It’s not like I’m unprepared for Christmas. I mean, I have finished most of my shopping and have packed in a LOT of holiday fun and festivities. But Geez Louise, can you cut a girl some slack…I need a rest. I haven’t spent a weekend at home doing nothing since October. And don’t even get me started on trying to squeeze in time to read a book…I can’t even read the back of a matchbox. Wait, I mean I can read the back of a matchbox (I’m not illiterate, after all), but I don’t have the time to read.  So you pushing me down to the ground as you race to meet up with Christmas next week isn’t cool Thanksgiving.  NOT COOL.

Either way, I’m still bummed I didn’t have the time to make these savory biscotti for Thanksgiving dinner.  I did a test run of the recipe a week before the big day and found it to be too time consuming.  It’s not a difficult recipe and it’s not too labor intensive.  It just wouldn’t have fit in with all the other cooking I had planned for the day.  ‘Tis a shame since I’m sure my guests would have loved the combination of an aged Gouda and smoky walnuts.  But at this rate, I should be able to make them for Christmas…which is starting right…about…now.  Damn you, Thanksgiving!

Leave it to me to run straight to dessert in my quest for a great Thanksgiving meal. I wanted to try a different take on dessert but still wanted it to celebrate the Fall season. After eating my fair share of roasted butternut squash the last few weeks, a light bulb went off in my head.

“You know what? This would make a great dessert,” I said to myself one day while eating chunks of roasted squash. I may or may not have answered myself, but that’s neither here nor there.

I thought at first about making the squash into a sweet potato like pie. That was quickly squashed (pun intended) when I realized I didn’t want to play around with a crust while tackling my first turkey. Then inspiration hit when my Twitter foodie pals and I started talking about the outrageous prices some stores were charging for seasonal cheesecakes. I have a go-to cheesecake recipe that I have modified before to include fruit puree. Why not try it with butternut squash puree? The resulting cheesecake was a gem! Even the Boy loved it – and he hates cheesecake.

Ahhh Thanksgiving…it’s like the Super Bowl for foodies.  And it can also bring about hours of undue stress on those brave enough to host Thanksgiving dinner.  This year, we’re having friends over for the big day…some of whom are serious foodies.  No pressure there at all.  I’ve already ordered the turkey (from Groff’s Content Farm) and have opted to use the Barefoot Contessa’s Roast Turkey with Truffle Butter recipe to fancy it up.  With the bird squared away, I decided to turn my attention to side dishes.  I loved the brussels sprouts, bacon and fig dish I made a few months ago, so it was a no brainer to add it to the menu.  Not only is it an easy dish to whip up, it has a sophisticated look and taste that will wow any dinner guest.  But what else was I going to bring to the table?  I searched the web and became overwhelmed with all the options.  There I was, rocking back and forth and chanting “too many dishes…too many dishes”.  And then I received the November issue of Food and Wine in the mail (otherwise known as my salvation).  Hello, nurse!

The magazine was bursting at the seams with Thanksgiving suggestions, emphasizing a “back to the classics” approach to turkey day.  Although the ingredients were typical Thanksgiving fare (mashed potatoes, green beans and sweet potatoes, to name a few), the recipes elevated them above the scary casseroles one remembers from their youth.  One such dish was their Five Spice Glazed Sweet Potatoes topped with Walnut Toffee.  No odd conglomerations of raisins and marshmallows for these sweet potatoes (sorry Mom…I still love your sweet potato souffle).  Adding the aromatic pungency of Chinese Five Spice powder (a combination of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and Szechuan peppercorns) to a traditionally (and sometimes overly) sweet dish brings a completely different feel to these potatoes.

I decided to make a test batch of the recipe to make sure it was worthy enough to end up on the plates of my foodie friends.  And instead of using regular sweet potatoes, I decided to work with some white sweet potatoes I got from Garner’s Produce.  Also called Cuban sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes aren’t as sweet as the more familiar orange sweet potatoes.  For this recipe, using the white sweet potatoes turned out to be an asset.  The sugar and spice combination of the glaze didn’t overpower the potato, bringing out an almost smoky flavor.  Instead of using the walnut toffee, I used some of the excess glaze to create a candy coating for the walnuts.  I knew instantly this dish would stand up well against a (fingers crossed) deliciously herbed bird.

