A Bucket of Bread (dough)

Check it out:

 

I bought this great book Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day - and while it does take a bit more than 5 minutes - I have been baking bread just about every other day with the recipes there-in.  This is what one recent loaf looked like: 

wow.  this is one blurry picture.  sorry.

Beautiful, right?  And I have, almost single-handedly been eating a loaf of bread a day.  With Irish Butter.  Oh. My. God.  I have to stop.  My double chin is going to develop its own double chin.

So, what you do, is mix up a big batch of bread dough in a big tub, like the one pictured above.  I got that one from the King Arthur website.  It's pretty easy -  in a big tub or bowl, stir together 3 cups of warm water, 2TBLSP of yeast, 1 TBSLP kosher salt and I add 1TBLSP of brown sugar.  Let that sit for a while, then add 5 cups of flour and squish it all together with both hands like it's wet clay and you're six.  Let all that sit at room temperature for 2 hours - or so - then refrigerate it over night.  In the morning hack off a 1lb portion (about two large handfuls) - form it into a ball or a football shape - let it sit out for 2 hours, or all day if need be - there's nothing in it to spoil - and then when you are on your way home from teaching, call your daughter and ask her to preheat the oven to 450.  After she's finished arguing with you about it (E:"but mom, I'm watching HOUSE!" K: "On the DVR!  Which you can PAUSE for 3 minutes to punch three numbers on the controls!"), and with a huge I-do-so-much-for-YOU-what-have-you-done-for-ME-lately-sigh gets up and does it, you can be smug the rest of the way home that tonight you and your family will feast on fresh baked bread even if you accompany it with canned soup and frozen veggies.  

When you get home, dust the dough with flour, make a couple of slashes in the top and slide it in the oven.  I don't have a pizza stone (which is what the book recommends*) so I've been baking it on my massive cast iron skillet which you should throw in the oven to preheat about 10 minutes before throwing the bread on top of it.  The book suggests pouring a cup of water into a pan on the rack above the bread - which I've done a few times, but which, I have to say, has not created the desired extra crispy crust that was promised.  So I don't do it because I'm lazy.  Bake the bread for 30- 45 min - you want the crust to be fairly dark - darker than you'd think - because the dough is so wet.  Resist, resist, resist cutting into the bread for an hour or so after you take it out because it really does your bread a disservice - releasing all the steam before it's done, and causing it to be soggy.  Sometimes I can actually wait.

Buy this book, or get it from the library, because there's all this science behind the baking of this bread which you will want to read.  Or, if you live in my neighborhood, be extra nice to me and I might just give you a loaf of bread for free.  Before my double chin's double chin develops yet another double chin.

* I bought a pizza stone from I-don't-remember-where and every time I used it, it made the house smell like Elizabeth New Jersey, which is to say, chemicals.  I thew it out.  

Nine to Five

Ok, more like noon to five, but whatever.  I'm a working girl now, and even though I'm only teaching two days a week, it is amazing to me how much that has cut into my cooking time.  (I do have essays to set, and articles to read and papers to grade... so there!) My wonderful mother, bless her heart, has brought us dinner about once a week from this amazing Italian deli somewhere near her.  My family is addicted to the chicken marsala - (Smith and I recently got into a brief but intense tiff over who would get the leftovers for lunch the next day) - but I still have to make dinner 5-6 nights a week and lunch for the kids & husband the next day.  (I know, they should all be making their own lunches, and sometimes they do, but I also admit to feeling so thoroughly OUT of their lives at school and work, I actually kind of enjoy it.)  And then there are those last minute things your children like to spring on you.

For instance, last Wednesday.   A good friend's son was in town to visit colleges in the area, I had student conferences starting at noon, my class to teach and another student conference directly after class.  Then I had to drive down to Center City to pick up my friend's son.  (I know I'm being particularly parenthetical in this post, but I just want to say, that though I do have friends who have college-aged children, those friends had their kids when they were 12.  12, I tell you.  We are all still very young.  That's all I'm going to say on this matter right now.)

As I'm driving home, Em calls to tell me she volunteered that I'd bring muffins or cupcakes to school the next day for a bake sale.

