Whole wheat pasta?

Let's not go into details, but simply say the family's trying to get a bit more grainy and a bit more fiber into the diet, and hopefully without using supplements. We're eating lots of veggies with dinner, some meat's been substituted by veggies and legumes and I think we're doing well without losing much of what we genuinely like to eat.

The newest addition to our diet recently made its premiere appearance the other night. Whole wheat pasta; 5 g fiber compared to 2g fiber/serving for regular durum dry.* We served it with a tomato sauce in which had been cooked sweet italian sausages.

Results? I don't know. I think I need another taste (tonight). It was definitely noticeable and I wasn't immediately thrilled. The texture is nearly the same as regular durum pasta but the taste was definitely ... can't quite describe it but .. more. A lot like the difference between bad white and wheat bread. Not that regular durum is anything like white bread but the comparison is about the same. Anyone else have any opinions on trying this type of pasta?

I think next we'll switch back to regular pasta and bulk up the fiber using greens and beans like Lisa's Pasta Dish (scroll to bottom of post).

*This reminds me of Nancy Silverton's concern of unbleached white versus wheat flours in breadmaking when it comes to the health benefits. She says unbleached white has fewer natural components because of the processing but is enriched with vitamins, whereas whole wheat flour contains much more of the grain, but the added components (germ, husks, etc.) are not as bioavailable and pass through. So, the two may be similar healthwise and the benefits of the switch between durum and whole wheat pasta may be moot.

I think weber_cam is back online

This food blog, in its original form, is dead. I'm now continuing it with a lighter note. Any food fancy I have gets posted because food is fun. Gone are the days of the tediously-prepared fancy things. Now are the heavy parenting days where we try to convey to Frankie that food is special and how it's related to family, friends and fun and never to be taken for granted.

Last night, we had a few friends over for pizza and Mario, with my cheapo camera with its infinite shutter delay, worked with me tossing dough to catch this shot. I don't usually toss pizza dough. It's pretentious and unnecessary, but fun. The pizzas were nice. Most pizzas were minimally topped with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella but one fancy one (our personal favorite) was topped with grilled eggplant, caramelized onions, tomatoes and chevre. It proved to be a crowd pleaser.

And I got to toss dough.

So, for the future of the weber_cam, look for silly food-related items, cheapo, kid-friendly ethnic dining in Columbus (got a few nice ones in the queue) and whatever else I feel like.

Tomorrow we're serveing grilled shrooms 'n tofu, lentils & rice (seasoned with fenugreek), grilled squash and zucchini, and burgers and dogs all around (it IS Memorial Day weekend after all).

200+300+500, my new formula

The thing I'm learning about sourdough starters is how robust they are. Here's a quick tale and I'll eventually elaborate this to try to prepare it on a weeknight.

I took my starter out of the fridge yesterday morning. The dead looking thing had liquid on top and a claylike sediment. Probably weighed about 50 grams.

I poured off the liquid and added water (ca. 100 g) and swirled it until the suspension was homogenous. Then I added about 125 grams of flour and stirred it up into a thick batter. It was bubbly within hours.

That night, I took 200 grams of this starter, diluted it with 300 grams room temperature tap water (300 grams) and swirled to get a homogenous suspension, poured it into my bread machine and added 500 grams of flour. About 350 grams unbleached white and then a mixture of rolled oats, oat bran, spelt flour, rye and wheat to get up to the 500 grams. Then let it knead in my bread machine about 5 minutes and let it rest. After about 10 minutes, I added salt (10 grams) and let the mass knead in the machine an additional 15 minutes. It was a pretty stiff ball. I dumped it on the counter. Total weight, about a kilo. I put it into my rising container and let it rise overnight (about 8 hours) until it grew to about 2L in volume.

I sprinkled it with flour, punched it down, rounded it and let it rest an hour and went shopping. Then I did the same thing. Punched it down, rounded it and put it in my heavily-floured brotform proofing basket covered with a dish towel to let rise (about 2 hours). Looked almost doubled. I preheated my oven, dumped it onto a perforated baking sheet, scored it and placed it into a 425-deg-F oven to bake for 45 minutes.

Final weight, 800 g. What a crust! I think the best part of whole grains as part of the flour make-up (ca. 20-30% by weight) is how robust the fermentations can be. No sluggish rising for this yeast-free loaf (no added commercial yeast anyway). The final loaf was light, the crust crisp and near perfect. A great bread for tonight's gorgonzola and salad. Bread, cheese and salad nights are our absolute favorite meals. Simplicity.

