Daring Bakers in September: Lavash Crackers & Toppings
September 27, 2008 at 6:42 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, savory things, snacks, yeast breads | 51 CommentsTags: baking, savory, snacks
This month we had our first “Alternative” Daring Bakers’ Challenge! Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl teamed up to bring us a two-part challenge. The first part involved making homemade lavash. Lavash are thin Armenian-style crackers. They are very popular here in Australia, and packets go for big bucks in the gourmet stores. Funny how easy it is to make them yourself! Lavash are great with cheese, but the second part of this challenge was to concoct a vegan and gluten-free spread or dip to go with them.
Lavash dough is a simple yeasted dough, rolled out thin and often sprinkled with a seedy topping. We were allowed to flavor the dough itself if we so desired, so I subbed a couple of tablespoons of the bread flour for wheat germ. This gave the baked crackers a subtle, almost Wheat Thins-like flavor. I made a full batch of the dough and divided it into two pieces–one to use straight away, and one to park overnight in the fridge. I used different toppings and made a different spread for each.
When it came time to roll the dough, I busted out my pasta machine (for the first time since moving to Sydney, so I was glad to actually have used it and justified its move). I’ve made some form of cracker in every restaurant I’ve worked in, and have always used a pasta machine to roll them out. It makes such quick work of it and is the easiest, least frustrating way to get your crakcers paper thin. Use the lasagna sheet section, work with one bit of dough at a time, and take it down to the thinnest setting.
For my first batch of cracker, I rolled out long, wide pieces that I sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and Kosher salt before baking (brushing on a little water first acts as glue for the topping). I simply broke these big pieces into more manageable shards after baking. I served them with a chunky avocado relish with heaps of cilantro, lemon juice and spices.
For my second batch of cracker, I got a bit more fussy. Instead of just baking off big pieces in whatever form they took when rolled, I used a pastry wheel to cut them into rectangular crackers. I sprinkled them with poppy seeds and Maldon salt. I had a huge bag of fava beans (a.k.a broad beans) from the farmers’ market, so I took about half of them and whizzed them into a dip for this batch of lavash.
I was really pleased with challenge! The lavash and dips made perfect pre-dinner snacks (with a glass of wine, not too shabby!). And how impressed would your friends be if you served them homemade crackers at a dinner party?
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Gluten A Go Go or Musings From the Fishbowl for the lavash recipe (which was adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart). I made my two spreads pretty much freehand, but the basic procedures are below.
Chunky Avocado Relish
1 avocado
leafy green herb (such as basil or cilantro)
juice of half a lemon
olive or avocado oil
ground spices to taste (I used garam masala, cayenne, and cumin)
salt and black pepper to taste
-Scoop out the avocado and dice into chunks. Chop your herb. In a small bowl, make a dressing from the lemon juice, a slight splash of oil, the spices and salt and pepper. Add the avocado and herb to the bowl and toss gently to mix.
Fava Bean Dip
1 1/2 cups fava beans, shelled from the outer pod
1 clove of garlic
leafy green herb (such as basil, parsley or cilantro)
squirt of lemon juice
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
-Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Blanch the fava beans for about thirty seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and shock in ice water. Pop the garlic clove, peeled or unpeeled, into the boiling water and blanch for about 1 minute (this just helps take the edge off the raw garlic).
-Pop the papery outer skins off the blanched fava beans and discard. Peel the garlic clove if you haven’t already, and rough chop.
-Put the fava beans, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, splash of olive oil, salt and pepper into a mini food processor. Pulse until it’s the consistency you like (you can use a couple tablespoons of water to thin out, if needed). Taste for seasoning.
Taste&Create IX: Hummus and Pita Chips
May 23, 2008 at 6:42 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 10 Comments
With pita or raw veggies, in a fried egg sandwich on Turkish pide, or on a bagel…hummus if so good. I know it’s ridiculously easy to make, but it’s something I never do myself. You know, I make my own baba ghanoush, and opening up a can of chick peas is certainly less involved than roasting an eggplant, so what’s the excuse? In Brooklyn, it was perhaps understandable because I was spoiled by having Sahadi’s and their amazing hummus practically around the corner (then I would skip up the block to Damascus Bakery for fresh pita!). Now there’s no Sahadi’s, so there’s also no excuse.
