This sweet potato souffle was my first attempt at the dish as well as a means of cleaning out the fridge before we depart from St. Simons, GA.  Needless to say, I didn’t exactly follow the recipe so I learned a little along the way.

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes cooked and whipped (recipe called for 3)
• 1/2 C grated carrots (I probably used more than this)
• 1/2 cup sugar (recipe called for 1 C – I would further reduce the sugar next time)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 T butter (I would use 3 T next time)
• 1/2 cup soy milk (recipe called for condensed milk)
• 1 teaspoons vanilla (recipe called for 2 t which seemed like a lot)
• 1 bag marshmallows (you can never have too many marshmallows!)

Directions

1. Cook potatoes until tender. I like to bake them with the skin on in a covered dish with 1/4 – 1/2″ water (helps to steam them) at 400° for 35-40 minutes.
2. Drain + peel potatoes and mash.
3. Add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well and put in a 1 1/2 quart casserole.
4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25 minutes. ** RESIST THE URGE to do marshmallows here.
5. Place marshmallows on top and return to oven for about 5 minutes or until brown on top. ** I was so excited about the marshmallows that I put them on top for step 4.  Hence the caramelization in the above photo.

I wanted to take a picture of the pudding plated, but it smelled and tasted so good that it was gone before I had a chance.  I combined two great bread pudding recipes - one from Simply Recipes and one from Gourmet – to make this amazing dessert.

Ingredients:

This was the first time these Jenkins had tried a new french onion soup recipe – we have been so happy with our other one.  Joe picked up some really good local IPA.  The label of this particular beer, the Hopsecutioner, brings back fond memories of teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Ingredients:

I was so happy to have successfully baked this bread in the limited kitchen of our vacation condo.  No standing mixer, hardly any counter-space, and a super cheap oven.  Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe baking isn’t the precise science I initially thought it was.  The bread was delicious.  Burn After Reading fans; my feelings are best summed up by John Malkovich, “I’m better, I’m back…”. 

Recipe Adapted from Peter Reinhart, Bread Baker’s Apprentice ©

Days to Make: 2

I made 6 small baguettes, of which only one whole one is left after two days.  It was good. 

• 6 cups unbleached bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 cups water ice cold (40°F)
• Semolina or cornmeal for dusting

1. Combine the flour, salt, yeast and water in a large bowl and gently knead for 4-6 minutes (until dough is homogenous).  OR mix with an electric mixer with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes on low speed. Switch to the dough hook and mix for 5 to 6 minutes on medium speed. The dough should be sticky on the bottom of the bowl, but it should release from the sides of the bowl. If not, sprinkle in a small amount of flour until this occurs (or dribble in water if the dough seems too stiff and clears the bottom as well as the sides of the bowl). Lightly oil a large bowl and immediately transfer the dough with a spatula or bowl scraper dipped in water into the bowl. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and cover the bowl with a lid (or plastic wrap).
2. Immediately place the bowl in the refrigerator and retard overnight.
3. The next day, check the dough to see if it has risen in the refrigerator. It will probably be partially risen but not doubled in size (the amount of rise will depend on how cold the refrigerator is and how often the door was opened). Leave the bowl of dough out at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours (or longer if necessary) to allow the dough to wake up, lose its chill, and continue fermenting.
4. When the dough has doubled from its original prerefrigerated size, liberally sprinkle the counter with bread flour (about 1/2 cup). Gently transfer the dough to the floured counter with a plastic dough scraper that has been dipped in cold water, dipping your hands as well to keep the dough from sticking to you. Try to degas the dough as little as possible as you transfer it. If the dough is very wet, sprinkle more flour over the top as well as under it. Dry your hands thoroughly and then dip them in flour. Roll the dough gently in the sprinkled flour to coat it thoroughly, simultaneously stretching it into an oblong about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. If it is too sticky to handle, continue sprinkling flour over it. Dip a metal pastry scraper into cool water to keep it from sticking to the dough, and cut the dough in half widthwise with the pastry scraper by pressing it down through the dough until it severs it, then dipping it again in the water and repeating this action until you have cut down the full length of the dough. (Do not use this blade as a saw; use it as a pincer, pinching the dough cleanly with each cut.) Let the dough relax for 5 minutes.
5. Prepare the oven for hearth baking by making sure to have an empty steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 500°F.  Cover the back of two 17-by-12-inch sheet pans with semolina flour or cornmeal. Proceed with shaping.
6. Take one of the dough pieces and repeat the cutting action, but this time cut off 3 equal-sized lengths. Then do the same with the remaining half. This should give you 6 lengths. Flour your hands and carefully lift 1 of the dough strips and transfer it to an inverted parchment-lined pan, gently pulling it to the length of the pan or to the length of your baking stone. If it springs back, let it rest for 5 minutes and then gently pull it out again. Place 3 strips on the pan, and then prepare another pan and repeat with the remaining strips.  I recommend letting the dough rest, covered, for another 30-60 minutes at this point. 
7. Take 1 pan to the preheated oven and carefully slide the dough, parchment and all, onto the baking stone (depending on the direction of the stone, you may choose to slide the dough and parchment off the side of the sheet pan instead of off the end); or bake directly on the sheet pan. Make sure the pieces aren’t touching (you can reach in and straighten the parchment or the dough strips if need be). Pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the door. After 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. After the final spray, reduce the oven setting to 475°F and continue baking. Meanwhile, dust the other pan of strips with flour, mist with spray oil, and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. If you don’t plan to bake these strips within 1 hour, refrigerate the pan and bake later or the next day. If you’d like to bake them as rustic, ciabatta-style breads, leave them at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours and then bake. As the loaves proof, they will resemble and perform like ciabatta.
8. The bread should begin to turn golden brown within 8 or 9 minutes. If the loaves are baking unevenly at this point, rotate them 180 degrees. Continue baking 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the bread is a rich golden brown and the internal temperature registers at least 205°F.
9. Transfer the hot breads to a cooling rack. They should feel very light, almost airy, and will cool in about 20 minutes. While these are cooling, you can bake the remaining loaves, remembering to remove the parchment from the oven and turn the oven up to 500°F or higher before baking the second round.

