Margaret Wins Pie Baking Contest

Suburban Journal Article with Picture of Margaret with Her Winning Pie!

Yes, it's true, dear readers. Your favorite Cranky Cook won second place in the Clayton Farmer's Market Pie Baking Contest on Saturday. I used the French Lemon Cream we had at the reunion, with the ginger snap crust, but this time I put these gorgeous local blackberries on top, which had macerated over night, and then I reduced the resulting juice (adding some seedless blackberry jam to give it a little more sheen) and drizzled that over the top. It was kinda yummy. I won a tour or the market with the market master, and $25 to spend there (first price was $50).

Family Reunion

Countdown: three days and we're all together again. I can't wait to see you all and boat and libate and eat. I am certain I've never had a bad meal at one of our gatherings (sort of a criminal lack of prosity, that). Lisa is playing things close to the chest with her plans, but I'm going to go ahead and post the menu Bill and I have devised for Friday night (though changes are still possible). It's an evening in New Orleans, in case you can't tell.

Friday Night Dinner

Starts

Oysters Bienville
Wisconsin Cheese Plate
Guacamole with Lump Crab
Chips

Mains

Centralia House Shrimp
Bread
Pork Tenderloin
Rice
Macaroni with Five Cheeses
Salad of Lettuces and Herbs, with Bacon and Fig Balsamic Dressing
Fresh Hand Made Butter

Desserts

Black Bottom Pie
Margarita Lime Pie

Pecan Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

BBQ Ribs with Caramelized Onions and Lemon

I can't pinpoint it, but I remember these onions and lemons along with ribs being cooked somewhere, somehow, as I was growing up. I tried it myself a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. Slow cooking the ribs makes them fall-off-the-bone tender. This recipe is really kind of fool-proof.

Hints:

The combination of the slow cooked, caramelized onion and lemon is unbelievable with the BBQ sauce. Make sure there is enough sauce to make it worth the onion's and lemon's while.

A sprig or two of rosemary put on the grill either near the ribs or directly on the coals is a pretty nice addition. Another branch will made a fragrant garnish on the platter, for your touch of green.

1. Take a couple of slabs of ribs, whatever kind you like, and marinate them in your favorite BBQ sauce for two days to a week.

At Least Six Hours Before the Meal (the night before works quite well):

Note: Precision in quantities is not an issue here.

1. Preheat the oven to 2oo degrees, with a rack in the center.

2. Slice 6-10 big onions of any color into medium-thin rounds.

3. Slice 3-4 lemons into very thin rounds.

4. Pour some olive oil into the bottom of a sided cook sheet or a hotel pan.

5. Lay 3/4 of the onions and 3/4 of the lemons into the pan.

6. Put the ribs on top of the onions and lemons.

7. Lay the remaining onions and lemons on top of the ribs.

8. Spray a big sheet of aluminum foil with non-stick oil stuff and cover the tray, making a tent/dome of the foil so that it isn't pressing down on the ingredients; seal the edges tightly to keep moisture in.

9. Put the loaded tray onto the oven's center rack and go away for a long time. Maybe you should just go to bed now.

In the morning (or a couple of hours before the meal):

1. Remove the ribs from the oven and set aside.

2. Prepare you other dishes.

3. Light the grill.

4. Carefully remove the foil from the rib pan and put the ribs on a platter, gently brushing off most of the clinging onions and lemons; put the pan with the onions and lemons into a low oven to warm them up, if they need it.

