From the L.A. Times
In Italy's Piedmont region, where polenta may be better loved than
anywhere else on Earth, the cornmeal mush is a food of the fall. When
the air turns crisp with the first frost and people await the arrival
of snow, housewives labor over their cooking pots, stirring, stirring
as coarse meal slurried in water gradually thickens and becomes sticky
and delicious. To serve, it's poured out onto a wooden board in a rich
golden puddle like a harvest moon.
Cesare Pavese wrote about
it in "The Moon and the Bonfires," a nostalgic novel about a
Piedmontese expatriate's return home: "These are the best days of the
year. Picking grapes, stripping vines, squeezing the fruit, are no kind
of work; the heat has gone and it's not cold yet; under a few light
clouds you eat rabbit with your polenta and go after mushrooms."
We
do things differently in Southern California. In the first place, fall
can be even hotter than summer. Here polenta belongs to these damp
chilly days of winter.
Cobbler, slump, or grunt; have you heard of these desserts? Most people can recognize a cobbler, a fruit dessert baked in a casserole with a dough topping but with no bottom crust. A slump or grunt is almost the
same thing except that they are simmered on the stove, resulting in a
steamed dumpling-like top. Supposedly one dessert is named after how
the dumplings look (they slump) and the other after the sound the
bubbling fruit makes (it grunts). All three are considered New England
specialties dating back to Colonial times, when they would have been
made in a cast-iron pan over a fire. Luckily we now have the luxury of
using a stove or oven.
I am damned if I do and I am damned if I don’t! The husband does
complain at times about the “fresh baked” treats that adorn our kitchen
counter(no one else seems to complain…). And when I do take a break
from endless hours in the kitchen, and there is nothing under the glass
dome, he sighs, makes a comment, and pouts.
I made this cake a few weeks back to celebrate the Jewish New Year. Traditionally, apples (and honey) are served in abundance during the 10 day period between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Eating this combination stems from an age-old Jewish tradition of eating sweet foods to express our hope for a sweet new year.
Yesterday I started out wanting to make traditional Baklava and ended up making cookies! I saw a picture in a magazine where filo dough was cut and placed in mini muffin tins then filled with a quiche mixture. My Baklava Cookies evolved from that idea, and I absolutely love them.
