From Scratch: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

So You Think You Know How to Boil Water?

L'Aigo Boulido

This is a variation of the "tonic" soups that come out of Provence. Literally translated, "boiled water," they are traditionally eaten when ill, hungover, or a daily breakfast to keep in good health. Personally, since I discovered it, I crave it when I'm sick or sometimes just on a cold winter day.

Ingredients:

4 cups water
Salt
12 to 15 Cloves of Garlic, peeled
Bay Leaf
Several Sprigs of Fresh Herbs (I've used Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Thick Slices of Bread, from scratch
Freshly Grated Parmesan Reggiano Cheese

On the Stove:

Salt the water, add garlic, and bring to a boil.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Add bay leaf and other herbs, a dash of olive oil, cover and let steep for 10 more minutes.
Meanwhile, toast the bread, and break into chunks in two bowls.
Strain the broth, and pour into the two bowls.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan reggiano.

Ideas:

Want something a little more filling? After straining the broth, return to the stove, and poach a couple of eggs in it. Serve eggs on top of bread and pour over the broth--I like the eggs runny, it adds a slight creaminess to the broth.

Milk Loaf

Tools: Bread machine

Ingredients:

1 Cup Milk
2 TB Butter
1/2 Cup Water
4 Cups White Flour
1 1/2 TSP Salt
2 TSP Sugar
1 TSP Rapid-Rise Active Dry Yeast

Directions:

Melt butter in milk, in the microwave (about a minute and a half in mine)
Pour butter and milk mixture into bread machine pan.
Add water.
Sprinkle flour over wet ingredients.
In one corner of the bread pan add salt
In another corner add sugar
Make an indention in the center of the flour and add the yeast.
Bake on basic setting.

Variation: Change flour to 1 cup wheat, 3 cups white and add several tablespoons of fresh herbs. I use rosemary and oregano to make an Italian loaf. Add the herbs after the bread has been kneading into a nice ball--my machine beeps when it is time to add ingredients like herbs, dried fruits, nuts.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Who needs a pumpkin patch?

Cutting up one pumpkin from scratch is quite enough for me, thank you! Groans -- and I still have one in the mud room waiting to be carved up. Those pumpkins I bought at the end of October had been staring at me everyday as I walked by during the holidays. Since I was on vacation this week, Tuesday I decided it was time to take action. One pumpkin and an hour later . . . .

All joking aside, it was rewarding yesterday to see that deep orange blend with flour and golden raisins, and then to get up this morning and have a slice of pumpkin bread with that morning cup of coffee, happily knowing that the pumpkin didn't come out of a can with who knows what kind of preservatives. Pure pumpkin.

Feeling a little superior and proud of myself--sure! I worked hard to earn that feeling.

Visit this article about how to butcher . . . errr . . . prepare that pumpkin, while I jump right into the recipes.

Pumpkin -- A Pioneer Cook's Treasure

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Seeds from one Pumpkin
2 TB of Vegetable Oil
Chili Powder to Sprinkle
Salt to Sprinkle

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Spread oil on a brownie pan.
Lay seeds in one layer.
Sprinkle with chili powder (I used ichimi, a Japanese chili powder) and salt.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes (or thereabouts!), checking every 10 minutes and stirring seeds.

Pumpkin Muffins

From Scratch -- The Photos

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Flour
2 TSP Baking Powder
3/4 TSP Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 TSP Ground Cinnamon
1/2 TSP Grated Nutmeg
4 TB Butter
1 EGG
1/2 Cup Mashed Pumpkin Flesh
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and spices in one bowl.
In the microwave melt the butter in the milk (in mine, it takes about a minute and a half)
In a second bowl, break eggs and add mashed pumpkin and raisins, stir well.
Add milk and melted butter slowly while stirring.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour into the butter cups of a 12 cup muffin pan.
Bake for approx. 20 minutes

Ideas:

Pour the batter into the bread pan of a bread machine. Using the "bake" setting results in a beautiful and tasty, sweet pumpkin bread.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Don't put all your eggs in one basket . . .

