at last

It is a well-known fact that I like cheese and that I like quick breads. After all, the very first food post I made here was about cheese scones.

So when I saw a recipe for cheesy popovers, I was intrigued. I didn't really know what popovers were, but they sounded easy enough. Months passed, though, before I got around to attempting them.


You may remember that attempt. It was not exactly a success, though unlike some other kitchen failures, it was edible. And then like a crazy person, I tried again the next night. Still nothing.

I wasn't ready to give up on these yet, though. So I went to the source: Joy of Cooking. It's only steered me wrong once, and I can forgive it that. Their recipe laid it all out: no peeking. None. Not even a little bit. It had specific baking times. I mean, come on, it's one of the most famous cookbooks for a reason.


That is what I am talking about! Look at that! Popping! That, dear reader, is a baking victory. And those always feel good. (Yeah, those ones in the front of the picture did not pop. I got ambitious in the amount of popovers I tried to make. As it turns out, you cannot make an entire muffin tin's worth with this batter. C'est la vie.)

I wanted to make sure, though, that it wasn't just a fluke. So I made them again, and sure enough, they popped. Here is the key, though: no peeking!

Parmesan & Thyme Popovers
idea from White on Rice Couple, recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking

1 c. milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450°F. Grease a muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, butter, flour, and salt. Be careful not to over-mix; it should just start blending together. Beat in the eggs one at a time, again being careful not to over-beat. Stir in the thyme. The mixture at this point should not be too thick.

Drop 1 tablespoon of the batter into half the spaces on a regular muffin tin. (This makes eight popovers - though if you prefer or want smaller popovers, you could eke out twelve.) Sprinkle the cheese on top of the batter, distributing evenly, then top off with the rest of the batter.

Bake for 15 minutes. At this point, turn the temperature down to 350°F and bake for another 20 minutes. And this part is important: do not peek. Seriously. It will bring you nothing but heartache and unpopped popovers.

Serve warm.

(But don't listen to them when they say they are only good hot. I accidentally left the tin out while I hung out with Daniel for the afternoon, and came back and, um, ate them all. They were delicious.)

a little invincible

Last week, I finally picked up The United States of Arugula by David Kamp and reading it, I was struck - as I was reading My Life in France - by Julia Child's otherness. When she was my age, she was in a similar place: working as a career girl, but kind of floundering. And of course, there's the fact that she did not start cooking until she was in her thirties. Her story heartens me, makes me remember that it is okay to not know what I want to do with my life at age 23.

I became aware of this book while searching for a present for my friend Abbi. I don't see nearly enough of her, and I was not only lucky enough to see her this weekend but to also be gifted with a small food processor from her. (Seriously, I have the best friends. Hands down.)


With that in hand, I knew what had to be done. I had to make crackers.

Crackers, you say? But crackers aren't something people make! (As was exclaimed to me yesterday morning upon my excited admission of what I had baked.) I know, I know. Crackers are certainly not something people make on a regular basis, not when you can go to the supermarket and buy any variety of cracker your heart desires. I find myself less and less interested in this, though. If I can make it, why don't I? Obviously this doesn't work for everything. I could probably make my own pasta, but I'm not going to stop buying pre-made noodles.

Now that I have that tiny food processor, though, I feel a little invincible. I mean, hell, I made crackers! There are few things quite like a baking victory. Finishing a story is similar, but that (sadly) occurs much less frequently. I still get excited when I make a tried-and-true recipe, like focaccia, but that is nothing compared to pulling off something I've never made before.


But enough talking. Go make some crackers.

Spicy Cheddar Crackers

adapted from Orangette

1/3 stick butter (room temp.)
1/2 c. cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
1 egg yolk
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. dried mustard
3/4 tsp. salt
optional: 1 tsp. seasoning - I used cayenne pepper

Makes about 30 crackers.

