Black-Eyed Pea & Bacon Eggs Benedict / Eggplant with Tomato, Garlic & Mint / 14 Christmas Breads

Blog Post & Recipe: Good Luck Benedicts

As it happens, black-eyed peas and bacon make for a really good eggs benedict.

Blog Post & Recipe: Eggplant with Tomato, Garlic and Mint

A lot of fresh mint muddled with garlic, pepper and coriander… a handsome eggplant, (try to get one with less seeds)… and a few minutes in the pan, results in a delectable side dish or to have in a wrap or sandwich or even on pasta.

Blog Post & Recipes: Bread Baking Day # 45 Round up - la raccolta

I have been hosting the last edition of 2011 Bread Baking Day, a special Christmas Edition with Special Baking Presents as theme of the month.

Recipes in English: A Tale of Two Stollen ... Blueberry Sourdough Focaccia ... Char Siu Bao ... Salted Caramel Apple Sourdough Challah ... Bolo Rainha ... Garlic Herb Braid ... Candy Cane Bread Sticks ... Irish Good Luck Bread ... Chrismassy almond cloud ... Saffron Stars ... Marzipan Stollen ... Pandoro ... Pandolce genovese ... Nadalin

Cuisses de Grenouilles (Crispy Frogs’ Legs) / Sourdough Mint Paratha / 8 Vegetable Recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Blog Post & Recipe: Cuisses de Grenouilles or Light and Crispy Frogs’ Legs

Frogs’ legs do not taste like chicken. If they taste like anything, they taste like the crocodile I had in Nairobi

Blog Post & Recipe: Sourdough Mint Paratha / Indian Mint flatbread using Sourdough [ via ]

For those who do not recognize the title, Parathas are Indian flatbreads. Some are filled and some are just plain layered with ghee or oil. This one is more of a roti family, but is a little thicker than roti and has spices and herbs added to it.

Article & Recipes: Hold the steak: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's vegetable recipes

Sweet potato and peanut gratin ... Chard and new potato curry ... Aubergine and green bean curry ... Cauliflower with sumac and seeds ... Chillies stuffed with beans ... Spicy carrot and chickpea pitta pocket ... Mexican tomato and bean soup ... Roasted new potatoes with harissa

Beetroot Tzatziki / Caramelised Cauliflower with Oranges, Olives & Saffroned Cous Cous / Catalan Tomato Bread

Blog Post & Recipe: Beet Tzatziki

4 small beets roasted until tender, 2ish cups of greek yogurt, one clove of garlic grated, juice of a lemon, salt and pepper, blend until delicious.

Blog Post & Recipe: Caramelized Cauliflower with Oranges, Olives and Saffroned Cous Cous

Last time cauliflower made an appearance on the blog, I cooked it like a steak for a bunch of vegans. Well the leftover cauliflower florets from that dinner were sitting in a bowl in my fridge last week and inspiration struck again. Here's what I did.

Blog Post & Recipe: Pan con tomate – Catalan tomato bread

Grill the slices of bread until golden, and rub each slice with the garlic pieces, which will wear down to nubbins as you go. Cut a tomato in half and rub it on a garlicky slice of bread, pushing as you go to make sure the juices and seeds are pressed into the piece of bread. Discard the pulp. Pour a generous slug of olive oil over each slice of tomato bread, and sprinkle with a little salt.

Corned Beef, Cabbage & Kimchi Burrito / Chicken in a Bread Crust / 3 Braising Recipes

Blog Post & Recipe: Corned Beef, Cabbage and Kimchi Burrito

In addition to the corned beef, this burrito includes cabbage sauteed with bacon, kimchi, which is a spicy fermented cabbage, onion and cilantro relish, melted cheese and some avocado salsa verde (because it's green and it's St. Patrick's Day).

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken in a Bread Crust

I was going to cook a bread-crusted chicken of my own, using a sourdough crust ... The skin of the chicken was less golden than with the salt crust, which I suspect is more porous, but plenty of juices had collected inside, and the chicken was just as moist and flavorful.

Article & Recipes: Slowly does it: delicious braise recipes

So what are the key things to watch? For most braises the meat is browned before the liquid is added. The caramelisation and 'toasting' produced by frying in fat are essential to the end flavour. But meat won't brown if it is wet or if you crowd the pan, so dry your meat then cook it in batches. Don't use too much fat or you'll end up with an oily dish. If anything burns – garlic or onion or the fat itself – throw it out before adding liquid.

Soy-braised chicken thighs with star anise recipe ... Braised pork with apricots, ginger and lemon thyme recipe ... Braised lamb with squash, lemon and mint recipe

Sourdough Croissants / Cook Rice in a Frying Pan / Vegemite Beef & Ale Pie, Cider Roasted Pork with Stuffing, Chocolate Amaretto Pear Frangipane Tart

Blog Post & Recipe: Sourdough Croissant Recipe from Floriole, Chicago

In addition to proper technique, the use of premium European butter with higher fat content is key.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to cook perfect rice - in a frying pan

Note that the recipe/method here is for Japanese-style white rice. It should work with other white rice types too, but you may need to adjust the water amounts.

