Favorite Cookbooks: A Homemade Life

I’ve recently returned “home” to England after three weeks in Texas (my native home) – and frankly, I’ve been struggling with re-entry. We take pretty much the same version of this trip every year and flying there is so easy. We get off the plane in the afternoon, and even though we’ve been travelling for twelve hours, sunny skies, Mexican food and friends are waiting for us. It’s like an instant shot of adrenalin to the system. We feel revved up and full of energy for what is, basically, several weeks of pure pleasure. Flying back to England is a different story, though. We arrive in the early morning: dirty, exhausted and with a crick in the neck from trying to sleep on the plane. At home, there are a million things that need to be done . . . not to mention the piles and piles of dirty laundry that tumble out of our (many) suitcases.


Getting back into the kitchen is always a bit of a problem after a long trip. While we are in Texas, I positively revel in eating out. The trip becomes a checklist of all of our favourite foods at all of favourite places. I can identify with this quotation: “The only reason I travel is for an excuse to eat more than usual.” (A Homemade Life, p. 260) And let’s be honest: Every now and then a person just needs to be liberated from the demands of dinner – not just having to make it, but having to think about what to make, too. I make about 98% of what we eat in our “normal” life in England, and I usually enjoy it, but it does always take me a little while to get back into the routine. And sometimes I feel that way about eating, too. After a couple of weeks of stuffing myself with Texan specialties (steak, hamburgers, Mexican food), I don’t feel like eating anything but the plainest sort of food. A baked potato, maybe; or a boiled egg with toast.

Just before I left Houston, I picked up a copy of A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. (You might know her from the Orangette blog or her food essays in Bon Appétit .) Wizenberg’s book is a foodie memoir – just the sort of thing that I like best. Her writing has warmth and wit; qualities which remind me of Laurie Colwin, one of my most beloved food writers. Interspersed with gracefully told essays are the recipes, which lean heavily towards soups, salads and baked goods – the food that I most want to cook, and eat, when I’m at home. With the exception of her potato salad and pickled carrots, which no one in my family but me would eat, I was tempted to earmark every single one of her recipes for immediate experimentation.

I guess that some people can draw inspiration from ingredients alone, but good stories always work best for me. It’s part of why I love to eat out when I go home to Texas. It’s not just the food; it’s also the memories lingering around the food. Reading A Homemade Life is just what I needed to rekindle my enthusiasm for my own kitchen. Although I’ve only been home for a handful of days, I’ve already made her blueberry-raspberry pound cake and her buckwheat pancakes. I’m got bananas ripening on the counter for the delectable sounding banana bread with chocolate and crystallized ginger. And I'm eyeing up the leftover Easter ham to make her version of a frisee salad with ham, eggs and mustard vinaigrette.

Funnily enough, the only meal that I made in Texas was a breakfast of pancakes and bacon when we were staying at a friend’s ranch. Although I can’t recapture the warm Texas breeze coming through the window, or the cups of good coffee, or the collection of friends, Molly’s buckwheat pancakes were really good, too. As recommended, I added blueberries to the mix. I doubled the recipe, and that was enough to feed me and three jet-lagged teenagers with bedhead. I had the two-day-old leftovers this morning and they were still surprisingly delicious.

** One thing that I can share from my Texas trip is my Mom’s tip for bacon. Instead of frying it or microwaving it, try baking it in a hot (400 F/200 C) oven. (Does everyone else know about this?) Just arrange it on a slatted baking sheet (with a pan/tin underneath to catch the grease) and bake for 20/30 minutes or until it reaches the desired colour and crispiness. It cooks evenly and crisply, and doesn’t shrink as much as with other cooking methods. It also makes less of a mess, although there will be a dirty pan to clean up. But hey, it’s worth it.

friday night food

friday dinner is always a very relaxed affair at our house, often consumed a bit late in front of friday evening television. after the efforts of the week, friday calls for something easy and relaxed, but also something a bit nibbly and tasty and suited towards stretching it out a bit, grazing over dinner, if you will. i often make something that we can spread out on the coffee table in the living room and everyone can nibble and pick at it, rather than sitting down to a proper dinner. often, it's some nice hard sausage, several kinds of cheese, olives, oven-dried tomatoes, smoked almonds or salty pistachios and a loaf of good bread. whatever else we have, friday evening always revolves around a good loaf of bread - whether homemade or a long baguette or two purchased from the bakery at the grocery store. luckily, we live in a place with a good bread culture, as a loaf of ordinary sliced bread just won't do.

