Curried Cauliflower [with raisins]

From the Washington Post

Ingredients:

• 1 head (2 pounds) cauliflower (green leaves and stem removed), cut into 2- to 3-inch florets
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
• About 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely diced (1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons sweet curry powder, or more to taste
• 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the cauliflower florets in a large, shallow roasting pan. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt and toss to combine. Arrange the florets in a single layer; it's okay if the fit is snug. Add 1/4 cup of the water. Roast for 25 to 35 minutes (start checking after 20 minutes), until the florets are just tender and lightly browned.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the curry-onion mixture: Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Let the raisins soak for 10 minutes.
4. Use the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to lightly coat a medium skillet; place over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens.
5. Add the curry powder, 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Stir to combine, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Drain the raisins (discarding the liquid) and add to the skillet, along with the sugar and half of the remaining water (2 tablespoons). Stir to combine, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, adding the remaining 2 tablespoons of water if the mixture seems dry; it should be moist but not wet. Taste and add salt and/or butter if desired.
7. Toss the roasted cauliflower with the curry-onion mixture. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Transfer to a shallow serving dish and let sit for 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS:
Despite having a large spice container of curry, I haven't cooked with it much so I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get. Basically, this was awesome, and still awesome the next day for leftovers. Naturally, I left out the raisins, because raisins are disgusting. Also, after an initial attempt at roasting the cauliflower, I got impatient and just threw it in the saute pan with the curry and onions and butter and put a lid on that. The cauliflower steamed/sauteed pretty quickly then. Ideas to make it even better: lentils? chicken? Note to self: cook with curry more often.

more to-dos

These sounded amazing, comforting, and intriguingly useful to me, respectively.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/breakfast/recipe-baked-pumpkin-steel-cut-oatmeal-159872
http://leitesculinaria.com/46284/recipes-chickpea-soup.html
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/easy/recipe-poor-mans-parmesan-010184

Apple matrix

I was a little worried that all the free apples I've been getting from co-workers and from Tiffany and her dad's "hobby" orchard would endanger my marriage. Chris has been beyond patient with the pounds and pounds of apples that I've turned into quarts and quarts of apple sauce, butter, and pie filling. However, since he brought home a good-sized bags of apples courtesy of his chair earlier this week, I'm a little less worried about it. Regardless, we still have to figure out how to eat them, and I've already got more applesauce saved up for the transition to solid foods than any baby could possibly eat, and I think my freezer is holding more apple butter than I've eaten in my entire life put together.

If you have free apples coming out your ears like we do (LOVING living in northern Wisconsin... never in my life have I gotten so many free apples, tomatoes, and strawberries, which also happen to be my all-time most favorite produces), then you'll join me in thanks to Mark Bittman for an apple matrix. For lunch today I made the apple and brussels sprouts. Pretty easy, although I missed the delicious golden crust that sauteed brussels sprouts get. Next time I think I'll put those in first, cook for a bit with the lid off, then throw the apples and the rest in. I also tossed in some fresh cranberries for good measure, which I think was really worth it.

Next time: Apples and poppyseeds... :)

Crock pot apple butter

• 5 1/2 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped (or, leave the peel on if you're going to be using a blender at the end, not a whisk, to smooth it out. I used a food processor grater to finely chop them)
• 2-4 cups sugar
• 2 -3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt in the slow cooker. Mix.
2. Place in crock pot, cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Stir every so often to mix in the sugar and spices.
3. Decrease heat to low; cover and cook on low for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown. Stir occasionally.
4. Uncover and cook on low for 1 hour longer.
5. Whisk until smooth, or use an immersion blender if you left the peels on.
6. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch head space.
7. Cover and freeze.

