Mediterranean-style Layered Chicken in the Dutch Oven

This dish was inspired by a lot of Italian and Mediterranean flavors. The layering of the the ingredients helps to keep the flavors a bit more distinct, whereas they would be more blended if they cooked as a stew or casserole. It’s an easy to make one-pot meal, with meat, veggies, and dairy all mixed in. If you serve it with some bread sticks, you have your grain/starch right there. It was way yummy!

When I did this for my family, I sauteed some yellow and zucchini squash slices in another dutch oven as a tasty side dish.

Mediterranean-style Layered Chicken

12” Shallow Dutch oven
10 coals below
16-18 coals above

10” shallow Dutch oven
10-12 coals below

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika

• 3x 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
• Oregano
• Parsley
• basil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Cayenne (just a little)
• Lemon juice

• 1 lb ricotta
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 2 medium Onions

• 2x 14 oz cans Artichoke hearts
• 2x 14 oz cans olives
• Fresh Parsley
• Green onions
• 16 oz grated mozzarella

While the coals were getting hot, I started by prepping the food for the layers.  I began by blotting the thawed chicken breasts dry, then cutting them into 1” cubes. I seasoned the cubes with the salt, pepper and paprika, which is my go-to meat seasoning.

Then, I made the tomato mix by opening up the cans of diced tomatoes and adding in all of the seasonings in the second set of ingredients. I was pretty liberal with the flavorings, except for the cayenne, and I tasted all along the way, just to make sure that the balance of seasonings was good. Next, I mixed the ricotta and the parmesan cheeses. I actually added some feta in, too, because we had some. After that, I sliced the onions (in circles).

The last prep step was to assemble the layers in the Dutch oven. I started by spreading about a third of the tomato mix over the bottom of the Dutch oven. Then, I added these layers, in order, assembling upward:

• Artichoke hearts (drained)
• Olives (drained)
• Chicken cubes
• Cheese mix
• Onion slices
• The rest of the tomato mix
• Minced fresh parsley/green onions
• And finally, a layer of shredded mozarella

Here are some pics:

Once it was all assembled, it was just a matter of putting it on the coals and baking it for about 45 minutes. I kept some fresh coals going in the chimney and replenished the coals on the oven about every 15-20 minutes.

While it was baking (in fact, when it was almost done), I put the 10” Dutch oven on the coals, with a little olive oil in it. I sliced a couple of zucchini and yellow squashes each, and tossed them into the heated oil to sautee with a little salt and pepper. I only cooked them for about 10 minutes or so, just long enough to get hot and a little soft, but still be crispy.

Then, it was ready to serve!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch oven Salmon and Asparagus Hollandaise

The other day, as I was planning out my month of Dutch oven dishes, I had a very clear idea in mind as to what I was going to cook this last Sunday. Very clear, that is, until my wife spoke up.

“I want salmon!”  She said with a finality that unlaid my best laid plans. “Salmon with asparagus and a hollandaise sauce! With poofy rolls.”

Well, I was more mouse than man.  It was an easy choice, really, especially since I was intrigued with the idea, especially of the sauce.  I’d never done a Hollandaise.  I wasn’t even certain if I’d tasted one before.  I wondered about that out loud.

“It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Yeah?  How do you do it?

“Just buy one of those little packets.”

Oh, no.  Nonono.  No.  This is my chance to learn learn something new and test myself.  I’m not going to just “buy a little packet”.

It worked out quite well.  I did learn a lot about the sauce. One very important thing I learned was that it’s crazy to do a Hollandaise sauce outdoors in a dutch oven in the middle of winter.

But, as I said, it all turned out well.

Dutch oven Salmon and Asparagus Hollandaise


The Salmon and Asparagus

12” Shallow Dutch oven
22+ coals below
10-12  coals above, later in the recipe

1 large filet of fresh salmon, cut into 2-3” wide chunks
Juice of 4-5 limes
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Chili powder

3-4 fresh asparagus spears per guest
olive oil
kosher salt


The Rice

10” Dutch oven
14-16 coals below, maybe more

1 1/2 Cups rice
3 cups water or stock
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 2 oz packages of sliced almonds
Juice of two limes


The Hollandaise Sauce

8” Dutch oven
12+ coals below
glass or metal bowl, slightly larger than the Dutch oven

Water

4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt


I cut the salmon into chunks and put them into a ziptop baggie, along with all the flavorings in the first set of the list.  I shook that all up to coat the salmon evenly, and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so, while I did other things, like making the biscuits.  I used just an ordinary biscuit recipe, and added shredded cheddar and minced garlic to the dough.  I’ll write it up someday, but for now, my focus is on the other parts of the main dish.

I prepared the rice next.  I put all of those ingredients into the 10” Dutch oven and put that on the proper number of coals.    I watched it while I cooked the salmon and other things, and marked when it boiled.  About 10-15  minutes after, I pulled it off the coals, without opening the lid, and let it steep and steam while the other parts of the dish finished.

The salmon was the third part to go on.  I put a little olive oil in the bottom of my 12” shallow Dutch oven, and set it on the coals.  I wanted it to get VERY hot.  When I laid the salmon pieces in it, the sizzling and the immediate aroma let me know how good it was going to taste!

After a few minutes, when the down side of the fish had a little browning going on, I turned the pieces over with some tongs, and closed up the lid.  I had a lot of salmon in the pot, so it wasn’t cooking too fast, even though it was initially quite hot.  With the lid on, I put some coals on top just to let it bake a bit.

I shook the asparagus in a baggie with the seasonings in its list, and laid them across the top of the salmon pieces, then replaced the lid.

Finally, to turn my attention to the Hollandaise.

I started by separating the eggs, and putting the yolks in a glass bowl I had pre-fitted to my 8” Dutch oven.  I’ll show you how they match up in a minute.  Before I began, I put about a cup of water in the Dutch oven and put it on the coals with the lid on.  I juiced in the lemon, and I began whisking. I had to whisk for quite a while.  It blends, but for a long time it doesn’t really change much, but then suddenly, it goes from a very runny, almost orange, liquid, to a light yellow, thick creamy texture.

By then, the water was boiling outside.  Here’s where there is a lot of compromise going on. On the one hand, you don’t want it to be too hot, and a vigorous rolling boil is too hot.  On the other hand, it’s freezing cold out, and I’ll have to overcome that.  I took off the lid and set the glass bowl over the Dutch oven.  I had chosen the bowl to cover the dutch oven like a lid, but to not have the bottom rest in the boiling (or simmering) water.  I knew that the bowl wouldn’t seal completely, so the boiling water would cool very quickly.

