Bread - Fast & No-Knead

In the fall & winter, I make a lot of bread. I use this recipe from Mark Bittman as a starting point.

Start with preparation below, and then add rosemary, olives, cheese, nuts, anything you want in your bread.

3 cups bread flour

1 packet ( 1/4 ounce) instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Oil as needed.

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.

3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-to-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under dough and put it into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: 1 big loaf.

Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup

So good, so healthy, so hearty, so easy. Doesn't get much better than that on a cold, rainy day in the fall.

This silky fall/winter puree tastes rich, though there is no cream or butter in it.

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 medium-size Yukon gold or russet potato, peeled and diced

6 cups water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock

Salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and stir together until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the squash, sweet potatoes, regular potato, and water or stock, and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes, or until all of the ingredients are thoroughly tender.

2. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup (or you can put it through the fine blade of a food mill or use a regular blender, working in batches and placing a kitchen towel over the top to avoid splashing). Return to the pot and stir with a whisk to even out the texture. Heat through, adjust salt and add pepper to taste.

Yield: Serves 6

Advance preparation: You can make this a day ahead and refrigerate. Reheat gently. The soup freezes well. Once thawed, whisk well to smooth out the texture, and reheat.

Nutritional Information per Serving: Calories: 189; Calories from Fat: 29; Total Fat 3.2g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium,776mg; Total Carbohydrates,38.6g; Dietary Fiber, 5.7g; Sugars, 3.6g; Protein: 3.5g; Vitamin A 163%; Vitamin C 61%; Calcium 7%; Iron 8% (Approximate nutritional information provided by calorie-count.com)

Pernil - Pork Butt

The longer you cook it, the better. I've cooked it 3-4 hours, and that was not enough. But cooking it 6-8, well then you've got something. Goes great with the beans, and the Caribbean corn bread up on the blog.



Time: At least 3 hours

1 pork shoulder, 4 to 7 pounds (or use fresh ham)

4 or more cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, quartered

2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chili powder

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil as needed

1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar

Lime wedges for serving.

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Score meat’s skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern. Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt and pepper together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty. (Alternatively, mash ingredients in a mortar and pestle.) Blend in the vinegar.

2. Rub this mixture well into pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Put pork in a roasting pan and fill bottom with water (I had good success covering much of the pork with water and other liquid). Roast pork for several hours (a 4-pound shoulder may be done in 3 hours), turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender. Finish roasting with the skin side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking if necessary.

3. Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be so tender that cutting it into uniform slices is almost impossible; rather, whack it up into chunks. Serve with lime.

Yield: At least 6 servings.

Sunday Beans

To the below list, add one more ingredient: Beano. Seriously, if you pop a couple of Beanos before eating these beans, you will want to have them every Sunday. If you don't...well, just go with Beano...


Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces slab bacon, diced
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium red pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
3 (151/2-ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Preparation
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and, a few moments later, the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has begun to render out of the bacon and the meat is beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

2. Lower the heat to medium and add the onion, garlic and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add the cumin and coriander. They will absorb the heated oil in the pan and grow fragrant. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes and then add the juices. Raise the heat to high until the mixture begins to simmer, then lower the heat and reduce to ¤ of its volume. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

4. Stir in the beans. After 5 minutes stir again, then taste and adjust the seasonings. (The mixture can keep, softly bubbling on the stove, for hours. Add a little juice or water if necessary. Stir occasionally.) Serve with white rice. Serves 8.

Caribbean Corn Bread

I haven't had better corn bread. Seriously. Chrissy has made this recipe at least a dozen times, it's always a hit, never any leftovers. Make it, thank me later.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canned cream corn
1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or mild white Cheddar cheese

Preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 325o.

2. Butter and flour a 9-inch square glass cake pan. (You can use a metal cake pan, but I’ve found the old-fashioned glass Pyrex brand works best.)

3. In a mixer, cream the butter and the sugar. While the mixer is running, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. On a low speed, add the dry ingredients, and mix until blended well.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester stuck in the center comes out clean, about one hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Do not undercook the cornbread. It should be golden brown on top when done.