Chocolate tiffin

Last week I had a Pi Phi Alumnae Club meeting, and it was wine & cheese & dessert. I wanted a dessert that was a little unusual, and chocolate tiffin fit the bill. I'd wanted to make chocolate tiffin since my weekend in London during my summer in Provence. It's a kind of cake or cookie bar made of crushed "digestive biscuits" that's popular with British children. I think it's similar to Prince William's groom's cake from the royal wedding, so if that isn't motivation I don't know what is.

These are digestive biscuits. I found them in the ethnic foods aisle at Publix, which I thought was funny.

It's an easy recipe and it makes a ton. I had decided to double it for some reason, which means that I had leftover tiffin to bring to tailgating and to lunch at work every day. Extra chocolate has never been a problem ever, but I think one times the recipe makes plenty. It feels so indulgent to make because of the melted chocolate. And of course you have to lick the spoon...

You have to be careful with melting chocolate, and what cooking blog would this be if I didn't warn you? I used my shiny new double boiler. You can also rig up a double boiler with two saucepans, or melt it for a few seconds at a time in the microwave.

My other question with this recipe is if there should be more butter and Karo syrup to the crushed biscuits. That's basically the glue that holds the cookie crumbs together. I could have crushed the biscuits into smaller pieces--you really want crumbs!--and that may have been my problem with biscuit pieces crumbling off and making it a little messy. But it could also maybe use a little more butter.

Chocolate tiffin
Crush 8 oz Rich Tea biscuits into really small pieces. Melt 4 oz butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons Karo syrup and 4 teaspoons cocoa. Add the biscuits and (optional) 1 handful of raisins. Mix and pour into a jelly roll pan or something similar.

Meanwhile, melt 4 oz milk chocolate and 4 oz dark chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuit mixture.

Let the tin set in the frige for at least an hour. Cut into pieces to serve.

Roasted tomato soup

As I've gotten older (yikes! I promise people still think I'm 18!) I've realized that fall might be my favorite time of year. I love the way it starts to get cold, giving me an excuse to pull out my cardigans and tights and frolic in the leaves. Or, since I live in Florida, I love the way I decide it is the end of September and I have waited long enough for soup season.

This is a Pinterest recipe I've been wanting to try for a while. If you've been reading this blog for a while or have talked to me ever, you may know that I love tomatoes. And I love tomato soup. I was probably the only girl at camp who got excited when lunch on a 100-degree day was tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. It is one of my favorite things of all time, but somehow my tomato soup-making had never progressed past opening a can. Andrew's been sick the past couple of days--which is sad, and I want him to get better, but it did mean I got to make soup. By the time I made it, he was curled up under three blankets again, fast asleep... so I ate most of it myself. You snooze, you lose?

 The perfect lonely-girl dinner?

This recipe is truly, extraordinarily good. The flavors are perfectly balanced, thanks in part to oven-roasting some of the tomatoes before you toss them in. I used my immersion blender to break up the tomatoes and make it a creamier, thicker soup, but I left some of the roasted tomatoes intact. I ate it with a grilled cheese sandwich made in my jaffel iron, which is the only reason why there's any soup left over.

Roasted tomato soup
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put around 2 cups small tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Roast them for about 15 minutes, until the skins start to break open.

Mince 2 garlic cloves and dice a small onion. Sautee them in some olive oil in a saucepan until they get translucent. Add in the roasted tomatoes, 3 cups chicken broth, 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped. Bring the soup to a boil, then let it simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender and enjoy!

How to eat an entire chicken, day 3: Chicken pot pie

Such a delay between posts, I know! But I hope that this recipe is worth the wait. It's one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. I first made it for Andrew and Andy during Christmas weekend at W&L. Neville Skyped in and Allison was there, and it was lovely. The last time I made this, Andrew was teaching late and didn't come home until the pot pie was almost out of the oven--about 7:00. The look on his face when he realized that chicken pot pie was waiting for him was just priceless. (I was too distracted with feeding him to take pictures of dinner...)

It's really easy, and you can vary the vegetables based on what you want. I've made it with potatoes before, but I really love carrots, peas and corn. I use Bisquick for the topping plus a couple of extra biscuits, but a puff pastry would also work. Leftovers are yummy, as always. This is especially good when you're using up your cooked chicken and your homemade stock... but you can also cook up some chicken breasts or whatever you have. Classic comfort food, made even better with a side salad.

