Recipe, interrupted

Recipe: Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Crumb Cake

All I seem to be posting about these days is sweet baked goods. Some winters, it was hearty stews that got me through the cold weather. This year, I’m turning to baking to warm up my kitchen. But I promise, next time, I’ll write about something savory. That may not be for a while, however. Project: Kitchen Face-Lift is kicking into high gear. I suppose I could write about toaster-oven cooking or the cheapest take-outs in Park Slope. Stay tuned…

Today I’m compelled to write about this blueberry coffee cake. It’s homey, lightly spiced with cinnamon, and just enough of a treat on a crisp morning when you’d rather linger inside. It shares some similarities with my blueberry yogurt muffin recipe. In both, I use frozen blueberries (for the ease of it and because they’re off season) and some cultured dairy (for moisture and lift). But this coffee cake is a little denser and richer and the crumb topping definitely makes it more of an indulgence.

What really excites me about making this coffee cake is its practicality. All of the ingredients in this recipe keep for a long time. They’re pretty versatile ingredients too, so it makes sense to keep them in stock for other purposes. That way, you don’t have to tromp out into the cold to make this cake. Take the powdered buttermilk, for example, which I’ve been experimenting with a lot lately. No more buying a quart of fresh buttermilk for a single batch of biscuits or waffles or cake and then scrambling for ways to use the leftover milk before it goes bad.

Of course, if you have fresh buttermilk, you can absolutely use that. In place of the powdered buttermilk and water, add in ¾ cup fresh buttermilk as you would the water.

 

Makes one 9 x 13-inch cake

Preparation time: About 1 hour

 

For the crumb topping:

 ¾ cup chopped walnuts

¾ cup old-fashioned oats

¾ cup light brown sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

 

For the cake:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for buttering pan

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons buttermilk powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup water

2 cups frozen blueberries (if it’s blueberry season, use fresh and reduce baking time slightly)

 

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch pan.
    
2. Prepare crumb topping: In a mixing bowl incorporate all ingredients together until mixture forms large, clumpy crumbs. It’s easiest if you use your hands. Set aside.
    
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk powder, and cinnamon.
    
4. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until lightened, about 3-5 minutes with a stand mixer, longer with a hand mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla.
    
5. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the water in two additions. With each addition mix just until ingredients are incorporated.
    
6. Gently fold in blueberries. Spread cake batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly on top.
   
    
   
7. Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
    
8. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack or cutting into slices directly in the pan.
   

Recipe: Soft and Cake-like Peanut Butter Cookies

A perfect way to pass a winter's afternoon: peanut butter cookies & board games.

Making good peanut butter cookies is not hard. Most recipes are pretty straightforward and, with all that sugar and fat, pretty forgiving. But here’s my beef with peanut butter cookies: they’re often too flat, dense, and oily for my taste. I like a more cake-y peanut butter cookie. And I'd like it to be able to touch a napkin without immediately making it look like it's been dabbing up a greasy slice of pizza. As for New Year’s resolutions, I’m all for moderation in 2012. If I’m going to eat just one cookie, I want it to be perfect.

So I’ve been experimenting. Of course, that required putting moderation aside temporarily, for the sake of research. I had never questioned the notion that, to make the best peanut butter cookies, you had to use mainstream creamy peanut butter brands. It made sense to me that no-stir, ultra-smooth Jif and Skippy would blend better. And then there’s the familiar flavor and texture of these brands that we seem to favor, possibly out of nostalgia.

But after making several batches with Jif and Skippy, I realized that I don’t actually like them. Before this cookie-baking experiment, it had been so long since I had eaten these brands that I must have lost my affinity for them. I find them too smooth, to the point of being greasy. They made the cookies feel kind of texture-less and mushy. So I switched to the brand that I’ve been buying for the past few years: Once Again. I usually get the crunchy kind but bought the creamy, no salt added variety for the cookies. A little grainier and darker than the big brands, it added a pleasantly sandy texture and a more natural appearance. 

