Roasted Pork, Tuscan Style

Stick your fork in a juicy slice

You know how people say we talk about the weather when we can't think of anything else to say? Well, today I want to talk about the weather because that's all I've been thinking about.

I took myself on a walk this morning after dropping the kids at school - it's such a glorious postcard-perfect day someone needs to take a picture of it (because, obviously, I didn't).

The sky is pristinely blue, a chilly breeze is blowing leaves around, and the trees are still holding on to their brilliant array of fall foliage. It sounds so sappy, but the sight of it really took my breath away.

And then, I started thinking about what I wanted to eat.

So much of what I find myself craving depends on the weather; like a cool cucumber and ripe tomato salad on a humid summer day or fresh green things in early spring.

Now that it's so close to Thanksgiving, I love grocery shopping more than ever. It really is the only time of year when I can walk into my favorite store and find an array of food I won't see again until next year, unless I place a special order for it. The meat department especially draws me in - I'm tempted by fresh duck, goose and quail and big, beautiful pork roasts.

A roasted rack of pork is one of my favorite things to cook and eat. I rub it with olive oil, honey and some of my Tuscan Spiced Salt, and slide it into a hot oven. It turns out so much better than a boneless pork loin ever could - because the rib bones are intact, the meat stays juicy. Plus, it just tastes good.

Roasted Rack of Pork, Tuscan Style

for 4 servings

1 2-pound pork rib roast, trimmed
Honey
Olive Oil

Tuscan Spiced Salt, about 2 tablespoons

*note: I noticed I had "3" tablespoons here - better to use about 1 tablespoon per pound*

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Rub the pork with a little honey and olive oil and the Tuscan salt.
Arrange in a shallow roasting pan and roast about 30 minutes, or until an instant thermometer reads 140 degrees. Remove from the oven and let stand 15 minutes before carving.

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Copyright (c) 2007 FamilyStyle Food

Chocolate Pumpkin Pound Cake

Swirls of spiced cake with chocolate glaze

My neighbor's maple tree is wearing its glorious fall coat. If you walk by at the right moment in late afternoon, the generously leafy canopy appears to glow with golden light; like a sequined Hannah Montana in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, I've seen crocuses poking up out of lawns, and my gnarly old crabapple is blooming bright pink blossoms. Poor thing - it's getting on in years and must be easily confused by the unusually spring-like temperature. Unpredictable weather is typical for us here in St. Louis; last year at about this time we were huddling around the fireplace with our winter coats on after an ice storm knocked out our power for a few days.

Despite the freakish weather I still have fall cooking on the brain. Plus, I was inspired by Ivonne over at Cream Puffs in Venice - she's got a great idea called Magazine Mondays going. Find all those flagged recipes in your food magazine stack and get cooking!

I loved the colors in this cake - it's from Sunset magazine - I found it at Myrecipes.com.
Since I made this for a treat on Halloween night, I used my extra-dark cocoa powder in the chocolate batter (as in the Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread)- it looks great swirled with the pumpkin-orange cake.

Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Pound Cake
from Sunset Magazine, November 2003

1 1/2 cups (3/4 lb.) butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup buttermilk
Chocolate glaze (recipe follows)

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Scrape half the mixture into another bowl.

2. To make pumpkin batter: Beat pumpkin into half the butter mixture until well blended. In another bowl, stir together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and beat on low speed or fold in with a flexible spatula just until blended.

3. To make chocolate batter: In another bowl, mix remaining 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the cocoa. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the other half of the butter mixture (starting and ending with flour mixture), beating after each addition just until blended.

4. Spoon half the pumpkin batter into a buttered and floured 12-cup bundt-cake pan. Drop half the chocolate batter by spoonfuls over (but not entirely covering) the pumpkin batter. Repeat to spoon remaining pumpkin and chocolate batters into pan. Gently run the blade of a butter knife around the center of the pan several times, then draw the knife across the width of the pan in 10 to 12 places to swirl batters.

5. Bake in a 350° regular or 325° convection oven until a wood skewer inserted into center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cake cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack, lift off pan, and cool cake completely.

6. Pour warm chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle glaze with peanuts if desired. Let stand until glaze is set, about 2 hours, or chill about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze: In a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 teaspoon corn syrup. Bring an inch or two of water to a boil in a pan that the bowl can nest in or in bottom of double boiler, then remove from heat. Place chocolate mixture over water and let stand, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 10 minutes.

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Copyright (c) 2007 FamilyStyle Food

Butternut Squash Soup: Rich, Silky (and Dairy-Free)

A comforting bowl for fall

Now is the perfect time of year to make soup - we can almost see breath clouds while walking to school in the morning (it takes a lot of huffing), pumpkins are stacked on front stoops and the maples are showing off their fall colors.

Plus, Thanksgiving is right around the corner - I just placed my order for a pasture-raised turkey. Now I need to get busy planning our menu. Since we don't have a huge family gathering and the duty to provide everybody's habitual favorite side dishes, I try different recipes from year to year, just to keep things interesting. I'm craving chiles this year, for some reason, and might roast this Southwestern-inspired turkey.

