Maple roasted sweet potatoes

One night, I went into the kitchen to make dinner. I was planning to make simple baked sweet potatoes (which I love topped with ricotta, but this particular night they'd just be plain) and lo and behold, Claire Robinson was making a 5 ingredient fix of sweet potatoes. Perfect! She pureed hers, but I left mine in cubes. They were ridiculously good, each of us had 2 servings.

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes
adapted from Claire Robinson
Serves 4, unless you really love maple and sweet potatoes, then serves 2.

2 sweet potatoes/yams, peeled and diced (1/2inch cubes)
4T maple syrup, divided (3T and 1T)
3T olive oil
salt and pepper to season
1 large onion, cut into thin slices
1T butter

Toss the cubed sweet potatoes with 3T maple syrup, 2T olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread on a foil-lined (for easy clean-up) baking sheet and bake at 400F for about 45 minutes. Toss them gently around a bit every so often to keep them from sticking to the foil.

Meanwhile, place the remaining 1T olive oil and the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook for a few minutes, until the onion begins to soften. Add the remaining 1T maple syrup to help speed up the caramelization and cook a few minutes more (about 10 min total).

Serve the sweet potatoes topped with the onions.

I think we may have found a new favorite method of preparing sweet potatoes.

Claire's way was to puree the sweet potatoes after they come out of the oven with half the onions, and then top with the remaining onions, but I like the roasty edges of the potato cubes. Plus I hate washing my food processor.

Thanksgiving Round up!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had tasty Thanksgiving dinners. I actually had two: on Thanksgiving Day, we all went to my grandma's house for the traditional dinner, but my parents had bought a turkey, so we had TG part 2 the next day with just the four of us.
I photographed part 1, but when I went to photograph the different dishes we had at part 2, I found this...

!!!

This morning when I got out of bed, I knocked Clint's iphone off the table and it fell on top of my purse. On the very top of my open purse was my camera, so I believe the corner of the iphone landed on the lcd screen. The camera still works, but obviously you can't use the lcd screen anymore... I've hijacked my parents' old camera, and it looks like I'll put a new camera on my Christmas list. But seriously, a food blogger without a camera? Disaster. The loaner camera is only 4 megapixels, as opposed to 6 (not great, but still). Sigh. However, I did splatter peach jam all over my camera this summer, so the lens cover doesn't always completely close, so I did actually need a new one.

Anyway, Thanksgiving.

In my family, we're pretty standard. Turkey, not cooked in any special way (the deep fried turkey year, while not quite a disaster, was not anything to remember), mashed turnip, mashed butternut squash, mashed potato, boiled onions, two types of stuffing, cranberry walnut bread, and everyone's favorite, chicken pie. Back in the day, grandma's house was a working farm (originally tobacco, I'm not sure what they grew in her day) with a fully-stocked chicken coop. They'd expect at least 40 people for Thanksgiving, so they'd get a single turkey and gather up the chickens to bake into a chicken pie. Each person got a small piece of turkey and a healthy helping of chicken pie, and the pie is rather delicious. My uncle makes it now, and I really need to get his recipe.
But we obviously specialize in desserts.

Clockwise from the right: apple crisp, apple pie, pumpkin pie, hubbard squash pie, maple pumpkin pie, Turkey ginger cookies, Roly Poly (or perhaps that's just the name of the bakery- a layered cake of vanilla cake, vanilla custard, fruit and orange jello), vanilla sponge cake with coffee cream glaze, Marlborough pudding pie, apple cranberry ginger pie.

I can tell you more about the maple pumpkin pie, Marlborough pudding pie, and the apple cranberry ginger pie.

Marlborough Pudding Pie was this year's new addition from my kitchen. There was an article in my parents' newspaper the week before Thanksgiving, and my mom was so intrigued she sent me the recipe. I was equally intrigued, so I made it. It's basically an apple sauce and custard pie, and I like the idea. Unfortunately, my take on it, while well-received by everyone else, was not to my liking. I did an alcohol substitution that made it incredibly strong- and if you like bourbon (like everyone else in my family), it's great.

Marlborough Pudding Pie
from the Hartford Courant, recipe originally from the Publick House, Sturbridge, MA (incidentally, one of my favorite restaurants)

1 apple, peeled and cut into thin wedges and 1-2T apple cider (or water) (or use 3/4 cup of applesauce as a shortcut)
1/2 cup whole milk or cream
3/4 cup cooking sherry or white port (**here was my error- I used 1/4 cup Maker's Mark bourbon and 1/2 cup ginger brandy)
6T butter, melted (I think this is too much- it all separates out of the custard, anyway. I will do 3-4T next time)
4 eggs
1/2t salt
1/4t nutmeg
1 pie crust

First, stew the apples (or just use applesauce). Dump the apple wedges in a medium saucepan with a good splash of apple cider (or water) and cook on low for 15 minutes, flipping the apples occasionally. They'll get really soft, so be careful. You can puree them, but I like the effect of whole apple wedges.

