cooking & watching
Oct. 4th, 2010 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Cooking stuff:
I am so proud of myself, it's ridiculous. I made my own kimchi!!
Tonight I'm going to attempt to make eun daegu jorim, that delicious black cod dish I talked about in another post. Unfortunately, the recipe I have is not a 'real' recipe that's tried and true, but is someone's guestimation. Also, I was in H-Mart getting ingredients for this and for the kimchi, and the fish monger dude seemed totally perplexed by the idea of daegu jorim. He instead recommended whiting, which I've never had before, but which I took his advice on, since they didn't have black cod anyway. I know from multiple sources that you *can* make this dish with any firm, white fish. The problem is that the fish is HUGE. I don't think it will fit whole into any of my pots, which means I'm going to have to chop it up myself (it was frozen whole and rock solid when I bought it, so the seafood dept couldn't do it for me).
I've also baked a really, really awesome artisan bread using instant yeast. You basically have to use the yeast sparingly so that it has a very slow/long fermentation time, like you're using a sourdough starter. The recipe I made takes 23 hours, lol. But only 20-40 minutes of that is active time, where you're doing something. The challenge is that you do have to do things at certain times, so you have to make it a point to be home during those times. It was SO GOOD. The book it comes from has been on my wish list awhile, I kick myself that it took me so long to actually get it. I'll share a pic when I get it off my SD card!
Acme's Herb Slabs from Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer
Yield: 2 large flatbreads, just over 1 pound each
Time: About 23 hours, with 20 minutes of active work
A stylized version of focaccia, this rosemary-flecked bread has an unusual crust. Just before baking, it is stippled all over, then baked for five minutes on one side. It is then flipped over to finish baking on the other side. This keeps the bread very flat and squared off, like a stone tablet.
The dough is based on a poolish and undergoes a stately fermentation and proof, giving it a very rich flavor. It is uncomplicated to make, and if started the evening before, it can be ready for dinner the next day.
[I'm also including my own notes, which will be in brackets, like this.]
Ingredients:
Poolish
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup water, 110° to 115°F
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably organic
1½ cups water, lukewarm
Whisk the yeast into the 110° to 115°F water and let it stand for 5 minutes. Add ¼ cup of the yeasted water to the flour (to measure 1/16 teaspoon yeast), then beat in the lukewarm water. This will be a very gloppy batter. Cover the poolish with plastic wrap and let it ferment overnight for 12 hours, or until its bubbles are popping and the top is just starting to wrinkle and foam.
Dough
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably organic
1 Tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
¾ cup water, lukewarm
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Fermented poolish
For the dough (by stand mixer): Combine the flour, salt, rosemary, and yeast in the mixing bowl. Add the water and oil to the poolish and stir to loosen. Pour the poolish into the flour mixture. Mix with dough hook on low speed until a rough dough forms. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes. Mix the dough another five minutes, until very smooth.
For the dough (by hand):
By hand, combine the flour, salt, rosemary and yeast in a large bowl. Add the water and oil to the poolish, stir to loosen it, and pour it all into the flour mixture. Stir the mixture with your hand until it forms a rough dough. Turn it out onto your work surface and knead it briefly, without adding extra flour, until it is well combined. Cover the dough with a bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rehydrate. Knead the dough, without adding extra flour, until it is very smooth, about 10 minutes.
For the dough (by food processor):
Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in the workbowl fitted with the steel blade. Add the water and oil to the poolish, stir to loosen it, and pour it all into the flour mixture. Process the dough just until it forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove the dough from the workbowl, set it on your work surface, cover it with a large bowl, and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rehydrate. Process the dough in four or five 30-second intervals, hand kneading it to cool it off between intervals. Remove the dough from the workbowl and knead in the rosemary by hand.
Fermenting and turning the dough:
Place the dough [it will be rather wet and sticky] in a container at least 3 times its size and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough ferment until light and doubled in bulk, about 6 hours. Turn the dough 3 times in 20-minute intervals [this means: take the dough out of the bowl and put it on a work surface dusted with flour. Sprinkle dust on top of the dough. Spread into a rectangle. Fold the left side to the center, then the top, then the right, then the bottom, then flip it over so that the seam side is down, and place it back in the bowl], that is, after 20, 40, and 60 minutes of fermenting, then leave the dough undisturbed for the remaining time. [Since the dough is so wet/sticky, be sure to be pretty generous with the extra flour when you're handling it.]
Shaping and proofing the dough:
Cut the dough in half. Round the pieces and let rest for about 20 minutes. Lightly press one piece of the dough into a rectangle. Loosely fold it into thirds like a business letter by folding the bottom short edge up and the top down. Place it seam side down on a couche [this is a large sheet of linen that dough resists sticking to] and cover it with a flap of the couche. Repeat with the other piece. Let them proof for about 1½ hours.