It’s quite possible I have gone a tad bit pumpkin crazy this season.  And to understand my almost obsessive love for pumpkins, we need to go back to my childhood.  See, I was the kid whose mother wouldn’t celebrate Halloween.  Convinced it was a bad holiday, my mom didn’t want us to dress up or go trick or treating.  It didn’t help that every year the local news blared stories of tainted Halloween candy (thanks WJBF and you’re “in-depth coverage”).   No, the universe had aligned against me, thus depriving me of a true Halloween childhood experience.

As I got older, I started dressing up for Halloween, but I never got around to carving a pumpkin.  In fact, until I moved to DC, I had never even held a real pumpkin before.  And when I first saw them at the farmers markets last year, I was actually a bit intimidated by them.  All that changed when I timidly bought my first pumpkin a few weeks ago at the 14th & U Farmers Market.  It was a small pumpkin, cute as a button and irresistible to anyone who had a culinary loving heart.  After a bit of research (okay, googling “what the hell do I do with a fresh pumpkin”), I realized just how easy it was to work with fresh pumpkin.  Before I knew it, I was whipping up breads, doughnuts and cookies.  Thoughts of cheesecakes, muffins and even popovers danced in my head.  All that was shoved aside, however, when I saw a Bon Appetit recipe for a chocolate swirl pound cake.  I have been experimenting more with baking recipes lately, so it seemed a great idea to add pumpkin to my favorite pound cake recipe.  Adding the chocolate swirls per the Bon Appetit recipe was a bonus.  The pound cake turned out delicious – the spices and essence of a pumpkin pie folded into a Southern classic.  I may need some work on my swirl making abilities, but the chocolate was still bursting out of every bite.  This cake just may replace the pumpkin pie on my Thanksgiving table this year.

Sure it’s not yet November, but my mind has already turned to Thanksgiving. Although I don’t get to head down to Georgia this year for Turkey Day, I still have every intention of whipping up a nice dinner come November 26th.  With that in mind, I’ve been trying different recipes in an attempt to create a Thanksgiving menu that will knock my friend’s socks off (or at least leave them speechlessly happy in a food coma).  When I stumbled upon this recipe for Maple-Ginger Roasted Vegetables with Pecans, I knew I wanted to try it out for a spot on the Big Menu (as my Thanksgiving menu will be called from henceforth).

What I loved about this dish was how much it celebrates the bounty of Fall.  I picked up all the produce (brussels sprouts, parsnips, cauliflower, butternut squash and even fresh GINGER from Next Step Produce) during a trip to the Dupont Circle Farmers Market and was pleasantly surprised at how well their flavors worked together.  Although the recipe called for pecans, I didn’t have any on hand.  And it turned out that I didn’t miss the bite of the pecans at all.

I loved the flavors of this dish, but even better, I loved how easy it was to make.  Sure there was the prep work of chopping up the vegetables, but with The Boy’s help, that didn’t take long.  Once all the veggies were diced, the rest of the dish didn’t take long to throw together.  And for Thanksgiving, that’s a distinct advantage.

For me, some of the best meal ideas are born strictly at the farmers market.  Last Saturday, I headed over to the 14th & U Street Farmers Market for my weekly grocery shopping (yes my friends, you can get pretty much all your grocery needs from your friendly, neighborhood farmers markets). In the back of my head I knew I wanted to make a soup for lunch for the week, but wasn’t sure what to put in it.  Save being dead set on using apples (we do still have a lot of them from apple picking), I hadn’t a clue what to make.  But as I walked along the market, all the Fall offerings started giving me ideas.

To say I’m forgetful is pretty much an understatement.  So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that as I was plotting my produce purchases, it dawned on me that I didn’t have any cash.  That’s when I remembered the 14th & U Farmers Market ATM program.  Instead of using a bank ATM, I decided to give it a try.  I headed over to the market information table, where Maia was manning the ATM/EBT machine.  She took my ATM card and explained that instead of dollars, I’ll receive $5 wooden tokens that I can use throughout the market season at 14th & U.  But the best thing about using the market ATM is how it helps to provide fresh food to low income residents in the DC area. The ATM fee of $2 (which I would have incurred anyway since the nearest ATM wasn’t my bank’s ATM) goes toward the food stamp program offered at the farmers market.  The program allows food stamp recipients to use their stamps at the farmers market to get fresh produce, meats and dairy.  So not only are you getting local, fresh and in season foods, you’re also giving someone less fortunate the opportunity to do the same thing.  I was wowed by the program and psyched that there was another way to support universal access to fresh, local produce.  Robin Shuster, market manager, said she would love to see more people use the market ATM program (my hint to those of you who shop the 14th & U market regularly).

