Why you need a pasta roller...

I debated blogging about this, because in all honesty, our Thanksgiving dinner was a disaster. Something did not work out right. We spent a good portion of our evening scratching our heads over it. One has to remember, however, that life is full of mistakes and sometimes, you just gotta laugh. It’s the little moments that remind me how lucky I am to have someone sitting next to me at the dinner table that will laugh about how awful the food we made just was– which is exactly what we did after taking the first bite of our highly anticipated pumpkin sage luna. We thought it was going to be the most amazing thing we had ever made. We spent hours cleaning out, peeling, and cubing a pumpkin; making pasta dough from scratch, rolling it out, and cutting small lunas (ravioli); roasting and pureeing the pumpkin to make the pasta filling.

Even when our hearts sank when we read that we needed a pasta roller…we soldiered on. When our eggs oozed from the well of flour and ran down the sides of the counter…we didn’t give up. When our onions were too small, our balsamic vinegar too sparse. our candied pecans too sticky… we persevered.
Honestly, looking back, it’s no wonder we had such an epic fail.
The 2.5 hours of prep was accompanied by good music, company, and wine, so there’s the silver lining. Our two sides dishes were excellent (see below)– but that damn luna? It tasted incredible, but the pasta that we rolled out by hand and doctored throughout the night was dry, thick, and laughable. Literally. It was pasta gone rogue and we knew it the second we sat down to dinner and dug in.

We still had a beautiful Thanksgiving and it’s rare that we are both cooking something together– so in that respect, we had a lovely night of working side-by-side and creating something new. We’re both thankful that we can even afford to have food on our table, much less be able to experiment with dishes like this. We are lucky kids.
I won’t add the pumpkin recipe (even though the picture does make it look glorious), but the other two dishes below turned out beautifully!

Baby Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Feta, and Maple candied pecans

from Food and Style

Baby Spinach Salad with Maple Candied Pecans, Dried Canberries, and Feta

For the maple-glazed pecans
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2/3 cups pecan halves
Sea salt to taste

For the vinaigrette
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 large shallots – skinned, quartered and finely sliced
2 1/2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

For the salad
8 oz baby spinach – rinsed and spun dry
1/2 cup dried cranberries
4 oz French feta or sheep’s milk feta – crumbled
Freshly ground pepper to taste

For the maple-glazed pecans: heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, maple syrup and pecans. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently until the pecans are golden and the maple syrup has darkened. Spread the pecans on a cooling rack so the pan juices can drip down and sprinkle with salt. Once cooled place in a Tupperware until ready to use.

Note: The pecans can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored room temperature.

Place the spinach in a large bowl and set aside.

To make the vinaigrette: heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the shallots. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes until the shallots are light golden. Quickly add the balsamic, balance of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir well and remove from heat. Pour the warm vinaigrette over the baby spinach. Toss well and divide equally in the center of eight salad bowls or plates (alternatively place in a large serving platter). Top with a few cranberries and a little crumbled feta. Garnish with the pecans. Finish with freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.

Creamed Onions

Creamed Onions

from the kitchen of Dorothy Ritchie

1 & 1/2 lb white pearl onions
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 cup milk
Pepper to taste

Peel onions and put them in a saucepan; cover with water and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until tender. In the meantime, make a thick white sauce. Melt the butter, stir in flour until dissolved. Add milk and heat, stirring, until it comes to a boil and gets thick. Stir in salt. Drain onions and pour into white sauce. Cook over low heat or until heated through. Sprinkle with pepper.

Shared with John!
Paired with: 1996 Borolo & 2006 Navarro Pinot Noir

Pumpkin Bread with Pecans and Raisins

Good morning to cats playing, coffee, parade, and the smell of pumpkin and cloves filling the entire apartment.

Pumpkin Spice Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 can pumpkin puree
1 cup coarsely chopped raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (we used pecans!)

Grease and flour 2 bread pans.

Combine the following in a large bowl: flour, baking soda & powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and eggs. Once well mixed, add pumpkin puree. Blend. by hand, slowly stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the nuts and raisens and pour into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean!

Second loaf for the freezer

Shared with: John!
Paired with: orange juice and Union Market coffee

Butternut Squash Panade

Nope. It’s not just me that experiments with new recipes. In fact, since my school semester started getting busier than expected, my husband has stepped in on several occasions to churn out a delicious meal for us. I usually come home drooling and hover over him with a camera while he finishes.

