Fresh Bread in the New Home
It's Day Four of being in the new home. A few kinks to work out - especially since we won't see our furniture for another 11 days! It was a Bekins mix-up. Oh well, shit happens, right?!? Fortunately, my sister and sister-in-law came through with some pots and pans, dishes and glassware to see us through.
On Day Two, I went shopping and decided to make a big pot of soup. It was wet and rainy, so soup sounded right. I had originally planned it as a lunch meal, but Victor suggested having it for dinner - so... I decided at the last minute to bake a loaf of bread to go along with it!
Not all bread takes hours to rise and bake... James Beard has several recipes that call for single rise, no rise, start in cold oven... and they're all good loaves!
I went with his 20 minute rest/rise loaf - and it was perfect.
James Beard Single Rise Loaf
- 2 package of active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (100-115 degrees)
- 3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 egg white beaten with 1tbsp water
- course salt, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds
In a large mixing bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Let proof about 5 minutes. Add oil and 1/4 cup flour. Mix.
Add salt. Add 1/2 cup of flour and continue mixing. Slowly add remaining flour.
Knead for several minutes until the dough springs back and is satiny and smooth. It is a fairly wet dough.
Form into a loaf about 20 to 22 inches long, let loaf rest about 20 minutes.
Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with salt or seeds.
Bake in a preheated 300°F oven about 55 minutes.
The soup was beef and chorizo with carrots, celery, onion, green beans, diced tomatoes, and cannellini beans. The perfect first home-cooked meal!
After 55 days, it is a lot of fun being back in a real kitchen! I really cannot wait to have all of our kitchen equipment here and in place. I have no idea where everything is going to fit, but it's going to be a lot of fun figuring it all out.
More meals to come!!
Beef Stew
It was a bit wet and rainy, today, so a beef stew seemed to be the perfect meal. I think it's funny how people not from here talk about how wet the Pacific Northwest is... A bit of rain or overcast certainly doesn't stop people from going out and enjoying the day. And nary a raincoat or umbrella to be seen. Much different than the east coast where it really can rain for 40 days and 40 nights - or a hurricane blows in and really disrupts your day. For days.
But back to dinner... Once upon a time it might have been pot pies or a loaf of freshly baked bread, but... the current living situation just isn't having it.
I never quite realized just how much I used our ovens until I was in a kitchen without one. It's amazing what we take for granted until it's gone.
[cue: present political situation]
Stew is one of those things I just make - there is no recipe - yet, my siblings and I all make a very similar stew, based on the stew of our youth. Mom always made a damned good stew - but even her stew varied from batch to batch. She wrote down a recipe for her cookbook years ago, but it is really just an approximation. I don't think she ever made it the same way, twice. Similar every time, but amounts varied.
Mom always put coffee in her stew. I use red wine. And I'm pretty sure she would use a bit of Kitchen Bouquet for coloring. But this gives you an idea of her thought process.
One of my favorite childhood memories is laying sliced bread on the plate and pouring the last of the gravy over... She did good gravy!
Dinner, tonight, was a two pan feast. I started with the skillet to brow the beef and then pour red wine over and let it reduce. Meanwhile, the pot had the onions, celery, and carrots cooking away.
I added the potatoes to the pot, stirred in the beef, and then added beef broth and let it simmer.
Well... simmer, eventually... I'm still relearning using an electric stove. We have an electric stove in the new house, but there is gas coming in for the heater, so we may switch it out, eventually. We have other things we need, first.
I know I'm going to miss our double ovens - they were sooooo convenient - but we rarely ever used two at a time. I had one set aside almost exclusively for bread baking. It's really just psychological - I think I'll be able to survive...
Heck, we're surviving without having one at all, right now!
Another successful meal and another day closer to moving into our forever home...
Life is good.
And so was the stew!
Pizza
It's no secret that I made hand-spun pizzas in my youth. I worked at Pirro's for six years, one month, twelve days, and an hour. I started off in high school as a delivery boy, became the dishwasher, prep cook, cook, and, finally, manager of the place. When I went into the Navy and was going to Culinary A school, Barry flew me up to San Francisco from San Diego on weekends to work. PSA SFO to SAN - $24.50. Every hour on the half-hour. When I was stationed at Hunters Point and later Alameda, I worked for him whenever I was off. When I got back from Viet Nam, I was working, immediately. I was gainfully employed the day I was separated from Uncle Sam's Yacht Club.
