Pie Ball

For Thanksgiving this year, Jeremy and I went to his mom's house to help with Thanksgiving dinner. Each time it's a careful negotiation between the meat eaters (everyone but us) and the vegetarians (us). At his mom's, we normally have lasagna (meat and veggie), a few sides, and dessert.
We recently bought a used copy of The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. After drooling over its pages for months now, we finally settled on the Chocolate Pecan Pie for our Thanksgiving contribution.
I woke up early Thanksgiving morning to work on the crust, which needed to sit in the frig for three hours. At Jeremy's mom's we made the filling and baked the pie. As Jeremy removed it, the pie slipped off the cookie sheet and smashed on the floor. He ran out of the kitchen in horror, while I tried to scoop the napalm hot chunks off the floor, trying to pick out any kibble or dog hair. (I was trying to meet that five-second rule of removing dropped food from the floor.) I salvaged as much as I can and, knowing we couldnt serve it to anyone else, we started another version. The former pie sat in the bowl, and we munched on it during the day.
Since there was no time for the original crust, I used the Betty Crocker recipe with a few additions, and Jeremy remade the filling. It turned out well--rich and chocolately (god I love that cookbook), and everyone raved about its flavor.
At the end of the night, I separated the pie in the bowl into 2 sections of saran wrap--one for Jeremy's mom and one for us. Because of the corn syrup, I could squish the remnants into a dense ball, crust intermingling with chocolate and pecans.
The next day, I cut off a slice. When I bit into the pieball, I nearly fell over. It was soooooo good!!! Better than the regular pie! The way that all of the tastes mixed together, the way that the corn syrup had become almost like caramel. My god, pie ball was like heaven on a plate. I'm convinced we should do this every time we make a pecan-based pie. We should collapse it onto a cookie sheet and squish it into a ball.

Crust:
4 T unsalted butter at room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
pinch of salt
1 t cinnamon
2 T sugar
1/2 cu flour
Filling:
1 1/2 c toasted pecans, whole or chopped
4 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 T unsalted butter
5 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsley chopped
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 c light corn syrup
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 t pure vanilla extract
In a stand mixer with a paddle, cream butter and cream cheese. Add salt, cinnamon and sugar and beat until uniform in color. Add flour and mix just until combined.
Turn the dough out and shape into a 6 inch disk on plastic wrap. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into 12 inch circle and place in a 9 inch pie pan. Trim edges and refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 1 hour and place rack on the lowest shelf.
Place pie plate on a baking sheet (we found this more trouble than it was worth--a deep dish will not overflow). Sprinkle the pecans and 4 oz. chocolate over the bottom of the piecrust.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and 5 oz chocolate over low heat. When smooth, remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, eggs and vanilla. Pour over pecans and chocolate.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes (ours took a bit longer) or until golden brown and the center of the pie is set. Cool completely before cutting.

Black sesame ice cream

While in NYC, we fell in love with this ice cream shop in Chinatown. One of their regular flavors was black sesame ice cream. It was truly a revelation, possessing both a nutty sweetness and a lingering toasty almost smokiness. So delicious and haunting...we went back there the following night, only to find that they were sold out of it. Jeremy's mission: to find a recipe that we could make at home.

This version is pretty good, but it's slightly grainy in texture and not quite as good as the original. We'll get there yet!

Recipe to be found here.

Don't be concerned by the "glucose" business. I decided that just meant corn syrup. Use your taste and judgement with the egg yolks. It all depends on how custardy you want the final ice cream.

This is how I eat when Jeremy's not here

Yes, those are frozen eggrolls and yes, that's a giant plate of brussel sprouts, but they're delicious!
We found this simple recipe for brussel sprouts (another vegetable that needs a good marketing campaign. People--they don't have to be frozen, nasty, bitter things! They're nutty and delicious!)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scatter about 2 T butter around a 9 x 13 pan. Trim root end off fresh brussel sprouts (not frozen!) and discard any dark or wilty outer leaves. If sprouts are large, cut in half lengthwise. Create a single layer of sprouts on the pan and sprinkle with pepper and a little bit of salt. Place in the oven and stir every 10 minutes for about 40-45 minutes, or until sprouts are tender all the way through. The combination of the nutty sprouts with the butter and salt....oh my god. We must have eaten our body weight in brussel sprouts this year---and I've never eaten them before this summer!!

