Hot Cocoa Cookies

It's not quite the fall weather that really begs for cups of steaming cocoa to stave off the grey, cold nights just yet. I feel so grateful that almost every weekend in September has been sunny and gorgeous - allowing us to squeeze in a trip to Ambleside Park on the north shore, play some frisbee golf, cycle to church, stroll to the farmers market, and enjoy walks around the nearby lake.

However, we did host a games night and as always, I rummaged through my pantry to figure out what needed using up. As it turns out, the most pressing thing to get rid of was marshmallows. Marshmallows... what do you do with them other than s'mores and rice krispies treats? (I already crossed option 2 off the list since it meant buying rice krispies and ending up with leftover cereal)  Rachael Ray had the perfect solution with her hot cocoa cookies. A warm chewy chocolate cookie with a perfectly browned marshmallow on top (assuming you don't burn it under the broiler) hiding a surprise square of melted chocolate underneath. Just delicious. They were a huge hit - if you want to go for a rocky road style, you could use chocolate with almonds for the 7.5 oz in the recipe (i think sea salt would be good too!) The one danger is overcooking the cookie while you're trying to get the marshmallows melted so I would suggest under-baking a bit more if you want to use the broiler method AND WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK. 

Hot Cocoa Cookies (Source: EveryDay with Rachael Ray Magazine)

makes 36-42 cookies

• 1 stick salted butter (1/2 c.)
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped  (or  8 oz bitter sweet: 4 oz semisweet)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 c. light brown sugar (not packed)
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 30 marshmallows, cut in half
• 7.5 oz dark chocolate bars (e.g. Lindt) cut into 1" squares

 1. Melt the butter and chopped chocolate over low heat in a thick saucepan, stirring frequently. Remove from stove and let cool for 15 min.
2. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a mixer for 2 minutes on low speed. Then scrape in the melted chocolate and mix just until combined. Add half the flour mixture, mixing (or stirring) on low until just combined. Add the other half of the flour mixture, repeat. Cover the bowl and place in the refridgerator for 50-60 min.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and use parchment paper to line two baking sheets. Use a cookie dough scooper (or some other device) to form 1" diameter balls. Roll them to acheive a round shape. Place about 2" apart on each cookie sheet and press them with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Bake about 10-12 minutes.
5. While they bake, stick the squares of marshmallows onto the cut side of the marshmallows.
6. Take the cookies out and press the chocolate side of the marshmallow into the cookie. Option 1: bake ~4 minutes just until the marshmallows are softened. Option 2: switch the oven quickly to broil and broil about 30 sec - 1 min - you should see the marshmallows beginning to puff and turn golden.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to rack.

Pasties and Pottage!

How much more British sounding can you get? (okay tea and scones might win out ... ) Well once again I was at the mercy of a large bunch of organic celery and seeing that I paid an arm and a leg for it, figured I should use it all up before it went rotten. (now why did I buy it in the first place? Oh yes to make more of my sorrel lentil soup... but there was lots left over) So after perusing the pantry and fridge, I realized we had lots of onions, carrots and potatoes from the garden and well as kidney beans. I then spent a good hour or two flipping through cookbooks looking for - the one -. Found on page 106 of Sundays at Moosewood. Red Pottage, a hearty soup with a hint of borscht going on, but full of protein from the red kidney beans - kind of like the perfect "welcome to autumn" soup paired with cheese pasties (the british empanada?)

The red pottage on its own, served with a healthy dollop or two of greek yogurt was fantastic! And the dough on the cheese pasties... melt in your mouth. The good news is, although a lot of work, you can make the red pottage in one night, prep the veggies for the pasties and then make the pasties on the following night. There is enough pottage produced for about 10-12 lunch/dinners and 6 extremely large pasties that could be split in half with a bowl of soup. So it pays off when you have 4-5 days of not having to cook lunch or dinner :)

Red Pottage
1.5 - 2 c. dried kidney beans
7 c. water
1 medium beet, peeled and cubed (or a large beet)
--------------------------------
1 c. chopped onion
2 Tbs canola, olive, or vegetable oil
1 c. chopped (or diced) celery
(chard stems if you have them lying around 1-2 c.)
2 1/2 c. undrained canned tomatoes (you can used chopped or diced if need be)
1-2 Tbs lemon juice
1-2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt and black pepper to taste

1. Bring the water and beans to a boil (if you soak the beans overnight first, let boil for 10 minutes vigorously), and then cover/simmer for 1.5 hours. Add the beet and let simmer another 30-40 minutes until beans and beets are both tender.
2. While the soup simmers, saute the onion and celery in oil until tender.  Add the canned tomatoes, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper. Let simmer another 5-10 minutes and set aside.
3. Once the beans and beets are tender. Pour the onion/celery sauce into the pot and use an immersion blender to puree until chunky. Adjust salt and pepper, lemon, or cayenne to taste.
4. Serve with greek yogurt.

