Pro Bono Baker

Argo Georgian Bakery - Revisited

After reading about the Republic of Georgia in the "cooking vacations" portion of the May Gourmet Magazine, I couldn't stop thinking about Argo Georgian Bakery.  I posted about my love of Argo over at Gapers Block on Friday and was lucky enough to make a trip up to Devon with Nick this afternoon. 

I haven't made khachapuri in a long time, but I plan to soon.  The Georgian Feast by Darra Goldstein is the best Georgian cookbook available, in my opinion, and provides the recipe that I typically use.  However, you could also try Nigella Lawson's recipe that The Traveler's Lunchbox provides (along with some stunning photos) or the recipe published in the aforementioned issue of Gourmet.

Warm Wild Rice Salad

I had quite a whirlwind weekend.  I was up at 6 am for marathon training on Saturday, met my mother at an Alzheimer's convention near the airport, and then drove with her to attend the Visakha day festival in Woodstock. Sunday morning I had an appointment with my dentist, followed by brunch with my father's side of the family, followed by a short visit with my maternal grandmother, a long drive back to Chicago, and a short run with a friend. 

The point of the entire visit was to retrieve my parent's van in order to retrieve Nick from school later this week.  It will be nice to have him back and a relief to never take the Chicago to Champaign leg of the Amtrak line ever again.  I'm looking forward to slower weekends, evening walks, and dinner parties.

I've recently found that when I'm feeling rundown and overwhelmed, a warm bowl of wild rice, bright vegetables and pillows of goat cheese can make for a soothing evening.  Here is simple recipe that yields impressive results.

Warm Wild Rice Salad
Serves 2 - 3

Ingredients

1 C wild rice (I use Lundberg rice)
Water
Vegetable bullion
.5 C slivered almonds
1 Tbl olive oil
10 cherry tomatoes
15 stalks of asparagus
3 garlic cloves
1 Tbl chopped basil from a jar (or 2 Tbl fresh)
2 oz goat cheese
salt and pepper

Method

Cook the rice according to package instructions.  (Add the amount of water called for and enough bouillon for the water volume.)  It will take about 50 minutes for the rice to cook.

Meanwhile, slice the tomatoes in half.  Trim the asparagus and cut into one inch pieces.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet.  Using a garlic press, press the garlic directly into the pan (if you do not have a garlic press, mincing the garlic works fine).  Add the vegetables and toss frequently.  Season with salt and pepper.  Near the end of cooking (when the asparagus is bright and tender, and the tomato skins are blistering), add the basil and toss to coat.

When the wild rice is done, combine the rice and the vegetables in a large serving bowl, add small pieces of goat cheese, the slivered almonds, and toss. Season to taste.

Dark Lord Day

I have a post up over at Gapers Block about Dark Lord Day 2008. You can read about Dark Lord Day 2007 in my post from last year.  We opened up our first bottle last night and it was delicious.  While similar to the batch from 2007, this year it wasn't as thick and had a bit of sourness to it. 

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Recipe from the archives.

I am not a runner.  I have been an enthusiastic swimmer and an occasional biker in the past, but running always seemed out of my reach.  Amazingly, I just signed up to run the Chicago Half Marathon on September 14.  I will be running with the National AIDS Foundation and working towards a $1,500 fundraising goal.

I'm runner number 0440 and I start training this Saturday at 7 a.m.  I started a new blog to track my progress. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to my funding goal, you can do so by visiting my AIDS Marathon page.

It was 38 degrees in Chicago today.  Time to (briefly) turn on the heat again, fire up the oven and enjoy a warm twice-baked potato.

Twice-Baked Potato with Vegetables

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 baking potato
.5 Tbl olive oil
.25 Tbl Balsamic vinegar
.5 C broccoli rabe
.5 C sweet corn kernels
.25 cherry tomatoes, sliced
.5 mushrooms, sliced
.5 to 1 C buttermilk, shaken
1 Tbl fresh dill
1 Tbl Cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper

Method

Clean the potato and poke holes all over with a fork.  Wrap in tin foil and bake for about an hour at 375F.

When the potato is nearly finished baking, heat the olive oil and Balsamic vinegar over medium heat. Add all the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Slice the potato in half longways and gently remove all but a small amount of potato from the skins. Put the insides in a bowl and mix in the buttermilk to taste (judge the desired texture before adding too much). Mix in the dill and add the vegetables. Combine well. Spoon heaping amounts of the mixture into the potato skins. Transfer the filled potato skins to a tin foil lined baking sheet. Top with Cheddar cheese and bake for 10 minutes more at 375F.

