Homemade Soup and a Loaf of Bread
We finally made it to the grocery store, yesterday. First time in almost 2 weeks. We've had a bit of weather that just wasn't conducive to being out and about.
It's definitely age-related... Back in my youth, I'd be on the roads in a snowstorm half-lit with bald tires heading to the store because we had the munchies or were almost out of beer. Now, common sense coupled with a profound fear of meeting a 2024 version of my youthful self in the middle of an intersection keeps me put.
Fortunately, a well-stocked freezer and pantry kept us well-fed.
The nice thing about not shopping for 2 weeks is we can now actually see into the freezer and cupboards! There's nothing languishing in a far corner, dying of freezer burn. No packaged goods with a Use By date of July 2019. It's all ready to be packed out, again!
Another fun thing about not shopping for a while is getting creative with the things you have - like last night's soup. We had every ingredient but one in the house - and the one ingredient we didn't have was being delivered by Imperfect Foods.
I rarely follow a recipe for soup - it's soup, after all - but once in a while I see something that sounds interesting. I really like the flavor combinations of Moroccan food and this one hit all the buttons.
The original recipe called for a can of chickpeas and no chicken, but... we have several pounds of dried chickpeas from Palouse, so I used them. Also, since the recipe said to use chicken broth, I added some chicken. Leave the chicken out and switch the broth to vegetable broth and you have a lovely Vegan soup...
Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup
adapted from America's test Kitchen
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 12 oz chicken breast or thigh, cubed
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Saffron
- 3/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup orzo
- 4 ounces Swiss chard, stemmed and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Salt and pepper
Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent and starting to brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and ginger, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and brown lightly. Stir in 1/2 cup cup parsley and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in broth, water, and chickpeas. Cook until chickpeas are almost cooked through. Add tomatoes and lentils; increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and gently simmer until lentils are just tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir in pasta and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chard and continue to cook, partially covered, until pasta is tender, about 5 minutes longer. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
I did make a vat of this - lunch for several days!!
And since we were having soup, I decided we needed some fresh-baked bread.
The recipe for the bread was actually a sun-dried tomato and olive bread. I didn't have any decent black olives in the house, so I just made it without the olives and tomatoes.
This is a really easy go-to recipe that is excellent plain, or made with any number of add-ins. Light crumb, chewy crust... Gotta love it!
And I really do like weighing ingredients - it is just so much easier.
Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Bread
adapted from the BBC
- 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
- 15g/½oz salt
- 55ml/2fl oz olive oil
- 20g/¾oz fresh yeast
- 275ml/9fl oz water
- 170g/6oz black Greek olives, pitted and chopped
- 55g/2oz sun-dried tomatoes
Mix all ingredients, apart from the olives and tomatoes, in a large bowl. Take care not to put the yeast in direct contact with the salt when they are first added to the bowl.
Knead well with your hands and knuckles until the dough is elastic, smooth and shiny. Cover with a piece of cling film and leave to rise for one hour.
Divide the dough into two and add half of the olives and sun-dried tomatoes into each.
Mould both the doughs into rough round shapes and press firmly down. Sprinkle white flour lightly over the top and mark them with a cross.
Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper (silicone paper) and prove for one hour in a warm place.
Bake at 220°C/425°F/Gas 7 for 30 minutes until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Two loaves of bread - one in the fairly empty freezer.
Bring it on, Mother Nature. We're set!
Roasted Mushroom Chicken Marsala
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the kitchen is so delightful...
I just love it when I haven't been to the store in days, I find a recipe that looks pretty good, and I actually have the ingredients in the house to make it!
Case in point - last night's Roasted Mushroom Chicken Marsala!
We haven't been to the store because we've had some fun snow and ice - with more freezing rain about to start any minute. With highs only hitting the teens, the roads have become packed ice and snow. Our latest round of Cold Rain and Snow [cue the Grateful Dead] is only supposed to last until about 5am, tomorrow - an inch of snow and a half-inch of ice down at our level... More than a couple of streets are closed because of fallen trees or stuck vehicles and with plenty of supplies, there's just no reason to venture out. Besides, kids are sliding down our hill using a kiddie pool as a sled - who wants to interrupt their fun?!?