COMMENTARY:

Pain À l’Ancienne Pizza: Heavily flour the counter and gently transfer the fully fermented dough from the bowl to the counter with a plastic scraper that has been dipped in cold water, dipping your hands as well to keep the dough from sticking to you. Divide the dough by continually dipping the pastry scraper into water and cutting the dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces. Gently round the pieces into balls, being careful not to punch down and expel any more gas than necessary. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and spray lightly with oil. Place the floured dough balls on the parchment. Mist them with spray oil and place the pan into a food-grade plastic bag or loosely cover with plastic wrap, and return the pan to the refrigerator, unless you plan to make the pizzas immediately. These pizza doughs will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. (You may also put them into the freezer in individual zipper bags, and keep them for up to three months.) Remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before shaping and baking your pizza as you always do.

Pain À l’Ancienne Foccacia: Line a 17 by-12-inch sheet pan with baking parchment. With floured hands, take the fully fermented dough from the bowl and proceed with shaping instructions on page 162. Ferment at room temperature for about 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough rises and fills the pan, rising to about 1 inch thick. Proceed with the baking instructions for focaccia.

I promise i did not photoshop the color on this image.   The risotto really is that shockingly pink!  This recipe is only moderately tweaked from Gourmet.com.   Even though I eat it often, this is my first time making risotto and I was nervous.  Joe is a risotto master.   Luckily the condo we are staying in on St.Simon’s Island has only nonstick pans, so i could be a little less attentive than at home.

• 3 medium beets (1 1/2 lb with greens), trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stems attached
• 3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (28 fl oz)
• 3 cups water
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups Arborio rice (14 oz)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup)

Garnish:
Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings, made with a vegetable peeler

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Tightly wrap beets in a double layer of foil and roast on a baking sheet until very tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool to warm in foil package, about 20 minutes.
3. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel them, discarding stems and root ends, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4. While beets are cooling, bring broth and water to a bare simmer in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan. Keep at a bare simmer, covered.
5. Cook onion in oil in a wide 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.
6. Add wine and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until absorbed, about 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 cup broth and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed.
7. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is just tender and creamy-looking, 18 to 22 minutes. (Reserve leftover broth.)
8. Stir in beets, salt, and pepper (mixture will turn bright pink) and cook, stirring, until heated through. Thin as necessary with some of leftover broth, then stir in cheese and remove from heat.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2010. That’s about 29 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 10 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 182 posts. There were 23 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 24mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was February 12th with 158 views. The most popular post that day was 100210 – Joe’s Birthday (cup) Cakes.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were pinchmysalt.com, atigerinthekitchen.com, alphainventions.com, yumarama.com, and bewitchingkitchen.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for pizza, birthday cake, pizzas, italian bread recipe, and ciabatta.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

100210 – Joe’s Birthday (cup) Cakes February 2010

090403 – Dad’s birthday cake! April 2009
1 comment

090811 – Italian Bread | BBA #15 August 2009
14 comments

090820 – Kaiser Rolls | BBA #16 August 2009
12 comments

090719 – English Muffins | BBA#12 July 2009
12 comments

Inspired by a recipe from David Lebovitz. He made some lovely Apricot Jam.  I just lessened the sugar and used some wild blackberries that I found while wandering around London.

• 1 pound (or so) fresh blackberries (found at Regent’s Park along the canal path)
• 1/2 cup (125ml) water
• 2 cups (i think – we have no measuring cup in our rental apartment) sugar

1. Combine water and sugar in a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Put a small plate in the freezer.
3. Add the fruit (blackberries) cook, uncovered, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. As the mixture thickens and reduces, stir frequently to make sure the jam isn’t burning on the bottom.
4. When the jam looks thick and is looks slightly-jelled, turn off the heat and put a small amount of jam on the chilled plate. Put back in the freezer for a few minutes, then do the nudge test: If the jam mounds and wrinkles, it’s done. If not, continue to cook, then re-test the jam until it reaches that consistency.
5. Once done, ladle the jam into clean jars. Cover tightly and let cool to room temperature. Once cool, refrigerate until ready to use.

