03.12.10
Posted in Beef, Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Meats, Mediterranean, Nuts, Grains & Legumes, Sides at 8:49 pm by julie
I still can’t believe I liked this recipe.
I chose it because it was the first recipe I came across that I could make from pantry staples in a short amount of time, but it is like nothing else I have ever made with ground beef. In our house, the norms for ground beef are hamburgers, chili, meat sauce for pasta, meatballs, and maybe the occasional taco. This was ground beef cooked with odd spices and sweet dates and nuts, and then just eaten as is. I hardly even knew how to describe it to my husband when I brought him a plate, but he scarfed it down and declared it delicious, and to my very great surprise, so did I. It was savory and aromatic, with little bursts of sweetness from the dates, saltiness from the capers, and the crunch of almonds, and I was frankly surprised at how well all those disparate elements balanced together.
Apparently this recipe is very similar to a Latin American dish called picadillo, which is made with ground or minced beef, raisins, and olives or capers, and has a sweet-sour-salty profile. I was also put in mind of b’stilla, which is a Moroccan dish of ground chicken wrapped in phyllo dough, and seasoned with cinnamon, almonds and sugar. I decided to play up the Moroccan aspects of this recipe by adding a touch of pomegranate molasses to the beef and pairing it with couscous and some onion flatbread.
Moroccan Picadillo
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb ground beef
1 T tomato paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt, as needed
3 T chicken, beef or veggie stock
4 medjool dates, chopped
2 T salt-packed capers, rinsed
1 T pomegranate molasses
Olive oil
1 C couscous
1 1/2 C water or stock
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
1-2 T olive oil
Heat 1 T olive oil in a wok over moderate heat; add onion and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add ground beef and spices; cook until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
While the meat cooks, heat a small skillet over moderate heat and toast almonds. Heat water or stock in a small pot until boiling; add couscous, cover, and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Once the meat is thoroughly cooked, add dates, capers, 3 T stock, pomegranate molasses, and a splash of olive oil to the meat; stir. Fluff couscous with a fork and stir in the almonds and another splash of olive oil. Serve beef over couscous (or with rice, pitas, etc.).
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
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09.28.09
Posted in Beef, Bread, Dinner, Dips & Spreads, Leftovers, Meats, Sides, Veggies at 6:05 pm by julie
I’m still not sure where the summer went. I’ve been meaning to post these recipes from our 4th of July dinner for several months now, but there always seems to be something pulling me away from the computer, and I just realized I haven’t posted anything but Daring Baker challenges . Time for a little catch-up. Our little sticky bun is now eighteen months old (!) and can walk, run, dance, climb, and almost reach stuff on the kitchen counters. He makes off with all of my Tupperware containers, and likes to help me unload the dishwasher, even before I’ve gotten the chance to run it, so a lot of our meals are prepared either very quickly or in short increments throughout the day. But he is still a very good little eater, and can handle practically anything thanks to his sparkly new molars and canine teeth. Not quite all of them had come through yet when I made these meals, but that didn’t stop him from eating lots and lots of thinly sliced beef and mashed potatoes.
We usually don’t buy filet mignon, but as long as we were splurging, I took the extra steps of crusting our steaks with ground porcini mushrooms and topping them with gorgonzola-garlic butter. To round out the meal with some greens, I made haricots verts with a shallot vinaigrette, and stirred some ribbons of wilted chard—courtesy of a friend’s prolific garden—into the mashed potatoes.
Porcini-Crusted Filet with Gorgonzola-Garlic Butter
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
6 1-inch-thick filet mignon steaks
2 T butter
4-6 cloves of garlic, skins on
1 T olive oil
1/4 C (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 oz crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1 T chopped fresh parsley
Process dried porcini mushrooms in spice grinder to fine powder. Transfer powder to plate. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Press steaks into porcini powder to coat both sides well.
Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat, and add garlic cloves. Toast cloves, turning frequently to avoid burning, until tender. Remove from the heat, cool until you can handle them, and peel off the skins; they should come off easily. Mash garlic into a paste with your knife or a garlic press, and mix in with the butter, cheese and parsley. Refrigerate until needed.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add steaks to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to plates. Spoon rounded tablespoon of gorgonzola-garlic butter atop each steak and serve.
Source: Epicurious and Epicurious.
The next day, I made a batch of rustic potato bread with some of the leftover mashed potatoes. This is a recipe from Macrina Bakery that I’ve used before with gargantuan results, so I knew that I would be able to get more than one boule from it. I ended up dividing it into a 4 sandwich rolls and a standard loaf, all imbedded with decorative flecks of chard. Split, toasted and spread liberally with leftover compound butter, the rolls made perfect vehicles for our extra filet, which I sliced thinly and slathered with caramelized onion for a sublime sandwich and a perfect end to the holiday weekend, if I do say so myself.
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Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Cuisines, Eggs, Foodblog Events, French at 12:01 am by julie
The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
This post will have to be short and sweet. The challenge was essentially to make a classic puff pastry dough, bake it off into charming, flaky little cups, and then fill them with whatever our hearts desired, sweet or savory. I wasn’t too concerned about this particular challenge, having already participated in the Danish braid challenge back in June 2008, which used a slightly different method to create a laminated yeast dough. The biggest difference seemed to be that the danish dough called for beating the butter before spreading it onto the dough, while this recipe called for beating four sticks of cold butter into a uniform block. Although smacking butter with my rolling pin elicited grins from my toddler and helped me work out a little aggression, in the end it was the most difficult step in making the puff pastry dough. I got my butter block encased in dough and went through the various rolling, folding, and chilling phases, and before I knew it, I had a block of homemade puff pastry ready to shape and bake. The dough did tear and dry out a little in the process, but I forged ahead.
I used two biscuit cutters to shape my vols-au-vent. They were a little too close together in size and their edges weren’t as sharp as I would have liked, but beggars can’t be choosers, and they did the trick nonetheless. I used just a third of my dough, and produced enough shapes for 5 vols-au-vent and their little caps. One had to be Frankensteined together from the scraps, so it came out pretty flat and on the ugly side, but I gave that one to the baby, and he didn’t seem to care. 
All told they puffed up alright as they baked (I think they just about tripled in height), but seemed to lose a lot of butter in the process, and I think my dull cutters crimped their edges a bit.
I gave Jeremy a choice of fillings between chicken dijon stew and a riff off of eggs florentine, and he immediately chose the latter—possibly because I just made chicken pot pies last week (post to come, hopefully). So I made a simple mornay sauce of gruyere and parmesan, sauteed some onions and spinach, and scrambled a few eggs. My vols-au-vent were on the small side so they couldn’t hold much filling, but two of them were nevertheless plenty for dinner, and very tasty. I’ve still got two-thirds of my puff pastry dough in the fridge, and, thanks to my fellow Daring Bakers, infinite possibilities of what to use it for. A sweet variation is definitely in our future. Thanks so much to Steph for choosing the challenge, and please check out all the daring pastries at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.
I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
Danish Braid – June 2008
Filbert Gateau – July 2008
Chocolate Éclairs – August 2008
Lavash Crackers and Dip – September 2008
French Yule Log – December 2008
Tuiles – January 2009
Chocolate Valentino and Ice Cream – February 2009
Lasagne of Emilia-Romana – March 2009
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake – April 2009
Apple Strudel – May 2009
Bakewell Tart and Homemade Jam – June 2009
Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies – July 2009
Dobos Torte – August 2009
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04.07.09
Posted in Appetizers, Baby Food, Bread, Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Dips & Spreads, Nuts, Grains & Legumes at 6:41 pm by julie
Amazing as it may seem (well, to me at least), our little boy turned one year old near the end of March. My mom flew out for the celebration, which was a small family affair combining Nolan’s birthday party with his dedication. I was mostly busy straightening up the house for company, but I made several savory hors d’oeuvres for our guests to snack on.
