Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Ferris Bueller
Competing against some of the food world’s heavy hitters and a department store, Deb Perelman’s Best Blueberry Muffins emerged the Winner. What sold me on these muffins? One bowl. Only one dirty bowl.
GOING for GLORY, IT’S SUMMER:
We’ve sprinted into August. If your past two months haven’t included Joy, Mirth and Gaiety, take these next two months and try again. Go for Glory.
While taking a Forest Conservancy-sponsored butterfly class in nearby Ashcroft, I came upon clumps of these matured fruits, remains of the Prairie Smoke wildflower.
We all expect dumpy days. It’s not that I haven’t escaped my own ‘take a deep breath’ moments lately. When your new, well-considered dermatologist pats you on the shoulder, saying, “We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other,” that’s not good. Who knew Johnson’s Baby Oil, Iodine and Florida State’s sunshiny days were a lethal combo?
After nine years, Lady Lexus and I parted company. For me, losing that car was traumatic. We shared 155,000 miles of memories together.
Before you grimace, a few kind words about our Turkey Vultures. We could not successfully survive without vultures who are scavengers and feed almost exclusively on discarded and decaying carrion. They clean up what we don’t!
These luscious window boxes (below) are no more. Our resident pine squirrels have enjoyed nibbling the flowers. A mini-flash hail storm in mid-July pummeled the foliage. And, a week ago I finally put up my 4th of July decorations. God Bless America.
GLORIOUSLY COOKIN’ UP A STORM with …..
Let’s get back to the Glory theme. Our Cook-the-Book-Fridays group is officially digging into Everyday Dorie, the Way I Cook bycooking through her 300+ recipes. Since October we’ve posted teasers including My Newest Gougères, Mushroom-Bacon Galette, Green-as-Spring Soup. No one just no one walks you through a recipe like Dorie.
Melissa flew in last week-end to visit Mom. Best time ever.
We’ll blog her recipes the second and fourth Fridays every month. Next Friday it’s Fresh-off-the-Cob Chowder and August 22, Shrimp Tacos. Why not grab your book (your library has one also) and cook along, no blogging required.
Colorado Corn from our local Farmers Market for Fresh-Off-The-Cob Chowder.
On alternate Fridays I’ll post recipes I’ve adapted from the superstar home cooks I follow on line. There are arguably 31.2 million food bloggers in America but these women who cook/post from their own kitchens, draw a crowd.
Although you’ll learn more about these women as I spotlight their recipes, here’s the Cliff Notes version:
Liz, Andrea and I met through French Fridays with Dorie, our five-year romp through 350 recipes in the Around My French Table cookbook. Liz and I enjoy a wacky, midwestern Six Degrees of Separation connection.
Nobody does European food markets like the Kitchen Lioness. When I was in Paris, I met Andrea in Antwerp and we did just that. Andrea loves Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes as do I.
More than any blogger, Chris Scheuer has inspired the most Keepers, those emergency recipes stuck in your back pocket. Quinoa & Black Bean Salad with Lemon-Vinaigrette. Herbes de Provence Pork Tenderloinwith Braised Lentils. My Go-To’s.
The hilarious Deb Perelman, with two tots and cookbooks to her credit, rose to foodie fame through her imaginative Smitten Kitchen blog. Here’s her Best Blueberry Muffins recipe. Anyone who competes against Ina, Martha and Jordan Marsh (American department store that ceased operations in 1996) and emerges unscathed with the Crown, I want to know better.
Alice Waters spoke at the Aspen Institute about her foundation, Edible Schoolyard, which advocates for free school lunches and sustainable food curriculum in every public school.
(according to Kitchn’s recent blog contest) by Deb Perelman, the Smitten Kitchen
(Caveat: No recipe is totally new. Adaptions happen. Ingredients change. Location. Location. Location. (I live at high altitude, 8,000’.) Although this recipe no longer resembles its humble beginnings at Cook’s Illustrated, Deb credits CI and suggestions from Stella Parks at Serious Eats and Blythe Danner for its success.)
Serving: 9 standard muffins
INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold is fine
1/2 cup sugar
Finely grated zest from 1/2 a large lemon or all, if small
3/4 cup plain unsweetened sour cream (yogurt, if desired)
1 large egg, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use high altitude flour)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost)
3 tablespoons Turbinado sugar (raw sugar) (BUY A BOX if you don’t have.)
DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 9 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.
Using ONE large bowl, melt butter in the bottom of it. (If no microwave, melt on stove.) Whisk in sugar, zest, sour cream and egg until smooth. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda and salt until fully combined. Lightly fold in flour and berries.
The batter is thick, like cookie dough.
3. With batter that is very thick, like a cookie dough, divide between prepared 9 muffin cups. Sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon Turbinado sugar. (DO NOT SKIMP.) for a perfect crunchy lid.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (except for blueberry goo). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then on a rack.
Although these are best served the day they are made, I just popped the cooled muffins, bagged separately, into the freezer to pull out when needed. Deb suggests if you run them split open under a broiler with a pat of salted butter, it’s heavenly also.
An Apricot/Blueberry Galette is a sweet and tasty treat which looks spectacular any way you fold it.
Summer in Aspen is a perennial Mad Dash surrounded by an undeniably extraordinary setting. With its intangible quality of art, cultural and intellectual pursuits mixed with multiple sports opportunities, no one, just no one, can do it all. As evidenced by the plethora of minutiae displayed below, I still try:
Our CookTheBookFridays first summer recipe, a Mushroom, Bacon, Leek and Walnut Galette from Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook, Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook.
In mid-June five semi-trailer trucks pulled into the parking lot at the Aspen Music Festival and School to unload 144 Steinway pianos. At the end of the summer the pianos will be sold.
Although the birding is excellent at the Music School’s Bucksbaum campus, I saw this beautiful Cooper’s Hawk fly in and perch, searching for prey, downvalley near Rock Bottom Ranch in Basalt.
NFL Atlanta Falcon Quarterback Matt Ryan says that for peak performance he needs 10 hours of sleep a night. (Time enough for sweet Super Bowl dreams.)
Since our colleague, Jane, can’t be with us this summer we recently patrolled in her honor on her favorite trail . The winding Cooper Creek Trail passes by the Lindley Hut located at the foot of Star Peak in the Ashcroft Valley. With volunteer Ranger Deb Overeynder.
Yale University professor David Blight who won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for his biography, Frederick Douglas, Prophet of Freedom, must have a toothpick in his mouth when he writes.
During a birding field trip to the Crystal River Valley near Redstone with Birder Rebecca Weiss and photographer Mark Fuller, they found this precious hummingbird sitting on her nest. Kudos to Jeff Finesilver, the only photographer who got a spectacular photo (and, shared it).
MFA Grad student Julia Marsh, School of Visual Arts in NYC, just completed a remarkable thesis which she presented at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival showing how to replace single-use plastics with sustainable seaweed-based packaging she’s named SWAY. (8.8 million tons of plastic spill into the oceans a year)
Chef Nick Kunitz flew in early before Aspen’s Food & Wine Classic to dazzle the locals with small plates at my friend’s cocktail party. His real work was catering events for the Lodi Winegrape Commission & the Lodi wineries participating in the Classic.
Anointed by Snoop Dog as America’s Cool Weed Grandma, Martha Stewart, attending her first Aspen Food & Wine Classic in June, announced she is consulting with Canopy Growth, Canada’s largest marijuana producer, to develop hemp-derived CBD health products for animals.
We loved his Chickpea Panisse, Pea Panna Cotta, Spiced Lamb Crostini, Green Garlic Fry Bread and Pastrami Spiced Short Rib on Rye. But we could not get enough of his Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake. Chef Nick with our hostess, Karen Kribs.
Author Susan Orlean, a staff writer for The New Yorker, resolved to never write another book after publishing Rin Tin Tin in 2011. Then her son, a first-grader, interviewed a Los Angeles city employee for a class assignment. His choice of questioning a librarian inspired Orleans to write her latest best-seller, The Library Book.
This proud Grandma spent a week in California last month to celebrate our Emma’s graduation from high school. She won academic honors, scholarships and prizes and is off to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego next fall. A perfect choice.
Aspen has gone all blue, green, red, orange and yellow to join the international celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus this year. During the 30-years that designer Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus master teacher, lived in Aspen, his lasting impact turned Aspen into ‘one of the greatest examples of a Bauhaus total environment that exists in the world.’
