Brie and Fig Jam on Rye Crisp Bread

This delicious snack is so easy to make that you can keep on snacking and make it right into a super-delicious lunch.

I didn't make the fig jam, but if you're feeling ambitious, you could.

Guest Post: The Birthday Cake

Today, a very special guest post. Oh, friends, I am so glad this cake (and its baker) came into my life. I think you'll feel the same.


This cake doesn't have a name. My sister and I know it only as The Birthday Cake. My Mom made it every single year for our birthdays until we moved out, and now sometimes it's waiting for us at Christmas. She calls it Whip Cream Cake. I most recently made it for my friend Amanda's birthday.

With the permission of Mother Gardiner, now you can make it for someone special. In her words, "You can make it tall, or you can make it small. But not too tall...because it will wiggle."

Mom used the ol' cake mix from the box trick, but I stepped it up a little and adopted this Better Homes and Gardens recipe affectionately called White Cake! Follow that recipe, but be sure to pour it into two well-greased round cake pans.

While the two round cakes are cooling, it is time for the most fun.

This is where things get tricky because I always buy way too much whipping cream. I can not tell you how much whipping cream to buy, but I usually buy 4 cartons. I asked my Mom how many she buys and she says, "Oh, I don't know, I just send Dad back to the store." We are not a scientific family, except my sister, who actually is a scientist.

Whip Cream Frosting

4 cartons of heavy whipping cream
Blackberries
Raspberries
1 peach
Sugar

Divide whipping cream in four bowls. Beat each portion until the whipping cream thickens. For three of the layers, mash up about a 1/2 cup (or chop up and blend, in the case of the peach) of the fruit of your choice and add each to the whip cream. For the peach and blackberry layers, I added a teaspoon or so of sugar. The raspberry layer was fine left as is. For the final layer, which will go on the very top of the cake, I like to just add sugar and a little food coloring -- pink and pale green are favorites.

Once the cakes have completely cooled, carefully remove them from the pans and try your best to cut them evenly in half, giving you four thin slices. Layer the fruit/whip cream frosting one by one and top with a pastel whipped finale.

Broccoli Soup

Straight outta Bittman, except that I added one potato and didn't puree. Thanks again, Google Books!.

Baked Cheese

Have you ever had baked cheese? We picked this up at the Green Grocer the other week, not really sure what it would be like.

It was like: very, very good. We toasted it in a dry pan, and served it as an appetizer with bread. But to tell you the truth, it doesn't really need bread, or anything else. It holds its shape, doesn't get too greasy. It's crunchy and chewy. We bought the garlic flavor, which was terrific, but I might see if they have a plain version. I think it would pair really nicely with this fig spread I picked up last weekend. Or apple slices.

More information: check out this post from The Kitchn that I just found. The brand they have pictured there is the same one I've been buying.

Carrot Cranberry Oat Muffins

These muffins would be great to make ahead and grab as you're going out the door on a rushed Monday (for example!) morning.

3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats, plus more for topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon shaved nutmeg
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup sweetened, dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Whisk the flour, oats, sugar, salt, and spices together in a mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat together the egg, milk and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Fold in the carrots and cranberries.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins, and sprinkle each with some additional rolled oats. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of them comes out clean.

Apple Cider Braised Delicata Squash over Creamy Polenta

Typically, I don't go for squash preparations that up the vegetable's natural sweetness. This might be a result of the first time I ate acorn squash. Roasted with brown sugar, I'm sure it was delicious. But at age 10, I was horrified. I sat at that dinner table for (what I remember as) hours, choking down the squash with gulps of water. It may not have been until college that I ate squash again? Now I love it, but, like I said, I don't typically prepare it sweetly. This dish is lovely, though, because the salty polenta balances out the intense sweetness of the cidered squash.

3 pounds delicata squash
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups unfiltered apple or pear cider
salt + pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Peel squash, halve lengthwise, and remove seeds with spoon. Then slice the flesh into half-moons 1/2-inch thick.

Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over low heat until foamy. Add rosemary and garlic, and cook, stirring, over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add squash, cider, and 1 tsp. salt. If squash is not covered by cider, add water to cover.

Bring to a simmer, and cook until squash is tender and cider has reduced to a glaze, stirring frequently, 30 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle with vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

About 15 or 20 minutes before you expect the squash to be done, begin preparing the polenta.

1 cup milk
salt
1 cup coarse cornmeal
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup or more freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Bring milk to a boil with 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and add a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer. Add cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking all the while. When it has all been added, let mixture return to a boil, then turn heat to low. Polenta should be just barely simmering.

Cook, stirring occasionally and being sure to scrape sides and bottom of pan, for 15 to 20 minutes, until mixture is creamy and cornmeal tastes cooked. If mixture becomes too thick, whisk in some water, about 1/2 cup at a time.

Taste and season polenta as necessary with salt and pepper. Take pan off stove, stir in the butter or oil and the cheese if you are using it.

Serve the braised squash over the polenta with a little more grated cheese on top, if you wish.

(adapted from here and here)

Guest Post: Cashew Cookies

This is Amanda's last guest post (for now, I hope!). I can't wait to overconsume AND try out her post-meal dance recommendations!


Ideally, after eating all of this food you will go dance to the music of Os Mutantes, so try not to excessively overeat and drink. Or just dance to Os Mutantes in your kitchen while wearing these hats. Enjoy!

Vegan Cashew Cookies
Recipe adapted from Gourmet Magazine, via the International Vegetarian Union
Makes around eight large cookies

These traditional Brazilian cookies taste a lot like shortbread.

3/4 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
6 tablespoons vegan margarine, softened (I used Earth Balance)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
parchment paper

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375° F.

Pulse 1/2 cup nuts in a food processor until finely chopped, being careful not to process to a paste, then transfer to a large shallow baking pan. Toast those nuts, stirring every two minutes to prevent edges from burning, until pale golden, 6-8 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Whisk together flour and cornstarch in a bowl. Then beat together margarine and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, around five minutes. Add toasted ground nuts and salt and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and mix just until dough forms.

Shape the dough into a rectangular block and roll it out between two (12-inch long) sheets of parchment. Ideally it should look something like a 10 by 8 inch rectangle, but mine looked more like an irregularly-shaped mess. That’s okay!

Chill dough in parchment on a baking sheet in refrigerator until firm, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop remaining 1/4 cup nuts in food processor. Discard top sheet of parchment and sprinkle dough with coarsely chopped nuts. Bake until golden, 14-16 minutes.

Transfer shortbread to a rack and cool completely, then break into rough shapes with your hands. These cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for one week.

Farm Soup

This is a veryvegetable soup full with recently reaped CSA bounty. Speaking of: I only have two more weeks of CSA!! This is bad news, friends. But let's enjoy it while it lasts. Or, I'll enjoy it, and you can maybe enjoy reading about the things I make?

olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 leeks, white and light green parts chopped, and cleaned thoroughly
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium potato, chopped
a couple sprigs of thyme
3-4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups fresh spinach
salt + pepper

In a heavy bottom pot over medium heat, saute the celery, leeks, and garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until softened. Add the carrots, potato, and whole thyme sprigs. Stir and continue cooking for about five minutes more. Cover with vegetable stock*, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 or 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

When the carrots and potato are cooked, remove the thyme, wilt in the spinach, then puree. Season and serve with little garlic toasts: brush each slice of bread with olive oil, set them on a cookie sheet, and toast them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Once toasted, and while they are still warm, rub each piece with a clove of raw garlic, cut in half horizontally.

* As you can see from the picture, I had an insufficient amount of stock on hand (about two cups) which made for a very thick soup. I didn't mind, but it was a little like baby food. Here, I've increased the stock amount recommendation, but basically, use enough to give yourself whatever consistency you prefer. If you puree the soup and find it's too thick, stir in a little more stock and cook for a couple minutes.

