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?!

The best way to cook an artichoke

I’m an artichoke purist.  What I mean by this is that there’s almost nothing I love better than a steamed artichoke with the leaves dipped in salted butter.  There are a few problems with eating an artichoke this way, though (Insert cheesy info-mercial where you see a clumsy person trying to eat a leaf dipped in butter but getting greasy chin and dropping butter all over his clothes—“This just won’t do!”)

So since this month is artichoke month I started researching other ways to cook an artichoke, while still keeping it in its truest form.  I knew I couldn’t steam it for a blog post because that’s a little boring, but what I did find was an EXCITING way to cook an artichoke while still keeping it plain and simple. 

You bake it.  Yep.  Get ready to get your mind blown.  I’ll never steam an artichoke again. it's a little more prep on the front end but way easier to eat after it's cooked.  Now if only I could invent a kitchen contraption that would do it all for me--I could be rich!

Ingredients
2 Artichokes, prepped (see directions below)
1 cup veggie or chicken broth

For Rub:

2 tbsps. olive oil
1 lemon, squeezed
1 tsp. sea salt
3-4 cloves garlic, diced

How to Prep your artichokes

Cut off about an inch at the top, trim the leaves, and cut in half.  Use a spoon to hollow out the fuzzy hairs. 

For some reason this is the only picture I got of prepping the artichoke.  I clearly need practice in being a food blogger.  Now picture this artichoke cut in half, and the fuzzy hairs scooped out.  Ok?  Good, let's move on.

Directions

Combine Artichoke Rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix together.  Prep your artichokes.  Smother your prepped artichokes in artichoke rub (get all up in that artichoke) and place them face down in a casserole dish.  It is important that you make the rub prior to prepping your 'chokes so that you can rub them immediately after you've cut them.  The lemon in the rub will keep them from browning.  After placing your artichokes face down in the casserole dish, pour in the chicken or veggie broth and cover with a lid (tin foil will do).  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half (may be less, just check them after an hour.  You’ll know they are done when the outer leaves are soft and edible).

Before going into the oven

After baking. Yum!

Oh yeah.

Another angle.  Work it, girl!

This picture makes me want to bite my screen.

Review
This was the best artichoke I have ever had in my life.  My husband was able to eat his so fast (no dipping!) I swear he could have won an artichoke eating contest.  We each had an entire artichoke to ourselves, no problem.  Kids didn’t want to try them but that was fine by me; I didn’t push it.

And in the spirit of Artichoke month at BATF, here are a few other inspiring things you can do with this crazy perennial thistle:

Artichoke as a fashion statement

What Kevin Spacey was really dreaming about

Come here, little baby artichoke and let me pose with you as if you were a precious egg on my wedding day.

I don't know, guys.  Just because it's on pinterest doesn't mean it's a good idea.  Just sayin'.

Um... ya.

Stuffed Artichokes

We welcome another guest post from Megan's sister, Nancy!

Nancy writes:

I was really excited to see this months ingredient, these Beauties have fantastic ideas! Artichokes have been a long time family favorite. In fact, when we lived in Maine when I was in high school, you couldn't buy artichokes, and when our aunt came to visit from California she would bring them in her suitcase.

My attempt at stuffed artichokes was inspired by an amazing meal I had in Rome many years ago. I have had Italy on my mind as I am heading there this October to celebrate my...let's just say a recent milestone birthday. I decided since I still have a few months to go, I would attempt to make these artichokes at home. I did a bit of research on a variety of stuffed artichoke options, but since the artichoke of my remembered dreams had bread crumbs, I opted for a this recipe. There is a bit of effort associated with the actually 'stuffing' but it wasn't as bad as I thought! This recipe is from Saveur.com.  

Stuffed Artichokes

4 large, full-size artichokes
1 lemon, halved (this prevents the artichoke from turning too brown)
1 3⁄4 cups dried bread crumbs
1 cup grated pecorino (I used a pecorino romano blend)
1⁄3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tsp. kosher salt (don't overdo the salt, the cheese is pretty salty)
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1. Using a serrated knife, cut off artichoke stems to create a flat bottom. Cut top thirds off artichokes, pull off tough outermost leaves, and trim tips of leaves with kitchen shears. Rub cut parts with lemon halves. Open artichoke leaves with your thumbs to make room for stuffing; set aside.

I was surprised at how much the artichoke actually opened by using your thumbs to separate the leaves! 

2. Heat oven to 425°. In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, 3⁄4 cup pecorino, parsley, salt, pepper, and garlic. Working with one artichoke at a time over bowl, sprinkle one-quarter of bread crumb mixture over the artichoke and work it in between leaves. Transfer stuffed artichoke to a shallow baking dish. Drizzle each artichoke with 1 tbsp. oil.

Ready to bake

3. Pour in boiling water to a depth of 1". Rub 1 tbsp. olive oil on a sheet of aluminum foil, cover artichokes with foil (oiled side down), and secure foil tightly around dish with kitchen twine. Bake until a knife easily slides into the base of an artichoke, about 45 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle tops with remaining cheese, and switch oven to broil. Broil until tops of artichokes are golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Dinner is served!

