We were having a friend over for dinner and this friend (K) and I disagree on a great many things. Despite our being on opposite ends of the spectrum on what many would consider to be life’s most important topics, she’s one of my very closest friends, and has been for years. She’s a wonderful person, and so for her- and probably only her- would I honour a request that goes as follows:

Me: “Hey, so what should I make for dinner?”

K: “Does it sound bad if I say nothing particularly Frenchy?”

I’d say it’s a testament to our friendship that she asked so nicely :) and so I went searching about for something non-French! I also wanted to do something simple and that had a very tiny possibility of not being liked. Therefore… who doesn’t like cheese pizza? Right? I know her not to be lactose-intolerant, so I figured this one was the safest possible choice. Thankfully, she quite enjoyed it. That “mmh!” she said was wonderful to hear.

Rosemary Margherita ‘Pizza’ Tart

Adapted from David Lebovitz’s French Tomato Tart, which is in turn adapted from A Culinary Journey in Gascony

Ingredients (variation of original):

• 1.5 cups organic AP flour (King Arthur)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 tablespoons soy butter
• 1 large egg (cage-free, brown, organic)
• 2 tablespoons cool water
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon)
• 4 large hothouse tomatoes, ripe (quantity will vary based on tomato size and your tomato preferences)
• 1/2 jar Muir Glen original tomato sauce
• 1 large ball fresh mozarella cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons freshly-frated parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon large grain sea salt

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the soy butter and mix until the butter is fully dispersed into the flour and comes to a crumbly texture
3. Mix the egg with the water in a small bowl, beating thoroughly until the mixture has a light yellow colour.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the center of the flour mixture and mix in to where everything holds together into a dough ball.
5. Flour a work surface, flour your rolling pin, and place the dough ball onto the middle of your work surface. Roll it out and keep dusting it with flour, until there is no stickiness to the dough.
6. Roll the dough onto your rolling pin and place it onto a large 9-inch fluted tart pan. Press the dough onto the sides firmly, then roll your pin across the top to remove the excess dough (which you can use to make a freeform tart, twists, or whatever you choose!)
7. Brush on the mustard and arrange the sliced tomatoes over the mustard. Fill in the holes (where you can see the mustard / there are less tomatoes) with the tomato sauce, then spread whatever you haven’t used of it over the tops of the tomatoes.
8. Place large slices of the mozarella over the tomatoes & sauce. Then sprinkle on the parmesan cheese, sea salt, drizzle on the olive oil…. then take some of the rosemary off of the sprigs and place over the pizza. Lastly, for decoration, place on two large sprigs of rosemary to infuse the pizza.
9. Place in oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese has browned to a golden colour and the crust is just turning golden-brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!

Yum yum yum. The sister has taken to this recipe, and it’s a very yummy one. I’m never against fresh mozarella, personally, and neither should be the general populace, because mmmmh, it’s so good! :)

I proved quite fully with this dish that my sister and I sadly realllly can’t handle the slightest bit of spice. We had this conversation at dinner while eating this:

Sister: (fanning self slightly)

Boyfriend: (nomnomnomnom)

Me: Boyfriend, is this not spicy to you?

Boyfriend: Ahm… no? Should it be?

Sister: To me, on a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 7. Hot hot hot hot!

Boyfriend: To me this is… mmh.. maybe a .7, on that same scale.

So as you can see, to the average person (or perhaps to the usual spicily-tolerant Asian boy), this is not that spicy- in which case the title is inaccurate- but as it was spicy to me, I’m keeping the name. So stricken. :) It’s certainly a tasty dish, and quite healthy, at that.

Spicy Tomato & Cheese Whole Grain Penne Bake

Ingredients:

• 5 tiny sweet white onions
• 4 fresh cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tblspn soy butter
• 1/2 box whole grain penne
• 3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp each of cayenne pepper, paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic powder
• 1 28-oz can of organic diced tomatoes in juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup shredded mozarella
• 2 chicken breasts, cleaned
• 1/3 cup dry cream sherry
• 1 tsp each of dried oregano, basil
• 1/2 cup grated Reggianito (Argentine Parmesan)
• sea salt & freshly-cracked black pepper

Process:

1. Dice onion fairly finely and place in sautee pan with 1 tblspn soy butter, garlic, and sprinkling of salt and pepper
2. Once it begins to bubble and brown, add in the spices (red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic powder) and continue mixing until red/golden in colour
3. Add in the entire can of diced tomatoes and their juice, and the lemon juice and put on medium low heat; stir occasionaly, allow to bubble and thicken
4. Heat water to boil and cook penne according to your preference or box instructions (I like it a bit al dente, with salt and olive oil to prevent sticking). Rinse lightly, then pour into a greased deep baking dish.
5. Place the cherry tomato slices over the pasta (see picture) along with half of the cheese, and drizzle lightly with olive oil (optional)
6. Pour thickened tomato sauce over the tomato slices and pasta, and smooth out to where it’s evenly laid. Sprinkle on a bit more cheese.
7. Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.
8. Sautee 1 more tblspn of soy butter with a spinkle of salt and pepper until bubbling; then add in the chicken breasts. Sear on both sides until no more ‘pink flesh’ is visible- then add in the sherry and reduce to a caramel-y sauce. Glaze the chicken with this and remove onto a cutting board.
9. Cut the chicken into large cubes, then put back into the sautee pan (hope you didn’t clean it, you want that fond de sauce in there!) and continue to sautee for 2-3 minutes until browned on all sides.
10. Sprinkle the herbs onto the top of the tomato sauce mixture, evenly spread about the dish.
11. Remove the chicken from pan and place evenly on top of tomato sauce/herbs/cheese.
12. Grate the Reggianito on top, sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper, and place in oven for 20 minutes approximately, until the cheese is melted and golden.
13. Allow to cool slightly, then serve warm (may fall apart- be wary and be ready to catch falling pieces)

If you can handle spice, then up the spiciness by adding more cayenne and red pepper flakes. But if you’re a spice wimp, like me, then you needn’t add more, this is already plenty :).

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!

Summertime is here and that means, traditionally speaking, an ample amount of grilling! Sadly I have no balcony or backyard at the apartment and thus grilling indoors results in some smokey-ness… but I suppose if we were ever to eat the apartment, I could bill it as a ‘smoked apartment’ with ‘smokey flavour’… not that we’d ever be eating the dry-wall, so the point’s completely moot.

The boyfriend has been doing quite a bit of physical labour as of late for my family. I told him it’s like being a husband with none of the perks, constantly being asked to lift heavy things and whatnot- so I opted to say thanks in the form of steak. Like most men, he has a high appreciation for meat. As I don’t, I opted for salmon (yay, fish and fatty acids).

The char was strong, but I personally enjoy the char of grill, so some blackening was by no means a hardship. The addition of balsamic vinegar (fake, of course, I have yet to obtain a bottle of the real thing but it’s on my life’s to-do list… read the wiki for more information, and realize that the likelihood of your having had actual balsamic is, unfortunately, low) and olive oil- with some spice- took away the slight bitterness of the spring mix, making for a crisp, crunchy, summery dinner.

Grilled Herb Steak, Wild Salmon, and Summer Vegetable Salad

Ingredients (for two):

• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, hulled, cut into 1/8ths
• 8-10 cherry or campari tomatoes, halved
• 12 baby carrots
• 3 cups organic spring mix
• 2-3 tblspn organic canola oil
• 1.5 tblspn extra virgin olive oil for salad, 1 tblspn for meat
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/16 tsp cumin, coriander, salt, pepper for salad
• 2 tsp salt, pepper, paprika for meat
• 2 steaks (your choice of size) or 2 fillets of wild salmon (King or Sockeye) or mix-’n-match proteins!

Process:

1. Heat grill pan (not press) on medium heat and drizzle in 1 tblspn canola oil. Once grill pan is hot, place vegetables in pan (depending on the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches). Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper if desired. Flip over often, being sure to grill but not burn, getting as many grill marks as possible. Add extra canola oil as needed when the smoke becomes excessive. Set aside on a plate once complete (tender, soft but not falling apart by any means, and with char marks)
2. For meat, rub on paprika, salt, and pepper, then brush on olive oil and place on grill; then repeat rub and oil process for other side, and flip after 4-5 minutes (depending on how you’d like your steak to be cooked and how thick it is). For the fish, go with the same process or to let the salmon’s flavour speak for itself, skip the paprika and simply brush on the oil with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
3. Prepare dressing by mixing together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and spices; whisk together forefully to ensure the vinegar and oil mix. Pour over salad in a bowl and toss throughly.
4. To plate, place the salad on the plate first as bedding; then add the grilled vegetables; then the meat. If you’d like a sauce, I’d suggest a cold, white-based one :)

It’s very simple, but I believe that’s what this sort of dish is meant to do- celebrate the flavours brought out by the grilling and not adding too many extra aromas or flavours to the mix. It lets the vegetables and meat speak for themselves, and it’s a lovely sunset summer dish to enjoy with friends.

