a perfect fall meal

One of the pitfalls of bringing my camera outside is that I usually take close to (or more than) one hundred photos at a time, sometimes daily...leaves, insects, webs, a beautiful light pattern, birds, or anything else that catches my eye.  This is a danger when my goal is to have a relatively balanced blog, with equal parts knitting/crafting, cooking, and nature.  Nature usually wins out in a big way, and I guiltily store my recipe shots for another week, and then another...I have been knitting, and I have been cooking, although that isn't always reflected here. 

The weather has been beautiful.  Sunny, breezy, and mid-70s during the day, and mid-50s at night.  Fall is here, and I am spending more time in the kitchen.  I recently found a local farmers market and stocked up on good local produce.  I used it to make a tasty fall-inspired meal for Todd, and I thought I'd share it quickly before it gets pushed to the back burner indefinitely.  With end-of-the-season fruits and vegetables still readily available, this is the perfect time to experiment!

The main course is a buttery galette filled with seasonal vegetables.  I took the main recipe from the always-reliable Smitten Kitchen blog and tweaked it a bit to fit our tastes.  The good thing about it is that it's easily customizable!  This galette has a pie crust base.  I recently had an older friend tell me that she's always been afraid to make her own crust.  Don't be afraid!  It doesn't have to be pretty, and homemade is always better.  Smitten Kitchen has a great tutorial here.

Late Summer Galette
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
1 onion, sliced
6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
8 - 10 basil leaves, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
handful of cheese
a pinch or two of red pepper flakes

Make dough: Whisk together your flour and salt.  Dice up your butter and quickly "cut" it into your mixture with a pastry cutter or fork.  The bits should be pea-sized.  In a separate bowl, stir together your ice water (minus the ice) and sour cream or yogurt.  Add this to your flour mixture and toss.  You may need to add a bit more liquid to obtain a mass that sticks together when you pat it.  Lay out plastic wrap, form a large ball, and secure it in the plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for about an hour.

Make filling:  Use a skillet with a lid for this one!  Take your tomatoes...I found an amazing heirloom variety.

Heat your olive oil and sprinkle in your red pepper flakes.  Add your tomatoes and cover.  Make sure your burner is on HIGH.  Roll them around until the skins split and some of the liquid cooks out.

Once they're cooked down a bit, put them in a bowl to cool off.  Using the same skillet, add more olive oil and saute your onions until they're translucent and softened, about 10 minutes.  Throw in your mushrooms and cook for another five minutes, until they release their liquid and cook down a bit.  Finally, add your diced garlic and sliced basil.  Cook for another minute and then pour this mixture on top of your tomatoes, letting it cool.

Now, take that cooled pie crust...

 ...and roll it into a rough circle.  It doesn't have to be fancy!  I spread a healthy amount of cheese in the center, and then mixed more cheese in with my vegetables.  Spoon it on top of your cheese and spread it out a bit, leaving an inch or so all around.  Then fold up the edges.

Place galette in your oven, preheated to 400 degrees.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Yum!

It's healthy and bursting with seasonal flavor!

For dessert, I used some late-season peaches to make a simple cobbler.  This recipe comes from How Sweet It Is and incorporates browned butter, which adds a rich nutty flavor.  Again, don't be afraid to try this technique if it's new to you.  Practice makes perfect!

Browned Butter Peach Cobbler
Very slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup flour (I used a mixture of white and whole wheat)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/2 cup butter (I used a tablespoon or so less to make it a bit healthier)
4 ripe peaches, peeled, de-pitted, and diced

Preheat your oven to 350 and blanch your peaches.  Blanching is a simple process that involves quickly boiling them, then putting them in cold water, so that the skin peels off easily.  Directions are here if you want to try it.  Or, you could peel them the old-fashioned way if you'd like.  Dice the peeled peaches and set aside.  In a bowl, mix your dry ingredients together.  Brown your butter (directions here if you've never done it) and let it cool a bit.  Add it to the flour/oatmeal mixture, along with the vanilla, and stir until all the liquid is absorbed.  Mix your peaches in, and pat the mixture into a greased 8 x 8  pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes and let cool completely.  Then you can dish it out!

