JENN McKINLAY: It's been a stressful winter/spring -- deadlines, moving Hooligans, and the world at large -- to name just a few. The capper was my mom suffering a broken foot (open fracture no less) while visiting us, putting her in a boot for month. When we got back from the ER, emergency cheer up food was required!
Normally when I am stressed, I have a hard time eating anything. However, the dutch baby breaks through all that silliness with its yummy goodness, so I share it with you.
DUTCH BABY
Sadly, I am not Celia, so there is no video just a recipe and pics, but trust me it's delicious! Also, I got the recipe from @cast_iron_chris on Instagram so that makes my time spent on social media worth it!
Ingredients:
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar
Directions:
Heat all metal skillet in oven at 425.
Mix eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and nutmeg until smooth.
Add butter to hot skillet and let it melt.
Once butter is melted, add the batter to the skillet and bake for 20 mins until walls and center of Dutch Baby have puffed up. Turn off oven and let it bake another five minutes. Don't open the door during baking or baby will deflate. Remove from oven add powdered sugar and sautéed apples (optional). Enjoy!
Apples: Peel and slice 3 granny smith apples, melt a tablesopon of butter in medium sized pot, adding cinnamon and brown sugar to taste. I used a Tablespoon of brown sugar and a half teaspoon of cinnamon.
Coat with powdered sugar:
Serve with sautéed apples and cinnamon:
Okay, Reds and Readers, what's your go-to comfort food?
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Just in time for Lent, our local chef de cuisine Celia Wakefield has you set with a warm, delicious and comforting fish pie, which, yes, seemed VERY British to me as well. Please don't let the length of the recipe scare you off - I saw Celia make this after a two hour round trip to the theatre and a performance of Rigoletto, which isn't a short opera. It was NOT difficult, and has the benefit of being a dish you can throw together the day after cooking the seafood. I had two helpings and would have taken the left-overs back home with me if Celia had given the slightest hint. Oh, well, I suppose Victor and she did have to have something for lunch the next day.
(Note on the videos - I'm sorry there are so many! I usually edit them to make two or three compilations, but my video editor would NOT cooperate.)
Good morning to all the Reds, and a Big Thank You Julia for letting me loose on the blog yet again. So where are we? My Facebook page told me several time that today is a palindrome. While that has nothing to do with the fact that February has 28 days I’m willing to explore these wormholes. I know the 28 days has to do with squaring our year to fit within the lunar cycle, and why February? I am inquisitive enough to actually go and check up. Here is the answer from Britannica -the Romans considered February an unlucky month as this was the month they honored their dead so lets make it the short one.
Well that’s enough of the Romans, though I do find it interesting that we are still doing things mandated by them. Just to complete the cycle of facts, I first came across a or several palindromes in one of Margary Allingham’s books -“More Work for the Undertaker” is the book I think. I was probably in my teens when I read it. I remember the story involved an eccentric, well educated and well bred middle aged family of siblings with a murder in their midst. Call for Albert Campion (non de plume).
Enough of dawdling down paths of mystery, my task today is to offer another of my recipes. Julia chose this as we had it for dinner after the three of us had been to see Rigoletto in a Met Opera HD performance. It is lovely to find a friend who enjoys Opera as it’s so much fun to be able to share views after. Another side note. If you are an Opera buff and haven’t seen this production, please try to catch it. The singing and acting is sublime. Both Rigoletto and Gilda have performed this together many times and it shows.
We had a grand afternoon and because HD shows begin at 1pm, I had made and brought smoked salmon sandwiches to tide us over till dinner. It was a rather fishy day.
Arriving home we got to work on dinner, my fish pie, after the necessary restorative cuppa. With full disclosure as they say in the media, I have never been very fond of fish. Having thrown out a challenge to the ocean I must admit that I love shell fish, and totally love sushi and sashimi. In fact I really only like tuna raw. I am also partial to some smoked fish and was very disappointed when Legal SeaFoods took their blue fish pate off their menu. But serve me blue fish, Herring or mackerel, nothing oily, too fishy, thank you. I had unpleasant eating experiences with fish at boarding school. Being a convent it was fish on Fridays and usually boiled to flannel texture with bones still in and no sauce.