With tokens in hand, I started walking around the market, trying to get some inspiration.  As I was walking around Garner’s Produce stand, my eyes caught sight of some amazing poblano peppers and huge sweet potatoes.  This triggered the memory of  a soup I tried at a restaurant consisting of Chipotle peppers, sweet potatoes and apples.  I decided then and there to try to recreate the same dish at home.  Since the poblano peppers were right in my face, I opted to use them instead of Chipotle peppers.  Roasting them only came to my mind when I got home and unloaded all of my farmers market finds onto the counter.  Hours of chopping, sauteeing and simmering later, I had the equivalent of a warm hug in my soup bowl.

While I was on the hunt for figs, it was The Boy’s job to get a hold of some of the season’s first brussels sprouts.  He returned with this:

 And I looked at him like he was insane. 

“What the hell is that?” I asked, looking at the big ass jingle bell stick jutting from his shopping bag.

“It’s the brussels sprouts you wanted,” he responded, looking quite pleased with himself.

“Those aren’t brussels sprouts.  You’ve stolen the Jolly Green Giant’s walking stick,” I said, staring at the green appendage with confusion.

“I asked for brussels sprouts and they pointed at this.  So I got two!”

“Two what? That’s not brussels sprouts.  What am I supposed to do with a green stick.  And why does the stalk smell like broccoli?” I said as I sniffed the log…right there at the farmers market. 

Let’s just say the conversation kind of went on from there and involved me mostly repeating the Jolly Green Giant comment several times.  When I got home, I looked up brussels sprouts and discovered they were in the same family as broccoli and did grow on the sides of long stalks.  I didn’t read anything about the stalks themselves being edible, so I removed the buds from it.  Since I had both figs and brussels sprouts, I decided to combine the two into a sautee with bacon serving as the binder.  It was simple, it was quick and it was fan-fucking-tastic.  I ate it as a light lunch but it would also work very well as a side dish, especially for Thanksgiving (which according to Wal-Mart’s aisle, is next week).

Recipe: Brussels Sprout, Bacon & Figs

Ingredients

• 2 pounds brussels sprouts
• 6 strips of bacon, diced
• 4 fresh figs, cut into small pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Wash the brussels sprouts and drain them. Carefully slice the sprouts lenghthwise into thin strips (it will resemble confetti).
2. In a skillet over medium high heat, add the diced bacon and cook thoroughly. Remove the bacon bits from the skillet but leave the bacon grease. If the bacon produces an excessive amount of grease, remove some of it. You want enough to coat the pan and add flavor, but you don’t want the end result to be greasy.
3. Add the brussels sprouts to the pan and then season with the salt and pepper. Add the fig pieces and stir to coat everything. Cook for about four minutes and then add the bacon. Once the sprouts become a vibrant green and begin to wilt slightly, the dish is done. Remove it from the heat and serve.

Cooking time (duration): 15

Let me be honest here:  I wasn’t impressed with season 5 of Top Chef.  From Leah’s whining to Hosea’s sense of entitlement, it was hard to see the few quality chefs on the show.  Sure Carla was overly enthusiastic at times, but her love of cooking was evident from day one.  And yes I couldn’t understand half of what Fabio said, but his sense of fun was a welcome respite from Hosea bitching to the camera constantly about Stefano.  Then there was Jamie…Jamie who constantly complained whenever she didn’t win a challenge.  Yes, I thought there were a few times she may have deserved the win.  But her attitude wore on me quicker than Rosie Perez’s voice.  I had almost written her off completely as a waste of space until she presented the judges with a wonderful Chilled Sweet Corn Soup with Mint and Chili Oil.  The way they cooed over the velvety texture of the soup convinced me it was something I had to make at home.

The one thing I could respect about Jamie was her committment to using local, in season produce in her cooking.  I could have rushed out to the grocery store and bought out of season corn to make this soup.  But I knew only fresh corn could produce the results I saw on my television screen.  So when I spotted the first of this season’s corn at Bloomingdale Farmers Market on Sunday, I snatched up a bunch.