The chicken dish was compliments of a recipe I found on Food and Wine. It's one of the few food magazines I still subscribe to. Why I subscribe to any at this point is a mystery - I have literally thousands of recipes filed that I haven't made yet. I don't really need any more...
Be that as it may... this came out pretty good.
Roasted Mushroom Chicken Marsala
adapted from Food and Wine magazine
- 1 lb mushrooms
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup shallots cut into thin rings
- 2 chicken breasts sliced in half and pounded into cutlets
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 cup Dry Marsala
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- S&P to taste
Heat oven to 425°F.
Toss the mushrooms, garlic and shallots in a 9x13 pan with 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and toss again. Roast on the middle rack of the oven, tossing the mushrooms once or twice, until the mushrooms are softened with crisp, golden edges - 20 to 30 minutes.
Season the cutlets with salt and pepper. Place the flour on a plate and then dredge the seasoned cutlets to coat them all over.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Once hot, sear the chicken in batches, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the seared cutlets to a plate and set aside.
Add the marsala wine, chicken stock and soy sauce to the pan, with the heat on medium-high, and reduce by half.
Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
Once melted, place the chicken cutlets and roasted mushrooms back into the pan.
Heat for a couple of minutes to warm the chicken, then turn off the heat and serve.
Parsley Buttered Noodles and Green Beans finished off the plate. And dinner only took three pots and a roasting pan!
It was worth it.
And the leftovers became sandwiches for lunch, today.
A New Batch of Sauce
Ah... the perfect way to start the New Year - 15 quarts of Pasta Sauce!
I do love this stuff - and I do love having it on the shelf to use whenever it strikes my fancy!
12 28oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes, a full bottle of a good Chianti, bone-in pork chops... Obviously, we make a bit more than the following recipe.
Granted, making sauce like this costs more than buying a quart of Ragu, but, oh, what a difference... You definitely get what you pay for.
Victor’s Pasta Sauce
- 2 – 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
- 1 – Sm can tomato paste
- 1-2 cloves of garlic (or to taste if you like more) chopped fine
- Olive oil
- Dried Italian seasonings
- Hot red pepper flakes (a tsp or more or less to taste)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Red wine (always cook with a decent wine, never “cooking” wine) about a cup or cup and a half
- Meat – such as Italian sausage or some nice beef or pork ribs or pork chops
Ok…I ALWAYS make my sauce with meat, so start with a deep, heavy pot and add about 3-4 TBS of olive oil. On high heat, once the oil is hot, start frying the sausage or pork, Let the meat get good and caramelized although you don’t have to cook it all the way through because you’ll add it back to the sauce to finish. Once the meat is browned take it out of the pot, put it on a plate and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium and sauté the tomato paste for a couple of minutes until it begins to “melt”. Add the chopped garlic and sauté with the tomato paste for just a minute (no longer or it will burn). Then add about a cup of the red wine and deglaze the pan with it, scrapping up all the good bits that stuck to the bottom when cooking the meat.
When the wine reduces by about ½ start adding the canned tomatoes. Add one can of hot water for every can of tomatoes you use.
Now start adding the dried Italian seasonings. I eyeball it but I would guess a good 2 TBS is fine. Add about another ½ cup of red wine, with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir everything into the sauce. It will be very thin at this point.
Add back the cooked meat. Now this is important….at the bottom of the plate you let the meat rest on will be some of the oil and juices that seeped out. Pour that back into the pot. It has a lot of flavor in it.
Bring the sauce back to a boil then turn the heat down low and let it simmer for at least 1 and a half hours, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes to keep it from burning. It should reduce by about a third or a little less and get thicker. The meat will absorb the sauce and get very tender.
