Cook the Book – Toasted Oatmeal

February 19, 2010 – 8:38 am

Toasted Oatmeal

When I have extra time in the early morning, I’ll make the oatmeal this way.  This calls for steel cut oats, but I make it with the old fashioned oats and it’s just as delicious.  The aroma of the toasting is really cozy.

 3 cups water
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup steel cut oats

Bring the water, milk, and salt to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat until it just begins to foam; add the oats and toast, stirring constantly, with a wooden spoon, until golden and fragrant, about 1½ to 2 minutes.

Stir the toasted oats into the simmering liquid; reduce heat to medium-low; simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 40 minutes (20 minutes for old-fashioned oats). 

Remove from heat and let the oatmeal stand, uncovered, for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8

By Annie Mahle | Posted in Breakfast, Cook the Book, Cooking, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

Mother Earth News Radio – Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

February 17, 2010 – 12:29 pm

This recipe was given to me by one of our guests years ago and when I make it on the Riggin the plates NEVER come back to the galley with even a speck of food on them.  Of course, as is my nature, I switch it up some – adding crab meat, cream cheese, spinach or black beans – but the basic recipe remains the same and we don’t tire of this bubbly, melty, zingy, addictive dip.

This week, it became the Project of the Week, on Mother Earth News Radio.  Andrea Ridout and Dan Lepinski, hosts of the show, and I talked about composting, buying local, food, sustainable business and well, more food.  The show will air this Saturday and then be on Mother Earth News Radio website to stream.  I’ll be sure to post the link when its live.

Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Dip
This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to bake it.

1 8-ounce jar marinated artichokes, liquid drained, minced
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 small can chopped red peppers
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup salsa
Fresh black pepper to taste
2 cups grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400°.  Mix all of the ingredients together then spoon the mixture onto a large ovenproof platter.  Bake until bubbly and lightly brown on top, approximately 15 minutes.  Serve with crackers or corn chips.

Makes 3 cups

Annie
Wahoo!  The new stove is in!  Post to follow.

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Appetizers, Cook the Book, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Carrots from the Garden in February

February 15, 2010 – 10:30 am

This stuff really works.  I just dug up half a bucket of carrots that have been resting in the ground under a mountain of straw.  The ground isn’t frozen and the carrots are gorgeous.  I’m thinking about a recipe with carrots, kale and red onions.  Maybe with brown rice and/or a soy seared halibut…. Hmm…. I’ll let you know.

Annie
Who knew you could play in the garden in February!

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Garden, Vegetables | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Cook the Book – Cornish Game Hens with Smoked Shrimp and Brandy Stuffing

February 12, 2010 – 9:14 am

While I’ve used Ducktrap smoked shrimp in this recipe because it’s my favorite, you could easily substitute something else.  In the Caribbean, where I actually created this recipe while cooking on a yacht, I used canned smoked shrimp and it was almost as yummy.  Oysters would also be a good choice.

Cornish Game Hens with Smoked Shrimp and Brandy Stuffing

Stuffing:
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
1/2 minced shallot
1 1/2 cups finely diced day old French bread
1 tablespoon brandy
1/2 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup smoked Ducktrap shrimp
1/4 teaspoon salt

Hens:
4 Cornish game hens
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 375°. Heat a medium sized sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter and sauté the onion, celery, shallots and salt. Add the mixture to the remaining stuffing ingredients and gently toss until everything is mixed. Rub the outside and inside with the oil, salt, pepper and paprika.  Stuff the hens and roast them until the thighs move loosely in the joints (about 1 hour).

Serves 4

Annie
Off now to paint the kitchen!

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Cook the Book, Cooking, Main Dishes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Basic Bread Recipe – Part 2

February 11, 2010 – 10:53 am

This is the second half of my erudite elaboration on a basic bread dough recipe which I used for stromboli but is versatile enough for a crusty Italian bread, pizza dough or dinner rolls.

Chef Anne Mahle serves Stromboli aboard the Maine Windjammer J&E Riggin

These stromboli were made on the Riggin this summer in my wood stove.  They don’t last long, let me tell you!

