Corduroy Orange

When done correctly, roasted potatoes are a fantastic treat: crispy, golden brown, and delicious.  When done poorly, they’re sort of insipid, soggy, and blah.  Here are a few quick tips to get great potatoes:

1. Heat is your friend.  Turn the oven up to 450.  Make sure it gets fully hot.
2. While the oven heats, cut the potatoes into about half-inch  to one inch chunks and toss them with canola oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Put the pan (cookie sheet with a lip—I recommend a standard half sheet pan) in and let it get hot before adding the potatoes to it.
4. Don’t worry the spuds once they go in.  If you’re constantly opening the oven to stir them, the temp goes down.  They don’t get the contact with the pan they need to caramelize and get golden.
5. But don’t forget about them either.  Stir them after 15-20, then again after another 10-15.
6. They should be ready after a total of 40-45.
7. Yum!

This recipe is fairly easy to make, bakes much more quickly than pumpkin bread, and tastes delicious!

• 2/3 cup softened butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups mashed pumpkin (see note at end of recipe)
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• dash nutmeg
• 2 cups mixed raisins, golden raisins, and dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugars.
3. beat the eggs into the mix, one at a time
4. Add in the pumpkin and the water—reduce the speed on the mixer as you add the water or else you’ll wind up splattering the watery mixture across your counter and onto the floor!
5. Combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.  Beat this mix into the large bowl of liquid ingredients about 1 cup at a time.
6. Mix the dried fruit into the batter.
7. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 25-28 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Yield: 32 muffins

Note on pumpkin: substitute any winter squash (except spaghetti squash) for pumpkin.  My preferred method for producing mashed pumpkin: peel the squash, cut in half and scoop out seeds.  Dice and toss with oil, small amount of salt, and mixed spices (pumpkin pie spice mix).  Roast at 375 on a baking sheet with a lip for about 30-45 minutes (depending on size of the dice) or until it is soft.  Makes a great side dish, or to prepare for baking purposes, run through meat grinder attachment of your Kitchen-Aid mixer.  Freeze in pint containers and use within 2 years.

Or, if you prefer, use a 15-oz can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!).

A Ha!  It is I, the Count who loves to count!

Today i am going to count how many ingredients you need to make my hometown sandwich, the Monte Cristo!

1. One loaf of good, hearty bread
2. Tasty mustard
3. one half pound of fine ham, like prosciutto from Parma Sausage
4. One half pound of rosemary pork loin from Parma Sausage
5. Cheese—tasty, tasty cheese
6. Eggs: 1, 2, 3, 4 eggs (ha ha ha!)
7. Milk
8. 1/2 tsp Paprika
9. 1/2 tsp Dried Basil
10. 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
11. Butter

That’s eleven, eleven tasty ingredients to make my sandwich!

Now, let’s count the steps to make it:

1. Spread the mustard on the bread
2. Layer it with cheese, prosciutto, and pork loin
3. Put the second piece of bread on top of the meat.
4. Repeat for the rest of the loaf of bread
5. Pierce the sandwich with two toothpicks to hold it together
6. Repeat for the rest of the bread in the loaf.
7. Heat your griddle and get it hot.  Turn your oven on to 350 F.
8. Mix together the eggs, milk (just enough to give it the color of eggnog), paprika, basil, and nutmeg.
9. Dip the sandwiches in the egg mix, both sides.
10. Melt butter on your hot griddle.  Cook the sandwiches in the butter.
11. Flip when the first side is golden brown.
12. When the second side is golden brown, transfer it to a pan in your oven and let it cook for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Twelve, twelve tasty steps to make my sandwiches (ha, ha, ha, ha).  That remindss me of a song that I know: 1 2 3 4 5, 6 7 8 9 10, 11 12–da dee da da do do….

There once was a grocery store in Shadyside that had all kinds of gourmet ingredients available.  People flocked to it from all over Pittsburgh and its aisles got too crowded and little Goldilocks couldn’t find room to push her shopping cart and she complained, “this store is too small!”

