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My husband and I were supposed to go hiking in Tippicanoe State Park tomorrow. He changed his mind and wanted to go today. We negotiated my time for baking and cooking in the morning, so that we could go in the afternoon. That meant I spent the morning cutting up vegetables and making Ratatouille, following a recipe from Jennifer Segal in her blog, “Once Upon a Chef.” I used less eggplant (mine was about 6 oz.). I used two yellow summer squashes rather than the green zucchini. I used a red bell pepper. I cut the garlic to 2 cloves, and I also used only about ½ cup chopped onion (about the maximum I can run by my husband). I did not put in as much salt as she does, and I used a bit less olive oil. For the spices, I used 1 ¼ tsp. of Penzey’s salt-free Tuscan Sunset. I did not use the red pepper flakes. I warmed some up for dinner, and we had it over some bulgur, along with leftover chicken legs. I will definitely make this recipe, with my adaptations, again.
Here's the link to the recipe:
Bonus: The tomatoes are from our garden. The yellow summer squash, onion, red bell pepper, and eggplant came from the local farmers market.
Topic: Our community is grieving
Perhaps some of you have seen on CNN or other news outlets about the death of 4 members of our community here at Loyal, WI when their kayak capsized on Lake Superior. This tight-knit community is in shock, and we are mourning their loss.
Eric, the father of the 3 children who lost their lives due to a storm that blew in while they were on the lake. died of hypothermia. The water temp was 60 degrees. Eric was found by the coast guard, with one child clinging to his back, and one child clinging to the front of him. Both children were dead. The other child was found about 7 hours later. Only the mother survived. She had gotten separated from the rest of the family as she swam to the kayak to retrieve an emergency kit. She got the cell phone out of the pack, and a flashlight. She sent 911 messages, and also disturbing messages to her sister, but they did not receive the messages until 4 hours later. The coast guard found her because of the bobbing of the flashlight.Eric had just finished painting our porch, and 2 new walk-in doors in the garage. He was to paint my spare bedroom, which I am turning into a sewing room. He planned to start the room tomorrow.
His children adored him, and he them. The 9 y/o (Kyra) would come and sit with us on our deck while her daddy painted. She was so beautiful, so kind, and so loved by all.
Yesterday (Saturday) was the combined funeral held at the high school gymnasium. About 500 people attended. It was the saddest funeral I have ever attended. I baked 4 pans of bars and took them to the Trap Club, where the dinner was held. It broke my heart, and I think I cried the whole time I was baking.
Our community will grieve the loss, but we are Loyal to Loyal, and we will help each other through this unspeakable loss.
Whilst wondering through the library book sale yesterday, I came upon The Whole Grain Cookbook, by A. D. Livingston. I have plenty of wholegrain cookbooks (although a lot of them are still packed away where I cannot get to them), but this one, published in 2000 by Lyons Press, is not one of them. The blurb say Livingston is the author of a dozen cookbooks, writes a regular column for Gray's Sporting Journal, and lives in Wewahitchka, Florida. The recipes--some for baking and some for cooking--are quite varied, with most grains covered, as well as seeds, such as buckwheat. He's a proponent of grinding your own grains, and all of his whole wheat recipes call for doing so. He also has a chapter on beans and peas.
In his introduction, he states that his "emphasis is on whole grain cookery, which in the case of bread for example, almost always yields a heavier, darker and sometimes harder result." One recipe, Oat 'n Barley Bread, uses 2 cups oat flour and 1 cup barley flour, along with honey, olive, oil warm water, salt, and a package of yeast. It says to let rise until doubled, but it does not seem to me that there is enough gluten for it to rise very much at all, much less double in size. He comments that it "seems to keep forever," and "is flat, heavy, filling--and quite tasty," which makes me wonder if it keeps well or if it just seems like forever. He doesn't say what size loaf pan to use, which I notice is an omission that occurs frequently in the cookbook. I'm tempted to try the oat-barley recipe, just to see if it is a bread that would do for when we do a longer trip and run out of bread. However, I hate wasting ingredients if it is not palatable.
I looked online for reviews, but I could not find any that suggested anyone had actually baked any recipes from the book, and the copy I bought, except for one turned-down page, does not appear to have been used. Has anyone here heard of it?
I'll probably try some of the recipes. He credits other sources for some, such as Arrowhead Mills, Darina Allen's The Complete Book of Irish Country Cooking, and Beatrice Ojakangas' Scandinavian Baking Book and gives his adaptations, so that suggests he likes to experiment.
I only paid $1 for it, and the library benefited.
Topic: Eggplant Quandry
I got carried away at the farmers' market and bought a cute little eggplant (6.7 oz.). I've never cooked nor eaten eggplant, so I don't know what possessed me.
Suggestions on what to do with it would be appreciated. Most recipes seem to be for large ones. Perhaps I could roast it and use it somehow?
The block party sounds like fun, Len. I'm sure your treats will be a hit.
It rained most of the day here, so I spent much of my time in the kitchen. I made pizza Margherita for Friday dinner and experimented with the sourdough crust again. My intent was to make a more whole grain version than last time (durum flour and semolina were featured then). I made the following changes to the KAF sourdough pizza crust recipe: Add ½ tsp. honey to water and let the yeast proof. Instead of 2 ½ cups KAF AP flour, I used1 ½ cups whole wheat, ¼ cup semolina, ¼ cup dark rye, and ½ cup KAF AP. I reduced the salt from 1 tsp. to ¾ tsp.
I mixed the dough with the flat beater. I tried to knead it, but the small amount of dough was stubborn and would not gather around the kneading hook, so I did a lot of scraping with the speed on 2. I finally kneaded it by hand for 2 minutes, then placed it in an olive oil-coated bowl to rise for about three hours. For the second rise, the dough needed about an hour and 20 minutes after it had been fitted into the pan. I put too many tomatoes on it (that happens when there is a bumper crop), so the crust was a bit soggy, particularly in the center. It is an ok crust, but my husband and I prefer the crust I made last time, so I need to work out how to make it more whole grain. I also think it needs some olive oil in the crust.
After I fed my sourdough, I decided to use the fed starter in a bread. My current low saturated fat diet has required being more thoughtful and creative about desserts and afternoon tea treats. I baked the KAF Nutty-Fruity Sourdough, which is on their site, and which was also featured in Sift (Fall 2017), p. 46. It let me use 1 ½ cups of the dried fruit that I won’t be baking into scones any time soon. It uses some pumpernickel flour, which I have on hand. After reading comments on the site, I substituted in a cup of whole wheat flour for that much AP. I added 2 Tbs. of flax meal as well. I proofed the yeast with ¼ tsp. honey. I cut the salt in half, so I used ¾ tsp. I needed an additional ¼ cup of flour and used whole wheat. I initially mixed the water, proofed yeast, and the whole grains, then let them hydrate for 15 minutes, before adding the AP flour. I think the King Arthur people try to streamline, but with whole grains, it really does help to allow them to soak up liquid. The first rise was about 2 hours; the second, just an hour. I baked it in my Emile Henry long baker, and I brushed the top with an egg yolk mixed with some water. (The original recipe says an egg, but I had the egg yolk left from another recipe.) I baked in the covered baker for 10 minutes at 425F, then reduced the temperature to 375F for 20 minutes before removing the top. The bread needed another 15 minutes to register 200F. (I had forgotten to move the oven shelf down, as I usually do when using the long baker.) It did not have much, if any, oven spring, but it looks like the size depicted in the photo. I will report tomorrow on taste and texture.
