quick and easy

Fast food has become a necessity around here. It probably seems obvious considering babies don't really give off a homemade orecchiette vibe (dumplings - yes!), but that doesn't mean I don't want to eat hand crimped pasta with chunky bolognese sauce, because I do. And after three months of omelet eating I can tell you that omelets do not make a good stand in for homemade pasta goodness, not even when they are stuffed with parmesan cheese. I should have spent the months leading up to Alice's arrival expanding my fast food repertoire instead of making pound cake.

Anyway, Alice is here and we are decidedly sick of omelets so I went hunting for a recipe that looked fast and tasty. I found this recipe for chicken curry en papillote in Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. I've only ever made fish en papillote, but it makes perfect sense that the steam filled paper packages would also work for chicken. In this recipe the steam cooks the chicken, softens the vegetables and infuses the curry flavor throughout, and all in only 27 minutes, 10 to prep and 17 to cook. There's barely enough time to cook the rice. (After many failed attempts at cooking rice I now resort to the Uncle Ben's pouches that you simply drop in boiling water for 10minutes. It couldn't be easier and there's no risk of mushy rice. Mushy rice is the worst.) 

Squint and you might think the curry is fall foliage. No, but really, it's perfect for this fall weather, bright, but also hearty and flavorful. It's so well suited to the season that Zach and I are going to have it again tonight. That makes it three times in one week. You'd think that on a Sunday we would have found a little bit more time to meal plan, but we didn't and although we debated carbonara, another easy meal, this curry is easier because there's less active hands on time. You just wrap it up, stick it in the oven and come back in 17-20minutes...

....just finished said curry and it was delish. I'm glad I got my butt in gear to post this recipe because I think everyone needs it on their fast-food recipe list.

Speaking of fast, I eat so fast these days. Argh. I just never know if Alice is going to whimper and cry so I tend to hoover while I have a chance. It's not a good habit and I desperately need to break it and sloooow the heck down.  

curried chicken, peppers and peas en papillote
Dorie Greenspan Around My French Table
* the recipe in it's original form with my adjustments in parenthesis

2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts
12 thin slices red onion halved (I used 1 large shallot)
1/2 red pepper cored seeded and diced (I used an entire red pepper)
1 cup peas, frozen or fresh
(I added 1/2 a diced zucchini)
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder (I used 1 tablespoon, probably depends on your curry powder)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC

Cut 4 pieces of parchment paper each about 15 inches long.

Slice the chicken into stripes lengthwise and then crosswise in half. Put the chicken in a bowl along with the vegetables, curry powder, olive oil, salt and pepper and stir to coat.

Spoon equal amounts of the chicken-veggie mixture on to each piece of parchment paper and fold over and crimp the edges so that no steam can escape. (if you are unfamiliar with the technique you can follow the instructions on Bon Appetit.)

Put the packets on a baking sheet and bake for 17-20minutes.

Zurich is putting on an amazing fall this year. Last year, not so much, but this year has been beautiful and warm and all around lovely. Alice hasn't been taking great naps in her crib so I've taken to wrapping her up in the Moby, where she sleeps soundly, and heading out on long walks.

Also since I'm in a Dorie place of mind I wanted to tell you about an absolutely out of this world cake. It might be my favorite cake. It's a mocha-vanilla-walnut marble cake and it will blow your socks off with it's moist deliciousness. Eat it for breakfast. Eat it for a snack. Eat it for dessert. It doesn't matter when you eat it as long as you eat it.  

And here's a photo of Alice from this afternoon, our little tumblebug, about to show of her newest skill - the roll.  Love her so much I could eat her. Nom nom nommmmm. 

Swiss Miss

Alice is our little Swiss Miss. Of course she was always going to be our little Swiss Miss, but she really cemented her fate when she decided to grace us with her presence on August 1st, the Swiss equivalent of July 4th. The midwives at the hospital drew a little Swiss flag on her name card called her schätzli (little treasure). They also couldn't help but reference Alice in Wonderland. It seems that here in Switzerland the association between Alice and the rabbit hole remains strong and that's okay because our little Alice is full of wonder and is all sorts of wonderful. 

We didn't wait long before whisking our little bundle of wonder to the Alps. Zach booked our trip to Zermatt, earlier this summer, long before I knew if I'd be up and willing to pack and five week old and all her goodies into a car and drive away from the comforts of home.  I'm glad I was too preoccupied with nesting at that point to really consider what he was asking me to do. Don't get me wrong, when the time came to leave I had serious doubts - what about the car (!) and altitude (!) feeding while hiking (!) feeding without my giant breastfeeding pillow (!) and sleeping away from home (!). Thankfully it turns out Alice is a super duper traveler, but a small note-to-self - vacations with a newborn are not all that relaxing and you will end up more exhausted than when you left. Oh well, after a summer away from the mountains it was invigorating to be surrounded by peaks and fresh air and the exhaustion was worth it. 

