Belly of the Beest

Olive Oil Zucchini Bread

Over the summer we, like anyone with access to a garden, had way too many zucchinis. You can make the usual suspects, but after awhile I just get tired of zucchini. So this year, I shredded the zucchini and froze it. So far I have used it in soup and I have made some baked goods out of it. I wanted to mention this bread now because it is savory. Around Christmas all the recipes you see for baked goods are sweet and this is a refreshing change from all the sugar.  I think it would a great bread for Christmas morning, a brunch or for lunch with a big salad.

The original recipe was way, way too salty because it calls for olives and salt. I omitted the salt the second time around and it was fine.  Here is the recipe if you feel like having a little quick-bread this season!

Zucchini and Olive Breakfast Cake, French-Style
Makes 9×5 inch 1 loaf

1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan and drizzling
1/2 pound zucchini,
1 teaspoon salt
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with olive oil. Grate the zucchini on the coarsest side of a box grater. Place the zucchini in a colander in the sink, and toss with 1 teaspoon of salt. Let drain while preparing the rest of the recipe.

In a large bowl, whisk the minced garlic with the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. In a separate, medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then whisk in the milk and olive oil. Use a rubber spatula to fold the wet ingredients into the dry until barely mixed. Fold in the crumbled goat cheese and the sliced olives.

Press firmly on the zucchini in the colander, pressing out as much water as possible. Quickly fold the zucchini into the batter.

Spread the batter in the prepared loaf pan, and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake loaf for about 45 minutes, or until golden and a knife inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached.

Transfer to a rack to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge to release. Turn out loaf onto rack to firm up before slicing, about 30 minutes; using a serrated knife, cut into 3/8-inch slices, then cut into halves or quarters.

Adapted from The New York Times.

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Nut Free Banana Bread

This nut free banana bread has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mom would make it all the time when I was little, but not often enough apparently. I’m told ( I don’t remember doing this, but I believe it) that I wanted banana bread badly one week, but the bananas were not ripe enough. At some point someone must have told me that bananas ripen more quickly in dark places because I hid a few under my bed. Genius, no? But I lacked follow through, forgot they were there, and my mom found them once they way too ripe.

You have to bake this bread to understand my desperation as a child. As an adult I haven’t resorted to hiding bananas around the house to force them to ripen, but if I want to make the bread and the bananas are still too fresh, put the peeled bananas in a large bowl, add lemon juice, then mash them. It gets the bananas to the right consistency. I have eaten it every morning for breakfast this week and it takes a lot of restraint not to eat it for a snack, for dessert after lunch, for dessert after dinner, for a midnight snack….I don’t know where my mom got the recipe for this bread, but it is perfect and the aroma while it is baking is intoxicating. Thanks for passing it on, Mom! Once it is out of the oven I am like one of these little kids. I have to distract myself in order not to eat it!

Without further ado, the recipe.

Banana Bread a la Mother Rooney

Baking time 60-70 minutes Bake at 325

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about three large ones)

3/4 C vegetable oil

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsps vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

Grease and flour a pan, set aside. Mix sugar, bananas, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl.

Sift the baking powder, soda and flour together, then add to the other mix. Pour into a loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let it cool for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides of the loaf from the pan and remove from pan. Let the bread cool completely before slicing or storing. THIS is the hardest step by far. Maybe a couple small pieces from the bottom of the loaf won’t be noticed if they go missing….

Enjoy and happy October!

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Creole Corn Bisque with Corn Muffin

This post contains three recipes: Corniest Corn Muffins, Creole Corn Soup and Smoky Tomato Butter. It’s a bit long I know, but worth the effort if you try any or all of the recipes.

On Friday, when I opened the refrigerator door I was greeted by 8 ears of corn, still in their husks, which had been waiting for my attention since last Sunday. It was time to do something with the stuff before it went bad. This corn is incredibly sweet and fresh. I was eating it raw a couple weeks ago because it was so sweet and tender. This time though, I wanted to make something a little more complicated. This soup is fairly simple to make and is quite good, but what really makes it taste wonderful is the Smokey Tomato Butter. I had enough corn left over from the soup to make Dorie Greenspan’s Corniest Corn Muffins. All three recipes follow. Tonight is the Tomato Festival dinner party, so those photos will be posted soon!

Creole Corn Soup

I’m not sure where I got this recipe, it was in my files and so I made it. If you find a source for it, let me know!

