What to Make for Your Next Cocktail Party

Dorie Greenspan's new book, Around My French Table, has been stalking me for months now. First, I got invited to a press luncheon for the book in July. It was at Blue Hill and we ate pea soup, Hudson Valley duck, and cheesecake. Everything was delicious. Then, I wrote a story about the book's somewhat surprising success, considering the fact that Dorie Greenspan doesn't have a TV show or food magazine, yet her book is one of the year's most popular (and bestselling) cookbooks. And then I went to a party for a cookbook "tournament" last week, where I met Dorie and ate one of her delicious sable cookies (in a piglet shape, natch).
Can you believe I STILL had not tried one of the recipes in her book?
So tonight, I finally took the plunge. And, unsurprisingly, it was a smash hit. Dorie's Gougères are fabulous. They are cheese puffs, and they are airy and cheesy, a little crunchy and even a tiny bit creamy. They were a cinch to make (I really had no reason to be nervous, but I was, I think because they're just so... French). I used an aged cheddar, and followed her instructions exactly, even the quirky step of putting them into an oven you've preheated to 425, but then dropping the temperature to 375 once they're in. Who knows why. It works.
We enjoyed the gougères with some chilled Muscadet. Even our baby got her hands on some and loved them (poor thing is used to eating puffs of a different sort--flavored with spinach and banana).
What will be next from Dorie's book? Elsewhere in the "Nibbles and Hors D'oevures" chapter I have my eye on Savory Cheese and Chive Bread. But her main dishes and, of course, desserts look amazing, too. Sorry it took me so long!--S

Gougères

1/2 cup milk
1/2 c water
8 T unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 t salt
1 c all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 c coarsely grated cheese, such as Gruyere or cheddar

1. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
2. Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk. The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring--with vigor--for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.
3. Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a bowl that you can use for mixing with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease. Let the dough sit for a minute, then add the eggs one by one and beat, beat, beat until the dough is thick and shiny. Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before you add the next, and don't be concerned if the dough separates--by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again. Beat in the grated cheese. Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately.
4. Using about 1 T of dough for each gougere, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds.
5. Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougeres are golden, firm, and yes, puffed, another 12 to 15 minutes or so. Serve warm, or transfer the pans to racks to cool.

Zucchini Bread's Secret Ingredient: Olive Oil

Sure, it would be great to have a vegetable garden. It would also be great to have central air (not happening in this pre-war apartment), a personal assistant (how long have I been meaning to book a haircut?!) and a beautiful baby and fabulous husband (oh, wait). Anyway, the veg garden. But I have the next best thing: a mother-in-law whose garden is roughly the size of our bedroom and living room put together.

My in-laws came to visit last weekend, bringing with them the first of the garden's bounty: zucchini! And I know it is so painfully obvious to make zucchini bread, but that's just what I did. I'm still avoiding dairy and soy, and after a conversation yesterday with Terry Walters, a cookbook author who makes it a point to cook with "clean food," which includes baking without using canola oil, I tracked down a recipe for Zucchini Bread that uses olive oil instead of canola oil or butter.

I know I've made fabulous zucchini breads before (I have twice made, but never blogged about, this one; if you like Indian flavors, you must try it), but the one I made this morning might outdo them all. It is really simple--just zucchini, flour (I used a mix of whole wheat and white), sugar, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, walnuts and raisins. But that olive oil! It makes the bread moist but still light and airy--a little savory, and even kind of floral.

Still waiting on that personal assistant, but until then, I guess I can make my own zucchini bread.

