Better than you might think: cabbage and bacon braised in cider

Yes, ragazzi, Annalena has been busy.  She did much in the kitchen this weekend, and  she will sign off with this last dish.

Unlike the beet soup, Annalena HAD planned to make this braised cabbage.  Along the way, however, she learned some things.

The recipe she worked from, called for a cabbage weighing 1.5 pounds.

Try to find a 1.5 pound cabbage, ragazzi.  Cabbage is very dense, and Annalena bought the smallest one she could find, at the farmers market.  It weighed 3.5 pounds.    And as things turned out, rather than double the rest of her ingredients, she kept everything else as it was.  She's glad she did.   Here's what she got:

This is a fun dish to make.  It requires your attention, but not much else.  If you love cabbage (which is true of Guyman and Annalena ), and you would like something a little different, try this dish.   Ready?    Ok.  You need the cabbage, some bacon, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt.

First, as you saw above, you need a 3.5 pound cabbage.  You can  most definitely use a smaller one, or one that is a little bigger, but be careful with bigger.  See, what you're going to need to do is prepare wedges of the whole cabbage.  This is a DENSE vegetable, and you have to be careful with your knife.  Make sure you use a big, heavy one, and PLEASE BE CAREFUL.    Annalena had a near scare with hers, and he doesn't want you to be in the same fix.  Pull off any nasty looking outside leaves

Cut your beast in half, and then cut each half into thirds.  Try to keep a bit of the core with it, so that you have - duh - wedges.  If you don't, don't worry.  

Put that aside for a minute, and get a medium sized onion (no leeks this time!).  Cut it down the middle and then cut it into long strips.  You'l see what Annalena means in the pictures.  You will also want a half cup of chopped bacon.  This is about 3-4 strips.  If you go over, who is Annalena to argue?  It's bacon, right? 

Get as big a frying pan as you have, and put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in it - enough to cover the pan.  Then, put your cabbage wedges down in it, fitting them as best you can.  You're going to want to let the cabbage sizzle for 3-4 minutes on each side, until you get:

You'll want that kind of color on both sides.  Now put the cabbage aside for a bit, and add the bacon to the pan.  No need to add more fat, and lower the heat a bit.  After you've cooked the bacon for about five minutes, add the onions, and cook, keeping everything moving, for about ten minutes:

(you see what Annalena meant about the strips of onions, right?).  Season this with salt at the end.  Add a half cup of apple cider vinegar to this, and raise the heat.  Cook for 3 minutes or so.  Add 2 cups of unsweetened apple cider,  and then get the cabbage back in the pan, again, doing your best to get it all in there

The apple cider is going to be your braising  liquid.  Cover the pan tightly,  bring the heat down, and let this cook away for ten minutes.   After that ten minutes,  turn the cabbage over

Cook this all for another ten minutes, and then move the cabbage , and any other solids you can, out of the liquid.  Bring the heat up, and cook for another five minutes.  This reduces the sauce.  

If you are so inclined, (Annalena is), add a tablespoon of butter to enrich the sauce, and pour it over the cabbage.   And  you get:

Not too difficult, ragazzi, not too expensive, and good beyond what it should be, for the work involved. 

Today, carissimi, Annalena has given you three winter dishes, all of which will more than reward your work.  Give them a try, and let her know how they work for you.  She is eager to hear.

Don't call it borscht: chunky beet soup

Years ago, Annalena worked with a gal pal named Natalia, who was from Siberia.  One day, thrilled to death that she had made her first borscht, Annalena brought in a sample to Natalia.   Annalena's friend looked at it,  looked up and said  

"where is the cabbage?  I do not see any cabbage."  Annalena replied that there wasn't any in it, and got the response  "then take it away. It is not borscht without the cabbage." 

Well,  that may have been a slaw slap, or something like that, but Annalena learned her lesson.  She could call it beet soup, but she could NOT call it borscht.  And so it is here, ragazzi, as we venture into the world of soups that are vegan, easy to make,  and inexpensive. Let's change that to CHEAP. 

When Annalena saw this recipe, she clipped it out and planned to use it at some point in the future.  The future became the present, however, when she came back from the farmers market with two bags of gorgeous beets, and got some in her weekly CSA.  The Guyman and Annalena both love beets, but mostly eat them in salads.    So, the backburner became the front burner, as Annalena was looking for something to make for Sunday lunch. And here it is.  When you see how easy it is to make, you will make it too - if you are a beet fan.    

To make this, you need a 28 or 32 ounce can of GOOD QUALITY Italian tomatoes. The whole ones, please.  You also need a medium size (say 6 ounce) onion, or a very large leek - again, the Farmers Market coming in.  Two cloves of minced garlic.  Also, a pound and a half of beets.  Please use the red ones, or the chioggia striped ones for this soup.  The yellow ones simply don't have the color.   You also want a very large, or two smaller, carrots,  and a teaspoon of cumin and a quarter of that, of cayenne pepper. 

Annalena swears you will be out of the kitchen, in twenty minutes, and you'll be eating in 90.  Chop up your onion or your leek - a dice for the onion, or thin circles of the leeks.  Peel the carrots, and peel the beets (and you can use one, pound and a half beet if you like:  size doesn't matter here).   Cut both the carrots and the beets into cubes about half inch big.  And you've pretty much finished your prep work.   

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a soup pot, and then add the onion, and the garlic.  Cook this until the oven begins to soften - it will take about five minutes.  Then, take the can of tomatoes, and crush the tomatoes with your hands.  That's all.  Pour it all into the soup  pot.  Then add the carrots, the beets, and the spices.  Add some salt, and some pepper.   Add enough water to cover everthing by about an inch. This is what you get: 

 Put a cover on the pot, but leave it partially ajar, and bring the soup to the boil.  Then, lower it to a slow simmer, and go away for an hour.   When you come back:

Add some more seasoning, if you like, and you're ready to eat. 

No meat, no dairy, no nothing.  This soup has a sourness from the tomatoes that is reminiscent of borscht, but it is NOT borscht (Natalia told me that).  But it's good.  It's nourishing, it's easy, it's cheap, and as you see, we got two quarts of this stuff.  Go to it, gang.

Short rib farrotto, following Marco

Annalena would like a show of hands:  how many of you have a favorite restaurant where you love the dishes and think  "you know, I  should try to make that at home?"

Lots of you, huh?  Keep your hand up if you then say "but I don't have the equipment, the person power, the time", etc, etc, etc.

Hmmm.  Not many of you put your hands down.  Annalena's stayed up too.  She has a lot of favorite restaurants like that.  One of them is "Hearth," the wonderful restaurant that Marco Canora owns and where he chefs.    Annalena and the  Guyman eat there a LOT, and Annalena has the thoughts above, frequently.  So when Marco posts a recipe that is designed for folks to make at home, Annalena pays heed.

There was such a recipe in one of her cooking magazines this month:  a short rib farrotto.

A farrotto, ragazzi, is a risotto, but made with farro, a grain that had its time in the sun some years ago, when it was supposed to be the cure to all ills.  Groceries rationed the stuff, the price went up and those of us who had some of it, hoarded it.

