French bread / American oven

Our daily Bread:

Its one of the oldest foods in the world. They have found breadmaking equipment in Egyptian excavations and in Great Britain dating back to 400 BC. The Romans used to make bread in their helmets and they have found remains of that at Hadrians wall in Scotland. It is a universal food over most of continental Europe where wheat is grown and it comes in a thousand different textures, colors and shapes.

To compare making bread and being a baker is about the same as adding up a column of figures and being an accountant. It takes years to learn to be a baker and even then it is a process of learning new things all the time. Before I stop the philosophising I would like to take one more example from a country that does not have bread as a historic part of their diet. Sushi chefs in Japan are the people who make one of the staples of the Japanese diet – Sushi or rice with various sorts of fish, mostly raw, served in a way to please the senses as is most Japanese food. It takes five years training to be a Sushi chef.

So, we can take it that making bread involves a few problems that are not too obvious, given you are working with just three basic ingredients: flour, yeast and water, and, the oven to cook it in. What could go wrong?
The answer is of course, everything. Too much or too little can result in radically different results. The amount of time yeasting can vary a lot depending on the desired bread type, the amount of yeast, flour or water used; the time in the oven, the humidity or not in there and so on. In other words you have a couple of thousand years of experience making this particular food that may not need to be understood, but you can take a few short cuts on the way to making a nice loaf of bread.

Quick way to success:

Buy a breadmaking machine. They may all be made in Japan but they work well and, if you follow the instructions, you will have fresh bread every day for a fraction of the price you have to pay in the shops. And, of course without all the little extras they add to keep the bread fresh. In fact you will probably for the first time experience green mold on your homemade bread precisely because it is not adulterated with all sorts of chemicals designed to extend its shelf life. Real bread goes moldy.

Be prepared for failure. You will, in the beginning produce a number of loaves of bread that have the consistency of bricks. That's ok, just throw them away and start again. You will succeed. Once you have the hang of it you can start branching out to making your own loaves in the oven and just use the machine to make the dough. I don't know why but it is much more satisfying and you can make a wider variety of breads.

Once you feel fairly confident on what is going on or just for the hell of it, here is a recipe that should give you delicious and genuine French baguettes. It takes two days but the results are just perfect.
One more point. Baking is a journey. Always be prepared to experiment with the ingredients and cooking to find new ways of making bread.

Preparation:

You will need a bread machine that has a setting to make dough. Otherwise you will just have to mix in by hand starting in a bowl and then on a clean countertop.
You will need Flour, Yeast and Water. Use Bread Flour, sometimes called Hard flour. don't use General purpose flour or anything with additives such as bicarbonate or bleach.

Make the dough:
Pour 3 cups of iced water into the breadmaker.
Add six cups of flour.
Make a depression in the top of the flour and add one tablespoon yeast.
Set the breadmaker to the Dough setting. If it has a setting for 1.5 hours or longer choose that one. When the dough is ready in the machine it will have a sticky consistency. Wipe the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and tip the dough into the bowl. Cover with food grade plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 2 hours. The yeast will start to bubble. Move to fridge and leave there at least overnight and preferably 24 hours.

Baking the bread:
This is the important part. You will need a spray bottle filled with water.
Take the bowl of dough out of the fridge. Dust your countertop with a generous layer of flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured top. Cut the dough into four pieces using a very sharp knife dipped in water so it does not stick to the dough.
Take a piece of the dough and stretch and roll it into the shape of a baguette – about 18 inches long and 2 inches thick. Place on a baking tray. Repeat until you have four baguettes.

Place the tray to one side under a cloth so the dough can rise.
In your oven place a roasting tray on the bottom rung and fill almost to the top with water. Heat the oven to 500 F. When the temperature is reached place the bread in the oven in the middle section. Close the door.

After 8 minutes open the door KEEPING YOUR HEAD WELL OUT OF THE WAY OF THE TOP OF THE OVEN – IT IS VERY VERY HOT. Spray water two or three times on the walls of the oven. After 12 minutes spray again.

Reduce the heat to 450 and watch the bread turn crusty brown. This can take a further 10-15 minutes. When it has a thick golden crust, open the oven and remove the tray. Use oven gloves and put the tray on a heatproof surface. Take a spatula and slide under the bread to loosen from the tray. Place on a wire mesh to cool. Resist the temptation to eat straight out of the oven. There is still moisture in the loaf that needs to evaporate.

That´s it...you should have a perfect crusty French bread to enjoy.

Sirloin Hamburger with local meat from Avery Branch Farms

The English chef Heston Blumenthal, who owns the Fat Duck restaurant in the village of Bray (named as the third best restaurant in the world 2010), once spent several months researching and creating the perfect Hamburger. I mention this to show that even the humblest fast food item can require a lot of attention to make a memorable meal.

