Posts from the ‘Food’ category

Who rescued who and scratch cooking from Jennifer Perillo

I follow just a few food blogs.

One is In Jennie’s Kitchen.

I have Jennie’s cookbook: Homemade with Love

I make Jennie’s Chocolate Snaps, her rif on Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce and her lentil ricotta meatballs regularly. Other recipes are on my “to make” list and I’ve learned much about techniques from reading her posts. My scrambled eggs are 100% better after reading her method! Just in the last weeks, I was inspired by a description of her napa cabbage-apple-sesame salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette to make my own salad.

But it is not just her recipes.

Her writing and her approach to cooking is what drew me to her blog and cookbook.

A little over three years ago her husband died suddenly, leaving her a single mother of two young girls.

BUT, that is NOT the story here. The story is…as the story always is…not so much what happened as what she did with what happened.

She got the book deal and did the cookbook – even in the early days of grief and single parenthood.

In the past year, Jennie, who lived in apartments in Brooklyn her entire life, bought a house in rural New York. As a person who LOVES a simple and quiet rural life, I cheered and hoped that she and her daughters would love rural life also. This summer, they left Brooklyn and made their country house their permanent home. And in the last weeks, they added to their family: a tuxedo cat named Ms. Paula Poundstone and a sweet terrier mix named Miche.

Oh, yes!

Miche!

Ms. Paula Poundstone!

Jennie explains Ms. Paula Poundstone’s name in this post: All in the family

Yesterday, Jennie announced a new project: a quarterly magazine called Simply Scratch Cooking: a homecook’s journal for making easy, everyday meals.

Jennie’s eloquently written post about how all came about: A leap of faith

I am a fan and follower of Jennie’s, not because she is a woman, not because she is a widow with young children and not even because she moved to the country and got a dog and a cat. What draws me is her passion. Passion for something is in fact what draws me to the people for whom I have the most respect and admiration. What I see in Jennie’s work is her passion for creating beautiful and delicious food, simply, from scratch and sharing all of that with the people around her.

I haven’t subscribed to any magazines for years, but I could not resist ordering Jennie’s. Her cabbage salad recipe is in it! Also the peanut butter swirl brownies she showed on her Instagram that had me drooling. The link to order is in her post: A leap of faith. I’m so excited to receive my copy. I look forward to a weekend of browsing, enjoying and cooking or baking from it when it arrives in 2 weeks.

I emailed Jennie to ask if I could use the photos of Miche and Ms. Paula Poundstone in this post. She warmly replied in the affirmative and also said: “Most people think I rescued them, but it’s totally the other way around. These little creatures have made my life so full, they have rescued my heart in a way I can never fully understand myself.”

I know a little bit about how that has worked in my life and I was so happy to hear that it is working in her life.

Cheers, Bon appetite and I hope all who read this visit A leap of faith and get a taste of Jennifer Perillo’s Simply Scratch Cooking.

The local vegetables…and the weather

Vegetables and the weather…not things you’d think go together.

They don’t. Well, except what bad weather does to things in gardens…

So, Veg: tomatoes, beets and cabbage figure prominently in last and this week’s menus.

As noted 2 weeks ago when I bought the last of the Farmer’s market tomatoes…I ate what I could and processed the rest into sauce. I used some of the sauce and then decided I needed to freeze what was left.

I’d seen a blurb on using paper cups – vs ice cube trays (too small) or flat zips (good!) and decided to give the cups a try. I found paper cups with no wax or other “stuff”. Hopefully, I can peel off the cups, dump the 3 oz of tomato sauce in a pan, slowly heat and “Bob’s your Uncle” – the perfect bit of tomato sauce for 1!!

The freezing part went fine. The peeling and thawing and use…to be cont’d at a later date.

Next up is the beets.

When I bought the beets, I also bought some spicy sprouts. I LOVE a sandwich of beets, goat cheese and sprouts on my own rustic seed bread.

But, browsing beet salad recipes…so as to also use the greens…

Anyway, I ended up mashing several recipes to make a roast beet galette: beets, caramelized onions, capers, HORSERADISH! and goat cheese and my own Brioche dough for the “crust”.

Kind of pretty.

Kind of beautiful and VERY delicious. I had 2/3 for supper and the other 1/3 for a breakfast.

Yum.

On to the cabbage.

Still enjoying cabbage salads, but an experiment is ongoing this week.

Sauerkraut in the making…details after fermentation is complete.

So much for the vegetables…now for the weather!

After a September that couldn’t decide whether to be summer, fall or one occasion winter…October starts decidedly and beautifully Fall!

A simple supper

It has been a “nose to the grindstone” kind of week so far.

Work goes well, but a bit intense for a Thursday meeting/deadline.

