Pinto Beans and Parmesan Polenta

Oftentimes, when I am cooking, I am aware that it's just for myself. This means that I take part in the time-honored tradition of making a big batch of something and then eating it for days... and days. Now, if I love the food, I am not going to complain about this. This is a food I love. I will eat it ecstatically the night I cook it, happily the next day, and awkwardly straight from the fridge, standing at the counter.

Mind you, this is not the sort of meal you cook quickly after work - it requires planning. First of all, you have to soak the beans overnight. That's right, you get dried beans and you soak them. You can do this. Do not, regardless of what the bag tells you, convince yourself that boiling the water and then letting them sit for an hour actually cuts it. It does not. You will realize this at some point mid-bite, and you will be sad, so just take my word for it. Secondly, it requires the patience of a saint. You have to let it sit on the stove for at least an hour and a half at an extremely low heat to really get the flavor right. Patience is a virtue (not, interestingly enough, "avert you," as I so firmly believed as a child... and possibly teenager... moving right along).

The payoff of this patience is a really flavorful vegetarian dish that is even good for you.

Fresh Bread Sans Fuss

There is something very satisfying about walking down the hall in my apartment building and thinking "Mmmmmmmm, that smells amazing. Oh wait! That's my apartment!" Delightful.

Oh, and there's no kneading. While I sometimes occupy the role of that annoying girl prattling on about how long, complicated cooking at the end of the day actually relaxes me and gee, what's wrong with a mountain of chopping, I do understand that sometimes it's nice to have something that does not require upper body strength.

This particular new(ish) bread making method seems to have taken the internet by storm and you can find variations on it pretty much everywhere. I happened to want to make something with rosemary and garlic, but you can substitute just about any herbs or cheese or fruit. Go crazy. Yes, baking is a precise pursuit, generally, but sometimes you are allowed to just throw some raisins in there and hope for the best. This is one of those times.

Apple Tart (in 5 ingredients)

Do you have a knife and an oven? Yes? Well then you can make this. In fact, if it weren't for all of the chopping with sharp objects and potential dismemberment issues, I would say you could make it blindfolded.

I adore fall, everything about it really. I love the way the air smells and how great that first breath in the chill feels. The trees are vibrant and beautiful, and even their fallen leaves (pain though they may be to rake) make a lovely sound scattering across the pavement. And while fall does not always go *well* in my life, I still find it comforting and peaceful.

Oh, and I look great in fall colors... but that's neither here nor there.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that fall food is fantastic. I can go a little overboard with the butternut squash, apples, and pumpkin. The pumpkin shortage last year devastated me; I was that weird girl in the Trader Joe's asking every three days if they had any pumpkin yet and then buying a bomb-shelter-sized stash when they finally did. I could write an ode to Thanksgiving food (especially stuffing) and who doesn't love mulled wine or a tangy cider?

Let us begin our journey into my fall repertoire with a simple dessert: an apple tart that requires no thought and, if you're brave, no measuring.

(M)ole!

Yes, I am aware that the above photo is a rather sub-par. Unfortunately it's the best I have at this particular juncture for a recipe that, while you may not realize it yet, you really want.

First of all, if you do not like spicy chocolate, you are dead to me. Just turn around and walk away now.

When I was in Charlottesville, I frequented a restaurant with face-sized margaritas and surprisingly good Mexican food. I mean, come on, it's in the middle of Virginia, what are the odds? Anyway, I invariably ordered the enchiladas drowning in mole sauce and ate every bite on the plate. Much to my chagrin, the plate was several times larger than my stomach, so the remainder of the evening was spent curled up in the fetal position contemplating an early death. Worth it.

Upon moving away, however, I decided that it was time to learn how to make my very own mole sauce with the hoped-for side effect that I would be able to moderate my consumption thereof. This has... sort of... worked. On the one hand, I do not eat enough in an single sitting to philosophise on the merits of lying face down on the kitchen floor to counter the internal stomach pressure. On the other hand, this just means that I eat it for dinner one night, and lunch and dinner the next or until someone in the house has polished it off.

