Crusty Boule

Get ready. The recipe in this week's (ok... month's) blog entry will change your life. It has changed mine.

Matt and I love bread. When I say love I mean we truly LOVE it- we buy fresh, artisan bread multiple times a week and eat entire baguettes for dinner... 

Ok. The truth is out.

The problem is that making bread is such a huge undertaking and bread machine bread usually isn't the same (I'm not saying I don't like it! No! I love bread machine in it's own way!). But, in last month's issue of the Cooking Club magazine there was a recipe for extremely simple bread and I have been making it for weeks now. I think it is time to share the recipe. You're going to be amazed.

Crusty Boule (makes 4 boules)

3 1/2 C. lukewarm water
4 tsp. active dry yeast
4 tsp. coarse salt
7 1/4 C. all purpose flour

1. Combine water, yeast and salt in large bowl. Stir in flour with spoon or mixer with paddle attachment.
2. Loosely cover and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
3. Refrigerate over night (and up to 14 days). Dough will have more of a "sourdough" taste the longer it refrigerates. 
4. Seperate dough into 4 grapefruit sized sections.
5. Dust top of dough with flour. Quickly shape into ball by stretching dough from top of ball around to bottom, turning the ball a quarter turn as you go.
6. Sprinkle counter with cornmeal. Place dough onto cornmeal. Cover ball with lightly floured plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
7. Thirty minutes into rising place baking stone on center rack in oven and broiler pan on bottom rack. Preheat over to 450 degrees.
8. Dust loaf with flour and make 2-3 1/4 inch slashes into top of loaf. Slide loaf onto baking stone and pour 1 C. hot water into broiler pan. Quickly shut oven door to trap steam.
9. Cook for 25-30 minutes. Until loaf is a deep golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack.

The magazine I found this recipe in also includes some other bread recipes you can use the dough to make, which I am excited to try out- so look forward to the Nutella ring in a later post!

Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach

Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach

This week's entry is quite amazing. Both in deliciousness and also the fact that the meal occurred at all. We are currently trying to eat healthier, eat at home more, and use up food we have in our freezer and cupboards (since we are moving). So on Tuesday night, a night that we almost always get take-out since I have a night graduate class and Matt has soccer, I finagled this amazing dinner!

Basically, I got home from class and had about a half hour to make dinner. All I knew I was preparing was chicken (since I had taken some out of the freezer to defrost earlier). I started looking on www.foodnetwork.com and found this recipe: Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach. Even without grocery shopping this week (as I said, trying to use things up) we had all of the ingredients (or close enough)!

The Recipe:

• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard (I used an amazing local mustard "Fire in the Mountains")
• 3 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 3/4 pounds)
• 2 to 3 teaspoons coarsely ground mixed peppercorns
• 3/4 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary
• Kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced (I used onions)
• 1/3 cup brandy or red wine (I used sherry)
• 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (I also used some lemon juice)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush 1 tablespoon mustard all over the chicken. Sprinkle with the peppercorns, rosemary and salt to taste, patting gently so the seasonings stick.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 6 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a baking dish (set aside the skillet for the sauce); bake the chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the shallots to the skillet; cook over medium-high heat until just soft. Remove the pan from the heat, add the brandy, then return the pan to the heat and scrape up any browned bits. Add the broth, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons mustard and the parsley.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic; cook about 30 seconds. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook until wilted; add the lemon zest. Slice the chicken and drizzle with the shallot sauce. Serve with the spinach.

The result:
When Matt walked in for dinner he said, "wow, it smells like French Onion Soup!" That is the best way I can describe this meal. It was like french onion soup chicken. It may not look super pretty but it was delicious!

Rustic Garlic Chicken

I could make up excuses for why I haven't posted in almost 2 months or I could dive right into this week's recipe!

Rustic Garlic Chicken (also available at http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/rustic-garlic-chicken)

1. 2 tablespoons cooking oil
2. 1 chicken (about 3 to 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (I bought a pre cut-up chicken)
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
5. 3 heads garlic, cloves separated
6. 2 tablespoons flour
7. 1 cup dry white wine
8. 1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
9. 2 tablespoons butter
10. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 
11. 1 lemon, juiced and zested

1. Heat the oven to 400°. In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Cook the chicken until well browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all, and remove from the pot (WATCH OUT! The oil will splatter!). Reduce the heat to moderate, add the garlic, and sauté until it is starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the garlic and stir until combined. Return the chicken to the pot, cover, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165.
2. Remove the pot from the oven and place it on a burner. Remove the chicken pieces from the pot and set aside. Over moderately high heat, whisk in the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Whisk in the broth and a little salt and simmer until starting to thicken, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat off, whisk in the butter, lemon juice and zest, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with the parsley. 

