Garlic Bread

... is basically at the top of the list for foods both delicious and quick to make. I mean, who doesn't like garlic bread? (Many people, I am sure, especially those who dislike garlic.) But I cannot resist the warm combination of fresh crusty bread, melted butter, and garlic.
Of course, like all inherently simple things, there are many different recipes, each claiming to "be the very best" (that no one ever was??) My suitemate, for example, simply kept a bowl of garlic-butter on the counter (for some reason unrefrigerated) and whenever he wanted garlic bread, he would spread a thick layer of butter on a slice of sandwich bread and microwaved it until the butter was melted. I must say, it was delicious. Some people put cheese or zest or their garlic bread, which is delicious too. The main debate I have seen is olive oil vs butter. But hey, this recipe uses both, so anything is possible.I am personally a fan of butter garlic bread, probably because I am a fan of butter.

But why am I talking about garlic bread anyways? Well, the other night we had family friends come over for dinner, and my parents (Hi parents!) basically assigned me to make the dinner they had planned: clams and fish cooked in a tomato-chorizo-roasted red pepper-garlic-onion sauce and garlic bread.
So how did I make this garlic bread? Well, I opted for the "melt butter with garlic and brush/pour on top of the bread" method.

Garlic Bread (serves 6-8)

Ingredients

• 1 baguette
• 3 tbsp of salted butter
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• Parsley (opt)

Tasting the melted garlic butter :)

Method:

1. Cut the baguette in half to make 2 short baguettes
2. Cut each of those in half like you are splitting them for a sub sandwich. The goal here is to have have access to the crumb of the bread.
3. Use a garlic press or knife to mince the garlic and place it in a small microwaveable bowl.
4. Add the butter to the bowl and microwave the contents until the butter is melted and bubbly.
5. Use your communism skills to distribute the melted garlic butter evenly among the pieces of bread (on the not crusty side). 
6. Sprinkle on a bit of chopped parsley if you want to.
7. Slice the bread into the number/size of pieces you desire.
8. But the bread pieces crust down on a baking sheet and stick under the broiler until the edges of the bread brown.
9. Serve warm!

Bento #1: Hoisin salmon, spinach, carrot kinpira, and sushi rice

Sooo I started my job this week, but my job does not have a physical location, so I work whereever I want to. Today I decided to work at the library, so I made myself a bento lunch. I had been wanting to try making bento for a while (I was especially inspired by justbento.com; I even bought her cookbook!)
In today's bento I put some leftover hoisin glazed salmon and vietnamese spinach that I had frozen last week. I also had about 3/4 cup of "sushi rice" (read more to learn why I put quotations there) and some carrot kinpira, blanched bean sprouts, and "pickled" cucumber from the Just Bento cookbook. I had prepared the carrots and bean sprouts last friday, and they were fine today, although not as delicious as they were fresh on Friday. Especially the carrots, those were really darn good. The salmon was a tad dry, but the spinach was good.

The rice, however, kinda failed. It was mushy and the flavor ratio was off. I think one issue is that I put too much water in the rice cooker because I was trying to cook only half a cup of rice but the rice cooker does not have half cup markings. I also was not sure how much vinegar mixture to put into the rice. Well, with practice I'll get the hang of it.

As a sidenote: this recipe looks delicious.

Gâteau au Yaourt: Yogurt Cake

This is a cake that my family has been making for a long time; I think we got the recipe from some of my cousins. It is a very simple and customizable snack cake that uses yogurt as a flavor base but doesn't actually taste like yogurt. The original recipe has all the measurements (except the eggs) based on the size of a pot of yogurt. Unfortunately, yogurt pots in France are smaller than in the US (they contain 150g of yogurt instead of 170g.) To make this recipe in the US, I find a glass that holds a bit less than a cup of water and use that as my measurement tool.
Once you have made the batter, you can pretty much add whatever flavor you want. The cake in the photo has chocolate chips and unsweetened coconut flakes, but I have also had success with pears, nutella  (mix nutella into some of the batter and swirl that into the rest of the batter,) dried fruit, etc. You could could probably make this a savory cake by removing most of the sugar and putting cheese or bacon or herbs in.
And to prove how easy this recipe is, I was able to make it in the kitchen of my college dorm with my bf.

Gâteau au Yaourt:

Ingredients

• 3 eggs (separated)
• 1.5 pots sugar
• 1 pot yogurt
• 0.5 pots oil or 60g butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 pots flour
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 0.5 tsp salt
• up to 1.5 cups filling (ie 1 cup chocolate chips + 0.5 cup unsweetened coconut)

Instructions

1. Preheat an oven to 350F.
2. Beat yolks with sugar until thick and white.
3. Add egg whites, yogurt, oil, and vanilla, still beating.
4. Add remaining ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) but not the filling. Mix by hand.
5. Stir in the filling gently.
6. Grease a cake pan or loaf pan and pour in the batter.
7. Bake for 40 (cake pan) to 50 (loaf pan) minutes
8. Enjoy on a picnic or as a snack or casual dessert! You can serve it with greek yogurt and berries or dress it up with whipped cream.

Spring Break 2: Bread-y stuff

So on Thursday I pulled out my beloved The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and made some bread. I made a caprese-inspired loaf by putting fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, and basil in Challah dough (I'm sure this is terribly sacrilegious) and pizza.

For the Caprese Bread I made the challah dough per the instructions of Peter Reinhart. To incorporate the filling into the dough, I stretched out the dough like pizza, placed the filling on top, and rolled it up like a log. 

And then I split it into 3 and braided it!

I also made pizza dough (also from Reinhart's book) that I rested in the refrigerator overnight. As toppings for the pizza, I roasted some brussels sprouts and broccolini in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, then I turned the oven down to 330 for another 10-20 minutes. For sauce, I blended some canned diced tomatoes and cooked them with onions, garlic, and oregano.

I made 3 pizzas, one with brussels sprouts, broccolini and caramelized onions (not pictured), one with broccolini, copa, and caramelized onions (first), and, at my dad's suggestion, one with chorizo, brussels sprouts, roasted garlic, and an egg in the center (second). The chorizo one was the family favorite!

 

 And on Pi day (3/14) I visited my friend and we made pie!!! (We did not have enough crust dough to make a complete top crust, so we put a circle on top instead! It is off center on purpose.)