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Recipe: Quick French Bread

February 7, 2008 in bread, recipe

Bread is not typically a dish we think of on a whim one Saturday afternoon and are able to whip out by dinner time. Most breads need a sponge and time to rise. They actually might take days when you prep the sponge ahead of time and let the bread dough rise multiple times.

However this recipe is an exception! It comes together easily and quickly, smells delicious as you would desire when it cooks. You should try to give it a least one hour to rise, but that is minimal all things considered. Plus it has a lovely texture and makes perfect toast the next morning! Thank Mark Bittman for this ingenious speedy recipe. :-)

Ingredients:

  • 3 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 c. rye or other whole wheat flour
  • 2 t. salt
  • 1 1/2 t. of yeast
  • ~1 c. lukewarm water
  1. In a food processor combine all dry ingredients. Pulse several times to combine.
  2. Add the water in thru the feed tube as the processor is running. The goal is to have the dough for a nice ball that is not too wet, nor too dry. Add 1 t. water or flour as needed to accomplish this. The processing should take less than a minute, the dough will form quickly.
  3. Remove the blade from the processor and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for at least an hour.
  4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into one large loaf (shown above) or several smaller loaves. When the oven is hot you can bake directly on a pizza stone if you have one, or on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
  5. Cut the top of the loaf a few time with a serrated knife before putting in the oven.
  6. Bake until the loaf is a golden brown and reaches an internal temperature of 210 degrees. You can use any normal oven thermometer for this. It will take about 20-30 minutes of baking to get to this temp.

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Recipe: Sunchokes with White Wine Glaze

February 6, 2008 in recipe, vegetable

Sunchokes are also known as Jerusalem Artichokes.  It is a strange nickname since they are neither from Jerusalem nor are they an artichoke. They are actually a true American vegetable, native to our country in fact. They are the actual root of a flower that grows to look much like a sunflower  They look a bit like a cross between a potato and a ginger root when you purchase them.  And while many recipes call for you to peel the sunchoke, they are actually best just well scrubbed with the peel left in tact.

The flavor is slightly sweet and nutty, though crispy and nearly reminiscent of a water chestnut.  Are you intrigued yet? ;-)

Do store them in the refrigerator though.  Stored there you can keep them a few weeks.  When you cook them, pay close attention because the time it takes for them to go from perfectly cooked to mush is only moments.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 T. olive oil
  • 1 lb. sunchokes, well scrubbed then cut into 1/4″ rounds (or slices)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 T. fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 c. dry white wine (or vermouth)
  1. In a wide skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add the sunchokes & garlic.  Sauté for 1-2 minutes letting them get a hint of color.
  2. Season with salt & pepper then add the white wine.  Continue to cook on high until the wine is nearly reduced.
  3. Add 1 T. water then cover.  Cook for about 10 minutes until tender crisp.  They may take as few as 5 or slightly longer than 10.  Do not over cook or they will turn to mush.
  4. Boil down any excess liquid to create a glaze.  Serve warm.

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Recipe: Dandelion Green Salad

February 5, 2008 in recipe, salad, vegetable

This recipe my seem reminiscent of the puntarelle salad from last week. As well it should! I’ve briefly mentioned the mystery box full of winter vegetables that I received from Mariquita Farms early in January. I have decided that dandelion greens are wiley – they did not look the way I expected and as I researched to discover the source of my puntarelle/dandelion green confusion – I had a hard time locating photos that had dandelion greens in the same state mine were. Regardless, locate photos and understand my greens I did!

I opted to repeat my confused recipe with the originally intended greens. And while Brad & I loved the bitterness of the puntarelle, the dandelion is much mellower and a gentle taste on the plate. Egg & bacon really are perfect accents to a lightly warmed dandelion green. That small hit of red wine vinegar sets them all off perfectly. If you can source out some winter greens such as these, I hope you’ll enjoy them fresh as we did!

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 pieces of bacon
  • 1 bunch of dandelion greens
  • 4 T. red wine vinegar
  • 2-3 hard boiled eggs, optional
  1. Cook the bacon in a medium hot sauté pan until well done.
  2. Add the dandelion greens and mix well in the sauté pan. Cook the greens until just warmed, 1 minute. Remove all ingredients from the heat to a bowl (lined with paper towels if they are too greasy).
  3. Return the pan to medium heat and add the red wine vinegar. Deglaze the pan scrapping all of the bits into the vinegar. Turn off the heat, return all the ingredients to the pan and toss well.
  4. Place the salad in a serving bowl, top with a hard boiled egg if desired. Serve warm.

