what i know

Now that I am an esteemed wine professional, simply everyone wants to know what I’m drinking this Thanksgiving. And by “everyone” I of course mean that my mom said my Aunt Lisa asked her what I might recommend. The fan base is strong and growing rapidly. Since I’m still pretty green at the wine game, I can only tell people what I know. I’ve got some time yet before I’m explaining in great detail the wine makers of particular villages in Southwestern France or anything like that but I can tell you at this point in time is what I’m drinking and why I like it.



This Thanksgiving we’re heading to Paul’s aunt’s house and I’m bringing some nice cheese and crackers and three current faves: a bottle of bubbles, a red and a white. For the sparkler, I chose the Hi! Prosecco. I’ve never met a prosecco I didn’t like and this is one I sampled the other night at our Thanksgiving Wine Education Dinner is no exception. It’s the perfect drink to get the party started. For me whenever a cork pops out of a bottle of bubbles, whether it be a fine champagne (pronounced: cham panyah) some cava or prosecco it’s exciting. When I’m in mixed company I have to resist the constant urge to go “WOOOO!” when I hear a cork pop, because to me it’s the sound of a good time.



The white is a French blend called Chat en Oeuf (from my 7th grade French education, that’s “cat on egg” the phrase itself is a play on words). Full disclosure: I love it solely based on the graphic on the label of a fat, striped cat sitting on an egg. I happen to have a fat, striped cat sitting directly on my feet right now and if something reminds me of Bruce, well then my heart softens for it a bit. So yeah, I picked this wine because it reminds me of my kitty. I hope it’s tasty. I’m officially a crazy cat lady. Someone call the Sad Police.



The red I’m bringing I’m currently obsessed with. It’s a delicious, light, but nuanced Pinot Noir from California. Pinot Noir has been pushed by wine geeks as THE Thanksgiving Wine and honestly, that’s just because it works. There are so many flavors on the Thanksgiving table that you don’t want a giant, heavy red wine competing for your attention. You want something subtle and elegant. This Block Nine Pinot fits the bill for me. It’s delicious, it’s reasonably priced and the design on the front is really gorgeous. For me I need the bottle to look good too. It’s nice when you find something that pleases you from the label all the way to the finish.



As much as this holiday sort of snuck up on me, I’m really looking forward to Thursday. I have an enormous amount to be thankful for right now and taking a little time to reflect on that for which I am grateful, enjoy some wine and food and wash it all down with a gravy chaser sounds good to me! Hey remember, at this time last year I was getting ready to make the Worst Pie of All Time. So really, anything is an improvement! Happy Thanksgiving. xo, jess

the new normal

There’s a lot of newness going on for me right now. I’m typing this post on my new computer, in a new place, where I have never written before, on a new day of the week where I never normally would have time to myself to work on a post. This is part of my new normal and I can report with full confidence after two weeks (plus a month and a half) of transitional life that the new normal is very, very good.



Speaking of very, very good, I looked at the calendar yesterday and realized that this time next week I will be sitting down to bust a grub at the Thanksgiving table (fist pump!). The foods and flavors of fall snuck right up while I was busy making Giant Life Changes. The good news on this front: the changes are all good and the flavors of fall are still delicious.



I got this recipe from a lady I work with at my new job. She was sampling both this soup and a butternut squash bruschetta last weekend and I tried both and swiped copies of the recipes. I just had one bit of constructive criticism that ran through my head as I scarfed down her samples: needs bacon. But really, what couldn’t benefit from a couple crumbles of salt pork?



This soup is a delicious fix to start off your Thanksgiving week right. It comes together fast and easy and is, for the most part, both healthy and filling, so you can save the bulk of your calorie consumption for putting the hurt on next Thursday. It would also make an awesome starter if you were serving a sit down Thanksgiving meal and wanted to include a soup.



PUMPKIN LEEK SOUP with CRUMBLED PANCETTA,
HERBED GOAT CHEESE and POMEGRANATE SEEDS
(adapted from a Real Simple recipe)

¼ lb. pancetta, chopped into a dice
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1-2 tbs. butter
2 leeks (white and light green parts only) cut in ¼ inch
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can pumpkin puree (not pie mix)
½ of a butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into cubes*
6 cups chicken stock (store bought or homemade)
Salt and pepper



Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pancetta to pan and fry until crisped. Remove the crumbled pancetta and set to drain on a folded paper towel. Set aside for future use. Reduce the heat on your burner just a touch, add a bit of olive oil and the leeks. Add the butter and sauté the leeks for about 5 minutes, until wilted and fragrant, add the garlic cloves and cook together another minute or so.



Add the cubed squash, your can of pumpkin and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and let cook until the squash is completely tender (about 20 minutes). Add salt and pepper (quite a bit of these- the original recipe called for 1 ¾ tsp. salt and a ¼ tsp. pepper) taste test for seasoning. Mine was plenty salty, because I started it with pancetta- which is an extraordinarily salty meat, especially when crisped up.



