break from cooking

My husband was away for a few days last week attending homecoming at his college. Prior to his departure, I made a few meals which resulted in leftovers for my dinner in his absence. In one of the last CSA boxes, my daughter and I split a head of Napa cabbage that I turned into Unstuffed Cabbage. For another meal, I was in the mood for Tarragon Turkey Hash Meatloaf. This meat loaf contains ground turkey and a variety of vegetables such as potatoes, green peas, an onion, red pepper and seasonings. The only thing I needed to add to make this an easy meal was a green salad. These recipes were easy to prepare and made for a tasty dinner and even cold meat loaf sandwiches, which my husband loves.

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I recently signed up for a new baking newsletter from NYT Cooking by Vaughn Vreeland. In one of the early editions, there was a recipe for Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars by Jesse Szewczyk.  As I had a can of pumpkin purée in my pantry, I decided to give these cookies a try. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, nonstick cooking spray, light brown sugar, pumpkin purée, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), ground ginger, ground cloves, ground nutmeg and chocolate chips (bittersweet or semi-sweet).
 
When you read the recipe below, you’ll notice that there are no eggs due to the  moisture content of the pumpkin purée. The butter is browned to enhance the flavor of the cookie too. The recipe was quite easy to make and I had the spices on hand. I prefer bittersweet chocolate as I find it not as sweet as other chocolate chips. The cookies bake in a 9-by-13-inch pan yielding 24 squares.
 
The cookies were very good, soft with a chewy edge. The pumpkin flavor and sweetness was subtle. The recipe called for 1-1/2 cups (9 ounces) of chocolate chips. I found the cookies a tad too rich for my taste, I’ll cut back on the chocolate chips next time.
 
As the cookies needed just 3/4 cup of pumpkin purée, I wanted to use up the remainder. Why not turn them into Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes from Yossy Arefi of The New York Times/NYT Cooking? The recipe needed 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree and there was slightly more than that left over from the cookies. I added all the pumpkin purée to the batter and enjoyed my pumpkin pancakes for several mornings…such an indulgence over my morning yogurt, granola and strawberries.
 
My husband returned home on Sunday evening from his weekend getaway with college friends. After a long drive and a few heavy meals, he preferred something light for dinner. It just so happened I had some tuna steaks that were caught off the Jersey shore at the canyon. The tuna, accompanied by a tossed green salad, was a perfect light meal after driving all day. I found a recipe on The New York Times/NYT Cooking  website for Grilled Tuna with Herbs and Olives by Mark Bittman. Besides the tuna, you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, oil-cured olives, fresh tender herbs, minced garlic and lemon wedges. Mr. Bittman gave some suggestions for herb combinations; I settled on parsley, basil and chives. My Amazing Basil from Dreyer Farms yielded enough leaves for me and my garden chives are still going strong. My parsley never really took off this summer, but I did purchase a lovely bunch at Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar.
 
The tuna is lightly coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I grilled the tuna just 3 minutes per side as I prefer my tuna medium rare. To accompany the tuna, the herbs, garlic  and olives were chopped and lightly dressed with olive oil. Some of the herbs were placed on top of the cooked tuna and a bit more alongside. What an easy and very flavorful supper. The oil cured olives add a briny flavor against the fresh taste of the parsley, notes of anise and clove from the basil and a herbaceous sweetness with a hint of allium from the chives. Overall, the herb salad complemented the tuna nicely.
 
On another note, have you noticed the prices for baking spices? I was making another batch of King Arthur Flour’s Apple Cider Snickerdoodles when I realized I was low on apple pie spice. Alert, food stores no longer carry this spice blend. I found a recipe online with the list of ingredients and proportions to make my own blend. I used a recipe found on the website “The Spruce Eats” calling for 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg, 1-1/2 teaspoons of allspice and 1-1/2 teaspoons of cardamom. My cardamom was old, but I went ahead and used it. To replace cardamom today it would cost approximately $10-15 depending on size and source.  On the King Arthur Baking website, they too were currently out of apple pie spice. With further digging, I found their recipe that calls for 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of either allspice or ginger. Also, did you know that there are four varieties of cinnamon as found on the Penzey’s Spices website. There is China Tung Hing, Vietnamese, Korintje Indonesia and Ceylon ground cinnamons, each with their own flavor profile. Just thought you would like to know with holiday baking just around the corner. ​

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Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
By Jesse Szewczyk
The New York Times/NYT Cooking
 
Total Time: 1-1/2 hours, plus cooling
Yield: 24 squares (one 9-by-13-inch pan)
 
Ingredients
¾ cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1½ sticks)
Nonstick cooking spray or neutral oil
1¾ cups/385 grams packed light brown sugar
¾ cup/170 grams canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups/320 grams all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1  teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
1teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1½ cups/9 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
 
Preparation

1. In a small (preferably light-colored) saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring constantly to prevent the milk solids from burning, until the butter foams, darkens into a light amber color and becomes fragrant and nutty, about 3 to 4 minutes more. (Watch closely to make sure the butter doesn't burn.) Immediately pour the butter along with any of the browned milk solids into a large heatproof mixing bowl. Let cool for 20 minutes until warm but no longer hot.
2. While the butter cools, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch metal or glass baking pan with cooking spray or oil and line with a strip of parchment paper that hangs over the two long sides to create a sling.
3. Add the brown sugar, pumpkin purée and vanilla extract to the cooled butter and whisk until smooth and glossy. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cloves and nutmeg and stir with a spatula just until a soft dough forms with no pockets of unincorporated flour. (Try not to overmix.) Add 1¼ cups/216 grams of the chocolate chips and stir to evenly distribute throughout the dough.
4. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and press into an even layer using a spatula or clean hands coated with nonstick spray or oil. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chocolate chips, pressing them in so they stick. Bake until the bars are puffed, the top is lightly browned and a skewer or knife inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached or with smudges of melted chocolate, 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Using the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and cut into 24 squares. The cookie bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

chewy_pumpkin_chocolate_chip_cookie_bars.pdf
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Grilled Tuna with Herbs and Olives
“Not the Elusive Bluefin, But Just Fine for the Fire,”
By Mark Bittman
The New York Times June 27, 2007
 
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
 
Ingredients
1½ to 2pounds tuna, about 1 inch thick, 2 or 4 steaks
Extra-virgin olive oil as needed
Salt and pepper
¼ cup pitted oil-cured olives, finely chopped
About 1 cup mixed tender fresh herbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic, optional
Lemon wedges
 
Preparation

1. Start a charcoal or gas grill; fire should be medium-high and rack about 4 inches from heat source.
2. When fire is ready, rub tuna lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Put it on grill and grill about 3 to 4 minutes a side for medium-rare, more or less according to your desired degree of doneness.
3. Meanwhile, combine olives, herbs, garlic if you are using it and just enough oil to moisten and bind the mixture, no more than a tablespoon.
4. When tuna is done, spread a portion of herb mixture on 1 side of each steak and serve with lemon wedges.

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