spacekadet blog

Yesterday I mentioned that I baked some bread. The comments tell me people actually read this thing, which not only makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but also compels me to add a few extra notes from my adventure with the No Knead Bread. Thank you, readers. You muse me.

* Lacking a cast iron pot, I baked mine in a stainless steel pot with no ill effects.

* I replaced 1/3 of the white bread flour with whole wheat bread flour which seemed to work well, but may have contributed to a somewhat flatter than expected loaf.

* The recipe calls for folding the dough in thirds after its first rise. In my (absent) mind, I interpreted “folding in thirds” as “folding in half three times”. I only realised later that I was supposed to fold the dough like a business letter. Regardless, nothing terrible happened, so maybe it’s no big deal how you fold it, just as long as you do?

* Speaking of folding dough, any step that involved dough handling was pretty messy. The doughball is more of a doughblob. And like any good blob, it wanted to ooze between my fingers everytime I picked it up, giving me that stomach churning feeling that I’d done something wrong. It wasn’t soupy or wet or anything, just oozy. The video demonstrates this pretty well, and it’s to be expected. Stress: be gone!

* I used cornmeal for the dusting, but any kind of flour or “meal” (i.e. wheat bran) should do the trick.

* While compulsively reading about this recipe on other blogs on the internets, I stumbled across “Real Baking with Rose”. Her style’s a little too Home & Garden for my tastes (she actually starts one of her paragraphs with “It began with a veal shank from my butcher Pino”. I mean, what real human being has a butcher and cooks with veal shanks?). Rose strikes me as the kind of person who has to have every kitchen gadget known to man, and would look down upon any cook who doesn’t have a well seasoned cast iron skillet. She brings out the misogynist in me, and yet, she has a recipe for 100% whole wheat walnut bread that I’d like to try. Is this a love-hate relationship or what?

IMG_1625.JPG

Originally uploaded by spacekadet.

So there’s this “No Knead Bread” recipe that’s, like, all over the blogs. Last weekend, I thought I’d give it a go. Surprise: it really is stupendously simple to make moist fluffy crusty bread.

Read the original NYTimes article.
Or check out the recipe I followed.
Or watch a video.

I’ve never had much success with growing cilantro. It always just withers and dies a sad slow death. Any suggestions? At the moment, I’ve got a window sill to work with, minimal sun, and lots of love to give.

Happy hearts from me and all the pooches at the Westminster Dog Show.

You make me drool.

P.S. I am not really at the dog show.

Squash soup and a pile o’ moleskins

Originally uploaded by spacekadet.

I’ve started talking to some of the sellers at the Stoke Newington farmer’s market about their goods (”how should I cook oyster mushrooms?” “what’s a leek?” “nice sprouts, wanna f!ck?”). at the same time i enjoy the chit chat, i feel kind of nauseated because i realize i’m one of those people who brings their own tote bag to the farmer’s market, buys a few locally grown organic no-gmo free range parsnips, and thinks they’re saving the world.

(i’ll tell you who’s saving the world: Tim, who is at this very moment is making a chocolate and zucchini cake, the smell of which could be the answer to world peace. now if only we could drop cocoa powder like we do mustard gas.)

Wait a minute, wasn’t this supposed to be about squash?

Now that I’ve prefaced this entry with some cynicism, I can get on with sounding like one of those people I hate…

One of the market’s most popular vendors is Ripple Farm Organics, a farm in Kent, wherever that is. I always avoided it because it was never without a horribly long line of wankers waiting to buy their week’s supply of chard and celeriac. But when brussel sprout season hit, I couldn’t resist their massive basket of the little green gems. While I waited in line, I noticed an impressive array of winter squash, so not being one of those people but being one of those people all the same, I inquired about a tasty, firm, not-too-watery squash that would be good for roasting. I walked away with a wedge of “Crown Prince” winter squash, a sizable beast with pinkish skin and bright orange innards.

The Crown Prince is my new favorite squash. It’s firm and creamy and nutty and delicious. But boy is it a beast to peal. That didn’t stop me from buying another one that very next week. This time I lopped off the stem and put the whole thing in a 350 F oven for about an hour. Genius! I cut the precious thing in half, scooped out the seeds, peeled off the skin (which practically fell right off) and sent the squash to its new home in a soup pot.

Drawing inspiration from Chocolate and Zucchini’s Soup De Courge Musquee Aux Epices (I guess it’s a C&Z kinda day), I masterminded a ginger lickin’ good squash soup. It goes like this.

- 2 kg of cooked winter squash (royals like me go for the Crown Prince)
- 1 yellow onion, sliced into thin rings
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- thumb-sized knob of ginger, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 hot pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tbsp oil
- salt and pepper

In a large soup pot, heat up the oil, then add the onion, garlic and ginger. Saute until the onion is cooked, then add the squash, spices and a couple cups of water. Mush up the squash in the water ’til it gets soupy, adding more water ’til its soupy enough for your liking. Keep cooking for a while, tasting it along the way and making sure you add enough salt. If you want, blend up some or all of it to make it smoother. I personally like the odd chunk or two in my soup.

I’m still tweaking with the hot pepper bit. I used a dried guajillo but it didn’t impart enough heat for my liking. A few flakes of chipotle solved that problem.

The aforementioned fancy french lady adds creme fraiche to her soup, but eff that noise. I like it my way. Surprise: it’s vegan!