Dinner at home

So I read just about every article I find about food and dinners and whatnot. So a few days ago I found an article about making dinner for family:

Dinner at home

After reading this article I weep a little bit. I know I don't have children yet so I really don't know what it's like. But after reading this article it sounds like this woman is seriously over thinking dinner; it doesn't have to be that hard.

My solution for her is as follows:

Salad course: Romain lettuce with a lemony vinaigrette you made yesterday or over the weekend. (or buy one, no shame here people, save yourself the aggrivation of lemon seeds in your salad and worry about getting everything ready in one night)

Savory smelling dinner ready when you get home: Use a crock pot! or use a a pressure cooker. Either way you get a great tasting meal either ready when you get home or ready in a short amount of time.

Cut down cooking times by using some pre-made things, don't feel guilty about it, be glad you live in a country and at a time where you have the option. The pre cut vegetables are a great option if you don't have the time to chop them yourself. Prep work is what takes up most of the time anyway. Use boxed stock and stewing meat (it's the off cuts anyway). While this might take some prep the night before you can do that while they're in bed. You're still up. And crock pot meals are awesome because they can be either kept warm or really easily re-heated. Then your husband could have a nice hot healthy meal too.

Also, you have children who can be left without supervision. Why are they not helping you cook, and therefore learning to cook with you? If children learn to cook early they can work more independently later on and have dinner ready for you when you get home. It's also a great time to talk to them about whatever's going on. While you may not know if you're daughter is crying from cutting the onion or that Johnny was mean on the playground I'm sure you'll figure it out if you actually talk to her instead of dreaming about your lemony vinaigrette or the fruit tart you didn't have time to make.

The other option here is to cut back on a few of the kids activities. It sounds to me like there may be a few too many different things vying for the family time when it could be better spent at home savoring the short period of time you have together before the kids go off to work or college, then start their own families.

Listen, I know it's hard to cook every night, or even most nights. Even if I didn't work and didn't have other responsibilities (taking care of children/keeping house) it would  be a lot of effort to make sure there was a perfect "Mrs. Cleaver" dinner on the table every night. It's a lot of effort to think up menus of different things you actually know how to cook and even more daunting when you try to make new things.

The most important thing is to try and to do it with love. If you throw food on the table, no matter how nutritious or delicious it is your frustration will come through to your children. They will associate dinner time with rushing and frustration. This is the time to relax and unwind and enjoy the family you have around you.

Until next time my friends: Make what you love, eat with who you love and life will be full.

French Cooking

I promised a few months ago when we got married that I would use everything our friends and family gave us for the wedding. I'm doing my best to live up to that and I finally cracked open my Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking" and pulled a recipe, not really at random.

I have a brand new cast iron pot (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I definitely needed to break it in. Since I had some time I figured why not take my cooking up a notch.  Coc au Vin- roughly translated Rooster in Wine. Gosh those French people are creative with their food names. Basically it's chicken cooked in a bottle of wine and some brandy (of course they call for Cognac, expensive French brandy).

While I won't give you the whole recipe here I'll give you the run down, this is more about the experience of working from one of the great masters of the culinary world.

I've decided French cooking has three main ingredients; butter, booze, and fire.

Julia was not afraid of fat or salt so this isn't something you want to try if you have a heart condition. But if you don't dig in, it's delicious. It was like nibbling on a tiny bit of heaven.

Basically you start with bacon and end with butter. Cook the bacon, brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then cover and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. THEN (can you tell this is my favorite part?) you add the cognac and set the whole thing on fire! It burns a bright blue. My husband turned the lights off so we could see when the flames burned out.
Now add the wine (a "full bodied red" like a Chianti or a Beaujolais) chicken stock, tomato paste, garlic thyme and bay leaf. Allow that to cook for about 1/2 hour. While that cooks you saute mushrooms in butter and oil, and saute two onions in butter and oil until they start to brown a little bit, then you add beef stock and cook in the oven for 40 minutes (they turn out amazing). This is actually where I deviated from Julia a little bit. I discovered that my husband does not like pearl onions (luckily before I bought any). I decided to go with a sweet onion instead. The difference is that you never get a full bite of onion which I find can be distracting from the overall meaty deliciousness of the meal.
Finally when the chicken is cooked and the onions and mushrooms are ready remove the chicken from the pot and put it aside. Allow the sauce to come to a boil and reduce until it is approximately 1/2 the original liquid. Create a roux with flour and butter. Mix that into the sauce until it's smooth. Allow it to simmer a minute or two more. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Now everything is ready, add the chicken back to the pot, also add the mushrooms and onions. Mix and allow the sauce to cover everything.

