Greens and Cheese Enchiladas

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• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1-3 jalapenos or other fresh green chili pepper, to taste, seeded
• 1.5 pounds tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved (about 10-12)
• 1 cup bean cooking liquid or vegetable broth (see above)
• 3 tablespoons sour cream, Mexican crema, or thick Greek-style yogurt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large bunches Swiss chard (enough to completely fill a produce bag)
• 1 medium white onion, medium dice
• 10 oz. Monterey Jack cheese (or one of the Mexican melting cheese)
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan (or better yet, queso anejo)
• 1/2 large red onion, cut into rings
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
• salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Combine the garlic, jalapenos and tomatillos and 1 teaspoon of salt in the blender and puree until smooth.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add the puree, and cook down (reduce) until about as thick as an Italian tomato sauce, stirring frequently. Don't let it scorch. Add the broth, and reduce heat to a simmer. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the sour cream. Taste, and add more salt, and the sugar if needed. If it isn't thick enough, simmer some more. If it is too thick, add a bit more broth. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.
4. To prepare the chard, strip the leaves from the stems and cut in a rough chiffonade (ribbons, about 1/2" wide). Rinse in a full bath of water at least twice, because gritty enchiladas will be nasty! Remove the toughest end of the stems, and chop the remaining part finely. Rinse the stems thoroughly too.
5. In a large saute pan with a lid, heat the remaining 1.5 tablespoons of oil on a high flame. Add the white onion and fry for 30 seconds. Add the chard stems and fry for 1 minute. Add all of the chard leaves and toss. If they don't fit all at once, wait a minute until the first part wilts, then add the rest. Add 1/4 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of salt, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly wilted and tender. Remove the lid and cook off remaining water until fairly dry.
6. In a bowl, combine the chard and onion mixture with three quarters of the Monterey Jack cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Wrap the tortillas in a clean, moist dish towel and microwave for 2 minutes to soften.
8. To assemble, ladle about 1 cup of sauce in a 9×13 casserole. For each tortilla, dip it in the remaining sauce and then lay it in the casserole. Fill it with about 1/4 cup of filling and roll, then push to one side, seam side down. Twelve will just fit snugly lengthwise in the pan.
9. Pour maybe another cup of sauce over the top, then top with the remaining Monterey Jack and the parmesan.
10. Bake about 25 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Raise the heat to a broil and carefully cook a couple more minutes until the cheese is browning a bit. Remove from the oven and top with the onion rings and cilantro sprigs.

Suddenly Sick

As 2015 closed out, I had been feeling pretty good.  I managed to have a good holiday season, despite getting my fourth round of chemotherapy, and on the day in question, I had been up and about, worked, ate, and was about to enjoy an evening movie with my family when everything quite suddenly went south.  Fast.

At six o'clock I started to throw up, by seven I couldn't stop, and by eight I started having a fever.  By ten o'clock I was in the Emergency Room and there were two clues that things had gotten very bad very fast.  One is that my husband, a man trained in the art of intensive care, was both looking very anxious and being very demanding.  The second was that I was so dizzy in the triage area that I did not think I could keep from passing out, and the bench I was sitting on wasn't quite wide enough to completely lie flat on so I seriously thought about lying on the floor.  Of the Emergency Room.  Then I knew I was sick, and made a greater effort to get flat on the bench I had.

Things went swiftly from there, and within an hour I was in the ICU with several people calmly working on me while I had lots of fluids  and antibiotics flowing freely.  It took some time to turn the corner and for me to get out of the hospital again, but it made me very hesitant to get too far from a good Emergency Room until chemotherapy and it's attendant risks are behind me.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

This is a very good movie if you have liked the other movies in this series.  That means that you have to accept a few leaps of faith about espionage and the inner workings of government, the combined level of omniscience and paranoia that drive the plot and have to be accepted without question in order to enjoy the movie, and if you can do so, you will be happy with the outcome.  If not, skip it immediately.

