As a child, there were few things as thrilling to me as when we were awarded the rare treat of being served breakfast-at-dinner. Is it even possible to think up a variety of dinner choices more likely to send a child into a whirlwind of heart pounding joy? Pancakes for dinner? Waffles for dinner? Are you kidding me? FRENCH TOAST for dinner? Just stop now, before I faint with pleasure.

Alas, as an adult, though I would truly love nothing more than a crisp waffle for dinner, I find that indulging in basic breakfast fare for dinner no longer suits my constitution. Oh, sure, I still want to eat a waffle for dinner, but, in the interest of my well being, I have to choose to look the other way. Fortunately, what resides at the other end of that directional gaze is a big plate of popovers.

The beauty of popovers, hollow and mildly flavored as they are, is that they are literally made to be adorned with whatever you desire. Spoon them full of marmalade, spread them thick with Nutella, or, for the more grown up palette, stuff them with this herby, aromatic filling of leeks that have been gently braised in white wine. The buttery, crisp popovers, so soft on the inside, make the perfect pocket for the delicious filling, and served with a light salad they make an absolutely fantastic dinner that barely hints at their breakfast origins. Paired with something so savory and satisfying, suddenly your popover breakfast-at-dinner starts to seem a bit less unusual, though certainly no less special.

Popovers with Braised Leeks

I don’t own special popover tins, and I really don’t think they are necessary to achieve superbly puffy popovers. I use a muffin tin to bake these, and my experience has shown that, time and time again, they work just fine. Though you may think it an error, you really do start these popovers in a cold oven. Some people swear by pouring popovers into an already heated pan, but I find this method to be easier, yielding more consistent results.

Popovers

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, plus more softened butter for greasing the inside of each tin
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups milk
3 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature
pinch of salt

Thoroughly butter the insides of a 12-cup muffin tin, then set aside.

Whisk together the flour and salt, then add the butter, milk, and beaten eggs, and whisk together until just combined. The batter will be relatively thin.

Pour or spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 to ¾ full.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the popovers in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, while the oven heats up.

After 15 minutes, reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The popovers should be deeply golden and puffed up. If they look a bit pale at this point, continue to bake them an additional 5 minutes.

Immediately remove the popovers from their tins, and gently poke a little hole in the top of each one, allowing the steam trapped inside to escape. This will ensure that your popovers remain crisp as they cool.

Makes 12 popovers

Leeks Braised in White Wine

2 large leeks, thoroughly rinsed with dark green stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ cup white wine
salt and pepper

Slice leeks in half lengthwise, then slice each half into thin half moons. In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced leeks and sauté, stirring frequently, for 7-10 minutes, until the leeks appear soft and lightly darkened at the edges. Carefully pour in the white wine, and stir to combine. Cook for 30 seconds, allowing the white wine to steam and sizzle with the leeks, then cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve leeks spooned into popovers, garnished with crumbles of crisp bacon (I used turkey bacon, but regular bacon would obviously work fine as well).

About the contributor:
	Elizabeth Miller is a freelance writer who runs Savory Salty Sweet, a food and kitchen appreciation website. She also writes the Melting Pot column here on Indie Fixx, which appears bimonthly on Fridays. Read more about her on the contributors’ page.

While fully aware of the fact that I might be running the risk of alienating quite a few people out there when I say this, I am just going to admit it: I cannot wait for the holiday season to begin. As soon I woke up the day after Halloween, something clicked deep within my brain. Now, with November bearing down upon us, I can feel myself becoming more and more excited as the heart of the holidays draws nearer. I don’t know what is happening to me, but I’ve decided to put this excitement to good use.

Over time, my family, as in the case of most families, I imagine, has worked out the basic rhythm of what Christmas morning looks like. We wake up early-ish (earlier, now that we are being prodded to life by the Santa Claus-induced hyperventilating of an enthusiastic child), we drink some coffee, we have a light snack, we open presents, and then, several hours after waking up, we eat our first meal of the day. It’s a schedule that works for us, as it encourages the lackadaisical feeling of the holidays that serves as a great counterbalance to the hustle that seems to permeate the preceding weeks.

