Random Quotes and a recipe

Because I'm weeding books from a bedside chest (and other places . . . like the floor) to make room for a new bed frame, I have collected a few quotes I think worth sharing before I pass on the books. And, a recipe that I haven't tried. If you beat me to it, let me know how it turns out.

Quotes and a recipe!

Being in this recession feels like watching a nature film about the disintegration of a major polar ice shelf: Huge chunks of everything we thought was solid keep breaking apart and disappearing into an abyss, the depth of which no one knows.

from Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon

"A little while later, we got pulled over by a state trooper. We thought, What now? He took a look at our license plate and said, 'Do you mean to tell me that you-all drove here all the way from New York in this car?' Daddy said, 'Yes, sir, we did.' And the trooper said, 'Well, God bless, and welcome to Florida.' "

from Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon

Quick Apple Cake

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine [plus about 1 Tablespoon, melted]
2 apples, peeled and sliced
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Sift together into a second bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and tablespoon of sugar. Cut the butter or margarine into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is the consistency of cornmeal. Stir in the egg and milk. Spread batter in a greased pan (8 x 8 x 2 in.).

Press apple slices into batter in rows. Brush top with part of the melted butter or margarine, sprinkle with the combined sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and top with remaining melted butter or margarine. Bake in a quick oven until the cake leaves the sides of the pan and is nicely browned on top, twenty-five minutes or more. Serve warm or cool cut in squares.

--also from Cherries in Winter

Over the PA system, the captain came on again. "I'm sure y'all have noticed we've been circling. We're trying to use up some a that big ol' tank a gas before we come on in." He proceeded to tell us that there was a little ol' problem with getting the landing wheels to go down. That got everyone thinking. Now all you could hear was the vibration of the propellers slicing evenly through the dark, and the muffled terror of people mentally preparing to die. Only the Indians in the back appeared unconcerned; what did they care--they'd be back.

--from Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

The thought of performing operations on numbers was much slower in coming because performing arithmetic requires a certain degree of abstraction. Anthropologists tell us that among many tribes, if two hunters fired two arrows to fell two gazelles, then got two hernias lugging them back toward camp, the word used for "two" might be different in each case. In these civilizations, you really couldn't add apples and oranges. It seems to have taken many thousands of years for humans to discover that these were all instances of the same concept: the abstract number, 2.

--from Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace by Leonard Mlodinow

I am living once again in the town where I grew up, having returned here several weeks ago in a state of dull torment for which the Germans probably have a word.

--from All New People by Anne Lamott

Dried Fruit Salad recipe from How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis

Dried Fruit Salad with Thyme-Honey Vinaigrette

(Salata Me Aproxiramena Frouta Kai Lodoxydo Me Thymarisio Meli)

from How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis

Serves 6

This is not a traditional Greek salad, but I love the interplay between the sweet fruits and the tart vinaigrette. Greece has a great tradition of fruit served with cheeses, and this salad plays right into this palate-tantalizing combination. I've chosen dried fruits to show their versatility and to create a salad that's wonderful during the cooler months. Of note also is the variety of fruit being used. Although not all are necessary, each provides its own unique flavor and texture, which allows the salad to evolve with each bite.

3/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup raspberry vinegar

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 clove shallot, thickly sliced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 sprig picked thyme

1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano

1 teaspoon honey, preferably thyme honey

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup canola oil

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

3/4 cup tart dried cherries

12 plump, dried apricots, slivered

6 dried pears, slivered lengthwise

6 dried figs, slivered

9 dates, slivered lengthwise

16 ounces baby arugula leaves

6 hearts frisee, coarsely chopped

5 ounces manouri cheese, coarsely grated

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast until golden, about 10 minutes.

In a blender or food processor, combine the vinegars, garlic, shallot, mustard, thyme, oregano and honey. Process until smooth. With motor running, slowly pour in the extra-virgin olive oil, followed by the blended oil. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

In a large serving bowl, combine all the dried fruits, arugula, and the frisee. Toss until lightly coated with the vinaigrette. Scatter the toasted almonds and manouri on top and grind a generous amount of cracked pepper over all.

Bookfool's notes on how we altered this recipe:

Frisee - unavailable here. We skipped this one and for the manouri (a semi-soft white cheese used most often in savory pastry dishes and desserts -- also unavailable) we substituted mozzarella because it's mild. That would probably make the chef blanch. I found the vinaigrette was so strong I couldn't bear to walk within 6 feet of it and husband didn't care for it, so we eat the salad dry. It's great dry, trust me. There are very few tart foods that I can handle, although my husband generally likes a combination of sweet and sour, so it's not surprising that the vinaigrette didn't work for me.

Enjoy!!

Baked Pork Chop recipe from How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Food by Alain Braux

Here it is, finally! The recipe you've all been waiting for!! Pork chop image found here.

