Bagels

Posted on February 16, 2012

I love the challenges set for us from Fresh From The Oven. I am baking breads I would never try otherwise. This month was no different with us having to bake bagels! Now, being of Jewish decent, bagels have formed part of my diet for a long time, usually served with cream cheese and lox. These bagels were given similar treatment – we had them with home made gravadlax, smooth cottage cheese and dill with friends for our Sunday afternoon wine tasting session. I also made a special breakfast and served them with scrambled eggs, dusted with chives. I will make these again without a doubt. The machine does all the hard work, they are easy to shape and even the poaching was not difficult. It is the poaching that gives the bagel its ‘hard’ outside texture and they feel quite odd when you take them out of the water. I used caraway seeds on mine as I am not a big fan of sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Use what ever topping you choose, and experiment with what you put in them – I think there are so many possibilities out there. Do take a look at Purely Food’s blogpost for her recipe, and watch out for all the bagels.

BAGELS

makes 7

ingredients:

450g bread flour
7g instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
250mls warm water
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg, beaten
caraway seeds for topping

method:

in a large bowl add the salt to the flour and then the yeast – keep the salt and the yeast separate

stir the oil and the honey into the water

using a stand mixer at a low speed, slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients

knead for 10 minutes

add more flour is the dough is too wet – the dough is stiffer than normal bread dough but will still have elasticity

lightly oil the mixer bowl, return the dough to the bowl and turn to coat in the oil

cover with cling film and put in a warm place until doubled in size

lightly oil two baking trays

remove the dough from the bowl, punch it down to knock the air out and knead briefly

roll in to a sausage shape and divide into 7 pieces – I used my scale and each piece was just over 100g

as you work one, keep the others covered with a clean tea towel

shape the bagels by rolling each piece into a ball, pierce a hole in the centre with your finger, pull the dough open wide by twirling it round your index fingers (wider than you think you need as the hole will shrink when the dough proves, is poached and then baked)

place on the prepared baking tray and repeat with remaining dough

cover and allow to rise for a further 10-20 minutes

preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

fill a large sauce pan with boiling water and return to a simmer

gently place each bagel into the water to poach (do not try to put too many bagels in at once as they will expand slightly)

poach for 90 seconds on each side, turning gently with a slotted spoon

remove the bagels from the water, allowing them to drain first and place on the prepared baking trays spacing them about 3-4cm apart

brush with the egg and sprinkle with the topping

bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases

cool on a wire rack.

BAGELS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Ginger

Posted on February 15, 2012

Native to tropical Asia, ginger is a rhizomatous perennial to about 90cm high, producing many fibrous leaf stalks sheathed in alternating lanceolate leaves. The plump rhizomes, known as ‘hands’ are pale yellow when freshly dug. The yellow flowers, with purple lips and green bracts, are arranged in dense, club like spikes. They are followed by fleshy, three valved capsules. The spring shoots and flower buds of myoga ginger are popular in Japanese cuisine, and cassumar ginger is used in South East Asia.

photograph sourced from Wikipedia

Ginger grows best in rich, moist well drained soil and requires warm temperature to sub tropical conditions. Grow ginger by seed or from rhizome segments, cut so that each segment contains one or two buds. Remember to keep the soil moist.

For fresh culinary use, dig up the rhizomes in late summer or early autumn. If drying, do so about 10 months after planting.

Young ginger is tender and sweet, with a spicy, tangy, warm to hot flavour. Older ginger is stronger, hotter and more fibrous. Japanese ginger is widely used as a sushi condiment. In Asian, Caribbean and African cuisine, ginger is an essential ingredient in curries, stews, soups, salads, pickles, chutneys, marinades, stir fries and meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Fresh ginger’s uses are mostly savoury; crystallized ginger is used in baked goods, or eaten on its own as confectionery, often sugar coated.

Dried ginger is hotter than fresh ginger. Ground dried ginger is used in baking and in commercial spice mixtures. Both ground dried ginger and ginger essential oil are used in commercial food flavouring, while ginger extracts are used in cordials, ginger beer and ginger ale.

If you are going to use essential oil in your kitchen, remember to make sure it is organic! I sell a lovely range of essential oils that I use in my kitchen.

information sourced from The Complete Book of Herbs

Tandy
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Green Bean Pasta

Posted on February 14, 2012

There is something rewarding about being able to go into your garden and forage for dinner. We do not have a vegetable garden as yet. This was on my to do list for the December holidays and I am still hoping to get it done. It really depends on the weather of course. We are in the middle of our heat wave season, and when it is not hot, it is raining. Despite us not having a garden set out, the gardener decided to plant some green beans next to the temporary fence. The fence is there to keep the dogs away from the building site when we have builders at the house. At the moment it is being used constantly, not because we have builders, but because Molly insists on turning the tortoises over onto their backs. This will kill them, so Molly and Patch have been relegated to the small garden and the tortoises have this large space to get lost in. Stanley, our one tortoise has decided the beans are for her. I caught her the other day demolishing a whole plant. So, before she could get to all of them I harvested some green beans for us – and decided to use them straight away in a pasta dish.

