Confections of a Closet Master Baker – Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

So yes.  Before anyone says anything (and because several people already have), it has been a while…a long time, really…since I posted.  I have very few excuses, except some traveling, lots of time spent with family, and time-consuming preparations for a move halfway across the country.  More about all of that later, though.  I am grateful to my very good friend Cath, blogger at “A Blithe Palate” and co-host of the foodie book event, The Edible Word, for including me in her event and thereby giving me a gentle shove back into the food blogosphere.  This installment of The Edible Word centers on Gesine Bullock-Prado’s new memoir,  Confections of a Closet Master Baker.

I spent a week reading the book.  I hasten to say that the only reason it took me an entire week was the fact that I received it while in the middle of preparing for a move from Georgia to Kansas, and it became my guilty pleasure, read in small snippets between phone calls, box-packing, and caring for Little Guy.  I do love a good food memoir…but this one struck close to home.  Confections is the story of  a brave woman who gave up everything familiar to her and moved from an unfulfilling, personally dead-end job in Hollywood to the rolling hills of Vermont to open a bakery.  Yes…you read me right…a bakery.  Sandra Bullock’s sister and one-time business partner left all of the glamor of the movie business behind, for the one thing she is passionate about: feeding people.  And seeing them smile.  And making them laugh.

Her book is a story of possibilities, of opportunities, of promise.  But even more than all of those things, it is a story of family.  With all of the tangled emotions found in family relationships, Gesine tells the story of her mother, who conscientiously fed her family a stringent diet of health foods most of the year, but pulled out all the stops on birthdays and holidays to prepare the most delectable German desserts for her loved ones.  She tells of her grandmother, for whom canned soda was anathema, but who honored three o’clock as a sacred hour….the sacred hour of coffee, cake, and conversation.  And she tells of herself, of her many journeys, and of how a warm sticky bun in a paper bag can be the answer to all the world’s problems.

Things are hectic these days.  My husband is about to return home from overseas.  I am about to move halfway across the country, and then three months later move yet again to the middle of the Ozarks, where I know nothing and no one.  There are boxes to pack, address changes to make, people to see one last time, and new homes to make. It is easy to forget, in the midst of everything, what is truly important. It is easy to forget that every move I make, whether I remember or not, I make out of love and for my family.

So last night, I had my sister over for a big-girl sleepover.  We ate German food and watched a movie and ate ice cream.  We stood in the kitchen at midnight, making Gesine’s recipe for maple pecan sticky buns, and sharing thoughts and reminiscences from the past year.  Together we made the starter, and lovingly mixed the dough before we went to bed.  We got up this morning, cuddled Little Guy, assembled the buns, and put them in the oven to bake.  They smelled so good we could hardly wait till they were out, and ran constantly back and forth to the oven, flipping on the light to peek in with eager anticipation.  Finally they were finished, and we all three sat at the table together, with buns, milk, and coffee, sharing the love and the conversation that are really the end-all of baking.  And for a moment, cares and troubles disappeared, and schedules vanished.  For a moment, all that mattered was the warm, flaky pastry, and the gooey, candy-like coating.  And family, and love.

Thank you, Gesine.  Thanks for this morning, and for reminding me that love (and good pastry) are always worth the time spent.

Just a note….

Just a note to apologize for not having posted in a little while.  Little Guy and I have both been pretty sick, but are well on the road to recovery.  Hence we missed the last couple of farm stands and farmer’s markets we wanted to go to, and have not been cooking anything worth blogging about.  We’re on our way to recovery though, and should be happily journalling again soon.

In the meantime, though, I’ve been doing a lot of reading.  I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with M.F.K. Fisher.  I just read How to Cook a Wolf, and have been struck and amused by the similarity between this book from bygone days on eating well but economically, and many of the articles I see in current food and living magazines (except, of course, that Fisher makes the topic so much more fun.)

Then I’ve been reading How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table, by Russ Parsons, who wrote How to Read a French Fry (currenlty on my reading list.)  I believe How to Pick a Peach may very well be the best cookbook purchase I have made recently.  It is so much more than a cookbook though.  It is a discussion of how we approach our food; how it is farmed; when it is in season; and how best to enjoy it, simply, and fresh. I highly recommend you pick up a copy to keep around as reference.

