Cheese...

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter always makes me want good comfort food.  Fond memories of Easter's past in my family's home.  My mother and grandmothers were terrific cooks and we'd await easter dinner with great anticipation.  When we were old enough, we had the privilege of helping in the kitchen, whether it was mashing the potatoes or putting marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes and watching them brown to perfection.

While those deeply browned marshmallow sweet potatoes were to die for as a child, my tastes have changed and last night we enjoyed a most wonderful aged sheep cheese called Cazelle de Saint Affrique by Herve Mons in southern France.  It had a melt-in-your mouth creamy inside with a slightly nutty flavor.  The outside rind was soft and lent just the slightest tanginess.

We're still on the hunt for the perfect wine-pairing.  Suggestions are welcome!

We followed this with roasted cauliflower (a post for another day) and asparagus, Indian potatoes with black mustard seeds (my new favorite potato recipe from my favorite magazine, Sunset), and grilled flat iron steak powdered with Arizona Rattlesnake Rub.  A fruity malbec to accompany the meal and we were satiated.  What a lovely pre-Easter dinner.

Bread the old-fashioned way

I think we have a winner here.  As I was going through recipes from the past, I came across a hand-written bread recipe from a wonderful neighbor in Tucson.  I suddenly remembered this bread as the right blend of nuttiness and texture.  It also makes three loaves!  I’m not the biggest walnut fan, so I substituted sunflower seeds and some flax seeds.  Otherwise, I stuck to the recipe.  You’ll note over time that I find it very hard to stick to a recipe.  It’s a curse and a blessing.  I love being creative but since my life is so other work-filled it’s delightful to have an already developed base with which to play.

Barb’s Health Nut Bread

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup water
• 1 Tablespoon dried yeast
• 2 cups milk (any kind – I use soy)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup wheat germ
• 1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill 7-grain cereal (or similar type grain cereal)
• 3+ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or sunflower seeds)
• ½ cup almond meal
• ¼ cup flax seeds (toasted ones are nice to use), optional
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• All-purpose or bread flour

Instructions

Heat 1 ½ cups water until lukewarm – stick your finger in and if it feels warm that’s the right temperature.  If it feels hot, it’s too warm.  If it feels the same as your finger it’s too cool.  Sprinkle yeast over water, stir if necessary to incorporate into water.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Heat milk to lukewarm (do the same finger heat test) and add yeast and water mixture, ½ cup sugar, oats, cereal grain, wheat germ and enough whole wheat flour to make a thick batter.  Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Add salt, egg, almond meal, flax seeds, walnuts (or sunflower seeds), oil, and enough all-purpose or bread flour to make a dough.  Knead 10 minutes.

Generously oil a large bowl. Place dough into bowl and turn over (so the top now is coated with oil).  Cover and let rise until doubled.  Punch down and let rise again until doubled.  Form into 3 loaves, place into greased bread tins.  Let rise ½ hour.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Remove loaves from tins and cool on a rack.

A word about TOAST

While these might not be the prettiest loaves – at least mine aren’t – they do produce fabulous toast.  Toast is an essential ingredient in my diet.  At least 5 days a week breakfast consists of toast and toppings.  The most common is, of course, peanut butter (made with salt, but no sugar – it brings out more of the peanut flavor – my current favorite is the Trader Joe’s blue label).  Another all-time favorite is mashed avocado with a little sea salt and pepper – trust me, this is divine!  Pesto of any variety is always good and cheese toast goes without saying – toast bread lightly first, spread a little intense mustard on top and then top with cheese – Manchego is our favorite – and the toast again until the cheese is melted to your liking.

My Friend's Banitza

A dear friend is the chef extraordinaire of making Banitza. Banitza is a Bulgarian food that practically melts in your mouth. While it appears there are as many recipes as there are cooks in Bulgaria, my friend's version is simply unbeatable.  Alas, I do my best and get close, but his is still the best.  It tastes salty from the feta and savory from the spinach and has the perfect crunch texture from the butter and filo dough.  We made it for brunch today and it was very hard to wait until it was done.  It fills the kitchen with pavlovian mouth-watering smells.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces butter, melted
• 1/2 box filo sheets
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup club soda (equal amount of club soda to eggs, adjust soda as necessary)
• 8 ounces feta cheese
• 10-12 ounces frozen or cooked spinach (squeeze out extra moisture)

Preparation

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9 baking dish.

