Sunday Dinner

Homemade meatballs, sausages, and pork loin,  rigatoni, cheese, homemade Pane Siciliano, pepperoni bread, and Apple Cake.

We ate well, today!

We called Victor's mom, brother, and sister-in-law to come over for Sunday Dinner.  It's a time for family to sit around the table for a few hours and eat.  And talk.  And eat.  And eat.  What a great tradition!  We did the Irish version at my house  when I was growing up.  Different food, same concept.  It really is a great tradition.

Today, it was cold, wet, and raining outside, so a big pot of sauce on the stove and a couple of loaves of bread and a cake in the ovens was the perfect way to get the day rolling!

Victor started off by making sauce.  No two Italians make their sauce the same way.  In fact, he doesn't even make it exactly the same way every time.  Into the tomato sauce goes the browned meatballs and browned pork and sausage, red wine, garlic, all the basics.  Suffice to say, it is always fabulous.

And while the sauce was simmering on the stove, I made bread.  Pane Siciliano.

Last night I pulled out my beat-up old copy of  The Italian Baker by Carol Field.  I had planned on making her Pane Pugliese and it needs a biga, or starter.  It's  one of my most favorite breads.  I was pulling the ingredients together when I turned the page and saw a recipe for Pane Siciliano.  Something new.  I actually had the semolina flour (shock!) and decided to give it a try.

Pane Siciliano

Makes 2 loaves

  • 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp malt syrup
  • 1 cup water, room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups durum flour or semolina for pasta
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 to 3 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds

By hand:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.  Whisk in the oil, malt, and 1 cup of water.  Mix the flours and salt and whisk in 1 cup at a time into the yeast mixture.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Knead on a floured surface 8 to 10 minutes, occasionally slamming the dough down vigorously to develop the gluten.

By mixer:

Stir the yeast into the 1 1/4 cups warm water in a large mixer bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the oil and malt with the paddle; then add the flours and salt and mix until smooth.  Change to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until; the dough is firm, compact, and elastic with lots of body, 4 to 5 minutes.  Finish kneading by hand on a lightly floured surface.

First rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.  The dough should be springy and blistered, but still soft and velvety.

Shaping and second rise. Punch the dough down, knead it briefly, and let it rest for 5 minutes.  Flatten it with your forearm into a square.  Rollit into a long, narrow rope, about 20 to 22 inches long.  The dough should be so elastic that it could almost be swung and stretched like a jump rope.  Cut the dough in half and shape each into a loaf.  (The book shows 3 classic shapes and illustrations; Mafalda, Occhi di Santa Lucia, and the baked Corona.  I made the Santa Lucia.)

Place the loaves on floured parchment paper, peels sprinkled with corn meal, or oiled baking sheets.  Brush the entire surface of each loaf with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds; pat the seeds very gently into the dough.  Cover with plastic wrap, and then a kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Baking. Thirty minutes before baking heat the oven with baking stones to 425°.  Sprinkle the stones with cornmeal just before sliding the loaves onto them.  Bake 10 minutes, spraying 3 times with water.  Reduce the heat to 400° and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer.  Cool on racks.

The final bread came out excellent, but I had to play with the dough a bit.

First off, it was way too dry.  I know that there are a bazillion and one factors involved in making bread; the moisture content of the flour, the weather and humidity, yadda yadda yadda, but I had to add almost a half-cup of water to the dough.  I finally worked it into a close approximation to what was described "firm, compact, and elastic with lots of body" but it never really had the elasticity I think it should have had from the description.  Same with the forming of the dough.  It rolled out well, but didn't have the "so elastic that it could almost be swung and stretched like a jump rope" texture.  It had some, but not what was being described.

Nonetheless, it came out great!  It had that rich semolina flavor and fine texture.

Marie brought over Pepperoni Bread, so we had that as an appetizer along with some salame, provolone, garlic crackers...

It was pretty good!

We sat down to a big salad, the pane, the meats, and a bowl of rigatoni.

Enough food for a small army.

Just what Sunday Dinner is supposed to be.

And then it was coffee and Apple Cake.

Victor got the recipe from his cousin Nancy, years ago.  It is really really good and I love it when he makes it!

Apple Cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 5 large apples

Preheat oven to 350°.  Peel and cut apples into small chunks.  Add 4 tsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon and stir together.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and set aside.

