Last weekend was our last 'city break' of the year. Much to Dave's dismay, this doesn't include day trips to the Christmas markets around Switzerland and France over the next few weeks. We chose Madrid for our November break as I figured the weather would be better there than some of the other more northern cities we still have on our list. Luckily I was right.

We arrived Friday morning to glorious t-shirt weather and as Dave headed to the office to meet with his Spanish colleagues, I had the day to check things out on my own. Even with our hotel very centrally-located, that didn't stop me from walking all over the place, mostly in the Salamanca area known for its shopping. There's so much construction going on around the city, but specifically along this main drag that it wasn't the most pleasant surroundings, but I had fun criss-crossing off the main street to find cute little boutiques.

While the shopping was great, and the museums impressive (I went to 3 in 3 days), it's the food and atmosphere surrounding food that really captured my heart. Dave and I both have always been rather anti-tapas. We avoid small-plate restaurants like the plague and suffer through the big work dinners where you politely take one small piece off of various small plates for the group, only to leave just slightly less hungry than when you entered. Dave and I have big appetites and small plates just don't do it for me, or so I thought. Now I can't say that we were completely transformed into likely small plates, but now we understand the culture a lot more. Spanish people supposedly don't drink to get drunk (although I must admit I witnessed the contrary), but it's more about drinking and consuming little snack along the way so you never drink on an empty stomach. I love the idea of getting a small snack with every drink I order, especially when it's the delectable Jamon Iberico the country is so famous for.

The first night Dave and I avoided tapas completely as he had enjoyed a traditional Spanish lunch earlier in the day with various tapas. That was fine with me because I love paella and I found a great recommendation not far from our hotel. Although not the local specialty, I had to go for the seafood paella. Served with cava, it was delicious.


We enjoyed a feast for breakfast each day at our hotel, including serrano ham of course, so we found ourselves snacking during the day, but not doing as the Spanish would and having a big lunch and snacking for dinner/while drinking. First stop for us was when I spied fresh potato chips in the window -- we immediately popped in for a bag.


A few hours later, after having walked all over the city, we were ready to sit down, but again, not hungry enough for lunch. I led our tired legs to the local spot for hot chocolate and churros.


By this point, I could tell Dave was ready to head back to the hotel for a siesta, but we stumbled upon the coolest market and Dave knew we wouldn't be heading back any time soon. As he will say, there's nothing I love more than going to multiple stores and even better, multiple stands at a market, to get everything I need.


This was a fully covered market and I'm sure some buy supplies for homemade meals, but it's also a place to gather and eat. There is a stand for beer, a stand for wine, a little area for fresh bread, another counter for fish (including cooked mussels ready to eat, etc) and of course the ham stand. I immediately grabbed a number to wait my turn for freshly sliced ham while Dave headed off for our drinks and the bread. It was quite a wait, but definitely my ideal snack. Even better, somehow it wasn't even mentioned in my guidebook!

Both Dave and I really enjoyed Madrid. Beautiful buildings, great culture, amazing food obviously and a great nightlife scene. Nicole, I'm not sure how you got anything done studying abroad here!

When we returned to Switzerland, Dave and I were over ham... Luckily Thanksgiving was just a few days away and with some of the leftover turkey from our feast on Thursday, I decided to make a spicy turkey paella. I checked out several recipes and based most of mine on a recipe I found on epicurious, however once you know the basics of paella, you can really add what you like to make it your own.

Spicy Turkey Paella
6 skinny links of spicy sausage, sliced
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups paella rice (or long grain white rice)
1/4 tsp saffron
4c chicken broth
3 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup leftover turkey, cubed
1/2c shrimp
6 scallops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add a bit of olive oil to a large skillet (that has a cover for later use) and add the onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and garlic and cook for 3 minutes longer. Add the rice, stir to mix, then add the saffron and chicken broth. Stir in all the seasonings, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes.

In a separate skillet, cook the sausage until cooked through. Drain and set aside. Once the paella has cooked, stir in the sausage and turkey and put in the oven to bake for 10 minutes, uncovered.

In the meantime, cook up the shrimp and scallops on the stove top. Take out the paella and top with the seafood and a bit of parsley.


Results: Great way to use of some of the turkey as it added another variety of meat without making you feel like you're eating turkey again. Once you have the rice and the broth, you can really add whatever you like as far as seasonings and meats. Dave recently told me he likes paella better than risotto so I have a feeling I'll be testing out a few more paella recipes in the future.

