Category Archives: Food

December 13, 2013 · 2:36 pm

CROQUE MONSIEUR AND CROQUE MADAME

I have been away from my blog for awhile. First, I spent some time with family at Thanksgiving. That was a lot fun. What has not been fun is frustration in uploading my images to Word Press. Over the last several days, I have worked closely with the folks at Word Press. They demonstrated remarkable knowledge and incredible patience. Together, we were unable to solve the problem. Then I changed to an old wireless router I had replaced a while back and everything – well, nearly everything – worked again. Frustration over.

Recently I wrote about baking pain de mie for the express purpose of making croque monsieur and croque madame sandwiches. That is exactly what I did with the bread. If you are a big fan of these sandwiches, you already know that there are many, many recipes some of them not much more than an American grilled cheese and others very elaborate

There are, however, some absolute essentials: good bread (hence the pain de mie), the best sliced ham you can find, and Gruyère cheese. Of course for the croque madame, you will need a perfectly fried egg.

You can sauté the sandwiches in a pan, broil them, toast them in a panini press, or use a traditional French sandwich mold that makes them look a bit like a giant madeleine. Then you have to decide whether or not you want to go to the trouble of making a béchamel to moisten the contents and provide a topping – with more Gruyère, of course – that can be browned under a broiler.

Inside patterns of the French sandwich toaster

Sandwich toaster in the closed position

Toasted croque monsieur

Croque monsieur with béchamel and broiled Gruyére

This, then, is only one version, but it was fun to make. I chose to use the French sandwich press that has been hanging for years on our kitchen wall as a sort of decoration. I also added some béchamel.

Frying eggs for the croque madames

Croque madame

RECIPES

Béchamel

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup whipping cream
salt and white pepper

Method

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and then stir in the flour. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Be careful not to brown.
Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Remove from heat.
Adjust seasoning with slat and white pepper. Set aside.

Croque monsieur

Ingredients

4 slices pain de mie
4 tablespoons béchamel
4 thin slices ham
2 slices Gruyère
4 tablespoons butter, melted
béchamel
sliced Gruyère

Method

Spread béchamel on one side of each slice of bread
Arrange one slice of ham on each slice of bread. Then place a slice of Gruyère on two of the slices. Form into two sandwiches.
With a pastry brush, paint both sides of both sandwiches with the melted butter and arrange the sandwiches in the sandwich mold.
Close the sandwich mold and heat over an open flame on your range, turning once or twice until the sandwiches are well-toasted on both sides.
Place the finished sandwiches on oven-proof plates, top with more béchamel and Gruyère, and place briefly under a broiler until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Croque madame

Ingredients

1 croque monsieur sandwich
1 fried egg

Method

Top the sandwich with the fried egg.
Serve immediately

PAIN DE MIE

For some now forgotten reason I decided that I wanted to make croque monsieur and croque madame sandwiches. I realized that I didn’t have the right bread. American white sandwich bread is such a lump of dough that it wouldn’t hold up to the other ingredients. Artisanal breads also didn’t sound right. The only thing that would really work is French sandwich bread – pain de mie (“soft-in-the middle bread”). It also goes by the name of a Pullman loaf in the USA. I grabbed onto that idea, because my pain de mie pan, complete with lid, had been gathering dust. There really is no bread that will substitute for pain de mie: if has a fine crumb, the crust is soft and brown, it cuts so easily that you can turn it into thin Melba toasts, it toasts beautifully, and it has a delicious flavor not remotely the same as American sandwich bread.

Besides all that, it is a kitchen gadgeteer’s dream because of the special bread pan with a lid. Of course, if you don’t have such an implement, you can fashion your own with a regular bread pan and some sort of lid – a tile or small metal pan that can serve as a lid. You will also need a weight. I used a piece of flagstone from our yard.

If you want to make the investment in the pan, you may have a hard time finding it at your local kitchen store. Fortunately the pans are readily available by mail order or on the internet. I bought mine from King Arthur Flour . They sell two sizes of the pain de mie pans complete with lids. The smaller size measures 9 x 4 x 4 inches and sells for $29.95. The larger pan measures 13 x 4 x 4 inches and sells for $34.95. This recipe is designed for the larger sized pan.

Notes:

The crumb of this bread is amazingly soft. At the same time, the crust is brown and, well, crusty. All of this is due to the ingredients::

You should use a flour with lower protein content. Don’t use bread flour. All-purpose flour will work, but Southern lower-protein flours like White Lily, Martha White or Gladiola, are even better.

