homemade nutella (gianduja).

At the very top (if not the top) of the list of things you should never ever (under any circumstances) learn how to make homemade sits nutella.   

Making homemade nutella (also known as gianduja) is like going down a rabbit hole - you will realize rather quickly that you can never ever go back to the jarred stuff.  The jarred stuff is cloyingly sweet, it lacks the true hazlenut taste, and it just isn't really that good (Sorry, don't hate me). 

But this stuff?  This is insane with a pronounced chocolate/nut taste that the jarred stuff doesn't come close to. This is why you buy fresh bread from a reputable bakery.  This is why you make homemade crepes.  This is why you find yourself sneaking into the fridge with a spoon in one hand and a thought in your head that you will only have one more bite (such a lie).  Tyler and I have been eating it slathered on toasted sourdough bread with a thin layer of jam and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt (absurdly good).  It's the kind of stuff that will get you through the rest of February and take you through March.  How can you be sad about the weather when you have homemade nutella in your life?  

Homemade Nutella Recipe (Gianduja)

Recipe via the Baking Society (From the guys at Baked Bakery in Brooklyn/TriBeca) 

This can be halved, but why would you do such a thing?   Also – my Nutella firms up quite a bit as I store it in the fridge.  To bring it back to a spreadable consistency, just nuke it for about 10 seconds.  It will return to its normal perfect state.  

6 ounces (a heaping cup) skinned hazelnuts
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chunked
8 ounces dark chocolate (in the 60% range, not higher)
½ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the hazelnuts out on a small baking sheet and roast until toasty brown in color, about 12 minutes (I usually flip the nuts half-way through the bake time for an even roast). Allow to cool completely. Place the hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor and sprinkle with sugar. Process until a smooth, buttery paste forms, about 3+ minutes. Add the butter and process until just incorporated.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate, stirring often, in heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. After the chocolate is completely melted, whisk in the cream then the hazelnut paste. Pour into a glass jar. The gianduja will thicken as it cools.

Spread on everything.    

galley.

Hello, lover.

This is a galley kitchen done extraordinarily right.   

That floor. That stove.  Those lights.

I'm starting to realize smaller can be better.  Quality over quantity (and I will always pick quality).  



Image via Pinterest.

bolognese.

I am currently a bread/carb/pasta eating machine.  

It started with the flu last week when all I could stomach was toast with butter and jam and from there it downward spiraled into an all out obsession with anything made with all-purpose flour. Sourdough bread slathered in homemade nutella and strawberry jam? GIVE ME. Bean and cheese tortillas? I'll take 5!  Pasta covered in cheese?  Two bowls please.   

I like to think I am balancing out the world that is filled with Paleo/carb-phobic eaters.   

This on-going carb obsession culminated this past Sunday with me deciding if I was going to be stuck inside all day because it was too damm cold to walk more then one city block then my god I was going to make fresh pasta with bolognese. (We are officially hibernating people!)

Fresh pasta is up there with bread warm from the oven as one of the most perfect foods.  I mean it's the definition of pure comfort food.  The kind of thing your body craves wholeheartedly this time of year.  The kind of thing you should FEED your body with this time of year.   Bathing suit season is still months away.  

This bolognese recipe is adapted slightly from one I had photo-copied from my mom.  She and I share a love of creating binders filled with recipe favorites and I stumbled across this one one of the last times I was home.  It isn't difficult in the slightest and is the perfect thing to put together on a Sunday afternoon while you are puttering around your home.  It will fill your space with a fantastic scent i.e. the perfume of Italian grandmothers and leave you with a pretty fabulous dinner.  

Bolognese
Recipe tweaked slighly from Mama

Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.  Pasta recipe below.

2 slices of bacon, chopped 1 small yellow onion, minced
2 small-medium sized carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound ground beef, pork, or lamb or some combination of all 3 (I did half beef and half pork)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 13.5 ounces can crushed San Marzano tomatoes 
2 cups beef or chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red or white wine
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed pot set over medium heat, combine the bacon, onion, carrots, and celery.  Cook until the bacon has rendered and the vegetables have softened and begun to lightly brown, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for another 30 seconds.   Add in meat mixture, and use a spoon to break up the clumps. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the meat is well-browned and cooked through. Add a good pinch of salt, a couple of grinds of black pepper, and the wine - continue to cook until the wine has been absorbed.

Mix tomato paste with broth and add to mixture along with the can of crushed tomatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, for an hour or so or until the mixture has reduced and the meat sauce has thickened.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.   Remove from heat, add cream, and mix well.  If freezing or reheating, hold the cream until ready to serve.  

Toss with pasta and serve with lots of grated parmesan.   

Poor Man's Fresh Pasta 
Recipe from the great Lidia Bastianich

Makes about 1 pound  

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large whole eggs
¼ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons water 

Making the Dough:  Measure the flour and shake it through a sieve into a medium sized mixing bowl

Drop the eggs into a small bowl or measuring cup; beat briefly with a fork to break them up. Pour in the measured amounts of oil and water and mix well with the eggs. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour. Toss and mix everything with a fork until the flour is moistened and starts to clump together. 

Lightly flour with your hands, then gather the clumps-or use a flexible plastic dough scraper-and begin kneading right in the bowl, folding the ragged mass over, pushing and turning it, then folding again. Use the kneading action to clean the sides of the bowl. 

When you have formed a cohesive clump of dough, turn it out onto a small work surface lightly dusted with 1/2 teaspoon of flour and continue kneading for 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and shiny on the outside, soft throughout, and stretchy. 

Form the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for 1/2 hour. Store, very well wrapped, in the refrigerator for a day, or for a month or more in the freezer. Defrost frozen dough slowly in refrigerator, and let it return to room temperature before rolling. Defrosted dough will need a bit more flour.

