See Ya in the Gumbo # 84 {potluck}

See ya in the gumbo!

My great grandpa said this instead of "good-bye."  It means see ya out there in the mix.

Gumbo is a mix of various ingredients.  And no two people make it the same way.

To "make a gumbo" means much more than cooking.  When someone says "I'm making a gumbo," it means family and friends are invited.

I invite you to join this POTLUCK PARTY every Sunday night.

Bring whatever mix of ingredients you'd like.


<a href="http://msenplace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/mm73/potluck%20badge/gumbobadge.jpg " border="0" alt=" Ms. enPlace "></a>
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Italian Skillet Eggs from My Turn (for us)      
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Deeper in the Crust {more searching for the perfect French bread}

It's been awhile since I've been able to bake bread.  A couple of months, actually.

My most recent search for the perfect New Orleans French bread led me to a recipe titled "New Orleans Style French Bread."

Handed to me.  On a plate.  With butter even.  Dontcha think?

I've been trying to achieve that soft, cottony on the inside, super-crisp, crackly on the outside bread  served alongside gumbo and bisque and etouffee.  Turned into po'boys stuffed with fat shrimp or dripping roast beef.

Check out this video--a Bill Geist/CBS this morning piece on Po'Boys (which, let's face it, is really all about the bread) to see what I'm after.

Don't have time to diddle through the Viagra ad or watch all 5:25 minutes?
Really, you can't give me that?  Mile marker 2:23 will explain everything.



My current attempt at perfection comes from the cookbook Louisiana Lagniappe by Mercedes Vidrine.

The dough differs from the previous two French breads I've made because it uses shortening and has three--count them--three separate rising periods.

Now you know why I've been putting this recipe aside for a couple of months.

Since I was getting two loaves out of the deal, I decided to do a little experimenting   I convinced myself that the egg white wash from Tony Chachere's recipe was what made his Hard Crust French Bread crusty.  I brushed one loaf with egg wash and left the other alone.  While the egg washed bread (on the right, above) did turn out crustier, it wasn't as crusty as Tony's Chachere's recipe.

I found the New Orleans Style French bread recipe to be too salty (but I think everything is too salty).  It calls for 1 tablespoon of salt!  The Boy's initial reaction was, "This is good bread."  The Husband's suggestion was to use the Tony Chachere recipe, but increase the amount of salt to match today's recipe.

Keeping score?
Here's how the recipes rank so far.
Me:
1. (Best) Tony's Hard Crust French Bread
2. French Loaves
3. New Orleans Style French Bread

The Husband & the Boy are in agreement :
1. (Best) New Orleans Style French Bread (because of the amount of salt)
2. Tonys Hard Crust French Bread (for texture)
3. French Loaves

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New Orleans Style French Bread
from Louisiana Lagniappe

2 Tbsp shortening
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
1 envelope active dry yeast
6-6 1/2 cups AP flour (I used 5)

Add the shortening, sugar, salt, and boiling water in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and stir.  Add the cold water and cool the mixture slightly to 105-115 degrees F.

Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture.  Let stand for 5 minutes   Stir to dissolve.  Mix in 4 cups of the flour.  Mix enough of the remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic--about 5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl and turn dough to grease the top.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1-1 1/2 hours).

Punch dough down and let rise about 30 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead slightly to press out gas bubbles.  Divide in half.  Shape each half into a long cylinder about as long as the diagonal of a large sheet pan.  Place each loaf on a greased baking sheet.  Let rise, uncovered, in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1-1 1/2 hours).

With a sharp knife, make 1/4" deep slashes in top of the dough.  Bake in a moderate oven, 375 degrees F, for 45 minutes, or until nicely browned.  Remove to cool on wire racks.


Linking with:

Use Your (coarsely ground) Noodle {Couscous with Tomato and Onion}

It's time to "Use Your Noodle" with I Heart Cooking Clubs.  This week we're cooking pasta recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi.

It seems I chose a controversial dish for this round.  Packages of couscous often read: "Moroccan style pasta."  However, New York Times columnist and cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman may be offended by someone referring to couscous as pasta.

Just search "is couscous pasta?" and you can read through some of the controversy for yourself.  One point that Shulman makes is that unlike pasta, couscous is steamed rather than boiled.

Ottolenghi's Couscous with Tomato and Onion was too good to save for another week.  I might offend some people out there, but for this week I'm calling couscous "pasta."

There's a rich, velvety, intensely tomatoey sauce involved.  What goes better with that than pasta?

Notes:
I loved this dish.  I would have liked to get the crust more, well, crusty.  But the couscous started to stick to my pan (which is on its way out) and I didn't want to push things.  Even if the crust wasn't crusty enough, it was buttery.  Hints of browned butter.  Don't have to say more than that, do I?

Overall this came together easily.  The trickiest part was flipping onto a plate...keep in mind that the middle of mine was sticking to the pan.

The Husband liked it.  The Boy did not.  He usually likes couscous of any kind.  He's been sick with allergy problems lately.  Maybe that was it.  All I got was that it "tasted funny."

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Couscous with Tomato and Onion
from Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem

3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée
½ tsp sugar
about 1 lb very ripe tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
about 5 oz couscous
Scant cup boiling chicken or vegetable stock
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a non-stick pan about 22cm in diameter.  Add the onion and cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring often.  Soften the onion, but do not brown.  Stir in the tomato purée and sugar.  Cook for 1 minute   Add the tomatoes, season with salt and black pepper, and continue cooking for three minutes.

While your tomato sauce cooks, place the couscous in a bowl and add the boiling stock.  Cover the bowl and let the couscous steam for about 10 minutes.  Fluff the couscous, then stir in the tomato sauce.

Wipe out the pan you used for the tomato sauce.  Add the rest of the olive oil and the butter.  Heat over medium.  Once the butter is melted, press the couscous mixture into the pan.  Cover, reduce heat to as low as possible, cover, and cook for about 12 minutes.  Carefully check along the edges of the couscous for browning.   The underside of the couscous mixture should be golden and crisp.

Place a large plate on top of the pan and invert. Serve warm or at room temperature.