Flour

Recently, I've gotten a few questions about the flour/s I use. I'm no expert, but I can tell you what I like to keep around:

All-Purpose Flour
If you're only going to keep one kind of flour in your house, keep all-purpose. As the name indicates, it can be used for all purposes. Nice how that works, no? It may not work quite as well for some purposes, but it will not fail. And having lived in Chicago/New York for the past six years, I'm very sympathetic to people who want just one kind of flour. Sometimes, you just don't have the space for eight kinds of flour. Or you don't bake enough to warrant keeping a variety around. When I buy AP flour, I buy unbleached.

Bread Flour
If you get into baking bread or making your own pizza dough, bread flour is worth a try. It's flour with a high gluten content. You can thank gluten for the stretchiness of pizza dough, the chewiness of baguettes, etc. Don't use bread flour to bake cakes or anything whose desired texture is light and delicate. Again, I use unbleached bread flour when I bake bread.

Whole Grain (or Whole Wheat) Pastry Flour
Whole grain pastry flour is a dream. It has a low protein/gluten count, so it's light and crumbly the way you want your cupcakes to be. And the whole-graininess of it doesn't get in the way. If you've ever tried to substitute straight whole-wheat flour for AP in a cake recipe, you know that you end up with a tough dessert that only your seventies granola mom could love (no dig at Ina May, by the way, I love love Spiritual Midwifery!). I regularly substitute whole grain pastry flour for either AP or regular pastry (also called "cake") flour in recipes. You can also use half whole grain pastry/half AP. Don't use whole grain (or regular) pastry flour for bread. Use it with caution for muffins, pancakes, cookies, and other baked items that might have a denser standard.

Whole Wheat Flour
I know it's good for me, but I don't really love whole wheat (regular) flour. I keep it around and use it in bread occasionally, but only as a blend with unbleached white flour. And even then, I'll tend to use a maybe 1/4 whole wheat to 3/4 white. I'm just not a fan of the texture whole wheat flour produces. It also tends to have a sweeter taste than white flour, which isn't always ideal. Even though I do buy whole wheat dry pasta (begrudgingly), I would never use it to make fresh pasta. It's just not suited to that bendy genre.

Rice Flour
Also known as "ground rice," rice flour really shines in hot oil. As a coating or batter for fried foods, it yields a crisper exterior than wheat flour tends to. I haven't experimented much with using rice flour as a substitute for wheat flour in baked goods, but I'm sure there's lots to explore there, especially for people with gluten allergies.

Chickpea Flour
I only recently tried chickpea flour, and was very pleased with the result. The bag told me it could be used in place of wheat flour in dishes where a "beany" taste is appropriate. I noticed that the pancakes I made with chickpea flour were soft and pliable. Perhaps not stretchy, but I would guess it's closer in texture to wheat flour than rice flour.

What else is there? Cornmeal? I think with cornmeal we might be moving away from flours and into something else. Meal, I suppose. Anyway, you know what to use cornmeal for, right? Corny things!

What kinds of flour do you use regularly?

Acorn Squash Fusilli

After Friday's failed pasta: an easy recovery. This is lasagne or ravioli, deconstructed. Where filling becomes sauce. And pasta stays pasta.

1 pound fusilli
1 acorn squash
2 shallots, peeled and quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed slightly (just pound each clove with the side of your knife)
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
olive oil
salt + pepper
5 fresh sage leaves, sliced very thinly
leaves from 1 sprig of thyme

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Boil the pasta in salted water.

Meanwhile, slice the acorn squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Then, slice each half horizontally into inch-wide strips. Lay these C-shaped slices out on a large baking sheet. Place the shallots, garlic, and walnuts on the baking sheet with the sqash. Drizzle everything with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then toss with your hands to distribute the oil.

Roast the vegetables (& walnuts) for about 20 minutes, until the squash is tender. Peel the squash (this should be really easy if it's fully cooked -- just pull the peel from the flesh). Dump the peeled squash, onion, garlic, and nuts into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with the sage and thyme, adjust seasoning, then mash. Scoop the cooked pasta into the bowl and toss to combine.

