Yep! We are STILL baking our way thru the Bread Bakers Apprentice cookbook. The book that started it all. Yea, this book combined with the overwhelming desire to communicate using 140 characters or less is why and how Jeff and I met. I suppose you are thinking right now that it would have been more appropriate to post this on say VALENTINES day but it is not really a love story… more like a THANKS A LOT PETER REINHART we are SO GOING to HAVE some words one day so WATCH your BACK…

Ha ha I kid… Just wanted to bring you, our faithful readers reader up to date on where we left off… bread wise…

But a quick question… why is it we baked our tookus off in the hot summer months, but winter hits and we get lazy? Must have something to do with that abuse we so love… Anyone else like this or am I just missing all your BBA posts? Anyway, we picked back up with the Potato Rosemary Bread. And you all thought we forgot about it. We are very devil may care. We don’t follow the rules here. We bake what we want, when we want – so if we are all willy nilly bouncing from like page 234 to page 240 and back to page 236 then that is the kind of mad cap behavior we are going to do ALL RIGHT? (The page numbers I used are not the actual page numbers we bounced too and fro from just an example so don’t send me an email saying that the potato rosemary bread is not on those pages… I don’t know what page it is on. Check the TOC. I am in Chicago and the book is in Indiana… being crabby…)

It was really a very good bread. I found that – I don’t know – due to the potato it didn’t get crispy on the outside like some of my favorite breads have. Of course if memory serves me it wasn’t hearth baked. (If I am wrong, someone kindly chastise me in the comments. Thanks in advance!) SO if I made it again, I may attempt to do it like that so that I can get that crunchy crust, as opposed to the soft doughy one we achieved. It was really tasty none the less.

It made a lot so I schlepped a loaf back to Chicago with me. And then I made croutons with that loaf. AND THEN I made the most delicious savory bread pudding out of those croutons, thus making it less about the bread, and more about my complete prowess in the kitchen… hells yea!

This recipe calls for the use of four 6 – 8 oz ramekins. And is realllllly easy.

Ingredients to collect

4 eggs
1 1/4 c whole, yes whole, milk (Add 1/4 c more of you want a more gooey pudding.)
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 c grated cheddar
2 cups potato rosemary croutons (See note)
4 scallions, diced
optional: 3/4 c cooked and crumbled pork sausage, bacon, chicken, etc.

What to do what to do…

In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, combine croutons, scallions, cheese and meat o’ choice.

Place ramekins on a cookie sheet, and spray or butter each. Next, over fill each with the crouton cheese scallion meaty mixture.

Slowly and as evenly as possible, pour the egg mixture over the croutons in the ramekins till full. Gently push down the croutons. Let sit for 20 minutes.

While waiting for the croutons to soak up the all that yummy egg, preheat your oven to 375°. Gently push down the croutons again, and then place in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Chow down.

Oh wait! Note: You can use any bread you want. Just rip or cut it into bite sized pieces and allow to dry out in the oven till crouton-ey. If you use a non-herbed bread, the incorporation of say 2 t of herbs such as chives or parsley or rosemary or whatever you like, is a good idea…

The really nice thing about these is that once cooled, they pop so nicely out of the ramekins and you have this portable breakfast muffin of sorts. I would ASSUME you could make these the night before and then refrigerate and take them to work for breakfast on the run. I have not tried this as – ha ha – get this – I make ONE at a time and presently work in my skivvies. But when I DO start needing breakfast to go, which is hopefully nearer then I think, I will give the ole’ make in advance trick a try.

Be careful tho, one peek of these by a co-worker and I bet you are expected to bring enough for the whole class…

And for those of you who want to bake every bread known to man and keep King Arthur flour in business, pick up a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and bake along with us as part of the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge.

Now before you get your etouffeed panties in a bunch… I KNOW I titled this Fat THURSDAY. If you were cool like me – you would be part Polish. You would be able to drink most of your friends under the table. You would understand the importance of pirogi, and when someone starts singing “Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam” you would definitely know that a whole slew of good times are about to take place. You would also get to over indulge in one of my favorite holidays. Paczki Day.

