Some comfort food classics...no recipes needed!

Corned Beef Hash with Eggs

Open-Faced Melted Cheese Sandwich

Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup

Veterans Day

Apple tarts

When you're in too much of a hurry to make apple pie, or if you're running short on enough flour to make two pie crusts, maybe a rustic apple tart will suit! We love these, and they are so quick and easy to make it's almost ridiculous how good they taste.



Rustic Apple Tart

Single pie crust

3-5 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
Dots of butter, optional

Roll out the pie crust and place in a deep dish pie pan. Pile the apple slices on, and top with spices and butter. Loosely pleat the pie crust around the top, leaving a good sized hole in the center. Bake at 400 for 30 to 40 minutes. Slice like a pie; serve in a bowl with milk.

Farmer's market this weekend

Some friends and I went to Northampton MA on Saturday, just to stroll around, buy stuff, and eat good food. We found good food at Bela, a vegetarian restaurant very near Smith College (on Masonic Street).

Here is one of my finds for the day, at the farmer's market. All the fresh Brussels sprouts seem to be gone already in my area. These were amazing last night, grilled in salted butter :-)

Middle Eastern lamb stew

Although this stew can be made by just throwing all the ingredients into the slow cooker and letting it simmer for the day (still adding the chickpeas and spinach at the end), it will be much more flavorful if you've got the time to brown the meat and cook the spices first!

Middle Eastern Lamb Stew
Olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 lb lamb meat
2 t cumin seeds
2 t coriander
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt & pepper
Onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 c stock
20 oz can of chickpeas
6 to 8 oz spinach

Brown the lamb in the olive oil. Add the spices, onions, and garlic and cook until softened. Place mixture in slow cooker over medium heat and add the tomatoes and stock, allowing to cook for 3 to 5 hours, until the lamb is very tender.

Just before serving, mash up about 1/2 the chickpeas with a fork and stir both mashed and whole chickpeas into the stew. Add the spinach and serve.

Bottle of Wine and Glass ... Kenneth Garrett 18x24 Phot... Buy From Art.com

Pear and blue cheese pizza

This is an unusual but delicious pizza pie, especially appropriate for the fall. It will only take about 30 minutes to make.

Pear & Blue Cheese Pizza

For each pizza pie:

Olive oil
Onion, thinly sliced halves
Balsamic vinegar
1 t dried sage
Salt & pepper
Pizza shell
Pear, cored and sliced very thin
1/3 c walnuts, chopped
1/2 c Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Cook onions in oil until they begin to brown. Lower heat and continue to cook until very soft. Stir in the Balsamic vinegar, sage, and the salt and pepper. Spread the onions out on the pizza shell. Top with pear slices, walnuts, and cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or so at 400, until the cheese is melted.