With the bowl on the Dutch oven, over the simmering water, I continued whisking, constantly whisking.  The idea is to “temper” the egg, that is, to raise the temperature slowly, so that it cooks, but it doesn’t scramble.  I poured in the melted butter, gradually, while still whisking.  I had no idea how hot it should be, or how it would look.  Eventually, however, it did heat up, and it went from a smooth, creamy texture, to a slightly thicker, creamier texture.  Along the way I added in the pinch of salt, paprika, and cayenne.

By the time I was done with that, the salmon and asparagus were done, and the rice was waiting for us as well.  I spooned out a serving of the rice, and laid the salmon pieces on top of that.  The asparagus went to the side, but also still on the rice.  Then across it all, I drizzled the Sauce.  Finally, the biscuit made the meal complete.

Did it work?  My wife said that it was better than any restaurant.  I love it when she says that!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Focaccia in the Oval Roaster Dutch Oven

This Dutch oven recipe is included in my Dutch oven cookbook, "Dutch Oven Breads"

It was quite a fight to bring this bread to pass.  First of all, it’s an “indirect” bread, meaning that it requires a preferment rise before the regular rise.  That means it’s at least a two-day project to do it right.

Then, the next day, it takes another four hours of mixing, kneading, rising, and baking.  It’s a long process.

On Saturday night, I made the “poolish”, which is a very wet gloppy goo, and let it raise overnight in the fridge.  On Sunday, when I went to work on it, I mixed the full dough (which is still quite wet), and while it was rising, my dogs got to it and made off with over half the dough.  I was NOT happy.

It wasn’t until the following Friday and Saturday that I would have the proper time available for the whole process.  Fortunately, this time it worked.

Focaccia is a flat rustic bread.  That means it comes from a very wet dough.  Ciabatta is another one like it.  It turns out flat, and often carries toppings.  I wondered, as I was making it, if it was a fore-runner of pizza, or maybe a descendant...


Focaccia in the Oval Roaster

25 coals below
35 coals above


The Poolish


2 1/2 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
1 1/2 Cups Water, warm
1/2 tsp yeast


The Bread

2 1/2 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour, with more for the tabletop and working
2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
6 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 Cup water, ~110°
3 Cups Poolish


The Herb Oil

2 Cups olive oil, warmed
1/2 Cup various dried herbs, mixed
parsley
oregano
sage
rosemary, others
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp black pepper, ground


The Toppings

Anything you want!  I used:
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 roma tomato, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
4-6 oz of a blend of italian cheeses: mozarella, asiago, parmesan


I started the night before baking, mixing the poolish.  Of all the processes, it was probably the easiest.  I simply mixed the three ingredients thoroughly, overmixed it, really, then covered it in plastic and set it aside for an hour or two.

It raised up nicely.  I put it in the fridge to continue the fermentation overnight.  Longer ferment times really make for more rich flavors!

The next day, I took it out of the fridge pretty early.  It was a bit bigger, but not by much.  I let it sit for an hour or so, to warm up a bit.  After a while, I measured out the water and sprinkled in the yeast, to activate it.

Then, I got a large ceramic mixing bowl, and sifted in the flour, and added the salt.  I added in all of the wet ingredients (the yeast/water mix, the oil, and the poolish).  The poolish was very gluteny, even though it was runny, so it was difficult to measure.  I ended up spooning it into a measuring cup.  I got a good, basic mix going on with a heavy wooden spoon.

...But then it got ugly.

I stuck my hand in the goo and started squeezing it through my fingers, turning the bowl as I went.  I would squeeze, turn, release, then grab another glob and squeeze again.  It felt sooo gross.  This was taking the place of a normal knead.  As I was doing this, I could feel it getting more smooth and gluten-y.  I did that for almost 8 minutes.  It was very tiring on the fingers.  Finally, I rubbed what I could off my fingers then rinsed my hands.  It really was a mess.

Then, I sprinkled a small handfull of flour out onto the tabletop, in about the size and shape of a dinner plate.  I dumped the goo dough onto it (scraping the sides with a spatch), and sprinkled more flour on top.  I floured my hands and grabbed each side and pulled, stretching the dough outward.  I folded the right side over the middle, then the left side, to form a small square, which I gently flattened a bit.  I turned it 90°, and did the stretch and folds again.  Then I covered it with a tea towel and let it sit for a half hour.

I mixed the herbal oil next.  I simply put the oil in a jar, the set the jar in some really hot water for a time.  I added in all of the herbs and seasonings and stirred it up.  The heat makes the oil absorb the flavors a bit more.

After that rest, I did the stretch and fold again, and after that, another 30 minute rise/rest.  Finally, after one more stretch and fold, it was ready for shaping.

I got the coals lit.  I could tell it was a lot of coals.  I was shooting for a final temperature of 450°.

I got out the oval roaster and poured a pretty liberal amount of the herbal oil in the bottom, enough to cover.  I put in the dough and, using my fingertips, stretched it out to the edges, or at least close to it.  I pressed my fingertips into the dough, all the way to the pot, to make the traditional dimples.  I poured on more herbal oil, then sprinkled on the onions, garlic, and tomatoes.  Then I let that rise some more.  I also put in the short-stemmed thermometer.

Actually, I think now that I really went overboard on the toppings.  The amounts shown above should be more effective.  In the end, having lots of toppings kept it from getting a nice, crisp top crust.  In fact, all of the cheese browned, then singed instead.

In a pizza, the crust is there to give a delicious carriage for the toppings.  In focaccia, the bread is the attention, and the toppings should simply enhance it.

When the coals were white-edged, I took the lid out and put as many coals on it as I could.  As I said, I wanted it heck-hot!  Another fifteen minutes, and the bread was ready, the lid was ready, and it was time to bake.

I put the lid on, and set the roaster on the stand, to lift it up above the coals.  I adjusted the proper above and below coals, and let it bake.

After about 15 minutes, I lifted the lid and saw that it was nicely cooking.  I added the cheese at that point.  I actually put on a lot of cheese.  In retrospect, I would put on less than half what I did, and I might even wait another five minutes.  At this point, It would have probably also been a good idea to remove 6-8 coals from the middle of the top, too.

After another ten minutes, the thermometer registered 200 degrees, so I shook off the coals and brought it in.  Using a pancake turner, I tipped the roaster and lifted the focaccia out, laying it nicely onto a cooling rack.  It sat there, teasing me, for about an hour.

In spite of the darkened top, the whole bread tasted amazing.  The herb oil and the oil in the dough gave it a richness, and the toppings were delicious. It didn’t have the big holes in the crumb that I had hoped for, but the crumb was deliciously light and flavorful.

