Watership Down Kitchen

The days are getting shorter and colder. Even on a gloriously sunny, clear day, that crisp chill is in the air. It is the perfect time cook the kind of dishes that take all day to make and fill your kitchen with warmth and incredible smells. This dish is sweet, seasonal, filling and incredibly delicious. I think of it as the autumnal cousin of pulled pork. Our braising liquid is hard cider and apple cider vinegar. The hard cider is sweet and reduces into an almost syrupy glaze, while the vinegar complements the fatty pork. Sage is pork’s best herb friend, and marries perfectly with apple. Butternut squash is in season, roasts easily in the oven, and also tastes delicious with sage and apple. The spaetzle is a fun, easy to make fresh noodle; I think it goes well with pork dishes so I used it here. The glazey-sauce clings to it beautifully. All credit here goes to Chef John, my culinary sherpa. I do cook my pork longer than he recommends since I want it to be falling a...

Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but sometimes I discover a baking supply in my kitchen that I forgot about. Today I stumbled upon a bag of butterscotch morsels I bought a few months ago and never got around to using. Since today is a lousy, rainy day, it seems positively providential that I should find a misplaced morsel to use in a chewy, warm baked good. I follow the instructions on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse Butterscotch Morsel bag almost to a T, but I do make what I feel are two important changes. First, I use dark brown sugar instead of light to up the treacly, dark flavor of the bars. Second, I add nutmeg; it adds a spicy warm undertone that I think suits butterscotch perfectly. Enjoy! Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 sticks softened butter 1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 2/3 cups butterscotch morsels 1 cup chopped walnuts ...

I love scrambled eggs, and I prepare them in several different ways; the American diner way with large curds, the French way with tiny curds and a custard-like texture made over a double boiler, and this way which seems to be a happy medium between the two. I get the rich, creamy small curd with the ease of using a frying pan.  Chives are one of my favorite members of the Allium genus (which includes leeks, scallions, shallots, garlic and onions). Chives have a lovely mild onion flavor, are easily snipped with kitchen shears, grow easily where I live, and add lovely greenery to any dish.  I wanted my scrambled eggs to have a cheese component, and so selected my favorite soft cheese: goat cheese. I love the saltiness and tang. The tanginess of goat cheese is due to its higher proportion of medium-chain fatty acids (caprioc, caprylic and capric acids, from the Latin capra for goat) as compared to cow milk.  Serve this on your favorite piece of toast, and ...

I dearly love banana nut muffins. Moist, textured and sweetly spiced, they are always a morning delight. I look forward to seeing the bananas I buy go brown because it means that banana muffins or bread will closely follow.  I make simple banana nut muffins so often that this time I needed to switch it up.My other favorite muffin in the world is blueberry, and I happily have both leftover blueberries and brown bananas in my house. Problem easily solved; let’s combine the two muffins into one super muffin! Of course, no muffin can be considered super without a cream cheese frosting drizzle on top. If you want optimal muffins, you will opt in on the optional drizzle. Enjoy! Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 stick of butter, melted 3 large ripe bananas, mashed 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup sour cream 1 ...

It’s a crisp fall day. I just got home from teaching, I am tired and cold and I need a dish that is fast, makes minimal dishes to wash, and is full of comfort. The answer is a one pot chicken and rice dish I can make on the stovetop. This dish is creamy, garlicky and super simple to make. The jasmine rice is sweet and floral, and chicken thighs stay moist and tender. Plus, the whole meal is super cheap and you probably have every ingredient on hand or could buy them in a flash and use the express lane check out. Now it’s time to sit by the fire and eat! Ingredients: 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 sweet onion, diced 1 tablespoon butter 1/4 cup wine 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup jasmine rice 3 1/2cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 head of broccoli, cut into pieces 12 ounces of peas, thawed 2 tablespoons of hea...

As a food blogger and food lover, I tend to eat a lot of yummy and indulgent foods in a week. Happily, I have discovered several different exercises that I love doing that also help me to enjoy all of these foods as guiltlessly as possible. And for my other, non-blogged meals and snacks, I tend to eat very simple, whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, yogurt, etc, etc.  After a long, hard workout, I sometimes treat myself to a glass of full-fat chocolate milk or this lovely peanut butter smoothie. The ratio of sugar, carbs, fat and protein help me replenish my energy and feel full until my next healthy (or not-so-healthy) meal.  If you prefer to up the indulgence of this smoothie, you can use low-fat yogurt or whole milk. I also like to drizzle a little chocolate syrup in my glass; there is nothing more satisfying to me than the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Enjoy! Ingredients: 1 cup unsweetened nut, rice, soy or dairy milk 1 scoop of vanil...

Well, it has happened. Another year of my life has gone by and it’s time to celebrate with an autumnal  dessert! My very favorite desserts involve apples- apple crisp, apple pie, apple turn over, apple dumplings, cider doughnuts, apple cake, apple tart- in fact, I was wracking my brain this year to come up with a new apple dessert fit to serve in the place of birthday cake.  I was struggling until I went to a local fair and saw a very quintessential fall fair treat: a caramel apple! I mean, duh- apple and caramel are match made in heaven. I decided to marry the apple and caramel with a delicious cookie crust and a nutty streusel topping. The result was absolutely delicious and oh-so-ooey-gooey.  It may not be your birthday, but I urge you to come up with an excuse to make these bars. You won’t be sorry! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a pan of these bars that I have strictly forbidden anyone else to eat and they are all calling my name…. Ingredien...