Whole Wheat Dutch Oven Bread

The inspiration for this bread came from my dear friend Hillary who is the best baker I know.  I combined two of her favorite recipes (one using a dutch oven and the other all white flour), but I doctored this one up with some whole wheat flour to see if it would still taste good.  Lucky for you, it does!  Cooking the bread in a dutch oven is absolutely required and will give the results a normal home oven can't normally replicate.  Try mixing in any of your favorite bread inclusions (rosemary, cheddar cheese, thyme, etc.)!

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups unbleached whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups warm water

1. Combine dry ingredients with a spatula in a plastic bowl and stir with a spoon to incorporate.
2. Add water until dough is looks like a shaggy ball (I don't really know what a shaggy ball would be defined as, but go with your gut here).  Mine looked like a mostly wet doughy substance.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 12-18 hours
4. Preheat dutch oven in a regular oven to 450 degrees.
5. Generously cover hands and counter with flour and turn dough onto the counter.
6. Shape into desired shape (remember if has to fit in your dutch oven) and let rest until regular oven is preheated.
7. CAREFULLY remove dutch oven and carefully put bread in the pan.  Place lid on top and put in oven for 30 minutes.
8. Remove lid after 30 minutes and return dutch oven to the regular oven for another 15 minutes to let the bread brown
9. CAREFULLY remove the entire apparatus from the oven and take the bread out with oven mitts and place on a cooling rack
10. Cut and serve after letting cool about 15 minutes

Rhubarb Margarita

Yes this sounds insanely delicious and it lives up to it's reputation.  Rhubarb simple syrup + silver tequila = elegant margarita!  I got the rhubarb simple syrup from 101 cookbooks.com and made a few modifications to fit my needs.  The end result is out of this world.

A few notes about the simple syrup.  You don't need to put any rosewater in the final product (unless you happen to have some sitting around).  I also doubled the amount of lime in the recipe.  You can actually make 1/2 of the recipe and still end up with enough syrup for 4 drinks.  If you are confused by this math, welcome to my world ;)

Ingredients

1.5 parts good silver tequila
1 part rhubarb simple syrup (see link above)

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake about a minute.  Drain into a frozen martini glass and garnish with a strawberry or a maraschino cherry.

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

The morning after I arrived back from a recent trip I was too jet lagged to sleep.  I had a recipe in my inbox from my mom which I modified into this coffee cake.  I'm glad my mom keeps our old recipes around because this was perfect for David and I once he woke up (about 3 hours later).  Feel free to add a different frozen fruit (or two!).  The recipe calls for lemon curd but you could substitute 2 teaspoons vanilla + zest of one lemon instead.

1 stick butter

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon curd (or 2 tsp vanilla + zest of 1 lemon)

1 1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Grease bread loaf pan or spring form pan (depending on the shape of bread you want to cook)

2. Cream butter and sugar together, about 4 minutes

3. Add eggs, sour cream and lemon curd and mix until smooth

4. Pre mix flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda

5. Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture until just combined

6. Stir in blueberries

7. Add to greased pan and cook until toothpick comes out clean (about 40 minutes)

Lemon Pepper Chicken a la Anderson

My mother makes the most amazing lemon pepper chicken and my mother in law makes a delicious roast lemon chicken.  This recipe is a blend of the two and brings out the best cooking methods in both. The recipe starts with a brine and ends with a roasting time in the oven and it is worth the effort because the flavor is intense and the meat literally falls off the bone.  Serve with these blue cheese biscuits from Smitten Kitchen and an old fashioned carrot salad (see recipe below) for a complete Sunday night meal that would have anyone begging for one more weekend day.

