Cajun Dirty Rice, French Bread, and Monster Bars - a guest post!

I'm so excited to have a guest post today from Sara Beth at Market to Meal!  She is a childhood friend and has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  She lives in Asia with her husband and five children, and has a fabulous food blog full of innovative and delicious recipes.  I asked her to share a go-to "company" menu - one more that I'll add to the "Menus for when People Come to Visit" series. Be sure to check out her blog and leave her some love!


I’m Sara Beth. I live in Asia. It might help if you know that about me. I love to cook, but because of where I live, I don’t get to do much the easy way. I kind of like it that way though. Living overseas we often find ourselves with local dinner guests that we didn’t know were coming until that day. The dish I usually throw together for them is Cajun Dirty Rice. My husband is from Louisiana so this is a “home” dish for him. Our local friends like that its something unique to where we’re from. It also is something they find tasty--despite it being quite different from the local fare. I haven’t served it to anyone that didn’t like it yet, no matter where they come from. I always have ground beef in the freezer and rice in the cupboard. Its easy for me to run to a vegetable seller really quick to get the vegetables--they chop up fast if you use a food processor or hand chopper.  They could also be prepped and frozen ahead of time for an even quicker meal. We usually serve this with some sliced tomato, cucumbers soaked in vinegar (yeah, its a southern thing!), and warm French bread! Even though its a yeast bread, I can start it as late as 4pm and still have it on the table for a 6 o’clock dinner. And just for fun, throw together some quick and easy Monster Bars! They’ll probably be different every time you make them depending on what you have, but they are always super yummy!

Chopped vegetables for Cajun Dirty Rice (image from Market to Meal)

CAJUN DIRTY RICE
Spices:
2 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ¼ tsp paprika
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
¼ - ½ tsp Cayenne pepper (I use a 1/4 for our family)
2 bay leaves

1 lb ground beef
4 cups chicken broth
¾ cup finely chopped celery
¾ cup finely chopped onion
¾ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 Tbs butter
2 cups rice

Brown the ground beef. Drain grease. Add veggies, spices, and chicken broth. Allow to come to a boil. Add butter and rice. Cover and cook on low like you would any rice--about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking. Add additional water if rice isn’t done when water is cooked out. Have a bottle of Tabasco on hand in case you want some extra kick!

French Bread Loaves (image from Market To Meal)

EASY FRENCH BREAD
This really makes a softer crust bread than a traditional French baguette. Maybe more like an Italian bread. But its SUPER yummy and easy. We make it all the time at our house to serve with all kinds of meals!
2 Tbs instant yeast
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs oil
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups warm water
7 ½ - 8 cups flour
Mix yeast, sugar, oil, salt and warm water in a large bowl. Allow to sit just a couple minutes to make sure your yeast was well activated--it will start growing in the water (I tend to kill mine by using too hot of water--if that isn’t a problem for you, then just power on through!). Add flour a cup or two at a time until you can no longer stir with a spoon. Place on well floured surface and knead 8-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic, and most of the flour has been worked in.
Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Divide dough into 2-4 pieces depending on the size of your pans or oven. On floured surface, roll each piece into a rectangle--about 1/4 inch thick. Roll up, starting on the long edge. Place loaves on greased cookie sheets and make 4 to 5 slashes diagonally across tops. Let rise until double--about 30 minutes. Bake at 400F (205C) for 20 minutes.
Optional egg wash: Whisk together 1 egg with 1 Tbs water. Brush over top of loaves just before
baking.
*This recipe also works great to make into smaller sub-sized or sandwich sized buns!

Monster Bars (image from Market to Meal)

MONSTER BARS
1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup peanut butter (creamy, or chunky if you want peanuts!)
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/3 cups total of M&Ms, chocolate chips/chunks, PB chips, nuts, etc (I like to use M&M's and chocolate chunks together!  I also like using peanut butter chips in the mix when I have them.  Sometimes I add nuts or use chunky peanut butter.)