clockwise from 12 - creamy eggplant, classic tomato, portabello, roasted pepper

yesterday evening, i lazily stirred up four different toppings for bread - none of which involved meat. and they were each so tasty on their own, that we didn't miss the meat at all. i had to have two rounds of each one before i could decide which one i liked best. the base of each is a slice of good bread, dipped in olive oil on one side, with just a strafing of grated cheese on top and toasted 'til golden brown in the oven.

creamy eggplant

creamy eggplant bruschetta

1 eggplant, diced, salted, allowed to drain in a colander, rinsed, then browned in a pan

1 small onion, diced - sweat off the onion while the eggplant is draining

5-6 springs of fresh thyme

1/2 C of cream

1 tsp. of chili flakes for kick (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

dice your onion and sweat it off in the pan with a bit of olive oil. dice the eggplant, salt it and leave it in the sink in a colander to drain off the bitterness that eggplants can have. rinse and add it to the onion, tossing it around 'til it's a bit browned. season with chili, salt & pepper and add the thyme and the cream. allow it to simmer until it's a thick, creamy sauce. 

classic bruschetta - tomato, garlic, oregano

tomato bruschetta

4 roma tomatoes, diced
handful of fresh oregano, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
olive oil
salt & pepper

dice your tomatoes and place them in a bowl, mix with chopped oregano and garlic, salt & pepper to taste and drizzle over a bit of olive oil. for a bit of extra bite, add a dash of balsamic vinegar.

portabello

portabello bruschetta

4 medium portabello mushrooms, diced

4-5 springs of thyme

olive oil

butter

salt & pepper

warm olive oil and a bit of butter in a pan and then add the roughly diced portabellos. sauté them until they are soft and don't look at all raw, add the thyme, salt & pepper. this is sublimely simple and tastes sublime. a bit of garlic wouldn't be wrong, but since i had garlic in a couple of the other toppings, i left it out. 

roasted red pepper

roasted red pepper bruschetta

2 red peppers, sliced in half, seeds and stalk removed
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
olive oil
white wine
at least 8 springs of thyme
salt & pepper

prepare a baking dish with a bit of olive oil in the bottom, lay in the red peppers, throw 2 cloves of garlic and a bit of thyme in each one, put in a bit of olive oil into the bowl of the pepper itself. a glug of white wine in the bottom of the pan to prevent the peppers from drying out. stick it in the oven at 180°C/350°F for 20-30 minutes, until nicely roasted. remove and slice into strips.

i put the toppings into each their own little rectangular dish, gave them a last bit of heating in the oven, with the bread while it finished toasting. pop the bread into a basket, pour a couple of glasses of wine and you have a bruschetta feast for 2-3, maybe even 4. and seriously, don't worry about the cream in the eggplant - you do need some fat in your diet and so it may as well come in small, good-tasting elements that involve quality ingredients. 

and as for which was my favorite...as i was eating each one, i thought "this is it." but in the end, i actually think that the red pepper was my favorite. which actually surprised me a little bit. roasting a red pepper just makes it sweet and wonderful. but the creamy eggplant was a close second. the only one there was something left of was the tomato, the rest of it was all eaten, down to wiping down the bowls with the last of the bread. yummy.

lunch in the garden

take one sunshiney sunday with no wind at all, add daffodils in bloom all over the garden, and warm to temperatures approaching 20 (upper sixties for those in the US). put a pretty tablecloth over one outdoor table and add cushiony pillows to outdoor chairs. make sure there's some cold white wine in the fridge.

springy shrimp salad

400 grams small shrimp (ours come from greenland and are in a plastic container with slightly vinegary - salty water, but you can use big lovely precooked tiger shrimp or whatever shrimp you can get
1 ripe mango, diced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced into pretty rounds
1/2 a cucumber, diced
1 handful of ripe cherry tomatoes, sliced

dressing:
juice of one lemon
handful of fresh thyme (preferably from your garden), slid neatly off its stalks
good glug (my favorite measurement) of olive oil
salt & pepper

chop all of the ingredients and mix them with the shrimp in a pretty bowl. whisk up the lemon juice, thyme and olive oil and season with salt & pepper, pour over the shrimp mixture.

serve immediately with a loaf of fresh bread. either from the bakery or your own oven. basic bread recipe here.

i mixed up a pitcher of lemonade - using the juice of 3 lemons, about 1/2 a container of honey and sparkling water. the adults added a dash of white wine to theirs and the child drank it as it was.

and there you have the recipe for a perfect sunday lunch in the garden.

what's for dinner? - burgers

i know, i've blogged the burger thing here on domestic sensualist before, so this isn't exactly news. however, this week is about what we're really eating for dinner, and last night, it was burgers.

a homemade burger is a most satisfying dinner. if you pile on enough tomatoes and greens and onions and cucumbers and avocado, you don't even need anything to go with it - meat, bread, veggies, bacon - it has something from all of the essential food groups. and although burgers can be a bit mundane, it doesn't take that much to step them up a notch.

