Monthly Archives: August 2011

Bread Baking Babes are on a Roll

Vienna Bread and Kaiser Rolls, to be more specific.   

Vienna is one of my favorite cities, and not just for the tortes. 

(For the record, I much prefer the Imperialtorte over the more famous Sachertorte… I find the Sachertorte a bit dry)

I also love the wonderful breads found everywhere.

Astrid, of Paulchen's FoodBlog?!, is our host kitchen this month and she explains the history of the classic Viennese Kaiser Roll, has the recipe and some wonderful step-by-step photos. 

Visit Astrids blog for the recipe and the details on being a Bread Baking Buddy this month.

Astrid's Rolls

     Astrid

Natashya's Rolls

Natashya
 
  
Lien's Rolls

     Lien

 Tanna's Rolls

        Tanna
 

   Elizabeth's Rolls

      Elizabeth
 
Elle's Rolls

  

Elle

Susan's Rolls

Susan

As usual, we have some very busy Babes at the moment…..

But just so you know: We're all still BABES! 

(You can tell by the panties….)

And the Babes are:

 The Bread Baking Babes

Bake My Day – Karen
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding My Enthusiasms – Elle
Grain Doe – Gorel
I Like To Cook – Sara
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
Lucullian Delights – Ilva
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
Paulchens FoodBlog – Astrid
The Sour Dough – Breadchick Mary
Wild Yeast – Susan

From the BBBBB (Bitchin' Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire).

Katie Zeller on Google+

Puppies, 20 weeks

Nothing like a little rain, a little dirt and white (and black / brown) puppies.

Very_dirty
They are, like all of their ilk, going back 5 generations, self-cleaning dogs.

Which means they come into the house caked in mud and lay down for a nap.

Sometime later, nap over, they get up, all clean…. leaving behind a pile of dirt.

Sedi, our Alsatian, was not self-cleaning.  When she got dirty I had to brush and cut to get the dirt out.

Now I just have to sweep up the remains.

Dirty_guapa
The other color that is showing up often is pink.

For the past week, up until today, they have both been covered with pink splotches.

Blood.

They're teething.

My little girls are trading their 28 puppy teeth for 42 dog teeth.

It happens fast, apparently.

I looked in Bonnie's mouth yesterday and there were no teeth on the side of her lower jaw…. Just a bloody channel.

Dirty_bonnie
They play hard; they chew on each other and anything else they can get in their mouths and those little puppy teeth are rapidly disappearing.

Today it seems to have caught up to them. 

They slept an hour later than usual – I had to wake them up!

They're not eating and not playing…. just sleeping.

I can't imagine how 42 adult teeth are going to fit into those jaws.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm letting sleeping dogs lie.

They do look pathetic, don't they?

Katie Zeller on Google+

Salade en Gelée; the update

It's finished.

Well, almost, the posts need to be finished and painted, along with the bottom half of the house…. And there's always that last bit of trim….

Balcony_finished
The wall candle sconce is up, the table and chairs are moved out…

Balcony_candles
And he managed to get it (mostly) done in time to have my birthday dinner under the stars.

Balcony_inside
We absolutely love it – it's like having another room off the hall.

Perfect for watching sunsets…. And reading with my Kindle….

With all the wonderful. modern technology…. I decided to make something really retro.

Who remembers Jello salads?

My mother used to make one (when I was a child) that, I think, had shredded carrots and canned pineapple suspended in lime jello.  It was served on a bed of lettuce with a dollop of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing.

I was looking for something at the supermarket a few weeks ago and saw a packet of powdered gelatin, flavored with Madeira.

On impulse, I bought it.

I hadn't a clue what I was going to do with it.  I'd never actually done anything with gelatin before.

Not at all an unusual situation for me.

Gelee

I had a vague memory of my mother telling me that some foods didn't work in gelatin…

But, also as usual, I couldn't be bothered to do any investigation.

I decided tomatoes and avocado would be good – served with a bit of mozzarella.

Gelee Salad
I made the gelatin, according to the directions, and layered the gelatin, sliced red tomatoes, gelatin, sliced avocado, gelatin, sliced yellow tomato and finished with the last of the gelatin.

I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes after each layer, and 4 hours after the last. 

That was the fussy part – it had to be tended on time; too soon and it wasn't set; too late and it was too firm.