But to really get the lighter, more cake-like texture, I had to count on baking soda and baking powder, which is often missing or used in smaller quantities in other peanut butter cookie recipes. Now I’ve got exactly the kind of peanut butter cookie I like: soft, peanut-y, indulgent and rich, but not greasy or heavy. So good, I even allow myself to eat two.
 

Makes 3 dozen

Preparation time: 30 minutes active time, plus 3 hours chilling time
 

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (if using salted peanut butter, reduce to ½ teaspoon salt)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for dipping

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup creamy all-natural unsalted peanut butter, at room temperature, well stirred
 

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
    
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until lightened, about 3-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla and peanut butter until incorporated. Add the flour mixture gradually and mix on lowest speed until just combined.
    
3. At this point, you can either: divide the dough in thirds and wrap it up in plastic like three 1-inch thick logs of compound butter OR simply wrap the whole mess of dough in wax paper or plastic wrap. Either way, chill the dough until firm, at least three hours.
    
4. Preheat oven to 375°F.
    
5. If the chilled dough hasn’t already been formed into logs, do it now. With your hands, roll the dough, one-third of it at a time, on a lightly floured surface or a silicone sheet until the log of dough is about 1-inch thick.
   
   
6. Slice up the logs into approximately 2-inch lengths. 
    
7. Dip one end of each little cylinder of dough into granulated sugar and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner, sugar side up.
   
   
8. Make the classic peanut butter cookie lattice pattern by pressing down the back of a salad fork into the sugared end of the dough. Press down a second time at a 90-degree angle from the first set of fork marks. The dough should be a little squatter now, about 1 ½-inch thick discs. Bake for about 10 minutes. until the edges and raised ridges just begin to brown and the cracks no longer look wet, but still slightly moist.
    
9. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool further. I think they’re best when eaten warm. Once they’ve cooled, store them in a sealed container and they’ll stay moist for a day or two.
   

Recipe: Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies

These cookies make it into the Christmas cookie rotation every holiday season. Over the years, I’ve been playing with the recipe, making small adjustments here and there. I really like the way the cookies turn out with this version – tender, not too sweet and speckled with vanilla. They make the perfect housing for the rich and silky bittersweet chocolate ganache filling.  

So many people have asked me for the recipe, that I’m obliged – happily – to share it.

Happy Holidays!

Makes 4-5 dozen 1 ½-inch sandwich cookies

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus resting time for dough and setting time for ganache

 

For cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon table salt

7 ounces (1 ¾ sticks) butter

½ cup vanilla sugar (if you don’t have vanilla sugar, use ½ cup plain granulated sugar and add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in with the eggs)

1 large egg, plus one yolk, lightly beaten

 

For ganache:

6 ounces bittersweet (60%) chocolate, chopped fine

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon butter, softened

 

1. Prepare cookie dough: Combine the flour and salt together in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until lightened in color and texture, about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until batter is well combined. Divide dough into two sections, wrap in wax paper, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, up to 2 days
   
   
   
   
2. Roll out and bake cookies: Preheat oven to 350°F. Take first section of dough out of fridge and let it sit on the counter for 5 minutes or so, just long enough to make it more workable. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough until it is 1/8-inch thick. With a 1 ½-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Bake until edges of cookies just begin to take on a golden color, 10-12 minutes. You can gather up the scraps, re-chill the dough and roll it out again. Try to get as many rounds out of the dough each time though, because the cookies tend to bubble up when the dough is rolled out repeatedly. Repeat process with second section of dough. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
   
   
3. Prepare ganache: While cookies are baking, put chocolate in a small mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream just to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes or so, until the chocolate is at least 90% melted.  Add the butter and stir to combine ingredients into a smooth and pudding-like consistency. Let stand 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature, until ganache has set enough that it holds its own shape. Spoon the ganache into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch plain tip.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Assemble: Turn over half of the cooled cookies so that their bottom surfaces are face-up. Squeeze about a teaspoon of ganache onto these cookies. Use the remaining, unturned cookies to place on top of the ganache, completing the sandwich. (If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can use two small spoons to distribute a dollop of ganache onto the cookies.)
   