I made a lot of pizzas. Pirro's back in the day, was one of the best pizzerias in San Francisco.
Fast-forward almost 50 years, and I can still make a damned good pizza!
Tonight's pizza came about because Victor had seen a photo of a pizza with an egg on it. There are few culinary things in life that cannot be enhanced with an egg... we decided to give it a try.
The pizza dough is my most favorite 2-day dough. It really is just like the dough we made back at Pirro's, lo, these many years ago. It's perfect for spinning, tossing, and it just bakes up perfectly every time.
Pizza Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- olive oil for bowl
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.
Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.
Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.
Pizza needs to be baked in a really hot oven, so I preheat to 500°F for at least an hour before putting the pie in the oven.
The sauce was a fresh tomato sauce made in the blender with tomatoes, a bit of onion, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.
It was topped with fresh mozzarella, slices of salami, and fresh tomatoes - sprinkled with black pepper and pecorino romano. About halfway through the cooking, I added the egg.
I do have to admit that the egg was not earth-shattering or life-changing. It was really good, but, in the grand scheme of things, probably unnecessary. That first bite with the egg was excellent, but the rest of the slice was pretty damned good, on its own.
Would I do it, again?!? Probably. But it won't become a signature dish, if you know what I mean...
The two of us cleaned that plate. What else can I say?!?
The pizza dough recipe makes two crusts...
I think I may make a stromboli or some such creature, tomorrow or the next day.
The dough only gets better as it sits...
Flour Power
Flour has not been easy to find in our local grocers. Pre-pandemic, we baked a lot - and we've been baking even more since the onset. Seems everyone else is, too.
Early on, we were able to score a 25 pound bag of flour from Adluh in Columbia, SC., but it's a soft wheat flour. It's perfect for cakes, cookies, crusts, muffins, biscuits and all of the dessertish-type things, but it's not a great yeast bread flour.
I will mix it with whole wheat or other flours to bulk it up, but... when it comes to bread, I'm particular. We were finally able to order bread flour from King Arthur - limited to two five-pound bags - and I got some white whole wheat and whole wheat bread flours from Palouse in Washington.
In the meantime, we had almost six pounds of wheatberries I had bought from Palouse many months ago. I like cooking them up and using them in salads, dropping a few handfuls into soups... they're fun and versatile - and also what one would grind into flour - if one had a grinder.
We don't have a flour mill, per se, but we do have a KitchenAid burr coffee grinder. We've had it for years - and years.
I decided to give it a try. It's pandemic time, we're staying at home... It's not like I don't have the time, ya know?!? I cleaned it out well, ran a few grains through to get rid of the last of the coffee, and went to town.
It pretty much, more-or-less, worked.
It's not quite as finely-powdered as a commercially milled flour, but it's very reminiscent of the flours from places like Anson Mills. It's definitely flour.
First thing to make was a banana bread. We have a plethora of bananas, right now, so we're getting creative...
I think everyone probably has a favorite banana bread recipe. This one is based on mark Bittman's from the NY Times. I add chocolate chips and Heath Bar chips to the batter just for grins and giggles. It came out great.
Banana Bread
Ingredients:
- 1/4 pound butter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup butter brickle pieces
- 1/2 cup grated dried unsweetened coconut
Instructions:
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan.
Mix together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and beat in the eggs and bananas. Add vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients. Gently stir in chocolate chips, brickle pieces, nuts, and coconut.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 60 minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted into the center of the bread should come out fairly clean when it is done. Do not overcook. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
Moist, not too sweet... a really good loaf.
And speaking of loaves... next was my favorite Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread!
This has become my go-to sandwich bread. It is just too easy to make. I usually have buttermilk powder on hand, so I use it with regular milk, but if you don't have the powder or buttermilk, add a teaspoon of vinegar to the milk.
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread
- 1 tbsp yeast
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup rye flour
Dissolve yeast in the sugar and a bit of the buttermilk. Blend flours and salt together.
Add remaining milk to yeast mixture. Add butter. Mix in flour.