Everyone meets their expectations in terms of character, starting with Tom Cruise, and including the wonderful Simon Pegg, who is his usual leavening influence on an action movie, and he is a nice addition to the team.  Sit back and enjoy the action, and don't think too deeply while doing so.

Chipotle Cream Shrimp

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled 1/2 of a14.5-ounce can tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), lightly drained 2 to 3canned chipotle chiles en adobo, removed from their canning liquid, seeded if you wish and roughly chopped 1tablespoon olive or vegetable oil 2/3cupMexican crema, creme fraiche or heavy (whipping) cream 3/4teaspoon (or more) fresh black pepper 1/2teaspoonMexican oregano Salt 1 1/4pound medium-to-large shrimp, peeled and (if you like) deveined, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 12 warm corn tortillas

Instructions

Roast the unpeeled garlic in an ungreased small skillet over medium heat, turning from time to time, until completely soft and blackened in places, about 15 minutes; cool and peel. In a blender or food processor, combine the garlic, tomatoes and chipotle chiles; blend to a smooth puree. In a medium (10-inch) skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the puree and stir until reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the cream, pepper and oregano, reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for several minutes for the flavors to come together. Taste and season with salt, usually 1/2 teaspoon. Add the shrimp and stir until they are just cooked through (just losing their translucency at the center), about 3 minutes.

'71 (2015)

I have watched quite a few movies about the struggles between the Irish and the British in Northern Ireland over the years, but this one is a very different way to tell the story.  Other movies, famous ones like 'Michael Collins' and 'Bloody Sunday', tell the story in sweeping strokes, whereas this movie is told in a very narrow way.  It is dark and gritty, and to my mind, a much better way of conveying all the complexities and divided alliances that were occurring in 1971 in Northern Ireland.

The story follows green British troops who are led by inexperienced leadership.  they are thrown into a powder keg of resistance and anger on the streets of Belfast and in the midst of the chaos, a soldier gets separated from his troops, and is left to fend for himself over night.  He doesn't know who to trust and who to fear, and the movie aptly shows the shifting alliances and rivalries between those who you would predict and those you wouldn't.  Gritty and difficult but very good.

Pushkin and the Russians

I am not well versed in Pushkin beyond 'Onegin', but he is the sriter that Russians identify most with.  He was primarily a poet, and evidence of his universal reverence are everywhere.
He was born in Moscow on 6 June 1799 into a cultured but poor aristocratic family, with a long and distinguished lineage. On his father's side, he was a descendant of an ancient noble family; his mother was a great granddaughter of Gannibal, the legendary Abyssinian, who served under Peter the Great. Pushkin's mother took little interest in the upbringing of her son, entrusting him to nursemaids and French tutors. Pushkin got acquainted with the Russian language through communication with household serfs and his nanny, Arina Rodionovna, whom he loved dearly and was more attached to than to his own mother.  He was afforded an excellent education, and while he angered the tsar at one point, but managed to get beyond that error.
He married well, but it led to his demise in the end--he was wounded in a duel over his wife's honor, and died a young man.

Thai Rice Soup with Pork Cilantro Meatballs

My spouse made this for me after I emerged from a hospitalization that left me hungry and debilitated.

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Jok, also called congee, is a rice porridge that’s like the oatmeal of Asia -- a soft, soothing, filling breakfast that can be sparked with add-ins and toppings for flavor and crunch. Before dawn in Bangkok, jok vendors begin the battle to make the juiciest meatballs, the tiniest ginger matchsticks and the liveliest pickled fresh chiles. This recipe, which also makes a great lunch on a chilly weekend morning, is adapted from two cooks: Leela Punyaratabandhu, author of Simple Thai Food, who makes a vendor-style, puddingy jok; and Chrissy Teigen, the Thai-American supermodel, who makes a simpler version, adapted from her mother Vilaluck’s home recipe.

