The on-going chronicle of all things related to the George and Laura Roediger House (c. 1905) in the historic Holly Avenue Neighborhood of downtown Winston-Salem, NC. More info and pictures can be found at RoedigerHouse.com. [Mobile users: CLICK TO SEARCH the blog.]
Thursday's sole meal, in the middle of the afternoon, was a set of BBQ-spiced chicken thighs, cooked in the sous vide, and supplemented with roasted whole green beans and a new tactic for sweet potato: thinly sliced, spiced and sweetened, brushed with olive oil, and roasted in ceramic cups. It was well-suited to a hearty appetite!
Based on "Crispy Parmesan Thyme Sweet Potato Stacks," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Published 04 November 2021]
Last Wedneday's sweet treat as bedtime approached brought me back to the wonderful and easy chai-spiced snickerdoodle skillet cookie, for the first time in about 10 months. This rascal is easy to throw together at a moment's notice, and can be ready to slice and serve within about an hour. I had more than my fair share of it, unashamedly.
As the meteorological prognosticators sought to offer hope or dismay when we were all looking ahead to the current winter, they promised that the controlling pattern would be La Niña. I took great comfort that this meant it'd be a warmer winter, albeit drier. It feels to me like they missed the mark on this one: it's been chilly a lot, and it sure has been wet. Take the final Wednesday of January, when it rained almost all day and as the afternoon proceeded, the temps here at the Roediger House never rose above 42°F. Well, that's why I included a wood-burning fireplace as part of the kitchen renovation and addition project of 2008-2009.
This was Fire No. 86 in that very fireplace, the second day in a row where this warming joy was called for.
In spite of the drear and drizzle, and the cold and the misery, I still tried to be faithful to my daily walking routine, clocking 4.25 very soggy miles.
"Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie," from Heather Baird of SprinkleBakes.com. [Published 06 July 2020]
For an unmistakably January day this past Tuesday, it was actually pretty gorgeous and not miserably cold, under bright sunshine and with the previous day's breezes mercifully stilled. I'd been holding onto a pork tenderloin and that afternoon was ideal for its hoisin-glazed roasting, along with whole green beans and a pot of garlicky quinoa. It was a filling late afternoon repast that hinted at healthiness, if you'll at least squint and look at it from the side.
When I got up early that fine Tuesday morning and saw the temperature reading of 28°F outside, it put me in the mindset of a nice morning fire to go along with the quiet time with Sumner and the day-starting coffee on which I am most dependent. This was Fire No. 85, because I cannot stop counting things around here.
Adapted from "One-Pan Pork Tenderloin with Green Beans and Potatoes," by Christie Morrison. In Cook's Country, October/November 2015, p. 27.
Apparently, last Monday was National Pie Day, so I thought: Why the heck not? With the ease of a Pillsbury refrigerated crust and a storehouse of Granny Smith apples, I made a piled-high lattice-topped version that was tasty but (to me!) not quite sweet enough.
Back during the holiday season, I made a double-batch of bourbon caramel sauce, using yet another new recipe for this, and it had an exceptionally pleasing result. I appreciated the ease with which it could be prepared and the clear directions from the recipe author. And it sure drizzled wontonly onto those baked slices of apple pie.
Based very, very loosely on "Blue Ribbon Caramel-Apple Pie," from King Arthur Baking.
"Bourbon Caramel Sauce," from Ali Ebright Martin of the Gimme Some Oven blog. [Published 31 August 2019]
Ripe bananas, a new batch of bananas foster syrup to add to the bit leftover from not too long ago, and plenty of the toasted buttered pecan pieces still in the fridge: it all added up to a delicious lunch of banana bread pancakes last Monday.
"Banana Bread Pancakes" and "Bananas Foster Syrup," from Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 103 (January/February 2014), p. 23.
While other possible menus might have crossed my mind this past Sunday, experiencing another drizzly dreary cold grey miserable winter afternoon with temps remaining in the low 40s was the determiner of dinner: bacon cheeseburger soup, with all its comforting warm goodness, its hearty settle in the belly, its bulwark shielding me from that about which I love to complain in these January days. Silly, annoying, half-serious complaining, of course, because it remains the case that this is a most wonderful life in the cozy realm of the Roediger House, regularly alive with dear friends, and perpetually the source of happiness and joy for this most fortunate fella.
