27 October 2013

My Wonderful Italian Adventure, a Guest Post

All aboard, let's go!
I recently was contacted by a fellow  blogger Bob from http://travelingtripster.com about exchanging posts on Italian travel.  Bob's site is full of stories about travel around the world as well as a few travel tips to help you get out on the road. His site is worth having a nosy around. I am still polishing my piece for him, but it's not too far off from done. In the meantime, please welcome today's guest blogger Bob, from Traveling Tripster


My Wonderful Italian Adventure
Italy was one of the most amazing places I visited in my travels. As a history enthusiast Italy was of great interest to me because of the way world history was taught. I learned about the Roman empire but I never understood how Italy fit in with their grand legacy. Unlike most people, rather than do research on the internet, I like to experience a place first hand. You can't truly learn about a place or people without being in the physical location. So I did what I usually do... I did a little research and planning, I purchased my ticket (http://www.cheaptravelhunter.com), I packed my things, and I was on my way. For me planning is sometimes as fun as the trip itself. I visited a bookstore and picked up a few history and travel books. I always prepare myself for a trip with information so I'm ready for any potential problem.

My first stop was to the Ferrara where I spent some time paying my respects to the director Michelangelo Antonioni who's films were an obsession of one of my college professors. I remember watching "Identification of a Woman" and "Blowup". Both of these films were incredible so when I learned I was going to be near his burial space, I had to visit. While in Ferrara I decided to visit a local jazz club. I have never actually listened to jazz before but I went for the experience. I admit most music goes over my head, but the atmosphere was very exciting.
Next I visited Ravenna where my first stop happened to be another tomb. Dante, the author of the Divine Comedy was a figure I had admired for a long time. I had read his work when I was in high school and it left a permanent impression on me.  Most people who visited along with me were disappointed that there was nothing to see, but it was the atmosphere and history that intrigued me. Because I was so interested in his book, I felt like I had accomplished something great just being there.
Not the Dolomites, but the  Italian Cottian Alps, worth hiking as well
Anyone who is familiar with my personality knows that I love to do anything outdoors. Naturally this lead me to the hike of my life across the dolomite mountain range. The stunning scenery, delicious food, friendly people, and an extensive trail and mountain hut system made this a terrific destination for hiking. I stayed in Arabba where guides were available to help me learn my way around the area. They were incredibly helpful and taught me everything I needed to know about the area.
This is only a small fraction of my experience in Italy, but I hope this is enough to explain why I love it so much. If I decide to go back to Europe, Italy will be on the top of my list. It is a wonderful place with incredible diversity and history.


16 October 2013

Normandy Apple Bread for World Bread Day 2013



It seems that every day at our house is World Bread Day, mainly because I am so fond of baking our own daily bread because it really is that much better. I  have a very appreciative and voracious bread monster that I am married to and we live up aways from town, so it just makes more sense to not have to run into town for what is one of our most essential foods. We love to offer what we think is a superior loaf for our bed and breakfast guests as well. Annually, on October 16, there has been an official designation for celebrating our beloved partaking of  the "staff of life" that we call bread. Eight years ago a tradition of celebrating this annual event was initiated by food blogger  Zorra of the "1x umrühren bitte aka kochtopf' blog. I have participated before, but not annually. When I looked to see what I had submitted before, I laughed to see that it was an apple bread as well.  That delicious loaf had chestnuts in it. I love that loaf, but was looking to improve on the apple themed  bread as apple season is well under way and we had many wind fall apples that were begging to be used up and I wanted a more pronounced apple presence.  I went to one of most favorite bread books, simply named Bread by Jeffery Hamelman and found his reicipe to be exactly what I was looking for. His version called for dried apples and apple cider. I had some dried apple slices from last years batch and some local apple juice. I have to say that in the US apple cider where I grew up meant fresh unprocessed apple juice made form a mixture of apple varieties for a delicious beverage. It never was alcoholic unless you left it too long before drinking it. The rest of the world enjoys a bit of a kick to their cider. I didn't have any cider with a kick, but the apple juice pumped up the apple flavor and I imagine if it had been alcoholic it would have made the bread just a little bit lighter. No matter what you use, the loaves are exceptional. They are great toasted and wonderful slathered with jam or honey butter, or savory additions like goats cheese, ham and turkey. It was tempting to eat the whole loaf straight out of the oven, but we refrained. I did make it second batch shortly after the first when we fired up the wood oven and turned out an even more outstanding loaf. I dried more apples for the second batch and found that the apples cubed gave more of a flavor burst than the slices, which tended to melt into the loaf.  A combination of the two turned out just fine. Do try this recipe and if you are serious about bread baking do consider buying this book. The recipes are aimed at the serious production bakers but he does have them scaled down for 2 loaves for home baking. Sadly though he didn't give the weights in grams, which for me is a much easier way to go, but fortunately I have a scale that weighs in both versions. Do have a go with making some bread at home. You will find it so satisfying on so many levels.
 Happy World  Bread Day 2013!
Apple bread inside