Our favorite restaurant in Zermatt is Chez Vrony. We go every time we are there, its non-negotiable, even when getting there involves a train ride up the mountain, a rocky walk down to the restaurant, and a subsequent steeply switchbacked walk down to town after lunch. It's our happy place. I think it might always be our happy place. I told Zach that if we were ever to renew our vows we'd have to do it at Chez Vrony. This picture doesn't really do it justice, so take a look at this one, from when we were there last summer with our friends Perrin and Bobby.

The food at Chez Vrony is always good, but there tends to be a least one takeaway meal, something that I'm eager to make at home. The first time we went I was intent on making gnocchi like the ones that accompanied the lamb knuckle that I ordered. Then there was the hamburger with coleslaw and russian dressing, which resulted in many a burger with the aforementioned conditments. This time it was the plum tart. The tart was beautiful with rings of prune plums circling towards the center. The crust was thick and shortbread like with the edge pieces being especially tasty, crispy with caramelized plums and sugar. We shared one piece, and then ordered a second.

I came home and immediately googled plum tart and plum crostata, but didn't land on anything that fit the mold of the Chez Vrony tart so I stopped looking. I picked up my search again after going on a plum shopping spree at the farmers market. Once again I didn't find a tart like the one I was looking for, but what I did find was Luisa's take on Marian Burros plum crumble. I am a huge fan of the plum cake that Marian Burros published in the NYTimes and which I have made numerous times, but I'd never made her plum crumble so I figured now was a good a time as any.

The key to this crumble is the candied ginger, and well of course, the plums, but the ginger makes the plums sing. Truth is that I almost left the ginger out. I'm not a fan of ginger in general and I just wasn't sure how'd I'd feel about it messing with the sweet plums and the crispy crust. In general my mantra is to follow a recipe the first time before tweaking it so against my better judgement I grabbed a bag of candied ginger before checking out. I liked the ginger so much in the crumble that now I'm even eating plain.

So I know I said I follow recipes the first time around, I lied; I mostly follow recipes the first time around. It's just that Luisa posted on the crumble that she made, which she had tweaked by adding extra fruit, and who doesn't want extra fruit? She suggested that with the extra fruit it could double as a breakfast treat alongside yogurt, or perhaps a mid afternoon snack. Plum crumble for breakfast sounded too good to pass up, so I added extra fruit too. Luisa says to use 34 prune plums (the original calls for 12), but I just winged it and cut up all the plums that I bought from the market (all the ones pictured) and piled them in the bottom of a pie dish. It seemed like the right amount and it worked out well, so all I can say for fruit is to use as many as fill a pie dish.

Plum Crumble
from Marian Burros and Luisa The Wednesday Chef

2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp plus 1 cup flour
1/4 plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 heaping Tbsp finely chopped candied ginger
34 prune plums cut in half and pitted (or however many plums fit in your dish. I also used a variety of different plums, which worked out just fine)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 well beaten egg
1/2 cup unsalted buter, melted

Heat the oven to 375ºF

Mix the brown sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground ginger and candied ginger. Toss with the plums and mix well. Arrange the plums skin side up in a deep pie plate.

Combine remaining sugar, baking powder, flour, cinnamon and salt. Stir in egg. Then using your hands mix to produce little particles. Sprinkle the mixture over the plums

Drizzle the butter evenly over the crumb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crumble is browned and plums are bubbling.

Here are some pictures of Alice and me just hanging out in the hotel room. It turns out she likes crisp clean sheets and big plush pillows just as much as I do.

love her!

August 1, 2013

Alice MacKay Mayer

*   *   *

August 1, 2013

Zürich, Switzerland

10:32 am 

3395g (7lbs 8oz) 

52cm (20.5inches)

I started this post last week when Alice was 5 weeks, now all the sudden she is 6 weeks. There's no doubt that life has picked up speed and is flying by, just as everyone told me it would. She is a big black hole of love and cuteness; I can get lost in Alice for hours, days, weeks it turns out. 

I've started this sentence and subsequently deleted it upwards of fifteen times. I'm just not sure how to tell you about our little lady love. Let's start with the basics. Her name is Alice, a name that Zach and I both loved from the beginning, but we more often call her Müsli - Swiss German for little mouse. We like to say that there is a mouse in the house when she coos and grunts and gurgles. She's quite an expressive little girl in all the best ways. It's funny, Alice has got to be one of the loudest eaters, grunting with each swallow as if she's trying out to be a professional women's tennis player When she sleeps her hands automatically pop up near her ears like she's calling a field goal. She likes Neko Case and Chopin and dancing in the living room. But best of all she's started to smile. Who knew a smile could be so amazing? I love this little girl. 