Baked Pork Chops with Apples and Cinnamon

from How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Food by Chef Alain Braux

In France, cooking pork with apples is a wonderful way to add sweetness to an otherwise bland meat. It is a tasty and warming Autumn dish.

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 20 min.

Cooking time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

4 medium pork chops

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 c. dry white wine

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 celery leaves

4 bay leaves

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced

2 celery stalks, chopped fine

1 Tbsp butter, cut in small pieces

1 Tbsp brown sugar

4 oz. grated Swiss cheese

Procedure:

- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

- Butter an ovenproof enameled cast iron or glass pan.

- Place your pork chops in the pan, leaving a little space in between; pour wine over pork chops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Top each chop with a celery leaf and a bay leaf.

- In a separate bowl, toss together the diced apples, the chopped celery, butter and brown sugar. Add this mix to the pan with the pork chops, placing some of the mix between the pork chops.

- Bake together for about 30 minutes (depending on the size of your chops). Check for doneness.

- Take the pan out of the oven. Set your oven on broiler. Take out the celery and bay leaves. Sprinkle the Swiss cheese over your pork chops. Put back in the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and turns golden brown.

Voila - c'est magnifique! (<------I wrote that part). Enjoy!

Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron

Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron
Copyright 2009
Outskirts Press - Cookbook
208 pages

Seafood Quiche

A great recipe for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

9-inch deep dish frozen pie crust, thawed
1 can (6 oz.) lump crabmeat, drained
1 can (4 oz.) medium shrimp, drained
1 cup mild cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons green onion, finely sliced
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
1/4 teaspoon pepper

~A Day Ahead~

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the crabmeat and shrimp evenly in the bottom of the pie shell. Top with cheese and green onion. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, half-and-half and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over everything in the pie. Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate.

~Cooking Directions~

Reheat the quiche in the microwave.
--------------------------------------------------------

This is my favorite recipe from Make-Ahead Meals, so far. Confession: I didn't do the cooking; My husband did. He does most of the cooking in our house, so he evaluates the cookbooks and I evaluate the food.

Husband's opinion about the book: It's not what he expected. He thought when I described the book he could expect a book of meals that you prepared in advance (like over the weekend) and freeze, thawing one every day or two so that you had a full week's worth of meals. When he saw the book, he was surprised at the beautiful cover and disappointed when he opened the book to find it totally unillustrated. He did, however, like the fact that the recipes are simple, require few ingredients and are not time-consuming.

My opinion: I had similar expectations. Neither one of us could quite figure out how there's any time saving during the week. I would have liked recipes that could be prepared in bulk, frozen in several containers and stockpiled. But, I loved that seafood quiche and there are several more recipes I want to try. I like the fact that the ingredients are easy to acquire (very important in our area -- we don't have access to a lot of unique or ethnic ingredients) and recipes are not complex. They appear to be more time-saving in their limited ingredients and the ease with which they can be tossed together than in any other way.

We plan to try a few more recipes, but our kitchen is currently in a state of minor chaos. I didn't realize we were going to end up remodeling at the time this tour rolled around. If I have any further comments about the book, once our mess is gone and we're cooking normally, I'll mention them in future posts!

Thanks to Jane Doiron for the review copy of Make-Ahead Meals! I received this for a book tour.

In case you're interested, here's the portion of the kitchen we've managed to complete:


We just managed to get the bottom doors on that side screwed on, today. However, there are some gaping holes that you can't see outside the picture frame. We used to have a double oven but when the door fell off (sigh -- I'll bet nobody else can tell me they had a door fall off their oven), we opted to replace our oven with a single and create drawer space where the second oven used to be. Husband is making the drawers to fit. We're just refacing the kitchen - painting, putting on new doors and drawer facings (and the necessary hardware) and adding those drawers, but everything has to come out of the cabinets when we paint. And, we have on inky dinky kitchen and breakfast nook, so it's been something.

If you make the seafood quiche recipe, come back and tell me. I agree with that comment (from the book) that it's great for any meal. I mostly ate it for breakfast. I'm known for eating quiche for breakfast, though. Nothing overly unusual, there.

Don't forget to stand up and be counted (comment at my last post, that is). And, note that I have three giveaways going in my sidebar. I hope to get some more listed, soon. I signed up for more than I realized (blush). I don't know if I've put Sanjay Gupta's book in the "Now Reading" section of my sidebar but I read the first chapter and they weren't kidding when they advertised it as "like a thriller". It's gripping and a bit of a horror in that the U.S. is behind the world in a life-saving treatment. I hope it horrifies a few really noisy Americans. You should read it to find out what I mean.

Must go crawl into bed and attempt to sleep for the third time. Nighty night!