Zucchini Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Wet ingredients:

1 c olive oil
2 eggs
2 c sugar [I used 1 1/2 c]
1 t molasses
3 t vanilla
1 t salt
1/8 t nutmeg
3 t cinnamon
2 c grated zucchini

Dry ingredients:

3 c flour
1 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1 c Nuts, Raisins, Currants, Craisins, Chocolate Chips or a combo [I used walnuts and raisins]

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Shred zucchini with a box grater or with the grating blade of your food processor.
3. Grease two loaf pans by brushing on some vegetable oil; coat with flour.
4. Crack eggs into a mixing bowl, and then whisk thoroughly to integrate yolks. Add the olive oil, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and spices, and mix well. Stir in zucchini.
5. In another large bowl, sift [I didn't sift; I just stirred] together flour, baking soda and powder.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the blended dry ingredients. Fold until just mixed. Add the nuts/dried fruit/etc.
7. Pour batter into loaf pans and bake 45 to an hour; the loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.

Sweet Sustenance

One of the marvelous things about having a baby is all the visitors who come by to see the little one. Our month-old wonder is used to being passed around from aunt to grandmother, coworker to friend, neighbor to cousin--which is so wonderful to see. But, you know, oohing and aahing over tiny fingernails and ears is hard work. I've got to offer all the well-wishers some sustenance. Granted, many of them come bearing edible gifts, but I've been stepping up my efforts, too. The latest baby-holding fuel I've made? Braided Coffee Cake with Cardamom.

Unlike some coffee cakes, this one isn't chock full of butter, sugar, chocolate or sour cream (though I have nothing against those decadent delights). Nope--it has just one stick of butter and a half-cup of sugar, as well as three egg yolks and a half-cup or so of milk (I used 1%). What gives this cake--it's actually more like a bread--its character is the warm and toasty taste of cardamom. I always thought of cardamom as an Indian spice (Tamarind's basmati rice, loaded with whole cardamom pods, is divine), but apparently, it's common in Scandinavian baking, too. It lends an almost floral aroma to this otherwise simple bread.

The other lovely thing about this bread? It's braided--which not only looks pretty, but isn't even hard to do. Topped with a smattering of chopped pecans and cinnamon, this is one sweet-smelling, and sweet to look at--baked treat. Almost as sweet as holding a certain tiny little someone.--S

Braided Coffee Cake with Cardamom

Makes 8 or more servings

3 c flour, plus more for rolling the dough

1 1/2 t instant active dry yeast

Pinch of salt

1/2 c sugar

1 t ground cardamom

8 T butter, plus more as needed

3 egg yolks

1/2 to 1 c milk, as needed

1/2 c walnuts, pecans or almonds

1 t ground cinnamon

1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt, 1/ c sugar, and the cardamom in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add 6 T of the butter and the egg yolks and pulse again until well combined. With the machine running, drizzle about half the milk through the feed tube. Process just until a dough ball forms, adding a little more milk if necessary, then stop. Knead a little by hand, until the dough is smooth (add a little flour if necessary), then form the mixture into a ball and place it in a buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until about doubled in bulk, 1 to hours.

2. When the dough is ready, cut it into 3 pieces. On a floured board, roll each piece into a long rope just over a foot long. Braided the pieces, pinching both ends to seal. Put on a buttered cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again for about an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 375F. Chop the nuts and combine with the remaining 2 T butter (you can do this in a small food processor, but be careful not to pulverize the nuts) and the cinnamon. Brush the dough with a little milk and sprinkle the nut mixture over it.

4. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool, then slice and serve.

From The Best Recipes in the World

Stollen Moment

Of all the Christmas culinary traditions my mom has taught me--homemade biscotti, stuffed escarole, cinnamon buns--there's one that just never stuck. Despite not having an ounce of German blood, my mom loves stollen. I know, you're thinking, "What the hell is that?" Until recently, I honestly couldn't tell you much more than that it's a bread-like loaf filled with candied fruit and covered in so much powdered sugar that it almost looks like petrified wood. Mom buys herself a stollen from a bakery every Christmas, has a slice or two (my Dad, sister and I never touch the stuff) and then I guess she tosses the rest.