Cream together butter and sugars. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add peanut butter. Stir in oats until well combined. Stir in choice of chocolate/chip/nut add-ins, totaling about 1 1/3 cups. Spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350F (180C) for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven when browning on top and still looks slightly gooey. Don't dry them out by overcooking.

DIY Artisan Bread - Without a Dutch Oven

Man, oh, man.  

I tried this recipe, then I made five loaves of bread in four days.  

I couldn't stop!  It's so delicious, and a lot easier than the final product would make you think.

Artisan Loaf, adapted from here and here (this is the original dutch-oven loaf, I believe)

3 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 c. water

In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, and yeast.  Pour in water and stir until combined.  Dough will be "shaggy" (I love that description.  Once you do it, you'll see what I mean).  Cover with an inverted plate or plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm place to rise for 12-18 hours.  This is so important to get the best flavor.  Longer rise time = more sourdough-y taste.

I preheat the oven, then turn it off before putting in the dough.
Perfect place to stay undisturbed!

The dough gets bubbly!  This is exactly what you want.

And now, an aside.  Pretend that we're talking and I just remembered something I wanted to tell you in the middle of an otherwise normal stream of thought.  I've had my eye on loaves of bread like this for a while.  I also thought that I would have to purchase an enamel-coated cast iron dutch oven in order to do it.  I'm all about nice kitchenware, but hadn't quite figured out how I could really justify spending $250 for the dutch oven I wanted.  I knew that baking this bread in a pot with a lid is the key to the crusty crust and chewy crumb, but I thought I had limited options.  

But then I got to discuss the art of artisanbreadmaking with Jessica over at Fifteen Evergreen.  She said it could be baked in anything ovenproof, as long as it has a lid!  I made two loaves the very next day.

I have a 2.5 quart round Corningware dish with a lid - that's my first choice for baking this bread until I find a Le Creuset at Goodwill for $10.00.  (By the way, if YOU find one at Goodwill before I do, please think of me.  I'll pay you back!)

I said I made two loaves at once.  I used the Corningware dish for one loaf ... and this for the other:

Yes!  A loaf pan inverted onto an identical one.  

Now you know that you can make awesome, delicious, artisan bread without a dutch oven.  You just need something ovenproof with an also-ovenproof lid.  Or, you can always borrow Jessica's dutch oven ... 

Now, I'm going to go back to the recipe.  Remember, dough rises for 12-18 hours, etc.  

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 450.  Put your baking dish (dutch oven or otherwise) in the oven with the lid for 30 minutes.  

Meanwhile, scrape your dough out of the bowl onto a heavily floured surface.  Fold it over on itself a few times.  Cover and let rest until the 30 minutes of dish-heating is done.

After 30 minutes, remove the dish and lid from the oven.  Dump in the bread dough (I prefer seam-side down, but you can do whatever) and replace the lid.  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 15-30 minutes or until loaf is brown and done.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.See, I told you it was easy!

homemade artisan loaf of bread!  

My last set of posts were about making dough ... seems only fitting to follow up with making this kind of dough!

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

Makes 2 pizza crusts

1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
3 1/2 c. plus 1 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. active dry yeast

Pour the water into the bread pan of a standard bread machine.  Add the melted butter.  Sprinkle the flour over the liquid to cover.  Place the salt and sugar in 2 corners of the pan.  Indent the flour in the middle without exposing the liquid and add the yeast.  Set the bread maker to the pizza dough or dough setting and press start.

Remove the finished dough from the pan.  Knock back gently on a lightly floured counter and divide in half.  Roll out each piece of dough into a 16-inch circle and place on greased pizza pans or baking sheets.  Push up the edges slightly.  Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 15 minutes.

For the toppings, spread desired sauce over each circle, then sprinkle cheeses and add toppings.  Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until sizzling.

Our bread machine is one of those kitchen things that we got as a wedding gift and I thought I'd never be able to justify keeping it around.  It's big, and heavy, and takes up valuable shelf space.  Turns out, it's one of four kitchen appliances that I'd replace in a heartbeat if it stopped working (first one to correctly guess the other three gets a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies sent to you).

