The World Series is over, our team won, and our black and orangemeals won’t be baseball-related anymore — though they’re so seasonal, I’m sure they’ll continue.
But today, after a long and fabulous day at the Giants’ ticker tape parade, we didn’t have it in us to cook anything. We opted for dinner out at one of our favorite local places. The menu changes with the seasons (tonight I had a great lasagna with kale, roasted squash and hazelnuts) but retains enough standards that the boys — not the most adventurous eaters — can always count on their favorite salads and pasta. And we can always count on sharing a piece of ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream for dessert. It’s so good we don’t order the excellent chocolate cake. It’s so good the boys hold spoons ready to dig in the minute they see the waiter approach with our order. It’s so good I practically had to bribe the boys with extra bites so I could take a picture before it was devoured:
It’s so good the newspaper printed the recipe not too long ago, so luckily you don’t have to live in my neighborhood, or even my city, to enjoy this cake; here you go. Enjoy.
Not so long ago our microwave died a not-so-quiet death. It zapped and fritzed and we quickly decided it was time to retire it. We’d had it a long time, and we used it a lot: for reheating many things; for morning porridge; for defrosting; for popcorn. But getting rid of it freed up a large space, onto which I placed my new rice cooker.
Caroline loves her rice cooker. I was lukewarm about the model I had, which was old, American, and did a so-so job with the rice. I knew I needed a new one, but never got motivated. Then, last summer, Ella and I had her Japanese friend and her mother over for dinner before they moved back to Japan, and I made rice to go with dinner. Well, my friend took one look at my appliance, and felt very sorry for me. “I think we had one like that when I was very little. She offered to give me hers when they left, since they couldn’t take it with them. I gratefully accepted, and now I have this really lovely Tiger Model, which has sort of changed many things in our life:
It has a timer, which can permanently remember two different times, settings for white, brown, mixed rice & porridge, reheat, and keep warm settings. It has a nice little slot for the paddle, and interior markings on the inset bowl so that you can pretty much tell where the water level should be (you can totally tell if you read Japanese).
Now, I use the rice cooker all the time. I have one timer set to 5 pm, and I can dump in the white rice, mixed rice (part brown/part white, which is our favorite), brown rice, farro. (Caroline cooks quinoa, too) at noon or 1 or 2 pm and it’s done perfectly by dinner time. But here’s the added beauty: The second timer is set for 7 AM, and after dinner, I can dump in a cup of steel cut oats, 3 cups of water, and in the morning–hot porridge. No mess, no stirring for an hour. It’s genius. The kids love it. I love it. It’s made our lives–and especially our mornings–easier and some of our meals healthier. So, if you’re in the market for an appliance, or a new toy for your holiday list, get a rice cooker w/some of these features. You won’t be disappointed, even if it can’t cook popcorn.
And: Thank you, Wakana, for your friendship. And the rice cooker! We think of you every time we use this!
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of quick breads. Especially during the school year, rarely a week goes by that I’m not turning our extra bananas/apples/pears/pumpkin/summer squash into a batch of muffins or a loaf of bread for snack. But this recipe by Stephanie Rosenbaum for a yeasted pumpkin bread caught my eye recently, and it’s terrific. You can add pumpkin pie spice (or your own blend of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg) for a nice breakfast or tea bread, or leave the spices out for a fabulous sandwich bread. Another time, I will write at greater length about working with yeast and why I don’t think it’s so hard; in the meantime, I suggest you just dive in and bake this bread.
Yeasted Pumpkin Bread
You can go sweet or savory with this bread. Reduce or remove the brown sugar altogether and leave out the spices for a more savory bread; add sweet autumn-y spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to make it more of a breakfast or teatime treat. Cinnamon can be a little overwhelming, so try experimenting with just a couple, like nutmeg and cloves. Pregrated nutmeg quickly loses its punch, so try grating a fresh whole nutmeg using the fine holes of a box grater or microplane. The flavor difference is quite amazing.
Makes: 2 loaves or 2 dozen rolls
Ingredients:
1/4 cup warm water
1 package (2 1/4 tsps) active dry yeast
2 cups roasted, mashed pumpkin or other winter squash
2 tablespoons pumpkin-seed, walnut, or other vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and/or cloves, optional
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 cups whole-wheat flour
3-4 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
Egg glaze: 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tbsp water
Preparation
1. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over water. Let stand for a few minutes, then whisk to dissolve.
2. Mix pumpkin, oil, milk, eggs, brown sugar, salt, spices if using, cornmeal, and whole-wheat flour into yeast mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon to make a thick batter.
3. One cup at a time, add white flour, stopping when you have a soft but manageable dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
4. Wash, dry, and lightly oil the bowl you were just using. Now, knead the dough with gusto for 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle over small amounts of remaining flour as needed; dough will tend to be sticky. Use patience and a dough scraper, and resist the temptation to dump in a whole bunch of flour to make it behave one and for all.
5. When dough has become smooth and elastic, return the dough to the oiled bowl. Swish around and turn over to make sure the whole ball of dough is lightly coated with oil. Cover bowl with a clean dishtowel and let rise in a warmish place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat into a large, flat rectangle. Sprinkle with dried cranberries and 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds. Roll up dough, rolling and kneading gently to distribute cranberries and seeds throughout dough.
7. Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a round or rectangular loaf. You can also shape dough into small round rolls.
8. Place loaves or rolls on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Let rise until nearly double in size, about 1 hour.
9. Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush loaves or rolls with egg glaze. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Bake for 20-25 minutes for rolls, 30-35 minutes for loaves. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.
It may be almost Halloween, but we have other important things to think about these days, too.
This very quick game night meal was inspired by Caroline’s Giant Enchildas and these pumpkin tacos from Sunset Magazine–which sound terrific to me, but I just didn’t have all the ingredients in my pantry.
For this very seasonal meal–pick your team or your holiday, or both–you need:
The deeper the Giants play into the post-season, the more excited my family gets. I stuck to my promise to make caramel corn for the pennant games, and this weekend (despite the approaching candy-bonanza of Halloween) I will make It’s-Its to cheer on our World Series chances. But a family has to eat dinner, too, and we can’t eat black bean and sweet potato enchiladas every day. When I found an orange cauliflower in our CSA share last week, it seemed like a sign, so although the cauliflower loses its orange tint when you roast it, I’m posting this recipe again; it’s a great dinner, it’s black and orange(ish), and it’s easy to prep ahead of time and pull together, if you need to, between innings.
Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower
1 large head of cauliflower
1/3 c pitted olives, very coarsely chopped (or more, to taste)
2-3 tbsp capers (again, more or less depending on how salty you like things)
1 pound of pasta
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper, grated Parmesan cheese, and chopped parsley to taste; toasted bread crumbs would be a nice addition, too, if you happen to have them
Preheat the oven to 400 and put up a big pot of water to boil.
Break the cauliflower up into bite-sized florets (this is the most time-consuming part of the recipe). Toss the cauliflower onto a large baking pan, with the olives and capers, and drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil over the lot. Roast, stirring once or twice, for about 20 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and starting to brown a bit around the edges. You can do this much ahead of time and then leave the cauliflower out until you’re ready to cook the pasta. The cooled cauliflower will warm quickly if you toss it with the drained pasta in your still-hot pasta cooking pot.
Toward the end of the cauliflower-cooking time, boil the pasta. When it’s done, drain, reserving a half cup or so of the pasta water. Toss the pasta back into the cooking pot with the roasted cauliflower, olives and capers. Add some of the pasta water if it seems too dry. Serve with lots of freshly ground black pepper, grated cheese, a sprinkling of parsley, and some bread crumbs.