Now eat!

It really was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. The sauce was velvety smooth and the seasonings were right on. There is no improving Coc Au Vin for me. I'm going to continue to make this meal for my friends and family that come over (wink wink come visit).

What I really took away from this particular preparation is that chicken does not have to be boring, or the star of the meal. The true winner were the onions. They were a sweet, bright tickle in the middle of a very savory and hearty and heart warming meal.

I loved it. My husband gave it the "husband stamp of approval". He actually said "two spoons up".

Julia Child is my hero.

One pot chicken

After a long week last week and a weekend that was far too short tonight all I wanted was to curl up with a glass of wine and a book. Sadly however, that was not to be. Laundry needed to be done and real dinner needed to be made (if I'd been alone I probably would have just gone for the wine but the other half needs real dinner). So the question was what to eat? What to make? My first thought was cereal because it's easy. but I wanted something more fulfilling than that. I knew I had chicken in the freezer so I pulled that out right away and let it start to defrost.
Here's what I ended up with:

3 chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1 1/2 to 2 c peas and carrot frozen mix
1/2 c chicken stock
1 can cream of mushroom soup
paprika
thyme
1 heaping tablespoon flour
2 1/2 c Bisquick
2/3 c milk

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the stock, soup, thyme, and paprika together in an oven safe dish, I used a Corningware dish with a glass lid. Add the chicken breast, peppers, onion, and the pea and carrot mix. Stir until the vegetables and chicken are coated with the stock/soup mix.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Add flour and mix.

Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Increase the oven temp to 450 degrees.

Mix the Bisquick and milk together (follow the directions for biscuits on the box) kneed the dough. Cut and place on the top of the now cooked chicken mixture. (remove the glass cover first, I know I shouldn't have to say that... but someone will forget or not understand) Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown and delicious!

I really wasn't expecting much from this. For some reason I had a feeling it was going to fail or be terrible, to which you might say "well why did you try it?" Because I can be very very wrong sometimes. This happened to be one of those times!! I still have a happy and well fed husband! He gave me the full mouth joy-filled groan plus the thumbs up today :)

Pumpkin Risotto

Happy Fall! If you couldn't tell by the lower temperatures and the changing leaves, you can definitely see the change in the grocery store. The baking pumpkins are back! I thought I'd do something different with pumpkin; most recipes are for pie or bread, which are great but sadly not dinner.

If you read enough food blogs you’ll have read at some point how hard it is to make a good risotto. Well I’m here to tell you it’s not that hard, it just takes some time (total prep time: about 2 hours, including roasting the pumpkin). And since it's fall I have a really awesome recipe for pumpkin risotto with sage chicken. I know this looks like a lot of ingredients but it’s a really great fall food that you can make ahead of time. 

            

This recipe got two thumbs up from the husband while reaching for a second helping. That's all I can ask for!

 

1 C chopped onion

1 to 2 teaspoons butter

1 C Arborio Rice

1 whole baking pumpkin – ½ chopped and baked; ½ pureed

Vegetable oil

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Thyme

Fresh sage leaves

Salt

Pepper

4 to 5 C chicken stock

Chicken or turkey parts (breast, thigh, leg, whatever you’ve got around) enough to make the meal a little more hearty.

½ c parmesan cheese

 

Cut pumpkin in half. Peel both halves. Chop one half into ½ inch pieces, coat with vegetable oil, sprinkle with nutmeg, sage, and cinnamon. Spread out pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 325 until they begin to brown a little bit and soften, they should be cooked through. Coat the 2^nd half of the pumpkin with vegetable oil and bake at 325 until it begins to soften. Puree and set aside (I used my stick blender, yay).