This is my go-to pizza dough recipe these days.  I have tweaked it a bit from the original source (a handy book called "Bread," by Parragon Publishing), but I've used it over and over with really good results.  It's a soft dough with a chewy crumb.  As the picture reveals, I don't usually get it into a good circle.  Our pizzas are pretty wonky around here, but that's all the better for me because the crust is my favorite part anyway.

If you wanted to make this dough but don't have a bread machine, you can still do it!  Look up a recipe for homemade pizza dough, and follow the conventional directions but use the ingredients and proportions of this recipe.

Indian Chicken, Spiced Broccoli, and Simple Bread

You know I don't typically do the whole meal in one post, but since this is what we had all together, I figured I should share it all at once.  Those of us at dinner decided that each part of this meal complemented the other parts, so I was glad that at the last minute I had chosen to do the broccoli and bread (originally I was just going to serve the chicken over rice).  Don't be intimidated by the ginger-garlic paste in the broccoli recipe ... I had some of the paste leftover, which I will use to make more broccoli soon!

Indian Chicken (adapted from the recipe found here)

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 large onion, diced

1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp. garam masala

1/2 c. plain yogurt

Place all ingredients in the crockpot minus 1 tsp. of the garam masala and the yogurt.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  30 minutes before serving, shred the chicken.  Stir in the yogurt and taste.  Add more garam masala if desired.

Spiced Broccoli (adapted from The Everything Indian Cookbook by Monica Bhide)

1 1/2 - 2 c. broccoli florets

2 Tbsp. ginger garlic paste (recipe following)

2 Tbsp. flour

1/2-1 tsp. salt

oil for frying

In a bowl, toss broccoli florets with ginger-garlic paste, flour, and salt until evenly coated.  Let florets marinate for 15 minutes.  Heat 1 inch of oil over medium heat; when hot add the broccoli in batches.  Cook on each side until pale brown in color.  Remove to a paper towel to drain.  Continue until all the florets are fried.

Ginger-garlic paste: In a blender, combine 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves with 1/2 cup peeled fresh ginger and 1 tablespoon of water.  Puree into a paste.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Simple Indian Bread/Chapati (from The Everything Indian Cookbook by Monica Bhide)
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. warm water
vegetable oil for greasing
2 tsp. melted butter

Combine flour and salt.  Add the water slowly, kneading as you go.  Make a soft dough, kneading for at least 10 minutes.  The final dough should be soft and pliable, not sticky.  Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes.
Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour.  Cut the dough into 12 equal portions and cover again.  Roll each ball of dough into a 5-6 inch circle and cover with a damp cloth again.  Heat a dry griddle on medium heat.  After about one minute, small blisters will appear on it.  Flip it to the other side for about one minute until dough is cooked and dry.
Brush with melted butter and serve warm.

A dough that will live in infamy

I got the recipe for this no-knead pizza dough from here, a blog that I ran across that I'm absolutely in love with. I just have to say that I aspire to post as frequently and creatively as albanyjane, and leave it at that. 
Just be advised that you need to start this the day before you want to eat it. It's so worth it though! Long rise time = incredible tastiness. 

No-knead pizza dough 
Makes 3 8-10 inch pizzas (serves 3-4) Amazing, by the way. Best pizza dough I think I've ever had, if you take away my goof-up*. In case you wondered how I feel about it. 

Combine: 3 c. flour 
1/4 tsp. yeast 
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt (yep ... 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS of salt. I think you could probably cut down on it but I'm a little afraid to because I don't know how important it is. My husband did say he thought the dough was a little too salty though so I think I might tweak it next time.) 
Add 1 1/2 c. water (a little more if the dough is too stiff) and mix. 
Cover and let rise for 18+ hours (I let mine rise 22 hours, from 6 PM on Saturday night until 4 PM Sunday). Don't scrimp on the rise time. 

When you uncover it, it should smell a little funky and have lots of air bubbles in it. Oh, joy.  
Flour a large cutting board. Pour all dough out onto board and sprinkle it with more flour. 
Fold over a few times (sounds like kneading to me, but I guess for the integrity of the recipe name we can just say it's an easy folding of the dough). 