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Recipe: Red Beans and Rice

February 4, 2008 in beans, grain, recipe

I have had a hard time deciding how to post this recipe. Should I post the beans alone then add the combined recipe? Or just do the combined? What about the amazing ham stock – how shall I highlight that? And serving with spinach (as shown) is an amazing bonus that adds great green taste & value while enhancing the flavors of the dish.

At the end of the day – I decided that this should present as one large recipe with call-outs to the individual specialties. Making this recipe – in any way you opt to make it – produces a lovely first meal of red beans & rice, a second meal depending on what you want to do with the bean (& ham potentially) stock and who even knows what you will turn that into? The point is – this recipe presents options all around, a use of a leftover (the ham) to turn something you would normally overlook into deeply scented bean stock. Really, it can’t be beat.

And now that I’ve mentioned that ham multiple times, let me elaborate. Holidays are rife with hams in my family. Specifically my family had a pre-Christmas shindig where we celebrated and enjoyed each other’s company. While there were numerous options, one of the primary dishes was ham. Ham is obviously best with a crowd because it produces a LOT of meat and since many of us don’t make this frequently at home, it is a wonderful treat. The point of this is that my husband had the foresight to ask for one of the ham-bone-legs as we left the party. Since there were two, my aunt was happy to share with us and we took home a beautiful – mostly eaten but a lot of meat still on it – ham leg. I promptly put this leg in the freezer because the holiday travel season was upon me.

In January, that crowded freezer began to drive me crazy. Additionally I paid another visit to my friends at Rancho Gordo and picked up what they described as the *ultimate* red beans & rice bean – the Red Nightfall bean. Its a beautiful bean and I was anxious to give it a try. I took the ham straight from the freezer and added it to a pot of water & beans. The beans cooked, the ham disintegrated, and I was left with beans for red beans & rice, and an amazingly rich ham/bean stock that I used for soup later in the week. Don’t pitch that stock out – its yummy! So here it is, my version of red beans & rice with bonus extras. BTW – reheated with spinach (as shown above) is a perfect meal & a great way to get extra greens in your diet!

For the beans & stock:

  • 1 ham bone, ham hock, chunk of bacon, or just leave the whole meat thing out
  • 1 lb. of Red Nightfall beans (or kidney, beans etc.)
  • 2 bay leaves
  1. Add ham bone (leave extra meat on it, this cooks down beautifully) to a large stock pot. Fill with water to cover the ham bone. Add the red beans & bay leaves and bring everything to a boil.
  2. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 1-2 hours until beans are nicely cooked but not breaking down.
  3. Strain out beans & ham meat. Discard the bone & bay leaves. Be sure to save the stok produced from this mixture.

For the red beans and rice:

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 T. garlic, minced
  • 4-5 sprigs of thyme (or about 1 t. dried)
  • 1 1/2 c. rice
  • beans from above recipe
  • 3 c. of stock (preferably use the stock produced above or any vegetable or chicken stock)
  1. In a large pot warm some olive oil. Sauté the onion, peppers, and garlic until just softening. Add the thyme, rice, beans, and stock. Stir well to combine then cover and lower the heat to low.
  2. Cook for about 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed. If after about 20 minutes rice is done but liquid remains, raise the heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring, until liquid is absorbed.
  3. Season well with salt & pepper, then serve. Garnish with fresh parsley to add a bit of color.

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Recipe: Puntarelle Salad

January 31, 2008 in recipe, salad

Sadly the photos I took of this warmed salad didn’t come out quite right.  So you will need to check a few of these sites for some classic photos of this winter Italian green:

The other crazy fact of this winter green is that I completely mistook it for a different green in my mad quantities of greens from the Mystery Box we got last week.  Once I put the greens into the saute pan, I realized they were puntarelle and quickly altered the cooking time to nearly zero.  This is a recipe of luck – it could have easily been a disaster.  But the flavor of the bacon moderates the bitter bite of the puntarelle, and the red wine vinegar enhances both just enough to be perfectly lovely.  Add a bit of hard boiled egg to the top if you desire – we liked it!

