Pumkin Bread for my little Pumpkin

Today was the last day of Kindergarten. Where did this year go? I knew it would fly by. Everyone said it would, and they were right. My oldest has just finished her first year of school, and before I know it I'll be watching the baby packing boxes for his own adventures. Hmmmm....let us contemplate that thought for a moment. I realize that there is no stopping these sweet moments with my little ones, as smiles turn to memories and cascade through each passing minute of life.

Speaking of sweet moments...she's standing here wondering why I'm at the computer instead of playing with her. So before I let this moment pass, I'll end in brevity. But first, I'll leave you with myPumpkin Bread recipe. It's the special treat she requested for the kindergarten family picnic that celebrated the end of the school year:

Buttermilk Pumpkin Bread With Walnuts

Recipe for 2 loaves...one to keep and one to give away :-)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups sucanat or sugar

1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon coriander

1/2 whole nutmeg, grated

2 cups pumkin puree (from whole pumpkin that was roasted in oven, pureed and frozen)

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Method:

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a large pyrex jug, mix the remaining ingredients except walnuts. Gently mix the wet ingredients with the dry until they just become moist. Do not over-mix. Fold in one cup of the walnuts, leaving some for garnishing the tops. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans. Sprinkle remaining walnuts on the tops. Baking times can vary. It should take approximately 50 minutes, but a skewer placed in the center should come out clean before removing from the oven.

Lamb Hotpot

Ok, so Lamb is a spring menu item, and it's almost November. But it's spring in New Zealand... and I have some happy memories with this recipe, going all the way back to my first weeks of marriage. Twelve years ago, when I was a new bride living with my husband's family in England. I had the job of being the family cook for a house of eight. I didn't really know anything useful about cooking when I was 24, and suddenly having to produce large meals for people in a culture that was still foreign to me was...educational.

Lesson number one: If you are making dinner in England in the fall or winter, or any other season for that matter, you must make gravy. If you don't, they will likely head to the kitchen to make it for themselves. This is reasonable, but also mildly entertaining for me, being from California where gravy is not so common at the table.

Lesson number two: The request, "please will you prepare a joint of meat?" is really one that will strike fear in the best of young, naive, newlywed novice cooks. So get a good cookbook and hope for the best.

Lesson number three: Don't forget the gravy.

Fortunately, one of our wedding gifts was a charity cookbook called "More Than a Meal: A Cookbook in Support of the Homeless." The irony of it all was not lost on us. So in this book I began...and there I found many useful recipes from Margaret Thatcher's stuffy and complicated "Calvados Phesants" to Mr. Bean's...what else..."Beans on Toast." There is enough tongue-in-cheek to keep one looking through the pages, and enough yummy stuff to keep me using it a dozen years later.

Which brings me back to my original point...Lamb Hotpot. Mike Picken, listed as the Executive Chef at Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, saved me from humiliation that cold winter's night in England. I didn't even know what a 'joint of meat' was, much less where to find it and how to cook it. Turns out it is found wrapped in white paper and stored in a freezer...and when it comes to leg of lamb...well, I think this is the best way to have it. I have made a few changes over the years, like more wine and fennel. But who wouldn't want more wine and fennel anyway? So we'll call this the USA adapted version of an already superb recipe.

(...and it's a hodgepodge of weights and measures, so I do apologize for thoroughly confusing everyone)

Lamb:

3 lb diced leg of lamb

1 stick of butter, divided

1 lb chopped carrots

1 large onion, diced

2-3 bulbs of fennel, chopped or diced

3 oz tomato paste

2 oz flour, plus extra for dusting lamb

650 ml lamb stock

16 oz red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Season and lightly flour the cubes of lamb. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a large cast iron dutch oven, and fry the lamb in two batches over high heat until they are browned. Remove from the dutch oven. Sweat the vegetables in the dutch oven with the other 1/2 stick of butter. Add the tomato paste and cook a few minutes longer until the mixture deepens in color. Mix in the flour and cook a few minute more.

Add the lamb, wine and lamb stock to the pan. Bring to a boil, then cover and bake in the oven at 325 degrees for two hours.

Dill Soda Scones:

5 oz plain flour

4 oz whole wheat flour

1/2 oz baking powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped

1 heaping spoon of crisco

1/2 stick of butter

Buttermilk

When the hotpot has been in the oven for nearly two hours, mix together the plain flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and chopped fresh dill. Rub in the butter and shortening, then add enough buttermilk to make a light dough...not too dry and not runny. (Sorry about not having specific quantities...I make them like southern biscuits, and my mamaw never measured.)

