Focaccia

- Elspeth Leave a comment

Hello Friends. You’re all going to be drawn to this recipe like a moth to a flame because it’s just that good. For those of you blessed enough to see me on a regular basis, you probably have already tried this and are beating your heads against the wall as your body goes into withdrawal. Before you get out the crack pipe in an attempt to find a substitute for this food high, take a moment to calm your nerves and read the recipe. This comfort food will soon be nestled in between your chompers:

Focaccia spiked with garlic, rosemary, and chili flakes and topped with sliced shallots. As Britney would say: Ooh Ooh Baby!

Don’t shy away from this recipe because it has yeast in it; it is NOT like normal bread, which takes hours to rise and is as temperamental as a menopausal rhinoceros. I’ve made this a bunch of times and I’m pretty sure my instructions are idiot-proof, but let’s see!

During my Italian adventure I was lucky enough to be a part of a bi-monthly Pizza Night on the farm where I was working. That place has all the stereotypical Italian facets that make that country so fantastic: the gigantic brick pizza oven, the wizened old man singing to himself as he stokes the fire, large older women who dote on their 30-year old sons who still live at home, and a really awesome pizza dough recipe. I could name a thousand other things, but you can wait for my novel release for the rest of the juicy details. It’s going to be called “I’m a winner and you’re fat” (Glee reference? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?).

Focaccia is essentially pizza dough without the sauce and toppings. I love the original recipe from Spannocchia, the Farm I worked on, but something got lost in translation over to focaccia. I felt that the crust hardened too much and was too much of a separate entity, rather then melding with the rest of the bread. I perused several other recipes and found that the addition of mashed potato made all the difference! Color me confused because who thought of that one?

Potato makes the finished product moist and spongy with a chewier crust. My addition of the herbs and garlic are easily omitted if they’re not up your alley, but they add a ton of extra flavor. You would basically be foolish to exclude them from the party.

Here’s what you’ll need:

3-4 cups flour
2 t salt
1 cup water
2.5 t dry active yeast, or one package
2 T olive oil
6-10 cloves garlic
sprinkle of chili flakes
1 sprig rosemary
1 medium russet potato
1 shallot

Peel and smash the garlic and place it in a small bowl with the oil. Chop the rosemary and add it to the bowl with the chili flakes. Set aside and let marinate for anywhere from 5min-1hour, depending on how much time you have.

Peel the potato and cut into quarters. Place in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a moist paper towel. Microwave for ~5 minutes or until cooked through (easily fluffed with fork). Mash it up and let cool. You should have about 1/2-3/4 cup.

Place the water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about 1 minute. The temperature needs to be between 115-130 in order for the yeast to activate. Too low and it will not grow (poor parenting), too high and you will kill it (murder). My method may seem a little weird, but it works:

Take the bowl out of the microwave and stir the water around. Place your pinkie into the bowl (unless it’s unbearably hot) and, if you can hold it submerged in the water for 20 seconds, then it is the proper temperature. It should get unbearable right around the 20th second. I know, I know: we’re not living in caves anymore, so why would I bother with this archaic practice? Because not everyone has a food thermometer lying around and it’s good to know! I tested my pinkie-method against my thermometer and it hit the nail on the head.

When your water is at the proper temp, evenly sprinkle the yeast over the surface and don’t touch it. Do not stir. Do not swirl. Just don’t! You want the yeast to have a good amount of surface area to cover, but not so wide that the water will cool down quickly. Just aim for perfection and you’ll be fine. It will take about 5 minutes for the yeast to dissolve.

Meanwhile, mix the flour (I use about 3.5 cups) and salt together in a large bowl. Mix the mashed potato, which should be cool enough to touch at this point, into the flour with your hands. It won’t look much different with the potato than it did without:

Make a well in the center and pour in the oil

then the yeast/water mixture.

Mix with a fork until the dough is cohesive and comes together. If the dough is sticky add a bitmore flour, but not too much since it can make the dough tough. If the dough is too dry add a tablespoon of warm water. Go with your instincts, if you have any!

Remove the dough from the bowl and give it a quick knead to make sure it sticks together. Rinse out the bowl and spray it with olive oil. Place the dough back inside and cover with saran wrap or a dish towel. Put the bowl in a warm, dry location that is far away from any drafts or windows. It should take about an hour or two to rise to double it’s original size.

Once it is good and large, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured surface. Preheat your oven to 500 and finely slice your shallot.

Knead the dough for a few minutes, adding more flour if it gets too sticky. Roll it out to about 10in x 15in and place on an oiled baking sheet. Stab the surface all over with your finger so that it looks like it’s been riddled with Small Pox and drizzle with olive oil.

