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It has been a while since I baked something interesting. I’ve been reading this novel Aftertaste, where the female protagonist makes biscotti whenever she has people visiting her. I’ve always liked a biscotti with a cup of good espresso. So I thought, why not try baking it. Mira makes it sound so easy. And if I may say it, this might be one of the best things that came out of my oven in a long time. Here goes…

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour,
• 1.75 cups sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large orange
• 3/4th cup sliced toasted almonds
• 3/4th cup dried cranberries
• 3 eggs
• 4 tbsp butter (unsalted) at room temp
• 4 tbsp butter – melted

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt together using a sieve.

Meanwhile toast the sliced almonds in a pan till they start giving off a wonderful almond odour. Take care not to burn the almonds. To make sure they are done, bite into a piece; it should be nice and crunchy.

Whisk together the sugar and the room temperature butter until the butter is well incorporated into the sugar. Mix this well into the flour mixture. Make sure there are no large lumps.

Take half a cup of this mixture in a small bowl, and zest the orange into it.

Use your fingers to knead the orange zest into the flour. It will instantly start smelling really good. Add the toasted almonds and the dried cranberries and mix it well till all the pieces of nuts and berries are coated with the flour mixture. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

In a separate bowl, squeeze the juice of the one orange into the melted butter. Add the vanilla extract. Add the three eggs and whisk well till the mixture is uniform.

Add one cup of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and start whisking slowly till it is fully incorporated. This is important. Keep adding more of the dry mixture and keep incorporating it slowly.

When the mixture comes together (even though it might be wet), turn the mixture on to a well floured board, and start kneading.

Add more flour if necessary. Stop when the dough comes together into a ball. Use a bread knife to cut the ball into six roughly equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 10-12 inches long

Use two baking sheets, and places three logs on each, evenly spaced. Gently flatten them with your hands.

Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway in between. The logs should be slightly firm to touch.

Let them cool completely (about 20 minutes) before cutting them. This is important. Use a good serrated bread knife to make diagonal cuts as shown.

Place the pieces on the two sheets and pop them back into the oven for 6 minutes.

Take them out of the oven, flip the pieces over and rotate the sheets. Bake them for another 6-8 minutes. Let the pieces cool and crisp completely.

Enjoy with some good coffee, or just by themselves.

I saw this recipe in an episode of Oliver’s Twist, and could not wait to try it. It is a complete entree and it is amazing how quickly it is ready.

Here are the ingredients (serves 2, or 1 if you have a really big appetite). The quantities are very approximate.

• One large piece of chicken breast
• 8-10 stalks of asparagus (woody ends removed)
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes
• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• a few mint leaves
• about half a cup of red wine
• salt and pepper to taste

Filet the chicken breast into two or three slices. Make a few slits on each piece. This will let them cooker faster and more evenly. Season each piece with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a pan and place the pieces of chicken into it. Keep the heat on at medium high, and let the chicken sizzle.

Place the asparagus around the chicken and let it cook for a couple of seconds. Chop the cherry tomatoes into halves and add them to the pan.

Cook till they start to break. Turn the chicken over, making sure that both sides are nicely brown and sizzling. Add a few mint leaves.

Add some more salt and pepper and drizzle with some olive oil. Add a blob of butter. As it starts to melt, add the wine. The sauce will come together in a minute as the butter melts.

Turn off the heat and serve immediately.

When it was time for me to bake another loaf of bread, I decided to bake a challah, but at the same time, I wanted to try something slightly different. Baking a round challah loaf is really easy, and except for the actual shaping of the loaf, all the other steps are exactly the same as baking a regular braided challah.

So after letting the dough rise for a second time, cut the dough into four roughly equal sized pieces. Incorporate some raisins and other dry fruits into the dough if you like. Roll each pieces into a roughly foot long rope. Arrange the ropes across each other as shown:

Now pick the strand that is under another, and place it over its neighbour in a clockwise direction as shown (this is the right hand side strand that is in front of you).

Do the same with the other three as well.

Now we pick the left hand side strand in front and move it in a counterclockwise direction over its neighbour.

Do the same with the three others. Move in a counterclockwise direction.

At this point, you may not have enough left in order to go another round. In that case, pinch the ends together and form a round shape.

Now bring the edges together from four corners and flip it over. Tuck the bottom in to form a nice dome shaped loaf.

