Cold November Sno'rain.

A warming and comforting menu for a cold and discomforting season

Note:  I debated whether to send a newsletter today. After a long, contentious campaign, it’s election day here in the U.S.  The approaching day weighs heavily on many, myself included.  But I find comfort in the dishes in today’s menu.  I hope you do too.

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Welcome to November.  For those of us in most of the northern hemisphere, that means the arrival of colder weather.  For those of us in the northern parts of them northern hemisphere, that means grey, dark, and cold.  At like 4 PM.  Forever.

It means shorter days, an election, encroaching holidays, and hopefully the penultimate month of this very long, very out of control train we call 2020.

It also means a change in our eating.  Sure, because of super markets and global supply chains and plastic wrap, we can get most anything any time of year.  But that’s not what we really want.  I mean, I’ll eat a salad in January knowing that the greens were flown in or grown in a green house.  I still want pineapple even though I live in Ohio.  What I mean is that there’s a seasonality to our culinary desires even when there’s no remaining seasonality to our culinary options.  I don’t crave a giant turkey dinner in July.  Alright, the opposite may not be true – I still want barbeque and all the fixin’s in January – but the point remains the same.  The light begins to fade, the days begin to shorten, and what we crave, what we think of as the perfect meal for the moment changes.

For me, that means increasingly rich, warm, comforting foods.  This may be because I’m essentially a hairless bear and I’m subconsciously preparing for hibernation or it may be because this is the season of poor impulse control – either way, at this time of year, all I want are rich, dark,  slow-braised, hearty dishes you can sop up with good bread and wash down with dark beer.  Dishes like beef stew.

I don’t order beef stew in July.  I cook it on a cold early November afternoon when the oven in the kitchen is comforting, when the smell of the slowly braising meat and softening vegetables is a heartening smell, not a cloying nuisance.  Soft, fork tender and flavorful meat.  Potatoes that have soaked up the fat and flavors of the meat and the aromatics they’ve cooked alongside.  It’s unctuous.  Comforting.  The kind of dish you don’t stop to talk while eating because in autumn, eating is serious business.  Pair it with a good loaf of bread, a small salad so you can claim you’re eating your green vegetables, and a nice bit of cake and you’re on track for hibernation. 

Don’t forget your cozy sweater and fuzzy shoes.

Oatmeal Brown Bread

Some yeasted breads are a bit fussy.  Unless you’re living on the moon, the number of your friends and family that have taken up sourdough baking during the pandemic is greater than zero.  You’ve seen them post pictures of their process and their resulting perfect (or misshapen and weird looking) loaves.  They’ve named their starter.  They trade advice and techniques and it all seems so rather complex and detailed and … all that.

I’m totally guilty of all of that.  I was guilty of all of that before the pandemic (“I listened to that band before you ever heard of them!”).  The thing is, that sort of commitment or obsession or weirdness isn’t necessary to have good homemade bread on a regular basis. 

This brown bread uses a slightly sweetened dough to speed up the rising process, and the bitterness of molasses and cocoa powder to cut that sweetness.  Yes, cocoa powder.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like chocolate at all.  Instead, it simply tastes like delicious.  The recipe calls for bread flour because it’s easier to work with, but you can swap in whole wheat for additional flavor – simply cut back the amount of water by 25 g as the two flours absorb water differently.

100 g rolled oats (American style old fashioned rolled oats – not instant or quick cook oatmeal) plus additional for garnish if desired

300 g of bread flour
125 g whole wheat flour
75 g molasses
10 g dark cocoa powder
8 g kosher salt
275 g warm water
7 g instant yeast

Lightly toast rolled oats in a dry pan over medium heat.  Stir constantly and cook just until a lightly toasty scent rises from the grain.

Transfer the oats to the bowl of a food processor and process until ground to a fairly fine meal.

Add the water, yeast, and molasses to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  If using active dry yeast, allow to proof in the bowl for 10 minutes before continuing.  If using instant yeast, proceed to next step. 

Add oats, flour, and cocoa powder. 

Set mixer to low speed until combined.

Add the salt and increase speed one level. 

Allow the mixer to knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Turn out into a lightly greased bowl and allow to rise, covered, until doubled – about 1 hour.

Lightly flour your work surface and turn the dough out onto it. 

Punch down lightly and form the dough into a rectangle with the short side approximately the length of your loaf pan. 

Roll the dough into a loaf, pinching the seam closed and tucking the ends under/into the seam. 

Grease a loaf pan and set the rolled dough seam side down.

Allow to rise, covered, until doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Brush the top of the loaf with water.

Bake at 350° F until cooked through and the loaf sounds hollow – about 45 minutes.

Remove from the pan, and cool before slicing.

Serve with cultured butter and honey.

Celery Salad

Laugh all you want.  Celery is an underrated vegetable.  No, really.  Not just as ants on a log or as an accompaniment to buffalo wings.  And certainly not as a diet aid snack.  It’s got a great depth of flavor and a wonderfully crunchy texture – even if the stringy portion is sometimes totally completely extremely stuck in your teeth annoying, but there’s a trick for that.

I admit, the first time I made this salad it was because we had friends coming for dinner and at the last minute I realized the greens I had intended for the salad were shot.  I’m pretty sure it was arugula goo because it’s usually arugula, but regardless, my solution was to thinly chop some celery, dress it and garnish it, and half-heartedly pretend it was an intentional and sophisticated option.  The thing is, it was good.  Really good.  It’s crunchy, almost sweet, vegetal, and matches really well to rich meat dishes because it can really stand up to and cut through those rich flavors.  I’ve made it pretty frequently since then – though I have to admit, it’s still often an “Oh crap, the greens are shot” option.

2 large ribs celery
½ cup loose celery leaves
¼ cup dried sour cherries
¼ cup plain goat cheese
1 tbsp good olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp shallot, minced or microplaned
½ tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp white sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
Black pepper to taste

Choose two very large dark outside stalks from a bunch of celery.  Select a lose ½ cup of leaves from the tops and the interior.

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the stringy outside ribs from the celery pieces.

Using a sharp knife or a mandolin slicer, cut thin diagonal slices 1/4th to 1/8th inch thick (cut on the bias).  Place the thin slices and leaves in cold water to hydrate for at least 10 minutes and up to an hour.

Combine the vinegar, minced shallot, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Wisk in the oil until emulsified.

Chop cherries into smaller pieces.

Toss the celery and most of the leaves, cherries, and dressing together.

Arrange on plates and top with small pieces of goat cheese.

Garnish with a few celery leaves.

Slightly Fussy But Worth It Beef Stew

There are a million different, but not that different, beef stew recipes out there.  I’ve cooked a lot of different styles and recipes myself – from a Saint Patrick’s Day crock pot simmering with Guinness, to a classic bourguignon, and even a Mediterranean style stew redolent with cinnamon and oregano.

This is a very simple stew from a flavor and ingredient standpoint.  The only reason I call it slightly fussy is that in order to get the most flavor I can from the aromatic vegetables, I cook them in two batches: the first one flavors the beef and the liquid, and is discarded, and a second batch cooks in that highly flavored base.  It maximizes the flavor without turning the vegetables into complete mush.  That’s it.  That’s the slightly fussy.  It is, I promise, worth it.

2 lbs beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 3 inch cubes
1 tbsp neutral oil
4 cups beef stock
1 large onion
4 stalks celery
2 large carrots
2 large yellow potatoes (Yukon gold, Kennebec, or similar)
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1 sprig parsley
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup white wine

Preheat your oven to 300° F.

Salt the beef and allow to rest 10 minutes.  Pat the beef dry with a paper towel.

Add oil to a Dutch oven or other oven proof pan.

Working in batches, brown the beef well over high heat, developing a deep fond in the pan.

Remove the meat and set aside. 

Add the white wine.  Scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any bits.

Trim and peel 2 carrots.  Cut each in half.

Trim and clean 2 celery stalks.

Peel, trim and cut the onion in half.

Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf into a bouquet garni.

Return the beef to the pot, and nestle 1 carrot (two halves), half an onion, 2 celery stalks and the bouquet garni in with the meat.

Add the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce.

Add the salt and pepper.

Bring to a low simmer.

Transfer to the oven and cook uncovered for 2 hours.

Stir and cook uncovered an additional hour.

Remove and discard the cooked carrot, onion and celery. 

Peel, trim, and cut the remaining carrot into 1 inch pieces.

Cut the remaining half onion into ½ inch pieces

Peel, and cut the potatoes into 1 inch pieces.

Trim and slice the remaining 2 stalks of celery.

Add the vegetables to the stew pot and return to the oven, covered.  Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Alternately, if you’d like to maximize the texture of the vegetables – for example, still have a little bite left in the celery – add them one at a time.  Beginning with the carrots – allow them to cook for 20 minutes (I like my carrots soft), then add the potatoes – allowing them to cook for 10 minutes, then add the celery and onions – giving them another 20 minutes to cook.

Remove and discard the bouquet garni.

Taste for salt and pepper and add if necessary.

If you prefer a thicker stew, thicken with a slurry of 1 tbsp AP flour mixed with 2 tbsp water.  Stir into the stew and simmer for 10 minutes before serving.

Carrot Cake

I love sweets, but I’m kind of fussy about dessert.  Also, I’m not a huge chocolate fan.  That limits my options.  One thing I really love, and I mean really love, is carrot cake.  I know it’s a love it or leave it sort of option.  You either love it, or think “why the hell would you put carrots in a cake,” which would be a totally appropriate question if it wasn’t something we’ve been doing for hundreds of years. 

Turns out those long orange things are loaded with sugar and in a time when sugar wasn’t as available, our ancestors used them to sweeten up pastries.  Now, we just think they look and taste cool.  Which they kind of do.  But carrot cake as we enjoy it – probably minus the cream cheese frosting – is a pretty ancient dessert.  It’s spiced, a mix of “luxury” ingredients, and it keeps for a while – meaning it probably sat on the counter or in a pie safe as lunch/dessert/something for tea time for a long time.  I might have spent some time once Googling the origins of carrot cake.  What can I say, I’m a huge nerd.

The below recipe is one I’ve developed over the past couple years and is an amalgam of a bunch of different internet tips and tricks.  It uses neutral oil instead of butter – which means the cooled cake is more tender (the butter flavor sort of gets lost anyway).  I add grated apple, which sort of disappears into the cake, but adds additional moisture and flavor.  I also use whole wheat pastry flour, which adds a toasty flavor.  Further, I add fresh grated ginger and nutmeg – along with pre-ground cinnamon and allspice – to brighten the spice notes.  In this recipe, I’ve left out the raisins, but feel free to add a handful if that’s your thing. If you do, consider giving them a soak in brandy or rum, or another liquid first so they don’t draw liquid from the batter.  Also, I put a few drops of liquid smoke in the cream cheese frosting – this I admit is a new thing -  but the smoke really cuts the cloying sweetness and adds to the cakes flavor.

Also, I totally did not have this cake for breakfast today.  That’s not something a grown adult would do, so I totally did not do that at all.  Or yesterday.

2 cups chopped pecans
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp molasses or 2 tbsp extra dark maple syrup
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp fresh grated ginger root
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 cups grated carrots
½ cup grated apple

Heat your oven to 325° F. 

Spread the pecans on a sheet pan and toast for 6-10 minutes.

Remove, allow to cool.

Pulse a few times in a food processor to chop finely.

Peel, core, and grate a baking apple.

Peel and grate 2 cups of carrots.

Mix the carrot, apple and nuts.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Grease and flour 2 nine inch cake pans.  Line the bottom with baking parchment to make removal easier.

Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine.

Add sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and spices to a bowl and whisk until combined.

Add dry ingredients to egg mixture, stirring well to combine.

Fold the resulting batter into the carrot, apple and nut mixture.

Divide evenly between the two cake pans and bake for 40-45 minutes at 350° F.

Allow to cool, remove from the pans, and cool completely.

Wrap each cake tightly in plastic and freeze for 4 hours or until ready to frost.

Prepare the smoked cream cheese frosting:

2 packages cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 drops hickory or cherry liquid smoke (do not use mesquite)
Pinch of salt, to taste

Allow the cream cheese and butter to come to room temperature. 

Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cream cheese and butter together.

Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the confectioners’ sugar until it’s well incorporated.

Add milk, vanilla, and liquid smoke.

Whip on high.

Refrigerate until ready to use, and allow to warm slightly before frosting or piping.

Remove the cakes from the freezer and unwrap.

Use a cake leveler or serrated knife to remove the domed tops of the cakes.

With one cut side up, pipe cream cheese frosting over the top of one layer. 

Layer the second cake, cut side down, onto the first layer.

Pipe or spread frosting onto the top – and sides if so desired – and garnish with chopped pecans.