Grandma's Kitchen Table

CEiMB: Chicken Pepian

      The recipe chosen this week for CEiMB,   was Chicken Pepian, found on the internet HERE.  The recipe was chosen by my good blogging buddy Bri at Yoshimi vs. Motherhood and is a great find! 

      I had never worked with tomatillos before so I was looking forward from the first mention of this recipe to having something new to try.  Tomatillos are so cute in their little paper wrappers, which you strip off, toss, and then wash their sticky little selves before using.  We roasted those and the poblano pepper (another ingredient I have never used and had fun trying out) to make a sauce for the chicken. 

      Ingredient List:  tomatillos, poblano pepper, olive oil, pumpkin seeds, peppercorns, allspice, cumin, onion, garlic, cilantro (I subbed in parsley instead), chicken broth, jalapeno pepper, salt, chicken, and lime wedges. 

      Oh my goodness this sauce is delicious, tangy, spicy, garlic-infused.  The whole recipe cooks in a short amount of time (probably 30 minutes start to finish) so I can see that I will be making this one again soon, the guys absolutely loved it, and so did I.  (I confess, I was skeptical of offering them chicken in a GREEN sauce as they tend to shy away from green sauced food for some reason, but trust me, this was very, very good, and it gets less green when you cook it.)  If you want it spicier you can play around with that aspect, but for us it was just perfect. I served it on basmati rice with a small garden salad.  Perfect.  Not sure what next's week's recipe is, so it will be a surprise!

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Spaghetti al Pesto Ligure con Quayliata (Spaghetti with Creamy Basil Pesto)

      This week for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and whoever else wants to join us, I made Spaghetti al Pesto Ligure con Quayliata (Spaghetti with Creamy Basil Pesto), on page 55.

      My basil plant is growing like crazy this year and I am finding that I need to step up my use of it to just keep up with it, so I made the second pesto recipe from the book for this week.  (I made one last week so that I could compare as they use different ingredients.) 

      The ingredient list:  garlic, basil, pine nuts, salt, olive oil, spaghetti, whole milk ricotta, and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      The pesto making part of the recipe was very easy, and absolutely delightfully delicious, not too strong with the garlic, just the right amount, not too much oil, just the right amount, and took only moments to make.  I am going to be making this a lot this summer if this basil holds out, it's my favorite pesto recipe so far.  He also gives instructions for how to freeze pesto. 

      After the pesto is made, it is just a matter of tossing it with the cheeses and spaghetti and ready to eat just that quick. This recipe was slightly creamier from the addition of the ricotta cheese than the first recipe.  The first recipe had a little butter in it and this one did not.  The tastes were quite similar and both were delicious.  I think the guys liked the one with the ricotta cheese better as there was nothing left of it after dinner, but that could be that they were just hungrier this week, so hard to tell as they enjoyed them both.  This recipe is a great way to use up that little bit of ricotta you have left hanging around when you don't use quite the whole tub in a recipe.  Fast, easy, and delicious!

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

BBA: Sunflower Seed Rye

      The thirty-fifth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) is Sunflower Seed Rye, and is found on pages 249-251.   

      Using the barm I had on hand, I made a half portion of this bread, 1 bread loaf, formed like a regular boule rather than the couronne as shown in the book as a big doughnut shape did not seem as practical here for the way we eat bread. 

      The ingredients:  barm, coarse whole rye (pumpernickel) flour, water, bread flour, instant yeast, sunflower seeds, and salt. 

      This is a two-day bread, one to make the soaker and firm starter, and the next day for the assembly, rising times, forming, and baking.  The dough came together easily, I kneaded it by hand, and it came together in about 5 minutes of steady kneading with mixing in the seeds happening the last 2 minutes.  The rising times were about the same as suggested in the book, and this bread rose better for me than the other sourdoughs.  I baked the bread for the time stated, cooled it just slightly and (although it said to wait at least an hour to slice it), we sliced it and ate it warm with dinner.  Good choice, believe me as it was wonderful warm.
      This was my favorite of the sourdough recipes in this section as the sunflower seeds in the bread give it a nice taste and crunch, we could taste the tang of sourdough, and the texture was soft yet resilient.  It was really good for eating out of hand and for sandwiches.  There wasn't much left, I probably should have made enough for two loaves.  I would definitely make this one again. 