Potato flour, made from ground dried potatoes and also called potato starch, adds moisture.

Powdered milk also adds moisture along with a little sweetness, but it may prevent the dough from rising as fully.

Butter should be unsalted, and it should be softened to room temperature so that it can be readily incorporated into the dough.

Be sure to pre-heat the weight so that baking of the bread is even.

Classic pain de mie pan complete with lid

Improvised pain de mie pan with aluminum-foil-wrapped oven-proof ceramic tile for a lid

Milk

Softened unsalted butter

Yeast

Potato flour for moistness

Incorporating flour into the wet ingredients

Dough kneaded and ready for the first rise

Kneaded dough

Risen dough

Dough deflated, patted out and ready for the bread pan

Dough in the well-greased pan, ready for the final rise

Lid opened just enough so that you can observe the bread rising

Ready for the oven

Bread in the oven complete with the weight

Remove the lid and finish the baking

The finished loaf cooling on a rack

RECIPE

Pain de Mie

Ingredients

2/3 cup milk (110° F, 43°C)
1 cup water (110° F, 43°C)
6 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature
2¼ teaspoons salt
1½ tablespoons sugar
¼ cup dry milk
2 tablespoons potato flour
1 package instant dry yeast
4¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Method

In a large bowl, combine the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar. Then add the dry milk, potato flour, and yeast, stirring with a whisk until well mixed. Add 4 cups of the flour, one cup at a time, stirring until the flour is completely incorporated and the batter pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Turn the dough onto a clean work surface dusted with the remaining ¾ cup of flour. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Then place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1½ to 2 hours.
After it has risen, turn the dough onto a lightly oiled surface, deflating it gently. Let rest for 10 minutes. With the palm of your hand, flatten the dough into a rectangle that is the length of the pan and about twice as wide. Fold in half lengthwise, and pinch the seam closed tightly. Place the dough, seam side down, in the well-greased pan. Also, make sure the under-surface of the lid is well-greased. The dough should come up to no more than 1/3 of the height of the pan. Place the lid on the pan, leaving it open several inches. Cover the opening with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for the second time until the dough comes to about ¼ inch below the lip of the pan, about 1½ hours.
In the meantime, pre-heat the oven and the lid weight to 375°F
Remove the plastic wrap, carefully close the lid, and let rest for another 10 minutes. Be very careful not to deflate the dough with the lid.
Bake for 30 minutes in the middle of the oven at 375°F with the weight placed on the lid. After 30 minutes, remove the weight and lid, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The loaf should register 190°F with an instant read thermometer. Remove from the oven, let rest for 10 minutes, and then turn onto a cooling rack. Cover with a clean cloth and let cool completely.

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Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as butter, croque madame, croque monsieur, Gladiola, Martha White, pain de ie, potato flour, potato starch, Pullman loaf, sandwich bread, White Lily, yeast

November 13, 2013 · 11:23 am

QUINOA, MUSHROOM, CORN AND THREE-BEAN SALAD

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been charged with salad for a dinner party. The main course was going to be barbecued ribs. Potato salad seemed out as too heavy. Besides I wasn’t sure if someone else would bring that. It’s also no longer the season for pasta salad, so I thought about one of my old favorites, three-bean salad. Someone reminded me that it seemed sort of old-fashioned, but it still sounded good to me. Then I thought about quinoa. Light, refreshing, and a little bit unusual. I usually make it with gandules or pigeon peas, but they were nowhere to be found in the local markets, so I reconsidered the three-bean salad and decided to combine my two top options.

If you have never cooked with quinoa, you will find it to be an amazing ingredient. It is a seed that comes from plants originally grown in South America but now cultivated throughout the world. It is used like a grain, but it is not a grain so it does not have the gluten that so many people worry about these days. It is rich in protein and reportedly has all of the essential amino acids, so it certainly sounds healthy. You do need to be aware that it is also loaded with saponins. These are naturally occurring detergents that make the quinoa taste soapy if you don’t wash them off. Many pre-packaged quinoa products have had the saponin removed, but the detergent may still be present in bulk quinoa. In either case, it is probably a good idea to rinse the quinoa before you cook it. You can do this easily by placing the amount you plan to use in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it under a spray of cold water until all of the foam subsides – maybe a minute or so. Drain it well and get ready to cook it. Besides being tasty, cooked quinoa is also beautiful. The seeds burst open and reveal a delicate little curl. My wife, the botanist, is not sure but thinks the curl is probably the endosperm.