Beat together eggs, OJ & vanilla.  Add oil, mix in flour mixture.

In a well-greased tube pan, pour alternate layers of batter and apples.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.

Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until cake tests done.

Cool before slicing.

Another great thing about this cake is it works well as a morning coffee cake as well as an evening dessert.

I see a great breakfast in my future!


Pork Roast, Rye Bread, and an Apple Tart

I decided it was time to do something a tad bit different tonight - a bone-in pork roast!

It's been a while.

The seasonings were pretty basic - garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.  The fun twist cam in the pan - red wine and lingonberry concentrate!  (Thank you, Ikea!!)  I poured about a cup of wine and a half-cup of the lingonberry concentrate in the pan and used it to baste the pork as it was cooking.

I quartered a couple of potatoes and added them to the pork roast pan about half-way through the cooking.  The pan juices made a perfect sauce.

And because I was at the grocery store today...  I picked up a bag of rye flour.  Which, of course, meant I had to make a loaf of rye bread.

Actually, I made two loaves. James Beard, again.

Rye Bread

  • 1 pkg active dry yeast
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup warm milk combined with 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2 tbsp softened butter
  • 1 heaping tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp caraway seeds
  • 2 1/2 cups rye flour
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (or more, if needed)
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal
  • 1 egg white beaten lightly with 2 tbsp water

Disolve the yeast and honey in the warm water and allow the mixture to proof for 4 or 5 minutes.

Combine the warm milk and warm water with the softened butter and add to the yeast mixture along with the salt and caraway seeds.

Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  When you have addeed about 4 1/2 cups the dough will become difficult to stir and quite sticky, but continue to add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time.

Scrape out the dough onto a floured board, and using a baker's scraper or a large metal spatula, scrape under the dough and fold the dough over.  Continue to lift and fold, and with your free hand start pressing down and away from you on these folded areas, adding more flour as needed to dust your hands and to sprinkle the board.

After 2 or 3 minutes of this procedure you can eliminate the scraper.

Flour both hands and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft, velvety, and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-buttered bowl, turning to coat with the butter.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a  warm, draft-free area to double in bulk, which will take from 1 to 2 hours.

Punch down, turn out on a lightly floured board, and divide into two equal pieces.

Let the dough rest for 2 or 3 minutes, and then shape into two loaves, either free-form or for well-buttered 8 x 4 x 2-inch loaf pans.

If you are making free-form loaves allow them to rise, covered, on a buttered baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal until almost doubled in size, and then quickly invert them and brush with the egg and water mixture.

Otherwise, let the loaves rise, covered, in their pans until they have doubled in bulk and then brushing the tops with the egg white and water mixture.

Bake at 400° from 45 to 50 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped with the knuckles.

Cool thoroughly on racks before slicing.

Beard, like Julia Child, or many other cookbook writers, go into a lot of detail and tend to make things sound more complicated than they really are.  This is a pretty easy bread to make.

And tasty, too!

Speaking of tasty...

Guess what Victor made for desert last night?!?

A bit of a free-form puff pastry with apples!

He rolled out a sheet of puff pastry, sauteed a couple of granny smith apples in butter, brown sugar and a bit of white sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.  He sprinkled in a big teaspoon of flour to help thicken it all, and set it in the middle of the pastry, folded up the sides and into the oven it went - following the instructions on the puff pastry package.

Yumlicious!


A Loaf and a Bowl

A steaming bowl of soup and a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven.  The perfect meal when it's 22° outside.  Yes.  twenty-two degrees.  Of course, compared to some of our friends, it's downright balmy here.

All I can say is B-r-r-r-r-r.  Well...  I could say more, but this is a G-Rated Blog for the most part!

Victor made the soup today and I made the bread.

The soup was simple.  Chicken thighs, diced and sauteed in olive oil, carrots, celery, and onions, also diced and sauteed.  Into that went some diced mushrooms and a cup of white wine.  He reduced the wine, added 2 quarts of chicken stock, and some salt and pepper.

No fancy herbs or spices.  Very basic - and very good.

I did James Beard's basic French-style loaf.  I can make that one in my sleep.   I think it's time to get creative, again.

I've been out of whole wheat flour for a while now, but I think I'll pick some up tomorrow.  Maybe some rye flour, as well!  I really do like to get the bread-making gene active this time of year.

