Marcella Cooking Stuff • October 18th - October 24th
October 18th - October 24th
Well, it's officially cold season. The weather went from 80s to 40s quite literally overnight. You know the blissful few weeks in fall and spring where the weather is perfect and you leave the windows open 24/7 to enjoy the comfortable breeze? Well, we skipped right over that and went from AC to heater.
I'm currently plopped on my couch in our upstairs living room. My heating pad has come out of hibernation for the season. It will stay at this couch through March and myself and the cats will fight over it for extra warmth. My Feu De Bois candle is lit (the number one candle for the cold season) and my shearling-lined slippers are on. I bought them when we moved to Kansas City at the end of winter because my California toes experienced a morning chill like never before. This is my spot during the cold seasons and in between writing and Instagramming, I stare out past my deck watching squirrels climb the trees and the constant sprinkling of yellow leaves. I love every part of this.
I'm embracing the fall produce and haven't been disappointed yet. If you are sad without tomatoes and melons I encourage you to dive into squashes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, pomegranate, apples, and pears. Good pomegranates are only in season through November. You'll be able to find them through December, maybe January, but pick up some fresh ones at the farmers market in the next few weeks. Before you know it we will be in the middle of citrus season.
Butter Update:
If you remember from , one of the butters that I tested was Lewis Road Creamery's Sea Salt Crystal Butter. It was wayyy too salty and unenjoyable. I was disappointed. Well, Lewis Road Creamery sent me a box with their entire line of products to try and this week I sat down and tried them all.
I would like to note that this isn't sponsored. They sent the butter as a thank you for using and shouting them out. I wasn't paid or asked to share my thoughts. I just genuinely love butter and wanted to do a side by side test.
Sea Salt Crystal: I stand by my original statement that this butter is SO DAMN SALTY. If you like things salty you may like it but it's not for me.
Unsalted: Light flavor, creamy, and milky. If you like unsalted butter this is a wonderful butter. I'll leave it at that.
Salted: This is the Goldilocks butter. It's just right. Actually pretty mild on the salt. This butter has amazing flavor. I could taste it in the unsalted and with a hint of salt, it's heavenly. I made a second piece of toast to eat the rest of the salted butter I liked it so much.
Garlic and Chive: Not overpowering but pleasant. I felt like I was eating a delicious piece of garlic bread. Because I can not cook with garlic (Marco allergy), I'm excited to have this on hand. It would be great for baked potatoes, toast, and buttered pasta!
As a bonus I made Ghee! I have an absurd amount of butter in my freezer and saw an article about ghee in the most recent Bon Appetit. I cooked my butter until the milk solids toasted a bit. It is nutty, milky, and a little grassy. Make some ghee as a fun afternoon project one day.
Side note, look at the beautiful color of the butters and ghee! That's grass-fed dairy.
Marcella Cooking Stuff Update:
Next week will be the Olive Oil project newsletter. Marco and I have tested all of them and I have lots of thoughts. After that, the research projects will be on hold for November and December and we will pick back up in the new year. You guys sent me lots of great items to research!
The holidays are coming up FAST! I will be traveling home for two weeks. I'll be eating take out from all my favorite restaurants and cooking in my mom's kitchen. Don't worry I have been prepping her kitchen for months. I have had her buy new pots and pans and sending spice deliveries to her house.
I'll be cooking Thanksgiving there and thought it would be fun to share my favorite recipes as well as my grocery list and a day-of timeline. If you want to see how I prep, or cook along with me, you'll be able to.
Then we will tackle Hannukkah and Chrismas!
Sunday
Morrocan Chicken & Cauliflower Stew
I have to be honest...whenever I see an ethnic dish in a Better Homes & Garden/Midwest Living/Good Housekeeping type magazine I'm always a bit wary. These recipes can fall victim to being culturally appropriated. They lack the depth and boldness of flavor in which the cuisine is fundamentally rooted in. Aka they can be a little dull.
I followed this recipe almost exactly and it was good! Not mind-blowing but a solid recipe. Marco and I both agreed we wanted more...more spice, more apricots, more olives, more flavor. It is worth trying for sure. The recipe can be found on Better Homes & Gardens.
If you need help making the perfect pot of rice to go with it check out my video on cooking rice, here!
Monday
Spaghetti + Meatball Soup
I made this meal up and took you guys along for the process on Instagram! I was craving a tomato-based meatball soup. The only good pasta option I had was GF ramen...voila! Spaghetti and Meatball soup!
The details are saved in my Instagram story, here.
Tuesday
Butternut Squash Galette
Stop right now! If you make one thing this fall it should be a butternut squash galette.
I found an old Thanksgiving special Cooks Illustrated from last year and stumbled upon this recipe. I didn't follow it exactly, more used it as inspiration, but the galette I made was superb. I used my own GF crust recipe, roasted the squash and sauteed the spinach (because I don't have a microwave), and used goat chevre and manchego. Everything about it was delicious.
I found the recipe online, here.
Wednesday
Bagel-y Quiche
I'm still working on this bad boy. Got the quiche part down but having trouble nailing a perfect hashbrowns crust. I got a tip from a friend to try a springform pan. One is added to my Amazon cart and we will try it for round three of testing!
Thursday
Turkey Squash & Kale chili
This was another wing it recipe where you dump a bunch of items in a pot, set it and forget it, hope it tastes good, and call it a chili recipe. It was good! We both agreed it could have used a little more spice but we also like things on the spicy side. The squash made it a little sweet. If that repulses you, I do not recommend trying it. If you are looking for a little more veggies in your chili and a fun twist, give it a shot.
Turkey Squash & Kale Chili recipe.
Friday
Cauliflower Bolognese
Garlic + Rosemary Challah
You have seen this Cauliflower Bolognese before. It's a fabulous Andy Baraghani recipe that I love. You get to sneak in veggies while eating a giant bowl of pasta!
I'm teaching a Garlic and Rosemary Challah classes in a few weeks. I did some recipe testing on a loaf. I added 2T chopped garlic and 2T chopped rosemary to my olive oil challah...Needed a tad more salt but it was almost perfect.
Random thing of the week:
I received a beautiful gnome snowglobe in the mail this week. There was a note but it was missing the name of who sent it to me.
If this was you, please send me a message so I can thank you properly. 😊
Pet photo of the week:
The three of them together again!! I promise you I keep this bed made! They messed up all the pillows on the guest bed, that's just what cats do.
Thing everybody needs:
Again, a kitchen scale. I had a few requests to share recipes in cups (volume) instead of grams (weight). I will not do this because I want all of you to buy a scale and shift over to using grams. It is more accurate and will help you bake better products more consistently. I promise!!!
Here is a very affordable scale for $25. $25 to invest in your baking.
This morning I had a follower reach out who is an olive oil producer with a degree in olive oil tasting!! Marco and I tasted wrong, I'm not surprised. I have a ton of info and will be tasting again. This also means you guys will get a lot of useful info from her next week in the olive oil newsletter!
See you next week,
Marcella