Our choice of early morning snacks changes, sometimes leaning towards the totally indulgent (pecan sticky buns, I love you), and other times towards the modest and reasonable (tiny scones, English muffins with jam). This year, I’ve been working on coming up with something we could eat that is simple to prepare, but still special, and falls somewhere squarely in between the indulgent and the modest. These turnovers, crisp, buttery envelopes concealing pockets of lightly sweetened fruit, seem like a surefire winner.

A lot of people dislike working with phyllo, and I completely understand why. If not prepared to deal with the properties of phyllo, the process of separating, brushing, and wrapping it seem quite cumbersome. If you are prepared, however, the process could not be simpler. Thankfully, preparing yourself is a simple job that can be broken down into three easy steps that, if followed, guarantee a smooth and aggravation-free phyllo experience:

1) Always make sure your phyllo is completely thawed before attempting to unroll it from its package and separate it. You should thaw your phyllo in the refrigerator for a full 24 hours before attempting to work with it, and leave it at room temperature for at least half an hour before starting to unwrap and unroll it.

2) Keep your unrolled, waiting phyllo sheets covered with a lightly damp towel while wrapping and preparing your turnovers. This will keep your waiting phyllo sheets slightly moist, and prevent them from drying out, which makes them difficult, oftentimes even impossible, to work with.

3) Have all your ingredients at the ready. Have your fruit in bowls, your melted butter in a pan or bowl that will allow it to be quickly and easily reheated if it starts to harden, and your baking sheets lined with parchment and sitting next to you. Once you wrap these fellows, it’s best to lay them down and leave them alone until they are ready to bake. Fuss with them, and they may leak.

Besides the obvious pluses of being satisfying, not to sweet, and utterly delicious, these turnovers make a fantastic holiday treat on account of that fact that they can be made ahead, frozen, then simply removed from the freezer and baked whenever you desire a flaky, fresh turnover. There is no need to thaw, no need to fuss, and no need to rush. Essentially, they exist as a mirror to what one hopes a holiday morning can represent: calm, casual, and comforting.

Turnovers in Phyllo

As mentioned, these turnovers can be made ahead of time, flash frozen, and then kept in the freezer for up to 2 weeks before baking. To do this, simply assemble the turnovers and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the turnovers on the baking sheet in the freezer for at least one hour, until they are frozen through. Place frozen turnovers in an airtight container or bag (if you stack the turnovers in a container, remember to place a piece of wax or parchment paper in between each layer), then store as flat as possible. When you are ready to bake your turnovers, bake them exactly as you would if they were not frozen, adding only 2 or 3 minutes total to their cooking time if they appear to be taking longer to brown.

1 package of phyllo, defrosted and at room temperature, any size (mine were 9”x14”)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and then cooled slightly
2 cups of fruit of your choice, chopped into ½-inch chunks (I used pears and sour cherries—the cherries don’t have to be chopped, obviously—but you can use any fresh or frozen fruit you like, such as apples, peaches, raspberries, blueberries etc., and you needn’t defrost the fruit, should you choose to use frozen fruit)
3 to 4 tablespoons of dark brown sugar, adjusted to the sweetness of your fruit (sour cherries needed 4 tablespoons of sugar, pears needed only 2)
the juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or, if you are using sour cherries, 1/8 teaspoon almond extract)

Peaheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set near you when wrapping the turnovers.

In a small bowl, combine fruit of your choice, dark brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, pinch of salt, pinch of cinnamon, and vanilla. Toss to combine evenly.

Lay a sheet of phyllo in front of you with the long end facing you. Brush the sheet lightly with butter. Lay another sheet of phyllo over the first, and lightly brush with butter. Keep your waiting phyllo sheets covered with a damp dishtowel while you work. Fold the short end of the sheet in half, so the phyllo sheet remains long, but is now narrower (for example, my sheet that was 9”x14” was then 4.5”x14”). Place a scant 1/3 cup of filling on one end of your phyllo sheet, then fold one corner of your phyllo over the filling, making a triangle shape. Continue folding the phyllo over itself in this manner (as you would fold a flag), until you reach the end of your phyllo sheet and now have a fully-wrapped, triangle-shaped turnover.