When the dough is ready to roll out, preheat oven to 400°.  Place a cast iron skillet or other heavy oven proof pan in the bottom of the oven.  Dust a baking pan with corn meal.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured countertop to about the size of a laptop.  Lay out ingredients over the entire surface and roll up snugly into a loaf, tucking in the ends and pinching the seam closed.   Place the loaf onto the pan dusted with cornmeal.  Oil and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again, about 1/2 hour.  When the loaf has nearly doubled, make three diagonal slashes on the top with a razor or very sharp knife.

Place the baking pan in the oven, throw 1 cup of water into the skillet on the bottom to generate steam and quickly close the oven door.  Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and an internal read thermometer reads 210°.

‘When the dough is ready to roll out, preheat oven to 400°.  Place a cast iron skillet or other heavy oven proof pan in the bottom of the oven.  Dust a baking sheet with corn meal.’

  • Bread rises better and creates a better crust when the oven temperature is high.  Pizza is baked at 500° and it’s one of the factors contributing to the famed, crispy crust.
  • I’ve found in my home oven, after much trial and error and more than a few really big messes, that using a cast iron skillet to help create steam in the oven is the best way to go.  I have a skillet from my grandma in which I’ve placed lemon-sized rocks.  It just stays in the bottom of my oven and when I’m ready to create steam, I pour a cupful of water on the rocks.
  • Steam is important to bread making for two reasons.  One, the moisture retards the formation of a crust so that the bread can rise more.  Two, in the later stage of baking, it actually helps create a crisper, thicker crust.
  • Dusting with cornmeal is not 100% needed, but it does add a little texture to the bottom crust and make it easier to remove the loaf from the pan.  Although, if you’ve done a good job, the bread should be easy to remove from the baking sheet.

‘Roll out the dough on a lightly floured countertop to about the size of a laptop.  Lay out ingredients over the entire surface and roll up snugly into a loaf, tucking in the ends and pinching the seam closed.’

  • Dust the countertop as lightly as possible.  It’s even okay if the dough sticks a little bit because it helps anchor a corner or two when you are rolling it out.
  • If the dough really doesn’t want to roll out and you push and it shrinks, you push and it shrinks.  Don’t fight.  Just walk away for 5 minutes and then come back to it.  The gluten will have relaxed and it will be much easier to handle.
  • When you pinch the seam closed and then place it on the pan, the seam should be on the bottom.

‘Place the loaf onto the pan dusted with cornmeal.  Oil and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again, about 1/2 hour.  When the loaf has nearly doubled, make three diagonal slashes on the top with a razor or very sharp knife.’

  • When you lightly oil bread dough, you retard any drying out that might happen in the rising process.  Plastic wrap does the same work and it’s why a ‘dampened cloth’ isn’t something I use any longer.
  • The slashes help the bread rise and are for aesthetic purposes as well.

Annie
Write if you have more questions and if not, get baking!

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Breads, Columns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Basic Bread Recipe

February 10, 2010 – 1:45 pm

Bread dough is one of the most versatile things you can make in your kitchen AND one of the hardest to write a recipe for because it’s such a visual and tactile process.  It’s also intimidating if you’ve never done it.  The good news is that even if your first try is a complete flop (and that’s not a given), the ingredients, primarily flour, water, yeast and salt, are all inexpensive.

I’d like to try to take the mystery out of bread making, mostly because the results are so worth the effort.  But really, when a recipe reads  ‘cover and let rise 1 hour or until dough has doubled’ or ‘knead until smooth and elastic.’  What does that mean!?  These are all phrases that I’ve used in my recipes, but there are times when I just wish I could show people.  Well, most of the time I wish that.

Stromboli served on the Schooner J&E Riggin

These are the directions for a basic bread recipe that ran in the Portland Press Herald column this week.  I used it in a stromboli recipe and it’s  very forgiving.

Combine the yeast, salt, and flour in a mixing bowl.  With the dough hook attachment of the mixer, mix on low speed.  Add 3/4 cup of water and olive oil.  When the dough begins to form a ball, add more water a tablespoon at a time until the little bits of flour on the bottom of the bowl start to work into the dough.  Knead on medium low speed for 5 to 7 minutes or until the surface of the dough begins to be very smooth and the dough is elastic.

Oil the top of the dough, cover with either a plate or plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm, draft free place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

‘Combine the yeast, salt and flour in a mixing bowl.’

