Brown Soda Bread

This bread is my friend. I love this bread. It practically speaks to me.

450g/1lb wholemeal (wholewheat) flour
or 340g/12oz wholemeal flour and 110g/4oz plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp sugar
20g/3/4oz butter
290-435ml/1/2 –3/4 pint skimmed milk
If you are using all wholemeal flour then you will need the larger amount of liquid

Preheat to 190c/375f
Sift the dry ingredients into a dry warm bowl
Rub in the butter and mix to a soft dough with the milk
Shape with a minimum of kneading into a large circle, and use a wooden spoon handle to make a cross shaped indentation in the top
Bake on a greased sheet for 25-30 min, and allow to cool on a wire rack

I varied only slightly from the recipe. I have a sifter, but frankly can’t be bothered. I do make an effort to use my wire whisk to mix dry ingredients, it mixes them really well, and adds a bit of air to them too. I also use soy milk instead of regular or skimmed. It’s the kind of milk we keep in the house, and again, I can’t be bothered to make a special milk run. This is true of all the things I bake, and it’s never given me a problem.

I made this today for the first time. It’s a quick bread (no yeast, no raising or heavy kneading). I meant for it to last a couple of days, but we accidentally ate the whole loaf in one sitting. It was that good. In the words of my husband “It touched our souls”.

It was from a cookbook called “Leith’s Healthy Cooking”

tags technorati : bread, baking, healthy cooking

Coconut and Coriander Chicken

Coconut and Coriander Chicken
1 small bunch fresh coriander
6 chicken supremes
4tbsp olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped
2 sweet potatoes- around 450g/1lb, finely diced
3tbsp mild curry paste
400ml/14oz can coconut milk
400ml/14oz jar passata (like a tomato broth)
150ml (1/4 pint) hot chicken stock
Lime wedges to serve

Set aside some coriander sprigs for garnishing.
Separate the leaves and stalks of the coriander and chop each. Tuck the chopped leaves under the skin of each piece of chicken.
In a frying pan or casserole heat the oil and fry the coriander stalks with the onions and potatoes for 10-12 minutes.
Add the curry paste and continue cooking for 3-4 min. Then add the passata, broth, coconut milk, and chicken pieces, and simmer gently for 30 min, or until the chicken is tender. Serve with the lime.

From Good Housekeeping Magazine

I have to say, I was really excited about this one, and it kind of let me down. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Part of the problem was that I forgot to put the lime wedges on the plates. They were just sitting there on the counter. I think my last three bites had lime (that’s when I remembered them), and they were really quite a bit better. I think the lime juice would have really brought it all together nicely. Also, if I was going to make it again, I would use a hotter curry paste. It called for mild, but I thought it needed a bit more of a kick, Again, that could have been the lack of lime.

One last thing… I have no idea what a supreme of chicken is. I know it’s a part, but have no idea what part it is. I just used the chicken parts that were on sale this week.

Pizza Dough

I've been using cooking to de-stress for the past couple of days. If this keeps up, we'll need a baking section and a pickle section too. It is calming though.


Pizza Dough
800g/1&3/4 lbs strong white bread flour
200g/7oz fine ground semolina flour or strong white bread flour
1 level tbsp fine sea salt
2x7g sachets of dried yeast
1tbsp sugar
650ml/just over a pint lukewarm water

Combine the flour(s) and salt and make a well in the center. Add the yeast and sugar to the water, mix with a fork and leave it to sit a few minutes, before pouring it into the well you’ve made. Mix together into a dough, and then knead for 10 minutes. Flour the top of your dough, cover it with cling film and leave it to rest for 15min.

Break into pieces (depending on how big you want your pizzas), and roll them out to about 1/4 inch thick and about 15-30 minutes before you are going to put them in the oven. Put on whatever toppings you want, and bake at 250c/500f for 7 to 10 minutes.

European pizza is more of the thin and crispy crust variety. Growing up in New York, it was hard for me to accept any pizza that wasn’t gorgeous hand stretched thin-ish but chewy and crispy at the same time golden crust loveliness. Still, I’ve been here a long time now, and the thin crispy crust European pizza has become our normal pizza. Sometimes I’m sad that the Boy’s will grow up without Brooklyn’s finest food, but I just make sure to feed it to them every time we visit.

