This Little Verse

I recently came across this little verse and I think it's sort of fantastic.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.

It was written by Edward Lear in 1871 as part of a longer poem called The Owl and the Pussycat. I've only just heard of it - how is that possible? The poem is funny and charming and ridiculous, and discusses a "beautiful pea green boat," a singing owl (an "elegant fowl") and a "land where the Bong-tree grows." And, as we've learned, something called a runcible spoon.



Illustration by Edward Lear

A runcible spoon. Couldn't you just eat that up? Isn't that the most satisfying morsel of verse? Don't you want something you can call runcible?

Well, I do. I looked it up and found out that runcible isn't even a real word; Edward Lear just made it up and put it into several of his poems. Isn't that the greatest thing you've ever heard?

Here are six things I'd like to runcibly eat with a spoon:

1. Chocolate Ice Cream


2. Curried Squash Soup (here's the recipe)


3. Aunt Marie's granola with cranberries, pecans and dates (here's the recipe)


4. An entire jar of peanut butter. Or Nutella.

5. Apple Betty (recipe here)


6. Chicken Tortilla Soup


Chicken Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Rebecca Goldfarb & The Social Table

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken stock (I like low-sodium)
• 2 large chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
• 1 head garlic
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 dried chipotle pepper
• 2 limes
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1.5 cups sweet corn kernels, fresh or frozen
• 2 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• shredded sharp cheese, for garnish
• toasted tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips, for garnish
  

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Once the oven is hot, roast the garlic: leave the garlic bulb whole and slice off the very top of the bulb, exposing the individual garlic cloves. Drizzle some olive oil to cover the exposed cloves, and wrap the entire bulb in some tin foil. Place the foil-covered garlic straight on an oven rack and roast for about 45 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the whole chicken breasts and lower the stock to a simmer. Poach the chicken in the broth until fully cooked, about 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and let cool on a plate. Bring the stock back up to a boil.

Once boiling, add the diced onions, tomatoes, and chipotle pepper to the stock. Squeeze the individual cloves from the head of roasted garlic into the stock. Reduce soup to a simmer and cook gently for about 30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, shred the cooled chicken breasts.

Once the soup has been simmering for about 30 minutes and smells a bit smoky from the chipotle, remove the chipotle chili from the soup and discard. Add the corn, lime juice, cilantro and shredded chicken. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until the chicken is warmed through.

Serve with a handful of shredded cheese, some toasted tortilla, and a spoon, runcible or otherwise.

Serves about 8.

Happy New(ish) Year

Things I crave in the blustery, shivery, bleary month of January:

1. Long, quiet mornings, and the peppermint tea and crossword puzzles that come with them.


2. Snowy beach hikes with Mom and the littlest sister.


3. Bowls filled with belly-warming heartiness.

pasta with Ben Fenton's spicy sausage tomato sauce and fresh ricotta cheese

lentil stew with kielbasa and veggies

aunt Marie's turkey chili

chicken and rice soup

January is a difficult month. Here in New York, it's cold. Like, finger-numbing, eye-tearing, sorry-I-just-bumped-into-you-but-I-have-to-nuzzle-my-head-in-my-coat-because-otherwise-my-face-will-freeze-off cold. The holidays are over, so all the pretty lights have flown north for the next eleven months (apparently to some town named "Yourattic") and the city sidewalks are covered with dirty snow and pine needles, sad remnants of the merriment of Christmas past.

Despite the searing cold, people are full of resolution, so the gym is brimming with runners and kick-boxers and yogis, and the blond woman who's always there seems to now be always always there, which is both impressive and concerning.

Cookies are frowned upon. Salad is the darling of the month.

Ugh.

January plays host to this weird back-and-forth, one side of which takes one look outside and says stay in the warm, nothing good can happen out there, the other side chirping it's a New Year! Be happy and healthy! Run faster!

Well. Fine. I consider myself an optimist (and, you know, someone who likes her pants to fit), so I'll go to the gym. I'll make a big, productive to-do list. I'll drink more water, and less booze. I'll even eat a bunch of salad. But I will finish it all off with a cookie.


Freeze and Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies
Barely adapted from The New York Times

These are decidedly not healthy, but I use a bit of whole wheat pastry flour in the batter to make myself think that they, you know, could be. I also flash freeze the dough in single cookie portions, so I can store the ready-to-bake dough in my freezer and bake myself one (or two, c'mon now) warm, fresh cookie(s) at a time. This method eliminates the threat of baking an entire batch at once and feeling the need to eat them all. I mean, we all have our ways of cutting back after the holidays.