Knead by machine for about 8 minutes or by hand for 10 – until dough is smooth.
Roll into a ball and proof until double in size – about an hour.
On a lightly floured board, form dough into a loaf and place into a well-greased standard bread pan.
Lightly cover and proof, again, until double in size.
Bake in a pre-heated 350°F oven for about 35 minutes – until top is nicely browned.
Immediately remove from pan and cool before slicing.
I usually put the bread in a store-bought bread bag because it's easier than wrapping/unwrapping, but this loaf rose too much - it won't fit!
Everyone should have such problems!
Tonight's dinner will be pizza using my favorite 2-day rise pizza dough.
This really is the perfect pizza dough. It develops a great flavor with the slow refrigerated rise. This is a take on a pizza dough from La Cucina Italiana, but it’s also pretty darn close to the dough I used to make at Pirro’s in San Francisco back in the ’60s and early ’70s.
2-Day Rise Pizza Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- olive oil for bowl
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.
Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.
Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.
More on this, later...
Korean Meatballs
Right now, the two main proteins in the freezer are chicken and ground beef. In my quest to find something new and different to make with the ingredients on hand, I headed off to the NY Times cooking site for inspiration.
One recipe that caught my eye was Korean Barbecue-Style Meatballs. I have no idea why these would be considered Korean, but, they came out damned good - and we had all the basics in the house!
They don't use a binder - no egg - and use Ritz Crackers. I had the Trader Joe version and it worked great.
Korean BBQ-Style Meatballs
adapted from NY Times
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt - or to taste
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup finely crushed Ritz crackers (12 crackers)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tbsp sambal oelek
Heat oven to 425. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and use your hands to gently mix.
Shape the meat into 12 golf-ball-size rounds and arrange on a greased rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until golden and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.
Lots of spicy garlic flavor. I can see a lot of variations on this theme as ingredients change in the pantry.
A definite winner.
Founding Farmers
It's a well-known fact that Victor and I don't go out to eat very often. We love to eat, but we also both like to cook and we enjoy the comfort of eating at home.
That being said, I think we have a new favorite restaurant - Founding Farmers.
A bit of backstory...
When we moved here, almost 20 years ago, we were pretty much out in the boonies. Two miles from us was a huge golf course and lots of open space. Naturally, development came in, there was a huge freeway interchange developed, office complexes built left and right, and after a prolonged fight, the golf course was developed into a massive condo and apartment complex and a fairly massive faux-downtown area of shops, restaurants, and a gigantic grocery store.
So much for quiet suburbia...
I ended up going to the grocery store because my favorite store closed, and we'd drive through the complex to go to the new gym that was built in the complex when we became gym rats and lost all that weight (which is creeping back up, right now, but that's another story for another time...)
But, we shied away from the restaurants and shops. I'm thinking now, that at least in one instance, that might have been a bit of a mistake.
Since the virus hit and we've been sheltering at home, grocery shopping has taken on a new meaning. I'm generally a weekly shopper and don't give a lot of thought to running out of things - we live in a land of abundance. When I worked at Trader Joe's, I'd augment the weekly shopping with new items or a last-minute impulse-buy, but I never gave thought to not being able to get something if I needed it.
Hasn't that changed?!?
I did fairly normal grocery shopping the first couple of weeks - bringing my wipes along with me - and was amazed at the bare shelves. My normal staples were missing.
Maybe three weeks ago I did my shopping with wipes and mask. That was the last time I ventured out. We talked about it and decided to do a grocery delivery. It's a LOT more expensive and, while we did get most of what we ordered, there were some missed items and a few strange substitutions. It worked, but it wasn't ideal.
I bought flour and grits from Adluh in South Carolina - a family mill - and then did an Atlantic Spice order - where we've been shopping for years. We have yeast, we have sourdough starter, and I can bake. Victor makes stellar pasta. We both know how to be creative in the kitchen - we're adventurous when it comes to food...
Fast-forward to Wednesday morning, and a friend of ours mentions she has been ordering from Founding Farmers and loved everything.
We knew where the restaurant was - in the new golf course development - because we had driven by many times on our way to the gym, but... as we rarely go out to eat, had never stopped. I went to the website and was impressed with their philosophy. I found out that a farmers union owns majority share in the company. They buy as local as possible, as sustainable as possible. Treat their employees like humans. They're making the attempt.