500 grams of organic ground beef
3 cloves of garlic, minced
shake of fajita seasoning

mix the seasonings with the ground beef thoroughly, then form into patties. i make a fairly thin burger, mostly because i usually pile so much stuff on it that if the burger is also thick, i've got issues. plus, a thin burger gets done faster, so you fast track your time from stove to table.

do try to buy (or make, if you're ambitious) some posh buns (a harder crust italian one or a focaccia) instead of normal hamburger buns. it tastes better, but it also makes the everyday seem less mundane.

we always have avocado in some form with our burgers - either sliced or as guacamole - its green butteriness is just the perfect complement to the garlicky beef.

the burger above has a bit of a sesame dressing from a japanese place drizzled over it, but use what you've got around the house - a zingy citrus olive oil, some teriyaki, salsa, whatever's in the cupboard.

everybody likes a burger, so it's a great way to feed the family when inspiration lags.

what's for dinner - risotto & potato focaccia

late yesterday afternoon, i had just turned on the oven to preheat before putting in the bread for a little dinner party we were having on a tuesday, since friends from manila were in town. suddenly, everything went dark. i thought that in this old house, since i had the dishwasher and my mixer going, that turning on the oven was too much and i'd blown a fuse. i went out to the new fuse board and flipped a few switches. nothing. the four guests would arrive in just over an hour and i had nothing finished to feed them. so i called husband in a panic. while i was photographing the electrical board for him and getting ready to send it through, the neighbor came by to ask if our electricity was out too. turned out it was the whole area and not my fuses at all! yay! or not, because who knew how long it would take before it came back on?

my planned menu was pretty simple - a potato focaccia, chicken risotto and a big salad. happily, husband recently built me a gas stovetop, so i didn't electricity to get on with the risotto.

risotto is my go-to dish at least once a week, especially in the winter. it's warming, hearty and lends itself to whatever you have at hand - you can add leftover chicken, peas, asparagus, leeks, mushrooms, safran - whatever you want, really. it's filling and all it really needs to go with it is a salad. plus, it makes great leftovers.  the first couple of times, it can be slightly temperamental, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

chicken leek risotto

3 C of chicken broth (preferably homemade, but it's ok to use a bouillon cube and hot water)

1 C good quality white wine (if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it)

1 C risotto rice 

3 leeks, finely sliced and rinsed well

olive oil

butter

2 C chopped roast chicken

1/2 C creme fraiche (optional)

fresh parmesan for grating over the top

put the broth in one pan and heat it up to simmer. meanwhile, melt a good knob of butter and a glug of olive oil and sauté off the leeks. it's ok to have more oil than you'd normally think is ok, because next you're going to add the rice and it should be well-coated in the butter-olive oil mixture. stir until the rice goes a bit translucent, then add the white wine. stir and once the rice absorbs the white wine, begin to add the warm bouillon one ladle at a time. stirring frequently, but not necessarily constantly. once you've added all of the bouillon and it's been absorbed (which takes 20+ minutes), stir in the chicken and creme fraiche and allow them to warm through. serve with fresh parmesan grated on top.  it will be quite creamy, even without the creme fraiche, so that's optional.

the focaccia recipe was posted here.  this time, i sliced 3 small potatoes very thinly (you can do it with a mandolin, tho' i just used the slicing bit of my big hand grater, since i have developed a strange fear of my mandolin), sprinkled them over the top with some dried rosemary and flaky salt.

they went all yummy and a bit potato chip-like on top of the bread.

happily, the electricity came back on and i was able to bake the bread so that it came out of the oven just as they arrived. sometimes you just get lucky.

the salad was simply a package of mixed leaves, a handful of tomatoes, an apple, half a cucumber, diced and a package of blueberries. for dressing, i drizzled a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  i served a south african chardonnay with the meal.

p.s. utterly neglected to photograph the risotto. sorry about that!

