Focaccia with Dried Tomatoes, Olives, and Rosemary

Serves 12

1 1/2 Cups Water, warm (about 110 degrees)
1/4 Ounce Dry Yeast, 1 enveloope
1 Teaspoon Sugar
3 3/4 Cups Bread Flour
6 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons Salt
1/2 Cup Black Olives, coarsely chopped
1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Romano Cheese, freshly grated

1. In a large bowl, combine ½ cup of the warm water, yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve. Let stand for five minutes, or until foamy. Add the remaining one cup water, the flour, 2 tablespoons of the oil and the salt. Stir to combine.
2. Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (dough will be soft), about seven minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Lightly oil the inside of a large bowl. Add the dough and turn it to coat evenly with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let it stand in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles, about 1 hour.
3. Lightly oil a 15½-by-10½-inch jelly-roll pan. Punch the dough down and pat into the prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles, about 45 minutes. Blanch rosemary needles for 20 seconds then sprinkle them on the dough. With your greased fingertips, make deep indentations, about 1 inch apart, over the entire surface of the dough, almost to the bottom of the pan. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with the kosher salt. Cover loosely and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 45 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spoon the olives and dried tomatoes evenly over the dough. Bake on the bottom rack until the bottom is crusty and the top is lightly browned, about 18 minutes. Sprinkle with the Romano cheese. Slide the focaccia from the pan unto a wire rack to cool before cutting to serve.

Cafe Reconcile Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

This recipe for one of their featured desserts recently was shared by Cafe Reconcile. Founder Craig Cuccia and past chef Don Boyd collaborated on its creation. A variation of the sauce has bananas in it. The secret ingredient of the restaurant version might be the Leidenheimer French bread.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

1 loaf stale French bread, or more, to fill pan

3 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup rum

1 ½ tablespoons banana extract

4 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons butter

CARAMEL SAUCE

¼ pound butter (1 stick)

¼ cup light brown sugar

¼ ounce rum

¼ ounce banana extract

*Optional: 1 sliced, medium-ripe banana.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Coat a 12- by 12- by 2-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Tear the bread into 2-inch pieces, enough to fill the pan.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, 1 ½ cups sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, cream, ¼ cup rum and 1 ½ tablespoons banana extract.

In a saucepan, bring milk just to a boil and melt butter in it. Temper* egg mixture into milk mixture. Pour liquid over the bread and fold in thoroughly. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and then foil. (The plastic wrap keeps the moisture in and it does not melt.)

Place the baking dish into a larger baking pan and carefully add enough water to come 1 inch up the sides of the baking dish, to create a water bath.

Bake for an hour. Remove foil and plastic. Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with caramel sauce.

To make caramel sauce: Melt a stick of butter on low heat in a saucepan. When butter is melted, add a quarter- cup brown sugar. Stir well and continue to cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, or until brown sugar begins to caramelize.

(Optional: Add banana a couple of minutes before removing sauce from the stove.) Add ¼ ounce rum and ¼ ounce banana extract. Stir and serve warm.

*Tempering is a technique that lets you raise the temperature of eggs gradually by adding hot liquid. If the liquid is added too quickly, the eggs could curdle. In this recipe, drizzle a small amount of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisk constantly. Continue to slowly add the hot milk while whisking into the eggs, until all the milk is incorporated. Once half of it is incorporated, you can add more of the liquid at a time.

Mexican Cornbread by Paula Dean, Tweaked by Kittencal

This quite possibly might be the best cornbread you will ever have, it bakes out high, light and fluffy, it really should be called a corn cake lol! The jalapenos can be substituted with one small finely chopped green bell pepper, or one 4-ounce can green chilies, drained. Since I prefer the taste of olive oil I used that instead of the melted butter, this is a recipe of Paula Deen's tweeked slightly I think for the better ;-) Posted on RecipeZaar.com by KITTENCAL

My three most trusted recipe sources: Paul Dean, RecipeZaar and most of all Kittencal.

This recipe has 17 5-star ratings to date

45 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 9 -12 , 1 (8x8-in) pan

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
• 2/3 cup half-and-half cream (or use milk)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt or 1/2 teaspoon white salt
• 1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped or green onion
• 1 (14 ounce) can creamed corn
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed or drained canned corn niblets
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (or to taste)

1. Set oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 8 x 8-inch or a 9 x 9-inch square baking dish.
3. In a large bowl mix together cornmeal with flour, sugar baking powder, garlic powder, milk, eggs, seasoned salt and melted butter or oil until well blended.
4. Add in onion and creamed corn and thawed corn; mix to combine.
5. Pour half the batter into prepared baking dish.
6. Sprinkle the layer with grated cheese and jalapeno peppers.
7. Pour the remaining batter on top of the cheese and jalapeno peppers.
8. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (baking time will vary slightly depending on the size of pan used).
9. Allow to cool slightly before slicing.

NOTE: Some of the reviewers said the baking time needs to be longer, so test it with a toothpick before you pull it out of the oven.

RESOURCES: Texas Cornmeal and dried Jalapeno peppers will be available soon at FoodieAffair.com

Standing Rib Roast with Gruyere and Chive Popovers and Au Jus

I was surfing the net for wine parings and I came across this lovely recipe on www.winerychefs.com. I previously posted a recipe for Au Jus using commercial soup bases. This recipe has a lovely Au Jus that is made from scratch.