When I make meatballs, I don’t fry them, I bake them on a sheet pan. When I do, I add them to the simmering sauce when they’re done so they also absorb the flavor.
I usually make the sauce early in the day and after it’s done, just let it sit on the stove until dinner then I re-heat it. This should make enough sauce for a couple of dinners or good sized lasagna.
Part of the fun of canning is making labels for things. This is the latest one for sauce - I have a lot of them on file, but like to come up with new ones now and again.
Our pressure canner holds 7 quarts at a time, so I canned two batches and part of the 15th quart became last night's dinner - Pork Chops Parmesan - using the chops that had simmered in the sauce. I didn't get a photo, but it came out pretty good with some shell pasta on the side.
An excellent dinner and sauce to last us through the Winter.
Life is good... [urp!]
Pane Siciliano
I have been making Pane Siciliano for years - ever since I first got Carol Field's The Italian Baker - some 25 or so years ago. I even baked a couple of loaves in Sicily when we were there! It's a good loaf of bread.
I received the latest issue of Milk Street Magazine and, lo and behold, they had a recipe for Pane Siciliano that was just a tad different - it called for ground, toasted sesame seeds in the dough!
Naturally, I had to bake a loaf!
And I must say - the addition of the ground, toasted sesame seeds really knocked it out of the ballpark! It worked really well with the semolina, adding just the right amount of nuttiness without overpowering the loaf. Needless to say, we liked it!
It has a beautiful, soft crumb and the crust has just the right chew.
Pane Siciliano
adapted from Milk Street
- 40 grams (4 tbsp) sesame seeds, divided
- 1 1/4 cups plus 3 tbsp warm water, divided
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp honey, divided
- 340 grams (2 cups) semolina flour
- 137 grams (1 cup) bread flour
- 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
In a skillet over medium heat, toast 30 grams (3 tablespoons) of the sesame seeds, until fragrant and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a spice grinder and pulse to a fine powder.
In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, stir together 1¼ cups of the warm water, the oil and 1 tablespoon of the honey.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the ground sesame, both flours, the yeast and salt. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the mixer.
With the mixer on low, gradually add the water mixture. Increase to medium and knead until a smooth dough forms and clears the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1½ hours.
Meanwhile, line a rimmed baking sheet with kitchen parchment and dust it with semolina.
Turn the dough out onto a dry counter (not floured).
Form the dough into a thick log about 12 inches long. Using your hands, roll the log back and forth against the counter while applying light pressure, stretching the dough into an evenly thick rope about 30 inches long.
Starting at one end, tightly coil the rope, stopping at the rope’s midpoint. Coil the other end of the rope in the opposite direction from the first, forming an S shape.
Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.
Position racks in the middle and lower-middle of the oven. Place a metal baking pan on the lower rack and heat the oven to 375°F.
In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 3 tablespoons warm water and the remaining 1 teaspoon honey. Have ready 3 cups hot to pour into the baking pan to create steam for baking the bread.
When the dough has almost doubled, brush it with the honey-water mixture and then sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame seeds.
Place the baking sheet on the upper rack of the oven, carefully pour the hot water into the baking pan and quickly close the oven door. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool the loaf on the baking sheet on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Transfer directly to the rack and cool completely.
The recipe states one can also make 6 rolls from the dough, pretty much following the above instructions but rolling into balls and then flattening them to about 1" thick, cover and rise until doubled, and bake 35 or so minutes. I shall do that next time.
I shall be making it again. And again... It's an extremely easy loaf to make.
Andalusian-Style Chicken
I decided we needed something different for dinner... I had already baked bread - Pane Pugliese made into rolls - and wanted something that would go with it. It's one of my favorite breads to make - and it always comes out great!
I started going through chicken recipes, and since the larder was fairly well-stocked, went with a variation of Andalusian-Style Chicken from BBC Food. It's a Spanish version of Italian agrodolce.
I played with the recipe quite a bit - shocking, eh?!? I added eggs - shakshuka-style - and it really did come out good.. They were definitely correct about serving it with crusty bread.
