Browsing: Breads

That’s A Lot of Zucchini!

September10

Fall is not officially here but is certainly in the air.  I know this from a number of events: we stayed in the city this weekend instead of venturing out to our beloved Beach House, J1 and J2 arrived right after church for the first Sunday of NFL, Daughter #2 and the Frenchman unboxed the Settlers game for post supper entertainment, I had a yearning for Gourmet Mac and Cheese for dinner instead of our summer barbeque fare AND I have more zucchini in my house than you can shake a stick at (I wonder where this silly saying comes from).

Recently I have tossed zucchini with onion, garlic, tomatoes, fresh herbs and feta and mixed with pasta, served it grilled with most meals, made pencil sticks out of it and fresh carrots to present to a gang of toddlers, whipped up zucchini brownies and dreamed up zucchini and pesto omelets for yesterday’s brunch.

This recipe seems to be the winner (and good thing because my supply is not yet depleted):

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
This recipe is very accommodating for more than the required shredded zucchini.
Ingredients
  • 1½ c flour
  • ¾ c sugar (I used Truvia baking blend)
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • ½ t salt
  • 1 beaten egg
  • ½ c canola oil
  • ¼ c milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 c shredded zucchini
  • ½-1 c chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a sturdy whisk. Combine wet ingredients with the zucchini being added last to a medium bowl.
  2. Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix just until completely moistened.
  3. Add chocolate chips and lightly mix again.

I had some left over beer/cream cheese icing in the fridge, so I used I smeared them with this last evening and served them for dessert.  If you eliminated the chocolate chips and added some grated cheese, they could accompany a soup or stew.

Kath’s quote: “The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe.”-John Gould

Love-that is all.

Chapatis-An Indian Lunch

March18

I do not anything about Indian food.  Ive been out for Indian food a couple of times in Winnipeg but only under the tutelage of others more experienced than I.  Today one of my students invited me to taste his homemade lunch.

He unwrapped the chapati which he described to me as being made from a firm dough made from whole grain flour and water mixed with a little bit of salt and oil.  Small portions of the dough are rolled out into discs using a rolling pin. The rolled-out dough is thrown on the preheated dry skillet and cooked on both sides.

Spices mixed and ready to be crushed into curry.

Often, the top of a chapati is slathered with butter or ghee (clarified butter). Chapatis made in domestic kitchens are usually not larger than 6-7 inches in diameter since the ‘tava’ from which they are made comes in sizes that fit comfortably on a domestic stove top. Tavas were traditionally made of unglazed earthenware, but are now typically made from metal. There are also electric tavas manufactured in India.  Some households simply use a kitchen work top as a sort of pastry board, but homes have round flat-topped ‘boards’ specifically for rolling out chapatis that may be made of wood or stone.

A piece of chapati is torn off and used to pick up the vegetable dish.  This families version is a combination of carrots, peas and potatoes, quickly tossed in a skillet with some salt, olive oil and he said chili powder (but I am pretty sure he meant curry).  The complex taste of curry is certainly the taste that I detected.

I was offered what he called pickles-succulent, marinated pieces of chili and ginger.  To off set the spiciness of the vegetables, a yogurt sauce with a simple sprinkling of salt and pepper could be dolloped on top.

I know that this gentleman’s diet is dictated by his religious beliefs and that he feels that it is his responsibility to eat healthy, whole foods.  This shared lunch, certainly was an indication of those premises.  In my life, there is no greater honour, than when a person invites me to share their lovingly prepared meal.

Kath’s quote:  “This curry was like a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that I’d once heard…..especially the last movement, with everything screaming and banging ‘Joy.’ It stunned, it made one fear great art. My father could say nothing after the meal.”-Anthony Burgess

 

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Le Grand Pestos-Part 2

March8

The stage was set.  Teams were formed, courses were drawn, the three Le Grand Pestos were revealed as the secret ingredients, and oh yea, the wine was poured.

D had made a bread dough in the afternoon to bake a loaf to have with supper.  But when he and Daughter #1 picked the appetizer course, they quickly modified their plans to use the dough for pizza.

We were calling it pizza because they used our round pizza screens to bake it but it really tasted more like a flatbread.  No matter how you describe it-call it absolutely delicious.

The team made a couple of very strategic decisions.  At one time, they were contemplating the inclusion of corn meal crusted back bacon but decided instead to make the flatbread a true vegetarian recipe.

They started with huge smears of the gorgeous green pesto and then began layering on the roasted vegetables: yellow and red peppers, eggplant, mushrooms and butternut squash.