Chicken pot pie
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dice an onion and 2 carrots, and sautee them in 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet with high edges. Add 1 cup frozen corn and 1 cup frozen peas. After they've cooked for a few minutes, stir in 1/2 cup flour and cook for another minute to make a roux. Pour in 2 cups milk and 2 cups chicken broth, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat, add 1 pound cooked chicken (shredded or chopped). Stir in 1 teaspoon dried thyme and some salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. Roll out biscuit dough and cut into a shape that will cover your dish. Bake until the biscuit topping is golden, about 35 minutes.

How to eat an entire chicken, day 2: Stock and soup

You remember Alexander, who went to sleep with gum in his mouth and now there's gum in his hair and when he got out of bed this morning he tripped on the skateboard and by mistake he dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running? Well, I've been having a day just like that today. I even locked my keys in my office on my way out of work. Fortunately, today's recipe was already mostly done, and pretty easy to throw together.

I've been working on a chicken this week: rosemary chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken soup. Although I made them in that order--I roasted the chicken on Monday, made the pot pie on Tuesday and made the soup tonight--I'm going to tell you about the soup first, because you start making the stock the night you roast the chicken.

I just Googled chicken stock, to see what makes it different from broth. Apparently stock is made with the bony parts, and broth is made from the meat. This means the stock has a richer flavor. You could buy either for a soup, but if you're roasting a chicken it's really wasteful not to make your own. The first time I did this, I froze my stock as ice cubes. They live in a freezer bag, and I pull out a couple every time I want chicken stock. It's super convenient, and the stock is almost free to make. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't think it would be too attractive, but it makes your house smell incredible.

Chicken stock
After you've roasted your chicken, carve or pull all the meat off the bones, and save it for later. You're going to want as much of that meat as possible, and it isn't doing you any more favors by going in the stock, so get in there! Put the carcass, bones, innards (from the paper bag inside the carcass when you started) and skin in a pot or Crockpot. Add enough water to cover everything.

Add a whole carrot (peeled with the ends chopped off) and some celery. I like to use the leafy parts that otherwise get thrown out. Peel an onion and cut it in half, and toss that in too. Add a bay leaf and some herbs--maybe some sprigs of rosemary or thyme if you're feeling inspired.

Cook it on low for several hours--all day/night if possible. When it's ready and smells amazing, strain it and discard the vegetables and bones. Especially if you're going to freeze it, pour the stock into the narrowest container you can find and refrigerate it for several hours. The fat will rise to the top and you can skim it off (kind of satisfyingly gross). Freeze it in small portions, refrigerate it to use in all your recipes or make it into soup!

Chicken and rice soup
This is a totally variable recipe, so put in whatever you like in your chicken soup. Some people prefer noodles or potatoes to rice. You can also make it come together much faster if you precook the rice and the vegetables. In that case, just cook it on low for about half an hour or until you get hungry.

Chop 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks and any other veggies (onions, turnips?). Cut your leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces. (I had already made my pot pie by this point, so I had about a cup and a half of chicken.) Put the veggies and meat in a pot with your unbelievably delicious chicken stock, and pour in 1 cup rice. Feel free to toss in more herbs or some pepper; I felt my stock was plenty flavorful, but everyone has different tastes.

Cook on low for several hours, until the veggies are soft and the rice is cooked. I'm doing mine overnight so I can take it to work tomorrow in my Snow White thermos! It matches my Snow White lunchbox, circa 1995.

How to eat an entire chicken, day 1: Rosemary chicken

Some of my readers may know that my ancestry includes thrifty Scottish Presbyterians, industrious pioneers who reached the frontier of Missouri, and Pattawomeck Indians (Native Americans) by way of Pocahontas herself. These genetic roots have left me predisposed to hate wasting anything. Sometimes I have to get Andrew to throw something away for me because I just can't do it myself. Recycling helps. So does making a week's worth of meals out of one cute little chicken. Plus, it is incredibly cost-effective. Andrew and I can eat for about a week on the cost of one chicken, some carrots, celery, onions, two cups of Bisquick and some rice. And we can do it even though both of us are working full-time.

