Gold Rush Cocktail

With all the get-togethers of the holidays, you're bound to need a few tricks up your sleeve.  Preferably ones that make you look awesome while taking minimal effort and enjoying yourself.  Well, here's a cocktail recipe you can trot out to impress family, friends, coworkers, or even your cat.  It's only three ingredients and all you have to do is shake or stir.

And in case you don't need any tricks, this cocktail is still an excellent way to relax and enjoy a winter's evening.

The Gold Rush

from Domaine de Canton

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Domaine de Canton (ginger liquer)

1 oz. bourbon

0.5 oz. fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

Combine all three ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously...or put them in a tall glass and stir vigorously.  If you're feeling fancy, pour into a martini glass and garnish with a cherry.

Notes:

--This cocktail might be a bit too strong for some.  I'd suggest you add quality ginger ale (like Reed's Ginger Brew) to taste.

--My bourbon of choice is Bulleit bourbon. It's smooth, an excellent value, and made in Kentucky, where they know a thing or two about bourbon.  I'm looking forward to trying their rye bourbon soon.

The Christmas Cookie Extravaganza of 2012

When I was a young one, I distinctly remember helping my mother bake Christmas cookies.  We'd bake the family favorites - sugar cookies rolled around Hershey kisses or maraschino cherries, buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate), date bars, lemon bars, and a seemingly endless supply of butter cookies.  Those butter cookies were the star of the show, cut in a variety of holiday shapes and iced/sprinkled with care.  A few years, we even made divinity, a traditional Southern candy made with very hot sugar syrup and jello mix.  The divinity was quite memorable, since some of the sugar syrup leaped out of the bowl and onto my hand, instantly blistering skin and instilling in me a healthy respect for sugar work.  

I love the tradition of baking Christmas cookies with my mother.  Even though we've adjusted our routine, making smaller batches and swapping in new recipes for our older ones, it just doesn't feel like the holidays without a flurry of cookie baking and sharing.  

I've extended the tradition to include my coworkers, gifting them with boxes of each year's Christmas cookie offerings.  This year, I was responsible for choosing all of my family's holiday treats, and I wanted to include the familiar flavors of the season.  

Here's what we made...

Chewy Chocolate Mint Cookies

from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

This is their most recent cookbook, separated into sections by their 10 favorite ingredients.  While I've enjoyed their two previous books, this volume is definitely my favorite.  It has a whole section on pumpkin! And chocolate!

About the cookie:  Chewy texture, with a slightly crunchy exterior thanks to a roll in some granulated sugar.  Studded with chocolate chunks.  A rich dark chocolate and strong peppermint flavor

Ginger Rum Molasses Cookies (or Joe Froggers)

from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Their gingersnap recipe won out over the more crunchy version of David Leibovitz and the chocolate-gingerbread version of Martha Stewart.  I suspect the winning factor was the rum...

About the cookie:  Chewy, with a very mild crunch from the demarara sugar we dipped them in before baking.  Uses A LOT of molasses, so that's the major flavor you'll get from these, with a bit of gingerbread spice (ginger, clove, nutmeg....no cinnamon, which was interesting).  My mother claims to clearly taste the rum, but all I can taste is molasses.  Since we used dark rum, which has a strong molasses flavor, maybe we're both tasting the same thing.

Swedish Christmas Cookies

(aka Cardamom Shortbread Cookies)

from the Food Network Kitchens

Last year, we wanted to make traditional holiday cookies from around the world.  In our search for recipes, I stumbled across these shortbread cookies, laden with cardamom and lemon zest.  We didn't make them last year, but, oh boy, are we happy we did this year.  They're such a wonderful change from the other cookies and from more common butter cookies.

About the cookie:  Crumbly and tender shortbread cookies with the barest hint of crunch from the granulated sugar rolled around its edges (you could use colored sugar or chopped nuts to be more festive).  The smell of these cookies baking was marvelous, filling the house with a rich, exotic, spicy scent.  When you bite into one of these, you taste warm and comforting spice - that's the cardamom taking you to the fireside and filling you with warmth.  The lemon zest seems to get lost in the glory of cardamom, but I suspect it's supporting the cardamom's flavor more than I can taste. 

