Grandma's Kitchen Table

FFwD: Endives, Apples, and Grapes

      The recipe for this week for French Fridays with Dorie from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, is Endives, Apples, and Grapes, found on pages 338-339.  You can also find the recipe on Dorie's blog, here.

      Ingredient list:  endives, apple, butter, grapes, rosemary, salt, and pepper. 

      More new things to do with vegetables and fruits, what a deal!  Pan roasting all these ingredients intensified their flavors and caramelized their sugars, giving them whole new flavor profiles, especially the endive which is rather bitter on its own.  I love roasted apples and grapes, so I figured this dish would be a hit, and it was.
      The rosemary was nice...I think I will give sage a go next time just for fun to see how that does with these ingredients.  Definitely a repeat, not much trouble, lots of flavor, and with just the tiny amount of butter, healthy for the most part.

      If you would like to see more recipes from this book, you can click here. Enrollment is open, feel free to follow along officially or unofficially. The group posts weekly on Fridays.

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Spinach and Ricotta Baked Pasta

       My twenty-third recipe with Wednesday with Donna Hay is Spinach and Ricotta Baked Pasta, found in her cookbook Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, p. 22, and was chosen by Margaret. 

      The ingredient list:  rigatoni pasta, spinach, ricotta, sour cream, eggs, parmesan cheese, dill, salt, and pepper. 

      The recipe is was interesting.  All the ingredients worked well together and complimented each other nicely, but it went together differently than anything I had done pasta-wise before.  The rigatoni is baked, placed in the baking dish, and then the rest of the ingredients were combined in a bowl and spread on top of the pasta before baking it all in the oven.  Usually I mix things like this all together and plop it in the baking dish. 

      You all know where I am going with this, right?  That's a lot of ingredients touching doing it that way, so I kinda liked this way because the topping was separate, so if you didn't want, say for instance, some of it in every single bite, you could just push it aside, or if you wanted it in a bite and not the pasta, you could push the pasta aside, or if you wanted it all in one bite, you could do that...so many choices!  Perfect for someone like me who might not want it all mixed up all the time in every bite.
      The flavors were good, the process was easy, the recipe makes a ton so beware (I only made a fourth for the two of us and we had it three times as a side dish, I warmed it up in the microwave each time for a minute and that was perfect, the taste just as good as the first day).  Would I make this again?  Yes, but only an eighth of the recipe at a time.  I very much liked the dill in it with the spinach, there is quite a bit of dill in it, so if you don't like that much dill, adjust accordingly. 

      Wonder what the others thought?  Gaye's post on this is here, Margaret's post is here.  Next week Chaya's pick: Cannellini and Fresh Tomato Broth, p. 80 in Off the Shelf, if you would like to cook along, send us your link if you post it, we'd love to see what you made.

Phyl's Italian Beef in Crockpot

      Every once in awhile every now and again, someone in my Twitter baking/cooking circle will come up with a recipe for us to try and we all have a go at it.  Such was the case with Phyl's Italian Beef in Crockpot.  This was fabulous. FAB U LOUS. 

      I am not, by any stretch, a lover of spicy food, so I was unsure about this one, but I knew Mark would love it as he loves Italian Beef Sandwiches and he loves spicy food.  The pepperoncini peppers are real favorites of his, so I was in when the recipe came around. 

      This is definitely a keeper and it will be making frequent appearances for ballgame days.  Here's the recipe, by Phyl's permission, and I did make just a couple of changes, very slight ones.  The recipe gave the option of using an onion, and I definitely knew that was going in when I saw it listed, and I cut the stems off the peppers when shredding the beef, but that's it, the rest is Phyl's.  Thanks, Phyl!