I'm the queen of multi-tasking and when it comes down to it, I try to avoid any task that involves doing just one thing at once. I catch up on my favorite US TV shows while scrapbooking, watch the news while working out, talk on the phone while making dinner and the number of work tasks I do at the same time is unlimited. I find blogging rather hard to do while doing something else which is probably why I don't blog as often as I'd like to. And I have to say, for working at home and having so many potential distractions around, I stay surprisingly focused. I guess when you have so much going on that literally moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer seems an impossible task, it's easier to overlook other possible distractions.

But there is definitely one day of the year when working from home specifically comes in handy. Since Thanksgiving isn't celebrated over here, and it seems rather pointless to take the day off, I've worked out how the right amount of planning can lead to the perfect Thanksgiving feast, perhaps a little later than we would eat if in the US, but that's not a big deal.

I can see how easy it would be to get stressed out by cooking a huge meal. Obviously the pressures of family and friends coming over, hoping everything turns out, but more fundamentally, just getting everything done in time. My biggest problem is always trying to figure out how to have everything finish at the same time so it's all hot when it hits the table which is difficult to do with a limited supply of pans and one rather small oven. My other obvious dilemma is that I did not have all day to cook. But careful planning and a lot of prep made the whole thing rather stress-free.


Thanksgiving 2009 Menu:

• Stuffed Dates wrapped in bacon
• Pear and Gorgonzola crostini
• Cider-Brined-and-Glazed Turkey and gravy
• Apple, sausage & French bread stuffing
• Green beans with garlic and lemon
• Homemade French fries
• Bisquick biscuits
• Pumpkin cake
  

Since we were lucky enough to have guest this year, Dave's friend from work Andrew, I wanted to make sure they had something to snack on while I was finishing cooking. After much debating, I finally decided on the dates and the crostini. Both were easy to prepare in advance and cook up in less than 10 minutes so I would definitely do something like that again. I used a similar turkey recipe to last year and also a similar stuffing. Dave prefers French fries over any other kind of potato so homemade frites it was. I still haven't found a great biscuit recipe so I spent 10 bucks at the American Store for a small box of Bisquick, still not too impressed with the results. I turned to Paula Deen again this year for dessert and her Pumpkin cake was delicious. Actually, I just had to get up to have a piece -- I have to get it while I can because before I know it Dave will finish it off :) I just asked him and we both agreed, we might even like this more than pumpkin pie!

So while my menu wasn't too over-the-top, it was still a lot of food to prepare for 3 people. So here is the game plan I created last Sunday to make sure everything would be ready in time and I wouldn't be too stressed out at 6:30pm on Thursday.

Monday morning before work: Took the car before Dave went to work because I didn't want to be walking home with the heavy turkey, multiple bottle of cooking oil for the fries and various apple ciders for the brine. Turkey was frozen (and about 9lbs), which required 2 days to defrost in the fridge.

Tuesday night: Dave was in London so I prepped (while catching up on Desperate Housewives). Prepared brine, cleaned up turkey and put it in the brine overnight. Chopped veggies and prepped the bread for stuffing. Cooked up sausage for the stuffing. Trimmed green beans.

Wednesday night: Removed turkey from brine, dried off and returned to fridge overnight. Stuffed the dates with cheese, refrigerated overnight. Made pumpkin cake and frosting, did not frost cake until just before serving.

Thursday lunch break: Walked to the boulangerie for a baguette for the crostini, picking up autumn leaves for my 'tablescape'. Sliced, dressed bread in olive oil and baked for 20-minutes. Set aside for later. While that was cooking, wrapped dates in bacon and returned to fridge. Sliced up the potatoes for frites, left in cold water until shortly before cooking. Made glaze for turkey. Cooked up veggies for stuffing, reheat sausage, added apple and bread, put in the oven. Back to work. Swapped stuffing out for turkey, luckily there's nothing more you need to do with the turkey, no additional seasoning, just put it in and the turkey I got needed about 2.5 hours.

