Super Rapid Italian Herb Bread

I have been testing out the recipes for my breadmaker recently, because I want to move on from recipes in the instruction manual to the cookbook Canada’s Best Bread Machine Baking Recipes (Donna Washburn & Heather Butt, 1999) that I picked up for a song second-hand. I have a Black & Decker All-In-One Deluxe Horizontal Breadmaker, and I feel it needs to be put through its paces before I start experimenting. To that end, I tried out the recipe for Super-Rapid Basic White bread that can be found on page 21 of the manual.

Physically, it turned out well; it was shaped properly, and it smelled great. However, I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the texture. I found this bread to be very dense, with few pockets created by air bubbles. I think that this is because of the super rapid bake function, which makes a loaf of bread in just over an hour (the regular loaves take about four hours). It just didn’t give the bread the chance to rise and get fluffy like a longer rising period will do. I will have to make a few more of the super rapid bake recipes to see if my theory is correct.

That being said, the bread was definitely edible. It reminded me of the cheap white bread loaves that are available at the grocery store, albeit with more flavour from the herbs. It toasted up nicely and went well in sandwiches and alongside sunny-side-up eggs.

I discovered that the denseness of the bread made for particularly good French toast. It soaked in the eggs without falling apart, which made it much easier to cook up than a lighter loaf. The herbs in the bread also went surprisingly well with butter and syrup, probably because it was only lightly flavoured. I think I would make this recipe again, but only if I had an end dish in mind in which to use the bread, not to eat it on its own. I have a feeling it would also make a lovely grilled cheese.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I have a tendency to clip interesting recipes out of magazines, file them away in a recipe box, and then forget that they are there. Yet somehow recently when I thawed some homemade pumpkin puree for a pie that I didn’t end up making, I actually remembered that I had a recipe in my stash that might be useful. I thought I’d taken this recipe from an old Food & Drink, but a quick Google showed that it was actually from the October 2004 edition of Martha Stewart Living. The recipe was for Pumpkin Pancakes, and although heaven knows it probably wasn’t also available online back when it was first published, it is there now.

My pancakes weren’t Martha Stewart perfect, of course, but they did taste awfully good. They were light and fluffy and delicious, and the pumpkin and spice flavours were subtle enough that they went well with most sweet toppings. The pancakes were simple enough to make, with just a few additional ingredients added to a basic recipe. I’ll definitely be making this dish again — and perhaps with practice my pancakes will be a bit more symmetrical.

Quinoa Bread Recipe

At the suggestion of a friend of mine, I bought some red quinoa a while back included a small portion in a fruit salad. Well, I discovered very quickly that I don’t like it with fruit; actually, despite all of the hype and how healthy it is, I don’t care for it much at all. Use it instead of rice! Add it to your salads! Yuck, yuck, yuck. But I still had most of a bag of quinoa to use up, and I would be darned if I was just going to compost it, so I decided that I’d try making quinoa bread. And it ended up being delicious! Not just to me, either. My kids ask for seconds and my husband, who generally loathes quinoa with the fire of a thousand dying suns, actually likes it. So even if you’re not a fan of this ancient grain, I suggest that you try this bread — and don’t write off all baked goods containing quinoa (like I almost did) until you try them.

This is a heavier bread, with a density a little closer to a banana or pumpkin bread than a traditional white or whole wheat loaf. The flip side of the heaviness — mostly caused by the water in the grains — is that this bread stays moist and tender inside for quite a long time. Even when stale, it doesn’t get hard like a crusty bread can, and can still be quite good toasted or in a grilled cheese sandwich.

This loaf was made in a 9.5″ x 5.5″ loaf pan, which is why it is so low and wide.