We'll say it's a wash.

Sweet Potato & Pecan Upside-Down Cake

I adore sweet potatoes. I do not know at what point in my life I developed my uncommonly strong attachment to them, but good lord they are delightful. You can fry them, bake them, put them in a souffle or biscuits... and you can make a cake with them. Before I went to Atlanta for Dad's birthday, I was perusing the September issue of Southern Living for ideas and I happened upon a title that not only had "sweet potato" in it (for me), but also "pecan" (a great love of my father's). Clearly it was going to end up on the menu.

I was a little hesitant because there was no picture included with the recipe, but I have since discovered why: no picture can do this cake justice. Sure, it looks ordinary and maybe reminds you a little too much of that sweet potato souffle you had last Thanksgiving, but let me assure you that it is far from plain. This cake is uncommonly moist and the semi-candied pecan topping will melt any heart.

My Dad called me the other day just to remind me how tasty it is. It will, in all likelihood, become a staple of the holiday season at my parents' house. It's that good.

Because this is baking, not cooking, I have not changed the original recipe at all. As per usual, I'm sure that I was a little dicey with some of my measurements when I made it, but not terribly so, so there shouldn't be any substantial difference. Might I suggest, however, that you consider adding some amaretto or other similar liqueur (just a tablespoon or so) to vary the flavor a bit? You can replace some of the vanilla with it or just add it on top. I'm sure it will work out just fine. It would also probably go well in the topping, but it is so fantastic already that I hesitate to mess with it.

Tenderloin: Always a good decision

If I want someone to propose to me, I will make him this. If I want someone to forgive me, I will make him this. If I want peace in the Middle East, I will make them this. Though maybe I should just leave that to negotiators who actually know what they are doing. Still, you see where I am going with this.

I am back in Atlanta for my Dad's birthday and I wanted to make something especially special for the occasion. About a year ago, my best friend linked me to this and I have been desperate to make it ever since. So, I called my mom and told her to get sirloin cut Chateaubriand at the butcher. For a number of reasons, we ended up with tenderloin - it is never a problem to have tenderloin. Also, since I have an almost pathological aversion to cilantro, I had to tweak the sauce a bit.

I really cannot adequately express to you how delicious this is. Nor can I describe my glee when I managed to cook it perfectly (medium rare, cooked evenly). And I really cannot convey the look of unadulterated bliss on my Dad's face. The tangy topper compliments the buttery meat so well that it's just sinful.

You really need to make this. Right. Now.

Bomboloni- Italian for Fried Dough

This has been a big week for me. Huffington Post made me a legitimate blogger and my first articles went live, the ACC (lawyers, not sports) picked up my antitrust primer, and even AboveTheLaw, comment trolls and all, noticed me. While I'm at it, there's a book here.

Crazy stuff.

Anyway, I decided to celebrate by making something extremely delicious and extremely unhealthy. Not to mention that anyone who says that they don't like fried dough is either lying or selling something. But... well... why stop at frying things? Why not also stuff them with dark chocolate? Oh yes, I went there.

I did, in a sudden burst of generosity/realization that I would eat them if they stayed in my house, take the batch in to the contract job I've been working this week. My coworkers were kind enough to demolish the pile in short order.

Behold.

On rainy days and split pea soup

When I was a little girl, my mother found this weird powdered vegetable soup at Sam's Club and brought it home for my sister and I to be able to make as a snack. I was completely obsessed with this soup. It was thick and smooth (It was powdered after all, chunks would have been creepy) and was exactly what I wanted on rainy days. My sister did not share this passion, but that was fine, more for me! One day it stopped appearing at the house and I've never seen it since. My tiny heart broke.

Years later, I still revel in the idea of a thick green soup on overcast days.