Preheat your oven to 400F. Line a pie dish with the pie crust.

In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, sugar and alcohol. Stir in the apples or applesauce, then beat the eggs separately and add them. Stir in the spices and salt. Pour apple custard mixture into the pie crust, and bake at 15min at 400F, then turn to 350F and bake for 45 min more, or until the custard is just set (it'll still be wobbly). Serve at any temperature you like.

Our old favorite is apple ginger cranberry pie. I first found this recipe in 2001, my senior year of college, and I've made it every year since. It's just a simple apple pie, but with cranberries and minced crystallized ginger added, and it's really delicious.

Apple Cranberry Ginger pie
from Williams Sonoma

2 pie crusts
4-5lbs apples (I like a mix, this time I used cortlands, macs and some random eating apples (braeburn and honeycrisp) we had lying around)
1/2 cup sugar (or more or less as you prefer)
1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger
1.5 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

Peel and cut the apples (chunks or wedges). Toss with sugar, ginger and cranberries. Line a pie dish with one crust, dump the apple mixture in, and add the top crust. Bake at 400F for 20 min, then turn temp down to 375 and bake for about 45-50 min more, until the crust is nicely browned. Optional, but pretty: brush top crust with an egg, egg white or milk/cream to make it shiny.

Pumpkin maple pie: a new addition this year! Normally I make Martha's standard pumpkin pie, but I came across this one and liked the sound of it. It uses maple syrup instead of sugar, which goes great with pumpkin and the standard pumpkin pie spices.

Pumpkin Maple Pie
from Fake Ginger

2 cups pumpkin (or 1 15oz can- I used a mixture of orange and white pumpkins that I roasted, pureed and drained myself)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup fat free 1/2&1/2 (or really, use 1 cup of whatever dairy you like)
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
2 eggs
3/4t cinnamon
1/4t ginger
pinch of cloves
pinch of salt
1 pie crust

Beat the eggs and pumpkin together, add the dairy, maple syrup and spices. Line a pie dish with the crust, then pour the pumpkin mixture into the dish. Bake for 20 min at 400F, then turn the temp down to 375 and bake for another 50-60 minutes, until the custard is just set.

Note: for all these pies, I used Martha Stewart's standard pate brisee, it's what I almost always use (unless I make a cornmeal crust or pate sucree). This year I made the crust 2 days ahead and kept them wrapped, all in disks that made 1 pie crust, in plastic wrap in the fridge.

Overall, I think the Marlborough pie was the most liked, but that was because no one had ever heard of it (except those that'd also read the article in the paper). I loved the apple cranberry ginger just as much as ever, but I've now found a new favorite pumpkin pie recipe. Also, I plan to try the Marlborough again, with the proper alcohol... or maybe I'll use apple cider or something.

Return of the smell-good Sundays... on Saturday

There was some talk a while ago, about blogging recipes that aren't really recipes, because they're so easy and basic everyone knows them. The consensus was mostly that we only assume everyone knows, but some people like a little guide when they're learning these basic things.

So today I give you... French Toast.

French Toast is my favorite weekend breakfast. I love using Pepperidge Farm's cinnamon raisin bread, and lots of spices, and lots of real maple syrup. This "recipe" is what I grew up with, and is exactly how I like it.

French toast,
serves 1-2, depending how hungry you are.

4-5 slices of bread you love. I often collect the "heels" (the end slices) of La Panciata cinnamon raisin bread in the freezer to save for french toast. This time I cut up the last of the Pittsfield Bakery cinnamon walnut apple raisin bread from the week before.
1 egg
3/4-1 cup milk
1/2t cinnamon, approx
1/4t ginger, approx
1/8t nutmeg, approx
1/2t vanilla, approx

Beat the egg and milk together in a small, shallow bowl (I have a special french toast bowl, used only for french toast, or breading chicken. A small, 6 or 8inch, cake pan would work). Add the spices and vanilla.

Spray a griddle or large frying pan with cooking spray, heat to medium-high heat. Sprinkle some water droplets on it, if they dance around, it's ready. If they sizzle and evaporate immediately, it's too hot, and if they just sit there, it's too cool. Adjust heat accordingly.

Dunk bread slices, one by one, in the egg mixture. Smoosh around so they're really covered, then transfer to the pan. Do only 2-3 slices of bread at a time, depending how big your pan is, you want space between them all. Cook for a few minutes, then flip when the bottom is a little brown. Cook the other side til it's browned. Transfer to a plate (if you're making a lot, set the oven to about 200F and keep the french toast in there until everything's ready, to keep them all warm). Repeat with the remaining slices of bread.

