Here is another picture that I just had to post.... these are some cute bread I found at a Japanese bakery in Nagoya, Japan this summer. I know that the frog ones are "Melon bread", and the ladybugs ones are with chocolate filling. I would've loved to try them, but they were just cute to eat!

Hello~! I just wanted to post this delicious strawberry shortcake (I made one for Belinda for her birthday too ^o^) I love taking pictures of food - just like Belinda! - so I will be posting more in the future. Thanks Belinda for letting me post on her blog!

More bread! - an experiment!

I just mixed up a batch of No Knead Bread, but am experimenting with adding BACON. I remember buying a loaf of bread in Germany that had "speck" in it, which is bacon. The bacon was dispersed throughout the loaf, and added a nice salty taste, too. I lightly browned diced bacon and rendered the fat off, and let it cool before adding it to the dry ingredients. I also added in rosemary, so hopefully that combination will be delectable together. I'm baking it off tomorrow night (possibly adding cheese to the second loaf) so I'll let you know how it turns out :)

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UPDATE: 10/1/09 , 9:33PM

Turns out I was so excited to make the bacon and rosemary bread that I forgot to add in YEAST!! So I got home from work today expecting the dough to have tripled in size - my heart broke seeing all that wasted king arthur flour and bacon. The dough was same size as yesterday, and I didn't think it'd taste good all dense and some junk.

But no worries, I started up a new batch again so hopefully there will be some good results tomorrow! yum yum : )

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UPDATE: 10/3/09, 11:45PM

Here is the update of my bacon bread, with pictures! I ended up waking up at 4am Friday to shape and proof the bread, and baked it off at 6am, so it was ready to eat at 7 before work!! I felt like such the baker (candlestickmaker) :)

Anyways, the bread turned out pretty good! The bacon made it a little greasy, but it was still very fluffy and light. The bacon wasn't super salty, so it was more of a bite of bacon along with the bread, and I kept worrying a piece of bacon would fall out when I was toasting a slice of bread at work - I'm sure my co-workers would think I'm crazy to make bacon bread, esp. if a piece of bacon was stuck at the bottom of our toaster and created some sort of fire or whatnot. Anyways, tasty bread but I don't think I'd do it again with this bacon. I think I'd try with pancetta since it's saltier, and I would cut it into smaller pieces - the bacon I had were like 1/4" pieces.

Overall, I was pleased with the experiment and am thinking of a new concoction for the next loaf of bread. Ideas are welcome! :)

Long Over Due

Sorry for the month long hiatus for updating - I've got some goodies to post about though.

First - I'd like to voice my love for roasted corn on the cob. Perhaps it is one of summer's greatest treats, but there is really not much that is tastier or simpler than throwing a cob on the "barbie" and slathering it with lime butter once it's golden brown and munching on those sweet roasted kernels. LOVE IT.

Second - Love indian food, especially from Taste of India on Roosevelt and 55th. We went there a few weeks ago, and as usual, I got free desert :) It's been a long running thing, perhaps the past 10 times at least, I've gotten free desert from them! And their food is pretty darn tasty, too. We shared garlic naan, tikka masala, tandoori, the spinach curry, almond chicken curry, and butter curry. MMM. LOVE IT!

Third - Been baking lots of bread. I just made one tonight - rosemary No Knead Bread. I chopped up about 3 sprigs of rosemary and added it into the dry ingredients yesterday. I also added 3 T of sugar and extra yeast, which I think helped yield the lovely rise on the bread. :) It went beautifully with my soup - store bough "Pacific" brand of Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Tomato soup. MM MM MM! I'm planning on having more soup and bread for lunchies this week.

Fourth - For my birthday 2 weeks ago, we went to Quinn's pub on Capitol Hill. It was delicious. For appetizers, we shared spicy peanuts, a tomato salad, baguette & butter, and frites, fontina fonduta, demi-glace - which is fries with gravy and cheese.

Mouthwatering good. For the main course, we shared slow roasted ribs, fish and chips, and half a roasted chicken with chickpea puree. The chicken was my favorite - so tender and the puree was heavenly. The ribs were OK but not amazing. And I didn't try the fish but the chips were OK. I think next time I'll be more daring and try more risky things, like bone marrow... Really enjoyable dinner, though.

