FOCACCIA WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES AND GORGONZOLA

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I used my basic “No Need to Knead” recipe as the starting point for this version, that includes a small amount of rye flour in the dough. Rye gives it a more “rustic” feel, and the sun dried tomatoes a hint of sweetness to balance the sharpness of the gorgonzola cheese. This colorful focaccia will be a great addition to your end of the year festivities, and it is so simple to prepare, you can pull it even in the middle of an intense cooking marathon.

FOCACCIA WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES AND GORGONZOLA
(inspired by Suzanne Dunaway’s “No Need to Knead”)

2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
3 + 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rye flour
3 tsp salt
1-2 Tbs olive oil
4 ounces sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
2 ounces gorgonzola cheese
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
kosher salt for topping

Measure the water in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, sprinkle yeast over the water and stir until dissolved. Add the two types of flour, and the 3 teaspoons of salt. Mix for a minute or so, until ingredients form a shaggy mass. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Using the kneading pad, knead the dough for about 8 minutes, until smooth. It should still cling to the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until almost doubled in volume (1 to 1.5 hours). Meanwhile, cut the sun dried tomatoes in small pieces, and crumble the gorgonzola cheese. Reserve.

Heat the oven to 500F. Oil one (or two) non-stick 13×18 inch baking sheets (I prefer to use a single one, to get a thicker focaccia).

Pour the dough onto the sheet, brush the surface with 1 Tbs olive oil. Dip your fingers in cold water or olive oil and make indentations all over the dough, working to stretch the dough as you go. Distribute the sun dried tomato and gorgonzola cheese all over, pushing them into the dough, using a little more olive oil, if necessary. Sprinkle rosemary leaves all over, a little salt (careful, gorgonzola is salty), and place it in the oven, reducing the temperature to 450F.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I went back into kneading-mode for this version, using the KitchenAid instead of stirring with the wooden spoon, and noticed that a longer time of fermentation was better, perhaps because of the rye flour, so leave it for a full hour and check if the dough is bubbly and noticeably risen. If not, leave it for another 15 to 30 minutes.

Some of the sun dried tomatoes might insist on falling off the bread, but guests don’t seem to mind chasing them… 😉

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting. Stop by to see what everyone else is bringing to the party!

ONE YEAR AGO: Revisiting Spring

TWO YEARS AGO: Basic Sourdough Bread

3Dec2011

DO YOU EAT YOUR BOOKS?

Posted in General by sallybr

If you don’t, perhaps you should start. My life got a lot easier ever since I joined “Eat Your Books.” Would that be good for you? Let’s go over a few simple questions.

1. Do you have more than 50 cookbooks?

2. Do you subscribe to food magazines such as Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Gourmet?

3. Do you download recipes from some of the very popular food blogs around?(Smitten Kitchen, Simply Recipes, many others available too)

4. Do you often remember a particular recipe, can even visualize the page in your mind, but are absolutely unable to remember where the heck is it?

5. Is this situation familiar to you? Your partner / roommate / parents / siblings know it’s better to leave you alone when you are sitting on a sofa with 12 cookbooks open around, and a very distressed look on your face. You need that recipe, and you will find it, at all costs. 😉

If you answered yes to at least 3 out of the 5 questions, you need to start eating your books. I am sure glad I do! Once you add all the cookbooks and magazines you own to your “bookshelf”, you can search recipes by ingredients, type of cuisine, author, anything you remember about it. Adding cookbooks is very easy using the database available in the website. It is just a matter of clicking on the cookbooks you own, and they end on your virtual bookshelf, ready to be searched. No, I do not own stock in the company, and was not contacted to write a review. I just find it a great tool for cookbook addicts, and maybe some of my readers will benefit from it. 😉

And this, my friends, is my first post composed in the iPad! It took me a ridiculously long time to do it, but I am having fun with My Preciousss…

ONE YEAR AGO: Into the Light

TWO YEARS AGO: Dinner in a hurry

1Dec2011

MY PRECIOUSSS

Posted in General by sallybr

My beloved husband gave me an early Christmas gift, the iPad2! I am in love with it, although we are still in that phase of getting to know each other. I’ve been quite busy figuring it out, particularly the possibility of composing posts for the blog using this baby.