Well, as happens with these things, the fad faded, we can all get it again, and enjoy its chewy  nutty flavor.  It's a member of the wheat family, but it is not wheat.   It comes in different forms, like all grains.  You all know about  brown rice, and how it differs from white rice.  Well, grains like farro, barley, etc, also come in those forms, but now one speaks of "pearled" and "unpearled" grains.    Marco in fact calls for unpearled farro, which Annalena did not have on hand, so she used what she had.  She also made other changes to the recipe, which she will explain as she goes on. She thinks Marco would approve, and hopes she gets to let him taste it.

It's a hearty, winter dish:

Based on winter vegetables,  short ribs, broth and seasonings.  It is not hard to make, but it does take some time. So, ragazzi, set aside a couple of hours, and let's make it.

First, here are your ingredients:

What you see here are the farro, cippolini onions, garlic, a leek (Annalena's introduction), a parsnip, a carrot,  dried porcini mushrooms (also Annalena's), thyme, and short rib meat.    What you do not see is the chicken stock (Annalena changed from beef stock to chicken stock, since she didn't have beef stock on hand), and red wine.  Nor do you see the olive oil.  

She used a leek, because the leeks at the farmers market were BEAUTIFUL.  She used the dried mushrooms because, since she was not using the  beef stock, she wanted a darker flavor and color.   

The first thing you have to do, is prep your ingredients.  You will almost always find short ribs ON the bone.  You'll be taking it off the bone here.  Not hard to do, but you just have to be ready to do it.  And also, know that if you buy the meat on the bone, you will need to figure 3 pounds of on the bone short ribs, to get two pounds off.  As Annalena  was taking the meat off the bone,  she noticed that some of the bones retained a lot of good, solid meat.  Well, again, she thinks Marco would approve:  if the bones held a fair amount of meat, she kept those for the dish.   All of the excess fat - very easy to do, just takes time. 

Do the meat ahead of time, and salt and pepper it overnight if you can.  For the veggies:  peel and cut the parsnip and carrots into half inch pieces, and slice the light part of the leek into slices.    On the cippolini:  these are Italian onions, and they are sweeter than the usual yellow ones you can buy.  (In fact, cippole is the Italian word for onion).  If you can't find them, Annlena suggests you substitute whole , small shallots rather than plain onions.   You need to peel and quarter them.  Now, if your  cippolini (little onions), are more like cippoloni (big onions),  remember to size the pieces so that they are about the same size.  In fact, one of Annalena's was very large, so she cut it into six pieces.    You need eight of them.  If you do  Annalena's version, you also want 1/3 of a cup of dried porcini mushrooms.  After you prepare the veggies, and measure out a cup and a half of farro, this is what you have:

Annalena forgot to mention the thyme.  Chop up a tablespoon of it, and leave a couple of branches plain as well.    You need to take a quart of stock, and mix it with half a cup of water and, if you're using the dried mushrooms, those too. Bring that to a boil, and then let it sit, covered, keeping warm. 

While this is happening, and afterward, pour out two tablespoons of olive oil, and brown the short rib meat to get a good color. Don't crowd your pan, and don't skimp on the cooking.  You'll probably need 5-7 minutes  per batch:

Move these to a bowl, and add another tablespoon of oil to your pan, and then add all of the vegetables.  Add some salt, and cook them , stirring them a lot, until you get some brown color:

Chef Marco wants you to put the short ribs back in the pan with the vegetables.  Annalena used a big skillet to do the components, and there would not be enough room for everything.   Hence,  what she did was to move the vegetables out of the skillet, and add the cup of red wine called for,  to dissolve all the goodies (the so-called "fond" ) that was on the bottom of the pan. 

Ok, now you've got your veggies, your wine, and your meat.  Unite all of that in one big pot.  Raise the heat to high, and drive off the wine.  It will take about 5-10 minutes to do.  After you have done that, add the farro, and stir things together.  Now, we start doing the old risotto technique.  Add a cup of your broth to the pot, and stir it all together.  You will not be stirring constantly, as with a risotto, however.  You have short rib meat, which needs time to cook, and a lot of "stuff" in the pot.  So, put a cover on it, but don't cover it completely, and let it cook for fifteen minutes.  Come back and stir it every now and then, but don't go crazy.    After fifteen minutes or so, do the same thing, with another cup of stock, and then again, fifteen minutes later.  After these three iterations, you'll have a little more than a cup of stock left, and a pot that should look like this: 

If you are using PEARLED  risotto, your grain will be completely cooked by now, and what you'll be working on, is breaking things down to get a creamier taste to it.  If you were lucky enough to have a whole grain farro, then the last step is one you'll need, for getting it cooked completely.  So, depending on your farro, either repeat what you did three times, one more time, but take the cover off and stir like a demon for the final five minutes, or, if like Annalena, you had the pearled stuff, add the liquid, and keep stirring, until most of it is gone.  As the dish sits, you'll see the liquid get taken up by the grain.  Taste things, and add salt and/or pepper if you need it.  You get:

Annalena thinks this is a perfect dish for the winter, and she intends to make it again.  Give it a try ragazzi. This REALLY is very, VERY good.  Thank you Marco.    The  Guyman and Annalena will see you soon

Improvising: Seitan tortilla casserole

With this blog, ragazzi, we are going to explore two themes that are important in cooking.  One is improvisation, and knowing HOW to improvise.  The other, is the importance of making basic materials that can be used, for various things.

This past weekend, Annalena made a  casserole:

This is a variation on a recipe that she's posted before, viz:

http://annalenacantacena.blogspot.com/2009/08/annalena-cooks-mexican-sort-of-fill-as.html

At the time she printed this, back in 2009(!!!!), she mentioned filling it as you like, and that it was sort of Mexican.  It is and it isn't.  And the techniques laid out in that recipe are going to come into play here, especially the portion dedicated to green sauce, so she suggests you review this, because she is not going to make green sauce again, in this post.  BUT.... because she made QUARTS of green sauce at the peak of the season, and froze it, and because she has a REALLY good source for a commercial green sauce:

https://www.spoon.com/roasted-tomatillo-salsa.html

She was able to make this, using what was in her fridge, and needed to be used:  she had a pint of seitan, a bag of about half a pound of mushrooms, tons of baby spinach from her CSA, and some cherry tomatoes that were beginning to give her the stinkeye. Also, from her favorite ladies at hot bread kitchen, she had a whole bunch of frozen, organic corn tortillas.  

Necessity and improvisation are, ultimately, at the heart of all cooking.   "Necessity" was not and is not a big thing with much of what we cook and eat:  if we don't like what's around, we buy something else.   On one level, that's fine.  On another level, if you want to cut down your food bill, learn to use what you have, and you'll be happy:  IF you know what you're doing. 

Annalena thinks of green sauce like tomato sauce, chicken stock, flour, butter, olive oil, oatmeal, etc:  it's an ESSENTIAL.  She can use it when company comes over as a quick chip dip, she can stew chicken in it, or pork, and she can use it for a dish like this.   So, while tomatillos are not in season at this time of year (at least not locally), when they come back in, make the sauce.  OR, go to American Spoon (one of Annalena's FAVORITE on line companies), and buy some.  The 11.00 they charge is not extravagant.  

