Guess What

It is kumquat season again!

And you know what that means.

Sweet, tart, tasty, homemade kumquat marmalade for breakfast!

A Thankful Week in Pictures

No school equals a day with Angelina!

Grandma's here! Let's roast marshmallows.

No need to fear, the man in charge of pie is here!

Which one is the bigger turkey?

Just right.

Don't be jealous of my husband's perfectly fried turkey.

That's right, we had Thanksgiving OUTSIDE!

Grandma helped Emily prepare for a post-lunch glamorous photo shoot.

Natalia watched from the safety of the couch.

I made whipped cream for the pie. From scratch. By myself.

 

Friday morning and we're eating. Again.

Happy Anniversary, Baby. Glad you survived our first two years.

On Saturday we took Grandma to the aquarium.

And then she bought us a milkshake.

The grand finale:a HUGE pile of leaves!

Grilled Mahimahi with Grapefruit, Avocado and Watercress salad

Welcome to another installment of adventures in cooking. I've actually been cooking this whole time so don't worry, I haven't resorted to night after night of take-out. This was a recipe I'd actually been wanting to try for awhile (read: Janice loves avocado), but the fam was less than amenable.  Well, that and I have yet to successfully use the grill so I had to wait for Ben to get home. Finally, a time came when no one could agree on what five meals needed to be put on the calendar for the upcoming week and I was told "to just pick something." Well, you asked for it.

I'm not really to a point where I can make recipes up as I go along so I'm still skanking them from Real Simple and various other places. You can find the recipe and nutritional info here if you are so inclined.  For the sake of easy reference I have included (most of) it below.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds skinless mahimahi, cut into 8 pieces (yeah, about that: fish is kind of pricey and that is a lot of poundage. Plus, eating leftover fish is just a little risky in my world. I just picked up two thick fillets for a total of 10 oz.)
• 1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 grapefruit
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 bunches watercress, thick stems removed (about 6 cups)
• 1 avocado, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 baguette, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Rub the mahimahi with 1 teaspoon of the oil and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Grill until cooked opaque throughout, 5 to 6 minutes per side. (This was the husband's job. Good work husband!)
2. Meanwhile, with a knife, cut away the peel and white pith of the grapefruit. Cut the fruit into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
3. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, honey, scallions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.(I totally forgot to include the oil and I totally tossed the chunks of grapefruit in at this point because I evidently don't know how to read directions -oops.)
4. Divide the mahimahi, watercress, avocado, and grapefruit among bowls and drizzle with the dressing. Serve with the bread, if using.

 Well, it ended up looking oh so pretty:

But, alas, the family was not won over.  Despite a general aversion to grapefruit on all our parts, the dinner was tried by all as evidenced in part here:

See the little bit of watercress hanging out on his slightly bewildered face? Two thirds of us made it through the meal just fine deeming it "okay." The other third? Complete fail.

The Great Lemon Meringue Fail

Emily is fond of Amelia Bedelia. Perhaps you remember this precious character from your own childhood?

And what should Amelia Bedelia be carrying but the lemon meringue pie that won over her irate employers Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. Amelia Bedelia messed up pretty bad on her first day of work for the Rogers so, to Emily, that pie must've been something spectacular. She had to have one.  Could I pretty please make her a lemon meringue pie?

I am actually really fond of LM pie myself, particularly my grandmother's. I wrote off asking for the recipe and my sweet-as-pie grandmother obliged:

Pastry

Sugar, 1 1|2 cups
Cornstarch, 7 tablespoons
Salt, 1|4 teaspoon
Water, 2 cups
Eggs,separated, 3
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Grated lemon rind, 2 teaspoons
Lemon juice,1|3 cup
Reserve 6 tablespoons of the sugar for the meringue. Combine remaining sugar, cornstarch and salt in top of a double boiler. Stir in water. Cook over boiling water until thickened, stirring constantly. Cover and cook for 15 minutes longer . Stir a little of the hot mixture into slightly beaten egg yolks; add to remaining hot mixture in top of double boiler and cook for 2 minutes over hot water. Add butter; cool add lemon ring and juice. Pour into baked shell. Cover with meringue made from egg whites and reserved sugar plus 1|4 teaspoon of cream of tarter. Bake in 325 oven about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
This is from my old cookbook, however I usually buy Jello Lemon Pudding Mix following directions on box adding a little lemon juice to the required water plus some butter. I usually grate the lemon rind and add it to the meringue instead of putting it in the filling. Good luck on whatever you try. Love you, Grandmother 

(I had to leave her "Love you" in the recipe because you need that to really make the pie.)

