Surviving the Week

June 23, 2015

We made it through another week. I feel like I am always cooking, and that all the cooking takes longer. Every bread product we want to eat will now have to be made from scratch or will have to be the bread we get from our CSA share (yuck!). The very last of the store bought English muffins were used up, and we maybe have three bagels left. For most breakfasts this week we had eggs. It’s a good thing we have about 24 of our own chickens producing eggs, as well as a dozen eggs we get in our share. This week we went through 4 dozen eggs. Most lunches were the last of the bagels with goat cheese, or fried egg sandwiches. On a very hectic day, when Tristan had his riding lesson, and we had a bunch of errands, we went to Burrito Me, which is this hipster burrito place in Laconia. While this little restaurant is not really my favorite place because it is seriously filthy inside (and my standards are not that high), Tris loves it and the food is locally sourced and it is fresh, real food.  Dinner on Wednesday was Hake fillet and a steak, from the CSA and our Community seafood share.

Pippa the Border Collie, thinking the steak looks pretty good.

 The steak was tender and flavorful. The fish was fresh and similar to Cod. We had asparagus and salad with all dinners this week, except the night we had burgers. The burgers on our own homemade rolls are very popular with the boys, and the rolls make good sandwiches. I will include the recipe here at the end of this post. We used up a box of store spaghetti, and our own ground beef, with some canned Muir Glen tomatoes. We had twice baked potatoes with the cheese from our dairy share, and a mix of herbs from the garden.

One popular thing I made for me and Tristan, was strawberry milk. I take a quart of milk, add 5 or 6 strawberries to it, a tablespoon of honey, and about an ounce of buttermilk. I then blend it up with a stick blender. Slightly sweet, frothy and tangy, it’s just perfect.

We are getting sick of eating a piece of meat with a side of vegetable for every dinner. This weekend I’m going to try for lasagne, which will be made the hard way, with homemade pasta, and homemade ricotta and mozzarella. I have done this before and it takes most of the day. I will make a big one and freeze a good portion of it for later.

I made two desserts this week, a raspberry sorbet from some frozen last-year's berries, and a chocolate cream pie. I would say most of the food we have eaten this week was from our homegrown food supply and from our leftover store bought food. Very little was from our CSA share, maybe only one quarter if that.

On another note, I have noticed I have more money in the checking account, about 400 dollars more, because I haven’t shopped in two weeks, and we are eating less and wasting less. I stop and think before I chuck sometime in the garbage, or throw it to the chickens. Something else strange I noticed this week -- though more money is definitely strange -- was the look of the inside of our fridge. At first I couldn't pinpoint it, but after several times of putting food in and rearranging things, I figured it out. It was because most of the food did not have a label on it.  What had labels were the condiments on the door and that was about it. It gave the fridge a very streamlined look, you could see the food, and just the food.

Here is a recipe I’m now making about once a week. These rolls are soft, rich and soak up the juices from the hamburgers. It is well worth the time it takes to make these compared to your store bought rolls.  We use all organic ingredients for this recipe. You can substitute half of the white flour with whole wheat if you must, but I urge you to try them first with all white flour. These rolls freeze well and are great with all kinds of other sandwich fillings.

Worth the effort to make.

Hamburger Rolls

Yield: 8 rolls

3 ½ cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoon or 1 packet instant yeast

1 cup very warm water

1 egg

3 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted

1 egg and 1 tsp. of water combined for egg wash

sesame seeds for sprinkling on top (optional)

Combine yeast, ½ of the water and  ½  cup of the flour in a bowl and whisk together. Let this mixture set until it starts to foam, it should look like the foam on the head of a beer.

Add the egg, sugar, salt, butter, and the remaining water. Mix well.

Place in a standing mixer with a dough hook and add the remaining flour, mix for 5 to 6 minutes until dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, but still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. If you don't have a mixer, by all means knead this by hand. The dough will be very sticky, but resist adding more flour, as you work the dough it will become less sticky and more manageable. Time yourself to make sure you work the dough for the full amount of time.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size. This takes about 1 hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, take it out of the bowl and gently deflate it. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and gently form each piece into a small ball.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Form the balls into flat disks, hamburger bun size.  Place the disks in a 2,1,2,1,2 pattern on the pan.  Let the rolls double in size. When the rolls have risen, very carefully brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

People always ask, after having these rolls, can the dough be made as hot dog rolls? The answer is yes and they are just as good as the hamburg rolls. To make hotdog rolls, form the divided dough into small logs the length of the sausage you will be using. Place the logs in a side by side row down your baking sheet so that they will touch as they rise. Before you place them on the sheet, brush each side that will touch with melted butter. With the back of a knife, make an indentation all along the top of the roll,  a long line down the center. They will start to look like a New England Hotdog roll. Let rise until about double in size. Skip the egg wash and bake for 15 to 17 minutes. When cool, cut the top indentation ⅔ of the way through. These are perfect for lobster rolls, when brushed with melted butter and grilled on the sides.