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More cheap, healthy, easy things to cook

Inspired by Jane, I thought I would add more cheap, healthy, easy things to cook. At least they are cheaper and healthier than most restaurant food.

Full disclaimer: Much of my cooking comes from Best Recipes and Think Like a Chef. Over time I've found myself focusing more on technique and much less on recipe or ingredients, and these two books focus on technique.

1) Pan Searing
I'll use burgers (cheap) as an example, but steak (not cheap), duck breast (not cheap), lamb chops (not cheap) also sear up a treat.

Get fatty ground chuck (30%). Mix with lots of kosher salt and pepper. Work into patties, with big dimples in the middle (otherwise they become spherical).

Heat a cast iron pan until it's quite hot. Put patties on pan (do no crowd). This will release a lot of smoke, so if you're doing it indoors turn off the smoke detectors.

Let the patties cook 80%-90% on one side. Do not mess with them while they cook, you want a powerful sear. If they start blackening, turn off the heat and hope for the best. Once they are done on one side flip and brown the other side (here you are just browning the outside, so it should not take long).

Serve with ketchup and raw onion.

Freeze any extra raw patties.

2) Roast any meat
This works very well with chicken, fish, and any meat you want to pan roast. You really do need an anodized pan through (like the ones Calphalon makes). If you use chicken, buy kosher chicken. It comes pre-brined and that makes a difference.

Take your meat and liberally sprinkle it with salt and pepper on both sides.

Heat up your pan with extra virgin olive oil.

Put meat in pan, pretty side down.

Leave it *alone* so it develops a nice crust. Reduce heat so it sizzles but does not spatter. If you have trouble controlling the heat on the stove top, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and finish the dish in that by putting the whole pan in.

Cook it 80%-90% on one slide, then flip it and finish it on the other side.

That's it. This also works really well with duck legs btw. which essentially confit in their own skins. Duck breasts work better using the searing method (above).

Serve pretty side up.

3) Roast any vegetable
I've had good luck doing this with zucchini, carrot, mushroom, etc. If you try this with potatoe, use high starch potato (like Russet) and make sure your oil is good and hot first.

Cut vegetable up into appropriately sized slices/chunks. Toss with olive oil and lots of kosher salt and black pepper.

Preheat over to ~300-400 degree.

Heat heavy pan on stove. Put all vegetables in pan (making sure they do not crowd). Put entire pan in oven.

Wait for ~15-20 mins and see if they are browning nicely on one side. If they are, let them fully brown before flipping them over. If they aren't give them some time.

The goal here is essentially to dehydrate the vegetables and caramelize the outside at the same time. They should be markedly smaller and browner when they come out, with crispy outside and molten insides. They should not be burnt.

All of these "recipes" are very simple in that they don't involve much beyond the ingredient, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper. You also don't need to fuss with them much once they are going (in fact, fussing with them reduces your crust, and therefore makes them worse). You do need to keep an eye on them though and develop a sense for when things are ready. But I've found them to be easy, quick, and tasty.

Ten incredibly cheap, healthy and easy things you can cook for yourself

So what sort of things are cheap, easy, and delicious? Very few, I'm afraid. But here are some I've found:

1) Fruit compote (delicious, healthy, and filling as a dessert or breakfast with lowfat yogurt and granola)

1 bag frozen raspberries
3 bags mixed berries (or 3 bags of whatever berries you like)

Put frozen raspberries in small saucepan on stove with 3 tablespoons apple juice or water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for one minute, then add 1/3 cup of Splenda. Stir to combine.

Empty other three bags of berries into a large bowl. Pour raspberry mixture over them, and allow to cool. (Heat from raspberry sauce will thaw them) Put a couple large spoonfuls over yogurt (I make my own for a fraction of the cost of storebought) and sprinkle with 1/4 cup granola.

2) Almost-homemade chicken soup

Super-thrifty way: Take picked-over carcass of roasted chicken. Place it in a stock pot and cover with 2/3 fat-free chicken broth, 1/3 water. Toss in a bay leaf, chopped onion and celery, 1/4 tsp sage or poultry seasoning, and a cup of wine. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to low and simmer for 2 hours. Strain.

Less thrifty way: Just use chicken broth from a can/box. Pour it into the stock pot to give 3-5 inches cover of the chicken breasts.

Take two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (bought on special,naturally) and cook in the chicken broth over medium heat until chicken breasts are white all the way through, 15-30 minutes depending on your stove. Remove breasts from chicken broth and strain broth again to get rid of scum.

Add two or three stalks of celery, minced, a bag of baby carrots cut in half, a box of mushrooms cut into quarters, and any other vegetables you fancy, except peas (they'll get soggy). Cook until the carrots are tender. Now toss in half a box of frozen baby peas and noodles or alphabets, if you like. Cook for five minutes, until pasta is barely tender. Cut up the chicken and add it back in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve. Not as good as recipes that start with a whole chicken, but much better than canned, and it only takes half an hour.

This basic principle can be extended to all sorts of soup; if you like Chicken Tortilla soup, add some tomatoes and hot peppers and bake some cut up tortillas at 400 degrees until they're crispy. If you like creamy soup, add cream. If you're on a diet, and want creamy soup, take out the chicken and the vegetables and throw a cup of rice in the soup. Simmer for 45 minutes, then puree the resulting mixture. Looks just like cream of chicken soup.