RESULTS:

This is from http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-apple-butter-93886. I changed the original recipe a lot based on the comments, and I agree with them that the taste of the apples should determine how much sugar you use. I used milder apples, and I probably put in about 3 cups of sugar. I might add more before I put it into jars, I haven't decided yet. (I'm making a second batch with some other apples, and I'm going to combine the two and see what I think then.) Some people processed their jars in a boiling water canner, but I'm not willing to do that without an expert telling me exactly how long it should be processed.  The big oops that I did was to add some allspice, thinking that would be awesome. It's not bad, but I wish I hadn't added it. You can always add more spices after it's finished it you want.

Baked Oatmeal

Kathleen found this recipe on the Fooducate Blog.

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashion oats
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wet ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sliced fruit
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, or sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray nonstick spray on a 8×8 baking dish (or equivalent). Mix dry ingredients and then mix in wet ingredients. Spoon into pan and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake for another 25 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy hot, cold, or room temperature. If well covered, this will keep in the fridge for one week.

RESULTS: This was a really nice Sunday breakfast, and the leftovers will make a great second breakfast for the rest of the week (infinitely better than the dried-out muffins that show up at work). I used a couple of the amazing apples Tiff gave me from her dad's orchard. I cooked it exactly to the instructions, and I think I could have left it in there a little longer after taking the foil off to get a nice golden crust (my oven seems to run a little cool, though). I drizzled just a little syrup over the top of my piece, because that's how I roll, but it really didn't need the extra sweetness. When Kathleen made it, she thought it was a a bit dry, but she used dried blueberries and coconut as the fruit, which I think would suck up a fair amount of moisture. So maybe if you want to use dried fruit, either let them soak for a while to plump up or add more liquid.

Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar

From Smitten Kitchen. If you saw this recipe before now, could there have been any doubt that I'd make it?

Serves 4 (though closer to 6 if served in mugs)

Soup

• 3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried crushed red pepper
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Lid

• 4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
• 1 tablespoon grated raw onion
• 1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste)

Make soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (I used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

Create cheddar lid: Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Stir grated onion into the warm soup. (I love this last-minute suggestion of onion.) Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. If you’d like it even more bronzed on top, preheat your broiler and finish soups for a minute or two under it. Serve immediately.

Do ahead: Soup can be prepared one day ahead, and kept covered in the fridge. Rewarm before serving, or before finishing with cheddar crouton.

RESULTS: Um, amazing. Even Chris, who is not a soup guy, offered his highest praise: "This is pretty good, sweetheart." I left out the grated onions and subbed onion powder. Cheese: sharp cheddar. Bread: Ry sourdough. The toms took a lot longer to roast, possibly because I doubled the recipe so there was more moisture in the oven. Anyway, it might not happen in exactly 1 hour so leave yourself time. Also, don't go overboard with salting the toms before roasting, especially if you're using a full-sodium broth. I think I used too much (although that might be why Chris liked it). Bethie asked if it would be good with meat, and Chris had actually said it would be perfect if there was some bacon in it. So again, adjust salt accordingly (but don't leave it off altogether on the toms pre-roasting, I think you need some to help with the roasting process). Also, ground beef or shredded chicken might work well.

My one complaint, and it's not really a complaint and more of a caution: I doubled the recipe thinking I'd get a lot of leftovers to freeze in our new chest freezer and use when things are more hectic this winter. I did get extras, but I think I only got about 6 servings from doubling the recipe.

Multi-tasking

Things I made while working from home today (and yes, smarty pants, I did actually get work done. A lot of it!):

• slow cooker white chili
• 2+ quarts applesauce
• 1 roasted butternut squash
• 1 roasted acorn squash
• roasted beets
• pasta with sauteed mushrooms, thyme, and oregano in a white wine, butter, and smoked paprika sauce (after Chris got his serving, I added sage and some of the roasted acorn squash to that)

Things I learned:

•  it is in fact not easier to peel beets after they've been cooked. Well, maybe if you do it right it is. Somehow I didn't do it right
• it is possible to over-roast squash, but as it's going to become a soup this weekend I hope it'll be ok.
• A little sage goes a long way