Auggie and Bear are well. Auggie and I have had a chat and I’ve had a chat/prayer with Him and as always with my cats, ultimately I must let them be cats and trust in His Hand. I’m kind of 50/50 with that but getting better :)

Meanwhile, tonight…

A favorite meal of toast with tomatoes and capers and mozz and under the broiler…

A simple supper.

Burst tomato, zucchini, goat cheese galette…extraordinaire!

The galette!

Burst tomatoes, zucchini, and a goat cheese/parmesan mix with a brioche crust.

Super-duper good!!!

Meanwhile, Auggie-boy is a bit put out with me.

I am a bit put out with him.

He is crossing the road. He is and has been visiting both my across the road neighbors and my next door (Plowing and Wood cutting and 8 years wonderful neighbors…neighbors that love birds!) neighbors.

I thought, given his attachment to Bear and I that he would be more of a home boy.

It is worrying on many counts and I’ve been keeping him in a bit more which is maybe not helping the gadabout tendency.

This afternoon, I tried some distraction with long put away toys. Auggie did not buy that at all!

Still thinking on this.

Food, the boys and the week end

Two weeks ago, in the post Distractions and Thinking, I noted that one distracting thing that was making me think was Beth Moncel’s SNAP Challenge which she is writing about on her blog Budget Bytes . I have continued to be distracted and also thinking, mostly learning – about food insecurity. In my 59 years, I have never had a moment’s insecurity over lack of food. Even when newly on my own with a tight food budget, there was family and employment and food in my house for every meal.

Between Beth’s shared experience and the shared experiences of commenters, I learned that it is not just about the amount of money that people have, but also the knowledge to plan and prepare meals. You get a lot more for your food dollar both in meals and healthy meals … cooking from scratch. And it is not just knowledge, but also time, a kitchen, utensils, transportation to get the food… it is a complex issue and the “problem” varies widely from person to person, household to household. It is not a “one size fits all” kind of problem. I’d like to think that through things like SNAP and WIC (Women, Infants, Children supplemental food program) and community food banks, family and friends – that no one goes hungry, but I’ve learned that is not the case. It has made me think every time I shop or prepare a meal, how fortunate I have been. And I’m still thinking.

Last week, in a thread where a woman on disability asked for ideas for making healthy meals on a very low budget, a commenter referenced a U.K. site: A Girl Named Jack. Jack Monroe tells her story of close to a year, almost 3 years ago, when she eventually sold nearly everything she owned to buy food for herself and her 10 month old son. She developed healthy recipes from inexpensive ingredients and managed on 10 pounds a week (roughly $16 U.S. dollars). Her story AND her recipes got attention and she has since had a cookbook published, a second book is in the works, she writes for a local paper and is politically active on issues of hunger and poverty. From all I’ve read, she is upbeat, positive and has a unique voice … there is no “poor me” in her writing, even though it was a very difficult situation. And her recipes!! – I have a number of them bookmarked to try, but they are also great fun to read. Be careful, though…her White Chocolate Tea Bread, had me up after being in bed for an hour. I kept thinking about it and decided I HAD to have something like it so actually got out of bed and mixed up a batch of Brioche Dough…

All to the good, though as Saturday morning I had…

Chocolate Chip Brioche…

Next time, more chocolate chips!!

On a roll of sorts, I made granola also. Granola is easy to make. There are a multitude of variations and making it from scratch costs much, much less than buying it prepared. Box cereals are VERY expensive.

Bear doesn’t have food insecurity either and I’m pretty sure he never had to worry about a meal…or a treat!

…or a beautiful spot to enjoy.

Happy, boy!

Auggie might have had some low food days when on his own – I’m not sure how long he and his brother were out and about before finding their way to a place that took them in. But, since then and with me…good and plentiful food.

And much love!

I am so grateful for all of the good things in my life: Bear, Auggie, a nice home in a pretty spot, wonderful neighbors, a loving family and work that not only supports us financially but that I truly enjoy. I’m not sure the problems of the world are any different now than they have always been, but I do think they can seem more with the detail we get about everything.

So, while sometimes distracted and almost overwhelmed by world stuff … I try to focus on the good things and being more compassionate. The beautiful Fall light and weather help a lot :) !!

This is a bit of a teaser. Based on a gratin recipe on A Girl Named Jack and two different galette recipes on Smitten Kitchen, I used some of the brioche dough to make a tomato, zucchini and goat cheese galette. I thought I took photos of the finished galette – which was BEAUTIFUL! … but no. However, I do have enough leftover to make another today so final photo is to come. Two things make this recipe particularly good: burst tomatoes and the brioche dough. For the burst tomatoes, a bit of olive oil, some oregano, red pepper flakes and the tomatoes in a lidded pan over high heat until you hear the tomatoes start to pop. So much fun and they take on a bit of caramelized sweetness. The brioche dough with the vegetables and tangy goat cheese – actually goat cheese with a bit of parmesan – I thought it was perfect. And as hopefully I can show you next post – pretty as well!