Layer four sheets of filo sheets, lightly buttering each one before laying in the next one.  After the fourth sheet, crumble 1/3 of the feta and 1/3 of the spinach over filo.  Start layering another sheet of filo, pressing down slightly before buttering and layering 3 more sheets.  Repeat the feta/spinach two more times with four sheets of filo in between each layer.  Finish the dish with the last sheets of filo and butter the top.

With a sharp knife cut into desired serving sized squares.  Whisk eggs together and add an equal volume of club soda and lightly blend.  Pour over filo/feta/spinach layers.  Use a fork to slightly move layers and edges apart so the egg mixture soaks down in.

Bake in oven for 40-50 minutes.  Cool 5-10 minutes and serve.

Salt Cellars

Olive Wood Salt Cellar from La Tienda

Ok, I'll admit, I'm probably obsessed with salt cellars and salt.

I buy salts for particular purposes and  I've always wanted a way to store the various salts where they can be accessed quickly and easily.  A jar in a cupboard or worse yet, some ziplock fancy bag, just doesn't cut it.  Salt cellars are the way to go.  I also wanted something with a lid so I could leave it out on the counter - again, easy accessibility is the key.  I found my nirvana.  Beautiful carved olive wood double salt cellars.  These were just the ticket and I want to rave about them.  Just have to give a slight nudge to one side and it opens easily, nicely, and perfect size to grab a pinch of salt and sprinkle over whatever dish you're cooking.  I have three sets of two.  Yup, you got it, I have six easily accessible choices of salt at my fingertips.  To boot, the containers are beautiful - each with its own delightful wood grain on top.  I've memorized which salt is in which container by the top.  I'm also one of those wacky types that has about 30 jars of different spices and herbs and not one with an accurate label or any label at all.

Why so many?  Gray salt goes best with greens.  Kosher for most everything else.  Chunkier sea salt for grinding in a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder) when making spice blends or pastes.  The others?  Well, let's just say I'm strange that way.  Nevertheless, if you're wanting easy access to sprinkling salt on your food as you cook (or I suppose, heaven forbid, you could use the 2nd side for pepper) and gorgeous woodwork on your counter to show off, this is the ticket for you.  I know there are other options out there, but these are the most beautiful I have seen.  Here is the link if you want to order one.  I have no investment in this company, just love this product.

My Grandma's Asparagus

My first post has got to be about the most delightful food I have ever eaten and a tribute to the good food I was raised on, from the delectable meals my parents provided to the treasures prepared by my grandmothers. My paternal grandmother created what has got to be the most sinful asparagus ever.  I could eat pounds of it. 

I have two versions of this recipe. The first is the simple way my grandmother prepared it.  The second is my non-packaged (and non-dairy) version.

Grandma's Asparagus - Version 1

Ingredients

• 1 pound asparagus
• 1/3 cup store-bought pancake mix (Krusteaz, etc)
• 2-3 Tablespoons Canola oil

Preparation

Wash asparagus, but do not dry.  Trim hard ends from asparagus.  My favorite way to do this is take each stalk and from the bottom up work your way up the stalk bending it until it snaps easily.  Slice asparagus into thin rounds.  Toss into a bowl and shake the pancake mix of the top.  Toss together until rounds are coated.  If you need more mix, shake more over and toss together until asparagus rounds are lightly coated.

Heat oil in a non-stick 10" skillet over medium heat.  When slightly shimmering, add asparagus and spread it out.  If you ended up with too much floury mix try not to add it to the pan.  Now that the asparagus is cooking, try not stir until the bottom is browned to your liking.  I know, it's hard, but resist the temptation.  Once the bottom has lightly browned stir again and let it sit until lightly brown.  Cook until it's the crispness you like.

Grandma's Asparagus - Version 2

Ingredients

• 1 pound asparagus
• 4 Tablespoons flour
• 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 2-3 Tablespoons Canola oil

Instructions are the same as above, but mix the dry ingredients together for version 2 before tossing with the asparagus.

Variations - try adding a chopped onion or sliced green onions to the asparagus before coating (note that you'll need more dry ingredients if you add more vegetables).