Cherry-pecan Baguettes

In the mid 1990s, while staying with my husband for six weeks in Horta on the Azorean island of Faial, I had trouble finding good bread. The town was bustling with European Union money--new houses, new jobs, new cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Before this time most people baked bread at home, and the local bakeries hadn’t yet caught up with demand. Our friend and my husband’s colleague, H, who lived in Horta, had trouble too and would tip us off if she found a good loaf or a package of nice papa seco rolls somewhere. One weekend we stayed across the channel on Pico Island at mutual friends’ vacant cottage (it was just down the road from H and her husband’s cottage) where I found a loaf of homemade bread in the freezer. I’m sorry to say we ate the bread--it was delicious--and the only salve to my conscience was we gave half the loaf to H.

Back in Horta I tried a pizza-dough baguette recipe from Rosie Daley’s In The Kitchen With Rosie, but the yeast and flour were stale, the oven heat was irregular, and my baguettes failed to rise. We ate them anyway. When we returned to Honolulu, I tried bread recipes by food writers Edward Espe Brown, Cass Castagnola, Alain Coumant, Michael Pollan, Chad Robertson, Laurel Robertson and Bronwen Godfrey, again Rosie Daley, and others. Slowly by slowly, I came up with a recipe for baguettes that works for me. I hope it will work for you too.

To make four cherry-pecan baguettes the ingredients are: 1 tablespoon dried yeast, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon fine sea salt, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 cups whole-wheat flour, 4 cups unbleached white flour, 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt, 1 ½ cups water, ¾ to 1 cup chopped pecans, and ¾ to 1 cup dried cherries, soaked for 30 minutes and drained well. You can use any nut or dried fruit you like, or for a savory version perhaps rosemary leaves, Parmesan cheese, or chopped olives. Or you can add nothing at all--the baguettes are excellent plain. You can also make them with all white flour if you wish. They will be lighter, but still tasty and with a nice yogurt-y tang.

Place the yogurt in a large bowl and let it come to room temperature. Add to the yogurt the yeast, honey, water, and two cups whole-wheat flour and mix well. Add the olive oil and salt and mix again. Then add the unbleached white flour, 3 cups at first, and the last cup as needed. Mix to form the dough, turn the dough onto a floured board, and knead for 5 or 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough into a ball, put it into an oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in bulk, then place it again on a floured board. Knead the cherries and pecans into the dough (this may feel awkward--it does for me--but just add the fruit and nuts little by little and work them in as best you can; it’s hard to go wrong). Now with a knife or dough cutter, divide the dough into four equal parts. Using a rolling pin or round-sided glass, roll each part out to a roughly ½ inch thick rectangle, then roll up to form a baguette. Place the baguettes seam side down on a large baking pan lined with oiled parchment paper. With a sharp knife make crosswise slashes on the top of the baguettes (some people recommend making the slashes right before putting the bread into the oven, but when I did that my bread collapsed). Cover the baguettes with a damp cloth and let them rise 20 to 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 450-degree Fahrenheit oven (or 425-degree convection oven) for 25 to 30 minutes. For a crisper crust, sprinkle the baguettes with water before putting them into the oven, or place an empty pan below the baking rack and fill it with a cup of water to create steam during baking.

Here is the dough rising:

Here are the baguettes ready for the oven:

And fresh from the oven and cooling on a rack:

Lentil Curry

Manoa Valley is one my favorite places on Oahu--green, cool, deep, and wide. At the back of the valley are the Lyon Arboretum and Manoa Falls; at the mouth is the tree-lined campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. While in graduate school, I volunteered at one of the campus literary journals. I xeroxed files, posted and collected mail, and helped proofread stories, essays, and poems. I enjoyed my time there and made several good friends. One of them gave me the recipe for lentil curry that is subject of this post. She brought the curry to a staff potluck held high up on the side of Saint Louis Heights overlooking Manoa Valley. I don’t recall many details from the party, but I remember the warm company, the beautiful view from the livingroom window, and my friend’s delicious curry. She recommends serving it with raita and rice. It is wonderfully easy to make, it just takes a little time. As usual, I’ve adapted the recipe, but I believe the spirit remains true to the original.

To serve 4 to 6 people you need: 1 cup French green lentils, about 3 1/2 cups water, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 cup pureed Italian-style canned tomatoes, chili powder to taste, salt to taste, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and ½ cup heavy cream or coconut milk.

Cook the lentils in a pot of boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes, then drain and return them to the empty pot. Add fresh water to the lentils to cover them by two inches and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, put the lid on the pot, and simmer for one hour. Remove the lid to the pot. Add the ginger, garlic, tomatoes, salt and chili powder to taste, and remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the curry and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Lastly, add the cream or coconut milk and continue cooking another 10 minutes for the flavors to meld.

I like to serve this family-style over a bowl of rice. It’s also good with chapatis or tortillas and chutney.

Here are the curry ingredients:

The curry simmering in the pan:

And alongside rice, raita, and chutney:

Twilight and Tortillas

We love soft tacos, and sometimes take them for a picnic supper at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki. I make half-and-half tortillas with half masa marina (finely ground corn flour) and half wheat flour. They are wonderfully pliable and good with most any bean, meat, or vegetable filling. I got the recipe many years ago from a San Diego friend. I still have the printout she gave me. On one side are recipes for flour tortillas, corn tortillas, half-and-half tortillas, and a syrup (to go with “Bunelos”); on the other side is the cross-hatched score of a cribbage game that my friend and I played one long afternoon while waiting for a train.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler, though rolling out the tortillas takes a bit of work. I use a tortilla press, but a rolling pin will do, as will a smooth-sided drinking glass.

