Focaccia Pugliese: A Process

This week marks a month since Dad passed away. I don't know how much I'll share about the months (years) leading up to his death, considering I didn't share much of it as it was happening. But today, right now, it feels right to write. This post is not a logical place to begin in writing about grief. But then again, grief has no logic to itself. Sure, people find logic enough in it to assign such a thing as "The Stages of Grief." Lest that fool you, there is no rhyme or reason to the order of emotions, the twists and turns, highs and lows, that unbury themselves at any given moment. You do laugh again, you smile - I've smiled and laughed many times in the past 28 days. You find joy in things, you are awestruck by beauty. In many ways, the world truly does keep turning. But in other ways, it doesn't. How can it when this person is no longer a part of it? When you can no longer share experiences, thoughts, laughs, questions, hugs.

This past Saturday, in an attempt to have as close to one of those experiences with Dad as now possible, I got in the kitchen. I put on his old Kaldi's t-shirt (a shirt that Jonathan and I lovingly got him in honor of his love for our local coffee shop's cappuccinos), I turned on Miles Davis (his love for music, specifically jazz, is one of the most tangible reminders of him -- close to 500 CDs' worth!) and I started my attempt to replicate Dad's Focaccia Pugliese recipe.

The thing is, Dad didn't really have a recipe that he used. He used his eyes, his hands, his sixth sense of what ingredients needed to be thrown together and, ta-da, the rest of us magically got to eat delicious homemade focaccia. The same applies for his panzerotti and fresh pasta. But, one thing at a time - the first step: perfecting the focaccia.

I researched and compared recipe after recipe. I talked to Mom and together we pieced together the basic ingredients we knew were involved. Many recipes call for using boiled potatoes, but I didn't remember that ever being a part of Dad's focaccia (Mom confirmed that). Apparently home bakers in Puglia (the southern region of Italy both of my parents are from) use potatoes in their focaccia to make it more moist, but the slices you buy from the panificio (bakery) would not include potatoes...so I guess Dad was going after that fresh-from-the-bakery taste ;-)

We came up with our list of ingredients: bread flour, water, yeast, olive oil, salt, sugar (for dissolving the yeast), diced canned tomatoes, green olives and dried oregano. I combined recipes from here and here, subbing in diced tomatoes for fresh tomatoes and added green olives. We couldn't remember how long he let the dough rise or how hot he turned on the oven. What I do remember is him laying a blanket over the bowl where the dough rested and rose, so I proudly did the same.

So the recipe I followed was 2 3/4 cup bread flour, 2 Tbs. olive oil, 1 tsp. honey, 1 Tbs. yeast, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 cup warm water. I let the dough rise for 90-120 minutes. I oiled a 9x13 baking pan and spread the dough out, pressed down to create little indents to place the diced tomatoes and green olives. I then sprinkled salt and dried oregano over top and brushed olive oil all over. I first baked it at 400 for 20 minutes, then at 425 for 25 minutes.

Next time around, I'll follow my instinct (and the yeast bag's instruction) and dissolve the yeast in warm water with sugar (not honey) separately before combining all ingredients - even though the recipes said to throw it all together. The focaccia seemed denser than my memory serves and needed a little more air in the middle. I'll also bake the focaccia at a higher temperature to begin with and maybe let the dough rise for longer than 90 minutes. And I'll add more olive oil on top, because, well, who doesn't love more olive oil! But really, it needed a little bit of a darker color, a crisper top. But as a first attempt, I was really pleased. The smell and taste were just as I remember, and we all know smell is a huge trigger for memories.

I'm already looking forward to my next Saturday in the kitchen, tinkering with this in-the-works recipe, acquainting myself with Dad's favorite jazz tunes, and having our new-found tradition of a Saturday baking date.

Fruits of Our Labor

"Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with supermarket apples. They still have more or less the same health benefits and versatility in the kitchen. They just aren’t going to make your heart beat faster." - "The Pick of the Apple Orchard," New York Times

That's right, people: picking apples makes your heart beat faster. Or at least makes you feel closer to the food you eat and the harvest of this season. Jonathan and I picked apples for the first time this weekend at Eckert's Farm in Belleville, IL. It was finally a cooler fall day and we didn't have much planned for Sunday so we drove out to the farm -- along with 100 other families in the metro area, I'm sure. There are plenty of other activities at Eckert's for kids and families, but we focused our energy on the apple trees and the pumpkin patch. We picked Honey Crisp and Fuji ... 22 pounds to be exact! Yeah, we went a little bit overboard -- blame that quickening heart beat!

