I'm back, baby! This time with bread

Yes, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I last posted. I admit it. I got soft. I was lulled into complacency by Zack, who was getting hitched, and who also hadn't been posting. We had eased into a fragile detente during those last months of his engagement. Then, WHAM! POW! BAM! KAZAM!

He rope-a-doped me.

He came back with a vengeance. He's been a cooking, writing, posting machine. He has brilliantly out-maneuvered me this last week.

Tip of the cap, sir. You've won this round. But this is a 12-course fight, and I've got endurance, Zack. Endurance you can't even comprehend with your fancy ice cream maker and your veggie friendly brown rice.

I'll get to you in the later rounds.

I decided the best thing I could do was circle the wagons and get back to basics. Flour. Butter. Baking soda. Brown sugar. Get my hands in the dough and knead.

Oh yeah.

Oatmeal-Walnut Soda Bread

•2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

•1 3/4 cups buttermilk

•2 cups all-purpose flour

•1/2 cup wheat flour

•1/2 cup plain cake flour

•1 cup walnuts

•1/4 cup brown sugar

•1 1/2 tsps salt

•1 1/2 tsps baking soda

•1 1/2 tsps cream of tartar

•3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Soak 2 cups of oats in the buttermilk for 1 hour.

Toast walnuts in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Cool and chop coarse.

Whisk flours, remaining oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar.

Work in 2 tablespoons of butter with your fingertips.

Add the buttermilk-soaked oats and toasted nuts. Stir in with a fork until the dough just starts to come together. Turn out on flour coated surface and knead just until the dough is fully together, about a dozen or so turns.

Pat the dough into a round about 2 inches high. Place on a greased baking sheet. Score the top of the dough with a cross shape using a serrated knife.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 50 minutes.

Remove from oven, brush surface with 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Cool to room temperature, 30-40 minutes before cutting.

Serve this bread with a little butter. Good for breakfast, a snack, or with dinner.

(This recipe was largely borrowed from The New Best Recipe, Copyright 2004 by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated.)

Get in my belly little birds

Cornish game hens are readily available in most larger grocery stores, and make for a charming, refined meal that feels like something special, even though the similarities to good old classic roast chicken cannot be denied. 

I did not brine these birds before roasting. (I can just imagine Zack ... he stops chewing and looks at me accusingly ... "You didn't brine these birds?!?" ... the napkin comes up to his mouth and the masticated hen bits are spat therein.) That's right. I know brining your bird is all the rage these days, but I am not such a slave to fashion that I unwittingly go along with the mob's every whim. 

For these little guys I chose to omit the brine (although if I was roasting a turkey or chicken I may well have chosen to include that step). Roasting at a high temperature first to seal in the juices and brown the birds, then additional lower-heat wet roasting over the liquid in the pan, and basting, made these birds come out perfectly moist and delicious while still retaining that nice roast brown color. I served with mash potatoes and used the gravy from the pan.

• 2 Cornish Rock Hens

• 20 cloves of garlic

• 1 lemon, quartered

• several onions

• 1 shallot, chopped 

• 1 rib of celery, chopped

• 1 and 1/2 cup of chicken stock

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 chopped

• 3 table spoons of olive oil

• 1 tsp each salt and pepper

Preheat oven for a good half-hour to 450 degrees.

Wash hens. Pat dry with paper towels. Put one-quarter lemon inside each bird along with one whole sprig fresh rosemary and 1/2 chopped shallot. Coat outside of birds with one tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Add onions and garlic to roasting pan. Place bird on rack in pan breast-side up. Add 1 cup chicken stock to roasting pan. Put in oven and roast at 450 for about 30 minutes. Turn breast side down after 20 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Mix together wine, chopped rosemary, oil, and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Squeeze in juice from remaining lemon. Turn birds back to breast-side up and pour mixture over birds. Cook an additional 40-45 minutes, basting with pan juices every 10 minutes, until thermometer reads at least 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh.

Remove birds to platter, along with garlic and onions, and tent with foil. Transfer pan juices to a small saucepan and boil for 6-7 minutes until desired consistency. 

Cut hens in half lengthwise and serve with gravy.

Dad's Pasta Salad Deluxe

My father makes this dish for family events, where there are hordes of hungry relatives standing in line waiting to be fed. My dad likes to cut up a summer sausage and put it in there too, but I've omitted that to make it veggie friendly. That's something Zack would never do because of the man's natural disdain for the non-carnivores.

• 2 packages tri-color corkscrew pasta (I've used the Barilla brand tri-color rotini often in the past and have been pleased)

• 1 bottle of Paul Newman's Family Style Italian Salad Dressing 

• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

• 1 red onion, diced

• 1 small yellow onion, diced

• 1 jar spanish olives with pimentos, drained (preferred sliced)

• 1 brick extra sharp cheddar cheese, cubed

• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped

• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 bag baby carrots 

• 1 jar pickled baby corn, drained

• 1 jar pickled, sliced banana peppers, drained

• 1 package cherry or grape tomatoes 

In a large stock pot, bring several quarts of cold water to a vigorous boil. Add pasta. Let boil 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until pasta is done.

Drain and rinse pasta in cold water. Add 1/3 bottle of salad dressing. Toss thoroughly with pasta. Add vegetables, chick peas, cheese, olives, and 1/3 bottle of salad dressing. Mix together thoroughly. 

Chill and serve with remaining 1/3 bottle of salad dressing, salt, and pepper. 

Victory Chicken Legs

Here's a good, inexpensive recipe for chicken, legs or thighs. I'm sure Zack would want these bbq'd or slathered in Buffalo sauce, but I think this is a more sophisticated treatment.  

• 4 or 5 chicken legs or thighs

• can of beans (any variety pinto, great northern, kidney, etc. will do), drained and rinsed

• 3 small yellow onions, chopped coarse

• 7-10 cloves garlic, crushed with flat side of the knife

• 1/2 cup chicken broth

• 1/4 cup dry white wine

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 celery stalk

• 1 tsp each salt and pepper

Heat oil in skillet on medium high heat. Add onions and celery. Cook until the onions begin to get translucent, about 5 or 6 minutes. Add garlic. Cook 5 minutes. 

Coat chicken in salt and pepper, then add chicken to the pan. Brown chicken on all sides, 8-10 minutes total. Add wine, scraping up any caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan. Add chicken broth and beans. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low. Cover. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until chicken is done. Chicken should be tender and moist.