant to conjure up visions of the sunny Mediterranean countryside dotted with fig trees. But honestly, my most vivid memories are of the fig trees in the Italian-American neighborhoods standing straight bundled up to ward off the onslaught of winter weather. Sometimes they were black tar-paper wrapped monoliths in a front yard; and at other times they stood in gardens wrapped in burlap or bent in half and buried for the winter.  Italian men would go to great lengths to assure that their trees would survive to bear fruit for another year.

John started our fig tree from a shoot cut from one of my father's trees. The shoot was wrapped up and placed in the basement refrigerator to lie dormant over the winter.  Once spring came, the shoot was planted, fed, watered and pampered.  It grew, but never produced a great yield.  When we moved, the tree came with us. We have very rocky soil, and the tree was moved a couple of times before we found the spot that was agreeable to the tree.

Fresh figs are quite perishable, but we are eating them as fast as we can. Mostly, we eat them out of hand, but I have been known to top grilled pizza dough with some grilled figs, prosciutto and arugula. Delicious. Or to grill figs, drizzle with honey and serve topped with a dollop of fresh ricotta. Or to stuff perfectly ripe figs with goat cheese or Gorgonzola. Or I am dying to try this recipe.

Yesterday I had just enough ripe figs to try my hand at a very easy fig jam. I sliced a little more than one cup of figs then crushed them with a little more than 2/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. I let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes until it became syrupy. I then brought the mixture to a boil, and simmered it for about 5 minutes until it thickened slightly and the figs were soft.

I poured the mixture into a clean crock to cool before storing in the refrigerator.

Someone told us that it takes five years for the fig tree to bear fruit.  This year my father will be gone five years, and I am sure that he would be very happy to know that we are enjoying figs from his tree!

Pomodoro Crudo

"Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." Sophia Loren

Spaghetti does not look the same on me as it does on Sophia Loren.  Nevertheless, I wait all year to make Spaghetti Pomodoro Crudo. August in New Jersey is the perfect time to make this quick and delicious  summer pasta. It is pure and simple. The quality of the tomatoes is paramount, and now is the time to use those farm stand or garden-grown perfectly ripe tomatoes.

For dinner tonight I cut three tomatoes horizontally, seeded them, and then cut them into smallish chunks. To them I added one clove of garlic, pressed, and a handful of basil cut up (or torn, if you like), some fresh mozzarella, and a couple of grinds of pepper. I then poured about 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil over everything. Covered, this sat on the counter until dinner time. The mixture needs salt, but I waited until about thirty minutes before using it to add the salt so that it didn't become too watery.  The sauce can sit out at room temperature for up to four hours. It's best to let it marinate for at least thirty minutes to an hour.

This sauce takes well to improvisation. So feel free to add whatever you might like--capers, hot pepper flakes, anchovies, olives--you get the idea.

Some use spaghetti in this recipe, but I prefer a pasta that can hold the sauce, such as orecchiette or shells.When the orecchiette ( I used 6 ounces for two servings) was cooked and drained, it was immediately added to the sauce. The heat from the just-cooked pasta began to soften the mozzarella and barely heated the tomatoes. Heaven. Be sure to have some crusty bread on hand to sop up the extra juices.

Green salads have seemed lackluster to me lately, so I made a cucumber and red onion salad. And it proved to be a cool counterpoint to the pasta.

Weekends

The comic strip writer, Bill Watterson, once said, "Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something pointless."  And as much as I would like to spend the weekends doing just fun things, most   weekends around here are a combination. You know, the dry cleaner, the post office, the gas station and dinner with friends.

This past weekend none of the usual suspects was around to play; but fear not, a couple married as long as we had no trouble finding something to do.  Friday evening the skies cleared and we were able to enjoy martinis on the deck before dinner.

I took a piece of tuna, briefly marinated it in a lightened teryiaki-type sauce, then pressed some toasted sesame seeds onto the suface. After the grill had heated to HOT, we barely seared it for a couple of minutes, then sliced it thinly on the diagonal and served it with some soy sauce combined with lime juice and a splash of sesame oil for dipping. Delicious with or without a martini.

  

For dinner we shared a nicely marbled rib eye steak (blurry photo below) and a Greek salad.

Saturday's weather forecast was promising, so we blew off our errands and went to  the beach. When we returned and were ready for dinner, I prepped some wild sockeye salmon for the grill, cut some farmstand corn off the cob standing ready to be sauteed in sweet butter and topped with a chiffonnade of basil. And figs for dessert.

By Sunday dinner  all we could manage was a farro salad and a bunch of grapes!

Not too bad for an old couple left to their own devices. Let's see what next weekend brings.