A Herbert Bayer-inspired Black Forest and olive oil cake with caramel mousse by Pastry Chef Aleece Alexander, a shared dessert last week at Plato’s, the Aspen Meadow’s restaurant at the Aspen Institute. (Apologies to you, Chef Aleece, for my dis-arranging the Bauhaus blocks!)
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GALETTE – A free-form tart.
Our first summer CooktheBookFridays recipe is a Mushroom, Bacon, Leek & Walnut Galette from Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook. By a fortunate stroke of serendipity, I was searching for some effortless summer recipes. Dorie’s savory galette, was almost too perfect a fit. Later in the week I found my first plump apricots at a fruit stand at the Roaring Fork Valley Coop in Carbondale. Just stopping for gas but ended up with the makings of a fruit galette, the perfect bookend to my savory galette.
Galettes. Sweet or Savory. Exactly what Summer should look like.
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Below are my two recipes for savory and sweet (fruit) galettes. Since a galette-fail is almost an impossibility, let the next visit to your farmer’s market “speak” to you. When using other ingredient combinations in galettes, use these same recipes, adjust and follow my Tips.
2. Add other flavors to the fillings if you wish. Lemon zest, spices and even fresh herbs work.
3. Because you can’t par-bake a galette crust, prevent fruit juices from making the crust soggy by brushing the galette crust with egg white or spread a layer of crushed graham cracker or cookie crumbs (I use Keebler’s Sandies) or brush on jam thinned with water.
When I made my fruit tart, I rolled my pastry to an 11″ diameter and then spread crushed Keebler Sandies , leaving two inches for folding.
4. Before baking, brush the crust with an egg wash. For sweet galettes sprinkle with turbinado (raw sugar)
5. Search through the Internet to find countless filling suggestions for savory or sweet galettes and interesting add-ins to crusts whether homemade or store-bought. Dorie likes to add custards to her fruit galettes. Check out her Baking, From My Home to Yours from your library to see those recipes.
MUSHROOM, BACON, LEEKS, WALNUTS GALETTE by Dorie Greenspan, Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook
Serves Six
INGREDIENTS:
FILLING:
4 slices bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/2 pound trimmed and coarsely chopped mushrooms, white, cremini, wild, or a mix
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, split, washed and thinly sliced, or 1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, thinly sliced, rinsed and patted dry
1 finely chopped garlic clove
Fine sea salt
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1.The Dough: Put your homemade or store-bought dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll it, occasionally turning and lifting the paper to prevent sticking until you have an 11-inch circle. Slide the rolled-out dough, still between the sheets of paper, onto a baking sheet or cutting board and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze for 1 hour or (well-wrapped) for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use the dough, leave it on the counter for a few minutes just so that it’s pliable enough to lift and fold without cracking.
2. The filling: lay the bacon strips out in a heavy skillet and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crispy and golden brown on both sides. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel–lined plate, cover with more towels and pat dry. Set aside one tablespoon of bacon fat. When the bacon is cool, finely chop or cut it into slender strips.
3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 400°F. Leave the dough on the counter for about 10 minutes while the oven preheats. You need the dough to be pliable; very cold dough will crack when you work with it.
I used Leeks rather than onions for my galette. Your choice.
Assorted Mushrooms
4. Pour the olive oil into the skillet with the bacon fat and return the pan to medium heat. Toss in the mushrooms, leeks or onion, and garlic, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened—the mushrooms will release liquid and then, as you continue to cook, take it up again.
5. Add the white wine and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it evaporates, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the cream and cook, stirring, until it’s mostly absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bacon, walnuts, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, the thyme and pepper.
6. To assemble the galette, peel the top piece of paper off the dough but leave on the bottom sheet of parchment and keep it on the baking sheet. Scrape the filling onto the crust and use a spatula to spread it into a circle that’s about 9 inches in diameter. Lift the bare border of dough and fold it over the filling. As you fold, the dough will pleat on itself, and that’s what you want; don’t worry about being neat or about getting everything even. If you tear the dough, just use a little cold water to glue it back together. You can refrigerate the galette for a few hours before baking and bake it straight from the fridge.
Needing some alone time in the oven.