I sliced it and served it on a salad of Romaine and basil, with a lemon vinaigrette and a slice of fresn mozzarella.

It was fun….

It was good….

I haven't decided if it was good enough to do again. 

Maybe.

Maybe shreddded carrots.

Katie Zeller on Google+

Yellow Tomato Soup; soups for the freezer

First…..

Friday was The Glorious Twelfth!

For those of you who don't know what The Glorious Twelfth is, in the interest of not repeating myself, yet again, please read about it here…..

Yes, it is, in fact, more than just my birthday.  (Want to see my childhood birthday cakes?)

This year it was more glorious than usual (sorry, grouse).

I no longer covet a Kindle.

Two years ago I really, really, seriously coveted a Kindle.

I no longer covet a Kindle….. I OWN one! (insert 5 minute happy dance here)

Mon mari outdid himself this year…..

I am now the proud owner of a Kindle and spent most of my birthday downloading free books and playing with my new toy.

I had no idea it could do so much.

I'm still pretty excited.

I keep having to interrupt my fun to do boring things like garden:

Garden

My garden is becoming more and more like a jungle.  The corn is over 8' tall and the squashes are taking over everything.  I cut them back everyday and they just keep spreading.

I spend half my day picking vegetables and the other half dealing with them.

Dealing with the vegetables includes cooking, freezing, eating and tossing into the compost pile…. not necessarily in that order.

I will confess that, even though in past years I have frozen vegetables, I have never eaten them.

I freeze them because I can't abide waste.

I don't eat them because by the time winter comes around I'm thoroughly tired of summer vegetables and want nothing but winter crucifers.

But I still can't abide waste.

My solution?

Soup.

Mon mari likes a cup of soup with his lunch on cold days in winter.

I also can't abide the commercial 'cup of soup' packets that pass for food.

Making simple vegetable soups for the freezer is easy.

I make them rather thick and intensely flavored – to conserve freezer space.  To use, I thaw a container (usually on top of the wood stove) and add either water or chicken stock.  One container gives mon mari a 'cup' of soup for three days.

Or me a full bowl for lunch.

In the photo, shown ready for the freezer, from left:

Zucchini (Courgette) Soup, Green Bean Soup and Yellow Tomato Soup.

Soup
Yellow Tomato Soup

8 – 10 large yellow tomatoes, peeled
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 large carrot
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
3  – 5 cups chicken stock
2/3 cup Basmati rice
1 tbs olive oil

Roughly chop all vegetables.  Sauté onion in olive oil for 5 minutes.  Add pepper, carrot, garlic, 3 cups chicken stock, cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, add rice and simmer 30 minutes.

Puree soup, adding as much additional chicken stock as needed or desired.

Katie Zeller on Google+

Food Blogger Freebies: Good or Bad? and Chicken Chaussuer

Enquiring minds want to know….

Other bloggers get cook books to review, cases of barbecue sauce to enjoy, pastas to play with….

I get nothing.

I've had offers; but nothing ever materializes.

It could be because I'm not a proper food blogger:

I've never made a fancy torte for Daring Bakers (mon mari is Type 1 diabetic; I worked too hard to get back into a size 8 (or 6) to eat an entire gateau myself).

I don't make complicated dishes with long lists of ingredients (at least not often – we're busy.  I make things other busy people can do easily).

I don't use prepared sauces and or other ingredients (I started not using them because they weren't available here… now it's habit and I like to know what I'm eating) so why would companies send me any…

It could be because I live in France.

I've had emails offering me cook books to review (I dearly love cook books.  I have several hundred) I accept the offer and send my address.

Nothing.

I was offered a free subscription to a cooking magazine.  I accepted the offer and sent my address.

Nothing – although in this case I received a follow-up email 2 months later asking how I liked it…. I said I never received it.  I was assured several issues would be sent immediately.

Still nothing.

This all came out on Twitter a few weeks ago.  There was a post by Jeanne, of Cook Sister regarding 'freebies'. 

I said I had never gotten a 'freebie'.

Much sympathy was expressed from many bloggers.

And one offer for some free stuff.

I was offered my choice of sauces to try from Very Lazy.

Jars

And they sent it!!!!!

All the way to me in French farm country!

I have my first freebie.

Then the question…..

Mon mari actually asked me: What are you going to do if you don't like it?

Good point.

Being a freebie virgin, I hadn't thought of the consequences.

Well….

I pondered this a bit.

I decided that, as they actually hadn't asked me to review the products, if I didn't like them I'd just send them a thank you, telling them my opinion and not doing a post.

If I liked them, but wouldn't use them (tasted good, but too full of mystery ingredients or salt for me to incorporate into our diet), I'd do a post explaining that.  Remember, I don't normally use prepared food – and that includes pre-chopped veggies.

These were good.

Really good.

Both the sauce and the garlic have all natural ingredients.  Not one single thing on the labels that was not actually something I could buy at the supermarket.

Chicken Chausser

The only change I made to the recipe was to leave the chicken in bigger pieces and to use fresh tomatoes – this being summer, me having an over-productive garden and all.

When I make it again, and I will, I'll serve it with pasta.  The suggestion was to serve it with potatoes, but there was such a wonderful sauce, it really cried out for pasta.

As it was, I was forced to just finish it off with a spoon…..

I only added 4 ingredients to the sauce: chicken, onion, tomatoes and mushrooms.

It was ready in 20 minutes.

Mon mari loved it.

What more could one ask for?

As to whether or not Food Blogger Freebies are good or bad….

This one was good!

Katie Zeller on Google+

Puppies

I don't often catch the girls calmly posing….

I thought I would share. 

They're getting to be such big girls.

We made great progress this week, for however long it lasts.

They're no longer terrified of the car.  If I sit in the back (offering treats) they'll jump up, put they're front paws on the back, and stick their little heads in to get the nibbles.

It only took 4 days to get to that point.

Next week, I'll actually put them IN the car.

Poised
I tried the 'getting them to sit while I put their food down'. bit….

That's not going to happen for a few months.

I can get one to sit, but when I try to get the other to sit, the first one jumps up and tries to get the food.  It's like having a jack-in-the-box on either side.  They usually jump up and down, getting all four paws off the ground, as soon as I pick the bowls up and keep doing it until I out the filled bowls back down.

I'm still feeding them outside.  When I move it inside we'll start again – new feeding area; new rules.

Puppy_portrait
They're both doing nicely on the 'heeling' and 'sitting'….  And pretty good on the 'staying'. 

Of course, rather than sitting next to me they pivot around so they can face my pocket where the treats are kept.  They don't get treats all the time, but they know where they are.

I tried to introduce them to 'down'.  They have no problem going down.  It's just that, once they're there, they role over and want a belly rub.  And I don't know how to get them up again.  I don't know how to teach them to go into a 'sit' from a 'down'. And as soon as one is down, the other runs over to play.

Well….

We have a lot of fun, we make a little progress and we're in no hurry.

Katie Zeller on Google+

Grilled Chuck Steak; the update

We have a proper balcony!

And mon mari thinks it will also work as a good spot for the lawn tractor.

It doesn't have a railing, so no puppies at the moment.  Bonnie rolled off the step during her nap the other day…. Poor thing was so surprised (and a wee bit embarrassed).  It might not be so funny if she rolled off the balcony.

Balcony
There is a floor, and the railings are being painted, so we have plans for watching the sunsets next weekend.

With a glass of wine in hand and puppies at our feet…

Balcony_floor
I met mon mari in the summertime.

He was a single dad, fairly new at it and still mastering the finer points.

Like cooking.

Then, as now, he preferred to cook on the barbecue grill.

One of his 'specialties' was grilling chuck steaks. 

Well, he called them chuck steaks…. Most people call them chuck roasts.

Grilled Chuck Steak
He marinated them in 1 package of 'Adolph's Meat Tenderizer' mixed into a half cup of 'Wishbone Italian Dressing'.

He cooked them to medium rare on a gas grill and they were always delicious, moist and tender.

We haven't had one in years – ever since I read the ingredients on the Adolph's package….

Well, he was shopping with me the other day, and saw what he thought was a chuck roast steak.

We had to try it.

Grilled Chuck Steak

1 chuck steak

Marinade
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Chuck steak, raw
Mix all ingredients for marinade and pour over steak.  Turn well to coat.  Cover and marinate for at least 3 hours.

Chuck steak, marinated
Cook on barbecue grill.  We prefer them medium rare, as any more done tends to make them tough.

We're having the rest in a Steak Salad tonight.

Katie Zeller on Google+

Kebabs: Traditional Lamb; Turkey and Vegetable Kebabs

I was going to give you a brief primer on 'kebabs', the derivation of the word, differences between cultures, and so on.

But after reading the Wiki entry on the kebab (or kabob, kebap, kebav, kebap, kebabie….), which was concise. informative, fascinating and rather long, I'll suggest, if you're interested, check it out yourself.

Here are two bits…

A 'kebab', as we think of it, is normally a 'shish kebab', or meat and vegetables cooked on a skewer.

There is also a 'doner kebab' which is the tall spindles of roasted meat, slivered off and served, often in a pita, sometimes in a salad, sometimes in a pita with salad, and, mon mari's favorite, in a pita with fries (stuffed in the pita).

Kebabs are, most traditionally, made with Lamb, and served with a yogurt sauce.

Lamb Kebabs
But they can also be made with Beef

Beef Kebabs

Or pork or chicken or seafood or tofu or, as in these, turkey.

I always cook the slower-cooking vegetables on separate skewers.  I know a lot of recipes suggest pre-cooking the vegetables, but we prefer to do it all on the grill.  We start the skewers with the onions, peppers and zucchini about 10 minutes before we do the skewers with the meat, mushrooms and tomatoes. 

I marinated the turkey kebabs in teriyaki sauce and served them with Sesame Couscous and Peanut Sauce.

Turkey Vegetable Kebabs
Teriyaki Turkey Kebabs

10oz (300gr) turkey tenderloin
8 large cherry tomatoes
8 large cremini mushrooms
1 large red onion
1 medium zucchini (courgette), about 8" (20cm)
1 orange or red pepper
3 – 4 tbs teriyaki sauce/marinade 
8 skewers, if wooden soak in water 

Cut turkey into chunks, put into a bowl with the teriyaki sauce. Stir to coat.
Cut pepper in half, then each half into 4 squares. Cut onion into 6 or 8 wedges.  Clean mushrooms. Slice zucchini into 1/2" (1.25cm) slices. Add pepper, mushrooms, onions and zucchini tio bowl and stir gently. 
When ready to cook: Put turkey, mushrooms and tomatoes onto 4 skewers, alternating.
Put peppers, onions and zucchini on the other 4 skewers, alternating.
Start to cook the vegetable-only skewers first, over indirect heat with the cover closed. After about 7 minutes, lift cover and turn vegetables, moving over direct heat. Add turkey skewers over direct heat. Cook for 6 – 10 minutes, or until turkey is done. 

Warm Peanut Sauce 
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter 
2 tbs snipped fresh chives
1 tbs snipped fresh parsley 
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp brown sugar 
1/3 cup chicken stock

Heat oils in small saucepan. Add chives and chili powder and sauté briefly. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring well to combine. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm. 

Katie Zeller on Google+

Salmon Salad with Spanish Rice, Pimento Dressing

My garden is confused.

We had cool, very dry weather all through June and the first part of July.

We had cool, very wet weather for two weeks followed by hot, very wet weather.

My garden went from barely growing to jungle in the last two weeks.

I went from buying vegetables, to having more then enough  of each – zucchini, chard, green beans, tomatoes and lettuce to eat – every day.

The corn, butternut squash and acorn squash have gotten so huge, so fast I missed the normal chance to exert any sort of control over them.

Now I'm concerned that they'll be all leaves and no vegetables.  I can barely walk into the garden, and if the puppies got in, I'd never find them….

I'm rapidly filling my vegetable freezer, as well as combining them in any and every way I can think of, both cooked and raw.

Planting the lettuce between the tomatoes has extended that growing season nicely, even with the heat, so we are still eating salads.

Having a dinner that can be prepared in the morning and assembled just before eating is perfect for hot, lazy summer days.

This is a layered salad, with tomato-infused brown rice, shredded, fresh zucchini and roasted or grilled salmon, finished with a red pepper dressing. If you use quick-cooking Brown Rice it all goes together fast. Everything can be cooked ahead and assembled just before serving.

Salmon Salad with Zucchini

Salmon Salad with Spanish Rice, Pimento Dressing

For the salmon:
2 salmon filets, 12oz total (350gr)
1 tbs fresh parsley
1 tbs fresh tarragon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs olive oil

Snip the parsley and tarragon. Mix with the salt and oil and spread on the salmon. Bake at 400F 200C) for 15 minutes, or until done. Remove and set aside. Could also be done on the barbecue grill for about 10 minutes. If done earlier in the day, refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Spanish Rice:
1/3 cup brown rice, quick cooking
2 tbs chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tomato
1 tbs olive oil
2/3 cup chicken stock

Finely chop onion and mince garlic. Roughly chop tomato. Heat oil in small saucepan. Add onion and sauté until transparent. Add garlic and rice and sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and tomato, cover, reduce heat and simmer until rice is done (package directions). Uncover, fluff with a fork and set aside – if done earlier in the day, refrigerate until ready to use.

Dressing for the Salad:
4oz (125 gr) pimiento (pimento) or roasted red peppers 'net weight' 
1/2 cup (4oz, 125ml) plain or Greek yogurt
1/2 cup (4oz, 125ml) mayonnaise
1 tbs fresh chopped oregano
1 tbs fresh snipped chives
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs good olive oil

Snip/chop herbs. Drain pimento. Reserve 1 tbs pimento for garnish. Put the rest of the pimento and the yogurt into a blender and purée. Pour the yogurt mixture into a small bowl. Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs, stir to combine.

For salad:
lettuce for main course salad for 2 people
1 small zucchini (courgette) – about 8 inches long (20cm), about 1 1/2 cups shredded

Shred zucchini using large holes of a box grater – no need to peel. Put it into a bowl, add 2 tbs of dressing and toss well to combine. Prepare lettuce, tear and arrange in a flat salad bowl or on a large platter. Fluff the rice and spread out over the lettuce. Put the zucchini on top of the rice. Cut the salmon into 4 nice pieces and arrange on zucchini. Drizzle salmon with a bit of dressing and garnish with reserved pimento. Serve with more dressing on the side.

In addition to this, for the week of August 5 we have Vitello Tonnato, Pasta with Fresh Tomato and Olive sauce, Barbecued Chicken, Stuffed Burgers, Grilled Zucchini….

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Katie Zeller on Google+

Chard Leaves stuffed with Rice and Sausage

Last week, during our cool, rainy spell, I was in search of winter comfort food.

The garden, of course, was producing summer food.

We compromised.

As I mentioned in my post on Mushroom Stuffed Chard, I was inspired by Taste of Beirut.

Chard leaves are a little more delicate than cabbage leaves – the only other leaves I've stuffed.

I made a firm stuffing, thinking it would be easier to work with….

I was right.

Chard Leaves for stuffing

In the past I've used cooked ingredients.  For this I used raw rice and uncooked sausage.

I formed it into small logs to make it easier to roll up.

stuffing chard leaves

I planted Rainbow Chard, so most of it has narrow stems, rather than the thick, wide stems common here in France.

If the stems were thick, I cut them out, overlapping the leaves to make a proper bundle.

I chopped up the stems and added them to the sauce.

Chard Leaf, stuffed

I made lots of small bundles, 20 – 25, and layered then into a deep skillet, just large enough to hold them easily.  I covered them with chicken stock, knowing the rice would be absorbing a lot.

The sauce is yellow tomatoes, red onions and chopped chard stems.

Sausage and Rice stuffed Chard Leaves
Chard Leaves stuffed with Rice and Sausage

10oz (300gr) sausage
1.2 cup Basmati rice
3 tbs crumbled feta
2 tbs dry-cured Greek olives
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
20 – 25 chard leaves
2 cups chicken stock
1 red onion, chopped
2 large, tomatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
1 tbs olive oil

Mix all sausage, rice, cumin, chili powder and oregano, thoroughly.  Add feta, olives, mix lightly.  Form into 1" balls, then each ball into a fat log.
Blanch chard leaves for 30 seconds, remove and rinse cool water. Cut off all stems, cut out any thick stems, chop and set aside.
Place logs on leaves and roll into bundles. Place in a deep skillet and add 2 cups chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Sauce: Sauté red onion and chard stems in oil until onion is tended.  Add tomatoes and simmer 15 minutes.  Keep warm until needed.
To serve:  Spread tomatoes on platter, top with Chard Leaves.

I'll definitely by making these again, even in hot weather…. my favorite chard recipe to date.

Katie Zeller on Google+