Orange crush
It’s raining today in Baltimore, the kind of sustained, soaking rain that is almost as atmospheric as a snowstorm. The Thanksgiving leftovers are just about gone at my house. (How about yours?) There’s still some turkey stock: read to the bottom of this newsletter for a simple soup recipe, the very thing for a gray November day.
Some food thoughts for this time of year. There’s a lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas, if you celebrate that, or at least there can be. It’s not a bad time to pull back and make some homey food, the nourishing, you’ll-feel-good-after-you-eat-it kind, before the onslaught of more festivities. Browsing around Trivet Recipes today, a few things caught my eye to bookmark for dinners in December: Smitten Kitchen’s Punjabi-style black lentils; a beet and citrus salad with roasted pistachios from Serious Eats; and Vibrant Palate’s vegan pumpkin mac ‘n’ cheese, good for that extra can of pumpkin you just might have lying around. Pasta with sausage, caramelized cabbage, and goat cheese (a Hungry Hutch recipe developed for NYT Cooking) is richer, but it has a head of cabbage in it, and it’s kind of off the hook.
An exception: it’s definitely not too early to start thinking about homemade food gifts. With social distancing, it’s a safe bet that there will be fewer of the kinds of cookie- and treat-plates that get taken to offices and gatherings of family and friends, but there may be more than usual left on doorsteps or sent through the mail. Liz Berg has a couple ideas for festive food-based presents, below, and the “holiday baking recipes” tag on Trivet Recipes is growing apace. (If you haven’t used tags yet to navigate the site, I recommend playing around with that. It’s fun, and a good way to find what you’re looking for.)
Finally, it’s getting to be peak citrus season. Smaller varieties like clementines and mandarins have been going strong for weeks, but bigger ones like navel oranges and blood oranges start to be at their height in December. It’s hard to improve on a blood orange eaten on its own, but if you need a reason to try, this blood orange curd from Food in Jars is versatile, and a good introduction to the curd-making technique. Use it as the foundation for bars or a tart, or just stir it into your morning yogurt.
This week, we’re speaking with Liz Berg of That Skinny Chick Can Bake. Liz lives in Indianapolis, Indiana; she has been blogging for over ten years, with the deep archives to show it. Liz’s baked goods are classic and picture-perfect, and her recipes approachable. This Thanksgiving, I baked her Classic Pumpkin Pie, which makes a few thoughtful changes to the canonical recipe from the Libby’s can. It turned out great.
Hi, Liz! Thanksgiving is behind us, and Christmas a few weeks off. What are you thinking about, foodwise, at this season?
With Christmas approaching, I love to focus on holiday food gifts and desserts. I plan to reshare my post on homemade vanilla that can be started now, then given as a holiday gift along with instructions. Just by shaking it occasionally, the combination of liquor and vanilla beans turn into a quality vanilla extract in five to six months.
December is often a time for exchanging homemade food gifts with friends and loved ones. Do you have any recommendations for treats that would fare well if they had to be mailed?
I've done a number of blogger cookie exchanges over the years, and the sturdier the cookies, the better. Look for unfrosted, unadorned cookies. My chewy gingersnaps or Amish sugar cookies would work well. Candy like caramels, fudge, and toffee in a tin are also easy to mail (as long as it's not in the heat of the summer). And, of course, packaging them well so they don't rattle around in the container is key!
What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love to interact with my readers. I always hope they feel comfortable asking questions about a recipe. Plus I love feedback, especially when they like the recipe. But even when something doesn't work for a reader, it makes me go back to the recipe and add more tips or clarify the instructions as needed.
What’s your least favorite?Technical issues. It's hard to know if something not working or looking right is because of my computer or if something is wrong with my website. I enjoy recipe testing, photography, and the writing aspects of blogging, but not the technology.
You have been blogging for a while now. Things are probably different for someone just starting out in food blogging now than they would have been ten years ago. What kinds of changes have you noticed over time?
When I started blogging, I took photos with a point-and-shoot camera and did not do any photo editing. I added a recipe and maybe a sentence or two about how my family or friends liked it. There was little substance to my posts!
Many new bloggers are savvier than I was when it comes to knowing what's needed for success. Taking photography classes or studying up on SEO before writing the first post paves the way for a respectable blog. But with so many blogs to compete with, it's definitely harder to break into the business than it was in 2010.
Find Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake, or on Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter. Or check out her profile and recipes on Trivet Recipes.
I’ll leave you with this recipe, for a chicken and leek soup that’s been in my family for a long time. I had to call my dad yesterday to ask him to read the steps off the ancestral index card; I listened, though for some reason (because it’s soup?), didn’t write them down. I offer the recipe to you in that same half-remembered, loosely plotted spirit.
There are a lot of potato-leek soups out there, but most of them are creamy and blended. This one has a much more delicate flavor and texture. It is a great showcase for leeks, if you like them, and it has a warming, tonic effect that’s a perfect counterpoint to the bleak days of winter.
Chicken, Leek, and Potato Soup
Ingredients
Leeks, 2 or 3 large, cleaned, halved, and cut into half-inch pieces; use most of the green part, too
One yellow onion, halved and sliced
2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon rosemary
Black peppercorns, about 30
Potatoes, 3 or 4 medium ones, peeled and cubed
Chicken: breast meat is good, bone in or out, cut into pieces or not cut at all; cooked, shredded chicken would also work nicely, in this case add it right at the end
Chicken stock, plenty of it; homemade is best
Steps
Heat some olive oil or butter in a Dutch oven and cook the onion over medium heat for a few minutes, then add the leeks and herbs. Continue cooking for a few more minutes, until the leeks seem less raw, but before they start to lose their brilliant green. Add potatoes, peppercorns, and stock, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook about ten minutes; add chicken; cook until chicken and potatoes are done, not overdone. Salt to taste and serve right away.
See you in a couple weeks.
—Katherine