Let it rise for about 30 minutes to an hour before applying eggwash.

Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for about 30-40 minutes. The bottom should make a hollow sound when knocked.

Don’t let the funny name discourage you. I saw this recipe presented by Lydia on Food Network, and by the end of it, I decided to give it a try. The recipe, originally from Val di Non, Italy, calls for celery, apples, fresh tomatoes, and Grana Padano. I did not have some of this in my pantry, and had to improvise. Here is my version:

Ingredients (serves 1)

• Spaghetti for 1 (difficult to quantify this because of the shape of the pasta. I would guess, about 1/4th of a box of Barilla, but use your own judgement)
• 1 fresh apple (granny smith or gala will do okay)
• 4-5 little red radishes (the round variety), chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1.5 cups tomato puree (you can either make it fresh or use canned)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add the chopped onions and radishes to the olive oil in a pan and saute until they start to caramelize.

Meanwhile, peel and core the apples. Store them in salted water to avoid letting them turn brown.

Add the tomato puree to the pan and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add some salt and pepper to taste and simmer till the sauce bubbles.

Meanwhile, use a chopper to chop the apples into very small pieces. Better yet, use the coarse holes of a grater to grate the apples. Stir in the apples into the sauce and let it cook uncovered for about 10 minutes. Splash some water if it evaporates too quickly.

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, and add the spaghetti to it. Cook it uncovered until barely al-dente.

Check the sauce for seasoning, and turn off the heat once the sauce has thickened and the apple shreds are well cooked and incorporated into the sauce.

Now add the spaghetti to the sauce and finish cooking it in the sauce. This is standard procedure for cooking most pastas. They must be finished off in the sauce.

Toss the pasta in the sauce until it is well coated. Turn off the heat and drizzle with some more olive oil if you wish.Heap it on a plate/bowl and serve hot with bread.

When it comes to using very few ingredients, and making  really good tasting bread; few breads can beat fougasse. It is the less fancy cousin of focaccia. Both Gitika and I love a good bread along with pasta; and this particular evening, we needed to make a quick bread, without making a trip to the grocery store. Fougasse fit the requirements and the result was fabulous.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 sachet active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Optional

• a handful of flax seeds
• olive oil to brush

Method:

First, add the sachet of yeast and the sugar to the water and let it sit for 15 minutes. The yeast should be foamy (and smelly) by now. This means that the yeast is active and will cause the bread to rise well. If this is not the case, then the yeast is dead, and you will have to use another pack.

Sift together the salt and flour in a large bowl, and create a well in the center. Add the yeasty water to the flour. Also add the olive oil, and the flax seeds.

Mix it well with a spatula, and when the mixture comes together, knead it with your hand for about 5 minutes till you have  a ball of dough.

Place it in a well oiled contained, covered with a damp cloth for a little over an hour (or till it doubles in size).

Punch the risen dough and let it rise for a further 20 minutes.

Now knead the dough well for 5 minutes and divide it into 4 roughly equal parts. Create four elliptical shaped pieces about 1 cm thick.

Make a few slanting cuts on the dough, and let it rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 415 F.

Brush with a little olive oil, and sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste, before placing it in the oven.

Let it bake for 15 minutes, before spraying the loaves with a little water (this will make the loaves crisp).

Bake for a further 10-15 minutes before taking it out of the oven and letting it cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Eat some while it is still warm. Tastes great with pasta, and even by itself as a snack.

I was recently discussing really simple pasta recipes with my friends. Here is what I like to do if I want a quick meal, and when I don’t want to use too many ingredients (I almost always have most of this stuff in my pantry):

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1 and a quarter cup pasta (use your favourite)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large tomato, roughly diced
• handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

• grated parmesan cheese for topping (or use any you have in the fridge. lets not be a cheese snob)

Method:

In a large pot, bring one quart of water to a rolling boil. Add all the pasta in there, and stir a little. Bring the water back to a slow boil. Stir occasionally. Cook the pasta until it is barely al-dente (it should have a little bite remaining in it). This is important. Do not cook it all the way. Do not cool the pasta under cold water. If it is done. Simply switch off the heat, and let it rest.

In a pan, add the olive oil, the onions and the garlic, and saute till the onions are translucent (how good does that fresh garlic smell?).