But that will not be the case with my fish pie, there will be sauce and that is what caught Julia’s attention. Why fish pie? Well for some long lost reason fish pie is what I crave if I’m not feeling well. Baked golden brown fish pie with an embellished white sauce thick with cheese and hard boiled eggs into which one mixes cod, pollock, cusk whatever white fish available. As I can get good fresh pollock that was the choice along with Bang Island mussels.
This is a no recipe, beloved of Sam Shifton, NYT Food Editor, who usually writes about no recipe meals on Wednesdays, then proceeds to tantalise me with many no recipe ideas which I can’t read as I won’t pay the price so to do. But I will put in my quantities as I can best guess them, which probably is good for 4-6 people. There was plenty left to serve again after the three of us had dinner, and it held up well over six days refrigeration.
Sea food ingredients:
1# bag of mussels
1# pollock
For cooking the mussels:
1/2 onion, chopped
Fresh dill
1 tsp fennel seeds,
1 tsp peppercorns
1/2 c white wine or vermouth
Wash mussels, throw out any that have broken shells.
Use a large frying pan with a lid to cook the mussels
Add half a chopped onion, some dill fresh preferably, tsp of fennel seeds, tsp peppercorns, 1/2 cup white wine or vermouth, 1/2 cup water and the mussels to the pan and cover.
Heat till the liquid boils and the mussels start to open,
Cook a couple more minutes, then drain liquid and mussels through a sieve.
Put the mussels to one side discarding any that didn’t open, to cool down
Carefully pour the cooking liquid into a microwave safe dish with lid and add the fish. Do not use all the liquid as there will be some sand etc from the mussels at the bottom.
The cooking liquid can be used with milk in the sauce if wished
Sauce and topping ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled
Cheddar or another grating cheese to make a cup plus grated (Parmesan would only be my choice for topping)
Potatoes, enough to make 3-4 cups of mashed potato
Milk, butter, oil, salt and pepper
Dill to season if liked
Toasted bread or Panko crumbs for topping
Egg and Cheese Sauce:
Hard boil the eggs in advance and peel them
Grate enough cheese to fill a cup measure, I choose cheddar*
Step 1, seasoning the milk
Add to a pint of milk
bay leaf
10 peppercorns
nutmeg pieces or half a tsp grated nutmeg
small piece of onion or shallot
couple sprigs of parsley
Put the milk and first five ingredients in a small saucepan,
Heat almost to a boil,
Turn the heat down all the way and allow to simmer gently for ten minutes or so
Strain the milk to remove seasonings into a jug for pouring onto the roux.
Step 2, making the roux
2 Tblsp unsalted butter - if you use salted just taste sauce before adding more seasoning
2Tblsp flour - if GF use enough potato starch to make a roux
Salt and pepper, dill, nutmeg
Melt the butter and add the flour in two or three turns
Stir to incorporate butter and flour and cook for a few minutes over medium heat to ‘cook out’ the raw flour taste
Take the pan off the heat and whisk about a quarter of the milk into the roux, mixing well to break up any small lumps
Return pan to medium heat and continue to add the milk a little at a time, whisking briskly and watching the mixture thicken. You may not need all the milk
As the sauce thickens add the cheese which will help the sauce thickening process then season to taste
Mix in the well chopped eggs, chopped dill, or parsley, grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste
Baking the Fish Pie:
Pour the sauce into the casserole,
Mix in the cooked fish, and shellfish if used, which should be broken into bite sized pieces
Cover the top with mashed potatoes and add a sprinkle of grated cheese and breadcrumbs if you wish.
Use an oven proof casserole and bake at 350F for about a half hour or until the top is golden brown.
NOTES:
This is truly a ‘seat of pants’ recipe and I encourage you to make it as you will. Looking back there do seem to be many directions but I would rather over compensate than leave a step out.
The sauce is based on a béchamel sauce that I learned to make many years ago. However it is fine to make a roux and mix in the milk without going through the seasoning process first. But done this way if you have time does add an element to the dish. As you can see the sauce is what makes the dish special. Perhaps I should just make the sauce and get a spoon!
I often make this with white fish which I cover with milk in a microwave safe dish and nuke for a couple of minutes, then let sit. That cooks the fish and I use the milk to make the sauce.
