T-Day at my house: vegetarians, stay tuned

I'm always surprised that people are such haters when it comes to veggie Thansgiving meals. "What? You don't have turkey? How dare!" say their astonished faces. Well, now you know: I don't care about turkey. It's dry almost every time I have it, and frankly, I'd rather a spring chicken any day. Plus, when you have two kinds of cornbread, two stuffings, four things that could easily qualify as mains, four or five cranberry sauces and chutneys and relishes, plus pecan pie, apple cranberry pie and pumpkin pie for dessert, turkey becomes an afterthought.

Anyway. I'm writing to all the vegetarians lurking in cyberspace who read my blog. Yes, you: stay tuned, because I'm going to my parents' house on Sunday to help mom cook, and I'll be taking the usual array of photos, notes and tastes....and, of course, sharing recipes. So keep reading, and I promise some fantastic T-day suggestions soon!

Also, a note to you carnivores who are hosting T-day yourself: veggies need to be looked after. If you don't think carefully, you'll end up with "bacon in the brussels sprouts, gravy on the mashed potatoes, dressing stuffed into the bird and chicken stock in everything else" (from Melissa Clark in NYT; I couldn't have said it better myself.) So do make sure that you have some completely vegetarian dishes at your table. For any and all suggestions...you know where to find me.

***picture above is pumpkin and delicata squash ravioli with brie. The recipe was nothing to write home about, but like I said -- more to follow.

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My quest for the perfect chocolate souffle

Three months of blogging and I actually have managed to not write about chocolate. It's really an embarrassment. Rarely does a day go by when I don't eat the stuff; how have I not blogged about a chocolate recipe yet??

Time to solve that.

Chocolate Souffle may be light and fluffy, but it's one of the richest ways to have your chocolate. When done properly, a delicate crust gives way to light but shockingly-rich innards, which deflate and melt on your tongue. Even better is when it's cut with straight cream at the table...ok, drooling.

I'll sing the praises of chocolate souffle forever, but finding the perfect recipe is proving to be a challenge. That's why this is the first in a series of posts, in which I'll try various recipes for chocolate souffle, rate them, and (hopefully) find or develop a foolproof recipe.

Recipe 1 comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Bea at La Tartine Gourmande. Her version calls for infusing the milk with fresh cardamom pods, which I love but don't have around the house, so I left them out. Here's the rundown:

Pros

• the batter had a nice, light texture that stood up to a bit of over-mixing
• the 20-25 minute cooking time was exactly right
• the recipe called for equal numbers of yolks and whites, which means no egg-parts sitting in the fridge and a very happy Rivka :)
  

Cons

• mine didn't rise to the heights that Bea's did. Who wants pouting souffles?
• I used more chocolate than Bea called for, and my souffles were simply not chocolate-y enough. More chocolate more chocolate!

The search continues...

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NDP's Facelift

Welcome to the new and (hopefully) improved Not Derby Pie! I hope you like the new layout and scheme. Please leave comments with feedback -- I'm always looking for ways to improve (and attract more readers!)

Now, for an update on the life of NDP:
I've spent much of the last two months fretting and sweating over my new blog, http://www.notderbypie.com/. (Don't go check it out! It's a mess right now. :)) I've tried every available template, messed around with the layout to the best of my (minimal) ability, and even taught myself bits of HTML so that I could make the stupid, kitschy graphics on templates go away. All this, to no avail. I still can't find a template that I like. My preferences are actually pretty simple: I want a three-column split template with netural colors, some greens, good fonts, and general flexibility re: moving things around on the page. Sound simple? Think again.

If you or your friends or hey, your enemies -- I'll take anyone -- know HTML and are looking for an opportunity to be published and credited, a volunteer project, or a charity case (that's me!), please be in touch with me at RivkaFriedman(at)yahoo(dot)com. I could really use the talent and generosity of someone who knows what he/she's doing. Thanks so much, and I look forward to lots of feedback...

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Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Quick-breads are a winter staple. I always make two at a time and stick one in the freezer; it's the perfect thing to pull out last-minute on a Friday afternoon and eat that night for dinner. As I understand it, a quick-bread is basically a of bread/cake that uses baking soda or powder as the main rising agent, instead of yeast. This means quick-breads do not need to rise for long periods of time -- hence quick-bread. yea.

While zucchini and carrot variations are both in my repertoire, pumpkin is my all-time favorite -- especially this version. My mom and I found this recipe on Epicurious a while back, and haven't tried a new one since. It's an oil-based recipe, so not only is it healthier than those butter-heavy pumpkin breads, it also develops a wonderful, sizable crust that most quick-breads don't have. (Check out the crust on this sucker!)

