BBA#18: LIGHT WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Unlike the other breads in the “challenge“, I’ve made this one many times. It is in fact our default sandwich bread, that I bake on weekends and slice and freeze for later in the week.

It’s a straightforward recipe, with white and whole-wheat flours, dry milk, a little sugar, butter, and commercial instant yeast. Knead it until smooth, allow it to rise and shape it as a loaf; let it rise another time and bake it. Really, easy as pie!

I made it for the first time after reading this post at Smitten Kitchen. She expressed my feelings exactly: a person who loves good bread and enjoys cooking (that would be me, and I am sure many of you, who read food blogs… 😉 ), cannot possibly settle for what is sold at grocery stores as sandwich bread.

As I explained before, we can’t post the full recipe, but if you’d like to make a great sandwich-style bread at home, that freezes extremely well, look no further, grab the book, open to page 181 and give it a try…

You can follow the adventures of folks baking ahead of me through the challenge by clicking these links:
Carolyn and Joe, from Two Skinny Jenkins
Deb, from Italian Food Forever
Oggi, from I can do that
Phyl, from Of Cabbages and King Cakes
Paul, from The Yumarama Artisan Bread Blog
Maggie, from The Other Side of Fifty

Eighteen breads down, twenty-five to go!
(I wonder if Peter Reinhart is still watching our adventures… 😉

18Sep2009

CAULIFLOWER CONUNDRUM

Posted in Side dishes, Veggies by sallybr

I love cauliflower, from gratins and purees to soups and curries, passing by tempura and souffles… 😉 The only way I dislike it is raw in “crudites”, which, to my mind, are an abuse of culinary practice. I will not serve crudites and its partner, “the dipping sauce” for my guests. Back to the point, I love cauliflower. But, in truth, my husband does not share my appreciation for it.
“I take it we are having cauliflower….” is his usual remark when he spots it on the counter. The tone of disappointment and resignation permeates the kitchen. His mind is probably racing through philosophical thoughts on the ups and downs of marriage, certain that a deep “down” is approaching, set to arrive at dinnertime.

But my response is: “Oh, don’t worry, I think you’ll really like it”. And for those of you on his team, I say the same. Give this recipe a try. It’s luscious, creamy, not too heavy, and surprisingly simple to make.

The recipe is from chef Thomas Keller, of restaurant Bouchon , a place I’m dying to visit. It’s on a page of a book that I mentioned before: Secrets of Success.

CAULIFLOWER AU GRATIN
(from Thomas Keller, per Michael Bauer’s Secrets of Success)
(receita em portugues na segunda pagina)

1 large head of cauliflower. florets separated, stems diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt
1 + 1/2 T olive oil
1 T minced shallots
1 T minced garlic
1 cup water
1 cup heavy cream (see my comments)
1/2 T prepared horseradish
ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

To prepare the florets:
Fill a bowl with water, add the lemon juice, and place the cauliflower florets inside, allowing it to sit for 2 minutes. Drain. Transfer them to a pan with salted boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes, until just starting to get tender. Drain, place in an oven-proof serving dish. Alternatively, you can steam the florets, which works very well.

To prepare the creamy base:
Heat the oil in a sautee pan, add the diced cauliflower stems, the shallots, and the diced garlic, and cook for a few minutes, until tender. Add the water and cook, uncovered, for 5 more minutes, until reduced by half. Remove from heat and add the cream. Transfer to a blender, add the horseradish, and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Pour the cream over the florets and stir. Top with the grated cheese and bake in a 425F oven until golden brown and bubbly, around 25 minutes.

To print the recipe, click here

Comments: The recipe calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, which makes me a little nervous. I’ve made it in the original way, but also substituted half heavy cream/ half milk. Even though I didn’t taste them side by side, (shame on me, what kind of a scientist am I?) the version with less cream tastes rich enough for us. Feel free to experiment.

I love the fact that the cauliflower stems are a major part of the “creamy” component. I’ve made other recipes with similar approaches, for instance the “Duet of Cauliflower” published in Food and Wine years ago, but I ultimately prefer Keller’s take on it.

