Rosemary Zucchini Bread

This wasn’t supposed to be a rosemary post.

In fact this had nothing to do with blogging. I had a ton of zucchini in my fridge that needed to be used so I did a simple search for zucchini bread via Food52 and the first recipe I clicked on had rosemary in it! What are the odds? So I stopped browsing because obviously this was the recipe that I was meant to make.

And now this summer, when your garden is overflowing with zucchini and your rosemary bush is huge and fragrent, you will be set. This recipe covers it all.

This isn’t traditional … it has yogurt in it, olive oil, orange juice, pecans and pine nuts. I’d call it hearty. And I always add chocolate chips to my banana or zucchini bread but I wasn’t sure if this savory combo of ingredients would work with chocolate or just be weird.

But those who know me best, know I can’t pass up chocolate, so I went for it!

I had an orange in my house. Just one. And I ate it yesterday. So instead of zest and fresh juice (which I’m sure would have been amazing) I poured just a splash of O.J. in.

As I was getting all the ingredients out, I pulled my Costco-size bag of chocolate chips down from the top shelf of the pantry, ate a few (of course) and set the bag, wide open on the table (dumb move). As I walked away, it promptly tipped over with half the bag ending up on the floor. Maybe it’s a sign from God I should be staying out of the chocolate chips?

The verdict? This doesn’t taste like cake or dessert like many banana and zuchhini breads do, but it’s really good. I’m not sure I get much of the rosemary flavor, but I think it gives it a unique little kick and the chocolate and nuts sure are delicious. I cut both loaves up into big fat slices, froze them and plan to grab them for breakfast on the days I commute.

There is one more rosemary recipe I really want to make. It’s the whole reason why I chose this ingredient for June, just so I could make this specific recipe. Amber ran across it too. But alas it’s not going to happen this month, so I may be posting one more, belated rosemary post in July. Stay tuned.

Rosemary Zucchini Bread

Recipe from Food52

Makes 2 loaves

3 Large eggs

1/2 cup of plain yogurt

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 3/4 cup of sugar

2 cups of zucchini; shredded

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary; finely minced

Zest of one orange (wish I had this!)

Juice from 1/2 of the orange (I used a splash of O.J.)

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of toasted pecans; chopped, or pine nuts (I used both, I like my bread nutty!)

Chocolate Chips (optional)


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans and set them aside.

In a large bowl beat the eggs. Mix in the yogurt, oil, and sugar. Then mix in the shredded zucchini, rosemary, orange zest, and orange juice. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and toasted nuts.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add a few big handfuls of chocolate chips.

Once the batter is well combined divide it evenly between the two loaf pans (I lined ‘em with parchment paper and sprinkled extra chocolate chips on top.)

Bake the loaves for one hour, give or take a few minutes, until a tester inserted comes out clean. My loaves took exactly one hour and were perfect.

Remove the loaves from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes inside the loaf pan before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Slice and eat!

Rosemary Gnocchi (For Giants)

I recently watched Fabio's super motivational clip (below) on how to make gnocchi and I was like, "That's it? I can do that." So I did...sort of. I figured why not dress it up with rosemary and see what happens.


First let me start by saying I am not a fan of the mixer. I'm really not a fan of extra kitchen gadgets in general. Okay really I'm just not a fan of doing extra dishes. But for this recipe I actually lugged out my hand mixer, climbed to the highest, darkest corner of my pantry to find a deep enough bowl and attempted homemade gnocchi. I actually had to buy all-purpose flour for this -- that's how un-baker I am.


The other factor in play is my lack of patience. I have no patience in the kitchen. I like shortcuts, I like to cheat; I like few ingredients that produce amazing results. That's not too much to ask is it? Well, fortunately I had Fabio at my back and his perfectly humorous analogies inspired me to go slow. I even let the potatoes cool. (You'll see...)


I was so close to doing Fabio proud.


It started to fall apart when I saw the mountain of dough in front of me and I realized I should've halved the recipe. I could make enough gnocchi to feed a small army. So instead of maybe freezing it or doing whatever you would do with that, I lost my patience and just started chopping the gnocchi into giant-sized pieces like it would somehow decrease the amount of food. Don't ask...


The result: I should've meditated, said a little prayer or whatever I needed to do to zen out like the kitchen ninja I'm not, and cut those little suckers smaller. They weren't bad but they were a little too doughy to take on the other flavors. The rosemary was a great addition in moderation (meaning my first batch I added way too much of it) and it definitely needed Parmesan. 


All in all, I learned my lesson: leave the gnocchi to my neighborhood Italian restaurant.

