12-Month Recipe Challenge Recap

I have to admit, I’ve kind of been dreading this post. I knew it was coming about sometime in mid-October, but denial is a sweet and powerful drug. Alas, the tincture bottle is empty, and I now have to face the harsh reality...my 12-Month Cookbook challenge was a flop.

Okay, maybe “flop” is a bit of a strong word. However, it didn’t have a very strong start out the gate, and as the months ticked by the project began to falter further. First it was simply recipes tried and photographed, but not posted. Then it was no recipes tried. Then it was new recipes from the same cookbook. Then it was a new recipe from a new blog…you see where this went. Utter chaos.

I kicked off with the Lentil and Toulouse (heh, Kielbasa) Sausage Casserole in January, and skipped February. I doubled up with Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes in March (cake and frosting!).

The two I photographed but didn’t share were April’s “Aunt Joyce’s Brownies” from I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, and May’s Double Lemon Bars from The Bon Apetit Cookbook.

That’s where things just petered out. Somewhere in the following months I did try the Marlboro Man Sandwich from the Pioneer Woman Cooks, a batch of Blueberry Ginger Freezer Jam from my old standby, the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and a wacky smoothie from a writing blog. I had another surge in November with Thanksgiving, with Roast Spice Turkey from Sunset Magazine and some new side dishes, but they didn’t get a post either.

In total, I tried about ten new recipes. I managed to properly post about three.

So, what has this taught me? Several things, but primarily that my priorities are pretty far from the kitchen! I do love cooking and baking…when I have the time.

I close the book on this experiment with a sort of odd satisfaction. I gave it a go, and it didn’t work out as planned. I did get to try some new recipes, and my kitchen confidence grows every year. I recently moved into a new apartment, with a bigger, sexier kitchen (granite countertops!), and I can already feel the rumblings of culinary inspiration. I’ll be cooking much more this year, but I just won’t be trying to document the process!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Since I've been relieved of corned beef detail for this year's St. Pat's shindig (hooray!), I've been freed up to come up with a festive dessert. "Irish Car Bomb" cupcakes it is!

Well, kind of. No whiskey, since I can't stand the stuff. But it is a Guinness Stout cupcake topped with Bailey's buttercream frosting (adapted from Dulcedo's recipe). Nummy.

Bonus is, you don't have to eat is as fast as you can. Unless you really want to.

Be safe out there if you're celebrating tonight!

PS: I'm totally cheating, but I'm calling this entry two on my 12-month cookbook challenge. I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages!

12-Month Cookbook Challenge

I have this odd addiction to cookbooks.

Much like craft supplies, I love the possibilities that cookbooks present. Just leafing through the glossy pages, I can imagine myself sitting down to the perfect provincial French supper or mastering a centuries-old Romanian recipe.

Take this seductive gastronomical fantasy, and couple it with my obsession with printed words in general, and you’ll see why I have stacks of cookbooks and beautiful cooking magazines. There’s only one problem…I rarely make ANYTHING out of them.

I hate to admit it, but I kind of suck at meal planning. I’m an impulsive chef. I have a few key dishes I always have ingredients for, and the rest I make up as I go along. I may think as far ahead as a couple days, but in the end, I rarely take the time to go through my books, make a proper list, and give myself enough time to shop, chop, and cook.

This year is the year that changes! At least, a little bit. I’ve set for myself a 12-month cookbook challenge, where I will plan and make a new dish every month from my neglected cookbooks and magazines.

I started with a cookbook I had long been admiring, but had never been able to get it together enough to use: My French Kitchen: A Book of Treasured Recipes by Joanne Harris & Fran Warde. Harris is a novelist, and as many of her titles can attest (Chocolat, Five Quarters of the Orange), food plays a huge part in her writing.

The dishes presented are surprisingly simple, calling for fresh vegetables, herbs, and good cuts of meat. There’s nothing too exotic or difficult (aside from the hard-to-find slab bacon), just a bit of time and a lot of chopping required.

This weekend I whipped up the Lentil and Toulouse Sausage Casserole. I did have the proper green lentilles du Puy on hand, though I could not find genuine Toulouse sausage at my nearby stores (and didn’t have time to take the bus to the Berkeley Bowl). So, I made a last minute substitution: turkey Kielbasa. Yes, cringe-worthy to many, but for me, it worked out just fine.

I’d never had French lentils before. I’m used to lentils being cooked to a paste, so to see the little legumes holding their shape so beautifully was a nice surprise. The taste was earthy yet herby, and perfectly warming on a cold January night. It was almost better the next day, once the flavors had a chance to “marry” a bit in the fridge.

I already think I know what book in next in the queue, but Valentine’s Day may change that up a bit if we decide to eat in. V-day is always a good excuse to get creative in the kitchen. Especially with desserts.