One Small Voice.MPG

Happy New Year from Blue Heron Kitchen and my many small nine year old voices.
peace, love and my other passion, music,
jane

Bread Pudding and the flue

It's cold in my house this morning.  I'm hoping the fireplace person comes tomorrow. (where's dick van dyke?) My flue won't shut and it's 24º F. outside.  

A fine antidote is bread pudding (and a sweatshirt).  Here's this morning's creation, a sourdough country bread pudding, with sautéed golden delicious apples, studded with golden raisins. I'm bringing it to a party we're having at work for a woman who's going to have a baby.  I've already wrapped up some cream cheese pound cake I had in the freezer, but my freezer is bursting with bread. (Is it just me?)

It's easy and it makes the place smell like apple heaven.  And now it's warm in here!

 

Golden Bread Pudding

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

8 oz. firm, good quality bread, such as 'country' sourdough, baguette, just about anything from Balthazar, Bread Alone, Orwasher's, Grandaisy Bakery, Amy's Bread - you get the idea, right? - cut into approx. 1" cubes.  Stale is good.  Toast it for about 6-8 minutes.

2 Golden Delicious Apples

1 oz. (2 Tbsp.) unsalted butter (I used 83% European style - Cabots or Plugra are two brands you can find in the supermarket - Fairway carries both.)

1-2 Tbsp. sugar + a few drops of fresh lemon juice for the sautéed apples

6 Tbsp. (additional) granulated sugar 

3 cups whole milk (I use organic)

3 eggs + 1 egg yolk, size large, room temperature

1/2 c. golden raisins

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

cinnamon sugar for the top

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Set oven rack to the lower third of oven.

Butter and dust, with granulated sugar, the inside of a 2 quart Pyrex casserole.

Have a roasting pan that the casserole will fit comfortably inside to use as a "bain-marie" (a water bath - you're going to pour hot water about 1/2 way up the side of the casserole so it's warm and cozy while it bakes and so it turns into a lovely pudding instead of a brick.)

Place toasted bread cubes in a large bowl.

Sauté diced apples  

in butter, adding sugar and lemon juice to taste, until cooked, but still firm.  Remove from heat.

Add apples and raisins to cubed bread.

In a small bowl, add the 6 Tbsp. granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, whisking it together. Add to the bread/fruit mixture.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, whole eggs, egg yolk (freeze the egg white for another use in a small plastic bag) and vanilla extract, creating a 'custard'.

Pour dry bread/fruit/sugar and spice mixture into the prepared baking pan and pour the custard over the bread.  Press the bread down into the custard, making sure to soak it all.  

Sprinkle the top with some cinnamon sugar.

Place the casserole in a roasting pan and place in the oven.  Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan about 1-2 inches up the side of the casserole

and bake the bread pudding for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, give or take, until a sharp knife comes out clean.

Remove from the bain-marie and cool on a rack.

This is best served the same day, warm.  Serve it 'plain', with some crème anglaise or some yoghurt for breakfast! 

peace, love and warmth,

jane

69, Mussels and Eggs

Late at night, a middle aged man nudges his wife.  He whispers, "Honey, how about a little 69?".  Shocked and taken aback, her only response is , "whaddya mean, 69?"  


"Lobster cantonese!".  


this is my 69th posting.


I felt like I was Julie of Julie and Julia tonight, trying to poach an egg.  Not so easy (until you get it).  Some trucs:  Add white vinegar to the boiling water.  Crack the egg very close to the water.  Don't mess with it.  Don't overcook it.  If someone ... like your son ... does it perfectly, let them do it for you.  But, the world is a perfect place when you eat a poached egg over some asparagus ... with some shaved parmesan on top.  Next time, I'll add an anchovy.  


Oh, the mussels ... my daughter makes perfect moules. So I figure I'm covered: my son, the eggs, my daughter, the mussels and me, 69.