Cover a peel or rimless baking sheet with a large piece of parchment paper. Remove the dough from the couche and gently press each piece into a 12 x 6 inch rectangle with your hands (the workers in the bakery use a small wooden ruler to get the dimensions just so). Press your fingertips deeply into the dough to stipple it all over. [Since the dough is so wet and sticky, I found it MUCH easier to do this by putting some olive oil in my hand and rubbing it all over my fingers, so that I could sink my fingers in the dough w/o it sticking to me.] Move the rectangles of dough to the parchment paper and resquare them. Cover them with plastic wrap and let proof until very soft and well expanded, about 2 hours more. The total proof time is about 3½ hours.
Preheat the oven: About 45 minutes before the bread is fully proofed, arrange a rack on the ovens second-to-top shelf and place a baking stone on it. Clear away all racks above the one being used. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Poke the dough all over with a toothpick or a skewer, pushing all the way through. If desired, just before baking, fill the oven with steam. [I did this by spraying the oven with water every time I had to open the door. It's not a requirement but steam helps give the bread a crisp crust.] Slip the breads, still on the paper, onto the hot stone and bake for 5 minutes. Carefully flip the breads over onto the stone and remove the paper. Continue baking until they are well browned, about 20 minutes more, rotating them after 10 minutes. Let the breads cool on a rack.
Watching stuff:
Saw a great movie with K. last night: Winter's Bone. It was bleak, bleak, bleak. You think you know poor and then you see a movie like this and you learn how little you actually know. The entire time I was watching, I was counting my many blessings. And wondering how people can find the will to go on when there's little to no happiness to be found anywhere, when you have to eke out an existence, when all life hands you is crap on top of crap. It's when I'm confronted by people who live with these circumstances, and yet find the will and the desire to keep living, that I really see/understand what survival instincts are, and how strong they are. I guess this movie won a bunch of awards at Sundance, and I can see why. The acting was great -- v. impressed with this Jennifer Lawrence gal, and John Hawkes, who many of us know better as Scully's stalker Phillip Padgett.
I've also finally watched (500) Days of Summer. I enjoyed it immensely until about 3/4ths of the way through, when they kind of lose me. Jade pointed out that the movie is apparently based on a true story so I guess I can work past it, but I don't have to be happy about it.
And finally -- I'm on S2 of Merlin!!! This show didn't start out very strong. I was only half paying attention to the first half of S1. By the second half, they seemed to hit their stride -- or I hit my stride with the show, and I was enjoying it. But then I got to S2, and now I'm totally hooked.
Yes. You know what episode is at the beginning of S2? "The Once and Future Queen." I'm a sucker for Arthur/Gwen. I used to know a ton of people on my flist who was totally into Arthur/Guinevere (from various other Camelot stories, not Merlin the show, which is only like 3 years old), but I never really saw the draw of Arthur. I was more into Guinevere/Lancelot, since one of the defining Camelot story plots is her betrayal of Arthur in taking Lancelot as a lover.
But now, I hope they don't go there. :( I love Arthur. He's basically Draco with a kind heart. He's funny and endearing. I love his bromance with Merlin. I love that they turned things on their head a bit and made Gwen a lady's maid instead of a princess, so that there's another obstacle for her and Arthur. I just hope that if they ever get to the point where Gwen betrays Arthur, it's some kind of misunderstanding or something. In this 'verse, I'm finding myself shipping them like a total fangirl and I don't want it to get all Melrose Place.
I like that they've introduced Lancelot early on. I'm a bit annoyed/flummoxed by how he and Gwen developed that extremely sudden and strong attachment in that one ep where he and Arthur both go to rescue her, especially after she and Arthur have started those furtive, longing looks, and the kissing. But whatevs, that was a great episode. And even though I also think that Arthur and Gwen's attraction to each other also came about rather suddenly (more on his part than hers), I'm also not going to complain too loudly.
One of my favorite moments in the series so far: after Merlin saves the day by exposing Katrina as a troll (omG at Giles, I mean Uther, sleeping with a troll, btw), and Arthur's thanking him... and then there's this awkward moment when Merlin thought Arthur was going for a hug... omg so fucking funny.
I don't understand why Angel Coulby is listed in the credits before Bradley James.
I'm sorry to those of you who ship Merlin/Arthur that I'm not getting on that bandwagon. I love their bromance deeply, as I said, but I also loved the Draco/Harry bromance and the Lex/Clark bromance and never actually shipped those either. So it's nothing personal.
One last comment... I like Morgana so far but don't find her at all interesting. They do almost nothing with her. I know she has to become evil at some point, or at least conflicted, which will make her more interesting... but I fear that's when they're going to start all the Arthur/Morgana stuff. >< In other Camelot universes, I'm totally down with Arthur/Morgana (to a certain extent), but like I said, in this 'verse, I'm all about Arthur/Gwen.
