With the arrival of fall and its chilly temperatures, now is the time for cooking. Soup tops the list, of course.
I save up chicken skin and left over bones in a freezer bag until I have enough collected. Then with chopped celery and onions, I simmer it all in a stock pot or the crock pot for smaller batches. After filtering out the solids, I then use the stock produced for creating chicken soup. The same for beef bones when I can get them. The local farmers market had a meat vendor selling pork products this past summer. Among their offerings were ham hocks which I will experiment with at some point but for now they are in the freezer.
Another dish, which my mother called ‘spaghetti’ and my father called ‘goulash’, is a very simple recipe which actually goes under the name American goulash. My mother used spaghetti rather than elbow macaroni, a can of tomato paste (Campbell’s Tomato Soup) with some ketchup (about two or three tablespoons worth) added to hamburg cooked up. No oil or seasonings were used except for salt. About as basic as they come, yet both my brothers and myself consider this comfort food. I still make this as it consitutes a meal in itself along with some cukes or kim chi and is a great budget stretcher.
I bake my own bread now as it’s cheaper than store-bought and tastes way better. And there’s something else I noticed once I started doing this. As I was walking down the aisle in the Shaw’s supermarket which had loaf after loaf of commercial bread, I found myself sniffing. The odor of the bread was detectable but there was also another odor combined with it, that didn’t smell right and put me off. It was quite subtle and difficult to describe. The only thing I can think of is that I was smelling the additives put into commercially prepared bread. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. All the more reason to stick with homemade bread.
Then of course there’s dessert.
Brownies have always been favored but up until recently I had only made them from one of the brownie mixes at the grocery store. I finally decided to try baking them from scratch and used the following recipe.
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup melted unsalted butter (1 stick)
2 large eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8 X 8 pan with parchment paper
In bowl, mix melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth
Add sugar, mix well until combined, then add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in vanilla extract.
Add flour and salt, then fold gently until combined. Don’t overmix.
Pour batter in pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Then let cool in the pan before cutting.
The results? Well, let’s just say they disappeared very quickly and it was only me eating them. Needless to say, I won’t be buying brownie mix any more. Without all the additives the commercial mix has, the taste of home-made brownies is out of this world. Very rich flavor and they seem to hit a spot I didn’t know I had. If you like brownies then try the above recipe. Makes me want to experiment with other recipes.
Have a happy October and happy cooking.