Andalusian-Style Chicken
adapted from BBC Food
Ingredients
- large pinch of saffron
- 2 cups turkey stock
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 3 boneless, skinless thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
- large pinch of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 can San Marzano peeled tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 25g toasted pistachios
- S&P to taste
- 4 eggs
- crusty bread, to serve
Method
STEP 1
Add the saffron to the hot stock to soak. Heat the butter in a medium skillet and cook the onion until it is soft and just beginning to turn golden. Push to the side of the pan and add the chicken. Cook for a few minutes until the chicken is browned all over.
STEP 2
Add the cinnamon, cumin, and chilli, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the stock, vinegar, honey, tomatoes, tomato paste, and raisins. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat a bit and cook until the sauce is reduced and the chicken is cooked through. When ready to serve, add 4 eggs, cover, and simmer until eggs are cooked to desired firmness. Scatter with the nuts, and serve with bread on the side.
This is a loaf of the Pane Pugliese I made a while back. I didn't take any separate pictures of the rolls.
Pumpkin Rolls
I've been making these rolls for probably 30 years or more. I don't really recall the origin of the recipe - just that it came about one Thanksgiving, lo these many years ago - and has been a holiday staple ever since.
My best guess is that they came from a magazine like Bon Appetit or Gourmet, but I haven't been able to find a similar recipe doing a web search... They're extremely easy and really good. I use the food processor to blend the butter and 2 cups of flour together and then add it to the rest of the flour.
For this batch, I switched things up a bit... I went from 3/4 cup butter to 1 cup, and 1 egg to 2. I also used 3 cups bread flour and 4 cups all-purpose. And I cut the nutmeg to 1/2 teaspoon and added a half-teaspoon of mace.
Pumpkin Rolls
- 1 package dry yeast
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp mace
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 2 cups pumpkin
- egg wash made by beating 1 large egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water
In a mixing bowl proof the yeast with 1 teaspoon of the sugar and the milk for 5 minutes. Combine 6 cups of the flour, nutmeg, salt, and the remaining sugar and blend in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the eggs, the pumpkin puree, and the yeast mixture and mix until it is combined well.
Using a dough hook, knead -- adding as much of the remaining 1 cup flour as necessary -- for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball, transfer it to a well-buttered large bowl, and turn it to coat it with the butter. Let the dough rise, covered in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until it is doubled.
Turn the dough out onto your counter, divide it into 24 pieces, and form each piece into a ball. Place the balls onto a buttered sheet pan and let rise, covered with a kitchen towel, in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until they are almost double in size.
Brush the rolls with the egg wash and bake them in the middle of a preheated 350° oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until they are golden brown.
I think this will be the new go-to version, although I think I'll go all bread flour, next time just to see how they come out.
In any event, they're easy to make - and make great sandwich rolls!
I may have to make these a bit more often...
Perfect Panettone
How this came out as perfect as can be will always be one of life's great mysteries...
For the last two years, I've actually made a pretty darned good panettone. The previous years - not so good.
Using the same recipe each time, I kinda figured out what I was doing wrong - usually not allowing it to proof properly or refusing to believe it really is a fairly wet, sticky dough and adding too much flour.
This year, I started off as always, but when I mixed the flour with the milk, it kinda lumped together. It was like a mixing bowl of orzo.
I considered tossing it and starting over, but decided to go for it. I added the eggs - too quickly, I'm sure - and I ended up with a lumpy wet mass. At this point, I should add that I had six eggs in the carton and added all six. Not a smart move.
Knowing it was too loose, I started adding more flour by the tablespoon. I knew I needed a sticky dough, so I set the timer for 10 minutes and walked away - letting the mixer run,. came back to a pretty decent looking dough - lumps gone.
Time to start adding the butter.
