Tomorrow we jump on a plane….
and should be right around this spot 9 long hours later….
Agenda for the next 10 days: relax and enjoy life!
(stay tuned, as the Bewitching Kitchen is always open… 😉
BBA#13: Focaccia
Not quite sure how else to put it: I LOVE focaccia! In fact, it was one of my very first posts in Bewitching Kitchen, a straightforward recipe we’ve enjoyed countless times. If you haven’t seen it, click here for a flash back.
In the Bread Baker’s Challenge, it was time for Peter Reinhart’s recipe, which is a lot more involved. Whereas my usual method takes you from flour to baked focaccia in a little over an hour, Reinhart’s calls for almost 3 hours of preparation, followed by an overnight sleep in the refrigerator. The next day it involves 3 more hours until baking;  I was understandably anxious to see the results.
But first, the process…
As the ingredients mix it won’t look very promising…
But don’t worry about it, just get the dough hook going…. and going… and going… it might take 10 minutes to get it smooth
This is exactly how it’s supposed to be: almost clearing the sides of the bowl, but still sticky at the bottom
Now, be brave and with wet hands, remove the dough to a heavily floured surface…
and proceed to make three folds, 30 minutes apart. Don’t forget to enjoy the amazing changes in texture, as the dough gains strength and shape with minimal effort…
I confess to having a bit of trouble with the next step. It was tricky to move the dough to the sheet pan. If you have helpers around, line them up, and flour their hands… heavily. In fact, it might be even better to follow Paul’s suggestion (a fellow baker who recently posted about it here ), and transfer the dough to the sheet pan right after the last fold. It will make your life easier. 😉
Reinhart’s herb oil is a must, I will definitely incorporate it in my focaccia from now on, no matter the recipe.
The next morning, after 3 hours of final rise at room temperature, the focaccia goes into the oven!
a few final comments after the jump….
AVOCADO THREE WAYS
This post is a courtesy of my husband…
I think you will all agree that he is a natural-blogger! 😉
We have little time to cook, but we’re always seeking something wonderful. Avocados meet us in the middle. Especially the rich, creamy Hass and Calavo avocados, from California and Mexico. Here are three quick and easy ways to enjoy them!
1. Avocado Appetizer. Hungry for something delicious and healthy? My aunt Millie showed me this one. If the avocado’s just right, then it’s hard to top.
Acquire a perfectly ripe avocado. How can you tell? Squeeze the avocado…it should be very firm but not hard, soft enough so that it yields to moderate pressure. Knock out the stem-plug and look for a green (not brown!) core.
Slice the avocado in half,
douse it with lemon juice,
sprinkle it with salt and pepper,
enjoy the solar energy!
2. Green Caprese Salad.
This is my Americanized rip-off of the continental classic.
Assemble the following (fresh) ingredients:
tomatoes,
mozarella
avocados
basil
1/4 cup olive oil
Cut the the tomatoes, cheese and avocados into slices or chunks; shred or chiffonade the basil and let it sit in the oil for 5 or 10 minutes.
Assemble the components on a salad plate and drizzle-spread the basil-oil mixture over them, using a fork to help distribute the basil. Season with salt and pepper, VOILA!
3. Gabriel’s Guacamole. Once while returning, exhausted, from a day of skiing at Los Alamos, we stumbled into Gabriel’s restaurant north of Santa Fe, and encountered the best guacamole we’ve ever tasted. And the beautiful thing was that our waiter prepared it right in front of us, at our table. I couldn’t help but remember the EIGHT components, that he added according to our specifications:
green onions
garlic
lemon juice
cilantro
serrano peppers
salt
tomatoes
avocados
It’s a little time consuming to prepare all the ingredients, but worth the effort. Note that I’ve pressed a garlic clove into a couple of tablespoons of olive oil: use just the oil for a milder garlic flavor, or throw it all in for garlic lovers. We also discovered, on a day when the avocados ran short, that the other components together make an outstanding fresh salsa!
now for the fun part….
Love me tender….
In the summertime pork tenderloin is one of my favorite cuts of meat: it’s perfect on the grill, and its flavor profile (hello, Chef Michael! ;-)) can change quite a bit through the use of dry rubs or flavorful marinades. This recipe became a regular on our menu after I made it the first time. Butterflying the meat allows it to cook quickly, which is certainly a bonus for a busy cook, and the sauce is wonderful!
GRILLED ASIAN PORK TENDERLOIN WITH PEANUT SAUCE
(adapted from a recipe by Pam Anderson, Fine Cooking magazine, June 2007)
Receita em portugues ao final desse artigo…
1 cup light coconut milk (I used regular)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (see comments)
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 T fresh lime juice
3 T dark brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
2T coriander, ground
1 T minced fresh ginger
2 pork tenderloins
oil to slightly rub on the grill
In a large bowl, whisk the ingredients together to make a smooth sauce. Trim the pork tenderloins, removing the silver skin. Butterfly the meat by splitting each tenderloin lengthwise almost all the way through, so that the halves stay attached. A nice tutorial can be found here. Open the meat like a book, cover with plastic to protect it while you pound it to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet.
Reserve 1/3 cup of the marinade and place the meat in the bowl with the remaining marinade for 20 minutes to several hours in the refrigerator.
Heat the grill on high, oil the grate slightly to prevent the meat from sticking. Remove the tenderloins from the marinade, letting excess marinade drip into the bowl. Grill the tenderloins, covered, turning once, until just cooked (about 7 minutes total). Transfer to a cutting board and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing at an angle.
Boil the reserved marinade for a couple of minutes and serve it alongside the meat.
BBA#12: Golly Moses, She’s a Muffin!
Unless you are a fan of “Two and a Half Men”, the title will not mean much to you. But, if you are like us, it will bring a smile to your face… 😉
I was “counting the breads” to this one, as making English muffins has been on my to-do list for years. In fact, with this bread, Reinhart starts on a very nice path down yeast lane: I look forward to many of the breads ahead.
IT’S A MUFFIN!
This recipe (found here) was easy, absolutely no worries. Mix the flour, the yeast, the buttermilk, and wait for the dough to beautifully rise. Form 6 balls of dough, let them rise again and plop them on the griddle.
The trickiest part is to cook undisturbed for several minutes, until the bottom is dark brown. I’m not a particularly patient person, and those minutes seemed like hours! But it was worth it, as the photos confirm.
Without further ado, muffin time!
Here they are, after the final rise, ready to cook…
As you add them to the griddle, they spread a little. Just let them sit, don’t move them around.
close-up…
…and a “group shot”
General comments: it’s another great recipe to make with kids: they’ll have a lot of fun to see the changes as the muffins cook, and then to eat them with some butter and jam! They finish in a 350F oven to make sure that the inside cooks thoroughly. The crumb turned out a little tighter than I like it, but maybe I was not gentle enough handling them. Make sure to sprinkle some cornmeal on the parchment paper or Silpat before resting the dough balls on top, so that you retain the airy quality of the dough and the bread acquires the characteristic muffin texture inside. Eggs Benedict may well be on your menu in the near future! 😉
Note to self: explore variations using whole wheat flour and/or sourdough starter as part of the dough.
Bewitching Kitchen 