Mark Bittman's crackers

Who needs Christmas cookies?  Christmas crackers!



Read the article and the recipe also. 

FYI the crackers stayed on the table all night.  Some Christmasers who were able to resist the biscotti, the cupcakes, and the homemade wine kept going back for more and more crackers. I made some variations with about 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, cheddar cheese, and garlic.

Merry Christmas and Happy Nor'easter,
Sarah

Sourdough Drop Biscuits with Vegetarian Chili

This week I didn't know if we would use or discard the sourdough starter for it's weekly feeding.. until I found a recipe for Sourdough Biscuits that takes only 10 minutes prep time and about 15 minute in the oven!  To go along with the biscuits we made an original vegetarian chili.

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals.  I am a vegetarian because I hate vegetables.

Vegetarian Chili

(Printable Recipe)

Yields approximately 5-6 servings

Cook time 1 hour

Ingredients*

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 can of diced tomatoes, unsalted

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

some corn

1 yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

2 carrots

3 stalks celery

1 red pepper

1 bunch scallions

greek yogurt

paprika

chili powder

cinnamon

cloves

dried jalapeños

cayenne pepper

cumin

maple syrup

salt

*Ingredients are flexible.  Use your favorite vegetables and beans.  Without the greek yogurt this recipe could be vegan.  I wouldn't understand not using some dairy.  And as you'll see, I didn't include measurements for the spices.  The most significant spice is the chili powder but other than that, it's to taste.  I wouldn't go too heavy on cloves.  Godspeed.

Start with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and saute the garlic and onions until translucent.  Then, add carrots and celery for a couple minutes.  Then add the zucchini, squash and red pepper and saute for a couple more minutes.    Add the can of tomatoes, corn (drained if it's canned), and beans - one can drained, one can with all the juice.  Add the spices.  An idea of our spice ratios is: 2 tablespoons chili powder, 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoons cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon dried jalapeños, dash of paprika.

Simmer for 30 - 45 minutes depending on how hungry you are and how homogenous you want your chili.  If you are antsy to get eating more homogenizing will happen in the fridge overnight.  Your leftovers will always be more stewed.  

Top with greek yogurt and scallions and serve along side a warm Sourdough Biscuit.  These biscuits are superb with the chili -- the garlic and cheddar is delicious on its own and the flavors compliment the spicy veggies.  Plus they are quick and easy to boot!

Sourdough Drop Biscuits with Garlic and Cheddar Cheese Adapted from this Tasty Kitchen recipe

(Printable Recipe)

Yields millions of biscuits

Cook time 25 minutes

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic

8 tablespoons butter (cold but smooshable)

1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/4 cup sourdough starter

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Blend flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, garlic.  

Smoosh in butter with a fork (or a pastry cutter if you have it)

Stir in cheese (reserve some for the tops if you want a cheese-y topped biscuits)

In a separate bowl, combine starter and buttermilk

Add the buttermilk-starter mixture to the other ingredients.  Stir until it's obvious that you need to incorporate with your hands.  

Scoop rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Adding extra cheese to the tops of biscuits now if it suits you.  Also optional, brush the tops with melted butter.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops are a pale golden brown.

Chi-chi-chi le-le-le VIVA CHILE

- Sar

www.dennispkramer.com

Nobody's Perfect Homemade Breadcrumbs and Three Cheese Macaroni with Broccoli

I love raisins.  Somebody along the line taught me that raisins are candy.  I suspect it's the same person who taught me sweet potatoes are ice cream.  

I mention raisins not only because I adore them but also because I baked the Dark Pumpernickel with Raisins from Bread Alone this past weekend.  The recipe called for 2 cups of the little sundried grapes!  And the longest part of the whole process (aside from having established starter) is the 8 hours prior to any dough mixing/kneading that you need to soak the raisins!  The best part is that the recipe calls for 1 cup of said raisin-soaking water AND a cup of strong coffee.  Andy is a perfect combination of hilarious and disgusting and so he said this to me as I read him the recipe, "Skip the middle man and just dump it down the toilet!"

Everything was lined up for this bread to be awesome.  So awesome, in fact, that I didn't bother halving the huge recipe.  Look at all of the loaves I yielded:

Note the two different colors happening...

The color disparities are not the least of the problems with this bread.  The color is actually quite interesting.  What happened is I baked two long loaves on a cookie sheet, uncovered and the boule in the dutch oven, covered.  So, in the future I know to get a deeper color to leave the bread covered.  Valuable lesson learned.  What's not so desirable about these loaves is the density.  The sourdough starter I used had thawed from the freezer.  I let it warm up in the refrigerator for 48 hours, stirring when I could.  I saw that it smelled and appeared active to I used it in the recipe.  Unfortunately, I think it was too tired to give the bread any lift.  Another lesson learned, don't debut starter that has been frozen for weeks until you discard and feed it AT LEAST once.  That being said, these loaves taste delicious and I am going to try this recipe again without a doubt once my starter is more eager.

In slightly older news, I ruined the Multigrain Bread with Sunflower Seeds that Lil baked once before.  Slowing that bread down in the fridge didn't work so hot and we wanted to try it again to get a better rise.  Lil and I were both busy bees so we tag-teamed this bread.  It starts as a sponge and then you add more ingredients and it becomes a dough, basically.  

The recipe unintentionally adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

1 cup uncooked multigrain cereal (we use Bob's Red Mill)

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 cup buttermilk (or faux buttermilk = milk + white vinegar)

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

2 tablespoons honey or malt syrup

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup sunflower seeds

4 cups whole wheat flour

See that part where it says 2 1/2 teaspoons?  Well, I didn't.  I read tablespoons and threw them in before rushing off to yoga.  Is rushing to yoga counterproductive?  

Anyways, the bread came out VERY saltly.  We turned it into breadcrumbs.  You can make breadcrumbs with any type of bread.  I'd recommend a basic bread -- more of a whole wheat or multigrain instead of a dark raisin pumpernickel, for example.  Breadcrumbs are a practical alternative for dry on-the-way-to-stale bread.  Plus, you can use them to enhance many dishes i.e. macaroni and cheese!

How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs

1. Slice bread.

2. Lay out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

3. Toast in a 300°F for about 10 - 15 minutes.

4. Tear dried bread into smaller pieces and blend in your food processor.  Or, if you are us and do not own a food processor, get chopping!  Either way, leave them coarse so that you have the option to go finer.  

Store in the freezer!

Sarah Style Three-cheese Macaroni with Broccoli 

This is Sarah Style because it was impromptu and there are a million different variations.

You need: 

pasta (I use 100% Whole Wheat chiocciole from bionaturae)

cheese (I have a personal bias toward Cabot)

butter (unsalted)

milk  (2%)

all-purpose flour (unbleached)

vegetable (I had broccoli in the fridge)

and breadcrumbs.

You whip it up like this:

Cook the pasta al dente and blanche your vegetable (like I mentioned, I used broccoli, but cauliflower, peas, or a combo would work here).

While the pasta cooks, melt a tablespoon of butter.  Add about a half cup of milk and a teaspoon of flour.  Then, add LOTS of cheese.  Cheddar doesn't melt all that great, but it tastes good.  If you use it I recommend pairing it with a cheese that melts better.  I used Cabot's Horseradish cheese.  Sounds weird, and it kind of is but it's good in mac and cheese.  

Pour it all (vegetable, pasta, cheese sauce) together in a casserole dish.  

Top with breadcrumbs and loads of parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.

Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food so I figure it goes well with the dense black bread and the over-salted multigrain turned to breadcrumbs mistake post.

Nobody's perfect.  Except raisins.

- Sarah

P.S. Youtube "nobody's perfect doglover199709" if you need a pick me up and don't have time to make macaroni.