I am thrilled to share with you a post from the blog Diva Entertains, hosted by Debra, a virtual friend I’ve known for many years from exchanges in cooking forums. Her cooking style is very similar to mine, except of course for the fact that she can bake a cake in her sleep. 😉 I am sure you will love to visit her site and will find a ton of recipes to try!
Thank your for having me in your site, Debra!
I don’t buy every single issue of Martha Stewart‘s Everyday Food, but often grab it for a quick browsing at the grocery store. Depending on what catches my eye, I’ll bring it home. Even though I’ve been reading the publication for years, only last week I noticed they offer free online newsletters, which I subscribed to. If you want to check them out, jump here and choose the ones that appeal to you. I signed up for “Dinner Tonight” and “Everyday Food”. Once a day I get an email from each with a recipe title in the subject. If it seems interesting, I open it, otherwise I delete it right away, no time wasted. Last week, one of these emails was a big teaser: “Whole-wheat Spaghetti with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce.” There’s no way I could “skip the click.” 😉
WHOLE-WHEAT SPAGHETTI WITH VEGETABLES AND PEANUT SAUCE
(adapted from Everyday Food)
8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 ounces sugar snap peas, tough strings removed, sliced
3 medium carrots, shaved with a vegetable peeler
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
In the same pot you cooked the pasta, mix together the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar, combining them well. Add the pasta and veggies,toss gently, adding reserved pasta water a little at a time to create a thin sauce that coats spaghetti. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, and serve right away.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
I don’t regret that many things in my life, but if I could go back to the period that I lived in Paris, I’d take some time to travel to Belgium. I was so close to that beautiful country, but never saw it in person… it’s a shame and it’s sad. Plus, I’ve never met a person from Belgium who wasn’t super-nice! All my Belgium friends have a great sense of humor, a great appreciation for the fun side of life, and many positive things to say about their home country, that excels in so many things. Two of their special delicacies are chocolates and beer! The very best of both are produced in small quantities and not exported, but some excellent Belgium beer makes it all the way to the US, examples being Chimay, Leffe, and Hoegaarden, the latter of which is a beer that brings fond memories of my days as a single woman in Paris… 😉
I don’t drink beer anymore, but I still like to cook with it, or include it in breads- for a quick flash back, click here. So, when I saw this post not too long ago, I changed all my baking plans for the weekend, to accommodate a little Hoegaarden sourdough, and take the Bewitching Kitchen on a virtual trip to Belgique!
HOEGAARDEN BEER BREAD
(adapted from Fab Food Blog)
For the sponge:
120 g 100% hydration sourdough starter
60 g bread flour
45 ml Hoegaarden white beer
For the final dough:
235 g bread flour
65 ml Hoegaarden white beer
40 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
Mix all the ingredients for the sponge in a small bowl, mix well and leave it overnight at room temperature. It should be very bubbly and more than double in size. If it rises too much and collapses, it’s fine.
Next morning, place the sponge, flour, beer and water in a large bowl. Mix for a few minutes until barely combined, then let it sit for 20 minutes undisturbed. Add the salt, fennel seeds, and rosemary, and mix by gentle kneading. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes, knead again (20 seconds cycle), let the dough rise for about 40 minutes. Do one more cycle of quick kneading and let the dough rise for another 40 minutes. Knead one final time and let the dough rise undisturbed for 1.5 to 2 hours, until almost doubled in size. Shape as a ball, and place with the seam side up inside a well floured banetton type container.
Let it rise undisturbed for 2 hours. Heat the oven to 450 F with baking stones or tiles inside. Invert the dough on the tiles, quickly score the surface, and bake with initial steam. If covering the dough, remove the cover after 30 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 425 F and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden brown. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: This recipe makes a small boule, so if you want to serve it in a dinner party for several people, consider doubling the recipe and baking two loaves. The bread smells wonderful during baking, and fennel is the dominant flavor. As to the beer, it would be interesting to bake two loaves side by side, substituting water for beer in one of them – I imagine that there will be a slight difference in sourness and complexity of flavor, but it’s hard to know for sure with the competing taste of fennel and rosemary (which, by the way, I increased a bit from the original posted recipe). In my experience, fresh rosemary has a tendency to lose its punch once it’s incorporated in bread dough, so I now use it with more abandon.
Fennel lovers: pair this delicious bread with some hearty Italian type sausage, for a double-fennel kick… Don’t like fennel? Simply omit it, the bread will still be delicious with a nice crust and moderately open crumb.
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting event… stop by and visit her weekly showcase of breads.
ONE YEAR AGO: Ancho-Chile Marinade: Pleased to meat you!
TWO YEARS AGO: The Handmade Loaf (the book that got me into sourdough baking!)
I just got my 15 minutes of fame! 😉
Thank you to Pork Recipes Videos for highlighting the Bewitching Kitchen!
And, by the way, the site is a wonderful source of recipes and information regarding pork, so if you are fond of “the other white meat,” stop by and get ready for some serious bookmarking… 😉
ONE YEAR AGO: Russian Tea Cookies (a lesson in persistence)
TWO YEARS AGO: Cinnamon-Raisin Walnut Loaf
I’ve owned plenty of cookbooks in my lifetime. More than I need, more than I’ll ever be able to cook from, even if I tried a new recipe every day and lived to 105 years old. Seasoned cookbook enthusiast that I am, my next statement may surprise you, but don’t take it lightly: Radically Simple by Rozanne Gold is my favorite. Ever! No other book tempts me to cook every single recipe within it, as this one does. All her recipes are appealing, not for their simplicity, but because she always transforms a few ingredients into something special, something different, something unique and enticing. Take this humble orzo, for example, and dress it up just right.
CARROT “NIB” ORZO
(reprinted with permission from Rozanne Gold)
6 oz baby carrots
2Tbs butter
8 oz orzo pasta
1 + 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 to 1 + 1/2 cup water
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup chopped chives, divided (I used parsley)
Place the baby carrots in the bowl of a food processor and process a few times, until the pieces are a little bigger than the grains of orzo.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the orzo and carrots, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes stirring often, until the pasta starts to get a golden color and is fragrant. Add the chicken stock, 3/4 of the water, the garlic clove squeezed through a press, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is almost all absorbed and the pasta is tender, about 12 minutes. You may or may not need to add all the water. Add the Parmigiano cheese, 1/3 cup of the chives, and gently mix. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, garnish with the remaining chives, and…
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: If all recipes in this cookbook please me as much as this one, it will be hard to cook from a different source! 😉 Toasting the orzo and treating it like Arborio rice in a risotto preparation considerably changes the texture of the pasta. Orzo has a tendency to be a bit “slippery”, but not in this dish: it feels wholesome, binding nicely with the other components. The bits of carrots give a hint of sweetness and add a lot to the dish. I had to exert extreme self-control to put the leftovers in the fridge, instead of leaving them in front of us while we talked after dinner. Those can be very caloric conversations!
Radically Simple is a must-have if you love great food, with interesting twists in the preparation. A pasta that cooks in the oven without ever seeing a drop of water? It’s in there. Using beets to make a veggie stock with unique color and flavor? It’s there too. So, if you haven’t done so already, then order your copy now, and the moment it reaches your home lay on a comfy sofa, and savor it… 😉
ONE YEAR AGO: A Sticky Situation
TWO YEARS AGO: The Garden
Bewitching Kitchen 