Crackers from scratch

I have been meaning to try my buddy Muddy's flatbread (either this one or this one or the non-flat one here, doesn't really matter which) for quite some time now, so will have to make that a priority this summer.

But there was another crazy-easy flour-based snack food that has been on the backburner for ages as well. About five minutes of prep and 12 minutes in the oven, so it had my name written all over it.

Crackers.

Yep, crackers. Those cheap little snacks you get in a box for $2 at the grocery store. Why in the world would anyone make their crackers?

Well, because it's easy, for one. Because you know exactly what's in them, for two. (No partially hydrogenated soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable monoglycerides, monosodium glutamate, or yellow dye #5, for instance.) And because they do taste a ton better when you know that they were in your very own oven just minutes ago.

And maybe mostly because this is another one of those recipes where there are 1-2 things you have to do, and then everything else is optional.

Here's what you have to do: Mix flour with a little liquid, roll it out, and bake it.

Here's what else you can do: Add butter, milk, cream, cheese, salt, spices, herbs, etc. Use whole wheat flour, or mix in some rye or other whole grains. Roll it thick or thin. Piece the dough with your fork to let out steam for a crisper cracker, or don't for a more tender one.

I went with the first version I ever saw, Parmesan Cream Crackers from Mark Bittman.





1 cup all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting your rolling surface
1/2 tsp salt
a heaping 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
4 Tbs butter
about 1/4 cup milk, half-and-half, or cream (have a little bit more on hand just in case)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper





Heat the oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix everything but the liquid in a food processor and pulse until it is uniformly combined.

Pour in half of your quarter-cup of cream while running the processor on the lowest setting. Then slowly add the rest, just a little bit at a time, just until the dough holds together.






Now for the best part. What you basically have now is cheesy pastry dough, but unlike a pie shell, you don't have to be careful about overworking this dough. It's just a cracker, so you can work it over pretty good.





On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it's around a quarter-inch thick. Common sense here: thicker means a more tender cracker, thinner means crispier. Then slide the dough onto your baking sheet.





If you score it with a knife or pizza cutter (I used a faux-Ulu, the Wüstof weigemesser mincing knife), then you'll have nice square crackers that break off easily when you're done. You can also prick the dough with a fork, 2-4 times per square, to release some steam for a crisper cracker. (The first time you try this, maybe prick half and don't prick the other, and see which side you prefer.)



Finally, sprinkle with salt and any other spice you want, such as freshly ground black pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes. (Again, maybe sprinkle something different on a couple of different sections the first time out.)





Bake for 10-12 minutes, then cool on a rack.








These will most certainly satisfy any hankering for a hunk of cheese.

(Hat tip to One Ordinary Day for the pro-fromaggio PSA.)

Stuff to Try

Quick list of things that caught my eye and made the to do list for February.

Ricotta Bread from The Greasy Skillet










Palak Daal, spinach and lentils, from 101 Cookbooks.









"Looks like somebody's been watching Julie and Julia," says the Internet Food Association. How about a boeuf bourguignon that looks like this but takes only this long?

Photo from the IFA Food Porn photo pool.

Cajun Chicken Pasta from the Pioneer Woman. (Visit her site for some of the best food photography on the web.)







Edamame Hummus, from Weelicious.








Freekeh Salad with Sweet Potato and Lemon ... just because I like the way "freekeh" sounds. From The Atlantic's food section.

Bánh Mì the second time around

The website is called The Battle of the Bánh Mì, which is obviously a bad pun ("bad pun" being redundant, of course). But there's more to the name than just the pun. The word "battle" is not insignificant, because it is a battle of the taste buds to see which of the several thousand variations of this simple sandwich is the best.

Why all the love for a simple sandwich? The Greasy Skillet calls it "a sandwich I could marry." M. says it's the best sandwich she's ever had, which is high praise, given that we live down the road from the Choice City Deli, home of maybe the biggest and best Reuben you'll ever find (centered around a foot-high pile of bison pastrami). One the one hand, it is just a sandwich. But on the other ... oh what a sandwich it is.

Take your classic American BBQ, with tangy sauce on succulent meat, accented with sour pickles or relish ... and then put that on steroids. That's the bánh mì for you. No, that's not quite right, because this isn't an over-powering meal. Just a near perfect combination of flavors that you'll never get tired of trying.

Last month we made our first excursion into bánh mì territory, trying out a meatball version, using this Jeanne Thiel Kelley recipe. That sandwich was so good, I really doubted that there was any room for improvement. But making the grilled pork version has convinced me that there can't possibly be a wrong way to make this sandwich. Both the meatball and grilled pork versions called for fish sauce, which I omitted. Instead, I added a couple of squirts of Sriracha to the marinade, which brightened it up without scaring off my wife's western Nebraska sensibilities.

I followed a different recipe for pickling the veggies, and both ways came out great. My only recommendation would be to follow the one that you think is easiest in terms of containers and storage space. The first time, I used nothing but vinegar, sugar, and salt. The second version called for a warm water solution with a little bit less vinegar, a little bit less sugar, and the same amount of salt. It simply comes down to, would you rather save a couple of cents using less of the ingredients if it means the extra step of filling a container with water? It's really a toss up.

My recommendation: give this version a shot, and then look around at The Battle of the Bánh Mì and see which direction you can take it.

Pork:

Pork chops, loin, or shoulder works. I used a one pound pork loin, marinaded overnight in the following. An hour or so before cooking, I sliced the pork into super-thin medallions and returned it to the marinade. Then I pan-fried it with a light spray of olive oil.