Fabio: He's not raising the bar for a good gnocchi, he IS the bar.

Traditional Potato Gnocchi
Recipe by Fabio Viviani
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
3 lbs. russet potatoes, baked
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Bake the potatoes the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator for a few hours, overnight if possible.
Peel and chop the baked potatoes.
Push the potatoes through a ricer or a food mill.
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Add the potatoes to the mixer and work for 5 minutes.
Remove the dough and shape into a fist sized ball. Press out any air bubbles. Roll into a tube and cut the gnocchi in about 1 inch pieces with a sharp knife.
Place the gnocchi in boiling water to cook. All the gnocchi is ready when the first pasta rises to the top of the boiling liquid.

Put oil, chopped or minced garlic, and chopped rosemary in a skillet. Place gnocchi in the skillet and cook till slightly beginning to brown. Enjoy!

Letting my ingredients "date" for a while.

You're right, Fabio! No need to add water...I totally would have.

This is where I get a very slight thrill (what I imagine bakers feel) when I realize it's looking like it should.
This feeling is short-lived.

Oh snap. How much more do I hafta roll?

Tonight's dinner will be: more gnocchi!
I'm going out for Mexican tomorrow night...  

Rosemary Salt French Bread

When I was growing up, some of my fondest memories are of my mother baking French bread in the kitchen, her purple and white flowered apron tied loosely around her neck and waist, a kitchen towel draped over her shoulder. I would wait patiently for the bread to rise in a bowl, and when it was time, I got the joy of punching it with my little fist. Even though my parents no longer live in Nevada where I grew up, I swear it feels just like home when I walk into their Tucson house, my mother never failing to make a couple of warm aromatic loaves on the day I arrive. (I usually request it with a side of Swiss cheese fondue…)

I’ve always been a little intimidated to try baking the bread myself; after all, no one will ever make it as good as my mother. But when Emily proclaimed June as Rosemary month, I thought this was as good a time as ever. You see, I love Rosemary in bread and if I could incorporate the fragrant, pine-like herb into my mother’s famous french bread recipe (just like Jolie added it to her bread), it just might make it different enough that I wouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t turn out the same, and creative enough to go on Beauties and the Feast.

The thing about this bread is that there are very few ingredients and it is actually easy to make but by the time I finished it I felt like I had birthed a bread baby. It took lots of patience and nurturing. But it was fun, too, and the perfect thing to do on a Saturday. I called my mom about 15 times during the process and even sent her a picture I took with my phone of the yeast to make sure I didn’t kill it.

Before you read any farther, I must warn you that if you plan to make this bread, start the process 5 hours before projected dinner time. I hope I didn't scare you off, it is just that this bread takes a lot of time sitting and rising, just go and do other things while it does.

Ingredients
-1 Package Active dry yeast (1 tablespoon)
-1 cup warm water
-1/2 cup scalded milk
-1 tablespoon sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1 tablespoon oil
-4 cups flour
* 1 heaping tablespoon of chopped, fresh rosemary, and a couple of pinches of sea salt if you'd like to make Klaire Pirtle's traditionally delicious recipe turn into Rosemary Salt French Bread.

Directions
1) Sprinkle yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast).

2) Scald the 1/2 cup of milk by putting it in a microwavable bowl or cup and heating it in the microwave until a film forms at the top. Stick it in the refrigerator or freezer to cool for a few minutes.

3) In a large bowl dissolve sugar, salt and oil in remaining water and add cooled milk.

4) Add yeast mixture and rosemary and mix well.

5) Add flour a little at a time. Knead dough until it is workable and comes off the side of the bowl.

6) Cover with a towel and let it rise in a greased, warm bowl until double in size. (aprx. 1.5 hours), then the fun part: punch it!

7) Turn dough on lightly floured board, divide in half and let balls stand 10 minutes.

8) Roll each ball into a long loaf, place on greased cookie sheet and score 6 times.

9) Sprinkle sea salt on the top of the loaves.

10) Cover with a towel and let the loaves rise 1.5 hours or until double in size.

11) Bake 425 degrees for the first 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees for about 1/2 hour. Right before it is ready to come out of the oven, brush bread with butter. Bake 3 minutes longer.

Behold the bread babies. They are twins. I am so proud.

I made some spaghetti with homemade meatballs to go with the bread. This was a very wise choice. I want to eat this all over again and it is only 9:00 in the morning.

Asher loved his bread and by the time he was done eating, he looked like any self-respecting two year old would: covered head to toe in spaghetti noodles AND sauce. I proclaimed it bath night.

