Smoky Frittata

This is delicious. Unexpectedly so, actually, given that I don't particularly care for smoked foods (something that drives my chipotle-loving Aunt to give me weird looks from time to time). For me, smoked food only makes sense if I am in an environment where there is, in fact, smoke - like a campfire, or a barbecue. Otherwise, it often comes across as overwhelming and so I avoid it. I know this is not true for everyone - my ex loves all things smoky, from scotch, to tea, to cheese. There were so many things about preparing this recipe tonight made me think of him and how he'd probably like this dish. I hope to get to a point where it's easier to send him things like this; right now it seems to complicate things further, and neither of us need that. But those ruminations are for another time and place. On to the food!

Yotam opens this recipe with " 'Scamorza affumicata' is an Italian cheese that melts fantastically. Often labelled 'smoked mozzarella,' it is highly effective in adding depth and pungency to vegetarian dishes." He's right. And it turns out I quite enjoy it's softly smoky, creamy goodness when it is melted. The cauliflower is an excellent canvas for the other flavours of this dish - a mildly sweet foundation for the dairy notes, the slight heat and brine of the mustard, the sharpness of the salt. It comes together very quickly and then leaves you free to throw together a brief salad or other side dish. I recommend some arugula dressed in a vinaigrette made with some grainy mustard and grated parmesan... As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book, but the commentary includes my observations and alterations.

Smoky Frittata
(p. 96, Plenty)

Serves 4-6

1 small cauliflower, cut into medium florets
6 eggs
4 tbsp creme fraiche
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
3 tbsp finely chopped chives
5 oz smoked scamorza, grated (include the skin for extra flavour)
2 oz mature Cheddar, grated
salt and black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Assemble ingredients!

A few substitutions and alterations to start: I only had 5 eggs, so I touched up the liquids a bit with some almond milk to approximate the volume. I had 6 oz of scamorza, so I reduced the second cheese by an ounce to compensate as I didn't want an ounce of smoky cheese floating around in the fridge. I substituted Parmesan for the cheddar, as that was what I had on hand. I substituted a non-fat Greek yogurt that I know I can eat for the creme fraiche. I also was shy on chives, and so substituted an equal amount of finely diced yellow onion. I prefer a particular whole grain mustard to Dijon, and so made that substitution as well.

To start, simmer the bite-size pieces of cauliflower in a large pan of boiling salted water for only 4-5 minutes or until semi-cooked.

 Drain in a colander, and let dry.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Break the eggs into a large bowl. Add the creme fraiche, mustard, and paprika to the bowl.

Whisk them together well, making sure the creme fraiche and eggs become a smooth mixture. Add the chives/onion, three-quarters of the cheeses, and some salt and pepper.

Stir everything together and set aside for a moment.

Heat up the olive oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan - this is important, so I am going to say it twice - ovenproof. Fry the drained cauliflower for roughly 5 minutes, or until one side is a golden brown. I ended up using a rosemary-infused olive oil for this step, and it smelled amazing. My thanks to Ivano, who gifted me with the oil - it's delightful!

Stir the cauliflower so no pieces are sticking to the bottom of the pan, and then pour the egg and cheese mixture over the cauliflower pieces. Smooth things out so that everything is fairly level across the entire base of the pan.

Cook on medium heat, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. The edges will start to set up a bit during this time. Scatter the remaining cheese over the surface of the egg mixture, and then carefully put the pan in the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the frittata is fully set.

Carefully pull the pan out of the oven and let rest for 2 or 3 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve. If you have a poor memory like mine, you might want to leave a tea-towel or oven mitt over the pan handle to remind yourself that it's hot. ^_^

Then enjoy!

This was fantastic, as I said earlier. I also think that I'd keep the rosemary oil as part of my working recipe in future versions - there was something highly complimentary about the resinous quality of the rosemary and the smoky presence of the scamorza. I think that if I didn't have any of the rosemary oil, it would be worth adding up to a half-tablespoon of fresh rosemary to impart the flavour. So good.  Most definitely making this again, and I think it would be good "company food" - really straightforward to put together, quick to get on the table, and tastes far more complex than you'd think from the short ingredient list.  *nom nom nom*

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

This recipe is dedicated to the lovely Christine for "helping" me buy the book (really, she just looked over my shoulder and said "I'd eat that" a half dozen times... that's good enough for me!) and to Sylvia Moon, because of this image she posted to tumblr a while ago:

...which is, in fact an altered cover of Plenty, and specifically, the image for the recipe this post is dedicated to. I laughed out loud when I saw this, especially because of all the beautiful things I intend to get to from Pinterest... which will happen, eventually. Right? Right. 