Except for cooking the quinoa and preparing pickled mushrooms (as I described in my last post) this is pretty much a chop and dump recipe, so it is very easy to prepare.

Raw quinoa

Cooked quinoa

Black, white, and red beans

Beans mixed with quinoa

Pickled mushrooms

Red onion

Green, red, orange, and yellow bell peppers

Diced bell peppers

Mixed diced bell peppers

Corn kernels

Cherry tomato halves

Finished salad

RECIPES

Quinoa, Mushroom, Corn and Three-Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 cup washed quinoa
2 cups water
salt and white pepper
1 batch pickled mushrooms (see recipe in previous post)
½ red onion, diced
¼ cup each, green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, diced
½ cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen, cooked and drained
14.5 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce can red or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
vinaigrette (recipe below)

Method

In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and stir in the quinoa. Return to the boil, cover, and reduce heat to the simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes. The seeds should have absorbed all of the water, burst open, and tender. If they are not cooked, remove the lid and boil gently until all of the water is absorbed. Season with salt and white pepper, drain, cool, and place in a large bowl.
Stir in the mushrooms, red onion, diced bell peppers, canned beans, corn, and cherry tomatoes.
Dress the salad to taste with 4 to 6 tablespoons of vinaigrette. Chill until ready to serve.

Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, and salt and pepper
Very slowly, a few drops at a time, whisk in the olive oil to form an emulsion.
If the sauce separates, whisk it together again before dressing the salad.

6 Comments

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Tagged as bell peppers, black beans, cannellini bean, cherry tomatoes, corn, pickled mushrooms, quinoa, red beans, vinaigrette

November 8, 2013 · 8:31 pm

PICKLED MUSHROOMS

For a recent dinner we shared with friends, I was tasked with the salad. I decided to make a quinoa and three-bean salad. One of the ingredients was these pickled mushrooms. I was concerned that a single post with all of the food and preparation would be too much, so here is the mushroom recipe. The quinoa and three-bean salad will follow shortly.

This is a very old recipe that is based on one I got from the wife of an office colleague nearly forty years ago. It is – for sure – straight out of the 70s. On the other hand some things that are old never lose their luster if they are good to begin with. I think this recipe qualifies.

Originally, the mushrooms served as a bite to go along with cocktails. You can use them that way if you like, but you can also put them in salads or as a garnish for vegetables and side dishes.

One of the most important tricks of the dish is to buy the smallest mushrooms you can find. Even though they shrink when you boil them, you don’t want a giant mushroom hanging off the end of a cocktail pick. If you can’t find small mushrooms, halve or quarter the ones you do find.

Pickled mushrooms

RECIPE

Pickled Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 quarts water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pound button mushrooms, trimmed and cleaned
1 cup wine vinegar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1½ teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon pickling spices
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced chives
2 teaspoons minced parsley
1 bay leaf

Method

In a large pot, bring the water to the boil, add the lemon juice and then add the mushrooms. Return to the boil and boil for 3 minutes. Drain, cool, and set aside.
Meanwhile, prepare the pickling mixture by combining all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir the mushrooms into the pickling mixture. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight, stirring from time to time.
Drain. Rinse off the pickling spices with a brief spray of water.
Serve as an appetizer or use in another recipe.

6 Comments

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Tagged as button mushrooms, pickled mushrooms, pickling spices, quinoa salad

November 6, 2013 · 9:15 am

SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH PARMESAN AND POACHED EGGS

Snow is on our local mountains, so winter is not far away. The farmers market has all but closed except for apples and a bounty of winter squashes – pumpkins, acorn, and butternut squashes. That means lots of soup, pies, and acorn squash roasted with maple syrup or brown sugar. My favorite squash is spaghetti squash, because it is so versatile, and the strands hold their crispness even with cooking. We usually eat it with just butter, salt, and pepper. Of course, you can substitute it for spaghetti with marinara. I decided to do a riff on a pasta dish that Jacques Pépin demonstrated years ago on his television show. That recipe has become a favorite, especially when we are in a hurry for lunch or a light dinner. This time I just substituted spaghetti squash.