I am so proud of myself, it's ridiculous. I made my own kimchi!!
Tonight I'm going to attempt to make eun daegu jorim, that delicious black cod dish I talked about in another post. Unfortunately, the recipe I have is not a 'real' recipe that's tried and true, but is someone's guestimation. Also, I was in H-Mart getting ingredients for this and for the kimchi, and the fish monger dude seemed totally perplexed by the idea of daegu jorim. He instead recommended whiting, which I've never had before, but which I took his advice on, since they didn't have black cod anyway. I know from multiple sources that you *can* make this dish with any firm, white fish. The problem is that the fish is HUGE. I don't think it will fit whole into any of my pots, which means I'm going to have to chop it up myself (it was frozen whole and rock solid when I bought it, so the seafood dept couldn't do it for me).
I've also baked a really, really awesome artisan bread using instant yeast. You basically have to use the yeast sparingly so that it has a very slow/long fermentation time, like you're using a sourdough starter. The recipe I made takes 23 hours, lol. But only 20-40 minutes of that is active time, where you're doing something. The challenge is that you do have to do things at certain times, so you have to make it a point to be home during those times. It was SO GOOD. The book it comes from has been on my wish list awhile, I kick myself that it took me so long to actually get it. I'll share a pic when I get it off my SD card!
Acme's Herb Slabs from Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer
Yield: 2 large flatbreads, just over 1 pound each
Time: About 23 hours, with 20 minutes of active work
A stylized version of focaccia, this rosemary-flecked bread has an unusual crust. Just before baking, it is stippled all over, then baked for five minutes on one side. It is then flipped over to finish baking on the other side. This keeps the bread very flat and squared off, like a stone tablet.
The dough is based on a poolish and undergoes a stately fermentation and proof, giving it a very rich flavor. It is uncomplicated to make, and if started the evening before, it can be ready for dinner the next day.
[I'm also including my own notes, which will be in brackets, like this.]
Ingredients:
Poolish
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup water, 110° to 115°F
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably organic
1½ cups water, lukewarm
Whisk the yeast into the 110° to 115°F water and let it stand for 5 minutes. Add ¼ cup of the yeasted water to the flour (to measure 1/16 teaspoon yeast), then beat in the lukewarm water. This will be a very gloppy batter. Cover the poolish with plastic wrap and let it ferment overnight for 12 hours, or until its bubbles are popping and the top is just starting to wrinkle and foam.
Dough
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably organic
1 Tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
¾ cup water, lukewarm
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Fermented poolish
For the dough (by stand mixer): Combine the flour, salt, rosemary, and yeast in the mixing bowl. Add the water and oil to the poolish and stir to loosen. Pour the poolish into the flour mixture. Mix with dough hook on low speed until a rough dough forms. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes. Mix the dough another five minutes, until very smooth.
For the dough (by hand):
By hand, combine the flour, salt, rosemary and yeast in a large bowl. Add the water and oil to the poolish, stir to loosen it, and pour it all into the flour mixture. Stir the mixture with your hand until it forms a rough dough. Turn it out onto your work surface and knead it briefly, without adding extra flour, until it is well combined. Cover the dough with a bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rehydrate. Knead the dough, without adding extra flour, until it is very smooth, about 10 minutes.
For the dough (by food processor):
Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in the workbowl fitted with the steel blade. Add the water and oil to the poolish, stir to loosen it, and pour it all into the flour mixture. Process the dough just until it forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove the dough from the workbowl, set it on your work surface, cover it with a large bowl, and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rehydrate. Process the dough in four or five 30-second intervals, hand kneading it to cool it off between intervals. Remove the dough from the workbowl and knead in the rosemary by hand.
Fermenting and turning the dough:
Place the dough [it will be rather wet and sticky] in a container at least 3 times its size and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough ferment until light and doubled in bulk, about 6 hours. Turn the dough 3 times in 20-minute intervals [this means: take the dough out of the bowl and put it on a work surface dusted with flour. Sprinkle dust on top of the dough. Spread into a rectangle. Fold the left side to the center, then the top, then the right, then the bottom, then flip it over so that the seam side is down, and place it back in the bowl], that is, after 20, 40, and 60 minutes of fermenting, then leave the dough undisturbed for the remaining time. [Since the dough is so wet/sticky, be sure to be pretty generous with the extra flour when you're handling it.]
Shaping and proofing the dough:
Cut the dough in half. Round the pieces and let rest for about 20 minutes. Lightly press one piece of the dough into a rectangle. Loosely fold it into thirds like a business letter by folding the bottom short edge up and the top down. Place it seam side down on a couche [this is a large sheet of linen that dough resists sticking to] and cover it with a flap of the couche. Repeat with the other piece. Let them proof for about 1½ hours.