Bring a 2 to 4 qt stock pot (I like cast iron for this) to medium heat and sauté onion in butter until it is fragrant and start to soften. 

Add 1 C chicken stock to the stock pot and bring to a simmer. Add the Arborio rice. Stir pretty regularly, you don’t need to stand over the pot but come back every 2 or three minutes. Cook until the liquid has almost completely absorbed. Add 1 more cup of stock. Cook again until the liquid is gone. Stir in pumpkin puree, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper (all to taste). Add another cup of chicken stock. Cook until the liquid has absorbed. Continue to add chicken stock until the rice is cooked and creamy. It should be pretty thick and gooey. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Add the chopped baked pumpkin and pulled chicken (no need to remove the sage, add it all in together). Stir. Serve with extra parmesan. 

 

This is a great thick hearty stick to your ribs kind of meal. Every bite is full of autumnal, earthy, pumpkin flavor.

After Turkey

Part of the reason I love making a whole turkey is the day after. I love turkey sandwiches made with the breast meat and the ease of dinners and lunches the next few days!

Tonight's dinner: Turkey sandwiches on challah bread with roasted Anaheim peppers and Pub Cheese. Plus stuffing and potato salad. Can you say starch overload? I am a carbaholoic.

"Hello. My name is Marie and I am a carbaholic."

"Hi Marie."

It's probably something that I need to work on... maybe cut back a little... a very little. I tried South Beach once. I was not a happy camper. I looked good but I wasn't nice. I could have been a professional model! OK maybe not, I wasn't that mean.

Challah Bread and Turkey

So I started my morning baking bread and ended it with a turkey dinner. What a day! I love Sundays! Football and food!

 Apparently challah bread takes 12 hours to proof. I had no idea. I started last night at 6 putting the dough together. This beyond almost anything that I need to read the whole recipe before I start. I bloomed the yeast before I realized how long it was going to take to rise so I decided I'd let it rise over night and get up early to bake it.




 To start you'll need:
1 packet dry active yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 C water (105 to 115 Degrees)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
3 tablespoons oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 egg yolks lightly beaten.
1/2 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 C bread flour

This is a pretty simple recipe but it's the technique that makes it difficult (it takes a long time).
Add yeast and warm water to mixing bowl and leave for 5 minutes. It should look like the picture above.
add the sugar, salt, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and all purpose flour, mix until combined. Add the bread flour slowly until it is combined.
Kneed for 8 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Move the dough to an oiled bowl and turn once to coat. Cover lightly with plastic and let the dough rise in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.
Punch down and kneed for a minute. return to the oiled bowl and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 12 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Cut the dough into 3 or 4 pieces and  roll into balls. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
Roll into 14 inch long strands that taper at the ends.
Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle corn meal over it.
Place all 4 strands on the greased cookie sheet with one end touching. Pinch the end together. If you are braiding 4 strands like I tried to do turn the outside ends over the middle then twist the middle strands, then repeat. It's not the prettiest loaf but it's tasty!

Take 1 egg and a pinch of salt and beat them together.

Brush the egg wash on the bread, try to get into all the nooks and crannies. This will allow for a more even browning.

<-- I swear this isn't the turkey I made for dinner.





How GOOD does that look? Even though I've eaten dinner I want to go cut off another slice of this and eat it! All it needs is a little bit of butter. The crumb is really delicate and the air pockets are really small. And the smell...Oh it was amazing! I love the smell of fresh baked bread. There's no real word to describe that smell other than happy.

AND NOW... On to dinner!

Dinner tonight was turkey (a whole frozen turkey), stuffing, and acorn squash with two different toppings.

The first squash was a little bit of vegetable oil (I used a mister) and brown sugar and cinnamon.
I baked this for about 15 minutes on one side then flipped them over and baked for another 10 minutes



The second was a little balsamic vinegar, a few tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice, honey, and nutmeg.I brushed this on both sides of the squash then put them on an oiled baking sheet (covered with aluminum foil for easy cleanup).

Both were baked at 350 degrees.

The turkey was a brined turkey thanks to my food muse Alton Brown.
You can find his recipe here:
Brined Turkey Recipe

It's an easy recipe that makes a very moist and juicy turkey. I am going to try other brines but there one is pretty darn good.

