Hey Good Lookin' Whatcha Got Cookin?

Lots of good recipes happening lately, and I'm bookmarking some, trying others immediately,

Last week we enjoyed this Italian wedding soup interpretation by CSK with one of our best friends, Trader Joe's Israeli couscous. We made it the night she posted it, thanks to a vague idea of what we'd do with the two-pack totaling nearly 5 lbs of ground turkey from Sam's.  We used 1/4 of it for this soup.  Leftovers have made lunch quite enjoyable.

Later this week I'd like to make Cara's gingery edamame/eggplant stew and serve it over couscous or bulgur wheat.  Not sure if I'll double or triple the ginger yet...you know how I do.  I also want to make this flourless peanut butter cup cake--it's basically Reese's peanut butter cups, my favorite candy, turned into a cake.  Yep.  It's definitely dinner party material, because I can't be trusted alone with that thing and cold milk in my house.  Unforch one of my few friends upstate is allergic to nuts, cutting down on the people besides me who could enjoy this treat.  H/T Inkpad for sharing.  I'm waiting to hear from LB, who made Nikki's Bourbon Chocolate Pound Cake.  What in the what! [Update: LB said the cake was good, but she's not the hugest cake fan to begin with.  I am with her on that.  Our friends suggested topping it with ice cream or layering it into a trifle.  I said freeze it so it's chewy and fudgy.  MMMM.]

Sunday night we made several items a la Giada after flipping through one of my cookbooks: tomato soup (with a dollop of plain greek yogurt); roasted citrus-herb chicken (cooked like her game hens, of which there was only 1 at Hannaford--not so convenient for taking apart, anyway, but so cute); and these sugar cookie squares with red fruit preserve (raz and strawberry blend) and drizzled chocolate.  The last ones are really for work tomorrow, happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Whether it's actually cooking from a recipe or just assembling with instructions, I really like Giada.  I feel like we have the same values.  For example, we love olive oil, citrus juice, citrus zest (!!!!), fresh herbs, cannellini beans, and babies.  Her daughter is adorbz.

Crispy No Knead, obv.  It was 1/3 whole wheat because that's what we had left, and I actually finished the flour with it.  I had zero flour for about 3 days before I replenished with 3 bags.  This was the longest the dough ever fermented in the fridge, and I think it tasted even better for it. It was still fresh and spongy the next day, no toasting or zapping required.  BTW this time I wasn't too lazy to fill that gravy boat with reduced pan juices.

Chicken/herb/citrus filled craisins...mmm.

Crispy No Knead Bread, You Are Our Weakness

Go into the kitchen.  Slice a piece of the homemade bread you recently (last week?) defrosted, and pop it into the microwave for 20 seconds.  If it's morning, swipe a little butter across and shake some cinnamon/sugar mixture, which you happen to keep in an empty spice/herb shaker that is labeled "Oregano."  If it's evening, drizzle olive oil and pinch some salt.  Neither routes are really necessary; the bread is delicious on its own.  But it certainly feels indulgent, which we like.  You deserve it.

I'm not a baker, or even a cook.  My college roommate had a phase where she went through the Bread Bible, and while I enjoyed the outcomes (especially a fluffy buttermilk loaf), I never assisted.  But if you've been around for at least a few months, you know I love challah.  I helped bake 30-50 lbs of the stuff with a great group of gals for about 4 years, every Thursday.  It's an admittedly less social activity on my own with a mere 2.5 lbs, but it still brings me great joy.  Pumpkin challah, round challah, whatevs. 

I follow Evan Halperin's blog The Carnivore and the Vegetarian (and here on Twitter), and you should too.  Many of his recipes (wherever they may have originated) find their way into my Tags section on Google Reader---crockpot, pasta, meat, dinner, and of course bread.*  <----that is the recipe!

The first time I followed his instructions exactly, which yielded tasty results that I shared with J, Mom & Dad, and a coworker who had a birthday.  [Happy birthday!  Here's a small loaf of bread. Is that weird?]  Results are below:

Not quite as golden as Evan's.  I was happy for the first real test of my oven, though.

This time, I used half whole wheat flour and half white flour.  First I mixed the ingredients together with the paddle attachment (rather than dough hook) of my KitchenAid, only for a minute or so.

I covered it with plastic and let it rise for maybe more than 2 hours--I went to the gym, who can keep track?

When we got home I put it in the fridge, and the next evening, I took it out:

I now took it OUT of the fridge and shaped it into loaves, letting it sit an hour.  Pre-heat the oven.

After an hour I cut some notches and put those babies in the oven.

And, voila.

Requisite coaster shot.

I sawed off an edge, tasted, and can now confirm that the whole wheat is also delicious.  I baked it for about 29 minutes.  I find that bread freezes well, and when you defrost and give a slice a quick zap or toast, it's (nearly) good as new.  The moral of the story is: make Evan's bread.  Eat it.  Repeat.

*Alternative names for this post include "Semi-Organizing A Small Part Of Your Life Through Google Reader Tags."  This could be a whole subculture of posts.  I know who my most frequently tagged blogger is, but you don't...yet.