Divide into three sections, re-flour the cutting board, and put the dough back on the board, cover, and allow it to rest for 1-2 hours (at this point, if you're using a smaller cutting board, you can flour another board or two and divide the dough between boards. Or, you can follow albanyjane's directions that involve flouring a cloth and all that. I avoided placing my dough on a cloth and just left it on the cutting board, and it was just fine.) 

When time's up, heat oven to 450 degrees and uncover the dough sections. 

Place one on parchment paper OR a greased baking sheet (you can throw some cornmeal on the sheet before putting the dough on it if you're adventurous). 

Spread out the dough to the desired size (I ended up just plopping it down and pushing the edges out until they formed 8 to 10 inch ovals ... ). 

You can put whatever you want to on there ... we did an olive oil/salt/pepper base for each one, then some variation of sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, colored peppers, bacon, cheddar, and manchego cheese. You could go fancier or just put on it whatever you wanted. I think next time I'm going to try a pesto base with a few veggies. It'd also be good with just some fresh herbs. OK, I'll be honest. I think it'd be just as good if it didn't have any toppings. I'm crazy about this stuff ... 

If you put the dough on parchment paper, slide the parchment paper onto a baking stone or cookie sheet. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and dough (though still pretty light) is brown. And as you're eating it, think of all the amazing things you can do with this dough. It will change your life. 

*goof-up follows: First, I'd like to defend myself a little bit. I substitute. I use sour cream instead of milk, beans instead of corn, lentils instead of ground beef, and mustard in place of lemon juice (sometimes). And every time, whatever I'm making comes out just fine. I experiment (especially when guests are coming.) 

Why not? I joke (if the fact comes out that dinner is a new recipe I've never tried) that if it fails, I'll treat them to a burger from the fast food restaurant down the street. And every time, whatever I'm making comes out just fine. I improvise. If I don't have what a recipe calls for, I make a judgement as to whether or not it's actually an important ingredient. If I don't have the right size of pan, I find a different one. And every time, whatever I'm making comes out just fine. 

So, I had the basic ingredients for this lovely dough. The first twenty three hours and forty-eight minutes went by without a hitch. When the dough was ready, I opened my drawer to pull out my parchment paper and realized I didn't have any. Who cares, right? You can use wax paper instead, right? I remembered my mom lining cake pans with wax paper, and it peeled off so beautifully after baking I knew I was on to something. 

So, I tore off three sections of wax paper, plopped down my dough, spread it out, topped it with cheeses, and baked said lovely pizza for the required 10 minutes in the 450 degree oven. 

I think my first clue should've been how much the dough stuck to the wax paper as I was spreading it out. But I didn't really realize anything was amiss until I removed the first pizza from the oven and started to remove the wax paper. There was no lovely peeling-off of the paper. It adhered. It wasn't just like the dough was kinda stuck to the paper. The paper had melted into the dough. 

Have I mentioned yet that we had some friends over for dinner? And that I had joked about treating them to a burger if this didn't work out? No one got any burgers, but we all approached our waxy pizza in different ways ... 

friend (female): encouraging. eat pizza while trying to avoid wax paper. comment on tastiness of food. ask for recipe. some scraping of pizza off of wax paper. 

friend (male): deliberate. eat pizza layer by layer: topping first, then dough. use knife to scrape wax paper to get some dough off. continue to use knife, focusing on 4x4 inch square of paper, with ultimate goal being to remove every vestige of food from wax paper. laugh at absurdity of working so hard for a square of dough. still working on first piece of wax paper pizza when second piece is served. 

husband: methodical. tear exposed edges of paper off. use knife and fork to cut through pizza, then use knife to pry lower layers from wax paper.

me: hungry. try a couple of times to peel off wax paper before taking bite. impatient with ordeal. eat pizza AND wax paper after brief contemplation of level of toxicity of ingested paper.

Moral of the story: stop joking about the burgers.