I am having problems leaving comments in some blogs I visit using the iPad and cannot quite understand why, but once we arrive home tomorrow, I’ll have more time to indulge in “My Preciousss.” If any of my readers blogs using the iPad2, please drop me a line by email (sallybr2008 at gmail.com), as I’d love to get some feedback.

The Bewitching Kitchen will soon re-open for blogging business! 😉

28Nov2011

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Posted in Rice and Grains, Secret Recipe Club, Vegetarian-friendly by sallybr

My second “assignment” at the Secret Recipe Club was the blog “I am a Honey Bee”. I had a lot of fun browsing through its pages, starting on the “About Me” chapter with a list of 25 things about her. A few matched me so well I had to smile: “I hate the cold, REALLY hate the cold…” or “I went to Greece, fell in love with everything I saw, ate, smelled, touched…” …. and “I get frustrated too easily, I’m sorta working on that one” (good to know I’m not alone in this! 😉

Even though I spent quite a bit of time reading her blog, it took me about 35 seconds to choose her Wild Mushroom Risotto. It is the perfect time of the year for it, plus I had two special ingredients already at home: porcini mushrooms, and home made chicken stock. All I needed was to stop at the store for two more types of mushrooms (fresh shiitake and white), and I was ready to have some serious fun. On a small departure from her recipe, I used the pressure cooker to make it, and with this statement I just irritated all serious risotto enthusiasts, but trust me: it is a nice trick to have up your sleeve. Still, I’ll give you the two variations, as not everyone has a pressure cooker at home.

WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO
(Traditional Method)
(adapted from “I am a Honey Bee“)

1 cup very hot water
1/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms, such as porcini
9 ounces assorted fresh mushrooms
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 cup Arborio or rice
8 sage leaves, finely julienned, divided
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 – 7 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
4 to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmegiano cheese, plus more for serving
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup of very hot water for 30 minutes. Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, chop them finely. Filter the water through a sieve to remove any grit, and add it to the chicken (or veggie) stock in a medium size pan, keep it at a simmer on very low heat.

Chop the fresh mushrooms. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until tender and all moisture has been absorbed. Add half the sage and the rice, cook stirring, until the grains are well coated, and start to get some color – 3 to 4 minutes.

Add wine. Cook, stirring, until wine is absorbed by rice. Using a ladle, add 3/4 cup hot stock to rice. Stir rice constantly, at a moderate speed. When rice has absorbed most but not all of liquid and mixture is just thick enough to leave a clear wake behind the spoon when stirring, add another 3/4 cup stock.

Continue adding stock and stirring constantly, until rice is mostly translucent but still opaque in center. Add the porcini mushrooms, and continue cooking until rice is al dente, but not crunchy. Remove from heat, stir butter, remaining sage leaves, and Parmigiano cheese. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, and serve, with additional shaved cheese on top, if so desired.

to print the recipe (traditional method), click here

WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO
(Pressure Cooker)

1 cup very hot water
1/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms, such as porcini
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 cup shallots, diced
9 ounces assorted fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Arborio rice
8 fresh sage leaves, finely julienned, divided
3 + 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese

In a pressure cooker, heat 4 tbs Olive oil and 1 Tbs Butter. Add the shallots and saute until translucent and fragrant. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until they start to get soft.

