yeasted bread chronicles, chapter II

this one's a keeper. there was a post about this bread/cake at thekitchn, which is originally from flo braker (via leite's culinaria). i love sweet yeasted breads and buns, and this is the best of the bunch. really, it's a cake, but i always think of yeasted things as breads, so there you go. essentially, this is a yeasted dough that gets rolled out after the second rise, then cut into rectangles spread with lemon zest and sugar, and stacked into a loaf pan. the dough gets one last rise and then goes into the oven. when you eat it, you can just pull the sheets off one by one.

this dough is less eggy and less bready than the overnight cinnamon buns, but somehow manages to be richer. ok, the butter brushed between the rectangles of dough helps a lot. and this dough is moister than the cinnamon buns, which makes it seem more like cake, less like bread. regardless, it's delicious, and after being attacked by four of us for dessert, it was more than half gone. it's not too sweet - the cream cheese icing has a bump of lemon juice in it to balance the sweetness of the bread - and if you eat it the day you bake it, the top will still be crispy.

if you have the time, make this right now. i did this over two days, refrigerating the dough after the first rise, and assembling it the next day out of the fridge. i was a bit overzealous in getting the dough to room temp after assembling it (putting it in a hot water bath that was probably a bit too hot), so that's why the bread is super-puffed on the ends. i think i might try the alton brown technique next time, and put the assembled dough in a cold oven with a pan of hot water underneath it. one other thing - i have never understood how other people manage to roll doughs out into rectangles, so if you can do it, please inform me of your technique. i always end up with oblong ovals, rather vaguely rectangular. that's not a real problem with this bread, so don't worry about it.

i love yeasted breads, but i always dislike how much effort you have to put in to get the final product. while the dough is rising, i'm not actually doing anything, but i'm impatient to get the dough into the oven so i can eat it. it would even be better if i was really busy during the rising time - for example, i have no problem making really complicated things that require hours, as long as i'm kept busy chopping, stirring, etc. waiting for dough to rise is like watching water boil - interminable. i do think this bread is worthwhile, though, so maybe the solution is to double the recipe and make two loaves, freezing one to bake later.

lemon-scented pull-apart coffee cake (adapted from flo braker via leite's culinaria)

for the dough

2 3/4c (12.25 oz) flour

1/4c (1.75 oz) sugar

2 1/4t (1 packet) yeast

1/2t salt

1/3c (2.5 fluid oz) whole milk

2 oz (4T) butter

1/4c (2 fluid oz) water

2 eggs, at room temp

for the filling

1/2c (3.5 oz) sugar

3T lemon zest (from 3 lemons)

1T orange zest

1.5 oz (3T) butter, melted

for the icing

3 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3c (1.25 oz) powdered sugar

1T whole milk

1T fresh lemon juice

1. stir together 2c (9oz) of the flour, the sugar, the yeast, and the salt in a large bowl. in a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter over low heat, until the butter melts. add the water and continue to heat the mixture until it's about 130F.

2. pour the milk mixture over the flour-yeast mixture, mixing with a rubber spatula until well combined. add the eggs one at a time, mixing with the spatula each time until completely incorporated. add 1/2c of the remaining flour, and mix with the spatula until the dough is smooth. add two more tablespoons of flour and mix until the dough is smooth.

3. flour your countertop and turn the dough out on the counter. knead until smooth and only slightly sticky (add a few more tablespoons of flour if it's stubbornly sticky), about 10-15 minutes. the dough will be quite soft. place the dough in a buttered or oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. let the dough rise in a warm place (at least 70F) until it doubles in size, about an hour. if it's winter, you can warm up the dough's environment by putting the bowl in a warm water bath, though you should be sure not to make the water too hot. if you're doing this, make sure you use a plastic bowl - it will conduct heat a little more gently than a metal bowl. if you're refrigerating the dough overnight, punch the dough down and re-cover with plastic wrap, and pop the bowl in the fridge.

4. to make the lemon filling, mix together the sugar, lemon zest, and orange zest in a small bowl. let this stand while you handle the dough, as it will get wetter as the sugar draws moisture out of the zest).

