COOKIES FOR SANTA

This time of year I always wish we lived in Truckee, just north of Lake Tahoe. Watching the weather reports of snow in the Sierra always make me homesick for New England and the first snowfalls of winter. We adored the snow when we were children. Of course, we didn’t have to try driving to work in snowy or icy road conditions then. A snow day meant no school! Dad would tackle shoveling the driveway and sidewalks (before he bought a snow-blower), and we would all bundle up with warm jackets, hats, scarves, mittens and boots, and enjoy making snow forts and attacking the neighborhood children with snowballs. Figaro, our grey tuxedo cat, would even scamper about in the snow, shaking his paws every so often with a puzzled look on his kitty face.

One time I took my native California husband back to New England in the late autumn/early winter – we stayed at one of my sister’s home, out in the country (most everything in Connecticut is out in the country!). There were reports that it might snow that evening, but the family members were skeptical. Imagine our delight when we awoke to freshly fallen snow! There were still gentle flurries, and we sipped our morning coffee beside a blazing fire in the stone fireplace. The cardinals were feeding at the many bird feeders our brother-in-law had placed outside the large picture window – we remember the contrast of the cardinals’ scarlet feathers against the evergreens as they enjoyed their breakfast, too.

I’m sure that many of you follow the tradition of setting out cookies and a glass of milk in anticipation of Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. We always made certain we had freshly baked cookies for Santa, and a few carrots for his reindeer. They were always gone in the morning with a little “thank you” note beside the plate.

These cookies are certain to please everyone, including Santa! They’re rich and delicate, and perfect for a late evening snack. The cookie dough will also keep nicely in the refrigerator if you want to make extra – just let it soften a bit before you make the cookies.

PECAN BUTTER COOKIES

(Preheat oven to 325 degrees F)

• 1 Cup Pecans, Toasted
• 2 Sticks (8 ounces) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• ½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 and ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour, Sifted

Toast pecans in non-stick frying pan on medium heat – watch carefully as they can burn easily. Remove from heat and let cool. Chop coarsely into smaller pieces and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in mixer until well mixed and pale. With mixer running, add vanilla and salt, reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add in the flour, mixing until incorporated into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in pecans until well mixed. Cover cookie dough and refrigerate until firm, approximately 15-30 minutes.

Drop 1 Tablespoon scoops of cookie dough on parchment covered cookie sheets, leaving two (2) inches between each cookie. Bake until edges of cookies are golden brown, about 12 – 15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes, and then remove cookies to wire rack to finish cooling. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

This recipe should make approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk or hot chocolate! Happy Holidays to all and a Healthy New Year !

— Lynn Kathleen Adams
— RSCA Board Member since 1994

October Weekend Dinner

When the cool weather begins to set in, and we are outdoors tending to our autumn gardening chores, or merely relaxing on a weekend afternoon, watching college and NFL football games, nothing smells more wonderful than a nice pot roast cooking in the oven. Aside from the initial preparation, it really cooks itself and only needs an occasional “chef check” to flip it over a few times to make certain it is browning properly.

We like to make Yankee Pot Roast for a Sunday dinner, but with a California twist to our traditional recipe. This past weekend, we visited friends in Marin County, and stopped at the new Whole Foods store on East Blithedale Avenue in Mill Valley on our way back home. We picked up a beautiful grass fed 2 lb. boneless chuck roast, and an assortment of root vegetables to roast and serve with our dinner. Delicious, especially with a nice glass of our favorite Navarro Pinot Noir Deep End Blend!

YANKEE POT ROAST

• 2 LB boneless chuck roast
• 1/3 C. Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Kosher Salt
• I Large Yellow Onion, chopped into small pieces
• 2 or 3 Carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 2 or 3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and diced
• Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 1 to 2 Quarts Beef Stock
• 1 Large Turkish Bay Leaf (California Bay Laurel is too strong/aromatic for this recipe)
• 6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
• Fresh Flat Leaf / Italian Parsley — about 1/3 Cup chopped and for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Season the chuck roast with salt and pepper, then dredge with flour until evenly coated. Place Dutch Oven (we always use “Big Blue” our favorite Le Creuset French Oven) on stove top and add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil — heat on medium and brown the roast on all sides. Remove roast from pan. Add chopped onion, carrots and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent, and carrots slightly softened. Add red wine, beef stock (start with one quart), bay leaf and thyme sprigs (don’t worry, the little thyme leaves will fall off during the cooking process and you can extract the bare springs along with the bay leaf before serving!) and the roast. Bring to boil, and then cover the pot and place in oven on middle rack. You will need to cook the pot roast for 2 — 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender and almost falling apart. If necessary, add a bit more beef broth. The goal is to only have about 1 or 2 inches of the roast above the liquid. When cooked, remove roast from pot, set onto platter and cover with foil to rest. Strain the liquid into smaller pan to remove any thyme sprigs, or bits of carrots and onions. Bring liquid to boil and then lower heat to slow boil, stirring to reduce and concentrate the flavor. (You can thicken by adding 1 teaspoon cornstarch to 1/3 Cup cold water, stirring, and then adding to hot liquid.). To serve, arrange the roasted root vegetables on the platter alongside the pot roast, pour some of the juices over the roast and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

This is easy — just take an assortment of shallots, fingerling potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips or butternut squash — whatever you like ! Peel (or not depending upon selection), slice into similar sizes, toss with olive oil and salt & pepper, and place in separate roasting pan in the over for approximately 60 minutes, stirring once or twice when you check on the pot roast.