The original casserole recipe Annalena had, called for thick slices of summer squash.  Ultimately, a cut like this, when seared, replaces the meat in what would be a meat dish.   There is substance to the thicker slices,  the squash takes on a sear just like meat, and it takes up volume.  These are all things that are important when making a composed meat dish.  Seitan fits that role very well.  Annalena has talked about seitan before, and you can find those discussions within the blog.  Go to it.  

Mushrooms are also a very standard, meat substitute.  Meaty, solid,  and something which takes up a good deal of volume, you've all seen  portabello burgers, mushroom cutlets, and dishes of that sort.  So, with seitan and mushrooms in her refrigerator, Annalena had the makings of a dish which would not have any meat in it,  and hence, no cholesterol.  

The original recipe for  the casserole also used a greens element.  In the past, Annalena has done this dish with swiss chard, and with kale, so baby spinach seemed very appropriate.  Finally,  one can find entire categories of dishes called "Mexican lasagna."  These dishes do not hail from Mexico, nor can one call them lasagna correctly,  but they do involve layering tortillas (almost always corn), with a tomato sauce.  Hence, precedent exists for putting them in a dish of  this type. 

Ok, ragazzi, enough with the talking!  Let's cook.  To start, get your seitan, and cut it into slices.  Put it aside, and cut up about 3/4 pound of mushrooms, into slices, quarters, halves, whatever suits you.  Any type of mushroom will do.   Annalena had simple, button mushrooms around.  She cut the larger ones into four pieces, the smaller ones into halves. 

Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a non stick pan (an important consideration for seitan).  When the pan has heated up (five minutes or so), add the seitan.  It will sizzle.  After a couple of minutes, move it around.  You'll see sear marks on some sides.  You want that.  Get the coloring on the seitan as best you can, then move it to a big bowl.  Now, repeat, with the mushrooms.  You may need to add a bit more oil, and if you do, do so.  Move those to the bowl as well.  

You can substitute the seitan with another meat substitute , like tempeh, but try to avoid the flavored varieties.  You can also use chicken, or diced pork, if you are a die hard "I WANT MEAT " eater.   And of course, you might very well substitute eggplant, or squash, or another heavy weight vegetable, depending on what you have.    If you do not care for mushrooms, then leave them out.  Just up the volume of the other product. 

Ok, using our seitan and mushrooms, which we've dumped into a bowl, now, we do one more level of cooking:  slice two onions thinly, add more olive oil, and saute' them in the pan with half a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and anywhere from half to two teaspoons of chili powder, depending on your heat tolerance.  When the onions have softened, and begun to brown, dump them in the bowl too.  Cut up your cherry tomatoes (you could substitute the larger varieties, if you wish),  and add those.  Finally, add about six cups of raw baby spinach.  Spinach loses volume rapidly, so this is not all that much.    If you use another green,  you may wish to cook it , if it's something like kale or collards, or use it raw, for chard, or softer greens.  If you cook the greens, you will want to start with six cups uncooked, and cook them very quickly.  (they will shrink markedly).

Now, let's construct the dish!  We need a 9x13 inch non metal pan.  The sauces we use have a great degree of acidity, so we want to avoid metal.  Put down a cup and a half of the stuff, be it homemade or out of a jar:

Cover this with overlapping corn tortillas. The size of your tortillas will dictate how many you need.  If you use 8 inch (the standard size), Annalena suggests you use 4-6.  Also, she suggests that you warm the tortillas very quickly in a small, dry pan (30 seconds per side), to permit them to open up and absorb some of the sauce. 

When  you've done that, it's time to layer the filling, which looks so:

Note that we still have raw spinach.  That's fine.  There's a long cook ahead.  Just dump this mix over the tortillas.  Cover the filling with tortillas, and then add another 1.5 -2 cups of the green sauce:

You then sprinkle cheese over this.  Again, necessity dictates things.  When Annalena made this the first time, she used smoked cheddar cheese.  She has made it over and over again with lots of cheeses.  Stay away from hard ones, like parmesan and pecorino, as well as the goat cheese family.  These simply do not melt properly, and you want a good melt.  Four ounces of cheese will be plenty.  Annalena used fontina.  Put the casserole into the oven, at 375, for only about 30 minutes (remember that anything that needs cooking has already cooked, so you will not need much time).    After  the 30 minutes, you have:

This will feed AT LEAST four very healthy appetites, and ultimately, you need serve nothing with it:  you have a vegetable in it (spinach, tomatoes), you have protein (seitan, cheese), and you have starch (tortillas).  Annalena suggests a VERY crisp salad with it, preferably one with an avocado and some oranges in it, and maybe some olives (which would go well in filling as well). 

Play with the recipe, improvise, and let Annalena know what you come up with.  She bets you'll do a fine, delicious job.

Get your hands into it: WHOLE whole wheat buttermilk bread

Ragazzi, it is one of those nasty late January days, where Annalena just wants to hide in the apartment.  The kitties are all laying around like they've been sedated (would that this were true), and we're all, in Woody Allen's words "so mellow we're beginning to rot."

A perfect day for bread baking.  And ragazzi, we're going to do REAL whole wheat bread.  By that, Annalena means bread that has NO. WHITE. FLOUR  in it.  And no, it is not a doorstop because, at this point in her life, Annalena has learned to be patient.  If you are, you get:

There are SO many myths and fears about bread baking, ragazzi, and this is a shame.  Once you get the hang of it, you will LOVE making your own bread.  Annalena knows that some of you already do it, but more of you should.  Trust Annalena:  once you get used to the fresh stuff, NOTHING will compare.  And once you get the hang of it, you can play with recipes, play with additions, and there's a whole new world. 

Let's chat a bit about baking with whole wheat flour.  There is a notion, not without support, that when you bake with whole wheat flour, you get heavy, dense, products, that simply do not taste good.  

The fact is, whole wheat flour IS heavier than white flour.  If you are enamored of puffy loaves, and soft centers, this bread is not for you.  It will NEVER scale the heights that, say, that bread that comes in a plastic bag with balloons on it does.  But it is SO good.    As far as taste goes, whole wheat flour has a high oil content.  So it goes rancid if you do not use it quickly, or keep it cool, etc.  So buy small quantities.  And, finally, when you use whole wheat flour in your baking, you are going to need more time to let it rise.  

One last thing:  very, VERY important.  The reason why bread rises, is gluten:  a very stretchy molecule, that expands when yeast gives off gas .  Think of the gluten molecules as stretchy, bungee cords.  Whole wheat flour has its bran in it.  If you look at bran under a microscope, you will see that it looks a little like a razor blade.  

Annalena suspects you know where she's going:  you have to be careful when kneading whole wheat bread, to minimize the cutting that the bran does to the gluten.  In her experience, rather than knead the dough MORE than you would white bread (which is what you are taught), you should knead it less.  

There is more information on being a good bread baker within this recipe, so read it.  Pay attention.  Annalena does not say that often, but here, she does, and there are reasons for it. 

