A Woman Obsessed.

Not unlike Heidi Swanson (who started 101cookbooks because she was collecting too many cookbooks and making too few recipes), I also have a bit of a cookbook situation on my bookshelf. Some call me a hoarder. Others, cultured. Fewer, inspired. Either way, I'm a woman obsessed with a good cookbook. My idea of relaxation is curling up with one on the couch and devouring it like a novel.

In case you're in the mood for some inspiration - or are generally nosy and want to know what I've been reading lately - here is a short list of my current favorites:

An Everlasting Meal

Not a cookbook in the traditional sense (no pictures! stay with me), Tamar Adler writes for the everyday cook and teaches invaluable lessons in food preparation, planning, thoughtfulness, and creativity in the kitchen. More than anything, she makes you feel like you already are a cook and that you have the gift of improvisation.

Super Natural Everyday

My desert island cookbook. I cook from this on a weekly basis and have yet to be disappointed. My favorite part about this book is that each recipe has no more than 8 ingredients and grains, cheeses, proteins, and nuts are completely adaptable and interchangeable for what you have on hand. Personal favorites include: Breakfast Frittata, Linguine with Grated Zucchini, Mushroom Casserole, & Cabbage with White Beans.

Baking Illustrated

The baking bible to end all baking bibles. My Irish Soda Bread was based off one of these recipes. I also made some dreamy blondies  from this book.  The dream is to be a baker for America's Test Kitchen. Can I get a witness, Christopher Kimball?

Plenty

Pure eye candy. Vegetarian recipes from award-winning London restaurant, Ottolenghi. So far, I've actually only stared at this book. Stared and admired. You'll be the first to know when I try out a recipe.

Very Fond of Food

My childhood was built on a foundation of Roald Dahl books. His granddaughter, Sophie, (the heroine of The BFG! Nerd alert!) was clearly also blessed with the gift of words. The book is divided into seasons and she prefaces and ends each section with a nostalgic story from her life. I also like getting a feel for British ingredients and techniques. This book is how I learned about gooseberries.  

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Useful. Also doubles as a weapon.

Joy the Baker Cookbook

Idol caliber. But I'm pretty sure I didn't need to tell you that. This book is full of fun anecdotes, life lessons, and cookie dough. Favorites that I've made so far include Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins (ZOMG) and Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles.

Books not to read: Fifty Shades of Grey. Just...no. Decidedly does not belong on the bookshelf. Or in or around anyone's brain piece.

Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles

I'm frugal about silly things.

I only say that because my spending habits are a little backwards.

It is not unlike me to spend significant dollars on things that are completely unnecessary (read: totally necessary). Examples: candles, blouses (I got quite a bit of hell for that one - from others, and from myself), manicures, curling wands.

But when it comes to things that I should buy (read: things that are not fun to purchase), I go all "alligator arms" on the credit card swipe. Namely: renter's insurance (promptly purchased after my friend's apartment burned to the ground from a rogue cigarette butt. yikes.), a bike (finally pulled the trigger on that one. best purchase ever.), a couch (let's not go there.), and good Madagascar vanilla beans.

I think developing these decision-making skills is part of the whole "becoming-a-responsible-adult" process my parents used to preach about. I think. But I'll save that mess for when I have kids and a mortgage. BOOM.

While at the grocer recently, I bit the bullet and purchased my first lone vanilla bean for a heart-palpatation-inducing $14.95 (seriously - what's IN these things?). After testing the beans in a few recipes (and even rubbing some on my skin) I'm glad to say that I am whole-heartedly on the vanilla bean train. And did you know that you can buy them on Amazon for next to nothing? I'm now the proud owner of 7 vanilla beans and they cost me less than $5. 

Next thing you know, I will be making my own vanilla extract. (This is happening.)

The addition of freshly scraped vanilla beans is what separates these cookies from the rest. Soft, chewy, and highly stackable. I've already made them twice. As if Joy could disappoint.  

Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles
from the Joy the Baker Cookbook

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2+3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1+1/2 c. white granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean (easiest way is to cut down the center with a knife and scrape the seeds with a spoon)

Topping:
1 tsp.+ ground cinnamon (I like mine extra cinnamon-y)
1/4 c. granulated sugar



Instructions:

Place a rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. 

First, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, tartar, soda, salt) in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Flour and light. A beautiful thing. 

Next, in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl before adding the eggs individually, mixing for a minute between each incorporation, on medium speed.

Add the vanilla and scraped vanilla bean seeds.

Feel free to rub any straggler seeds seeds into your skin. (Congrats! You are Using What's Left.) 

Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl once more. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated (over-mixing will make your cookies hard and tough). Finish incorporating the dough by hand with a spatula. 

I love cookie dough. And I LOVE ranunculus (ranunculuses? ranunculi?) A diagram:

Real Talk: I make cookies so I can eat the dough. Err-day. Vanilla-flecked decadence.

Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the topping by combining the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

When ready, spoon the dough into heaping tablespoonfuls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Feel free to sprinkle a bit of extra cinnamon sugar on the cookies before they go in the oven. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes, until slightly browned and the edges are firm. 

Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Makes about 24 cookies. 

From my kitchen to yours, with love, as always. Wish you were here.

Arugula Pesto

photo from here

Using what's left.

This is one of those mildly hippie mantras that I want to live by, I really should live by, but invariably week after week, fail to live by.

I found this poster on Pinterest and find it very intriguing. Much more intriguing than, say, a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster/mug/t-shirt/tattoo. But maybe that's just me.

More than anything, I'm really bad about using what I have. Grocery shopping - now that I'm really good at. And engage in almost daily (completely unnecessary as I live alone, but what can be done? I have a problem). But regularly throwing away what was once perfectly good produce, cheese, or bread because I neglected it in the back of my refrigerator makes me feel guilty/wasteful/decidedly NOT Oregon, so I'm making small, discrete changes to rectify this. Heavy use of the freezer is involved. As is realistic planning. Progress report to come. Wish me luck.

This pesto was inspired based on what I had in the fridge and pantry, and in the spirit of using the perishable before it perishes.



Arugula Pesto
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1 big handful arugula, stems removed
a few tablespoons of sunflower seeds
1/4 c. + extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients, save the olive oil, in a food processor. Moisten the dry ingredients with a dash of olive oil and pulse until broken down. While pulsing, slowly drizzle in olive oil  until you reach desired consistency.


I served mine as an afternoon stack with warm naan. And, in honor of using what I have (I had leftovers), I served eggs the next morning with a drizzle of the pesto.

I'd consider that a solid check mark in the "Alexis" column.

Breakfast Frittata for Two

Things not to do:

Walk into Anthropologie when you're feeling especially vulnerable. Bad things ensue.

Tell someone you "like her curves". Particularly when the recipient of the comment doesn't feel as though she has curves. You are not doing anyone any favors. 

Go to hot yoga class on an empty stomach. Because you will end up at McDonald's immediately afterwards. This is both time-wasting and self-deprecating.

Ask someone - anyone - when the baby's due. Just...no. 

Decide on a whim to whip up some whipped cream when you realize that carton of heavy cream in the fridge is about to expire. Particularly not advisable if you live alone. Again with the self-deprecation.

Things to do:

Send letters in the mail, just because.

Buy a cast iron skillet. It will change your life, it will!

Chill on the Facebook. Because some things should be just for you.

Wake up early to hand-press coffee.

Cook breakfast on Saturday morning with someone you love.

I've made this frittata three weekends in a row now. What I love about the recipe is that it is completely free-form. Other than the necessary eggs and onions, everything else is up to you (and what you have on hand). It's great with seasonal greens (think asparagus, broccoli, summer squash), as a Mexican frittata (black beans, jalapenos, salsa, queso fresco) or with a Greek spin (kalamata olives, artichokes, feta). This was the version I made last Saturday, but by all means, let your pantry and fridge dictate your flavor. This serves two hungry people, but the veggies and eggs can be doubled to serve more.

