nic at night

This blog is now defunct, but you can still find me at my new online home: beingnotdoing.org.

I have never been super into making cakes, maybe because I don't like cakes that come from mixes and am intimidated by the idea of making cakes that don't. However, when they involve fruit, they somehow seem less like scary hard-to-make cakes and more like something else that is easy to make. Like pie except with batter instead of crust. In lieu of making sense, I give you the recipes.

Apple Cake, from Simply In Season

5 cups apples (unpeeled and chopped)
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour [I didn't have any, so I just used white]
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup nuts (optional) [I didn't use nuts, as I'd forgotten to buy more after using the walnuts in the blueberry coffee cake]
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk or cream [I used rice milk]
1 tbsp flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour sugar over sliced apples, toss, and let stand. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs, then mix in oil and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients [flour through nuts, if you're using them] in a third bowl. Stir flour mixture into apples alternately with egg mixture. Pour into greased 9x13" pan [it's more like 'spoon and spread,' as the batter is thick and the apples are plentiful]. Bake 50-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. While cake is baking, mix milk, brown sugar, and flour in a pot, and heat to boiling. Remove from heat, mix in powdered sugar, and drizzle mixture over hot cake [this mixture was good, but the cake was plenty sweet without it and I will probably leave the topping off in the future].


Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread, also from Simply In Season

[to make a 9x13" cake, you need to double this whole recipe]

1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp water
2 ripe pears (peeled, cored, and sliced)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour [I just used white, I really need to buy some whole wheat flour]
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp each ground nutmeg, ground allspice, salt
1/3 cup butter (softened) [I used 5 tbsp, as 1/3 cup is a pain to estimate from a stick that's 1/2 cup long and marked into eighths; I suppose if you were fanatical about accuracy, you could mush the softened butter into a measuring cup, but 5 tbsp worked out fine.]
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses or honey [I used blackstrap molasses]
1/2 cup buttermilk [I used rice milk]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter, and stir in brown sugar, sugar, and water. Pour on the bottom of baking dish, and arrange sliced pears on top of the syrup. In a bowl, stir together dry ingredients and set aside [an optional addition here is fresh grated ginger root; I used 1 cup of small pieces of candied/crystallized ginger instead]. In another bowl, mix softened butter and brown sugar until 'fluffy'; beat in egg. Add to dry ingredients alternately with molasses and milk. Pour over pears in dish, and bake for 30-35 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). Remove from oven and cool for 3 minutes, then turn over onto platter [or, in our case, a cutting board].

These cakes were both delicious, although quite rich. Especially the gingerbread, since I doubled the pears and topping for the size of the dish, but not the batter. Don't ask me why, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And, well, truthfully: I quadrupled the butter in the recipe, likely because I was more groggy than I realized that day, from fighting off a change-of-weather cold. So, it was a lot like gingerbread pudding, with the layer of pears and butter-soaked cake being half of the whole thing rather than just a topping. Really tasty gingerbread pudding, I must say. But still, not my most accurate baking effort ever. Consider it an optional variation.

For the fifth year in a row, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month. The difference between this year and the past 3 years is that I might actually make the word count this year, and win, as I did in 2002.

The other difference is that Dana is participating with me, so we have a friendly word count competition going on in the house. His word output is a bit faster than mine, so if we sit down to type together at night, I have to spend some time the next day boosting my words to retain my coveted spot ahead of him. Informally, we're challenging the city of Zürich, Dana's former place of residency, to a word war, on behalf of our new home town of University Park. Last I checked, they had crept ahead of us. If we have a sudden burst of verbosity, or just feel like taking it to the national level, we've got our sights set on the country of Luxembourg, but we're currently trailing them pretty dramatically.

Of course, it's only halfway through the month. And, it's not over until it's over!

In September, we decided to make quiche for the first time. I don't remember exactly what motivated us; we might have had a lot of eggs hanging around. At any rate, we made two, and they were tasty.

Gruyere Quiche, from Molly Katzen's Sunlight Cafe

crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp cold water

[The instructions for this are only given for an electric mixer, so I'll just tell you my own, in case you don't know how to make a pie crust by hand.] Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter, until the mixture is uniform and resembles coarse meal (no bits of butter larger than peas). Add water and mix with a fork until it sticks together into a ball. Roll out, and place inside pie plate; refrigerate crust until filling is ready.

filling
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cups sliced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dry mustard [I used mustard seeds, as I didn't have dried mustard]
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 cup (packed) grated gruyere [I used emmenthaler, as we couldn't find gruyere]
3 large eggs
1 cup milk [I used rice milk]
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Saute onion in oil for 5 minutes, then add salt, herbs and mustard; cover pan, lower heat, and cook for 15 more minutes. Stir vinegar and bell pepper into the onions, raise heat to medium, and cook uncovered for another five minutes, then remove from heat. Whisk together eggs, milk, and black pepper to taste.