This basic dish may be tweaked to suit your taste (or other dishes that you are serving with it); cauliflower goes well with many spices, nutmet, paprika, curry, dill. You can add pancetta or bacon to the creamy component if you like. Other cheeses may be used alone or combined, including gorgonzola and other blue cheeses, that match cauliflower quite well.

Leftovers are great, and easily survive a couple minutes of microwave torture, if you desire to go that route.

P.S. He loved this dish, conundrum solved! 😉

para receita em portugues, siga o link….

Continue reading →

15Sep2009

GOLDEN ZUCCHINI: A TASTE OF YELLOW

Posted in Side dishes, Veggies by sallybr

It is almost impossible to find a person whose life has not been touched by cancer. Whether friends, family members or co-workers, we all know someone who either battled this disease and hopefully beat it, or sadly, someone whose life was cut short by it.

A Taste of Yellow is a food blogging event that started through the initiative of Barbara from “Winos and Foodies”, who is herself a cancer survivor. You can read her touching tribute here. She launched this event in support of The Lance Armstrong Foundation, an organization with the goal of increasing cancer awareness in society.

Food bloggers participate by sharing their stories and a recipe with a yellow ingredient; Barbara assembles all the links and publishes them in her website. This year the event was postponed until October 2nd, to fall on the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s cancer diagnosis (LiveStrong Day). As everyone knows, he not only won that medical battle, but went on to win the Tour de France seven times! And after taking some time off from competing he went back at it this year and finished in third place. Of course, he did run a few marathons while away from the “Tour”… Talk about an inspirational story!

This is my first time in “A Taste of Yellow”. I chose yellow zucchini to convey the “LiveStrong” message.

Even though yellow is often associated with lemons, a nice golden zucchini also says yellow in all its glory… This past week our farmer’s market had such beautiful golden zucchini for sale that I had to bring some home with me!

I went with a mix and match of recipes, joining the method from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and my favorite yogurt sauce from Mediterranean Fresh. I tweaked the yogurt sauce ever so slightly. Both cookbooks are amazing, by the way…

ZUCCHINI DUO WITH YOGURT SAUCE

(receita em portugues na proxima pagina)

for the veggies:
2 golden zucchini
1 green zucchini
1 T olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the sauce:
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt
1 T olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T fresh mint leaves, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt to taste

Remove both ends of the zucchini; slice them in half crosswise, then lengthwise in 1/3 inch-thick slices. Cut each slice again, into sticks, also 1/3 inch thick, as shown in photo. Sprinkle the slices with salt and place them in a colander for 20-30 minutes. Rinse well and drain, pat dry.

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients. If using regular yogurt, then drain it for a couple of hours, because you need thick yogurt for this recipe.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan, and add the zucchini sticks when its very hot. Cook them undisturbed for a couple of minutes to get the pieces lightly browned, then move them around, cooking for a total of 5 minutes.

Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and spoon some of the sauce over it when serving. Garnish with fresh mint, if you like.

ENJOY!

To print the recipe, click here.

jump for comments, photos and receita em portugues…

Continue reading →

13Sep2009

BBA#17: LAVASH CRACKERS

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

BEWARE: THESE ARE ADDICTIVE!!!

Now that I finished this recipe, let me say that as I began I was not too enthusiastic about it. I tried to make Ak-Mak-style crackers before, using an internet recipe, and I was unhappy. Not only was it a lot of work, but they had nothing to do with my favorite cracker.

But, a challenge is challenge, so I took a deep breath, grabbed the flour and went for it! Thanks to the advice of those who are ahead of me, I knew that rolling a thin dough was important, or else the potential crackers would become pita bread. Not that there’s anything wrong with pita, but…. pita is not a cracker.

Here you see the beginning of the process, a simple dough (53% hydration) made with flour, honey, oil, salt and instant yeast. Again, I did not bother kneading it to death. After incorporating the ingredients into a ball, I allowed it to sit for 15 minutes, then folded it a few times until it got smooth. From that point, I followed the recipe as written. In 90 minutes, it was ready to roll out.

Make sure that you roll it as thinly as possible without tearing the dough. I found it very forgiving, with no problems to roll out, although it was a bit tricky to lift into the baking sheet. To decorate the dough I used nigella seeds (which I bought here), black sesame seeds, smoked paprika, and coarse salt.