5. When the coals are white and ready to go, put the ribs on.

6. Grill the ribs for a few minutes on both sides, just long enough to mark them and give them a nice caramelization.

7. Just before removing the ribs from the grill sprinkle a moderate amount of onion and lemon on top of the meat.

8. Put the remaining onions and lemons on the platter, then put the grilled ribs on top of that.

9. Serve.

June Has Come Too Soon

God, it's been crazy around here. More has been happening than I can keep up with, and as a result, even though it feels like I've been cooking up a storm (to which my perpetually full-of-dishes sink will bear witness), I don't think I've done much that's original or noteworthy. Except -- I did make that lamb stew from Julia Child's Mastering, with some local lamb stew meat from the Tower Grove Farmer's Market (sorry, Soulard, you're just too crazy and unreliably sourced for me). I also got some fabulous bones from the same farmer ($1 a pound), and I'll tell you, that was a fine stock. It's totally worth it to keep a bag for vegetable and sundry scraps in the freezer for the purpose. The more I make them, the better my stocks get. I think it all has to do with just saving the scraps and then being totally not picky about what you put in the pot. As long as it doesn't have dirt on it, it goes in. I do give a flash of thought to the dish, I guess. For instance, some things might not like a ton of some strong vegetable taste, like asparagus, and I'll sort of sort through the bag with such things in mind. And of course the base is almost always onion, carrot, and celery, unless I haven't managed to get to the store for them. In that case, the scraps of these work fine.

At any rate, the stew recipe includes spring vegetables, and I used the entire crop of sweet peas from my garden (maybe two cups, tops; it's a small plot), which made the whole thing feel really springy -- lamb from a Missouri farm, my own garden peas. I meant to make some sort of amuse bouche or other out of fresh mint, but, what with Anth's surgery and all, it didn't happen. I do think a good stew is a very healing thing, and at least he did eat some of it.

I have been getting two quarts of organic berries at the TG market these last two weeks, and they have been fantastic. Just eating a handful here and there feels like such a luxary. These berries are smaller than the typical grocery store variety, and the flavor is far more concentrated. The trick of setting them in a single layer, on top of paper towels, in a sealable (like Tupperware) container without washing them first works very well to keep the berries fresh. Don't let them touch one another. Wash them just before you eat them.

I did make an unbelievable peach, raspberry, and apricot cobbler from a chef friend's family recipe. Ohmygod. I have never had a better cobbler. Strangely, I'd set out that morning for rhubarb and couldn't find any, but the cobbler ended up apparently mimicking rhubarb, as several people thought that's what it was. I have been sworn to semi-secrecy, though, regarding the topping recipe, so I regret to say that I can't share it here (the web is certainly not semi-secret). I will try to make it for the reunion this year, with whatever fruit I can find in season at that moment.

Beyond that, there's been a bit of grilling. I'm enjoying the little Weber Molly got me for Mother's Day. It's been at least 25 years since I've really grilled, and it's a lot of fun. Ribs, burgers, brats. Corn, mushrooms, eggplant, onions. Yum.

Not a lot of baking action. I've had to put a hold on it, more or less, for the sake of my butt. Since I started in on learning to bake a year ago I've put on 15 pounds! My God. There's no excuse. So, except when requested, I will no longer be playing with dessert recipes, at least for the foreseeable future. OK, I know that contradicts the cobbler paragraph above. I'm sorry. I can't explain it. Just remember that in paradox lies the heart of truth.

Lisa'a Breaded and Broiled Asparagus Spears

Here's a quick and yummy recipe for May:

These asparagus are so tasty that I have to fight not to eat them all before the platter gets to to the table!

A great side dish with meat or pasta, or serve as an appetizer (or just eat them cold out of the fridge- if you have any left over!).

Breaded Asparagus
Fresh asparagus, blanched (or frozen, blanched)
Beaten egg, salt/pepper
Seasoned bread crumbs
Grated or shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
Oil

1. Blanch the asparagus lightly. Drain and let cool until they are easy to handle.

2. Dip each spear in beaten egg w/salt and pepper, let excess run off.

3. Dredge in breadcrumbs (if adding cheese, mix it w/breadcrumbs, then dredge spears).

4. Lay out on baking sheet, drizzle a bit of oil sparingly on the spears.

5. Broil (watch them closely, it only takes a minute or two).

6. Turn spears and broil until crispy.

Serve!

Recipes So Far In April

Mother's [Wanda Smith's] Cream Cheese Cupcakes (from Janey Meek)

Rhubarb-Rose Bread Pudding (from Me)

Two Cupcake Recipes from Sarah Goodrich

Two Cupcake Recipes From Aunt Sarah

Walnut Raspberry Cupcakes

2/3 cup cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 egg whites
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites, egg and vanilla; beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Fold in the raspberries and walnuts.