But almost more fun than picking all those apples is the subsequent creative fest of cooking and baking with them. We came home, ran to the store and then got cooking on the following:

Apple Pie

Chunky Apple Sauce (and Pork Chops)

Cinnamon Pecan Apple Muffins

But we're just scratching the surface! Today must have been national apple day or something (no offense, Columbus Day) because I was bombarded with apple recipes from friends, family and social media. Hey, I'm not complaining. Here's my shortened list for now:

Cheddar Apple Biscuits
Apple Ginger Soup
Pulled Korean BBQ Pork Apples
Apple Pie Fritters
Poached Pear (Apple) Salad

Have a favorite apple recipe you think we should try? Send it my way! Seriously, this is our bottom refrigerator drawer right now (only after Jonathan took about five pounds of apples to work). 

(Fill in the Blank) Rice Bowl

Recently my good friend Leslie (aka macaron baker extraordinaire) told me, "Whenever you make a new recipe, just assume I want it and send it to me." Well I haven't been so good at following up on that request, but I also haven't made new "recipes" in a while, either. So the following is less a recipe and more a list of ingredients that when combined are likely to taste pretty great.

I used to shy away from making Asian dishes at home because the list of specialty ingredients required intimidated me and dissuaded me from making the commitment. But those days are gone! It began with lettuce wraps and there's been no turning back since. It's nice to have an entire new arsenal of ingredients in our kitchen to throw together spontaneously.

One of the Food Network Recipe of the Day emails I got this week was for this bacon and broccoli rice bowl. We had a half-used package of bacon (from a super yummy & easy shaved Brussels sprouts and bacon side dish we made) so I was intrigued. This became a "throw together stuff you have in your produce drawer" kind of meal, so my resourceful was happy.

Ingredients I threw together:

• brown rice
• leftover sugar snap peas
• shredded carrots
• bacon
• leftover shaved brussels sprouts
• cilantro
• fried egg
• soy sauce, garlic rice vinegar, mirin (the recipe only called for soy sauce so do whatever works for you!)

Pseudo-recipe: Cook the rice per directions. In a medium pan, simmer the sugar snap peas in water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and combine the peas with rice, along with shredded carrots. Cook bacon in the medium pan until browned; add shaved Brussels sprouts. Saute for 2 more minutes. Add the bacon and Brussels sprouts to the rice mixture, along with soy sauce (and any additional sauces you have). Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring until sauces are well-combined and almost completely evaporated. Transfer to bowl. Fry egg and serve on top of rice bowl. Garnish with cilantro.

I'm not a big fried egg person (I always overcook them) so it's not the prettiest picture, but you get the idea. With the cilantro and combo of sauces, the taste was somewhere between pad thai and fried rice. Is that a weird description? Hope not, 'cause it was delicious! So go dig out your produce drawer goodies and get cookin'.

How Do You Measure a Visit?

One of our nearest and dearest paid us a visit this weekend. As Abby herself said, the cool thing about her visiting us is that she's one of both of our good friends (but I kind of like to hog her to myself ;).

We kicked off the weekend on Friday night with dinner at Pi. We were blessed with an unusually warm Friday (70 degrees, people!) and enjoyed wonderful food and drinks sitting al fresco.

When I started thinking about the rest of our weekend, the number two seemed to come up a lot, so I'll let it do the talking for me:

2//new restaurants tried

brunch @ Half & Half
Fitting enough to the name, Abby and I shared half and half of our entrees (it's becoming a regular thing and I love it!). Biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs & a Waldorf salad with chicken. A perfect brunch combination shared over great conversation among the three of us.

dinner @ Seoul Taco
The Loop is overflowing with tucked away, ethnically-diverse, local eateries, and we're just beginning to take advantage of them. This place boasts just a few menu options, but those few are just enough. I opted for a pork taco & steak taco with Kimchi fried rice (all great) and Abby and Jonathan went for the burritos (which they raved were borderline as good/better than Chipotle...whoa!)


2//goodies baked

salted caramel chocolate chip cookies - Abby's recommendation, our gluttonous delight (recipe)

soft pretzels - Yes, those same pretzels I've mentioned a million times before. Go make them already!


2//people loved re-watching Pitch Perfect

One guess as to who didn't love it as much? :)


2//games of Pandemic lost

What's there to say: we didn't cure all four diseases in time to save the world. Twice. Sorry, world. But it doesn't mean we won't try again.