Scatter the shallot slices over the top, sprinkle with salt, and put the tray in the oven.

Bake until the focaccia is golden brown and the top is sizzling, 20ish minutes. Feel free to sprinkle it with some grated Parmesan during the last few minutes of baking, if you so desire.

I was a little impatient and didn’t let it rise to quite twice it’s original size, so mine was a tad thinner with a bit of a crunch to it. To ensure a fluffy end result, let it rise completely!

The garlic roasts in the oven, making it squishy and mild when you bite into it. This treat is perfect on it’s own or dipped in some balsamic vinegar. I bet it would make a great sandwich with some arugula and mozzarella…mmm yum!

Nommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Peanut Butter Cookies…with a twist

- Elspeth 3 Comments

I know many people do not like peanut butter cookies, but hear me out. Not only is this recipe fabulously peanut butter-y and perfectly moist, it has….

AN OREO STUFFED INSIDE. And Oh. Holy. Moses…It is incredible. You simply must try it. Not only is it as super fabulous as a pair of red leather chaps in the Castro, it’s fast and easy to make.
My friend Lauren, who helps make this blog such a masterpiece, told me about her adventures with Oreo-stuffed cookies a few months ago. I had to jump on the bandwagon and now I have the chance to share this fantasmagorical treat with all of you.

She originally made chocolate chip cookies for her Oreo adventure, but we were on a peanut butter kick one day and had to give this a whirl. In case you’re wondering what a peanut butter kick looks like, this may give you an idea:

It’s heaven on a spoon, as you can clearly see. These three love monkeys were hanging around the mixing bowl, giving me looks of longing that were clearly not meant as a compliment to my figure. We caved and dished them up some lip-smacking calories, which took them about ten minutes to lick completely from their chops.

Here’s what you’ll need for the cookies, courtesy of Betty Crocker and a couple of tweaks by myself and Lolo:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter, Skippy recommended
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
15-20 oreos, Double Stuffed recommended

Why are we insisting on Skippy? Because we’ve tried the organic, natural stuff (trying to be good) and it just didn’t pack the intense flavor or texture that Skippy did (trying to be tasty).

It is a little bit softer than the natural brands, so you may need to add a couple tablespoons of flour if your dough comes out too sticky.

Preheat your oven to 375. Cream the butter and shortening in a standing mixer.

Betty calls for all shortening, but Lauren and I agree that while shortening provides great texture, the taste is nothing compared to butter. We took a page out of Cook’s Illustrated and used 1/2 and 1/2.

Once it’s all creamy and delicious looking, add your sugars and beat until fluffy.

Beat in the egg and peanut butter, making sure to scrape down the sides so everything mixes together properly.

If you’re one of the cool kids you’ll use farm fresh eggs:

Add your dry ingredients

And mix on low until just blended and the dough sticks together:

Do not over-beat or your cookies will be terrible and everyone will hate you.

Forming the cookies around the oreos proved to be a little tricky, so I’ve provided a video for some tips:

Obviously it won’t be long before some Hollywood mogul picks me up and makes me the next Elizabeth Taylor, so enjoy my undivided attention while it’s available.
Once the cookies are rolled in sugar, place them on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until crinkles start to form on the tops. They will be large and yummy looking.
They are best when they are a little underdone, so take them out when they are still pale and soft, but no longer “wet” looking.
Trust me: you need to make these cookies. History might be very different if Jesus had these at the Last Supper.
Nom….nomnomnom!

Lamb Pasties

- Elspeth Leave a comment

There’s nothing like ending a wonderful Easter weekend with pounds and pounds of leftover lamb and some Miley Cyrus blaring out of your sub-woofer. The pastry gods decided to give me a real hankering for some flaky, savory goodness; hence, the Lamb Pasty:

I’m not sure where the hankering for Miley came from, but I am not one to deny myself guilty pleasures every now and again.


Pasties are an amazing treat and it saddens me that it is not more widely available in the good ole US of A. I know we broke away from the Mother country and declared our freedom, blah blah blah; but why did we have to leave pasties behind? They combine everything Americans love: meat, gravy, dough, and miniscule amounts of vegetables.

I must say that I was shocked at how well these turned out. Pie dough is tricky, even if it is simply fat mixed with flour, and I was worried it would be some goopy mass of ick. No ick, no goop, just yum.

I took the pie dough recipe from (of course) Cook’s Illustrated, but the filling is my own creation. The whole process took about 2 hours to prepare and 20-25min to bake, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time. It yielded 6 pasties and lots of happiness.