Fill paper cupcake cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Yields 1 1/2 dozen.

If using frozen raspberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

Red raspberries are my favorite berry, so this is a favorite of mine. Sometimes I use pecans instead of the walnuts - I like either one.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cupcakes

I enjoy making cupcakes because they are so versatile and everyone loves them. These sweet cupcakes remind me of one of my favorite cookies.

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup vanilla or white chips
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Glaze:
1/2 cup vanilla or white chips
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the chips and nuts.

Fill paper cupcake cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

For glaze, in a small microwave-safe bowl, melt chips with cream; stir until smooth. Drizzle over warm cupcakes. Yield: 1 dozen

Mother’s Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Editor's Note: In this instance "Mother" refers to Wanda Smith. This recipe was submitted by her daughter, Janey Meek.

I have this recipe in Mother's handwriting. I was never in Salem when she made it, but it sounds delicious, rather fancy, so it might be something she would take to one of the lady’s activities she went to. One of these days Mother’s daughters should make a cookbook with her handwritten recipes. Before we all get too old! I treasure my recipes in Mother's handwriting.

Mother was making a main dish, Hot Chicken Salad, for the Tuesday Lunch and Learn Brunch when she fell ill. I gave her that recipe when we lived in El Paso. She made it often for potlucks and lunches. I will send that recipe one of these days.

This is quite simple although it sounds "piddling.” Mother so enjoyed "piddling" with fancy foods. A good red raspberry preserve would be tart and delicious.

Mother's Cheese Cake Cupcakes. Serves 24

Cheesecake
3 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 t vanilla

Your Favorite Fruit Preserves

The sugar will dissolve and the flavors of the topping will be enhanced if you mix the ingredients together either before making the cupcakes or right after you put them in the oven.

Cream softened cheese with 1 cup sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add vanilla. Pour into paper cupcake cups about half full. Bake 40 minutes at 300.

Remove from oven. Put 1 teaspoon topping on each cupcake, then a dab of preserves. Bake another 5 minutes.

May be frozen.

Rhubarb-rose bread pudding with strawberry-rose sauce

Don't get the wrong idea. The party I describe below is not indicative of my general "lifestyle" (that is one of my least favorite words, by the way, and I use it a little bit sarcastically-- it's so deceptive; what is a life "style" anyway? the word implies that we are all living be some sort of grand design that we chose in consultation with some professional, and that we're careful not to veer off of it; as if; maybe that elusive 1%). Anyway, maybe once a year I manage something like this. But one of the reasons I'm currently aspiring to do some private cheffing is that I love to put together and execute menus. I would do it more if I had, well, more money, time, and energy!

Anyway, getting to the point, every year my neighborhood in St. Louis has a Spring House Tour (http://www.lafayettesquare.org/). Many home owners dress in Victorian outfits and proudly display their homes to tourists and aficionados of architecture. I haven't yet heard anyone expound, however, on the deep French influence in our Lafayette Square (for heaven's sake), in relation to the tour. They seem to lean toward the English expression of the period, totally. I hope to remedy that this year with a poetry reading in our Community Garden that includes both the Victorian and the French poets of the period. The French, while the Victorians were busy being all, well, Victorian about everything, just carried on being French, and so the two 'schools' play rather obviously off one another. It doesn't take a literary theorist to grok the implications. Imagine Victorian-costumed persons reading poems, with cocktails in their hands. Under the arbor in the garden. We're trying to get it together....

Anyway, last year I had just moved into the neighborhood. Molly and I had some friends over for the tour, and for a little pre-tour buffet I called A Brunch of Roses. I tried to make everything I could with edible flowers in it. It proved nearly impossible for less than a zillion dollars to find unsprayed flower petals and especially rose petals on shortish notice, so I worked with a lovely organic rose syrup from Tuscany (http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/ingredient:-flower-power-%7C-organic-rose-syrup) and culinary rose water (http://www.amazon.com/Monteux-Culinary-Flower-Flavored/dp/B000KDJLYS). The whole thing was divine. If I may:

Champagne Rose Cocktails
Rose Iced Tea
Coffee
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
Spring Water
Porcini Tart with Walnuts and Wild Arugula
Smoked Salmon, Prosciutto, and Fresh Baked Bread
Floral Butter and Jam
Herbed Grilled Spanish Cheese on ‘Seeduction’ Bread
Berries with Rose Cream
Rhubarb and Rose Bread Pudding with Strawberry Rose Sauce
Saffron and Rose Ice Cream (a quart of Briar's vanilla, softened slightly, then swirled with the rose syrup and a pinch of saffron)
Home Made Deep Chocolate and Rose Truffles

I had an unfamiliar-food-squeamish guest who just totally fell in love with the bread pudding (as did everyone), even though she'd never heard of putting flowers in food. It was by far the most raved about dish we served. It really is lovely, subtle, not too sweet. The rose aroma is the perfect compliment to the rhubarb.

This very simple recipe comes from Everything French Gardening (http://www.frenchgardening.com/). I wish I could say I thought it up. But I am just happy enough to be able to eat it once a year. I'm giving it to you a little early so that you can be on the lookout for the rhubarb when it hits the markets. Definitely get it at its peak!

Rhubarb-rose bread pudding with strawberry-rose sauce
(Pain perdu à la rhubarbe et à la rose, coulis fraise-rose)

Ingredients:

For 6 servings:
1 lb rhubarb, preferably pink
1/2 + 3/4 c. sugar
4 packed cups crustless brioche or good white bread
2 c. heavy cream, light cream, crème fraîche, and/or milk in any combination
2 whole eggs + 2 yolks
1 T + 1 t. rose water (or more to taste)
One pint very fresh, flavorful strawberries

Optional garnish: fresh organic rose petals or candied rose petals, mint sprigs

2 hours before serving, slice the rhubarb 1/4" thick and toss in a bowl with 1/2 c. sugar. After 2 hours, drain the rhubarb into a small enameled saucepan, pressing down on it with the back of a spoon, reserving the syrup. Chop the rhubarb medium texture by hand or in a food processor (if the latter be careful not to over-process). Toss in a bowl with the brioche cubes. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, cream mixture, 3/4 c. sugar, and 1 T. rosewater. Test for rose fragrance: the mixture should smell slightly of rose. Pour over the bread-rhubarb mix and toss gently to combine. Pour into a buttered 8" souffle dish or into individual ramekins for a more elegant presentation. Place in a larger baking dish and pour hot water around the container. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool.Meanwhile, heat the reserved rhubarb syrup to boiling and cook for about 10 minutes until reduced and syrupy. Puree the strawberries with the cooled syrup, add 1/2-1 tsp. rosewater (to taste). Strain the strawberry sauce through a fine sieve if you want to remove the seeds. Serve the pudding with a swirl of strawberry coulis, a scattering of rose petals (if you have them) and a sprig of mint to remind us that these wonders come from the vegetal world.

Note: This wonderful spring dessert combines 3 naturally complementary flavors. In fact, rose and rhubarb are so magical together I can't understand why I hadn't thought of pairing them before! We had this as dessert after soup of petit pois à la française and roast spring chicken stuffed with ramps (wild leeks), spring garden leeks, and pearls of new garlic.


End note from Margaret: Cooking with rose water is very old fashioned. I have a very old pound cake recipe that calls for three drops. Rose water is also very calming to the nerves. And good for one. Since 1988 I have been misting my face with rose water every morning and every night. It is supposed to ease inflamation and all sorts of other things. It is a lovely way to start and end the day, if nothing else. Also, for those of you interested in the spiritual side, rose water works on the heart chakra, so it's very good for opening one to the love and beauty of the world, and for healing the hurts that naturally fall upon one in the course of living.

Cupcakes and Easter Treats

Introduction

Ah, spring. Isn’t it just wonderful? I don’t know about you, but I feel like an entirely new person, like I’ve been let out of jail. Like all the early evenings I sat in the house wishing I could take a walk but it was dark out and cold and lonely and I was trapped inside have just dissolved into the background noise that washes underneath all the melting-water bridges of every winter I’ve ever slogged my way through.