Final Word: An immersion blender can solve almost all lumpy problems.
HALLIE EPHRON: Quick quiz: Which movie would you rather watch right now: Singin' in the Rain or Contagion? As for me, I'm on my fifth time reading the Harry Potter Books, so today's guest, Esme Addison's contention that many of us are looking for light reading, as we wait for the light at the end of the tunnel, rings true.
Esme is the author of A Spell of Trouble, an Enchanted Bay mystery with a protagonist who finds herself trying to help out estranged relatives who run an herbal apothecary known for its remarkably potent teas, salves, and folk remedies. These days we could all use a stash of those! Welcome, Esme! ESME ADDISON: The family featured in my story - the Sobieskis - are Polish-American, so there’s Polish food. If you’re Polish or have lived in an area with a large community of Poles, you’ve probably had some good authentic Polish food. It’s hearty, tasty and very satisfying. What’s more comforting than a big, hot bowl of zupa koperkowa (Polish Dill Soup) or a slice of slightly sweet, moist placek z jablka (apple cake)?
Comfort is on a lot of people’s mind right now. Whether it’s a comfort read or comfort food, we’re looking to be soothed, to feel good. And that’s why cozy mysteries are the perfect escape to a place of contentment and well-being. With the help of a few familiar elements, including lovingly prepared, satisfying foods cozies help us relive good memories and envision better times to come Cozy mysteries are known to feature small town feels, close-knit communities, supportive families, down-to-earth characters and good, comfort eating… Did I mention food? Someone is always fixin’ somebody something to eat in a cozy mystery. Whether it’s chicken soup for a cold, fresh bread for supper or an apple pie for dessert. And I knew when I wrote my debut cozy, A Spell For Trouble that comfort food would be integral to the story. Comfort food is an important element in my story, same for most cozies. Surprisingly, A Spell For Trouble is not a culinary cozy, but it is about family. Lidia, the aunt of the main character in my story is always feeding her family. Don’t we all have a mother, grandmother or aunt like this? For them, it’s an act of love, an attempt to fix, and while it doesn’t always correct problems, it certainly helps. So, you’ll find a lot of Polish desserts in the Enchanted Bay Mystery series, and that’s because my mother-in-law who is Polish made us a lot of scratch-made desserts. And coffee. And we’d sit and talk. If not cake and coffee, it was kielbasa, potato cakes, homemade pickles, fresh bread… shots of vodka. The food and drink never stopped flowing. And it felt good, the hospitality amazing. A feeling of warmth, of comfort… of love. And that was my hope for A Spell For Trouble, that the inclusion of comfort foods would be a balm for the reader. And isn’t that what we need right now? To be comforted. To know that everything will be alright? In this post, I’m sharing two photographs of meals my mother-in-law prepared for us when we visited them in Poland last year. Everything she made for us was made with love. What is your go-to comfort food? If we’re not talking Polish food, well… I’m from the south. And for me it’s macaroni and cheese, the butterier, the cheesier… the better.
HALLIE: I confess, these days I am big into and comfort foods. Pecan sticky buns would be my #1. And not far down the list, mac and cheese. Esme Addison has wanted to solve mysteries ever since she discovered Nancy Drew. As a mystery author, she's finally found a way to make that dream come true. When not writing, she can be found visiting breweries, wineries, and historical sites. A former military spouse, she currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with her family.
A Spell for Trouble - Aleksandra Daniels hasn't set foot in the quiet seaside town of Bellamy Bay, North Carolina in over twenty years. Ever since her mother's tragic death, her father has mysteriously forbidden her from visiting her aunt and cousins. But on a whim, Alex accepts an invitation to visit her estranged relatives and to help them in their family business: an herbal apothecary known for its remarkably potent teas, salves, and folk remedies. Bellamy Bay doesn't look like trouble, but this is a town that harbors dark secrets. Alex discovers that her own family is at the center of salacious town gossip, and that they are rumored to be magical healers descended from mermaids. She brushes this off as nonsense until a local is poisoned and her aunt Lidia is arrested for the crime. Alex is certain Lidia is being framed, and she resolves to find out why. Alex's investigation unearths stories that some have gone to desperate lengths to conceal: forbidden affairs, family rivalries, and the truth about Alex's own ancestry. And when the case turns deadly, Alex learns that not only are these secrets worth hiding, but they may even be worth killing for. Giveaway Giving away one copy of A Spell For Trouble. Please subscribe to my newsletter at https://esmeaddison.com/newsletter/ and comment on your favorite comfort food below + let me know you subscribed. Follow Esme on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @EsmeAddison Find her on Goodreads And learn more about her at esmeaddison.com
RHYS BOWEN: I've lived in California for a large part of my life but I suppose part of me still looks upon Britain as home. So it's not surprising that when I go back to the old country one of the things I look forward to is the comfort food of my childhood, those quintessentially British dishes that meant home for me.
