Tomatoes with Goat Cheese and Herbs

LAST WEEK, I POSTED THE Heirloom Tomato Sandwich with Herbs and Creamy Tofu Spread recipe from Whole Living on the “14 Months to 50” Facebook page as our first recipe for Thursday Cooking Club.   Today we will all meet on the Discussion tab to tell how we made the recipe our own, offer opinions, etc.   Here’s what I did:

I don’t eat tofu, so I substituted goat cheese in this recipe.   In two small mixing bowls, I divided 4 ounces of goat cheese.   I added chopped fresh dill and a couple of squeezes of lemon to the goat cheese in one bowl, along with a dash of cracked pepper, then blended with a fork.  In the second bowl, I added chopped fresh basil and cracked pepper.  I’m not sure it’s possible to use too much dill or too much basil — in my house it isn’t.  I have always loved basil and cream cheese and with goat cheese I can closely imitate that flavor combo, with just a little bit of added tang. 

After blending the herbs with the cheese, I spread half of each mixture on 1/2 slice of wheat artisan bread.  I topped the dill mixture with halved grape tomatoes, more dill, and pieces of fresh lettuce.   The basil mixture was topped with tomatoes, more basil and walnuts.  Then I sprinkled the entire dish with cracked pepper and sea salt.  

This recipe is good for a brunch or lunch, snack, or even as an appetizer if entertaining.   The flavors are very savory, and the bread gives it some weight — delicious and filling. 

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Cute Little Breads

I JUST RETURNED FROM TARGET, where I found the cutest little artisan petite wheat breads!  The small loaves are about 5 inches square and two inches flat, so they will be perfect for slicing horizontally to make toast squares.  I’m going to use them to make the Thursday Cooking Club recipe my Facebook friends have so kindly agreed to make with me this week.

This is a good wheat bread. Target also has full-sized wheat loaves, and an artisan rye.  You can get the loaves sliced at the deli counter.  The small loaves are only 99 cents and the large loaves were around four bucks.  Not bad at all.

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Poached Egg on Wheat Flatbread with Thyme & Salmon

There’s nothing quite like a late brunch or an afternoon breakfast.   Today I had a lazy morning, so I decided on a two p.m. brekkie.   My Facebook friends helped me choose a meal and everyone was curious about a nice poached egg and salmon delight.  

I hadn’t poached an egg in quite some time so I first found some good web instructions at WikiHow: Poach an Egg.   I followed the instructions exactly and my egg was just perfect in 4 minutes flat. The egg was firm and shiny, with a nice film over the yolk (which I messed up dabbing to dry it – oops), and the shape couldn’t have been better. According to the article, swirling the water when you poach not only controls the shape of the egg after it’s in the water, but cools the water below boiling, to 160-180F degrees — said to be the perfect range.

I toasted a nice five inch wheat flatbread, slid the egg onto it, and topped it with a roll of smoked salmon. Then I put another roll of salmon to the side — I have to be honest: when the smoked salmon is brought out, I need someone to cut me off after a few pieces.  I have a real “thing” for smoked salmon, which I prefer on a wheat cracker with yellow mustard (one moment while I reflect – ahhhhh).    After placing the smoked salmon, I sprinkled cracked pepper over the entire thing and put some extra pepper around the plate.  I also sprinkled dried thyme over the center.  I initially used so much pepper for the photo, but I ended up dragging every bite through it.  With the saltiness of the salmon, the pepper really added that necessary oomph!  to the flavor. 

I really like these flavor combinations.  The bread had a tiny bit of butter on it (organic of course), which helped keep it from being too dry.  When I make this again for myself, I won’t bother with the bread, however.   If I serve it to guests I would keep the bread, it makes for a nice appearance. 

I’m very happy with this recipe!   I really love the salmon/egg union with the salt, thyme and pepper.

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Saturday Bread Baking

YESTERDAY I FINALLY BAKED BREAD, and I’m starting to appreciate the price of a locally-baked healthy loaf of bread.   This takes time!  I suppose the more you do it, the more efficient you become.  And maybe it was my lack of self control on peeping at the dough while it was rising, or checking in on the bread while it baked, which made it seem like I did nothing for three hours but bake bread.    But for my three hours of time, I have four loaves of good wheat bread and it’s so worth it.

Yesterday I made the first two bread recipes of twelve I have set aside to try.  I made Sunflower Sesame Wheat Bread in the oven and Oatmeal Wheat Bread in the machine.   I have not made bread for at least 15 years, but neither of these recipes was complicated.

Sunflower Sesame Wheat Bread

1 package yeast

4 c. warm water

1 1/2 c. non-fat dry milk

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. molasses

9 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. sunflower seeds

1/2 c. sesame seeds

2 eggs

1/2 c. olive oil

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c. water.   In a separate large mixing bowl, mix dry milk with 1 3/4 of the water, beat to dissolve, then add honey and molasses.  Then add the remaining two cups of water and the yeast mixture.  

Mix in 5 cups of flour slowly, then cover with a damp cloth and let rise 45 minutes.  Mix in sunflower and sesame seeds and let sit 10 minutes.  Mix in eggs and oil, and then knead in the rest of the flour to make a dough that barely sticks to your fingers.  Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.   Knead the dough again to make a smooth ball, then divide into three sections and shape each section to fit an approx. 9″ x 4″ loaf pan.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes, while oven at 325F preheats.  Bake 45 minutes or until done. 

Bread Machine Oatmeal Wheat Bread

1 1/4 c. water

2 T. honey

2 T. butter softened

1 t. sea salt

2 T. powdered milk

1  c.  unbleached white flour

1 2/3 c. wheat flour

1/3 c. oatmeal

1 1/4 t. yeast

Put all ingredients into bread machine.  Order isn’t important if starting the cycle immediately.  If setting it to start later, check the instructions for your machine.   Use the Wheat Bread setting.

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