Category Archives: Recipes

How to make English muffins

Making English muffins has been on my list of “things to try” for several reasons: 1) English muffins are delicious and versatile, 2) store-bought are kind-of expensive and often have weird ingredients, and 3) they seem like they shouldn’t be that hard to make.

My first attempt came out edible, but disappointing due to the decided lack of rising.  I was too bummed to take photos of version 1.0, but they were flatter than my chest, and that’s saying something.

Matthew made version 2.0, with a few small tweaks to the original recipe I used from the back of  a bag of Arrowhead Mills flour:

The blacked out portions come courtesy of Matthew, who takes issue with any kind of branding.  Obsessive compulsive, much?

We tweaked it by adding a little extra yeast and honey (amounts noted in the photo), as well as adding wheat gluten (this helps the rising in bread recipes with a lot of whole wheat flour).

We also changed the directions a bit.  Combine the yeast and warm water (100-110 degrees F) as indicated, but then add 1 cup of the flour before adding anything else.  This protects the yeast from activating too quickly when the honey is added.  After you mix in the cup of flour, go back to the printed directions.

The directions say to “stir until smooth,” but you’ll actually need to get your hands in there and knead it for a bit.  After we made a nice dough, we covered it and let it rise for a bit in the bowl (maybe 30 minutes — it didn’t really rise much), then proceeded to roll it out.  Roll it to about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thickness.

This is how the muffins should look post-rise.  We let these rise for about an hour-and-a-half.  Then we fired up our electric griddle (set to “medium”).  A cast iron pan on the stove top would also work for these.

The result?  Beautiful, delicious English muffins on the second attempt!  Matthew has the baker’s touch.  Luckily, we doubled the recipe, so we have twenty muffins.

In addition to more traditional preparation methods (butter and a bit of jam or as a base for a fried egg breakfast sandwich), English muffins make great burger buns or bases for sandwiches.  Choose open-faced for the perfect ratio of toppings to breadiness.

Under the broiler with fresh figs and goat cheese

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Note on the recipe: I looked on the Arrowhead Mills (big black marker here if you’re Matthew) website, because I really just wanted to post a link to the recipe, but the recipe wasn’t there.  I’m using a photo of the recipe instead of typing it out because, well, I’m  lazy.  If you click the photo, it should be plenty clear and large enough to read without too much trouble, but if that’s not the case, let me know.

Butter with a side of vegetables

If you’re looking for decadent vegetarian comfort food, The Barefoot Contessa’s “Vegetable Pot Pie” is your dish.  While the vegetables make this somewhat healthy, don’t be fooled, it has TONS of butter.  (I’ve concluded that if a recipe doesn’t have at least a pound of butter, it’s not a Barefoot Contessa recipe.)

In our most recent rendition, we made this with vegetables almost entirely from our garden: butternut squash, carrots, onions, potatoes, green beans (subbed for the asparagus), and parsley.  The only non-garden veggies were the fennel (which we tried to grow) and the “small frozen onions” which I really don’t like that much anyway and may just omit next time.

My pastry chef makes the pie crust with 100% whole wheat pastry flour — healthy and so much tastier and more interesting than plain old white flour!

A few notes:

  • We skip the Pernod (an anise flavored liquor).
  • Don’t skip the saffron!!!  It’s pricey, but a little goes a long way — it’s important to the flavor here.
  • To make it vegetarian, we use veggie broth or stock instead of chicken stock.
  • We tend to be generous with the amount of vegetables.
  • To make it healthier, eat a small serving of the pot pie with some lighter side dishes to round out the meal.  I served this with a tomato salad last week.

Chinese red noodle beans

Red noodle beans growing on the corn stalks in our garden

The folks at BADSEED Farm and Market picked Chinese red noodle beans as the runner-up “sexy veggie of the week” a few weeks ago.  In the related post on Kansas City Food Circle, they describe the beans:

“They boldly trellis up my massive corn stalks and gracefully hang from the plant like some other-worldly red serpent swaying in the deep blue sky. They taste just as wild with a nutty, crisp, and fulfilling flavor.”

Now that you know a little more about these long and lean beauties, on to the recipes!

Simple preparation of lightly steamed beans with garlic olive oil and s&p.  Steam for 7-10 minutes, or until desired tenderness.

Saute onion and garlic in a bit of oil, then add beans.  Mix almond butter with enough water to achieve a saucy consistency and pour over green beans.  Finish with a touch or soy sauce or salt.

Start with lightly steamed beans and roasted beets.  Toss together with olive oil, a good balsamic, and s&p.

Little bit of everything

Clockwise from top left: green bean & roasted beet salad (a twist on the salad here); “Whatever,” Matthew’s name for our tossed-together sauteed summer veggie dish (eggplant, yellow squash, carrots, green zebra tomatoes, celery); grilled okra (super easy and delicious), dipped in spicy homemade catsup; and, last but not least, lentil sloppy joes, served open-face on a homemade English muffin.

This dinner was a combination of leftovers (the sloppy joes and the roasted beets) and must-go veggies from the garden and farmers’ market.  ‘Twas quite the feast!

Twisted Caprese

When Matthew suggested adding peaches to our Caprese salad last week, I reacted with a bit of skepticism.  However, having recently read Emily’s post on combining tomatoes and peaches, I was willing to give it a try.

Chopped tomatoes and peaches with fresh basil, balsamic, olive oil, mozzarella cubes, and s&p.  The verdict?  A refreshing and fun twist on a Caprese salad — we’ll still eat the traditional, non-peach, version most of the time, but we enjoyed the change.

I made a lentil and millet pilaf to round out the meal, with whatever fresh veggies struck my fancy (carrots, garlic chives, yellow squash, orange bell pepper), dressed with some garlic olive oil*, a bit of red wine vinegar, and some s&p.  I stirred in some Dijon mustard at the end, one of my new favorite ingredients.  Plus some avocado (so NOT local) for added deliciousness!

* To make garlic olive oil, simply pour some olive oil in a jar and add a couple of cloves of minced garlic (a garlic press comes in handy here, but you can also just chop it up very small).  For maximum flavor, let sit a couple of days before using.  Keep refrigerated.  A little bit goes a long way, and at a fraction of the price of buying the Garlic Gold Oil that I’ve read about on KathEats.
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Entry to Nupur’s Blog Bites 6: Potluck Edition.