Food with Friends - 04/30

I am hosting a Food with Friends event:  celebrating 35 years of friendship between two of my friends with whom I've shared 28 of those years.  Our dinner party will total 10, which I find is just the right number of folks.

I had planned to make as a first course the famous Le Bec-Fin's crabcakes  by Georges Perrier.  Regrettable my internet research did not yield any who seemed to have successfully made it.  Further, there were many discrepancies among reported recipe, so much so that I ordered the book (which I found used at a fine price).  After some consideration, I decided that I was being too ambitious.

As I'm fixing a salt-crusted beef tenderloin  (a new method for me) over a warm potato salad with Gorgonzola, walnuts and spinach, I elected to forgo adding another foreign dish to my repertoire--particularly when it involves very expensive ingredients.  Rather, I elected to prepare Crab Cakes with Spicy Avocado Sauce, a long-time favorite recipe as a first course.

Beef Tenderloin over bed of Warm Potato Salad (Fine Cooking)
The main course, Beef Tenderloin in Salt Crust is from Fine Cooking.  Look how beautiful that is!  I thought it would be a fine way to have a hearty spring dinner.  I have been perfecting my sourdough French Bread, and feel comfortable making a serving that--particularly since I have the process down to a science which involves very little hands on time.

With my first course crabcake, we are having a surf and turf.  To finish, I will serve my guests the Cuban Opera Cake.

I need to finish out my appetizers, but I think that I'll do a clam dip, a parmesean/spinach hot dip with waterchestnuts and some serrano ham wrapped around spring greens with goat cheese, fig preserves and chopped walnuts.

The most difficult thing is EPA cleanup.  Donning hazmat suit.

Rant

I try to keep my ranting to a minimum, but I've reached my threshhold for tolerance for the following:

  1. Having to listen to a 30 sec ad to watch a 1:30 video clip on major websites.  At the very least, have a "skip ad" for a polite amount of time.  It is ludicrous to be held captive for 30 seconds or 25% of the total viewing time.
  2. Bloggers with so many ads on their page, to include surreptitious ads (meaning you think that it part of the content, but it is not, that you cannot even access easily the content.
  3. Bloggers with "sign up" pop up window inviting visitors to never miss a single post.  Get rid of the pop up and simply put a widget that an interested person has to click.  There is no one out there that requires to be read every single day.

Sourdough French Bread Baguettes

Sourdough French Baguettes
These are my sourdough French Bread (FB) baguettes--first time.  Not the prettiest.  I'm not sure what they are going to taste like.  They taste fantastic. I was at first put off by making French bread as there are many recipes out there that are too fussy, too difficult.  I then came across this recipe and the video, and this has become my go-to recipe.  I hope that you will try this.  I promise you that it is very easy and doable.

Note:  Many of the FB techniques require a longer fermentation.  I believe that using a sourdough starter shortcuts that process which allows you to enjoy flavorful results.  Also, there is not need to futz about with sticky dough that clings to your.  Rather this dough behaves well, like a well-
trained dog.

Here's the bread that I made just now.  I've become a little more adept at making the slashes in the dough.  Above... not so much!



Here's the original video that I believe is the fastest way to have an authentic French bread experience.  (I see lots of recipes that have oil in them, but I FB is not made with any oil as I understand it).






Below is the recipe as presented above.   I used my hand held water sprayer to do the oven hydration as well as a pan at the bottom of the stove that is heated and then pouring water into to create steam.
500g flour  *
10g salt
5g fresh yeast **
150g sourdough starter (nicely fed and bubbly) ***
300g cold water

After second rise....bring oven to 475F. Put a pan at the bottom of your oven floor.  I used my convection.
Slash your loaves as noted above in the video.  I found that a very sharp utility knife (kitchen) works wonderfully.  No need for a fancy razor etc.

Brush your loaves or spray with water. Pour water in the bottom pan, being careful of released steam. Place your bread in preheated oven. I found that 22 minutes at 475 convection works well for my oven.

* Can use AP or bread with no noticeable difference in results.
**While the typical measurements of dry yeast v. fresh yeast is .5 of fresh yeast measurement, I used 5g of dry yeast as I was afraid that 2.5 g of yeast was not going to be enough.
*** I measure out 50g of starter and add 50g of flour and 50g of water and let it ferment.



