Baking Bouchon - Recipe 72: Pain Palladin

I'm getting bored of making and talking about bread.  Especially when the recipe says "This bread is just like that other bread you made except a little different.  It's also very similar to the next bread in this cookbook you have to make expect a little different in a different way than the bread you made last time."

Also, when I take ingredient pictures of bread they look exactly the same every time... flour, levain, yeast, salt, water and sometimes oil.  I'm bored just talking about it.

This bread has a longer fermenting time which was supposed to result in a thicker crust which is weird because I'm pretty sure the crust was thinner.

The only funny thing that happened was that wasn't entirely careful when I put the bread in the oven.  The two balls of dough were touching and I ended up with conjoined twin loaves.  At least it gave me something to talk about.

Also, I had a visitor when I stuck this in the oven and the whole steaming process scared the crap out of her.  This made me laugh because I'm so used to it by now that I forgot it is actually kind of scary to throw water on 460 degree rocks and make a sauna in your oven.

This bread was fine - it's just bread and not that exciting.  The next bread is supposed to be the same but with a thinner crust and I'm already bored.

Enjoy!
Julie

Nordic Winter Vegetable Soup

Nothing warms you up like soup.  I dislike eating soup in the summer because it makes me sweaty.  I do, however, get cold really easily and eating soup helps me avoid wearing gloves indoors in the winter.

I pulled this recipe out of Food & Wine magazine a couple of years ago and when CA said he wanted soup for dinner, I resurrected it.  I was home all day doing other things in the kitchen like making desserts and bread and more desserts so sticking a pot of soup on the stove was really easy.  Plus, I was excited to use a new ingredient.

This funky lookin' veg is celery root.  Celery root or Celeriac is a root vegetable in the celery family but it's not just the root of regular celery which is what I thought it was until this very minute when I looked it up on wikipedia.  Apparently this stuff grows wild in Northern Europe, hence "Nordic" soup but you have to go to fancy grocery stores to get it in the US... at least I did.  When you peel it, it smells exactly like regular celery and it tastes like it too, except without the stingy texture which is what I some people dislike about raw celery.

The original recipe uses celery root and parsnips which would have made this a very white dish (minus the spinach)... celery root, parsnips and barley all lack any sort of pigment.  However, my fancy grocery store was fresh out of parsnips and I refused to go to another store so a pop of orange carrots was in order.

I really enjoyed this soup!  I like that it's vegetarian, which CA and I try to do a couple of times per week - but it's still very filling.  The barley is super hearty and won't leave you starving 30 minutes later.  The celery root has a great celery flavor while giving the soup more substance than traditional celery would.  The onions and leeks add great flavor and I'm an all around fan of wilted spinach in my soup.  The thyme made CA ask why it smelled like Thanksgiving in the house and while I typically shy away from putting nutmeg in savory dishes, I went ahead and did it (although I cut the amount in half) which I think added just the tiniest bit of a warm spice to the soup.  This was the perfect meal for a cold winter night when I was too busy to worry about making something at the last minute.

Nordic Winter Vegetable Soup
Recipe from Food & Wine

Ingredients
2 T Olive Oil
1 Large Onion, thinly sliced
2 Leeks, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 cup Pearled Barley
8 cups Vegetable Broth
4 cups Water
10 Thyme Sprigs
2 Bay Leaves
1 1/2 lbs. Celery Root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb Parsnips or Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb. Baby Spinach
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Instructions

 In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onion, leeks and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the barley. Add the vegetable broth, water, thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the celery root and parsnips or carrots and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over moderately low heat until the barley and root vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. 

Stir in the spinach and nutmeg and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper as needed.  

Enjoy!
Julie

Gnocchi with Mushroom Ragu

Happy New Year!

I swear that 2013 flew by- I'm not entirely sure what happened but I think it was 2012 and then I blinked and it was 2014.  So much has happened this year - particularly in this little blog space.  This is my 210th post.  That's ridiculous considering that I started this thing in February, I'm pretty proud of myself for posting fairly consistently.  I've been able to make some baked goods that I've been wanting to try for years like croissants, doughnuts and macarons. I have loved almost every second of it. Not everything has been delicious and there have been a few disasters... like when I made a Carmel Nut Tart and dropped the crust on the floor and burned my arm and the caramel in the span of 1 minute... or when I made marshmallows eggs and thought silver leaf was silver leaf gelatin.  Good times.  Surprisingly, only one of those posts made it into the top 3 most viewed posts of the year.

#1 by a landslide is Vanilla Macarons - This post has had nearly 1,200 page views which blows my mind!  Macarons are very trendy right now and I'm pretty sure that people are searching for the Bouchon Bakery Vanilla Macaron recipe and click my link in the Google search only to be frustrated that I don't post recipes from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.  Sorry folks, I enjoy my freedom.

