Author: alisahuntsman

this year’s baking of the bread, joan’s irish soda bread

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can you believe it is that time again?  well it is, and i did it again.  every year on or around st. patrick’s day, i make a loaf (or two) of my aunt joan’s irish soda bread.  this year was no different except that i took it out to the garden to share it with my volunteers.  since i have posted the recipe before, here is the link.  my request, bake a loaf and make a promise-help keep the roads safe, don’t drink and drive and please, stop someone who has been drinking from driving.  stay safe my friends.

dinner for two: barley risotto and roasted brussel sprouts

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my quest for a lower cholesterol level continues.  over the last year, i have taken to preparing vegan dinners several times a week.  generally, i make sure that there are leftovers as well so i can also get a lunch or two out of them.  luckily, there are so many good books and websites out there to guide me.  and before you think that vegan cooking is simply utilizing meat substitutes, think again.  sure that is a reasonable line of thinking but truth be told, there are so many options that never include meat (or any animal products) to begin with.  besides, many of those simulated meat and dairy products are highly processed and that makes them a little less appealing to me.
in the past, i have mentioned my tendency to shop in thrift stores.  one of my other favorite haunts is mckay’s books.  if you live in nashville (as well as knoxville and chattanooga), then you are familiar with the place.  in short, mckay’s is one of the largest used book stores around.  and by large, i mean large. my husband and i will go there and easily spend an hour or more perusing just a few of the shelves.  the prices are very reasonable and the selection ranges from vintage to new with all of the bases are covered.  while scanning the shelves, i have found books on just about any type of cooking or baking.  just don’t expect to find everything all of the time.  repeat visits are necessary if you are really looking for a specific book or type of book.  
it took me several visits, but i managed to find two of the vegan books i wanted and one of the best scores ever, a $2 copy of how to cook everything by mark bittman.  while this book is not the least bit vegan, many of the recipes can be easily adapted if necessary.  while rummaging through the cupboards in search of an easy dinner, i came across a jar of barley.  my first thought was of a risotto made of barley and sure enough, bittman delivered in the form of a simple and fool proof recipe.  

just like with arborio rice, the barley is slowly cooked in a saute pan with mushrooms, onions and herbs.  stock is added, bit by bit, to produce a creamy and pleasing texture that is not clumpy or heavy. the recipe can be made with any kind of stock but the best part is that it does not call for cheese so there was no need for me to use a vegan cheese substitute.  the mushrooms, onions and herbs as well as some white wine, provided plenty of flavor.

and since a meal of barley seems a little lacking, i roasted up a bunch of brussel sprouts using a recipe for roasted cauliflower steaks.  it was simple; mix up the spiced oil blend and rather than brushing it onto thick slabs of cauliflower, then simply coat the brussel sprouts with the oil.  they cook quickly and i only had to turn them over once, in short, an easy dish to prepare since the risotto required some attention.

barley risotto and roasted brussel sprouts
serves 2
barley risotto adapted from how to cook everything by mark bittman
3 cups hot vegetable broth, approximately-more may be needed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced mushrooms-any kind 
1/2 cup pearled barley, rinsed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper to tast
1/4 cup dry white wine
keep the stock over low heat so that it remains hot.  heat the olive oil in a saute pan or skillet over medium-low heat and saute the onions until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.  add the mushrooms and saute until they are soft and have given up their juices, about another 5 minutes.  add the barley and stir until glossy, about 1 minute.  add the herbs, salt, pepper and the wine and turn the heat up to medium high and let the wine reduce until it is almost gone.  reduce the heat to medium-low again and begin adding the broth, 1/2 cup at a time. stir frequently until the liquid is almost evaporated but do not let it dry out or it may scorch.  continue adding the broth as needed until the barley is tender, at least another 30 minutes.  serve immediately.
roasted brussel sprouts adapted from the roasted cauliflower recipe on gluten free fix
1 pound fresh brussel sprouts, raw
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon paprika
freshly cracked black pepper
preheat the oven to 400.  cut the brussel sprouts in half.  mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl.  toss the sprouts in the oil mixture and spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet that is lined with paper.  roast until caramelized on the outside, about 20 minutes.

cinnamon swirl coffeecake

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as always, when i head out to the demonstration garden, i go with a cake in hand to share with my fellow volunteers.  a simple vanilla cake with a ribbon of cinnamon sugar, nuts and chocolate chips is a pretty typical choice.

to make it look pretty, first choose an interesting pan.  i have many tube pans in my collection and some are plain while others like the one i used, have patterns.

