The Winter Kitchen

Ah, the smells of the winter kitchen: turkey and white wine in the slow cooker, warm bread cooling on the countertop, green tea steeping in your favorite mug, and fresh red peppers roasting under the broiler.  Wait a minute--fresh red peppers?  Let me explain.  Two out-of-the-ordinary occurrences converged at our local, small town grocery store.  First, an item in the produce department went on sale (sales are generally reserved for individually-wrapped processed cheese slices and generic canned goods).  Second, the produce actually looked good.  The peppers were deep red, their skin taught and firm.  The usual arguments swelled in my mind, "They're out of season!"  "They're all the way from Mexico!"  "They'll taste sweeter in the summer!"  Alas, I am weak.  Also, the chance of stumbling across a similar circumstance of such serendipity seemed unlikely.  I filled a bag, and now there are red peppers roasting in the oven.  

It smells like summer, the aroma slicing through the dry air, and this sword is certainly double-edged.  Already, I can hear the seeds in their paper packets, feel the cold earth under my fingernails, taste the first asparagus, smell the charcoal covered in a thin layer of ash at the bottom of the grill.  It is wonderful.  It is also January, and the winter stretches out long before us, long like the miles between my kitchen and a place where red peppers still grow.

-Zach

Menu for a Blue State

For the first time since 1964, Indiana is blue. To celebrate, we gathered friends and family and dined on BLUE corn chips with homemade salsa, BLUE Devil Cheese and Bacon Dip with crackers, carrots, and BARACK-oli, Genzano Potato Pizza with all-BLUE potatoes, and some cookies for CHANGE. And, of course, we washed it all down with some Pabst BLUE Ribbon.

Ah, the sweet taste of change...

Stuffed Peppers, Anyone?

My mom has been talking about stuffed peppers a lot lately, so I thought I'd try them out. She grew up on them, but I don't remember having them much as a kid so I don't have much to go on. As usual, I went to Cook's Illustrated for a recipe, and threw in some fresh veggies from the garden when the peppers went in the oven (I should have parboiled the veggies or started them earlier; they were a little crunchy).

Do any of you have a favorite stuffed pepper recipe?

(Zach)

What the kale!?!

Whew, it's been a long time! It finally feels like Kira and I are coming up for air after two crazy months of opening up the coffee shop. We're almost finished dismantling the piles of laundry, dirty dishes, and junk mail that accumulated while we were spending 12-14 hours a day in the shop. And--thankfully--we're finding time to cook again. One can only live on veggie burgers and tater tots for so long.

*Side note: Actually, we can't complain too much about not eating well because every day we have a freshly-made, gourmet soup simmering away in the shop downstairs, thanks to our resident "soup-ster" named Katie. I hope all of you can come taste one of her creations. We should probably start a blog devoted entirely to her cooking. It's crazy good.

This summer, my dad has offered his farm as a pick-up place for vegetable shares from Country Gardens and Farm Market in Fort Wayne (we enjoyed some of their veggies and flowers at our wedding last summer). A family was unable to pick up their box this week, so Kira and I became the recipients of a whole slew of fresh turnips, beets, chard, lettuce, herbs, and kale. I must admit, with the exception of the lettuce and herbs, these aren't things you'll often find in our refrigerator. Isn't it great when your meals are determined by what's coming out of the garden? I haven't cooked much kale, and I was excited to see what it's like, so that's what we broke out first. After consulting From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce, and finding a recipe for "Wonderfully Easy Pasta with Kale," here's what I threw together for lunch:

Whole-Wheat Pasta with Sauteed Kale and Slow-Roasted Chicken

Your preferred amount of your favorite whole-wheat pasta
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound chopped kale leaves
1-2 cups cooked chicken (I slow-roasted one of my dad's chickens last night, using Cook's Illustrated's Slow-Roasted Chicken method.)
Freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil and salt your water. Cook your pasta. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and garlic, and cook until tender. Add the kale and saute until wilted. Drain the pasta, toss it in with the onions, garlic, and kale. Add chicken and mix it all around. Serve, topping with Parmesan cheese.

*Another side note: The largest consumer of kale in the U.S. is Pizza Hut. Whaaaa, you ask? Don't worry--they aren't putting kale on any pizzas, even though it is nutritionally superior to most other veggies, chock full calcium and vitamins A and C. They use it to decorate the salad bar.

a nerdy quest resolved?

While visiting Sam and Marja in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, I mentioned to Sam that I had made focaccia some time earlier. Little did I know that this particular bread had become such a holy grail for him. He convinced me to post the recipe. I hope it holds up to his high standards from Punch. This recipe is from Baking Illustrated, edited by the crew of Cooks Illustrated. The secrets, aside from blasts of 900 degree heat, are a sponge and a potato. If I remember Punch’s correctly, this has a higher rise, but I think that has to do with the lack of giant brick oven.

- Lilly Steinberg

Dough:
1 medium baking potato, peeled and quartered
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast (I use active dry)
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl and pan
1 ¼ teaspoons salt

Topping:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
¾ teaspoons coarse sea salt or 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1. Simmer the potato in boiling water until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and cool until it can be handled comfortably. Press through the fine disk on a ricer or grate through the large holes on a box grater. Reserve 1 ½ cups lightly packed potato.

2. Meanwhile, mix the yeast, ½ cup flour and ½ cup warm water with a wooden spoon until combined. Cover the sponge tightly with plastic wrap and set aside until bubbly, about 20 minutes. (Since I used active dry yeast, I dissolved the yeast in the water before mixing with the flour.) Add 1 ½ cups of flour to the sponge, then beat with a wooden spoon 5 minutes. Add 1 ¼ cups flour, along with the remaining dough ingredients. Continue beating until the dough comes together. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead, adding the remaining ¼ cup flour as needed, until the dough becomes elastic and sticky, 4-5 minutes. (Step 2 can also be done in a stand mixer or food processor. Add all the remaining ingredients to the sponge at once and process until smooth and elastic: 5 minutes for the stand mixer, 40 seconds for the food processor).

3. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free area until the dough is puffy and doubled in volume (about 1 hour).

4. With wet hands, press the dough flat into a generously oiled 15 ½ by 10 ½ inch rimmed baking sheet. If the dough won’t stretch into the corners, cover with a damp cloth, let it relax for 15 minutes and try again. Alternatively, you can divide the dough in half and free-form two 8 inch rounds. Cover the dough with oil-sprayed plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free area until dough is puffy and doubled in volume, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5. With two wet fingers, dimple the risen dough at regular intervals. Make sure the dimples are deep enough to catch pools of oil and salt.

6. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and rosemary leaves.

7. Adjust an oven rack to a lower middle position. Bake at 425 until the bottom crust is golden brown and crisp, 23-25 minutes. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Best served warm.

Zach Hawkins (licensed in food service)

Is Zach Hawkins truly licensed in food service, as this article (scroll to 4.24.08) in the North Manchester News points out? Well, I'll be.

Congrats on the opening of the coffeeshop - we're all dying to hear behind-the-scenes stories from KenapochoMocha! Perhaps Kira and Zach would share a secret or two about managing a coffeeshop (that's your lead-in, Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins)...

All Together Now

Dear bloggers, it was excellent to be together for a weekend in Minneapolis!

Any meal is a good meal with y'all.