Plant Butter Versus The Real Thing

All this talk of planet abuse  and climate crisis has gotten some home chefs as well as professional ones to think about their cooking habits. Many feel that giving up meat and dairy will lower their carbon imprint. It will. The biggest hurdle is the idea of trying plant butters.

Guess what? They're the same. Use them.

I saw Country Crock's avocado oil based plant butter and decided to try it. I've already tried the faux beurre from Miyoko. Miyoko Schinner's plant butter is also a creamy sub in, and it's made from cashews, coconut and sunflower oils. It did have a lovely delicate taste but was a bit expensive and could only be found in Target. The Country Crock plant butters can be found in Stop & Shop and  not that expensive. Like regular butters they come four sticks to a package, perfect for baking and cooking.

As you can see, it's no different that the real deal.I've put in on a Popeye's biscuit and have used it in everything from sautes to topping the squash soup I made the other day. There was a very slight avocado taste when I first tried it but it's not that overpowering. I will be trying their almond oil based butter, definitely for butter cookies and homemade buttercream frosting. The texture will be the same so my frosting will still have that perfect creaminess.

It is time to think about how your eating habits are affecting our planet? Yes. You can start small by subbing in these plant based butters for the traditional dairy ones. 

Kitchen Wants And Needs

Every home chef wants the perfect kitchen. It has to be perfect for cooking and baking, outfitted with the best equipment and appliances. Yet is all of it worth it?Or will it just be a room full of unused junk? What makes a kitchen want and kitchen need?

Writing about food makes one want every gadget and appliance under the sun. That's what happened to me. I read and saw what professional and home chefs have and instantly craved their gadgets and gewgaws. I still have a madeleine pan from four or five years ago. I really wanted to make them but never got around to making them. The recipe is very labor intensive, involving melting butter and high speed beating. Now I recently bought two doughnut pans, one for plain baked ones and the other for fancier ones. Will I use them? Hopefully.  Should home bakers have all these fancy pans? Yes, if you're really into baking. The pans and the molds are not that expensive and if you have the room go for them. What home bakers really need is two cookie sheets, especially around the holidays and for bake sales.Also a roll or two of parchment paper will always be needed, especially if you make a lot of meringues or meringue based desserts such as pavlovas and Eton mess.Do you need icing and cookie guns? Again if you do a lot of baking. Cookie guns are great for making those buttery bakery style cookies and they can create a variety of pretty shapes. Sturdy , long lasting loaf and cake pans are a must. One loaf pan will suffice while two or three simple cake pans are all you need.

What about those gadgets that are more or less like appliances? All home chefs should have a crock pot. That's a given.It's wonderful in making homemade tomato sauce and slow cooked chili.It's also good for making homemade soups and chowders like minestrone and corn chowder. Many have embraced the all encompassing Insta-Pot which is like a crock pot on steroids. Using it a lot will pay off the price which can range anywhere from $59.00 to $99.00, depending on the make and the store selling it. They can cook everything from pasta to pot roast. Some can even be used for baking  - a boon for those who have participate in bake sales and cookie exchanges. Assess your needs before springing for one. If you feel you need something that can do a lot freeing you from the kitchen , then buy one. However if it's just one or two people or you need slow cooking once or twice a month then opt for the crock pot. Air fryers are another popular kitchen must have. I'm a big fan of them , using mine at least three or four times a week. Air frying is a lot easier than oven roasting and stove top frying. My favorite part is the beeping timer , letting you know  when the food is done. Another plus is that air fryers cook in half the time of a regular oven.Get one. You won't regret adding it to your arsenal of gadgets. Now there are smaller versions of these pods , and they 're selling for only $29.99 at Target.

It's up to you to decide what you want and need for your kitchen. As with any purchase think about if it's a need or a want. If you can use it buy it. Make that your rule for future kitchen buys.

A Family Classic Updated

It's almost fall and that means zuppa di zucca, Piedmontese pumpkin soup. Nothing beats the mild sweet flavor married to cream, veggie broth and sauteed onions.Unfortunately there was one problem with finding the ingredients - no pumpkin. Luckily there were cubed butternut squash to sub in instead.

