A Salty and Sweet Treat

So sometimes in February you need a walk, but sometimes you also need cookies. Ever since Jamie at A Desert Fete made these babies I was hankering for some chocolate chip cookies myself, but more than just that...with the salty protein of peanut butter. I like my cookies with lots of nutty crunch, so I used crunchy peanut butter and added chopped peanuts, but to each her own. Inspired by Heather at 101 Cookbooks, I also replaced half the sugar with maple syrup. In keeping with the spirit of balance between comforting indulgence and exercise necessary this time of year, I employed the glorious freezer trick: only baked off a few and stored the rest as a log of dough wrapped in a plastic bag in the freezer, ready to be sliced and baked next time I'm craving a salty and sweet treat.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, beat in peanut butter, then syrup, then egg. Dump flour, baking soda, powder, chips, and nuts, and stir until combined. Drop teaspoon sized balls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes.

Note: I noticed them puffing up after checking on them at 5 minutes (which could have been due to inexact measurements on the baking soda and powder since I lost my teaspoons), so mid-baking, I flattened them with the tine of my fork, which thus eliminated the puff.

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Snow and Sunshine

January was a dark time for me. It's not the cold weather getting me down this winter, as usual, but the state of my life. All those New Years reflections snowballed, and it hit me that 2009 was not a good year: unachieved resolutions and aspirations, a total lack of exercise, a summer of stress, the realization that I've been living in an isolated dirty hovel of an apartment for six months, and the fear that I will trapped in this rut for six months more.

In February, things started looking up, little by little, or I am at least more hopeful that they are. It helps that February is all snow and sunshine. What winter should be. The kind of crisp air that is perfect for long walks and bundled jogs around Prospect Park. With the puppy in tow, for snow and the outdoors are his natural environment. Spying lots of snowmen and sledding. Hoping for ice skating next weekend. Still working on putting my 2010 resolutions and plans to paper. Only one month of winter left, and I think I can make it. How is February treating you?

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On- and Off-line Friends, and Crockpot Soup

I think we all agree that blogging gives us a warm sense of friendship and community, to a greater degree than expected when we began putting our words on the internet for the world to see. I value the connections I've made through blogging, hearing your feedback, reading your wise thoughts, gaining inspiration from your projects, and having the chance to share experiences with people all over the world. I would love to get together for drinks with all of the friends I've made online, but thus far, I've only had a few chances to meet fellow bloggers in real life.

Most recently, I met up last month with Jay of Mystic Domestica, who happens to live in the same lovely neighborhood as me, and with Amber of the (sadly defunct!) All That You Have is Your Soul back during her fabulous trip to New York in November. Both times, as we filled each other in on our lives and discovered commonalities, it felt like catching up with an old friend, or making a fast new friend. These experiences happily confirmed that on the whole, my online relationships are grounded in reality, and are not just superficial exchanges that exist in the ether. What about you, readers, have you had the chance to meet any of your blogger friends?



Jay very generously brought a gift with her, a jar of her mother's homegrown "magic" beans, a beautiful assortment of colored limas and black-eyed peas. I was excited to cook them, but couldn't decide on the right preparation. I found my inspiration about a week later during dinner at The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park. My appetizer was a luscious kale-lentil soup topped off with a poached egg.



So I subbed beans for lentils, added in the rest of my farro stash, didn't bother with chicken or vegetable stock in order to keep things simple, and used a stale hunk of parmesan rind that was sitting in the fridge as a flavor enhancer instead. Making soup in the crockpot is so easy, especially since I try to prep as much as possible the night before. And there is nothing better on a January day than coming home to a warm soup waiting for you. My egg poaching skills could still use some work. But the rich yolks, salty parmesan flavor, and creamy beans made a delicious meal out of a soup that sounds too crunchy-granola-healthy to be true. Thanks Jay!



Crockpot Farro, Kale, and Bean Soup with Poached Egg
1 cup farro
1 cup beans
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch kale
1 rind of parmesan or other hard cheese
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper or other spices (optional)
water
fresh eggs

The night before:
Place farro and beans in separate containers each amply covered in water to soak overnight.
Dice onion and garlic, and chop kale into chiffonade. Place chopped vegetables and cheese rind into crockpot stoneware and store in fridge overnight.
The next morning:
Remove crockpot from fridge. Drain and rinse beans in a colander. Drain farro. Add beans and farro to crockpot, along with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper and other spices such as oregano or rosemary, to taste. Stir to thoroughly combine. Add water, filling to about one inch above ingredients. Cook on low for 7-10 hours while you are out at work or living life.
Just before dinner:
Ladle soup into bowls to let cool.
Meanwhile, poach one egg per person and add egg to top of each bowl to serve.
Makes four or five servings.