For the meatballs:

• 2 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro roots or stems
• ½ teaspoon white peppercorns
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

For the soup:

• 1 cup jasmine or long-grain rice
• 6 cups light chicken stock (see note)

To finish:

• 6 to 8 eggs, optional
• Red chile powder (preferably Thai, but ancho or Aleppo will do)
• 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 2 scallions, white and green parts, finely chopped
• ¼ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
• Fish sauce and sriracha, for garnish

Preparation

Make the meat mixture:

1. Pound or grind the garlic, cilantro and white pepper together into a coarse paste. Transfer to a bowl and add the pork, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Mix well, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

Make the soup:

1. In a large heavy pot, combine the rice and stock and bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping up any starch from the bottom to prevent scorching. Add 2 cups hot water and simmer 30 minutes more. Add another 2 cups hot water and simmer 20 to 30 minutes more, until the rice begins to fall apart in the soup.
2. From the refrigerator, remove the dumpling mixture and the eggs, if using. Heat your serving bowls. Adjust the heat under the soup so that it bubbles gently. Pinch off pieces of the meat mixture to make bite-size balls, dropping them one at a time into the soup. When all of the meatballs have firmed up and turned opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes after adding the last one, the soup is ready.
3. To serve, scoop a ladleful of soup into a bowl. Crack one egg, if using, into the bowl. Gently ladle more hot soup over the raw egg, covering it completely. After about 4 minutes, the eggs will be softly cooked. Dust each bowl with chile powder and sprinkle with ginger, scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately, passing fish sauce and sriracha at the table. Each diner breaks the egg yolk and scoops up the egg with the soup. Note: Use a very light-bodied chicken stock. If using prepared or canned broth or bouillon cubes, dilute with water until the salt and chicken flavors are very mild.

Shaun the Sheep (2015)

This is one of the nominated movies for Best Animated movie this year, and since I always watch those, this was a given.  The very best part of this movie is that the entire movie has no dialogue, written from the perspective of the sheep rather than the people who populate the story.  The claymation is excellent, the story is about what you have come to expect from this series of films, and it is entertaining in a diversionary kind of way.  But not amongst the best that the genre has to offer, in my opinion.

Cyrillic and the Russian Experience

This summer was my third time in a country that uses the Cyrillic alphabet (Serbia was my first and Ukraine was my second).  Each time I have been confronted with Cyrillic I have had two main thoughts.  The first is that it seems like a language that I should be able to decipher, followed immediately by the realization that I am always immediately stumped by the pronunciation of the very first word, and give up.  Helpless surrender comes very quickly.

Third tie was the charm for me.  One reason is that I actually bought a dictionary and spent some time before I went thinking about Russian and the letters, and the fact that it is a phonetic  language, so that if I could pronounce the words, then I could actually read maps and menus and try to make some progress in just getting around.  Finally, once I tried on a consistent basis, it got easier and miraculously, many of the words were in English, so once I cracked Cyrillic, I was much more able to figure things out.  Just another joy of traveling!

Baguettes

This is the best baguette that the Kline men have produced in quite a while.

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Makes four baguettes

• 90 grams sourdough starter, 100-percent hydration, made with equal parts of water and flour by weight, fermented for 7 to 10 hours. To make this starter, I use 25 grams ripe and active sourdough, 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. After it ferments, I then use 90 grams of it in the bread and refresh the rest for future doughs. (I've also posted a video here that explains how to make sourdough).
• 420 grams water
• 590 grams flour (King Arthur Organic All Purpose Flour, Whole Foods 365 brand Organic All Purpose Flour or King Arthur All Purpose Flour are ideal, though King Arthur Bread Flour might be easier for a beginner)
• 10 grams whole wheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour)
• 13 grams sea salt
• 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast (such as SAF Instant Yeast), though I cut this back to 1 teaspoon in the summer.
• Olive oil to grease bowl
• Cornmeal or semolina to dust cutting board

DAY 1

Pour starter and yeast into bowl and add water, mixing until the starter breaks up a bit.

