Hooray for Challah!

Yep, I did it. I said I was going to and I did. And making challah wasn't as difficult as I imagined. I read and re-read the recipe. I never hardly left the kitchen.  After I got the three ropes ready (I was just going for the basic three rope braid. We can save the six rope braid for another, bolder day.) and made my braid, it looked so pretty.

I have to admit that, all in all, it was just the satisfying experience I thought it would be. I wasn't disappointed at all. (although it did feel kind of heavy.)

The only thing I wonder now  is whether I should feel guilty for letting my mixer do all the kneading work. Is that cheating? Is it like using Miracle-Gro and not telling anyone you really don't have a green thumb?
Just wondering.

I think I'll get off my bread kick now.  Every once in a while, we're supposed to get out of our comfort zone and try something new, right? I did and I feel good about it.

Time for a nice savory stew. Since it's April 2 and it's still snowing.

I made my bread from a recipe I found on Food52, a site I love to visit now and again. After I used this recipe, I remembered that I have a copy of the Bread Bible, so I really didn't have to go to the internet at all. I had my own library as a resource. Getting lazy . . . . and now that I've "re-found" my book, maybe this bread phase isn't over yet. When spring finally comes, then I'll stop.

                                                 

A Virgin Voyage with Focaccia

There has to be a first time for everything and I just made my first focaccia. Buoyed by my conquest of pizza dough, I was even more determined to overcome my fear of yeast and move on to bread. If there was a Scoville scale for bread, I'm thinking focaccia would be on the next rung up.

When I pulled my first focaccia out of the oven, it looked like the surface of Mars. Oh, but the aroma! The piney fragrance of the rosemary, the richness of the olive oil. The smell of bread baking -- any kind of bread -- is just heart-warming. No wonder it's so highly recommended for home sellers.

I was so proud. I had to boast to Mr. Rosemary.

"Smells good," says he. "What's so special about it?"

Nothing, really. Except for the fact that I made it.

His innocent question made me want to research it a little more. And I found a lot of information, although I found it curious that many of the sources I read wove their way back to Wikipedia. (What did we do before Wikipedia? It took hours to do what we can now do in mere minutes, that's what.)

Here's what I learned:

• Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread that may be topped with other ingredients.
• It is similar is style and texture to pizza dough, consisting of flour, water, salt, oil and yeast.
• It is typically rolled or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven . . . or on a pizza stone.
• The first focaccia is thought to have been made prior to the Roman Empire by the Etruscans in North Central Italy, or by the ancient Greeks.
• It takes its names from the Roman phrase "panis foacacius" meaning a flat loaf of bread cooked under the ashes of a fire or upon a hearth.

And there are just as many recipes for focaccia as there are for, well  . . . .  bread. The recipe I chose was probably the most complicated, but only because it called for three rises. It was worth it, although I think I'll go for a simpler one next time. I don't think that's the way the Etruscans made it. 

But this recipe from Simply Recipes was perfect, although lengthy! The bread was great for sandwiches or snacking. I confess it was my breakfast for several mornings. And it does freeze well.  

So, now  I have pizza dough and focaccia under my belt.  Can challah be far behind?

This recipe makes enough for 2 good-sized loaves. You can make it all in free-form loaves that look like puffy pizzas, or shape them into casseroles or cake pans – there are no absolutes on the shape of this bread. The bread takes on the flavor of the olive oil so be sure to use a good quality one. 

Focaccia Bread with Rosemary

From Simply Recipes

1 package dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water, about 100 degrees

2 1/4 cups tepid water

2 Tbsp good quality olive oil, plus more for the pan and to paint on top of the bread

3 cups bread flour

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp salt, plus coarse salt (fleur de sel if you have it, otherwise Kosher salt) for sprinkling over the top

2-3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary 

Stir the yeast into the 1/3 cup of slightly warm-to-the-touch water and let it rest for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, pour in 2 1/4 cups of tepid water and 2 tablespoons olive oil. After the yeast has rested for 10 minutes and has begun to froth, pour it into the water-oil mixture.

Whisk in 2 cups of flour (either the bread flour or the all purpose; at this stage it doesn't matter which) and the tablespoon of salt. Add the rosemary. Then, cup by cup, whisk in the rest of the flour (both the bread flour and all purpose). As the mixture goes from a batter to a thick dough, you'll want to switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon. By the time you get to the last cup of flour, you will be able to work the dough with your hands. Begin to knead it in the bowl – try to incorporate all the flour stuck to the sides and bottom of the bowl as you begin kneading.