  • You combine the dry ingredients first so that you don’t end up with clumps of yeast or salt when the water is added.  

‘With the dough hook attachment of the mixer, mix on low speed.  Add 3/4 cup of water and olive oil.  When the dough begins to form a ball, add more water one tablespoon at a time until the little bits of flour on the bottom of the bowl start to work into the dough.’

  • Adding the water a little bit at a time towards the end is important.  Moisture content in flour will vary as will the protein.  Both affect how much water you should add.  It’s better to adjust the amount of water rather than the amount of flour.  More flour changes the ratio to yeast and salt, whereas more water changes nothing.  The dough should just barely come away from the sides of the bowl.
  • Here you could also knead the bread by hand.  It’s not that hard, but the technique is, again, easier to show than to write.  Once the dough has formed a ball in the bowl, transfer it to a floured countertop.  Pull the far side of the dough towards you and push it into the ball.  Give the dough a 1/4 turn and repeat.  If it sticks to your hands or the countertop, dust with flour.  Sing a song.  Keep going.  Sing another song.  Keep going.  It becomes rhythmic and aerobic as you work the dough into a smooth ball.  It should stop sticking to the counter top and your hands and the surface looses it’s mottled look and develops an unblemished surface.

‘Oil the top of the dough, cover with either a plate or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft free place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.’  Now this refers to how long the dough should rise of course, but there’s so much that ends up being left out of the recipe for the sake of brevity and so as to not put off 90% of readers who, if I added every single instruction, would quickly click to another recipe.  Anything longer than a page and it’s too daunting.  What the recipe could also include is:

  • Rising times may vary because of ambient temperature.
  • The reason you oil the dough is so that the surface doesn’t dry out and impede rising.
  • Draft free is important because significant air movement will lower the surrounding temperature and cause the dough to take longer to rise.
  • If it’s winter, you consistently wear three layers in your house and you are still cold (like in my 100 plus year old house), then you could turn the oven to 170 degrees and let the dough rise on the stove top.
  • When the dough has doubled in size, it will have a smooth, dome shape and the dough, when you poke it with a finger, shouldn’t bounce back.

This was only half of the instructions, I’ll post the rest of the instructions/comments tomorrow.  Hope this was helpful.  Write if it wasn’t.

Annie

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Breads, Columns | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Needle Felted Upcycled Sweater – Shhhh… It’s a Secret

February 8, 2010 – 2:28 pm

This sweater is for Chloe’s birthday, so I’m trusting you all to not tell her about it.  I just know she’s going to love it and I really couldn’t wait to share it with someone.

Several years ago I began collecting wool sweaters from Salvation Army and garage sales hoping to make a felted wool quilt.  For a number of technical reasons, I couldn’t get the pieces to come together neatly, so I let that go and the sweaters sat in the barn.  Until last week.  When I had this great idea to re-purpose all of these sweaters into up-cycled clothing.  (Okay, the spell checker is saying that ‘repurposed’ and ‘upcycled’ should be hyphenated.  I’m not so sure as I think they are now real words, but I’m going to hedge my bets and write them both ways.  Ha.)

This sweater was a woman’s medium before I felted it, so it should fit Chloe pretty well.  I cut off the cuffs because the sleeves would have been too long and now it’s a three-quarter sweater and I have the cuffs which will become fingerless mittens.  I then needle felted the tourquoise wool in the designs you see here.

Annie
Feelin’ crafty

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Close to Home, Crafts, My Favorite Things | Tagged , , , , | Comments (7)

Cook the Book – Chai Tea

February 5, 2010 – 9:07 am

Chai Tea

Chai tea is an Indian drink that has become popular in coffee houses.  It’s a nice alternative to hot chocolate. I make a batch of the spice base all at once so it’s always available.

1 bag of tea (orange pekoe or your favorite)
1 teaspoon spice base (below)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar 

In a small saucepan, bring the water, tea bag and 1 teaspoon of the spice mix to a boil; remove from heat and steep approximately 5 minutes. Add the milk and sugar; return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat and continue to heat until the liquid is hot but not boiling.  Serve immediately.

Spice base

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon or 8 sticks
2 tablespoons cardamom seeds (try to buy them without the pods.  If they are in the pods, remove the pods and measure just the seeds)
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
8 whole star anise

Grind the spice base ingredients together in a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground. You can store the mixture in an airtight container for months.

