Braised red cabbage with pancetta, apples and balsamic vinegar, Jamie-style

 

 

 

Since I am on a roll about the kids these days (incidentally, since my post last week, my four-year old has been a sweetheart... maybe I should complain online more often) here is another thing I have noticed in my eight years of parenting.

 

A child's true development occurs in the bathroom.

 

First of all, it is uncanny how much time you spend sitting on bathroom tiles, on the toilet or on the rim of the tub as the parent of younger kids. You hear me, parents of the world, right?

 

Now, as a mother, you expect an in-depth analysis of all bodily-related matters in this scenario. You know you will find yourself discussing at length the size, differences, color, consistency of parts attached to, or recently detached from, your child's body. 

 

But that is not where it ends.

 

Children tend to be particularly loquacious whilst sitting on the porcelain throne.

Whether you like it or not, while they are taking a dump, you will get all the information about their day that they didn't volunteer earlier. When only a handful of hours before questions like "What did you do in school today?" or "What did you have for lunch today?" were met with silence or monosillabic answers like "Nothing/don't remember/know", in the bathroom they are suddenly all about communicating, sharing, extreme detail. 

 

What I however did not expect were the big questions, nonchalantly thrown in there between a gargle and a nail scrub.

 

A few recent examples:

 

"Mommy, what does I hate you mean?" (Your child has been having tantrums and telling you you are mean and that he hates you for the past two months and you have been trying not to take it too personally and then you suddenly realize that you do not have a clue about what really goes on in his head).

 

"Guess what so-and-so said yesterday? That he wants to go to whatshername's house and he wants to have sex with her". (SAY WHAAAAAAT??????? Sweetie, do you know what the word sex means? You do? HOW???? Can you tell me what you think it means? Yes, that is right to a degree. Honey, when your little brother goes to bed, you and I and Daddy will talk a little and you can ask us anything you don't understand or you are curious about).

 

 

 

 

Or the philosophical questions:

 

"Is there meat inside of us?"

 

"Can you touch darkness?"

 

(latest addition in Ikea bathroom over the week end)

"Are shadows boys or girls?"

"Shadows don't have eyes and a mouth, right? Just legs and arms...

 

Let's just say the bathroom has never been the same since I became a mom. 

 

But now, because I always tell my kids it is not ok to have bathroom-related talk at the table, let's change the subject.

 

You all know by now that I am not one of those super-organized bloggers who starts posting Thanksgiving menus in October and Christmas goodies throughout November and December.  I might throw in a recipe here and there, but usually, like today, it is just a happy coincidence.

 

So let's just say you got lucky today, because last week I happened to make a side dish I think would work wonderfully with turkey, ham, goose, duck or whatever it is you love to eat on the approaching holidays. You can keep it vegetarian by substituting the pancetta with toasted pinoli or by frying the onions until crispy (because it needs some crunch one way or another in my opinion). 

 

 

 

 

Recipe from Jamie Oliver

Baked apples, the Big Apple and Foodies in Mi

New York City, here we come (if the snow falling outside my window stops soon)!

Tomorrow (Inshallah) I will be in my hometown with my family and friends that are so close they may as well be family. Tomorrow I will ride in a yellow cab over the Queensboro bridge and see that amazing skyline that makes me catch my breath each and every time.

Tomorrow I will be in the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps. Yes, there will definitely be sleepless nights and early mornings with two jet lagged children. There will also be a lot to do, with my 4 year old's birthday coming up, Christmas just after that, my BFF's wedding, ice skating at Rockefeller Center under the tree, the Childrens' Museum to explore, the tree and the Neapolitan baroque Créche at the Met to look at, the Nutcracker to watch. I promise, however, that I will eat lots of good food, just for you. I will take lots of pictures, I will go to restaurants (except at this stage of my life I am more likely to make a list of child-friendly places rather than hot spots in town) and who knows, I may even get around to cooking, although I am not promising a lot of that. So check in, because I will be posting for sure.

And, because I am in a NY state of mind, here is a little something you can whip up quickly during the holidays that will make your home smell like a Yankee candle and that will actually make your guests feel good about the three helpings they had of your fabulous Christmas meal.

Ingredients (recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)

4 large good baking apples

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins

1 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples, remove cores. I used an apple corer. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter. Add boiling water to the baking pan and bake 30-40 minutes*, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the juices. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cream.