Serve with real VT maple syrup. If you don't live where you can easily get real maple syrup, use a nice fruit syrup, or make friends with New Englanders that will visit you and bring you maple syrup in return for letting them stay in your guest room for the weekend. I forbid you to use fake maple syrup.

Alternatively, make a fruit compote. I intend to do this next time, and I'll tell you about it.

CSA #3

Well, here we are, coming up on CSA #6, and I still haven't told you about CSA #3. (Unfortunately, CSAs #4 and 5 happened when we were away, so my dear cousin got all the goods).

Clint went alone to pick up CSA #3- I had to work too late for the 6pm pickup deadline. He'd already left for bridge club by the time I got home, so he spread everything out on the counter for me to see.

Week 3 was our first week of flowers!

And more herbs: curly parsley and cilantro.

We also received beautiful black raspberries, about a pint,

which I turned into whole wheat black raspberry streusel muffins (we both decided we weren't huge fans of them- something I'm a little ashamed of, because what sane person declares they don't care to eat such a beautiful fresh berry? But really, they taste great but are a little dry. We loved them as muffin-berries, so I'm very pleased with how I used them.)


We also got lots more greens: kale, beets, little white beets (or radishes?) and more lettuce (also a bag of mixed greens not shown).


Peas, as well as snap peas (not pictured), which I gave to my aunt.


And more garlic scapes! I love these, but I still don't quite know how to use them.


So it was exciting.

The only problem was.... how do you use lettuce? There's really nothing good besides salad. And how can you make salad good?

Maple balsamic dressing, that's how!

I think we both had 2 servings of salad for dinner, and we happily ate salad until we left for Washington, DC 4 days later.

(unfortunately, the only veggies we had to put on the salad aside from 25 heads of lettuce were some carrots and red onion, and the last of the croutons I'd made a while ago- but I have more frozen bread cubes to try to make more croutons- note: croutons are a good way to use up bread that you've cubed for any reason (such as a fondue party).)

Maple Balsamic Dressing
adapted from The Maple Syrup Cookbook, a wonderful cookbook, and so incredibly useful when your friend's parents own a farm in northern Vermont and make it really easy to acquire reasonably-priced gallons of maple syrup.

Have I mentioned how easy salad dressings are?

In a food processor or blender (I think I actually used a blender this time), combine
2T maple syrup
3T balsamic vinegar
1T fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
1/2t whole grain mustard
juice of 1 lime (about 1T)
and blend/process briefly.

Then slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil (the recipe says 1 cup, but I really hate oily/greasy dressings) until it forms a nice emulsion.

And voila! Pour over your lettuce.

I thought that basil dressing from CSA #1 was my absolute favorite dressing, but this one is now. (note: it was kind of inspired by the delicious maple vinaigrette from the Publick House in Sturbridge, where we met my parents for dinner two nights before, to do a little cell phone transfer after one of us left their cell phone at my parents' house on Sunday)

Black Raspberry Whole Wheat Streusel Muffins
adapted from Sugar Baking, who got it from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins, & More

(note: I didn't do this even though the recipe says to, but you really should: make the streusel topping first. Also, I found that I needed far less streusel than the recipe said)
Streusel Topping
4T butter 2/3 cup flour 3T sugar 1/4t cinnamon pinch of nutmeg pinch of baking powder pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a saucepan, remove from heat and stir in the other ingredients until combined. Knead a little with your fingers, and set aside while you make the muffin batter, for at least 15 minutes.

Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 cup all purpose flour 1/2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 1/4 t baking soda

Whisk that together, set aside.

1/2 cup buttermilk (1/2 cup milk + 1.5t white or cider vinegar, or lemon juice, let sit for 5 min, and that's buttermilk)

Set buttermilk aside.

1 and 1/3 sticks (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, halfway between cold and room temperature zest of 1 lemon 3/4 cup turbinado sugar (or white, if you don't have turbinado) 1 egg
1t vanilla

Cut the butter into chunks and beat with a mixer. Beat in lemon zest, and then add sugar in a steady stream and cream for 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Now add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour (add 1/3 of flour, beat a little, add 1/2 of buttermilk, beat a little, 1/3 of flour, beat, rest of buttermilk, beat, rest of flour. This confuses even some experienced cooks, who think "alternately" means dump in all the flour, then dump in all the buttermilk, so I want to be clear (honestly, to which I say, I know you watch Martha every day, aren't you paying attention?!)).

1 and 1/2 cup black raspberries (or whatever berry you feel like)

Gently fold in 1/2 of the berries. Leave the rest aside for now.

Now, take a well-greased or muffin wrapper-lined muffin tin, and fill each well 2/3 full with batter. (I ended up with 16 muffins). Place some of the set aside berries on top of the batter, and push them in slightly. Top with about 1T of the streusel topping, press that in slightly so it doesn't fall or blow off the muffin.

Bake for 30 or so minutes in a preheated 375F oven.

This is my new favorite muffin recipe.