Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mac & Cheese and Green Tea Lemon Olive Oil Cake

In addition to sammiches, us Bakkiches LOVE macaroni & cheese.  Ben Bakkich probably ate it every day from ages 4-14.  (Just kidding, Ben, but close.)

Our favorite recipe comes from one of my dear friends, who makes it for her husband all the time.  It's basic, it's perfect.  I start any variation of the dish with a slightly tweaked Craig's Mac & Cheese.
 

Craig's Mac & Cheese

  • 2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked to package directions
  • 3 TBS margarine
  • 3 TBS flour
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp powdered mustard (my tweak)
  • 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
  • dash cayenne (my tweak)
  • 1/2 lb American cheese
  • 4 slices buttered toast, diced OR bread crumbs mixed w/melted butter/margarine

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Oh Sammich

I had a Friday evening outing to Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia, MD with my husband and a couple co-workers plus significant other.  I thought about their lobster grilled cheese and duck fat fries all week!  The dinnertime lighting was dim, and I was using my cell phone camera, so I didn't get a great picture of the yummy sammich.  Here it is anyway, and I'm sorry.

Buttery bread, tender Maine lobster & a brie fondue.  So decadent, so good.  Absolutely worthy of the sammich title.  Before I even ordered my sammich I sampled buttermilk fried chicken pick-up sticks, duck fat fries, and goat cheese & herb stuffed fried squash blossoms.  Not exactly a light meal, but so stinkin' good.  I enjoyed a flight of Spanish wines plus a glass of Tempranillo, the wine in the flight I liked best. 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Oh Yes, I Did



My Favorite Brownie Recipe
  • 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the rack in thecenter of the oven. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch square pan.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or large bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time,beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour,  and salt.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Market Fresh

My 2nd weekly East Columbia Library farmers' market visit yielded some good stuff.


This week:
  • cucumbers
  • peaches
  • sweet cherries
  • kale
  • Cosmic Bean coffee
I think kale chips will be on the menu tonight!

Also, I may or may not be currently baking a batch of from-scratch brownies.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Loaf Win!

I turned out a much better loaf of artisan bread today than I did over the weekend.  It will take some refining, but I think I have the basics down.  Not bad, huh?


Here's the recipe I used, for a no-knead artisan bread, from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes:

Makes 4 loaves.

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 TBS granulated yeast
1 1/2 TBS Kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

Mix water, yeast & salt in a large mixing bowl or re-sealable plastic container.  Mix in the flour until uniform.

Cover container (not airtight, so with a towel or a lid with a hole) and let the dough rise at room temp for about 2 hours until it collapses.  You can use some of the dough to make bread at this point.  Refrigerate any unused dough; it will keep in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

To bake, allow the portion of dough to rise 40 minutes.  Heat the oven to 450, with a baking stone or something made of cast iron in it to preheat.  Dust the dough with flour & make slashes in the top.  On a rack below the stone/cast iron put a dish of water, this will make the right amount of steamto bake a perfect loaf.  Put the dough on the stone or cast iron and bake 30 minutes until the crust is brown & firm to the touch.

Cool loaf completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Sour Cherry 'Cobbler'

Because no one should ever go food shopping on an empty stomach, I ate this mangled excuse for a star-shaped donut.  But it was tasty, and festive!










I failed at an artisan bread attempt, so I hope to try again this week.  Either my yeast was wonky (the date was fine) or my husband distracting me with a trip to the mall had something to do with it.  I did, however, have one success…
Remember these beauties?







Friday, July 1, 2011

Super Fresh!










Yesterday I swung by the East Columbia Library farmers' market on my way home from work and picked up a few things:
  • a beautiful salad greens mix
  • tomatoes, variety named "4th of July"
  • mini cukes
  • sour cherries
It's the simple things, like super fresh produce, that make me happy.  I made a lovely salad with the veggies to go with dinner last night, and I'm planning to bake something yummy with the cherries.  A cobbler maybe?  Stay tuned. 

(Also on my mind, no-knead artisan bread...which I bet will make fantastic sammiches!)