This is my homemade grissini with whipped spinach and chickpea hummus. The grissini was a recipe from the King Arthur cookbook, and made enough breadsticks for a week’s worth of snacking. I seasoned them variously with za’atar, smoked paprika, sesame seeds, and Parmesan cheese, and Nolan loved them, with or without a dip in the hummus. I also stuffed some split baby bell peppers with a mixture of feta and ricotta, but those were all eaten up before I remembered to get a photo.
Of course, the highlight of Nolan’s birthday party had to be his cake. Knowing that Nolan is already a big chocolate fan but not wanting the mess of chocolate frosting, I went with the devil’s food white-out cake in Baking: From My Home to Yours. It made the perfect baby birthday cake: moist and chocolatey, but not too big or fussy, and with that crumb coat, it just begged to be eaten with chubby little fingers.
Nolan had never eaten sweets more than a pinch at a time, so we weren’t sure how he would react to a whole slice of cake. But he dove right in without the slightest hesitation and proceeded to eat the entire thing. He didn’t even make all that big a mess, considering. My husband also posted a little video of Nolan chowing down on our main website if anyone is interested.
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02.16.09
Posted in Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Pastas at 12:30 am by julie
They say food is love. If that is true, then the brand of love I want to cultivate is best represented by slow food, the sort that sits at a lazy simmer for hours, or rises gently into a yeasty pillow of dough. It speaks of comfort, patience and effort. Not to say that quick-fix meals aren’t an equally expression of love or nurture in their own way—most nights that is all I can personally manage, and I know my family appreciates a 30-minute meal just as much as one I slaved over all day. But special occasions deserve special meals, so I spent most of the day yesterday working on one. Since we can’t afford to eat out much anymore, I decided to make something we haven’t had for a good long while: cannelloni, with fresh pasta and homemade ragu bolognese.
It was delicious. Using Marcella Hazan’s recipes, it took like 7 hours to make, most of which was fortunately just simmering time for the ragu. I had some boneless pork shoulder meat leftover from making Hawaiian braised pork last week, so I ground that up and added it to the sauce. I slightly adapted Marcella’s cannelloni filling to use spinach rather than more meat, and rolled up the noodles jelly-roll style as she recommended. Doesn’t make the most lovely photograph, but hopefully Jeremy thought it was worth the effort (and the time he spent watching Nolan while I worked).
In our house, no pasta dish is complete without bread to accompany it, and bread seemed like an appropriate labor of love to make for my bread fiend on Valentine’s Day. I chose a recipe for oatmeal buttermilk bread from the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook
. The plan was to make a single loaf of bread to go with the pasta, but, as I have found to be the case with this cookbook, there was enough dough to make not only a huge loaf, but also nearly a dozen rolls. (Last time I baked bread from this book, I ended up with a loaf bigger than my pizza stone. No joke!)
I only made a few slight adjustments to this recipe out of necessity. I had to use quite a bit more flour than called for, probably as much as 2 cups, because the dough was much too sticky to work with. I also made a substitution for the buttermilk that seemed to work out perfectly—a 50/50 mix of 2% milk and lowfat plain yogurt, mixed together. I made my rolls into little “love knots” for a little interest, and baked them at 400F for 12 or 13 minutes. The loaf went in at 385F as called for, but came out again after only 40 minutes with a much darker top than I would have liked. Next time I would start temping it after 30 minutes or so.
Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread
1 1/2 C rolled oats
1 C boiling water
1/4 C warm water
2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/2 C buttermilk
1/2 C canola oil
1/2 C light brown sugar
1 C whole wheat flour
3 1/2 C unbleached AP flour
2 tsp kosher salt
Set aside 1/4 C oats for topping bread. Place the remaining 1 1/4 C oats in a small bowl and cover with the boiling water. Mix together and allow to soak uncovered until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
Place warm water and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir to combine. Allow to proof for 5 minutes, then add soaked oats, buttermilk, oil, brown sugar, salt, and both flours. Use the hook attachment of your stand mixer to knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until the dough becomes less wet and forms a satiny ball that bounces back quickly when pressed.
Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Proof in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has almost doubled in size. Pull dough out of the bowl and shape in a 9×5 loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof again for about 45 minutes. Spray the top of the loaf with a light coat of water and sprinkle with reserved oats. Bake in a preheated 385F oven for about an hour, until the top is a deep golden brown, and the internal temperature is about 195F. Allow to rest in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes, before removing from the pan to cool completely.
Source: Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie.
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01.31.09
Posted in American, Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian at 5:29 pm by julie
To save some money, we haven’t really eaten out for the past few months. That included ordering pizza, but last week we really had a hankering for one, so I decided to take a stab at making it myself. This was a Daring Bakers challenge a few months back, but I wasn’t able to complete it at the time. The DBers chose Peter Reinhart’s Pizza Napoletana, which requires an overnight rise that I didn’t plan ahead for, so I tried out another crust: Mitch’s Basic Pizza Dough. It formed quickly in my food processor and made enough dough for two medium pizzas with thin crusts, just the right size for our pizza stone.
For the first pizza, I sauteed onions and peppers, and pre-cooked a few slices of bacon. I just used a jar of marinara sauce instead of making it fresh, and cut slices of mozzarella. It went in the oven for 10 minutes at 500F. The finished pizza was completely overflowing with cheese (it made a lovely burned mess in the oven), and tasted really flat to me—pardon the pun! The dough was bland, the sauce was a little watery, and the whole pizza lacked seasoning. At least it was edible, and my husband certainly didn’t complain.
The second pizza was much more successful, although it had an unpromising start: In a fit of temporary insanity, I just wrapped the leftover hunk of dough in Saran wrap and stuck it in the fridge for the next night. Of course, it proofed more in the refrigerator, busted out of the wrapper, and half of it was covered in a dried-out skin when I went back for it. I was able to salvage a useable chunk, however, and it rolled out just fine. I was more sparing with the cheese this time, and topped the pizza with a mixture of sauteed onions and (reconstituted) dried wild mushrooms, feta cheese (which is incidentally one of my all-time favorite pizza toppings), and dried basil. I seasoned every element this time, and it was much more to my taste, though Jeremy thought it was on the salty side.
We will definitely be experimenting with pizza-making again in the near future… I still have to try my hand at that Reinhart recipe!
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09.27.08
Posted in Appetizers, Bread, Dips & Spreads, Foodblog Events at 2:19 pm by julie
I’m a little late posting my Daring Bakers challenge for the month of September, but for once it isn’t because I procrastinated making it. On the contrary, this challenge—to make vegan or gluten-free lavash crackers and an accompanying dip—was perfect for the party I hosted way back at the beginning of the month. I just haven’t had much free time for writing up posts lately, thanks to Nolan’s ever-diminishing nap schedule.
Because I was making a number of things, not just the crackers, I ended up getting some assistance from my husband while making these. He does an excellent job of kneading dough, which saved me a lot of effort. For ease (and an excuse to buy agave nectar, which I’ve been eyeing curiously for some time), I decided to make the vegan version of the crackers.
The dough rolled out pretty easily, though it was difficult to get the edges as thin as the center. I sprinkled mine with sesame seeds, smoked paprika, cumin and kosher salt and pre-scored it in strips on the diagonal, as the book shows.
My lavash baked up crispy in some spots and a bit chewier in others, with a few air bubbles. Jeremy expected it to be crunchier than it was, fresh from the oven, at least—it seemed to crisp up more overnight, which I hadn’t expected.