3) Scrambled tofu stir fry

Non vegetarians groan at this. Tofu? Gross. It's not the flavour, they explain; it's the consistency.

Okay, so here's how you get around that and eat your cheap, healthful tofu.

First, cook some rice, of course.

For two people, take 1/3-1/2 container of firm tofu and mince it into little pieces. I recommend using one of these hand choppers, which are really cheap and useful enough to make them a must-have for any cook.

Now take a bag of mixed vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Add some chopped onions and mushrooms, and if you can get them, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and/or water chestnuts. (one of the things I miss about London is that they sell stir-fry vegetables in handy pre-packed bags in many supermakets there).

Use a bottle of your favourite stir-fry sauce from the supermarket, or make your own; I like to use a mixture of dry sherry, garlic, minced ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a tablespoon or so of peanut oil. You can mix up a bunch in advance, and use it several days running, but it's probably best to start with the store-bought stuff.

Take one or two tablespoons of peanut oil and heat it on the stove over high heat for several minutes. (A wok is great, but I stirfry in a regular frying pan. Just make sure it has decently high sides). When the oil is really hot, throw your vegetables into the pan and stir them around for three minutes while they cook. At the three minute mark, throw in all that chopped tofu. At the five minute mark, throw on your stir-fry sauce until you have the level of sauciness you like; I tend to err on the dry side, since sauce adds fat and calories (and I like the flavour of broccoli) but it's your call.

Cook for a minute, and then take off the heat and serve with rice.

I wouldn't serve this at a dinner party--it doesnt really look that appetizing--but then, neither does tuna noodle casserole, and we all like that. It's very healthy, it's cheap, it takes under ten minutes to prepare (twenty, including making the rice and your own stir-fry sauce) and you'll never know the tofu is there.

4) Scrambled eggs.

Everyone thinks they know how to make scrambled eggs. But to make really good, creamy scrambled eggs, you need two things: lot's of milk, and very low heat. I mean, put the burner on simmer.

For one averagely hungry person, use two eggs and 1/4 cup of milk. (If you use lowfat or nonfat milk, add a tablespoon or so of lowfat milk powder to the milk to beef it up. Don't worry-I guarantee that you won't taste it.) Beat that up well in a bowl, and put a frying pan over the lowest heat your burner will do. Spray the pan well with cooking spray, and pour the eggs in. Then let it sit. It will probably be about five minutes before the eggs even look like they're cooking. That's okay. Patience, grasshopper. Just stir it around every few minutes to scrape up the cooked bits and let the raw egg run into their place. Towards the end, you'll have to stir more frequently, but don't manhandle the eggs--only move them when the bit touching the pan is clearly cooked.

This is not super-quick; it probably takes twenty minutes to cook a pan full of eggs. But it's pretty low-work, and they're really lovely, creamy, fluffy and moist. And it really doesn't get much cheaper than $3.00 for six people.

5) Fish in foil

Expensive restaurants do it in parchment paper, but foil works nearly as well, and it's cheaper.

Take a cut of white fish, such as Orange Roughy, Sole, Flounder, or whatever you find on special this week. Divide into portions. Don't ask me "how big"?--don't you know how much you eat? But generally, about 6-8 ounces.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

For each portion, make a piece of foil big enough to completely cover the fish, with room to spare, when folded in half. Brush the inside of the foil well with olive oil. (If you like garlic, I recommend crushing a clove of garlic into the oil before you do so). Place the fish onto the foil with a slice of lemon and a sprig of whatever fresh herb you fancy; tarragon, thyme, and rosemary are all especially nice. Then fold the foil over the fish, and fold the edges over each other until the packet is sealed shut. Cook on a cookie sheet for about ten minutes. You'll get delicate, herb-infused fish steamed gently in their own juices. They're very nice on their own, or with a quick sauce, such as one made by melting a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter together then adding a cup of white wine and the juice of one lemon and cooking until slightly thickened.

6) Easy lentil rice

Take one box of Near East Lentil Pilaf mix. Cook according to the directions, except that when you add the rice, you also add a half a box of mushrooms, sliced or cut in quarters, 1/4 cup chopped onions, one extra tablespoon of butter, and A LOT of fresh ground black pepper. It's a lovely side dish, but it also makes a healthful, vegetarian main dish, at only about $2.00 a servince. Lovely with a big salad and some hummus and pita.

7) Really good vegetarian lentil soup

Most lentil soup tastes like dirt, especially if it's made without meat. The secret, I've found, is to add half a small jar of those roasted red Italian peppers.

So melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter in a soup pot and saute 1 chopped small onion, 1/2 a jar of roasted italian peppers (chopped), 2/3 cup of chopped carrot and 3 minced stalks of celery until the onion is translucent. Add a bag of lentils, a bay leaf, and some fresh ground black pepper, and cover with water or vegetable broth--or, if you like it tomato-ey, with water mixed with one can of chopped plum tomatoes (unseasoned). Cook over medium heat until the lentils are tender, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

8) Turkey sloppy joes

Take one can of Manwich sauce and cook according to the directions, except use ground turkey instead of ground beef.

You can also make turkey soft tacos this way, using El Paso or McCormick taco seasoning (no, really, it's actually pretty good), but if you do, I recommend using two packets; ground turkey has no flavour of its own, so it really needs a lot of seasoning.

9) Pea soup

Not split pea soup; regular pea soup. It's very springy.

