Recipe Review 1/1/08

We are off to a great start for January! Of course, I must give credit where credit is due – the Husband has made a couple new recipes as well which must be counted. I’ve also changed my grading system for this year. I came to realize with the 1-10 system I was grading everything at 5 and above, so it only made sense to change the grading system to 1-5.

It now goes as such: 1=bad, 2=eh, 3=good, but probably won’t make again, 4=tasty, 5=excellent!
Without further ado, here is what we made our first week in 2008:

Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread (Bernard Clayton’s New Book of Bread, pg 262) 3.5
This recipe came about because the Husband read about using the dregs of a homebrew to make sourdough starter. However, when he went back to his magazines he couldn’t find the recipe. I pointed out several bread baking books on my shelf and he ended up combining a couple different methods to make a basic starter.

From the starter (now named Harold, because that is what one does with their starter) he decided the pumpernickel bread would be a great place to start. From the starter a sponge is created and this sits overnight. In the morning, it is combined with molasses, bread flour, cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, and AP flour (yes, I actually have that many flours and one more to boot), and caraway seed. The first rise was supposed to be three hours, but those little yeasties were quite happy and it was good to shape after 2 ½ hours. After shaping and another hour rise, it baked for 45 minutes.

This bread turned out very similar to an Irish Soda bread in taste, but the crumb and texture were much lighter. The "sour" aspect wasn’t all that pronounced and I think that is due to the caraway seeds and molasses. Plus it is a new starter and hasn’t had the opportunity to develop its fermented flavors yet. This has made a great lunch bread for sandwiches or on it’s own with some soup. Made two boules.


Anthos Lentil Soup (Ckng Lght Jan/Feb 08, pg 203) 3
A lentil soup seasoned with carrots, celery, potato and bay leaf. I upped the lentils so I could use up a small bag I had. What made this "Greek" was the addition of vinegar - a nice tang to counter the beans. Well, I don’t know where the tang went, because I found this to be rather bland. In fact, I brought my small jar of sea salt to work just to season this soup. Perhaps some feta cheese on top would have added something more. Made a lot as well.


Fish and Chips (Irish Pub Ckbk, pg 172) 5!
This is the other Husband dish. We subbed Lake Superior Trout for the cod and all I can say is FANTASTIC! First, a couple three potatoes are scrubbed, soaked in cold water and dried before being briefly dunked in hot oil. Then the oil is brought back up to temp and the potatoes (in batches) are cooked until golden, spread on paper towels, seasoned with kosher salt and popped into a warm oven to keep warm.

Meanwhile, the fish batter is prepared (self rising flour, baking soda, salt, beer, ginger and lemon juice) is combined and very gently stirred together. The fish is cut into equal sized nuggets, mixed into the batter in batches and plopped into the hot oil. The batter puffs up and turns golden brown. After about 5 minutes the nuggets are pulled out, placed on paper towels and stored in the warm oven while the other batches finish.

BOTH the "chips" and fish were excellent. Nothing turned out greasy or oily. The potatoes were golden with nice soft centers and the fish were nice and flaky in their little envelopes of goodness. I made a lemon aoili - fancy name for lemon tartar sauce that accompanied the recipe -this was a nice counter point to the fish, but we really liked how malt vinegar tasted with everything. We will be making this again because we have several more packages of Lake Trout to use up and this may be the only way I’ll eat it. My only major complaint is now the house smells like a fryer. Pewh!

Polenta with Tomato Braised Beans (CL Jan/Feb 08, pg 165) 4
I made the beans for this dish New Year’s Day so I wouldn’t have to futz with them later in the week. I used the Cattle Beans we grew in 07 and they cooked up very nice and tender (it helped that I used bottled water this time).


Garlic is sautéed with fresh chopped parsley then a can of diced tomatoes is added and the liquid reduced for about 12 minuets. To this I added the beans (about 2 cups cooked), and let everything just simmer quietly for about 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, water is brought to a boil and coarse polenta is gradually stirred in. The stirring continues for about 2 minutes, then cover and cook for 10. The instructions continued on like this for about 20 minutes! Stir continuously, then cover and cook…. whatever. I did this twice because it was convenient to do so then slapped the lid on and let it do its thing. It came out thick and creamy and provided a lovely base for the tomatoes and beans. I served roasted asparagus and grape tomatoes on the side.



Pantry reduction count for the week:
Rye flour from 2004 (been in the freezer)
Lentils (2007)
Dried Cattle Beans from 07 garden