To assemble quiche, sprinkle cheese into crust, then spoon vegetable mixture on top of the cheese. Slowly pour milk mixture over the vegetables and cheese. Bake on a baking tray in the lower third of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes [longer for rice milk or watery fillings] or until custard is set. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.


Zucchini Quiche, adapted from above recipe and one in The Vegetarian Epicure

Follow directions as above, except omit all spices except salt and pepper, and substitute:
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 lb zucchini, sliced and blanched [cook 3 minutes in boiling salted water, then drain]

To assemble quiche, mix cheeses and sprinkle over bottom of the crust. Layer cooked zucchini slices on top of cheeses. Pour milk mixture over vegetables and cheese. Bake as above [this quiche took longer to bake, with the more watery vegetables].

Both quiches were tasty and we enjoyed them for almost every meal for a good week. The first I found salty, and a bit strongly-flavored for my taste (I'm not a fan of the Swiss cheeses), but Dana really enjoyed. The second I liked a lot, as it was more like a zucchini pie or frittata, but Dana found it mild and not that interesting (he's not a fan of the zucchini).

What a year to return to living in a state with actual elected officials! We turned on the interweb to follow tight races in our own state, the Governor and Senator for Maryland, and we have been on the edge of our seat for hours watching the precinct reports trickle in for the Virginia Senate race.

But, truly, I have been waiting for the House to turn back away from insanity for a decade now. Not that any of them, except maybe Bernie Sanders, are true progressives, but they're a marginal improvement. I'm just happy to see people going and voting. The state-level elections are exciting, too. It's no surprise that our local elections went all Democrat, but I am finding it freaking hilarious that the entirety of the New Hampshire State Legislature is now Democrats as well. I guess they figured they weren't living free enough.

I figured I'd be in bed by now, but my fascination is proportionate to, although emotionally inverse to, the late-night 2000 election debacle. Since we don't have cable tv, however, we're reduced to pushing the refresh button on our browsers over and over. That'll have to get old sometime before dawn.

Yesterday's cooking spree got me thinking about what I've cooked this fall, and specifically what I baked with all of the blueberries I brought back from Canada. Usually I eat them fresh at the rate of about a quart a day until they're gone, but this year I had lots of very ripe, small, and flavorful berries, and I choose to do some baking instead. Well, truthfully, in addition, since I continued to eat them in my cereal and feed them to Ernest.

However, 7 quarts of blueberries go a long way, and this is what I made [with very few adjustments; this is baking, after all, not free-form meal creation].

Blueberry Pie, from Williams-Sonoma's Pie and Tart cookbook

basic pie dough
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour [I use King Arthur's because that's what I can buy around here]
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch cubes [I find it difficult to cut up the butter without melting it too much, so I just cut the stick into quarters and then use a pastry cutter to cut it into the flour]
3 tbsp very cold water [I put the water into a measuring cup and stick it in the freezer when I start making the dough, and it's then 'very cold' by the time I need it]

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the water and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together [when making 2 rounds, I make them separately rather than doubling the recipe, as I also find it difficult to divide the dough evenly when rolling out the crusts, and end up handling it way more than I want to and/or having one super huge crust and one that barely reaches the edge of the pie plate]. Transfer the dough to a work surface, pat into a ball, and flatten into a disk. Lightly flour the work surface, then flatten the dough with the rolling pin, lift and give it a quarter turn, and then roll out to a round at least 12 inches in diameter and about 1/4 inch thick [I roll out on a very lightly floured sheet of wax paper, with saran wrap between the dough and rolling pin, which keeps it from sticking and doesn't require a lot of additional flour].

filling
4 cups blueberries
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, strained
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Place rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make 2 dough rounds and roll them out as directed above. Press one into the pie plate, and leave one flat, and set aside in a cool place [I usually just put them the pie plate and second rolled-out round in the fridge while I make the filling, and then put the assembled pie directly in the oven, rather than chilling the whole thing afterwards it's together]. Place the berries in a large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice, and toss evenly. In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients except butter, and spread the mixture over the berries, tossing to distribute evenly. Immediately transfer to the dough-lined plate and dot with the butter. Place the second dough round over the top, folding the edge of the crust over evenly. Using a small, sharp knife, cut an asterisk 4-5 inches across in the center of the top to allow steam to escape during baking [at this point, you either chill the pie until the crust is firm, about 20-30 minutes, or you put it in the oven if you've already chilled the dough]. Bake 50-60 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is thick and bubbling. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool completely to set, 1-2 hours. Serve at room temperature or rewarm in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes just before serving.

