Eggs-cuppable

Wow. What a crazy week. There was time to cook, but no time to blog. I have a list of meals to present. Let's start with breakfast several days ago.

I've had varied success with baked eggs in the past. Despite my general interest in complicated recipes, I never can bring myself to place the ramekins or other baking dish in a pan of water during cooking. I've also found that preparing eggs this way takes much longer than every cookbook I've read suggests. Still, about every six months or so, I make another attempt. This time, the results were pretty good.

The Method

• several thin slices of good bread (I used honey wheat from Three Sons Bakery)
• fresh eggs (Thank you OPO!)
• pre-cooked ham or other breakfast meat (optional)
• cheese (I used a terrific gouda from Sweet Grass Dairy)
• several TBs unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray a cupcake pan with cooking spray
3. Cut the bread into sections to cover the bottom and sides of each "cup" in the pan
4. After arranging the bread, place a small piece of meat in the bottom of each cup.
5. Crack a single egg into each cup.
6. Place a few small pieces of cheese, and a 1/2 tsp of butter on each egg.
7. Bake for ... well, recipes generally say 5-7 minutes...for up to 30 minutes.
8. Check the eggs occasionally after the first several minutes. You want the whites to just set. (I left mine in too long this time.)

The Results

This is a fun way to prepare and present eggs. The result is a crispy, toasted cup filled with creamy egg. You can easily make these without the meat or cheese, but those add something to the dish. Substituting sauteed vegetables would be great, too.

Banana Bread: Half-and-Half

In what appears to be a violation of my self-imposed rule, I made banana bread (again) yesterday. But, I enjoy a good argument, so here are two facts that you should consider before passing final judgment. First, the ingredients are not from our CSA, recording whose preparation is the primary reason for having this blog. Second, the recipe I used was different from the first in that it reduces the sugar by half, adds milk, and uses fewer eggs. The end result was entirely different - and worth sharing with you. For reasons that will become clear, call this bread ala' Lee Majors.

The Method
This recipe is taken from Jacques Pepin's, The short-cut cook (1990), which is a wonderful collection of simple yet interesting dishes generally requiring very little time to make. (Including a cheese souffle from his mother that I want to try...you add whole eggs not whipped whites.)

• 1 TB corn oil or cooking spray to grease the pan
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 TB baking powder
• 4 TB butter, slightly softened
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 C milk
• 1/2 C sunflower seeds (I used walnut pieces instead)

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Grease a bread pan with the oil or cooking spray.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, butter, and sugar in a food processor. (I used a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which makes me happy ever time I cook with it.)
4. Blend until the ingredients are well combined (10-15 seconds).
5. Peel the bananas and add them to the mixture. Blend for 5 to 10 seconds.
6. Add the eggs, milk, and sunflower seeds (nuts).
7. Blend until the batter is well combined.
8. Pour the batter into the greased pan.
9. Bake for 60 minutes, or until nicely browned. (A knife inserted at the middle should come out clean.)
10. Cool on a baking rack before unmolding.

The Result

I ran a knife around the edge of the bread in the pan then flipped it over to release it. Thunk. The loaf split in half, leaving the bottom firmly attached to the pan and the top on my counter. So much for spreading a tablespoon of corn oil around the pan. (The second loaf I made today came out cleanly. I coated that pan with cooking spray.)

Still, I enjoyed the concordance of the halving of key ingredients and the loaf itself. (I did, actually, which is probably strikes you as strange - unless you know me well.) I quickly removed the bottom portion and rebuilt the loaf. (Six Million Dollar Man theme and intro montage running through my head.) The loaf was moist and warm enough to meld together to a fair degree.

It was a much lighter and less sweet bread than the original recipe. We enjoyed it with coffee and a few fresh, Florida strawberries.

Leaving nothing behind

Having lived abroad and traveled to many countries, I’m keenly aware of the almost-unique American' propensity to use only select portions of fruits and vegetables. For example, greens – now a favorite in our family thanks to Orchard Pond Organics – are widely seen as a Southern staple, but are less commonly eaten in the North. However, in many places – particularly those in less developed regions around the globe – so much effort is required to grow food plants that all edible portions are used. (You can extend the same argument to the eating of offal, use of plant roots/branches to make tea or medicine, and the inclusion of vermin and insects in the diet.)


This week we received a beautiful set of broccoli heads. Attached to each was a set of deep green leaves. If you consider store-bought broccoli, you’ll note that it generally comes without leaves.


