HRJ invited us over to see his new house and he made sous vide burgers, corn, fattoush salad, and passionfruit poplova. I love it when other people cook for us. It is such a rare treat.

INGREDIENTS
Dressing:
4 teaspoons ground sumac, soaked in 4 teaspoons warm water for 15 minutes
3 tablespoons (or more) fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons (or more) pomegranate molasses
2 small garlic doves, minced
2 teaspoons (or more) white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried mint
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

PREPARATION
Combine sumac with soaking liquid, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, garlic, 2 teaspoons vinegar, and dried mint in a small bowl. Gradually add oil, whisking constantly, until well blended. Season with salt; add more lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, and vinegar to taste, if desired.

I was bemoaning our not using the almond flour we have. So M googled almond flour recipes and found this one:

Almond Flour Pancakes

Savory. Grainy – more like cake made in a pan rather than a pancake. Better when cooked lighter and with maple syrup. Too savory without syrup. Our typical cook’s illustrated buttermilk pancakes are too sweet with syrup.

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil*
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*Use coconut oil, if desired.
Instructions
Note: Thanks to reader feedback, as of 11/07/16 we’ve adjusted the liquid/flour ratio of these pancakes. The resulting batter will still be a bit thicker than standard pancake batter, but will be easily pourable.
Whisk together the dry ingredients and set them aside.
Beat together the eggs, melted butter or oil, milk, and vanilla.
Whisk into the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Allow the batter to rest for 10 minutes, while you preheat your griddle to medium-high. If you have an electric griddle, set it to 350°F. Grease the griddle.
Pour about 3 tablespoons batter at a time onto the griddle. Cook the pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes, until their tops are bubbly, their edges look dry, and their bottoms are golden brown.
Turn the pancakes over and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, until brown.
Serve pancakes hot, with butter and syrup.
Yield: 10 to 12 pancakes.

Daring Gourmet’s Salmon Risotto with Preserved Lemon

You can use either fresh salmon or use pre-cooked or canned salmon.

If using fresh salmon you’ll need to cook it before adding it to the risotto. You can either bake, pan-fry or grill it, whichever method you prefer. Just cook it and then flake it off in pieces to add to the risotto when the time comes.

Serves: Serves 4

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
1½ cups arborio rice or carnaroli rice
¼ cup dry white wine
4 cups hot fish stock, reserve ¼ cup
¼ cup finely chopped preserved lemon
2 tablespoons fresh dill (recommended) or ½ teaspoon dried
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
12 ounces cooked, flaked salmon

Instructions
Heat the oil in a medium stock pot, preferably one with a smaller diameter so the liquid evaporates more slowly. Cook the onions until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the arborio rice and cook for another minute. Add the white wine, bring to a boil, and boil until the wine is mostly evaporated, 2-3 minutes.

Add about a quarter of the hot fish stock. Cook, stirring regularly, until most of the broth has evaporated. Stir in the preserved lemon, the dill and the salt.

Continue adding the broth, ¼ cup at a time, stirring regularly as the rice absorbs the broth and begins to swell and become creamy in texture (this will take 20-25 minutes). Lastly, stir in the butter and then carefully the salmon. Stir in the reserved ¼ cup broth if the rice is too dry. Add salt to taste.

Serve immediately garnished with some fresh dill.

Flageolets with Autumn Greens (in spring)

YIELDServes 6
INGREDIENTS

1/4 pound fresh bacon
2 cups kosher salt mixed with 2 cups sugar
2 cups dried flageolet beans, soaked overnight and drained
1 carrot, halved
1 onion, quartered
1 whole head garlic, halved widthwise
1/4 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 dried ancho chile
About 2 tablespoons fino sherry vinegar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A few leaves Tuscan kale
A few leaves black kale
A few leaves mustard greens
Good olive oil for drizzling
PREPARATION

Pack the fresh bacon in the salt and sugar mixture, cover, and refrigerate for up to 4 hours. Rinse and pat dry, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
Combine the bacon, beans, carrot, onion, garlic, apricots, bay leaves, and chile in a pressure cooker and add cold water to come an inch above the beans. Fit the pressure cooker with the lid and raise the temperature to high until it starts to whistle. Reduce to the lowest setting and cook until the beans are creamy and cooked through, roughly 25 minutes. Remove the lid and adjust the seasoning with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Alternately, bring the ingredients to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and immediately reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, covered, until the beans are thoroughly cooked through and creamy, roughly 1 3/4 hours.
Remove the large aromatic vegetables, garlic, chile, and bay leaves from the pot and discard. They’ve done their flavoring job. Coarsely chop the greens or tear with your hands, then fold them into the beans. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the greens are tender.
Serve with warm crusty bread and a healthy dose of olive oil.