Serves 6

beef and au jus:
2 onions, halved and cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons garlic, slivered
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf (dry)
2 cups beef broth
1 cup water
4 bone standing rib roast, trimmed and tied*
coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper

popovers:
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cups whole milk
¼ cup unsalted melted butter
2 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup gruyere cheese, finely grated
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter, melted

beef and au jus:
Preheat the oven to 450°F. In the bottom of a roasting pan add the onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaves, beef broth and water. Place a flat roasting rack (or cooling rack) into the roasting pan covering the onions and herbs. Generously season the rib roast with salt and pepper. Place roast on the resting rack and place the roast in the oven. Bake for twenty minutes at 450°F. Reduce the heat to 375°F and roast the rib roast to an internal temperature of 130°F. Remove the meat from the oven and place on a sheet pan to rest. Strain the broth at the bottom of the roasting pan through a fine mesh strainer into a small saucepan. Season the broth (au jus) to taste with coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper if needed and reserve for service.

popovers:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. To make the popovers whisk the eggs and milk together. Stir in the melted butter. Add the chives. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cheese, salt and pepper. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix well. Brush a 12 cup non-stick muffin pan with the melted butter. Spoon the batter evenly into muffin pan and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

To serve, carve the meat off the rib bones and slice six generous portions of beef. Set out six plates and place a portion of beef on each plate. Garnish each plate with a popover and ladle two ounces of au jus over beef. Serve with a side of vegetables and potatoes if desired.

* Your butcher can trim and tie the rib roast for you.

Enjoy with a glass of Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon.

French Bread

The measurements are crucial and must be weighed. Here's hoping that you all have food scales and instant read thermometers...

• 250 grams all-purpose flour
• 250 grams bread flour
• 10 grams sea salt or 3 tsp
• 1 tsp instant yeast (for bread machines)
• 315 grams bottled water

1. Place flours in food processor and pulse several times to incorporate. Take temp of flour. Then either cool or heat water so that flour and water temps combined equal 130 degrees F.
2. Turn processor on and pour water through tube while machine is running for 20 seconds.
3. Let dough rest in machine for 30 minutes then process 25 seconds.
4. Dough temp should be 75-80 degrees. If it is not warm enough, pulse processor a few times and check temp again. Do this until it reaches proper temp.
5. Turn dough out into ungreased bowl and let rise covered with plastic for 2 hours.
6. Lightly flour board. Turn out dough on to board and cut into 2 pieces.
7. Cover with plastic or towel and let rest 20 minutes
8. Form loaves and place in baking pans.
9. Cover and let rest until desired height (approx 60-90 min).
10. In meantime, preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
11. Place bowl of water in bottom of oven to create steam.
12. Dust loaves with flour and slash tops on angle with very sharp knife or razor blade.
13. Spritz water on loaves until they glisten. Don't overdo it.
14. Bake loaves for 20 minutes. Internal temp should be 205 degrees F.
15. Cool on rack.

Artichoke Bread Appetizer

Servings: 40

• 1/4 cup Butter
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons Sesame Seeds
• 14 ounces Artichoke Hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 2 loaves French Bread
  
• 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, Shredded, grated
• Tomato Slices, optional
  

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Add garlic and sesame seeds.
4. Saute until lightly browned.
5. Remove from heat and stir in artichoke, monterey jack, Parmesan and sour cream.
6. Cut bread in half lengthwise.
7. Scoop out center of each piece, leaving a 1 inch shell.
8. Add approximately 1/2 of the removed bread pieces to the artichoke mixture.
9. Stir to blend.
10. Spoon artichoke mixture into french bread shells and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
11. Place on baking sheet and cover with foil.
12. Bake for 25 minutes.
13. Remove foil and bake 5 minutes more.
14. Garnish with tomato slices, optional
15. Cool slightly and cut into slices.

Melt In Your Mouth Biscuits

Yield: 8-9 biscuits

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour, soft flour such as Martha White if available
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Vegetable Shortening
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream *
1 Cup Buttermilk **
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Put rack slightly below center.
3. Spray 8 or 9" round pan with non-stick spray.
4. In large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Work shortening in with fingers until there are no large lumps.
5. Gently stir in heavy cream, then some buttermilk until dough resembles cottage cheese.
6. Scoop dough into pan using a round ice cream or tablespoon into prepared pan with scoops of dough touching each other.
7. Bake for 20-25 min. or until lightly browned.
8. Brush with melted butter.
9. Invert onto 1 plate and then back onto another. With a knife or spatula, cut quickly between biscuits to make them easy to remove.
10. Serve immediately with butter or your favorite preserves.

NOTE: If you don't have heavy whipping cream and/or buttermilk on hand, you can use these generally accepted substitutes with good success.
* Heavy Cream Substitute - Melt 1/3 cup butter and let it cool but not harden. Pour into 3/4 cup milk, room temperature. It's okay if the butter hardens when you pour it into the milk.
** Buttermilk Substitute - Mix 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice.

HEALTHY SLANT - You can substitute low-fat milk for heavy whipping cream and buttermilk, but I must tell you that the crumb of the biscuit is not as tender. And of course, you can elimate the butter basting at the end, if you must.