breakfast, cooks

Perfect Fall Breakfast

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It’s getting chillier and the leaves are changing.  Having a warm, spiced breakfast on the weekend makes my whole day wonderful.

Pumpkin pancakes

Today I was in the mood for pumpkin pancakes with apple compote.  Apple compote is versatile and so quick to make.  I came back from a yoga class this morning and, ten minutes later, it was done.   You’ll find my recipe below.  For the pumpkin pancakes, here’s one recipe I’ve used, but I always change up the spices to taste.  If anyone has a favorite recipe, leave it in the comments!

Apple Compote
This is my basic recipe as best as I can write it down – I always just throw things together and add more ingredients to taste.   Today I even threw in a shot of orange juice!  I prefer not to peel the apples, but this is a matter of taste.

  • 2 large apples, cored and sliced (one of these makes the job quick)
  • 1 tbsp butter or margarine
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 2 tbs lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup nuts, chopped (optional – I used cashews today)

Melt butter in a large skillet with a cover.  Add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger, and toss to evenly distribute the spices.  Cover and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for about three minutes.  Add the raisins, lemon juice and nuts, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for another couple minutes.  Remove the lid and cook until apples are tender and liquid is syrupy, about three more minutes.

Serve with pancakes, oatmeal, yogurt, or even on a cheese plate.

cooks, vegetables

Baked Sauerkraut with Apples

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I wanted to share this great sauerkraut recipe I made for our Oktoberfest party.  I’m sure a few of you will stop reading here, but please read on! If you are ambivalent about sauerkraut (I was at one point), this might change your mind. It manages to taste both tangy and buttery, and of course, it’s also a healthy way to get your veggies.

America is in financial turmoil, so I’ll betray my secrets and tell you how I whipped this up on a budget.  We bought jars of Kühne organic sauerkraut, made in Germany, from my favorite secret gourmet store.  If I was making this for dinner tonight, I would have stopped by the farmers’ market for apples, but since I had 20 pounds of apples on my shopping list and a budget to follow, I headed to Price Rite where I got Ginger Gold apples for only 99 cents a pound.

Baked Sauerkraut with Apples
adapted from Lüchow’s German Cookbook

Continue reading Baked Sauerkraut with Apples →

cooks, meals

Oktoberfest

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I’m an IT professional, and people constantly ask if I studied Computer Science in college.  Nope, I majored in…German.  I loved the coursework and my semester abroad in Berlin, and though I can’t say I’ve used my major after college, I still harbor a love for the country’s language and food.  My family is German, so I suppose you could say it’s hereditary.

An Oktoberfest party seemed like the perfect idea this year.  You might be wondering, why an Oktoberfest party in September?  The real Oktoberfest in Munich actually starts during the end of September and continues through the first week of October.  But if you still want to throw your own party, I think any time in October is fair game.

We took the planning seriously, testing recipes and tasting beer.  We chose Paulaner Oktoberfest for the keg and picked out a number of recipes.  For our sausage needs, we took a drive to Karl’s Sausage Kitchen in Saugus, Massachusetts.  I especially enjoyed their Weisswurst, which along with Seven Stars multigrain bread, was a tasty breakfast for our friends who came early to help in the kitchen.

Oktoberfest 2008
Sausage from Karl’s, the beer, prepping for Hasenpfeffer, “Bavarian camouflage”

My favorite recipe source was Luchow’s German Cookbook, a 1950s gem with recipes from the legendary, and now sadly missed, New York restaurant.  I also browsed one of my favorite food books, Culinaria Germany, for inspiration.  Each book in the Culinaria series is a vivid, comprehensive encyclopedia of a region’s food.  The German volume has a chapter for each state, with descriptions of regional specialites and food customs, photos and recipes.

Here’s our final menu:

  • Assorted Sausages – Knockwurst, Bauernwurst, 2 types of Bratwurst
  • Himmel und Erde – mashed potatoes and apples topped with sliced blood sausage and crispy onions
  • Käsespätzle – Spätzle (noodle dumplings) baked with layers of Emmentaler, topped with crispy onions and browned butter
  • Goulash – finished up in a crock pot while we made merry
  • Hasenpfeffer – a red wine rabbit stew, also finished in a crock pot
  • Pretzels – brought freshly baked by Sean and uglyagnes
  • Potato Salad – generally, German potato salad is made without mayonnaise
  • Cucumber Salad – just like Mom used to make, herbed with dill
  • Baked Sauerkraut with Apples
  • Red Cabbage
  • Assorted Mustards
  • Assorted Breads
  • German Apple Cake
  • Linzer Torte

Oktoberfest 2008
Weisswurst for breakfast, my red dirndl, the first guests at the table, washing the steins

The day of the party, we filled the iPod with drinking songs, covered the living room in blue and white tablecoths (fortuitously left over from a party my parents had two decades ago!) and cooked all day. Even though more than 30 people came to help us eat and drink, we ended up with plenty of leftovers. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – my shopping list included 20 pounds of apples and 10 pounds of potatoes!

baking, cooks

First Day of Fall

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Yesterday was the first day of fall, and as I was leaving my night class, a hint of fireplace scented the nippy air.  Fall is my favorite season and I’m always ready for the transition to fall colors, pumpkin stews, Halloween decorations.