Your ingredients:  1.25 cups of cold water, and 1.25 cups of buttermilk.  .25 cups of honey, 2 tablespoons of butter, unsalted, at room temperature;  2 teaspoons of salt.  2 teaspoons of dry yeast. 5.5 cups of whole wheat flour. 

Let's look at the ingredients.  Annalena specified cold water.  Most baking recipes will tell you "warm"  or "tepid".  Why does Annalena say cold?   Well... everyone take out a sheet of paper and write down, privately, what you think "warm" or "tepid" means.   Now, someone collect the answers:

Hmmm... no agreement.  Most bread baking failures happen because people use water that is too hot, and kill the yeast.  Ideally, the water you use should be the temperature at which you would bathe a baby.  Rather than put that responsibility on you, Annalena says:  just use cold water.  Your home is warm enough.  You don't need warm water to get the bread and yeast going. Take cold water right out of the tap, and mix it with...

the buttermilk.   If you are buying your buttermilk at the store, you are buying "cultured" buttermilk, which is not "true" buttermilk, but is fine for this recipe.  "Cultured" buttermilk is 1, or sometimes 2% milk, to which bacteria have been added, to "clabber" the milk, i.e, to sour it.   This is an attempt to replicate REAL buttermilk, which used to sour, simply by sitting around.  It was the liquid thrown off in butter making, and it would be stored, unrefrigerated.  Errant bacteria would find a home, and sour the milk.  You can find this, at farmers markets which have dairy farmers.  Know, however, that there is almost no sourness in this, and your bread is going to be wonderful, but it will not be the same as with cultured buttermilk.   Try it both ways if you can. 

Let us jump to the yeast. If you do not bake a lot, you will buy those little yellow packets that come in threes.  Pay attention to the expiration date.  Another big problem in bread baking failures, is using yeast that died.  Buy your yeast as close to the time you are going to bake, and keep it in the freezer.  It doesn't take up much space. 

Your flour : bread flour or all purpose, whole wheat, please. NOT PASTRY.  Pastry flour has been fine milled, and even if whole wheat, has probably been bleach treated.  It will not form gluten (the bleach kills the precursors to gluten, called glutinin),  and you will not get good bread.  Use that pastry flour for pie crusts. 

Are we ready?  Not quite yet.  Make sure you measure everything precisely.  Bread baking is, ultimately, a bit of a science.  Annalena will tell you when you can be free with things. 

For example... let's say you want a lighter, softer, richer bread.  You can double the butter.  It will take longer to incorporate, and you'll get something a little closer to cake than bread, but you can. 

Let's assume you want a stiffer, harder bread, or you're baking on a very wet day.  In those cases, you can kick the flour up to six cups, but don't add the last half cup until late in the process. 

Mix the liquids, the butter, the yeast, the salt and the flour.  Annalena uses a mixer.  You get a very soft, wet batter:

Let this sit, covered, for an hour and a half.  This is going to make two loaves of bread.  So, first, grease two 8x4 inch pans, and then wet your hands, divide the dough as best as you can, and flatten it in the pans, as best you can

The information on 8x4 pans is very, VERY important.  Many bread pans are available as 9x5 inch pans.  You may be wondering:  what difference does an inch make?  

Those of you who are more geometric will get this right away.  We are working in volumes, and we have to consider lengthxheightxwidth.  All bread pans are essentially 2 inches deep.  Hence, a 9x5 inch pan will hold 90 units.   An 8x4 pan, will hold 64. 

 You see?  We're working with something that doesn't rise very high to begin with,  and we're working with pans which differ by about 33 percent.    Here are some examples of the differences in size

So we've greased our 8x4 inch pans, and put our batter into them.  Now, we're going to cover them, and go away for an hour and a half,  again, and we'll get: 

This is longer than you will need for white bread. And that's ok. At some time during that hour and a half, start heating  your oven to 350.   Put the bread pans in the oven, as far apart as you can.  Let them bake for 30 minutes.   You've already seen what you get:

Let these loaves sit for about half an hour, and then dump them out.   They are going to have some moisture about them, but that will dry off.  Don't eat this bread for at least a few hours.  It needs to rest, and to breathe.    And then... trust Annalena on this one, you are going to enjoy bread bliss. 

Once you have done this a few times, you can play with things, like adding seeds, or raisins, or making a topping of different seeds, and so forth.  Or make rolls (you'll use more butter there, ragazzi), on a baking sheet.  

HAVE SOME FUN!!!!  This is really not much harder than a lot of cooking.  People have been baking bread for thousands of years.  See what you've been missing.   You may hit yourself.

One man's trash... Candied citrus peel

You've heard the expression, haven't you, ragazzi?  "One man's trash is another man's treasure"?  Of course you have.  And let's face it:  each and every one of us has, at some point or another, pulled something out of a pile of... oh, clothes, or electronics, or what have you, and made it their own.  Annalena recalls how, several years ago, she mortified the Guyman with such trash diving (although she really didn't need to do any "diving." ).  She and the Guyman were coming back from their annual Christmas eve dinner, very much enjoying "afterglow" and the weather, and as they turned the corner, she saw a huge pumpkin, in perfect shape, in someone's trash.  Seriously, ragazzi:  not a dent, not a rot spot, nothing:  a perfectly good, 8-10 pound pumpkin.  As the Guyman looked away, Annalena reached over, got the beast by the stem, and put it under her arm, to the degree it could fit.  She got her workout that night,  but she got it home.  And a couple of days later, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin ice cream all made their way into their refrigerator, and into their friends' gift bags.

And why not?  It was perfectly good food, and someone had clearly kept it from Thanksgiving.

Now, had it been spoiled, Annalena would have left it.  But this was pure .  It really and truly was.  You may not believe her, but has Annalena ever lied to you?


Moving on,  another example of what is "one man's trash," which Annalena has never followed up on, is grapefruit peels.  See, some years ago, Annalena learned how to candy grapefruit peel, using a very complicated, very time consuming method.  The results, based on how her fans react, are phenomenal.  Annalena stopped making her Christmas cookies a few years ago , due to the ravages of age and a busy life, but she still candies the peel, and people do scream for it.  It seems the combination of the color, the mild bitterness ("beaten" out of the peel with  hot water), and the crystalline sugar  "reaches" people in a way.

It should.  The stuff is a pain in the (insert body part here), to make.  The method Annalena uses calls for slicing the peel into chunks, and then boiling it for ten minutes, three times, each time with  new water.  After that, one must clean the peel of residual schmutz, and then slice it into the peel pieces.  These then go into sugar syrup, cook to a temperature of 230  (NOT obtained quickly, ragazzi),  and then cooled, dried, and dipped in more sugar.  Then, and only then, is it ready to eat.

You can only do this when you have plenty of peel around.  Annalena and the  Guyman do eat grapefruit, but it is not their major citrus.  So it sometimes takes a while before she can make it.    And she would like to make it:  sometimes, she thinks she could retire on the stuff.   Her pal June sells it for 11.00 for a two ounce bag, and she has seen it for 16.00 for a quarter pound, with the statement that "it is a bargain."

Hmmm.  Annalena wondered how many pounds of grapefruit peel she could pick up from juice shops.    Then she only has sugar, and her labor to factor in, before she's making stuff that sells for any where from 16-22.00 a quarter pound.  And if you make it, ragazzi, it IS worth it.  Wait.  This is not for those who are not committed.

