At the End of a Year, The Beginning of Another

I’ve never been terribly well at dealing with big life changes. Despite my assuredness in knowing that changes are very much for the better and my excitement to start a new journey, I still always seem to resist the shifting winds a little longer than I should and let them sting my face with pangs of nonsensical regret. I look back at the recently passed stage of my life and begin to riddle myself with ideas like, “what if I had done things differently,” and, “why didn’t I do this while I had the chance.” I find myself in a cleaning frenzy and spend countless hours going through neglected drawers, purging myself of high school art projects and accumulated knick-knacks. Posters rip from walls, items cram into brimming closets, and things on shelves rearrange. I need tasks to keep my hands busy and to stop my head from thinking.

I am starting new job in a few weeks, one that will offer me boundless opportunity and the chance to finally immerse myself in the field I spent four long years relentlessly studying at school. I am beyond thrilled and I think that my anticipation and excitement to begin this new path is what's leaving me so restless. Yet, leaving my old job was certainly bittersweet, my last day tinged with sadness. I found that the hardest part was leaving people. I spent 40+ hours working very closely with the same handful of folks and we saw each other at some of our worst, most stressed moments, but of course also at our best…and craziest. Truly, they became more than just friends; we were more like a little family and I hope they’re not gone forever.

Luckily I had Christmas at the beginning of all of this to help to ease the transition. It was a Christmas just like the others, though not at all in a bad way. It was traditional, as it should be. It was a day spent with family, two deep fried turkeys, a dark chocolate and orange semifreddo, raucous conversation and laughter, dogs trying to steal food from the table, and to end it all, an annual viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, which, no matter how many times I watch it, still leaves the edges of my eyes glossed with tears. It was all quite good.

As the New Year approaches I hope for the usual things except for the first time I feel like the resolutions really matter. I want to pursue my hopes instead of letting them eventually slip by as usual. I want to take more chances and do the things that scare me, to put myself out there, vulnerable and fearful, in the face of whatever may confront me and to accept and embrace it, whether it be new skills, deadlines, one more mile, perhaps even love. Who knows? Only time will tell but I have the feeling its going to be a very very good year. With that, I bid you adieu for 2012 and wish you the best in the upcoming days.

Waffles with Cherry and Pear Compote

We are all big breakfast food fans at my house. Some of my fondest food memories of my childhood involve the early morning meals of Saturdays and Christmas. As each weekend began, my dad would fry mounds of bacon to the point of perfect crispiness, not quite burnt but nearly so. He would then drop eggs into the hot bacon fat, spooning the sizzling grease over the top of each yolk until the whites were just set and the yolk thick and oozing for optimal toast dipping. Christmas morning was (and still is) the one day of the year where my family deems it perfectly acceptable to begin the day with an absolute sugar rush. Our traditional coffee pairing is a little number that involves Pillsbury biscuits, cream cheese, pecans, orange zest and lots and lots of butter.

Ever since I went to college, however, and even now, living at home but spending most of my weekend mornings serving brunch to others rather than experiencing it for myself, the Saturday morning ritual of a late second breakfast, filled with enough protein and fat to last until nearly dinner, has pretty much ended. Sure we still often find ourselves making omelets and other breakfasty things for dinner, but it’s not quite the same when you’re not in pajamas, a cup of coffee in hand and warm, late morning light streaming through the windows. So when the rare opportunity comes for a weekend day off, I always seem to make time for an extra special brunch-type meal.

The most recent pick were these waffles from Food Network Magazine. They originally caught my eye because of the cherry and pear compote (I’m a sucker for anything with dried cherries) but as I looked through the recipe, there were many more details that seemed to peak my interest. Like the addition of whole rolled oats, the little touch of orange zest, and the use of cottage cheese rather than milk for extra moisture and a kick of protein. The end product adheres to all of the qualities of waffles that make them so appealing, but kicks them all up about 10 notches. The cottage cheese caramelizes slightly on the outside, making for an extra crispy crust while keeping the inside extremely tender. I hope this doesn’t sound unappealing (because it’s actually quite nice) but it’s almost like custard on the inside, dense, spongy, and creamy. The oats add dexterity and the waffles as a whole are only just sweet so that the nutty and citrusy flavors can shine through. And the whole combo is certainly not complete without the pear and cherry compote, simmered in fresh orange juice until syrupy, and the cottage cheese topping, whipped in the food processor until smooth and rich.

