irish soda bread

I admit I didn’t have too high of hopes for this bread. I’d had soda bread once before several years ago and I wasn’t impressed. It was tough and dense – and incredibly dry. With St. Paddy’s coming up though, I figured it was worth giving a homemade version a shot.

I started off with a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, which always bodes well, and then tinkered with a few of the ingredients. What resulted was addictingly delicious. A little dense, but tender and flaky - almost like a biscuit. It's obviously not a yeast bread, but it's so delicious you don't care.

I admit I wasn’t able to wait until it cooled to room temp – I sliced into it right after I got the photo I wanted. I slathered it with a bit of butter and just about died and went to heaven.

There’s no way this will be relegated to a once per year recipe. It’s so quick and easy to make it will likely become my go-to soup bread. 5 minutes to mix it all together and 40 minutes in the oven? That’s a pretty small price to pay for freshly baked bread with dinner.

Click to read more ...

cheese and herb focaccia

I don't typically think of myself as a baker. I'm much more comfortable chopping and dicing than I am scooping and measuring. This focaccia, however, is easy enough that anybody can make a beautiful loaf of flavorful, fluffy bread in just about no time flat.

The only required equipment, other than the ingredients of course, is a stand mixer. The dough really needs to take a beating while mixing and hand mixers just aren't going to be able to muster enough power to get the job done properly. My Kitchen Aid, affectionately named Trogdor the Mixinator, makes quick work of it and makes me look like a damn good baker.

Click to read more ...

Boone Tavern

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

We just got back from visiting some of TA's family in Kentucky for Christmas, and while I was there my sMiL, B, introduced me to the historic Boone Tavern in Berea, KY.

The small town of Berea is well known for its local artisans and the Berea College - the home of the Boone Tavern. It was built in the early 20th century to house guests of the college and was named after Daniel Boone. The hotel was built with bricks made by students in the Berea College brickyard and is still staffed by nearly 80% students to this day.

The hotel, restaurant, and gift shop is on the National Register of Historic Places and just underwent an extensive (nearly $10 million) renovation with the intent of becoming LEED certified.

B is actually an alumnus of Berea College and was kind enough to share stories of her time on campus and of working in the Boone Tavern gift shop. We had lunch in the Bowling Dining Room and were graced with a lovely server named Ricara [sic]. She gave us the best service I've had in a very, very long time. If I could've boxed her up and taken her home with me I would've tried.

Click to read more ...

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Thick slices of dense, rich banana bread slathered with butter - heaven, eh?

Perhaps not for everyone, but it's not too many steps further for me. I'm a big fan of carbs - essentially anything one can put butter on is my kinda dish. When TA requested a specific recipe that called for banana bread I figured that I'd make a half hearted attempt at injecting some kind of nutrition into this notoriously calories dense treat.

Click to read more ...

Apple Sausage Stuffing

I've spent a lovely Thanksgiving at a gorgeous house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with TA and his mother's side of the family.

I've featured a recipe or three of the MiL's in the past and though I was wary about the addition of Red Delicious apples in..well, anything, this stuffing was one of the best I've ever had.

The combination of the hot sausage and apples makes such a great pairing - I was truly surprised.

Click to read more ...