Farmstand Toast- I Put A Egg On It

It was a real weekend. Tonight I feel like I have been wrung out like a tea towel but I take nothing back. Not the driving day to Wisconsin. Not the Sprecher's root beer or the spit-roasted chicken. I do not take back the pounds of produce purchased in a house bearing painted mushroom murals. I don't take back a whiskeydrink, a nip of pie crust, a lobster corndog or a single second of sunshine filtered through a large straw hat.

I can't bring myself to regret the hours spent being decidedly awake and giddy when I would typically have been drooling into a pillow. It was a real weekend, filled with ice cream and friendlies and dancing in the grass. I would not take the hippiechild moments back, even though it means I've launched into full-on cat stretches and cavernous yawns throughout the afternoon and evening.

While most of the weekend was spent as a fuzzy sweatfox (caught in a near constant state of music and junk food-fueled rush), I gave myself a break on Sunday. Knowing the day ahead would be festival hours and festival food, I took a look at my foodstuffs and set to work on a simple and delicious brunch that could easily transition to lunch or dinner.

Lake Geneva- Love that this could just as easily be 1970 as 2010. Gimme my glam rock and denim shorts.

We'd stopped at River Valley Mushrooms on the way back from Lake Geneva the day before (the Mushroom Council is a client but this was not official business. In the least.). I was thrilled to see more than just an array of the shrooms themselves but a full farmstand spread including muskmelon, golden plums, peaches, cherry tomatoes- all of which came home with me.

A slow morning with a light rain and nowhere to be for a few hours- that's the break needed from a really rascally weekend fun run. I'd been gifted with a loaf a multigrain bread from Flourish and thus proper toast has been the basis for many meals this last week. Two slices tossed into their dedicated blackener and I set to work on the veggies.

One big frying pan took on quartered creminis, halved garden cherry tomatoes and angular pieces of gai laan (Chinese broccoli), my latest vegetable obsession. All were sauteed in a small amount of olive oil with a minced clove of fresh garlic until they were cooked but still bright. From there I just scooted the veggies over and cracked a fresh egg into the pan, letting the whites go opaque on both sides. Ironically, tonight's bedtime reading is actually a new foodzine called "Put A Egg On It." So far so good- thanks Tasting Table for the tip.

The toast came out hot and crunchy and was immediately spread with a thin layer of Prairie Fruits Farm goat cheese then layered with the vegetables and topped with a single shared egg. It was fresh and light and the perfect way to temper some unapologetically indulgent behavior the rest of the weekend.

Case in point: Peach Blueberry Pie, served still-warm after being cut open with a pocket switchblade and passed in-dish from person to person with a pair of shared utensils. Cheap beer chaser encouraged. Felt right to end on that.

Shooting Sparks: Fall-ing Into BlogHer Food

In full cooking regalia for a Clandestino event last week.

Does anyone else ever get into a funk at the end of seasons? I think I can personally trace it back to impatience at a molecular level. The sensation is city-wide in Chicago in March but I suspect I may be on my own in August. My greatest summer weekend pushed the funk off by a week but by mid-month I’m done with heat and inevitably stained white jeans. I want to make changes but don’t know where to start. I itch for an adventure, for a new project (or six). That back-to-school bug has never subsided for me.

Fall is my season. I wake up to fresh air and a nip on my knees as I stumble out of bed in the mornings. Oversize band t-shirt clutched to my sides doing an awkward dance into the kitchen with bare legs, a hungry HoneyCat weaving between my ankles. I wake up earlier, I leave for work earlier just to catch that morning light and take deep breaths on my street. And when I walk out of work and the light is gold, I feel like I could shoot sparks out of my fingers.
I’m getting all my wishes. I’ve already reorganized my apartment and this morning I head west to San Francisco.

It’s a big weekend for me professionally but, as has been discussed before, that makes it a big weekend for me personally as well. I’m heading to BlogHer Food as the face of The Mushroom Channel, my professional alter ego of sorts(The Mushroom Council is an Edelman client). If you’ve read it, my voice becomes apparent pretty quickly and I’m lucky that everyone seems to be okay with that. I write a food blog as part of my day job. Now I’m going to hang out with 300 like-tummied souls in one of my favorite fall cities. That's a little bit of A Okay.

What my camera was balancing on during above photo session. Go figure.

I’ll be headed to Seattle to see my favorite gent in the coming weeks and to Ojai, CA with Mom, Dad and Brother for Thanksgiving. Funk is officially over, I’m in my element now. Now bring on the harvest parties, apple-picking and Halloween ideas.

The Kind of Magic You Can Eat

I think by now you've all realized that I'm capable of fairly extensive degrees of geekdom. And not in the sense that I can currently or ever could do calculus in my sleep (or awake for that matter). More in the sense that I get very excited about a wide assortment of things, from Greek mythology to science fiction to previews. And I fall to pieces over animals and babies (so sometimes I'm more a cliche than a geek but mox nix).

At my core, I love stories and if it's not a story about food, I'm confident in my abilities to make it about food. Case in point was when I was invited to see the new Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry this weekend. I loved the books. I've loved the films. I was more than on-board...I was enthused and had a kitchen at my disposal to express that enthusiasm.