Mediterranean Diet

Happy Friday! Because it's Friday during Lent, that means meatless Friday for us Catholics. As much as I love veggies and meatless dishes, I admittedly always scratch my head when it comes to thinking of lunches and dinners for this time of year. My go-to meatless dish is usually my favorite creamy salmon pasta. We made that last week, and even though I could eat that every single week, we probably shouldn't... but it is so good! I've posted the recipe on blogs of years past, but I'll repost it sometime because it is beyond simple to make. So for dinner J suggested some sort of pasta and salad. So pesto pasta it is! Easy enough. That leaves me with lunch.

Because it's still very much winter here, soup comes to mind. Specifically lentil soup. There was a story in The New York Times this week about a study that the New England Journal of Medicine published about the heart-healthy benefits of a Mediterranean diet (it fights against heart attacks and strokes). The story appealed to me because I grew up on a fairly Mediterranean diet (how could Italians not?). The story mentioned ingredients that are staples in my family's kitchen: olive oil, legumes, nuts, fish, fresh produce and (my favorite) dark chocolate. I feel like most people recognize the health benefits of a majority of these ingredients, but whether or not they are implemented into our diets is another thing. [Wonder how well you fit into the Mediterranean approach? The NYTimes offers this quiz, which I took ... and failed. Looks like we could all use a little more olive oil and fish in our lives.]

I think the ingredient that is trickiest on that list is possibly legumes (aka beans!). Again, in my family it was just another main staple—pasta e fagioli (pasta & beans), pasta e ceci (pasta & chick peas), lenticchie (lentil soup). Come to think of it, a lot of what I consider "my comfort foods" are tied up in legumes. Bonus: they're rich in fiber, filling and so darn good for you! So here is my mom's recipe for lentil soup that is sure to keep you warm and full on a cold winter day (and get you one step closer to a Mediterranean-rich diet!)

Lenticchie

Prep + cooking time: Approx. 2 hours // Servings: at least 4

What you'll need:
2 large carrots
2 stalks of celery
1/2 white onion
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
8 oz. dried lentils
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
Chicken broth or 2 bouillon cubes boiled in 1-2 qts. water to dissolve
1 bay leaf

What you'll do:
First, you need to make a soffrito (the "holy trinity" of Italian cooking: chopped carrots, celery and onion). Put the three ingredients in a food processor and pulse to finely chop.

In a stock pot, heat olive oil and then add soffrito and cook until golden and onion is translucent. Add lentils and stir for a minute to coat with soffrito. Add diced tomatoes.

At this point, add 4 cups of chicken broth (make sure it's also warm so it doesn't stunt the cooking of everything). Allow to simmer. Add bay leaf. When the broth has been consumed, continue adding 1-2 cups at a time. Simmer for 1-1.5 hours, or until lentils are tender. Serve with bread.

Top off the meal with a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate—doctor's orders!

One Ingredient ||| Three Ways

If you were around a few weeks ago you remember I made way too much food for a certain football game watch party. Well part of that spread was a 5-lb. pork butt that we cooked in the slow cooker for some carnitas nachos. One baking sheet of nachos proved to be more than enough for us, so we had a lot of shredded pork left over. One week later, I was happy proud to say we used the rest of the pork in three different dishes, making my resourceful and creative heart very happy (not to mention our stomachs).

So first comes the cooking of the pork. We altered this beer braised pork recipe from Bon Appetit so we could cook it in a slow cooker instead of in a pot, which really just meant increasing the liquid & cooking time. We cooked it on low for about six hours until the pork fell off the bone (our pork butt wasn't boneless). At this point, remove the meat from the pot and shred with a fork. Store in a container until it's time to make one, two or all three of the following:

1. CARNITAS NACHOS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reheat desired amount of carnitas in a pan. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Layer tortilla chips, carnitas, 1 can rinsed black beans, 1 chopped onion and shredded cheese (we grated sharp cheddar and Monterrey Jack). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve with guacamole, salsa, sour cream or pico de gallo.

2. BBQ PORK SANDWICHES + SWEET POTATO FRIES
Place desired amount of carnitas in a pan on medium heat. Pour in your favorite barbeque sauce (for us, that's KC Masterpiece Original) and a few tablespoons of water so the sauce doesn't burn and the meat doesn't dry out. Serve on toasted burger buns alongside some sweet potato fries.

