This is one of those dishes that I thought was inspired. I mean, avocados are buttery, full of healthy fats, creamy, etc… What could be better? I had a couple of teeny avocados from my FFTY box this week and some baby potatoes – I figured I’d give it a shot. And it was everything that I thought it could be. The potatoes were infused with buttery avocado goodness, and it was a snap to prepare.

But… Of course there’s a but, right? Mr. Man’s response was pretty much a “could I have less potatoes in my avocados next time?”. Which was as cute as it was annoying – since I didn’t really have enough avocados to make it be the side at dinner. Avocados are one of his most favorite things evah though, so I guess I can forgive him this time.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Red Potatoes
• 1 large Avocado; peeled and seeded
• 3 strips of cooked bacon; cut in to very small ribbons
• 4 Green Onions; finely sliced
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbs Butter
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Place the potatoes in a pot of well salted water with about an inch or so of water above them.
• Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain.
• Return the pan to the stove, and melt the butter
• Add the garlic and green onions and heat until softened
• Return the potatoes to the pot along with the avocado
• Smoosh together with a masher or a heavy spoon, leaving some chunks
• Stir in the bacon and additional kosher salt to taste.

Tonight, I started digging around in the fridge, looking for something to go with the Crockpot Apple Brisket I had cooking for dinner – when I realized that I still had four artichokes left. Mr. Man was wanting me to use them for snacks, but the week had come and gone, and we’d only eaten two of the six that we received this week in our FFTY box as snacks, so we had them for dinner tonight.

Recently I saw this post over at The Kitchn on stuffed artichokes – which I thought was a neat idea, but Mr. Man was pretty adamant that he wanted the artichokes to snack on, so I didn’t think I’d get a chance to make them. But tonight was my lucky night. Earlier in the day, I had made a trip out to Costco – I had intended to get lemons but I completely spaced and forgot them. Which meant that I had to improvise or make lemon-less artichokes (which wasn’t really an option). Fortunately, there was a third option. Hiding in the back of the fridge, I found the jar of preserved lemons I’d made a couple of months ago with an overabundance of Meyer Lemons I had accumulated. Now – don’t get me wrong, I’d known they were there… but… well… I was being a  little bit of a wuss, and I’d been afraid to try them. It was my first time making preserved lemons, and I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out, so I’d kept them in the “I’ll try them … sometime.” column.

Well, nothing like being completely out of lemons to push the envelope, you know? So I bravely opened the jar and took a little sniff… they smelled okay… I pulled one out and took an experimental nibble… and boy I can’t believe I took so long to try these! They’re freaking awesome. Salty, lemony goodness. You can pick up Preserved Lemons at ethnic groceries and places like Whole Foods. They’re used in a lot of Moroccan dishes, as well (I foresee a tangine in my future somewhere…) But next time I make a batch, I’ll post pictures & recipe, but in the meantime, Simply Recipes has a great post on it available here.

I liked them so much in fact – that I probably added too much to this recipe – as both Mr. Man and Miss Thing complained that it was a little too lemony (I liked it!). Next time I might halve the preserved lemon – so unless you really like lemon, I would recommend reducing the amount to 1/2 a preserved lemon. (I’ve listed the recipe as I made it). Also – I didn’t rinse the lemon, but – I knew that the bread crumbs I was using didn’t have any added salt (because I’d forgotten to add salt to that loaf of bread… thats a story for another time) and I was using unsalted butter – so I used the preserved lemon to compensate. If you are using salted butter or bread crumbs that have any added salt, you will probably want to rinse your preserved lemon before using it, and if neccessary add some kosher salt to taste. Also – as you might have noticed – I skipped the whole trimming the artichokes. Generally speaking – In my experience, trimming an artichoke is purely for aesthetic reasons, as the thorns get nice and soft upon cooking, so I generally don’t bother. If you want to, you can trim your artichokes, but I won’t tell anyone if you decide to be lazy like me.

Ingredients:

• 4 Mediumish Artichokes
• 2 cups Day Old Bread crumbs
• 1 stick Butter
• 1 Preserved Lemon; finely minced (and optionally – rinsed – please read above paragraph)
• 1/4 cup Finely Shredded Mizithra Cheese; divided
• 3 cloves Garlic; finely minced
• 1 tbs Fresh Thyme; finely minced

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 450°
• Melt the butter in a hot skillet over medium heat.
• Add the bread crumbs to the butter.
• Fry Bread crumbs until golden
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, preserved lemon, thyme, garlic, and all but 1 tbs or so of the Mizithra cheese
• Set aside the stuffing and prepare the artichokes
• To prepare the artichokes for stuffing – hold the stem of the artichoke, and slam the the tip of the flowering portion in to the counter to loosen the head a little. (Don’t crush it completely)
• Work your fingers down in to the center of the artichoke (be mindful of the thorns) and gently pry the leaves apart, opening the center up
• Cut the stem and (if neccessary) a little of the base of the artichoke to enable it to stand up right
• Repeat for all artichokes to be stuffed
• Fill each artichoke with stuffing, using approximately 1/2 cup stuffing for each artichoke
• Place the stuffed artichokes in to a dutch oven or other oven-safe heavy pan with a tight fitting lid
• Sprinkle tops of artichokes with reserved cheese
• If desired, Trim the very bottom 1/2″ to 1″ of the stem off and discard – cook the remaining stem with the stuffed artichokes
• Cover Artichokes and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until outer leaves can be pulled off fairly easily
• Serve Warm.