Our neighbor brought over some pork and venison sausage, which he had prepared after a recent successful deer hunt. It was smoked, and therefore had a deep, rich flavor.  I decided to brown it over high, dry heat, and serve broccoli and fresh bread along side.
I cooked the broccoli, along with its leaves, in the microwave – steaming it for only two minutes. While I can’t promise that my neighbor will share his sausage with you, I can highly recommend enjoying all of your broccoli – and buying it fully adorned whenever possible!


 

CSA Week 14

Our first CSA session is drawing to a close. Orchard Pond Organics is in its second year of operation, and is doing well I understand. They are looking ahead to the winter season. Mary reports they will have: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, rutabagas, and lettuce. The March of the Greens will be unrelenting, but I may release myself from the "new recipe" requirement. We are very excited for the Brussels sprouts - a favorite here.

Registration is open. $400 for a full share, $224 for a half.

OPO's hens are now laying, so they are providing the eggs themselves. The partnerships with Red Bridge (beef) and Sweet Grass Dairy are continuing. Oh, and they have honey, bread, and preserves on offer, too.

Week 14 saw a nice mixture of root vegetables and greens.

• Bok choy
• Rutabagas
• carrrots
• arugula
• radishes
• other greens (I failed to take a picture)
• We also bought Red Bridge ground beef and a ribeye, along with two cheeses from Sweet Grass: a gouda and "Lumberjack" (a salty-tangy  cheese, a bit like a really good feta).

CSW Week 11

The seasons are beginning to change, but apparently the okra continues its steady advance on humankind (or at least upon our CSA). Fortunately, our friends at Orchard Pond Organics ASKED if I would like okra this week. I politely (?) declined, but did accept their offer of additional salad greens. The younger man in line behind me opted for the ubiquitous green pods. I almost offered to run home and bring him the bag we have from last week's share, but he had gleefully trotted off before that idea had come to me.

This week's picture shows the share as it's received. Several delicious, recurring favorites were among the items:

• mustard greens
• mubuna (sp?) (Thank you to the OPO women for identifying this for me. Front center, below the eggplant.)
• bok choy (two types)
• salad greens (lots)
• three baby eggplants
• arugula
• eggs

Sunday will need to be filled with aggressive cooking, or else Senior Chef #2 and the Junior Chefs will be stuck with plenty of edible leaves while I am away for another business trip.

By the way, a quick word about washing greens. After trying several approaches, we have settled upon the triple-soak and spin. We fill the sink with cold water. Drop a load of leaves in and churn them about for a few seconds, then allow them to sit for a couple of minutes. Then spin them dry in the salad spinner, re-rinse (generally in the same water...the sand /dirt sinks). Repeat three times. This seems to produce the best results for storing (they last longer) and eating (no grit).

If you have a better method, let me know!

Finally, breakfast today - courtesy of Senior Chef #2 - was homemade french toast using the remaining Anadama Bread. Fabulous!

Beans, Bones, and Greens.

As I have a few times previously, I found myself confronted with a backlog of greens. There was also the residual humerus from the stuffed pork shoulder to be addressed. Touring the pantry, however, I found few options for dried beans...until I stumbled upon a bag of lima beans. But, these were purchased from Winn Dixie perhaps 5-6 years ago.

Would they still be good?

They smelled fine and were uniformly firm. I decided to quick soak them and see. Finding no issues, I proceeded with the soup.

The Method

1. Place the dried beans (any type) in several cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to sit for 1 hour. Drain.
2. Soak a handful of dried forest mushrooms in very hot water for 20-30 minutes.
3. While the beans and mushrooms soak, brown pork bones in a deep pot. (You could have done this in the oven for an even deeper roasted flavor.)
4. Scrounge three leftover Italian sausages from the freezer. (Why did I have three, single sausages in ziplocs? Why not just cook the extra link each time?)
5. Brown the sausages along with the bones.
6. Add six cloves of whole garlic, the mushrooms, 1 tsp dried thyme, a bay leaf, and enough water to cover the bones.
7. Bring to a boil.
8. Add the soaked beans.
9. Add 6-8 cups of roughly chopped greens (bok choy and mabuna).
10. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Simmer for at least 1/2 hour. (I cooked this for 2+ hours.)
12. Remove the bones - picking and adding any meat to the soup.