Min from The Bad Girl’s Kitchen is my partner in crime for this month’s edition of Taste&Create. I’m making Middle Eastern food for dinner tonight, and I found a great, lemony hummus recipe on her site. Made in the food processor, it’s done in under five. Needing something to go with my/her hummus, I also made Min’s pita chips. They were salty and crunchy and a perfect companion to my bowl of hummus.
Thanks, Min, for weaning me off the store-bought stuff with your great recipes! Also, thanks as always to Nicole from For the Love of Food for hosting T&C!
Good News and Classic Sandwich Bread
May 15, 2008 at 5:44 pm | Posted in savory things, yeast breads | 23 Comments
I woke up this morning to some good news: my Rhubarb-Filled Yogurt Cupcakes won Cupcake Hero’s Earth Day event! I’m so excited, and not to brag (hahaha), but it’s actually my second CH win! Thanks so much to Laurie, Tempered Woman, Joy and Leigh, who collect, bake and round-up the CH entries each month. That takes not only heaps of ingredients, but lots of time, effort and witty paraphrasing skills as well. Definitely check out the round-up to see all the Earth loving cupcakes they received last month.
Now, onto the bread. I have some bread baking experience, but it’s pretty limited. I’ve made zillions of batches of brioche, bagels and English muffins through my various jobs, and I make my own pizza dough all the time at home, but I never bake my own baguettes or dinner rolls, and I rarely even make a simple loaf bread.
What brought this on then? Laziness may sound like a weird reason to bake your own bread, but that’s what it was, pure and simple. I was too lazy to walk the 25 minutes down to the grocery store (I don’t drive). R has been in Malaysia on business the last couple days. If I were in New York and R was away, I’d likely use that freedom to go and get bombed with my single friends if it weren’t a work night (you can keep that on the down-low), or at least order some yummy delivery if it were. Since I don’t know too many people in Sydney to go boozing with, and there aren’t really any delivery options where I live, it was a tuna sandwich and the company of Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style for me last night. I can’t manage a whole can of tuna myself, so I still had half my salad to eat for lunch today. But…you guessed it…no bread.
Being lazy today, I’m lucky that making this type of bread is so freakin’ easy. I had originally wanted to use a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum, but it required making a sponge starter and then it needed three rises for the dough. While it would have had great flavor, it also wouldn’t have been ready by lunch-time, and that was the whole reason for getting the yeast out! Then I remembered a recipe that I’d torn off a bag of King Arthur flour a couple years ago. It only takes about two hours of total rising time, and if you use a stand mixer, measuring out the ingredients is really the only work there is. It’s baked in a loaf pan, so there isn’t even any tricky shaping to do. And I don’t know if it was because the bread was so fresh and soft, or if it was because I was so antsy after waiting for it to cool down, but that was one tasty tuna sandwich!
In true lazy fashion, I’ll just show you the way to King Arthur’s recipe, rather than type it myself. I made mine in my stand mixer, using the dough hook. I know that King Arthur’s AP flour has a higher protein content than most. Since I can’t kind KA flour in this neck of the woods and I have no clue as to the protein content of the flour I buy here, I substituted 1/4 cup of the AP flour in the recipe with bread flour. I substituted another 1/4 cup with whole wheat flour, just for fun. Be sure take your baked bread out of the loaf pan and cool it on a rack for about an hour before slicing into it. This rest period helps set the bread’s texture and crust.
Taste&Create VIII: Greek Feta and Tomato Pasta
April 24, 2008 at 1:07 am | Posted in events, pasta, savory things | 8 Comments
For Taste&Create VIII, I was hooked up with Teresa from I’m Running to Eat. Teresa is an avid runner and cooks healthy meals for her family. I had no problem finding something from her blog to highlight here, but I cringe to think of Teresa’s reaction to the billion-calorie sweets I post– sorry Teresa!
From Teresa’s site, I chose Greek feta and tomato pasta, a recipe that she says is a favorite, and although it’s vegetarian, even the carnivores in her family love it. Since I eat a mainly vegetarian diet, but R could live off steak, that sounded perfect for us.
