9 Months Thanksgiving

Nine months pregnant and Thanksgiving, while I slather on the cocoa butter I'm grateful not to be mistaken for the bird. Weird that my role this year is essentially "Make a pumpkin pie and hold down the couch" while Adam and Mark handle the rest!

Since the pie is, per Adam's request, the "traditional" mixed cans dressed up in a homemade crust (spiced up with some grated nutmeg!) I'm going to settle for pointing you to the basics covered here and leave you with this: I can't think of a single Thanksgiving dish that isn't better with a bit more butter.*

*Maybe just exempt the gelatin products. Apple sauce? Better with more butter. Potatoes? Better with more butter. Corn? It's basically a utensil for butter. Bread? More butter on that, please!

Five Minute Gazpacho

It's been awhile, huh? Yeah, I got pregnant, which came with this rare condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum - and if you think feeling like you have food poisoning for 7 months sounds rough, imagine what that does to the life of a foodie!

At 30 weeks, I still can't handle most eating let alone most "cooking", but I can only go so long away from the kitchen! So here's an awesome cheat, gazpacho that only requires me to be in the danger zone for minutes! Adam gives this one a thumbs up - and I think that's pretty big coming from a dude that isn't all that into cold soups! Serve it up with some cheese on toast and that's dinner around here these days. :D

The tomatoes should be nice and ripe, overripe even and you can supplement with canned if you want. Most recently I used green bell pepper because that was what was hanging out in the veggie drawer of my fridge, and I thought it worked really well.

Don't want to drive you crazy with the options, but this is a really flexible recipe. For example, you could use sherry vinegar instead of white wine - or red wine vinegar, for that matter! Have a bit of red onion hanging around? Dice some up and add as garnish. Over salt it? Add some more tomatoes.

Five Minute Gazpacho

(four servings)

2 lbs ripe tomatoes, quartered and seeded

1 cucumber, seeded and cut down to size a bit

1 bell pepper (red or green)

salt to taste (approx 1 tbs)

white wine vinegar to taste (approx 2 tsp)

optional: diced red onion

1) Blend veg and a tsp of vinegar.

2) Add seasoning and vinegar to taste.

Carrot Cupcakes (and the latest in cupcake delivery systems)

Cupcakes. The "cup" part is pretty straightforward it's the "cake" that ends up filed away under "Saccharine Disappointments". So here is a cake in a cup that is just the right amount of sweet, abundantly moist and has this great slightly crisped on the top thing going on.

My cupboards don't usually have Pam cooking spray (or similar), but I always have a tiny spray bottle for food spritzing needs (like Bourbon on a ham, mmm). If you have cooking spray go ahead and use it, but if you don't just put a bit of vegetable oil in a spray bottle, shake it up with a touch of water and spritz away!

Carrot Cupcakes

(just over 1 dozen, about 14)

1 c unbleached AP flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

3/4 c canola oil

1 c sugar

1 1/2 c grated carrots

cream cheese frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a muffin tray with paper lines greased with cooking spray

1) Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

2) In the bowl of your mixed, beat the eggs and canola oil til evenly combined.

3) Gradually add the sugar to the mixer, then raise the speed to high and beat an additional 3-4 minutes (until the contents of the bowl are a bit thick).

4) Beat in the vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients, then fold in the carrots.

5) Divide the batter between the muffin cups and back for 30 minutes.

6) While they cool, make your cream cheese frosting. Scrape the frosting into a ziplock bag with a corner snipped then "pipe" the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

You're going to need this one, so permit a boring utilitarian frosting post!

Cream Cheese Frosting

(yield: 3 c; frosts two dozen cupcakes)

8 tbs butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

16 oz confectioners' sugar

1) In a mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2) Beat in the vanilla and confectioners sugar then raise speed to high and beat until the frosting is light fluffy (it sort of gets the pretty sheen).

SFLN: Ratatouille Relocated

SFLN: Sandwiches From Last Night, which should be a Tumblr. Right?

Ratatouille Sandwiches

(6 sandwiches)

Extra virgin olive oil - about 3/4 c

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped into 3/4 inch pieces

2 red bell peppers, chopped into 3/4 inch pieces

1 onion, chopped into 3/4 inch pieces

1 lb zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick

3 Romas, seeded and diced

8 thyme sprigs

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 c basil, chiffonade

Handful Italian parsley, chopped

5 tablespoons butter

12 oz goat cheese

6 sandwich rolls, split

6 small handfuls mixed baby greens (endive, arugula, chervil etc.)

Preheat oven to 450 F

1) In a large saute pan heat 3-4 tbs* olive oil, then add the eggplant, 2 thyme sprigs, 1/4 of the garlic and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and cook until tender.

2) While the eggplant is cooking, chop the red bell peppers. When the eggplant is tender, remove to a large bowl. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in the pan, then add the bell peppers, 2 more sprigs thyme, 1/4 of the garlic and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook til tender.

3) Repeat step #2 with the onion and zucchini.