Breakfast Frittata
modified from Super Natural Everyday

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz. seasonal vegetables, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used asparagus, red bell pepper, and zucchini in this version, would also be good with thinly sliced potatoes and some green veggies)
6 large eggs, well beaten
1/4 c. feta cheese
small bunch of chives, chopped

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to Broil.

Heat the oil in a heavy, ovenproof (cast-iron) skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and veggies and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent and the veggies are softened, around 5 minutes. Reserve half of this mixture on a plate.

Whisk a pinch of salt into the eggs and pour the eggs into the center of the skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until the eggs are just set and there isn't much liquid in the pan, about 5 minutes. 

The trick is to avoid browning the bottom. To do this, run a spatula around the outside of the pan and tilt the pan so the uncooked eggs run to the underside.

Top with the reserved vegetable mixture and cheese.

Put the skillet into the broiler for a couple of minutes, which will help make the eggs puffy. Be careful, because the eggs can go from perfect to "ruh-roh" in just a few seconds. When lightly browned and puffy, remove from the broiler. 

Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh herbs (chives or parsley or cilantro) and serve warm.

Irish Soda Bread

Job perks. 

Every job's got 'em. 

Occupational swag, if you will. (Please do.)

In my previous career as a banker, perks included free dinners and a free HP-10C financial calculator. The catch? Eating in the conference room at 7:30pm (preferably over Jeopardy) and going back to my desk to work with my HP-10C. Ballin'. That job also came with five hours of sleep a night. Cannot forget that. 

When I was a professional baker, as you can imagine, the swag was modest, but promising: free coffee, free bread, and on Friday, a sandwich to call my very own.  

I was feeling pretty good about my sweets baking swag situation until one Friday during the holidays, my sister (a corporate lawyer) called to tell me about the Christmas gift her firm gave her: a brand new iPad. I can't quite pinpoint why, but from that point on, that Friday sandwich didn't quite do it for me.

Still, every day at 9am when leaving the bakery, I took home a warm loaf of bread of my choosing. My selection typically varied day-to-day, but when March came around and I tried my very first slice of Irish Soda Bread, my world was rocked. ROCKED. I could be found towing home five loaves of this stuff a week. A little part of me died when April rolled around and ISB was off the rotation.

At the bakery, we filled the bread with currants and caraway seeds before scoring it with a quintessential "X". This variation is known as "American-Style Irish Soda Bread". Go figure.  The classic Irish version is far more toned down, with less sugar and the absence of currants/seeds. But I've gots to have my caraway. This is one of those treats that comes together so easily and is so satisfying that you won't want to wait around until March to pull out the recipe. The sweet currants play nicely with the distinctive rye flavor of the caraway seeds. And adding a healthy amount of softened butter to a warm slice doesn't hurt either. 

Irish Soda Bread with Currants and Caraway

adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. cake flour
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1+1/2 tsp. baking soda
1+1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1+1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened (plus 1 tbsp. butter melted for crust)
1+1/4 c. buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
1 c. currants
1 tbsp + caraway seeds



Instructions:

Adjust your oven rack to the upper-middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (both flours, sugar, baking soda, tartar, and salt) in a large bowl. Work the softened butter into the flour mixture with your hands or with a fork (I tend to opt for hands in these situations), until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Combine the buttermilk and beaten egg with a fork. With a fork, incorporate the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, and add the currants and caraway seeds. Mix with a fork just until the dough begins to come together - the mixture will be dry.

With floured hands, turn the dough onto a floured board and knead about 15 times, until the dough becomes cohesive. It will not look perfect. This may upset you. But resist the urge to overknead (lest you wind up with tough bread.) Pat the dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high.

With a serrated knife, score the top of the round with a large "X", about 5 inches long and 3/4 inch deep and place the dough onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. If the crust is beginning to brown before the bread is finished baking, cover the bread with aluminum foil and return to the oven.

Remove the loaf from the oven and brush with melted butter. 



You're supposed to allow to cool to room temperature before serving, but I like mine warm, and I'm impatient.



Serve with softened butter and be not afraid to make this year round.