   
   
   
5. Allow cookies to stand at room temperature until ganache has set, about 1 hour. (Or, if you are in a hurry, you can chill them in the refrigerator briefly.)

Recipe: Souffléd Fresh Pumpkin Pie With Bourbon

After a Thanksgiving feast, there’s barely enough room for pie. Most of us find a way to fit it in anyway, but the decision often leads to regret. Especially when the pumpkin pie is on the dense and heavy side. Not this pie. It has a soufflé quality to it that comes from whipping the egg whites separately. And a spike of bourbon in the filling wakes up those indulgence-fatigued taste buds.

This recipe may initially seem daunting, with ingredient lists and procedures for making each component from scratch, but if you can take it on at a leisurely pace, it’s really not a big deal. Make the pie crust dough the evening before you bake the cake (it’ll take you 5 minutes) and let it rest overnight. And you can cook, purée, and strain the pumpkin ahead of time, too.

You can substitute canned pumpkin to simplify things and it will come out delicious. But it’s worth having the experience of making the whole thing from scratch. It may not be for everybody, but there’s something very satisfying about breaking down a pumpkin, scooping out the seeds for roasting, and transforming it to something besides a jack-o-lantern. Kind of like a vegetarian version of butchering.

With a three-pound pumpkin, you should have plenty of puree. You can also buy a bigger one and use the extra puree for pumpkin muffins (I use Joy of Cooking’s pumpkin bread recipe with just a little less sugar) or for pumpkin butter. Both make great holiday gifts.

Note: this pie takes a while to bake. At a slightly lower temperature than is typical, I find the pie cooks more gently and evenly and makes for a smoother, moister filling that resists cracking.

Makes one 9 1/2-inch pie

Preparation time: About 45 minutes active time, plus about 2 hours 20 minutes total cooking time and 2 1/2 hours resting time for dough

For the crust:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

4 ounces cold (frozen is best) butter (or 3 ounces butter and 1 ounce leaf lard or vegetable shortening), cut into bits

3-4 tablespoons ice water
 

For the filling:

1 three-pound cooking pumpkin (or substitute 1 ½ cups of canned pumpkin puree, pure – unsweetened and unspiced)

3 eggs, separated and at room temperature (Note: a small amount of the egg yolk swill be used to seal the pie crust)

1 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

scant ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon table salt

1 ½ cups half-and-half

3 tablespoons bourbon

Pinch cream of tartar

Topping: lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional)

 

Prepare the pumpkin: Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and stringy pulp. (Save the seeds for roasting if you’d like.) Cut pumpkin into large chunks. Spread out in a casserole dish, skin side up, and add about ¼ inch of water. Bake until pumpkin is very tender when pierced with a paring knife, 40-50 minutes. Let rest at room temperature until cool enough to handle.

While the pumpkin is baking, little hands can work on separating the seeds from the glop,
preparing them for roasting.

Peel off skin. Puree pumpkin in a food processor until very smooth, a good 5 minutes. Line a strainer or colander with paper towels and drain puree for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until puree is as thick as the canned variety, kind of like mashed potatoes. You should have about 1 ½ - 2 cups. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Prepare the crust: (See my post on making a flaky pie crust for full photo tutorial.) Blend together flour, salt, and sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the butter bits and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute, until the largest butter pieces are the size of a nickel. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of the ice water and continue to process for another minute. The dough should begin to come together. If it seems a little dry or crumbly, add a teaspoon of water, up to 1 additional tablespoon. Gather the dough together into a disk, wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Lay the rolled out dough into a pie pan, gently pressing the dough into the sides of the of the pan and making sure there are no gaps of air beneath it. Trim excess overhang and patch up gaps of dough so that the there is about ½ inch of dough hanging beyond the edge. Tuck the overhang under the dough so that the dough extends just beyond the lip of the pan (this will compensate for any shrinkage). Crimp the edges with a fork, the tips of a kitchen knife, or your fingers. Pierce the dough in several places with a fork and let the dough rest again in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line the pie pan with aluminum foil and fill with uncooked rice or pie weights. Bake 10-15 minutes or until dough is no longer shiny. Remove foil and weights and continue to bake until crust is golden, another 10-15 minutes. Brush a small amount of the egg yolks (no more than a teaspoon) on the bottom of the crust to seal up the perforations and keep the crust from getting soggy.