We served this dish when we had a guest over for dinner this weekend though the recipe could easily be adapted for just two people by just using a couple of breasts and maybe 1 or 1.5 heads of garlic. I chose to use a digital thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast to determine when the meat was done. The garlic sauce that accompanied the chicken was amazing- make sure to serve mashed potatoes or rice with the dish to soak up some of the sauce! It is that good. 

We will be having this one again!!! Sorry there are no pictures- I'm not back in the groove yet! See you next week.

Roasted Potatos, Carrots, and Parsnips

Thanksgiving is fast approaching so here is a Thanksgiving-esque recipe I tried this week when we had dinner at Matt's parents house with my parents, also.

I was trying to decide what to make that I would be able to bring to their house and also something that would compliment the meal Matt's mom was preparing: Cream of Celery Soup and Chicken Pot Pie. I decided on a potato dish, since we had so many left over from our CSA. I looked up a bunch of recipes online and let Matt have the final decision. He picked a simple roasted potato dish, so I decided to add carrots and parsnips, since we also had these left over from the CSA. We eat roasties pretty often, usually in salads in lieu of croutons. Often, when I am putting my lunch together in the morning I will chop a couple of small potatoes, toss them with olive oil and garlic salt, and then bake on a cookie sheet while we eat breakfast. I looked online at suggestions for how to travel and serve roasted potatoes and then adapted the recipe as seen here:

 Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, and Parsnips

2 lb. Potatoes (I used yellow, white, red, and blue) 

6 Parsnips

6 Carrots

1 head garlic

6 Sprigs Thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare Vegetables: Cut all of the vegetables so that they are a similar size. Since most of the potatoes I used were small I left some whole, halved some, and quartered the larger ones. I cut the carrots and parsnips into thirds then left the skinny end whole, halved the middle part, and quartered the large end. Separate the garlic cloves from the head but leave them in their paper. 

Boil water in a large pot. When it is boiling add potatoes and carrots and parboil for 5 minutes. Add the parsnips and boil for 4 more minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry. 

Meanwhile, place a fair amount of oil in baking sheet, add the garlic, thyme and some salt and place in a hot spot, like where the heat vents from the oven through the back burner on your stove, to infuse the oil with the taste of garlic and thyme.

 Remove the carrots and parsnips and "fluff" the potatoes. Really bang them around in the colander.

Mix all vegetables, garlic, and thyme in baking sheet (in a single layer so it doesn't steam) and season with salt and pepper (I had to use two baking sheets).

Cook about 40 minutes, stirring once in the middle, or until potatoes are tender.

Like I said earlier, roasties are one of our favorite things! Parboiling the potatoes and other veggies allowed the outside to crisp while the insides stayed tender and fluffy. I cooked the veggies on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes at home and then moved them to a deep dish to travel with and then once at Matt's parents house I returned them to a baking sheet and planned to baked them for about 10-20 minutes. Our timing got a little messed up with the multiple course dinner and the veggies ended up baking for much longer so they ended up a little over cooked and dry-- the garlic was way overcooked. However, the veggies had amazing flavor! Allowing the oil to become infused with the garlic and thyme really allowed the veggies to soak up the flavor.

Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup

This week's recipe was suggested by Sarah, Matt's sister. We had given her a subscription to Gourmet Magazine for Christmas and she had made this recipe from it and then passed it along to us since she liked it! Matt had been very interested in the recipe because when he studied abroad in Spain he ate a lot of lentils. I was less enthusiastic since I had never had lentils and assimilated them with beans (which I do not like) but when I actually looked into it found that lentils seemed like something I could try out.

Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup

For soup:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (preferably Madras)
• 1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 2 quarts water
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

For cilantro oil:

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  

• Accompaniment: cooked basmati rice

Make soup:
Heat oil with butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook squash, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger, and 1 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes.