Into the oven it went… As you bake it, keep an eye on it, because if your rolling is uneven, some parts might darken faster than others. It happened to me, but I broke the darker parts away and allowed the rest of the sheet to stay in the oven longer. This approach worked quite well.

As they cooled down, I decided to try one. Then another. Then another. My beloved husband was not expected back home for at least 3 more hours, and the deepest proof of my love for him was this bowl with many crackers still inside.

See some of the happy bakers who made the lavash crackers before me:

Carolyn and Joe from Two Skinny Jenkins
Texas Farmer from Sina.blog (Blog in Chinese, amazing photos!)
Phyl from “Of Cabbages and King Cakes”
Deborah from “Italian Food Forever”
Oggi, from “I can do that”

11Sep2009

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MEATLOAF

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

I’m a firm believer in “Everything in moderation,” so I often make the “real” (rather than light) versions of lasagna, potato dauphinoise, risotto milanese or other classics, instead of trying to cut calories. I’d rather eat less of the real thing, or run an extra mile or two later… 😉

But sometimes, a dish that was maybe conceived as a lighter variation of a classic turns out so good that I wind up craving it. For example: this turkey loaf is absolutely delicious, and compared to its original parent, quite a bit healthier. The recipe comes from “American Favorites“.

THYME-SCENTED TURKEY LOAF WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY
(adapted from American Favorites, by Betty Rosbottom)
receita em portugues ao final do texto, na proxima pagina

for turkey (or chicken) loaf…
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup diced carrots
1/3 cup finely diced yellow onion
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1.2 pounds ground turkey (or chicken)
1 ¼ cups fresh bread crumbs
1 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 medium unpeeled tart apple, grated
3/4 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
2 egg whites

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the carrots, onions, and celery, season with a pinch of salt, and sautee’ until soft. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.

Place ground turkey in a large bowl and mix in all the other ingredients, adding the egg whites last. The mixture will be quite “wet”. Shape it in two oval loaves as shown in the photo, pace them in a roasting pan (I like to use parchment paper or Silpat underneath).

Place in a 350F oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove and allow it to cool for 5 minutes before cutting into slices. Serve with or without mushroom gravy.

for gravy…
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
8 ounces white mushrooms cut into thin slices
Salt to taste
1 ½ cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Heat the butter in a heavy skillet, add in the chives and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook them until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste and transfer to a bowl. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pan and add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add broth and whisk until sauce is smooth and thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the soy sauce, and put the reserved mushroom mixture back in the pan. To serve meat loaves, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices and arrange on a serving platter. Ladle some mushroom gravy over the slices.

ENJOY!

This is a good opportunity to show you my Zyliss (an older version of this one), a little gadget I’ve had for a long time, but neglected to put to use until I saw Michael Chiarello on FoodTV using his. He removed the plastic base that came with the cutter, instead placing it directly on the cutting board. Why didn’t I think of that? I tried his method and loved it! The plastic base is a pain to use and wash; by placing the cutter on a cutting board you get its full benefits without any hassles. Carrots, onions, celery, garlic and peppers are prepared in seconds! Check it out in this photo (click to enlarge).

Meatloaves are often baked in pans, I prefer to shape them in free form, to get a nice crust all over, and make cleanup much easier…

General comments

Fish sauce, that Vietnamese touch: The addition of fish sauce was my main modification to the basic recipe – I was inspired by an interesting twist on a hamburger recipe shown in the blog “White on Rice Couple”. Fish sauce was the secret ingredient, and I thought it could go well in this loaf too. As in the hamburger, you won’t be able to taste it, but it will add that “umami” component to the loaf. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. If you want to play with fish sauce in your recipes, just keep in mind that it is salty, and adjust your seasoning accordingly. And avoid sniffing the bottle! Its smell has little to do with its taste, and for that I am grateful… 😉

The mushroom gravy: Even though its taste was excellent, if you prefer a more contrasting color in the gravy then add a little tomato paste or sautee some tomatoes with the mushrooms.

A little rice, a little tomato salad, and…. dinner is served!