Once the bowl is pretty clean, turn the dough out onto a board and knead it well for 8 minutes. You might need some extra flour if the dough is sticky.

I used my stand mixer for the mixing and kneading of the bread dough. After adding all the flour, cup by cup, I switched to the dough hook and let the machine knead the bread for 8 minutes.

In a large clean bowl, pour in about a tablespoon of oil and put the dough on top of it. Spread the oil all over the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for an hour and a half. It should just about double in size.

Spread a little olive oil in your baking pan or baking sheet (will make it easier to remove the bread). Place the dough in your baking pans or form it into free-form rounds on a baking sheet. This recipe will do two nice-sized loaves or one big one and a little one. Cover the breads and set aside for another 30 minutes.

Dimple the breads with your thumb. Push in to about the end of your thumbnail, roughly 1/2-inch. Cover again and leave it to rise for its final rise, about 2 hours.

With 30 minutes to go before the rise finishes, preheat your oven to 400°F. If you have a pizza stone put it in.

Once the dough has done its final rise, gently paint the top with olive oil – as much as you want. Then sprinkle the coarse salt on top from about a foot over the bread; this lets the salt spread out better on its way down and helps reduce clumps of salt.

Put the bread in the oven. If you are doing free-form breads, put it right on the pizza stone. Bake for a total of 20-25 minutes. If you have a water spritzer bottle, spritz a little water in the oven right before you put the bread in to create steam, and then a couple of times while the bread is baking.

When the bread comes out of the oven, turn it out onto a rack within 3-5 minutes; this way you'll keep the bottom of the bread crispy. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before eating.

Makes a large loaf and a small loaf of 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.

Greek Pizza Reprisal | What's in a Name?

I read a blog a few weeks ago about naming foods and it really struck a chord with me. The writer (forgive me, please, that I really can't remember whose blog it was) went on a minor rant about how we -- that would be bloggers and anyone else who writes about food, creates recipes, writes menus, etc., etc. -- have a tendency to assign a dish a nationality just because of one ingredient, maybe two.

For instance, if it has basil and tomatoes, it's Italian.  Feta and olives? Greek. Cilantro and cumin? Mexican. You get the idea.

Guilty. When I was planning to make a white pizza for a girls night in, I told them my friends we were having a Greek pizza, because (here, I *blush*) I was using feta and olives with tomatoes and spinach. Oh, and oregano.

But what else would I call it?  I know that one ingredient does not a dish make. Soy sauce doesn't make it Chinese  Tarragon doesn't immediately mean French.

I know all this, and, still, I didn't know how else to identify what kind of pizza I was making that other people would readily understand. It's a whole lot simpler  to say "Greek pizza" than to spell out "a pizza with no tomato sauce, no mozzarella or provolone, but spinach, tomatoes, olives and feta." And I knew that's what my guests would understand.

Maybe that's why we cavalierly assign names that really aren't authentic  It's like using cliches; they're handy shortcuts, universally understood.

So we had a Greek pizza.  And the next night, Mr. Rosemary and I had the pasta dish pictured at the top. It wasn't "Greek" because it didn't have feta. But I did have extra spinach and olives from the pizza, so I tossed those in with the warm pasta, fresh tomatoes, and added Parmesan. What would you call that dish? Besides quick, easy and good?

Back to the pizza . . . . I was sure that I'd made a big step towards overcoming my fear of yeast since I  now successfully make my own dough often, even weekly.

But my sister introduced me to a new yeast that Fleischmann's makes called Pizza Crust Yeast and I have to admit, it was very easy, very quick and very good. That's a trio of adjectives I like, no matter how much I like to spend time in the kitchen.

The beauty of this yeast is that it requires no rising. So you can mix up the dough and make the pizza right away. No waiting for anything.  It still needs to be kneaded (don't we all) but there's no waiting.

Problem is I only had one packet of the yeast. Now I need to find more. It's not readily available everywhere yet, so I'll have to keep my eye open for it and buy buckets of it when I do.

I'll still make regular pizza dough, but it's nice to know I have a handy alternative.

There's only one teeny, tiny little problem with the yeast: It makes only 1 12-inch pizza, which Mr. Rosemary could handily eat by himself.