Lasagne Cupcakes

A few months ago I saw a status update on Facebook that said a friend was headed out to eat lasagne cupcakes. Also, there was this picture.

Staring at that status update, I got a glimpse of the Real.

But, well, I guess I should have known better than to try to confront my lasagne-other. We destroyed each other.

Basically, the small size of the cupcakes made the top cook faster than the noodles were able to. I did use no-boil noodles, and soaked them before hand so they would be pliable. But I definitely should have boiled them.

BTW the filling was a riff on this recipe, but with pumpkin/walnut rather than butternut/hazelnut.

Another day, lasagne cupcakes! Another day.

Guest Post: Caipirinhas

Amanda's second guest post! Thursdays are the best, folks. I know, because the almost-rhymes flow so effortlessly.


Whenever cooking a meal for friends, I like to start the evening with a nice strong cocktail. Nothing defines "nice strong cocktail" like caipirhinas.

Caipirhinas – the National Drink of Brazil
Recipe adapted from my friend Andrea

1 lime, cut into fourths
1 oz Cachaca (I prefer Pitu)
Spoonful of agave nectar (or more, to taste)
A muddler or spoon

Roll the limes on the counter before slicing to extract the most juice. Fill an old-fashioned glass halfway with cubed ice. Squeeze the juice from one lime into the glass, then throw in the juiced limes for muddling. Add the cachaca, then add some agave nectar (amount is up to you – I usually go with at least one spoonful). Stir, and continue to muddle as you drink. It will get easier to sip as the ice melts; you can add a dash of warm water to help it along.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

These are rustic, not-too-rich weekday muffins that could be dressed up with a nice, buttery crumble if you wanted to make them for a weekend brunch.

3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 golden delicious apple with peel, chopped

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease or paper a muffin tin. Melt the butter and allow it to cool slightly.

Mix flour, oats, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold until almost combined. Add the chopped apple, and fold a few times more until everything comes just-barely-together.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, then bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Oil and Vinegar

Even though it was only one week ago that I proclaimed Tuesdays were for not-recipes, I wasn't sure what to post for this not-recipe-Tuesday.

Until! I received a brown box in the mail at my office. I figured it was a book I had ordered for my class, but when I opened it up, I found two beautiful bottles: one contained blood orange extra virgin olive oil, and the other, an 18 year aged balsamic vinegar. Both from Old Town Oil. My most-wonderful friend Elaine had sent them to me for my birthday and I can't wait to try them out.

Do you have experience with flavored oils? Any recipe suggestions for the blood orange oil?

Espinacas con Garbanzos

I've talked before about how one of my cooking mentors was the lovely woman who housed me for a year in Spain when I was 20. Before I left Spain, I asked her to share some recipes. She wasn't the recipe type, but she did agree to talk me through a few of my favorite dishes. The image below is a scan of the notes I took on Espinacas con Garbanzos.

When I got home, I wasn't able to successfully reproduce (m)any of the "recipes" I had left with, this one included. And it's not surprising, considering that I wrote "coser" (to sew) instead of "cocer" (to cook), or that I heard the Spanish word for "pan," but immediately forgot it and wrote the word in English, a word whose three little letters also happen to make the word for "bread" in Spanish. Which is it? Pan or pan? And then there was the time when I thought "pimiento molido" meant cayenne pepper, and set mouths ablaze.

So when I heard this story on NPR, I was glad to have found what amounted to a decoder. I had suspected the "pimiento molido" my señora showed me was actually paprika ("pimentón" in Spanish -- I must have misheard the more familiar "pimiento" [pepper] when I was taking notes), but I didn't have a sense for proportions, which is what the NPR recipe gave me. The "cucharidita" (actually "cucharadita" [teaspoon]) wasn't a standard teaspoon at all, but a kitchen spoon held up before my eyes and christened littlespoon.

(Have I ever told you that in addition to being a food blogger, I'm also a literary translator? You can see why I'm having so much fun with this...)

