Winter Stew

While I was on holiday in the Northeast, I had my two and a half weeks of winter. Then I returned to Southern California where I walked around in my shirt sleeves after dark and thought about how happy I was to be back. But while I was East, I made a very wintery meal, which I will now share with you, to help you get through all those long, dark, cold days that you may or may not have ahead.

YOU WILL NEED:

4 white or yellow onions

6 or so fair sized red-skin potatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 parsnip

1 turnip

1 yam

1 pound of carrots

1 large steak

Oregano, thyme, black pepper, tarragon and bay leaf to season.

Olive oil, to cook in.

Begin by chopping your onions and pressing your garlic. In this case, I chose to use a garlic

press instead of just chopping it, because I wanted it to infuse into the broth that I was making.

Chop two of your onions into into small pieces. Set the other two aside. Press both cloves of

garlic. Fry these two things in olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.

Next, you will need to cut up your meat.

Once you have done this, add it, and more oil, to your pot.

Fry it until all the meat appears cooked.

Then add six to eight cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. You have magically created beef broth, free of all the extra crap and packaging usually associated with beef broth!

Let it come to a boil as you chop your vegetables.

You will need to peel and cut the turnip, parsnip and yam. All vegetables should be cut to about the size of a quartered, small potato. You should leave the skins on the potatoes and carrots.

The skins add flavor and nutrients to your food. You might want to cut up your carrots into smaller, coin sized rings. That's what I do.

Add the veggies to the pot, and then season it well with Oregano, black pepper, two bay leaves, thyme and tarragon. Don't over do it, but don't under do it.

Then get it simmering and leave it there for a while, uncovered. With soups and stews, I have the following rule of thumb: if you want it to thicken, uncover it. If you want it to keep its moisture, cover it. Stews should thicken out.

Then go do something else for about an hour. I recommend Mario Kart Double Dash.

Once you've totally won against your siblings and become the queen of your household once again, or if you did something else, about an hour later, the soup will be ready. You should check it in between every couple of races... I mean, every fifteen minutes or so, to make sure

nothing is sticking or burning. If it is, reduce the heat.

When the soup is finished, the yam will have cooked into the broth and all the rest of the vegetables will be mushy and tender. The meat, in my case, was tender enough to cut with a

spoon.

Now, I like to eat garlic bread with stew, personally. Garlic bread is easy to make. Its very similar to the recipe for garlic bread stuffing, but here it is again, just in case:

You will need:

About a half a stick of butter

4 cloves of garlic

Oregano and basil, to season

Thick bread, sliced.

Arrange the bread slices on a cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to about 375. Then melt the butter in the microwave so it is a liquid. Use a garlic press, or cut the garlic by hand into small pieces, and add all of it to the liquified butter. Season it. Stir it up.

If you have a little brush, you can brush it on the bread. If not, you can sort of pour it on with a spoon.

Bake for about five to ten minutes, keeping a weather eye, to make sure the bread gets to be your desired amount of crunchy without burning.

Dip the garlic bread in the soup. Mmmmmmm.

don't worry...

Photos will come later. I've just inhaled a pound of bacony macaroni and cheese and feel too much like death to edit them. On to the post!

We at Good Noms are doing our best to allay any fears you might have of homemade bread. We are obsessed with homemade bread, and when you turn out a tasty calzone in just an hour, you will be, too!
I know what you're thinking, now. Oh, God, did she say "calzone" and JUST AN HOUR!? She must be out of her damn mind.
Don't worry. Most of that hour is occupied by the fine art of sitting, and you can make the dough ahead of time if you'd like (I'll get into this later). It's really not that bad. The recipe is enormous, though, so cut it in half if you're worried about it going to waste. Let's do this thing.

Ingredients:

Dough:
4 cups of good flour
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cups lukewarm (approx. 110 degrees) water
1/4 cup milk
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) yeast

Filling:
8 oz whole milk ricotta
8 oz whole milk mozzarella



Step 1: Proof yeast
Mix honey and warm water, sprinkle yeast on top, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Make dough
Make a well in the flour, pour in the proofed mixture, and add the milk and 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Before you begin kneading, set aside a small bowl of flour to dust your hands. Knead for several minutes until pliable and elastic. Drizzle the dough with the remaining oil and place in a warm area and let rest under a towel for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. If your yeast isn't nice and fresh, it may take longer.
If you would like to save the dough for later, punch it down, ball it up, and stick it in a storage bag. Come back half an hour to 45 minutes later and punch it down again. You can leave the dough in the fridge for 2 days or so.

Step 3: Make the filling
Mix the ricotta and spices together in a medium bowl. I also added some stray Parmesan that had been in the fridge for a little too long and needed to be eaten. Set aside.