Phyl's Italian Beef in Crockpot

 

Ingredients:

 

• 3-4 pound chuck roast
• 3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 16-ounce jar pepperoncini peppers
• 1 peeled and sliced onion
• Crusty Italian bread

Directions:

 

1. Trim beef of excess fat and place in slow cooker. Add garlic and entire jar of pepperoncini peppers, juice and all. No need to cut up the peppers; just dump in the whole jar.  (Do not be tempted to add more water or broth as that will make it too watery at the end, really just the jar of pepperoncini and the juice in the jar is perfect.)
2. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, until beef is falling apart tender. Remove beef, shred with two forks, remove any parts that make you go "ewww, yuck" and throw them away, and return the shredded meat to crockpot. (Note: I also cut the stem tops off the pepperoncini at this point and threw them away as I didn't want to eat them).  Cook on low for about 30 additional minutes.
3. Serve beef, peppers, and juices over thick slices of Italian bread or make sandwiches, top with Provolone, and broil for a few minutes to melt cheese.

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  While reading The Island at the Center of the World, I got interested in Dutch history, so I'm delving into that from various sources, which aren't as numerous as one would hope, so my reading is sort of scattered amongst various sources and books.

SWIMMING NEWS:  IU swimmers are busy training for the upcoming season.  Arrival of additional team sportswear had Matt excited about the really wonderful package their team sponsor provided this year.  (My speculation, and it is only speculation, is that since the IU basketball team is ranked 1st in preseason polls, that the team sponsor, which provides all the teamwear for IU sports teams, wanted to hand out some really spiffy things as they would get a lot of air time for their company...this year's package is really spiffy.   The IU Men's Swimming & Diving Team, if not ranked in the Top 10 preseason, is very close to it, so apparently spiffy apparel is a little reward for all that.  Just speculating, of course.) Here's a fun shot of six of the sophomore IU swimmers hanging out somewhere other than the pool.  Not dates, just friends.

Photo:  In front: Cynthia and Brooklyn; In Back:  Steve, Bronwyn, Ian, and Matt

COOKING BYTES:   Twitter baking pals were all baking doughnuts this weekend, Baked Orange Doughnuts to be exact.  Mark and I thought these were the best yet.
      Here's the recipe, and my advice is to use really juicy flavorful oranges, and I subbed in half orange juice for the liquid in the glaze (i.e. half milk and half freshly squeezed orange juice) to add a little more orange flavor.

FAV NEW FIND:  I have a new ap for my iPhone called IMDb and it's free. It lets you look any movie or television show, giving all sorts of information about the actors/actresses, a blurb about the show/movie, air times, date of originals, etc. For someone like me who is at a loss for all of this, this is quite handy to have at one's fingertips. 

FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Matt was home for 21 hours and we had a wonderful time catching up, running errands, cleaning cars, eating together, and watching a movie...oh, and he and Mark took a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on big box items that college boys tend to go through a lot of...power bars, bottled water, paper products, detergent, cereal, etc.  I stayed home as these trips are downright frightening...lol. 
WEEK IN REVIEW:  Working quite a bit, reading in the evenings with the still-recovering Vash at my side, we can see definite improvements so two more weeks of being confined to the family room hopefully will be it.  Had a great time with Matt home, the entire week flew by in a blink of an eye. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA...Provincetown, click here for details.  At the ISO:  Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony, click here for details.

Bread Alone: Sherry Raisin Bread (Buns)

      Last week I made Sherry Raisin Bread (Rolls) with Nancy. (The recipe for these is available if you click here.) This is a Dan Lepard recipe (although I had to make some changes for ingredients on hand), Nancy and I are both big fans of Dan Lepard's bread recipes and have made several together.  They always turn out well and the method he uses for mixing and kneading could not be any easier.  If you haven't made any of his breads, pick one and give it a go soon, I'm sure you will be a fan as well. 

      Ingredient list:  sherry, milk, marmalade, bread flour, rye flour, raisins, yeast, almonds, and salt. 

      I made a full recipe which made 16 rolls (3 ounce dough balls).  While Nancy wanted the bread for toasting, I thought maybe the roll option would be nice to have as we seem to have better luck with Mark eating rolls rather than bread these days. 