This pizza was really lovely and easy to make. I only made a quarter of the recipe because it was just me and the boys, not the whole National Guard. Once you roll them out, you can put them onto a greased and floured piece of tin foil and wrap them in cling film to refrigerate if you want to cook them later. Just flour each one and lay them on top of each other, they won’t stick. This particular pizza dough is from a Jamie Oliver cookbook, and he has all kinds of wonderful looking toppings, but I just made them out of whatever was lying around in the fridge. It wound up being cheese, ham and olives. The great part was that my three year old was able to make his very own little pizza all by himself. He totally dug that. A fair amount of topping that was meant to go on the pizza, actually went right into his mouth, but it came out very nice in the end.

For me the only real down side is that it is an incredibly hot oven, and mine does not preheat very fast. Next time I make them I’m going to start preheating as soon as I get up in the morning.

tags technorati : pizza, kids, baked

Pickled Mushrooms, Two Versions

version 1

Pickled mushrooms version 1
500g/1lb mushrooms
250ml/8oz white wine vinegar
250ml/8oz white wine
250ml/8oz water
1 thyme sprig
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 black peppercorns
2 tbsp caster sugar
1&1/4 tsp salt

Cut any large mushrooms into quarters.
Pour the other ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then add the mushrooms. Lower the heat and simmer for about 8min. Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon and continue to cook the liquid for a further 5 minutes to reduce. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Sterilize a preserving jar. Fill with mushrooms and pour over liquid. Seal with an airtight lid and store in a dark dry place.

My only big problem with this one, is that it doesn’t say how long to leave them before opening. I have to assume that means that they don’t need very long. I think I am going to open them next week and see how they are. I will post again to let you know. I did taste one that didn’t fit into the jar, and if it was any indication of the final product, I think I will be quite pleased. This was a pretty easy and very satisfying process.

version 2

Pickled mushrooms version 2
500g/1lb chanterelle mushrooms
1 shallot
1 thyme sprig
5 peppercorns
1&1/4 tsp salt
250ml/8oz whit wine vinegar
250ml/8oz water

cut any large mushrooms in half and place all the mushrooms in the preserving jar. Add the shallot thyme peppercorns and salt.
Pour the vinegar and water into a pan bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 min. Pour the mixture into the jar and seal with an airtight lid.
Place the jar in a large saucepan, add enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 hour (timed from when it starts to boil). Remove the jar from the pan and leave to cool completely. Store in a dark, dry place.

Big failure! Absolutely not right!
The main reason that I tried this one, is because I had a huge fear of boiling sealed containers. I was always led to believe that if you put a sealed jar or can into boiling water, it would explode. Apparently this is only sometimes true. I needed to go ahead and do it, so that I could see for myself that there would be no screaming and bloodshed as a result, and that part was a success. The jar just boiled away happily for an hour.

The failure was the actual mushrooms. I did not use Chanterelle, I used regular old button. The problem with that is button mushrooms have no give at all. I tried to force as many as possible into the jar, but if I pushed too hard they would crack and fall apart. The jar looked pretty full, but after an hour of cooking, the mushrooms got more flexible, and also smaller, which left me with a jar that was almost half empty liquid, with some mushrooms floating on top, and also had way too much air trapped in it. It was not possible to store them in that condition.

I decided to eat them right away instead of storing them. They taste ok, and if I had done a better job, it might be a really good recipe, but the other recipe was so much easier and I think they will be just as tasty.

At least I got over my fear of boiling jars.

Oh, and these were both from a book called "Jams, conserves & Preserving"

tags technorati : pickles, recipes, mushroom

Brown Bread

Brown Bread
200g/7oz rye flour
200g/7oz whole wheat flour
200g/7oz strong white bread flour
7g (1 packet) easy blend yeast, or 15g fresh yeast
1 tbsp salt
a little more then 300- 350ml/10.5-12oz warm tap water
1tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Put the flour yeast and salt into a bowl and pour in 200ml/7oz of the water mixing as you do. Be prepared to add more water, what you want is a shaggy mess. Add butter and mix that in, then start kneading. Knead for about 10 min, adding more four if you need to form the dough into a ball and put in a large oiled or buttered bowl turning once so the top of the dough is greased. Cover with cling film and leave to raise till about doubled (about an hour). Punch it down, and knead for a minute or two, then form into a ball and place on a baking sheet covered loosely with cling film. Let it raise again till almost doubled again while preheating the oven to 200c/400f. When it’s ready, uncover it, and dust with flour before placing it in the oven. Bake for 45 min. Test if it is done by tapping the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow.

