On Dormancy + Flammkuchen

Embracing rest and a CWD riff on German pizza

I wrote a couple weeks ago how we’re heading into the season for slowing down, for looking inward. The rampant growth of the spring and summer is over and we’re transitioning into the dormancy of fall and winter. Here in New England, it seems to get dark before you’ve even had a chance to properly enjoy the day. It’s time to hunker down.

In his terrific daily musings on Twitter¹, a guy who goes by

Old Hollow Tree

remarked much the same, excusing his wife for her recent lack of productivity. He writes:

[Lingering] is what you should focus on; the warm inertia of November juxtaposed by the cold brilliance of the outside. Light candles, admire the frost, linger at the table a little longer, and slow down².

Sage words — and a good reminder. I’ve been lingering myself lately. I’m still, as I wrote in that earlier post, doing a lot of thinking, a lot of cooking. I’m still not doing a lot of writing, a lot of documenting³. Productivity — if you can call writing a newsletter productive — comes in ebbs and flows this time of year.

With that in mind, I figured it might be nice to share a super easy recipe we made recently, inspired by the terrific cookbook from

Matt Hranek

, A Man and His Kitchen⁴. It’s a riff on flammkuchen, or tarte flambée —a flatbread popular in the Alsace region of France, which borders Germany. This is one that comes together quickly, that feels right for this time of year, as you linger at the table, candles lit⁵. This is a quick hitter, a recipe in broad strokes, adaptable and relatively mindless⁶.

Let’s give it a go.

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Roughly chop about a pound of bacon, a pound of mushrooms, one or two onions, and slice a few potatoes. Throw them in a large roasting pan with salt, pepper, and a hearty splash of heavy cream and mix well⁷. Let this roast in the oven at about 400(F) until the bacon is cooked through, mushrooms crispy, and potatoes tender.

While the filling is cooking, either make your own pizza dough or roll out some store-bought dough. Parbake the crust until it’s firm on the bottom, and then layer the bacon mixture onto the dough, sprinkle with your favorite pizza cheeses, and bake in the oven until the crust is finished and cheese melted.

Eat up to 8 slices per sitting, per person.

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There you go. A quick meal for a cold night. It really couldn’t be much easier and there’s something entirely comforting about bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and cream. But if somehow, amazingly, you don’t like any of those ingredients, feel free to omit. In fact, as the recipe is written in the book, it only uses bacon and onions. That being said, Cousin CWD happened to stay with us when we made these, and I think will agree that it’s best to make these indulgently.

Winter is bulking season, after all.

I’ll leave you all to your weekends. Get outside, feel the briskness in the air, don’t feel the need to check anything off your to-do list. Tell anyone who says otherwise that both Mr. CWD and an Old Hollow Tree gave you the okay.

1. Though I suppose it’s X now.

2. The whole post is certainly worth a read.

3. I am also doing a lot of sitting in the woods at first and last light, looking for deer. I haven’t killed one yet, but I’m still feeling good.

4. Which, by the way, is a tremendous cookbook. The commentary feels almost as if I could have written it, harping on quality ingredients, making meals feel special, cooking locally and seasonally. Too bad Matt wrote it before I did.

5. The Family CWD has embraced candles at dinner recently. I’d highly recommend it — it adds an air of formality, of ritual to what can often feel like a rushed affair — trying to balance getting the kids to eat with the impending onset of bedtime. We use various sizes of these in glass hurricanes.

6. For the dozen or so of you who have joined us over the last week — welcome! Normally we think a lot more deeply about food and life in these newsletter dispatches; but as you’ve now read, ‘tis the season for slowing down. If you’re looking for recipes and or thoughts with more meat on the bone, might I recommend some of the most popular posts here. Personally, I think this is one of my favorites, and I like this one a lot, too.

7. I’ve been told mixing with you hands is the best way to do this, but I’ll allow the use of a spatula or wooden spoon.