To make 16 to18 half-and-half tortillas use: 1½ cups masa harina, 1½ cups wheat flour,1 teaspoon dried yeast, a pinch sugar, 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt, 1½ cups warm water (or a little less), and 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Mix the yeast with 1 cup of the water and the pinch of sugar. Add the masa harina, wheat flour, olive oil, salt, and as much of the remaining water as needed to mix the dough. Knead the dough on a floured board until smooth. Let rest (covered with a damp cloth) 1 hour. Divide into 16 to 18 balls, flatten, and let rest 20 minutes (again covered with a damp cloth). With a tortilla press, rolling pin, or smooth-sided glass, roll out the balls, adding a little flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Heat a dry skillet to medium-high heat. Bake the tortillas a few minutes on each side. The sides will bubble up a bit and brown in places. Once baked, place the tortillas singly on a rack to cool. Reheat as desired in a dry skillet or wrapped in foil and placed in a 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes.

Here are the balls of tortilla dough resting:

The tortillas being cooked in the skillet:

 And alongside a bowl of guacamole:

Scallops Makiki

I love cookbooks, and have to be careful not to buy too many or else I will have to replace (again) the pantry shelves where I keep them. The present shelves are sturdier than the original, bowed ones, but each time a new cookbook arrives, an old one departs. It’s hard to choose which book should go, and I almost always regret the loss. The best solution is to give the book to a friend.

One cookbook I can’t imagine doing without is MEDITERRANEAN COOKERY by Claudia Roden. I’ve had it many years, and when the spine started cracking, a good friend repaired it for me. Now, despite a few food stains on well-used pages, it’s better than new.

Roden’s recipes are very forgiving of substitutions. One day I was looking for a recipe for scallops, something delicious and easy that our across-the-hall neighbor, who was coming to dinner, would like, and found Roden’s recipe for shrimp Provencal. I adapted the recipe--adding peas; using more brandy and wine; substituting shallots for onion and garlic and scallops for shrimp; and dusting the finished dish with Parmesan cheese. I serve the scallops on top of saffron rice and call them “scallops Makiki.”

1 1/2 to 2 pounds scallops (bay scallops are just the right size, or you can quarter or halve large scallops)

2 to 3 shallots, chopped fine

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

A 28-ounce can of San Marzano or other Italian tomatoes (chopped and including juice)

¾ cup sweet peas, fresh or frozen

3 ounces cognac

¾ cup white wine

Thyme, mild chili powder, salt, and paprika to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

In a wide skillet, cook the shallots in the olive oil till soft. Holding the peas and scallops aside, put in the other remaining ingredients. Simmer uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce thickens. Then add the peas and scallops, cook another 3 to 5 minutes until the scallops are cooked through. Serve over saffron rice with a dusting of Parmesan cheese on top.

Here is the finished dish:

Maria's Black Beans

Before moving to Honolulu, my husband and I lived in a small redwood bungalow at the end of a flag lot near Kailua beach. A friend had given us a batch of Latin-music tapes with recordings by Juan Luis Guerra, Alfredo, Gypsy Kings, and Los Flamers. Most days, driving home from my hospital job, I'd play the tapes in the car. The vibrant music--que rico!--whisked me over the Koolau mountains in no time. Once home, I'd take a long mind-clearing walk on the beach and return wet, tired, and hungry. When I'd thought ahead there'd be a container of black beans in the refrigerator or freezer, and with tortillas or rice and a bit of salad, dinner was in hand.

A young nurse named Maria, whose paternal grandmother was from Nicaragua, gave me the recipe for the beans. "You can refry them after they're cooked," she said, "or eat them soupy like I do." I lent Maria the music tapes for a few months--I wish I'd given them to her--and still think of her when I make her grandmother's black beans. The beans are delicious both ways, and they keep well in the refrigerator for a few days or in the freezer for a month or so.

For a big pot you need 1 pound black beans, 1 whole bunch cilantro, 1 whole peeled onion, 3 to 5 whole peeled garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, water to cover beans by 2 inches, salt, pepper, 1 to 2 tablespoons wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, and 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Rinse the beans and soak overnight (or use the quick-soak method: cover beans with water, bring to a boil, boil 4 minutes, let sit 1 hour), then rinse the beans again and place them in a large pot with fresh water to cover by 2 inches. Add the cilantro, onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Bring the beans to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the beans are soft. Discard the bay leaves. Remove the cilantro, onion, and garlic cloves from the pot, place them in a blender with a cup of the beans, and blend well. Return the mixture to the pot, add salt and pepper to taste, and simmer another 30 minutes or so. Then add the wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoon of olive oil. These are the soupy beans that Maria likes.

To refry the beans, put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a deep skillet and fry a chopped onion until translucent. Add chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, minced chili peppers (or dried chili powder), and cumin to taste. Then add the beans with their liquid to the skillet. Roughly mash the beans with a potato masher and cook uncovered (stirring now and then) over moderate heat until most of the water has evaporated and the beans are at a consistency you like.

Here are the ingredients for the beans:

The beans in the pot:

And ready to serve, both refried and soupy, along with tortillas and Spanish rice (plain rice is a good accompaniment too):