I discovered that previous photos of my kitchen, culinary works should have a page of their own. I have, for over 60 years, prepared my families' meals from scratch. And this requires regular shopping and selecting food items that are interchangeable for a variety of dishes.
Preparing for Chicken Burritos
Sauteed sweet orange, red and yellow peppers and purple onions. And these will go on the chicken and then be topped by Guacamole, Picante sauce and sour cream.
Mom's kitchen is a true picture of Appalachian cooking; Beans, corn bread, greens, fried potatoes and sweetened ice tea.
Leftover Spanish rice with added black beans and tomato juice added in to give soup consistency, corn bread and cup of applesauce.
AND THEN THERE ARE BREADS
Italian Black Olive Focaccia
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 pack Rapid Rise dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (not hot!)
2TBSP. Olive oil
1 tsp salt
1tsp. sugar
½ tsp garlic salt
Method
Preparation Stage
Add to the flour, salt, sugar and garlic salt. Then create a large well (an empty space) in the middle.
Pour the yeast into the well and pour 1 cup of lukewarm water over the yeast. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp. of flour over the top. Wait for about 10 minutes, until you see bubbles starting to appear in the yeast.
Once you see the bubbles, start mixing the ingredients together with clean hands. I have a hand mixer with dough hooks, and I mix the dough with that; A fork can be used also to mix well. Don’t overmix.
Kneading the Dough
Gradually incorporate the flour from the sides of the bowl into the bubbling yeast mixture. The dough may look sticky but use some flour and it will end up smooth and non-sticky at the end of the kneading process. Keep doing this until it all comes together as a firm ball of dough. This stage is known as Pre-Kneading. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour to make it easier to knead.
Now remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it by pushing your palms into and then turning it one quarter. Keep kneading and doing quarter turns for about 5-10 minutes; as you keep doing this, the dough will become light and supple, and non-sticky in texture.
Place the dough in another lightly floured bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
Baking the Bread
Sprinkle some more flour on your counter top (I don’t use my countertop for rolling dough) and keep ready (I have a large flat cookie sheet that I prefer for rolling out dough.) Transfer the dough from the bowl to the floured surface and start Punching it - literally:) This process creates air bubbles that will make the bread rise. Shape it again into a round loaf and put it on the baking pan. (I put my dough in a round pizza pan and with my fingers press the dough in the pan) Cover with dish towel and let it rise for another 1 hour, till it doubles in size again. I find that it doesn’t take an hour for the dough to rise
After the dough rises, poke the top with a light touch all over and pour Olive oil across top, tilt the pan so that it runs over the indentions and sprinkle lightly with Italian herbs and black Olives and grate Parmesan cheese over that. Now put the baking pan in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until it gets lightly browned, and looks evenly cooked. Once done, remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, with your favorite dipping oil recipe or marinara sauce!
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