Fifth: For my bday, I decided to invite some friends over and cook for them. It was tough trying to plan the menu but I used my new gift of Giada de Laurentis' Everyday Italian as inspiration to create a mainly Italian focused menu:

Caprese Salad w/ toasted baguette slices (v)
White Bean Dip with toasted pita chips (v)
Chicken Satay skewers with peanut sauce

Greek Salad
Zucchini Al Forno (zucchini gratin) (v)
Homemade No-Knead Bread (v)
-Mashed potatoes, care of Alan/ Stacey/Jaden (v)

Pasta with three sauces:
Lemon Alfredo (v)
Spicy Tomato Sauce (all'arribbaita - the angry style)

Bolagnese
Tuna and Tomato

Dessert:
Brownies (of course :)) (v)

(v) = vegetarian friendly!

I started Friday night, purchasing all the groceries from Trader Joes and Freddies, and then starting on the Bolagnese sauce, and bread.

Then I started cooking up again Saturday at 2pm until 7, but had great help from some friends and my cousin Anna. Everything worked out great in the end and I ended up feeding 20 people for only about $5 per person, it was great w/ the pasta as the main course because everyone could choose what sauces they liked.

The zucchini gratin was my favorite - super easy to make! You just layer zucchini slices with cream, cheese - fontina, parm, mozzarella, and peccorino romano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Bake until browned and bubbly and enjoy!

I think everyone's favorite was the Lemon Alfredo, which was a recipe I got from my coworker Amber - you just slowly boil lemon juice, cream, and muscat wine.

Lastly - been making some mac and cheese. So good, and so easy. Not too easy on the waistline, but I love baking pasta w/ bread crumbs on top - that crust is always the best part.

That is it for now!! I'll try to post more regularly!! Enjoy the pix and let me know if you want any certain recipes!

-Belinda

Thai Green Curry = Success!

My mom and I made a delicious pot of green curry last night. All from scratch. I was quite proud, as well as in shock, when I tasted it for the time - it was gooooood! I'd definitely recommend this recipe, which I got from one of my cooking classes at Culinary Communion (RIP!). The recipe for the green curry paste makes 4 batches, and each batch produces enough to feed probably 4 people. We edited the protein to make Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant instead of duck. And we also made a side dish of Green Papaya Salad with Prawns. Yummo.

This is "howie do it"....

Green Curry Paste (Makes 2 1/2 Cups)

5-10 green thai chilies
1/2 C cilantro, minced
1/4 C lemongrass, minced
5 thin slices galangal, or ginger root
1 tsp shrimp paste (I omitted this since I didn't have any)
10 green jalapenos
8 cloves of garlic
1/4 C shallots, minced
1 tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth, adding a little bit of water if the blender needs help. You can disperse into 1/2 C servings and freeze until you need them.


Green Curry -----Protien---- with Eggplant

1 lb duck breast, skin on - or 1 lb chicken - or 1 lb tofu, or whatevers
1/2 C green curry paste (made from above :))
2 C Thai eggplant, or regular kind, cut into large chunks or dice
1/2 C coconut cream (I omitted this too, to be more "healthy")
1/4 C Thai basil, chiffonade (cut into thin ribbons)
2 C coconut milk
1/4 C + 3 T fish sauce (we like the brand with three crabs on it)
3 T palm sugar (you can use brown sugar if you don't have this, but it's sweet.. haha)
4 kaffir lime leaves (or more, because they are sooo fragrant)
red jalapenos for garnish (or just use some cilantro or basil)

Prepare the protein: Rub the meat with the 3 T of fish sauce. Score the skin in several places, but not down to the meat. Place the protein skin side down, into very hot saute pan, or dutch oven with oil. Turn heat down to medium. Leave undisturbed for 10-15 minutes, or until deeply browned and most of the fat rendered away. Flip. Cook two more minutes and remove from pan. Thinly slice the duck on an angle. Reserve.

