No Knead Rosemary Foccacia

I was at the Library and found this Sept - Oct 2008, Cook's Illustrated and it featured a "Better Foccacia". How better is it? i would have to bake one to find out. The best part in the process of making this Foccacia is - no need to knead. It has been quite awhile since Alexander made The No-knead Bread, and i ask if he would like to help make bread again. He was only 3 when he helped with The No Knead Bread and now that he is coming to be 6, has other more interesting activities than helping me in the kitchen. He does not need to help , i would be the happiest, if he will eat my cooking or baking. When i bake bread, Renee is my biggest fan, she can smell bread baking in the oven a mile away and would always ask when can she have a piece. She likes everything that is doughy, she is a carb person.


The recipe and how to make No Knead Foccacia is HERE Read More......

Chicken Picatta/Piccata

 The word 'piccata' or 'picatta' (wish i know which is the correct spelling cos both should sound the same) is generally associated with veal. but the chicken piccata recipe is more popular. Deliciously rich, lemony flavored  and it is even made better by the fact it's so simple to prepare. The term 'chicken piccata' is quite a generic one and it gives the gourmets among us a great chance of creative experimenting. Add a little twist to the traditional capers by adding some mushrooms

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp all-purpose flour season with salt and pepper
4 tbsp oil preferably olive
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp capers
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
3 tbsp cold butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning the chicken breasts
8 ozs spaghetti - cooked till al-dente and kept warm
2 tbsp  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley





Method:

Trim all visible fat and tendons from the chicken breasts. Cut each one in half to make two pieces about the same size. One at a time, place each breast  between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet.  Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add chopped onions, white wine, chicken stock, lemon juice, half of the capers, and garlic ,  scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until stock is reduced by half.

Turn off heat and add cold butter, stirring until butter is melted. Return the chicken to the pan and add the other half of capers and parsley.

Serve chicken over pasta.


Note:

When a recipe calls for wine as an ingredient, it's nice to find a bottle that is delicious enough to drink but affordable enough to toss a little in the skillet. I used Beringer 2004 pinot grigio as i found this in the pantry. It also has the necessary acidity to greet the potent acid of the capers.

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Biscotti

This recipe is from Jacques Torres's book - Dessert Circus.  According to Jacques Torres, biscotti is traditionally an italian cookie which is baked two times to produce a hard cookie that they like to dip in sweet wine.  He has adapted the recipe so these cookies are not quite so hard and also cut the baking time in half.  He used cold butter so he can roll and bake them right away.  These fragrant, flavorful cookes are great by themselves or dunked in coffee and since Jacques Torres is from Provence, he prefers to dip his in 'pastis'.  Me, having lived in Malaysia,  will have mine with 'Kopi-O'.



Ingredients:

3/4 cup/4 ozs/100 gm whole unblanched almonds
1/3 cup/1.6 ozs/50 gm whole pistachios
7 tbsp/3.5 ozs/100 gm Cold unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup/5.25 ozs/150 gm granulated sugar
2 cups/8.8 ozs/250 gm all purpose flour
1 tbsp/0.3 oz/8 gm Anise seeds
1 tsp/0.2 oz/6 gm baking powder
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs

For the egg wash

1 large egg white, beaten

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300 f(150 c). 

Spread the almonds and postachios evenly on a bking sheet and place in the oven,

Toast for about 30 minutes, until they are golden brown.

You will be able to smell the n uts when they are ready.

A good test is to break a nut in half and check to see if it is light brown on the inside.

Toasting the nuts brings out their natural flavor.

Remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet on wire rack.
Place the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixere on medium speed until well combined, abvout 5 minutes, the mixture will hold together in a soft dough.

Add the colled toasted nuts and mix until they are evenly incorporated, about 1 minute.  If you are using hand-held mixer, you may want to knead in the nuts by hand to avoid buring out the motor of the mixeer.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place on a very lightly floured work surface.  If the dough is stickly and hard to work with, it is too soft.  To fix this. flatten it into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for  a minumum of 1 hour.(When the butter in the dough gets cold, the dough will stiffin).  Remove from the regrigerator and proceed.

Preheat the oven to 350 f(175c).

Divide the dough into three equal pieces.  Use the palms of your hands to roll each piece on the lightly floured work surface into a rope 1 - 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Each rope should be even and fit on your bking sheet lengthwise.  If the dough sticks to your hands or to the work surface as you are rolling it, dust it lightly with flour.

Roll firmly to remove any trapped air bubbles (At this stage, you can wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two weeks.  Bring it back to room temperature before baking.)

Place two of the piscotti ropes on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.  You will only have room for two because they spread as they bake.  With a pastry brush, lightly brush each rope with the egg white; this will add shine to the4 baked biscotti.

Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the baking sheet.

Use a serrated knife to slice the biscotti on a diagonal into 1/2 inch thick cookies.  If you do this while the biscotti are still warm, they not crumble.  The biscotti will harden as they cool.  If they are still soft when you slice them, place the slices on a bking sheet and bake at 300f(150c) for another 10 - 15 minutes.  Repeat the baking and cooling procedure with the remaining biscotti rope.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for two or three weeks.

Variation: 

Dip the biscotti halfway on a diagonal into tempered bittersweet chocolate.  Wipe the excess chocolate from the tip and place the bniscotti on a sheet or parchment paper to allow the chocolate to set.

Serves
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