When Dave and Andrew arrived, about 6:15pm: While Dave poured the Champagne, I sliced up the pear, topped the already-baked bread and added some Gorgonzola, pecan bits and a drizzle of honey. Added that to the oven with the dates. The crostini only needed about 4 minutes, took that out, returned the dates to the oven for another 8 minutes. This is when it gets difficult -- the fries don't stay crispy long, so having those done at the same time as the green beans, rolls and gravy is not easy. But you just sort of go for it. The fries and green beans don't need too much attention once cooking, so prepare the biscuits which takes about 3 minutes literally. Get those in the oven, swap out the batch of fries, have your guest carving the turkey (thanks Andrew!) and start on the gravy. I found it easiest to steam the green beans until not quite done, then put them in a skillet and crisp up just before serving. Overall everything worked out pretty well as far as timing, but I know we would have been eating at 10pm (and I would have been so stressed out) if I hadn't prepped so much in advance.

The recipes:

Bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed dates: Mix 2 tbsp of Mascapone cheese and 2 tbsp goat cheese in a bowl with sliced chives. Slice into the dates to remove the pits, then stuff each on with a little bit of the cheese mixture, careful not to overstuff. Wrap in bacon (just so the bacon barely overlaps, then stick with a toothpick. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until the bacon is crisped.


Pear and Gorgonzola Crostini: Slice a thin baguette, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until crispy. Slice a pear thinly and add one slice to each piece of bread, then top with a bit of Gorgonzola cheese, a few pecan bits and a drizzle of honey. Bake at 400 degrees for 4 minutes or until the cheese starts melting. Serve immediately.


Turkey: This is my favorite turkey recipe to date (from Bon Appetit, November 2005) and I don't know if I'll ever want to try another one. While it does take advance work, needing to start at least 2 days in advance with a thawed turkey, it's well worth it and requires little work on Thanksgiving. Last year I added an herb butter rub, but this year we liked it even better following this recipe exactly, including the gravy and turkey glaze.


Stuffing: Same recipe as last year, but I used a thick French baguette instead of brioche. This year's was better, but I would cut the bread into smaller pieces next time.

Green Beans with garlic and lemon: This one is pretty straight forward. Trim the green beans and steam until almost done. Remove from steamer, add to a skillet with 2 cloves chopped garlic and the zest of 1 lemon. Season with salt and pepper.

French fries: Same recipe as last year.

Bisquick biscuits: I just followed the box directions and while they were fine, Dave didn't tell me until afterward that the ones he grew up loving were actually the Bisquick drop biscuits. Oh well, next time.

Pumpkin cake: I'm always a huge fan of Paula Deen's pumpkin trifle, which I've made for several Thanksgivings, but this year Dave and I sat down and browsed some recipes together and this is the one he decided he wanted. As I've already said, it was delicious. Doesn't feel too heavy (although the frosting is rich - make sure you have milk!), but the cake is light and moist. Nice alternative or addition to pumpkin pie. I followed Paula's recipe exactly, however when I tested the cake after 30 minutes (the cook-time the recipe recommends), my toothpick came out clean so I assumed the cake was done. I set it aside to cool, then covered it with foil overnight and when I took the foil off the next evening to serve, the whole center had sunk in -- the cake clearly wasn't done. Luckily the thick perimeter was fully cooked so I served that and it was great. But I'd definitely do a few more tests next time, as I think this one would need 40-45 minutes to be cooked though. Maybe it was my oven...

We ended the night with more wine and a screening of a classic, A Christmas Vacation. It was a great Thanksgiving and it was nice to share it with another American too, especially since he said it was his first real Thanksgiving in 5 years! Of course that makes my day :)

Although it already seems like a distant memory, Dave and I did have two weekends in a row at home at the beginning of November and as much as I prefer to be out doing stuff (particularly traveling), I put all the time at home to good use, browsing around for new cooking ideas, specifically with my new favorite fall ingredients -- pumpkins and squash.

Really there's barely any flesh in pumpkins so I figured out rather quickly that squash are much easier to work with. So after the ravioli I made only used a fraction of the filling, I was searching around to find something else that could use the prepared mixture. In my searches for recipes, I often come across other cooking blogs. I have so much fun looking through the recipes because they really reflect the personality of the blogger, plus my favorites share little stories and it's always fun to learn about how other people relate to food and fit cooking into their lives. Some are busy moms on a budget trying to come up with things their kids will eat, others have truly gourmet ideas. I'm most often drawn to ones that are somewhere in the middle -- creative dishes made from fresh, seasonal ingredients, but nothing too fancy that I couldn't make on a weeknight. Here's my latest favorite -- I've made 2 recipes from her blog over the past week, and as seems to be the theme with most of these cooking blogs, I made a few tweaks to make it my own.