Simple Egg Pasta

Ingredients:

4 eggs, salt
2 cups flour

From Scratch -- The Photos

Part 1:

Place flour in a shallow bowl..
Make a well in the middle. Break two of the eggs into the well.
Add a pinch of salt.
Start beating the egg with a fork.
Gradually incorporate more flour.
Add the other two eggs, still incorporating more flour.
At this point you may be cutting the flour more than beating.
When cutting the eggs and flour is no longer working, it's time to get your hands dirty. Knead the flour into the ball, until you've used up all, or most of the flour.
If it is still sticky add a little flour.

Part 2

Lightly flour the working surface.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic.
Shortcut: Sometimes I use my bread machine to knead the dough for 10 or so minutes.
Divide the dough in half.

Part 3

Flour a rolling pin (I used a long slender pin) and the work surface.
Roll out the dough until it is paper thin. Wrap the ends around the rolling pin, pulling and stretching if necessary.

Part 4

Lay a clean dish towel on a work surface, and lay dough on top of it, allowing about a third to hang over the edge. Important Note: At this point make sure that if any Catahoula Leopard Dogs, or wily canines of any sort are in the vicinity, gate them out of the room!
Rotate dough every 10 minutes.
After about 25 minutes it will be ready to cut -- make sure you do not overdry, as it will be difficult to cut.

Part 5

Fold pasta into a flat roll about 4 inches wide and cut across the roll in the desired width.
To cut for lasagna, do not fold or dry the dough. Cut into rectangles immediately.
If you are lucky and have a neat-o rolling pin, you can use it to cut the pasta. The downside: it only cuts one width.
Noodles can be stored in a cool, dry cupboard for a couple of weeks.

From Scratch -- The Photos

Part 6

On the stove:

Cook in large pot of water--at least 4 quarts of water for every pound of pasta.
Salt water 2 minutes before pasta is added.
Add pasta and stir with a wooden spoon.
Fresh pasta can be done in as little as a minute after the water returns to a boil--keep a close eye on it.
Tip into a colander and sprinkle with a little oil or butter.
Combine with sauce of choice.

Some everyday sauces in my kitchen:

Simple Tomato Sauce

Garlic Pasta

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Puttanesca

Simple Marinara Sauce

This is the simplest of the tomato sauces that I make:

Ingredients:

2 TB Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic, Smashed
12oz. Tomatoes, diced with juice
1 TB Tomato Paste
Pinch of Dried Oregano
Pinch of Freshly Ground Pepper
Pinch of Sea Salt
Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat
Add garlic cloves and saute for 2 minutes
Add tomatoes and tomato paste.
Stir until tomato paste is dissolved
Add herbs, salt, and spices
Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes

Garlic Pasta

Ingredients:

1/2 LB Cooked Pasta
3 TB Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 TB Parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly Grated Parmesan Reggiano

On the stove:

Saute the garlic on medium heat until it is barely golden.
Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Stir in the pasta and cook together, stiring to coat, for 2 minutes.
Serve at once with parmesan Reggiano.

Ideas:

Mash up a couple of anchovy fillets with the garlic and oil mixture.
Chop up canned artichoke hearts, drain, and add to garlic, oil, and parsley mixture.
Add drained capers or black olives to the garlic, oil and parsley mixture.

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients:

1/2 LB Cooked Spaghetti
3 TB Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled
1/4 lb Pancetta, or good bacon, small dice
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste
2 TB fresh Italian Parsley, chopped fine

On the Stove:

Heat olive oil and garlic cloves.
Remove garlic when it becomes golden and add pancetta. Fry until crisp around the edges. Set frying pan aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, cheese, pepper, and parsley.
Reheat the pancetta.
Drain the pasta and add to the egg mixture (important: the pasta must be steaming hot and just drained to help cook the eggs). Stir together.
Add the sizzling pancetta and olive oil to the pasta mixture (important: again the pancetta and oil must be hot to help cook the eggs).

