Chicken And Bean Stew

It is June Potluck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). We get to cook from any of the featured chefs at IHCC, using any of their recipes. I've made Jacques Pepin's, Chicken and Bean Stew.

According to Jacques Pepin, this stew is satisfying, hearty, and inexpensive, ideal for a family meal. He's right, of course! 

The recipe uses meaty chicken bones and parts, but I've used two whole large pieces of chicken legs. As for the beans, I've used black-eyed beans since I have some frozen ones stashed in my freezer, and added them during the last 30 minutes of cooking. According to the recipe, whole carrots and celery stalk are simmered until the end of cooking time, after which, they are removed and chopped coarsely to be added back to the stew. I merely chopped the carrots and celery before cooking, so i don't have to chop them up later. 

The stew was delicious. Very tasty and flavourful. We've enjoyed bowls of it with my homemade Ciabatta bread.

Chicken and Bean Stew
(Essential Pepin by Jacques Pepin)
4 pounds meaty chicken bones and parts (including backs and necks, if available gizzards and hearts)
1 pound (about 2-1/3 cups) navy beans, picked over and rinsed
2 medium onions (about 12 ounces0, each studded with 3 whole cloves
3 medium to large carrots, peeled
1 celery stalk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
4 bay leaves
8 cups cold water
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped (2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Put the bones in a large pot, add the beans, onions, carrots, celery, salt, thyme, bay leaves and water, bring to a boil; skim off foam that rises to the surface. Cover, reduce the heat, and boil very gently for 1-1/2 hours; stir every 15 to 20 minutes to prevent the beans from sticking to the bottom. Pour the mixture into a large roasting pan.

When the bean mixture is cold enough, remove the bones and vegetables from the beans and put the beans back into the pot.

When the bones are cool enough to handle, pick off the meat and discard any skin. (You should have at least  2 to 2-1/2 cups of meat). Remove the cloves from the onions and discard them. Coarsely chop the onions, carrots, celery, and gizzards and hearts, if you have them. Add to the pot, along with the meat, and mix with the beans.

Add the tomato, garlic, and parsley and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat, simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

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Pain à ľAncienne Rustic Bread (Ciabatta)

Ciabatta is an Italian white bread made with just few ingredients ; flour, salt, olive oil, water and yeast. It's shape is elongated, flat, rustic and broad, looks like a worn-out slipper, hence it is called Ciabatta which means slipper.  

This recipe that I've tried is from Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart. Ciabatta has a very wet dough, so it is preferable to mix the dough in a stand mixer. This high hydration dough (with more water than other regular bread dough), is required in order to achieve a light, airy and holey crumbs as the characteristics of a ciabatta bread. 

Oiling your hands and the work counter with some oil will really help to handle the sticky dough. There's a series of stretch and fold, with 10 minutes rest, which is repeated a few times. The dough is then keep covered in a bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The next day, the dough is taken out and let rest for an hour, then shape as per the instructions given, and let rise for another hour before baking.

The dough has puffed a little before it went into the oven. And during the first 15 minutes or so, the bread has puffed even more in the oven. Happy to see that! 

I did not have a baking stone, so I've used an overturned baking sheet instead. 

It bakes up lovely, with a rich brown crust and soft, spongy crumb, with those lovely holes that I was looking for!

The crumb is still soft on the next day, though the crust has become softer and chewy in a delicious way. I enjoyed slices of it with just a spread of salted butter, so good! Great with stew too!

The recipe for this ciabatta can be found here.

Note ; I've made half a recipe for one large ciabatta. I've reduced the salt to 3/4 teaspoon which works out great for us.

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Saturday Morning Fruit And Nut Toast (Sourdough)

A fruity sourdough loaf, with dried cranberries, apricots and raisins. I have omitted the sunflower seeds as I prefer my fruit loaf with well, just dried fruits only. The dried fruits are soaked in some warm water just enough to cover, with some added vanilla, sugar and cinnamon. Drain well and dry with paper towels before using them in the recipe. 

It smells so fragrant with the cinnamon, while the bread is baking in the oven.

Soft, moist crumb, especially good when toasted, and spread with a generous amount of salted cold butter.  Love this bread! Another keeper recipe from Emilie Raffa.

Saturday Morning Fruit & Nut Toast recipe from Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa, on page 66. The recipe can be also be found here .

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Mushroom-Bacon Galette

Over at Cook The Book Fridays, the selected recipe from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook. Everyday Dorie, is Mushroom-Bacon Galette. A savoury free-from tart, with mushrooms, leek, bacon, walnuts for the filling.

Dorie's galette dough is a pleasure to work with. I did reduce the sugar to only 1 tablespoon.  The filling is very tasty, cooked using the following ingredients ; bacon, mushroom, leeks, garlic, white wine, heavy cream, walnuts, parmesan, fresh thyme (I've used rosemary), and black pepper. 

I did not sprinkle any parmesan over the baked galette, simply because i have forgotten ! But it was good too without the parmesan. The next time if I were to make this again, I will omit the walnuts, since we prefer the bites where there wasn't any walnuts.

Please visit CtbF to see the other bakers view on this galette.

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Rosemary Loaf Cake

At I Heart Cooking clubs (IHCC) this week, "It's time to make a dish and Take It Outside to a picnic, outdoor gathering, park, porch or lanai!". I've made Nigella Lawson's Rosemary Loaf Cake, which is perfect for any gathering, either outdoor or indoors. 

I have a pot of bushy rosemary plant in my garden, and am always looking for ways to use them. I can't believe that I have overlooked this recipe from one of my favourite baking books, How To Be A Domestic Goddess. 

This is a plain butter cake, with bits of chopped rosemary leaves in it. The rosemary does not give it's herb flavour to the cake but rather a light aroma which is really very nice. As Nigella says " ...there is something muskily aromatic about it against the sweet vanilla egginess of the cake". 

I've used salted butter instead of unsalted as in the recipe. The salted butter gives a really nice salty buttery flavour to the cake.

The cake is moist, with soft buttery crumb. My kinda cake, simple and yummy! 

Rosemary Loaf Cake
(How To Be A Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter (I use salted butter)
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/3 self-raising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
needles from 4-inch stalk of rosemary, chopped small, but not too fine (about 2 teaspoon)
4 tablespoons milk (I use 2 tbsps)
1-2 tablespoons rosemary sugar or granulated brown or white sugar (omitted)

9x5-inch loaf pan, buttered and lined with parchment or wax paper

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Now cream the butter, adding the sugar when it's really soft, and creaming both together till pale and smooth and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, folding in a spoonful of the flour after each addition, then add the vanilla. Fold in the rest of the flour (Nigella recommends using a rubber spatula), and finally the rosemary. Thin the batter with the milk, you're after a soft, dropping consistency - and pour, into the waiting pan. Sprinkle the top with a little sugar (I omitted the sugar), before putting it in the oven, and cook for 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack, in its pan, and when completely cold, unmould and wrap well in foil till you need to eat it. Like all sorts of cakes, it keeps well.

(serves 8-10)

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