Tomato and Mozz Skewers

At a properly socially distanced driveway party last week a friend had made some delicious skewers with tomatoes, Mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar. They were so good we had to replicate them and have them all to ourselves.

Ingredients

6 Cherry tomatoes, halved

12 Small Mozzarella balls (Bocconcini) halved

12 Basil leaves torn in half

a few lettuce leaves, torn

Balsamic vinegar (not measured - just for drizzling)

High quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (not measured - just for drizzling)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Large crystal sea salt or salt flakes (e.g. Maldon)

Method

On a small wooden cocktail skewer thread (in order) 1/2 of a bocconcini, 1/2 of a basil leaf, half of a cherry tomato, the other half of the same basil leaf, the other half of the bocconcini. Repeat for the other 11 skewers.

On a plate lay out the torn lettuce leaves. Place the skewers artistically over the plate. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, grind pepper over the dish and sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Sourdough and Buttermilk biscuits.

We have a lot of sourdough starter here at the birdhouse. So we have to find ways to use the "discard" that which is poured off the starter before a feeding. If we didn't pour it off, the starter would grow uncontrollably.
Looking at the discard, it is about the texture of buttermilk. And it has some tanginess to it too. So, why not try a little substitution. We did, and it got the "we can serve this to people: accolade from Madame, so I knew we were onto something here.

Ingredients

2 Cups All Purpose Four, sifted (I sift all flour out of habit)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, straight from the fridge, cut into 12 or so small pieces. (if salted, reduce the salt in the recipe a little)

3/4 cup "discard"

1/4 cup buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F. I am using a fan assist in mine. You *may* need to adjust the temperature up a little if you do not have a fan in yours. Place the rack in the upper middle.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture. It doesn't have to be like fine breadcrumbs, it is OK to have some bigger pieces of butter. It's like making flaky pastry.

Add the buttermilk and discard, and mix by hand to make a stiff dough.. Don't rinse the measurement container - you will use the remains to brush on the biscuits before cooking.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Especially if it is warm (like it is here in Texas today).

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Using some kind of cutter (a cup, a circular cutter, etc.) cut out the rounds. Don't twist the cutter as that pinches the edges and prevents that nice craggy rise. Since there will be some left over, you can recombine it (and if you feel the butter is beginning to melt, refrigerate again). These will hold their shape less well, but will still be delicious.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with some of the liquid scraped out of the measurement cup you used earlier.

Bake on a parchment covered sheet pan for 9 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, rotate and bake for a further 6 minutes (even if using a fan) - until they are golden brown. 

Sourdough Crackers

In the land of sourdough bread baking, we often find ourselves with excess starter. Because as we feed our starters, they increase in bulk. If we kep doing it proportionally we would end up with a starter that would take over the neighborhood. So the vexing question of what to do with the excess came up. This is a baking case where measuring by volume is perfectly OK. So it is really quick and easy to do.

Ingredients

1 Cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp Kosher salt (more or less to taste)

1 Cup Sourdough starter excess (usually called discard in baking circles)

1/2 a stick of cold butter (2 oz)

Method

Combine the flour and salt thoroughly. Cut the butter into the flour as if you were making pie dough (pastry). Pour in all of the starter and mix with your fingers. Initially it will all clump up on your fingers, but as you work it a bit, it will gradually come together and your fingers will be almost clean.

Divide the dough in half and make a small disk out of each half. Wrap the dough disks individually in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes - an hour is better. 

Preheat the oven to 350F. The shelf should be on the upper middle rack. While the oven is preheating, roll a dough disk out on a piece of parchment paper (greaseproof) sized to fit in a 1/2 sheet pan. The disk should reach almost to the edges of the parchment. Transfer the parchment with the dough on it to the sheet pan. Cut the dough sheet into suitably sized (1" square is good) pieces. Dock each square several times with a fork.

Bake for about 15 minutes - until golden brown. You may want to ratate the pan after 9 minutes - depending on how evenly your oven heats.

Allow to cool on the sheet. Transfer to an airtight container - they will keep for about a week (if they last that long before eating them all!).

After the first batch has baked and cooled, I reuse the parchment for the second disk. But do make sure the sheet pan is cool - otherwise the dough becomes unmanageable.

Coronagroni

This is a cocktail that we came up with during the Covid-19 "social distancing" time in 2020. We had some of the delicious Diplomatico Reserva rum at a tasting event a month or so ago, They had made a Negroni like cocktail with it. We ordered a bottle and played around with it. The result was this delicious cocktail. The tart cherry juice cuts through the sweetness brought by the Cointreau.

Ingredients

1 3/4 oz Diplomatico Reserva rum

1 1/4 oz Dolin Rouge Vermouth

3/4 oz Cointreau

1tsp Tart Cherry Juice

Combine all the ingredients over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a twist of Orange peel.

Relax