Do you like cooking with a Dutch oven?  Here are more recipes for Dutch ovens.

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

French Bread Batarde in a Cast Iron Oval Roaster

This Dutch oven recipe is included in my Dutch oven cookbook, "Dutch Oven Breads"

One of the things I got for Christmas this year was a cast iron oval roaster.  I don’t know if it’s TECHNICALLY a dutch oven, but it IS cast iron, you CAN put coals on top and below (with a stand), and you CAN (currently) use them in sanctioned Dutch oven cookoffs.  So, I’m going to call it a Dutch oven.  You can see, basically, what it looks like in the affiliate ad, there, on the right.

Now, there’s all kinds of cool things you can do with an oval roaster, as a Dutch oven chef, that you can’t do as well with a regular Dutch oven.  One is to cook a full rack of ribs.  Another is to lay out a big, long fish, like a salmon, on a bed of potatoes or rice.  I’d love to steam some rice under a few big long king crab’s legs!

But what has had me wanting one of these for the whole last year was the opportunity to do French bread the way it’s supposed to be done, as a batarde shape. See, there are basically three shapes for french bread.  The baguette is a long, thin shape, with a lot of crust, and not as much crumb.  It’s great for dipping and for having alongside soups.  The boule (or ball) is a round-shaped hearth loaf.  That’s easy to do with a traditional Dutch oven, since it’s round, too.  Then there’s the batarde.  It’s somewhere in between the two.  It’s shorter than the baguette, and fatter, but not fully round, like the boule.  It has more crust area than the boule, but not as much as the baguette. It’s also what you find labeled as “French bread” in most American supermarkets.

The problem with the Dutch oven is that you can’t do a baguette or a batarde shape.  It’s just not long enough.  But, the oval roaster IS!

So, last week, I made a batarde of French bread, and it turned out GREAT!  I basically did the same recipe and procedure as I did when I made the boule before, but did it in the different shape and oven.  It’s a two-day process, with a preferment dough that rises overnight.  This helps develop more flavor!

French Bread Batarde

Day 1: no Dutch oven needed

Day 2: Oval Roaster

18-20 coals below
24-26 coals above

You’ll also need a Dutch oven trivet, or stand, to raise the roaster up above the coals.


The first step, the night before, is to make a “Pâte Fermentée”, or a preferment.  This is basically a bread dough, that you let rise overnight, then use as a basis for more bread dough the next day.

1/2 tsp Yeast
1 Cup water

2 1/4 Cups Bread Flour
3/4 tsp Salt

I started by mixing the yeast and the water. It doesn’t matter as much if the water’s hot, here, but I’m used to activating the yeast in 110° water.  Just stir the yeast into the water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

While waiting, I sifted the flour and the salt together.  Once the yeast was a little frothy, I poured the yeast/water mix onto the flour and stirred it up.  I shook a little flour onto my tabletop and kneaded it a bit.  I went for a while, but I didn’t worry about a windowpane, because I knew that I’d be kneading it for reals the next day.

I sprayed the bowl with oil, set the dough ball in, and sprayed it with oil.  I covered the bowl with plastic and let it rise for about an hour.

Then, it went into the fridge, for the long, overnight ferment.


The Dough


1 tsp Yeast
1 Cup water (about 110° F)

The Pâte Fermentée from the night before
2 Cups Bread Flour, with more for kneading
3/4 tsp Salt



The next day, I pulled it out pretty early and set it aside to come up in temperature and rise a little more.  I let it sit most of the morning.

When I was ready to work it, I got another cup of 110° water (or close to it), and activated a little more yeast.  I sifted 2 cups of the flour, as before, and added the salt.  Then, I cut the Pâte Fermentée into a dozen or so small chunks.  Finally, I combined the Pâte Fermentée, the flour mix, and the yeast mix and stirred it up.

Then, I turned the dough out onto my floured tabletop and started kneading and flouring in earnest.  This time, I really worked it, and kept at it until I got a good stretchy windowpane (see my breadmaking lens for a good explanation of the windowpane test http://www.squidoo.com/dutchovenbread).

Once it was well-kneaded, I formed it into a boule, stretching and tucking the surface tight, and set it back into the oiled bowl.  I oiled the surface of the bread, too, and covered it all to rise.

It rose up very nicely, over the course of a couple of hours.  When it had doubled in bulk, I went out and lit up a lot of coals.  Once the coals were starting, I put just a little flour out on the tabletop, and dumped out the dough.  I squashed and stretched it into a long, narrow shape, about a foot and a half long by about 3-4 inches wide.  I stretched a nice, tight surface, and pinched the bottom tight together all along the length.  I put that whole dough loaf onto a single piece of parchment paper (to make it easier to move).  I set that aside to rise some more.

Then, I went back out to my cooking area with my oval roaster.  I spritzed some oil all over the inside, and set it up on my lid stand trivet.  I put 18-20 coals below it, right under the edge, and 24-26 coals above on the lid.  There was a limited space on the lid, and it didn’t have a high lip to keep the ash in, so I could tell it would be tricky to manipulate.  But, I had to work with it.

After about 15-20 minutes, the roaster was nicely pre-heated, and the dough had risen back up some.  I took my razor, my dough, some hot pads, a short-stemmed thermometer, and my son to start the baking.  While I carefully lifted the lid, he lowered the dough in on the parchment.  Then, he sprinkled on some sesame seeds, slashed the top with the razor, in three long slashes, and stuck in the thermometer.  I set the lid back on and marked the time.  I also put a handful of fresh coals into the chimney to start.

After about 15 minutes, I turned the oven around, and the lid as well, just to change the relative positions of the coals to the bread dough.  That helps promote more even cooking.  It was very tricky to turn the lid without shaking ash into the oven.  I think next time, I’ll knock the ash off the coals and sweep it clean first.  I put a few fresh coals at even distances above and below, mainly because they had burned down and it was very, very cold out.  In the summer, or in lighter breeze, that might not be necessary.

After another 15-20 minutes, it was done.  I lifted up the lid, and the thermometer read at 190°.  It can go as high as 200°, but the lighter white breads can be done at 190°.  I shook the ashes off the lid and brought the roaster in.  I lifted the bread out by the parchment paper and set it onto my cooling rack.  It really looked nice!  The crust wasn’t too hard, and the bottom was nicely browned as well.

My wife said that it was the best bread I’d ever baked.  I had some friends come over and share.  It was great by itself, and I also loved it with butter and honey!




How to cook in a Dutch oven! And here are chicken Dutch oven recipes!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Brendon’s Dutch Oven Creme Brulee

These last few blog entries have all been about culinary victories.  Dishes that defeated me, at first, but which I later conquered.

