rolling with it

Do you have a life philosophy?  I'm not sure that I do, but if I did, it would probably be to allow myself to be swept along by any and all opportunities that cross my path.   This...shall we say...'pattern' has led me into some unusual situations over the years.  At age 8, I found myself taking African drumming lessons.  At age 12, I found myself enrolled in an experimental community-based junior high (where I met Kylie!).  At age 20, I found myself living with a family in Leon, Spain.  Last month, I found myself writing a cookbook for a local chef (whom I greatly admire).  And last Saturday, I found myself acting in a commercial for a bowling alley.

Yes, this post it about just rolling with it.

Perhaps I should explain.  A couple of weeks ago, I started a part-time job as a copy writer for an advertising/marketing agency.  It's been a totally awesome opportunity to write professionally and get into a whole new field, while still pursuing my culinary goals.  Last Friday evening, I got a call from my colleague asking that I come in half an hour early the next day and wear a suit.  Because my reception wasn't great, I couldn't quite hear the reason for the change in routine, but figured that we likely just had a meeting and I needed to look respectable.  Wrong.  Oh, how very wrong.

When I arrived at work the next day, I was informed that we were picking up and heading to a commercial shoot down at a local bowling alley.  It wasn't until I was asked to come take my place between two of the actors that I realized I was actually to be in this commercial.  For those of you who know me, this is hilarious for three reasons: 1) I absolutely cannot act, 2) I absolutely cannot bowl, and 3) I avoid being in the spotlight as much as humanly possible.  So, between the three, I was virtually perfect for the part.  Looking back on the 6 hours of shooting, I'd have to say my favorite scenes are the one where I'm wolfing down a hot-wing and high-fiving my colleague, and the one where I bowl a strike and then jump up in the air giving a thumbs up.  If you guys really promise not to tell anyone, I may even post the link to the commercial on this blog.  But really, it'd have to be our little secret.  Will you promise to keep this between you and me?

In other news, I decided to make something totally new for dinner tonight.

Have you ever had a nut-based sauce?  I'm sure you have, as they're pretty common in Indian and Central/South American cuisine.  Somehow, North America seems to be a bit behind the curve in the area of creating delicious, rich, savory nut sauces.  Anyhow, after whipping up a batch of Deborah Madison's Walnut Sauce, I am 100% hooked.  It literally took all of 5 minutes to make.  Best of all, you control exactly how much to thin it out, so it can serve as a dip, drizzle or anywhere in between, depending on how much water you add.  I tried slathering it on some sauteed chicken and drizzling it over roasted vegetables, both of which were whoa-ho delicious.  I'm not playing around here folks.  Go get yourself a bag of walnuts.  Go on, I'll wait.

Now that I'm officially addicted to the rich, round flavors of nut based sauces, I want to hear from YOU.  Have you come across any awesome nut-based sauce recipes to share?  Well, come on now, I'd love to hear 'em!

Walnut Sauce
from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Ingredients
3/4 cup walnuts
1 small garlic clove
salt and white pepper
2-3 T extra virgin olive oil

Step one:  Using a mortar and pestal or a food processor, process the nuts and garlic into a thick paste.
Step two:  Slowly work in the olive oil.
Step three:  Season with salt and freshly-cracked pepper to taste.
Step four:  Thin with boiling water until you reach the desired consistency (I used about 1/4 cup).

Easy as that.

-Adriana

life's little luxuries

I'm going to tell you a little story.  You see, when I was growing up, my parents decided to get rid of our TV.  Traumatic, I know.  They believed that the only way to free their children from the hounding influence of consumerism was to spare us from the hours of commercials we would most surely encounter while watching TV.  Instead of filling our impressionable little minds with jingles for domino's pizza and parades of the latest 'must have collectibles', our young family was going to create our very own sarcasm-free, happy bubble.  Such a lovely thought.


Now here I am, 24 years old and a complete sucker for even the most pathetic attempts of advertising.  I blame this on the fact that I never had the years of TV-watching practice that my peers did.  While most kids were growing into jaded and discerning American consumers with each passing day, I was frolicking through the pacific northwest woods, picking huckleberries, and learning to trust everything I saw and heard.  That's right, I'm now the girl who sees an infomercial for quadro-high-tech-ubber-gripping tires and promptly calls her daddy to ask if she needs to install them immediately on her aging Saturn.  


This innocence (ok, gullibility) is probably why I found myself shelling out an extra $2 at the farmer's market last weekend in exchange for a "Luxury Pumpkin."  There I was, walking amongst the rows of freshly picked gourds when I found myself flummoxed by two identical piles of pumpkins.  On my left I saw a sloppy, hand-written sign saying "Sugar Pumpkins, $2" and on my right a similar one saying "Luxury Pumpkins, $4". 

Well gosh darn if the two sets of pumpkins didn't look exactly the same to me. 

"They're...juicier?" the farm hand hesitantly responded after I asked what my extra two pumpkin dollars might be buying.  While I had no concept of what a "juicy" pumpkin might be like, it was enough information to sell me on the purchase.  That's some hard-core farmer's market advertising right there.  For once though, the advertising definitely worked out in my favor.  This was the meatiest, tastiest, most flavorful pumpkin that has ever graced my oven.  I'll have you know that the skin of a Luxury Pumpkin is a bit darker and thinner than that of a regular sugar pumpkin.  It's so thin, in fact, that you can easily slice right through it with your kitchen knife without softening it in the oven first.  In honor of my beautiful pumpkin, I made a ridiculously rich and delicious pumpkin pie with a friend from culinary school.  I don't know how much credit goes to the recipe, and how much credit goes to the pumpkin itself, but this was far and away the most scrumptious pumpkin pie I've ever eaten.  Ever.
  Ask Hillary, she'll vouch for it.