Fall Linzer Cookie

I made this Linzer cookie,  a first-day-of-fall treat for my sweetheart, with the leftover dough from a torte.  I finally own a linzer cookie cutter and I’ve always loved my set of miniature leaf cookie cutters (which are like these).   I used this recipe for the torte, but the dough was harder to work with than I recall, so I’m going to have to ask my parents for their recipe. I don’t know if I’ll ever rival their linzer torte talents, though – they work as a team and always do a perfect job on the lattice!  I think I need some more practice.

eats, rhode island

End of Summer

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Fall is my favorite season, but the end of summer still fills me with regret for all my unrealized summer plans.   Like taking the Newport ferry, which will no longer set sail next year.  Or renting bikes on Block Island – I’ve still never been.  But sometimes you can take a bit of summer with you into the fall, like we did one night at Iggy’s in Warwick.  The line was shorter but the food, and the walk along the beach, were just as good.

Iggy’s in Warwick

We compensated for the summer’s lack of fried seafood by ordering in overabundance – chowder, clamcakes, calimari, fried clams, seafood platters…

eats, rhode island

Food for Thought Giveaway

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This year’s Food For Thought is coming up on September 25th, and it’s going to be RI’s largest food & wine pairing, showcasing some great local restaurants and vineyards.

Want to go?  The first person to comment here (who is able to attend on the 25th) will get on the guest list for the event.  If you’re not quick enough, you can buy tickets online at http://foodforthoughtri.org.

fft2008logo.jpg

If you want to see my post on last year’s event, it’s here.

eats

What I’ve Eaten

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Thought you’d all enjoy this one. Join me and post your results!

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Strike out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

cooks, eats, meals, providence

Local Love

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Last night’s dinner was delicious! It was inspired by yesterday’s post-work trip to the Wickenden farmers’ market.

First, we started with a caprese salad made with a striped German tomato from White Barn Farm, mozzarella from Narragansett Creamery (also from the market, sold by Wishing Stone Farm) and basil from our garden plot. The tomato was giant and so sweet. I thought we’d have leftovers, but it was impossible to leave any.

Caprese Salad

Then, Jeremy grilled a chicken breast stuffed with arugula from the garden, spicy dried sausage and hot pepper cheese, both from Tony’s Colonial on Atwells. Meanwhile, I sauteed beet greens, also from White Barn Farm, with some garlic and hot pepper flakes.

What a feast! And what a great city we live in.

cooks, salads

If You Can’t Beat It, Eat It

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The latest weed that’s taken a hold of my garden plot – even flourishing during an unwatered week of vacation – is purslane. I initially let it be, hoping it would make an attractive groundcover, but quickly realized my mistake as it started to spread.

Uglyagnes told me that one of her plot neighbors has been cooking purslane, so I thought I’d give it a try. I bit off a leaf and found it juicy with a mild citrus flavor – like a tame sorrel. Searching Epicurious revealed a few recipes, some of which, to my amusement, implied that purslane was something that one could only be lucky enough to find at speciality markets.

Purslane Lentil Salad
Salad with Purslane

I was most excited by the recipe for Grilled Zucchini Salad, but I modified it to include lentils and a chopped cucumber. It was the perfect way to use some of my Wickenden Street farmers’ market purchases. The result was quite delicious and a good use of “weeds”!

eats, massachusetts

Boston Barbecue

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Early one Thursday morning, I was blearily explaining to my co-workers that I had been out late in Boston the night before. I explained that no, I wasn’t out dancing – I was eating barbecue.

You can imagine their surprised looks. It would be quite a stretch to say that Boston is known for its barbecue, but the city was fortunate to have the Phantom Gourmet host a “BBQ Beach Party” right next to City Hall. The festival, which lasted five days, had ten vendors serving up some of the best barbecue out there. Different styles and regions were represented.

First, we tried a large sampler platter from Virginia’s Johnson’s Bar-B-Que, which included ribs, pulled pork and chicken. Our stomachs happy but still ready for action, we moved over to Florida’s Porky n’ Beans for a double-decker Kansas City sandwich. The sandwich had one layer of brisket and one of pulled pork. I especially liked their spicy sauce and wished I could have brought some home. For dessert, we tried a decked-out cannoli from Wholly Cannoli. No meat in this one, just a sweet finish.

Treats from the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party
A Johnson’s Bar-B-Que Sampler, the grill at Porky N’ Beans. More photos here >

My favorite part of the festival was obviously the barbecue. I wished I would have had a larger appetite, more friends along to nibble from, or another day to go back. On the other hand, I thought the festival could have done without the “beach party” and offered a better beer selection. But I would gladly go again.

The event is slated to take place again next June. My recommendation is to skip the crowds and go as early as possible on Wednesday or Thursday. We were lucky to experience instant barbecue gratification, but heard the lines on the weekend meant over an hour wait! Also, bring friends so you can share and sample.