I made this recipe about a week ago, but unfortunately did something stupid to my back and the pain management and mobility issues that came from it has proved to be a huge distraction from life. Today I  was able to see my doctor and have much better solutions. So much so that I am feeling remarkably chipper for the first time in about a week, which inspired a lot of catching up on things I've been neglecting, including updating here and cooking up another recipe. So here we go... As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book and the written description includes my observations and alterations.


Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce
(p. 110, Plenty)

Serves 4 as a starter

2 large and long eggplants
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp lemon thyme leaves, plus a few whole sprigs to garnish (regular thyme will do)
Maldon sea salt and black pepper
1 pomegranate
1 tsp za'atar

Sauce
9 tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
1 small garlic clove, crushed
pinch of salt

Assemble ingredients!

To begin, I halved the recipe as I was only feeding myself. The only substitution for this recipe was regular fleur de sel instead of the Maldon sea salt as I didn't have any at the time. That has since changed and I am excited. I know it probably sounds silly to be excited about salt, but the Maldon sea salt is worth picking up. It has a fairly unique shape and sharpness to it that I really enjoy. I was also excited to use the za'atar that I ordered a while ago from Silk Road - it has a really fascinating flavour profile. I have played with it a bit and like it on eggs, with wilted spinach, mixed in with garlic and chive biscuits, and even on popcorn. I think it's going to be a regular thing in my pantry.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the eggplant(s) in half lengthwise, cutting straight through the stem. The inclusion of the stalk is for show, you don't want to eat it. Using a sharp knife, make three to five parallel incisions along the cut side of each eggplant half - you want to go through the flesh, but not so deep that you pierce the skin on the other side. Repeat the cutting at a 45 degree angle so that you end up with a diamond shaped pattern.

Place the eggplant halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Brush each half with olive oil, and keep brushing them until all of the first measure of oil has been soaked up. This takes a little time, but the eggplants behave like thirsty little sponges, so keep at it. Once all of the oil has been absorbed, sprinkle with the thyme and some salt and pepper. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of them before I put them in the oven. My apologies.

Roast the eggplant for 35-40 minutes, until the flesh is soft, flavourful, and lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

While the eggplant is in the oven, cut the pomegranate in half and seed it so that the arils are free of any of the white pith. There are a few ways of doing this, and I've discussed them here if you are interested.

To make the sauce, whisk together the yogurt, buttermilk, olive oil, garlic, and some salt. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if required, then keep cold until needed.

To serve, spoon plenty of the buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks, Sprinkle za'atar and a generous amount of the pomegranate seeds over top of the sauce and garnish with the reserved thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.

Then enjoy!

A few notes: You definitely want a ripe and juicy pomegranate for this recipe. Mine was just slightly past its prime and it was noticeable because there are so few ingredients comprising the dish. Also, if you enjoy the flavour of the za'atar, you may want to sprinkle the eggplants with a bit of it before they go in for roasting. I also finely chopped my garlic rather than leaving the crushed clove floating in the sauce bowl. If you don't have lemon thyme, I'd add ~1/4 tsp grated lemon zest to the thyme leaves you are using, just to add that flavour accent, or use a citrus-infused olive oil if you have one on hand. This was surprisingly easy to make, and incredibly good. I will definitely make this again and possibly serve it with the Pomegranate Barley Salad for a more robust meal.

Stuffed Zucchini

Yotam says this recipe "is a bastardized version of a Turkish original. Serve it cold, just above fridge temperature, with goat's-milk yogurt". I was shy the goat's milk yogurt, but plain Greek seems to work okay. ^_^

As usual, the ingredients and proportions are as listed in the book, and the recipe description incorporates my observations and substitutions.

Stuffed Zucchini
(p. 69, Plenty)

Serves 6 as a starter

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup short-grain rice
2 tbsp currants
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 medium zucchini
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
salt and black pepper

Assemble ingredients!

A few substitutions and alterations to begin - I scaled this down to two small zucchini as I was just feeding myself, although I made the full amount of the filling, figuring I could eat it as is later on. I absentmindedly used the last of the currants in my oatmeal yesterday, and so substituted an equal amount chopped, dried cranberries for the currants. It worked fairly well. I also substituted pecans for the pine nuts, and fresh mint for the dried mint as I wasn't able to find dried mint. Lastly, I was out of lemon juice, and substituted lime juice instead.

To start, saute the chopped onion in the oil in a medium frying pan until the onion is softened.

Add the rice, currants, nuts, parsley, mint, spices, and half the citrus juice.

Stir everything together and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The rice will still be hard at the end of this stage - don't worry.

While the rice mixture is cooking, halve the zucchini lengthways along the centre. Use a spoon to scoop out some of the flesh to make "boats".

Place the boats into a shallow saucepan that is large enough for them to all fit nestled side by side. I ended up using my large frying pan for this step. Fill each boat with enough stuffing that the indentations are filled and some of the filling is mounded slightly on top.

Pour the boiling water, remaining citrus juice, sugar, and some salt around the zucchini in the pan. The liquid should come partway up the sides of the zucchini, but should not come high enough to touch the filling.

Hard to see, but the liquid is in the pan.

Simmer, covered, for 30-40 minutes, basting the filling occasionally with the cooking juices. The zucchini are ready when the rice is al dente and almost all of the juices have evaporated.

Allow to cool completely before putting into the refrigerator to chill. Once the zucchini is fully chilled, garnish with parsley to serve.

I think that the small zucchini I opted to use were in fact too small for this recipe - my zucchini were fully cooked before the rice hit the el dente stage. Not by too much, but slightly crunchy rice didn't suit the dish. I am not sure if that is what is putting me off about this dish, or if it is something else, but I am not as happy with it as I expected to be when I set out to make it. It's good, but it seems to be missing something to make it really pop. I wonder if adding some pomegranate arils as a garnish might help? Or perhaps cooking the rice mixture separately and adding some chopped celery or the pomegranate arils before filling the boats and proceeding with the rest of the recipe? Something to think about, anyway...

The reduced simmering liquid creates a delightful pan caramel if you let it go long enough. That was an unexpected bonus. ^_^

Sweet Winter Slaw (aka Kaleidoscope Salad)

It was Cheap Tuesday at the grocery stores today. That meant I cleaned out the fridge, grabbed my bags, and trundled off with my list of things I wanted to taste this month. I came home with four bags bulging with colour and flavour, and knew I needed to make something delightful to celebrate the simple, everyday awesome of being able to buy groceries. I decided on the Sweet Winter Slaw from Plenty. Possibly the best culinary decision of my life.

This salad is like a party in your mouth. I'm not even joking. It's a little extra work to put the dressing together and caramelize the nuts, but it's absolutely worth it. I am going to be making this again and again and again... And I can see a lot of flexibility with the fruit. Don't have a papaya? Add the seeds of a pomegranate. Don't have a mango? Add orange segments. Or blood orange segments, if you have them. A word of caution though - this salad has some heat to it. If you don't like hot food (thinking of my lovely Stepmother right now) or are feeding tiny mouths, you may want to scale back the chile flakes and the red chile to suit yourselves. It's possible that the reason my salad has a fair amount of kick is because I didn't strain the dressing as recommended, and instead left it alone for an hour and a half while I went to yoga... or the fact that red chiles were not to be had at the grocery so I substituted a (what tasted like mild) green chile... Also, I accidentally omitted the olive oil from the dressing, which would tone things down some. All of these things would change the heat level to some degree, so it could be the heat of my salad is not inherent to the properly made recipe.

Regardless, delicious.

As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book, and the recipe description includes my own alterations and observations.

Sweet Winter Slaw
(p. 102, Plenty)

Serves 6

Dressing
6 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 lemongrass stalk, chopped into small pieces
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp chile flakes
4 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil

Salad
1 1/4 cups macadamia nuts
2 tsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chile flakes
7 inner leaves of Savoy cabbage (6 oz total), finely shredded
1/2 red cabbage (10 oz total), finely shredded
1 mango, cut into thin strips
1 papaya, cut into strips
1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely sliced
1/4 cup mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups cilantro, leaves picked and roughly chopped

Assemble ingredients!

The only substitution that was made for this recipe was that of peanuts for the macadamia nuts. Macadamia nuts are difficult to find and fairly expensive; I thought peanuts would work mostly because of experiences I have had with Thai and Vietnamese food. I wasn't wrong, although I'd like to try it with the more mild macadamia nuts sometime. I used the lemongrass in a tube, as it was available, and the glass jar on the far left is my maple syrup. I also used sugar that I'd infused with lime zest because I had some kicking around and thought it might be fun.

To make the dressing: place all of the dressing ingredients, except for the oil, in a small saucepan and reduce over high heat for 5-10 minutes, until thick and syrupy.

Remove from heat. Once the dressing is cool, strain it through some cheesecloth into a bowl and add the oil. Put aside for later. Or you can forget the oil like I did. Which wasn't bad, but I think its absence contributes to a more feisty dressing. I think the next time I make this, I'd reduce the sesame oil to 1 1/2 tbsp, as I found it just a skitch overpowering.

To caramelize the nuts: in a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the sugar, salt, and chile flakes. On an open bit of counter or a table where it won't be disturbed for a while, place a piece of parchment paper roughly the size of a cookie sheet. You'll be pouring the caramelized nuts onto this in a few moments.

In a frying pan that gives you enough room to stir without escapees, dry roast the nuts for a few moments, stirring occasionally, until they are lightly coloured on all sides. This requires some attention or they will burn and taste bitter. When the nuts are toasted and smell aromatic, add the butter and allow it to melt completely. When it has melted, add the sugar/salt/chile flakes and stir constantly so that it will coat the nuts in the sugar as it caramelizes. This step goes pretty fast - it will only take 1 to 2 minutes, and the sugar can burn quickly.

Turn the caramelized nuts out onto the parchment paper and spread them a bit. Let them cool and then roughly chop them if you deem it necessary. I didn't chop the peanuts, but I can see the macadamias needing it.

Mine got a little dark. Still tasty though.

To assemble the salad: In a large bowl, place the shredded cabbages and the rest of the salad ingredients, including the nuts. I found it was fun to build them up in layers, but I was mostly amusing myself.

Add the cooled dressing and toss everything together (this salad very much reminded me of a kaleidoscope while mixing). I found this was best accomplished with my hands. Taste the salad and add more salt if you deem it necessary (I didn't). Serve, and enjoy immensely.

I was hesitant about the papaya at the beginning because I am not usually too keen on it, but it worked incredibly well in here. Beautiful and flavourful. ^_^

The Ultimate Winter Couscous

I am not feeling so well today. I ran out of my meds a few days ago, which resulted in a couple of days without sleeping, which I suspect snookered my immune system. Meds are resolved now and the 18 hours of sleep I got yesterday was both glorious and required; however, this sore throat and congestion appears to be here to stay a while. I handle being sick much differently now that I live alone compared to when I lived with a partner - there's no one here to baby me, so I either baby myself or suck it up and keep on keepin' on. Today has definitely been the latter kind of day - I am being surprisingly productive given how lousy I feel.

Part of this morning involved finding the list of recipes I had intended to make from Plenty this month and realizing that I have fallen short of my goal. I had made six of my pre-planned eleven culinary adventures. For about a half an hour I got really down on myself for failing at this self-imposed task, and then some switch tripped in my brain and I realized that a) the month isn't quite over yet and b) this project is not going to lead to global devastation if it isn't perfectly complete. This is supposed to be fun. So I reviewed the recipes I had left, selected one for which I had most of the ingredients, and started cooking. I focused on enjoying myself rather than being a taskmaster, and ended up having a really good time. Something tells me this is a meta-lesson for life that I am being a bit dense about learning. ^_^

The title of the recipe is Yotam's, not mine. At first I was a little skeptical about calling something "The Ultimate", but I think this could be worthy of the name. It's quite delicious. A little on the spicy side, and that was after omitting the harissa I have yet to track down, but the heat was a great compliment to the sweetness of the roasted veggies. I would definitely make this again. As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book and the recipe description includes my observations and alterations.

The Ultimate Winter Couscous
(p. 262, Plenty)

Serves 4, or even more

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
8 shallots, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
3 bay leaves
5 tbsp olive oil
salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp hot paprika
1/4 tsp chile flakes
2 1/2 cups cubed pumpkin or butternut squash
1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
1 cup chickpeas (canned or freshly cooked)
1 1/2 cups chickpea cooking liquid and/or water
1 cup couscous
large pinch of saffron
1 cup boiling vegetable stock
3 tbsp butter, broken into pieces
2 tbsp harissa
1 oz preserved lemon, finely chopped
2 cups cilantro

Assemble ingredients!

A few omissions and substitutions to start: I could not find shallots, and therefore substituted half an onion cut up into chunks. I think in hindsight I'd use the whole onion as it wouldn't change the balance of the dish and then I wouldn't end up with half an onion waiting forlornly in the fridge for me to remember to do something with it in the future. I omitted the star anise because a) it proved difficult to find and b) I don't much care for things that taste like black liquorice, which I find it does. I used a larger grain of couscous called Jerusalem couscous as it was what I had on hand - this necessitated a slightly different cooking arrangement than what was called for in the recipe, but that was okay. I found I could omit the butter as the couscous tasted quite rich to me by the time it was done cooking, but that might be a factor of the alternate couscous, I can't rightly say. I omitted the harissa as I have yet to find any, and also omitted the preserved lemon as I wasn't able to get the jar open. I had cilantro but discovered it had gone off in spectacular style since I bought it and so omitted that as well.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the chopped carrots, parsnips, and shallots in a large ovenproof dish.

Add the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, 4 tablespoons of the oil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and all of the other spices, and mix well.

Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the pumpkin or butternut squash and continue cooking for about 35 minutes.

While the veggies are roasting, roughly chop the apricots, portion out the chickpeas, and if you feel like getting ahead of the game, measure the couscous into a heatproof bowl, add the saffron, the remaining tablespoon of the oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the couscous.

About 15 minutes before the vegetables are ready, pour the boiling stock over the couscous. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or use a pot lid or a plate if that works for you), and leave to sit for about 10 minutes.

While the couscous sits, after the 35 minute roasting period for the vegetables has elapsed, add the apricots, chickpeas, and their cooking liquid/water to the roasting pan in the oven, and bake for another 10 minutes or until hot.

I found the 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid to be quite a bit; I think I'd take it down to a cup in the future. Enough to deglaze the pan and plump the apricots without turning everything soupy.

Once the couscous has finished sitting and absorbing all of the stock, fluff it with a fork and add the butter if using. Continue to fluff the couscous until the butter melts in. Cover again and leave somewhere warm.

Once the contents of the baking pan are tender, remove them from the oven. To serve, spoon some couscous into a deep plate or bowl. Stir the harissa and chopped preserved lemon into the vegetables if using; taste and add salt if necessary (I didn't find any to be required). Spoon the vegetables into the centre of the couscous and finish with plenty of cilantro leaves, if using.

I think the cilantro would probably be a nice addition, at the least to add some colour contrast to the dish. I prefer the larger couscous because it feels like I am actually eating something (for some reasons grains smaller than rice only make sense to me as ingredients in puddings, so fine-grained couscous is peculiar to me...). I think you could easily sub out the couscous for quinoa if you wanted to make the dish gluten free. I think I'd like to include the preserved lemon in a future incarnation of this dish - if it tastes the way I imagine it would, that would be lovely. The harissa would jump the heat a bit, which would also be fine, if that works for you. As I made it, the dish is warm, but certainly not hot in terms of spiciness.

All in all, this is pretty tasty.

Insomnia Scones

At some point along the spectrum of a night's insomnia, I end up having to make a decision about whether it is properly late or improperly early and what to do about it. That decision arrived around 4.45 am this morning. I decided it was improperly early, and as nothing was being gained fretting about not sleeping, I got out of bed and made scones. Here's hoping you can ward off a lousy day with a lovely breakfast.

I find scones so much faster and easier to make now that I have a food processor - simply throw all the dry ingredients in, blitz in the cold butter, and then pour into a bowl, add the wet ingredients, mix, portion, bake. It's almost magic. I've added the wet ingredients to the processor before and mixed them that way and it works, but the texture is more cake-y than flake-y. If you don't have a food processor, no worries - you can cut the butter in with a pastry blender, two knives, or pinch it in with your fingers (which is surprisingly fun).

This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, which is a fantastic book. I bought it while working at Chapters a few years ago based on a peanut and caramel cake recipe (which alone was worth the purchase price; everything else has been a succession of delightful bonuses). She's a very conversational author for a cookbook writer, and it's a bit like talking to someone much more knowledgeable when I read it. This recipe is properly called Honey Nut Scones. As usual, the ingredient proportions are as listed in the book and the recipe description includes my observations and substitutions.

Honey Nut Scones
(p. 31, Baking)

Makes 12 small or 8 large scones

1 large egg
2 tablespoons honey (liquid is easier to work with than creamed in this recipe)
1/2 cup cold whole milk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 tbsp) cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

A few substitutions in my version: I used almond milk instead of the whole milk. Apparently this changes the tenderness of the crumb a bit, but I have never found it to be detectable. I also used pecans instead of the walnuts because I had them on hand.

Centre the rack in the oven and preheat to 400F. Line a pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat if you are lucky enough to have one.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir the milk, egg, and honey together. I found it useful to beat the egg with a fork a little to break it up before adding the other wet ingredients to it.

In a large bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Drop in the butter and working quickly cut or pinch it into the flour (you want it to stay pretty cold - cold butter equals flaky goodness). You should end up with a mixture that has pieces of butter the size of peas and some the size of oatmeal flakes and everything in between, and as Dorie often says, that is just right. Alternatively, if you have a food processor, measure the dry ingredients into the bowl, put the butter chunks on top of the dry ingredients and pulse roughly a dozen times until you get the crushed crackers-and-peas texture. I added the nuts along with the butter because I wanted them in small pieces, but you can add them when you incorporate the wet ingredients if you'd like them in more toothsome chunks. If you are working with a food processor, you can either add the wet ingredients at this point and blitz it together, or transfer the mixture to a bowl and proceed to add the wet ingredients and stir everything together with a fork. The dough will be quite wet and sticky.

At this point, Dorie advocates turning the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, dividing it into two halves and forming each portion into a rough disk. Once the disks are formed, they can be cut into six wedges each. The wedges can be placed on the prepared baking sheet and baked off. Alternately, you can scoop the scones out into more rustic looking drop scones, which was what I chose to do.

Bake the scones for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are deeply golden and firmish to the touch. They should cool (preferably on a rack) for about 10 minutes before serving.

These are not an exceptionally sweet scone - if you prefer something a bit sweeter, I'd recommend adding ~two tablespoons of brown sugar to the dry ingredients.

Mushroom and Herb Polenta

I love cooking with mushrooms. Insert whichever hallucinogenic innuendos your heart desires <<here>>. ^_^ Mushrooms are subtle, and are a bit like tofu or cauliflower in that you have some responsibility or opportunity as a cook to enhance them with other flavours. I really enjoy trying new kinds of mushrooms because they encompass such a variety of flavours and textures... One of my absolute favourite experiences of my life so far was an afternoon spent with Renaud and his friend Marie in a forest just outside Marie's village (founded before my country achieved Confederation) in southern France. The entire afternoon was whiled away wandering around with a woven basket and a small knife, mushroom hunting. I found a lovely mess of black trumpet-looking mushrooms and a few of these delicate-stemmed pale lavender ones that my hosts seemed thrilled to see. I also learned what a wild boar wallow looked like, which is also useful, if not quite edible in the immediate sense. I don't remember what exactly we ate that night, other than it involved some of the mushrooms, a fabulous cheese, some kind of bread, and fresh herbs from the kitchen garden. I still delight in the memories of that kitchen garden... Anyway, that meal I made last night seems similar to the one we feasted on after that afternoon in the forest, if my hazy, happy memories serve me right. It's a simple and very quick meal - I am certain it was together in roughly 15 minutes.

I recommend that you use as much of a variety of mushrooms as you can find for this recipe. I chose one of those mixed packs from the supermarket that contained white button, crimini (brown), shiitake, oyster, and huge portobello mushrooms. I had intended to rehydrate some of the dried porcini mushrooms I have to add to the mix as well, but I was hungry and decided to forgo that step in favour of eating that much more quickly. I also recommend instant polenta as a time saving option - it takes about 5 minutes compared to traditional polenta's 50 minute cook time. I doubled the amount of the polenta in this recipe so I had the option of having it in the runny, mash state this recipe calls for and then having the leftovers set up so I could cut them into chunks for snacking on. Yotam says in the intro notes to this recipe that his father would cut the set polenta into chunks, fry them in a little bit of olive oil, and then serve them in a chunky salad of tomato, cucumber, and romaine lettuce dressed with a bit of red wine vinegar and some olive oil. Sounds good to me. As usual, all ingredients are as listed in the book and the recipe instructions incorporate my observations and alterations.

Mushroom and Herb Polenta
(p. 264, Plenty)

Serves 2

4 tbsp olive oil
4 cups mixed mushrooms, very large ones halved
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp truffle oil
salt and black pepper
2 1/4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup polenta (instant or traditional)
3 oz Parmesan, grated
2 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
1 tbsp chopped chervil
4 oz Taleggio (rind removed), cut into 3/8-inch slices

Assemble ingredients!

So a few omissions and substitutions to start: I could not find fresh tarragon or chervil for love or money, so they were omitted from the preparations. I also did not have truffle oil (it has been ordered but will not arrive for a while), so I used a bit of my black truffle salt. It gave a bit of nuance, but it was hard to balance adding enough to get the truffle flavour without over-salting the dish. For that reason alone I know I will make this again once the correct oil gets here, just to see what the difference is. I also couldn't find Taleggio, nor the white Castello that I read was the best substitute for it, so I opted to use some Camembert because I know I love it, I know it melts well, and it reminds me of being in France and hunting mushrooms. I figured those were reasons enough for its inclusion. Also, for this recipe I feel strongly that you must use fresh thyme and rosemary. Dried herbs just won't work here.

First step is prepping your mushrooms. I chose to cut all of mine into roughly bite sized pieces. I included the stems because they are exactly the same as the caps and why waste them?

Heat half of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add half the mushrooms and fry for a few moments without moving them around so that they cook and get some golden brown patches on their surfaces. Remove from the pan and repeat with the rest of the oil and mushrooms. Off heat, return all of the mushrooms to the pan and add the garlic (I finely diced mine), tarragon, thyme, truffle oil, and some salt and pepper. Keep warm and enjoy how awesome your kitchen smells. 

While the mushrooms are cooking, gather the butter, chop the rosemary, and grate the Parmesan and have ready.

Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan. Slowly pour the polenta into the boiling stock in a steady stream, whisking continually until it is all added so there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to minimum and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. The polenta is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan but is still runny - for instant polenta this will take roughly five minutes; with traditional polenta it could take up to 50 and require additional stock if it seems to dry out before it's ready. End goal of this stage is a thick, porridge consistency.

Preheat the broiler in your oven. When the polenta is ready, stir in the butter, rosemary, Parmesan, and half the chervil if using. Season with salt and pepper (I used the truffle salt here too, trying to bump up the flavour a bit more). Spread the polenta over a heatproof dish and top with the mushrooms. Top the mushrooms with the sliced cheese. I chose to leave the rind on my Camembert because it's edible and I enjoy it. I realize it effects the aesthetics, but I prefer not to waste food.

Place the pan under the broiler until the cheese melts and bubbles, just a moment or two. Remove from heat, garnish with the remaining chervil if using, and serve hot.

My thanks to Jennifer Echo who didn't mind that I started cooking and futzing around with my camera part way through our conversation, and who helped me make a dent in all this deliciousness. I am definitely going to make this again. Given how fast and delicious this is, it might become one of my default dinners, the kind you make when you are just too tired to cook. I would love to make this with Farmer's Market mushrooms, too... there's a stall at the downtown market back home, but I didn't notice one at the market here last year. I'll have to look again once the market resumes in Spring.