Now throw in the tomatoes, add some salt and pepper to taste. The tomatoes will immediately start sweating due to the salt, and release a lot of juice.

Don’t overcook the tomatoes (about 5-10 minutes on medium heat should be good). Add the fresh basil leaves and cook for another minute. Add a few tbsp whole milk if you like.

Now add the cooked pasta to this sauce, and cook the pasta all the way through.

As a result of this, the pasta will absorb the flavour of the tomato sauce. Make sure the pasta is well coated, and check the seasoning. Add some more salt/pepper if necessary. An extra drizzle of olive oil is always helpful. Serve hot with some good artisan bread (I prefer a nice home baked focaccia or fogasse).

I recently came across this peanut butter stuffed french toast recipe on the flight entertainment system, on my way back home from Mumbai to Newark (don’t ask: I watch every single food related show that I can get). I don’t exactly remember how they did it on the show, but it inspired me to try my own version.

We recently happened to bake a fresh loaf of challah bread; which normally means that I make french toast. So, I set out with my extremely approximate estimate of ingredients:

For the sauce

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp whole milk (or heavy cream)
• 1 banana, sliced

For the french toast:

• 2 thick slides of challah bread
• 3 eggs
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• a large blob of creamy peanut butter (yeah, I like creamy. if you like chunky, then try that)
• a handful of your favourite cereal, crushed (I used the readily available at home, honey bunches of oats, with almonds. Also, I have reason to believe that Cap’n Crunch is a good choice for this purpose. You should try to Cap’n Crunch french toast at Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore!)

First, add the sugar and water in a deep pan and stir continuously on medium heat till the water evaporates. The mixture will start bubbling and frothing. Eventually you will have an amber colored liquid. Reduce the flame to it’s lowest setting and keep stirring continuously (it will burn if you do not do this).

Add the butter, and continue to stir. There will be more bubbles. As soon as the butter melts, add the bananas and stir for a minute. Now add the milk, and stir till you get the smooth caramel sauce color and consistency.

Keep the sauce aside while you prepare the french toast.

Apply the peanut butter nicely to the two slices of challah bread and then put them together like a sandwich. Whisk together, the eggs, milk, cardamom powder and sugar to create the batter. Dip the slices of bread in the batter and leave it to soak for several seconds. Turn over so the other side can soak too.

Roll the slices in the crushed cereal, and transfer to a buttered pan. Let both sides cook for a couple minutes till it gets a nice brown texture.

Plate the french toast, and top it with a generous quantity of the banana caramel sauce. Serve hot.

I discovered two cooking enthusiasts over hi-tea, the past week in the department. You know how much fun that can be! We had a long conversation about foods, recipes and the like. Somebody happened to mention savory pies, and I recalled this vegetable pie recipe that we once made when a friend came over for dinner.
It was originally meant to be a pissaladiere recipe, but we happened to modify it a lot as we cooked. So I will call this a vegetable pie, and not a pissaladiere.

Ingredients:

For the pie crust

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• Yolk of one egg
• 3 tbsp iced water
• 4 tbsp butter (that is half a stick, cold and cut into pieces)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

For the filling:

• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 large green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2-3 sprigs thyme
• 2 tbsp capers
• Salt and black pepper powder to taste
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese for topping

Knead the dough as described in the apple pie recipe. The only difference is that you add the Italian seasoning as well, while kneading. Wrap it up nicely and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Preheat the over to 375 F. Meanwhile you can start preparing the filling.

Gently fry the onions and garlic in the oil for a while till the onions are soft. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, thyme and cook for a few minutes.

Add the peppers, corn, and mushrooms. Season with salt and black pepper. The vegetables will release a lot of water. Cook till the water evaporates and leaves behind a slightly syrupy mixture of vegetables. Check for seasoning and adjust. Once cooked, remove from heat, and allow to cool. Mix in the capers.

Meanwhile, you can roll out the dough into a bottom pie crust, using a rolling pin, as described here. Carefully place the bottom crust on to the pie pan. Bake the crust in the heated oven at 375 F for 15 minutes.

Take the pre-baked crust out of the oven. Carefully pour the filling into the pie dish, and bake in the oven at 375 F for 15-20 minutes.

Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top (a lot more than the picture above) and grill till the cheese melts and stars to bubble. Slice and serve hot.

