crisp waffles

I finished my Christmas present baking yesterday!  This is exciting to me because now I can bake some of those recipes that I have been wishing to try.  There are actually a few sweet recipes that I might be putting off for a few weeks or months.  I am a bit over sweet.  And there is still a birthday cake to bake next week!  That is life.  Christmas themed sweets in the lonely month of February.  I should probably send out those in boxes as well.

My Mom was talking about the waffles they ate at a distant cousins house in Norway.  Crisp, with berries and whipped cream.  The waffles sounded really good.  Then a saw a recipe in passing on Facebook.  I pulled out the tome (The Nordic Cook Book) and looked it up.  Looked like a simple recipe so I decided to give it a try.

Now, I will admit that I usually make yeasted waffles.  But I do not care which waffle it is, waffles just take a long time to cook so I usually save them for weekends.  This waffle seemed to take even longer, especially on the way to crispy.  The recipe is so simple that having good ingredients really count.  Also, I do not have the traditional Scandinavian waffle iron.  It may have helped the process if I did.  I already have too many traditional kitchen tools on wish lists so I did not buy something new.  I would not have any room in my kitchen if I did buy them all!  This is when I laugh at myself.

By the way, my Dad always asks if I make lefse when I am around during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My lefse rolling pins have an easily accessible home.  I use them at least once a week but I do not think he believes me.  If he could see the picture above.  But my Dad and a computer?  No.

crisp waffles

Note:  This is a traditional recipe taken from The Nordic Cook Book by Magnus Nilsson 

13 tablespoons of water

180 grams of wheat flour

a pinch of sugar

a pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups cream, whipped to soft peaks

melted butter for the waffle iron

Pour the water in a bowl.  Mix in the flour, sugar, and salt to form a batter.

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the flour batter. 

Pour onto a waffle iron and bake until brown and crispy.

I served the waffles with powdered sugar since I did not have any extra whipped cream and berries.  Pretty lovely.  Especially if you want waffles and forgot to start a yeasted batter the night before.  

Yes, that does occassionally happen.

best cookies ever?

I was at the grocery store and Koda Bear wanted banana chips.  Cool.  Whatever.  I had two bunches of ripe, soon to be very ripe, bananas at home.  I use them for smoothies.  Or as they are often called around here, milkshakes.   I know they are not but . . .  

I do not have a dehydrator but I decided what would happen if I put banana slices in the oven over night at 170 degrees Fahrenheit.  When I was small, I was a Campfire Girl and one Christmas we made carrot beads.  Chopped carrots into slices and put them in a low oven over night.  We made them into necklaces for our Moms.  It also could be used for soup.  I got looked at very strangely when I told this story.

I put a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Covered it with banana slices.  Put them into the oven at 170 degrees for about twelve hours.  

Out came the "cookies" as Koda Bear calls them.  They have a bit of chew in them I am told.  My Beloved would say they taste like candy.  Again, one of those things I would not eat but I do make for my family.  If Koda Bear wishes to eat everyone of these, I will not say no.  Sometimes he feels like he is sneaking and I just smile.  It is just two bananas.

pasta for lunch

Because of the boucherie, homemade pasta was requested for lunch yesterday.  I learned from Chef Tom Ramsey that egg pasta needs a long rest after making.  Four hours is great.  Twenty four is better.  But he was having us make an eggless pasta at the boucherie due to time and hands needed.  I used the eggless version yesterday.

He told me the porportions with semolina flour is 4 flour to 1 water.  I did not have semolina flour but I did have some nice organic all purpose.  One cup of flour went into a bowl.  I made a well and sprinkled the flour is as I mixed with my hand.  You want pea shaped clumps if you can get it.

This is what I got.  I started kneading.  I wet my hands twice and it all came together.  Very little extra flour.  Pasta is how little water you can use, bread is how much.

The dough turned out very silky.

I wrapped it in cling film so it could hydrate.  I had an hour or so but you only need about twenty minutes.  I was putting together two more bread doughs at this point.

I floured my counter and started rolling.  I wanted it to get as thin as possible.  There was a very silky finish to it.  Then I floured the whole dough again, loosely rolled it, and cut noodles.

I put them on a floured baking sheet because I could not find my quarter baking sheet.  I have a good idea where it is.  I let the noodles dry until hunger happened.  My Beloved wanted is noodles in broth so they were similar to ramen.  I made cacio e pepe for myself.  Quite lovely.

I am having lunch with friends tomorrow.  I got asked to make pasta again and because there was time, I put together an egg pasta dough.  100 grams flour to one lovely Mr. Hatterman egg.  Let it sit. 

Life is good.  At least this part.

cinnamon buns

October 4th is cinnamon bun day in Sweden.  Many of the people I follow on instagram and twitter where talking about cinnamon buns.  It is a contrived holiday created by Sweden's Home Baking counsel in 1999 but it rang a chord in many people so it continues.  It is also something that is eaten frequently at fika (afternoon coffee) in Sweden. 

