When it comes to appetizers, some like buffalo wings. Others like chips and salsa. My personal favourite is some warm, straight-out-of-the-oven salty focaccia, with a dipping sauce of extra-virgin olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Should you present me with that, I apologize, but I doubt I’d be paying attention to whatever you say next… I’d be distracted. And were you in my shoes in such a situation, you’d be, too. Mmmh.

Last week H and I decided to have a grape-themed night. I found us some matching cookbooks at Half-Price Books that are all about grapes! Green Black Red features all California grape recipes, and it had some delicious-looking things in there, indeed. We picked the two best-looking ones and went for it.

The focaccia looked fantastic in the book, and ours came out virtually identical (except quite a bit more thick, but hey, who’s going to complain about that?). It’s golden and crisp on the outside, encrusted with juicy red grapes, dusted with fresh rosemary sprigs and large-grain sea salt. And it’s Heavenly.

Grape & Rosemary Focaccia

Adapted from Focaccia with Grapes & Rosemary from Green Black Red

Ingredients:

• 1 package dry yeast
• 5 cups organic AP flour (King Arthur, unbleached)
• 1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1.5 cups fresh red grapes, whole
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Process:

1. Place yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add warm water, then stir in sugar. Let sit 5 minutes/ set aside.
2. Stir together the yeast mixture with 3 cups of the flour and the kosher salt using a large wooden spoon.
3. Once fully mixed, slowly incorporate the remaining 2 cups of flour 1/2 cup at a time, using your hands to knead the flour into the dough. Keep kneading until it is smooth and elastic (for approx 10-15 minutes).
4. Temporarily place the dough on a work surface, clean the bowl, and dry. Lightly brush extra virgin olive oil around the bottom and halfway up the sides of the bowl, then place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for an hour.
5. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and check the dough. If it has doubled in size, then pour the 1/2 cup of olive oil in the bottom of a large, round tart dish/pizza pan or baking sheet. Place the dough into the pan and gently stretch it out to fit.
6. Dimple the bread with your finger, and make dimples ever 1/2 inch. Place a grape in each dimple, then sprinkle the top of the bread with the rosemary and sea salt. Drizzle olive oil over the top.
7. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes (depends on the heat of your oven; I baked for 20 minutes and could have even gone down to 18 or so- my oven is hot), until the top is crisp and golden brown but not hard. Cut with a serrated knife or pizza cutter and serve warm with the dipping sauce I mentioned above, or with wine and cheese.

Mine was too thick to make panini, but the book suggests using it as a sandwich bread as well. Personally, though, I like it better as thick squares you can pull apart while warm and munch on as a pre-dinner sort of thing, or as a snack. How do you eat yours?

A.M. and I made- or tried to make- naan to go with our curry dish. A few mistakes on my part made for some rather creative naan… but hey, that’s beside the point.

My Curry Cuisine book calls it ‘probably one of the best gifts from the tandoor to humankind’ and I really can’t agree more: naan is other-worldly. There’s truly something magical about it- I don’t know what it is, but when it’s a bit crispy on the edges, soft on the inside, easily breaking apart so you can dip it in your curry sauce… perfection, right there. My attempt at naan resulted in some problems: I used 4 cups AP flour and 2 self-rising- which made these rise far too much- and then did not flatten them out enough to bake. Thus, I ended up with a sort of cross between naan and a biscuit… hence the name… naanscuits. Warm, with a bit of butter, you’d never know the difference. Maybe this could be some sort of new fusion Southern-Indian cuisine… hmm…

Naanscuits (Naan / Biscuit Cross)

Adapted from Naan in Curry Cuisine

Ingredients:

• 2 rounded tsp granulated sugar
• 2 whole eggs, brown, cage-free, organic
• 1 & 2/3 cups organic skim milk
• 6 cups organic AP flour (or, if you want to make the same mistake I did, use 4 cups AP flour and 2 cups self-rising AP flour)
• 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder (make sure it’s fresh!)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 & 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used organic canola oil; take your pick)

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and place two nonstick baking/cookie sheets in oven to heat.
2. Whisk together sugar, eggs, and milk until the sugar has fully dissolved.
3. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix in the salt and baking powder. Gradually pour in the milky mixture and mix with a rubber spatula. Knead lightly until a soft dough is formed, and don’t overknead. Cover with a damp kitchen towel for 15-20 minutes; set aside.
4. Pour in the oil and knead it into the dough. Scoop out the dough in tiny balls and roll them into small, flat rounds. Pull on one end to make a teardrop shape and place the naan pieces on the hot baking trays.
5. Bake for 5 minutes or until golden brown and fully cooked inside (mine took 15-20 minutes due to their odd thickness) and serve warm and yummy!