Before another whimper interrupts my attempts to post this I'm just going to go ahead and post it, but know that there is so much more to say and share.

pound cake anyone?

I'm not sure you can ever really be ready for a baby, so with that in mind I've made sure that there's one thing I am ready for - a pound cake craving. I keep intending to stock the freezer with meatballs and casseroles, but in the moment those just don't sound that fun to make, so I make pound cakes instead. Generally each recipe makes two loaves (or I double it so that it does), and I leave one on the counter for daily snacking and slivers and I wrap the other up and stick it in the freezer. Our freezer currently contains two massive bags of frozen peas, a bag of frozen cookie dough, a pint of espresso ice cream and four pound cakes. 

Yes, four pound cakes. There is the cream cheese pound cake that I spotted on Orangette that sounded simple and lovely and like it would be a wonderful accompaniment to all the summer fruit I've been lugging home from the farmers market. It was just as heavenly as I expected. Dense but somehow delicate, perfect for breakfast, but also for dessert. And like any good pound cake, you can cut the thinest of slivers off the end with barely a crumb out of place. Slivers make for good snacks, slivers and apricots, slivers and cherries, slivers and peaches. You can see where I'm going with this...

After the cream cheese pound cake came an espresso pound cake. Espresso powder stirred in boiling water and joined by more eggs than I can remember using in a cake, half and half, flour, butter, and a lot of sugar. It's Zach's grandmother's recipe. I'm still working out a couple kinks, mostly the baking time. You start with a cold oven, only turning it on when the cake is inside. Have you heard of that before? Perhaps you have some tips. I cooked mine slightly too long. It was good, and don't get me wrong, there is one wrapped in the freezer for later, but it was missing just a little bit of the seemingly magical moistness that defines Boggi's version. I'm going to keep baking and keep tweaking and hopefully there will be a recipe for you soon.

The third contestant in the pound cake bake off isn't actually called a pound cake, but rather a snacking cake, a Whole Wheat Cinnamon Snacking Cake to be exact. When I saw it on Jess's blog and realized it was officially a snacking cake, as opposed to a breakfast cake or a dessert cake or a birthday cake, I knew I had to try it. As it turns out Jess was also nearing the end of her pregnancy when she made it, making me think that maybe there's something about snacking and cakes and pregnancy that align to create the perfect cake. And this is the perfect cake. It's subtle, which I like, but also sturdy enough to be a wonderful base for peanut butter or jelly or both, or honey, or hunks of fresh fruit. The whole wheat provides a nutty flavor while the cinnamon manages to sneak in to your senses as you're about to swallow. It's a friendly cake, friendly because it doesn't limit itself to certain times of day or certain meals, it's an eat-me-whenever-you-feel-like-it cake, and right now, that's my kind of cake. 

And last up there is the banana bread I made to keep our stomachs happy as we sat through a nine hour infant CPR and first aid course. I've made this banana bread a lot. You could say it's my go-to. But this time, I went back to the original recipe. After a healthy amount of tweaking it seemed necessary to reign it in a bit and revisit the original, and I'm glad I did. The original calls for shredded coconut, which I had initially left out thinking if I was going to use chocolate - and I always use chocolate in banana bread - that it would be too much to also use coconut. Turns out I was wrong. The coconut is not overpowering and lightens the texture a bit. Even with the chocolate and the coconut, this is still very much a banana bread. 

Banana Bread

Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything

makes 1 loaf

8 Tbsp/1 stick butter, softened 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 - 1 1/2 bars dark chocolate, chopped. 

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with butter. 

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer. Beat in the eggs and bananas. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients, just enough to combine. Gently stir in the coconut and chocolate. 

Pour the batter in the loaf pan and bake for 45-60 minutes, until nicely browned. This bread is meant to be moist, so while a toothpick should come out fairly clean do not expect it to be perfectly dry, especially with all the chocolate in there. An overcooked banana bread is a sad thing, so try your best to guesstimate when it's done. Let it cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. 

And when you've finished the banana bread make these two cakes.....

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Snacking Cake

And because I'm sure you are curious, here is my pound cake belly....I mean my baby belly. 37 weeks in the water and 36 weeks with the polka dot bag. I'm now 38 weeks, quickly making my way to 39! wow. I don't feel like the baby is going to make an early arrival, but then again, what do I know?

Since the freezer is already stocked with cake I want to spend the next two weeks squeezing some savory meals in there. Do you have any recommendations? I'm struggling to think of things and I'd love to hear any ideas that you might have.