Pear-Walnut Muffins

Saturday breakfast! A very fall-appropriate choice. These came together easily, taste good, and are on the semi-healthy side, especially if you boost the whole-wheat flour a bit (I did about 1 c. whole wheat and 1 c. white). This recipe is one I typed up from the January 27, 1997 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which shows I've been obsessive about cooking a good long while...

Pear Muffins

2/3 c. brown sugar 1-1/4 c. finely chopped pear

1-1/2 c. flour 1/3 c. chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 c. whole wheat flour 3/4 c. milk

1 T. baking powder 2 T. oil

1/2 t. salt 1 egg

1/2 t. cinnamon 1 T. sugar (raw sugar, or cinnamon sugar, would be good here)

Heat oven to 400. Combine sugar, flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; stir well. Add pear and walnuts; toss gently to coat. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, oil, and egg; stir well. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups sprayed with Pam; sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; let cool on a wire rack. Makes 1 dozen.

Stir-Fried Garlic Chicken

I think the girls' three favorite answers to "What's for dinner?" are "pasta", "gratin", and "stir-fry". Maybe "pizza" is up there, too. So everyone was happy last night.

Of course, making everyone happy usually means messing with the recipe. In this case, I changed the snow peas (hard to find, expensive, no-one really loves them) to broccoli (no problem on any of those accounts) and did the veggies in a separate pan with half the ginger/garlic and half the pan sauce. It's an extra pot to wash, but hey, now that I have a dishwasher...

This recipe comes from the much-maligned "90s" version of the Joy of Cooking. So sue me--I love mine. I don't think I've had a bad result from it. If you can get through all the mixing and chopping, you will really love this stir-fry as well!

Stir-Fried Garlic Chicken

In a medium bowl, mix together:

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. mirin or dry sherry or white wine or dry vermouth

2 t. soy sauce

2 t. oyster sauce

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

Cut into small pieces or thin slices:

1-1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs (white meat should probably work here, too)

Marinate the chicken in the sauce above for about half an hour while you get the other stuff ready:

Get a large head of broccoli. Cut off the florets and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Peel the stem and chop that into thin slices as well. Waste not, want not.

Also, cut a large onion into about 8 wedges.

This would be a good time to start cooking your rice.

Mince together, with a knife or in a mini-chopper:

3 cloves garlic

an inch-long piece of ginger, peeled

Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together:

1 T. hoisin sauce (you can probably mix and match the hoisin and oyster sauce here, depending on what you have lying around)

1 T. ketchup

1 T. sesame oil

1-1/2 T. soy sauce

1/2 t. red pepper flakes

Have ready:

1/3 c. chicken broth (I used green tea)

3 scallions (green onions), cut decoratively into diagonal slices or long, thin strips

OK, you can start cooking now. Get out your largest, deepest skillet, preferably one with a lid. Heat about 2 T. peanut or other oil in it (this is probably not the time for olive oil) over high heat. Get it good and hot, then add the chicken and stir and cook until it's no longer pink. Take out the chicken, add more oil if it seems prudent, and throw in the broccoli and onions. Stir-fry for a bit, then pour in the broth or green tea, pop on the lid, and let steam for just a couple of minutes. Take the lid off and let the liquid evaporate, then make room in the center of the pan and put the ginger and garlic in there. Stir that around. When things are starting to smell really good, throw the chicken back in there along with the hoisin mixture and the scallions. Stir until the sauce starts bubbling, then pull off the heat. Serve as soon as possible with the rice.

Courge au Gratin/Squash Casserole

This recipe comes to you via a French cookbook called "Cuisine sans souci," which Sami bought for me at a used cookbook store in Paris probably in the 80s or early 90s. It's a great basic cookbook, without a lot of frills--like most French cookbooks, it assumes you already know how to cook, so the recipes are short. I made the recipe more American by adding cheese.

I think this recipe was designed to be a side dish, but Sami was gone, so the girls and I turned it into a girly main dish. It really is filling enough to take a main role on the plate.

Julia loved this; Claire couldn't or wouldn't finish hers; I liked mine but thought the texture was a bit mushy. That's why I've upped the number of eggs from the original 2 to 3 with an optional 4.

