Biscuits and (Almost Vegan) Gravy

Usually it takes me a little while to actually start cooking from a new cookbook. Like, months even. I flip through it quickly, then go back and really read it. I don't mark recipes or pages that I want to try, but usually a few things will stick with me and when I'm ready for actual cooking, that's what I'll try first. I don't know why I don't use new cookbooks right away. Maybe I want to get familiar with the writing, or I'm intimidated to try something new, or I figure that there are so many things in my other cookbooks that I haven't cooked yet.

With three new cookbooks to choose from, I decided I had to dive in right away otherwise they would languish on the shelf for months. I've cooked from all three books in the past few weeks and am quite delighted with all of the results.

More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin is actually a book of essays, rather than a cookbook. At the end of each essay, or sometimes in the middle, is a recipe or two thrown in. I love how Colwin writes her recipes. They are more like suggestions for making something delicious than an actual recipe. And her tone is so casual that it makes it all sound like a piece of cake. After reading about her favorite biscuits, I headed directly to the kitchen to whip up a batch.

Here is her recipe:

"You need 2 cups of flour, 1/2 stick of butter or margarine (or a combination of the two), 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 3/4 cup (a little more or less depending on the flour and the weather) of milk-sweet, sour, or buttermilk (or a combination of milk and yogurt).

Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder. I myself have had unhappy experiences with pastry blenders and feel that your hands do the best job, but if you don't feel like doing this by hand, two knives work fine. When the butter is well blended add the milk until you have a not too sticky dough. Turn it out on a floured board and knead about five times. Roll, cut out, and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes until golden. Some people like their biscuits just baked, which means that they will be floury white. Some people like their biscuits crispy and a little browner than golden. However you like them, they will never fail you."

If that is not a delightful recipe then I don't know what is.

I added some chopped, fresh herbs and some grated parmesan to my dough. I also cut down on the baking powder because of my altitude, but I would use the full amount next time as my biscuits were a little on the skinny side.

I smothered these babies with an almost vegan gravy. I would have made regular gravy but I didn't have any stock, chicken or vegetable, or any meat or meat fat to start with. I remembered a tasty vegan gravy using water (!) as the main liquid that someone had made for me in PDX. So I searched the internet and found this recipe. I halved it, used butter, soy sauce, and fresh sage, and omitted the nutritional yeast because I didn't have any. I also used a shallot instead of the onion. This gravy was damn good. Not to watery and very flavorful, and super easy. A perfect topping to our casual biscuits.

New Goodies

These are the lovely new cookbooks that I got for the holidays...


"Cookbooks hit you where you live. You want comfort; you want security; you want food; you want not to be hungry; and not only do you want those basic things fixed, you want it done in a really nice, gentle way that makes you feel loved." -Laurie Colwin

Breakfast Blues

Doesn't that look like a sad little breakfast? No? Well, it was, let me tell you. A too dry, too sweet, too crumbly scone thing and a few bites of yogurt with almonds and agave. You see, I've got the Breakfast Blues.

I get like this every once in a while. I wake up hungry but nothing, I mean NOTHING, sounds good. Then I'm put off by the fact that nothing sounds good, then I get frustrated because I'm hungry and I don't want to eat anything but I know I have to or else things get really ugly. I've been in this breakfast slump for about a week now. Homemade granola? Yuck. Eggs? Ick. Toast? Bagel? Cereal? No, no, no.

I had a grand idea to remedy this a few nights ago. I decided to make some sort healthy, filling, yummy muffin. Problem was I was out of eggs and leaving the apartment again sounded even worse than egg-less baking. So I searched the internet and finally decided on this scone thing, something I had made before and didn't really like. But for some reason I thought making a half batch would make it taste better (what?). Yeah, it didn't, and now I'm stuck with a tupperware full of scone and the Breakfast Blues.

Spiced Nuts

Spiced nuts are frequently my contribution to holiday parties and family gatherings. They are easy and tasty, and people gobble them up. Even people who weren't planning on eating at a party can't resist a handful of these. In that past I've made spiced pecans, but this time I used a recipe for spiced mixed nuts. They were easy to make and called for pantry items. In a rare fit of fussiness I even measured all of the ingredients. The only problem I ran into was that they cemented themselves to the cookie sheet once cooled. The recipe says to grease the pan, and I did, but apparently not enough. Next time I will douse the baking sheet in oil. After some scraping and breaking and bits of nuts all over my kitchen, the nuts were neatly packaged to take to my family holiday party. They were a hit there, naturally.

Sweet Spiced Nuts from Simple Suppers by the Moosewood Collective

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of cayenne (I used chili powder)
3 cups shelled nuts (I used cashews, pecans, pistachios, and almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the hell out of a rimmed baking sheet.

Combine sugar, 1/4 cup water, and spices in a saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add nuts, mixing well to evenly coat nuts in syrup. Remove nuts with a slotted spoon and spread them on prepared baking sheet.

Bake until browned, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once (mine took longer to brown). After you've taken them out of the oven, stir again to break up clusters. Allow nuts to cool before serving.

On Orange Foods and Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It's food focused and doesn't carry the stress of the winter holidays (for me, at least). I managed to come home for most of the six years that I didn't live in Denver, with a few exceptions. To me there is nothing better than crowding around the table with family, friends, and a delicious meal.

I was in charge of orange foods this year. My Dad assigned yams to me and I ended up making a pumpkin pie. For the past few years we have eaten my aunt's pumpkin cheesecake instead of pie, but there were a few traditionalist in the bunch who requested pumpkin pie. I'll never pass up an opportunity to bake pie.