No Rise Pizza Dough
from Fleischmann's
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cup flour
1 envelope pizza yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup very warm water (120 - 130 degrees F.)
3 tablespoons oil

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil.
Mix together until well-blended, about 1 minute
Add 1/2 cup flour gradually until dough forms a ball. Add additional flour if needed, to handle
Spoon dough out of bowl and onto floured surface.  Dough will be slightly sticky.
Knead on floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes.
Press out dough to fill a greased pizza pan. Or, if you're like me, and need a rolling pin, roll dough to a 12 inch circle and transfer to a greased pan.
Top as you want with sauce, cheese and toppings.
Bake on bottom oven rack at 425 F or 12 to 15 minutes until cheese on top is bubbly and crust is brown.

Going "Publix" with a Vegetarian Feast | Quinoa Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

If you've never taken a cooking class, you really should. I'm not talking about the department store demo.  I mean the put-on-your-apron, get-your-knife-chopping cooking class.  Just a lot of fun. And even if you're a veteran in the kitchen, you're bound to learn something.

I recently visited my daughter who lives in Tampa. It had been months since I'd seen her and it was a very sunny break from a gray winter for this Pennsylvania born and bred soul. (I think that the groundhog lied.)

One of the things we planned to do was to go to a cooking class. Our original plan was to cash in on a Groupon Amy had found for a sushi class. But our timing was bad for that so we looked elsewhere and found that the Publix supermarket offered cooking classes at one of its stores.

Grilled vegetables (eggplant, portobella mushroom, zucchini) and provolone
 got stacked between two slices of ciabbatta bread and grilled.
 (The balsamic glace kinda looks like a treble clef!)

Before I go any further, I have to tell you that my daughter did not catch any kind of cooking bug from me. When she was little she did like to make play dough with me and mix inedible things with flour and water, but she outgrew any visions of mastering anything culinary. Where did I go wrong!

So signing us up for a cooking class together was generous on her part, just to please her mother.  (Amy would have preferred the Taco Tuesday class the previous night --  booked! -- to the vegetarian class we attended. "Mom," she said, "I like meat!")

But we were very impressed with the vegetarian feast our co-chef teachers coached us through. We made a tabouleh-like quinoa salad, a grilled vegetable panini, vegetable lo mein with tofu, and for the finale, orange creme brulee, the only dish I didn't get a picture of!

The vegetable lo mein featured colorful, crisp veggies and tofu,
wonderfully fragranced with fresh ginger,

 all topped with toasted sesame seeds.

And then we sat down and ate our little feast, accompanied by our choice of wine. My carnivore daughter was impressed that the meal was hearty without meat. I liked it all, but the creme brulee was the most fun to make. And I didn't get a picture! Too bad I was too busy running my little torch to perfect my burnt sugar crust!  ("You don't have one of those, do you, Mom?" says my daughter. I know what my next present will be!)

My favorite dish was the quinoa salad. Colorful, full of texture and fresh citrus flavor. Just a lot of chopping! Great do ahead salad.  It was while making this that I learned my favorite new tip about juicing a lemon:  use your tongs! Just nestle a lemon (or lime) half between the arms of the tongs and squeeze. You don't get lemon juice on your hands and, you don't have to dirty another tool! Clever!

I wish I could take more classes there . . .  until next Florida visit! Now, without further ado . . . the salad:

Incan Quinoa Salad with Citrus Thyme Vinaigrette
Serves 4
Courtesy of Publix 
1 cup raw Incan quinoa
2 cups vegetable stock
3 limes, zested
4 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 yellow pepper, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
1 bunch scallions,thinly sliced
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeds removed, finely diced
1/4 red onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
For the dressing:
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped fine
2 ounces grapeseed oil
salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Place quinoa and vegetable stock in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. When done, the grain will appear soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside of the grain. Chill immediately  Meanwhile, chop the vegetables, prepare the juice and zest.

Prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, combine the citrus juices, garlic and thyme and then slowly drizzle in the oil while constantly whisking. Taste for seasoning.

Toss the vinaigrette with the quinoa mixture to coat evenly. Allow at least 10 to 15 minutes for the flavors to blend.

A Secret -- and Cannelloni

I've been keeping a secret for a few months . . . . not a really big secret  (Like my book is coming out next month! --  I wish!)

It's just a little secret . . . . I've been teaching a neighbor boy how to cook.  He just turned 8, but he was 7 when we started last summer. Every two weeks, he comes to my house after school and we cook together for a couple hours in my little kitchen.  And we have a ball.