Quinoa Bread
Yields 3 loaves

In a large pot, bring to a boil:
– 500mL water
– 1 Tbsp canola oil
– 1 tsp salt
To the boiling liquid, add:
– 1 cup red quinoa*
Bring back to a boil. Turn heat down to low and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, uncovered. When cooked, the quinoa will become transparent and a white ring will appear in the ancient grain. Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, mix together:
– 2 1/2 cups all-purpose whole wheat flour
– 1 1/2 tsp salt
– 14g (2 packages) quick rise instant yeast
Stir in:
– 2 1/2 cups warm water
Once contents of bowl are mostly smooth (it doesn’t have to be perfect), add the cooked, cooled quinoa. Stir until mixed.
Gradually add:
– 4 cups all-purpose unbleached white flour

Depending on how much water the quinoa absorbs when cooking, slightly more or less white flour will be required. The dough should be soft and the slightest bit sticky, but should not flow like a batter.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes, dusting kneading surface, hands, and dough lightly when necessary to prevent sticking.

Oil a large mixing bowl. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel. Place the bowl in a warm, dry area with no drafts. Allow the dough to rise until double, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Grease three 8.5″x4.5″ loaf tins. Divide the dough into two equal-sized portions. Cover the pans with a clean, damp tea towel and allow to rise again until double, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400ºF (205ºC). Bake loaves for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to 350ºF (177ºC) and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes more. Check to see if the bread is done by removing a loaf from the pan and tapping it on the bottom. When cooked through, it should make a hollow sound. Remove all loaves from the pans immediately and place them on a wire cooling rack.

Slice and serve immediately, or wrap in a clean plastic bag once loaves are cool; they will last about five days before going stale.

*Any colour quinoa may be used, but red quinoa makes the most attractive visual contrast in the loaf.

Slow Cooker Clam Chowder Recipe with Dairy-Free Options

I’m taking a break today from ComicCon recap to post a recipe that a few people have asked for: my slow cooker clam chowder. I developed this recipe for two reasons: 1) I love dairy, but it doesn’t love me back, so if I want clam chowder I have to make it for myself with a dairy substitute, and 2) I had packages of frozen clams in my freezer that I’d bought on sale and I had no idea what I wanted to do with them. I Googled for ideas, and for the most part the consensus seemed to be that frozen clams are gross and tough, so don’t buy them in the first place. Well, in the past I’ve learned that simmering tough cuts of meat in liquid for a really long time can make just about anything palatable, and that technique works well with cheap frozen clams. As a bonus, all of the ingredients can be prepped the night before, and then most of them are thrown into the slow cooker as you get ready for work. This chowder really only needs attention in the last hour or so, and even then not much.

A note regarding dietary requirements: I make my clam chowder dairy-free using almond milk, and nobody can tell the difference. If you’re allergic to nuts, try soy milk or rice milk instead. If you prefer dairy, use 2% milk. Also, clam chowder can’t really be made vegetarian or vegan — all you’d be left with is potato soup (which can be good, but is no longer clam chowder). However, if you don’t eat pork, turkey bacon may be substituted, although it will change the flavour somewhat.

Slow cooker clam chowder, served here with microwave oatmeal wheat bread and corn on the cob.

Slow Cooker Clam Chowder (Dairy-Free)
Serves 8-10
Total cooking time: 8 hours

Thaw as per package directions:
– 2 packages of frozen clams (340g each)
In a frying pan, cook until crispy:
– 1 package reduced-salt bacon (375g package)
Place cooked bacon on a plate that is covered with a few pieces of paper towel; dab the bacon lightly to remove excess grease.
In the frying pan, reserve:
– 1 Tbsp bacon grease
Discard any additional bacon grease. In pan in which the bacon was cooked, in reserved grease, fry gently until soft and lightly browned:
– 2 yellow onions (approx 175g)
While onions are frying, chop into bite-sized pieces:
– bacon cooked in previous steps
– 2 cups celery (approx 225g)
Peel and chop into bite-sized pieces:
– 6 cups white-fleshed potatoes (approx 1100g)
Peel and mince:
– 1 clove garlic
When onions are done cooking, add them and all previous ingredients to slow cooker. In addition, add:
– 6 bottles clam juice (236mL each)
– 1 tsp salt
– 1 tsp fresh thyme*
– 1/2 tsp pepper
– 1 Tbsp dried parsley
Cook in slow cooker for 7hrs on high, until potatoes are tender**.
In a large measuring cup or mixing bowl, whisk together:
– 4 cups almond OR soy OR rice OR 2% milk
– 4 Tbsp corn starch
Stir in the milk and corn starch into the mixture in the slow cooker. Cook until it reaches the desired thickness, about 1 additional hour.
I serve this soup immediately and freeze the leftovers; it also refrigerates well. If you are planning on serving this at a gathering, it can be prepared in advance and reheated immediately prior to serving.

