Ha ha I kid… Just wanted to bring you, our faithful readers reader up to date on where we left off… bread wise…

But a quick question… why is it we baked our tookus off in the hot summer months, but winter hits and we get lazy? Must have something to do with that abuse we so love… Anyone else like this or am I just missing all your BBA posts? Anyway, we picked back up with the Potato Rosemary Bread. And you all thought we forgot about it. We are very devil may care. We don’t follow the rules here. We bake what we want, when we want – so if we are all willy nilly bouncing from like page 234 to page 240 and back to page 236 then that is the kind of mad cap behavior we are going to do ALL RIGHT? (The page numbers I used are not the actual page numbers we bounced too and fro from just an example so don’t send me an email saying that the potato rosemary bread is not on those pages… I don’t know what page it is on. Check the TOC. I am in Chicago and the book is in Indiana… being crabby…)

It was really a very good bread. I found that – I don’t know – due to the potato it didn’t get crispy on the outside like some of my favorite breads have. Of course if memory serves me it wasn’t hearth baked. (If I am wrong, someone kindly chastise me in the comments. Thanks in advance!) SO if I made it again, I may attempt to do it like that so that I can get that crunchy crust, as opposed to the soft doughy one we achieved. It was really tasty none the less.

It made a lot so I schlepped a loaf back to Chicago with me. And then I made croutons with that loaf. AND THEN I made the most delicious savory bread pudding out of those croutons, thus making it less about the bread, and more about my complete prowess in the kitchen… hells yea!

This recipe calls for the use of four 6 – 8 oz ramekins. And is realllllly easy.

Ingredients to collect

4 eggs
1 1/4 c whole, yes whole, milk (Add 1/4 c more of you want a more gooey pudding.)
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 c grated cheddar
2 cups potato rosemary croutons (See note)
4 scallions, diced
optional: 3/4 c cooked and crumbled pork sausage, bacon, chicken, etc.

What to do what to do…

In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, combine croutons, scallions, cheese and meat o’ choice.

Place ramekins on a cookie sheet, and spray or butter each. Next, over fill each with the crouton cheese scallion meaty mixture.

Slowly and as evenly as possible, pour the egg mixture over the croutons in the ramekins till full. Gently push down the croutons. Let sit for 20 minutes.

While waiting for the croutons to soak up the all that yummy egg, preheat your oven to 375°. Gently push down the croutons again, and then place in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Chow down.

Oh wait! Note: You can use any bread you want. Just rip or cut it into bite sized pieces and allow to dry out in the oven till crouton-ey. If you use a non-herbed bread, the incorporation of say 2 t of herbs such as chives or parsley or rosemary or whatever you like, is a good idea…

The really nice thing about these is that once cooled, they pop so nicely out of the ramekins and you have this portable breakfast muffin of sorts. I would ASSUME you could make these the night before and then refrigerate and take them to work for breakfast on the run. I have not tried this as – ha ha – get this – I make ONE at a time and presently work in my skivvies. But when I DO start needing breakfast to go, which is hopefully nearer then I think, I will give the ole’ make in advance trick a try.

Be careful tho, one peek of these by a co-worker and I bet you are expected to bring enough for the whole class…

And for those of you who want to bake every bread known to man and keep King Arthur flour in business, pick up a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and bake along with us as part of the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge.

My bolognese is rather traditional. No I was not one of the 400 Italian chef’s whipping up the perfect and authentic bolognese sauce but I might as well been. Sorry signores – but I bet mine is better. Nyah nyah plippppt…

Acquistare lo seguito (Which loosely translates to whatcha need…)

2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 onion diced
2 carrots – diced
2 stalks celery – diced
4 cloves garlic – diced
1/2 # beef – ground
1/2 # pork – ground
1/2 # veal – ground
1 C Milk (I used 2%)
1 C dry white wine
1 C beef or veal broth
32 oz. can of whole tomatoes
1+ t red pepper flakes (to taste – we added more…)
Bay leaf
Nutmeg (to taste – I add about half a nut)
1 t thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Cosa c’? bisogno di fare (Which loosely translates to the torturous steps to achieve bolognese perfection…)

In a large stock pot or dutch oven melt the butter and olive oil together. Add onions, carrot and celery (also known as a mirepoix) and cook till onions are translucent. About 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic, pork, lamb and beef. Cook till no longer pink. At this point if you would like to drain off some of the grease you can. I like to keep it around for giggles… and flavor.

Add the milk and the nutmeg and cook about 8 minutes. Most of the milk will have cooked down.

If you haven’t drank the wine by now – add that and also cook for about 8 minutes, or until most of it has cooked down.