This came together in a snap. It’s one of those dishes where the sauce is basically made in the time it takes the pasta to cook–I love that! Rather than the thin spaghetti the recipe calls for, I used farfalle here. I wanted to take advantage of the last hurrah for fresh tomatoes before the cold sets in in Sydney, and used cherry tomatoes on the vine, cooked just until they burst. And since I had a giant bunch of basil on the counter, I tossed some in at the end. My favorite part of this dish, though, was the feta, which just barely melted from the heat of the pasta, and turned really creamy.
Thanks Teresa for a great dinner (or lunch…I’ve made it three times already, actually), and Nicole from For the Love of Food for hosting T&C!
Taste&Create VI: Roasted Tomatoes with Basil with Cherrapeño
February 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 12 Comments
For this month’s Taste&Create Nicole from For the Love of Food matched me up with Nic from Cherrapeño. Nic has a lot of good-looking sweet treats on her blog (I have all the ingredients to make one of them and if I’m able to this weekend, I will), but for events like these, I often like to branch out to the savory side of the cooking world. Nic grows her own chilies and herbs and puts them to good use on the dinner table.
I decided to make Nic’s roasted tomatoes with basil. I thought they would be perfect with what I was already making for dinner– broccolini and a vegetable lasagna without tomato sauce. These were so easy to make, it almost felt like a cop out, but let me tell you, they are super flavorful and just burst in your mouth. No wonder she says they are one of her favorite dishes..now they’re one of mine, too.
You can find more detail on Nic’s site, but essentially tomatoes, basil and garlic are slow-roasted in the oven with a little olive oil. Then balsamic is drizzled on top before serving. I used some large-sized cherry tomatoes I had and sprinkled on a little sea salt, black pepper and more fresh basil when they were out of the oven. It’s really a beautiful end of summer side dish.
Thanks Nic and Nicole for a great event!
Food Fight #3: Lentil Soup
February 17, 2008 at 4:07 pm | Posted in events, savory things, soups | 9 Comments
It’s been awhile, but Allen from Eating Out Loud is back with another Food Fight, and this time it’s a pantry raid. That phrase makes me giggle in a juvenile sort of way…one of the lingering side effects of having seen Revenge of the Nerds a few too many times.
My pantry isn’t super-well stocked. I don’t have a huge family..it’s just my husband and me (and I guess now my brother since he’s been “visiting” for four months!), and several nights a week I am working at the restaurant and not home to make dinner. I tend to do my shopping on an as needed basis so I don’t have too much junk lying around. Poking through what I do have in the pantry the other day, I was wondering how I could combine Craisins, wild rice, peanut butter and golden syrup into something delicious. Perhaps I could encase them in that puff pastry that’s been in the freezer for several months. Yeah, maybe not. Then I discovered something I’d forgotten about…a bag of lentils.
Rather than concoct something potentially disgusting, I decided to go with a classic lentil soup that I could easily put together with things I had already. I’d say this particular pot of soup fit the definition of a pantry raid. It was made only from items I already had in the pantry and fridge (and wine rack). I didn’t go to the store to get any additional ingredients for it, and nothing was bought in advance with the intention of making lentil soup with it.
I used a recipe that I’d made once before from my most favorite cooking magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. I modified it slightly to use up what I had at home…dried thyme instead of fresh, a chicken chorizo sausage instead of bacon. (The other time I made this recipe, I turned it into a vegetarian soup by sauteing my veggies in olive oil rather than rendered fat.) I had a few small new potatoes hanging around from the previous week…there weren’t enough of them to do anything else with, so they went into the pot, too. The chicken chorizo gave it a wonderful smoky flavor that we all loved. Even my brother, who was quite suspicious of lentil soup, asked for seconds!
Allen asked us to also include a photo of our pantries. How personal! I bet you aren’t going to get any organizational tips from mine–what’s in there is a total mess! This photo is of a large pantry closet in the kitchen. I have a few shelves dedicated to food items and the others are for cake pans, the salad spinner, etc. Stuff is kind of all over the place, but I could close my eyes and still be able to pull out exactly what I need when I need it–sort of an organized chaos, I guess. I also have a smaller cupboard with my expansive vinegar collection, honey, jams and stuff like that.
Lentil Soup- makes about 2 quarts
modified from Cook’s Illustrated
Note: Instead of chorizo, you can use 3 slices bacon (about 3 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch pieces, or for a vegetarian version, use olive oil.