Saute 3/4 cup of chopped onion in a tablespoon of butter for five minutes. Add a large bag of frozen peas, and 2 1/2 c chicken broth, and simmer for five minutes, or until peas are tender. Puree in a blender, then add 1/3 cup buttermilk (contrary to the name it's low fat) and salt and pepper to taste. Heat and serve, swirling a little more buttermilk in.

10) Barbecue chicken

Okay, this isn't quick. But it's cheap and good.

Take a cut up whole chicken, or just breasts, or just legs, depending on how much you want to spend. Soak in 5 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt overnight in the fridge. The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and put the chicken parts on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Brush with barbecue sauce on both sides then bake, skin side up, brushing with barbecue sauce and the pan juices every twenty minutes. It'll take a little over two hours, but the skin will be richly infused with barbecue flavour, and there's very little actual work involved.

Update

Where have you been, Jane? I hear you cry. Answer: I have been to visit my grandmother, who has no internet connection, in a location so remote that one cannot even steal wireless access from the neighbours. Moreover, the town library, which was the only game in town, internet-wise, seems to have decided that janegalt.net is a site too dangerous to risk it being viewed by the dewy eyes of the town's precious minors. I couldn't get email, the site, or the Moveable Type interface to post. Thus, the media blackout.

Actually, it was quite enjoyable to be internet-free. It has prevented me from having to have an opinion on Democratic senatorial antics, Scalito, or the burning question of whether Scooter Libby should get sent up the river for committing perjury about a crime that they apparently can't prove he committed, or isn't a crime, or something like that. If a politician lies in the forest, and nobody hears it, is he still a waste of a good law degree?

(Okay, if you have to know: duh! Perjury is a real, live crime, and if the legislators had wanted to write the law to read ". . . except for if the thing they're lying about is later determined not to have actually been a crime, or something", they were perfectly capable of doing so. If we let witnesses to decide what they have to tell the truth about, this whole justice system thingy is going to get pretty messed up. Do I really have to explain this to the Party of Law and Order?

And yes, Democrats, that means exactly what you think it means, and furthermore, y'all did so think that sexual harassment was a real live crime right up to the minute Bill Clinton was accused of it. And while I may agree that people shouldn't have to testify about their private lives thusly, it is my impression that Bill Clinton is the guy who signed the bill into law that said you have to testify about stuff like that in sexual harassment cases, which means that in my opinion he is the one guy in the world who downright deserved to have prosecutors cross-examining him on what he liked to do in the Presidential Coat Closet during his spare moments. 'Kay?)

I walked in the woods with my dog, chatted with my grandmother, and baked my little heart out. Here's one of my particular favourite family recipes, on which I munched throughout the car ride home:

Crisp Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (old fashioned; not quick or instant)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Cream the butter and sugars together. Beat in egg. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda, and add to mixture. Stir in nuts and coconut. Stir in oats. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

These are the rare cookies that improve with age; they just get crispier and more delicious every day. Hope y'all enjoy.

Recipe of the Day: Blueberry Buckle

With New Jersey blueberries selling for 99 cents at my local A&P, I've been making Blueberry Buckle, aka coffee cake with blueberries in it. This is one of the easiest things in the world to make, and ever so good.

Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit

For cake:

Mix together until smooth and creamy:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

Stir in 1/2 cup milk

Sift together and add:

2 cups sifted¹ flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir in 2 cups washed blueberries (usually about one box) that have been picked over to remove unripe berries and stems

Put into a 9x9 greased square pan

Topping:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinammon
1/3 cup flour

Mash it all together until it's a uniform consistency, and sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake 45-55 minutes.

Best Pancake Recipe Ever

From Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook:

Several hours/night before: Soften 3 tablespoons (a little less than half a stick) of unsalted butter¹

Start by separating 3 eggs (you can use something like this if you don't know how to separate eggs by passing the yolk back and forth between the two half shells. I have a little plastic one that cost $2 or so, which I bought at a kitchen store.)

In a mixing bowl, beat the yolks with a hand mixer or whisk.

Add 1 2/3 cup of buttermilk and 1 tsp baking soda

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, begin beating the egg whites until they are stiff and glossy

Sift together:

1 1/2 cups sifted² all purpose (not self-rising) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Add sifted dry ingredients to the liquid.

Check your eggs. If they're stiff and glossy, and a scoop stays on the spoon even when it's tilted vertical, they're done. Be careful not to overbeat, as they'll separate.

Don't add the egg whites yet. Instead, beat in the softened butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Once all these ingredients have been harmoniously blended, you gently fold in your egg whites. Folding means you don't stir; you ever so delicately bring liquid from the bottom of the bowl and pull it over the egg whites, repeating until the egg whites have blended with the rest. The object is to keep the air beaten into the egg whites where it belongs: in your batter, making it light and fluffy. Air is something of an escape artist, but as long as you're gentle, you should be fine. (Even if you're not gentle, the pancakes will taste fine; they just won't be as fluffy.

Cook the way you would normally cook pancakes, but be aware that the batter is very thick, and the pancakes will surprise you with their height. Don't worry about this. The inside is light and fluffy, and soaks up an amazing amount of syrup. For best results, use a stainless steel or aluminum pan, which may require you fry them in butter, but will give you a crisper exterior than you can get with nonstick.