7. Bake the galette for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is deeply golden and the filling hot. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan over the top of the galette — and, if you’d like, the crust. A drizzle of olive oil is also nice. Let the galette cool for 10 minutes before serving with a small green salad and glass of wine.
APRICOT BLUEBERRY GALETTE
Serves Six INGREDIENTS:
FILLING & TOPPING
7 to 8 apricots, cut in half or quarters (your choice, but make all pieces the same)
1 cup, fresh blueberries
zest and juice from 1/2 small lemon
1/4 cup turbinado or granulated sugar
flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
pinch of salt
1-2 TBSP. turbinado sugar
DIRECTIONS:
The Dough: Put your homemade or store-bought dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll it, occasionally turning and lifting the paper to prevent sticking until you have an 11-inch circle. Slide the rolled-out dough, still between the sheets of paper, onto a baking sheet or cutting board and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze for 1 hour or (well-wrapped) for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use the dough, leave it on the counter for a few minutes just so that it’s pliable enough to lift and fold without cracking.
2. Halve or quarter the apricots and remove the pits and place in a bowl with the blueberries. Toss with the lemon zest, juice, sugar (adjust to sweetness of fruit), cinnamon and nutmeg. Pile the fruit on top of the dough into a mound, leaving a 2” border around the edges. Fold the dough over the fruit and press gently to seal. If the dough tears, glue it together with a little water.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Whisk together the egg with a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Brush the edges with the egg wash, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake until golden brown, about 35-40 minutes. Let cool, then serve with vanilla ice cream.
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https://cookthebookfridays.wordpress.com/ is an international group cooking virtually through Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook by Dorie Greenspan. To join the group or to see what my colleagues are making, click our link.
In the Spirit of Full Disclosure, I never watched Game of Thrones. Not one show… ever. Which makes you feel sorta like the last kid picked at recess for the kickball team.
Lemon Cake with a Lemon Glaze and Toasted Sweetened Coconut Topping
Counterpoint: Call me a When Calls the Heart super fan. That show just finished it’s sixth season on the soppy, feel-good Hallmark Channel. When WCtH actress Lori Loughlin became embroiled in the college admissions scandal, I realized the formidable Aunt Betsy (Loughlin’s role) would become persona non grata in Hope Valley.
HAM, GORGONZOLA & PEAR QUICHE and ARUGULA SALAD with VINAIGRETTE DRESSING
Realizing I’d taken for granted Mayor Aunt Betsy as a WCtH mainstay, Loughlin’s arrest messed with my happy ending programming. It also sullied Hallmark’s “When you care enough to send the very best,” halo of goodness.
WE TRY TO KEEP OUR MAROON BELLS MOOSE SAFE.
These shows are fantasy. Whether you disliked the GoT ending or my being unsettled by Aunt Betsy’s demise, these discomforts are short-lived, non-important. But this ‘taking for granted’ business in real life is way different. Recently two events, bookends if you will, occurred which hammered that savor every moment message home again.
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, ROARING FORK VALLEY
NOTRE-DAME CATHÉDRALE & ACES’ WINGED EDUCATOR
BOOKEND #1: Last winter in Paris I often walked by Notre-Dame Cathédrale. An astounding 30,000 people visit the cathedral daily. I stopped for services twice.
Just before flying home, I met my blogging colleague, Patty, for coffee and to sample ‘the best cinnamon roll in Paris.’ It was early, cold, rainy and quite a schlep to the boulangerie but well-worth the calories.
CIRCUS BAKERY, 63 Rue Galande, 75005 Paris, France
Afterwards Patty, who was leaving for San Francisco the next day, suggested we walk over to ND. “I want to see it one more time.”
Even though it was a bit of a huff, we did. It was a quiet morning, few visitors, only a priest saying Mass. We went our separate ways and finally met by the alcove where the 19th-century statue of Joan of Arc by Charles Desvergnes sits. We each lit candles, said our private prayers and left.
I took for granted that one of the most important religious structures of Western civilization, built in the 12th Century, would always stand tall. I’m thankful for the memory of that last visit.
THE QUICHE, JUST OUT OF THE OVEN
BOOKEND #2 Last Sunday the iconic Golden Eagle who lived at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies for 30 years died of natural causes. She was 38. As a yearling, she’d been found with a broken leg and wing on nearby Bell Mountain. That she recovered at a Colorado raptor rehabilitation hospital is miraculous. That she would never survive in the Wild again was not a surprise.