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Warm Farro Salad with Squash and Chickpeas

As cliche as it may be, one of my New Years resolutions was to eat healthier. More whole grains, daily fruits and vegetables, less processed carbs and snacks. A month into January, I can't say I've followed up on that (or any of my resolutions) 100%, but I have cooked a few new healthy vegetarian recipes I thought some of you might like to know about.


First up is this warm winter farro salad inspired by a "fall" farro salad I had a few months ago at The Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights with pumpkin, nuts, parmesan, and poached egg. The farro salad was one of the most memorable parts of that overpriced, small plates evening, so I set out to recreate my own version recently. Squash substitutes well for pumpkin and is just as available at the local farmers market in winter as in fall. I wasn't easily able to find farro at the Park Slope Food Coop (though I now know where to find it there), so I was pleasantly surprised to find it at my farmers market instead - from Cayuga Pure Organics in Ithaca, which isn't exactly local, but probably much closer than the coop's source.


I'm now obsessed with farro. It's plumper and toothier than brown rice, but easier to cook, since it doesn't become a starchy gluey mess like all of my rice attempts. Be prepared to wait a while for it to cook. I didn't soak mine overnight and the cooking felt like forever, probably an hour or so, so I do recommend letting it soak for a day first. More detailed instructions on how to cook faro can be found here.

While researching farro, I also found a similar squash and farro recipe over on 101 Cookbooks. But my version includes chickpeas for protein and lots of garlic for flavor. I make big batches of chickpeas at one time and then freeze them in cup-size portions in old glass jars, so for this I was able to just defrost some pre-cooked chickpeas by running water into the jar to loosen the frozen chickpeas and then heating them up in a small pot of simmering water. (While you could use canned chickpeas, I don't recommend that because the BPA lining in cans is getting more and more attention lately as a potential health hazard.)

The soft and sweet carmelized roasted squash is the perfect foil to nutty, crunchy farro here, and the combination of chickpeas and farro was hearty enough for the resident vegetarian naysayer. I think the zest and juice of half a lemon would be a nice addition to the salad, as well, but I didn't have that on hand.

Warm Farro Salad with Squash and Chickpeas
1 cup farro
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 small butternut squash
1 small head of garlic
1/4 shaved parmesan
olive oil
salt
pepper
zest and juice of half lemon (optional)

Let farro soak in water in a covered pot overnight. Add enough water to reach the height of the first joint of your index finger above the farro in the pot. Bring to boil and then simmer covered for 20 minutes or more until it reaches your desired crunchiness.
Preheat oven to 450. Peel and cube butternut squash. Toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for approximately 20 minutes until browned; flip cubes and roast additional 10-15 minutes until other side is browned and squash is fully tender.
Mince garlic and set aside. Use a cheese scraper to shave parmesan into small pieces and set aside.
Combine cooked farro, chickpeas, squash, garlic, and half the parmesan in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and top with remaining parmesan shavings to serve. Makes 3-4 servings.

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Brooklyn Flea

I've never made it to the outdoor versions of the Brooklyn Flea, but last weekend I checked out the new indoor Flea at the recently restored One Hanson Place, aka Williamsburgh Savings Bank clocktower in Fort Greene. It is a beautiful space, which they have made great use of by sticking vendors in all its nooks and crannies.

It was mad crowded, which I expected since it was opening weekend and normally I would have avoided it for that reason, but I really needed an excuse to get out of the apartment.


I am not that big on shopping because I don't like to part ways with my money for stuff, even if it is vintage stuff. So I kind of went more to check out the infamous food vendors than for the vintage and artisan wares. The food court is located inside the old vault in the basement. Look how thick that vault door is!




The Red Hook Lobster Pound lobster roll is just as good as they say. At $14 it is pricy for vendor food but cheaper than lobster rolls sold in most NYC restaurants. Bun was deliciously lightly toasted in butter. I only wish there had been more of it to savor.


