Eats 11.16
prep school
You thought this might be about Thanksgiving? PSYCH
I mean, yes, there is prep going on. A lot.
But first . . .
Among the many Thanksgiving preps this week, there was also miso-scallion mac and cheese which with the big shells is kind of extra! and tahini cookies which it turns out Izzy is the only one who knows how to properly roll them in sesame seeds and some profoundly satisfying but deeply unphotogenic galettes bretonnes a.k.a. buckwheat crepes with ham and eggs and cheese and a if I do say so myself a truly spectacular fish pie even though Izzy thinks the idea of “fish pie” may be suspect.
I took some a lot of liberties with the fish pie but that recipe is surprisingly forgiving for all its ingredients and steps. Added mussels, added swordfish, smoked the salmon, didn’t use the trout, didn’t have chives, probably had less fish than they called for, poached the fin fish in the milk before thickening it, didn’t use the fennel, didn’t use the dill - but it was so very good and made so very much anyway that we ate for a few days and we were happy about that.1
In the baking department, BEHOLD THIS GLORIOUS SOURDOUGH LOAF!
I don’t think you should withhold cranberries just for Thanksgiving so here is my mom’s cranberry bread recipe and the result. Once I grew up and and started making it for myself I realized that I don’t have to add the walnuts if I don’t like them so you know what? I DON’T AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO EITHER.
I don’t think my mother would particularly care if I don’t add the walnuts although I’d certainly hear about it. You know what else I’d hear about? That “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” because Izzy made these tahini brownies and obviously she is a brilliantly talented baker because all of my mother’s grandchildren are brilliantly talented at whatever they choose to do.
Laminated pastry is a thing that I’d like to be brilliantly talented at at but am not yet, and Thanksgiving will provide another opportunity but for now I am working on a yeasted one for croissants and pain au chocolat and I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to roll up a p.a.c. such that it does not unroll in the oven like these.
But if you have scraps you can roll them out with some sugar and then put them in a mini-muffin tin and you have something vaguely related to a kouign-amann and that, as Martha teaches us, is a good thing.
OK, I’ve got to back to T-giving prep even though the fridge and the freezer are already at capacity with bags and containers and plastic-wrapped frozen blocks that will break your toe if you drop them on your foot, all labeled with blue tape and the date which is probably unnecessary because it’s all getting used this week anyway. It’s all driving Bonus Dog Newt slightly mad. So many good smells! So many people in the kitchen! All the time!
Izzy too.
Well, as you might imagine, knowing me, my kitchen will not require prep or preparing a dinner for Thanksgiving. So yours becomes a vicarious journey into what it might be like if I really knew how to cook. I pretend to cook every once in a while, mostly soups for these winter nights.