Combine butter, cheese and eg yolk in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add flour, mustard, salt, and the seasoning of your choice. Again, blend until smooth. Transfer dough to parchment paper and - using the paper to help - roll into a log. Chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line a baking sheet and slice the log into thin rounds. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool. Enjoy!

really do it up

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Andy about friend groups - about how we keep looking for these and even if we find them, they usually fall apart in some manner. When the two of us were in our third year of college, we had such a friend group - there were fallings-out and breaking-ups, though, and those of us that remained friends through fourth-year and graduation are now spread all over the country.

When I moved to DC, I was lucky enough to fall in with another group of people. And lucky enough that fallings-out are not what separates us, just graduate programs slowly plucking people away. (Still, if I think too long about another little group falling apart, I get sad. Anyway.)



Daniel had a large part to do with that. It was his birthday this weekend, and since it has been somewhat lackluster in years past, we decided to really do it up this year. We surprised him with laser tag (which, let me tell you, is more fun than I thought it would be), and followed up with a small potluck.

Daniel's request for this was that it be something delicious and new. This is what I had to go on: Jo said she was making some sort of cabbage dish, and Andy was making mac and cheese. So what did I do? I broke out my Flavor Bible. Seriously, this book is amazing. It lists all sorts of ingredients and what their "flavor affinities" are - so I looked up "cabbage" and went from there. This led to searching through all my cookbooks - and all the food blogs I read - for onion recipes.



It took a while to find the right one - and I knew it was the right one because my mind had fixated on it, so even when I kept searching, I couldn't stop thinking about this one. Even though it was a little ambitious, it wound up being just right.

Onion and Goat Cheese Tart

I would not have been able to do this without my brilliant sous-chef, C.T. Well, I suppose I could have, but it would have been much more stressful. There's a lot to do here, but trust me, the end result is worth it.

PASTRY
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
5 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/6 c. Cheddar cheese

FILLING
2 onions
3/4 c. young goat cheese
2 eggs
1 tbsp light cream
1/3 c. Cheddar cheese
1 tbsp nutmeg
salt & pepper

Makes 8 tarts.

First make the dough by adding the butter to the flour in a medium bowl. Mix with your hands until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the cheese and enough cold water to make a dough.

Chop and carmelize the onions. This should take about 20-25 minutes, and they should be a light brown.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add in: cream, Cheddar, nutmeg, and goat cheese, beating well after each addition. Season with salt and pepper. When the onions are carmelized, add them to the mix.

Roll out the dough (if too sticky, add flour) and cut into rounds. I was using 4-inch tart pans and a 4-inch cutter that I macguyvered into working. Line the tart pans with the dough and bake for about 10 minutes.

Pour the mixture in and bake for another 20 minutes. Enjoy!

den of vipers

I entered college with a pretty firm idea of what I planned to do there: I would major in English and International Studies, and then go into government, making change from the inside. Needless to say, things did not exactly go according to plan.

Within a few days of my first semester, before the first class had even met, I dropped my International Relations course because the book was too expensive. I discovered the Buddhist meditation group, met Eric, and the following semester I took a class he taught called "Oracles, Augury, & Divination." There was no turning back after that: I was a Religious Studies major. It wormed its way into my heart quickly; looking back, it makes perfect sense, since I was the sort of child who read encyclopedia entries on different religions for fun. (True story.)


At the end of every semester, there was a department party. I don't remember a lot of details - like the first one I went to, for instance - but what shines through is a feeling of belonging, of togetherness, of home. I remember attending one at John's house before he retired, driving with two dear friends only a few weeks after I had been dumped. I remember winter parties at Eric's on-campus faculty housing, hot mulled cider ladled out into mugs. I remember being a senior myself and finding myself surprised that I had to make a speech with the other seniors. I remember crying at the end of my speech, and getting blamed later for setting the trend.

However, there was also the baked brie. I can't tell you how popular this stuff was, except to say that when the dish was brought out, we all promptly stopped socializing with each other to shove our faces full of this cheese. Suddenly we would be ravenous.

I made this for one of Josh's potlucks, before this cooking thing really sunk in - though a step up from all the college potlucks I went to, where my offering was usually boxed macaroni and cheese (I know, I know). The technique works well with camembert, too; we used butter and almonds for that one.