Because of our recent circumstances, I have  yet to make it to the Market Days on Broadway.   I am hoping to go tomorrow if we are feeling up to it.  Has anybody else been?  how is it looking?

My entry for Paper Chef #40–Mother’s Day potatoes three ways

As I mentioned in my last post, I was at first excited and then stumped by this month’s Paper Chef ingredients.  You may recall what they were….floury potatoes, prosciutto, thyme, and a theme, Mother’s Day.  Hmmm.  The ingredients work together extremely well; so well, in fact, that Bron (last month’s winner and the  judge of this month’s contest) considered dropping them back in the hat and drawing them again.  In the end she decided to keep them, though, and I’m glad she did.  They gave me a chance to recognize my grandmother, my mother, and the little guy who has given me the wonderful opportunity of being a mother–all on one plate!

So without further ado, my entry for this month’s Paper Chef contest consists of potatoes prepared three different ways.  We have a potato and prosciutto galette, mashed potatoes with thyme butter and prosciutto, and thyme and prosciutto pommes dauphines.

I must say, working with the Mother’s Day theme was the most interesting part.  I would have simply cooked something for my mother….but I was already doing that, already had the whole (pasta-centric) menu planned, and had the ingredients bought.  So I had to get a little more creative.  I was actually about to give up on this month’s contest, when I started thinking about the potatoes I loved as a child.  And two preparations stuck out in my mind….one prepared by my grandmother, and one by my mother.

When I was little and my grandmother still lived in south Georgia (she has since moved in with my family), we would take trips to visit her, and she would always cook a big meal for us.  I remember only some of the things she cooked back then, but the memories are oh so good.  Peach and blackberry cobblers, roasts, perfect grilled cheese sandwiches….and scalloped potatoes.  I have always been a potato girl, and Memom’s scalloped potatoes turned me on to the dish (and its variations) at a very early age.  So here, in tribute to her, is a variation on the theme….a potato and prosciutto galette with a thyme and crumb topping.  I thinly sliced three large potatoes, and layered them alternately with very thin slices of prosciutto, which I had quickly fried beforehand.  I basted each layer of potato slices with extra virgin olive oil and a little white wine vinegar, and seasoned them with salt and pepper.  After brushing down the top layer, I sprinkled over a topping made with fresh whole-grain breadcrumbs, fresh chopped thyme, a little salt and a bit of melted butter, then baked the whole thing at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Next on my potato memory-list are my mom’s mashed potatoes.  She makes a wonderful roast beef, and always manages to extract from it a perfect gravy (something I have not yet been able to consistently master.)  So of course with that gravy, you must have mashed potatoes.  And my mother makes my very favorite mashed potatoes…thick and creamy, fluffy and rich. So my nod to her is our next variation….mashed potatoes made with creme fraiche and prosciutto, and topped with a thyme butter made very simply with sweet butter, chopped fresh thyme, and a dash of salt.

So that covers two of the three generations of mothers in my family, and leaves me, the youngest of the bunch.  My little man is growing up oh so fast….faster than I would like.  But he is growing up with the same love of potatoes I have always had; and his current favorite preparation is pommes dauphine, or “pao-puffs,” as he calls them.  I couldn’t have a potato-themed evening without them.  So I made up a batch of pate choux, mixed it with mashed potatoes, worked in some chopped prosciutto, some chopped fresh thyme and a little dried thyme, shaped my pao-puffs and fried them in canola oil until golden and crispy on the outside.  Little Guy was quite pleased and devoured his happily.

So I suppose that is it.  I can’t wait to see everyone else’s entries for this month; it was an exciting theme and one I thoroughly enjoyed.  And I know this is a day late, but Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers and grandmothers out there.  Thank you for the wonderful job you do.

