Here’s what I did…

+/- 3C Bread Flour (Must be Bread Flour)
1-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
1-1/3 C cool water (55º-65ºf) Winter tap is prob. 45º (I used cider that was semi-hardened in the fridge- don’t use anything that has potassium sorbate or you’ll kill the yeast.) I also nuked it for 45 seconds to warm it a bit.

Whole wheat bran, flour or something else for dusting.

1/4 lb or less of small slices of parmesan Cheese
1 head of roasted garlic- this I cheated on and bought from Wegmans olive bar- if you need to rast it yourself- peel all the cloves from a head of garlic and roast them in the oven at around 300º after tossing them in a bit of olive oil, enough to coat them. DO NOT LET THEM GET DARK!

Mix water with yeast, stir, add salt, add flour, it should be fairly wet so i mixes well, but not so it puddles or smears in the bowl…(mix it quickly with a wooden spoon in a ceramic, glass or plastic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and forget it for a day and a half or more- (start it at night, say 10pm- then the next evening, you’re ready for stage 2)

Turn out onto a floured surface and quickly fold 1-2 times- adding the cheese and garlic on one side, then fold and add more on the remaining half and fold and immediately shape into a ball. Place it on a liberally dusted kitchen towel (NOT TERRY) with the seam side down, like linen or smooth cotton. COver ball with more bran dust or whatever you choose and cover with another towel. Let sit to rise again for 2-4 hrs.
1/2 hr before the bread is ready to bake- preheat oven and a cast iron covered dutch oven or ceramic casserole with lid to 475º. Carefully and quickly flop the dough into the cast iron pot, shake it a bit to settle it and cover, bake for 1/2 hr. uncover and go another 5-15 mins based on color. Let cool for 1/2 hr. (This is a must). Enjoy!

An amazingly chewy Irish Wholemeal with Homemade Cider

No Knead Bread?

Yes. And you may never make bread any other way again. I may not buy bread ever again. This was the easiest thing I have ever cooked in my life by far. The secret? Don’t mess with it. This is the NYTimes reviewed bread found at the well known Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City. I followed the mother recipe in My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method, it was simple and the only thing you need to know is, it should be wetter than any other bread you’ve tried to make. Never Baked bread before? If you have a covered Ceramic casserole, a Creuset and emile henry covereed baking dish or any other glazed cast iron or ceramic dish- you’re ready to go. The one thing this recipe calls for that’s different than most conventional breads (minus sourdoughs) is about 18 hours of initial rise time and 2-4 hours of secondary rise time. I just started my second loaf at around 6 pm, which should make it workable by noon- but I can wait til 5 if I need to. Follow the instructions in the NYTimes article or buy the book. I know you’re thinking, well so what if Garrison thinks it’s easy, he can cook. Trust me, try it.

Here’s what I did…

+/- 3C Bread Flour (Must be Bread Flour)
1-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
1-1/3 C cool water (55º-65ºf) Winter tap is prob. 45º (I used cider that was semi-hardened in the fridge- don’t use anything that has potassium sorbate or you’ll kill the yeast.)

Whole wheat bran, flour or something else for dusting.

Mix water with yeast, stir, add salt, add flour, it should be fairly wet so i mixes well, but not so it puddles or smears in the bowl…(mix it quickly with a wooden spoon in a ceramic, glass or plastic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and forget it for a day and a half or more- (start it at night, say 10pm- then the next evening, you’re ready for stage 2)

Turn out onto a floured surface and quickly fold 1-2 times and immediately shape into a ball (it’s gonna be soft). Place it on a liberally dusted kitchen towel (NOT TERRY), like linen or smooth cotton. COver ball with more bran dust or whatever you choose and cover with another towel. Let sit to rise again for 2-4 hrs.
1/2 hr before the bread is ready to bake- preheat oven and a cast iron covered dutch oven or ceramic casserole with lid to 475º. Carefully and quickly flop the dough into the cast iron pot, shake it a bit to settle it and cover, bake for 1/2 hr. uncover and go another 5-15 mins based on color. Let cool for 1/2 hr. (This is a must). Enjoy!

Mediterranean Influenced Seafood Stew
My Cousin Hope and I came up with this dish last week and it’s a delicious one! The battle between ginger and tomatoes was won by the tomato.

