Unnamed Recipe

[RJM62]

I don't have a name for this one because it's just something I threw together from ingredients that I had partial packages of, and decided to put together into a meal.

It started with half a pound of bacon that I had to use because it was opened and half the package used over the weekend. Because I do my "big" grocery shopping trip once a month, I decided to do a quick inventory to see what other partial packages I had. The results were: A little over three cups of Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice, about a quarter-pound of whole wheat rotini, about four ounces of frozen stir-fry peppers, and some grape tomatoes.

And thus this recipe was created.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of instant brown rice
1/4 lb. pasta
1/2 lb. bacon (or other meat, for my Jewish and Muslim friends)
4 oz. frozen peppers
1 small onion, chopped
1 handful of grape tomatoes
Salt, pepper, parsely, garlic powder, chili powder, and paprika to taste.
Grated Romano cheese as a topping

Instructions:

Cut the meat into small pieces and cook it.

Cook the pasta and the rice. In this case, because I was using instant brown rice and whole-wheat pasta, I tossed them in together as soon as the water boiled. The timing worked out okay.

When the rice and pasta are about half cooked, add the peppers, onions, and seasonings. Stir and cover.

When the rice and pasta are almost completely cooked, add the meat. Stir and cover.

Right before you're ready to serve, toss in the grape tomatoes and stir them in. They only need to be in there for a minute or so.

It went very nicely with a side of salad. Not shown in the picture is the grated Romano cheese, which made a very nice and complementary topping.

-Rich

 

[Sac Arrow]

I'll suggest "Bacon Rice Plate".

 

[EdFred]

Bacon Richsotto

 

[SkyHog]

Bacon cheese gumbo

 

[Sac Arrow]

Nouveau Bacotta

 

[HerrGruyere]

Stuff.

 

[steingar]

Glad to see you're enjoying your retirement, Rich. Made Spelt pasta over the weekend. Spelt is an ancient, grain, described in the Bible and one of the first grains ever cultivated by man. It was brought to North America by Swedish immigrants who moved to Ohio and popularized by The Ohio State University.

Spelt Bochatini. Yum.

 

[EdFred]

Glad to see you're enjoying your retirement, Rich. Made Spelt pasta over the weekend. Spelt is an ancient, grain, described in the Bible and one of the first grains ever cultivated by man. It was brought to North America by Swedish immigrants who moved to Ohio and popularized by The Ohio State University.

Spelt Bochatini. Yum.

Sounds like an onomatopoeia after a long night of drinking.

 

[RJM62]

Glad to see you're enjoying your retirement, Rich. Made Spelt pasta over the weekend. Spelt is an ancient, grain, described in the Bible and one of the first grains ever cultivated by man. It was brought to North America by Swedish immigrants who moved to Ohio and popularized by The Ohio State University.

Spelt Bochatini. Yum.

It's pretty nice, Michael. Thanks.

I work an average of four hours a day -- sometimes more, sometimes less, but about four hours on average. Plenty of time for fishing, very little stress, few deadlines, and no traffic to contend with. I have time to experiment with oddball sites, fly oddball ultralights, invent oddball recipes, tinker with the car, and solve the world's problems on this and other message boards.

When I want some in-person intellectual stimulation I use my alumni I.D. card to hang out at one of the state colleges and talk to the young geniuses; and when I want a more down-to-earth perspective on things I visit one of the local gin mills and talk to the old rednecks.

And then, of course, there's cooking, which is made easier by the fact that unlike the situation in Queens / NYC, I'm not surrounded by excellent restaurants and all-night delicatessens.

So all in all, it's not bad at all.

-Rich

 

[benb172]

Looks Great! I'll Have to try that thanks!

 

[steingar]

You should start baking bread. A great thing to do for those who have time.

 

[RJM62]

You should start baking bread. A great thing to do for those who have time.

I do that, too, LOL. It's good therapy.

I should post the recipes... here are some pictures, though:

Whole wheat loaf.

Oatmeal breakfast bread.

Two round loaves of Italian lard bread.

-Rich

EDIT: Notice the different stove. I moved since those loaves were baked.

 

[steingar]

Those look a damn sight nicer than the breads I've been making lately. Actually, the whole wheat and bran loaves I make turn out great, and if I bake any kind of white bread it turns out wonderfully. The sourdough I put in tastes really great too. But I haven't made a white bread for us in a long time though, and the whole grain breads, like Kamut and Rye, turn out terribly. Still farting around with techniques to improve the situation. My latest rye bread was a horror story, though quite edible. I made myself a seitan/pickle sandwich on rye with a bit of mayo this morning.

