some how it is lighter

I made a sour cream green chile enchiladas on Saturday.  But I am having issues with corn.  It is causing a lot of inflammation.  My hands swell up badly and it makes everything harder to do.  I notice the inflammation in my hips, knees, and any place of recent injury.  Poultry is the same which is why you see so few recipes with anything poultry related.  I know I have substituted potatoes before for the corn tortillas but not what I wanted.  I wanted something closer to a tortilla.

We have been using mjukstut for tortillas lately.  So much flavour!  I figured why not.  I made a batch of mjukstut and used them in the enchiladas.  I also used about 1/4 cup of sour cream in the enchiladas instead of a full cup.  I do not know how, but the enchiladas were very light!  I actually was able to eat a much larger portion then normal.  And the added flavour!  It was excellent.  So, try it!  It is a fusion that some grandmothers are probably rolling over in their graves but so good!  It is going to become a standard.

There was only one problem with this meal.  Not enough leftovers for the next day.  Sigh . . .

avocado chipolte cream

There was a friend's birthday this weekend before the rain where tacos were involved.  I am off adventuring starting tomorrow where there will be no tacos involved.  Tacos will happen when I get home.  But I will not cook much while I am gone because my Dad really does not let me work much in his kitchen except handing me a paring knife.  I am flying or I would bring my own.  Truly.  He likes to experiment with knife shape so I never know what I will find in his kitchen.  I say his because my Mom does the dishes.

I will get to see the Tall Short Person and Koda Bear too.  But no tacos.  It just will not happen.  When I get back, I will need to make mjustut and some coleslaw.  Cook some black beans and either roast or fry avocado.  Veggie tacos here I come.  It has everything to do with my parents not really eating tacos and getting sourdough through airport security is very interesting.  Potatoes and loaves of bread are also very interesting.  

For tacos, this avocado cream is pretty lovely.  I actually saw this avocado cream with falafel.  But it is really good on tacos.  I added more depth then the original recipe, which I read for two seconds.  I just liked the idea.  Try it.  Play with it.  Make it yours.  Eat tacos.

avocado chipolte cream

2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted

3 to 6 tablespoons of sour cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground chipolte

1/4 teaspoon ground ancho

In a blender canister, put all the ingredients.  Start with three tablespoons of sour cream.  Start to blend.  If it is creamy, do not add any more sour cream.  If it needs to be creamier, add more sour cream.  Blend until very smooth.

Use in tacos.  As dips.  

It will be next week before I get back to this space.  Maybe by then all the water will have gone down and I will have gotten some work done on sweater on airplanes and in airports.  One crochet project.  One spinning project.  One book.  For the way there.  I should make it!  And hopefully I will not come back with too much.  I am hoping yarn or roving (yellow of some type) and maybe some fabric.  The books could me scary.  I may need to ship!

galette perougienne

Being away all weekend watching fast motorbikes and then coming back to layoffs at work means that all I have wanted to do is have my hands in dough.  Notice that is not even a past tense!  My stomach was tied up into knots so hard this week that yesterday was the first day that I even felt like eating and it still did not settle well.  The whole building where I work feels pretty shell shocked.  It is very quiet.

Before we left for the races, I had borrowed a cookbook from the library, A Kitchen in France, by Mimi Thorisson.  I read her blog occasionally.  I come back to it every few months and read back to where I last read.  I love the pictures.  Most of the recipes do not inspire me to make but that is just me.  In the cookbook, there is a recipe for galette perougienne.  One of those very old fashioned bready cakes, medieval in fact.

 

I decided to give it a try.  And it was not an epic failure but the dough did not come together the way I thought it should.  I do make galette bressame.  They are similar.  And I used the weight measures which is normally pretty foolproof.  Not in this case, on this day for me.  But saying all of that, the cake was good enough that it all got eaten in days and I had ideas on how to improve it.

I used my sourdough recipe for galette bressame, using weights because I have been enjoying them since I picked up Bien Cuit for myself at Christmas.  I used a thicker levain because I do like the once that are almost a dough into themselves.  I brought brought the flavor of lemon and the topping from Mimi Thorisson's galette perouginenne.  This is my type of cake.  The Tall Short Person would say this tastes even more like a sugar brioche so why not eat it for breakfast?  Or eat it with your favorite port after a lovely dinner.  It may be tacos but why not cake and port after dinner?  Just why not?

galette perouginne

Note:  The inspiration comes from Mimi Thorissen, A Kitchen in France.  The recipe was very close to my galette bressame recipe.  I did use a levain, of course.