Today’s blog entry is one for my son, Brendon.  Several times, now, he’s tried to do a creme brulee, each time it didn’t turn out quite the way we wanted.  Once it was a bit bland and strangely grey in color, another time it didn’t set and was almost completely liquid.  Finally, we took a little time and did it together.  Actually, he did it, and with only minimal observation and input from me.  And it worked!

This recipe is based on one from America’s Test Kitchen.  It’s a little bit different, simplified in process from so many others we looked up, and adapted a little, of course, for the Dutch oven.

We also had to shop around some to find ramekins.  It was tricky to buy them, wondering how many we would be able to fit into the Dutch oven.  The small, but deep round ones would easily fit 7, but the larger, shallower, ovals would only fit 4.  Your mileage may vary.

You’ll also need a blowtorch.  Yes, I said that right.  We borrowed a small plumber’s torch from a neighbor.  You can go out and spend about $30 for a small kitchen torch.  That’s a bit too much to spend on a unitasker for me..

Brendon’s Dutch Oven Creme Brulee

12” Dutch oven

Part 1: 20 + coals below
Part 2: 13-14 coals below, 13-14 coals above

You’ll also need several 4-5 oz ceramic ramekins.

• 6 large egg yolks

• 2 Cups heavy cream
• ⅓ Cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A shake of cinnamon
• A shake of nutmeg

• Brown sugar to sprinkle and melt on top
• mint leaves to garnish, if desired

To start, we got some coals lit.  While those were catching on, we put the ramekins in the Dutch oven and poured water in to about ¾ of the way up the sides of the ramekins.  Then we removed them and set them aside.  When the coals were ready, we spread them around and set the Dutch oven on top, with the lid on, to let the water boil.

Then we turned our attention to the custard itself.  Brendon began by separating the egg yolks from the whites.  While Jacob, his assistant whisked the yolks, Brendon mixed the other (second set) ingredients in a bowl.  Finally, while whisking, Brendon slowly combined the yolks and the cream mix.  A few final whisks, and it was done.

Then, the mix was poured into the ramekins, and evened out.

Soon after, the water was at a nice even boil, and Brendon gently set the ramekins into the water.  It was kinda tricky, but wearing leather gloves helped.  We put the lid back on and adjusted the coals to be on the bottom and the top, as above.

We let it cook for about 35 to 40 minutes.  Occasionally we’d check the set of the custard and the current temperature.  You want to cook it to 170-175 degrees F, and until the centers are jiggly, but not sloshy.

We pulled it off the coals, and pulled out the ramekins, letting them cool on a rack.  Once they’d cooled a bit, Brendon put them in the fridge to chill.  They continued to set a bit as they cooled, and even more as they chilled.

After our dinner, brimming with excitement, Brendon fetched the ramekins and the torch.  This final step isn’t correctly done unless it’s performed in front of the diners. He sprinkled a little bit of sugar atop each one, and fired it up (what is it about young boys and fire?).  Keeping the torch moving, he melted the sugar into a crust.  Then he sprinkled on some mint and handed it to our guest and family, proud as can be.

It was delicious.  And, we chalked up another victory!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch oven Paella

It all began one day with me being a couch potato, a dud spud surfing the channels.  Bored of home shopping TV and infomercials, I turned to my Tivo, and noticed that I had managed to acquire a few more episodes of Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”.

So, I started watching and one of the episodes was about a Spanish dish called “Paella” (which is pronounced “pie-AY-yah”). I’d seen recipes for this many times, but had never thought to try it.  It required a special pan, also called a paella, and it was cooked outdoors over coals.  That got my head thinking...

I watched the episode a couple of times, and I was intrigued.  It had several techniques and ingredients I had never tried before.  Were those ingredients absolutely necessary?  Could it be adapted to a Dutch oven?

I called my expert sister and asked for a second opinion.  She confirmed that, yes, in order to make a really good paella, you really did need special rice, and good Spanish saffron (the expensive stuff).  She was skeptical about doing it in a pan that was not a paella, however.  I decided to give it a try, anyway.

I spent two weeks acquiring all of the various ingredients, rewatching the show, and planning my processes.  In the end, it was well worth the effort!

Dutch Oven Paella

8” Dutch Oven
12-15 coals underneath

12” Dutch Oven
20+ coals underneath

• 6 cups chicken broth

• 1 package of 5-6 chicken thighs
• Kosher salt, pepper
• Olive oil

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 2-4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 lb green beans
• Pulp and juice of 1 large tomato
• Salt, pepper

• 2 cups rice (short grain Spanish or Italian)
• 20 threads Spanish saffron
• tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• rosemary, basil, oregano

• ¼ Cup fresh chopped parsley
• Juice of ½ Lemon

As I shopped around for the ingredients, I watched closely.   Alton and my sister both recommended Valencia rice.  I ended up finding a short grain Italian rice called Arborigo.  Getting the saffron was trickier.  I shopped around and called stores, and found something in a store near me labeled “Spanish Saffron”.  It seemed to meet all of the criteria that I’d been told, and cost about the same as what I’d been seeing in spice specialty shops, so I bought it.  It was about $18 for a gram or two.  Pricey stuff.

On cooking day, the first step was to get some coals ready.  One bunch of them went under my 12” Dutch oven, and another set went under my 8”.  In the 8”, I put three frozen blocks of my own homemade chicken stock. Six cups.  In the end I didn’t need it all, but It was good to have it all there and ready.  I put it on the coals so it would melt and heat up.  It won’t need to be used for quite a while, so if you’re working with boxed or bottled stock, you can probably start heating it up much later in the process.

The 12” got a little bit of olive oil.  Once it was heated I put in the chicken thighs, skin side down, to fry and brown.  A lot of fat renders out of the the skin.  That’s used as part of the the dish along the way.

While the chicken was cooking, I diced up the peppers, minced the garlic, and snapped the beans.  I thought about dicing an onion, too, but in the end decided not to.  I’m not sure why. It wasn’t in the original recipe.  I also mixed the rice and the other dry seasonings in a bowl.

The tomato was done with interesting process, taught by Alton.  You want the tomato flavor, but without the seeds or the skin. I sliced the tomato “across the equator” and squeezed out the seeds.  I got kind of lucky, as the tomatoes that I had bought were pretty large and pulp-y.  Then, I put the open face of the tomato against my cheese grater and grated the pulp and the juice into a bowl.  The more I grated, the flatter the skin became, and so I got more and more pulp.  Clever.  If you don’t want to do this, you could probably just use a smaller can of crushed or diced tomatoes.

