Scratch Cooking November 2nd

It was a relatively quiet Halloween weekend. Friday night I went to a small party dressed as another Hitchcock leading lady; this time Kim Novak a la Vertigo in the black turtle neck and white coat with black gloves. It was interesting. Despite all the make up, I looked very reserved compared to everyone else. The majority of women at this party were dressed as sexy cop, sexy maid and sexy cow girl. And the host was covered in red makeup and had horns glued to his head.

It is true that in my younger days, I did once go to a Halloween party as a biker chick wearing not much more than fake leather shorts and fake leather bra, but still, I was 20. It seems that now most women, regardless of age, are dressed like their most slutty alter ego, including young girls.

We watched a rogue copy of Paranormal Activity. I’m not big on horror movies and this one was just plain stupid and predictable. At one point, it was supposed to be scary, but it was just laughable!

The freakiest thing all weekend was the adult man – the guy looked older than me - dressed in costume that came to the house for candy, sans children. At first I thought it was just odd. Then I wondered if maybe he was developmentally disabled, and then it hit me that it was kind of creepy. Thank goodness for the dog. He’s super friendly but barks a lot and loud. He can sound quite menacing even though his bark really means, ‘please pet me’.

My daughter was a nerd. She wore shorts with suspenders, big glasses, pig tails and a name tag that said “ask me about quantum physics”. She looked adorable. Her best friend was baby spice of the Spice Girls; Union Jack dress and high heeled boots. I love that my daughter opted for silly instead of sex pot. Makes me proud!

Okay, so here is what was cooking today.

I made the girls some French toast for breakfast with the remaining oat bread. (thin slices of bread dipped in a combination of egg, milk, vanilla and cinnamon and fried in butter). I don’t miss that many bready things, but I do miss French toast.

Then I decided to make a gluten-free linzertorte. I followed the recipe in the Gluten-Free Cookbook. Toast 1 cup almond flour for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Mix with ¾ cup brown rice flour, ¼ cup soy flour, ¼ cup tapioca starch, 1 teaspoon xantham gum, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of cloves. Set aside. Cream 1/3 cup butter with 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 1 egg. Add dry ingredients and mix. Divide in 3 discs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Press 2 discs into bottom and sides of a 9” spring form pan (the kind where the bottom pops out). Spread 1 ¼ cups jam on top (I used the home made strawberry jam). Take last disc and shape into a rectangle. Cut in strips and arrange over top of jam in a lattice pattern. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 – 45 minutes.

I also wanted to make a vegetarian shepherd’s pie and biscuits for dinner so I started some split and black eyed peas soaking and started on a broth to make a sauce. For the broth, I cooked a quartered onion, a few stalks of celery, the green tops of two leeks, thyme, parsley, 3 bay leaves and salt with a cup of tamari and 6 cups of water. I cooked it for about 2 hours and then strained it.

In the afternoon I started the peas cooking in water and cooked them for about 1 ½ hours. I also started on the sauce. I sautéed a chopped onion in 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil with some thyme, tarragon, salt and a bay leaf. After the onion started to brown, I added a chopped clove of garlic and ½ cup black cherry juice (you could use wine, but I didn’t feel like opening a bottle). I cooked it until the juice was almost all absorbed and added 3 tablespoons of garfava flour (you can use regular flour). I cooked that for about 2 minutes and then added 3 cups of the broth. I cooked it partially covered for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, I started on the veggies. I sautéed some cubed onion and carrots in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil with a little salt for about 5 minutes and then added ½ cup broth, covered and cooked for another 5 minutes. In another pan I sautéed some halved crimini mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil and a little salt for about the same amount of time. I added some cubed, peeled celery root to the carrot and onion mixture, covered it again and cooked for another 5 minutes. I threw some cauliflower, white and romanesco and some Brussels sprouts in boiling water for a couple minutes and then pulled them out and put them in a big glass pan. I added the cooked, drained peas, the mushrooms and the onions, carrots and celery root along with the sauce (minus the bay leaf).

I boiled some cut up red and white potatoes until they were soft and then mashed them with ½ cup light cream and 5 tablespoons of butter. I put the potatoes on top of the veggies and baked at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. It doesn't look so pretty in the picture with the red potatoes, I think next time I would use all white. It tasted good, thought!

It was some work, but I have to say, it was totally worth it. The sauce was rich and delicious and really made the dish.

While the potatoes were boiling, I made some biscuits. Mix 2 cups flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon sugar and ½ teaspoon salt. Cut in 5 tablespoons of butter until it is like fine crumbs and then mix in ¾ cup half and half. Knead it for a minute or so and then pat out to about ¾ inch thick on a floured surface. I cut mine into circles using the top of a glass. Put them on a baking sheet and back for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

Loads and loads of leftovers. We’ll be eating shepherd’s pie for a month!