Fabulous Focaccia, Lasagna, Kolokitho Keftedes, Timballo di Riso, Rice Cooking 101

Fabulous Focaccia!

I first made this a couple years ago, based on a recipe from Suzanne Dunaway's No Need To Need -- I got it as an e-book for $1.99.  What a revelation!  Simple, basic ingredients:  flour, water, yeast, salt.  A little olive oil and fresh herbs for brushing and topping.  Simple tools.  No kneading, just stir things into a shaggy dough, proof, pan, proof again and bake a short time.

One of the things that she wrote, which I appreciate, is that bread tastes best the day it is baked  -- so bake bread often.  Most recipes however have you making enough bread for 4-6 people for one day.  By the time the two of us get to the end of a bake it's just not as good as the first day.  So I took her basic Focaccia recipe and halved it, figuring that would be plenty of bread for two for one day. 

My version makes two nice 6"x 1" loaves or one 9-10" loaf.  Perfect for two people for two meals or thereabouts.  Half of one of these 6" loaves makes a perfect size sandwich.  Quarter of a loaf is perfect for sopping up soup.    

1 cup warm Water
1 tsp Active Dry Yeast (better than rapid rise) -- half a packet or more.
2 cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Salt
2-3 tsp EVOO for brushing
3 Tbsp fine chopped Rosemary for topping and adding to the dough
2, 6" round baking tins
Baking Spray or butter for prepping the tins

Put the water in a largish bowl, sprinkle the yeast on the surface and stir to dissolve.   

Add half the flour and the salt, and stir for about 2 minutes.  Then add the remaining  flour and stir for another couple minutes until the dough just pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Cover and let it rise in a warm place (it's Florida -- I put it outside in the shade on our lanai) for 30-45 minutes -- or even an hour.

Prep two 6" baking tins (or one 9-10" tin) with baking spray or butter, then "pour" the dough into each tin carefully (so as not to squeeze out any air).  Brush with the EVOO and let the nascent bread rise, covered, another 15-20 minutes on the counter. 

Bake at a pre-heated 400F for 30-40 minutes until you get 190-220F internal temp.  I always bake bread to temperature.   Let it cool 10-15 minutes before removing from the tin(s).

The best bread I have ever made!"

Vegetarian Lasagna
It's been ages since I made a lasagna, but Sally requested one for Sunday Brunch with Mum.  It's not cheap to make in today's market, but worth the effort, as you'll get at quite a few servings as leftovers.    I used sauteed mushrooms & green peas for one veg layer and wilted spinach with diced bell pepper for the other...

Sorry about the darkness of the top.  I had it on broil at the end of the baking, got distracted for about 30 seconds, and it went from lovely brown to black!  Certainly didn't affect the taste though...

1 box of no-boil Lasagna Noodles (any old lasagna noodles actually)
32+ oz. Pomi brand Finely Chopped Tomatoes or a jar of commercial pasta sauce
1/2 cup Faux Mince (ground "beef") -- I prefer the Gardein brand plant-based "ground beef"
18-20 oz  Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen Peas, thawed
1 bag (9oz) Fresh Spinach, stemmed
1 large Bell Pepper -- your favorite color, diced
24 oz. Cottage Cheese  or Ricotta -- cottage cheese is healthier
2 cups shredded Mozzarella or Italian cheese blend"
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning blend of your choice. divided
2 Eggs, beaten

• Mix the tomatoes, half the spice blend, and the faux meat together.
• Mix the cheeses, eggs, and the other half the spices together in another bowl.
• Saute the mushrooms and bell peppers separately and reserve. 
• Wilt the spinach and reserve.

In a 12x18 baking dish layer the tomato sauce, pasta, cheese mix, and veggies, beginning with a schmear  of sauce on the bottom, and ending with cheese mix on the top.   Top with additional cheese if you want -- it's all about the cheese!   Pour half a cup of water along the edges to help the pasta strips hydrate as the lasagna bakes.

Bake @ 350F for 45-60 minutes, and rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving.   

Really best the way I did it --  make and bake the day before and rest in the fridge until the next day!  That lets most of the liquid to reabsorb...


Kolokitho Keftedes
That's "squash fritters" in English.  In this case the Greek dish using grated zucchini!   You can make these gluten-free and even more Mediterranean  by using a non-wheat flour such as Chickpea flour.