I recently started baking bread, and there is something about bread making that gets me. Kneading your own dough, setting the yeast to grow in the dough and letting it rise; it is all too exciting for me. And finally, there is a huge difference between artisan breads and regular, store bought bread.

This time, we make ciabatta, which is an Italian bread (literally meaning carpet slipper, due to its shape). The ingredients could not be simpler:

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

This is a basic no-knead recipe. Add all the ingredients in a large bowl, and start mixing it well using a spatula. Really, does it get easier than this?

Keep mixing it, while trying to incorporate all the flour together. After a couple of minutes, you will see the dough starting to come together.

In the end you will be left with some really sticky dough. It is supposed to be that way for ciabatta. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap, and leave it at room temperature for about 16-18 hours to rise. At the end of this period, you will have a real sticky mass of dough with a lot of gluten strands and air bubbles.

Now sprinkle some water over a tabletop, and lay out some plastic wrap over it. This is so that the plastic wrap does not move while you work on it. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on it. Now slowly pour out the dough from the bowl on to the plastic sheet using the spatula. The dough is very sticky, and would require some gentle prodding.

Once on the sheet, gently using floured fingers, shape the dough into the classic ciabatta shape.

Now slide the plastic sheet along the table, and place it halfway (lengthwise) along the edge of a well floured baking tray.

Flip the sheet over so that the dough settles on the baking tray nicely.

Dust some flour on top of the dough and cover it with a dry cloth. Let it rise for two hours. You will notice after 2 hours that the dough has expanded more horizontally than vertically. This is to be expected.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place an empty baking pan in the lower rack. Brush the loaf with some melted butter and sprinkle some italian seasoning on top.

Pour some water in the empty baking pan on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake the bread it on the middle rack at 425 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

The outer crust will make a nice hollow sound when knocked. Wait for about 5-10 minutes before cutting out slices using a bread-knife.

Serve it as accompaniment with pasta, or your favorite soup or with a great bruschetta. Tastes great with just butter too.

Baking is a not so recent passion of mine, and the latest in this series of adventures, is baking my own bread. I considered all the breads that could be baked at home, and asked her which bread should we try. She suggested we make challah (pronounced (kh)hallah), which is a traditional Jewish bread. The prospect of using home-baked challah bread to make stuffed french toast seemed very alluring to me, and I needed no other encouragement.

Here is what you need:

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 pouch active dry yeast (about 2 and a quarter tsp)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 3 eggs (plus one extra for coating)

Mix the quarter cup of flour, the yeast, and the warm water in a large bowl and let it stand for 10-20 minutes until it begins to foam. Add the vegetable oil, sugar, and the three eggs (one at a time), and whisk well.

Now add the rest of the flour (one cup at a time) and mix well using a spatula till the mixture starts coming together.

Now start kneading it with your hands, adding extra flour as required in order to get it together into a consistent lump (I had to add a fair amount of extra flour while kneading).

Knead it on a well floured surface for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile grease a large bowl with a little oil and transfer the kneaded lump of dough into the bowl. Move it around so that the dough is coated nicely with oil.

Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and keep it in a warm place for about 2 hours. The dough should double in size. (Compare the picture below to the one above)

Punch this risen dough down with your fist and cover it again. Leave it to rise for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile soak the raisins in a cup of warm water. After the 30 minutes are over, incorporate them into the dough and gently fold it a couple of times. Add some extra flour if the dough seems too oily/moist, and fold for a minute or two. Cut the dough into three roughly equal sized pieces.

Roll out the three pieces of dough into approximately 10-inch long ropes.

Now comes the most fun part: place all the three ropes parallel to each other on a greased baking tray, and pinch them together at one end. Now braid the three ropes together (like you might have seen women braid their hair).

Break the remaining egg into a bowl, and coat it carefully over the braided loaf. Let it rise for another45 minutes to an hour. When poked with your finger, the dough should not spring back, and should stay dented. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Apply a second coat of the egg after the dough has risen. Ideally the egg coating is done using a pastry brush, but in the absence of one, use your fingers.

Bake it on the middle rack in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. If you notice the top browning too fast, tent it with aluminium foil. The baked loaf should make a hollow sound when knocked.

Update: You should let the bread cool down for about 20-30 minutes once it is out of the oven, before slicing it.