1. If you don't have unsalted butter, you may use salted butter, and omit the salt later in the recipe

2. i.e. you sift a couple of cups of flour, and then scoop 1 1/2 cups of flour into the sifter to sift together with the other dry ingredients

Recipeblogging: Microwave broccoli

If, like me, you have macular degeneration running in the family, you should be eating certain vegetables at least 3-4 times a week in order to make sure you get lutein (it also comes in vitamin supplements, but your body absorbs vitamins better from food than pills). Broccoli and spinach are especially lutein rich. Unfortunately, I hate spinach. But luckily, I like broccoli.

You could too, if you prepared it right. Most broccoli is cooked horribly -- the life sucked out of it by oversteaming. But it's incredibly easy, and tasty, to prepare right in your microwave. It's loaded with fibre, has practically no calories, and fills you full of rich, vitamin-y goodness every time you take a bite.

To make broccoli in the microwave, you just need

* a covered (non-metallic) dish (you can use a non-covered dish and saran wrap, but if you do, be very careful to wear oven-gloves when taking off the saran wrap, or you can easily burn yourself with the steam)

*a lemon

*a head of broccoli

*a little water, perhaps 1/4 cup.

Wash your broccoli, and cut the bottom off, not so much that the whole thing falls apart, but enough to get rid of the tougest, fibrous part. (Don't worry, this isn't precision surgery; it doesn't really matter if you cut off too much or too little.)

Put broccoli and water in dish. Cut lemon in half and squeeze over broccoli. Cover dish and microwave on high, for 5-7 minutes. Test done-ness by taking a bite.

When the broccoli is cooked, you can add butter and.or salt and pepper if you like. That's all there is too it. Extremely delicious and nutritious.

Recipe of the day

Want the biggest, baddest chocolate cake you ever had? Try this Devil's Food recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans; line with parchment rounds, if you have them (available at cook's shops; they prevent sticking).

Sift together:
2 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 coarse kosher
3/8 tsp baking soda

Stir together:

3/4 c. whole milk
3/4 c. whole milk yogurt

Beat together in a mixer five minutes:

2 1/4 cup light brown (aka golden brown) sugar
1 1/8 cup unsalted butter, softened

Meanwhile, melt in a double boiler (a smaller saucepan set inside a bigger saucepan filled with boiling water):

6 oz bittersweet chocolate

Beat into egg-and-sugar mixture:

6 large eggs
1 tablespoon Chocolate Extract (optional, but if you like chocolate, you should really consider ordering it. A teaspoon or so takes your chocolate baked goods to the next level)

Alternately beat in, one-third at a time, the flour and milk/yogurt mixtures, starting with the flour.

Pour into pans and bake until a tester comes out clean.

Frost with following recipe, which is thick and fudgelike.

Bring to a boil in a saucepand:

2 1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c heavy cream

Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and add:

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, sliced
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir until smooth. Let cool until room temperature, stirring occasionally. Chill, stirring frequently, until it's thick enough to spread. Frost cake and keep in refrigerator until time to serve.

Eat cheap

I talk the talk about eating cheap, but would I really want to live that way, demand several interlocutors.

My darlings, I am a journalist with MBA-sized student loans. Would I want to live that way? I do. Oh, I entertain more than someone poor could afford to, and I have several habits, such as diet ginger ale and berry-yogurt-compotes, that are not in the USDA's thrifty food plan. But I invite you to peruse today's menu:

Breakfast:

1 packet instant oatmeal
Banana

Lunch:

Microwave rice and peas*
Apple

Snack:

Honey-nut cheerios

Dinner:

Not sure yet. Chicken soup, maybe, made from scratch and stuck in my freezer, or homemade chili treated the same way.

So far today I've spent something under $2.00 on food, and I'm cooking for one -- no economies of scale. I'm not saying that my diet is what I'd choose if I were on an unlimited budget, but I eat pretty well, and I'm definitely not obese.

Not that I'm pretending that this gives me the same sort of life experience as someone on welfare. For one thing, I am often generously fed by parents, various professional events, and friends. For another, I'm choosing to eat that way; I have the money to buy more expensive food, but I choose to eat thriftily because it gives me pleasure, and because it allows me to save money for things I'd rather have. I'm not choosing between rent and puffed rice.

But I don't think it's some kind of horrendous burden to eat chicken stir-fry or macaroni and cheese or lentil rice instead of a steak. And those who are in tight financial circumstances, if you haven't tried attacking your food bills systematically, you'd be astonished how much you can perk up your budget by forgoing prepared food in favour of stuff you make at home, and maybe giving up meat a couple of nights a week . . . at least in Manhattan, I can generally cook dinner for everyone for less than it would cost me to cover my own bill at a restaurant night out. [A filet mignon dinner for twelve can be prepared for under $100. No, really -- and over half that expense is for the meat.]

Food is simply not the problem, these days. The poor have a lot of other problems, of course, but that's a post for another day . . .

*Microwave rice and peas

Make 1 cup rice according to the microwave instructions on the box, adding 1 tbsp butter, and salt and pepper to taste

Ten minutes before the rice is done cooking, add 1 box store-brand frozen peas

When the rice and peas are done cooking, add butter and Parmesan or Romano cheese to taste. Stir and serve.

Makes four servings of 250 calories, loaded with protein and fiber, and well under your fat RDA! Plus it comes in at a trim 65 cents a serving, even buying small sizes at the chi-chi grocery near my office.