He got a recipe from his mother out in California and literally hung up the phone and said “I want to make this tonight.” So, while I studied, he made this delicious meal, courtesy of my mother-in-law.

Side note: If anyone who reads this wants us to try a recipe and blog about it, we would love to! So much fun!

Deliciously baked with Autumn flavors

Butternut Squash and Cheese Panade
from the recipe book of Dorothy Ritchie (which she took from her local newspaper.)

10 slices muti-grain or whole wheat bread.
2 sweet onions
1 lb butternut squash, halved, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 1/4 tsp salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated gruyere or swiss cheese.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear bread into 1-inch pieces and bake until crisp, stirring once (about 10-12 minutes). Take bread out. Turn oven up to 400 degrees.

Combine onion and squash in large bowl. Add oil, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Toss well. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast until onions begin to brown and squash is fork tender, about 22-25 minutes.

Reduce heat to 375 degrees.

Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with cookin spray. Place toasted bread in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Distribute half of the squash/onion mixture over the bread. sprinkle half of the bread and repeat layers.

Slowly pour two cups of the broth over the top, allowing bread to soak it up and pressing down with a spoon. Add remaining broth until it reaches 1 inch below pan’s rim. Cover pan with aluminum foil and place it on a baking sheet (in case of drips). Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 35-45 minutes until bubbling, puffed, and golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes. Serves 12!

Made by: John!
Shared with: me!
Paired with: Lazy Creek NV Pinot Noir

Individual Apple Crisp with cinnamon ice cream

Today, after a grueling 30-minute workout (hardcore, I know) my husband and I hit up one of our favorite (albeit extremely over-priced) markets in Park Slope: Union Market.  We bought some honey crisp apples that were so huge and beastly and delicious that I couldn’t help myself from blogging out another apple recipe.

I may be alone in this, but apple crisp is so simple that it can sometimes look a bit unimpressive when you’re trying to show off your baking skills. Anybody who has baked it knows that it’s really just throwing ingredients together and setting the oven to 350. One of my goals in cooking is to try to stand out and make people remember my dish- especially when it comes to dessert.

I was recently asked to bring a dessert to a dinner party and due to my complete lack of time these days, I panicked at the idea of being creative and coming up with something show-stopping (I know, I know, it’s part of my music conservatory trained background to be competitive with pretty much everything.) Instead of going too over-the-top, I decided to go traditional… but with a twist: Individual apple crisps in ramekins. About 3 days before the event, I whipped up some home-made cinnamon ice cream (recipe below), which barely took 20 minutes out of my day. Trust me, showing up to a dinner party with *ice cream is enough… showing up with everybody’s favorite dessert, personalizing them, and throwing some home-made ice cream on top? Impressive.

This would be a great end to any Thanksgiving meal- vegetarian or carnivorous. =)

*If you don’t have an ice cream maker try the Cinnamon Whip Cream at the bottom of this page– or try to find some Edy’s Grand Cinnamon Ice Cream at your local grocery store.)

Apple Crisps baking away in Gillian's oven

Individual Apple Crisps
This one if my own!

Needed: 8 Ramekins for baking

4 golden delicious or granny smith apples
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6 Tbsp butter

Start by peeling and then dicing the apples. Throw these into a large bowl and mix in 3 Tbsp of the flour, all of the brown sugar, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Scoop evenly into ramekins, leaving enough room on top for a layer of your oat mixture.

To make topping: Mix together remaining flour, oats, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dice cold butter and mix in with your fingers, kneading until completely mixed and you have a nice crumble going… Sprinkle this mixture on top of each ramekin. Voila! Now, bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes, or until the smell is so delicious that you can no longer stand waiting!

Let cool for about 10 minutes before adding a scoop of ice cream to each one. Make sure to warn your guests that their ramekins may be hot!

Making Cinnamon Ice Cream

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Needed kitchen equipment: Ice cream maker (see below for alternative recipe)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Whisk eggs until light and fluffy, then whisk in sugar a little at a time. Add milk, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon and whisk to blend. Then use ice cream maker according to its directions. Makes 1 quart.

Cinnamon Whip Cream
1 C whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix together and whip until stiff.

Shared with: Friends!
Paired with: waaayyyy too much wine. =)

Apple Oat Muffins

Oh my! Keeping up with life has been something of a miracle these days. Everything is so busy and cooking has become a distant memory for me! Luckily, my husband has stepped up to the plate in my absence, but I do have some random recipes and musings that I have been meaning to post. It took getting sick (for the eleven hundredth time) for me to finally decide to post again.

