Tag archive for bread

Cornbread skillet goodness

table

Last week, snow fell. It was a skiff, really, but with the dip in temperatures that accompanied it, that little dusting has managed to stay around all week. When the weather is cold and it is dark before I head home in the evenings, I feel like an extra measure of comfort is needed. I know I must have told you that when autumn comes around, my plans for cooking seem to make a turn all on their own. Suddenly, soup sounds like a good idea and I make at least one pot per weekend. One giant pot that simmers for hours on the weekend, then is doled out into quart jars in preparation for the week ahead. And as this ritual repeats itself over the first weeks of fall, my freezer fills up with lunch options. Corn chowder, red lentil and cream of cauliflower, portioned out and ready for a quick meal.

ingredients

If I am going to have soup for dinner, I like to pair it with a salad or some bread. Hot buttered slices of toast work well, as do savory little muffins. But really, what I want most with my soup is a skillet of cornbread. For one thing, once the oven is turned on in the evening, the kitchen just feels that much more cozy. And this recipe is quick enough that by the time the soup is warmed up and the table set, there is cornbread ready to come out of the oven. Around here, we top it with some butter and perhaps a slice of cheese. We’re a divided house when it comes to a sweet topping though, but a drizzle of maple syrup always wins out for me.

cornmeal

This recipe came to me a few years ago when Tina shared it as an idea for a gluten-free quick bread. I’ve been making it several times a week already this season. In fact, it’s so good that I may have made it several nights in a row when my parents visited us. The three of us don’t eat the whole pan, but I like to toast the leftovers the next morning with a hard boiled egg, or make open-face sandwiches with more soup at lunch. And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I couldn’t help but think that leftovers would make a tasty stuffing come next week.

slice

Recipe note: In my opinion, the main ingredient to watch is the cornmeal. Don’t be lulled into thinking any old grind will work. Stone-ground cornmeal gives a much better texture and bite to the cornbread. And meal that’s labelled for grits works really well, in my experience.

Skillet Cornbread

Recipe from Gourmet
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1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal (preferably stone-ground)
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk (do not use powdered)
1/2 stick unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 425°F with the rack in the middle. Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch skillet in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile stir together the cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Whisk together eggs together in a small bowl and measure buttermilk in a large measuring cup.

Remove the now hot skillet from oven, taking care as the handle will be very hot. Add butter and return to the oven for about five minutes to melt. When the butter is melted, remove the skillet from the oven, swirling to coat bottom and sides (butter may brown and it’s delicious). Whisk hot butter into the buttermilk mixture and return skillet to oven. Stir cornmeal mixture into buttermilk mixture just until evenly moistened but still lumpy.

 

plate

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Winter Panzanella with Pancetta & Brussels Sprouts

Would You Rather, have you played the game before? It is a game of comparison that we often play on road trips or a warm summers eve surrounding a campfire. Food is not the usual topic for Would Your Rather, but if it were, this is how it would go. Would you rather: a light, leafy, green salad or something stewed, steaming hot and smothered in sauce?

Here in Vancouver we are just coming out the other side of about 5 straight days of fog. No joke. Before that we had about 2 months of rain! Couple that with the fact that we are smack dabb in the middle of winter and the only thing that I want in my mouth is either braised, stewed, roasted, piping hot… you get my drift. Leafy greens aren’t going to cut it right now and let’s face it, they aren’t at their prime right now. I am not a salad hater, I just don’t want one that was cooked up in some hothouse and picked 4 weeks before it was ripe. Needless to say, a salad has to be some kinda wonderful to catch my eye.

So what does this mythical salad look like? It has to have a little staying power, nothing too light and fluffy. Bold, full of flavour, crisp and finally it needs to feel like comfort food. I like to think of this salad as all the fix’ns from Christmas dinner brought together into a salad. A vivid, crunchy, salty and sweet winter panzanella salad hits all the right notes and leaves you feeling like you have just eaten a meal.