At first, we were both a little tentative, but before long we were acting every bit the grandmother and grandkid we looked like together. We joke some, I nod approvingly when he measures correctly, he teases. We cook good stuff and we have good fun.

Wyatt  loves to bake. And although baking's not my strongest suit in the kitchen, I can definitely handle the basics. (We won't be making puff pastry anytime soon.) The biggest plus about baking with a child, for me anyhow,  is that, for the most part, knives aren't involved  Soon enough for that. For now, if we need to chop something -- like onions for meatballs -- we use my mini-chopper.

We have made a variety of great food -- cupcakes, cookies, meatballs, breaded chicken, pizza, Oreo truffles. Our goal is usually to make something he can take home for dinner that he made as well as a dessert or a treat he can share with friends at school the next day. And something that's manageable in under two hours.

The breaded chicken was different to me.  I learned his mother was gluten-free and we tried something she steered me to: using crushed rice Chex cereal as the coating. It was great!

We've had a couple minor accidents: He dropped an egg on the floor;  I dropped a tray of just baked cookies. Once, while cleaning up, he pretty much sprayed my window above the sink as much as the dishes.

I wasn't looking for a cooking student. It was his mother's idea. She knew I had been a teacher, that I wrote a food column for the local paper, and that I had this blog. And I was nearby.

And her son likes to cook.  She reasoned that her older son was taking music lessons and golf lessons. Why not find a teacher for what her middle son liked to do? Makes perfect sense. Although she herself likes to cook, she has a job, two other kids and this little arrangement provides her son something that's just for him. I'm impressed by her original thinking.

One of the main dishes we made was stuffed shells.  We stuffed the shells with a sausage and cheese fiilling using a recipe from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy.

There was plenty of filling for two dozen stuffed shells. And we didn't scrimp on stuffing them either. So I was left with filling and no shells. So the next day, I made crepes and we had cannelloni instead.  Same filling, different container.

Sausage and Cheese Cannelloni
adapted from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy

1 dozen crepes* (click here for my recipe)

1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed

2 tablespoons olive oil

16-ounces whole milk ricotta

2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons minced, fresh, flat-leaf parsley

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

4 cups prepared marinara sauce, homemade or jarred

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Crumble the sausage into the skillet and fry until lightly browned.  Using a wooden spoon, break the meat into small bits as it cooks.  

Combine cooked sausage, ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper together in a large bowl and mix well.

Pour enough marinara sauce in a 9×13 baking dish to cover the bottom of the dish, about 1 1/2 cups.  Place about 2 tablespoons of filling down the middle of each crepe. Fold the side over and place, seam side down, on top of the sauce.  Ladle the rest of the marinara on top.  Sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan, cover with foil and bake until bubbly, about 30-35 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is gooey and melted and begins to brown.  Remove and let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

* Crepes are time consuming and are a definite "do-ahead" in my book. You can make them the day before, keep them separated by squares of waxed paper, and place in the fridge. Or you can stack them and store them (again, separated by waxed paper) in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just thaw some before using.

Discovering the Versatile Fennel | Roasted Fennel with Parmesan

I go through food phases once in a while. Or maybe they're kicks. I don't know. I just know that every once in a while, I latch onto one particular food and cook the death out of it. There was the bean phase -- cannelini, black, pintos, garbanzos. And  then peppers: jalapenos, poblanos, serranos, up and down the Scoville scale. And we can't forget the squash phase.

Now it's fennel's turn in the hopper. I've cooked with fennel a lot, the seeds at least. They are a standard when I cook with sausage (which is often, since Mr. Rosemary thinks it's a food group unto its own.) And I add it to stews and soups. But the whole thing? Nope. Never.

The reason is that it's usually not readily available around here. Until lately. Now, I seem to find it every time I shop. It's partly the season; partly due to the speed of commercial transit in this country.
                                       

It all started at Christmas time. I was planning on serving simple roasted vegetables -- broccoli and cauliflower -- to go along with the fussier pork Wellington. (A post for another day.)  I happened upon a couple bulbs of fennel and spontaneously decided that roasted fennel would go on the menu, too, as I was expecting other enthusiastic taste tasters for dinner.

"What's that?," asked granddaughter Emma.

"You've had that before," answered Uncle Dan. "It's fennel."

"Hmm, . . . . looks different," she said.

