Rosemary Focaccia (my first ever)

I've always wanted to make focaccia, but never had the time, and frankly I was a little intimidated by the idea of making this wonderful bread at home. I don't know why, it was relatively easy - most of the time involved in making the bread is completely inactive, just waiting for the bread to rise, and the active time in making the bread was pretty simple.

The one bad thing about this bread is that it is so good and tasty, that CB and I downed a whole bottle of Valpolicella wine while we ripped chunks of bread from the loaf and ate them. I mean, really, what is more comforting than warm homemade bread and delicious soft red wine? Not much.

I got this recipe from a book that I bought recently called the Vegetarian Bible. Its a good book, and has a few real good recipes in it like this one.

Rosemary Focaccia

Ingredients | Makes 1 loaf

4 1/2 cups strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting (I used all purpose flour)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, plus sprigs for garnish

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for dusting

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 tsp coarse sea salt

1. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl and stir in the yeast and rosemary. Make a well in the center, and pour in 4 tbsp of the olive oil, and mix quickly with a wooden spoon. Gradually stir in the lukewarm water but do not over mix. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 2 minutes. The dough will be quite wet; do not add more flour.

2. Brush a bowl with oil. Shape the dough into a bowl, put it into the bowl, and put the bowl into a plastic bag or cover with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours, until dough has doubled in volume.

3. Brush a cookie sheet with oil. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and punch down with your first, then knead for 1 minute. Put the dough on to the prepared cookie sheet and press out into an even layer. Put the cookie sheet into a plastic bag or cover with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 475F. Whisk the remaining oil with a little water in a bowl. Dip your fingers into the oil mixture and press them into the dough to make dimples all over the loaf. Sprinkle with the sea salt, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle the loaf with the remaining rosemary.

5. Lower the oven temperature to 425F and bake the focaccia for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly, then serve while still warm. Alternatively, let the loaf cool completely and reheat in a low oven before serving.

Rating - Damn Good

Checking In and Zucchini Overload

Hi All. I've missed blogging so much since I've been laid off, but truth be told I just haven't been cooking that much; I've spent a lot of time at my father-in-laws place in Newport and also relaxing in Vermont and I've barely seen the inside of a kitchen in what feels like forever.

The time has actually gone by faster than I thought it would, it's been three weeks, and I feel like it was just yesterday that I was given my walking papers. I start my new job in three weeks, I'm terribly excited and nervous at the same time, this job is such a wonderful opportunity for me, and I just want to succeed at it so badly. Fingers Crossed!

When I got back from Newport on Sunday I had zucchini literally jumping out of the raised beds of my garden. So far I've picked 5 gargantuan zucchinis and it seems like there are new ones every day. The other parts of the garden have not been so fruitful. I've got a jalapeno plant that has about seven peppers on it, but none are ready to be picked, the six tomato plants I've got going are really big and bushy and have tons of flowers, but only one little tomato seems to be hanging on the vine. The cucumbers seem to be growing well, but just blossoms and no fruit, same for the red, green and yellow peppers and the summer squash. Salad greens though, I've got those coming out the wazoo, every night I pick garden fresh greens for a salad which is really cool.

So, yesterday - with the zucchini I made chocolate banana zucchini bread, which wasn't the bestc bread I've ever made, but still good. I'll blog that as soon as I take pictures of it. I've got a focaccia dough raising as I write this, and I think I'm going to try and make a zucchini parmesan dish to go with it, that should knock off a few more of the zucchini. Does anyone have any really good zucchini recipes that you can share with me? Otherwise I'm going to have to start drive by zucchini trips to all my friends and leave unwanted zucchinis on everyones doorstep.

Thanks for your patience while I try and get back on a blogging schedule. I really do miss writing this blog, I won't be away for much longer.

Later

Laid Off

I was laid off on Wednesday. It sucks, but it's ok too. I'll be taking a little while off from blogging. Probably a week or two while I get my crap together and take some much needed time off. You'd think with being laid off I'd have even more time to cook, but it seems since I got laid off I'm busier than ever. Anyway check back in a week or so.

Take Care.

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe, Ricotta Salata and Prosciutto

I have turned into my father. When I was young I thought my father was crazy, partly because he would go out to the garden, stand in front of it, left hand on his hip, right hand holding a Marlboro (we won't get into the health hazards of smoking because he has since quit) and just stare at it, for what seemed like hours. This to me seemed like a colossal waste of time, and completely non productive, certainly there were other things that needed to be done - why was he just staring at the garden.