Recipeblogging: Berry custard pie

Right now I'm getting ready to make Cranberry Bread for Christmas. But here's another great recipe I just discovered. It's so good, and easy, and Christmassy, that I thought I'd pass it along to anyone scrounging for a great dessert:

Unbaked pie shell
4 cups frozen berries (you buy them in a bag in the freezer section. I used mixed berries, but raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries would all be delicious)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 400. Mix the cream, sugar, cinnamon, and flour together. Put the berries in the pie crust and poor the cream mixture over them. Bake until the filling sets (when you shake the pie crust lightly, the filling sways gently together, rather than being liquid), about 35-45 minutes.

Mom's Pumpkin Pie

I can't tell you how different homemade pumpkin pie is from the awful stuff that gets served in restaurants and bakeries. I wouldn't use the latter for anything but emergency spackle, or checking erosion in a gully. My mother's pumpkin pie on the other hand, is sublime. And easy!

1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all of the above and add 1 1/2 c pumpkin (one "one pie" can)

Mix in 1 beaten egg and a cup of milk

Put in an unbaked pie shell and bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 until done, about 1 hour, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Home for the holidays

So now is the time of year when I tell you what to do.

Nicely, of course. But firmly. After all, if you knew what was good for you, would you need to read this blog?

No, just kidding. I'm setting you up for a little recipe blogging, that's all.

First of all, if you haven't thought about making the Cranberry Bread I suggested last year, you really should. I know what you're thinking -- candied fruit? Why don't I just make myself vomit now and save the trouble of baking? But you're wrong. I normally don't like it either, but somehow in this bread, it's divine. This is, like, totally the best cranberry bread ever, and I'll cry if you don't make it.

And if you, like me, like your orange mashed vegetables sans marshmallows, why not try this simple butternut squash recipe:

Butternut Squash

Take two butternut squashes. Cut them into 2-inch slices, then carefully peel the slices with a paring knife and cut each slice into 2-inch pieces. Scrape off the seeds.

Put the pieces in a big stockpot with about 1/4 cup of water in the bottom, and put the pot, covered, over low heat. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender when pierced by a knife. (Tender means you don't really have to push at all to make the knife go through.) Make sure the water doesn't all boil off, as these suckers will scorch quickly.

Mash it with 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter, a tablespoon or so of maple syrup or brown sugar (to taste), and salt and pepper to taste. Can be made several days ahead and reheated on T-Day.

Meanwhile, you do know how to make delicious homemade cranberry sauce, don't you? Because it's just about the easiest thing in the entire world.

Cranberry Sauce

Bring 1 cup of orange juice and one cup of sugar to a boil.

Take a 12-oz bag of cranberries. Rinse the cranberries and pick out the stems.

Put the cranberries in the pan.

Turn the heat down to medium-low

Let it simmer for ten minutes.

Remove from heat. Can be made several days in advance. Looks extremely festive in the cut-glass dish that Aunt Mavis gave you (I think you'll find it's currently gathering dust in the dim recesses of your china cupboard).

And how about luscious garlic mashed potatoes this Thanksgiving? They're terribly easy:

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

1 head of garlic
1 fist-sized potato per person, plus one for the pot. Use boiling potatoes, such as the red ones, or Yukon Golds.
Heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk, depending on your cholesterol tolerance
Salt
Pepper
Butter

Cut 1/2 inch off the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Rub all over with butter or olive oil, and salt and pepper, and wrap it in foil. Toss it in the oven with the turkey for an hour or so, until it's tender when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, peel your potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. (NOTE: Potatoes brown if they're exposed to oxygen, so put them in a bowl of cold water with a tablespoon of salt dissolved in it after you've peeled and sliced them). For utter neophytes, you peel potatoes using a potato peeler -- I'm extremely fond of my Oxo Goodgrips swivel peeler. Peel the potatoes until no brown shows anywhere.

Rinse the potatoes well (you don't want them to be salty) and put them in a pot, covered with cold water. Boil them over medium-high heat until they are tender when pierced with a fork. (Tender, as mentioned above, means that it takes practically no pressure to push the knife through the potato.)

Heat the cream until it's piping hot. Mash potatoes with lashings of cream and butter. (Start with about 1 tablespoon of cream per potato, mash thoroughly, and then add more liquid to taste. Remember, you can always put more in, but you can't take it out.)

For complete neophytes, you mash squash and potatoes with a potato masher. Grab the handle, and smush the potatoes with it until they're a uniform fine consistency.

Later: I give you my family's secret pumpkin pie recipe! Plus, I tell you what to buy for friends and family!

The world's best chili

2 oz dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded (use gloves)
6 large garlic cloves, 3 of them finely chopped
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
4 lb well-marbled beef brisket or boneless chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
48 oz whole tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 lb white onions, chopped (4 cups)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 (12-oz) bottle beer (not dark)
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans, rinsed if canned

Soak ancho chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain well.

While chiles soak, mince 1 whole garlic clove and mash to a paste with 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon cumin, and 1/2 tablespoon chili powder. Pat beef dry and toss with spice mixture in a large bowl until coated.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wide 6- to 7-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown beef in 3 or 4 batches, without crowding, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch (lower heat as needed; spice mixture burns easily). Transfer beef as browned to another bowl. (Do not clean pot.)

Purée anchos in a blender along with tomatoes (including juice), chipotles in adobo, cilantro, remaining 2 whole garlic cloves, and remaining 1/2 tablespoon salt until smooth.