RECIPE

Spaghetti Squash with Parmesan and Poached Eggs

Ingredients

medium spaghetti squash
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup finely minced parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
poached eggs

Method

Pierce the squash several times with a metal skewer, going all the way to the center. This is important. Otherwise you will have an explosion and mess in your oven
Bake the squash in the middle of the oven pre-heated to 350°F (190°C) for 1 hour. Test for doneness by piercing with a sharp fork. The squash should be tender.
Remove the squash from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes until you can handle it comfortably. With a large, sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise.
Scrape out the seeds. Then, with a fork, scrap out the flesh into a bowl. The squash will form spaghetti-like strands.
Stir in the butter, olive oil, Parmesan, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Place individual servings in pasta bowls and top each with two poached eggs.
You should be able to make four servings.

6 Comments

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Tagged as acorn squash, butternut squash, Jacques Pépin, Parmesan cheese, poached eggs, pumpkin, spaghetti squash, winter squash

October 15, 2013 · 3:15 pm

ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE

A while back, my friend, John Ed, and I made a batch of Andouille sausage. We used a recipe from an excellent book, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, W.W. Norton and Co., New York and London, 2005. We wound up with more than we had anticipated, so I put some of it in the freezer. The other night when I woke at 3 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep, I decided to reorganize the freezer. (What else is there to do at three in the morning?) I came across the Andouille and thought a bowl of gumbo would be good during the changing fall season.

I wasn’t sure, though, how the sausage would taste after those many month of storage, so I made a quicky throw-together meal to try it out. The meal turned out better than I expected, and the Andouille was in good shape. Next on the schedule, then, is chicken and Andouille gumbo.

For making the sausage, you should have a stand mixer which can be fitted with a meat grinder/sausage stuffer attachment. You will also need some sausage-making supplies including “pink salt” (DQ Curing Salt, aka DC Curing Salt, aka Prague Powder #1, aka Insta-Cure, aka Modern Cure.) Whatever the name, the salt is a mixture of regular salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite. The sodium nitrite prevents bacterial growth, especially the organism that cause botulism. You will also need sausage casings, preferably medium natural hog. If you live in a big city you can probably find those things in a local meat-packing or butcher supply house. If you can’t find them, you can get them on-line from Butcher and Packer

The quick dish is basically tomato sauce and cooked spaghetti, but the flavorings from the Andouille season the mixture beautifully. Few dishes to wash, and you can get back to whatever you are doing.

RECIPES

Andouille Sausage

Ingredients

5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon pink salt *(see above)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon ground mace
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup yellow onions, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
10 feet of medium hog casings , rinsed free of preservative salt and soaked for 30 minutes

Method

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and chill until ready to grind.
Using the meat grinder attachment of your stand mixer, fitted with the small die, grind the mixture into the mixer bowl that has been set in a larger bowl filled with chopped ice.
On medium speed, using the paddle beater, mix the ground meat mixture for about 1 minute until it becomes sticky.
Correct seasoning by frying a small piece of the ground meat in a small skillet, tasting it, and adjusting seasonings as needed to suit your taste.
Change the meat grinder so that it has the sausage stuffing horn attached.
Thread the hog casing onto the stuffing horn, and working slowly but smoothly, fill the hog casing with sausage mixture.
Twist the filled casing into 6-inch links.
Hand the sausage string on a hook or stick and let dry for 2 hours at room temperature.
Smoke the sausages in a Bradley stove-top smoker or in a charcoal grill with damp wood chips added. Internal temperature should reach 150°F (65°C)
When the sausages are smoked, cool in an ice bath, and then refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Sausage and Mushrooms with Quick Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

3 smoked Andouille sausages
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ yellow onion, diced
4 medium crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 41.5 ounce can, tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cut dry spaghetti

Method

In a heavy-bottomed medium pot, brown the sausages and set aside.
In the same pot, cook the onions and mushrooms, being careful not to burn. Return the sausage to the pot.
Stir in the tomato sauce and minced garlic. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in the cut spaghetti, and cook at a slow boil until the spaghetti is tender, about 10 minutes.
Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve while still hot.

Andouille sausage with tomato sauce

Sausage stuffing attachment at the ready

Another view of the meat grinder/sausage stuffer

3 Comments

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Tagged as andouille sausage, Butcher and Packer, charcuterie, gumbo, hog casings, Louisiana, pink salt, stand mixer, tomato sauce

October 9, 2013 · 9:36 pm

SOPAIPILLAS

Nearly every cuisine I’m aware of has a deep-fried fritter that is puffy and flaky. The Northern New Mexico version is the sopaipilla. I first had them during a visit with my aunt and uncle in Los Alamos when I was ten yers old. I liked the treat so much that I brought the recipe back home with me and tried to make them – probably with not much success. Since then I’ve had countless sopaipillas, some delicious, some not very good, some light and fluffy, some greasy.

