Enough Skirt Steak and Crispy Potatoes with Salsas

Enough of the baking binges, the walks with novels, the walks with dogs, the walks just to walk further than the house is long; enough of worrying each sneeze and sniffle, enough of feverish temperature checking, tomato checking, petunia checking, chicken nest checking, checking the mail, checking the phone, checking the weather for the first hurricane; enough of wanting nothing more than a hug, of air high fives and kisses blown across six foot spaces; enough of wondering who will make it and who will not and whether or not the unlucky who might be me or you; Enough is enough.

You deserve an immense and flavorful dinner. This isn’t your average Meat and Potatoes meal. Hang in there and happy Memorial Day.

Skirt Steak with Asparagus and Salsa de Semillas

Adapted from Food and Wine

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

1/2 cup cashews, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup raw pepitas

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds (I used plain sesame seeds)

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming spice

2-3 red dedo de moca Brazilian hot chilis, chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste

1 (1 1/2-pound) skirt steak

2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

Lime wedges, cilantro leaves, and cooked long-grain rice, for serving

Heat 6 tablespoons oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low until fragrant. Add cashews, pepitas, sesame seeds, garlic, and oregano; cook, stirring often, until cashews are light golden and toasted, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in 1 tablespoon Arizona Dreaming spice, chilis and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Transfer to a small bowl.

Slice steak with the grain into 3-inch-wide strips; slice strips against the grain into 3/8-inch-wide strips.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high. Add half of the steak; sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, undisturbed, until a crust forms, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip and cook just until no longer pink, about 15 seconds. Transfer steak to a medium bowl, and wipe skillet clean. Repeat process using 1 tablespoon oil, remaining steak, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt. Wipe skillet clean.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet; heat over high. Add asparagus; cook, stirring often, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Return steak and accumulated juices to skillet. Stir in additional Arizona Dreaming spice, to taste; season with salt, if desired.

Transfer steak mixture to a serving plate; top with 1/4 cup salsa. Squeeze limes over steak mixture; garnish with cilantro, and serve with rice and remaining salsa.

Crispy Potatoes with Avocado Salsa

Adapted from Food and Wine

1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided

3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

1/3 cup cold water, plus more as needed

1 medium serrano chile, stemmed, seeded (if desired), and roughly chopped

1 dedo de moca Brazilian hot red pepper

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems, divided

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 small avocado, pitted

1/2 cup pickled hot jalapeño slices

1 1/2 tablespoons pickling liquid

2 ounces Cotija cheese, grated on smallest holes of a box grater (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss together potatoes, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1 teaspoon salt on a rimmed baking sheet, and spread in a single layer. Bake in preheated oven until fork-tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven.

Increase oven temperature to 500°F. Using the bottom of a 1-cup dry measuring cup, smash potatoes to about 1/2-inch thickness. (Make sure smashed potatoes are still in a single layer.) Drizzle with 3 tablespoons oil; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Bake at 500°F until bottoms of potatoes are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Flip potatoes, drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake until edges of potatoes are crispy and golden, 8 to 12 minutes.

While potatoes bake, process onion, 1/3 cup water, serrano, 3 tablespoons cilantro, lime juice, and remaining 11/4 teaspoons salt in a blender until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add avocado, and process until smooth, about 10 seconds. If needed, pulse in additional cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to reach a thick but pourable consistency.

Transfer warm potatoes to a large bowl; add pickled jalapeño slices and pickling liquid, Cotija, and 1/2 cup cilantro; toss to coat. Spoon avocado salsa into 4 small bowls; top evenly with potato mixture, and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro. Serve immediately.

This week’s product pick:

Kermit hasn’t had enough. Nope. Everyday he asks for more. These gifted treats from West Paw keep his tail wagging, his sad eyes sagging, and his wet nose ticking the backs of my knees to remind me what the pantry portends.

Lasagna with Prosciutto and Carrot Cake

RUN.

Seems a prudent response to the times. It’s felt so good to hit the pavement, to rattle off the cobwebs in the connective tissue after taking half the year off for chemo. I used to think of exercise like a chore, and now it feels like a gift. To have the health to move. Superfeet gifted these amazing insoles and oh what a difference a little support makes for the ache-footed runner.

With running comes carb-loading. Or at least carb guiltlessness. There’s lasagna and there’s Lasagna. This dish was a stressful origami, a 3-D chutes and ladders of meat frosting. But wow, so delicious and so impressive to plate and serve.

