Tarragon and Chives

I like this pasta for Thanksgiving  Do you have an acorn squash and maybe a garlic bulb rattling around on your counter?  Maybe from a trip to the farmers market?   I did, but not anymore, I put mine in this fall flavored pasta dish, along with a few other pantry items plus sage from a pot in my garden.   We loved this pasta for dinner and I baked the leftovers to serve with short ribs, delicious.  We went to Carmel last week and stopped in Gilroy to buy garlic on the way home so now that I have two bowls of garlic bulbs on my counter -Now I'm looking for recipes that use garlic, maybe a little more than normal.   Ingredient and Recipe for Tagliatelle with Roasted Acorn Squash, Garlic Confit and Sage Butter Serves 4 1 medium large acorn squash 1 bulb fresh garlic 1 cup chicken broth 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for serving 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, plus extra for serving 2 ...

 In fact, I made two loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread and in one short paragraph I'm going to share my recipe for these loaves.  This year during our short baking with pumpkin 🎃 season I made pumpkin pie, great idea and pumpkin bread, another great idea.  My original bread recipe called for water, ugh, yuck, water, I go a little nuts when I see water in a recipe, it just feels like such a lost opportunity.  This time I used a long shot of strong espresso as a fill in for 'water', another great idea.  Boy, I'm on a roll. I like making two loaves, one for now and one in the wings for later, another great idea! Ingredients and Recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread Makes two 9x5" loaves 1 cup canola oil 2 & 2/3 cups sugar 4 large eggs 2 cups pumpkin ( or 1 -15oz can pumpkin)- not pumpkin pie filling 1 long shot espresso, about 1/2 cup strong coffee 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract  3 & 1/3 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ...

  I don't really care if mac 'n cheese belongs or doesn't belong at a Thanksgiving meal but there are members of my family, who feel passionately that mac 'n cheese should be on their plate at Thanksgiving.  Along with sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, rolls, cranberry sauce and green beans.  Did I forget something?  This year will be a non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, thanks to our soaring cases of Covid.  I would be happy with elbows baked in a cheese sauce, butter flecked bread crumbs on top and a green salad with mustard in the dressing for dinner.  Maybe a glass of wine 🍷 We can have a proper Thanksgiving at another safer to gather time in the future. This baked version of mac 'n cheese is easy, no need to make a sauce on your stove, everything to make a sauce goes in the blender and I do love my NutriBullet. Ingredients and Recipe for Easy Baked Mac 'N Cheese Serves 2 generously  1 cup elbow macaroni  ...

Tired of pumpkin, cranberries or the endless nightmares about turkey roasting methods?  Ditto on the pre holiday mental fatigue, I just want fresh blueberries is often my simple request this time of year. This week before the pressure to bake with pumpkin and/or pumpkin spice on Thanksgiving take over I made banana blueberry buckwheat bread for breakfast or coffee time and I'm glad I did, because it's good.  The bursts of blueberries in this buckwheat flavored loaf reminds me of one of my favorite comfort foods, buckwheat pancakes with blueberries, applewood smoked bacon with loads of butter and maple syrup.  My banana blueberries buckwheat loaf is a sort of a refined, baked version of that over the top meltingly delicious favorite breakfast. Is anyone else thinking about how Thanksgiving used to be before Covid (like last year)?  I'm trying to be positive and am feeling very thankful to the SF Chronicle food writer who suggests that if we are able to order Than...

 Quarantine baking continues.  I know it's dangerous to bake and have all this deliciousness in my house but, oh well.  I did include fruit 🍐  in this simple baking project.  I have a small library of cookbooks including many from Food52 and that is where I found this brown sugar pound cake recipe, perfect for Fall baking.  This is my idea of a plated dessert that follows a special dinner.  The roasted pears are sweet and tender with their pan sauce served on top of the dense caramel flavored brown sugar pound cake.  I might just make it again for the holidays, is there a way to get eggnog in the whipped cream on top?  I'll find a way. Ingredients and Recipe for Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Roasted Pears and Crème Fraîche Whipped Cream Serves 8 for the brown sugar pound cake  1 & 3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup unsalted butter 1 cup packed light brown sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla e...

When we're not doing Yoga, we roast a lot of vegetables around here, lol 😂   I start by preheating my oven to around 400F.  I line a few baking sheets with parchment paper, eventually load them up with cut veggies sprinkled with sea salt, a few grinds of black pepper, a liberal drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and often fresh herbs sprinkled on top.  Fresh rosemary is good on potatoes, fresh thyme is good on oven roasted ratatouille, fresh sage is good on butternut squash and so it goes.  I roast veggies in the oven when it's cold outside and I've been known to grill veggies, like corn or peppers when it's hot outside.  I'm ready for cold weather and even some rain, should we be so blessed to have it.  Anyway, there you have it  baking dishes filled with ratatouille which I removed from the baking sheet, placed ever so nicely in the lively red baking dishes and served with grilled lamb chops, marinated in rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Ingredients a...

 If I have to pick a favorite soup, it's going to be butternut squash soup.  I especially like all the possible variations of butternut squash soup and toppings.  The first time I made this curried soup version I think I fell down on my toppings, they were kind of an afterthought, just ok, not great.  The second time I made curried butternut squash soup I tried something a little more interesting and fun.  Unfortunately I couldn't take a photo with the cool 😎 toppings but I'll tell you what I did and you can take it from there.  I didn't add an apple to this soup but I would suggest trying that as well, apples go very well in butternut squash soup. Ingredients and Recipe for Curried Butternut Squash Soup Serves 6-8 2 medium size butternut squash, cut in half stringy seeds removed. 1 Yukon Gold potato 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped 1 garlic clove, smashed 4 small fr...

 Ok, we made it past the actual Election Day, but as painful as that was the election vote count continues for who knows how long?  We are waiting for the votes to be counted.  Why didn't every State count the early votes as they came in?  Then all the votes would be counted without this ridiculous dragged out count with all the drama.  Drama, chaos, negativity... gee whiz who does that sound like?  That's all I'm going to say about the election.  Ok, I made cheddar dill buttermilk scones.  Buttermilk is interesting in these scones, actually makes the texture similar to biscuits.  I love biscuits, especially filled with cheese and fresh dill.  I served my scones with curried butternut squash soup, I'm going to share my soup recipe in a separate post right after this scone recipe.   Ingredients and Recipe for Cheddar Dill Buttermilk Scones Makes 8 scones 2 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1 tablespoon ba...

  I'm dying here, waiting for election results.  I made a pot of minestrone soup with Rancho Gordo Classic Cranberry Beans and lots of other good things, including fresh herbs from my garden.  I just found out that the hardest core Republican I know didn't vote for Trump, wow 🤩 left it blank. I feel better and my kitchen is filled with the wonderful aroma of homemade minestrone soup.  Only a few hours to go before results start to come in from Georgia.  I'm sending positive thoughts to Georgia right this very moment, I hope they can feel them. Ingredients and Recipe for Election Day Minestrone Soup serves 8 8 ounces cranberry beans, picked over (I found a pebble), soaked over night and drained, set aside 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups mirepoix, yellow onion, celery and carrots, chopped 2 garlic cloves, smashed 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix 3-4 small fresh bay leaves 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1/2 cup dry red wine 1 14 ounce can fire roas...

 Shiitake Shallot Thyme 🍃  Quiche is one of my favorite home baked quiches.  Occasionally I like a meatless meal and a savory quiche filled with shiitake mushrooms served with a green salad 🥗  is perfect.  I've been making a version of mushroom 🍄 quiche, mushroom risotto or mushroom omelet for dinner forever.  I can't remember when my devotion to mushroom based meals started but this shiitake quiche fits in very well with my repertoire.  I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my fresh thyme.  If you are thinking about growing herbs 🌿 in your garden or in a pot I suggest thyme, a year round herb in California that's always contributing to savory deliciousness in my kitchen.  The quiche crust can be made a day ahead, then rolled out and baked off when you're ready to make your quiche.  I like this shiitake shallot thyme quiche for a picnic, I see a blanket and a picnic hamper out by the sea 🌊 .   If you can wait, it's very good...

  Do you have a favorite oatmeal cookie 🍪 recipe?  This is mine, without a doubt.  I never knew it before but after discovering this recipe and making it several times, I found love in the shredded coconut in my oatmeal cookies.  Why double coconut cookies you might ask, well it's because of the shredded coconut in addition to the organic coconut oil that takes the place of unsalted butter in this recipe.  I won't say it's healthy but rather just good, very good and it's fun to bake with coconut oil. I also like oatmeal cookies on the flattened and crisp side, so here you have it.  Throw in a few Chocolate chips and I'm ready to make a cookie commitment, whatever that is, lol 😂 A confession about this recipe, I lost it for about a year, horrors.  I eventually found it tucked into a recipe file, so now it will be here on tarragon and chives for mine and your perpetual enjoyment.  Ingredients and Recipe for Double Coconut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Co...

  Hello freshly dug beets, you're coming with me.  I love farm stands, especially the ones on the honor system where you put your money in a box.  I just peruse all the veggies to my hearts content.  On this farm stand adventure I bought cute striped pumpkins, lettuce, beets, butternut squash and a basket of small tomatoes.  Very rewarding, I'll definitely return.  I made a fresh salad from my finds, the beets and a bag of lettuce.  I steamed the beets, that went quickly as the beets were so fresh.  I tossed the lettuce in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I let my warm peeled and sliced beets marinate for a few minutes in some blood orange infused olive oil, that was good call.  A soft herbed goat cheese was waiting in the fridge along with a few wonderful crackers in the pantry from our local Rustic Bakery and that was an exceptional simple lunch. Ingredients and Recipe for...