sourdough starter

75 grams (about 1/2 cup) whole wheat flour

75 (about 3/8 cup) grams water

170 grams flour plus extra for kneading (1 to 2 cups)

1 egg

80 grams (about more then a 1/3 cup) butter

30 grams (2 tablespoons) sugar

zest of one lemon

1 pinch salt (two finger)

up to 75 grams (6 tablespoons) sugar

up to 60 grams (4 tablespoons) butter

8 to 12 hours before you wish to start mixing the dough, combine the sourdough starter, 75 grams flour, and 75 grams water in a large bowl.  Cover and let ferment.  This is a cake that is nice warm after dinner.  Sitting a few minutes after baking to eat.  Start it in the morning to eat after dinner, if you chose to skip the refrigeration step.  I do silly things like that!

After 8 to 12 hours, remove a bit of starter for next time.  In the remaining sponge, mix the 20 grams sugar,  80 grams butter, egg, lemon, and salt.  Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough.  Knead for until smooth, less then five minutes.  Put in a large plastic bag and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.

After refrigeration, cover a baking sheet with edges with parchment paper.  Roll the dough out until it is 1/2 inch thick and about 9 inches across.  Cover and let rise for two hours or until very puffy in a warm spot.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sprinkle the 6 tablespoons of sugar on top.  I found this was too much but go for it!  Dap with the 4 tablespoons of butter.  For the size I made, this was also too much for me but why not!

(Honestly, I just need more cake and it has been a week.)

Bake for 15 minutes. Until the butter is carmelizing.

Cake.  I could live on this cake with tea.  I need to make more cake.

blood orange tequila beverage

Since the Maker's Market and the finishing of the last quilt, I have not felt creative.  If not creative means sitting at my spinning wheel and making yarn.  Or crocheting sweaters.  I just needed a different kind of creative but it is not very picture worthy.  I am still working on a quilt because I never make anything easy the back has many pieces.  I am just being slow.  Maybe next week. 

I have not wanted to be creative in the kitchen but want to make doughs with yeastie beasties.  Nothing really very new just beasties.  Next week there will be more time because this weekend there will be many motorbikes in many forms.  Not very surprising for this time of the year.  I will not even have the time to be in this space for the rest of the week.  Just many motorbikes.

After the quilts were finished and shown, I had a day and evening to myself.  No family.  I made myself a salad and needed to use blood oranges so I made something similar to a margarita but it was not a margarita.  Tasty but refreshing.  I am writing it down for next year when blood oranges are in season again.

blood orange tequila beverage

juice of three blood oranges

1 to 2 tablespoons lime juice or to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons agave or to taste

2 ounces tequila

ice

a bit of ginger soda

Mix the blood orange juice, lime juice, and agave.  Start with the smaller bits and taste.  Adjust to your taste.  Add tequila.  Mix.  Pour into an eight ounce glass.  Add six small ice cubes.  Pour in enough ginger soda to fill the glass or to your taste.

Lovely on a quiet weekend evening.

orange brownies

A couple of my favorite authors publish in March.  They both have series that I am currently following.  I really like Mercy Thompson Hauptman who is one of Patricia Briggs characters.  And Mercy likes to bake, especially when she is stressed.  In the last book, there was a brownie that was described that had orange oil in it.  I cannot purchase my orange oil from Baba Yaga but I can make an orange brownie that is just yummy.  First try too.

These are a definitely going to be repeated.  But I am going to try different chocolate tomorrow just because I am wanting more chocolate in my life.  My taste buds want a chocolate milkshake.  My body and its reaction to inflammation do not.  I am trying to find a lovely compromise.

orange brownies

1/4 cup butter

6 tablespoons water

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon orange oil (optional)

1 egg

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange oil

6 tablespoon onyx cocoa powder

2 cups powdered sugar

2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Butter and flour an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a pot, put the water, 1/2 cup butter, and 2 ounces chocolate.  Bring to a boil and  stir until chocolate is melted.  Remove from heat and mix in in the flour and sugar.  Mix in the egg, sour cream, baking soda, salt, and optional orange oil.  The orange in the brownie will intensify the orange flavor.  Mix well.  Pour into the baking pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a knife stuck into them comes out clean and the brownies start to pull from the edge of the pan.

While the brownies are baking, make the buttercream.  In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar.  Mix in the vanilla, orange oil, and 2 tablespoons milk.  The consistency of the frosting should be spreadable but thick.  Add more milk if needed.

When the brownies come out of the oven, let sit five minutes.  Frost while hot so the frosting can melt into the brownies.  Just like the book!

So good!  These did not last long.