Add lentils and water and simmer, covered, until lentils are tender, 25 to 40 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Make cilantro oil:
Purée cilantro, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender.

Serve soup drizzled with cilantro oil.

Remarkably, I actually followed this recipe pretty exactly. One of the things that I didn't follow, which I should have, was cutting the squash and other vegetables down to a very small size. Almost all of the soups I make end up being pureed (at least partly) with an immersion blender so I didn't worry about cutting the veggies down but then when we were eating the soup I found some of the squash cubes a little larger than I would have liked.

The other thing that I found surprising about this recipe was that even with lots of minced garlic and ginger, with the curry powder and multiple seasonings with salt and pepper, I found the soup a little bland. This was quickly remedied by adding salt and pepper at the table. I understand that butternut squash tends to soak up salt and take a lot to be noticeable but, like I said, I added salt and pepper multiple times during the cooking as well as before serving. I would be interested in adding some garlic, ginger, and maybe some hot pepper to the cilantro oil to help with the end flavor. 

Even with the above criticism I really liked this soup. It tasted better with each bite! I am looking forward to eating the half that we froze at a later date!

French Onion Soup (Vermont Style)

This week while talking about planning meals (something Matt and I always talk about but hardly ever actually do) Matt said, "I think we should make French Onion Soup". I knew this meant, "I would like to eat French Onion Soup but you should make it". And I say that with absolutely no hard feelings-- I thought making French Onion Soup would be fun since it is one of our favorite things to get in restaurants (with Caesar salad, which I made to go along with the soup!)

The reason I titled this recipe French Onion Soup (Vermont Style) is because I made two large differences in the recipe: 1. I used mostly local white and red onions and 2. I used Hunter's (super de duper sharp) Cabot Cheddar Cheese.

I looked through two of my cookbooks for the best French Onion Soup recipe and then looked online and used a combination of three recipes to make this soup. I'll post my recipe below.

French Onion Soup (Vermont Style)

4 large yellow onions

2 red onions

1 tbs. olive oil

1 tbs. butter

salt and pepper

1/2 c. dry sherry

1.5 c. water

1 Quart brown beef stock

1 bay leaf

6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine

6 tbs. butter

6 slices day old baguette

Cabot Hunter's Cheddar Cheese (grated)

Place the oven rack in the lowest spot and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Thinly slice the onions from pole to pole (I used a mandoline slicer) and place in a large stock pot. (It is going to look like a huge amount of onions but it will reduce a lot!) Add the olive oil, butter, and salt and pepper. Cook the onions, in the stock pot without a cover, in the oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Using potholders move the stockpot to the stovetop and cook over medium high heat for another 15 minutes. Onions should become quite brown. Stir often and scrape the sides and bottom of the stockpot. 

Deglaze the bottom of the pan by adding the water and sherry. Simmer until the fond reduces by half. Add the beef stock, bay leaf, and thyme. Simmer.

In a skillet over medium high heat melt the butter. Brown the slices of baguette in the butter (You can also place the slices of baguette under a heated broiler for a healthier option but in real French Onion Soup you are supposed to cook them in butter so that the bread isn't as absorbent when it is placed in the soup).

When you are about ready to serve the soup ladle some onions and broth into 6 oven safe bowls. Top with a baguette slice and lots of cheese. Place the bowls onto a cookie sheet and place into the 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted.

We really liked this soup. It actually tasted better the more we ate and I'll admit that with my first bite I was a little nervous about the sweetness and the strong taste of sherry. I would be interested in trying the soup again with cognac instead of sherry since I think I have a predisposition to not like sherry since trying a sip straight (to see what it really tasted like). I really enjoyed the cheddar cheese (since I am not a fan of Swiss-- even fancy gruyere).

Creamy Fettuccine with Leeks, Mushrooms and Spinach

This week I have two things that I want to write about. The first is an event that Matt and I attended last Monday in Stowe, VT. The event was a benefit dinner, gala, and auction for the March of Dimes. It was called the Signature Chef Event. Thirteen of Central Vermont's best chefs were on hand, each at a station, cooking up some amazing sample size meals. There was also a silent auction and a live auction, but for the sake of this food-style blog I want to focus on the amazing food!