Hey, it's not pretty, and certainly not fancy, but both dishes got rave reviews from Todd.  Although it may seem like a lot of steps, the cobbler only took about 15 minutes to throw together, and the galette (minus the pie dough waiting time) was just about 20 minutes.  Paired with a healthy side salad, this is the perfect fall meal...until those apples and pumpkins start coming in!  Stay tuned, and have a great week!

"Leaf" It To The Experts

Our new house is surrounded by trees, and after a windy weekend, they all looked like this:

I couldn't believe the sheer number of leaves in the yard.  Todd estimated that we had the equivalent of hundreds of bags of leaves.  Leaves filled the gutters, and several feet of replacements waited in line above.

Leaves gathered in every corner...

...and choked every path.

Leaves drifted calf-deep in places on the deck. 

And, when piled up, they easily hid a person.

Leaves covered all the stairs and matted in the bushes.

I stopped using the driveway behind the house because the leaves obscured it completely and I was afraid of driving off the road, or hitting a hidden stump.

For the first time, since we didn't have the requisite tool (a leaf blower) and are still getting settled in, we hired out our yard work.  A man came over and cleared off the front and side yards and the driveways.  We left the leaves under the trees to decompose and add nutrients back into the soil.  I must say that it made quite a difference, having those areas cleared!

In these late fall days, we're still seeing a lot of wildlife.  Daily deer...

...chipmunks...

...and little grey squirrels, which amuse me with their antics.

All of these creatures can be devastating to gardens, so it will be interesting to see how we're able to peacefully co-exist this spring!

Oh, and we've got some wild animals inside, too:

They may not look vicious, but they'll defend their sleeping spots to the death!

Several years ago, I worked at the City County Building in downtown Indianapolis.  Wednesdays were open-market days for local farmers, but some vendors had a permanent booth in the City Market, which was directly adjacent to my building.  Occasionally I'd have lunch there with co-workers, and I always got a toffee cookie from Just Cookies.  My homemade efforts paled in comparison.  How were their cookies so soft, rich, and buttery?  I've been looking for a recipe to beat or at least match theirs, and I think I finally found it.

Rich, thick, and soft.  Deeply buttery.  Easy to make.  One-bowl delicious.  I think I've shared this recipe before, but I'm going to share it again, because these make great neutral fillers for your cookie plates.  Leave out the chocolate chips and add white chocolate...or nuts...or caramel...or peppermints...or toffee...or all of the above.

The secret?  Brown butter.

Making brown butter (or beurre noisette) is easy, but it must be watched carefully.  Melt your butter over medium heat, stirring constantly.  First your mixture will foam white, and then clear.  Continue to whisk, and your mixture will eventually turn a deep amber color, with little dark brown bits at the bottom of the pan.  Remove it from heat immediately and let it cool in a separate container before adding it to a recipe.  It have a rich, nutty flavor that just can't be beat.  

Perfect Base Cookie
How Sweet It Is

Ingredients
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of your favorite mix-ins

Directions
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and brown your butter, setting it aside to cool for a few minutes.  Once cool, add your sugars and beat.  Add your egg and egg yolk and mix well, and finally, add the vanilla.  Scrape down the sides of your bowl and then toss in the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix, and then fold in your mix-ins.

I like smaller cookies, so I make walnut-sized balls, flatten slightly, and bake for about 7 minutes.  However, you could make much larger cookies - say 2 tablespoons of dough - and then bake for about 13 - 14 minutes.

Cool, and eat.

 Brown butter, I love you.  Just Cookies, it's been nice knowing you!  :)

Have a great week!

Mag-"nymph"-icent!

I'm anxiously awaiting the blooming of one of my very favorite flowers: the peony.

I'm anxious, but not nearly as anxious as this guy.