Last week was an exciting one: my coworker S’s girlfriend E was in town, which meant a night of boardgaming and nerding out was absolutely in order. S suggested we make this fantastic deep-dish spinach pizza (of which, as it was topped high with bell peppers, I have lengthened the name) and it turned out to be quite delicious, indeed. S and I joined E in preparing the dough around noon. After a few attempts to activate the yeast (tricky little thing) we finally got it right. A note on that: follow the yeast packet (if using packet yeast) for instructions regarding the amount of water, not the recipe. The original recipe called for so much water that the yeast was having trouble bubbling. S also deigned to use measuring cups and spoons, which are quite necessary for the exact nature of baking doughs!

E expertly kneaded the dough and supervised its rising during the afternoon. Then, later that evening, the boyfriend and I joined them and we together made the pizza: the boyfriend kneaded and rolled out the dough (using S’s high-tech rolling pin (the vodka bottle)); E handled the tomato sauce; I cooked the spinach and assembled; and S cut the vegetables and grated the cheeses. Three cheers for teamwork!

Deep-Dish Spinach & Bell Pepper Pizza

Following the Deep-Dish Spinach Pizza recipe from RecipeZaar

What really makes the taste of this so wonderful are, in my opinion, the fresh basil leaves. Rosemary, I know you’re commonly called the most fragrant herb, but I’ll take basil over you almost any day :)

Getting this out of the springform pan was a snap- using it makes this incredibly simple. I am tempted to make a flat, thin pizza (preferably Margherita, my favourite) but for deep-dish, you can’t beat the springform. The edges were a bit temperamental when cutting (cracked more easily than usual, S noted) but the taste was fantastic. And what’s quite surprising is that despite being very thin, the dough is very resilient- in fact, only half the dough is used in the recipe. The rest can be stored and used later, or will serve for making two pizzas at once (or perhaps covering it, making it an actual ‘pizza pie’?). Whatever you choose to do with the second half of the dough, this pizza is sure to please. Yum!

So to go along with the panini for our picnic, I opted to make a sweet potato salad as well. Potato salad is a classic picnic food, and this is a bit of a twist on the usual: sweet potato, herbs, and little else. It was slightly crunchy on the outside, mushy on the inside, and the boyfriend seemed to really enjoy it. If anything, it’s a nice change from the traditional. Try it! Between the herb and the intense orange, you know it’s packed with beta carotene goodness.

Grilled Sweet Potato Rosemary Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch-thick cubes
• 2 tablespoons dried rosemary (optional: fresh rosemary, too, for an extra kick!)
• 1 tablespoon organic canola oil
• sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
• optional: 1.5 tablespoons low-fat olive oil mayonnaise

Process:

1. Heat grill pan (just the bottom, no need to heat the press if you have one)
2. Place potato cubes in a bowl, add in canola oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, toss thoroughly until well-coated
3. Grill potato cubes, rotating every 4-5 minutes to brown evenly, until firm but giving a bit in the middle
4. Place in bowl, add optional mayo if desired
5. Let cool a bit… then eat! Warm or cold!

The only complication, if any, to this dish is the time it took for my grill pan to fully grill the potato. That said, it’s a simple yet incredibly flavourful dish that’s very portable and useful. You could switch about the herbs, but I have yet to try any other combinations. If you’re looking to try something even healthier, try flax seed oil (just check its burning temperature first to make sure it can handle your grill).

This recipe is one perfected under my mother’s wing. She is an expert at herb-baked vegetables. Tomatoes, carrots, and zucchini are her most oft-baked ones, though at times another variant can be seen at the dinner table. This dish utilizes the strength of tomato to intensify flavour and make for a fun way to make tomato pasta without the usual pastasauce standby. It’s a convenient do-ahead-er and can be eaten cold out of the fridge (though I find it far better when warm!)

Herb-Baked Tomato Trottole

Ingredients:

• 4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced into 1/3-inch slices
• 1/2 box trottole pasta
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup herbs de provence (or mix of dried basil, oregano, parsley)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan or gruyere cheese
• sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Arrange tomato slices on a baking sheet flat and touching, with little space in between tomato slices. If any pulp falls outside of the slices, place back inside so that no pulp is outward-facing
3. Sprinkle herbs evenly over all tomatoes- feel free to add more herbs if you so desire! They’re fantastic, what’s not to like? Then sprinkle on salt and pepper.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes evenly
5. Place baking sheet in oven (top rack) and immediately bring temperature down to 360 degrees F. Put on a timer for 20 minutes.
6. Boil water (quantity as directed on pasta box) with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp olive oil (to prevent sticking) for pasta
7. Once boiling, cook pasta as directed on package (I like mine to be a bit al dente, like the Italians). Set aside 1/4 cup of the pasta water, then drain pasta, rinse lightly, and place in a large bowl.
8. Check tomatoes. If the edges look crisp and darkened, remove from oven. If not, keep baking for another 5-10 minutes as necessary until edges become crispy.
9. Scoop baked tomatoes onto the pasta and toss. Sprinkle with cheese and season as needed, and voila! Simple, delicious pasta. Just don’t forget to turn off the oven :)