Not to mention just how inexpensive a loaf of bread and a pot of soup can be to make.

It's the only good thing about this time of the year.  I hate the cold.


Bean Soup and Beer Bread

 

Back in the Saddle, Again... Or, should I say, "back in the kitchen, again"?"

It seems that Victor has been doing a lot of cooking the past few weeks.  It's been fun for both of us, but I must admit I do miss making my messes.  Uh, er...  I mean cooking.

Since it actually made it up to a balmy 22° today with only 40 mph winds, I thought soup and bread would be a good combination.  I had soaked a bag of canary beans last night with no real idea of what I was going to do with them, so the frigid weather made up my mind for me.

The bread was my old standby...

Beer Bread

  • 3 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 12oz can/bottle beer
  • 4 tbsp butter, melted

Mix flour, sugar, and beer.  Place in buttered bread pan.  Pour melted butter on top.

Bake at 350° for one hour.

The type of beer you use will really make a difference!  Today, I used Ithaca Beer Co. "Partly Sunny" beer.  It's a "wheat ale brewed with spices".  Quite good.

I had a ham bone in the freezer, so out it came, along with everything else in the refrigerator.  This was really a clean out the refrigerator soup!

Bean Soup

  • 1 pound canary (or other) beans, soaked overnight
  • 1 ham bone
  • 4 quarts water
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 6 peppercorns
  • pinch salt
  • 6 carrots, sliced
  • 4 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 heads belgian endive
  • 1/2 carton grape tomatoes
  • freshly-grated parmesan cheese

Put bean, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and ham bone in pot and add water to cover.  Simmer until beans are almost done.  Add carrots, celery, and whatever vegetables are in the 'fridge and have to be used up.

Simmer until vegetables are cooked and beans just begin to break down and thicken.

Serve with fresh-baked bread and parmesan cheese.

Simplicity.

Between the simmering soup and the baking bread, the house was totally warm and filled with tantilizing scents.

Tomorrow is supposed to bring more cold weather and some flurries.

Can't wait. <sigh>


Our Biannual Dinner with Linda and David

Twice a year we have dinner with our friends Linda and David.  July at their house to celebrate Linda's and my birthday, and the week between Christmas and New Year for our holiday festivities.  It's great.  They love food just as much as we do.  We all go over the top just a bit when figuring out what to cook - always something we wouldn't do unless they (or we) were coming to dinner.  It's a lot of fun.

This year, we decided to do a prime rib and individual Yorkshire puddings.  I was going to do Trevor's popovers, but changed my mind at the last minute.  Actually, I chickened out.  I hadn't made a popover or Yorkshire pudding in a bazillion years and didn't want to publicly screw them up.

We started with a 4-bone rib roast.

I don't remember the last time I did a prime rib other than at some hotel or another where I was working.  I actually may have never cooked one at home before.  And I did mention that there were only four of us, right?!?

The roast went into the oven and the hors d'oeuvres were started.

We started with a baked brie with roasted figs in a citrus glaze.  This was an impulse buy at Wegmans when we were shopping for dinner items.  Victor saw the figs and went wild.  We then picked up a wedge of brie and a star was born. It looked like cheesecake with topping before it went inti the oven.

It was ridiculously good.

And we had crab on cucumber slices.

These were really good, too.

Crab Salad on Cucumber Rounds

  • 8 ounces crabmeat
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 tbsp minced red onion
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme
  • 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cucumber, sliced

Mix first 5 ingredients together.  Add salt and pepper, if desired.

Place on cucumber slaices.  Top with paprika.

We also had a hot artichoke and spinach dip, but I missed getting a picture.

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

  • 1 cans  Artichoke Hearts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 box  frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1/2 cup  Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup  Mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients well and transfer to shallow baking dish.  Broil until bubbly and browned.

And Dauphine potatoes!

These are fun.  One of the hotels I worked in years ago served these all the time.  When I win the lottery I want a commercial kitchen in the house - with a real deep fat fryer!

This recipe comes from Gourmet Magazine.

Dauphine Potatoes

  • 1 1/2 pounds russet (baking) potatoes (about 3)
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • vegetable oil for deep-frying the potatoes
  • coarse salt for sprinkling the croquettes if desired

Bake the potatoes in a preheated 425°F. oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until they are soft, halve them lengthwise, and scoop the potato out of the shells with a spoon, reserving the shells for another use. Force the scooped-out potato through a ricer or a food mill fitted with the medium disk into a large bowl. (There should be about 2 cups riced potato.)

