January 2010 – The Kitchen Illiterate

Homemade Bagels

A few months ago I decided to try to bake my way through Peter Reinhardt’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I am far from the first person to try this, and I’m willing to bet I’m not the first person who got hung up only a few recipes in by the bagels. They seemed so…daunting. People get really intense about bagels. There are long-standing arguments about what kinds of bagels are the best, and how to cook them so they are more authentic, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to jump into the fray. But last weekend, I finally decided enough was enough. And I discovered that bagels are actually pretty easy, and unlike my English muffin experience of a few weeks ago, they turned out awesome. Sure, maybe a real New Yorker would shun my bagels, but out here in Walla Walla, where beggars perhaps cannot be choosers, I am awfully glad to have this recipe in my arsenal.
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Pain de campagne

I usually try to make my weekly loaf of bread pretty simple. I will occasionally splurge on something like Greek Celebration Bread or Peanut Butter Bread, but usually, it’s just flour, water, salt, and yeast. Lately, though, I’ve been getting a little bored, and the shiny new mixer has been prompting me to experiment with some new recipes. I have about forty-seven bread cookbooks, so those recipes certainly aren’t hard to come by, but I have to tell you, I’ve already discovered a new favorite. And who knew all it took to make me swoon, bread-wise, was a little butter?
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Spicy Spaghetti with Fennel

From the moment I saw this recipe in January’s issue of Bon Appetit it went on my list. I don’t usually eat a lot of fennel. It doesn’t occur to me to pick it up. But the photo was so alluring, and I’m a sucker for a big ol’ bowl of pasta. It sounded different from my normal cream-heavy pasta dishes, so I had to try it. And wowza, it was amazing. A touch of thick-cut bacon, fennel braised long enough to become silky and rich, and just enough spice to keep things interesting, and I was hooked. You probably will be, too.
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Barley, Pumpkin, and Swiss Chard Salad

I’m not quite sure that it’s right to call this a salad. Maybe it’s a pilaf? It’s warm, and full of vegetables and nuts and grains. It’s a hodgepodge of flavors and textures. It’s finished off with a quick drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. And it’s really good. I love it when something so full of healthiness is also full of yum.
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Black-Eyed Pea and Peanut Soup

It’s true, I really do cook and eat a lot of soup. And unfortunately, all soups tend to look the same, which doesn’t make for fun food photography. Fortunately, they don’t all taste the same, and this one in particular is a pretty keen flavor sensation. What started out as a basic greens and beans soup was transformed at the last minute into something much richer and more interesting by the addition of a little spice and a little peanut butter. It almost reminds me a Thai curry flavor, but is much more basic and simple than that. And no less delicious for it. And to think, I probably would never have thought of it if I hadn’t had so many leftover black-eyed peas in the refrigerator.
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Bacon and Aged Gouda Scones

Update! Doh, I forgot that I added mustard powder to the recipe, as well. Subtle, but a nice touch.

I woke up last Saturday morning several hours later than my usual rising time with a serious hunger. Unfortunately, we had no bread in the house, and I don’t consider breakfast at all satisfying without bread. So I turned to Mr. X and asked, “Should I bake English muffins or scones for breakfast?” And he did the only thing he could do: He laughed at me. My Saturday morning proposal pretty much encapsulates me at my most ridiculous: Rather than settling for a sub-par breakfast, I will gladly satiate my hunger pangs temporarily with a small handful of chips while I embark on an elaborate cooking project.

As you can see, I decided on the scones. And these aren’t just any scones. These are light, flaky scones made with thick cut bacon and aged Gouda cheese. And they were totally worth the wait.
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Laura’s Mike’s Mess

My first year of college I wasn’t quite ready to leave the comforting embrace of my small hippie college town. Unfortunately, I found it a little bit tricky to find a job in that town. I graduated during the last serious plunge in the employment rate, in 2001, and it was not a good time to be a newly graduated Lit major, I can tell you that. I ended up working in various coffee shops and restaurants before I finally landed that first desk job, and while I was certainly extremely poor and had to defer payment of my student loans for too, too long, I wouldn’t exchange the experience for anything. I met great people, I had a lot of fun, learned to carry multiple cups of coffee at once, and I discovered what remains to this day my favorite breakfast: The Mike’s Mess from Zachary’s, in Santa Cruz, California. This year, I decided I need to try to make it myself.
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Happy New Year Hoppin’ John

When I first moved to Boston I lived with a girl from Texas. She was the first Texan I knew and from her I learned that Texans are a bit unlike the rest of us. There are things about living in Texas that you just don’t get anywhere else, and Texas food is a big part of growing up Texan. There were special brands of beans in the cupboards of the house I shared with her, and jars of bacon drippings in the refrigerator, and spice blends I’d never heard of. And on New Years day, she made a big pot of black eyed peas and rice and collard greens. She called it Hoppin’ John and told me that it is very important to eat Hoppin’ John on New Years day, for luck.

I never got a recipe from her, and when I decided to make Hoppin’ John this New Years day, thinking that perhaps I need all the luck I can get, I found a pretty wide disparity in recipes online. So I decided to go ahead and make my own. It is, after all, really the black eyed peas that matter here. Eating black eyed peas for luck is a tradition that might date back as far as 500 CE. Much like lentils in Italy, the peas are meant to be symbolic of coins, and eating them should bring prosperity in the coming year. So I’m eating black eyed peas and hoping for a little more prosperity for all of us.
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