Yes, it’s very simple. But yes, it’s surpirisingly flavourful considering the few ingredients used. And you can substitute any kind of pasta for the trottole- I just happened to find the shape very amusing, and they were on sale. I’d suggest penne or rotini as the best alternatives, but try whatever you like!

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.

Whole wheat pasta. Baked carrots and tomatoes. Herbs. Cheese. Sound familiar? It should.  It’s simply a slightly different variation of one of my pasta standby recipes. Whole wheat pasta- fussili this time, to switch things up a bit- 3/4 of a pound of sweet baby carrots, copious amounts of cheese, herbs, and olive oil, some tomato chunks, and we’re in business. Procedures- see recipe linked above for more detail:

Herbs de Provence Baked Carrot & Tomato Pasta

Ingredients:

1. Half-box of fussili whole grain pasta (or your choice of whole grain pasta)
2. 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3. 3/4 pound to 1 pound sweet baby carrots, sliced in half lengthwise (hot-dog style, if you will)
4. handfull of cherry or roma tomatoes, diced into large chunks
5. 1 cup shredded mozarella, gruyere, etc- pick a good Italian or French cheese
6. 1/2 – 3.4 cup extra virgin olive oil
7. 1/3 cup herbs de Provence
8. 1 cup tomato-basil/oregano pasta sauce (make your own or get a store-bought) (or use pesto)
9. heavy sprinkling of seat salt & freshly-cracked pepper

Process:

• Preheat oven to 365 degrees F.
• Place carrots (cut) in tight rows on a baking sheet. The closer they are, the better- you don’t want to waste oil, cheese, or herbs that get lost between carrots.
• Sprinkle the herbs over all the carrots, making sure they’re well covered. You can go heavier or lighter on the herbs as desired, and don’t have to go with the Provence mix of herbs, either: any combination of the following works great: oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, fines herbes, parsley, etc… just makes sure they’re dried, and try to crush them as you sprinkle them onto the carrots. This will release even more flavour. Fresh herbs would burn and dry out!
• Sprinkle on the cheese in the same manner, making sure it’s evenly coating the carrots. Feel free to take my family’s approach of over-cheesing :)
• Sprinkle on the salt, pepper- and any additional spices, should you want to add some
• Once you’re happy with all your other ingredients, add the olive oil last- this will stop the cheese from burning on top and will keep the carrots moist as they bake!
• Place the baking sheet in the top rack of the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown/golden on top
• Then move the baking sheet to the bottom or middle rack and drop the temperature to 350 degrees, allowing the carrots to cook fully through but without applying as much heat to the cheese (so as to not burn and dry out)
• Once the carrots are cooked through (after another 10-15 minutes in the bottom rack), take the baking sheet out of the oven and set it aside for some cooling.
• While the carrots/tomato chunks are baking, prepare your fussili or other pasta (just a half box will give you 4-5 servings!) as designated on your pasta box. I’d suggest sprinkling in sea salt and a small dollop of olive oil into the water.
• Once the pasta is cooked to just being slightly al dente, drain out the water- but save a 1/2 cup of the pasta water and set aside for using later. Place the pasta into a large mixing bowl and add the parmesan and a quick sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss thoroughly.
• Once the cheese is thoroughly tossed into the pasta, mix in the tomato sauce. If you revese this order, the pasta won’t stick to the cheese very well, and will be stuck within the sauce more than the pasta itself.
• Using a spatula or similar tool, break apart the carrots/tomato chunks- they will have stuck together- and then pour the pile of them into the pasta. Toss thoroughly again, and pour in a bit of the pasta water if things seem too sticky.

And you’re set! This is a healthy, hearty vegetarian dish that will turn any carrot-naysayer into a carrot-lover… guaranteed to work! Serve it warm for best results, but it’s nicely effective as a cold pasta salad as well for picnics and the like. My only warning there is to watch out for stains- the pasta sauce I used (O Organics) is quite hard to wash out, so if on a picnic, you may prefer to forgo the sauce. I do fairly often, and it’s very yummy, sauce or no- if you do forgo it, add a drizzle of olive oil at the end to give it a bit more moisture. Or, go more Italian and add in some pesto instead!

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!