I placed an order...
Initially, I was impressed with their philosophy. When the order arrived, I was really impressed with the quality and the care that went into the order. We bought the $100 Family Pack and were totally overjoyed. Unpacking the box was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!
It is obvious that actual thought went into the pairings of food and the creation of the Family Packs - people who understand and care about food.
After getting everything put away, I set out to create a feast - roasted chicken, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, and green beans with sliced almonds. And Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.
No, we didn't both eat half a chicken. We each ate half and the rest will be made into chicken salad and chicken stock.
The chicken was basic and simple - rubbed with oil, salt and pepper, and then placed into a preheated 500°F oven for 15 minutes and the temperature then lowered to 350°F for about 15-20 minutes more - until internal temperature reaches 165°F. The gravy was a simple pan gravy of drippings, a bit of onion, mushrooms, a splash of white wine, chicken stock, and a pinch of thyme, salt, and pepper. The green beans were steamed, and then sautéed in the tiniest bit of bacon fat and butter, with sliced almonds added.
Very simple and very basic - allowing the food to speak for itself. And it spoke loudly! The quality was evident. It's really easy to be a good cook when the ingredients are stellar - it was excellent!
And then it was time for dessert...
I told Victor we were going to have strawberry shortcake for dessert and he said but we don't have any whipping cream... I just smiled and pulled out a box of Trader Joe's shelf-stable whipping cream that's been in the back of the 'fridge for weeks and weeks. I was a Boy Scout. Be Prepared.
I made simple biscuits of 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt, about 1/3 stick butter, 1/3 cup milk. 2 tablespoons sugar, a bit of vanilla, and a pinch of cinnamon and allspice. I brushed them with milk and sprinkled them with demerara sugar. Baked at 400°F for about 15 minutes.
I made two biscuits but they were actually too big for single servings, so I cut them in half - we have dessert for tonight, as well. I sprinkled the sliced strawberries with a bit of sugar and a drizzle of kirsch. I'm glad I cut the biscuits in half because I would have eaten the whole thing - it was that good.
This morning I stripped the carcass and started a pot of stock.
Chicken bones, onion, onion skins, celery ends and pieces, garlic cloves, a bit of thyme and poultry powder, white wine, and water.
It's going to make some great soup!
So, thank you, Founding Farmers, for a bit of Christmas in April. It's going to take us a while to get through all of this - but we'll be back!
And... we're looking forward to actually eating in the restaurant when we can!
Corona Cooking
We're definitely not going hungry at our house. Last time I was grocery shopping in the real world was 2 weeks ago when I was at my favorite Trader Joe's. I did an online order from Wegmans through InstaCart and we received it this past Sunday. Today was a delivery from Atlantic Spice, and on Friday, we're expecting a delivery from Founding Farmers. I'm really looking forward to that.
The Wegmans/InstaCart delivery was interesting... Some decidedly different substitutions. My favorite was Flushable Fragrance-Free Dude Wipes im place of standard disinfecting wipes. We chose not to get them... I didn't even know they made such a thing! The wrong cereal pulled, bananas a bit too ripe, an odd substitution for grapefruit seltzer... but all-in-all, not horrible for having someone do your shopping for you and bring it to your home. It was definitely a lot more money, though... Ka-CHING!
The Atlantic Spice order was something I definitely needed but had put off because I thought we were going to be in the process of moving west, right about now. That's on hold for the foreseeable future, so an order was placed. I was able to get lentils, orzo, unsweetened coconut, and dehydrated soup and dehydrated stew mixes - along with a ton of other stuff. When the fresh veggies just aren't around, we can always make soups and stews.
We ain't going hungry.
To add to the fun, I made a loaf of sourdough bread, today... Wanting to conserve flour, and all, I kinda screwed up in my fermenting and rising... Where one is supposed to take out a portion and add flour and water - I just kept adding the flour and water, resulting in a dough that was a lot more acidic than it should be - which caused the gluten structure to collapse. I have a really great tasting loaf of bread, but it's definitely not what it could have been.
Great crusty crust and a tight crumb...
It may not be worthy of an artisan bakery, but it worked just fine for home use...
