Good Real Food

I don’t know about you, but I have been trying to think of ways to cut down our food budget as things are tight and all the current events are causing me to draw on my Dutch genes that tell me to plan for the worst. So, I have been finding ways to cook with what is in the house and garden and waiting way longer than I usually would to restore the food supplies. Apples are abundant and if you save the one expensive honey crisp for a raw sliced dessert and use the other less expensive ones for cooking, you can make a $7 bag of apples go a long way. When I was a kid we had four apple trees in our back yard. Every year we made apple cider, dried apples, and my favorite, apple sauce. We were not allowed store bought sweets in our house, so I made up snacks for myself using plain yogurt and apple sauce that is still one of my favorite things to eat, though my family thinks it looks gross. Apple sauce is perhaps one of the easiest things you will ever make, and it freezes really well so you can enjoy hot apple sauce in the dead of winter.

Slice and core (but do not peel) as many apples as you have around and put them in a large pot. Cover with water and simmer until soft. Place cooked apples in a food processor or food mill and make the consistency you want. Chunky-fine. Return mixture to the pot, add sugar and cinnamon to taste. Freeze in air tight containers.

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Like so many midwesterners in late August, I find myself completly overrun with monster zucchini and summer squash. I have included a recipe in this post that I made up to use up the bunnies in unique and yummy ways: Chocholate Zucchini Bread. But first, as an homage to my father, Jim Heynen, I want to share with you his short story about zucchini.

Garden Rabbits, by Jim Heynen
There were the fuzzy sharp-toothed ones that nipped tender shoots of lettuce and cabbage before they could dream of the salad bowl, the kind that multiplied as quickly as aphids and were as hard to discourage from their nibbling ways. But there was another kind of garden rabbit. These too were fruitful and multiplied in great abundance, though they did not hop. They were zucchini.
The boys did not like to eat zucchini very much. The taste was as dull as potatoes without salt or butter or sour cream, and the texture was slimy as cooked okra. But in August when the lettuce had bolted and the cabbage had died, when even most of the tomatoes had ripened and the wine-colored beets bulged from the earth ready for harvest, the zucchini caught a second breath: the yellow blossoms quickly turned into small green fingers that within a week were the size of cucumbers and in two weeks the size of small watermelons. Why couldn’t the animal garden rabbits eat these vegetable garden rabbits instead of the carrots and lettuce?
If the boys didn’t do something, they knew it would mean zucchini in eggs for breakfast, fried zucchini and onions for dinner, boiled zucchini for supper. Zucchini casseroles! Zucchini salads! Zucchini pie if there was a recipe for one hiding somewhere!
The oldest boy had a plan. Over supper, as they all swallowed the soggy chunks of zucchini, he said, We have so many zucchini, we should give some to the poor people who don’t have anything to eat.
The oldest boy had never in his life suggested giving anything to anybody, not even to his friends. And now he was thinking of poor people he didn’t even know?
The grown-ups thought it was a wonderful idea and even brought it up in their family devotions: That the abundance of the earth should be given to all, they prayed. Yea, even to the neediest of our number.
On Saturday night the boys loaded the car trunk with big zucchini before they went into town. The boys agreed that they would spend the evening giving the zucchini to poor people they met.
Look at them, said one of the grown-ups, as the boys loaded their arms with zucchini and started down the streets looking for poor people. Aren’t they wonderful?
The boys couldn’t really tell a poor person from a rich person, so they started offering zucchini to everyone they met. They figured the rich people wouldn’t take them and the poor people would. But it seemed that poor people were few and far between when it came to feeding them zucchini.
When the boys got to the big parking lot next to a WalMart that had just replaced most of the stores downtown, the oldest boy said, Let’s just put some in the back seat of everybody’s car. We might not be getting them to poor people, but at least we’re still giving them away.
This is what they did and within a half hour they were rid of all the zucchini. The grown-ups thoughts the boys’ charity had been so successful that they let the boys load up the trunk of the car with zucchini the next Saturday night too.
The boys went straight to the WalMart parking lot. But word had gotten out that if you didn’t lock your car doors somebody would fill the back seat of your car with giant zucchini.
Oh no, said the oldest boy, after they had tried all the car doors in the parking lot. We’re stuck with them. We’ll be eating zucchini until Christmas!
Then one of the boys pretended to drop one on the street as he crossed on the way back toward their car. The other boys followed suit, dropping zucchini, one after another. Whoops, whoops, whoops, as the zucchini dropped to the street.
The boys stood on the sidewalk and watched the cars pass by, some of them slowing down and swerving to miss the shattered vegetables. But in a few minutes the zucchini had been mushed up and the cars didn’t even slow doen. And that was how the last of the green garden rabbits died. Smeared out on the street like so much road kill.