*1/2 tsp dried thyme may be substituted for fresh.
**If you have an older slow cooker, you may need to adjust cooking times, as older slow cookers (pre-1980 or so) do not get as hot. If you’ve cooked it for the required time and the potatoes still aren’t tender, the recipe may be finished on the stove, being careful not to boil or scald the liquid.

Breadmaker

Yesterday was a hot one, and today is predicted to be much akin to it, with the addition of thunderstorms. That’s par for the course in the summer in Ottawa: first we get a stiflingly hot, humid day, followed by an impressive deluge and light show, often in the evening of the same day.

Of course, I had run out of bread, but I didn’t want to fire up the oven on such a hot day. I would like to continue making my own throughout the summer, so I dug out my breadmaker, which I’d never used before. Over the winter I purchased a Black & Decker All-In-One Deluxe Horizontal Breadmaker at Value Village for $9.99. There were (and always are) a few on the shelf, so I picked the one that showed the least wear and tear. I also Googled to make sure I could get a user manual.

100% Whole Wheat Bread in the breadmaker.

We didn’t have air conditioning when I was growing up, and one of the best lessons that my parents taught me was to keep the house cool, cook outside whenever possible. The most obvious example of this is barbecuing or grilling, but most countertop appliances work perfectly well outdoors. Breadmakers, toaster ovens, even toasters or kettles fit the bill, and it’s especially convenient to use them if you have a deck/patio or a balcony. They’re not intended for outdoor use, so you have to be very sure that they never get wet and are set on a surface that can’t be damaged by heat, like a concrete step or a glass-top table. If you’re uncomfortable leaving them out in the open, they can be left under a parking shelter or in a garage. Also, you have to make sure that any plugs or extension cords are up to the challenge (I recommend heavy-duty appliance extension cords just in case, you don’t want to start a fire).

So I made a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread (page 24 in the user manual) in the breadmaker, and it turned out deliciously! It was really easy, and although I kind of missed kneading the bread and I don’t like the inflexibility of the recipes that go along with mechanization. But the results were delicious, and I can see why people will set breadmakers on timers so they have fresh bread first thing in the morning. Since I’m used to oven loaves, the bread looked kind of misshapen to me, much too tall and thin. The looks didn’t mar the flavour at all, though. My family devoured the entire loaf in a day (granted, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner). I will have to make another loaf asap.

Microwave Oatmeal Wheat Bread

My parents bought their first microwave when I was eight or nine years old, I believe. Possibly later. It was a big investment at the time; microwaves at the time were huge, noisy, and expensive. I know it was probably at least ten years after that that my grandmother finally got one. These days, you can get a serviceable one for under a hundred dollars; back then it was a purchase nearly equivalent of a new stove. But microwaves were being touted as the appliance of the future, and as the time-saving device that every family should have.

To that effect, many microwave cookbooks were published at the time, proclaiming that anything and everything was better made in the microwave; now that they have become ubiquitous, most of us now know that this isn’t the case. My parents had one microwave cookbook when I was growing up, namely Basic Microwaving from the Microwave Cooking library (by Barbara Methven, 1978). I think it may even have come with the purchase of the microwave oven. It is definitely aimed at people who have never used a microwave before, and offers such great tips as:

– A microwave oven is a cooking appliance. It may be faster and easier to use than a conventional appliance, but it still needs a cook to control it. (page 5)
– Room temperature foods cook faster than refrigerated or frozen ones. (page 9)
– Use small strips of foil on thin areas to prevent overcooking. (page 15)

As an aside, do not use metal in a microwave. It could start a fire or damage the appliance. Mental Floss has a great write-up as to why this happens.

Microwave oatmeal wheat bread.

