Lemon-Mint Tisane April 29, 2011

A friend of ours recently called my attention to the fact that I haven’t posted my tisane recipe. A tisane is like a tea, but it doesn’t use tea leaves, so it has to have another name. But otherwise, the principle is the same: pour boiling water on something to bring out its flavor and infuse the water with that flavor. This particular tisane could actually be called Honey, Lemon, Ginger, Mint tisane, since those are the ingredients, but that’s a bit cumbersome, eh? It is, however, an absolute God-send when you are sick. Lemon and honey are lovely on a sore throat, ginger is good for an upset stomach, and mint can clear the sinuses. Anyway, I highly recommend making a batch next time you or a friend are ill, or just because it’s so good!

6 cups of water
1/4 cup peeled/chopped ginger
1/3 cup lemon juice (usually 1 lemon is about right)
1/2 cup firmly packed mint leaves
6 Tbs honey (or to taste)

Place water, lemon juice, and ginger in a stock pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes
Remove from heat, add mint. Cover and let steep for 5 minutes.
Strain out the leaves, ginger, etc
Stir in honey and serve or place in container and refrigerate

I don’t actually add the honey before serving. Rather, I add honey to taste as I use it or serve with a honey so everyone can adjust as they like.

Focaccia April 3, 2011

Okay, to be honest, I’m not sure what makes an honest-to-goodness focaccia bread. However, I’ve got my own little easy recipe that has stood the test, so here it is. It’s basically my pizza crust recipe, with a few adjustments. Makes one “loaf”. (Doesn’t seem like “loaf” is quite the word, but what else do you call it?)

 

 

1 1/2 cups and 2 Tbs All Purpose Flour

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup water

your choice of herbs (I like rosemary, but any, including powdered garlic would do. Might be fun to try folding in roasted garlic…)

sea salt

olive oil

 

 

1. Wisk together the dry ingredients, including a tsp or 2 of dried herbs

2. Add water till dough comes together. Be careful not to over mix. This will be a rough and sticky dough. No kneading.

3. Coat with olive oil, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise. You can leave it a long time, especially if you pop it in the fridge. 24 hours even. The flavor becomes more developed

4. Choose a baking tray. I prefer non-stick, or lined with parchment paper. Dump dough out on tray and lightly pat and stretch into shape – maybe 1/4 inch thick?  Don’t over-stretch it and get thin places. If it springs back on you while you’re stretching it out, cover it and let it rest for 10 min. It should be easy to work after that. It fills my, albeit English sized, baking sheet.

5. Cover (I use plastic wrap) and let rise again, till nice and puffy, and maybe an inch high. Maybe an hour or so. Depends on how hot your house is.

6. Preheat oven to 475F. While oven heats up, remove plastic wrap and gently press your fingers into the dough, making dimples on the surface. It doesn’t take much pressure and you don’t want to deflate the whole thing, so try a few singles to get the idea. They appear a moment or two after you’ve removed your fingers. I oil my fingers to keep from sticking and pulling on the dough.

7. Drizzle olive oil on the top so that the dimples get a little oil in them. Then, sprinkle the top with herbs and sea salt.

8. Bake at 475F for 5-10 minutes, till the top is golden.

Fried Rice April 2, 2011

Okay, I feel like we have finally perfected our fried rice recipe, so it’s time to go to press. For me, the clincher was the thick, dark soy sauce we can get here at Tesco. I have no idea what is available elsewhere. I will warn you, the measurements are very imprecise, because we generally make this in order to use up leftovers. Therefore, we just throw in what we’ve got and adjust things like garlic, onions, and soy sauce based on how much rice we’ve got. Sorry about that, but if you’re willing to roll with it, you too can use up all your leftover rice!!

 

 

Cooked rice (1-2 cups dry) Day old is best. It needs to at least be cooled a bit. This keeps it from clumping up and lets the oil coat it nicely. Also, choose a good rice. There is a flavor difference. Try Jasmine or Basmati)

2-3 of the large shallots (or 1 small yellow onion if that’s what you’ve got), diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely diced

chicken (we use leftovers, thanksgiving turkey even). Maybe a cup?

2 eggs

vegetable oil (peanut oil is best, but I never have it)

frozen peas

chopped carrots if you like. Cut them small so they’ll cook quickly

Dark soy sauce

 

 

In your wok or large frying pan, scramble the eggs in oil and set aside

Fry meat in oil, salt, set aside

Saute garlic and shallots in a few Tbs of oil. Salt a bit. The goal is to flavor the oil, which will in turn, coat the rice.

Add veggies, peas while still frozen. Cook till tender.

Add rice and coat, mixing in the veggies.

Return the eggs and meat to the pan, mix well. Adjust salt.

Add soy sauce to taste.

Sweet Scones

Well, we’ve been living in England for around 7 months, and I’m just now landing on a scone recipe. And actually, I can’t think of what else new, culinarily speaking, I’ve acquired here… Sorry, England. But these are wonderful.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) cold butter
approx. 2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup dried fruit if desired (the typical choice is raisins)

Preheat oven to 400F

So, from what I read, the “trick” is in how you mix the dough. 1st, combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Next, “cut” the butter into the dry ingredients till it’s all well mixed and crumbly. I just use my hands. It’s so much easier.

If you are adding dried fruit, mix them in now.

Combine milk and vanilla, then add it to the dry ingredients slowly. Only add enough to bring the dough together. For me, this last time, I used much less than the stated amount, but I had also doubled the recipe. So, I suggest just be ready for anything.

The big warning in this step is to not overwork the dough. Just do enough to make a ball.

Once it comes together into a ball, put it out on your floured surface and pat it into a 1 inch thick shape. If you like the triangle shaped scones, a circle is best so that you can cut it pizza-style.

Cut your shapes with a sharp knife or biscuit cutter (rotate while pressing down in order to get a higher rise while baking)

Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar or apply an egg wash (I’m never this fussy)

Bake about 20 min. in center of oven, or till browned.