things I've made since posting last

Earlier this week I took a stab at recreating Parc's beet salad, which I ate in blissful ignorance the night before losing my job. Like the restaurant's version, mine incuded frissee and roasted beets; lacking French bleu cheese, I crumbled some of the stilton leftover from our New Year's party. I dressed it a walnut vinaigrette from my kitchen bible, aka Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (Wiley, 2006), and threw some toasted walnuts on top for crunch.

For my protein, I prepared a piece of salmon (in the toaster oven, no less!) according to this recipe from Ina Garten, only without the entire rest of the platter or the nicoise dressing. I didn't want that dressing to compete with the flavors in the salad, and the marinade on the fish was flavorful but didn't overwhelm the other foods.

What a success! And it was all so simple.

Sausage and Peppers

This is one of my dad’s autopilot recipes; in other words, there is no recipe. I couldn’t tell you the first time I ate it, or how many times I’ve eaten it, or where it comes from, or if he made it up himself. The dish itself is no novelty; you could probably find it in any restaurant or out of food truck serving southern Italian food. But it is one of my favorite cold-weather dishes, especially after a long day spent watching football on the couch. Best of all, when we eat it with my mom, there is always exactly enough left over for me to eat later in the week over a bowl of pasta.

It should be noted that we never follow most of the rules I set forth below. The vegetables should be rough, not thinly sliced, but keep them all the same size so they cook evenly. The peppers can be cooked much longer, but we like them still a bit firm, and the onions can be fully caramelized before you add the peppers. Because of my aversion to all things pork, I use turkey or chicken sausage—if you do the same, please make sure it is still “mild Italian” or “sweet Italian” style. (You don’t want any other styles in this dish.)

Sausage and Peppers
Serves 3-4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: Not very long

1 lb. mild Italian sausage (turkey or chicken sausage both work well)
¾ Tbsp. (or less) extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium-large onion, sliced into 1-inch strips
2 red, orange or yellow (or a mix) bell peppers, sliced into 1-inch strips
2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
Crusty bread
Grated parmesan cheese

1. In a large saucepan, cook sausage over medium-high heat until browned on both sides and cooked through.

2. While sausage cooks, heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add onions and sauté until they begin to caramelize slightly. Add peppers and cook about 1-3 minutes, depending on taste and how firm you want them to ultimately be.

3. When sausage is browned, remove from pan and return pan to heat. Add tomato sauce and garlic to sausage pan, and cook over medium-low heat 1-2 minutes, scraping bottom of pan to incorporate cooked-on bits into sauce.

4. Add peppers, onions and sausage to sauce, and stir everything so all ingredients are sauced. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until sauce is thickened and flavors have combined.

5. While sauce simmers, warm up some crusty bread in the oven or toaster oven.

6. Serve hot, with crusty bread (my mom likes to make a sandwich out of hers, while my dad and I like to dunk our bread into the sauce) and topped with grated parmesan cheese.

Before I post today's recipe, I want to apologize to whomever might one day read this for the following:

--I don't know how to make all my posts appear in the same size font. I try my best, but sometimes it simply does not turn out how I'd like.
--The timestamp on my posts is wayyyyy off. And when I try to tweak it, good things don't happen. It really doesn't matter when I post it, does it?

Technologically retardedly yours,
me

My recent layoff has brought changes to my life, including an exaggerated, newly heightened sense of frugality. Though I have been cheap probably since the womb, I now feel an overwhelming consciousness of the cost of everything, the contents of my wallet, the balance of my checking account. I have saved every grocery receipt from the last month with the intention that I will map out my spending in some hypertechnical way à la Microsoft Excel and look for ways that I can cut more corners than ever before.

In honor of the winter holidays, this stinginess took the form of home-baked gifts for the vast majority of my friends and family: lemon anise biscotti, peppermint chocolate cookies covered in white chocolate and dusted with crushed candy canes, candied orange peels, and two types of chocolate bark. Amid the festive flurry of kitchen activity, I even found time and energy—and clean utensils—to bake a loaf of pumpkin bread for myself. But, as is always the case when I make pumpkin bread, the standard sized can of pumpkin leaves me with an extra half-cup or so leftover. I used some of it earlier in the week, adding it to a pot of oatmeal about a minute before the oats were fully cooked. This reminded me of my favorite cookie e-ver (oatmeal chocolate chip), which in turn reminded me of how unexpectedly delicious the combination of chocolate and pumpkin can be.

I used a Mollie Katzen recipe as a guideline, with the exceptions noted below. Her preparation times never hold true for me; I always take longer than she does. And while she says this recipe yields four dozen cookies, I used a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop and ended up with well over 60.


Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Still Life With Menu Cookbook (Ten Speed, 1994) by Mollie Katzen

Preparation time (for me): 35 minutes to prepare, 12 to 15 to bake
Yield: 4-6 dozen cookies, depending on size

½-¾ c. canned pumpkin, drained of excess water
¾ c. packed brown sugar (I had only about ½ c., so I threw in ¼ c. maple syrup also)
½ c. unsweetened applesauce (if you want it to be vegan) or 1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 ½ c. rolled oats [A tip from Mollie: If you are using thick-cut rolled oats (the kind that is sold in bulk at natural foods stores), grind the oats slightly in a blender or food processor, using a few quick spurts. If you are using a more refined product, such as Quaker Oats, this step is unnecessary.]
5 to 6 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. whole chocolate chips (dairyless, if you're going the vegan route)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together pumpkin and sweetener with an electric mixer at high speed.
3. Beat in applesauce or egg; stir in vanilla extract.
4. In a second bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture, and add all remaining ingredients. Mix until everything is well combined.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet, and flatten each cookie slightly with the back of the spoon.
7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from sheet while still hot, and cool on a rack. (If using parchment, transfer paper with cookies to rack and allow to cool.)

Optional:
Eat one as soon as you can handle it! They're awesome right out of the oven.