When my mother was visiting us a couple of years ago while we awaited the birth of baby Asher, she and I did a lot of cooking. Here she is with a then 2 1/2 year old Ansen making M'nM cookies with her signature towel over her shoulder. Lucky Ansen that he got to do so much cooking with Buggie and lucky me that I got to do so much eating. I was 15 months pregnant after-all.

Go-To Rosemary Salmon and Veggies

I was not going to post this. I have another rosemary recipe I want to try that is going to be a little more work and if it works out I'm going to be ready for some serious accolades (so be ready to dish them out).

Then I started thinking if there's anyone out there like me, you want that 3-5 ingredient weeknight dinner idea. Don't you? Don't lie. We can't all be Martha all the time. I don't care how bomb you are. So here you go: My go-to rosemary meal. 

Lemon Rosemary Salmon and Veggies

Salmon filet

Lawry's Lemon Marinade

Lemon sea salt flakes

Rosemary, chopped

Combine all ingredients over top of salmon filet (in a little foil boat) and cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Way more awesome if you let it marinate for a few hours in advance. Optional: lemon pepper. Or if you're not super gourmet like me and you don't have lemon sea salt flakes on hand, try the lemon pepper and regular sea salt instead. PS: I'm not super gourmet; I don't even know how I ended up with lemon sea salt flakes in my cupboard. Seriously. Do those expire?

For this meal, I just happened to cut up some potato and green beans, spread them out on a pan with garlic oil, salt, pepper and a little butter. Topped with more chopped rosemary and let those suckers bake with the salmon. Open a package salad, dress it up with almonds, avocado and carrot shavings -- you have yourself a winner winner salmon dinner!

Not even Instagram could fix this ghetto photo to make it look more appetizing. Dammit. I swear it's good.

Behold...the child went in for salad. I almost fainted.

~ Posted by Missy

Cherry, Brie, Caramelized Onion & Rosemary Flat Bread

When we do pizza night I like to experiment so I usually balance out one non-traditional pizza with a regular ol’ pepperoni just in case pizza number one isn’t amazing. Friday night I went out on a limb and made a pizza fitting for my rosemary post and another to enter into Whole Food’s berry recipe contest... and these weren't your ordinary pizzas!

Then I got nervous that Curtis would turn up his nose at both, so I did a third pepperoni, just to be safe. Yes, three pizzas for two people. That's how we roll. Then we voted and here were the results:

Curtis: 
3rd choice: Smoked Salmon, Blueberry & Arugula (this is the recipe I'm entering in the berry contest)

2nd choice: Cherry, Brie, Rosemary & Caramelized Onion
The Winner: Pepperoni (are you surprised?) 

Emily:
3rd choice: Smoked Salmon, Blueberry & Arugula
2nd choice: Pepperoni
The Winner: Cherry, Brie, Rosemary & Caramelized Onion

I wish the cherry, brie & rosemary pizza would have made a clean sweep, but I’m happy Curtis liked it much better than he anticipated and gave it his number two vote! It was not only pretty, but a really incredible flavor combination and the rosemary shined. I can’t wait to make this again!

We ate this pizza / flat bread for dinner (obviously) but it would also make a fun appetizer. Or you could take the same concept and make a pretty simple bruschetta: sliced and toasted baguette topped with brie, ½ a cherry and a sprinkle of rosemary and then broiled for a few seconds.

What are your favorite pizza toppings?

Roasted Cherry and Brie Pizza
Adapted From The Little Yellow Kitchen

Ingredients
Cooking spray & cornmeal
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Brie cheese, 8-10 slices
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced and caramelized
Pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Pizza dough, store bought or homemade, here’s my favorite recipe

Directions
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (with a pizza stone or tile inside, if you have one).

Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet and add onions. Cook on low for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Onions should be a deep brown and caramelized but not crispy when finished (If you want to cheat, add a little brown sugar, salt and red pepper flakes… and you’ll have perfectly caramelized onions!)

Simmer balsamic on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until it is a syrup consistency. Set aside. (I just used aged balsamic and forgot to drizzle it on until after Curtis took the pictures, but it was a delicious addition!)

Take a piece of foil and spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with cornmeal (to keep the crust from sticking). Spread the pizza dough out by pushing it with your fingers, no need to use a rolling pin. Brush olive oil over dough and sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Put the crust (still on the foil) on the pizza stone and bake for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and lay the slices of brie over the dough. Pile on cherries, caramelized onions, pine nuts and sprinkle with fresh rosemary. Bake an additional 8 minutes or until the crust is golden and the brie is bubbly.

