How to squash a crappy mood

I'm grumpy. It's raining. And we are officially in the midst of fall weather. The forecast showed temperatures in the 60's by the end of this week. Grr. It's going to start getting darker earlier, which makes it almost impossible for me to take decent photos of dinner food, unless of course, I build myself a light box. I'll tag that on my to-do list a mile long, right underneath "Master the Art of Ikebana" and "Find a Full Time Job Taste Testing Pastry."

One good thing about the onset of fall is the sudden appearance of squashes the size of my head at the farmer's market. That and the need to un-clutter, since rain makes me housebound. This recipe is from an old Martha Stewart Living magazine, which I've just uncovered from a huge basket full of at least 40 old food mags. It was also featured on The Bitten Word way back when, which you must add to your list of food blogs if you aren't already reading it. Those two guys are the cutest thing ever (plus there's a great article about ground beef linked there)! Their squash looks just like the one in the magazine photo, but I'm just going to blame my point and shoot and fading light and call it a day. I loved the fall flavors in this dish and will definitely make it again!

Moroccan Style Stuffed Acorn Squashes
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2009

Ingredients:
2 medium acorn squashes, halved and seeded
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
3/4 c. bulgur wheat
2 leeks, washed and chopped
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tsp. salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups water
1/4 cup raisings
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 Tbls. sunflower seeds

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash cut side down in a large baking dish and bake until tender, about 35 minutes.
Heat oil in a large deep sauté pan or a pot. Add ground beef, 1 tsp. of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook until browned. Remove beef with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add leeks and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender. Stir in bulgur, remaining salt, and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff bulgur with a fork, and add beef, raisins, parsley and sunflower seeds.
Scrape out baked squashes, making 1/4 inch thick bowls. Fold cooked squash into the bulgur mixture and divide among squash bowls. Bake for 12-14 minutes until heated through and browned on top.

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Thug Life

I know some of you may be morally opposed to veal, and I get that. You may also be opposed to foie gras, and I get that, too. However, it's not going to stop me from eating it. I'm informed, I'm sensitive, but I'm also hungry and I like what I like. I'm not going to go all Bourdain on you, but I'm going to make this amazing osso buco for lots of reasons, despite the moral issues. I'll enjoy it as much as that killer foie gras hot dog I inhaled, cause I'm just hardcore like that. A food gangster, if you will. Bring it on.

I first made this dish when I was 15. My stepdad, the Goombah, had a copy of this cookbook and his huge extended famiglia was coming to dinner. We decided to team up to make this dish for 20 people. That may not seem like much, but it was a very big deal. See, when I was 15, I hated the world and everyone in it, including myself. I was a selfish, miserable little bitch and I think Ralphy got the worst of it. It makes me teary even thinking about it now. For us to work together to make a dinner was huge, especially since neither of us were very good cooks. It was a lesson in teamwork, compromise, and improvisation. Guerrilla cooking.

We pulled it off. Despite a few issues along the way (we multiplied every ingredient by 4, so I skimmed olive oil out of the pan by the spoonful), dinner was a resounding success, evident from the loosened belts of all the old Italians crowded around the table. It's become my favorite recipe for special occasions since the veal can be pricey, but I've never made it with Ralphy again. My parents are coming for Columbus Day weekend for a visit. I think I just decided the menu.


Veal Osso Buco
adapted from The Mafia Cookbook, by Joe Dogs Iannuzzi

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
8 cross cut veal shanks, 1 1/2 inches thick
2 Tbls olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. dry white wine (or apple juice!)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
3 Tbls. tomato paste
3/4 cup brown gravy (homemade is fab, but buy a jar if you must)
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season flour with salt and pepper and dredge veal shanks, be sure to coat all sides and shake off excess. Heat oil in a large dutch oven on the stove top. Brown veal on all sides, then remove from pot and set aside. Add onion and garlic to post and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add wine and cook for 3-4 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot with a spoon. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and gravy. Bring to a boil and add remaining ingredients. Return veal to the pot, cover and bake for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Remove veal and set aside, covered in foil. Remove bay leaves and discard. Cook sauce over medium high heat for five minutes and pour over veal to serve.

