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! :)

Battle #1: No Knead Bread vs. Sourdough Bread Bake Off!

I couldn't really think of what to write about an intro for this blog so I decided that I may as well just jump right in and start blogging.

I've just started a new experiment using two different sourdough recipes. One is Nancy Leson's "No Knead Bread" and the other is derived from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything".

The NKB is a mixture of bread flour, salt, white vinegar, yeast, lager beer, and water. I've used this recipe more than 8 times, and the results have been fantastic: a fluffy crispy bread that is super simple to make. I've even taken to mixing it up, adding whole cloves of garlic before the proofing phase, and rosemary also adds a nice touch. Using whole wheat flour makes the bread a little denser but at least you get that "healthy" feeling while eating the bread. This recipe is a bit demanding though, requiring a heavy investment of a dutch oven to give it that golden buttery crust, which in actuality makes the purchase worth it.

However, I had gotten bored of the NKB. It's a no brainer to make. I was itching to try something more authentic: real sourdough bread [ or as real as you can get in a home kitchen] . So I looked at the handy dandy cook bible that Dave got me for my birthday last year and found a pretty simple recipe for sourdough bread, starter and all. I mixed the starter for the first time about 2 weeks ago, and have made 3 or so loaves of bread since then. [Side note: I'm always reminded of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" chapter about his bread man begging Anthony to "feeeeeed the starterrrr"; great book, you gotta read it.] Anyways, I've been feeding my starter, and experimenting on/off with whole wheat flours and bread flours. This recipe is pretty simple, just consisting of flour, water, yeast, and salt. And the result is a fluffy and chewy bread with a light touch of sour flavor that really satisfies the pallet.

Overall, I'll say that King Arthur's Bread Flour has produced the best results in both bread recipes. I'm doing a head to head competition right now. I've got 1 loaf of each rising in the oven for their 8+ hour beauty naps; I'll shape and proof them after I get home from work and bake them off. I have found that if you shape your bread, place it in an empty oven that has been on for 30 seconds, that slight bit of heat really helps the bread rise beautifully before baking off.

Well, I wrote more that I expected. I guess it's easy to when you're taking about delicious things. Hopefully this blog takes off. We'll see. I'll post later once the breads are done and give you the low-down on the bread smack down.

Food for Thought

Cooking, shopping, eating, and discussing food in a thoughtful manner.  We don't know much, but what we do know, we'll share with you.  Food is an adventure, and we're here to share that with you.   Enjoy!

Lindsey and Belinda