Cover a peel or rimless baking sheet with a large piece of parchment paper. Remove the dough from the couche and gently press each piece into a 12 x 6 inch rectangle with your hands (the workers in the bakery use a small wooden ruler to get the dimensions just so). Press your fingertips deeply into the dough to stipple it all over. [Since the dough is so wet and sticky, I found it MUCH easier to do this by putting some olive oil in my hand and rubbing it all over my fingers, so that I could sink my fingers in the dough w/o it sticking to me.] Move the rectangles of dough to the parchment paper and resquare them. Cover them with plastic wrap and let proof until very soft and well expanded, about 2 hours more. The total proof time is about 3½ hours.
Preheat the oven: About 45 minutes before the bread is fully proofed, arrange a rack on the ovens second-to-top shelf and place a baking stone on it. Clear away all racks above the one being used. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Poke the dough all over with a toothpick or a skewer, pushing all the way through. If desired, just before baking, fill the oven with steam. [I did this by spraying the oven with water every time I had to open the door. It's not a requirement but steam helps give the bread a crisp crust.] Slip the breads, still on the paper, onto the hot stone and bake for 5 minutes. Carefully flip the breads over onto the stone and remove the paper. Continue baking until they are well browned, about 20 minutes more, rotating them after 10 minutes. Let the breads cool on a rack.
Watching stuff:
Saw a great movie with K. last night: Winter's Bone. It was bleak, bleak, bleak. You think you know poor and then you see a movie like this and you learn how little you actually know. The entire time I was watching, I was counting my many blessings. And wondering how people can find the will to go on when there's little to no happiness to be found anywhere, when you have to eke out an existence, when all life hands you is crap on top of crap. It's when I'm confronted by people who live with these circumstances, and yet find the will and the desire to keep living, that I really see/understand what survival instincts are, and how strong they are. I guess this movie won a bunch of awards at Sundance, and I can see why. The acting was great -- v. impressed with this Jennifer Lawrence gal, and John Hawkes, who many of us know better as Scully's stalker Phillip Padgett.
I've also finally watched (500) Days of Summer. I enjoyed it immensely until about 3/4ths of the way through, when they kind of lose me. Jade pointed out that the movie is apparently based on a true story so I guess I can work past it, but I don't have to be happy about it.
And finally -- I'm on S2 of Merlin!!! This show didn't start out very strong. I was only half paying attention to the first half of S1. By the second half, they seemed to hit their stride -- or I hit my stride with the show, and I was enjoying it. But then I got to S2, and now I'm totally hooked.
Yes. You know what episode is at the beginning of S2? "The Once and Future Queen." I'm a sucker for Arthur/Gwen. I used to know a ton of people on my flist who was totally into Arthur/Guinevere (from various other Camelot stories, not Merlin the show, which is only like 3 years old), but I never really saw the draw of Arthur. I was more into Guinevere/Lancelot, since one of the defining Camelot story plots is her betrayal of Arthur in taking Lancelot as a lover.
But now, I hope they don't go there. :( I love Arthur. He's basically Draco with a kind heart. He's funny and endearing. I love his bromance with Merlin. I love that they turned things on their head a bit and made Gwen a lady's maid instead of a princess, so that there's another obstacle for her and Arthur. I just hope that if they ever get to the point where Gwen betrays Arthur, it's some kind of misunderstanding or something. In this 'verse, I'm finding myself shipping them like a total fangirl and I don't want it to get all Melrose Place.
I like that they've introduced Lancelot early on. I'm a bit annoyed/flummoxed by how he and Gwen developed that extremely sudden and strong attachment in that one ep where he and Arthur both go to rescue her, especially after she and Arthur have started those furtive, longing looks, and the kissing. But whatevs, that was a great episode. And even though I also think that Arthur and Gwen's attraction to each other also came about rather suddenly (more on his part than hers), I'm also not going to complain too loudly.
One of my favorite moments in the series so far: after Merlin saves the day by exposing Katrina as a troll (omG at Giles, I mean Uther, sleeping with a troll, btw), and Arthur's thanking him... and then there's this awkward moment when Merlin thought Arthur was going for a hug... omg so fucking funny.
I don't understand why Angel Coulby is listed in the credits before Bradley James.
I'm sorry to those of you who ship Merlin/Arthur that I'm not getting on that bandwagon. I love their bromance deeply, as I said, but I also loved the Draco/Harry bromance and the Lex/Clark bromance and never actually shipped those either. So it's nothing personal.
One last comment... I like Morgana so far but don't find her at all interesting. They do almost nothing with her. I know she has to become evil at some point, or at least conflicted, which will make her more interesting... but I fear that's when they're going to start all the Arthur/Morgana stuff. >< In other Camelot universes, I'm totally down with Arthur/Morgana (to a certain extent), but like I said, in this 'verse, I'm all about Arthur/Gwen.