Altogether, the dish is everything you want in a breakfast. It’s stick to your ribs filling and the sweetness is balanced out by the zing of tangy fruits. It may even replace the Pillsbury classic at the Christmas morning breakfast table this year, amped up in decadence with perhaps a splash of brandy or bourbon in the compote and a sprinkling of toasted pecans overtop. And if you happen to have leftover waffles, they freeze wonderfully and can go straight from the freezer to the toaster and to your plate ready for a thick smear of peanut butter on top, because everything is better with peanut butter, right?

Orange Waffles with Cherry and Pear Compote and Creamy Topping
Makes about six waffles from
Food Network Magazine

Ingredients
For the Compote
2 Tbs unsalted butter
2 large Bartlett or d’Anjou pears, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
½ cup dried cherries
Juice from 2 oranges
1 Tbs sugar
splash of brandy or bourbon (optional)

For the Waffles
2 cups of all-purpose flour (you could sub half with whole wheat)
½ cup rolled oats
2 Tbs sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1¼ cups milk
1 cup 2% cottage cheese
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
zest from half an orange
2 Tbs melted unsalted butter

For the Creamy Topping
1 cup 2% cottage cheese
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs milk
½ tsp vanilla extract

Extras
Toasted pecans, for serving

Start by making the compote. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the pears and cook for about 4 minutes until slightly browned in some spots. Add the cherries, orange juice, sugar, and about ¼ cup of water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced and syrupy. This took me about 15 minutes but it depends on how much liquid came from your oranges. If it starts to ever look too thick before the pears are soft enough, just add more water. Once thickened, remove from heat and add the splash of brandy or bourbon, if using. Transfer to a serving bowl and set aside to cool.

For the waffles, preheat the oven to 250 degrees and begin heating the waffle iron. Place a cooking rack over a baking sheet and set inside the oven. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, cottage cheese, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest. Whisk the liquids into the dry ingredients until just combined (it will look lumpy). Stir in the melted butter. Set aside.

While the batter rests for a few moments, make the creamy topping. Combine the cottage cheese, sugar, milk, and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor and puree until very smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the waffles, spray the hot waffle iron with cooking spay and pour a heaping ½ cup of batter into the iron. Close and cooking according to iron’s instructions or until the waffles are golden and crisp. Transfer finished waffles to the rack in the warm oven until all the waffles are made. Serve the waffle with the compote and the creamy topping and top with a sprinkle of toasted pecans.

Film From Way Back

Last winter my uncle surprised me with a beautiful Olympus 35mm camera complete with three lenses and a flash. He said was sitting away in storage and was in need of an owner to put it to some use. I was completely thrilled. I had taken a photography class in high school, way before I had ever even had a digital camera, and fell in love with film, the unknown aspect of it all and the giddiness and anticipation that comes with placing exposed paper in chemicals and watching a picture appear. I was so eager to go back to the way of photography where each exposure is thought out and purposeful. Being a little bit of perfectionist, I tend to sometimes photograph something a hundred times with my digital camera before it turns out the way I like it. Therefore film photography is a lovely challenge for me and forces me to embrace imperfection, see beauty in a different way, and more so appreciate the art of photography as a whole. It allows me to really visualize the outcome beforehand, taking note of the variations of light and dark rather than being to heavily reliant on that LCD screen.

Well, with the busyness of my last semester at college, the camera didn’t really make its appearance until around April when, on a whim, I picked up a roll of film and, over the course of a week, filled it up. I regret to say that the little roll of film sat in my purse for 7 months, neglected, until just recently. Part of this had to do with my reluctance for getting it developed at a drugstore and sacrificing quality. So, when I learned of a company called The Darkroom that develops all varieties of film and sends you excellent digital copies for a mere $10, I was sold. So that little roll of film made its way over to California and yesterday I finally saw the results.

There is a really intense joyfulness that comes from seeing photos from months ago and to be reminded of small details of the day that have been long forgotten. They evoke a sense of truth and reality that digital seems to leave behind, from their varying temperatures of warm and cold to the graininess of a fleeting moment. With that said, I think its time for me to go and buy another roll of film. Enjoy.

Oh, and P.S. no recipe this time. The kitchen has been quieter than ever and I think its safe to say that my daily meals of toast, yogurt, and Larabars are not necessarily newsworthy. I did, however, make this recently and it was phenomenal so you should too.