When the chicken was brown on both sides, I pulled it out of the dutch oven.  I tossed in the veggies, and sprinkled in some salt.  Once the veggies were going soft, I added the tomato pulp, and let that cook for a bit.  Finally, the rice mix was stirred into the pot.  I also used this opportunity to replenish my coals.

At that point, it was time to put it all together and do the final cooking.  I put the chicken back in, nestling it down into the rice and veggie mixture. I ladled the simmering stock from the 8” oven into the 12” oven, until the rice was well covered. I let that cook, with the lid off, watching occasionally as it went. About every ten to fifteen minutes or so, I would see that much of the liquid had been absorbed into the cooking rice, and I would ladle in a bit more stock.  I was watching to see the rice become translucent.  Occasionally, I used a spoon to check the deeper rice, and to taste.  I was careful as I added more stock, because I wanted enough for the rice to absorb, but not so much for it to end up like a soup, or even a thick stew. I could see why it was important to have the stock pre-heated on the side, so I wasn’t shocking it with cool an having to heat it all back up to continue with the cooking.

As the end of the cooking time approached, I squeezed the lemon juice over the whole dish, and sprinkled on fresh chopped parsley.

Finally, when the rice was translucent and soft, it came off the coals.  I don’t know how long it took to get there, as I was paying more attention to the rice than the time.  The last step was to let it rest with a kitchen towel on top.  I’m not sure why it couldn’t be covered with the dutch oven lid.  Perhaps the final resting time needs to be done with something porous on top, so some moisture can escape.  The final texture is moist and soft, but not dripping with juice.

After about 15 to 20 minutes in the rest phase (it could be even longer, if you want), it was time to serve it up.  Since this was my first time making it, I didn’t know how great paella was supposed to taste.  I think I did, but I’m not certain if I got the right rice or the right saffron.  Still, what I was eating was one of the most delicious meals I’d had in a long time.  I guess that qualifies it as a success.







Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Sourdough Rye

"While the Cat's Away..." Part I

My wife went out of town this weekend, so I took that as an opportunity to cook a couple of things that she normally doesn't like very much, but which I, myself, really love.  One of those is a big ol' loaf of Dutch Oven Sourdough Rye Bread, so I can make my infamous braunschweiger and cheese sandwiches.  The other is the Dutch Oven Kofta bi Tahini that I cooked up soon after starting up this blog.

I really like a nice, sweet, flavorful white bread, but once in a while, I get rebellious.  I love the edgy, sharp flavors that a good rye bread brings.  Add some good, tangy meat and sharp cheddar, and you get a sandwich that bites back.  Yum!

While I pretty much followed the original recipes in the links, there were a few things I did differently.  As a result, I'm going to rewrite the recipes and processes here in these posts. As always, I recommend reading my Dutch Oven Bread Baking Lens fiirst, for good basic information.

Dutch Oven Sourdough Rye Bread

12" Dutch Oven

10-12 coals below
18-20 coals above

The "Sponge"

• 1 Cup Sourdough Start
• 2 Cups Dark Rye Flour
• 2 Cups White Bread Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups warm water (just almost hot to the touch)
• 2 Tbsp Vital Gluten
• 1 Tbsp Dough Enhancer (optional, but I always add it)

The Dough

• 1 Cup plain Yogurt
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbsp Molasses
• 3 Tbsp Oil
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp Roasted Drink Powder (like coffee, Postum, Cocoa, or Pero)
• Liberal shakes of caraway seeds
• 1 cup white bread flour

• Up to 1-2 additional cups white bread flour during kneading

It started up the night before, when I took my sourdough start out of the fridge.  I poured off the "hooch" and mixed in some more flour and water.  I needed to "feed" it to reactivate it.  A few hours later, it was frothy and bubbly with yeast bugs.  I scooped out about a cup, and put the rest back in the fridge.

I put the frothy start in a bowl and mixed in all of the ingredients in the sponge set.  If you check out the original recipe you'll notice one change.  I moved the yogurt to the dough phase.  I've been hearing/reading that fresh (unscalded) milk and milk products contain enzymes that can inhibit the rise.

I covered it with plastic wrap and set it aside on my kitchen counter for the night.

The next morning (not too early, though), I mixed in all the ingredients of the dough set.  I used Pero for the roasted powder.  I really like the flavor of it.  I like the flavor cocoa brings, as well, but this time I chose Pero.  Postum is good, but I think it's not being made any more.  Between the rye, the powder and the molasses, it gets a nice, rich, dark color.  Not black, just a deep brown.

Then, I kneaded it on a floured tabletop, and kept adding flour until it got to the right stickiness, and until it made a good windowpane.  I set it aside to rise, oiled and covered in plastic wrap.

I'm getting this pattern established when I'm making bread and I go to set up the bake:

1. Let it rise, and watch until it has almost "risen enough".  Usually, they say to let it rise until it has doubled in bulk, so just before it gets there, I go to the next step, which is...
2. Go outside and light up the coals.  Mix them occasionally to make sure they all light pretty evenly.
3. While the coals are lighting, I come in and degas the bread dough, and shape it.  Now, most of the time I'm making a boule, so there's not much "shaping" going on, but sometimes I'll do rolls or four smaller boules.  I used to like doing a braided wreath, but it's been a while since I've done that. 
4. Oil the inside of the dutch oven and set the bread in to proof.
5. Once the coals are ready, I take the dutch oven lid outside and pour a lot of coals on top of it, and set it aside to preheat.
6. When the dough is proofed in the dutch oven (meaning it has risen some more), I do any decorating or topping, and slicing of the top.
7. Finally, I take the dutch oven out. I take some of the coals off the lid to make the undercircle of coals and I set the dutch oven with the bread on the circle.  I put on the lid, and mark the time.
8. Every fifteen minutes or so, I rotate the lid and the oven to prevent hot spots.  I check the temperature by holding my hand over the top of the oven and use that as a guide to see if the coals need replenishing.  I'll check the underside coals to see how they're burning.
9. After about a half hour of baking, I'll open the lid and check on it.  At that point, I'll usually stick a thermometer into it and close up the lid.  I try not to have the lid off for very long.  A few seconds really.
10. The next time I rotate the lid, I'll lift it for a few seconds and check the bread's internal temperature.  180 is "gettin' close".  190-200 is "done!"

So, I followed the pattern, brought it in, and let it cool on my new cooling racks (I don't know how I did bread before I had those).  Delicious stuff!  Just check the pictures!






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven French Bread

I mentioned last week that I had done french bread in my dutch oven. I didn't write about it because, frankly, it was good but not THAT good.

