Crisp Rosemary Flatbread

We've been having quite the cold snap in Asheville - I don't ever remember it being this cold here for this long. When it's cold, the only thing I want is soup. My mom made a lot of soup when I was growing up, so it is definitely a comfort food for me. Since I made a big pot of black-eyed pea soup for lunch today, it seemed the perfect opportunity to make some flatbread that I had been wanting to try out. I first saw it on Smitten Kitchen, and was reminded of it on Tracey's blog just a couple of days ago.

This flatbread is so delicious and easy to make, there is really no need to buy crackers ever again! I mean it. The flatbread is crispy and flaky, and very flavorful from the rosemary. It can hold its own against soup, cheese, hummus and all kinds of other toppings. You could use any herb to flavor it with, so it can pair with any cuisine. You could even use spices - I think cumin would be divine - or sesame seeds, heck, dried figs or other fruits would also be wonderful! It is so easy and comes together so quickly, you can whip it up even at the very last minute, making this recipe a must-have in your arsenal.

Crisp Rosemary Flatbread

adapted from Gourmet, July 2008, via Smitten Kitchen

1 3/4 cups unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 scant teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 450, and place a baking sheet - I use a baking stone - on the middle rack. Stir together flour, rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Add the water and olive oil, and using a wooden spoon or dough whisk, stir to incorporate. When the dough comes together, knead it 4 or 5 times. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces - about 5 oz each - and roll them out one at a time on a piece of parchment. Roll it out into very thin circle (no need to be perfect here), no more than 1/8". Lightly brush top of each round with additional olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Slip the dough parchment and all onto the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough. Flatbread will keep in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature.

Oh, and I should mention that I did make the chocolate piecrust for SMS, but I won't be able to post it until tomorrow, as once it was made there was no light left to shoot it in!

Cheese Straws

It was several months ago that I first saw these cheese straws on Smitten Kitchen, and after my first bite, I couldn't believe I had waited so long to make them! I knew I would love them - I mean, what's not to love?! I just had no idea I would love them so very much. These were the first cheese straws I've ever had believe it or not, so I have no basis of comparison, but they are amazing.

These cheese straws are incredibly crispy, but not crunchy - a very important distinction. The cheese flavor is very prominent, they are perfectly flaky, and though buttery they are not at all greasy and they are as easy to make as a biscuit!

I made a half batch, because I didn't have enough cheese to make a full one, and I haven't yet decided whether that is a good thing or not. On the one hand, they are so delicious I can't stop eating them. On the other hand, they are so delicious I can't stop eating them! Quite the predicament, I tell you. One thing is sure, these will be making regular appearances in my house from now on.

Cheese Straws

adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, via Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups (about 6 oz) very finely grated extra sharp white cheddar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into several pieces and softened

3/4 cup unbleached white flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon milk (or heavy cream or half and half)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine cheese, butter, flour and salt. With your fingers, work the butter in until it is evenly distributed and you have a crumbly mixture. Add the milk, and again using your fingers, rub all of the ingredients together until they form a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch thick. Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut the dough into strips 1/4" - 1/3" wide. Place them gently on a parchment-lined baking sheet about 1/4" apart. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet as necessary, until the straws are tinged with golden. Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer them on the parchment to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Black-Rimmed Pistachio Wafers

I received this lovely book for Christmas called Savory Baking. How refreshing to do some occasional baking that isn't sweet! I finally pulled the book out today, and baked the first thing that popped out at me.

The picture in the book is the thing that grabbed me first. The photo is of a beautiful roll of green dough covered in poppy seeds. I also loved the idea of a savory cookie flavored predominantly with pistachios. They pair so beautifully with so many things - cheese, fruit, you name it.

They are easy as can be to make, though I did manage to double the amount of butter in them due to excessive daydreaming... I had to make a double batch as a result. Not that I'm complaining, they are quite lovely.

I say lovely, because the goodness of these cookies is very subtle - they take some getting used to. You think "savory cookie" and "cracker" comes to mind, does it not? These really are a cookie. They are buttery and have a texture similar to shortbread, with the added crunch of the poppy seeds. The pistachios lend the cookie an earthiness and a slight sweetness. They are absolutely delicious topped with cheese. I imagine a variety of jams would be wonderful as well. What a wonderful and unexpected treat these would be to serve at your next party!

Black-Rimmed Pistachio Wafers

adapted (primarily in method) from Savory Baking by Mary Cech

1/2 cup roasted pistachios, finely ground

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon palm sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, one of them separated

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup poppy seeds

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, palm sugar, salt and ground pistachios. Add egg and yolk of the separated egg, and mix until smooth. Add flour, and mix until just combined. Roll dough into a log and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you want the log to be perfectly round, place it inside a paper towel tube that has been cut open from end to end. Place plastic-wrapped log inside the tube, and roll to round the edges. Place in refrigerator inside tube. When dough is firm, preheat oven to 375. Brush logs with a small amount of egg white from the separated egg and roll in poppy seeds, making sure the logs are well- covered. Cut into slices about 1/8" - 1/4" thick. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet - they can be fairly close together, they don't grow at all in the oven. Bake for 6-10 minutes, or until just golden. You don't want them to get too toasted, as it will alter the delicate flavor of the pistachios too much. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on baking sheet, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!

This is a very special post about a very special event that I was a participant in this weekend. I was lucky enough to have been chosen to take part in this month's Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 - a food blogging event that takes place every month. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 is a great concept - 24 food bloggers from around the world are chosen to each host a unique meal on the same date and blog about it on the same date. I had thought it would be fun to take part in it for a while but couldn't think of a meal concept. Then it came to me - chocolate! I can't believe that one took so long to come up with...

I constructed a 5-course meal, each course including chocolate in some form. It was so much fun to plan and make, and of course, wonderful to eat. The event went incredibly well, despite some hurdles I had to cross. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at taking things as they come...

So, as I mentioned, the meal was yesterday. I had planned on hosting it at my mom's house. She lives in a beautiful house in the woods that was originally built as a church in the late 1800's. Then in the early '80's it was deconstructed and rebuilt in it's current location as a house. It is incredible. It has 17 foot ceilings in the living room, a 2-tiered antique chandelier, a 10 foot tall Gothic window, as well as leaded glass windows, floors and wainscoting that are all original to the church. It was the perfect location to hold a meal about the love - worship in my family - for devout chocolate lovers. However, Mother Nature had other plans.

Friday morning, we woke up to several inches of snow which only increased as the day went on. We were unable to get our car out of our driveway (still can't actually) and we lost power Friday night which we still don't have. How am I writing this post, you may ask? Thankfully, we have friends (who attended the meal, by the way) who's dad owns an apartment in downtown Asheville that he keeps for visiting friends to stay in, and it was empty this weekend, so we've been staying there. Actually, it is so nice, I wouldn't mind if we never got our power back at home!

So, with the car in the driveway, we had no way to get to my mom's to have the meal. We went ahead and did it at our house. This was possible because I had done a lot of prepping in the days leading up to the meal, and we have a gas stove that was unaffected by the power outage. Also, we held it at 2:00PM, so we had the benefit of natural light - or at least as much light as we could get on a cloudy, snowy day. This brings me to an apology.

The photos. The photos, the photos, the photos. I had visions of beautiful photos of my beautifully styled beautiful food. That is not what I got. Despite all of my planning and prepping, there was still a lot of work to be done the day of the meal, not to mention keeping my 1 & 3 year olds out from underfoot. I was a harried frantic mess up until I sat down to eat (when everyone else was on the fourth course). I was making ganache while my guests were eating their main course, and the best I could do was snap a few shots just as I was slinging the food on the plates. So, please forgive me for the un-styled, flashy (as in, taken with flash) shots of my food, which was actually quite beautiful. I'm planning on doing a couple of posts as an amendment to this one focusing more deeply on individual menu items that I will be able to photograph properly, so at least I'll have some redemption...

Now, the chocolate meal course by course:

First Course:

Baby Arugula Salad with Grilled Pears, Cocoa Nibs, Sheep's Milk Feta and a Cocoa Balsamico (Pictured above)

I had hoped to have pomegranate seeds in this salad, as well, but couldn't find one. The salad, though very simple was very delicious. I had also hoped to find mache, but the baby arugula worked beautifully. The Cocoa Balsamico was a huge success, and something that I'll be making again.

Cocoa Balsamico

1 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Place vinegar in small saucepan and cook over very low heat until it becomes a thick, though still pourable syrup. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder. Use immediately.

Second Course:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Topped with Nib-Infused Cream

This soup (minus the nib cream) is a specialty of mine. I make it for holidays and dinner parties on a regular basis, and it is always a crowd pleaser. The Nib-Infused Cream is an idea that came from Bittersweet by Alice Medrich. She is the Queen of Chocolate, after all! The nibs add a great crunch to the soup, and the slightly bitter cream is a wonderful foil for the sweet squash. Definitely a wonderful and simple way to make a dish extra special. I'll make it again soon, photograph it properly and give you the recipe, I promise.

Third Course:

Mole Enchiladas Filled with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Fingerling Potatoes, Whole Garlic Cloves, Sauteed Lacinato Kale and Monterey Jack Cheese

This was my first time making mole, and I don't think anyone who tasted it will allow it to be my last! It was amazing, heavenly! Just the right amount of spice and heat, great depth of flavor and perfect texture. The recipe makes a lot - a little over a quart - so I need to come up with some ways to use mole over the next week or so. Send your ideas forth! I'm going to photograph the mole and do a proper post on it, but here is the recipe for the enchiladas (which I basically made up as I went along...)

Roasted Vegetable & Sauteed Kale Enchiladas

4 cups of diced potatoes and sweet potatoes, any variety

8-10 cloves of garlic

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 bunch of kale (I prefer lacinato or red russian, but any variety will work. Chard would also be tasty)

olive oil for pan

salt to taste

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

8 corn tortillas

1 cup mole sauce

Preheat oven to 450. Grease all surfaces of roasting pan. Place all ingredients in pan and toss well, coating all sides of potatoes & sweets. Roast for about 40 minutes, until everything is soft and slightly browned. Check on veggies every 15-20 minutes, turning them over so all sides brown. Remove from oven to cool. Remove stems from kale and chop finely. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in skillet. Add kale and salt. Cook until kale is soft.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 350. Place about 1/4 cup roasted vegetables down the center of a tortilla, top with thin layer of kale, followed by thin layer. Gently roll tortilla so that sides just overlap, and place seam-side down in large rectangular baking dish. Continue with this process until pan is full. Spoon mole over tops of enchiladas, followed by the remainder of the cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Fourth Course:

Chocolate & Cheese Plate

The three chocolates I chose for this plate were a white chocolate bar with nibs that I really love by chocolatier Askinosie, which I paired with a subtle, creamy manchego; a 65% milk chocolate that went with a local brie; an 80% dark single origin that was lovely with a pungent bleu cheese. I served the plate with two locally-made flatbreads as well as my chocolate lavash. I highly recommend doing this for your next gathering. Everyone loved all of the selections, as well as the experience of eating it.

Fifth Course:

Chocolate Caramel Tart and Cocoa Nib Ice Gelato

A few months ago, we made this beauty for Tuesdays with Dorie. It was probably my favorite TWD recipe to date, so I immediately thought of it when deciding on my dessert for this little fete. Then I thought of a similar tart from Saveur that I had wanted to make. I went with the Saveur version, because it had a chocolate crust, I was curious about the addition of creme fraiche in the caramel recipe, and because it got rave reviews. Unfortunately, the tart was my least favorite part of the meal. It wasn't bad, it just didn't wow me as much as I had wanted it to. There wasn't a high enough chocolate to caramel ratio, and the caramel itself was inferior to Dorie's. Also, the chocolate crust didn't add anything for me. I missed the shortbread-like crust that Dorie uses - the flavor is better, and I think it allows the ganache topping to shine, as then it is the only chocolate in the tart. Don't get me wrong, this one was good. Really, really good. It's just that I know there is something better out there, and will stick with that one from now on. Once again, the moral of the story is always, always, always trust Dorie.

Now the gelato is another story. Wow. I mean wow. This is ice cream that I would eat any time, anywhere, with anything. It is that good. The recipe calls for straining the nibs from the custard base, but really, why? I love nibs. I think they added a huge dimension to this ice cream. Leave in the nibs! The thing that is most amazing about this frozen delight is that it us flavored entirely with the nibs. It is incredible to eat ice cream that is so light in color, yet so deeply chocolate in taste. What I have left of this ice cream is buried in the foot of snow on my deck, but if it survives, I will take a proper photograph of it and devote an entire post to it. It deserves it. Until then, here is a link to the recipe.

I also made Chocolate Mendiants (disks of tempered chocolate topped with dried fruit, candied citrus peel and nuts) which I gave out in little bags as party favors. The mendiants are one of the items that I'll do a separate post on in the coming days. They were beautiful, fun, delicious and easy, and they make great gifts. I didn't get a chance to photograph them before having to escape my cold, dark house, but the post will be coming soon. I promise.

Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for selecting me as one of their December participants! This was such a fun event to be a part of, my mind is churning with ideas to propose for the next one!

Broccoli + Kale Pizza on a Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

Whoa! What is that?! Something savory? Something that could be considered *a meal*?! On my blog?! Okay, are you over your shock yet? Let's get to this pizza.

I saw the crust recipe months ago on The Way the Cookie Crumbles, and I've made it several times, though never took photos of it. I made it again today, after staring at the contents of my fridge and searching for inspiration, and knew I couldn't hold out on you any longer.

This is the perfect last-minute meal. It can be ready in 30 minutes from start to finish. That's right, homemade pizza in 30 minutes. So, if you're burned out from Thanksgiving cooking/baking and need a great meal today that requires little effort, this is the recipe for you.

It is a delicious crust; crispy around the edges, soft on the inside, buttery, flaky. It is like a thin crispy biscuit. This is definitely a recipe that you want to have in your arsenal.

Quick Baking Powder Pizza Dough

adapted from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (plus more for dusting)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup whole milk

cornmeal for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 500. Place baking stone on center rack. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, and using a pastry blender, incorporate butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk slowly, only using as much as you need for all of the flour to be moistened. Knead 2 or 3 times in the bowl until dough forms a ball. Divide dough into 2 pieces for 2 12"pizzas or 4 for pieces for 4 8" pizzas. Sprinkle pizza peel with cornmeal. Dust ball of dough with flour, place on peel and roll out with floured rolling pin. The dough will puff in the oven, so roll it out fairly thin (1/8" or so) for the best results. Place in fridge while you prepare your toppings.

Broccoli + Kale Pizza

1 small bunch of broccoli (about 1/2 pound)

1/2 bunch of kale (about 6 leaves)

2 teaspoons olive oil

salt to taste

1 cup grated sharp white cheddar

1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan

Pour olive oil into skillet and heat over medium flame. Add salt. Cut broccoli into small pieces. Chiffonade kale. Add broccoli to skillet, stirring to coat with oil. After about 2 minutes, add kale, stirring until coated with oil. Cook for another 2 minutes, or until broccoli and kale are almost cooked.

Top crust with veggies. Cover in cheddar, then parmesan. Transfer from pizza peel to baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned and crispy.

The Daring Bakers: Roasted Root Vegetable Vols-au-Vent

I was so excited for this month's Daring Bakers challenge, because I have been wanting to make puff pastry for a long time. Also, the recipe for puff pastry that was chosen was from Baking with Julia - a cookbook I bought several months ago, but had yet to bake anything from. My mind was racing with all of the possible filling options, and I actually made the puff pastry a week before the reveal date, but things just kept coming up and keeping me from actually baking and filling it. Today was finally the day (even though the reveal date was actually yesterday...).

I decided to go with a filling of root vegetables - red and chiogga beets, sweet potatoes and fingerling potatoes - roasted with whole garlic cloves, fresh rosemary olive oil and sea salt. It was beautiful and delicious.

The puff pastry was surprisingly easy to make, and not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be. I was pleased with how my pastry puffed, though it leaked a lot of butter in the process. Perhaps I wasn't as careful as I should have been while I was making it... Nonetheless, it was so scrumptious. It had a rich buttery flavor - as anything containing a full pound of butter should have - and was quite flaky despite all of the leakage. I'll be making this again for sure, the possibilities are endless!

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Steph of a whisk and a spoon. Steph chose Vols-au-Vent, which we are pretty sure in French means, “After one bite we could die and go to heaven!”

SMS: Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheese Muffins

I will admit, I wasn't terribly excited about these muffins. Especially after reading about others slightly blah results. After making a few changes, though, these are the best savory muffins I have ever eaten. They were unbelievable!

I made a 1/2 recipe because my sage plant has been so picked over, all I could get off of it was 1 tablespoon and I didn't want them to be sage-poor like these cornbread muffins were. Tracey told me not to skimp on the spices, but the spices were cayenne and black pepper - too spicy for my little one. I knew I had to compensate somehow to add some flavor to these muffins. The first thing I did was to brown the butter. I know, I know, do I ever make anything without brown butter? I'm obsessed with it, and it really adds another dimension to baked goods, so I just couldn't help myself. I also added 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (remember, this was for 1/2 recipe), and took the sugar out entirely. The recipe calls for sharp cheddar, which we usually keep around, but we were out so I used what we did have: jack and parmesan.

I absolutely loved these muffins. They smelled divine while baking, and tasted divine once they were out. The coriander was a perfect complement to the caramelized onions, sage and cheese. These are a wonderful beginning-of-fall treat, and I'm sure they'll be making several appearances throughout the chilly seasons to come.

Thanks to Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen for choosing these muffins for all of us to bake. They were a wonderfully delicious surprise! Visit Hanaa's blog for the original recipe, and take a look here to see what the other SMS ladies came up with this week.