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 pieces of bacon
  • 1/2 c. chopped onion
  • 1 bunch of puntarelle
  •  4 T. red wine vinegar
  • 1 hard boiled egg, optional
  1. Cook the bacon in a medium hot saute pan.  Once it is well on its way, about 2-3 minutes, add the onion.  Cook both until the bacon is well done and the onions are nicely browned.
  2. Add the puntarelle and mix well in the saute pan.  Cook the greens until just warmed, 1 minute.  Remove all ingredients from the heat to a bowl (lined with paper towels if they are too greasy).
  3. Return the pan to medium heat and add the red wine vinegar.  Deglaze the pan scrapping all of the bits into the vinegar.  Turn off the heat, return all the ingredients to the pan and toss well.
  4. Place the salad in a serving bowl, top with a hard boiled egg if desired.  Serve warm.

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Recipe: Black Bean Soup

January 29, 2008 in beans, recipe, soup

This soup is a staple for me. I absolutely adore it! I found my inspiration from Bobby Flay’s newest cookbook: Mesa Grill. The soup itself is thick and hearty. And no meat eater feels the lack of meat as the main course (& if you used a meaty stock then there is no meat lacking anyway ;-) ). Don’t skimp on toppings for the soup either – it takes “soup” to a new level and impresses even your toughest guest!

Best of all about this soup though – is the next day! The soup thickens and becomes a most decadent black bean dip. It is perfect on chips, smeared on burritos, or just eaten out of the bowl. Brad calls it “alternative refried beans,” and that is a great description because it is very smooth and creamy, but not refried at all! Enjoy! 8-)

Serve the soup in generous bowls (but it is very filling so be careful with the quantity!). Place toppings on the table and let everyone dress their soup as desired.

Part of the reason I wanted to share this post right now though, is the recipe round-up over at The Well Seasoned Cook of legume recipes! Yes my favorites! And of course I knew I had to participate. :-) When she posts the round-up of all the contributions I’ll be linking to it you can be sure. For now though, enjoy my participation – this soup & dip will not disappoint!

Ingredients:

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 c. red wine or beer
  • 3 c. black beans, soaked, rinsed, drained
  • 3 jalapeños roasted, peeled and seeded*
  • 1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded*
  • 4 c. stock (chicken, ham, vegetable, or just water)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook the carrots, onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the wine, (or beer) then bring to a boil, and cook until reduced.
  2. Add the beans and reduce heat to medium. Add the jalapeños, poblano, and stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, or until the beans are cooked through.
  3. Remove from heat and add the lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove half (or more if you want it creamier) of the soup and puree in a blender (preferably a Vita Mix), then return it to the pot and stir well.

*To roast & seed the peppers, place them directly under the broiler and turn often. After about 10 minutes the skin will be blackened all around. Place the peppers in a ziploc bag or a sealing container. Seal the peppers in there for about 15 minutes then remove. The skin should slide off relatively easily. It does not have to be perfect! Cut open carefully and scrape out seeds. Be careful because the capsaicin in the seeds can stay on your hands for hours and sting an eye very easily. Also, please taste the chilies, some can be spicier than expected and you may only want to use one jalapeño. Every chili is a true individual. :-)

Perfect sides for black bean soup or dip:

Cumin Crema: even the most anti-Sour Cream person – aka ME! – will love this crema. The cumin really adds a new dimension.

  • 1 T. cumin
  • 8 oz. sour cream or crema
  • lime juice
  1. Mix all ingredients (you can reduce quantities to make a smaller amount). Use lime juice as desired.
  2. Crema is best set aside in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld before serving.

Grilled Red Onion “Salsa”

  • 1 red onion, sliced into half-inch rounds
  • 1-2 T. olive oil
  1. Preheat a grill pan or the broiler. Lightly brush the onion with olive oil then place on the grill pan or under the broiler.
  2. Cook for several minutes per side until nicely charred. Remove from the grill pan. Chop roughly into chunks and toss well with salt & pepper.

Avocado Relish: make this or your favorite guacamole. You can also substitute tomatillos for the tomatoes.

  • 1 avocado, coarsely chopped
  • 1 lemon or lime, juiced
  • 1-2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 2 T. red onions, minced
  • salt & pepper
  1. Combine all ingredients, adding lemon juice, salt & pepper as desired.

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