Now, here in the my town, anyway, there are all these white and pink fruit blossoms, yellow tulips and daffodils, the tiny purple fairies of grape hyacinth that make you stop to bend over and speak to them without moving your lips (lest the neighbors think/realize you’re nuts). And the ducks are doing odd things. And there is a dove on a nest in my dining room window. And my peas are in the ground! And it’s raining! And baseball season starts on Sunday. And my heart has awakened. And it’s a whole new world.


They tell me that SoCal and Texas and Florida have seasons, too, and that once you’ve lived there a while and paid attention, you begin to see them change. Of course this is true. Wouldn’t it be divine if, included with our Spring recipes, we wrote a sentence or two about our experiences of spring in our respective parts of the world? Or, if there is a memory of a place, a spring somewhere far away you’d like to muse upon, here we are – the audience and the opportunity.


For those of you who are still feeling daunted by this whole thing, here’s an idea:


What if you got the kids/grandkids involved? What better way to get them into observing these magical changes in the natural world around them? How lovely to encourage the sharing with the extended family? And writing (sorry, former writing teacher here)? How fun to have them help you compose a word or two about the change of seasons, and then concretize those by helping cook the dish you’re submitting with their writing of those observations?


Anyway, I know we’re all looking forward to the lovely spring recipes. Cupcakes? Candies? Easter treats? Lamb roast? A salad with mint and sorrel? What else? Two years ago I made some cupcakes with vanilla bean icing. Maybe I’ll see if I can modify that lovely white cake with lemon curd between the layers into a cupcake. How would that work? Could I inject the curd into the cupcakes, so they’d by like a springy Hostess Cupcake? Hmmm. How hard can that be?

All My Love,
Margaret

Et tu, Pot Roast?

Alas, even the most sublime of winter companions must travel north by the end of March. “Must” is relative, of course, to whatever. But with license I’ll say that once the croci are up and April approaches I get in a totally different sort of mood, myself, here in the temperate Zone 6. After aperire mood isn’t even the issue, heat is, and if I decide to suffer through the roasting of meat it’s only to have it put away cold for sandwiches and salads.

So, Dominae et Dominus, send forth your final offerings of Winter, for Spring is upon us and the winds are bound to shift. Any roast meat, even chicken?
--Margaret

Roasted Root Vegetables

Kristy says: This was the most pleasantly surprising dish for me! I thought I would never eat these things in a million years when I saw them raw! We first made them when we had a dinner party with our 80+ year old neighbors, their children and grandchildren. Everyone loved them and were, too, surprised that they liked them so well. They were so sweet and full of aroma and flavor. Plus, I’m guessing they were pretty healthy, too (an added bonus)! They look so pretty on a plate because they are so colorful after roasting. Enjoy!

Turnips
Parsnips
Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Rutabagas
Beets
Celery root
Onion

If you can’t find all of these particular root vegetables, don’t worry, just use what you can find.

1. Preheat the to 435 degrees.
2. Cut the vegetables into relatively thick chunky sticks.
3. Coat with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Bake on a flat cookie sheet for 40 minutes.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

-- Bill and Kristy Howard

Lisa's Simply Delicious Roast Chicken with "Hmm, What's in That?" Mashed Potatoes

So basic a beginner would have no trouble.

I love the idea of eating food that makes one feel like a princess, so I will be picking up some full-fat (yum) Velveeta and giving these [see "Nancy Howard's Twice Baked Potatoes") a try. We could all (our taste buds included) certainly use a bit of royal treatment.

I love roasted chicken and although it's as basic as can be, it's the food I crave when I'm on the mend from a cold, as well as when I'm cranky and in need of comfort. It's so simple, so tasty, makes a nice meal for company or just yourself, great leftovers and the scraps are the base for soup.

1. Preheat oven to 325 or 350.
2. Buy a fresh whole chicken, rinse outside and in (lightly salt cavity).
3. Set in a roasting pan (rack is helpful but not necessary).
4. Insert a cut lemon and onion in the cavity.
5. Rub skin with soft butter, salt and pepper (use other spices if desired).
6. Place in the oven uncovered, approximately 15 - 20 minutes per pound (or more -- I like mine WELL done and crispy).
7. Baste with juices in bottom of pan periodically (if breast gets too brown, cover it loosely with foil).
8. Cook until the chicken juices run clear when pierced deeply in the thigh, or to 170 degrees if you use a meat thermometer.
9. Let chicken cool (loosely covered with foil) for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Great served with baked, roasted, or mashed potatoes, or...