Colcannon

The carbohydrate-phobia that swept the country a few years ago really took a toll on the lowly potato. While it is often thought to lack any kind of nutritional content, it is actually a great source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and fiber.  Colcannon is a comforting Irish dish made of mashed potatoes and either kale or cabbage.  Many variations of this dish exist, but I like to add shallots, garlic, and sometimes a bit of grated Parmesan to flavor it.

Colcannon
Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

4 baking potatoes, chopped into 1" cubes
2 C kale, chopped
2 Tbl olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 C warm milk or cream (or more to taste)
4 Tbl butter, plus extra
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.  (I always leave the skins on, but feel free to modify.)  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add the shallot, garlic and kale. Cook until the kale is tender and reduced in volume.

Drain the potatoes and return to the pot.  Mix in milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste. Add the kale mixture and combine well.  Serve warm with a pat of butter or a drizzle of olive oil.

Radish and Buttermilk Soup

I primarily find myself using buttermilk in baking recipes, where it's tangy flavor adds unmatched depth to biscuits or pancakes.  However, I always enjoy using the leftover portion from the quart in simple recipes that play-up buttermilk's unique taste.  This soup takes minutes to make and is wonderfully refreshing.

Radish and Buttermilk Soup
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 2 - 3

Ingredients

1.25 C radishes, quartered
2 C seedless cucumber, sliced (and peeled if you would like)
2 C chilled buttermilk, well-shaken
1 tsp salt
1 tsp rice vinegar
.5 tsp sugar

Method

Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Serve chilled.

Simple Broccoli Salad

This past Easter, my Uncles Jack and Dave hosted us for a laid-back afternoon of food and drinks.  The light in their house is gorgeous and I couldn't keep myself from taking pictures of all the beautiful food (and their Burmese cats).  One dish that I really enjoyed was a simple, sweet and savory broccoli salad that Dave made.  I recently asked him for the recipe and made a dinner of it this week.

Dave's Broccoli Salad

Ingredients

6 C of fresh broccoli florets (blanched if you prefer)
.25 of a red onion (or to taste), thinly sliced in half inch pieces
.5 C dried cranberries
.5 C sunflower seeds
mayonnaise
sugar

Method

Toss the first four ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  To make the dressing, combine the mayonnaise with sugar to taste (the dressing should be slightly sweet).  Make enough dressing to thinly coat all of the broccoli.  Toss the dressing with the other ingredients.  Cover the salad and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.   Before serving, toss the salad to re-distribute the dressing.

As requested, a photo of one of their cats.

Pear and Pepper Relish

After a weekend snowstorm, we are (hopefully) watching the last of the snow melt here in Chicago. The few blissful weeks before the scorching summer sun arrives will usher in outdoor seating at restaurants, community gardens, margaritas on our back porch, and long hikes through neighborhoods coming back to life.

The changing seasons also mean that cookout weather will soon arrive. Nick recently came across The Great American Hot Dog Book by Becky Mercuri and her recipe for Blackie's Deep-Fried Dogs and Pear-Pepper Relish caught his eye.  Blackie's is a famous hot dog stand in Cheshire, Connecticut and is just one of the well-known stands featured in Mercuri's  book.  We made the relish recently and were very pleased with the results.  Without straying too far from a true sweet relish, the addition of pears and hot peppers gives this recipe a unique and dynamic flavor.

Blackie's Pear-Pepper Relish

Adapted from The Great American Hot Dog Book

This makes about four cups of relish.  The relish will keep in a tightly sealed container, refrigerated, for several weeks.

Ingredients

4 Bartlett pears

2 large onions

2 green bell peppers

1 red bell pepper

1 jalapeño (feel free to use a spicier pepper)

Boiling water, a few cups

1.5 C sugar

2.25 tsp mustard seeds

.75 tsp ground allspice

.25 tsp ground cinnamon

.75 tsp turmeric

1 Tbl salt

1.5 C white vinegar

.5 C water

Method

Chop the first 5 ingredients and put in a large colander.  Over the sink, pour the boiling water over the chopped ingredients.  Drain thoroughly and add to a large stock-pot.