Chocolate-Zucchini Bread
-1 1/2 cups brown sugar
-3/4 cup sunflower or safflower oil
-3 eggs beaten
-1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cups grated zucchini
-1 1/2 cups white flour
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-2-3 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 350F
1. In a large bowl combine the sugar, oil, eggs, butter and vanilla and beat well with a whisk. Mix in the grated zucchini. 2. In a separate bowl, combine all the remaining dry ingredients and mix well. Gently stir the dry mixture into the wet. Pour the batter into a well-oiled loaf pan and bake for approximately 1 hour, until firm and a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

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I wanted to try a fruit crisp that did not use as much sugar and butter and cornstarch as many recipes I have found call for. This was an experiment, but I think it turned out well. The cherries are naturally sweet on their own and the oil and honey and oats along with some almonds make a nice crispy crust. The hardest part of making this was pitting the pound of cherries, but it was well worth it!
What to do:
-Pit and halve a pound of fresh cherries
-combine in a bowl: 3/4 cup rolled oats, 1 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, salt, 1/2 cup chopped almonds, cinnemon, and nutmeg
-place pitted cherries in the bottom of a deep pie dish, spoon the oat mixture over the top and bake for about 40 minutes. Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

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My sister told me, in another context that had to with lame gifts she was saddled with and not great gift ideas, but she told me, my sister, about how when they do gift exchanges at work she’ll do something like buy a set of muffin tins, make black bottom cupcakes and deliver to her secret santa the tins, the cupcakes and a recipe. Or a cookie sheet, same story. And people don’t appreciate this.

Which is just weird.  I’ll just put it out there that if you want to make me cookies, you don’t even have to give me the cookie sheet.

A long, long time ago, Noah or I clipped a recipe for “Molten Chocolate Babycakes.” We had to get married before anyone would give us enough ramekins to actually make them, but it was worth the wait. We inaugurated them with a helluva party trick of our own, which involved bringing the ramekins of batter to a dinner party and sticking them in the oven halfway through dinner.

• 4 T  soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the dishes
• 12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (preferably high in cocoa solids)
• 4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees; butter 6 ramekins (they say to line the bottoms with parchment but we didn’t.)

Melt chocolate over low heat and let it cool.

Cream together 4 tablespoons butter and the sugar.

Gradually add egg mixture, then vanilla, then flour. Mix well. Add chocolate and blend until smooth.

Fill the ramekins and arrange them on a baking sheet; bake 10-12 minutes. Or 15. We left them in longer than 10-12 minutes.

You can file these under kosher for passover, too, if you can handle the density of matzo flour. It won’t ruin them, and as passover desserts go it is pretty good.

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My stepmother gave me these lovely little ramicans, I suspect, just so I could make her this dessert. I use the recipe from the book Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson.

What you need:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (oh my goodness are these ever expensive! I used vanilla extract the first time I made these and it was good as well if you want to skip the vanilla bean splurge.)
• 6 tbsp milk
• 41/2 oz dark, bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces (one standard bar of good dark chocolate does the trick)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 heaped tbsp confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 275. Stir the cream with the vanilla bean and cover to infuse for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the milk. Beat together the egg yolk and the sugar, add the chocolate milk and vanilla cream. Remove the vanilla bean if using and stir together. Pour into individual ramicans and bake in a water bath (place in an oven proof dish that you have filled 1/2 way with water) for 45 minutes to 1 hour. There should be a bit of a crust on the top when you get them out of the oven. Cool in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight. I added the rasberries and mint as a topping.