I now go to the back yard and do the same exact thing. I stare at the garden, as if it is going to grow before my very eyes. I monitor the smallest growth from the day before. I stand there, hand on hip and literally will the vegetables to "show me something." Of all the people, in all the world that I thought I would draw similarities to later in life I never, never in my wildest dreams thought it wold be my father. He is a foodie, I am a foodie, he likes to write, I like to write, he's got a quirky sense of humor - I've got more of a sick and twisted sense of humor, but he thinks I'm funny so there has to be some correlation there. He loves to garden and plant, which when I was younger I thought was "totally gay" (I know, not PC, but I was like 13 when I was saying this), I cannot get enough of my gardens, vegetables and flowers. When did this happen. When did I become a 60 year old man? Anyway, I'm happy that I've taken these things from him, surprised, but happy just the same.

This recipe is one that I watched Emeril make on his non live show, I'm not sure what it's called. I thought that this recipe looked amazing and and it was a very easy recipe to throw together. Now, yes, it does have meat in it. I went to a specialty shop and bought Proscuitto d'Parma which CB has done a lot of research into and is content with the way that the "happy pigs" of Parma are treated while they are alive - free to roam, fed an all natural diet, not kept in unsightly living conditions, so yes, there is meat in this recipe. I pretty much ate around the meat, but I didn't get too crazy with making sure there wasn't any meat in my portion.

Hands down, I would make this recipe again in a heart beat. It was delicious and fast. The image above is not mine, we scoffed this shit down so fast there was no time to take a picture. Seriously.

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe, Ricotta Salata and Prosciutto | Emeril

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound dried orecchiette pasta
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup julienned onion
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 10 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 4 to 6 ounces ricotta salata, coarsely grated

Directions

In a large soup pot or stockpot, bring 4 quarts of cold water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of the salt and the orecchiette and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain the pasta and set aside. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid for the sauce.

While pasta is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet and, when hot, add the onion and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring often, until onions are golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the prosciutto and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the broccoli rabe and black pepper and cook, tossing, until the broccoli rabe is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and sun-dried tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the drained pasta and the reserved 1/2 cup of pasta cooking liquid and cook, stirring, until everything is heated through and well-combined. Remove from the heat and add the parsley, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and the ricotta salata; toss thoroughly to combine.

Serve immediately.

Rating - Damn Good

Baja Fish Tacos with Chipolte Dressing and Cabbage Slaw | ATK

This weekend I asked my dad to be a guest blogger here at Urban Drivel. He one upped me and started his own tasty blog. Please check him out here - he has a lovely recap the the wet, soggy, gray, food and art filled Father's Day that we spent together on Sunday. Despite how much mother nature tried to screw with our seasonal dysfunctional tendencies we had a really lovely day.

While swapping food stories and filling our faces at brunch I let him know about an awesome Baja Fish Taco recipe that I had made out of the new Cook's Country Best Grilling Recipes, I was able to get an advanced copy of this book before it was available to the general public and I have made a few things out of it that have been amazing. This recipe was truly delicious. I'm not going to post the recipe because the book has only been for sale for a few months and I don't want to cause a ruckus over there with copyright issues and all that hullabaloo, but if you want the recipe simply leave me a comment that you would like it, and send me an email to urbandrivel@yahoo.com and I'll shoot it over to you no problem.

Talk soon -

Guinness Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread | Oh Mama!

Sunday I saw a woman walking her dog. Sunday I saw a woman walking her dog with the leash in her right hand. Sunday I saw a woman walking her dog with the leash in her right hand and a bag of dog poo in her left hand. Sunday I saw a woman walking her dog with the leash in her right hand and a bag of dog poo in her left, she got an itch on her cheek. Sunday I saw a woman walking her dog with the leash in her right hand and a bag of dog poo in her left, she got an itch on her cheek, she scratched the itch with the LEFT HAND. Why would you bring a bag of poo up to your face and rub it across your cheek as you scratched your itch, why not use your right hand.

Onto something that doesn't reek of a bag of hot steamy dog shit. The bread. How good does this sound. Guinness, bananas, chocolate. I ask you people, what. is. not. to. like. I adapted it from this recipe on a website called Banana Bread Biz. I made minor changes, I used equal parts applesauce for the margarine and I used an egg replacer for the egg, I also opted to not use the nuts, but replaced them with coarsely chopped dark chocolate.

This bread was sweet, savory, dense as all hell, and just got better as it aged. Try it, please.

Rating = So God Damn Good