The Result

Mellow. The sharpness of the greens and roasted pork bones were discernible and the beans created a thick, creamy base. It was the perfect dish, served with a salad and slices of Anadama bread (freshly thawed and heated in the oven), for a cool fall evening. The Junior Chefs added hot sauce to their bowls partway through and reported it was delicious (my bowl was already empty).

Other things to try. I would certainly make this with other types of stock bones. It would also be worth adding tomatoes or tomato paste midway through cooking. Different varieties of beans would work well, too.

Meggsican Breakfast Magic

We haven't yet gone grocery shopping for the week, so our supplies are running a bit low. (If I was completely honest, I would tell you that we have a pantry stocked so full it could support us for several weeks if need be.) Last week was very hectic with the Senior Chefs both traveling for work...

Wow! Without ruining the surprise...I have to admit that I just checked on breakfast in the oven...very, very exciting! (More about that in a moment).

Consequently, we didn't make very many meals at home. That left us with a surplus of OPO produce and other farmer's market goodies. In reviewing the situation, I pulled a bag of chili peppers from the vegetable drawer along with a carton of eggs. This sparked an idea for a breakfast casserole.

The Method
First, bear in mind that this is a dish intended to use up items in the fridge and pantry. I began with the basics. An egg-based casserole benefits from a starch of some variety as an ingredient (i.e., frittata) or base (think quiche). I opted for oatbran bread. Also, I wanted to use the bag o'peppers, and remembered our recent success with roasted green chiles. So, I flipped on the broiler.

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Place several green chiles (including one anaheim pepper) on a baking sheet and roast. Turn as the peppers blacken. Total roasting time was about 10-12 minutes.

3. Remove chiles to a ziploc and place in the fridge. (Thanks, Ellen, for this suggestion.)
4. Meanwhile, cook 5-6 slices of bacon. (Okay, we cooked an entire pound...ate a few slices in the process; but only 5-6 made it into the casserole.)
5. Grate a stick of "seriously" sharp cheddar cheese - about 2 C
6. Butter 5-6 slices of good bread and place butter-side down in a 9x13 baking dish.
7. Prepare an egg mixture:
• 6-7 eggs beaten
• 1 C skim milk
• 1/2 C half-and-half (because you ran out of milk)
• 1/2 C water (because you didn't have enough milk or cream)
• 1/2 C ricotta (leftover and lonely in the fridge)
• 1 TB oregano
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder (because you ran out of fresh garlic)
• Salt and pepper

8. Peel and chop the chiles. Spread onto the bread.
9. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the chiles.

10. Add a layer of bacon slices and tomatoes.
11. Pour the egg mixture into the pan.
12. Cover with a final layer of cheese.

13. Allow to rest in the fridge. (Optimally, you would leave this overnight, but it was already 9:30 a.m. so we decided 15 minutes was sufficient.)
14. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

The Result
Clearly, this is BRUNCH, in that a) it contains all of the food groups, including bacon, b) it didn't come out of the oven until 10:30, and c) it contains more calories per cubic inch than most naturally-occuring or synthetic food products.

It is gorgeous! Fortunately, we don't have guests here for the weekend, so there's no obligation to share this with anyone else. (I considered grabbing the casserole and making a break for the car, but Junior Chef #2 is patroling to ensure that she doesn't miss the opportunity to eat.)

It smells wonderful! We use a good deal of oregano in our cooking, and it plays a prominent role here.

Off to eat...taste report forthcoming...

This is a very intense, savory dish. Everything melded together well. The chiles produced a little background heat and deep, roasted flavor. Junior Chef #1 was very happy with how the tomatoes turned out - given we included them at his suggestion.

Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. That said, I would make a few adjustments next time.

• Grease the pan for easier serving.
• Reduce the oregano by half to 1/2 TB. There are a lot of flavors involved. The oregano was too pronounced.
• Add little or no salt to the egg mixture. The bacon and cheese are salty enough by themselves.
• Use heartier bread. The store-bought variety lost most of its texture. French-bread or another type would retain more "bite." I also think it would be worth trying this with corn bread. That would produce a very different end result - probably much sweeter and creamier.
• Bacon alternatives. I would chopped the cooked bacon next time. The strips made this difficult to cut. It would also be interesting to try alternative meats, including roast pork, grilled chicken, or ground turkey. The dish is substantial enough to incorporate these. It would then serve well as a dinner entree. (This could easily be a meatless dish, too.)

