Hudy Bread

This bread is not for the light of heart. It is a dense, heavy bread but my goodness is it delicious! And so incredibly easy. It’s a version of Guinness bread, but I wanted to use Hudy Amber to be a good Cincinnatian. Any darker beer will do, green onions instead of chives would be delicious I’m sure. This bread is dangerous.

2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 tbspns sugar
1 tbspn baking powder
1 tspn salt
1 (12-ounce) bottle of Hudy Amber
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, or coat with butter.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the beer and mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of the cheese and the chives.

Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over top of the dough. Bake about 30 minutes then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top. Return the loaf to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve warm, sliced.

Chicken + Veggie + Rice Soup

A bowl of this, a slice of beer bread — cold weather taste bud nirvana.

4 chicken thighs (I used 2 chicken thighs and some ground sausage I had lying around, so if you have something like that or chicken sausage, feel free to throw it in. You can also do two thighs and a breast, 2 breasts — whatever you have on hand)

1 tbspn paprika

1/2 tspn dried thyme

 1 tspn freshly chopped oregano (or 1/2 tspn dried)

1/2 tspn garlic powder 

salt and pepper to taste 

Olive oil

1 cup mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion in whatever proportion you like)

1/4 cup corn kernels (about 1 ear’s worth)

2 cups (packed) baby spinach

2 bay leaves

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

48 oz. chicken stock

3/4 cup white rice (cooked, if you are not going to eat all of the soup at once)

Mix together the paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Rub in this mixture onto the chicken pieces. Heat up some olive oil in a soup pot. Brown the chicken pieces. Add the mirepoix, corn, garlic, and bay leaves. Sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the spinach and stir so it wilts. Add the chicken broth and rice (if you’re going to eat all the soup in one sitting) and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes (test the rice for doneness). Remove the bay leaves, shred the chicken and bon appetit!

WOMB Cookies (Walnut Oatmeal Maple Banana Cookies)

I had a rotting banana and two packets of instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal. I wanted to get rid of them. Thus, these chewy, delicious cookies were born, fitting in perfectly with my desire to make comforting fall foods to celebrate the first day of fall. Can’t wait to make ice cream sandwiches with these bad boys!

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spices (or cinnamon)

2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal 

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheatoven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice in a bowl.

In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed.  

Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the banana mixture with the flour mixture, then stir in the oatmeal packets until just combined. Stirin the chopped walnuts.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheets and bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.

Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tofu Cuon

Grilled + marinated tofu, rolled up and dipped into hoisin goodness! You’ll need:

Grilled tofu

Romaine lettuce, cut or ripped into about 4 inch long pieces

Cucumber

Rice paper

Somen noodles

Bean sprouts (optional)

Shredded carrots (optional)

Hoisin dipping sauce 

Grilled tofu

Zest of 1 orange

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tspns sesame oil

1/2 tspn soy sauce

1 tspn sugar

1 in. piece of fresh ginger, grated

1 minced garlic clove

1 tspn chili garlic sauce (look for a plastic jar that looks like it’s made from the brand that makes Siracha — in Vietnamese it’s called “tuong ot”)

1 block extra firm tofu 

Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch slabs and place on some paper towels. Place more paper towels over the tofu and put something heavy (look a heavy wooden cutting board) on top of the tofu. Press for about 15 minutes and throw away the paper towels.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Marinate the tofu in this mixture for at least 20 minutes. Heat a nonstick grill pan. Grill the tofu for about 3 minutes per side. Slice each slab in half lengthwise. 

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Hoisin Dipping Sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tspns. vegetable oil

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/2 cup water

1 tbspn. peanut butter (smooth or chunky, it doesn’t matter)

Chili garlic sauce, to taste

Heat up the vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add the minced garlic and sautee until translucent. Add the hoisin sauce and water and stir until well combined. Add the peanut butter and chili garlic sauce and stir. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add more peanut butter if you want a thicker sauce, add more water if you want it to be more watery.

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To make the rolls, dip the rice paper in a huge bowl of warm-almost boiling water. Place the rice paper on a flat dish. Lay out your ingredients at the end of the rice paper closest to you. I like this order: lettuce, cucumber, any other veggies, a small amount of noodles, and lastly the tofu. Fold the two sides of rice paper toward the middle. Roll up and you’re ready to eat!

About 4 rolls per person makes a filling meal.  You can also eat these as appetizers.

White Pizza + Turkey sausage + Red Onion

During one of my cooking frenzies, I made some lasagna to keep in the freezer for fall dinner emergencies. I had some leftover herbed ricotta cheese and mozzarella and was thinking about how I could turn these things into other dishes when I realized I could use both ingredients in a white pizza. 

My version is a little healthier (healthier not healthy) than what one would typically imagine a white pizza to be. However, you don’t feel any pangs of guilt or extreme heaviness after eating this combination of ingredients. Even if you eat half the pizza. Ahem.

I bought some fresh pizza dough from Picnic & Pantry and spread the herbed (skim) ricotta cheese, topped it with slices of part skim mozzarella, then topped all of that with some turkey sausage and red onions I sauteed in a little olive oil. The turkey sausage I buy is in casing, not the kind that resembles a hot dog. I popped all of this into a preheated 400F oven for about 20 minutes until it was nice and browned.