cinnamon swirl coffeecake
1 (12 cup) cake serving 12 to 16
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar (or 1/3 cup sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
preheat the oven to 350.  grease and flour the cake pan and set aside.  place the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla into the bowl of a food processor.  pulse to combine.  add the eggs, one at a time and pulse to combine.  scrape the mixture into a large mixing bowl.  place the flour and the baking powder into a sifter or a mesh strainer and sift it over the batter in the bowl.  fold the batter a few times, add the buttermilk and mix until no streaks remain.  carefully spoon 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.  sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over the batter and then top it off with half of the chocolate chips and nuts.  carefully top this with half of the remaining batter and carefully spread it into an even layer.  sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and nuts over the batter and then top it off with the remaining cake batter.  spread the top of the batter so that it is even and touches the sides and middle core of the pan.  bake until a pick inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.  allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert it onto a rack to cool completely.  when the cake is cool, sift a little powdered sugar over the top.  cut with a serrated knife.  leftovers, if there are any, will freeze nicely.  just wrap slices well and freeze for a month or two.  to defrost, let the slices sit out at room temperature with the plastic still on them.

this is how i roll; croissants, anyone?

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 so, if it is tuesday, it is time to bake with julia, right?  oh, that’s right, it’s wednesday and i am a day behind.  such is life, my life, a day late and a dollar short.  whatever.  luckily for me, this week’s challenge was one that i was really excited about.  back in the day, i made croissants daily.  but back then, i did it with a dough sheeter, not a rolling pin.  this was going to be a bit of a challenge after all.

if you aren’t already familiar with the tuesdays with dorie group, we are a bunch of bakers working our way through the book, baking with julia.  for the recipe to this week’s challenge, visit the page of this weeks host, amanda of girl + food = love.  if you would like to see how the rest of the group did, check out the tuesdays with dorie page.

before we get started, let me share a few of my observations, opinions and what nots.  first of all, i only followed the instructions for assembling the dough and making the folds.  and if you ask me, the directions were not always easy to follow.  and judging by some of the other bakers results, i was not the only one who had this issue.  needless to say, i did not always do as instructed by the recipe.

 every month, i attend a potluck dinner with my fellow master gardeners and i decided to make the croissants my contribution.  in order to share them with everyone, i made mini croissants.  i rolled the dough out to the required 15″x24″ and cut it into 3 (5″) strips.  i marked the strips every 3 inches on one long side.  to get triangles, starting at the other long edge, i marked it 1.5″in from the edge and then again every 3″ across.  using a rotary cutter, i cut the dough by going from bottom to top and back down to the bottom-connecting the cuts to make triangles.   i did this with the other strips as well.

 to shape them, i carefully stretched the dough and rolled them up.  as i placed them on the pans, i curved the edges in a little.   here is another way i departed from the instructions, i bagged the trays and put them in the fridge to rise slowly overnight rather than using the oven to proof them (more on that in a moment).

 so easy to do

 perfectly proofed.  now, about the rising time.  i noticed on a couple of the bakers blogs that their croissants melted.  my guess is that the instructions were not clear.  the contributing baker suggested rising them in an oven that was turned off.  that gives the impression that at some point, the oven was turned on and heated then turned off.  what she should have said was an unheated oven or a cold oven with a pilot light or an oven light turned on.  a heated oven would cause all of the butter to melt out and the croissants would collapse in a puddle.

 how do you know if you proofed them long enough, they should be more than double in size but still slightly firm to the touch.  left-proofed, right-not proofed.

 perfectly bronzed, and crispy and flaky

look at the lovely interior.  a little chewy and a little flaky-tasty any way you look at it!  thanks for hosting amanda.  and one more note, these are for you grandma, something tells me that you would have enjoyed them…

valentine’s day at the beard house

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it has only taken a week but i think i may have finally caught my breath and gotten some sleep.  after a 17 hour bus ride up, two jam packed-action filled days and another 17 hour bus ride home, i can truly say i have had a real career moment!  at times, it was a little overwhelming-to just think about where i was and who else had been there.  at others, it was just plain fun; we were so well prepared that everything went off without a single hiccup.  however, since i was a little busy, i didn’t take many photos-but i have a link to lots of them at the bottom of this post.  these are a few of the photos i took.

the front door to the house doesn’t look like much, i expected something a little grander.  perhaps some stairs leading up to the door.  but in the end, this made loading in a whole lot easier.

 the kitchen, this is the backside of the pass.
 the view into the kitchen from the far side of the pass.

 the line.  it should really be called the tunnel-as short and thin as i am, i felt a little large in this space.

 red velvet cheesecake brownies.  as a parting gift for all of the guests, i baked up 4 pans (see them lined up on the pass in the photo above?).  need the recipe?  click here.

we were unbelievably lucky; our event was on 2/14 and there were not any events scheduled on the day before.  we were allowed to load in and prep the day before.  that meant we were not as rushed and had a little time to wander the area.  when we finished prepping on 2/13, a few of us hit the streets and headed to chelsea market on foot.