Five-minute Salad

One of our favorite lunches is a salad of fresh lettuces topped with tuna. Quick, easy, and healthy, we enjoy using it as an excuse to clear out our veggie drawer when needed. Today's salad was very simple. Large helpings of OPO salad greens, shredded carrots from the farmers market (these were especially large and sweet), and sunflower seeds. Senior Chef #2 made a tuna salad with a little mayo, mustard, onion, and Grandma's bread-and-butter pickles. We added a splash of balsamic and a few grinds of black pepper to complete the dish.

French Toast - Good enough to adopt

We again found ourselves with a few over-ripe bananas. This was a great opportunity to explore recipes in which to use them. Having had Bananas Foster on pancakes or french toast on several occasions at Another Broken Egg, I was excited to try this at home. However, I was interested in toning down the sweetness, because this dish can be cloying.


Again, DDD offered a wonderful version from a restaurant in New Orleans.


The Method
You are making this dish in three parts: filling, batter, and sauce. I reduced the filling and sauce recipes considerably from the original recipes. There were still leftovers for each.


Filling

1. Combine and cream together: 2 bananas, 2 C dark brown sugar, vanilla, and 4 oz. cream cheese.

Batter

1. Combine 2 eggs, 2 TBs sugar, and vanilla until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in 1 C half-and-half

Sauce

1. Melt one stick of butter in a sauce pan.
2. Add ~ 1/2 C dark brown sugar.
3. Take pan from heat and add 1/4 C bourbon (the recipe calls for rum, which is always delicious with bananas; but - alas - we are out...and out of Diet Coke, too. Coincidence?)
4. Return the pan to the heat and set aflame. (You can do this with a match, but I simply tip the pan slightly over the gas flame.)
5. Once the alcohol has burned off, add 1/2 C of heavy cream.
6. Simmer and stir until the sauce turns creamy.

Creating Fostered French Toast

1. Slice an entire baguette of french bread into four "hinged" segments.
2. Lay open a segment and cover with a layer of filling. (Mine soaked into the bread, so I tried not to use too much.)
3. Next, place a layer of sliced bananas. (I would be generous, but try to keep in a single, flat layer.)
4. Cover the bananas with more filling.
5. Gently press the "sandwich" closed.
6. Cut into 1 1/2" - 2" thick slices. (You'll be soaking these in the batter and cooking the cut faces.
7. Soak both sides of each slice in the batter.
8. Cook on a non-stick griddle or oil pan until golden brown on each side.
9. Drizzle with the Foster Sauce.

The Result
This easily could have been sufficiently decadent to call "brunch." By reducing the amount of filling and sauce, it was less sugary and stuffing. Still you are eating a whole baguette, several bananas, sugar, and a good deal of butter - so this is probably not an every day or even every weekend breakfast. 


I just realized that I forgot to take pictures. Sorry.


We still had more than half of the filling and sauce remaining, and a good portion of the batter. I've frozen all three and will try to reuse them some future weekend. (I'll let you know how that turns out.)


I would also use better french bread (i.e., not supermarket varieties) in the future. This would give the toast more body.

Peas in a pot

We love black eyed peas. Digging about in the pantry over the weekend, we discovered a half bag of dried peas. Rearranging the fridge we stumbled upon two smoked ham hocks. Knowing that we had a large bag of collard greens in the fridge, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks, Soul and Spice: African Cooking in the Americas by Heidi Haughy Cusick. This contains a collection of recipes from South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa - most originating from or inspired by traditional foods prepared by slaves. Tonight's meal was courtesy of Senior Chef #2.


The Method

1. Soak 2 C. black eyed peas overnight.
2. Drain the peas, cover with 9 C clean water
3. Add 1 C chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 green chile, 1 (we used 2) ham hocks
4. Simmer for 45 minutes, or until the peas are tender
5. Skim the foam from the top as you go
6. Add 1# (or so) chopped collard greens to the pot. Simmer until tender

The Results

The peas were a bit bland. We salted. That helped but wasn't quite enough. Next came a splash of apple cider vinegar. Better. A final sprinkling of hot sauce made the dish. Even the more junior eaters among us enjoyed this seasoned version. The cornbread was also delicious. Sweet with a bit of a smoky, peppery bite from the chiles and jalapenos. The whole wheat flour also gave this a nutty, hearty flavor that paired well with the peas.


Again, the greens were delicious. We will miss them as winter (in north FL, yes) arrives and heartier veggies hold sway for a few months.