This morning was one of those where, though you get out of bed at a perfectly reasonable hour, it's debatable whether you ever actually wake up. The apartment was dark thanks to a few drizzling cumulus beasts and I absolutely had to have soup. Of course, I didn't have what I needed in the apartment. Again. Blast! Off to the store I trudged to pick up some split peas and diced ham... and while I was there a few other tasty treats, but that's neither here nor there.

And now I have a delicious, non-powdered, split pea soup to get me through my sleepwalking day.

Oh? You want to know how to make it? Ok then.

Chicken Tetrazzini?

This is my baby (One day I will have the full set and, on that day, I will become invincible... in the kitchen... or something):
And I get to make things like this in it:
Tasty looking, no?

Southern Living has a section called "Mama's Way or Your Way," and last month that featured chicken tetrazzini. Usually I side with the "Mama's Way" side of things, butter and all (yes, I exercise a lot to make up for these decisions). This time, however, some of the changes in the "Your Way" portion appealed to me. Still, the thought of bottled alfredo sauce is quite upsetting to me. So, my brilliant answer to this problem is to combine the two. I've used the mornay sauce from the original, but tossed in the peas, mushrooms and some pancetta (instead of prosciutto)from the modern choice. The reason for the "?" in the title is simply that I'm not sure it still counts as tetrazzini after all of these changes, but we're going to pretend that it does.

I frequently combine bits of separate recipes to make one delicious dish, though it's rarely quite so convenient as two opposite pages dealing with the exact same food. If you're wary when it comes to trying to piece together a (yummy) Frankenstein (well, technically the monster) recipe, this is probably a good way to start. After you've worked on a few this way, you'll start feeling a lot more comfortable taking a hatchet to all sorts of recipes.

On to super secret option C.

Sometimes you have to atone

On occasion I try to cook something new, usually because I am out of food and hungry. Generally speaking, this goes very well, or at least is sufficiently tasty to get me through the night. There are days, however, that are a bit less successful. Monday was one of those days. I took a series of perfectly good ingredients and ended up, somehow, with a salt lick. Because I am as stubborn as the day is long, I still ate a good bit, once I removed the salty cheese portion. After this mini-debacle, I needed to make something new and tasty - both at the same time - thus reestablishing my kitchen prowess.

Bolognese sauce to the rescue! In what I believe to be one of the more embarrassing omissions in my self-training, I've never actually made a bolognese. Today, I remedied this, and learned a few things along the way. For example, did you know that there is a product in the grocery store called "Meatloaf Mix"? Well there is. It's a combination of beef, veal, and pork meat that is perfect for something like a bolognese, despite the inherent creepiness of a single ground meat product produced from three separate animals. However, in a concession to health..ish... I decided to use about 2/3 strange meat mix, and 1/3 ground turkey. Also, once again, the store has decided to sell things in annoying quantities. Namely: each ground meat product comes in a 1.3lb portion, and I really don't need to use more than 2 lbs of meat in a single dish. I mean... come on. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

This is extremely tasty. Extremely. So, next time you're at the store, grab the nearest blended ground meat product and go nuts!

Bit of a risotto kick

First of all, allow me to freely admit that this is a fall recipe and it is wholly inappropriate that I made it in the middle of 85+ degree heat. Fortunately for me, a happy stomach knows no season. I made the (delightful) mistake of buying a lot more arborio rice than I could possibly use in one recipe. This has resulted in me making risotto at least four times in the last month.

I am reasonably sure this is not normal.

Since I do not want to deluge you with bits of my current obsession, I will discuss one today and leave the rest until I make one of them again far enough in the future that I do not run the risk of being a one trick pony. This is a butternut squash rosemary risotto. It. is. delicious. It's creamy, rich, flavorful and will be perfect when the fall comes around and people other than me start making these sorts of dishes. Even more importantly, however, I was able to hide the onions in it from my roommate (who thinks she doesn't like them) and even she inhaled it. And one more thing! I put the leftovers in the refrigerator and ate them the next day, even microwaved them, and they held up! Risotto is known for its inability to abide waiting or storage.

