Fabulous Foccacia

It's been a while. I apologize. Life has been topsy turvy.

The husband loves foccacia. It is expensive (or what I deem expensive) to buy at teh Farmers Market and frozen will not do. For years it has been a special treat I only buy when it is marketed down. The husband has been very good lately and I told him if he kept it up I would make him foccacia from scratch. Today I did. And who knew it was so easy! I am thrilled. It was fairly quick for something that has to rise, quick baking, no fancy ingredients...a great thing to make. I found a basic recipe and then added a few things. It came out moist, crisp, fresh...lovely and savory.

The Basic Foccacia Recipe from Allrecipes

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

MY ADDITIONS
1 cup krinos oil cured olives, pitted and chopped coarsely
1 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped
2 roma tomatoes thinly slices
1/2 c parmesan/romano
pepper


DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with flour; stir well to combine. Stir in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly for about 1 minute.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. (I put mine in the sunshine!)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. **Pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with salt.

Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you'll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.

** At this point I folded in 1/2 of my olives and 1/2 my basil into the dough. After I flattened it out I put the the remaining ingredents of mine on top and pressed lightly into the dough and ground fresh pepper/sea salt over top. We ate it wiht a little olive oil for dipping - a perfect weekend lunch.

Summer in a bowl, or CSA experiment #3

Okay, so I've actually done more than three experiments with my lovely CSA produce, but I've been dreadful about recording them for posterity...

I've been really grooving on my Culinary Artistry book since it basically has lists and lists of flavors that mesh well. I got more cucumbers this week when I still had one left from last week, and as I've got a full container of cucumber onion salad marinating in the fridge, that was out. I checked the pantry and found a can of light coconut milk and I thought--ooh, a cold cucumber soup would be perfect for a hot July evening when I got home from work after 7pm. The recipe below chronicles the experiment.

Chilled Cucumber Soup

2 medium cukes, chopped (I left the peel on)
1 can light coconut milk
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 fat doobie of basil, minced fine (about 1/8 c.)

Put cukes, milk and garlic in blender. (Nothing fancy is necessary. I use the Osterizer Galaxy that my parents got as a wedding gift in 1975.) Puree for a minute or so until pretty well blenderized. Add basil and a little salt and blend. Taste.

It still needed something so I added:

1 T lemon juice
4 good shakes of white pepper
more salt

Blend. Taste.

At this point it still wasn't quite right, so I added a little more salt and pepper.

There was still a place in the back center of my tongue that the soup was missing. I decided it needed something tangy, so I added:

1-2 T. white wine vinegar
a couple more shakes of white pepper
a touch more salt

Blend. Taste. Perfect! Chill for a few minutes (or more) before serving--in retrospect I probably should have added a couple of ice cubes to help with the chilling process. But it was still good only a little cool.

Makes about 3 servings, 2 generous servings.

The boy called this "the best cucumber I've ever eaten." It was crisp and cool and the flavors meshed really well. I'm not always that into cold soups, but this was excellent, and also super easy and quick.

The Zen of Cooking

For me, even when I come home from work very late (resulting in 8-10pm dinners) I usually take off my coat and head straight into the kitchen. I usually have general meal ideas built out per shopping, but often when my work schedule is overwhelming, like in the fall/winter season, I am often facing frequent creative approaches in the kitchen with bleary eyes, a sad tired back, and quite frankly an exhausted brain. I have several burns and cuts on my hands from minor cooking incidents over the past few months to show for it. Though I think I am either developing "chef's hands" or I am just drinking too much while cooking since these minor emergencies rarely cause me physical pain anymore, though they do cause bleeding and blistering!

Tonight was a wonderful marriage of fresh and convenience. Quick, flavorful and just enough chopping to soothe me. Just enough experimentation to satisfy. Quiet rhythms in movement and music. My stress melts away.

I played Imaad Wasif, a great artist we discovered as an opening act for a Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert. He is brilliant, a sort of nouveau Bob Dylan sort without the bizarre voice. I sat drinking wine post dinner at the dining table by myself just unwinding, thinking, melting. Good stuff.

But I put him on to begin my tai chi movements through the kitchen...

I made:
Trader Joes Masala Burgers - A wonderful veggie burger that had a lovely light masala flavor as well as the flavor of all the individual vegetables in it. More like a potato pancake than a soy based burger...in fact almost no soy in it at all...and only 120 calories a piece...even the boy loved them. They came well reccommended by belle bleue as well. We grilled them on the indoor grill.

One small zucchini and one small yellow squash - Sliced and tossed with fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and olive oil and then cooked in foil packet on grill (easy cleanup). Cook burgers and veggies together for 10 minutes. (Flip burgers once).

Basmati rice cooked as usual, but garnished in a new way. Right before serving tossed with pepper, salt and a drizzle of dark sesame oil...soooo lovely.

That's it. Good. Tasty. Quick. Simple. Healthy.

Our wine wasn't so hot though...Sicilia Nero d'Avola...drinkable, but nothing to write home about. Not sure where I got it, but I think Trader Joe's.

We are grateful for: The boy did well on an exam. I was grateful for the boy. I couldn't stop thinking on the commute home how happy I was to have him to go home to.

As an aside: Trader Joe's brand edamame is the best I have had. Much better than Kroger's, DeKalb Farmer's Market and Whole Foods' brand. The soy beans are plump, crisp, and pratically bursting with healthy green joy. Not to mention they cost half as much. Now I am listening to Traveling Wilburys, and I am happy even though I have to do some work now...

Pleasant High Calorie Dreams Y'all...

Perfect Pesto

I was washing my greens from the garden today and had put them out to dry on the "vegetable towel." (A towel forbidden to the men in my household to touch. It is reserved for food prep only) When I was overcome with how pretty my salad looked. I grabbed my camera and started snapping. Then I wondered where I would put these photos. So here I am. I'm not going to screw round. Just talk about what I am eating. How it makes me feel. My salad made me happy, so I wanted to share it. Then I finished the pesto I was making; it was perfect. I don't use a recipe, just kinda put things in the chopper/shredder and whirl away on a whim. Sometimes it is good; sometimes just okay. Tonight's was fairly pedestrian ingredient wise, but perfect in the balance of flavors.

Dinner for Dos
Main course

Basil and Parsley from our garden
Garlic
Parmesan Cheese
Pine Nuts
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper!
Bow Tie Pasta (They also make me happy)
A few Krinos oil cured olives
A smidge of leftover goats milk feta

Salad
Mesclun and Nasturium leaves and flowers from our garden
Cukes

In our house we "pray" before each meal. The way we pray is we each share something we are grateful for that day. It help us remember that there is at least something not @#!-y in our lives everyday.

Today we are grateful for: The lovely date we had last night: Pirates of the Carribbean and then a late dinner at Sweet Lowdown. We had lovely cocktails for a change versus wine, fried green tomatoes that were crispy and smeared with pimento cheese, a sweet and succulant double pork chop, soft shelled crab, the best sides I have had in a while: al dente collard greens and roasted fingerling potatoes, and closed down the house with the biggest cheese plate I have ever been served at a restaurant. Our lunch today was delightful because of it's size. The food here was delish, if the service was a bit bizarre...I asked about the foie gras the restaurant was known for, and our waiter said "What's foie gras!?!?" I had an urge to assume the "older woman who would lead this young fellow to his manhood" role by offering to take him out to get foie gras, but I was enjoying my cocktail so much, I let it go. Yep, it was a good date.