- What I did was brown 7 chicken drumsticks in the pan. When they were nice and crispy outside (with probably 4-5 minutes fro being cooked all the way through, I removed them. Then added the green curry paste to the dutch oven w/ the left over oil inside, so the paste could cook for a little bit. Then I added the coconut milk (2 cans), and heated until it boiled.

Once it boiled, I added the sugar and fish sauce, and then added the eggplant and meat back into the pot. Mixed it all up and let it simmer for 7-10 minutes so the eggplants would soften and soak up the curry sauce, and the chicken would finish cooking. When everything looked almost done, I added the lime leaves and basil. Serve it with brown rice. Pine nuts go well with the rice - helps add texture.

Delicious! I'd add pictures right now but blogspot is being funky. Until next time! :)

Recent delicious treats via the Bay Area

Last weekend I visited my sister in the Bay Area (just saying "Oakland" sounds so... ya know). Anyways, there were a lot of delicious things I consumed, which is one of my favorite reasons to visit her, besides that whole seeing your sister thing. It was a Friday night- Sunday night trip so we tried to fit in as many meals as possible (as usual). I landed around 9pm Fri night, and she was kind enough to take me to Popeyes for delicious juicy spicy fried chicken. I still believePopeyes has the best Fried Chicken, and Fried Chicken is definitely #1 or #2 of my all time favorite foods. The nearest Popeyes from me is 40 minutes away so I don't frequent it often, which is good for my cholesterol level.

Anyways, Saturday was white water river rafting day at the American River. Our trip included a lunch of all you can eat sandwiches, which we definitely loaded up on. We were starving the whole morning so we kept chanting "Sandwiches, sandwiches!" to motivate ourselves. After lunch was finished and the post-food coma passed, we chanted "korean bbq, korean bbq!" to motivate ourselves for dinner. And it was quite the feast. We went to a place in Sacramento and boy was it tasty.

Lots of fatty pork ala bacon, beef and chicken, and the famous korean sides as well. I am a BIG fan of korean bbq, especially from shabusen, where they have the all you can eat korean bbq and sushi. :)

We finished off the night at Fentons Creamery in Oakland, famous for their ice cream. The line was out the door when we arrived at 10:30pm - definitely a hoppin' place on a Saturday night. More food-induced comas followed post consumption of ice cream. I ordered 2 scoops - chocolate marble and coffee & cookies. Delectable.

Sunday was my favorite meal day. My sister surprised me with a new place - Bakesale Betty's - which as AMAZING fried chicken sandwiches. They're served in a hoagie roll with a spicy cabbage slaw mixed with cilantro and sliced jalapenos. MMMM. BB's also has amazing baked goods - we got a chocolate chip cookie and a candied ginger scone. Both were baked to perfection.

Of course, Manpuku was an obvious choice for dinner. I cannot visit my sister without going to Manpuku near UCBerkeley - cheap but delicious sushi. You can rarely find that combo. It's usually either cheap or delicious. Not here. It's both! :) We ordered the hot king roll (cali-roll inside, tuna on top, with siracha and green onions), the aloha roll (my fave! cali-roll inside, salmon on top with slices of lemon), and the avocado and salmon roll. So effing delicious that my mouth is watering right now just thinking of that meal. We topped this meal off with a steaming bowl of hakata ramen ("tonkatsu" for you noobs). The pork broth is so savory and flavorful, and they include picked veggies, a hard boiled egg, and braised pork with perfect al-dente ramen. Definitely gives Samurai Noodle a run for their money though I'd like to go to Japan and get the real deal. There's always next trip...

Zucchini

Zucchini is growing like crazy in our yard. We think they are growing a couple inches a day - I also think the hot heat is the cause of it, but I'm not complaining.. yet. They are delicious, but also must be consumed rather quickly.

from right to left: cilantro, zucchini, tomoatoes, flowers, thai basil, basil, flowers, sunflowers, basil, rosemary

haha just cuz. ^^

From Nancy Leson's blog, I swiped a recipe for Crispy Zucchini and Shrimp pancakes. My pancakes turned out a little too salty (too generous with the salt & fish sauce) but other than that, they were tasty, and reminiscent of Korean seafood pancakes :) MMMM.

in the makings. the sauce on the left is of soy sauce, rice vinegar, white wine, and chili oil.

the crispy edges are my favorite. i wish the whole thing could be a delicious crispy edge.