Add enough oil to fat in pot to total 3 tablespoons, then cook onions and chopped garlic over moderate heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits from beef, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add oregano, remaining tablespoon cumin, and remaining tablespoon chili powder and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add chile purée and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes. Stir in beer, water, and beef along with any juices accumulated in bowl and gently simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally and checking often to make sure chili is not scorching, 3-4 hours. (If chili becomes very thick before meat is tender, thin with water as needed.)

Coarsely shred meat (still in pot) with 2 forks and cool chili completely, uncovered, then chill, covered, at least 2 days to allow flavors to develop.

Reheat over low heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until hot, about 30 minutes. Add beans (if using) and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes.

Accompaniments: cubed avocado; chopped white onion; shredded Cheddar; chopped fresh cilantro; sour cream

Mushroom Strudel

2 medium onions, chopped fine
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, chopped fine
2 small red bell peppers, chopped fine
1/3 cup cream sherry (such as Harvey's Bristol Cream)
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, washed, spun dry, and minced
3 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
a 17 1/4-ounce package frozen puff pastry sheets (2 pastry sheets), thawed

In a 12-inch heavy skillet cook onions in butter over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in mushrooms and bell peppers and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mixture begins to brown. This takes aproximately forever, although luckily, it is a low-intensity activity; I churned out a cheesecake and two kinds of canape-stuffing while this was going. Add sherry and cook, stirring, until liquid is evaporated.

In a bowl stir together mushroom mixture, parsley, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste and cool, uncovered.

Preheat oven to 400°F. (NOTE: if you want to make these ahead, simply stick them on a cookie sheet after you've put them together, cover well with foil, and freeze. I froze the ones served at the party for a week, then pulled them out and popped them into the oven at 400°F the evening of the party. They came out fine--not a morsel survived, and several people asked for the recipe.)

On a lightly floured surface roll out 1 pastry sheet into a 14- by 10-inch rectangle. Halve rectangle lengthwise with a long sharp knife and spread about half of mushroom filling on 1 half, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Put remaining pastry half on top of filling. Crimp edges of dough together with fork tines and cut several slits in strudel with a small sharp knife. Carefully transfer with 2 spatulas to a large baking sheet, leaving room for second strudel. Make another one in same manner with remaining pastry sheet and filling.

Put in middle of oven and reduce temperature to 375°F. Bake until golden, about 35 minutes. Pastries may be made 1 day ahead, cooled completely on a rack, and chilled, wrapped in foil. Reheat, uncovered, on a baking sheet in a preheated 375°F. oven until hot, about 6 minutes. With a serrated knife cut into 3/4-inch slices.

Chocolate Pound Cake

This is the best chocolate cake I've ever had. The caveat is that I'm not a chocolate freak, and this isn't the super-fudgy, dark 'n oily concoction that chocolate freaks generally like. But the outside is crispy and the inside has a wonderful texture -- soft and delicate. The chocolate extract gives it a lovely, delicate flavour.

Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup unsweetened
Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream (8 1/2 ounces)
2 1/4 sticks (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon chocolate extract (available at Williams Sonoma)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs

Do not preheat oven. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan, knocking out any excess flour.

Into a small bowl sift together flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt. In another small bowl stir together baking soda and sour cream.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer (preferably a standing electric mixer) beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Beat in extracts and add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately in batches, beating until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and put in middle of cold oven. Set oven to 350°F and bake cake 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes and turn out onto rack to cool completely.

When cake is cool, wrap first in plastic wrap, and then in aluminum foil, and freeze for at least 24 hours. (Cake may be frozen up to 3 months). Let thaw in refrigerator for an additional 24 hours, and at room temperature for at least another two hours, before serving.

Artichoke Bruschetta

This was one of the big "finds" of the party -- even someone who likes neither cheese, nor mayo, nor "green things" said these were "really good." And it pretty much doesn't get easier than this; it also turns out to be delicious for dinner, with a nice salad.

1 6-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained, patted dry, chopped
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 to 6 tablespoons Miracle Whip
16 1/3-inch-thick French bread baguette rounds

Place first 4 ingredients in bowl. Mix in enough mayonnaise to form thick spread.

Preheat broiler. Top bread rounds with spread. Arrange bruschetta on baking sheet. Broil until spread is heated through and begins to brown, about 2 minutes.

New York (style) Eggnog Cheesecake

Those who were at my housewarming on Friday who asked for recipes were told that the entire collection was going up on the website this weekend. That was clearly a lie. But I'll be posting them throughout the week, so that anyone looking to replicate what they were served can.

The first recipe is for the cheesecake:

Ingredients:
1 cup gingersnap crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
5 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. rum
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed just until blended. Blend in sour cream. Stir rum and nutmeg into batter. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg if desired.

Bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

A Day to Remember

I have some natural sympathy for PETA. Not because I'm a vegetarian, incidentally. I'm a vegetarian because it's healthier, and I feel better on the diet, but I have no illusions about what it means to be on the top of the food chain. Nor am I under the impression that if we didn't raise them for food, the cows and chickens would be able to run free in the wild. The native habitat of a domestic animal is a barnyard, and the cows wouldn't make it five feet without someone to milk them and leave hay out in the winter. I'm even less enthralled by the vegans who've told me that death was better than "slavery" for farm animals -- anthropomorphizing is a form of speciesism, you know. This argument is revealing only in that it makes it crystal clear that these animal rights people have never spent time with a cow. They eat, they chew their cud, they excrete. They do not strike out into the wilderness to build representative democracies securing the blessings of liberty to themselves and their descendants. And if they did, those blessings would be -- eating, chewing their cud, excreting. And in many cases, dying younger than they do now of predators and disease.

