Cooking mid-November

I feel like I've been cooking a lot this past week, but apparently not enough produce. This was brought home to me yesterday, when I found that I didn't have to restock my vegetables for the week.

Anyway, I spent part of Veteran's Day making ponchiki (Russian doughnuts) from Please to the Table. The dough was suprisingly easy to work with. After I kneaded it for 10 minutes (Vanya at my side, as usual), Igor found that he didn't need to do more with it. Frying them wasn't too hard, either, although it was difficult to maintain the right temperature. I'll have to try using a stockpot instead of a skillet next time so that I can attach my thermometer.

I made the doughnuts without the jam filling (making them different from the Ukranian and Polish versions) because Igor remembers them shaped as rings. But since the doughnuts were not very sweet, we ate them with jam on the side. I also tried them with Nutella, but that was over-the-top. In general, they were a success - I was suprised I ate 5 of them in one sitting - but I really wanted to make the type of donuts we had last week at the apple orchard. Maybe next time.

This past weekend, one of my best friends from college was in town, so we had her and her husband over for dinner Saturday night. Dinner was Uzbek plov from Please to the Table. I've made this dish many times before (though first time this season). The only problem was that I couldn't find boneless leg of lamb, so had to hack away at a whole leg. Thank goodness Galina was able to keep Ivan away from the kitchen! I was not meant to be a butcher - especially with the dull knife I was using. I also used Spanish bittersweet paprika (I ran out of Hungarian sweet paprika), and threw in some parsnips I had on hand (they're from the same family as carrots). The result smelled heavily of paprika, but was yummy nonetheless, especially with a modified version of the Uzbek tomato-green pepper-onion salad. Because I used white onions, I don't think I needed to marinate the salad, which was a good thing because I didn't have the time! Dessert was the apple cake, made from Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters. I used two apples (one Empire, one Spencer) from last week's orchard trip. Although I prefer Empire apples for eating, the combination on the cake was fine.

Overall, a successful dinner: Ivan was particularly taken with Yelena, Nikita got to show off his latest Power Miner, Igor got to discuss history with Crispin, and even Galina was able to join the conversation. It was so wonderful to catch up with Yelena and Crispin - I wish they lived closer to us!

As if Saturday weren't enough, yesterday I tried two recipes from the Cook's Illustrated 2009 Annual that arrived last Friday. I made French toast for the first time for my family. I was surprised I couldn't find any challah in the local grocery store, so tried out Thomas' Breakfast Bread because the slices were thicker than the Pepperidge Farmhouse bread. The French toast went over well, but toasting the bread beforehand really added a lot of time. Next time, I'll try setting the bread slices out to dry the night before.

For dinner, I made a Spanish tortilla, and learned a new trick for flipping the tortilla: slip the tortilla onto a plate, cover with another plate, flip, then slip back onto the skillet. This technique really helps when using my cast-iron pan, but I still have to work on keeping the tortilla intact. The results were yummy (creamy potatoes, not too eggy), even though I used red potatoes instead of the recommended Yukon Gold. Igor had seconds, even though he claimed he wasn't hungry.

Also over the weekend, I picked up Cake Keeper Cakes from the library. If I hadn't made the apple cake on Saturday, I would've tried a recipe from this new book to celebrate yesterday's National Bundt Day!