I suppose it’s now or never, w/ respect to checking in on progress from my 2011 recipe challenges.
Refining existing recipes:
- Ciabatta – I’ve given up on this one for now. I’m not a great bread baker right now; probably a combination of lack of patience and not quite the right yeast and flour for the task. Regardless, I’m still just not happy with the flat results here, and we’re enjoying other homemade breads a lot.
- Chai syrup – no matter how I make it, it’s satisfying. Simple syrup or honey, plus strong tea, plus spices (cinnamon, clove, cardamom, black pepper, sometimes nutmeg). You can “brew” the tea in a saucepan w/ whole spices in a bag, then add sugar and boil it a while; you can make a sugar syrup and add dry spices and a concentrated tea after; or you can brew the tea w/ spices and just add honey. Keeps in a jar in the fridge, if your friends/family don’t drink it all at once. There are recipes out there for making a condensed spiced cream mixture that you add to brewed tea; I might try that this winter.
- Chili – Again, this is sort of no-fail, surprisingly. Melli started eating pork this year, thanks in large part to an amazing local bbq place, so I’m looking forward to adding bacon or some kind of sausage on occasion. But usually we still make it with Gimme Lean, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and lots of onions and hot chili powder from Penzeys.
- Granola/Muesli – I really like this NYT recipe w/ olive oil the best–it doesn’t last long in my house, though. Apricots and pistachios, or walnuts & dried pears, or fig & pecans — all have been amazing. There’s just something about the olive oil and a touch of salt, along with the light sweetness of the maple syrup.
- Jam tart w/ cornmeal crust – I made so many of these in 2011, I’m surprised people haven’t cried uncle. It’s the Smitten Kitchen recipe, without the top crust. I think it needs a bit more jam than the recipe calls for, but otherwise it’s a perennial favorite — and they freeze beautifully. For bake sales this summer, I made them the night beforehand and put them in the freezer still in the pan (pizza boxes are great for this, and Hobby Lobby is now stocking them in a variety of sizes). In the morning, gently peel the flat part of the pan away from the crust and place on a cardboard round or foam core board.
- Mac n Cheese – didn’t work on this at all, unfortunately
- Malt loaf – nor this
- Sandwich loaf – we really love the Bread Bible’s everyday loaf. I’ll see if I can work out a straightforward re-telling of it, and post it here.
- Scones – didn’t work on this at all, though I have my eye on the
New recipes:
I tackled very few of these… we have beer plans for this winter, starting with a couple books and catalogs we’re reading, and perhaps some supplies coming from part 2 of Christmas w/ the family. Spelt crackers from the NYT were always a success, and easy. Gougeres were so much easier than I’d thought, and eminently customizable. But that’s about it — maybe I can make some progress on the list in 2012!
Successes:
Thanks in part to a lovely new notebook from Melli for xmas last year, I’ve been gathering dozens of recipes from my mom and grandmothers, friends, favorite websites and cookbooks over the last year. It’s been exciting to see a book of just our favorites come together, one recipe at a time. I made a LOT of soup. GALLONS, mostly from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. Froze ‘em all in quart FoodSaver bags, and just a couple weekends of kitchen work have produced enough to last us a few months. I also finally got some measure of control over baguettes, thanks to this recipe. The first time they dried out a bit too much while rising, but other than that they were gorgeous. Crusty, chewy, with amazing flavor. I’ll be making them in the shape of rolls for our Christmas part 2, and plan to make them weekly throughout the winter.