Baked Brie á l'Eric

Best served with a crusty bread, a baguette. I'm not sure if this is exactly how it was made for those department parties, but it's still pretty tasty. Also, my pictures are a little deceiving - I didn't quite get all the rind off, because I was in a hurry. It's not a big deal, since the rind is edible, but still. Luckily this - like most everything else I post here - is pretty easy.

wheel of brie
maple syrup

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Scrape the rind off the top of the brie and cut a cross (or an X, or a T, you get the idea) into it. Pour maple syrup on it. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

Ambitious in a different way

I have never been interested in cooking, nor have I been particularly good - or exciting - at it when I did attempt. I was the girl who brought macaroni-in-a-box to potlucks. I probably would have gone on like this, not-cooking and eating boringly okay things, except that my good friend Daniel has been insisting for a while now that I become a better cook. (I also blame him for my increase in salt consumption.) So my adventures began small: I made fettucine alfredo with home-made sauce, something I made before in Italy, so I knew I could do it. Then I got wildly ambitious with braised artichokes, which against all odds turned out okay. (It helped that mid-way I toned down my ambition, knowing that the gods hate hubris and had already punished me by dropping a cutting board on my toe, and steamed one.)

So it took a few weeks for my next project, as I slowly budgeted in ingredients and necessary cooking supplies - e.g., why did I not have a measuring cup? I accumulated a baking sheet first, then gathered some more ingredients during my weekly trip to the grocery store. It seemed this past long weekend was shaping up to be the perfect time for a cooking project.

I love scones, plain and simple. At college, in the co-op coffee shop located in the basement of my dorm, I would buy my chai latte and usually, if they hadn't already sold out, one of the four-cheese scones from a local bakery. I once interrupted an email to a friend staying in Africa to tell her about the scone I was eating ("seriously, this scone is like the platonic ideal of scone. the telos of scone," may be what I wrote to her), to which she wisely responded that soon I would probably turn into a scone.

All this to say, I am serious about scones. I have sorely missed those cheesy scones. Starbucks provides scones that are perfectly serviceable, but that's not quite enough. I have been thinking about making scones for weeks now, digging up and bookmarking recipes. It was an ambitious goal in a different way than the artichokes: baking is fairly easy as long as you stick to the recipe, but I wasn't. I decided to modify the recipe I was using, partially calculated (oh did I want a cheesy scone) and partially making it up as I went. When all the ingredients were finally in place, after an early-for-the-weekend morning trip to the market, I put on some music and sequestered myself in my tiny kitchen, leaving C.T. to do some editing. It was a pretty lovely way to spend a Saturday morning, all told.

Cheddar Cheese and Chive Scones
Adapted from A Homemade Life

These are pretty easy to make, and if you are like me and enjoy extra cheese on your cheese scones, I recommend sprinkling some parmesan on top. This recipe is also pretty easy to modify, and the original (which was for lemon zest & ginger) in fact encourages experimentation in the flavors.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• chopped chives to accent
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Using your hands, add the butter into the mixture, making sure any leftover butter lumps are about pea-size. Add the flavor ingredients - sugar, cheese, chives, mustard - and whisk to combine into the flour mixture.

Pour the milk into a small bowl and add the egg; beat until blended. Pour into the flour mixture (be sure to leave a splash in the bowl) and stir to combine. Squeeze dough with your hands so it begins to stick together. Turn that and any extra flour onto a cutting board or counter top and knead until it stays together. This won't take long. Make the dough into a circle about an inch thick and cut into wedges.

Put wedges on baking sheet. Use the remaining egg mixture as a glaze, spreading it over the tops of the wedges. Bake for 10-15 minutes: they should be a pale yellow and a knife should come out clean. Cool slightly.

NOTE. Store in airtight container, unless you're storing for more than a day or two, in which case you should freeze them. Bring to room temperature, though they're best warm. (Reheat at about 300°F.)