Ah, yes. There was a little something missing. The actual Super Bowl game. Today was a shoot for an upcoming Epicurious feature, so I had all kinds of fun with astroturf and glue guns. Here’s a sneak peek.
The food was delicious… the beer will have to wait until after I drive home from the studio.
The crepe is the Joy of Cooking buckwheat crepe recipe with a little less all purpose and a little whole wheat pastry flour. The hash is quick saute of yukon gold potato, broccoli stem & button mushroom in a very hot pan. Top with a poached egg, salt & pepper.
Although it looks a bit “steppy” this would actually be an easy brunch for a group of people. The crepe batter can be made the night before (and kept covered in the refrigerator overnight… it needs at least an hour rest anyway). Chop the veggies (it helps to parboil the potato so it sautes quickly), and have them ready to go. Make the crepes while the water heats for the eggs, and set them aside. Poach the eggs and let them sit with a drizzle of olive oil in a warm spot near the stove, while the pan heats for the hash. Then quickly saute the veggies, and assemble.
Yum!
Same crepe batter (just used the leftovers), but this time filled with sautéed Kale, fresh pear, a smear of cream cheese and a drizzle of balsamic syrup.
Just like yesterday, these are pretty quick to come together if you do a little bit of pre-planning. Make the crepe batter the night before, and keep it chilled up until you need to use it (do give it a good stir before you start making the crepes). Pull out the cream cheese too, if you are using it, so it warms a bit and is easier to spread. Make the balsamic syrup, and set it aside. Chop the kale and the pears. Place the pears in some slightly acidic cold water (a squeeze of lemon will do) to keep them from browning. Make the crepes and set aside while you saute the kale (just a touch of oil and a very hot pan). I like to finish the kale with a squeeze of lemon juice and a little salt. To assemble, smear a small amount of cream cheese on a crepe, top with the kale and a sprinkling of pears and drizzle with the syrup.
By the way, the balsamic syrup is a great addition to all kinds of things, and it’s really easy to make. Just combine 1/2 cup balsamic with a tablespoon of sugar, and heat to your desired consistency… actually, just a tiny bit thinner than what you’d like because it will thicken a smidge as it cools. It’s also the subject of my next Still Life With remake challenge… so stay tuned!
It started with an idea to make my own soba noodles. My udon noodles were so tasty, I thought it would be no problem.
They started out beautifully enough. I used a ratio of 2:1 buckwheat to bread flour with salt and water. The rested dough, once rolled a little bit, fed through the past roller to yield fine sheets of pasta.
It even cut into beautiful long threads instead of crumbling as I feared it might.
Kind of gorgeous aren’t they? Just think of them floating in dashi. What could go wrong?
Well, apparently, even a slight move in the warm broth, and they turned into sludge.
So sad. Obviously, no recipe until I get it right. I always do like a good challenge…
Has anyone made their own soba before? What’s your trick?
I started up a CSA delivery again (Full Circle), after a break for the summer farmer’s market season, and I have yet to get quite into the swing of using it all before the next box shows up. Apples, pears, kiwis and spinach were starting to accumulate, so I pulled out my juicer for a tasty treat today. I got the juicer (this breville one) for a shoot, and don’t put it quite to the use I should since it lives downstairs in the appliance dungeon. Once I remember that I have it, I’m always glad that I pulled it out.
I think you could pretty easily pass this juice off as “kiwi” juice for the color if your family grimaces at the thought of spinach in their juice. I used 3 apples, 2 pears, 3 kiwi and 1 to 2 cups of spinach (including the stems). On the kiwis, I just chopped them in half and tossed them in the juicer. I was a little afraid that the skin might make the juice a bit weird, but it was fine. The mesh strainer in the juicer pretty much filters all of that out (of course, it also filters out a lot of the good fiber you get from the fruit).
So, continuing on this whole breakfast theme thing I seem to have going on, how about some rice porridge?
This version simply cooks the rice (arborio, but any short grain will do) in some water and milk (1/2 cup rice, 1 1/2 cup water, 1 cup milk), with a pinch of salt and cinnamon until most of the liquid is gone and the rice is tender. Top with browned butter (yum!), brown sugar and some slightly caramelized (again in brown butter and a bit of sugar and salt) apple slices. My bowlful was just barely sweet, with most of the flavor coming from the browned butter and rice.
I really can’t explain this. I don’t even like hazelnuts. But I do like these cookies. A lot. Think Nutella, if it were a cookie. Not just spread between two sugar cookies. But what if the Nutella was the cookie itself.
I have to hand it to Kim Boyce, who’s Good to the Grain simply inspires me more and more. I was in the process of indexing the book on Gobbledybook (remember that? Yes, I’m still, very slowly, entering cookbooks), and bookmarking just about every other recipe to make, when I came across the Honey Hazelnut Cookies. They looked like the perfect little biscuits… just the thing for a cup of tea. And then, I thought, what if… what if I added some cocoa powder. Wouldn’t that be something?
Then I thought, what if, instead of the little tea biscuits, what if I used a basic chocolate chip cookie type dough instead. The biscuits (which I still want to make) are a drier cookie. I wanted more of a soft, moist dough. Chocolate chip cookie dough, especially the whole wheat version in the same book, could be just the ticket. Kim’s dough is 100% whole wheat, but given I was adding ground hazelnuts, I decided to go with a combination of whole wheat, graham and all-purpose flours. I’m sure you could do any sorts of flour combinations, depending on how your tastes run. I love the little extra richness the graham and whole wheat flours give.
Under-baked, just slightly, the way I like my chocolate chip cookies, they are crisped just around the edges and soft and just little gooey inside.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
1/2 cup (45 g) hazelnuts
1/4 cup (30 g) graham flour
1/2 cup (80 g) all purpose
1/2 cup (80 g) whole wheat
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Lightly toast the hazelnuts. You can do this in a skillet on the stovetop, or in a hot oven. You want them to heat just a little to release start to release their oils, not scorch them. Then use a spice grinder or food processor to finely grind them, skins and all.
Lightly whisk the dry ingredients (flours through salt) together to blend well. You can use a sifter, but small grains may be left over that don’t make it through the mesh. You can simply add these back in.
In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until they are smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat in the egg followed by the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mixing on low speed until just combined. Then, add in the ground hazelnuts and chocolate chips if you are using them.
You can bake these immediately, by dropping 1 to 2 tablespoon sized balls (depending on the size of cookie you want) onto the baking sheet with 1 to 2 inches between them (depending on the ball size). Bake until the cookies are a rich brown, about 10 to 15 minutes, turning half way through the baking. I like to under-bake mine a bit, so they stay soft.
You can also chill the dough, and keep it refrigerated up to a week. Cookies made form chilled dough will be thicker than those made from dough at room temperature.