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Gone too soon...

I apologize to all of you non-New Englanders for what you are about to see. I understand your jealousy. As noted previously, Labor Day's annual Lobster Fest is all about pigging out with our family. Generally, it's a good idea to fast for several days in preparation, much as I assume Kobayashi does before a hot dog eating competition. The guys were particularly excited about drinking Sam's Octoberfest instead of Summer Ale this year, that and the fact that they got to eat fried stuff. Occasionally we play a few lawn games (which have occasionally become drunken lawn games, I did mention beer!), but really, we just sit around and eat all day long. I'm not apologizing for that, not even to myself, but that's just because I'm avoiding my scale for the rest of the week.

Our menu tends to be pretty standard cook-out fare: chips and guacamole, potato and garden salads, corn on the cob, some burgers and hot dogs for the kids and, of course, a ridiculous number of lobsters. We always end up with some new and exciting standouts.  This year, it was my brother's fried green beans with bacon horseradish dipping sauce and my sister's herbed blueberry garden salad. I'll post those once I nag them to give me the recipe so I can recreate them! We also had the obligatory buttload of desserts, including my aunt's chocolate chip cookies, my grandmother's apple pies, blueberry pie, peach pie, ice cream, and a cake I found on Fork Spoon Knife. It's insanely chocolatey, super moist, and a sneaky way to get rid of any lingering zucchini in your garden. Serve it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and some strawberries and you're money, baby.

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf Cake
Adapted from Fork Spoon Knife


Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups zucchini, grated
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips, semisweet
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the eggs, oil, and yogurt in a small bowl. Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add zucchini and chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture in three parts to the dry and fold until just combined. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on rack to room temperature before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar.

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September? WTF?

Labor Day celebrations are like getting shots at the doctor's office. Sure you get a lollipop, but it hurts like a kick in the pants. It's the official end of summer cook outs, time for kids to head back to school, and time for warm weather to start slowly (hopefully slowly) melting away. Not that I don't heart fall, especially in New England with all the leaves changing colors and apple picking and pumpkins, but I'm a summer girl at heart.

Our family celebrates this last bash of summer every year with a big Lobster Fest at my uncle's house in RI. We (well, the boys) drag a bunch of picnic tables over from the local Boy Scout camp, cover them with plastic sheets, and gorge ourselves on sea cockroaches that were swimming just that morning. Well, everyone else does. I don't do lobster. I know, I know, the horror! Growing up surrounded by the stuff and I can't even stomach it. The carnage left by 15 lobster guzzling adults is pretty disturbing. Every year I bring something else to cook for myself and the few finicky little kids who would rather have a hot dog than wrangle with a red shelled beast. They like playing with the live ones and screaming when they snap their claws, but they aren't about to eat the things. I totally get it. I don't want my food glaring at me, either.

This skirt steak is a super quick dish that takes literally minutes to cook. If you do the marinating and the chimichurri before you head to a party, this is a great option for a Labor Day cookout. And it won't require tools and swearing to eat.


Marinated Skirt Steak with Tomatoes and Chimichurri


Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. skirt steak
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 cup loosely packed parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
1-3 Tbls. olive oil

Preparation:
In a large ziploc bag, combine extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, red pepper, basil, salt and pepper. Add steak to the bag and toss to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
Place cilantro, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 Tbls. olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add more oil if needed to make a paste. Add chopped tomatoes to herb paste and stir to combine.
Cook steak over a preheated grill for 2-3 minutes per side. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes before slicing on the bias. Serve topped with tomatoes and chimichurri.

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Seriously, this is your last chance

Fresh corn is already getting difficult to find around here and September is disturbingly close. Some of your kids may already be back in school. It's disgusting and terrifying, and this is pretty much your last chance to throw a late summer cookout before you have to get into full back to school mode. Run, don't walk to your market and grab some corn, some burgers, and a big bottle of tequila, cause if your September stress is anything like mine can be, you're gonna need it. 

