Anne Can Cook

Last week, some of my coworkers had a dessert and wine potluck. I had metric tons of pumpkin lying around, so I decided to dig out my old pumpkin spice scone recipe. Trouble was, I had misplaced my old recipe notebook from college.

Luckily, some mad Google skills reunited me with the site I had taken the recipe from in the first place. I hadn't even remembered it was Pinch My Salt, which is a thoroughly delightful blog that everyone should check out.

Anyway. The day was saved, the scones were made, and one of my coworkers described them as "like taking a bite out of fall."

My only recipe issues were with the Ginger Molasses icing. It's obviously from Pinch My Salt's pictures that the icing should have a frosting-like consistency.

It is obvious from my picture that I never got there.

Light icing is obviously one of my cooking weaknesses. I never mastered the cinnamon glaze, either.

I was on a brief scone kick at the end of last week. I made two batches and neither turned out quite right. I used the classic Better Homes & Gardens recipe, but I substituted milk instead of cream. This was an epic mistake. It changed the texture of the scone from awesomely dense to weirdly muffinish. Oh well. The strawberry scones turned out slightly better than the chocolate chip ones.
I have learned two very valuable lessons from the scone debacle: 1. Never substitute milk for heavy cream. 2. Honey butter makes everything extremely delicious.

I also decided to make an Onion and Spinach Custard from Going Solo In The Kitchen, my new single-living cookbook. I'm not really sure what I expected, because I hate eggs and egg dishes. Here is the recipe:

1/3 cup raw rice (or 2/3 cup cooked)
2 tsp. olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup scallion greens (optional)
1 1/3 cups chopped raw spinach
1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (I used basil, thyme, and garlic chives)
1/3 cup cottage or ricotta cheese
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used Fontina).

In a large pot of boiling water, boil the rice for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a heavy enameled or stainless steel frying pan. Add the onion, scallion greens, and spinach. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes, or until the vegetables are slight wilted. Stir in the herbs.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cottage/ricotta cheese, eggs, and milk. Add the vegetable mixture and rice. Season with pepper and stir in the cheese. Spoon into an oiled 6-cup dish (I used a small Corelle baking dish). Cover loosely with a piece of foil. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 1 hour. The custard should be cooked through. Remove cover and bake another 5 minutes to brown the top. Let sit for 1 minute before unmolding. Serve warm.

It wasn't bad, exactly. It just wasn't my thing. It was too egg-y for one, and it was also sort of bland. In my opinion, it would have greatly benefited from a hearty dash of garlic powder and perhaps some salt.

Tonight, I am going to poach some chicken breasts in the hopes that the leftovers will make good lunch meat.

On less cooking related notes, I am still getting strange visitors after moving out of my parents' attic. Yesterday morning I found a small frog in the middle of my room. It was clear that he had come through the window air conditioner because he was covered in lint. I have no idea how he got from the window to the middle of the floor, though. I felt bad for the little guy, so I scooped him up and set him outside near the downspout. As far as I know he made it, even dehydrated as he was.

I am actually looking forward to winter so that nothing else invades my space via the window air conditioner.