Moroccan Chicken on the Barbie

The temperature has dropped 30 degrees.  It's almost bearable outside.  Time to do some more grilling.

Earlier, when it was a mere 95° outside, I decided to do something Moroccan.  It was feeling like the fringes of the Sahara outside...  Well...  a Sahara with a lot of humidity, that is.  Time to visit Northern Africa.

I marinated the chicken in a Moroccan-inspired marinade...

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tbsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

And then grilled...

Side dishes were green rice and green peas with garlic and thyme. I'm doing the weekly shopping tomorrow so we're using up what's here...

But the semi-star of the show was a lovely loaf of bread.

I've been making the no-knead breads for a while now and finally got the book.  There was one recipe that really jumped out at me - Olive Oil Bread.  It's the exact same recipe - except it uses 1/4 cup olive oil for 1/4 cup of the water.

What A Difference!

I'm hooked.  I now have a new go-to recipe that I'll be playing with and tweaking as time goes by.

The crumb is much more tender.  It just made an overall better loaf in my never-humble opinion!.

Olive Oil Bread

  • 2 3/4 cups lukewarm water
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp yeast (2 packets)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
  • 6 1/2 cups flour

Mix all ingredients.  Let proof about 2 hours.

Refrigerate. (Dough is ready at this point but handles better when chilled.)

Preheat oven to 450°.

Form grapefruit-sized ball of dough into loaf.

Let rise about 30 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool before slicing.

I can see a lot of variations on this theme coming up!


Chicken Salads and Homemade Bread

 

When I cooked yesterday's chicken, I had tonight's dinner in mind.  I knew I was going to make salads - I just wasn't sure what was going to be in (or on) them.

Cold chicken started me thinking about ham.  Victor had boiled some eggs, so A Cobb-type salad was formulating.  And then some ravioli, or tortellini, or something...

I settled on perline pasta mixed with a red pepper and eggplant dip I had in the cabinet.  Quick and easy pasta salad.

The bread was a take on the no-knead breads I've been making for a while.  I finally got a copy of the actual book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.  (It was a freebie using Zoom Panel points.)

Fun.

There was a recipe for a rustic bread using whole wheat and rye flour.  Since I just happened to have both in the cabinet, I made a half-batch of the dough last night.  When I got home today, I formed the loaf, put it outside into Mother Nature's proofing box, and in 30 minutes it was in the oven!

Half-Batch Rustic Bread

  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1-1/2 tbsp yeast (1 packet)
  • 3/4 tbsp kosher salt salt
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup rye flour
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients.  Let proof about 2 hours.

Refrigerate. (Dough is ready at this point but handles better when chilled.)

Preheat oven to 450°.

Form grapefruit-sized ball of dough into loaf.

Let rise about 30 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool before slicing.

It was pretty good!


Risotto

Let's see...  It's hotter 'n hell outside, humidity like you wouldn't believe.  Perfect for baking bread and making risotto!

Reality is, the house is closed up, the air conditioning is running, it's nice, cool, and comfortable in here, and I have some veggies that have seen better days.

During the winter, I make clean-out-the-refrigerator soup once a week.  But comfortable house or not, soup was not what I was looking for tonight.

Risotto started calling my name.

Into the skillet went half a diced onion, garlic, a chicken breast, broccoli rabe, broccoli, radicchio, a cup of arborio rice, white wine, and chicken broth.

I cooked it fairly traditionally, adding a ladle of broth, stirring it in - for about half of it.  I then added the rest of the already hot broth, stirred it well, put on the lid, and baked it for 25 minutes at 350°.

When it came out, I stirred in the cheese, fresh herbs, and a bit of salt and pepper.

The fresh bread finished the meal.

As I've been saying, Mother Nature's Proofing Box has been perfect for bread-baking!  All the heat and humidity has been helping to make some stellar breads and rolls.

I may not be able to do anything about the weather, but I can certainly utilize it to my advantage!


Cheese Burger In Paradise

It was shortly after dinner last night that Victor said I should make some bread dough so we could have homemade burger buns today.  I like the way his mind works.

I made a batch of no-knead dough.  Mother Nature's proofing box is working overtime right now.  The only thing good about this weather we're having is it makes for some perfect dough-proofing.  It really is just like putting it into a steam box.

So...

Three hours outside last night, overnight in the 'fridge, and then shaped and formed and outside again for an hour made for the most perfect buns.  They were extremely light, the crust properly chewy... (I actually brushed them with a bit of butter when they came out of the oven to help soften them a bit).  And slightly oversized - important when you look at all the things we tend to put on them!

