Pear chocolate hazelnut cake
Pear, hazelnut, dark chocolate CAKE!
1
Vegetarian jerk patties … with pigeon peas!!
vegetarian jerk patties
Jerk spice is a Jamaican blend of spices that is most commonly rubbed onto meat before cooking. It consists principally of Allspice, thyme, and hot scotch bonnet peppers. An unlikely mix, but one that is quite delicious! I used this spice to flavor a filling for a vegetarian version of jamaican meat patties – a pastry with a curried crust and a spiced-meat interior. Our meat-free version combines spicy, intriguing flavors in a crispy yellow crust!
This recipe for preparing the peas also goes well with rice (no crust!), if you add some water and cook till they get nice and brothy.
And while you’re waiting for your jerk patties to cook, you can do the Cool Jerk with the Capitols. What a song!
Continue reading
Potatoes, sofrito, fennel, mmmmmm
Potatoes, so mild-mannered and comforting, meet some spicy, vibrant friends in this very pleasing, intensely flavored dish. The potatoes are sliced thinly, and layered with sofrito, olives, capers and fennel, and they all combine to create wonderful tastes and textures.
I just discovered this song, but I really like it! Tony Touch, the Beanuts and D’Mingo with Sofrito Mama.
Continue reading
Soup Meagre
Soup Meagre is from the 18th century, and I don’t think there’s a definitive recipe, but to my knowledge (or in my imagination!) it’s a sort of hodgepodge of any green thing you can find. A spring tonic! Or, for my family this week, a fall tonic. There’s a lovely sort of cycle to the CSA that we belong to. It starts and ends with greens. Lots and lots of greens. Lettuces; spinach; arugula; wild, bitter little leaves. The autumn greens tend to be coarser and more bitter than the spring greens, but once you cook them they mellow out in no time. I think this is a pretty soup, and it’s surprisingly substantial, and wonderfully delicious. I always add yellow split peas, because they’re tasty, have a nice texture, and make a flavorful broth. But you can leave them out, or add any kind of legume you like.
Here’s Yo La Tengo’s beautiful Green Arrow, which sounds like a spring or fall evening, just at dusk.
Continue reading
Deep Mushroom Pie
This pie is so comforting it’s almost Dickensian, but it’s not stodgy at all. If you think of it as mushroom paté in a flaky crust, it’s actually quite elegant. It’s fun to make, doesn’t take too long, and is special enough to be a vegetarian holiday meal. I use a hot water crust on the bottom, and a paté brisée crust on the top, but you could use one or the other for both. I like to put a layer of chard or spinach, sauteed, finely chopped, because I think it adds a nice contrast of flavor and texture, but you can go full-mushroom if you like.
Here’s Ella Fitzgerald, with Louis Jordan singing the delicious Petootie Pie
You’re such a tasty, lump of pastry.
Gotta light the oven –
Gonna cook a dish of lovin’
Sweet Soul Cakes!
I read this article in the Guardian today, about soul cakes passed out on All Soul’s Day. Possibly the origins of trick-or-treating. It appealed to me in so many ways! For one, I love that food might have magical powers. If you eat these cakes, you send a soul to heaven!! That’s power! I think there are a lot of superstitions about food, particularly around different holidays. Can you think of any?
I also like the idea of soul. I love soul music, and soul food. And the idea that there is something bright and beautiful and transcendent that we don’t quite understand.
Here’s my playlist of beautiful songs with soul in the title.
And here’s a link to my favorite new blog with the soul cakes recipe.
Hot water crust pastry – vegetarian style
In which Claire cements her reputation as a pastry geek and gets all Mrs. Beeton on you.
I’m fascinated by hot water crust pastry! (Also called raised pastry.) I’d thought of pastry as a chilly, hands-off affair, with everything ice cold, touched only by fingertips, and laid out on a cold marble slab. Well, hot water crust pastry is made with boiling water and melted fat, you get your hands right in there and knead it, and then you mold it as if it was play-doh! It really can put some childish fun in making pies. It’s also a bit of a challenge, and it took me a while to find the right proportions. The idea behind this dough is that it makes a pastry so strong that you can pour gravy inside and it won’t leak out. So strong that you can put it in your pocket, and it won’t crumble. So strong that Rogue Riderhood can make it into plates…
Remarkably, it’s very tasty, too. And though I’ve just made it sound like it might crack your teeth, it has a lovely texture. Typically, it’s a crust for a meat pie, and it’s made with lard. I’ve read that you can substitute vegetable shortening, but I just don’t like the idea of vegetable shortening. Flavorless, colorless fat does not appeal to me. So I use a mixture of butter and olive oil. I’ve had good results – it might not be exactly like the original, but it’s very tasty and sturdy enough for anything I’ve ever made. The idea is to mold it by hand, or to mold it around a large jar, and then tie parchment paper around it, or let it cook free-standing and expect the middle to bulge out a bit. I’ve molded it around cups to make small pies, but for anything larger I cheat and cook it inside something with a tall straight edge, and then turn it out impressively at the end.
If you want to make a vegan version, use margarine instead of butter.
I’ve used this pie crust for many pies! It works well with Deep Mushroom Pie, and Vegetarian Pie, Mash & Liquor.
UPDATE! *I’ve changed the proportions a little bit in the recipe. It never made enough, for one thing, and it was more difficult to work with than it needed to be. The recipe now should make a delightfully moldable dough, but still hold its shape when you want it to.*
I’ve got a couple of songs about pork pie hats, because this crust is known for its pork-pie-usage.
Here’s Charles Mingus – Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
and here’s Pork Pie Hat by Lauren Aitken
Continue reading
Happy Halloween!
Halloween in Lambertville
I live in the Halloween-i-est town in the world. You could call it “Halloween Town.” And people have. And made movies about it. Before we set out for a night of trick-or-treating, here’s a spooky Halloween playlist for you!
Black bean & butternut squash enchiladas
Enchiladas
Here’s Enchilada by the Scamps. Enchilaaaaaaaada….enchilaaaaaaaaaaada! The maniacal laughter makes it a good halloween song, too!
Continue reading
Rules for a Long Life
Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige was a remarkable fellow in more ways than I could possibly do justice to here. He had some rules for a long life, which I think are wonderful in so many ways.
“Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.”
“If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.”
“Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.”
“Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society—the social ramble ain’t restful.”
“Avoid running at all times.”
“And don’t look back—something might be gaining on you.”
And here is the Heptone’s beautiful Book of Rules.
Each must make his life as flowing in
tumbling block on a stepping stone
While common people like you and me
we’ll be builders for eternity
each is given a bag of tools
a shapeless mass and the Book of Rules
Out of the Ordinary 