As self-evident or outright wrong some of the advice offered by this book may now seem (it is almost 40 years old after all), some of the recipes are still good, so when I snapped up a copy of this book when I found it at a thrift shop. A staple of my diet in my early teenage years was the Open-Face Bacon, Tomato & Cheese Sandwich (page 100), and I have added just about every technique from their vegetable section (page 106 to 121) to my repertoire, except for those that use tinfoil. But I had never tried to bake anything in the microwave. Well, with summer heat coming on soon, I thought I’d give microwave bread a try with the Oatmeal Wheat Bread on page 128-129.

It didn’t turn out too badly, but I still don’t think I’ll be making this recipe again. As a positive, while it still took standard times to rise, I only had to use the microwave for about 12 minutes, which generated a lot less heat (and took a lot less power) than standard bread baking times in a conventional oven. The flavour of the bread was definitely worth making again. The texture, though, was where baking in the microwave failed me. Have you ever reheated a piece of leftover pizza in the microwave, and had the crust go hard and chewy without ever being crunchy? That was what the texture of this bread was like — although in a few spots where it was thickest it was soft and properly fresh-bread-like. It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t great. I don’t know how much of this is because of the appliance and how much is the recipe, so I think next time I bake bread I’ll make a loaf of this in the oven as a comparison. Then I’ll know the cause for certain.

Quick Dinners

With ComicCon prep taking over my life, I have been resorting to quick, improvised dinners to feed my family lately. Here are a few of them:

A quick trip to the grocery store yielded a refrigerated rotisserie chicken and cheese-and-spinach-stuffed pasta, both at 50% off. I reheated the chicken in the oven; boiled & drained the pasta and added some cream cheese, sour cream, and cooked spinach; and peeled & chopped a few carrots which I boiled in the microwave. Prep time for this meal was twenty minutes at most, leaving me more time to work on my costumes.

Leftover soup with bok choy and rice.

One of my favourite things to do lately is throw leftover vegetables and/or meat into some home-made broth (of which I have copious amounts in the freezer), add a bit of leftover rice or small pasta, and then boil it all together for a few minutes. With a bit of salt and pepper, this becomes a healthy soup that takes only about ten minutes to prepare.

At the kids’ request, I did make up rice bowls this week, but of a simplified kind. While the rice was cooking, I peeled and nuked the carrots, chopped and microwaved the bok choy, and cooked up some frozen corn. I also grilled the shrimp — I love shrimp when I am short of time because it takes so little time to cook — and scooped out some avocado. No special shopping or all of the burners used this time for a rice bowl meal! I just used whatever I had in the fridge, freezer or pantry. It took about 35 minutes to make this meal, including prep work. Not bad for something so fresh and tasty.

Fish Tacos

With all the prep work for ComicCon that I’m cramming into this week, I’ve had to cut down on the amount of time and effort I spend cooking. But I still want to eat well! So I thought I’d try something I’d never made before: fish tacos. They’re fast, easy, and healthy (so long as you don’t drown them in cheese and sauce).

I used the spice mixture from the Grilled Fish Tacos recipe from Eating Well, but I cooked the fish a frying pan instead of on the grill, since with all the rain lately my yard is a morass of mud. The kids snapped up the tortillas first, so I had my taco on whole-wheat pita instead. I topped mine with leftover avocado tartar sauce (which is perfect with this dish), romaine lettuce, tomato, shredded old cheddar cheese. This was such a simple, delicious, and healthy meal to make that I’ll definitely make it again.

Pumpkin-Seed & Chili-Crusted Fish Fillets with Avocado Tartar Sauce

For non-Ontarians, the idea of an LCBO may seem a little bit strange. The acronym stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which is a provincially-owned retail store that sells beer, wine and spirits — and, importantly, it’s the only place where you can buy all three. The Beer Store carries beer (obviously), and a few places like the Wine Rack carry wine, and as of April 13th the Government of Ontario announced that beer will be allowed to be sold in some grocery stores… But you can’t get spirits anywhere else.

