August/Summer Wrap-Up ... Butter Saffron Basmati Rice and Pepperoni Pizza Sourdough Bread Loaf
PICTURE HEAVY WARNING
Summer has been much too short. Of course, I didn't get much accomplished. In fact, I can't even remember the semi-ambitious plans I had made.
Next year, I'm going to have to make and post a list of To Do's to keep me on track.
I hope work calls are more frequent this fall than last year and that my insomnia doesn't flare up again. Going to bed at 5am is a bad habit and I need to get my sleep patterns back on track if I keep getting 6am phone calls to work.
And now, for a quick clear out of dishes I've cooked and pictures that I haven't shared in August. Posting should slow down quite a bit as work starts again.
I made butter saffron basmati rice with which to serve some leftover green chicken curry.
Butter Saffron Basmati Rice - ~3 cups
1 cup basmati rice
1 1/3 cup water
1 tbsp butter, unsalted
1/2 tsp salt
Saffron garnish
pinch or two of saffron threads
2 tbsp boiling water
Combine the boiling water and the saffron threads in a small bowl/ramekin and set aside.
Cooking the rice:
Wash the rice in several changes of cold water and then pour into a colander and drain.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the drained rice. Saute for a minute or two. Add the water and salt to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to the minimum setting on your stove and cover.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the rice continue to steam for another 5-10 minutes.
Fluff with a fork. Every rice grain should be separate from every other. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle the saffron over the top.
Serve.
I tested the suggestion that using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in my sourdough baking would give me better oven spring. The result did not bear that out but as I made some other changes to my 'go to' no-knead sourdough recipe, they're not conclusive. The add-ins (1 oz diced hot pepperette, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, 2 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1 tsp Italian herb seasonings), at least, gave me a very tasty, if flat, oval loaf of pepperoni pizza bread.
It was great as a dip for marinara sauce and toasted or plain, with butter, peanut butter or as a base for an open faced egg salad sandwich.
Mushroom and Tofu Egg Drop Miso Soup - It's hard to take a nice picture of miso soup
A shrimp appetizer
Shrimp and Mushroom Scampi over home made Fettuccine pasta
Some breakfasts/lunches
Spicy pepperoni and mozzarella cheese stuffed omelette
Sourdough tortilla pizzas have been appearing often on my plate - from the classic pepperoni/mozzarella, with or without sweet peppers, Canadian bacon and fresh basil to pulled pork/bbq sauce to shrimp or mushroom on a base of shiso pesto. A regular bacon and mozzarella pizza made today isn't pictured.
And boring things like baked chicken drumsticks with mashed potatoes.
I was sure I had some fudgy chocolate cupcakes in the downstairs freezer for a quick dessert (even had a frosting idea that I was excited about) but then I had to scramble for a new plan when I discovered that I had eaten them all up, and all that was left were nine red velvet cupcakes. Making a cream cheese frosting was my immediate thought and, after weighing what was left of the last brick of Philly cream cheese (77 gm) in my fridge, I searched my hard drive for one of the many 'one day, I must try this' frosting recipes that I could scale down. I was very pleased with the result ... a thick, pipeable frosting with a touch of lemon juice to cut through the cloying sweetness of so many cream cheese frostings.
The last of the raspberry cupcakes with raspberry curd
Summer has been much too short. Of course, I didn't get much accomplished. In fact, I can't even remember the semi-ambitious plans I had made.
Next year, I'm going to have to make and post a list of To Do's to keep me on track.
I hope work calls are more frequent this fall than last year and that my insomnia doesn't flare up again. Going to bed at 5am is a bad habit and I need to get my sleep patterns back on track if I keep getting 6am phone calls to work.
And now, for a quick clear out of dishes I've cooked and pictures that I haven't shared in August. Posting should slow down quite a bit as work starts again.
I made butter saffron basmati rice with which to serve some leftover green chicken curry.
Butter Saffron Basmati Rice - ~3 cups
1 cup basmati rice
1 1/3 cup water
1 tbsp butter, unsalted
1/2 tsp salt
Saffron garnish
pinch or two of saffron threads
2 tbsp boiling water
Combine the boiling water and the saffron threads in a small bowl/ramekin and set aside.
Cooking the rice:
Wash the rice in several changes of cold water and then pour into a colander and drain.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the drained rice. Saute for a minute or two. Add the water and salt to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to the minimum setting on your stove and cover.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the rice continue to steam for another 5-10 minutes.
Fluff with a fork. Every rice grain should be separate from every other. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle the saffron over the top.
Serve.
I tested the suggestion that using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in my sourdough baking would give me better oven spring. The result did not bear that out but as I made some other changes to my 'go to' no-knead sourdough recipe, they're not conclusive. The add-ins (1 oz diced hot pepperette, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, 2 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1 tsp Italian herb seasonings), at least, gave me a very tasty, if flat, oval loaf of pepperoni pizza bread.
It was great as a dip for marinara sauce and toasted or plain, with butter, peanut butter or as a base for an open faced egg salad sandwich.
Mushroom and Tofu Egg Drop Miso Soup - It's hard to take a nice picture of miso soup
A shrimp appetizer
Shrimp and Mushroom Scampi over home made Fettuccine pasta
Some breakfasts/lunches
Spicy pepperoni and mozzarella cheese stuffed omelette
Sourdough tortilla pizzas have been appearing often on my plate - from the classic pepperoni/mozzarella, with or without sweet peppers, Canadian bacon and fresh basil to pulled pork/bbq sauce to shrimp or mushroom on a base of shiso pesto. A regular bacon and mozzarella pizza made today isn't pictured.
And boring things like baked chicken drumsticks with mashed potatoes.
I was sure I had some fudgy chocolate cupcakes in the downstairs freezer for a quick dessert (even had a frosting idea that I was excited about) but then I had to scramble for a new plan when I discovered that I had eaten them all up, and all that was left were nine red velvet cupcakes. Making a cream cheese frosting was my immediate thought and, after weighing what was left of the last brick of Philly cream cheese (77 gm) in my fridge, I searched my hard drive for one of the many 'one day, I must try this' frosting recipes that I could scale down. I was very pleased with the result ... a thick, pipeable frosting with a touch of lemon juice to cut through the cloying sweetness of so many cream cheese frostings.
The last of the raspberry cupcakes with raspberry curd