Serve in 2 bowls with freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano.

Pasta Puttanesca

Ingredients:

1/2 LB Cooked Noodles
2 TB olive oil
1 Clove Garlic, crushed
1/2 Dried Chili, crumbled
2 0z Can Anchovy Fillets, rinsed, drained, and chopped
12 oz Tomatoes, Diced
1/4 cup Sliced Black Olives
1 TB Capers, rinsed and drained
1 TB Tomato Paste
2 TB Chopped Parsley

On the stove:

Heat 2 TB of oil, crushed garlic, and chili.
When garlic is golden add anchovy and mash together with the garlic to form a paste.
Add the tomatoes, olives, capers and tomato paste.
Stir over moderate heat until done.
Add parsley.
Combine pasta and sauce and serve.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham?

Add in a little hashbrowned potato, and take out the green food dye, and you have a more appetizing, entire big breakfast in one dish:

Potato, Onion, and Pancetta Frittata

From Scratch -- The Photos

Ingredients:

2 Small Yellow Potatoes, small dice
Vegetable Oil
2 TB unsalted butter
2 oz Pancetta, small dice
1/2 Large Onion, thin slice
1 TB Chopped Rosemary
4 Eggs

On the Stove:

In one frying pan fry potatoes in 1/4 inch oil until rich golden brown.
Meanwhile in another frying pan, over medium low heat, melt butter.
Add pancetta and onion to butter, and cover for 2 or 3 minutes until onions are soft and wilted. Remove lid and continue to cook onions over medium low heat, until they are a deep golden brown. This will take awhile--but the longer cooking time results in softer, sweeter onions.
Meanwhile, remove potatoes from the frying pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the rosemary.
When the onions are done, add the potatoes evenly on top of the onions.
Pour the eggs evenly on top of the entire thing, stir around a little bit to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
While cooking the fritatta on the stovetop, turn on the broiler.
When the eggs are nearly set put the frying pan under the broiler for a couple of minutes until the top of the frittata turns a rich golden brown.

Slice into four pieces and serve with toast.

Ideas:

Leave out the eggs, and substitute a flatbread!

When the potatoes and onions are done combine, along with the rosemary, and use on top of pizza dough (from scractch) with crumbled ricotta cheese (from scratch) on top. It makes a very rich pizza, with delightful contrasting textures.

Also yummy as a sandwich filling with a little melted mozarella cheese.

Pizza Crust

This recipe uses a bread machine -- a tool I heartily believe in! It's no substitute for the therapy of kneading dough when you're frustrated, but when I've got a lot going on in the kitchen it's nice to know the bread's making it okay without me.

Ingredients to make two 12 inch pizzas:

1 1/4 Cup Water
2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Cups White Flour
2 Cups Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Granulated Sugar
1 Tsp Rapid-Rise Active Dry Yeast

In the Bread Machine:

Pour water into bread pan.
Add oil.
Sprinkle the flour over the wet ingrdients.
Put salt and granulated sugar into separate corners.
Make an indention in the middle of the flour and add the yeast.
Set bread machine to basic dough setting.
Observe dough for first 5-10 minutes of kneading to make sure that a firm ball is forming. If it is too dry, add water a TB at a time. If it is too wet, add flour a TB at a time.
When dough is done, roll into two pizza crusts, spread a small amount of tomato sauce or tomato paste on top, and add toppings of your choice.

In the Oven: Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

My Favorite Toppings Include:
Herbs (rosemary, oregano, sage, parsley, etc.)
Prosciutto or Pancetta
Mushrooms
Black Olives
Onions
Mozarella Cheese
Ricotta Cheese from scratch

An unusual topping

Ideas:

Use your pizza dough to make an Italian flatbread--Focaccia.

