Garlic Parmesan Popovers

This has not turned out to be the weekend I thought it would be. My beloved kitten, Huxley, had jumped off the bed and hit his back paw wrong and then refused to walk. He's had little sprains like this before but as he's getting up there (9! Yikes) I figured we should rule out anything bad. So that night it was off to the vet.

$528 later they had ruled out any diabetes, kidney, liver, worms, ticks/fleas, upper respiratory, hydration problems and most importantly, paw issues (not even a sprain, better than I expected). Which was a relief. And the vet was amazing. I was also in and out in less than an hour, which helped stress levels for both myself and the Hux. My goodness though... I was not expecting that kind of bill. But this is what savings is for, right? And so, for the next 2 months I'm pretty much broke. Which pretty much put my weekend plans on immediate hold.

Currant Cream Scones

I lifted nearly this entire recipe from Smitten Kitchen... but naturally, NATURALLY, I just cannot resist playing around with a few things here, another tweak there. It's a real issue that's maybe good for other hobbies and professions (my day job for one) but with baking... no way. You need to be exact. Precise. My sister even got me a baking scale for Christmas for goodness sakes so I should be doing this correctly. I just can't though.

This time... well it turned out pretty delicious. Because I kept the changes to a minimum. I soaked the currants in some sherry to see if that would lend another flavor. Normally I'd start adding in cinnamon, nutmeg, even cardamom, but I wanted to see what a liquid change would do, especially one with such a heavy almond aftertaste. The result... nothing I can really notice. The second was replacing a teaspoon of the flour with some cornmeal. Maybe it's the Southern girl in me try to get every possible taste of home into a baked good, but I like the crunch and extra little bite when there's a touch of cornmeal in something.

Roasted Jalapeno Chicken Pot Pie

Second Best Baked Good

After pie dough that is, but I think because the making of the 2 are so similar... the desired fat and flour crumb consistency, just enough liquid, the necessity for the fat to be as chilled as possible before and after combining. That'd be the cheddar chive biscuit, from BLT Fish. I figured since I just mentioned it, and turned down one straight from the source, the least I could do is give you the recipe, right?

One thing Laurent Tourondel has excelled at (or perhaps more correctly, his pastry chef's) is the unique baked goods served at his restaurants. I was in love at first bite with the cheddar chive biscuits and bought a popover pan after having his gruyere popovers at BLT Prime. He's also so nice to give you a little recipe card, gratis, along with the baked treats. And it was through this that I was able to make and eventually perfect my biscuit making skills.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Maybe not quite as much as Boston or Chicago but New Yorkers definitely know how to party for St. Patty's Day. I work on a street with a few major Irish bars that are usually a first stop for most of the b&t New Jersey and Long Islander's coming off the trains at Penn. While making my lunch (a sad little vegan burger) 6 floors up I could hear all the revelry below, even bag pipes (aren't those Scottish? Does it matter today?), carried up. To top it off it is absolutely beautiful today, sunny, 60, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect to be out celebrating. But alas work calls and I cannot get away... at least not until 4p when my work is having a happy hour in the office. Did I mention I work at one of the best places ever or at least in New York City?

Today, even in the office with everyone scrambling to get 2Q ready, it looks so festive with most everyone in their green, some having even taken it to an extreme (our lone guy assistant in a green seersucker jacket for one) and another co-worker brought in some Irish Soda Bread, which I wish I could enjoy but she assured me there were definitely eggs, butter and milk in it. Sad day for vegans.

It's All in the Dough

My Mom can always tell when I've been near a pie. The crust might be slightly lopped off in some places, hastily reconstructed in others. There's no way around it, I love pie crust. I'd like to say that I love pie, the whole thing, but the sweet just gets to me so half the time I'll end up scraping out most of the filling and just eat the crust. One of the few and most favorite desserts of mine was just leftover pie dough after the pie was made, cut into strips with some butter spread over and then a little sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. The cinnamon toast of pie dough, if you will.

Baking has always been my greatest challenge. I've always been very fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to cooking (add a pinch of oregano here, let's try some aji with that there) and baking is just not conducive for that attitude, which has gotten me into trouble... on more than one occasion. I've only recently purchased dry measuring cups, if you can believe it I've been using my wet Oxo measuring cup (a fantastic purchase btw) anytime I needed to bake. For me it's just soooo tediousss to follow directions word for word and measure by measure but I've recognized this weakness and tried to improve. This is where my bread baking resolution stemmed from and why I'm always the first to sign up for bake sales. Forget the charity, this is great practice.

My rustic (read interesting) tempeh and eggplant potpies. The dough got me though this tempeh experience

I have a crush on you...

Coming home tonight the only thing I could think about was bread. Crispy, crunchy, soft, chewy bread. I'm not sure why. But the thought of carbs after a long day just seemed so comforting, homey. And the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through my apartment was not an idea I could pass up after the chill today.

I was specifically craving flatbread, liberally sprinkled with some flaky sea salt and rosemary. Cut in strips and dipped in olive oil with some fresh cracked pepper. And even though I ended up making a normal meat and veggie supper with a tasty cranberry horseradish sauce (and yes, that's sooo good... recipe soon)... it ended up becoming tomorrows lunch. Because, happily, the bread was my dinner.

Nicely browned on top, a little puffy. Crispy on the outside and so deliciously chewy on the inside.

Little Luxuries

Luxuries can be flashy, big, bright stars that burn hard and fast. A thing that provides immediate gratification and then leaves you with that empty feeling, wanting more. But they can also be simple. A small gesture of kindness, a beautiful flower, making something wonderful from nothing. Those are my luxuries of choice, so for this weekend I give you a few of my favorites, the ones that are still bringing a smile to my lips, even after they are gone.

Yellow Roses of Texas

I made some Saffron Honey Bread this weekend. Deciding to be a little creative I broke the dough into 2 loaves, rolled them out, topped one with Spicy Za'atar and the other with the Premium and then braided them together. To recreate this on your own, just use the Pizza Bianca recipe, but substitute the sugar with honey, and add a pinch of crushed saffron to the dough.

Za'atar Spiced Flatbread

There's something wonderful about having family and friends over for a Friday night dinner in the dead of winter. The work week done, the last forced journey into the cold over, a long relaxing weekend to look forward to and the people you love gathering around your table, talking and laughing with not a care in the world. It was extra special because my sister had just returned from Jordan so we were all regaled with stories and pictures and as she is my sister and my blogging mentor, all kinds of goodies of the culinary sort.

My Jordanian presents: 2 za'atars, tea, thyme, sage and saffron

 One of the many goodies came in the form of Za'atar- a Mediterranean spice mixture that can vary in ingredients but most commonly contains sesame seeds, sumac, thyme, oregano, etc. Other herbs can be added or spices, to make it sweet or spicy. I was given 2 different kinds, the Jordanian "premium" za'atar (not sure what was in it to make it distinctively premium) which was very delicious and then a "spicy" za'atar, which was actually not that spicy in terms of heat but did contain a smokey kick that reminded me of a smoked paprika or mild chili powder.


A Different Kind of Dough

Last Christmas I received Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread Book from my wonderful little sister and went a little crazy for a while testing out some recipes. My favorites were the classic basic bread, the pizza bianca,  the stecca and stirato but the one I had the most use for was the basic pizza, as it was something that didn't require a lengthy rise. So when my sister introduced me to this article I was intrigued with possible other pizza dough options.

According to the article beer is supposed to make the dough a little more supple and I had a little leftover beer from the beer braised spiced pork. After looking at a few different recipes for pizza dough with beer, I decided to go with the one I knew best, and just see what happened. So I took Jim Lahey's pizza recipe and instead of the whole portion of water did half water and half beer.