Normandy Apple Bread
Adapted from Bread:A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes 
by Jeffrey Hamelman 

Makes: 2 large loaves


Directions: page1image18792

The day before you plan to make this bread, make sure your starter has been fed.


Drying the Apples:
A couple of days before you plan to make the bread, dry the apples in the oven. Or, if you have dried apples, you can use them. I used some dried slices and also baked some cubed apples  baked at 250 F /120 C. or in a dehydrator until they feet leathery. Drying the apples intensifies the flavor and prevents them from releasing excess moisture into the dough.

Day One:
Stiff Levain
Build:
5.8 oz  Bread flour (1 3/8 c)3.5 oz  

Water- room temp  ( 3.5.oz)
1.2 oz  Mature starter  (2T+1 tsp)

Approximately 12 -14 hours (more if cool in the kitchen) before you start the dough, mix up this stiff levain. Mix all together and cover. 

Leave to rise over night. 

Day Two:


Final Dough Ingredients:

1 lb 7 oz cups Bread flour- ( 5 1/4 c)
3.2 oz rye four - (1 cup)
7.4 oz Water -
(3/4 cup)

10.9 oz Apple cider- (1 1/3 cup) 
.6 oz Salt- 1 T
 
.2 oz Instant yeast- (1 tsp)

9.3 oz (all) Stiff Levain- (from the night before) 
4.8 oz Dried apples- (1 1/2 cup)

Mix everything together, except the apples, in your stand mixer with the dough hook. 3 minutes on low to combine, then 3 minutes on medium.
Turn out onto a table and add the apples. 

Knead until they are evenly distributed.
Cover dough and let rise 2 hours.
Stretch and fold in thirds over each other like a letter after one hour.
When your 2 hours have passed and your dough has risen well, divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape into loaves. Place loaves in proofing baskets or bannetons and cover. 

Let rise, covered, 1½ hours or until well risen.
Meanwhile, preheat oven, with a baking stone, to 450°F.
Mist and slash loaves.

Bake for 15 minutes at that temperature, 
Turn down to 420°F and bake for about another 25 minutes. 
Total baking time of about 40 minutes. 
Let cool on racks. 


One of two normandy apple loaves

04 October 2013

Tomato Jam or Marmellata di Pomodori


Recently I made a couple of batches of Tomato jam or what I like to call Marmellata di Pomodori with the various tomatoes I had languishing around waiting to be put to good use. I started making this last year when my interest was piqued by a Splendid Table podcast about a man that hosted a party that he called Pomodorata, in which all the courses of the meal included tomatoes. You can hear that episode here. If you are not familiar with NPR’s “The Splendid Table” radio show, then I highly recommend you take the time to discover it. The show always has plenty of interesting topics, loads of recipes and ideas with the indomitable Lyn Rossetto Kasper moderating and is an incredible source of information and inspiration. I download the podcasts and enjoy listening to them whilst doing the dishes, cleaning rooms or weeding stubborn garden patches. Several people asked me to post a recipe and so I am obliging, although I would say that this a good outline of a recipe, but it can be adjusted to your taste and the flavor fulness of the tomatoes. Do, however, make sure to try this with some of the great tasting tomatoes on the market before they disappear for another year!
Cuore di bui and roma Italian tomato varieties