I mean, I was kinda proud of myself for making the attempt. Making good french bread is intimidating to me. I mean, when I'm doing my sourdough, or my sandwich loaves, there are a lot of enriching ingredients there to aid in the leavening and the flavor. In some ways, they're like crutches. You can mess up a little bit, and it'll still be OK, because the sugar will make it sweet and help it rise, and the egg and milk will help make it fluffy, etc...

But with french bread, you got none o' that. It's just flour, yeast, water, and salt. And that's it. And you have to make magnificent delicious, fluffy bread, with a rich brown crust with nothing more than that.

If THAT doesn't scare you, then you have no clue what you're up against!

Or, at least, that's what I kept telling myself.

But, I have two great teachers in my corner. One is Peter Reinhart, and his book, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread". The other is the great lady that gave me the book for Christimas, my dear sister!

So, I used Peter's recipe and procedure as best I could last week, and then, after talking to my sister, I applied her techniques as well. The problem with Reinhart is that he's cooking the bread in nice commercial ovens, not in a charcoal burning dutch oven in a backyard. So, I have to adapt his procedures somewhat. My sister helped me with that.

Another thing that I'm learning a lot along the way is that bread is a process, not a recipe. That's really true of almost all dishes, but bread moreso. The more you learn of the process, the better your bread with be in the long run.

Reinhart's french bread is done in three stages. One batch of dough is made and ferments overnight. It's blended with a second one that ferments on the kitchen counter. Finally it's shaped and proofed and baked.

The first stage is called the Pâte Fermentée (Don't ask me how to pronounce it, I'm a hick from a small town in Utah).

Pâte Fermentée

No dutch ovens, no coals

• 1/2 tsp Yeast
• 1 Cup water

• 2 1/4 Cups Bread Flour
• 3/4 tsp Salt

I started by mixing the yeast and the water. Reinhart suggests using "instant" yeast, but I didn't have any, so I still activated my regular yeast in the water. It doesn't foam up like it would if there were sugar in the water, so I just dissolved it.

Then I mixed the flour and the salt, and poured in the water/yeast mix. I stirred that up and started to knead it. I shook in a little flour as I went, but not actually much. I found the texture to be very different than the enriched breads I'd done before. It was more like play-dough. It took a little getting used to.

I did knead it a long time, but I didn't really pay much attention to doing a windowpane test. It seemed to me that I'd be adding it to the other dough and rekneading it tomorrow anyway.

After the kneading, I put it back in the oiled bowl and let it sit under plastic wrap for about an hour. It did raise up, but it didn't balloon up like the other breads I've done did. Then I put it in the fridge to continue fermenting overnight.

Last week, I didn't do the overnight thing. I did this step, and just let it raise for about 2 hours total, and then moved on to step two. I think that when I have time, I'm definitely recommending the overnight rise. Like Reinhart says, there's more fermenting time to develop flavor.


The dough

• 1/2 tsp Yeast
• 1 Cup water (about 100° F)
  

• The Pâte Fermentée from the night before
• 2 1/2 Cups Bread Flour
• 3/4 tsp Salt
  

So, the next day, today, I took the Pâte Fermentée out of the fridge and let it come up in temperature as much as possible. I cut it into 10-12 pieces and put it in with the flour and the salt, while the yeast and the water were activating. I just used a pastry cutter.

Then, I added in the water/yeast mix and started stirring it up. I turned it out onto my floured table top and started kneading. It took quite a while to reach a good windowpane test. When that was all done, I put it back in that oiled bowl and set it aside to rise for about 2 hours.

When it had risen well, I tipped it out and shaped it into a boule (that's french for "ball", I think). Even as I was shaping it, I was trying to not be too rough so as to not degas it as much as possible. I set it aside, under plastic wrap, for its final proof. If I'd had any, I would have set it aside on a sheet of baking parchment, and then on a plate, because, well, you'll see...

Right away, I went out and got some coals burning. I was going to preheat the entire oven this time, rather than just the lid. It took a while for the coals to fire up, but they did, and I put 12 coals underneath, and about 25 above. That should make it somewhere around 475° F. I let it heat up for about 15 minutes or so.

While that was heating and the dough was still proofing, I gathered up a few more tools. I got a spritz bottle of water. I got a paring knife, and my meat thermometer.

Now here's the technique my sister told me about. She said to do these steps quickly, in about as much time as it takes to explain it. So, I did.

I dropped the boule of dough into the now-way-hot dutch oven. I sliced the top of the dough three times. I spritzed it with water a few times. I stuck in the thermometer. I closed the lid.

OK, actually, the thermometer is my idea, not my sister's or Reinhart's. I just can never tell when bread is done, so I use the thermometer and cook it to an internal temperature of 190° F to 200° F. The spritz is what Reinhart and my sister both say helps to form the famous brench bread crust. It also helps with the "spring" to help the bread get really big in the oven. Had I used the parchment, I could have lowered the boule in much more smoothly and lost less gas and body in the process. So, I'll do that next time. I got that idea from a bread making blog.

I probably cooked it for about a half-hour to 45 minutes. I kept adding a few fresh coals and turning the lid and the body of the dutch oven every 15 minutes or so. I don't cook to time, but rather to temperature.

Then, I pulled it off the coals and let it cool. It really tasted great, even better than last week. It was a much larger loaf, and the crumb was much lighter. The crust was crunchier as well. It was enough for me to declare it a true winner.

Dutch Oven Spatzle with Onions

In my never-ending quest for dishes from all over the world to cook in my American Dutch Oven, I came across Spatzle (pronounced "Sh-PAYTS-luh"). I first had the dish cooked in the kitchen of my wife's cousin and best friend. She had spent some time working for our church in Munich, Germany. I really loved the dish, and I got it in my head to try it out. I haven't done many dishes from Northern or Central Europe (Except the rye bread). I thought it would be fun to try.

I did a bit of research, and discovered that the dish I had eaten was only one variation of millions of possibilities. Spatzle is a sort of German pasta/dumpling, and they put it with a wide variety of sauces, fillings, and other things. It's mostly served as a side dish, actually.

But, I still decided to do it mostly like I'd first encountered it. I say, "mostly", because I can never leave anything alone...

This dish is really done in two steps.

Step one: The Spatzle

8" Dutch Oven

15 + coals below

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp (or a liberal shake) of nutmeg
• 5 eggs
• ~1 cup water

I started up the coals, and put the 8" dutch oven on them, with about 4-5 cups of water in it. While that was heating and boiling, I mixed the batter. I mixed all the dry ingredients, then added the eggs. Finally, I started adding the water a little bit at a time. I added a little, then stirred, then added, then stirred. My wife's cousin (cousin-in-law?) had said that it needs to be like a very thick cake batter. I actually probably went a little to wet this time. I would probably used just around 3/4 cup of water. Maybe a little more.