Remove the hotpot from the oven and give it a stir to dislodge anything stuck to the bottom. Drop large spoonfuls of the batter onto the top of the lamb. Place the hotpot back in the oven without the lid, and increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Cook until the scones begin to brown a little. It takes about 30 minutes in my oven. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Please Can I Have That Cookie Recipe?

That's what I said the first time I tasted these cookies, and that's what I hear every time they are served. Quite possibly, these are some of the best cookies on the planet. I played with the recipe I was given and tried to make them nutritious enough to serve as a guiltless treat for my kids...and the grownups too.

Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup of sucanat

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups oat flour (or whole wheat)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher or sea salt

3 cups rolled oats

2 cups finely chopped walnuts

2 cups Nestle's milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and nuts. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sucanat with electric hand mixer.

Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

Add flour mixture and stir together until wet.

Add oats and chocolate chips and combine with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed together.

With a cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

Variation:

Omit the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Add 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 cups finely chopped pecans, 1 cup craisins, 1 cup chopped dried apples.

A Good Egg

One can't underestimate the importance of a good egg.

I have heard the egg be used as a symbol for life, health, friends, and even an example of the holy trinity. But let's stay simple here. In cooking, it's a good place to start and it's a critical ingredient in many delicious recipes. But there is no replacement for the good ones. On the other hand, having bad one might leave a memory you wish you could forget. So when choosing an egg it is important to remember a few details: 1)Don't buy the recalled ones. 2)Find a local farmer or friend who raises pasture hens. 3)If you must buy eggs from the store, look for eggs that are fresh, all-natural, grain-fed. I like the Farmhouse eggs at wal-mart for best bang for your buck. Compared to the ones sold at local specialty shops, they are half the price and have a nice rich yolk.

There are many ways to have eggs. At our house they are eaten any time of day. I'm going to share a method for a soft-boiled egg. It's one of the favorites for the kids because they love to dip strips of toast in the creamy yolk.

Leave eggs out of the refrigerator so they come to room temperature. Boil water in a small sauce pan. Once the water is at a good boil, place the egg in the water with a spoon. Set timer for one minute. Once you hear the timer, turn off the heat and place a lid on the saucepan. Set timer for another 6 minutes. At the end of the time, remove the egg from the pan immediately and place in an egg cup. Swiftly tap the side of the egg with the edge of a spoon, then remove the top of the shell with a scoop of the spoon. This will reveal an egg with firm whites and a creamy yolk. Serve with slices of toast. Removing the remaining whites of the egg can be done by simply by gently scooping out with the spoon.

Three 5's and 7's for Mo

Bare arms will bear arms

and legs and baby's sleepy

breath on my shoulders

While golden rays soothe

my days and silver rays pulse

me, it's just a phase

The happy tune

from the other room is calling

I will dance today

Squatting Spiders And Other Bits Of Melodrama

I was just staring out of my kitchen window at my half-completed weeding job. Yes, I was weeding in February. We had two glorious days of warm, sunny weather this weekend and I made the most of them. The weeds were brown reminders of work left undone upon the arrival of our third child in October. A month before he came I was on my hands and knees placing bricks around the garden in a mosaic footpath. I really don't like leaving projects half-completed. I like to start and finish in the same burst of energy, but babies and cold weather brought a halt to tending the garden. And again, babies and cold weather are halting the work today.

As the kitchen is a therapeutic space for me, so too is my garden. Although I have yet to develop green thumbs, I am determined to chase my fears and insecurities at least to the outside of the fence. After a good bit of searching, I found my mud-stained garden gloves in the shed. I squeezed the fingers all the way to the very tips and shook them hard. I have a fear of squatting spiders, so when I dare finally put my hands in the gloves, I press my fingertips into the seams, just to feel the emptiness. Only then can I start. Out went the crabgrass that attempted to take over my newest bed, gone are the skeleton remains of last year's marigolds and zinnias, and cleared are the dried leaves of the irises and lilies. I pruned the dead bits from the new rhododendron and inspected the trees.

It's still early, even for the south. But somehow I have the feeling that spring will never come. I saw it with my own eyes just a few months ago. The leaves fell, the blooms dropped, and all went brown. That which gave me joy abandoned me again. (Please bare with me in my melodrama...) Abandonment. What a big word. Perhaps a fear even bigger than spiders in my gloves. I love the flowers, leaves, bees and birds that make a bold display of vibrant life, but no matter how much I love them, they will not return to me on this cold, dark day.