 

[RJM62]

Those look a damn sight nicer than the breads I've been making lately. Actually, the whole wheat and bran loaves I make turn out great, and if I bake any kind of white bread it turns out wonderfully. The sourdough I put in tastes really great too. But I haven't made a white bread for us in a long time though, and the whole grain breads, like Kamut and Rye, turn out terribly. Still farting around with techniques to improve the situation. My latest rye bread was a horror story, though quite edible. I made myself a seitan/pickle sandwich on rye with a bit of mayo this morning.

Thanks. Baking is a great hobby once you start getting into the chemistry and biology of it.

I don't have much luck with rye breads, either. Wheat breads and mixed-grain breads with a high percentage of wheat are simple compared to ryes. I've never succeeded in making a rye loaf that I was completely satisfied with. They taste fine, but I never get the rise right.

A professional baker tried to explain to me why rye bread is so difficult to make. It had something to do with rye amylase being less thermolabile than wheat amylase, and rye gluten being less sturdy than wheat gluten, resulting in the amylase breaking down the the gluten when conventional yeast is introduced. Actually he went into much more detail than that, but that's the gist of it. He suggested a few ways to get around that (sourdough starters, etc.), but none of them ever worked too well for me.

I don't do much baking of yeast breads in the winter because I keep the place too cool to get a good rise unless there's really good sunlight coming through the southern windows. I'm not going to burn the propane to pump the heat in the house up to proofing temperature just to make a loaf of bread.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to build a proofing box, but I think I may have stumbled upon a simpler solution based on reptile supplies, of all things:

I'm thinking I can lay a thermostatically-controlled, electric terrarium heater pad on the bottom rack in the oven, and proof the bread on the top rack. That should allow me to regulate the temperature with precision of a couple of degrees, anywhere along the dough-proofing range. I'll probably pick up a heater pad (or some similar solution to try) the next time I have reason to go some place where there's a decent pet supply store.

-Rich

 

[steingar]

Thanks. Baking is a great hobby once you start getting into the chemistry and biology of it.

Yup, it can be really fun, especially in the modern age. If you have the time.

I don't have much luck with rye breads, either. Wheat breads and mixed-grain breads with a high percentage of wheat are simple compared to ryes. I've never succeeded in making a rye loaf that I was completely satisfied with. They taste fine, but I never get the rise right.

Yeah, that's my problem with most of the whole and ancient grains, except for whole wheat, which works fine. I just don't like making the same bread over and over.

A professional baker tried to explain to me why rye bread is so difficult to make. It had something to do with rye amylase being less thermolabile than wheat amylase, and rye gluten being less sturdy than wheat gluten, resulting in the amylase breaking down the the gluten when conventional yeast is introduced. Actually he went into much more detail than that, but that's the gist of it. He suggested a few ways to get around that (sourdough starters, etc.), but none of them ever worked too well for me.

I'm going to try again with a sponge, basically a mixture of yeast, flour and water, that you mix and let sit overnight. My last attempt was a disaster just because the dough got too wet and I didn't see it until too late.

I don't do much baking of yeast breads in the winter because I keep the place too cool to get a good rise unless there's really good sunlight coming through the southern windows. I'm not going to burn the propane to pump the heat in the house up to proofing temperature just to make a loaf of bread.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to build a proofing box, but I think I may have stumbled upon a simpler solution based on reptile supplies, of all things:

I'm thinking I can lay a thermostatically-controlled, electric terrarium heater pad on the bottom rack in the oven, and proof the bread on the top rack. That should allow me to regulate the temperature with precision of a couple of degrees, anywhere along the dough-proofing range. I'll probably pick up a heater pad (or some similar solution to try) the next time I have reason to go some place where there's a decent pet supply store.

-Rich

Sounds clever. Inexpensive oven thermometers are available to calibrate your system. You want about 30 degrees centigrade, the permissive temp for Saccaramyces. The other thing you might consider is making a yeast sourdough starter. Basically yeast, flour, and milk. Add in a bit of greek style yogurt (to get lactobacilli) and some yeast. Proof for a couple days, until its bubbly and thin. You start your bread with the starter and a bit of flour, proof it over night, then add the rest of the ingredients and bake as you would normally.

My sourdoughs are lactobacilli based. We have a yogurt maker (basically a 110 degree incubator) that also makes delicious sourdough starter. Unfortunately, this starter is very poor at making carbon dioxide, and thus can't be used like a traditional starter, and is instead just used as a flavor reagent. I don't have time, so all my breads are made in a bread machine.