I'd read that there were two ways to make the spatzle, one is to put the dough into a collander and press it through the holes. The other way is to have an actual spatzle press (which is the method I used). I'm not sure which one would be easier or messier. The jury's still out.

But you hold the press or the collander over the boiling water, and press the batter through the holes into the dutch oven. It'll drop into the water and sink. When the water boils and the spatzle strings start floating a couple of minutes later, let it boil for just a moment more, then fish it out with a slotted spoon. Drain it and set it aside. I'm told you can even put it in the fridge for another day.

You do it in bits. Squeeze a bit of batter into the water, let it cook, pull it out, then do it again. Repeat it until all the batter is cooked. Then you're ready for...

Step Two: The Main Dish

12" Dutch oven

8-10 coals below
16-18 coals above

• The spatzle
• 2-3 medium onions
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup of sliced fresh mushrooms
• 2-3 chopped green onions (including greens)
  
• chopped fresh parsley
• juice of one lemon
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3-4 links of smoked sausage or bratwurst
• 2 handfulls of grated mozarella

I stared off with all the coals under the dutch oven, and started sauteeing onions, the garlic, the spatzle, and the mushrooms. I Let them sautee until just a just a little brown. Then I added the lemon juice, and the salt and pepper. One last stir.

Then I arranged the sausage lengths on top (I put them all on one side because my wife doesn't like sausage much). Finally, I topped it with the mozarella.

Then I reset the oven on the coals as listed above and let it bake for about 20 minutes, enough to combine all the flavors, cook the sausage, and melt the cheese.

Then, dish it up and serve!

The Saint Patrick’s Day Adventure, part I, Curing the “Corned Beef”

It all started with my friend, John, reminding me that St Paddy’s was comin’ up by posting a recipe for Irish Soda Bread at his MormonFoodie.com blog. Like him, I have very little Irish in me. Both my mother’s lines (Utah Mormons from way back), and my wife’s dad’s lines go back to wales. That’s about as close as I get.

But that’s OK, because come March 17^th, EVERYONE becomes an honorary green-wearing, shillelagh-swinging, rainbow-gold-chasing, jig-dancing, shamrock-wishing Irishman. It’s the law.

As I was looking up recipes for Corned Beef and Cabbage, I found a lot of them that said, basically, just buy a roast of corned beef, add the spice package and boil it with some potatoes and cabbage. Well, where’s the fun in that? So, I did some research to learn how to cure the corned beef myself.

I found a lot of variations. Basically they all involved rubbing the meat in a lot of salt and a few spices and letting it sit in that for a week or so in the fridge. The research I saw said that this was a more traditional method, and a more modern approach involved soaking it in brine. Some said you had to do it for 72 hours, others said a week, some said as much as two weeks. I’m going for the week-long salt/spice rub, because that both sounded yummy and matched my time frame pretty well.

So, I chose a recipe and shopped out the few ingredients I didn’t already have.

• 4+ lbs of some kind of beef roast

• 1 ½ cups coarse salt (I bought some kosher salt)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 3 crumbled bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp ground ginger

I mixed together all the spices, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Then I opened up the meat, and stuck it with a sharp knife, to make sure it was really dead. No, actually, that was so that there were plenty of holes for the spices. I put the meat in the bowl and coated it, then grabbed the spice mix with my hand and rubbed it into the surface of the meat pretty thoroughly.

Then I put the coated meat into a big ziplock baggie and poured in all the spice mix that didn’t stick to the meat. I sealed, then shook the bag to coat it even more. Finally, I got as much air out as I could, and sealed the bag again, and put it in a bowl in my fridge.

I also found out, in my research, why it’s called “corned” beef, when there’s no corn in the recipe. It seems that in the days of olde, when they’d prepare the salt and spices, it would clump together into kernels about the size of corn. Then it would be rubbed onto the meat.

I also learned that pastrami is essentially corned beef that, once it’s cured, is coated with its own spices and peppers. So, maybe I’ll take a bit of this corned beef and make some pastrami with it.

Stay tuned!

Dutch Oven Shepherd’s Pie

After several weeks of more strange and exotic recipes (someone on the dutch oven cooking yahoogroup said, “Mark’ll try anything!” – which I took as a compliment), I did decide to do something more traditionally dutch oven. I was going through my new cookbooks and found a recipe for Shepherd’s Pie. I looked it over, and was intrigued, so I tried it, and made it my own, of course, with a few mods.

This recipe is in a couple of steps. It’s not difficult, but there are a lot of things to do to get it done.

Dutch Oven Shepherd’s Pie

2x 12” dutch ovens, charcoals vary with the step

• 8-10 small to medium potatoes
• ¼ cup milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• Salt and Pepper

• 1 ½ to 2 lbs ground beef (could substitute lamb, if you can find it)

• 1 cup beef broth
• ¼ cup flour
• Two large carrots
• One large onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• liberal shakes of Worcestershire sauce
• Liberal shakes of parsley, rosemary, oregano
• Liberal shakes of salt and black pepper

I started with a lot of coals, maybe 20 or so, underneath each of two 12” dutch ovens. In one were the potatoes, peeled and cubed. In the other was the ground beef, browning. Actually, I ended up putting more coals on top of the potatoes as well. You want to get it good and boiling.

Once those both were done, I brought them both inside (it was cold out) and I drained the potatoes. I added the milk, the butter and the salt and pepper, and mashed them all up with a whisk.

Then I put them in the fridge with the meat, cleaned up the ovens, and went to church.

After church, I came back and put the meat in one of the 12” dutch ovens, and added everything else in the third ingredient set. The original recipe instructions called for sautéing the onions, garlic, mushrooms and carrots first, then adding the meat and broth, but by this time, I’d already taken a lot of steps to cook this and I wanted to simplify. So, I just dumped it all in and mixed it up.

Then, I spread the potatoes on top. I had actually not used this many potatoes, and in a 12” dutch oven, I couldn’t completely cover the meat, so that’s why the recipe above has more. The book suggested dragging a fork through the potatoes to make a pattern, and I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I did it.

Then, I put it on the coals to make about 350 degrees. Normally that’s about 8-9 below, and 16-18 above. I ended up with about 12 below and about 22 above because it’s winter. I left that on for about 40 minutes. Also, in an attempt to brown the top of the potatoes, after that I put all the coals on top and let it cook for about another 20 minutes more. It didn’t really brown up much. But then, it’s a wet dish in a dutch oven, so it’s not so likely to brown anyway.