North-by-Far-East Brittle

(aka Spiced Pecan Chews)

from Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes, and Other Delicious Recipes for Cooking with Sugar by Gesine Bullock-Prado

This book tempted me into the finicky land of playing with sugar.  While it has excellent explanations and creative (but do-able) recipes, I've run into problems with making some of the recipes.  I'm not sure if it is the recipe's fault or my own, but I followed this recipe and emerged with a not-so-brittle treat.  I love this cookbook, I'm just baffled about the results. 

About the cookie (err...candy?):  This candy was supposed to result in brittle, which means sheets of candy that snap and break easily into beautiful and irregular shards.  Even though I followed the recipe precisely, my product dried to a thick and chewy candy.  And by chewy, I mean this could sticks to and pulls on your teeth like those caramel apple lollipops you see around Halloween.  Since it was still quite tasty and I hated to see so much food go to waste, I decided to roll with my much chewier than brittle candy.   It's delicious, redolent with flavors of maple syrup, ras-al-hanout spice mix, and toasted pecan pieces.  A welcome change from the toffee so often seen around the holidays.  Eric and I combined our muscles to wrangle cut the "chews" into pieces as small as we could manage.  I'd like to try this recipe again, perhaps with a new and improved thermometer (though I genuinely thought my current thermometer--the third of its ilk in my home--was alright).

Apple Cider Caramels

from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

From one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, this newly released cookbook is not only gorgeous, informative, and incredibly approachable, it's totally my new favorite cookbook.  It'll stay in the favorite category for, well, forever.  It's got everything, and Deb does her typical excellent job of breaking it down and making it work for everyone.  She previewed this recipe on her blog the day the book was released and I vowed to make them immediately.  Immediately came and went, but I still had to make them.  Cider and the promise of all the flavors of fall on your tongue?  How could I resist?

About the candy:  Deb's instructions are easy and clear to follow, but my caramels came out a bit harder than she intended.  Instead of cutting into pliable squares, they shattered along fault lines into pieces of their own choosing.  Oh well. I rolled with this as well.  They're insanely delicious, with a strong taste apple cider (make sure you use a good quality cider, like Trader Joe's!) and a delightful salty counterpoint from fleur de sel.   While these are rather hard in your hand, they soften up quite a bit in your mouth, becoming the stick-to-your-teeth-in-a-dangerous fashion for a bit before settling down to small pieces you can savor.

All these treats were wrapped in wax paper to keep them separate and carefully stowed inside of Martha Stewart's lovely cookie boxes.  They're the easiest and most lovely way I've found to package cookies for gifting.

So far, it seems that my coworkers love all their treats.  Most have declared the apple cider caramels their favorite, though Eric is quite enamored of the chewy chocolate mint cookies, especially once he realized they were chewy and not crispy, like the first cookie he'd sneaked for a taste (serves him right, stealing a cookie and snagging one of the few that didn't turn out properly!).  I'm hard pressed to choose a favorite, since my tastes change with my mood.  I can confidently say, though, that all three cookies are quite delicious in their unbaked form as well.

Oh, and one of the fantastic features of the cookies is how easy they are to make, compared to the usual production of butter cookies (mix dough, chill, roll out sheets, chill, cut shapes, chill, re-roll dough, chill, bake, cool, ice, cool).  My mother and I made all of the doughs the day before, allowing them to chill overnight.  We baked everything in a single day, which was fairly easy with the cardamom shortbreads being a slice-and-bake and the two other cookies being drop/roll into a ball cookies.  

And I promised to give major credit to Eric for his photography in some of these photos.  He was quite artistic in arranging the boxes and the cookie list.  He also snapped several action shots of the candy making process, but I didn't include them here (sorry!).  If he's not careful, he's going to become Hops' official photographer...

It finally feels like Christmas is coming!

What treats do you make for the holiday?

Do you have any family holiday traditions in the kitchen?

Cider and Spiced Rum

It's finally decided to settle into winter here in Ohio.  Temperatures dropped to 40s and below.  The wind is bitingly brisk and the sky is an uninspiring pale grey.  Ugh.  If I had my druthers, I'd spend winter in a charmingly cozy ski chalet, where none of my interactions with winter would involve driving through snow and ice to go to work and I'd never be chilled to the bone.  Of course, I'd grow tired of being cooped up in a single building, but the thought is quite picturesque, isn't it?