With some luck, yours will come out better than mine :) as mine as so odd and…. biscuit-y. But very good! Therein lies the important part… still tasty. Yes? yes. Right, A.M.?

So on my week of breading (yes, this post is late) the boyfriend had friends over for boardgaming and I thus decided on yet another loaf to entertain with. For this one I wanted to try a honey wheat bread, but added in a small army of herbs to add a robust flavour. And, ah, they certainly did! This bread was incredibly moist, and so good warm out of the oven. I liked it a bit less once cooled down, but the crust in particular was fantastic. Definitely a winner to make again, and very simple, as yet again it’s a beer bread! The use of a Blue Moon beer in making this gave it a very light citrus taste that came out only on the very tip of your tongue, before being wrapped in rosemary and honey. Try this mouthwatering bread out and you’ll see everyone in the house/apartment flock to the wafting deliciousness out of the oven.

Honey Wheat Herb Beer Bread

Adapted from / variant of Farmgirl Fare’s Beyond-Easy Beer Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 12-oz bottle Blue Moon beer
• 1/3 cup clover (or your preference) honey
• 1 tablespoon each of dried rosemary, mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon each of dried thyme, basil
• 1 clove garlic, minced and smashed
• 1/4 cup grated San Pietro cheese
• 1 cup organic all-purpose flour
• 2 cups organic whole wheat flour
• 1 tblspn granulated sugar, baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp large rock sea salt for garnish
• 1 egg  + sprinkle of san pietro for garnish

Process:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together all ingredients other than the beer and honey- San Pietro, herbs, garlic, flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder, in a large mixing bowl. Make sure that these are evenly distributed- once the beer is in, you don’t want to overmix, so it’s essential to make sure that things are as uniform- or not- as you’d like at this point.
3. Then add the honey in and mix slowly, being sure not to mix too much!
4. Add the beer a bit at a time in a steady stream, mixing as little as possible. There may be a few small clumps of flour that remain unmixed- despite the strong urge to mix them in thoroughly, don’t- just know that the baking process will fix it for you :)
5. Grease a bread pan with soy butter and pour in the dough. Crack the egg into a small mixing bowl and beat thoroughly. Take a pastry or basting brush and brush on the egg , then sprinkle on large sea salt and extra cheese if you’d like acrispier crust (if not, leave out the extra cheese).
6. Place the bread in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 50 min – 1 hour, until the middle is cooked through (use a toothpick) and the top has a rich golden hue. Cool on a wire cooling rack once cool enough to handle quickly, and then transfer to a cutting board and slice it up!

Seriously. Try it. Count to 5, see how long it takes for people to come knocking and ask if you can cut them a slice. Makes for a perfect gift,t oo, just wrap it in some parchment paper and add a ribbon or some twine!

H and I had made beer bread together several months ago and those warm, happy memories had stayed with me. When a dinner guest came bearing two boxes of beer to drink between himself and the boyfriend, I found myself anxiously wondering what to do with the rest of it. I don’t drink beer; I’m not accustomed to having it around the apartment; and thus its lack of a specific spot in the kitchen had me looking for quick ways to use it. I opted to try Farmgirl Fare’s beer bread recipe again, trying a very different variant. It came out delicious- warm, crusty, but moist on the inside… incredibly fragrant and with a very nice texture.

Onion, Garlic, and Chives San Pietro Beer Bread

Adapted from / variant of Farmgirl Fare’s Beyond-Easy Beer Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 12-oz bottle Fat Tire beer
• 1/3 cup chopped chives
• 4 cloves garlic, minced and smashed
• 4 small white chive onions, diced
• 3/4 cup grated San Pietro cheese
• 3 cups organic all-purpose flour
• 1 tblspn granulated sugar, baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp large rock sea salt for garnish
• 1 egg for garnish

Process:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together all ingredients other than the beer- San Pietro, chives, onion, garlic, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, in a large mixing bowl. Make sure that these are evenly distributed- once the beer is in, you don’t want to overmix, so it’s essential to make sure that things are as uniform- or not- as you’d like at this point.
3. Add the beer a bit at a time in a steady stream, mixing as little as possible. There may be a few small clumps of flour that remain unmixed- despite the strong urge to mix them in thoroughly, don’t- just know that the baking process will fix it for you :)
4. Grease a bread pan with soy butter and pour in the dough. Crack the egg into a small mixing bowl and beat thoroughly. Take a pastry or basting brush and brush on the egg , then sprinkle on large sea salt and extra cheese if you’d like acrispier crust (if not, leave out the extra cheese).
5. Place the bread in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 50 min – 1 hour, until the middle is cooked through (use a toothpick) and the top has a rich golden hue. Cool on a wire cooling rack once cool enough to handle quickly, and then transfer to a cutting board and slice it up!