So, I’ve mentioned in a few posts that I’ve been making the No-Knead bread thats been making the rounds over the internets for the last year or two. Yes, I know, I’m a little late to the game. But I’ve really gotten in to it lately, and I’ve really been enjoying it. I first read about it on the Kitchn, although I don’t remember which post it was. But not long after I made my first couple of loafs, I heard about the Artisan Bread in five minutes a day, and I really became hooked.

I haven’t actually picked up a copy of their book yet, although it’s on my list (unfortunately, it’s a long list…) but the concept of saving a portion of the previous dough and using it to make a new batch kind of got me interested. I know it’s not a new concept – not even to me, as I’ve seen it other places – but it’s one of those times of hitting the right idea at the right time. I had already started making the No-Knead bread, this was really just an extention of it.

So one day, I made a double batch of No-Knead bread and stuck it in the fridge. A day or so later, I pulled it out, took about 1/3 to 1/2 of it, and made a loaf. When I went to make a second loaf, I reserved a small portion of the old dough, and mixed it with the same proportions of water and flour as originally in the recipe.

The results, truly surprised me. I mean, I thought it would work, in theory but it was really kind of awesome to put it in to practice. I’m still working on perfecting my technique with it, sometimes my dough ends up too slack and sometimes too dry, but I’ve yet to have anything come out that wasn’t just 20x better than any other breads I’ve made.

I’ve been using the same ‘starter’ dough for a couple of weeks now, and the flavor just keeps getting better, developing more flavor with each batch. I”m also starting to experiment with it, for instance with an pizza that I made the other night. It’s become easy enough to make bread that we’ve been having it with meals atleast three times or more a week now, which Mr. Man and Miss Thing are both loving to pieces. What really elevated it to new heights though, was when I started using a piece of pampered chef stoneware to bake it in. The crust was good in the le crueset I was using, but it’s a-freaking-mazing in stoneware.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Unbleached Flour
• 3 cups water
• 2 tbs Rye Flour (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Yeast
• 4 tsp Kosher Salt
• Extra Flour for dusting and shaping

Method:

• The day(s) before you want bread, mix together the flour, water, yeast and kosher salt to form a fairly wet and sticky dough
• Pour the dough in to a large glass container and cover with a towel
• Place dough in the fridge and allow to rest atleast 24 hours
• The day you want to make bread, flour a working surface
• Pour a little less than half of the refrigerated dough on to the floured work surface
• Fold the dough over on itself a few times ( or until it becomes a little less sticky – depending on weather, climate and flour your dough may be stickier)
• Dust the top of the dough with a little more flour
• Rest dough for a few minutes, and then transfer to a lightly floured towel.
• Allow to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size
• Place your baking vessel (any heavy, covered pot will do, but I recommend either stoneware or cast iron) in to the cold oven
• Preheat the oven to 450° for atleast 30 minutes to allow the baking vessel to become thoroughly preheated
• Gently transfer your dough to the hot baking vessel, cover and bake for 30 minutes
• Remove lid and Reduce Heat to 350° and bake until bread is golden brown
• Cool on a rack
• To make more bread, simply save 1/4 (or so) of the original dough, and remix it with the same ingredients listed above, except for the yeast since you you will already have the yeast in your starter dough.
• Refrigerate for atleast 24 hours, and repeat.

Today I decided to try my hand at pretzel making. Overall, they weren’t nearly as difficult as I thought they would be – and the results were pretty tasty. Although they’re no Auntie Anne’s pretzel, they’re good. I basically used Alton Brown’s Recipe, although I subbed some Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for 1/2 the white flour and made a few minute adjustments. Next time I think I would boil them a little longer, and bake them a little longer – and perhaps instead of brushing with egg yolk I would brush them with melted butter. I used my kitchenaid to do the kneading and mixing – if you don’t have one you can do it by hand.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115°)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 11 ounces all-purpose flour
• 11 ounces whole wheat Pastry Flour
• 2 ounces butter, melted
• Olive Oil
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• In Kitchenaid mixer bowl, stir together water, sugar and kosher salt
• Sprinkle yeast over the top of the water and set aside for five minutes, or until mixture becomes foamy
• Stir two flours together in small bowl
• Attach kitchenaid bowl and dough hook to mixer and mix in butter
• Working in batches, add flour and knead – until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. (Depending on your climate, you may or may not use all of the flour)
• Turn Dough out in to an oiled bowl, cover and place in a warm place to rise for approximately 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
• Preheat Oven to 450°
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and then oil them
• In a large pan, bring the 10 cups of water and baking soda to a rolling boil
• Turn dough out onto an oiled workspace
• Divide dough in to pieces roughly the size of your cupped palm
• Roll out each piece in to a thin rope
• Twist in to pretzel shape (this is mostly about trial and error – the practice results will be tasty regardless; just maybe not as pretty)
• Place the pretzels, one at a time, in to the boiling water for 30 seconds
• Remove from water and place on oiled parchment paper
• Brush the top of each pretzel with egg mixture and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt
• Bake until Golden Brown in color, approximately 12 minutes
• Transfer to cooling rack

