More often than not, my dinners are inspired by other bloggers, when I have a chance to read blogs on breaks throughout the day. When I don't have time, I sometimes find myself at a loss. For my own purposes, I think in a year from now it would be helpful to have a comprensive list of everything I cooked and ate over the previous year for those nights that I just don't know what to cook - even listing trips to restaurants, and linking back to blog posts with recipes - if I have deemed the dish blog-worthy, of course.
Additionally, I thought this page may be a better glimpse into my every day, after several comments referred to me as a "rich cook" and asking "how are you not as big as a house?" Because I only post sporadically, what I post is not representative of what I eat every day! When I have a recipe that is special, that is unique or different from what I eat every day, that is when I deem it blog-worthy.
What do you think? Would a list like this inspire your next dinner?
Homemade Flour Tortillas
When I was young and growing up in Austin, my family frequented a grocery mega-store called Central Market. I know I'm not able to do it justice, but between the frequent exposure to their fresh cheese counter, deli, butcher, endless produce selection, and a bakery, my foodie tendencies were sure to arise early in life.
The highlight of our trips to Central Market, at least for me, was going home with a pack of ten fresh flour tortillas - and by fresh, I mean I was able to stand outside the bakery and watch women pluck hot tortillas from the griddle and toss them into a bag. Oftentimes, the bags were still warm and sweating when they went into our cart. On the rare chance that they made it all the way home, we never dared "waste" them on tacos or enchiladas - they were to be eaten solo, naked and pure.
My love for tortillas followed me to Nashville. Like so many things, I miss Austin for them.
Now, armed with knowledge and a trusty stand mixer, I'm able to make my own tortillas. They're not like Central Market's...theirs are chewy and floppy, almost doughy, and mine are sturdy and floury. Either way, when I remove them from the griddle, blistered and hot, I can't help but think back to those Saturdays at Central Market...only now, others are watching me pluck tortillas off the griddle in anticipation.
You will need:
4 cups of all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups of warm milk
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk and stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, and knead on low speed for 2-3 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Remove to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Rest dough for 20 minutes.
Once dough has rested, pick off ping-pong sized balls and roll into balls. Set on a large plate or cutting board without touching, and cover with plastic wrap to rest for another 10 minutes.
One at a time, place dough balls on a floured surface, pat into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until thin - about eight inches in diameter. Place tortillas on a very hot, ungreased griddle and turn over when one side is blistered and brown/golden brown in spots. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep warm. If you have leftovers, they will keep wrapped in foil for about a day.
Makes 16 8-inch tortillas.
From Homesick Texan, a girl after my own heart.
Ciabatta Bread
This was my first recipe prepared with my stand mixer. I peered over the top of the bowl, marveling as the dough hook worked its magic on what moments before had just been flour, sugar, water and starter. The slow, satisfying thwack-thwack-thwack of kneading dough against the bowl continued long after I had walked away from the kitchen. KitchenAid - the home cook's best friend, indeed.
For my first run with the mixer, and for a bread recipe I picked from the sky, the results were both fantastic and fleeting - the bread didn't stick around long, which with only two people in the house, is usually a good sign.
To make a sponge/starter, you will need:
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup warm water
1 cup bread flour
In a small bowl, stir together 1/8 teaspoon of the yeast and the warm water and let stand 5 minutes, or until foamy.
In a separate bowl, stir together (above) yeast mixture, 1/3 cup of the water, and 1 cup of the bread flour.
Stir together by hand for 4 minutes (there is a good reason for this - the dough takes a while to come together due to the ratio of liquid to dry ingredients), then cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sponge stand at cool room temperature for 24 hours. Note: the sponge/starter will not be runny like many starters are. Over the next 24 hours, it will develop into the right consistency. You'll know when it's ready, as it will smell a little beer-like.
To make the bread after 24 hours, you will need:
Your sponge/starter
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tsp brown sugar
2/3 cup warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for oiling the bowl in which your dough will rise)
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
In a small bowl stir together yeast, warm water and sugar and let stand 5 minutes, or until creamy in appearance.
In bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with dough hook, blend together yeast mixture (above), your sponge/starter, water, oil, and flour at low speed until flour is just moistened; add salt and mix until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. The dough should be relatively firm at this point and clear the sides of the bowl.
Scrape dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Dough is doubled in bulk when pressing a finger into the top leaves an indentation that doesn't bounce back.
Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet and form into a free-form oval or circle.
Cover loaf with a dampened kitchen towel. Let rise at room temperature until again doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
At least 45 minutes before baking ciabatta, put a baking stone on the lowest position in your oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees (do not put a cold baking stone into a hot oven!). Bake ciabatta for 15-20 minutes on baking stone, or until golden brown. Tapping on the underside of the bread with two fingers (like you were flicking it) should produce a hollow sound.
Adapted slightly from TriniGourmet
I Don't Believe It
Oh my goodness, I actually have one.