From the top down:

  • bun
  • mayonnaise
  • ketchup
  • mustard
  • sliced pickles
  • sliced tomatoes
  • fried hot peppers
  • asiago cheese
  • burger
  • lettuce
  • ketchup
  • mayonnaise
  • bun

It was a total mess to eat.  I had juice and mayo and lord knows what running down my arms.  I'd take a bite and stuff would just ooze everywhere.

The perfect burger!

I made a really small batch of potato salad to go along with it.

Cheese Burger in Paradise, indeed!  Jimmy...  Eat your heart out!


Scrumptious Salads and Fear of Food

Friday weigh-in.  Lost another pound.

I keep thinking that if I was reasonably serious about this, I could actually lose some serious weight.  But, on the other hand, by not really trying to lose a lot of weight - and definitely not dieting - the pounds are actually dropping a bit.  I really do know how easy it is to gain weight.  I could very easily walk into a 12-step program and say "Hello, my name is Tim.  I'm a foodaholic."

I love food.  I love to eat.  I love all types of food, all areas, regions, nationalities, and cuisines.  The absolute perfect vacation for me would be to spend 2 weeks in a place - a villa in Sicily, a flat in Paris, or something in the south of France... Someplace with a reasonably-equipped kitchen, a view, and a marketplace within walking distance.  I could cook and eat for two weeks and never feel the need to "go out and do something".  Hello, my name is Tim.  I'm a foodaholic.

And because I love food so much, I just don't understand how so many people can be afraid of it.  And so ignorant of it.  All day long I overhear conversations from people who "won't eat this because it has carbs in it" or zero in on the 6 grams of fat per serving and completely disregard the 20 grams of protein and other nutrients.

Or won't buy potato chips (1oz =  150 kcal, 10gr fat - 1gr sat, 180mg sodium, 15gr carbs, and 2 gr protein) but pick up bags and bags of "Veggie Chips" (1oz = 150 kcal, 9 gr fat - 2gr sat, 100mg sodium, 16gr carbs, and 1gr protein).  I don't buy a lot of potato chips because I know that while they are really crunchy/salty/good, they're also high in calories.  I can polish off a bag pretty easy.  I don't buy them often.  But I also don't try and fool myself that I can have my junk craving by buying "veggie chips".

Of course, my favorite is the evil of all evils - butter.

You know... butter.  Ingredients:  Sweet cream.

1 tbsp = 100 calories, 11gr fat - 6gr sat, 0gr sodium, 0gr carbs, 0gr protein.

Instead, it's some sort of oil-stuff made to semi-resemble butter.  With all sorts of stuff in it.  "Leading Brand" Ingredients: Natural Oil Blend (Palm Fruit, Soybean, Canola Seed, and Olive Oils) Water, contains Less than 2% of Salt, Whey, Vegetable Monoglycerides and Sorbitan Ester of Fatty Acids (Emulsifiers) Soybean Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate, Lactic Acid (to Protect Freshness) Natural and Artificial Flavor, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin E (DL-a-Tocopheryl Acetate) Beta-Carotene Color.

1 tbsp = 80 calories, 9gr fat - 3gr sat, 90mg sodium, 0gr carbs, 0gr protein.

Why would I want to eat something like that?  What on earth is Sorbitan Ester of Fatty Acids?  Oh. Here we go... Sorbitan esters of fatty acid is called sorbitan ester, which is produced by esterification of sorbitol and fatty acid. It is a mixture of sorbitol ester and sorbide ester, which are simultaneously produced as well as sorbitan ester.

In my phony butter spread stuff.  Because Sorbitan Ester of Fatty Acids is better for my body that sweet cream?!?

I don't think so.

I'm not trying to fool myself here, either.  I know what butter is and what it does.  Too much of it - or of just about anything for that matter - is not going to be a good thing.  It's just a matter of knowing what it is you're eating and knowing that too much of even a good thing is not always a good thing.  But real, fresh ingredients will always be better than something that came out of a chemistry class.  Our bodies were designed to eat and process food - not stuff that has been engineered and re-engineered to look like food.  Do you find it a mere  coincidence that as a nation, we have gotten fatter and fatter with the introduction of more and more "light", "lite", and "diet" foods?!?

I don't.

I did put some butter on our homemade whole wheat garlic, fresh herb, and cheese bread tonight.  Not a lot.  It didn't need a lot.

The bread dough was the no-knead to which I added some chopped fresh herbs and garlic, along with a tiny bit of grated cheese I had left over in the 'fridge.

The salads were mixed greens, heirloom cherry tomatoes, zucchini, diced plums, and a bit of cauliflower with a balsamic vinaigrette Victor whipped up.  Topped with half of a thick-sliced grilled boneless pork chop.