I also made a pasta dish with zucchini by first frying slices of zucchini in butter/"evoo", garlic powder, sliced king mushrooms, and some "leen ouw" - I don't know the name for it but it has lots of holes inside and is a crunchy root. Then I sauteed some shrimp in garlic, deglazed with white wine, and added in some Trader Joe's 3 cheeze tomato sauce, which is delicious! Boiled up some spinach/garlic fettuchini I got from Pike Place, and when the pasta was almost done, added it to the sauce to soak up all the deliciousness. It was tasty, especially for lunch the next day. No pix of this but maybe next time!

Need to find some more recipes for zucchini but I think zucchini bread is up next.

Pictures!

Some more pictures of recent delicious things I ate:

Potato and Chicken Flautas @ Maria Gallos in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico trip:

They're like little fried enchiladas. I got 2 stuffed with a savory potato mixture, and two with shredded chicken, topped with a sour cream sauce and cabbage. It was the most "authentic" thing I had while in Mexico, from this really cute cafe called "Maria Gallos". The chef was originally from PV but studied cooking in San Francisco and worked around the US before returning back to PV to open his own restaurant. It's located 2 blocks from his grandmother's restaurant, which we went to for dessert afterwards.

Fish Fajitas @ Pepe's in Mexico:

Pepe's is a famous Mexican restaurant for tourists in PV. It's a bit over the top, though not to the extreme of Senor Frogs. The wall has a huge slogan painted inside that reads "Don't drink the water, drink a margarita!" Right when we arrived and were seated, a man came around with a hysterical laugh and a tray toting guacamole making-stuffs. He made delicious guacamole table-side, which we tipped him $6 for. I ordered fish fajitas, and was given an American-sized serving of food. The fish was a bit dry, but all together, it tasted pretty good. So much food, but was good because I had downed a large Margarita on the rocks right before. :)

Shanghai dumplings @ Shanghai River Restaurant in Vancouver, BC:

This is our favorite place to go for a snacks-dinner in Canada. The Shanghai dumplings are a famous dish. Little delicate dumplings that encase pork and soup. When you bite into it, the soup gushes out, so you must be experienced in eating it. What I do is take a tiny bite, and then slurp out the soup, then spoon in tasty black vinegar and ginger slivers. It's delicious. I ate 20 of them while in Shanghai at the Yuyuan Garden where they are famous :) Too bad it's way cheaper there, 20 for about 2 dollars. Here it's like 8 for $10. The side dishes here are a green onion pancake and glass noodles and chicken in a peanut sauce.

Salmon sashimi on top of an avocado roll @ Shabusen in Vancouver, BC:

Our other favorite restaurant to visit is Shabusen, where we get all you can eat sushi and Korean bbq. This is one of my sister's ingenious ideas- we ordered a bunch of salmon sashimi and avocado rolls and topped one on the other. It's the of both worlds, delicious salmon and avocado. And all you can eat! The Korean bbq is also delicious.

Lastly, more HOT POT! :) @ home:

One of my favorite meals! Using "Little Sheep" soup base we buy in Canada, hot pot is a delicious feast. Don't remember if I've written about it before. But it's basically like Chinese fondue - you dip foods into hot bubbling broth and then eat them right after. This time we had a lot of mushrooms (enoki, shitake, button, etc), pan fried taro, meat balls, sliced pork and beef, yam noodles, tofu, and other good stuff I can't remember. Usually we use a dipping sauce of sesame oil, cilantro, and minced garlic. So you can tell what we had for dinner the night before if you see one of us with crazy garlic the next day.

That's it for now!

- Belinda

Back Again...

I've been reading more food novels lately, my favorite being The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, by Katheleen Flinn. She's actually a local journalist from Seattle, who writes about a mid-life crisis that led her to going to Le Cordon Bleu, the imfamous cooking school in Paris. [She's also making an apperance at Bumbershoot with Tom Douglas Sept. 5th!]

