As predicted, the weather here has turned from brilliant fall to grey winter practically overnight. It is officially what I like to refer to as bath season. I love taking baths, and have since I was a little girl when my mom would get out of her bath and I would climb in, the water having cooled down to the perfect kid-friendly temperature. But now I prefer my baths to be on the slightly scalding side. In fact, as I learned during my pregnancies, there is nothing sadder than a luke warm bath. You know what else is sad? The fact that I am approximately 7 (seven!) months behind on my Vogue reading… something I plan to remedy this winter.
Other things I have been working towards… I have been practicing my egg poaching technique, attempting to read a new book every month (currently reading How To Eat A Small Country by Amy Finley), getting an early start on Christmas gift making, obsessively listening to the Spilled Milk Podcasts with Molly Wizenberg of (Orangette) and Mathew Amster-Burton, and, of course, cooking a lot of food.
I recently did an interview where I told the editor of our local magazine that my favorite season for cooking was summer. I realize now that that was an accidental lie. I love all the freshness of summer… the herbs, the sun warmed tomatoes… but I’m more of a cozy socks, sloshy glass of red wine, oven on from noon to nine kind of cook. The kids are always wrapped up in layers of fleece and everything feels incredibly easy, warm, and cozy. My outings are short and are usually to buy candles, more whisky for hot toddys, ingredients for some kind of one-skillet-dish, more wine, or to grab disc of Call the Midwife from the mailbox.
Last night Kyle, Gigi and I were cozied up on the floor reading lots of books with her before bed, my favorite of the bunch being, One Morning In Maine. The house smelled like ratatouille, and I had a little glass of red wine nearby. I said to Kyle, “THIS is so much better than summer.” There’s much less work to do outside so we seem to spend so much more time together, cuddled up in blankets on the floor, reading… or together in the kitchen, cooking.
Kyle is the bread baker in our family. In the fall and winter he bakes bread nearly every weekend. The oven is always warm, and the house smells of clean laundry and baking bread. I often look for a dish that can hop into the oven for a little bit after the bread comes out, and accompany the freshly baked bread on the table. Lately I’ve been making a lot of eggplant parmesan. I love eggplants whether they are roasted, grilled, fried… In fact, I am going to go out on a limb and say they are my favorite savory berries (did you know they are considered a berry!?).
This recipe is simple to prepare, using simple ingredients, but the result is completely indulgent, comforting and delicious.
This Eggplant Parmesan is simple, cozy, and delicious. It’s the ultimate comfort food. It’s indulgent and satisfying without too much work. I crave this dish all year round, it’s one of my favorite fall and winter dishes.
Ingredients.
2 large eggplants, cut into 1/4” thick discs
8oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 ball fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan, freshly grated or shaved
1/2 cup pesto all purpose flour
extra virgin olive oil (this recipe uses a lot of olive oil)
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 jar marinara sauce
Directions.
Cover a work area with a single layer of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Lay the eggplant slices out on the towels in a single layer, sprinkle with a small pinch of kosher salt, flip, and sprinkle a little more salt on the second side. Top with another layer of towels, place a cookie sheet on top of that, and a heavy book on top of the cookie sheet. Let the slices sit under the weight for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare your pan-frying area. You’ll need a casserole dish with a cup or so of flour, mixed with a little freshly ground black pepper. You’ll also need a pair of tongs, a frying pan or skillet, olive oil, and a cooling rack lined with paper towels.
After 20 minutes, pile the eggplant into a dish and discard the towels. Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over medium high heat, until shimmering. One at a time, dredge the eggplant slices with a little flour (it will stick to both sides but not the skin), shake to get rid of the excess flour. Working in small batches, fry a few of the eggplant slices until golden, flip and cook until the second side is golden. Add more oil to the pan as needed, you don’t want to cook them in a dry pan, even if that means adding it between flipping the eggplant slices. Once both sides are golden, carefully transfer the eggplant to the lined cooling rack, allowing them to cook and letting some of the oil drain out. Repeat with all the eggplant slices.
Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a large skillet or casserole dish, spread a thin layer of marinara sauce, followed by a layer of eggplant slices, a little pesto, a little marinara, a little sprinkle of the grated mozzarella. Repeat, beginning with the eggplant until you get to the last layer of eggplant. Top the dish with a little pesto, marinara, torn pieces of fresh mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese. Transfer to the oven and cook for 30-45minutes. Until the dish is heated through and the cheese on top is golden and bubbly. Remove it from the oven and let it rest for ten minutes or so before digging in.
I think it goes without saying that being a mom can be really exhausting. Don’t worry, this is not one of those ridiculous rants that people post on Facebook about how “I am a full time nurse, a cook, a launderer…”, gosh, I hate those things. I will not encourage you to “Like” this post if you are an exhausted mom. I will, however, encourage you to pull yourself away from the Halloween candy you bought early (Snickers!) and catching up on episodes of Parenthood, and go to the store to get the ingredients to make this satisfying stew. This stew helped me, and I can’t deny that I am pretty darn tired.