General directions as I have been making it are as follows:

Weigh out all ingredients.
Put flour, salt, yeast, sourdough starter and water in mixer bowl.  Use dough hook on mixer and mix on low for 5 minutes, then 6 minutes fast.  Dough should be smooth and elastic like chewing gum.  You can review the video for the presenter's instructions.

Here are my instructions for my amateur bread making which I believe has professional results.  Do get a French bread pan.  It will make your life easier.  Also, once you make this bread, you will want to make it often.  I assure you that this method only takes a few minutes of your time if you are organized.

After kneading dough in machine per above, place dough on board.  Make a ball.  I don't need any flour as the dough is not sticky like some FB recipes. Place in oiled bowl and let rise at room temperature, covered, to about triple in volume.  Punch down on work surface.  (Again, I've not needed ANY flour).  Weigh dough and cut in half (measure to ensure even loaves).

(You can review this tutorial for mini baguettes:  http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/homemade-mini-baguettes.aspx).  However, I would note that I do not believe that there is no one right way, though many would lead you to believe so.  Rather, so long as you have a method that creates sufficient tension in the bread, then you will be successful--so pay attention to that fact, and develop your technique that accomplishes this.

Pat dough out to a rectangle. Fold top over to middle.  Bottom over to middle and each side over to middle.  Pat out again.  Fold top to middle.  Fold bottom to middle.  One more fold.  On the bottom edge of the dough, use the side of your hand (or fingertips) to make a trench (about 1/2" above bottom edge) along the full length.  This will be used to snuggle the top edge of the dough.  Fold top edge into this trench.  Using the outside of your hand (horizontal to the bread (lenghthwise) or your fingertips, press the top edge of the dough into the trench.  You should now have created sufficient tension in your dough to now lengthen by rolling.

 Turn over  dough with seam side down.  Put hands in middle and roll up and outward to lengthen into a loaf. Do this a few times to get the length that you need to place in your Frenchbread pan.  It may not be perfect, but with modest practice, you will be able to get a lovely, even rolled bread.

Repeat steps above for second loaf.

Place at room temperature until at least double in size.  I put mine in the microwave (I have a large one), and I don't cover.  If it is out, cover so as to not dry out. No need for it to be warm like you would do with other bread.  Rather, you have a lot going on with the sourdough and the yeast.  No need to hurry it.  If it rises too much it will tumble out of your pan.

Check for proving (indention does not refill).  Bake per above.

Let bread cool.

This bread is the best that I have ever had.  This has been echoed by a few of my neighbor guinea pigs.  Please try it.  It is not hard.



Life and Death in Spring

Both of my children were born in April.  April 1 for my youngest and April 27 for my oldest.  Being pregnant as a busy professional meant a forced slow down.  Too early to smell the roses, but certainly a time to watch the bursting forth of life into the world:  daffodils and crocus forcing their way up; forsythia, red buds, tree leaves all breaking out of winter's dormancy. 

Prior to giving birth, I never really took notice.  Buried in my work, the seasons were just a wardrobe change on a large scale.  However as Spring unfolds or Fall creeps in, the daily changes are palpable if one simply takes time to notice.  Once I began trail running (in my early 40's), I became even more in tune with the daily changes that saw the wild azaleas and foxgloves bloom.  The puddles on the trail where the frogs would first shriek and then leap into the muddy puddles as they sensed danger coming toward them.

It has been a month now sense my cousin died.  During her health emergency, one of my husband's colleagues, one of my high school compatriots, was also undergoing a health emergency. K had knee replacement surgery.  Briefly into his recovery, he returned to work for some light duty work.  He fell and had some injury to his head. 

K revealed that he had other falls caused from leg weakness (unrelated to his surgery).  Upon further examination, the cause of the symptoms was determined to be cervical spinal stenosis.  Surgery was undertaken to correct the stenosis.  Unfortunately, he had delayed emergence from his anesthesia--many days. Even without his emerging and then confirmation that he had suffered a stroke after surgery, his family was guided that he would make a full recovery.  Apparently he was recovered enough (though left speechless from the stroke) to go to a rehab facility.  He was not there 2 days before he developed a blood clot in his lung and moved back to the hospital.  Such a cluster of catastrophic health events could not be surmounted.

The family now sits around a hospital bed with their loved one in a medically-induced coma and with life support withdrawn.  Somewhere between Point A and Point B, K's body was deprived of oxygen to the point that his brain stem activity was insufficient to support life. This was the same thing that happened to my cousin when she coded 3 times in the hospital.  She passed quickly.  K was taken off of support last Thursday, and he still lingers.  Such a terrible vigil for the family.