Pie dough (Cook’s Illustrated):
2.5 cups flour
1 t salt
2 T sugar (I halved this, since we are dealing with savory)
1/2 c shortening, cold
1.5 sticks butter, cold and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6-8 T cold water

Don’t think the temperatures are unimportant; they can make or break your dough! Cook’s Illustrated also has a pie dough recipe that includes vodka (strange, but it’s supposed to be amazing!) and is more recent than the above one I chose, which probably indicates a slightly better product. I chose the one I had made before, for the sake of working with a familiar recipe.

Put the flour, salt, and sugar in your Cusinart and pulse until mixed.

Add the shortening and let the motor run for about 10 seconds, until it looks like moist sand.

Scatter the butter:

And make 10-15 second-long pulses, until your mixture looks like this:

Your goal is to have all the butter chunks smaller than peas.

Turn the mixture into a bowl and add 6 T of the ice cold water.

Mix and press the dough with a spatula, adding more water ONLY if necessary. The less water you have to add, the better for the dough. Once you have a cohesive mass with only a few bits hanging off, divide the dough in two.

Squash the balls of dough into discs, wrap in plastic, and pop in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, you can start on your filling! Yay!
You will need:
2 cups chopped, leftover meat; obviously, I used Lamb
1/2 c pancetta or bacon, cubed
1/2 onion
1 leek, white/light green part only
2 garlic cloves
1/2 c chopped carrots
2 T butter
1 heaping T flour
1 c chicken stock
1/3 c cream
Salt and Pepper

Chop the meat into small cubes, trimming any fat that might be sticking around. Americans may wear their excess poundage with pride, but let’s avoid packing on any extra when we can.

I used about half of a leftover roast, which yielded ~2 cups. Set aside.

Put the pancetta in a hot skillet and cook until almost crisp over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, chop your onion:

Your leek:

…don’t forget to rinse it!

And mince the garlic:

When the pancetta has rendered a good amount of fat and is starting to crisp, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and set it in a bowl with some paper towel to drain, but leave the fat in the pan:

Add the chopped veggies to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, until soft.

Add your chopped carrots and cook for a couple more minutes:

The carrots should start to sweat like they are being interrogated about their whereabouts on the night of Watergate. Once they start to glisten, push the whole mixture to one side of the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the butter to the empty side:

Once it has melted, sprinkle the flour over and mix it into a roux:

You will have a thick paste. Mix it into the veggies and let it cook for a minute or two, to ensure that the floury taste goes away. Add your stock (mine was homemade, which I am very proud of), salt, pepper, and cream:

Let it come to a gentle simmer and thicket a tad. Now you can toss in the pancetta and lamb:

It will look creamy and weird, but oh so delicious. Go ahead…take a bite…we know you want to…

Let this mixture cool to almost room temperature. If it is too warm it will melt the butter in the dough, which is far from ideal.

If an hour has elapsed for your pie dough, you can remove one of the discs and start working on forming your individual pasties.

Sprinkle your work surface liberally with flour.

Cut the disc into thirds and form each one into an 8 inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick.

The best way to do this is smush the bit of dough you’re working on into a ball. Flatten it with your right hand/fingertips while constantly turning and “rounding” the dough with your left hand. This may take practice/magic. I find that a rolling pin doesn’t always yield the best shape, which is important for this recipe. If you find the dough very dry and crumbly, just dip your fingers in water.

Spoon the lamb mixture onto one side of the dough, leaving 1/2 inch along the edge. You will use about 1/2 c mixture for each round.

If you’re really on top of your game, you can beat an egg white with a bit of water and brush this onto the edge to help seal the dough together.

Fold the round over so you have a semi circle shape and use a fork to press the seam together:

If you are baking them right away you can brush the top with more egg white. Cutting a slit in the top is also a good idea, to help release steam during baking.

I baked one in a 425 degree oven for 20ish minutes and froze the rest, uncooked. I plan to bake those at 400 for a bit longer, but 375 might be better! It came out a little brown on the edges, so reducing the temp a bit is a good idea.

Super delicious, people. The crust was flaky and scrumptious, perfectly wrapping the filling in a blanket of awesomeness. The lamb and veggies were well cooked and melded together perfectly. Some good alterations to this:
Chicken, tarragon, yams, and a teaspoon of mustard
Ground beef, cumin, and potatoes
Cubes of beef, thyme, and turnips

The possibilities are endless! Get crafty and get eatin’!

nomnomnomnomnom