Rosematic

Rosemary Focaccia

OK, the word ‘Rosematic’ is currently not in the dictionary. Of course not, I made it up. My neighbor friend has a rosemary plant and I sent my husband to collect some for focaccia. You see the dramatic aroma and flavor enhancing power that rosemary plants add?  I don’t want to brag but I am hardly able to do multitasking yet I desired to have bread for last week’s watermelon soup at the same time. I saw hundreds of focaccia recipes on other food blogger sites, but simultaneously taking the process pictures of two dishes creates chaos. Easing the confusion by making in the bread maker is way to go..

Focaccia

Equipment: bread maker, rimmed cooking sheet 12-1/4 in by 8-3/4 in, or two 9 inch round cake pans, parchment paper to fit bottom of pan(s), pastry brush

• Bread flour or all-purpose flour 4 and 1/4 cup
• Yeast 1 Tablespoon
• Sugar 2 Tablespoons
• Salt 2 teaspoons
• Olive oil 1/4 cup plus more for brushing later, 2-3Tablespoons 
• Cold water 350ml (approx. 1-1/2 cup)
• Fresh rosemary 2-3 stems, snip, roughly chopped leaf parts only
• Coarse sea salt (sea salt flakes if you have it) about 1 teaspoon

1. Put flour in the bread maker pan. Make well in the center of flour and bury the yeast there.
2. Add rest of ingredients except coarse sea salt. Select ‘dough’(raise once) menu then start
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3. Place dough on the prepared cooking sheet. Punch down the dough then cover with plastic paper and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
4. Stretch the dough to fit in the pan. Make depressions with your finger. Brush all over the top with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt. Scatter some rosemary leaves on top if desired.
   
5. Cover with plastic paper or moist towel. Raise for 40 minutes.
6. Heat oven to 380F. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.Serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Buon Appetito!

I took some focaccia to neighbor as a way to say “thank you”. She liked it but told me that she prefers more robust Rosematic, I mean rosemary flavor.

Around the neighborhood… Our neighborhood gets high ‘walkability’ scores. A stroll through the neighborhood on a pleasant evening is a blessing.Here birdy, here birdy!. Here kitty, here kitty…This cat is not overly friendly but stayed put until we took the picture – this is the cat’s good side.In our old house we had this mysterious plant. It grew taller than this. Aren’t the leaves huge?Molly, Molly? She was pre-occupied with other dog.Simply gorgeous dahlia in bloom!

Fellow food bloggers are often inspiring and far- reaching too because of their greatness. I tried this recipe from uTry it, her photos are way better…so awestruck.Watermelon Raspberry Lemonade from Gourmand in the Kitchen.

It was so nice of my friend to stop by with the berry- jello-mousse she made. I dressed it up for a photo shoot. Abundance of fruits in season, one of many reasons I like Summer.

We helped with our 16 year-old neighbor’s Eagle Scout project –making three picnic tables - last Saturday. Nice looking finished projects if only I hadn’t forgot to take pictures.

My husband is still playing with new camera feature- minatureing (this is not a word either. I’m so not good with the game of Scrabble). Hey those cars look like toys!

 

 

bon appetit

Prosciutto-wrapped pork loin with roasted apple

The cover photo of the October issue of ‘bon appetit’ magazine was this pork dish. I told my husband that this would be a really great blog post. Why don’t we make it? And by ‘we’ I meant ‘he’, though my request had a little demand overtone to it. This recipe is too long, my head is spinning!  As if I planned this all along, we had every ingredients at hand except pork loin but no sweat, Costco is only a 5 minute drive away and I’m happy to get it for you darling.

My husband is very smart and can follow any instructions with no problem. He carefully read the recipe and voila! he produced a product that is a close match to the picture in the magazine. I, on the other hand, get confused often. I excuse the mishaps for not being a native English speaker yet I don’t get Japanese recipe as it is written sometimes. My oil painting teacher calls it having an artist brain. Oh yeah? I don’t read maps either but that’s an answer to my problems? Then my husband chimes in and said ‘You know, actually reading the recipe would help’. Yes sir!

Ingredients for filling

• 1 oz. (1 cup) dried whole porcini mushrooms- I used mixed dried mushrooms- Put in a small bowl and add 1 cup boiling water. Soak for 30 minutes or until very soft. KEEP the soaking liquid (3/4 cup) cover and chill. Chop finely and set aside.
• 2 oz. (3/4 cup) dried apples- do the same as above but discard the soaking liquid. Chop finely. Set aside.
• 1 lb. kale, bottom stems trimmed
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup minced onion
• 1 tablespoon finely mince garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 tablespoons brandy or Calvados- I used red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. ground pork

For Pork

• 1 (trimmed) 2-1/2 to 3 lb. pork loin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for seasoning
• 3 oz.thinly sliced prosciutto
• 5 sprigs rosemary
• 4 medium apples quartered, or 8 small apples, halved
• 3 tablespoon unsalted butter , divided
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup dry hard cider
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken stock

Instruction for filling

Blanch kale in boiling salted water just until wilted, about 1 minutes. Using tongs or chopsticks, transfer kale to a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate until cool. Remove any large tough ribs.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cook, stirring often, until soft and lightly golden. About 8 minutes. Add chopped mushroom and apples: cook, stirring occasionally, until flavors meld, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, thyme and rosemary, cook for 1 minutes. Add brandy and cook until liquid is absorbed about 1 minute. Stir in 2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool completely . Add ground pork and stir  to combine well,

Instruction for pork

To butterfly, put pork loin on a work surface with the short end facing you. Holding a long, thin, sharp knife parallel to work surface and beginning along one long side, cut 1/2 inch above underside of roast. Continue slicing inward, pulling back the meat with your free hand and unrolling back the meat like a carpet, until the entire loin is flat. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound to an even thickness.   

Uncover pork and season with salt and pepper. place kale leaves on top of loin in an even layer, overlapping as needed and leaving a 1 inch border, Spread filling on top of kale. roll pork into a tight cylinder. Wrap one layer of prosciutto around roast. Tie roast securely with kitchen twine in 1 inch intervals. Tuck rosemary sprigs under twine, spacing apart.

Preheat oven to 400F. Place apples in a roasting pan. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with oil in a large skillet. Brown pork on all sides, about 5 minutes total, then set on top of apples in the pan. Add cider and 1/2 cup water to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits. Pour mixture into roasting pan. Roast pork until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loin registers 140F about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let roast rest for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours.

While roast is resting make sauce. Reserve apples from roasting pan and spoon off fat from juices in the pan. Place pan on top of stove over medium–high heat. Add chicken stock. Pour in reserved mushroom liquid, leaving any sediment behind, and cook, scraping bottom of pan to release any browned bits, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter and season with salt and pepper. Strain sauce, slice pork. Serve with sauce and apples. Note; Prosciutto makes it salty enough for me, no need for additional salt. New variety – Sonya a beautiful coral-colored apple that taste great and was reasonably priced

I hope you had a fun Halloween. We had 242 trick-or-treaters (our record high is close to 400) last night.  I wore an orange t-shirt to celebrate the silly festivity.

Thank you honey for your hard work. Also thank you, ‘bon appetit’. It was delicious!