This is a very flexible salad. Every time I have made it I have tried different variation and loved them all the same. The original recipe calls for panettone or raisin challah, however, if you can’t find any, switch it out for a nice french bread and 1/4 cup of  dried fruit, such as dried cranberries or raisins. If you don’t happen to have a pomegranate on hand, try adding some additional dried cranberries. I would recommend putting in the extra effort to get your hands on one, as the little seeds bursting with juice are a real treat. My final motification was to the brussels sprouts preperation, I have a preference for roasted brussels sprouts but if you are interested in speeding things up a little you can dunk them into a pot of salted boiling water for about 7 minutes. However, speaking from experience don’t skip soaking the radicchio in ice water. It helps to remove a little of the natural bitterness and leaves the radicchio crisp and plump. On a side note the recipe does half well. I like to prepare a full recipe of the apple vinaigrette and save half for a later dinner.

Winter Panzanella with Pancetta & Brussels Sprouts
Adapted from Bon Appetit (serves 8 as a side or 4–6 as a main)

Ingredients

Apple Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 Granny Smith apple cut into slices
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
8 tablespoons (about) apple juice
Course sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Croutons:
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1/4 cup butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
Coarse sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Salad:
1 head of radicchio, halved, cored, thinly sliced
12 ounces 1/8-inch-thick slices pancetta, cut into 2×1/8-inch strips
1 pound small brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved lengthwise
Seeds from one fresh pomegranate (optional)
Dried cranberries (optional)
Coarse sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

For the vinaigrette:
Heat a sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt, then add the apples. Sauté the apple over medium heat, stirring occasionally until they are golden brown and have softened throughout. Scrap the apples and all of the remaining pan juices into a blender and allow them to cool.

Once the apples have cooled add olive oil, apple cider vinegar and shallots and purée until smooth. Slowly add the apple cider a tablespoon at a time until vinaigrette reaches a desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

For the croutons:
Preheat oven to 400F. Warm a small sauce pan, add butter and allow it to melt. Once the butter has melted add the garlic, sage and thyme and allow to cook for about a minute or until the herbs become fragrant but do not brown. Place bread into a large boil, evenly pour the butter mixture over the bread, tossing until all the cubes are evenly covered. Spread the cubes out onto a baking sheet, top with grated parmesan, salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 6 minutes stirring occasionaly until the croutons are golden brown. Set aside and allow to cool.

For the salad
Place the halved brussels sprouts onto a baking sheet, lightly toss with salt and pepper and a little olive oil if you like. Place in the oven which is still heated to 400F and roast for 15-20 minutes turning about half way through the roasting time. Remove from oven and allow to cool. In the meantime saute the pancetta in a large pan until crispy and lightly browned. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on a paper towel.

In a large salad bowl combine croutons, brussels sprouts and pancetta. Remove radicchio from its ice bath, drain thoroughly and add to salad bowl. Add vinaigrette to salad, mixing well. Top with pomegranate seed and dried cranberries if desired.

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Nothing beats warm bread

The smell of warm bread always brings back a flood of memories from my childhood. Growing up, it seemed like something bread related was always going down. Either bread was being made, bread was rising or bread was in the oven. Ginger and I were often relegated to tiptoeing around the house (or the back yard) instead of our usual hectic antics, so that we didn’t cause the bread to fall. I even recall a time or two when my mom rushed to the flour bag and dredged her hands before answering the door so that she wouldn’t have to engage with the salesman who had come calling.

Over the holidays we went to visit a friend who had her mother visiting from out of town. When we arrived her mother was baking bread, and over the course of our visit she somehow managed to whip up a couple of loaves of very lovely smelling bread. She told me that she hadn’t purchased a loaf of bread in over 40 years! “Why have I not been baking bread at home?” I asked myself. Thanks to my mother and the years of taking part in a 6 am highschool bread baking program. I have no excuse, I used to bake bread and I like it!