1 chicken (or other) chorizo sausage, cut into slices
1 large onion , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 medium carrots , peeled and chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 T)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 bay leaf
1/2t dried thyme leaves
1 cup lentils (7 oz), rinsed and picked over
1 t salt
ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
4 small new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
3 T minced fresh parsley leaves
-Fry chorizo in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and chorizo crisps on the outside, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer chorizo to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Leave the rendered fat in the pan (although you can pour some off if it is excessive). Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to simmer. Add chicken broth and water; bring to boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then add in the diced potatoes. Continue to simmer until lentils are tender but still hold their shape and potatoes are cooked, about 10 to 15 minutes more.
-Discard bay leaf and puree 3 cups soup in blender until smooth, then return to pot; stir in vinegar, add the chorizo back to the pot and heat soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with some of remaining parsley and sour cream or yogurt, if desired.
Taste&Create V: Turkey Chili with We [heart] Food
January 13, 2008 at 5:52 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 8 Comments
I’m starting off the new year with another round of Taste&Create hosted by Nicole from For the Love of Food. This month, Nicole paired me up with Chris and Lisa from We [heart] Food. One look at Chris and Lisa’s blog and I knew I would have a hard time deciding which of their dishes to make myself. They like some spicy food, and that’s right up my alley!
I finally decided to go with a recipe for turkey chili that they made in September. I hadn’t had chili in forever, and I always equate it with football season. I thought my husband would be pleased if I made him a little dinner-time tribute to the playoffs, especially seeing as how his team (the Chargers) is in the mix this year. Never you mind that when you live in Australia, the American football games are on at five in the morning.
Ground turkey, beans, and peppers simmered in tomatoes and lots of spices– this was perfect with a hunk of cornbread and a cold beer. And it was easy to make, too. I do admit that I forgot to buy the scallions for garnish…not that it is really a substitution, but I grated a little cheese on top instead. Thanks Nicole, Chris and Lisa!
Daring Bakers in November: Tender Potato Bread
November 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm | Posted in daring bakers, events, savory things, yeast breads | 60 Comments
Ahhh…finally, today is the day when I can reveal my experience with the latest Daring Bakers challenge– it is something I really look forward to every month. This go-around Tanna from My Kitchen in Half Cups had us roll up our sleeves and bake bread! She chose a recipe for tender potato bread from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. This is a book I have on my own shelf, so I was extra-excited to give the bread recipe a try.
Besides being true to the base recipe, we had to knead the bread by hand (I hadn’t done that in forever!) and it had to be savory. But other than that, Tanna really encouraged us to play around with the shape of our bread and the flavorings used. I did cut the recipe in half, which is my usual MO, because R and I can’t (or shouldn’t) eat sooo much bread. I used the maximum amount of mashed potato suggested by Tanna (16 ounces for a full recipe, or 8 ounces for my half recipe), and I can say that kneading the dough was definitely a sticky process. But it wasn’t impossible on a well-floured surface…as the additional flour was worked in, I could feel the dough gaining structure and becoming easier to handle.
I split my dough into one small loaf and one small focaccia. I kneaded some grated aged cheddar and cracked pepper into the loaf portion just before placing in the pan for its second proof. The cheese bread was soft and had great flavor. I still have half the loaf in my freezer, just waiting to be eaten with a bowl of soup. The dough made for a fantastic focaccia as well– I put olive oil, olives, rosemary and Maldon salt on mine. It had a nice, crisp bottom crust from baking it on a ripping-hot pizza stone.
Thanks Tanna for giving us a good break from the sweet stuff. If you are afraid of yeast, don’t be– bread-baking is a truly satisfying experience! You won’t believe how delicious warm homemade bread is! If you want the recipe for the basic potato bread, look here on Tanna’s site.
And before I go, I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to Daring Bakers! This not so-little-anymore group turned one this month. Started by Lis and Ivonne, just two buddies wanting to make their own pretzels, the group is now more than 300 strong! To see how we all interpreted this month’s potato bread challenge, take a look at The Daring Bakers’ Blogroll.
Taste&Create III: Sushi with Sushi Day
November 18, 2007 at 12:30 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 6 Comments
I am always drooling over the fantastic things that you make, photograph and write about on your blogs. There are probably hundreds of recipes that I’ve seen on other sites that I’d like to try myself someday. Unfortunately, sometimes I need a kick in the seat to do things. Well, Nicole from For the Love of Food has come up with a food event called “Taste&Create“, pairing up food bloggers to try out each other’s recipes. How perfect!
