2009 April 05 | dinner with Julie

Archive for April 5th, 2009

Turkey Dinner (and Focaccia)

Tonight we ate dinner at my sister’s to celebrate the completion of her new kitchen in record time. She cooked a turkey, and made cranberry sauce and mashed sweet potatoes. I brought a big Ichiban salad and made a focaccia topped with rosemary, garlic and coarse salt, which I forgot at home on the kitchen counter.

I’d love to stay and chat, but it’s past 10 and I still have to finish writing an index, prep for BT tomorrow morning (lamb, ham and creme brulee – we’ll be eating well tomorrow night), and test some faux-fried chicken for Alive magazine. Oh and finish proofing the final pdf files of Grazing so that it can (finally!) go to the printer tomorrow. That is, if I get this index done.

And speaking of indexes (or indi?) – I just discovered while looking up a recipe for lemon potatoes for a friend who couldn’t find it in the index that the reason he couldn’t find it in the index is because the last third of the index is missing. Stupid index. I can only assume that I have reached the maximum size allowed for one page and it is simply jettisoning recipes off the end of the list as I add them. So if you’re wondering where part of the index went, I have no idea, but I’m on it.

Focaccia

Focaccia dough is a lot like pizza dough, but in the end it’s more like a thick flatbread with less stuff on top. Tear it up to use as a dipper or split and fill it to make a sandwich. Focaccia stuffed with tuna and roasted red peppers or roasted vegetables and cheese is fantastic! When you pat out the dough, you could make a single loaf or cut it with a small biscuit cutter to make mini focaccias, which go very well with any kind of spread or can be used in place of crostini.

3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
Grinding of fresh black pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil

Topping:
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed, or 1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary or thyme
1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Combine water and sugar in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and let stand until foamy. If the yeast doesn’t foam, it is either inactive or the water you used was too hot and it killed it. Buy fresh yeast or try again!

Stir in 2 cups of the flour, salt, pepper and olive oil. Knead in enough of the remaining flour until you have a soft dough. Knead for a few minutes, until it’s smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl (roll the dough in the bowl so it gets coated with oil too), cover with a tea towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk – about 45 minutes. If you want to make this ahead, let in rise in the fridge covered with plastic wrap for 24 hours.

Pat the dough into a 9”-10” circle on a baking sheet. Poke holes with your finger all over the top and drizzle with toppings. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour, until doubled. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Bake focaccia for 20-30 minutes, until it’s golden and sounds hollow when tapped.

Makes one focaccia; serves about 6.

Per wedge: 216 calories, 5 g total fat (0.7 g saturated fat, 3.4 g monounsaturated fat, 0.6 g polyunsaturated fat), 5.3 g protein, 36.8 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.7 g fiber. 21% calories from fat.