Ingredients:

• 8.5 ounces all-purpose flour
• 8.5 ounces whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 2.5 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 10 ounces light brown sugar
• 8 ounces granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer). Add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Add vanilla. Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients. Gently mix together until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and use your fingers to flatten them slightly - you're getting ready to flash freeze them, not bake them, so don't worry about overcrowding the baking sheet; drop the cookies as close together as you can get them. When you've filled up an entire baking sheet, place the sheet in the freezer, uncovered, until the cookies are frozen through, about 2 hours. Once frozen, transfer the raw dough balls into a freezer-safe plastic bag and seal tightly. Store in the freezer up to 3 months, and when you're ready for cookies, bake at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes (baking time will vary depending on how large you make your cookies - just be sure to remove them when they're lightly golden and just browning around the edges).

Cookies For The Big Guy

It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees...


And making Grinch omelets.


But I promised you cookies and, for the sake of a jolly old guy in a red suit, cookies you shall get.

Classic Christmas cookies - cut-out sugar cookies piped with royal icing, usually - are fun to make and nice to look at (especially these. And these), but sometimes they're, um... annoying. And before you gasp and yell "blasphemy!" I should tell you that I'm Jewish, so, you know. That's already sort of a done deal.


I love a good classic Christmas cookie, but a good classic Christmas cookie takes time and patience. The mixing, the rolling, the chilling, the baking, the cooling. Then the mixing of the royal icing and the coloring and the piping and the flooding and then, quite importantly, the drying. Only then can you bite the head off an unsuspecting snowman.


This Christmas, I'm going for simplicity and warm, comforting flavor. Chocolate chip. Pumpkin whoopie pies. Chewy holiday spiced snickerdoodles!





I think, even for a Jew, Santa would approve.

Chewy Holiday Spiced Snickerdoodles
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated


Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1.5 cups sugar, plus extra (about 1/4 cup extra) for rolling
  
• 3 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
  
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp milk
  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon,
  
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

Combine the 1.5 cups sugar and the cream cheese in a large bowl, then pour the warm butter on top and whisk to combine. The mixture will be slightly lumpy. Whisk in the oil until combined, and then add the egg, milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture all at once, and beat gently until the dough forms.

Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, portion out the dough by the heaping tablespoon, and roll gently into balls. Put some sugar in a shallow bowl (about 1/4 cup) and stir in the spices. Roll each dough ball in the spice/sugar mixture, and place on a baking sheet, evenly spaced. Gently press each ball of dough with your hand or the back of a drinking glass to flatten slightly. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the cookies look slightly cracked. If you can't decide if they're done, take the cookies out of the oven. In the case of these chewy delights, underbaked is better than over.

Serve with a tall glass of milk for Santa, and maybe a side of carrots for Rudolph et al.

Just Take A Second

I know I should be focusing on holiday cookies right now (both today's snow flurries and the calendar say we're well into December), but I want to linger over Thanksgiving for a bit. I mean, at this point, what's the harm in another piece of pie?

classic pumpkin pie

roast capon

Gramma Inez's pumpkin cheesecake with cranberry swirl

roasted root vegetables

Or some homemade brioche rolls?

sweet potato brioche rolls

sweet potatoes with pecans and parmesan. and toasted mallows.

roasted Brussels sprouts with crispy pancetta

Can I just take a second to say... yum?



I've been basking in the full-bellied warmth of Thanksgiving for the past week and a half, thinking about all the time spent in the kitchen, the scent of warm butter, fresh herbs, and toasted pecans, Emily's très adorable table decorations, and the hilarity that ensues when you combine a table full of cousins and an iPhone app called "FatBooth."

Julie, Casey & Teddy post FatBooth

new cousin Julie (yay!) and Casey

Mama and Popsicle

As far as I'm concerned, cookies can wait another week. I'd rather have another slice of pie.

I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie

With that in mind, allow me to present my official 2010 Pie Lover's Gift Guide:

• a classic pie dish by Emile Henry
• Terrain's ruggedly beautiful solid birch Pastry Board
• I'd say a pie bird, but who needs birds when this little piglet is available?
• a stainless steel pastry scraper - maybe not as exciting as a pie piglet, but a must-have for any serious baker of pies
  
• these miniature cutters make for pie decoration perfection
• there's something about a round cooling rack that just makes me happy
• a set of snowy ceramic pie weights, for when dried beans just won't do
  
• a French rolling pin, bien sûr
• a pumpkin pie candy bar from the confectionists du jour, Liddabit Sweets
• this apron from Anthropologie basically defines the word adorable

So, there you have it - a comprehensive guide to most things pie, just in time for the holidays. Next stop - cookieville.

We Will Eat

Know what's nice about November?