Technically I've never had pastina, but we've probably all had some form in our lives. Basically pastina is really small pasta - think alphabet soup. It's a staple in Italy and I've even read that Italian babies are introduced to solid food by it (and not only on Proud Italian's blog!). My first bite of this dish made me realize why it's such a staple in Italy, it's home-cookin', comfort food. The consistency is similar to that of risotto, but it's almost as if the little bits of pasta just melt together; it doesn't have the bite of risotto. Oh, and while it doesn't actually need to be served in a pumpkin, it makes it so much more fun!

Squash Pastina in a Pumpkin, serves 2
2 small pumpkins, top cut out and seeds removed
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 butternut squash, cut in half and seeds removed
1c leeks or onions, chopped
a few springs fresh type
1/2c pancetta or other small diced ham
4c chicken broth
1 1/2c pastina (small pasta of your choice, I recommend really, really small pasta)
Parmesan cheese
parsley and sage to serve

Turn the oven on to 375 degrees F. Place the squash and pumpkins on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes or until tender. You'll need to watch the pumpkins as they may cook up faster and they should be firm enough to hold the soup.


In a saucepan over medium heat, add a little olive oil and the leeks or onion. Cook for several minutes until softened, then add the ham (this can be left out for a vegetarian version, obviously using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth as well); cook until lightly browned. Add the chicken broth and bring to a slight boil. Add the pastina and once al dente, scoop in the prepared squash and stir to mix. Grate in 1/2c of good Parm cheese and stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper, or even crushed red pepper, to taste (if you use ham, that may give it enough salt) and top with chopped sage and parsley.

Results: This is a new McDowell favorite. It's a little soupy so I wasn't sure what Dave would think but he liked it even more than risotto. Squash is so good at giving food a depth of flavor without actually tasting like a vegetable. Since I used the leftovers from the risotto, mine had more leek and sage flavor as well. It's also fun to eat out of the pumpkins because you can scoop the insides out along with your pastina. The pumpkins did hold up after several servings too!

I'm counting down the days until Dave and I get our new camera when we're back in the US at Christmas. While I don't think the camera itself is always the problem, it's always disappointing when my dish doesn't look nearly as good in the photo as it does in person and especially when it doesn't capture how tasty it was in general and I feel that this recipe is a prime example of that.

This recipe for Cheddar Dogs with Cider-Braised Leeks and Apples immediately caught my eye. But we definitely can't find cheddar over here and having hot dogs for dinner isn't the best idea. I really liked the idea of leeks and apples together, so the obvious choice seemed to be pork chops.

I think that pork chops can be so boring and while they usually taste good, my basic preparations of them can be pretty boring. So with my new-found love of leeks, I was excited to test this one out. It definitely added a dimension and balanced out the sweetness of the apples. The colors are still rather dull, even with a sprinkling of parsley, but it was pretty tasty.

Pork Chops with Braised Apples & Leeks
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 cups (generous) thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only)
1 apple, peeled, cored, diced
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
Pinch of ground allspice
Coarse kosher salt
1 1/4 cups apple cider
4 pork chops
2 tsp chopped parsley

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and apple. Cover; cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Mix in caraway and allspice; season with coarse salt and pepper. Add hard cider; bring to boil. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the pork chops. Simmer, uncovered, until most of liquid is cooked away, about 16 minutes.



Serve a pork chop over rice or potatoes and top with the leeks and apples. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Results: A nice change to pork chops that so often have apples, but not the leeks. The pork chops stay tender while the sauce reduces and infuses them with flavor.

I love Indian food and definitely can't get enough of it living in Switzerland, but Dave and I always go for curry when we're in London. I've experimented quite a bit with curry at home and find it definitely takes practice and a lot of trial and error to get it just how you like it.

I've stuck to making Thai curries lately as they seem easier to me and aren't as heavy. But I saw this recipe in my Donna Hay magazine and the photo made it look so delicious. I don't think mine turned out quite as appealing, at least from the photo, but it was nice to have a heartier curry for a change and while it may not have looked as pretty, it still tasted pretty good.