Real food.  Stuff my body recognizes as food and knows how to process.

And speaking of real food...

It's time for dessert.

A Raspberry Scrippelle.


Scallops Wrapped with Zucchini

I've been thinking about this for a while.  Scallops wrapped with zucchini.  How could it be bad?  Especially if they're brushed with homemade lemon dill butter?

Well...  they weren't bad, at all.  In fact, they were so good, both of us were sopping up our empty plates with homemade whole wheat bread.  We haven't done that trick in a while.

My original plan was to grill them outside, but it's a bit chilly and rainy out, so I thought a pan-fry would work just fine.  Victor suggested the panini maker.  It was an excellent idea!  They came out perfectly cooked in just a couple of minutes.

I made the lemon butter last week.  Very basic compound butter.

Lemon Dill and Parsley Butter

  • 2 cubes butter (edited to explain that a "cube" is a "stick" of butter, or 1/4 pound)
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Mince dill and parsley in food processor.  Add the zest of 1 lemon and all the juice.  Add the pepper and mince everything very fine.

Add the butter and pulse until completely incorporated.

Use on seafood, bread, pasta, to cook vegetables, etc.

For the scallops, I thinly sliced a zucchini lengthwise using my mandoline.  I sliced each slice in half, lengthwise, and wrapped one piece around each scallop, securing it with a toothpick.

I then brushed them with melted Lemon Dill Butter and put them on a very hot panini press.  About three minutes later, they were done.

The potatoes were quite easy, as well.  I boiled 2 russet potatoes and drained them.  In a skillet, I sauteed about 2 ounces of diced pancetta with about a quarter-cup of minced onion and 1 minced clove of garlic.  I put the potatoes into the skillet, did a coarse-mash and added about a quarter-cup of sour cream, salt & pepper.  Mixed it all together.

This really was a fun dinner!  The lemon really came through from the butter and the scallop and zucchini went perfectly together.  The potatoes?  Total yum.

And that whole wheat bread...

I'm still making the no-knead bread and loving it!  I tweaked the basic recipe to make a whole wheat version.  Not for any health reasons.  I just happen to like the flavor of whole wheat bread better.

No-Knead Bread

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 envelopes dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 3 cups lukewarm water

Mix everything together to form a fairly wet dough with no dry spots.  Let rise, partially covered, about 3 hours at room temperature.

Punch down and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make a loaf of bread:

Preheat oven with baking stone to 450°.  Form 1/4 of the dough into a ball.  Place on cornmeal dusted peel or on a piece of parchment paper.  Let rise about 45 minutes.  Make 2 deep slashes in the top of the dough with a sharp knife and slide onto the stone.  If you use the parchment paper, you can place the bread on the paper onto the stone.

Bake for 25 minutes.  Cool completely before slicing.

For a crunchier crust, place a sheet pan on a rack under the stone when preheating the oven.  When you put the dough in the oven, pour a cup of hot water into the sheet pan and quickly close the oven.  The resulting steam will create a crunchier crust!

Tummy's full.  Victor's in the kitchen planning a dessert for later.

I'm a happy camper.


Green Rice and Spice

Green rice and white asparagus.  Yes, a decidedly different dinner!

We tried out th Bamboo Green Rice tonight.  Way fun!  Taste is a bit difficult to describe...  definitely "rice" but an almost tea-like flavor from the bamboo.  Besides looking great, it tasted great.

I grilled a pork tenderloin and topped it with a fresh mango salsa...  Diced mango, minced jalapeño, minced onion, minced red pepper, cilantro, parsley, a squirt of lemon, salt & pepper.  I don't recall the variety of mango other than it's from Mexico and very yellow when ripe.  It had just the right amount of sweet and tart flavor.

The white asparagus was topped with diced tomato mixed with a bit of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo.

And Victor baked off the last of the brioche dough.

This batch of dough has definitely gotten a work-out.  I made it last Friday for hamburger buns on Sunday.  I made cinnamon apple rolls with it - twice - and then tonight's sesame braid.

I'm going to have to get another batch going soon.


Panini

The experiment with the brioche dough to make buns worked!  I patted out the dough on a floured counter and cut them out with a big biscuit cutter.  I let them rise for about 45 minutes and then baked at 350° for about 25 minutes.

They made excellent panini!

Mayo and dijon mustard, sliced ham, roasted red peppers, and fresh mozzarella.

Simplicity.


Brioche and Beef

 

I've been thinking that the no-knead brioche dough would make great hamburger buns so tonight I did a bit of an experiment...