Möhn River

Möhn Kichel is in the oven at Blue Heron Kitchen.
peace, love and poppy seeds,
jane

Möhn Kichel

Möhn Kichel

Möhn or "Moon" are poppy seeds, and kichel are little cakes, crackers or cookies.  My Grandma Rae made these.  Often.  Grandma's cooking was, well, very basic.  She wasn't an adventurous or even fabulous cook, but she knew how to make a few things extraordinarily well.  These cookies were one of those things.  Grandma Rae was simple, loving, and if you didn't eat enough, she was simultaneously insulted and forlorn.  Kind of a cliché, but she was my cliché. Her fingers, gnarled by arthritis, were forever shoveling homemade (greasy) noodles, latkes and applesauce, chicken fricasee, the best matzo brei, Passover nutcake, sponge cake and other Eastern European Jewish delicacies into my little mouth. If it wasn't open, she'd pry it open. All the while, my Grandpa Julie would be sitting in 'his' armchair smoking his cigar (he called them "Smell-o-mile-o's"), oblivious to everything except whatever ball was being played with on the television set.  I grew up loving the Bronx, the smell of incinerators and the Jewish cooking smells of tenement buildings. My Grandma Rae died over 14 years ago, and I miss her all the time.  I can still hear her voice.  And now, for my confession:


I had dinner with a friend the other night, and I think I freaked him out.  I told him that I had, in my freezer, cookies, möhn kichel, that my Grandma Rae had baked, probably more than 25 years ago.  I've simply kept them.  And I take them with me wherever I move (and I move often).  I whisper, "Come on Grandma, we're moving to ______".  And I stick those cookies in my pocket book, and off we go!  


Now, you may think this is sick stuff.  And it may well be.  But, it's no different than keeping other stuff from dead people.  Kind of like her ashes. They just happen to be perishable and rather then being stored in say, a Folger's can, they need to be kept in the freezer. I'll write about my cinnamon sugar and my other Grandma - Bessie - another time. Maybe.


Here is her recipe for möhn kichel.  I use corn oil, because she did.  It says on the label that there's zero trans fat.  I believe them. Corn oil is so lovely and sweet. Her recipe calls for "a box" of poppy seeds, so I looked in the market at what McCormick considers a small container (no more boxes - now they have round plastic containers) of poppy seeds, and it's 1.25 oz.  You can buy one of those.


I buy my poppy seeds from Penzey's.  You can buy all kinds of great stuff from them, mail order(they have the absolute best storage jars at the absolute best price). They have stores too - one is in the Grand Central Terminal Market.  There's another on Rte. 110 in Huntington, LI. FREEZE those seeds after you've opened them.  Poppy seeds turn rancid very quickly.


These are very simple cookies.  Don't expect the moon.  They're peasant cookies ... and they are addictive.  I just had about 3 dozen for my dinner.


Happy Chanukah, y'all!


peace and love,
jane

Möhn Kichel

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup corn oil

¼ cup tepid water

1 Tbsp. baking powder

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1.25 oz poppy seeds

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F., line 4 cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat

In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs, oil and sugar until thick.  Add the water, mix, and then, the poppy seeds. Mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder and flour. 

Add dry to wet ingredients. Mix until incorporated.

On a flour coated surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll dough out between 1/8”-1/4” thick and cut, with a pizza cutter into squares or rectangles. (In the true Grandma Rae tradition, no two should be alike.)

Place on parchment lined cookie sheets and as Grandma Rae wrote: “bake until brown”, about 10-15 minutes.

Yield: abut 10-12 dozen 1”-2” squarish/rectanglish cookies

Store in tins. 

These will keep for weeks, or in my twisted case, for decades, in the freezer ;-)

Breton

Breton

Fillings: Pecan, Walnut or Cooked Apple

Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen from Nick Malgieri

It’s been almost 15 years since I went to pastry school.  Peter Kump’s was this tiny, vertical cooking school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, filled with extraordinary teachers.  Nick was one, and he moved from Kump’s, when it closed (Peter passed away), to the Flatiron District, and he’s now directing the pastry program at ICE, the Institute for Culinary Education.  I don’t know him personally, but my former partners at Maurice Pastry do.

Thank you, Nick, for your fantastic recipes and expertise throughout the years. My ‘formal’ training was mostly from your program, and I learned a great deal in a short span of time.

Bretons are butter cakes that are most of the time, filled. I’ve seen recipes for them that are yeasted, but this recipe is not. The Breton originated in Brittany, France.  (Use good quality, fresh, high fat content – 83% - butter, and you’re most of the way there.)  They’re fun to make, hold well, and they feed a crowd.

This recipe requires a kitchen scale.  I have a gorgeous stainless steel one that tares back to zero whenever I tell it to that’s made by Salter.  They’re about $30 now at places like Bed Bath and Beyond or Amazon.    