Everything.

November means pumpkins.

pumpkin whoopie pies! Thanks for the recipe, Martha.

And squash!

bulgar wheat salad with roast butternut squash and goat cheese

And crackly orange leaves, and crisp, chilly days, and Thanksgiving menu planning.

After much family chatter (mostly just lots of emailing with Aunts Maggie and Lis), this year's menu is finished. Deliciously. Want to see?

Thanksgiving 2010:

Inez's Chopped Chicken Liver on Crackers
Gravlax with Mustard Sauce and Fresh Dill

Roast Capon with Lemon and Thyme
Italian Sausage, Mushroom & Sage Stuffing
Cornbread Stuffing with Chorizo & Fennel
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Root Vegetables with Crumbled Goat Cheese
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Parmesan
Cranberry Fruit Conserve
Sweet Potato Brioche Rolls

Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Apple Betty
Fresh Cinnamon Whipped Cream
Chocolate Whoopie Pies

What do you think? It's lots of food, but then, there are a lot of us, and we do Thanksgiving right. This year, it'll probably go something like this: we'll pour drinks. Then we'll argue about who actually won the family football game, get caught up on all of the family gossip over gravlax and chicken liver, pour (another) glass of wine, and then we will eat, in earnest. And we will eat. And then? We'll moan about being full while we watch football and eat leftovers.

Personally, I can't wait. What are you planning to have on your Thanksgiving table this year?

I Made A Video

About my favorite sandwich. Because I'm very normal and definitely do not have too much time on my hands.

Presenting:

Peanut Butter & Jelly!

(Starring Peanut Butter & Jelly).

Apple Betty and Me

On a beautiful Saturday in October, when sisters are readily available, it's important to go apple picking.







Not everyone can have sisters, and that's too bad, but everyone can find a few apples somewhere, and everyone should, at least once, try to make an apple betty.

If the gosh darn gee whiz wholesomeness of the name alone doesn't get you (I mean, come on - apple betty! Paging June Cleaver...), maybe the brown sugar shortbread base piled with spiced apples, gingersnap cookie crumbs and a wash of melted butter will.

If you think something like this sounds awesome, that's because it is. Awesome. The shortbread is rich and warm and, thanks to the brown sugar, tastes almost like caramel. The apples roll around in a bit of sugar, ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger, get a shot of citrus juice and vanilla, and are then buried in a mess of spicy gingersnaps and doused with smooth, liquid butter, which, of course, permeates the entire betty with a round richness that's just so good you could cry. You could cry, people.

But, instead of crying, you'll probably ask yourself what the hell apple pie is even doing here anymore, and deftly cut yourself another slice. Of the easiest and most delicious apple dessert you'll make this fall: a betty.

Apple Betty
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, September 2000


Since I came across this recipe a week ago, I've made it twice. Two times. In one week. Apple betty and I made our debut at a fun family dinner in Philadelphia, and we were applauded so thoroughly I thought I'd bring her out again to celebrate the recent engagement (!) of my dear friends Jenny and Steve. Betty didn't disappoint on her second outing, even though I used graham cracker crumbs instead of ginger snaps.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 - 2 cups homemade or store bought gingersnaps

for shortbread base:

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  

for apple filling:

• 1 1/4 sticks (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 2 lb tart apples (I like Granny Smith, Golden Delicious or McIntosh)
  
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• juice from 1 lemon
• juice from 1/2 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
  
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

To make shortbread: Pulse the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter and pulse until small lumps form (the dough will not seem to fully come together, but will look sandy). Sprinkle the dough into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and press evenly to form the base of the apple betty. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

While the shortbread bakes, grind your gingersnaps and prepare your filling. Place gingersnaps in a food processor and pulse until they look like bread crumbs. Peel, core and slice apples into 1/4-inch slices, and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle apples with 1/3 cup of sugar, ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Squeeze citrus juices on top of apples and add vanilla extract. Stir apples with clean hands or a spoon to evenly coat with sugar, juice and spices. In a separate, smaller bowl, stir together flour and 2/3 cup sugar.

Melt the 1 1/4 sticks butter on the stove top or in the microwave.

When the shortbread is out of the oven and still warm, sprinkle it with half of the sugar/flour mixture. Layer the apples, then the remaining sugar/flour mixture, and top with an even sprinkling of ground gingersnaps. Drizzle the melted butter on top of it all, and

bake in upper third of oven, pressing down on filling with a metal spatula halfway through baking, until apples are very tender and gingersnap crumbs are deeply golden, 50 minutes to 1 hour total. Cool 20 minutes in pan on a rack. Serve with generous scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 10-12.