Blumenthal is renowned for his attention to detail and his nuclear approach to cooking where every ingredient is analyzed to ensure the way it will contribute to the final result. If you want to know more check out http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/ or even better buy his cookbook, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.

RECIPE - What you will need

For our hamburger recipe we bought 1lb. of ground sirloin from Avery Branch Farms.
*Note that a 1lb pack looks smaller than what you see at the grocery store because it contains no extra water, just ground sirloin from grass-fed, hormone free beef.

To start – you will need your food processor and a frying pan (even better would be on a grill)

• One pound of ground sirloin
• Homemade hamburger buns or store bought (try to get buns from the deli department instead of using cheap bread)
• Worcestershire sauce
• Breadcrumbs (use food processor to make breadcrumbs from stale bread)
• Egg
• One medium onion
• Handful of mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste or amino spray for a salt like taste
• Cheese slices (optional)

Makes 4-6 hamburgers

How to make the hamburgers
Chop onions, mushrooms and cloves of garlic. Fry on low heat in a pan with some olive oil until they caramelize (about 10 minutes) Remove from heat and put in large bowl with sirloin, breadcrumbs, egg, tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper to taste (or amino acid spray). You can mix by hand or place in a food processor on pulse to quickly mix ingredients up.
For the perfect size hamburger use a 3 to 4 inch non-stick pastry ring (if you have). Fill the ring to the top with the mixture and then transfer to a foil sheet that has a bit of olive oil on it. The less you fill the ring the more hamburgers you can make. Maximum 6.

Preparation
Slice the buns and lightly toast either on the grill or in a toaster.

Cooking the hamburgers

On a grill – heat to high (Mark 10). Lightly brush the top of the hamburger with olive oil and place on the grill. Turn after 5 minutes. For rare hamburgers grill for a further 5 minutes. Turn again, add the cheese slice and grill for 2-3 minutes. Carefully lift off the grill and place on the bun. For medium-well done add 5-8 minutes to cooking time.

In a pan- lightly oil the pan with olive oil. Heat until the oil is hot, add the hamburger and cook as above.

Use garnishes and condiments to taste and enjoy!

How obese are we in Virginia?

Virginia shows up twice in the top 25 fatest cities in the Country. Virginia Beach is ranked #13 and Richmond is ranked #17. You can read more on the link:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/14/health-obesity-cities-forbeslife-cx_rr_1114obese_slide_19.html?thisSpeed=undefined

You can also see how Virginia stacks up against other States when it comes to childhood obesity. The report follows children across the Country from 1998 to 2008. In 1998, there wasn't even a problem with childhood obesity and you can see how the numbers climb in one decade.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5828a1.htm

It was a fine example on The Food Revolution show that a class of 5 year olds couldn't even name basic everyday food like potatoes but they knew what a french fry was. I really believe that food education needs to start with preschool age children and even earlier in the home. Maybe it's time for a food traveling roadshow...

I would like this blog to educate, inform and to make people think about where their food comes from. I believe that when 'people know better, they do better'. I will be offering information, some commentary, and a whole lot of cooking recipes that come from playing around with local food in my kitchen. As a disclaimer - no recipes are copied out of cookbooks. These come from our own experience in cooking using seasonal and locally available foods with influences from living in many different countries.

There are lots of people locally who are all talking about the same thing when it comes to the Food Revolution or the Slow Food Movement. It is a difficult task to bring about this type of change but I am hoping that the groups at some point will unite. The direction is either new legislation for our schools or more transparent food labels or it might be to just get people interested in real food again. We will see.....

Iain's Virginia Ham & Clams...

Clams with Virginia Ham in white wine sauce

This is a very basic meal, simple and quick to prepare. Virginia ham is a very underrated product and absolutely delicious cooked or uncooked, certainly as good as some Spanish jamon in thin slices.

Not much can go wrong cooking this dish, but remember that clams have thick shells so they take longer to open up than mussels, even so don’t overcook them or they will be rubbery. Dont worry about undercooking. If they are open they are ready. You can eat clams raw as well. Makes a great starter with fresh crusty bread or a main course with any type of pasta.

You need:

Clams, about 10 medium size clams per person.
Onion
Garlic (Wild garlic if possible, it grows everywhere in Virginia. It has a milder flavour so you need more, but it is free!) – add picture
Celery
Bottle of white wine
Butter
Whipping cream
Virginia ham
Parsley
Black pepper

Preparation:
Rinse the clams in cold water vigorously to clean off any sand or mud, strain off all the water and put them to one side. Cut a half slice of Virginia ham into small squares.

Chop up: one large onion, two cloves of garlic (four if it is wild garlic) two tender celery stalks and a bundle of parsley.

Cooking:
Melt butter in a large saucepan. First add the bacon and let it brown very slightly then add the chopped celery, onions and garlic and cook gently on a low heat until soft. Do not add salt as the ham is very salty. Grind some fresh black pepper over the pan.

