Weekend Cookbook Challenge is being hosted by La Mia Cucina this month and the theme is…pressure cookers (which I am scared of), crockpots (which I love) and Dutch ovens (which I also love, but I use pretty frequently already).

So, crockpot it is! And the cookbook I used was Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. This is also the only crockpot cookbook that I have. Typically, I just get crockpot recipes off that Internet thing.

Oh and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day — now, here’s a Mexican recipe!

Pinto Picadillio
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
3 cups slow-cooked* or two 15.5-ounce cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
One 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked long-grain white or brown rice
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sliced black olives, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (originally it called for parsley)
handful of chopped green onions
2 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and cumin. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the vegetables to a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Add the garlic, beans, tomatoes, chiles, apples, and stock; season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the rice, raisins, olives, cilantro, green onions and almonds. In addition to a dinner right out of the crockpot, this makes a great lunch. Add some cheese, sour cream and chips. You know you want to…

* Cooking dried beans in your crockpot is easy! And fun. But kind of boring. Anyway, soak your beans overnight, then, drain put into your crockpot and cover with water (I covered by about 3 inches). Add an onion, halved and a few cloves of garlic, cracked open.

Cook on low for about 8 hours. Mmmm….beans. And, the nice thing is, I just drained out my beans, measured 3 cups out and then just used the crockpot to cook the Pinto Picadillio.

Thanks again to La Mia Cucina for hosting!

I came across the Legume Love Affair event and well, I that sounded fun as I love beans too. Around the house, we sing a song called, “Beans, the Man they Call Beans”, to the tune of the Jayne’s folk hero song on Firefly (Jaynestown episode). There really aren’t any lyrics other than the “Beans, the man they call beans,” part, but trust me, it’s very amusing. Hmmm, perhaps I have said too much.

Anyway, I am a fan of the lima bean. I think it all started as a child — after being presented with a bowl of Campbell’s vegetable soup, I would begin my hunt of picking out all the lima beans and eating those first. When they were gone, I was less enthused about the soup.

So really, it is my destiny to create a recipe for a soup with just lima beans.

Creamy Lima Bean & Tarragon Soup
2 1/4 cups frozen lima beans — don’t bother defrosting
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 cups chicken stock to cover
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: a few sprigs of fresh tarragon

In a soup pot, heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add the dried tarragon and mix to combine.

Next, add the frozen beans and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Add the parmesan cheese and milk. Stir and remove from the heat. Let cool briefly to blend safely.

In batches, puree until smooth. Return to the pot and salt and pepper to taste and rewarm as needed.

Thanks again to the well seasoned cook for hosting a fun event!

Oh, next week there will be Beef Wellington. But this week, it’s a lovely Russian Carrot Pie from the new edition of the Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen. And how fitting that January’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge is all about the healthy vegetables. Perfect timing! And, I’m even early. Hooray!

I’m not quite sure what makes this Russian…the dill? The carrots? I dunno, but we liked it. It’s the prefect meal to make before or after something really beefy. Or, you know, if you are a vegetarian, this is just a good everyday meal.

Actually, this used to be my favorite cookbook when I was a vegetarian. I had the older edition and then lost it sometime around when I moved to Arizona. But, I remember living in Indiana during grad school and making a lot of the recipes out of this cookbook with my friend Christy, who now has her hands full with, uh, Hadley.

Great…time for a recipe!

Russian Carrot Pie
1 tbsp butter
1 cup finely minced onion
1 lb carrots, thinly chopped (I used an extra 1 lb bag of baby carrots leftover from holiday snacking)
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tbsp AP flour
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 egg
3 tbsp fine bread crumbs
black pepper
3 tbsp minced dill
2 tbsp minced mint
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Nut Pie Crust (below)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the onion and garlic and cook about 3-5 minutes. Next, add the carrots, salt and lemon juice. Cook until the carrots are soft but not mushy — about 8 more minutes. Sprinkle with the flour, mix well, and cook for about 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg with the cottage cheese in a large bowl. Stir in the herbs, some black pepper and the breadcrumbs. Add the carrot mixture (it’s okay if it’s still hot) and combine well.

