Roasted Grape Focaccia

A while back I shared my love of homemade focaccia bread here.
 
That love has never wavered and in fact, only grown stronger once I began to add grapes to to the unbaked dough. Grapes are being harvested in Michigan right now, and I can't think of a more perfect time to make this bread!

I know the idea of cooking fresh grapes seems odd and that the grapes would just deflate into unappetizing skins.  Au contraire!

The grapes roast up into a sweet, caramelized bite that pairs up perfectly with savory components!  I also talked about roasting grapes on their own here if you're interested in a quick little dessert.

You only need an hour to create this fabulous-ness, or less if you are using instant yeast!

This week I created my focaccia using red onions, grapes, romano and fresh rosemary!  It was absolutely stunning to look at and delicious!  This combination of ingredients was also amazing after supper with a small glass of Vin Santo instead of dessert!  

ROASTED GRAPE FOCACCIA

1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
1 ¼ cups hot water (115 degrees)
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided


1 cup fresh grapes, washed
4 Tablespoons Fresh Rosemary, tips of branches
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, grated
1/3 cup Red Onion, very thinly sliced

In your mixing bowl, blend water, yeast, 1 Tablespoon of EVOO and sugar. Add all of the flour and salt. Using the dough hook, blend at low speed until dough forms ball on hook. Continue kneading additional 3-4 minutes until dough looks shiny and all flour has been incorporated.

Coat dough with 2 Tablespoons EVOO and let double in size (about 15 minutes), punch down. Liberally oil (with EVOO) a 12-13” round pan and press half of the dough into bottom.

 Make depressions with your fingertips. Let rise until dough has doubled (15-30 minutes) and add toppings, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with salt.

Bake 450 degrees for 25-35 (whole batch of dough or 18 minutes for a half batch of dough) minutes until golden brown and dough has cooked through.

Gorgonzola and new potatoes

There are not many foods that Italian Gorgonzola doesn't complement!  From fruits to steaks and every kind of vegetable, Gorgonzola is my staple blue cheese.

I ran to the farm last night to see what was available for supper and much to my surprise were crates full of beautiful red skin potatoes! 

Still a bit gritty and rosy red, I picked the smallest of them and headed home! 



A quick wash and quartering and 15 minutes of boiling gave me enough time to get some steaks going and make the decision to add Gorgonzola!  After draining the potatoes, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter, the same amount of Dolce Latta Gorgonzola and a teaspoon or so of fresh rosemary.  A quick stir and it was on the table! 

The blue cheese complemented the beef well and the potatoes were creamy and comforting, all in 20 minutes or less! 

Savory & Sweet Shortbread

I was perusing some of my favorite blogs last week to see what fun others are cooking up this time of year.  One of the most interesting recipes I came across was from www.101cookbooks.com and was a Pine Nut Rosemary Shortbread recipe that caught my eye.  So, I tried it out with just a few differences from the original recipe and WOW!  These are really fabulous shortbreads!  Here is Heidi Swanson's recipe from 101 Cookbooks and I used orange zest instead of lemon.

I used my Grandmother's "card club" cookie cutters, which totally crack up anyone of age 55 or older!  The "diamond" is my favorite and it seems to keep the shortbreads nice and sturdy, as well as quite uniform.  Plus these are the perfect size for 2 bite cookies!

Pine Nut Rosemary Shortbread Recipe

2 cups white whole-wheat flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)
scant teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (natural cane) sugar
zest of one lemon
2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and loosely chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Combine flour and salt in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
In a separate large bowl or stand mixer cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and lemon zest and mix again, then add the flour mixture, nuts, and rosemary and mix until the dough goes just past the crumbly stage, and begins to really clump together (you don't want to over mix, but under mixing will make the dough seem a bit dry, which can make it difficult to handle). Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough just once or twice to bring it together, then divide it into a ball and flatten into a disk 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper of a Silpat mat. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut into whatever shapes you desire, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sometimes I chill the dough in the freezer for another 10 minutes, it seems to help the cookies hold their shape - but you don't have to. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are beginning to brown on the bottom. The baking time will vary depending on the size of the cookies, taking less time for smaller cookies.
Makes about 2 dozen small cookies.
Variation: use chopped raw or toasted walnuts and 1 tablespoon coarsely ground coffee in place of the lemon, pine nuts, and rosemary.

The only tip not noted in the recipe is to remove the cookies from the baking sheet after cooling about 10 minutes, otherwise they really stick tight!  I stored mine in a tin to keep them a bit crispy, the ziploc stored were a bit too soft for my liking!

Enjoy with you favorite cup of tea!