Chicken Stock
March 13, 2011
Simple and delicious
Lots of great meals start with a good stock. While it’s perfectly respectable to use the ready made stuff you buy from the super market (preferably organic), with a few minutes of prep on a weekend afternoon you can create your own fantastic stock.
There are very few rules to making stock so use your imagination and impart whatever flavors you like. For me I start with whatever root veggies I have on hand, some fresh herbs, and of course some free range organic chicken from the butcher. The carcass/bones of a whole chicken is ideal (and cheap!) but a few legs will work just fine.
Get yourself a big pot. The one in the picture above is 8 quarts and typically yields approximately 4 liters of stock.
- 2 chicken legs, or the bones from a whole chicken
- 1 sweet potato
- carrots
- celery
- 1 red onion
- few sprigs of fresh rosemary
- few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2-3 dried bay leaves
- 1 tsp whole pepper corns
Put all the ingredients into the pot and fill with cold tap water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to the lowest possible simmer and cook for at least 3 hours.
Stock will keep in the fridge for a few weeks or several months in the freezer. Hint: freeze the stock in ice cube trays and then store in a big zip lock bag for convenient access later on.
Tomato Sauce From Scratch
November 14, 2009
Mouth watering spaghetti
A good meat based tomato sauce is the staple of dozens of recipes. Until recently, I made my sauce from a mixture of crushed tomatoes and canned spaghetti sauce until I was introduced to this recipe. It’s relatively simple and the end product is awesomely tasty.
Yields ~8 cups.
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 3-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 1 cup fresh basil, diced
- 1 cup red wine
- 2x 28 oz can of whole tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes, or chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 lb ground beef
Tomatoes
I suppose if you want to consider this a truly “from scratch” recipe, then you should start with some good fresh tomatoes. Blanch them in boiling water until the skins are loose and wrinkled. Throw them into cold water to cool. Remove the skins and dice. I have yet to try this so your millage may vary.
If you use canned tomatoes, splurge and buy the good stuff! Trust me, it makes all the difference in the world. The tomatoes I use I get from a local butcher, imported from Italy; “Solania – San Marzano” tomatoes. At $4 CAD per can, they aren’t cheap but well worth it.
The amount of sugar needed is relative to the acidity of your tomatoes. Better quality tomatoes will require less sugar. I like to start with 2 tbsp of sugar mixed with the spices and add more later if needed.
Preparation
- Crush fennel seeds, chili, and oregano into a powder in a mortal and pestle. Then add the sugar and grind until combined (spices courtesy of another drunkard).
- In a large pot sauté onions in the olive oil over low heat, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
- Add garlic and basil and re-cover for ~5 minutes.
- Add the wine and reduce by about half (uncovered).
- Add tomatoes, spices, and a teaspoon or two of salt.
- Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Turn down the heat to a low simmer. Periodically check the flavour. If it’s too sour, add more sugar.
- Continue cooking until the desired consistency is reached. The further you reduce the sauce, the more intensified the flavours become.
Just before the sauce is ready, fry the ground beef and add it to the sauce. I like to finely chop one shallot and 1-2 cloves of garlic and throw them into the frying pan before adding the beef. Give the beef a good mashing with side of a wooden spoon while frying to ensure there are no large chunks sticking together.
Tip: You know all that liquid you usually dump down the drain after frying beef? Well, if you buy good quality meet don’t drain it! Dump the whole lot into the sauce… that’s tasty stuff in there. Just don’t tell anyone you did that.
Basic Bread
October 7, 2009
Bread is one of the foods I think we all take for granted. It’s so easy to just pickup a loaf of “Wonder Bread” from the supper market and be done with it. But for a little bit of invested time, you can produce something that is a hundred times better quality at a fraction of the cost! And personally, I find the process rather gratifying.
This recipe comes from one of Jamie Oliver’s cook books: jamie’s kitchen.
- Dissolve 3/4 oz of active dry yeast (roughly three packets) and 2 tbsp of sugar in a 1 1/4 cups of warm tap water.