Lasagna with Prosciutto

Adapted from Food and Wine

PASTA SHEETS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1 to 2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pans

Fine sea salt, for salting water

LASAGNA FILLING

6 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, broken into large chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 pound or 2 cups cottage cheese

1 ¼ cups thinly sliced prosciutto, finely chopped

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

Fine sea salt, to taste

SPINACH SAUCE

5 ounces fresh baby spinach (about 5 cups)

1/2 cup water, plus more

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for salting water

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Make the pasta sheets

Mix flour, eggs, egg yolks, 1 tablespoon water, and oil on a countertop by making a mound of the flour and adding the wet ingredients little by little until mixture is workable. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface. Shape into a ball, and knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hours and 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

Set rollers of a pasta machine on widest setting. Unwrap dough, and cut in half. Rewrap one dough half. Use a rolling pin or your hands, flatten unwrapped dough portion to 1/3-inch thickness. Roll dough through pasta machine, flouring dough as needed to prevent sticking. Fold dough in half crosswise; reroll through pasta machine. Continue folding dough in half crosswise and rerolling until it is as wide as the pasta rollers (5 to 6 inches), 1 or 2 times. Trim dough as needed to create straight sides. Once width is reached, run dough sheet through widest setting once more to ensure even thickness of dough. Reduce width of rollers one setting, and roll dough through rollers. Measure dough length, and trim to 32 inches, reserving scraps. Continue rerolling dough (do not refold) through pasta machine, reducing width of rollers one setting at a time and trimming to 32 inches between settings, until dough is the thickness of 3 pieces of paper and dough sheet weighs approximately 6 ounces. Trim pasta sheet into a 32- x 5-inch rectangle. Cover pasta sheet and scraps with plastic wrap or a towel. Repeat process with remaining dough half to form 2 (32- x 5-inch) sheets of pasta and about 6 ounces of dough scraps.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and salt it. Add 1 pasta sheet to boiling water; cook 1 minute. Using a spider and tongs, gently transfer pasta to a baking sheet generously coated with oil. Coat pasta generously all over with oil to prevent sticking; fold in half crosswise. Repeat process using remaining pasta sheet. Set aside.

Make the lasagna filling

Process Parmigiano-Reggiano chunks in a food processor until finely ground into small crumbles, about 30 seconds. Transfer half of the cheese (about 3/4 cup) to a bowl, and reserve for finishing lasagna. Add cottage cheese, prosciutto, cream, and rosemary to food processor; pulse until well combined and prosciutto is very finely chopped, about 10 pulses. Season with salt to taste. Transfer filling to a large piping bag with a 3/4-inch hole snipped in the tip.

Assemble the lasagna

Coat a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with oil. Unfold pasta sheets, and arrange them parallel, overlapping them to create a 9-inch-wide layer of pasta. Line the bottom and two long sides of the loaf pan with the pasta, allowing a 5-inch overhang on one side and the remaining long ends on the other.

Pipe a 1 1/4-inch-thick line of filling along the long pan side with the long ends of the pasta. Pipe a second line of filling parallel to the first, leaving 1/2 inch space on each side of the second line. Carefully fold the long overhanging pasta sheets up and over filling; press the pasta down to hug sides of filling. (This creates 2 long pockets of filling.) Pipe 2 lines of filling in the “trenches” of the pasta. Fold the longer pasta sheets back up and over the filling; gently press down to smooth.

Repeat once for a total of 4 layers of filling. Fold the 5-inch pasta overhang up and over to seal the lasagna. Trim pasta sheets along upper lip of loaf pan. Wrap loaf pan in plastic wrap, pressing plastic wrap directly onto lasagna surface. Chill until set, at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.

Make the spinach sauce

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil, and salt it. Add spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 2 minutes. Using a spider, transfer spinach to a large bowl of ice water. Let cool 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess moisture from spinach. Transfer spinach to a blender; add 1/2 cup water. Process until smooth, about 30 seconds, adding up to an additional 1/3 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to thin sauce to consistency of heavy cream. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan. Stir in oil and salt. Keep warm over low, stirring often, until ready to use.

