Cooking
Honey Pepper Butter: this super simple condiment has a hint of sweetness, a hint of heat from the pepper, and tastes soooooo good with fresh bread. Recipe is new on the blog.
Other things I cooked:
Made a few seasonal appetizers for a wine night:
Beet cured gravlax by Donal Skehan - this recipe is perfect. Don’t be intimidated by curing salmon, it’s so simple and an awesome “make ahead” app that looks super beautiful. It’s so fresh tasting and lightens up any app platter. I halved the recipe since I was only making it for myself and one other person, and I had plenty left over for a few days.
Squash crostini - working on refining this recipe to post on the blog, but here’s the rough outline: roast butternut squash (cut into 1 cm cubes) with olive oil, dried thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, salt n pepper at 400F until tender, then toss with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and let it continue to roast for 5-7 more mins until browned. I let this cool and then refrigerated until assembly time. For the spread, I did fine herb goat cheese, ricotta and some whipping cream to make a fluffy, whipped spread. Seasoned with a little salt n pep. Toasted sliced baguette in a 400F oven with some olive oil. Assembly goes bread -> spread -> squash.
Friendsgiving dinner - working on summarizing my menu into a blog post for later this week. Confirmed, I will be eating leftovers F O R E V E R
Drinking
I am always on the lookout for sparkling waters that don’t taste like aspartame. I picked this up at a local coffee shop and loved the subtle sweetness without the artificial aftertaste. I’ve only tried their original, but they also have a lemon and a lime version.
Cranberry Ginger Bourbon Cocktail
Rough recipe, will work on exact measurements! Lots of ice, 1 tsp-ish cranberry sauce, 1 tbsp ginger simple syrup (just boil equal parts sugar and water, and add in some slices of fresh ginger and chill), a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, 2 oz bourbon, top with sparkling water and add an orange rind. Festive, warming, delicious!
Reading
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat*. This is my favourite cookbook/reference book. I reread it pretty much once a year; her writing makes technique super accessible.
Following
@priyakrishna - I love Priya’s recipes (her cookbook Indian-ish is in my regular rotation), but I especially love her Instagram story series “Seth Bakes” where her boyfriend bakes unbelievably intricate and impressive pastries, casually, on Friday nights.
Listening
To The Staves. On last week’s cozy theme, The Staves are a go-to for me in the fall. Their 2014 album “If I Was” was the soundtrack to my Friendsgiving pie prep.
Using
My meat thermometer*. Especially when cooking a large roast turkey, there is no better way to know if your dinner is cooked! Meat thermometers cost less than $20 and will completely change the way you cook. No more guessing or cutting into meat to “see if it’s done”.
Thinking
About what I’m thankful for, which is a lot of people, near and far.
Laughing
At Moria and David “fold in the cheese”.
—
Kaleigh
*Affiliate link with Amazon. If you can, buy local!