Recently, after another round of playing “what did this use to be” with the fridge, I decided to start shopping in a more European fashion. I pass three or four grocery stores on the way home so rather than make one large trip each week, I’m going for just what I need for that meal shopping. It means more trips to the store, and some very creative cooking/substitutions on occasion but I don’t have to feel guilty for not cooking that zucchini or finding the molded something in the back of the ice box. The other downside is that when I don’t stop at the store, I have limited options for dinner.

Earlier this week I decided I’d do an egg dish. I was going to go for a nice soufflé but Bob is more of a quiche man. And I can say that because when I asked if he would be ok with a soufflé he said he would “lean more towards a quiche.” (yes, I still have the text) so I changed my scouring of soufflé recipes for quiche recipes. I didn’t see anything that struck me as perfect so I improvised.

Don’t judge too harshly, but I was fascinated by a Martha Stewart recipe for a soufflé with a hash brown crust. Now this recipe calls for things I don’t have on hand like frozen hash browns, sour cream and a dozen eggs. But I do have potatoes, some eggs and heavy cream so … I use a pie plate instead of a springform pan and buttered the bottom. I grate the potatoes and mixed them with one egg and some grated Parmesan. Bake in 375 oven for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I mixed together 4 eggs and 3/4 cup cream. To that I added one grated zucchini some goat cheese and some more grated Parmesan with salt and pepper. Mix well so the goat cheese smooths out and the whole thing is nice and creamy. Once the potatoes set, fill the shell and return to the oven for another 25-30 minutes.

I have to admit, this would have been way better with bacon, but I didn’t have any on hand. It was good – really good – but everything really is better with bacon. I also think I was just in the mood for soufflé, but this has a light texture and great flavor; it is probably one of the simplest dishes I can make. Sometimes simple is best.

It’s a good thing I made a few dishes last weekend. It was a very busy start to the week so having something to warm up was really, really nice. And tasty. But later in the week I made a point of getting out of work on time and cooking something that I’ve been dreaming about since I saw a recipe for it a few weeks ago – Caramelized onion tart with roasted tomatoes and goat cheese.

First step in this was acquiring a good, mild goat cheese. When Mom and I went to the farmers market last weekend I made a quick stop to the cheese shop and found a super rich, really creamy goat cheese.

This one has a nice herby quality but it is such a mild flavor it becomes difficult to stop eating it. I briefly debated about a whole wheel vs a half wheel but, really, it’s goat cheese. Whole wheel. It’s not like we won’t eat it. So … The tart.

Step one, start to caramelize some onions. There are two tricks to this I find – use more than you think you will and be patient. Very, very patient. Despite what some recipes say, you cannot rush caramelizing onions and it takes a good 45 minutes to get them right. Medium heat and judicious stirring.

In the meantime, the tomatoes.

I picked up some really pretty yellow and red cherry tomatoes last weekend so I used those with herbs (thyme, oregano, salt and pepper) and roasted them for about 20/25 minutes.

After the tomatoes came out, I popped in the puffed pastry shells. Yes, I could have made a dough or I could have use regular sheets of puffed pastry, but these looked so cute I just decided to go for it. But once they puffed, I took the tops just in time for the onions to be done. So … little rounds of goat cheese on the bottom, caramelized onions in the middle and topped with the tomatoes. Back in the oven for fifteen minutes or so and …. Dinner.

Friday I went much simpler, and way more traditional – spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread.

Saturday was out cheese box for the month

So when John came down to see Thor with us, we had a nice repast for dinner with the cheese and some cider for me and beer for the boys.

The Midnight Moon is still one of my favorite cheeses ever. I can’t describe it, but oh wow is it good. Combined this month with an English Cheddar and a Camembert and we had a great little dinner. I included the Field of Creams and the other cheese I picked up last week so it was a lovely little dinner.

I did a puller pork today, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

The weather front came through yesterday bringing actual fall like temperatures. For south Florida this means I can turn the air off. Have I mentioned how much I like living here recently?

But beef stew. I’ve made several iterations of this over the years, some more successful than others. Today I decided to make a batch so I had options for lunch and dinner this week. (Made the farro butternut squash salad yesterday.) No recipe, just what I remembered worked. So how did it turn out? Rather well. I am now firmly convinced there are a few essentials for good beef stew.