Anyway, here's my señora's recipe, as I worked it out last week.

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic (2 whole, 2 chopped)
2 ounces bread, crusts removed, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 pounds spinach (or other cooking greens; I admit to cheating and using chard since I had that on hand)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 can garbanzos, rinsed and drained
salt + pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium. Add the whole garlic and bread, and saute for several minutes, tossing occasionally, until the garlic is browned. Remove the garlic and bread, and set aside.

In the oil that remains, briefly saute the chopped garlic with the paprika, then, corriendo, add the spinach. While it wilts, which won't take long, mash the browned garlic with the toasted bread, cumin, vinegar, and water. Stir this, along with the garbanzos, into the wilted spinach. Cook for a few minutes, until the beans are warmed through. Season to taste, maybe add a little more vinegar or water if you think it needs it.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

If you have an October birthday (myself included) you're bound to get pumpkin desserts. When I gave a one of these cupcakes to my friend Jenny earlier this week, I realized that a year ago this time, I had given her pumpkin whoopie pies (also of current banner fame). And well, geez, I hope she likes pumpkin + cream cheese.

(I do!)

PS. In the linked recipe, I halved the amount of frosting, and still had more than I needed. And, I used 1/2 maple syrup, 1/2 powdered sugar for the sweetener. I liked the earthier flavor the syrup provided.

Guest Post: Black Bean and Mango Stew with Rainbow Chard

I'm hoping to bring you more guest posters (;for moderns) on future Thursdays, and today, on this Thursday, my friend Amanda will kick things off with the first in a series of three posts she has planned. Amanda first told me about this feast a couple weeks ago and I've been really looking forward to sharing it with you. Now, to our collective delight, it's here. Legal!


I like to throw spur-of-the-moment dinner parties with ridiculous themes. When my friend Sarah and I decided to go see Os Mutantes on a recent Sunday evening, I thought: what better excuse to make an elaborate Brazilian feast? I make no claims for authenticity, but the recipes I'll be sharing with you for the next three weeks were fairly simple and tasted great.

Black Bean and Mango Stew
Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times, via the International Vegetarian Union
Serves 6

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (or more)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (1 to 1 1/4 lbs.)
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 poblano pepper, diced (or you use a jalapeno if you're hot for it)
2 (16 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe mango, pitted, peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium. Add the chopped onion and stir often for five minutes. Add the garlic and then stir until the onion is golden, around three minutes.

Next, stir in the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes (with liquid), and poblano (or other) pepper. Bring to a boil, and the reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer the stew until the potatoes are tender (but not too soft), 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir the rinsed beans into the stew and simmer gently, uncovered, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

At last, you can stir in the mango and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in cilantro and salt. Serve hot with the chard and some delicious bread, or wrapped up in a fresh flour tortilla.

While your stew is stewing...

Rainbow Chard
Serves 3

This bitter and delicious side dish will perfectly accompany the spicy sweetness of the stew.

big bunch of rainbow chard
1 tablespoon olive oil
seaweed gomasio, to taste
salt, to taste

Rinse and chop the chard, including the stems. Heat a tablespoon (or so) of oil in a large skillet. Throw in the chard and sauté for around 15 minutes. I topped it with several shakes of gomasio and salt.

Chickpea Pancake with Caramelized Onion Applesauce

At a party last weekend, a friend told me about the chickpea pancake she had gotten at brunch that morning. It sounded so great and reminded me of the first time I heard about chickpea pancakes. I was about 14 and my older (cooler) friend worked as a waitress at a (the only) fancy restaurant in our hometown. They served chickpea pancakes. I remember being totally fascinated by them. You mean a not-necessarily-for-breakfast pancake made from not-Bisquick? Crazy (delicious)!

So last weekend, with the BBC's help, I set out to make my own chickpea pancakes. The pancakes themselves are vegan and gluten-free and would be lovely paired with all kinds of chutneys. I happened to have a huge batch of homemade applesauce on hand, so I mixed up a butter-town (nsfv) caramelized onion applesauce to accompany them.