I started thinking about stollen this holiday season, and wondered what it was that my mom loves so much about it. I respect her taste; when she says something's good, it usually is. I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe in The Joy of Cooking that didn't list any wacky ingredients. Pretty much a German version of pannetone, which I love. So as a surprise for Mom this year, I decided I'd make her a stollen. (Actually, I made six stollens--the recipe yield was huge. Moms going to be eating this stuff 'till July.)

I went with a recipe from a new book on artisan baking, figuring the detail would be helpful. Granted, the detail also meant I'd be involved with the project for the better part of 24 hours, but much of that time was unattended while the dough proofed. Turns out stollen's really not that complicated. It's a sweet yeast bread, with some lemon zest and cinnamon worked into the dough. It's studded with chopped bits of dried apricots, dark and golden raisins, and dried cranberries (which soaked overnight in dark rum and simple syrup; see picture above), plus some slivered almonds. It also has a ribbon of lemony almond paste running through it, a nice little surprise when you later cut a slice. I brushed each loaf with butter and sprinkled it with granulated sugar when it was just out of the oven. The recipe instructs you to then dust it with powdered sugar, but I was having visions of petrified stollen, so I skipped it.

Mom will be the real judge (since I have zero basis for comparison), but I actually think this turned out well. I toasted a slice this afternoon and ate it next to the fire as the snow swirled outside. Sure, the cozy environment helped, but I had to admit, the stollen was tasty. Heavier than pannetone, yes. But more substantial and complex, with a decent crust and a richness, thanks to the almond paste (see this rundown of international holiday sweets to put stollen in some context). I'll report back with Mom's review, so stay tuned.--S

Better Buns

The smell of a cinnamon roll is a pretty great thing. I haven't had a Cinnabon since high school, but whenever I pass a shop at a mall or a highway rest stop, the sweet, yeasty aroma tempts me (and then I walk on by, knowing that three bites in I'll feel stuffed and sugared into a coma). Even though Chocolate and Hazelnut Buns don't have cinnamon in them, this morning, they filled our apartment with that delicious, bready, buttery scent. It didn't hurt that it was cold and rainy outside, so our home, with the scent of the buns plus a freshly brewed pot of coffee, was a pretty heavenly place to be.

Okay, enough olfactory descriptions. The recipe for these rolls comes from a forthcoming cookbook on baking around the world, and is a nice twist (ha) on the traditional cinnamon bun. Instead of lacing the buttery dough with cinnamon, you use a blend of finely chopped hazelnuts, cocoa powder and sugar. Other than that, things are pretty straightforward: make a dough from flour, yeast, sugar, salt, melted butter, an egg and lukewarm milk. Knead, then let it rise. Roll it out into a big rectangle, spread it with butter and top that with the filling. Then roll the whole thing up, slice it and pack each bun into a baking pan. And get ready for some mighty fine smells to come out of your kitchen.

The rolls are very good, not too sweet but perfect with coffee. I'm not sure how they'll taste at room temperature, but five minutes after baking, they're pretty perfect. And much better than a Cinnabon.--S

Chocolate and Hazelnut Buns
Makes 9 buns [I got 9 large buns and 3 mini buns out of the recipe]

Dough
2 1/3 c white bread flour
1 1/2 t active dry yeast
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled [I used unsalted]
1 egg, beaten
About 2/3 c milk, lukewarm

Filling
2/3 c hazelnuts
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 stick butter, very well softened

1. Place all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl and mix to moisten the dry ingredients. Use a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a dough hook to knead thoroughly until smooth and supple. Alternatively, turn out onto a floured surface or a non-stick silicone mat and knead until smooth and supple. Bring together in a ball and return to the bowl. [I used a plastic bowl because I've heard dough doesn't rise as quickly in a metal bowl.] Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size.

2. For the filling, pulse all the ingredients except the butter in a food processor until the nuts are very finely chopped. Set aside until needed.

