Blue Cayenne

OK. Let’s get the full disclosure out of the way.

I have a big problem with some brassicas.

Put a plate of kale (or mustard greens or turnips or Brussels sprouts) in front of me and the color drains from my face.

I’m not proud of this, particularly because brassicas are healthy nutritional powerhouses. (In my defense, I do enjoy cauliflower and broccoli.)

It’s not that I haven’t tried to love brassicas. I really have. In fact, I keep getting roped into that “but you haven’t enjoyed it prepared this way” trap. Over and over and over.

And so it was with great trepidation, that I tried Hetty McKinnon’s Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad With Caesar Dressing.

But…I kept reminding myself…this was a Hetty Mckinnon recipe. Hetty has never let me down with a recipe. (Here are two McKinnon recipes I’ve posted before on Blue Cayenne: Fennel and Cannelini Bean Salad and Cauliflower With Fried Lentils and Spinach Yogurt.)

And…drumroll…I loved it!

Maybe it was the shaving of the Brussels sprouts that got me through the ordeal dish. How bad can it be to taste a thinly-sliced Brussels sprout after all? Or, maybe it was the wonderful garlicky Caesar dressing–a dressing so good that anyone could enjoy dipping anything into it. (No anchovies lost their lives in this dressing, by the way.)

Whatever the reason, this is an outstanding salad.

Outstanding.

Who knew I could love brussels sprouts?

Now, bring on the kale.  Or, not.

You can buy Hetty McKinnon’s book Neighborhood here.

My good friend Sarah often invokes the help of her “parking angel” when she negotiates impossibly-crowded parking lots. I’ve seen her angel in action a couple of times. Parking spaces do indeed seem to open up–even at Costco!

So, in this season of everything cookie, when I ran into some turbulence in my cookie baking, I decided to conjure up my own angel– the one assigned to cover cookie outcomes and general baking mishaps. Her name is Kim.

The backstory: King Arthur Flour featured a Maple Shortbread Sandwich Cookie recipe in their just-out holiday baking catalogue. I am a believer in the King Arthur Flour Company. They sell consistently wonderful (and reliable) flours. Theirs’ is an employee-owned company. And…they operate an incredible “Customer Hotline” where home cooks can call and speak to a patient baking expert at no charge. Good people, too. Here is a link to their site: King Arthur Flour.

Over the years, I’ve found some great recipes on the King Arthur site. Their Lemon Bliss Cake, for example, is a knockout. (You can find my take on their recipe here.)  In this case, the prominence they gave to this Maple Shortbread Cookie recipe in the holiday catalogue told me that this cookie must be excellent. (It was.)

Mid-cookie, though, I ran into a crisis. The cookie dough wouldn’t release from my pricey new cookie presses.

Oh!, believe me, I gave it my best effort.

I carefully buttered the cookie press.

I dipped the press into flour.

I dusted the top of the cookies.

Still. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.

In frustration (and yielding to my healthy Irish temper), I confess that I whammed the cookie press  on the side of the pan so loudly that my Juliet shot me that “Mom’s in a mood” look and then retreated to the peace and quiet of her bed in the far corner of my home.

Still stuck.

Then, midway through my troubled cookie baking experience–and after briefly questioning my loyalty to KAF–the cookies started to inexplicably drop from my cookie press in reasonable condition.

Wow! That Kim is a keeper.

Here is a link to King Arthur Flour’s original recipe: KAF Maple Sandwich Cookies.

Cooks have long understood the impact of color on eating habits. The ancient Egyptians and Romans used herbs to color their foods and wines in an effort to enhance their appeal.

Instinctively, I think, most of us understand that color suggests flavor, ripeness, and sweetness. Certainly, at least for me, there is a heart-quickening anticipation of ripeness when I score a dark green/black avocado in my grocer’s bin or when I find bright red strawberries at the farmer’s market.

The opposite is true, too.  Color can be a turn-off. Researchers have found that there is a relatively negative reaction to foods not associated with the colors found in nature. For example, blue is an unappealing color for food for most people. Interestingly, some weight loss companies recommend curbing eating by serving food on blue plates, refrigerating food in blue containers, and dining in a room with blue lighting. I’m trying to picture myself rolling out of bed around midnight, stumbling into the kitchen and innocently opening the refrigerator only to turn away in disgust at the sight of chocolate eclairs in blue wrapping. Maybe not.

And, so, here is a colorful squash dish featuring kuri squash. It is just the thing to perk up your holiday table.

Who could resist kuri’s vibrant orange allure? Whatever you do, though, don’t serve it on a blue plate.