* I baked my apples for a little over 40 minutes and they were still a little underdone. I don't know if it was the variety of apples I used or just my oven.

Last but certainly not least, I wanted to thank Jasmine and Manuel from Labna for organizing the Foodie in Mi Christmas party. It was my first blogger foodie meet up and despite feeling a little nervous upon arrival, both hosts went out of their way to make me feel at home. I also had the pleasure to meet and chat with other bloggers, like Cinzia who works with Chiara at Made in Kitchen and Sara. Next time I hope to get the chance to exchange a few words and ideas with all of the participants.

Sally Lunn

It is snowing out, but despite the stone floor and walls of the kitchen, the room is warm from the fire crackling in the hearth and the new glass panes in the window, that have become more and more popular in the past decades. She gently but thoroughly works the dough with her small, red hands and then sets it under a cloth to rise. She watches the snowflakes fall, listens to the silence and puts the bread into the oven. While it bakes she breathes in the warm, sweet scent and starts to prepare a new loaf. As she kneeds the dough she thinks of her homeland, Normandy, of the brioche her mother used to prepare on special occasions. Her bread is similar and the locals seem to like it. More and more people in Bath have started coming into the bakery to ask for the sweet bread she makes. She smiles to herself when remembering how they call her in this country. Her name is Solange but they prefer to call her Sally and when they ask for her bread they refer to it as Sally Lunn's.

  

This bread, reminiscent of brioche, was seemingly made by a French Huguenot immigrant in the second half of the 17th Century in Bath. It quickly became fashionable in the aristocratic circles, eaten to accompany both sweet and savory foods.

Another story attributes the name to the mispronunciation of the French words "soleil et lune", to describe the golden and white interior and exterior of the loaf.

Whatever the origin, this sweet bread is still popular today, although it is not always served the traditional way, cutting it horizontally to spread it with clotted cream or butter and then slice it into vertical portions.

I had never had it before but was flipping through one of my cookbooks for a recipe similar to a brioche. The preparation seemed simple enough  to someone like me who is still a little frightened at the prospect of making bread, and I had everything I needed to bake it...uh...expect the right pan to bake it in. I only noticed that minor detail halfway through. It should be baked in a Turk's head mold or a tube mold, so I had to invent something quickly and came up with the contraption you see in the photo: a circular cake dish with two cocottes stacked on top of each other in the center. It turned out a little darker than intended and the circle wasn't perfectly centered, but it tasted exactly as I imagined it would and accompanied breakfast, lunch and dinner at our house for a few days.

I thought it would be a perfect recipe to share for these holidays, a little extra something like I promised in my last post to add to your traditional Christmas feast, something that will taste great with your turkey, ham or goose but that will also feed a hungry household on a holiday morning (it serves 24!).

Fig & cream cheese bars

While people all over the US are in a baking, cooking, organizing frenzy for Thanksgiving, here Christmas is on its way. This morning, as I was riding my bike through Piazza Duomo, I was pleasantly surprised to see they had lit up the big Christmas tree to test the lights. It is still pitch black at 7am and the effect of the illuminated white marble Duomo and golden Madonnina statue on its highest spire and the hundreds of lights on the majestic tree in front of it were enough to make me momentarily catch my breath and feel that first tingle of excitement that accompanies me throughout December. Despite the torrential rain and floods pretty much all over the country on the week end, I noticed people had been at work putting up Christmas lights to decorate the streets. They were still off, but they were hanging in their more sober attire in the shadows, patiently waiting to turn into Cinderella at the ball.

As is traditional in Italy, the stores and supermarkets have started putting copious amounts of frutta secca, dried fruit, on display. Frutta secca not only includes fruit, preponderantly dates and figs in all versions (stuffed with nuts, covered in chocolate, plain); it also comprises all the members of the nut family (walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, peanuts, cashews etc.). I couldn't help buying a few bags of dates and figs recently and wanted to bake with them, something I hadn't done yet.

This dessert can be made for your Thanksgiving feast or you can file away the recipe for your Christmas holidays.

It is reminiscent of fig newtons, but the cream cheese topping adds a whole new dimension. The bars got better and better with the passing of time, so I actually suggest making them a day or two ahead, perfect when you are hosting a large gathering and want to prepare early. I also personally think you can skip adding sugar to the fig filling, as it is sweet enough from the rich honey flavor of the dried fruits, and you can also play around with it, soaking the figs in alcohol for a more grown up version or in juice if you want to add an interesting note.