Basics: Fresh Hummus

Another installment of our (very) occasional series on basics, staple recipes every cook should have in their arsenal.

Everyone who is anyone makes their own hummus. Sure, a tub of the prefab stuff might tide you over for lunch now and again, but once you have made your own, there's no going back.

Time to get acquainted with the wonders of dried beans: mysteriously hard litter kernels, transformed by a bath into chalky globes of goodness.

WARNING: using dried beans requires at least eight hours of lead time before you have a bowl of delicious spread in your hands. But it's so worth it. The canned will do in a pinch, but the quality of the ingredients will certainly shine through.

Fresh Hummus

1 cup of dried chickpeas (or 15 oz of canned chickpeas)
2-3 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon tahini (optional)

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight or for at least eight hours.

2. In a food processor or mortar, combine garlic, olive oil, the juice from one lemon and tahini.

3. Rinse chickpeas and add to food processor. Pulse until desired level of smoothness. Add more olive oil if it seems dry.

There are a million ways to make it your own. What is your favorite variation or signature tweak?

Basics: Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers

Another installment of our (very) occasional series on basics, staple recipes every cook should have in their arsenal.

It's been a while since my last McNugget or dino-shaped "Now with more cardboard!"finger food. Atlanta's favorite chikin eating cows reign supreme, delivering us from bland, dry chicken bricks but unfortunately causing a heated nuggets vs. strips debate. Today, I prove that we can leave all that mess behind and shake n' bake our way to healthy, scrumptious fingers of chicken. Because the only dinosaur-shaped food I plan on eating is genetically reconstituted pterodactyl.

These succulent and healthy fingers comes from a cookbook entirely devoted to chicken, which also just happens to SMELL like chicken. In a good way.

This recipe is the only reason we have a box of corn flakes. It's been going strong for over two years.

BONUS: They travel quite well, and are known for making frequent picnic and Screen on the Green appearances.

Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers
Adapted from Cooking Light Chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast, sliced into finger
1 cup milk (optional: low-fat buttermilk)
1 1/2 cups corn flakes
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil

1. Pour milk over chicken pieces in a bowl. Cover and chill for at least 10 minutes. In big zip-top plastic bag, crush corn flakes. Add bread crumbs, thyme, paprika and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

2. Preheat oven to 400°. Spread oil evenly on a jelly roll pan.

3. Drain the milk from the chicken. Pop three or four pieces in the coating bag and shake to coat. Repeat with remaining chicken, arranging fingers on the pan in a single layer as you go.

4. Bake fingers for five minutes, then turn and bake five minutes on the other side. Serve with simple honey mustard. Lick fingers clean.


Honey Mustard

Honey
Mustard [whole grain, spicy brown or variety of your choice]

1. Mix

Basics: Multigrain Peasant Bread

Another installment of our (very) occasional series of basics, staple recipes every cook should have in their arsenal.  

Bread, the basic building block of life. Even the lowliest meals calls for a crust of bread. It's too bad that this most primal, human, food stuff was handed over to bakers for so many years. Instead of paying for pricey artisan loaves, I decided it's time to take it back.

Over the last few months I've gone through 15 pounds of various flours and many recipe options. A heavy whole wheat loaf complete with milk powder, kneaded on the stand mixer. The simple and tasty white no-knead, famous for introducing a run on Dutch ovens. Then, I was duped into the false allure of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day; a big fat LIE. Oh, and don't forget about no-knead in a hurry. But I've finally come to a reliably tasty and healthy bread that fits into our lifestyle.

This recipe and method happens to work for me, but by all means, seek out your own. I'm partial to this combination of no-knead and Artisan Bread in Five techniques. Every other Saturday night before hitting the town, I mix up the dough. Then shape and bake one loaf on Sunday night, while reserving the remaining half the dough for another loaf up to 10 days later. Two loaves for the price of one 24 hour rise.

Multigrain Peasant Bread
Not adapted at all from TheKitchn.com

1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 to 1 cup cracked wheat, uncooked steel cut oats, sunflower seeds, or other textured grain, seeds, or nuts (I whir oats and flax seeds in the food processor)
4 cups white all-purpose flour (bread flour works too, it will just be a bit heavier)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3 1/4 cups (26 ounces) room temperature water

1. In a very large bowl, mix together all the flours, salt, and yeast. Stir in the water to form a thick, gloppy batter. (If your yeast needs to dissolve in water before being added, do this in a separate bowl before combining with the flours.)
2. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight. My dough forms a hard crust which looks unappetizing, but doesn't seem to affect the final product. Remove the crust if you prefer.
3. Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and turn out half the dough onto it. Cover the other half with plastic wrap to refrigerate the dough for up to a week. Refrigerating for a few hours also helps make the dough easier to work with and improves the flavor.
4. Choose to shape your loaf into either a boule or a sandwich loaf (I like to do one of each).
Round: Sprinkle the dough with a little more flour and attempt to knead the shaggy wet dough a few times. If it's more like just folding, that's ok, the goal is just to stretch the gluten and develop surface tension to keep it from falling flat. Sprinkle a pizza peel or non-plastic cutting board with cornmeal and place the shaped loaf on it. Cover and let the loaf rise for about 1.5 - 2 hours at room temperature, until nearly doubled in bulk.
Sandwich: Lightly spray a loaf pan with oil. No need to knead, just dump the shaggy dough into the pan, cover and let rise for about 1.5 - 2 hours at room temperature, until nearly doubled in bulk.