1. Bacon. Yes, it is trite that everything is better with bacon, but in the case of beef stew (or Beef Bourgogne if you are getting fancy) it really does add a lot to the dish. I don’t use much – just a slice or two from regular bacon, but I start with this. Once it has started to render, I add the garlic and shallot (and carrot) and make the base. Which brings me to …

2. Shallots. A taste the crosses onions and garlic, I find shallots indispensable in beef stew. I can add garlic and onion, or not, but for some reason if I leave out the shallot, it just doesn’t work. Chop small like garlic and don’t over cook.

3. Good wine. I don’t advocate really expensive wine for cooking, but if you won’t drink a glass, don’t cook with it. Beef stew (at least the way I make it) has less than a half cup of wine. It varies as I don’t measure, but figure about a third of a cup. The type doesn’t make a difference, as long as it’s pretty good. I’ve used Zinfandel, Pino Noir, Bourdeux, and Cabernets. I refuse to spend more than $20 for a bottle of red, and usually it’s less than $15. But the good wines produce good sauce and sauce is the key to good beef stew.

4. Cook low and slow. Slow cooker, pressure cooker or stove top, low heat and long cooking times produces the most tender beef. It also allows you to use chuck roast and get just as good a flavor and texture as a filet. Low heat and for a few hours. It does pay off.

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5. Aromatics and seasoning. Do not skimp on these. Salt the meat, use herbs – bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, oregano etc. They all work but if you don’t use them you will not get the flavor. The best beef stew I ever made had thyme, oregano and bay leaves in addition to salt as I browned the meat and again at the end of cooking.

Fall and winter are perfect for beef stew, so whether it’s with potatoes, over rice, barley or polenta, just go for it. And don’t forget the wine and seasoning. …

Oh … And I made a buttermilk marble cake today. It needed no icing. At all need I say more?

Some weeks everything works out. I get home from work at descent times, the pets all behave, I avoid whatever cold virus is going around and the food I cook works. Some weeks, I get sick, the cats keep me up half the night, I spend way too many hours at work and the food just doesn’t come out the way I expect. This week was a little of both.

I started out with a great idea – goat cheese risotto. I was so excited seeing as how we loved our cheese basket this month. But what sounded like a good idea, and started out looking pretty fantastic

just did not end up working. Both Bob and I were feeling a little under the weather by this point, so the pungent, heavy goat cheese (not your typical fresh, mild goat cheese) overpowered the dish to the point that we just could no eat it. The roasted orange peppers didn’t help any. Talk about a clash of favors. On the up side, the pizza we ordered was good and we had leftovers for the next day when not only did I get out of work way too late, I also succumbed to Bob’s cold.

After that mild disaster, I was a little reluctant to try something totally new again. I do this. Something doesn’t work and I get scared to try again. I loose confidence in my palate and cooking skills. But … Once I felt better Sunday, I tried again. Oh, not the same thing, but a new experiment – curry!

I took some chicken thighs and just browned them a little; I took them out of the pan and added chopped garlic and just sautéed that a little. I then added tomato paste, chili paste, and curry powder. Mixed all of that together then added coconut milk and some chicken stock. I let that mix and simmer and was tempted to chuck it (whole lack of confidence thing) then added salt, pepper, a little more curry powder and a cinnamon stick. I let that boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes then added the chicken back in along with some chopped tomato, zucchini and carrots. I let all of that cook for about 20 more minutes and then put the whole thing over some left over faro. The result …. Spot on flavor, but a thin sauce. I added too much chicken stock (about 1.5 cups to one can of coconut milk) and didn’t let it thicken enough. But the flavor was really good. Bob loved it and I got my kitchen confidence back just a little. Enough to attempt peanut brittle today!

Peanut brittle sounds simple – sugar, corn syrup, water and peanuts. Just get it all up to temperature, add some butter and baking soda and you are good. But …. I am impatient, so the waiting was torture and then I realized I was having a hard time stirring because … well …. plastic handled scrapper is not the best instrument to use when getting candy to 300 degrees.