We moved to Aspen in 1988, got involved with ACES and Michael served on its Board. There never was a time when I walked out to ACES’ Hallam Lake Preserve that I didn’t walk by that beautiful bird sitting on her grassy hill and not acknowledge her presence. In fact for 30 years more than 10,000 visitors a year, did the same.
LAST SUNDAY THIS BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN EAGLE AND THE LONGEST SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATOR AT THE ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PASSED AWAY. SHE WAS 38 YEARS OLD AND CAPTIVATED CHILDREN AS WELL AS ADULTS FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS.
She was a member of the staff, it’s longest serving environmental educator and probably the major take-away for many of the thousands of school kids who visited ACES. I last saw her several days ago when I took my friend Wendy birding at ACES. Wendy had never seen the GE so we went back to her enclosure as her trained caretaker, Derek, the GE perched on his gloved arm, was bringing her outside for the day. Wendy was mesmerized. As for me, I’m sad that what I thought would always be, is gone.
I don’t know what happens to winged creatures when they pass away but I like to think that our ACES Golden Eagle is finally soaring again with the angels.
LET’S EAT
I put together some definitely-don’t-miss fare to share with you. Emphasis on ‘don’t miss.’
SAME SWEET 16 CAKE, SAME PHOTO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARA
FIRST, the CAKE
This lemon cake with lemon glaze topped with toasted coconut is Sweet Sixteen delicious. My granddaughter Clara turned 16 last week. Whether I celebrate with the girls or from afar, I always bake a cake. No recipe here, just bake and frost your favorite cake. Toast the coconut in a medium-sized frying pan on medium heat on the top of the stove for about 5-7 minutes. Liberally sprinkle the toasted coconut topping on the newly frosted cake. Very festive. Yum. Just yum.
HAM, GORGONZOLA & PEAR QUICHE by David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen
I USED A MANDOLINE WHICH MADE THE JOB OF SLICING THE SHALLOTS EASIER.
There are so many ways to improvise and change up this easily made and delicious quiche according to your guests and tastes.
Serves 8-12
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 large egg, room temperature
Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large, firm, ripe pear, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes, Bosc or Anjou
1 cup (4.5 ounces) diced cooked ham
1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 large eggs, rooms temperature
2 egg yolks, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (5 ounces) crumbled blue cheese, Roquefort (France) or Gorgonzola (Italy)
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
DIRECTIONS:
THE MIXTURE IS READY FOR THE OVEN.
To make the crust, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt. Add the butter and beat on low speed until the butter is broken up and the mixture is sandy.
Add the egg and mix until the dough begins to clump and come together. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic. Chill it for at least 30 minutes. (The dough can be made up to 2 days in advance.)
Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s 14 inches across. Wrap aluminum foil around the outside of a 9- or 10-inch springform pan to catch any leaks. Transfer the dough to the pan, pressing the dough against the sides and allowing it to come close to the top of the sides of the pan. Patch any cracks with a bit of dough from the edges so the filling doesn’t leak out during baking. Chill the dough in the pan while making the filling.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. To make the filling, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the shallots with some salt and pepper until they are soft and translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove them from the heat and stir in the diced pear and ham. Set aside.
In a large bowl, blend together the cream, cream cheese, nutmeg, eggs and the egg yolks until it is all smooth. Stir in the cheese, pear and ham mixture, then the parsley.
Set the springform pan on a rimmed baking sheet and pour in the filling, making sure the ingredients in the filling are evenly distributed. Bake the tart for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and the filling still jiggles and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the quiche cool until it is firm enough to slice, about 15 minutes. Carefully untold it from the springform pan. Serve it warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers to reheat the next day.
Though only a few inches long, so intense is the Pine Squirrel’s fiery vigor and restlessness, he stirs every grove with wild life, and makes himself more important than even the huge bears that shuffle through the tangled underbrush beneath him. John Muir, 1894, Wild at Heart by Huggins
David Lebovitz’s VINAIGRETTE
This is the only salad dressing I make now. Note that David suggests using canola or sunflower oil instead of olive oil. Season strictly to your taste, especially with the mustard.