Well, not having the gumption to contact the juice bars, Annalena's grapefruit peel has been in short supply, and rationed out carefully.  Now, however, she has learned a new method, and it is a method that CAN be used for grapefruit, but has universal applicability, to ALL citrus peels.  As she and the Guyman eat a LOT of oranges (supplied by the Citrus bomb and the Citrus stud), use a lot of lemons (from the same), and use limes and grapefruits, securing sufficient peel is not a problem, if you are looking at MIXED citrus peel.  Think about it:  you can easily, EASILY eat 2-3 oranges a day  (and at this time of year, you SHOULD be).  You probably use a lemon every day or every other day, for flavoring vegetables, fish, or tea,  and you use lime when you drink your bad Mexican beer, or to make guacamole,  and so forth.  And if you want to make mixed citrus sorbet, well, there you go.

So this method is really something you should have in your bag of tricks.  It's far less complex than the one Annalena has used and, remarkably, while you cook the peel together, each variety retains its  unique flavor.  Absolutely wonderful, says Annalena.  So, here we go.

Use peel from organic, or at least non-sprayed fruit, if you can.  Juice it, but don't worry tremendously about getting the white stuff off - that will come later.  When you have a big bag of it (let's say 8-10 pieces of fruit worth), get them all in a big pot, and cover it with water.  Bring it to a boil, lower it to a simmer, and cook for one hour.  (Originally, 50 minutes, but one hour is easier).  Drain this, and let it cool.

Here comes the only part that is a bit difficult.  Take each piece, cut it into a manageable piece, and then, with the back end of a knife, carefully scrape off the white stuff and as much pith as is reasonable.    This will take a while, and to be honest, it is messy, disgusting work.  But we're getting to something wonderful.  We really are.

After you have that done, cut the peel into smaller pieces:  strips, triangles, etc.  You may want to choose different shapes for each type of fruit, and that's fine.    And when you're done, get those pieces into a pot, with a hefty 3 cups of sugar (originally, 3.25 cups of sugar.  If you heap up a 3 cup measure, you will have 3.25 cups) and the same quantity, of water.  If you are making bigger batches, increase accordingly.  Bring THIS to a boil, lower it to a simmer, and let this cook for an hour (again, 50 minutes is what was called for.  ).  Keep the heat at that medium, low level for a very soft simmer.  Now, let this cool, and drain the syrup off.  Save this, the same way you saved the juice if you didn't have "waste" peel,  and use it for drinks, sorbets, cakes, etc.   Lay the cooked peel on racks, with some parchment paper underneath, in order to catch any spill (there probably won't be any, though).

 Leave this in an aerated place, away from your cats, and let it dry for 24 hours.  Let it dry for the full term, because if you don't, after you do the next step, you'll have a mess.  Trust Annalena's experience on this one.    When it's dry, fill a bowl with more sugar, and toss the peel until it coats.  The peel is sticky, so the sugar will adhere well.  Keep doing this until you're done, and then let the peel dry a bit more - let's say for 4-5 hours.   The citrusy sugar can also be used, anywhere you would want sugar.

You MUST store this in a metal tin .  If water or any form of moisture gets to it, your work is for naught.  Metal cookie tins (the ones Annalena used to fill with her goodies), seem to work the best.

This stuff keeps, nearly forever.  It does begin to get a bit more than stiff after 3-4 months, but do you really anticipate having it around that long?  Annalena thought not.  Glorious, isn't it?

So, during this peak citrus season, when you should be getting as much vitamin C as you can, don't let this valuable stuff get away.  And if you have no interest, give Annalena a call. She can use those peels.

Make it simple, but make it new: marinated, salt grilled shrimp

Ragazzi, sometimes we all need to break out of what we usually do or know, and try something different.  Tonight, we are going there, with a dish that has strong Asian overtones. Also, this recipe includes a plea - a STRONG one - from Annalena, on an issue that is dear to her.  In fact, two issues: sustainability, and the need to support our workers at home.

Here, we have a picture of salt grilled, or roasted, or fried shrimp:

That's what we're making tonight, after a tutorial about shrimp.

Did you know that somewhere about 90%  of our shrimp come from overseas?  Maybe you did.  And maybe you knew that these shrimp came from farms. Lately, however, Annalena has learned more about shrimp that has veritably depressed her.

You know how you can buy shrimp as medium, large, extra large, or jumbo shrimp?  Did you ever think about the information behind those sizes?  Well, Annalena just assumed some shrimp grow bigger than others.  She was wrong.

What she learned, in a wonderful article in the quarterly "Lucky Peach," is that the size of shrimp is dependent upon infection at the farms on which they are raised. See, shrimp begin as eggs, and hatch as small, free swimming larvae (Think of "brine shrimp" if you have an aquarium background, or "sea monkeys" if you have one in comic books.  Those babies would eventually grow into shrimp if you let them).  What happens, on the shrimp farms (mostly in South Asia), is that the farm owners watch the mortality rate of the shrimp, which is always high.  If the shrimp are dying at a rate higher than they should be, it's because of infection, and they harvest the living shrimp and start again.  No one knows what causes the infection, but if it starts early in the life cycle, we get medium shrimp.  If later, large.  And so on, and so forth.  In the United States, we never see the "small" ones, which are dried, and sold in Asian markets.

This makes Annalena very sad.  It makes her even sadder, because there are American shrimp industries in the south, and in Maine.  Right now, Buddha be blessed, Maine has shut the shrimp industry so that it can recover.  And the fishermen agreed . (We can ALL learn from Maine on this).  Those shrimp are very small, very sweet, and could not be used in this recipe.  From the Carolinas down to Louisiana, however, fishermen and women go out shrimping every day.  And you CAN buy wild shrimp, rather than farmed ones, if you look. You don't have to look hard.  Fresh direct sells them.  Yes, they cost about a dollar a pound more than do farmed ones.    A DOLLAR A POUND.  How much did your coffee cost this morning?    Annalena, who trained to be a lawyer, rests her case.  So, please ragazzi, look around.  If you can't find wild shrimp at your local market, you CAN buy them on line, frozen (and most shrimp are frozen by the time you get them anyway), and honor Annalena's legacy by buying those.

Okay, sermon over.  Now, let's get to this recipe, which is a tasty one, but it does need some help. Let's go.

  First, a marinade.  It's a simple one.  For a pound of extra large shrimp (about 18-20 to the pound), you need a garlic clove, and here, you need to chop it very fine.  Use a small knife and you'll be okay.  Mix this with 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice.  Annalena wants to you squeeze it yourself:  it's easy.  Cut one or two oranges in half, through the middle. Squeeze each half, pull out the pits.  Measure.  If you have more than half a cup, drink it.  You also need two tablespoons of olive oil , which does not have to be your fancy stuff, a teaspoon of a hot chili sauce of some kind (Annalena uses sriracha, which she has probably misspelled badly), and a teaspoon of paprika.  Smoked is good, but Annalena still had the sweet stuff out from yesterday, so she used that.  And a quarter teaspoon of fresh black pepper.

