Chicken Saag

10 oz frozen spinach, defrosted
1 in. fresh ginger root, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh green chili, chopped
Scant 1 c. water
2 T. oil
2 bay leaves
¼ t. black peppercorns
1 onion, finely chopped
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 t. curry powder
1 t. salt
1 t. chili powder
3 T. plain yogurt
2 chicken breasts, chopped

1. Put the spinach, ginger, garlic, and chili with ¼ c. water into food processor and puree.
2. Heat oil, add bay leaves and peppercorns and fry for 2 minutes. Add onion and fry 6-8 minutes more.
3. Add tomatoes to pan and simmer 5 minutes. Add curry powder, salt, chili powder and stir well. Cook for 2 more minutes.
4. Add spinach puree and remaining water to pan; simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in yogurt, 1 T. at a time, and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add chicken. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Serve with warm naan, drizzle with plain yogurt and dust lightly with chili powder.

Note: original recipe calls for fresh spinach, fresh tomatoes, and chicken thighs. I use all the tomato juice in place of some of the water.

Hummus (my mom's recipe)

1 can chickpeas, partially drained

1 T. tahini (sesame seed paste)

3 T. lemon juice

1 T. olive oil

1/2 t. salt

2-3 cloves smashed garlic (I use a couple more)

Blend up ingredients in food processor (I use my immersion blender). Drizzle with olive oil, if you like, and dust with paprika.

**If you're a local, the best source for tahini is the Asian market (called "Asia") on Yeager catty-corner from the BP. The tahini is downstairs on the wall opposite all the vegetables. It's a tasty variety and quite inexpensive.

Dad's granola

Finding a few canisters of this delicious granola sitting in the pantry always makes Neil declare that I'm the best wife ever (thanks to my dad, who originated the recipe!)

Ingredients:

Granola base
1 canister rolled oats
1 1/2 c. sugar
6-8 eggs
2 t. each cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
cooking oil to moisten (about 1/2 c.)

Other good stuff
Raisins, dates, sweetened flaked coconut, chopped nuts, Rice Krispies, corn flakes, bran flakes

Mix everything in the "granola base" section but oats together, then add mixture to oats and mix thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 and spread mixture onto baking sheets (I use two). Bake for 20 minutes, stir, then bake another 10 minutes until browned (depending on your oven and preferences, you may want to bake it another 5-10 minutes). Note: you are NOT cooking the "other good stuff."

When the oats have finished cooking, add raisins, dates, sweetened flaked coconut, nuts, rice krispies, bran flakes, etc. to stretch out the granola mixture. I generally add enough of these so that I end up with about 2 and a half canisters of granola (with 1 canister of that being the original oats--so you're adding another 2 and a half canisters' worth).

Making this is also a good excuse to buy really huge bowls if you don't already own some. Check with restaurant supply stores for inexpensive yet tough stainless bowls--Neil picked up mine at a supply store in Salt Lake and I love them dearly (also excellent for popcorn!!) This particular bowl holds all 2.5 canisters worth.

Chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins

These muffins are one of my very favorite "signs of fall." The recipe is my mom's; if you don't know her personally, rest assured that she is a fantastic cook. She does cool things like persuade ethnic grocers to give her cooking lessons; then we all reap the benefits (not that these are ethnic grocery muffins, but you get the idea). The point is, while I usually only post recipes here that I've made up or adjusted, these muffins are just dandy the way they are.

So here you go.

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. oil (I substitute applesauce)

2 eggs

3/4 c. canned pumpkin (about half of a 15-oz can, although I generally use leftover sugar pumpkin puree)

1/4 c. water

1 1/2 c. flour (I do 100% whole-wheat but you could substitute in white flour for part)

3/4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Combine wet ingredients, then add dry, then add chocolate chips. If you care about perfect;y rounded muffin tops, don't overmix; I prefer knowing that everything is well mixed, and (as you can see in the picture), I really don't care about peaked muffins. Except that one time when I was seven or eight and I had to make about four batches of muffins for the state fair in order to get twelve that were perfectly rounded. I think that's why peaks are fine with me now.

Spoon into muffin tins (I just grease the muffin tins and don't bother with wrappers, since I don't want to lose any goodness that's stuck on a wrapper) and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.

Whipped sweet potatoes

Oooh, I just LOVE sweet potatoes. They're so redolent of the holidays! But I hate them with marshmallows on top, because I want to feel justified in eating them all the time (plus I really only like marshmallows in s'mores).

The recipe below is one I found in MS Living. I usually make it without the cream and with about 1/3 stick of butter rather than half a stick, and I add a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg. Sometimes I just leave out the butter entirely. I also usually don't do the apple topping (because I like it to be a make-ahead thing that doesn't need attention while it's cooking). In the past I've cooked it without a topping entirely, or with a little bit of brown sugar sprinkled under flaked coconut, or with brown sugar underneath very thin sliced rings of apple. All are equally delicious. Whatever you do, just don't leave out the ginger--that's what elevates this to something really tasty and a little bit surprising (in a good way).

Anyway, here you go!

Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Carmelized Apples
from November 2006 Martha Stewart Living. Serves 6.