3. Punch down the dough and knead briefly until it is smooth. On a lightly floured surface, roll it out to a rectangle about 16" x 12". Use a pastry brush or your fingers to spread the butter over the dough, leaving about 3/4" clear on all sides. Sprinkle the filling evenly over this. It is a generous amount, but the butter will eventually absorb it. Roll up from one long end. Trim the roll so that it measures 14" and discard the end pieces [I used the ends to make mini rolls with the filling that fell out as I cut the main roll.] Cut the resulting log at intervals of 1 1/2", so that you end up with 9 pieces.

4. Grease and line an 8" square baking pan, then arrange the dough pieces in three rows of three [I tucked the mini rolls in there too]. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place until almost doubled in size. The buns will now be pressing cozily against each other; this slight over-crowding gives nice soft sides.

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave in the pan for about 5 minutes before turning out in its entirety onto a wire rack. Break the buns off as needed. That way, the sides stay softer for longer.

Adventures in Veganism

I'm pretty sure that the photo at left is not vegan-friendly. For one, the milk is from a cow. And secondly, the chocolate chips in that delicious little brownie bite are not vegan chocolate chips. But other than that, I think the vegans would be proud: I am experimenting with vegan baking. Not because I want to become a vegan (I just picked up some sausage for dinner), but because I recently visited BabyCakes NYC, a bakery on the Lower East Side where baker Erin McKenna makes vegan cupcakes, cookies, brownies, scones, muffins and other baked goods. And here's the thing: everything I tasted there was really good.

So I was curious about trying a few recipes from Erin's new book, BabyCakes. Unfortunately, this meant spending about $40 at the health food store on things like xanthan gum and arrowroot. I know: xan-what? Arrowhead? Seriously. This is all brand-new to me, and I'm not quite sold on it yet. But I'm up for the experiment.

The first thing I tried was the Apple-Cinnamon Toastie quickbread. Weird ingredients: garbanzo-fava bean flour, potato starch, arrowroot, xanthan gum, coconut oil ($12 a jar!) and evaporated cane juice (which I learned is a fancy way of saying natural cane sugar--so I guess it's not weird after all). Not weird: baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, applesauce, vanilla extract and roasted apples. The bread was terrific out of the oven: moist and not overly sweet. But the next morning it was a soggy mess. A tasty soggy mess, but still. Was it because I wrapped it with plastic wrap? Maybe it needed a little air. Or was it some sort of vegan thing?

At least I had most of the ingredients I needed for Brownies. The only thing I needed to buy were chocolate chips (of course, the recipe specifies vegan chocolate chips, but--guess what?--Gristede's doesn't sell them, and I wasn't up for another trip to the completely disorienting baking aisle of the health food store). So in went all the wacky vegan ingredients like garbanzo bean flour and arrowroot (which smells pretty great, actually), and... the brownies turned out great. I mean, delicious. Really! Rich, chocolate-y and the perfect thing with an ice cold glass of... milk. Like I said, I am not going vegan. But I'll eat their brownies!--S

Spoon vs Gourmet

I'm not quite making bread daily (har) yet, but twice in one week is certainly stepping it up. I knew it was only a matter of time before I tried making one of the gorgeous rolls from Gourmet's February issue, and on Sunday, the time had come. I went with the Crusty Cornstalk Rolls because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen already (pantry, people, pantry!).

So here's the thing about this particular recipe spread. Every photograph is drop-dead gorgeous. Golden crusts, perfect knots, pretty fantails and fancy swirls... could I really do this? Probably not. But I was going to give it a shot anyway. The headnotes for the Cornstalk Rolls recipe insisted, "the technique for shaping this sculptural loaf is very simple..." Right. First I needed to go out and buy a pair of kitchen shears, which, truth be told, I did need. After that, the dough came together pretty easily; I had to use a bit more flour because it was extremely sticky, but I didn't really have any problems in that department.

However, when it came to shaping the dough into a "towering cornstalk," I was nervous. Snipping dough with extremely sharp kitchen scissors on the diagonal, pulling apart the pieces and stretching the dough to form rolls that were connected to the center "stalk"... this is advanced stuff. I kept telling myself it didn't matter how it looked; it's all about the taste, because I knew my bread (above left) wasn't going to look like the picture in the magazine (below right). Oh well. Not the first time that's happened.