"Bacon Cheeseburger Soup," from Catalina Castravet and Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 01 March 2018]
Several days had passed since I last made a dessert and I was given very direct and clear instructions to rectify that last Friday night. A quick thumbing through the cookies recipe binder helped me settle pretty speedily on the so-called Worst Ever chocolate chip cookies, resulting in a delicious pile of warm and tempting cookies...a pile that was immediately reduced in size.
"The WORST EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies," from Sam Merritt of SugarSpunRun.com. [Published 28 November 2018; Updated 13 November 2019]
Now that I've sort of found my way back to it, I'm digging a ride on the frequent pizza train. Knowing it's pretty quick and easy to throw together the mostly-no-knead dough the night before, and with whatever additional prep might be necessary once I commit to a style or set of toppings the day of, and also wanting to be on an improving trajectory by refining my approach with recent efforts fresh on my mind...that's the combination fueling the current trend. Last Thursday, a humidly warm and occasionally drizzly day, being mostly stuck inside offered enough time to re-up a commitment to the ol' barbecue chicken, bacon, and onion pizza that I find reminiscent of the wonderful Sylvia's Pizza I enjoyed so much on the Downtown Mall in my Charlottesville days.
By late afternoon, a little sunshine poked through and temps were in the mid-60s, which made my post-supper downtown stroll almost warm.
Pizza Crust based on "Fool-Proof Pan Pizza," by J. Kenji López-Alt, culinary consultant for SeriousEats.com. [Updated 26 April 2021]
Last Wednesday we got up into the low 60s so it was another afternoon of intensive ornamental grass battling for me, which pretty much took it out of me. Before the age of covid, I probably would have opted for just grabbing chicken sandwiches from Wendy's so as to avoid having to make dinner. But I'm staying home whenever possible! So it was a quick whip-up of seasoned taco beef and an amply piled sheet pan of cheesy nachos, with red onion, black beans, and shoepeg corn. I had some lime crema chilling in the fridge for just this sort of moment.
Taco-Style Meat Based on "Crispy Beef Tacos," by Hilah Johnson. From HilahCooking.com.
"Homemade Chili and Taco Seasoning," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Published 03 February 2011]
"Easy Lime Crema," from Lisa Bryan of DownShiftology.com. [Published 22 April 2020]
We were back to the wet and drear and cold for much of the day this past Tuesday but I proceeded with a plan for grilling anyway. On that night, this meant a huge tuna steak, adorned with a fresh kettle of sauce à la moutarde and accompanied by quinoa and garden peas. That sauce was thinly tasty but lacked the elegance of my previous versions of it...not sure how I missed the mark but it means all the extra got discarded.
"Sauce Bâtarde" and "Sauce à la Moutarde," from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck. 1961/1983/2001. [Seventeenth Printing, October 2009.] p. 64-66.
As is somewhat customary, I bought extra salmon so that the remaining cooked portions could be incorporated into a subsequent meal of salmon croquettes...which occurred this past Monday evening. I still had plenty of garlic-chili-lime aïoli, and I made a fresh batch of roasted garlic asparagus. It was too much and terribly good!
The streets around the house were somewhat more quiet, with the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday closures, and that morning was invasively and unsparingly cold when Sumner and I made our several excursions outside before moving into the day's routines. But once more the bluebird couple (see photo above) was doing its investigatory due diligence regarding the birdhouse on the property line fence, and I can only hope that they decide to take up residence.
Although we had limited sunshine, it warmed up enough for me to engage in some much-needed attention to the overgrown ornamental grass in the backyard. I got five of the seven chopped back and, quite frankly, wish I could just dig them all up. They are much bigger and expansive than I had intended.
I was back at it on Wednesday with the painful and exhausting reminder that tools make the job. I need a chainsaw. All I had was a limb saw. I did the best I could and still fell short of removing just one of the ornamental grass plants.
Adapted from "Salmon Burgers" (p. 396) and "Herb Sauce" (p. 395), from Denise Austin, Shrink Your Female Fat Zones, Rodale Books (2003).
"Chili-Lime Aïoli," from David Wald of Princeton, NJ, May 2009.
It was a bright sunshine-y Sunday, perfect for taking Sumner on a good downtown stroll, followed by an earnest meal prep and a quick return to roasted salmon and roasted broccoli. I'd bought a larger slab of it anticipating another round of salmon croquettes with the leftovers...but I was not a clean cutter and I was too hungry to care.