Yep – totally and completely bent it. So the handle was bending and not stirring anything. My favorite one too – perfect size and all. But of well. I did manage to get the syrup to go from this

to this

and then finally this

It’s not clear candy like the picture, but it does taste fantastic. So I’m ok with cloudy candy for a first attempt.

And the coffee pot started to die this week. It wasn’t a total death, but the seals were splitting and whenever I made a pot of coffee (as in every morning) there would be a puddle of coffee to accompany my cup. So Bob found a fancy new coffee pot

that lets me customize just about everything from how much, to strength to intensity. I can make a whole pot or just one cup

which really is very neat. But it is taking some getting use to and part of me misses the old coffee maker. But really, I just want my morning cup of coffee.

Today was a day where I wanted to spend it in the kitchen, cooking or reading cookbooks, cooking blogs or cooking stories. Some people take pleasure in cleaning or planting flowers or doing a home project. I take pleasure in cooking, so today, in between laundry and catching up on reading for my class (yes, I’m insane enough to take an online class while working) I cooked.

I wanted to go a little more traditional today. It’s been a while since I’ve made a meat, vegetable and starch plate, but I was in the mood. We picked up a nice flank steak the other day, so I marinaded that in some soy sauce, canola oil, chili garlic paste and shallot overnight. While the steak was coming to room temperature today I coated some green beans in oil, salt and pepper.

Those went on the grill while I boiled some potatoes

for mashed potatoes. When the beans were almost done, I put the steak on the grill. A few minutes for each side then pulled off to rest while I finished the potatoes. I added roasted garlic and a little butter, salt and cream to the potatoes before mashing. The result …

A really nice little lunch. Bob was super happy with the steak and I have to say, it was pretty near perfect. Silky texture and tons of flavor. The green beans and potatoes were super flavorful and it was a homey meal. Perfect for a fall day.

I also decided to make another squash soup. I had both butternut and sweet dumpling squashes in the fridge, so I roasted them with some garlic, apple, onion and shallot. I didn’t bother chopping them up this time

but in retrospect, I should have; there is just a lot more flavor when they are roasted in pieces. But … everything into the food processor with some vegetable stock, purée well then add the roasted garlic and some spices (curry powder, salt, pepper and nutmeg). It was good, but not as good as the pure butternut squash soup from a few weeks ago.

I did pair it with a nice Zinfandel and the Georgia Gold cheese from yesterday’s basket and it was a fantastic little dinner.

And I have to bake, or do dessert. I just have to. Diets be darned, dessert is too important to pass up. I wanted something peanut today. So I scoured recipes and found one for peanut butter cupcakes. Ok …. I can do that and Bob was all on board for these. So … I had everything except the brown sugar. But I did have white sugar and molasses, so … I made my own brown sugar.

I may never buy brown sugar again, this was so easy. One cup sugar, one tablespoon molasses and mix. That’s it. Add more or less molasses to change it to light or dark brown sugar, but there you have it.

Home made brown sugar.

But … Cupcakes. They need something to top them, but I am horrible at icing. Ever since trying to make Grandmom’s chiffon cake icing I have failed at every turn. But I try again. First I made caramel – this I can do.

A stick of butter, some home made brown sugar and a little salt. Let it almost boil, add cream and let low boil/simmer for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and add vanilla extract. I let that cool while the cupcakes cooled

then beat the caramel with a mixer and slowly added in confectioner sugar. Sure enough, I had icing!

I was actually able to make cupcakes with icing and oh boy were they good. Sweet and salty with a touch of savory thrown in. … Actually, I think I want another. Hope everyone has a good week!

Fall has come to Sarasota with the snowbirds, traffic and perfect weather. It really is lovely here this time of year, and it reminds me of why I don’t live in the northeast anymore. One of the best parts of living in Sarasota is small, local shops. One of our favorites, the Artisan Cheese Company put together a cheese of the month club that Bob and I decided to take advantage of. Three cheeses each month – about a pound and a half of cheese – that we get to try and determine if any will be our new favorites.

This month we had one goat cheese, one sheep cheese and one cow cheese. I love variety and I’m not sure I would have picked two of them, but I’m sure glad Louise thought of these.