From meals past...

I am a proud user-upper. Especially in the summer, when our frig was bursting with veggies, I felt compelled to find recipes to use up as much as possible. I periodically clean out the pantry too, and find aging lentils or rice that need to be used up, too.

Just as fall was starting to turn crisp, and the last of the heirloom tomatoes were in full bloom, we made this meal: Moroccan Lentil Soup, from our well-worn Fields of Greens cookbook.

It was really tasty, but what really strikes me is how freaking gorgeous those tomatoes were. I'm writing this post in late November, when the Heirloom have long since died, and it makes me nostalgic for tasty, sweet tomatoes. Sigh...

Moroccan Lentil Soup:

Sort and rinse one cup of lentils and bring them to boil in your soup pot with six cups cold water. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes, until tender.

While the simmering is happening heat olive oil in a medium saute pan and add a diced medium onion, 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch or two chile powder (we used a combination of cayenne and ancho). Cook until soft, then add one carrot and one red bell pepper, diced, one tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp corriander (toasted and ground) and 1/4 tsp tumeric. Cook five minutes and then stir in four cloves chopped garlic and one Tbsp grated ginger. Cook a couple more minutes and then stir in 1/2 pound tomatoes (canned or fresh, peeled and seeded or not), and add the whole thing to the tender lentils. Cover and cook for thirty minutes and then as salt to taste.

You can top this with cilantro or, as we did, with minted yogurt.

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad w/ Mint and Lime Vinagrette

You know, I've seen Jerusalem artichokes a bunch of times, but I never had any idea what to do with them. In fact, I would stare at them and wonder, "What the hell would I do with THAT?" They look a bit like ginger root, with less fingery things growing off the sides.



Also called the sunchoke or sunroot, Jerusalem artichokes are a type of sunflower. Used to create fructose in processed foods, Jerusalem artichokes are also edible just the way they are. Eaten raw, they taste a bit like potatoes or rutabegas. We've also seen recipes for them roasted, where they are supposed to be like a nuttier turnip, but have yet to try those.



Jeremy checked out Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells from the library, and she included a recipe for Jerusalm artichokes. The salad was delicious--the crispness of the Jerusalem artichokes went well with the lettuce, and the vinaigrette had just enough tang.

Minted Jerusalem Artichoke Salad with [Field Lettuces]


Peel 1/2 pound Jerusalem artichokes and slice them thinly with (the beloved) mandolin slicer or a sharp knife.

As you slice them, add them to your prepared dressing: one Tbsp lime juice (half a lime), whisked together with 1/2 tsp sea salt (less kosher or table salt) and 1/4 cup ev olive oil, then combined with about 40 mint leaves minced. Toss to combine and marinate ten minutes.

Remove the marinated jerusalem artichoke slices with a slotted spoon and lay them out in a circle around the outside of your two plates. Then take your prepared lettuce (the recipe called for mache, so you could use that, watercress or baby spinach if you wanted, but we used the last field lettuces of the season) and toss them with the remaining dressing. Mound the greens on top on the slice circles and, viola.

The finished salad!

Winter Is Here, in Its Death of All Growing Things Form

So we stopped by the Farmer's Market this morning and our fears were confirmed: it's over. When we went last week, we pretty much knew it was the last hurrah. This week they were down to one aisle of produce, with at least three big tables of that was the wholesale grocery-store type produce. Sigh. And the egg people were gone, so no eggs for us and the cartons we brought went unreturned. We didn't need that much this week, anyway, but we did manage to pick up two pints of brussel sprouts (woohoo! a post on those to follow shortly), some apple cider for Angie's art sale, and some baby spinach.

