This is a simple and easy side dish that turned out extremely tasty! I liked it, and symbol went absolutely feral for it.

Smothered Cabbage

From Cook's Country June/July 2017, by Alli Berkey (p. 7)

Ingredients

• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 1 large green cabbage (~1350g), cored and cut into 2cm pieces
• 360mL (1½ C) unsalted chicken broth
• 280g potatoes, cut into 2cm pieces
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper, ground

Directions

1. Melt butter in a dutch oven or steep-walled skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened, 4-5 minutes.
3. Add cabbage, broth, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, until potatoes are fork-tender, ~15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Increase heat to medium-high, uncover, and cook until remaining liquid has boiled off, stirring occasionally.

English Muffins (Sourdough)

I've made English muffins before, but it doesn't look like I ended up doing a write-up for them. I probably didn't think they needed their own write-up since I just used dough from another bread recipe to make them. But I kind of wish I'd written out the instructions now. Maybe I'll try doing them that way again one day and try to actually document the process.

This batch of English muffins worked a little differently. It doesn't piggy-back on another bread recipe. It's a dedicated English muffin recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. I went with this one because it was a convenient way to use up some more sourdough discard. (It can also be made with ripe sourdough starter, but I wanted to do it with discard.)

I followed the recipe pretty closely for this round and rolled with the white flour it called for. I did end up having to add a little extra water, but it seemed to work well otherwise. Although I think I probably should've kneaded the dough for a good bit longer than I did. (I kneaded it for ~20 minutes, and I think it probably needed at least 30 or 40.)

I'd like to try making this with whole wheat flour next time, but I think I might have to scale back the amount of flour (and/or increase the amount of water) for that since the bran will make it a bit thirstier than it would otherwise be.

English Muffins

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

• 830g all-purpose flour
• 55g skim milk powder
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 455g water
• 227g sourdough discard (100% hydration)
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• cornmeal, for dusting

Directions

1. Combine flour, milk powder, sugar, salt, and yeast and make a well in the centre.
2. Pour in water and sourdough discard.
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet, working from centre outward.
4. Once flour has been mostly incorporated, turn dough out onto work surface and knead for ~10 minutes, working more water in as needed.
5. Smear half the butter on the work surface and knead the dough on top of it to incorporate the butter.
6. Repeat with the remaining half of the butter.
7. Knead for at least another 10 minutes, working additional water in as needed to form a nice, supple dough.
8. Cover and let rise for 1-3 hours.
9. Knock back when ready and divide dough into two equal portions.
10. Round each portion, cover, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
11. Working with one portion at a time, roll out to a thickness of 1-1.5cm.
12. Use a 7 or 8cm biscuit cutter to cut out circles and dust both sides with cornmeal.
13. Repeat with second portion of dough.
14. Combine scraps, roll out and cut and dust as above.
15. Repeat until all dough has been used.
16. Cover muffins and set aside to rise for ~60 minutes.
17. Heat a cast iron griddle/tawa over low to medium-low heat.
18. Cook the muffins on the ungreased griddle: 5 minutes, then place a cake tin or other not-too-heavy, flat object on top and cook for another 5 minutes; flip and cook for 5 minutes on the second side.
19. Place on a wire rack to cool.
20. Split, toast, and enjoy!

This recipe was meant to be made with pork tenderloin. I didn't have any pork tenderloin, but I did have a cottage roll that I'd picked up on sale a while back. I figured that maybe if I left the salt out of this recipe and boiled the roll for a while first, I could get away with using it here.

My cottage roll was a little over 1.7kg and the recipe only wanted 900g of pork, so I ended up boiling it until it was cooked through and then cutting it in half and using half for this recipe and half for a boil-up type dinner the next night.

I'm really happy with how this came out. The apples were delicious. And TF really appreciated the generous quantity of caraway. Unfortunately the Kidlet wasn't a big fan of the apples. But we all liked the pork. And it went really well with some mashed potatoes.

Caraway Pork with Sauerkraut and Apples

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2016

Ingredients

• 2 pork tenderloins (~450g each)
• 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. oil or bacon grease, divided
• 2-3 apples, halved, cored, and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 450g sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill¹

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250°C (475°F).
2. Pat pork dry and sprinkle with caraway seeds, salt, and pepper.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the pork and cook until browned on all sides (5-6 minutes). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
5. Add remaining oil, apples, and onion to pan and cook over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
6. Add sauerkraut and sugar.
7. Place pork on top of sauerkraut mixture.
8. Bake at 250°C (475°F) until pork reaches an internal temperature of 60°C/140°F (10-15 minutes).
9. Remove from oven, cover, and rest for 5 minutes.
10. Slice pork and sprinkle sauerkraut mixture with dill.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh dill so I subsitituted 1 tsp. of lightly bruised dill seeds. I added them in with the sauerkraut instead of waiting until the end since I felt like that would give better flavour. If using the fresh herb, I would've added it at the end like the recipe says. ^Back

A quick mashed potatoes recipe to go with some pork. Unlike some mashed potatoe recipes (written by people who are wrong), this does not call for peeling the potatoes first. The recipe as written calls for pre-melting the butter, which I did not do with no ill effects. I've also added some green onions.