Lisa's "Hmm, What's in That?" Mashed Potatoes

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add some salt for flavor.
2. Wash and peel any kind of potatoes, cut into chunks.
3. Wash and peel rutabagas cut into chunks (approximately 50/50 mix of potatoes and rutabagas).
4. Simmer until all are tender (approximately 20 minutes, depending on size of chunks).
5. Drain root veggies.
6. Pour milk into the saucepan, heat until just bubbling, add some butter.
7. Add potatoes and rutabagas to the hot milk and butter mixture and begin to mash.
8. Add more milk, butter, salt to taste if needed.

Serve nice and hot.

Note: Save the chicken carcass for soup (see, Daddy, your cries at the dinner table to "save it for soup" sunk in). Cut off good meat and wrap separately in foil to add back at end. Bones/meat can be frozen. Simply cover bones with water, add some carrots, onion, pepper. Simmer covered for several hours (at least 4). Skim off "scum" while bones simmer. Separate bones and veggies from broth, discard solids. Salt broth to taste (takes a bit). Add fresh or frozen veggies (endless combos) as desired (I buy a frozen "soup vegetables mix" w/okra). Add rice or pasta if you'd like, simmer until everything is tender (check salt/pepper again). At this point add back the cubed chicken meat that you've reserved (adding it earlier will toughen it) until warmed through. Mmmmm~ Enjoy! Soup can also be frozen.

-- Lisa

Bison Roast with Burgundy and Figs

Last fall I picked up a beautiful bison roast at a good local butcher. I conversed with him a bit on the issue of fat content and cooking methods, as bison is extremely lean and I worried about the roast being dry. Then, working off of his time and temperature instructions, I went home and devised this recipe. I know it looks long, but it's really simple. I'm telling you truly that the figs and wine together with the rich meat make soul wrenching combo -- and what all this does for the vegetables is unbelievable. Of course a pot roast of cow will work fine, and you may speed up the oven a bit if you choose the mooer.

You'll Need:
A Dutch oven or other heavy, oven-proof pan
A chuck roast of bison, not a fancier cut.
Carrots, one bag of baby organic
12 boiling potatoes, quartered
6 small whole Onions, peeled
1 small onion, chopped medium fine
10-12 small, or 5-6 large dried figs
1 cup Burgundy, or dry red wine with fruity notes, or even port
2-3 tbsp. course salt
1-2 tbsp. freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. allspice
Olive Oil

How long to cook it? That depends on the weight of your roast. Ask the butcher when you buy the meat how long the cut should cook at 300 degrees. Most sources say 22-25 minutes per pound of meat, or until internal temperature is 140-160 degrees.

1. Position a rack in the lower part of the oven and preheat the over to 300 degrees.
2. Rub the some olive oil, the salt and pepper on both sides of the roast. Now leave the meat out and let it come to room temperature, about half an hour.
3. While the oven is heating and the meat sitting, peel the onions, quarter the potatoes, and rinse the carrots.
4. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pan over medium heat (it will go in the oven later). Add the chopped onion and the allspice. Cook until the onion is caramelized to a light brown.
5. Once the onion is browned, set the roast in the pan, on top of the onion. Don’t move it. Let it sit there, undisturbed, for five minutes, then flip it over (it should be nicely browned by now, if it’s not your heat may be a little low – in that case just raise the heat and let it keep browning before you flip it).
6. Sear this side until it’s browned.
7. Remove the roast to a platter.
8. Add the wine to the pan to deglaze, letting it come to a quick boil as you scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any tasty bits on the bottom and sides. Do not cook the wine off.
9. Turn off the heat.
10. Put the meat back in the pan. There should be wine in the bottom of the pan.
11. Set the potatoes, carrots, onions, and figs around and on the meat, then season lightly with salt and pepper.
12. Tightly cover the pan with a lid or foil.
13. Put the pan in the center of the oven.
14. Cook to desired doneness.
15. Remove the pan from the oven.
16. Remove the lid.
17. Let the meat rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting it. Serve with a fresh salad and crusty bread.