5. butter a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan and line with parchment paper; butter the parchment paper. flour your countertop and roll the dough out into a 20"x12" rectangle. brush the dough with butter, using a pastry brush (be generous). using a bench scraper, pizza cutter, or knife, cut the dough into 5 vertical strips, each 4"x12". sprinkle one of the strips with a fifth (about 1.5-2T) of the sugar-zest mixture and press it into the butter. top with another strip of dough and sprinkle it with the sugar-zest mixture, pressing it into the butter; repeat with remaining dough strips until you have one stack of rectangles. (the last layer does get sugar-zest mixture on it, btw.)

6. slice the stack horizontally into 6 strips, each 4"x2". fill the loaf pan with the stacks (see photo above to see what it should look like), cut edges facing up. loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place (or, if the dough is cold from the refrigerator, set in a cold oven with a pan of boiling water on the rack underneath it), until the dough doubles in size, 30 to 50 minutes. (press the dough gently with your finger; if the indentation remains, the dough is ready to be baked.)

7. bake the cake until the top is a deep golden brown, 30-45 minutes. let cool as you make the icing.

8. to make the icing, mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula (or use an electric mixer). mix in the milk and lemon juice and stir until well combined.

9. remove the coffee cake from the pan, and put it on a serving plate. using a spatula, knife, or pastry brush, ice the top of the coffee cake. serve at room temp. store in an airtight container.

active cooking time: 2 hrs; total time ~4.5 hrs

[makes 1 loaf; serves 8-10]

and now, something sweet

long overdue, but finally here! i am going to make these a few more times and will post adjustments as necessary.

overnight cinnamon rolls (adapted from alton brown)

notes: i have written this recipe for those who don't have stand mixers - i don't have one myself. it is also written in weight (standard for bakers, and more accurate) but also cups in case you just have measuring cups. i will likely be experimenting with the egg content of this recipe in the future - it uses a lot of egg yolks - and will let you know the results. i've been pondering iles flottantes to use up the egg whites, which are frozen for the present.

dough

4 egg yolks, room temp

1 egg, room temp

2 oz sugar (1/4c)

3 oz butter, melted (6T)

6 oz buttermilk (~scant 1/2c), room temp

20 oz flour (~4c)

1 pkg instant dry yeast (2 1/4t)

1 1/4t kosher salt

vegetable oil

filling

8 oz dark brown sugar (scant 1c packed)

1T cinnamon

1t salt

3/4 oz butter (1 1/2T)

icing

2 1/2 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz powdered sugar (1c)

1. first, heat the buttermilk in a small saucepan or in the microwave (on medium power, until it's hot) and scatter the yeast over it; let it stand (i like to proof the yeast to make sure it's good). in a large bowl, with a whisk or an electric mixer, mix together the egg yolks, eggs, sugar, and butter, and buttermilk-yeast mixture. add 2 cups of flour and the salt, mixing until well combined (if you're using a whisk, switch here to a rubber spatula). add all but the remaining 3/4c of flour, and mix into dough with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. turn the dough out onto a clean, floured countertop and knead until the dough is soft and elastic, and doesn't stick to your hands. this will take about 15 minutes, varying based on how vigorously you knead the dough. add the remaining 3/4c of flour if your dough remains very sticky after about 10 minutes. lightly oil the bowl you mixed the dough in, put the kneaded dough in it, and turn the dough in the bowl to lightly coat with oil. cover with a damp cloth and let rise until it doubles in volume. if it's winter, or you live in a cold climate, you can help the dough rise by putting it in the oven (after preheating it to the lowest temp and turning it off), or by putting the dough bowl in a larger bowl full of hot water (keep replacing the water as it cools).

2. combine the sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the filling, mixing until well combined. melt the butter in a small bowl.

3. butter a 9"x13" baking pan. take the dough and punch it down, then roll it out on a floured countertop, to an approximate 18"x12" rectangle and a 1/2" thickness, with the long edge facing you. brush the rectangle with butter, leaving an inch margin along both long edges. sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar filling mixture. roll the rectangle of dough tightly, starting with the long edge facing you. when you get to the other edge, pinch the edge to the side of the roll to seal it shut. using a serrated knife (really), slice the roll into 1 1/2" thick slices, or about 12 slices. arrange in the baking dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. this prep session will take about an hour of active time, an hour of rising time - less as you get more practice.

4. remove the rolls from the fridge and place in a cold oven (don't turn it on). fill a large baking dish 2/3 full with boiling water and put it on a rack underneath the pan of rolls (to bring them to room temp before baking). let the rolls rise for about a half hour, until they start puffing (rising) again. remove both pans from the oven, and preheat the oven to 350F. return the rolls to the oven and bake in the middle until just golden brown (190F inside, if you have a thermometer), about 30 minutes. make sure you don't overbake these - they are infinitely better if they're softer and moister.