There is only one week left of madness and insanity before we can finally slow down and take a few days to enjoy life in this great city: Thanksgiving! John and I have four glorious days off in which we hope to slow down, breathe, and of course, cook. This year’s Thanksgiving meal will be spent with our dear friends, Team Jost, as well as my cousin and possibly his fiance (fingers crossed she can get the time off)… and of course any other sad outcasts unable to flee the city for home. The celebration will take place the Saturday after Thanksgiving and leading up to it, I plan to pre-cook as much as possible and enjoy a serious date out in the city with my husband. Sunday: I have mentally set aside this day for homework and blogging, so do check back for an update on how things went. This year will not only be vegetarian, but we also have someone coming that does not eat dairy OR soy (oy!)… I’ve been scouring the Internet for ideas and I can’t wait to make both vegetarian and vegan/non soy meals to please everyone there… except of course, the meat eaters, who can obviously deal.

In the meantime, I will try to post a few recipes that have been collecting Mac book dust. I give you my first, albeit completely accidental, almost fat-free muffins! How does one accidentally make something healthy? It’s very simple: you purchase buttermilk that has a price tag over the words “fat free” and you use it and wonder why your muffins taste “different.”
Not bad different… in fact, kinda good, unexpected different. Once we figured out what had happened, we both ate the muffins more freely and without shame! In fact all of them were gone in a few days! What a lovely mistake!

Using a large muffin-top pan will create perfect muffins

Apple-Oat Muffins
from Good House Keeping

2 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup fat free buttermilk (or use the full fat if you want a bit more “full” flavor)
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (1 to 2 medium) shredded Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples– we used golden delicious
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (we omitted)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 12 standard muffin-pan cups (I used my special large muffin tin from Williams Sonoma )  In large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

In medium bowl, with fork, beat buttermilk, oil, and egg until well blended; stir in shredded apples. Add apple mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until flour mixture is moistened (batter will be very thick and lumpy). Stir in chopped walnuts.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin-pan cups. Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until muffins begin to brown and toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean. Immediately remove muffins from pan. Serve warm, or cool on wire rack to serve later.

Shared with: John
Paired with: delicious coffee, of course

I’ve never worked with butternut squash before, but I have been eyeing this recipe since it was published in Food and Wine’s Thanksgiving issue in 2008. A game night approached at the McRitchie household and I realized I was too busy to make anything good, so I approached this recipe with the idea of making them on Sunday, freezing them, and reheating on Friday night. Lucky me, it was a success.

How to make this last:

* Make the entire recipe, eat what you need and freeze the rest! They reheat beautifully at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, but check on them often

Butternut Squash Turnovers
from Food and Wine Magazine Issue: Thanksgiving 2008
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 Large leeks, white parts only, cut into 1-inch dice (about 2 cups)
1/2 lb shitake mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 T thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
One 2-lb butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch dice– good luck with this step!)
14 ounces all-butter puff pastry, thawed if frozen (highly recommend that pillsbury dough. easier to work with)
3/4 lb goat cheese (about 1 & 1/2 cups)
1 large egg lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375°. Peel and cut the butternut squash. Here’s a good link: Here!  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the parchment. In a large bowl, toss the squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the squash on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, until softened and starting to brown.

While the squash is roasting: In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the diced leeks and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the shiitake and cook, stirring often, until their liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and the thyme and cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a medium bowl. Add squash when done baking.

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, gently roll out the puff pastry to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the pastry into twelve 4-inch squares. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the shiitake-squash mixture onto each square and top with 2 tablespoons of the goat cheese. Lightly brush the edge of the squares with some of the beaten egg. Fold the squares over to form triangles and crimp the edges decoratively with a fork.

Arrange the turnovers on the prepared baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Brush the tops of the turnovers with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Shared with: Game night folks! Paul, Dani, John, Amelia, Susie, Brett and Jimmy!
Paired with: waaaay too much wine and yelling

Beeker says: It’s about time.

This was one of those recipes that I happened upon and immediately thought, “huh, that looks so divine,” and then simply decided it would be too difficult and I would most likely ruin it. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I realized I had to make it. My new resolution with cooking is to take on the difficult, so let’s be honest: I really had no choice. I tackled this puppy and we both adored the way it turned out and had them for breakfast for the entire week.