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I admit that apple pie at first glance is not the most racy fall food, but I harbor a fondness for fresh made apple pie and have been working to perfect a recipe that captures the full sensual mix of crisp, savory, sweet and spicy. I am going for the sensation I associate with the first red leaves, apple picking, and cooling, darkening nights that hint at new and unknown adventures around the corner.

What you need:

• 2 nine-inch pie crusts
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbsp. water for the egg wash
• 8 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamon
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of one lime
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 425. Roll out the bottom crust and place in the pie plate, brush with egg wash to seal. Chill.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the other ingredients. Spoon into crust. Roll out the top crust and place over the filling. Seal edges of pie. Brush the top with the remaining egg wash. Cut a few vents in the top. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or sharp Cheddar cheese. Be sure to share with people you love.

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This has always been my favorite pie. It is THE pie made for the month of June when the strawberries and rhubarb can be found in your own garden, or one near by.

My mom came in to town to visit me for my birthday. She gave me a piece of advise about pies. Don’t be ashamed to buy frozen ready made crusts. She spent years laboring over the perfect hand made crusts before realizing that life is just too short. So, though I still feel romantic and occasionally ambitious and need to make pie dough from scratch, it feels like more of a winter activity, especially when you just want to use up some fresh local fruit to take to a summer BBQ that you are already late for.

This recipe is from “The Chez Piggy Cookbook” by Victoria Newbury, from the restaurant that carried that name.

• 2 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 5 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch chunks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 9 inch prebaked pie crust plus another for the top crust
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbsp. milk for egg wash

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, mix strawberries and rhubarb with sugar, flour, cinnamon and sour cream, and place in the prebaked crust. Roll out top crust and cut into 1/2 inch strips. Arrange in lattice top on pie and brush with egg wash. Bake for 35-45 minutes.

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I found this recipe in a vegan cookbook I picked up during my days working for a book distributor. It is put out by the wonderful Canadian publishing house Arsenal Pulp Press who publish quite a few vegan cookbooks. This recipe is from Vive le Vegan by Dreena Burton, also the author of Everyday Vegan. In addition to the great sweets recipes, she has a whole section in the back on feeding your vegan baby and toddler, complete with a food introduction schedule with foods for each stage of your child’s development.

What you need:

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup + 1-2 tbsp natural organic peanut butter
• 1/2 cup pure (and local !) maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp blackstrap molasses
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp canola oil

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a bowl, sift togther flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the sugar and the salt and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir together. Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and press with the tines of a fork to flatten gently. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden. Remove to a plate to cool.

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My husband has been asking for sweets. I don’t really know how to make sweets. This is step one in my journey. One of the reasons I am not a great baker is bacause I substutute all the time when I don’t have an ingredient called for in a recipe. Case in point: this walnut, sour cream, maple syrup filling is supposed to be pecan, corn syrup, and 35% B.F. cream

Does not look half bad eh?

Adapted from the recipe for Caramel Pecan Tart in The Chez Piggy Cookbook:

Crust:

• 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 large or three small egg yolks (I used the left over egg whites to make a quick egg white, ham and parmesan fritatta for my husband before he had to rush out the door for a music gig this MLK day morning).

Filling:

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup local MN maple syrup
• 2 cups walnuts, pounded and toasted lightly in a pan
• 3 tbsp light sour cream

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Line the botttom of a 9 inch pie pan with parchment paper (I used tin foil and it was fine except it was hard to slide out onto a plate at the end and no one wants to end up eating bits of tin foil.)

2) Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers,cut butter into flour and suger to form pea-size chunks. Add egg yolks and mix until pastry starts to cling together. Press into the bottom and sides of the prepared pan. Press crust with a fork, and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

3) To make filling, combine brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and mix in walnuts and sour cream.

4) Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 375 for 12 minutes. let cool before cutting.

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