Apple & Pear Cobbler

Shopping List:
1-1/2 lbs. Apples (mixed varieties – pippins, winesaps, jonagolds)
3 pears
Whole milk
1 cup whipping cream (avoid the ultra-pasteurized if you can) – optional

Pantry Items:
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Light brown Sugar
Fine sea salt
Grated nutmeg
Unsalted butter

Tools:
9X13 baking dish
Chef’s knife
Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing bowls
Paring knife
Small saucepan
Vegetable peeler
Wooden spoons

Game Plan:

Prep:
Peel and core the apples. Cut them in 1/2-inch thick slices.
Peel and core the pears. Cut them in half-inch chunks.
Put the fruit into a 9 × 13 baking dish, and mix together.
Put 4 tbsps. (½ stick) butter in a small saucepan over low heat, to melt.

Start Cooking:
Put 1 cup flour, ½ cup sugar, 1-1/2 tsps. baking powder, and ½ tsp. salt in a bowl, and mix with your fingers.
Stir in 1/2 cup milk, then stir in the melted butter. Mix well.
Put the batter on the fruit and spread it as evenly as you can over the top.
Sprinkle with about ½ tsp. Nutmeg.
Put it in the center of the oven and bake until the batter and apples are golden, about 40 minutes.
If you want to serve it with cream, put 1 cup in a pitcher to serve alongside.
When it is baked, take it to the table. Dessert (or breakfast) is ready!

Cucumber Salad

Shopping List:
1 English cucumber
Plain yogurt (we like Greek – link)
Fresh Dill

From the Pantry:
White wine vinegar
Fine sea salt
Black pepper

Tools:
Vegetable peeler
Chef’s knife

Suggestions:
You may want to double this.

Game Plan:
Assemble ingredients
Get a bowl for the salad.

Prep the Ingredients:
Peel the cucumber.
Slice the cucumber.
Put the cucumber in the bowl.
Pluck 1/4 cup fronds from the dill.

Start Cooking:
Drizzle the cucumber with 1 tbsp. vinegar
Toss.
Add 1/2 cup plain yogurt.
Toss.
Add the dill fronds.
Season with salt and pepper.
Toss, Toss, Toss.
Refrigerate if you can.

Chunky Apple Sauce

Shopping List:
4 lbs. Apples, mix of varieties
1 lemon, preferably organic
Pantry Items
Brown sugar (optional)
Cinnamon stick

Tools:
Chef’s knife
Large saucepan
Paring knife
Vegetable peeler
Wooden spoons

Game Plan:

Prep the Ingredients:

Peel and core the apples. Check carefully that you remove all the core.
Cut the apples into chunks.
Remove 3 strips of zest from the lemon with a vegetable peeler.

Start Cooking:

Put the apples in the large saucepan with 2 cinnamon sticks, the strips of lemon zest and 1/4 cup water.
Add 1/4 cup brown sugar here, if you like. Stir it in.
Put the stockpot over medium-high heat. When the water boils, stir the apples, reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, until they are tender, about 20 minutes.
Check the apples often and stir, to be sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. If necessary, add more water.
When the apples are the tenderness you like, remove them from the heat. Serve hot, warm, room temperature, or cold!

Easy brownies

Shopping List:
1 cup sugar
4 ounces unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Tools:
9×9 inch square pan
Strainer or sifter
Saucepan
Spatula
Whisk

Game Plan:

Prep the Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Butter the pan.

Start Cooking:
In a saucepan, melt together the sugar, butter, chocolate over medium heat.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt onto waxed paper.
Stir it into the sugar, butter, chocolate.
Whisk in the eggs.
Stir in the nuts.
Pour everything into the pan.
Bake 20 minutes.

NoTakeOut Pie Pastry

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp dried thyme (this only works for savory tarts and apple tarts and pies) – optional
Pinch sea salt
10 tbsps. unsalted butter, cut in small pieces, chilled
1/4 – ½ cup ice water

1. Put the flour and the salt in the bowl of a food processor, or a mixing bowl. Pulse to mix.

2. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is mixed into the flour and the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. This will take 15-20 pulses.

3. Add the ice water slowly, pulsing, until the dough begins to clump. Don’t add too much water. Better to stop and check it to see if it holds together – it should be pretty moist, but not wet.

4. Turn out the clumped pastry onto a work surface. Pat it into a flat round, put a bowl over it and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

5. It’s ready to use now!

Enough pastry for one 2-crust pie or tart.  When it comes to crimping pastry edges, here’s a technique that comes in handy. Once you’ve put the pastry in the pie or tart tin, make sure it fits snugly, then fold the edges that are hanging over up to make a ridge all around the tin. Gently but firmly pinch the ridge at regular, close intervals to make a nice pattern all around. Voila, this is simplified crimping!

Roasted Potatoes

Shopping List:
1-1/2 pounds new potatoes

From the Pantry:
Extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic cloves
Fine sea salt
Black pepper

Suggestions:
Make a double batch of these…they’re delicious!