I’d been toying with the idea of making some chewy caramels for a while – I had this idea that I wanted to try out. Unfortunately, this attempt failed to set, but did however make an excellent Caramel Sauce instead, which I used in my Caramel Pecan Cheese Cake Recipe. This makes about 2 pints, so you may consider halving if you don’t have large caramel sauce needs.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream; Room Temperature
• 1 and 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup Butter; divided
• 2 Cups Pecans; toasted* (optional)
• 1/3 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Method:

• Pour the Sugars, Water, Honey and 1/4 cup of the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid.
• Do not stir
• Cover and bring the sugar mixture to a boil over medium heat for 2 minutes
• Remove cover and cook until mixture turns a dark golden brown
• Slowly and Carefully pour in Cream – Careful; mixture will bubble!
• With a Wooden Spoon, stir to combine
• If using pecans, place pecans in to jar
• Pour Caramel, over the Pecans, in to the jar
• Cover and store in the fridge
• Serve over Ice Cream or use in recipes

*To toast Pecans, I use a 1/2 tbls Butter to 1 cup pecans ratio. Melt butter in skillet over medium-low heat and add pecans. Heat pecans, stirring occasionally until fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

I loooooooove Pickled Garlic. If I’m not careful, I’ve been known to eat more than half of a jar of it in one sitting. Which is bad for a couple of reasons – but one of them is, the stuff is expensive to use as a snack.   I’ve seen small jars selling for $8 or more. Since I was trying out making Mr. Man some hot sauce, I thought it would be a good time to try out making pickled garlic as well, since the ageing time is about the same. If this little experiment goes well, the hot sauce and the garlic, I might just have to consider getting some specialized equipment and actually try canning.

I’ll update in a couple of weeks to tell how it went.

Update – 2/20/09 – Sampled the garlic earlier this week (appx 4 weeks in the fridge), and found that it still had a bit of a “raw” bite, so I’m going to let it go for a few more weeks and try it again.

Ingredients:

• 1 – 16 oz glass Jar full of peeled garlic cloves; approximately 4 heads
• 1 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1/8 cup white wine
• 1 tbls Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tbls Soy Sauce

Method:

• Warm Cider Vinegar, white wine, kosher salt and Soy over low heat until salt is dissolved
• Set aside and allow to cool
• Pour Vinegar mixture over Garlic Cloves
• Cover and refrigerate for 3 weeks, or until desired flavor is attained

I had a bunch of Serrano Peppers left over from my guacamole I made the other day, that I’m pretty sure I wasn’t going to use, since I’m a big wuss, so I decided to try my hand at making up a batch of Hot Sauce for Mr. Man. Of course, since I’m a big wuss, and can’t taste the hot sauce to SEE if it has a good flavor, I’m kinda working blind here. I made this up last night and stuck it in the fridge, so it’s not quite ready to try yet. I may end up blending it with some tomato paste or something else to cut the heat a little bit though – Mr. Man had a taste of it when it was fresh and pronounced it “very hot!” Which, coming from him is somewhere around volcanic and/or nuclear explosion as far as heat goes. In other words, I’d probably rather cut my tongue out than taste it. I’m thinking that over the course of the next couple of weeks that the heat might mellow the flavors a little bit – of course, I have no way of knowing, having never made hot sauce before. Cross your fingers for me.

I’ll update in a couple of weeks to tell how it went.

Update – 2/20/09 – Mr. Man did not wait three weeks before tasting – in fact, he didn’t really wait 3 days! Although I don’t like hot sauce, and therefore haven’t tasted it, Mr. Man assures me that this is delicious, that I never need buy hot sauce again as long as I continue to make it, and that aging it has definitely improved it’s flavor.

Ingredients:

• 5 Serrano Peppers; sliced
• 1 Cup Distilled Vinegar
• 3 Cloves Garlic, sliced
• 1 Shallot, sliced
• 1/4 Cup White Wine
• 1 Tbls Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar

Method:

• Place all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a simmer
• Simmer for a 1-2 minutes, or until salt is dissolved
• Strain solids from liquids; reserving liquid
• Puree Solids until mostly smooth, adding reserved liquid as needed
• Add remaining reserved liquid and puree to glass bottle or jar and refrigerate for 3 weeks, or until desired flavor is attained
• Shake to reincorporate if hot sauce seperates