The most memorable sopaipillas I never had were at the Cactus Taqueria in Dumas, Texas. On a long road trip, our family had stopped for lunch. After we had placed our order, one of the kids went to the restroom only to report on return that there was a dead cow in the kitchen. When I checked it out for myself, sure enough there was a black and white spotted cow lying in the kitchen with its four legs stuck straight up. That should have been our first clue to leave, but we decided to wait for our food.

While we were eating we noticed three cowboys at a nearby table. The waitress brought them their traditional complimentary basket of sopaipillas for dessert. The men ate the puffs with honey and then stuck the squeeze bottle of honey in their mouths, sucking out the last few drops. We left before we got our dessert.

Sopaipillas make great containers for both sweet and savory foods. Traditionally, they are served with honey (although traditionally it is expected that you put the honey container back on the table instead of your mouth) but they are also delicious when filled with stew or chili.

The real thing should be made with lard, but you can substitute vegetable shortening.

If you are trying to make them for the first time, you may have difficulty in getting them to puff. The two secrets are that you need to make sure the deep-frying oil is hot enough, and you can hasten the process by holding the frying sopiapilla under the surface of the frying oil for a few seconds using a spatula.

The frying oil should be hotter (400° F) than the usual 350° F recommended for deep frying. I have suggested using peanut oil because it has a smoke point above that temperature even though sopaipillas are traditionally fried in hot lard with a smoke point below 400° F. I used my new infra-red thermometer to measure the surface temperature of the oil. That was amazingly similar to the temperature that I got with an instant-read probe. Use whatever thermometer you want as long as it will register the temperature of deep-frying oil.

If the sopaipillas don’t puff up right away in the hot oil, they won’t puff, but you can still eat them, covered with honey, with a fork.

RECIPE

Sopaipillas

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lard
¼ cup water
powdered sugar (optional)

Method

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the lard with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
Add the water and knead gently until the dough comes together. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour. If it is too dry add a little more water a few drops at a time. The dough should form a a firm, smooth, ball.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Flatten it out with the palm of your hand. Then fold it in half. Repeat this process 10 or so times. Then form the dough into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into squares, rectangles, or triangles about 6 inches on a side.
Cover the cut pieces with a cloth to keep them from drying out before you fry them.
Heat at least 3 inches of peanut oil in a heavy skillet or deep-frying pot to 400°F. When the oil is hot, drop one or two pieces of dough into the oil and hold them under the surface of the oil with a spatula for a few seconds until they begin to puff. Fry the sopaipillas on both sides until they are golden brown.
Remove the fried fritters to drain on several thicknesses of paper toweling. Then transfer to an oven heated to 200°F to keep them warm until you have finished frying the remaining dough pieces.
Serve immediately while still hot. If you wish, you can sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar or a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Serve with honey for a dessert or serve them plain if you want to fill them with stew or chili. They are also delicious just plain with butter.

Lard is the fat of choice for sopaipillas

As with biscuits, the lard should be cut into the dry mix so that the texture is like cornmeal

Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest before rolling it out.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick

Cut the dough into squares, rectangles, or trinangles

Showing off my new combination infra-red/instant-read probe thermometer. Use your favorite for deep fat frying.

Drop a piece of dough in the hot oil.

Immediately hold the dough under the surface of the oil with a spatula until it puffs up.

A basket of warm sopaipillas

Honey at the ready.

Honey-filled sopaipillas, the perfect Northern New Mexico dessert.

SCALLION PANCAKES – FAMILY MEAL

One of the great traditions in restaurants – unfortunately tending to die out – is Family Meal. That’s when everyone takes a break from preparative work to gather together, talk about the evening ahead, and share a meal prepared by one of the cooks. The meal is almost always comfort food made with leftover ingredients or inexpensive ingredients ordered just for the meal. The great thing is that the cooks rotate the assignment so the pressure is on to prepare something that everyone will enjoy. This is definitely not the time or place to embarrass yourself in front of your peers. Often Family Meal will feature food from childhood – a family favorite or Mom’s secret recipe. I have previously written about Sarah’s brisket and biscuits that became so popular the kitchen staff cheered when they appeared on the menu.

During a recent trip to San Francisco I got to spend the afternoon with Sarah in the prep room at Rich Table. That’s where Jonathan Tu whipped up his mother’s recipe for scallion pancakes. Nearly every Asian nation has its own version of this treat, but they all come down to a simple flour and water dough and chopped green scallions. Kneading, layering with oil, and rolling out the dough a couple of times makes a flaky, multi-layered pancake rivaling puff pastry but without all the hassle. There are a few little tricks or special touches in rolling out the dough, but in the end scallion pancakes are so simple and so good.

