Stuff It! Focaccia Stuffed with Genoa Salami, Provolone, & Olives

The theme for the July Creative Cooking Crew Challenge, hosted as always by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks, was simply this: stuff it. As cooking themes go, it doesn't get much more wide open than that.

And so, as you see, I went with bread, and I am so glad I did. It has been ages since I worked with yeasted dough, and I had nearly forgotten how much I love everything about the process: the punky smell of the yeast as it hits the warm water, the way the flour goes from silky to sticky as it gets wet, kneading the dough until it becomes a stretchy, soft, compliant whole, the puffed-up feel of the transformed dough before it's punched down ... it's a tactile, engaging, and meditative activity.

Hot Dog, Cheddar Cheese, & Chive Cake Salé with Tarragon Chive Butter for the Five Star Junk Food Makeover Challenge

When this posts Poppa Trix and I will be on holiday in Mexico City, sipping tequila at a cantina or enjoying a leisurely comida.  I look forward to catching up when we return!

I almost didn't show up for this month's Five Star Makeover Challenge, hosted as ever by the talented Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! It's not that I don't like the theme - using your favorite junk food and elevating it in a new dish - it's just that, as I've said here before, I am feeling rather "meh" lately. I expect that my trip to Mexico City will breathe some new life into me!

Plus, I don't really eat what most people would consider junk food. It's not that I don't love me a bag of chips, but the fact is, generally speaking I'm not going to waste my calories on that. It takes too long to work it off. Butter? Yes. Cheese? Definitely. A slice of pizza? Oh, hell yeah.

Cheese & Chive Bread for French Fridays with Dorie

I love a good savory quick bread. It's the perfect solution for those times when you must have bread, only you forgot or didn't have time to get started early enough to make a yeasted loaf.  So I was happy to see this cheese and chive bread on the list for this week's French Fridays with Dorie.

Breadhead that I am, however, when I read the recipe I had a feeling that the ingredients were going to need a bit of a boost. In my experience, savory breads like this tend to suck up flavor like a sponge, and so they need a little extra help. Now, I can't say for sure that the bread would have been on the bland side as written, but I can tell you that mine came out quite nicely.

Of Bread & Dough & Lots of Snow; Or, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Baking

 "Without bread, all is misery."

William Cobbett, British journalist, 1763-1835

 

 

After two major blizzards dumped punishing amounts of snow on us and brought commerce, fun, and life as we know it to a screeching halt, everyone in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. has developed their own version of the Snow Story by now, myself included.  You know the kind of stories I'm talking about - people getting stuck in the snow for hours, or not being able to find milk, or losing power, or having their roofs collapse from the weight of all that nasty heavy wet stuff.

And let's face it: You're sick of hearing about it, right? Well, we're sick of it too.  But given that most of our streets still aren't plowed and most things are still closed and driving around is at worst hazardous and at best incredibly annoying, it's hard to stop talking about the snow and its aftermath. There's nothing else to do. Look, people, this isn't New England or Wisconsin or Canada! We aren't used to this sort of thing. So please, bear with us.

Laganophake: Roman Lentil & Red Wine Stew

If your entire idea of ancient Roman food and eating habits was formed by Caligula, then this healthy, hearty, and downright sensible lentil stew will certainly challenge that assumption.  And if you're thinking, "Laganophake? That sounds Greek. Who is she kidding with this Roman stuff?"  you get a gold star! Although this is a traditional Roman dish, its origins are Greek.

But wherever it comes from, this lentil stew has definitely withstood the test of time. The fragrant spices, wine, and onions come together to lend a subtle sweetness to the earthy flavor of the lentils; somehow it tastes simultaneously of the past and present.

Libum: Ancient Roman Cheese Bread

Let's see, my whole post-holiday "I'm not gonna eat any carbs for awhile" thing lasted, oh, what?  ... Two days? Two-and-half, if I'm being generous. Sigh.

In my defense,  there are extenuating circumstances. You see, Poppa Trix went and bought me a whole mess of cookbooks, most of which include irresistible bread recipes, like this one for libum, an ancient Roman cheese bread, from Mark Grant's Roman Cookery. And as long as I'm passing around some blame for my carb-o-mania, I might as well include The Winter Guest, a Madrid-based blog chock full of beautiful breads and starchy sundries that I absolutely covet. This was the site that introduced me to Roman Cookery, via a post about staititai, a scrumptious honey and sesame pizza.