It's 5:30pm.  We have a guest for the night.  I'VE ALREADY GOT DINNER MADE (you read that right - yes I was that organized.)  All I need to do when I get home is warm it up and cook some pasta.  I even have fresh bread waiting to be baked (more on this in my next post).  Halloween candy for dessert.

And, of course, I haven't been to the grocery story in quite some time, because, if I don't have time to cook (something I like to do), I most certainly don't have time to get to the store (something I HATE).

But because I'm the kind of mom who says how high when her children say jump, I spent the whole car ride home thinking about ingredients I may or may not have in the pantry.  Flour?  Only cake flour.  Canola oil?  Not likely, there's unsalted butter though... Chocolate chips?  Nope.  Turns out several grubby little hands had demolished those by the fistful over the past few weeks.  Lots of apples.  Lots and lots of apples.  So, apple muffins.

I got home, and put dinner together, and had fun talking with my friend's son (who, unlike my own children, helped me tidy the kitchen) (although if my kids were at someone else's house they'd probably help there) and made apple muffins.  I started with a recipe from Nigella Lawson's cookbook, Nigella Express for bananna butterscotch muffins.  And then I used what I had.

I have no idea whether the muffins sold well because Em got a stomach ache and came home early the next day.

As Alanis Morrisette would say, isn't that ironic. *

These are not the Applesauce muffins.  These are chocolate chip muffins I made a different day.  I sent the apple ones to school before photographing them.  However, this post was looking so sad and blank, I decided to post this picture hoping it the chocolate chips wouldn't be noticeable.  They are.  I'm just going to keep it up anyway.

Applesauce Muffins

1 cup of cake flour
2/3 cup of all purpose, or white whole wheat flour (which is what I used)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp of cinnamon - or apple pie spice
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup melted butter

2 eggs beaten up with a fork
1 1/4 cups applesauce
1 cup of diced skinned apples

1tsp cinnamon
1TBLSP granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 and line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners.  (You will hate yourself if you don't use a liner.  No matter how much you butter or oil your tin, the muffins will stick - if you don't have liners use parchment cut into little squares. If you haven't got parchment then aluminum foil will do,  if you haven't got foil, well then God bless you.) (Holidays are around the corner, but my family will not allow me to play anything from my vast collection of Holiday music until Thanksgiving.  Sigh.) (moving on.)

Dump all the dry ingredients into a big bowl and stir them around a bit.  Add the eggs and melted butter. Stir.  Fold the applesauce and diced apples into this mixture.

Divide equal quantities into the muffin tin (I use an ice cream scooper) and bake for 20 minutes - or so.  Mix the cinnamon with the sugar and sprinkle on the muffins the moment they come out of the oven so it has a chance to melt in a bit.


* I know full well many believe Alanis Morrissette used "ironic" incorrectly.  However dictionary.com does allow this definition of irony:  an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might havebeen, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony


In my case, I believe this use of "ironic" holds up...

Apricot Chicken - or, The Yummiest Chicken Ever

Oh My God - it's been a month since I posted.  I just don't know what happened.  Well, other than the start of school for the girls and the start of a new teaching job, then Em's birthday and my [redacted]-year high school reunion.  I don't know why this all has to be so stressful, it just has and while I've been cooking and even taking pictures, I just haven't been able to carve out the time to write.

The funny thing is, I didn't take a picture of the yummiest chicken ever for this post - but since my kids LOVED it - (have even mentioned several times since they ate it how much they loved it) - I thought I'd better post this recipe before I forget what I did.

So, here's the story: Last Sunday I was thumbing through Better Homes and Gardens and there was this recipe for chicken with tomato and dried apricots and raisins which, I actually thought sounded kind of yucky, but which suddenly reminded me that apricots and soy sauce are a very tasty combination and I hadn't made my apricot chicken in a long time.