Nonetheless, I'm somewhat sympathetic to their crusade against horrible animal living conditions. The fact that we eat meat doesn't mean we have to make their short lives miserable, and the fact is that industrial farming practices often mean that the animals spend their entire lives in horrifying conditions. One of the most repulsive cases I did in business school involved the poultry industry, where the extreme crowding induces the birds to fight each other. The solution? Why, cut off their beaks and talons, of course. This makes them vulnerable to disease, impedes their eating, and is extremely painful for the birds. This is a dumb creature, incapable of understanding, that you the consumer are torturing to save a buck a dozen on eggs. That's why I buy nest eggs instead of the cheaper ones, and free-range birds when I ate meat. If I were genuinely poor, of course, I'd probably make a different choice. But I'm not, and I can afford an extra dollar for eggs or three for chicken breasts, and I think that knowing what I do, it would be shameful not to spend the money.

So I really do sympathize. But then they have to undertake dumb campaigns like throwing blood on people or their latest work of genius: comparing the slaughter of animals for food to the Holocaust. It's stupid on two levels: one, for expecting people to equate the suffering of people and animals, as if abuses committed during the inevitable process of killing to eat were the same thing as the senseless slaughter of 11 million people; and two, for trying to appropriate someone else's tragedy to dress up the seriousness of your own cause. I've always found the competitive ethnic grief exhibited during some forms of argument -- slavery-was-awful-but-the-Holocaust-was-worse-yea-well-what-about-the-Famine? -- to be both counterproductive and faintly repulsive. Trying to apply it to the process of making food is risible.

So Meryl Yourish is proposing, in response, International Eat an Animal for PETA Day. Now, you'd think it would be hard for a vegetarian to participate. But not that hard, as the official position of PETA is vegan, and I'm lacto-ova. So I'm going to participate in my own fellow-traveler event: International Eat a Strata for PETA day:

Mushroom-Cheese Strata

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1-1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced

8 cups (packed) 1-inch pieces white bread (about 12 slices)
2 1/4 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups half and half
5 large eggs
3/4 cup chopped fresh chives or scallions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 tbl dried
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
9 ounces soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), crumbled (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups (packed) grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
1 cup (packed) grated Fontina cheese (about 4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool.

Combine bread and milk in large bowl. Let stand until milk is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Whisk half and half and next 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Stir in goat cheese.

Place half of bread mixture in single layer in prepared glass baking dish (bread will not cover bottom of baking dish). Top with half each of mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, Fontina cheese, and half and half mixture. Repeat layering with remaining bread, mushrooms, Parmesan and Fontina cheeses, and half and half mixture.

You can make it up to a day ahead; if you want to, this is the point to put it in the fridge. It's actually almost better when you let it sit for a while.

Bake strata uncovered until firm in center, puffed and golden, about 1 hour.

Guaranteed to make any PETA representative who sees the recipe faint.

Cranberry Fruit Bread

I'm not a big fan of fruitcake; candied fruit is not my thing. But even you candied fruit haters out there should give this a try -- there's something about this bread, with its big chunks of cranberry, that's really special. It's not like your normal cranberry bread, which is really orange bread with a few cranberries thrown in. In this one, the cranberries are the main event.

You will need:

4 cups of flour
3 cups of sugar
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of salt
2 oranges
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup of water
1 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1 lb cranberries
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup chopped citron
1/2 cup mixed candied fruits

Bowls of various sizes
2 small saucepans
Sifter
2 full-sized loaf pans or 4 smaller ones

1. First things first: turn the oven on to 375 degrees.

2. Put your 3/4 cup of water on the stove to boil. In a different pan, put 1/4 cup of butter (1 stick) over low heat to melt.

3. Wash the oranges in very hot water. (Some oranges are coated in wax; this removes it.) Grate the zest -- the orange part of the skin -- off the orange with the finest section of your grater. As soon as the white shows through on a section you're grating, you're done with that section and it's time to turn the orange.

4. Once you've grated the oranges, cut them in half and squeeze the juice out. If you don't have a juicer, you can purchase plastic manual models for a buck and change at the supermarket, and it makes a nice brunch accessory.

5. Combine the melted butter, boiling water, juice, and zest and set aside to cool.

6. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside

7. Chop the cranberries into coarse pieces, perhaps 1/6 of a cranberry.

8. Chop the citron and nuts, if you did not buy them pre-chopped.

9. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk or fork until lemon-yellow and foamy.

10. Add the warm orange mixture to the eggs.

11. Add everything else to the bowl. Mix with your hands (I know, but it's really better. Trust me.) just until everything's damp.

12. Butter your loaf pans with the remaining butter.

13. Pour the mixture in and let stand for 20 minutes

14. Bake at 375 degrees 1 to 1.5 hours.

Recipe File: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

I promised to put this up for the bloggers I met last night at Paul Frankenstein's charming poker gathering, at which your correspondant brought home a tidy 7.5% return on her initial investment of $20. Since we were there for just over four hours, this is an annualized return of 16,425%, suggesting that perhaps we should leave off blogging and take up gambling for a living.