Until I'm whisked away to my dream ski chalet or until I no longer have to drive through snow, I'll settle for wrapping my hands around a tasty adult beverage. Whether it is hot or cold, I don't mind, as long as its flavors sing of comfort against fall and winter's biting chill.

Cider and Spiced Rum

Makes 1 drink

Serve hot or cold, your choice

Ingredients:

6-9 oz. apple cider

3 oz. spiced rum

Preparation:

For a cold drink (sometimes you need a change from all the hot beverages you're warming up with):  Combine cider and spiced rum in a glass.  Stir and enjoy.  Add more rum or cider, to taste.

For a hot drink:  Heat cider in a small saucepan on your stove, stirring occasionally, until you see steam rising but before you hit a boil.  I've noticed some ciders (though not Trader Joe's most amazing spiced cider) separate into spices and juice when heated too much.  Remove from heat and stir in the spiced rum.  Enjoy, and adjust to taste with more rum or cider.

Easy, right?  You could also use bourbon, if that is more to your taste, though I've found hot bourbon and apple cider is like an easier version of a hot toddy.  Add a strip of lemon peel and some honey for full hot toddy effect.

And I can't recommend Trader Joe's Spiced Cider enough.  By far my favorite cider in flavor - not too sweet, tastes like apples, and a strong dose of spice.  I'm inconsolable when it disappears for the year.

Chinatown Salad from A Periodic Table

This is long overdue, seeing as this recipe was developed as a way to utilize your leftover Thanksgiving turkey.  By now, you've either polished that bird off, pawned all remnants on unsuspecting and/or gullible others (Guilty. I added my bag of turkey to Eric's bag of turkey. One day he'll realize and toss them. Until then, I am turkey free.), or decided the leftover scraps were old enough to move out of your refrigerator and in to your trash bin.

But!  But I tell you that while this salad is delicious with turkey or chicken, it is equally delicious without any meat.  Actually, I preferred it without meat, since I would scoot the turkey over to the side so I could load my fork with salad, fresh green beans, sweet red bell pepper and crunchy, savory peanuts.  That's where it is in this salad, friends.  It's the actual salad you want to eat, and that's a rare thing.

Without further ado, I give you A Periodic Table's recipe for Chinatown Turkey (or Chicken) Salad. It's a breeze to make, it's filling without weighing you down, it's not your typical daily salad, and it's absolutely delicious.  Make it already!!!

A few notes on my version of the salad...

--As I said, this salad is perfectly satisfying and delicious even without meat.  So if you don't have turkey or chicken breast lying around, try it without. 

--I prefer my salads to be as fresh as possible.  Since I was the only person eating this (until I urged my mother to try it), I reduced the total portions listed in the recipe and filled a large bowl with the ingredients.  Yes, it was a bit haphazard and perhaps my ratio of ingredients was off, but, yes, it was wonderful.  

--I'm a saucy lady. Meaning, I douse just about everything I eat in extra sauce, from chicken wings to french fries to salad.  Thankfully, the dressing recipe makes plenty.  I made and stored my dressing in a jar in the refrigerator, so all I had to do was assemble the salad and add dressing. 

--There aren't any bean sprouts in my salad here because a whole two days after purchasing them, my sprouts had sprouted and gone slimey. Not a good thing. But the salad was stupendous even without.

Between us, I'll make this salad quite often.  It's addictive and refreshing, as perfect for mid-winter as it is for mid-summer.

Surprised and Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Emotions and stomach contents skyrocketed during the dinner, which was quickly followed by the contented stupor of a meal well made and well devoured.  We gave thanks, we relaxed, and then we turned our collective minds and bellies towards Christmas.

My Thanksgiving was relatively small and simple.  With Eric's parents out of town, we only had one dinner to tackle, a fact my weak willpower appreciated tremendously.  It's impossible to fit two full delicious Thanksgiving dinners in your stomach in less than a day, regardless of how hard you try to prevent it. Trust me on this.  So, our group of five - me, Eric, my parents, and my uncle - set ourselves to the delightful task of tackling the dinner.  Turkey, mashed potatoes (courtesy of Eric, a self-proclaimed potato expert), gravy, peas, a simple sourdough stuffing (with celery, onions, and herbs), corn pudding (my tribute to Eric's family's feast), Molly Wizenberg's cranberry sauce (the reigning favorite), and three riffs on pumpkin pie.  We had to test different filling combinations...though results were inconclusive.  Meaning we simply must conduct more tests. Oh, the suffering!

