Honey-roasted winter root vegetables and pot pie

My parents were visiting last weekend, and most of our activities centered around eating, as usual. We made a big break-the-fast dinner the first night, as my dad observed Yom Kippur, that included chicken, kugel, green beans, corn, and brownies. We ate at Margaret's Cantina and Neal's Deli for lunch, Crook's Corner for dinner, and Weathervane for brunch. And we made a big farmer's market meal featuring roasted pork shoulder with apples and turnip greens, purple hull peas, pumpkin bread, and honey-roasted winter root vegetables.


We had tons of leftovers, and I used the extra root veggies to make a vegetarian pot pie with whole-wheat biscuit dough. It was delicious!


Honey-roasted winter root vegetables
Adapted from Cooking Light

3 medium-size sweet potatoes
1 bunch turnips
1 medium butternut squash
1 medium yellow onion
1 daikon radish (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup honey
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel and coarsely chop all vegetables so you have approximately one-inch chunks. Place in a large bowl and add olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Coat a lipped cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Bake for 35 minutes or until vegetables are soft, stirring every 15 minutes to cook evenly.

Vegetable pot pie
Adapted from Vegetarian Times

3-4 cups leftover vegetables (I used winter root vegetables)
1/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup milk
2 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used one tbsp vinegar and enough milk to make one cup)
2 tsp honey

Coat a pie plate with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan, heat the wine over medium-high heat. Add vegetables. Simmer for three minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, and stir constantly for two minutes. In glass measuring cup, combine stock and milk. Add slowly to the saucepan, stirring constantly, until you get a thickened mixture. (You may not use all of the stock/milk mixture.) Add parsley, thyme, salt and pepper, and combine. Remove from heat and pour into prepared pie plate.

To make the biscuit topping, in a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, and whisk to combine. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. In a measuring cup, combine milk and honey. Add liquid to the flour mixture and stir until it forms a stiff dough. Knead lightly in bowl until dough is no longer sticky. Roll out on lightly floured surface to the shape of your pie plate. Lay topping gently over vegetable filling. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until vegetable mixture is bubbling and biscuit topping is golden brown

Lemon and ricotta pancakes

These pancakes are so fluffy, tender, and delicious, it is really hard to believe that they have hardly any flour in them! I served them with maple syrup, but they really didn't need it. In the future, I might drizzle just a bit of honey over them. Lavender-flavored honey would probably be wonderful.


Lemon and ricotta pancakes
from Cooking with Amy

2/3 cup ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp grated lemon rind

Blend egg yolk and ricotta cheese, then add milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon rind. Blend until combined. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff (but still moist) peaks form. Fold gently into batter. Heat griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Drop batter onto griddle using tablespoon measure. Cook until golden brown on bottom, and then flip until cooked through. This won't take long!

Labor day!

Like I said earlier, David and I had a very lazy Labor Day weekend, but we did manage to get our butts in gear to make a pretty nice Labor Day dinner.


David has made hamburgers in the past, but these came out the best ever. The burgers were tender and juicy, and he adorned them simply with mayo and mustard, plus some mizuna greens from our CSA box. In the past, the bun had been his burgers' downfall, so we took care with the bun this time, using some toasted ciabatta rolls from Whole Foods.

We accompanied the burgers with greek salad and my beloved oil-and-vingear potato salad.

I'm going to go eat the leftovers now!

Lazy Sunday: Soft pretzel making

I was reeeeeeally lazy this weekend. I didn't put my contacts in until 4 in the afternoon yesterday (a bad sign -- I can't see more than five feet in front of me with my glasses on). David and I watched a total of three episodes of Mad Men, five episodes of Weeds, and at least two episodes of The Simpsons. I can count the number of times I left the house the entire weekend on three fingers.

In an attempt to wake from our Labor Day weekend stupor, we set about making the soft pretzel recipe I'd read about recently on Joy the Baker, one of my new favorite blogs now that I'm interested in baking. Unfortunately, we ran into some problems. The initial dough was incredibly sticky, and we ended up adding at least an additional 1/2 cup of flour so that we could knead it. The final product tasted okay, but not as good as homemade pretzels I'd made in the past with my grandparents. They actually tasted more like bagels than pretzels. It turns out bagels and pretzels are made of the exact same ingredients, so I'm not really sure what makes a pretzel taste like a pretzel.