I am just coming out of the newborn haze, Lulu has passed the four month mark, and although we’re still working out the quirks, we are finding our rhythm. One thing I tend to do, and perhaps you do too, is to output too much and not take enough in. I do this with energy and love, and often with food too. I make food for my kids, my husband, my neighbors… but sometimes I forget to take care of myself. Sometimes I even forget to eat, which I know is totally ridiculous/dumb/absurd.
I had this moment the other day when I was pumping breast milk and I could swear to you that the breast pump was saying, “de–plete … de–plete … de–plete …” as it expressed milk (drained life-source from my body). That’s when I knew that I was probably in need of some real, honest to goodness, sustenance. And probably something high in iron too. I am helplessly anemic, and always have been. Usually, I forget about it until inanimate objects (such as a breast pump) start to threaten me, or I get lightheaded… both of which have been happening lately. I actually tend to shy away from red meat but then there are times when I crave a really great burger, a perfectly seared steak, or a rich and nourishing beef stew. I’d never had a beef stew that I liked until I made Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon a few years ago. I entered into it skeptically and was shocked by how wonderful it was.
After my breast pump made me want to cry, I had Kyle pull some organic, locally raised stew meat from the freezer and I looked around the house for ingredients to make a beef stew. I quite honestly didn’t have the energy to drive to the store to get the ingredients for Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon, her stew takes many steps and many hours. I wanted similar flavor without doing all the work. We had enough on hand so I set to work. The result of a few basic ingredients, prepared thoughtfully, resulted in a beef stew that really helped boost my energy. We ate it together as a family while the rain whipped against the windows… we may have even been wearing our pajamas at the dinner table.
Whether you’re depleted or not, this stew is really satisfying, and fortifying. It certainly helped me feel a little less afraid of my breastpump and my alarm clock. …did you see that? I just lied to you. I don’t have an alarm clock. Kyle does and I hate it. My alarm clocks are cute, fuzzy pajama’d little pips. Although I sometimes fear the hour at which they wake up, those girls don’t scare me one bit.
Ingredients.
2 pounds stew beef
1 quart beef broth
several small cippolini onions, peeled and roughly quartered or 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, thinly sliced into discs
red wine
a few sprigs fresh rosemary
a few sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons flour
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
vegetable or canola oil
Italian parley, roughly chopped
Directions.
Using paper towels, thoroughly dry each piece of stew meat and set aside. When all the meat is dried, sprinkle it with a bit of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat two tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil over medium high heat in a large dutch oven. Working in batches, brown the meat. Give them space and turn them to make sure all the sides are browned nicely. Remove from the pot and set aside. Repeat with the remaining meat.
Pour a couple tablespoons of beef broth into the pot and gently scrape up the all the brown bits (the fond) from the bottom of the pot. Pour this over the browned meat.
Preheat your oven to 325º.
Heat another tablespoon of oil in your pot, over medium-high heat, before adding the onions along with the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Sauté the onions until they are softened and on the verge of browning, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon butter in a separate frying pan until it starts to brown a bit around the edges, toss in the carrots and sauté until they are bright and vibrant in color, 3-5 minutes. Toss in the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the carrots, garlic, and butter to the onions and stir to combine.
Return the meat and drippings to the pot, toss with the vegetables. Sprinkle in 1 tablespoon flour, stir it in thoroughly, and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding in 2 cups red wine, the rest of your beef broth, the bay leaf, and tomato paste. Stir well. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 2 1/2-3 hours. Check at the 2 1/2 hour mark to make sure you have enough liquid… you want the broth to be nice and thick, gravy-like enough to really coat a spoon. If you’re happy with it, pull it out, or leave it for another half hour. If it’s still “soupy” you can remove the meat, onions, etc. and reduce the liquid on the stovetop for a few minutes.
Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley, and serve alongside some crusty french bread or garlic bread. We had some freshly plucked French Breakfast radishes so I sliced them and sprinkled them over the garlic bread, which was a very good decision.
These chocolate chip cookies are always close at hand in our house… and have been since I was a child. If you want to, you can read about them and print the recipe here. Enjoy this little cooking video that Gigi and made…
So, here I am, at the beginning… not entirely sure where, or how to begin, a little nervous (in fact I’ve been avoiding my computer for a few days). But, here I am. Both the girls are napping, the house is quiet, the cat has me pinned to my chair, so I can’t avoid “the beginning” anymore.
I suppose the best place to start is with a little background. I grew up near Seattle, Washington. I lived with my mom, older sister, and twin brother in a little, blue, one-level house on the bottom of “the whoop-dee-doo hill” (which, sadly, we rarely got to whoop-dee-doo because we always had stop and turn into our driveway). My mom was a full-time teacher and a single mom to the three of us. I don’t remember much in the way of her cooking, which probably isn’t surprising since I can’t image the thought and effort it took to get anything on the table for us after work and tae-kwon-do and gymnastics and swim team. I do remember “swimming chicken” which we regularly had after swim class, homemade almond milk frozen until slushy, sticky-sweet mochi warm and drizzled with honey, and I remember that unfortunate year we were all allergy tested and had quite a lot of soy ice cream. Mostly, I remember chocolate chip cookies.