Spread into the crust and sprinkle with paprika and Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Nut Crust
6 tbsp cold butter
1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup finely minced nuts (I used walnuts)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp chopped chives
3-6 tbsp cold water

Use a pastry cutter or a food processor to cut the butter into the flours, salt, nuts and chives. The mixture should get to the point where it resembles course cornmeal.

Add the liquid a little at the time until the dough comes together. I used all 6 tablespoons, but you never know.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap for storage in the fridge. After about an hour or so, roll it out using flour and place into a 9-10 inch pie plate, forming a crust with an edge.

I chose to par-bake my crust — 20 minutes at 375. I used some parchment and dry beans to weight the crust down. After 20 minutes, remove the crust, take out the weights (beans, beads, whatever) and fill with the carrot mixture and proceed.

Thanks again to Sara for a great (and healthy!) Weekend Cookbook Challenge.

I recently came across Running with Tweezers call for chili recipes and I remembered that I had the most perfect cookbook for this — Chili Nation by Jane and Michael Stern. This is basically a collection of 50 chili recipes, one from every state. Now normally, when I make chili, it’s veggie chili and I just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot. But, since I had an actual chili cookbook, I decided to follow (well, kind of) an actual recipe.

So, I went with Montana and the “Working Person’s Green Chili Bowl”. Supposedly, it is from a tiny place called El Burrito in Billings, MT. I wussed out on all the peppers, though. The original recipe calls for 6 New Mexico chiles. Intead, I used 2 pasilla chile peppers and 1 poblano chile pepper. Wimpy! I know, but I didn’t want it to be too hot for my delicate lady mouth.

Let’s see, I also added beans. I just really prefer beans in my chili. I used white kidney beans and they worked really well. But, if you don’t like beans, the original recipe did not include them, so don’t feel bad about leaving them out. I also doubled the broth and added the cilantro.

Anyway, this book is awesome. I seriously have, like twenty page corners folded down that I want to try. Why did I pick this one? Well, I was very intrigued by the sage and tarragon in a chili recipe. And, after trying it here, I have to say it works. I’m not sure this is my most favorite chili recipe of all time, but I liked it quite a bit! It was a little spicy but not overwhelming and makes a great meal on a cold night.

Working Person’s Fancy Green Chili Bowl
Adapted from a recipe in Chili Nation (Montana), by the Sterns
1 poblano pepper
2 pasilla peppers
1 big handful of cilantro
2 cups chicken broth (original called for 1 cup chicken stock)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into cubes
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can white beans, drained
1 tsp salt
Some crumbled goat cheese for the top
Optional: 1 tsp jalapeno powder

Prepare the chiles by placing them under a preheated broiler. Turn when the first side is charred and then blacken the other side.

Place in a plastic bag to steam. You can also wrap them in wet paper towels. When cool enough to handle, peel away the blackened skin and seed. Place the chiles in a blender with broth and cilantro. Puree and set aside.

Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft. Here, I added about half the sage, tarragon and all of the cilantro. Next, add the pork; cook and stir until well browned.

Add chile puree and remaining ingredients (the beans and the remaining spices and the salt) . Stir well. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve alone or over cooked brown rice. Also, this would be great with tortillas for dipping and, if you want to be a fancy working person, I think some crumbled goat cheese would be awesome on the top. Hmmm, I think I will bring it that way to work tomorrow. Because, yes, I am fancy.

Hope this is a good addition to the chili cook-off!

This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge is hosted by Mel’s Diner with the aptly chosen, Celebration Dishes as the theme. For this, I chose my newest cookbook, Nigella Express and made a lamb stew from it.

She calls it a tagine, but since I didn’t cook it in an actual tagine and I’m not familiar enough with Moroccan cooking to judge it’s accurateness, I’m certainly not going to call it a tagine. So, uh, no one get their knickers in a twist.

