Ann_T

Breakfast. Figured Moe needed some protein after last night's "Pie for Dinner". Scrambled eggs with fried back bacon and white cheddar. Toasted sourdough baguette.

As part of a Secret Santa gift exchange I participated in this Christmas, I received a lovely box from my Secret Santa. It arrived yesterday afternoon. It contained a number of products from Anson Mills in South Carolina. One of the items was their COLONIAL STYLE FINE CLOTH-BOLTED PASTRY FLOUR. The flour is described as: "Screened to a silken finish from the finest Red May wheat, this flour is an exact reproduction of the pastry flour of the Colonial South, which has been out of production since the 1850s. Esteemed historically for its crisping properties, Red May wheat represents crisping nonpareil when it is stone-milled gently, and then sifted immediately by hand through a fine silk bolting cloth at 100% bran extraction. Its texture is so fine that when rubbed between the fingers, it feels almost like cream (historically, the flour was known as “crema”). Red May pastry flour is loaded with whole wheat germ flavonoids and nutrients. It is soft enough to make biscuits tender and pie dough flaky, but strong enough to support buttery layers in laminated doughs like Danish or croissant." Just from this description alone, I couldn't resist baking a pie immediately. Thankfully I had just enough apples. The pastry was wonderful. Easy to work with and the finished crust was light and flaky. I'm posting it on the dinner thread because Moe talked me into cutting the pie while it was still warm and having it as our dinner.

The reason I bake bread. For toast. All those wonderful nooks and crannies for the butter.

Lamb shanks for dinner last night. Served over rice.

Now that is my kind of breakfast. Was it as good as it looks? Good thing I was baking bread today. Pulled the last baguette out of the freezer this morning and made Canadian Back Bacon and hard fried egg sandwiches on toasted baguette.

I had been neglecting my sourdough starter again. It had been two months since I fed it last. Started feeding it two days ago, fed it twice. Second time on Saturday night, and used some of the discard to make a biga. Sunday morning I fed the starter for a third time and made a batch of dough, adding the biga to a 1000g of flour. Hydration of this batch is 77%. The dough went into the fridge before I left for work yesterday morning and the Starter was left out on the counter to rise. It had doubled by the time I got home from work. Left it out a little longer and it continued to rise. I put it in the fridge before going to bed. Will try to remember to feed it again this week. This morning I pulled the dough out of the fridge and left it to rise on the counter. Baked this afternoon. 8 Small baguettes and four small rolls. I had to cut a piece off four of the baguettes because they were too long for the stone in the CSO. Started each baguette in the CSO on the Bread setting and after 10 minutes transferred to the Oster for another 10 minutes. Sliced a roll while still warm for Moe and he had it slathered in butter.

Yesterday's breakfast. Hot roast chicken sandwich with homemade fries. This was suppose to be dinner on Friday night. I roasted the chicken in the morning before leaving for work. Made it for breakfast instead.

I think that sounds really interesting and I love the colour. I would have to pick out the raisins though. Moe had the other half of the steak that I didn't cook last night. Because it was so thick, I cut it into two slices and cooked them in the cast iron skillet. Served with butter basted eggs and toasted baguette.

@JoNorvelleWalker, I haven't made a straight rye bread, but I have two versions of rye bread that I make, one with yeast and the other a sourdough version. http://www.thibeaultstable.com/2019/07/homemade-rye-bread-and-smoked-corned.html http://www.thibeaultstable.com/2019/02/sourdough-rye-bread.html

I had a beautiful 2" thick Sterling Silver NY Strip steak ready for the grill tonight. It had been presalted two days ago and air dried in the fridge for 24 hours. I had a late lunch at work and wasn't really hungry. So, I cut it in half and grilled it for Moe. Served with mushrooms and grilled garlic bread. I think Moe will be having steak and eggs for breakfast with the other half.

My favourite toppings.

Tonight's dinner.Chicken Perigord. Ready for the oven. Boneless chicken breasts with the skin left on with a mushroom duxelles stuffed under the skin. Served with a port wine sauce.

First bake of 2020. Dough had been in the fridge since Monday. Baked 8 baguettes. Sliced one while still warm because Moe wanted bread and butter.

It has been our tradition for over 40 years to have lobster and champagne on New Year's Eve. After we moved to the West Coast we continued the tradition. One of the local markets flies in lobsters from Canada's east coast. Occasionally we would switch to local Dungeness crab. This year I couldn't decided which to have. So we had both. Shared two lobsters and one two pound Dungeness crab. Platter for two.

Made Moe poached eggs on homemade toasted baguette. No more breakfasts until 2020.

Parmesan crusted halibut. Local halibut season is closed until around March. Usually I can only buy frozen at this time of year. But they have been bringing in fresh Norwegian halibut.

Tonight's pizza. Vegetarian for Matt. I made enough dough for two pizzas but neither Moe or I wanted pizza so we had halibut instead.

That pie and that crust. WOW!!!

I found a hard copy of The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, 1967 on line and ordered it. Even with the exchange and shipping, it is only costing me $13.00 CAD.

I have Patricia Quintana's A Taste of Mexico. Her Filete Al Chipotle is a favourite.

An easy work night dinner. I still had one of the Cornish Game Hens left that I had presalted with two others for Christmas. Since they were so big, I only need to bone out two for Christmas dinner. I made one of Moe's favourites "Fred's Italian Chicken" The last one was air dried in the fridge and then spatchcocked and drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with garlic, lemon, red pepper flakes and fresh rosemary. and roasted last night for dinner. served with Spaghetti Aglio E Olio. My version of a dish we use to order when we lived in Sault Ste. Marie. The owner of the restaurant "Fred" would sing Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin songs to a captive audience.

Yesterday's breakfast - Two ways. A local place on the Island makes these wonderful smoked pork chops that Moe loves fried and served with eggs. I like them to, but I prefer to split them and have as fried "ham" on toast with tomatoes.

I was totally out of bread. Not sure how that happened. So I had to make a batch on Tuesday. The last thing I really wanted to do. Made the dough in the morning and baked late afternoon. Five baguettes and one batard. We weren't having breakfast until later Christmas morning so Moe had a couple of pieces of toast to hold him over.

Great crust and crumb.

I cooked Christmas dinner, but we had it next door at our friends Clif and Barb. Boned out two of the biggest Cornish Game Hens I've ever seen. 1.150 K each. Stuffed with a wild rice stuffing. They were so good, I'm going to go back to the store and buy a few for the freezer. From a farm over on the mainland, near Vancouver. I adapted the stuffing which I usually make with mushrooms and subbed in apricots and figs because Clif is not a fan of mushrooms. Served with a port sauce which went well with the sweeter stuffing. Forgot to take pictures of the roasted birds but did take one at the table. I should have turned the plate around to show the stuffing.