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Category: Recipe

pondering pumpkin bread (plus bonus soup)

I am feeling adventurous – I like cooking, but am kinda amateur at the baking.

So

Pumpkin Bread…

from real pumpkins or canned ones?

discuss.

ETA: I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home to research recipes. Neither allrecipes.com or epicurious.com have an old fashioned pumpkin bread recipe that includes both real butter and brown sugar. Everything is trying to be different – less fat, more fiber, less spice, less pumpkin flavour (!! Why you makin pumpkin bread, then?). Probably my red checked cookbook will have the right recipe.

Why, no, I don’t get to eat lunch for another 40 minutes 10 minutes

~*~

For actual food porn content – I made a lovely soup this week.

I thawed out my remaining cubes of chicken stock (so I can make more soon! because I’ve started to think that an autumn without making stock is wasted).

Added an acorn squash. By which I mean that I washed the outside, cut of the top and tip, split it in half, and stuck it open side down into the stock and let it cook until mushy… and then scooped out the inside with a spoon.

I threw in a frozen pork chop because I figured there should be some meat. After it cooked, I trimmed and diced it.

At this point I realised that 1 squash would not be enough, so I turned off the pot and let it sit overnight.

The next day, I bought a second squash and two sweet potatoes. Rinse. Repeat. First the squash, and then I decided the soup could still be thicker, so I cooked the potatoes in the microwave and then mushed them into the soup.

Meanwhile, I melted some butter and sauteed some onion, cumin, and a winesap apple…. when golden and mushy, I added that to the soup.

In went a bay leaf, a dash of worcestershire sauce, and tiny bit of nutmeg.

Cooking. cooking. cooking. (more like 20 minutes worth)

Then I drained a can of black beans… because apparently I live in a crazy land where I can’t find dried black beans (ghetto mart would have had some before they closed, but it hasn’t reopened yet – harrumph). Beans get dumped in. And the soup cooks for the length of an episode of Spooks.

Then eating… and the realisation that I forgot to add salt and pepper… and that it’d be good with a dollop of sour cream in the middle.

Second (third?) day. Soup! With salt and pepper. And sour cream seasoned with more cumin and a smidgeon of horseradish. Very tasty!

The soup was a bit gloppy and would have benefited from a run through a food processor or blender, but I don’t believe in doing that to the poor soups. And it was quite tasty.

Really. I’ve had two other people eat this soup, and both liked it. Or said they did. But there were second helpings involved. And I’m perfectly willing to eat soup again tonight for dinner. Yum!

Mother’s Southern Recipes: Chicken Raft, Chicken Creole, Gumbo

My mother gave me a package of chicken breasts to use up – anyone want to come over and let me cook for you? Not only will this use up the meat, but also it will force me to get off my ass and clean my apartment (which I have been neglecting for a couple months).

Dinner would probably be chicken raft. I know – you’ve never heard of it. It’s one of my family’s recipes… and, since I promised Biz, I’m including a few of my family recipes in the post (note: measurements are almost always approximations)

Chicken Raft (Sometimes this is called Chicken & Dumplings, but this is not the vegetables, yellow gravy, and distinct floating blobs of dough – but it’s not really a Chicken Pie, either)

Boil together:

  • 2lbs cubed chicken breast
  • 1 onion, finely chopped

  • dried celery flakes (or 1 whole stalk celery to be removed later)

  • water to cover, plus some

Add salt & pepper when done (if using celery stalk, remove it now).

Pour chicken and onion into a large casserole dish, and then pour the water left in the pot until it almost covers the chicken.

Mix up the BisQuick biscuit recipe only slightly drier… basing the amount on 2 cups of BisQuick, more if using more chicken. (Biz – substitute any biscuit recipe that works for you)

Roll out the dough to at least the length of the casserole dish. Slice the dough into 1/4″ strips. Any excess can be wadded up and plopped into the chicken… corners first to support the raft. Then lay strips 1″ or less apart lengthwise and then widthwise (I start at the edges, then middle, and then evenly divide the space until the grid is filled).

Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes.

Open oven, but don’t remove the raft – add 1 whole stick of butter, sliced into pats and laid atop of the intersections of the raft… and add as muck milk as the dish will accommodate (pouring evenly over the crust to soften it)

Bake another 10 minutes.

