The Little House Cooking Club - Cornbread and Soup

 

It all starts with a good cornbread recipe. Corn ... the staple of farmers for their animals and for their families. Corn ! Fresh and dried, soaked in lye to make hominy, pounded in various gritty grindings to make flour, grits, and coarse polenta. Boiled and buttered when its fresh off the stalk, grilled and cut from the cob to add to salads and custards. It's such a versatile grain !

As I embark with dozens of other fans of The Little House on the Prairie books and television series on this journey with The Little House Cooking Club, our first cooking challenge is to make a cornbread in homage to Ma Ingalls. I took my recipe from Melissa Gilbert's cookbook that honored her days on the series. 'Half pint' has grown up and moved on, but she still credits the series with giving her a firm foundation in home cooking and she's gathered some fine recipes together to honor the series and farm cooking.

Sour Dough Boule

Today's project was trying out the sour dough starter that I've been cultivating for a week.  Each morning over the past week, I've been mixing 1/3 c. of water, 1/3 c. flour blend (rye and all purpose white), and 1/3 c. of the slurry from the day before. That slurry has become increasingly bubbly with yeast and increasingly tangy smelling. Today, day seven, the slurry was super bubbly and thickened, so I used the cast off from my early morning replenishing of the starter mix to do a 'float test'. A teaspoonful of the starter dropped into a glass of water stayed formed and floated atop the water with no sinking whatsoever. Ah ha ! 

Dill and Onion Bread

Over the years, I've collected almost all of Jeff Smith's cook books. He spent time on PBS back in the 70's and 80's doing cooking shows and I always liked his approach toward honoring old-time family recipes, ethnic roots, and cultural twists on ingredients. Then, he disappeared and newer trendier chefs and food writers came along ... and did some of the same things he'd been touting. Hmmm ... everything old is new again.

Minestrone and Savory Bread Pudding

Checking in after a long hiatus from food blogging ... not that I wasn't eating up a storm!

Salted Caramel "Apple Charlotte"

One day, I'll make a true Warm Apple Charlotte, but until that time, this will have to suffice. And there's no real problem with this 'dumbed down' version of a very old recipe. The first Apple Charlotte recipe that's on the books comes from an English cookbook that appeared in 1796. This factoid comes courtesy of my CIA Baking at Home Cookbook. That being said, today's dessert comes from the Old Farmer's Almanac Readers' Best Recipes cookbook that I won a couple weeks ago when I entered an apple pie baking contest.

Beef Fillet Crostini with Arugula Pesto - Couch Potato Treat

So. We're hanging on the couch watching Red Sox baseball, sipping wine and eating the easiest, but most expensive open face sammies we've ever had. I'm not crabbin', though! These are wicked good!

A Quiet Saturday Morning and Hot Cross Buns

All week long, I've tried to make these traditional rolls ... it's just been one thing after another and tangled schedules that have kept me from the kitchen work table and oven. But ... this morning ... it was an enforced quiet that made me stop. Stop. SB left early on for a men's breakfast at our little church. The dogs napped in the sun and I found myself smack dab between the darkness of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday.

It was time to make the batch of hot cross buns ... a spicier batch than I've made in the past ... big ones. Buns large enough for a cup of tea or coffee. Buns that won't disappear in a couple bites.

Ukrainian Beet Borshch and Pampushky

Christmas always brings me at least one new cookbook and this year was no exception! My traditional first recipe from most of the cook books I get is a soup recipe. This is, perhaps, the result of looking to use leftovers from the Christmas food shopping fest or maybe just a rustic reaction to all the rich food we consume during the holidays. Soup seems simpler, less caloric, and less stressful to create.

Manchet and a Tribute to a Book

Normally, I'd write a reaction to any book I want to share with folks over on my literature and writing blog, Buch Handling. This book, though, just has to be recommended to all my foodie friends and followers.  Lawrence Norfolk has given foodies a taste of the life of a cook during the late 17th century. I've given you ... bread!

Apricot and Ginger Scones

Let's just say that I got my daily dose of fat and sugar all at one time today. Afternoon tea was pretty darn decadent! You can't go wrong with light fluffy scones, real butter, and apricot preserves. A pot of Lady Grey tea rounded out things nicely.  Honestly, just looking at this photo makes me want to open my trap for a big bite!