I used two packages of Stop & Shop's Nature's Promise butternut squash cubes and half a yellow onion. The last is crucial in forming the flavor . Chop it up and saute it in a mix of butter and olive oil. I used Country Crock's plant based butter with avocado oil. It does the trick in subbing in for butter when cooking.

Let the onion pieces sweat on a low flame while you make the broth. (if you're smart you'll buy the already made veggie broth. One less step to worry about.)

I used two cubes for two cups of water.

This is a quick boil and it will turn a golden brown color.

Add this and the two cartons of squash to the onions.

Squash takes about ten minutes to cook over a high heat. I steamed it , by putting the lid on top.The cubes cooked up pretty quick.

Then it's the time to use the immersion blender.

Except there was another problem to face. It didn't work  - possibly because I gave it a forbidden thorough washing when I was using it to make gazpacho almost on a weekly basis.. Sooooooo_

To give it that satiny, creamy texture I had to call in an old fashioned potato masher . This is what my Mom, Nonna and great-aunt,  used for decades when cooking their versions. I imagine my bisnonna - my great- grandmother -used something  similar too. ( immersion blender update - I ordered one right away from Target)

Then it was adding the milk, in this case almond milk.

Use a cup and a half of it to create the traditional creamy texture.

Was it as good ? I would have liked a creamier more satiny texture but the taste was exactly like my Mom's Nonna's and Great Aunt's. It was a vegan version but it tasted like the original recipe, traditionally made with chicken broth, cream or milk and real butter. I loved it and plan to make it again with my new (!) immersion blender. I may add rice which was another delicious variation of my great aunt's.

This is the perfect fall soup.Try it with either butternut squash or pumpkin puree for a rich flavorful bowl. It's a lovely way to celebrate the new season!

Fall Food Trips

Most people think the autumn is the perfect time for traveling. It is - for both leaf peeping and food tasting. If you want to take a culinary vacation, now is the perfect  time to do it.It could be for a week or a weekend.

The idea was inspired by Tejal Rao's visit and review in yesterday's New York Times Food section She traveled from her Los Angeles home up to the  Napa Valley's three most famous restaurants, The French Laundry, the Restaurant at Meadowood and Single Thread. Anyone can recreate her trip, stopping to enjoy the traditional and lush meals at French Laundry, the clubby atmosphere of The Restaurant at Meadowood and the Japanese sparseness of Single Thread.  The Restaurant At Meadowood is part of the luxury hotel/spa so it's easy to stay and enjoy a short walk to the eatery.This is true for the Single Thread too, offering amenities you might find in a posh country German hotel in Kyoto. Keep in mind that whether you stay at this resort or a smaller place, the prices will be steep, especially at at popular destination like Napa. Check the internet for affordable inns . Also set a food budget for yourself. French Laundry's tasting menu is a whopping $310 a person for a tasting menu that includes a truffle dusted baked mac served in a golden egg.  Ms. Rao had the budget to try all three restaurant's expensive tasting menus, enjoying such dishes as corn custard with caviar and pecan oil at the Restaurant at Meadowood and fancy seasonal dishes as starters at Single Thread.

If this is too expensive for you, then think of cheaper destinations. US foodie towns are Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. There are some great fancy restaurants in these cities however Boston and Philly have food markets catering to all sorts of tastes. Boston's Haymarket, a favorite with the famous Brass Sisters of PBS"s Food Flirts, has an amazing array of locally sourced products and produce as well as Fair Trade ones. You can buy honey from the Boston Honey Company to fresh caught seafood at Red's Best. The city also boasts a host of good Italian restaurants in the city's North End. Visit Philly's Reading Terminal Market. This is one of the country's oldest , starting in 1893 and still thriving today.Foodies and gourmands can buy the best homemade sausages  from Martin's Specialty Sausage  and Pennsylvania brewed beers and even vodkas from Eight Oaks Craft Distillers. Europe beckons food lovers in the fall as well. It's truffle time in Piedmonte with restaurants in Torino and the countryside offering all sorts of dishes. Oktoberfest starts soon in Germany and fall is the perfect time to enjoy its' cities, especially Munich, the heart of the festival.. There are not only all sorts of craft and traditional beers to  sample but also a wide array of wursts, sauerkraut and pretzels. Go also for the amazing pastries like Black Forest Cake and hazelnut tortes.

