#weekly special

[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Fish & Potato Cakes, Creamed Cabbage, Honey Butter Pumpkin Dinner Rolls, Mulled Cider, and German Apple Cake.

Another feast for two people! Luckily my roommate was happy to assist me in making yummy food for no reason.

First of all, the fish cakes were DELICIOUS. I had high hopes for them in the first place, but they did in fact taste really good. The recipe also made a lot of cakes, not that that was a problem. (I love leftovers.) I used salmon, which was spendier than other fish options, and an herb blend called "Parisien" instead of fresh tarragon, because I didn't have any.

The creamed cabbage was tasty, if less creamy than expected. The roux made for the sauce is so small that it didn't seem to really thicken or get creamy at all - it adds good flavor, but it's actually creamy. Oh well. I added some spinach to mine and will probably double the recipe in the future because the veg cooks down so much.

I made the pumpkin rolls last year for Samhain and obviously liked them enough to make them again this year. My roommate was in charge of the rolls and actually made the honey butter that goes with them. They were very good with the honey butter, but when I eat them with regular butter the flavor isn't as good - the roll itself is spiced in a way that makes you expect it to be sweeter than it is, so when you don't add that sugar via the butter, it just tastes kind of lacking.

I also made the mulled cider last year for Samhain and I made a note to leave out the added sugar. I did just that and it still turned out quite tasty. My roommate added half an orange, which in my mind made it taste more like wassail, but it was still very drinkable. My roommate reports that the mulled cider with orange goes quote well with Grand Marnier.

And finally (not pictured), I made German apple cake from the recipe posted by my friend @swampseer​ so many moons ago. The cake itself if delicious and moist, however I don't think it really needed any frosting. I did make cream cheese frosting for it, but my roommate and I both ended up scraping a lot of the frosting off just because the whole dessert ended up being so sweet.

I hope all of you lovely readers had a good Mabon or Equinox feast, if you made one!

[rightstufanime]

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[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Pumpkin Soup, Chicken & Mushrooms in Creamy Dill Sauce, Mulled Cider, Punchnep, Honey Butter Pumpkin Rolls, & Soul Cakes

For some reason, I decided to cook a feast for Halloween/Samhain, even though I was just feeding two people. I guess I’ll be eating delicious leftovers for a while. Oh no!

The pumpkin soup was quite tasty, as was the mulled cider, though I’d be curious to try it without the added sugar.

I wasn’t impressed with the punchnep - it was really bland, even with the apple added; in the future I’ll probably either replace the turnips with parsnips or just have colcannon instead. The pumpkin rolls were quite good, even without the honey butter (which I omitted totally). The recipe worked well in a bread machine.

The soul cakes were pretty tasty (they just look weird because I don’t have an actual brush to do egg washes with). I might add a little lemon juice next time I make them...

For the chicken and mushrooms, first, I don’t eat meat, so I subbed out the chicken for chickpea cutlets. Second, my roommate HATES dill, so I tried a mix of rosemary and sage instead...and unfortunately, anything with much sage in it just reminds me of Thanksgiving. If I’d had fresh parsley on hand, I definitely would have used that. I *will* if I make this again. Also, I served this over some polenta.

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween/Samhain!

[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Country Fish Pie

This doesn’t look pretty, but I happen to think it’s pretty tasty.

I sliced each tomato quarter into several slices, since a quarter tomato seemed like a rather large bite. Half an onion, diced, would be a nice addition to the sauteed vegetables. In the future, I’ll likely use less potatoes for the mash as well - at least with my baking dish, 4 potatoes makes for an excessively thick topping. Some fresh herbs mixed into the mash would also be tasty...

[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Tamari-Roasted Almonds, Scottish Oatcakes, & Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to bring food to a podcast recording session, so I went for more snack-like items this week.

The almonds turned out surprisingly tasty and I’ll probably make them again. I think I over-salted them at the end, but not so much at they were inedible.

The texture of the Scottish oatcakes was good, but this recipe didn’t contain any sugar and I regret that. If you’re going to put something savory on them, then it would work, but they were a little too salty to just eat on their own (hence the honey in the photo). Honey would be a tasty sweetener to add, actually...

The applesauce cookies are actually apple applesauce cookies because the chocolate chips in the original recipe just...didn’t sound good to me at all? So I added a cup of chopped apple instead. They also needed to be vegan, which usually isn’t an issue - I would add applesauce in as a binder...except that was already in the recipe? I used the following to replace one: 2 tbsp water + 1 tsp oil + 2 tsp baking powder, and the texture of the cooking turned out nice and soft. (They really remind me of cookies my grandmother used to bake for church.) I couldn’t taste the spices that well, there was just an undercurrent of flavor. I would make these again if I need something not suuuuper sweet.

[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Mince & Mushroom Pie, Colcannon, & Quick Irish Soda Bread

I can’t take credit for the soda bread, but my New York Irish “cousin” Patty (who made it) says that she always uses the Joy of Cooking recipe to great success. Apparently her Irish grandmother was a bad cook, so there isn’t an heirloom family recipe. (”Cousin” because we share the same last name and she’s been a family friend for years.) I will say that when I try this recipe myself, I’ll probably use currants instead of raisins - just a personal preference.

I’ve used this colcannon recipe several times and continue to like it. I used cabbage and green onions this year, but it’s also tasty with leeks. I mean to try it with another green sometime, like kale, but I always forget when I’m buying ingredients.

The pie is something I cobbled together a recipe for because I couldn’t find one that had all the ingredients I wanted. I’ve posted the recipe, but fair warning that I’ve only made it once so far and there are probably some bugs to work out. :P Currently, it makes too much filling for a regular pie plate...

[thebroomsrest]

This week’s special (aka recipe try-out) is: Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

First of all, let me just say: I can’t ice anything to save my life. It always runs off the top of my baked good and puddles underneath. Such is my life.

This recipe is pretty good. It doesn’t quite hit “pound cake” for me, but it’s still tasty. I’m too lazy to use an electric mixer 99% of the time, but the batter came together just fine with me mixing things by hand. The only thing I’ll change next time is adding a little lemon juice to the batter itself - I found the lemon flavor a little lacking with just the grated rind.