Add half the sage and the rice, cook stirring until all grains are well coated with the oil/mushroom mixture (about 3 minutes). Pour all the hot stock and wine in the pan, close it, and bring to full pressure. Reduce the heat or use the specific instructions from your pan to keep the pressure constant for 7 minutes. Immediately take the pan to the sink, run some cold water over the lid to reduce the temperature, and when the pressure is down, open the pan. If there’s still too much liquid, cook gently, stirring until it reaches the consistency you like. Test the rice to make sure it’s cooked through, add the tablespoon of butter, the remaining sage leaves, and the Parmigiano cheese, adjust seasoning, and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the pressure cooker method recipe, click here

Comments: One of the reasons I like the pressure cooker method is the ability to know exactly when the recipe will be ready, as it makes entertaining a lot easier. I’ve made risotto using this basic method many times, and it never failed me. In seven minutes, the rice is perfectly cooked, and usually the amount of liquid remaining in the pan is very close to perfect. My main problem with risotto is taking the picture, I am a bit slow and the rice goes on absorbing the liquid. By the time I am satisfied with the photo, it’s a little passed its prime.. . 😉

This recipe is delicious, no matter the method you choose to make it. Porcini will always turn any meal into a festive occasion, and I think the sage goes well with it too.

Make sure you stop by “I am a Honey Bee” to check all her other recipes, and if you want to see all other posts in today’s reveal day follow the links by clicking in the icon below (the little blue toad).

ONE YEAR AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

TWO YEARS AGO: Pumpkin Pie, Light as a Feather

26Nov2011

TURKEY DAY, TRYPTOPHAN, AND FLUORESCENCE

Posted in General by sallybr

This post could also be called “How We Spent Thanksgiving,” although the order of events would be reversed … in that the turkey came last. 😉

Tryptophan and Sleep. Everyone is familiar with that sleepy feeling after the big Thanksgiving meal, that’s often blamed on the presence of the amino acid tryptophan in the bird’s meat. Tryptophan can be metabolized by our body to produce melatonin and seratonin, and both substances have known calming effects. However, for tryptophan to cause sleepiness, it must be consumed in pure form and on an empty stomach, a situation far from reality at the Thanksgiving table. Oddly enough, turkey meat contains about the same amount of tryptophan as other types of poultry, and actually less (on a percentage basis) than items such as chocolate, oats, milk, or peanuts. Its bad reputation is unfair! 😉

The sleepy feeling associated with a big meal in fact results from a combination of factors, in which the tryptophan only plays a partial role. Meals with a high carbohydrate content induce the production of insulin, which is responsible for the control of sugar metabolism, but also for changes in the way amino acids are absorbed from the bloodstream. In the presence of insulin some amino acids are preferentially removed from circulation and absorbed by muscle cells, but tryptophan is not part of that group, so its relative concentration in the blood increases. Some of the tryptophan is converted into serotonin, and this compound makes a person sleepy. Of course, a large, carbo-loaded meal coupled with a few glasses of wine (or other alcoholic beverages) just adds to the overall desire to take a nap.

Tryptophan and Fluorescence. Tryptophan has an interesting characteristic: it is fluorescent! When it is excited by light, a fluorescent substance subsequently emits light. It’s almost like a happy diner opening a huge smile when the turkey is served… 😉 All proteins contain tryptophan, some in higher proportions than others. By purifying a particular protein we can measure its fluorescence in the laboratory using a fancy, $150,000 instrument called a fluorometer. Here is the little station where I spent a few hours on Thanksgiving Day:

A close up of the computer screen shows what the fluorescence measurement looks like: a curve with a peak, a “mountain-like”shape, and the height of the peak is related to the amount of light emitted by the protein.

The whole idea is to study the protein by adding different substances to it and observing how the fluorescence changes. The purified protein, as well as anything else added to it, is placed inside an expensive, transparent cell called a “cuvette,” made of an optical-quality quartz glass that allows the passage of light without any interference.

But, after the work was done, the equipment was shut down, and the reagents were put away, we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving meal! We met many interesting people and had fun with four strong-willed golden retrievers, one of whom had a remarkable ability to jump up and gently steal a cracker with brie cheese from your hand. 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: The Ultimate Apple Cake

TWO YEARS AGO: Trouble-Free Pizza Dough