Cooking with a can, a skillet, and a little Presto

When I was younger, I'm absolutely certain you could not stick an entire aluminum (or tin) can inside of a chicken. Today, beer can chick is the rage. Perhaps genetic modifications have made this possible, or cans are just...well, smaller? The physics of this dish should just be accepted as they are. 


I don't have a particularly interesting approach to this dish. Nothing novel. Just half-fill an empty Diet Coke can with Steamboat Pale Ale. Add 2 TBs of homemade rub to the can, and sprinkle the inside and outside of the chicken as well. Position the chicken over the can (located conveniently in a beer can chicken roasting "rack" you received as a stocking stuffer a couple of years back). Thrust downward on the chicken, impaling it upon the rather large diameter can. Place the entire structure in an 8x8 baking pan. Seat this in the bottom of your Weber grill, surrounded by a full load of hot, ashen charcoal spread around the perimeter. Place the lid on the grill for 1 hour. Return to check. Notice that you let the charcoal burn a little too long before starting to cook...so leave the chicken for another 45 minutes while you watch Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Return a second time to find the chicken is PERFECT.

We served this with skillet cornbread made with a twist: 

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Place 1 TB butter and 1 TB oil to a cast iron skillet, place in over until sizzling
3. Mix 2 C corn meal
4. 1 Tbs baking powder
5. 1 TB sugar
6. 1 tsp salt
7. 2 eggs beaten
8. 1 can green chiles, roasted, chopped
9. 1-2 pickled (or fresh) jalapenos minced
10. Add 1/2 C whole wheat and 1/2 C white flour
11. Add 1-2 C milk until batter is mixed but very thick
12. Spoon batter into hot skillet
13. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown

But, what did you do during the first hour of chicken roasting, you might ask? We made fried okra, of course. Not having made this before, it was time to fake it. 

The Method

1. Bring 2 Q of oil to 350 degrees in your Presto deep fryer (yes, a wedding gift we never thought to return...it still works despite disuse!)
2. Have Junior Chef #1 slice the okra into 1/2" segments
3. Combine 1 egg and a few TBs of milk
4. In a ziploc, combine 1 C corn meal, 1 tsp paprika, garlic salt, salt, lots of black pepper
5. Coat the okra in the egg wash
6. Remove and drop in the breading bag - Shake...Shake...Shake
7. Place breaded okra on a plate
8. Fry each batch (not too many at a time) for 7 minutes, or until deep golden brown
9. Gently drain and transfer to a wire rack (conversely, do these on the rack roughly and watch the coating shatter and fall to the counter top leaving behind naked fried okra)
10. Serve with...ready for this...whatever possessed us? Cocktail sauce or a Mayo/Mustard/Honey dip created by Junior Chef #2

The Results

The okra were gone before the chicken had been cooking for a half hour. A few of the pieces were "woody." These would have been fine in a stewed form, but didn't soften at all during frying. The cocktail sauce was wonderful on these...strange tho' it sounds. The mystery sauce was...well, surprisingly good. Grandma Anne must have rubbed off on these kids over the summer.

The cornbread played a tasty supporting role.  The mixture of flours and chiles gave it a different texture than usual, and a deeper flavor.

The chicken was, as it always is like this, outstanding. It makes you forget the guilt of having impaled the fowl so cruely. The skin is a delicacy. 

Soup in Seven

I enjoy a complicated food challenge. The longer, more involved the recipe, the more likely I will try it. A few years back, I made cassoulet for Christmas. It required nearly a week of prep cooking (i.e., making sausages from scratch). I have made Turducken a couple of times, which requires a similar amount of sustained effort.

But there is much to be said for simple preparations.

Sunday lunch was a reprisal of radish sandwiches. I realize we were aiming for new uses of repeat OPO veggies, but this just sounded perfect. Again, the method is simple: thinly sliced radishes and their leaves on good bread slathered with butter and a sprinkling of salt. What bread did you use, you might be asking? My resilient whole grain friend, of course!

The presence of good bread makes soup an obvious choice for your next meal. My friend, Dina, sent me a recipe for Portugese Sausage and Kale Soup by John Mitzewich. He has a video cooking blog and a number of other web-outlets for his work. But you're reading my blog, so I feel obliged to tell you how I approached the soup. After watching his preparation once, I headed to Publix and found...why, yes, they do carry linguisa sausage in the lunch meat case. (As a lover of all sausage-styles, I was surprised to be unfamiliar with this variety.)

