Thoughts for Easter

No, not those thoughts. Not the deep ones of light searing the darkness, life triumphing over death. I'll save those for church tonight and the festal celebrations tomorrow. Right now I'm engaged in the other sort of Paschal thinking, the sort that is to do with lists and last minute errands even though I thought I'd planned so well. (How is it 3 dozen eggs really isn't enough for one simple celebration?) What I do not have to think about, too much, is the menu. For the last several years it's been pretty much the same thing for the simple reason that once I hit on the crowd pleasing combination, why mess with it?

The guests who join us for Easter are in our home for other feasts throughout the year, feasts where we mix it up. They know what we can do. But Easter is one of those feasts which, for us, is a liturgical menu ...what we always eat.

My darling Kimberly Ann was sniffing around for some Easter inspiration. As I've waited until Holy Saturday to write anything it may be too little too late but here's our menu, with a recipe or two.

For aperitif we're having green olives and peanuts. I admit, this one is being phoned in a little this year. Usually there is a clever bruschetta or something. But we are also having people in for brunch in the morning and a girl has her limits.

Other than the cocktail hour, there aren't going to be any courses. We'll just have a big ol' family style dinner, the centerpiece of which will be what we all lovingly refer to as the BAH, the Big Ass Ham. The Spouse will be in charge of this beauty and the recipe, with nary a variation is straight out of Martha Stewart. The glaze is delicious.

Accompanying the ham will be these mind-blowing and marvelous biscuits:

Molasses Biscuits

2 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 T. packed brown sugar
½ t. coarse salt
1 T. baking powder
¼ t. ground ginger
¼ t. ground cloves
1/8 t. freshly ground pepper
6 T. unsalted butter, chilled and cut in to pieces
¼ c. plus 2 T. milk
¼ c. molasses
1 T. heavy cream, for brushing

Preheat the oven to 375° with rack in center. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, ginger, cloves and pepper. Using a pastry blender cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk and molasses until completely combined. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the milk-molasses mixture.

Using a fork, stir the mixture until it almost comes together. Gently bring the remaining smaller bits together with fingertips. Transfer dough to a very lightly floured surface, and pat into a flattened circle about 6 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. Cut dough into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter. Gently press the excess dough together, and cut several more biscuits. Gently press the remaining excess dough together one more time, and cut one more biscuit.

Transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined baking sheet; generously brush tops with cream. Bake until golden brown, 24-26 minutes. Place biscuits on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Recipe makes 10 biscuits. I strongly recommend you double or even triple the recipe if you are serving more than 4 people. Seriously. I don't lie about these things. Or make little mini-biscuits but even then, they will be inhaled so be prepared.

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There will be two casseroles on the table, the classic green bean and a potato dish. And yes, I'm making the green bean casserole you're thinking of and go ahead and smirk if you wish, because they all did the first Easter I served it. Guess what is never left over?

I do make a few changes to the standard recipe. In the first place, I don't use tinned beans because that's just evil. Rather, I substitute a 24 oz. bag of Trader Joe's frozen haricot vert, cooked and drained. I also like to chop and saute a cup or so of crimini mushrooms, just to add a little more character to the dish.

Another regular feature of the Easter board is a roasted beet salad. The Spouse does not care for beets. I don't know how this particular fact escaped the vetting process before we were married. I might have made a different choice.

I adore beets and invented this in their honor. It is particularly pretty if you can find different colored beets but Easter came too early this year so I'll be using regular ol' sweet beets.

Roasted Beet and Orange Salad

2-3# beets
4 oranges
1 t. Dijon mustard
rice wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 450°.

Trim beets if they still have greens, leaving on about 1 inch of stem. Poke beets a few times with a skewer and place on a baking sheet. Place in oven and roast until tender but not soft. (I can't give you a time because it depends entirely upon the size of your beets. The ones I'm roasting at the moment are mammoth so I'm not even going to check them for at least 40 minutes).

When done, remove beets from oven and allow to cool thoroughly. (You can do this a day ahead if you want).

While the beets cool, zest all the oranges, setting aside the zest. Peel the oranges. One at a time, holding the fruit over a bowl, supreme the oranges. (This is nothing more than slicing the flesh away from the membrane, section by section. The oranges will look like jewels and it's not at all difficult). When you have finished removing the fruit, give the membrane a good squeeze to get any remaining juice.

When beets are cool, peel off skins and slice (or cube) the beets.

For the dressing, whisk the Dijon into the orange juice. Add 1/4 c. rice wine vinegar and whisk in enough olive oil to emulsify dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning.

If using one kind of beet, toss the sliced beets in the dressing and arrange on serving plate. Lay supremed oranges over beets and drizzle with remaining dressing. Sprinkle with orange zest.

Salad may be served cold or at room temperature.

Note: if you are using multi-colored beets, toss each color in the dressing separately, leaving the darkest beets for last. If you toss everything together it will all look like the red beets and then what was the point of buying different colors?

Note 2: Sometimes I add a chiffonade of basil, if you can get your hands on some fresh. Otherwise, don't bother.

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Have I forgotten anything? Oh, of course, dessert.

Easter dessert is typically a non-chocolate affair. No one notices. The Neighbor always brings a boisterously rich triple coconut cream pie from one of Tom Douglas' restaurants. I counteract all that richness (if only in theory) with a lemon curd tart. This year I'm going to try and decorate it with some violet confit that Nicole gave me last summer. It is, quite simply, a pot of violet jam. She had no idea what I'd use it for, she just thought it was pretty. It is. It smells quite strongly of violets (which is the loveliest of perfumes but perfume is the operative word) but the taste is much more delicate. (Don't ask me how they did that. Those French). I'm thinking of piping little beads of the confit around the edge of the tart or maybe even attempting violet-like flowers. But I'm not really handy with a piping bag so it will probably be beads or strips or swirls or something. But the pale purple against the deep yellow of the curd should be very pretty and spring-like, I think. Which is the point.

So that is what we are having and now, if you'll excuse me, I still have to start the dough for hot cross buns and prep the casseroles so I can have a good long Easter nap after brunch tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

The Most Important Meal of the Day

"What is breakfast?"

I am a big fan of breakfast...creamy eggs, nutty Scottish oats slathered with brown sugar and lashings of cream, quiches, omelettes, pancakes studded with juicy blueberries, French toast dripping with maple syrup. Ah.... Add a cup of fresh hot coffee and some orange juice (maybe with a splash of champagne, should it be the weekend) and I am in heaven.

Only trouble is, weekday mornings rarely lend themselves to such fabulous fare. Oh sure. When school first starts I am ever so diligent. But between The Child being a bit like molasses in the morning and all, breakfast goes begging pretty quickly. Which then makes me feel like the worst mother in the world because everyone knows children learn better with a good breakfast on their stomachs.

I continue to try and start The Child (and myself) with something hearty and nourishing, but for those mornings when it's just not coming together I have developed this tasty little breakfast bar which, happily, The Child loves. It's not too sweet, it has a reasonable amount of healthful things in it, plus the little extra surprise of chocolate. Which is an antioxidant. Which is very good for you.

These also go very well with that all-important first cup of coffee.

After a couple of trials, this is a very nice combination of ingredients. But consider it a template, substituting other nuts or dried fruits if you prefer. (For example, I thought this was very nice with dried apricots. The Child not so much).

Cranberry-Chocolate Breakfast Bars

Preheat oven to 350°

2 c. rolled oats
1 can (12-0z) apple juice concentrate
1 big spoonful of peanut butter (probably 3-4 T.)
1 ripe banana, mashed
5 oz. honey

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. dried cranberries
1 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. coconut (unsweetened)
1 c. chocolate chips
cinnamon to taste
1 t. baking powder
pinch of salt

Soak the oats in the apple juice, honey, peanut butter and banana. Let sit for at least one hour (or overnight, if you wish).

Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to the moisten oat mixture and stir gently until the dry goods are incorporated into the wet.

Spread the mixture ina 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes, until set and lightly brown on the top. The bars are moist and chewy, as opposed to crispy and crunchy.

Back to School: Marilyn's Banana Bread

The Parent Association Board is trying an experiment tomorrow, a welcome-back-to-school coffee for the parents. We got some donations of doughnuts but decided it might not be enough so one of the board members is baking blueberry bread and I volunteered to make banana bread. This was easy because I always have a shelf of bananas in the freezer. No one in our family enjoys them when they've turned too brown, so when that happens, I toss the bananan whole, into the freezer, where it waits patiently for the Baking Bug to strike.

My recipe for banana bread is pretty straightforward, and since we are also collectively not a family who enjoys nuts in baked goods, I don't add them. But you could if you wanted. This recipe is adapted from the one my mom uses, which came from our long-ago pastor's wife, Marilyn. She was a terrific cook. She had lots of practise. She had 8 kids.

Marilyn’s Banana Bread

Combine in a bowl:

1 c. brown sugar
½ c. butter
1 c. mashed banana
3 T. sour milk (or yogurt or buttermilk)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 ½ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
1 t. vanilla

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.

Pour batter into greased and floured pans and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes until tester comes out clean.

Variations:

Substitute 1 c. grated zucchini for the banana. To make chocolate zucchini bread, also add 2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder.

A Taste of Chicago: Deep Dish Pizza

I fell in love with Chicago. Hard. Not enough to do anything rash. I remain faithful to my beloved Seattle. But something got to me in that toddlin' town that hasn't happened in many other places. I've been to cities where I've said, "I could live there" and mean it. But with Chicago, I kinda actually do want to live there. Again, no rash moves are being planned. Should I, however, fall into a bucket of money in the near future, purchase of a superfantastic downtown Chicago condo would be the first order of business.

So what was it about Chicago that got to me so much? I'm still mulling that. Certainly it has to do with the friends we have there, who are intelligent, generous, kind and funny people. But it was also the way the city felt, and that's something harder to pinpoint. I just liked the way it felt on the streets, the way it felt to sit on the 49th floor of the Marina Towers, drink my coffee and gaze at the drawbridges over the Chicago River. It was something to do with the way the new architecture of the city lives cheek by jowl with the older buildings. It had to do with the livability of the city...how the downtown was a neighborhood full of people of all ages and colors with the necessary amenities of laundries and groceries and such within walking distance. And that is something (and I've lived downtown, so I know) Seattle has yet to really manage. The city itself is quite livable, the downtown core, not so much.

But as I mull the sights and sounds of Chicago and how they got to me, I do know that one part of my new-found love owes to one magical thing: deep dish pizza.

I love pizza. We have it just about every Friday night. Pizza and a movie. It's our thing. And both The Spouse and The Child make a good pie. (So do I but I like letting the pizza making thing be theirs). We make our own, using a basic foccocia dough recipe that I've had for years. The Spouse has his own special pizza sauce, which is nothing more than this:

The Spouse's Pizza Sauce
1 tin organic tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 or so T. dried oregano
2 or so T. dried basil
smidge of salt
glug of red wine

He lightly cooks the garlic in a little olive oil and then adds in the other ingredients and lets them slowly cook on the stove during the whole time he's preparing the pizza dough. It's a rich sauce, dark with the herbs and wine and full of flavor.

Our standard pie usually includes sauteed onions, roasted red peppers, olives, some sort of pizza meat (pepperoni, sausage or sometimes prosciutto) and a cheese blend of fontina and mozzarella. Sometimes there are fewer ingredients, sometimes more depending on whim and hunger. The crust is always nice and plump. I don't care much for thin crust pizza...I like the luxury of a nice bready base for all the oozing, melting toppings. I am also one of those people who rarely eats my crust ends. Which it's why it's sorta funny to me that I would become so enamored of deep dish, because crust ends are key there.

A quick Google search shows me that there are 2 places in Seattle that make deep dish pizza. Both are in the north end of town. I live in the south end. I began to lament that deep dish is something I would have to work to get. I love it, but I also want to enjoy it in the comfort of my own home, in front of my own big screen TV.

I whined about this to The Spouse. "I know how to make deep dish pizza," he said, oh so casually. 16 years and he still has the power to surprise.

"You do???"

He looked at me with surprise, like his deep dish pizza making abilities were legend and I hadn't been paying attention. "Sure. I used to work in a pizza place that made deep dish. It was called "Chicago's", remember?"

And then I did remember. I remembered the place, used to be located near the Seattle Center and always busy. I also vaguely recalled that in true old Chicago style there was some nefarious reason why the place eventually closed. The upshot of all this, of course, is that The Spouse offered to make that week's pizza in the style I so craved.

I asked if he had a recipe. He looked at me oddly. "The one I always use is fine. I just need a deep dish pan".

"Like a cake pan?"

"Sure".

(While I was grocery shopping I picked up a couple of 9" pans...nice ones with a flanged edge. I didn't think my 8" pans were quite enough to hold what I dreamt of).

Friday came and The Child was sleeping over at a friends. We'd have a whole pie to ourselves. Bliss.

He started the sauce and began the dough.

Pizza Dough

2 T. yeast
2 t. sugar
1 c. warm water
2 T. olive oil
2 t. salt
4 c. (or more) all-purpose flour

Place yeast, sugar and water in bowl of a standing mixer and let sit until yeast begins to foam and bubble.

Add in the olive oil and salt.

With dough hook attachment, begin working in the flour to form a ball of dough that holds it's shape and is not sticky.

Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.

Oil the mixing bowl and return dough to it, turning once to coat. (Yes, you read that right. Put the dough back in the mixing bowl. There is no sense in dirtying up 2 bowls when making bread).

Cover with a damp towel and set in a warm spot to rise until double. Punch down and let rest for a few minutes before proceeding with the pizza-making.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Unos Pizza in Chicago lays claim to being the birthplace of deep dish. One of their signature tricks is that the cheese goes on the crust first, before the sauce. So The Spouse tried that, laying slabs of mozzarella down before giving them a (slighty too thick) coat of sauce and topping it all off with some fresh basil leaves.

About 25 minutes later it was done.

It was glorious, the crust perfectly brown and crispy, the cheese thick and silky. There was, as I mentioned, a bit too much sauce on the pie but because it was on top it was easy to scrap off. And the extra made a nice dipping sauce for the ends of crust, which I uncharacteristically ate.

The only other note: next time we'll have to make at least 2 as the pair of us dispatched this tidy little pie with ease. A taste of the Windy City in the Emerald City. I am satisfied.

One a Penny, Two a Penny

Hot cross buns.

Love 'em.

Love making 'em. Which I will do, probably on Holy Saturday, so they are nice and fresh for Easter brunch.

Nicole asked for a recipe so here is the one I use every year.

Hot Cross Buns

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 t. ground cinnamon
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 t. salt
3 eggs
2/3 c. dried currants
1 slightly beaten egg white
Frosting

In a large mixer bowl combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast and cinnamon.

In a saucepan heat the milk, oil, sugar and salt until warm (115-120°).
Add liquid to dry ingredients; add eggs.

Beat at low spead on mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat 3 minutes on high speed. Turn speed down to medium and add currants and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. (If you don't have a large standing mixer, do this part by hand).

Shape dough into a ball. Oil the mixing bowl; place dough in bowl and turn once to coat.
Cover with a damp towel and let rise until double (about 2 hours). Punch down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 18 pieces and form each piece into a smooth ball. Place on oiled baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover and let rise until double (30-45 minutes).

Cut shallow cross in each bun and brush tops with egg white (reserving what remains).

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool then pipe a cross on each bun with the frosting.

Frosting
Combine 1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar with the remaining egg white, 1/4 t. vanilla and a dash of salt. Mix until smooth. Add milk if necessary to make frosting of piping consistency.

It should be said that I don't pipe my frosting. Because I've tried that and trust me, Martha Stewart makes it look way easier than it is. I just use a tiny spoon and dribble the frosting in a cross over the buns. And yeah, I say, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" as I do each one. 'Cause I'm goofy like that.

Baking Bread

It was the summer of '79, the Black Summer. I'd graduated from college and was unemployed. I was dating the wrong boy. I wasn't getting along with my room-mate (one of those friends who was dear and wonderful, as long as we weren't living under the same roof. Which we did on 3, maybe 4 occasions. We no longer speak). That was the summer I learned to bake bread.

It was a survival tactic. Everything costs a lot of money when you don't have any money and I was looking for every little economy I could find. My mom gave me the Better Homes & Gardens Homemade Bread Cookbook and I was inspired to try my hand at the alchemy of bread.The recipes in this book, which as you can see I still own and have used a lot, are quite good. There is some basic baking information in the book but most of the important things seem to have been left out. Or perhaps it's just that there are certain things you can only learn by doing.

Things I've Learned about Bread that Didn't Come from a Book
It takes longer for whole wheat bread to rise than white bread.

On a damp day you will use more flour than the recipe calls for.

You can't overknead bread if you're doing it by hand but watch it if you're using a dough hook.

No book cannot adequately impart the feel of bread dough when it has been kneaded enough.

My first attempts at bread were dense and inedible. The trick is not so much ingredients and effort as developing patience. Dough needs time. How long to knead, how long it must rise and rest and rise again are all subject to forces outside the baker's control. If you are in a hurry, best to make biscuits.

I no longer bake due to financial deprivation. I bake because it is good therapy (nothing beats pounding a lump of dough if one has any frustrations to work out), because it makes the house smell like heave and because seeing 2 loaves of fresh bread cooling on the counter is one of the most satisfying things I know.

The only problem with home-baked bread is that it doesn't last as long, by which I mean, when it is around we eat far more of it than when we have store-bought flannel bread. There is no resisting a loaf fresh from the oven. A loaf has never completely cooled before everyone has to have a test slice, smeared with butter and eaten out of hand with not so much as a plate to catch the crumbs. The Dog will take care of those. And if we consume more carbs than is currently fashionably, who cares? Life is short. For me there is little point of life without bread. And wine. And cheese. Everything else might be negotiable, but not that holy trinity of yeast and bacteria sanctified.

One thing I have had little success with is sourdough. I made some sourdough starter once many years ago, carefully following the instructions to combine flour, water, yeast and sugar and leave the sponge in a warm place. It bubbled up nicely and I took care to daily stir down the sponge during the 5 day "incubation" period.

Except for the day I forgot.

I came home to an overpowering scent of yeast and a small puddle of sponge on the counter. The cleanup was complicated by the fact that dough was still dripping from somewhere. I looked up and the sponge had burst over the walls of the bowl, climbed out and over the shelf and was dripping first to the counter and then to the floor. This was a very sticky and disgusting mess to clean up and I didn't try again for years. When I did try again the starter failed to start. There seemed to be absolutely no wild yeasts present in the air of our new house (and it's the wild yeasts who crash the sedate party of the regular yeast that put the characteristic "sour" in sourdough).

I've been baking in this kitchen for 10 years now. I like to think that the environment is now conducive to sourdough success. I'm going to give it a go today, along with baking a week's supply of oatmeal-wheat bread. It's time for a fresh batch when the last loaf measures 3 inches.

Whole Wheat-Oatmeal Bread

In mixing bowl of large mixer combine:
2 T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 T. sugar

Let stand a few moments, until foamy, then add 1-¾ c. additional warm water and ¼ c. vegetable oil.

Stir in:
1 c. rolled oats*
3- ½ c. all purpose flour
½ c. brown sugar
1 T. salt
Thoroughly combine all the ingredients.

Stir in:
3 c. whole wheat flour (whole wheat pastry flour is good for a lighter product)
½ c. wheat germ

Begin to mix with bread hook, adding in additional all-purpose flour (amount depends on weather) until dough is no longer sticky and has formed a ball. Turn out dough on a floured surface and knead by hand until dough is smooth and springs back at a touch.

Put a small amount of oil in the bread bowl (it's OK that there is still dough on the sides; no point in dirtying a second bowl), turn the dough so all sides have been oiled. Cover with damp cloth and leave in warm place to double. Punch down, form loaves and place in greased bread tins. Cover with towel and allow to rise again, until dough has doubled and is mounding up over the rim of the pans.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or so, covering tops with foil if they brown too quickly.

Bread is done when it makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Cool on racks. If you can wait that long.

*If you made oatmeal for breakfast and there is some left-over you can substitute the rolled oats for cooked.