This cookbook is one of the best investments I've ever made for $17. Each and every recipe I've made has been delicious, not to mention making me look like a master baker. This time, we made two pies, one for the house, and one to share at bridge. I haven't made blueberry pie before, because of my preference for eating the berries fresh and my opposition to purchasing berries from a store, but I have to say that it was really good. Even better cold straight out of the fridge, as the filling really firmed up nicely. If you like pie for breakfast, this is a good one. And, I discovered, you can find this and other pie recipes online at the Williams-Sonoma website. Who knew.

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Blueberry-Lemon Muffins, from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

wet ingredients
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4-1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dry ingredients
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

additional ingredients [from your chosen variation; the book offers 4 types]
1 1/2 cup blueberries [I probably used 2]
1 tbsp freshly grated lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, then stir in the additional ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry, being careful not to overmix the batter. Spoon the batter into oiled standard muffin tins, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden [they didn't change color much, so I tested with a toothpick rather than going on appearance alone]. If you are using mini-muffin trays, only bake for 10-15 minutes. Each plain muffin is listed as having 220 calories, I don't know how much the blueberries change that.

I think this may be the first batch of muffiins I've ever made outside of childhood, and even then I don't remember making muffins very frequently. They were tasty, and you can definitely taste the lemon. I might put in less zest in the future.

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Corn Scones, from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

1/4 cup butter or margarine [I always use butter, as margarine generally has whey, so I don't have a recommended margarine brand]
1/2 cup low-fat or whole milk [I use rice milk]
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup currants [I never use currants; in the past I've used 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and this time I used a cup of fresh blueberries]

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter. In a small bowl, mix milk and brown sugar, then pour in the melted butter. In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder, and mix thoroughly. Stir in currants [or whatever else you're using], add the liquid ingredients to dry and stir until just combined. On a floured board [I usually just use wax paper on the table to avoid using extra flour], press the dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Slice the circle into eighths, separate the wedges, and place on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and golden [again, these never get noticeably darker when I make them, so it's hard to tell by sight when they're done]. The recipe also notes (a feature of this cookbook) that each scone is 195 calories, if you care.

This is one of my favorite recipes, I used to make it periodically in grad school because it was quick, easy, and tasty. This time, I made a double batch of these, planning to freeze some for the future, but they were so good we just ate them that week.

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Buttery Blueberry Coffee Cake, from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates

1/4 cup sesame seeds (optional) [I didn't use them]
2 cups blueberries

oat topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup toasted* chopped nuts [I used walnuts, as that's what I had]
1/3 cup unbleached white flour

*Toast nuts on unoiled backing tray at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, until fragrant and golden brown.

batter
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour [I just used my general purpose white flour, as I didn't have wheat flour; the book recommends Hodgson Mill's wheat pastry flour, which Whole Foods and most coops sell]
1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 cups nonfat plain yogurt [I'm not sure I got nonfat, now that I think about it; I just used Stoneyfield Farm plain yogurt]
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9x13 baking pan and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using, coating bottom and sides. Rinse and sort blueberries, and set aside. In a small bowl, combine all the topping ingredients and mix well. In a large bowl, sift together [I don't have a sifter, I just mix the flour with a fork] flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, eggs, yogurt and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible to form a uniform batter. Spread batter into pan, sprinkle on blueberries, and cover with oat topping. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes before serving.

This was also the first time I've made a coffee cake. While it was delicious, I found it a little rich for my taste, likely because of the yogurt (I've become used to baked goods made with rice milk). Also, I either overmixed the batter or my baking powder was way too old or both, because it wasn't that fluffy, which added to the impression of heaviness.

Ok, now I can't wait until next summer's crop arrives!

One of the things I was really looking forward to after leaving my teaching job was cooking more, using the cookbooks I've acquired over the past ten years. Since coming back from Windsor in August, I've cooked quite a bit. Not every day, but we've tried a lot of new recipes, including two of the three curries I made and froze this week. Recipes [with my changes in brackets] here for your enjoyment.

Potato Curry, from The Vegetarian Epicure (the original book)

6 medium-size russet potatoes [I used 12 red ones]
3 tbs Ghee [I used safflower oil]
1 tsp each salt, cumin seeds, turmeric, ground coriander
1/2 tsp each mustard seeds, cayenne pepper [I doubled all of the spices because I find the original recipe too mild]
2 cups water
1 cup yogurt
2/3 cup cooked peas [I used frozen cut green beans, because the peas were totally freezer burned]

Heat the oil and add the spices, letting them simmer for 2-3 minutes. Cube the potatoes and stir them in until they're coated with spices and oil, for 5-10 minutes. Add 2 cups of water, lower heat, and simmer for about 1/2 hour, until potatoes are tender. Add yogurt and peas, heat for 5 more minutes and serve.