This recipe has a great tip - using a serrated knife to trim and shape the artichokes made it so much easier. Also this recipe doesn't require you to clean out the choke, which made it easier to manage. Once you got the heart, it was a simple effort to trim as you ate.

I made this for a dinner we had last weekend, and they were a hit. I really loved the crispy breadcrumb/cheese combo, although the stuffing that was pushed further down into the leaves was not crispy enough for me. My dinner guests didn't seem to mind. I served them with a stuffed chicken breast, wild rice, and roasted green beans.

Happy artichoke-stuffing!

Ali’s Artichoke and Mushroom Lasagna

Welcome guest blogger Ali, who in the spirit of Beauties and the Feast gave cooking with artichokes a try for the first time!

Ali writes:

Hello Beauties!

After hearing about the ‘Beauties and the Feast’ from Em and Missy, and in particular the ingredient of the month challenge, I felt the urge to get involved.  No, I am not a good cook.  In fact, I am a terrible cook.  I have no idea what goes wrong – I follow recipes but somehow things usually turn out bad – at least more than 60% of the time.  My husband is the cook in our household – which is great, but we are about to have baby #2 and I will be home all day for the next 3 months (with no excuse not to cook the evening meal – I’ve been warned), and it would be nice for him to come home to a NICE meal. 

So, I need to become a better cook, I like to experiment with new recipes and now have a great excuse to do so.  So, I’m a guest blogger this month.

Artichokes.  I have NEVER cooked with artichokes before.  I ate a steamed one once (and did not like it) and I’ve eaten those baby ones on pizzas and in dips before but that is the extent of my artichoke consumption.  I searched high and low for artichoke recipes and was scared off by many of them since they talk about snipping off this bit and that bit, and I really don’t know an artichoke’s arse from its elbow, as we say in the UK.  So, I found a recipe using frozen baby artichoke’s thinking that nothing could go wrong…

Artichoke and Mushroom Lasagna

Yes, sounds nice, doesn’t it.  I found it on epicurious.com and should have actually read the reviews before starting it.  But instead, I chose to follow the recipe to a T:

Ingredients:

Filling:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 x 8-ounce packages frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, coarsely chopped\

½ cup water

Bechamel sauce:
4 ½ tablespoons butter
4 ½tablespoons all purpose flour
4 ½cups whole milk
2 ½cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 7 1/2 ounces)
Ground nutmeg
1 9-ounce package oven-ready (no-boil) lasagna noodles
1 pound grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté until mushrooms release juices and begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add artichokes and ½ cup water. Cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Cooking the mushrooms

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce thickens and lightly coats spoon, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups Parmesan. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.

Spread 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Top with enough noodles to cover bottom of dish. Spread 1/4 of artichoke mixture over. Spoon 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over. Top béchamel with 1/4 of mozzarella.

Layering the lasagna

Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons Parmesan. Top with enough noodles to cover. Repeat layering 3 more times, finishing with a layer of noodles, then remaining béchamel. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. 

All ready to bake - looks yummy huh

Bake lasagna covered with foil 1 hour (or 1 hour 15 minutes if chilled). Remove foil. Increase temperature to 450°F. Bake lasagna until golden on top, about 10 minutes longer.

The finished product - served with rosemary bread

It came out of the oven looking tough and dry, and did not taste any better than it looked.  In fact, it tasted bloody awful.  The pasta was dry and chewy and there was nowhere near enough sauce or filling.  I was rather disappointed but not surprised.  Had I read the reviews first, I would have known that the recipe needed double the filling.  And in this way, perhaps the dish would be better, but I am not convinced.  Do not try this at home folks.


Any advice from the Beauties on what I may be doing wrong with my source/choice of recipe would be very welcome. 


Here’s hoping the next one will turn out a little better… 

Ricotta and Artichoke Stuffed Eggplant

Like Emily's panini, the artichoke in this stuffed eggplant dish did not shine, however, the overall dish was really good! I think the superstar ingredients in this one were the ricotta and honey. And it was easy to make, in fact all it took was an episode of Dora the Explorer to distract the toddler long enough to prep this one.

I adapted the recipe from a post I found while searching "eggplant artichoke recipes" because I had sweet little baby eggplants from Costco I wanted to use up. The original recipe made them into bite sized pieces and I think they would taste even better like that. Since I didn't have a crowd to feed, I made them into personal sides for me and Kelly instead. (No, the kiddo did not partake nor was he amused when I handed him a bite.)

Slice off the backside skin to stabilize it while baking.

As for the artichoke, I bought the Costco 4-pack and reserved the hearts of two for this dish (which took some willpower not to dip in mayo and annihilate). I also threw in some of the baby leaves.

Again, loved this dish! But I think I might have to try again with artichokes and see if I can give them some more credit next time. Or perhaps chokes, if not eaten alone, are meant to be the lowly sidekick, the wind beneath the wings of some other awesome ingredient. The less attractive wing man at the bar who serves a purpose but will never take the spotlight away from the hot stud he showed up with. I dunno...hoping the rest of the Beauties can help me figure this one out...