Add flours and mix for a couple of minutes. The dough will be heavy and shaggy. Make a slight pool in the top of the dough and add the salt, with 1 teaspoon of water. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes, covered with plastic (I put a plastic tray over my bowl). 

Optional: Put a little olive oil in your palm and oil the counter so it has a very thin sheen of oil on it. The oil should keep the dough from sticking. Do not flour the counter. (This tip on oiling comes from Dan Lepard, but I find it's not absolutely necessary for the kneading).

Use a scraper to move dough onto the counter and begin to knead by stretching and folding dough, trying to use your finger tips, and incorporating the salt. Tip: Click here to see a kneading video by Richard Bertinet on Gourmet.com, though he is demonstrating on a sweet dough.

After kneading for 3 minutes, scrape mass into a clean bowl or plastic bin. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Oil the counter again if necessary and remove dough to counter. Stretch it until 1-inch thick then fold top and bottom in thirds like a letter. Do the same left to right. Click here for the Wild Yeast blog video of this technique.

Put in bin, cover, let dough rest 20 minutes.

Remove from bin, fold again, and put back in covered bin for 20 minutes.

Remove from bin, fold again for the third and final time. Clean bin, oil lightly (with 2 tsp olive oil), and put dough back inside. Cover and place in refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.

DAY 2

Put baking stone in middle of oven. Place a thick rimmed cookie sheet or cast iron pan on oven floor or lower shelf. Preheat oven to 470F (245 C).

Put a little olive oil in your palm and oil a 20-by-20 inch (1/2-by-1/2 meter) section of the counter.

Then remove dough from container. Cut dough in half. Put half back in container and into refrigerator.

Cut dough into two rectangular pieces (about 250 grams each) and gently stretch into rectangles 5-by-7 inches (13-by-18 cm) with the long edge facing you. 

Be careful not to press and destroy all the bubbles inside the dough.

Cover with light towel and let rest for 5 minutes.

While dough is resting, cut parchment paper large enough to fit your baking stone. Dust paper with flour. Roll up 3 kitchen towels tightly. Set aside. (Or if you have a couche, dust it lightly with flour).

Shape dough into a log by folding top and bottom of rectangle toward middle and gently sealing the seam with thumb. Then fold top to meet the bottom and seal seam. You should have a log about 1.5 to 2 inches thick (4 to 5 cm). Gently roll and stretch into a 14-inch loaf (36 cm) or just under the size of your baking stone. Don’t worry if it’s uneven. Here's a good video of the technique, along with scoring the loaf.

Place each loaf on parchment paper about six inches apart, seam side down. Place one rolled up towel underneath the paper between the loaves and one under each other edge, supporting their shape. Tip: Leader describes this in his book. (Or place on couche, with loose pleats between the baguettes).

Cover with light kitchen towel and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

BAKING

Put 2/3 cup water in measuring cup. (I boil the water).

Remove towels from under the parchment paper and carefully move the paper with the loaves onto a flour-dusted overturned cookie sheet or cutting board. Dust top of loaves very lightly with flour. (If you used a couche, carefully lift loaves with a bench scraper and place on parchment paper on a cutting board). Use a bench scraper to gently adjust the loaves and straighten them out. 

Make four cuts on the top of the loaf with a razor blade, 1/4-inch deep, running lengthwise on the dough. A swift slash at a sharp 20-degree angle works best (see previously mentioned video).

Take cutting board and slide parchment paper with baguettes onto hot baking stone. Shut oven door. Open door, and carefully pour 2/3 cup water onto cookie sheet or cast iron pan. Be very careful if using boiling water. Shut door. Do not open the oven again while baking.

Check baguettes after 18 to 20 minutes. They should be dark brown and crusty. If pale, continue baking for 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes on rack before eating. They are best eaten within 6 hours.

While baguettes are baking, form the remaining dough into loaves or leave for up to 24 hours and make fresh loaves the following day.