Anyway, it seems to me that this jam is not unlike an adult version of ketchup, in that it is versatile enough to be used in a number of ways. I love that it is sweet and spicy and adds a flavor punch that frankly ketchup never did for me. I’ve always chosen brown mustard over ketchup whenever that debate arises. This gorgeous rosey red jam is a great accompaniment to roast meats or vegetables, jazzes up sandwiches, great with soft cheeses, like goat, fresh ricotta or the classic American standby, cottage cheese or stirred into dips for veggies and chips.  I think you’ll find a lot of places that a little dab will do it for adding some zest to your lunch time or aperitivo offerings. It has been a popular condiment that disappears quickly. That is why I made sure to make a couple of batches. Hopefully you’ll still find some tomatoes in your patch or at your farmers market to make the effort worth is. They say you can also use a good quality canned tomato as well if you missed the abundance of tomatoes this season.
This recipe is a blended and tweaked version of Lynn Rossetto Kasper’s Sweet and Piquant Tomato Jam and Food in Jars Honey-Sweetened Tomato Jam. I have made it slightly different every time I make it as it depends on what I have on hand and how the spirit moves me. I give you the option of honey or sugar to sweeten the jam, depending on your preference. Just make sure to taste the jam at the end of the cooking time and adjust the salt or lemon juice to make sure the flavor pops out. I cut back on the sugar and honey and decided that it really does need that amount to make the flavors sing, so don’t skimp. I also crushed the tomatoes one time and chopped them into chunks another time. I found if I cut them into chunks them, that I needed to blend the jam a bit at the end as the tomatoes didn’t really break down enough for my taste. I think a combination of crushing through squeezing them in my hand and some diced up would be a good balance. I found that my deep sided saute pan did a good job of cooking down a bit faster than using my usual large deep jam pan. I found that when cooking the jam down till the mix was thick and had lost most of the water, had large bubbles and a deep shiny luscious red color, it was just about right.  I then would taste the mix and add the lemon and adjust any of the seasoning to get it where I thought it needed to be. It will vary depending on the flavor of your tomatoes and how juicy or not they are as to how long the process takes, but I can assure you, you will be rewarded with a beguiling treat.
Jam at the finish line

Tomato Jam / Marmellata di Pomodori


Makes about 5-7 half pints


Ingredients:

2kg (around 4½ pounds) mix of flavorful tomatoes, washed and cored
I used a mix of what I had pachino, a couple of cuore di bue and a few grape tomatoes for one batch and another with roma variety instead of the cuore di bue
380-400g (2 c) sugar or 850g (2½c) honey, I used chestnut because it is what I had on hand
2-4 long red hot peppers fresh because that is what I had on hand, chopped into medium pieces
or 1-2 tsp hot chili pepper flakes
4 whole allspice, because that is what I had on hand
1 tsp ground allspice
4 whole cloves
½ tsp cloves
fresh ginger optional, but  if you want a little more zip, maybe in place of the chili flakes
1 tsp or so  salt or to taste
2 lemons their zest and juice or limes if you are fortunate to have them

Method:

Crush and chop your tomatoes up into a large deep sided skillet or saucepan. I don’t peel or seed them.
Cover with a lid and bring the mix to a rolling boil.
Lower the heat and let the mixture cook. Remove the lid after a short while so the water evaporates and the sauce begins to thicken.
Mix in the sweetener of choice, pepper pieces or flakes, spices, the zest of the citrus and a bit of salt, (you can always add more later if you feel it needs it)
Reserve the lemon juice to add just at the end.
Continue cooking on a lower heat, stirring frequently and make sure that the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom and burn.
Once the liquid has evaporated and the mixture has sufficiently thickened you should notice that the bubbles are rather large than when it first starts to boil. The color will be a deep red and shiny.
Taste and add the lemon juice a little at a time, although it will most like need all of the juice. Stir well, taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Once cool it may need adjusting. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator and will freezes as well.
I however treated it as a jam and pour it into hot sterilized jars, covered them with lids and sealed  them in a water bath for 15 minutes. I have not had any problems with them keeping for months like jam, but with tomatoes, you always need to be careful. You would be wise to check the jars periodically to make sure the lids are still sealed and refrigerate any that you might not be sure if they are properly sealed. If you find that they have not been well sealed or have a funny smell or color, do not use them. I have not had any problems at all, but just want to make sure that you do not take any chances especially if you are not a seasoned canner. There should be no problem with freezing them or using it up right away as I am sure you will find many ways of enjoying it, probably with friends.  


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