It’s delicious warm, seriously. Eat it warm. Mmmh. The smell of fresh bread baking in the oven is rather hard to beat, and this one is salty, rich, and tasty! FF’s recipe is so incredibly simple, and doesn’t require any kneading. No need to knead! No worrying about activating yeast- it’s already bubbling in the beer! What more can you ask for in a quick, painless bread recipe?

The second panino H and I assembled was by far the yummier of the two, and all thanks to a chance added ingredient. The flavours of this one were fantastic, to the point where the boyfriend happily wrote me upon having eaten his take-home panino half, “That second panino was sooooo good!!” and he usually doesn’t go out of his way to comment after the fact, which clearly speaks in favour of this hot pressed sandwich. It’s got some really fun textures going on and is downright delicious. Herein lie its secrets:

Hot Italian Panino

Ingredients (makes one sandwich):

• 2 slices cut approx. 1-inch thick of rustic bread of your choice (french boule, rustic/country bread, a fairly dense ciabatta, etc- so long as it’s got few holes and a good crust)
• 5-8 fresh basil leaves
• 3-4 slices fresh mozarella or fresh Italian cheese (we used one which H picked up at the Whole Foods cheese counter of which we both immediately forgot the name, but it was fantastic. More consisent than fresh mozz but creamier and more flavourful)
• 1 tsp – 1 tablespoon (depending on your preference) of pesto (I used the disastrous one I made specifically for this sandwich)
• 2 slices deli turkey (my suggestion would be a smoked or oven-roasted one)
• 1 roasted red bell pepper (jarred works fine)

Process:

1. Heat panini press or grill pan
2. Assemble cheese slices onto one of the bread slices
3. Arrange basil leaves over cheese (see pictures below)
4. Arrange turkey slices over the basil leaves
5. Place red bell pepper over the turkey
6. Spread pesto evenly onto other bread slice
7. Put bread slices together carefully so as to not spill ingredients
8. Place sandwich on panini press and pull down the top; or, place on grill pan and place pressing tool on top; or, place on grill pan and if you do not have a panini press, put a heavy weight on top
9. Grill/press for 4-5 minutes, then if browned to your preference, flip over and grill for another 4-5 minutes
10. Remove from heat, slice in half at a slight diagonal, and dig in :)

It’s incredibly quick and simple, as if you have ready-made ingredients the onl thing you really have to do is cut the cheese… and yet, for under 10 minutes of work and a bit more for prep time and cleaning, you have a gourmet lunch/dinner that’s portable, delicious, and features a wide variety of textures. Try it out and vary the ingredients! You could add tomato (but be careful, they may eject juice), eggplant, zucchini, you name it.

I apologize for being so slow the past week, it’s been a bit of a mad time, but I am at long last documenting the culinary escapades that have since unfolded! First on the list is this hot, hot, hot panino featuring two ingredients and none more within its starchy encasings: pear and cheese. I kid you not, it’s literally that simple, and yet oozing- dripping, really- with flavour. H and I were in a panini-making mood and, quite conveniently, she has a gorgeous panini press.  It was like a sign.

The trick to getting this to be chock-full of flavour is using the right kind of cheese. We used some Delice Nostalgie cheese (it’s a triple creme French cheese in the style of Brie) that I had been keeping in the fridge for a while, and a mildly ripe pear (not so firm that it was crunchy nor so ripe that it fell apart).

Hot Pear & Brie Panino

Ingredients (makes one sandwich):

• 2 slices cut approx. 1-inch thick of rustic bread of your choice (french boule, rustic/country bread, a fairly dense ciabatta, etc- so long as it’s got few holes and a good crust)
• 1 small pear, medium-ripe, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch thick slices
• 2-3 half-inch-thick slices of Brie (or similar creamy French) cheese

Process:

1. Heat panini press or grill pan
2. Arrange pear slices on one bread slice
3. Arrange cheese slices on other bread slice- note, as this is a creamy cheese, you may need to spread the cheese evenly onto the bread (see pictures below) rather than simply arranging slices (this will depend on how creamy your chosen cheese is)
4. Put bread slices together carefully so as to not allow contents to fall out
5. Place sandwich on panini press and pull down the top; or, place on grill pan and place pressing tool on top; or, place on grill pan and if you do not have a panini press, put a heavy weight on top
6. Grill/press for 3-4 minutes, then if browned to your preference, flip over and grill for another 3-4 minutes
7. Remove from heat, slice in half at a slight diagonal, and dig in :)

It’s quite possibly the most simple sandwich ever and yet it is so insanely flavourful. The cheese melts like butter and moistens the bread, whil ethe pear cooks into a gentle texture and flavour that melds nicely with the cheese. This is vegetarian-friendly and an excellent way to celebrate the simplicity of very few ingredients.