Makes about 1/3 cup, enough for one large green salad, serving 2 to 3
YELLOW WARBLER
INGREDIENTS:
1/8 teaspoon sea salt (a three-finger pinch or two) 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 2 teaspoons minced shallots, 1 to 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/4 C canola or sunflower oil
DIRECTIONS: 1. Using a fork, mix together all the ingredients, stirring until the salt is dissolved. 2. Stir in the oil briskly until fully mixed. 3. Storage: This dressing will keep for about eight hours, covered with plastic wrap or lid, at room temperature.
Butternut Squash & Parmigiano Reggiano-Filled Pasta with Green-as-Spring Soup
How many cookbooks live in your house? Let’s count ‘em. Disregarding my file folders of clipped recipes and following this year’s annual purge, I counted 86. After separating the wheat from the chaff, I fingered 8 for the deserted island and 11 that I’d sorely miss. The rest? Toodle loo.
Preserved Lemon-Pistachio Israeli Couscous
Thanks to Google, we can now link onto every imaginable recipe. Still, approximately 20 million cookbooks were sold in 2018. There was even a site, now defunct, called Cookbooks Anonymous penned by a blogger trying to justify his collecting habit by cooking from every cookbook he owned in just one year.
Parisian Apple Tartlet
This week’s CooktheBookFridays recipe choices are from cookbooks that are keepers: a strongly flavorful, nutritious GREEN-as-SPRING-SOUP from Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook, by Dorie Greenspan; surprisingly simple PRESERVED LEMON-PISTACHIO ISRAELI COUSCOUS, My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz; and, a PARISIAN APPLE TARTLET, Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie. The tartlets were nabbed off the baking sheet! Watch those fingers, the sugar is hot. I’m thinking you already have most of these necessary ingredients on hand. Why not pull up next week’s menu plan and make it better.
Mise en place (the ingredients needed) for couscous recipe
PRESERVED LEMON-PISTACHIO ISRAELI COUSCOUS from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen
Here are the recipes and tips (don’t miss them).
Serving Size: 4 – 6, makes about 5 cups
INGREDIENTS
1-2 preserved lemons (depending on size) or Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley and chopped mint (more to sprinkle on top)
2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup dried fruit, diced, (your choice-cherries & apricots or mangoes & figs, both combos which I used, or cranberries, prunes, raisins or dates
1/2 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios, very coarsely chopped, almost whole (you can easily substitute toasted hazelnuts or almonds or even pine nuts.)
3/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous or another small round pasta like Orzo
freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Trim the stem end from the preserved lemon and cut it into quarters.
Scoop out the pulp. If there is excess juice, press it through a strainer into a medium-sized bowl to extract the juices. Discard the pulp. Save the juice for other use.
Finely dice the preserved lemon rind and add it to a medium-sized bowl along with the chopped parsley/mint, dried fruit and pistachios along with butter, salt and cinnamon.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
Add the couscous and cook according to the package instructions and until moisture is absorbed.
Drain off any water left. Add it to the bowl of fruits, nuts, parsley and spices, mixing until the butter is melted and ingredients are blended.
Season with black pepper, salt, if necessary and serve warm, room temperature or cold.
TIPS: 1. The couscous can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
2. Preserved lemons stored in salt and their own lemon juice are a staple in Indian, North African, and Moroccan cuisine. They’re used in everything from stews to salads to rice and much more. They are easily stored, maintaining their flavor, in the refrigerator. You can buy a jar in speciality stores or easily make your own: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/preserved-lemons-recipe-2012376
Mark Bittman’s “Quick” Preserved Lemons
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 lemons, unwaxed (or scrubbed of wax)
2 tablespoons sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Dice lemons, including peel, removing as many seeds as possible.
Put the lemons and their juice in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt and sugar. Toss well and transfer to a jar.
Let the mixture sit for at least 3 hours at room temperature, shaking the jar periodically. This can be served at that point or refrigerated for up to a week.
Last week-end I joined other birders on a Roaring Fork Audubon-sponsored trip to the Colorado National Monument. This 23,000-acres treasure located on the Colorado Plateau near Grand Junction is magnificent.