5. while the rolls are baking, make the icing - beat the cream cheese in a bowl with an electric mixer (or microwave very slightly until very soft). sift the powdered sugar over the cream cheese, then mix until combined. when the rolls have cooled slightly, you can ice them with a knife. the rolls are best with a few days of baking.

overnight prep: 2 hrs

day-of prep and baking: 1 hr 15 min

[makes 12 rolls]

i'm a believer

okay, okay. i believe you now, serrated knife. i believe in you, too. who knew that a serrated knife would cut so easily through dough? assuming that the serrations would just rip the dough instead of cutting through it, i used my trusty pastry...scraper? (the name of this object escapes me at the moment; all i can think of is its woodworking brethren, the bench scraper.) that is - i did that the first time i made these overnight cinnabuns. unfortunately, cutting the cinnabun roll into buns with my pastry scraper gave them these pinched edges. pinched edges that became all the more offensive - and permanent - when it turned out that the yeast that i used was not particularly active. i kicked myself - this recipe consumes 5 eggs, 4 cups of flour, buttermilk (which i don't usually have on hand), and a not insignificant amount of brown sugar - so it's not the most economical food item to make. nor are they particularly easy to put together the night before - you still have to wait for the first rising of the dough. the payoff, though, is huge, if you can get it right. the dough is fabulous - so good (buttery, rich...) that that first batch was still edible, if not the right texture.

and this is what i did: i went out and bought new yeast, proofed the yeast before adding it to the dough, let the dough rise in the oven after i turned it off the warm cycle (it's cold!), and cut the roll with a serrated knife. and now i've got those babies (see above photo) in the fridge. i'm going to bake them tomorrow, and you better believe that they will obey my need for cinnamon buns. yeah, cinnamon buns, i'm looking at you, i've coddled you enough; now it's time for you to give back.

i'll report back on them tomorrow, with a recipe.

bacon bread

i'm unable these days to really take on any big cooking projects, due to exhaustion from school. anything that requires more than an hour is pretty much out of the question right now, unless i don't have to babysit it - making chicken stock comes to mind. in the past few months i've either split any slightly involved projects over multiple days, or more likely, i just haven't thought about them seriously at all.

i've been thinking about this bread, though, and talking it up enough since it came out in bon appetit a few months ago that i finally decided to make it. that is, a week ago i decided to make it, while shopping for dinner with mary. i made the bacon-onion-dried pear mix actually about 10 days ago (maybe i shouldn't be telling you this, but there you go). and i had bought the dried pears about 3 weeks before that. so this bread has been in the works for a while.

i finally went to look at the recipe on epicurious, only to find that the reviews were less than stellar - people complained that the bread was dry and bland. multiple people offered suggestions for substitutions, which i duly noted. i mean, if you're going to go to all the trouble of procuring bacon, cheddar and dried pears, all at the same time, it better be good, right? beyond the rarity of all of those stars aligning (the only place at which i have found dried pears is arax, where we happened to stop by after brunch at delux town diner one day), there's the expense of the ingredients.

i was determined to ensure that this bread was neither dry nor bland, so i made quite a few alterations to the original recipe, none of them based in the science that is probably well documented in on food and cooking. first, i replaced the olive oil with melted butter - this was suggested by a few of the reviews, and i agreed, as i have often found that olive oil-based cakes are oddly on the dry side. to bolster any lingering dryness issues, i increased the milk to a 1/2 cup and added a stonyfield container's worth of yogurt (it was fruit on the bottom, so i added everything except the fruit jam). i threw in a bit of extra cheese - i got an 8-oz brick of cabot seriously sharp, and threw in the ounce and a half i had left of an extra-sharp brick. to balance the savory ingredients, i added a little dark brown sugar. i used rosemary instead of sage, because that is what we had on hand when i was making dinner with mary - you must make sure that it is very fresh, so it's still soft. i increased the amount of pears and threw in some onions for good measure.