During my stay in England this summer I certainly indulged in cream teas (made with real Cornish clotted cream), fish and chips (made with fish that didn't taste like cardboard), full English breakfast (so sinful but sooooo good) and the other English breakfasts that I like: poached haddock with a poached egg on top or kippers. But I think my absolute favorite is Cornish pasties.
These are half-moon shaped pastries with meat and vegetables inside a short crust dough. They have a thick edging of rolled dough around the outside and the origin of this was that they were the meal that Cornish housewives made for their miner husbands when they were down the tin mines. These men had no chance to come to the surface or wash their hands so they would hold the pasty by its rim and then discard that part when they had finished the good stuff. Today you can find pasties with curried chicken, cheese and onion and all kinds of fancy fillings but I still like the traditional steak ones best.
Here is the recipe I was given that works really well:
Half a pound of good quality steak, sliced wafer thin
Carrots, turnip, potatoes all sliced very thinly
1 big onion chopped finely
small amount of beef bouillon
short crust pastry.
Pre-heat oven to 425
roll out pastry dough into circles about 8 inches diameter.
on
one half place thin layer of potato, carrot, turnip, onion and then top
with thin slices of meat. Sprinkle some bouillon over it. Fold dough in
half to make a pasty shape. Crimp and seal the edges.
Bake on baking sheet at 425 about 40 minutes or until it turns golden.
(The steam of cooking vegetables keeps the meat moist)
So what is your favorite comfort food when you go home?
LUCY BURDETTE: Didn't it make your mouth water the other day when our friend Pat Kennedy talked about sausage and potato casserole? This week she not only agreed to make it for this blog, she invited us to share it! So here she is again...thanks Pat!
PAT KENNEDY: This recipe is from the
The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child -- a compendium of the
recipes she demonstrated on her first PBS television show. I always say
that I learned to cook watching her because I made at least one thing
from the show every week. This is not a low-calorie
dinner, more of a comfort food dish. But as Julia said, “If you’re
afraid of butter, use cream.”
3 cups sliced, previously boiled potatoes
(about
1 pound -- use a waxy potato such as a red-skinned potato NOT baking
potatoes. You can also buy the peeled and pre-sliced potatoes frozen.
But cook those potatoes until they are just fork tender. )
1 cup minced onions, slightly cooked in butter
1/2 pound of Polish Sausage (Kielbasa) (more for the side dish)
(I always heat more sausage and serve it alongside the potato casserole.)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups light cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ cup Swiss cheese
(You can also use Emmenthaler or even Cheddar – you want a cheese with flavor)
1 tablespoon butter
METHOD
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2.Lightly grease (PAM spray) a 10” pie plate
3.Arrange layers of potatoes, onion, and sausage in the pie plate
4.Blend eggs, cream, salt and pepper in bowl; pour over potatoes/onions/sausage in the pie plate
5.Sprinkle top with cheese
6.Bake in upper third of preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until top has nicely browned
I like to serve this dish with a deeply-green vegetable such as broccoli or Swiss chard.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: For me, there are two kinds of comfort food. One is the traditional American dish circa 1960: Homemade mac and cheese, meatloaf, stew, spaghetti and meatballs. Basically, the meals my grandmothers made.
The other kind of comfort food is German cooking. I spent a significant piece of my childhood in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, when my family was stationed at Patch Barracks. My mother was never the sort of military wife to stay shut up in the base; we traveled throughout much of Europe and enthusiastically partook in the culture of Bavaria. This has left me with a live-long affection for hedgehogs, tracht (the traditional clothing of Austria and Bavaria) and German food.