Anyway, it occurs to me that many, not to say most, of my readers know only the ersatz petroleum-based product marketed by Kraft, or the horrible creations turned out by beknighted relatives who believe that the dish is produced by pouring together some milk, cheese, and macaroni and seeing what happens. So I thought it would be instructive for everyone to learn how easy, and tasty, homemade mac 'n cheese can be. Aside from an extra couple of minutes shopping, and a half hour spent pleasantly sipping your beverage of choice while you wait for this to cook, you really shouldn't spend any more time on this than you do on the box version.

You will need:

1 box of macaroni (elbows are traditional, but anything will do, even spaghetti)
9 tablespoons of butter
6 tablespoons of flour
4 cups of whole milk. (buy a quart, okay? Milk is good for you)
2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups of monterey jack, shredded
(while in general, better ingredients make a better dish, I'm afraid that in this case, the processed Kraft stuff does quite well. We've tried complicated gruyere-and-brie mixtures, and such, yet we keep coming back to this one. If you are truly lazy, and flush, buy two bags of the pre-shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar mixture, or one back of pre-shredded Jack, and one bag of pre-shredded Cheddar)
Lots of salt
Somewhat less pepper
(At this juncture, I feel I should tell you that you really ought to buy a pepper grinder. They cost practically nothing, and peppercorns are cheap, and fresh ground pepper tastes so much better)
1/4 teaspoon of paprika (don't worry; you'll use it again when I teach you how to make deviled eggs)
Worstershire sauce

An oven and a stove.
A large (13x9) baking dish
A medium saucepan
A small saucepan
A grater, unless you bought pre-shredded cheese
Assorted random small dishes for you to measure things into, like grated cheese and flour. It does not matter what size these are.

All right, first thing's first: turn the oven on to 350.

Bring the water to a boil. While you are waiting for it to boil, shred your cheese and start your white sauce:

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. That's 3/4 of a stick of butter, for those who are not up on these things. Do not use margarine; this is not a dish that is going to make you any friends in your arteries. As well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Measuring out 6 tablespoons of flour into a small dish. You do have a dishwasher, right? Flour should be measured by the dip-level-pour method: you dip the tablespoon or measuring cup into the flour, you run the flat side of a knife along the top so that the surface of the flour is level with the edges of the spoon, and then you pour the flour you've measured into the little dish we just talked about.

Meanwhile, take a medium saucepan, put your milk in it, and put it on to heat over medium-low heat. If it starts to bubble over, the heat is too high. Turn it down.

When the water is boiling, put several tablespoons of salt in before you add the pasta. Unsalted pasta is an abomination in the eyes of God. Note the cooking time on the side of the box and set your oven timer or mental clock to the lower number.

Your butter should be melted now. Dump in the flour and stir it around until it's mixed in. Now leave it on the heat. In a minute it will start to bubble. When you see it bubble, let it bubble for one minute more. It would be a good idea to use your watch or clock rather than relying on your judgement of how long a minute is.

While you are letting it bubble, take a tablespoon of the remaining butter and rub it around the inside of the pan until it is covered with butter. This is known as "buttering the dish". The downside is that your hands will also end up covered with butter, but thankfully they're washable.

When the butter-and-flour-mixture in the pan has bubbled for a minute, dump in your now-hot milk. Stir. It's important to stir fairly constantly, scraping the bottom so all the gook you just bubbled gets blended in. That gook is known as a "roux", and as soon as it thickens up, the sauce you are working on will be known as a "bechamel sauce". Congratulations. You just did your first fancy French cooking.

For a streaming video of how to make a white sauce, for anyone who is confused, click here.

This sauce is also the base for any number of things, from creamed chicken to chicken-pot-pie to the ever popular chipped beef on toast.

Anyway. Stir the sauce until it stops thickening. By the time your sauce has thickened up, your pasta should be done. It might be done before that. Don't worry about leaving the sauce while you drain the pasta. It will survive.

Run the pasta under cold water and set aside.

Add the cheese to your bechamel sauce and stir it until it's melted. Now add the paprika, a teaspoon of worstershire, and grind in some salt and pepper. Be conservative with the salt; easier to put more in than to take it out. Keep adding salt and pepper in small amounts until you like the taste. If you want to add more worstershire, you can also do that. This is your macaroni and cheese. Own it.

Once the taste suits you, put it into your covered dish. Cut up the remaining butter into little pieces about the size of a baby pea and sprinkle them over the top. Don't obsess about the size of the butter too much. It's not that important.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Take out. Eat. Enjoy. This makes a beautiful, puffy, not-overpowering mac-and-cheese.

As you can see, this requires about ten minutes of constant work, versus opening a box. But I guarantee you'll like this better. Plus, this makes an enormous amount, so you'll have more leftovers. And overall it's cheaper.

If you don't need quite that much, you can cut the recipe in half. Or you can make it and freeze it instead of baking it.

To review:

The separate pieces are
a) Preheat oven
b) Butter pan
c) Shred cheese
d) Make pasta
e) Make white sauce
f) Add cheese and spices to white sauce
g) Put in pan and bake.

Variations

Before putting the macaroni and cheese into the pan, try lining the bottom with:

Ham mixed with shredded cheese
Sliced mushrooms sauted in garlic
A can of chopped, spiced tomatoes
Frozen boil-in-bag broccoli
Cooked, canned, or frozen asparagus
Sauted onions

Or try topping with these old favorites:
2 cups of breadcrumbs mixed with 1 cup cheese and 2 tablespoons of softened butter
Crushed crackers
Potato chips

If you like your mac-and-cheese creamier, halve the amount of white sauce and add a container of sour cream.