#2 is Oreo Biscotti with almost 600 page views - I'm always shocked with how much people like Oreo Cookies and anything that you put Oreo Cookies in.  This is a pretty great recipe so I don't blame them.

#3 only a handful of page views behind #2 is Crock Pot Turkey Breast - WEIRD! People must really like crock pot recipes.  That or they have every intention of making a crock pot recipe because they are lured in by the convenience and hands off approach but they never actually make it because it gets lost in their Pinterest account hidden by all the Oreo Cookie recipes.

Enough about the past, I now present to you a new recipe for your enjoyment...

I love Gnocchi - I definitely prefer it to regular pasta.  When it's made well it's lighter and fluffier than pasta with all the same benefits of being a vehicle for sauce and cheese.  I found this recipe on the Food & Wine website one Saturday when I was really craving some warm comfort food.  Gnocchi hits the spot every time.

The gnocchi here are very traditional - potatoes combined with eggs, cheese and flour to create a soft dough.  I cheated a little bit and microwaved the potatoes instead of baking them which ended up OK, but I think the texture would have been a bit fluffier if I'd actually followed the directions and baked the potatoes in the oven.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time for that business because I was hungry and adding another hour to prep time wasn't happening.

The dough gets turned out onto a floured surface and kneaded for a few minutes before rolling it into a big long snake.  That gets cut into pieces and pressed with a fork to make little indention on each piece.

The gnocchi get boiled for just a few minutes until they float to the surface of the water.

There is a restaurant in DC called Filomena which my family has been going to for decades and there are these sweet little ladies who stand and make fresh pasta and gnocchi in the window all day.  I admire their stamina because I was tired from making just a few servings of gnocchi.

Oddly enough this restaurant is obsessed with holidays and they decorate for Halloween like nobody's business.  It's really quite horrifying to eat your light, fluffy, delicious gnocchi while being stared at by a clown holding a butcher knife but it's totally worth if because the food is amazing.  I hear they also decorate for Christmas which I'm hopeful is less frightening.  My gnocchi were not nearly as fluffy or perfect as those found in the restaurant but they still quite good - although I wouldn't say they were worth being stared at by a giant spider with evil yellow eyes for two hours.

My favorite part of this dish was the sauce.  I hated mushrooms until a couple of years ago when I ate them until I forced myself to like them and it's dishes like this that make me so glad I did.  The sauce was meaty and hearty and full of flavor but it did not overpower the delicate flavors of the gnocchi.  This sauce is a great way to eat a vegetarian dish where it's so hearty you don't miss the meat at all.  I definitely plan to make the sauce again, even if I don't have time to make fresh gnocchi - it would be great over pasta or rice or a grilled chicken breast.  I really enjoyed it!

CA really liked this dish too - he wasn't entirely excited about having gnocchi for dinner as he wasn't "feelin' it" but he totally recanted his statement when he tried it.

Gnocchi with Mushroom Ragu
Recipe courtesy of Food & Wine
8 Servings

Ingredients

For the Gnocchi 
4 Baking Potatoes
2 T Butter, melted
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1 Egg Yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
Pinch of Nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour

For the Ragu
2 T Butter
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 lb mixed Mushrooms (quartered if large) 
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 Shallots, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Thyme
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
1/4 cup Chicken Stock

Instructions


To Make the Gnocchi
Preheat the oven to 375°.  Bake the potatoes for 1 hour, until tender; let cool slightly. Peel the potatoes and pass them through a ricer into a bowl or mash with a potato masher or fork. Stir in the butter, egg, egg yolk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1/2 cup of cheese and let cool.

Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour. Sprinkle the 1 1/4 cups of flour over the potato mixture and gently knead until the flour is almost incorporated. Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface and gently knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll out 1 piece of the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rope. Cut the rope into 1-inch pieces and transfer the gnocchi to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Roll each gnocchi against the tines of a fork to make ridges. Cover the gnocchi with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.

To make the Mushroom Ragu
In a large skillet, melt  the butter and the oil. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until tender and just browned, about 7 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in the wine and cook until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and season the ragu with salt and pepper; keep warm over low heat.

To cook the Gnocchi & Serve
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add half the gnocchi and simmer over moderately high heat until they rise to the surface, then simmer until cooked through, about 2 minutes longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the gnocchi to a serving bowl. Cook the remaining gnocchi. Spoon the ragu over the gnocchi and serve, passing grated cheese at the table.

Enjoy!

Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 71: Sourdough Bread

I have a feeling I'm going to get sick of making bread very soon.  I did an inventory of what I have left to make out of the Bouchon Bakery cookbook and I have just a couple of items from each chapter left... except for the bread chapter where there are at least a half a dozen recipes left.  Sheesh.