PARISIAN APPLE TARTLET from Baking, from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Single Serving Recipe for One
INGREDIENTS
1 1/8″ thick, 4″- 5” circle using cold Puff Pastry* 1/2 firm, sweet apple, such as Golden Delicious or Fuji, peeled and cored
Light brown sugar1 tsp cold (preferably unsalted) butter, cut into 3 pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
DIRECTIONS:
Center a rack in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and put the pastry circle on the sheet.Cut the apple half into 4 chunks and center the chunks on the pastry circle.
Sprinkle the apple with 1- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar and the teaspoon of cinnamon. Dot with the bits of butter.
Bake the tartlet for about 25 minutes (the time will vary depending on how your apple bakes) until the pastry is deeply browned and puffed up around the apple and the apple can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife but still firm in appearance.
Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the tartlet cool – it’s great just a little warm and equally good at room temperature.
The tartlet should be served soon after it is baked and is best on the day it is made. If you have leftovers, cover tightly and stick in the fridge. To warm, use the oven or microwave
TIPS:
To serve, wrap the tartlet in a piece of waxy paper and eat it in a casual fashion as a breakfast pastry or snack. Or, you can put it on a plate with proper cutlery and serve it as an elegant finish to a meal.
For variety or a flavor change, use a pear, plum, apricot, peach or even a mango for this tart.
There are two brands of puff pastry in the USA, Pepperidge Farm, available in most supermarkets, and harder-to-find Dufour. Although Dufour is pricier, it’s well worth the search. Dufour makes an all-butter puff pastry, while PF (and Trader Joe’s during the holidays) uses shortening. Unfortunately I had to use Pepperidge Farm for this tart.
GREEN-as-SPRING-SOUP from Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook,” by Dorie Greenspan
After softening leeks, shallots and garlic with butter and oil in a Dutch oven for 15 minutes, add chicken broth. Bring to a boil and toss in asparagus, zucchini and basil to simmer until softened. Salt. Pepper. Puree. So delicious.
Since the publisher has asked us not to print recipes from Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook, if you want more information about this recipe, e-mail me.
It’s always a treat to find the elusive Canyon Wren, a little guy with an extremely long bill who lives and thrives in the Monument’s sheer cliffs.
On our way to the Monument, we checked on Mama Osprey who is sitting on her high perch, as usual, near Emma, Colorado.
Mama Osprey is suggesting that we birders move on.
Closer to home, a Mallard and Spotted Sandpiper are hanging out, living the dream, at Hallam Lake.
COOKtheBOOKFRIDAYS is an international group of food bloggers cooking virtually through Everyday Dorie, The Way I Cook. If you’re interested in knowing more about this group, go here.
Since my last post, I’ve moved 2/3 of my belongings back into my condo while discarding/recycling 1/3. If I can do 8 weeks in Europe with 2 pairs of jeans and 3 pairs of black slacks, I can do 6 months in Aspen without 10 spatulas, 42 Bic pens and 7 pairs of scissors.
My friend Karen’s idea of a casual, throw-something-together supper. Please note that the Twice-Baked Potato was delicious despite the crispy applewood smoked bacon crumbles sitting, forgotten, on the kitchen counter. I hate when that happens!
In my toss-with-abandon enthusiasm I now own no measuring spoons (I had 5 sets) or bedroom slippers (two pair.) My bad. However I did pull together a great throwback recipe from the now-defunct Gourmet Magazine, 1941-2009.
Liu Shaokun’s Spicy Buckwheat Noodles with Chicken
The problem with this recipe, Liu Shaokun’s Spicy Buckwheat Noodles with Chicken, is that Soba noodles are brown. While they are tasty, they photograph very badly. That’s why, thankfully, I could share instead my opening photo, compliments of my talented friend.
I found this interesting. This is a more photogenic version of Liu Shaokun’s Spicy Buckwheat Noodles with Chicken as shown on the Epicurious food blog. Do you think it’s the difference between an amateur (me) and a Pro photographer (them)? (Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Frances Boswell.)
My friend, Karen, asked me to supper, sorta last minute. Nothing fancy schmancy, she said. Last night I showed up in my too-casual yoga gear glory for her lovely meal which definitely merited a prime location in my blog.
This was the scene of the Rocky Mountains near the Continental Divide on Earth Day 2019. Because the road is closed until late May, I hiked up towards Independence Pass in complete solitude, just Mother Earth and Me.
