burn

Since I have all these vanilla beans sitting around (I bought half a kilo of them a couple of months ago) as well as raspberry liqueur that nobody really wants to drink, I came up with this variation of my fruit bread. It just came out of the oven, so I can't try it yet. I won't know what it tastes like until I get to Italy and share it with my family! Let's hope this experiment was a success. ;) It sure smells and looks like a success.

Raspberry-Vanilla Fruit Bread

about 3-4 cups mixed dried fruits--a small handful each dried cherries, apricots, figs and apples and half a handful each dried peaches and pears
about 3-4 Tbsp candied ginger
3 vanilla beans, halved, seeds scraped out
1 cup raspberry liqueur
grated zest of two small clementines
2 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
5/8 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted (stir often in a dry pan over med-low until they smell/taste toasty)

Cut the larger fruits into smaller pieces. The pieces of fruit in the bread can be as large or as small as you like. Place all the fruits in a saucepan with the ginger, liqueur, vanilla seeds and pods and clementine zest. Bring this to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat, cover and let it steep for about 30 minutes. (You don't really have to put the vanilla pods in this mixture, as the flavors won't have much time to come out. It might be nice to use them for something else, such as making vanilla sugar).

Butter and flour a loaf pan. Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, then beat in the egg, then the milk.

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet mix. Fold the mixture together, being careful not to overmix. Stir in the walnuts, the macerated fruit and its liquid. Spoon or pour the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Wrap the bread in plastic or foil once it's completely cooled. Wait until the next day before slicing it. In this bread's previous incarnations, we've enjoyed toasting it and spreading it with unsalted butter, cream cheese, or mascarpone.

Edit: I'd like to include some notes about the making of this bread. I am a bit amused at my own nonchalant attitude about making up a yeast bread recipe for the first time. But that's just my attitude toward cooking in general. I like to make up my own recipes, not follow others--so I figure I understand the basics of yeast bread now, so why not make up a recipe for tomato bread, based on the recipe that I'm using for Italian bread (a recipe which is modified from a cookbook recipe)?

I figured I could use smashed roasted tomatoes rather than water and that it would be a good idea to add more salt than usual, as well as some sugar, to help highlight the flavor of the tomatoes. When it comes to flour, well, I used all the flour in my house. Thank goodness, I had just enough. That's the real reason why I used some whole wheat flour--I didn't have enough white. I didn't really realize how much liquid all those tomatoes would yield--I ended up with about twice as much bread as I usually do.

Deliciously sweet, tart, sensual tomatoes, filled with the energies of summer...I bought them at Viktualienmarkt. I loved how their different-colored skins and bits of pulp confettied the bread. :) When we ate the bread and roasted tomatoes (yes that's what we had for dinner!) last night V kept saying "fuck yum." And the whole roasted tomatoes were so divine with some of their balsamicy/olive oily/tomatoey juices spooned over the top and eaten whole--a sensual mouth experience on the level of raw oysters and sushi in the realm of pure sensual pleasure.

This bread was my entry for this week's Vegan Cook-Off. So we'll see how that turns out...

Ingredients:
an assortment of vine-ripened tomatoes--I used four orange plum tomatoes, four small red tomatoes and four small yellow tomatoes
13 small tomatoes, still on the vine
1 handful fresh basil leaves
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
peperoncino oil (peperoncino steeped in extra virgin olive oil) or crushed red pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1-2 heads garlic
aged balsamic vinegar

Bread:
roasted tomato liquid (see below)
2 Tbsp unrefined sugar
4 Tbsp dry yeast
extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp salt, or to taste
1-2 cups whole-wheat flour
about 6 cups unbleached white flour

This makes four small loaves of bread.

Preheat your oven to 150 C (300 F). Prick each of the tomatoes which have been washed and removed from the vine with a knife. Toss them into an oven-safe pan or roasting tray . Toss in the basil, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle some peperoncino oil and olive oil over the top. Stir with your hands to mix everything up.

Gently wash the tomatoes which are still on the vine, being careful not to break them off the vine. Place them in another roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Chop off the top of the heads of garlic, place on foil, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and wrap tightly in the foil.

Place the tomatoes and the garlic in the oven together. Roast for one hour. Drizzle the tomatoes on the vine with aged balsamic vinegar and return to the oven for another half hour.

Mash the roast (off the vine) tomatoes, mashing in the cloves of roast garlic as well. Pour the tomato mush (there should be a bit more than 2 cups tomato mush; you can add water if you don't have enough) into a bowl, stir in 2 Tbsp sugar, and let cool to lukewarm.

Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the tomatoes and let stand a few minutes to dissolve. Add a few lugs of olive oil and 4 tsp salt. Stir in the whole wheat flour. Begin adding the white flour, a cup at a time, until you've added about five cups. Continue adding flour bit by bit just until a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it becomes smooth, about 15 minutes. Put the dough in a large oiled bowl, turning once to coat with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled.

When the tomatoes on the vine come out of the oven, gently remove them with their juices to a deep plate or bowl to cool.

Punch the dough down and shape into four loaves. Let the loaves rise again on a baking sheet which has been lightly oiled and sprinkled with cornmeal. Heat your oven to 190 C (375 F). After about 30 minutes, put the loaves in the oven. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until a loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Serve slices of the bread with the vine-ripened tomatoes and their pan-juices. Place a tomato on each slice of bread, smash and spread. You can also tear pieces of the bread to dip in the juices. Yum! :)

( three photos )

I made up the shape on the spot--it's a spiral of two long strands of dough, which are also twisted around each other. I followed the recipe I've been using for Italian Bread (I finally decided that 2 tsp. salt was the right amount) but added 1 Tbsp. honey. The texture was much softer this time. V said he liked it better than regular Italian Bread. ( many photos of my bread )

I got fabulous help from misia yesterday and discovered that my sponge was indeed still good--it just needed a little waking up. After the difficulties with the sponge the rest of the process was simple, pretty much the same process as with any yeast bread. I've got a sage plant in my window that grows like a weed; I used most of its leaves in the bread yesterday and it already has grown at least half of them back today.

This focaccia is much closer to what I want than the previous one but still not quite there. The texture was right, the flavor magnificent, but I thought it wasn't oily enough. Also the bottom of the bread was too soft--I'm not sure why it ended up soft this time when it was crispy last time. Last night I topped large slices with thinly sliced zucchini and mushrooms and fresh buffalo mozzarella and put them under the broiler for a sort of focaccia white pizza. Yum!

( not a great photo )

Mmmm, 'twas a tasty weekend.

I started with a Turkish feast on Friday night--Imam Bayildi and Kabak Mücveri. Imam Bayildi ("the Imam fainted") is an almost simple combination of eggplant, tomatoes and olive oil that somehow manages to be a nearly unearthly delight. The eggplants are peeled in a striped pattern and halved lengthwise. After frying the eggplant halves in olive oil, they are stuffed with a simple oily tomato and onion sauce. A bit of water is added to the pan and they are braised in the oven. The dish is allowed to come to room temperature before the carnal indulgences begin. :)

Kabak Mücveri are zucchini fritters. Grated zucchini is drained of its liquid, then mixed into a batter with feta, eggs, flour and seasonings. The little zucchini pillows are fried in olive oil, of course. The insides are soft and light, the outsides just slightly crispy. Gods, I could eat thousands of them. They're good dipped in yogurt or mayo that's been seasoned with garlic. (Recipes for the Turkish feast can be provided upon request).

We had duck soup on Saturday. I found some yummy-looking duck pieces (legs and thighs) at the market and already had duck broth sitting in my freezer just waiting for such an occasion. The soup was simple--after browning the duck pieces and pouring off the fat for another use, I moved the duck to the edges of the pan and let my mirepoix sweat until the veggies were tender. I added lots of water and the duck stock (I only had about 2 or 3 cups of stock) along with some whole fresh herbs and brought everything to a boil. I turned it down to simmer for about an hour, then removed the herbs and duck pieces. I took the duck meat off the bones, added it back to the soup, adjusted the seasoning, then added my homemade wide egg noodles (pappardelle). I served the soup with the last slices of my Italian Bread.

On Sunday I made Truffle and Cracked Pepper Focaccia, using this recipe. The flavor is so divine with the truffle oil. I just have this thing about truffles, they give me such pleasure. It made a huge loaf, I mean huge. I'm going to think of some sandwichy way to eat it for lunch today, maybe with marinated cherry tomatoes, maybe avocado?

Then for dinner I made Itty Bitty Penne and Cheese. V was asking for Mac and Cheese, so I bought a big block of Irish Cheddar at the market. But Sunday night when I started cooking dinner I found that I didn't have any macaroni. But I did have these great mini penne. After a lot of experimentation, I finally found my favorite recipe for this dish...and it's revealed ( right here! )

I only took pictures Sunday night. ( Here's the photos of the Truffle and Cracked Pepper Focaccia and Itty Bitty Penne and Cheese )

Purpleberry Pie with Cardamom Whipped Cream:

Filling:
3/4 cup raw sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 cups blueberries
3/4 cup raspberries
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

( recipe continued )


I made a Sienese dish called Uova Trippate, "tripe eggs," which are called so because they look like tripe. The eggs are made into omelets, which are then cut into strips that resemble wide noodles. The omelet noodles are then tossed in a simple tomato sauce.

( recipe and photo )