Smith and I left the kids at home and made a little date of going to the grocery store.  (That just sounds kind of sad, doesn't it - but it was actually fun!  And he only bought blue cheese - no weird condiments!  Yay Smith!)  I bought a pack of chicken breasts (bone in, skin on), a jar of apricot jelly, some raisins, could not find dried apricots - or fresh for that matter, but oh well.  Then, we went home and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon cooking this up, sipping a glass of wine, and listening to Harry Shearer on NPR satirize all the wack-a-doodle politicians in this great country of ours.

Apricot Soy Chicken

4TBLSP Apricot Jam or Jelly
1 TBLSP Soy Sauce

2 -4 Chicken breasts (I bought 2 and cut them in half because no one in my family eats that much)
kosher salt to taste (probably 1-2 tsp)
pepper to taste (several grindings)
1 small onion
1 stalk of celery

1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chicken stock
1TBSLP soy sauce

1TBLSP of all purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 450.

Find a nice bowl and spoon the Apricot Jam or jelly into it, followed by the soy sauce. Stir it up using a whisk.  It shouldn't be soupy - the jelly should keep it a bit thick.

Salt and pepper the chicken - both sides.  Then rub the jelly/soy mixture all over the chicken breasts, making sure you shove a bit of it up under the skin.  Chop up the onion and the celery and scatter them over the bottom of a 9x13 roasting pan.  Don't use anything too big - because next you are going to nestle the chicken on top of the onions and celery and if you use a pan that's too big, you chicken will sit next to the onions and celery not on top of it.   Stick the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the chicken stock into the bowl that you used previously to mix up the apricot/soy stuff.  Then, stir the raisins and the soy sauce into the chicken stock.  When the chicken has roasted for 15 minutes, turn the heat down to 200.  Pull your chicken out and pour this mixture over the whole thing.  Put it back into the oven for about 20 - 35 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken breasts are.  (If you have a thermometer, the chicken will be done at about 165) - take the chicken out of the oven and put the chicken on a plate and tent with foil.  Then, pour the sauce, onions, raisins and all, into a sauce pan, sprinkle in the flour and stir stir stir.  Let the sauce bubble away until it is reduced by a half -

When you are ready to serve, plate your chicken along with whatever frozen vegetable you've heated up at the last minute, and pour the sauce over the breast.  Your children will love you for this, guaranteed.

Lemon Cupcakes Make Even the First Day of School Bearable

School: we're two weeks in - how's it going for you?  Frankly, I'm happy to be back on a schedule again - Every spring I'm thrilled that school is over thinking that my summer will stretch into long lazy days, reading down the pile of books on my nightstand, taking my children to amusement parks and beaches, wandering the halls of cool museums - the reality?  Driving.  I spend my summer driving.  I drive the girls to camps, and summer classes, and pick up their friends, and drive for take out food and driving to the mall and when I'm not doing those things, I'm doing my usual errands, groceries, dry cleaners, dog food.  This year I was hired as an adjunct at the very last minute by Temple, which is "yay" but also "holy #@% I have to prepare!"  So, it's been hectic.  Good hectic, but, you know.

Anyway - to deal with the anxiety of the start of school, Mads and I made a batch of yummy lemony cupcakes with vanilla pudding in the middle.

 I admit, I used a boxed pudding which I had kicking around in my pantry (I intended to use it for a cake which I never made..) but the cupcakes we made from scratch.

They were so good - I didn't frost them - we thought that it would be overkill what with the pudding inside and all, so we made a little glaze with lemon juice, confectioners sugar and a teaspoon of heavy cream.  Spectacular, if Mad's and I may brag a bit.

We doctored a basic yellow cupcake recipe from a sweet little book called Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans - you can get it from Amazon here

Lemon and Pudding Cupcakes

3/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup of unbleached cake flour

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter at room temp (if you haven't taken the butter out of the fridge in time - which Mad's and I hadn't - shred your butter on a box grater, spread it out on a plate and let it sit out while you get everything else together - it will come to room temp fairly quickly.
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp of lemon zest
1 Tblsp lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 cup milk


Lemon Glaze:
3 TBLSP of Lemon juice
3 TBLSP of confectioners sugar
1 TBLSP of heavy cream


Preheat oven to 350


Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  Beat in the eggs.  Stop mixer and scrape down the sides.  Add the  lemon juice, zest, vanilla and beat for a bit.
Add the flour and milk

alternating between the 2
and finishing with the flour.  Mix until just incorporated.

