{twd} pizza rustica

I have talent. I’ve been told it takes real talent to break your patella (kneecap) and that’s what I did. I fractured and dislocated my right patella. I’d love to tell you I did it rappelling off the side of a mountain while rescuing cute endangered animals or while executing  a bicycle kick to score the winning goal in a soccer match. The truth is I did it by tripping over my own feet while walking my dog.

Yeah. I return to the orthopedist next week for more x-rays and to see if I’m properly healing. I hope so, because I don’t want surgery. I especially don’t want surgery in the weeks before our wedding (6 weeks from Saturday for those counting). Yikes.

On a more happy note, I’m pleased to present this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie selection: Pizza Rustica. It’s not the kind of pizza I was thinking it would be when I read the title. It’s more of an Italian quiche-like pizza, with a mixed up filling made with eggs, cheese, and in my version sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. The dough is sweetened and again in my case, baked in 6-inch tartlet pans.

I liked the contrast between the sweet dough and the savory filling, but I know it wasn’t popular with a few of the TWD bakers. Paul liked the taste too, but didn’t like the sun-dried tomatoes. I knew the tomatoes were iffy with him and I thought I was pulling a jar of roasted red peppers out of the pantry. He’s requested I make the recipe again but this time with the prosciutto or regular ham.

You can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Julia or at either of the wonderful hosts of this week’s selection:  Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home.

my fractured patella

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World Bread Day 2009: Stout, Oat and Honey Knots

Today we celebrate World Bread Day, a global celebration of, well, BREAD. Bloggers  all over the world are baking bread and posting about it today. This is my second year participating. Last year I baked Anadama Bread (to see the round up of all the breads baked last year go HERE). I was a baby baker (I still am, but probably more of a toddler now).

This year the bread I baked–Stout, Oat & Honey Knots— is a truly global creation. The recipe comes from Dan Lepard, a British artisan professional bread baker. In order to bake this bread I had to convert oven temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit, figure out what a sachet of yeast is (It’s 7 grams), and remember that strong white flour means bread flour.

The knots are made with toasted oats & a bread flour/whole wheat flour mix. Instead of water, stout is used for hydration. I used Stockyard Oatmeal Stout from Trader Joes. Honey provides a bit of sweetness and butter a bit of richness. I really liked these rolls. The stout flavor was strong (which I liked) and paired really well with cheddar/sage scrambled eggs. The crumb was smooth and almost creamy.

The idea to bake this bread came from my blogging friend Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs and Corner Loaf . I baked the bread with Nancy (who lives across the country in Atlanta, GA) via Twitter. It was so fun. I often read about these bake-alongs on Twitter, but can’t participate because of work or other obligations. I look forward to doing it again soon!

You can find the recipe for the Stout, Oat and Honey Knots HERE.

{SMS} Lemon Icebox Cake with Fresh Blackberry Sauce

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there! I hope you have a good one.

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is a Lemon Icebox Cake with Fresh Strawberry Sauce. I’ve never made an icebox cake, which seems to me (correct me if I’m wrong) to be frozen custard with a meringue topping and a vanilla wafer crust. You separate the eggs, cook the yolks with sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour it into the crust. Whip the egg whites and place them on top of the custard base and bake in the oven for a few minutes.  Once cooled to room temperature you place in the freezer. When ready to serve you take it out of the freezer and  top it with the strawberry sauce, or in my case, blackberry sauce.

Jennifer of Keep Passing the Open Windows chose this delicious recipe. Give it a try and visit her blog for the reicpe.

Millet Fried “Rice”

Millet is a grain seed that you probably know most commonly from bird food. It’s also a nutritious whole grain with loads of B-vitamins that has been becoming more and more popular in whole-grain cooking.

This week I made Millet Fried “Rice” from Super Natural Cooking. This was my first time cooking/eating millet and I loved it. It has a nutty taste, almost earthy but not too earthy. Just the right level of earth.

The stir-fry is made like regular fried rice. The grain is pre-cooked, you cook the egg and tofu cubes, chop the veggies and throw everything together. I’m excited  about using millet in more recipes. everybody loves sandwiches recently posted about using millet in granola which I’m making the next time I need granola.

You can find the recipe for Millet Fried “Rice” HERE. Enjoy! It’s wonderful.

Polenta-style Teff Wedges, two-ways.

Teff?! What the heck is teff? A year or so ago, I couldn’t imagine myself cooking let alone cooking teff. Teff is the world’s smallest whole-grain. It’s super tiny  and commonly comes in two varietes brown or ivory. I’ve eaten teff before in the form of injera, the Ethiopian flat bread used in eating Ethiopian food. I just didn’t know it was made from teff.  Teff is a super-grain, so much so that the ratio based on size vs. superness is outstanding. It has loads of calcium and protein–it has all 8 essential amino acids. It has a ton of iron too and in a form that your body can easily absorb. It truly is a superfood.

I made Polenta-Style Teff Wedges using a recipe from  Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking. Boy, were these good. And easy, too!  I like easy. Like polenta, you slowly stir in 2 cups grains into 6 cups salted boiling water. Unlike polenta, you don’ t have to stir constantly. You cover the pot and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally, until it gets nice and thick. You stir in a cup of grated Parmesan Cheese and pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Let it set up in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but  preferably longer. Cut the teff into wedges.

The first way I prepared the teff wedges was by grilling them on my grill pan and serving them with salad and scrambled eggs.

The second way I prepared the wedges was by baking them in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes smothered in a spicy tomato sauce. I served these over micro greens and with green beans.