-- Margaret

Nancy Howard’s Twice Baked Potatoes

[Because potatoes are a root vegetable.]

My mom didn’t (yet) provide a story, so I’ll just make a little comment of my own: It seems to be a human tendency to favor the flavors we’ve been raised on, more or less, and I must have this quality, too, even though I like to try new versions of things. All I know about my mom’s twice baked potatoes is that I’ve never had any I liked better. Hers are, compared to most others, delicate. There is none of that heavy, chunky, welcome to Steaks ‘R Us uber-substantiality to them. And I like that – their lightness. It’s possible to feel like a princess while eating these, which is, with certain dishes, a quality assurance test I often employ.

Oh, she did point out that the Velveeta is mandatory. "Nothing melts like Velveeta," she said. We also agreed that the full fat version is far superior to the so-called "Lite." It's your life, but I'd say there are less traumatic ways to cut down on bad fats than by adulterating your Velveeta (or half-and-half, or mayonnaise).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Four dry baking potatoes (Russet or Idaho)
Enough hot milk to make stiff-ish whipped potatoes
1/8 lb. or so of unsalted butter (at room temp. if possible)
Salt
Pepper
Velveeta, four medium-thin slices


1. Liberally grease the potatoes with butter or shortening.
2. Place potatoes directly on the oven’s middle rack.
3. Bake about 1 hour, 15 minutes, until easily pierced through to center.
4. Remove from oven, but leave the oven on.
5. Cut the potatoes open -- in halves – immediately, to let steam escape (otherwise they will become too dense).
6. Heat the milk in a sauce pan.
7. When the potatoes have cooled just enough to handle, scoop the potato insides into a mixing bowl, being careful not to break the skins.
8. Put the butter on the potatoes to melt, and stir in.
9. Add some salt and pepper.
10. Stream in a little bit of the hot milk, stir, and begin to whip. Add milk as needed – but remember, you want a fairly stiff mixture.
11. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
12. Put the whipped potatoes back into the skins, top with Velveeta, and put back in the already-hot oven until the Velveeta melts.

Serve hot. Grilled meat and a green salad won’t hurt.

-- Nancy Howard

February: Bean Recipes For R.L. Howard

I am pretending, for the duration of this post, that it’s not quite March, that I’m writing in February. This is necessary in order to have this retrospective introduction archived with the February bean recipes. We all know now that I’m writing this on March 2, but in the future, if there is still electricity or phenomenon enough of whatever sort to run computers and networks, we won’t remember it, and will think this intro fits seamlessly with the Feb. theme. Or would, if I weren’t writing about it. Enough postmodern silliness.

At any rate, it’s pleasing, quite, to see these four recipes adorning our first full month here. You’ve no idea how therapeutic and purely fun this project is for me. Sitting here at my boring tech writing job, these posts are renegade bursts of something akin to creativity, little breaks from the (hyperbole alert!) drudgery of capitalism and service to The Man I'm forced to undertake to pay the rent. Breaks that give me pleasure and purpose.

I found out this week that there is a community garden in my neighborhood, and I am going to get me a plot. It’s been a few years since I was able to grow my own vegetables, so watch out. I may have to wax about it in here. If anyone else is doing culinary gardening, by all means share. Once we get into summer, a word about how an ingredient made it from plot to pot will add that always desirable hint of glamour to a recipe. If glamour and compost are as intertwined in your minds as they are in mine.

That said, underlying are the bean recipes that Lisa, Molly, Nancy T., and Aunt Janey sent in, then mine. I hope that, in some small part, this teensy tribute to my departed father will somehow let him know, through whatever ethereal relationship exists between cyberspace and spiritworld, that whatever neglect I demonstrated toward him during life, I still loved him and remember many things fondly – not the least of them his love of food and drink, which I have obviously inherited from both genetic pools, and thank him for, and you, and will, along with every bit of love that inexplicably manages to come my way, refuse to take for granted as long as I have the sense to know who and where I am.