#661 Baked Garlic Anyone?

Today was the day to get together with Ted and Priscilla again. Ted has had a desire to learn how to roast garlic. Apparently he has had a garlic roasting dish for some time and has not been ready to use it. Well, today was the day. As you might remember from the Boeuf Bourguignonne posting, we like to get together and cook things. The fellowship, wine and food make for a marvelous time. Today was no exception as you can see.

The photo on the left is the preparation prior baking. The photo on the right is the test to see if the garlic bulbs are ready for consumption. They are.

Don't they look delicious? We had warm multi-grain bread on which we spread some cream cheese and then the garlic.













As you can see there is not much left. We also had some cheese and crackers. Ted and I had a little ice cream with chocolate syrup. He does whip up a tasty sundae.

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#659 Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The other day you learned about Pepperoni Pizza bread. I mentioned then that it made great grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, here is the evidence of how the sandwich is made. We really did enjoy them for lunch today.






















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#658 Peppperoni Pizza Loaf

It's that time of year again. We currently have about 1.5 inches of snow on the ground with a promise of a few more inches. I'm not complaining.

Around this time of year we begin to think of some unique gifts for friends. On occasion we give bread. If you enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches, you will love this recipe. (Yes, it is included at the bottom. Enjoy.)

Sunday and Monday we spent a good portion of the days baking bread. Two loaves on Sunday and three on Monday. Maryann is a great Sous Chef when I bake this loaf. It is one of her favorites. When you check the recipe you will find the requirement to chop pepperoni and green peppers.

I use a bread machine to mix my dough, no purist here. chuckle. This year I used the 1.5 pound recipe and baked them in a 1 pound pan. The steps are to mix the dough, turn it out onto a marble board, punch it down and put in the pan to rise. It is in the machine for almost an hour and a half, then under warm lights for another hour. I bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. (preheat the oven.) After that, it has to cool on the rack. Next each loaf is put into a separate plastic bag and frozen until it is ready to wrap as a gift.

This year we decided to bake one loaf in the machine just to see how it would turn out. Photos of the various steps are shown below.

Rising.

Baked in the oven

Baked and cooling

Two ways to bake


Bagged and ready for the freezer.

Recipe:

PEPPERONI PIZZA LOAF

2 pound

1 cup water
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup finely chopped pepperoni (use slices and finely chop them)
1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
2 tomato paste (You can get this in a tube at Hen House)
4 cups bread flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1 1/4 teaspoon bread machine yeast

Add ingredients according to the manufacturer’s directions. Use the bread dough cycle. Knead the dough 5 or 6 times. Let the dough rise for an hour. (You can divide the dough in half and put it in to two 1# bread pans.) Bake at 375º for 30 minutes. Cool. Slice. Enjoy.

The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking. Better Homes and Gardens, 1999. Page 51.


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#657 Boeuf Bourguignonne

It all began shortly after the release of the film Julie & Julia. (We haven't seen the film yet, but it is on our Netflix queue.) Maryann became intrigued with the premise of the film and the recipes. The Sep 30, 2009 edition of Wine Spectator had a section devoted to Julia Child's life & legacy. Thomas Keller was among the chefs who published his version of the recipe of Julia's. (You can find the complete, detailed and very long recipe on page 64.) She decided that it might be fun to try making it. We mentioned it to our friends, Ted and Priscilla. Ted, who is the primary cook in their family, was intrigued and wanted to be included.

It took a while to set a date, but we managed to do that. The meal was to be served on Sep 22nd. However, the preceding Friday we got together to begin preparation. The first part required preparing a reduction in which the meat would "repose" for a couple of days. The following photos were taken on Sunday as we prepared the final steps and then enjoyed. The St. Auguste wine was consumed with the meal. We used a different Buordeaux to cook the beef. Ted's pumpkin cheesecake was absolutely wonderful.

We were invited to share Thanksgiving dinner with Lily, Dick and some friends of theirs. We were asked to bring some pies and bread. Maryann bakes terrific pies. They are displayed in the slides below.

The meal was scrumptious and the friendship delightful. We'll certainly have to do these things more frequently.


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