Holy dinner, Batman!

Y'all, if I did not make a fabulous dinner tonight, I simply knew I would perish. I was hellbent, HELLBENT!, on cooking for my T and then eating well together. He has been working awfully hard during the busy season. As an aside, the "busy season" appears, to my novice eyes, to span approximately 49 of each year's 52 weeks, but I am not in finance, so how am I to know.

#wifealwaysknows

Anyway, dinner. Because of a recent sale on Brussels sprouts, aka a direct-line siren song to my heartgutmind, I realized tonight that I was slightly inundated by them. Like, they were overflowing the crisper drawers and trying to free themselves from the too-full fridge. I roasted some last night but those didn't totally do it for me.

So tonight? My pasta with caramelized shallots, Brussels sprouts and speck. Do y'all know of the magnificence that is speck (pron: spaik)? It is similar to prosciutto but, in my humble opinion, infinitely better. I have never cottoned to prosciutto, but speck? It's like shaved, perfectly cooked bacon. 

Hailing from the sudtirol, aka South Tyrol or Alto Adige, region of northern Italy, speck was created as a means of preserving pork; making it incorporates smoking and curing techniques. I first tasted it in Tuscany and have bought it regularly in the States since, at Whole Foods or farmers markets.

Because just yesterday I'd made some fresh pumpkin puree and today thought I'd perish not only if I didn't make dinner but also if said dinner didn't include a spice cake of some sort, a spiced pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing.

I cannot even tell you how delicious dinner was. And, frankly, continues to be as I cannot stop eating this cake.

A new essay published, apple fest

I am so pleased to have had a new essay, Through Oliver's Eyes, published on Mamalode today. Thank you to everyone who's responded to it with such warm, enthusiastic support!

In other news, I've been steadily making my way through all the food we picked last Friday at Larriland Farm. The spinach has been taken care of, as has about a quarter of the kale, all the broccoli and half the apples. 

I made a pie, applesauce, and last night this roasted broccoli with a pimentón sherry vinaigrette. Scrumptious!

A slice of pie helped me start sorting out the edge pieces for my new puzzle, this painting by Mucha. I love it (painted it on our firebox long ago), but it's gonna be one hell of a challenge. 

Well, I started to paint her anyway. Then I found out I was pregnant with Jack and had to stop with the oils because of the fumes. Never got back to it, and that was nearly ten years ago. #motherhood

A day at a farm

The kids didn't have school yesterday because of parent-teacher conferences, so we decided to go out to Larriland Farm, in Woodbine, MD, to pick pumpkins and apples and whatever else was there for the taking.

As it turned out, we hit the greens, turnip and daikon radish jackpot plus all the Halloween-themed fun. Larriland's straw maze is the best I've ever been to; seriously, you could nearly get lost in there. We loved it!

It was a spectacular day, and as I'm wont to do when faced with in-the-ground produce, I went nuts and encouraged the boys to do the same.

As we headed home, it dawned on me that once again I might have been overzealous. Would it be another death-by-produce situation?

It was. I must have put ninety miles on my salad spinner.

pounds of spinach

Fortunately, I remembered that one of my favorite recipes, batsaria (aka phyllo-less spinach pie) requires two pounds of fresh spinach and so promptly decided that was what we'd have for dinner. 

The recipe is from my friend, Stephanie, whose family hails from Greece. It is so comforting and delicious.

While she makes hers in an 11 x 14 lasagna pan, I like to use two 9x13 dishes, make 1½ times the topping amount called for, split everything in half, bake both and freeze one for later. Y'all know how I love my freezer. Also, I use just one stick of butter -not because I have any issue with butter!- and have never missed the rest. 

Ah, the ways recipes become your own, even if you never forget their origins. Thank you, Stephanie!

Today we raked up 87 bags of leaves from our backyard, enjoyed our tennis lesson, and are prepping for a first grade parent potluck that's tonight. I made my Vanilla Apple Bread Pudding with Caramel Whiskey Sauce (of the gods) and will later roast some rosemary-crusted salmon for the main.