Ants and peonies have a lovely symbiotic relationship. The peonies produce a sweet nectar that ants love, and the ant traffic helps the buds to loosen and open easily. Win-win!

My patience was rewarded this week in another part of the garden. I know I've raved and raved about columbines in the past, and it's true that I just can't say enough about how wonderful they are. They have dense, well-shaped foliage that hugs the ground, with tall stalks rising above in late spring, topped with the nodding, colorful flowers. They love the shade and they take no work at all. They re-seed with ease. In short: Columbines. Garden. Must!

Two weeks ago, my columbines put up stalks.

First came the buds...

...and then the buds grew and expanded as the flower prepared to unfurl.

This flower waits patiently for just the right conditions. It's nearly ready...

Then we had a few warm days and they popped! This particular variety is Aquilegia brevistyla.

The flowers are sometimes white, sometimes pink, and sometimes purple. Beautiful.

I never get tired of seeing these graceful beauties. I'm going to collect bags of seeds this summer, so that we can enjoy them at our next house.

From magnificent buds to mag-"nymph"-icent bugs...the mantis nymphs hatched this week! Every morning for the past 2 months, I've given the ootheca a quick once-over as I walked by. Every morning, it's been exactly the same. But Sunday, as we were dashing through the rain, late for church, I saw a change. The ootheca had a dangling trail of what looked like clumped-up sawdust - that's where the mantis nymphs burrowed out. I can't help but think that it looks like the confetti and streamers that droop from a party favor after it's popped...and the mantises were likely in a celebratory mood!

There seemed to be thousands of them. They clung to the lilac branches...

...and clambered from leaf to leaf. It looked like a busy miniature city.

They're quite small...less than an inch long...but already, they have that distinctive mantis profile (shudder).

Already, too, they're watching me with one eye as I circle around with my camera.

I think the rain inhibited their movements a bit. Many of them were perfectly still on top of leaves...

...or underneath them.

They remind me of teeny, tiny shrimp. Our temperatures have dipped into the 30s again, since the hatching, and I found several black, withered carcasses. However, several have survived and are continuing to monitor the yard from their lilac bush vantage point.

I convinced Todd to bring the empty ootheca inside and cut it open.

Inside, you can see the papery layers that held the developing nymphs. I can't imagine how they all smashed into this small space, after seeing the swarm that came from it!

These busy days have left little time for knitting, but there's always time to squeeze in some baking. A friend was having a rough week recently and I decided to make her a dessert. I couldn't leave Todd empty-handed, though, so I made two miniature desserts for us to have later!

I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which I love. It was my first foray into brown butter!

Cherry Brown Butter Pie
From Smitten Kitchen
Makes 8 servings

Crust
7 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup + 1 tablespoon flour

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, diced
1 12 ounce can sweet cherries, drained

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To make the crust, mix butter, sugar, and vanilla together, and then add the flour and the salt. Mix well. Transfer mixture to greased pie pan and press firmly until the dough is spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool.

Place cherries evenly on browned crust.

Now comes the fun part! I had a lot of anxiety about making brown butter. I'd read about how great brown butter is...about how it has a rich, nutty quality that enhances the flavor of your dish. Everything from asparagus to chocolate chip cookies is now being made with it. Could I do it?

First, slice your butter into a skillet. It's best not to use a teflon-treated one, because it's hard to see your butter turn brown against a black surface. Melt and cook over medium high heat, whisking continually. First you'll see a lot of foaming, but in just a minute or two the foam will cook away and the milk solids in your butter will start to brown. As soon as you see brown flecks, remove from heat and continue to whisk. You'll smell the nutty aroma, and your butter should be the color of apple juice. This takes around 5 minutes.

Make your filling by whisking together the sugar, eggs, and salt. Add the flour and vanilla and combine. When your brown butter has cooled a bit, whisk it in to the mixture. Pour over your cherries.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, until golden brown.

This was amazing! I could taste the nutty brown butter in every bite. I'm resisting the urge to add brown butter to my mashed potatoes today...it's that good.

I hope you give it a try.

Have a great week!