The orange juice and the olive oil are essentially a vinaigrette here.  The other stuff mixes with them well.  Now, you add that pound of shrimp, which you will peel and, if necessary, devein.  Annalena has mixed feelings about deveining shrimp.  She knows that the vein is the intestine in the shrimp, and it's supposedly gross.   It's never bothered her.    If it bothers you, go for it.  With a lot of shrimp these days, though, the vein is nearly invisible.  As was the case here.    So, toss the shrimp, shelled, and deveined if necessary, in that marinade, and let the shrimp sit for anywhere from two-four hours.  Annalena put hers in a quart container and turned it every now and then, over a period of four hours.

Here is a picture of what they look like, after the marinade bath:

When you're ready to cook the shrimp (which should be AFTER you've cooked everything else for the meal, because this is going to happen REAL quick),  slice up a couple of oranges, and have them ready for plating.    Pour a cup of salt into a big, heavy pan.  Cover the pan, and over medium heat, heat the salt.  You may very well hear salt "popping."  That's not popping, but it's akin to the sound of breaking glass, as crystals of salt break down
 When the salt is hot, take off the cover, and put the shrimp down, in a single layer,

 and cook them for two minutes.  Turn them over and cook for another two minutes.  After one turn:

 Move them to a plate with the orange slices, and... you are DONE!!!!  Unfortunately, the salt cannot be reused:

But the final dish, served with some wonderful accompaniments:

The oranges accentuate the orange in the marinade. There is brown rice with toasted sesame seeds, and also, very quickly sauteed pea shoots.  When the shrimp come off the salt, you need to brush them,but to tell the truth, ragazzi, they WILL be salty. That's why you need acid, rice, and simple greens to go with these.  They are remarkably moist and juicy.  A close up of the split one, at the end of the plate, may show you this.  The salt somehow "cures" the outside, and helps to keep the juice in them - a common problem for shrimp cooking. 

Ragazzi, this is, for just about all of us, our only planet.  And whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are in fact all united in some way.  Please do something to help your fellow humans, and also the environment. Do your homework before you cook, and yes, it will cost you a bit more.  Get your priorities in order.  We all must and ultimately, this is not very difficult.

Going exotic : Annalena takes a Frenchman's take on Moroccan: chicken tagine

Many European cuisines have a whole family of dishes built on some kind of earthenware pot or pan of some kind.  The pot becomes the name of the dish: paella, for example, and so with this dish:  a tagine (or tajine, or tajin).  You can buy such pots or pans, but you don't need to.  And we won't be using one today, ragazzi, as we make:

Does that look like something you want to make and eat?  It's got chicken thighs, cauliflower, olives tomatoes, and tons of aromatic spices in it.  Still with Annalena?  Unlike many of her recipes, this one is gonna involve some work, starting with the spice mix, which you're going to make yourself.  It looks like this when it's done:

To make it , Annalena reckons you're gonna have to do some shopping, because there is quite a list.  Check your spice cabinet, to see if you have: sweet paprika,  cinnamon, coriander, tumeric, ginger, cardamom, and allspice.  You're going to need ALL of them.  You will NOT need the garlic powder that the original recipe calls for.  Garlic powder?  In Annalena's house?  REALLY?

Ok, so  you have the list of spices, and here's the quantities.  And there's a lot.  You need 3.5 tablespoons of sweet paprika, to begin.   Here, ragazzi, is one of Annalena's digressions.  To speak of "paprika" is to say something like "bread."  Ultimately, paprika is dried, powdered, red pepper.  There are as many paprikas as there are peppers, and they are hot, sweet, mixed, blended, etc.  When Annalena shopped at the much missed H. Roth emporium, there was a paprika wall:  you told the clerk what you were cooking, and he or she told you which one to get.  Today, you have to just wing it, or find someone who knows their peppers.  If all else fails, for this one, either get "sweet Hungarian" paprika, or "pimenton dulce" if you are fortunate enough to have a supply of good Spanish spices.   The amount - 3.5 tablespoons - is just under 1/4 cup.  So, if you have a dry measuring cup of the appropriate size, use that.  Otherwise, spoon it out into a bowl.    You add 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon,  3 TABLESPOONS of the coriander, 4 teaspoons, or a tablespoon and a teaspoon, of tumeric one tablespoon of ginger, half a tablespoon (1.5 teaspoons), of cardamom, and 2.5 teaspoons (you can cheat and go up to a tablespoon) of allspice.  All of these, ground.  Mix them together, and toss them in a small frying pan, and toast them for two minutes.  Stir them every 30 seconds or so, and then pour them back into the bowl.  Your kitchen is going to start smelling really, really good.

Next you need chicken thighs, on the bone and with the skin.  You need 3 pounds, which is about 8. On this point, please do not be compulsive about the NUMBER of thighs.  If you have a knife, you can work with them to make them about the same size.  This is important for when you shop, because ultimately, if you have to decide between 8 and 3 pounds, go with the three pounds.  Chickens come in different sizes, and some are like Twiggy, and others are "THUNDER THIGHs."  It  may take some looking to get the thighs with bones and skin, which is a shame.  Welcome to today, kids.

Anyway, get the chicken thighs, and mix them with some salt and pepper, two tablespoons of the spice mix, and two tablespoons of olive oil.  Coat them well.  You get something that looks like:

So now, you're saying "WAIT. I just shopped, mixed spices and I'm using TWO FREAKING TABLESPOONS?"  Well, in a way, yes, ragazzi.  Here's what we're going to do.  We're going to add some more of this down the line, but this is optional.  Once you taste it, however, Annalena thinks this may become one of your "go to" blends with stews, ragus, goulashes, etc.  

Put a quarter cup of olive oil into a big pan, and warm it up.  Add the chicken, skin side down, and brown it, on the skin, and non-skin sides.  This is hard to tell, because of the color from the paprika, but here's a shot:  

Cooking them all the way through, is not all that important, because there's another 40 minutes of cooking ahead of us.    Put them aside, and turn off the heat because...

Now we're going to make the vegetables.  Yup, the vegetables.  Cauliflower.  A whole head.  Break it into florets, and get the florets into some boiling salted water.  Let them cook for three minutes, and have some ice water ready.  After three minutes, get them into the ice water.  Undercooking is better than overcooking, because this, too, is going to cook for a while,  but raw will not work.  We have some spices that need to get into the veggies, remember.

After you've done the cauliflower, get a cup of cherry tomatoes.  (the original recipe called for plum tomatoes. Getting a good plum tomato this time of year is impossible. Cherry tomatoes are easier).  Drop those cherry tomatoes into that hot pot of water for half a minute, and get them into the ice water.  Separate the veggies, and let them dry.

