rosemary farro with roasted grapes, shallots, and almonds

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i was a smelly homebody this weekend! i wrote and procrastinated and then wrote and procrastinated some more, and then at night we emerged to go eat salads at our brand spankin new awesome town brewery because we are hip millennials and our brewery is so cool. (now that we have a brewery, what else do we need in order for you to come visit us? a fried chicken place? a cookbook store? i'll work on it.)

i have some personal news and that's that i don't think i'm a future village champion curler of america. or maybe i'm just judging it too quickly? but ok, imagine this: because i was a former mathlete and know a thing or two about angles and curves, i was elected to be the skip, which is the position that stands down at the far end of the ice to give aiming directions while everyone else (i.e. all of your friends who you signed up with) waits to throw the stone (i.e. hangs out and laughs and forms inside jokes and strengthens their friend bonds). so there i was, spending my three units of social time for the week trying to make small talk about the fabled beer vending machine that's hidden deep in the back room of the curling barn with a total stranger and failing miserably and watching my friends at a very long distance laughing and having the best time ever. so i quit.

conveniently, the class session ended that day so i didn't need to be dramatic about quitting mid-season and letting my team down, not that i was of any real value anyway, but i'm glad i tried! it was a really fascinating learning experience and maybe i'll take it back up again once i find a teammate who is socially confident enough to not get fomo while watching a bunch of people whom they can't interact with have fun. could i put out a craigslist ad for a skip? female, 26, seeks platonic friendship with introverted calculus whiz who can lunge well. 

errmm...for now i think i'll devote all my free time to master of none. what a great show! 

i wanted to make you a grape salad as a nostalgic nod to #grapegate for thanksgiving. but i came up with this farro salad with roasted grapes, because 1) ohmygahh grapes deserve better than to be dressed in an outfit of sour cream, and 2) i'm going through a farro stage. it's such a fancy yet hearty grain! i've been using it lately where i would normally use israeli couscous or rice. (my first foray into farrotto happened over the weekend and it was a success.) this salad is great warm or at room temperature, and the rosemary, toasted almonds, and roasted grapes lend some wonderful fall flavors. i've been putting some fresh mozzarella in mine, but if you're looking for a vegan dish for your thanksgiving table, this will totally hold up without the cheese. and speaking of vegan thanksgivings, um, i think i'm gonna make a squashducken...????

rosemary farro with roasted grapes, shallots, and almonds

serves 4-6

ingredients

1 pound grapes from california

1/4 c olive oil, divided

kosher salt and black pepper

1 c farro, rinsed and drained

1 sprig rosemary

1 large shallot or 2 small ones, finely chopped

1 1/2 tb white wine vinegar

1/2 c toasted almonds, roughly chopped

4 oz fresh mozzarella pearls, optional

 

 

clues

preheat the oven to 425ºf. line a baking sheet with parchment and spread out the grapes (remove them from their stems). drizzle them with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes.

in a large pot, cover the farro with water, add the rosemary sprig and a good pinch of salt, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer for 30 minutes, until tender. drain it and place it in a large bowl. (discard the rosemary sprig.)

while the farro is simmering, place the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a small pot with the shallot and simmer it over medium heat. remove it from the heat once the farro is done cooking and stir in the vinegar. 

add the grapes, almonds, and mozzarella (if using) to the bowl with the farro and drizzle it with the shallot mixture. toss to combine. salt and pepper to taste. serve warm or at room temperature. enjoy!

-yeh!

this post is sponsored by grapes from california. all opinions are my own!

hawaij coffee donuts

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it is fiiiiiiinally snowing!!!!

and it's been coming down *hard* all day. it's amazing! best day ever. i'm wearing fleece and christmas commercials are on the tv and i've just frosted a bunch of sugar cookies, so happy holidays??? when do we open presents??

part of me wants to put my jammies on, hunker down while tim allen dad bods around in his santa claus outfit, and not emerge until the springtime, but (!) i've got curling again tonight! so hunkering down will have to wait.

ohmygosh, curling is so much fun. on tuesday we went over the basics of releasing the stone down the ice, which i loved because i got to put my yoga lunges and balancing practices to use. tonight we're going to sweep more. we did some of that toward the end of class on tuesday and i kept feeling like i was going to fall on my face but the good part was that it kept me warmer because, my goodness, that rink is cold. i think i'll wear long underwear tonight...

how many of you completed your hawaij assignment this week?? isn't hawaij bananas?!! if you're just joining us, hawaij is a yemeni spice blend and it is pronounced "huh-why-adge." there are two types: hawaij for soup and hawaij for coffee, and the kind we're focusing on today is the coffee blend. (although you should definitely get with some hawaij for soup, too.) hawaij for coffee typically includes ginger and cardamom, and then any number of other spices in that flavor realm, like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, maybe anise or fennel... in other words it is basically what would happen if pumpkin spice got swallowed up by cardamom. and hawaij isn't basic yet, so obsess over it shamelessly while you can! 

hawaij is perfect when it's sprinkled into coffee grounds (it's like cardamom coffee on steroids), and coffee goes well with donuts. so here, have some hawaij coffee donuts! they're very cozy. very tasty. very winter.

hawaij coffee donuts

makes 12

ingredients

1 c sugar
1 3/4 c flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tb hawaij (recipe below)
1 large egg
6 tb buttermilk
6 tb oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c coffee, hot or cold or room temp

glaze:

1 c confectioners’ sugar
2 tb coffee
1 tb milk
1/2 tsp hawaij

assembly:

cardamom pods, sprinkles, anise or fennel seeds, optional

 

hawaij:

1 tb ground ginger

1 tb ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

mix together all ingredients. this will make a little more than you need for this recipe. leftovers can be sprinkled in coffee!

clues

preheat the oven to 375ºf. grease a 12-cavity donut pan and set it aside.

in a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together all* wet ingredients. add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir to combine.

