All posts filed under: Sides and Breads

cranberry quick bread

Quick Cranberry-Orange-Pecan Bread

Published by Kathy Hunt

In a season when we’re all bustling about, struggling to keep up with work, home, and holiday demands, there is no better bread to bake than a soft, sweet quick bread. The name says it all. Because you don’t have to knead the dough or wait for it to rise, a quick bread takes very little effort or time to make. The ease of this bread has everything to do with leavening. In a quick bread, baking powder or baking soda acts as a leavening agent. When either one comes into contact with moisture, it causes the ingredients with which it’s been combined—flour, salt, sugar, butter, eggs—to rise. Unlike with yeast breads, such as whole wheat or Frisian sugar bread, you don’t have to wait for this process to kick in. It begins immediately. Because I love tart, vivid cranberries and this is the height of cranberry season, I couldn’t resist baking a cranberry-studded quick bread. If you don’t have pecans on hand, you can substitute chopped walnuts in the following recipe. Cranberry-Orange-Pecan Quick Bread …

wild rice pilaf with swordfish

Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf

Published by Kathy Hunt

When the nights grow colder and daylight begins to wane, I start to crave heartier dishes. One of my favorites is Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf. Warm and earthy, this pilaf tastes lovely on its own or when paired with a moist, firm, meaty protein such as swordfish. A technique and a dish The name of the Middle Eastern cooking technique and the dish it creates, pilaf consists of rice cooked in a meat or vegetable stock. You might think, “Big deal. I cook my rice in stock all the time. It gives it more flavor.” Fair enough. However, it’s not only in what the rice cooks but also how it’s prepared that makes this dish special. To make pilaf, you first thoroughly rinse and/or soak the rice in cold water. This initial step removes the starch from the rice’s surface. Robbed of exterior starch, each grain remains separate from the others; the rice won’t clump together in your pan. Boiling and then steaming rice Once you’ve washed the rice, tumble it into a saucepan …

pearl couscous salad

Cucumber, Zucchini, Basil & Couscous Salad

Published by Kathy Hunt

We’ve hit that point in the season where, whether you have a garden or not, produce has begun to pile up in your kitchen. Everyone you know wants to share some zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and more. If the prospect of cucumber-infused drinks and zucchini bread has lost its appeal, try something a bit different. Add your summer surplus, along with fresh herbs, to a big bowl of pearl or Israeli couscous. You’ll be happy that you did. Go big with pearl couscous Invented in Israel as a substitute for rice in the 1950s, pearl or Israeli couscous possesses a chewy texture and uniformly round shape. Unlike traditional couscous, it is toasted rather than dried. As a result, it has a slightly nutty flavor. Its larger shape and complex taste make it an excellent addition to stuffing, stews and salads. A few words on raw zucchini Although people usually cook zucchini before consuming it, you can eat this summer squash in its raw form. Keep in mind that the smaller the zucchini, the fresher and milder …

baked polenta with eggs

Polenta and Eggs with Spring Onions

Published by Kathy Hunt

Polenta tends to get a bad rap. People say it takes too much effort and too long to make. I disagree. Stirring up a batch of polenta is as easy as putting ingredients into a saucepan, bringing them to a boil and stirring them together. How hard is that? The tricks to smooth, creamy polenta are to stir often and watch your saucepan. Don’t walk away from the bubbling pot and expect to come back 20 minutes later to the perfect dish. (That holds true for many foods.) More than likely, you’ll return to find a scorched mess. A quick refresher on polenta A staple of Northern Italian cuisine, polenta has been consumed since Roman times. Made from cornmeal, it is reminiscent of hominy grits in its texture and consistency. While grits are made from ground white corn, oats or rice, polenta is comprised of coarsely ground yellow corn. Hence the yellow color of the dish. To cook polenta, you need a heavy bottomed pan, water or stock, ground cornmeal, a touch of cream and …

big bowl of Moroccan couscous salad

Inspired by travels in Morocco, it’s Moroccan Couscous Salad

Published by Kathy Hunt

A food copy editor once advised me not to mention travel so much in my work. It made me, in her words, “sound like a spy.” I had to chuckle because, with my voluminous, flame-colored hair, perpetual, toothy smile and inability to keep a poker face, I would be the world’s most recognizable spy. Because travel informs so much of my writing and cooking, I laugh about this, too. How could I not mention sunny Morocco when discussing Moroccan couscous salad? I couldn’t. Morocco’s national dish That brings me to this month’s offering, Moroccan couscous salad. Once the national dish of Morocco, couscous consists of tiny, steamed balls of semolina. To prepare this food, Moroccan cooks may use a couscousiere, which resembles an oversized double boiler. Desiring authenticity, I had picked up one of these big pots at a souk in Marrakech. After dragging it over the Atlas Mountains, to the Western Sahara and back to Kennedy Airport, I promptly shoved the aluminum contraption into a closet. Unfortunately for my couscousiere, I had found instant …

What Would Tea Be without Scones?