In a saucepan combine 1/2 cup water, the butter, the salt, and the nutmeg, bring the mixture to a boil, and stir in the flour all at once. Reduce the heat to moderate and beat the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes, or until the paste pulls away from the side of the pan and forms a ball. Remove the pan from the heat, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition, and beat the mixture until it is smooth and shiny.

Add the potatoes and beat the mixture until it is combined well. The potato mixture may be prepared up to this point 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. In a deep fryer or large kettle heat 2 inches of the oil until it registers 340°F. on a deep-fat thermometer. Transfer the potato mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip and pipe eight 2 1/2-inch lengths, cutting them with kitchen shears or a small knife, directly into the oil. Fry the croquettes, turning them with a slotted spoon, for 3 minutes, or until they are crisp, golden, and cooked through, transfer them as they are fried to paper towels to drain, and sprinkle them with the salt. Make more croquettes in batches with the remaining potato mixture and transfer the drained croquettes to a rack set in a jelly-roll pan (to prevent them from becoming soggy). The croquettes may be made 2 hours in advance, kept covered loosely with paper towels at room temperature, and reheated on the rack in a preheated 400°F. oven for 5 minutes, or until they are heated through and crisp. If not making the croquettes in advance, keep them warm in a preheated 300°F. oven.

The zucchini boats were just hollowed out zucchini with a carrot puree - cooked carrots, honey, dill, and S&P.  Baked at 350° for 20 minutes.

A simple salad...

And the Yorkshire Puddings...

These were a lot of fun - and gave me the confidence to make the popovers relatively soon.

Yorkshire Puddings

  • 4 large, fresh eggs, measured in a jug
  • Equal quantity of milk to eggs
  • Equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to eggs
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp beef drippings
  1. Heat oven to 450°.
  2. Pour the eggs and milk into a large mixing bowl and add the pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly with an electric hand beater or hand whisk. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Gradually sieve the same volume of flour (as the eggs) into the milk and egg mixture, again using an electric hand beater or hand-whisk to create a lump free batter resembling thick cream, if there are any lumps pass the batter through a fine sieve.
  4. Leave the batter to rest in the kitchen for a minimum of 30 minutes, longer if possible - up to several hours.
  5. Place 1 tsp drippings in a Yorkshire pudding tin or muffin tin and heat in the oven until the fat is smoking. Give the batter another good whisk adding 2 tbsps of cold water and fill a third of each section of the tin with batter and return quickly to the oven.
  6. Leave to cook until golden brown approx 20 minutes.

And then we had dessert.

Okay.  I freely admit that I must have been on drugs when I made these.  My thought process was to make 4 individual Baked Alaskas.  Another thing I haven't made in 30 or so years.  The key word to note here is individual.  Right.

Chocolate Cake

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup grapeseed (or other neutral) oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line sheetpan with parchment paper.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

I started off with what looked like a small cake round.

And then it just went out of control.

I drizzled Blood Orange Syrup on the cake because I needed an excuse to open the syrup we bought down in DC at Cowgirl Creamery.

That "small cake round" was really pretty big.  It took a lot of ice cream to properly cover it.

And then the meringue.

Meringue

  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Whip egg whites until foamy. Add vanilla and cream of tartar.

Slowly add sugar and whip until still and glossy - about 5 minutes.

The final step is to brown the meringue in a hot oven.  One could use a blow torch, but I don't have one.

We split two of them between four of us - and even that was too much!  (Okay - I could have eaten a whole one myself, but I'm a dessert/ice cream pig. And another great thing is we now have more desserts just for us!)

I actually did learn a few lessons with this meal - especially the all-important portioning.  I really did forget just how big those desserts would grow.  I could have made them on cupcake bottoms and they probably would have been just right.

But we had a wonderful time - and that's the most important thing.

And now we get to think about what to get Linda for her birthday...  July is not that far away!


Lentil Soup and Fresh-Baked Bread

It's raining outside.  It started raining yesterday on our way home from North Jersey.  It's been raining ever since.  It's melted all of the snow.  All of it.

But melted snow or not, it's still cold outside.  Damp and cold.  Perfect soup weather.  And fresh-baked bread weather.