My mom, sister and I made cookies together often. I can’t remember if we made the recipe on the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag or another, but we made a lot of cookies in that little blue house. We would get out the “cookie spoon” and the big, heavy bowl and set to work. The specific memories are a bit vague but I remember my childhood, and teenage years dotted by batches of cookies. My sister and I both make chocolate chip cookies every other month or so. Usually, during one of our daily or twice daily phone calls, one of us will mention that we made cookies and it’s a little contagious, cookie baking. We used to team up to bake them when we babysat together, which sometimes resulted in huge, disastrous messes. So whenever she makes cookies, I feel compelled to get out the old cookie spoon, which ended up in my possession, and whip up a batch.
Over the last 25 years of cookie baking, the first half of which Tollhouse was my guide, I have slowly developed my own recipe. A little extra vanilla, perfectly creamed butter and sugar… I always have cookie dough balls in the freezer, ready to pop in the oven at a moments notice. I love making them with Gigi, and soon Lulu will join the fray. There’s something truly fantastic about watching a two and half year old eat a chocolate chip cookie. Gigi dunks it in her milk and practically slurps it down, then, when she gets to the last little chunk of cookie, she plunks it into her glass of milk, then tips the cup back drinking the last of the milk and the last of the cookie in one enthusiastic go. I admire her technique.
Baking cookies with Gigi makes me feel so wonderful… cozy, confident, very mom-like. In some ways it feels like chocolate chip cookies are the only tradition passed down from my mom to us girls and, if nothing else, my girls will know how to bake chocolate chip cookies when it’s all said and done.
Dry Ingredients.
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tiny pinch of freshly shaved nutmeg, optional
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients:.
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions.
Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugars and the butter, then add in the vanilla. Whisk the eggs in another small bowl before adding them to the creamed sugar mixture. Once this is all mixed together, slowly sprinkle in the flour and mix until it’s incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Using a spoon, scoop up some dough and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Place it on a baking sheet. Continue making your dough balls until you have them spaced out (about 2-3 inches apart) on your cookie sheet.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until golden brown on the outside and light brown in the middle. If the cookies are frozen* they will need to be baked 12-14 minutes. Enjoy!
*I usually bake up one sheet and cover a separate cookie sheet with cookie dough balls and slide in in the freezer for fresh baked cookies whenever I want. Once they are frozen and won’t stick together I put them all into the resealable bag.
PINI feel cheated. The winds changed, the clouds came in, the air felt crisp and cool, the rain showed up, and the promise of fall was in the air. But this week has been hot, hot, hot. I have to tell you, I felt like fall came just for me. No more sweating while holding a hot baby, no more sunscreen, no more tossing and turning at night. I thought, “my prayers were heard, fall is here!” But, no. It’s so hot. I’m photographing a wedding tomorrow and the forecast says 95˚. That is too hot. You’ve probably gathered from this that I am not, in fact, a “summer” person. My fair skin and Irish roots don’t know what to do with all those UV rays. That said, I’m trying to embrace this extended summer, I really am. We’ve had a couple more barbeques, we’ve sat in the patio after the kids are in bed sipping wine and talking about the future, we’ve filled up the pool so many times this week… and, hey, at least it’s not raining for my wedding shoot tomorrow. But starting on Sunday I’m keeping my fingers crossed for rain. Sunday’s around here mean cleaning the house, football (I’m more excited about the house cleaning), books, baths in the middle of the day, pajamas at inappropriate times, and the occasional Bloody Mary. The wonderful thing about Bloody Mary’s is that you can sip them whether it’s hot or cold outside. Maybe it’s the heat from the Tabasco, but somehow they are just as warming in November as they are cooling on a sweltering, summer has overstayed it’s welcome kind of Sunday in September.
THE BLOODY MARY
Ingredients.
2 oz. vodka
8 oz. tomato juice
1 tablespoon of each: peppercini juice, lemon juice, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce
large pinch of celery salt, plus more for rimming the glass
freshly ground black pepper
Tabasco hot sauce
kosher salt
celery stalks
lemon and lime wedges
whole peppercinis
Directions.
In a small dish combine kosher salt and a celery salt. Wet the rim of the glass with a bit of lime or lemon juice and dip it in the salt. Fill the glass 3/4 full with ice cubes. Fill the glass with the vodka, tomato juice, peppercini juice, lemon and lime juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and a few dashes of Tabasco.
Garnish with a lemon and lime wedge, a stalk of celery, and a peppercini.
Kick your feet up, pick up the paper (or the latest issue of Vogue) and enjoy.
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