Reduce heat to low and using an immersion blender, puree the soup completely. If you don’t have an immersion blender puree in batches in a conventional blender and return to the pot. But, be careful! Hot liquids expand. Ladle the soup into a bowl and garnish with a few crumbles of herbed goat cheese, some of the crumbled pancetta and a few pomegranate seeds for color. Admire the colors (soooo pretty) and devour immediately.



Make this soup vegetarian: use vegetable stock instead of chicken, omit the pancetta and just sauté the leeks in oil.

Make this soup vegan: by changing the stock to veggie and omitting the pancetta, butter and goat cheese.

*chop the other half into cubes, toss with a little olive oil and roast them in a 400 degree oven while you make your soup. They are delicious on salads or, on a pizza, like I’m making tonight. I’m going to top wheat dough with some of the roasted squash, some crumbled gorgonzola cheese, caramelized onions and maybe, just maybe, some more pancetta.

ridiculous good

A couple weeks ago I bought some almond butter because sometimes I like to think I’m the kind of person who eats almond butter and enjoys it. This is the same as when I purchase a tub of yogurt thinking that I’m all the sudden going to be the type of person who enjoys plain yogurt because it’s so gosh darn good for my bones.



The problem is I am not this type of person. I am the type of person who eats leftover Halloween candy lying on my futon watching terrible wedding industry propaganda (do people really like it when David Tutera turns their wedding into cirque du soleil? and basically takes all the things they have chosen so far and says: this is NOT good enough?) In my next life I will be more virtuous and I will eat apples and almond butter as a snack instead of Almond Joys and Rolos that have seen better days. And I will watch documentaries on important things or perhaps put down the clicker and read a book (that isn’t young adult fiction) but until further notice it’s stale candy and WE TV and you know what I’m more than okay with that. Self acceptance is an important trait.



So about the almond butter: instead of cleaning out my household’s peanut butter supply with one batch of these cookies (because Paul would abandon ship if I used the last of his Teddie’s. You don’t mess with a man’s breakfast), I decided to see what would happen if I halved the peanut butter and added part almond butter. You know what happened? Awesome happened, that’s what. These cookies are ridiculous good. Next Level. I mean it. And guess what? It turns out I am the kind of virtuous food hippie that eats almond butter, I just wrap mine in regular butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips. Which is fiiine.

SALTED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
(from this recipe featured on Orangette)

2 cups plus 1 tsp. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks plus 3.5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
about 1 ¼ cup, packed, dark brown sugar
¾ cup plus 2.5 tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs
¾ cup natural salted creamy peanut butter
¾ almond butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate



A quick note about the peanut butter: you absolutely must use good quality natural peanut butter for these cookies. Even if you’re a Jif gal (or guy) in your day to day life. I strongly recommend Teddie’s. It’s a local company. The peanut butter is the best and it’s available at most major supermarkets (at least in Massachusetts).



Preheat the oven to 350°, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, and whisk well. Set aside.



In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the peanut butter, almond butter and vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed to blend. Quick tip when working with peanut butter, or any nut butter (hee) for that matter: give your measuring cup a spritz of oil or butter spray before measuring, then it will slide right out.



Add the dry ingredients in three batches, mixing on low speed until incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the chocolate, and beat briefly on low speed, just until evenly incorporated.



Use a big spoon or ice cream scoop to scoop the batter on to your prepared cookie sheets. You want the scoops of dough to be pretty sizable (almost ¼ cup) and be sure to space them far apart- they will spread.



Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and a little golden around the edges- but the tops have no color. The key to successful peanut butter cookies is that you must err towards under cooking them. They will not look fully baked- but that is what you will want. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for a bit. They will not only firm up, but their taste will improve. If you try to move them while they are hot (or eat them- I did both) they will crumble and they also won’t taste “all that.” Patience grasshopper. These little guys are worth the wait.



Repeat with the remaining dough. Makes a good batch of cookies (about 20).

easy does it

Teeny, tiny, easy. Did you know how easy it is to make pumpkin pie? I think that might be an expression: “easy as pumpkin pie” or am I making that up? I think it's actually "easy as apple pie" but that's ridiculous because compared to pumpkin, apple pie is a pain.



Anyways. The short story on these little guys is that I have some mini muffin tins that had never been used and I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry and some pie crust in the freezer. I’ve wanted to make miniature, bite-sized pies for a while and it seemed as though the stars had aligned.



PUMPKIN PIE BITES

1 (15 oz.) can unsweetened pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup light cream
½ cup milk
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon

2 packages Pillsbury pie crust, or two homemade pie crusts, chilled



Heat oven to 375.



