Welcome Santa: Christmas Eve 2012

 Classic Americana. Mustard brown sugar glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, lemony green beans and parker house rolls. James favorites for a cozy Christmas for two.

We don't have many traditions, but as long as I've known James I've made this unbeatable gingerbread cake every year. Flavored with hearty guinness stout,  the recipe is a specialty of New York's Gramercy tavern's (former) elite pastry chef Claudia Fleming. Fleming may have moved on to her own restaurant on the North Fork but her recipe lives on.
Christmas for two -- warm hearts and lots of leftovers.

Gone So Long

I've been away so long. I am out of practice, to say the least. I left home just after Thanksgiving thinking it would be a day or maybe two. Work happens, life happens, family happens and here I am nearly a month later just venturing back into my little kitchen.
I decided to start small. A quick pasta.
Our "girls" have been working so we have plenty of eggs. Salami lasts quite a while so we have a bit to add for flavor into this make-shift carbonara. While the pasta boiled I sautéed chunks of salami, garlic and chili peppers in olive oil until the pork was just crisped and the oil flavored with the cured meat's spices. Next I beat a couple eggs and a small handful of grated parmesan cheese with plenty of cracked black pepper.
I poured the hot drained pasta back into the pot along with the salami mixture, eggs and a splash of pasta cooking water. With just a few minutes of vigorous stirring those separate ingredients came together to a creamy, cheesy sauce.
Dinner is back.

Slow Cooker Brisket

I don't usually make brisket. It's generally a hefty piece of meat for two people and James claims he doesn't like it or at least that it's "not his favorite." So when a beautiful grass fed brisket came in our meat CSA box I took it as a personal challenge to make a dinner James would love and that would provide for sandwiches while I was out of town.
We are busy working in the yard, trying to get ready for the next rainstorm. I decided to use the crock pot so our dinner could bubble away with no attention from me. James loves a little hit of chili. I dug out an old food network recipe for "Southwestern" brisket and decided to improvise (or rather avoid the searing and sauce cooking that recipe called for). I sliced up two onions (one red one yellow because that's what I grabbed first) and 5 chopped cloves of garlic and put them in the bottom of the crock pot. I placed the brisket, seasoned with salt and pepper, on top and started adding the spices -- 1 TB chili powder, 2 tsp coriander, 2 tsp cumin, and a healthy dash of paprika. To balance the spice I  used about 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, a good handful of brown sugar and nearly 1/2 cup ketchup mixed with water.
"Honey, this is really good." I heard a mere 10 hours later. Not many leftovers today.

A New Spaghetti Dish

I'm embarrassed by it but I kind of like Mario Batali. Let me clarify. I kind of hate the orange clogs,  the party boy chef attitude, the over-enunciated Italian, and the occasionally supercilious manner. But, more often then not, I find his recipes are worth trying.
With our home tomato season having come to an end, even after a hefty green tomato cake, we still have a wealth of green tomatoes, ready for recipes.
James, you probably know by now, does not love (or some days even tolerate) tomatoes. I love them. I love to eat them. I love to grow them, I love to cook with them. But mostly I love to serve James vegetables from our own garden. I thought, the texture being so different, that maybe green tomatoes could slip by and that he'd probably like their tangy flavor. I zeroed in on Batali's recipe for spaghetti with green tomatoes.
Basically a nut free pesto this simple dish combines 1/4 cup each of fresh mint, dill, basil and arugula with1 clove of garlic, 5 green tomatoes, and 2 TBs of parmesan cheese (don't forget salt and pepper). I ground everything to a paste in the food processor and then -- just before the spaghetti was fully cooked -- added in about 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil and pulsed until the mixture formed a vibrant green paste. I tossed the drained pasta and the sauce (about 1/3 of it -- I froze the rest for future green tomato dinners) in the hot pot to heat the sauce through and served James his dinner without a word about the tomatoes. green or otherwise.

Sweets From The Garden

I guess somewhere I had heard of green tomato cake before but I certainly have never made one, though it makes perfect sense. I know people make pies using green tomatoes instead of apples so why not a cinnamon and nutmeg scented pound cake with chunks of the tart tomatoes inside.
It just so happens I pulled our tomato plants the other day and have a ready supply of green tomatoes. Normally I would invite friends over for fried tomato sandwiches or salads featuring the southern specialty. But, since James is not a tomato fan, and -- as always -- I'm trying to stay away from fried and delicious, I decided to try this easy cake to share with our neighbors who have been under the weather and missed their Thanksgiving feast.
Talk about things I never thought I would do. After an internet search for a recipe I felt good about, I decided on a recipe from Paula Dean. Now I must admit, I NEVER even look at her recipes except as an example of what I don't want to do and I find her completely unwatchable. But I've been in the mood for a bundt cake and I actually liked the idea of this caramelly brown butter glaze (mine came out more like candy than glaze but still sweet and tasty) so I forged right in. I mean I guess I could do worse when looking for a Southern style recipe.
The result was a spice perfumed dense pound cake style bundt with raisins and walnuts kept moist by the 2 1/2 cups of chopped green tomatoes.
"Pound cake," James scoffed as he toted the my handy locking tupperware cake carrier to our neighbors. "More like 3 pound cake." he declared.

Big On Flavor Not On Looks

Yes I know, a hot chicken mess on a plate.

To be honest the adventure of not having an oven (well at least in the kitchen I use day to day) is losing it's charm. I had no idea how much I rely on it and now I have to think about our dinners in a whole new way.  I could have roasted this bird in the other oven, walking across the yard feeling like Martha Washington's household "help" trundling off to the summer kitchen carrying pots and pans. I just didn't want to (besides I was drying yesterday's tomato harvest in there). So I started to scratch my head for a stove top, not fried, one pot easy chicken dinner. 

I figured I'd start with bacon, pancetta to be exact since it is what I had in the fridge. I tossed chopped pancetta and onion in a dutch oven with butter and olive oil and then added in a few cloves of garlic. After a couple minutes I put in the seasoned chicken -- skin side down -- and a couple of cubed potatoes. My pan wasn't big enough for everything and so the chicken didn't get quite as brown and crispy as I would have liked. None the less I let the chicken cook for around 10 minutes and then added in about 1/4 cup white wine and the same measure of water. I brought the liquid up to a simmer and let the covered pan bubble away for another 15 minutes until the potatoes were tender and the chicken just cooked through. I served the bird, savory sauce, potatoes and all over fresh steamed green beans.

"This is better than our turkey," James said recalling our Thanksgiving dinner out and knowing just how to get my attention. Looks or not I might just try this dish again.

November Tomatoes

The end of this year's crop. Today we took of the last fruits (both ripe red and green for canning and frying) of the season and pulled the plants to make room for spring's vegetables. And finally a little gift from the new girls. A little brown egg from the chickens I thought might spend their lives as ladies of leisure. Eggs . . . finally eggs.