Jonathan served his pancakes with chicken sausage, rice, and a sauce of mustard, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili flakes, but it’s up to you to choose your favorite dipping sauce or topping.

Sesame oil helps to create layers of dough. The same principle as puff pastry.

Chopped scallions and sesame oil before rolling up the coil

Rolling the scallions into the pancake.

Flattened pancake ready to be rolled and flattened again

Flatten- ing the dough

Final roll-out

RECIPE

Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
kosher salt
½ cup chopped scallions, including green tops
sesame oil

Method

In a large bowl, combine the flour and water. Mix until it holds together and forms a ball. Continue to knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough becomes soft and shiny.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into four equal balls. On a well-floured work surface, roll out one of the balls to about 1/8 inch thick. Keep the remaining balls covered with a cloth until you are ready to roll them out..
Drizzle the top of the rolled out dough with sesame oil. Sprinkle with ¼ of your chopped scallions and kosher salt. Fold it over and roll it out again.
Roll up the flattened dough like a cigar. Divide the cigar crosswise into two pieces. Coil each piece like a snake or snail. Flatten the coil with your hand and then roll out into a circle with a rolling-pin.
Repeat with the remaining balls of dough. You should have eight pancakes.
Heat a heavy cast iron skillet to medium high or use a heated plancha. Lightly oil the cooking surface, and then transfer one of the pancakes to the skillet or plancha. Cook for two minutes. Then flip and cook the other side for two minutes. The pancakes should be a light golden brown.
Repeat with each of the remaining pancakes. You may keep them in a warm (200°F) oven while you cook the rest.
Cut each pancake into 6 or 8 wedges and serve with dipping sauce or accompaniments of your choice.

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Tagged as chicken sausage, family meal, Jonathan Tu, pancakes, Rich Table, San Francisco, Sarah Rich, scallion pancakes, sesame oil

October 1, 2013 · 12:37 pm

LEVAIN WITH FENNEL FRAGRANCE

One of the favorites on the Rich Table menu is Sarah’s country style levain. The bread is served warm with house-churned cultured butter. Sometimes the bread is scented with Douglas fir, but the most popular version is when it is flavored with wild fennel “pollen”. The pollen is actually the bright yellow tiny flowers of wild pollen that grows all over Northern California and blooms from mid to late summer. Rich Table has their own forager who brings the pollen in from fields north of San Francisco, and the restaurant has an abundance now. Unfortunately the source is regional and seasonal – that’s one of the reasons for using Douglas fir – but if you don’t happen to live in Northern California, ground fennel seeds can make a workable substitute. The smell and taste are not as delicate, and if you use too much can be overpowering, so use it carefully.

On a recent visit to San Francisco, I watched Sarah make her bread in the basement prep kitchen at Rich Table. The experience inspired me to try to adapt the recipe for the home baker. This is pretty close to the real thing, but Sarah did not share any of her baking secrets with Old Dad.

Weighing the levain

Weighing out the flour

A big supply of fennel pollen

Mixing the dough with the dough hook

Video of turning the dough

Letting the dough rest

Preparing to form the rested dough into loaves

A weighed piece of dough ready to rest and then put in the pan

Dough for eight regular and two large loaves

Oiling the pans in preparation for the unbaked loaves

Formed loaves ready for rising before baking

Loaves rising before baking

Baked loaves

Sarah’s recipe makes twelve large loves, too much for the home baker. For that reason, I have pared down the ingredients to make two generous loaves. I have made some other modifications to make it easier for the home baker. First, professional bakers weigh their ingredients, while home bakers usually measure things in cups and spoons, so I have set the quantities in the home style. Second, if you have your own sourdough starter, that is great, but if you don’t you can substitute packaged dry yeast. Third, if you have harvested your own wild fennel “pollen” (actually fennel flowers) that’s also great, but you can substitute ground fennel from your spice shelf. Finally, you can mix the dough by hand, but that is a labor of love, so I have used a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook for the kneading and gluten-release process. Resting times are very important to make sure the gluten releases and supports good lift of the dough.

RECIPE

Levain with Fennel Fragrance

Ingredients

3 cups + ¼ cup water
1 cup levain* or substitute 1 envelope dry yeast
6 cups bread flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup rye flour
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
vegetable shortening or butter for greasing bread pans

* Baker’s note: You can find the method for making your own levain or sour dough starter in an earlier post. If you choose to use yeast instead, increase the water and flour in the recipe by ½ cup each.

