Herbes de Provence can actually be a blend of many herbs: savory, fennel, thyme, basil, rosemary, lavender – or really just whatever is on hand (if you’re Provençal). The spice industry doesn’t even have a standardized blend:

• McCormick’s helpfully lists its blend’s ingredients as “SPICES (INCLUDING ROSEMARY, MARJORAM, THYME, AND SAVORY)”.
• Penzey’s blend is rosemary, cracked fennel, thyme, savory, basil, tarragon, dill weed, Turkish oregano, lavender, chervil and marjoram.

And I have no clue what was in the bag my father-in-law bought me. Frankly, I’m surprised he was able to make it past security with it – it was a zip-top bag with a bunch of dried green herbs and a scribbled note in French stapled to the top. French security must be très laxiste.

At any rate, this is a nice little recipe – a perfect bread for just snacking out of hand, and would probably be fantastic lightly toasted and served as canapé bread. I hope you enjoy it!

As always, my comments and adjustments are in blue. Recipe and photos after the jump.

*********************

Pain des Herbes de Provence (you can find a printable version here)

Yield: 2 loaves

 Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (105°-110°F)
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons Herbes de Provence
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I used half oregano and half basil)
• 3 cups bread flour (I used 1 cup white whole wheat flour in place of 1 cup bread flour)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten (optional)

Directions

• Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence, and Italian seasoning.
• Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.

The dough is smooth and elastic after about 10 minutes of machine-kneading

• Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
• Punch down dough, and divide in half.

The dough has risen enough if indentations remain in the dough after being poked

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. (I simply used a large oiled nonstick cookie sheet. No parchment)
• Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining herbs.

Sprinkled with rosemary, prior to the second rise

• Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size
• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
• Brush loaves with egg. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Recipe makes two medium-sized loaves

Results:

• Quite good overall. Easy to assemble, and doing free-form loaves is nice for a change. It was also nice to have such a short baking time.
• The loaves are on the smallish side (unbaked loaves weighed about 11 ounces each)
• This recipe would likely lend itself to the addition of any herb/spice combination you could imagine. Really, the possibilities are endless. It’s a nice basic recipe.
• The taste: fantastic. Wonderfully aromatic, with a moist and chewy crumb. The herbs infuse every bite without overpowering the bread itself.
• I believe the bread would make a wonderful accompaniment to some sundried tomato-olive tapenade. In fact, I know it does. Because I made some tapenade and tried it out! Tapenade recipe coming tomorrow.

No clue?

Then you’ve obviously never tasted cilantro.

Coriandrum sativum. What we call cilantro is actually the leaves (and stems) of the Coriander plant. Coriander is believed to be named after "koris", the Greek word for "bedbug" as it was said they both emitted a similar odor.

Cilantro is a leafy green herb that figures prominently in Southeast Asian and Latin American cuisine (it’s what gives salsa that fresh grass-like aroma and taste), and Americans either love it or hate it. I fall squarely into the “love it” camp.  I buy it almost every week, and search for recipes in which to use it.  Hummus, melon salsa, chopped and tossed in with salad greens…

Those who love it don’t give a second thought, but those who hate it think it tastes like soap or hand lotion. And they will tell you all about it – haters seem to be quite vocal about their aversion.  There are several cilantro-hater blogs out there, as well as an a couple of  Facebook pages dedicated to…well, to hating it.

Better than Farmville, I suppose.

Even people that you think must love everything hate it – including Julia Child.  Larry King interviewed Julia back in 2002, and asked her what foods she hated.  The exchange:

JC:  Cilantro and arugula I don’t like at all. They’re both green herbs, they have kind of a dead taste to me.

LK: So you would never order it?

JC: Never.  I would pick it out if I saw it and throw it on the floor.

Why do some people love cilantro and some people think it tastes like soap?  Is it something to do with our taste buds?  Anatomy?  Physiology?  Evolution?  Geography?  Chemistry?

Harold McGee, preeminent food scientist and author of the food chemist’s bible: “On Food and Cooking”, did a brief interview on a recent episode of The Splendid Table, and provided a fascinatingly satisfactory scientific explanation for cilantro revulsion: it’s all about the aldehydes, my friends.  Isn’t it always?

Chemistry first.  Turns out, the molecules that give soap and hand lotion their distinctive odor are the same ones that give cilantro its flavor – aldehydes.  Aldehydes are the byproduct of soap-making (called “saponification”), a process which breaks down large fat molecules into smaller fragments using strong chemicals, leaving behind the distinctively odoriferous aldehydes.