In a medium bowl combine the sugar, seeds, spices and salt.  Add the dry mixture to the stock-pot and mix thoroughly with the chopped ingredients. 

Add the vinegar and water and bring everything to a boil.  Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Your house will smell delicious. When the relish is cooked to your liking, remove from the heat and allow to cool before refrigerating.

Tsoureki

From the archives.

Tsoureki (also called Lambropsomo) is an egg-rich Greek Easter bread that is traditionally served at the Resurrection Meal.  This meal marks the end of fasting for the Greek Orthodox Church and is often also comprised of an offal-based soup and a salad.  The dough is braided, sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked with partially boiled, red-dyed eggs to represent the blood of Christ.

There are dozens of Tsoureki recipes.  Some are flavored with orange peel and anise, others with sweet and sour mahlepi cherry spice, or with savory ingredients like the onion that I used in this recipe.

In order to avoid the color from the eggs running into your bread (like mine did), check Greek grocery stores around Easter time to find extra strong red dye.  Alternatively, soak or boil the eggs with onion skins to produce a lighter red, all-natural dyed egg.

Tsoureki
adapted from Alberto at Il Forno

Ingredients

3.75 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1.25 C milk, at room temperature or a bit warmer

1 package active yeast

.5 C onion, finely chopped

6 Tbl butter, (soften 5 Tbl)

3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs honey

1.5 Tbl sesame seeds

Method

To make the starter: In a medium sized bowl combine 1.5 C of the flour,  4/5 C of the milk and the package of yeast.  Mix well and allow to sit in a warm location until bubbly and doubled in size (about 45 minutes).

Cook the onion with 1 Tbl butter over medium heat, until the onion is translucent.  Set aside.

Boil 2 of the eggs for about 5 minutes (they will cook more in the oven) and dye red.  Set aside.

Knead the starter with the remaining 2.5 C of flour, salt, honey, 1 egg and enough milk for the dough to just come together (about 3 Tbl).  The dough should be quite firm.

Add the remaining butter 1 Tbl at a time. Work the butter into the dough until it becomes shiny and elastic, (about 10 minutes). Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).

Once doubled, divide the dough into 4 equal piece.  Roll three of the pieces into ropes about 24 inches long. Roll the fourth piece into a rope about 48 inches long.  Due to the elasticity of the dough, it is easiest to roll each piece a bit at a time, allowing it to rest as you roll the other pieces.

With slightly wet hands, braid the three 24 inch pieces together (the moisture will help the pieces stick together).  Move the braid to a greased cookie sheet or a Sil-Pat mat and tuck the ends under.  Place the boiled, dyed eggs on top of the braid and wrap the longest piece of dough around the eggs to secure them (see the picture above). Gently cover the dough and allow to rise for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400F

Glaze with the egg yolks and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes.

Matcha Pancakes

From the archives.

There's nothing like a warm pancake on a cold morning.  My father, while he doesn't cook much, has a curious natural talent for breakfast foods.  His pancakes were a common feature on weekend mornings when I was growing up and they always included fresh sliced strawberries and real maple syrup.

I find myself craving warm, butter-fried dough in the winter months. I recently shared my recipe for savory Chive & Sour Cream Waffles with you.  In keeping with this theme, here is my recipe for fluffy Matcha Pancakes.

Matcha Pancakes

Ingredients

1.5 C flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl matcha powder
.25 tsp ground ginger
.25 tsp ground cinnamon
1 C milk
3 eggs
4 Tbl unsalted butter, melted and cooled (plus more for greasing the pan)

Method

Whisk or sift together all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Whisk wet ingredients in another medium sized bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently mix until the batter just comes together. Do not over mix or your pancakes will be flat and dense.
Let batter sit for at least 15 minutes.

Heat a pan on low-medium heat.  Melt some butter in the pan.  I used my crumpet rings to give these pancakes their uniform shape and height.  If you are doing so, be sure to grease the insides of the crumpet rings as well. (Crumpet rings are also great for cooking uniformly shaped eggs.)
Fill the crumpet rings halfway with batter.
When bubbles begin to form on the tops of the pancakes and the bottoms have nicely browned, flip them.
Cook about one more minute or until golden brown.

I mixed together some vanilla yogurt and a few pinches of matcha powder to make a complimentary topping. A small dusting of matcha powder over the pancake stack makes for a pleasing presentation. Real maple syrup or fresh fruit would also work well.