Sweet for my...

Cooking for yourself is one thing. Cooking for someone you love (aside from yourself) is something entirely different. Every ingredient is chosen just for him or her. In fact, the entire dish should be a reflection of that person's favorite flavors.

That's what this dish is about. My sweetheart loves sweet potatoes...and correctly points out that this is one of nature's most nutritious foods. Now, while this dish still has plenty of "sweet potato value"...it also has plenty of other yummy ingredients that I know he loves as well. So, tonight, after our long day in the Catskills and the bumper-to-bumper traffic we endured all the way home, I thought I'd surprise him with this tasty dish from a cookbook that came with my cookware.

It's easy to pull together, uses basic ingredients you probably have on hand, and cooks quickly.

Sweet Potato Pecan Crumbles

What you need:

2 1/4lbs sweet potatoes

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spices

1/2 stick sweet butter, chilled, cut into small cubes

2 oz pecans

1/4 cup maple syrup

What you do:

Preheat over to 350 degrees

Lightly butter 4 mini cocottes (or a 9" pie dish)

In medium sized bowl, combine sugar, spice and flour. With finger tips, swiftly work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. It should look like corn meal. (Work quickly...if ingredients become too warm, put the bowl into the refrigerator for 15 minutes until all is very well chilled and begin again.)

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them diagonally into 1/4 inch slices. Divide these between the 4 mini cocottes, sprinkle each container w/half of the "crumble," add the balance of the sweet potatoes, finish with the remaining "crumble." Then, top with pecans and drizzle with maple syrup.

Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. I also like to place these onto a cookie sheet before setting into the oven...just to be safe. Bake for 45 minutes. Goes great w/chicken, roast and...of course...turkey.

It's a joy to cook for my sweetheart. He seems to enjoy whatever I serve. His biggest complaint isn't about my cooking, just that there isn't enough food -- now that's the way to a chef's heart!

A Summer of Peaches

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Originally uploaded by PatPix2010

Every year when the peaches first come out, I am reminded of a special summer that started simply and became one of my fondest memories.

I was living at home still and neighbors who lived down the street had a peach tree in their backyard (which happened to be adjacent to ours). That year, the tree produced an abundance of peaches. So many, that our neighbor invited us to take as many peaches as we wanted because they would otherwise go to waste.

My mother knew how much I loved peaches so she went down to the yard one morning, picked a few from the tree, brought them home and sliced them up. Placing the slices in a bowl, she then poured a splash of milk over them and called me for breakfast.

It was heaven. Fresh, light, juicy and that sweet fragrance that is -- for me -- the scent of summer.

To my delight, my mother repeated this ritual every morning that summer. She never needed to ask if I wanted them...she just quietly did it. In a family of six, this kind of attention was rare, making this breakfast that much sweeter.

Today, just the sight of peaches at a Farmers Market...or word from Produce Pete that peaches are in season...reminds me of those wonderful 2 lazy summer months when a bowl of the freshest, sweetest fruit was lovingly prepared for me by my mother. No meal will ever top it.

Dinner Conversation -- #1

"Dinner Conversations" are weekly posts about food, food preparation, the history of food or random thoughts about food or food trends... Wow. Could be dull. Hope there's more spice to this than the description lets on.


There is...as I mentioned at the start of this blog...a competitiveness that's sweeping kitchens. I believe it's fueled by a number of things, including the competition shows on television. They can be fun to watch (to a point) but I don't consider this to be the nurturing spirit that "cooking for others" is all about. For me, cooking is about preparing food for someone else, creating something for that person to truly enjoy, not about preparing something to show off. I don't think cooking is as much about the "cook" as it is about the "cook-ee"...

I was thinking about this when I heard this program and thought I'd share it. Maybe this feels like "community building" to some, but to me it just seems unnecessarily stressful...even, dare I say it, OK...selfish. Pick a chef (or two) and call it a day. Doesn't anyone remember the ol' adage, "too many chefs..."?

Tomato Season!

This is one of my favorite times of the year...fresh tomato season! Not those mealy, sickly, mushy things you pay extra for when you order a deluxe hamburger. They should be ashamed! The tomatoes I'm talking about are fresh, sweet, juicy, red, ripe...you get where I'm going with this.

Eat them for breakfast, sliced and arranged on a piece of Italian bread that's lightly toasted. Add some cream cheese and some sliced radishes with cracked pepper and you have a meal. Pour a cup of hot coffee and go sit on the porch before the neighbors start mowing their lawns.