I want to kick and scream like a child, "Don't leave, come back! Why aren't you here in this moment when I need you the most?!" But even the biggest tantrums won't make the cold turn warm. I am resigned. Instead of chopping down the trees and digging up the bulbs, I will wait...patiently. Trust diligently. I'll pour myself another cup of tea, and stand at the window a little longer.

I'll try to focus on real fears, like squatting spiders and such.

Hi I'm a Mac(aroon) and He's a PC (pastry & custard)

Before the days of blogs, facebook, cell phones in every hand, and even compulsory email accounts, I had a romance that involved the mailman. Not what you are thinking...much more romantic than that. I had a lover in England who sat in a quiet room every day or so, crafting letters to me on starched white cotton paper with a black fountain pen. His margins were even, lines straight, and every time I opened the mailbox I got what I expected and wanted. He never gushed, but every detail of his thought was expressed beautifully. He drew me in, and in turn I replied. Not with straight lines and white paper though. My writing was wild and unpredictable, on different paper every time. Sometimes I included perfume or a bit of moss from the rock in the woods where I wrote my last letter. I doodled, decorated and embellished. We were very different.

Different, yes. But bound together nonetheless. It was five months of nearly nonstop letters before I saw his face for the second time. I kissed him. His first kiss. And then we knew we would be together forever.

I kissed him. His first kiss. And then we knew we would be together forever.

I suppose this is a sort of valentines post...a tad late. It took me a while to get my thoughts together. That, and I have been testing recipes for macaroons and custard. It's appropriate, really. Two delicious treats from one glorious egg. Two parts held together...not mixed up, but held beautifully together inside a shell. How lovely. This is what I think about when I'm in the kitchen. I separate the eggs...yolks in a small jug, saving for the custard to be prepared later. Whites go in with the coconut and sugar. Nothing is wasted.

I'm sentimental around this time of year. Twelve years ago I sent a man I hardly knew, a box of homemade peanut butter cookies and hershey kisses. I later found out that he hates peanut butter and Hershey's is regarded as an insult to the cocoa bean. He was gracious enough to never tell me his real response to his first valentine. But hey, it was nowhere but up after that one. In fact, our first child came about 9 months after a valentines day...the one we spent having a most delightful feast at St. Johns Restaurant. Mmmmm. That was a good one.

This year we were lucky to get away from the children long enough have a pint at a neighborhood restaurant. But I made chocolate dipped macaroons for me, and custard tarts for him. And we held hands, not mixed up, but beautifully together.

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1 cup of sugar

pinch of salt

1 large spoon of honey

2 1/2 -3 cups of unsweetened coconut (small shred), or finely ground almonds

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 tsp almond extract if using almonds)

1 bar of Lindt chocolate (70% or a mixture of milk chocolate with the 70% is nice)

Method:

Place the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour in a medium saucepan. Mix together until the texture is fairly even, then turn heat on to medium and continue to stir until the mixture begins to brown on the bottom slightly. Stir in the vanilla extract, then remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature. Once the macaroon mixture is cooled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a cookie scoop to distribute the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how soft or firm you like your macaroons. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Melt chocolate in a microwaveable dish. Dip the bottoms of the macaroons in the chocolate and place on the parchment paper. Cool in the fridge until the chocolate has set. Store in an airtight container

Custard Tarts

Pastry:

For USA, you will need a kitchen scale. These are weighed measures.

9 oz plain flour

pinch of salt

2-3 oz unsalted butter

2-3 oz shortening

Cold water

Stir the salt into the flour. Cut or rub the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Gently stir a little cold water into the mixture (a couple tablespoons at a time) until the mixture begins to form a ball. Do not over-mix pastry dough or it will become tough. Roll out on a floured board and place in a large tart pan, or if you are feeling particularly energetic, you can cut them into small circles and use muffin pans or jam-tart pans for individual tarts.

Custard:

4 egg yolks, plus 2 eggs

2 oz caster sugar

1/2 pint of whole milk

1/2 pint single cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Freshly grated nutmeg

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat the eggs and yolks with the sugar until blended. In a saucepan, warm the cream and milk until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and slowly whisk the milk into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract. Pour the egg and milk mixture into the pastry case or cups. Grate the nutmeg over the tarts and bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is just set. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving, or refrigerate and serve cold (either way, don't forget the tea).