the result is a long list of ingredients, but i promise you that it's worth it. this bread comes out a crusty golden brown at the edges and on top from the cheese - a slightly flaky, browned cheese type of golden brown. the crumb is very moist and soft - you might not need all of the yogurt - but holds up well to the "fill." i imagine that it would taste good toasted, since the edges will get even crustier. and, quite honestly, this bread is more than the sum of its parts - i had tasted the dried pears they tasted a bit vinegary to me, but that just meant that they go well with the bacon. typically i use whole foods maple-cured bacon, but this time i got niman ranch bacon because it was slightly cheaper. i hate to encourage the crazy yuppie foodies who insist on everything organic from a farmer whose name they know, but the niman bacon is actually better than the whole foods stuff - its flavor just permeates whatever you put it in. i think it was even better in this bread than it was when we ate some after cooking it. do make sure that you use a good thick-cut bacon when you make this, as opposed to a typical thin-cut supermarket bacon.

p.s. i know you would all love to see photos - because, face it, we're all much more likely to make something if we can see what it can and should look like. when i get my life back, consider it a done deal that there will be more photos.

bacon-cheddar-pear bread
1 3/4c flour
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
1/4c dark brown sugar
1T baking powder
1 c cheddar, grated, plus 1/2c cheddar, in 1/4" cubes (8 to 10 oz)
3 eggs
1/3c yogurt
1/2c whole milk
1/2c butter, melted and cooled to room temp
8 oz bacon
1c diced dried pears
1/2c onions, diced
1/2t fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1/4t dried thyme (optional)

1. heat a large skillet on medium; cut the bacon slices in half and cook until crispy, 15-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon. remove from pan with tongs and drain on paper towels. pour off all of the fat except 1 tablespoon and add the onions, rosemary, and dried pears. while the onion mixture is cooking, cut into small pieces with kitchen shears or a knife, then add back into the onion mixture. cook until onions are cooked all the way through and transfer to a bowl to cool. (this step can be done in advance; cover the bowl and refrigerate until using, within a week.)

2. grease two 5"x9" loaf pans and line with parchment paper. preheat oven to 350F. in a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, dark brown sugar, and baking powder, stirring with a fork and breaking up any lumps of brown sugar. add grated and cubed cheeses and stir with a fork or your hands to mix completely, making sure that the cheese doesn't clump together.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs until well. add whole milk and yogurt and whisk until combined. to add the butter, pour in a slow stream into the egg-milk mixture while whisking. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until completely combined. the batter will be on the wet side. add the bacon-onion mixture and thyme (if using) and stir until thoroughly combined.

4. using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake 45-55 minutes, until golden brown on top and a tester comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it (make sure to test in the batter, not in a piece of cheese or pear). serve immediately, or toast the next day.

[makes 2 loaves, about 15-20 slices]

sandwich brunch I

just to start with an aside: i added a pork tenderloin (one of the big ones, you know, ~2' long or so) to the collection of frozen meats in the freezer. to date, i have: 1 pork tenderloin, in quarters; 1 lb bacon; 1 large pkg chicken thighs; 1 chicken. probably plus some miscellaneous things. in case it wasn't clear before, i am one of those people with a compulsive need to stock up on things. i'm that girl who buys tons of chipboard so she has it when utrecht is closed or it's raining; that girl who signs up for lasercutter time all the way into december when it's only september. hey, i just like to be prepared.

anyway, for those who insist on logic, we'll pretend that the above digression is really a preface, albeit one totally unrelated to what will now follow. the point of this post, as its title suggests, is really a discussion of this past sunday's sandwich brunch. when i sent out the invitation i wanted to say something witty, or at least use someone else's witticisms - for a tea party, for example, i usually use something from "the importance of being earnest," which has great lines about muffins. however, i forgot, and so the invitation was rather plain. i suppose there's always next time. i actually had great plans for this brunch; instead of my usual text-only invitation, i was going to make a poster with tons of little icons of iconic sandwiches. but i frittered away the summer, so i didn't have time in the end. not quite on top of things this time, unfortunately.

however, the brunch itself was really fun! i love themed brunches and potlucks, goodness knows why; this one is a good idea for many reasons.

1: creativity. i do think that for the less food-inclined, making a sandwich is more fun and less daunting than trying to make your mother's home fries for a more traditional brunch.

2: quantities of food. you know how, when you have potlucks, you always end up with too much food? and then it's not clear whether the proper etiquette is to accept all of the leftovers, as the hostess; you don't want to step on anybody's toes but it's impossible to tell if your guests want you to keep what's left, or whether they want it for later to snack on, and if everybody is too polite/passive aggressive, then you've got a problem. the sandwich brunch - everybody brought 3ish sandwiches, which we cut up into smaller pieces - is a pretty effective way to moderate how much food you end up with, while still ending up stuffed as is a requirement for brunches.