Prepare the filling: Preheat oven to 325°F. In a mixing bowl, stir together 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree, egg yolks, sugar, spices, and salt. Combine half-and-half and bourbon in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Pour the hot mixture in a steady stream into the mixing bowl, whisking it together with the pumpkin mixture.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar into stiff, shiny peaks. Fold into the warm pumpkin/half-and-half mixture. Pour into the prepared crust. Bake until pie is set  and dry on the surface but still quivers slightly in the middle when jiggled, about 1 hour. Allow pie to cool on a rack. Like a soufflé, it will deflate slightly as it cools. That’s normal. Serve with whipped cream if desired. The pie will have more volume if you serve it just after it's had enough time to cool and set a little further, about an hour after taking it out of the oven (above). But even after a night in the fridge, the texture is still very light and delicate, if not quite as fluffy in volume (below). 

Recipe: Honey and Rosemary Toasted Almonds

Honey, rosemary, almonds, along with a chunk of Stilton. A little snack of harmony. These flavors go together so well and come together so easily you can make this treat just for yourself at the end of a long day. Or you can share it as an elegant lightly sweet, lightly salty, aromatic accompaniment to the holiday cocktails that are just around the corner. If you are serving it to more than four people, you'll probably want to double the recipe.

 

Makes 1 cup

Preparation time: 30 minutes

 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup whole blanched almonds

1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

 

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk together oil and honey. Toss together with almonds and rosemary.
   
   
   
   
2. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, rotating pan halfway through, for a total cooking time of about 20 minutes.
    
3. Allow the almonds to cool long enough in the pan for them to lose their fresh-out-of-the-oven softness and take on a nice crisp crunch.

Recipe: Chickpea and Sunflower Seed Hummus

A neighborhood mom and fellow Park Slope Food Co-op member has for months been raving to me about sunflower seed butter. It took me a while to make room for yet another nut butter in the fridge (next to the peanut and almond butters) but when I finally got around to trying sunflower seed butter, I could definitely see its appeal. Slightly sweet, very creamy and very rich, but it has the delicate flavor of sunflowers. It was almost too rich for me to spread on a slice of bread. Doing that kind of felt like eating sesame tahini straight up. And that’s when I tried making hummus with this instead of tahini. With sunflower seed butter, the hummus is mellow and very smooth and buttery. So buttery, that I didn’t even need to drizzle in any olive oil. I added some scallions for a spike of sharp, green flavor and my new favorite hummus was born.

This hummus tastes just right to me when it’s had a chance to sit for about an hour or so. The garlic and scallion become more pronounced as time goes on. After a day or two, my kids deem it "too spicy" (but I still like it).

 

Makes about 2 cups

Preparation time: 5 minutes, plus resting time, if desired

 

2 cups cooked chick peas, with some of the cooking liquid reserved

3 tablespoons sunflower seed butter

3 scallions, white and light green parts roughly chopped

1-2 cloves garlic

Kosher salt to taste (start with about 1/2 teaspoon and add more as necessary)

Fresh lemon juice to taste (start with about a teaspoon, going up to about 3 teaspoons)

 

1. In a food processor or with an immersion blender, process all ingredients together until very smooth. Moisten with cooking liquid and process again until you get a thick, dip-like consistency that will hold on to pretzels, crackers, and veggie sticks.
    
2. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice as desired.

 

Recipe: Kale with Millet, Brown Butter and Sage

This dish is what I like to think of as luxury-hippy food. Not in a fancy Whole Foods kind of way. More like, I’m-making-millet-but-this-ain’t-no-bird-food. With brown butter, sage, and toasted hazelnuts, millet and kale are transformed into a rich and deeply satisfying treat.

Millet is high in protein and B vitamins and is shaped like little beads, which I think are sort of cute. You can cook millet like you would rice. The problem with millet, though, is that it has a tendency to clump together in sticky, not so cute way. This recipe gets around that potentially sticky situation in two ways: brown butter coats and separates the grains and a good amount of chopped kale blocks the millet, keeping it from congregating in large crowds. Kale also balances out this dish nutritionally – you could eat this as a one-bowl meal. 

 

Serves 4 as a side dish, 2-3 as a main course

Preparation time: 30 minutes

 

5 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons chopped shallots

Kosher salt, to taste (about ¾ teaspoon total)

4 cups chopped kale

2/3 cup millet

1 ½ cups water

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped and toasted

2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage

 

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add shallots and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally, cooking until shallots are softened, about 3 minutes. Add kale and continue to cook until kale is wilted, another 5 minutes.
   
   
2. Stir in millet and add water. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook until millet is cooked through and kale is tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
   
   
3. Melt remaining butter in a small skillet, over medium heat. When butter foams, add the sage. Cook the mixture another minute or two until it is fragrant and nutty, and the butter solids have begun to deepen in color. Remove from heat, stir in hazelnuts.
   
   
4. Drizzle the sage-brown butter and hazelnuts over the millet and serve. Note: leftover millet is not so great, so clean your plates!

 

Technique: How to Toast Nuts

In my mind, using toasted nuts instead of raw nuts is almost always preferable. Every now and then I like the flavor of raw almonds. But that’s pretty much it. Raw food enthusiasts would clearly disagree with me. But if you happen to cook with heat, see what you think the next time you garnish a salad with nuts. Compare the difference between toasted and untoasted nuts. Hands down, the toasted nuts are crispier in texture, deeper in color and flavor, and just plain nuttier.

Here is a simple guideline for getting beautifully toasted nuts.

Uniform in size and type. If you are toasting whole nuts, they’re already pretty much the same size. But to ensure that chopped nuts are a fairly uniform size, don’t use a food processor. Instead, chop them with a knife on a cutting board. You don’t need to drive yourself crazy trying to get them all exactly the same. Just make sure you aren’t left with any glaringly large chunks. And leave the tiny crumb-sized pieces behind. They’d just burn when you toast them anyway.

Also, make sure you toast one type of nuts at a time. Different nuts toast at different rates.

  not so uniform

more or less uniform in size (no crumbs or whole nuts)

Even heat. You can use an toaster oven, oven (good for larger batches of nuts), or a small pan on the stove. In any case, you want to make sure the heat is distributed evenly for even browning.

Oven-toasting. The lower the temperature (like around 300°-325°F in the oven), the more even and delicate the toasting. You can use a higher heat and the nuts will toast faster (in 3-5 minutes), but you’ll need to shake the pan a few times to prevent scorching and keep a very close eye. Note: If you are toasting finely chopped nuts or sliced almonds, though, stick with a lower heat. 

If you have a convection mode, it will help distribute the heat evenly. Even with convection heat, you will likely need to give the pan an occasional shake.

Toaster oven-toasting. I get perfectly fine results toasting nuts in the toaster oven. It takes a little experimentation and an understanding of your toaster’s idiosyncratic tendencies, but a light-medium toast setting has worked well for me.  You may need to rotate the pan halfway through so that none of the nuts spend too much time in any of the oven’s hot spots.

