Olive and Rosemary Fougasse

Fougasse, that bizzarre French version of Italian focaccia, remains the pinnacle of bread for me. Discovered by accident but loved for years, the soft pull-apart quality of fougasse can't be beat. Years ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for the bread by none other than Raymond Blanc, featured in one of his "inept but lovable" cooking programs on the BBC. His recipe reflects the kind of chef he is: it took hours and required 8 ingredients that no one would normally have in their kitchen (rye flour, anyone?). But, because of my love, I hunted down each and every last ingredient, confident that the recipe would produce absolute marvels. And, to be fair, it did. Sure, it took 14 hours to make (get that starter going the day before!), but the rewards were more than ample. Delicious, delicious bread.

But the energy required in making the bread put me off the prospect of repeating it for years. It was only last week that I decided to brush off the old recipe and give it another whirl. Yet, in the intervening years, I had forgotten just how rare some of the ingredients were. When a morning dash to the local Tesco yielded no rye flour, I was stuck up the proverbial creek.

And that's when Epicurious came to my rescue. With only minimal effort, I was able to find a fougasse recipe that took far less time to prepare (ok, fine, it still takes 4 and some hours, but that's practically fast food compared to the Raymond Blanc recipe). Sure, I was taking a risk (I was supposed to serve the bread at a dinner party that night), but fortune favors the bold, so I went with it, adding in my favorite ingredient combination of rosemary and olives to the basic recipe.

And who would have thought? The recipe came out perfectly. Wonderfully soft and doughy, but with enough firmness to the crust, I was in fougasse heaven. Of course, by that point, I had invested in the rye flour just so I could have some on hand, in case the day ever came that I needed Raymond's recipe again. But this recipe was so delicious, I may never see the need. Sorry, Raymond.

Yield: Makes 2 loaves
Active Time: 45 min
Total Time: 4 1/2 hr

Ingredients

For starter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105–115°F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For dough
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
1 jar of pitted black olives, diced
2/3 cup water
3 tbsp rosemary, chopped
1/3 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil (preferably French) plus 1 tablespoon for brushing
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1 1/2 teaspoons flaky or coarse sea salt

Method
Make starter:

Stir together sugar and warm water in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Whisk flour into yeast mixture until combined well. Let starter rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, 30 minutes.

Risen dough, after 1 1/2 hours

Make dough:

Add sugar, salt, 3/4 of the olives, water, 3/4 of the rosemary, 1/3 cup oil, and 11/4 cups flour to starter and beat with a wooden spoon (or, is using a mixer, at medium speed) until smooth. Mix in remaining 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, sprinkling surface lightly with flour if dough is very sticky, until smooth and elastic (dough will remain slightly sticky), 8 to 10 minutes. Form dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl, turning dough to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Pat out each half into an oval (about 12 inches long and 1/4 inch thick), then transfer to 2 lightly oiled large baking sheets.

Using a very sharp knife or a pastry scraper, make a cut down center of each oval "leaf," cutting all the way through to baking sheet and leaving a 1-inch border on each end of cut. Make 3 shorter diagonal cuts on each side of original cut, leaving a 1-inch border on each end of cuts, to create the look of leaf veins (do not connect cuts). Gently pull apart cuts about 1 1/2 inches with your fingers. Let dough stand, uncovered, until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.

Brush loaves with remaining tablespoon oil and sprinkle with sea salt along with the rest of the olives and rosemary. Bake, switching position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes total. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Red Cabbage, Orange and Date Salad

Red cabbage is one of the best winter vegetables by far. It last forever but has a wonderful earthy sweetness, perfect for a late night quick stir fry. But I find that cooks often don't know what to do with red cabbage. Besides your typical braising (which, let's not lie, is phenomenal) and the aforementioned stir fry, what's to be done with it? Yes, yes, coleslaw will work in a pinch but the loads of mayo the dish requires completely masks the glory that is the red cabbage.

Well, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall may have found the answer. In his section on the Guardian's "Best Christmas recipes" he features a salad that was so unusual in its ingredients that I simply had to try it. Who would have thought to combine raw cabbage, *grated* parsnip and orange juice for a salad? To be honest, I was dubious. But the wonderful sweet mixture of dates with the root vegetables, not to mention a healthy dose of white truffle oil and some nuts, was absolutely divine. In Hugh's recipe, he sticks to the simplicity of only the orange juice, olive oil, and thyme. But add in some walnuts or pecans, not to mention the secret weapon of truffle oil, and the dish becomes sublime.
Another bonus point?
It takes five minutes to make.
This makes the second of the glorious "raw food" salads I've stumbled onto over the years (the first being Bittman's raw butternut squash salad). And I've yet to find a reason to dislike them. Curse them for their simplicity.

Serves: 4

Ingredients
2 oranges
1/2 small red cabbage, core removed and finely shredded
3 parsnips, peeled and grated
2-3 small handful dates, chopped

2-3 handfuls of walnuts or pecans, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp white truffle oil (optional, if you don't have some lying around, just up the olive oil by a tablespoon)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Squeeze the juice from the oranges into a small bowl.