Caramelized Onion Applesauce

1 cup applesauce (homemade instructions below)
6 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, quartered lengthwise
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Making applesauce is very, very easy. Peel and roughly chop some apples. Put them into a large, heavy bottom pan with a 1/2 inch of water, and cook until the fruit breaks down. Mash, cool and store. You can also freeze this in batches.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet, add the onions, then the sugar and spices. Toss to coat. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the onions begin to brown.

Add the salt and vinegar, then transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes, until the onions are falling-apart-tender.

Scoop the onions out of the pan and chop them up a bit. I used kitchen scissors to cut them into small pieces. Combine the onions with the applesauce. You can leave the butter behind in the pan, or not...

Pancake

5oz chickpea flour, sifted
approx. 1 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 banana peppers, finely chopped
1 Hungarian hot wax pepper, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
about 3 tbsp grape seed (or other neutral) oil

Place the chickpea flour into a large mixing bowl and add the water, stirring, until a thin, smooth batter forms. Add the salt, fennel seeds, onion, peppers, garlic, and cilantro. Stir to combine and let the batter rest for about 15 minutes.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Oil it, then pour or spoon the batter on as you would any pancake. Cook covered for a few minutes, then flip and cook uncovered for a minute more.

You Gotta Put Salt

I've decided that I want to try to post more food-related, not-just-recipe-driven, content. Above is a video that I've had bookmarked for a while now, since a friend posted it on my Facebook page (btw, become a Facebook fan of Meals by clicking the link to the right). It's Frank Gehry and Mark Bittman talking about matzah brei, as you've likely already discerned. And it's a delightful video.

I think it's excerpted from that most-indulgent PBS show where Paltrow-n-pals make uncomfortably sexual noises as they lazily eat and drive convertibles through Spain. But that's neither here nor there. This bit is just delicious. I love how intently Bittman wants to impose architecture (+/- beauty) on Gehry's cooking and I love how Gehry just says "no." And I love these two timeless tips: "you gotta put salt" and "if you put sugar on stuff, people are gonna vote for it."

Orecchiette with Vegan Italian Sausage and Mixed Greens

1 pound orecchiette
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
8 ounces vegan Italian sausage
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
6 cups total mixed cooking greens, chopped (I used Toscano kale, Swiss chard, and spinach)
salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil the pasta in salted water.

Meanwhile, preheat a dutch oven or another similarly sized and weighted pan over medium heat. In a couple tablespoons of olive oil, saute the garlic and red pepper flakes. After a minute or so, toss in the sausage. Continue cooking until it begins to brown. Add the greens, followed by the cooked pasta and some salt. Stir until the greens have wilted. Add some pasta water if the mixture is too dry. Garnish with parsley and, if you wish, some Parmesan cheese.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Sour Cherry Apple Cider Sauce

I slapped some Fall flavors on Bittman's cinnamon roll recipe and called them by the much-extended title above.

1 prepared rich golden bread dough (thanks Google Books!)
1 can pumpkin (get the kind that is just pumpkin)
3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, combined
1 cup apple cider (I used sour cherry, without even knowing it. It was delicious, of course, but not requisite)
a couple tablespoons heavy cream

Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Pat/roll the dough out into a 9x13 inch rectangle. Spread most of a can of pumpkin onto that rectangle. Then sprinkle that liberally with cinnamon-sugar. Beginning with a long edge, roll the dough up around the filling. It will ooze. That's ok. When it's all rolled up, try and seal the seam. Then cut the log crosswise into about 15 pieces and set the rolls, spiral side up, into the baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes? I can't remember. Maybe 30. Maybe keep an eye on them.

Meanwhile, simmer the apple cider until it cooks down to about a 1/4 of its original volume. Let it cool a bit, them combine it with the cream. If you want a thicker glaze, you could use cream cheese rather than cream, but you may need to thin it out a bit with some milk or perhaps more apple cider. I used cream and it made a tart, delicate sauce.