Sprinkle with dried red chili flakes (and garlic powder if you’re a New York girl like me) and enjoy a quick mid-week meal :)

Chicken & Shrimp Patty Noodle Bowl

I used udon/ramen like noodles here because I had them on hand, but ideally I would have used pho noodles. I’d recommend soaking them for at least 2 hours (you can pop them in a bowl of warm water in the morning), so that when it’s time to eat the noodle portions will be ready in about 1-2 minutes. The noodles should be prepared separately from the soup broth, in its own pot of water. Extra patties would be delicious in a sandwich Vietnamese style, with pickled veggies and jalepenos and siracha mayo. You can also cut them into strips and roll them up in a goi cuon style, with vermicelli noodles, cucumber, lettuce and a hoisin sauce dip!

These are the bare bones of the recipe:

Noodles + Chicken & Shrimp Patties + Bok Choy

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 lb. of shrimp, peeled

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup of oyster sauce

2 tbspns. of fish sauce (or more if you got some Vietnamese blood like me!)

Sesame seeds for crusting the meat patties

Vegetable oil

1 quart chicken stock, low sodium

A few slices of ginger

1/2 tbspn. of sugar  

Salt + pepper

Bok choy (about 4 halves per bowl)

Noodles

Lime wedges, optional

Throw the shrimp into a food processor and pulse a few times — the mixture should look like ground meat, not a paste. Combine the shrimp, ground chicken, garlic, 1/2 the oyster sauce and 1/2 the fish sauce. Form the meat into little meatballs, and roll them in the sesame seeds, flattening them slightly into discs. Heat the oil in a nonstick pan, and fry the patties in batches for about 3 minutes per side. Set them on the side on some paper towels while you prep everything else.

Grill the ginger pieces (I grilled three straight on my burner). Throw it into a pot with the chicken stock, the rest of the fish sauce, sugar and oyster sauce. Bring the broth to a boil and add salt & pepper to taste. If the broth is too intense, add more chicken stock.  

Prepare whatever noodles you’re using in a separate pot of water. Divide the noodles into however many bowls you’re preparing. Boil the bok choy for about 3-4 minutes. Top each bowl of noodles with 2-3 patties and 4 halves of bok choy. Pour the broth over the noodles and serve with lime wedges.  Slurp.

Slow Cooker Bacon Jam

 (from Martha Stewart)

1 lb. bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 yellow onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, smashed

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup vinegar (cider or basalmic)

3/4 cup brewed coffee

Brown the bacon. Remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon to dry on a paper towel, pour off most of the fat from the pan. Throw the onions and garlic into the pan and sautee until translucent. Throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir. When the mixture boils, throw in the bacon and stir to combine. 

Cook the mixture on high in a slow cooker for 3.5-4 hrs, with the lid off. When the mixture is ready, throw it into a food processor and pulse until it reaches the consistency you want (I didn’t want it to be too smooth). Spread it onto breakfast sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, make a bacon jam + goat cheese crostini, spread it onto a grilled cheese sandwich, make a fontina + bacon jam + fig pizza — I can’t wait to explore all the possibilities! 

JP

A new beginning, inspiration from Italy…

One of my first memories is of food. My mom used to make steak and fresh french fries, which was such a treat for us because we were so poor and this meal was so decadent. My love for food has only increased since then, and the joy I feel when I eat something delicious is topped only by the feeling I get when I cook something successfully. When I was a kid, my mom started me in the kitchen doing easy tasks like cutting jello for our tropical fruit cocktail, making sure every piece of lettuce was washed whenever we were going to roll something, making whatever nuoc mam mixture was appropriate for whatever we were eating. At some point, I started to learn how to cook the dishes my mom prepared regularly, and I progressed to experimenting with things which were never prepared in my house. Why did people hate brussel sprouts? I never had them, and I was so curious about why they got a bad rap. What did hamburger helper taste like? One of my proudest moments as a kid was my mom requesting that I prepare lasagna for my uncle who was visiting, because she said it was the best she ever tasted and wanted him to be able to taste it too. My love affair with food was born.

It has been 3 months and I still can’t stop thinking about all the beautiful and tasty food I had on my honeymoon in Italy. Both Tyler and I were rewarded every time we decided to order something adventurous on the menu. It has inspired me to do my best to make more dishes from scratch, and introduced me to modern Italian cuisine — chocolate pasta with a wild boar sauce, mussels + freshly made fetuccine + pickled peppers & garlic, so many things that tickled my taste buds. 

This blog.
I’ve been experimenting over the years with the idea of a food blog. I posted a ton of things on this site, then deleted all of it because I was embarrassed. I experimented with other internet platforms. But I am committed to keeping this up -- as I get older and evolve, so has my food personality and aesthetic, and here I hope to document my continuing journey with all things culinary. I will be posting links to recipes I've found and tried and had good success with, as well as my own recipes. My target? People like me who want to learn more techniques and ways to make things from scratch, but don't always have the time or skill to do that. People who want to make quick delicious meals, whether from scratch or using a few store bought ingredients to make a home-cooked meal. People who aren't stuck on one genre of food. People who see the beauty in food. My tumblr account, http://lapiglette.tumblr.com/, will be where I share snapshots of the food which I think is beautiful, shots of things I feel like I can taste through my screen.

I know there are a lot of people out there who roll their eyes at all us “amateurs” who gleefully snap a photo of our food before we take a bite, but food makes me indescribably happy, and how can you help but share a happy moment — be it with food or with people? Whenever I look at these photos from Italy, my mind and my senses are transported to two glorious weeks in my life. Maybe these photos will pique the senses of someone out there in the internet universe too….

jp