Breton Dough

1pound unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound sugar

8 yolks (room temperature eggs, size large)

1 lemon, zested

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

28 oz. all purpose flour

Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Beat the paddle attachment on the second speed until very light.  Add yolks, one at a time (the mixture should look like buttercream), then the lemon zest and vanilla.  Sift flour; add to the bowl with the paddle on first speed.  Scrape dough out of bowl.  Use immediately.  The dough will be very soft. This will make 2 Bretons, so you can freeze this, halve it or make the apple filling for another one (below).

Set the dough aside, covered, while you make the filling(s).

Pecan or Walnut Filling (enough for two bretons):

½ pound light brown sugar

4 ounces butter

4 ounces honey

1 pound pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Bring brown sugar, butter and honey to a boil in heavy saucepan over medium heat: boil 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in nuts.  Let cool before filling the Breton.

Cooked Apple Filling:

2 ½ pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and halved

4 oz. sugar

2 oz. butter

¼ - 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
or
1/2 tsp. allspice (optional)
2 Tbsp. rum or Calvados (optional)

Slice each apple half into 4-5 pieces. Combine apple slices with remaining ingredients in a heavy sauté or saucepan over medium heat.  Cover, cook 5-10 minutes.  Uncover; lower heat, cook until water evaporates.  Cool completely before filling the Breton.

Assembling the Breton:

Preheat oven to 350º F. and put the rack low.

Split the batter in half and reserve half for the second Breton, or pat it into a flattened disc, wrap well and freeze for another time. 

With floured hands, pat 1/2 the dough evenly onto the bottom of a buttered and parchment lined 10” x 2” round cake pan (or ring).  Bring the dough up about an inch up the side of the pan.

Spread the cooled filling(s) on the dough.

Flour a 10” cardboard round or a tart pan bottom.  Flour the remaining dough and press it against the bottom of the round or tart pan bottom.  Slide a thin sharp knife or spatula between the dough and cardboard or pan bottom to loosen it and press it into place, on top of the filling, making sure that the edge of the top crust meets the side of the bottom crust.  Smooth the top crust with the back of a spoon so that it is very smooth, especially around the edge. 

Make an egg wash with an egg yolk and some milk or heavy cream and brush the top with the egg wash.

With the tines facing away from you, draw once down the center, and then two more on either side to make fine ‘tine line’ lattice strokes.  Then, turn on a 45º angle and repeat, to draw a tined lattice, with five more strokes of the fork. 

Brush again with the egg wash.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes on the lowest rack until well colored.  Cool on rack.

Unmolding:  Invert a plate on the Breton and invert the Breton onto it. Carefully lift off the pan and peel off the paper.  Invert another plate on the Breton (now, the Breton is upside down between the two plates), reinvert the Breton and remove the top plate.

Store the Breton, loosely covered, at room temperature up to 2 days.

Yield:  About 10 to 12 portions

Pumpkin Bread Blue Heron Kitchen

If you're thinking that I've run out of recipes and all that's left is pumpkin bread, you're wrong. Listen, it's almost Thanksgiving, and after Thanksgiving, not many of us want to look at another thing made with pumpkin.  I know I won't.  It'll be up there with singing "Over the river and through the wood, to grandmother's house we go..." 


The new kitchen is off to a pretty good start. I think I need a used fridge for the basement (anyone selling one?)  But photos aren't looking great - these halogen floods cast terrible shadows on my food.  I need to work out the photography thing.  


This recipe is dedicated with love and appreciation to the hard-working people of the Long Beach, NY's Kennedy Plaza Farmers Market.  Have a warm and healthy winter, and thank you for a great season!  I'm already counting the days until the market opens again in the spring.  A special thanks to Bernadette Martin for making it all happen.  Think about this:  if it were not for Bern, there would bern ner merket.  Bring her some flowers.

Pumpkin Bread

Blue Heron Kitchen

This recipe has been worked through several times and altered enough to call it ‘my own’.  Its origins are from Bernard Clayton Jr.’s great book, Complete Book of Breads.  I like it for one important reason:  it has butter. It doesn’t have that slippery, oily quick-bread texture, and it tastes better. It’s not too sweet. (You could put a confectioner’s sugar glaze on it when it comes out of the oven!) Subsequently, it has more depth and body, and the butter allows for subtler spicing.  It’s a perfect balance of taste, texture and color. The golden raisins are gorgeous.  I’ve used both my own cooked organic cheese pumpkin as well as regular canned pumpkin.  They’re both great.  But never skimp on butter. Use good quality, fresh butter.  If you can find 83% fat European style butter, use it.  Plugra and Cabot are two American-made brands that are great.  Land-O-Lakes is a good conventional option. You can find the higher fat content butters in good supermarkets.  Cabot 83% is my favorite, and Fairway carries it.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. (15 oz. can) cooked pumpkin, fresh or canned

