Chef Leander

• Fill a medium mixing bowl ¾ full with cold water. Add ½ of the lemon juice. Dice the apple into ¾" pieces. Let soak in the cold lemon water for 10 minutes to prevent oxidation (browning). Drain well in a small colander.
• Put the dressing ingredients in the bottom of the empty mixing bowl. Give them a good stir until well combined. Add the remaining lemon juice to taste.
• Return the apples to the mixing bowl. Add the grapes, celery, and walnuts. Toss gently until the salad is evenly coated.
• Presentation: Line four open stemware glasses with a leaf of romaine lettuce. Divide the prepared salad in the four glasses. Garnish each glass with a sprig of parsley and 3 dried cherries. Voila!

Sauté

• Heat a sauce pan over medium high heat. Add the oil. Sauté the onion until it begins to caramelize (turn brown around the edges).
• Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the mushrooms release their water.
• Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds to release its flavors.
• Raise the temperature of the pan to medium high. Cook until the bottom of the pan is almost dry.

Deglaze

• Deglaze the pan with half of the wine. "Deglaze" means you are pouring a liquid into a hot pan. The liquid boils on contact. The boiling liquid can then be used to scrape the little caramelized bits off the bottom of the pan for extra flavor.
• Pour in the remaining wine. Turn the heat back to medium and continue to let the wine bubble until the alcohol evaporates and the wine is reduced by half.

Deepen the flavor

• Add the vegetable stock and all of the flavor ingredients.
• Bring to a gentle boil, and let boil for a couple of minutes. Reduce the heat. Simmer on medium low heat for 8-10 minutes to let the flavors bloom.

Finish the gravy

• If a thicker gravy is desired, thicken the mixture with a "slurry". To make the slurry, mix the cornstarch with COLD water, stirring out all the lumps.

  Bring the gravy to a boil. Stir in 1/2 the slurry to thicken the gravy. Add the remaining slurry for an even thicker gravy. If the gravy has a bit of a "flower" taste, that means the slurry isn't "cooked" yet. Bring the gravy back to boil for two minutes and that should mellow out the flavors.
• Return the gravy to a boil. Stir the hot gravy while you add 1/2 the slurry. Continue stirring until the gravy thickens. Add more slurry until you reach your desired consistency. If the gravy has a bit of a flour aftertaste, that means the cornstarch isn't cooked. Turn up the heat and let the gravy boil for a minute or two, stirring constantly.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, adding lemon juice (for brightness), salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve as is for a "chunky" gravy.
• For a smooth and silky gravy (and for Swedish meatballs), put the finished gravy in a blender. Cover the blender with a folded towel to protect you from hot liquids. Blend on high to desired texture.
• Serve immediately.

• Place the congee ingredients directly into your Instant Pot.
• Close the lid and set the steam release to sealing.
• Use the porridge setting and adjust the cooking time to 60 minutes.
• Grab a cuppa' tea or a Hot Toddy and get a good book. Curl up with a blanket in your favorite chair. If you have a fireplace, invite me to join you!

  Including the time to pressurize and depressurize, dinner will be ready in about 90 minutes.
• When the soup is finished, let the pressure release naturally.
• Toppings are optional. I recommend you to limit yourself to one or two, depending on your mood.

• Place the ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Pulse the blender 8-10 times. Check the consistency. Pulse again if needed. You are looking for the texture of corn meal. If you over blend it, you will end up with garlic cashew butter. Not a bad result, but not what you may want in this situation.
• Store in a covered jar on your pantry shelf. Use on vegetables, in casseroles, or as a topping for popcorn. Let your imagination go wild!

To blacken the pepper

• Preheat oven to 500℉ or 260℃. You want it blazing hot!

  I usually roast 2 to 4 peppers at a time. Super easy to do! Then I have them on hand for all kinds of cooking.
• Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (for easy cleanup). Space the peppers (whole) on the paper. Roast for 15 minutes in the middle of the over. Check to see that they have started to blacken.

  If they have begun to blacken, turn them over and continue baking for another 15 minutes. You want them to have large patches of black skin, but they don't need to be completely black. Watch them carefully.
• Cover with foil for at least 10 minutes to steam the cooked peppers. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the blackened peel, the stem and the seeds.
• Use immediately. Store unused peppers in a Souper Cube or freeze them individually in an ice cube tray.

• Slice the lemons through the stem into quarters. For an extra flair, don't cut the lemons clear through.
• Working over a bowl to catch the juices, remove as many of the seeds as possible.
• Put a healthy pinch of salt on each exposed face of lemon. Close the lemon up and place them in the bottom of the quart jar. When there are three lemons in the jar, muddle them to release the juices. Add another layer and repeat until the jar is almost full. Add the saved lemon juice from your work bowl.
• Before the jar is full to the brim, "burp" the jar by pushing down on the lemons to release any trapped air. Fill with extra lemon juice to the top. If needed you can add some water as well, or juice from a leftover lemon.
• Put the fermenting weight on top of the lemons. All of the lemons must be completely under the liquid to avoid the lemon getting moldy. If you can seal the jar up without any air bubbles at the top, all the better.