~*~

Chicken Creole

Ingredients:
bunch of chicken breasts (3-4?) (you can substitute shrimp in this recipe)
1/4 lb butter
1 onion, chopped
8-10 fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced (or 2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes)
10-12 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
fresh marjoram (optional… or can be substituted by thyme)

***

IN one saucepan, lightly brown bite-sized chunks of chicken breast in lots and lots of butter. Add onions and keep cooking until creamy golden. Add tomatoes, garlic, and green pepper. Cook until saucy but not watery. Salt and pepper to taste. If you have fresh marjoram, it is nice if added right at the end of cooking.

Serve over plump, white rice.

~*~

Gumbo Now, there are worlds of debate over how to make gumbo, even within the family, but this is how my mother likes it

Ingredients:
3 medium onions
3/4 or 1 cup flour
2 1/2 to 3 lbs chicken, cut up (white or dark)
smallish stalk of celery
2 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, cooked and cleaned (with tails still attached)
1 1/2 lbs crab meat (or 6-8 soft shelled crabs)

butter
water (stock can be substituted for some of the water)
salt
pepper
worcestershire sauce
seafood seasoning (Old Bay, or your preferred brand)

***

Chop up onions. Grill onions in butter until translucent.

Brown flour. Make into a roux. Add enough water to make a thick gravy.

Pour gravy into a stock pot and add onions. Add chicken. Add more water until gravy is medium thin.

Add salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, and a dash or two of seafood seasoning to taste. Add celery, bay leaves, and garlic.

Add shrimp and crab meat.

Let it cook until perfect.

You could also add scallops or lobster, but no fish or sausage or any of that crap (really – my momma says so).

Moot – rabbit – Darfur talk – University City Dining Days

*a little background*
So you all know Lord of the Rings, right? And you know that gatherings of Ents were called ent moots, of course. Well, so, some friends of mine (all fans of the movies (books too, but we met on account of the movies) made by Peter Jackson. Those sure were some beautiful movies) used to have monthly gatherings so that they could cook for friends and have lively fannish dinner conversations. This is a post about one of those gatherings.

~*~

I love moot so much. I ended up sneaking into this month’s moot just because I couldn’t stay away (and needed to procrastinate a paper, but we won’t talk about that). And I love the hosts: [redacted], [redacted], and Molly (Cause, hah!, you live there, now!).

Okay… so the decision making process involved in going down there was a wee bit insane, but the great part of being there Friday night was going to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. I tell yah – next time I might bring a cooler. I have butter! Butter that has flavour and taste and infinite sexiness. I was lusting over the heavy cream, but it would never have survived the 2 1/2 hour drive in the baking sun. I did almost leave my butter behind, but I remembered before I got on the highway and before the other evil people stole it and turned it into sammiches.

So here’s where I brag about the awesome cookliness of [redacted-host] –

Lunch was around 2:30ish. Two kinds of pasta – carbonara and an awesome meaty & mushroomy sauce. OMG, I need the carbonara recipe – so good. With bread! A huge loaf of bread! And some of the butter of joy – and butter of garlic – and oil. but not all at the same time.

Canapes:
The ever-excellent mushroom schtuff in a pastry thingy
dill pancakes with lemon creme fraiche and lox
Savoury shortbread with feta and pesto
Shrimps on skewers (kinda scampi-ish)

MMmmmmm

And then there was dinner – which we all kind of looked at with only marginal interest because we had been slightly indiscreet at lunch, but still – so good!

Lil nut crusted goat cheese circles, salad-ish goodness, and more bread!

Poached salmon with an incredibly rich and orgasmic sauce (orange and saffron sabayon).

Then we voted to skip the chicken course.

Ices – it was a lemon ginger ice that started to burn after about four spoonfuls.

Dessert was mostly the marvelous fresh strawberries from the farmers market with fresh whipped cream and chocolate sauce (which [redacted-living with hosts] made to just the perfect consistency. But there was also bread pudding with caramelly nut sauce and a raisin sauce.

Wow… so full.

~*~

And then I came home and called up [redacted-ex] so that I could twist her arm into trying the “rabbit” I had thawed. Turns out that it most likely really is rabbit… an easier guess to make when I realized that the meat still had bones (argh!). The back legs were longer and more muscled than the front legs. If it were a dog, it would have had to be some kind of wee little thing like a Maltese or some such. Instead of trying to do anything civilized like cutting all the meat off, I just took it apart, grabbed the meat off the ribcage and then pitched those bones because they looked like they would have been awkward, and then split the spine in a couple points to make for smaller pieces. Then I made this recipe, Rabbit with Mustard Sauce, and I think it turned out quite well. My food aesthetics tell me that I probably should have made rice to put it on, but otherwise, all went well.