I served it at the party with muhammara, a roasted red pepper dip thickened with toasted walnuts and bread crumbs. The vaguely Middle Eastern spices I used to season the crackers paired up nicely with the muhammara, which had an elusive flavor: sweet, earthy, and a bit spicy. The crackers, however, were largely overlooked at the party, where people chose to eat the muhammara and other dips with the fresh pain a l’ancienne we made (another recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, by the way). I think it may have been because I should have cut the crackers into shorter strips. Oh well—I liked them a lot, and ate them with both the leftover muhammara and garlic-white bean dip. They were definitely easy to make and fun to try, but I’d just as soon make bread if I’m going to bother with a yeasted dough, I think.
Muhammara
1 T red pepper flakes, or 1 small red chile (I used less than this, because I’m a wuss)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 C toasted walnuts
1/4 C whole-grain bread crumbs
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
2 T pomegranate molasses
1/4 C tomato paste
2-3 roasted red bell peppers
1/2-1 C warm water
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
In a food processor, puree the first 8 ingredients to a smooth, even consistency. Mix in warm water to achieve a desired texture, a bit thicker for dipping, a bit thinner for spreading. Stir in the salt and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Source: Super Natural Cooking, by Heidi Swanson (p. 102).
I’ll write up what I did with the leftover muhammara tomorrow if I have time. Meanwhile, thanks to Natalie of Gluten A Go Go, and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl, for hosting this month’s challenge. You can find the cracker recipe on their blog. And be sure to check out all the lavash and dips on the Daring Bakers Blogroll.
I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
Danish Braid – June 2008
Filbert Gateau – July 2008
Chocolate Éclairs – August 2008
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09.23.08
Posted in Appetizers, Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Mediterranean at 10:31 pm by julie
A few weeks back, we found out that one of our dearest friends is going to be moving out of the area, and Jeremy and I offered to throw a going-away party for him. This was a pretty big deal for us, because we’re kind of hermits—I think we’ve only even attended one party in the last year or two, and I’ve never hosted anything organized before. But since we rarely have company and I don’t get out much thanks to the baby, I was actually pretty excited at the prospect, and I spent a lot of time poring over menu options. In the end, I went with mostly Italian and Mediterranean flavors, for several reasons: our friend has Italian roots; I personally love Italian food and feel pretty comfortable cooking it; and a lot of Italian food is good, or even meant to be eaten, at room temperature. To make it easy on myself, we planned on bruschetta with a variety of spreads and toppings, and a few other items for snacking.
The party was at 3pm on a Sunday to give me most of the weekend to cook and clean up. With our little guy to take care of, I needed every moment I could get. I ordered a serving platter and a tablecloth from Amazon, and on Friday night we hit Fred Meyer for groceries and disposable plates and cups. On Saturday morning, I walked over to the farmer’s market for all the fresh produce I would need, determined to make the party food as local as possible. Somehow I managed to lug home red peppers, Roma tomatoes, peaches, boysenberries, garlic, prune plums, lettuce, goat cheese, mushrooms, zucchini, and a huge bouquet of flowers for the table. Nolan slept the whole time, and let me get a head-start roasting peppers and oven-drying tomatoes before joining us for the afternoon. All in all, by Saturday night, we had finished several bruschetta spreads and toppings, baked off one type of bread and made the dough for another, and got elements started on several other items.
The day of the party I made one more dip, fried zucchini, baked a crostata and finished making the watermelonade; Jeremy shaped and baked three loaves of pain a l’ancienne, and we both did a bunch of cleaning and organizing. I ran out of time to toast the bread, but it was freshly baked and no one seemed to mind. Nolan cooperated again by taking a three-hour nap that ended just as the first guests arrived. Of course, that meant that I had to go feed him and pump, and missed the first half hour of the party, but most folks didn’t show up until after that anyway. The food was all well received and worked well at room temperature, as I’d hoped, and I think everyone had a good time. We had quite a bit of leftover dip and such, but I found a few creative ways to use them up.