4 large sweet potatoes (yams), pierced with the tines of a fork
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 T. heavy cream
1/2 c. applesauce, preferably homemade
2 t. grated fresh peeled ginger
1 t. coarse salt freshly ground pepper

2 apples (1 lb) peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 T. sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375. Arrange potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment (I use tin foil, but make sure you do this so you avoid sticky goo all over the oven).Bake until tender, 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand until cool enough to handle.

2) Cut each potato lengthwise. Scoop flesh into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; discard skins. Add 2 T. butter and the cream; mix on medium speed until smooth. Mix in applesauce and ginger, season with salt and pepper.

3) Transfer potato mixture to an oven-proof dish. Bake until heated through, about 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, toss apples with sugar in a bowl. Melt remaining 2 T. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are golden and carmelized, about 10 minutes. (I ended up adding about 2 t. brown sugar while the apples were cooking.)

5) Remove potato mixture from oven, top with carmelized apples, and serve.

Fresh strawberry pie

No time for witty comments; all you need to know is that this is quite possibly the best pie I've ever had in my life. I love the fact that the berries are unbaked, so they're still at that ecstatically fresh peak of heavenly taste.

Fresh Strawberry Pie
Baked pie crust
1 1/2 quarts strawberries
1 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. water
3 oz. cream cheese, softened

Prepare pie crust and bake as directed. Mash enough strawberries to measure 1 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan, gradually stir in water and mashed berries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute; cool.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Spread in pie shell, and fill shell with remaining berries (slice them prior to filling the shell). Pour cooked strawberry mixture over top. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until set (refrigerate any remaining pie).

Marie, the baguettes! (name that movie)

I don't know anyone who doesn't love baguettes (and if you don't, just be quiet about it). Honestly, that crisp crackly crust and meltingly soft insides--especially if you have some nice sharp cheese to go with it...just doesn't get any better than that. Plus there's only four ingredients, and there's something very magical about that. Flour, salt, yeast, and water. Alchemy, I tell you.

I've tried a number of baguette recipes, and this one (my own hodge-podge between Julia Child and Williams-Sonoma Breads) is a winner. You can have fresh baguettes in about 2 hours with a minimum of steps (and let me tell you, it takes all day to make it the way Julia describes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, although she cut it down considerably in subsequent years. Trust me, I've done it all). Although I recommend MTAOFC's description of how to fold and roll the dough (more on that later).

In theory, you should have baguette pans. But if you don't--like me--it works just fine. So I'm giving non-baguette pan instructions, which also means you don't have towels getting floury. Oh, and we're not going to hang them in floured sacks either. Or even use a rolling pin! And I'm assuming you're using an electric stand mixer (like a KitchenAid, and if you don't have one, it's worth the money. And I'm not just saying that because Neil interned there--although he did build ours himself on an intern field trip. Cool, eh?)

And yes, I know this is long, but Julia Child takes like 25 pages to explain it (I'm not exaggerating) so I think you're getting off easy, okay?

Ingredients (for four loaves. Can easily be cut in half)

5-5 1/2 c. flour

2 t. salt

2 1/4 t. quick-rise yeast

2 c. lukewarm water (110 F)
cornmeal

1 egg white beaten with pinch of salt, for glaze

In the mixer bowl, combine four cups of the flour with the salt, yeast, and water. Stir until blended, and allow dough to knead in the mixer for about ten minutes. Add flour as needed so that the end dough is elastic and doesn't stick to the sides, although it will still be soft.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for one minute. Form into a ball, and transfer into a clean (I use Pyrex so it doesn't flavor the dough) bowl. At this stage, I also lightly grease the bowl so the dough doesn't adhere. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled (45-60 minutes).

Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and knead briefly (about 30 seconds). Return to bowl for second rise, 20-30 minutes (until doubled). Cover again with plastic wrap.

Punch dough down and divide into equal parts (4 for the whole recipe, 2 if you halved it). Roll into balls and let rest for five minutes. Grease a nonstick cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.

On your floured surface, take each ball of dough and flatten it into a rectangle. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Fold into thirds like a letter, and begin rolling the dough into a long rope about 16 inches long. Okay, now here's where Julia Child really comes in! Most cookbooks will just rope the dough at this stage, but I like to work it a bit more to really get some good gluten and bubble action going. In fact, as you flatten the dough you should be hearing teeny bubbles pop. In any case, as I am rolling the dough into a rope, I find that it tends to flatten out. This is good! Simply pinch up the sides, folding it over back into a rope. Continually flattening and then smashing back into a rope incorporates air back into the dough, which is really important for the formation of a light, airy interior. I find that as I am transitioning the dough from the "letter" to the "rope" I fold and smash about 3 times.

Once the dough is in a 16-inch snake, place it on the cookie sheet. Allow to rise for about 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 450 F. When the oven is preheated, take your sharpest knife and make three 1/4 inch deep diagonal cuts on the top of the bread, allowing the dough to puff out from its gluten cloak as it bakes.

At this point, WS says to put a pan of boiling water on the floor of the preheated oven under the bread. This sounds dangerous to me, since I can imagine myself spilling boiling water everywhere, so I go with a modified Julia Child approach--I put the baguettes in, then quickly throw 1/4 c. of steaming water into the bottom of the oven, then slam the door shut. LEAVE THE DOOR SHUT while the bread bakes for about 20 minutes.

And then enjoy.

I'm going back to the kitchen. There's a baguette waiting for me. And some cheese. And grapes.