Rookie Cookery

Pumpkin Persimmon Parfait

Elise over at Simply Recipes has challenged us with The Great Pumpkin Carve Up Cook Off. The harrowing task is to carve up a pumpkin, cook with its guts, and present the carcass in the form of a jack o'lantern. My entry is pictured above: Pumpkin Persimmon Parfait with Toasted Walnuts. It consists of cooked pumpkin custard, (just like the pie recipe except a little less sugar), layered with diced Fuyu persimmons, (the crisp variety, straight from our tree), a fluffy layer of whipped cream, and crunchy walnuts: A veritable mineshaft of autumnal delicacies.

I cheated big time by cooking with canned pumpkin. In my defense I will rationalize that there would be nothing left over to carve if I cooked my pumpkin, thus limiting me to roasting seeds....not that seeds are a bad thing, mind you. We need baby pumpkins after all!

Speaking of baby pumpkins, the grocery store was sold out (!) of pumpkins to carve--except this little guy, a mere six inches or so tall. It was more challenging than I expected to hollow him out, as my fist barely fit inside with a spoon. The recipe is something I dreamed up at the last minute, since I only learned of this contest today!

In conclusion: Boo and Happy Hallowee'en!

Rookie Cookery Comix #2 "Attachment Issues"

New! Rookie Cookery Comix!

Announcing: Issue Number One of Rookie Cookery Comix!

Oatmeal Secret Recipe Revealed!

Recently I shared Alton Brown's "crock-pot steel cut oats" methodology for the perfect bowl of oatmeal. My sister Karen has kindly revealed to me the Secret Family Oatmeal Recipe from Grandpa Mac, which he told her when she was four years old.

Here it is:

"A big fist full of oats and a little fistful of bran."

If only there was some way I could get this information to Alton Brown.....

Grower's Market day

Saturday mornings we like to visit the local farmer's market. There are several here in Sacramento California, but we go to the closest one, located incongruously in the parking lot of a shopping mall. This time I brought my camera. I felt a little silly taking pictures of the produce, but I really enjoyed myself, and was somehow able to manage to hang on to the camera and bags of food without dropping anything. I deserve a medal for that.

There were pumpkins and squash of every description, and late harvest tomatoes, including a colorful collection of heirlooms. I bought one of those little boxes of cherry, pear shaped and "chocolate" tomatoes which were delicious in our panzanella that night.

I took many pictures of flowers, and bought a colorful bunch to take home. "Food for the soul as well as the belly" I said to a woman gawking at the blooms. I think she bought a bouquet too.

All the colors seemed to say "Look! Enjoy it all now, even as the summer light is fading". You would never know it to see the sunflowers facing you.

Oatmeal, Alton's way

I have enjoyed the occasional bowl of oatmeal ever since I was a kid. My grandmother in upstate New York served it to me in her maple-leaf pattern bowls, (pictured above), and that's how I eat it to this day. As an adult I have cooked the ubiquitous Quaker Oats brand on the stove-top. Thanks to Alton Brown, and one of his Good Eats episodes about the various types of oats, I have seen the error of my ways.

Steel Cut oatmeal, also known as pinhead oats and available at most grocery stores, is far superior in taste and consistency to the cereal oats. If you like oatmeal, you owe it to yourself to try the good stuff.

As usual, Alton Brown offers an easy way to prepare it so it is waiting for you first thing in the morning, hot and yummy, as you shuffle to the kitchen in your jammies. Got a crock pot? Haul it out! Add one cup of the oats, four cups of water, and one half cup of half-and-half. (Half milk, half cream). Stir just a bit, put on the cover and cook on low for 8 or 9 hours (overnight).

Alton also adds a cup of dried figs, and a cup of dried cranberries, but I am an oatmeal purist so I omit those. I do like a light sprinkle of brown sugar and a splash of cold milk. Some others who reviewed this oatmeal said that it came out dry, so make sure you have a good thick ceramic crock that does not run too high in temperature. You might want to add extra water or cook for a shorter period of time, but it worked perfectly for me as the recipe stands. I suppose I'll try cooking the oats stove-top some day, but having it ready in the morning for the whole family, at each individual's personal time-table, really works for me. Leftovers even heated up well!

Rolled oats are good for cookies and other applications, Alton tells us. In fact, on this same episode of Good Eats, Alton demonstrated how my own Scottish ancestors must have made haggis. This is surely one of my favorite moments in food tv history. Alton even provides the recipe for haggis online! Thanks Alton, although I don't think I'll be trying that one anytime soon.

Getting Moony Over Wine

Anna over at Everyday Wine Pairings tagged me with the question: What is the best food and wine pairing you have had in the last month? Or at least--I think that was the question. This was a moment of high drama for me, because despite my love of wine and desire to learn more, I have been anything but adventurous with wine lately. So I thank Anna for finally getting me to act on my curiosity!

That day I walked in to Trader Joe's and was attracted by the label of this lovely "Honey Moon Viognier". (Yes, I have a wine label fettish--but that is a topic for another post.) My first thought was "What the heck is a viognier, and how is it pronounced?" In my mind, silently, so as not to embarass myself, I say "voyne-yay", as if I were offering congratulations to a......voyne. The label says it is a "rare and stylish grape". So this is a "varietal", I presume. But I digress.

Anyway the sign said this 2004 California wine was the gold medalist at the state fair, earning 95 points by the wine snobs judges. The price was very affordable (five bucks maybe?) and it looked like I had found my low-risk candidate for a wine tasting.

I paired the wine with Chicken a la King, which was good but perhaps not the most interesting companion. Nevertheless, the wine was a very pleasant surprise: highly aromatic, light and fruity, mild sweetness and a very long and delicious finish. This was an excellent choice for my first official "I am actually going to pay attention and make note of this" wine tasting.

Looking back at the Everyday Wine Pairing blog, I see that Maureen also reviewed this wine. (I think I saw it before but had forgotten!)

But there is more, people. Behold the other pretty wine label (and I swear that is not my only criteria):

This is another offering from the same winery: "Old Moon (Old Vine) Zinfandel, 2004." This was served with a steak, walnut-parmesan dressed brussels sprouts and some left over lemon pasta. The zinfandel was bold and not too much tannin was in evidence, and I enjoyed it. The same sign at Trader Joe's informed me that this was the Bronze medalist at the fair, earning 85 points. This was also a bargain wine, good for hearty dishes as the weather begins to turn. I would buy it again.

Anna, this was fun! It is a challenge for me to build a working vocabulary for wine. I raise a glass to you and look forward to exploring many new wines in the years ahead.