Bake the lasagna

Preheat oven to 500°F. Run a small offset spatula around edges of lasagna to loosen from pan. Unmold lasagna, and invert onto a cutting board;

Cut crosswise into 6 (1 1/2-inch-wide) slices. Arrange lasagna slices, cut sides up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving at least 1 inch between slices. Brush tops and sides of slices evenly with oil. Sprinkle slices with reserved Parmigiano-Reggiano crumbles (about 2 tablespoons per slice).

Bake in preheated oven until slices are heated through and edges are puffy and golden brown, 6 to 10 minutes.

Spoon 2 tablespoons spinach sauce onto each of 6 plates; tilt each plate in a circular motion to spread sauce in a thin, even layer. (Reserve remaining sauce for another use.) Place 1 lasagna slice on each plate. Serve immediately.

How about a carrot cake for dessert? From the Portland Bake This Day kitchen is this delicious reward.

“STOP TALKING TO ME!” CARROT CAKE

Adapted from Ina Garten

This carrot cake and I are friends in the quarantine. Afterall, despite a motherload of sugar, she boasts an entire pound of carrots and a full cup of walnuts in all their carotene and poly unsaturated glory! AND, she talks. For an extrovert, hearing your carrot cake invite you for tea each afternoon of quarantine is just being a caring and sensitive visitor and YES, I’ve been alone too long.

Cake ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 T Bourbon

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 T cinnamon

2 teas baking soda

½ teas kosher salt

1 pound carrots, hand grated

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Frosting:

6 ounces Marscarpone cheese, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 teas Bourbon

2 Ts heavy cream

¼ teas kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and grease two 9-inch cake pans, lining the bottoms with parchment paper, then dust with flour.

In your mixer bowl, beat the sugar, oil, and eggs until creamy, then stir in the bourbon.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, add this to the egg/sugar mixture.

In a medium bowl, mix the carrots, raisins and walnuts with 1 T of flour.

Then fold this mixture into your batter.

Divide the batter between the two pans and slip into the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Then lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

After a 10-minute rest, turn out on a baking rack and cool completely.

For the frosting, mix the cheeses, powdered sugar, cream, bourbon and salt on medium with the paddle attachment until it is light and fluffy.

To assemble on your plate, turn one layer rounded size down and spread half the frosting on the top only, not the sides. Repeat with the second layer rounded side up.

You can sprinkle additional chopped walnuts on the top if desired.

Hyperlinked products were gifted.

Love Anterior with Masala Paneer Kathi Rolls and Spicy Mango Chutney

Love is anterior to life/ Posterior to death, says Emily Dickinson. Love is the leading edge and the lagging trail, a shimmering thread. In the wake of our present pandemic, we see traces of love’s leftovers all over the city. Artwork chalked on sidewalks, blooming and leafing from fresh plotted garden spaces and portraits putting prouder faces on the boarded windows of shuttered places where once upon a time there were these things we called “gatherings.”

Louis Armstrong with N95 on distal trumpet, with gloves.

Sometimes the concept of love anterior is better known as food on the plate, in front of my hunger, waiting.

Masala Paneer Kathi Rolls

Adapted from Food and Wine

FILLING

3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2-3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

2-3 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoons garam masala

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon chaat masala

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 medium-size red onion, sliced

1 medium-size red bell pepper, sliced

8 ounces paneer (fresh Indian cheese) or firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 (6-inch) frozen parathas, whole-wheat flour tortillas, or pita rounds will also work

6 tablespoons Spicy Mango-Mint Chutney Chaat masala (SEE BELOW), for serving

Make the filling

Stir together yogurt, garlic, ginger, garam masala, lemon juice, chaat masala, and turmeric in a medium bowl until combined; measure 1/4 cup yogurt marinade into a separate small bowl. Add onion and bell pepper to remaining marinade in medium bowl; toss to coat. Add paneer to 1/4 cup marinade in small bowl; toss to coat. Cover each bowl; refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 500°F with oven rack 6 inches from heat source. Spread marinated vegetable mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Roast in preheated oven until mixture is just charred in spots, about 12 minutes, stirring once halfway through cook time. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to broil. Stir marinated paneer into vegetable mixture on baking sheet. Return to oven, and broil until paneer is cooked through and vegetables are crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl; toss with salt. Cover to keep warm; set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F.

Cook parathas according to package directions. Transfer parathas to a baking sheet; place in preheated oven to keep warm.

Assemble the rolls

Remove 1 paratha from baking sheet. Place an 8-inch square piece of aluminum foil on a work surface; place paratha on foil so that paratha is half on foil and half on work surface. Spread 1 tablespoon spicy mango-mint chutney evenly over paratha. Sprinkle lightly with chaat masala. Roll up paratha burrito-style, folding bottom up and sides in toward center, using foil to secure. Repeat process using remaining parathas, chutney, filling, and chaat masala.

This Mango-Mint Chutney is INCREDIBLE.

Spicy Mango-Mint Chutney Chaat Masala

Adapted from Food and Wine

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 small fresh serrano chiles, seeds and ribs removed, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place mint, mango pulp, lime juice, 2 tablespoons water, chiles, ginger, and salt in a food processor. Process on low speed, gradually increasing speed to high, until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a small airtight container; press a piece of plastic wrap on mixture. Cover with a lid; store in refrigerator until ready to use.

With everyone rehashing their gardens right now, I’ve enjoyed Growing Your Own Cocktails, Mocktails, Teas and Infusions by Jodi Helmer. I’m inspired—lavender, echinacea, lemon verbena, and trumpet honeysuckle are my goals for next spring. For now, I’m putting my hibiscus to good use. This book also instructs on how to grow your own ginger…giving it a try this summer!

For our last weekend of Festing in Place, I made a hibiscus simple syrup to add to the daiquiri machine.

Hibiscus Simple Syrup (Make Mint Julep Syrup with this same recipe)

From Growing Your Own Cocktails

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

4 cups hibiscus flowers (2 cups dried flowers)

Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Stir, turn off the heat, and then let steep for two hours. Allow to cool overnight.

Our makeshift Economy Hall Stage, Faux Fest 2020

Cinco Semana de Quarantino Jalapeno Cheesy Sourdough Cornbread and Chili

O, that we could learn to camouflage with brightness day in and day out like the spring moth in New Orleans. Or that we could be so fearless in the face of predators. See me; I’m right here, living wild.

May you eat as spicily as you live. This week’s work comes again from the Portland Bake This Day kitchen.

CHEESY SOURDOUGH JALAPENO CORNBREAD

Honoring Bread Pillar # 4: “Crust requires STEAM”.

We are celebrating the Week Cinco of quarantine, and Cinco de Mayo with a fitting dinner. On our table we will enjoy Chili with Variables and this amazing bread, full of cheese, chili and delectable spices! Add your favorite dark beer and the quarantine suddenly starts standing in the corner, instead the middle of the room.

Makes one large loaf.

This nontraditional cornbread uses sourdough for leaven and is baked in a covered baker, any shape will do, even a Dutch oven will do as long as the lid fits and for the first part of the bake, captures steam and creates a crunchy surface. If you like your bread soft, simply brush the top with beaten egg and bake uncovered.

Ingredients:

225 g active sourdough starter

240 g water

7 g salt

15 g honey

250 g bread flour

100g whole wheat flour

110 g cornmeal

1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn

2 T grated sweet onion

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and ribs removed, minced

110 g grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 teas cumin

1 teas ground ancho chili

1 egg and 1 T water for egg wash

Instructions:

Combine the starter, water, honey, flours and cornmeal to autolyze for 90 minutes.

Then add the salt, mix well and perform a stretch and fold every 30 minutes X 3.

Now, put the dough on your counter lightly sprinkled with rice flour.

GENTLY, stretch the dough, no kneading, to a 16” by 8” rectangle.

Brush the surface with the beaten egg mixture and top with grated cheese, jalapenos, corn and spices.

Roll up like a log and cut the log in half. ——————–+———————-, this way.

Pinch the ends of each log closed and put the two logs close together and parallel, finally twisting them together to make one loaf/log.

Put this twisted loaf top side down in a proofing basket lined with a towel and sprinkled with rice flour.

Cover with plastic wrap and rise until double.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with your lidded baker inside.

When proofed, carefully invert your loaf on parchment, slice some steam vents and perform the parchment slide into the very hot baker.

Bake 30 minutes, covered with the tight fighting lid.

At 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake 10 minutes longer.

Check the internal bread temperature before removing from the oven, it should be 200 degrees.

Cool for 45 minutes on a baking rack and enjoy!

Chili with Variables

The perfect companion for your Jalapeno Cornbread is Chili with Variables.

The whole nation is home cooking and the fridge is full of leftover bits and bobs. You can make delicious chili from this recipe with many possible substitutions. The secret is the three-reduction technique. Don’t be afraid, raid the fridge for one or more of the variables in the ingredient categories.

Ingredients:

Meat- really anything, beef, pork, chicken,sausage, combo, ground or cubed, 1-2 pounds.

Heat- ground chili powder, red chili seeds, jalapeno, cumin

Liquid- pureed tomatoes, broth, beer, wine

Sweet- honey, molasses, corn

Fat- sour cream, butter,

Beans- black, red, beans

Veggies- at least a cup of chopped sweet onions and at least one cup of something else, peppers, squash, fresh tomatoes, chopped spinach, chard, etc

Herbs- Cilantro, parsley

Thickeners- cornmeal, tomato paste

Toppings- sour cream, cheeses, pepitas

Seasonings- salt, red or black peppers, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic, anchovies

How to do it? This is a THREE REDUCTION Chili with an overnight stay in the fridge.

At least one day before you want to eat this-two is better.

1. Brown the meet in a hot dutch oven, with olive/veggie oil with the onions.

2. Deglaze this with 1/3 cup of red wine and cook almost dry.

3. Deglaze again with 1/3 cup of fish sauce, again cook to almost dry…add garlic now for a 40 second saute.

4. Add one large can pureed tomatoes.

5. Fill that can with broth x 1.5. ( you can sub in a cup of beer, very nice)

6. Simmer for one hour. Get out your immersion blender and blend to your liking, this helps with thickening and gets rid of ‘bird water soup syndrome’. I leave some chunks of onion and most of the meat intact, just trying to not have my chili look like a blob of chunks.

7. Add beans( 3 14 oz cans, drained and rinsed),veggies, about 1/3 cup of cornmeal, and spices, (I add 2 T of chili powder, 1 T of cumin, at least a teaspoon of black pepper, 1 T of molasses or honey), also add ¼ cup of tomato paste.

8. Reduce this again by about 20%.

9. Finally, taste it. I find I ALWAYS add a bit of sweet now, like another T of honey and an equal amount of my favorite vinegars. Add 2 T Butter, stir and cool. You might want it a bit thicker, or more tomatoey, adding paste or cornmeal, or spicier.

10. Into the fridge for rest and flavor development.

11. Reheat on the stove, not the microwave. The microwave pulverizes proteins and makes them rubber. Top with sour cream*, cheese, pepitas.

*Make sure you are getting real cultured cream like Daisy Brand. The rest are generally skim milk and thickeners, and the culture is excellent for your GI tract.

Believe it or not, this freezes beautifully in a zip lock, when cool. Find a field of wildflowers and settle in to be dazzled by the brightness of Spring. It’s a foreshadowing, I promise.

Andouille and Honey Mustard Brussels Sprouts with Mango Freeze en Place

To achieve the proper mise en place and mise en scene for Jazz Fest in place, one must have both savory and sweet, song and scenery, sun and suit. It’s not the same, but it’s what we have and it’s what this side of survival requires. I note that KP holds his annual festival savvy at par.

There’s no more alluring dinner to the sun-stroked than “throw-everything-on-a-pan-and-cook-it”—especially when it tastes this good.

Andouille Sausages and Brussels Sprouts with Honey Mustard

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

1 pound fresh andouille sausage

1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise

1 pound small potatoes, like baby Yukon gold or red potatoes, halved

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

Kosher salt and black pepper

4 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds (optional)

¼ cup almonds or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Heat oven to 450 degrees, and place a sheet pan in the oven. Score the sausages in a few places on both sides, making sure not to cut all the way through. Transfer to a large bowl with the brussels sprouts, potatoes and 2 tablespoons olive oil, and stir until coated. (If the mixture seems dry, add a little more oil.) Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the mixture in an even layer on the heated baking sheet, and arrange the vegetables cut-sides down. Roast 15 minutes, until the brussels sprouts and potatoes start to soften. (The sausages will not be cooked through yet.)

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the honey, mustard and mustard seeds, if using.

Drizzle the honey mustard over the sausages and vegetables, and toss or shake to coat. Flip the sausages. Sprinkle with almonds, if using. Roast until the sausages are cooked through and the vegetables are golden and tender, another 10 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Drake’s Spiked Ice is perfect for Jazz Festing in Place.

For your Mango Freeze fix, KP tested out this recipe—it’ll do.

It’ll Do Mango Freeze

5 cups of frozen mango chunks

1/2 cup simple syrup

1 1/2 tsp lime juice

1/8 tsp kosher salt

Makes about 1/2 quart

Measure 5 cups of mango chunks and defrost.

Once your mango chunks nice and soft, puree them until they are really smooth.

Gently fold the simple syrup, lime juice and salt into your mango puree.

Once you’ve mixed everything together, cover your bowl and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. The colder your mixture is going into your ice cream maker, the better. If you’ve got an ice cream maker or attachment to a KitchenAid, add your mixture and let it churn for about 10 minutes

Put your chilled puree directly into the freezer. And freeze. It won’t be as good as the real thing you’d get at Jazzfest, but it’ll tickle your nostalgia. Tastes a tidge more healthy than the real thing.

When we aren’t on the porch, we are in the saddle exploring bike trails around New Orleans. Today we ventured to Harahan along the Mississippi River trail, fueled by Unite protein bars. Mexican Hot Chocolate was my favorite flavor. KP prefers PB and J.

Sourdough Waffles and Rum Cake To Match

Sourdough Pillar #3: Taste Takes Time

From the Portland Bake This Day kitchen, today we celebrate Bread Pillar #3 with a salute to the hours of extra time we all have at home. The perfect opportunity to better care for your starter, which should, by the way, have a name. Bake This Day starters are named Fleaux, Louis and Mr. Carson. Naming your starter is well-known kitchen mojo for excellent rise and oven spring. Refer to your starter as, “that”, and, well, good luck, just saying.

To this end, we bring you Mr. Carson’s Sourdough Waffles, a delicious weekend treat.

But before you begin, do what we do, and WAKE UP your starter from its refrigerator snooze.

This is how it is done:

After removing from the refrigerator, remove all the starter from the jar leaving only a ½ inch of old starter. The old starter is full of acidic byproducts the starter used while chilling to stay alive. The acidic byproduct is delicious and sour, but too much of it will inhibit your gluten from working and hence, a flat loaf.
Now feed your starter with a 1:1 ratio of bread flour to water, 100gms of each.
Place this on the kitchen counter overnight

If you do not see billows and air bubbles, DO NOT THROW OUT your starter. Simply repeat steps 1-3 and let your starter culture recover its ability to reproduce, make leavening carbon dioxide and more fresh acidic delicious taste! There is no substitute for the gorgeous flavors or complexity that come from these natural yeasts and bacteria doing what comes naturally. One of our bakers thinks, softy singing a Marvin Gaye tune will help this along…perhaps?

Mr. Carson’s Sourdough Waffles

Makes 10, seven- inch waffles

2 cups of whole milk, barely warm, too hot will murder your starter, no more than 95- 100 degrees.

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 and ¼ teaspoons kosher salt

3 large eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup pastry flour

1/3 cup active starter

(If you are concerned about how fresh the starter is, use it anyway AND add ¼ Teas. baking soda)

The night before combine the milk, starter and honey in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the butter, vanilla and salt. Add the flours and whisk up, then whisk in the egg yokes. If you like your batter a bit thicker you can add ¼ cup pastry flour.

Put the whites in the fridge to wait until morning and leave the waffle mixture overnight in your coolest room or in the garage. MMMMMM, this is a cold ferment and you will have ample sourdough taste in the morning. You have just given extended time for the lactic acid bacteria to make their acidic byproducts in just the right delicious proportion, well worth the wait!!

The next morning while the waffle iron is heating, beat up the chilled egg whites with ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar and fold into your sourdough batter.

Bake per your own waffle iron settings/preference and add your favorite toppings.

Here is another waffle-looking delight, great for breakfast on the porch with a gallon of coffee.

Tortuga Rum Cake

Adapted from Food and Wine

CAKE:

1 3/4 cups almond flour (about 6 1/8 ounces)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/8 ounces), plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter (6 ounces), at room temperature, plus more for greasing

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons Myers’s Original Dark Rum

RUM SIMPLE SYRUP:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon Myers’s Original Dark Rum

VANILLA ICING

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously grease a 6- to 8-cup Kugelhopf or Bundt pan with butter, and dust lightly with all-purpose flour.

Whisk together almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add 1 cup granulated sugar, beating until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until well combined after each addition. (Batter may look slightly broken; do not overmix.)

Reduce speed to medium-low, and add flour mixture to butter mixture, one-third at a time, beating for 15 seconds after each addition, stopping as necessary to scrape down sides of bowl to ensure all flour is incorporated.

Scoop 1/2 cup batter into a small bowl, and whisk in 2 tablespoons rum. Add rum batter back to remaining batter, and stir to combine. (Dough may not be completely smooth; do not overmix.)

Spoon batter into prepared pan, and tap pan against counter to distribute evenly. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 42 to 45 minutes.

Hyland’s young adult remedies for common ails are kind on the system. Check them out! #gifted

Shrimp Scampi with Orzo and Drake’s

“…You could sleep/ until Easter. Maybe the fog will have lifted/ by then and time will not seem to pass/ like small bones being broken in order.” Jack Underwood, from “An Envelope”

Here on the other side of Easter, we are still “pounding on the windows like [flies],” buzzing with concern and ennui. Perhaps hope, too, that with enough time the glass between us and a more certain future will become air. Fresh, fearless air.

We just keep cooking over here. Cooking, and hoping, and wishing, and praying, planning and dreaming…

This shrimp dish is absolutely amazing- a one-pot wonder. The trick is to get the orzo to brown just so on the skillet like a cajun paella.

Shrimp Scampi With Orzo

Adapted from New York Times Cooking

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon juice (from 1 lemon)

½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes

Kosher salt and black pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter; I used Betterine

1 cup orzo

⅓ cup dry white wine

2 cups boiling water, seafood stock or chicken stock

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

In a medium bowl, stir together shrimp, 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon zest, red-pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and half the garlic. Set aside to marinate.

Add butter, remaining olive oil and remaining garlic to a medium skillet set over medium heat. When the butter starts to bubble, add the orzo and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring often, until the orzo is toasted, about 2 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent the garlic from burning. Carefully add the wine — it will bubble — and stir until absorbed, about 1 minute. Stir in water, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until orzo is al dente, about 12 minutes.

Add the shrimp in a snug, even layer on top of the orzo, cover, and cook until all the shrimp is pink and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, 2 minutes.

Sprinkle with parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

This pairs well with Bloody Mary’s mixed with Drake’s Organic Spirits. This company has turned their distilleries into hand sanitizer factories and for every ounce purchased an ounce is donated AND frontline workers get ½ off bulk purchases.

All hyperlinked products have been gifted.

English Muffin Sourdough Bread for Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

As Louisiana, Oregon and the rest of the country do our #AloneTogether routines, Bake This Day brings you English Muffin Bread, an easy and delicious addition to your sourdough repertoire along with a short lesson on Bread Pillar #2: Bread Percentage. This often over-mystified concept is simple to understand!

We add to this a delicious Tomato Soup recipe with real cream, a red blanket of comfort so the frets don’t take over at your house. Good bread is stress relieving, after all, and eating together floods our happiness receptors with “We are going to make it through” chemistry.

This classic loaf bread requires no kneading and demonstrates a bread percentage of 76, even higher than our standard tartine bread recipes. We will show you how this is calculated and how this knowledge might help you steer through recipes as a fellow Bread Head.

Bake This Day English Muffin Bread

Ingredients:

290 grams of tepid water

100 grams of whole milk

550 grams of active starter

250 grams of pastry flour

300 grams of bread flour

18 grams of salt

2 tablespoons honey

1 gram of baking soda in 30 grams of water

In a large bowl stir together the milk, water, honey and 100% starter.

Add the flours and stir until well blended.

Let autolyze for 30 minutes.

Add the salt and stir well.

Cover allow to double in size, about 90 minutes.

After this rise, add baking soda in water, folding in carefully.

Divide into two greased loaf pans and cover to proof double in size.

Baking:

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, internal temperature 200 degrees.

Cool on a rack for 15 minutes and then remove to rack to cool.

This makes airy, crunchy delicious toast or the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese melts a bit up into the larger holes in the bread, mmmmm, OH SO GOOD!

What is Bread Percentage?

This is simply the ratio of liquid in a recipe to the total amount of flour. For instance, our Microbrew Bread of last month’s post has 1000gms of flour and 700 gm of water, so the bread percentage is 70. 700/1000.

English Muffin Bread is a higher percentage with 550 grams of bread flour and 420 grams of milk and water, a whopping 76 bread percentage. 420/550.

And, you ask, “Who cares?”

YOU DO, trust us. A higher bread percentage allows steam to add to the rise of the bread during baking, creating a beautiful open crumb and crunchy texture when toasted. Lower percentage breads are also excellent with fine closed crumb textures, but the higher percentages also allow a delicious crust from the steam and a chewy texture.

You can vary your bread percentage to please your own use of bread types and flours over time, an evolving art form that is all yours in your own kitchen. Stay tuned to Bake This Day as we feature some low percentage breads for comparison later this year.

Creamed Tomato Soup with Pesto

1 large sweet onion chopped

1 clove chopped garlic

1 26 ounce can puree tomatoes

6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade

½ cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons pesto sauce

2 teaspoons anchovy paste

½ cup whole wheat orzo

2 teaspoons honey

In 2 tablespoons olive oil, sauté the chopped onions until soft add garlic the last 30 seconds.

Add the can of tomatoes broth and honey, return to simmer for 15 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, quickly puree the onions, leaving some small bits for texture.

Now, add the orzo and pesto sauce and simmer an additional 15 minutes. Add whipping cream, stir and return to slow simmer.

This is even better, of course, after an overnight in your refrigerator to marry the flavors.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, pesto or pepita seed and that delectable grilled cheese on English Muffin Bread.

Bake This Day Weekly Picks:

If baking is just too much right now in the chaotic school/workspace/homeplace you are trying to maintain this month, pop these delicious Forna de Minas Pao de Queijo in the oven for five minutes and try popping these Brazilian cheesy bread morsels instead of advils for your headache.

Pure Synergy makes a whole rainbow of healthy supplements, most recently they sent Reseveratrol (the magical antioxidant in red wine), oregano and grape seed supplements.

VitEyes is a supplement that is basically salmon in a pill! Astaxanthin for your eye health—since we are all so enslaved to our screens these days to keep the world turning.

All hyperlinked products have been gifted.

All Cooped Up with Rustic Joyful Food

And this still life is life still! The least Monday feeling Monday I’ve ever had. Got dressed up to walk with KP to Walgreens to buy wipes yesterday. That was my weekend. Date night at Walgreens.

I am sick of being fish bowled by Zoom. Anyone? Bueller? I am realizing what it may have felt like to be one of my chickens all of these years. Confined to the same run day in and day out. Dusty Bottoms, the one featured here in the nest, is brooding. Which is what we are all doing, really. Sitting statue until this whole thing blows over. There’s wisdom in nesting.

Part of nesting is cooking up delicious dinners. Rustic Joyful Food by Danielle Kartes is a cookbook with gorgeous photography that gets me in the mood to cook.

Try this Salmon with Pineapple Salsa if you’re a little too cooped up and brooding. We all need a little spice right now.

Thanks for Giving a Shiitake (burger)

Always knew there would come a time when we would have to cook for ourselves. Today is that day in New Orleans, restaurants having gone on hiatus for the time being. Waiting and uncertainty are some bitter sauces to stomach and there seems to be more of these at the table nowadays. I recommend turning to steam in order to blow off some right now. Put these on the table instead to fill the empty space and distract from the fear. These humble bao are for the warriors out there, you know who you are. Thanks for giving a shiitake.

Shiitake Steamed Buns

Adapted from Food and Wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 TB Terrapin’s ginger teriyaki sauce

1 large garlic clove, minced

8 ounce fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

1 pound fresh pizza dough

Olive oil, for greasing

Black and white sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Julienned cucumber, carrot, and scallion, for serving

Hoisin sauce, for serving

Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and garlic in a medium bowl. Add shiitakes, and toss to coat. Let marinate at room temperature 15 minutes. Drain and discard marinade.

Cut pizza dough into 12 (11/4-ounce) pieces. Using oiled hands, gently shape into balls (do not press out the air). Sprinkle dough balls with sesame seeds, and transfer to a plate.

Fill a medium pot with water to a depth of 1 inch; bring to a simmer over medium. Line 2 baskets of a 2-tier, 91/2-inch round bamboo steamer with parchment paper. Spread shiitakes in 1 basket; fit inside pot. Arrange dough balls in second basket; fit on top of first basket. Cover and steam until shiitakes are tender and buns are puffed, 15 to 20 minutes.

Cut buns in half and fill with shiitake, and whatever other veggies you’d like! I also steamed up some hot peppers and garlic scapes, which was delicious.