3. ASIAN PORK with NOODLES and SUGAR SNAP PEAS
(I adapted a recipe from Real Simple to be able to sub in a lot of the specialty ingredients I bought a few weeks ago for these chicken lettuce wraps. My resourceful heart was the happiest about this one.)  Place desired amount of carnitas in a pan on medium heat. Pour in 1-2 tbs. soy sauce, 1 tsp. chili garlic sauce, 1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger, 1 tbs. mirin and 1 tbs. garlic rice vinegar. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and add udon noodles. Cook 4-5 minutes, adding sugar snap peas during the last minute of cooking. Strain and combine in pan with pork. Toss to coat noodles and sugar snap peas. At this point you can add more soy sauce if needed.

Recipe Intimidation

As much as I love cooking, I get a little anxiety from overly complicated recipes. I tend to get easily worked up about difficult steps and techniques. Only recently have I started to grasp what my mom teaches me whenever I cook with her: the recipe is just a guide ... make your own rules and ad lib as you go! Her version of a recipe is "a little bit of this, a cup of that (but not a measuring cup, one of those little cups we use for coffee, you know?)"

Case in point: One time in college I decided to make her delicious coffee whiskey semifreddo. I called home to ask for the recipe (she does actually have a "recipe" written down for this). My dad read the recipe to me and I followed it to a T. Later that night I pulled it out of the freezer and served it up to all of our friends. Reactions: "Wow, this is strong!" "V, you don't like to drink, but you sure like it in your dessert!" The recipe called for a cup of whiskey, okay? When I told my mom how much stronger than usual it tasted she said, "No, not a measuring cup. One of those little coffee cups we use for espresso. You know?" Lesson learned. 

Anyway, this is all an extreme tangent to my initial point. Which is this: I shy away from difficult recipes, but I'm learning to loosen up. So I bit the bullet and made beef bourguignon Friday night. I wanted to turn on Julie & Julia and relive the joys and agonies of cooking Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon recipe. Instead, I researched a few recipes and chose a simple yet pretty authentic version. I admittedly shied away from Julia's original or even the million-step Martha Stewart recipe. There's no crime in making the recipe work for you.

A friendly heads up: The prep & cooking time for this is about 3.5 hours. If, like me, you get started on this recipe later than you planned, which means a late dinner, appease your hungry husband/roommate/friends/guests with some French-inspired munchies: bread, brie cheese and grapes. And wine. That always helps.

And if your husband brings home beautiful tulips, all the better.

Beef Bourguignon with Roasted Potatoes

Adapted from Jenna Weber's recipe on PBS Food

Prep + cooking time: Approx. 3.5 hours // Servings: 4

What you'll need:

1 1/2 lbs. stew meat, cubed

1/4 cup flour

2 tbs. vegetable oil

1 tbs. butter

8 oz. bag of pearl onions, peeled with ends cut off

2 carrots, chopped (or in my case, a handful of baby carrots, chopped)

3 celery stalks, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups of dry red wine (I used Leese-Fitch's Pinot Noir; one bottle=3 cups)

1/3 tsp. dry thyme leaf

2 bay leaves

10 oz. sliced mushrooms

4 small yellow potatoes

1 tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper

What you'll do:

Use a paper towel to pat the meat dry before coating in flour. In a gallon Ziploc bag combine flour and pinch of salt and pepper. Add stew meat and toss to fully coat. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbs. vegetable oil and butter in a dutch oven or large pot on medium heat. {Confession: another reason I've been wanting to make this dish is to be able to use our beautiful Le Creuset}. When butter and oil are sizzling add meat and brown on all sides, approx. 4 minutes per side. Remove meat and place on a plate.

Add the rest of the vegetable oil to the pot and add the onions, celery and carrots. Saute the veggies, adding garlic after 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and cook until the carrots are tender, approx. 5 more minutes. Add thyme and stir.

At this point, put the meat back in the pot with the veggies. Pour in wine and add bay leaves. Allow to boil and then lower the heat to low. Partially cover the pot and simmer for 3 hours, or until wine has reduced into a thick sauce. Stir occasionally to make sure meat does not stick to bottom. 

For the potatoes:

When 45 minutes of cooking time remain, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the potatoes into eight pieces each and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 35-45 minutes, tossing occasionally. 

When 15 minutes of cooking time remain, heat 1 tbs. of olive oil in a pan and saute the mushrooms for 10 minutes. Stir into the beef for remaining minutes of cooking.

Remove bay leaves and serve potatoes alongside beef.

Bon appétit!

On the Menu: Super Bowl edition

We spent some time today prepping food for tomorrow's Super Bowl food fest. We're excited to have a few friends over to watch the game, make prop bets, laugh at commercials and, most importantly, eat tasty food. 