Place turnover on parchment-lined baking sheet, and continue making remaining turnovers. When you have completed wrapping all of the turnovers, you can either freeze then at the point or bake them. To bake them, slice 2 or 3 tiny slits in the top of each turnover to allow steam to escape. Bake turnovers for 22-25 minutes, until they are golden brown and you can see the insides bubbling ever so slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 6-8 turnovers, depending on how scant your 1/3 cup scoops were.

About the contributor:
	Elizabeth Miller is a freelance writer who runs Savory Salty Sweet, a food and kitchen appreciation website. She also writes the Melting Pot column here on Indie Fixx, which appears bimonthly on Fridays. Read more about her on the contributors’ page.

How many of us are guilty of choosing to divulge only certain details about specific things, whether it be in regards to how we spent our afternoon (no, really, I only spent ten minutes watching old Clash concert videos on You Tube), or what exactly goes into our children’s food (there is only fruit juice in that smoothie, I swear, not wheatgrass or beets or kale)? I think it can safely be said that most of us have, at one time or another, and for a plethora of reasons, chosen to leave out certain particulars, and that, when we chose to do so, there was most certainly a good excuse. With that in mind, when you make this cake—and I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so—might I suggest that you refrain from telling people that it not only contains a vegetable, but that it also happens to be vegan?

There is a reason for this. This cake, so utterly moist and flavorful, so rich and dark and chocolaty, needs absolutely no explanation. It is devoid of eggs, milk, or butter, but that does not brand it worthy of suspicion. With its additions of both coffee and Dutch-processed cocoa powder, you’d never guess that a cake this intensely flavored was also missing what are widely regarded as being the key elements to a great cake. The zucchini, which melts completely into the cake as it bakes, rendering itself completely undetectable, adds a fabulous moistness to the cake, as well as an oomph in texture that I can only describe as being toothsome, yet not at all heavy.

So, yes, this cake is made with a vegetable. And, yes, it is also vegan. But, lest you pepper people’s thoughts and impressions with expectations of inferiority, I say leave out those little tidbits of information until after the cake has been devoured. Serve this cake with great aplomb, watch it disappear, and only then reveal its secrets. If you choose to at all, that is. I am all for containing whatever details only I need to know, so long as it does not harm anyone else involved. Which is why I should go back to cleaning up the kitchen, and certainly not watching that video of Joe Strummer performing London Calling with the Pogues on St. Patrick’s Day in 1988 (P.S. You should totally go watch that right now).

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake

There are a surprisingly large number of vegan chocolate cake recipes available throughout the world of cookbooks and cooking websites. This basic cake recipe, an old favorite of mine that seems to date back several decades (and was most likely developed in the interest of making a cake with nonperishable pantry ingredients, rather than in the interest of a vegan diet), is a great one, as it does not require the baker to have any special ingredients on hand (no need for soft tofu, butter substitute, or soy milk). I have changed the recipe here and there over the years (using cold coffee in place of water, using Dutch-processed cocoa, and, of course, one day deciding to add zucchini just to see what would happen), but I feel I should credit the very heart of the recipe to Joy of Cooking.

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup shredded zucchini, squeezed through cheesecloth or a dishtowel to remove excess moisture
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Cinnamon Sugar Dust

I tablespoon powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thoroughly grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, and sugar. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, cold coffee, vanilla, and zucchini. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, then whisk together until just smooth. Add the vinegar and stir quickly until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. You will see bubbles rising up in the batter as the vinegar reacts with the baking soda.

Bake the cake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake emerges with just a few moist crumbs attached. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

When cake has cooled, combine powdered sugar and cinnamon. Sift the cinnamon sugar dust over the entire cake, or over each individual slice. I like to use a single serving tea strainer for this, as it makes for an extremely tidy and controlled distribution of powdered sugar.

About the contributor:
	Elizabeth Miller is a freelance writer who runs Savory Salty Sweet, a food and kitchen appreciation website. She also writes the Melting Pot column here on Indie Fixx, which appears bimonthly on Fridays. Read more about her on the contributors’ page.