 like moths, we were drawn to the light…

i do not envy the person who had to attach all of those little lights.
we pigged out on gelato and sorbetto

 then we headed up to the high line for a nap.

 the old rail line that was converted into the high line park
 love the way the building is staddling the raised railway, as if it is stepping over it
 14th street-the meat packing district

 it always amazes me that the roads are still cobbled in some of the neighborhoods of manhattan.

the uneven sizes and angles of the glass on this building made wonderful reflections.  i could have spent hours photographing the building and the reflections.  we headed back to the house so that we could go to dinner as a group.

after a lovely dinner at mc cormick and schmicks, we walked to times square.  having grown up in new jersey and spending many, many days and nights as well as working in new york city, i must say that times square at night is always impressive.  a little overwhelming but always an adventure.

 and then it was time to head back to the hotel-we had a busy day in front of us…

to see tons more pictures of all the food and the beard house, follow this link.  and congratulations to tara(in the photo above)-she travelled with us and took all of the photos on the cafe’s website.  didn’t she do a great job?

macarons: how to relax and reload…

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if you live in nashville, then you know where i have been.  last week, a few of my coworkers and i made a 17 hour bus trip to new york city to prepare a special valentine’s day dinner at the james beard house.  don’t worry, at some point this week, i will post pictures and links to all of the clips and coverage.  but after a three day whirlwind trip and another 17 hour bus ride home, i needed to recharge and reload.  and since more than a couple hours of sleep was not an option, i decided to do what comes naturally-bake cookies.

 in december, i participated in a book release event for the bouchon bakery book.  and on friday morning, in a half hungover-half adrenaline overloaded state, i went for a walk on the streets of new york city.  in my wanderings, i passed bouchon bakery and then later in the day, found myself on the bus watching my coworkers sample macarons from bouchon.  so many pretty colors and enticing flavors.  it dawned on me that i had never tried making that type of macaron.  i had to reconcile that…

 well it was close to valentine’s day
 my technique needs work…

 i need to get some red color-fuschia didn’t cut it, they look like i flavored them with pepto bismal…

all filled and ready for a close-up.  i plan to make these again.  this time, i used the recipe from the bouchon bakery book.  the recipe is out there on the internet but as a cookbook author, i suggest you buy the book or at least borrow it from a library or friend.  and if not, i found it on the making of a foodie blog, but beware, sebastien rouxel works his recipes in grams and ounce conversions are tricky so your best bet is to work from his recipe in the book using the gram amounts rather than the ounce conversions on the blog page i linked to.  good luck and may the force be with you…now, i’m off to catch up on some sleep.

sundried tomato focaccia

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 when it comes to simple and easy bread, focaccia is the only one you need to make.  you can slice it into strips and serve it with a salad, cut squares and stuff them for sandwiches or you can simply eat pieces of it.  there isn’t any intricate shaping or special pan required; just your finger tips will do.  the best part, the dough is so forgiving that mistakes are hard to see.  even better is the fact that you can add just about anything to the dough and still get a good result.

this weeks recipe from baking with julia is the focaccia featured on page 143 and is hosted by sharmini of wandering through.  be sure to visit her page to see the recipe or better yet, pick up a copy of baking with julia-it is worth every bit of space on the shelf.  to see what the other 100 or so bakers have come up with, visit the tuesdays with dorie page.

a few notes to share.  since there is just two of us in the house, i cut the recipe in half and made two small squares.  while the recipe called for a 24-36 hour rest in the fridge, my life could only accomodate about 16-18 hour period.  that is probably why i did not get all of the little bubbles on the surface.  maybe next time, or maybe not.  the bread was nice and light; the shorter resting did not seem to be a huge issue.  since i was pressed for time, i didn’t bother with the fresh herbs and just sprinkled a little sea salt on top of each loaf.

 my sundried tomatoes came packed in olive oil.  to add even more flavor to the bread, i used some of that oil in the bread too.  it gave it a nice tomato orange shade.

the window pane test for gluten development.  if you can stretch it out to a transparent window without tearing, it is ready.

shaped and waiting to be baked

 after a light brush of olive oil, this loaf of bread is waiting its turn in the oven.
  
 fresh from the oven.  

be sure to check out the tuesdays with dorie page and bake along with us sometime!

that next big thing…

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some people have jobs, some have careers.  some work because they have to and others work because they cannot imagine not working; it’s more of a “calling” than a job.  for those of us who have careers and callings, we are lucky to also find ourselves in love with what we do.  our lives become punctuated by big moments and accomplishments that more often than not, include our professional occupations.

in the restaurant world, there are few things to dream of.  the work is hard, it is stressful and physically demanding.  most of us do not get many benefits and quite often the pay scale isn’t very rewarding either-especially if you are a woman.  even so, we get up at odd hours and work our asses off even when we are sick or have cut/burned/bashed ourselves to a point that would make others cry and give up.  in the back of our minds, we dream of the day that…i know, it’s no different than any other career path but in our profession, at least the food is good.