And then, evolution comes in.  Followed by conditioning, and finally, acceptance.

I’d explain it, but McGee does a much better job, plus I’m the one who ended my career as a chemist because I thought it was boring.  You can listen to the interview here.

And tell me, on which side of the cilantro fence do you fall?

Whatever you do, don't buy cilantro in this form. Blech. Buy fresh!

Our month started on Saturday, when we hosted Alisa Smith and JB Mackinnon, the creators of the 100-Mile Diet. They flew in from Vancouver, and did a discussion and signing of their best-selling book, “Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet”. It was a great event – lots of people (for a book signing), and a terrific conversation.  If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it – it’s great.

Then – the best part: my friend Debbie and I got to spend all day Sunday with them, showing them around our area (they’d never been to this part of NY before).  We headed west, and hit the Sharon Springs Garlic Festival, Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, and the Farmers’ Museum Harvest Festival.  Those were pretty fun destinations, but I most enjoyed the conversations we had in the car as we drove around.  I learned SO much about what it means to eat local – not to just pay it lip service, but to genuinely eat the way we humans were intended to eat, before planes, trains, and automobiles.  James and Alisa’s basic guideline is to eat food that was grown and produced within 100 miles of where they live (or travel, since they are on the road a lot). For them, Vancouverites, that meant a whole lot of potatoes, no coffee or sugar, salt that they “made” themselves by cooking down a bucket of seawater, no chocolate, home-fermented sauerkraut, and no wheat (read: no bread, cake, pizza…).  They made it through, but it sure was hard for them (and for their relationship) – something they’ll plainly admit.

The harsh reality of that for me would be this: No coffee.  No bananas.  No chocolate.  No peanut butter.  Did I mention no peanut butter?  No pineapple.  No gin and tonics (no limes, either).  Thankfully, though, I could have wine (NY’s Hudson Valley has some great wineries).  I don’t think I could have flour, but I’d have to research it (even though they don’t grow the wheat, King Arthur Flour is within my 100-mile radius – I checked).  This obviously is not a quest to be undertaken lightly.  Maybe someday.

At the end of our day on Sunday, we had dinner at an amazing little restaurant in Canajoharie, NY called Church & Main.  Church & Main’s philosophy is this: food should be sourced locally, and enjoyed in its most basic form.  What a concept!  The four of us entered the restaurant, and were greeted by a very friendly hostess who said, “Four of you?  Pardon me while I go back and ask the chef if we have enough food.”  Now, this is something I’ve never heard before.  She explained that the restaurant is only open Thursday through Sunday, and they plan to run out of food on Sunday night.  As it turns out, they did indeed have enough food for us, as long as only one of us ordered the soup (that was me). 

We enjoyed tomato and onion salad with shaved goat cheese in a mild vinaigrette, roasted corn and tomato chowder (well only I enjoyed that), roasted chicken breast with caramelized carrots, grass-fed sirloin with vegetables…and then dessert: vanilla bean panna cotta, and a semolina bread pudding seasoned with black pepper and served with roasted plums and creme fraiche.   It was an incredible meal, and I would absolutely go back there again (except maybe next time I’d go on a Thursday).

The best part of dinner was when Debbie noticed the collection of framed newspaper articles on the wall of the restaurant – reviews, articles about the local-foods movement, and…a Daily Gazette interview with Alisa about their book!  It was wild – we told the owner who they were, and she was thrilled that we had chosen to eat there (actually, I have to give James and Alisa credit – they had done some internet research to find the restaurant).  I do believe that she offered to trade me a gift certificate for a signed copy of the book…I may have to take her up on it!  It was fun, being in the company of celebrities.

But James and Alisa are not typical celebrities (although they do have a TV series coming out soon on Food Network Canada).  They are the genuine article: down-to-earth, nice, interesting, funny, smart, and just wonderful people.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with them, and I learned so much (not just about food, either – I found out what the Canadian universal healthcare system is really like – it’s TERRIFIC.  Don’t listen to the naysayers).  I hope our paths cross again sometime in the future.