5. A half hour before baking, preheat the oven to 450°. Put a pan in the bottom of the oven to preheat as well. If you're baking round loaves, set a baking stone on the middle rack while the oven is heating.

When the loaves have risen, quickly cut 1/2-inch slashes in the top with a serrated knife and set them in the oven. Pour a half cup of water into the pan at the bottom of the oven and close the oven door.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are dark brown, sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, and the interior registers 190° on an instant-read thermometer. Allow to cool fully on a rack before slicing and eating.

Basics: Granola Bars

For our friends who currently would prefer a life sentence of indentured servitude to an afternoon in the kitchen, we present a series on our staple recipes. Most are simply basic formulas that offer the opportunity to customize and call your own. Seriously, every cook should have these babies in their arsenal.

Most weekday mornings I wake up knowing what I will eat for breakfast that day.  There is no real effort, no back and forth, it is set in my mind and acted on like routine.  Mostly because I eat the exact same thing for weeks, if not months on end, until one day I wake up with a new breakfast idea as if I dreamed it. My breakfasts toggle back and forth between toast, with either peanut butter and jam or honey, and yougurt with granola.  Both come with fruit.  Occasionally when I'm feeling wild I have a box-long affair with cereal.

Finally, finally one night I made these granola bars. See, I've been thinking about them ever since Nic and I did an experiment way back in 2009. We wanted to make granola bars, and we wanted them in two different flavors.  So we spent one afternoon mixing, toasting, tasting, chopping, adding more and more liquid until we grew tired of fussing and threw them in the oven.  What came out were rather interesting, one flavor was the clear winner, while the other tasted like...ooo it was bad. At least now I know the combination of dried apricots and peanut butter do not make food love in my mouth. They also didn't form into bars, they just kind of crumbled into clusters of granola.

This time I had clear goals: actual bars and tasty flavor. Not too much to ask.  I used what I had that sounded good- almond butter, maple syrup and a splash of vanilla. This recipe is just a formula- use whatever nuts, fruits, nut butters, flavorings you desire.  Old fashioned oats are necessary, but you can add flax seeds, wheat germ, or another grain as long as you decrease the oats a bit. Mix and match to your heart's content, and if you hit on a good combination let me know!

Granola Bars

Makes 12

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 walnuts

1/2 almonds

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup natural almond butter

1/4 brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried apricots

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line an 8x8 pan with foil.

2. Spread oats and nuts evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 10-15 minutes. Use your nose as a guide- if you smell it, its done.

3. While oat mixture is toasting, combine maple syrup, almond butter, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and vanilla in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Once throughly combined, reduce heat to low or turn off.

4.  Once oats are through toasting, transfer to a large bowl and add dried fruit.  Add maple syrup mixture and stir to combine throughly.

5.  Spread mixture into prepared pan, and using a heavy bottomed glass or wooden spoon, press the mixture tightly into the pan.

6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool completely.

Basics: Frittata

For our friends who currently would prefer a life sentence of indentured servitude to an afternoon in the kitchen, we present a series on our staple recipes. Most are simply basic formulas that offer the opportunity to customize and call your own. Seriously, every cook should have these babies in their arsenal.

This was nearly titled 'Rainy Day' Frittata. But I wouldn't want to overuse the phrase, since it could really be applied to most things made under the dreary weather that's been parked over Atlanta for the past year. Though if what's outdoors is keeping you in, this should be your go-to recipe, adapted to whatever you have on hand. I mean, what the heck can you do with several spinach leaves and a few left over crumbles of feta? Oh, I know: slip it in a custardy egg dish and call it a meal.

What makes a frittata a frittata, is the fact that eggs start out on the stove, set, and puff up in the oven. From there, load it up to your heart's content. I have described our most recent fridge-clean-out below, but I'd really love to hear your favorite combinations. Got a good one? Let us know in the comments!

Breakfast, party of 2? Use an eight inch skillet and the recipe below. Or if you've got company for brunch, supersize the recipe and use your twelve inch [increase to a whole onion and nine eggs, advice at Simply Recipes]. And don't think you can only do this if you have a fancy All Clad pan. Anything you have that will go on the stove and stick directly in the oven will do, including a dutch oven. If your skillet has a plastic coated handle, wrap it tightly in foil and it should be fine. Just don't leave in there too long. Note: non-stick is probably an important quality considering the excessive stickiness of cooked egg.

Got pastry crust? Pour exactly this recipe in and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. Now you have a quiche! Don't forget to bake the pie crust a bit before pouring in the liquid or you'll get soggy bottom syndrome. Unfortunately, not as nice as this.

Anything Goes Frittata

Serves 2-3

Base:

6 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup grated Parmesan (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced

My most recent filler:

Sun-dried tomato [or basil] pesto
Prosciutto di parma, diced
Goat cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and Parmesan cheese. Add in sun-dried tomato pesto and prosciutto, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Sauté onions in olive oil in an oven-proof, stick-free skillet, until translucent, about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Add garlic and cook a minute further.

4. Pour egg mixture over onions. Use a spatula to mix things up a bit, then sprinkle in the bits of goat cheese. When the mixture is about half set [jiggle it to find out], put the whole pan in the oven.

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until frittata is puffy and golden. Remove from oven with oven mitts and let cool for several minutes. Although the pan may be out of the oven for a few minutes, the handle is still very hot. Slide it off onto a plate.