Other recipes call for cranberries and walnuts (this recipe lists walnuts as optional), but having made it with both and other things, I can tell you it's best just as is. It's the perfect "serve one, freeze one" treat.


Spiced Pumpkin Bread from Epicurious
makes 2 loaves

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

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Roasted Squash Seeds

When I was young, squash seeds were a go-to fall snack in my house. They came in all shapes and sizes: butternut, acorn, delicata, pumpkin, etc. As soon as the weather was cool enough for squash, seeds would start to appear in Tupperware containers on the kitchen counter. As far as I remember, there was only one flavor: plain, with a bit of salt sprinkled on top.

Recently, I've started to get back into squash. Between weekly visits to the farmers' markets and a return to a mostly-vegetarian lifestyle, squash has once again become the staple that it was in my childhood. With all that delicata and butternut come a great many seeds, which, when roasted, are the perfect afternoon snack.

For flavors, just think about popcorn. I usually do mine in kettle-corn style: a bit of brown sugar, a bit of salt, maybe a dash of chili powder and cinnamon. I recently had zaatar-spiced seeds at my parents' house that were absolutely delicious, and I can imagine variations with Italian spices, garlic powder, pepper, honey, even chocolate. The possibilities are endless.

Once roasted, it's important to let the seeds cool before storing them -- otherwise they'll get soft. But let them cool completely, and they'll keep, stored in a tight plastic container, for about a month (if you can keep them around that long...)

Roasted Squash Seeds

However many squash seeds you have
cinnamon
chili powder
sugar
salt
pam or oil spray

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Spread seeds on a non-stick (pref.) baking sheet in a single layer. Spray them liberally with oil, and sprinkle salt and sugar on top till all seeds are coated. Finish with a few dashes or cinnamon and a dash of chili powder.

Roast in the 300-degree oven for about half and hour, until golden. Depending on your oven, you may want to raise the heat to 320. Take them out when they're golden and your house smells ridiculously yummy.

Let cool completely, then store in Tupperware containers for up to a month.

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Moroccan Couscous

I'll admit that I'm not such a couscous fan. When I was 15, my summer camp took us on a five-day hiking trip through the Berkshire mountains. We carried everything with us on our backs: water, tents and poles, food for five days, clothing, etc. Breakfast was PB&J or granola bars, since they were light; dinner, five days in a row, was couscous; and lunch every day was ... you guessed it: leftover couscous. I guess 10 nearly-consecutive meals of just couscous did the trick. These days, I tend to stick with rice.

Sometimes, though, I make tagine. Tagine is a moroccan stew in which, traditionally, the meat and/or vegetables are slow-cooked in a large shallow clay bowl with a tall conical top. Tagine is traditionally served atop couscous, so in a pinch, I do have a go-to couscous recipe, which I'll share here.

Couscous is very simple to make: if you buy one of those Near East boxes, it's as simple as bring the requisite amount of water to a boil, adding the couscous, covering the pot, turning off the heat, and fluffling it with a fork five minutes later. I change things around, since the last thing I want is some boring couscous for dinner. Try this with a tagine recipe, or even as an accompaniment to tonight's veggies.

Moroccan Couscous (corrections appended)

serves 6-8.

1 box couscous

1 cup dried apricots, chopped

1 cup dried raisins

1/2 cup orange juice, substituted for 1/2 cup of the water called for in the recipe.

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/8 tsp. star anise (optional)

1/4 tsp. powdered ginger (optional)

1/2 tsp. turmeric

a dash of olive oil

(If you don't have any of these ingredients, it's fine to go without. For example, the batch pictured above was made without anise, turmeric or cloves.)

For the fruit:

Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil. When it reaches a boil, pour it over the dried apricots and raisins in a small bowl. Allow this to sit for at least 15 minutes; this will reconstitute your fruit, making them plump and juicy. When 15 minutes have passed, do not spill out the water! Use it as part of the cooking liquid for the couscous.

For the couscous:

Bring two cups of liquid to a boil. I usually use 1/2 cup orange juice, and occasionally 1/2 cup white wine, and the rest either water or broth. Add all the other spices and ingredients to the pot as the liquid heats. When the liquid is boiling, add 2 cups of couscous. stir quickly, cover the pot, and turn off the heat. Let the couscous steam for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork.

Add the dried apricots and raisins, and toss. Serve with almost anything.

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