Paczki, pronounced pooch-kee not Paa-zick-kee is a deep fried dough that is filled with fruit preserves or sometimes a sweet custard, and then dusted in powdered or granulated sugar. Some say they are similar to a jelly donut – but don’t kid yourself. These are rich and will stop your heart with its butter, eggs, milk and rum… Comparing it to a donut is like saying the Colts actually put up a good fight… *ducks* (Tho if you were also part German like me… and that makes you supah cool - you could compare them to a Berliner…) In Poland, and here in Chicago, Paczki’s are typically eaten on Fat THURSDAY, the last Thursday before lent, and is associated with the start of Carnival. Of course here in Chicago we over indulge and chow down on Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday as well. Traditionally, Paczkis were created to use up all of the fats, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house that you were forbidden to eat during the Catholic observance of fasting throughout Lent. Wow. Some of those years of Catholic school teachings have stuck… but yea none of the guilt…

This recipe that follows for traditional Paczki is not my mothers nor my busia’s or even something we made year after year. In truth, my mom just used to bundle me up and drag me down the block with her to the Laramie Bakery to STAND IN A VERY LONG LINE for a few dozen that were gone in a flash. But I have been making my own, adapted from a recipe that was adapted from a recipe that was adapted from a recipe… you get the point. They are yummy. And quite addictive.

Time to empty the pantry…

4 t active dry yeast
1/4 c warm water
1 t sugar
5 eggs
1 t salt
1/3 c butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
5 cups flour
1/3 cup rum
1 cup scalded whole milk or cream
1 1/2 c fruit preserves and / or custard

Oil or the traditional lard for deep frying.

Powdered and / or granulated sugar for dusting. Or you can make a glaze.

Get to work.

Mix the yeast, 1 t sugar and warm water together and let sit 10 minutes.

Beat the eggs with the salt till thick and creamy. Set aside.

Cream the butter and the sugar together. While your mixer is on medium, Add half the yeast. Then add the rum. If you already drank the rum, measure more rum and add. And then half the milk. Now add the rest of the yeast, and the rest of the milk. Sip more rum. When this is all incorporated, add half the flour and the eggs. Continue adding the remaining flour until the dough blisters. Drinks moar rums…

Cover and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again.

Roll out dough to a 1/2″ thickness. Cut into 3″ circles, and place on a baking sheet. Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile in a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil to 375°. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until bottom is brown. Flip and fry 1-2 minutes longer. Remove from hot oil and drain on paper towels. When cool, utilize a pastry bag with a strong tip to pipe filling of choice into Paczki. Dust with powdered or granulated sugar or glaze.

Serve immediately. They do not keep well so eat as soon as possible. Not that you will have any left overs… but if you do freeze immediately. Once you make these you will want to make them year after year. Because if you don’t, your friends and family will disown you for being such a tease…

Good Luck. Good Cheer. May you live a hundred years.

It is very well known that I am a hard core Colts fan and Sunday was a brutal day for me.  Heck my dedication to the Colts even got my picture published in the local newspaper (click here to read the article).  However, for as bad as it was for a Colts fan it was a glorious day for a city that holds a dear place in my heart.  Heck if I could I would have been in the French Quarter for that game.

New Orleans is the my go to guy’s trip vacation city and many a weekends I have spent down there.  The details of my visits are sketchy and usually require all individuals were on the trip to piece together what really happened.  Also, all photographic evidence is burned damn near the second we are off the plane.  No freaking way those pictures are ever coming back to haunt us.

Jambalaya is one of my favorite dishes to get while in New Orleans along with crawfish etouffee, gumbo, red beans and rice, and who am I kidding I love everything creole/cajun cuisine can throw at me.  Heck I could not survive that town without an  every morning stop for jet fuel coffee and beniets from Cafe Du Mond.

Hats off and congratulations to New Orleans you guys definitely were the best team and proved it last Sunday.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 lb andouille sausage
• 1.5 lb chicken cut into cubes (insert Homer Simpson drool over the thought of thighs)
• 1 lb of raw shrimp (deveined and peeled).
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 can of tomatoes (15 ounce size)
• 1 cup of rice
• 1 onion medium dice
• 1 celery stalk medium dice
• 1 green pepper medium dice
• 3 cloves of garlic finely diced
• 3 bay leaves
• Leaves from 4 stems of thyme
• Cayenne pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon I find is dead on for good heat)
• Kosher salt and pepper
• Bacon grease (lots and lots of bacon grease)

Steps to success:

• In a cast iron dutch oven over medium-high heat melt the bacon grease and brown the andouille sausage.  Remove and set aside.
• Add in the chicken and brown all over (remember do not crowd the pan or else you end up with steamed chicken).  Remove and set aside.
• Add in the onion, green pepper, and celery and cook until the onion is translucent (about 5 minutes).
• Add in the chicken stock, tomatoes, rice, bay leaves, pinch of cayenne, thyme, andouille, and chicken into the pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook till the rice is done (usually about 30 minutes).  Make sure you stir the pot occasionally.
• Check the pot occasionally to make sure all the liquid did not evaporate.  If it seems dry add in a splash of stock or water.
• Once the rice is done dump in the shrimp, cover, and wait 10 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy!