The Method

1. Slice the sausage into 1/4" thick rounds (on a bias, if you wish to be fancy)
2. Chop two small onions
3. Saute the sausage and onions in some olive oil
4. Season with garlic and cayenne pepper to taste
5. Add 1 quart of good chicken broth (I used defrosted homemade stock)
6. Bring this to a boil, lower to a simmer
7. Add two roughly chopped russet potatoes
8. Simmer until the potatoes are tender (or until you realize that your son mistakenly turned off the stove, and the potatoes have been poaching not simmering)
9. Turn up the heat, and add 8 C. roughly chopped greens (I used OPO kale and arugula. Who knew arugula was this versitile?)
10. Simmer the greens in the soup until they are tender (I let it go about an hour while we played Pictionary.)
11. Serve with good bread.

The Result

Wow. Another keeper. This is a seven (or so) ingredient, single pot dish. Seven is a favorite number, and this is now a favorite dish. 

The linguisa is a mild sausage, as are the greens. The potatoes give extra body to the broth. And the broth itself is the keystone ingredient. (All the more reason to make your own.) Dina, this is a perfect excuse to try kale. 

A side of bakin'

I've already explained that - given the chance - I prefer to spend time in the kitchen over the weekends. While I love to cook, I don't regularly bake. An occasional loaf of bread proves the exception. A couple of weeks ago I made real french bread and more recently a molasses and cornmeal mush based "Anadama Bread".


Several bananas have evolved in our fruit basket. They have reached a point of no return, and now must be reckoned with. Fortunately, I have at my disposal not one but two of my mom's excellent recipes for Banana Bread.


I also have a favorite basic whole grain bread recipe that is a very accommodating starting point for creative bread making. 


The Method (Banana Bread)

1. Blend 1/4 C softened butter, 1 C sugar, and three eggs.
2. Add in three (or four) very ripe banana.
3. Add 1 C white flour (I may use wheat next time)
4. 1 tsp baking soda
5. Incorporate 1/2 bag of Ghiradelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips (which you were eating anyway while you were making Mac and Greens [and by You, I mean me]).
6. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. (Cool 3 hours and then realize that you stuck the knife in the wrong place and it was raw. Return to the oven  for another 1/2 hour...remove fully cooked.)

The Method (Whole Grain Bread)

I'm certain you have your own favorite bread recipe. This isn't my very favorite, but it is forgiving. It includes butter, dried milk, and an open-ended request for "whole grain cereal". 

Okay. A confession. I intended to make Pugliese, a soft-crumbed Italian bread. HOWEVER, I failed to carefully review the recipe first. Had I done so, I would have realized that I needed to allow the starter to set for 8-10 hours before beginning the actual dough. Given that I mixed the yeast and water at 3:30, it seemed a course correction was necessary. Thus, I returned to the ole' stand-by.

After adjusting the flour and water ratios, using bread and wheat flours, I added the remaining ingredients: 1 C. combined of whole bran and granola cereals, salt, butter, honey, and...

Well, I had forgotten to buy milk and discovered I did not have dried milk. Previously I'd tried using soy and almond milks as a substitute, but they were vanilla flavored and gave the bread an odd aftertaste. Unfortunately, I only had those in the house. So, after a quick run to the Circle K for a $3.69 gallon of skim milk, i was back in business.

Of course, by this stage, the yeast had been proofing for almost 1/2 hour. 

Then the bread machine failed. (Yes, I had decided to take the automated route) 

So, I was left with a semi-stirred amalgamation. With a quick flouring of the counter and several minutes of hand kneading, all was ready.

Two risings. A final rising on the baking stone, then into a 425 oven for ten minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and finish baking for ...

I forgot to set the timer.  So, somewhere around 30 minutes after lowering the temperature, I checked the bread. Perfect!

The Results

Homemade bread. Forgiving. Delicious. 


Joy.

Crock-o-boeuf

Crockpot cooking. What could be easier than putting a few ingredients in a dish and letting them slowly roast all day?

The Method

• 1# roast (left over from Julia's boeuf bourguignon)
• two carrots
• stalk of celery
• an onion
• ground cloves (we're out of whole)
• bay leaves
• splash of red wine (Mad Dog & Englishmen)
• 1 TB of vegetable stock base (Penzey's)

Last night:

1. Lightly coat beef in seasoned flour and brown
2. Remove beef, add veggies and soften
3. Deglaze the pan with a little water, veggie base
4. Refrigerate veggies, beef, and liquid overnight

Today:

1. Add all ingredients, including spices and wine to crockpot
2. Set to low for 10 hours
3. Enjoy with OPO green beans and Anadama bread

The Results
The kids finished their dinner before we did.  Not a definitive indicator of "tasty," but certainly suggestive of a successful dish.