After rolling out the bread, cover for 15 minutes and allow to rise.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Dimple the bread with your fingers, cover again and allow it to rise for 20 more minutes.
Spritz with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and herbs (I like rosemary).
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Grocery List --Jan 25 - Feb 13th

Produce:

4 sweet onions
6 garlic bulbs
Small bag potatoes
Broccoli Rabe
Leeks
2 lb green beans
dry porcini mushrooms
1 LB portabella mushrooms
Fresh Sage
Fresh Thyme

Canned/Bottled:

Honey
Tomatoes, a couple large cans
Artichokes
Capers
Black Olives
Chicken Broth
Beef Broth

Dried:

Flour
1 LB Rigatoni

Egg/Dairy:

Butter, sticks, unsalted
Eggs, doz. cage free
Whole Milk
Heavy Cream
Block of Cheddar Cheese

Meat:

4 Links Italian Sausage -- 2 sweet/2 spicy
1/2 LB Pancetta

Total Cost: $90

Notes:

Each week I start out knowing that I'm going to cook a certain style (this week Italian), for a couple reasons. (1) It keeps costs down. If I pick out an Italian recipe and a Thai recipe and a Japanese recipe for the week, guess what? A lot more specialty ingredients are needed. If I stick to one cuisine, I'll need a lot less of those specialty (i.e. expensive) ingredients. (2) I can pick out one or two recipes ahead of time that I just crave, and leave the rest to chance. I'll have everything I need on hand (or if I don't, it can wait, because I have plenty of other options), including the best produce. I always start out with a nebulous produce list based on the cuisine and make changes when I get to the supermarket based on what looks, and feels, and smells the freshest.

Of course, there are the staples, too! Cheddar cheese doesn't really go with Italian, but it is cold outside, so toasted cheese sandwiches should always be an option. I also like to keep a couple of broths in the house just in case, and right now I don't have any from scratch in the freezer.

If you are really lucky (I come from a small town originally, so I know all about low expectations at the super market) your super market will not only have pancetta, but they will have it fresh in the deli and your server can cut off the amount you want in the thickness you want. This week my husband noticed after we picked up a 1/4 LB package of thinly sliced pancetta for $4.99, that it was available in the deli. For that same $4.99 we got 1/2 LB and the option of having it sliced in the 1/2 inch thickness that is more appropriate for Pasta Carbonara.

_____

The grocery list each week should cover most of the ingredients in the recipes I post--however, a certain amount of the ingredients are already in the house. Example: the lemon juice for the Ricotta and the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes.

__________

Additional Note: This grocery list ended up extending into 3 weeks with an additional shopping trip to Sam's in the middle (the trip to Sam‘s overlapped two grocery shopping trips, as I am still using those items in the Feb. 13-27th period). Also, my husband was sent on occasional errands to get more milk, butter, eggs, and flour.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Experimenting with Cheese (Ricotta)

Ricotta Cheese

Ingredients

1 Quart Whole Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 TB Lemon Juice

From Scratch -- The Photos

Prep: Line a large sieve with a layer of cheesecloth and place over a mixing bowl.

On the stove:

Bring whole milk, heavy cream and salt to a rolling boil in a 6 quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
Add fresh lemon juice.
Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles.
Pour the mixture in the lined sieve and let drain 1 hour.
Discard liquid, chill Ricotta, covered. It will keep for 2 days. Will produce 1 cup.

Ideas:

Divide into 2 dessert bowls and serve with honey and cinnamon.
Bake on top of pizza.
Crumble on top of pasta.
Mix with herbs or garlic and a little olive oil and spread on top of bread.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Let them Eat Cake --Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, that is!

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ricotta cheese from scratch
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 TB lemon juice
Butter, for griddle

On the stove:

Preheat a nonstick griddle.
Combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and sugar in a small bowl.
Whisk together the cheese, eggs, milk, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
Whisk the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Brush the hot griddle with butter. For each pancake, pour approximately 1/4 cup measure of the batter on the griddle and cook on both sides until light golden brown. Repeat until no batter remains.

Serve with butter and honey.