Makes ½ cup spice base, 2 cups tea.

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Cook the Book, Things to Sip, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Local Talent – Chefs, Writers and Producers

February 4, 2010 – 4:43 pm

Yesterday was a food-filled day and today my head is bursting with new recipes to create and stories to tell.  I can’t decide where to let my fingers fly – the kitchen or the keyboard.

Kitchen first, to bake a loaf of no-knead bread which I started yesterday when Sharon was visiting. I wanted to show her what the dough should look like when first mixed because while I can write “the dough should look like wet biscuit dough and if you are familiar with breadmaking, it looks way too wet, almost panicky-too-wet,” it is so much easier simply to show.

We then had a brownie snack before lunch, lunch, and a brownie for dessert.  The Espresso Brownies.  The brownies could be consumed without guilt because we had a big shrimp salad inbetween.  No, I don’t have the recipe for it.  I just made it up with leftover that were in the fridge.  But I can tell you how I made it.

Romaine lettuce, chopped, washed and drained.  Maine shrimp, pan fried with lots of garlic.  Kale chopped and sauteed with lots of garlic.  Rice noodles soaked in water and then cut into shorter lengths (about 2 inches).  Quarter and slice tomato and peeled cucumber. Combine everything in a large salad bowl.

To make the dressing, whisk an egg yolk with dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, tamari and minced garlic.  Drizzle in 1/4 extra virgin olive oil and 3/4 canola oil until mixture thickens.  Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.  Toss with salad and serve with grilled homemade bread, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Then it was on to a foodie dinner at the Hartstone Inn, hosted by the acclaimed Michael and Mary Jo Salmon.  Everyone brought either an appetizer or a dessert and then sat to share drink, food and stories.  Heaven.  Old friends and new.

My contributions were Carrot Cake with Pinapple and Black Pepper and Chocolate Tart with Toasted Coconut and Sea Salt.  The sea salt and toasted coconut were a perfect crunchy, sweet, and salty combination on top of this bittersweet tart.

To new friends:  Margaret,  Nancy, Sean and Heather and old:  Kerry and Lani.

Annie
Cheer to you all for your fantastic food and such fun!

Photo credit Sharon Kitchens

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Desserts & Sweet Endings, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

My New Stove is Coming!

February 3, 2010 – 2:15 pm

Every home improvement project has a story, some are just large than others.  Ours starts with a cook (cooking professionally for 25 years) who has been working on a free, hand-me-down stove for 12 years.  Granted, it was passed on from our good friends who own Cafe Miranda’s.  But still.  Before that it was an apartment stove, blessed with the beautiful, distinctive avocado color of the 70’s that had been spray-painted white, but was still showing through in places.

The stove – cleaned and almost ready to come into the house.

Some years later, I answer, with my heart beating practically out of my chest for fear that it’s already taken, an add in Uncle Henry’s for an old Vulcan restaurant stove.  On the drive down to Portland with the whole family in the truck, I kept hoping that it would be in good shape.  Ahhh.  It was and it even had a salamander.  A restaurant-style broiler that mounts at eye level rather than below the stove.

The salamander on it’s side (when it goes in, I’ll show it to you right side up).

We muscle the thing into the car, complete with a vent system that is bigger than my entire kitchen and head home with a pit stop to pick apples at a local orchard. During the muscling process, my husband is resigning himself to shoring up the floor in the kitchen before we install the stove, knowing with certainty that the 100 year old floor joists cannot support the weight of this behemoth.

And so before the stove is installed, the floor gets shored up and the very good husband injures his shoulder pretty seriously and the wife decides that she loves her husband more than the stove and the stove can wait.

Next chapter.  The following fall, measurements are taken of the doorways.  It is discovered that the doorways are just the wee-est bit smaller than the narrowest part of the stove.  By 4-inches.  A fan, vent, several trips to the hardware store, cleaning, checking to make sure the burners and pilots all work, several more trips to the hardware store.

The stove is now ready to install.  All of the burners work including the stove.  Next week it goes in!  Thank you, husband, for the miles on your cute self (and the truck).

xo to my man,
Annie

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By Annie Mahle | Posted in Cooking, My Favorite Things | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)