4) Return eggplant, bell peppers, onion and zucchini to the pan; add the tomatoes, basil and parsley and cook until softened.

5) Lightly toast the rolls in the oven.

6) Blend the goat cheese and butter, spread on each side of the toasted rolls. Top with the ratatouille warm from the pan and a handful of mixed baby greens.

*Eggplant is very thirsty, so 2 tbs won't cut it. You don't want the eggplant stewing in olive oil, but enough so that it isn't in a bone dry pan.

One Big Table Now Available

One Big Table, "the nation’s community cookbook" from Molly O'Neill, is now available - and on page 330 you'll find this recipe for Chicken Paillards with Tomato, Goat Cheese and Arugula. Eerie, right?

There we are, Moscow Foodies printed and bound among "600 recipes from the nation's best home cooks, farmers, fishermen, pit-masters and chefs"! Thanks to everyone for reading, keep eating!

Sarah's Bread

This is, as the title might imply, Sarah's bread recipe. It's a blessing and a curse - now empowered with the recipe you may have trouble getting her to make the bread for you. Really easy prep, though you do have to be thinking about it the day before to give it that 18 hours of rising time!

Sarah's Bread

(1 loaf, 6-8 servings)

3 1/3 c unbleached flour

1/4 tsp yeast

2 1/4 tsp salt

cornmeal as needed

1) In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 c water (more in winter, less in summer) and stir until blended. Dough will be shaggy and sticky.

2) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rest 16-22 hours (18 is ideal) at warm room temperature.

3) Dough is ready when surface is dotted with bubbles. Turn onto floured surface, sprinkle with more flour and fold several times. Rest 15 minutes.

4) Shape dough into ball, generously coat a cotton towel with flour and cornmeal, set dough on it and cover with cornmeal and another towel. Let rise for 3 hours.

5) About 20 minutes before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 F. Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, pyrex, ceramic) in over as it heats. When dough and over are ready, remove post from the oven, slide hand under towel, and flip dough into pot. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake 15-30 minutes until brown. Cool on rack.

Bacon+???=Good

This time it's hot dogs.

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

hot dogs, patted dry

bacon, patted dry

salsa, extra liquid drained

avocados, sliced

sour cream

hot dog buns

1) Wrap a slice of bacon around each hot dog in a spiral, securing it at each end with toothpicks (stick the toothpick in as parallel to the hot dog as possible to allow for easy turning).

2) Cook the bacon wrapped hot dogs on a grill pan or in a saute pan until the bacon is crisp.

3) Place the hot dogs in buns, top with avocado, sour cream* and salsa.

*Use a ziplock bag with a trimmed corner for a quick piping solution

Lavender Soda

Cane sugar sodas rock - as anyone that's had Mexican Coca Cola knows - and there have been blog entries before about the super delicious Dry Soda Co. Their lavender soda is a thing of loveliness, their cucumber is great solo or as a cocktail component, and Adam adores the vanilla bean. Trouble is, they go for about $7-$8 for a four pack. Yeah, ouch. This Christmas, Mark delivered a gift-wrapped solution, an iSi Soda Siphon!

Making soda at home: as intimidating as that picture? A little bit. However, takes less time than a trip to the store and the results are fantastic.

Guess this isn't necessarily going to be a super handy recipe for everyone, but you could just use soda water of any kind with your own flavored simple syrup. The thing to remember, of course, is that the simple syrup can be whatever flavor you like - vanilla bean is next, though the 2tbs measurement there would be equivalent to one bean.

Lavender Soda

Soda water

2 tbs lavender flowers

2 c sugar

1 c water

1) Make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar in a saucepan (one that has a lid), and heating over medium-high until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add the lavender, cover and allow to steep for an hour.

2) Strain the syrup into a sealable container (like a handy squeeze bottle even!) and refrigerate.

3) When the syrup has cooled, combine 1 tbs flavored syrup with 8 oz soda water.

P.S. Thanks, Mark!

The French 75: Hangover

As I mentioned before, there's more than one recipe for, well, everything, but more specific to this post, The French 75. Last week's recipe from the Savoy is great in part because the ingredient list is so simple. However, since I don't have the same sort of fussily specific loyalty to this cocktail as I do to, say, the martini, I enjoy multiple iterations. I happen to have all the ingredients required below in stock pretty much all the time, but I know that isn't an entirely reasonable expectation for everyone. Still, none of the items listed are cocktail uni-taskers, so they're worth picking up - maybe I'll make a point of that by posting more drink recipes!!

The French 75 Fancified

(yields two servings)

2 oz gin

2 oz orange liqueur (like Triple Sec, or Cointreau)

1/2 a lime, juiced

a dash of orange bitters

2 sugar cubes

Champagne

1) Pour gin, orange liqueur, lime juice and bitters into a shaker full of ice. Shake.

2) Put a sugar cube in a glass (martini or champagne flute recommended) and divide the contents of shaker between each glass.

3) Top with Champagne.