We'll come back to the tomatoes, but now, we're gonna cook the cauliflower.  If you have some oil left in the pan, heat it up, and toss in the cauliflower.  If you don't, add a few tablespoons.  Brown them, and then take the chicken and the cauliflower, and get it into a big, oven safe pot:

NEXT STEP ( she told you we were going to work).  Chop up a large onion, and three cloves of garlic.  You also need to grate about a tablespoon of fresh ginger, and get a pinch of saffron (Annalena forgot to put this on your spice list).  Put all of this into that hot pan, again augmenting with oil if you need to.  Keep it moving for about five minutes.  Then, add a tablespoon of tomato paste, and two cups of chicken stock.  Raise the heat to high, and reduce this by about a third.   When you've done that, put that in the pot with the chicken and cauliflower .  Here's a peak at what the onion mix looks like when it's ready:

You feel like we're working yet?  Annalena bets you do, but it's not hard work, it's just a lot of it.  Bear with her.  You can't get food like this outside.  Unless you have a Moroccan friend who is a good cook.  

Put the pot into the oven, covered, and cook for twenty minutes.  After you've done that, take it out of the oven, and add a cup of green olives (with or without the pits, up to you.   Think of who's gonna eat it),  the tomatoes you cooked before (we didn't forget them), and the chopped rinds of two preserved, salted lemons.  You'll have to put those on your shopping list too, unless you have some, because while they are easy to make, they're not  ready to use for 3 months.   If anyone has gotten this far and wants to know how to make them, ask Annalena.   You need salt and lemons.   The tagine, after twenty minutes, and after the introduction of the olives et al, looks like:

Another twenty minutes later, and  - Allah be praised - you are DONE:

Doesn't look much different, but the tomatoes have shrunk the chicken is much softer, and it really, REALLY produces an amazing liquid.  At this point, add some more of the spices if you like.  In fact, early on, if you wanted to, you could add some when you cooked the cauliflower, and/or the onions. Annalena did so, and suggests you do that instead of adding it at the end. 

Save the rest of the spices for the next time you make this, or have a recipe  that calls for "za'atar." This is not za'atar, but it will suffice.  And make this dish, ragazzi.  Yes, you have to shop, and yes, you have to work, but be nice.  How many easy ones do you have from Annalena?  Get into the habit of something fancy, and expand your horizons, too.

Variations on a theme: riffing on lasagna

This one, ragazzi, is by popular demand, seriously. And Annalena wants to take the time first to thank her readers for making clear when they want something  (BLOG IT!!!!!)  came, for example, from the lovely and talented Christa.  Second, she wants to use this post to discuss how, once you master te basics of a recipe, you can play with it, and it becomes a recipe without a recipe.  She will also go over the mysterious history of lasagna.  Happy Sunday everyone.

See, we do not know the exact origins of lasagna.  We do know that Romans ate something along the lines of what we now know as lasagna:  there were strips of a very rough pasta, mixed in with a chickpea mash, and whatever else could be found.  It was, essentially, food for soldiers on the march, and, given what Annalena knows, positively vile.  It also contained no tomatoes.  All of her readers should know by now that tomatoes did not enter the vocabulary of Italian cooking until after Columbus' and the voyages to the West.

Today, of course, it is very different. We all know lasagna.  Or do we?  Generally, in Annalena's experience, we know the traditional red one, with meat sauce, a heavy bechamel,  and lots and lots of cheese.  A lasagna that can render you immobile for a day or two.  That is how Annalena's Nana made her lasagna.  It was wonderful.

Annalena still makes a similar lasagna, but she leaves out the meat.  She is more likely, however, to make a dish that is lighter, and plays with vegetables, like this one:

This is not a light lasagna, but it is meatless.  The color comes from butternut squash.  And Annalena is going to TRY to tell you how she made it, but to be honest, she sort of wings it with lasagna at this point in her life.  Make a few, and you will too. 

First, let's start with the noodles:  you can get fresh lasagna noodles, and you can get dried ones.  Fresh ones will make a lighter product, but you can't always find them.  You can use dried ones and get a REALLY good lasagna:  this one was.  DO NOT USE THE NO BOIL  noodles.  They are vile.  They are disgusting.  They will make you wonder "why did they ruin perfectly good pasta?"  

Annalena is not ambiguous about this whatsoever.    Boiling lasagna noodles takes no time at all, especially if you follow her method,  and you will be happy.  

When you are making a lasagna, check how many noodles you will need to cover the pan you are using.  This will determine how many layers you can make.   If , for example, you have twelve noodles and the pan takes four (a usual scenario), you can only get two layers:  you need noodles at the top, remember?  So, if you want a super layered lasagna, buy extra. 

You need a lot of ingredients here, but you can collect them over any period of time you like.  Just wait to make the bechamel until the day you're going to make the whole thing. 

This time around, Annalena used  both butternut squash puree, 

and  roasted slices of butternut squash, for texture.  (She also used greens, but we'll get there).

To make the squash puree, cut up a BIG butternut squash (not necessarily as big as this one):

Put the pieces skin side up on a sheet pan covered with parchment, and then roast it at 400 for at least half an hour.   You can check to see if it's soft enough to puree, by pushing with a fork or a big spoon. If it collapses, it's ready.  When it's cool, scrape the flesh off the skin (you CAN eat the skin, but let's stick to basics here),  and puree it in a food processor.  No liquid, no butter, no nothing.  Just pure squash. This monster yielded six cups of puree, and the lasagna took half of that. 

We're not done with squash though.  Now, get a medium sized one - about two pounds.  Peel it, cut it into slices, like half moons, toss those with olive oil and salt, and roast them for about half hour, also at 400.  When you see browning, it's done. 

What is a lasagna without cheese?  Not lasagna, in Annalena's book.  We're going to use GOOD quality ricotta - recite after Annalena:  "good ricotta does not end with an -O", fontina cheese, mozzarella,  and parmesan.    We'll need a pound and a half of the ricotta,  a half pound of the fontina, one pound of the mozzarella, and what you want on the parmesan. 

These numbers, ragazzi, are improvisations.  You will want the ricotta and the mozzarella, but if you can't find, or don't like fontina, get something else, or use more mozzarella.    And if the quantities of the solid cheeses (the mozzarella and the fontina), bother you, change them.  You WILL need the ricotta. 

Now, to the bechamel, and this is where Annalena loses people.  Melt a stick of unsalted butter and mix it with a half cup of flour.    Whisk that together, until you've got a solid mass.  Don't worry, you're fine.  Now add three cups of milk, slowly.  Many recipes say the milk must be warm. Annalena doesn't see a difference.  Hot milk means another dirty pot.    Just pour it in, and keep whisking, at low heat.  Eventually, you'll get a very loose looking custard.  Add some salt.  This is one of the mother sauces.  Annalena's people call it beciamella.  Put a cover on it, and put it to the side, because now, it's time to work. 

Cube those solid cheeses, and keep them separate.  Put the ricottta into its own bowl.  So, at this point you have: 

1.  a quart or so of beciamella

2  a pound of mozzarella, cubed

3. a half pound of fontina, cubed

4. a pound and a half of ricotta that doesn't end with an -O

5. lots of squash puree

6 roasted squash

7 a pound of noodles

You still with Annalena?  Because now, like Stephen Sondheim, we're gonna put it together, bit by bit.   

Get a large pot of water boiling and salt it.  If you are going to add greens to your lasagna, now is the time:  put them in for about three or four minutes, pull em out, run them under cold water, and chop them. Annalena used dandelion.  Spinach is traditional, chard is good.  Annalena does not like kale in hers, but it's YOUR lasagna.    Also, if you are prepared, you could make those greens ahead of time. Or if you have some extras from another cook. 