Even though the butter had been out for several hours, it wasn't quite as soft as it should have been. "Room Temperature" is a subjective term - ours is probably colder than many. Anyway... I started adding the butter and it took forever for it to mix in. Where the recipe states "Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more." it definitely took more - it was easily 20 minutes of non-stop mixing.
30 minutes of pretty much non-stop mixing. It was silky and satiny.
I scraped it into a bowl, added a lid, and into the refrigerator it went. The following morning I followed the instructions for adding the fruit and rolling it into a ball and placing it in the buttered panettone paper mold. (I placed the paper mold into a 7" springform pan for added support.)
I then let it rise for a full three hours at 95°F on the proofing setting of our oven. I then pulled it out, heated the oven to 350°F, and into the oven it went. The result was perfection!
Panettone
Fruit
- 300gr mixed dried fruits (currants, raisins, cranberries, candied lemon and orange peel, dried cherries, or any combination)
- 6 tablespoons brandy
Dough
- 1 1/2 tbsp rapid-rise yeast
- 5 ounces 98°F milk
- 50gr (1/4 cup) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia extract
- 500gr (4 cups) bread flour
- 5gr salt
- 5 large eggs
- 255gr unsalted butter, at room temperature
Place dried fruits in bowl, add liquor, cover and keep at room temp overnight.
Mix sugar with barely warm milk. Add yeast and set aside.
Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.
Add the eggs. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to smooth out.
Cut the softened butter into 1 tbsp chunks and add the butter a few pieces at a time, mixing it in fully before adding more. Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more. It should be glossy and satiny. It will be sticky.
Butter a large bowl and scrape dough into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The following morning, strain the soaking fruit.
Place dough on a lightly floured counter and spread out into a rectangular shape.
Place half of the fruit onto half of the spread-out dough. Fold the dough over the fruit and fold over, again. Pat out, again, add the remaining fruit, fold several times and then form into a ball.
Butter a 7″ panettone mold or paper.
Add the dough ball, lightly cover, and allow to rise for about 3 hours – or until the dough is rising above the rim.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 300° F and bake for an additional 45 to 55 minutes.
Cool completely before slicing.
The baking gods were definitely watching over me on this one.
High on the Hog
We just finished Season Two of the Netflix show "High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America." What an excellent program.
It's no secret that we love food and that we often see food as bridging cultures and cultural differences. The beauty of this show is that the program host, Stephen Satterfield, actually explains African-American food, culture, and tradition, and then brings in people who actually lived and experienced some of the most significant events in our collective history - events not typically taught in any sort of detail, if taught, at all.
One episode had him back in Atlanta - his hometown - and, at one point, focusing on the student activists during the Civil Rights Movement and the restaurants, cooks and bakers who helped to fund the sit-ins and demonstrations - paying for bail, etc.
Every bit of the food had me drooling - corn biscuits that looked lighter than feathers, fried chicken that I could only dream of replicating - but one that really stood out was a Bean Pie. Made from Navy Beans, it was developed by Black Muslims in the Nation of Islam in the 1930s. It was determined that what we term Soul Foods were relics of the “slave diet” and had no part in the lives of contemporary African-Americans. Kinda the anti-Sweet Potato Pie.
The things I learn...
As luck would have it, we had a bag of dried Navy Beans in the pantry. What I didn't know until after I made the pie, was that to be authentic, it should have had a whole wheat crust. Also, most recipes called for equal amounts of nutmeg and cinnamon, but several went for other spices, as well. I opted for cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, because, while I love nutmeg, a little goes a long way when you're grating it fresh.
Also, some recipes called for simply mashing the beans, others called for food mills and strainers. Different textures seem to be normal. I used my Ninja blender to make it very smooth. Having never had a slice of an authentic African-American Muslim Bean Pie, I went with my own instinct and preferences.
Still learning.
But... I made a damned fine pie!
Navy Bean Pie
adapted from several internet recipes...
- 2 cups cooked navy beans, drained
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 tbsp flour
- 5 eggs
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 unbaked 10" pie shell
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place beans and evaporated milk in blender and process until very smooth. Add butter and mix, then add remaining ingredients and process until creamy.
