With yesterday’s linguine and shrimp dish, we also had this cauliflower. Mom’s CSA dumped several clouds-worth of cauliflower last week and she said, quote “I have never had a cauliflower recipe that I liked.” Challenge accepted:
Roasted Cauliflower with Curry and Lime
Adapted from Cook’s Country Magazine
Cut a bunch of cauliflower. Mix 1 tsp curry paste/curry powder with 2 tbsp olive oil and drizzle over the cauliflower on a baking tray. Preheat oven to 475 and cook the cauliflower pieces for 10 minutes covered in foil. Meanwhile mix 2 tsp lime juice into another 2 tbsp olive oil. Take the foil off the cauliflowers, dip them in the lime juice mix and then put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Roast until they are brown as you like them!
Yum. Almost as good as Portland’s Saturday Market clam chowder in sourdough bowls:
We walked the Bridge loop and listened to the sounds of Bluesfest echoing across the Willamette.
There are delicacies in my mother’s kitchen beyond compare. This dish is one:
Linguine with Shrimp and Saffron Sauce
Adapted from Gourmet by Andie Ellis
1/8 tsp crumbled saffron threads
½ cup white wine
1/3 pound dried linguine (or spaghetti, like we used)
2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp oil (we always use olive)
½ pound shrimp, deveined rinsed and patted dry
1 tsp minced garlic
¼ cup minced shallot
½ cup chicken broth
¾ cup heavy cream
3 carrots, cut into ribbons
½ cup frozen peas
4 scallons cut thin lengthwise
Let saffron soak in the white wine for five minutes. Cook linguine (spaghetti) in turmeric for 10 minutes, or until al dente. While the linguine is cooking, heat oil over moderate heat and cook the shrimp, stirring for one minute. Add garlic and salt and pepper to mixture until shrimp just turn pink. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Add the shallot and saffron mixture until almost all liquid is evaporated. Add broth, cream, and carrots and boil until mixture is reduced by half. Add peas, scallion greens, linguine (drained well), the shrimp and shrimp juices that have accumulated on the plate, and salt and pepper to taste.
My bulldog is another one of the delicacies in my mother’s kitchen. And, of course, my mother.
“I have a problem with compulsive mixers, measures, and compulsive choppers.” –Andie Ellis (mom).
Apparently I am a little over-scientific and overzealous with my chopping for my mother’s taste. This I learned while we worked on tonight’s corn salad. I love to chop things so fine that you can’t really be quite sure if the shard came from a cilantro or a mosquito that flew under my knife. The salad did not suffer for it, but my mother certainly did. We danced to Michael Jackson’s Beat It while working in the kitchen, and then when I prompted Mom to formally name the salad, she said “Beat It Salad!” I advised that this particular song title might be misconstrued, so she offered another Michael title, which I think is perfect.
Thriller Corn Salad
By Andie Ellis
4 cups frozen corn
5 cloves garlic
3 ounces sun dried tomatoes
3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped (optional)
½ cup red pepper, chopped
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
Fresh cracked pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
Trace amounts of jalapeno, chopped and seeded
1/3 cup (a little less than) olive oil
1/3 cup lime juice (fresh, no seeds) (or a half a lime)
1 tsp honey
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Great salad. My favorite part of this process was mom demonstrating a tip for getting more juice out of a lime. She said you have to roll it on the counter under your palm, like so. And make sure you have a great time while you roll the lime. Be silly. wish I could have caught the Beat it dance moves on tape.
So nice to be reunited with my brother, who usually can be found in Ohio but who today coincides with me in space and time in Portland, Oregon. I came to town to see family for the fourth of July and to collect my long lost starter from my mother who graciously babysat it whilst I traipsed England. There it was waiting for me in her fridge with a new sticker.
My mother is, indeed, the baking diva.
Dakota Bread
Adapted from Cook’s Country April 2013
Makes one 10-inch loaf
Ingredients
2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) seven-grain hot cereal mix
1 large egg, lightly beaten with a little water to dilute it
Instructions
1.Grease large bowl. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine water, cereal, honey, and oil and let sit for 10 minutes.
2.Add flour, salt, and yeast to cereal mixture. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 6 minutes. If the dough is still sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl after 2 minutes, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 3 tablespoons. Add 2 tablespoons pepitas and 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds to dough and knead for 1 minute longer. Turn out dough onto lightly floured counter and knead until seeds are evenly distributed, about 2 minutes.
3.Transfer dough to greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size and fingertip depression in dough springs back slowly, 60 to 90 minutes.
4.Gently press down on center of dough to deflate. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and shape into tight round ball. Place dough into a clothe-lined banneton. Cover dough loosely floured cloth and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size, 60 to 90 minutes.
5.Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lowest positions and heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon pepitas, remaining 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds in small bowl. Using sharp knife, make ¼-inch-deep cross, 5 inches long, on top of loaf. Brush loaf with egg and sprinkle seed mixture evenly over top.
6.Place 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan on lowest oven rack and fill with 1 cup boiling water (this is key—I forgot to do it, and the crust was much thinner as consequence). Place bread on a baking stone and reduce oven to 375 degrees. Bake until crust is dark brown and bread registers 200 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes.
Dave and I made this bread together, and it is a hearty, tasty loaf. 5 stars.
“Why even imagine a mystical experience, when we are born into one, submerged in one, day after day?” Marilynne Robinson
Currently reading Anatole Broyard’s Intoxicated By My Illness which says, essentially, the very same thing. The reason to live is all around us. Very often, it is what is for dinner. Nice to be cooking my own meals again (and walking most everywhere WITHOUT 30 pounds on my back).
Braciole
Adapted from Cook’s Country Magazine
Ingredients
1 2-pound flank steak, trimmed
10 garlic cloves, sliced thin
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup golden raisins, chopped coarse
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup), plus extra for serving
½ cup chopped fresh basil
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
Instructions
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Position steak on cutting board so long edge is parallel to counter edge. Cover with plastic wrap and pound to even ½-inch thickness. Trim any ragged edges to create rough rectangle about 11×9 inches. Pat steak dry with paper towels.
Combine garlic and oil in bowl and microwave until fragrant, about 1 minute. Let cool slightly, then remove garlic from oil with fork. Separately reserve garlic and garlic oil. Combine raisins, Parmesan, ¼ cup basil, parsley, half of garlic, ½ teaspoon oregano and ¼ teaspoon pepper flakes in bowl.
Brush exposed side of steak with 1 tablespoon garlic oil and season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Spread raisin mixture evenly over steak, pressing to adhere, leaving 1-inch border along top edge. Starting from bottom edge and rolling away from you, roll steak into a tight log, finally resting seam side down. Tie kitchen twine around braciole at 1-inch intervals.
Heat 1 tablespoon garlic oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add braciole, seam side down, and cook until lightly browned all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to 13×9 cooking dish.
Reduce heat to medium and add onion, remaining garlic oil, remaining ½ teaspoon oregano and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper flakes to now-empty skillet. Cook until onion just begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and remaining half of garlic and cook until fragrant and tomato paste is lightly browned, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, bring to simmer and pour sauce over braciole.
Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until fork slips easily in and out of braciole, 1½ to 1¾ hours.
Transfer baking dish to wire rack, spoon sauce over braciole, re-cover and let rest in sauce for 30 minutes.
Transfer braciole to carving board, seams side down; cut and discard twine, and cut into ¾-inch -thick slices. Stir remaining ¼ cup basil into sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle 2 cups sauce onto serving platter. Transfer braciole slices to platter. Serve, passing remaining sauce and extra Parmesan separately.
This was heavenly. KP did an extraordinary amount of the work required in this recipe. Which was, admittedly, a lot.
What a thrilling journey, over 100 miles over the hills of Sussex and Hampshire! Only about an hour of rain over the whole walk…good thing we packed ponchos. The Winchester Cathedral was a stunning finish. This morning we attended the church service and were blown away by the sound of the choir in the world’s longest Gothic nave. It is the church where Jane Austen was buried and where Henry XIII married Catherine of Aragon. We toasted to no broken ankles, to all the lovely cask ales we sampled in local country pubs, and to a much anticipated return to the US where Izzy and our families are waiting with fireworks for Independence Day!
The people of Cocking, we learned after having sat eavesdropping on three hours of ruthless gossip, are awful. Spiteful petty lot of xenophobes, including the owners of our bnb, Moonlight Tea Cottage. Which was adorable, I have to admit. And this elderberry sparkler is fantastic.
Bury to Cocking. Well past the halfway point. Walked into Bignor looking for Roman roads. Couldn’t find them. Only a sign in Latin. When we arrived in Cocking, the power was out for the whole village except for one pub which had a generator…and Board Games!!
Quick post with mostly pictures to describe the journey from Upper Beeding to Bury. First proper English Breakfast at The Rising Sun. Then a walk through Steyning, land of many bakeries. Then up to the Chanctonbury Ring… apparently haunted. To Amberly, land of thatched rooves and a castle we couldn’t figure out how to get into. Finally ending at the most hospitable place we have stayed, the Harkaway BnB. Dinner was fish n chips from the Horse and Squire.
Clayton to Upper Beading. First stop was ar Devil’s Dyke where paragliders were jumping into a dyke said to be dug by the devil himself to flood all the churches in Sussex with the waters of the English Channel. Gorgeous views, fantastic coffee cake, and a tasty brew called Summer Lightning from Salisbury. Then we journeyed into Bramber and toured the Norman ruins and Bramber Castle. Finally we crossed the River Arun and arrived in Upper Beading where we stayed at a lovely B and B called House of the Rising Sun.
This was a long one. Southease to Clayton, home of Jack and Jill windmills and the associated nursery rhyme.Yesterday having been a day of sheep, this was the day of cows! We stopped in Kingston for lunch at the only pub in the village called the Juggs. Great chili and garlic bread. Then we ascended Ditchling Beacon and arrived at the Windmills and our BnB where we had venison burgers (the only choice really on a traditional British menu of kidney pie and south downs lamb liver…