After my visit I headed home and straight for my archives and began to search for my bread recipe. Back in the day when I used to bake more often I had a bread recipe that I really liked, it was simple and tasty. But as luck would have it, time and a few moves have left me recipe-less. I had to start fresh. I wanted a recipe that had a simple ingredient list, was easy to put together and most importantly, wouldn’t take the whole weekend to make. I started looking for a recipe that featured beer. One trick that I have learned along the way is that if you want a fairly quick loaf of bread, that somewhat resembles an artisan loaf, you need to add beer to your dough.

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No-Knead Beer Bread 
(make 2 rounds)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup warm water (about 100F)
12 oz bottled beer at room temperature
4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
cornmeal (for sprinkling on baking sheet)

For the sponge:
In a medium bowl use a wooden spoon to mix together yeast, flour and warm water. Be careful not to use too hot of water or the heat will kill the yeast. Once the ingredients are mixed together cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm spot to rise for 30 minutes. I don’t have a warm place at home so I pre-heat my oven to about 75F and let the sponge rise there.

For the bread:
After 30 minutes you should have a nice bubbling bowl of sponge. Add the beer to the sponge and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the flour and salt and mix the dough until all the flour is incorporated. You should be left with a wet dough. Once again cover the bowl and return it to a warm spot to rise for 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, use a rubber spatula to remove the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn the dough out onto a clean, well floured work surface. For more ease working with the wet dough, generously sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour and dredge your hands with flour before beginning to shape the dough. Divide the dough in half and roughly shape into two rough loaves. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a baking sheet and transfer loaves onto the sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with flour, cover with a dry towel and return to a warm spot to proof for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 425F. Once the loaves have fully risen use a very sharp knife to cut a cross into the tops of the loaves. I have found that you usually need to go over the cuts a second time to make them about 3/4″ to 1″ deep. Place the bread in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. You can tell that the bread is finished baking when it develops a lovely golden crust and makes a nice hollow sound when you flick it with your fingers. Allow the bread to cool before cutting into it… haha who am I kidding. Have atter.

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Hot crossed

My forays into bread baking started at a young age. Standard production of many loaves of hearty whole grain bread were a weekly occurrence in my childhood. I still fondly recall thick slabs of bread, freshly out of the oven, melting with butter and perhaps dripping a little honey off the corners. At some point along the way, my days of quietly standing by turned into active participation. I’ve been baking something ever since.

One of my first official cookbooks had to have been Baking Bread by Beth Hensperger. While I can’t say that I baked every recipe in the book, I have come mighty close. I started out with the European country breads, moving on through the American breads and settling quite happily into the sweet and celebration breads sections. There was even a picnic section! And even as a high school student, I was planning my weekends around various starters and sponges called for in these recipes. I know, this is saying something about my high school years!

It took awhile, but eventually I found my way to the recipe for hot cross buns. Filled with currants, apricots and citrusy goodness, these fragrant rolls stand out from the crowd. But let’s be honest here – the real standout component to these rolls has to be the icing. It’s true, when you think about hot cross buns, icing is not the first thing that springs to mind. But once you taste these, I think you might at least reconsider.

For me, hot cross buns are not a specific Easter requirement, but more of a spring treat. And that is likely why I try to make a few batches of this recipe before Easter passes me by. But, since we have a little more spring still to come, I hope you’ll find a time to try out this recipe.

Hot Cross Buns with Dried Fruit

Adapted from Beth Hensperger’s book, Baking Bread

It is worth noting that this recipe is nothing short of amazing with Meyer lemons. The season seems to be winding down, but if you can find just one lemon, I think you’ll see what I mean. 

1 cup dried currents
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tablespoon (1 package) active dry yeast
A pinch of sugar
3/4 cup warm water (105° to 115° F)
1 cup warm milk (105° to 115° F)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
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1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sugar Glaze
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water

Lemon Icing
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, be more generous if you wish
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place the dried currants and chopped apricots in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Using an electric mixer bowl, or a large bowl, combine the milk, butter, sugar, eggs about 1 cup of the flour. Mix for 1 minute to combine. Add the yeast mixture, dried fruits, spice, vanilla and 1 cup more flour. Beat hard for 1 minute or until well combined. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms that clears the sides of the bowl. As with any dough, the flour proportions will vary a little, but go sparingly with the additions to keep the dough moist.