The problem is, it's hard to find a good German/Austrian restaurant. There was exactly one I knew of in DC (is the Cafe Mozart still in business?) and zippo in the greater Portland, ME area, despite our city being a notoriously foody town. We used to go to the Silver Swan when visiting NYC, but that closed a few years ago. Since then I've been scoping out the eateries in Yorkville, the traditionally German neighborhood in Manhattan.
As an adult, I copied my mother's recipes and taught myself to make schnitzel and sauerbraten and karottensalat and kartoffelpuffer aka latkes (sadly, mine never come out as good as Mom's.) I've also developed some super-quick German-ish meals that my family really likes. This is one of them. Take the measurements with a grain of salt (pun intended.) I never actually measure when I cook, so I'm guesstimating on the sauce ingredients. You should definitely taste and adjust accordingly.
German Potato Salad Cassarole Three pounds potatos, peeled (if thick-skinned) and cubed. I add one pound extra for every teen who will be eating. Count 12-year-old girls as teens. 1/3 pound bacon, diced 1 onion, diced 1/2 to 1 keilbasa, or smoked sausage of your choice, sliced into bite-sized pieces 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup cider vinegar 2 Tbls brown mustard - the spicier, the better Water to make sauce Relish or chopped sweet pickles
Put the potatoes on to boil while assembling and chopping the other ingredients. In a deep skillet or a pan, start frying the diced bacon. You want it to release its fat before adding the onions. Saute onions until limp, then add the kielbasa. Add flour and stir until itthickens up like paste. You may need to add more flour. Once you have your roux (paste) toss in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, then stir in water, slowly, until the sauce has the consistency of gravy. Here's where you taste it: it should have the characteristic sweet/sharp flavor of German sauces. If necessary, add more vinegar, brown sugar or mustard. I don't cook with salt, but if you do, you can add it in as well.
Drain the potatoes. Mix well with the sauce and stir in relish or sweet pickles. Guten Appetit!
Julia Spencer-Fleming: Well, it's been quite a week here at Jungle Reds - hurricane, power outages, travel interruptions. Up here in Maine, we got electricity back mid-day Wednesday. Hurrah! Then on Thursday, my husband Ross discovered steaming hot water literaly bubbling out of our hot water heater (thank heavens our 200-year-old house has beaten dirt floor in the cellar.) To stop the machine from parboiling itself, he had to turn off the oil burner, which also, alas, turns off the furnace.
I'm not sure if it was the earthquake or the superstorm that caused the damage, but I do know five days without heat and hot water is a bit too much. We have decamped to a seaside hotel to lick our wounds and take showers.
In times of trial, we want comforting things, and so today I'm sharing my recipe for peanut butternut squash soup. It's the easiest thing ever to make, delicious and nutritious, and keeps well atop a wood stove when the power's out. When we get home, if my oven doesn't explode, I'm going to make a batch.
One good-sized butternut squash One onion, diced Two cans chicken broth (you can substitute vegetable broth if you or your guests are vegetarian.) 1/4 to 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (don't use the pre-blended Jiffy or Peter Pan type) One can Coconut milk 1/2 tsp cumin cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste two bay leaves.
Peel and chop the butternut squash into cubes. Sautee the squash with the onion until the onion wilts. (You can use butter or oil for the sauteeing. I like to use soy oil - it gives it a bit of a taste.)
Pour in the broth to cover. Boil until the squash is very soft. Take off heat and process it in batches in the food processor until everything is smooth and creamy. (You can also use a masher in the pot if you like a more textured soup.)
Stir in the natural peanut butter. You can add more or less as you like - it should taste of peanuts but not not so strongly that you feel like you ought to add grape jelly to the thing. Drop in the bay leaves and let simmer for up to an hour to develop the flavor. I'm not much one for salt, but if you are, go ahead and use your shaker. If the mixture starts to get too think and paste-like, throw some more broth into it.
Remove from heat and stir in the coconut milk and cumin. Add enough cayenne pepper or hot sauce to give it a bite. Serve and share with family or friends. Don't forget to be thankful for having heat and hot water.
Jungle Red Writers has been named one of the top 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writers Digest, one of the top 50 mystery blogs by CourtReporter, and one of the top 100 creative writing blogs by Best Colleges Online