 

Happy Sunday! Don't forget it doesn't need to be a holiday to enjoy a special meal!

The book store

I survived the bookstore! I was in Barnes and Noble this evening and they always have cook books on sale. Usually not the big heavy black and white, actually useful cook books but the "Pillsbury dough boy's favorite cookies" or "Hershey's best chocolate recipes" I'm not going to lie... I wanted them... all of them. But I was really good. I picked up about 7 cook books and ended up putting each one back.
The most tempting though had to be the 365 days of the Joy of Cooking. They have a pull off calendar. I so wanted it and only $14. I'm just saying... for anyone reading... Christmas is coming .

I'm still living up to my promise not to buy more cook books!! YAY ME! :) 

Until we meet again, eat well!

The Reading Terminal Market

I have the great fortune of working only a few blocks from one of the greatest indoor food markets in the country. The vendors bring fresh fruits and vegetables in daily from the farms in Lancaster county and south Jersey. The sights and smells in there are amazing.

Yesterday I decided to venture over to the market, I needed a walk and it seemed like the place to go. Normally I only go over there if I know I’m looking for something or to grab a bite at one of the lunch places. I love sitting at the counter service and watching the world go by. 

Yesterday I was greeted with the sweet smell of chocolate as I opened the door. Two of the first vendor stalls are Chocolate by Muller and the 2^nd Street Cookie Company. This is a dreadful thing for your diet if you’re really hungry. I was able to get past them both without drooling on their counters too much (I had eaten lunch before I took my walk). Soon my eyes and nose feasted on the cornucopia of fresh produce; beautiful slabs of fresh cut red meat, chickens, turkeys, and ham; ripe apples, peppers, onions and melons, fresh herbs. This is what heaven must be like. Colors seemed richer, smells seemed to linger in the air around my nose, sales people seemed nicer.

Add to all this bustle the sound of a piano playing in the distance and you have a pretty awesome lunchtime walk. I’m amazed I came home with only one small bag. And it was something I actually needed. I bought some mineral oil for my cutting boards.

Useful tip: unfinished wood cutting boards need to be oiled every so often so the wood does not dry out and crack. I read this somewhere but entirely forgot until yesterday (thanks Mom!). Now all my cutting boards have been oiled and dried and are ready for anything! It’s interesting they look different now. They get a little darker when you oil them. I assume that will continue over time and they'll continue to gain a little color each time.

I've been lax on my thank you notes at the end of my posts so here goes:
Chris- Special thanks for the insider's guide to the Reading Terminal Market!
Thank you to the Eshers and the Zooks for all the bakeware, as you can see they're awesome and perfect for home made bread!
Julie and Jason, love the glass mixing bowl, it's awesome to have 2 bowls for the mixer, I can do 2 different projects without having to completely stop and clean up and start all over again!
Linda and Kathy- thanks so much for the Pyrex! It's perfect for all kinds of things, particularly lasagna.
Bill and Tom for the crystal dish. I'm amazed at how often we use it. It's almost always full of something! We think of you every time we use it.
The Manzo family- Can I tell you how often I use the gloves? Sadly they don't fit Ryan but I love them!
I'm sorry to the people I forgot. I'm sure I'll use whatever I forgot again and hopefully I'll write about it!

10 Things Every Baker Needs

My list is in no special order; however I feel that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the basic needs of every baker. Even if you’re not using a state of the art, super high powered, “it mixes, it chops, it makes julienne fries, and it walks your dog” type counter top mixer you can make some pretty awesome baked goods with a few simples and important tools.

1. Measuring cups & spoons – liquid and dry measure are both really important. I actually have 2 sets of dry measure in my kitchen. One 18/10 stainless steel and one plastic. There’s no real rhyme or reason I have one or the other however I can use the stainless steel ones on the stove top. I use them to melt butter in small quantities when I don’t want to do it in the microwave. I also have 6 liquid measuring cups. Why? Because I can. They’re all different sizes, from 1 cup to 4 cups, 3 plastic and 3 glass. I actually find myself using the glass more often, no real reason except that they’re in the drawer with the prep bowls.

This may go without saying, but the spoon you use to eat your cereal is not a measuring spoon. Although we call it a “tea spoon” it is really not a teaspoon measure sadly. You need actual measuring spoons, they’re not particularly expensive. If you buy mental go for a heavy 18/10 stainless steel, the steel content will be marked somewhere on the spoons. You want a heavier spoon so you don’t bend it out of shape when you’re trying to scoop out particularly hard baking soda. 

2. A butter knife – this goes with the measuring cups. When you’re making cookies or bread or anything else that you’re using a dry measuring cup for you should always run the straight side of a butter knife over the top to clear the excess off the top to get the exact right measure.  

3. 2 Heavy jelly roll pans/cookie sheets – I use cookie sheets for all kinds of things, to bake cookies (obviously), to catch the drippings from a casserole or pie, to bake loaves of round bread, or to lay out gnocchi to freeze it. 

4. 2 round cake pans 8 or 9 inch – not just for cake anymore! I used mine for cinnamon rolls and for a custard water bath. Even with all these uses however; you really never know when you’re going to be called upon to bake a great cake and a good standard is to have round pans. It’s the most common household birthday cake shape; unless you have 30 people in your household, then you need a sheet cake every time.

5. Pie pans (at least 1 if not 2, I think I have 4)– I personally love my clear Pyrex pie pans. They take the heat really well and they look nice on the table. You can also use them to my layered dips, I think it’s nice when you can actually see the layers so you have some idea what you’re about to get on your chip!

6. A timer – I know this should already be in your kitchen if you’ve read my “10things every kitchen needs” but I say it again for anyone who might have missed it! (but how could you have?) You need a timer. I know most baked goods say “X time to Y time, or until golden brown” so some other description, but what if you’re watching TV? Or got lost in a book and forgot to check on your muffins? Then all your hard work would be for naught. You’d have to throw them away, and you’d be pissed, or at least I would be. There should be at least 1 timer in your kitchen, on your microwave. But you’ll need more than that. I personally like multi timers, I have a quad timer, so I can have 3 or 4 things going at once and know how long everything had left! It’s great! 

7. 2 Good loaf pans – almost every bread recipe makes 2 loaves of bread, so if you’re going to buy one you might as well buy 2 so you’re not stuck with ½ a batch of bread dough that you can’t bake because you didn’t get an extra loaf pan. I’m currently using Calphalon non stick loaf pans. I don’t think they need to be non stick because I always grease the pan with Crisco anyway but it’s a nice added feature.

8. Pizza stone – because I’ve lived in an apartment for so long I’ve never had a new oven so I’ve always kept a pizza stone in my oven. It never comes out. Leave in on the floor of the oven in an attempt to keep the oven temperature fairly stable. Now that I have a gas stove again I’m feeling a little more confident about the stability of the oven temp but it’s still nice to have in there. I’ve never used mine to actually cook pizza, just to regulate temps! 

9. Whisk – I know almost everyone beats their eggs with a fork but it’s nice to have a dedicated tool for the job right? Plus if you need to beat to a foam or a meringue you already have the tool on hand. If you’re making a meringue I’d suggest an electric hand mixer, it’ll make the job much easier, but if you don’t have/don’t want/or can’t afford an electric hand mixer you certainly can do it by hand, I know the Amish can do it so why can’t we?  

10. Lots of prep bowls – I use bowls of all different sizes when I’m baking. I try to measure out all my ingredients before I start so I know I have enough of everything and I’m prepared when it’s time to start adding the ingredients to the work bowl. Some things need to be added in a certain order or at a certain time so it’s nice to have everything laid out and ready. Often I find myself using almost every bowl in the kitchen!

I don’t think I’ve missed any of the truly important basics. If I have let me know in comments!! Of course from here you can go all different routes with bunt pans, popover tins, muffin pans, and all different shapes and sizes of cake pan but this list is what I classify as the basics.

Now that you have all the tools to bake I have one thing to say in the words of a wise man who loved food:

“GET IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME SOME PIE” – Cartman, South Park

Gnocchi

Last weekend I made gnocchi but I just realized I didn't say anything about how to cook it or how to serve it.
So here goes!
Boil at least 4 quarts of water (gnocchi like room to swim around) with a healthy pinch of salt. Bring the water to a rolling boil then pull back until the water is lightly bubbling. Add as much gnocchi as you plan on serving. I find this easier when they're frozen. They'll cook for about 2 minutes, maybe three. You'll know they're done when they start to float to the top. As each little potato pillow floats to the top skim it off with either a slotted spoon or a small strainer of some variety.