what's for dinner - couscous

wander into the kitchen, bleary-eyed from a day at the computer, and more than a little shocked that it's already 5:45. pour self glass of cold white wine. take a sip. open refrigerator to see what's there. clear out the crisper. put carrots, half a zucchini (left over from yesterday's pizza), half a cabbage (left over from saturday's stir fry), a handful of green beans, half a box of mushrooms and an onion on the counter. check the cupboard, see if there's some couscous left in that box. there is. breathe sigh of relief. take another sip of wine.

set kettle to boil, pour boiling water over one bouillon cube (flavor of your choice - i used beef, tho' to keep this dish vegetarian, you can use a veggie one). meanwhile, put a cup of couscous into a shallow bowl, then pour the bouillon over it and place a plate over the top of the bowl and leave it to soak in. meanwhile, chop all of the assorted veggies you found in the fridge. start by tossing diced onions into pan and sweat them off in a good glug of olive oil. add a grated carrot and grated zucchini (courgette), then chopped mushrooms, then some chopped cabbage and green beans cut into bite-size. sauté them until they're done just enough - it's ok if the beans are still slightly crunchy. you can cover with a lid for a couple of minutes while you have a well-deserved sip of wine, but don't let them lose their bright color. and don't forget to season with salt & pepper.

toast off some hazelnuts or almonds or pine nuts - whatever you've got. chop a handful of dried apricots (or dates) for a little element of sweetness. toss it all together with the couscous (which you've fluffed with a fork), stir it together, take another sip of wine and call the family for dinner.  if you're lucky, there might be just enough left for you for lunch tomorrow.

this is a vegetarian dish, but if you had some leftover meat from another meal, you could toss that in, but the dish doesn't need meat.

what's for dinner? - pizza

i suspect i'm not alone in having a daily struggle with figuring out what to make for dinner. so i thought i'd share that struggle with you here, all week. some days are more inspired than others. it's hard when you've worked all day to find the energy to make a meal for the family. while i do cook to unwind, sometimes, i simply don't feel like cooking. but the fact is, we've got to eat, and so i find ways to put dinner on the table anyway. so i hereby give you the first installment in a week of everyday meals.

when you don't feel like cooking, the temptation to run down to the local pizza place is strong. however, making homemade pizza is easy and so much more delicious than any pizza from the local pizza joint. if you get creative, you can probably use the ingredients you have in the fridge and not even have to go to the grocery store.

potato slices, chicken, mozarella, prima donna cheese

pizza crust

250ml (1 cup) warm water

1/2 package of yeast (half a cube of fresh yeast is what i use, but dry is fine too)

1 squeeze of runny honey

1 tsp. salt

2 T olive oil

3 C flour (you may need a bit more if the dough is too wet)

mix the warm water, yeast and honey in the mixer bowl and let them sit for 5 minutes 'til the yeast begins to bubble. add the salt, olive oil and flour and allow the mixer to knead it for you (or mix it well and knead it for a few minutes if you don't have a mixer with a dough hook). place it in a large bowl, greased with olive oil and allow it to rise in a warm spot while you prepare the toppings. it's enough for two crusts. 

suggested toppings:

for all: 3 kinds of cheese - 1 ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced, freshly-grated parmesan, grated prima donna (or whatever cheese you have on hand)

olive oil & garlic base:

3 T good olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

mix the olive oil & minced garlic in a bowl, spread it over the crust. top with cheese. you can also add leftover chicken if you have some. a couple of thinly-sliced potatoes are good too. or maybe carmelized onions.

tomato sauce base:

the quick version: keep a jar of good quality tomato/pasta sauce on hand (ours is called dolmio). (i know this goes against our own "what is not a domestic sensualist" philosophy, but sometimes, it's needed.)

toppings:

sliced tomato + cheese (the classic margarita)

grated zucchini

thinly-sliced mushrooms

chorizo

pesto base: 

keep a jar or tub of good quality pesto on hand for those don't-want-to-cook days. but pesto is also easy and can even be made of arugula, pine nuts and a dash of olive oil in the food processor in a hurry. but sometimes, you don't have basil or fresh arugula at hand, so a jar of it is fine.

ideal topped with leftover chicken or leftover flank steak and a few fresh veggies - peppers, mushrooms, eggplant.

bake for 20+ minutes in a 180°C/350°F oven, 'til the crust is crispy. eat immediately.

not the best pic, but it was getting a bit dark.

you can throw some mixed salad leaves right on top, for a healthy kick.

get as fancy and creative as you want with the toppings, but the simpler the better. and don't be afraid to use up leftovers as toppings.