When I was a kid, I remember taking a bite of mince meat pie wondering why this would be a dessert, and being very surprised at how yummy it was. I am sure it was some frozen store-bought version, but I thought it was just so amazing that they had made meat taste like fruit and spices. (Little did I know it had no meat whatsoever in it.) The mixture of fruit and meat with strong spices was brought to England from the Middle East during the crusades. It became a Catholic custom to eat it at Christmas, and during the English Civil War, was outlawed by Puritan leaders. According to an excellent wikipedia page on Mince Pie, in his History of the Rebellion, Marchamont Needham wrote…
Posts tagged “food”
When it came to Christmas cookies in my family, there were traditions upheld out of the sheer belief that we needn’t make any new cookies because the ones we made year after year had risen to the top of the cookie food chain, and were clearly superior to all other cookies, hence their being elevated to a Christmas cookie, from just an any-old-time-of-year cookie. Some of these cookies required a good deal of extra labor, but they were not overly complex endeavors. In fact, what made them so impressive was their simplicity. The end result is something that requires work, but is deceptively elegant in ingredients and flavors. Last year, tsp’s first Christmas season, I introduced you to the greatest cookie recipe ever devised, and it…
Categories: recipes, vegetarian
Tagged: apple, baking, cardamom, carrot, christmas, cookie cutter, cookies, dessert, food, holiday, recipe, semolina, shortbread, whole grain
A list is being made. A grouchy possum is coming to the store with me. Here are things I am making for the big meal on Thursday, as well as some other things you might want to consider making. Titles of the photos are links to recipes. Dry-brined turkey (made this last year, and it was perfect– easier than wet brined, but 3 days lead time) Persimmon pudding Apple Pie Stuffed Delicata Squash Endive Salad with warm bacon dressing Goat Cheese with Chile Morita and Piloncillo sauce (great for hors d’oerves) Orange Custard Pie with Honey and Coriander Cabbage Gratin New stuff I am doing this year: Cranberry Port-Gelee Gratinned Mustard Creamed Onions Chard with Raisins and Orange Peel And a less insane version than…
Categories: recipes
Tagged: apple pie, chile morita, cooking, coriander, dessert, endive salad, food, goat cheese, honey, orange custard pie, persimmon pudding, pie, piloncillo, recipe, squash, thanksgving, turkey
I was lucky enough this week, so far west of the Mississippi, to snap up some organic Cortland apples in superb condition. These apples have a deep red color, with flashes of green, and snow white crisp flesh. They are sweet-tart, and make a good baking apple. I wanted to make an apple cake, mostly because I kept stumbling upon them online here and here. But I wanted to keep it simple, and make sure the apples were center stage. I did not want to have to use a special pan. I did not want too much spice, or too much sugar. Again, the apples. I found some recipes for Italian apple cakes, particularly this one, written charmingly by an Italian student new to…
Categories: recipes, vegetarian
Tagged: apple cake, cortland, dessert, food, recipe, rye, torta di mele
There are some things that should not come in your coffee drink as a “flavor shot” and I feel that “pumpkin spice” is one of them. Maybe I’m old-fashioned. Here is what is called for: Pecan sticky buns, with a yeasty spiced dough, kept moist and tender by a whole cup of roasted pureed Hubbard squash. Perfect on a plate, next to your cup of unadulterated coffee. A Hubbard is like a pumpkin, but has a less stringy texture. Also, it is enormous, oblong, and blue– with warts! If you live in a cold place where winter gardening is difficult, Hubbards are good for wintering over. You can harvest them in the fall, and they will sit around in a drafty corner of your…
Categories: recipes, vegetarian
Tagged: breakfast, cinnamon rolls, dessert, food, hubbard, pecan, recipe, rye, squash, sticky buns
I have been neglecting to share too many goodies with you. Work and house have interfered with important communicae involving homemade grapefruit curd slathered on whole grain shortbread with bits of carrot and apple baked inside. Zucchini casserole with just the right crispy top. Each are worthy of an entry and will get their day in the blog sun. But then blueberry season just came at me out of nowhere. And the thing is, Texas blueberries are here one minute and gone the next. So I got a whole bunch of them, and after eating a little in my breakfast all week long, I figured out what to do with them. I knew this recipe was a winner as soon as I read it. …
Categories: recipes, vegetarian
Chorizo is a big deal here in South Texas. The regional version is a more laid back sausage than its Spanish ancestor, but it packs a punch. Although it comes in a casing, it is usually cooked like a ground meat broken up, and quite greasy. Unlike Spanish chorizo, it is not cured or dried. It is a common breakfast food served mixed in with scrambled eggs, or with refried beans in a flour tortilla, or with breakfast potatoes on the side. It adds a spicy vinegary flavor, and is usually deep orange-red and full of chili powder, cumin, and garlic. Tlacuache loves the chorizo from the San Manuel chorizo factory on I-37 South (between San Antonio and McAllen). He says he prefers it…
Categories: recipes
Tagged: charcuterie, chorizo verde, food, pork, recipes, sausage