We had the perfect ham bone that just screamed for a pot of water and a couple of bay leaves.  It's amazing how so little can give so much.  Victor made the soup.  I made the bread.

Quantities are mere estimates.  Add more or less of something.  It's soup.  It's flexible.

Victor's Lentil Soup

Large Ham bone – most of the meat cut of and coarsely diced

Large pot of water

  • 3 cups Lentils
  • 4 stalks Celery, diced
  • 4 Carrots, diced
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, nimced
  • 3-4 Bay Leaves
  • S&P
  • Tabasco – to taste

Boil the ham bone with the bay leaves a couple of hours.

Add remaining ingredients (except the saved coarsely diced ham).

Simmer, uncovered, until lentils are cooked through.

Add S&P and a generous few splashes of Tabasco.

Remove bone and bay leaves.

Puree about a third of the soup and return to the pot.

Add the reserved ham and heat through.

While the soup was simmering, I made a loaf of bread.  I used the same recipe as a few days ago.  I formed it into a loaf and after brushing with the egg white and water, I generously sprinkled on sesame seeds.  This is a half-batch which makes one loaf:

French-Style Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (l00° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose or hard-wheat flour
  • yellow cornmeal
  • 1 egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into a long, French bread-style loaf. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the top of the loaf diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.

This really is one of the easiest breads in the world to make.  It's quick, easy, and foolproof.

So... Tomorrow we are actually going shopping together.  Victor hasn't been up to the new Wegmans, yet.  This could be dangerous.

We're specifically shopping for Tuesday dinner with Linda and David.  Prime Rib au jus, Yorkshire Pudding (instead of the popovers!), Dauphine Potatoes, Stuffed Zucchini, and Baked Alaska for dessert.  It's going to be fun, because I haven't made any of these things in quite a while.

The danger is the two of us in a grocery store together.  We've been known to spend the GNP of a few small emerging countries when shopping together, which is why I usually shop alone. (Not that I don't keep the economy afloat by myself...)  And we even have a gift card.

It's gonna be fun!


Beard on Bread, Tim on Chili

 

By far, one of the best bread-baking books out there is Beard on Bread.

The beauty of anything written by James Beard is that he writes in a straight-forward way, gives common-sense instructions, and gives a list of variations.  His basic premise is "you can't screw it up."  I've been following that advice for years.

So after making a big pot of chili today, I thought making some bread bowls would be a fun way to serve them.  It's cold outside.  I can pretty much justify the calories.  Besides, fresh bread is one of life's great pleasures.

My 'go-to' recipe for a quick and easy bread is Beard's French-style (also called Cuban) Bread.  It's a one-rise and into a cold oven bread that has a great crust.  I thought it would be perfect for bread bowls.  They almost were.

I followed the directions and formed into balls instead of loaves and into the oven they went.  They actually rose up more than they rose out, so, while they could have worked, I decided to put the chili in bowls and serve the bread on the side.  It worked.

Here's the complete 2-page recipe and schpiel from his 1973 cook book.

French-Style Bread

French bread, as we all know, has been praised and prized above all other breads in the world for its distinctive crumb, crisp crust, and superb flavor. However, the carefully controlled preparation of it in commercial bakeries is difficult to duplicate in one’s own kitchen. If you are ready for the challenge, you should search out a recipe that is as complete as the one developed by Julia Child and Simone Beck for Volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Their method seems tremendously complex but it is great fun to follow through to the final goal (and once mastered, not difficult to do again); the loaves are startlingly good and genuinely French.

The bread I am giving here is not truly French, and for that reason it is called “French-style.” Actually it could be called “Continental,” because it is very much like the bread one finds in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It has also been known for many years as "Cuban Bread." It is a casual, easy-to-make bread that can be played with in several ways. If made according to the basic recipe below it produces a good loaf ready for eating almost the minute it comes from the oven. It will not hold for more than half a day but, of course, can be frozen.

Yield: 2 long loaves

Ingredients

  • 1½ packages active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 cups warm water (l00° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 5 to 6 cups all-purpose or hard-wheat flour
  • 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the tops are rapped.

VARIATIONS

For a wheaten loaf, use half white flour and half whole-wheat flour.

Substitute equal parts of whole-wheat flour and cracked wheat for half of the white flour.

