Author Archives: michcorbett

Rosemary Focaccia

Posted on by

A very belated happy new year! For 2012, one of my resolutions was to bake bread. I should have made the other resolution to remember to BLOG! Thankfully, I have been baking bread and photographing the adventures, so now I have a backlog of wonderful recipes to share with you.

Why a resolution to bake bread? Well, quite frankly yeast has always scared me. I mean, it’s a living thing that comes in a packet and you have to wake it up using the perfect temperature of water. Too hot or too cold and you’ll kill it along with your recipe. So I have stayed away from yeast. But having tasted some amazing home made bread, I decided this was the year I conquer my fear of yeast and enjoy all the delicious bread it has to offer.

For new years eve, we were invited to a fancy pot-luck dinner and I decided that it would be the perfect occasion to try making some focaccia. Rosemary focaccia to be exact. I found this recipe from a fellow blogger: http://www.stephencooks.com/2005/11/quick_focaccia.html and decided to give it a try with one of my favorite sous-chefs, Rose.

Here are the ingredients for 2 loaves (which is a lot of bread, but it will freeze well!):

  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tsp instant yeast (as opposed to “active dry”)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1/2 c olive oil
  • 1 3/4 cups warm water

I want to take a second to talk about the glory that is instant yeast. Especially if you are a new bread baker as I am, instant yeast takes a lot of pressure off. Remember how I was saying that you have to get the water temperature perfect in order for yeast to activate? Well, with instant yeast you just mix it right into the flour and add the water later. Even if it’s all the same, it feels nicer.

Ok so the process is actually pretty simple. All it takes is A LOT of flour and some patience. Oh, and you probably want a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. That makes life much easier when dealing with this quantity of dough (and it comes with a convenient dough hook). Put the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and rosemary in the bowl. Turn the mixer to stir just to combine the dry ingredients. In order to cut down on dishes, I used the dough hook the entire time, but you could start with the paddle if you wanted. I would change to the dough hook right here though.

So now we’re up to the water part. It says “warm water” and in most recipes it gives you the temperature, but really how many of us are going to sit with a thermometer in a cup of water to make sure it’s the right temperature? Think of it this way… the temperature it asks for is approximately 105ºF. If the normal human body temperature is 98.6ºF, then you basically want the water to feel slightly warm to the touch. Too cold to take a shower in, but too warm to brush your teeth with. “Lukewarm” if you will. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour 1 cup of water, followed by 1/2 cup olive oil, and finally the last 3/4 cup of water. Increase the speed to 4. You’ll notice the dough will become a ball and begin to be kneaded by the dough hook. Knead using the dough hook for a couple minutes, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. 

Now it’s time to knead by hand. In order to knead:

  1. Use the heel of your hand to press and stretch the dough
  2. Fold the dough that you’ve stretched back over itself
  3. Rotate the dough and repeat
  4. Add flour as needed

Here’s a video on kneading in case that made no sense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWj8oHMPFm0. Now, I said add flour as needed. As you’re kneading you will notice that after a few minutes it will feel as if there is no flour in your dough anymore. It gets sticky. When this happens add some more flour. A cooking instructor told me that bread dough will take as much flour as it needs and then when it’s ready it will stop absorbing the flour. Knead by hand for about 5 minutes, or until dough is stiff, but pliable. The way to tell this is to make an indentation in the dough with your finger, it should spring back up easily. Place ball into an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place (like the kitchen) for 1 1/2 hours until at least doubled in size. Watching dough rise is one of my favorite parts of the process because it really feels like magic. Trust me, it will bring out the little excited kid in you.

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 450ºF. It’s important to heat the pizza stone with the oven, otherwise the heat from the oven could crack it. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a baking sheet turned upside down in the oven, but still preheat the oven with the baking sheet inside it. Punch down the risen dough to remove the air (this is also pretty entertaining). Divide the dough in half, cover one half with a clean towel and flatten the other half into a disk. Repeat with other half.  If you have a pizza peel, put some corn meal or flour on it and place the disks on there. If you don’t have one, just place them on a cutting board or other surface. Cover both disks and let rise for 1/2 hour. 