Follow the directions for pumpkin pie filling on the back of your can of pumpkin. I used a can of pumpkin from Trader Joe’s and their recipe was simpler than any of the others I’ve seen online. Here is the classic pumpkin pie recipe if you want to use that.



While I am usually an advocate for homemade things I have to say with this pie using the store made pie crust makes things a LOT easier. It’s much more pliable and forgiving than my homemade would be.



My measurements here might not be perfect because I naturally, didn’t take notes. If I were you I would cross check this recipe with the actual measurements on your can, because I can’t be trusted entirely.



Mix together all of the filling ingredients. Treat your mini muffin tins with a spray of olive oil or butter and lightly dust with flour. Roll out your pie dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds (use a cookie cutter if you have one, I used a round glass). Press the cut circles into each muffin cup, trimming the excess off from the edge, taking care not to poke a hole in the bottom of the pie crust.



Carefully pour the pie filling into each little crust and set the pan on the middle rack of your preheated oven.



Bake for 25-35 minutes, checking for doneness after the 25 mark. They will puff just slightly, the crust will be golden and if you shake the pan, only the slightest jiggle happens in the filling, if any.



The finished product will be a bit cragged and rustic, but when they’re cooked up, they look so delicious it really doesn’t matter. These are so, so, so perfect to bring to Thanksgiving or a Halloween party. I have never been a huge fan of straight up pumpkin pie (too much pumpkin, not enough pie), but these minis up the crust to filling ratio and make pumpkin pie exponentially more delicious. Plus look at them, they’re adorable.

when I dip you dip we dip

Friday night I went out with some girlfriends to celebrate me making Major Changes and Exciting Life Decisions. I anticipated a few glasses of wine, some food and fairly early night in bed; maybe midnight at the latest. Heck, I even planned on getting up early Saturday to exercise. Somehow we ended up dancing like a maniacs to gangsta rap, showing off some poorly choreographed dance routines and doing enough deep knee bends to sufficiently hurt myself. My joints are still recovering. My tootsie doesn't roll like it used to. Even though I think it does. Getting old is tough. Saturday night our friends hosted an Octoberfest-ish party, our attendance at which is why I made this recipe. Fall is SO fun.



My goal here was to make a *better* version of the traditional party onion dip. Think Lipton Soup Dip goes to finishing school. To do this I deeply caramelized a few types of onion, along with some fennel and shallots and thinly sliced garlic. For the better part of two hours. Is that mental? “All this for dip?” Paul inquired. I knew it would be worth it though. And I was right. He should probably get used to that.



Though the time stamp on this dip seems long, it’s largely hands off. Closer to the end of cooking you will want to tend to the onions more, as they start to get a little sticky. But really, this is the kind of thing you can leave slow and low on the stove while you get laundry done and relax around the house.

CARAMELIZED ONION DIP
(a party sized portion; half the portions for less people)

Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
Fennel bulb, cored, thinly sliced
White or purple onion, thinly sliced
1 lg. or 2 sm. shallot(s), thinly sliced
5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Olive oil
Butter
1 tsp. herbes de Provence (or dried basil, sage, fennel seed and marjoram)
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. sugar

Sour cream (one 16 oz. container)

Cape Cod Chips for serving. Carrot sticks if you feel like it.



Heat equal parts olive oil and butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium to med/low heat (about 4 tbs. butter and oil combined). Add onions, fennel and shallots and stir well to coat in butter and oil. Reduce heat to med/low. On my stove, I kept it about at a three, but every stove is different. Keep the hear low and cover the mixture letting simmer for about 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have purged their juices. Remove cover, add sugar, salt, pepper and dried herbs. Continue to sauté, with the cover off, for another 15 minutes. The onion mixture will just continue to wilt down, the juices will reduce and the whole pot will slowly take on a more golden color. Add garlic and stir to coat. Continue to cook on low heat, stirring a bit more towards the end of the process until the whole mixture is deeply caramelized. This last part probably was almost 40 minutes. So be prepared to be patient. And be prepared for your whole house to smell deliciously of slow cooked garlic onions for at least a day or two. Personally, I don’t mind that so much.



Once the mixture is ready removed from heat and let cool a bit. Combine the onion mixture with the sour cream in a blender or food processor. If you have an immersion blender, you can combine them in a deep bowl (but not a jar like I did it was a messy nightmare). Process or blend until well combined and then generously season with salt and pepper. When I say be generous with the salt and pepper at the end, I mean it. Because the fennel, onion and shallot have been deeply caramelized, they take on an almost sweet flavor. The sour cream (I believe you could also make this with Greek yogurt- worth a try) adds tang and then you just need a good amount of salt and spice to round it out. This dip is so delicious you will want to eat it with a spoon. All this for dip indeed.

what holds us back

My life has been a little crazy lately. I have been making Major Life Decisions and having Adult Conversations. Admittedly, two intimidating things that I hesitate to act on due to my very nature. I am leaving my job, where I have been, quite comfortably for the past five years. So what, big deal? Well, I work for my brother and I have helped him through these years to organize and build his business, which is a small but busy law firm and when you work for family you have an allegiance and loyalty beyond the normal employee realm.



