Cocina de doyle

Busy bees

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:49:43 -0800

When your household consists of a first year associate attorney working hard to make his billables, and a no longer counting years doctoral student sprinting towards the finish line, its safe to say that life feels busy. Busy good. Not busy spinning our wheels, but busy building the life we want. Its been this way for years, John working and going to law school and me studying, researching, trying to help save the Delta.

But most nights, after way too many hours away from the house, we return, like bees to the hive. Lately we find ourselves congregating in the kitchen, together, in what has always felt like the heart of our home, to cook, to catch up. Its not the act of sitting down and eating together that brings me back down from the high of a way too busy day, but the chopping, dicing, and tasting and spicing. In the creation of a meal. John my trusty sous chef, and the pair of ears I need to recount my day.

Some meals are easier to fold into a busy life. This recipe works well for late fall or early winter, when we always seem to have an extra butternut squash or two sitting on our counter. The remaining ingredients are nearly always on hand, thanks to a sage bush in our front yard. This meal works especially well on nights when other chores call your name. It is not hands-on time intensive, but delicious and rich nonetheless.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Brown Butter Pasta

Ingredients
• 1 small butternut squash
• Olive oil
• Sage leaves
• Salt and Pepper
• 1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
• 1 stick butter
• Parmesan Cheese
• Fresh nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel and cut butternut squash into 1 inch cubes, place on baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and diced sage leaves (about 3 or 4) and toss to combine. Roast in oven until slightly browned and very soft, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 mins or so.
3. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and make pasta according to package directions.
4. When pasta is almost done and squash is done, melt butter in large frying pan over medium heat. Once melted, continue to cook. When it foams, add roughly chopped sage leaves (5 or 6). Continue to cook until butter begins to brown. Watch carefully, it can go from golden to burnt quickly.
5. When butter is browned, combine pasta, squash and butter. Grate generous amounts of cheese and a little nutmeg and toss to combine.

Christmas Eve

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:20:18 -0800

There are two kinds of Christmas-celebrating families: those that celebrate on Christmas and those that celebrate on Christmas Eve. Which means there is a 25% chance that two Catholic adults will fall in love, get married and both come from Christmas Eve celebrating families, which is what happened when John and I got married. We denied the overlap for as long as possible, actually, we still do, not deciding where to go for the celebration until a day or two before the holidays.

The thing about Christmas Eve, unlike other holidays, like Thanksgiving, where no matter what, you can pretty much guarantee that you will get to eat Turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, is that every family celebrates Christmas Eve differently. Of course, at their core, the celebrations are the same: a wrangling of busy family members to eat, drink and be merry.

This year, we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Doyle-Fahrner clan, which means that for the 3rd year in a row, I gave up my favorite meal of all time (you’ll have to wait for another post to learn about that one) The Doyle-Fahrner Christmas Eve celebration can be quite overwhelming, with nearly 40 attendees and presents as far as the eye can see. We sing, we catch up, we learn about upcoming weddings, new jobs, we marvel as the newest generation grows before our very eyes, and, of course, we eat.

Christmas Eve is when all the family recipes come out to play, including fudge rumbles, my mother-in-law’s famous and delicious cookie, Jackeroni, my cousin-in-law’s (is that a thing?) delicious macaroni and cheese, and, without fail, a ham.

When the dust settles, and the packaging put away, the leftovers divvied up to the growing teenagers, there lies the lonely ham bone. Most years, it ends up in the trash, a victim of too much family and not enough time, but this year, the ham bone came home with John and I, where it was paired with split peas in a delicious soup, each bite a memory of the holiday we had recently shared with one side of our ever expanding family.

I’m still working on a way to combine the two sides into one giant celebration, but at least we still have 360 days to decide for next year.

Split Pea Soup with Ham Bone
inspired by this recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 chopped medium onion
• 4 carrots, thinly sliced
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 pound green split peas, picked over and rinsed
• Ham bone, plus any reserved ham you can pick off the bone.
• 1 32 oz can diced tomatoes

1. In a Dutch oven or 5-quart heavy pot with a lid, heat oil over medium. Add onion, carrots, celery, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add broth, split peas, ham bone, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and partially cover; simmer until peas are soft, 30 to 45 minutes.
3. Remove and discard bone from soup. Working in batches, puree only 1/2 the soup in a blender (don't overfill); return to pot. Add ham cubes and tomatoes, and simmer until heated through. If necessary, thin with water.

Comfort Food

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:03:28 -0800

Everyone has one. A food you crave that brings you back to a happy place. Something that while you eat, as you make your way to the bottom of the bowl, the event or day or conversation you had that sent you searching for comfort melts away, if even for a brief moment. It may be your mother’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or ice cream, or a big bar of chocolate, or a warm bowl of chicken and dumplings.