As you already know, I travel a lot between Chicago and Indiana. Two weekends ago – I skipped that trip entirely. Jeff had to work an ungodly amount of overtime and see, he is already a bit of a crab even when he isn’t working… so make him work that much?!? Yea, I was safer, saner and happier in the sanctity of my sweet home Chicago. (BIT of a crab… oh ha ha ha ha haaaaa I slay me…) So when I got there, I tried to make him happy by first making coffee dispense out of all the water faucets. Then I lit some pork scented candles. And finally I made some of my delizioso piccante bolognese.

My bolognese is rather traditional. No I was not one of the 400 Italian chef’s whipping up the perfect and authentic bolognese sauce but I might as well been. Sorry signores – but I bet mine is better. Nyah nyah plippppt…

Acquistare lo seguito (Which loosely translates to whatcha need…)

2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 onion diced
2 carrots – diced
2 stalks celery – diced
4 cloves garlic – diced
1/2 # beef – ground
1/2 # pork – ground
1/2 # veal – ground
1 C Milk (I used 2%)
1 C dry white wine
1 C beef or veal broth
32 oz. can of whole tomatoes
1+ t red pepper flakes (to taste – we added more…)
Bay leaf
Nutmeg (to taste – I add about half a nut)
1 t thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Cosa c’? bisogno di fare (Which loosely translates to the torturous steps to achieve bolognese perfection…)

In a large stock pot or dutch oven melt the butter and olive oil together. Add onions, carrot and celery (also known as a mirepoix) and cook till onions are translucent. About 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic, pork, lamb and beef. Cook till no longer pink. At this point if you would like to drain off some of the grease you can. I like to keep it around for giggles… and flavor.

Add the milk and the nutmeg and cook about 8 minutes. Most of the milk will have cooked down.

If you haven’t drank the wine by now – add that and also cook for about 8 minutes, or until most of it has cooked down.

Add the can of tomatoes, the broth, the bay and the thyme if using dried herbs. (I did in this dish.) Now let this baby barely simmer – uncovered – for about 3-4 hours. I know that seems excessive, and I have made this simmering for only 2 hours. But trust me on this. The longer the better.

About an hour from when you are planning to eat, add the crushed red pepper.

When you are about ready to eat. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, nutmeg, red pepper, etc to taste. Oh and make your pasta. I chose orecchiette because the sauce clings to it like – oh my crazy. Toss pasta with sauce, top with Parmesan and serve. Or don’t top with Parmesan. I know some of you meat sauce aficionados say oh the horror! No parmesan with a meat sauce!!! But I say if you like the damn parm, spread the damn parm love!

And that is it!

In truth, I am not even sure the bolognese made crab ass happy. He ate it awfully fast. I remember him saying something with his mouth full…

Might have been more coffee please…

In keeping with the theme of soup while you feel like death warmed over I present to you my creation from last week.

The worst part about the day I took off sick was I had no video games to play or anything on the DVR to watch.  I was stuck the entire day watching old repeats of shows I have seen with *gasp* commercials!  Oh DVR I will never take you for granted ever again.

However, I am feeling 1000 times better well except for bloody soreness from the stupid gym.

Oh well enough for today kiddos because work is calling…..

The first part of this soup is going to be making the broth.  For the broth you will need:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1/4 cup of chopped ginger
• 4 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of whole peppercorns
• 1 onion diced
• Couple sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Water lots of water

The broth is really easy to make once you have all your ingredients.  Throw everything in a large stockpot and cover with water (bonus points awarded if you cackle like an evil witch).  This mixture should come to a simmer and then continue for another hour and a half.  Remove the chicken from the stockpot, set aside, and when cool shred the meat.  Take a colander and line it with cheesecloth and strain the mixture discarding the whole pieces but keeping the precious broth.

For the rest of the soup you will need:

• Meat from the chicken that was used to make the broth
• Broth (duh)
• 1 onion finely diced
• 1 ounce of dried shiitake mushrooms that have been hydrated (refresher course take boiling water, pour over mushroom, cover, and wait 30 minutes).  If you have fresh mushrooms fear not because they are acceptable too.
• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 1 TB of butter (insert homer simpson drool)

Steps to soup success and the road to recovery:

1. In a large stock pot melt the butter and add in the onion.  Cook the onion until it is translucent (about 5 minutes).  If you are using fresh shiitake mushrooms you will want to add them with the onions and cook until the mushrooms are softened (about 10 minutes).
2. Add in the broth, shredded chicken, rice, and hydrated mushrooms.  Bring this mixture to a boil and cook until the rice is done (say 15 minutes).
3. Serve with cilantro, green onions, crushed red peppers, toasted sesame oil, or whatever the freak you have available.

