Its spring time here! Woohoo! My spirits were very much effected by the lack of sun for the last several months, more so than I realized, until today when I was able to have a glorious adventure in the sun. As many of the people who have visited me in Oakland know, my house is on the edge of a vast expanse of a globalized industrial wasteland AKA. the port of Oakland. In the middle of this hundreds of acres sprawl exists an oasis of nature, undergoing a huge restoration and preservation project called the Middle Shoreline Park.  To commemorate the arrival of springtime Billy & I (along with a one michael gensington) packed a lemon-inspired picnic and biked to this park.

When I went to the produce market on the way home from work Saturday I was shocked to see such a stocked sale rack. (this particular place bags up the older, broken, or almost rotten goods and sells them so cheap!) I got a 5 lbs bag of broken zucchini halves for $1 and about 30 lemons for $2. Life is good When I got home I began forming my plan of attack. At the picnic we ate : lemon poppy seed muffins, lemon-zucchini bread, lemonade(although it was store-bought), and a quick-sort-of tabbouleh.

The muffins didn’t come out as moist or as lemony as I would have liked, so I’ll hold off on the recipe until I’ve mastered it, but the pseudo tabbouleh & zucchini bread were stellar!

Zucchini Bread w/lemon

2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
2 t garam masala blend*

aprox 3 cups grated zucchini
2/3 c oil
1 egg (or apple sauce)
1 t lemon zest
1/2- 3/4 cup raisins
2 t cider vinegar

1/2 c lemon juice

Method: Pre-heat oven to 350. Sift the flour, spice, & baking powder. Mix with sugar. In a clean bowl grate the zucchini, and add all the wet ingredients except the lemon juice. Mix the wet + dry, slowly add the lemon juice. Mix as little as possible. Pour into a greased baking vessel (I used a 4 X 9 loaf pan, but I’m sure anything will do). Bake for about an hour, until a stick comes out clean.

To make these kid friendly cupcakes, all you have to do is whip up a batch of your favorite cupcake or cake batter, pour the batter into the cones about 1/2 inch from the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 and frost. I used a chocolate batter with cream cheese frosting and they were delicious.

In my excitement I made some rash decisions, and once home I realized the error in my ways. Several key herbs were missing, but, I can always go back tomorrow.

First on my list of treats? Ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon (not to mention fenugreek seeds, poopy seeds, sesame seeds, chili powder, cardamom seeds, cumin, thyme, parsley, oregano, & paprika). I made some ginger-molasis cookies with my new spices, and altough not chewy & chruncy, they are certainly tasty. In the words of my man crow “my best flavor yet.” Although, I still am falling victim to what I call a biscuit cookie. A cookie that tastes good, but is too fluffy, and not dense enough to truely be called a cookie.

Ginger-Molasses Spice Cookie

Wet: 3/4 c butter room temperature, 1 cup light brown sugar lightly packed,  1/4 molasses (I used pomegranate molasses), 1 egg
Dry: 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 t baking soda, 2 T ginger, 1 T cinnamon, 1 t clove, 1/4 t salt

Method: Mix wet ingredients in order. Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add dry to wet in 3 installments. Ball in 1 T balls and space evenly on a baking sheet. Set oven at 350. Bake aprox. 10 minutes.

My sister and I promptly came up with the following menu:

Breakfast

Cranberry-orange scones
Cherry-chocolate chunk scones
Stovetop Chai
Ham Steak Bread Pudding

Daytime Delights

Emily’s delightful sausage, tomato, &  blue cheese stuffed artichokes
Stuffed mushrooms
Cheese plate, olives, and crackers
Shrimp Cocktail

Dinner
Wild brown rice with mushrooms
Mustard, coriander, & black pepper crusted Rib Roast
Au jus sauce made from pan drippings
Simple green beans with shaved parmesan & toasted almonds
Cauliflower gratin

Desert
Citrus rice pudding
Delicious cookie assortment c/o  mi mama

A day of epic eating, and even more epic cooking. After much debate with my mom and sister about whether or not this was too much food, I own the battle crying “Who cares if it is too much food?” I planned on spending the majority of the day cooking, and that I did. I had never been in charge of roasting such a large beast, very intimidating. Early in the morning while I was massaging the carcass I wondered to myself, “is this fun?” Of course it is! All in all it was a success, despite me somehow overcooking brown rice. I didn’t even know that was possible considering how many times I’ve undercooked it despite all efforts otherwise. Suggestions welcome.

A lot of these recipes have been posted here before, and I need to save some for the future! But for now I will share my favorite stuffed mushroom recipe. It isn’t overly filled with cheese like so many stuffed mushroom recipes. I sometimes make them and just eat them for my dinner!