And on to dinner... We now have more bacon in our house than we've had in a really long time - with another pound arriving Friday. Time to start eating some of it!
I made a bean and bacon soup, yesterday that will be lunch for the next few days, and tonight, wrapped a couple of bacon slices around chicken breasts and green onions. Baked in the oven. Total simplicity. The potatoes were a gateau I had made a few days ago. Layers of potatoes, onions, and cheese baked in the oven. How could it be bad?!?
So... until we can freely grocery shop and sell the house and move west, we're going to hunker down, eat well, and do what we need to do to stay healthy. This ain't exactly what I planned to be doing at this stage of my life - but I'm not going to fight it.
Stay well and have some fun in the kitchen. Not everything is going to be an Instagram meal.
So what?!? Enjoy it, nonetheless!
Isolation Cooking
Grocery shopping has certainly changed...
Gone are those leisurely treks to the store, meandering up and down the aisles without a care in the world... Nowadays, it's closer to a Mad Max movie - trying to get in and out as quickly as possible, grabbing whatever is available. I was able to do a great shopping trip at Trader Joe's in Wayne - #632 for those in the know. Damn, I just love that store. But even with a list I forgot things I wanted - I really did just want to get it over with even though the crew had taken every precaution feasible to keep it a safe trip.
Shopping changes, ingredient availability changes, and our cooking style changes. I'm actually starting to pay attention to what's in the cupboard, knowing I'm not going to be heading to the store for at least another couple of weeks to replenish anything - longer if I can swing it. Where once upon a time I'd think nothing of opening up something to add to a dish, I'm looking at that item and thinking this meal can do without it - I can use it for something else, later. I still live in a world of excess and privilege - I'm just trying to pay a bit more attention to it.
Paying attention... what a concept...
Paying attention and having the ability to keep from getting into a culinary rut. This is where those of us who have worked in the service industry - restaurants and grocery stores and the like - are the lucky ones. We know how to make do with what we have.
I'm especially lucky because I've worked in mom and pop restaurants and bakeries, as well as 4 and 5 star hotels. I was a cook and a baker on an aircraft carrier. I've cooked with foie gras and truffles, and with dried soup mix and rice. And, if truth be told, I'm more of a dried soup mix and rice kinda guy... Yeah... I like wild, crazy, and unique foods, but simple foods with lots of flavor are where it's at.
Kinda like the chicken meatballs I made Thursday.
A simple chicken breast with two green onions, one stalk of celery, a clove of garlic, one egg, pinch of thyme, and a bit of salt and pepper tossed into the food processor made 16 meatballs. A splash of white wine, a bit of chicken broth, and a tablespoon of flour made the gravy.
White rice and frozen spinach finished the plate.
Simplicity and a ton of flavor.
Last night was Piadinas - an Italian flatbread. A few years ago I went on a flatbread kick, making flatbreads from all over the world. They're remarkably similar in their simple ingredients, but the piadina is made with baking powder - not yeast. From start to table in under 30 minutes.
Last night, I topped them with ground pork simmered in a bit of leftover pasta sauce and a bit of fennel and onion braised in white wine. Totally a clean out the 'fridge-type meal. Lots of flavor, simple ingredients. Made with things in the house. I didn't snap a picture of the meal, but you get the idea. Top it like a pizza - or a tortilla - or naan - or pita - or... whatever.
Piadina
adapted from Milk Street
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup lard, room temperature
Directions
In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Process 5 seconds. Add the lard and process until combined, about 10 seconds. With the processor running, add the yogurt and then the water. Process until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each into a ball, then cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your toppings.
Roll each dough ball into a 10-inch round. Poke the surfaces all over with a fork.
Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium until a drop of water sizzles immediately, 4 to 6 minutes. One at a time, place a dough round in the skillet and cook until the bottom is charred in spots, 1 to 2 minutes. Using tongs, flip and cook for 30 seconds.
Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
You can eat simply and eat well at the same time.
Have some fun.
Rigatoni with Chickpea, Almonds, Ricotta, and Speck
I've been going through the cupboard to find fun and new things for dinner...
I'm not grocery shopping as often as I used to and crazy times call for creative thinking. One thing we have in abundance, right now, are garbanzo beans. I bought a big bag of them from Palouse Brands in Washington a while back - and we still have plenty.
