Baking Chez Moi is très magnifique!

I know I haven’t posted anything in forever, which is a shame because I’ve been meaning to. I have a kick-ass lentil soup recipe that I’ve been meaning to write down. (The secret is red wine vinegar and French lentils.) Plus, there is my almost-entirely-from-scratch enchilada recipe. (I make everything except the tortillas, though I do have a tortilla press, so maybe one day.) I should actually write those out because I wing them every time.  

However, today, I am all about the Apple Custardy Squares from Baking Chez Moi. If you like apples, these are near perfect food. The recipe can be found here. (Thank you, Boston Globe and Dorrie Greenspan!)

How perfect is this food? Well, I didn’t get a picture because it didn’t cross my mind because it smelled so good I had to cut and eat it immediately, or after the obligatory fifteen-minute waiting period. Since I’ve basically eaten the whole thing myself, it is good that it only makes a small pan, and it’s great that it only requires ingredients you probably have around the house anyway.

The Apple Custardy Squares are the second recipe I’ve tried from Baking Chez Moi, and I just have to say how excited I am about this cookbook. It was one of my two Christmas gifts from my boyfriend, and sadly, it arrived during a period of immense tummy trouble for me. That’s why I tried it out for the first time only two weekends ago.

I did look at it as soon as I opened it, of course, and the recipes had me salivating and planning what to cook. What’s more, I immediately fell in love with the tone of the writing. It feels like Dorrie Greenspan is in your kitchen chatting you up and offering stories and advice. Every recipe comes with helpful info regarding serving and storing, but the most useful feature might be the Bonne Idée, or good idea. Not every recipe has a Bonne Idèe, but when the recipe does, it lives up to the name. The Bonne Idèe typically offers substitutions or additions to the recipe that might be good to try. For the Apple Custardy Squares, for example, she suggests adding some alcohol or almond extract. (I opted for two tablespoons of dark rum, which I had around because it was an optional ingredient in the first recipe I made, the Brown-Butter-and-Vanilla-Bean Weekend Cake. This is a lady who doesn’t mind a little liquor in her baked goods, yet another reason to love her.) She also suggests using pears or a combination of pears of apples or going tropical and using mangoes in the place of apples.

And this pretty much exemplifies what is so fantastic about this cookbook: there’s no dogma here. Greenspan encourages her readers to have fun, experiment, and make the recipes fit their tastes. I love that because it is how I approach cooking and because I think the dogma keeps a lot of people out of the kitchen. When you are scared of doing it wrong, you are less likely to try. Greenspan’s breezy tone and her many Bonnes Idèes make cooking seem less like a rigorous discipline and more like a fun and enjoyable way to feed yourself, your friends, and your family. Of course, yes, there is and can be some rigorous discipline in cooking; some recipes require it if you want them to turn out properly.  However, my idea of perfect in the kitchen is something the cook is happy with and enjoys eating.  Beyond that, I’m not sure there is a right and wrong so much as a good and even better.

Green Pasta "Recipe"

The recipe of the title is in quotes because this is going to be a recipe in my mother's style: add some of this, do that, add some other stuff, and voilà.  That's how my mom rocks it, and that's how I'm going to rock it.

I'm calling this stuff "Green Pasta" because most of the ingredients were green and because I purchased most of them at the Farmer's Market.  Ever since finishing Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've been feeling like a food slouch.  The book got me thinking a lot about how I've been eating and how changing what I eat can help to change the world.  And no, I really don't believe that's an exaggeration.

Before reading the book, I was already trying to make ethical food choices.  I'm a vegetarian; I try to buy local food when it's available; I shop at the Farmer's Market with some regularity.  However, Kingsolver made me see that I can be doing more, and one area in particular that I felt I could improve in was seasonal eating.  I would go to the grocery store and buy what suited me with little thought about where it came from and how far and how it was made to grow.  I picked organic when it wasn't cost-prohibitive, and beyond that, I didn't give it much thought.  Well, now I am.  

I want to make a serious effort to eat local, and by extension, that means eating seasonal.  What better way to know what's in season if you aren't a gardener than to cruise around the Farmers' Market and see what they have?  That's what I did.  I knew already that it was pea season, and fresh peas and I go way back.  Even as a kid, I was always eating peas raw right off the plant so much so that my mom complained she could never get enough for even one bowl of them.  Some people worry about rabbits munching their gardens; my mom had to worry about me.

Anyway, as a long time pea-lover, I figured I'd make that the centerpiece of a pasta dish.  I was thinking of using sunchokes, which I'd seen at the market the week before, just because I was curious.  I also figured on some lavender honey goat cheese, which I'd also seen the week before.  Well, there were no sunchokes because the stand that sells them wasn't there, so I needed a plan B.  It came in the form of a pea dish I'd tried--yep--the week before at the market.  It had mint, so I bought some of that.  I decided to get some spring garlic as well, and since there was a scape attached at the top, that went in to the recipe, too.  In lieu of the sunchokes, I decided I'd get zucchini.  While buying the zucchini, though, a woman fervently recommended the lita squash, so I grabbed some of that, too.  