Pan-toasting. You can toast nuts in a preheated dry pan over medium to medium-high heat. Again, keep the nuts in motion to avoid scorching them. Nuts have delicate oils that should be preserved by not letting them get close to a smoking point.  Toasting nuts in a small pan, like one you’d use for frying an egg or two, also gives you a great opportunity to practice your flipping technique. First, tip the pan so that the nuts slip toward the edge of the pan, away from you. Then give the pan a swift, small jerk up and back towards you. With frequent flipping, you’ll ensure that all the surfaces of the nuts get a turn connecting with the heat of the pan. 

Tilt the pan and let the nuts slide toward one side of the lip of the pan.

Give the nuts a flip in the air.

Close Monitoring. Nuts can go from perfectly toasted to burnt in no time, so keep a vigilant eye on them. You know they are done when they take on a caramel-y color and smell fragrant and toasty. 

Save the best for last. To keep nuts toasty and crunchy, add them to your salad, grain dish, or stir-fry just before serving. If the sit for any length of time in moisture, they’ll start to get soft. You can toast nuts in advance and store them in your fridge for up to a couple of days.

Recipe: Fig and Tomato Salad

Is it me or does this year’s fig season just keep going and going? I’m not complaining. As long as the figs keep coming, I’m happy to let them find their way into my meals and snacks. I’ve been eating them on their own (biting into a ripe fig is an indulgence every time), with cheese (fresh goat, mild blues, Parmigiano Reggiano), grilled and tossed with caramelized onions. But it didn’t occur to me until this week to toss them with late season tomatoes. It’s a combination that works beautifully. The sweetness of the fig highlights the sugar in the tomato and the tomato’s acidity extends the fig’s range. A splash of balsamic vinegar bridges the two together. All the ingredients in this quick salad are simply tossed together. You don’t really even need a recipe, just a general sense of the proportions. Feel free to scale this recipe up or down depending on how many people you are feeding.

Be sure to have some crusty bread to soak up the juices. When I ate this salad I wished I had some Pecorino Toscano, which would make a perfect accompaniment for a light lunch.

 

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
 

3 medium fresh tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks

6 ripe figs, quartered, with stems trimmed off

3 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley

Kosher salt (I use a little more than ¼ teaspoon), freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 

1. In a mixing bowl, toss together all ingredients except olive oil. Drizzle olive oil in, tablespoon by tablespoon until the dressing tastes balanced.
   
2. Serve immediately or allow to rest for up to an hour to let the flavors to mingle.

 

 

 

Recipe: Chanterelle and Cauliflower Sauté

Fresh chanterelles are such a rare treat. Even when they’re in season, they can be quite expensive. So I stretched them out in this recipe with the ubiquitous and economical cauliflower. This pairing doesn’t just bring down the cost per pound, however. The mild earthy flavors of both ingredients blend into a mellow autumn dish. The chanterelles are meaty and tender and develop a nice crisp when cooked at a high heat. And cauliflower somehow manages to taste earthy and clean at the same time. Together, they taste to me like the culinary equivalent of a cozy blanket on a cool front porch

 

Serves 4 as a side dish

Preparation time: 15 minutes

 

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other neutral high-heat cooking oil)

About ½ pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms, wiped clean and tips of stems trimmed

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 small head of cauliflower, trimmed into florets and cooked, but still firm

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, minced

2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

lemon juice

 

1. Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add grapeseed oil. When oil is hot, add mushrooms, tossing them to coat evenly with oil. Turn after a few minutes, when they have browned lightly on one side. When they are nicely browned, after several more minutes, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and toss in cauliflower. Add a few twists of pepper. Stir occasionally until cauliflower is browned on some of its surfaces.
    
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Create space in the skillet by pushing the mushrooms and cauliflower off to the side. Melt butter in the open space of the skillet and stir the shallot into it. Cook until shallot is softened.
    
3. Remove skillet from heat. Add parsley and stir all ingredients together, adjusting flavor with lemon juice and additional salt if necessary. Serve hot.