I was able to use 7 of the bananas for the banana tart, however this left me another 20 or so to go. Though I had planned to avoid banana bread, I had to use all 20 remaining bananas before Friday as 1) they were ripening quickly, and 2) I knew I wouldn’t be home this weekend. I had wanted to try some banana-filled crepes from my English cookbook (it features fun European ingredients you just can’t find here, ie: “digestive biscuits” or “vanilla-wine crackers”) but they would have required firmer bananas than those I currently had, and are more of a morning thing. Thus, banana nut bread it was!

A quick evaluation of proportions yielded the following fact: I was going to have to quintuple the recipe to accomodate all my remaining bananas. Considering the fact that I was making 5 batches of this thing at once, I thought it smarter- and more fun- to diversify (just in case one of the varieties was subpar)- thus I went for two. A look at the Food Network recipe archive brought me to this one, which had some of the highest marks from reviewers I’ve seen on the website (I wanted to find one with high confidence as I was forcibly making such a large quantity at once!)

Control: Bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg

Batch A (2x recipe): Almond extract, pecans, whole wheat flour, 1 hour baking time

Batch B (3x recipe): Vanilla extract, walnuts, white (AP) flour, 50 minutes baking time

Conclusions drawn:

• The whole wheat breads rise less, thus a little extra baking powder/soda falling into the bowl isn’t a hardship. They also should probably have a shorter cooking time in the future to keep them moist.
• It’s true: those incredibly ripe, mushy bananas yield the best texture. I’m now a believer in banana myths.
• To be honest, I find little difference in the pecans and walnuts once cooked. In the future, I may not bother to differentiate.
• The almond extract I used was rather strong- just a little over a tablespoon for 2 batches’ worth of bread changed the taste drastically.
• The whole wheat breads were also far less sweet than the other variety. If you’re satisfying someone with a sweet tooth in making these, be sure to add a bit more sweetness to a WW variety.
• Have multiple bowls ready! The sugar/egg/butter mixture must be done in its own bowl, the banana/milk/spice mixture in yet another, and the flour/salt/baking soda/baking powder in a third. I started using pasta pans and cake pans, as I needed 4 bowls and I only have two (good excuse to go bowl-shopping now)

I really followed this one rather closely with few substitutions, as all the comments I read claimed this was one of those rare recipes that is very enjoyable as-is. I brought some for the boyfriend (he loves banana nut bread), his neighbors (who, I’m proud to say, started digging in with their beautiful fingers (the boyfriend’s got some very attractive neighbors), and to work. So far everyone really enjoys it, and it’s quite simple, despite the need to keep ingredients separate, so… try it out and let me know your thoughts!

Today H came for our almost-every-week-ly “sewing” (a minimal amount of that takes place) and cooking session. She had suggested we try out this insanely simple bread from Farmgirl Fare. My one other attempt at bread has resulted in unactivated yeast, and, therefore, a lumpy and unrisen loaf. Needless to say, it was not a success by any means. This recipe calls for beer- which, luckily, means there is no way the yeast can not be activated. Brilliant!

The recipe suggests a number of variations, and we decided upon the “Italian” and the “Rosemary and Feta”- mainly because we had both forgotten to stock up on garlic (by that I mean H had some but forgot to bring it and I have yet to bring myself to obtain some). We followed the recipe to a T- as H is a very precise person, we carefully measured everything. The result- after an impatient 45-minute baking period- were two very nice and professional-looking (if I do say so myself) loaves of bread. Mmh! The recipe has no butter or eggs or oil… and yet the bread is warm and gooey and- well, it makes no sense. There’s even only minimal sugar. Clearly the cheese is working overtime for lack of all these ingredients…

I don’t like beer (or most alcohol, for that matter) but thankfully the majority of it baked out- just a slightly bitter taste to the parmesan bread, but actually that’s the tastier of the two! If I’m to make this bread without H in the future, though, I would have to- gasp- purchase beer… and a bottle opener. I shudder at the thought of it.

PS Sorry about the yellow cast on all these pictures- I’m staunchly not editing any of these to ensure the authenticity of the foods prepared, but it’s becoming  quite obvious that I’m cooming in the evening, and that it’s winter. Come summertime there’ll be sunlight later on in the evening, so with some luck a blue-er cast will the emerge!