I’ve known for a while now that this is not where I want to be. I don’t knock the legal profession by any means, but I knew, inside of me, that using my brain power to draft lawsuits and order toner was not exactly in line with what I want for my life. For a few years I stayed bolstered by the thought that I “work to live, I don’t live to work” and that’s fine. “My job is not who I am” I would tell myself as I arm wrestled the Xerox machine and took out the garbage. That being said, there have been very clear pluses to being here: I have been able to pursue amazing things in my personal life, I have been able to teach yoga, to write this blog, and for those things, I really am so thankful for my time here.



After I got back from my vacation though I knew it was beyond time for me to have an Adult Conversation with my brother. I cried, because well, I’m a giant baby and that’s what I do and he laughed and told me, in the nicest way possible, to get the hell out of here. So we are interviewing replacements, and I have a new job lined up; a part time one that will allow me to learn more about food and wine and allow me to interact with people on a daily basis. Which is good, because I love people (and did you hear the part about wine?). This transition will allow me to teach a bit more, learn a lot more and maybe write some more and increase the amount of recipes that come up here on a weekly basis. But much more than this, this transition will actually make me work towards a career path that is in line with the things I love most. It will give me the gift of time, which is precious: time to figure out if I can make a living out of the things that give me life.



I’m scared. If we’re being completely honest, I’m scared shitless (pardon my French). I’m essentially hacking my income in half during the worst recession in our time. But I am so supported. I mean SO supported, in every possible way. Not one person in my life has questioned my decision. It has been met with enthusiasm and excitement and support. I am extraordinarily lucky to have the people I have in my life. They know what I am slowly figuring out, that sometimes even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, that you just need movement, in one direction or another. I’ve realized through the past few weeks as I’ve worked through the steps to make this big change, that the only thing that has held me back until now has been me. It’s a potent thing this realization that we’re in charge of our lives. A little bit scary, a lot bit intense, but ultimately, completely right, completely mine and absolutely wonderful.



So I was thinking, how do I share this story and not make it just some random rambling about me, me, me? Because let’s be serious, you come here for the food. That’s why everyone in the history of time does anything, because they have heard there would be pizza, or cake. I realized that all this does in fact, tie in to cooking and specifically, this delicious dish I made this weekend. In the kitchen, we tend to hold ourselves back from making things that are unfamiliar or seemingly difficult. I know that my phobia of baking bread is rooted in the fear of failure and waste that might occur if I screw it up. And I know that I’ve never attempted to make a real homemade curry sauce because how could I possibly have all the ingredients for something so complex? But you know I had this acorn squash and I had these sweet potatoes and I just knew that they would be delicious in a coconut milk curry. So I looked up a few recipes and realized that everything I needed, had been in my pantry this whole time. Nothing to hold me back indeed.




FALL VEGETABLE CURRY
(adapted just slightly, from this recipe)

1 acorn squash or ½ butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin rounds
1 onion, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 can chick peas, drained

Curry Ingredients:

3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
2 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce, or 1-2 red chilis
2 ½ tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime (I used half a lemon instead)
½ tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. rice vinegar (or substitute apple cider vinegar)
1 tbsp. ground coriander seeds
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. fennel seed
1/3 purple onion, sliced (I used a white onion)
1 can coconut milk (I used light)

Optional Garnish:
Chopped cilantro
Scoop of Greek yogurt

Combine all curry ingredients in a blender, or large jar (if you have an immersion blender). (You can grind the turmeric, fennel seed, cumin and coriander seeds in a spice grinder first if you like, or with a mortar and pestle. I don’t think it’s 100% necessary, but I did because I didn’t want crunchy seeds in the end result). Blend together all the ingredients until smooth and set aside the sauce. You can refrigerate the sauce for a couple days, as I did this I thought that would be a great idea to have it in the fridge ready to go for a quick weeknight dinner.



Chop your vegetables and heat a little olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Sauté onion until fragrant and translucent, then add all of your vegetables and the curry sauce to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and let cook until vegetables are fork tender, about 20-30 minutes, maybe longer. Taste the sauce and adjust spices if necessary, if you want more heat, add more Sriracha, more salt, add more soy sauce, a little sweeter, add a pinch of brown sugar.



Serve over basmati rice, jasmine rice or cous cous. Garnish with chopped cilantro or Thai basil if you have access. I added a dollop of Greek yogurt to cool the heat, but this is also optional. This curry gets better each day you reheat it, just like a good soup.