3: utility associated with eating small things. i feel that you can never underestimate how much pleasure you gain from how you eat, in addition to what you are eating. there's a reason why people like finger foods so much; you get to eat a lot of different things without eating too much, and somewhat perversely, it's easier to eat more because you don't notice all the little things that you eat over the course of a few hours. grazing on small things is also nice and informal. plus grazing is, for me at least, a very pleasing way to think about eating.

and in case you're wondering what we had, this is the list:

roast chicken/pear/dill-ricotta spread
pastrami sandwiches from zaftig's
pb+j with yogurt
openfaced smoked salmon with some sort of spread and dill
smoked salmon and grape tomatoes on triscuits
tuna melt

and for dessert, ice cream sandwiches - i made a brownie sheet and a blondie sheet for the outsides, as well as these dense chocolate cookies from foodbeam that i cut in half to fill with ice cream.  kind of like a solid, chocolate profiterole.  ice cream was inexplicably cheap at star market, so i bought a package of blackberry, one of fenway fudge, and one of peanut butter nation.  for those not in the boston area, the latter two are hood brand, red sox-themed flavors.  peanut butter nation is vanilla ice cream with semi-solid fudge ripple and little peanut-butter-filled chocolate socks, and is my favorite commercially produced ice cream besides vanilla/chocolate.  somehow none of the cookie bases froze all the way through, and were still chewy out of the freezer; i know this pretty well because i've been eating them all week.  the best combo, by the way, was the brownie sheet base with the blackberry ice cream, which turned out to be surprisingly good and non-artificial tasting.

so there you have it - sandwich brunch no. 1, hopefully to be followed by no. 2 when it gets colder - and it'll be soup and a sandwich, i think. 

hot and crusty

r is leaving for australia for three months, so we had brunch on labor day.  assuming that most places would be closed, i made popovers.  i can't recall ever having made them successfully before, so this time i wanted to get them right.

of course, it turns out that it's really not that hard to get them right; i suppose i was on crack or something when i made them last.  these popovers were so attractive that i don't quite know what went wrong the first few times.  all you do is mix the ingredients together, pour the batter in the pan, and let the eggs do their thing in a rather hot oven.  i think the trick is to leave them in the oven long enough to get crispy and brown on the outside, as you can see is what happened here.  

popovers are good on their own - i mean, you can't really go wrong with eggs, butter, flour, and milk - but i made scrambled eggs to go with them for the savory, and whipped cream and cherry preserves for the sweet.  the scrambled eggs were good, but i think i prefer the cherry preserves; at any rate, i think that the wetness of the jam and whipped cream is a better complement for the crustiness of the popover than the scrambled eggs.  i think shredded rotisserie chicken would be good as a savory filling, but that might just be me and my current obsession with rotisserie chickens.  

oddly enough, i made the last batch of popovers after the batter had been sitting for several hours (possible health risk, i suppose, bacteria-wise, but given that the popovers bake for 15 minutes at 450F and longer at 350F, i figured we'd kill all the bad stuff off) and that was the best batch.  the popovers rose higher and had more consistently hollow interiors - a couple of the previous ones were a bit solid in the middle.  the best ones are the ones that turn over while they're cooking; i don't know why it happens, but they curl and climb the sides of the pan and produce mutant popovers that are impossibly tall.  (these popovers were already huge because i made them in a huge-muffin tin.)

so there you have it: popovers aren't that hard to make.  just be sure that you don't curdle the eggs with butter that's too hot.

popovers

adapted from the joy

1c flour

1/2t salt

2 eggs, room temp

1 1/4c whole milk, room temp

1T butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1. it's important that the ingredients are all at room temp for maximum volume, so don't skip that step.  grease your muffin tin - i just melted some butter and brushed it on with a pastry brush.  preheat the oven to 450F.

2. combine the flour and salt in a bowl.  in another bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk, then drizzle in the butter slowly, while continuing to whisk.  this is to avoid curdling the eggs with the butter, which is hotter than the egg-milk mixture.

3. add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together.  don't overmix - a little lumpiness is fine.