I diligently misted the rolls with water before baking them, and then spritzed the oven with water three times during the first five minutes of baking. And the finished product? As expected, a little more "homemade" looking than the picture. But tasty? You bet. A little grainy from the cornmeal, nicely crusty from the misted water. My friend Kate said they were even prettier than the ones in the magazine. Take that, Gourmet.--S

It's Bread Time

Between the February issue of Gourmet, with its gorgeous cover image of plump, golden rolls; and the graphic novel I just finished reading, about a Japanese kid who just wants to bake bread (making him an outcast in his family of rice eaters), I've had bread on my mind lately. And when the weather turned nasty last night, with snow, sleet and rain predicted, it was decided: I was baking bread.

I got this recipe from my cousin Kathy, a master breadmaker, and had tried it twice before. The first time was a bust; I used yeast that had expired two weeks earlier, which turned out to be a very poor decision. The dough never rose, and I wound up tossing it, sadly. The second time was quite good, and I'd say this most recent batch was even better. It's a Classic French Bread, but instead of shaping it into baguettes (baby steps!), I make it into a "country French loaf," which is a nicer way of saying "ball." As with most breads (I think?) patience is the primary ingredient; there are two risings with this recipe, each one about an hour and a half. So if you want bread for dinner, you should start making this around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Also, a stand mixer makes things much easier. And no, I don't feel like I'm cheating when I attach the dough hook and flip the switch.

The recipe has you brush the dough with melted butter and salt before you bake it, which is a nice touch that not only spiffs up the finish product with a warm glow, but gives it a gentle salty flavor. If you're wary about baking bread, this is a terrific starter recipe, one that I plan on sticking with for a long time. Thanks, Kath!--S

Classic French Bread

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 envelope dry yeast
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1/2 t balsamic or red wine vinegar
2 c bread flour
3/4 c (about) all-purpose flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter 1
1/4 t salt

1. Pour 1 cup warm water into bowl of heavy-duty electric mixer. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. Mix salt and vinegar into yeast. Add bread flour; using paddle attachment, mix 5 miutes. Replace paddle with dough hook. Add 1/2 c all-purpose flour and knead until soft and slightly sticky dough forms, adding more all purpose flour if dough is very sticky, about 7 minutes.
3. Coat large bowl with 2 T oil. Add dough, turning to coat entire surface. Cover bowl with plastic-wrap. Let dough rise in warm, draft-free area until tripled in volume, about 1 1/2 hrs. (To test, press 2 fingers into dough; if fully risen, indentations will remain. If indentations fill in, cover with plastic and let dough rise longer.)
4. Melt butter with salt in saucepan. Keep glaze warm.
5. Oil or butter baking sheet. Punch down dough. Form dough into round ball, smoothing top. Place on baking sheet, flattening slightly. Brush with butter glaze and let rise until tripled in volume as above.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slash dough in tic-tac-toe pattern or with swirled slashes radiating from center. Bake until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 35 minutes. Cool on rack.

Recipe courtesy of The Bon Appetit Cookbook

The New Classic

My colleagues and I are pretty regular customers at the Chock Full o'Nuts on 23rd Street, between Park and Lex. We stop in once or twice a week for mid-morning coffees, often adding a Chock Classic to our order. A classic indeed (my dad has apparently been a fan of the CC for years and loves it), the CC is a sandwich made from two slices of date nut bread spread with cream cheese. Sounds good, right? My friends and I have shared many a Chock Classic, and with a hot cup of coffee, it makes a fun snack. Here's the thing, though. The Chock Classic is kind of treacly. Really sweet. And they always put on too much cream cheese. And the bread is cold. We want to love the Chock Classic, but we're always a little disappointed.