The recipe was fairly simple, using a combination of flavors that normally one wouldn’t associate.  Corn and mint? Really?  Yes really…the layers of taste meld unexpectedly well together.  And serving this soup chilled only enhances those flavors.  Although Jamie topped this soup with a chili oil, I decided to use up the extra sourdough in our house to make croutons to top it.  The resulting combination of crunchy sourdough and the corntastic soup (corntastic is a word…adding “tastic” to anything instantly turns it into a word) made for the perfect Summer lunch.  The recipe below makes either about 15 appetizer size portions or 8 entree size portions of soup.

NOTE:  I used bi-color corn, as it’s what is currently in season.  The bi-color corn will lead to the soup being a more muted color yellow.  If you use yellow corn, your soup will be a brighter shade of yellow.

Chilled Corn Soup with Mint

15 ears corn, cleaned and kernels removed from the cob

1 bunch celery, chopped

5 onions, diced

10 garlic cloves, smashed

5 potatoes (I used white, as they are in season), peeled and quartered

1 bunch mint (if using farm fresh mint, use a small bunch)

5 quarts vegetable stock

1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)

1 quart heavy cream

Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and cook until golden brown (stirring constantly to make sure the garlic doesn’t stick or burn).  Add a dash of salt and then add the onions.  Continue to cook until the onions are soft.  Add another dash of salt before stirring in the celery.  Cook until the celery is semi-soft, about 4 minutes.

Using kitchen string, tie the bunch of mint securely.  Add the potatoes, corn and mint to the pot and then cover everything with the vegetable stock.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat until the boil turns to a simmer.  Continue to let the soup cook until the potatoes are tender.  Once the potatoes are tender, check the soup for seasoning and adjust if needed.  Remove the pot from the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

Working in batches, ladle some of the soup into a food processor, turn it on and pour heavy cream in until smooth.  Pour the smoothed soup into a new bowl with a lid.  Repeat this process until all the soup has been blitzed.  Refrigerate the soup for at least four hours or until it’s completely chilled.

When serving, ladle the soup into a bowl and top it with the croutons (see recipe below).

Sourdough Parmesan Croutons

6-8 slices sourdough bread, cubed

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil and lightly grease them.

Place half the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/4 cup of the olive oil evenly over them.  Toss quickly to ensure the cubes are evenly coated.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cheese over the cubes and toss again.  Place the cubes in a single layer on one of the baking sheets.  Repeat this entire process with the remaining bread cubes, olive oil and parmesan cheese.  Bake the cubes in the oven for five minutes and then flip over each cube (this can be done easier with a spatula).  Bake for another 5 minutes, being careful to check frequently to make sure the croutons don’t burn.  Once the croutons are a nice golden color and hard (but not burnt), remove the pans from the oven and allow them to cool before using.

I have the attention span of a five year old…after they have devoured all of their Halloween candy. It’s sad really because there are times when said short attention span gets the better of me. Just recently, while driving, I got distracted by my Blackberry and missed a turn. And by distracted, I mean I was busy taking a picture of me driving in my mother’s Miata…so I could post it on Facebook (disclaimer: I was at a stop light, so it wasn’t like I was barreling down the streets of Georgia with one hand on the wheel and the other on my Blackberry trying to strike a pose).

My attention span only gets shorter when a nifty new gadget or piece of gear is in my general vicinity (and by general vicinity I mean within a ten mile radius because I can sniff out new techie things like a police dog sniffing out cocaine at an airport in Miami circa 1983). So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that when I set out to make these mini key lime cheesecakes for our New Year’s Eve celebration, my new baby kept distracting me. Sure, this is the same camera model I had earlier in the year. But I just now got around to replacing the one that had to be sent back due to a defective flash. And this time I actually read the owner’s manual from cover to cover…and discovered you can control the camera from your LAPTOP!!! I don’t need no stinkin’ camera remote, I have my Macbook! Wait, where was I going with this post????

Oh yeah, I was explaining how I got distracted from my intent to make these lovely little cheesecakes. Well, I have obviously digressed…shocking, I know. Nonetheless, I was supposed to start making these cheesecakes around 8, but didn’t actually get started until almost 10. But the ease of the recipe meant no real damage would be done to my sleep time. In fact, Deb has come up with one of the easiest cheesecake recipes I have ever come across (and I’m a girl that knows her cheesecake recipes – so head over to Smitten Kitchen stat for this one)! Because I decided to make these at the last minute, I didn’t have time to buy the mini cheesecake pans Deb recommended, so I used these great little mini tart pans that also have a removable bottom. I also changed up the crust by using Pecan Sandies (I used roughly half a full bag of the cookies or if you have a kitchen scale, seven ounces) instead of graham crackers.