Monday Night Dinner

Tonight we enjoyed the payoff for earlier cooking. Monday is always a busy day, everyone settling back into work and school. We have an event at the kids' school, so it's a perfect night for leftovers.

The Anadama bread was as good as hoped. Dense, hearty, and flavorful. The molasses gives it a slightly sweet flavor - perfect to pair with a salad of spicy mizuna and lettuce plus homemade caesar dressing (yes, raw egg and all).


The soup was creamy and delicious. I could have doubled or tripled the radish greens. 6-8 cups would have been fine.

Anadama bread and a pepper

Decided to make a "Anadama Bread" today to go with the Radish Top Soup.  This is a molasses and cornmeal based bread with wholewheat and white flour. It was a bear to knead - a good workout for the arms. But that's part of the joy of bread. The finished product looks wonderful. Great crust. Heavy in the hand. 


We'll have slices with the soup and perhaps later with the chicken leftovers. 


No OPO ingredients in the bread. But I did make bratwurst and used hot peppers in the onions - they added just a bit of kick.  Then again, brats need little to make them fabulous!

Radish Top Soup

A good broth is easy to make and worth the effort - what little it requires! Our freezer fills up with various bones and trimmings, which eventually find their way into a simmering pot. (Usually upon the demands of a particular person.) I was intrigued by the Victory Garden Cookbook recipe for radish top soup. This seemed a promising way to use the leaves, which you'll recall were partly responsible for our earlier radish conversion experience. Here, I was left with the chance to use them apart from the root. Personally, I like greens of all sorts - spinach, collards, mustard, even pumpkin leaves ("mnkhwani ndi mtedza" - pumpkin leaves with peanut flour). Radish leaves are also spicy with a slightly "fuzzy" texture. That makes them the perfect addition to a creamy soup like leek and potato.

The Method

1. Simmer quartered potatoes in 6 C. good chicken stock (leftover from poached chicken)
2. Sautee sliced leeks in several TBs of good butter until lightly browned
3. Wilt the roughly chopped radish leaves and stems (washed of course) with the leeks
4. After 5-6 minutes, add the leeks and leaves to the potatoes
5. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 10 minutes
6. Puree the veggies and slowly add stock, cream, and a little butter until you have a smooth consistency.
7. Season with S&P and enjoy.

The Result

We have a quart of excellent soup in the fridge for later eating. I guess this is a good excuse to make some whole grain bread today. After a breakfast of zeppoles, a dinner of soup and salad may be in order - but Sundays are made for grilling. 

An epiphany

The radish. For me, the first thing that comes to mind is spicy! Now, our children eat nearly everything, save one food each they've elected to forego. But the prospect of having them munch through a bag of radishes had us a little concerned. I turned to a trusty resource, the Victory Garden Cookbook. If you were a fan of public television in the 1970s and 80s you may remember this show along with the Frugal Gourmet, Julia Child, and others. It was a favorite in our family.


Well, Marian Morash offers several ways of taming this simple root. But one entry caught my eye: radish sandwiches. This struck me as the perfect way to (re)introduce radishes to us. My thinking was - if we really don't enjoy them in this straightforward preparation - we could find ways to use them in combination with other things. Plus Marian insists this is her favorite way to eat them. It was worth a try.


The Method

1. Slather good bread with unsalted butter.
2. Layer with radishes - tops attached.
3. Sprinkle with salt.
4. (Commit yourself to having only this for lunch to ensure everyone tries it.)

This was an epiphany. Our kids were even upset that there were no radishes left to make sandwiches the next day, and openly hoped next week's share would contain more. We used homemade butter (a great energy release for the kids and their friends that day) and made french bread (ala Julia Child).

The Result

The sandwich was sublime. Not distractingly spicy, but a wonderful balance between sharp and subtle flavors. The salt was important - giving a fourth thing for your taste buds to enjoy. It is important, I'm sure, to use good bread and butter, too. 


This was the perfect way to begin our CSA-inspired eating. (Sadly, the pictures we took were deleted.) In fact, we'd hoped to use "Radish Sandwich" as the blog title, but found that some folks in VA were inspired before us.