I'll be doing the same thing over weeks to come but feeding the starter and doing the main fermentation of the dough in the fridge over a couple days and doing the final proof at night to have a steady and predictable supply of good bread during the week.

Unfortunately, a boule's so large the cool-down time is lengthy and we won't be able to eat the goodies until the next day. Maybe that's no so bad. Poilâne thought his breads were best on their fourth day! I don't remember where I read that but I'll look and get back to you.

Simplest Ribs Imaginable

The gang here at Dave's Beer is in the middle of the crazy week we call "Frankie's Birthday". Actually on Wednesday, but the partying started on Sunday. Needless to say, we're busy and getting some home-cooked food on the table is challenging.

I've had the hankering for ribs and didn't have time to fire up the grill. So, in anticipation of Tuesday's dinner, I bought some baby backs, gave them a rub down and plopped them in the oven at 10 pm at 225-deg-F and let 'em rip until 6 the next morning. Woke up, wrapped them in foil, walked the dog and let the heavenly smell guide me through the rest of the morning scramble. They looked like this when I wrapped them up.

Tuesday night, I warmed up the foil package at 300-deg-F for a half hour and chopped them apart. They were delicate, moist and nearly perfect. I cooked some greens and served them with some bread (and fresh carrots for Frankie, a staple of hers).

What an awesome midweek treat!

(Sorry Biggles, got to have meat, even if not smoked properly.)

Desperation Chicken with Cashews

Tonight's scheduled dinner was taco salad. Boring. We do it too much. Had this recipe sitting on my desk for weeks and picked it up and realized I had almost everything I needed to make it for tonight. Frankie didn't like it but it was a lightning fast prep and really good. And, it had thinly sliced cucumbers in it! Really interesting twist.

Chicken and Cashews
Quick marinade while chopping other stuff:
rice vinegar, 1/4 C
water, 1/4 C
cornstarch, 2 T
sesame oil, 2 T
soy sauce, 1 T

Mix and plop in thinly sliced boneless chicken breast (3/4 lb I think).
Let marinate about 20 minutes.

Have ready: green onions (bunch, sliced thin), red bell pepper (thin slices), ginger (finely shaved and chopped), garlic (few slivers), mini seedless cucumbers (thinly sliced), cilantro (fresh, chopped, 2 T), toasted cashews (whole, 1/2 C), water.

Ready, set, go ...
Heat pan with sesame oil (2T) and soy oil (1T) and toss in chicken (not quite a stir fry but hot and cook quick). Then add red peppers, ginger, garlic and let mixture cook until the bell pepper is softened a bit. Then toss in nuts, onions, cucumbers and cilantro some water and heat a few minutes. Serve over rice.

After the dish, I read the recipe (I usually memorize the recipe before I get home from work for speed) again and realized I was supposed to have some brown sugar in the marinade. Next time.

Braising, the lazy cook's method

pulled_chicken
Originally uploaded by Seligman's Dog.

Trish has been out of town since Wednesday and I'm starting to wither. I get Frankie in daycare by 7:30, go to work (rest 8 hours) pick her up and get in about 5, set her up with Sponge Bob (she goes into a trance), feed the cat, walk the dog, get dinner cooking and attempt to get us fed by 6, dog out to pee again, bath at 7, DVD for the kid for 30 min., read Frankie 3-6 books, put her to sleep, put her to sleep again, put her to sleep again, dog out to pee once more, she then stays asleep anywhere from 8-10 pm. Then, I crash soon after. It's grueling.

Single parents are GODS.

After Frankie went to sleep last night, woke up and went to sleep again, I dashed to the kitchen and took two of the most unappetizing looking frozen boneless breasts of farmed protein and tossed them into some onions, garlic, some chili sauce (conspicuously close to ketchup), a hefty dash of Old Bay, some ancho chili powder that I made, a T of brown sugar, a dash of worcestershire (I don't give a shit if it's misspelled), salt, pepper, a 1/2 C or so of water, covered it and set it on a low burner all night (about a full 6 hours).

The next morning, a beautiful scent filled our home and the chicken had taken on the appearance and texture of pulled pork (a food Frankie usually eats happily and chants "hot meat" when she eats it). I took it out when we got home tonight and heated it up.

Tastes wonderful, let you know if the kid likes it.

Mom, come home!!

I tried to resist ...

Every Friday night, Trish and I pick up Frankie and go out for dinner. It's a fun ritual I've come to look forward to. We dine at a variety of (kid-friendly = LOUD) restaurants; anything from the heavenly Pig Iron Grill to Whole World, a vegetarian place. Last Friday, we went to the latter. Frankie got a hummous platter (hummous and veggies), Trish got smoked beans in tomato sauce over cornbread and I got a tofu sloppy joe sammich topped with sprouts on a hamburger bun (whole wheat of course). The last three times we've been there, I've liked it more and more. I keep trying to resist so I can fulfill my meatly needs, but I just keep getting lucky with their menu.

A few weeks ago, I got their version of Gado-Gado. Gado-gado is and Indonesian dish whose preparation varies greatly depending on the source. Basically, it's steamed veggies on rice with a peanut sauce over it all. Whole World's variation made a stew of veggies in peanut sauce which was ladled over rice. Unbelievable. I still have fond memories of it. They also have a HUGE variety of veggie burgers (soy, veggie, lentil or rice-based). Every variety I've tried so far is pretty darn good.

So, if you crave meat, go to Pig Iron; if you can do without, Whole World won't disappoint.

Kale, sausage, gmelli, pine nuts, raisins & grilled cheese (and my failure to give my daughter a nutritious meal)

The other night, I had prepared a favorite of ours. Kale, braised with a touch of garlic for a couple hours, combined with toasted pine nuts, gmelli, sauteed Italian sausage and raisins with a healthy dose of olive oil. A good hearty meal for a cold night.

Instead of trying to get this meal past Frankie, I caved like a sopping-wet piece of cardboard and just made her a grilled cheese so I could enjoy my meal without a 40 minute negotiation session on eating a couple bites of the meal.

It worked, but I still feel the guilt.

Original recipe for this dish. Enjoy.

Sunday Morning Waffles

I'm one of the few who don't like Silverton's book. I think her starter preparation is tedious and unnecessary. Starters are robust and don't need to be fed and nurtured 3 times a day. You can let them turn green, shave off the mold and perk 'em up again with a few replenishments of flour and water. Catching them at their prime for optimal leavening ... now that takes a skilled baker and LOTS of practice.

The only recipe from her book I absolutely love is her sourdough waffles. It's robust and easy. A friend of mine gave me some of the starter prepared by her method and I've kept it for years (thanks Gary!). I refreshed it a bit this weekend in preparation for Sunday waffles. Kind of a regular thing in our house. I altered the recipe a tad to incorporate cornmeal to give the waffles an interesting extra flavor. They were unbelievable and we had plenty to freeze.

Silverton's Waffles - modified a bit by me.
Night Before:
white starter, ca. 1 cup
unbleached white flour, 1 C
cornmeal, 1/2 C
milk, 250 g (ambient temp)
butter, 114 g (melted and cooled a bit)
salt, 1.5 t
brown sugar, 1 T
-Mix and let sit 8-14 hours covered with a towel.

Next morning:
Add two whisked eggs and 1/4 t baking soda
Mix, will be a thick batter

Make waffles (I never lube the waffle iron)

Panini Press

Alright, this blog shits the bed in frequency of posting. And, now, in quality.

But, I couldn't resist disclosing this one. I love a hot grilled sandwich. Last night for dinner, I was pressed for time (as usual with both working, daycare, etc.) and I went for a quickie but goody. My Mom's panini press did the trick. We had cheese and mortadella on oat bran bread. Sounds weird, but kids like weird things. We had our sandwiches and a vast selection of crunchy veggies on the side and voila! Dinner.

So, toss those fancy panini irons and use a piece of foil and an iron on high. Butter the outsides of the bread, put favorite fillings in sandwich, place the sandwich in foil folded in half and grill a few minutes on each side. My favorite is thinly sliced cheddar and thinly sliced tomato on a good crusty white.

Thanks Ma.

The Results

In yesterday's post, I babbled about the opportunity to use of this nifty new pan and bannetton I was using to bake a boule with nice volume and crackly crust.

Although, my recipe was only a quick rise dough, the results were very nice. The crust, initially was crackly and the interior tender; after cooling, because it was slightly enriched (with olive oil and honey), the crust became softer but still maintained some tooth.

The real victory of the day came using these tools and this kneadless process. I've been somewhat obsessed ever since I watched this video and I had an amazing success story yesterday. When I get reproducibility on it, you'll be the first I tell. I used the recipe, but my own cooking method.

On humidity, perforation and the Brotform

It's about frigging time for a new post. Giada's nuts was a good chuckle, but it's time to move on.

Historically, I've had problems achieving good crackly crust on anything but my baguette. I think it's primarily an issue of humidity attacking the new loaf on all sides in the oven when the yeast is experiencing its final gasp of life (a.k.a. oven-spring). The perforated baguette pan simply allows the steam to hit the loaf from the bottom (and all other sides are simply exposed, so they get it too). Today's experiment involves the application of a perforated, thin, flat pan I found the other day at good 'ol Giant Eagle. ANY size loaf could fit on this thing and best of all, you don't need stones in the oven or a peel to get the loaf in and out. This thin pan, I hypothesize, should heat up quickly and permit my steam shot (ca. 60 - 120 mL water, tossed into the hot oven floor or squirted from a bottle) to completely bathe my loaf in steam, regardless of shape, producing a crackly mosaic of crust surrounding a tender inside (a.k.a. "Papa's good bread" Frankie calls it and I stand proud).

Additionally, since I'm making a boule today (a round bread), I'm using a nifty item my love bought for me a year ago called a Brotform (2nd image). It's a bamboo-like bowl used for the final proof. There's surprisingly little (I've found) on the web for using these. Do they need extensive seasoning/use? Is a slack dough going to stick? I'll be exploring these and other questions in weeks to come.

Today's recipe is not a good control. It's not the simple baguette recipe; there are a lot of variables tossed in. Life is simply too short for rigorous factorial experimental design everytime you need some bread. So phthththth. And, I need this for dinner at Amy and Mario's tonight!

My recipe for today is:

water, 250 g
honey, ca. 1 T
olive oil, 1 T
Montana Sapphire unbleached white, 375 g
rapid rise yeast (Fleischmann's), 1 packet
salt (not kosher), 7 g

First kneading and rise in the bread machine (my kitchen slave), 2nd rise will be about 20 minutes and the final proof somewhere around 20 minutes (cold kitchen today, we'll deal with the final proof when it comes). Baking will be at 450-deg-F (convection) until deep golden color. I'll post the results.

Giada's Nuts

It's been a rough year. Family tragedy followed by moving to a new house (not a home yet). The move's good, but stressful. The family tragedy? Well, things will hopefully get better over time. Don't know.

Just wanted to log this recipe for an unbelievable looking mixture of spiced nuts that, if they turn out well, will be gifts next year. And, I hope they're good because no one, with the exception of Frankie and Trish, got a thing this year. Sorry all.

Here's to 2007 being a better year.

Coffee Roasting (expt 1)

I started roasting coffee recently. Click here for the larger size; very cool shot. Unfortunately, looks better than it tasted. I chose a Sumatra decaf green bean from Yeah, me too on Indianola (Columbus, OH) for starters. For roasting equipment I used an unmodified Hamilton Beach Poppery II (scored for $2.99 from Ebay) and roasted 1/2 cup of green beans for 10 minutes.

I conducted this outside at about 50 deg-F for a timed 10 minutes. Despite the satisfying color of the roasted beans, I think I under roasted them. After roasting them, I cooled them in a cast iron pan (to dissipate the residual heat; halting the roasting by removing residual heat is supposed to be effective) and waited a couple hours before grinding them for a cup of brew in my drip machine.

The final coffee had nice color, reasonable taste, but was a tad winey-tasting. I suspect they were a tad underdone. I also spoke to some friends about my results and they agreed the ambient outdoor temperature* was too low to get a good rich roast outside in only 10 minutes.

I'll be trying this again soon. It's fun, Frankie likes to watch and the final results are never wasted. I think I just need a more reliable endpoint to shoot for. The first crack was faint and barely detected and I don't even know if I made it to the second crack.

Results will be disclosed as experiments continue.

*I did this outside because of warnings from friends about big plumes of smoke when the beans start to achieve a dark roast. I never noticed this. Again, possibly indicative of too cold an environment to get the full roast.

Update 08-Jan-07
I repeated the roasting indoors (ambient temp ca. 64-deg-F for a full 12 minutes. I was hearing the second crack when I stopped the roasting (first crack around 5-6 minutes). Dumped the batch (1/2 C) into cast iron and it was all shiny and dark. Here's the final product. Tasted as good as it looked.