Comfort in Fall

Food for the Week: Rustic Lamb Stew

1 1/2 lbs lamb chunks
3 potatoes
2 carrots
1 yellow onion
6 large button mushrooms chopped
2 cups red wine (I used left over Pinot Noir)
4 cups vegetable or beef stock
handful of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil

Season the meat with plenty of salt and pepper. Brown the meat in 3 of the tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. Remove the meat. Add the rest of the oil and saute the onions. Add the mushrooms and cook a bit. Once the onions are soft, pour in the wine to deglaze the pan and let some of the liquid boil down. Add the herbs, more salt and pepper and the stock. Add in the meat and vegetables back in and bring to a simmer. Cover and turn the heat down to medium -low and simmer for an hour and a half. Add the parsley near the end and cook for about 10 more minutes. The meat will be really tender and you will have a really rich broth.

I served it over some kale sautued with garlic and a lump of fresh foccia bread. It made so much, I will be eating it the rest of the week!

A return to form

A lot has happened here at the 312 square feet including a move to a substantially larger apartment in Bushwick Brooklyn! I am not going to change the name of the blog. The same philosophy of cooking and living well on a budget pervades, especaily seeing as my rent remains pretty much unchanged! Also, a trip to Berlin, family in crises and a creepy upstairs neighbor revelation! But onward to the future and new tastes to go with the new place.

The First Dinner in the BK

menu
Tri-Color Tomato Bruscetta
Salmon with Dill Yogurt Sauce and Salad

Plenty of wine!

Peache Cobbler for our Southern Belle

For Lynly's birthday this year, they threw an old school BBQ! In honor of all things southern and pig based, I baked a complimentary Peach Cobbler. We drank plenty of wine and ate until we just couldn't and of course had the karaoke through down!

Peach Cobbler

10-12 ripe peaches, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus some for greasing the pan
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
juice of half a lemon

for the crust
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons brown sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons brown sugar, to sprinkle on top

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Generously butter a rectangular baking dish.

You can blanch the peaches to peel them, but I never so that. It's such a pain in the ass and to have a 400 degree oven AND a huge pot of boiling water going would be just unbearable in this small, Chinatown apartment! I just peeled and sliced them up.

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter, add the peaches, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and lemon juice. Simmer over medium low heat until the peaches are relatively soft.

Combine the flour, the rest of the brown sugar, baking powder and soda together with a whisk. Then cut in the butter using a pastry cuter or knives or your fingers. What ever you have and what ever works. I love my pastry cutter, but I hate cleaning it. Once the dough has formed that grainy pastry texture add the milk to make a relatively sticky dough.

Pour the peaches in the dish, dollop the dough over the top and sprinkle some brown sugar on top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the top of the biscuit dough is brown and firm.

Serve with vanilla ice cream. This is not an option!

Three years down the line

The birthday girl getting down (via Webber)


Your hostess getting down with fellow revelers! (via Webber)



Three years into my annual tradition of baking up something special for Ms. Jackson, I already decide to mix it up with cupcakes. This year felt classic all over. Ms. Jackson celebrated her actual birthday on the 4th by singing the national anthem at the Nathan's Hotdog eating contest. Watch it! And we got to celebrate the 4th with the time honored American tradition of breaking the law and blowing stuff up! I am feeling a little cheeky today. It's reflected in the recipe below. Comments from the eaters included, "I think my mouth just had an orgasm." and "I can die happy and fulfilled now that I have eaten that." and also "Holy Crap!"

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate and Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

yield 2 dozen
3 cup of all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs, also room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Line your baking trays with cupcake liners. If you're me, get your shims ready for your really uneven oven!

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly for each egg. Beat them like you would beat a bad school girl/boy. *Wink

Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

Add 1/3 dry to the butter mixture and blend well. Add 1/3 of the buttermilk and mix well. Repeat two more times. Pour into the liners and bake 15-18 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.

For the frosting
1 stick butter, softened
1 pound of confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon raspberry flavor
5-6 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter until very light and fluffy. This is even more beating than the eggs, so it must be very bad! Sift in the powdered sugar and add the flavoring. Add milk to get your desired consistency.

You should be jealous of my dinner

Back from the nearly dead after five weeks of intensive classwork, I finally get to cook again! Last night, we went back to basics for an MCQ pre-practice dinner of pan seared scallops over wilted salad with dijon balsamic vinaigrette. Simple, summer, delicious.

Thanks god I'm back!

cupcake calvalcade

Todays post at A Softer World got me thinking about cupcakes and what kind to make next! I have a big birthday coming up at the end of the month and I am already thinking about what kind of cake to make for that. Maybe as a run up I can do some excellent cupcake sized experiments. Any suggestions as to the kinds of things that you would like to see take cupcake form?

Here are a few from the archives:
Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Whiskey Butter cream
Lemon Lingonberry Cupcakes
Triple Ginger Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting

Some Supper

I like to bake salmon on salt. It preserves the moistness of the fish and lends an interesting flavor. To do it, layer kosher coarse salt in a baking dish and set the fish on it. Bake in a pre-heated over at 450 for 15 - 20 min depending on the thickness of the fish. In this instance, I made an herb vinaigrette with mint, thyme, capers, red wine vinegar, lemon and shallots. Pour over the fish with mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach. It made us all feel better after a bought with the swine flu! I kid!