Tag Archives: sun-dried tomatoes

Rosemary Tomato Bread

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A friend here in Point Hope lent me a book called 300 best Bread Machine recipes. Of the 300, I picked out about a dozen to try. The first was a honey wheat oat bread, and it was absolutely terrific. The evening it came out of the bread machine, Jack and I put our other dinner plans on hold and instead stuffed ourselves with warm slices of this bread slathered in butter and honey. After a few days, some breads crumble or dry too much. Not this one.  It was dense and flavorful and help up nicely.

The oat bread recipe was a safe pick. I knew how it was supposed to taste and look. Next it was time for a leap to the recipe that made me borrow the book in the first place – Rosemary Caesar Bread featuring tomato-vegetable juice, sun-dried tomatoes, and rosemary. The beautiful color and aroma of this bread makes it a centerpiece loaf.  Following is my adaptation of the recipe, including a name change. “Caesar” makes me think of anchovies (Caesar dressing), so I think “Rosemary Tomato Bread” is more accurate.

Rosemary Tomato Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups tomato-vegetable juice
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp dry rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Measure ingredients into the baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Basic cycle to bake.

Makes 1.5 lb loaf. This is an excellent bread to serve with breakfast eggs or for making egg salad sandwiches.

Alaska Silver Salmon Pizza

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Wild Alaskan Silver Salmon Pizza: The second of nine salmon recipes

With a fairly large tub of salmon fillets in the freezer and us on the downward slope of the school year, Barbra has challenged me to come up with nine new salmon recipes. The first creation was Salmon Burgers & Caesar Slaw. Here’s the second: Silver Salmon Pizza.

Put a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Ingredients

  • pizza crust
  • tomato sauce (see recipe below)
  • shredded mozzarella
  • shredded cheddar (about 1/2 as much as the mozzarella)
  • Kalamata olives, cut in half lengthwise
  • 1/2 pound salmon, grilled or broiled and cut into smaller pieces
  • 2 strips thick bacon, cooked, drained and cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup sweet onion, chopped coarse
  • several cloves of garlic, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • 1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed) cut into thin strips

The crust: We usually pre-bake our crusts for about 10 minutes and then freeze them. Later, we thaw the crusts and add the pizza toppings and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. The crust does not have to be completely thawed.

The sauce:

  • 6-ounce can of tomato paste
  • 1/2 tin of anchovies chopped fine (about 1 tablespoon)
  • generous amount of Italian herbs
  • garlic powder (or fresh garlic chopped fine and briefly sautéed)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • a few grinds of black pepper
  • approximately 3 ounces of water–you want the sauce to be thick

Mix these ingredients together with a wooden spoon in a glass bowl and let stand for at least 20 minutes.

The salmon: Grill or broil. I rubbed the salmon for this pizza with a fiery Southwestern rub from Penzeys. For best results, cut or pull apart the salmon with its natural grain.

Other toppings: heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the olives, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Don’t overcook. Onions should be just translucent and still have some crunch.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza crust. Add the mozzarella. Add the cheddar. Spoon on the mixture of onion, garlic, olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle on the bacon. Top with salmon.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes, until crust is golden brown on edges and underneath.

Sprinkle nori strips on the pizza after it is done baking. Set out a bottle of Cholula sauce on the table, and pour out glasses of a good amber ale!

Spicy Chicken Farfalle Soup

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A hot bowl of spicy chicken and bow tie soup is just the thing on a cold January day.

We’re both fans of Southwestern style rubs. Penzey Spices makes a good one, as does Dean & Deluca. I’m sure there are others. I whipped up this wonderfully spicy chicken noodle soup using leftover chicken thighs I’d rubbed and broiled for last night’s dinner. Vary your ingredients according to how much chicken you have on hand and what’s in your pantry. By the way, if you haven’t tried Better Than Bouillon brand, it really is–better than bouillon. Much better. In addition to plain chicken and beef, they make 42 other styles of soup base including a lobster base that is absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

  • skinless, boneless chicken thighs rubbed with Southwestern-style seasoning and broiled
  • sweet onions, chopped coarse
  • carrots, chopped coarse
  • celery, chopped coarse
  • sweet corn
  • garlic, chopped coarse
  • Kalamata olives, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • mushrooms, chopped coarse
  • fresh bow tie (or other) pasta
  • Cholula sauce
  • Better Than Bouillon, chicken flavor
  • olive oil
  • Italian herbs (fresh or dried)
  • smoked sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • (If I had fresh, hot red peppers, I would have used them)

1. Cut chicken into small pieces and set aside.

2. Place enough water in a pot to cover the ingredients. Add bouillon and bring to a boil.

3. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add chopped vegetables, starting with the carrots and onions as they require more cooking time. Add Italian herbs and stir in well. After two or three minutes, add celery, olives, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until onions are just turning translucent and carrots and celery are just barely crunchy.

4. Add sautéed vegetables to boiling water. Add chicken, Cholula sauce to taste, a few grinds of pepper and the smoked sea salt.

5. Add fresh pasta and continue boiling till just done. (If using store-bought pasta, it is better to add it to the boiling water before adding the other ingredients to cook it to desired tenderness without overcooking the vegetables.)

6. Serve piping hot.

Home Made Pasta

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Jack and I brought up a manual pasta machine with every intention of making our own pasta. We forced the issue by not purchasing any pre-made pasta in our annual shopping. We sent up a twenty-five pound bag of semolina and a dose of sheer determination.

Honestly, the machine looked a little daunting. After eating through our rice at a pace likely to use up our stores, the reality set in that we would need to face the machine and make the pasta.

We took the machine out of the box. We opened the directions. Directions? There was a basic recipe and a phone number to order parts. Thank goodness for the internet! We read recipes and watched youtube videos and set to work.

The first attempt was a DISASTER! I swear every recipe on the internet had comments like “this was so easy,” and “simplest way to make pasta.” When I looked up “what do I do with ruined pasta dough?” I found nothing. So no one ruins their dough? Interesting. I thought maybe I could salvage it and use the dough for a top of something. I was so frustrated, I threw the whole thing out.

Because of my tenacious streak (nice way to say stubborn), I tried the dough again. This time, I didn’t follow the directions and didn’t  incorporate all the flour.  Now the texture seemed more pliable. I wrapped it in plastic and let it rest overnight.

Round two with the machine. I ran the dough through the machine, like I had been instructed. I decided to make fettuccine noodles. The thinking was that flat wide noodles might be easier to handle. The dough ran through the machine nicely and was thin and even. I cranked the dough through the fettuccine cutter and GLOB, a sticky mess. Good thing I could run it through the flattening part again. After a couple of tries, I got the noodles to come through the cutter in strips with fettuccine indentations. I decided to let them dry all together in big pieces. After a couple of hours, I peeled them apart. They looked weird and too thin, almost translucent. The raw noodles did taste ok, though.

Jack then whipped up an olive oil, sundried tomato, garlic, mushroom, chicken mixture to serve with the pasta. He dropped my pasta creation into the boiling water. I couldn’t look. Another disaster was looming. After three minutes, he pulled the pasta out of the pot and drained it.

Drum roll, please. It was amazing. Just the right texture. Boiling the dried out noodles gave them spring and chewiness. We were honestly shocked how good they tasted.

We’re totally sold! I spent the next hour looking up recipes for raviolis. I think I’m ready to handle the ravioli attachment now.