eating beer.

my yeast died today. i found out when i had the random itch to bake some bread. although, after being stored for so long, it doesn't really come as that much of a surprise. :/

i took out my yeast, proofed it in warm water, and was dismayed that it didn't come alive. now what do i do?? then an idea struck me: we have beer in the fridge! i'm not really that much of a big beer drinker. although the boyfriend loves the stuff, i'm more opt to get a glass of juice or a cup of tea. and whenever we have a big gathering at the house, i find that we always have a handful of beers leftover from the festivities just there sitting lonely in the corner of the fridge . . . undrank . . . unused . . . neglected. needless to say, i was estactic of the idea of being able to get rid of a couple of bottles short of drinking them!

after a quick search on the internets, i found this recipe to try. it seemed easy enough and i had the ingredients to make it. made a few modifications and out came a moist, slightly sweet bread with a soft and chewy consistency (think of a super moist banana bread with more of a chew). this was great to snack on as-is with some mild havarti and some fruit. i've also used this as a french toast and it paired perfectly with puddle of pure maple syrup. would i make this again? definitely!

 

Honey Whole Wheat Beer Bread
(adapted from Farmgirl Fare)

2 cups organic whole wheat flour (i used wheat montana's bronze cheif whole wheat flour)
1 cup organic all-purpose flour (i used gold medal's all-purpose flour)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (i subbed 2 tbsp dark brown sugar)
1 teaspoon salt (added about 1/4 tsp or so)
1 Tablespoon baking powder (make sure it's fresh!) (i added 1/2 tsp or so more)
14 ounces beer (or 12 ounces beer & 2 ounces water) (used about 1 1/2 bottles of stella artois to get a "thick batter")
1/4 cup honey (or less)

Optional glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Slowly stir in beer (and the honey) and mix just until combined. The batter will be thick.

Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan (i used a parchment lined baking pan), brush with the egg glaze if desired (skipped this), and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (mine took almost an hour to bake. also, about 20 minutes before it was done, i spread some butter on top and let it finish in the oven for some buttery-top goodness!)

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

hailing britain.

had a recent conversation with someone about travelling overseas. reminisced about london and it brought back some wonderful memories of my trip from a couple of years ago. i really loved it there and it's on my to-do list to come visit again. in honor of the great london trip, i made mushrooms on toast for dinner. :)

 

Madiera Mushroom and Shrimp on Corn Rye Toast
(serves one)

for the shrimp and mushrooms:
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (i used a 10 oz. bottled mushrooms since i had that handy)
5-6 medium frozen uncooked shrimp, cut in half and tail trimmed
1/4 cup or so roughly chopped white onion
2 large cloves garlic, roughly minced
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon thyme (i used dried)
1 sprig italian parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup or so chicken stock
1/4 cup or so madiera wine
salt and pepper
olive oil
constarch with water to thicken

for the toast:
1 thick slice artisan corn rye bread (or whatever bread you have on hand)
butter to toast bread

Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and let heat on medium high. Once hot, cook onion and garlic in oil until slightly golden. Add mushrooms and cook until the edges of the mushrooms are browned then add the shrimp. Season with the papriika, thyme, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring the pan, until the shrimp are almost done. Add just enough chicken broth to deglaze the pan. Reduce slightly then add about the same amount of wine. Let wine cook for about 2-3 minutes then add cornstarch to thicken to desired consistency. Add the chopped parsley then keep warm.

In a seperate pan, melt enough butter to cover a side of bread. Once foamy, lay the bread down to toast. Add some more butter to the pan and repeat process until bread is nice and golden brown on each side. When done, plate the bread and top with mushroom and shrimp mixture. Garnish with additional parsley and serve.

dinner of leftovers.

mish-mash dinner of leftover stuff and things that needed using up. caramelized radishes and herb gnocchi in browned butter then roasted marzipan-filled figs with avocado honey. simple, quick, and filling.

dinner in a jiffy.

dinner: crispy salmon with warm multigrain and arugula salad. salt, pepper, garlic herb seasoning on the salmon then crispified on the pan with olive oil. multigrain and veggie blend from trader joes heated then tossed in with fresh arugula. drizzled with olive oil and a little tahitian vanilla balsamic vinegar and dinner was done in ten-fifteen minutes. :)

recipe in pictures: soda bread

ah, soda bread. this was such an easy recipe to do. about the only hard thing was waiting for the dried fruit to soak up the liquer and then waiting for it to bake. used this recipe but used whatever liquor i had in the kitchen (it was an herb-based one) and dried mixed fruit that was lying in a bag begging to be used up. verdict? nice and moist and almost reminiscent of bisquick in taste. brought half of the loaf over to my sister's house and her and her boyfriend really liked it. yay for sharing! :D

 
Irish Soda Bread with Whiskey Soaked Raisins and Whiskey Butter Syrup
(from What's Baking in the Barbershop?!)