This is from a Nigella Lawson cookbook called How to be a Domestic Goddess. I’m not yet, but hey, maybe someday.

I mentioned once before that her recipes tend to work best if you weigh your flours instead of using cup measurements. There is a reason for that, but I won’t tire you with the details. I ran out of rye flour, and just used a mix of half whole wheat and half white bread flour to make up the difference.

It’s a nice bread. It may be a little too in between for some people. By that I mean that it’s not as hearty as a really serious health bread, but it’s not as fluffy as a home made white bread. If you are looking for something in between though, this is a nice way to go. I made this one to go with the chorizo hash, and they worked nicely together.

Here’s a little tip about bread making, that is terribly obvious I guess, but I didn’t know it. You cannot make a white bread recipe into a whole wheat recipe just by replacing the white flour with whole wheat flour. I tried that once. The result was nice to look at, but it was kind of like a neutron star; a spoonful weighed a ton. It was dense and heavy and dry, all of the things that homemade bread should not be. It turns out that wheat flour requires more liquid, a different cooking temperature, and a different cooking time too. I have also noticed that most of the time whole wheat flour gets mixed other flours instead of standing on it’s own.

Chorizo Hash with Peppers and Paprika

Chorizo Hash with peppers and Paprika
5oz/150g chorizo
1 small red pepper
1 rounded tsp hot paprika
1 medium onion
10oz/275g potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, peeled, and crushed
2 large very fresh eggs

Peel the onion and slice in half then slice as thin as you can into half-moon shapes. Halve and deseed the pepper then cut into 1/2 inch chunks. Peel the skin off the chorizo and cut to the same size as the pepper. Wash the potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes leaving the skin on.
Place the potatoes in a saucepan and pour in boiling water to almost cover them. Add salt and a lid and simmer for 5 min before draining them in a colander and covering with a tea towel to absorb the steam.
Heat 2 tbs oil in a heavy based pan, add the onion, pepper, and garlic and cook for about 6 min. Push it all to the side of the pan and add the chorizo, and cook for about 2 min. Add the paprika and stir everything around, then remove it all to a plate. Add the last tbsp of oil to the pan and keeping the heat high add the potatoes and some salt and pepper. Toss them around for about 3 min, keeping them moving. Add back the pepper mixture and cook for another 5- 6 min, turning the mixture as it cooks.
Fry the eggs to serve with the hash.

Hey Cookbad, I was inspired by your Red Flannel Salmon Hash and decided to try a hash recipe of my own. I was never a big fan of corned beef hash, but then, I had only ever had that kind that comes from a can and tastes like a salt lick. I found this recipe in a Delia Smith cookbook. I love chorizo, and they happened to have some for cheap at the supermarket this weekend, so there you go.

I realized at the last minute that all I had in the house was regular (not hot) paprika, so I just used that. In the future I would definitely make a point of using the right kind, or maybe adding some cayenne pepper. It’s a little tough for me because I love spicy, but my husband and kids are not such big fans. Even without the spicy, this had a lovely flavor. We had it for dinner not breakfast, I think it would be a little heavy early in the morning, but would make a very nice brunch.

tags technorati : hash, breakfast, cooking, good

I need this

Dear AteThat,
Will you get some of this delicious stuff? It will go really well with my brownie guiness ice cream float I like to have on St. Patric's Day.

Coconut and Lemon Grass Ice Cream

goodness on a spoon

recipe # 182

I found a few recipes for coconut and lemon grass sorbet and ice cream, but I wanted something sweet but sugar free and with texture.

Coconut & Lemon Grass Ice Cream (version 1)
2 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup agave syrup (more or less to taste)
5 stalks of lemon grass, chopped
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Heat coconut milk with chopped lemon grass until boiling. Add agave nectar. Let it boil for 2 minutes then let it cool to room temp. Strain out lemon grass. Add shredded coconut. Stir. Pour into ice cream maker and follow maker instructions.

Coconut & Lemon Grass Ice Cream (version 2)

Coconut & Lemon Grass Ice Cream (version 2)
1 can of coconut milk
1 package of coconut milk powder
8 oz plain soy milk
1/2 cup agave syrup (more or less to taste)
3 stalks of lemon grass, chopped
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

Heat coconut milk with chopped lemon grass until boiling. Add agave nectar. Let it boil for 2 minutes then let it cool to room temp. Strain out lemon grass. Add shredded coconut. Stir. Pour into ice cream maker and follow maker instructions.