Autumn Leaves

New Englanders are so very patient.  They’ll swelter through the hot muggy dog days of summer, hopeful for a quick August thunderstorm to cool the heat and humidity down a bit.  Now mind you — this is not to say they will not complain endlessly about the weather.  But they’ll also dream longingly of sweet September, the first frost, the country fairs and festivals, the bushels of newly harvested Cortland and McIntosh apples, and the fresh apple cider.  Even if there is an Indian Summer, the cool early mornings and evenings are a welcome delight.

Autumn in New England is spectacular.  The glorious colors of the maple trees resplendent in their crimson and golden hues are simply breathtaking.  Wood smoke spirals heavenward from the fireplaces.  The air is crisp and energizing, perfect for a hike in western Connecticut.  We’d pile into the car and drive up through Litchfield and then continue on over all of the little bumpy back roads lined with stone walls we could find, to Kent Falls, one of our favorite places to hike, take photographs, and admire the foliage.  Getting lost along the way was always an adventure, and of course, we all had our different opinions on how to find our destination.

Our expedition was usually an all-day affair, so we would have to have a little sweet snack along with our fresh picked apples to munch on when we got hungry.  This recipe is an adaptation from one our family has enjoyed for many years.  I believe it originally came from Old Sturbridge Village, right across the Connecticut state line, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  This living history museum depicts early New England life from 1790 to 1840, and always made us thankful that we did not live during this era — it was such hard work!  ÒQuakersÓ are a delicious oatmeal cookie, very easy to make — once out of the oven, they’re guaranteed to disappear quickly!

QUAKERS

• 2 Cups Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 2 Eggs, Beaten
• 2 Cups Sifted All Purpose Flour
• 3 Cups Quick Quaker Oats
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla

• 1/4 Cup Sugar (do not include in the dry ingredients above — set aside)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the butter and brown sugar.  Add beaten eggs and vanilla.  Sift flour with baking soda and salt, stir in Quaker Oats, and stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and brown sugar.  Mix well until all oats are integrated into the batter.  Put 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl.

Take about a walnut sized piece of the batter, roll into a ball, and then dip the ball into the sugar, rolling around to coat all of the surface area.  Place cookies onto baking sheet covered with parchment paper, allowing about three inches between each cookie.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.  You can add 1/2 to 3/4 C. chopped walnuts if you like to the dry ingredients.

This recipe should make 4 dozen large soft cookies, or you can roll the batter into logs, chill then in the refrigerator and slice to make almost six dozen thinner crispier cookies — just watch your timer when baking to make certain they do not overcook!  Enjoy on a hike admiring our own California change of season, or in your kitchen with a nice cold glass of milk!

— Lynn Kathleen Adams
Note: Lynn has been a RSCA Board Member since 1994

The Trek to California
Imagine, if you can, a Dodge Van filled almost to the brim with college textbooks, camping and backpacking equipment, a double mattress, linens, cameras, cookbooks, my trusty seasoned Lodge cast iron frying pan, a rice cooker, a wok, my electric mixer, cuisinart, and assorted pots and pans. Not to mention two completely bewildered kitties, who were leaving their beloved Connecticut college farmhouse and meadow filled with butterflies and field mice to bounce along the highways and byways. Westward ho — we were our own little Lewis and Clark expedition, seeking the Pacific Ocean.

Our journey from the green rolling Connecticut hillsides across America was quite an adventure — we stopped at every national park within proximity and countless campgrounds as our van meandered from the east coast across the heartland with endless acres of grain and corn until we approached the majestic Rockies and Pike’s Peak, then down towards the Grand Canyon, across the blazing Arizona and California deserts toward our destination — La Jolla — the “jewel” of the Pacific.

California ! The rugged coastline, the crashing Pacific Ocean waves, the cool ocean breezes — everything was so different from life on the East Coast. I was in heaven with all the fresh produce — asparagus, artichokes, orange and lemon trees in your own backyard, figs, the best cherries and apricots I had ever tasted. And chickens and fresh eggs! Speaking of chickens . . .

The very first time that I dined at the upstairs cafe at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, I enjoyed the most delicious roasted chicken I had ever tasted. It was organic, succulent, perfectly roasted, and infused with an array of fresh herbs.