In the true Shana style, a style I clearly inherited from my mom, I made up the "recipe" on a whim and eyeballed the whole thing and wrote down nothing as I did it.  Still, it was super tasty, so I figured I'd recount the whole process here.  I bought a lot of the ingredients from organic farm stands at the market, and obviously, that's best, but if you get whatever you can at the farmers' market, I think you can call it good enough.  I will say that it is fresher and tastier from the market, and you can feel good about supporting local farmers.  Plus, you may find some things you are addicted to and happy to spend your money on week after week.  I'm pretty sure I'll be plunking down $6 for the lavender honey goat cheese I bought whenever the opportunity presents itself.  It might be my new "drug" of choice.

Green Pasta

Ingredients

• Whole wheat pasta or whatever sort makes you happy (I used whole wheat organic fusilli.)
• Salted butter & olive oil enough to saute the veggies in and make you happy
• Spring garlic, at least a whole head because spring garlic heads are small and the taste is delicate
• 1 garlic scape (Use more if you've got them.  They were quite nice.  I bit into a raw piece, and it was really peppery and pungent.  It mellowed a lot when cooked.)
• Sweet peas, preferably fresh and obviously shelled
• Squash, sliced not too thin and cut into half moons or some other easily edible size (Mine was zucchini and lita.)
• Mint
• Salt & pepper if it suits you
• Goat cheese (I was worried that the lavender honey stuff I got might be weird with the mint.  It so was not.  The slight sweetness of it was perfect.)

1.  Prepare your ingredients.  Shell the peas, chop the garlic and scapes, and slice the squash.  Go with whatever quantities you think will match the amount of pasta you intend to make.  I made it for two and used the whole head of spring garlic, so if you are making more pasta, add more of everything.  Also, unless you chop like a three-toed sloth, you can put the water for the pasta on to boil after you shell the peas.  

2.  Once the water comes to a boil, add the pasta, and melt the butter in a skillet with some olive oil over medium-low heat.  First, add the garlic and give it a couple of minutes.  Next, throw in the scapes and the peas.  Give those a few minutes and add the squash.  Cook until you are happy with the doneness of  the squash.  I like mine barely cooked, which is why I slice it thicker than some people would.  It still needs to be something I have to bite into.  After the squash is done enough, add the salt & pepper and then the mint.  To be honest, I forgot salt & pepper.  It occurred to me afterward that I could've added a little, but I thought it was tasty as it was.  I'm a big fan of letting the veggie flavors shine.

3. At this point, the pasta should be done.  For God's sake, don't over do it.  Al dente, people!  Also, since you'll be adding it to the skillet to cook a minute or two, it's okay if it is on the less done side of al dente.  Drain the pasta, and catch some of the water in case you need to add it to the skillet to prevent sticking and give it all a nice taste.  Add the pasta to the skillet, and toss it around or stir it up or whatever it is you do to mix the flavors.  Add pasta water as needed.  Cook a couple of minutes till everything has cozied up to one another and the flavors seem like they are mixing.  

4. Move the pasta to an appropriately-sized serving bowl, add a few big spoonfuls of goat cheese and stir.  The heat should get it melty, but you can always leave the quantity you plan to use on the counter to get it to room-ish temperature before you mix it in.

5. Eat and enjoy.  You can feel like you've done something healthy for you and your planet and bask in the knowledge that healthy can totally equal tasty as hell.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Generally speaking, I'm more of a French toast girl than a pancake girl.  Perhaps it is because French toast and grilled cheese are the first things I learned to cook back when I was about 5 years old.  In any case, living with roommate over the past year, I've gotten into the habit of making pancakes on the weekend.  I've tried a few recipes and have come to the conclusion buttermilk is a must.  Plain old pancakes are just blah.  Also blah are mixes.  I haven't used one of them in years.  Besides, it doesn't make sense to spend money on a mix when homemade pancakes can be made with ingredients I keep in the house anyway and taste so much better.

The recipe I've come up with has the benefit of being small.  It probably makes 6 to 8 pancakes depending on the size.  The recipe makes enough food for my roommate and me with enough batter left over for me to have a second batch the next morning.  Also, because it is small, it doesn't take much in the way of ingredients, so even if you have only one egg in the fridge, you can make these.  This recipe isn't my best recipe, but it is good.  It's especially good if you add fruit.  I like to put the fruit right into the batter instead of just on top.  You can use fresh or frozen, but out of fear of having half-frozen berries in the middle of my cooked pancake, I defrost the frozen ones first.  When I'm in a hurry, I do this by putting the berries in a ziploc baggie and running warm water over them.  They don't have to be completely defrosted, just enough that the heat of the stove can do the rest.

Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 cup cake flour (You can use all-purpose, but the pancakes are more tender with cake flour.)
• 1-2 tbsp sugar (I go with one, but I once used 2 by accident, and it was fine if you like them sweeter.)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp.baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp of melted butter or canola oil (I like to do 1 tbsp of each.)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, but don't get too zealous or you'll end up with flour all over the place.  Add egg and buttermilk, and begin whisking together.  Once everything is wet and lumpy, add the butter/canola oil to smooth it out.  Mix until most of the lumps are gone.

