I want to make...

This Cowl Vest.

This Herb Butter and Goat Cheese Linguine.

And some more ginger syrup for homemade ginger ale.

Recipe for the summer heat

I made a mess of food last night. This is the first weekend that I'll be home in a couple weeks and the fridge was looking a little bare. That and a stressful week and a bbq and picnic this weekend kept me in the kitchen listening to NPR and chopping away. I made mac and cheese, tabbouleh with quinoa, cucumber salad, roasted brussels sprouts and the best of all a ginger sugar syrup.

I made a simple syrup by heating 1 cup sugar in a 1/2 cup water until it turned clear. Then while it was hot I added grated ginger (about 2-3 inches of pre-grated ginger).

Since last night I've poured it over ice and added water for a sweet ginger drink and over ice with rum and a wedge of squeezed lime for a yummy summer adult beverage. If I had any seltzer in the house I would be drinking it with that to make a homemade ginger ale. And I'm thinking about making lemonade with it for that picnic tomorrow.

A day off is a very good thing...

I have the day off tomorrow and am looking to spend the day cooking and crafting. Hopefully I will start a sweater, make some bread and some mac and cheese for dinner.

And if the weathers stays cold like this, I see making this soup in my future.

Food Friday: Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce

I made this last night. It was so yummy I completely forgot to take pictures. Actually, looking at the recipe now, there were a few tweaks I made.

• I left out the parsley and lemon juice
• I substituted ground cloves for nutmeg and onion for shallots

But it turned out so yummy, in fact I think I will have some now!

Food Friday: Black Bean Cakes

Damn, putting those Black Bean Cakes together was much harder than I originally thought. Specifically mushing up the beans with a fork required a great deal of strength. If I had a hand blender or food processor I would have used that. Instead I baked them in a dish while they were half-mushed. They turned ok as a side dish to the marinated fish from Trader Joe's.The next day they were more solid, so I tried to mold them into "cakes" and baked them at 400 degrees for about half an hour. That worked much better. Though now I am soooo sick of black beans. I never thought I'd see the day. This is definitely a recipe I won't be trying again. Well at least until I get something to blend the beans.

Food Friday: Another Fall Dish

I haven't gotten a chance to make the black bean cakes yet, but will probably get a chance to do it this weekend. Another recipe I have my eye on is one for Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce. I will probably cut back on the Parmesan Cheese a little, but I'm sure it will still taste great.

Food Friday: Thanksgiving

I've been in and out of town the past couple weeks, first two trips to Philadelphia and now I'm in West Virginia for Thanksgiving. In all this time the most ambitious thing I've made has been a simple pasta with onion, garlic and mushrooms with a little balsamic vinegar.

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, but there was no room for me in the kitchen. There are a few things I am planning to make when I get back home. One of these recipes is one I received as an email from the Splendid Table back in October. I can find it online, so I've posted it below.

EMERIL'S BLACK BEAN CAKES (From Splendid Table's Weeknight Kitchen)

Recipe from Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast, by Emeril Lagasse, HarperStudio, New York, 2009. Courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

4 servings

Prep Time: 16 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total: 24 minutes

Talk about "knock your socks off!" These bean cakes end up crispy and crusty on the outside, but oh so tender and creamy on the inside. A true study in contrasts, this dish is elevated to notches unknown when served garnished with your favorite guacamole, salsa, and sour cream.

• 7 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion (5 to 6 ounces), cut into small dice
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons Emeril's Original Essence or Creole Seasoning (recipe follows)
• Two 15.5-ounce cans black beans, drained and quickly rinsed
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce

Garnishes:
• Guacamole
• Salsa
• Sour cream

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. When it is hot, add the onion and cook until soft and lightly caramelized, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2. Place the flour in a shallow bowl or plate, and stir in the Essence (or Creole seasoning). Set aside.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, mash the black beans well with the back of a fork – the mixture should be relatively smooth, with no whole beans remaining. Stir in the cooled onion mixture, cilantro, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, and hot sauce and mix well. Divide the mixture into 8 evenly sized patties (about 1/3 cup each).

4. Heat the remaining 6 tablespoons olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, dust the patties in the seasoned flour mixture and carefully transfer them to the hot skillet (the cakes will be delicate). Cook the cakes until golden brown on both sides and heated through, about 2 minutes per side.

5. If necessary, season with more salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro, and serve immediately.

Apple Goodness

I came back from Ithaca with a peck of apples and the other night I cooked about half of them. I made two things, a lovely spiced apple cake from my edition of Joy of Cooking
and some apple butter using a recipe I found online.
The apple butter doesn't have the same texture as the stuff you get from a jar, it's more like a spiced applesauce. I suppose I could have cooked it down more, but after about two to three hours at a slow simmer I declared it to be done. And actually I was terrified of burning it so I'm just really happy it turned out.

So what do I do with the rest of the apples? Maybe the apple pizza I mentioned before. I don't know how many more sweet apple desserts I can handle right now so I'm looking for some savory recipes. I'm tempted to slice some of then thinly and saute them with onions and chicken or a light flavored sausage.

Apples!

I drove up to Ithaca, NY with some friends this past weekend. While I was there we went apple picking and came back with a lot of lovely apples so I am now scouring recipe books and the internet for apple recipes. The first will likely be an apple spice cake from my edition of Joy of Cooking. I hope to follow that with apple butter. I'm not so sure about any of the recipes I have found so far. It is a bit tricky because I don't have a food mill or crockpot.

I also found a recipe for this Apple Pizza which I might try too. Are there any other apple recipes I'm missing?