The Empty Cellar

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Tonight will be a meal if indeterminacy. The meat will be a pot roast I got on sale for twelve dollars. The vegetables will be grilled zucchini and yellow squash in a red pepper vinaigrette sauce. The pasta is a cheese risotto. The wines are…well…budget. The whole meal is budget. The pot roast just begs to be thrown into a fire by some primitive tribal chef.

The wines. The white will be a Sutter Home Moscato. My wife bought it at Wal-Mart. I have no idea what to expect. The red is a Mirassou Pinot Noir. I picked it up on a whim at Safeway because there was a man offering tastings in the wine department. It it wothwhile to note that Safeway has a rather considerable wine department that is well stocked – probably the best supermarket wine selection in the area. The flavor was good, with the usual fruityness but it was hot in the bad way, not hot in the good way that a Zinfindel is. I decided to take a chance, picked up a bottle, and put it straight in the decanter when I got home. It has been there for roughly 4 hours as I type this.

Owen will be handling the canine dining arrangements for the evening.

I am having a few glasses of Four Roses Kentucky Bourbon as I am cooking. I am concerned but hopeful that we will not have any accidents like the time I burned my upper forearm or the time the grill caught on fire and was billowing black smoke. Now is not the time for pessimism!

The results:my wife was very polite. She told me that I worked miracles with the cut of meat I bought. Seriously I know that a pot is an integral part of a pot roast but I was feeling bold. The meat was not as tough as I thought it was going to be, but it was tough. It was also fatty. Fatty can be good when it is marbled in the meat, but not so good when it is hanging off in great dripping globs. IT was passable. I used my workhorse rub – kosher salt, paprika, garlic powder, and fresh ground red pepper.

The wine was…well, mediocre. It was not a Pinot. It was sort of like a Merlot. I mean it wasn’t bad, it was a passable example of a Merlot. This would be great if it didn’t say Pinot Noir on the bottle.

If anyone has thoughts on my next random act of cooking, feel free to drop a comment.

Pumpkin Moon Pies

03/13/09 @ 06:00:00 am, by Kate Hopkins 263 views • Categories: Cookies

Cookies

• 3 cups All Purpose Flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 Tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling

• 3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and the vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. Then whisk in individually the pumpkin , and then the eggs, and finally the vanilla. After these have been thoroughly whisked in, add the flour mixture one cup at a time, incorporating it thoroughly before adding the next cup. Repeat until all the flour has been added.

Spoon or scoop the batter, one heaping tablespoon at a time, onto cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper, separating each cookie by one inch. Place in oven to bake between 10 to 12 minutes, or until the top of the cookie starts to crack. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Repeat until all the dough has been used.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whip together the softened butter and cream cheese until well combined. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. A hand mixer or bowl mixer will work wonders here.

After the cookies completely cool (as a heated cookie will melt the filling), place 1 tablespoon of filling on the bottom of a cookie. Top with another cookie and smoosh until filling start to leak out of the sides. Repeat until all cookies have been used.

Place cookies in refrigerator for thirty minutes.

Makes 2 dozen cookies, give or take