2. Heat a skillet on medium for a few minutes until the pan is good and hot.  (By trial and error, I've come to know how hot this is, and it's probably best for you to figure it out yourself, too.)  Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet.  Let the pancake cook till bubbles begin to form and edges look dry.  Using a spatula, flip it over and cook until done. 

A final word to the wise: Do not turn up the heat so your pancakes will cook faster.  You'll end up with the outside cooked and the inside runny.  When I first started making pancakes in my teenage years, I often ended up with pancakes whose middles were uncooked.  Finally, my mom saw what I was doing, reached over, and turned down the stove.  I've never had that problem since.

Cookbook Recommendations

I haven't yet mentioned this anywhere here on this blog, but I am a vegetarian, a fact which some people find very vexing and a fact I find vexing on the rare occasions I visit my family.  One time where my vegetarianism isn't vexing, though, is when it comes to finding cookbooks.  There are so many great vegetarian cookbooks out there these days, and so many great cookbooks in general.  Of course, a cookbook is usually an investment; they aren't cheap, right?  Also, a cookbook is no substitute for using your own head and figuring out what's best for you and your tastes.

The cookbooks I own have either been gifts or were purchased at used bookstores or as remainders from places like the Strand or the Harvard Bookstore, two of my very favorite bookstores in the world.  Still, even if you can't find it for cheap, a good cookbook is a great thing.  It doesn't matter if you are like me and ignore all the parts of recipes that you disagree with or if you are the type to follow a recipe to the letter.  Below is a list of my very favorite cookbooks and why I love them.

The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook by Christopher Kimball--More than anything, I love this cookbook for the stories and the information.  I rarely follow Kimball's recipes to the letter (except the Rich Nutmeg Cinnamon Apple Cake, which is heaven), and often, I use this more for consultation than for actual cooking.  The charts in it as well as the how-to illustrations, though, are mind-bogglingly good.  I've yet to try too much from this cookbook, especially since it is filled with meaty, non-vegetarian creations, but what I have tried has been great, even if I did tweak the recipes a little to get them the way I wanted.

The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen--Katzen should write a book of just soups because her soup recipes are the best things in this cookbook.  Again, I don't follow what she says to the letter, but this was the first cookbook I ever bought, so it holds a special place in my heart.  If you know anything about vegetarianism, you know that this is a vegetarian cookbook, and when it sticks to vegetables, it cannot be beat.  I especially adore the recipe for zuccanoes, which are stuffed zucchini extraordinaire, but Katzen loves mushrooms, a problem for me since I hate them, which is also a big problem for a vegetarian, believe me.  Another problem with this cookbook is the desserts/baked goods.  I haven't tried many of them, but that is because I've been seriously disappointed with the ones I have tried.

Entertaining for a Veggie Planet by Didi Emmons--This is by far my favorite and the most used of my cookbooks.  I love it.  I can't get enough of it.  I don't think I've tried a recipe that I didn't think was good.  I may not have enjoyed the finished product in some cases, but it was always a question of taste not quality.  Furthermore, I have to thank Emmons for not only getting me to try but also getting me to love lots of foods I was skeptical about.  (Hello, sweet potato.  You are so much better than those pies and Thanksgiving marshmallow concoctions had led me to believe.)  To top it off, the cookbook is visually appealing and full of great stories, and the baked goods are out of this world.  Her Stowe Brownies have sent many people I know into fits of ecstasy as has her Blueberry Cardamom Cake, and if you look closely, you can find the base for one of my treasured secret recipes.  I just bought her first cookbook, Vegetarian Planet, on sale at Housing Works Bookstore (all cookbooks 30% off in November), and I cannot wait to try the recipes.  I met Emmons herself at a greenmarket behind my co-op when I lived in Cambridge, and she said that her second cookbook was much better than her first.  She may turn out to be right--the second is certainly prettier--but there's a lot in Vegetarian Planet to get excited about.

Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Schulman--If you haven't yet, you must check out the Recipes for Health section of The New York Times.  Oh my god.  Schulman writes the recipes, and they are great.  Some of them, or versions of them, appear in this cookbook.  I swear, except for my pale, pale skin which can barely handle your average sunny day, I should have been born in a Mediterranean country.  I love all the fresh vegetables they put in their food.  It doesn't matter if it is France, Italy, Spain, Greece, or North Africa; Mediterraneans know vegetables, and so does Schulman.  The dishes I've tried have been astounding, but I've yet to make any baked goods from the cookbook.  Emmons and my own creations have my heart when it comes to baking right now.

These are it for my cookbooks.  I have one or two others, but they aren't good enough to mention.  I also have A Joy of Cooking CDROM, which is a pretty good resource.  Otherwise, when in doubt, I start at the Cook's Illustrated website for an overview, google what I'm looking for, and then make up my own recipe based on all the information I've gleaned.  I like to live dangerously, I guess.