Blog Post & Recipes: Rustic Vegemite Beef & Aussie Ale Pie, Cider Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple, Prune & Pine Nut Stuffing, Chocolate Amaretto Pear Frangipane Tart

I combined the beef in a pie with a beautiful, recently sampled Aussie Ale - from Port Stephen's Winery, Swiss brown mushrooms and a teaspoon of Vegemite to add the salty element.

3 Cabbage Recipes / 3 Rye Bread Recipes / Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Article & Recipes: Cabbage’s Sweet Side

They embrace its sweetness. They delight in its crunch in raw slaws and its melting smoothness in cold-weather braises.

Braised Cabbage ... Warm Cabbage and Green Beans ... Bess Feigenbaum’s Cabbage Soup

Article & Recipes: Old World breads boast layers of taste

The exception to this loose rule is sourdough rye bread, which is what most bakers who fall in love with rye bread usually end up baking, and which, of course, is a whole other story. By using sourdough, the acidity of which creates a small chemistry experiment in your bread bowl and oven, you can make loaves using all rye flour

Black Russian rye bread ... Real Jewish rye bread ... Five-grain bread

Blog Post & Recipe: Thin Crust Pizza Dough

One thing to keep in mind is that this recipe requires you to let the dough sit for 24 hours so you need to plan on that when on making a pizza. This dough has a really low water to flour ratio which means that you pretty much need to mix the dough in a food processor and even then, the dough is going to be very dry. In fact the dough will be more like crumbs but as long as you can form it into a ball then everything is ok.

Buttermilk Squash Soup / Sourdough Muffins / Cold-Brewed Coffee

Blog Post & Recipe: Buttermilk Squash Soup Recipe

Now, here's where the magic comes in. I finish the soup with a cumin brown butter drizzle that punches right through the creaminess.

Blog Post & Recipe: English Muffins for Oscar

But the nice thing about the recipe I found at Chocolate and Zucchini is that not only is it adapted to sourdough use, the dough is just sturdy enough to hold its shape in the skillet.

Sourdough English Muffins

Article & Recipes: Secret to smoothest iced coffee: cold brewing

Cold-brewed coffee relies on time, rather than heat, for extraction. Coffee grounds are steeped in water for about 12 hours at room temperature, then strained. The result is a rich coffee concentrate that lasts for weeks in the refrigerator.

Rich Coffee Soft Serve ... Classic Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee ... Blue Bottle's New Orleans-Style Iced Coffee ... Vietnamese-Style Iced Coffee ... Blended Amaretto Iced Coffee ... Coffee Granita

How to Cut Carrots / Perfect Chips / Homemade Pizza

Blog Post: Knife Skills: How to Cut Carrots

Scroll to the bottom of the post for links to 'More Knife Skills'.

Rough chunks ... Dice ... Faux tourné ... Julienne ... Brunoise

Blog Post & Recipe: How to fry perfect chips

"Unfortunately," chef Paul Bloxham explains bitterly, "the wrong potato will result in a guaranteed failure."

Article & Recipes: The Slow Route to Homemade Pizza

Links to recipes are to the left of the article.

I learned an easier way to edge closer to the kind of airy, creamy, chewy, thin crust you find at pizzerias ... I let the dough rise overnight.

Radicchio Pizza With Gremolata ... Pizza Dough With Yeast ... Sourdough Starter ... Pizza Dough With Sourdough Starter

Curry Chicken Rundown / Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli with Pine Nuts / Other Uses for Sourdough

Recipe: Curry chicken rundown

Rundown is a classic Caribbean stew, where the base (coconut milk) is simmered down. ... I decided to try this with roasted chicken instead of crab meat.

Blog Post & Recipe: Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli with Pine Nuts. Finally, broccoli worth craving!

This broccoli is roasted with garlic and olive oil until it’s crisp-tender and starting to brown, and then it’s tossed with lemon zest, lemon juice, Parmesan, basil and toasted pine nuts.

Blog Post & Recipes: Beyond Bread: The Many Uses of Sourdough [via The Paupered Chef]

A wonderful all-purpose leavening agent for quick breads and muffins, sourdough starter also adds moisture to batters and shines—more traditionally—in pancakes and waffles, less traditionally (at least in the West) in flatbreads and cakes, and, as I recently found out, even holds up remarkably well in microwave chocolate cake.

Recipe: Whole-Grain Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
Recipe: Buttery Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Literary Food Porn Website / Grilled Cheese Sandwich / Sourdough Bread

Website: Literary Food Porn

Delicious descriptions of food from literature.