For a more involved, more tightly textured loaf: Use either the original recipe or the whole-wheat variation. After the first rising, remove from the bowl, punch down, and knead again for 5 to 10 minutes. Return to the buttered bowl for a second rising. When it has doubled in bulk, form into two loaves and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Slash with a sharp razor or knife, brush with slightly beaten egg white or water, and place in a cold oven set for 375° or 400°. Bake until nicely browned and hollow sounding when tapped with the knuckles.

Line the oven rack with tiles (see page 12), preheat the oven to 400°, and slide your bread loaves from the baking sheet directly onto the tiles, which have been sprinkled with cornmeal.

Add to the liquid in the first step 4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil and then proceed with either the original recipe or the whole-wheat variation. You may need to use a small additional amount of flour.

Use 1/3 white flour, 1/3 whole-wheat, and 1/3 cracked-wheat. This will give a very nice coarse, nutlike texture to the bread. With this mixture I would advise adding olive oil in the beginning to give tenderness.

© 1973 James A. Beard

Chili is one of those things I just kinda make.  I don't really have a favorite recipe and I more or less make it differently every time I do make it.  I make it with ground beef, cubed beef, stew beef, fresh beans, canned beans, dried beans, whole tomatoes, canned tomatoes, fresh chilis or dried or ground.

It's chili.  Ya can't really screw it up.

This chili was pretty much a canned affair.  Beans and tomatoes were canned and the beef broth came out of a carton.  The beef was real.

Canned beans are a great convenience and I always pick up a can or three when when they're on sale.   While I was actually planning to use dried beans, Victor gently reminded me last night that we had probably a dozen cans of various beans on the shelf taking up more room than a single bag of beans.  I just love a logical man!  Canned beans, it was!  I used Roman beans, cannellini, pintos, pink beans, and red beans.

5-Bean Chipotle Chili

  • 2 pounds beef, cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
  • 2 8oz cans tomato sauce
  • 1 qt beef broth
  • 6 cans assorted beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • salt and pepper
  • cheese and sour cream for toppings

Brown beef (I browned it in bacon grease because I had some from breakfast).  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is wilted.

Add spices and cook to rid them of their 'raw' taste.

Add tomatoes and then broth.  Bring to a boil and then simmer about an hour.

Add beans and simmer another hour or so.

Check for seasoning and serve with cheese and sour cream.

Bread was served on the side.  It was crusty, crunchy, and perfect for dipping and sopping.

And there are leftovers.

Yum.


Stollen

Oma's Christmas Stollen

OMG!  You should smell this house right now!  I have died and gone to Culinary Heaven!

I've said over and over that our baking has been the best, ever.  And I'm here to say it, again.  It's the best, ever!

I got the recipe from a friend several years ago and finally decided to make it last year.

The first stollen I made was horrible.  I totally and completely screwed it up.  Don't ask me how - I just did.   I actually threw it all away and re-did it.  It was really good the second time, but this year?!?  Perfection!  Absolute perfection.  Oma guided my hand.

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It started with the dough.  It felt right from the beginning.  Even though I'm a baker, there are a lot of things I've just never baked before, and Stollen was one of those things.

When you bake a lot, you learn how to touch and feel dough.  It speaks to you - you just need to learn how to listen with your hands.  Today it spoke and I listened.  It said "be patient".

It takes a lot longer to rise than the breads I'm used to making.  It also takes longer to knead.  Of course, the breads I'm used to making don't have a pound and a half of butter in them!  Patience.

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I cut the recipe in half because 4 loaves is more than I really need to have in the house.

Oma's Christmas Stollen

This recipe is huge and makes 8 loaves (it freezes well – in Germany, it’s traditional to consume the last Christmas stollen on Easter) so feel free to cut it in half. It isn’t overly sweet and heavy and nasty like traditional fruitcakes – it’s more like a sweet bread, and the butter in the recipe makes it very flaky.