I had planned on using the post-holiday time to finish some work and to catch up on blogging.  I have so many recipes to share with you, after all!  But life intervened, in the best possible way...

The first Christmas tree in Eric's new house

The night before Thanksgiving, Eric insisted we buy a Christmas tree for his house.  His first Christmas tree for his first house. So we found the perfect tree, carefully secured it in the car (pine needles everywhere. Ah, 'tis the season, right?), and set it up in a place of honor. We carefully wove lights through the tree, then hung a small collection of ornaments from his parents' house.  At Eric's urging, I grabbed the last box out of the ornament bin and opened it up, only to see it wasn't an ornament. It was a ring. A very sparkly, very beautiful ring. 

You see, I was surprised. Completely stunned and swept off my feet.  Eric knelt and proposed ever so sweetly. I said yes. I also said I do, just in case.

So the rest of our holiday was spent popping open bottles of champagne, sharing our news with family and friends, and reveling in the thought of a lifetime together.  I can't wait!

Mimosas to celebrate the following morning!

I promise to restrain myself on talking about
wedding plans here...until I get to the cake tastings.
You deserve all the details.
I'll just flaunt my new mug, then...

Also, somewhat understandably, I've developed quite a strong attachment to this particular Christmas tree. Do you think I can plant it and hope it will grow?  If not, my wonderfully clever friend suggested some crafty ways to save at least part of our tree, which I will do immediately.

So, my dear friends, I shall return with recipes galore in the very near future. I'm still catching up on that pre-Thanksgiving to-do list, as well as gearing up for Christmas and New Year's festivities! It's the best time of the year to share some love from the kitchen! And the bar!  Cheers!

Briefly Noted

I haven't forgotten about you. In fact, I have a whole slew of recipes waiting to be posted. Many of which would be entirely appropriate for the coming Thanksgiving holiday.

Alas, I won't be able to get them to you until after Thanksgiving.  I've been thrown back into the role of student, madly rushing around to complete assignments before Thanksgiving.  Add into that a possible class Wednesday night (we still don't know if we're having it for sure), a short spot of travel, and an early morning Turkey Trot - 5 miles of running for which I am utterly unprepared (I swear I meant to start running a month ago...)...it's going to be a hectic two days.  Followed by a long weekend of relaxing + catching up here + finishing some writing for school.

Even though my autumnal recipes are on delay, there's still plenty of time to celebrate fall before diving headlong into winter, in all its minty, eggnog-y, citrusy, piney glory! I know I won't abandon my beloved pumpkins for several more months. Nor shall I forget my delicious apple cider from Trader Joe's, either hot or cold...and sometimes with bourbon. So my apologies for being a bit slow. But mostly, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. Cheers!

Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Cream Liqueur and Martini

I promised you all things pumpkin, and so I shall deliver.

Meet Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Creme Liqueur.  As you can surmise from the name alone, Fulton's Harvest is a creme liqueur similar in texture to Bailey's Irish Creme, except its flavors are uniquely autumnal. Its creamy texture yields a distinctive pumpkin flavor and more subtle tastes of spice, molasses, and vanilla.  Exactly like a pumpkin pie, but in a more drinkable form...with a hint of booze at 12.5% ABV/25 proof.  Best of all is the wonderfully low price you'll pay for Fulton's Harvest - around $10 per bottle.

Just like Bailey's, this liqueur is delicious served over ice and sipped slowly.  Or added to your coffee for a pumpkin-spice-mildly boozy kick.  And don't even get me started with how amazing it is in hot chocolate!

You can also use Fulton's Harvest in any cream based cocktail you can imagine. Like a pumpkin variant of a white Russian.  Or a pumpkin pie martini...

Pumpkin Pie Martini

from Amy Tobin (get the original recipe here)

Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

1 part vanilla vodka (alternatively, use 1 part plain vodka + 1/2 - 1 tsp. vanilla extract)

1 part Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur

1/2 part creme de cacao

For an optional garnish:  crushed graham crackers, whipped cream, pumpkin pie spice

Preparation:

If garnishing, dip the rim of a martini glass in vodka, then the graham cracker crumbs. Set aside.

Combine the vodka, Fulton's Harvest, and creme de cacao in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake well, then strain the mixture into a martini glass.  Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.