Anywho….I used a mix of olives here, mainly because that’s what I had — nicoise, kalamata and a handful of plain black, pitted olives. But, I’m thinking oil cured might be super tasty here. I also just made my own caramelized onions, rather than hunting down a jar of them (as the recipe calls for). I have never even seen jarred caramelized onions…maybe that’s a British thing? Another thing I changed is that I added carrots. I just felt the need for more vegetables with the big meatiness of the stew.

Let’s celebrate!

Lamb Stew with Olives and Caramelized Onions
Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
2 1/4 pounds diced leg of lamb
1 head garlic, separated into cloves
12 ounces pitted black olives in brine, 5 ounces drained weight to give 1 1/4 cups
1 white or yellow onion, diced roughly
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
sprinkle of salt
3 tbsp capers
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground ginger
1 bottle red wine (I meant to use a merlot but I grabbed a cab by mistake — worked just fine!)
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots — about 1-2 inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Preheat a pan over medium heat — preferably a big Dutch oven that you can layer the whole recipe into for its trip into the oven. Add the olive oil and then onions and honey. Give a small sprinkle of salt. Cook until light brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Turn the heat down if need be to keep from burning.

Add the garlic, olives and lamb. Brown the lamb just for a few minutes, maybe 5 total, stirring a bit to get color on as many pieces as possible.

Next, add the wine, the capers, and the ginger and cumin. Increase the heat to high, give it a good stir and bring to a boil.

Put a lid on it and stick it in the oven for two hours total. After the first hour add the carrots and continue to cook until the lamb is super tender.

We had this with some couscous that I cooked with chicken broth, about a handful of shelled pistachios and a handful of golden raisins. What were we celebrating? Ah, a cold December evening!

Thanks again to Mel’s Diner for hosting WCC this month!

Ah, a challenge that involves math. How fun. The theme was supplied by Cady at $40 a Week, which as you might see coming, was to spend $40 a week on groceries (per person) and come up with a meal based on those constraints.

Here, I will admit my laziness at not entirely sticking to the challenge as written. Although our grocery budget (for 2) is about $80/week, I didn’t specifically track that and actually, this week, I think we were a tad over since we decided to stock up on some wine.

But, through the magic of calculations, I deduced that if the budget was $40/week, that would work out to $5.72/day. Times two that’s $11.44 per day for two. And sure, that would mean that fish tacos are the only meal of the day but I am assuming that eating out doesn’t count. Right?

Plus, if I don’t see what jwa eats during the day and he doesn’t actually see what I eat — well, then that too doesn’t count. For the record, I had a cereal bar for breakfast and a turkey and cheese sandwich (and cup of lentil soup) for lunch. And I uh, found them. Yeah. I found them so they were free. So, I get the whole $11 amount for the dinner. Hooray!

fish: $4.50
4 corn tortillas: $1
romaine lettuce: $1
1 can beans: .99
1 cup shredded cheese: $1
tomatoes: $1
lime: .33
jalapeno: .20
cilantro: .79
assorted spices: free (’cuz I already had them)
oil: free (see assorted spices)

Total: $10.81 Woo!

This recipe is based on one from Bobby Flay which I’m sure is in one of his cookbooks. And yeah, I still am not a fan but whatever. I’ll use his recipe as long as I don’t have to interact with him or anything. ‘Cause that would be annoying.

Fish Tacos
(Feeds 2)
1/2 pound white flaky fish, such as mahi mahi, tilapia or turbot, which is what I used
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 flour tortillas

Garnish:
Shredded romaine lettuce
Hot sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped cilantro leaves
Chopped cherry tomatoes

Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, chili powder and jalapeno and pour over the fish. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat a pan over medium heat. Remove the fish from the marinade place into the hot pan. Grill the fish for 4 minutes on the first side and then flip for 30 seconds and remove. Let rest for 5 minutes then flake the fish with a fork.

