Peachy keen

With summer on the doorstep, it was only fitting that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection featured luscious peaches. Honey Peach Ice Cream was a most appropriate recipe, chosen by Tommi of Brown Interior.


Blessed with an abundance of farmers markets in my area, I took myself over to the Wednesday morning market last week, in search of peaches and berries. It was a successful excursion. I ended up with 2 pounds of fresh, ripe peaches, that had the most wonderful fragrance.




I made the creme anglaise base in my usual fashion (all at once), then strained the cooked mixture to eliminate the bits of chalazae. After adding the pureed peach-honey mixture, I let it chill all day.

While the ice cream was churning, I finely chopped the remaining peaches (except for one half), then added them to the nearly finished ice cream.


My daughter, who apparently doesn't like peaches (crazy), did allow as how, for a peach dish, it was pretty tasty.


Well, that's more peach ice cream for me, then. The flavor of the honey was barely there, but that would probably vary with the kind of honey used, since some are stronger than others. I suspect the peaches, being as flavorful as they were, would outshine any other ingredient.




Stop by the other TWD blogs to read about their ice cream adventures.

Daring Cooks #2: Chinese Dumplings

Round Two of Daring Cooks was hosted by Jen of use real butter. (urb is one of the most scenic and sassy blogs around. I tune in regularly to read what Jen has to say, but I'm usually too shy to comment.)


Jen challenged us to make Chinese Dumplings from scratch. Not just the filling, mind you, but the wrapper as well. No cheating by using wonton wrappers!


Well, after making the wrappers, which was an easy process, I probably won't return to my wayward wonton wrapper ways. I used method 1, weighing the ingredients and mixing them in the food processor. The resulting dough was smooth and satiny.

For the filling, I combined ground pork, green onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch.


I pre-shaped the meatballs, which made assembly much quicker.



Meatball on rolled-out wrapper.


Pleating was a breeze.




Step 1: place in hot oil for several minutes.



Step 2: pour in water, cover immediately, and steam-cook until liquid has evaporated.



Step 3: remove lid and cook until bottoms are brown and crusty.



Serve with a dipping sauce.


The potstickers disappeared before the camera could photograph the eating process. Way too delicious!



The dumplings can also be steamed or boiled. Check out the other Daring Cooks for some stupendous creations! And check Jen's blog for the recipe.

BB: Curried Couscous

The first Barefoot Blogger recipe for June was Curried Couscous, chosen by Ellyn of Recipe Collector and Tester.



Because I had all the ingredients on hand, it was quick to prepare and pretty tasty, too. I used a mild curry powder, but you can vary the heat by using different curry mixes. I also threw in some dried sour cherries along with the currants.




I served the couscous as a side dish along with sauteed chicken and zucchini. It made a nice, light dinner and the leftover couscous was gobbled down as a snack.



There are sure to be different 'takes' on this recipe, so stop by the other Barefoot Bloggers and check them out.

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlet

It's surely a Freudian thing.


I kept forgetting to buy puff pastry at the grocery.


Down to the wire, I decided to test a new recipe from the latest cookbook I've been auditioning. I've made puff pastry before, but this was a quicker method.


And besides, I like to know what goes into my food. Even though I actually can pronounce humongous chemical names, I don't necessarily need to include them in my list of ingredients or ingest them.




So, Sunday morning, I prepared 1/4 of a recipe of puff pastry from The Art and Soul of Baking.



It was lovely how, at each turn, the dough became more satiny.


I didn't worry about size so much, since I've made this kind of dough before. I just used my years-tested instincts to roll it to the proper thickness.



After dinner, I cut out two 4" rounds and topped them with apples, brown sugar, and butter. After they came out of the oven, I dusted them with cinnamon and powdered sugar.


Can we say heaven?


I still have half my puff pastry remaining, safely chilling in the refrigerator, and ready to be used in another luscious dessert. One great tip from the cookbook: roll the dough out to the desired thickness before the final chilling. Then it will be ready to use immediately or to freeze for later. Worked for me.


Stop by the other TWD blogs to see how their apple tartlets turned out. And for the recipe, stop by Jessica's blog, My Baking Heart. Thanks for a most delicious choice!

10-grain deliciousness

Make This Bread!


Please.

You won't regret it.



I'm in the process of auditioning a few more cookbooks. This time it's Sur la table's The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. Several other food bloggers have recently shared recipes from this book, and when it passed through my hands at the library, and no one else had requested it, I determined it was mine for awhile.


As I looked through the recipe selections during lunch (always a dangerous time), I mentally marked at least a dozen recipes to test. The first one on my list was Nine-Grain Whole Wheat Harvest Bread. In my case, it was a ten-grain version, thanks to 10 Grain Hot Cereal from Bob's Red Mill.