Ingredients for Paper Chef #40

I must confess, the ingredients for this month’s Paper Chef seem startlingly easy to work with; perhaps a little too easy.  When I first read them, I thought, ah, no problem.  This is going to be fun….nothing to it.  But then I realized that the very challenge is going to be doing something creative with such beautifully basic, harmonious ingredients.  They are…

floury potatoes….

thyme (photo from my attempted window herb garden….apartments are not ideal for those who wish to grow their own food)….

prosciutto (this slice was lucky to be saved from my voracious dog, Teddy, whom I found standing on his hind legs at the kitchen counter sniffing with great delight)….

and, in an interesting twist by Bron, a theme rather than a fourth ingredient….Mother’s Day!  (Hence the treat to a gratuitous photo of me and Little Guy.)

I haven’t spent much time brainstorming yet.  I have had lots of ideas….variations on potato pancakes, frittatas, galettes, fries…all sorts of things.  But I have not come across the perfect idea, or really anything that sounds fascinating and Paper Chef-worthy.  So I suppose I will spend tomorrow playing in the kitchen, after I head to the market in the morning.  What fun. 

Simple meals: Fresh farmer’s salad, grits with Gruyere and chives

We had a lovely weekend.  Saturday was spent in Carrollton, visiting my sister and checking out the first week of Carrollton’s farmer’s market.  It is still early in the season for most vegetables, but we came home with some lovely young garlic, spinach, and fresh mint.  After a huge lasagna lunch in Carrollton (not to mention the oh so yummy chocolate shake that my sister insisted on sharing with me), I wasn’t in the mood for a big dinner.    Plus, I was feeling inspired by Alice Waters’ discussion of salad in Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, and wanted to use my produce as soon as possible.  So this was my dinner….a simple salad of greens, mint, fresh garlic, and farm-fresh eggs.  It was wonderful.  No dressing, no seasonings….just a lovely conjunction of earthy, fresh flavors.

And then today I decided I’d try the grits I’d picked up at the Jenny Jack-Sun farm this week.  I am a Southern-raised girl who loves her grits, and I had heard that these were fabulous.  Jenny said that they are ground at a lower temperature, which allows the enzymes to continue working, and lends the grits their unique flavor.  Well….they are indeed wonderful.  For lunch I made some grits and mixed in a little Gruyere, some butter, and a sprinkling of chives.  I ended up downing two bowls with a glass of milk.  Life doesn’t get much better than this.

This weekend kick-off for Market Days on Broadway

What a wonderful time of the year this is! I got up this morning to take the dogs out, and realized I didn’t have to put on a jacket. The birds were singing like crazy, and everything is finally bright green. These are my favorite mornings of the year….just warm enough to be exciting and bring out the scent of everything growing, but not yet burning hot. I came straight in and opened all the windows so we could all enjoy the lovely weather. Spring will be turning into summer pretty soon here….

Anyway, we have had a great week. We spent a couple of mornings with my very good friend, getting some plants into the ground in her garden. We’ve planted quite a few herbs, and some heirloom eggplants that I had picked up Wednesday afternoon on my trip up to Pine Mountain to the Jenny Jack-Sun Farm. Their Wednesday afternoon farm stand had its opening day this week, and I very much enjoyed going up and seeing their lovely farm and picking up some greens and fresh eggs. (And it was SO nice to meet you in person, Jenny!)

Which brings me to the main point of this post. This Saturday is the kick-off for Columbus’s Market Days on Broadway. Vendors will be setting up their booths in the middle of the 1000 block of Broadway. So if you can get down in that direction, please take a few minutes to check out the booths and support a local farmer. You’ll be glad you did. I wish I could be there, but I will be up at the farmer’s market in Carrollton (also having its kick-off tomorrow), visiting my sister and hopefully picking up some raw-milk cheddar.

One more thing quickly, because my son just dragged his jogging stroller into the living room, in an attempt to point out that we have not yet been for our daily run….take a look at this article at “Civil Eats” on southern sustainability. I find our progress in this area so exciting, and just hope that it continues.
http://civileats.com/2009/04/06/southern-sustainability/

Have a great day, everybody.

Cheddar and gouda mac and cheese; fresh peas with tarragon

Hi, my name is Amanda, and I love macaroni and cheese.  No, hold on, perhaps “love” is an understatement….