But – I just realized – I never got an autographed copy of the book for myself…

Insalata Caprese (salad in the style of Capri) is a simple salad from the Italian region of Campania, made of sliced fresh mozzarella, plum tomatoes and basil. It is seasoned with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Ideally, the mozzarella is di bufala campana, the olive oil is extra virgin from the peninsula of Sorrento and the tomatoes and basil are grown in the full sun of the mezzogiorno.

Well, I’m not exactly what anyone would consider “ideal”, so I used regular cows-milk mozzarella, Vermont hothouse tomatoes, Hannaford brand extra-virgin olive oil (mixed with Balsamic Vinegar and garlic). The basil was grown in Schenectady.

And, I just found this entry on Epicurious.com:

The dressing is always a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil – only. Vinegar would destroy the delicate flavor of the cheese and is never used. Because this salad is so simple, top-rate ingredients are imperative: Hothouse tomatoes and rubbery processed mozzarella are unacceptable.

Oops! Like I said, obviously not ideal (Epicurious may even stoop so low as to call me a culinary heretic). But, I really thought it was delicious – Wendalicious, I dare say. Enjoy the following photo – a recipe is not necessary, since the photo is self-explanatory.

Insalata Caprese

]]> http://wendalicious.com/2008/07/13/restaurant-re-creation-4-insalata-caprese/feed/ 2 wendalicious Insalata Caprese http://wendalicious.com/2008/07/10/csa-delivery-inspires-impromptu-dinner/ http://wendalicious.com/2008/07/10/csa-delivery-inspires-impromptu-dinner/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:46:00 +0000 wendalicious http://wendalicious.wordpress.com/?p=138 ]]> Today marked the second delivery of my CSA share – well, it was actually the third delivery, but I missed last week’s due to my grandfather’s funeral.

Here’s what I got this week:

• Salad greens
• Green leaf lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Thyme and Basil
• Sugar Snap peas
• yau choy (Chinese greens, similar to bok choy, but smaller)

I also purchased some squash, additional basil (I can’t resist), parsley, and spring onions at the Farmer’s Market. Still mostly green stuff this week, but I hear next week the beets are coming!

Anyway, I wanted to make sure I used some of this before it wilted and I had to throw it away, so I had to get creative to come up with something fun and delicious for dinner. After looking through the fridge and pantry, I found:

• Chicken Apple Sausage
• A jar of roasted red peppers
• Whole wheat fusilli
• Parmesan cheese
• garlic

And, then, inspiration struck! Here’s what I ended up making:

Chicken Apple Sausage Garden Pasta

• Whole Wheat pasta (any short kind will work – I happened to have fusilli)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 spring onions, chopped (both white and green parts)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (or more if you want)
• 3 chicken sausage links, sliced
• a bunch of Swiss Chard
• 2 roasted red peppers, rinsed and sliced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
• 1 tsp of your favorite Italian seasoning mix (mine is Tuscan Sunset from Penzey’s)
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
  
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (or more if you want)

Cook pasta in salted water until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Trim the ends off the chard stalks and discard. Rip the ribs off the leaves, tear up the leaves, and set the leaves aside. Chop the ribs coarsely.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in the olive oil. Add the chard ribs and chopped onion. Saute for about 3 minutes, until they begin to get soft. Add the sliced sausage, and cook until lightly browned. Add the garlic, and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.

Add the chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Dump the chard leaves on top (don’t mix in), cover, and let simmer until chard is wilted (about 3 minutes or so). Remove the cover, add the sliced peppers, seasonings, pasta, and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan. Stir until thoroughly combined and heated through. Serve with additional Parmesan.

Wendalicious!

This was SO good – the chicken apple sausage and the chard gave it a nice sweetness, which was balanced by the heat of the red pepper and garlic. It was also really really easy! I had never eaten chard before, so I was pleasantly surprised!

And for those of you trying to eat healthfully, this recipe is extremely good for you, if you can manage not to eat the whole pan of it (good luck).  Olive oil, leafy greens, whole wheat pasta, lean poultry…it’s in there.

Oh, and I ate all the sugar snap peas while I was making dinner. Like candy!

Enjoy!

How do you use it? Do you have a favorite recipe containing rosemary?

Does smelling it make you think of anything? Does the very sight of a sprig of fresh rosemary, rising majestically from a creamy yellow mound of fresh whipped potatoes, inspire you to compose a poem?

I want to know. The world wants to know. Tell us, right here.

Brine: Dissolve 2T salt and 2T sugar in 1 cup of lukewarm water. Let sit about 5 minutes, until the sugar and salt dissolve.