For bread:
4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for raisins)
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (cut into 1/2" pieces)
1 and 3/4 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 large or extra large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1 cup dried raisins
1/3 to 1/2 cup whiskey

For whiskey butter sauce:
remaining whiskey-raisin liquid after raisins have been soaked in it
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For Bread:
Combine the raisins and whiskey in a small, shallow bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least six hours or overnight (I let mine sit overnight). When ready to make the bread, drain the raisins from the liquid (but SAVE the liquid for the whiskey butter syrup!).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Add the butter, and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour mixture. With a fork, lightly beat together the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest (if using; it's okay to omit the orange zest). With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquids to the flour/butter mixture until well-incorporated. Toss the raisins (that have been removed from the whiskey-raisin liquid) with one tablespoon of flour to coat them. Then add them into the dough. The dough will be rather wet.

Using a well-floured board, knead the dough several times, and form into a circle (you can make one large loaf, if you'd like - or two smaller loaves like I did this time - or you can make scones like I did in this blog post). Place the loaf or loaves on prepared baking sheet, and lightly form an X in the center with a knife. If making one large loaf, bake for 45 to 55 minutes. If making two smaller loaves, check on the loaves after about 30 minutes.

When the loaf is done, a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf will come out clean. Also, if you tap on the side of the bread, it should sound hollow. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the whiskey butter syrup:
Add the remaining whiskey-raisin liquid to a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Once it's simmering, add the two tablespoons of butter. Turn the heat down to medium low and mix until the butter is fully melted. The mixture may begin to foam, and when it does, use a spoon to skim the foam off the top. Drizzle the remaining whiskey butter syrup on a slice of your freshly baked soda bread.

inky pasta.

squid ink pasta...oh what an amazing colored macaroni! when i first saw this in a pasta store in little italy, i was super excited to try it. i really love the blackness of it but i wasn't too sure how to make it. i had initially finally bought a package of it a few months ago but the boyfriend ended up using it in a plain meat-based spaghetti recipe. it ended up tasting funny and since then i've been on a hunt for a perfect recipe to highlight the slight squidy taste that it has. enter pasta nera from the daily catch. the first time i saw this was in an article about the restaurant's squid ink pasta dish. i took one look at the picture and knew that that was what i wanted to make.

after browsing through countless of websites and reading more about this particular dish, i finally found a replica recipe for pasta nera. i wanted it to look and, most importantly, taste as close as possible to the original dish (since i've never had it) so i added a couple of things to the author's recipe. what turned out was just fucking fantastic and exactly what i was looking for...squidy, salty, and definitely something worthy for those inky black macaroni!

 

Pasta Nera
(from Giusto Gusto)

1 lb. Fresh Squid-Ink Pasta (or dry if you cannot find fresh) (i used dry)
4 Large Cloves Garlic (sliced thinly) (i roughly chopped mine for more oomped)
1 lb. Fresh Squid (Cleaned, Rinsed and Patted Dry)
1 Handful Chopped Parsley
1/2 Cup Toasted Fresh Breadcrumbs (i used pre-made)
Salt, Pepper, Chile Flakes, E.V. Olive Oil
1/2 tbsp pecorino cheese
1 anchovy fillet, minced or 1/2 tsp anchovy paste

This all happens fairly quickly so while you bring a large pot of water to a boil begin prepping your pieces.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil with plenty of salt (as always, it should taste like the ocean). (if using dry, start this early enough that when you're cooking the calamari, the pasta should be done or close to done.)

Using a Meat Grinder or Mezzaluna (or a knife and a shit-ton of elbow grease) chop your calamari into small pieces, roughly 1/4″ big. Set aside. A food processor will work but be sure to pulse in short bursts so the squid doesn’t turn to squid juice…not good eats.

Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat and add your sliced garlic and a large pinch of chile flakes (according to the article, you should also add the pecorino and the anchovy paste here as well. i did. :)). Fry until just lightly golden and then add your chopped calamari. Drop your fresh pasta in as soon as the calamari drops into the frying pan. Fry the calamari for 1-2 minutes seasoning to taste, in which time your fresh pasta will be done. (deviated from here: i seared and seasoned the calamari to a golden brown so that it made a thick frond at the bottom of the pan. since i used dried pasta, it should've already been started to compensate for the fast cooking time of the calamari.)