      I hadn't intended to make them when she mentioned the recipe as I had other things going on, but the day came when baking bread sounded like a good thing to be doing.  Since I didn't have all the exact ingredients, I had to do a bit of subbing.  First, I didn't have sherry so I substituted equal parts rum and water (I thought rum would go nicely with raisins), which turned out lovely, just a hint of something and not boozy at all.  I didn't have raisins so I used currants.  I didn't want quite so many currants or almonds, so I used a half measure of each.  That's it...the rest is all as stands. 

      The recipe goes together very well, is extremely easy, and the results are delicious.  The rise times were spot on correct for my dough.  I baked them at 390 degrees for 5 minutes, then turned down the oven to 350 degrees and baked them an additional 27 minutes, switching the pans halfway through, up and down, back to front.
      They taste a little sweet from the currants and marmalade, but not too sweet, definitely more savory than sweet.  The almonds added a nice nutty taste and a little crunch inside.  It all worked very well together.  I want to make this recipe again when I get cream sherry and try it as a loaf as I can just tell that this is going to make excellent toasting bread. Definitely a repeat.  Delicious.

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Thai Caramelized Pork Salad

      My twenty-second recipe with Wednesday with Donna Hay is Thai Caramelized Pork Salad found in her cookbook Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, p. 120. 

      The ingredient list:  soy sauce, sugar, small red chilis, shredded ginger, lime juice, ground star anise, boneless pork tenderloin, salad leaves, spring onions, basil, mint, cilantro. 

      The recipe is easy:  the sauce is made, the meat is cooked, the salad is assembled, and it all has a meet and greet on the plate.  Truly delicious and wonderful, great for lunch or dinner, easy enough for either. Definitely a repeat.  (I think you could use leftover pork tenderloin and dunk it in the sauce for a bit and it would work nicely as well.)  Not sure why, but my reduced sauce in this photo looks black, in reality it is just a very dark warm brown.

      Wonder what the others thought?  Gaye's post on this is here, Margaret's post is here.   Next week Margaret's pick: Spinach and Ricotta Baked Pasta, p. 22 in Off the Shelf, if you would like to cook along, send us your link if you post it, we'd love to see what you made.

TWD: Baking with Julia: Whole Wheat Loaves

      The recipe for this week forTuesdays with Dorie:  Baking with Julia is Whole Wheat Loaves on page 83 of Baking with Julia.  You can also find the recipe on the blogs of the hostesses for this week, Michelle of Veggie Num Nums here, or Theresa of The Family That Bakes Together, here. The recipe was contributed to the book by baker Craig Kominiak. 

      Ingredient list:  active dry yeast, water, honey, bread flour, whole wheat flour, canola oil, malt extract, and salt. 

     The recipe goes together very nicely and the dough is wonderful to work with throughout the whole process.  I did it all by hand, my usual style.  The second rise took half again as long as indicated, and I still felt that I could have had a bit more rise to it, but it was fine.
      The texture is very dense with a tight crumb which was nice and chewy.  The flavor isn't strongly whole wheat as there is so much bread flour in it and the malt extract and honey are both nice flavoring ingredients that have a strong presence in the flavor profile, so the taste was a little sweet and nutty.  All in all, a good recipe, makes great toast.

        Next assignment:  October 2 - Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf, page 108.    The TWD: BwJ information for joining the group, recipe selection, and general information can be found here.

Modern Baker: Real Strawberry Shortcake

      The 89th recipe I made from The Modern BakerThe Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Real Strawberry Shortcake, on page 238.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us.  It's a great book, full of recipes you will want to use over and over again.)

      The ingredient list:  flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, egg, buttermilk, whipped cream, vanilla, and strawberries. 

      The dough for the recipe goes together quickly in the food processor, gets patted into little 4" cake pans, and bakes for about 15 minutes in the oven for my little 4" pans. 

      Although he indicates that this is best made in strawberry season, I have to say that there was absolutely nothing stopping from me from trying it with some nice berries that I found at the market last week.  Usually we have strawberry shortcake with a sponge-like cake or angel food cake, so this was a bit of a departure using a dough that was more of a sweet biscuit dough.  It worked nicely, I think that there are purists that only eat strawberry shortcake with this sort of cake-biscuit-like base and I would hate to limit myself to just this type, but it is delicious and nice for a change of pace. 