Curry of Eggplant and Potatoes, from The Vegetarian Epicure (the original book)

2 medium eggplants [I used about 6 baby ones]
3 large russet potatoes [I used 6 red ones]
2 bell peppers [I used 1 red and 1 green]
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp each of ground ginger, turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin seeds [I doubled these, except for the ginger, which I ran out of after 1 tsp]
1 1/2 tsp salt [I doubled this, too, which was a total mistake--given that the eggplant slices were soaked in salted water overnight, I should have left out the salt entirely until the end]
1/2 tsp each of cayenne pepper, ground cinnamon, ground coriander [I doubled all these as well]
2 cloves garlic, minced [doubled again]
2 1/2 cups water [added 2 more cups at the end, to dilute the over-saltiness]
4 to 5 firm red tomatoes

Wash eggplants, slice them, salt them well [and soak in water overnight]. Press out the excess water and slice into cubes. Cube the potatoes and bell peppers. Melt butter in large skillet, add all spices and minced garlic. Saute for several minutes, then add eggplant, potatoes, and peppers. Toss until coated with spices, then add water, cover pan and let simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Remove cover and cook over medium heat for 15 more minutes. Slice tomatoes into small wedges, and add. Serve when tomatoes are heated through.


Red Lentil Coconut Curry, from Simply In Season

1 large onion, minced
1 tbsp garlic minced [I used about 6 cloves]
1 tbsp ginger root, peeled and minced [I used about 3 inches of root, peeled and grated]
2 tsp curry powder [I used 1 tsp ground coriander and 1 tsp mustard seeds for this, since I don't actually have 'curry powder']
1/2 tsp each ground turmeric, ground cumin, black pepper [I doubled these]
1/4 tsp each ground red pepper and ground cinnamon [I doubled these, too]
2-3 bay leaves
1 can coconut milk [I use the reduced fat kind]
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce [I used tamari]
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups red lentils [I used green, because I discovered I was out of red after I'd already started cooking, but red would probably be better, as they're lighter colored when cooked and come apart more easily]
5 cups water
1 head cauliflower, cut into little florets
1 large sweet potato, cubed [I used 3 small ones]
1/4 head cabbage, cut into chunks [I left this out, as I didn't have any]
1-2 cups peas [I used frozen]

Saute onion in either coconut butter (taken off the top of the can if the can is frozen [not really possible with the reduced fat kind]) or oil until translucent. Add the minced garlic and all the spices, cooking for three minutes over lowered heat, stirring to avoid browning. Add coconut milk, tomato sauce, and soy sauce, and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often. In a separate pan, cook the lentils in water for 15 minutes, then add both lentils and liquid to the main pot. Add cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and cabbage and cook over medium heat until tender. Add peas at the very end, and serve when peas are warmed.

The first curry we ate half of for dinner the other night, and the other half is in the freezer. The other two I cooked tonight, and we taste-tested and then put all of both into the freezer. We might have them for our anti-Thanksgiving Harvest Feast, but more likely we'll just eat them at some point later in the winter when we're in need of something warm and spicy. There is some disagreement in our house about the best level of spiciness of curry, so I might recommend trying it the mild way first, unless you, like me, find curry recipes found outside of true Indian cookbooks to be too mild as a general rule.

For our actual dinner tonight, I cooked a recipe that I found online. With, of course, some variations.

Chicken and Bok Choy, from Cooks.com

8 oz chicken, in small slices [I used a package of breasts, free-range et cetera, of course]
3/4 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 tbsp corn starch
1 slice ginger root [I used 3 inches of slices]
4 slices garlic [I used 6 cloves of slices]
1 lb bok choy
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt [I left this out entirely, given all the soy sauce in the recipe]
1 tbsp oyster (or soy) sauce [I used soy, as I didn't have any oyster]
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn starch
1/4 c water [I left this out, too, and just used the liquid from the bok choy]

Heat oil in a pan, add chopped bok choy, water and salt, and stir fry until greens are limp [I include most of the stems as well, because I like them]. Take off heat and set aside.

In another pan [or the same pan, if you set aside the greens and liquid in a bowl], heat oil and saute chicken slices with the garlic, ginger, and 1st set of soy sauce and cornstarch. Mix the remaining soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar together, and add them and the greens with liquid back into the pan when the chicken is cooked. Let it cook for a few more minutes, and then serve.

This was really yummy with all the extra slices of garlic and ginger, I can't imagine what it would taste like without them. Bok choy and soy sauce, I suppose.

More reports of what I've been cooking and eating when I have another chunk of time to type them in. In the meantime, eat well and prosper.