While making the cheesecakes, I uhmmm, yeah kind of got distracted and overwhipped the cream cheese (how could I not take a few minutes to watch two idiot newlyweds select a God awful house on House Hunters???). I panicked because the batter ended up being a bit runny and I poured (what I thought was) too much in the first two tart pans. But all was not lost as the filling firmed up quite nicely during baking and even more after being refrigerated overnight.

If you like key lime pie but are ambivalent about cheesecakes, this is the dessert for you. The key lime is tart enough to overrule what some consider the overly sweet taste of a regular cheesecake. And that runny batter? It resulted in a more pie like consistency instead of the usually dense and rich filling common of cheesecakes. The fact that these came out tasting good is a testament to Deb’s recipe because my attention span just wasn’t with me that night.

On a side note, I want to thank all of you who have stopped by my little blog over the last year. I’m still new at this blogging thing, but have been priviledged to meet some wonderful people through it and have made some amazing food because of it. A new love of photography was born and an old love affair with my kitchen was rekindled. When I look back at the first few posts of Adventures in Shaw, I laugh because I had no clue what I wanted to say on this blog. But somehow I found my footing and my voice and by some miracle, people listened. I was moved beyond words at the outpouring of sympathy when I lost my darling Diva and was amazed that people I never physically met cared enough to send words of encouragement. For that, I am humbled and inspired to (and yes, I am sadly using an Emeril phrase here…forgive me but it’s appropriate) kick it up a notch in the new year (this includes a whole new look debuting shortly)! So now I’m off to ring in 2009 with good food and even better company! I hope you’re lucky enough to do the same. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

I opened my front door and walked in, my bag of groceries banging at my side. I was a bit annoyed at the 25 minute wait in the grocery line (thank you Ms. “So How Much Does This Cost…Wait, Can I Put This Aside And Decide If I Want To Buy It Later?”), but all was forgiven when the smell of roasting squash hit my nose. This was definitely the smell of Autumn…and it filled my entire apartment.

One of the things I love most about belonging to a CSA is my introduction to produce I’ve never even heard of before. As I was piling my share into my reusable canvas shopping bag, I came across what looked like a miniature pumpkin and its green twin. I quickly learned they were a red and confection kabocha squash (the confection squash being the green one). Their coloring was very vivid and I must admit I was excited at the chance to photograph them. But I’d never worked with them, let alone tasted them, so I had no clue what I was going to do with them. That was, until I hit up the internet. A quick google search (how did I manage to live almost 30 years without Wikipedia?) revealed that both the red and confection kabocha squashes are in the winter gourds family, even though their peak harvest times fall in the Autumn months. Both have a sweet, nutty flavor and are excellent when roasted.

Since I had a spaghetti and delicata squash leftover from another CSA share, I decided to combine all the squashes to make a roasted winter squash soup. Hence the reason my small apartment had a cozy, warm and subtly sweet aroma permeating every corner of it. I was still trying to figure out the recipe for the soup, but from the smells coming from the oven, I knew whatever I did, the result would be amazing.

Roasted Winter Squash Soup

Four medium sized Winter squashes (I used a red kabocha, confection kabocha, delicata and spaghetti squash)

32 ounces chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut the tops off the red and confection kabocha squashes and place them in a large baking pan. Cut the spaghetti and delicata squashes down the middle and scoop out the seeds and stringy fibers. Place them in the same dish along with the kabocha squashes. Brush all of the squashes with olive oil and generously salt and pepper them. Place the dish in the oven for 15 minutes and then remove the delicata squash (it roasts quicker than the other squashes). Continue roasting the remaining squashes for an additional 35 minutes. Remove all of the squashes from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly before handling.

Once cooled, scoop out the fibrous strands and seeds from the center of the kabocha squashes. Scoop out the meaty flesh of the kabocha squashes and place in a large dutch oven. Do the same for the spaghetti and delicata squashes and add the stock. On medium high heat, bring the squash and stock to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure the squash doesn’t stick to the bottom of the dutch oven. When the squash are very soft and mushy, turn off the heat and allow the mixture to become completely cool. Once cool, blitz the mixture in batches in a blender and return it to the dutch oven. Return the dutch oven to a medium heat and add the heavy cream. Heat the soup back up, stirring occasionally. When the soup is at your desired temperature, turn off the heat and serve it up!