Success is a skillet

"Success is a skillet", her grandmother said. "Come here and I'll show you." 

The little girl dropped the book she was reading, grabbed the brightly colored apron she received for her birthday and stood next to her Grandma, a woman that never seized to show her something worth knowing. 

Grandma grabbed a twelve inch cast iron skillet from the shelf, and wiped it gently to remove the residual oil from its last seasoning. Meanwhile the little girl foraged for onions, garlic, parsley, carrots, and broccoli rabe among other things from around the kitchen. Grandma said, "bring me whatever we've got and we will make something of it. Success is a skillet. The outcome depends on what goes in."  

The little girl looked on as some butter was melted in a small pan and added to it were Panko bread crumbs. They were lightly browned, mixed with fresh parsley and set aside. The girl shredded the carrots while grandma chopped onions, garlic too, always garlic, and removed sausage meat from its casing. All were added to the skillet, item by item. 

Grandma spoke as she worked methodically, sautéing the onions and garlic, filling the house with warmth and the scent of making. The little girl looked and listened; her favorite place had become Grandma's kitchen. It might as well have been a classroom. Formative learning occupied this small space.

She began, "When I was young, we had fewer options. Women were expected to fulfill certain roles. Today my darling, you can be any number of things. But I implore you to be not a thing, but a person. A loving, hard-working person. People will throw around the word 'success' at every juncture in your life. Remember that success is a skillet. It comes slow and steady, like this cassoulet we are stewing. It can't be rushed, and you won't always be certain when it has arrived. You'll have to taste it. Varying elements comprise the desired end for different people. I know my successes had to cook a little longer. I was cautious, and took my time. 

"Successes will be charged with flavor, only attained with time and careful attention. You have to respect the ingredients and nurture them along the way. With enough preparation, the outcomes truly take care of themselves. You musn't hurry or vital parts of your life will be overlooked. You have to savor the seemingly insignificant moments. They amount to so very much, even if at the time, you wish to push them aside."

"Grandma, when can we eat? " the little girl innocently asked. Grandma smiled tenderly and said, "with all this talking, supper is actually just about complete. Help me top it with breadcrumbs." She looked on knowing before her stood her most precious success.  

Ingredients 

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs 
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 12 oz cooked sausage, sliced or diced
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can tomatoes, diced or crushed
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 5 ounces broccoli rabe, roughly chopped 

To Prepare 

The recipe for this cassoulet was adapted from Weight Watchers Magazine. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set aside a twelve inch, seasoned, skillet. If you don't have a skillet, you can use a 13 by 9 baking dish, sprayed with vegetable oil. Or you can shop Lodge Skillets here. 

 In a small skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add panko and cook, stirring, for two minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool and toss with parsley. 

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat, add onion and cook until onions are softened, about five minutes. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned. Add carrots and garlic. Cook for an additional three minutes, or until carrots are crisp-tender. Add the beans, broth, tomatoes, and all seasonings. Bring to a boil and add the broccoli rabe. Stir until broccoli rabe is wilted.  Pour the mixture into your skillet, top with Panko and parsley. Cover with foil and bake until heated through, about fifteen minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional five minutes, until the top is crusty and golden.

Scenes from Sunday: Aebleskivers

Loving someone isn't always tidy. It's muddled. Hot, cold and all varying degrees in between. Like powdered sugar all over your face, it's still a beautiful thing. A circumstance to savor. Despite the inclination to do so, you don’t necessarily want to neaten it right away.

I’m especially grateful for my loved ones as I can be a bundle of emotions, and seek assurance more than the typical person. Mama says I have been this way since I was little. On Christmas, I was looking at old family photos with my sister. She had the biggest grin in all of them, holding me close to her side as if declaring to the world, “this is my baby sister.” I smiled often, of course. But in other photos, I wore a serious gaze. To this day my Dad can identify this gaze. He says, “what are you thinking about, Francesca. I see the smoke coming from your head.” While I can try with all my might to change, or lessen my introspective lapses, it makes more sense to own my intricacies and leverage them for the better.

My dear friend Sophie shared these words from Khalil Gibran with me years ago... "Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children."

One to shed a tear with ease, as stories and realities move me readily to waterworks, these words give me solace. And while my family really has no choice but to tolerate my spectrum of feelings, my indecision, and vulnerability, I know their love is voluntary. 

This Sunday, I made something that wasn't neat, but was more than worthwhile, using my new Lodge Aebleskiver pan, a Christmas present I will cherish.  If I had my way there would be doughy goodness, with a hidden surprise of cookie spread in the middle every Sunday. And while love takes patience, these Danish pancakes are best served hot, so dig in immediately. 

Ingredients 

4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups flour (Note: the original recipe recommends cake flour) 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup of butter, melted
Just under 2 cups milk
Amoretti Creamy Speculoos Natural Cookie Spread 
Lodge Cast Iron Aebleskiver pan 

This recipe is slightly adjusted from Lodge Cast Iron's A Skillet Full. 

To prepare 

Separate yolks from the eggs. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to the yolks alternately with the butter and milk.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Place a small amount of oil in the wells of Aebleskiver pan and fill 2/3 with batter. Add a small serving, about ½ teaspoon, of cookie spread to each. It will sink into the batter.

Cook over medium heat until the balls begin to bubble. Gently flip using a fork. Traditionally, the aebleskivers are flipped using knitting needles. Turn each over several times to brown on all sides and ensure they are baked through.

