Monday, May 22, 2006

A "crackle crusted loaf" - for Cali

This gorgeous rustic loaf looks like those found in an artisanal boulangerie in the depths of France, and is the perfect accompaniment to a great terrine or farmhouse cheeses.

Although it sounds contradictory, to create a really crisp crust on a loaf it is necessary to introduce steam to the oven; this softens the dough in the first minutes of cooking, allowing it to rise, forming a thinner, crisper crust.

I know that you have different forms of flour in the US; UK bread-making/strong flour has a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour, to allow the stretchiness of the dough to develop, if that helps you in knowing which flour to use. The yeast I use is the type that doesn't need re-activating in water before use.

Rye and Potato Bread

8oz maincrop potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
12oz strong white bread-making flour
4oz rye flour or wholewheat flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon active dried yeast
2 level teaspoons salt

Cook the potatoes in lightly salted water for 15-20 mins until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking water, then mash the potatoes and leave to cool slightly.
Rub the mashed potato into the mixed flours, as if making pastry. Stir in the yeast and salt, make a well in the centre and gradually add enough potato water to give a soft but not sticky dough. Don’t add too much too quickly as this dough absorbs water more slowly than normal – you will probably need around a cup of the cooking water.
Knead the dough on a floured surface, adding a little more flour if you need it, but the dough should be slightly sticky, as if it is too dry the end result will be a heavy, overly dense loaf.
Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size (1-1 ½ hours). Punch the dough down; it will be very soft, springy and slightly sticky, so you may need to add a little more flour to make it manageable. Shape into a round loaf about 9 inches in diameter and place on a floured baking sheet, cover and leave to rise again for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, gas mark 6.
When ready to bake, place a roasting tin full of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to create a steamy atmosphere, dust the loaf with flour and lightly slash a diamond pattern on top of the loaf. Place in the upper part of the oven, but allow the loaf plenty of room to rise, and bake for 30-35 minutes. Spray with water from a clean water spray every 10 minutes – this helps to develop the crust. It is ready when the crust is very crisp and the loaf sounds hollow when the underside is rapped. Cool the loaf completely before slicing – it will keep for at least a couple of days, and toasts really well.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Introducing Tamsin


I'm a complete blogging virgin so it's taken me a while to work out how to do this, but here is my self-introduction at last...

What brought me to cooking? Well, I believe it’s in my genes – my whole family loves to cook, and food is a major part of our social gatherings, both the preparing and eating of it, and as a topic of conversation. I first learnt to cook from my mother, who is a very good home cook (although bizarrely she always defers to me now and gets flustered cooking when I’m around!). Moving on from the usual childhood baking experiments, as I entered my teens I started to cook whole meals for the family, mainly to support my mother who I could see was frustrated with her life. To cut a very long story short, for me, cooking for people is a way of showing them that I love them.

I’ve been lucky enough to be able to make a career from my love for food; I divide my working time between freelance food styling (preparing food for photography), and recipe writing, mainly for magazines, although I’m currently working on my fourth cookery book. One of my areas of special interest is healthy eating, as I’m passionate about showing how easy it is to prepare low fat meals that taste so good that you don’t feel as if you are depriving yourself.

Secret passion? I’m another sucker for baking, especially breads as it always seems magical how a simple mixture of flour, yeast, salt and water can be transformed into a sweet-smelling, crackle-crusted loaf.

My values as a cook? Local ingredients take precedence over organic for me (although if the two can be combined, that’s the perfect scenario). Food made with love above all.

Inspirations? My mother in the first instance, then Delia Smith whose books were my cookery bibles in my early days (and still are much used now). You may never have heard of Delia, but her closest equivalent in the US is Martha – but minus the huge business empire and jail time! Since then, cookery writers such as Elizabeth David, Claudia Roden and Nigel Slater.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Balsamic asparagus


Ok. This is the best way to eat asparagus. Ever.
Ever in the whole world.


I'M NOT KIDDING


Preheat oven to 450.