Using your finger, poke deep indentations around the top of each loaf about 1/2 inch apart. Drizzle loaves lightly with olive oil and another 1 tsp of dried rosemary. Place onto pizza stone. Bake for 10 minutes at 450ºF and then reduce temperature to 375ºF for another 20 minutes. At the end of these 20 minutes, remove bread from oven and brush with egg wash made of 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tsp of water. Sprinkle with coarse salt and return to oven to cook for another 2 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. The texture of this bread was amazing and really tasted like the best focaccia you’ve ever had.

Since we were bringing it to a potluck, we put it back in the oven at 200 to re-warm it and served it with some olive oil. If you need to store it overnight, wrap it in tin foil and place in a zip lock bag. Freeze like this or leave it out at room temperature for up to 3 days. Don’t refrigerate it because that will dry it out.

This might seem like a lot of steps, but it was actually pretty easy and the results were so much better than any store bought focaccia because it was so fresh! This recipe would also be super easy to modify with any flavors you like. The original blog post actually has a bunch of variations at the end.

I hope you have added bake more bread to your resolution list! Let me know what you make!

Simply Sushi: a make-your-own sushi adventure

Posted on by

Sushi is one of those dishes that is a little intimidating. How many people think to make it at home when you can order it so easily and have it made by experts? Most people wouldn’t even know where to start. That was my mindset until high-school. One of my best friends decided to have a make-your-own sushi party for her birthday. Ever since I saw how easy it was, I’ve been working on my sushi skills.

This weekend, one of my oldest friends came over with her boyfriend and we made some sushi combos of our own. I want to share the tricks and tips with you so that you might feel confident and tackle sushi making on your own. It’s fun, easy, and the combinations are pretty endless.

In order to make sushi, you need a few basic ingredients:

  • A pack of nori sheets (can be found in the asian aisle in most grocery stores)
  • 1 1/2 cups sushi rice (found in the same aisle as the nori)
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt

The first thing you want to do is prepare the sushi rice. Combine the rice with 2 cups of water and bring to a soft boil.  Immediately turn down to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 20 minutes. The most important lesson I’ve learned when it comes to cooking rice is DO NOT STIR IT! EVER! Just put the water in and then stay away. This will seriously cook the rice perfectly. After 20 minutes turn off the heat, put a paper towel on top of the pot and cover with the lid. Let rice cool for 20 minutes (again, don’t touch the rice). While the rice is cooling combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small sauce pan and heat until sugar and salt have dissolved (about 3 minutes). Transfer rice to a large bowl and add vinegar mixture. Using a flat wooden spoon fold the vinegar into the rice. Set aside and let the rice mixture come to room temperature.

The next step is to prepare your sushi fillings. Here is where your preferences, fridge, and creativity come into play. I don’t have a good market to buy sushi-grade fish so my combinations are either vegetarian or made with pre-cooked seafood (like frozen shrimp and imitation crab meat). This weekend I had:

  • cucumber
  • avocado
  • imitation crab meat
  • cream cheese
  • smoked salmon
  • bell peppers
  • crunch (AKA Panko bread crumbs)
  • spicy mayo (2 Tbsp light mayo + sriracha to taste)

In order to prepare the fillings, you want to julienne them into thin matchstick size pieces.

Third step is assembling the sushi. Lay a piece of nori shiny side down onto a sushi mat. If you don’t have a sushi mat, you can use a piece of saran wrap. If you think you might make sushi more than once, though, you might want to purchase a mat. They’re pretty inexpensive and don’t take up much room in your kitchen (I know the annoyance of owning a one trick kitchen gadget that takes up more room than it’s worth…this is not one of them!) The next thing you want to do is to spread the rice THINLY onto the nori, covering most all of it, except about 1/2 an inch furthest away from you.

This is probably the trickiest part of the whole process. You want to make sure the rice is spread thinly, otherwise you end up with sushi that is 99% rice and 1% filling, which is no fun. My trick is to spray my hands with Pam. This might sound odd, and you’re probably not seeing the pro sushi chefs use this trick, but it’s the only way that works for me. It allows you to spread the rice super thin without it all ending up stuck to your hand. Don’t be afraid to smush the rice down and to use more Pam if you need it.