1 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed (make sure it’s fresh and moist)

½ c. granulated white sugar

4 oz. (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter (European style is best), room temperature

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

4 ½ c. all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground, please)

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 ½ c. walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped

½ c. golden raisins, hot water poured over them, soaked for 15 minutes, and then drained

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

Butter or spray pans with release: two medium loaf pans, several smaller loaf pans of the same capacity, or a dozen financier molds and one small loaf pan (you’ll work it out)

In a large bowl, measure flour, baking powder, spices and salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Set aside.

Prepare nuts and raisins and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars.  When light and fluffy, add eggs and mix until blended well.  Add pumpkin (it’s ok if it looks curdled). 

Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, but don’t over mix. 

Add nuts and raisins.

Spoon batter into prepared pans and be sure to ‘push’ the batter into the corners with a spoon, a spatula, or your clean fingers. 

Bake until a metal tester comes out clean and dry, depending upon the size of the loaves, anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour! Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before turning the breads out of their pans. 

This will develop a better flavor if you wrap it well and allow it to age a day or so before devouring it.  It will keep for at least two weeks, wrapped in plastic or foil in the fridge.  Or, you can freeze it ... for months.  

Thank You

Thank you Long Beach.
Thank you farmers.
Thank you Bernadette.
Happy Thanksgiving.
peace and love,
jane

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Adapted from American Masala by Suvir Saran

Brussels sprouts and apples, both, are abundant at the market now. This is an easy and festive recipe that comes from my friend, Suvir’s cookbook, American Masala. 

These Brussels sprouts will be a hit at your Thanksgiving dinner! Not only that, you’ll make this whenever Brussels sprouts are in season.  My friend, Regina told me she’ll never cook b.s.'s any other way.

peace, love and may you be at ease in and out of the kitchen,
xojane

Ingredients:

3 lbs. Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer leaves removed

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 Granny Smith or other tart apples, cored and thinly sliced

1 cup sliced almonds

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground black peppercorns

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 small red onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup raisins or currants [Use organic raisins, it makes a difference – they taste like raisins]

½ tsp. red pepper flakes [reduce or omit if you can't take the heat]

½ cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Procedure:

Set one oven rack to the center position and one to the upper-middle position and preheat the oven to 350º.

With a paring knife, cut an “x” in the bottom of each Brussels sprout and place all in a large bowl. 

Add the vinegar, apples, almonds, salt, ground peppercorns, oil, onions, raisins, and pepper flakes. 

Toss together and transfer to a gratin or baking dish.  Dot the top with half the butter.

Bake on lower rack for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining butter over the top and bake for another 30 minutes. 

Turn on the broiler.  Place the baking dish on the upper-middle rack and broil for 2 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is browned.  Watch this carefully, because unattended, you'll risk losing the casserole to the flame.

Serves 8  

Applesauce and Sugar-Free Applesauce Loaf

Homemade applesauce is too easy to make to not make.  You'll need a food mill with a medium disk, or a good strainer.  Follow this link for a recipe for 'Summersauce', applesauce with strawberries.  In this post, you'll find a photo of a food mill and some basic applesauce blabber.  If you're ill-equipped, you can always peel and core the apples and cook them.  They'll turn to mush and you can stir them vigorously, pretending all the while they're authority figures. They could be, say, State Troopers. Like the ones on the Taconic Parkway.  But State Trooper Sauce won't have as much soul. Skin adds soul.

To make applesauce, take some apples - like 4-6.  You can mix varieties or make it pure. My last batch was just golden delicious.  Core them and coarsely chop them.  Put them into a pot and add about 1-2 inches of liquid  ... water, or you can use apple cider. Add a small cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the apples are soft.  Now, it's your call.  You can leave this unsweetened, or sweeten, to taste. You can use Red Jacket Orchard's Apple Cider Molasses to sweeten your applesauce.  These are personal choices and I wouldn't dream of getting in the way.

My friend Michael won't eat anything with processed sugar.  A couple of years ago, he asked me to bake something for him. It was a challenge for me to produce a sugarless cake that wasn't vile.  You know, sugar isn't just a sweetener, it's a tenderizer.  So, I went looking for a decent recipe I could play with.

Here it is!