This soup will be great on our holiday table. Made with my all-time favorite fall ingredient, butternut squash, it's so smooth and rich-tasting you might think it's loaded with butter and cream, but no worries! It's completely dairy-free. The secret to its plush, velvety texture is in the ratio of vegetables to broth, and the addition of a little bit of potato for body.

Ginger-Orange Butternut Squash Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

3 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 small non-starchy potato (such as Yukon Gold or Red Bliss), peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons honey (or brown sugar if you want to make this vegan)
4 - 5 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh herbs and toasted nuts, to garnish (optional)

Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and ginger; cook 5 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. Stir in the squash, potato, honey, stock and orange juice; season generously with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook until the squash is soft when pierced with a fork.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender or with an immersion hand blender until very smooth.
Garnish soup with fresh slivered herb leaves (such as chives, basil or parsley) and chopped toasted nuts, if you like.

Serves 6 -8.

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Copyright (c) 2007 FamilyStyle Food

Fall Flavor: Warm Spiced Root Vegetable Salad with Feta

Ready for a new season with a warm autumn salad

Ahem -- so I have a few exciting announcements. I apologize for the suspense, but I wanted to time it just right.

First, starting with this salad recipe from the October issue (On Newstands Now!), I'll be contributing occasional recipe features to Sauce Magazine. I'm thrilled about this - I've long wanted to share more of my recipes with people, hopefully enticing them into the kitchen to get cooking. Plus, flexing my writing muscles seems like a good idea.

As of this moment, there's no link to my piece on their site, but I'll direct you there if and when it's up.

The next bit of news is that I'm off to Birmingham, Alabama to compete as one of 15 finalists in the Southern Living Cook-Off. It's a biggie - the largest annual cooking contest in the United States with a cash award of a cool 100k for the Grand Prize winner.

I'm long past counting on winning anything; that way lies disappointment and intermittent spells of bitter growling. Not very becoming behavior for a yoga mama like me! Also, T hates to be around a sore loser. Just wish me luck and hope that I can squeeze in time for a hot-rock massage at the hotel "spalon".

Last but not least, I've spent the past few months planning a new career - I'm starting a personal chef business, called DinnerStyle.

Now that J has started first grade, all previous bets are off. I'm free for six-and-a-half beautiful hours each and every weekday: I'm ready to join the few, the proud and the self-employed.

So, I've equipped myself with a traveling cooking toolbox, a rolling cooler and good liability insurance. Call me! I'll happily come to your house and cook up a feast or two.

See you in a few...

Spiced Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Feta and Pumpkin Seeds

Makes 4 servings
1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds)
1 pound parsnips
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Zest and juice of 1 orange
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups prewashed baby arugula or baby spinach
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup pepitas (hulled green pumpkin seeds), toasted*
2 tablespoons pumpkin-seed oil
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar


Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, trim off the top and bottom and slice in half. Scoop out the strings and seeds with a large spoon and discard. Slice the squash into 1/2-inch pieces and spread on a large rimmed baking sheet.

Peel the parsnips and slice into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to the squash on the baking sheet.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt, pepper, orange zest and juice and olive oil. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat evenly.

Roast the vegetables 20-25 minutes, stirring once or until tender and lightly caramelized.
Add the arugula (or spinach) to the warm vegetables and toss to wilt slightly.
Transfer to a large platter or serving bowl. Crumble feta cheese over salad and sprinkle with pepitas.

Whisk together the oil, honey and vinegar and drizzle over the salad.



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Beautiful Fall Soup: Roasted Spiced Sweet Potato

Fall into this bowl

Sometimes I forget how much I love sweet potatoes. But just look at them!

Underneath the gnarly, arthritic looking skin is a vegetable of yes, uncommon sweetness. I can't think of any other vegetable so pleasantly and naturally sugary. Parsnips and beets are tempting, but they both have an underlying earthy, dirty taste that screams ROOT vegetable.

No, sweet potatoes are far superior. Just about any way you cook them, they reward you with their velvety, gentle flesh and an extraordinary color that exists outside of the Crayola box. I imagine being wrapped in a soft, sweet potato-colored cashmere blanket when I eat this soup.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to the chill of fall?

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potato Soup

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 red onion, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon hot chili powder (or use mild if you don't want the heat)
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper
5 cups chicken stock or water
Creme fraiche
Pumpkin seed oil
Minced chives

Heat your oven to 450 degrees. Toss the sweet potato on a large baking sheet or roasting pan with the onion, olive oil, spices, and salt and pepper to taste ( I use at least a teaspoon of kosher salt here ).

Roast about 15 minutes, until everything is softened and browned.

In a large saucepan, bring the broth or water to a simmer. Add the roasted potatoes and puree with an immersion blender or regular blender until velvety smooth. Taste for seasoning; you'll probably need more salt.

Garnish with a spoonful of creme fraiche, a swirl of pumpkin seed oil, and some chives.

Copyright (c) 2006 FamilyStyle