Method

Place 3 cups water in the large bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix in the levain (it should float in the water, otherwise it has not risen enough) or yeast. You should feed your levain the night before you bake to make sure it has good rising power the next morning.
Slowly mix in the flour, a cup or so at a time. When the dough becomes stiff enough, change to the dough hook attachment.
Add all the flour. Then beat with the dough hook at a slow speed for 10 minutes until smooth and shiny.
Let the dough rest in the bowl for 30 minutes.
Dissolve the salt in the ¼ cup water.
Beat the salt mixture and ground fennel into the rested dough until completely incorporated.
With a scraper, transfer the dough to a large metal bowl.
Cover the dough with a plastic film and let rest for 30 minutes. Then turn the dough gently in all directions with moistened, clean hands. Recover the dough with the plastic film.
Repeat turning the dough every 30 minutes for three additional times.
Turn the dough out on a well-floured work surface. Divide into two equal pieces. Each piece should weigh a little over 2 pounds.
Shape each piece of dough into a ball and let rest for 5 minutes.
After the rest, shape the dough by lifting the far edge of the ball and pulling it to the center. Repeat this motion in all directions. Pinch closed any seams and let rest, covered with a cloth, for 10 minutes while you prepare the baking pans.
Prepare two 9 x 5 inch bread pans by greasing the insides well with vegetable shortening or butter.
Arrange the dough pieces, seam side down, in the two bread pans, cover with a clean cloth, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled.
While the bread is rising, pre-heat the oven to 450°F (232 °C)
When the loaves have risen, slash the tops with a sharp knife and transfer to the middle of the pre-heated oven.
Bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for 45 additional minutes. Turn the loaves front to back at least once during the baking.
At the end of the baking time, test for doneness by thumping the bottoms for a hollow sound. Transfer the baked loaves to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Using the regular paddle beater to combine water, levain, and flour

Finishing the mixing with the dough hook

Mixing finished and ready to rest in the bowl

Two shaped loaves resting before being put in the pans

The resting loaves covered with a clean dish towel

Dough transferred to the bread pans and ready for final rising

Tops of the unbaked loaves just before putting them in the oven

The finished loaves

Nothing better than butter and fresh-baked bread

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Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel

Tagged as bread, fennel pollen, fennel seeds, ground fennel seeds, levain, Rich Table, San Francisco, Sarah Rich, wild fennel

September 15, 2013 · 9:23 am

LIGHT WEIGHT FOOD – BOW HUNTING FOR ELK IN THE WILDERNESS

Our son, Peter, is the outdoorsman in our family. He hikes, rock climbs, skis, canoes, and anything else that will get him into the outdoors. When all the rest of us have opted for a motel room, he will choose to sleep outside in a bag on a ground cloth. He was excited, then, when he was selected in a lottery to bow hunt for elk in one of the wilderness regions of the Jémez Mountains in New Mexico. He drove to our house in Santa Fe almost non-stop from his home in Northern California, stopping for a few hours’ sleep in the Mojave Desert.

We helped him pack food for his expedition, and in a few hours he was off for what turned out to be a five-day adventure. He went to the San Pedro Park Wilderness with much of the trip over dirt roads. When he got to the trail head, he loaded up his back pack and went for a two-mile hike to his campsite. There were no other hunters, and he had planned the hike so that it would not be too far back to the car in case he bagged an elk and needed to pack out the meat. He wound up hiking another two miles to find a good hunting spot.

Map of the San Pedro Parks Wilderness

Hiking can be a strenuous activity, especially with a 50-60 pound pack. It’s fairly easy to use up 400 calories an hour, and even possible to use up 1000 calories an hour, never mind the fluid loss. Thus, it is very important to stay well hydrated and to have a good supply of food. Even if you had pure calorie sources – carbohydrate, protein, and fat – at 4, 4, and 9 calories per gram, respectively, you would need at least a pound of food a day to stay in balance. Of course, these days you can buy elaborate dehydrated meals at the outdoor sporting goods store, but they are very expensive and they also take away some of the fun of planning and packing for a wilderness trip.

Using dehydrated or low-weight foods available at the grocery store, we worked up a menu for the expedition. All you need is a good backpacking camp stove and a reliable source of water. Remember to cut instructions off the sides of boxes and drop them in the zippered plastic bag with the food. Put individual dry ingredients in zippered sandwich bags and drop them in the bag of the main dish.