I love sourdough bread and making it is not that different from making many of the other breads in this cookbook.

The big difference is that you use a lot more levain than in the other recipes.  Levain is basically a bread starter made from water and flour that is left to sit out for days and is fed with more flour so that it grows - basically it's bacteria.  Somehow it doesn't kill you but the more of it you put in bread the more it tastes sour.  I don't know how.  It's science.

The bread comes together really easy in the stand mixer and using the dough hook to knead it takes all the hard work out of it.  It's left to rise for a few hours, shaped into a round loaf and then rises again.  At that point I transferred it to a flexible cutting board to help me get it into the hot oven but for some reason the sides of it were all saggy like a saggy... something or other. 

The bread baked up beautifully (at least it looks like it did from the top) and the crust was was best one so far - very crusty which I'm aware is not very descriptive but it's the only word I can think of.

Looking at the loaf of bread from the side it looks more like a flying saucer than a loaf of bread which I can only imagine is due to the saggy sides getting some kind of a surgical lift in the oven.

The bread was pretty good but I wanted it to be more sour.  I like to know I'm eating sourdough bread and this one just made me think that I might be eating sourdough bread.  That didn't stop me from eating it and it definitely didn't' stop me from using it to make french toast the following morning.

Enjoy!
Julie

Guacamole

I am very picky about my guacamole.  In fact, I refused to eat guacamole until I went to a Mexican restaurant that made it tableside.  I'm very skeptical about the stuff you buy in the grocery store because I'm not sure why it's still green.  Anytime I've ever seen an avocado that touched the air for more than 10 minutes it was brown.  What the heck do they put in there to keep it green?  Wait, don't tell me.

To me guacamole must be made no less than 15 minutes before I eat it.  The avocado must be chunky, not totally mushed up into baby food consistency.  It must have a few tomatoes in it, but not too many.  It must have some spice to it.  Let's just make it easy and say that it must be this guacamole - I'm rather skeptical of all others... except that for some strange reason I do like Wholly Guacamole which comes in those little pouches.  I can somehow convince myself that the pouch keeps away the brown and not 9,000 chemicals and green food coloring.

CA will eat any guacamole, anywhere, anytime.  He's not picky.  That man loves his Mexican food.

The recipe is really quite simple, as it should be.  I use a mortar and pestle to grind up the onions, salt, cilantro and jalapeno in this recipe because we don't have a molcajete (Google it).  I've been tempted to get one even though I'm generally against single use kitchen supplies.  I'm sure someday I'll have a theme party and convince myself that it's necessary but until then we make do with the mortar and pestle.

Once you've ground up the base, in go chunks of avocado, a few tomatoes and more onions, cilantro, jalapeno and salt.

I'm always surprised by how much salt you need to put in guacamole to make it taste right, especially considering that the vehicle to get it into your mouth is a salty chip.

I really do love this stuff and it changed my life when I finally found a guacamole I liked (that's quite dramatic, it just changed my guacamole eating experiences).  Avocados are so good for you!  Although, I'm sure in the quantities I consume them and with the number of chips that accompany it, it takes away some of the health benefits.  No matter.

Guacamole
Recipe courtesy of Saveur

Ingredients
2 T finely chopped White Onion
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 T finely chopped Cilantro
Salt
3 Avocados
1 small Tomato, diced

Instructions
Grind half the onions, half the jalapeño, and half the cilantro and 1/2 tsp of salt in a mortar (if you don't have a mortar you can mash it well with a fork). Transfer to a serving bowl.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise, then remove and discard pit. Make crosshatch incisions in avocado pulp with a paring knife. Scoop pulp out with a spoon, then add to the onion mixture.

Stir in remaining onions, jalapeño, and cilantro, then gently mix in tomatoes. Adjust seasoning with salt and serve immediately.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 70: Dog Treats

My little Sconnie boy has been waiting for this day for almost a year.  He FINALLY gets to be the recipient of some Bouchon Bakery treats.

For a dog who never gets fed from the table or the counter (except when my dad is around when I know he sneaks food to the granddog), he has a very keen sense of knowing when I'm cooking something that he would like or something that will kill him.  The dog never fails to appear when meat is brought into the house, out of the fridge or freezer or onto the stove, oven or grill.  He also appears 100% of the time when I am making something with chocolate.  While his little nose is going a mile a minute he is still very polite and has never once stolen food and he's actually quite terrible about cleaning up what I drop on the floor.  He usually looks at it and then looks up at me like I'm trying to trick him.  He's a good boy.  I've jinxed myself, haven't I?

The second these chicken livers entered the front door, Sconnie was aware.  I set the bag on the floor while unloading the rest of the groceries and returned to the kitchen to find his entire face inside the bag with snout nose twitching fiercely.  He knew they were for him because there was no way I'd eat anything that smelled that bad.