Courge au gratin

2-1/2 lbs. winter squash (I used pumpkin)

Olive or vegetable oil

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

Salt, pepper, nutmeg

Dash Tabasco or other "spiciness enhancer"

1-2/3 c. milk

1 c. grated cheese (I used Comté; a gruyère or sharp cheddar would be nice)

3-4 eggs

2 slices bread, white or wheat

2 T. butter

about an ounce of Parmesan

Heat the oven to 400. Butter a 2-quart gratin or casserole dish and set aside. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds (an ice cream scoop works well for this). Rub the cut side of the squash with the oil and put it on a foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast for about 45 minutes or until nice and soft. You can do this a day or so ahead if you want--just scoop out the squash into a bowl and refrigerate it until you're ready to proceed. If you're proceeding right away, keep the oven on. You can make the sauce while the squash cooks.

The cookbook actually called for "2 cups of thick Béchamel sauce," assuming you knew how to do that. If you do, proceed to make one with the butter, flour, seasonings and milk. Otherwise, get out a heavy smallish saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat until it stops foaming. Add the flour and seasonings and stir for about a minute before gradually whisking in the milk. Heat, whisking almost constantly, until the sauce is bubbly and thickened. Take off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until it melts. OK, now mash up the squash well with a fork, or put it through a sieve or a food mill, or purée it with a food processor (if you do this, make your bread crumbs first--see below). Mix the mashed squash with the cheesy béchamel. Whisk in the eggs one at a time and turn the mixture into the buttered casserole dish.

In a blender or food processor, put the bread (torn into pieces), the butter (cut into 4 pieces), and the Parmesan (broken into crumbles). Pulse that until you have lovely buttered bread crumbs. Sprinkle that on top of your squash mixture.

Put the casserole in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the crumbs are nice and brown and the squash mixture has firmed up a bit. Let rest for about 10 minutes before digging in.

Stuffed Flank Steak

My in-laws came for lunch today. They were the first guests we've had since we got to the apartment, which was how it needed to be. I had to come up with something conservative for them to eat--they are definitely of the meat-and-potato mindset. This is what I came up with: a salad with mâche, avocado, and almonds for a starter, this for a main course, and a fruit dessert I'll blog about later on the Maider Heatter site.

I think they liked it--I know Sami and I did. Flank steak usually comes in individual steaks here, so I asked my butcher to give me long, thin strips I could roll up. But the recipe as written is for one large steak--you could pound it or butterfly it to make it nice and thin and stuffable. The recipe also has you flour the steak before you sauté it, which I forgot to do, and frankly, I don't think it's necessary. Flour burns, too. One last thing--if you put some shallots and red wine in the pan after you take out the steaks, let that cook down a bit, and then add the juices from the baking sheet, you've got a nice pan sauce. But here's the recipe more less as written, from the June 2001 issue of Bon Appétit.

Stuffed Flank Steak Medallions

1-1/2 lb. flank steak (one piece)

2 minced garlic cloves

3 T. olive oil

1 bunch arugula (you really only need a small handful)

1 7-oz. jar sliced roasted red peppers, drained

6 thin slices prosciutto (about 2 oz.)

6 thin slices smoked Gouda (about 4 oz)

1 c. flour

1 T. paprika

2 t. salt

1 t. pepper

Pound or butterfly the steak until you have about a 9x10-inch rectangle. Whisk together garlic and olive oil; brush over the steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover meat with arugula, then peppers, prosciutto, and cheese. Roll the long way and tie with butcher's twine. Mix together the flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a large shallow dish. Roll the meat in the flour to coat (or just salt and pepper it).

Heat the oven to 350; heat the remaining 1 T. oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add meat and sear on all sides. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Bake the meat until cooked through (don't cook too long, though--about 150-160 on a meat thermometer should be plenty), about 45 minutes (I would check after 30 or less). Let meat rest 10 minutes. Remove string; cut meat into 1/2-inch-thick slices. I served this with the pan sauce above, mashed potatoes, and green beans.