Pour into unbaked crust and bake 60-75 minutes. Top should be well-browned and center still slightly jiggly.
It's a really damned fine pie!
Silky-smooth, rich, flavorful - everything one could want in a slice of pie. Again, I don't know just how smooth the pie would be, but I do believe that if people had tools like the blenders we have today, they would have used them. Modernizing a recipe is not altering its history or historical significance.
The freshly grated nutmeg came through loud and clear, but was tempered by the ginger. I have my Grandmother's nutmeg grater, which, following the theme of learning through our ancestors, is quite appropriate. Grandma was a great cook, as was my mother.
If you haven't seen the series, I do urge you to check it out.
And make a pie.
The Day After
One of life's great joys is the leftovers from Thanksgiving Dinner! There's such pleasure in revisiting all the delicious flavors...
Ours started with Turkey Sandwiches with mayo, stuffing, and cranberry sauce for lunch - usually on squishy white bread but it's something we don't usually buy and neither of us wanted to go to the store.
I didn't get a picture because I was too busy shoving it into my mouth.
Then, it was a Hot Turkey Sandwich for dinner. We both came close to licking our plates, but we had to save room for Pumpkin Pie with freshly whipped cream.
I'm stuffed, again, just typing this.
The Main Event was at Phoebe and Nancy's - 15 chronological adults, 2 three year olds, and a 7 month old 65 pound Golden Retriever puppy. Everyone contributed to the meal - it takes a village to feed this group.
The Menu
Appetizers
Holiday Sidecars
Cheesy Toasts
Sausage Bites with Dips
Baked Brie
Za’atar Crackers
Veggie Tray with Dips
Meatballs
Clam Dip with Chips
Mains & Sides
Turkey & Gravy
Two Dressings
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Corn Pudding
Butternut Squash Gratin
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Green Beans
Mac N Cheese
Mixed Green Salad
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Canned Cranberry Sauce
Black Olives
Rolls
Desserts
Pumpkin Pie
Marionberry Pie
Carmel Apple Pie
Chocolate Cupcakes
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
If you're thinking that it was a lot of food for 15 chronological adults and 2 three year olds - Hank, the Golden Retriever puppy, doesn't get people food - you would be correct. It was a massive amount. But that's why one brings tupperware and ziplock bags - The Leftovers!!!
I did manage some pictures of the food on my phone, but I took them too quickly and I really didn't do justice to them.
Just envision a Norman Rockwell scene...
That was us.
Cast Iron Orange Cake - Without a Cast Iron Pan
The recipes one finds just reading the daily newspaper! Why I have spent untold thousands on cookbooks and cooking magazines is beyond me...
Case in point - a Cast Iron Orange Cake. We have both been really good about desserts - our A1C was creeping up juuuuuuust a bit, and neither of us felt like succumbing to Type 2 Diabetes in our dottage.
That being said... once in a while we must treat ourselves. That's once in a while - not nightly.
Enter the New York Times...
Victor saw a recipe for this cake that really sounded intriguing - made with whole oranges - skin, pith, and all. Only problem was it calls for a 10" cast iron skillet. We no longer have any cast iron skillets - they didn't make the move west.
We do, however, have the top to a cast iron dutch oven that I have used for bread baking. But it's on a bottom shelf in the far corner of a cupboard, and my hips in their current state do not enjoy crawling around on the floor searching for things. We do, however, have every size cake pan imaginable - all at eye-level. I grabbed one of the 10" pans and went to work.
Now, having never made this cake before, I have no idea how my version compares to one baked in cast iron, but my 10" Allied Metal Spinning cake pan made a damn fine cake!