With the crowds, it was hard to take too close of a look at anything, so I didn't think I'd actually buy anything. But surprisingly, something caught my eye: a pair of wooden Danish mid-century modern candlesticks for $15. Which have been on my "to buy someday" list for a while so I gave into temptation. Now I just need to get long beeswax candles from the farmers market. And officially have way too many candles in my home considering that I always forget to light them.

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A Cheesy New Year's Eve

I didn't go to the Hamptons as planned for New Years (the house rental fell through). Instead: a small gathering at my sister's apartment uptown featuring a quantity of random fruity mixed drinks not seen since college; lots of chatter; ignoring the ball drop on TV; a brief blurry stop at a bar; and I may or may not have thrown up on the subway ride home (a rite of passage for twentysomething nyc'ers, right?). I blame my undoing on the bizarre combination that day of cheese straw overdosing + fancy sushi dinner + fruity drinks .

I didn't have occasion to make focaccia and pumpkin rolls as hoped, but I still spent time baking a few festive treats to bring to the party, including cheese straws! I don't know why I waited so long to try this recipe, since I mastered regular crackers long ago (which reminds me I need to post that recipe). Cheese straws taste just like cheez-its but are a thousand times better for you, especially if you cut the butter and add whole wheat flour to healthify. I also added dried herbs and gouda instead of cheddar to fancify my version.

It felt like I was baking allll day, probably because it took forever to roll and cut out all these thin little sticks. So take this lady's advice instead and roll the dough into a log to be able to quickly slice it into thin round crackers. And if you make an extra log of dough to store in the freezer, you can slice and bake off a few crackers at a time to satisfy cheez-it cravings within minutes. I recently learned this freezer trick, which also works for cookie dough, and it is transformative. One downside to my lifestyle of making things from scratch instead of buying processed foods is the daunting lag time between a craving and the final product coming out of the oven ready to eat. Keeping dough in the freezer solves this problem by offering both instant gratification and portion control.

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Herbed Cheese Crackers
6 tbsp butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp dried herbs such as rosemary, sage, oregano, or thyme

1 1/2 cups cheddar or gouda cheese

1 tbsp milk plus more as needed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all ingredients but milk in food processor and pulse until the butter is broken down into little crumby bits. Add milk a tablespoon at a time while pulsing until it is moist enough to come together as a dough ball. Divide dough in half and roll into logs. Store in plastic wrap in freezer at least half an hour to allow dough to firm (or up to a few weeks). Slice dough into rounds as thinly as possible. Bake in batches on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.


photo 1 via flickr; atrociousness of photo 2 and 3 are all my fault

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Eskimo Burgers

When I grill burgers outside in the winter, I call them Eskimo burgers. I am lucky enough to have a little propane grill just outside the door so it is easy enough for one to shuttle back and forth between the warm kitchen and the chilly smoky patio.




Normally we make burgers using local grass-fed meat topped simply with a little cheddar and ketchup, but I just wasn't feeling it this time...I wanted some more pizzazz. So I went to twitter for advice. This is the beauty of twitter: Ask and ye shall receive responses in time to go to the grocery store before dinner. There were lots of helpful suggestions, like adding whisky (!), kofta spices, and Celia sent me a whole slew of toppings, including grilled radicchio, caramelized onions, arugula pesto, and even some things I had never heard of before (what is frico??). It was just what I needed to get out of my rut. Check out the recipe below to see what fixings we ended up with. What's your favorite way to make hamburgers?





I also picked up half a dozen Bluepoint oysters for an appetizer. I order oysters at restaurants, making me feel like the biggest yuppie ever, but it was the first time shucking them at home and it was a success, with a little dish of horseradish and lemon slices on the side. I see a lot more cheap, local oysters in our future since they sell them at the Grand Army farmers market for only $1 each.




Eskimo Burgers
Combine:
1 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried thyme
5 splashes of worcestershire sauce
1 shot whisky
salt
pepper

Form into patties. (We usually get 3 patties per pound of meat). Grill over medium low heat for four to five minutes on each side. Top with slices of gruyere cheese about 1 minute before done (the more cheese the better). Set burgers aside (on a plate in the oven is a good way to keep them warm/out the way of dogs) and and grill thick slices of hearty bread until toasted. Assemble with toppings:
mustard
caramelized onions (sliced onions sauteed in olive oil over low heat for 20-30 minutes until soft and browned)
baby spinach


*Celia, do the rest of us a favor and share the whole burger inspiration list on your blog! The world will thank you.

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