How to make it last:

* We baked all of them at once and froze half for another week.
* Toast them. They are delicious, but so much better toasted with some homemade jam. (We used my mother-in-law’s homemade blackberry jam. Mmmm)

Big Sur Bakery Hide Bread
adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

5 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Flax Seeds
½ Cup Sesame Seeds
2 Cups Oat Bran
¼ Cup Sunflower Seeds
½ Cup Millet, Quinoa, Poppy seeds or Amaranth (or any combination- I used Quionoa)
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 Cup Beer (I used Guinness)
2 ½ Cups Buttermilk, Milk or Half and Half (I used Buttermilk!)

Oven to 375, Middle Oven Rack
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Our pans are awesome and don’t stick, so we didn’t need to line them.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the beer and buttermilk (or alternative). Use a wooden spoon or your hand to mix the wet batter. Sprinkle some flour on top, and put it on a floured work surface. Gently roll is out to form a loose log, about 2-3 inches in diameter.

Cut the log into 1 ½ inch slices and give them a little pat into a patty form. Don’t make them too small, they get dry. Lay on the baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes until golden. Remove and cool.

For serving, slice open and toast. They have a raw bread flavor inside (like a bagel or English muffin) so toasting is crucial.

Shared with: John and Dani
Paired with: Coffee from Coffee and Tea LTD, Minneapolis. Delicious mornings.

Several of my close friends have told me that they wish they could cook more, but they just don’t have the time. Truly, if I can do it, they can do it and I try to tell them that, but I get shrugs and subject changes. Sigh. Cooking is, indeed, a serious commitment, but only if you’re the kind of person that wants to cook a new meal every single night. In our household, we pretty much live off of dressed up veggie dogs and pastas all week and try to be creative with the very little time and energy we find ourselves with at the end of the day.

This blog might make people think that I have oodles of time on my hands to make these creations, but honestly, I don’t. I view cooking as an escape from all of the other crap going on in life. If I let myself wind down by sitting in front of the television, I would never get up again. I let my escape from all the madness of life be making new recipes. I get to be creative, focused, and most importantly, fed.

So here’s the deal: I cook 1-2 new things a week and throw them on this blog. I always give shout-outs to the other blog that I most likely pulled the recipe from and I will always link said blog so you can try their version of the recipe as well. I take maybe 2 hours out of a Sunday to make something new and hopefully someday that can be more. That’s it!

So, making it last is obviously important, which is why I’m throwing one of my favorite black bean salads on here. I got it from the Smitten Kitchen blog and I’ve made it at least a half dozen times since discovering it.

Why this recipe is cool:

* Throw it in some tupperware, throw it in the fridge and be creative with different meals.
* Make it for a party and everyone will attack it! So good!

Meal #1: Simple salad with avocado.

Meal #2: Black Bean and Pepper Quesadillas

Snack/Meal #3: Salsa and Chips (If you’re me, you make this a meal. Woops?)

So what is this glorious recipe? It’s the easiest thing in the world to make, that’s what it is. The only slightly time consuming part would be chopping the peppers and onions, but just commit to it and you’ll have several meals right at your finger tips for the next few nights! (Oh yeah, and it’s healthy. Side note.)

Black Bean Confetti Salad:
from Smitten Kitchen

2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and well-rinsed
4 bell peppers, a mix of colors, chopped into a small dice. I used red, yellow, orange and green.
1 medium white onion, chopped into a small dice
Juice of one lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (we used more, but we are obsessed with heat on our food.
Handful of chopped cilantro (this could be optional if you’re one of those super freaks who hates cilantro.)

Mix beans, bell peppers and white onion in a large bowl.

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk remaining ingredients into a vinaigrette. Ideally, you’ll have a 1/2 cup of dressing. Pour it over the bean mixture, toss it well and adjust seasonings to taste.

Shared with: John and an entire crew at game night!, and put it on a floured work surface. Gently roll is out to form a loose log, about 2-3 inches in diameter.

Cut the log into 1 ½ inch slices and give them a little pat into a patty form. Don’t make them too small, they get dry. Lay on the baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes until golden. Remove and cool.

For serving, slice open and toast. They have a raw bread flavor inside (like a bagel or English muffin) so toasting is crucial.

Shared with: John and Dani
Paired with: Coffee from Coffee and Tea LTD, Minneapolis. Delicious mornings.