Cast Iron Orange Cake
adapted from the New York Times
- 2 cups/400 grams granulated sugar
- 2 navel oranges
- 2 teaspoons or vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely ground (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch kosher salt
- 1 cup/226 grams butter, at room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 2 cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup/50 grams semolina flour (or another 1/4 cup/32 grams all-purpose flour)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup/60 grams chopped toasted walnuts
- Olive oil, for the pan
Make the cake: Place a 10-inch cast iron pan on the middle rack of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F while you prepare the batter.
Add sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and finely zest one orange into it. Set the bowl aside and then trim a bit of the stem end off both oranges and discard. Cut oranges into 8 pieces and puree in a food processor or blender, scraping the bowl as needed. You need 1 1/2 cups puree; set aside.
To the stand mixer bowl, add vanilla, fennel seeds (if using) and a pinch of salt. Rub ingredients together vigorously with your hands and fingers.
When sugar is fragrant, add butter and set the mixer to medium-high speed to cream until fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Scrape down bowl and paddle, making sure you aren’t leaving any butter unattended.
Add egg yolks and beat on medium-high until well incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes more, remembering to scrape bowl and paddle as needed.
While wet ingredients are working in the mixer, prepare dry ingredients by whisking together flour, semolina, baking powder and salt.
Scrape butter mixture down from bowl and paddle. Give it a good stir to make sure the batter is well mixed. Return to the stand mixer, add the reserved 1 1/2 cups orange puree and slowly incorporate on medium-low speed, then turn to medium-high to blend well.
Starting on low speed, add dry ingredients, then increase speed to medium-high and eventually to high, scraping bowl and paddle until batter is very well mixed.
Stir in the nuts.
Remove the hot skillet from the oven, brush with a generous amount of olive oil and spread batter in the hot pan. It should sizzle and will get a nice, toasty caramelized bottom during baking.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The cake should be set in the middle and golden brown on top. You can use a cake tester if you have one; it should come out clean. This cake can be eaten on its own warm out of the oven after sitting for a little over 30 minutes.
It did not sizzle when I put the batter in, but it did bake up nicely.
I also substituted pistachios in place of the walnuts 'cuz we were out. (Just did a Trader Joe run this morning and we're well-stocked for the holidays!)
I'm thinking 1 1/2 cups of lemon, lime, or grapefruit would work quite well in this recipe...
Just not this week.
Dinner for Two - Italian Style
We caught one of Lidia's cooking shows the other day.
Once upon a time - when we both worked Monday - Friday - we used to watch the PBS cooking shows on KQED in San Francisco or WHYY in Philadelphia. They were fun, something in the background while we were doing chores or whatever, and once in a while gave us an idea for a meal or dessert.
Fast-forward many years and now that we're retired and have all the time in the world, the non-stop PBS cooking shows no longer happen on Saturdays and we rarely have the TV on that early, anyway.
Since we ditched cable, we rarely watch broadcast TV, but our Samsung TV came with its own channel of programs - many completely commercial-free. The other night we stumbled upon a channel showing episodes of Jacques Pepin and Lidia Bastianich, so we watched...
Lidia made a pasta dish that was not only intriguing, we had the basic ingredients in the house!
Dinner was served.
A standard portion of pasta per person is 2 ounces. A standard portion in an Italian household is a pound for every two or three people - along with platters of meatballs, sausages, and braciole. We won't even go into the appetizers. A nice salad rounds things off.
For just the two of us, I usually cook 3 ounces per person - and that's a lot.
Pipette with Sweet Potatoes, Parsley, and Capers
adapted from Lidia Bastianich
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 oz thick-sliced pancetta or bacon cut into julienne strips
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 4 fresh sage leaves
- 1 lb sweet potatoes cut into 1/2" cubes
- 2 leeks - white and light green parts, only
- 1/4 cup small capers, rinsed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 lb pipette or elbow macaroni
- 3 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
- 1 cup grated grana padano
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for pasta.
In a large skillet, over -medium–high heat, heat the olive oil and add the bacon or pancetta, the garlic, and the sage. Cook until fat has rendered, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the sweet potatoes and leeks, and cook, stirring continuously, until both begin to soften, about 4 minutes.
