January 21st: chili, no-knead bread

When we were home over Christmas, I had a wonderful reunion with my lifelong friends I barely ever see anymore, Devin and Gregory. It's funny how some people just feel right in your life. We got together at Devin and Rebecca's house, and Rebecca made us chili. I'm picky when it comes to chili (maybe a few other things too), so I took a small bowl, ate it, then went back for a bigger bowl. Turns out Rebecca is a great cook and between her amazing chili and her Michael Smith Chef at Home-esque pantry, I believe we may in fact be kindred spirits.

Rebecca's chili had stewing beef in it rather than ground beef, and I knew as I was eating it, I would have to give such a go at home. I did so last night, to some success. I think Rebecca's might have been better than mine, but I'm not sure what I could change. I started with a base I've made before, from January 2010's Chatelaine: Smoky white-bean chili, then doubled the ingredients and adapted it for a longer cook time. Mine went like this:

Stewing Beef Chili

2 lbs (1 kg) stewing beef
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp (30 mL) chili powder
2 tbsp (30 mL) dried oregano leaves
6 chipotle peppers, in abodo sauce
2 x 28-oz (796-mL) can whole tomatoes, preferably without added salt
2 red peppers
2 onions
2 x 19-oz (540-mL) can white kidney or navy beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste

Lightly coat a large pot with vegetable oil and set over medium-high heat. Add half the meat and sear, then remove from pan. Repeat with remaining meat. Return all meat to pot and add garlic, chili powder and oregano. Stir well. Finely chop chipotles and add to pot, along with tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for several hours (3-5).

One hour before serving, chop pepper and onion and stir into pot, along with beans. Cook until vegetables are tender. Serve with grated sharp cheddar and sour cream.

Makes 8 servings.


I used the 6 chipotle peppers, but the chili was on the spicy side and Olivia wasn't digging the heat, so I recommend cutting back for spice sensitivities. Michael Smith told me years ago (via TV) that when cooking with canned tomatoes, I should only ever use whole tomatoes, so I do. I used dried beans, quick-soaked the Mark Bittman way, but they were still a little underdone after a couple hours bubbling away in the chili. Guess I should have pre-cooked them, or used the canned variety called for.

I served the chili with no-knead bread:

No-Knead Bread


3 cups (430g) flour
¼ teaspoon (1g) yeast
1¼ teaspoon (8g) salt
1½ cups (345g or 12oz) water
olive oil (for coating)
extra flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (for dusting)


Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature (approx. 65-72°F).

Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. Next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450-500°F. Place 6 to 8 quart pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Makes 1 loaf.


I used 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat. The type of yeast isn't indicated, but I used quick rise. I used lukewarm water.

March 30th: Challah

Usually for Easter weekend, I make a big, fancy, Easter dinner. This year, I decided to forgo the usual, and I made bread instead. I have a 1 year old. I can't make bread and a big dinner. I know women used to be able to pull off this kind of thing, but I don't know how they did it.

Olivia and I made Challah, a Jewish sweet bread, from March 2013's Chatelaine. It made two large loaves, and they were fabulous. Rave reviews everywhere we took the bread. Especially delicious hot from the oven, with butter.

Will do again!

March 23rd: Baked 3-cheese tomato strata

From October 2012's Chatelaine (but I feel like I made this once ages ago?): Baked 3-cheese tomato strata, or, as I call it: egg-filled bread. Basically a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with eggs and baked until they are done. Wait until the eggs puff up, or else they will be runny inside! Lesson learned the hard way. Topped with roasted tomatoes, pretty much the only way I like tomatoes, and so yummy.

Eggs NOT puffed up enough. Runny when cut open.
Back into the oven with ye.

Individual serving with oh-so-delicious roasted tomatoes.

November 14th: pear & cranberry muffins, artisan bread take 2, bean-free chili

Verdict:
Keeper: muffins, artisan bread, bean-free chili

Today, I managed to avoid leaving the house even once, which makes an amazing difference in the number of hours one can devote to one's past times, in my case meaning hours in the kitchen. I likely would have spent the same number of hours in the kitchen, but been more stressed out, if I had done things that needed to be done, like gone to the grocery store and the drug store. I'll worry about those things later.

During my multitudinous hours in the kitchen, I made pear and cranberry muffins and I prepped dough for gingerbread cookies (more on those whenever I get around to baking them). This was a second go-around for the muffins, and these are really good muffins, though I would say they are closer to a cupcake in terms of the amount of sugar in them. That must be why they taste so good. I think I'll keep this recipe; I just need to see what I think after eating one tomorrow for breakfast.

The recipe came from the Ottawa Citizen, November 2009, and I believe it may be a Karen Barnaby (Fish House Restaurant, Stanley Park, Vancouver) recipe, but I can't confirm that.

Pear and Cranberry Muffins

1/2 cup (125 mL) brown sugar, firmly packed
6 tablespoons (90 mL) flour*
1/4 cup (60 mL) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup (160 mL) vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (125 mL) water
2 teaspoons (10 mL) apple cider vinegar
2 1/4 cups (560 mL) flour*
1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
2 cups (500 mL) cored ripe pear (about 1 1/2 pears), diced into 1/2-inch (1-cm) chunks
1/2 cup (125 mL) dried cranberries (or raisins, if preferred)

*I used a combination of all-purpose white and whole wheat flours

Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C).

Prepare a 15-cup muffin tin.

To make the topping, combine the 1/2 cup (125 mL) brown sugar, 6 tablespoons (90 mL) flour, butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix until crumbly.

Beat the 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Combine the water and vinegar.

Sift the flour, soda and salt together and blend into the oil mixture alternately with the water.

Add the pears and cranberries and mix until just combined. Spoon into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle generously with the topping.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched.

Makes 15 muffins (or 12 muffins and 12 mini muffins) (mini muffins take 20 minutes to bake)

For supper, I whipped up artisan bread for the second time, with a few modifications. I wasn't planning to make the bread, but Patricia called me Saturday night as she was in the process of making the bread and I was inspired to make it as well. This time, though, I followed the recipe from Cook's Illustrated, which took the original Sullivan Street Bakery bread, reduced the liquid, and added in a bit of kneading to the process. Rather than using all water as the liquid, this one is a combination of water, beer and vinegar. The loaf turned out better than my first try, probably at least in part because I saved a few pieces of Saran from some mushrooms I bought and used those as plastic wrap over my bowl as I let the dough rise over night. I think I'll stick with this recipe in future; this loaf was more attractive, cooked perfectly, and tasted amazing.

To accompany the bread for supper I made a bean-free chili. This was a re-try from November 2009's Chatelaine: South-of-the-border sauce. The recipe I am keeping; the name I am not. This is a cross between a pasta sauce and a chili, without the pasta or the beans, the two parts I like the least. It's like it was meant to be. The recipe suggests serving the sauce on bread, which is what we did last year, and we didn't like that, so today we just ate it in bowls, à la chili, with bread on the side. This was the ideal way to eat it. Suggested toppings are sour cream and cheddar cheese (good) and avocado, which would probably be fabulous, but mine didn't ripen enough from the time I bought it on Friday. That's what happens when I plan meals last minute, as I did with this one. Had I known in advance I would need an avocado, I would have bought it a week ago.

Greg is in love with the bread, and me because of it. He swore tonight was the best meal we've ever had ever.

I'm off to Montreal for the next few days for work, so there will be no blogging for a bit. :)