- Lay out 6-8 cups of flour into a pile on a large open surface. You need lots of space for this.
- Spread 2 tbsp of salt onto the pile.
- Make a large well in the middle. In the neighbourhood of 6-8 inches in diameter.
- Pour the yeast mixture into the well.
- With one hand, gradually turn the flour from the edges of the well into the yeast mixture until it has been all soaked up by the flour. Try to leave a perimeter of flour in tacked.
- Pour another 1 cup of warm tap water into the well (or what’s left of it) and gradually incorporate the rest of the flour. Don’t be afraid to add more flour if it’s too watery or more water if it’s too tough.
- You should end up with a big blob of something that resembles dough.
- Begin kneading. Keep kneading until the dough takes on a smooth texture, and then knead some more just to be sure.
Rising
This part is really important. My first few attempts at making bread where less than spectacular because I screwed up the rising process. It’s important not to be impatient… let each rising step finish before moving on.
- Form the dough into a ball and dust with flour. Score it deeply with a sharp knife.
- Place in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. I like to put the dough in the oven (turned off!) with a pan of hot tap water beside it.
- Split the dough in half and knead the dough a second time with a little extra flour to get rid of all the air pockets. You can freeze the second ball of dough for later if you like.
- Now form the dough into the desired shape. The loaf above was created by rolling the dough into a cylinder about 3 inches in diameter.
- Lightly dust the dough and place it on a baking sheet. Score the dough lengthwise down the centre. Let it rise a second time until it has doubled in size (30-60 minutes). For the second rise, I typically leave the dough on the counter beside my oven while it is heating up.
Carefully (don’t disturb the airy goodness) place the dough in a preheated oven at 350 °F for 25 minutes. Let it cool slightly before digging in.
Pizza From Scratch
October 7, 2009
Good old Pizza. The food that’s always there for you when you need a quick meal. And it’s surprisingly easy to make a really good pizza from scratch. Did I mention it’s cheap too!?!
Getting Started
Just like any craft, when cooking it’s important to have the right tools. You’ll need a pizza stone and a wooden pizza paddle thingy. You can find these at any kitchen or restaurant supply store. The stone is important if you want a nice evenly cooked pizza.
Before starting the dough, set the stove to 350 °F and put the stone in the stove. It takes a while for the stone to heat up so you want to get that started early.
Dough
- In a large bowl add 1/2 cup of hot tap water. Sprinkle in 1 tsp of sugar then 1 tsp of active dry yeast. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the yeast is all happy then stir it up.
- Add 1 cup of flour.
- Mix in the flour the best you can with a spoon. Then use your hands and just start pulling and folding the dough. Add more flour if it’s too sticky.
- Once the dough is somewhat firm, spread a bit of flour onto the counter and knead the dough. I don’t know how long you should knead the dough, I just stop once it has reached a relatively smooth consistency.
- (Optional) Form the dough into a ball and dust with a bit of flour. Set the dough on a pan to rise. Longer rise time == thick fluffy crust. Typically I leave it for about 10-15 minutes. After the dough has risen, dust the counter with more flour and knead the dough some more to remove all the air pockets. In a pinch you can skip this step. The crust will just be thinner and less airy.
- Finally, form the dough into a ball and flatten it out on the counter with your hands. Then roll it with a rolling pin into the desired thickness. I usually end up with a crust that is 11-12 inches in diameter.
Putting it Together
Sprinkle a bit of corn starch onto the wooden paddle and then lay down the crust. This will help your pizza slide off the paddle when you put it in the oven.
For toppings: use your imagination!
The pie in the picture above has: tomato sauce base, pepperonis, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes (halved), sun dried tomatoes soaked in garlic olive oil, olives, and finally topped with a load of freshly grated mozzarella.
My better half made hers with: barbecue sauce base, mushrooms, green/orange peppers, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and grated mozzarella.
Slide it into the oven, and cook for 12 minutes.
