What's Cooking

It seems like these days I either have time to cook something good or write about it (which would you choose if you were me?). But I made a couple of easy, versatile things this week that were worth mentioning.

The first was a small batch of crumble topping so I could make individual crumbles for myself while Todd was out of town. I used as a base the recipe from Once Upon a Tart and added some almond paste I had left over from some other baking. Also quartered the recipe so I didn't have too much: 2 tablespoons each flour, brown sugar, walnuts and almond paste, and 1 tablespoon each oats and cold butter cut small. I mixed it all together with my fingers, mushing up the butter and almond paste until they were just small pieces. Used some of it to make an individual peach crumble by cutting up a ripe peach, tossing it with a bit of sugar and flour, then putting that in a ramekin and topping it with some of the topping mixture. Baked at 375, I think, for about half an hour. I have more topping in the fridge for the next time I want one. I think next time I may substitute almonds for the walnuts.

Also bought some golden beets that I cleaned off, trimmed and put in a baking dish with about a cup of water (as recommended in my Chez Panisse Cooking cookbook). Covered it with foil and baked for an hour (they were medium sized) in a 350 degree oven (I think). Let them cool a bit, then peeled and sliced. I tossed some with some mesclun and mustard vinaigrette, then topped it all with some fresh goat cheese. Also marinated some in vinaigrette for dinner tonight. Think they'd be good in a goat-cheese sandwich, too.

I also had a couple of fantastic sandwiches on the parbaked ciabatta I got from Fresh Direct: Smoked turkey, Cheddar and mango chutney with mesclun, a toasted sandwich with melted chocolate, and one with goat cheese, marinated sundried tomatoes and mesclun.