Fall is travel time. It's perfect for taking a culinary based trip to experience new tastes and restaurants. Go for a vacation ans savor  it.

New Cookbooks For A New Season

One of the best aspects about the colder weather coming is that home chefs feel like cooking and baking. The chillier temps also gets us curious and wanting to try all sorts of new recipes. What better way to try new dishes than a new cookbook. There are a slew of them recently published that will definitely expand a home chef's repertoire.

There are thirteen outstanding ones that the New York Times Food section writers recommend. Everyone from Tejal Rao to Melissa Clark and Julia Moskin weighed in. There are so many exciting and  different choices out there.If you're into international cooking then check out Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking : From Everyday Meals To Celebration Cuisine (Rux Marten Publishing) written by Emily Kim, the YouTube cooking star who also goes by Maangchi. Occasional Food contributor, Martha Rose Shulman helped write this salute to Korean cooking with such dishes as tofu stews and dosirak - lunchtime meals for kids.Another stimulating one celebrating overseas cuisine is Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen (Avery Publishing) by former New Yorker, Adeena Sussman, an American food writer who moved to Tel Aviv, The cookbook came about thanks to her love of visiting the shuk or outdoor market.Middle Eastern flavors abound here. There are roasted carrots with a tahini and date syrup along with labneh with caramelized pineapple and sumac and baby lamb chops marinated in shug, a mix of green chiles, cardamon and cilantro sauce. Japanese cooking is also big thanks to Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying with their book The Gauin Cooking:Japanese Recipes From A Chef, Father, Eater and Lifelong Outsider (Rux Marten), There is the traditional gyoza dumplings and the not so traditional miso mushroom chili.

American cooking is also big in cookbooks this season. Toni Tipton-Marten's Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African-American Cooking (Clarkson Potter Publishing) is the follow up to The Jemina Code,an annotated bibliography of African American cookbook. Home chefs will love the recipe for pork chops smothered in caper-lemon sauce. Those who loved the famed San Francisco bakery, Tartine will go mad for Tartine :A Classic Revisited (Chronicle Publishing). Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson , creators of the baking empire have included a whopping sixty-eight new recipes along with their classic ones like the good morning buns. For those home chefs who love Tex-Mex cooking Ama :A  Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen (Chronicle Publishing) features vegan dishes such as cashew based queso with the flavors of charred onion garlic and  green chile. Chef Josef Centeno, used his recipes popular in his LA restaurants. Novice cooks will love such help books as Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food For Having People Over  (Clarkson Potter) written by Food's Alison Roman. She offers labne with sizzled scallions along with pep talks.Other cookbooks feature Evan's Funk's American Sfoglino (Chronicle ) along with Diana Henry's From The Oven To The Table:Simple Dishes That Look After Themselves (Mitchell Beazley).Go to the Times Food section to see the entire list.

This is the season to test out  recipes.  Buy one or two of these cookbooks and expand your repertoire. It's a fun time to try new dishes and ingredients.

Your Fall Kitchen Must Have Apples

One of the most versatile must haves this season is the apple. It can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, along with being a healthy snack. Consider it for all sorts of recipe from main to sides to dessert.

Every September I devote at least one post to this Swiss army knife of fruits. It can be used in many savory dishes. Keep in mind that there are so many different varieties and choosing the right kind for the right recipe is crucial. The US alone has 2,500 (!) different kinds with Red Delicious and Granny Smith being the most popular. Don't sub in one apple for another if the recipes says so. This mostly applies to the baking ones. If you're still in the dark then head to the website, www.bestapples.com that parses out everything about the fruit. It's from Washington State , a state vital to apple production and known for its' beautiful orchards. It's a great site that even explains the different types origins and what they're good for. Apples are great foils for pork recipes because their sweetness gives a boost to the meat's earthy unami's flavor. Slice up any kind, Gala for sweetness or the Granny Smiths for tartness. Apples are also the best ingredient for pork roast too. Can they be used with any other meat? Only chicken. They can be braised and sauteed with them. For a fancier dish , consider making Chicken Normandy, a Northern French dish that combines apples and with the lush combo of brandy and cream.