I recently discovered Mary’s Free Range Organic Air Chilled Chicken at Bianchini’s Market (San Carlos) and urge you to purchase one or two. These plump little birds are fed a vegetarian diet, with no antibiotics or hormones, and make a wonderful quick dinner. While I do not agree with Julia Child that you should wash chickens in hot water, I do give my chicken a good bath with cold running water. As always when cooking with raw poultry, wash your hands and cooking utensils well in warm soapy water!

ROAST CHICKEN

(Preheat oven to 400 degrees F)

• 1 fresh Mary’s Fee Range Organic Air Chilled Chicken (usual weight is around 4 lbs)
• Butter (softened)
• 1 Small Onion or Shallot – sliced
• 1 Small Lemon – sliced
• Fresh Herbs (rosemary can be overwhelming — I favor fresh thyme)

Remove chicken from refrigerator about one hour before roasting. Wash chicken. Pat dry and salt cavity. Stuff cavity with small pieces of sliced lemon, onion or shallot and fresh herbs. Place in roasting pan, breast side up. Rub entire bird with softened butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until cooked thoroughly — this should take approximately one hour for this size bird. Check for doneness at 50 minutes. If you are using a convection oven, the cooking time will be slightly less. When done, let chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving. One bird will serves two with chicken left over for fresh Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Caesar Salad, or nice composed Cobb Salad — the possibilities are endless!

— Lynn Kathleen Adams
Note: Lynn has been a RSCA Board Member since 1994

My friends tease me that I was born with a whisk in one hand and a rolling pin in the other. From the time I was 5 years old I begged my Mom to teach me how to cook. I haunted her in the kitchen — she had no choice but to make me her little sous chef de cuisine! I loved my Dad’s garden, the raspberry bushes, his fruit trees, the grapevines and even the compost pile in the corner of the backyard that seemed to grow the largest and best squash plants! This early passion for baking and cooking, using fresh organic produce and healthy ingredients, remains to this day.

Growing up in the small town of Wethersfield, Connecticut, our family always looked forward to the month of June. Dad’s birthday was the first week in June, and this meant that the strawberries were ripe and ready for picking. Dad would load all of the kids (I was the oldest of five) into the station wagon and we would travel down the Connecticut River Valley a short distance to the local strawberry farm. After several hours of filling our baskets (we ate two for every berry that went into the basket) we would collapse into the back set of the car and head for home, sunburned, tired, and with clothes and hands stained bright strawberry red. And of course, we would insist that we had to have Strawberry Shortcake that evening for dessert before we could even think about making Strawberry Jam.

In honor of Father’s Day and one of my Dad’s favorite desserts, here is our family recipe for Strawberry Shortcake. It’s quick and easy to make, and the flaky shortcake biscuits just call out for those fresh seasonal strawberries, whipped cream and a big glass of icy-cold milk.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE (Serves 6)

BISCUITS

2 Cups sifted white unbleached All Purpose Flour

4 Teaspoons baking powder

1 Teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons White Sugar (I use Bakers superfine sugar)

1 Large Egg

1/2 Cup unsalted cold butter

1/2 Cup whole milk

Preheat Oven — 400 degrees

Mix dry ingredients together into medium mixing bowl. Cut butter into very small pieces, and add to dry ingredients. Blend with pastry cutter, and then mix with your fingers, squishing pieces of butter into the flour. Do this quickly to keep the butter cold. Whisk egg and milk together in a separate bowl. Add egg/milk mixture to dry ingredients and stir together with a fork. The batter will be a bit sticky. Pour shortcake mixture onto lightly floured pastry cloth or floured marble rolling surface. Dust with a sprinkle of flour, and knead gently a couple of times into a round ball. Roll out to a ? inch thickness. Flour bottom of cookie/biscuit cutters (I use a 2 inch diameter cutter, but have been known to make Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear sizes!) and cut out biscuits. Place biscuits onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Put another biscuit round on top of the first, so you have two rounds to make one biscuit. With pastry brush or fingers, brush a little milk on top of each biscuit. I sprinkle with a little sparkling/sanding sugar for garnish. Back on middle shelf in oven (I do not use my convection oven) for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

STRAWBERRIES

4 pints of fresh strawberries

Wash, hull and slice strawberries into serving bowl. Sprinkle with 1 to 2 Tablespoons of sugar and set aside.

WHIPPED CREAM

I pint of Strauss Organic whipping cream, whipped into soft peaks (I love Strauss Family Creamery products — they are the BEST !)

Hint: Place stainless steel bowl and whisk attachments in freezer for 30 minutes before whipping to ensure great results.

Assemble shortcake biscuits onto plate — open biscuit, spoon strawberries and whipped cream in the middle of the biscuit, place top of biscuit onto filling, and garnish with additional whipped cream and berries ! A sprig of fresh mint always makes a nice garnish.

Enjoy !

— Lynn Kathleen Adams