cookblog Posts

October 13, 2010

The Soup That Eats Like A Meal

The presence of smoked chicken carcasses in the fridge could mean only one thing: stock. And now it’s that most compelling time of year, with warm sun and chilly shade and mountains bedecked with autumn raiment under skies of impossibly clear and cloudless blue. Each season so far this year has been pretty splendid; summer got a bit too hot and dry for a while, but in all it’s just been gorgeous weather. And we’re having a stunning Indian summer that just goes on and on (and the best days have been hitting on the weekends). Last night was the first light frost.

So what I’m saying is that it’s soup season.

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October 11, 2010

I Got Your Reunion Right Here

I was going to got to my 20th reunion in Providence, but it didn’t work out. So instead some dear friends from Boston (one of whom predates college) came for a couple of nights, and festivities were in order. I didn’t have time to do multi-course extravaganzas, so I concentrated instead on making single-plate meals of high quality and opening serious wine to wash them down. It’s not the worst strategy.

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October 7, 2010

Mud And Fire

I managed to log a fair amount of studio time over the last couple of months, and here’s some of what I did. I’m trying to divide my time between making more of existing designs and trying new things, so there’s a bit of both here. I’m going to start selling some of these via Etsy in the near future for anyone who’s interested; look for a post with a link when I get that together. Anybody who can’t wait can email me.

For starters, I made 10 more of the flower cups:

There’s a pink glaze under the inside blue around the lip, giving them a nice blush. For something new, these bowls are about the same size but a little thicker:

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October 5, 2010

Grow Your Own

Instead of pickling them, I’ve been leaving green beans on the plant once they get beyond the filet stage, which is the only stage where I really enjoy them. Once fat and fibrous, they make a decent 3-bean salad, especially when run through my Grandmother’s antique bean slicer up in Vermont, but the thrill is pretty much gone. So, along with our dragon’s tongue beans, I’ve been shelling and drying them instead with an eye towards soups and stews and, of course, cassoulet–that apotheosis of beans–and something this chilly, rainy spell is steering my mind towards with increasing force.

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October 3, 2010

Yeast Of Eden

After three days of torrential rain (over four days) which we needed badly, it’s perfect again. The stream rose so high it actually displaced a few of the garden beds, requiring some work today to get things back in place. Besides shifting the 2×10 frames, the water moved some soil around, and strewed freshly-planted garlic cloves in the paths nearby. I got it all back together in short order, and topped up a couple of beds with compost for good measure. The combination of copious water followed by copious sun is having a highly salutary effect on the late plantings; turnips and winter greens are fattening right up. The carrots are great, and the burdock leaves are attaining prehistoric size. It’s been great bread weather.

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October 2, 2010

Sosumi Aredi

Admittedly, the garnishes are pretty spare, but is this not a sexy plate of dinner? I made a customary stop at Mitsuwa on the way back from a recent trip to the city and picked up hamachi, kampachi, fluke, and yellowfin tuna (bluefin is verboten. Don’t buy it). I got a bunch of other goodies, too, per usual: noodles, sake, condiments like mirin and usukuchi, and these fresh yuzu. I also got shishito peppers, from…

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October 1, 2010

Ducks In A Row

Remember that amazing duck I wrote about two posts back? My article about the fascinating man who produced it is out in this month’s Chronogram. Photo by Jennifer May

September 30, 2010

Muffaletta-esque

I’ve always been a fan of viewing mistakes as an integral part of creativity. Sometimes they just plain ruin the thing, but often they’re like positive mutations in the DNA of the process, allowing us insights or improvements that would have otherwise never come. I was making bread the other day–now that it’s cooler, I’m back to making 2-3 loaves a week–and as I mixed the wet into the dry, the dough came together into a much tighter, dryer ball than normal. I scratched my head for a second, and then figured out what happened: I used a plastic container for the flours and a metal bowl for the water and starter, and didn’t zero the scale when I switched. The metal bowl weighs 125 grams more than the plastic tub, so the scale read 600 grams of water when I had only poured in 475. Rather than add in the missing water and make a no-knead loaf in the Dutch oven, instead I dumped out the dough and gave it a good hard knead on the counter and then put it in an oiled bowl to rise.

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September 22, 2010

Crémaillère

Welcome! Come on in. I’m still fixing the place up, but it’s fit for visiting. There will be more bits and pieces added in the near future, but for now please enjoy the light, space, and functionality of my new cyber-kitchen. It’s almost as satisfying as the renovation of our actual kitchen that I did back in February. Many thanks are due to Claudia for relentlessly pestering me about how ugly the old blog was,…

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September 20, 2010

It’s Not Just A Job, It’s An Adventure

I’ve been enjoying my holiday from electronics so much that I still haven’t fully returned. I keep my phone ringer off, I ignore email for ages–it’s awfully nice. But I have been making some good food, and working on a bunch of projects. The garden is doing well, and many of the late plantings are thriving; we should have some good stuff come fall (which is tomorrow, after all). But I figured I should put…

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