Blog Post & Recipe: The grilled cheese sandwich

You know what I like on my grilled cheese? A bit of cayenne pepper over the cheese, or a layer of mustard under it.

Article & Recipe: Make your own sourdough

Play your cards right, and your starter could outlive you. In San Francisco, the world capital of sourdough, there are starters that are more than 150 years old.

Polenta Chips / Romesco Potatoes / Converting Yeast-Based Recipes To Use A Sourdough Starter

Recipe: Yotam Ottolenghi's smoked polenta chips recipe

When the polenta is set, turn it out of the tray and cut into 1.5cm thick and 6cm long chips.

Blog Post & Recipe: romesco potatoes

Chiles (which manage, astoundingly, not to be so much Tabasco-hot, but punchy and bright), a piece of fried bread, peeled tomatoes, garlic, thyme, almonds and hazelnuts are ground with olive oil and the result is, regretfully, like nothing I have ever had before. Busy, loud and hearty

Blog Post: Converting Yeast-Based Recipes To Use A Sourdough Starter

There is no single method ... My approach is based on my love affair with Flo's 1.2.3 formula, in which the bread dough is made by combining 1 measure of 100% starter ... 2 measures of water, and 3 measures of flour -- all measures understood in weight. This means that the bread dough ends up being made of 1⁄6 starter (and 2⁄6 water and 3⁄6 flour).

Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter / Sourdough Crumpets / Mushroom Paté

Blog Post & Recipe: tomato sauce with onion and butter

Butter and the juice of stewed onion is all it apparently takes to transform a two-pound can of tomatoes to something velvety and lush.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sourdough Crumpets

Better yet, the recipe is the kind that every natural starter enthusiast dreams of: one that offers to use up the excess starter that the natural feeding cycle leaves you with

Blog Post & Recipe: Pâté du Champignons (Mushroom Pâté)

I sautéed minced shallots and mushrooms in butter, then stirred in good quantities of chives and crème fraiche. I called this a mushroom pâté, but it turned out to also be a near-replica of duxelles, a fine mushroom mixture said to have been created by the great 17th century French chef, François Pierre La Varenne.

Saj Bread / Sourdough Bagel / Thai-Spiced Tomato Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: Saj Bread (recommended by Tastes Like Home)

Saj is a flat, soft bread. Baked on upside down iron. Beneath this iron a set of flame (I have used a normal skillet instead! to be honest it didn’t give the same shape but I got the same taste).

Blog Post & Recipe: Sourdough Bagels

If you're unfamiliar with the way bagels are made, the most characteristic thing you should know is that they are cooked in two steps: first you poach them in a pot of water, then you bake them in the oven.

Blog Post & Recipe: thai-spiced tomato soup

The ingredients, coupled with the time it takes to make this soup [fifteen minutes], make for a simple and comforting weeknight meal, an impromptu lunch friends, or a soothing supper if you’re stuck at home with a cold.

Portabella and Brie Burgers. Pistou Sauce. Bread Baking Basics.

Recipe: Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

Layer mushroom caps on bottom of your buns, top with slices of zucchini, squash and roasted red peppers. Top with 3-4 basil leaves. Spread brie on top half of warm bun and serve.

Blog Post & Recipe: Another Option for Freezing Fresh Basil: French Pistou Sauce in Honor of Julia Child

What's the difference between pesto and pistou? A little quick research using Food Blog Search turned up many variations of pistou. Some recipes include tomatoes, parsley, or other herbs, and pistou may or may not have cheese. Most times though pistou doesn't contain nuts, and pistou usually has more garlic in proportion to basil than pesto. does.

Blog Post: Bread Baking Basics

Have been on a sourdough binge since the purple cabbage post [...] and loving Carri's ratio of 1 part starter : 1 part water : 2 parts flour with 1% salt by weight ...

Mixing/Kneading ... The First Rise ... Shaping ... The Second Rise ... Baking

Onion Rings. Sourdough Starter. Parsnip & Cauliflower Mash.

Blog Post: Simple Sourdough Starter

For those who want to capture and grow your own yeast to make bread [...] or for anyone who simply wants to make delicious bread at home [...] here's how to do get a starter going and do it fast.

Blog Post & Recipe: Baked Onion Rings

Hats off to Everyday Food! They've cracked the code on a healthier version of onion rings that tastes every bit as good as the deep-fried rings we remember from childhood.

Blog Post & Recipe: inspiration everywhere

A few weeks ago when I was in Adelaide for work, a taxi driver told me the secret to amazing scrambelled eggs. Just stir through a heap of feta when you start to cook the eggs so it melts though as they cook. [...] When I quizzed [my hairdresser] Graeme about his signature dish he said that his latest favourite thing was parsnip and cauliflower mash simmered in chicken stock and finished with lashings of sour cream.

parsnip & cauliflower mash