Now I've started to read Julie and Julia, by Julia Powell, which incidentally is coming in theathers in August with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. Julie attempts to make every single one of Julia Child's dishes from Mastering The Art of French Cooking. And Julia Child rox my sox. Must finish book before movie comes out. I feel more inspired to cook and experiment, so hopefully this blog will become more utilized. [Watching The Brady Bunch Movie... it's hilarious! Those kids are so dumb.]

Just a note: cooked avocados are not so tasty. I made a breakfast scramble by sauteing onions, then adding eggs, basil, rosemary, and cilantro from my garden, and decided to throw in some diced avocado into the pan. The warmed texture just makes the avocado lose it's tastyness. I think because avocado is so soft, it sort of just melts into the background, and tastes a bit like cheese with that softened warm texture, and rich buttery taste. Next time I'll just add the avocados on top after everything is cooked.

Pictures: More Delicious Treats!

Since I know Eri-san lovvves pictures, I'll put up a compilation of some of my favorite foods/dishes I got to eat.  These are all from while I was in Europe, which was when I was obsessed with taking pictures of food:

Sushi in Milan! Italy kind of gets the whole "sushi" thing.  Not bad for Italians. Above we have shrimp tempura, perhaps the salmon+creme cheese roll to the right, and at the bottom, I'm not sure but it looks like cooked salmon. 

This is spaghetti eis!  Ice cream made to look like spaghetti. It was a dish made for children but I love playful dishes like this!  This was from a gelateria in Freiburg- they used vanilla for the spaghetti strands, some strawberry sauce for tomato sauce, and white chocolate shavings for Parmesan cheese.  How quaint!

This was the most delicious thing I had in Italy: tomato and sausage pizza in Rome, right by the Colosseum.  It was on our first day in Italy, too. Something about the gooeyness of the cheese and the spicy sausage just made this pizza unforgettable.  There was another pizza we got there that had mashed potatoes in it and it was divine as well.

The classic fish and chips in London.  My friend Megan and I spent hours deciding where to go but our choice paid off. The peas are an English thing, as well. They love their peas, and they eat them all prim and proper with a knife and fork, too.

A Happy Meal! I think this was in Germany, judging from the packaging; going to McDonalds was our late night guilty pleasure after dancing at the discotek.  Not a memorable meal or toy, but I enjoy "testing out" Happy Meals around the world.  I've had them in HK, Beijing, and some other random places in Europe. 

The best beer I have ever tasted was in Freiburg, at one of the local breweries called "Feierling".  I would pay almost anything to get some more of that beer. It was hearty, wheaty, and so drinkable- the perfect wheat beer. 

My favorite "fast food" is the doner kabab.  It's likened to the gyro, but so much tastier. A Turkish delight, they roast slabs of meat (either chicken or lamb) on a spit that rotates around a flame, then carve off some delicious crispy meat and put it into a bread roll or tortilla with a tangy yogurt sauce and veggies.  The perfect 4 euro meal.

You're probably thinking I had good food all the time. But here is a picture of the most unappetizing thing I had in Europe: Sausage salad in Freiburg, Germany.  They took hot dogs, shredded them up, and put them on a salad with pickled peppers, chunks of feta cheese, and picked veggies.  Worst food choice I had made to date. 

Here is the winner for most delicious thing I had in Europe: a cup of hot chocolate in Riga, Latvia.  We were at a trendy Starbucks-ish cafe in Riga, and when I ordered a hot chocolate, they brought me out a steaming cup of milk served with a piece of chocolate on a stick.  I am a definite proponent for playing with your food so I loved this concept. You stir the chocolate into the piping hot milk, so it's a do-it-yourself hot chocolate. Except I don't think I could recreate this at home because the chocolate they had was so rich and decadent that the hot milk turned into perfect cup of hot chocolate!  I bet this concept could hit it big in the US....

Well, that's all I have for now. 

Pictures: All Sorts of Yum!