Michael loves it, and although this one's for him (Michael helped me pack up for my upcoming move - the third time he's helped me move!), I hope you'll give it a try.  Use your homemade applesauce if you have some. Store bought will work too.

Applesauce Cake  Sugarless but still delicious

1 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce 1/2 c. flavorless oil 1 egg, size large, room temperature 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 2 c. all purpose flour 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 c. walnuts, toasted cooled and chopped and dried cherries, chopped (the dried cherries are great in this recipe) Procedure: Preheat oven to 325º F.  Grease a large loaf pan Combine applesauce, oil, and beaten egg.  In a separate bowl, combine and mix all dry ingredients.  Mix nuts, raisins, and dates. Add to dry ingredients to coat them.  Add wet ingredients and mix well by hand but do not beat.  With all ingredients blended, pour into the well greased loaf pan. Fill very full as cake does not rise. Bake at 325º F. for about 50 minutes.

Pumpkin Pecan Loaf

Blue Heron is migrating to a new kitchen with all new appliances! We're moving to Port Washington, and there's an organic market on the dock there through October.  Instead of packing, I'm baking.  


Packing induces stress.  Baking relieves stress.


It's PUMPKIN time!

and it's LOAF time.

Loaf is comfort food.

I'm sending this loaf to my son Oxford.
I don't think they get much pumpkin in Oxford.

Use pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie stuff.  I use organic pumpkin purée (Whole Foods own or Trader Joes own.)  Use your leftover pumpkin purée for soup!  Just add it to warmed up chicken stock.  Throw in some chopped fresh rosemary and for some autumnal flavuh and a little sweetness, some freshly chopped (peeled) apple (you can use a blender or masher or leave it chunky - it's up to you.)

If you haven't gotten a beater blade for your Kitchen Aid, get one.  You'll never have to scrape down the bowl again.  ("My Kitchen Aid Does the Tighten Up") When you toast your pecans, make sure you don't burn them (if you even slightly burn them, you've ruined them).  Cool them, then chop them.  Use a microplane zester for the orange and lemon zests! You'll keyword 'zest' when you're looking for other recipes.

Pumpkin Pecan Loaf

Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground mace

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

¾ c. dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1/3 c. granulated sugar

2 tsp. grated orange zest

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

½ c. canola oil

1 ¼ c. canned pumpkin purée

½ c. chopped toasted pecans

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 345º F. (sue me).  Grease and flour one large or two smaller loaf pans. 

In a medium bowl, combine first seven (dry) ingredients and set aside.  (If you grate the nutmeg, it will make a significant difference.)

In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or another electric mixer, fitted with the paddle or beater blade attachment, beat the eggs for a few minutes until light in color. Add the brown sugar in several batches, beating for several minutes, until creamy and light.  Add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until you have a creamy, pasty looking mixture. Add the zests and mix.

Reduce the speed and slowly drizzle in the canola oil in a steady stream.  Reduce the speed to low and add the pumpkin purée. Mix until thoroughly combined. 

Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  Fold in chopped, toasted pecans.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake in the middle of the oven, depending on the size of your loaf pans, from 45 to 60 minutes, or until the top feels springy to the touch. 

Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a rack and then release from the pan and cool completely before wrapping.  If you can wait, this loaf tastes better the next day.  It keeps well in the fridge, and may be frozen.

Jonah's Apple Butter

My son is a talented and passionate chef. He's currently pursuing a doctorate at Oxford, but prior to his shipping out, he visited the farmers market with me and we bought a variety of apples from Red Jacket Orchards (those gorgeous apples at the top of the blog) and he turned them into an amazing batch of apple butter. He agreed to sharing the recipe and here it is! Thanks, Jonah!

Apple Butter 
Recipe by Jonah Rosenberg -  adapted from the Joy of Cooking

The inspiration for making apple butter came in the form of a plywood basket of apples, picked way out in Suffolk County and looking reproachful on the dining room table. At first I was tentative, using only four sad-looking specimens. The reaction to the finished product was so good that I’ve doubled my assault, using eight fine apples, this time from Red Jacket Orchards.
The recipe requires tender loving care and little else, but it will make your house smell like a Norman Rockwell painting should, warm and enticing. If you make enough (read: use your biggest pot), you can jar it and give it as gifts to people over the next several months, which is handy indeed. If this sounds too Martha Stewart to you, then just think of it as a cheap and useful version of flowers.

Eight apples* (about 4 lb.) of as many varieties as you can find
1 liter of apple cider*
Around 5 cups of sugar (see note)

Halve the apples, pull out the stem and cut each half into thirds.