That Sunday morning began with a pre-dawn awakening and a crisp 28°F wintry dominance to the outside air. I’ve had a fire laid for weeks now and the coffee time with Sumner called for its lighting. Each in our respective chairs, me sippin’ and he snoozin’ … and that’s how our day started. This was Fire No. 84 in the kitchen addition.
It was also one of those mornings where Sumner was convinced we were under grave and constant threat of squirrel assault, with each creak and groan of the house his heightened alert status kept him on edge, and patiently impatient for us to go forth and investigate—and, he hoped, exterminate.
It's been on my mind to bring back this excellent recipe for a red velvet layer cake, probably because last fall's failure with a rival recipe had been haunting me and I wanted a success story to supplant the bad memories. This is what I made last Saturday for us to enjoy that evening following our beef-and-broccoli strudel dinner and the movie The Menu before dessert was served. While I do love cream cheese frosting, it was almost too much for me...but I ain't complaining because overall this was some delicious cake!
"The Best Red Velvet Cake," from Barry C. Parsons of RockRecipes.com. [Updated 16 May 2021]
With Amy and Gern here for dinner this past Saturday night, I tried out a variation on a recent recipe I'd made, adapting it from another of my regular recipes, and resulting in beef and broccoli strudel, the fourth iteration of this excellent and dependable filling.
The original recipe recommends phyllo turnovers, and these are always fantastic but also rather involved. I experimented with a similar strudel/braided puff pastry approach once before, and more recently I've simply wrapped the filling in puff pastry. Each version has proved delicious, and this latest batch was no exception. Some roasted spiced sweet potato cubes helped fill out the plate.
Adapted to puff pastry from "Savory Garlic Beef & Broccoli Turnovers," by Kirsten Renee Shabaz of Minneapolis, MN. Taste of Home, November 2011, p. 31. (Go to food.com for a copy of the original recipe.)
Strudel version inspired by "Chicken Mushroom Strudel," from Chef John Mitzewich of FoodWishes.com and AllRecipes.com. [Published 28 October 2022[
"Make Your Own Cooking Creme," from CKolden on epicurious.com. [Published 24 September 2015]
Originally based on "Seasoned Roasted Sweet Potatoes," from Chelsea Lords of ChelseasMessyApron.com. [Published 04 March 2019]
The mid-week roasted salmon last Wednesday left cooked portions to be saved, all by design, so that Friday night's meal could be another round of salmon croquettes with fresh-made chili-garlic-lime aïoli. Crisply roasted broccoli florets joined these terrific patties and it was an overall winner dinner for that dimmer winter day.
Adapted from "Salmon Burgers" (p. 396) and "Herb Sauce" (p. 395), from Denise Austin, Shrink Your Female Fat Zones, Rodale Books (2003).
"Chili-Lime Aïoli," from David Wald of Princeton, NJ, May 2009.
I found myself rather hungry by late morning this past Thursday and, rather than reaching for my granola, I put the day's meal into motion and came out at noon with a fridge-clearing combination pizza: leftover asparagus and mushrooms, the stored-away bacon pieces from a big Costco bag, and an aging roll of puff pastry that needed to be cooked. With a pesto and ricotta base and finished near the end of cooking with a bit of shredded mozzarella, it was deliciously straightforward.
It always seems a bit unwise to go too long without indulging in a slab of roasted salmon with a side of some appropriate roasted green vegetable. This past Wednesday night, it was the early-in-the-day meal, and garlicky asparagus spears were the side car. Once again, it was a meal where I finished it wishing I had a duplicate plate to start on immediately after finishing the first round. Ah, but alas...
With just enough of the homemade sandwich bread remaining, the Tuesday evening meal put the final slices to fantastic use as part of wonderful beef and cheddar melts. I pulled prepped filet mignons from the freezer and dropped them into a sous vide set-up before teaching an afternoon virtual session on equity and access to learning, and then sautéed sweet onions once I got back into the kitchen. Thick cheddar slices, rich and creamy butter for the griddling, lots of homemade melts sauce on top: I do believe I could have eaten another whole sandwich if there'd been another whole sandwich available to eat.
"Beef & Cheddar Melts Sauce," a Roediger House creation.
Sunday's dessert creation involved a new recipe I'd grabbed last summer but had not gotten around to yet: banana pudding cheesecake bars. As I believe I've muttered about in previous blog posts, I love bananas and I love banana pudding and I'm glad I've discovered banana bread pancakes and I've come around to banana bread. Other banana-flavored things, not so much (roasted banana ice cream, banana sheet cake).