GREEN BEAN PASTA

ingredients:

80g green beans, chopped

3 rashers back bacon, sliced

15g butter

10 rosa tomatoes, halved

2 cloves pickled garlic, sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1 tablespoon white wine

2 tablespoons cream

method:

put the pasta water on to boil

blanch the beans and set aside

now start cooking your pasta

fry the bacon in a large frying pan until crispy

deglaze the pan with the butter

add the tomatoes, the garlic and the beans

season to taste

add the wine and the cream

toss the pasta through the sauce

GREEN BEAN PASTA PRINTABLE VERSION

I am submitting this recipe to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Jamie of Cookin’ With Moxie

Tandy

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A Review Of An Evening With Rawlicious

Posted on February 13, 2012

Let me start by making myself very clear, and if you read my blog you will know this. I think bacon is a condiment, I believe everything in moderation is good for you, and I LOVE chocolate. But, I am sucrose intolerant, and this means sourcing sucrose free sweet things to indulge in. Peter from Rawlicious follows a completely raw diet, but enthused that it is not how much raw food we eat – it can be 5%, 55% or 95%, but that the aim is to eat well. Diet is not a word we should be using.

Beverley from Media Spot invited Dave and I to an evening with Rawlicious, at Art in the Forest. We were greeted with a frappuccino made with cashew nut butter, cacao, foti powder and honey – I should have stuck to one as suggested as the second one, right before we left, had me buzzing all night. Cacao really is a ‘buzz’ superfood. I think a glass of water would have served me better, but I could not resist a second glass.

The evening was all about raw chocolate – perfect for me! A sugar free indulgence that not only tastes good but that is healthy for you. Cacao, known as the food of the gods, when ground is better known as chocolate. And by chocolate, I do not mean the sickly sweet stuff you can buy in the shops. I am talking about chocolate as some of you may better know as the stuff made famous by Willie Harcourt-Cooze. This chocolate cannot be synthesized or recreated in a factory. This chocolate is a purple nut, full of antioxidants. And like the part of the body it resembles, it is a brain food.

This complex food is full of magnesium and iron. The phenethylamine, anandamide, tryptophan, theobromine and MAO inhibitors in it make it a natural anti depressant. Just eating 4 cacao nibs a day can lift you up! I had a few more than 4 to sample, along with a wide array of fresh fruit, melted chocolate and divine treats and my mood was elevated. I think the great colours helped too, along with the fresh vegetables and the wonderful atmosphere. This is all about treating your body and I cannot wait to experiment more with raw chocolate – the high energy body response is so worth it.

ps for a raw food diet, the temperature food is exposed to should not be more than 47°C / 116°F

Tandy

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Friday’s Food Quiz Number 9

Posted on February 11, 2012

1. Why does butter stay fresher for longer than milk?

the solids in butter keep it fresher

2. Are refried beans fried twice?

no, they are soaked first (stewed) and then fried

3. What is baking powder made of?

baking soda, Sodium Bicarbonate, cornstarch

4. What is Italian cottage cheese called?

Ricotta

5. How are truffles detected?

Smelled out by boars/pigs

6. What are latkes?

potato pancakes (traditionally eaten on Hannuka with Lox)

7. What is the difference between fennel and anise?

in culinary terms, you can use the bulb (yummy with radish as a salad) the leaves (good with fish) and the seeds (for masala) Fennel seeds have an anise flavour. Fennel seeds are larger than anise seeds. Anise seeds have a licourice flavour.

8. What ingredient gives pumpernickel bread its dark colour?

if it were an ingredient it would be the rye berries. but the slow baking process is what gives it the dark colour.

9. Why must you avoid over mixing the dough when making biscuits?

the biscuits will spread and become flat and too chewy

10. Which herb is most often used to flavour a tomato-based sauce on a pizza?

oreganum or marjoram (of which I have an abundance of in my garden)

11. From where do apricots originate?

India

12. What is a whitewash?

(my main business is Hardware, so I assume you don’t mean the painting technique!) using milk instead of egg to make pastry go a lovely golden brown

13. How is Italian meringue made?

the sugar is heated to boiling point and the sugar syrup is used instead of caster sugar with the egg whites

14. Which pepper is also known as anise pepper?

Sishuan Pepper

15. The greenish substance found when opening a lobster is referred to as tomalley. What organ is this?

the liver and the pancreas

Tandy
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Presto Pasta Nights

Posted on February 10, 2012

I started this week worried that my recipe would be the only one!

but slowly the emails started arriving. The first one is from Gay, A Scientist In The Kitchen and she has delighted me with Broccoli and Woonsen Stirfry.

brocolli-and-woonsen

the next recipe to pop into my inbox is from An Escape To Food – the recipe for Udon in Tomato-Beans Broth is a pantry / freezer explosion of taste.

Shelby, who is better known as HoneyB who blogs at The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch has made this awesome Thai Peanut & Chicken Noodles (her words!) and after reading the post, I have to agree!

The last submission this week is from Joanne, who Eats Well With Others. Her Spaghetti in Tomato-Apple Sauce shows that fruit in all forms is great with pasta.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this week’s Presto Pasta Nights.

Tandy
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Mint Sauce

Posted on February 10, 2012

We were given 4 beautiful lamb chops which came from the Karoo. The Karoo is a desert region of South Africa where lamb are bred. They are supposed to be excellent as the lamb have to walk far and wide to forage for their food. Our friend Alex had been up there for a shooting of a movie and had come back with a freezer full of chops. Dave decided to light a braai (barbecue) and use one of the gifts I gave him for our wedding anniversary. I decided that if Dave was going to braai lamb, I was going to make mint sauce. In my mind, this is one of the easiest sauces to make – and nothing beats home made in my opinion. It will keep, so when your garden mint is abundant do make some and then you will have it in your fridge for the long cold winter, when cooked lamb and mint sauce will go down a treat.