Overnight pear-almond bran muffins

These sound healthy, but they're good anyway. I'm not always a fan of bran muffins, at least not the kind that seem more like sawdust. But these are moist and tasty.

The original recipe called for either powdered ginger or crystallized ginger. At the time I first made these I lived in a backwater where powdered ginger was all that was available, and these tasted dandy. When I moved to the land where tasty food is widely available, I tried it with the crystallized variety, but didn't actually like them as well. I decided the key was to use both.

While they are tasty, one of the best things about this is that you can mix up the batter up to three days in advance of baking them, and can bake off just as many as you need.

Refrigerated Pear-Almond Muffins

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens, January 1994

Ingredients

1 cup whole bran cereal

1 cup milk

1¼ cups flour

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger (plus more for optional garnish)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup peeled chopped pears

1 beaten egg

¼ cup cooking oil

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Method

Combine cereal and milk and let stand 5 minutes.

Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger powder, chopped ginger and salt. Toss together with pears.

Add egg and oil to cereal mixture stir to combine. Stir into pear mixture. 

Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners or grease well. Fill muffin cups about ¾ full (a scant ¼ cup or so in each). Makes 14-16 muffins.  

Sprinkle sliced almonds on top along with additional crystallized ginger if desired. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until done.

Rating: A nice Sunday breakfast treat that's not overly sweet. I have made this countless times over the decades.

Black olive roast chicken

This one-pan chicken dish is one of those flexible recipes. If fennel isn't your thing, feel free to substitute another vegetable like carrots or any other root vegetable. If you're really short on time, using a cut-up whole chicken and placing it over the vegetables would work as well, and is likely to cook slightly faster. Any combo of herbs you like can go into the black olive paste.

Black olive roast chicken

Adapted from “The Herbal Kitchen” by Jerry Traunfeld

Ingredients

½ cup pitted oil-cured black olives

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

2 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1½ pounds potatoes, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 large fennel bulb, white parts only, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 roasting chicken

½ cup white wine

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine olives, thyme, rosemary, zest and lemon juice, garlic and salt in food processor and whir to make a paste.

Place potatoes and fennel in a large roasting pan. Toss them with about a quarter of the olive paste mixture.

Remove any chicken innards and save for another use. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Cut out the backbone. Turn the chicken over and spread it flat, tucking wings under. Loosen the skin over the breast and legs and work the olive paste under the skin evenly over the bird. Place the bird over the vegetables in the pan. Season well with salt and pepper.

Bake at 425 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes until golden brown and no longer pink between the thigh and breast. 

Remove from oven. Pour wine over roasted vegetables and toss to deglaze the pan. Let chicken stand at least 10 minutes before carving.

Rating: Tasty Sunday night supper comfort food. 

Pasta with roasted Romanesco and capers

More local growers are bringing Romanesco to the farmers market, and I can't resist buying the nearly architectural vegetables. They look like some part of a coral reef, with little miniature green castle turrets.

You can always substitute cauliflower in this flavorwise. It's just not as fun.

Pasta with roasted Romanesco and capers

Adapted from Bon Appetit, Oct. 2016

Ingredients

¼ cup sliced almonds

¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons drained capers, divided

1 Romanesco or cauliflower head, cut into small florets

8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

½ cup dry white wine

12 ounces pasta (shells or other short pasta varieties)

2 ounces grated Asiago, Pecorino or Parmesan

2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat ¼ cup oil in a large saute pan. Add almonds and 1 tablespoon capers and cook over medium low heat until almonds are golden brown. With a slotted spoon, remove capers and almonds from pan and set aside. Season with salt.

Toss Romanesco with the flavored oil in the pan. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt. Roast in the oven until golden and tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in the saute pan. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and remaining 1 tablespoon of capers. Cook briefly over medium heat until garlic is golden. Add wine and cook until liquid is almost absorbed.

Boil pasta in salted water until just barely al dente. Drain pasta into pot with the garlic, adding 1 cup pasta cooking water. Cook until pasta is al dente, add more cooking liquid as needed to make a sauce. Stir in cheese, add butter and toss to combine. 

Serve topped with cooked almonds and capers, drizzling with more olive oil for flavor.

Rating: Fine. It's like a lot of cauliflower pasta recipes I've made. But what's one more?