The next day in NYC was a whirlwind. Me and the Subway were good buddies now. I successfully navigated all of my trains and visited every single place on my list like a pro. After my morning bagel and egg, I hopped to the Staten Island Ferry to see the lovely Statue of Liberty. All my life, whenever I've dreamed of NYC, I pictured the Statue of Liberty. Seeing her in real life made me want to cry and hug strangers and sing the "Star Spangled Banner." Seriously. It made my month. Sadly, I'm an idiot, and my morning brain did not comprehend that I had actually traveled across the river instead of just circling around, and I was indeed on Staten Island. Thirty minutes later, I caught the ferry back to Manhattan. From there I walked to the WTC site (a giant, weirdly-vibed muddy hole in the ground which also made me want to cry, but for different reasons), to El Laboratorio del Gelato.
After devouring dark chocolate, green tea and Black Mission fig gelato ($5), I bounced over to Rockefeller Center (so tiny!), and then back to the hotel to see a friend's presentation.
That night for dinner, Jeremy and I returned to China Town for veggie dim sum. For years I have always wanted to eat dim sum, but most of the choices are meaty and mysterious. In my pre-trip internet searching, I found the highly rated Vegetarian Dim Sum House.
We sampled three dumplings ($12), then raced back over to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. (Priorities, people!)

I love this place! Their menu is divided into two main sections: regular flavors and exotic flavors. Regular flavors include almond cookie, avocado, black sesame, coconut, durian, green tea, lychee, mango, red bean, taro, Zen butter and wasabi. Exotic flavors include banana, cherry pistachio, cherry vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip, coffee, mint chip, oreo cookie, pumpkin pie, strawberry and vanilla. We decided to be boring and chose the "regular" flavors of green tea (very good), Zen butter (so so delicious) and black sesame (one of the most delicious, haunting, rich flavors I have ever encountered.)

We ended the evening at Cinema Classics, home of Rififi, my new favorite place in NYC. On Saturday night we enjoyed wacky comedians and a free 60's funk dance night (where the DJs handed us free CDs.) Plus they have the cheapest beer we found in NYC. ($5 a glass and $5 cover for the show.)
Sunday we sadly left the lovely conference hotel and trekked across town (damn subway repairs) to a hostel on 101st Street. Overtaken by hunger, we paused in a Turkish place about a block away. At first I thought we might have to leave because the main eating area reeked so strongly of musty basement and 100% bleach that I thought my head was going to explode. We shifted to the bar, right by the open doors. Ten minutes later someone took our order (a gingerale, a Turkish coffee and hummus.) Ten minutes later we got our drinks. Thirty minutes later we got our hummus. Thirty minutes later we got the check ($20). Ugh. I'm just not a patient person, especially in restaurants. I don't think I'll ever be one of those souls who spends four hours at dinner, just hanging out and talking, oblivious to the time. Sorry. I want a greeting and drink order within five minutes of my arrival, I want food that shows up in less than 45 minutes and I don't ever want to have to hunt down the server for my bill.
That night, after walking for hours in Central Park, we returned to our familiar stomping grounds (Chinatown) for Tofu House 86 (or something like that) for a really decent meal ($18). We again ate delicious ice cream ($5), followed by strange and colorful desserts from Chinatown's many bakeries ($0.80 to $1.25 each). The treats, though cheap and beautiful, are always disappointing to me. However, I'll keep getting suckered in with their day-glo colors, coconut shavings and creamy frostings. Total creatures of habit, we also returned to Rififi. We paid our $5 cover to see the Sweet and Nasty Burlesque, a super silly and highly entertaining burlesque show. I purchased a $1 lottery ticket and thanks to the real winner (the boyfriend of one of the burlesque hosts), I won a giant bag of gifts (including a book, shot glasses, a coupon to the burlesque and a Peaches cd.) Whoooo hoooo, I love Rififi!!!
Monday morning arrived, and we ate breakfast at a Greek diner two blocks from the hostel. I felt grumpy from an uncomfortable bed and snoring dorm-mates, so we packed up, took the train to the New Jersey airport and headed home. All in all, I had a fabulous time. NYC ain't cheap, and even being frugal as hell, we still burned through the money. Four days is perfect, especially being centrally located like we were near Times Square. I already have a long list of things I missed, things I want to see again, and new restaurants to explore.
Weeks later, reflecting on the trip, I'm struck by one thing in particular. First of all, we are not "regulars." We've lived in the Twin Cities for ages, and I can only name a handful of places that we've eaten at more than four times in our lives. I love trying new things and it's very hard for me to choose a familiar place over an exciting place we haven't tried before. I think because of the sheer volume of NYC, we kept returning to things we liked.
I highly recommend NYC as a long-weekend vacation spot. New York City is awesome!!!