So, happy pumpkin season to you.  May your days be filled with juicy gourds and honest advertising!


Luxury Pumpkin Pie with Walnut and Brown Sugar Crumble
Inspired by a recipe from the November 2009 issue of Bon Appetit 

Ingredients

(filling)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1.5 cups pumpkin puree (see below how to make your own!)
½ cup heavy whipping cream

(topping)
½ cup walnut pieces, roughly chopped
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Healthy pinch of kosher salt

*To make your own pumpkin puree:  Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Cut your sugar pumpkin into 4ths, and remove the stem.  Scrape out the seeds and stringy flesh with a spoon.  Leave only the solid pumpkin flesh.  Rub all the flesh with a bit of butter, and lay face up in the large pan.  Roast your pumpkin until very soft, about 1 hour.  Don’t worry if it becomes darker and caramalized in some areas.  That will only make it infinitely more delicious when it's pureed.  When it's done roasting, peel off the skins using your fingers, and mash it by hand or pulse in a food processor.

Step one:  Make you pie crust.  If you feel up to the challenge, I recommend that you make your own pie crust.  I can gaurantee that it will be more delicious than a store bought variety.  I've found that everyone has their own favorite pie crust recipe, so I won't put one here.  What's important here is that you pre-bake the pie shell.  This means that after it's laid out in the dish, cover it with parchment and put in some pie wieghts or fill it with beans.  Bake it at 425 F for about 12 minutes, remove the weights and the parchment, and continue baking at 350 F for about 15 - 20 min, or until the shell is baked through.  Cool crust on rack while you prepare the filling.

Step two:  Make the filling.  Put brown sugar, eggs, salt, and spices into a food processor and pulse a few times until evenly blended.  Then add the pumpkin and cream and process until smooth.

Step three: Bake the pie.  Pour filling into the prepared crust and bake in the oven at 350 F until filling is almost set, about 30 minutes.  If the crust is browning too quickly, cover with foil.

Step four:  Add the topping.  While the pie is in the oven, whisk together all the ingredients of the filling.  Remove pie from oven when it has set, sprinkle topping over evenly, reduce oven temperature to 325, and return pie to oven for another 15 minutes.  Allow pie to cool completely before digging in.

-Adriana

Today I fell in love...

...with a jar of Bron's Bee Co. Raw Honey - Buckwheat Blend. Just small treat I had picked up for myself during my last trip to the Green City farmer's market. I don't usually buy honey, but for some reason, on this one rainy Saturday, I couldn't resist the small glass bear filled to the brim with a deep amber liquid. An impulse buy, really, but one infinitely more satisfying than a pack of sugar-free gum. Or a cherry chapstick, for that matter.

But the honey, oh let's continue talking about the honey. Did you know honey has a flavor? I didn't. The pale, processed goo I had always found in the supermarket had been as close as I had ever come to the real thing. But oh, I have been eating a lie! Because real honey does have a flavor. It's somewhere between molasses and ripe fruit and fields in late summer, and it's earthy and intense and comforting all at once. With the first spoonful, I was carried back to the day I was 9 and I fell asleep wrapped in a blanket on our hammock strung between two sunny pine trees. And a good jar of honey can be used with anything. Really. I dare you to go out and find a food that won't taste delicious with raw honey. Licked off of fingers, drizzled on scones, painted on barbecue, served with cheese, added to marinades, mixed with peanut butter, stirred into tea, spooned onto oatmeal, baked into breads...Baked into breads....mmmmm.

Pardon me while I go hide the honey away in my kitchen cabinet. It's been sitting on my desk all this time for inspiration, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to type as I keep poking my finger into the jar for just one more taste. But I need to type because I absolutely must tell you how that honey made it into my dinner tonight. Honey Walnut Bread with Golden Raisins. And it's taken all my willpower (ALL of it) not to demolish the whole loaf in one night. Smeared with cream cheese and drizzled with more honey, a slice of this bread may be the most decadent, soul-fillingly joyous treat I've eaten since Kylie baked me a chocolate fudge cake for my birthday. I'm sure each and every one of you is simply dying to try this bread for yourself, so allow me to explain just how to make it.

Special note: Thank you Bronwyn and Bob for collecting the very best honey I have ever had in my life! I very much hope to come visit you on your farm soon. For those of you who want some Bron's Bees Co. Honey of your own, visit them at the Green City Farmer's Market in Chicago, or online at http://www.hpmfarm.com/brons_bees.html.

Honey Walnut Bread
with Golden Raisins
makes 1 large loaf



Ingredients

3/4 cup golden raisins
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or one package)
2 tablespoons raw buckwheat honey
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

Step one: Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover with 1/3 cup hot (but not boiling) water. Set aside.

Step two: Dissolve yeast into 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Mix in the honey and then let the mixture stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. If no bubbles appear, your yeast might not be working, so toss the mixture out and try again with new yeast. Add another 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water.

Step three: Mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, sprinkle in the salt, and stir until well combined. Continue stirring in a bit more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Step four: Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary. By the end, the dough should be smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky. Place dough in a lightly oiled large mixing bowl (making sure you turn it first to coat it), before covering it with a damp cloth and setting it aside in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size, roughly 1 1/2 hours.

Step five: Drain the raisins and dry with a paper towel. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the raisins and walnuts into the dough. Shape into a loaf and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until it once again almost doubles in size, about 30 more minutes.

Step six: Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Slash the top of the loaf with a small, sharp knife, and brush the entire loaf with the egg mixture. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for 30 more minutes or until nicely browned. You'll know it's done when you tap the bottom of the loaf and it sounds hollow. Cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

I ate my bread with cream cheese (and don't even think about using reduced fat) and a drizzle of the buckwheat honey on top. Here's a picture of my roommate trying my invention.

-Adriana