      If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here. 

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Old New York by Edith Wharton.

SWIMMING NEWS:  IU swimmers busy training for the upcoming season.  Here's a fun shot of four of the IU swimmers kicking back at the IU/Ball State football game last Saturday.  Not dates, just friends.  (Photo: left to right:  Maddie, Ian, Allie, Matt)

COOKING BYTES:   Twitter baking pals were all baking doughnuts this weekend, Cider Doughnuts to be exact, with Cider Glaze.  (Click on each to get recipes.)   I put orange sprinkles on ours as they looked a little naked without something on top.  Next week we are making Baked Orange Doughnuts.  Doughnut Saturday...here's the recipe if you want to bake along. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Alex appears to be settling well into his classes at an automotive school in Cincinnati.  We are hoping for the best and happy that he seems to have found something to excite his interest for a career.

FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Well, I'm still fighting it a bit, but it is beginning to look a lot like fall around here, cooler days, the treetops beginning to change color, etc.  I do like fall.  I like it best after October 1st when there is no longer any chance of swimming outdoors, but I think I might as well resign myself to it being earlier this year and enjoying it.
WEEK IN REVIEW:  Work, a nice weekend to just hang around and keep an eye on the recovering Vash...he likes to watch movies and snuggle so we did a bit of that...Tibetan Spaniels' idea of snuggling is that they are near but not on top of you, which is great.  One just has to be willing to share the couch.  I think I am finally realizing that we have free weekends without swimming and choir concerts and such with Matt firmly off at college.  For awhile we had things to do to sort of take up the time and we still do have that, but the amount of time one has when children are adults and off on their own is a bit of a shock at first. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA...William Hogarth:  The Painter of Comic History, here until June 2, 2013, click here for details.  At the ISO:  TF3 and the ISO, click here for details.

Bread Alone: Orange-Buttermilk Rolls

      Last week I made these Orange-Buttermilk Rolls with Phyl. (The recipe for these is available if you click here.)

      Ingredient list for the rolls:  flour, buttermilk, honey, yeast, sugar, butter, orange zest, and salt.  Ingredient list for the Fresh Orange Honey Butter: butter, powered sugar, honey, vanilla, and orange zest. 

      I made a full recipe which says it makes 13 rolls but I formed them a little larger, as 8 rolls, so that Mark could use these for sandwich buns for lunches.  I thought the orange would go well with the ham he had for sandwiches, and it did work out nicely that way. 

      These rolls have quite a bit of sweetness to them, i.e. you could really eat them as a sweet roll almost, especially if you drizzled a little vanilla cream cheese frosting on the top, so the next time I make these as sandwich buns (and there will be a next time for certain), I will decrease the sugar/honey measurements and just use the honey I think, omitting the sugar completely.  They had the most wonderful orange flavor imaginable.
      I made a little Fresh Orange Honey Butter to go along with them, click here for the recipe, I highly recommend it. 

      The only real note I have about this dough recipe is that it was a slow riser...the first rise took 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour, the second rise was right on target at an hour, however.  Otherwise, it was straight forward, going together perfectly and handled beautifully. Definitely a repeat.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Spaghettini alle Melanzane (Spaghettini with Eggplant)

      This week for the forty-second recipe I've made for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book, I made Spaghettini alle Melanzane (Spaghettini with Eggplant) on page 68. 

      The ingredient list:  fresh tomatoes, onion, olive oil, garlic, eggplant, spaghettini (or angel hair pasta), fresh basil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

      Turns out that this is one of my very favorite recipes so far from the book, it is just wonderful with the fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and eggplant...the combination is fabulous.  The nice fresh basil I have growing this time of year just completes the flavor punch with the perfect touch.

      Because it calls for very thin spaghetti which cooks quickly, the whole dish goes together much faster than 30 minutes, maybe half that time.  This one alone is worth the price of the book.  

