We all deal with stress differently. Some work out, some go to a gun range, some have a cocktail. Me? I bake.

When I lived in Boulder one of my usual habits was coming home, throwing aside my bag, turning on the oven, and grabbing things from my pantry. I’d throw myself into a recipe with abandon, forget everything else about my day, and just bake. Last Thursday was one of those days. Not enough hours in the day, everyone was tense and overworked, surprise reshoots sprung on us, etc. I came home totally stressed, turned my brain off, and made cinnaswirl bread.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of cinnamon sugar caramelizing on fresh toast, so you can only imagine the awesome smell that permeates every inch of your apartment (or kitchen or house or what have you) when you bake this bread. I will warn you, it is an extremely drawn-out process (almost 4 hours of proofing total, plus 40 minutes of baking, plus 30 minutes of kneading/general prep), so don’t just start this bread without time to finish it. But please finish it. Trust me. Whether it’s for stress relief or just stuffing your face (or both) – it’s well worth the wait.

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Cinnaswirl Bread

Based on the recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

Makes 1 hearty loaf.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 10 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 2½ tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 whole large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar, divided
• 3½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. table salt
• 2 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1 egg and 3 Tbsp. milk beaten together
• 4 Tbsp. softened butter, for brushing and greasing the pan

Directions

1.) In a small saucepan, heat 6 Tbsp. butter with milk over medium-low heat until melted. Let cool to about 110° F. Sprinkle yeast into milk, stir gently, and let sit 10 minutes.

2.) Combine flour and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat eggs and 1/3 cup sugar until combined. Pour in milk-butter-yeast mixture and mix. Add half of the flour mixture and beat to combine. Add remaining flour and mix. Remove the paddle attachment and attach the dough hook.

3.) Knead the dough 8-10 minutes until the gluten develops. The dough will be pretty sticky, but if too sticky to handle, add another few Tbsp. flour and knead a few more minutes.

4.) Take a large glass bowl and fill it with hot running water. Let the bowl warm up, rinse it out, and dry well. Add a little vegetable oil to the bowl. Dump the dough into the oiled bowl and turn over a few times to coat. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set somewhere warm and draft-free to rise for 2 hours. (My trick: wet a washcloth and heat it up in the microwave for 2 minutes, creating a little sauna in your microwave. Quickly switch out the cloth for the bowl and shut the door.)

5.) After 2 hours, flour a large working surface. Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. cinnamon in a small bowl. Dump the dough onto the floured surface and punch the air out, then roll into a rectangle no wider than the loaf pan, but 18-24 inches long. Spread 2 Tbsp. softened butter over rectangle, then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar evenly.

6.) Starting at nearest end, roll dough away from you, keeping it tight and contained. Pinch seams on end and along the length of the loaf to seal.

7.) Grease loaf pan with remaining 2 Tbsp. softened butter. Place dough, seam down, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 90 minutes.

8.) Preheat oven to 350° F. Brush loaf with some (but not all) egg-milk mixture and bake for 40 minutes on a middle/lower rack in the oven. Once done, remove from the pan and allow bread to cool completely on wire rack. Slice and serve with plenty of butter!

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, bread, breakfast, sweet

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I love having guests. Whether it be for an evening or a weekend, taking care of those temporarily staying at my place has always been a favorite past time. During high school my nickname was “The Hostess with the Mostest” for my love of party-throwing and general affection to having people stay at my house. In college I found myself cooking for our newspaper’s fellow staff workers and making dinners every weekend at my friends’ apartments. Now, being the grownup I am (/sarcasm), I get to entertain guests staying at my apartment!

My oldest sister D visited me last weekend for a little overnight getaway and I had this delicious and light appetizer waiting for when she arrived. Creamy ricotta mixed with pungent goat cheese and lemon zest spread on garlic toasts. Something great to nosh on while she freshened up after her car ride but not too filling with the knowledge we’d be going out to dinner in a few hours. Not too fancy but the perfect thing to make your guest feel special.