Put the segments into a large saucepan or stockpot and pour the apple cider over them. It should not quite cover them – if you want to add more liquid, put in a little water.

Cook the apples uncovered over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the segments start to break up in the cider.

Take the pot off of the stove and pass the apples and the cider, ladle by ladle, through a sieve or a food mill (which is what I use here; make sure to reverse the blade every now and again to clear the screen).

Now you have apple sauce; the JoC volunteers that you might start with store-bought apple sauce at this point. At this I frown.

Measure the pulp in a mixing cup and add ½ cup of sugar for every cup of purée. For my eight apples I got 10 cups, and so I added 5 cups of sugar. I know it seems like a lot, but resist the urge to scale back – for two reasons. The first is that the sugar acts as a thickener; it combines with the liquid to create a thick syrup, which condenses as you cook it. The second is that as sugar cooks, it tastes less sweet and more complex – think caramel. Heat reorganizes the sugar crystals to form all sorts of nutty-tasting compounds.

Mix the sugar with the pulp and place back on the flame at medium-low heat, and cook for… ever. This (along with passing the apples through the sieve) is the labor of love part; this needs to reduce and thicken for quite some time – maybe four hours.

I Want My ... Cosmic Cocoas

My brand of choice is Whole Foods' own Cosmic Cocoas.

peace, love and Cosmic Cocoas,
jane

They Always Bowl Me Over

I love Cocoa Puffs. And lately, I've succombed to Whole Foods' own "Cosmic Cocoas". They're pretty good. Actually, they're very good.

I just got this from "Credo". You might want to consider signing this petition. It's pretty awful what's going on with all these processed foods.

And open up Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". It's a good read.

peace, love and Cosmic Cocoas,
jane

Subject: Cocoa Puffs as health food?

Dear Blue Heron Kitchen Readers,

Need another example that the food industry can't regulate itself?

How about an industry-sponsored health label that declares Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Cocoa Puffs, Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms to be a "Smart Choice"? That's the thrust of the new "Smart Choices" label, and it's no accident that it has turned out this way. Though many healthy foods are indeed eligible, the overall structure of the program -- with its industry-backed board-members, its burdensome application process and its relatively high fees -- appeals to giant packaged food companies at the expense of unprocessed, unbranded foods like fruits and vegetables.

I just signed a petition to ask the "Smart Choices" board to include fruits and vegetables, disallow sugary processed foods, and increase FDA oversight. I hope you will, too. Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/smart_choices_food

Ratatouille

A great artist can come from anywhere.
Happy Harvest! Happy New Year!
Bon Appetit! (and Bon Voyage, Jonah!!!)
peace, love and Ratatouille!
jane

This is in today's Times, and I had to put it up in case you didn't see it.  It looks fantastic.  Get to the market and buy what you need and then get the rest from wherever else you shop and then get home and make this!

RECIPE

Ratatouille and Sausage Potpie with Cornmeal Biscuits

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

FOR THE CORNMEAL BISCUITS:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 cup sour cream or plain whole milk yogurt

Milk

FOR THE RATATOUILLE:

1 large eggplant (1 1/2 pounds) cut into 1-inch chunks

3 small zucchini ( 3/4 pound), cut into 1-inch chunks

7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 pound Italian sausage, casings removed [Whole Foods makes great Italian chicken sausage!]

1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 red pepper, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks

3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil.

1. For the biscuits: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Fold in the sour cream. Gently knead mixture until it comes together in a ball, adding a drop or two of milk if necessary. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. For the ratatouille: In a bowl, toss eggplant and zucchini with 5 tablespoons oil; season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread vegetables in a single layer on one or two large baking sheets (do not crowd vegetables). Transfer to oven and roast, tossing occasionally, until golden, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large, deep, preferably oven-proof sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Crumble sausage into pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer sausage to a paper towel-lined plate.

4. Return pan to medium heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Stir in the onion, pepper, garlic and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and thyme sprigs; simmer gently until tomatoes are cooked and mixture is stew-like, about 10 minutes. Stir in the sausage, roasted vegetables and parsley. If you are not using an oven-safe pan, transfer mixture to a 2-quart gratin dish or baking pan.

5. Divide biscuit dough into six equal balls. Use your palm to flatten each ball into a 1/2 -inch-thick disk. Arrange on top of ratatouille mixture. Brush biscuits lightly with milk.

6. Transfer skillet or pan to oven and cook until biscuits are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings.