There was a moment when I was making this that my heart sank, "Oh, no. I can't deal with a baking failure today. I'll blow it all out of proportion." Because I am not on an even keel today, and I know it. I thought baking something might make me feel more relaxed, but I forgot that things can go wrong.
But the emotional funhouse was all worth it when I opened the oven door and this browned beauty smiled back at me. I had set out to make Mark Bittman's blueberry cobbler, substituting 4 cups of peaches for the blueberries and using cornmeal for half the flour. What I ended up with was like a peach upside down cornmeal cake that was light on the cake and super-heavy on the fruit. The cornmeal topping covered the fruit and had a crust crunchy with cornmeal and sugar.
Four cups peeled, diced peaches (I used UFOs) tossed with 1/4 cup sugar in the baking dish. Mix 1/4 cup each flour and cornmeal in a bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt. Cut in 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold, unsalted butter. Then mix in 1/2 cup sugar because you forgot to add it with the flour. Use a spoon to mix in 1 egg and a dash of vanilla. (This is the point at which I panicked. It did not look like biscuit dough, but rather a spotty, lumpy yellow mush.) Drop over the fruit in tablespoonfuls and don't spread it. The baking will do that, 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
So this is my appeal. Andrea has proposed a grow-your-own-athon and invited her readers to cook something that uses homegrown ingredients and write about it before August 29th. She's given those of us with brown thumbs a loophole, too, saying that if we don't grow anything, we can get something from a friend.
So now I have to find a friend out there who grows something. Not easy to do when we're all apartment-bound, but I have hopes that Kelly's growing some herbs or Terry still has a few figs.
Anyone? Anyone in the area have something to offer?
I've been getting stuff from the CSA every week, so I feel like an entry would embrace the spirit of the law if not the letter. But it is a fun challenge to try to track down something.
So, let's see, what was on the menu last week? My brother, Chris, and his wife, Jeanna, were visiting us, so they influenced our food choices quite a bit.
Uh-Oh, Tomato (chicken cacciatore)
A Little Different (pork chops, broccoli and pasta)
Presto (linguine with shrimp and pesto)
What Do We Have? (taco-ish salad)
Take a Dip (French dip sandwiches)
So, let's see, what was on the menu last week? My brother, Chris, and his wife, Jeanna, were visiting us, so they influenced our food choices quite a bit.
Uh-Oh, Tomato (chicken cacciatore)
A Little Different (pork chops, broccoli and pasta)
Presto (linguine with shrimp and pesto)
What Do We Have? (taco-ish salad)
Take a Dip (French dip sandwiches)
What happens to your zucchini muffins when you halve a recipe that calls for 3 eggs, but instead of 1 1/2 you use 2? Nothing too terrible, if you're lucky. I thought that extra half-egg might do something wonky to my muffins, but they turned out just fine, moist and fluffy. "They" always warn against messing with baking recipes, and I do believe that you do so at your own peril. But it can turn out just fine. I've also become a very cavalier flour measurer since finding out how varied the actual weight of flour can be when you use a volume (like a cup) measure. I figure, if there's variation built into the system, I can be less careful, not more. Does that make sense?
These were made from this recipe over at 101 Cookbooks. She does some very funky things with hers, and I tried out one of them, the poppy seeds, with great success. The gentle crunch was at first a mystery, until I remembered I added them. I omitted the ginger, lemon peel and curry powder, so ended up with a zucchini-walnut-poppy seed muffin. (Oh, and clearly I used a 12-cup muffin tin instead of 2 loaf pans and halved the recipe.) I just love 101 Cookbooks because she makes it clear how much you can fiddle with a recipe. Now, the egg thing was a risk, but things like spices and add-ons like nuts or chocolate chips (which I have also used in this recipe) are fair game.
I am addicted to downloading TV shows from iTunes, which is why I can't make time for all the things I'd like to accomplish in my life. I do have a few things I want to write about, a great new (to me) restaurant, a defense of Eddie's ice cream, a couple of dessert recipes. But I have to get through the whole second season of Gray's Anatomy first.
And keep up with an entry every weekday at the Woman's Day web site. Here's what I wrote about the last couple weeks:
Summer Stew
Lunchtime Combo
A Fresh, Crunchy Salad
Softie
Tough Stuff
Baked Codfish (Ahem)
Airport Trials
Pork Albondigas
On the Road
We're Leaving
My poor neglected little blog. You're my first and I love you the best. But the new baby's so demanding. Here's what we've been up to the last few weeks:
Hel-lo Grill!
More Great Grilling
Black Bean Salad Redux
From the Freezer
Hot Enchiladas
The Ugly Duckling
Bite-Sized for the Grill
Do You Love the Char?
Leftovers
I tried making Splenda brownies for my diabetic dad this week, and it was a miserable failure. But I know why! And I will try again! So maybe I'll get around to writing about that sometime.
It was a hot week in New York, but you wouldn't know it by the way we ate at the beginning of the week. By the end I was catching on; cool foods, cool bodies.
Happily Wed
TV Carbonara
Hot Weather, Slow Cooking
Salad Days, Part 1
Salad Days, Part 2
I've just finished reading a collection of essays about what we feed ourselves when there's no one around, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. I admit I devoured it once I got my hands on it; it's almost voyeuristic to read about these private dining moments (in front of the TV? At the kitchen or dining room table? With some reading material or the computer?) It's so stripped-down; I feel like you could extrapolate a lot about a person by how he or she eats when alone. For instance, Todd orders takeout or forgets to eat altogether if I'm not around to feed him. It's just not that important to him; he is far too passionate about other things to bother much with food.
I, on the other hand, relish the free reign I have when the only one I have to please is myself. Every once and a while August is so exhausted, or so full from a big snack, that he takes his nap before we have a chance to eat lunch (we usually eat together). Then I make mushrooms or greens, combine Cheddar and apple butter, goat cheese and fig jam. A pumpkin muffin loaded with sunflower seeds, raisins and cream cheese. A baked egg sprinkled with fresh herbs. It's usually very easy to prepare, because that's one gift I give myself, rarely includes meat or fish, almost always has cheese and some kind of bread. Todd would never consider it a meal; I guess it's girly food. This picture is a perfect example. Sauteed beet greens on toast with thin slices of cheese broiled over the top. I usually do have a magazine, book or the computer to read. Lately I watch old episodes of The Office or Grey's Anatomy on iTunes.
I'm curious. What do you do when you have no one to feed but yourself?
I've just finished reading a collection of essays about what we feed ourselves when there's no one around, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. I admit I devoured it once I got my hands on it; it's almost voyeuristic to read about these private dining moments (in front of the TV? At the kitchen or dining room table? With some reading material or the computer?) It's so stripped-down; I feel like you could extrapolate a lot about a person by how he or she eats when alone. For instance, Todd orders takeout or forgets to eat altogether if I'm not around to feed him. It's just not that important to him; he is far too passionate about other things to bother much with food.
I, on the other hand, relish the free reign I have when the only one I have to please is myself. Every once and a while August is so exhausted, or so full from a big snack, that he takes his nap before we have a chance to eat lunch (we usually eat together). Then I make mushrooms or greens, combine Cheddar and apple butter, goat cheese and fig jam. A pumpkin muffin loaded with sunflower seeds, raisins and cream cheese. A baked egg sprinkled with fresh herbs. It's usually very easy to prepare, because that's one gift I give myself, rarely includes meat or fish, almost always has cheese and some kind of bread. Todd would never consider it a meal; I guess it's girly food. This picture is a perfect example. Sauteed beet greens on toast with thin slices of cheese broiled over the top. I usually do have a magazine, book or the computer to read. Lately I watch old episodes of The Office or Grey's Anatomy on iTunes.
I'm curious. What do you do when you have no one to feed but yourself?