Lamb Potato and Pea Curry

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 large potato, cut in large cubes
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2/3-1 lb lamb stew meat/cubes
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp curry powder (of your desired heat)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1/4c coconut milk
1c frozen or canned peas
crushed red pepper, if desired
fresh coriander, to serve
Jasmine rice, to serve

Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the potato and cook for 15 minutes or until tender, stirring so they don't burn. Remove from the pan.


Add the remaining oil to the pan and increase the heat to high. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for 3 minutes or until soft. Add the lamb, garlic, coriander, cumin, curry powder and chili and cook for 3 minutes or until browned.

Add the tomato, coconut milk, peas and potato and cook for 5 minutes. Top with coriander and serve over rice.

Results: I played around with the seasonings a bit and ended up adding quite a bit of various curry powders and garam marsala (more than listed above). It still wasn't getting the heat I wanted so I continued to add crushed red pepper. I would love to take an Indian cooking class because Indian curries are really hard for me to get the perfect amount of heat without completely upsetting my stomach. Even with this one, it still didn't have the amount of heat I was looking for, but it was still good. I think I prefer Thai curries though and using paste may be a better idea. This was a nice change from the curries I usually make, but I found it rather heavy with all the potatoes, especially since the potatoes seem to be so starchy here in Switzerland. I think I'd use half as much next time and cut them into smaller pieces.

Based on a recipe in Donna Hay magazine, issue 45.

If you've never poached a chicken or made your own chicken stock, I definitely recommend it. I can't think of a better house-filling aroma and it's a great way warm the house and the body on the first cold nights of the season. It's surprisingly easy as well, basically throw a bunch of chopped veggies in a large pot with the chicken and cover with water and before you know it, you'll be following the smells to the kitchen for a taste.

Chicken soup is still my ultimate comfort food and my fallback for many meals. Whether it's dinner when Dave is away on business, when I make it a bit more complete with vegetables and chicken, or a quick lunch of noodles and broth when I haven't been to the grocery store, I like it in all forms and appreciate the simplicity of the basic ones and love the heartiness of others. In the end, they all get the job done.

There will probably be a theme of soups, stews, chilis, etc over the next few months, but this is another prime example of a satisfying soup that simmered all afternoon and was enjoyed for several days after.

Basic Chicken Soup

Chicken stock:
1 whole chicken (insides removed)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
water to cover

soup:
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1c small pasta
salt and pepper to taste
chopped flat leaf parsley for serving
meat from chicken
stock

To make the chicken stock, put the chicken, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaves and pepper corns in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken, shred the meat and set aside. Strain the stock, discarding vegetables.

Return the stock to the pan with the celery, carrot, pasta, shredded chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is done and the vegetables are tender. Top with parsley.

Results: This is so satisfying and I found that you can adjust the heartiness by choosing different vegetables and pasta. I used shells and used the whole box, whereas using something like orzo and more finely-chopped vegetables would produce something a bit less rustic. While the stock smelled amazing while cooking, when I tasted it, it didn't have much flavor so adding salt is definitely necessary and I think I would even add it when cooking the stock by itself. I also let the stock simmer for another hour after I removed the chicken. I'm not sure if this does much as the chicken bones aren't in there anymore, but I just loved the smell and it definitely didn't hurt the taste in the end.

I rarely make desserts. I like to bake and I like treats, but I really don't have much of a sweet tooth so I'm much more of the occasional treat kind of person. I was talking to my friend Jenn on the phone though, and she's a great baker, pies are her specialty, and we were discussing what we had made lately. Her little boy is 9 months old and each month they celebrate his birthday with a treat of some sort. So we got to discussing what she was going to make and by the time I got off the phone, I was craving chocolate cake and was ready to make one.

Now I'm one of those people that believes if you're going to indulge, you might as well go all the way. Forget fat-free cake, as long as you're not eating it every day, I think that you should go for the real thing. I also believe that if you eat something, particularly chocolate, that's really good quality, you don't need much and you probably won't crave it again for a while.

So that brings me to the next dilemma, what do we do with a massive chocolate cake? I think this is another reason I don't bake very much. Not only can you be less creative (at least if you don't know what you're doing, since baking is so precise), but if you always eat all of the finished product, you'll really be in trouble. I've taken to making half-batches of cookies occasionally, but it's not like you can just half a cake. So I decided to go for it and Dave's work got a huge portion, but Dave and I still ate far more than we should have.

So 7 chocolate bars and several cups of powdered sugar (for the frosting alone!), here is the ultimate chocolate cake, from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking.