Anytime Stuffed Mushrooms

carrots- diced,
1 stalk celery-diced,
parmesan cheese, any form
assortment of fresh herbs
brown or button mushrooms-Tops removed from stems- stems diced,
1 slice bread (soaked in water and squeezed of its liquid),
1-2 Eggs, beaten

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl exact measurements are not necessary. Fill each mushroom top by firmly pressing in a large scoop of fixin’s. Drizzle some olive oil  on the bottom of a baking dish and place the filled mushrooms in it, packed in tightly. Drizzle a little more oil over top of them, and even a little water in the bottom of the dish if you want. Cook at 400 for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked to your desired consistency. When they come out of the oven, shave some parmesan directly over the hot goodins. Enjoy!

The muffins were less than a slam dunk. Too much salt, and not enough sugar. I didnt realize I didn’t have any eggs until the sugar and butter had already been creamed, whoops! In went a little tahini, molasis, and yogurt. All in all the batter looked okay, but it became clear in the oven that the lack of eggs would be my downfall.

The applesauce was great. Here is a fool-proof recipe for fast, homemade applesauce!

Ingredients:
-4 apples of your choosing. When selecting apples, think of the exact opposite qualities you would for making pie- you want apples that will break down and have a good amount of sugar in them.
-juice from 2 sweet oranges
-water to just cover the apples
-2 T sugar
-1T cinnamon

Method:
Peel and dice the apples. Place in a saucepans and add remaining ingredients. Cover & Boil until the apples break down, and water begins to evaporate. Check the pan every few minutes and begin breaking up the apple chunks. Simmer until most of the water is evaporated, and the sauce has reached a consistency of your liking.

On actual Thanksgiving I went to my friends Eric, Karen, and Anders house for a festival of people who couldn’t or didn’t go home for the day. All in all I think there were about 17 people, each who brought something delicious to the food table.  For these festivities I made  butternut  Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin, Roasted Garlic & Herb Mashed Potato, Pumpkin Tart, and a crazy cheese terrine. There were certainly a few highlights including but not limited to, a garlic soup meant to be a soup but turned into a delicious gravy, and cranberry cheddar cheese with whole wheat and sunflower bread.

For the first time in a long time, I decided to follow a few recipes to the t to see how I could do. With the exception of a few budget-friendly changes in cheese selection, I first went with this recipe for a cheese terrine. Although I did not find it particularly yummy, others did. The concept of adding more butter to cheese is a little strange, and kind of gross. It was fun, however, learning a new skill, and I will probably apply a similar technique in the future to make cheese delicacies. Above is a picture of my terrine, as you can see from that link, the Bon Apetite cooks have had more success…

The last two weeks my farm box has been overflowing with food. So much so that I have a back-up of things like pumpkin, squash, and potatoes. I had two butternut squash staring me down! It only seemed logical to try this recipe for a butternut squash & goat cheese gratin. Again, I think theirs came out looking a bit more appetizing, however, this was one of the more delicious food items I have ever had, ever, ever.

Now for the recipes!

I was in charge of the traditional-ish sides this year: mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Wednesday night I roasted my pumpkin, and roasted my garlic. Come Thursday morning, I realized I don’t own a pie dish. My brain went a-twittering for solutions to my predicament.  Ah-ha! Tart pan. All in all it worked out quite well, but I made the crust a bit to thick for a tart pan, but I think I have mastered my pie recipe of the future!

pumpkin tart
for the crust:
make a pastry crust of your choosing, but add some cinnamon and a pinch of sugar.

for the filling
2 cups pumpkin puree
cinamon
nutmeg
pomegranate molasses
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
salt
1-2 T flour, to stiffen

for the whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 t vanilla extract
1 T cinnamon

Method: Prepare crust and set in refrigerator. Blend the pie filling ingredients together in a food processor, adding the eggs last, and 1 at a time. Roll out dough and press into tart pan. Pour filling over crust and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slowly and set. Whip cream, serve on top. Enjoy! It might also be nice to put some candied walnuts on top of the crust, before you pour in the filling, and on top, with come drid cranberries, cherries, or other dried, sweetened fruit. Cheese, also never hurt anybody.

roasted garlic & herb mashed potatoes
1 large bag of Potatoes
3 heads of roasted garlic
1 T chopped sage, thyme, & rosemary
salt
heavy cream
butter

Method: Roast Garlic. Boil large chunks of Potato. Combine ingredients to your liking.

To commemorate his birthday, the germs of all-hallows-eve have stripped him of his newly renewed (thanks to bilateral endoscopic surgery of the sinuses) voice. How will I nurse this birthday boy back to health, you ask? With a nice portion of clean and fresh chicken soup. This recipe makes sooo much soup, so if  you don’t want to eat chicken soup for the whole week, I suggest cutting back a bit

Using the store bought, pre-roasted chicken opened up some major possibilities, the main one being that I could use the meat for soup, and make a nice stock out of the bones/left over bits. To make the stock, I simply boiled the bones with carrots, celery, a rosemary branch, and some lemon (I suggest omitting the lemon if you don’t like the cooked lemon flavor, its quite strong) for 1 hour. It smelled better than the soup I was making.