So this weekend I took matters into my own hands. I went back to a recipe for Date & Walnut Bread that Patricia Wells had contributed to Runner's World a few years ago when she was training for a marathon. I've made the bread before and it's terrific. I substitute whole wheat flour for half the all-purpose flour, and there's no sugar (only honey), plus plenty of chopped dates and toasted walnuts. Once the bread had cooled, I cut a slice, spread a little cream cheese on it and... heaven! Not too sweet, just hearty enough, with the perfect balance of smoothness and crunch. Thank you, Chock Full O' Nuts, for the inspiration.--S

Date and Walnut Bread

1 t walnut [or other] oil
1 1/2 c dates [about 12], pitted and cubed
1/2 c walnut halves, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt
1/2 c honey
3/4 c hottest possible tap water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour [I substitute 3/4 c whole wheat flour]

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Coat a nonstick one quart rectangular bread pan with walnut oil. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine dates, walnuts, baking soda, salt and honey. Add hot water and stir to blend. Add eggs and vanilla to the date mixture and blend thoroughly. Slowly add flour; blend well. The batter will be fairly thick.
3. Pour batter into pan, evening out the top with a spatula. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.
4. Remove from the pan and let cool for at least an hour. Bread can be stored for up to three days, tightly wrapped in plastic.

Recipe courtesy of Runner's World

Glazed Over

I made this Glazed Lemon Bread the other night. I had a feeling it would be good--it's from a cookbook I trust, the ingredients are wholesome and tasty, and, if I'm being honest, it involved using our new stand mixer, which made me happy. And it was good. But the best part--the outsides of the bread, which had been doused in lemon glaze--was really good.

I was worried that the glaze--which you pour over the hot bread, just out of the oven, still in the pan--would be too sweet. After all, it's just lemon juice and sugar, melted down into a concentrated syrup. And, I'll admit it, I have a sweet tooth, so just because the glaze was tasty to me, I feared others might find it cloying.

My fears were laid to rest (or my friends are liars), because two of my friends commented that they loved the bread, and that the glaze was the best part. Maybe everyone has a secret sweet tooth?--S

Glazed Lemon Bread

Serves 8

1 2/3 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 t (packed) grated lemon peel
1/2 c whole milk
1/4 c fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan.
2. Stir flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add grated lemon peel. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake until tester inserted into center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar and fresh lemon juice in small heavy saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5. Transfer lemon bread to rack. Gradually spoon lemon glaze over hot bread, adding more as glaze is absorbed. Cool lemon bread completely in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Turn bread out onto rack. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.)

Recipe courtesy of The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook

The Family Cornbread

As soon as I ate the first spoonful of Heidi Swanson's Roasted Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika, I knew I should've made something bready to go with it. Grilled cheese, maybe, or toasty garlic bread. It's not that the soup wasn't enjoyable; with its oven-roasted tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions and garlic, it was warm and comfy, with a little more depth than your typical tomato soup. But it needed a go-with.

Enter my grandfather's cornbread. Mulyatz, we call it--though that's the phonetic spelling, and when I asked Pop how it's really spelled, he wasn't quite sure. Mogliacci? Mogliazi? I'd never made it before, but remembered eating it as a child, when Pop would make it. His favorite way to eat it is alongside escarole and beans (as bread), or cut into small squares and served as a hot or cold appetizer. It's basically cornbread amped up with Italian sausage and Parmesan cheese. And what's not to like about that? Pop told me he got the recipe from his mother, who got it from her mother--and while cornbread and polenta are typically northern Italian specialties (and Pop's family is from Naples), this dish has nevertheless been part of our family repertoire for five generations.