Meanwhile, put 4 pork chops (doesn’t matter what kind or how big, or even how many, for that matter) in a gallon-size zip-top bag. Add 2tsp cracked rosemary, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1tsp thyme (any other mixture of your favorite spices works just as well – Italian, Cajun, Southwestern…use your imagination!).

Dump the brine into the bag with the pork, add an additional cup of water, and shake the bag to coat. Seal the bag, and place in the fridge overnight. After brining, rinse the chops completely (or they’ll be too salty), and prepare however you like. I just pan-fry them – they’re absolutely wendalicious just like that.

I promise, you’ll NEVER make pork chops any other way ever again!

Wine Tip: try Trout Valley Pinot Noir 2006 (from New Zealand). Fruity, low in tannins, and very smooth. Will go very well with the pork chops!

Easy Rosemary Chicken

INGREDIENTS:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup*
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine the soup, sour cream and rosemary. Mix well.
3. Place chicken pieces in a 9×13 inch baking dish, in a single layer. Pour rosemary mixture over chicken and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Let cool 10 minutes and serve.

*Campbell’s Healthy Request condensed soups have very little in the way of sugar and other carbs – I checked.

If this recipe doesn’t work, you may want to try www.allrecipes.com. You can go to their “Advanced Search” option, and enter ingredients you want, and ingredients you don’t want. That may help you find something more interesting than baked chicken or fish. Let me know what you think….

Another day of exercise thwarted by my insane schedule. Tomorrow is another day. At least I stuck to my eating program today. And speaking of eating, here’s one of my all-time greatest hits:

Recipe of the Day:

Skillet Stroganoff

To keep the sour cream from curdling, remove the pan from the heat before stirring it in.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground raw turkey breast (93% lean works best for these)
• 1/2 pound lean ground pork (you may have to ask the butcher for it)
• 1 cup fresh rye breadcrumbs (really, any kind of bread will work just fine)
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 egg whites
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon beef-flavored bouillon granules (I use 2tsp beef stock base)
• 1 (4-ounce) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked medium egg noodles
• 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream (fat-free works great, too)
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions (we call ‘em scallions up north here)

Preparation

Combine turkey, pork, and next 5 ingredients (breadcrumbs through egg whites) in a bowl, and stir well. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) meatballs (I use a mini ice-cream scoop to make identically-sized meatballs – just call me Martha).

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray, and place over medium-high heat until hot. Add meatballs, and cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Drain well. Wipe drippings from skillet with a paper towel (or don’t – wiping removes all the flavor).

Return meatballs to skillet. Add water, bouillon granules, and mushrooms; bring to a boil. Stir in noodles; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream. Sprinkle with green onions.

Yield:6 servings (serving size: 1 cup – yeah, right)

Nutritional Information: CALORIES 273(29% from fat); FAT 8.9g (sat 3.5g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.2g); PROTEIN 22.5g; CHOLESTEROL 75mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 596mg; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 2.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.5g

I use these meatballs for everything! I usually make a double batch and freeze half, to use in spaghetti sauce, BBQ meatball appetizers, etc. Sometimes, I’ll make the meatballs and bake them in the oven instead of cooking them in a pan. Less mess.

I’ve been using this recipe since 1996, and it’s how I got turned on to tarragon. Tarragon is a delicate, licorice-tinged herb that goes very well on steamed carrots, in egg dishes, chicken salad, and Bearnaise sauce (I’ll save that recipe for another day). I’ve always used it dried, but you can buy it fresh, too. Just use about twice the amount of dried that’s called for in a recipe.

Incidentally, this was one of my ex-husband’s favorite recipes. He called it “Little Meatballs”. Probably because he couldn’t pronounce Stroganoff.

KITCHEN TIP: Don’t bother buying aerosol can cooking spray, or even one of those fancy “oil misters” that cost $29.95. What a waste (especially the aerosol – there’s about a half a teaspoon of oil in that can, and you pay $2.99 for it). Go to Target, in the Trial Size section of the Health & Beauty aids department, and pick up a clear plastic spray bottle. Wash it thoroughly with soap and hot water, and fill it with your favorite oil (mine’s olive). Then spray away! You’ll save so much money, and there’s nothing to put in the garbage.

That’s all I’ve got today. I’m still trying to devise some recipes for you, Marlene. Tell me again – what is it that you can eat?