There are too many items to cover in a single post, so I’m going to break it up over several days, and mention what I did with the leftovers at the same time. I’ll start with a few of the spreads and miscellany.
I made three spreads to go with the bread: garlic-white bean hummus, fig-kalamata tapenade, and a third one I’ll discuss later. The hummus was technically more of a bean dip because it didn’t contain tahini, but it did have a nice garlic zing from raw and skillet-roasted cloves. I’ve lost track of where I got the recipe, but it was pretty straightforward. I didn’t get to try the tapenade, but it was very well-received also.
With the copious leftovers, I snacked on the bean dip with carrot sticks. It and the tapenade would make lovely sandwich spreads in place of mayo. Jeremy mixed some of the tapenade into tuna salad, which gave it a pleasant tang. I also considered mixing some of the tapenade into bread dough for olive bread, but didn’t get around to it.
To go with the slightly Moroccan flavors of the muhammara, I decided to make roasted garbanzo beans seasoned with a Moroccan spice blend, just for snacking purposes. These were very tasty, but were largely overlooked amid the other hors d’oeuvres.
These, on the other hand, were devoured entirely. I was lucky to get this photo before the last one was taken. They were fried zucchini roll-ups with capers and lemon, from Lidia’s Family Table, and they were the last item I made before the party started. Like many Italian fried foods, they were intended for eating at room temperature, and made perfect little bites. I’ve done this recipe once before, but not in the roll-up version; Lidia also recommends the fried slices as a tasty sandwich filling, and I can vouch for that.
Zucchini Roll-Ups
2 lb (about 5 or 6) small zucchini
About 2 C flour in a shallow dish
5 large eggs, beaten in a shallow dish with a pinch of salt
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 C or more canola oil
1-2 T nonpareil brined capers, well-drained
1/2 lemon
Rinse and dry the zucchini and top and tail them. With a sharp knife, slice lengthwise into about 5 or 6 1/8 thick strips, flexible but not transparent. Dredge several strips at a time in the flour, shaking off any loose flour. Slide them into the eggs, and turn to coat well. Remove and allow to drain on a colander or drying rack.
Meanwhile, pour canola oil into a 12″ cast iron skillet to a depth of 1/2″ and set over medium high heat. Line a large platter with paper towels and set nearby. When the oil is very hot, slip several battered strips into it; they should sizzle actively. Don’t crowd them; cook for about 90 seconds per side, so that they are nicely colored, then remove to the paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.
Once all the strips are fried up and cooled enough to handle, roll up each strips with a few capers in the center, and secured with a toothpick. Just before serving, squeeze fresh lemon juice over the roll-ups and scatter a few more capers over them. Or just leave them as strips and pile them into sliced bread for sandwiches.
Source: Lidia’s Family Table, by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (p. 21-23).
Since we don’t do alcohol, I let our friends take care of that (they brought fixings for martinis and cosmos) and provided pitchers of iced tea and sparkling watermelonade as alternatives. The watermelonade was well-liked and very easy to make. I pureed the watermelon the day before, and added the sparkling water to it just before serving.
Sparkling Watermelonade
1 (12-14 lb) watermelon (preferably seedless)
1/4 C sugar, divided
4 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
Sparkling mineral water, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda, optional
Cut watermelon flesh into 2-inch chunks and discard rind. Purée watermelon in a blender in batches, adding sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in the last batch. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, discarding solids. Add more sugar or lemon to taste if desired and serve over ice. You can make this a sparkling punch by adding about 4 C mineral water, ginger ale or soda, to taste. Serve with lemon slices. Drink will separate if allowed to sit; re-stir before serving.
Source: Slightly adapted from Epicurious.
Stay tuned for several more posts in this series…
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09.08.08
Posted in Bread, Cuisines, Dinner, Eggs, Lunch, Veggies at 11:40 am by julie
One of my favorite light meals is the combination of eggs and vegetables with toast. I’ve already written about that luscious long-cooked broccoli, but there is an infinite number of variations. Incidentally, most would benefit from eating with a knife and fork, rather than attempting to use your hands, as we keep trying to do—I always seem to end up with half my meal tumbling off onto the plate or my lap. Anyway, I could just keep adding and adding to this post, but I’m tired of seeing it in my Drafts folder, so I’ll draw the line at three for now.