Cheers to pumpkins!!!

Adaptable Oatmeal

You might have noticed: oatmeal is infinitely adaptable.  It takes to nearly any flavor you throw at it.  Since I dislike eating the same thing for breakfast every day, oatmeal offers the opportunity to keep my breakfast fresh and delicious.  And when you use a package of instant oatmeal (or some old-fashioned or steel-cut oats you prepared and have stored in the refrigerator, ready to be reheated each morning), it's so darn easy to heat and add ingredients in.  Here are some of my recent favorite combinations:

With almond milk, raspberries, strawberries, slivered almonds, chia seeds, and cocoa nibs.

With coconut milk, blueberries, peaches, cardamom, and dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds.

With coconut milk, roasted peanuts, banana, cocoa nibs, and dark chocolate peanut butter 

(aka heaven in a jar).

With dark chocolate peanut butter, bananas, walnuts, and cinnamon.

With coconut milk, strawberry-chia seed jam, banana slices, slivered almonds, and coconut flakes.

With pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and raspberries.

What is your favorite way to enjoy oatmeal?

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

Friends, I've been holding out on you.  I've been enjoying pumpkin-laden baked goods and homemade pumpkin spice lattes for weeks now.  For failing to share my information, will you please forgive me?  Please?  I'll make it up to you, with recipes for everything, starting with pumpkin spice lattes.  All you have to make is a pumpkin spice mixture you store in the refrigerator, then you add warmed pumpkin spice mixture to your coffee each morning.

As a word of warning, the pumpkin spice mixture is far too easy to eat by the spoonful. You may also find yourself tipping the container of pumpkin spice mixture directly into your mouth.  I won't judge. I've already done it. Repeatedly.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

From A Farmgirl's Dabbles (get the original recipe here)

Makes enough pumpkin spice mixture for 7-8 homemade lattes

Ingredients for the pumpkin spice mixture:

1  15 oz. can of pumpkin puree

2 cups milk (preferably whole milk)

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg (preferably freshly grated, it's incomparable)

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

Ingredients for the pumpkin spice latte:

Approx. 1/2 cup of pumpkin spice mixture

Approx. 1 cup of strong, freshly brewed coffee

Whipped cream, cinnamon, dark chocolate shavings (optional)

Preparation for the pumpkin spice mixture:

Combine all the mixture ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 seconds, until well mixed.  Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

To prepare the pumpkin spice latte:

Brew approximately 1 cup of strong coffee. 

Stir or shake your refrigerated container of pumpkin spice mixture to redistribute the ingredients; they tend to separate.  Pour approximately 1/2 cup of pumpkin spice mixture (you can use more or less, depending on your preference) into a large mug.  Microwave for 20-40 seconds on high to warm the mixture. 

Add the freshly brewed coffee to the pumpkin spice mixture, stir, and enjoy!  If you're feeling fancy, add the whipped cream, cinnamon, and dark chocolate shavings.  

Note: the pumpkin spice mixture will settle out of the coffee, so give it a stir before every sip.

Warmed pumpkin spice mixture...

...with coffee added

Homemade pumpkin spice lattes have made these increasingly chilly and dark mornings far more bearable.  Plus I feel as if this homemade version is healthier than the highly caloric (but oh so delicious) Starbucks version.

Plenty more pumpkin recipes to come!

What is your favorite pumpkin dish?

Blueberry Pudding Cake

Comforts tend to be simple things, like basking in a sunbeam or bundling up in a cozy blanket.  Better yet, snuggling up next to your loved one.  Or there is the undeniable appeal of a home-cooked meal.  Probably dripping melted cheese over it's edges or slathered in rich dark chocolate, if you are remotely like me.  I also find great comfort in most foods with the descriptor "pudding" in their title.  Hence my deeply rooted love for bread puddings and my more recent desire to devour an enormous bowl of butterscotch pudding (a desire yet unfulfilled...though not for long!).

Fall seems to demand a dramatic increase in the number of comforts I need each day.  It's something to do with the chilly, rainy weather and the shorter days.  Thankfully, most of the simple comforts I crave are food - hot apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes (homemade, with even more pumpkin and spice), baked pastas, Brussels sprout sautes with bacon and candied pecans, chili, apple pies, and all baked goods containing even a hint of pumpkin.  I'm also quite content with my fleece blanket and my shearling-lined slippers.