Confession: this is the dessert I made when I had set out cream cheese by mistake—I'd thought it was needed for the recent eggnog cinnamon rolls but I was misremembering the recipe. It was a matter of not letting it go to waste. Further honesty: I wanted to make a dessert that would not tempt me much. Well, as sometimes happens, a new recipe is a grand experiment and also the only time it will be served here. These banana pudding cheesecake bars were absolutely awful, so after a sample piece, the rest of it was tossed into the garbage...and the recipe was removed from the notebook and tossed into the rubbish bin.
Sunday was another one of those miserable winter days that I really am not fond of: grey, cold, rainy, unbearable, with temps that would not quite break out of the thirties. Nonetheless, when the precipitation backed off to sort of spitting, I bundled up and ventured off on a long downtown walk, clocking in right at five-and-a-half miles. It is a testament to the inspiration, motivation, and hostage-taking made possible by my Apple Watch: it was Sunday, and I wanted that victorious notification of a perfect week of activity and workouts.
"Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars," from Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby-Cakes.com. [Published 27 April 2015 / Updated 28 June 2022]
When I made pan pizza (for the first time in quite a while) a few days ago, I made a few mistakes and had small missteps that troubled me, even though the result was still pretty wonderful. It left me hankering to jump to a quick repeat so I could improve the technique while it wsa fresh on my mind. Saturday night was the opportunity, with the same pan pizza mostly-no-knead overnight dough, but this time it was dressed as a barbecue chicken and bacon pan pizza with cheddar cheese and red onion. And it was freakin' awesome.
It was not just a two-pizza day at the Roediger House; it was also a two squirrel day.
Pizza Crust based on "Fool-Proof Pan Pizza," by J. Kenji López-Alt, culinary consultant for SeriousEats.com. [Updated 26 April 2021]
Before we shift into the dark depths of winter and begin turning our attention to Mardi Gras, I've still got a little December holiday spirit to exorcise. Well, and enough eggnog still in the fridge for further kitchen creations. On Saturday morning, that feeling was channeled into yet another batch of eggnog cinnamon rolls, an indulgent breakfast treat that day but with enough to pass on to friends and neighbors. I was initially worried with the dough's first rise but the end results were spectacular, nonetheless!
This was Batch No. 18 of cinnamon rolls.
"Easy Fluffy Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls," from Tieghan Girard of Half-Baked Harvest. [Published 24 November 2020]
Geez Louisy, it was breezy and cooler this past Friday, and it put me in the mind of soup for supper. The much-loved cream of tomato soup was the go-to that night, in part because it also got me excited to try yet another bread recipe in order to also have grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a delicious loaf, albeit very light and soft...and therefore not sturdy enough for the buttering or for being grilled. And yet it had such awesome flavor and feel that one could very well overlook the lack of customary crunch and crust!
When Sunday night rolled around, the container of leftover tomato soup got zapped in the microwave while I used more of that homemade bread for a fresh batch of grilled cheese sandwiches. Lordy, it was so very good all over again.
Also, on Friday afternoon, I finally achieved a pitcher of fresh-squeezed orange juice, when I remembered I'd tucked away a bag of oranges in the pantry.
"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.
"Simply Sandwich Bread," from Sally McKenney of SallysBakingAddiction.com. [Published 26 November 2019]
For this past Thursday's evening meal, I figured I'd better do something with the two very ripe large bananas on the counter. Banana bread pancakes could not be beaten among the options, especially since I also added fresh-heated bananas foster syrup plus buttered toasted pecan pieces to it. Lordy, it was a treat to eat while watching Kevin McCarthy lose the US House Speaker's race for the 11th time.
It was a gorgeous day in Winston-Salem, albeit rather breezy. From somewhere buried deep down I mustered up sufficient motivation not only to be outside but even to get to work on some winter yardwork tasks, like mowing down all the monkey grass...and even giving the front yard a final mowing (its 20th on the season) to put it down for the duration of the winter. I was grateful for the mid-60s temps while I was working away!
"Banana Bread Pancakes" and "Bananas Foster Syrup," from Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 103 (January/February 2014), p. 23.
I found it useful to consult "Buttery Toasted Pecans," from Julia Reed on SouthernLiving.com. [Updated 29 November 2022]