1 lb Zucchini, grated
1/4 of a whole Onion, grated
2 Tbsp chopped Parsley
2 tbsp chopped Mint
1/2 cup crumbled Feta
1/3 to 1/2  cup Flour
1 Egg beaten
White Pepper to taste

Grating the zucchini takes the most time.

Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the grated zucchini/onion mixture and place in a bowl.  I used both a salad spinner and my hands.  Toss with the pepper, parsley and mint.  Fold in the feta and beaten egg.  Then slowly add the flour  to make a sort of  "dough".  

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and add spoonsful of the dough, pressing down with a spatula to make about 4 fritters/patties with plenty of space around.    Cook 3-4 minutes on the first side to get them nice and crispy, then flip carefully and repeat.   Serve with a dollop of Tzatziki or plain yogurt.

Makes eight  1/3 cup fritters.   Double or triple the amount of mint! A new favorite thing to do with zucchini!

Timballo di Riso
Here's an 'oldie but a goodie'.  One of the best "make ahead" dishes I know.  A bit of work, but worth the effort.  

Timballo is Italian for "drum".  Here, Timbale di Riso means a drum-shaped filled dish with a body/crust made from rice (riso) and eggs.  Think of this as a very tasty snare drum! 

Crust
You can use, but don't need, short grain rice, which is extra sticky.  The eggs make the crust plenty sticky, and then crispy when cooked.  I used 5-6 cups of generic long grain cooked rice, seasoned with Turmeric as it cooked, for both color and flavor.  Let this cool completely before continuing to make the crust.  

Once the rice has cooled and been fluffed, put it in a large bowl and fold in 4 beaten eggs.  If the rice is at all warm you'll end up with scrambled eggs and rice -- not Good Eats!    The egg-rice mix is really sticky, so use a paddle or stiff spatula.

Filling

Make your filling while the rice cools.  The filling can be anything your culinary heart desires -- exotic meats and veg, Italian goodies like meatballs and pasta and sauce, Cajun/Creole gumbo or etouffee ingredients;  or in my case roasted veggies.  You'll also want to use appropriate seasonings to bring out the flavors.  Not much, if any, salt, please.

For this recipe you'll need about 4 cups of "filling".  I roasted potatoes, some faux meat balls, and large diced bell peppers.  I also add frozen green peas, mushrooms and a layer of fresh spinach which I wilted and cooled.  I flavored things with a combination of a generic Italian Seasoning, and our favorite spicy Everything Italiantm blend. about a tablespoon of each.

Assembly

Pack the bottom and sides of a 9" diameter springform pan with a 1/2" thick layer of eggy rice, using about 2/3 of the prepared rice.  You don't need to prep the pan first, but you do want to use a rice paddle or non-stick spatula here, not just your hands.  Measure the layer thickness, don't just guess, or you could run out of rice.  

Once the rice is packed and smoothed, spoon in the filling, in a couple stages, adding altogether about half a cup of shredded cheese (I used an five-cheese Italian blend) between layers.  Pack down the filling, then spoon the remaining rice on top and smooth it; sealing the top to the side crust.

Bake the completed timbale at 450F for 45-60 minutes until the crust is well set.  Remove the timbale to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before releasing the springform and slicing.   

This is another good "make ahead" recipe to eat the day after...

Rice Cooking 101
For well over 50 years I made rice on the stovetop with the "1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, simmer for 20 minutes"  recipe.  And the re4sults were what I had always expected. Good but not great. 

 For the last decade or so I've used an 'inherited'  rice cooker, and discovered "better" rice.  My 15 year old rice cooker died a week or so back.  This week I wanted to make the Timbale above, so I had to make a LOT of stovetop rice.   

 Just for fun I went surfing to see about cooking rice, and found Recipetineats.com.   I've visited Nagi's site before and found her recipes very useful.  This time she changed my mind about cooking rice on the stovetop!  

Her technique makes "rice cooker quality" rice when you don't have a rice cooker handy!!!

• 1 cup of short to long grain rice (not basmati or jasmine)  do not rinse.
• 1.5 cups water  -- Not 2 cups!
• Rice and water in a pot.  Bring to a simmer -- not a hard boil!
• Cover and reduce heat to low.
• Cook 13 minutes.  Don't peek.  Not 20 minutes.
• Rest off the heat 10 minutes.  Don't peek.
• Now open the lid and fluff with a paddle or spoon.

Wow!  I was blown away.  The best "pot rice" I've ever made!!!