Before getting into the food I should explain that I was an amazingly picky eater as a child. I would literally only eat hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (never together). My relatives still like to point out this fact every time we get together (as do my highschool friends). This is relevant to the story because two of my relatives were also at this gala and we, of course, talked about how far I had come as an eater. I truly pushed the boundaries of food I'd try-- adding at least 4, and probably more, items.

Some of the really challenging things I tried at the event: pork belly, pork cheek, lamb, duck and fish.

The small element that I saw in one of the chef's dishes that was really interesting and I look forward to trying myself was fried garlic chips. Think of a potato chip, but made out of a slice of garlic. These were truly amazing and were served by Michael's on the Hill chef, Michael Kloeti as a garnish over lamb stew that was served atop a mound of amazing mashed potatoes. I loved the lamb stew flavor... unless I got too big of a chunk of lamb... Don't make fun! This was a challenging thing for me even to try!

The best overall food item I ate was a tie between the Fried Pork Cheek served over a creamy, garlicy tartar sauce and the cider braised pork with homemade pickled bell pepper served on a homemade thick-cut potato chip. This is truly amazing since usually I don't care for pork!

Honorable mentions in my mind went to Suzanna Keefer of Suzanna's Catering who made a delicious Cesar Salad that was wrapped in thin prosciutto (we were sure to take one of her cards!) and a duck tamale from Frida's Taqueria in Stowe.

I look forward to using the flavor combinations and techniques I saw at the event in later posts.

Now, onto the recipe!

This week I was lucky to cook dinner for Matt and a special guest, my dad! My mom was away for business in Connecticut (enjoying a company paid dinner at Ruth's Chris) so we took pity on my dad (who tends to eat his culinary specialty, a bowl of cereal, when my  mom is away) and invite him to dinner. I was trying to decide what to make while flipping through a binder of torn out magazine recipes and hand written recipe cards when I saw a recipe I pulled from Real Simple Magazine. It was titled Creamy Fettuccine with leeks, corn and arugula. I thought about the CSA items still in the fridge (one of which was leeks). I decided to make a variation of this recipe, using the local, fresh ingredients I had. When I looked at the other ingredients in the recipe I noticed heavy cream and thought... hmm... why add heavy cream when I can make just as creamy and delicious a sauce with a roux, skim milk, some neufchatel (fat free cream cheese) and some regular cheese... below is the adapted recipe (see real recipe here)

Creamy Spaghetti with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Spinach

3/4 box of spaghetti or other noodle pasta

1 tbs butter (I used the roasted garlic compote butter I had in the freezer from last week)
1 tbs flour
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup neufchatel (fat free cream cheese)
1/4 cup other cheese (I used some parmesan and some mozzarella)
salt and pepper

1 tbs olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts, cut into thin half-moons)
1/4 - 1/2 hot pepper, minced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup dry white wine

Boil pasta according to directions (or 1 minute shy if you like al dente because it will cook a bit in the skillet, too).

Meanwhile melt butter in a sauce pan, whisk in flour. Heat, stirring, over low-medium heat until smokey in color. Whisk in milk. When the milk starts to thicken add neufchatel and other cheese. Stir until all cheeses and melted and thoroughly combined. Season. Remove from heat.

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add leeks, garlic and hot pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (4 minutes). Add the mushrooms and wine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the wine has reduced by half. Add the spinach and white sauce to skillet (you may have to reheat the white sauce slightly so it pours easily). Stir until the spinach is wilted and mushrooms are cooked. Stir in the pasta and cook until heated through. Season.

Serve hot, with lots of bread and good cheese (we had brie and local chevre)


As often happens with meals I cook, this meal turned out a little spicy. There are two reasons as to why this may have occured: 1- When my dad comes for dinner I DO NOT hold back on the garlic. He has a motto, "There is no such thing as too much garlic!" or 2- the hot pepper I added may have been massively hot. My dad grew these peppers and the heat varies extremely from pepper to pepper. Since I like hot food I tried the pepper before putting it into the pasta and didn't think it was outrageously hot so I am inclined to think it was the garlic. I add the hot pepper more to enhance other flavors than to actually make the dish spicy because Matt is not a fan of hot food. This meal wasn't too hot, but it was definitely spicy. If you don't like spice feel free to leave out the hot pepper or reduce the garlic (just don't tell my dad).

The other interesting thing about the spice in this dish is that is complemented the leeks amazingly. The leeks added a sweet taste to the dish that would have been too much for me if it had not had a little spice.