Continue to knead, by hand or in a mixer, until the dough is soft and smooth. Push any dried fruit back into the dough if bits fall out. Continue to add flour, if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until the dough has doubled, anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal portions. Roll the dough into a 10-inch-long log. Depending on the size rolls you want, cut each log into sections of 9 or 10 pieces. Form each piece into a round bun and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet to rise. Leave about 1 1/2 inches between each roll. Leave uncovered and let rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until roughly doubled in size. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 375º. Once the oven is heated, use a sharp knife to cut an “x” into the top of each roll, taking care not to cut much deeper than 1/2 inch.

Bake in the center of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown. You can flip the roll over to check for doneness as well – the bottom should be nicely browned.

While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. Combine the sugar and water in a small pan and allow to boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Once done, remove the rolls from the oven and arrange on a wire rack. Use a pastry brush to coat with the sugar glaze. While the rolls continue to cool, prepare the lemon icing. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest. Beat with a whisk until smooth. The icing will be a bit firm, but this will help with the piping. Place the icing in a small plastic bag and snip a tiny hole in one corner. Pipe the icing into the “x” in the top of each roll. Let the rolls stand for at least 20 minutes for the icing to set.

These rolls are best enjoyed the moment the icing is set, or at least the day they are baked, so share a few with friends and family.

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Lunch plans

One of my favorite meal arrangements has to be the picnic. The word sounds so easy and relaxed and I can’t help but smile when I hear it. Place settings and formality need not apply. And whether I’m eating indoors or out, the laid-back mentality of a picnic seems to translate. I’ll happily picnic all year round.

And I do just that, turning winter weekend lunches into picnic affairs with food arranged on the table for happy sharing and snacking. There are no wrong combinations and everyone gets just what they want.

It wasn’t very long ago that we enjoyed a little picnic out in the middle of the snowy woods – a few snacks and chocolates tucked in a backpack to accompany us on our snowshoeing adventure. Next winter I will remember to bring the Thermos of hot cocoa, I promise! But right now, crisp spring afternoons spent indoors around the table, or better yet, in front of a fire, seem like just the right thing.
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But with spring in the air, it’d probably be wise to get your picnic routine figured out. You simply can’t go wrong with a baguette or crackers, cheese and perhaps a little salami, if you are so inclined. Throw in a jar of homemade lemonade or a bottle of wine. Spice things up a bit with a bunch of fresh radishes, a little basket of strawberries or thin slices of a crisp apple. Olives, almonds, a little bar of dark chocolate and you’re set.

And just like that, you’ve got a picnic! Take it outdoors or into the living room. Just be sure to enjoy it with friends.

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Just eat it!


One of my favourite dinners is one that usually requires a little extra time to pull together. But it isn’t cooking time, it’s fun time. I love charcuterie for dinner. Now you may think: why would that take extra time? I will tell you, I like to head down to Granville Island and make an afternoon out of getting dinner supplies.

Granville Island is basically a tourist and food junkies heaven. The Island is located under the Granville bridge right at the water’s edge. Which means, as well as being the perfect place to get all your supplies, it is also best enjoyed when you have a little time to take in the scenery, grab a coffee and relax rather than loosing your mind trying to fight the hoards of wandering tourists.

When I first moved to Vancouver I basically lived on the Island. I went to school there and had a part-time job in the market, so I feel like I have a pretty good handle on which shops to patron. The first stop, is actually a little off the island at les amis du fromage. Not only do they have a marvelous selection of cheeses but also, all the accoutrements your heart desires. A little cultured butter and quince paste anyone?

At the entrance to the island is a favorite building of mine, The Waterfall Building by the late great Arthur Erickson. I always have to stop and take a photo.

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Once inside the market meats, bread, fresh produce and yummy treats abound. Loris at Zara’s Pasta will hook you up with the best olives around and Oyama Sausage is my pick for a fantastic selection of meats and pate, just to name a few.

And with all the ingredients at home, just eat it!

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