It was probably because I'd sliced it vertically instead of chopped. But if I was serving a different vegetable, I was looking for some "Ta-da" drama!

It was a surprising success at dinner. I delighted in it, everyone at least sampled it along with all our other goodies, and Emma had seconds.

Since then, I've purchased fennel a number of times and have added it to stews, soups and casseroles  chopped it into salads, and roasted it some more.

Fennel has a unique taste. Some say it tastes like licorice, but I think it's more of a cross between celery and onion, with a slightly sweet cast. I read an article on Culinate that described fennel as "a wispy, aristocratic" vegetable. Pretty poetic. The fronds of the fennel bulb resemble dill and can be used chopped finely like dill in just about anything you use dill in.

It is remarkably versatile and I found another article in which the cook/author outlines "Twelve Ways to Cook Fennel, " a very helpful resource. And just today I found a blog post on Stacey Snacks with a recipe for a fennel gratin, the next thing on my fennel crusade.

If you haven't tried it yet, you'll be surprised, especially roasted.

Roasted Fennel with Parmesan
only slightly adapted from  Giada Di Laurentis
(I sliced it vertically; her recipe said to slice it horizontally!)

4 tablespoons olive oil
4 fennel bulbs, cut horizontally into 1/3-inch thick slices, fronds reserved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly oil the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. (I lightly sprayed foil with olive oil.) Arrange the fennel in the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then with the Parmesan. Drizzle with the oil. Bake until the fennel is fork-tender and the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Chop enough fennel fronds to equal 2 teaspoons, then sprinkle over the roasted fennel.

Adult Treats: Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops

I'd say these pops were kid pleasers, but -- frankly -- I don't know many kids who are cheesecake lovers. In fact, I've learned that there really are -- I shudder to think! -- people in the world who don't like cheesecake! And I've met quite a few people who don't like peanut butter.

I have, however,  met very few people who don't like love chocolate. Milk, dark, Dutch, semi-sweet, double, white -- doesn't matter. It's one of the reasons we can pack on the pounds around the holidays, why we love to be treated at Valentine's Day (did someone say aphrodisiac?), why we cram Easter baskets with chocolate everything.

But I've never, ever, ever met anyone who didn't think eating something on a stick was just plain fun. Instant party!

So when I was wandering around looking for something new to do with peanut butter and chocolate  these pops immediately caught my attention. When I read through the recipe and saw that they were square pops, not round, I thought my clumsy self just might be able to dip those babies in chocolate without flubbing them up too badly.

(Why I was looking for something new to do with peanut butter and chocolate in the first place, I don't know. Not when I already have this recipe, and this. And probably tons more in my cookbook collections. Must be a disease.)

I was right . . . . a success on all fronts. Great combination of peanut butter and chocolate, cream cheese, portion control.

Couple cautions: As I read the recipe, I also read some reviews. Because of them, I used a larger pan than the 8 x 8 originally called for. That made smaller pieces; this is very rich. I will make them again, and next time I will roll the pops in nuts. A minor decadent touch.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops
from Food Network Kitchens

Cheesecake:

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter

Chocolate:

5 tablespoons vegetable shortening

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Special Equipment:

Wooden pop sticks

For the cheesecake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9 pan with parchment paper letting long flaps overlap on each side. Spritz with nonstick spray.

Break up the brown sugar to remove all lumps. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until very smooth. Add the cream and beat slowly; then add the yolks and vanilla mixing until just combined. Gently stir in peanut butter. 

Pour and evenly spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Open the oven to release some heat, then lower the temperature to 200 degrees F. Continue to bake the cheesecake until the outside is set but the center is still loose, for about 45 minutes. Turn off the oven, and cool cheesecake in the oven for 45 more minutes. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Lift cheesecake from the pan by lifting up thepaper. Transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares, about 1-1/2 inches. Stick a wooden pop stick halfway into each bar and freeze for one hour.

Meanwhile, put the shortening and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of warm water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not toughing, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth

Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. (Or put the chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl and melt at 50 percent power in the microwave until soft, about one minute. Stir, and continue to heat until completely melted, about 1 minute more.

Dip the pops in the chocolate mixture and stand on waxed paper to set, about 5 minutes. Chill before serving.

If you really want to be decadent, you could, as The Food Network Kitchens suggest, coat the pops in nuts or candies, too. Peanuts would be great, I think, but I was already feeling way decadent.