4. fill each cup in the tin 2/3 to 3/4 full; if any cups are empty, fill them a third full with water.  bake in the middle of the oven at 450F for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350F and continue baking until the popovers are nicely browned, about 20-25 minutes.  don't open the oven until the last five minutes or so, lest your popovers deflate.

5. take the popovers out of the cups and puncture the sides with a sharp knife, to let the steam escape.  you can recrisp these in the oven if you've let them sit for a while, but you should really eat them as soon as they're out of the oven.

[makes 6 large popovers or 12 cupcake/muffin-size popovers]

a glut of cooking

it occurred to me that there are phrases that make recipes sound better to me (or to other people). for example, i always am attracted to recipes that include the word "icebox" in their titles: i get an image of a white refrigerator a la petit larousse in an immaculate, sunny 50s-era kitchen. perhaps i'm also attracted to the thought of opening the fridge to find it empty, save for a cake or a pie... another phrase that i don't particularly care about, but imagine other people do, is the "double-chocolate" or "triple-chocolate" appellation, which can mean anything from a combination of chocolate and cocoa to the inclusion of milk, dark, and white chocolates. also, "margarita," "drunken," "tequila," "heirloom," and any recipe where the title is in a different language. in all reality, your "pomme frites" are going to taste the same whether they're called pomme frites, frites, fries, chips, or deep-fried potatoes, but for many people the fact that they're eating "pomme frites" somehow makes them better. do they understand what the literal translation is? no. but they don't care - the only thing that matters is that it's in another language.

anyway, tonight we're eating leftovers from dinner yesterday: roast chicken, butternut squash-sage risotto, roasted potatoes and carrots, and green beans. keith and carrien got back yesterday, so i had intended to be in the middle of making dinner when they got back. the chicken was stuffed with an onion and half an orange, with sage-orange zest butter stuffed underneath the skin. same trussing as usual - foil around the legs and wings pinned with toothpicks. i also roasted some carrots and potatoes around the chicken. the risotto was pretty typical: render the fat from some bacon, saute the onions, add the rice and liquid. the squash pretty much melts into the rice and colors it a beautiful orange color. i used delicata squash that came with our boston organics shipment, and a bunch of roasted butternut squash my mother gave me. carrie also made some green beans (boiled, then finished in some extra bacon fat).

the risotto was quite good, and we made a lot of it - 2 1/2 cups rice, dry, which the three of us consumed a small amount of on thursday, then ate and fed to our friends on friday, and finished on saturday with our friends. note to self : a little rice goes a long way. the chicken was also quite good - the salt-sugar-pepper-paprika mixture on the skin always gives the skin this wonderful, salty-sweet crackling skin. mmm. after dinner i picked off all of the extra meat, and made soup with the carcass. it was also pretty basic : carrots and onions, divided, and the first half sauteed with thyme. i added the chicken bones and sauteed them briefly, and then added water. i boiled the chicken for a while - maybe an hour or two - and then added the other half of the vegetables, sauteed separately. i also picked out the bones and added some diced potatoes. finally, we added some pastina (too much, it turned out - i am not good at estimating these things!). probably, the most important addition was the thyme and the salt, pepper, and sugar - it's always important to put in enough of all of the seasonings, because if you oversalt soup you can always water it down a little, whereas if you add too little it will simply be flavorless. i am also a big fan of balancing the salt with sugar. anyway, this was probably the only chicken soup i've ever liked beyond my mother's chicken soup with pastina and tomatoes.

friday i had lunch with rob and rocco at bluefin, in the porter exchange. having just read an nytimes article about katsu don and tekka don, i ordered katsu don and shared an eel-sweet egg omelette roll with rob and rocco. mmm...katsu don is like the countless teriyaku rice bowls that i consumed during the summer from tokyo lunch box, except with better-seasoned rice and a wonderful combination of slightly sweet scrambled egg and fried pork. i surprised myself by eating the entire thing. however, then i didn't eat anything until rather late in the day.

eric had some friends over to watch various new episodes of shows on the sci-fi channel, and while they did so i made chocolate zucchini cupcakes for the brunch i was going to have on saturday. they turned out pretty well; since i didn't have any chocolate chips, i filled them with nutella and blueberry preserves. the recipe i used (from www.101cookbooks.com) reported that you have to watch them or they'll get overbaked. i thought this was slightly strange, as zucchini breads generally never require cautions like these, as the zucchini imparts ample moistness to the bread. however, i heeded it anyway, and probably for no reason - they were extremely moist on saturday.