Also pack a small squeeze bottle filled with cooking oil and another small container of butter or margarine. Bring small salt and pepper shakers.

Gorp, more commonly known as trail mix, is a hiking standby. These days you can buy any number of varieties with a wide range of different nuts, dried fruits, and candies. Some of them are extremely expensive and – in my view – not very good It’s just as easy to make your own, and that way you can include ingredients that you like.

Soup made from a packet of dehydrated soup is good while waiting for the main dish to cook.

Macaroni and cheese, especially the boxed kind, is an old-time kids’ favorite. It is nothing but dried ingredients. Add a little dry milk powder and some Spam lights, and you have a dish that can be cooked in just a few minutes. At the end of a hard day of hiking it will please everyone, kids and grownups alike.

Tuna casserole is another standby. With the new packaging of tuna in foil pouches, this becomes even more light weight. Instant or fast-cooking pasta makes this an easy effort even with just a backpacking stove.

Salmon and rice casserole becomes another possibility with the advent of dry packaging of salmon just like tuna. A can of salmon would weigh over a pound, while the “dry” pack weighs 2.5 ounces

Dried fruit – banana chips and apricots make good desserts, along with chocolate bars.

Energy bars weigh only about 2 ounces each and pack an impressive 250 calories, about 1/3 of it from fat

RECIPES

Gorp

Ingredients

10 ounces sunflower seeds, roasted (880 calories)
16 ounces dry roasted peanuts (2560 calories)
7 ounces “runts” or other candy-coated chocolate candy (715 calories)
6 ounces walnut pieces (1100 calories)
6 ounces whole almonds (935 calories
9 ounces dried cranberries (780 calories)
8 ounces raisins (775 calories)

Method

If the sunflower seeds are raw, roast them by spreading them out in a jelly roll pan and placing them in the middle of an oven preheated to 300° F (177° C). Bake for 15 minutes, turning them frequently. Remove from the oven and cool before adding to the remaining ingredients.
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
Place in zippered plastic bags. This makes enough gorp for 4 or 5 bags, one for each day of the trip.

Macaroni and Cheese with Spam Lights

Ingredients

1 box commercial macaroni dinner, including cheese packet
1½ tablespoons powdered milk
2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
1 pouch Spam lights

Method

Place all of the dry ingredients in separate packages in a larger plastic bag
In a camper’s cooking pot, bring 2 cups of water to the boil. Add the dry macaroni and cook until tender.
Pour off all but about ¼ cup of water. Stir in the contents of the cheese packet and the powdered milk. Add butter.
Drain and stir in the pieces of Spam lights. Cut them up a bit if you wish.
Mix well and serve immediately. Serves one or two hungry hikers.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients

4 ounces quick-cooking pasta
1 2 ounce packet dehydrated mushroom soup
3 tablespoons dehydrated mashed potatoes
1 2.6 ounce pouch tuna
2 cups water

Method

Place all of the dry ingredients in separate packages in a larger plastic bag.
In a camper’s cooking pot over a camp stove, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the pasta and mushroom soup. Cook until tender.
Stir in the dehydrated mashed potatoes and the tuna, drained.
Eat. Should serve one or two .

Salmon and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

1 cup instant rice
1 envelope dehydrated vegetable soup
1 2.5 ounce pouch salmon
2 cups water

Method

Place all the dry ingredients in separate packages in a large plastic bag.
In a camper’s cooking pot over a camp stove, bring water to a boil. Add the instant rice and dehydrated soup and stir until cooked and the water is absorbed.
Drain the salmon and stir into the mixture.
Eat. Should serve one or two.

For breakfast, be sure to bring tea or instant coffee and packets of instant oatmeal. For lunch, if you want to pack the extra weight, dry Italian salami, Parmesan or other hard cheese, small cans of Vienna sausages or Kipper Snacks, along with hard tack or crackers are perfect. Just remember you will have to pack out the cans, and Kipper Snacks can be smelly. Remember, too, if there are bears in the area, the smells will be a magnet. Be sure to secure your food appropriately.

The hunter and some of his elk meat

The end of this story is that Peter hiked in two miles, set up camp, and then hiked another 2 miles in stocking feet (!!!) to the spot where he got his elk with one arrow at a range of 45 yards. Then he spent a whole day cutting up and packing out the meat in three separate 4 mile (8 mile round trip) hikes to his car. He had a long sleep when he got back to our house.