Nicole paired me up with Allison from Sushi Day. Sushi! I love sushi! It is something that I get intense cravings for that must be satisfied quickly. But uh-oh. Sushi is also something that I’ve always gone out for, and never tried to make myself.
Allison has a lot of great info on her site to get a grasp of the basics of sushi-making, and a lot of great ideas for combinations, many of them inspired by trips to her favorite Japanese restaurants. While I am crazy about unagi (eel) and anything involving raw tuna, I decided to play it a bit safer for my first foray into sushi-making and make her Crunchy Shrimp Roll. I also knew that both R and my brother would happily devour anything with tempura shrimp and avocado.
After picking up a bamboo rolling mat at a local Japanese grocery, I had to read up on preparing the rolling mat and how to roll maki sushi. And I needed to start with some sumeshi, or sushi rice. Slightly sweet and vinegary, I think the taste and stickiness of the sumeshi are what’s responsible for those sushi cravings I get every couple of weeks. Then I had to fry off a few pieces of tempura shrimp, following Allison’s instructions for how to make tempura, before prepping my scallions and avocado. Assembling and rolling the maki wasn’t hard at all, thanks to Allison’s step-by-step photos and advice.
So there it is, my very first maki roll! Not too bad looking, and certainly tasty!
Since I had prepared a lot of rice and had extra pieces of tempura shrimp and avocado, I also went ahead and made Allison’s Spicy Tempura Roll as well. Its zippy, peppery kick made it another big hit at the dinner table!
Thank you Allison for teaching me how to make sushi myself– armed with my rolling mat, I will be back for more! And thank you Nicole for hosting such a cool event!
Risotto Relay: Baked Risotto
October 20, 2007 at 10:07 am | Posted in events, savory things | 11 Comments
How do you make risotto without all that standing over a pot and stirring? You cheat and bake it in the oven! Baked risotto is a technique I have read about in a few places, and I thought I would give it a shot for the Risotto Relay being held by Sathya and Liz, authors of the lovely blog The Baker & The Curry Maker.
All the recipes I’ve seen follow a very similar process. Cook the onions on the stovetop first, add in rice and liquid and bring to a simmer. Then chuck in your other ingredients and pop it in the oven at 400°F/200°C for about half an hour. I went ahead and riffed on a recipe for baked risotto with zucchini, tomato and parmesan from superstar Sydney chef Bill Granger, whose food I love. It is in his book bills food.
I obviously made a few additions to recipe I provide below. I sauteed a clove of minced garlic along with the onions. A splash of white wine went into the pot at the same time as the stock and chopped tomatoes. And finally, halfway though the oven-baking process, I stirred in some raw, peeled and de-veined shrimp. I know that seafood and cheese breaks the rules (so does baking your risotto, really), but I used the parmesan in the recipe anyway.
OK, I admit that this is doesn’t really give you that creamy starchiness that a traditional risotto has, but I will definitely make it again. If you are feeling a little lazy, it is a perfectly delicious and acceptable substitute for the real thing, and it is so versatile. Next time, I think I’ll try it with chicken and mushrooms…maybe I’ll add a little extra liquid partway through the cooking process and stir in a pat of butter when it’s done to see if I get a creamier end result.
Baked Risotto with Zucchini, Tomato and Parmesan– makes 4 servings
from bills food by Bill Granger
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 t sea salt
1 cup arborio rice
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water
14 oz can chopped Roma (plum) tomatoes
3 small zucchini, finely sliced
2 1/4 oz freshly grated Parmesan
freshly ground black pepper
2 T finely chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
shavings of Parmesan, for serving (optional)
-Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Heat a 3-quart/3-litre capacity ovenproof dish (with a lid) over a medium heat.
-Add the olive oil, onion and sea salt and stir for 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent.
-Add the rice to the dish and stir for another minute. Add the stock or water and the chopped tomatoes and bring to simmering point. Stir in the zucchini and sprinkle with Parmesan and black pepper.
-Cover the dish and bake the risotto for 30 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Scatter parsley over the top, sprinkle with Parmesan shavings if desired, and serve in the dish.
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