1 1/2 tablespoon corn oil
1 cup yellow chopped onion
1 1/4 cup carrots, chopped
1 1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup dry sherry – I used some plum brandy and it worked out nicely.
3 cups corn kernels
2 bay leaf
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tsps marjoram,

¼-1/2 tsp red crushed pepper flakes

Directions:

Heat oil in a stockpot and sauté onion, carrot and celery until soft. Add sherry and reduce by 1/2. Add corn and bay leaf. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are very tender.

Puree soup in a blender or food processor and return to clean stockpot. Add cream, salt and pepper. Return to stove, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Let cool and add tarragon. Garnish hot soup with 1 tsp of smoked tomato butter and dehydrated sweet corn.

Smokey Tomato Butter

This one has a source, but I’m hesitating on posting it because it is from a book I want to give as a gift to someone who reads the blog. Sorry!

1 pound ripe plum tomatoes

3 large cloves garlic; unpeeled

1 ½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

4 scallions, white and tender pale green parts, finely sliced

2 sticks of unsalted butter

juice of one lime

½-1 tsp smoked paprika

Sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 475 then place the tomatoes in a single layer in a baking dish and roast, turning them occasionally until the skins are blackened and the flesh is soft, 20-25 minutes. Let cool, then peel and discard the blackened skins. Halve the tomatoes and scoop out and discard the seeds.

While your tomatoes are roasting, over medium-high heat in a dry skillet, toast the garlic cloves for 10-15 minutes, until the skins are blackened. Let cool, peel and discard the skin.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the scallions and cook gently for about 4 minutes, or until they are tender and translucent. Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook over high heat for 3-5 minutes, or until any excess juices have simmered off and the mixture looks thick. Stir often to prevent scorching. Cool.

Transfer the tomato mixture to a food processor. Add half the butter, the lime juice, ¼ tsp paprika, and ½ tsp sea salt. Process briefly to combine, then add the remaining butter and process until you have a smooth mixture. Taste and add additional paprika and salt if necessary.

Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until the butter mixture is firm enough to handle.

Corniest Corn Muffins

- makes 12 muffins -
Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
6 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (add up to 1/3 cup more if you’d like), fresh, frozen or canned (in which case they should be drained and patted dry)

Procedure

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter or spray the 12 muffin molds in a regular-size muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Working in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In a large glass measuring cup with a spout or in another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool.

Serving: The muffins are great warm or at room temperature and particularly great split, toasted and slathered with butter or jam or both (if they’re not in breadbasket at dinner, that is).

Storing: Like all muffins, these are best eaten the day they are made. If you want to keep them, it’s best to wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they’ll keep for about a month; re-warm in a 300°F oven, if you’d like, or split them and toast them—do that and they’ll be that much more delicious with butter.

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Classic Zucchini Bread

This is my go to recipe for using up zucchinis. It is a spicy, soft and satisfyingly sweet bread. It can easily be made vegan if that’s your thing or you can use the eggs. This calls for 1 cup of oil, which might sound crazy, but keep in mind this is for two loaves of zucchini bread so it’s really not that much per loaf.

I’ll be making tiny versions of this bread for our party guests this weekend. We are having family and family friends over to show off the house and to have an excuse to cook/bake for a crowd. The tiny zucchini loaves will be part of a gift bag of veggies each guest will receive.  So without further delay, here’s the recipe.

Shredded Zucchini

Recipe for the Classic Zucchini Bread:

3 eggs (or 6 tbsp of cornstarch)

1 cup veggie oil

2 cups white sugar

2 cups grated zucchini

3 cups all purpose flour (or half white, half wheat)

3-6 tsp ground cinnamon –depends on you taste

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 nuts or raisins if you’d like to use them.

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease and flour two loaf pans. I like to use bundt pans because they are prettier and give you more crust.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. combine flour cinnamon, soda, baking powder and nuts if you use them; stir into the egg mix. Divide the batter into the prepared pans and then bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Chocolate Zucchini Bread

To call this bread is a little misleading. It is more like a cake, a chocolate puddin’ cake, to be precise. Does anyone remember those from Market Day in grade school?

The first bite of this bread left me a little disappointed because I was expecting a more traditional zucchini bread taste, spicy, light and fluffy. This cake/bread is denser, but still fairly light. It has more substance than most quick breads.