I am about as under the weather as can be. I can not even drink coffee. Yes. I know – THE HORROR!

And I just got off the Phone with Jeff who is also about as unamused to be alive today as I am. He informed me (more like whined to me for a while and then told me) he was making soup – which made me very jealous as I am in Chicago far away from said soup and he makes some good soup. Ahem. There better be some left over for me tomorrow… Tho it got me thinking of one of my favorite soups to make on cold dreary hang out in bed and watch Chuck reruns or Princess Bride days. It is quick, tasty and spicy – sure enough to scare away the sniffies. Especially if you add my secret ingredient.

Gather the following:

1# of lean beef – ground
1 onion diced
3 carrots diced
3 celery diced
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 t fresh thyme (about 1/3 if using dried)
2 cups diced tomatoes or 1 15 oz can diced with juices
4 C beef broth
1/2 C barley
1 7.75 oz can super secret El Pato Mexican hot style tomato sauce (Oh noes the SECRET IS OUT!)
Salt and pepper to taste

The tough part:

Cook up the beef in a large stock pot. Add the carrots, onion and celery and cook till you are happy. Or till the onions are happy, which ever happens first. Add the garlic and cook till golden. Then add the bay leaf, thyme (if dried. If fresh – wait till about the last 20 minutes of cooking), tomatoes, broth, el pato super duper secret tomato sauce and barley. Cook about 45 minutes to an hour or until barley is done to your liking. I hate mushy barley so I tend to lean on the short time side. Taste. Salt and pepper… taste again? You like? Serve it up with a light topping of your favorite cheese. The el Pato sauce is one of my “go too’s”. I add it to my world famous lasagna, chicken soup, just about anything to throw in some tasty kick. It has a wonderful flavor and a touch of heat and is just perfect when you don’t have a steady supply of fresh chilies because it is freaking winter…

I like to top this soup with some fresh shredded Parmesan or Mexican queso fresco cheese. Oh yea… you know you will be feeling reallllllll good in just about 3… 2… 1… Ah!

The el Pato sauce is found in most grocery stores in the Mexican section, not the tomato section. That is how I have hid from you all these years btw ha ha!

But really. Serious. Try it.

Now.

When your fridge is packed full of yogurt you have no choice but to get creative and thankfully there are awesome cuisines like Indian that relies heavily on yogurt for dishes.

Also, yes I know slow on posting but work sucks…..well it always sucks this time of year so I am still going to be a ghost for a couple more weeks so sorry tweets and Facebook peeps I am not ignoring you.

Luckily will all the overtime money I have been able to spend on my never ending camera addiction.  The new purchases are all revolving around lighting (I really do not think I need another lens).  I was using a light tent with 4 500 watt work lights but I thought there has to be a better way especially since the work lights were really harsh.  I am now playing around with off camera flash and shooting through an umbrella.  This is the first shoot I have done with it and so far happy with it but see room for improvment.

Oh yeah and to add to the happiness we are out of zero degree weather for a couple weeks and saw rain this morning.  So weird to see precipitation that does not require me to have to fire up a snow blower.  I realize winter is another 2 months long and I am sure we will get hammered with more snow but hey I will take winter’s mid life crisis any day of the week.

Enough rambling and back on to the actual dish because that is only what people care about and I really need more coffee……

For the chicken you will need:

• 1 cup of yogurt
• 1/2 TB of ground cumin
• 1/2 TB of ground coriander
• 1/2 TB of chili powder
• 1/2 TB of kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cloves of garlic diced
• 1 TB of diced ginger
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 4 chicken thighs with the skin removed and cut into 1 inch dice

Steps for the chicken:

• Combine everything together but the chicken.
• Taste and if you are happy add in the chicken.
• Put in the fridge and let it relax overnight.

For the sauce you will need:

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic diced
• 1 TB of tomato paste
• 1/2 TB whole chili powder (I used a ancho)
• 1/2 TB garam masala
• 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes
• 1 cup of cream

What to do with the chicken after it has been marinated:

• Turn broiler to low
• Put chicken on broiler pan
• Throw broiler pan under broiler and broil until cooked through.

Steps for finishing up the dish including what to do with the sauce ingredients:

• In a large skillet (I used a 12 inch cast iron skillet) over medium melt the 2 TB of butter and add in the onions.  Let this cook until the onions are softened and then add in the garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, and garam masala until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
• Add in the can of tomatoes and simmer for 20 or so minutes or until the mixture is thickened.
• Add in the cup of cream along with the broiled chicken and cook until heated through.
• Taste and adjust (add in some more cayenne if you want a little spicier or maybe some more salt and pepper if needed).

Serve and enjoy!