I am passionate about it, I crave it, I….well…whatever.  You get the picture.  The problem is, I don’t actually make it that often.  I do think about it.  I think about perfect piles of pasta mixed with ooey gooey cheese, topped with a perfectly crispy crust.  I imagine beautiful aged cheeses mixed in with classic cheddar, adding that perfect extra bite to the flavor.  I remember the mac-and-cheese’s I have made in the past, and I begin to salivate.

But then I think of the numbers….how many cups of cheese?  how much butter? and how many calories???

And then I decide thinking about it is better than making it, for the moment at least.  Until desire strikes again….

Well, tonight, desire struck again.  I couldn’t help myself.  I ran into the kitchen, pulled out the pasta, and started cooking.  Now, to my credit, I did use whole-grain pasta.  Some of the whole-grain pastas out there now really aren’t that bad, and with the one I use, I don’t even notice a difference…except a slightly increased chewiness, which isn’t altogether unpleasant.  And I had a nice big hunk of Georgia gouda in the fridge, just dying to be used.   And, of course, mac and cheese is one of Little Guy’s favorite foods too.  So I really had no excuse not to make it.

Here’s what I used….

Cheddar and Gouda Mac and Cheese

• 1/4 c. butter
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 c. milk
• 1  3/4 c. good cheddar cheese
• 3/4 c. gouda
• salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
• 2/3 c. fresh breadcrumbs
• 3 c. cooked macaroni

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter over medium heat.  Blend in flour gradually.  When combined and smooth, add milk slowly, whisking as you go.  Cook roux-and-milk mixture over medium-low heat until it thickens.  When it is moderately thick, add         1  1/2 c. cheddar and the gouda, and season to taste with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Continue cooking until quite thick.

Butter an 8×8 glass baking dish.  In a large bowl, mix the cooked macaroni with the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 c. cheddar, and top with the breadcrumbs.  Bake  at 375 until golden and bubbly.

What could be better, ladies and gentlemen?

We were almost ready to eat.  But of course I needed a proper veggie for Little Guy. The first thing to come to mind was the bag of fresh peas I’d picked up this afternoon.  I gave them a quick boil till al dente, while I cooked up a few small pieces of salted pork.  I chopped up the pork and a whole red onion, and mixed them into the peas along with a little tarragon and honey.  Delicious!

Little Guy agreed with me.  He ate more than any self-respecting two year old should, if he wants to maintain his terrible-twos reputation.

Kids’ meals cleaned up: Chicken and veggie quesadillas with roasted red pepper dipping sauce

So, I was sitting down this morning to work on my meal plan for the week, and realized I had not blogged in over a week.   I don’t know what happened….I just got busy and actually didn’t do a ton of cooking last week. I did have a friend over Wednesday night and made a fun spinach and goat cheese risotto (using some of the fresh chevre I had just received from Sweet Grass Dairies), and a rustic sausage and gruyere salad with some great Atlanta sausage.  But I forgot to take pictures, and thus was rather unmotivated to blog.    And then the weekend came, and so on and so forth.

So I was working on my meal plan, and thinking what I could make this week that Little Guy would particularly enjoy, and it got me thinking about the foods kids love.  We all know what those foods are.  Even kids with the most educated palates still love mac and cheese, burgers, quesadillas, and pizza.  Hey…I love all those things, and for good reason.  They are comforting, easy to digest, not challenging….all good things at the end of a long or tiring day.  And children, bless them, love routine and comfort.  Who doesn’t?

But of course fulfilling our kids’ call for “oni ‘n CHEESE!” doesn’t have to mean pulling a blue box out of the cabinet.  And the call for quesadillas doesn’t necessarily mean a trip out to the fast-food taco joint.   I am constantly looking for ways to update and clean up traditional kid favorites for Little Guy, and I figured while I’m at it I might as well share my ideas.  My goals in updating the old favorites are to

• pack in as much nutrition as possible without jeopardizing the dish’s integrity,
• utilize good fats as much as possible,
• incorporate local ingredients,
• and add a little unfamiliarity….something to bump up the flavor and make it interesting.

