Love,Cook and Eat

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Artisan Boule Bread Recipe

While I was making this bread I was sceptical at first, because it was the first time I use such a method. The dough was really wet and sticky and didn't really form your regular bread dough. I think one of the good things about this bread is that it does not require kneading , so for those of you who knead their bread by hand , you will love this recipe. The bread was delicious, crusty from the outside soft from the inside, your family or guests will think you bought this bread from the bakery. I got this recipe from the book Artisan Bread in five minutes a day.

Ingredients:

Yields 2 boules

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3/4 tbs yeast (1 packet)
3/4 tbs kosher or coarse salt
3 1/4 cups unsifted all unbleached all-purpose flour( I used regular all purpose floour)

Directions:

Warm the water slightly about 100°F
Add salt and yeast to the water.
Scoop flour gently, do not press down while scooping flour, and then sweep the top level with a knife. Add flour to the water mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or in a stand up mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is un-uniform. This will result in dough wet and loose enough to form the shape of its container

Your dough will look like this

.
Cover and let it rise from 2 to 5 hours depending on your room temperature until it collapse or at least flattens on top. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with, so the first time you use this method, it is best to refrigerate the dough of at least 3 hours or overnight before shaping the dough.
(I didn't refrigerate the dough, and I didn't think it was very hard to form the dough)
Prepare a pizza peel or a wood cutting board by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal.

Sprinkle flour on your dough and cut 1/2 of the dough using a serrated knife. Hold the mass with your hands and add a little more flour as needed so the dough won't be sticking to your hands. Gently stretch the sides of the dough forming a ball. Most of the dusting flour will fall off as it is not intended to be incorporated in the dough. The bottom of the dough may look like a collection of bunched ends but eventually in baking it will smooth out.

Let the ball rest on the pizza peal for 40 mins.

Twenty minutes before baking preheat oven to 450°F with a baking stone ( I don't have a pizza stone so I used a pizza baking sheet) placed on the middle rack. And on the lower rack place empty broiler pan (eventually we will add water to the pan).

Dust some flour on top and cut with a knife the preferred shape. After 20 minutes slide the dough on the stone, and quickly but carefully add a cup of hot water in the baking dish or broiler pan.

Bake for 30 mins or until crust nicely browned and firm to touch.

Let it cool.

The dough can be refrigerated in a closed container ( not air tight) for 14 days.

**** update: I tried to use the dough after 4 days , it smelled so yeasty and soury for me , so I didn't feel it will taste right. So I think its better to use the dough by next day or freeze it if intended to be used later.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Tuna Salad Sandwish Recipe

This is one of my favorite lunch sandwiches. Tuna salad is usually made from canned tuna mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients. In the States 52% of canned tuna is used for sandwiches. I prefer solid fillet in olive oil because I think it tastes better than the ones in water.I used ciabatta roll for this sandwich but you can use your favorite bread.

Ingredients:
makes 2 to 3 sandwiches

1 can Tuna ( 4.5 oz)
1/4 cup mayo
2 tbs of canned corn
2 tsp finely chopped fresh chives
1 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 Jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
** if you used canned tuna in water add 1/2 tsp of olive oil

Topping for Sandwich: Dijon mustard, lettuce,tomatoes and red onions.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients until well combined and mash a little bit while mixing with a fork.

Assemble sandwish with your favorite toppings.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Strawberry lemonade Recipe

What's more refreshing than a a lemonade during the summer season. There is nothing I hate more than when I go to a restaurant and order a lemonade and they give me those fountain drinks labeled as lemonade but they are far from even called a lemonade.Making lemonades is easy so don't bother by buying those powdered drinks.In the Middle East hot lemonades made with honey are used as sore throat and cold remedy.I made strawberry lemonade, because strawberries are in season now and I like any fruit flavored lemonade anyways.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
10 small/medium strawberries
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

Directions:

Over high heat , add sugar,water and lemon zest in a saucepan and heat until it boils.
Turn heat off and let it cool.
Strain the sugar syrup and add it with the strawberries in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Strain again ( you can skip this step if you like to have tiny strawberry bits in your lemonade). Add orange blossom water.
Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water depending on how much sweet you like.
Chill and serve.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Baked Kafta Recipe or ( Kafta Bi Sayniyi) كفتة بالصينية

Kafta or Kofta as pronounced in some Arabic countries , is ground meat ( beef or lamb) that is mixed with parsley, onion and spices. It is the base for many Middle eastern dishes. Well at least it is the most frequent dish served at our house because simply my husband loves it. Sometimes he even asks for it at breakfast with eggs. Kafta is so easy to make as well as the different dishes it comes in. You can make it in batches and freeze it , but of course fresh tastes better. If you are lucky enough to live near a Middle Eastern butcher , you can buy it already made.Baked Kafta can be served with rice or with pita wedges or even just with a fork.

Ingredients:
serves 5-6

2 lbs of Kafta recipe posted before Kafta recipe
2 medium potatoes peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices
3 large tomatoes sliced thick
1 1/2 tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 tsp Middle Eastern red hot pepper sauce ( made from crushed red hot peppers,water and salt it comes very thick in consistency) it can be substituted with regular hot sauce.
1/4 tsp salt less or more as desired

Directions:

Deep fry potato slices about 10 mins or about half way done.
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Spread Kafta in baking dish, follow with a layer of potatoes and then a layer of tomatoes.
Mix water, tomato paste, salt and hot sauce.
Pour over the kafta until water covers the kafta and barely covering the potatoes.

Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 40 min covered ( make sure it is boiling before taking the foil away) then uncover and continue baking for 30 mins.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Eclair Recipe

An eclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing.The dough is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside.It can be filled with pastrycream, custard,whipped cream and chiboust cream. Then it is dipped with chocolate ganache or chocolate fondant icing.The first memory that comes to my mind when I think about eclairs is our school cafeteria, and of course it wasn't a great memory because they weren't good eclairs. I think the key to good eclair is in the pastry cream. This recipe has the best tasting pastry cream ever. This is recipe is from the the book Baking by James Peterson, I like this book a lot and plan to make more recipes from it.

Ingredients:

Yields 12 eclairs

1 recipe cream puff pastry dough ( below)

egg wash

2 1/2 pastry cream ( below)

2 cups chocolate Ganache (below)

Pastry Cream:

makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup plus 1tbs sugar

1 egg

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup cornstarch.

Bring the milk to a simmer in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat and add vanilla.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar, egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch until smooth. When the milk comes to a simmer , stir half of it in the egg mixture. Pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan containing the rest of the milk, place over medium heat and stir the mixture . When stiring reach the for the sides of the sauce pan so the mixture doesn't dry on the sides.

When the pastry cream boils and thickens, Transfer to a bowl cover with a plastic wrap touching its surface so a crust doesn't form on the top. It can be refrigerated up to 4 days.

Cream Puff Pastry Dough: ( Choux)

makes about 1 1/2 lb dough

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter sliceded

1 tsp sugar

1 cup flour sifted

4 eggs

1 egg white plus more as needed

Combine water, salt, butter and sugar in a saucepan and bring to simmer over highheat.There is no need to stir. Turn the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 mins, or until mixture forms a cohesive mass and pulls away from sides of the saucepan. Transfer the mixture to a bowl or to a standup mixer beat with a wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment for 1 minute until slightly cooled.

beat in eggs one at a time until you added four. Check the consistency of the batter by pulling a wooden spoon through the batter, when the groove it makes slowly closes on itself, then you added enough eggs and the mixture is ready to use. If not add egg white at a time until it passes the test. Another way to test the mixture is by holding the spoon sideways and see if it drips( the dough should drip from the spoon and not stick straight out). Another test would be if you are using a stand up mixer the dough should pull away from the paddle attachment in a thick rope.The mixture is best when used immediatly , but it can be refrigerated for several hours and used later.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

makes 2 3/4 cup to 3 cups

12 oz bitter sweet chocolate

1 2/3 cups heavy cream

Break the chocolate into pieces and process in the food processor until very fine. Heat the cream to the boiling point and while the motor is running pour it through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process few seconds until smooth.

Source: Cake Bible

Directions:

preheat oven to 425 degrees.

fill pastry bag fitted with 1 1/2 inch tip with the pastry dough. Pipe tiny dots on the corners of the parchment sheet and turn over and press to baking pan to hold the sheet in place.

Pipe the 12 strips and brush with egg wash. ( strips should be at least 2 inches apart and about 4 1/2 inches long).depending on your pan size you might use two baking pans.

Turn down the oven to 400 degrees bake eclairs for 20 min until golden brown and puffed. Turn down the heat again to 300 degrees and bake for 25 min until eclairs feel light. If they get too brown turn down oven to 250.let them cool.

Use a 1/3 inch fit to make holes in each end at the bottom of the eclairs. Fill eclairs with pastry cream until filled. Warm chocolate until it reaches consistancy of cold maple syrup. Dip eclairs and turn upward right away to drip any excess chocolate ganache. Let them cool for 30 mins before serving.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Chicken Taquitos Recipe

Taquitos are rolled tortillas that are usually stuffed with some kind of filling made from beef or chicken. I"ve always seen these in the freezer section in the grocery store, but never really cared from them. I don't think food that have meat in it taste good when freezed. So when I read this recipe thought about giving it a try and they turned out to be really YUMMY, next time I will be trying these in beef. Traditionally Taquitos are fried but these ones are baked ,and believe me after you have these you won't even want to eat a fried Taquito. Although I never tasted one before but I can imagine it being so oily if fried. The baked version is really crisp without being oily and fattening what's better than that.

Ingredients:

Yields 8 Rolls

1/3 cups (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup green salsa
1tbs fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder ( more or less adjust to your taste)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs chopped cilantro
2 tbs sliced green onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken ( I made spanish Style grilled chicken - see recipe below)
1 cups grated pepperjack cheese
8 large flour or corn tortillas ( I used flour)
cooking spray

Directions:

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
Place 2-3 tbs of chicken mixture on the tortillas and roll.
Place in Baking sheet seam side down.
Spary with cooking spray and bake for 15- 20 mins.

Source: OurBestBites

Spanish Style Grilled Chicken:

2 small Chicken Breasts ( makes about 1 cup of shredded chicken)
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 minced garlic clove
pinch of cayene pepper
pinch of black pepper

Mix all ingredients except chicken combine well. Place chicken in marinade and and marinate in fridge for at least 2 hours. Grill until well done.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Homemade Burger Buns Recipe and Lebanes Style Burgers

I've been craving Lebanese style hamburgers. They usually come in buns like these not sweet like the usual hamburger bun with a coleslaw, pickles, fries, ketchup all inside the bun. Since I usually buy Kaiser rolls when I want to make these burgers , I looked for a Kaiser roll recipe to use for the Bun. The recipe actually yields 16 rolls but I divided mine to 8 Rolls because I wanted the buns to be huge. ) You can tell I was really craving these burgers :) The buns are soft and fluffy inside, if you eat them while fresh from the oven, it will have a crust or you can cover them and wait until they are all soft. I will also include the recipe Lebanese style patties.

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
whisk egg with milk to make egg wash.
Brush the rolls with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds.
Bake in a 400 degree oven, for 20 mins.

Source: Taste of Home