Serving suggestion:(This is thanks to my sister and Paris)
Gnocchi with pesto and grilled chicken.
I usually cut my chicken into bite size pieces and toss it into a frying pan with salt pepper and olive oil. Flip at least once.
Place a small amount of pesto in the bottom of a bowl, as you're removing the gnocchi from the hot water shake off the excess water and drop right into the bowl. Add the chicken and toss with extra pesto as desired.

I know not everyone likes pesto soooo alternatively you could put your chicken pieces in a crock pot with some pasta sauce, spice as desired (oregano, parsley, basil, garlic powder, onion powder).

Really you could make both if you have alternate tastes at your table like I do. Neither one is particularly difficult.

BTW: I know you can buy pesto and pasta sauce and gnocchi at the store, but by making it myself I know exactly what's in it, and fresh just tastes better. It takes a little bit of time and a little bit of planning but you're taste buds will thank you!

Buon appatito!!

Success - Part II Sunday!

Raisin bread, white bread, and lasagna!

After such a full Saturday you'd think I'd want to take Sunday off right? Oh no my friends. I put the goal out there for all of you to read... I wasn't going to disappoint. I certainly learned why bakers start really early in the morning. I started early, or so I thought. I woke up at 8 AM. I started work about 9 AM. I didn't finish the bread until almost 2. But it was oh so worth it. And really it wasn't much work, it's just a lot of waiting. it took about 1/2 hour to make each loaf but almost 3 hours for each to rise and be ready for the oven then 40 minutes to bake. So for the most part I was sitting waiting (well not really I was busy with the lasagna but I'll get to that later).

I have pictures, sadly not of the process of making the bread. That would have taken a little forethought and maybe an extra set of hands, which I gained later in the day for pictures of the lasagna. I think 9 AM was a little too early to ask my husband to get up just to take some stinkin' pictures of me making bread. :)

I chose to make what's called Milk Bread. I thought it sounded un-appetizing until I realized I could also make Cinnamon Raisin Loaf with the same dough. With the recipe chosen I was off!

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3 tablespoons warm water (105 -115 degrees)
1 C milk (the fat content does not matter, I used 1%) - warmed to 105 to 115 degrees
5 tablespoons melted butter or margarine (I used butter)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 to 2 C all purpose flour
melted butter (some)

Step one: yeast plus water. It sounds really easy but this is where you will make or break your bread. If you heat the water too high (above 115 degrees) you will kill the yeast and your bread will not rise. If you don't heat it enough you will not wake your yeast up and it will not rise. I started with a pot of water on the stove and heated it slowly while getting all the other ingredients out. add 3 tablespoons warm water to the mixing bowl of your electric mixer plus the yeast. Let this rest for 5 minutes. It should dissolve and get bubbly. You may even hear the air bubbles popping.

Step two: Add the warm milk, butter sugar egg and salt. Mix for about a minute.

Step three: Flour. Add the bread flour and mix until combined. This will be very wet. Once this is combined add the all purpose flour 1/2 cup at a time until it is no longer sticky. To this novice, it still seemed sticky even when I had added 2 cups of flour but I decided to just go with it and see what happened. It worked out so I guess I need to change my definition of what is "sticky".

Step four: Knead! This is the fun part! If you want to knead by hand pull the bowl and kneed by pushing the roll of dough away from yourself and folding in half, then turn 45 degrees and push away again. If you don't want to do it by hand you can knead with a dough hook in your electric mixer, that's what I did. Knead for 10 minutes.

Step five: Leave it alone! Ok that's not true, you need to put the dough in a oiled bowl and turn once to coat. I put the oil in the bowl by first coating part of a paper towel and wiping down the inside of the bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I put the bowl in my oven with a bowl of steaming hot water to warm up the oven a few degrees.

Step six: Punch down the risen dough and knead for a minute.