I don't have anything constructive to write about so I thought I'd just post pictures of some food as of late that I've been eating/making:

I've been baking a lot of bread. Of course. The latest technique is mixing the beer bread and the sourdough bread recipes; that way, I get the best of both worlds: sour taste with fluffy texture and crispy crust. It's so delicious my family usually ends up eating a whole load right out of the oven so it's a good thing the beer recipe makes two loaves. MMM!

It make this delicious bread I used:

-about 1/2 cup of sourdough starter

- 6 C King Arthur bread flour

-3/4 t instant yeast

-1 T table salt

-2 t sugar

MIX with:

-12 ounces water

-3/4 C blonde lager beer

-2 T white vinegar

-1 T honey

Let sit overnight 10-20 hours in a bowl covered in saran wrap and a kitchen cloth.

Then punch/deflate and and seperate into 2 loaves. Slash top of loaves to cool bake-marks. Let rise in a warm-ish oven for 2 hours.

Then it looks like <- that picture :)

Other things I've been making are this delicious pot of asparagus and pancetta risotto. I think this was my second time making risotto and that night it was so-so, but oh man, the next day, it was SO GOOD! And then the day after, it was so much better! So my conclusion is that risotto taste so much better the day after because then it has time to soak in all the juices and sauce.

I also made this plate of "caprese salad" with crustini. I had roasted the slices of tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and crushed garlic [at 350F]. After about 30 minutes, let it cool and then layer with fresh mozzerella and sprinkle chiffonade of basil and drizzle of more "EVOO". (ugh). And serve with slices of bagette that have been brushed with olive oil and toasted 'til crispy.

Well... that's all I got for now! :)

Movie: Earthlings

Watching "Earthlings" was definitely a mood-kill.  Recommended/suggested to me by Lindsey, I finally watched (some of) it on Sunday and have been thinking of it ever since.

Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, "Earthlings" is a documentary about mankind's dependence on animals for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and use in experiementation.  I was only able to watch up to the part of clothing- watching the behind the scenes of slaughthouses was really gruesome and unsettling, both mentally and physically...  

So I definitely have a lot of things to ponder.  It definitely brings a new light to meat that we eat, where it is mainly coming from, how animals are killed.. etc.  All I gotta say is that Kosher ain't so kosher. You can watch it on Google videos if you are interested... 

I'm a little late...

It seems strange to write my first post on Belinda’s and my blog about a food disaster. But my aim in starting to write in this medium is to share the trials and triumphs that come with experimenting in and thinking about the kitchen, and a trial and failure seems as appropriate a place as any to start.

First, a bit of back story. Belinda, Katie Baczewski and I seem to have made a Sunday habit of heading to the Ballard Farmer’s Market to buy foodstuffs for the coming week, run into random people we know (I’ve seen a coworker of mine and his girlfriend there twice now, both times unplanned), watch people and doggies, and have a happy hour beer. This last Sunday was probably the busiest I’ve seen it in my four trips there – it was sunny-ish, there were tulips-a-plenty, all kinds of vegetables out this week that I definitely didn’t see my first time there, and among the many dogs we saw, a golden retriever puppy that I want to cuddle until the end of time.

Katie was more adventurous than me, picking up some arugula and flowering cabbage, but I did follow her lead in purchasing a couple of parsnips. Also, a 2lb bag of fingerling potatoes, and I planned on roasting them with some sweet potatoes and perhaps some beets later that night. I usually make some dish or another for the coming week’s lunches and I definitely had enough for this dish to last me until Friday.

I picked up some beets and sweet potatoes at TOP Foods on my way home, and cut those up in big chunks along with my parsnips, fingerlings, and some asparagus I already had. I tossed them with a garlic-herb marinade and roasted them in the oven for 35 minutes or so. That night, for dinner, they were not bad at all. Good, even. The next day I ate them for lunch at work and they were okay…yesterday, I wasn’t really looking forward to my noon lunch. Today, something had to be done.

I still had enough earlier this evening to last two days more. Remembering that Belinda turned her root vegetables from the market into a scrumptious sounding mash, I threw everything in the food processor.

This was the result.