My first duo is pretty classic: boiled dinosaur kale with poached eggs from the The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Judy Rodgers gives four ways of serving her boiled kale; in the simple one I chose, the sturdy kale wilts, and the runny yolks form a delicious sauce together with the vegetables and shaved parmesan. I had a leftover bratwurst in the refrigerator, so I diced and sauteed it, to add a little more protein to the meal.
Boiled Kale on Toast
Generous 8 oz kale, preferably Tuscan kale (also known as dinosaur kale, lacinato kale, or cavolo nero)
1 1/2 C diced yellow onion
5 T olive oil
A pinch of red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, slivered
3-4 C water
Trim the kale of any damaged or discolored leaves, wash thoroughly in cold water, and drain; stack and roll several leaves at a time, and slice into 1/8″ ribbons.
Place the onions and oil in a 4-quart saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring a few times, while you work on the kale, until the onion is translucent but firm, about 3 minutes. Add the chili flakes, garlic, and kale, and stir until it all wilts, about 5 minutes. Add water to cover by about 1/2″ and bring to a simmer; add salt to taste and simmer, covered, until the kale is tender but not mushy, about 30 minutes.
Transfer kale to a wide saute pan, liquid and all. Crack 1-2 eggs per person into the pan, drizzle with olive oil, cover, and cook at a bare simmer until done to your liking. Serve eggs with kale over toast, with some parmesan or romano if desired.
Source: The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, by Judy Rodgers
The second veg-egg duo was one I made way back in June. I visited the farmer’s market and brought home a bundle of opalescent white asparagus, which I had never tried before. It cost a bit more than the typical green asparagus, but the blush of pink and purple in the stalks was too lovely to resist. Because white asparagus is popular in Belgium—they do like their vegetables pale, don’t they?—I tried out a Belgian egg and lemon sauce written up here, on Lindy’s blog, Toast. Despite some issues with my hard-boiled eggs (they were too fresh, and the whites kept peeling off right along with the shells), this was a tasty and fresh take on asparagus, and be sure you have some good bread to mop up any extra sauce.
I still think I prefer my pan-roasted asparagus with poached eggs, but this was a nice change of pace and satisfied my curiosity about white asparagus.
Most recently, I brought home a huge head of escarole, and made us a quick lunch of wilted greens, scrambled eggs, and crispy prosciutto over homemade potato bread. I was going by a recipe, and thought the end result had very good flavor, but a rather unappealing appearance, as the greens turned my eggs a sad beige color. Next time I’d go with my gut instinct and serve with poached or oil-basted eggs.
Escarole and Eggs on Toast
1.5 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips and separated
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 double handfuls coarsely chopped escarole
4 eggs
4 slices of artisan bread, toasted
Parmesan cheese, optional
Salt and pepper
In a 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, stir prosciutto in olive oil until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer prosciutto to paper towels to drain. Reduce heat to medium.
Add garlic to pan and stir until golden. Stir in escarole and 1/4 cup water; cover and simmer until escarole is tender to bite, about 5 minutes. Drain off any remaining water.
Meanwhile, cook eggs according to your preference. Poached, soft-scrambled, or oil-basted would be equally delicious.
Set toasted bread on plates and top with escarole, then eggs, proscuitto and shavings of cheese, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Source: Loosely based on Sunset.
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06.29.08
Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Foodblog Events, Fruits at 10:45 am by julie
I was excited when I found out that this month’s Daring Bakers challenge would be Danish braids, but the time commitment of making laminated dough must have been more intimidating than I was willing to admit, because I procrastinated until almost the last moment to make it. Finally, impending hot weather made me spring into action this past Thursday.