This blueberry pudding cake is a newly discovered simple comfort.  It's beyond simple to make and yields a light, luscious golden cake carelessly strewn with juicy blueberries.  It's versatile too.  Serve it warm with ice cream for dessert or with a dollop of yogurt or whipped cream for breakfast and snacks.  And you can make it year round, using fresh blueberries when they are in season or pressing frozen blueberries into service during the winter months.

Blueberry Pudding Cake
from Gourmet
Makes one 9-inch square pan

Ingredients:
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 cups blueberries (10 oz.), fresh or frozen
1 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

Position a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a small saucepan, stir together 1/3 cup of the sugar, water, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Stir in the blueberries and bring the mixture to a brisk simmer.  Adjust the heat to keep the mixture at a simmer and stir occasionally for about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, butter, and vanilla.  Add the two mixtures together (wet and dry ingredients), stirring until just combined.

Pour the batter into the baking dish.

Pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Something magic happens in the oven. The blueberries sink, mixing with the batter to create a beautiful swirl of blueberries and buttery cake. Equally appropriate for breakfast (with Greek yogurt and a handful of nuts) and dessert (with vanilla ice cream only).

This cake is best served warm with ice cream, but is also delicious at room temperature.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for less than a week.

The Pumpkins of Apt. 6

It's been many years since I carved a pumpkin to celebrate Halloween.  Many years. So last night, my wonderful roommate and I established our priorities:  carve a pumpkin, drink a pumpkin beer, and do not cook dinner/lunch for the next few days.  And so we did.

Our setup was a bit, uh, ghetto...but we were quite clever, if I do say so myself.  The pantry shelf that recently collapsed under the weight of my ever-expanding spice collection provided a solid, flat base.  Spreading a garbage bag kept our carpet safe and made tidying up incredibly simple.

We used the Pumpkin Masters kit, which made carving an awesome pumpkin so easy. When I've used this kit in the past, I must not have purchased the tool set with it, because I recall spending forever pricking the outline of my design with a push-pin.  Oh, the misery!  

With their handy carving tool kit, though, we conquered our pumpkins in about 2 hours from start to finish.  We may have also been distracted by Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine on the television....

Thankfully, our pumpkins survived our inattentiveness and beer consumption to morph into beautiful works of art.  I'm so proud!

My roommate's pumpkin
Doesn't he remind you of Bartok from the movie Anastasia?

My pumpkin
Appropriate for an apartment inhabited by two science nerds

Happy Halloween!

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Pizza

Sometimes my curiosity leads me to click link after link after link.  It happens on Wikipedia pages all the time.  I'm reading an article I originally searched for, but get distracted by a link to another page...which inevitably spirals out of control and I've lost an hour and my original train of thought before I know it.  This is especially common when I'm on Deb Perelman's fantastic food blog, Smitten Kitchen.  Between the end of her writing and before the recipe, she has links to her recipes from years past.  It never fails that I click on at least one of those links...and you know where that goes.

Thankfully, Deb's recipes have never yielded a flop or a less-than-edible creation.  I've come to trust her implicitly and discovered quite a few flavors and dishes from her.  I would never have taken such a simple approach to pizza toppings - goat cheese, lemon, summer squash.  Straying from tomato sauce on a pizza is nearly anathema to me, as is the lack of a gooey melted cheese and toppings that pack a wallop of their own flavor.  But these three ingredients, plus salt and pepper, come together for a pizza unlike any I'd met before. Creamy and tangy and harmonious. Oh, and incredibly simple, especially if you're using store-bought dough or dough you'd made before and stored in the freezer.

Deb's cookbook debuts this week. While waiting for my pre-ordered copy (because I am quite a bit of a foodie nerd), I'll be baking her apple and cheddar scones, which won me over to the apple + cheese camp I'd assiduously avoided for my lifetime.  They're the perfect fall treat, especially for the first day after baking. If you aren't a fan of Smitten Kitchen yet, check her out!

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Pizza
Dough from Pizza: Award-Winning Pies for the Home Kitchen by Pete Evans
Toppings from Smitten Kitchen (get the original recipe here) 

For the Dough :
(makes 26 oz., roughly enough for four 12-inch pizzas)
Ingredients for the Dough:
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 1/4 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
3 cups plus 1 tbsp. flour (bread flour or all-purpose flour)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
Additional all-purpose flour for dusting

Preparation for the Dough:
In a small bowl, mix the warm water, yeast, and sugar together until combined, then leave in a warm place for 5 minutes, or until frothy. Stir in the olive oil.