In any event, we covered ours with kosher salt and cinnamon sugar and ate two straight out of the oven. The cat got one before we could put them away. Today (as Joy the Baker warned) they're pretty chewy, but they're still made with flour and yeast and they still have salt or sugar on top of them, so how could they really be bad?

Weekend dinner: Baked eggplant parmesan

On the whole, our first CSA experience has been wonderful. It has taught me the true meaning of "The Omnivore's Dilemma:" when faced with thousands of out-of-season, shipped-across-the-country options, how would anyone be able to decide what to have for dinner? But when faced with a few in-season, at-their-best local ingredients, the choices become a whole lot easier. I find that I waste less, and I eat better food. Not to mention the reduction of stress when presented with the question of what to eat. The weekly CSA box has also introduced me to some new favorites (beet greens! turnips!), heightened my admiration for old ones (tomatoes! snap peas! potatoes!), and forced me to eat some veggies I used to say I didn't like (peppers, radishes, eggplant).

To deal with the four small Japanese eggplant we got in last week's box, I decided to make eggplant parmesan. It seemed the safest route -- I'd never had it before, but I'd heard that the eggplant is so disguised by all the breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, and cheese that you could be eating styrofoam and you wouldn't know it. I searched for a baked version, primarily to avoid the mess of frying, secondarily to make it a tad bit healthier. Martha's version did quite well. While I don't know that I'll be purchasing eggplant on my own free will any time soon, I will definitely make this again next year when the eggplant turns up in the CSA box.


Baked Eggplant Parmesan
from MarthaStewart.com

Olive oil, for baking sheets
2 large eggs
3/4 cup plan dry breadcrumbs (I used panko)
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (I accidentally left this out!)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper
2 large eggplants, peeled and sliced
6 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (I used fresh; I learned a good trick recently. Before grating or slicing fresh mozzarella, which often tears, freeze it for about 15 minutes before using. It's a very moist cheese, so it will get a little bit hard and be easier to work with.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush 2 baking sheets with oil; set aside. In a wide, shallow bowl, whisk together eggs and 2 tbsp water. In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, oregano, and basil; season with salt and pepper.

Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture, letting excess drip off; then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well. Place on baking sheets. Bake until golden brown on bottom, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn slices; continue baking until golden brown on other side, 20 to 25 minutes more. Remove from oven; raise oven heat to 400 degrees.

Spread 2 cups sauce in a 9x13 baking dish. Arrange half the eggplant in dish; cover with 2 cups sauce, then 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat with remaining eggplant, sauce, and mozzarella; sprinkly with remaining parmesan. Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes.

Nighttime chocolate craving: Vegan cocoa cake

Last night, I wanted chocolate. But this wasn't any normal chocolate craving. No, last night my tummy demanded warm chocolate. Warm chocolate mixed with flour. And sugar. Sweet bready chocolate was the only satisfaction I could get. I have been feeling a little guilty about my eating and exercise habits lately. I've basically forsaken my entire cardio routine with the excuse that it's too hot outside; the truth is, I'm lazy. And my newfound interest in baking has completely nixed the calorie-counting diet I'd been trying out (and losing weight on, actually). So what did I do, faced with this warm bready chocolate craving? I baked a cake sans egg, milk, and butter! A cake without animal products famous for their fats must be healthy, right? Probably not, but this cake got by on vegetable oil and a splash of vinegar, and boy was it good. If you have leftovers, be sure to warm them in the microwave before eating. This cake is definitely best hot.

Vegan cocoa cake
Recipe here; I halved it.

1 1/2 cups flour (I used cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking dish with oil. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Stir until clumps have smoothed out. Pour batter into pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Breakfast of my dreams: toast with lemon curd and muskmelon

I dreamed of this breakfast all Friday. Upon leaving work at 5:30 on the dot, I bought a french batard at Weaver Street Market, knowing I'd need it in the morning. I got up Saturday, toasted some bread slices on the griddle pan (we still don't have a toaster oven), and slathered on some lemon curd. Sweet crunchy bread served with a big slice of melon -- this was the breakfast of my dreams.