So, the supermarket chain opened up a store in Robinson that had all sorts of room for anyone to push their shopping cart through a voluminous chamber that offered a bakery, a deli, a coffee roastery, hydroponic lettuce garden, and more.  Little Goldilocks pushed her carts up and down the aisles for hours on end until she realized she had no idea where she was or how to find the registers. “This store is too big!” she complained.

So, the supermarket chain opened up a new grocery store in Pine that had plenty of space to push your cart through a cafe and a bakery and a deli and a cheesemonger and a bulk foods section and an amazing selection of produce, and little Goldilocks said, “this store is still pretty big but I feel more comfortable in it.”

Giant Eagle has opened up a new Market District store in Pine Township.  It’s actually their fifth store under the Market District heading, and it pulls out all the stops, as has come to be the norm.

The produce section offers anything you’re looking for, from a Buddha’s Hand to dragonfruit to more run of the mill offerings like lettuce, tomato, onions, and peppers.

The bakery offers cakes in a variety of sizes, including a smattering of gourmet cupcakes with house-made buttercream icing, and many other appealing options (I put the bakery to the test by trying a blueberry muffin.  I’m inevitably disappointed with bakery blueberry muffins, but I was pleasantly surprised to find theirs had enough blueberries, good crumb, and excellent flavor).

The bulk foods department was by far the section I was most impressed with.  From dried morels to quinoa to excellently priced maple syrup ($10/lb!), and beyond, one could eat well based on the bulk offerings alone.

Even the dairy department has a wider than normal selection of products, including pasteurized/ non-homogenized milk (the secret to shaking the paperboard carton: scissor the top instead of pinching it).

Giant Eagle is justifiably proud of their newest store (actually a remodel of an existing Giant Eagle), and threw a huge celebration to show it off.  They had live music, demonstrations from celebrity chefs, cheese carvings, and a lot more that you wouldn’t expect at a supermarket.  I took pictures and had planned on posting them, but somehow managed to delete them off of my phone whilst (and at the same time as) not uploading them to my computer.

The hoopla surrounding the opening of this store was definitely a stark contrast to the shopping experience I get at my local Eagle (store 63, in Greenfield).  And there’s a large part of me that wishes I was able to get a fraction of the extras offered at the Market District in an ordinary Giant Eagle.

The growth areas in our local grocery shopping options tend to be at the fringes of the market: whether Aldi or Bottom Dollar swooping in to the bargain market or Market District and Whole Foods clambering over each other for the top.  Very little has changed in the middle of the road shopping experience.  I hope Giant Eagle might observe the enthusiasm with which shoppers greet the Market District offerings and provide some of the amenities to more of the stores, and help all of their customers to feel a little bit of the Market District zing.

Greg Boulos of Blackberry Meadows Farms is starting a new seed bank to help preserve as many of the at-risk heritage vegetables as possible.

If you’ve visited the Farmers at the Firehouse market on Saturdays or the Farmers at Phipps market on Wednesdays, perhaps you’ve already purchased one (or more) of these heritage varieties for your garden; I bought a Sheboygan variety tomato, and I’m excited to try its fruit… it already has one green tomato growing on it!  And, I will be using the envelope provided with my plant to save its seeds and pass them on.

If you’d like to do a bit more to support the Heritage Seeds initiative, cruise on over to its Kickstarter plea and pledge financial support to the effort.  Consider perhaps joining at the member level of $100 for a plethora of prizes.  Or, perhaps you’re interested in the food tasting and farm visit available at the $250 level?  Or, what the heck, pledge twelve bucks; every bit counts.

Here’s the key: there are only 16 days left for the seed collective to raise their goal of $10,000.  If they don’t hit their goal, you don’t pay a dime (and they don’t get a dime).  As I’m writing this, they have achieved $3,682 in pledges, so they need your help.

Don’t delay.  Pledge now.