Goat cheese is a favorite of mine, but this one Bob liked more than I did. It reminded me a lot of Humbolt Fog, which is a pretty earthy cheese. This one is no different. Very good, lots of different flavors throughout the cheese, but very strong. By itself, I have a hard time eating it, but combined with a cracker and some honey, and it’s fantastic. Don’t try it with apple; the acid and tartness of the apple clash with the cheese.

Sheep cheese is also a favorite of mine. Delicate favors that usually pair well with almost anything, but especially wine. In this case, the cheese was mild, almost deceptively so. If eaten by itself, it had a lot of flavor, but paired with honey, apples or crackers and it just compliments. It doesn’t compete for center stage, but is a fantastic supporting character.

Normally cow cheese is ok. Not my favorite, but a standard cheese. I almost never think of cow cheese as anything special, but this one changed my mind. Out of the three we had this month, this was by far my favorite. The cheese has a ton of flavor, deep flavor. It pairs well with wine, apple or honey, but also stands up on its own. This was Bob’s second favorite this month, but my favorite.

The nice thing about a basket like this is we have dinner for tonight and I have lunch all week. Cheese, crackers and fruit – I’ll be in heaven. Should make work just a little better and we should have some interesting salads or main dishes incorporating the cheese over the next week. /happy dance. This may be one of my better ideas.

And simply because I love to support small, local businesses, if you are even remotely interested in artisan cheeses, really good artisan cheeses, check out the 3 month cheese club – you don’t have to be a local to get fantastic cheese. And if you are in Sarasota, stop, by – Louise and Parker, and the staff, love talking cheese with people. We even got great recommendations for when we traveled to England.

This week I knew work would be busy, but I still anticipated getting out near on time most days so over the weekend I made a pork butt with the intention of making several dishes with it. Work being work …. I ended up getting out late every day except for the day I had my hair appointment. So while I intended to have multiple pretty pictures, I only have a few.

But I started off with gnocchi. I love gnocchi, but I never make it light and fluffy. I probably make it totally wrong, use the wrong potatoes or use too much flour. But … I found a recipe that uses ricotta instead of potatoes. Interesting. Couldn’t find goat cheese ricotta so I improvised and went with a large, 32oz container of regular ricotta. I wrapped it in cheese cloth and sat it on an upside-down ash tray (the one I kept because it is from grandmom’s house and Vanessa calls the world’s smallest ash tray) in an old Corning ware pot overnight so it could drain. It actually worked really, really well. The cheese stayed above the liquid and everything was easy to clean. I followed the rest of the recipe (only for the gnocchi) pretty much as written, but made a few Sunday night because I couldn’t resist. Browned butter, sage and gnocchi. These were amazing. Light. Fluffy. Lots of flavor. Both Bob and I like them better than the regular ones and the butternut squash ones I’ve made before. (and that is saying something because I love the butternut ones.

I also used them a second day with a pork sauce.

Onion, garlic, carrot, whole tomatoes crushed up with the juice, thyme, oregano, and a little zinfandel. I let that cook together then added the gnocchi and let those cook just for a minute or two. The result ….

I also made a sort of pork taco this week. The same pulled pork, onions, cilantro and goat cheese. Very simple, but really flavorful, I did add a little vegetable broth when cooking the pork, just to add some juice and flavor. It worked.

Today I wanted something hearty and comforting. Both Bob and I are getting over colds, so soup sounded good, but not exactly what I wanted. So, I found an easy polenta recipe and change it just a bit. I cut it in half, substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth and eliminated the pepper. I loved how easy this was, and really, it was really, really good.

I’m pretty sure Bob would have eaten this by itself, and all of it. He really, really liked it. But I topped it with a kind of soup, kind of loose stew. Pork, onion, carrot, tomatoes, vegetable broth and apple cider. > I added some herbs from the garden and put it around the polenta for a pretty perfect lunch.

. I really loved the creamy texture of the polenta, but the carrots and onions gave it a nice texture.

Yes, there was a very definite theme this week. Of course, when you use what is on hand, that tends to happen. Hopefully I’ll be a little more creative next week, but it will depend on work. Fingers crossed it will be a lifter week.

… Oh … Dessert. Still on the shortbread kick …

Brown sugar shortbread with bittersweet chocolate. Kind of can’t go wrong there.