48 hours after the 7th book came out, Cam and Amanda came over for my first Harry Potter-themed meal. That's right, the one from Saturday was not my first. Go ahead and soak that in.
The menu at that point was butterbeer (cream soda, butterscotch schnapps and light beer), Quidditch Pie (Shepard's Pie) and Chocolate Frog Trifle.We had all finished at that point (having read straight through the night) and were predictably dying to discuss.

Saturday was a touch removed from that desperation. Still with a sleepless night (thanks to the inspiration that only strikes while delirious) but no surprises. Just an excuse to entertain some of my favorite girls on the first fully glorious Chicago weekend in a long while. And thus I was able to concentrate on the food (with some brainstorm help from fellow Potter-fiend Homemaker's Habitat).

Conjure Your Own Cauldron

We had a spread that would make Alan Rickman jealous. Each ramekin was greased and had a sliver of day old baguette in the bottom. Then came a layer of Pioneer Woman's Creamed Spinach to coat it. Then any combination of the following:

• Sauteed mushrooms (obviously)
• Diced bacon
• Chopped chives
• Roasted red pepper
• Cherry tomatoes
• Goat Cheese
• Appenzeller (like Gruyere but better)

Once everyone was filled up, we kissed the tops with a little cream and cracked an egg on top. 15 minutes at 425 is perfection and I've never served an easier brunch. I based it off this recipe by Scott Peacock for Gourmet.

Gorgeous, easy and everyone can have it their way. Automatic portion control. My kind of recipe.

Slytherin Asparagus (purple and green, bro). But then there were sweet little ribbons of orange zest, inspired by this adorable French accent and helpful cooking video (like listening to my HS French teach Mr. Suffren but without any added pressure). Roasted for 10 minutes at 425. Olive oil, sea salt, ground pepper and ...I couldn't give them the evil house name. I chickened out. They're too lovely for Crab and Goyle anyway.

This one was very HH. A Hufflepuff Pancake and the perfect excuse to break out my new cast iron pan! It came out somewhere between a Dutch Baby and a crepe but as those are both good things, I can't really call it a miss. It didn't bubble up to the degree I'd have liked but powdered sugar and preserves did it very very well.

Gryffindor Bellinis. Too early-ish for butterbeers but peach and strawberry purees with bubbles? Totally appropriate. Rita Skeeter would definitely have been in on this. I made the purees that morning and it was a really nice, fresh touch. Just fruit, little water, little sugar and done. I drank the purees straight when the champagne ran out/it was time to go to the museum. Cam is mixing it up with both team colors in one glass (wine glasses are new from Pop Pop- thanks Arnie Baby!).

The creamed spinach process from the night before. Ree's not even attempting healthy at this point but each person only had about a tablespoon so I'm not feeling all that bad. Although we did re-purpose the leftovers into spinach dip during happy hour that night....

Last but certainly not least...Butterbeer Banana Muffins (with Dementor-Inhibiting Dark Chocolate Chips). And a recipe because you've certainly been patient enough. The following uses Sassy Radish's Bourbon-Spiked Banana Bread as a base which she apparently adapted from Martha. In case you weren't already excited enough.

Butterbeer Banana Muffins

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla ( I was out so I scraped the seeds from 1/2 a Madagascar bourbon soaked vanilla bean. It totally worked in case that's part of your pantry scene. Also- I'd like to buy you lunch.)
• 1 Tablespoon Butterscotch Schnapps
• 2 Tablespoons Meyers Dark Rum
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with wrappers, set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, schnapps, rum and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into muffin pan that's either been greased or lined with muffin wrappers.
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean or only with shiny chocolate remnants, about 30 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

It could totally be that people were just humoring me but brunch and the muffins were a big hit and no one had the soul sucked out by the infamous guardians of Azkaban. My job here is done.

Amanda got some forbidden photography from the exhibit! Buckbeak, the cemetary (RIP Cedric), Harry and Voldemort's wands below!

-Geek Out

Will Work for Food

I'm pointing you elsewhere today. To a lovely place in a darling other corner of the internet where I'm talking about the same things I usually talk about here, only I actually got to do it as part of my job with Edelman, blogging for the Mushroom Council over at The Mushroom Channel.

I know I've mentioned it before because Scoop about made my day yesterday when she said she'd been reading it. It's like starting TKTC all over again with the wondering and all the excitement of a new project!

That's me talking over there today. It's not always me- sometimes it's people considerably more famous than I am like The Wednesday Chef, Kath Eats, Eat Live Run, the founder of TASTESPOTTING or We Are Not Martha. I'm obviously in good company. If it were tennis, I would be "playing up" so to speak. And you would be ducking... luckily I'm somewhat safer in the kitchen.

As for this post in particular, I bought a pound of mushrooms, sauteed them in a lot of goodness and then scattered them into meals throughout the week as an experiment for work. Pasta Yia Yia, omelets for dinner and the ultimate dinner party dish are all included. I need to find a really cute T-shirt that says "Will Work for Food," it's true on every level.

Seriously, I'd probably come wash your car if you made me lemon squares and a BLT. We should talk about that when it gets a little warmer out.

In the meantime, please go find out how to make weeknight dinners a little easier and a little healthier.

Happy weekending to all and to all a good afternoon!

PS If you want to win one of these (below), let me know when you post a mushroom recipe!