Sour blackberry cobbler

I go to the Carrboro Farmer's Market on Wednesdays these days, since that is the day I have to pick my box of veggies up from Castlemaine Farm. I went a little crazy last week and bought a bunch of additional stuff like melon, fresh figs, little potatoes, and blackberries. I am happy to report that the melon was ripe and tasty and the potatoes were awesome in my favorite potato salad. I am unhappy to report that the figs and blackberries were unripe and gross.

I had had some really good berries while I was in Los Angeles a few weeks back on business. Los Angelenos are known in my mind for having some really awesome granola. Everywhere you go, there is homemade granola with personality. At the hotel we stayed at, the restaurant offered their granola with fresh berries. It was so tasty and inspired me to "get into" berries. So I bought some blackberries, and they were terrible -- sour and bitter at the same time. How disappointing.

Not wanting them to go to waste, I found this recipe online somewhere for blackberry cobbler. The recipe I'm giving below is the portion I made -- just four servings -- so some of the measurements are weird. I winged it, using my eye to measure 1/8 cups of liquid and using a kitchen scale to measure the butter. It turned out really well, and the half-pound of sugar used really masked the terrible taste of the blackberries.

Blackberry cobbler

1 cup blackberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup milk
1.25 oz butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix blackberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Stir. Place your baking dish on the stove and heat the butter over low heat until it melts completely. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Remove baking dish from stove, and spread the dough into the melted butter. Pour the berry mixture on top. Bake for 25 minutes or until the dough rises to the top and begins to brown.

Zucchini carbonara

Carbonara is a pasta dish that is made with eggs and cream and, normally, bacon. You can make it a bit lighter and vegetarian (and tastier in my opinion) by using zucchini browned in olive oil instead. I got this recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It turned out really nicely, so I'll definitely be making it again, even though my first attempt ended in disaster and a broken hand-me-down Pyrex bowl.

The recipe calls for heating the bowl in the oven. I heated the bowl in a 450 degree oven and then cracked a cold egg into it. To my surprise, the bowl shattered violently, spewing melted cheese and raw egg all over the counter. Lesson learned -- heat the bowl with hot water instead. The warm bowl and hot pasta will be enough to cook the egg.

This would have been even better if I had had better cheese. A couple of weeks ago, desperate for parmesan late in the evening after Weaver Street Market had closed, I bought Digiorno cheese from Harris Teeter. It's not terrible, but it's definitely not as flavorful (or as hard) as a better cheese.


Zucchini Carbonara
adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Serves 2

1.5 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 small red onion, chopped
1 large egg
0.5 cup freshly grated parmesan
0.4 oz long pasta (I used vermicelli)
2 tbsp chiffonade of basil
Salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once pan is very hot, add zucchini and onion. Boil water, salt, then add pasta. Cook vegetable mixture until zucchini is browned and onions are caramelized, about 10 minutes. Heat a large glass or ceramic bowl with hot water, then whisk egg and cheese together. Drain pasta once al dente, and add immediately to bowl. Stir together. Pour vegetable mixture over pasta and sprinkle basil, salt, and pepper on top.

Cucumber cracker sandwiches

The garden has started to produce cucumbers, and only cucumbers. Gnarly, spiny, yellowing cucumbers deprived of water and subject to all the injustices of a beginner’s garden. Their trellises fell down a few times during the summer storms and before we learned when to pick them, we were leaving them on the vine too long, and some of them got big-seeded and a nuclear-looking translucent yellow. But over the weekend, we picked off some good ones.


Yesterday I made some tasty cucumber sandwiches for lunch. Ideally, I would have cukes on pumpernickel with goat cheese, but I didn’t have any bread, let alone pumpernickel, and the goat cheese in the fridge had gained some green and yellow spots and had to be thrown away. I improvised with some of my favorite crackers, Dr. Kracker’s Seedlanded Flatbreads and Laughing Cow cheese wedges. A chop of fresh potted oregano from the garden and a grind of salt and pepper made a tasty, crunchy sandwich.


Cucumber cracker sandwiches

Serves 1

2 flatbreads

1 small cucumber, sliced

2 Laughing Cow cheese wedges (I used Light Garlic and Herb)

1 tsp chopped fresh oregano

Salt and pepper

Spread cheese on flatbreads, and place cucumber slices on top. Take care not to break the bread. Sprinkle with oregano, salt, and pepper.

And then for dessert...
a New York Times chocolate chip cookie!