As certain as the seasons march forward, so does our life.  None of us knows how many seasons that we will see.  Best to notice what is bursting forth in our daily lives for tomorrow it will pass--and we might pass.  Mindfulness is a powerful habit to cultivate and provides a window to the little things that pass through individual moments of our life to makes us aware and grateful.

Sourdough Bread

I have a wild hair and hope to capture some wild yeast in a quest to learn the process of sourdough bread making.  As with most things, you will realize immediately upon reading that there is not one right way.  However, there are a few things that can go wrong (e.g. having a stinky mess on your hands if the chemistry gets wrong).

I used King Arthur's Sourdough starter recipe which you can find here. You can also see a nice video primer form Ian Knauer here. I missed a feeding on the outset, on my first batch, and I elected to throw it out.  However upon further reading, I appears that I could have revived it.   I read that some antiseptic environments (think antibacterial this that or the other and cleaning everything down every day) may cause the starter to take a little longer. My starter started (1st and 2nd try), immediately started out bubbling. So, no antiseptic environment here.

Today is Day 4 for me, and my starter started out vigorous and continues to thrive.  I'm on 2x daily feedings now.  The starter is a leaving breathing thing.  So, while it does not require diapering, play or a bath, it does require a "homey" environment of suitable warmth, protection from untoward things (a breathable cover), and of course feeding. Feeding is accomplished by adding equal parts by weight of flour and cool water (from the recipe that I'm using). However, when you feed it, you take 4 oz of starter out of the bubbling batch, and throw the rest away.

After throwing a bit away, I let my fingers do the internet walking and I found quite a few recipes--biscuits, pancakes, waffles, etc--that could be used with the starter.  This a.m. I elected to conscript some of my destined-for-the-trash starter into something that would feed us!  Loaves and Stitches had this great recipe for 30 minute Sourdough Waffles.

I was wee bit short on starter, only having 7.05 v 8.25 oz required by the recipe.  As the dough is a 1:1 hydration, I simply added more milk and flour in equal portion to make of the difference.  The waffles were delicious.  I typically substitute some of the all purpose flour for some whole wheat (if I have it, and just a bit as I'm not a whole wheat fan) and for about 1 T of cornmeal to add some crunch.

I'll try my hand at making some biscuits this way too... (P. S.  did that and....---amazing | P. S.  Made some hamburger buns using Red Star Yeast's recipe here.  Amazing.  I'm really blown away by the quality of this sponge and the ease in which it can be incorporated into recipes.  Now, my sponge is not fully developed, so I'm not getting full tang of sourdough.  But I'm still leveraging the mild flavor that is developing.)

I also made 4 lbs of coconut milk soap as I'm down to my last bar.  Showering with this bar is nothing short of luxurious.  It makes the most wonderful, sensual lather.  I don't add any essential or fragrance oils, and I don't think that the soap suffers at all from that lack.

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

On Thursday evenings, my local Food Lion has double markdowns on many things.  On my last visit, they had fresh picnic shoulders (among other things).  I picked up two at a 60% discount.  I typically make barbecue from these, and it has been several years since I've done so.  However, I elected to try something different, and I cruised around the Internet to find that.

I settled on this Ultra Crispy Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder which you can find at Serious eats by clicking the link.  My only modification was that scored the fat and added a garlic and olive oil paste (which I highly recommend) to the salt  and pepper.  This roast cooks, fat side up, in a low-heat (250) oven for 9 hours.  Then it is brought to a rest, up to 2 hours, and then subjected to a 500 degree oven to blister the fat cap.

This dish is not a diet dish, but it is comfort food.  My husband declared this one of his best meals ever.  It was succulent and fragrant and tender.  And oh how those cracklings tasted!

I served it simply with roasted potatoes and broccoli accompanied with freshly baked rosemary bread which I found at Food Network, called Almost-Famous Rosemary Bread  this was both easy and tasty.  I'm not clear why I have gone a a bread making jag, but I'm trying to be more "artisanal."  This bread was a perfect accompaniment to the roast.

I have been using my handmade soaps, and I have to say that I'm unlikely to ever buy another bar of commercial soap.  I am particularly liking my coconut milk soap. It has the richest and creamiest lather, and I even began using it on my hair with excellent results.