Once you decide what filling you want to put into your sushi, lay it down along the edge closest to you*. Be careful not to overfill. This will take some trial and error, but usually 1-2 layers of each filling should be enough.

bell pepper, crab meat, cream cheese, sriracha

Using your sushi mat, begin to roll the sushi away from you (towards the uncovered rice part. My trick is to use the sushi mat for the first roll and the last roll and to do the rest by hand. In the first roll, you want to make sure you get all the filling in and then use the mat to squeeze and shape the sushi. Depending on the size of your sushi, you can do 1-2 more rolls until you run out of nori. Place the mat over the roll and squeeze again to shape it. You’ll end up with a long sushi log. Set it aside and repeat the filling and rolling process until you’re satisfied (about 1 nori roll per person).

The last step before enjoying your creation is to cut the sushi. This is trickier than you might think If you have saran wrap, you might want to cover the sushi with saran wrap to help it keep it’s shape while you’re cutting it. Use a very sharp knife and don’t make the pieces too thin otherwise they’ll fall apart. It’s ok if it’s messy. You’ll get better with practice and hey, you just made sushi! Display it on a lovely plate with all the fixin’s (wasabi, ginger, soy sauce, spicy mayo) and enjoy!

*If you want to try inside out sushi, turn the nori over after you’ve spread the rice. Also put a piece of saran wrap in between the rice and the sushi mat to prevent sticking. Put the fillings directly onto the nori.

Pesto Pasta with Sausage and Veggies

Posted on by

As many of you know, this is the time of year when there are holiday baskets galore. Most of the ones I receive are filled with desserts or other treats that are easy to share with the office. This year, I received a really nice change of pace from one of my research partners– a bottle of wine and gourmet pastas and sauces. Since it’s tricky to share dried pasta with the office, I left the bottle of wine there and took home the loot for some fun dinners.

As you know from previous posts, veggie and protein filled pastas are one of my favorite quick meals. Two ingredients from this gift basket helped me make Thursday night’s dinner a more special version of a one pot meal: pesto and Trottoloni Pugiese Pasta. I had no idea what kind of pasta that was, so here’s a picture: 

You probably will not have this pasta, so just use something that will hold sauce well like orchiette, fusilli, or anything that’s not spaghetti basically.The pasta was a great fun shape so I was excited for this meal before I figured out what else to put in the dish.  Here’s what I came up with:

  • 6 oz dry pasta (3 servings)
  • 1 package baby bella mushrooms (sliced)
  • 3 mini bell peppers (or 1 large one)
  • 2 links of chicken and apple sausage (you can also use grilled chicken, veggie, or Italian sausage)
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup jarred pesto sauce
A couple quick notes. First of all mini bell peppers are something I’ve discovered recently and they’re great because you can put 3 colors in your dish without having to store a bunch of partially used peppers (I don’t know if you have this issue… but I often need less than 1 pepper for dinner for 2). 

Second thing I want to talk about is the sausage. I had some chicken and apple sausage from Fresh Direct. I thought it would go well with the pesto because it was a little sweet without being too overpowering a flavor. My alternate suggestions are basically other proteins whose flavors would not overpower the pesto.

This dish is pretty interesting because unlike most of my other recipes, the only spice I added was garlic salt. The rest of the dish is flavored by the sausage and the pesto.

I’ve heard from many people that the trickiest thing about cooking is getting the timing right. This is a great recipe to start with because you don’t have to worry about timing, it just works out!

Fill a medium size pot about half full with water and bring to a boil. While that’s coming to a boil heat some olive oil in a large skillet and brown the mushrooms. Sprinkle them with 1/2 tsp garlic salt to help them brown and release their water. Once mushrooms are browned and cooked (about 10 minutes) remove them from the pan and set aside. Around this time the water will be boiling. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Slice the sausage into 1 inch coins and cook them, covered, in the pan for about 3 minutes. Flip, re-cover, and let them finish cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the pan. Add the mushrooms back to the pan with the diced mini bell peppers and frozen peas and let them heat through. Add sausage along with 1/2 cup of starchy water from the pasta pot. Starchy water is a great trick when building sauces. First of all it helps less sauce stretch out over more food (which saves calories), and it also helps the sauce stick to the pasta so that all the flavors blend together well. Add about 1/2 cup of pesto and stir until the veggies and sausage are well covered. The pasta should be about done now. Drain it and add it directly to the large pan with the rest of the pesto. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated and pesto is evenly distributed. 

This dish made 3 heaping servings. I just can’t get over how much I love bulking out pasta with veggies. 6 oz of dry pasta is not very much at all, but each serving is about 2 cups of food.