      Here's what Margaret made this week, Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Bay Leaves.  She also has made this Spaghettini alle Melanzane previously and you can find that post here.

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Chicken, Lemon, and Pea Risotto

      My twenty-first recipe with Wednesday with Donna Hay is Baked Chicken, Lemon, and Pea Risotto found in her cookbook Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, p. 42. 

      I tried to get a good photo of this, really I did, but no matter what I did it just looks like a pile of rice, peas, and chicken in a sort of loose sauce.  Since that is basically what it is, good enough. 

      The ingredient list:  chicken breast, arborio rice, chicken stock, leeks, lemon zest, peas, Parmesan cheese, mint, salt, and pepper. 

      The recipe is easy, cooked in the oven, and would be best if you pull it out about 5 minutes before I did (I followed her cooking times) as I got the chicken just a tad bit drier than I would have liked.  That said, it was tasty and I enjoyed it, the lemon and mint gave a nice new twist to this sort of dish and it worked well.  Mark had it cheerfully for dinner but declined taking leftovers for lunches (he is not that fond of chicken breast, so no surprise there, and definitely not a negative critique of the recipe at all). 

      The recipe makes a lot, I made a fourth of the recipe and with generous portions, we still had leftovers, plan ahead.  Would I make this again?  Probably not...I did enjoy it but these kinds of recipes are generally too many ingredients touching at once and I would prefer to try other recipes of hers than to revisit this one, especially since I would just be eating it myself.  Wonder what the others thought?  Gaye's post on this is here, Margaret's post is here, Chaya's post is here.  

      Next week my pick: Thai Caramelized Pork Salad, p. 120 in Off the Shelf, if you would like to cook along, send us your link if you post it, we'd love to see what you made.

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Bok Choy and Noodle Stir-Fry

      My twentieth recipe with Wednesday with Donna Hay is Bok Choy and Noodle Stir-Fry found in her cookbook Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, p. 62.  This was actually last week's recipe but time got away from me so I'm double-posting this week as I didn't want to miss making this one.

      I love Bok Choy, we don't eat it near enough at home, so I am always excited to see it when I am out at restaurants and enjoy it thusly.  That said, I really need to step up the Bok Choy game around here, it's easy, lighter in taste than any other cabbage-y type vegetable, and it doesn't take any time at all to cook it.  This was an easy and delicious recipe, light and healthy, served as a side with some grilled shrimp. 

      Ingredient list:  Chinese wheat noodles (I have no idea what these are so I just used some Chinese noodles I had on hand and they definitely weren't the right kind but they tasted great anyway), bok choy, peanut oil, ginger, garlic, red chili, shiitake mushrooms (I had just regular button crimini mushrooms and used those), chicken broth, and soy sauce. 

      I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this...all the ingredients work so well together giving it a nice light Asian flavor with a little kick from the chili, garlic, and ginger.  I will make this one again, and in the meantime try to figure out what kind of noodles constitute Chinese wheat noodles, it's good to expand the horizons every now and again. 

      Gaye's post on this is here, Margaret's post is here, Chaya's post is here. Next week Gaye's pick: Baked Chicken, Lemon, and Pea Risotto, p. 42 in Off the Shelf, if you would like to cook along, send us your link if you post it, we would love to see what you made.

TWD: Baking with Julia: Berry Galette

      Since the Tuesdays with Dorie:  Baking with Julia group posts on alternate Tuesdays, I thought maybe I could use the "off Tuesdays" to post rewinds that they have already made and that I missed out on along the way.  The recipe I made this week is Berry Galette on page 377 of Baking with Julia.  You can also find the recipe on the blogs of the hostesses for this week, Lisa of Tomato Thymes in the Kitchen and Garden, click here for the recipe, and Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness, click here.  (And if you think it is going to be a short read over at Andrea's blog, think again, she has wonderful photos/recipes of her life in Germany, go visit her blog soon!)  The recipe was contributed to the book by baker Flo Braker. 