Spoonful of soup, bite of mulyatz--now we're talking. I even broke off a few little bits of mulyatz and dunked them into the soup. Just delicious.--S

Mulyatz (cornbread)

1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 small onion
1-2 T olive oil
2 c yellow cornmeal
1/3 c Parmesan cheese
4 c water
Black pepper and salt

1. Grease 13"x9" baking dish with olive oil.
2. Dissolve cornmeal in 2 c cold water. Stir and set aside.
3. Remove casing from sausage, break up into pieces and saute with olive oil and chopped onions.
4. Bring 2 c water to a boil. Pour in the sausage and onions, then add cornmeal and water mixture. Stir constantly until very thick, then add cheese, pepper and salt.
5. Pour mixture into baking pan, spreading out evenly to about 1/2" thick. Let rest for 1/2 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 425. Rub a bit more olive oil on top of cornbread and bake for 1 hour or until crust forms on top.

Just a Little Irish

I usually avoid my local Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day (amateur night, and all that) and I totally forgot to wear green today. But I did celebrate in my own way, baking two loaves of Irish Soda Bread.

My recipe comes from Kathleen's Bake Shop Cookbook, and calls for the usual quick bread ingredients, a touch of sugar, plus raisins, caraway seeds and buttermilk. Traditionalists will say it's not really Irish Soda Bread--apparently the raisins make it Spotted Dog or Railway Cake. Well, whatever it is, it's very easy and very tasty. I enjoyed some last night for dinner, and again this morning, toasted, with a little butter. It's crumbly, a little scone-like, slightly sweet and with a little bite from the caraway. I'll hit Molly's another night, and wear green tomorrow. Today, I'm perfectly happy with soda bread.--S

Irish Soda Bread

4 c all-purpose flour
2 T granulated sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 c butter
1 c raisins
3 T caraway seeds
2 c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add raisins and caraway seeds and toss lightly. Add buttermilk and toss mixture with a fork until all dry ingredients are moistened. Dough will be very soft.
3. Form dough into a ball and lightly knead on a floured board for about 30 seconds or until dough is smooth. Divide dough into two equal portions and shape into balls. Place them on the cookie sheet, and with a sharp knife, cut an X on top of each loaf about 1/4-in. deep.
4. Bake for 50 minutes, or until crusty and golden.

Yield: 2 loaves.

Recipe courtesy of Kathleen's Bake Shop Cookbook

Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter

"We worked long and hard to get this loaf as moist and as lemony as it is."

I'll admit I snickered at the introduction to the recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Tea Loaves from Once Upon a Tart. I read it out loud to Fork and he responded, "Oh, baby, talk dirty to me!" But I'm a sucker for the classic lemon-poppy combination (Dorie Greenspan's muffins are fabulous), and I was in the mood to bake something but struck out with attempts to make Pear-Ginger-Raisin Muffins (the pears were very unripe) and Apple-Cranberry Muffins (the crummy supermarket downstairs didn't have any cranberries).

So lemon-poppy it was, and I'm happy to report the authors' long and hard efforts to get these loaves moist paid off. I made the cakes tonight in my mini loaf pans, and they came out wonderfully. Tangy, light and smooth on the inside, golden and a little crusty on the outside (thanks to a 400-degree oven), they're snazzy little pound cakes. And so cute you just want to pinch 'em! --S

Lemon-Poppy Seed Tea Loaves

makes two 5-by-9-inch loaves*

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened; plus more for smearing in loaf pans
2 c unbleached all-purpose flour; plus more for dusting loaf pans
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T poppy seeds
1 1/2 c sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 T grated lemon zest
1/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c cold milk

1. Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Smear two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans with butter, and dust them lightly with flour.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds together in a medium-size bowl.
3. In a separate, big bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, using the whisk attachment of a standing or handheld electric mixer on high speed (or a sturdy wire whisk), until they are fluffy and light lemon-yellow in color. With the mixer speed low, beat in the eggs, continuing with the lemon zest and juice. Don't worry if the batter looks lumpy, like there's cottage cheese in it; the lemon juice causes the batter to "break."
4. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (or a wooden spoon), stir half the milk into the wet ingredients. Stir in half the flour. Stir in the remaining milk. Add the remaining flour, and stir until no flour is visible.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pans with a rubber spatula. Make sure to divide batter evenly between the two pans, so that they require the same baking time.
6. Place the loaves side by side on the center rack in the oven, and bake them for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tops are a very light golden brown and a toothpick or small knife inserted deep into the center of each loaf comes out clean.
7. Remove the loaves from the oven, and set them on a wire rack for a few minutes, until loaves are cool enough to touch. To remove a loaf from its pan, place the rack over the top of the pan, and quickly flip the pan so the loaf falls out onto the rack. Allow the loaves to cool a bit before slicing. Serve at room temperature.