for the brunch on saturday, we made baked eggs, french toast, crumpets, bacon, and carrie made a galette des rois for the epiphany. the french toast was standard, and could have been made with better bread (which then would have made it better), but it was the more economical choice. a little rum in the egg mixture went over pretty well, and i turned the leftover bread and egg mixture into a bread pudding. the recipe for the baked eggs is below, and is a modification of this recipe from epicurious, based on the ingredients i had on hand. it went over quite well, and slices very well. make sure that it's baked in the middle. i had assumed it would be quiche-like but it seems to need a bit more time than you would think than if it had been a quiche, which is to say that it should be completely set before you take it out. the galette des rois was excellent, probably because i really love almond paste, and the interior is, for all intents and purposes, almond paste (we used the almond paste that jessica made us).


i had made some caramelized onions for the brunch, and used the leftovers in a spinach-onion quiche that's currently in the oven (the quiche consumed most of the spinach from boston organics, and the rest i ate with some basil and a balsamic vinaigrette). it's a pretty typical quiche, with a mixture of cheddar, asiago, and gruyere for the cheese. it's also a deep-ish dish quiche, and we'll see how that works out instead of the typical pie-pan or tart-pan quiche. i'm a little worried that there wasn't enough butter in the crust, or it got overworked, or that i may have added too much water - it looked a little pale and doughy to me.

edit : hmm...i am really kind of ashamed to admit that i made this crust. it looks fine, but it's just...tasteless. obviously overworked, and i added too much water. hmph. the filling should still be fine, though (it needs to finish setting).

baked eggs with sundried tomatoes and thyme
1/8 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped fine
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
9 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (6 oz)
1 cup whole-milk ricotta (8 oz)
1 cup grated asiago (2 oz)
1T fresh thyme, chopped fine

1. sift together flour, salt, and baking powder into a small bowl.

2. beat eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. add butter, flour mixture, and cheeses and mix well at low speed, then stir in tomatoes and thyme. 3. pour into a buttered 9.5-inch glass pie plate and bake in middle of oven until top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. let stand 5 minutes before serving.

[gourmet reports that this makes 6 servings; but those seem rather large unless this is the only thing you're having for breakfast. i would say that it's probably closer to 8-10 servings.]

chocolate zucchini cupcakes
the original recipe for these cupcakes can be found here.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil (note : i used olive oil because it was what we had, and it was fine)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (i used the add-lemon-juice-to-milk trick and it curdled a bit, but turned out fine anyway)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup cocoa, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

1. pre-heat oven to 350F. lightly grease the muffin tins, or use muffin cups. if you aren't using muffin cups, greasing the muffin tins is essential to them coming out without breaking.

2. in a medium bowl mix together the sugar, butter and oil. beat in eggs one at a time until well incorporated. stir in vanilla, buttermilk, and zucchini.

3. in a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients (if you wanted to be lazy like me, you could just add all of the dry ingredients directly to the wet ingredients). add the liquid ingredients and mix until well combined. spoon batter into large muffin pans. if you want to fill your cupcakes, fill the muffin tins a third of the way, spoon about a half-teaspon to a teaspoon of preserves or nutella on to the batter, and cover with more batter until the tins are almost full.

4. bake in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes (12 minutes for mini cupcakes). when they've completely puffed, they're done - you can check them with a toothpick if you like. wait for the tins to cool completely before you take the cupcakes out, or you will get increased breakage. once they've cooled completely cover loosely - they'll stay moist from the zucchini.

[makes 9 large cupcakes, 20 standard cupcakes, or 70 mini cupcakes.]

perfect pancakes

i think i may have finally found a recipe for perfect pancakes. it probably needs some tweaking (i like my pancakes on the sweeter side), but i've never had pancakes as thick as these, without being cottony and dense.

yesterday morning, having woken up late, i cast about for something to do. i was about to go watch some episodes of coupling, since we now have a dvd player, but i opened the door to the living room to find ray fast asleep on the couch. so that's why the door was shut. anyway, v was still asleep and mary was on her way out, so i decided to make pancakes for v and ray (it was nearing noon, ie, time to get up). as they were both still asleep, i set about doing so in a leisurely fashion. without my joy of cooking, which is packed up in lmf, i always make up a new recipe every time i make pancakes, based on my vague memories of the recipe in the book. i also decided to beat the egg whites with a fork (but not on a plate, a la little house on the prairie), to see how long it would take.