      Pies are Mark's favorites, Galettes would be a second favorite.  I always forget how easy it is to make a galette.  This one was no exception.  The dough comes together nicely and sits in the frig for a bit to firm up (I left it there for 6 hours and it was quite nice in that amount of time). 

      Once the dough is chilled, it rolls like a dream...I think that it is the easiest-rolling (that's a word, right, if I hyphenate it? lol) dough I have every made actually.  Once the dough is rolled, it is just a matter of plopping on some fruit, molding the dough up over it partially, and baking it.  (Read the directions, there are a couple more steps but none of them any trouble or time.) 

      It was delicious, the crust, the filling, all of it.  I would use this as my go-to galette recipe from now on actually.  I had one small sliver and Mark ate the rest...did I mention that he ate it all within 16 hours?  Yes, he did, he liked it that much.  Guess I better not make it too often, but definitely repeats would be in order.

The TWD: BwJ information for joining the group, recipe selection, and general information can be found here.

Sunday's Snippets

READING:  English class students at GCHS have new reading books this year, occasionally the department likes to switch up the reading and subtract some old, add some new, so I am busy reading the ones I haven't yet read.  This week it is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.  Copyright is 1958 so you would think that I would have read this somewhere along the way as his works have been popular for including in high school/college reading programs, but I haven't, until now.  (If you are interested, click on the book title and you can get a fairly good review of it.)

SWIMMING NEWS:  IU swimmers busy training for the upcoming season.  Matt is always excited when they hand out the new team swimming gear and clothing for the year, so they got some of that this past week.  New workout wear makes it more enjoyable apparently.  It's the little things.

COOKING BYTES:   Twitter baking pals were all baking doughnuts this weekend, pumpkin doughnuts to be exact.  I'm not a big pumpkin fan, and even less a doughnut fan, but when Mark found out about it, he thought I should join in on the doughnut fun.  I didn't have a doughnut pan, however, so he went right out and got this 6 cavity doughnut pan for me, along with a can of pumpkin.  No excuses not to make them, so I did.  The recipe goes together nicely, the little pan is a whole lot of fun to use, and Mark was thrilled with warm pumpkin doughnuts for breakfast this morning.  Here's the recipe from KAF. They were actually quite good.  I'm thinking these would be very nice for Thanksgiving morning this year.  Abby is in charge of finding another recipe for next Saturday...so we can make good use of our doughnut pan, of course.

FAV NEW FIND:  They have decided, I do believe, that there is enough roadwork going on to put in yet more round-abouts here in this town, that they are apparently not going to start on the ones on my main road to work this year.  Whew, alternate route would not be my favorite by a long shot.

FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  Vash tore the ACL in his right hind leg and needed surgery...before the surgery, friends were describing the recovery as long and bothersome, that he would need to be in a crate and just be able to come out for very short spans of time.  Not so, as it turns out.  He is restricted to the family room, not jumping on furniture, and wearing a cone collar to prevent licking the sutures, etc. for two weeks, then he can have the cone collar and sutures removed.  He will still need another month of being confined to the family room and only being on a leash for potty breaks, no walks, but this is all a whole lot better than thinking we were going to need to confine him to the crate for all that time.  He is handling it well and being a good sport about it, lounging in his little bed and watching movies.  He's very smart about dodging pill taking but he loves cream cheese so little bits of cream cheese laced with the pills have been extremely successful.
WEEK IN REVIEW:  Work, Vash's surgery and needing to adjust things around here for his recovery, a few concerns about health issues for Mark's parents and trips up to tend to those needs, some rain, a lot of sunshine, and an excuse to watch a few movies during the day so that I could get Vash to be still beside me and rest his leg...it was a mix of normal and not.  Watched a movie called The Lightkeepers which was sweet and nice and had lovely scenery.  I might have watched it more than once.  

LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA...William Hogarth:  The Painter of Comic History, here until June 2, 2013, click here for details.  At the ISO:  Beethoven and Dvorak, click here for details.