All that being said, the LCBO has gone to great lengths to follow a retail business model instead of a government one. The stores are well-kept, even fancy in some places. If a small location doesn’t carry the drink you’re looking for, you can order it online and have it shipped to your home for a fee or to your closest branch for free with a minimum purchase. Like many retail stores, they also have their own free in-house magazine: Food & Drink. These magazines (and now their website) have a great reputation for delicious recipes — and of course suggestions for the proper drinks to serve with said recipes. The magazines are stuffed with full-page glossy photographs of mouth-watering concoctions. Let’s be honest here, it’s food porn, plain and simple.

Pumpkin-seed & chili-crusted basa fillets, served with basmati rice and steamed spinach. Avocado tartar sauce not pictured.

I have been collecting Food & Drink magazines for years, but I never actually used any of their recipes. I’d ogle the photos for a bit, and then the magazine would go up on a shelf, never to be looked at again. Two years ago I just recycled the lot of them, tired of them taking up space on my bookshelf to no purpose. But the next time I went to the LCBO, I picked up the latest edition anyway.

So it’s with a great feeling of achievement that I can now say that I’ve actually made one of the Food & Drink recipes! I grabbed a copy of the magazine last week and actually cooked the food on the cover of the Early Summer 2017 edition within days. I used the Pumpkin-Seed & Chili-Crusted Fish Fillets with Avocado Tartar Sauce recipe. Of course, my version didn’t turn out nearly as pretty, but I just snapped a shot of it before we sat down to eat. But it was delicious! Pretty easy, too. I used the cheap basa fillets that I had in the freezer, which were much thinner than the recipe called for. I stacked one fillet on top of another and then crusted the stack, and that worked pretty well. I omitted the jalapeno peppers from the avocado tartar sauce because of my kids’ low tolerance for spicy foods; it was still delicious and everyone came back for seconds.

After this success, I’m thinking that I’ll browse Food & Drink next time I’m at a loss for dinner inspiration. Maybe eventually I’ll even do a second dish from there!

A Healthier Burger Recipe

Last night I took advantage of the gap between spring rain storms to make up some burgers on the barbecue for the family dinner. My family absolutely adores burgers, so I’ve been looking for a way to make them healthier. Sure, tonnes of grease tastes good once in a while, but it’s not something that we should be eating regularly. Moderation in all things, including moderation. So I came up with a tasty recipe that combines lean ground beef (for flavour) with ground turkey or chicken (to reduce the fat). I also use oatmeal instead of the more traditional bread crumbs to bulk up the burgers and absorb moisture; oatmeal is full of healthy fiber and, as a bonus, has an incredibly long shelf-life. This means that these burgers are wheat and gluten free, so long as you pick the appropriate brand of sauce.

To add a bit of extra healthiness, I made the buns from scratch using the whole wheat variant of Nan’s Pan Rolls Recipe. To make hamburger buns, shape the buns individually and place them with lots of room between them on greased baking sheets between the first and second rise. The recipe makes about 24 hamburger buns.

Now, even a healthier burger isn’t a hundred percent healthy. If you really want a healthy burger dinner, you’ll have to serve it with a salad.

A healthier burger with ketchup, mayonnaise, shredded cheddar cheese, and romaine lettuce.

A Healthier Burger
Makes 10-12 small burgers

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together with your hands:
– 500g (1.1lb) lean ground beef
– 500g (1.1lb) ground turkey OR chicken
– 1 egg
– 3/4 cup plain uncooked oatmeal (not instant)
– 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce OR barbecue sauce of choice
– 1 tsp garlic powder
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper
Divide the mixture into 10-12 portions*. Roll each portion into a ball, then shape the portion into a patty shape with your hands.
Preheat your grill** to about 400°F (204°C). Cook until browned evenly on both sides (with a bit of char) and until center of burger is no longer pink. (Do not serve these burgers rare because they contain poultry.)
Serve on whole wheat hamburger buns with your choice of toppings such as ketchup, mustard, relish, mayonnaise, pickles, cheese, or avocado.

*Larger burgers may be made, but cooking times should be adjusted.
**Burgers may be fried on a flat top or in a frying pan, but they taste best on a grill.