domesticity

[coraa]

I have been so domestic over the past two days, and it feels -- well. Really great.

I:

* re-seasoned my beloved 12-inch cast-iron pan (without even setting off the fire alarm, wonder of wonders)
* verified that my sourdough starter is still quite alive, and the flavor is still good; gave it a good feed and put it back in the fridge
* made bread loaflets (notes below)
* went grocery shopping
* broke down a whole chicken into parts (breast and legs for future meals, and the rest saved to make stock)
* made dinner (recipe below)
* cleaned the kitchen
* made a double batch of steel-cut oatmeal for eating/making into oatcakes over the course of the week (oatmeal and oatcakes are a favorite snack of mine, but steel-cut oats -- far and away my favorite kind -- take more time and energy than I have most weekday mornings, so it's good to have some cooked and ready in the fridge)
* started a sponge for sourdough pancakes for breakfast tomorrow
* started inventorying my pantry, so I can plan meals around things that ought to be used up soon

I've also got a lot of rest, but I think that kitchen work really makes me feel home.

Bread Loaflet Notes

Not going to provide a recipe, since I used a fairly standard non-purist white bread recipe, and any cookbook bread recipe will do. (Purist bread is just flour + water + salt + yeast or starter. My non-purist bread added olive oil and honey.) The two things I did a bit differently than usual were that I decided to make four very small loaflets (comparable in size to the small loaves you get at places like Outback or Spaghetti Factory when waiting for your food). I wanted to go with loaflets because one large loaf goes a long time between the first cut and being finished, so even if I'm pretty good about keeping the cut side wrapped, it tends to dry out and stale before it gets eaten. Smaller loaves can be eaten the same day (or often the same sitting) they're first cut, so they stale less quickly. I cut the dough into four pieces and formed four small baguette-like loaves. As an added bonus, they baked faster -- within 20 or 25 minutes, rather than almost-an-hour for a single large boule.

The other thing I wanted was to try for a soft crust. A shatteringly-crisp crust is often considered the Holy Grail of home baking, but sometimes what I want is a nice, tender crust, like you'd get in a roll or a loaf of sandwich bread. Turns out the way to achieve that is to rub the bread with fat at several points in the baking process. I rubbed a little oil into the dough after I'd shaped it into mini-loaves but before it rose. I rubbed butter into the bread crusts about 5-10 minutes before baking was over (as an added bonus, the milk protein helped make the loaves brown, even in the small amount of time it took the loaves to bake). Then, when they were hot out of the oven, I rubbed a little more butter into the crust, to keep it soft and pliable.

As added insurance, I wrapped the bread in a clean tea-towel to cool -- the cloth trapped some of the steam from the cooling bread, which further softened the crusts, but not so much that the crust got wet and thus risked mold. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out: each loaf about right for one hungry person or a snack for two, with a tender but browned crust, and very slightly sweet from the honey and olive oil.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad

Too hot for eating hot, hearty food. This is cold, light, flavorful, and filling. It's also dead simple, although be warned that it needs to be made in advance of eating by at least an hour, and two would be better, so that it will have a chance to chill and meld flavors.

I usually don't make this with chicken, but when I'd finished breaking down the chicken into breasts/legs/carcass for stock, I had a handful of scraps of meat left over -- not enough to be worth packaging up and freezing, but I hate the idea of just pitching it, yanno? So I sauteed them up and tossed them in. They serve more as a condiment than the focal point of the noodle dish, though, and it would not be at all hindered if you left them out entirely.

Serves 2 as an entree, or 4 as a side.

* 8 oz buckwheat soba noodles (that is to say, two of those little ribbon-wrapped bundles of noodles from the package)
* 1/4 cup chicken, cut in very small pieces (extremely optional)
* 1 red bell pepper
* 1 green onion
* 1/2 carrot
* 2 tbsp soy sauce
* 2 tbsp honey
* 1 tbsp minced cilantro
* 1 tbsp minced ginger
* 2 tbsp cooking sake or mirin
* 1 tbsp sesame oil
* 1 lime

(And another note -- on the seasonings. Honestly, all you really need for something good-tasting is soy sauce, honey, and sake or mirin. The others are nice but unnecessary if you don't have or don't like them.)

Cook the soba noodles according to package directions (though be careful not to overcook -- slightly undercooked is better than slightly overcooked). Drain, put in a bowl, and add water and ice to stop the noodles cooking and keep them from sticking together.

If you're using the chicken, saute to cook through.

Chop the bell pepper into small pieces. Slice the green onion on the bias. Shred the carrot.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, honey, cilantro, ginger, sake/mirin, and sesame oil. Juice the lime and add the juice. Stir to combine. (If the honey is recalcitrant and unwilling to dissolve, you can pop the bowl in the microwave and zap it for 30 seconds or so to warm it up, which will help it mix more easily.)

Drain the soba noodles. Pour the sauce over the top and toss to combine, then add the cooked chicken and all the vegetables. There will be some liquid in the bottom of the bowl -- this is normal. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Every so often (I did it once a half hour), give the noodles a good stir to distribute the sauce. The noodles will slowly absorb the liquid as you let them rest and chill. Most of the liquid should absorb after about an hour, at which point you can eat. But it will hold in the fridge for quite a bit longer than that.



EDIT: And we ordered a Roomba. Vacuuming/sweeping is the least-favorite-evar chore for both jmpava and me, and given that it costs less than my Kindle, we figured it was a worthy investment to ensure both clean floors and lack of whining. Especially if we're getting cats. since the purchase is already made, 'roombas suck!' comments will not be appreciated, though 'this is how I use my roomba' or 'things to watch out for' comments are peachy keen.

Comments

[marvinalone.livejournal.com]

Squee! I vote for anime night at your place :-)