In the meantime, try this:

Ricotta and Artichoke Stuffed Eggplant

Serves 4-6:

olive oil
2 baby eggplants
1/3 cup artichoke hearts
3 T shallots/garlic/onions, diced (Trader Joe's pack)
8 oz ricotta
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper
basil, roughly chopped
balsamic dressing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out meat from center of eggplants making a little boat and set meat aside. Salt and oil eggplant boats and place in oven for 25 minutes or until soft like "buttah".

While baking eggplants, chop up artichokes and eggplant meat, combine. Heat skillet over medium heat and add in a drizzle of oil, artichokes, eggplant and onion mix. Pinch of salt and saute until softened, about 10 minutes.

Remove from skillet and add to ricotta and honey in a bowl. Pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Remove eggplants from oven and fill with ricotta mixture. Place back in oven just long enough for ricotta mix to start melting some. Remove from oven, add basil and balsamic dressing as desired.

The TJ's convenience pack which I stored at work, hence my initials all over.
You just never now who's gonna swipe your shallot/onion,/garlic pack.

Sauteing the artichoke, eggplant, onion mixture.

Ta-Da!

Turkey & Artichoke Panini

I’ve been on a Panini kick lately and when Missy announced the secret ingredient for May was artichokes, I figured smearing a little artichoke dip on a Panini would make the ultimate sandwich!

The verdict? It was really good but I know if I was being judged on Iron Chef America or Chopped they would have told me the secret ingredient didn’t shine. We had grilled artichokes on the side (a first for me, I’ve only ever steamed them before) and artichoke orzo salad – links to the recipes are below. The grilled artichoke was by far my favorite thing on our plates!

My eyes were a little bit bigger than my stomach (these were HUGE sandwiches, after all) and Curtis and I were each only able to polish off half a sandwich each. Next time I won’t pile quite so much good stuff on!  

Turkey & Artichoke Panini

With Paninis, the combinations are endless so don’t feel like you need to stick to the list of ingredients below (except for the artichoke dip, that’s a necessity!). Pile on your favorite sandwich ingredients and make it in a Panini press, grill it or eat it cold!

Ingredients:

            Bread

            Artichoke dip (recipe below) 

            Cheese

            Baby spinach

            Tomatoes  

            Pesto

            Turkey

            Roasted Red pepper spread (Trader Joe’s)

            Avocado

            Bacon

Artichoke Dip Recipe 

Adapted from a recipe from Sherry Hoover

8 oz. cream cheese

¼ cup mayo

¼ cup sour cream

1 bag frozen artichoke hearts (Trader Joe’s)

1 jalapeno, finely chopped or ½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 cup grated Parmesan, divided

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Mix the cream cheese, mayo and sour cream in a food processor. Add the artichoke hearts, jalapeno, ½ cup parmesan cheese, salt and garlic powder and pulse until the artichoke hearts are mixed in and chopped up, but not pureed.

Pour into a baking dish or small ramekins and top with the remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes or until bubbly and warm and broil for a minute or two until the top is melted and crispy.

Smear on a sandwich or serve with bread or crackers for an appetizer.

Grilled Artichokes with Parsley and Garlic

This is a Giada deLaurentiis recipe. Click here for the recipe. Even with all the garlic and parsley, I still dipped each leaf into a mayo balsamic dressing combo. And I followed Megan’s advice and added a sliced lemon, garlic and salt to the water I boiled the artichokes in. So delicious! 

Orzo Salad with Artichokes, Tomatoes, Chickpeas & Feta

This salad recipe is from Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod. I’ve made this before using her basil dressing, but this time I just used a balsamic dressing and kicked the salad up a notch with fresh chives and garlic. I also accidently opened up a can of white beans, when I meant to open chickpeas, so I just used the white beans instead. And for this recipe, I used canned artichoke hearts. Click here for the recipe. And as I was linking to this recipe I just saw she has one for Artichoke, Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Biscuits - doesn't that sound good!? 

I love artichokes and am really looking forward to seeing the recipes the rest of the Beauties (and possible guest bloggers!) come up with. 

Featured Ingredient for May

Drum roll please....

Artichokes are back in season! And I've picked them as the featured ingredient for May. I can't wait to see what recipes the Beauties have in store for one of my favorite vegetables. 

But what I'd like to know right now is how you eat just a plain, ole artichoke? 

Everyone seems to have their preferred method. In my family, we boil/steam the artichokes until you can poke the tender heart. Then we peel off the leaves and scraaaape the meaty part of each leaf with our teeth. But only after we've dipped the leaf in a heaping pile of mayonnaise. Then we pile the leaf carnage in a big community bowl. 

More recently I was introduced to a butter/garlic dipping sauce also to die for. Anything other dips? Cause I'm open to them, although you may have to pry the jar of Best Foods out of my hands first. I'm currently dreaming of an artichoke heart drenched in the stuff. Don't knock it till you try it.