Step seven: Refrigerate for 1/2 hour. I'm really not sure why, but I did what it told me to. The yeast was still hard at work and the dough rose a little more in the refrigerator.

Step eight: Rise again. Put the dough in a greased 8.5 X 4.5 inch loaf pan. You should try to shape it into a loaf type shape before putting it in the pan. If it starts in a ball either pull and fold it until it's in the right shape or roll it out with a rolling pin so it is 8.5 X 18 inches (or so), this is when you would add 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tbs sugar and 1/2 C raisins to make cinnamon raisin loaf. when you've added the filling roll the loaf into an 8.5 inch roll and pinch the ends and place in a greased loaf pan. Cover the loaf with plastic wrap again and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Step nine: Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Before you place the loaf in the oven brush with melted butter, or if you're making raisin loaf sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top. You'll know your loaf is done when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow. I found this really hard to do when the loaf and the pan were still really hot but I somehow found a way. I put the loaf pan on the edge of my range top and held the other end while leaving the center open for tapping with my oven mitt covered hand.

I'm not going to lie I was shocked this turned out right. Having never made bread before I was really expecting something flat and very sad looking. And now that I've read the recipe I realized I made a mistake. I used all bread flour. My bread is very chewy, which I think is really good but I can see it might be too much for some people. You may not be able to see it in the pictures but the process of kneading and rising and refrigeration created very small air pockets, as opposed to some bread which has very large air pockets.

Lasagna!

I've made this lasagna and I figure it's about time I share it with the world, especially since I think I perfected it.

Layers:
1 bunch swiss chard (I used red swiss chard, it has a red stem instead of green)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/3 C chopped onion
4 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
pinch of salt
1 lb mushrooms sliced
1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Sauce:
2 1/2 C whole milk
1 bay leaf
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
pinch cloves

Lasagna
9 lasagna noodles
olive oil
15 oz ricotta cheese
6 oz fontina cheese coarsley chopped/grated (I chopped)
8 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

I started by making the layers, then the sauce then cooking the noodles. The recipe said to make the sauce first but that seemed odd because it would just be sitting around while you made the rest and I'm sure I'd do one of two things; either I'd knock it over and spill it everywhere and need to make it again, or it would overheat and curdle and that's just gross.

To start: Set a pot of water boiling with a pinch of salt. Remove the center veins of the swiss chard leaves, clean and coarsely chop. Boil the leaves for 1 minute. Remove from the water and drain of as much water as you can, set aside.

Set another pot of water to boil, this is for the lasagna noodles.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a saute pan and heat. Add the onion, half the garlic and the red pepper to the pan. Allow this to cook until the onions begin to soften and turn transparent. Now the chard should be a little cooler, press as much of the water out of the leaves as possible. Once they are as dry as you can make them add the swiss chard to the onions and garlic and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the pan.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pan with the mushrooms and the rest of the garlic. Saute until the mushrooms start to turn brown and become fragrant. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

In a heavy sauce pan heat the milk and bay leaf to a simmer. In another pan melt the butter. Add the flour to the butter pan and whisk continuously for 2 minutes. Slowly mix the milk and bay into the butter/flour roux. Add salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Continue to summer until the sauce has thickened to the point that it coats the back of a spoon. This should take about 3 minutes.

Once the water boils for the lasagna noodles add all nine to the pot. Mix every few minutes. These should take about 9 to 10 minutes. These will be a little more firm that you would normally cook pasta, don't forget they will be cooking more in the oven.

Lay out the cooked lasagna noodles on a baking sheet or wax paper.

Prepare a 9X13 inch baking pan (I love my Pyrex) by oiling the insides.

To build the lasagna add a few tablespoons of the sauce to the bottom of the pan, lay out 3 lasagna noodles side by side. Add 1/2 the chard mix and 1/2 the mushroom mix in as flat a layer as you can. Add 1/2 the ricotta, fontina, and parmesan. Pour 3/4 C sauce over the whole lasagna. Repeat for the 2nd layer. Lay the remaining 3 lasagna noodles on top, pour the rest of the sauce over top. I also added a thin layer of parmesan just for a little extra cheese.