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Crostini with Ricotta & Goat Cheese Spread

The flavor gets better the longer it sits, so feel free to make this a day in advance. Just let it come to room temperature so it’s easy to spread.

Based on the recipe from Giada deLaurentiis.

Ingredients

• 1 skinny French baguette, cut into ¼-inch thick slices
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
• 4 oz. fresh soft goat cheese at room temperature
• ¼ cup whole milk ricotta cheese at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.) Brush baguette slices with oil, dust with salt and pepper, then grill or broil until toasted. Rub hot bread with garlic cloves until they dissolve.

2.) In a small bowl, stir together 1 tsp. olive oil, goat cheese, ricotta, basil, chives, lemon zest, and juice. Taste for seasoning.

3.) Spread goat cheese mixture over crostini and garnish with lemon zest.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: appetizer, cheese, snack

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After a couple miserable months of unending heat and rain, we finally – finally - caught a break last Sunday. The temperature (and humidity) dropped, the sun was still out, and it was as if everyone took a collective sigh in my city. I turned off my AC, opened the windows, and decided to make something hearty and warm for dinner. Kielbasa, sauerkraut, and potatoes roasted in the oven. An old family favorite from growing up. Too easy really to post for a recipe, but since the weather was just nice enough, I decided to froufrou it up and bake some fresh bread to go alongside it.

I’m a caraway fanatic. Growing up, I was obsessed with rye bread – specifically making sandwiches on those obnoxious little loaves of cocktail rye. You can easily see this is not rye bread (no rye flour, for one thing), but caraway seeds are the gateway to rye flavors, and by steeping the water used to make the bread in caraway seeds, it’s a nice mild profile, without the dark earthiness of rye. Total disclosure – I didn’t feel like going to the store to get rye flour and wanted to use what was in my cupboard. Let’s just call this bread a happy product of good weather laziness.

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Caraway Bread

Makes 1 small loaf.

Based on the recipe from The Fresh Loaf.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 package dry active yeast
• ¾ tsp. kosher salt plus  more for sprinkling
• 2 cups bread flour

Directions

1.) Boil the water, brown sugar, butter, and caraway seeds in a small saucepan for 3 minutes. Let cool completely.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, salt, and flour. Stir in the cooled liquid mixture and knead on medium-low speed for a few minutes until everything comes together nicely.

3.) Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and shape into loaf or place in loaf pan. Let proof once more until doubled, about another hour.

4.) Preheat oven to 355° F. Bake loaf for 30-40 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 190° F when inserted in the center of the loaf. Let cool COMPLETELY before slicing – it’s such an important (albeit difficult) step to follow in bread baking.

5.) Serve warmed with salted butter and kielbasa baked in sauerkraut.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, bread

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Man, I didn’t even realize it until recently but I have been in a serious cooking rut this summer. I know I’ve complained about the heat and not being hungry due to work and blah blah blah on here, but it was only this past weekend that I realized I had kind of lost my excitement and joy for cooking at home. I used to get a little jolt of glee in my stomach every time I found a new recipe to try or idea that would come up. That just hasn’t been happening the past 2 months. I blame it on spending all my creative juices at work coming up with recipes on demand and focusing so much on that. The home cook in me was exhausted. Cold cereal, yogurt, take-out… it was a lot of assembling – not cooking. But last week something changed.

I was making scrambled eggs for breakfast because I had a few extra minutes before work and realized I hadn’t done it in months. I used to love actually making breakfast every day before work when I lived in Colorado, and I just stopped doing it when I moved. So all week I made breakfast. Egg sandwiches, waffles, bagels w/cream cheese and lox. No yogurt. Cooking – not assembling. It felt so good.

And suddenly, the jolt was back. The yearning to cook and bake everything I was going to eat instead of gorging at panel at work and then snacking for dinner. I wanted to save space and make dinner. Screw my kitchen being boiling and being exhausted at the end of the day. It’ll be worth it. And this dish is worth it.