Step 4: Assemble the thing
Punch the dough down and evaluate which side has more delicious extra virgin on it. Put that side face down on the a cookie sheet. Massage it into a circle (or a rectangle if it's too big to make a circle on your cookie sheet). Slather the ricotta on half of the dough and sprinkle the mozzarella on top. You could have mixed the two together, but I prefer the contrast of separate-but-equal cheeses. This is where you could cut out some of the cheese and add in other stuff, but my man and I can't agree on toppings for pizza. He likes extra cheese and I like anything that isn't pineapple or bell peppers (please don't judge me).
Fold the dough over and pinch together. Then, for added deliciousness, sprinkle some salt and garlic powder on top.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until nice golden brown on top.

The Smell of Home Made Bread is like Heaven on Earth

I find there is something so satisfying in baking a fresh loaf of bread that doesn't quite compare to any other baking project one can do. Watching your dough rise and knowing that you made it correctly is so satisfying. Not to mention how good fresh dough smells as it rises in the kitchen.
I love using this recipe to make fresh dinner rolls (great for bringing to dinner parties). However you can also use the same recipe to make a tasty loaf of white bread! It might not be as good for you as wheat bread but its still better then store bought brands. This dough is great because you can use it in so many different ways!
If you make bread a lot (I make it quite frequently) you know what a pain kneading dough by hand can be. I prefer a little bit of a cheat and I use the dough setting on my bread maker. Since this is the way I do it this is the way I am going to give the directions. However if you are a hands on person simply make the dough by hand as you normally would (or look up how to do so). Without further delay...

Super Easy and Totally Tasty Dinner Rolls!
1c Water (75-80 F)
1 large egg
4 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
3 1/4 c bread flour
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbs butter

If you store your yeast in the fridge (I have a big jar) take the 2 ¼ teaspoons out and place in a dish. Set this aside. The yeast will warm up a bit making it more active when you put it in the bread. Follow your bread maker directions for layering your ingredients. Mine go into the machine in the order above. My one suggestion is your flour. As you can see I use King Arthur flour. I LOVE this flour and use it for everything I bake. Their flours are unbleached, not tampered with, and are produced by real people on real farms. I think this makes a big difference.

Ok so you get your mixer going. I find that I need to add one additional tablespoon of water to my dough as it mixes or it is too dry. See what your dough looks like and if its not sticking together nice then add a bit more water. Now let your bread machine do all the work (unless of course you are mixing by hand then you get to work!).

Before Rising and After Rising

After its done you will have a nice smooth dough. Take a 13x9 pan (metal is best but glass works too. I actually bake in 2 8x8 metal pans) and lightly grease. Pull off small bits of dough and form into balls. I like to take the soft side of the dough and fold all the edges under so your rolls look nice and smooth. Place into pan and let rise (cover them with a towel to there is no draft). I let them double in size which takes about an hour in a warm kitchen.

The Rolls before Rising (I didn't take a post rise picture)

While they are rising preheat oven to 350. When ready baste the tops of the rolls lightly with butter and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. When they are nice and golden brown on top test to make sure they are done (I use a tooth pick). If they are then take them out of the oven, let cool for a few minutes, then take them out of the pan. Eat them! NomNomNom!

These are excellent for bringing to dinner parties!

Good Noms bakes bread

The recipe I am using today is brought to you by Bob's Red Mill. On one hand, I like Bob's Red Mill because they produce a huge variety of whole grain and minimally processed and organic foods that are commonly available in most grocery stores, on the other hand most of it costs so much that you will look at a 5 pound bag of store brand enriched bleached cocaine-white flour that's on sale for like 2 bucks and say to yourself "How bad can it be?"
But all that aside - here is Wheat Bran Cranberry Quick Bread
Ignore the butter, it snuck in there somehow without me knowing.

• 2/3 cups flour (I used the all purpose store brand kind)
• 1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cups wheat bran
• 2/3 cups brown sugar
• 2/3 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 cups chopped nuts (I used some pecans I had left over and a bit of walnuts)
• 2/3 cups chopped dried cranberries (if you buy a 6oz package of Craisins, then about half)
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cups milk
• 2/3 cups orange juice
• 2/3 cups melted margarine or vegetable oil (I used apple sauce)

By the way, these are the best way to spend $10 at Target (or what have you).

I find them a bit awkward for everyday things, but for things like brown sugar these little canisters are the best. They are airtight and the sugar never hardens.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients and nuts. Stir cranberries, egg, milk, oj, apple sauce (or oil) into flour mixture, stir until just combined. Pour into greased 9x5x3 pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until center is firm.
Alternately, place all ingredients into the bread machine that you tried to get your mother to give you for about a year and she refused with the excuse that she might use it (before that it sat unused for maybe another 3 years) until she finally gave it up in the order specified by the manufacturer. Select "quick bread" setting (this just means that there is no extra rise time because we aren't using yeast.)
The bread turned out well. It's sweet, with a great shot of sour when you bite into one of those cranberry bits. It was still a bit too sweet for me (unless I'm baking cookies, cake, or something else that is deliberately supposed to be sweet I like no more than a hint of sweetness). I'd cut the sugar down to 1/2 a cup next time, maybe even less.
Overall it's moist, dense, with a nice grainy texture (the nuts and the bran probably help with this). PS - I imagine this bread would be as delicious vegan with the omission or substitution of the egg.