Rolling the Dough: Have your dough at room temperature and cut the dough into 4 pieces.  Work with one piece at a time and keep the others covered.  Have a large trade tray or baking sheet nearby, lightly sprinkled with flour, on which to lay the dough strips. 

Turn the knob to the widest setting  - you’ll work at this setting for a while . Press the first piece of dough into a rectangle, then fold it in half, and roll it through the machine two times.  Fold the now elongated rectangle in thirds, turn the dough 90 degrees (so the fold in on the side) and roll it through. 

Catch the dough; fold it and roll it through again with the fold on the side.  Repeat the folding and rolling six more times (total of 8) to straighten and smooth the dough.  Like kneading this will make if more resilient and workable. 

Resent the roller to the very next setting (slightly narrower) or skip to the third (even narrower).  Roll your strip through, short end in first (don’t fold it again).  Let the rollers grab and move the dough – don’t push it or pull it through – and catch it on your hand as it comes out. 

Reset the machine even narrower; you should be on the third or fifth setting by now.  Pass the strip through once again; it will lengthen rapidly, and you will need to catch and support it as it comes through the rollers.  Flour the strip lightly and cut the dough in half so it becomes a more manageable size.  You should now have 2 long strips about 5 inches wide and 13ish inches in length, dust them with flour so they don’t stick.   Cut them by hand into "pappardelle" width or via the machine.  Repeat the above procedure with the remaining 3 pieces of dough. 

nashville (looking for tips).

I do well when I have things to plan and look forward to.  I like goals and the idea of moving towards things.  Last year I was spoiled with a lot of planning (Wedding! Honeymoon! Life in general!) and this year I've felt a little lost.  So after stalking Google flights I finally pulled the trigger and booked Tyler and I a flight to Nashville. 

I've been dying to visit Nashville for awhile now it just exudes casual coolness.  It doesn't hurt that they have a food called "hot chicken" which I am basically dreaming of eating.  It's essentially spicy fried chicken WHAT IS THERE NOT TO LOVE?!

So if you have any suggestions - sites to see (I have the Belmont Mansion on my list), shopping, or food tips, please share.  I will be dieting from now until March 13th so I can eat massive amounts of chicken and biscuits - totally worth it.   

Image via Bon Appetit.

rugs.

Rugs in the kitchen is the most genius idea ever.  Maybe not the most practical but pretty darn genius. 








Images via here.  

granola bark.

My brother got me the Husk cookbook for Christmas and flipping through the pages has me longing for a trip to the South.  I usually don't feel the need to leave the tundra that is called the Northeast during the month of February (I personally don't mind hibernating) but this year I am feeling particularly antsy.  Not necessarily for the feeling of warmth (though I wouldn't mind some sunshine on my face) but just to explore, to get lost in a new place, to try something new.  Sometimes I feel lost when things feel stagnant.  

While I am still planning a trip to south of the Mason-Dixon line, I discovered I can bring a little bit of the south to me by spending an inordinate amount of money on Anson Mills flours and grains. Anson Mills is one of those places that is trying to resurrect the world of heirloom grains - the kind of thing we ate hundred's of years ago. It's a lofty goal, mostly because people aren't used to eating the heartier grains of the yesteryear but I encourage it.  It doesn't hurt that the hearty grains taste so good. 

So I bought graham flour and buckwheat flour and flatbread flour (which may ruin all other tortillas for me) but the best thing I bought was the 10 POUNDS OF OATS.  Yes - I now own 10 pounds of oats which means I will be eating oatmeal everyday for the next 7 months but I am OK with that. These oats are delightful.  Nutty and filling.  They have me craving breakfast.   They also have me searching for things to do with my plethora of oats (because 7 months of only oatmeal is a lot) and that is where the Anson Mills website comes in handy.  You see THEY GIVE YOU RECIPES so you know how to use their products which is how I stumbled across granola bark which is as if granola and a bar had a baby.    It makes for a fine breakfast and an equally wonderful afternoon snack.   

Granola Bark
Recipe adapted from Anson Mills

Feel free to mix up the add in's.  This is a great way to clean out the cabinets.  It also makes A LOT so feel free to share.  You're recipient will thank you.   

16 ounces (3 cups) old-fashioned oats

6 ounces (2 cups) raw sliced almonds

3 ounces (1 cup) unsweetened shredded coconut

4 ounces (1 cup) raw shelled sunflower or pumpkin seeds

2.3 ounces (1/2 cup) ground flaxseed

5.3 ounces (about 1 cup) dried cranberries, raisins, apricots, or some combination of all

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

5 ounces (10 tablespoons) unsalted European-style butter or coconut oil (or some combination of both)

9 ounces (scant 1 cup) honey or maple syrup

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

  

Line a large rimmed baking sheet (18 by 13 inches) with parchment paper and set it aside.

  

Place the oats, almonds, coconut, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, flax seed, dried fruit, and spices in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.

  

Heat the butter or coconut oil and honey/maple syrup in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Stir in the salt and vanilla, and then pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Turn the granola onto the prepared baking sheet and press firmly with an offset spatula to create an even layer about ½ inch thick. Cover and refrigerate overnight, time and space permitting.

  

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 250 degrees. Bake the granola until it is firm to the touch and deep golden brown, about 1¼ hours. Let cool in the baking sheet; the granola will become crisper as it cools.

  

When cooled and crisp, lift an edge of the parchment paper to loosen the bark and break the granola into pieces. Store in zipper-lock plastic bags at cool room temperature. The granola will keep at the height of its texture and flavor for 2 weeks. Serve with dried or fresh fruit and milk or yogurt, or eat out of hand.