My heritage is Norwegian but my Dad talks about the women in the small town in North Dakota where he grew up getting together for coffee.  Morning coffee was done in house dresses and aprons, at the kitchen table.  Afternoon coffee with a cake or a bun was a more dressy affair.  It is how he talks about it.  This would be served in the afternoon.

Cinnamon buns are not sticky like American cinnamon rolls.   I loved the flavour and the not so stickiness of these rolls.  Boyos wanted sticky!  These will be for me.  They are similar to my cardamom rolls.  I personally think that the filling without the butter might be very nice rolled into kouign amman.  But I like laminated doughs.

I found a recipe on Call Me Cupcake.  Of course, I modified it to use sourdough.  I did sign up to do a sourdough study.  Life could be interesting.

cinnamon buns

Note:  I adapated Call Me Cupcake recipe for sourdough

sourdough

100 grams flour

100 grams water

150 grams soft butter

90 grams granulated sugar

½ teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

500 ml milk

840 grams flour (I used a mixture of all purpose and white whole wheat)

175 grams soft butter

90 grams  sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, lightly beaten

The night before, mix the sourdough with the 100 grams flour and 100 grams water.  Cover and let sit until bubbly in a warm place.  Remove some for next time.

To the starter, mix in the milk, butter, sugar, salt, and 2 teaspoon cardamom.  Slowly mix in the flour until you have a soft dough.  Turn out and knead until smooth and elastic.  Put in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise until double.

Mix the 175 grams butter, 90 grams sugar, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, and vanilla in a small bowl.  Set aside.  This is your filling so it needs to be soft and spreadable.  Do not put it in the refrigerator.

Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

When the dough has risen, portion the dough in half.  Roll it out into a large rectangle, about 16 inches by 20 inches.  Spread half the filling mixture on it.  Fold the bottom up and fold the top down.  You want a letter shape.  Cut into strips.  Without unfolding, tie each strip into a knot.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.

Repeat with the other portion of dough.

Cover and let rise until puffy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Brush each bun with the beaten egg.

Bake for about 15 or 20 minutes.  They should be golden brown.

I thnk they are lovely.  Boyos want more sticky.

They were really good the next day toasted with butter and a cup of tea.  Talk about a bit of heaven.

not Massimo's ragu

Yesterday was not a good day for me.  I felt so lucky that I did not have a job to go to because I could barely move.  Yesterday was all about self care.  Moving slowly.  Drinking copious amounts of ginger tea.  Actually, just copious amounts of tea.  Trying to move a stretch some of the pain away.  Today, I just ache which is a fast improvement!  Yesterday, I wished I had some of this ragu in the freezer but I did not.

The wonderful cookbook I picked up the last time I was in the Pacific Northwest, which has all the recipes for family meals, had a picture of Massimo Bottura's ragu in it.  I have watched documentaries on the man and saw what he did at the Rio Olympics about trying to put feeding people who have nothing in the spotlight.  I like what he does.  In documentaries and Instagram, he makes me laugh.  He seems to live life with joy which is important to me.  Well, long story short, in the cookbook for family meals there was a picture of his ragu.  Rich, meaty.  No recipe.  But I knew where to find it.

Off I go to the grocery store which has a decent meat department.  Not wonderful but not bad.  I had to change most of the meats used in Massimo's recipe.  Even doing that, the ragu turned out lovely.  I also did not use his techniques because I do not have a sous-vide.  I will be making this again.  Might be easier in a larger pot with larger quantities.  It is good.

ragu

Note:  I used the ragu recipe in Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef as a starting point.

1 yellow onion, peeled and diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, washed and diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 dried bay leaves

1 sprig rosemary

4 ounces beef bones with marrow or just marrow

2 ounces pancetta steccata (I could not find this style so I used a different style of pancetta), diced

4 ounces mild italian sausage meat

4 ounces veal shank (go up to 8 ounces if you can afford it)

4 ounces beef shank

4 ounces beef flank steak

4 ounces grape tomatoes

3 ounces white wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 ounces vegetable broth or water

A bit of port to moisten

pasta, I made homemade pasta and got teased about the thick noodles.

In a pan over medium low heat, gently cook the onion, celery, and carrot in the olive oil.  Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.  Stir in the bay and rosemary.

Blanche the bone marrow in boiling salted water and drain.

In the pan you used to cook the vegetables, sweat the pancetta.  Add the sausage meat and cook until brown.

Add the other meat and the tomatoes, keeping everything large.  Brown them.  Add the wine and cook a bit.

Remove from the heat and put the vegetables and meats in a slow cooker.  Add the 4 ounces of broth or water. 

Cover and cook until everything is tender.  Watch the liquid level toward the ends.  You do not want burnt bits.

Remove the meats from the slow cooker.  Remove bones and cut up into bite size.  Transfer to a pot on the stove.

I did not have much cooking liquid left so I moistened with port.  Not more then 4 ounces but I did taste a bit as I went.  Season with salt and pepper.  This to your taste.  It may be fine.

Serve over pasta.

Like I said, I wished I had it in the freezer yesterday.  With a salad, lovely comfort food.  Life is good.

Going to need to make this again soon.  Supposedly it will be cooler soon and then that would work well.