Daffodil Finally!

We finally have a daffodil!


We were spoiled last year by a warm spring.
This is quite late for us.

Ciabatta

It all started when the supermarket had a sale on mussels -
buy one, get two free. . .

Free is nice.

But now we needed a starch.
Hmmmmm.
I found a recipe for ciabatta that does not require super-long proofing.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread

Start with 475 g water.

500 g flour

1 t yeast

and into the mixer it goes.

at first it is really gloppy.
I let it rest for 10 minutes or so and then
continued beating until it pulled from the sides of the bowl.

Let rise for a couple of hours,
then shape onto floured parchment.

Preheat the oven to 500F.

Just before putting into the oven slash.
I learned a trick - use your super sharp knife, but wet the blade before each slash.

Looks good.

Smells great!

Very nice crumb.
Not as crunchy as no-knead bread.
I did not add any moisture to the oven

Serve with a seafood soup.

 

The soup is made of:
onion, garlic, celery, and lots of black pepper
shrimp, scallops, mussels.

Toad in a Hole

We had the bacon last week, and now it's time to try the
 bangers from our order with R.J.Balson & Son.
(R. J. Balson & Son website.  http://www.balsonbutchers.com/)
We decided to try the Garlic and Herb.
They come 5 to a pound.

I thought two would be enough for us, so the other three have returned to the freezer.

When I read the ingredients, they are very simple:
Pork, water, wheat  flour, salt, spices,
sodium lactate, flavorings, herbs, sodium diacetate.

Did you know that Toad in a Hole is basically meat cooked in a Yorkshire Pudding?

Per a suggestion from President Oliver Balson, I first browned the sausages to get the natural casings crispy.
Then added the batter to the hot pan with the sausage and cook at 425 degrees.

40 minutes later, we were ready to eat!


 

The chickens are enjoying the free-range now that spring is here.
The egg yolks are bright yellow, as you can see in the pudding above.

Serve with peas, mashed potatoes, and onion gravy.
Following are recipes for Yorkshire Pudding and onion gravy.
There is also a slightly different recipe on my webpage:  http://muddleaged.com/Yorkshire.html


Recipes:

Toad in a Hole

Yorkshire Pudding Ingredients:

• 4 large, fresh eggs, measured in a jug
• 200 ml/2/3 cup milk
• 200 ml/ 2/3 cup plain/all purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp lard, beef dripping or rapeseed oil (I used butter)
• 6 beef or pork sausages, partially fried

http://britishfood.about.com/od/eorecipes/r/Family-Toad-In-The-Hole-Recipe.htm

Onion Gravy Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp vegetable or cold-pressed rapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 750ml/ 3 cups beef stock
• 4 tsp corn flour/corn starch
• 4 tsp cold water
• Salt and black pepper

Preparation:

• Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the onions and cover with a lid. Cook slowly for approx 10 mins or until the onions are soft and translucent, take care not to burn, the onions should not be browned.
• Add the sugar and balsamic vinegar to the onions and stir well. Cover with the lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, again making sure they don't catch.
• Add the stock and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes.
• In a heatproof jug or bowl mix the corn starch/flour with the cold water to create a thin paste. Pour a little of the hot gravy into the starch mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour the starch mixture back into the gravy, raise the heat to high and boil for 10 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened.
• Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until ready to serve.

Note: To create a shine on the gravy whisk 1 tsp of ice cold butter into the finished gravy before serving.
http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/oniongravy.htm

First Spring Flowers 2013

April 1 saw the first snowdrops.
(Last year was March 25!)
 '
It feels like a very late spring,
but the flowers are welcome.

 

Full English Breakfast

We have been watching BBC videos on youtube.
After watching the "Breakfast" part of "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,"  we both had tongues out for that beautiful "bacon".  It's not at all what we think of as bacon, with the fat stripes.  Now, how to get some.  We have no access to many "foreign" foods, so it's online for us.
We found the R. J. Balson & Son website.  http://www.balsonbutchers.com/

They process in the US and ship in a styrofoam cooler with dryice.
They shipped on Monday and we received it on Wednesday.

Lovely.

It is fully cooked, so it can be just warmed or crisped, at your pleasure.

It's still winter, so there are no real tomatoes.
We tried stewed tomatoes - won't make that mistake again!
And D has decided we need more "Cherokee Purple" tomatoes beyond the three already started.
I think there'll be more seed starting tonight.

So our attempt at "Full English Breakfast" included "Bush's Beans", stewed tomatoes, two eggs freshly laid today, and tea.  I think cider would have been good with it, too.

 

Since it is most economical to order six pounds of meat,
we also ordered "bangers" (sausage).
On the weekend, we'll try "Bangers and Mash"
or
"Toad in a Hole"

Our source inspiration:

Clarissa Dickson Wright's Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

by edwardianpromenade

• •Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner [3/3]
  (59:09)
• •Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner [2/3]
  (59:11)
• •Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner [1/3]
  (58:53)

view full playlist (3 videos)

Pizza 2 - in a Fry Pan!

Continuing the search for a good pizza dough.

This is the adaptation of a recipe from Serious Eats

Ingredients

• as modified 
• 20 ounces flour - I used Sir Lancelot high gluten flour
  
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus extra for assembly
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 12 ounces water

Use the heavy duty mixer to knead the dough.  It's very stiff.
Then refrigerate.  I kept it overnight and then cut into 6 pieces, keeping 2 pieces out to make pizza today.  Four balls are oiled in pint containers in the fridge for another day.

After a two hour rise, it is stretched.
A bit of tomato sauce (this one is made with tomatoes, sausage, pork chops, meatballs, seasoned with basil, parsley, garlic, locatelli, red and black pepper).

I made two.  The first is pepperoni with mozzarella.
This one is pepperoni with provolone.

While putting the pizza together, the 11 1/2 inch cast-iron frying pan is heating on high (for 3 minutes).
The broiler, with the rack as close to the broiler as will fit the pan, is preheating on high.
The pizza is slid onto the frying pan and is left on high heat until the bottom looks right.
Then it is moved to under the broiler.
I found that I needed to move it away from the broiler after a short time, because the top was bubbling, but the dough was not done.
I put it on the bottom rack until I was satisfied with the dough.

Then it's ready to eat.

The bottom is crunchy.  The top is chewy.

I think this may be it!

Now to experiment with flavors/toppings.
And to work on aesthetics!

The trick seems to be the super hot frypan.
We were not happy with the pizza stone - no significant improvement over a pan.
And with the stone or without, even at 550 degrees, there was no crunch to the crust.
The other recipes we found were too breadlike.
Next question - is it the technique or the recipe.  Will have to keep experimenting.

Pizza

I found a recipe that was supposed to make the greatest pizza crust: 

 

Ingredients

• 22 1/2 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• .35 ounces kosher salt (about 3 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 15 ounces lukewarm water
• Mix today, in the food processor, make tomorrow.
• food lab recipe

I used my own pizza sauce with sausage and meatball and topped with whole milk mozzarella. 

I did it on a cookie sheet which I placed on the stone in a 550 degree oven.

While it cooled a bit, I added freshly grated locatelli.

Cut into squares, it was ready to eat.

D liked it very much.  I thought it was too bready.

The next day, I made one with ricotta and pepperoni.  Good, but again D likes the crust better than I do.