Combine the parsnips and cabbage in a large bowl. Add the dates and nuts. Trickle the olive oil and truffle oil (if using), then sprinkle the thyme leaves on top. Serve at once.

Crisp Potato Cake (Galette de Pomme de Terre)

My household suffers from an abundance of potatoes. Thanks to the glorious veg box, we get a bag of "spuds" every week. Now, we try and get our starches in when we can, but we've simply gotten lamentably behind and now we have a pile of unused and unloved spuds piled high on our kitchen counter.

This called for immediate action.

Thus: the galette (courtesy of the NY Times). Which seems to be nothing more than France's answer to a plethora of potatoes. And in true French style: you slice them and arrange them prettily in a saucepan. Oh, and add heaps of butter.

Unsurprisingly then, this recipe was delicious and an amazingly easy way to use up potatoes quickly. And  how pretty! You get to invoke your hidden Michelin starred self and crow about the joys of neat spiralled spuds. And you get to pull out the old mandoline slicer and strive not to cut your fingers off with it. It's a win, win.

Ingredients

2 pounds (about 3 medium) potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly
1 tablespoon olive oil, or as needed
Freshly ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Salt
Fresh thyme leaves for garnish (optional).

Method

1. Pat potatoes dry if very starchy or moist. In a sauté pan large enough to fit potato slices in just two layers, spread 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with nutmeg and pepper to taste. Starting in center, arrange potato slices in a closely overlapping, attractive spiral. When pan is filled, repeat to make a second layer.

2. Place pan over medium heat and cover. Slowly cook potatoes until well browned on underside, about 15 minutes, occasionally shaking pan gently to avoid sticking. Wipe inside of lid as needed to keep it dry.

3. Press potatoes down with a flat spatula and remove from heat. Place a larger platter over pan and flip it upside down, transferring potatoes to the platter. Check pan to make sure it is clean and has enough oil to keep potatoes from sticking.

4. Slide galette, raw side down, back into pan, and return to medium heat. Cover and cook until well browned, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a persillade by combining parsley and garlic in a small bowl. To serve, slide galette onto a serving platter, season to taste with salt, and garnish with persillade or thyme.

Yield: 4 servings.

Blue Cornbread

There are a few things that I've brought with me from my home state of Arizona. A tortilla press. A precious bag of ground chiles of various heats. And a full bag of blue cornmeal, pride of Arizona farmers. The English seem not have realized  but corn in America comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and, most importantly, colors (yes, yes, beyond the various shades of "yellow" and "white"). Any harvest festival will feature the ubiquitous "Indian corn", which features a fabulous variety of dark purples and reds. But there is also the famous "blue corn", found almost exclusively in Arizona and New Mexico, which is so dark on the cob that it almost looks purple to the naked eye. When ground into meal it gives tortillas and breads a wonderfully nutty quality, a bit more earthy than any other kind of cornmeal I've ever experienced.

I don't use my blue cornmeal often (although I technically I need to before its "sell by" date), but Thanksgiving is the perfect excuse to show the Brits a thing or two about American corn. And what better  way than with cornbread, another typically American concoction? Like biscuits, there are about a thousand and one recipes for cornbread, some involving actual corn kernels, some just sticking to the meal itself. I decided to pick one that emphasized just the cornmeal. Once the Brits decided that the blue coloring in the bread WASN'T mold, it went down a treat. Of course, there's no real reason for blue cornmeal in this recipe, plain ol' yellow cornmeal will work just as well. But, if you do happen to have some of the blue stuff lying around, why not use it?

Ingredients

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 cups cornmeal (preferably stone-ground and most preferably blue)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk (not powdered)
1 large egg

Method

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.

Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and melted butter in another bowl, then stir into flour mixture until just combined.

Scoop batter into a well-oiled loaf or cake tin (mine was 9" diameter). Bake until puffed and golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tin for about 10-15 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sage Parmesan Crackers

Everyone likes to have at least one "crowd pleaser" recipe in their collection. And if that recipe happens to be the easiest thing in the world? So much the better. These sage crackers were a spur of the moment decision a few years back, taken from Mark Bittman's gloriously helpful "101 Head Starts to the Day" (the NY Times has apparently been helming the culinary delights of Thanksgiving for years). I wasn't quite sure what to expect of them, as they were honestly too simple to be trusted. But when they disappeared out from under me, I realized I had a goldmine on my hands. Now they're trotted out every Thanksgiving. I've also taken to doubling the recipe, because of the thin crumbly nature of the crackers, they tend to yield a fairly small amount once cut into squares. They also may provoke moments of panic when you realize there's no physical way to "roll these out" as Bittman suggests. I've taken to literally patting them into shape on the baking sheet and cutting them afterwards. It saved me a mountain of frustrated rolling and allowed me to enjoy these little sage-y parcels even more.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
4 tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp finely chopped sage.

Method

Preheat over to 400 F. 

Mix 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup Parmesan and 4 tablespoons cold butter either in a large bowl or in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup cream and 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage.

When just combined, roll as thinly as possible (or simply pat into the baking sheet), score into squares, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees until golden.

Let cool, then break into pieces.