Published by Kathy Hunt

Scones. They’re one of the most British of all British dishes and something I’ve been baking for years. What can I say? I’m an Anglophile who spent her childhood immersed in the British punk and new wave scene, BBC television and the works of every 19th and 20th century British writer that the New Castle Public Library carried. When asked what I wanted as a high school graduation gift, I didn’t beg for a car or a trip to the beach with friends. I wanted a ticket to London and a pair of black Dr. Martens. (I instead got luggage, which I never once used.) Ten years later I finally made it to England, bought my black, 1461 Docs and had my first English tea with scones and clotted cream. That initial tea hooked me on those luscious, little biscuits, and I’ve been making variations of them ever since. Origin of Scones The word “scone” has been around since the 16th century and reputedly comes from the Scottish “sconbrot.” It refers to a soft, flat, …

Pad Thai in Thailand

Published by Kathy Hunt

Pad Thai was my gateway into Thai cuisine. In my early 20s and unsure of what to order at a new, neighborhood, Southeast Asian restaurant, I opted for a simple noodle dish that promised complex flavors, interesting textures and a touch of the exotic. With hints of piquant tamarind, crunchy peanuts and salty fish sauce pad Thai delivered on its word. After that first satisfying encounter it became my go-to meal when dining or ordering out. After 15 years of sampling this specialty on American soil, I wanted it to be the first thing that I ate in Thailand. I’d tried countless Western interpretations of this stir fry. It was time to experience the real deal. This proved surprisingly easy for you can find noodle carts, shops and restaurants serving phàt Thai on almost every street in Bangkok. The same holds true in Northern Thailand. Popular with locals as well as food-obsessed tourists, this dish has a lot going for it. For starters, it’s inexpensive. Depending on where you buy it in Thailand, you can …

sweet and nutty couscous

Honeyed Fruit and Whole Wheat Couscous

Published by Kathy Hunt

Over the years I’ve prattled on about my fascination with couscous, my unwise decision to drag a couscousiere across North Africa and my ongoing dabbling with these granules of semolina. Light yet hearty, savory yet sweet and toothsome whether hot, room temperature or chilled, couscous’s almost incongruous nature is what keeps me hooked. I’d like to see spaghetti pair as smoothly with such disparate ingredients as cinnamon, cumin, cilantro, dill, cucumbers, dried cherries, balsamic vinegar or almond milk. Yeah, it’s a versatile food. Before the holidays I started tinkering with an old favorite, Sweet & Nutty Couscous, transforming it into the following dish. To some, the name “Honeyed Fruit and Whole Wheat Couscous” might sound redundant. After all, couscous comes from durum wheat so all couscous could be considered wheat couscous. However, this recipe works best when you use the mildly nutty whole wheat, pearl couscous. If you have a couscousiere collecting dust on your kitchen shelf, by all means wipe it off and put it to work. Otherwise, instant or quick cooking whole wheat …

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

Published by Kathy Hunt

What’s summertime if not the time to throw theme parties? That’s my motto! With that in mind I recently subjected friends to a night of Danish food and activities. Yes, when torturing friends with vacation photos just isn’t enough, there’s “A Night of Danish Delights.” Recalling the surprising number of ping pong and badminton clubs seen throughout Denmark, I included ping pong, badminton and a Lego building competition on the activity list. Why Legos? Well, Denmark is the birthplace of Legos. Besides, how often can I justify playing with 6 pounds of colorful toy bricks? Never! Denmark is also home to such culinary specialties as pickled herring, smoked salmon, smørrebrød, hearty rugbrød or Danish brown bread, danishes and hindbærsnitte. They, along with Danish tilsit, blue and havarti cheeses, starred in the evening’s menu. So, too, did steamed, heads-on shrimp. As you might expect, these appealed to a select few. There is something about having your food stare back at you . . .. Far more approachable were the refreshing summer salads of seasonal berries and …

unbaked loaf of sugar bread

Frisian Sugar Bread for Easter & Beyond!

Published by Kathy Hunt

I may have visited the Netherlands twice, roamed around the Dutch-influenced areas of Belgium as many times and even have Dutch friends but, until recently, I’d never tried Dutch Frisian sugar bread. A specialty of the northern Dutch province of Friesland, suikerbrood or sugarbread features spices and a generous amount of the large, coarse, stark white sugar known as pearl sugar. As you might expect from a food with “sugar” in its name, this is a sweet bread. Yet, I wouldn’t call it overly saccharine. Eaten at breakfast in the Netherlands, it has a warm, honeyed flavor on par with Danish pastries and cinnamon rolls. When I compare it to such cloying breakfast staples as syrup-soaked pancakes, waffles and French toast, I find this bread to be mild and pleasantly sweet. Although not part of the pantheon of European Easter breads, Frisian sugar bread would be a fitting addition to any Easter brunch. For those abstaining from sweets or baked goods during Lent, it will be a delicious way to break these fasts. For everyone …