It's Friday, Let's Talk About Food (MY FAVORITE)

When I plan to make dinner, [Husband] always asks, "What are you making?" And I always say, "Food." "What kind of food?" "Delicious food." I mean really, what else do you need to know? If you don't own Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything already, which you probably don't, you need to drop EVERYTHING and go to the bookstore immediately. Purchase one copy for yourself and one copy for everyone you know who loves food. This will make an amazing Christmas gift. In particular, if you love the farmer's market, but don't know what to do with a lot of the produce you see (winter produce especially is confusing for me!), this is the book for you! I have been buying things that either I don't normally purchase/have no idea how to cook or that I know [Husband] doesn't like, and have been pretty successful so far. The book is set up as an encyclopedia, so when I arrive home with my mysterious produce, I look it up in the back and then cruise the whole section on that item. For instance, I picked up 2 small eggplants at the market. Came home, pulled Mark Bittman off the shelf and looked up eggplant. The book, in very simple terms describes the vegetable and then some common preparations. It then gives you 10 variations on that preparation. It's not so much a cook book of recipes, but a users guide for all kinds of food. What has always been difficult for me is riffing on recipes with success. This book lays it all out and rather than implying you should stick with the method indicated, encourages changes, substitutions, different size pans, etc. It's hard to explain unless you've flipped through and looked at it yourself, but this illustration may do it: I was cooking chicken in a pan one night and I wanted to make a pan sauce. I looked up "pan sauce" in Mark Bittman, and I had 8 different options at my disposal. I figured out what I had to make the sauce with, picked a sauce and not only was it edible, but it was GOOD. In summary, buy this book. You won't be disappointed. I'm pretty sure all 4 of your who read this blog are obsessed with pumpkin, so check this out: PUMPKIN CHILI. Really! I made it Wednesday night and it was GOOD. Based on comments in the ratings (which were all positive) I made a few changes.

• I used a pork loin instead of shoulder because it was cheaper.
• I seared the pork before braising it.
• We were out of beer (I know, I can't believe it either), so I substituted chicken stock and since most of the comments noted that it was a little soupy, I only put about 2 cups of stock in instead of the 3 cups of water plus 12 ounces of beer.
• I added a little less chipotle in adobo and one more poblano because I was worried about the intensity of the spice. Given there is less tomato in this though, I think you can get a little crazy with the spice without making it inedible. I've noticed that the more acidic your ingredients, the more pronounced even a little spice with be. The less acidic, the less pronounced.
• I added very little salt as many people who rated the recipe noted it was a bit salty.
• I added one can of drained/rinsed black beans and a box of sliced crimini mushrooms. I added these after the last step in the recipe (when the peppers/onions have been added to the meat/stock).
• Pumpkin mixed with sour cream=surprisingly delicious and not gross. All this was missing was a little cilantro as garnish.
• I'm pretty sure with minor creativity, this could also be vegetarian. The pumpkin was definitely the star here, not the pork.
• So what DOES the pumpkin bring to the chili? A nice creamy flavor that's great with the smoke of the chipotles and the other vegetables. I would absolutely make this again. Plus it only took about 30 minutes of prep and then I let it stew for an hour. DELISH.

HAPPY WEEKEND. WHOOOOOO!