I attempted to make us pre-dinner Old Fashioneds on Friday night, and they went from being very whiskey-forward to syrupy sweet to slightly citrusy and barely palatable after all of my tweaking. There were good cherries in them, though, so I was going to drink mine regardless, but next time I will take Matt’s advice and stick to whiskey sours. Anyone know of a good source for cocktail recipes?
We had chicken tacos for dinner on Thursday night, but without enough leftover chicken for two I was left supplementing with a block of tofu that was in the fridge and conveniently on the verge of expiration. I pressed the block of tofu for an hour or so and before slicing it and briefly marinating it in a mixture of lime juice, apple cider vinegar, cumin, coriander, chili powder and adobo sauce. I baked it on wire rack resting on a baking sheet at around 400 for 30 minutes – maybe more, maybe less. I kind of forgot about it (likely due to the whiskey concoction from above), but when I remembered, the tofu was nice and crispy with no mushiness. A few minutes longer and it likely would have had the texture of shoe leather, but the tofu (or whiskey) gods were looking out for me.
Matt turns up his nose at tofu tacos, and my mom would run screaming, but I found these quite enjoyable. I will, however, eat almost anything that is covered in guacamole, hot sauce, cheese and sour cream, so you might want to take that under consideration.
Saturday brunch // Tartine English muffin from the freezer topped with avocado, cheddar, over-easy eggs and hot sauce :: hash browns :: birthday bacon :: leftover ham from Heartland, which I ended up not eating
Plus some orange slices and coffee. This was a serious breakfast.
I had been looking forward to baking bread for weeks, especially after Matt gave me Flour Water Salt Yeast for my birthday, and Saturday was the day.
What better recipe to try first than the Saturday White Bread? Look at those bubbles!
This was really good for a bread that was mixed and baked in the same day. It lacked the complexity and slight acidity of the breads from Tartine Bread, but it’s also the most basic recipe in the book and used only commercial yeast. Without a levain starter or an overnight rise it’s hard to develop too much flavor, but the texture was just as good as a lot of Tartine loaves that I’ve made. The crust was nice and crispy while the inside was light and tender. My only complaint is that there’s a thin skin on the outside of the crust that shatters and flakes off with the slightest touch, but that could be due to me not covering it well during the final proofing. Maybe next weekend I’ll try one of the recipes that uses a levain starter for a better Tartine/FWSY comparison.
Looking forward to a week (or two) of sandwiches…
I redeemed my Friday cocktails with a round of refreshing Big Gingers on Saturday night. They made me excited for spring weather, although thirty and sunny feels pretty incredible these days.
Matt made us a batch of his amazing burgers to go along with our basketball viewing/magazine reading. I prepped the toppings, most of which were chosen in a pitiful attempt to inject vegetables into our meal. It’s a good thing I eat a lot of salads throughout the week.
My burger topped with greens, cheddar, tomato, pickles, mayo, mustard and ketchup. Knife and fork required. Mushy bottom bun not required.
Sunday brunch // Fresh bread topped with avocado, arugula dressed in vinegar and lemon juice, shredded mozzarella and provolone, fried egg and a sprinkling of dukkah :: grapefruit :: earl grey
Veggie stock flavorings
Sunday Dinner // Slow-cooked barbecue beef :: coleslaw :: baked beans :: chips :: pickle
I looked at a few baked bean recipes for inspiration/technique and then just made it up as I went. I roughly chopped and then sautéed two slices of bacon, and once they had rendered a bit of fat I added half an onion, also roughly chopped. When the onions were soft I added 3-4 cups of cooked cranberry beans that I’d defrosted from the freezer and then started adding whatever else I could think of. Ketchup was probably the ingredient that I used the most of, but there was also apple cider vinegar, molasses, maple syrup, Worcestershire, dry mustard, yellow mustard, hot sauce, salt, pepper and probably a couple of other things that I’m forgetting. I kept adding and tasting until I liked the flavor and it was a little on the soupy side, and then I put the lid on and baked it in a 300-degree oven for about an hour. I had intended on taking the lid off at the end to give it a bit of a crust, but it dried out enough in that hour that I changed my mind. Best served with salty potato chips.