We're trying out a few new recipes for the occasion. The recipe for the soft pretzels was a Pinterest find, and beer-braised carnitas were featured in this month's Bon Appetit. Today, Jonathan cooked the pork in the slow cooker to get a head start on the nachos for tomorrow. 

(We're enjoying playing around with Twitter's new video app, Vine. The app lets you shoot a short video—6 seconds—continuously or out of various shorter clips . It seems like it could be a cool tool for cooking tutorials.)

I also made the dough for the pretzels and formed them to freeze overnight. Oh, how I hope they turn out tasty because you know how much we love a good soft pretzel!

Happy game-watching, everyone! May the best team win and may Beyonce sing beautifully.

Repurposing Leftovers

After a weekend of cooking every night (stir fry and crab rangoon on Friday, lasagna on Saturday and tacos on Sunday) I faced a week of leftovers on Monday. I've learned that I get a little bit of anxiety knowing I have leftovers sitting in the fridge because I worry it's going to go bad quickly, and I hate throwing food away (I think I got this trait from my dad who tends to take all leftovers from the fridge and make a hodgepodge addition to any meal). But after a few days of doing nothing but reheating meals in the microwave, I missed cooking.

On a related note, I also worry about wasting specialty ingredients. Case in point: the wonton wrappers from last Friday's crab rangoon. We only used half the package for that recipe, and rather than making another batch of crab rangoon tonight, delicious as they were, I excitedly remembered running across a recipe in this month's Cooking Light that used wonton wrappers for homemade ravioli.

To be fair, the wonton wrappers don't completely measure up to fresh pasta. But they are a great shortcut option and the combination of flavors in the filling and pesto are terrific. I'll make these again for sure. Actually, I have about 20 currently setting up in the freezer because there was no way I was going to go through 30 leftover wonton wrappers on my own. The filling was also more than I needed, so I'll probably enjoy it as a side to some meat course this week. The leftovers continue! It's a vicious little cycle, but somebody's gotta eat it.

Shortcut Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto
(recipe adapted from Cooking Light)

What you'll need:
1 butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded (Easier said than done! This is an exercise all on its own.)
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbs. salted butter, melted
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
30 wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten
Pesto (1 tbs. per 6-8 ravioli)
Olive oil (2 tbs. per 6-8 ravioli)
Cooking spray

What you'll do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a foil-lined baking sheet with cooking spray and place squash halves cut sides down. Bake for 30 minutes (or until tender). Allow to cool before scooping out pulp. Mash the pulp and combine with oregano and butter in a bowl. Stir in Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Spoon about 1 1/2 tsp. squash into center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with the egg and fold in half to form triangle. Pinch edges together to assure a tight seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers.

When water comes to a boil, carefully drop 3-4 ravioli at a time into the pot. Cook 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat pesto and olive oil in a smaller pot. When ravioli are cooked, remove with slotted spoon and place gently into the pot with pesto and gently coat. Repeat with remaining ravioli. Arrange 6-8 ravioli on a plate and garnish with extra Parmesan, if desired. (**If, like me, you don't want to eat all of these at once, place single layer of uncooked ravioli in the freezer until frozen. Store in a plastic bag. Allow to thaw before cooking. Boil for 3-4 minutes.**)

Pic of the Week: His&Hers

*Every Friday I'll try to post a favorite photo that each of us snapped that week. They won't necessarily be feats of great photography. They're just snapshots (literally) of what we did any given week: a great meal we had, a funny circumstance that happened; nothing is off limits.*

HIS & HERS

We share the same favorite snapshot this week because we both love food and cooking, but even more, we love cooking together, which is exactly what we got to do tonight! Jonathan got back from his work travels yesterday, so it was nice to have a lazy night at home cooking and enjoying time together. I had already planned to make some teriyaki chicken and veggie stir fry, but Jonathan had the added brilliant idea of making homemade crab rangoon. They were quite easy to make, and because we baked them instead of frying, I'd like to think they were not terribly unhealthy. 

Crab Rangoon

1 8 oz. pkg 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 4 oz. can crabmeat, drained (we used Chicken of the Sea brand)

2 green onions, green ends cut finely

2 tsps. Worcestshire sauce

1/2 tsp. light sodium soy sauce

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

36 wonton wrappers

Duck sauce, for dipping (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until creamy. Place 1 tsp. of filling onto the center of each wonton; moisten the corners with water and fold up opposite sides (we tried other shapes but this was the most successful one for us...plus it holds the most filling!). Arrange the rangoon on the baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake until golden brown, approx. 15 minutes. Serve with duck sauce. 

Happy cooking!