Pesto (and bread)

It's been 100ish degrees and humid. So, I decided to take advantage of the humidity and make bread. The bread has a final rise of at least twenty minutes, so I put it out and went to the pharmacy.

When I returned, my bread had risen to proportions never before seen by man.

And then I made pesto.

Today's pesto, which may be used as pasta sauce or as a dip for my homemade bread...

Mix in food processor:

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated (omit if you prefer to have a vegan or lower fat pesto)
• 3 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground four color peppercorns
• 1 small tomato from the garden

This would be delicious with broccoli... in the pasta, not in the sauce. But I don't think I have any.

Foccaccia

To use the ripe tomatoes my mother brought us from her garden, I opted to make a homemade herb foccaccia. As usual, there's the 'real' recipe and my modified version.

We're serving this for dinner with farm-fresh corn-on-the-cob and hopefully the last of the greenbeans from my garden.

I've had the original recipe for more than a decade. My notes say it originated with the VegList, a veg*n email recipe exchange list I belonged to when I first decided to learn to cook. I seem to remember a similar recipe from Vegetarian Times, but I guess I'll have to trust my memory.

Rosemary Foccaccia
from VegList
For the dough

• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups water, lukewarm
• 3 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves, minced

Topping

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds onions, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• fresh rosemary sprigs
  

Garden Foccaccia
Angel's version

For the dough:

• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (maybe a little less)
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground pasta and pizza seasoning

For the topping:
combine in food processor:

• close to 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons fresh chives

1 to 2 tomatoes, sliced
parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine water and yeast in bowl. Stir with non-metal spoon and set aside for 15 minutes.

2. If you're making Angel's version, prepare the pesto topping and refrigerate to give flavors time to meld.

3. Once the yeast is activated, add the salt and 2 teaspoons olive oil to the yeast and stir with the non-metal spoon. Add 2 cups of flour (if using wheat or rye, use one cup of wheat/rye and one cup white) and the herbs-- fresh rosemary for the rosemary foccaccia and the pasta seasoning for the garden foccaccia. Stir with a heavy wooden spoon.

4. Add another cup flour and stir as dough begins to form a ball. Turn onto floured surface and knead until soft and elastic. Add more flour as dough becomes sticky and difficult to work with. Knead for about ten minutes.

5. Oil a large bowl (with olive oil, cooking spray or butter). Place dough in bowl and flip to coat. Cover bowl with clean, damp cloth and place somewhere warm and free of drafts to allow to rise. It needs to double in volume. Should take about 90 minutes.

6. When it's done, punch down. Oil a 12 x 18 baking pan, including the edges. Place dough in center of pan and spread across the surface evenly. Cover with damp cloth again and let rise for 45 minutes.

7. While dough is rising, if making the rosemary version, heat two tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the onions in the oil, turning to coat as they begin cooking. Cook about 15 minutes until soft but not burned. The oil should be absorbed. (I hate onions so I have never done this.)

8. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. When dough is done rising, make indentations with your fingers in the surface of the dough. Lightly brush olive oil (for the rosemary version) or pesto (for Angel's version) across the bread. Sprinkle with salt if desired. (I don't)

9. If using the onions, spread them evenly across the dough now. I use fresh tomato instead, sliced thin. Raw. I brush the remaining oil/sauce over them as I place them. I also sprinkle parmesan cheese.

10. Bake for 30 minutes until dough is lightly browned. If using fresh rosemary as part of the topping, add in the last five minutes of cooking.

Staff meeting

Perhaps this is off topic. I host staff meetings several times a year and I am responsible for food. When I started, I was told we alternated between Subway and pizza with a budget of $30/meeting. We have about ten staff members. My staff range from college students to teachers to retirees so it's a challenge to find something palatable for everyone.

The meetings are at 6 p.m. so for some people, it's dinner. That includes me.

When I ordered pizza the first time, I discovered that the employee who'd be with the program the longest cannot eat wheat. So that also rules out Subway. Subway and pizza did not impress the adults either. Plus, getting accurate figures on who would attend made guessing how much food to get difficult. Too much food was going to waste. I asked for suggestions and got none.

So, I started focusing on ideas for food that my wheat-intolerant employee could eat. And on munchies that could stick to your ribs since some folks had dinner before had and some did not. And what I wanted for dinner.

Last time, I went to Giant (the grocery store of choice for our office) and got oranges, raisins, cheese and crackers. This time, I had a budget of 20 dollars. I got crudités (a small platter of celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and cucumber), organic baby carrots, mixed nuts, Spinach dip, hummus, cheddar cheese (I thought I got Muenster too but I bought two cheddars, oops), triscuits and gluten free spring onion rice crackers. The platter was demolished!!! Everything but some triscuits, a couple carrots and three cherry tomatoes disappeared. Even the executive director commented that it looked delicious.

Oh-- and the cost: $20.13

Slacker food day: Rotini with pine nuts and creamy buttered veggies

So, my husband honored my daughter's request for a sandwich for breakfast in a totally different way that I would have. He made an egg sandwich with cheese and bacon on a deli bagel. We each got half a bagel. He took the leftover sausage and peppers for lunch. I got peanut butter on graham crackers and some homemade granola. My daughter stayed with her grandparents today, so she had grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, pickles and chips. I am not a proponent of the sandwich, pickles and chips lunch but... Because of the sheer volume of cheese we've had recently, I have vetoed cheese as an ingredient in tonight's dinner. My husband is whipping up some sort of whole wheat pasta and vegetables... and if I ever get my shoe off I will help him and toast some pine nuts... I know whatever he puts in dinner won't be enough protein for me. Especially since I'm starved.

Once I got into the kitchen, I mixed up some olive oil, butter, half and half, milk, basil, four colors of pepper, garlic pepper, It's a dilly (The perfect herb mix for cucumber sandwiches... Mmmmm), in the skillet and tossed in the california blend vegetables. When that was good and hot, I mixed in some italian breadcrumbs to change the texture. I served with the last of the fresh pineapple.