Onwards... to Wordpress!

Broken picture links, weird headers... gah.

Onwards... to Wordpress!

When Gourmet magazine went under and I was stuck with two extra years of Bon Appetit, I will admit- I was pissed. And I know I am not the only one. I liked Gourmet's vintage cocktail recipes and food politics pieces; what I do NOT need is yet another recipe for homemade granola. Seriously.

Because I am both lazy and hopeful, however, I have not cancelled my subscription. Instead, I've dutifully flipped through each issue that comes along, hoping for inspiration. More often than not, I pass everything along to my landlady, who reads the issues and then takes them to work, where they get snapped up... and I don't have to feel guilty about wasting a perfectly adequate magazine.

And then I received our weekly CSA e-mail, and what are we getting today? Tatsoi. Bok choy. Radishes. Snap peas. Scallions. For the third week in a row. Don't get me wrong- we love the seasonality of the CSA model, repeats and all, but with full-time jobs and night classes, both of us are a little short on creative cooking brainpower these days.

Last week, because I was in that kind of a mood, everything got the Italian cuisine treatment. In the midst of making our weekly menu+grocery list and not wanting repeats, L and I flipped through a stack of back issues, and what did I find in this month's Bon Appetit? Bok choy. Radishes. Snap peas. Scallions. Add the tatsoi and we'll be able to use up everything, while it's still superfresh, in just two recipes!

Way to pull through, BA! Extend this streak and I may have to reconsider how quickly I give away those issues!

New Puppy Cousin

Wow- time seems to fly around here. Things have been nuts and I am apparently very good at spending most of my time neglecting this blog. Perhaps we need to play the lottery more often! In which case, L would have to wheel me down the hallway every morning and evening, because I might be traveling-and-cooking-and-baking-wild for a good long time. There's a lot of food out there to try!

In family news, the puppers is getting a new cousin! One of these handsome little boys will be ready to go home soon. He will be named Otis (I KNOW- love it!), and I think he is going to run everyone completely ragged, in addition to wrapping us all around his tiny paw. We can't wait to meet him!

All Mushrooms Are Edible- Once

I picked these up on a walk with the puppers. The weather here has been crazy this fall (snow! this past Sunday! big fat flakes!), but apparently it's just right for wild mushrooms to flourish.



We eventually tossed them- I'm no mycologist, and it's not worth a hospital trip (or worse).



Still, they were beautifully tempting.

Baby, it's Cold Outside! Citrusy Roasted Beets

According to the weather reporters around here, we're having one of the coldest Octobers on record.

The lovely people at the The Old Farmer's Almanac who are, incidentally, known for their amazingly accurate weather prediction skills, are telling us to expect a colder-than-average winter this year.

And I'm the only person I know who is genuinely gleeful about this- I adore harsh winters, snow shoveling and all!

I'm sure this is due, in part, to all the body-and-soul-warming cooking that can happen only when the kitchen isn't 102'F and/or dripping with the nasty, oppressive humidity that Boston likes to dump on everyone each spring and summer.

Naturally, something I really love coming back to each fall is roasting. We roast everything around here- meat and vegetables, obviously, and often fruit, too. It's such a beautifully easy technique, and best of all, roasting (in this case) gives you foolproof caramelization, which catapults humble vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, parsnips, celery root and beets from dry and fibrous to sweet and succulent.

I can't think of a better way to discover that you like beets!

When in season, blood orange juice lends a lovely tart zip. These are particularly good added to winter salads.



Citrusy Roasted Beets
serves 4 as a side dish

1 pound beets, trimmed, peeled and quartered*
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon orange zest
pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 425'F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat OR use a cast iron skillet large enough to hold the beets in a single layer.

Stir together orange juice and orange zest. Set aside.

Toss beets in olive oil and tip onto baking sheet/into skillet. Sprinkle with salt.

Roast, tossing occasionally, until the beets are soft when pierced with a fork, usually around 30-45 minutes depending on the size of your beets.

When done but still piping hot, toss roasted beets with orange juice + zest mixture.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

* There is some debate as to whether beets should be peeled before or after roasting. I like to peel and cut them up first because this way, you get great caramelization on the cut sides of the beets.