Notice the color of the mash matching almost exactly the color of my bright red food processor. If I could post the smell online, I would – it’s ALL beets all the time with whatever you want to call this. I thought about how I could save it…it looks kind of like a red hummus…could I eat it on toasts? On pasta? In a pita? Answer to all of the above is no, because I’m not a fan of the taste at all. I called Belinda. “Belinda, I need to tell you about a food disaster.” We brainstormed a little bit, but ultimately I decided the project needed to be scrapped. (At the end of the conversation, Belinda told me when I first called that I was going to tell her really bad news…apparently I sounded panicked.)

Anyway, lessons learned: In my culinarily inexperienced state, unless it’s a tried and true staple that I already know I’ll like, it would be best to stick with a recipe when it comes to these relatively-not-cheap ingredients I’ve taken to buying. Second, for me, beets are good in small doses. Third, I’m glad I have a friend who composts. It’s Earth Day, after all, and I don’t want this food to just end up in the trash. I’m taking this mashed-up catastrophe to my friend JP’s to compost tomorrow, and it’s pasta primavera for the rest of the week.

Restaurant: Urbane

So I've been reading Michael Pollen's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" this month, and it has got me really thinking about a lot of issues, eating locally being one of the main ones. Gwen and I found this ad for a restaurant called "Urbane" by the Paramount theater that features locally grown foods.  I think I might try and give it a shot.  Perhaps you will see a restaurant review soon for this place --->

Anyways, I think I am also going to try and devote myself better to shopping at farmers markets, though it's kind of tough when living at home and the parents enjoy filling the fridge with their crazy Chinese foods...  Michael Pollen brought up a lot of interesting points about the foods we eat and why we eat them.  It's made me rethink a lot of my eating and shopping habits.   I'll try to summarize my favorite parts of the book in another entry.  Maybe later, when it doesn't feel like I'm doing homework... :)

Recipe: Sourdough Bread

Here's the recipe for Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  I definitely recommend buying his book, every recipe I've tried so far is fabulous.   You can buy it here at Amazon (Including the link so I don't get in trouble for sharing the recipe).  If you don't want to print out those images above for the recipe, you can copy the following that I've laboriously typed out for you ;)   The *** are my "helpful hints".  

Sourdough Bread

Makes 3-4 baguettes, 1 boule, or 12-16 rolls

Time: At least 48 hours for the first time, roughly 24 hrs thereafter, largely unattended.

Much has been made of the challenges of sourdough bread, but although making a good sourdough takes a little time, the process can be simple and routine with only a little practice.  To begin, you make a starter, and a couple of days later you begin the bread. From then on, you can use the starter to make bread in less than 24 hrs; always bring it to room temperature first.

Ingredients:

STARTER:

1 1/2 cups (about 7 ounces) bread or all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

1 cup warm water

SOURDOUGH BREAD:

1/2 starter mix (from above)

3 1/2 cups (about 1 pound) of bread or all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/3 cups water (scant- so less than), plus more as needed

2 teaspoons salt

1. At least 2 days before you plan to bake, mix together the starter mixture. Stir, cover loosely, and place on top of your refrigerator or another out-of-the-way place.  Stir every 8 to 12 hours; the mixture will become bubbly, and eventually develop a sour smell.  If your kitchen is warm, this may happen in 24 hrs, usually it takes a couple of days.

2. The night before you're ready to bake, place half the starter in the container of a food processor with a steel blade.  Add the remaining flour, salt, and yeast  for 5 seconds.  With the machine running, pour (don't drizzle) most of the remaining water through the feed tube.  Process about 30 seconds, then remove the cover.  The dough should be in a defined but shaggy ball, still quite sticky; you would not want to knead it by hand.  If the dough is too dry, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process for 5 to 10 seconds after each addition. (If it is too wet, which is unlikely, add another tablespoon or two of flour and process briefly.

***If you don't have food processor, or one big enough, you can do what I do and just mix the dry ingredients with the starter in a big bowl with a wooden spoon, and then add 75% of the water and mix again, then adding enough to the right consistency as described above. It works just as well, I think.