The coveted KitchenAid. Yep, it's in my kichen, courtesy of my brother and Josh. All I'll say is this: I have wonderful, thoughtful guys in my life.
To everyone's surprise, I had no interest in a purple mixer (overkill, in my opinion). Instead, this "pistachio" color fits right in with our purple/blue/green/white backsplash and compliments the purple quite nicely.
So now I'm looking for suggestions. What would be, or what was, the first thing you prepare in your KitchenAid? I'm sure this baby can handle just about anything I can think to throw in it, and I really want to see it in its glory (i.e., not cookies which I could make with a hand mixer).
I'm a bit late with the sentiment, but I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and an enjoyable new year!
Mexican Wedding Cookies
When I was young, and (I'm ashamed to admit this), up until about 3 years ago, I was convinced that these cookies were my mother's. By that I mean her recipe that she was brilliant enough to dream up. I guess my mind as a child associated the "Mexican" in the title with my mom's Spanish (as in, from Spain) heritage...which shouldn't have made much sense 3 years ago anyway.
Imagine my surprise as I perused the grocery store (3 years ago) and came upon a pink Keebler box entitled "Danish Wedding Cookies," complete with a picture of powdered-sugar coated balls.
Could these...
Were these...
Were the Mexican Wedding Cookies that had always been a staple during Christmases of my childhood not been an example of my mom's brillance at work?
Apparently not, I soon confirmed with a quick Google search. The exact same cookies are not only known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, but also as the Keebler box suggested, as well as Russian Tea Cakes and, not so subtly, Pecan Snowballs.
Regardless of what you call them or what culture you associate them with, these cookies are often the only one of their kind on holiday potluck tables. They bake up much like shortbread, buttery and crumbly, and after a quick roll through powdered sugar, are irresistible at best and dangerous at worst. You may find you need to double the recipe (this one yields about 36).
You will need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus 1 cup for dusting
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup - 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Knead all ingredients except pecans together until a ball forms, but do not overmix or the cookies will be tough. Knead in pecans.
Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled enough to handle (about an hour). Form dough into balls, and bake 12-16 minutes until the balls are golden brown.
Allow to cool. Put the rest of the sugar in a large bowl. When the cookies are cool to the touch, place 2-3 at a time into the bowl, and shake to coat with sugar. Once all the cookies are coated once, sift the remaining sugar over the cookies to give a second coating.
Savory Bread Pudding
Man. Is it just me, or is it really hard to go back to eating normally after Thanksgiving? All I want are cookies.
Alas, I refuse to undo the work I've done all year and nullify my thrice weekly workouts by eating cookies morning, noon and night. Add to that the fact that I've become a part of my company's Wellness Committee, and therefore I. must. resist.
My carb cravings hit full tilt this time of year also, and they eventually become unignorable to the point that I have to give in from time to time, despite my best efforts to ingest main-dish salads every night leading up to Christmas (as the buffalo wings digesting from dinner laugh at that best effort).
Enter bread pudding...but not the sort that would quell my cookie craving. This is a savory bread pudding, which I'd like to think is fairly original and imaginative, but I'm sure I'm not the first to give it a shot. I had leftover Italian bread from my parents' visit over Thanksgiving, as well as half and half and a smattering of good cheeses from the same visit (my Italian father is a Grana Padano snob, while I'm generally content with Parmesan in a tub). Josh had just dried the final sprigs of a hearty sage plant that had survived at least two overnight frosts, so you see, I had no choice.
How do I know when a new dish is a hit? Josh tells me he loves me with his mouth full.
You will need:
2-3 slices bacon (peppered bacon would be sooo goooood)
1 shallot, sliced thinly into rings
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 or 4 leaves of chopped sage/2 teaspoons dried sage
4 1/2 cups of French or Italian bread cubes, cut from a loaf and loosely packed into a measuring cup
1 cup mixed grated cheeses (I used Grana Padano, white cheddar and muenster)
4 tablespoons heavy cream
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove, crumble, and set aside. In the same pan, cook the shallot until beginning to brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sage and cook just until fragrant, about one minute (don't burn the garlic).
In a medium bowl, combine the shallot mixture, bread cubes, cheeses, and bacon. Pour in the cream and stir until everything is moistened. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.
Transfer to a greased casserole dish and cook for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
November Daring Baker's Challenge: Crostata
This chocolate and ricotta tart is light, fresh and easy to make. I do wish I had gone with a different pastry - something saltier and flakier - but for the quick pastry it is, it works well with the ricotta filling. We had a couple of pieces once it cooled, and left the rest of the tart in the freezer for several weeks until the day after Thanksgiving, and it froze and defrosted perfectly.
The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.
These challenges are helping me to better equip my kitchen - I've been after a tart pan for ages, and even though we were allowed to make a free-form tart, I took this challenge as the best excuse I could fathom to get my hands on a tart pan!
The recipe I used came from Broxholm Road (warning: measurements are given in Metric format, so some conversions and/or a kitchen scale are necessary).
And here's the challenge post.
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