Using tongs, drain the pasta and add to the sauté pan with the calamari and garlic add enough of the pasta water to keep everything moist. Cook together on high heat for 1 more minute, add the chopped parsley, a little cracked pepper and serve topped with a generous amount of toasted breadcrumbs. (i basically did the same thing. when i added the macaroni, it deglazed the nice frond i had and coated the pasta in the little bits of tastiness! also, drizzled with a touch of extra virgin olive oil and a touch more pecorino on top.)

almonds and figs.

just a quick breakfast using figs and marzipan. had bought some green figs from trader joes and had marzipan laying around. what to do? pancakes, of course! used this recipe as a base but added vanilla bean paste, almond extract, seven grain cereal and subbed whole wheat instead of plain. while the pancakes was cooking in the pan, i added sliced fresh figs to it and they caramelized nicely when they got flipped over. for the topping, i used light sour cream and mixed in some avocado honey in it to boot. so it turned into "seven grain whole wheat pancakes with honey cointreau sour cream sauce"...or something along those lines. heck, all i know is that it was delicious! XD here's the original recipe:

 
Marzipan Pancakes
(from Tea, Cake, and Sandwiches)

1 1/3 cups Plain flour
1 cup Ground Almonds
11/2 tsp Baking powder
3/4 cup Marzipan, coarsely grated
3 Eggs, separated
1/3 cup Sugar
2 cups Buttermilk
1 pinch Salt

Beat the egg-whites until you have soft peaks forming, then put them aside until later. Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder, egg-yolks, sugar, buttermilk, and salt. Then mix in 1/4 of the egg-whites and once they're properly mixed in, fold in the rest of the egg-whites and the marzipan. Heat some butter in a pan and watch them turn into sheer amazingness while they're frying away :)

 
Orange Yoghurt Cream
(from Tea, Cake, and Sandwiches)

Zest of 1 orange
4 tbsp Yoghurt
2 tsp Cointreau
2 tsp Agave syrup
Some whipped cream (I didn't add any but I think that might just do the job so add about 3 tbsp)

Mix everything together. If you're using the whipped cream I would fold it into the mix at the end.

jammin' with apricots.

one thing that i find that sits in my pantry is a bottle of jam or preserves. call me crazy, but i rarely eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. why? i have no idea...probably because it's a little too simple and i like me a challenge. not to say that making a kick ass pb&j sandwich won't be challenging, but i rarely have sliced bread in the house so that adds to the difficulty of things. and so now, i currently have both apricot and strawberry that's slowly inching it's way to expiration. lucky for me, i still have about november of next year before it goes bad.

so what to do? omgoogle, of course! using jam or preserves in cooking isn't a new thing for me. i've cooked with it before and it turned out pretty awesome. this time, after googling "apricot preserves" i stumbled on this recipe for grilled chicken. rosemary? apricot? winner!!

followed the recipe ingredients and added some paprika (just because it's my favorite spice) and deviated from the directions entirely. the result? not too sweet, a little tangy, and very prominent rosemary flavor. definitely a permanent fixture in my recipe repoitoire. and so is the quesadillas i decided to make out of them!!

 

Apricot Rosemary Chicken
(adapted from A Kitchen Muse)

3 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary, divided (didn't divide mine)
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar (didn't have it, used light brown sugar and closer to 1 tbsp)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (used a peppercorn medley grinder, about 10-12 turns.)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1¼ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes (skipped this and left the chicken whole, about 2-3 medium-sized thigh meat)
¾ cup apricot preserves
3 tablespoons soy sauce (didn't have any regular, subbed ponzu soy sauce)
½ teaspoon hungarian sweet paprika

Take chicken and pierce with a fork all over (this is to help with the marinade process). Combine all other ingredients well and place everything in a ziploc bag. Marinate for 1-2 days, turning bag occasionally. When ready, take chicken from bag and drip off excess marinade. Grill until done and let rest ten minutes before serving. Discard marinade or cook in pan until reduced and thickened to drizzle over chicken. (this is where i deviated from the recipe. to see original instructions, click here.)

(serves two to three)  

(not my picture but it looks similar, lol.)

Apricot Rosemary Chicken Quesadilla with Wild Arugula and Marinade Reduction
(serves one)

1 Apricot Rosemary Chicken thigh
handful of wild arugula (i got mine from trader joe's, also labeled "wild rocket salad")
a couple handfuls of mexican four cheese blend
2 medium flour tortillas
½ cup marinade from the chicken, cooked until reduced and slightly thickened
chopped italian parsley (optional, for garnish)

1. roughly chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. set aside.

2. take one tortilla and toast on one side. flip over, add a handful of cheese just enough to cover the tortilla and let melt.

3. when melted, add the chopped chicken. drizzle wih a couple spoonfuls of marinade then add arugula. cover with the rest of the cheese and top with the other tortilla. let sit to slightly melt the new cheese then flip over. toast the bottom tortilla until crispy.

4. remove from heat, cut into fours, and drzzle top of quesadilla with remaning marinade reduction. garnish with chopped parsley if desired. enjoy! :D <