Ingredients

Brine (4 cups water + 1/4 cup table salt)

Chicken
2 chicken legs + drumstick attached (or 2 pounds chicken pieces dark meat preferable)
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 cloves garlic
4 lemon slices
Pepper/salt (generous sprinkles)

Carrot Salad
3 tablespoons mayo
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound carrots
salt/pepper

1. Prepare brine at least 5 hours ahead of time.  Combine salt and water in pan and heat until it reaches a rolling boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.
2. Place chicken pieces in a deep dish, cover with cooled brine and let sit in fridge for at least two hours, no more than three
3. When ready to cook dinner, heat oven to 400 degrees
4. Carefully pull chicken skin back and place two lemon slices + garlic under the skin.   Cover and use a brush to baste with butter.  Repeat for other chicken leg.
5. Generously cover with pepper and salt
6. Set in oven for 25 minutes.  After 25 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and cook another 25 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 180 degrees
7. Meanwhile prepare carrot salad.  Grate carrots and place in a bowl.  Combine mayo, lemon juice, olive oil, and sugar and whisk until incorporated.  All dressing to bowl and mix carrots with the dressing.  Salt and pepper to taste.
8. When chicken is done, remove from oven and let rest a few minutes and then dish up with carrot salad and biscuits.

Clams in Cider and Cream Sauce

We found a stand at our farmer's market called HamaHama Oyster that sells delicious and fresh shellfish from a town about 30 miles away from our house.  We have tried clams three times from this place and every time we get 100% open rate on the clams, a feat in this day and age.  Here we made a cream sauce with some left over cider and the flavor really goes well with these fresh shellfish.  Serve with homemade bread to dip in the extra sauce.

2 lbs clams
2 tablespoons butter
1 celery stalk chopped finely
1 large shallot chopped finely
1 large carrot chopped finely
1 small yukon potato peeled and chopped finely
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 12 oz bottle hard cider (we used Hornsby's Amber)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
salt/pepper to taste

1. Heat deep pot or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add butter until melted
2. Cook celery, shallot, carrot, potato and garlic over medium high heat about 8-10 minutes until softened.
3. Meanwhile clean the clams making sure there are no muddy ones in the batch
4. When veggies are ready, add cider to the pot and then add the clams.  You might need to add a cup or so of water to cover the clams.
5. Let cook until clams open, as they open fully move them to another serving dish
6. If a clam doesn't open after 8 minutes, discard the loser.
7. Reduce heat to medium low and add cream, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary
8. Add cream sauce to the clams and serve!

Pizza Puff Gougeres!

I really should rename this blog "I love pizza" for the recent amount of pizza posts.  This recipe is a game changer people...if you bring this to a party you will be invited back for the rest of your life.  Here we combine pizza and my favorite appetizer ever, the gougere (read CHEESE PUFF).  Simply swap in some tomato sauce and oregano into Alain Ducasse's recipe for regular gougeres and you will change the world!

Ingredients


1/2 cup water
1/3 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons milk
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup gruyere
2 tablespoons oregano
ground pepper


1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. In medium saucepan add water, milk, tomato sauce butter and salt and bring to boil.
3. Add the flour slowly and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate into a dough type mixture.  Stir about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and put in a mixing bowl and let cool 5 minutes.
4. Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time until fully incorporated
5. Add cheese and oregano a bit at a time until incorporated
6. Use two spoons to make 1 1/2 inch size diameter puffs on the parchment paper.  Try and not crowd the puffs on the paper
7. Sprinkle with pepper and cook about 20 minutes until golden brown/red
8. Serve immediately!

Hummus - With several variations

I've been holding off on buying tahini for quite a long time, but I finally found a good deal at Safeway and decided I would try making my own hummus.  I have to say it was totally worth it and I can't believe I waited this long.  The basic recipe is pretty easy (especially using canned chickpeas) and the variations you can add are endless.  Here are some of my suggestions plus a pretty picture of the hummus on some homemade pita bread stuffed with cucumber, tomato and pepprocinis.  Delish!

Ingredients for basic hummus

1 can drained chickpea or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup tahini paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
salt/pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.  If still chunky, add a bit more olive oil at a time to get a nice puree.
2. Serve as you wish!
3. Keep in the fridge in an airtight container up to one week.

Variations

Jalapenos                               Roasted Red Pepper                      Eggplant
Cilantro                                  Feta                                                Roasted Garlic
Cayenne Pepper