[To maintain starter, add about 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of water to the remainder and stir well.  Cover and refrigerate.  Use within a week or add a little more flour and water to the starter to keep it going.  If you always take half the starter and rejuvenate this way, it will last forever.]

3. Dump the lump of dough into a large bowl.  Cover loosely with a plastic bag, plastic wrap, or towel.  Let sit for several hours or overnight at cool room temp. or in the refrigerator if the weather is warm (bring it back to room temp before proceeding).  

4.  Sift a very small amount of flour onto a counter or tabletop, and shape the dough into a ball, sprinkling with a little more flour if necessary.  Pinch together the seam that forms at the bottom of the ball.  

5. Place a clean kitchen towel in a colander or round basket about the size of a standard colander.  Sprinkle it very well with flour.  Place the dough ball, seam up, in the towel and sprinkle it generously with more flour.  Fold the towel over the dough and let rise from 2-6 hrs.

*** What I do is form the dough into a ball, then place in a bowl lined with parchment paper, seam down. Then let it rise/proof in a slightly warm oven (turned on for 30 seconds, then off and the residual heat will help the dough rise).  Don't let it rise longer than 5 or 6 hours, otherwise the dough starts to deflate and it gets a weird crust on the top.  I think the optimal rising time is 3 or 4 hours.

6. About 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450F.  When you are ready to bake, gently turn the dough ball onto a baking sheet or pizza peel; slash the top of the ball several times with a razor blade.  Spray the inside of the oven to create steam, then either put the baking sheet in the oven or slide the load from the peel onto a baking stone.

*** I don't have a pizza peel so I just bake the bread in my dutch oven, sort of the same process as the No Knead Bread with the dutch oven being preheated before.  Also, I don't have a spritzer, so instead of spraying the inside of the oven, I throw in a handful of ice cubes into the oven, so I assume that it'd help create a little steam...?

7. Spray 2 or 3 times during the first 10 minutes of baking. After 20 minutes, lower the heat to 350F.  Bake a total of about 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown (the internal temp. of the bread will be about 210F.) Remove, spray with a bit of water if you would like a shiner crust, and cool on a wire rack.

8. Let cool down and then enjoy!!

My preferences for ingredients:  King Arthur Bread Flour (unbleached and unbromated = healthy!), Calphalon dutch oven, tap water (because it's free!).

Here are some ways I like to enjoy my bread:

--Slice and toast, spread brie and preserves on top, best with raspberry or blackberry, or a mixture, spread on top of the brie cheese

--Slice and spread butter on top, then sprinkle with garlic power and toast for delicious garlic bread. 

--Slice and brush olive oil on top, then toast.  Dip in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and minced garlic.  Or serve with caprese salad on top: sliced tomatoes with basil and mozzarella cheese (my parents' favorite)

--Use as a bread bowl for chowda or soup

--Slice and dip in a hearty soup

--Eat plain :)

I need to stop drooling right now 8)

Enjoy!  And let me know how you like to eat your sourdough bread!

-Belinda

Battle #1 Results: Sourdough Wins!

Hands down, the real sourdough bread won.  Dad described it a having a thicker, crispier crust with a tasty sour flavor while the inside was moist and chewy.  The NKB, on the other hand, had a nice crispy/buttery crust but there was a huge lack of flavor compared to the sourdough.  It was fluffy inside but not much flavor or texture besides that.   

I shaped them around 6 when I got home and baked them around 10:30 for about an hour.  My dad has gobbled down about 8 slices already, and I just finished baking both about an hour ago.  I hope I still have some left for the work potluck tomorrow... And my starter is smelling a bit funky/intensely sour... I hope that supposed to happen. :)

Anyways, here are some pictures! (the bread had already been "broken" by the time I got around to taking pictures).  In all of these pictures, the sourdough is the one on the right, and the NKB is the one on the left.  Both got poofy but didn't rise super big - I think it's because the containers they proofed in were big so the blobs of dough just spread out before rising.  Oh well, still delicious. :)  I will try and post Mark Bittman's sourdough recipe here.   It's super easy, I promise.  It just takes a bit of time /planing but is definitely worth the wait and effort! :)