Fill your muffin tin with paper cups, and then, using a 2 inch ice cream scoop, scoop your batter into each cup.  Lick the bowl - it's worth it.

Bake your cupcakes on the middle rack of your oven for 20 - 23 min - or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the middle cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool on a rack - while you make the pudding and the glaze.

I made pudding from a box - but this is how I made the glaze:

sift the confectioners sugar into a shallow bowl,  using a whisk - whisk in the lemon juice until the glaze is runny.  Then add just a small amount of heavy cream - up to 1 TBLSP- which cuts the acidity of the lemon a bit (you can leave this out if you want).  

Once the pudding is made, and cooled and your cupcakes are cooled, 

dip the tops of your cupcakes in the glaze.  Wait a few minuets for the glaze 

to set - then carefully cut the top off the cupcake, dig out a little well for the pudding and spoon about a teaspoon of the pudding into your well before replacing the top. 

You have to store these in the fridge where they will last about 3-4 days.  Or, you and your family can greedily eat them up all at once for the back-to-school comfort only a sweetly tart cupcake like this can bring...

Basil

I have planter of basil in my yard.  One.  And even though I have an enormous amount of pesto in my fridge, and the plant still looks like this:

You can see how dry it's been - I watered this this morning

I cut it back almost every day, and over night it grows back to frightening heights, and I just want to say that plants like this scare me.  It's all a little alien - like if we don't pay close attention they might just take over.  Grass is like this; grass grows through blacktop.  Freaky.  Let's just say I'm looking forward to the winter months when things are dormant.  In the meantime, I'm making pesto as fast as I can.  Since my daughter can't eat pine nuts, I usually mash the basil up with garlic and oil and call it a day.  Sometimes I add cheese, sometimes I don't - however the other day, I added lemon and it was a revelation.

I've been using my little crock of lemon/basil pesto on EVERYTHING - from turkey sandwiches to scrambled eggs.


But the best thing, so far was slathering a tablespoon or so on these beautiful pork chops I picked up at the Farmer's Market and marinated.  Then I grilled them and heavens they were good!

Look at em:

I just ate lunch, and these still make me hungry

Aren't they beautiful?





Lemon Basil Pesto


Start with a fistful of basil from your yard (or the farmer's market) and strip all the leaves from the stems. Jam it all in your blender or food processor, or if you have one in the bowl of a stone mortar.  Add at least one clove of raw garlic, and about a tablespoon of lemon zest (I used one large lemon).  Blend, pulse or pound all this together until it makes a paste.  Then squeeze the lemon into the basil paste and blend, pulse or stir.  Finally add about 1/4 cup of very very good extra virgin olive oil to the whole thing.  If you are blending or pulsing, add it slowly through the feed tube.  If you used a mortar then whisk it in until combined.  Taste the whole thing.  You can add some parmesan here if you like, about 1/4 cup grated, or, just sea salt.  Both are good.  Sometimes I just like just to add the salt - especially if I'm going to let it sit in the fridge for a while because the parmesan can kind of take over.  Always add a bit of pepper.  If you like a little zing - add about a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes to the mixture before you blend, pulse or pound.  This keeps in the fridge for about 3 weeks or so.  You can also freeze this: put tablespoons of the pesto into ice cube trays, freeze for a couple of hours, then pop them out and put the cubes of pesto in a freezer bag.  Very yummy in the dead of winter when all you want is a shot of something really really green.

Pork Chops and Basil Pesto


So go get yourself some pork chops or lamb chops - they're good too with this. (Although I always feel like I have to sell a kidney or something to afford enough lamb for the 4 of us.)  Slather them with the pesto at least 2 hours before you grill them, or over night.

Heat the grill - I have a new charcoal grill that I'm in love with - I like to pile all the hot coals on one side of the grill so I have a really hot side (for searing) and a cooler side for the cooking.

By the way - if you make a small slit in the fat around the outer edge of the chop, your pork chops won't curl up when you grill them.  (I stole this tip from Cook's Illustrated).