Remember how we determined how many noodles will be necessary to cover a pan?  Well, now we'll see why.  Take that many noodles, put them in the pot, and cook them for NO MORE than 4 minutes, if you're using dry.  If you're using fresh, 30 seconds.  Before cooking them, put a few spoons of the beciamella in the pan and cover the bottom. Now, put those noodles in. 

Let's make our first layer.  For Annalena this time, it was a half pound of ricotta, a cup of squash puree, about a third of the mozzarella, and a cup of beciamella.  Mix that all together, and spread it over the noodles.  You don't have to be precise, but make it go as far as you can. 

Now, do the same number of noodles.  When they're done, we go to layer number two.  This time,  the roasted squash, half the fontina, another half pound of the ricotta, and another cup of beciamella.  Spread it again.

Third verse/same as the first.  You do the same number of noodles.  THIS time, mix  the greens, the butternut squash puree (another cup), a cup of beciamella and another third of mozzarella.  

And we finish up, with another layer of noodles, and by mixing everything that's left together, and pouring it over the whole thing.  Put that in the oven, at 400, and let it cook for about half an hour.  If you can fit it on a baking sheet, that's even better because it may drip.

Remember that parmesan?  AH, Annalena knew you did.  When the lasagna is finished, get out a cheese grater, and put whatever amount you want all over it.  That way, you don't burn this lovely stuff.  

And there you have it.  Squash lasagna, with room for improv.  Let's have another look at it:

Ok ragazzi, now it's your turn.  Get to work and play with this.  Annalena wants to know what you do ok?  So do we all.

Speculating on speculoos: a Belgian cookie, frequently claimed by Dutch

There is a common saying among folks who cook, and those who don't, that cooking is an art, while baking is a science.

Well, as someone who does both, Annalena wishes to say:  yes and no.  Indeed, the belief that you can substitute things in cooking is true.  But it is not an absolute.  As she points out, over and over, if you are making a recipe that calls for whole milk, in many cases you can get away with 2% milk, but not skim.  But not always.  Similarly, if a recipe calls for cashews, which are rich and unctious, and you substitute sunflower seeds (do not laugh.  It has happened), you had best be prepared for disappointment. Sometimes, you can substitute parsnips for carrots (parsnips make a wonderful cake).  Other times, you cannot (try passing off parsnip soup as carrot soup).

It is true, to a much larger extent, that you cannot substitute freely in baking.  For example, if you decide that you're going to be "healthy" and use honey instead of sugar in a recipe, first of all, you're not being healthy, and second of all, you'd better get ready for a fall.  On the other hand, in some cases, the amount of freedom you have is quite large. Let us say you are making oatmeal raisin cookies, and you don't like raisins.  Know what? You can put in chocolate chips instead.  Or nuts.  And the recipe will work.  If you are baking bread, and you wish to add some whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier, it will work. You can't expect 100% substitution and the same product, and you may need to let the dough rise for longer, but you will get VERY good bread.

All of this is by way of an object lesson, ragazzi, as Annalena describes her adventures in making the cookie known as speculoos.

"Speculoos," strictly speaking, is a spread:  sort of the anti-nutella, for those of us who prefer spice to chocolate.  There are different mixes, but there is always cinnamon (a LOT of cinnamon), and ginger (a LOT of ginger too).  Then, there are additives.  You can get some on amazon.com.  It makes amazing ice cream, and it is terrific on bananas.

There is also a cookie called "speculoos" and sometimes called a "biscoff" wafer.  There are different variations of it.  For example, there is one where one uses a springerle mold to roll out etched cookies.  We will not be making that here.  There is also one where you roll out the dough very thin, cut it, and decorate it with sugar and white chocolate.  We will not be making that one either, ragazzi. Rather, we will be making a simple, log cookie and we will be seeing how variations and carelessness, can indeed, change your baking.  Also, we will learn how you can't judge how a recipe will turn out, by its picture.

What follows is a picture of the cookies which were to come from the recipe Annalena followed:

What that picture tells an experienced baker, is that this is a cookie which spreads in baking, like your basic butter cookie.  Chocolate chip cookies fall into this category:  you know they spread.

Now, here is a picture of what Annalena got on her SECOND run through this recipe:

Again, an experienced baker will say  "these cookies did not spread."  Indeed, they did not.  They behaved much more like a shortbread.    Does that mean Annalena did not follow the recipe?  No, it does not; however, she is now going to show you a picture of a batch she made, where she did NOT follow the recipe in a significant way:

Very different, yes?  Anyone have any idea of what she did wrong?  It's subtle.  But we will get to it.  It's an important object lesson in how to follow instructions and NOT to guess.

First, let's make some battter.  You need a stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature . Put that in the bowl of your mixture,  and start working it with a paddle, until it's nice and blended:  maybe two minutes.  While that is happening, combine 2 cups of all purpose flour, a full tablespoon of cinnamon,  a teaspoon of ginger, about a half teaspoon of fresh greated nutmeg, and  a  half teaspoon of ground cloves. Also add half a teaspoon of salt. Put that aside.

Into that creamed butter, add a half cup of brown sugar (light or dark), and a quarter cup of white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of molasses.  Work that for another three minutes.  Then add an egg, and a bit of vanilla.  When that is all combined (stop the mixer and get in there and stir it with a spatula if you need to),  add the flour and spice mixture, and blend it until it all comes together.  

Annalena did exactly this , both times.  BUT... here's where she had her issues.  Once you have the batter, you are to divide it in three equal parts, and roll each part into an 8 inch log.  The recipe is very clear on this.  Here are Annalena's first logs:

If you have any doubts as to their length, Annalena lined them up next to her 8 inch santoku knife:

OOPS.  Well, she went ahead with the recipe anyway:  each log was wrapped in foil, and frozen for at least 3 hours.  After that, she cut each log into about 30 cookies, placed them on a cookie sheet, and baked at 375, for 12 minutes.

You saw what happened.   The ones that aren't burned, taste wonderful.

Later in the day, she pulled out an 8x8 pan to measure the logs she made.  You can tell the difference:

She wrapped these in foil, just like the last batch, and let them freeze, for three hours.    When it was time to cut the cookies,  just like the last time, she took one log out at a time, and cut the cookies,  disregarding the instructions saying you needed 32 per log.  Who cares?    And, given the large degree of burning,  she reduced the baking temperature from 375 to 350.  She got cookies that taste great,  look very good, and did not burn.  As our final illustration, we have the first and second batches below:

You can tell which is which, can't you?  The ones on the bottom will get repurposed in a pie crust or something like that, and the ones at the top:  cookies for the Guyman and Annalena and friends. So, the lesson here, is NOT TO EYEBALL measurements, especially when you are making a recipe for the first time.  And to recapitulate, you have the ingredients and how to mix them above.  Form three 8 inch logs (MEASURE THEM!), freeze them for 3 hours or more, cut thin slices off of the logs, and bake them on parchment paper lined sheets for 12 minutes. 

Who needs nutella?