Very very tasty.

AteThat: Thai Fried Minced Pork with Egg Noodles

Thai Fried Minced Pork with Egg Noodles
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped
3 shallots finely chopped
1 inch ginger finely chopped
2 tbsp oil
500g/1lb2oz ground pork
2tbsp Thai fish sauce
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1tbsp red thai curry paste
4 dried Kaffir lime leaves, crumbled
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
3tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
Salt and pepper
Boiled Chinese style egg noodles

Heat the oil, add the garlic, shallots and ginger, stir frying for about 2 minutes. Stir in the pork and continue stirring until golden brown. Stir in the fish sauce, Soy sauce, curry paste, and lime leaves. Stir fry for another1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chopped coriander, season with salt and pepper and serve spooned onto the egg noodles.

There is a series of cook books called “What’s Cooking” out here. You see them in every book store, they are really highly illustrated and they are all named for the type of food (What’s Cooking Thai, What’s Cooking Italian, What’s cooking Chicken). This is from the Thai book. They are good starter books if you are intimidated by a certain genre of food (or by cooking in general which is why I have several of them).



This recipe gets top marks because it’s dead easy and fast to make, and it’s really tasty. It’s far more subtle then you would think. As a matter of fact I think next time I might double up on the curry paste and see how that is. My sons ate it, although that might be more for the noodles then the sauce. I think it’s satisfying in the same way as a good spaghetti bolognaise is, because it is a tomato sauce, but at the same time, it’s kind of exotic and fun, cuz it’s Thai. The ingredient list looks if-y, but I can get all those things in my local grocery store, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.


One more thing… if you’ve never used Thai fish sauce before, it smells disturbingly like stinky feet and crotch. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to smell like that, it adds a beautiful flavor to cooking, just never never never taste it on it’s own.

Lentil on Lentil

terribly healthy and lentil heavy dinner, but that isn't really a bad thing.

recipe # 181, 182, 183

Last week I tried to make a recipe for a romaine salad with lentil croutons from the Cafe Pongo Cookbook. The recipe called for soaking lentils for 8 hours. I let them go over night figuring that there would be no difference. I was quite wrong. When I finally got around to them they had all sprouted. I guess, that this is a good thing. Lentils become a very complete food after sprouting. From what I read on the internets it is one of the most wonderful fantastic life giving, cancer curing, you see the holy mother mary after eating them sort of food. They don't taste awesome. The internets is also lacking good recipes for sprouted lentils. I kept finding one called Curried Lentil Salad that had ketsup and mayo in it. Meh.

lentils that have been sprouting for about 4 days, I guess eating them after sprouting for 2-3 days is ideal.

This is what I ended up doing with them:
heavily modified from the Cafe Pongo Cookbook:
Sprouted Lentil and Mint Salad with Tahini Dressing
dressing
zest of one lemon
juice of 2.5 lemons
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

mix all tahini dressing ingredience together in a food processor.

2 cups of sprouted lentils
2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped cucumber
2 handfuls chopped fresh mint
1 cup chopped blanched greenbeans

Mix up, pour dressing over, let sit for 20 minutes before serving.

Lentil Patty Sandwich
lentil patties
8 ounces dried brown lentils soaked for 8 hours
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
8 scallions thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons baking powder
dash of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups vegetable, peanut or canola oil

puree all ingredience for lentil patties together in processor. Form patties, fry in oil. Drain on newspaper.

Toast pita or crusty bread (I used wheat free boring bread). Smear all interior or bread with tahini or hummus. Squeeze some lemon on that. Add a tomato slices and romaine lettuce. Throw in a few slices of raw sweet onion. Pop in the patty. Eat.

I also made this but neither of us ate it. It might actually still be in the oven.


From epicurious:
Butternut Squash, Hominy, Corn and Bell Peppers Stew
3 tablespoons butter ( I used olive oil)
3/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled butternut squash
1 15-ounce can whole golden hominy, rinsed, drained
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add red and green bell peppers; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add squash; stir to blend. Cover; cook until squash is almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in hominy and corn. Cover; cook until corn is tender, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in cilantro and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer to bowl; serve.

Serves 6.

The sandwich and salad were good. I felt healthy. It was basically falafel only in a patty form and made with lentils. I might make it again.