But it did taste delicious! I loved the herbal flavor. Then, to make it a truly international feast, a mexican friend of mine heated up some corn tortillas. That was just the thing!

Russian Coulibiac in the Dutch Oven

I got a whole bunch of (well, four) cookbooks for Christmas. Most of them were the big, hefty 500+ pagers, with all kinds of recipes in them. One was a really cool book all about breads. I’d really like to get good at dutch oven breads this year. Call it a resolution.

But, I thought that I’d make something from one of them this week. I looked in the pantry and the freezer to see what we have, and saw some salmon filets in the freezer. So, I started looking for ways to “do salmon”. I found a bunch of recipes for various marinades and sauces, and they all sounded good.

Then I stumbled across one called “Coulibiac”. I’d never heard of it. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it (it’s: “koo-lee-BYAHK”. I Googled it!). But the thought of salmon and rice and tomatoes all in a pastry shell got me really excited! It was a totally new way (for me) to look at fish. In the Coulibiac, the fish is a part of the dish, as flavor and texture, rather than the whole center of the dish itself.

I did it in two days. I’m really glad I did, because I ran into some real troubles in the pastry. The recipe calls for “puff pastry” as the shell. I didn’t know what that was, so I looked it up in the back of the book. It directed me to a recipe for what it called “puff pastry”. That was something you used to make cream puffs and éclairs. I made a batch of it, and was really frustrated when it ended up as a batter, not as a crust. I tried again, thinking I had misinterpreted and mismeasured. Not so. Now I had two bowls of goop that were both clearly unusable for what I was trying.

So, I dove into the book. I looked up every possible variation of “puff pastry” I could think of. Finally, I just looked up pies, and there was an aside about all kinds of different pie crusts, one of which, you guessed it, was called “puff pastry”!

So, I made a couple of batches of that, and chilled it overnight.

Then, today, after church, I rolled out the pastry, added the filling and baked it. But that will all come out in the recipe’s instructions.

Also, I made a double batch of the filling, thinking I would make two Coulibiacs (is that proper to pluralize that way?). It turns out that the basic recipe already makes enough for two, so the recipe below is plenty. But, I had to double the crust recipe. Actually, I mixed it and rolled it out twice. Also, I combined some of the steps to make it easier to cook in the dutch oven. Even with that, though, it ended up looking and tasting quite gourmet. And when you bring it out to the table and pronounce it correctly, you’re sure to impress! It will serve a lot of people, because it’s very filling.

Russian Coulibiac in the Dutch Oven

12” Dutch Oven (re-used in two steps)

Step one: 12 coals above, 12 coals below (I used more, ‘cause it’s winter)
Step two: 21 coals above, 10 coals below (425 degrees. Again, I used more, ‘cause it’s winter)

Step One:

The filling:

• 1/3 Cups rice
• 1/3 cups chicken broth or water
• 4 tbsp butter, in cubes or slices
• Juice of one lemon
• Zest of one lemon (I didn’t have any lemons, so I just used the juice, but it would’ve tasted even better with the zest)
• 1-2 medium onions, diced
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, don’t drain
• 2 lbs salmon
• Liberal shakes of salt, black pepper, parsley
• Not so liberal shakes of chili powder (just to add a little zip, not to heat it up)

So, I started by heating up come coals, and adding all the ingredients to a 12” dutch oven. I assembled it in layers, but it all ends up being mixed together. The salmon, after it’s cooked, will break up in the stirring. I put the rice and the broth in first, then the onions and the butter. I used butter slices so that it would melt and blend better, rather than a big butter spot in the middle. I layered the salmon (it was frozen) on top of that, and put the spices and the lemon juice on last.

Once that was on the coals, it only took about a half hour to 40 minutes to cook. The salmon cooks fast, but the rice takes a little longer. It also takes some time to get the dutch oven up to temperature, especially on a cold January day.

While that was cooking, I started on the crust. Here’s where I had my frustrating misadventures with the éclair batter. As I mentioned, I ended up making two batches of this recipe, for two (side-by-side) coulibiacs.

The Crust

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tbsp butter
• 6 tbsp shortening
• dash of lemon juice

I combined all the ingredients in a bowl and mixed them with a pastry knife. Then, I put it on my floured counter and rolled it out. It was still pretty sticky at that point. I rolled it not so wide, and more long. Then, I folded it bottom up and top down, in thirds. I sprinkled more flour on the countertop and rolled it out again. I repeated this several times, turning the dough each time. Finally, after three or four folding/rollings, I put each batch of dough on a plate, wrapped it in plastic and popped it in the fridge.

By that time, the salmon mix should be done for you. I pulled it out of the dutch oven and put it in a big mixing bowl. Since there’s tomatoes in the recipe, I didn’t want to leave it in the dutch oven and ruin my seasoning patina. Then I covered the bowl up and put it in the fridge. In winter, we have a really big fridge that doubles in the summer as a garage.

Step Two:

So, today, all I had to do was come home from church and roll out the dough. The recipe says to roll it into a square, about 11”x16”. I didn’t measure, but I shot for that size. Then I put a lot of the filling in the middle. I cracked open a couple of eggs. I rolled the filling up, burrito-style, sealing the seams with the beat up egg along the way.

The recipe suggested cutting a few strips of crust dough off before you roll it up to use as decoration, either twisted or braided. I decided to go for the extra style points and try that. It really made it look cooler. Traditionally, you’re also supposed to cut some stylish holes in it, much like you do in an apple pie.

I did that for both coulibiacs, and put them side-by-side (kinda crowded) into my 12” dutch oven. With both of them in the oven, I coated them each in more beaten egg. I put that oven onto the coals and baked it for about an hour. That’s longer than the recipe called for, but it’s an indoor recipe, and you’re not dealing with cold weather and heating up the cast iron.

I turned the dutch oven a lot, about every 15-20 minutes, to make sure that it didn’t burn on the bottom. When it was all hot and the crust was a rich brown, I pulled it off. It was done!

I sliced it meatloaf style, about two inch slices. The book suggested a drizzle of melted butter, garlic and lemon juice, so I tried that. It was nice, but it was already pretty rich, so I’m not sure it needed it. My wife suggested that it would have also tasted great drizzled with a Newberg sauce. Hmmmm…

Nonetheless, this one was a delicious treat, and quite the impressive visual as well. Kinda swanky for a back-porch kitchen, eh?

On a side note, not about dutch ovening… A client of mine at my day job, over the holidays sent me some steelhead trout that he’d smoked. I’ve never tried it before, but all I could think when I tried it was “WOW”! So, much thanks to Mike and Debbie! When their website is up and running, I’ll make a linkback to them.