Recently in Recipes/Techniques Category

While I've settled into my winter hibernation here in the Midwest, I've been hankerin' to bake bread. With all my culinary books still M.I.A, I decided to surf the net to find something similar to an artisanal bread I used to make a lot, though I don't think I've ever posted it. Feeling pretty sloth-like, I settled on a no-knead technique that was published in the NY Times a while back.

Because I haven't been able to find a direct link to the article and recipe (thanks Times, no linky for you!), I would point you towards Breadtopia.com for any of their recipes. If you've never checked their site out, you really should- they're very generous with their information, with tons of videos to help you to succeed the first time.

Oh, the name of the post came from Julie, who upon biting into it for the first time, remarked that it tasted like "restaurant bread", which I guess means I haven't totally forgotten everything I learned from my pro days, at least! We ate slices of it dipped in olive oil and aged parmesan, along with penne with salmon, broccoli, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes.

I had to shoot it outside, and the sound of it crackling as it cooled in the 2º outside air was absolutely amazing. I have another loaf raising for the next 16 hours now, I just hope I can fit into my jeans after we eat it.

I threw together this quick pasta dish for our second anniversary tonight, and it sort of reminds me of Julie- beautiful to look at, and then filled with such rich gooey warmth it just made me glad that I was smart enough to order such a great dish.

Uh, something like that. I'm not exactly good with the mushy stuff, but I've got the most perfect wife I could have ever wished for.

Served with a smoked shallot and asparagus orzo.

Too busy to write a detailed post, and I think it'll be more fun if I just answer any questions you have about it in the comments. Anyone?

About 6 hours in my smoker with pecan wood only, after one load of charcoal to get things going. They got another 3 or 4 hours in a low oven after that.

We served this with an ancho pasilla cream sauce to our guests as part of my birthday bash. More stuff to come!

It's our usual spicy chicken and eggplant curry on basmati rice, though I did add some raisins this time, which I really like. Julie, not so much.

Been cooking? Dish!

Not at all.

80/20 burger grilled over pecan w/pepper jack cheese, grilled buns, and all the fixins. A little worcestershire sauce and some Survival Spice®.

I could've eaten 10 of them. Or so.

By Jove, I think I've done it!

I've tried to cook corned beef a lot of ways over the years, and this was my most successful attempt yet. Traditionally my technique has involved some sort of a braise- immersing the beef at least partially in liquid, all the way to a completely immersed boil. My efforts, although flavorful and tender when sliced thinly, we never as tender as what I was shooting for.

This time I did it differently, and the results were tender beyond words. I started with a really nice Harris Ranch piece I picked up at Sprouts Market. I had been surfing a bit online, looking at lots of techniques, and settled on using my Dutch Oven with the meat on a steaming basket above my liquid, which was a few pints of Guinnes with some additional water. I used the seasonings as is, other than adding some Colman's mustard to the mix.

I cooked the beef in the oven around 325º for the most part for over 4 hours, the lid tightly closed except for about 45 minutes to let the peppercorns and the corned beef brown a bit.

During the last hour I decided to roast an onion, 4 carrots, and a half dozen Yukon Gold potatoes on a sheet pan to give them some color while I cut a small head of cabbage into wedges, keeping the stem intact to help hold them together.

I pulled the beef out, removed the steamer basket, and pulled out whatever bits where in the Guiness, then added more water and mustard, plus a generous squeeze of lemon juice to brighten the liquid up a bit. I added the cabbage to the bottom, along with the carrots and onion. The potatoes went on top of that, and the beef topped it all off. I took the picture at this point, you can see in the corner that the cabbage is still raw.

It boiled until everything was ready, then I sliced the corned beef for service.

I may tweak this a bit next year, but the results were amazing. Really amazing. There's a bonus picture in the extended entry.

Anybody else make some corned beef this year? Slainté!!!

This was a recent pie featuring lots of garlic, green onions, pepperoni, and red peppers.

Dang, it was good!

Happy Valentine's Day!

While going through the pantry the other day I saw our bread maker gathering dust in the corner. I've had it for years, but hadn't seen it since I moved to Phoenix over 5 years ago. A bread maker is that sort of gadget that rarely pays for itself for most people, I think, so when I first bought it I put a Post-it note on top so I could keep track of how many loaves I had made.

The Post-it is long gone, but I actually think I recouped my investment. It does a decent job, really, though I wish I had gotten the bigger model. Since I've had it out I've gotten away from the recipes that came with the machine, and I've been fooling around with my own.

Here's the recipe for the loaf in the picture:

1 1/2 C white bread flour
5/8 C wheat flour
3 T Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Olive
2t kosher salt
1 1/2t dry yeast.

That's it. Simple, but it makes a really good loaf, and I think the oil keeps it from getting stale too quickly. I keep it in the fridge in a one gallon Ziplock bag.

I'm a sucker for freshly baked bread. Where's the jam?