  • 6 pounds flour
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 7 oz fresh yeast (about 80 gr dry)
  • 1 lb golden raisins
  • 1 t almond extract
  • 3 t salt
  • 3 lb butter
  • 1 quart whole milk
  • 1 lb dark raisins
  • 1 lb blanched almonds, ground finely (but not overly fine – you get it)
  • 1/2 lb citron, chopped finely (as above) and floured

In a saucepan, heat the milk. Remove from heat and add butter, sugar and salt. When just warm, add yeast. Put into large mixing bowl and begin to add flour, about five pounds, mixing well after each addition. Stir in raisins, citron and almonds. Add almond extract. Mix well and knead on floured board (dough will be a little sticky – you’ll use probably half a pound of flour doing this, which accounts for the six pound total) until it’s very smooth and elastic (about 20 minutes). Put into a covered bowl and let it rise until doubled. Divide dough into 8 parts and flatten each piece into a circle and fold over *almost* in half – the bottom diameter will be larger than the top. Let rise again until doubled and bake at 350° for 35 minutes. When cool, dust heavily with powdered sugar.

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The house really isn't all that warm this time of year, either.  I let them rise for several hours, formed the loaves, and let them rise, again, for several hours.

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They look beautiful, they smell beautiful, and I know they're going to taste beautiful.

This is our year.  No question about it.

And I think I finally figured out why...  It's because we decided we weren't going to go crazy and bake a bazillion cookies like we do every year.

Just by cutting back and coming up with fewer batches of everything, the stress went away.  Once we decided it just didn't matter, it all fell into place.

There's a few things still planned for the next few days and the weekend.  And when we get to them, we get to them.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

And we are.


Sunny Sunday Bread and Soup

 

The weather is just not cooperating with me!

It got chilly and started raining last night.  As it was supposed to continue into today, I thought soup would be a good thing.  I had the turkey carcass in the 'fridge so I pulled it out and into the pot it went with bay leaves, celery bottoms, a few carrots, onion, garlic (skins and all), and a bit of salt and pepper.  I boiled it down for several hours, strained the broth, cooled it and into the 'fridge it went.  It was the perfect food to sit on the stove while I worked on a couple of websites.  I love unattended cooking!

I had a big jar of navy beans on the shelf that had been up there probably since last fall, so I pulled 'em down and soaked half of them overnight.  Bean soup sounded good.

Since the beans were a bit old, I soaked them for a good 12 hours before cooking them.  It was a good thing - they definitely took their time to cook!

I cooked the beans separately, drained them, and reserved some of the cooking liquid.

I sauteed half an onion and 4 stalks of celery in a bit of olive oil.  I added 1 link of andouille sausage and browned that a bit.

Into the pot went about a cup of white wine that I reduced down by half.  Then the turkey broth.  I  added the drained beans, brought it all to a boil and then let it simmer for another hour or so.

I added some herbs d'Provence, salt and pepper, and then half a bag of frozen spinach - because it was there.

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In the meantime, I made a loaf of beer bread.

Beer Bread is merely 3 cups of self-rising flour, 3 tbsp sugar, and a bottle of beer.  Bake at 350° for an hour.

I had a small piece of gorgonzola in the 'fridge, so I sliced it up into the batter before baking.

It was really good!

So... as I have soup on the stove and bread in the oven, the rain stops, the clouds clear, and it turns into a sunny, glorious day!  Go figure.

So we opened the windows, enjoyed the cool breeze - and ate soup and fresh bread, anyway!

A perfect day.


Bread and Butter (and a bowl of soup!)

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Crusty Italian Bread and Butter - what a treat!

What was once a mainstay of our diets is now something we actually think about before adding to the menu.  It's an extra couple of hundred calories that we usually don't need.  But tonight was soup - and a soup deserves bread and butter.  And, actually, so did we!

While I don't usually follow recipes for soup - they're usually just something I whip up - I saw this recipe for a chicken soup with leeks and mushrooms and was intriqued...

Chicken Mushroom Soup with Leeks

  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 oz each), cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 large leek, white part only, trimmed and chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3 sage leaves
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 lb mixed fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
  • 2 qt low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 to 3 tbsp dry sherry
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
  • Chopped parsley

In a large soup pot, heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil on medium heat and sauté chicken 3 or 4 minutes or until opaque. Remove chicken from pot and add remaining 1 1/2 tbsp oil, leek, garlic, sage and nutmeg. Cook until leek is soft, 2 or 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to a small bowl, leaving excess oil in pot, and set aside. Add mushrooms to pot and cook until golden brown. Return chicken and leek mixture to pot, salt and pepper to taste and sauté about 5 minutes. Pour in broth and sherry and bring to a simmer. Add cornstarch mixture and simmer 2 or 3 minutes more. Pour soup into 4 large bowls and garnish with parsley to taste. Serve immediately.