Bread Alone: Herb and Onion Rolls

      Last week I made these Herb and Onion Rolls with Margaret. (The recipe for these is available if you click here as it is a KAF recipe on their site.)

      Ingredient list:  flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast, dried onion, herbs de Provence, olive oil, and potato water (or potato flakes). 

      I made half of the recipe as I just wanted 6 medium-sized rolls to use as sandwich buns for Mark's lunches.  (Margaret made the cloverleaf shape with her dough and I plan to do that the next time as well.)  The dough was lovely and easy to work with. It all couldn't have gone better and the rolls were full of herb and onion flavor, just as advertised.
      Mark enjoyed them as sandwich buns and after sampling one, I can tell this dough is going to make very nice cloverleaf dinner rolls.  Definitely a repeat.  I think Margaret is posting hers today as well.

French Fridays with Dorie: Eggplant "Tartine" With Tomatoes, Olives, and Cucumbers

      The recipe for this week for French Fridays with Dorie from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, is Eggplant "Tartine" With Tomatoes, Olives, and Cucumbers, found on pages 144-145.  

      Ingredient list:  eggplant, olive oil, fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper, cucumber, grape tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic, green olives, capers, fresh oregano, red wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes. 

      Another salad-type recipe without the lettuce that usually accompanies my thoughts of salads.  Mark was happy...he thinks lettuce is highly overrated. He also doesn't like eggplant...or so he has told me numerous times throughout the years.  That said, he loved this salad and thought it was all very tasty.  His original plan was to eat all the topping and leave the eggplant behind but there was absolutely nothing left on his salad plate at the end of the meal...the eggplant was delicious baked and then topped with the tomatoes and such.  And, now that he will eat eggplant, let's see what else I can do with it...happy days as I really like eggplant. 

      This recipe has the added advantage, besides being tasty and good for you, that it can all be made ahead and assembled when ready to serve it.  The assembly only takes seconds and it looks very impressive on the plate. Definitely worthy of a repeat.

      If you would like to see more recipes from this book, you can click here. Enrollment is open, feel free to follow along officially or unofficially. The group posts weekly on Fridays.

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Farfalle al Salmone (Farfalle with Fresh Salmon)

      This week for the forty-first recipe I've made for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book, I made Farfalle al Salmone (Farfalle with Fresh Salmon) on page 118. 

      The ingredient list:  fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, fresh salmon, farfalle (bow tie pasta), cream, fresh basil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. 

      This was a really good pasta dish.  The salmon flavor came through nicely, the tomatoes tasted ripe and juicy, the garlic and red pepper flakes were not overwhelming, and the basil just tied it together with a fresh pop. 

      Loved it, would make this again.  There are so many times we have a little salmon leftover, not enough for a whole meal, but just a small amount and I am thinking that this would be an excellent home for that the next time...a small amount of this dish would make a lovely lunch with a small salad.  (The plate in the photo above, while it looks large, is actually a small size plate, this recipe makes a lot and you only need a small amount to be satisfied as it is very filling.) This one is a keeper with a little flag beside it.

     Here's what Margaret made this week.  She also has made this Farfalle al Salmone before and you can find that post here.

Bread Alone: Gruyere Chive Popovers

      Phyl's quest for making new popover recipes continues.  He purchased a new 12 cavity popover pan so now there is no stopping him, he can make popovers for a crowd at a moment's notice. This week a few of us joined in and made Gruyere Chive Popovers, you can find the recipe here. 

      The ingredient list:  milk, flour, salt, eggs, Gruyere cheese, chives, and butter.  Please use really good Gruyere (other cheeses would work as well but if you are going to use Gruyere, please use a good one as it just shines in this recipe).
      The recipe goes together quickly and easily.  It makes a lot of batter, the recipe said to fill the cavities 3/4 full but my batter filled them almost to the top.  I was afraid they would bake over and spill out so I placed a baking sheet on the shelf below the popover pan in the oven just in case.  They did not, however, spill over even though they puffed up really high.  Huge. The next time I make these (and there will be a next time), I will make 2/3 of the batter measurements for the same amount of popovers and I think that will be a good amount. 