Last night I set a few cups out to soak, and this morning decided top figure out what to do with them. It's always fun to decide after the fact...
I had seen a recipe on La Cucina Italiana for a pasta sauce with orecchiette and a fava bean sauce - the wheels started turning... Oddly - or not - I actually have dried fava beans, as well. I didn't think of the recipe, though, until after I had soaked the garbanzos...
I made the sauce more-or-less like the recipe stated, but thought it too sweet - almost dessert-like. Almonds, and ricotta can do that - so I added speck and green onions to the finished dish.
I also used dried beans, but I did the recipe using canned - I figured most of y'all will have better access to them... Also... use whatever pasta you have. A sturdy pasta like rigatoni or orecchiette would probably work best, but if you only have spaghetti - use it! And no speck? Use ham, or prosciutto, or pancetta, or bacon... sausage... Or none at all. Use what you have. Make do.
Rigatoni with Chickpea, Almonds, Ricotta, and Speck
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1 cup ricotta
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 4 oz diced speck
- 2 green onions
- olive oil
- S&P to taste
- 4 oz pasta of choice
Place beans, ricotta, and almonds in blender and mix to a creamy consistency - adding about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mixture will be thick.
Cook pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.
In a large skillet, cook speck. Add the bean mixture and heat through.
Stir in cooked pasta and add cooking water to thin to desired consistency.
Stir in chopped green onions.
Enjoy.
It was really simple and had a ton of flavor.
Irish Country Bread
The great white flour shortage of 2020 is about to come to an end at our house - I have an order in to Adluh in Columbia, South Carolina for a delivery on Saturday. We have a reasonably well-stocked pantry, right now, so I am definitely not going to leave the house just to try and find flour. Ain't gonna happen. Besides, we were low on grits and I've been buying grits from Adluh for years. I ordered some of them, as well.
Far from feeling cabin-fever or confined, I'm much more leery about mingling with the great unwashed masses, right now. There are still way too many people out there who are not talking any of this seriously. I'll stay home, thankyouverymuch.
We were also able to have a bit of liquid refreshment delivered since the State Stores have closed down. It's always good to have a bit of medicinal elixir in the house...
But back to baking...
It's not that we were totally out of flour - there are varying amounts of Anson Mills Red Fife, whole wheat, rye, sprouted wheat berry, semolina, cake flour, organic whole wheat pastry flour, and Tipo "00" in the pantry. Just no all-purpose or white bread flour. Yes, one can make a perfectly acceptable loaf of bread using 100% whole wheat or 100% rye flours - or even 100% white - but I tend to like my breads a bit lighter and like to blend flours. Even in times of national emergency, I'm spoiled.
Since we have flour arriving, I felt comfortable splurging and making a few loaves.
These loaves are based upon a recipe from Andrew Zimmern via Food and Wine magazine. I followed his recipe fairly close, except I used a blend of 2 cups Tipo "00" flour and 3 1/4 cups Anson Mills Red Fife. Two were topped with sesame seeds and two with poppy seeds.
It has a lovely light crumb and the perfect - slightly chewy.
Irish Country Bread
adapted from Andrew Zimmern
- 2 cups warm water
- 3 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
- 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Poppy seeds and sesame seeds, optional
In a small bowl, whisk 1/2 cup of the warm water with the yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, sift the flour with the salt and sugar into a food processor bowl. Add the butter and process until it is mixed in well. Place into a stand mixer.
Add the yeast water and another 1 1/2 cups of water and mix on low until dough starts coming together. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Form a ball and transfer to a large buttered bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 450°. Punch down the dough and scrape it onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Gently shape the dough into 4 rounds and transfer to a large baking sheet. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let stand in a warm place until nearly doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
Brush the rounds with the egg wash and sprinkle poppy seeds or sesame seeds, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until well browned and firm. Let the loaves cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
An excellent loaf! And, if made smaller, would make excellent hamburger buns!
This will definitely get us through the weekend... Time to start looking for the next batch.
If we're going top be stuck at home, we're gonna eat well, dammit!
Making Substitutions
The other day, Sam Sifton, the NY Times Food Editor, wrote a great article on cooking with confidence.