Toss said vegetable, about a pound, in olive oil (enough to coat - about 1 TBSP)

Shave or cut large flat curls of Parmesan cheese**

Place curls over asparagus and bake for 12-15 minutes until is just tender and cheese is melted

Transfer with a spatula to warm plates and drizzle a nice balsamic vinegar over the top (or allow guests to sprinkle vinegar on, to taste)

I can barely write that last part without wanting to eat the keyboard. OMG I must have it right now. This is from The Balsamic Vinegar Cookbook. Please try this and tell me if you think it is the best friggin' asparagus you have ever had.

**or shredded BUT NO NASTY Kraft shit that gets sprinkled on pizza. We are talking about REAL Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. From a nice supermarket. Don't even get me started on American Parmesan cheese, I don't hat it per say (it is lovely on a greasy pizza slice) but it should not have a similar namesake to the real stuff. Ok I got started, but now I will end.

Additionally...
I cannot not mention the phalic nature of this vegetable. Have any of you seen it growing in a garden? Holy.
And the white asparagus? Enough said.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tuesday's Cookie

Tuesday's cookie is actually a cake today. An apple cake. In a bundt pan. After my horrid experience with a silicone bundt pan (see picture, I've nicknamed it Lump) I went and bought a nice metal one and am trying again.

What's different about this one? Good quality DARK brown sugar. Cardamom. Freshly grated nutmeg. Melted butter (again!) as well as oil. It's glazed with an spice apple juice and honey glaze.

My own changes? As always, I subbed half the flour with whole wheat. That's all.

Hint for the day? Sift all your dry ingredients onto wax paper. It will save you a bowl.


Dinner?

I've been working on cutting out dairy from my diet. Last week I made my usual veggie enchilada recipe but for the FIRST TIME without cheese. I shuddered to think how it would turn out. It was really good. Here it is:

Four zuchs (you can use any squash you want to here...I actually love the yellow sundial squash but they're not in season at the moment)
One yellow or orange bell pepper
One onion
1.5 cup or so of corn
(I use frozen all the time for this)
Salt
One or two jalepenos, minced
Chipotle powder, to taste
Oil for frying
Tortillas (I use whole wheat and they work nicely)
1 jar green salsa from Trader Joe's (or any salsa you like, I'm to lazy to make my own).

Preheat over to 375.

Dice all veggies to about 1/4 inch.

Heat a oil in a large skillet. Add onion and saute over med-high heat until nice and soft (I like my onion well cooked). Add squash, corn and bell pepper and saute until all are soft. It's nice to have them a little browned in areas. Remove veggies, stir in salt, let cool a little then stir in chiles and chipotle powder (I use a heaping 1/4 tsp because it's hot stuff).

Heat approx 1 cup of oil in a skillet (I use high heat canola for this) until it sizzles a drop of water. Place a paper towel over the sports section of the newspaper (he he). Fry tortillas for four seconds on each side and move to paper towel to drain.

Place enough filling on tortilla to fill it (I like to really stuff mine), fold bottom of tortilla over filling and roll. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Continue until pan is filled. Pour jar of salsa over.

Bake for 20 minutes in preheated over.

Food of the Week: Asparagus

The oft misunderstood asparagus is our food of the week.

It's just the end of asparagus season and the pencil thin tender new asparagus are being replaced by their old siblings with their thick stalks and tough outer skins. No matter, asparagus can be a sublime vegetable.

I found many resources for asparagus. There's even a band called Wild Asparagus. It's hard to imagine asparagus being wild. Asparagus have many advocates across the states. They have their own advisory council in Michigan and their own festival in Stockton, CA. They're even international with a council in Australia.

My favorite way to chomp on asparagus? Steamed and slathered in a lemon dijon viniagrette.

Look for more on asparagus this week!


Wikipeida: Asparagus
Stockton Asparagus Festival
California Asparagus Commission
Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board
Washington Asparagus Commission
Australian Asparagus Council

Welcome to a New Member!

Culinarian is going international. Tamsin, in Great Britain, is joining the team. Look for her posts soon!