Bread and Lemon Zest

What about bread and lemon zest?  Well, I've been baking bread lately from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  And the zest is a little tip I got from Bon Appetit magazine.

[caption id="attachment_1438" align="alignright" width="189" caption="Look! It's pretty!"][/caption]

First of all, I got Artisan Bread from the library to test it out.  I was very impressed, so I bought it. I found that it really is just a few minutes that you spend before putting a loaf of fresh bread on the table.  You don't have to make bread every day.  Rather, you mix up a very easy dough and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.  Then you tear off a hunk of dough, smooth it out, pop it in the oven and voila! Fresh bread with dinner tonight!  The dough will keep in the fridge for weeks, so if you only feel like doing this on the weekend you can. This is a photo of my third loaf (and only my first boule--the others were baguettes), so I know my technique will improve.  I'm not a fan of gimmicks, such as, just say, claiming to make bread in five minutes, but this isn't a gimmick!  It really works. This bread cookbook is well worth the money.

Now on to the zest:  I have sooo many lemons right now, and my second little tip is one I found in Bon Appetit magazine at some point, but I'd never tried it out.  Here's what Dana Sturgis, test kitchen director, says in the magazine: "When a recipe calls for lemon juice, don't waste all that great zest!  Before I squeeze a lemon, I use a sharp vegetable peeler to remove thin strips of zest.  I let the strips air-dry for a day or two, then store them in a jar at room temp until I want to crumble them into rices, stews, or cooked fruit.

[caption id="attachment_1447" align="alignleft" width="112" caption="Denuded lemons and their zest"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1448" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Zest after aging"][/caption]

When I need 'fresh' zest, I just soak the strips in cold water for an hour, and they're as perky as the day I peeled them off."  Due to the plethora of lemons and the plethora of guilt I feel for not using every last one, I was thrilled to find this little tip.

[caption id="attachment_1450" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Ready for storage"][/caption]

And I have to say, it works well!  I used a sharp chef's knife to very finely mince the shards of peel, and it was easy, quick, and guilt free!

Homemade bread and preserved lemon zest...we're just so thrifty!

Quick, Summery Hors d'Ouevre

Well all right, yes, it is just bruschetta.  But I'm usually disappointed in most bruschetta I try.  The tomatoes are too wet or the bread is soggy or the garlic is too assertive or there is too much basil or not enough salt.  So this has become my go-to hors d'ouevre this summer.  If you come to my house for drinks and snacks, act surprised. 

VH Bruschetta

1 skinny baguette

softened butter

3 or 4 medium tomatoes (doesn't matter what kind, just that they are nice and ripe)

3 or 4 medium leaves of basil

garlic powder, salt, pepper

Preheat the broiler.  Slice the bread into 1/2" thick slices.  Very lightly butter the bread, being sure to get the entire sliced surface covered with a skim coating of butter, on both sides.  Place buttered slices on baking sheet. Broil bread, watching very carefully, until toasted.  Remove baking sheet from oven, flip pieces over, return to oven and broil the other side until toasted as well.  Let slices cool.  Toasts (or excuse me--crostini) can be made a day or two ahead, if you let them cool completely then store them airtight.  Deglop and quite finely chop the tomatoes and place in a bowl.  Stack the basil leaves, then roll them up lengthwise so you kind of have a basil cigar.  Very finely slice the leaves crosswise,  into a chiffonade.  You can chop them up even more finely if you want.  Add the basil to the tomatoes. Lightly sprinkle the tomatoes with garlic powder.  Add about 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper (no, it doesn't have to be sea salt or freshly ground--whatever you have on hand is fine!) and gently fold everything together.  Get a spoon and taste the concoction.  Enough basil? salt? garlic powder? pepper?  When you're happy with your product, spoon it into a serving bowl and serve with the sliced baguette.   And by the way, I'm very pleased with my bread serving vehicle--it's an old enamel tray for developing photographs!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

It’s a beautiful, rainy February day here in Vacaville.  It’s a misty, drizzly day that needs soup.  Nothing too dead-of-winterish, but rather something a bit more refined.  Leek and Potato Soup is easy, pretty cheap, and, most importantly, delicious.  If you don’t have any leeks, you’ll have to go buy some.  And while you’re at the store, get a loaf of fresh, crusty bread.  Dinner’s ready!

Leek and Potato Soup

3 large leeks

1 lb. potatoes

1 onion

1 clove garlic

4 Tbl. butter

2 Tbl. flour

3 pints chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

Salt and white pepper to taste

Fill a large bowl two-thirds full with cold water. Slice the white and pale green parts only of the leeks into 1/8” thick slices.  Place slices in bowl of water, working the dirt out of the pieces with your fingers as you go.  Let the dirt and grit settle to the bottom of the bowl.  Let the leeks sit in the water for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion, peel and mince the garlic.  Melt the butter in a large pot.  Remove the sliced leeks from the water with your hands, being careful not to disturb the dirt on the bottom of the bowl, shake off the water (they don’t need to be perfectly dry), and place them in the pot with the melted butter. Gently sauté the leeks, onion, and garlic for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Do not  allow vegetables to brown.  Peel and dice the potatoes and add them to the pot.  Salt and generously pepper the vegetables, then dust them with the flour.  Stir all together.  Add the chicken stock to the pot, increase the heat, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.  Remove from heat.  If you have an immersion blender, now is the time to puree the soup.  If you do not have an immersion blender, let the soup cool for about 20 minutes then puree it in batches in a conventional blender.  When soup is pureed, return it to the pot (if you used an immersion blender, you are good to go already).  Add the cream, stirring well.  Reheat the soup gently, but do not let it boil.  Taste for seasoning. Serve warm, garnished with some fresh chopped parsley (if you have any).  Serves 6

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day!