4 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2c boiling water
2 1/2c cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1c unsalted butter, at room temp
2c white sugar
4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1c buttermilk at room temperature

frosting:
1 1/2 lb bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2c unsalted butter, at room temperature
3c powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Position the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Butter the paper and dust the bottoms of sides of the pans with flour.

Place the chopped chocolate in a small, heatproof bowl, Pour boiling water over the chocolate and stir to mix. Set aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of parchment paper. Set aside.

Combine the butter and granulated sugar and mix (with a standing or hand mixer if possible) until the mixture is light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla, then beat in the cooled chocolate mixture.



Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in one-third of the dry ingredients until almost fully incorporated. Fold in one-half of the buttermilk, then fold in another third of the dry ingredients, followed by remaining buttermilk. Add the remaining dry ingredients and using a lightly lifting motion and turning the bowl continuously, fold in until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Do not fold too vigorously or the cake will be tough. Keep the parchment paper for later.

In a different bowl, (using a balloon whisk, stand mixer with whip attachment or handmixer), beat the egg whites until medium peaks form. The whites should fall over gently when the whisk or beaters are lifted. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly. Bake the cake layers until a toothpick inserted into the center of a layer comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.

Transfer to wire racks and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of a cake and invert them together. Lift off the pan and peel off the parchment. Repeat with the remaining cake layer. Let cool completely on the racks. Cover the cake layers with a clean, slightly damp kitchen towel so the outsides don't dry out.

To make the chocolate frosting, place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double broiler placed over (and not touching) barely simmering water. Heat, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate melt.


Remove from over the water and set aside to cool and thicken for about 10 minutes. Sift the powdered sugar onto the parchment paper, then whisk it into the chocolate along with the vanilla.

To assemble the cake, cut each layer in half horizontally, for a total of 4 layers. Using an icing spatula, spread just under 1/4 of the frosting between each layer which should leave you with just over 1/4 of the frosting for the top and sides. Transfer the cake to a serving plate before frosting the top and sides.


Results: It lived up to expectations and even looked like the photo in the cookbook. Even a skinny piece could satisfy most chocolate addicts for a month but don't let that think it actually stopped us from each a piece for the next few days. I wouldn't say this cake is easy to make, but it's not too hard, especially if you're comfortable beating egg whites and specifically with folding them into the batter gently. My biggest problem with this was actually finding some of the ingredients. Don't get me wrong, chocolate is easy to find here, but they don't have any baking chocolate so it took some research to find out which chocolate is bittersweet versus semisweet. Vanilla also wasn't easy to find and I had just finished my bottle from the US. They had vanilla butter, among other mini bottles but I found one that worked. I went to 3 stores before finding powdered sugar -- I'm not sure how exactly I would have substituted that one. And cake flour wasn't available anywhere, but I had gotten a tip online about reducing the portion of flour and adding some cornstarch. This seemed to work fine. As far as the preparation, I would recommend using a square of parchment paper and letting it hang over the edges of the cake pan when baking. I had a hard time getting the cake out and had to hit the pan several times, which caused the cake to crack a little. It was fine, but slicing it horizontally to add the frosting was a bit touchy as well. Overall a huge success, but if I make it again, I hope we have a house full of friends and family to help us enjoy it! :)

We traveled to Cincinnati over Halloween weekend, arriving back in Geneva at 8am Monday morning, definitely brutal. With catching up on work from being out the previous week, I had no time to plan meals and did what I usually do when we haven't been to the store lately, head to the freezer. I had picked up some entrecote steaks and figured a straightforward steak-and-potatoes meal would be easy enough. Surprisingly my thyme is still alive in the flower box and I had most of the other ingredients for several recipes I saw in my new favorite food magazine, Donna Hay.

I am a believer in preparing steaks simply and this recipe adds just a little something with the use of hot English mustard.

Mustard-Crusted Beef with Thyme Butter

2 tsp hot English mustard
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt flakes
2 entrecotes/rib eyes

thyme butter:
6 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

mashed potatoes:
1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp butter, chopped
1/3c heavy cream (warmed)
salt and pepper to taste

Place the potatoes in a saucepan of salted cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and return to the pan. Roughly mash with a masher or fork. Add the butter, cream and salt and pepper. Taste and season more if necessary.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine mustard, oil and salt in a small bowl, then brush on the beef. Cook as you prefer (oven, grill, stovetop), I cooked for 5 minutes per side in a hot skillet on the stovetop. Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes.