Now to make the side dish that will become your go-to summer side dish for ever and ever amen. You guys all know how to grill corn, right? If you haven't done it this summer, you'd better get your butts in gear. I've made this salad at least a dozen times and it is always gone too fast, much like 85 degree sunny beach days. Just make sure you remove all of the hanging leaves and silk from the top of your ears of corn (grab hold tight and twist your wrist, that should take care of it) and soak them in water for 5 minutes or so. If you wanna go crazy, pull back the husks a bit, smear the corn with butter, salt, pepper, and cumin, and fold the husks back up before grilling. For this salad, I don't bother because there are so many other components. You can mix them up any way you want to; substitute soy beans for black beans, use yellow squash or green peppers. It's all good.

Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad
Ingredients:

4 ears of corn
2 large red peppers
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbls. honey
2 Tbls. red wine vinegar
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. cumin

Preparation:
On a preheated outdoor grill or grill pan, cook ears of corn in husks for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn every five minutes. Remove and allow to cool 5 minutes before handling. While corn cooks, grill peppers and zucchini until just blackened. About 5 minutes per side. Remove and slice into 1/4 inch pieces. When corn has cooled enough to handle, remove husks and slice off the cob. Toss corn, pepper, zucchini, and onion with all remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk honey, juices, oil and vinegar in a small bowl and pour over vegetables. Toss to coat.

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Peachy Keen

I'm kind of a spazz when it comes to visiting the farmer's market. I usually go with a few things in mind, like a recipe I want to try or a certain seller I want to see, but then I get there and get distracted like a toddler and start touching and smelling everything and get dizzy and forget what I originally wanted. I guess it's not really a bad thing, unless you end up coming home with almost 10 pounds of peaches and 3 gourmet pickles. Yeah. That was the bounty E and I came home with this week. We couldn't carry anything else.

So, what does one do with that many peaches? Even the farmer guys wanted to know. One asked if I was making a pie. Yeah dude, I'm making a 10 pound peach pie! Going for the record! Which, by the way, is apparently held by someone in South Carolina, while the World's Largest Peach Cobbler was made in Georgia. No surprises there. But no, no pies here, and no cobblers, either. I decided to can most of them and use the rest to make jam. Last year I made Caramel Spiced Jam with my peaches, which was part of pretty much everyone in the family's Christmas gifts, but I wanted to try something different. This new jam came out so stupid delicious, I don't think I'm giving it to anyone. Make your own.

Ginger Peach Jam
Ingredients:
6 cups peeled, chopped peaches (about 9-10 peaches, depending on size)
3 cups sugar
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into large chunks
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Equiptment:
4-6 8 oz. jars with lids
large, heavy bottomed pot
Pressure Canner, or another large pot
Potato masher, immersion blender, or food processor

Preparation:
Add all ingredients to a large pot and stir over medium high heat. Bring to a rolling boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Mash peaches using a potato masher or immersion blender (Don't have one? You can use a food processor. Just remove jam from the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer peach chunks to the food processor. Pulse a few times and return to the pot.). Continue cooking and stirring for 5 more minutes until jam thickens*. Remove ginger and cinnamon sticks. Pour immediately into hot, sterilized jars.

Wipe the rims of jars with a clean towel and twist lids on tightly. Place jars in the second pot or your canner. Pour in hot water to cover jars by an inch or two. Boil for 5 minutes, remove jars and let sit at room temperature. Listen for the little pling sound as each lid pops. If any of the lids didn't seal, just put them in the fridge and eat before the month is up!

*Testing jam: If you've never made jam, you'll want to test it before pouring it into jars. Just pop a plate into the freezer before you start. Once it looks thick, place a teaspoon of jam on the plate and freeze for 2 minutes. If the jam has thickened and doesn't run down the plate, you're good to go. If it is runny, cook for 3 more minutes and then test again.

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