I had planned to make this on Friday, so I prepared the soaker, then left to do some errands. Upon my return, I discovered that the power had gone out and wouldn't be restored until evening. Shoot. There went my 'day of baking' and working, and the soaker had to be tossed for safety's sake. Saturday I began again, keeping my fingers crossed regarding power.




This bread is absolutely fabulous, one of the best I've ever made or tasted. It has great texture, taste, and moistness, perfect for sandwiches.







Nine-Grain Whole Wheat Harvest Bread

1/2 cup (3 ounces) multi-grain hot cereal mix (can be 6, 9, or 10 grains)
1/2 cup (4 ounces) boiling water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup (3 ounces) honey
2 3/4 cups (14 ounces) bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt

Pour the cereal into a medium bowl. Add the boiling water and stir to blend. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes until room temperature.

Put the sugar and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour the warm water over them, and let stand for 10 minutes until the yeast is foaming. Add the cooled cereal, honey, bread flour, whole wheat flour, and salt. Mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 minutes to allow full hydration. Using the dough hook, turn the mixer on to medium-low and knead the dough until it is firm and elastic, from 4 to 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a tub or bowl, place the dough inside, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 35 to 45 minutes. If the room is cold, this may take a bit longer.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Press gently, but do not knead. Shape into a round loaf and place on peel or parchment paper if using a baking stone, or on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Lightly cover the dough and allow to rise until almost doubled, between 20 and 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Allow to heat for 30 to 60 minutes before baking.

Dust the loaf with a bit of flour, slash the top, then transfer to the baking stone (or put the baking sheet into the oven). Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until the internal temperature is 190 degrees F.

Transfer to a rack to cool.

Slice and enjoy!






Yesterday I made one other recipe from this cookbook: a quarter recipe of the quick puff pastry dough. Oh my goodness! It was ethereal.


More in a later post, but, suffice it to say, purchasing this cookbook for my collection is now a top priority.

A Slice of Memory Pie

Upon reading the theme for May's challenge for You Want Pies With That? (Childhood Memory Pie), my thoughts raced through a variety of possibilities.



Blueberry pie.


That was my grandfather's favorite pie, and consequently, one of my favorites. But , how about . . .


Lemon meringue pie.


Watching my grandmother make the filling is one of my earliest cooking memories. Oh, but, how about . . . .


Pumpkin pie.


My father cooked only a few times a year, and one of his responsibilities was making pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Truly one of my favorites, but this isn't really the right time of year for a wintery pie. So, how about . . .



Blackberry pie.


Perfect.

I grew up in a suburb of Bellevue, Washington. Our house was on the very last street in the subdivision, so my backyard was, quite literally, a forest. My friends and I would spend hours exploring that forest, following trails, seeing how far we could travel in every direction.


Being the Pacific Northwest, one of the special wild treats during the summer was blackberries. I'd go into the forest, armed with a bucket, and return home with a large supply of freshly picked, juicy blackberries. My mother would turn them into the most delicious pie.

Now, fast-forward about 25 years or so. I'm now living in Eugene, Oregon, in the hilly southwest part of town, where my neighborhood is surrounded by forests. My older daughter is about 6. One summer day, I grab a bucket and take my daughter into the forest, and together, we pick enough blackberries to fill the bucket, and, of course, bake a pie. The circle is complete, and tradition has been passed down.

Will my daughter bake blackberry pies with her daughter? Since there are no blackberry-laden forests where they live, I will suggest that they plant blackberries in their garden, so perhaps in a few years, they can share the fun of picking fresh berries and turning them in to a pie.

Thanks to Ellen at Kittymama for choosing such a memorable theme.



Blackberry Pie

One 9" baked pie shell

Filling:

4 cups fresh blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon ginger

In a large bowl, gently mix together the blackberries, sugar, flour, lemon juice and ginger. Pour the mixture into the cooled pie shell.

Topping:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

4 ounces melted butter

In a bowl, mix together the flour, almonds, sugar and cardamom. Mix in the melted butter. Top the pie with the crumble and place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the crumb topping is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

TWD: Cinnamon Squares

True or False:

I really did pour half the batter in the pan before adding the chocolate-cinnamon sugar-espresso layer.



What the heck happened? It looks like the crazed smile of a Halloween jack-o-lantern.



This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe was chosen by Tracey from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. I really wanted to like Cinnamon Squares, because I love cinnamon and chocolate, but, to tell the truth, it just fell flat. The cake part was pretty tasty, but the icing looked nothing like the photo in the book and it lacked something in the flavor department. I debated whether to even frost the cake or not. I should have listened to that little internal voice. If I ever bake it again, I will just sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar.

I'm probably in the minority this time, but to find out for sure, check out the TWD blogsite for other comments.