      You can visit the main group and marvel at the breads.  I'm getting there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Stollen found on pages 252-256. however, I am going to skip Stollen for now (we have always done the breads in the order the book has them listed but I want to save the Stollen, which is a German Christmas bread, and finish with that instead around Christmas time).  Instead I am moving on to the next bread which is Swedish Rye (Limpa), found on pages 257-258. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

      Thanks to Spike, from Spike Bakes, for her pick of Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies, found on page 160 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe and a lovely photo of Spike and Ed...awwww...so cute. 

      Matt wants everyone to know that these cookies (pictured here) were excellent, and "a lot better than they look."  Just saying...this week was not an apparent huge success for me as I was chiseling the cookies off the cookie sheet and it was not pretty.  I know I did something wrong this time as I made them once before (do not have a clue what happened to those photos) and they did not spread as much, i.e. not as flat. 

      Apparently flatness in appearance does not make for a lower rating in taste around here.  Definitely a repeat for Matt, who judges on taste alone, thank goodness:  he loved them.  Sorry, Dorie and Spike...I'll do better next time.

        Next week:  Bridget from The Way the Cookie Crumbles has chosen Chocolate Chunk Muffins, found on page 18. TWD blogroll found here.

BBA: Pumpernickel Bread

 

      The thirty-fourth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) is Pumpernickel Bread, and is found on pages 246-248.   

      Using the barm from the original sour dough I made for this section of the book (and by now with multiple dividings and feedings the barm smells sour and has a nice tang to it), I made a full portion of this bread, 2 bread pan loaves, as we wanted to use it for lunch sandwiches and that size fits well in a sandwich baggie.  The rise was not as high as I had hoped (something in me loves a nice high loaf apparently and I am not getting it with these sourdough breads, probably because they aren't supposed to rise that high maybe?). 

      The ingredients:  barm, coarse whole rye (pumpernickel) flour, water, bread flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, instant yeast, bread crumbs, vegetable oil, and salt. 

      This is a two-day bread, one to make the soaker and firm starter, and the next day for the assembly, rising times, forming, and baking.  The dough came together easily, I kneaded it by hand, as I most always do, and it came together in about 7 minutes of steady kneading.  The rising times were about the same as suggested in the book, but I kept expecting more height, so I let the last rise go a little longer and when nothing more was happening, I baked the bread for the time stated (no real oven spring either), cooled it, and we used it for Ruben sandwiches which was very nice.
      The taste has that nice deep pumpernnickel rye taste and the texture was just the right amount of soft.  Mark used the bread to make his lunch sandwiches today and Matt's going for another Ruben for lunch.  Apparently the bread was a success in taste. 

      And, just in case you were wondering, the addition of that cocoa powder did not make the bread taste like chocolate at all...I tested it to see and I could not detect any chocolate taste.  I figured you were wondering about that, so for all of you non-chocolate lovers out there, rest assured, you can't taste the cocoa in the final bread.   We also could not detect too much of a sourdough flavor...a little, but not as much as we were hoping. 

      I am thinking sourdough breadmaking, all in all, maybe not be my best shot at success.  My attempts have been nowhere near that San Francisco sourdough goodness that we long to taste this side of the Rockies. 

       You can visit the main group and marvel the breads.  I'm getting there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Sunflower Seed Rye, found on pages 249-251.

CEiMB: Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

      The recipe chosen this week for CEiMB, was Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables, found on pages 210-211 in Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave.  The recipe was chosen by my good friend Margaret at Tea and Scones and is a great find for a weeknight dinner.  You can also find the recipe here.

      Everything cooks in one pan and once you load it up, you stick it in the oven for a total of about an hour with no fuss and very little cleanup. 