2 tsp brown sugar (white sugar is fine)
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 of an onion or 1-2 shallots, chopped fine
1/3 - 1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs sesame seed oil
fresh ground pepper
a shot or two of Sriracha

Marinate in an non-reactive container for at least one hour, up to 24 hours before cooking.

I sliced the pork super thin and only needed 1-2 minutes per side on medium high heat. You can do this ahead of time and then warm it up in the oven before assembling your sandwich, or make this the last step before everyone sits down to eat, or a combination like we did: grill the meat, transfer to a baking sheet and cover and keep in the oven until chow time.


Pickled veggies: Lots of options here.

One daikon block, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into strips

2-3 cups warm water, depending on the size of your container

3 Tbs vinegar (rice, cider, white wine, etc)

2-3 Tbs sugar (less if you like sour pickles, more if you like sweet ... duh!)

2 Tbs sea or kosher salt


Measure cold water and nuke it for a minute or two. (Never cook with hot water from the tap ... picks up too many contaminants along the way.) Add the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved, then add the vinegar. Pour over the veggies in an air-tight container and store for at least an hour (I did mine overnight again).

Sandwich time!

High quality rolls, warmed in the oven for a few minutes.

Mix 2 Tbs mayo with a shot or two of Sriracha, mix, and spread on the bread.

Layer your meat and pickled veggies. Sprinkle with finely chopped cilantro. Eat and enjoy!

For our side dish, we made this wonderful salad from Molly Wizenberg at Bon Appètit. A very simple combination of celery root, fennel, and apple (she used Gala, but I'm addicted to HoneyCrisps), matchsticked, with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette. On paper, it sounds like way too much going on at once, but the earthy yet crisp and clean salad went perfectly with the tangy / spicy / sour sandwiches.

Hope you give this a shot, either as a pair or by themselves.

Weekend Brunch Part II

So your first option is the World's Greatest Granola. It's easy, relatively quick, and provides you with a hot breakfast today and left-overs for the rest of the week.

But if granola isn't your thing, here are a couple of others for the weekend.

Let's start with french toast. I love french toast, but it's hard to make for 4+ people if you make it the traditional way, by dipping bread in the batter and frying up on the griddle. The first one served either has to eat his warm toast alone or wait for everyone else and watch his golden fried bread go cold. And for some reason my first batch never looks like the last batch, since cleaning the griddle or skillet between servings isn't really an option.

But baked french toast makes all of that go away. Whip it up the night before, let it soak up the custard all night, clean up the kitchen before you go to bed, and then just pop it in the oven when everyone's up the next morning.

I use day old french bread, but any sturdy artisan bread will work. I've cut the recipe in half for just the two of us, doubled it for company, or make it as listed here. Any left-overs can be put in the fridge and nuke for 20-30 seconds for breakfast later in the week.

2 baguettes or one large loaf of french bread, day old or air dried for a couple of hours
(Slice the bread into 2 inch slices)
7-8 eggs
1 ¼ cups milk and 1 ¼ cups half-and-half, or 2 ½ cups buttermilk, or any other combo
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Spice: minimum of ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, and ¼-½ teaspoons of cinnamon, ginger, or cloves, according to your taste. (I'm a big user of ginger — probably use a full teaspoon plus half a teaspoon of cinnamon, but that's your call.)

Butter or spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. (13X9 for the 2 baguette version, but it's best to lay down the sliced bread and eye-ball it to see what size you need. I'll use two smaller pans a lot of the time.)

Whisk together everything else in a largish bowl. A wide bottom in essential so that you can soak as much of the bread at the bottom as possible.

Gently place the sliced bread into the custard mixture and let is soak up the egg for about 5 minutes. You might need to toss the bread once or twice to get it all evenly soaked. Use tongs (silicon coated are best) so you don't tear the bread.

Place the coated bread into your baking dish, and pour any extra egg mixture evenly over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. You can chill it for as little as an hour, if you get up early to make it the same day, or for up to 24 hours before the bread will start to fall apart.

When it's time to bake it, make a streusel topping as follows:

½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
dash of salt
3 Tablespoons butter, slightly melted
¼ cup sliced almonds

Mix everything in a small bowl and spoon over the sliced bread.

Pre-heat the oven to 375º and then bake for about 30 minutes, until the bread is set and the struesel is golden brown.

Serve plain with maple syrup or with sliced fruit, berries, or what have you. Just no peanut butter! We're not savages here, you know. And no hot sauce — it's not a t-rat, after all.



So there's option #2. Option #3 is a sausage / potato casserole. This one is great for a family sit-down breakfast if one person can get up about half an hour before everyone else. It takes about 20-30 minutes to assemble, and then you bake it for 30, so you have half an hour to clean up and get the table set. I love recipes like that, because there's nothing worse than enjoying a great meal and then looking at a trashed kitchen when everyone wents to get started on the weekend.

This came from our buddies to the east at the Greasy Skillet. He did a great job explaining the steps, so I won't steal his thunder. Check it out here.







Like he said, we need to add some veggies to this. I'm thinking a half-cup each of sauted green peppers and onions, but I need to figure out whether it goes on the bottom with the sausage or into the flour/egg mixture. Spinach might work, and you can't miss with tomotoes, either.




So the ball's now in your court. You have three choices for a hot, sit-down, family breakfast instead of cold cereal in front of the TV this Saturday morning.

Now comes the fun part... burning off all of these calories.

Happy trails!