Transition

The transition from summer to fall always seems difficult.  Less light, less sleep, less time, but I love seasonal change.  The air is crisper and the colors are darker.  Food choices become denser and warmer and I start to think about apples, pumpkins and soup.

Some of my favorites are still being harvested, but carrots are thicker, greens are darker and thoughts of tomatoes and mozzarella turn to roasted spaghetti sauce.

With a busy tempo to the day, I find myself making pasta-based recipes that are easy to assemble and reheat nicely depending on when family members arrive home.

Here's what's for dinner at my house tonight: 
 

Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Chicken - serves 3 or 4


Fresh Pasta - cooked and drained
Roasted Tomato Sauce* - 2-3 cups
Chicken - cut into bite sized pieces and pan fried in olive oil and a sprinkle of salt

Combine and serve with your favorite cheese.

*Roasted Tomato Sauce - Roast onions or leeks, garlic, tomatoes mixed with olive oil and kosher salt in a 425 oven for 30-45 minutes.  Cool. Blend. Add thyme or oregano or basil, whatever your favorite is.  Freeze in 2 cup portions.


Creating, creating, creating....

Willow Tree Designs

Kathy McDonald of Willow Tree Designs lives in Manitoba, Canada.  I "meet" Kathy through an Etsy team called Studio Potter Archives.  She creates jewelry and pottery, both for sale in her etsy shop called "Adornyourself".  I asked Kathy about the relationship she has between the food she eats and the pottery she makes ...

"I think I gravitated to making functional pottery so I could have something to serve the food in." says Kathy

"I love to grow things and my relationship with growing, harvesting and preparing food began several decades ago when I was growing up on a small mixed farm. Pretty much everything we ate came from the farm and our huge garden. My dad even ground up the wheat, flax and oats for our morning cereal and our bread."

"I was the eldest of 6 and much of the food preparation was my job, so I became acquainted first hand with things like butchery, baking bread, cakes and pies as well as canning and preserving. It was an integral part of my life then and still is to this day."

Kathy glazes her pottery in warm and earthy tones.  So much of her inspiration is found in the prairie landscape that surrounds her home. She works hard to ensure that all of her functional pottery can withstand the rigors of everyday use.  

"I'm a mix of Slavic and Scot descent so I have both of those cooking traditions to look back to. I still have my mother's, both grandmothers',and a great grandmother's cookbooks and between them, they likely represent a century of cooking."
 
Zucchini Tomato Bake
Recipe by Kathy McDonald of Willow Tree Designs

2 small zucchini
2 small ripe tomatoes
½ cup basil leaves
½ cup feta cheese
½ cup mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese (grated)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup flour
4 tblsp olive oil
½ cup fine bread crumbs

1. Cut zucchini into ¼ inch slices ,add salt and pepper to flour,and coat all the slices in flour. Heat olive oil in a skillet and brown all of the zucchini. Cut tomatoes in ¼ inch slices.
2. Layer tomatoes , zucchini, basil and cheeses in a baking dish finishing with a mozza cheese layer, sprinkle with bread crumbs, drizzle a tiny bit more olive oil on top. 
3. Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes depending on how many layers you have in your baking dish.

Bake and serve this delicious recipe in Kathy's pottery pie plate pictured below:

Visit Kathy's etsy shop where you can purchase any of the featured items.  Her flickr account is a great place to visit as she includes photos of pottery and food!

Lynn Isaacson of New Prospect Pottery

Hudson Valley Potter, Lynn Isaacson has been working in clay seriously for the last 15 years.  She is also a teacher, painter and now she enjoys making “functional” pottery.  

She describes her food and pottery relationship in this way: 

"The spirit of creating objects that are not only beautiful to see and hold, but have a purpose in our daily lives, gives me tremendous pleasure.  I love to share the pots I make, and collect, using them with friends and family.  It makes enjoying a meal doubly pleasurable."

Artisan No-Knead Bread Recipe

Recipe by Lynn Isaacson, New Prospect Pottery

3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 cup cornmeal (course ground cornmeal is preferred by some)
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons molasses
2 cups water

Instructions:

1.Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds. Pour molasses on top. Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter). Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.

2. Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I usually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.

3. Generously sprinkle cornmeal or flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much, it won’t hurt it).

4. Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle a little cornmeal or flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour. With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.

Covered Bakeware Instructions:

1. Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.

2. Fold the top to the bottom.

3. lightly grease a 3 quart (or larger) bowl and sprinkle flour in it to lightly cover the sides and bottom of bowl.

4. Place the dough into the lightly greased and floured bowl.

5. Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).

6. Place empty bakeware in oven and turn oven to 450 degrees, to pre-heat bakeware for 15 minutes.

7. Open oven, remove bakeware lid, pour dough from the bowl into bakeware, replace lid, and close oven.

8.Let bread bake for 30 minutes, then open oven and remove bakeware lid and close oven.

9. Let bread bake for another 15 minutes without the bakeware lid.

Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool. Enjoy!

Here is Lynn's beautiful stoneware bean pot or casserole. "It has been wood fired and salt glazed. There was no glaze placed on the exterior of the clay. A heavy amount of salt was introduced into the wood fired kiln when it reached 2350 degrees. The salt vapor created the beautiful 'orange peel' texture. The interior of the pot was lined in a food safe gold shino glaze. This casserole must be placed in a cool oven to avoid thermal shock. It is dishwasher and microwave safe. It is a functional and beautiful way to cook and serve in the same vessel."


Lynn's website is full of her beautiful pottery.  She sells her work from her etsy shop as well as the Byrdcliffe Shop in Woodstock, New York.  She has just purchased a new kiln for reduction firing... can't wait to see what comes out of the fire!

Pot Luck

This weekend, Nov 19-21, Potters Place is having their holiday show and sale. This is my favorite "Pot Luck" piece and recipe inspired by the show's theme.

Baked Ziti - serves 8
Martha Stewart Food Magazine

1 lb ziti or other short pasta
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
7 cups tomato sauce

1. Cook pasta al dente. Drain.
2. Combine ricotta, egg, 1/2 cup Parm and 1 cup mozzarella.
3. In the bottom of casserole dish, spread 1/2 tomato sauce. Top with ziti, then ricotta and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parm and mozzarella.
4. Place handthrown casserole into a cold oven and turn the temp to 450. Once at temp, set your timer for 20-25 minutes.

Casserole for Pot Luck holiday gatherings...