I'm not going to write up all the recipes because I found them all on the internet. And, it is sort of silly to do a full Thanksgiving recipe write-up after the fact, no? So I'll just show photos and links.

This is the recipe I used for these lovely yams. I almost doubled it and added more maple syrup than called for, but not enough to make them cloyingly sweet. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

This is the recipe I used for the pie. I roasted my own pumpkins because I love to roast things, and because I think it tastes better. Really, it's just more fun that way.

I was very happy with this pie, even though there were a few hiccups along the way. I mixed the batter in the Kitchenaid and I found it's one flaw. The beater attachments doesn't reach the bottom of the bowl. After I had nearly filled the pie I realized that there was a pool of sugar in the bottom of the mixing bowl. I carefully ladled the filling back out of the crust and into the bowl and gave the mixture a good stir before pouring it back in. Also, the filling was really thin and I was convinced that it wouldn't set, but it did.

I had some extra filling and crust so I made us a little mini pie for lunch in my muffin tin. I forgot to snap a photo of the pie after it was baked, but I did take a picture of the mini pie.

The crust was heavenly!!! I always have trouble with pie crusts--too dry, too wet, not cold enough. This one mixed up easily and rolled out perfectly. And it was all butter so it had much more flavor than a crust made with shortening. Not quite as flaky, no, but I'll take flavor or flake any day.

I had a delightful day roasting, mashing, mixing, and baking, and eating.

This is only a small piece of the dish carnage...

New Digs

Where have I been? Um, working a few jobs, look for full time employment, enjoying the first snow, and moving into a lovely new apartment with an old someone who decided to brave the Colorado cold for me after all.

We searched Capitol Hill high and low for apartments and saw a great many. We were looking for apartments that we could afford in which we could both live comfortably, as in not on top of each other, and with a little character. And I was obviously scrutinizing every kitchen, imagining where things would live and where I would chop. We are lucky in Denver because most houses and apartments are plumbed for gas, meaning most properties have gas stoves. I actually ruled out several apartments because they had electric stoves. Ha! What luxury! PDX, eat your heart out!

So this is the lovely kitchen we ended up in. I love the tile floors, the vintage cabinets, the short fridge (?!), and, of course, the gas stove. I've cooked quite a few things and even baked some bread and am quite happy with it. Running the oven makes the whole apartment feel like a sauna, and it does make some scary big flame type noises, but I don't care, I love it!!! The kitchen window is south facing and we get tons of natural light (sunlight! in winter!) throughout the day.
I am also now a proud owner of a vintage KitchenAid Mixer! My aunt had it for years (I think she got it from her ex-mother in law) but never used it because it was stored out of sight in a low down cabinet. Let me tell you, those things are beasts to pick up. So it lives on my counter with la Virgen de Guadalupe watching over it. I've only used it once (to give the bread hook a whirl) but I foresee lots of happy mixing in my future.

The only downside to this kitchen is that there is no dishwasher or garbage disposal, things that I had gotten quite used to. It actually hasn't been as tough as I imagined, although I am a bit appalled at how much food goes into the trash (trimmings, etc). With a disposal I never saw how much accumulated over a few meals. I would like to compost but how does one compost in a one bedroom apartment? If you know the answer, please tell me.

I'm feeling very inspired by my new kitchen and look forward to some blogworthy eats. And now that there's a reliable (not crappy) camera in the house I think I'll post more. (Truly, the photography block is the reason I don't post more.) I have a few pounds of roasted green chilies in my freezer and some pretty good ideas...

Blog, don't you make a liar out of me!

Hmmm, it would seem that I have failed to make good on some promises around here. Every once in a while I like to read through the archives to see what I was eating and thinking and writing. And I found quite a few references and photos to recipes that I promised to post soon and never did. I'm going to work on follow through from now on.


It's really a shame, criminal almost, that I haven't posted this hot dish sooner, otherwise you could have had it for breakfast this morning. This is an old brunch standby and a crowd pleaser every time, whether the crowd is me or an actual crowd. It couldn't be easier to put together and, like so many things I cook, allows for a lot of creativity. It's a good way to use up odds and ends that may be languishing in the fridge. All sorts of herbs and veggies can be added to this savory eggy cheesy bread bake.

Now, the batch in the photo was extra special. I used about half a loaf of that famous No Knead bread that I had whipped up the day before. I left it out over night to let it get a wee bit stale, then tore it up. The contrast of the tender, airy crumb and the crisp, chewy crust were just heavenly when baked into this dish. Any old bread will do but I always try to use good, crusty artisan style bread just because I'm a snob.

Cooking time can really vary on this one. If it seems too wobbly and runny, stick it back in until it is set. Removing the foil at the end makes for a browned and bubbly crust.

Savory Egg and Cheese Bake adated from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers by The Moosewood Collective

3 tablespoon butter
12 ounces crusty bread (or enough to fill the baking dish you're using)
1 cup grated cheese (something melty, I like cheddar, and 1 cup? Yeah right, more like 2)
1 cup chopped scallions (or onions, or shallots, or herbs, or...)
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 generous tablespoon Dijon mustard (this really makes it-please don't skip this, and please do use Dijon)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in 2 quart baking dish, swirl to coat, and set aside. Cut or tear bread into one inch cubes and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and scallions.

Beat eggs in a bowl, then whisk in milk, salt, pepper, and mustard (you can blend this if you're picky). Pour custard over the bread and use a spatula to push bread down into custard. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 25 to 30 minutes (baking time depends on size and shape of the dish you're using). Remove foil and bake until golden, about 5 minutes more.