Using over-sized muffin tins, I made some rolls.  Fantastic tasting.  A wee bit too big!  Definitely no way they could be used as a bun, although I did make sandwiches with them tonight with grilled london broil.  Did I say a wee bit too big?!?  Let me rephrase that...  really too big!  But dayum, were they good!

I made the dough last night using the basic recipe.  I didn't weigh them when I made them today, but I have a pretty good idea of how big they were - a little larger than a jumbo egg.  I'll need to cut the size in half, at least.  I see another experiment in a day or so!

In the meantime, here's what I did for dinner tonight.  Sliced grilled london broil with a chipotle powder rub on the rolls with a green chili mayonnaise.  And fries.

I didn't even try to pick it up.  I made it open-faced and ate it with a knife and fork.

This recipe is direct from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website.  I have now made it twice and it's completely foolproof!

Brioche dough

(makes about 4 loaves)

  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.

The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

It's gonna make an awesome burger bun!


Rice Salad and Focaccia

What started out as just something to use up the last of the no-knead dough turned into dinner tonight.  I like it when meals just sort of evolve.

Victor will be out of town for a couple of days and we head to California for my niece Jessica's wedding when he gets back, so cooking-wise, it's going to be a use-up-whatever-is-in-the-house next few days.

This is always a fun challenge.

Tonight started it off with the aforementioned no-knead dough because whenever Victor leaves for a few days I have a habit of eating hot dogs.  Well, chili dogs to be precise.  I thought I'd give myself a fighting chance to eat something different.

I oiled a sheet pan, spread the dough out, drizzled it with more olive oil, and then covered it with tomatoes, mushrooms, and bell pepper.  A bit of garlic powder, and then a good shredding of Locatelli and some pepper.  Into a 450° oven for 25 minutes.

I also made a nice big batch of rice salad.

Rice and Oat Salad

  • 1/2 cup black whole grain rice
  • 1/2 cup mahogany whole grain rice
  • 1/2 cup wild rice
  • 1/2 cup whole oats
  • 1 qt chicken broth (use water or veg stock to make vegetarian)
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 star anise
  • 4 allspice berries
  • 8 peppercorns
  • 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1/2 large zucchini, diced
  • 3 green onions, minced
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1/4 cup strawberry balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

In a large pot, bring first 11 ingredients to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and cook for 45 minutes.  Cool.

When rice is cool, mix in remaining ingredients.  Mix well and refrigerate.

And, I had taken some bone-in chicken breasts out of the freezer before planning dinner, so I poached then and shredded the meat.

I am now set for meals until Victor gets home!

(I also made cupcakes!)


BBQ and Broadway

Last night was BBQ and Broadway in Berwyn.  Okay...  slightly off-Broadway, but a Broadway show with as much heart as you'll ever see.

We were at the Footlighter's Theatre in Berwyn, PA.  It is a Community Theatre now in its 81st season.  81 years of entertainment.  That, in itself, is impressive.

The show was Gypsy, based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.  (Just to show ya how old I am, I actually remember the Gypsy Rose Lee Show on TV.) Ah...  the good ol' days.

It was a great performance by some really fun and talented folks.  There's something extremely fulfilling about seeing local community theatre.  Footlighters probably only seats 150 people.  There just isn't more intimate theatre out there.

Let Me Entertain You, indeed!

If you're in the neighborhood of Berwyn, PA, the show is running through May 1st and tickets are only $15.00.  Less than a movie and a lot more entertaining!

For sustenance before the show, we grilled chicken.  Bone-in breasts with the Strawberry BBQ Sauce I made a while back.   Mashed yellow sweet potatoes and broccoli.

And seeded rolls.

I used the no-knead dough and rolled the rolls in sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and flax seeds.

Great dinner.  Great show.


Wintery Pasta & Cheesy Garlic Bread

Tonight was going to be salads with grilled chicken.  Slushy snow is falling from the sky.  We had pasta, instead.

It's been raining all day, we're under a flood watch,  it's cold, windy, and the aforementioned slush just made my day.   A lovely salad just wasn't going to work.

I took the chicken breasts I was going to grill and cut them up and sauteed them in a braising pan.  I added some chopped broccoli, orange cauliflower, zucchini, and garlic.  And salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Next was about 2 cups of chicken broth, then a cup of shredded Italian cheeses.

I then added about 6 ounces of cooked tri-color rotini pasta, some chopped parsley, and about 6 ounces of small fresh mozzarella balls.  I mixed it all up, thickened it with a bit of cornstarch, and popped it into the oven for 30 minutes.

And while it was baking, I made some cheesy garlic bread.

It's supposed to be in the mid-80s Friday and Saturday.