Tools:
9×14 baking dish
Chef’s knife

Game Plan:

When you walk in the door:

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Prep the ingredients:

Wash the potatoes, pat them dry.

Toss them in a bowl with 3 tbsps. olive oil.

Add 6 or 7 cloves garlic to the bowl and toss.

Season with salt and pepper, toss.

Put them in the roasting pan and forget them for about 25 minutes.

Rhubarb Compote

Shopping List:
1 lb. Rhubarb
1 orange, preferably organic (this is an option)

Pantry Items:
Sugar, white or brown

Tools:
Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing Bowl
Spatula
Chef’s knife
Zester
Large Saucepan, with lid

Suggestion:
Serve this for dessert or breakfast!

Game Plan

When you walk in the door:
When you walk in the door
Get out your tools
Assemble Pantry Items

Prep the Ingredients:
Rinse and trim the ends from the rhubarb. Cut it into 1/2-inch pieces.

Start Cooking:
Put the rhubarb in the saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in 3/4 cup sugar, and zest half the orange into the pan. Cover it.
Cook the rhubarb, stirring it once in a while, until it has melted, which will take 10-12 minutes.
Taste it. If it needs more sugar, add it.
Remove it from the heat, it’s ready to eat!

Rhubarb Crunch

Shopping List:
Rolled oats
Flour
Brown sugar
2 lbs. rhubarb
Sugar

Pantry Items:
Fine sea salt
Unsalted butter
Ground cinnamon

Tools:
Measuring cups and spoons
Food processor
Large bowl
8-inch square glass baking dish

Suggestion:
This is great for breakfast, too!

Game Plan

When you walk in the door:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Assemble the Tools.
Assemble the ingredients.

Prep the Ingredients:
Measure 1-1/2 cups rolled oats. Put in the food processor.
Measure 3/4 cup flour. Put in the food processor.
Measure 1-1/2 cups brown sugar. Put in the food processor.
Measure 1/4 tsp. salt. Put in the food processor.
Measure 12 tbsps. butter, and cut them into 12 pieces. Put them in the food processor.
Dice the rhubarb – unless it is tough, you don’t need to peel it.
Put the rhubarb in a large bowl.
Measure 3/4 cup sugar, and add it to the rhubarb.
Measure 1-1/2 tsps. cinnamon and add it to the rhubarb.
Measure 1/4 tsp. salt, and add it to the rhubarb.
Measure 2 tbsps. water and add it to the rhubarb.

Start Cooking:
Pulse all the ingredients in the food processor until they are combined. They’ll be dusty.
Mix all the ingredients with the rhubarb, and turn them into the baking dish.
Top with the dusty oat mixture.
Put in the oven.
Forget about it for 40 minutes. If it is golden and bubbling then, it’s ready. If not, leave it in the oven.

Simple Chocolate Cake

4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup good-quality unsweetened cocoa (we like Valrhona)
Generous pinch salt
1 cup (2 sticks;16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups vanilla sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat yogurt or sour cream
1 cup hot water

For the icing:
½ cup (1 stick:8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (we like Scharffenberger, Valrhona, or
Lindt)
6 tablespoons heavy, non ultra-pasteurized cream
1-3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter and flour two 9-inch cake
pans.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt onto a piece of
waxed paper.

3. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the butter
until it is pale yellow and fluffy. Add the sugar, and continue mixing
until light. Then add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until they are
thoroughly incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix well.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in thirds,
alternating with the sour cream and the hot water, beginning and
ending with the dry ingredients.

5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and tap the pans once,
sharply, on the counter. Bake in the center of the oven until the
cakes are puffed and your finger leaves a slight indentation when you
press on the top of the cake, 35-40 minutes.

6. While the cakes are baking, make the icing: combine the butter,
chocolate, and cream in a medium-size, heavy saucepan over low heat.
Heat until all the ingredients are melted, stirring often. Remove the
pan from the heat and whisk in the confectioners’ sugar until
smooth. Whisk in the vanilla, and set aside to cool to lukewarm.

7. When the cakes are baked, transfer to cooling racks. When the cakes
are cool, turn them out of the baking pans. Trim the domed top off one
layer so it is flat (eat the trimmings!). Place that layer on a
serving plate.

8. When the icing has cooled but it still runny, spread it over the
bottom layer, including the sides. The icing will run down the sides
of the cake, but you can easily catch and spread it, using a spatula
or a wide knife. Place the second layer of cake, dome side up, on the
first layer and ice it with the remaining icing, making a nice, even
layer. Serve the cake…whenever you want to, though it’s best
the day after it’s made.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Mandarin Oranges and Marmalade

Shopping List:
1 pint really good vanilla ice cream
1 small can mandarine oranges
1 jar orange marmalade

Tools:
Ice Cream Scoop
Small saucepan

Start Cooking:
Scoop out a little more than half the jar of marmalade into a small pan and put it over low heat.
Scoop out the ice cream into 4 bowls.
Divide the mandarin oranges among the bowls of ice cream.
Spoon equal amounts warm marmalade over the ice cream and oranges.