Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Shaved Broccoli Stalk Feta Salad #BloggerCLUE

Finally, a fabulous use for the oft-wasted broccoli stalks, this salad with lime juice and feta is simple, fresh and delicious!

This month for Blogger C.L.U.E. Society, my assigned blog is Taking on Magazines, internet home of Christiane, one of the founders of our little group, where we get together once a month using the same clue - ingredient or theme - and search through our partner blog to find tastiness to recreate. With many people trying to start the new year off right, our clue for January is “healthy eating.” Christiane says herself that her recipes don’t have a focus on health but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t tempted by several of them, including her Bibb Lettuce with Citrus Herb Dressing, Vietnamese Caramel Pork and Garlicky Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Spinach, which she swears is healthy, honest! I can tell you they all look delicious!

In fact, I ended up making two dishes, her Superfast Crispy Chicken Thighs, which are started on the stovetop and then finished in the oven, crisp fried in only 1 scant tablespoon of oil, and the fresh salad I’m sharing today. Man, those thighs were good! So good, in fact, that they were eaten before I could take a decent “finished” photo. And I cannot tell you how long it’s been since that happened!

Exhibit A


Thank goodness I had planned to make the broccoli stalk salad too. I was excited to use a part of the broccoli that I know many people discard and put it on center stage.

Even though Christiane says, “serve immediately,” I wasn’t taking any chances with not getting a photo of the salad. I made it in the afternoon and took the photos well ahead of dinner. I am pleased to say that the shaved broccoli was still crunchy, fresh and delicious a couple of hours later!

Ingredients
Leaves and stalks from 1 bunch broccoli (2-3 fat stalks)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Flakey sea salt and black pepper
1/4 cup or 28g crumbled cotija or feta cheese
Optional: few slices of radish - my addition.

Method
Cut the very hard outsides off of the broccoli stems. Nip off the leaves and save them. My broccoli didn’t have very many leaves, so just for a little more green, I also kept one tiny floret cut into small bits.



Use a sharp potato peeler to trim off any more stringy hard bits and discard them.

Continue shaving off thin slices of the stalks with the potato peeler until they are all gone.



And you are left with this:

Pile the strips in a bowl and add in the oil and lime juice. Sprinkle on the sea salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Give it all a good toss to coat.



Crumble on the feta and stir gently. Add a few slices of radish if desired.


Serve immediately or refrigerate covered until ready to serve.



Enjoy!

Our participating society members this month, with their Healthy Eating picks:
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Dimbleby's Breastfeeding Bread #BreadBakers

A flavorful, low gluten bread made with spelt flour, this subtly spiced loaf is divine toasted, which enhances the nuttiness of the pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and sunflower seeds.

First, let me set your mind at ease by saying that I am not going to tell you my lactation stories, although I did nurse both daughters until they were 13 months old. Nor will there be a single photo of anyone’s breastal region, although I firmly back your right to bare yours if you are feeding your baby, even in public. (Oh, the strange and wonderful places that I have bared mine for the cause... but I promised.)

The name of this bread recipe comes from its creator, one Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of the highly successful Leon restaurants and food writer for the Guardian, who wanted to use up a packet of spices given to him to make an infusion for his wife, supposedly to stimulate her milk production, just after she had given birth. He made the hot drink, tasted it and decided that his wife had suffered enough. So he used the rest of the spices to bake bread, which seemed to have the desired effect in a much more appetizing package. He assures his readers, so I duly assure you on his behalf, that it works only on lactating women; the rest of us can enjoy it for the taste.

This month Bread Bakers is hosted by Robin of A Shaggy Dough Story, who challenged us all to make bread using only ancient grains, defined loosely as grains that have remained largely unchanged/un-hybridized over the last several hundred years, which means NO MODERN WHEAT. Some examples include spelt, quinoa, millet, sorghum, amaranth, teff, freekeh, chia seeds, farro, kamut and einkorn. I already had a bag of spelt flour hanging out in my freezer from before I made these super fudgy brownies, so that’s where I started my recipe search. Many thanks to Robin for this most excellent challenge! If you haven't read A Shaggy Dough Story, do head over there. Robin is an over-achiever that grinds her own flour, bakes gorgeous loaves and takes beautiful photographs, but I love her most because of her fabulous sense of humor.

Mr. Dimbleby’s recipe makes three loaves so I have adapted the ingredients for only one deliciously nutty spelt loaf. Check out the original, if you’d like three on hand. He says they freeze well in freezer bags.

Ingredients
Soft butter, for greasing your loaf pan

For the bread dough:
1 teaspoon aniseed
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek
4 1/8 cups or 500g strong wholemeal spelt flour
7g fast-acting dried yeast (I used Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise.)
2 teaspoons sea salt flakes (Use less if yours is fine grain.)
1/4 cup or 50g pine nuts of which: 1 tablespoon set aside
1/4 cup or 50g pumpkin seeds of which: 1 tablespoon set aside
1/4 cup or 50g  sunflower seeds of which: 1 tablespoon set aside
3 tablespoons or 45ml extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups or 350ml warm water

For the egg wash:
1 egg
Splash water

To decorate:
1 tablespoon of each of the pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, set aside from the original amounts for the dough.

Method
Grease your bread pan generously with softened butter and set aside, along with your one tablespoon of each pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds for decorating.

Grind your spices with a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.



Mix all of your dry ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a bowl large enough to knead the dough in.

Add in the oil and mix well.



Add in the warm water and mix again.