The loaf gets a wonderfully crisp crust and stays super soft because of the zucchini. The chocolate chips melt and create tiny molten chocolate pools when the bread first comes out of the oven. As it cools, they harden into a pleasant textual addition to the bread. The cinnamon is fairly subtle. I would add more of that and the allspice if you want to taste more than just chocolate. I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder and it made the bread extremely dark, but the bitter chocolate taste was perfect: not too sweet, not too bitter. I will certainly make this bread again this winter with all the shredded squash I’ll be freezing over the next few weeks.

More zucchini adventures to come, but I’ll try to mix it up with other recipes too. I still have some cherries up my sleeve….they are staining my shirt so they won’t stay there long. To the recipe!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread:

1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Makes one loaf.

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This recipe was made in a hurry the morning we invited my in-laws to stop by on their way to the Croatian church. I didn’t have to make anything, but I figured I better. Plus cinnamon is such a welcoming smell I thought it might distract my mother-in-law,–whom I love– from the bookshelf in our living room. She hates where we put it and won’t drop it.

Anyway, this is fast and a crowd pleaser. I would add more topping next time to create a more distinct line of cinnamon and I would add raisins to the mix because a cinnamon coffee cake without raisins is like Simon without Garfunkel…Good, but not great.

Recipe!

Cinnamon Coffee Cake
1 C. Low fat yogurt
1 Tsp baking soda
¼ C Butter
1 C. Lightly packed brown sugar
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 ½ C. All purpose flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder

Topping
½ C lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Grease and flour a bundt pan or 9-inch square baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine yogurt and baking soda; mix well and set aside – This mixture will increase in volume and fizz up. It’s like a 3rd grade science fair project….

In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until well-mixed. Add egg and vanilla; beat well, about 2 minutes. Sift together flour and baking powder; add to butter mixture alternately with the yogurt mixture.

Topping: combine sugar and cinnamon; mix well.

Spread half the batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the topping. Cover with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining topping. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack.

Normally July would be horrible for baking, but roll with what you are given I guess. More sooner rather than later.

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The truth is, I’ve been meaning to post for ages, but ever since Nick’s graduation party photo assignments, buying a cozy place in Little Italy, and a myriad of family parties has made it virtually impossible to do it. The lack of the Internets for an entire week at the new house also contributed to this delay. We were relying on the free wi-fi at Kristoffers Café on Halsted so we were alternating between frantic internet-related work and gorging on the insanely delicious Tres Leches.

But if we reverse a little bit, back to the move, we had the triple threat of emptying our fridge, feeding our friends and family who helped with the move and the obvious need for a simple, but delicious recipe. Before I packed away my computer I found a recipe that fit both the ingredients and the need for speed and grace. Lemon Blueberry bread. We literally had a giant bag of blueberries from Michigan in our refrigerator, two eggs, half a lemon and a tiny bit of white flour left so this quick bread was perfect for our needs!

I love the way lemon brings out the flavor of blueberries; they compliment each other beautifully. This bread was simple, quick and was gone before the end of the move. Maybe that had more to do with the fact that we were running up and down three flights of stairs with all our earthly possessions…. but I like to think the food tasted good too.

We also had sweet pastries from the Bosnian grocery store. Jelly filled pastries that are as heavy as bricks but a lot more fun to eat. I would also like to give a shout out to one Martin Seay for bringing the coffee to our place. We would have been severely under-caffeinated if not for your valiant efforts and our wallets a little thinner if you and Kathy hadn’t decided to treat us to Metropolis coffee. Many thanks to all who helped with the move and here’s the recipe for “damn, what am I going to do with all these blueberries?” bread. aka bread so easy you can make it while in the middle of a move.

Lemon Blueberry Bread Recipe:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (I just used the juice of 1/4 of a lemon)
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (generous)

Preheat oven to 350F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest
. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

So what does one eat when everything is in boxes for almost a week? Find out tomorrow.

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Spring is struggling to re-assert itself in Chicago! I just got back from a walk around the neighborhood and there are loads of violets and Johnny Jump ups (are those the same thing?) growing next door. The whole lawn in purple. There are too many dogs in the neighborhood to harvest clean violets for cooking, but to continue that lovely shade into my food I decided to make Lavender Tea Bread. The top is sprinkled with a light coating of Lavender Vanilla Sugar from, you guessed it, The Spice House.