So tonight, I had already decided on quesadillas.  I had some chicken from east Georgia sitting in the fridge, ready to go, and a ton of veggies that needed to be used.  So I chopped one large onion and one humongous green pepper, and shredded up one big carrot (locally produced! ), and sauteed them all quickly in some olive oil, seasoning them with some salt and a little black pepper and cayenne.  I then chopped the chicken breast strips and threw them into the pan, sauteed briefly, added a cup of water, and left the pan covered to simmer.

Meanwhile, I dropped a couple of roasted red peppers into the food processor and gave them a few quick pulses. I added about 2/3 c. sour cream, a pinch of salt, and a couple of pinches of paprika, blended them for a few seconds, and voila. This dip seriously makes me salivate, just looking at it, and it is amazing on quesadillas.

The chicken and veggie mixture was ready by now, so I got out some flour tortillas, spooned on the chicken mixture, covered it with good Mexican blend cheese, and folded them over. I used olive oil cooking spray on my pan (virtually no fat there), and in a few minutes the quesadillas  were ready.

Now, I could have used whole wheat tortillas, if I wanted to make the meal even healthier.  But I must admit I just really don’t like them.  I love whole wheat bread, and some whole wheat pastas….but whole wheat tortillas just don’t work for me.  And the dish was clean and healthy enough otherwise I felt I could compromise on that one thing.  Little Guy had no objections and enjoyed his meal thoroughly, as you can see. 

(Stop taking pictures, Mommy.  I want to eat my “noses” (his name for the cherry tomatoes on his quesadilla.))

New cheeses….and Grilled Cheese Month!

So last week I suddenly remembered that April is National Grilled Cheese Month.  I was doing my usual food-blog scanning, and realized with a slight shock of panic that I (of all people!) did not have ANY good cheese in the house at the moment.  How in the world did that happen?  And how was I going to participate in National Grilled Cheese Month without cheese?

So what did I do?  I promptly placed another order with Sweet Grass Dairy to try three more of their fabulous cheeses.  This time, I ordered their Georgia Gouda, the Green Hill cheese, and some of their fresh chevre, and waited anxiously for it to arrive. 

I was not disappointed.  Sweet Grass’s customer service is fantastic (I received the cheese two days after ordering it, and they even called me to let me know the shipping charges would be less than the online total), and their cheese is incredible. But then, I knew that already….

I couldn’t wait to taste it, of course.  And I figured, while I’m at it….why not go ahead and make that grilled cheese sandwich? The only trouble was deciding which cheese to use (between the Gouda and the Green Hill.)  That was a short-lived difficulty, though, as I soon decided the obvious course of action was just to use all three.  Why not?

So I sliced up some sourdough (you get three guesses where it came from), spread one slice with the chevre, grated up some of the Gouda on top of that, and then layered on some Green Hill.  The Green Hill is a soft, Camembert-like cheese.  It really made the sandwich, I must say.  Take a look at that ooey-gooey classic grilled-cheese goodness….

So there.  I have done it.  I have officially participated in National Grilled Cheese month….and I even did it with Georgia-grown cheeses. Long live the grilled cheese sandwich!

Happy Easter! (Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Frosting)

Happy Easter, everyone!  I simply cannot believe what an amazing day we have today.  What perfect weather to celebrate Easter and spring.

Last week I picked up a ton of lemons.  They were on sale and looked so delicious I just couldn’t help it…I knew I would figure out something to do with them, especially with Easter coming up.  I spent a lot of the morning yesterday trying to decide on a recipe, and after looking at quite a few that I wasn’t thrilled with, I came across this one:http://www.recipezaar.com/Mean-Chefs-Triple-Lemon-Layer-Cake-81394

My sister came over in the afternoon to sepnd some time with us and help me bake, and after a few hours of work (including accidentally making way too much lemon curd, so I now have a lovely container of it sitting in the fridge….), we came up with this!

It contains the juice and zest of eleven lemons, so I know it’s going to be good, even though we haven’t sliced it yet.  (Of course it doesn’t hurt that I tasted each component….um…multiple times, as they came together…)