The Chop Stir:

Although I suppose “in a fraction of the time” is a step better than “a fraction of the time,” but really, I’ve never a) considered the process of chopping up ground beef in a pan to be overly time consuming; nor b) wished I had something other than a wooden spoon with which to accomplish the task.

A one-year emergency supply of freeze-dried and dehydrated food, sufficient to meet the sustenance needs of a family of four:

Perfect for your very own backyard bomb shelter.  Add it to your store of plastic sheeting and duct tape….

I like pie.  Good pies are culinary treasures.

I tend to approach my pies from a Grandmotherly perspective: I demand the bestest of flavor, though it may not plate beautifully well.  I think here, for example, of strawberry pies.  The best tend also to be the messiest.  The ones that are held together with gelatin so that they stay together in a cohesive piece are awful!  The gelatin interferes with the juicy flavor of a ripe, in-season strawberry and drags the whole pie down in its quest for visual perfection.  But that’s just me.  You’re perfectly entitled to your own opinion (even if you might be wrong).

Should you like show your chops in the pie-baking venue, The Beehive is hosting a pie contest on Friday, November 26 (the day after Thanksgiving).  It’s a terrible day to shop, but a beautiful day for eating pie.  It’s also bound to be an interesting event, not only because of the creative clientele that the Beehive attracts, but also because the contest is being divided into three categories: Best Sweet, Best Savory, and Best Themed.  Entry fee is $5; sampling privileges cost $3.

I plan to enter.  Not sure yet what, but you’ll see me there.  You’ll be baking pies for Thanksgiving anyway.  Make one more, and head on over to the Beehive with it.

The folks who made these food sculptures have a completely different take on knife skills.  Click on the picture to see a series of similarly amazing sculptures.

In preparation for my cooking demonstration at the Waffle Shop today, I trolled through my recipe posts and determined that I never posted any sort of recipe for a straight-up waffle.  So, I figured I’d craft one in a form that would be as useful as possible in your kitchen.  Here is my waffle recipe, formatted as a pdf for easy viewing (and printing, should you care to add it to your recipe binder).

If you would like an alternate syrup (beyond maple), use the reverse side of your paper to print out this formula for ginger-infused simple syrup (also in pdf).  It goes quite well on a waffle, especially when paired with spicy grilled pineapple.

You can use the same basic technique employed to create the garlic sauce for the Coliflor al Ajillo to create a fantastic mac and cheese with sauteed vegetables from scratch.

* 1 pound pasta (elbow macaroni for a classic look–but consider rotini: its spirals really cling to the sauce!)
* approx. 1/4 cup cooking oil
* 1 small onion, diced
* 6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
* 1-2 cups broccoli, chopped finely
* 1 red bell pepper, diced
* 1 jalapeño pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut to very fine dice
* approx 1/4 cup flour
* 2 cups milk
* 1/2 pound cheese, shredded (cheddar is great. So is cahill porter. For a blue cheese sauce, try 1/3 of weight in gorgonzola and the remainder in cheddar)
* salt and pepper to taste
* about 1/4 teaspoon allspice
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (optional–but great if you’ve got it!)

Put cooking oil in large, hot sauté pan. Add pepper and rosemary to the cooking oil to infuse it (and the final product) with their flavor.

Add onion and garlic to the pan with about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until they start to brown at the edges. Add broccoli with a tiny pinch of salt, cook for !out 2-3 minutes; then add peppers (bell and jalapeño) with another tiny salt infusion.

Stir flour into vegetables so that it combines with oil to make a roux (add just a tiny bit more oil if necessary) and once a roux has formed, stir the milk in gradually so that all roux is incorporated.

Let simmer forabout 15-20 minutes. When sauce is approaching doneness, cook pasta (about 5-6 min. For elbow mac, closer to 9-11 for rotini).

Just prior to draining pasta, stir the cheese into the sauce gradually so that all cheese melts and is incorporated. Thin the sauce with a tiny bit of pasta cooking water if necessary.

Drain pasta and combine with completed sauce. Serves 4-6.