Remove from the oven and garnish with extra rosemary and drizzle aged or reduced balsamic on it. Delish!

~ Posted by Emily 

Two Months in One: Almost No-Knead Bread

I am excited to present to you my two months into one post. Hey, I am in the busy mom category and I am doing my best! I have been holding onto this recipe for a long time because I didn’t have a Dutch oven until Christmas so I am proud to say I finally used it and it was worth the wait.

We spend each Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Lotz/Bay family. They have been friends with my parents for as long as I am old… Allison is a busy mom of 3 boys and shows up every year with some really cool food items, while I still glorify my cranberry sauce. She makes this home made bread that looks store bought and I asked her for the recipe.

The recipe is called “Almost No-Knead Bread” from America’s Test Kitchen. I actually enjoy reading their recipes because they test the same recipe different ways and explain why you do certain parts to the process—like the reason for using the Dutch Oven. This is the perfect item to bring when invited to dinner and that is just what I did! Pairing it with artichoke tapenade and steamed artichokes met my May goal.

It’s really wordy but actually super fast and easy:

An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy stockpot. (See the related information in "High-Heat Baking in a Dutch Oven" for information on converting Dutch oven handles to work safely in a hot oven.) Use a mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser (mild non-alcoholic lager also works). The bread is best eaten the day it is baked but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days and makes one loaf.


3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15oz) 
¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast 
1 ½ teaspoons table salt 
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water, at room temperature (7oz) 
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3oz) 
1 tablespoon white vinegar 


1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours. 

2. Lay 12 by 18 inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seem side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not really spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours. 

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6 to 8 quart heavy-bottomed Dutch over (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, ½ inch deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

I’m not saying I didn’t forget to turn the temperature back down, or catch the parchment paper on fire briefly, or slightly burn the bottom of the bread. (I also don’t have a thermometer.) But even with these barriers it turned out great and I managed to impress the Falkin family! (Thank you to the Falkin family for a great dinner, always looking out for Mason when his mom is late, and I’ll be hitting you up for that bagel recipe!)

Now to squeeze in the June ingredient: Rosemary. Use the same recipe above and in the dry mix add 1 tablespoon of minced fresh rosemary and 4 oz finely grated Parmesan cheese. In the liquid mixture add ½ cup of chopped green olives. Then follow the same instructions.

Which beauty will host our family for dinner, so I can have an excuse to make this again?!

June’s Ingredient: Rosemary

I had no idea how much fun this new “secret ingredient” concept for Beauties and the Feast would be. I know I’m a big dork, but every month I get seriously excited and have anticipation waiting for the new ingredient to be revealed. And when I watch Iron Chef America and Chopped, I take note of the ingredients they use and recipes they create, stocking away ideas. I know, maybe I should get a life, but my life and hobbies revolve around being in the kitchen, so this is really fun for me!

For the past five months I’ve been brain storming and making a list of ingredient ideas so when my turn to choose the ingredient came up, I’d be ready. But who knew it would be so hard to pick!? It’s a lot of pressure to pick the ideal ingredient that’s seasonal, will result in six or more good recipes, will be exciting, yet not so tough that it deters people from wanting to cook with it.

My first choice was to pick chives because  I specifically wanted to make this recipe for savory chive brioches. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized chives are really more of a garnish and not the star of most dishes. And I could make the brioches anyway. And I did. And they were delicious.

Then I decided on another, more jazzy ingredient, but I’m not going to tell you what it is, because I may save it for round 2.

I was a little hesitant to pick rosemary because it’s green. I thought I should mix it up since we’ve already had kale and artichokes as featured ingredients. But then I thought of all the dishes you can make using rosemary ranging from savory meat dishes and appetizers to sweet desserts and of course, cocktails! You really can’t go wrong! Here’s a recipe for my favorite savory rosemary biscuits (especially divine when spread with copious amounts of honey butter!) and my mom makes a rosemary caramel that’s to die for. And we all remember Jenny’s recipe for Rosemary Greyhound Martinis, now one of my favorite cocktail recipes!

And since my herb garden is overflowing with rosemary, I can’t wait for a collection of new recipes to try.

This is a Rosemary tree I picked up at Trader Joe's 

Here are a few fun rosemary facts:

• Rosemary is a member of the mint family
• It can live without being watered as long as it’s in a climate near the sea with enough humidity in the air
• Rosemary is said to improve the memory
• Folklore: In the middle ages rosemary was a love charm. Newlywed couples would plant a branch of rosemary on their wedding day. If the branch grew, it was a good omen for the union and family.