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour mixture and use your hands to bring them together to form a dough.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface and use the heels of your hands to work the dough for 5 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic.  Place the dough inside a lightly oiled bowl, then drape it with a dish towel and leave in a warm place to proof for 45-60 minutes, until the dough is doubled in size.

Dust a clean work surface with flour and put your risen dough on it.  Use your fists to give one good punch the dough.  Stress relieving, right?  If portioning the dough into smaller pieces, do so now.  Working with one portion at a time, use the palms of your hands to cup the dough at its base.  Roll it on the work surface in a circular motion to form a perfect ball.  Repeat with any remaining portions of dough.  Set on a lightly greased baking tray and leave in a warm place to proof for 15 minutes.

At this point, you can either freeze some dough (stored safely inside a freezer plastic bag) or continue on towards immediate pizza satisfaction.

But before we continue on with the dough, we should talk about the oven. If you're using a pizza stone, put it into the oven before turning it on to 450 - 500 degrees Farenheit. If you're not using a pizza stone, place a metal sheet pan in the oven before turning it on to 450 degrees Farenheit. 

This is also the perfect time to prepare the toppings...

Ingredients for Toppings:

1 lemon

4 oz. goat cheese, room temperature

A few leaves of fresh basil

1/2 medium zucchini, sliced as thinly as you can get

1/2 medium yellow squash, sliced as thinly as you can get

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Preparation for Toppings:

In a small dough, stir together the goat cheese with the juice of half your lemon.  Add salt, pepper, and, if you're feeling it, some lemon zest.  Set aside.

Have your squash slices ready for topping.

Back to the dough. Roll or toss it out into roughly a 12-inch circle. If you're adventuring into tossing pizza dough for the first time, here are my two most important pieces of advice: toss over a counter (or else your dough will meet the floor) and catch the dough on your knuckles (that means curl your fingers into your palms, so your knuckles are the top surface of your hand).  Dust the surface of your pizza peel (or another sheet pan, flipped over to a flat surface) liberally with cornmeal; this will allow your dough to slide off the peel/sheet pan onto your pizza stone.

Once your dough is on the peel/pan, add your toppings.  Spread the goat cheese mixture on top of the dough, leaving a tiny bit of crust at the edge.  Place your thin slices of squash atop the goat cheese mixture, overlapping slightly.  Bonus points for artful patterns! Squeeze the remaining half of lemon over the top, add a drizzle of olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Slide your pizza from the peel/sheet pan onto your pre-heated pizza stone or sheet pan. I find this easiest to do if I pull the oven rack out a bit so I can deposit the pizza squarely in the middle.  It won't move easily once you set it on top, so do your best to position it well. Also, if your pizza gets stuck on the peel/sheet pan, you can use a spatula to help coax the pizza off of it. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are golden-brown and the squash curl up slightly around their edges.  Remove from the oven (I pluck the entire pizza stone out of the oven, but you can also slide it onto your pizza peel/sheet tray) and sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese.

Probably the best pizza I've yet made, with a crust balanced between crispy and chewy.  The toppings also shine through - creamy, slightly melted goat cheese, lightly roasted squash, the salty tang of Parmesan, and most of all, the bright flavor of lemon keeping you interested in each bite.  And Deb was right - this goes awfully well with a glass (or two) of crisp white wine.

A note - if your lemon is on the larger side, you may want to use less than half a lemon in each application.  Just taste the goat cheese mixture and add to taste.

Coming soon!  My roommate and I are gearing up for a (mostly) weekly event called Pies and Pints, where we'll be cooking different pizzas each week and trying a new beer with it.  

Garden Giants

Summer surprised us with a watermelon baby. Pear-shaped and heavy, this was the baby watermelon I'd started as a seedling in my apartment last spring.

Since I'd never eat it fast enough, I chopped and froze cubes of seeded watermelon for future use in smoothies and margaritas.

Summer also granted us the biggest zucchini I've ever seen, from the garden of my roommate's parents.  That's a regular 15 oz. can beside it for comparison. It's a monster.