imafoodblog.com

This is yet another quality recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhardt. When I saw that our friend Stefanie at Hefe und mehr chose Sweet Breads as this months Bread Baking Day, I knew this was what I was going to make. The title of the recipe is pretty self explanatory. I believe that Reinhardt’s version also calls for walnuts, but I decided to leave them out this time.

This was my first attempt at a loaf bread and overall it was a success. As you would expect, it smelled amazing as it was baking - so comforting and homey. Nick and I made it together on a Sunday afternoon and it was the perfect way to end a nice relaxing weekend at home.

Read more »

This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly was a cobb salad and was chosen by Gabi over at The Feast Within.

As a rule, I don’t really like salads unless they are terrible for you. Case in point: my favorite salad is Caesar salad, and I also used to love the BBQ steak salad at J. Paul’s. However, I actually really like cobb salad and used to eat it all the time at this place called Chadwick’s (also in Georgetown).

So I was happy to try out Ellie’s lightened up version over the weekend. Nick was out of town, so I was on my own and decided to make this as a nice light lunch. I picked up a rotisserie chicken from the store instead of baking up some breasts. I also left out the blue cheese (YUCK!), and the tomatoes (ALSO YUCK!), and the hard boiled egg (YUM, but I was being lazy). So I figured since I was leaving out the cheese and the egg, I could substitute the ham for a couple slices of bacon. And can you believe that Whole Foods was out of romaine hearts by 11AM on Saturday morning! I ended up buying a bagged romaine mix, which was not nearly as good as some regular romaine hearts. So I suppose this wasn’t exactly a cobb salad, but it was a delicious salad. The dressing was also pretty good even though it was a 1:1 ratio of oil to acid as opposed to the standard 2:1 ratio.

I fully enjoyed this and I think I will make it again when I can get some good romaine and put in the time to hard boil the egg and serve it more like a cobb salad should be served. I was being lazy and just threw everything in a bowl and tossed it. Hence why my picture just looks like a bowl of lettuce. Though I assure you there is other good stuff in there that wound up in my belly. I have no doubt that my fellow Craving Ellie ladies did a much better job actually following the recipe and serving this in a much more attractive way.

These are basically fresh baked cheez-it crackers in a straw shape, which is a-ok with me. Crispy, cheesy and buttery. The trifecta of deliciousness.

They would make a great party appetizer, but I had no party to bring them to. I made these for basically no good reason except that I saw them on Smitten Kitchen and really wanted to try them.

And I am sure glad I did because they are awesome, and really easy to make. The dough is softened butter, cheese, flour, cream/milk, salt, and red pepper flakes. Food process it up, roll out the dough and cut in strips. The whole deal takes no more than a half an hour. They bake up quickly too, about 15-20 minutes.

I was worried at first when I was making these because the raw dough was not very tasty, and they had a mildly unpleasant smell when they were baking. I am not sure why, maybe it was just all that sharp cheese and butter cooking together. One would think that would smell like heaven, but not really. However, when they came out of the oven I tried one immediately, and there was nothing to worry about.

You could make all kinds of variations of these cheese straws. I would love to try different cheeses paired with different fresh herbs or dried spices.

Recipe follows…

Read more »

Vanilla Ice Cream. Pure and Simple. So Good.

I ate it with my favorite ice cream topping - colored sprinkles. I was going to make some of Leslie’s hot fudge, but I may or may not have been too lazy to make it.

As I was taking this picture I started to wish that I had dumped some sprinkles into the ice cream as a mix in, which reminded me of all the TCBY Shivers I used to eat in high school. YUM! I am so doing that next time I make some ice cream.

This is a great custard based ice cream recipe, and only requires a few steps to deliciousness. I steeped one vanilla bean in a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream, then tempered the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks and sugar, and finally let it cook for another minute or so until thickened and registered between 170-180F. I let my mixture chill in the fridge for a good 6 hours before churning it.

The verdict - The vanilla flavor mellowed nicely after a day in the freezer, and the ice cream had a perfect consistency balance of hardness and softness.

Now, what’s a girl to do with a quart of this stuff. Kind of hard to give away at the office, and I hate exercising too much to keep such delicious confections around the house.

This perfect for summertime recipe was chosen for Tuesdays with Dorie by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu You can find the recipe at Lynne’s blog or on page 428-429 of
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Perfection. Some people would be surprised to find out that within a 100 mile radius (or less) of most major cities one can find the absolute highest quality produce and meats, for the best prices around, directly from the farm. The above picture is a testament to the craftsmanship of what a small, local producer is capable of providing: perfection.

Read more »

Well, these oven baked onion rings are a favorite in our house. I have been making them for a while. long before I joined Craving Ellie in My Belly.

They are rings of sweet Vidalia onions, coated in flour, then buttermilk, then crushed baked potato chips. Ellie’s version calls for cayenne pepper, but I like to add other dried herbs as well to spice up the flavor a bit. Though I think the key to making these great is to ensure that you cut your rings nice and thick, this way you get a crunchy outside with a sweet soft onion inside. If you cut them too thin, they will just be brittle overcooked onions.

I have posted about them before, so I am not going to elaborate too much on them here. I will provide the recipe with my flavoring adjustments.

This was a great pick by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen. I hope everyone else enjoyed these as much as we do.

Read more »