Wipe the pan out and return it to the heat. Place a tortilla in the pan and heat for about 30 seconds per side. Divide the fish among the tortillas and garnish with any or all of the garnishes.

Thanks again to $40 a Week for a great and challenging theme!

First of all, thanks so much to Sara of Weekend Cookbook Challenge for letting me guest-host this month! I had a great time picking a theme and I hope everyone had fun participating. And here are some nifty new seasonal recipes to try this month.

So, what kind of food does Halloween evoke? Soups, root vegetables, apples, huge fancy meals, snacks and sweets. Plus scary meat products! There’s a little bit of everything — something for everyone!

Okay, first up is the above mentioned Sara of WCC and I Like to Cook fame with this wonderful looking Pam’s Ham and Apple Breakfast Pie adapted from Bruce Aidells’s Complete Book of Pork: A Guide to Buying, Storing, and Cooking the World’s Favorite Meat. I bet her house smelled amazing while this was baking in the oven.

Gretchen, over at Canela y Comino in Peru turned to Cooking Light for inspiration and came up with a batch of Chocolate Gingersnap Cookies. Mmmmmm…ginger. Now these would sure be a great post snack after a Halloween meal!

My friend Vanessa sent me an awesome sounding recipe from one of her favorite cookbooks, Zuppa! by Annie Bianchi. Here’s a recipe for Ceci, Mele, Salisoccia E Patate Alla Garfagnana (Chickpeas, Apples, Sausage and Potatoes Garfangnana Style). Although she forgot to take a picture, I think we can imagine how tasty it looked!

Next up is Colleen, from Naperville, IL. Hey — that’s kind of by where I grew up! Neat. Colleen also picked a soup, Gelbe Erbsen Suppe, auf Berliner Art (Berlin Style Split Pea Soup. Like all good Fall meals, she says it’s “a wonderful tummy-warming dinner when you add warm bread and a nice side salad of baby greens & sauteed pears.”

My friend Christy at Beehive, who besides being like seven months pregnant, made an amazing Fall Feast for her Denver friends including Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing. Damn! That all looks so good!

Okay. Who’s next? It’s LizG from Bits ‘n Bites who made a highly snackable Toasted Pepita Dip from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook. I’m not sure it gets any more Halloween-y than pumpkin seeds.

Molly at Batter-Splattered (great blog name!) created some delicious looking Quick and Easy Pumpkin Pie Bars from Heartland Baking from the Midwest’s Best Cooks. She says, “The crust and the topping gets plump and crispy and chewy while still maintaining its crustyness on the bottom layer.” Mmmmm!

Deborah of What’s in my Kitchen? asks, “Polenta = Halloween?” Uh, yes, I say! Yes! The answer to every question is polenta! Here she decides on Crispy Polenta with Mushrooms, from Cooking for Two by Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. This was her first time joining in WCC and I’m really glad she did. Oh and I love the Halloween bowl.

Cady at $40 a Week went all out and prepared Poulet a la Normande from Chez Panisse Fruit, while taking advantage of a yard full of apples ready to be harvested. Also, what’s more festive than lighting your Fall foods on fire? Exactly. A meal that’s both entertaining and delicious!

Into the homestretch here, people! Now Mike at Mel’s Diner took one for the whole WCC21 team and made the scariest recipe of the bunch — Zungenwurst. Not sure what that is? Well, it’s tongue pieces with pork fat in blood. Boo! Of his special WCC Halloween experiment he says, “I didn’t like it. I didn’t hate it, but it left a odd, disgusting aftertaste in my mouth.” Aw, poor Mike will need lots of Halloween candy to make the taste go away.

Finally, I made Honey Roasted Parsnip Bisque from Talk with Your Mouth Full. Both jwa and I liked it quite a bit and it was suitably Halloween-ish as we typically use parsnips for the noses on our jack o’lanterns!

Okay, whew! We made it through. If I missed your entry please send me an email and let me know. I’ll get it up asap.

Thanks again to Sara for letting me guest-host. I certainly have gained a newfound appreciation for how much work she must put into WCC each month!

Recently, it has come to my attention that October 18th is National Meatloaf Appreciation Day. A big thank you to Serious Eats for bringing the enlightenment and for also hosting an event just for all the meat loaves and their special day.

I have been trying to recreate and perfect a meatloaf that I had about nine years ago, while living in California. jwa and I had gone shopping for something and ended up at the California Cafe by the Stanford Mall for an early dinner. They had a chicken, apple and dijon meatloaf for a special which I ordered and loved — it was the greatest meatloaf I had ever had.

Much to jwa’s dismay I have tried to recapture this awesomeness on a plate all these years since but now….I think I’ve finally gotten it (or something I like just as much).

My version has turkey instead of chicken but it’s close enough. And jwa liked it too — a lot! Which is amazing as, although he did like the Montana meatloaf, generally, he’s not a huge fan of big meaty loaves. In all honesty, I am not either — at least not the beef or beef/pork/veal varieties, hence my collection of previous turkey meat loaves.

So, anyway, there you go. A mostly-meatloaf-disliker likes this meatloaf a lot and a turkey-meatloaf-liker loves this meatloaf. How’s that for a recommendation?

Turkey Meatloaf with Apple, Dijon and Carrot or (This is not the greatest meatloaf in the world — no, it’s just a tribute)
1 medium white onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 green apple, grated (do not squeeze the juice out)
2 big cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb ground turkey
.25 lb sweet pork sausage (you can also use pork sausage in a casing, just remove the casing — that’s what I did)
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
salt and pepper

glaze + topping:
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
pinch of dried thyme
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
canola oil spray

Okay — here we go. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion until soft — about 3-4 minutes. Add the fennel seeds and the apple and carrot. Continue to saute until any apple liquid evaporates and everything gets just a little color, about 3-4 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and let the veggies cool off in a big bowl.

Add the turkey, pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, mustard and thyme to the big bowl with the veggies. Add about one teaspoon salt and a half of a teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Mix it all up with your hands. It’ll be cold. That’s okay, it builds character.

Put your meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan. I like to go around the edges with my fingers and push down a little so there’s an indentation so that any juices can run off to the side.

Once the meat is safely in the pan, make a little something-something for the top. Mix the mustard with the honey and the pinch of dried thyme. Spread over the top of the meatloaf and sprinkle with some Parmesan. Give it just a quick, little spray with canola oil to encourage browning.

Okay, fine, so I used a bit more cheese…

Bake in the oven about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Then, turn the oven up to 375 for 15 more minutes of cooking. This extra blast of heat at the end should ensure you have a nice, toasty crust. After the one hour total baking time, take it out and check the temperature. If it’s at least 165 degrees (it’ll probably be a bit over that temperature), you’re good to go. Cover loosely with some foil and let it rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, when you turn the heat up (about 15 minutes before it’s done) you can start a quick pan gravy.

Quick Pan Gravy
1 tbsp butter
1/2 white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion in the butter over medium-low heat until softened and a bit golden — about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and and give it about 4-5 more minutes. Now add the flour and cook a minute or two. Add the stock, wine and mustard. Whisk and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer until the meatloaf is done resting.

Oh, here’s what else you can do if you are in a daring sort of mood — grab the meatloaf pan with some oven mits. Bring it over to the pan of gravy and tip it slightly so that some of the meatloaf juices pour into your pan gravy. See, this is where the indentations around the meatloaf in the pan help out. And, I think this goes without saying, but don’t drop the whole meatloaf into the gravy pan! Next, your meatloaf safely back on the counter, add the thyme and salt and pepper the gravy to taste.

Slice the meatloaf (ours was so moist it was a little hard to get it out in perfect slices that were all in one piece) and serve with the gravy drizzled over it. Simple steamed broccoli and buttermilk mashed potatoes make great sides!

And, wow, this was soooo good. This was the first time I added pork to the combo and I think that was what took it over the edge. I knew I had experienced a major turkey meatloaf breakthrough when jwa was all, “oh, can I take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow?” Ha! Victory is mine!

Thanks again to Serious Eats for hosting this event and giving meatloaf some love.

Sugar High Friday, hosted by Cream Puffs in Venice is all about figs this month. Awesome. I really like figs. For this SHF I turned towards perhaps the perfect cookbook for this event — The Girl and the Fig cookbook, one that I really like. In fact, I’m trying to finagle my way into lunch or dinner there next time we’re near Sonoma. But, back to SHF, I’m going to guess I’m not the only one who makes something out of this book given the theme. We’ll see…

Anyway, this was wonderful! A lot of steps, but it makes a great Saturday afternoon project. I did halve the recipe (I used a square 8 inch X 8 inch baking pan) and still ended up freezing about half of it for later snacking — it’s very rich.

Warm Fig & Thyme Crisp with Fig Syrup
Pastry:
2 cups walnut halves
6 tbsp + 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, thinly sliced
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks

Jam:
2 1/2 pounds dried figs (I used about half dried figs and half fresh figs, which, for my halved recipe turned out to be 1 8-oz bag of dried figs and 1 pint of fresh figs)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of 3 lemons
1 bunch thyme, tied with twine
3 tbsp lemon juice

Port-Fig Syrup:
2 cups Port
5 dried Black Mission figs, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
1/2 cup sugar

Pastry
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind the walnuts (until medium-fine) with the tablespoons of sugar and set aside. Don’t worry, you’ll come back to them, but not until you’re ready to assemble the crisp. Next, mix the 3/4 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt, baking powder and flour until well combined. Add the butter and mix until the mixture clumps, about 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla and egg yolks to the mixture and mix for 40 seconds. Pack two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of a 9 X 12 inch ungreased pan and bake until it’s lightly golden — about 25-30 minutes.

Jam
To make the Jam, combine the figs, sugar, lemon zest thyme and lemon juice and pour in enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Don’t be shy with the water. I was kinda skimpy and had to add more water half way through cooking. Go ahead and really cover everything from the beginning.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the figs are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the thyme. Puree the mixture in a food processor.

Syrup
Heat the figs, port, cinnamon and clove in a pan over medium heat and reduce to about 1/2 cup. Strain the sauce, pushing on the figs to get as much juice out as possible. Whisk in the sugar and serve.

Assembley
Spread the jam evenly over the baked dough.

In a bowl, crumble together the remaining third of the dough with the walnut and sugar mixture. Sprinkle this mixture over the jam and bake for about 50 minutes. (If you make a half recipe in a smaller pan, give it about 35 minutes).

Cut into pieces and serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt) and drizzle with the port sauce. So amazingly decadent! And delicious!

Thanks again to Ivonne for hosting and coming up with a tasty theme! I can’t wait to see all of the fig recipes.

I am very pleased to announce, thanks to Sara, that I am guest hosting October’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge! Hooray! And the theme is…Halloween.

Boo!

Now, you might be thinking, hmmmm, Halloween…what can I make for that? Well, my answer is, pretty much anything — pumpkins, root vegetables, snacks for trick-or-treaters, dishes for Halloween parties, perhaps even a super-scary Sandra Lee recipe — ha! Really, anything that can be remotely tied into Halloween will work..I’m not picky.

Of course, since this is a cookbook challenge, you should try to get your recipe from a cookbook, but if you see an amazingly awesome Halloween recipe in a magazine that you really want to use for this, I’m not going to stand in your way. See? Not much pickiness.

To participate, please make a recipe and post about your dish and send your entry to mlbATjemangelavilleDOTcom by Sunday, October 21. I will plan on getting the recap up very soon after that. Thanks again to Sara for generously letting me host this month — I’m very excited. I hope everyone has fun with this challenge! Please feel free to email if you have any questions.