The Hard Boiled Cook

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Sorry, dedicated bread makers, but this business about complicated bread making is pure crap.

You can make a loaf of excellent bread by dipping out 3 cups of flour ( like unbleached but who cares) and putting this aside. Put 2/3 cup of warm water in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, half a stick of butter, 1/4 cup of agave nectar (the cheapest), and a couple of tablespoons of flax meal of you want healthy stuff. Heat this up in the microwave a bit until the butter is just melting or real soft, add an egg, and stir this stuff up. Best thing is to check the temperature at this point and bring the bowl of liquid up to about 118 degrees F.  Pour into a mixer with a regular spade blade (no dough hooks please) and start mixing. Add a tablespoon of dry yeast, mix some more, then add all except a few tablespoons of flour  a serving spoonful at at time until the whole thing is a rather firm, yet sticky mess. Add a teaspoon of water if it gets too dry. Scrape it out using a spatula onto the left over flour which you should have spread out on a cutting board. Now, don’t knead this too much because you don’t need to (a there’s a pun). Just kind of push it together roughly, taking up most of the dry flour you had on the board. Butter up that loaf pan real well and push the dough into the bottom of the pan, distributing it evenly. If you want a thicker crust, wet your hand and slap a bit of water on it. Put the pan with dough in a warm place. I use a couple of foil turkey roasting pans turned back to back over the pan and placed on my warmer at the back of the stove. If you got it right, you should start heating the oven right away because in about 20 minutes your going to need to start baking it.

Bake at 375 for 50  minutes on a middle shelf in the oven. Take it out, dump it out on a rack immediately, and wait five minutes before you cut a hefty slice off one end, slather it with a thick layer of butter, savor the flavor, and wonder why in the world everybody else seems to think bread-making takes hours.

My Norwegian Fish Casserole

The best fish to use is a rough fish like cod or halibut, or any fish that is of robust texture or taste.

 Cut 2-3 pounds of fish up into 2 inch chuncks and poach in water with butter and the juice of several lemons. This is to assure that any fishiness is eliminated. Cook only long enough so that when you remove the fish from the boiling water, it flakes easily. Flake all the fish so that you have nice, dry flakes. Stir in a heavy dash of sea salt.

 On the side, cook about 3tablespoons of flour in about 4 tablespoons of butter. Heat about two cups of half-n-half or heavy cream diluted with whole milk until the chill is disbursed. Stir in the butter-flour. Beat three eggs in a separate bowl and add to the cream mixture, stirring thoroughly. Add about a teaspoon of fenugreek spice.

 Layer a large, buttered casserole dish with layers of fish flakes and scoops of cream cheese (five or six dollops) followed by about a light sprinkling of parmesan-flavored bread crumbs. Do 2-3 layers. You should use about a half bar of cream cheese.

 Finally, pour the cream-egg mixture over the layers of the fish until the fish is barely covered. If your mixture is not quite enough, simply add a bit of heavy cream to the last of the mixture. If you have too much, set aside for custard.

 Cover the top with a medium sprinkle of breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 2 hours at 350 Deg F or until golden brown. Check with a clean knife at intervals to make sure the dish is done all the way through. It’s hard to overcook this dish, but do not let the oven get too hot. Reduce heat if the dish begins browning too soon.

 Generous servings for six to eight.

 Charles Frenzel