*important: if the coffee is hot, do not mix it in with the wet ingredients at first. you don't want it cooking the egg! instead, mix it in at the end, after you've combined the rest of the wet ingredients and dry ingredients.

fill a piping bag with the batter and pipe the batter into the donut pans, filling each cavity halfway. this batter is a bit thin, so this could get a little messy. i stick a finger over the piping bag hole while i'm transitioning between donut cavities and when piping, it's important to go fast since the batter comes out pretty quickly.

bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out clean. cool in the pan for 5 minutes. remove to a rack and cool completely.

to make the glaze, mix together all ingredients until smooth. if it seems too thick, add more coffee little by little.

to decorate the donuts, dip them halfway into the glaze and then allow excess glaze to drip off. sprinkle the tops with any desired decorations and enjoy!

-yeh!

black sesame cupcakes

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we ate velveeta and talked about messiaen. i offered a cupcake to the police man at the sobriety checkpoint and he declined it. i think i wore my apron cupcake wars costume for 10 minutes before taking it off, and then we said goodnight to the cows as we left emily and evan's. it was great! how was your halloween?? get any good candy? i got a jumbo tootsie roll. it was v nostalgic and chewy. almost as nostalgic as the velveeta.

tonight we have our first curling class!!!! i cannot contain my excitement. i've never done curled before. our town has a curling place (rink? stadium? school? i don't know what you call it) and after missing the beginner's level sign up last year, we jumped on signing up this year because how could you not try it at least once when you live in the north pole? do any of you curl? quick, give me some tips. i have no idea what i've gotten myself into.

here is a recipe that i contributed to food52's new baking book! it is an updated version of these little guys. they're nutty, not too sweet, and nestled in this book alongside all sorts of fun recipes, like marian's tomato soup cake and phyllis' brown butter cupcake brownies. these cupcakes are paired with matcha frosting in the book (you can find that recipe here) but for my halloween costume i stuck with a basic vanilla buttercream (like the one here) and decorated them on the theme of... sprinkles and teddybears? i don't know, i had trouble thinking up a good cupcake wars theme and there was marzipan and a teddybear cookie cutter sitting right next to me.

black sesame cupcakes

makes 12

ingredients

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tb unsweetened cocoa
6 tb black sesame seeds, toasted and ground in a spice grinder to a fine crumb
1/2 c unsalted buter, softened
1/4 c tahini
3/4 c sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c milk

clues

Preheat oven to 350ºf. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and set aside.

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter, tahini, and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and then gradually mix in the dry ingredients and then beat in the milk. Scoop into the cupcake tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 18 minutes. 

Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

frost as desired with matcha buttercream (this recipe makes enough for 24 cupcakes, so you only need half!) or vanilla buttercream. enjoy!

-yeh!

yogurt covered eggs in a basket

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happy halloween, friends!! are you excited or totally indifferent about the holiday? i've been pretty indifferent these past few years, but this year through a perfect storm combination of having an easy costume that i am so excited about*, not one but two invites to halloween parties, and the general urge to chill my bum off after a fun yet nutso month of traveling, i am more than ready to celebrate.

*i will be a cupcake wars contestant and eggboy will be the carpenter man that builds my cupcake display. in other words, i'll carry around a plate of cupcakes and make new friends and eggboy will wear a plaid flannel shirt like he does every other day anyway. in other other words, we will literally just walk out of the house.

i plan on spending the rest of my weekend celebrating the end of daylight savings time. is that something that people do? is it an excuse to make a cake and spend the day in pajamas? can it be? ok good.

and check this out, my eggs in a basket dressed up for halloween: as yogurt toast! i know, easiest costume ever. the toast equivalent to a bed sheet ghost, but we love it all the same! if you haven't jumped on the eggs + yogurt train yet, please get on this immediately. and if you haven't jumped on the yogurt toast train yet, please also get on this immediately. and then you will see how yogurt covered eggs in a basket was meant to be. the creaminess of the yolk and the yogurt balanced by a crispy buttery piece of toast makes for a very comforting, filling breakfast that will keep you energized for all of your trick-or-treating! i like sprinkling mine with my nice za'atar, olive oil, and the newest edition to my spice collection, berbere, which is common in ethiopian cuisine. but you can top yours with anything you'd like. keep it simple with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, or maybe go crazy and add caramelized onions. yum!

yogurt covered eggs in a basket

makes 1

ingredients

a slice of bread

butter

an egg

a big plop of plain yogurt (full-fat, low-fat, or fat free)

salt and pepper, to taste

any additional toppings as desired, like za'atar, berbere, hot sauce, caramelized onions, olive oil, etc.

clues

Cut a 2 1/2 or 3-inch circle out of your bread and spread both sides with a thin layer of butter. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and toast the bread and its circle on one side until brown. Flip them over, and then crack the egg into the hole. 

Cover the pan and cook until the egg whites are firm but the yolk is still runny. Remove the bread and its circle from the heat and spread with a thick layer of yogurt. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and any other toppings that you'd like and enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you so much to the american egg board for sponsoring this post! head over to their site to check out eggspert tips like when and why to use room temperature eggs, how to substitute various sizes of eggs, and best storing practices for eggs. i'll be especially thankful for the size substitution chart when my chickies start cranking out eggs of all sizes but my baking recipes still all call for large eggs!