Buckwheat Crepes

Whenever I think back to the three days I spent in Paris back in 2010, my memories always seem to be one of two extremes. Some of them are wonderful and nearly surreal like cheese, baguettes, and perhaps a little too much wine beneath the Eiffel tower, walking for hours along Christmas markets, morning croissants, and gazing awestruck at the cavernous ceilings of the Notre Dame. Others are not quite as nice. Sleeping in shanty hostels with paper-thin walls and overtones of cigarettes and mold, viewing Versailles though an impenetrable blanket of rain and fog, oh yeah and getting cornered and screamed at by the metro police because they were certain I jumped the barriers (I did not, for the record).

With these memories, so profoundly great in their goodness and badness, I sometimes forget to note the smaller details of Paris, the nuances of its food, architecture and people that make it the amazingly beautiful and almost dreamlike city that it is. One of these small details of Paris are crepes. With a creperie booth in nearly every street corner, they appeared as commonplace as a hotdog cart in any US city. Yet, as it was Paris, the crepes seemed to transcend commonplace. I’m sure that there were most likely much better crepes in nice cafes and restaurants. I’m sure that the street versions were probably mediocre in the realm of all things crepe. Yet I happened to overlook the fact that the guy making looked bored out of his mind, cold, and tired of fulfilling tourist’s desires for this “authentic Parisian cuisine” and I instead enjoyed these crepes as if I were experiencing some rare and valued cultural treat.

I was in awe of the expansive cast iron crepe griddles and the way that the maker swirled the batter paper thin with a dowel rod. I was salivating in anticipation as he smeared heaping spoonfuls of Nutella and cut slices of over ripened banana overtop. He folded the crepe in half, then again and again and plopped this warm, oozing chocolaty cone of crepe into my hand, but not before swiftly taking his 4-euro payment, of course. The crepe was squishy and spongy and becoming nicely soggy every minute as the Nutella seeped into its pores. It warmed me to the core as the cold wind blowing across the Seine cut through all 5 layers of my clothing. The last bite, that little corner at the bottom of the cone was a molten pool of Nutella and sickeningly sweet.

In the two years that have passed since my Parisian crepe experience, I have not attempted any sort of European pancake at home. My general lack of the obligatory 14-inch diameter crepe pan may be to blame as well as a sense that I could never achieve the same sort of perfection, the soft sparingly texture and unearthly thinness.  Yet in the last few months, I’ve seen crepes everywhere, especially savory buckwheat versions (more properly called galettes). On television I watched as they were filled with ham and Gruyere, I read about a lovely cream cheese and smoked salmon interior, and ate, with much enthusiasm, a wonderfully curious ensemble of pulled pork, vinegar slaw, and blueberry compote all tucked inside. And then, after finally purchasing a bag of buckwheat flour, I made my own crepes with much success.

The recipe is from Alice Waters and is just about perfect. It has an unexpected addition of beer, which accentuates the lightless of the finished crepe. And even using a very old nonstick pan that has nearly reached the end of it nonstick capabilities, I was able to lift them straight off the pan with my fingers without a glitch. They are certainly savory themselves but lend well to both savory and sweet fillings. For dinner, I filled them with small cubes of maple roasted sweet potato and sharp cheddar cheese, rolled them into cylinders, popped them into the oven to let the cheese melt, and topped them with toasted walnuts and a drizzle of real maple syrup. The sweetness of the potatoes and the syrup contrasted the slight bitterness of the buckwheat and the salty cheesiness. They were comforting and filling. I had plenty of plain crepes leftover too and enjoyed them for breakfast, heated briefly in the microwave and smeared with cream cheese and pumpkin butter (jam would be great too). It may not have been quite like paris but hey, at least I got to eat these in the warm comfort of my home. That must be a plus, right? 

Buckwheat Crepes (and filling)
Makes about 10-12 medium sized crepes with filling recipe from The Bojon Gourmet via Alice Waters

A quick note that the batter, like all crepe batter, NEEDS to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours after mixing. This allows the gluten to relax which make for the optimum thin, chewy, and pliable crepe. Also, the crepes, once cooked, keep well in the refrigerator if they are folded into quarters and placed in a covered dish. You could also assemble the entire dish the day before and reheat in the morning for a quick and easy brunch.

Ingredients
For crepes
1 cup milk, divided
½ stick (4 Tbs) unsalted butter, melted
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
¼ cup plus 2 Tbs buckwheat flour
¼ cup plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 Tbs spelt flour
2 eggs
1½ tsp vegetable oil
½ cup beer (lager would be best but I only had wheat beer around and used that…it worked just fine)

For filling
3 sweet potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs pure maple syrup (plus extra for drizzling)
salt and pepper
6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
toasted walnuts

Combine ½ cup of the milk with the melted butter, salt, sugar, the three flours, eggs, oil, and beer in a blender. Blend on high until very smooth. Pour the batter into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (can sit overnight too).