Serve hot with powdered sugar. Then call someone who is patient with you despite your flaws, and thank them. 

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

Countless times, I've come home flustered from a hectic day and the question looms, what's for dinner? Before I had a dishwasher, on days I was particularly bereft of ideas the main goal was  reduce cleanup - keep the number of dishes and utensils used to a minimum. Now that I have a dishwasher I can certainly focus less on dish damage, but minimizing cleanup is always a relevant concern. The dishwasher's size serves as a practical constraint too. Living with a Chef there is never, and I mean never, a shortage of dirty dishes. When he cooks, I clean. When I cook, I clean. You get the picture. 

Imagine a meal without utensils at all, where you pick and choose with your fingers, uninhibited, like a child. Enter finger foods. All week we have been dabbling in the realm of finger foods, as holiday gatherings are frequent and energy is starting to wither. Today one of my favorite combinations, broccoli rabe and sausage, finds its temporary home in a mushroom cap. Next week, you'll see it residing alongside some orecchiette.

Ingredients

• 30 or so cremini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces sausage (I've used pork and chicken sausage; any kind will do.)
• 1/2 bunch broccoli rabe
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt 

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Magazine's November 2014 Issue.

To prepare

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and set aside. Wipe caps clean with a damp paper towel. Toss caps with olive oil and season with salt. Arrange the mushrooms on a baking sheet. 

Finely chop the mushroom stems and broccoli rabe. Cook eight ounces of sausage, casing removed, in a skillet over medium heat. Break up the meat until no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Add the mushroom stems and broccoli rabe, cooking for 4 minutes or until tender. Add the chopped garlic and season with red pepper flakes. Cook for an additional minute. 

Let cool, then mix with breadcrumbs, parmesan, and chopped parsley. Divide mixture among the caps and bake for 15-17 minutes. 

Let cool for 5 minutes and serve with additional parsley and cheese if desired. 

Granola mint chip cookie wedges

I've been waking early in the morning. Research supports rising before the responsibilities of daily life amount, and taking a personal moment to reflect, have a coffee, whatever brings you calm. My mornings are filled with making. Of late, I've developed this urgency to hone a craft. While my skills are varied and I'm proud of them, I crave the tangible, the physical creation of something with my own hands.

I shut the kitchen light and rely on the early morning sun peaking through my window alone. It's subtle, almost dark, but peaceful. In these moments there is time to day dream, to conceive of where I'd like to go both literally, as in Tuscany, and figuratively, to a place of confidence and self awareness. 

Most importantly though, there are cookies. I comb through my cookbooks and magazine clippings gathered over time and find my inspiration. I've decided to make a different cookie every morning this week to share with family and friends. Today's cookie: Granola Mint Chip Cookie Wedges. Mint chocolate chip is a favorite of mine and the green specks are festive per the season. Lastly, they are a lighter variation so I can still indulge in Christmas cookie-ing.

Ingredients

(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

• 1/3 cup light brown sugar  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda  
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/3-1/2 cup Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips (Feel free to use other chip, nut, dried fruit combinations per your preference. Next round I will be making white chocolate and cherry.)

To prepare

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine first seven ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. Add the flour, oats, and baking chips to the bowl and stir until just combined. Scrape dough into a 9 inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. For a thicker wedge, use a 8 inch dish or smaller. Spread to the edges using a spatula. (It may seem like there isn't enough dough, but it spreads and fluffs up nicely.) Bake at 350 for 13 minutes or until set. Cool on a rack until the cookies firm up and cut into wedges. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nana clipped this recipe out of the Herald News realistically 10 or so years ago because I remember making them with my mama in the evening autumn hours as a middle/high schooler. Unfortunately, I cannot credit the recipe developer as I spilled vegetable oil on the original clipping and have since transcribed it time and time again on scratch paper and recipe cards. But... to him or her wherever he or she is, I send a big grateful thank you hug as I nibble on cookies. These are my favorite and have been my go-to take along for meetings, parties, and girls nights for as long as I can remember. We baked batch after batch at Georgetown for Best Buddies events. I think I even made a triple batch for a presentation in one of my Marketing Strategy classes. Woo with food, and one can rarely go wrong.

My college roommate (the lovely gal pictured) and I got together this past Sunday for a morning of baking, dancing, and reflecting to revive some feel good moments of the past. We listened to 'Black Widow' on repeat in an attempt to commit the rap part to memory, and then watched 'Anaconda' because we heard it was a hoot. We did not make it through the entire video, but were quite intrigued by the ease with which some folks can shake their posteriors. (If you were wondering, this video has nearly 300 million views. Imagine every viewer paid a penny to watch? That would be some serious cash money.)

Back to the cookies! 

They are easy to make and mix, packed with pumpkin, and not a tablespoon of butter in sight. I have nothing against butter. I love butter, but sometimes a break from her goodness is ok too. Yes, I made butter a woman, obviously. 

Ingredients 

1 cup pumpkin puree 
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon milk
1 cup chocolate chips 
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions 
 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry mixture to pumpkin mixture, along with dissolved baking soda and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla. Raisins work nicely here as well. Drop by teaspoons onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Cookies are fluffy and firm up when cooling and are best served warm with milk of course. Alternatively, I make sandwiches out of them with whipped cream. Enjoy!