Confident Kitchen

Ingredients:

• spring roll wraps, soaked in hot water
• cilantro
• bell pepper
• tofu
• cucumber
• red onion
• hoisin
• asparagus

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Via New York Times.  This is the first time I’ve had bread from scratch work.  Carl and I indulged in almost half of it in one sitting, it was so wonderful!

Skill:  Easy
Prep:  15 minutes
Total:  About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• Salt
• Rosemary

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic)** in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Sprinkle with salt (I used sea salt) and rosemary.  Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

**I used a pan with high sides, as I was using my big pot to make soup.  It worked just fine.

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A good crusty bread, hummus, red bell pepper, red onion, romaine lettuce, cilantro, and cucumber.

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Nothing beats a good quality oatmeal.  We buy Snoqualmie Falls Lodge Oatmeal.  Carl made this with raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg.

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This is the easiest breakfast.  A bit of greek yogurt and a spoonful (or two) of homemade huckleberry jam.

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Skill:  Easy
Prep:  10 minutes
Total:  45 minutes

Ingredients:

• carrots
• red potatoes
• sweet potato
• rutabaga
•  broccoli
• cauliflower
• golden beets

Peel and cut the golden beets into bite-size pieces.  Place in a pan with water and boil for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the carrots, rutabaga,  sweet potato, and red potatoes.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cut broccoli and cauliflower into bite-size pieces and steam for 5 minutes.

I served this with spinach naan.

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I had knee surgery in March.  The camera has been a low priority and most of our meals are favorite quick-dinners that have been posted before.  This is why the recipe blog has been pretty slow lately.  I’m limited in how often I can go to the store and my motivation to try new recipes has been subdued.  Spring is coming to the Pacific Northwest though!  New recipes are coming.  I’m focusing on simple meals that use more local ingredients.

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 Adapted from Soy and Pepper.

**Note** I used a scale to weigh the flour, sugar, and other ingredients but for the sake of those without a scale, I will calculate the conversions here. Original measurements can be found at Soy and Pepper’s website, as linked above.

Skill: Medium
Prep: 45 minutes (counting 30 mins to boil orange)
Total: Up to 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 orange (I used Cara Cara)
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted (I used dark chocolate chips)
  
• 1 3/4 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate ganache:

• 3/4 cup dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons cointreau
• Orange zest to decorate

Pierce the orange with a skewer or fork and boil for 30 minutes in a saucepan. Puree with a food processor, removing any seeds. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a cake pan or a set of small ramekins for more personal-sized cakes.

Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the first batch of chocolate.

In an electric mixer, lightly beat the eggs, sugar, and oil. Beat in the pureed orange and melted chocolate. Fold the cocoa, flour and baking powder into the batter using a spoon or spatula. Pour into cake pan or ramekins.

Bake the cake pan for 55-60 minutes. Bake the ramekins for 20-25 minutes. Pierce with a wooden skewer to verify the cake is done (it should come out clean). After 10 minutes, pop the cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Put the ganache chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small pan until it boils and then pour over the chocolate. Stir well until smooth, then add the cointreau. Cool the mixture for about an hour until firm enough to spread. Spread over the cake and decorate with orange zest.

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