Add about half a bottle of wine and let it simmer. This is to get the alcohol out of the wine, you just want to taste the wine not make a cocktail!
When you can hardly smell alcohol any more it is time to add the clams.
Bring the mixture to the boil, throw in a good handful of chopped parsley and then add the clams, dropping them in one by one. All the clams should be just under the surface of the mixture, if not then add more wine.
Now just check every couple of minutes to make sure the clams have all opened. Turn them over with a wooden spoon to make sure they all get cooked.
It is possible that even with fresh clams you will get one or two that don’t open. That is fine, but most of them will open. The ones that don’t you can take out at the next stage.

With the clams cooked remove the pan from the heat and strain the liquid off the clams through a strainer into a bowl – don’t throw it away! Put the clams on one side.

The sauce:
Pour the liquid from the clams from the bowl into a saucepan and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, add more parsley and check seasoning. Add about a half to one pint of cream, it is a matter of taste how much. Simmer and stir for about 5 minutes.

Turn the clams into a large serving bowl and pour the sauce over the clams. Enjoy!

Fresh eggs

Since moving to Richmond there has been one thing I felt I have really been missing - fresh eggs....

When we lived in the country in England there were always farmers selling them in small carts at the end of their driveways. Once you get you used to the difference in taste, it gets hard to eat the ones from your local grocery store.

It was a rainy day today in Richmond so I thought I would take a drive out to Averys Branch Farms because I had read that they have free range eggs and grain fed meats. It wasn't clear from their website if you could just show up and buy produce there or if you needed to do it through their website. Since it seemed like a good day to get out for a bit, I thought I would try the farm. As you leave the suburbs you quickly find yourself way out in the country along winding roads. When we arrived, I spoke with the farm owners and they do sell eggs and meat from the farm but they said most people usally order through their website and pick them up at local drop off points in Richmond and surrounding areas. It looks like even the farmers have had to use technology to their advantage because most people would find it too far a drive if they only had a farm shop. Their egg prices are around $3 a dozen which is about the same price you would pay for free range eggs at the grocery store. If you are lucky to have a drop point in your area, then it is certainly worth the trip twice a month to get fresh eggs.

How to tell when your eggs are fresh? Drop them in cold water and you will see that fresh eggs stay on the bottom and older eggs will start to float to the top. Do this test next time you buy them from the grocery store.

Check out the website for Avery Branch Farms http://www.averysbranchfarms.com

We also bought our free range turkeys from them last Thanksgiving and it was so good that we got one for Christmas as well. It was certainly the 'gift that kept on giving' as I think we made different meals for a week with the leftovers...

Dress up an oyster....

If you have never tried an oyster or don't think you would like the texture, then you are not alone. The first time I tried an oyster I thought I was going to cough it back up. Since moving to Virginia, I have met people who either love them or have never tried them. The great thing is you can get them so fresh here and I find myself craving them on a regular basis.

There are many different ways to enjoy oysters other than just the usual tabasco and lemon. We had a dinner party recently were we finely chopped radishes and mixed them with white vinegar. They add a real punch to the taste. I have also tried lightly shredded parmesan cheese with finely chopped Virginia ham or bacon bits with a squeeze or lemon. Also, very good!

Here are a few other ideas on ways to dresh up an oyster:

http://www.oldrecipebook.com/oysterrecipes.shtml

A trip to Gloucester, Virginia

Gloucester is one of those surprising places that still retains some of its historical charm (as long as you stay on the Main Street). We rented a house there for a summer when moving from England back to the US. I found it to be a great place to be if you love seafood and farm fresh vegetables.

You can get to Gloucester from Richmond in about 1 hour so it is a great little day trip out. We go up there about once a month to get oysters and clams from the Mobjack Seafood Company. They sell directly to all the major grocery store companies but you can buy from them directly for 1/2 the price than what you would pay for in the store. We bought a 100 clams and a 100 oysters for around $50 and we split the cost up with neighbors and friends. In the past, we have also exchanged oysters with our local Sushi chef and he gives us a free Sushi meal. Nothing beats the taste when they are that fresh than buying directly from the source.

I would also suggest stopping by the Ware Neck produce farm shop which has great local vegetables including Virginia ham, Amish butter, farm eggs and local honey. I have found it to be one of the best farm shops in the area and cheaper then grocery store prices for the same items. Just down the street from the farm shop is a small cafe called the Wild Rabbit. They serve fresh sandwiches, cous cous and always fantastic zucchini bread. Their menu is mostly organic and locally sourced food.

I will post some recipes for clams in white wine sauce and a few ideas on new ways to serve oysters. Many people who have not tried oysters before are a bit squeamish of them. I used to be one of those people but I have found that just adding a few 'toppings' can really make them taste great and I have even started to crave them on a regular basis.

It is suggested to only eat oysters in months ending in 'R' but I believe that they are available year around these days. The best months though, are definately in the Fall. There are also several stops along the way to buy fresh produce and soft shell crabs.