How to Make Chestnut Bread

i have been a whirlwind of kitchen godessness recently: filtering limoncello, bottling kombucha, making sourdough bread, and making more chestnut bread. i used a different recipe for the chestnut bread this time. i meant to halve it but ended up using the full amount of water so i added more flour and other ingredients and made 2 loaves.

i only used 28 grams of salt instead of 30 and i didn’t have enough sourdough starter for a full batch. next time, use less water. the bread was good but gummy, even at 210 degrees F.

attempting mapo tofu tonight…

the finished product was way more exciting to make than it was to eat. the dish was imbalanced. it was a bit too salty. it needed a tiny bit of sugar/sweetness. i sprinkled the sichuan peppercorn on top and it was wayyyyyyy too much. besides the fact that my tongue was vibrating in a most uncomfortable manner, the flavor of the pepper was overwhelming and i became nauseated. i’m better now and i will try again but this experience is a very good example of learning by making mistakes. when you succeed, you aren’t exactly sure what was successful; i know exactly what i should do differently next time i make mapo tofu.

green beans. vegetable gratin. quinoa. sockeye salmon. creamy peppercorn dressing from penzeys. weirdly delicious despite the hodge podge of crap. 

Chestnut Sourdough Bread

after buying chestnut flour from Bay Cities (which is surprisingly cheaper than buying in bulk from Amazon), i baked my first chestnut loaf using this recipe. i had all of the ingredients (except for the whole, peeled chestnuts) and the procedure was very similar to my usual sourdough bread. n.b., i halved the recipe – just in case it tasted terrible, i didn’t want to waste flour.

important note: do not use the seasoned Lodge cast iron for steaming purposes. the cold water thrown into the 500 degree pan stripped the seasoning. we have since reformed the seasoning layer but wow, not worth it.

NOTE: our pizzas only took 3 minutes to bake, then we topped with chiffonaded spinach and basil and cooked for another 1 minute

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups / 800 grams lukewarm water (100F or below)
1 tablespoon / 10 grams granulated yeast
1-1 1⁄2 tablespoons / 17-25 gramskosher salt
7 1⁄2 cups / 1080 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
~~~~~
85 grams tomato
85 grams fresh mozzarella cut into 1/2″ chunks
6 fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS
(PULLED THIS OFF THE INTERNET; THIS NEEDS TO BE MODIFIED)
Combine warm water (about 100F), olive oil, yeast and salt in a 5-quart bowl; preferably, in a lidded (not airtight) plastic container or food-grade bucket.
Measure the flour using a “swoop and sweep” method. Reach into the flour bin with your measuring cup, scooping up a full measure all at once, and sweeping it level with a knife.
Mix until all of the flour is incorpORated (kneading is not necessary) using a wooden spoon or a food processor with a dough attachment.
Cover with a non-airtight lid.
Allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
DO NOT PUNCH DOWN! You want to retain as much gas in the dough as possible. A reduction in gas will make your pizzas and flatbreads dense.
Refrigerate and use over the next 14 days. Refigerate at least 3 hours before using.

ON PIZZA DAY

Prepare and measure toppings in advance.
30 minutes before you’re ready to bake, place a pizza stone at the bottom third of the oven and preheat it at your oven’s highest temperature.
Dust a pizza peel (or a large cutting board/flat cookie sheet) with enough flour or cornmeal to easily transfer the pizza over to the hot stone.
Pull up and cut off a 1/2 pound (orange-size) piece of dough.
Using a little flour (enough so it won’t stick to your fingers), stretch and shape the dough into a ball.
Sprinkle your work area with a little flour. Using your hands or a rolling pin, roll out and stretch the dough until it is approximately 1/8″ thick and 12″ wide.
Place the finished dough onto the prepared, floured pizza peel and add the toppings of your choice.
Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot stone (if it isn’t sliding, you will need to sprinkle more flour or cornmeal between the pizza and the pizza peel, until it moves.
Check for doneness after 8-10 minutes – it may take a few minutes longer. Turn the pizza around if the one side is browning faster than the other.
Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.