Monthly Archives: March 2014

Bread! (sour dough?)

1 cup sour dough starter
3.5 cups flour (this was all all-purpose)
1.25 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp salt

Mix all, let sit in the fridge for a few days. Then take half of it, make into a ball. Let rest for an hour.

Dump into oven & dutch oven preheated to 450F, spray the bottom and lid with water. Bake with the lid on for 15 minutes. Uncover, bake for another 15.

Wait to cool, eat bread!

Notes:
– Too much water, then it won’t raise as well
– Probably worth trying with half whole-wheat
– Try with some rye flour in the starter, see if it makes it more sour?

Lazy Bear (last, last week)

Maybe I did a little too much post processing here. Candied kumquats filled with foie. AMAZING. I could eat buckets of these. Okay, I’d get sick. Maybe not. Three is a great number.

Artichokes, black trumpets and guinea fowl.

Thinly shaved celery root over crab bodies and claws. I liked the crab and the celery root separately, but not together. (Or well, the celery drowned out the crab when eaten together)

Thinly sliced Monterey abalone with mushrooms in gruyere. I think its hard to dislike things baked in cheese. But I do love abalone.

Veal, loin and belly. Served with endive, almonds and deliciousness. Including radish flowers and broccoli flowers. (Wonder what volunteers do? We pick the flowers!)

Rainbow of citrus, served with ginger milk curd (this was especially delicious, but unphotogenic) and dehydrated angel food cake. Little wood sorrel leaves & ginger threads. (Picking wood sorrel leaves is a volunteer activity…)

Treats! Jellies, puffs, biscuits (with honey and wood sorrel flowers).

As always, Lazy Bear was delicious. And volunteering was fun. AND we took home parisian gnocchi and beef tartare.

Raccoon Climbing

Amazing video.

Parisian Gnocchi

After volunteering at Lazy Bear last week, one of the folks there sent us home with containers of Parisian gnocchi. (Thanks Jared!)

I’d never heard of Parisian gnocchi before, but essentially its choux piped into boiling water, then pan fried in butter to serve. I fried them up for dinner and nom nom nom — delicious. Crisp outsides and soft chewy insides.

One day I’ll attempt to make these, including the dough. If only I could regularly pick these up from Lazy Bear. hah.

Buttermilk Pound Cake

My usual buttermilk poundcake recipe calls for shortening, which I didn’t have — so I tried this recipe instead. It was delicious — moist on the inside, and slightly crispy on the outside.

I’m going to have to make both side-by-side one of these days to compare. A war of the buttermilk-pound-cakes!

Slightly Modified Poundcake: (because I’m sloppy and was trying to find a middle ground with the other recipe)
3c flour, sifted
1/4tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt

1c butter
2.5c white sugar *different from original recipe
6 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease your pan well. The recipe lists a 9-10c tube pan, which I think is traditional. I did a loaf pan + 1 6c bundt
2. Mix the dry ingredients together
3. Cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs one by one. Stir in vanila
4. Alternately mix in flour and buttermilk into the butter mixture
5. Bake in preheated oven. Mine took about 70 minutes for both to be done. Likely longer if using a single larger pan.
6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack

Focaccia Cake

I made a focaccia in a cake tin, thus the focaccia cake title.

I made one batch of Serious Eats pizza dough, refrigerated it overnight, then left it out on the counter all day. Then baked it in the pie tin with a generous helping of olive oil and topped with parmesan, sea salt, crushed chili flakes and other herbs. Baked at 450F for about 15 minutes — and tada! Chewy but crispy focaccia. It is a little thick though.

Chorizo Cheeze-It Baked Eggs

Sometimes you make something that’s delicious… But when you think about it afterward, it’s a liiiiiittle bit gross. This is one of those things.

Cheez-it crust, a layer of chorizo, two eggs, and another layer of cheez-it crust. Layered in, then baked for 10 minutes. Delicious, but so rich. (Admittedly, I would have preferred a little less chorizo on mine)

Cheez-it Crust:
1 cup crushed Cheez-its
2 tbsp butter
sprinkle of salt

Toss, then bake at 275F for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Moss Terrarium

I’m not sure this counts as DIY… But here’s my first attempt at making a moss terrarium/dish. Terra cotta saucer, thin layer of dirt, then some moss pulled from the yard.

Moss care: (according to Google, ymmv)
– Don’t overwater
– Water via misting, moss doesn’t need damp soil
– Water in the morning, moss can only photosynthesize with water and sun
– 5-8 hours/day of indirect sunlight

Is there a term for terrariums made of found things? Foraged terrarium?

raccoon*

adventures of a cosmic procyonid