SOBA is JAPANESE for BUCKWHEAT which is NOT WHEAT
a beautiful Cassin’s Finch
Ruth Reichl, remember her? Food editor of The Los Angeles Times. Restaurant critic-in-disguise at TheNew York Times. Best-selling author. Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet magazine from 1999 to its last gasp in 2009.
At the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, a Mama Canada Goose has built her nest on its roof. They expect the goslings to be born in the next week or two.
Until forced by space limitations to abandon my collection, I had several years of those magazines carefully organized by month, bookmarked and sitting on my basement shelves. Do those of you with stacks of mildewed National Geographic’s or dusty New Yorker’s understand the malady?
Same Mama.
Now, a decade later, Reichl has written Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir about her editorial reign. While I’ve yet to read it, I did spot an Epicurious blog article in which Reichl dishes on her favorite ten Gourmet back-pocket recipes she still pulls out often.
This female Downy Woodpecker is probably a full-time resident at Aspen Grove Cemetery. It’s Spring and she is creating a new cavity or two or three!
As for me, I still bake a classic Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon-Walnut Swirl from a 37-year old Gourmet. My catering friend, Judy, asked for my meatloaf recipe from a 90’s Gourmet issue. She updated it. It’s still in her repertoire. I wondered how Reichl’s favorites, spanning years 2000-2009 would stand up to the test of time.
A newly built home
Reichl chose 4 pasta recipes.The Spaghetti with Ramps (2000) most intrigued me. For sweets lovers, there is Raspberry Crumble Tart (2006) and Apple and Calvados Galette (2003.) Yes, please! Although Ian’s Meatloaf recipe (2008) was reminiscent of mine, please hold the 1/2 cup of pitted and chopped prunes. (Link to article and recipes above.)
Rock Art on the Rio Grande Trail
Next month, I intend to try her Bacon and Cheddar Toasts (2004) which according to Reichl are killer and also Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes with Scallion/Miso Butter (2007) . Thanks to cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, I’ll be incorporating miso, a salty/savory fermented soybean paste, into several recipes from her new cookbook this summer.
Look carefully. For years a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches have hung out in The Gant’s cottonwoods. This year they are building a home in the tree near my balcony. (They don’t think I see them.)
What I made this week is Liu Shaokun’s Spicy Buckwheat Noodles with Chicken (2003). This is a simple, authentic Sichuan dish which Reichl claims is her favorite lunchtime treat.
At ACES, this very smart Mama Goose decided to build her nest on the tiny, rocky island in the middle of Hallam Lake.
I found it not only delicious in its simplicity, it also begs to be dressed up and shown off. Build color by adding vegetables, steamed, blanched or stir-fried. Try other spices (ginger), condiments (sambal oelek, for example) or ingredients (Asian greens, Smoked Tofu, red or orange bell peppers.) Do ahead. Poach the chicken. Blend together the mixture. Set aside. When ready to eat, cook the noodles.
Liu Shaokun’s SPICY BUCKWHEAT NOODLES with CHICKEN
GOURMET April 2003
YIELD 4 ample lunch main courses or 8-10 side-dish servings
INGREDIENTS
3 cups chicken broth or water 2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breast halves 1/2 lb dried buckwheat noodles such as soba noodles 1 tablespoon peanut oil 3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce 1 tablespoon chile oil containing sesame oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 scallions (green parts only), thinly sliced 2 tablespoons roasted soy nuts or peanuts
DIRECTIONS
Bring broth to a simmer in a 3-quart saucepan, then add chicken and simmer, uncovered, 6 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and cover. Let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a plate and cool at least 10 minutes, reserving broth for another use.
While chicken is poaching, bring 4 quarts salted cold water to a boil in a 5- to 6-quart saucepan over moderately high heat. Stir in noodles and cook according to package directions until noodles are just tender but still firm and chewy throughout.
Drain noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold water to cool, then drain well. Toss noodles with peanut oil in a large bowl.
Stir together vinegar, soy sauce, chile oil, garlic, sugar, and salt in another bowl until sugar is dissolved. Then add to noodles and toss until coated.
Shred chicken with your fingers into 1/4-inch-wide strips and add to noodles, tossing to combine.
Sprinkle with sliced scallions and nuts. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature. Sorry to note that it will not be as tasty the next day.