*I used four mini-loaf pans and one 8-by-5-inch loaf pan. The cooking time for the mini loaves was about 25 minutes; for the large loaf, about 30 minutes. I also lowered the oven to 350 for the last five minutes of the large loaf's baking time, since it was looking a little dark.

Recipe courtesy of Once Upon a Tart

Run with It

Isn't it nice when you have a string of great culinary days in a row? No bombs, no duds, no curiosity-killed-the-cat expeditions to, say, Olive Garden? (Okay, I'll stop harping on Fork's and my life-altering [in a bad way] experience at OG). I've had a good run since Friday, though it's bound to end around 9AM tomorrow, when I order a sub-par cup of deli coffee before work.

This weekend, however, was just glorious. On Friday evening I tried a recipe from my cousin Kathy, an excellent baker, a Thyme and Cheese Bubble Bread. Intrigued? Kath's explanation:

a regular bread recipe, but you knead shredded monterey jack cheese into the dough. Then you roll the dough into a rectangle and cut it into 50 one-inch squares, roll each square into a ball and dip them in a mixture of thyme, parsley and butter. Then you place each ball in a loaf pan & bake. It’s like pull-apart bread.

As far as breads go, this is probably the coolest-looking one I've ever made: knobs of crusty, buttered bread, flecked with bits of thyme and parsley, mounded over the rim of the loaf pan. The look is trumped by the phenomenal smell: the aroma of freshly-baked bread, cheese and herbs. Its flavor also gets high mark, amazing out of the oven, but like a lot of breads, a little less exciting when cooled. Fork ate it day-old, and I knew he wasn't getting the full effect.

He did get to enjoy a piping-hot and delicious meal on Saturday. At the suggestion of my friend, Cara, I prepared Giada De Laurentiis' Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola. it's a simple dish: you brown bone-in pork chops, remove them and keep them warm under foil, then saute sliced onions, diced tomatoes (with their juices), herbs and some red pepper flakes in the pan. After 15 minutes, you return the pork chops to the pan with the veggies, get 'em nice and hot, and voila. Spicy tomatoes on top of browned chops: how can you really go wrong? This meal was augmented (actually, who am I kidding, it was dwarfed) by a sublime bottle of Caymus 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (pictured at the top of this post, with the pork chop) from my cousin Mike. We savored every sip.

Earlier on Saturday, I visited a landmark purveyor of homemade pastas on W. Houston St., Raffetto's. The place is family owned and operated, has been for 100 years, and the original owner's grandsons now help customers. Their mother works the register. Happy shoppers can choose between 18 varieties of ravioli and 16 pastas, including chestnut, saffron or squid ink. Most of their business is wholesale, about 300 local restaurants and hotels serve Raffetto's pasta, including Il Mulino and Patsy's. Good enough for me. I had a pound of bucatini weighed for me, and also picked up some bocconcini mozzarella and a loaf of semolina.

Sunday brought a visit to the Guggenheim to check out the Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso exhibit (we also checked out Bill and Chelsea Clinton, who were at the museum, too!). Fork and I had seen a number of the works on display at the Prado and the Reina Sofia on a visit to Madrid in 2005, but it was fabulous to see them grouped like this, periods overlapping, themes uniting--all in the stunning building that is the Gugg. After strolling about 30 blocks, we cabbed it the rest of the way home, and later ordered from one of our favorite pizzerias, Totonno's. The legend probably deserves its own post, but I can say it was the perfect ending to a very tasty few days.--S