Of course apples are great in salads too. I love them with simple mixed greens, almonds and Craisins for a sweet side to tarragon chicken salad. If you have any leftover rotisserie chicken add it to the salad to make for a filling lunch. You can enhance the apple flavor with an apple cider vinaigrette or just a tiny bit of apple cider. Again apples and apple cider are key ingredients in fall baking. It also pays to have a small jug of cider in the fridge too. It's a nice refreshing drink but also makes for a zesty ingredient in doughnuts, cakes, and even muffins.It enriches the baked goods' crumb, going from yellow to a deep golden hue and adds a lovely fruity flavor . Some recipes will call for apple molasses or boiled apple cider. This is easy to make. It's a centuries old technique that requires pouring two gallons of apple cider (more or less) into a large non-reactive stockpot. This means using one that's either glass, copper, stainless steel but NOT aluminum. Boil down until there's only half left and then store in sterilized bottles (you can use your old wine ones). This syrup can be used in both baking and glazes as well as in barbecue sauces and meat glazes. It will keep in a cool dry place for months  - although it probably won;t last long if you're a prolific baker.

Apples are a key ingredient in both sweet and savory autumn dishes. Have a bowlful along with a jug of cider handy for all your cooking and baking needs. They are a must for tasty cool weather dishes and treats.

Your Fall Pantry Guide

It's time to rethink and restock your pantry and fridge now that fall is just around the corner. What do you need for cooking and baking? What  veggies should you be buying right now

? There's a whole list of ingredients that you'll need as the temps drop.

Of course pumpkin spice is everywhere, from lattes to even dish washing soap. It's basically a mix of the spices used in pumpkin pie - ground ginger and cinnamon. Each on their own is vital to fall cooking. Ground ginger can be used to give zing to pork chops and roast chicken. It can be used as a rub or part of one for wings and drumsticks and even part of breading for cauliflower. Ground ginger can also be used in sweet recipes and elevates ordinary muffins , cakes and cookies. Cinnamon is the quintessential fall spice. This ground bark from the canella tree graces everything during the cooler months.It's a must for autumn baking and you should be buy a larger containers that hold 8.75 ounces (McCormick sells these in all the grocery stores). You'll definitely use it for at home baking but it will also probably be used to make cinnamon rolls and spices cookies for school bake sales. Another fall must have is the herb sage. It's used in homemade dressings along with flavoring for chicken. Combine it with browned butter for a sauce for pumpkin or squash ravioli.

As far as veggies, what should you stock up on? The aforementioned pumpkin and squash.It pays to have one or two cans of pumpkin puree(don't confuse it with pumpkin pie filling which has sugar an all those spices in it).Yes, it can be used for pies and even tartlets, but the mash has a savory side too. Combined with chicken or vegetable broth and sauteed onions, it's the Piedmontese zuppa di zucca. This is a great soup to make on a Saturday or Sunday night. Remember that pumpkin puree can be used for ravioli filling too if you're into making homemade pasta. You could buy fresh pumpkins too but there's a lot of work involved gutting them and making your own puree. Sub in those summer zucchinis now with acorn and butternut squashes. These are easy to make and one half of one makes for an excellent, filling side. Acorn squash can also be mashed similar to potatoes. Turn the leftovers into puffs or croquettes.Brussels sprouts are on the scene again. Home  and commercial chefs alike love them. They can be turned into crispy chips or served whole, parboiled, topped with melted butter and Parmesan cheese.

These are some of the more vital ingredients you'll need this fall. Stock your pantry and fridge with them. They're important in autumn cooking and baking.