For me, its popcorn. A big bowl of popcorn, popped on the stove, in a pot reserved just for popping corn, sprinkled with salt. Microwave and air popped corn just won’t do, I need the sound and smells of stove-popped corn. And, so far, I’m also the only one at Casa de Doyle who makes it, but for now, I’m OK with that. I’m far too much a perfectionist when it comes to my comfort to let John take a go at it. Luckily, the whole process is itself part of the comfort.

Taking out the always oily and slightly burned pot, pouring in the oil, and then the kernels. The lid goes on, the heat is turned on, and as the smell of the oil heating permeates the kitchen, I give the pot a few mighty shakes, and then lean against the counter and wait. The corn never disappoints, in just a few short minutes, its popping, filling my pot with fluffy white clouds. I pour the finished product into my favorite popcorn bowl and sprinkle with salt. Then I hit the sofa, legs crossed, bowl resting in my lap and eat. Sometimes I share with John, if he’s fast enough, but if its just me and my popcorn, I’m OK with that.

I’m not sure how this became a comfort for me, it could be the old, now disposed of popcorn pan my parents had, the one Dad took out on Sundays during football. The rare treat we got to eat on the living room floor in front of the TV, the Steelers or the 49ers making a charge toward the end zone.

As I make the final push toward finishing my PhD, I find myself craving popcorn more and more, taking me back to a simpler time, when all that matter was who was going to lick the salt from the bottom of the bowl, not how I was going to keep on working.

Considered yourself lawyered

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:16:26 -0800

It is officially official. John is a lawyer! It just took 4 years of law school, an intense summer of studying, 4 months of waiting, 2 weeks of torturous waiting, one click of the mouse, and one swearing in ceremony. It is all behind us now! So without further delay, here is a story (in photos, of course!) of our last few days.

The countdown begins:

The beer waits in the fridge:

Then its time, the number are entered... AND:

His name appears on the pass list. A few moments of screaming and one phone call home to the proud parents, then its time to crack open the beer:

And then its out for more drinks with old co-workers

John is not afraid to show his enthusiasm:

There was much texting going on that night

The celebration continues with other new members of the California Bar:

Tuesday evening, its time to get sworn in!!

And now starts a lifetime of being a lawyer. Thanks everyone for the years of support and encouragement. We wouldn’t be here now without all our friends and family.

Hearty Lentil Soup

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:48:56 -0800

On a cold day (which I must admit, today was NOT here in Northern California) there is nothing better than a warm and filling bowl of lentil soup, but nothing worse than a tasteless bowl of lentil mush. I’ve been on the quest to add an amazing (or at the very least very good) lentil soup to my repertoire of soup. America’s Test Kitchen to the rescue, yet again! This soup is easy to make and really quite delicious. I found green lentils in the bulk bin of my local food co-op.

Hearty Lentil Soup
America’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients
• 3 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces.**
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped medium
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced thyme leaves
• 1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 4.5 cups low sodium chicken broth**
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons minced parsley leaves

1. Fry the bacon in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the vegetables are softened and the lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Uncover, increase the heat to high, add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Add the broth and water; bring to a boil, cover partially, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, 30 to 35 minutes; discard the bay leaf.
3. Puree 3 cups of the soup in a blender until smooth, then return to the pot. Stir in the vinegar and heat the soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve.

** Want to make this soup vegetarian? This soup would be just as good without the bacon. I would omit the bacon, but add a leek instead of the onion for added flavor, slow cooking the leek in a few tablespoons of a high quality olive oil. Replace the chicken broth with veggies broth.

A fall trip to Amador County

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 12:15:35 -0800

Our wine fridge has been dangerously low lately. Luckily, we live a short drive to a fabulous wine country, Amador County. We have travelled to Amador a few times in the last few years. The first time was for our first anniversary, in August 2007. We happened to be there during harvest. Then I took John there in March for his birthday and we got to do some barrel tasting. This weekend, we got to see the beauty of the vines during the fall, as the leaves ranged in color from red to yellow and green.

It was a great day, we stopped at our four favorite wineries:

Dobra (where we refilled our jug of red wine)
Kamare (for the sparkling champagne style)
Bray (my favorite... we joined their wine club)
Convergence (John’s favorite, we joined their wine club too)

Our wine fridge is now overflowing, come for a visit, we’ll share a bottle of wine with you.

Here are a few more of the photos I snapped yesterday.

And John captured a photo of me in action:

Perfect Fall Treat: Pumpkin Bread

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:46:53 -0800

The leaves are changing and blowing around outside, the weather is *starting* to turn crisp, its a sign that winter squash and pumpkin recipes are back in the rotation. This bread is the perfect treat for a fall weekend, and works great as a gift.

Pumpkin Spice Bread
(based very loosely on THIS recipe)

Ingredients
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 large eggs
• 1 16 ounce can solid pumpkin
• 3 cups AP flour
• 2 - 3 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.
2. Beat sugar, oil and applesauce in large bowl to blend. Beat in eggs and pumpkin.
3. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions.
4. Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 mins to 1 hour. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Release from pan and cool completely.