Pain Ordinaire - French Bread

Winter returned to the grey cottage over the weekend. We had snow, sleet, freezing rain and then a gusty freezing polar vortex swept in to freeze everything rock solid. One hears the cold crunch of the ice on the road as the neighbors head out to work. The wind makes the icy coating of the branches clatter, when it gusts around the house corners. It's colder than a witch's left hind roopy-too, as my Dad liked to say!

Random Recipes - Crusty White Bread

... a return to Random Recipes brings me to an artisan bread worthy of a good soup ...

Chive-y Cheddar Bread

I know what you're thinking ..."What the heck is she doing baking bread during the hottest week of the summer?"  It was six o'clock in the cool of the morning when I got the idea ... no, urge.

Zucchini Blueberry Bread

The dog days of summer are upon us here in New Hampshire. Pete the Smart Corgi flops in the sun most mornings while I get the baking done before the heat builds. This morning I dealt with the first big onslaught of zucchini and the huge amount of blueberries that SB picked up on Gap Mountain. The local paper printed a recipe for a zucchini blueberry quick bread that is lightened up a bit. The batter has plain yogurt, one egg and egg whites, and less oil than my other recipe. The bread is treated with a lemon glaze while it's still warm, which creates a densely sweet slice.

Gruyère and Walnut Bread and a Eulogy

The past week has been a whirl of activity. I spent three wonderful days with women from the quilt guild that I belong to, working on projects and sharing tips and techniques for making piecing easier. I learned how to make fabric stars for simple ornaments, how to cut perfect half-triangle squares, and a ton of other neat tips. Coming away from the retreat, I had a gorgeous pile of pinwheel blocks that will be make my next twin bed sized quilt. The fabrics are all inspired by Civil War era cotton muslin and shirting fabric prints. Pretty, huh?

Maple Walnut Quick Bread -

... Oh! What a maple glaze ... sticky crunch atop a maple and orange quick bread ...be still, my heart!

Nigel Slater's Rosemary and Honey Bread

Rosemary and Honey Bread ... with dried cherries, apricots, and golden sultanas ... so pretty!

Irish Soda Bread with Caraway and Drambuie

Here comes St. Patrick's Day ! It's the time of year when every town has a corned beef and cabbage dinner hosted by one of the churches or the fire department or the ladies guild or the garden club, or, or ... and our town is no different. Our little church is hosting our dinner this evening and I have been charged with baking the Irish soda breads. So, I'm falling back on good old Beth Hensperger and her tome, The Bread Bible. 

Pot Luck Bread - Nigel Slater's Cider Bread

Waking up this morning, the steady drip of the gutters made me almost think that the house had a tinny heartbeat - the ice and snow is no competition for the stronger warmth of the sunshine. And it's a brilliant sunny day here on the side of Gap Mountain ... the light is perfect for quilting and I have been alllllll about finishing up the binding on a major project. I spent the entire morning with the quilt draped over the dining room table and my needle taking little stitches around the outer edge while I thought a thousand thoughts and hummed along to music on the CD changer. It's amazing how much I got done when I wasn't thinking about just ... how ... many ... stitches it would take to finish the project!

My neck and shoulders, though, finally began stiffening up, so I had to stop. Tomorrow, I thought, you can finish it tomorrow! Then, I went off to make some bread so I could use my shoulder and arm muscles to knead out the stiffness ... am testing a recipe for possible potluck fare at next week's church supper.

Tomten's Christmas Adventures - Part Two

It was quiet in the kitchen at the grey cottage. Tomten felt a little lonely being away from his friends Gnome and Joseph. The only thing catching his eye this early in the morning was the flicker of the flames in the woodstove. Master had come early to start the fire, as the winter cold had crept into the cottage over night, making everything cold and stiff. He turned the lights on and quietly made his morning cereal, then he went to tend the other fire in the living room ... brr, it was chilly!

Why, even the kitty walked stiff-legged toward the fire ! Opey sat close to the stove door, whisking her tail back and forth and turning this way and that to the warmth. After a bit of preening, she hopped into the rocking chair and settled down for a morning snooze.

Tomten felt happy to sit in his special spot and watch Opey snooze. It gave him a happy feeling to have his Animals come to keep him company and he knew that once Opey came to the kitchen, the Lady of the House could not be far behind!