Milk and Honey Sourdough Bread (Ckng Lght BB)
With some over the phone guidance from the Husband (he was turkey hunting and feeding "Harold" is his domain) I divided out some starter and fed Harold. I sure hope I didn't do him in.
Temps were a bit cool inside and outside the house on Sunday morning and the starter didn't look like it had done all that much overnight. But I fired up the oven with grand baking plans, ate some breakfast and by the time I got to the starter it looked much perkier. This bread assembled, rose, and baked beautifully. A pretty simple recipe too: just combine starter, scalded milk, honey, flour (ww and bread), salt and a bit of extra yeast. There are only two risings. I was supposed to roll it in oats, but I've found in the past that the oats just fall off and make a mess so I skipped that bit. Sadly, this is going in the freezer for next week as I won't be able to make bread next weekend. Is that torture or what?
Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting (Culinary in the Country via Everyday Foods)
When Joe posted this on on his blog, I knew I was going to have to make these for book group. The directions seems cumbersome, but assembly and baking go very quickly. The liquids are combined (egg yolk, oil, sugar); the dry goods are combined (flour, dutch process cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda); and the egg whites are whipped into stiff peaks and folded into the batter. This is supposed to make a tender light crumb. My disappointment was that the cakes didn't rise very high.
Meanwhile, a mixture of powdered sugar, butter and cream is beat together and and then piped into the cupcake for the "filling". A little bit is reserved for the curliques on top. Then a chocolate ganache is made and each cake dipped in that. When cool, the white piping is added. What fun! Homemade Hostess Cupcakes!
**Picture is from Joe's blog - sadly, my camera battery died just as I went to take my picture. His picture is better anyway...
Cobb Salad (Mpls Star Tribune; Thurs, Mar 27, 08) 5.0!!
OMG. This was absolutely fabulous! I loved the flavors and all the veggies with a splash of bacon and blue cheese. If you need a picnic meal, this would be it - great with some wine and crusty bread.
A vinaigrette of basil, oregano, shallots, balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil is whipped up in the food processor and set aside. The recipe called for romaine lettuce, but I used a leaf lettuce variety. I also opted out of the rotisserie chicken (the newspaper article was about using rotisserie chicken) and added baby red potatoes and artichokes. Asparagus is briefly boiled then blanched, a hard boiled egg sliced, an avocado diced and everything is arranged ever so nicely on top that bed of lettuce and sprinkled with bacon and blue cheese. I added the dressing after I had served because there is nothing worse than soggy lettuce.
I can't WAIT to have leftovers of this one!
No comments:
Post a Comment