The meaty base of these dog treats is bacon and chicken livers.  Cooking the bacon made my house smell delightful and made CA come running to the kitchen to find out what kind deliciousness I was preparing.  Sorry, not for you.  Then I cooked the chicken livers which made my house smell like something had died and made me want to gag.  Grinding up the bacon and chicken livers together into a paste didn't help.

I recovered enough to add in flour, cornmeal and chicken broth to make a very brown, very smelly, very dog-friendly dough.  Luckily, I already had a dog bone cookie cutter lying around which I used to make the epitome of dog treat shapes.

The treats went into the oven to bake at a very low temperature for a very long time... it takes 3 hours to dry these suckers out!

I'm usually a big fan of ketchup, but there's something about brushing a ketchup glaze on chicken liver dog treats that almost made me toss my cookies.  It was a nasty smelling combination.

The verdict?  Well, someone waited very patiently for his treats....

At first he was a little skeptical... I think it was the ketchup glaze.

But after a little coaxing, he gobbled up the first one and asked for seconds.  Then he asked for thirds.  Then he asked for fourths which I did not give him so he proceeded to check the carpet for crumbs.

Sconnie is just like his mama and chose to share some of his treats with his friends.  Apparently bull dogs and lab mixes aren't as skeptical of ketchup glaze as catahoulas are and they gobbled them right up and asked for more.

Enjoy!
Julie

Sausage, Mushroom & Radicchio Stuffed Shells

I never order stuffed shells in restaurants.  There's too much cheese... and I love cheese.  Is it really necessary to fill the shell with cheese and top it with even more cheese?  Plus, then they come around with that cheese grater and ask you if you want another layer of cheese.  The worst part is that if you don't eat the dish fast enough the cheese on top starts to coagulate and become a solid mass that you can lift off your plate in one big chunk...  I'm making myself nauseous. 

These shells are not like that - they're stuffed with a much greater variety of things than four kinds of cheese.  Yes, they have four kinds of cheese in them.  I love cheese.  But they will not make you nauseous or leave your running for the prune juice.  TMI?

Let's start with the leeks.  Leeks are delicious, it's like a really mild onion, but cleaning them is kind of a bear.  You start by hacking off the top half.  The dark green parts are really tough and don't taste great so just throw them away.  You could probably use them to make stock but I typically just chuck them.  I then like to cut them in half and wash them.  A ton of dirt gets in between the layers of the leek so you have to wash them really well or you'll get a crunchy surprise.  Alternatively you can slice them into circles, stick them in a bowl of water and swirl them around for a minute or so.  The dirt will sink and the leek will rise to the top.  Once halved, these leeks get sliced into half-moons.

Along with the leeks, these shells are stuffed with Italian sausage (I used turkey sausage to stay a bit more on the healthy side - with all the other stuff in here you'll never notice the difference), mushrooms and radicchio.  The sausage and mushrooms lend a heartiness to the dish.  The radicchio puts a bit of a bitter edge on the stuffing which I think breaks up the heaviness. 

Once the sausage and veggies are all cooked down, some ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella and parmesan are added in to add a creamy element and all that gets stuffed inside of a cooked pasta shell.  You can certainly use all ricotta or cottage cheese instead of both - but I happened to have just a little bit of each on hand.

Top it all off with some marinara sauce (I went the jarred route this time) and a bit more cheese - pop it in the oven and you're good to go.

I was really impressed with how this recipe came out.   I love how the bitter radicchio pairs with the hearty sausage and mushrooms and creamy cheese.  It nods at the traditional stuffed shells but the flavors are far more complex.  My favorite part is that it is super filling without being so heavy that you've got to put your stretchy pants on. 

Sausage, Mushroom & Radicchio Stuffed Shells
4 servings

Ingredients
3/4 lb Italian Sausage (turkey or pork both work great)
2 Leeks, halved and thinly sliced
4 oz. Mushrooms, chopped
1 small head Raddichio (8 oz.), chopped
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 T Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 cup Ricotta Cheese (or use 1/2 cup and omit cottage cheese)
1/4 cup Cottage Cheese (or use 1/2 cup and omit ricotta cheese)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded and divided
25 Large Pasta Shells
1 cup Marinara Sauce

Instructions
In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage until no pink remains.  Add the leaks, mushrooms and radicchio, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, egg, ricotta, cottage cheese, half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan cheese.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta one minute less than the package indicates.  Drain and cool under running water. Pat the shells dry. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Stuff each shell with approximately 1 T of filling and arrange in the prepared baking dish.  Top with sauce and the remaining cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes until bubbly and the cheese is lightly browned.

Enjoy!
Julie