Add the can of tomatoes, the broth, the bay and the thyme if using dried herbs. (I did in this dish.) Now let this baby barely simmer – uncovered – for about 3-4 hours. I know that seems excessive, and I have made this simmering for only 2 hours. But trust me on this. The longer the better.

About an hour from when you are planning to eat, add the crushed red pepper.

When you are about ready to eat. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, nutmeg, red pepper, etc to taste. Oh and make your pasta. I chose orecchiette because the sauce clings to it like – oh my crazy. Toss pasta with sauce, top with Parmesan and serve. Or don’t top with Parmesan. I know some of you meat sauce aficionados say oh the horror! No parmesan with a meat sauce!!! But I say if you like the damn parm, spread the damn parm love!

And that is it!

In truth, I am not even sure the bolognese made crab ass happy. He ate it awfully fast. I remember him saying something with his mouth full…

Might have been more coffee please…

I just don’t think he appreciates my humor. At any rate, we are going to take a cue from Jeff’s super delicious Spicy Yogurt Chicken and talk about the yogurt part of that dish. You DID notice he said I was MAKING my own yogurt right? Or were you just sucked in by the Frank’s Hot Sauce… AH HA! I know it. It is how he lured me…

When I first moved back to Chicago I was quite OVERWHELMED by the yogurt choices I had. Where I lived prior had yogurt sure, but wow not so many choices… Greek, Organic, Australian, Kosher, Amish, made by virgins under the waxing full moon… And I could also have any flavor I wanted. EVEN BACON!!!! Actually hon… you can stop jumping up and down in your cubicle. I am kidding… no bacon yogurt… anywhere.

I had to try them ALL. Soon my yogurt budget was bigger then my gas budget and I drive over 350 miles a weekend… And sigh yes I know what you are thinking reader o’ mine – is he worth it?…

Sooooooooooo… HOW do you MAKE yogurt you are asking!?!? Easy Peasy… First you get your brother to marry a wonderful girl who buys you EXACTLY what you want for Christmas… even tho it was back in August when you EXPRESSED an interest in a YOGURT maker and your BIRTHDAY came BEFORE Christmas but it is not like I was starving for months and months without yogurt to sustain my livelyhood…

So procure the maker… and then head out for the myriad of ingredients you need for one batch:

- Milk
- One plain Yogurt

Now haul all that craziness into your kitchen have a drink to prepare yourself for the madness that is about to ensue.

(Now these instructions are for my maker: I love it because what is not to love about eating your yogurt out of baby food jars? Hello?)

Bring 42 oz. of milk to a boil over low heat till it reaches 180°.

Let cool till lukewarm – or about 110°.

In a separate bowl, mix some of that milk with the plain yogurt. This is your starter. I use Stonyfield Okios Greek yogurt. 1) I like it lots on its own – not even as a starter and B) It makes a hella tasty home made yogurt! Once well blended, mix with the rest of the milk and then pour into the jars. Put the lid on and set the time. (I go 10 hours.) After the timer goes off, cover the jars with their lids and chill fro a minimum of three hours.NOTE: When you decide to make your very own yogurt. Take heed of the time. If you make it as say oh 6 pm – you will be draggin’ ass out of bed at 4 am to cover the jars and slap them into the refrigerator. I have made yogurt 5 times now. I still have not heeded my own advice. You can stop laughing Jeff…

As you can tell by the first photo – it makes a thick and creamy yogurt that most Greeks would be jealous of. I add granola, berry compote, agave, honey, jelly, etc etc to it and it is all freaky good. And Jeff is plotting on what is the next thing he can marinate in it.

Of course if you don’t have an abnormal addiction to yogurt like me this may be just a hassle and the dairy isle at your local grocer is where you belong. If that is the case let me temp you with a lil offer… Free yogurt! No I am not sending you some of my home made stuff silly – but I would like to set you up with some of my starter. From Stonyfield Farms. They have some sort of yogurt sensor or something and picked up on my unnatural yogurt dependence and sent me some coupons to try their Okios yogurt. So Good. I called the cops on them for trying to FEED my addiction because that HAS to be illegal but they just laughed and hung up. So I did the next best thing. I said HAY can I have some coupons for free yogurt and maybe throw in some cool reusable grocery bag in which to carry home said free yogurt or something – ya know, for a reader… thinking ha ha ha I am my only reader so I get even more free yogurt! THEY BIT!!!

So if you are reading this DON’T ENTER THIS – IT IS ALL MINE!... I mean enter now – leave a comment and let me know how you like your yogurt. With peanut butter or on a gyro or with honey or smeared all over some unsuspecting… um yea you get it. The winner (me) will be chosen (already) on Friday by random number generator.

~ Comments CLOSED – the winner is #8 – BETHIEofVA. So send me your info and I can forward it to the yogurt people!… ~