When I saw this recipe my stomach did the familiar little somersault. Perfect summer tomatoes, perfect summer herbs, all nestled in a flaky pastry dough and topped with creamy goat cheese. Pure summer and dead simple to boot. I knew I would make this and love it. And I did. I hope you do too.

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Summer Tomato Tart

Serves 8

Based on the recipe from the fabulous David Lebovitz.

If you don’t want to make the dough from scratch, feel free to get some help from the Pillsbury Doughboy. I won’t judge you.

Ingredients:

For the tart shell:

• 1½ cups flour
• 4½ ounces unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 2-3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:

• Dijon mustard
• 2-3 large ripe tomatoes (or a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes), sliced
• 1 teaspoon really good extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• two generous tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, basil, and tarragon
• 8 oz. soft goat cheese (herb or plain), sliced thin (dental floss is great for this) or crumbled

Directions:

1. Make the dough by mixing the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and use your hands, or a pastry blender, to break in the butter until the mixture has a crumbly, cornmeal-like texture.

2. Mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of the water. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg mixture, stirring the mixture until the dough holds together. If it’s not coming together easily, add the additional tablespoon of ice water.

3. Preheat the oven to 425º F.

4. Gather the dough into a ball and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional flour only as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.

5. Once the dough is large enough so that it will cover the bottom of the pan and go up the sides, roll the dough around the rolling pin then unroll it over the tart pan. “Dock” the bottom of the pastry firmly with your fingertips a few times, pressing in to make indentations.

6. Brush an even layer of mustard over the bottom of the tart dough and let it sit a few minutes to dry out. The amount of mustard is at your discretion – use a little or a lot, depending on how much you love it.

7. Sprinkle the chopped herbs over the mustard. Top with tomato slices in one even layer and get fancy with it if you like. Sprinkle the tomatoes generously with salt and pepper. Top tomatoes with goat cheese and drizzle with olive oil.

8. Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked, the tomatoes are tender, and the cheese on top is nicely browned. Depending on the heat of your oven, if the cheese doesn’t brown as much as you’d like it, you might want to pass it under the broiler until it’s just right.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fruit, summer, vegetables

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Pickles.

It’s borderline insane and almost bizarre that I have yet to write about pickles, considering they are my all-time favorite food. Dill cucumber pickles, to be exact. Sechler’s Polish-style dills to be even more exact. But alas, I’m not trying to better the best today. I’m all about pickling other things. Like carrots.

I think I made these pickled carrots at least 30 times last year. Addiction is such a… strong word, but sometimes it is fitting. They’re just so damn tasty. No other way to put it. Not only are these quick pickled carrots dead easy, they’re so unbelievably refreshing and crisp and my mouth is literally watering as I type this. Not even kidding.

For anyone who’s ever been afraid to pickle or even worse, preserve and jar things, these are for you. Since they’re refrigerator pickles they just sit in the brine in your fridge which means they’re quick – but also means they don’t last more than 5 weeks. Not that it matters because they’ll be eaten long before then.

Trust me.

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Quick Pickled Carrots

Based on the recipe from Gourmet.

Makes 2lbs pickled carrots (I did 2 recipes worth in the photos above).

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. carrots, peeled and cut into sticks or slices (other good veggies: green beans, asparagus, snap peas, etc)
• 2 large sprigs fresh dill
• 3¾ cups water
• 3 cups white vinegar (I like my pickles strong, go for cider vinegar if you’re a weakling!)
• ½ cup sugar
• 5 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• ¼ cup dill seeds
• ¼ cup salt
• 1 large jar with screw-on lid (at least half-gallon)

Directions

1.) Add carrots and dill sprigs to jar.

2.) Bring water, vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill seeds, and salt to boil. Simmer 3 minutes and remove from heat. Pour brine over carrots in jar. If you have too much liquid, poor off the excess but keep the dill seeds and garlic and pour them into the jar with the carrots. Let cool to room temperature before screwing on the lid. Refrigerate at least 24 hours before devouring.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: side, summer, vegetables

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