Cheese Pasties
Crust
3 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
1 c. salted butter
6 Tbs ice water (this was roughly how much I needed)

Filling
~ 1 c. diced celery stalks
~ 3/4 c. diced potato
1/2 c. chopped scallions or 2/3 c. chopped leek
1 1/3 c. diced carrots
4 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp cayenne
4-6 dashes Worcestershire sauce 

1. Sift flour and salt together. Cut in butter (or be lazy and pulse the mixture in your food processor until coarse meal texture is obtained). Drizzle ice water into the food processor while pulsing occasionally until dough begins to clump. You should be able to press it into a ball and not have it fall apart.
2. Divide the dough into two pieces, shape into balls, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 15-25 min.
3. Mix together all the filling ingredients and preheat oven to 375 degrees F in the meanwhile.
4. Cut each ball of dough into three equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a 9" circle about 1/8 " thick. Quite easy if you roll it out on a piece of wax paper. Place 1/6 of the filling on half of the circle, leaving 1/2" clear edge. Fold the circle in half and fold the sealed edges back towards the pastry filling. Press the edges with the tines of a fork to seal (and make pretty). Cut three to four slits in the top of the pasty. Transfer to baking sheet.
5. Repeat for all dough. Bake 15 minutes at 375 then lower heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes. Dough should have a nice golden glow to it. Let pasties rest 5-10 minute before serving.

Collards, Kidney Beans, & Zucchini Cornbread

Occasionally I use an actual cookbook for a recipe. I mean I have a whole swath of them towering above the kitchen table, but to actually pull one out and flip through it to find a recipe always seems so much more difficult than using google. But, after Moosewood's Beans & Greens recipe, I will be going back far more frequently! It's just an incredible dish that really makes the collards and beans shine together. Served with brown rice or cornbread knocks it out of the park for a southern style comfort meal. Although, somewhat oddly, the beans faintly remind me of the taste of refried pinto beans (bonus points for me).

Beans & Greens
1.5 c cooked kidney beans
 ** (if from scratch, use 1 c. uncooked kidney beans, soak overnight. Then bring to a boil in 1 c. water, 1 c. veggie broth, and 2-3 bay leaves. Simmer for 40-50 minutes until tender. Save broth if any is left. Remove bay leaves)
10 c. chopped, destemmed collard greens
1/2 large onion, chopped small
4-6 cloves garlic, sliced or minced
2- 4 Tbs cider vinegar
2 Tbs water
1/2- 1 tsp tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
salt/pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Saute for 5-8 minutes until turning translucent. Add the garlic for a minute. Then add greens, vinegar, water and tabasco and saute for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Cover and let cook 5 minutes.
2. Add 1 1/2 c. of kidney beans with 1/2 - 3/4 c of their cooking liquid, or use water. (if the beans are canned, use the liquid in the can). Cook covered for 10 minutes, until the collards are tender. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Zucchini Cornbread (adapted from Epicurious)
1/2 c. butter (salted)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. buttermilk (or kefir)
10-12 oz coarsely grated zucchini (about a medium sized zucchini)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3-4 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c. cornmeal
1/2-3/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chili powder (leave the above two spices out for the usual cornbread taste)
optional 1/2 c. raw or frozen corn kernels

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x5 laof pan.
2. Melt butter. Let cool before whisking in eggs, buttermilk, and zucchini.
3. Sift flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk in cornmeal. Fold in wet ingredients just until moistened.

Photo to come

Sorrel & Roasted Beet Salad

Sorrel is the new "wonder vegetable" of our garden. Well honestly, it has been since June when we transplanted it from a container into the ground and it exploded into a verdant mass of leaves. And we are grateful. Sorrel makes an incredible "green lettuce" base for a salad, particularly when the lemony bite of the leaves is paired with roasted beets, goat cheese, and pistachios.  (I'm sure hazelnuts are equally delicious in this). I could also have added orange slivers or red onions but I was lazy and I can't say that I missed them one bit! My dressing was an olive oil/balsamic/dijon mustard/thyme mix with a touch of honey for sweetener. If I had frozen orange zest I would have added it to the dressing, but c'est la vie.

Sorrel & Roasted Beet Salad

•  Beets, red or golden. A large beet would serve two salads, or roast 3-4 to have extras for leftovers. Scrub clean and toss with a bit of olive oil. Wrap in two layers of foil and bake at 400 degrees F for 40-50 minutes until tender. (I did this part about 5 days in advance). Let cool and then peel the skin off. Slice into rounds and then into quarters (or halves depending on beet size).