Knead with your bread hook or by hand in your bowl for just a few minutes, until smooth. Mr. Dimbleby says you can add more flour if necessary but “wetter is better.” I was using my bread hook so I just kept going. The dough was very slack and it would have been very sticky to knead by hand, so do what you need to, if you don’t have a machine.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and use damp hands to shape it into a loaf and pop it into your buttered loaf pan.

Whisk the egg with a splash of water to create an egg wash.

Cut some slashes into the top of the dough and then brush it with your egg wash.



Sprinkle on the reserved seeds and nuts, tapping them down gently so they stick.



Place in a large plastic bag in warm place and leave to rise until doubled. When my kitchen is cold, as it is this time of year, I like to partially fill one basin of my sink with hot tap water (about halfway up the loaf pan) and place the loaf pan in the water, covering the whole basin with a large cutting board and “sealing” the gaps with multiple dishcloths. Behold!





When your dough is nearly ready, preheat your oven to 450°F or 220°C.



Bake the bread for the first 20 minutes at that temperature, then turn the oven down to 400°F or 200°C for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cover with foil if your toppings look like they might begin to scorch.

Turn out to cool on a wire rack.



Enjoy!



Do you like to bake using ancient grains? Hope we inspire you to try if you haven't before. And give you a few new ideas if you are already a fan. Here's what our creative bakers came up with.
BreadBakers
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.




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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Coronation Chicken Filled Croissant Horns #FoodieExtravaganza


Curry powder and fruit chutney spice up the creamy sauce for coronation chicken, classic British picnic fare. Serve it stuffed in croissants for a pretty party dish.

I was sitting, nay, lounging (because it was New Year’s Day and there was Champagne!) in the Emirates Airlines lounge in London Gatwick airport just a few days ago, when I decided to check out the cold buffet. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being in an Emirates lounge, you know that the dishes on offer are always tasty as well as presented in a most beautiful manner. But for once, I was disappointed. Oh, the coronation chicken was beautiful, spooned as it was onto a crispy green lettuce leaf, surrounded by fanned out slices of fresh apple and mango. But it was missing the zip of curry and chutney I’ve come to expect with this dish, which is one of my favorites. All in all, it was rather bland. When I expressed my dismay, my husband smiled, “Now you’ll have to make your own, right?” That man does know me.

So here I am with my coronation chicken, a recipe compiled from several found in my cookbooks and on the internet. The unifying theme of each seems to be the sauce, made with varying proportions of cream or mayonnaise and yogurt or even just mayo, with the addition of curry powder and chutney, usually with some lime or lemon juice. Some had apples, some celery. Tomato paste and no tomato paste. Others added blueberries, mango, dried apricots or sultanas to the mix. Some started with roast chicken, pulled off the bones; others with chopped poached breasts and yet others didn’t specify how the chicken should be cooked. Only that it should be. SO MANY RECIPES.

I’m sharing it today stuffed into disemboweled croissants. Yes, I just used disemboweled on a food blog. It’s one of those lovely English words that sounds exactly as it should, don’t you think? This month’s Foodie Extravaganza theme is croissants so I briefly considered making some puff pastry horns in which to serve my coronation chicken. I even own the little metal forms around which to bake the pastry. But it’s been a busy week and, frankly, it’s way easier for all of us to hollow out some fresh croissants from a nearby bakery and fill them.

And don’t they look pretty? Best part of all, of course, is the spicy coronation chicken inside.



With many thanks to Rosemary Hume, the original creator of the recipe for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II plus Delia Smith, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and all the other innovators who have come along since, this is my rendition.

Ingredients
For the sauce:
3/4 cup or 170g mayonnaise
1/2 cup or 125g plain thick Greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon hot curry powder, or to taste
2 tablespoons spicy fruity chutney (I used my own habanero nectarine kumquat chutney.)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Optional but recommended: 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
1.1 lbs or 500g chicken breasts (Just two large breasts in my packet.)
1/4 cup or 45g pomegranate arils, plus extra to garnish, if desired
1/2 medium-sized tart apple (I used a Jazz weighing about 170g whole.)
Generous squeeze lemon juice (to keep the apple from browning)

To serve:
7-8 fresh croissants
Optional: some small lettuce leaves (They keep your plate clean, if that even matters to you. Otherwise, give your guests a fork as well.)

Method
Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise through their middles so they will cook faster.

Poach them in lightly salted water to cover, until just cooked through. This shouldn't take more than about 10-12 minutes, depending on the thickness.

Still slightly pink in the middle. 
Drain and set aside to cool. You can pop them into the refrigerator to speed up the process.

Mix all of your sauce ingredients in a large bowl, big enough to hold your chicken and other ingredients later, with room for stirring.



Add a good squeeze of lemon juice to a small bowl. Peel, core and dice your apple, sliding the pieces off of the chopping board and into the lemon juice, stirring to mix the apple with the lemon juice, as you go.



Once the chicken is cool, chop it into small pieces. Tip it into the sauce with the pomegranate arils and chopped apple.


Stir well. Taste the mixture and add more salt if necessary. This can be used immediately but will taste better if allowed to hang out in the refrigerator for a few hours, covered with cling film.

When you are ready to serve, cut your croissants in half and use a sharp knife to cut all around the inside to remove the middle. Once you’ve gotten as much as you can out, use your index finger to press around inside the half croissant to expand the space.

I was surprised to find that my croissants had herbs inside. But it was a pleasant surprise. 


Fill the croissant horn with coronation chicken, pushing it right to the bottom with a small spoon. Lay the horn on a leaf of lettuce, if using, or straight on a serving plate, if not.


Garnish with a few pomegranate arils for color.



Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month's Foodie Extravaganza host, Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas. Check out all the great croissant and crescent roll recipes we've got for you!


Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out here.

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