so where am i going with this?  after 30 years of busting my ass, after countless burns and bruises and cuts, after writing 2 books, and on and on i could go, i finally found myself facing what could be considered a dream come true.  a bonafide career defining moment.  an honor so great that it is one that i simply cannot put into words so that it sounds like anything less than bragging.  so instead, i bring you pictures.

it all starts with a simple sweet potato
 and potato chips
 onions tossed in seasoned flour by hand

crispy fried onions
 the start of a casserole
 tomme cheese made with milk from a cow named eileen
(honestly, i’m not making that up, her name really is eileen)

 carrots mashed by hand
 our own smoked pork loin
 chicken breaded and fried 
 freshly fried chicken made from our secret recipe
 squash ready for the casserole

 profiteroles awaiting their filling
bittersweet chocolate
 freshly shaved

can you feel the love?

as we worked in the kitchen, the tables were set.  it’s almost showtime!  the tension builds and we are ready.  this is just a dress rehearsal, but we took it every bit as seriously as we will in two weeks.  we are headed to the big city, about 900 miles northeast of nashville.  yes, that big city, the big apple.  we’re packing up our recipes and our knife kits and heading to manhattan.  we’ve been invited to throw a little dinner party for valentine’s day.  you won’t find us in a restaurant or hotel kitchen.  this isn’t a pop-up dinner and there won’t be any tents.  we will be taking over a house in the village-greenwich village to be exact.  and whose house is it, does it even matter?  yeah it does, it belonged to a man named james beard-ever heard of him?

and all tongue and cheek aside, none of the attitude or arrogance, i am honored to have this chance and even with all of the preparation we have done, a little nervous too.  the james beard foundation put a nice bit up about us on their website, and we have even more up on cafe website.  our local paper covered the rehearsal dinner and here is what they had to say about it.  wish us luck, and stay tuned for more photos.

gingerbread beer bundt cake; a winner!

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it’s a winner alright.  like everyone else, i love a good contest.  especially when i know i have the winning recipe.  isn’t it funny how that winning recipe never wins anything?  maybe not so funny, but it doesn’t stop me from trying.  and try i did when food52.com ran a best recipe with beer contest this month.  i knew i had the winning entry-who else would bake a cake with beer?  apparently, several entrants had the same idea.  but in the end, mine was the winner.  honestly, mind=blown.  one of the perks of the win, my cake got a glamour shot and a slide show which you can view on food52.com.

one of my favorite ingredients goes into this cake; sorghum.  for those in the know, they understand why.  it is all the flavor of molasses without any of the bitter or the black color.  the syrup pressed from fresh sorghum canes is cooked slowly to reduce, clarify and concentrate the sugar as well as the flavor.   it is also a less refined product and is frequently made in amish and mennonite communities which can make it hard to find.  unless you live in the south, it is still pretty common here and we don’t have to look very hard to find it.  try looking in amish or mennonite stores, farmer’s markets or if you are lucky, the whole foods supermarket near you may carry it-they do in nashville.  
the syrup starts out as a bright green juice but by the time it is cooked, it is a rich amber shade.  it is never so dark that light cannot shine through it.  so my apologies to the folks at food52.com-that looks a lot like molasses in your photos!  looks like i am going to have to send you some southern love in the form of sorghum.

with my large collection of bundt pans, the hard part was choosing one.  

 spice cake with mustard, dos perros pale ale, chocolate glaze; nothing else needed exept a fork…
 the marbleized interior of the cake

for the complete recipe, visit food52.com.  

so many bakeries, so little time

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when i visit new places, or even areas that i have been to before, i always look for bakeries.  big surprise isn’t it?  not really if you know me-baking is what i do.  it always interests me to see the trends in other cities.  
atlanta is such a diverse “food” city.   if you take a good look in the showcases of bakeries all over the city, there won’t be any shortage of well done sweets and pastries.  in my last post about atlanta, i featured the korean treasure, white windmill bakery and the award winning sublime donuts.  on that same trip, i ventured into some other bakeries around the city.
breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?  for me, that first cup of coffee is what is most important.  pair it with a muffin and i am as happy as i can be.  my daughter and i walked to highland bakery from her midtown apartment and indulged ourselves with coffee and muffins.

on another morning, we found ourselves over in northwest atlanta at henri’s bakery.  
 here we indulged ourselves in doughnuts and rugelach as well as coffee.
but no bakery tour of atlanta is complete without a trip to a cupcake shop.

we went to camicakes.  they were every bit as tasty as they look.  next time, i am walking to atlanta so that there is not a bit of guilt when i eat twice my weight in cakes and cookies and pastries and donuts and bread and…now, to put in that request for time off so i can go back-sweetie are you ready?  your mother is coming back to visit!