They went very easy on the cheese so that the complex and varied tastes of the roasted vegetables would shine through.  There was mozzarella, Parmesan and a light sprinkling of Bothwell’s red wine and sharp cheddar as well.

In addition, in order to offset the nuttiness of the pesto, they included roasted pine nuts to add some crunch.

The resulting appetizer course could have been our entire meal, but we kept warning each other to stop eating so we would have room for the other dishes that were still ahead.

I was looking for a flat bread quotation, when I came across this one regarding flatulence (with apologies to my vegetarian readers and friends).  Kath’s quote: “Vegetarianism is harmless enough, though it is apt to fill a man with wind and self-righteousness.”-Sir Robert Hutchinson

 

Lumpy Bread

February16

This is what the top looks like when it comes out of the oven.

I thought nothing of the fact that I was making Lumpy Bread recently until I casually tweeted about it and Dig In Manitoba asked me to share my recipe.  Trouble is, it isn’t a recipe per se, just a “process” that I can restate here:

I use my breadmaker constantly, but perhaps surprizingly, not for making bread, but for making dough.  I have the portions for a basic dough etched in my brain and I use this as my basis for numerous concoctions. 

So on this day, once the dough cycle had completed itself, I removed the dough and cut it with kitchen scissors into big hunks and placed these into a stainless steel mixing bowl.  Next, I stuck my head into the cheese keeper in the fridge and pulled out whatever had not been wrapped carefully and was hardening at the edges-in this case havarti and white cheddar.  I threw these into my Magic Bullet and pulsed for a few seconds.  This produced some grated cheese and other pieces still in quite large cubes-perfect for this recipe.  I tossed the cheese with the bread dough and a couple of glugs of canola oil to encourage the surfaces of each to meld together.

A side view where the cheese and dough have softened and married each other.

I greased a bundt pan with olive oil  because I like the brown and crunchy texture that it produces on bread crust.  I love the new silicone bundt pans for a task this.

Now I could have thrown different types of cheese and/or garlic and herbs or even softened onions into this, but this is what stared me in the face, when I opened fridge door, so I went with it.

 

The bottom of the bread when it was turned from the pan.

So as you can see, not much of a “recipe” but  I served it with soup and more cheese to our dinner guests that evening (9 babies & toddlers and their 4 sets of parents) and everyone seemed well-pleased

 Kath’s quote: “Bachelor’s fare: bread and cheese, and kisses.”-Jonathan Swift

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Christmas Morning 2011

January9

Here I am still writing about Christmas festivities, when it is already half way into January.  This is my last Christmas blog post before I start recounting our fabulous food adventure in Isla Mujeres.

Since most of the family were leaving for Mexico very early Christmas morning, we actually faked the morning and celebrated on the 24th.  The kids all decided to sleep overnight and even though we could have slept them in comfortable spaces, the youngest one organized that they would watch “A Christmas Story” and then all bunk in together in the downstairs family room.   

It really did feel like Christmas morning to have them all assemble to open their stockings and exchange our gifts.  We drank champagne and orange juice and listened to Florence +the Machine (as it is our tradition to immediately put on music that was gifted that morning). 

I thought that I was really clever by assembling brunch the night before.  I made the “wife-saver” that I renamed “domestic-partner saver” and had posted the recipe for in a previous blog entry, a cranberry cheese ball was contributed and I dug up this recipe for “Land of Nod” (I didn’t name that one!) Cinnamon Buns.  I’m included it here:

20 frozen dough balls (I made a batch of dough in the bread machine, then formed into balls and froze)

1 c brown sugar

1/4 cup vanilla instant pudding (I omitted)

1-2 T cinnamon

3/4 c raisins (optional)

1/4-12 c melted butter (I used a 1/2 c to replace the moisture lost by omitting the pudding)

In the evening: Grease a 10″ bundt pan and add the frozen roll,s.  Sprinkle with brown sugar, pudding powder, cinnamon and raisins.  Pour melted butter over all.  Cover with a clean damp cloth and then leave on the counter at room temperature.

In the morning, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then turn over on a serving plate.

We put leftovers away for part of the family to enjoy again on the real Christmas morning and I wrapped up the squares of “domestic partner” saver and we ate in the early morning hours at the airport on our way south.

Kath’s quote: “There is a vast difference between the savage and the civilised man, but it is never apparent to their wives until after breakfast.” Helen Rowland (1876-1950) ‘A Guide to Men’

 

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