fifteen minutes later, i had an egg foam that was still slightly runny at the bottom, with no sign of metamorphosing towards stiff peaks. i was too impatient to beat them for longer, so into the batter they went...and the resulting pancakes puffed up more than i've ever seen them puff. they also tasted pretty good, although i'd add a bit more sugar, and probably another tablespoon of butter. these are good pancakes for soaking up maple syrup...mmm.

as we have no ketchup, and one of my really weird food quirks is that i like pancakes with ketchup, i resorted to the homemade ketchup that i'd made earlier in the week to use up our tomato puree. it's a spicy ketchup - perhaps a bit too spicy - but like anything with spices in it, it matured really well in the fridge. it's also better cold than hot. anyway, it was quite good; the recipe is from the boston globe, and is intended to be a hamburger topping. gotta go grab some hamburger meat now...

last on the lineup for the weekend is a coffee cake that i made on saturday. the recipe comes from nigella lawson's last column in the ny times (the one on spatchcocked chicken); it's a sour cream strawberry streusel cake. essentially, there's a layer of strawberry puree in the middle, and streusel on the top that makes the top pleasantly crunchy. i liked this cake, but it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. i think it's worth making if you just add a bit of sugar to the recipe; i found the taste to be slightly cloying...you know, which is probably due to the cornstarch in the strawberry puree mixture (i used rice flour, as i didn't have any corn starch). i wonder if it's really necessary to put the cornstarch in. the bottom layer of cake was too dense, but i didn't mind that too much. however, the crunchy streusel top was really spectacular, and the cake itself looks quite pretty. both roommates and allie seemed to like it a lot, so i'll probably make it again at some point. it's quite easy to put together, although you will need a blender to make the strawberry puree. incidentally, this is another example of me cooking something based on the photo (in this case, it actually turned out looking pretty much like the photo). for your notes, the cake originally had 1 tablespoon of vanilla in the cake instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons, and had 3/8 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup.

puffy, ultra-absorbent pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
2T baking powder
1/2t salt
3T sugar
1 cup milk
2T butter
3 eggs, separated
pinch of salt

[1] mix together the flour, baking powder, 1/2t salt, and sugar in a bowl.

[2] in another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. let cool to lukewarm, then slowly whisk in the egg yolks so they don't curdle. whisk in the milk.

[3] in a pyrex or metal bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, using a fork, until they reach soft peaks.

[4] pour the milk/egg/butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix. fold in the egg whites.

[5] cook in a greased skillet over medium heat.

[makes approximately 16 5" pancakes]

spicy ketchup
2T canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1T chili powder (ground red chilies)
1/2t cayenne pepper
1/4t coriander
scant 1/4t allspice
scant 1/4t cloves
1 can tomato puree
1/4c brown sugar
3T cider vinegar
1t salt
1/2t black pepper

[1] saute the onions in the oil until very soft, about 10 minutes. add the spices and cook 30 seconds.

[2] add the tomato puree, sugar, vinegar, salt, and pepper. bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.

[3] let cool, then blend in a blender until smooth.

[makes ~ 2 cups. keeps for a week]

strawberry streusel cake
for the strawberry puree:
8 oz strawberries
3T strawberry jam
2t cornstarch
2t vanilla

for the cake:
3/4c sugar
2c plus 2T flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
12T cold butter, cut into 1/2" chunks
1c sour cream
1 egg
1 1/2t vanilla

for the streusel:
2-3T dark brown sugar

[1] in a blender, combine all of the puree ingredients. puree until smooth.

[2] preheat the oven to 375 degrees. oil a 9" springform pan and set aside. in a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. sprinkle in butter cubes and rub in by hand until the mixture almost reaches the consistency of coarse meal. reserve a half-cup of the mixture in another bowl, then finish mixing in the butter for the rest of the mixture. add sour cream, egg, and vanilla to the mixture and mix well.

[3] using half of the cake batter, drop dollops of batter into the pan. pat batter across the pan and about 1 inch up the sides; mixture will be sticky (be sure to leave it uneven). add the strawberry puree, tilting the pan to let it spread evenly. add the remaining cake batter in dollops; use a spatula to spread the dollops fairly evenly across the top.

[4] to make the streusel, combine the reserved flour/butter mixture and the dark brown sugar and mix well. sprinkle evenly over cake.

[5] bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. cool completely, then remove from pan.