From one chicken (5.64 pounds), I made three meals: roasted chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken soup. Today we're starting with the roasted chicken, which is day 1 of the project. Roasting a chicken shouldn't be scary, but I know I was overwhelmed by it before I tried it. I don't like touching raw meat in general, but really this was okay. (I still refuse to bone my poultry like Julia Child keeps wanting me to.) If you're an experienced chef who cooks chicken all the time, I promise that this is still an exceptionally delicious way to go about it. Rosemary chicken was probably my all-time favorite meal growing up.

Roasted rosemary chicken
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place one whole roasting chicken in a roasting pan. Pull out the little paper bag of innards from the cavity and save it for later (I wrap it up in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge). Stuff the chicken with a carrot, peeled and cut into pieces; a couple of celery stalks; and an onion cut in half. Add several sprigs of rosemary to the cavity, and tuck some under the skin or between the legs. Tie the legs together using butcher's twine (they sell this at the grocery store, but you may have to ask) so they sit above the opening to the cavity, like in the picture.

Bake for 20-23 minutes per pound, or until the interior reaches 165 degrees. Some chickens come with their own little thermometer that pops up when it reaches the right temperature. Let stand 15 minutes before carving.

I serve this with whatever veggies I have on hand. If I'm making rice--I didn't this time--I also make gravy: brown flour in a cast-iron skillet and whisk it in with the drippings from the chicken. Delicious.

After dinner, strip the carcass of whatever you didn't eat. Save the meat in the fridge for later. Put the carcass, bones, skin and the innards from before in a pot to make into your chicken stock. We'll get to that tomorrow...

Spaghetti alla Neville

First of all, let me apologize for the long delay between posts. Starting my new job has been exhausting! I don't know what I'd do if Andrew didn't take some of his afternoons to clean the house, get groceries and do laundry. So I've been learning how to cook dinners that require minimal effort by the time I get home--often by working on tomorrow's meal after dinner. I am actually one of the few kids in my generation who didn't grow up with a Crockpot, but I am learning to love mine. I get everything ready in the morning or even the night before, and come home to a delicious-smelling dinner. It's delicious, it's good for me, and it's a perfect way to end my day.

Today's Crockpot recipe comes from our good friend Neville Fogarty, who's been featured on this blog before for writing crosswords and loving meatloaf. Now my general opinion on food is, "Why buy it if you can make it yourself for better?" But... this means that sometimes it is better to buy it. If something is too much trouble or you can't find a good recipe, just buy it. I used to believe that spaghetti sauce fit in this category. Sure, I could make my own if I wanted to, but it comes in a jar just as well. Since trying this recipe, I have found that, for the minimal amount of effort it takes, it is far better to make your own sauce. That being said, I think--again, for the effort and payoff--that sticking with canned tomatoes is just fine. Yes, fresh tomatoes are great, but I don't think it makes enough of a difference here.

This sauce is delicious; it's classic comfort food. It's so easy, I put it together before work when I was half-asleep. And it makes a lot; you could halve it, but I just froze most of the extra for later. I did adapt Neville's seasonings a bit--chopping my own garlic instead of using garlic salt to taste, throwing in basil leaves and some oregano, and leaving out the mushrooms. Sorry, Neville!

Spaghetti alla Neville
Brown 1-2 pounds ground round beef (or sirloin or turkey). Meanwhile, mix together 28 oz canned tomato sauce, 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 small can sliced mushrooms and 1 small can tomato paste ("literally the small one at the grocery"). Chop 3 celery ribs--not to be confused with the much larger celery stalks--3 garlic cloves and 1 large white onion.

Drain the beef and mix everything together. Toss in several whole basil leaves (I just chop off a lot of my plant) and season with a little salt* and pepper and a few shakes of oregano. Keep tasting it to adjust the seasonings. Cook in your Crockpot on LOW for 8 hours. If you don't have a Crockpot, let it simmer on your stove for several hours.

* Check that your diced tomatoes don't have salt... if they do, don't add more!

"'Everybody is going to get to know each other in the pot. I'm serious about this stuff.'
- Kevin Malone"

- Neville Fogarty