I also had some of the sugar on my toast this morning. So delicious. This bread was good, it is very soft and spongy, but in a good way. I was debating making it a little differently next time though. I think I will add more dried lavender, but wrap it in cheese cloth so I can take the flowers out after the flavor has transferred to the milk. I will let you all know, but the next thing I make with lavender will likely be meringue cookies. The house smells wonderful when baking with lavender too. It is subtle, but nice. Also, a little self promotions I took photos for an article about Hot Chocolate in Bucktown. The article is here, but the photos only appear in the paper so you should go buy the paper today. Anyone want to go back with me and eat there? The food looked and smelled amazing! I can’t believe I haven’t been there.

Here’s the recipe from All Recipes I think.

3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender ( I used 1 1/2 tbsp dried)
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

2. Combine the milk and lavender in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat to a simmer, then remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until the mixture is light and fluffy. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk and lavender until just blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

4. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a wooden pick inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

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Here’s the bread, it looks like there aren’t many raisins, but there were more in the middle. I didn’t do a good job of spreading them out evenly.

I’m not sure how this happened, but March is almost over and I’ve barely cooked or baked anything. I’ve been working on some new photo projects and I find myself out of the kitchen/ out of town a lot more lately. The projects are fun and I’ll share links as they progress. This weekend I finally got around to baking more bread and I ended up making half plain white bread and half cinnamon raisin. It is a very easy split to do. The recipe is the same with a slight change at the end. Has anyone out there tried making the bread yet? Or the yogurt? I like making food that features microscopic organisms as a key ingredient…yogurt starter, yeast….Anyway, here’s what to do to make cinnamon raisin bread. It is great right out of the oven, but tastes brilliant toasted for days after it is baked.

Basic White Bread with cinnamon and raisins—From Country Wisdom and Know-How
2 C milk
3 tbsp butter, divided
2 tbsp sugar (this can be omitted or reduced—since this was the first attempt I used it.)
1 tbsp salt
½ c lukewarm water
2 packages of dry yeast or 2 tbsp of bulk yeast
6-61/4 C white flour

3/4-1 c of raisins (plump them first–heat them in a small sauce pan with just enough water to cover them, simmer for about 10 minutes and then drain the water. set aside)
cinnamon sugar to taste (I used 3 tbsp and wish I would have used more)

1. Heat the milk in a medium-size saucepan. Add 1 tbsp of the butter plus the sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved.

2. Stir the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl. Make sure it’s dissolved, then set aside to proof for 5 minutes.

3. Add the cooled milk mixture to the proofed yeast. Beat in the flour, 1 cup at a time, then turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead.

4. Place in a greased bowl and turn the ball of dough around so it’s greased on all sides. Cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes.

5. Punch down the dough, turn it out onto the floured surface again, and knead once more, briefly.

6. Shape the dough into two loaves. Leave one plain if you want. For the second loaf, stretch the dough out into a rectangle. Stretch the dough fairly thin or you will end up with very few swirls of cinnamon etc. I didn’t stretch mine enough. When the dough is spread out sprinkle the raisins, cinnamon and sugar evenly across the surface. Roll up the dough into a loaf. Let the two loaves rise until doubled.

7. Preheat the oven to 400 F

8. When the loaves have doubled in size, slash their tops in two or three places. Melt the remaining butter and brush half on the loaves.

9. Bake for 40 minutes, then brush the loaves with the remaining tablespoon of butter. Bake for 5 more minutes, then remove from the pans and allow to cool.

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Cherry Banana Bread

I just got back from a fantastic trip to St. Paul–I will post food photos from there soon–and the pantry looked a little bare so I had to start baking/cooking today. The trouble is, today was the first nice day of spring in Chicago! It will get cooler again, but today was perfect. I was looking for something quick for dinner because it is too nice to be inside cooking and instead of finding dinner, I found a couple bags of frozen pie cherries I had from last summer. I didn’t feel like making a tart or anything complicated so I decided to try making a bread. This is what I came up with:

Cherry Banana Bread

This will make 2 loaves and will bake for about 45 minutes.
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick margarine
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 cup drained, pitted & cut up sour cherries
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda

Cream sugar & margarine. Add eggs, cherries & bananas. Mix dry ingredients together and add to first mixture. Bake in two 9″ x 4″ greased bread pans at 350° for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

The recipe is simple, quick and easy. And the bread is delicious! Though the dough turned a shade of purple-gray right before I put it in the oven, I blame the cherries. It looked weird, but the bread is good! It looks even nicer with a light dusting of powdered sugar. It might be good with little bits of dark chocolate baked in as well. Let me know if you try that!

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