Storage: I find this jam will keep up to one year if refrigerated. If you wish to can it for long-term preservation, you can refer to the USDA Canning Guidelines for techniques.

Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

This delicious and easy (and cheap) frozen dessert is inspired by my favorite lunch.  Anyone who has worked with me knows that i eat a peanut butter banana sandwich just about every week.

First, cut up 5-6 bananas into a plastic bag, or some other container you can put in the freezer.   We get our bananas from Trader Joe’s, and because they are sold at a per banana price, our bananas are pretty huge.  So, our 5 bananas might be the equivalent of 8 normal size ones.

Freeze the bananas solid.  I don’t know why they look so hideous in this photo – they aren’t as repulsive in person.  I just cut them up before work in the morning to make the ice cream when I return home.

This blender requires that I continually prod the frozen bananas down to the blades until it is finally all smooth.  Also, it makes some worrisome whirring sounds when it finally does catch a banana hunk.  Just last week (100601) I made another batch of ‘ice cream’ (this time using cocoa instead of peanut butter).  I tried using a food processor instead of the blender and it was much better!  I guess our blender is prettymuch reserved for margaritas now.

After about 3 minutes of blending/ processing, the bananas should take on a creamy texture.  You can eat it now as soft serve, or let it freeze longer for a regular ice cream consistency.

green pasta

Joe is such an amazing cook!!!  As soon as his exams were over last week, he started cooking for me every night.  So far everything has been terrific.  Last night was the first night that i finally got the camera out.   We have been making plain semolina pasta with our beautiful new pasta machine quite a bit, but this was the first time we tried a new flavor.  The recipe originally comes from The Silver Spoon – one of the greatest books of all time.

• 1 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 C 00 flour
• extra flour for dusting (plenty!)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• generous 1 C spinach, cooked, well drained, and chopped
• salt

1. sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mound on a counter.
2. make a well in the center and add the eggs and spinach.  using your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, then knead for a few minutes (about 5).  This is my favorite part.
3. If the spinach is very damp, add more flour, a little at a time.  Shape the dough into a ball and let rest for 15 minutes.
4. roll out on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a fairly thick sheet.
   
5. The pasta may be used for lasagna, tagliatelle, tortellini and ravioli, but with enough flour works for fettuccine.
6. After boiling for 3-4 minutes in a large pot of salted boiling water, Joe finished the pasta in a saucepan of heated, red pepper-infused olive oil and grape tomatoes.  A little Parmesan on top – perfect. ENJOY!
   

Red Velvet Cake

This has been Joe’s birthday cake every year for the past 20-some years.  This was the first year that I have taken on the task of baking the cake for him.  His mom  reassured me that the recipe impossible to mess up.  This was meant to allay my fears – but it mostly added to them.  I would be the first one to mess it up… especially on a weeknight… especially being just my third cake baking endeavor ever.  In the end, it turned out that my MIL (mother in law) was right, and the cupcakes were DELICIOUS.

• 1/2 Cup butter
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz. red food coloring [this is 2 bottles, I only use 1 bottle and then fill the bottle with water and add to make up for the liquid]
• 2 T. cocoa
• 2 1/4 c. plain flour [not cake flour]
• 1 scant t. salt
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 c. buttermilk (I used 4T dried buttermilk and it came out fine – just add it and water as you would regular buttermilk)
  
• 1 t. baking soda [try to get the lumps out before you add it]
• 1 T. vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease and flour two 8″ pans [or use cupcake papers if you make cupcakes, or a sheet pan]
3. Cream butter, sugar, and eggs in your mixer with the paddle attachment.
4. Mix together coloring and cocoa and add to mixture.    This stuff is a mess.  My white mixing bowl is now a pretty pink mixing bowl.
   
5. Add salt and flour with buttermilk and vanilla (do not mix any longer than necessary or it will toughen the cake).
6. Alternately add soda and vinegar and don’t beat hard, just blend. Bake in two 8″ greased and floured pans. Layers may be split to make 4.
7. Fill two baking pans or muffin tins.  Bake for 15-20 minutes for cupcakes, 30-40 minutes for cakes.  Cool completely before icing.
   

Frosting for red velvet cake:

• 3 T. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 1 c. butter
  
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 c. granulated sugar

1. Cook flour and milk on low heat until thick. Cool completely.
   
2. Cream sugar and butter and vanilla until fluffy. [You can't really overdo this stage]
3. Add flour/milk mixture.
4. Beat until mixture is like whipped cream.
5. Spread on layer. Sprinkle with coconut or chopped nuts if desired.
   
6. Keep cake cool (the icing is best cold).