The only changes I did was used 2 leeks instead of one, 4 cloves of garlic instead of two, a scant teaspoon of rubbed sage instead of three leaves, and omitted the parsley.  It was pretty darn good!

I tend to want to keep adding things to a soup pot and could think of a dozen things I could add to this, but I think the beauty of this really is the simplicity.  You can really taste the mushrooms.  You pick up on the sage and the nutmeg - kinda - but can't really identify them.  You just know there is flavor there that you like.  Same with the sherry - it compliments the mushroom flavor without imparting a strong taste of its own.  Plus that little tiny bit of cornstarch adds just enough body to the broth that you don't even realize it's there, but it, too, adds to the overall effect.

And a huge bowl is less than 300 calories!  That means bread and butter!

Perfect!


Soft Pretzels

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I love it when Victor watches cooking shows.  He can actually be a lot more adventurous than me.  I'll dismiss something out-of-hand, where he will actually give an idea a fair shake - like today's pretzels.

I don't think I've ever made soft pretzels before.  I've made bagels - which have some similarities - but never pretzels.  So... when Victor mentioned a pretzel recipe from Alton Brown, I encouraged him.  (I ain't no fool!)

He printed off the recipe and off to the kitchen he went.

Less than 10 minutes later, I hear a shriek of despair.  Warily treading into the kitchen, I see Victor, sobbing.  We had no flour!   I couldn't believe it.  We always have flour in the house.  I start going through the cabinets, myself.   We had half a bag of self-rising flour (which wouldn't do at all) and half a bag of King Arthur White Whole Wheat.  We decided that white whole wheat would make perfect pretzels.  Crisis averted (and note to self to buy flour tomorrow)!

The recipe is very straight-forward and really quite easy.  The weather was perfect and we put the dough out in the back yard to quickly proof.

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After rolling and forming, they went - one at a time - into the boiling water.

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Our "pretzel salt" was actually "San Francisco Bay Salt" from - you guessed it - San Francisco.  I remember the huge salt ponds in the bay when I was a kid growing up.  It's a really large crystal and the perfect size for the pretzel.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

  • Prep Time: 30 min
  • Inactive Prep Time: 1 hr 0 min
  • Cook Time: 25 min
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Serves: 8 pretzels

Ingredients

 

  • 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
  • 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
  • Vegetable oil, for pan
  • 10 cups water
  • 2/3 cup baking soda
  • 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
  • Pretzel salt

 

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I had mine with a sweet and spicy mustard, Victor stayed with traditional yellow.

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Now...  these are not exactly diet-foods but at about 200 calories each, they're doable in moderation!  I froze half of them to lower the temptation factor!

Yum.


Bean Soup and Beer Bread

 

When it started snowing last night - and the pundits were forecasting the end of the world - I thought that regardless of how much snow we may (or may not) get, I was going to be in the mood for beans.  I took a 1-pound bag of navy beans out of the cupboard and soaked them overnight. (We didn't get nearly what was forecasted, but it sure was a nice, quite day around the neighborhood!)

Today, bean soup sounded like a winter winner.  And soup calls for bread - homemade bread.

Navy Bean Soup

  • 1 pound navy beans, soaked overnight
  • 1/4 cup bacon grease
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 qt water
  • 1 ham hock
  • 1 qt chicken broth
  • 6 ribs celery, chopped
  • 6 carrots, chopped
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp herbs d'provence
  • 1 tbsp Hungarian paprika
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Cook diced onion in bacon grease in soup pot until wilted.  Add garlic and continue cooking until browned.  Add water and ham hock, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer about an hour, or until beans are almost done.

Add remaining ingredients and cook until vegetables and beans are tender.

Can be made early and then reheated.

It really is a throw stuff in a pot soup.  Add sausages, linguica, chunks of ham or pork... Go for it.

The bread is my favorite beer bread, compliments of George and Suzanne.

Beer Bread

  • 3 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 12 oz beer

Use a 4" x 8" bread pan. Mix and bake at 350° about 1 hour. Top with melted butter.

It really is that easy.  I used a pumpkin ale for today's bread.  It was really good!

The snow stopped, the roads look clear, and it's back to work, tomorrow.  It was a perfect dayt off.