I took advantage of Nolan’s early afternoon nap to make the dough, or detrempe, using clementine zest and juice, vanilla paste, and ground cardamom from an elderly bottle that I know I should replace. The dough was not kind to my stand mixer, and kept trying to escape out the top of the bowl, so I had to babysit it. It came out rather firm and very slightly tacky, and went in the fridge while I made the butter block, or beurrage.
Then I remembered that my stand mixer bowl always screws itself up tight when I make dough, so much that I can’t actually unscrew it myself. Jeremy was still at work, so I ended up having to wash out the bowl while it was still attached to the mixer. Bah. I left everything for half an hour to go pump and feed the little guy (who, I have to brag, was having an incredibly cheerful day, probably to make up for the post-vaccination shriekfest of the evening before).
The actual lamination process took much less dedicated time than I had expected: four turns half an hour apart, each requiring no more than about 5 minutes at once. Piece of cake… or Danish, as the case may be!
The next day, around the same time of afternoon, I sauteed up some Fuji apples and pondered my other filling options while making the braid. This process was pretty straightforward, and I took other Daring Bakers’ advice to make sure that my cut slices were long enough to completely cover the filling and anchor with a little pressure on the opposite side.
Two hours and an egg wash later, my braid went in the oven, only slightly enlarged from its original state. I baked for 5 minutes at 400F as the recipe called for, then turned down the temp to 350F and left it in for just another 5 minutes, after which it was nicely browned. Once it had cooled a bit, we ate slices with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the syrup from the sauteed apples.
The leftovers were polished off for breakfast yesterday morning, graced with a drizzle of simple powdered sugar icing. I was pleased to note that the bread softened up a bit to that ideal Danish texture after its overnight rest.
Fortified with apple Danish, I settled on using the remainder of the dough on smaller pastries with a variety of shapes and fillings. This was really fun to play with, and I didn’t even have the energy to get as creative as many of my fellow Daring Bakers did. I made 3 small Danishes with dollops of leftover grape pie filling I pulled out of the freezer, and a few mini chocolate croissants. I also made two types of bear claws. The first four had the traditional cinnamon-almond filling, made with homemade almond paste; for the rest, I added some golden raisins and my leftover sauteed apples, finely chopped, to the almond filling at Jeremy’s request. I got everything made up, egg washed and proofing in my 85F-degree house (it was 100F outside at this point), and we tried vainly to cool down with scoops of ice cream; I topped Jeremy’s scoop with the last few spoonfuls of apple-almond-raisin filling, and he was in heaven.
I couldn’t be happier with the way this dough turned out, especially after being so intimidated at the prospect. I envisioned butter squishing out the sides like toothpaste, but it was actually very easy to work with. It might have been a different story if I had attempted to laminate it in yesterday’s heat, though; as it was, I was very careful to roll out the portions for my small pastries in two batches to keep it from melting. The baked pastries were light and flaky with clearly discernible layers; the flavor was predominantly of orange, which I blame solely on my old bottle of cardamom (Penzeys, here I come!). The dough was so fun to shape, and made me feel almost like a professional baker. I definitely hope to make it again and play with flavors, shapes and fillings, now that I know it isn’t nearly as hard to make as it appears to be. Plus, those bear claws were awesome!
Thanks so much to Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’? for choosing this recipe, which came from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking Be sure to check out all of the gorgeous, creative Danishes at the Daring Bakers blogroll here.
Bearclaw Almond Filling
1/4 C butter
1/3 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C almond paste (I used homemade; see below)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Melt and simmer for about 2 minutes the butter and brown sugar. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Cool slightly before using.
Almond Paste
8 oz whole blanched almonds
8 oz powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/8 tsp almond extract
Combine almonds and sugar in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add egg white and extract and continue to pulse until mixture comes together as a thick smooth dough. Unblanched almonds can be used, but will affect the color of the paste. Makes about 2 cups.
I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
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