• Sorrel, for two probably 100-200 grams, or for four 300-400g. Remove the stems, wash, and slice into ribbons.

• Goat cheese (as much as you want!)- for two, about 2 oz.

• Salted pistachios (1/4 - 1/3 c. for salad for two)

Assemble salad and dress. Enjoy. Perhaps with some baguette on the side.

Peach Muffins

Do you find yourself with leftover juice from canned pears, peaches, etc and wonder if there is any use for it? Good news for you! It can be used in place of apple juice in muffin recipes. I don't remember why I bought a can of peaches as I am normally adverse to any store-bought canned fruit and its syrupy water, but I did and I finished all the peaches while the syrup sat in my fridge. This is one of those times of the year where I simply cannot afford to have spare things sitting in my fridge. So I pulled up this recipe for apple muffins and modified away! It was the perfect muffin consistency, not too sweet, and subtly peachy.

Peach Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/4 c. wheat bran or wheat germ
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup white sugar (I used 1/4 c. and it could have been just a touch sweeter)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup peach syrup
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• possible some ground ginger?
• 1 cup fresh chopped peach or nectarine (or leave out and substitute 1/2 c. chopped walnuts)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tin or line with baking cups.
2. Whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices together. In a small bowl, whisk peach juice, oil, and egg. Add wet ingredients to dry; stir until dry ingredients are almost moistened, then stir in chopped fruit or walnuts.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full (I used a 1/4 c. filled to the top for each muffin cup and it worked perfectly) Bake for ~20 minutes. Let cool for 1- 2minutes before removing muffins from pan.

Summer Retrospective

Just a few of my favorite summer photos from the month of August!

Oregon

Georgia

Vancouver Stanley Park Seawall++9898+6++

Welcome back September

Wow, the amount of posts for August was appalling! Guess it's a sign that I was far too busy enjoying a week with my parents in Oceanside, Oregon and the farm, along with 10 days of film festival, and another week spent in Georgia with my oldest bestest friends getting sunburned/bug-bitten, laughing, talking, drinking, eating, playing banangrams & taboo, swimming, entertaining a two year old, and doing my part to stock up on cholesteral laden goods characteristic to the South... eg. breakfast at Cracker Barrel with grits, fried eggs, and biscuits (only five though) & gravy, chicarrones, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried summer squash ...  about the only thing I didn't eat for old times sake was moonpies!  I was however incredibly fortunate to get a bag of end of season Georgia peaches and they were SPECTACULAR. If only I could have canned them all and brought them home.  I had also forgotten how incredible night time in the south is - there is a veritable symphony of cicadas and tree frogs lasting all night and the slow sleepy dance of fireflies (though sadly they seemed far less in numbers than  my childhood memories recall).

Now though, the garden is in full swing and we are laden with chard, collard greens, beets, potatoes, and carrots so I'm doing my best to come up with recipes that use a bunch of these.

This meal came together fairly easily (assuming that your greens are already washed and chopped), was colorful and the flavors all worked together so well. I found the Greens Adobo recipe in the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook and the sweet potato hash was inspired by this post. The Greens recipe is awesome and I think would work well both with Asian pairings and Southern pairings (as well as the intended Filipino pairings). Note that the spices were not measured per se for the sweet potato hash so I suggest seasoning, cooking, tasting and adjusting to suit your personal palatte.

Greens Adobo (from Moosewood), Sweet Potato Hash, & Fried Egg (serves 2)
Greens

• 5-6 cups chard, stems removed, and chopped
• garlic
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs white vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. On medium heat, fry the garlic pieces in oil (grapeseed, canola, or olive) until golden brown in a large skillet (or wok).
2. Remove the garlic and then add greens to skillet. Stir over medium high heat until wilted.
3. Remove skillet from heat, and add seasoning & garlic pieces, stirring through. Serve almost immediately. I did cover mine for about 5-10 minutes and they tasted fine.

Hash

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated (fine grater size rather than the large 
•  grater size for cheese or in food processor)
• 1-2 pinches garlic powder
• 1 pinch ground sage
• 1-3 dashes (mexican) chili powder
• freshly ground salt and pepper to taste 

1. Heat 2 Tbs of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the sweet potato and the spices.
2. Occasionally stir the sweet potato until the color changes from orange to a lighter yellow orange and the hash begins to brown on the underside.
3. Taste to ensure seasoning is good and that the hash is cooked enough for your preference. Remove from skillet and fry up your two eggs!