I ended up using the "scratch" version because I think I got the wrong kind of pudding. After A LOT of stirring and some other baking moves I got this:

Sadly, my meringue overflowed all into the bottom of the oven and wasn't so much fluffy as flat. I had to all but beat Emily's little fingers away from that pie while it cooled enough for me to cut it.

 

 Despite the flat meringue, Emily's slice looked pretty tasty to me.

 

 After days of begging me to make this pie and hours of begging to eat the pie, Emily was approaching it rather absently.

Ad then it hit Em.

She looks like I just played the dirtiest trick on her! Jolted from her TV-watching, she very slowly pulled the fork out of her mouth. "Does this have lemons in in?!"

Yes, Em, Amelia Bedelia's delicious confection contains lemons. That is why they call it lemon meringue pie. 

Adventures in Cooking: Kumquat Marmalade

Some time in the past few months I decided I was going to eat more local and more seasonal foods. It has been a pretty interesting ride and a rather enjoyable one. One of my new favorite "winter" recipes is Kumquat Marmalade.  First of all, kumquats are incredibly cute.  Second, it is the funnest food name to pronounce.  Go on...say it. See? You want to smile. Sadly, I have not yet met a kumquat that I have enjoyed eating raw.  They have an edible outside rind that is incredibly thin and sweet.  However, the inside, often described as tart, is usually really bitter. Oh well, I didn't know any of this when I found the marmalade recipe so I gave it a whirl:
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
12 ounces kumquats (smile), rinsed, cut into 1/4 inch rounds, and seeds removed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus one small sprig

Procedure
1. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the water and sugar and stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Add the kumquats (smile), peppercorns, and fresh rosemary sprig. Stir to mix, making sure to bury the rosemary int he fruit.

2. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the kumquats (smile) are translucent and the liquid has reduced to the consistency of thin syrup.

3. Remove from the heat and discard the sprig of rosemary (and any needles that may have separated). Add the chopped rosemary and set aside to cool.

Eat as soon as it is cool or keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

I had mine on toasted Italian country bread with goat cheese.

 

As you can see, I couldn't even wait to take the photo before I dug in.  Emily was less than impressed although I think that is due in part to us trying the kumquats (smile) before making the marmalade.  Their bitterness (or tartness or whatever) means the marmalade has a sweetness that doesn't make your teeth hurt.  It is a really nice change from store bought.  I made it again for an FRG party and it was a hit. I think I might make it for Christmas gifts next year.

If you want to check out the original recipe and photos go here. I want to make sure proper credit is given where it should be, but I also blog the actual recipe in case my blog sticks around for several years but the link expires.

Any-who....TaDa! Another beginner cooker recipe. Wee! 

Edited:This is also awesome on pancakes, though still not a hit with the kiddo.

Emily's (never gonna happen) adventures in cooking

How to make the best muffin ever
By: Emily Dawn Gatlin
Age 5

1. Pour enough vanilla into a pitcher to cover the bottom.
2. Add one full cup of baking powder.
3. Put in some salt
4. and some sugar.
5. Add some strawberries with seeds removed.
6. The mix will bake in the pitcher.
7. Pour it all into a cup
8. and you'll be able to have one big muffin every morning for breakfast.
The End

Why adventures in cooking?

It occurs to me, that many of my five readers know me really well. You know that I am not a particularly adept cook, that I hate eating leftovers and I'd rather buy new dishes than actually wash the ones we use. I also really enjoy going out to eat. Like, really enjoy it. So, why I am undertaking and publishing all kinds of cooking adventures?

Last night I got my daily e-mail from Sarah Kate of The Kitchn. I realize I've now mentioned this website about a thousand times in the past several weeks; not least because they've *ahem* published me. Anywho, in her e-mail, which you can read here, she touches on the reason there has been a resurgence in books and articles that focus on cooking with kids. I think she hits the nail pretty close to the head.