In short, I was thrilled and you will be too

Macaroons

Ooof. I have been slow on the update. Many apologies. Whilst away, I can assure you that I have still been cooking, though decidedly less frequently since I've been on a short contract project. Yesterday, however, I woke up with the all consuming urge to bake, so I perused the internet, various cookbooks, and my head until something struck my fancy. What was it, you ask?

Chocolate dipped coconut macaroons.

I can actually hear my dad make yummy noises upon reading that. I have never before made macaroons, however, as it turns out, not having the foggiest clue what I'm doing no longer stops me. So, off to the store I went to pick up some shredded coconut and melt-worthy chocolate. Of course, upon arriving at the store, I completely forgot whether I was supposed to be using sweetened or unsweetened coconut... and ended up with both, just to be safe. Also, since I was supposed to have 8oz of coconut and the bags are in multiples of 7oz (Why? Why would you use 7? It makes no sense, you never need anything in multiples of 7!), I ended up throwing in a handful of the unsweetened anyway. Mine turned out well, but in the future I would actually scale back the coconut to egg white ratio, so the recipe I'm giving you is tweaked to reflect that. Also, it allows you to purchase just one bag of blasted coconut and not have to worry about measuring. Tada.

On to the tastiness!

Refreshing

As a quick credit, I may have pilfered this idea from Joy The Baker. Also, if I ever use the word "may," I actually mean "will," "have," "did" or some variation on that theme. That said, today I have a salad for you. Well, it is technically a salad in that some green bits most assuredly exist within it and we're making a dressing, however, it's not a pansy little side salad. It is carb central. We have rice and potatoes and chickpeas and all sorts of good stuff. There is an argument to be made that it is healthy, though I wouldn't necessarily say that it's slimming.

Being who I am, I took Joy's recipe and made the dressing far more acidic and stripped down some of the embellishments since I didn't have a bushel of parsley sitting in my refrigerator. It's delicious and a really great summer evening meal when you just don't have it in you to eat something hot and straight out of the oven. The salad works equally well cold as it does with the potatoes and rice still warm, and if you make a sizable batch, you can snack on it for days... or feed it to your family, if you want to be nice.

Don't worry, making dressing is actually easier than shaking the bottle of the store bought kind enough to have the perfect distribution of floating bits.

Crepes! Part deux.

Now that we've covered how to make a crepe, I think it's time to make a main dish with them. Admittedly, you could just go out, buy some tortillas, and stuff them to the bursting point with this filling... or you could just leave the crepes off completely like I did in the top photograph because I happened to have some extra filling and wanted to eat it immediately. Yes, I could have made another crepe, but I didn't. I'm not sorry.

So! If you want to fill crepes with tasty quasi-Mexican goodness, I have a delightful option for you. As a warning, however, for those of you out there who love garlic even close to as much as I do, do not use more garlic in this, it will eat you alive.

That said, here we go...

Bookends: Desserts

So, the other evening I saw "Despicable Me." It was cute and charming and has the best theme song if you happen to be a smidge cranky. The chorus is brilliant. Here, take a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lJRTeCMvGc

Now, when one is in such a mood, what is the proper response? Dessert! Yes, I'm cliche today, just acknowledge it and we'll move on. At my little dinner party with the ricotta pillows, I stole yet another Southern Living recipe for the desserts, with a few small modifications.

Original Recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1990016

My changes were simple. First, I didn't have time to make the little pie crust cups, so I used store bought frozen pastry cups. Secondly, I did not use baking bars, but rather a couple of bars of dark chocolate because that's what I had in the house and I'm a firm believer that dark chocolate makes everything better. To make up for these forays into laziness, I did at least make the whipped cream myself with the whipping cream left over. I just threw in a completely blind guess worth of splenda and vanilla and whipped it by hand until it looked pretty and tasted amazing. I find that the vanilla addition to the whipped cream compliments the dark chocolate especially well.

And now you have an extremely simple crowd pleaser for your next dinner party. Added bonus: no tell-tale fork marks if you ate one before the guests arrived...