sour·dough

One of the best times to have fresh bread is on a saturday morning : the crusts almost immediately with just fresh butter as a sneaky snack, then some more once it has cooled for a late breakfast/early lunch.  

This is how I make sourdough :

Thursday night :

1. Take the starter out of the fridge.
   
2. Put half the sourdough starter into a big bowl.
   
3. Feed both halves with the same amount of bread (strong) flour and water - so 1/3 starter 1/3 flour 1/3 water.
   
4. Put the lid loosely on the starter and cover the bowl with a plate or damp teatowel.
   
5. Leave both at room temperature with the jar on something in case it overflows.
   

Friday evening, as early as possible :

1. Both the bowl and the jar should be bubbly and look alive.
   
2. Put the starter in the fridge.
   
3. Tothe bowl add 450g of strong bread flour, 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon of salt.
   
4. Mix to a messy dough, adding a bit more water if necessary.
   
5. Cover the bowl with a plate or damp teatowel.
   
6. Leave at room temperature to prove until you are ready to shape the next day.
   

Saturday morning :

1. The dough should be have bubble holes on the surface and look like a very soft dough, if this has not happened yet leave for few more hours since this will depend on the activity of your starter.
   
2. Generously dust the bench with flour keeping a small pile for sprinkling nearby.
   
3. Gently scrape the dough onto the floured bench.
   
4. Pat into a rectangle and sprinkle with flour.
   
5. Fold into 3 like a letter a couple of times to form a loaf, sprinkling flour as needed.
   
6. Either place in a greased and floured loaf tin, place on a piece of baking paper or cut into rolls (but this will affect the baking time so trial and error here).
   
7. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 2 hours or so to rise again.
   
8. When you are 30 minutes from baking time turn the oven to 230°c and if doing a free form, not loaf, put a big cast iron pot with a lid in the oven at the same time to heat.
   
9. When ready to bake either put the loaf tin in or put the free form loaf with the paper in the cast iron pot cover and bake for 20 minutes.
   
10. Check and either bake longer as is, or for a darker crust remove from the tin or take off the lid and remove the paper and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
    
11. Leave to cool on a rack for at least an hour before slicing (except for sneaking the crusts which I don't think counts!).
    

How I look after the Starter :

1. Don't screw the lid on tight, it needs to breathe!
   
2. Keep in the fridge, but try to remove several hours or a day before using and feed (as Thursday above).
   
3. Feed with a similar volume of flour and water.
   
4. Try to feed once a week, but the odd two or so week wait will not matter, but a layer of alcohol (the sour) might be on top if left longer - either stir in or pour off.
   
5. A sourdough starter is like a million pets in one little jar so be kind!
   

Evil Edna

pump·kin ce·le·ri·ac soup

One of my favourite blogs, Cook Almost Anything, recently showed a wonderful recipe for Jap Pumpkin Soup with Curried Onions. I really can only begin to tell you what a clever idea I thought it was to have a fairly plain pumpkin soup (no offence Haalo!) punctuated with a wonderful relish of curried onions : the very onions and curry seasonings that would usually be blended with the pumpkin soup, kept separate to highlight all the elements - brilliant.

Whenever I need inspiration or a recipe I target the Food Blogs, both familiar and new. There is something trustworthy about a home cook documenting and photographing what they are cooking purely for their own, and others's, enjoyment. So tonight, with a verging-on-rotting pumpkin and a softening-a-bit-too-much celeriac (I know, I know, food waste - saved!) I knew just where to look for inspiration - a recently google-reader-ed recipe with a nice curried onion twist :

Pumpkin and Celeriac Soup with Curried Onions
Adapted from Cook Almost Anything's Jap Pumpkin Soup with Curried Onions
Serves 4

Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
300g pumpkin, any kind, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 medium celeriac, peeled and chopped
Chicken stock
1t butter
1 red onion, sliced
1t curry powder, or more to taste
Salt and pepper
Cream

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the garlic, pumpkin and celeriac. Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are starting to soften then add enough chicken stock to almost cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until everything is cooked and tender.

Meanwhile, saute the red onion in the butter until soft then add the curry powder and continue cooking at a low heat until caramelised.

When the vegetables are cooked, blend with a stick blender or regular blender, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add enough cream to thin and enrich (to your taste) and reheat gently - not to a boil.

Pour the soup into warmed bowls and place a dollop of curried onions on top to complete the picture.

va·nil·la cream cheese logs

As I have mentioned G was sick on his birthday, and as I have also mentioned chocolate Guinness cake is part of the birthday tradition. So, the Wednesday prior I prepare for the G-birthday by a supermarket trip for cream cheese and a can of Guinness (most other ingredients found in house by rote). So when I find myself stocked but without cake audience I have to consider my options :

[Lucky am I that the dairy product purchased in August does not expire until the following January - is it just me or is this just a tad alarming?]

So cream cheese then, obviously the Guinness is easily dispensed. How to use? With smoked salmon? Yes, but there is only so much one can eat. So to baking I go :

Vanilla Cream Cheese Logs
makes 2 dozen

200g cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Cream the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the egg and vanillas in lightly but thoroughly. Blend in the flour, baking powder and salt, but only until mixed - no more!

Roll into log shapes, marking tops as you like, and bake for 15 minutes or until firm and turning golden.

We find these biscuits a bit like a sweet cakey bread - yum!

Witloof and I

Two large gins, two pints of cider. Ice in the cider.

Ah, Witloof : endive, witloof, chicory, escarole. Who are you? What to call you?

Witloof, leafed; olives, sliced; watercress, picked; grapefruit, supremed; spring onions, minced; vinaigrette, creamed.

Monty : Oh, how delicious!

I : another matter entirely.

Rabbit Schnitzel

Schnitzel. One of the biggest food compliments G has given me was when he said that my schnitzel was even better than his Austrian friend Reinhardt's mum's Wiener Schnitzel. That was saying something.

[For the record the other biggest food compliment G has given me is that my apple pie is better than his Uncle Bob's mum's apple pie.]

Bless!

Anyway, when it is G's birthday I like to ask what he fancies for the weekend's festivities and augment that list with his favourites. Strangely enough, rabbit generally features on both. However this year G was sick and so was the butcher's variety ; no rabbit. But a couple of weekends later at Moore Wilson I found the rabbit - lots and lots of rabbit : fillet, loin, leg and complete muscular bodies all ready to lop. But what to do?

Now, if you have tried to cook rabbit you may also have had the misfortune to produce dry, gamey rubbish. Feel my fear. But what better way to protect from dryness than to coat in crumbs? Veal schnitzel is often a bit tasteless, expensive and hard to come by, but rabbit : flavourful, pleantiful, presentable. Hence, I present rabbit Schnitzel :

Rabbit Schnitzel
serves 4

250g rabbit fillets
50g flour seasoned with salt and pepper
1 egg beaten with a little milk
Bread crumbs

Trim the silver skin from the fillets and flatten to a uniform thinness with a meat mallet. Flour, egg and crumb the flattened fillets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and when at medium-high heat add olive oil and a knob of butter. Fry Schnitzels until golden on each side Keep warm in a low oven until all are cooked. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.