Once the batter is rested, remove from the refrigerator and stir in the remaining ½ cup of milk. Heat a medium (8” to 10”) nonstick skillet over medium heat. While it’s heating, pour some vegetable oil into a bowl and get a pastry brush. Once the pan is evenly heated, brush a small amount of oil onto the pan. While holding the pan in one hand, pour ¼ cup of batter into the center and immediately start swirling the batter around the pan until it coats the entire surface. If there is extra, pour the remaining back into the bowl of batter. If it doesn’t spread around the pan easily, add a little more milk to the batter.

Place the pan back onto the heat and let the crepe cook for about 30 to 45 seconds. Once the top surface looks a little dry, its ready to flip. Use a spatula to loosen an edge and quickly use your fingers to flip the crepe to the other side. Let it cook on the other side for just another 30 seconds. When it is done, fold the crepe into quarters and place on a large plate and cover with a large pot lid to keep warm and soft. Continue the process, brushing the pan with a little oil for each crepe, until the batter is used up.

For the filling, preheat the oven to 425. Toss the sweet potatoes with the oil, maple syrup, and salt and pepper and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until tender. To assemble the crepe, place a spoonful of the sweet potatoes in a line across the center of the crepe and sprinkle with some of the cheddar and some toasted walnuts. Roll into a log shape and place in a casserole dish. Once all assembled in the casserole, you can sprinkle with any remaining cheese overtop and place in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes to let the cheese melt. Remove from the oven and serve the crepes with a drizzle of syrup and a nice salad

Happy Fall and Pumpkin Bread

Just in case the social media world hasn’t proclaimed this to you yet, today is the first day of fall and every wonderful and glorious thing that associates itself with this season is about emerge once again. And also, in case you have secluded yourself to a non-mediated hidey hole for the last three weeks, the season of pumpkin-flavored things has arrived fashionably early. No surprises there.

Now, as cliché as I may seem in posting a right-on-time recipe for pumpkin bread, a classic fall favorite, I am not ashamed. The truth is, on a scale of one to ten, my obsession for the flavor of that sweet and earthy fall pumpkin is an eleven. And as much as I would like to write many more paragraphs on the wonders of the flavor of pure fresh pumpkin, I think that between previous posts on this blog, thousands of boards on pinterest, and the rest of the world wide web, there is quite enough of that. For now, I will keep my pumpkin affections to myself. So call me hipster, call me a product of mediated consumerism, call me whatever you’d like, but don’t disclaim my judgment of taste because if you had a slice of this light yet oh-so-moist pumpkin bread, you’d be over here swooning right along with me.

So without further ado I invite you to make this bread. It is subtly spiced, touched with whole wheat, lightly kissed by maple syrup, and all topped off with a walnut crust. Though its superiority may get lost amongst other wild and outrageous pumpkin-y things, lattes, cake pops, oatmeal, and such, its okay. Everyone else can have all of that. I’m really just here for the pumpkin.

Pumpkin bread
adapted from Simply Recipes
makes one loaf

A few notes on the recipe:

I used a partial amount of spelt. If you don’t have it, use whole wheat instead. Or just make everything all-purpose if that’s all you have. I also used mostly coconut oil with a bit of olive oil. The same rule applies here; if you only have canola or vegetable oil, just substitute with that. Just make sure that your total oil amount is ½ cup. If your spice cabinet is unfortunately bare except for the poor lonely container of pumpkin pie spice collecting dust in the corner, feel free to replace all the spices in the recipe with just a teaspoon of this. And finally, use whatever nut you would like for the top. I’d imagine pecans would be lovely. Experiment with add-ins too. Maybe golden raisins…or dark chocolate chunks.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs coconut oil, heated until liquid
2 Tbs olive oil
2 eggs
2 Tbs water
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 Tbs brown sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9x5x3 loaf pan by greasing the inside well with butter or oil.

In one large bowl, sift together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and all of the spices. In another large bowl, add the pumpkin, maple syrup, oils, eggs, and water and whisk to combine until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a spatula to fold them together until just combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the walnuts and the brown sugar overtop. Use your hand to lightly press the walnuts halfway into the batter. Bake for 50 minutes or until nicely browed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then invert onto a rack to finish cooling completely.