Pasta, Bannocks, Apple-Sweet Potato Casserole, more

Doesn't this look amazing?  Ginger and Citron and Almonds.  See my recipe for Yetholm Bannock, below.  But first:

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Garbanzos & Basil
Simple pasta, minimum sauce, maximum flavor.

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1 small can Garbanzos
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 cup slice Mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped fresh Basil
2 servings of dry Pasta -- spaghetti or fettucini
Basil Pesto to garnish

Saute the mushrooms in a bit of butter.  Reserve.  Start a pot of water to cook the pasta.  Halve the tomatoes and lay them out on a sheet pan with the garbanzos and garlic.

When the water boils, add the pasta and set your timer for al dente.  Turn on your broiler and put the tomatoes and chickpea sheet pan under for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes just start to wrinkle and collapse.

Toss the sheet pan contents with the mushrooms.  When the pasta is done, drain and plate.  Top with the vegetable medley.

Bannock Bread
Bannock -- a round 'flat', unleavened or barely leavened bread "fried" above a fire -- is a planet-wide recipe.  Scots, Tibetans, pre-invasion Native Americans, and all sorts of other folks around the world make something of the sort, sometimes with seeds or dried berries added.   This recipe makes one loaf nominally 9" in diameter.

1-1/2 cups Flour (AP, Whole Wheat, Oat, or some combination)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Water
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1-2 Tbsp additional Water

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt with the cup of water to make a wet dough.

In a 9" cold skillet (cast iron or non-stick), swirl the vegetable oil to cover the bottom.    Plop the dough in the middle and use a spatula to spread it out and smooth the top.  Drizzle the 1-2 Tbsp of water around the edge where the dough meets the skillet.  This helps steam-cook the bread.  Cover, set the stove's burner to medium low, and cook for 15 minutes or so, until nicely browned on the bottom.

This is where the recipe gets tricky!  Gas or electric stove, camp stove or open fire?  Mine is a glass-top electric. How low is medium low?  I set mine to 4 on a 10 point dial.  How heavy is your skillet?  Mine is an average non-stick pan.  All I'm saying is that it may take you a couple trials to get things right with your equipment.  My first attempt was burnt black in part because I wasn't watching as closely as I should!  The second  bannock was acceptable and the third nearly perfect.  Now I know how my equipment works for this recipe.

Reduce the heat (I dropped from 4 to 2 on my dial), carefully flip the bannock over, and cook the second side for another 5-10 minutes.  Total cook time 20-30 minutes, depending on your equipment.

My first two (including the cinder) were plain AP flour.  Tasty, but not fabulous.  The last one was two-thirds cup Whole Wheat flour and one-third cup Oat flour.  Don't have Oat flour?  Take 1/3 cup dry oatmeal for a spin in your coffee grinder -- quick oat flour!

This is a perfect bread to accompany a stew or hearty soup.  A half loaf hot from the skillet, slathered with butter and/or marmalade (or sliced and topped with sausage gravy) would make a hearty breakfast.  Or, split one in half to make a big sandwich.

Yetholm Bannock
That's pronounced Yet-hum with almost no 'h' sound.  Two tiny villages --Yetholm Town and Yethom Kirk -- on opposite sides of Bowmont Water, a river about a mile inside Scotland.   This is not your average savory Bannock bread by any stretch of the imagination!  But if you love crystallized ginger like we do, this is your dish!  Yetholm bannock is a holiday or festival dessert similar to, but better than fruitcake or anything like that.  Very rich and very sweet, but then you don't make this everyday -- just for very special occasions. I'd take this instead of birthday cake anytime! 

5 oz Butter
2 Egg Yolks (save the whites to glaze the top of the loaf when baking
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup (or cane syrup or honey)
3 oz Sugar
8 oz AP Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp ground Ginger
1 cup flaked Almonds
4 oz Candied Orange Peel or Citron Peel
3/4 cup Crystallized Ginger

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Beat together the butter, egg yolks, and syrup.  You can use a hand mixer or go "old school" with a spoon, but a stand mixer makes this a lot easier to prepare.  Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and spin some more. Plop the thick sticky mass on a cutting board and knead into it half of the almonds and all of the citron peel.  Form into a log and cut in half.

Chop the crystallized ginger into about 1/4" dice.

Line an 8x8 baking dish with tinfoil or parchment paper and dust with a bit of flour.  Spread one half of the dough into the dish, all the way into the corners.  Smooth a bit with a spatula.  Spread the crystallized ginger over the top.

Now pat out the second half of the dough, and then spread it in an even layer on top of the crystallized ginger.  Smooth the top.  Brush the top with slightly beaten egg whites and scatter the remining almonds on the surface.

Bake for 30-45 minutes until golden.  Let it cool in the pan on a rack, then cut into 1" squares. A 1" square of this is a real mouthful!

Apple-Orange-Sweet Potato Casserole
Something different this time.  I'm posting pictures of what I made, but giving you a recipe for what I should have done!  The recipe I made was 'way too sweet, even for a Thanksgiving side dish.  The following will still be somewhat sweet but not make your teeth ache!

2-3 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
2-3 large Apples, cored, peeled and cut into 1/4" rings
2-3 Oranges, preferably Moro or Blood Oranges -- peel on, sliced 1/4" thick
1/2 cup walnuts, pecans, or whole almonds
You want enough slices/rings to make two layers of each in your 7x10 casserole dish

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp ground Ginger

Microwave the sweet potatoes until tender but firm and let them cool a bit.  Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the casserole dish.

In a bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

Lay down and layer of each element in the casserole dish, and top with half the sugar&spice mix.  Repeat to make a second layer.

Bake for 30 minutes.   Serve.

Mum's Birthday Lunch

Sunday Brunch was in celebration of Sally's Mum's birthday (never ask a lady her age).  By request I made my Panko Fish -- cod fillets dusted in masa then dredged in beaten egg and Panko before being shallow-fried in 1/4" of vegetable oil in the electric skillet.

For the veggie, she requested my Roasted Brussel Sprouts -- halved and laid cut side up on a baking sheet, the sprited with EVOO and dusted with Cavender's Greek Seasoningtm.  Roast for 30 minutes in a pre-heated 400F oven.

For her birthday cake I made this Mango Upside Down Spice Cake from a box mix with the usual brown sugar syrup and large slices of Mango from one of Mum's trees.