Ready? Read on for more juicy details

You’ll need a large saute pan for this dish, or a wok.

1 lb of pasta, either Gigli, Campanelle, Cappelletti, or Cavatelli.
1 lb of scallops (I prefer the larger dry scallops- they are not pumped with water when frozen, ask your fish monger.)
1 lb of king salmon or steelhead trout (if you’ve never had steelhead and your local fish monger has some on hand, take it)
1 ugly tomato cubed (less seeds and water in these beauties, more meat for the buck)
Sugar Snap Peas (our grocer packs them onto small trays- a little more than a fat handful)
1 shallot, sliced (larger one, otherwise use 2)
1 clove of garlic, mashed (with the side of your chef’s knife, don’t have one? Check out the great selection of Chef’s Knives at Amazon)
a pinch of Saffron (1/4 gram is probably fine)
1 cup of white wine (Sauvignon Blanc, or a Spanish or Portuguese white)
1/4 cup of Peanut oil with 1-2 TB of butter added
Pan Searing Flour (this is easily made with salt and white pepper which is only used to keep the color consistant- feel free to use black)
A few slivers of Preserved Lemon diced (use only the peel and rinse before use)

Blanch for 1 minute or steam the sugar snap peas and set aside (they should have some crunch to them)

Prepare water for pasta. Begin the pasta once you have started browning the seafood.

Nuke the white wine with the saffron in it for 1-2 minutes

Slice the fish into stew sized cubes and set aside.
Pat the scallops dry with paper towels and dredge them in a bowl of pan searing flour (if you don’t have any of this pre-made flour, simply season the scallops with salt and pepper and then dredge in flour)
Dredge the fish in the same dish, adding more flour if needed.

prepare a large pan by preheating over medium-high (every stove is different) for a few minutes and add  the oil and butter. The oil should be almost smoking- if it’s smoking, your too hot, turn it down.

Add the shallots to the oil and saute for 1-3 minutes, (adding the garlic after the first minute) or until they begin to turn color (do not let them brown much)
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Now add the scallops, sauteing them for 3-4 minutes on both side or until brown- (do not crowd the scallops or they will not brown, so do them in batches if you need to, I did mine in 2 batches) Scrape any excess flour crunchies out of the pan (if using steel or cast iron) to keep them from burning (these taste great).

Follow by sauteing the fish in the same oil, which by now will be disappearing- add a little extra oil if needed. Remove from oil when browned on two sides. Turn heat down a bit.

Now add the  white wine and saffron to the pan and simmer the pieces of cured lemon peel for 1 minute, followed by the tomato cubes.
Cook the tomato cubes until the skin begins to curl, then add back the onions, garlic, seafood, and sugar snap peas. Turn the heat up to medium-high and cooked covered for 1 minute to warm ingredients)

Serve immediately over pasta!

Better than your Mom’s Pulled Pork!
I made this up this week after we made the (First) recipe you see below.
The Louisiana / Hawaiiana style marinade is amazing.

First: Read the whole thing before you start!

Heat Oven to 350º
3 lb. Boneless Pork Roast (not tenderloin)
3 cloves Garlic (pressed/crushed)
2 tb Olive Oil & 2 Tb Bacon Fat (cooled)
2 Tb Flour W/ S&P to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp of each)

Rub Pork with Oil & Fat & Garlic then coat with Flour/S&P mixture
Plase in pan with 1 C water &
Roast at 350 for 2 hours or until browned-

Second:

1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 C Soy Soauce
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp Minced Ginger
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 C Chicken Stock (Low Sod.)
1 C water
Combine & Roast (P) in Marinade for 2 hours Covered.
Turn it 1/2 way through.
Remove from oven & check with fork- if it pulls easily you’re done. If not return for 20 min. increments until done.

Add 2-3 TB of regular or Amore Sundried Tomato Paste – 2.8 oz tube

Shred with fork and mix with remaining liquid (add a little water if needed)
Serve on your fav. Crusty Bread!

Garrison Gunter Couch

—Heather Darcy, Curator

ArtCat – Chelsea – Sara Meltzer Gallery – Prequel

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