We’re all looking for the delicious, and recipes are a good way to find it. But the idea that you have to follow an ingredients list closely to do so is bunk and always has been, unless you’re working a restaurant line. And I say that as a recipe merchant! They’re just sheet music. You can play them in all sorts of ways.
Have confidence at this strange, sheltered time!
That has been my mantra for as many years as I can remember. Well... actually, it's been "Go for it. The worst thing that can happen is you throw it all out and call for pizza."
But you get the idea... Recipes are guidelines.
It's particularly true right now, with grocery stores out of key ingredients - I find myself buying what's there, simply because what I want, isn't.
Baking is a bit more particular, but it's still a simple ratio - if a bread recipe calls for 500gr of flour, you can mix and match those flours. You may need to increase or decrease your liquid by a fraction, but... it's going to work.
Last night we caught an episode of Milk Street and they made a flourless chocolate cake with sliced almonds. Victor looked at it and said it was one we had to make. This morning, I headed into the kitchen.
The recipe called for:
- sliced almonds - we had whole
- semi-sweet chocolate - we had baking chocolate and milk chocolate
- brown sugar - we had demerara
Did that stop me?!? Of course not!
I have no idea what the original was supposed to be like, but this came out stellar! Rich, moist, nutty - just a ton of flavor. The original recipe called for topping the torte with sliced almonds before baking. I didn't bother - powdered sugar worked just fine.
It's definitely worth making!
Flourless Chocolate Almond Torte
adapted from Milk Street
- 2 1/3 cups almonds (original recipe calls for sliced)
- 5 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 oz baking chocolate
- 4 oz milk chocolate (original recipe calls for 8 oz bittersweet)
- 1 cup demerara sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup packed brown sugar)
- pinch salt (original recipe calls for 1 tsp)
Heat the oven to 300°F with a rack in the middle position.
Grease 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray, line the bottom with kitchen parchment, then mist the parchment.
Crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup and add the vanilla; set aside.
In a food processor, process 2 cups of the almonds until finely ground, 20 to 30 seconds. Add the chocolate and pulse until the chocolate is finely ground, 10 to 15 pulses. Add the sugar and salt, then process until well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping the bowl as needed. With the machine running, gradually pour in the egg mixture. Continue processing until the batter is smooth and homogeneous, about another 15 to 20 seconds. Remove the blade and scrape the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center feels firm when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted at the center comes out with moist, fudgey crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cake, then invert onto a rack. Peel off the parchment and reinvert the cake onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Gotta say... it came out great.
Grocery Shopping in an Apocalyptic World
I wasn't ready to hit the local Giant at 6 ayem for the Senior Shopping, this morning, so I thought I'd hit Wegmans when they opened at 7. I got there a few minutes before and the line had already started - nice and orderly. As it should be.
Everyone maintained distance. No pushing, no shoving...
The shelves were a little better stocked from the last time I was there - there were actual paper products - and I managed to get a gallon of bleach and laundry detergent. No Clorox wipes or any of that stuff, but we still have some from when Victor's mom lived with us.
And no flour. Of any sort. And no dried beans. Both of which are normal staples in our home - and items that have always been in abundance any time I've gone to the store. Limits on almost everything else in the store. We still have flour and dried beans at home, so I'll just be a bit more prudent in their use until I know we can get more.
The people in the store - both customer and staff - seemed reasonably upbeat. There were two different guys - both in gloves and cheap painters masks who were pretty much in panic-mode shopping and really rushing through the store - but everyone else was cordial, respecting space, and basically just being community all in this, together. It was nice to see.
The actual shopping and check-out process was pretty good. They've marked off the floors at the registers to let folks know where to stand and park their carts, cashiers were wearing gloves and sanitizing between each order and everyone was maintaining distance.
In anticipation of today's shopping, I finally used up the last of the dried Sea Island Red Peas from Anson Mills. They're a small, heirloom bean that really packs a flavor-punch. I cooked them up with a bit of ham, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs d'Provence. Served up with a fried ham steak and rice.
Beans are serious comfort food, for me. Growing up in a large family, Mom cooked many a pot of beans - and I loved every one of them.
Grocery-wise, we're definitely good for a while, now. We won't have to venture out except to check the mailbox.
Take care, all...