Bake covered at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

The swiss chard is a little bit bitter which mixes really well with the sweet of the ricotta, the buttery flavor of the fontina, and the salty parmesan. It is a nicely balanced flavor.

I made this Sunday and I initially intended not to cook it on Sunday, just assemble the parts, but I was concerned it would become soggy and soft overnight. I decided to bake it on Sunday and reheat on Monday. Having done it I think it was the right choice, the lasagna was solid without being soggy or falling apart.
 
It was a really busy weekend but it was absolutely worth it and I plan on doing it again! Making at least 1 or 2 dinners ahead has allowed me to have more relaxing evenings after work and the bread makes great breakfast!

That's all I have for now my friends. Comments and questions are always appreciated!

Success - The full story Saturday

As you know from last night's post I actually succeeded in completing my 4 goals for the weekend. So here's the full story with recipes. This is going to be a bit of a long post so I'm going to split it into two, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was quite a busy day for me. I had to go grocery shopping before I could even start my weekend cooking projects. Saturday at noon is not a good day and time to go to the grocery store. People are crazy and everyone is there. How is it that people who do not work (I'm looking at you retired people) go to the grocery store when everyone else is there? You have all day, every day. Go on Tuesday at noon. No one else will be there and you can take as long as you want staring at each grape in the bag, no one else is waiting to grab a bag of grapes and continue on their way. Ok I'm done, I'll talk about cooking now.

Chicken Escarole Soup:

I've had this at my husband's family's home for almost every holiday and I figured it was time to learn how to make it, plus I had escarole in my food share package and didn't know what else to do with it. So it was a win-win!

4 chicken breasts cut into small bite size pieces.
1 head of escarole - cleaned and cut or torn into bite sized pieces
1 bag of frozen peas and carrots
1 lb orzo
3 boxes of chicken stock, enough to cover all the ingredients
some fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Put chicken and chicken stock in a slow cooker on high for 2 hours or until the chicken is fully cooked. Add the peas and carrots and the escarole. Continue to cook on high until the escarole turns dark green and is not stiff. Add the parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the orzo per the instructions on the box. Add the orzo to the soup just before serving.

For a first attempt it's not bad. I think I can do better but I wanted to go really basic on the first try.

Gnocchi

This is one of my favorite things to make. It's a great thing to make ahead of time and have in the freezer ready to pull out any time you have guests. You'll always have fresh home made pasta!
I will admit that I have not tried this batch yet It's in the freezer for later in the week.

5 russet potatoes
1 egg
2 to 3 cups of flour

Bake the potatoes until they are tender. While they are still hot (this part is tricky, I recommend gloves for this) remove the skin and mash the potatoes in either a potato ricer or a food mill on the finest grain. The potatoes should cool enough by the time you're done ricing them that you should be able to handle them. beat the egg in a separate bowl and add to the potatoes. Add the flour one cup at a time while mixing until the dough becomes stiff. It will be a little sticky but that's ok. Roll the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips and cut the strips into 1/2 inch segments. You could roll a fork over the dough at this point and make it look like the commercial gnocchi but I don't recommend that, I think it's too much effort for a very small reward. Once you have cut your gnocchi you can either cook it fresh or freeze it so you're ready to cook it any time.

Pesto
What goes better with gnocchi but a good sauce? I made a very simple pesto and learned a very valuable lesson about cook books.

1/2 c pine nuts toasted
2 c basil packed down
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 c parmesan cheese
3 gloves garlic
salt to taste

Add all the ingredients to a small food processor (here is where I ran into trouble see below). Pulse until the basil leaves and pine nuts are no longer recognizable.

The recipe I was working from said you could make this in either a blender or food processor so I pulled out the Kitchenaid blender threw all the ingredients in and tried to pulse on puree. No good, the blade was spinning into nothing and would not pull the basil down I was able to crush a few pine nuts and the basil that happened to be touching the blade when I pushed the ON button but it wouldn't combine like I knew it should, and like I'd seen on Iron Chef more times than I can count. I still have no idea how they do it. I added more oil thinking maybe that was the problem. Nope! Still no luck. So I transferred all my ingredients partially chopped into my mini prep food processor and amazingly in a matter of seconds I had a real pesto.