Emylou’s Chicken Soup

1 Roasted Chicken *, picked to the bone of all meaty goodness
5 carrots, chopped in big chunks
1 whole celery bunch, chopped in large chunks
2 Leeks, coarsely chopped
1/5 onion, diced
1.5 cups uncooked rice
1 bunch chard, chopped to 1 inch piece
1 bunch cilantro, loosely chopped
6 garlic cloves
water
S&P

Soy Sauce
Ginger root
Rooster Sauce

Method: Begin by cooking the onions until translucent. Add the carrots and celery, followed by the leeks. Drop in 6 crushed cloves of garlic. Cook until very wilted. Cover with water, add rice. Cover with a lot of water, probably 10-15 cups of water. You will need enough liquid to cook the rice, and also leave room for the chard and cilantro, to be added after the rice is cooked. This is a personal preference thing. After the rice is cooked,drop in the chard/cilantro, and cook until wilted.Don’t forget to S & P throughout each phase, to taste.

To serve: ladle in the soup to your bowl of choice. Drizzle in 1-2 T of Soy sauce, and some rooster hot sauce, to taste. Complete by grading some fresh ginger over the bowl. Enjoy!

*pre-roasted or roast it yourself. the other day the store-roasted chicken was significantly cheaper than the whole uncooked chicken in the meat section, so I went with that. One could also just wait to make this after thanksgiving…oh the possibilities!

Also, I finally got a new camera! Check out this persimmon-chocolate cheesecake I made!

Cheesecake is so easy to make, if you can put up with the amount of animal goo you will consume. 4 8 oz cream cheese packages, 3/4 c sour cream, 1 cup persimmon puree, lemon zest, 1/2 c-1 c sugar, vanilla extract. Pour over crust of your liking in a spring -form pan, and bake 1 hour Breakfast anyone?

By December, my squash honing capabilities will be perfected, as will all of ours following this challenge!

I hereby issue Crow Decree #1:

Post your best from scratch pumpkin desert! None of this canned,pureed, colored, smooth pumpkin mess. I demand Chunks! And Imperfections! And messy stories and pictures to boot. May the best pie prevail.

My roommate  bought a ton of apples for general McBride consumption a few days ago. My excitement for fresh, fall baked goods could not be contained. A classic apple pie just wouldn’t cut it for me this time. I needed a litte more crunch! I ran to the store, picked up some oats from the bulk bin (less than a $1.00 for 2 crisps worth!), and scampered back to my preheated oven.

Apple Crisp

2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 ½ cups (packed) brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

4 pounds large apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Sous chef Derek did the apple prepping!

Mix oats, 1 cup of brown sugar, and flour in medium bowl. Add butter, rub in with fingertips until the topping kind of clumps together. (If you ever want to prep early, the topping can be made the day before. Just cover and refrigerate!)

buttery goodness!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix apples, lemon juice, cinnamon and the rest of the brown sugar in a large bowl. Transfer the fruit to a baking dish or pie dish (I opted for the pie dish but if I had any more apples I would have upgraded!) Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake until the apples are just a little soft and the top is nice and brown and crispy (about 40 minutes).

Delicious!

I had the crisp on a cooling rack for 20 minutes or so, then served it with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm!

And so I begin:

I  have officially lived in the Bay Area for 1 year. Wow.

What is more wow, is that it has taken me this whole year to start making sourdough. This area if famous for a few things, like lame duck female politicians, crack babies, hippies, homeless people, rice-a-roni, and….Sourdough!  In reality however, the star of the show is the airborne yeast that thrives in this foggy bay. There are endless possibilities for making deliciously fermented treats, and I plan on making each of them….pickles…beer…kraut…sourdough…delicious! In Fact, there is a fermentation festival here, and hopefully next year I will find a way to attend.

I began my research with a simple Google search, and although I was disappointed overall in what I found (I have a feeling sourdough recipes are much like mushroom hunting locations….) I did find enough information to start my experiments.

I started with these three 1 2 3

The second one, was really all I needed, though, as it provides the basics from which you can grow after attempt 1,2,3,4,5….

Until we meet again, here is a picture of Starter Day 1

Sourdough Starter:

1 cup water

1 cup flour

1 awesome jar

Combine the two ingredients in the jar and mix thouroughly. Each day disgard half of the starter, and replenish with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. in time you will see visible signs of fermentation…bubbles and a brown liquid on top are good indications that your starter is near completion! You may toss the brown liquid on top if your mixture is watery, or mix it back in. Continue this process from 3-7+ days.

Challenge: The Bay Area is known for having awesome yeast, I wonder if this will work as well on the East coast? Someone shoudl try it! I think you can also add some yeast to the starter to jumpstart the process, as the “sour” comes from the secondary fermentation that occurs during the making of the sponge-the pre-dough dough.