Cooking tip of the day: When you have to mix cornstarch with water, don’t fiddle around with a bowl and a whisk – just put the water and cornstarch in a small jar and shake.

So I saved the extra sauce because it was so tasty. What am I going to do with this rich mustard sauce (rich, wow, it tasted like there were egg yolks in it!)? My only idea so far is putting it over/in a mushroom rissotto.

~*~

Food for people in the area –

There is a dinner with speakers on Darfur

Will We Let Darfur Be the Next Rwanda?

The White Dog Cafe
June 20, 2005
Table Talk Dinner 6 PM

3420 Sansom Street
Call 215-386-9224 for Reservations

Honor U.N. World Refugee Day
Presenting speakers from The Darfur Alert! Coalition:

Dr. Jerry Ehrlich, a local pediatrician, who treated children in refugee camps in Darfur, Sudan with Doctors Without Borders will show slides and discuss life in the camps and children’s drawings depicting the brutality they survived.

Dr. Ibrahim Imam, a medical doctor, an immigrant from northern Darfur and a member of the Western Sudanese Association will provide historical context for understanding the genocide in Darfur and also discuss his experience as a medical examiner of massacre sites in Darfur .

Stephanie Nyombayire, a Rwandan and a student at Swarthmore College and an active member of Swarthmore Sudan and the Genocide Intervention Fund, recently traveled to the eastern border of Chad where 200,000 Darfurians have taken refuge. She will speak about genocide in Rwanda, what she witnessed in the refugee camps in Chad and Swarthmore’s 100 Days of Action Campaign. www.genocideinterventionfund.org

Rev. Isaac Miller, the rector of The Church of the Advocate and a founding member of The Darfur Alert! Coalition will describe the necessity of taking action now and specify what we can do to stop the killing in Darfur and get relief for the refugees.

Table Talks at 6 PM include a three course dinner, followed by the speakers and discussion from 7:30 – 9 PM. $38/person includes tax and gratuity. Reservations with advance payment required by giving a credit card number over the phone or by sending a check.
Senior citizens (over 65) and full time students: $30 with advanced notification. Student stand-by: Call between 4 – 5:30pm the day of the event for $20 dinner at 6pm.

Call 215-386-9224 for Reservations

Darfur Alert! a Philadelphia area coalition, focuses on the tragedy of the Darfur people, and alerts the community to act on their behalf.

~*~

Anyone want to join me for the University City Dining Days? There are several places on the $20 and $25 lists that appeal:

University City restaurants will participate in a special dining extravaganza Wednesday, June 23- Thursday, June 30, 2005. The promotion will offer three-course special dinners at the lower-than-usual prix-fixe prices of $20, $25 and $30 at various University City restaurants. Participating restaurants include:

$20
Dahlak
Marathon
Smokey Joes
Cavanaugh’s

$25
Abbraccio
Bubble House
Rx
Ecco Qui
Vientiane Cafe
World Cafe Live
Restaurant School
Zocalo Restaurant

$30
LaTerrasse
Marigold
Nan
New Deck (two dine)
Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar
Strikes Bowling Lounge (two dine)
White Dog Cafe

Prices are for dinner only and do not include tax, gratuity or alcohol. Reservations are recommended and should be made directly through the participating restaurant. For more information, visit http://www.ucityphila.org.

Chinese pork

Do any of you cook Chinese food much? I have a leftover pork roast, and I want to turn it into that brown melty pork that you sometimes get in restaurants… only every store-bought sauce I have ever tried for this has been too salty and/or too sweet and usually not even close. I don’t even know what to call the particular dish to look it up.

So can any of you read my mind? Can you tell me how to make it from scratch?

ETA: The answer is to use authentic oyster sauce instead of a mixed sauce from the supermarket

*****

Other upcoming meals —

Collard Greens and Lentils cooked down with fried mustard seeds, nigella seeds, coriander, chillies, and garlic added at the last.

Asparagus. Something special with asparagus. It will probably be with peas and tortellini and either a butter & lemon sauce or something creamy.

Chili

*****

Notable recent meals —

I made a lovely curry (onions, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks, curry powder, and tomatoes) with potatoes and string beans.

And last night there were scrambled eggs with onions, garlic, mushrooms, artichoke hearts (the vegetable truck has had lovely artichokes lately!), smoked oysters, and cheese. Thanks to the lovely Meghan for the idea.