      These are tasty and full of melty cheese goodness, so delicious warm.  The next morning I split the popovers in half lengthwise, toasted them in the toaster oven, and served them with a scrambled egg/bacon mixture on top.  Very nice...tasted like quiche  actually. 

      Phyl said he warmed his back up in the oven for 10 minutes in the pan and they were just like freshly made ones.  All good to know.  Because, as I said, there will be a next time.  I think these would make really good little bite size popovers made in a mini muffin pan, I'm also going to try that soon.

Bread Alone: Dawn's Best Hamburger Buns (French Bread, Hoagies, and Buns)

      Sometimes in my wanderings around Blog Land, I will stumble upon a recipe that someone says is the best, or their new favorite, or one that has replaced their tried-and-true old favorite, and I am always intrigued by these statements, feeling that I should immediately make whatever it is just to see if the claims are indeed worthy. Such was the case with these rolls.  Dawn had posted them on her blog (I like Dawn's blog a lot, she cooks for her family and she features nice family-friendly recipes that I can easily incorporate on a weekday around here) and I had them in mind for a go when Nancy thought she'd like to join in, and we set out to see if Dawn's claims were valid.  Indeed, Dawn's claims are valid. Here's Nancy's post as well.

      These are wonderful rolls/buns.  We only eat hamburgers in grilling weather because we loved outdoor grilled burgers best, so when the request came for grilled burgers (Mark is the master at grilling), I figured I would do my share by making some homemade buns for them to rest upon.  These did not disappoint, in fact, Mark said that they were the best hamburger buns I had ever made, and I have made quite a few, so that is high praise.

      The recipe is easy and straightforward with no special ingredients, pretty much things one has on hand.  It does use a lot of yeast (I checked and the recipe calls for Active Dry Yeast) and the result for me was that my dough rose in half the time stated for both rising times, which was not a bad thing at all. 

      The dough is lovely to work with, and I even made a full recipe knowing that it would probably make good sandwich buns for Mark's lunches as well..I was right, it did.  I tossed some sesame seeds on the top, a sort of weak effort as I was at the bottom of the jar and didn't have a whole lot, but it was fun having them on there.
 

      The flavor of the bun is fresh, yeasty, and truly melt-in-your-mouth good. I thought the texture would be more firm as it is called a "French Bread" so I was expecting something more in the line of a baguette I suppose, but it was not like that, it was nice and soft with a medium crumb.  It complimented the hamburger very well. Try this one...even if you think you can't bake bread, you can with this recipe, and I have no doubts that it will be a win for you as well. 

      Did it become my new "best" hamburger bun recipe, is it my new favorite, does it replace my old tried-and-true hamburger bun recipe?  Yes, yes, it does.  Thanks, Dawn! Definitely a repeat. Here's the recipe by permission from Dawn.

French Bread, Hoagies, and Buns 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg separated
2 tablespoons cold water

Directions:
Combine yeast, water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes or until bubbly. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg yolk (set egg white aside for later) and combine. Add 3 cups of flour and mix well until combined. Add enough remaining flour to make soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Knead for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour 45 minutes.
Punch down dough. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray cookie sheet with your favorite nonstick cooking spray. For a loaf of bread shape into a loaf and place on the greased cookie sheet. For buns or hoagies divide into 8 to 10 (or more if you desire smaller buns) pieces and shape as desired. Cover and let rise for about 30 to 45 minutes (original recipe called for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours it depends on the yeast you use and the temperature of the area where the buns are raising) or until doubled.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix egg white with water and brush over dough. Bake for 10 minutes and repeat with brushing the dough with egg wash. For buns bake about another 5 minutes and for bread another 8 to 10 minutes or until the bread is nice and golden brown.
Note: Keep an eye on the bread or buns as it rising so that it does not get to large. Make sure to egg wash this will make the tops of the bread or buns nice and crusty.