      Ingredient List:  Roma tomatoes, zucchini, fennel, olive oil, salt, pepper, chicken, garlic, grated lemon peel, fresh lemon juice, and chopped rosemary.
      The vegetables are perfectly roasted at the end of the time and the chicken is nice and moist.  I had to cook it just a little longer than the recipe stated because Matt picked up the chicken breasts at the store for me and I swear they are the largest chicken breasts I have ever seen...leave it to a man to go for the largest breasts possible, right?  Just saying...

      Thanks, Margaret it was enjoyed by all and we have enough left over for another meal as well!  Next week's assignment is Chicken Pepian, chosen by Bri of Yoshimi vs. Motherhood, and the recipe can be found here.  You can find the CEiMB blogroll here.

BBA: Poilane-Style Miche

      The thirty-third Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) is Poilane-Style Miche, and is found on pages 242-245.  

      Using the barm from the original sour dough I made for this section of the book (and by now with multiple dividings and feedings the barm smells sour and has a nice tang to it), I made a half portion of this bread as from all accounts, the full-size recipe looked huge and probably not easily consumed by us in the time it would take to eat it before it got stale.  This is the bread pictured on the cover of the book so I was excited to finally get to make the cover recipe after all this time.  (It's the little things, right?) 

      The ingredients:  barm, medium-grind whole-wheat flour, water, and salt. 

      This is a two-day bread, one to make the soaker and firm starter, and the next day for the assembly, rising times, forming, and baking.  I am always amazed that using so few ingredients, and sometimes seemingly the same ones over and over, how different the breads turn out.  I think this is part of the charm of baking bread, just seeing/tasting the variety of results.
      This bread had a nice fine texture (I guess I was expecting a more coarse texture from the whole wheat so I enjoyed having it be such a nice texture), great taste and chew, and we all enjoyed it for just eating out of hand and sandwiches for lunches.  It had a slight sourdough flavor, I guess I was expecting more, but I will keep my starter going to try to achieve more in that regard.  

      I also need to work a little on forming the loaf, and it was the first time I had a chance to use a lame to score the bread so the results were not stellar, but I will keep working on it as it is a fun little tool to have on hand.  I might make this one again actually as we liked the taste and it was fairly easy to make/bake. 

      You can visit the main group and marvel the breads.  I'm getting there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Pumpernickel Bread, found on pages 246-248.

BBA: 100% Sourdough Rye Bread

      The thirty-second Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) is 100% Sourdough Rye Bread, and is found on pages 239-241.   

      Using the barm from the original sour dough I made for this section of the book (and by now with multiple dividings and feedings the barm smells sour and has a nice tang to it), I was eager to try this recipe with the rye flours I purchased for this section from the KAF catalog. 

      The ingredients:  barm, white rye, coarse whole rye (pumpernickel), water, salt, and caraway seeds. 

      This is a two-day bread, one to make the soaker and firm starter, and the next day for the assembly, rising times, forming, and baking.  I had seen other posts for this bread where the rise was not decidedly high so I was expecting to get less of a rise than most other breads.  (Please note that I only made this recipe once and I don't feel that was probably a fair assessment of rising, etc. as I am not experienced with sour doughs, etc.)  That said, I wasn't happy with the height of the bread at all.
      It was sort of flat and low and while the taste was actually quite good, a nice rye taste with a tight crust that gave a nice chew, it wasn't a very pretty loaf at all.  We did like the caraway seed flavor in it. 

      Mark enjoyed it for sandwiches for lunches so it was worth making, but I doubt that I will make this one again.  It was a good learning experience, just not sure this whole rye/sourdough thing is something I want to spend a lot of time on. 

      You can visit the main group and marvel the breads.  I'm getting there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Poilane-Style Miche, found on pages 239-241.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Linguine al Pesto di Basilico (Linguine with Classic Basil Pesto)

      This week for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book with Glennis and whoever else wants to join us, I made Linguine al Pesto di Basilico (Linguine with Classic Basil Pesto), on page 54. 

      My basil plant is growing like crazy this year and I am finding that I need to step up my use of it to just keep up with it, so I was looking for a pesto recipe for this week from this book.  I found two, so I made one this week and will make the other next week so that I can compare as they use different ingredients. 

      The ingredient list:  garlic, basil, pine nuts, salt, olive oil, linguine, butter, and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      The pesto making part of the recipe was very easy, and absolutely delightfully delicious, not too strong with the garlic, just the right amount, not too much oil, just the right amount, and took only moments to make.  I am going to be making this a lot this summer if this basil holds out, it's my favorite pesto recipe so far.  Hazan also gives instructions for how to freeze pesto.  After the pesto is made, it is just a matter of tossing it with the linguine and ready to eat just that quick. 

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

Bake! Devil's Food Bombe

      The sixteenth recipe that I made from Bake!  by Nick Malgieri was Devil's Food Bombe, found on pages 166-167. 

      This was Margaret's pick for the group as her week fell on her birthday and Father's Day, and what a celebratory dessert this turned out to be...fun to make and from all accounts here, fun to eat as well. 

      The ingredient list for the Devil's Food Cake (page 128):  flour, chocolate, sugar, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. 

      The ingredient list for the Whipped Cream Icing and Filling (page159):  heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla. 

      The ingredient list for finishing assembly:  rum and fresh raspberries (both optional) and chocolate shavings. 

      The cake was easy to bake, the cream easy to whip, and each layer goes together easily and quickly.  I made a half recipe.  The rounded bowl I used to form the cake measured 5.25" across and was 3.25" deep.  The amount of cake made in two 6" layer pans was the perfect amount for this size.  I used 2 cups of the whipped cream in the assembly and I used a pint of raspberries.  Mark is not that thrilled with raspberries so I left them off of half of the outside part of the cake as he was okay eating them inside the cake, but not on the outside.  (Go figure, this is why I can't figure out the men in this household on a regular basis...things like this.)
      I think I know the reason they call it a bombe...because when you slice it, it looks like a bomb went off on the inside!  Okay, maybe not, but it does look like that.  As I said, fun to make this one, and the results were such that the guys would love to have it again.  Thanks, Margaret, great choice for your birthday, Father's Day, and just plain old every day dessert over here...we will make it again. 

      Get the book and Bake! with us, we will even let you choose recipes in rotation with us, yes, we will!

 

Bake! Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart

      The fifteenth recipe that I made from Bake!  by Nick Malgieri was Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart, found on pages 44-45. This recipe is also on Nick's site so you can get it here.

      This was my pick for the group.  It's strawberry season, I needed an anniversary dessert, and my pick was falling that week, so who really didn't think I wasn't going to pick something fruity and crumbly and cheesy?  Just saying...all those seemed like a win, win, win combination to me, and the tart was absolutely delightful.  Dividing that last piece three ways was quite the undertaking.   

      The ingredient list for the Cookie Dough Tart Crust Layer (page 40):  almonds, flour, confectioner's sugar, salt, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla. 

      The ingredient list for the Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling:  cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, lemon zest, strawberries, and vanilla. 

      The ingredient list for the Almond Crumb Topping:  flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, almonds, and butter.

      Each layer goes together easily and quickly.  This was such a hit that we are already looking for a reason to make it again.  Did I do a mini version of this one?  No, absolutely not...we made and ate the whole thing (but not in one day).   

      Get the book and Bake! with us, we will even let you choose recipes in rotation with us, yes, we will!

 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Brown Sugar Cake

     Thanks to Cindy, from Everyday Insanity, for her pick of   Blueberry Brown Sugar Cake, found on page 36 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Click here for the recipe, and while you are there, take a gander about a bit as Cindy has some very nice and workable recipes for families on her site, I have made any number of them and have always been pleased. 

      We are rather "caked-out" here at the moment with all these graduation parties to attend, etc., so although blueberries are a favorite, I opted to make a mini version, and I made it round instead of square just because I like using this little 6" round pan. 

      I followed the recipe by dividing ingredients by half and it fit perfectly in the little 6" pan.  The cake comes together easily and quickly, baked for about 50 minutes, and was delightful with a little whipped cream and some fresh blueberries on top.  The brown sugar in the recipe is such a nice surprise, sort of a caramel-like flavor and very nice with the blueberries.  Definitely a repeat.

        Next week:  Jacque from Daisy Lane Cakes has chosen Chocolate Biscotti, found on page 144. TWD blogroll found here.