Rustic Mashed Potatoes

From Cook's Country April/May 2019, by Matthew Fairman (p. 21)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 C half-and-half cream (or a 1:1 mix of heavy cream and milk)
• 10 tbsp butter, cubed
• 2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp + ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper, freshly ground

Directions

1. Put 1 tsp salt and potatoes in a large pot. Add water to cover by 2cm.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook until knife-tender, ~15-20 minutes.
3. Drain potatoes and mash vigorously.
4. Stir in butter and cream until butter is melted and mixture is smooth.
5. Stir in green onions, pepper, and remaining salt.

Turkish Flatbread (with a sourdough twist)

This is a very simple flatbread recipe that I found online. It just calls for mixing flour, water, yeast, and salt; waiting; kneading; waiting some more; and baking with a few seeds sprinkled on top. Not much to it, but I liked the sound of it and I figured it'd be nice to have a low-effort, simple bread to try out.

I was just going to do it recipe as written, but then I decided that maybe I'd try swapping in whole wheat flour for the pastry flour. (I used hard whole wheat, but my understanding is that the bran can sort of get in the way of the gluten and make it behave a little softer than white flour with the same protein content, so I figured it'd probably be fine.)

That was going to be my only change. Until I looked in the fridge and saw how hungry my poor starter was looking...

I didn't really want to try to convert it to a purely sourdough recipe. So instead I figured I'd try leaving out 50g each of flour and water and adding in 100g of sourdough discard. I figured, given that the gluten has mostly been broken down in a hungry starter, that would further "soften" the flour content to make up for not using any actual soft wheat. I also reduced the yeast called for by just a tiny bit. Not much since I figured the discard wouldn't have much leavening power, but it made the measuring easier and I figured it wouldn't hurt to nudge it down a hair.

It seems to have worked quite well. Although I probably cut the proofing a bit shorter than was ideal, but I was in a hurry. Next time I'll try to be a bit more patient with it.

Thinking about it, I might also be tempted to add in a little oil next time as well. I'm not sure about that choice, but I feel like a touch of oil in the dough would go well.

Turkish Flatbread

Adapted from The Fresh Loaf

Ingredients

• 250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) white flour
• 150g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 100g sourdough discard
• 250g water + extra for kneading
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil (optional)
• 2-3 tsp. sesame and/or nigella seeds

Directions

1. Combine flours, yeast, and salt. Mix and make a well in the centre.
2. Add sourdough discard, water, and oil (if using).
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet, working from centre outward.
4. Once flour has been incorporated, cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
5. Sprinkle a bit of the extra water on your work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
6. Begin kneading, working in a bit of exra water as you go. (Maybe 2 Tbsp. water total.)
7. Once dough is smooth and supple, shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for 30-45 minutes.
8. Divide into two equal portions, round each portion, cover, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
9. Flatten each portion into a circle or square and place on a greased baking sheet.
10. Sprinkle breads with seeds, cover, and proof for 30-45 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
12. Place bread in oven and reduce temperature to 220°C (425°F)¹ and bake for ~15 minutes.

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¹ I forgot to reduce the oven temperature. Still turned out okay, but I'll try to remember for next time. ^Back

I've been wanting to try this cake for ages. I loved the idea of peaches and cornmeal. I was wary of the caramel -- not because I don't like caramel, but because I never seem to have good luck with making it -- but I was willing to give it a go.

In the end, I think I was more excited by the making of the cake than the eating of it. TF loved it though, so that was gratifying.

Peach Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake

From Cook's Country August/September 2016

Ingredients

Caramel

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt

Cake

• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 340g frozen sliced peaches (or 450g fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into wedges)
• 140g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 2 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Lightly toast the cornmeal in a 25cm (10") skillet, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel and melt the butter for the caramel over medium heat.
4. Add the sugar for the caramel along with the salt and cook, whisking constantly, until sugar is melted and smooth (3-5 minutes).¹
5. Remove from heat and carefully add the peach slices. Try to make a pinwheel pattern along the outside edge and then fill in the middle as you're able.
6. Whisk the flour into the cornmeal and sift in the baking powder and baking soda. Mix in the salt as well.
7. In a separate bowl, combine milk, orange jest, orange juice, egg, egg yolk, sugar, and melted butter and whisk until smooth.
8. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
9. Pour batter over peaches and spread into an even layer.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes.
11. Transfer entire skillet to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes.
12. After 15 minutes, place a serving platter over the skillet and, using potholders, invert the cake onto the serving platter.
13. Let cool for ~1 hour before serving.
14. Serve as is or topped with whipped cream.

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¹ It will go through a phase where it looks dry and crumbly and seems like something's gone horribly wrong; just keep going! Keep cooking and whisking and it'll eventually melt into a nice brown caramel. ^Back

Just a quick write-up because today sucks and I'm not feeling great.

Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Kale, and Cannellini Beans

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2016

Ingredients

• 250g fettuccini
• 300g frozen kale
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 450g chicken sausage (or store-bought)
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 (540mL) tin cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
• 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 1 c. grated Pecorino Romano
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the pasta. (Add a little salt to the water too if you like.)
2. Cook pasta until al dente. Add kale for last minute or two of cooking. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-8 minutes.
5. Add garlic and pepper and cook for another minute or so.
6. Add cannellini beans with their liquid.
7. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
8. Add 1/2 c. of the cheese, lemon juice, and bean mixture to the drained pasta and kale and stir to combine.
9. Serve topped with remaining cheese.