So, does that mean I'm cooking with Emily? No, not really.  Seriously folks, I cannot compete with the lure of the huge dry erase board that has taken up residency in our living room. But someday, I do hope to cook with Emily and, even more, I hope Emily will cook for herself and her family.  I did not cook as a child. Well, not very often.  And when I did, it was usually a study in kitchen mishaps.  Therefore, I do not know how or why anyone would want to wipe out a hot skillet in the middle of cooking.  I  once dumbly asked my coworkers what it meant to add a can of water in the middle of a recipe.  Pretend you are grateful to find out it means you fill the empty can of cream of chicken soup from an earlier step with water and pour it in at the appropriate time. These little ignorances are frustrating enough to keep a person from cooking and that can translate to a person not eating well.

Hopefully, Em and I will both eventually find cooking enjoyable. Neither of us has the knowledgeable Grandmother of yore patiently teaching us how to chop garlic or flip pancakes, but maybe, just maybe, our adventures in cooking will help us capture something just as good.

Also, I'll try to refrain from gagging when I wash dishes.

Basic adventures in cooking

Yep, kids, I did it again.  I got published. It is funny the things one begins to worry about when she no longer has four sociology papers to write in a week. Why don't more men pluck their eyebrows? Is owning a house really that much better than renting? Who decided a labradoodle was a "designer dog" instead of a mutt? Most importantly, how exactly does one wipe out a hot skillet when cooking one-pot meals?
Okay other people might actually wonder about that last one.  So I logged onto The Kitchn, one of my vitals connected to Apartment Therapy, and I asked away. Low and behold, my question was deemed "good" and, last I checked, 10 people answered. See for yourself: Janice's attempt to alleviate her cooking ignorance.

What kind of things do you wonder about?

More adventures in cooking

If one bakes a cake for an impromptu MLK Day party then covers and stores the cake in the oven overnight, it is best if one remembers said cake before preheating the oven to bake blueberry muffins the next morning. Melted plastic wrap is not easily removed from glass bake-ware. Nor does it smell particularly appealing.

Steak with pistachio pesto, crispy potatoes and broccoli rabe

This recipe from Real Simple Magazine is supposedly kid-friendly. In my quest to cook more with produce found close to home and related to the season I decided to give it a go.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup roasted shelled pistachios
• 1 small clove garlic
• 2 strip or sirloin steaks (about 1 inch thick; 1 1/2 pounds total)
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe (about 1 pound)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425° F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Roast until golden, 25 to 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, finely chop the parsley, pistachios, and garlic with ¼ cup of the remaining oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steaks with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook to the desired doneness, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board.
4. Wipe out the skillet. Add the broccoli rabe and ½ cup water and simmer, covered, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Slice the steak and serve with the broccoli rabe, potatoes, and pesto. 

Well, it can certainly be prepared in a kid-friendly time frame. And, I think, it looks rather pretty.

Emily, however, was skeptical as soon as she saw that pesto sauce.  I thought it was wonderful, but I can see how a green, chunky sauce might be a bit off-putting.  It was the broccoli rabe that did her in, though.  I don't know if it is naturally bitter or if I did something wrong, but Emily rated this meal thusly:

Noted.

More fun than...well, you know how it goes

Some people have somehow come to the conclusion that my cooking is quite enjoyable.  Weird, I know.  However, I thought it might be nice to occasionally add a favorite recipe so I can easily send folks a link when they ask "how did you make this scrumptious ambrosial treat?" So today *drum-roll please* you get Monkey Bread!

You'll need:

2 1-pound packaged refrigerated pizza dough
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
You might also want a half cup of raisins


Heat the oven to 375

Tear off small bits of the dough and roll them into 1  to 1 1/2 inch balls (this is Emily's favorite part). If you are adding raisins this is the time to do it.  Just roll a few right into each ball.

Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.  Dip each ball in the butter, then in the cinnamon sugar. Transfer the balls to a buttered Bundt pan.

Drizzle (okay, let's be honest here - there is not really anything bad that could follow this word when used in a recipe. I, for one, get a little excited over what could be next whenever I see the word "drizzle" in a recipe that calls for butter and sugar.) Drizzle any remaining butter over the top and sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar. (See, didn't I tell you good things would follow that word?)

Bake until golden brown. The recipe calls for 40 minutes, but I highly recommend you cover the pan with foil after 20 or 25 minutes. Otherwise the top layer gets really tough. When the bread finishes baking, remove from the oven and let cool five minutes.

Place a plate on top of the pan and carefully flip the whole thing over (so that the pan is now on top of the plate). If you have a Bundt pan you are probably familiar with this move. Tap the top and sides os the pan to release the bread.

If you are lucky, you'll get bread that looks like this:

 

And a happy face something like this: