King Arthur Flour's Ciabatta Three Ways

My cooking (and blogging) has come to a screeching halt.

A “tickle” in my chest on Saturday night turned into a full-blown head-and-chest cold, the likes of which I have not experienced in many years. Easter lunch was canceled, so there will be no post of the lemon-glazed chicken cutlets and almond rice pilaf (although the dessert will be reviewed at a later date as I had already made a Meyer lemon cake which, because I cannot taste anything, is now in the freezer awaiting my recovery).

After almost 3 full days of rest, hot liquids, and vitamins I cannot say that I am much better. The few prepared foods that I had in the freezer are gone, and tonight we will eat leftovers from Sunday. Hmmm, if they were never eaten in the first place, are they still considered to be leftovers? And, to add even more fun, Jack had to take Spooky to the vet for an emergency visit (and this is the first time Spooky has ever needed to go to the vet for anything other than his twice-yearly Senior Wellness Checkups). I'm sneezing and blowing my nose and trying to ignore the headache as I , very anxiously, await their return.

One last note: Puffs Plus ROCKS! But I doubt if I will even have a nose in another day or two if this doesn’t let up…

So until I am up and cooking again, I will post a recipe review that I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

We love flavorful, slow-rise breads with a thin, crispy crust and this ciabatta recipe from King Arthur Flour did not disappoint!

One of the wettest dough I have ever worked with, this one literally poured from the bowl onto the baking sheet. Problems with handling it can be minimized, however, if you remember to grease your hands and utensils with shortening beforehand. It is a messy, but necessary, process. I have made this bread three times and, no matter what I do, mine does not rise as much as KA’s does although that’s certainly not a reason for me not to ever make it again.

One of the options is to make this ciabatta into garlic bread. I’m not a fan of garlic bread, I prefer plain ol’ bread (and, if it’s really good, you don’t even need butter), but I made the garlic version for our family Christmas dinner and it disappeared immediately. I was asked to make it again for my Dad’s birthday dinner a few weeks ago, so I did. Again, one slice was left and it was fought over by my 3 nephews.

One of the loaves:

I made a change to the recipe this time, and this was to broil the bread instead of baking. I didn’t notice much of a difference, but Dad liked the “crispy edges” better.

After broiling, I re-sandwiched the halves together then sliced them.

And this was one of the bread baskets, just seconds before the swarms dove in to gobble it up.

Again, the dough is a bit of a pain to work with but the result, whether enjoyed plain or with the garlic and-cheese (and butter!) topping, is incredible.

Start the bread the day before since the starter needs to rest for at least 8 and up to 15 hours, and after this it will be another 3-1/2 to 4 hours before you will slide it into the oven.

I have found that those breads which use a slow-rise starter taste so much better than those made by the more common “knead-rise-punch-rise-bake” method which takes only a couple of hours. Give this one a try. Really, what is more worth waiting for than really, really good bread???

Pizzelles

Easter is a very low-key holiday this year, and the only baking which I have produced has been that one absolutely essential holiday cookie- pizzelles.



My Italian grandmother used a pizzelle iron which made one at a time. She stood in their basement, at the "second stove", baking each cookie over a gas flame. It must have taken her forever, flipping the iron over and back to cook each side. It took us kids seconds to wolf them down.


So, every time I make pizzelles with my electric two-at-a-time pizzelle iron, I thank her (because I'm fairly certain that she is watching me from above, and smiling).


I love my pizzelle iron. I bought it at a local Italian store because it was the kind my Mom has, and when I got it home I realized that it is manufactured a couple of miles from here. West Newton, PA. A tiny town, smack dab on the biking trail we use.


I found this on Amazon. I paid about $40 for mine, probably 20 years ago, and it is everything that I could ask for in a pizelle maker.



I developed this pizzelle recipe because I wanted to use an egg substitute rather than the dozen eggs which my Mom's recipe called for. And find a way to reduce the 2 cups of vegetable oil. I have to admit that hers are a little lighter in texture than mine, but I can eat more of my pizzelles! And they still taste great.


Make the batter the day before because it really has to sit for the flavors to develop.







* Exported from MasterCook *


Pizzelles


Recipe By: Vicci
Servings: 48


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
8 ounces Egg Beaters® 99% egg substitute
4 large eggs
2 1/4 cups sugar
6 ounces canola oil
2 teaspoons orange extract
2 teaspoons anise oil
4 1/4 cups Eagle Mills All-Purpopse Unbleached Flour


Beat first 4 ingredients until frothy. Mix in flavorings. Stir in flour (the batter should be the consistency of a very thick pancake batter; you should be able to scoop the batter out with a cookie scoop with ease). Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.


Heat pizzelle iron for 15 minutes. Using a paper towel, rub shortening into the grids.


Add a tablespoon of batter in the center of each form (I use a cookie scoop), the close and lock lid. Check after 40 seconds. Discard first 2 pizelles. Darker pizzelles will take about 55 seconds per batch.


Immediately remove pizzelles from iron to a cooling rack. Store in a loosely-covered container to keep crisp.


Yield:
"8 dozen"



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per serving: 71 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (48% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 16mg Cholesterol; 12mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates


NOTES :
Other flavorings can be used: lemon extract, vanilla extract, with 1 tablespoon FRESH lemon zest, almond extract, vanilla extract, 1/4 cup very finely ground, toasted almonds (decrease flour by 1/4 cup)

Easter 2009

I used 1/4 cup of almond syrup and 1 tablespoon of almond extract, and also needed to add a little extra flour.

I read a good many vegetarian blogs and websites for recipe ideas. Jack and I are not vegetarians, although we have not eaten “red” meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.) in over 15 years. I do like the idea of basing our diet on more nutritious, healthful, easy-on-the-planet vegetables and grains so, even though I incorporate fish and poultry into some of our meals, we keep at least two of three meals per day meatless with two days a week being totally meatless.

For several years I kept a subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine until I realized that this magazine, along with many others, was piling up on my kitchen table, unread. Now I peruse their website, use the back issues often, and get a weekly e-newsletter.

The editor of the magazine raved about something called “almond loaf” in the most recent newsletter. I remembered reading about “nut roasts” and “nut loaves” in articles and on blogs, but had never tried one. I was in the mood to attempt something different so, for dinner than night, we had almond loaf.

I have to admit, this almond loaf was great! I really didn’t expect to like it so much. In fact, I didn’t even tell Jack what I was making because I was afraid of receiving his “roll of the eyes” and doubting comments.

We both enjoyed it.

A mixture of ground almonds and breadcrumbs held together and flavored with spaghetti sauce and eggs, then baked in a loaf pan. Honestly, who would have thought it would be so delicious? I really wish that I knew how to describer it better. It very much resembled meatloaf, but tasted slightly nutty (although not like eating a handful of almonds), and unlike anything I’ve had before. I added chopped Portobello mushroom to mine based on the review of a VT reader, and this is the way I will make it from now on.

Ready to go in the oven—a visual resemblance to meatloaf. Well, kind of...

I sautéed Portobello slices in olive oil and garlic, then topped each slice with some of the mushrooms and additional sauce.

This photo is fairly awful (why was the mushroom sliding off of the nut loaf?) but, as I took this first shot, the camera started beeping that the memory card was full. I just put the camera away and started to eat...

Almond Loaf

Vegetarian Times Issue: January 1, 2006 p.45 — Member Rating:

Ground almonds replace the protein and texture of meat in this savory loaf. Try the leftovers in sandwiches with spicy mustard, lettuce and tomato.

Ingredient List

Serves 6

• 2 1/2 cups whole grain breadcrumbs
• 1 cup roasted unsalted almonds
• 1 1/4 cups spaghetti sauce, plus extra for garnish
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 large eggs
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray, then coat with 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.
2. Finely grind almonds in blender or food processor; transfer to bowl. Add remaining breadcrumbs, spaghetti sauce, onion and eggs; mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Press mixture into prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes, or until firm.
4. Meanwhile, warm spaghetti sauce in microwave. Cut loaf into slices, and serve with warmed sauce.

Nutritional Information

Per SERVING: Calories: 272, Protein: 10g, Total fat: 16g, Saturated fat: 2g, Carbs: 23g, Cholesterol: 71mg, Sodium: 314mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugars: 7g

Yes, it is higher in total fat than I would like, but it’s mostly the good monosaturated fat from the almonds.

And then, the leftovers. For one lunch I warmed almond loaf slices and served them on multigrain sourdough with melted Swiss, baby spinach leaves, and spicy mustard.

For the second lunch again I warmed the slices but this time served them on Tuscan-style bread with melted mozzarella and extra sauce. Both sandwiches were winners.

Amazing. In my forties I “discovered” the absolute joy of olives, artichokes, gorgonzola, and avocados. Now, at age 50, I have found nut loaves. Isn’t food wonderful???

Four Grain Bread

*sigh*

This past Friday I walked past one of the upstairs windows and saw something beautiful outside, out of the corner of my eye. Blossoms! White pear blossoms! Purple plum blossoms! Spring has arrived!!!

That little bit of elation ended, with a screeching halt, yesterday. As I made dinner, snow started to fall. Not a lot of snow, but it was blowing almost horizontally, and those poor flowering trees were actually shivering. No snow through the entire month of March, when we actually still expect it, but now in April…

Again, *sigh*

Today it remained chilly, quite chilly, and I decided to turn on the oven and bake.

During most of the year I bake the sandwich/ toast bread which we consume, although from approximately mid-June through mid-September I need to buy bread because baking heats up the kitchen too much. Not a problem today, since the high was in the mid-30’s ON APRIL 7^th! I was cold so, of course, I baked bread.

I found a recipe for 5-Grain Bread with Walnuts posted by Sharon on Cuisine at Home a few weeks ago and decided to make that. Unfortunately, although I was certain that I had a bag of walnuts, a big bag, left from Christmas baking, I was unable to locate it in the freezer. I would have to make 5-Grain Bread, sans the nuts.

Then, another supply issue. I could not find my rice flour (I think that I may have used it to make dog biscuits before Christmas and did not replenish my supply) so I needed to eliminate that. What remained, and yes I had the rest of the ingredients, became 4-Grain Bread! I doubled the amount of oat flour to make up for the missing rice flour.

This was a very good, basic bread recipe that is perfect for toast and sandwiches. The loaves were huge! I’m a big fan of all breads and this one will go into my regular rotation because it was relatively simple and yielded a wonderfully tasty loaf. I subbed white whole wheat flour for the original recipe’s unbleached all-purpose flour and doubled the fiber content per slice. I also added a little brown sugar when proofing the yeast, and vital wheat gluten and olive oil into the dough.

One procedural change. I have found that, when making any bread which contains heavier flours such as oat or whole wheat, it is beneficial to cover the dough and allow it to rest after you mix the dough but before you knead it. This time allows the grains to absorb moisture and I have found that I need to add less flour to the dough as the kneading process goes on. Also, the texture of the baked bread seems to be better.

This was an excellent, basic bread recipe, high in fiber, and even higher in taste. :)

* Exported from MasterCook *

Four-Grain Bread

Recipe adapted from Carol Field

Servings: 28

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

3 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 3-1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast)

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/4 cup warm water -- about 100-110F

3 cups water -- 100F

3 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour

2 3/4 cups rolled oats -- Using a food processor, grind the oats into a fine powder (or use

2-1/2 cups oat flour).

1 cup rye flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Stir the yeast into the warm water in a mixer bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in 3 cups water.

Stir in the flours, wheat gluten, olive oil, and salt with the paddle. Mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Scrape the paddle, and cover the bowl. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Change to the dough hook and knead for 5-6 minutes at medium speed until firm and elastic but still slightly sticky, adding ¼ to ½ cup extra flour if necessary. Finish kneading briefly by hand (about 2 minutes or so) on a surface floured with all-purpose flour.

First Rise: Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Shaping and Second Rise: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be moist, firm, and noticeably elastic, if slightly sticky. Cut the dough in half and shape each half into an oval loaf to fit a loaf pan. Place the loaves in the oiled pans (preferably glass)*, cover with a heavy towel, and let rise until truly doubled and fully above the tops of the pans, 1 to 1 ¼ hours.

Baking: Preheat oven to 400° F. Slash a pattern in the top of the loaves before baking, if desired.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes.

If using glass loaf pans, you can bake the last 5 to 10 minutes out of the pans on a baking stone or baking sheet to brown the bottoms and sides.

Cool completely on a rack.

* I used my Chicago Metallic 1-pound loaf pans

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per serving: 177 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 35g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 232mg Sodium; 5g Fiber

Food Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

I will eventually try the recipe which Sharon posted, and I look forward to it. If you have walnuts, and the desire to bake bread, try that recipe!

Vegetarian Mulligatawny

I love fun-sounding words and phrases. In my previously-posted recipe, the title of the beans used was Eye of the Goat beans and that unusual name intrigued me enough to make it (of course, I didn’t have that particular bean so I subbed Canary beans, the name of which I find slightly less amusing although much better than kidney).

A few weeks ago I ran across a recipe for Mulligatawny. I have fun saying that name—mulligatawny! Yes, I am easily amused. :) I have never had nor made this soup, but I believe that it was mentioned in the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld many years ago. This vegetarian recipe, which was entered in March's edition of No Croutons Required by the author of Asparagus and Raspberries, contained a few vegetables which I happened to have on hand and wanted to use.

I looked up “mulligatawny” online and found a zillion widely varying recipes. Although it seems to be Indian in origin, it is actually British (from when they occupied India and altered a regional soup recipe to use ingredients with which they were familiar). Many of the recipes contained lentils or rice, which the original recipe does not contain and I ended up adding cooked basmati rice at the last minute.

This recipe has a huge ingredient list, and lots of time is spent in preparing the vegetables, but the resulting soup is well worth the effort.

With a 3-4 hour simmering time, as long as you (or a responsible person) is around to give the mixture a stir every now and then, you don’t have to spend all of those hours babysitting it. I went for an hour-long run, and set a kitchen timer to remind Jack to stir it every 20 minutes.

And it made the house smell wonderful, like stepping into the very best Indian restaurant you’ve ever visited. With four hours of simmering (apparently you can get away with three), the fragrance of curry was permeated into our living areas until the next morning (and, believe me, neither of us minded a bit!).

Above shows the curry powder roasting in the oil and butter. I, of course, decreased both of those ingredients from the original recipe. And pardon the old (to say the least) pot. I don’t have a nice Dutch oven at the lake house and I found this in the far reached of the cupboard. I make chili in it occasionally. A nice, very heavy pot which Jack brought into our marriage (noooo, it couldn’t have been a LeCreuset piece, could it?!), but no matter how I tried I could not remove the black from the inside.

I believe that an essential step is lightly sautéing the vegetables in the oil/butter/curry mixture. The vegetables had a chance to absorb this wonderful flavor before the liquid ingredients were added.

I made some changes in the recipe, but the most major change was in the structure of the ingredient list. I am a little fussy when it comes to organization and I have to have recipes organized as well, letting me know the order in which I will be using the ingredients. I find it easier to cook this way.

We spent a few days at the lake house and I packed all of the ingredients and took them with us. I thought that I had frozen corn and lemon juice there only to discover that I did not, so those ingredients were left out. And, because of Jack’s inexplicable aversion to eggplant, I left that out as well. To add more flavor and nutrition, I used vegetable stock instead of some of the water in the soup.

I was unpacking after arriving at the lake house when I realized that I had forgotten the white potatoes. I had an equal amount of sweet potatoes, so I used them instead. I had thought that they may get a little mushy with the lengthy simmer, but I was wrong. In fact, I will now use sweet potatoes whenever I make this, just because they were so good. One last point, I used too much rice (and that has been corrected in the recipe below). The next day, you could have cut the soup into wedges, it was so firm. ;)

* Exported from MasterCook *

Vegetarian Mulligatawny

Adapted from a recipe by Asparagus & Raspberries

Servings: 8

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

----------- ------------ --------------------------------

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

3 medium potatoes -- peeled and diced

4 small carrots -- peeled and diced

2 large parsnips -- peeled and diced

1 large onions -- peeled and diced

2 whole leeks -- outer layers removed, thinly sliced

2 medium apples -- peeled and diced (Granny Smith apples hold up nicely to the long

simmer)

6 ounces yellow corn

10 ounces eggplant -- diced

1 large red bell pepper -- roasted, skin removed, diced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp nutmeg

2 large bay leaves

15 ounces canned diced tomato

4 cups water

2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

8 ounces light coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped

1/2 cup pistachio nuts -- chopped

1 medium lemon -- juice only (use some of the peel as garniture)

1 large lime -- juice (use some of some of the peel as garniture)

3/4 cup basmati rice -- cooked

Prepare all the vegetables.

Start by roasting the curry in the oil and butter in a Dutch over medium heat for about 2 minutes (stir constantly so it doesn't burn, you might have to turn down the heat a bit near the end).

Add the potatoes through bay leaves and cook the mixture, turning the heat to medium/low, stirring to coat all with the curry/oil. Make sure that the vegetables do not take color. Then add the canned tomatoes (undrained), water and vegetable stock and bring to a boil before you leave it to simmer, covered, for 3 - 4 hours. Set the lid of the pot ajar a little for some steam to escape (but not too much or the liquid may evaporate and boil away!).

Stir every now and then. This thickens the soup and intensifies the taste.

Add the coconut milk through the cooked rice, blend in with the rest of the soup, and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve with a bit of nut-parsley topping if desired, or chopped cilantro, or lime and lemon zest.

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Per serving: 349 Calories (kcal); 12g Total Fat (3g Saturated); (28% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 58g Carbohydrate; 4mg Cholesterol; 233mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Posole with Eye of the Goat Beans and Shredded Chicken

Not too surprisingly, since I was raised and still live in southwestern Pennsylvania and did not even taste a taco until I was a junior in college, I had not tried posole until this past winter. I saw a recipe, and it looked very interesting, but I had a difficult time locating hominy until I finally found it at… WalMart. This was canned hominy, and I posted about the Posole Rojo a month or two ago.

Since both Jack and I really enjoyed it, when I saw this recipe for Posole with Eye of the Goat Beans and Shredded Chicken, and it used dried hominy, I decided to give it a try.

But, first, from those (like myself) who are uncertain about what posole really is, a Wiki-definition:

Pozole (from Spanish pozole, from Nahuatl potzolli; variant spellings: posole, pozolé, pozolli) is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico and New Mexico. It is made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chili pepper, and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, radish, avocado, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), rojo (red), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole (sweet corn, squash, and chicken or pork meat).

Hominy itself is pretty interesting—corn kernels soaked in a lime-water solution, then dried and reconstituted. I initially didn’t know what to expect from the canned hominy, but I liked its chewy texture. I found dried white hominy at a Mexican grocery and it looked like the cracked corn in the birdseed mixture we put in the bird feeder. :)

Now this recipe is simple in its preparation, but it also takes some time. The hominy took only 2-1/2 hours to cook, but add in the toasting, soaking, and pureeing the chili peppers, then the actual preparation of the soup itself, and it was a bit time-consuming. Well worth it, mind you, but I am glad that I had my laptop in the kitchen so I could spend the downtime working.

Here is the dried, and cooked, hominy. Really, the cooked version is not as gloppy as it looks. Once the cooking water is drained, or in the case of this recipe added to the posole along with the hominy, the kernels are more... individual.

In my pantry is a package of dried New Mexico chili peppers, some of which I have used ground to in a recipe or two during this past winter, so I used them again for this soup. I find that it’s easy to toast dried peppers when, after they are split and the seeds are removed, they are toasted in a dry skillet with a small, heavy lid to weigh them down and press them flat to the heat.

The shape of the dried chilies indicated that I should soak them in a loaf pan.

I followed the recipe almost to the letter, except (and, yes, there is always an “except”!):

1) I used canary beans instead of those wonderfully whimsical-sounding Eye of the Goat beans.

2) Instead of purchased rotisserie chicken (which contains a lot of fat), I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I had poached, cooled in the broth, and shredded

3) I added ½ tablespoon of sugar at the end (the chilies seemed to be a little bitter)

4) I thickened the broth with 1½ tablespoons of arrowroot

We loved this! It was worth every bit of work. The broth is thick and rich and flavorful with the pureed chilies and all of the other ingredients blend together very well. I find that I really enjoy the texture of the hominy, which makes the soup vary hearty. Don’t forget the garnishes because they make the posole. We used shredded cheese, chopped tomato and avocado, and cilantro. This recipe made about 10 cups, so we are looking at a couple of more days of this wonderful stuff. No problem, there!

Also, if you cannot locate dried Anaheim or New Mexico Chilies, I think that Ancho chilies would work as well.

Following is the recipe as I copied it from Laura's post at The Spiced Life

Posole With Eye Of The Goat Beans & Shredded Chicken
Adapted from Heirloom Beans, Steve Sando

For the hominy:
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2/3 cup dried hominy
water

For the soup:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 dried Anaheim chile peppers (New Mexico is fine too)
boiling water to cover the chile peppers
2 T olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 t Mexican oregano
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 15 oz can tomatoes, chopped or whole, drained (or if it is summer use 4 plum tomatoes)
2 cups drained, cooked Eye of the Goat beans (or any pinto type)
1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
salt and pepper to taste

For the garnishes:
chopped cilantro
fried or soft corn tortillas, to taste (we like the crunch of the fried)
1 avocado, diced
1 lime, sliced into wedges
diced monterey jack or crumbled quesco fresco
sweet tomato relish or maybe some honey and chile pepper flakes
finely chopped onion

Cook the hominy by combining the chopped onion, dried hominy and water to cover by 2 inches in a small saucepan. Bring it to a simmer on medium low heat and cover, reducing the heat. Simmer for 3 hours, adding water if necessary to keep covered, or until the hominy is chewy tender. Season with salt toward the end of cooking. Set aside undrained.

Slit the dried chiles and remove the stems and seeds. Flatten them and toast them in a skillet over medium high heat, about 15 seconds per side. They will blister and lighten in color and become aromatic--but be sure they do not burn. place in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for 20-30 minutes.

Place the chiles into a blender with enough of their soaking water to puree to liquid the consistency of buttermilk.

Chop the onion for the soup. Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and heat it to shimmering. Add the chopped onion with a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and oregano and cook an additional minute, stirring. Add the chicken stock, chile puree, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the cooked hominy with 1 cup of its cooking broth to the soup. Return to a boil. Add the beans and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a squirt of lime if you think it needs it.

Ladle the soup into deep bowls and add the garnishes.

Peanutty Spinach Curry

What? No soup post? How can that be??? Because it’s April first and I tend to make less soup and stew meals as the weather warms up. And I am celebrating by keeping those white rimmed soup bowls in the cupboard for a while.

Yes, I know that we regularly have early-April snowfalls, but they are usually light and do not last long. Soon the toads in the pond will be singing, and the crickets chirping. I cannot wait!

That being said, today was mostly a cool and rainy one. March came in like a lion, then went out like a lamb (it was 74 degrees yesterday); but April is being… April.

I wanted to make something spicy and warming for dinner, and pulled a recipe which I had printed from A Spiced Life a few weeks ago. I happened to have a lot of spinach to use up, and this spinach and peanut curry sounded good (and we know how much Jack loves anything with peanuts!). When I started to pull it together, though, I began to doubt my choice. It just didn’t seem like something Jack would like, being mostly spinach and peanuts with spices, but time was running out. As the curry cooked, I turned on the oven and heated a tray of Trader Joe’s vegetable samosas, and also a couple pieces of TJ’s naan. I figured that Jack could fill up on carbs if he didn’t like the spinach.

It was with great trepidation that I told him when dinner was ready. I spooned the spinach curry over rice, arranged 4 (mashed potato & peas-filled) samosas beside, and also plunked down a plate of naan. He looked up and asked if it were Carb Night. :) No, I replied, just some extra food in case you don’t like the spinach.

Well, I was stunned at his reaction—he loved it! In fact, he kept commenting on how “wonderful” it tasted. And, yes, I thought it did too. Who would have thought—spinach, peanuts, spices… it really was delicious! Very flavorful, and I must say that spinach has never tasted so good!

Here is the recipe as Laura posted it, her adaption of a recipe found in the wonderful book "660 Curries". It seems as though it serves 4. I halved the ingredients for us, and used less peanuts. Also, instead of boiling the spinach (a huge loss of nutrients, I think), I used a steamer basket. When I removed the spinach from the steamer, I placed it in a colander over a bowl, and used the water which drained off instead of the water from boiling the spinach, which was called for later in the recipe.

I also used plain yogurt (nonfat, European-style).

Now this is not a curry as I think of when I say “curry”, but this recipe will absolutely go into my binder to try, try again. Yum (and a quite surprised yum, at that!)