Ah, the challah RECIPE you say??

For Evan, by request. 

I typically use my aunt's recipe that I've been enjoying for 20 some odd years.  And by my aunt's recipe, I mean, she is a person who eyeballs everything, uses a plastic cup to scoop flour out of an enormous barrel, and generally amazes me with the consistency of her food.  This recipe uses a whole 5 lb bag of flour, and I almost ALWAYS half it (using 2 eggs).  I will continue to half it until I have two ovens.  Dear That Day, when will you be here?

5 cups of warm water
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 packets of yeast
Combine the above and let bubble (5-10 minutes).  If it doesn't bubble, your yeast is no good.

Add:
1/2 cup of oil
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of salt
~5 pounds of flour, added gradually.  I use my Kitchenaid with the dough hook attachment until it balls up, then I put it onto a floured surface and knead some more, adding flour until it's smooth and not super-sticky to the touch. 

Take that ball of baby challah flesh and put it in a large bowl (some lightly oil the bowl), cover it (with a damp towel or plastic wrap) and put it in a warm place.  I've let mine rise on the balcony, and also in the cabinet area above our oven--if anything else is cooking (like cookies!) it's toasty in there.  You want it to double in size, pretty much (see above).

Sometimes I let it rise for 1 hour.  Sometimes after an hour I punch it down and do another hour.  I've also just done 2 hours straight with no punching.  Do what you have time for and test it out!  Make sure your  bowl is big enough so the blob doesn't take over your kitchen.

Braid*, then egg wash (I use just egg, some use egg + water + salt) and bake--don't let it sit too long after it's been egg washed, it'll deflate and get weird.

Bake until golden on top at 350 degrees, watch the bottom so it doesn't burn.  When it's done, you will tap the bottom and it will sound hollow.  Also, if you bake challah somewhat frequently, you will burn your forearms.  It's a fact!

*Click here for some background on "taking" challah and the blessing over it. 

Rosh Hashanah Challah

So with Rosh Hashanah being next week and all (yes, next week), this post cropped up from The Shiksa: How To Braid Challah.  I marveled at her many methods to make a round challah, particularly the fill-a-square (with raisins, etc), roll it, and snail it version.  Which made me want to share with you how I braid round challah for Rosh Hashanah.  Everybody has a different recipe, rolls it out in their own special way, and the braiding comes in quite a few forms with different numbers of strands.  It's very personal.  Although I do a six-strand like this lady, I'm practically morally opposed to her method of rolling out the strands, tapering the ends (just rip off any weird/uneven ends, or tuck the ugly edge under!), pinching so gently that it doesn't actually do anything, etc.  Too complicated!

Now I bring you: round challah via the tic-tac-toe method, in my very ill-lit kitchen that has zero natural light.  These instructions were taught to me by a lovely, smart young lady, a family friend we've probably known since she was just a little ball of challah dough.

Start with four even(ish) strands.  I yank (small) fist-sized balls of challah out of the bowl onto a floured surface (not too flour-y unless it's very sticky--in which case, add flour) and apply pressure with both hands, rolling back and forth until I have a nice, smooth, even strand of dough.

Arrange two of them side by side.  Take a third and position it perpendicular, over one strand and under the other.

Take the fourth strand and position that one perpendicular to your original 2, weaving under/over opposite to Strand 3 from before (remember?  Right above here?).  Maybe inch them together closer like you are a little basketweaver.

OK, this is where it gets interesting.  You have 8 "legs" sticking out, some are "overs" and some are "unders."  Each of the four sides has one Under and one Over. Here, I took an Under (start wherever) and moved it to the right, over and Over, which is it's neighbor.   I feel like I'm explaining this badly.  Are you with me? 

Repeat three more times counter-clockwise (in this case it's counterclockwise because of the way I set up my tic-tac-toe, yours may not be--doesn't matter!).  Pick up the next Under (which will be right next to the strand you just put down, see above) and move it over to the right, on top of the Over next to it.  It'll look like this now:

So what now?  After you've got the above, you need to turn the boat around, and start going clockwise.  You can start anywhere, but it's the same idea--take that strand that's crossed Under and move it to the left, laying it on top of the Over strand.  Repeat another 3x.

Then turn the boat around AGAIN and go counter-clockwise.  Go go go!  When you run out of strands, feel free to tuck strange strand-ends under, even ripping off the too-much extra for another loaf or a small knot roll.

I also like to add cinnamon and sugar after an egg wash for some sweetness for a sweet new year.  J isn't a raisin fan, but if he were, I'd probably add some golden ones during the kneading process.

Bake.  Place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop in the oven at 325 or 350 (I forget and have done each) until it's getting golden on top and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.  Sometimes the top browns better than other times--it's a work in progress, and it's not perfect.  But it's mine.

[I put them in the freezer to stay fresh for next week before taking the picture, then yanked it out and displayed it on my lovely birthday coasters for you all.  Hence a few frozey flakes mixed in with the cinnamon and sugar.  Below, some challahs of my past.]

Challah!  Yo.