Add the capers, if using. Season with the salt and crushed red pepper. Ladle in 1 cup of pasta water, and simmer rapidly until the sweet potatoes and leeks are very tender but the sweet potatoes retain their shape, about 7 to 8 minutes, adding more pasta water if necessary to keep it saucy.
Meanwhile, cook the pipette until al dente. When the pipette are done, remove with a spider directly to the sauce. Add the parsley, and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce.
Increase the heat and boil a minute if the sauce is too thin, or add a little more pasta water if it is too thick.
Remove the skillet from the heat, sprinkle with the grated cheese, toss, and serve.
Naturally, I switched a few things around...
Pipette is a large elbow-type pasta that you're probably not going to find at your local grocer. For this recipe, I went for 8 ounces of orecchiette - planning leftovers for lunches. We also had thick slices of prosciutto in the freezer that I wanted to use up, so I substituted it for the pancetta and used Greek Oregano and Thyme for the sage.. Otherwise, I pretty much made he recipe as written.
I gotta say, this was pretty good. Simple ingredients and easy to make - but it does take some stove-time. You don't want to leave it unattended for long.
Any good pasta will work with this - a rigatoni, mostaccioli, penne... Use your imagination - or the box in the cupboard.
And, yes... we have leftovers...
Lunch for the next few days!
Zantonio Brands
We received a special package in the mail, yesterday - Zantonio Brands Bruschetta Sauce and Zantonio Brands Parmesan Garlic Butter Sauce. I immediately knew Saturday Night Dinner was going to be special.
The goodies came from our friend, Tony Gatta - who just happens to own Zantonio Brands.
Tony and Victor have known each other since the Dark Ages. I, on the other hand, have only known him for the past 28 years. A great 28 years, I might add!
The gastronomic wheels started turning...
There was shrimp in the freezer and we immediately thought of a Scampi. And then, possibly a Pasta with Bruschetta. There was also asparagus in the 'fridge, and we decided Shrimp and Asparagus with Parmesan Garlic Butter Sauce and some crunchy Bruschetta. Victor decided this warranted homemade pasta and tagliatelle was the one to make!
A Meal Was Born - and what a meal it was!
We started off with Bruschetta because it always goes well with a pre-dinner beverage. Ours was a local whiskey from Branch Point Distillers. Neat, of course
We toasted a basic baguette, spread just a tiny bit of the Parmesan Garlic Butter on the bread, added a healthy mound of the Bruschetta Sauce, and then added a thin ribbon of Pecorino Romano on top.
I have no idea where Tony is getting his tomatoes, but OMFG! Rich deep tomato flavor that just curls around garlic and basil. This stuff can be unapologetically eaten by the spoonful standing by an open refrigerator door! I'd suggest a toasted baguette, though - or even a bowl of pasta! I could make a meal of this - it's that good.
But we had more to come...
Victor quickly sauteed the asparagus and shrimp in a skillet with the Parmesan Garlic Butter Sauce and just a drizzle of olive oil. When the pasta was cooked, he added it to the pan along with a few heaping tablespoons of more of the butter. He had a bit of pasta water on the side, but decided it wasn't necessary this time around.
Nothing else added - nothing else needed.
It was another flawless dish. Having made more than my share of butter sauces in my time, this one was perfection. Perfectly balanced garlic and cheese with just the perfect hint of herbal notes in the background.
My mind was working overtime thinking of all the ways this could be consumed - from pasta and Scampi to vegetables or baked potatoes - to melted and drizzled on a creamy soup or placed upon a sizzling steak, melting and pooling on the plate just begging to be included with the next bite.
Needless to say, we liked it.
Fortunately for us, we have enough to be able to enjoy both products some more - and enjoy, we shall.
Unfortunately, neither are available nation-wide. They are available in Acme and Shop-Rite stores as well as Fiorentino's Farm Market in Hammonton, NJ where Zantonio Brands is located.
Thanks, Tony!