To make the thyme butter, melt the butter in a pan over high heat, add the thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Scoop out mashed potatoes, then top with a steak and spoon the thyme butter over the steak and potatoes (and green beans if you're using!).

Results: Obviously butter makes everything even better, but this turned out really well regardless. You don't really taste the mustard at all, but there is a depth of flavor. The salt seasoning is perfect as well and it wasn't at all necessary to add salt after cooking.This was such an easy dinner too, could easily be prepared in 20 minutes, especially since you can do the butter and steaks while the potatoes are boiling. This was definitely one of Dave's favorites as well, but anything with steak usually is.

Recipes from Donna Hay magazine, issue 45.

Although I still cook regardless of how busy I am, it's the recapping of the meals on the blog that doesn't happen as quickly and regularly as I would like. I'm also far less creative with my dishes when I'm busy with work and traveling, hardly having time to go to the store, let alone brainstorm menu plans and create shopping lists. But on weekends that we are home, I really enjoy trying something new and usually that involves several hours in the kitchen and and seemingly every dish, pan and spoon in the kitchen left for Dave to wash. Although he admitted last night's cleanup was a bit extreme, he usually thinks the results are worth it.

I'm not only grateful for Dave's help cleaning up my dishes, but he also never has an issue with me getting culinary toys, no matter how little storage space we have. I'm usually fairly cautious with these purchases anyway, trying to avoid electronics that we'll only be able to use in Switzerland and generally telling myself I can wait until we move back for some of these purchases. But before we moved to London, I picked up a pasta maker and decided to get the ravioli attachment too. I've used the pasta maker on numerous occasions, but haven't gotten around to testing out raviolis. I decided that would be a perfect rainy Saturday afternoon activity and after some discussion with Dave, picked up a squash at the store to be the main filling.

I consulted several recipes online, but in the end created my own filling and used the base of a sauce recipe I found online but added several other ingredients.

Leek, Squash & Prosciutto Ravioli with Gorgonzola sauce

Pasta:
2 1/4c flour
3 eggs lightly beaten

Filling:
1/2 squash
5 slices of thin prosciutto, chopped
3 large sage leaves, minced
2 leeks, white and light green parts only (1/2c), finely chopped
dash of nutmeg
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
1 leek, (white and light green parts only) chopped
1 Tbsp flour
1c milk
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
3-4 oz gorgonzola
salt and pepper to taste

To make the filling, roast half of a squash in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until soft throughout. While the squash is cooking, heat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add the leeks and prosciutto; cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the sage and stir, then remove from the heat. When the squash is done, scoop out the softened inside and add to the saucepan of leeks. Stir to mix, then add a dash of nutmeg and the cumin. Taste, then season with salt and pepper as necessary. Let cool before stuffing the ravioli.



For the recipe for homemade pasta, click here. If you have a ravioli maker, follow the instructions for adding the filling and pressing out the ravioli.




If you don't have a ravioli maker, I'm sure you can make them yourself. Fold one batch of the rolled out pasta (which should be a long piece) in half, then open up again. On one side of the fold, dot the filling in small batches, in twos (should look like an ice tray), leaving room between for the edges of the ravioli. Fold over the other side of the pasta so it's on top of the filling, then press down in the middle and between raviolis. Use a knife to cut into pieces, then use a fork if desired to form the edges of each ravioli.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the ravioli in batches, careful not to crowd. Generally raviolis can be removed once they float to the top of the pot, but I found these needed about 3 more minutes.

To make the sauce, add a little olive oil and add the leeks; cook for 3 minutes over medium heat. Then add the flour and milk and whisk together, let thicken for several minutes and remove from the heat. Add the butter and gorgonzola, taste and season with salt and pepper. Pour a spoonful over the ravioli.



Results: This definitely was a process and I think I'll need to do a few more tests before mastering ravioli, but it still turned out well. I realized that you only use about a cup of filling for the 1 lb of pasta so I have a huge amount of filling left that I'll need to find something to do with (I used a whole squash). You also should only add a little filling at a time, maybe up to 2 Tbsp, otherwise it really messes up the process as you get filling in the cutting wheel. I would maybe try a blue cheese next time as well as I thought the gorgonzola would have a lot of flavor but I found myself needing to add more and more salt to the sauce.