No-knead Cranberry Walnut Carrot Bread

Have you watched the Food Network show Chopped? I’m sort of slightly addicted. When I’m at college, I only have cable at the gym so the amount of TV I watch is limited to how long I’m willing to run, aka not that long. Now that it’s summer break I’ve developed this horrible habit of getting home from work, microwaving whatever food I cooked the night before, plopping my ass on the couch, and letting Food Network run in the background while I browse the internet on my laptop. 90% of the time this means watching Chopped.

The premise of the show is that four competitor chefs compete for three rounds (one chef is eliminated per round), where they have limited time to create an appetizer, entrée, and then dessert using “basket ingredients”. Each round has a different basket, but this usually means 3-4 unrelated and unusual ingredients. Sometimes the chefs absolutely kill it and create beautiful dishes and meals, and other times the clock or ingredients get the better of them.

While I am far too unqualified to ever compete in a show like Chopped, I am a huge fan of its premise, and am constantly trying to incorporate unusual ingredients into the foods I make. Mostly for fun (see sweet potato brownies)…and sometimes due to impulsive purchases. This carrot bread is because of the latter.

One day I found myself driving home from Trader Joe’s with a bottle of carrot juice, and a craving for a carrot cake smoothie. I made the smoothie (it was pretty good), and put the remaining juice in the fridge, only to find it a week and a half later when I was scrum-aging for ketchup. I didn’t want to let it spoil, and I had recently begun a no knead bread kick, so I decided that although I had never heard of yeasted carrot bread, it would probably taste alright. Turns out someone had the idea before me, and yeah, it’s a delicious combination!

If you’re not already a confident bread maker, my recommendation would be to learn how to make no knead bread before proceeding with carrot bread. No knead bread only has 4 ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast), so it’s super cheap to make, but the dough can be a bit finicky so it’s best to develop some intuition before spending money on extra ingredients such as walnuts and carrot juice.

I kept the bread savory and didn’t add any sweetener besides the naturally sweet carrot juice, but I think an eight to quarter cup of brown sugar, either added at the beginning or folded in before baking would be delicious. Lastly, you can add the walnuts and cranberries with the initial ingredients, which is what I did, but they’ll absorb water and lost their chew and crunch. For this reason I recommend adding them later.

No Knead Carrot Walnut Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups bread flour [400g] (I used all purpose. ymwv)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup roasted walnuts
• (optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon)

Baking process:

Combine in a large bowl:

• 3 cups bread flour [400g] (I used all purpose. ymwv)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice
• (optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon)

Stir together until a shaggy dough forms. The dough should be moist, but have some shape. Add a few tablespoons of water if the dough looks dry.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set on a warm counter to rise for 12-18 hours. It should double in size and be dotted with bubbles.

Deflate the dough by folding in:

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup roasted walnuts

Flour a flat surface. Scoop the dough onto the flat surface and folding the edges of the dough to the center to create a ball.

Wash out the bowl used originally, and grease with a thin layer of oil or cooking spray. Place the dough ball seam-side down into the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 1-2 additional hours.

Half an hour before baking, place a 4-5 quart dutch oven on the center rack of your oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

After 30 minutes, gently dump the dough into the dutch oven (seam-side should now be on the top), and cover the dutch oven with its lid. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the dutch-oven lid,and bake for 10-20 minutes more. The crust should be dark golden bread.

Cool on a wire rack and serve with cinnamon butter or cream cheese.

Advertisement

Shrimp & Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

When I began cooking for myself a month ago, I naively thought that I would be like the Sunday meal planners I see on Reddit: I would cook an entire week’s worth of meals over the weekend, and eat them throughout the week. Rinse and repeat.

The first week I cooked an entire bag of black beans, but by meal three I knew that this eating the same thing was not going to work out. I didn’t even want to look at another bowl of black beans, let alone eat them for every meal. Needless to say, I now try to only make one or two servings of a recipe at a time.

Whenever I do end up with leftovers, I try to repurpose them into something new. These lettuce wraps originate from when I was making my favorite mushroom dumplings. Since I didn’t have enough dough for all the filling (I halved the dough recipe and made 1 ½ times as much filling, whoops), I decided to marinate shrimp in the filling and create a stir fry.

The result was flavorful and satisfying lettuce wraps, which my friend and I topped with avocado and spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth. (It was a great appetizer for the peanut butter, chocolate, and banana fresh-made-gelato milkshakes we had later. ;))

Shrimp & Mushroom Lettuce Wraps 

Asian Mushroom Base

In a pan, sautee until the water is mainly evaporated:

• ¾ cups diced white mushrooms
• ¼ cup diced shiitake mushrooms*
• ½ tsp oil

Add, and cook another 2 minutes:

1 cloves garlic, diced

Take off heat and stir in:

• 1 tbsp minced green onions
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ tsp sesame oil
• ¼ tsp chili oil
• ½ tsp soy sauce

Taste, and add a pinch of salt, or a bit more soy sauce if desired.

Allow to cool, placing it in the fridge to expedite this process if desired. Use as dumpling filling or as a base for any asian flavored recipe.

Shrimp Lettuce Wrap Filling

Stir together:

• ¾ recipe Asian Mushroom Base
• ½ tsp soy sauce
• 8 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped into pieces

Cover and allow to marinate for at least half an hour.

Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add a bit of oil. Sautee the shrimp and mushroom mixture for about 3-5 minutes, or until the shrimp pieces are pink but still tender.

Stir in the remaining ¼ recipe of the Asian Mushroom Base.

Serve with all, some, or none of the following:

• Large iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves
• Sliced avocado
• Spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth (I love this broth a lot)
• Sushi rice! (next time)
• Pickled or fresh shredded carrots/cabbage

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

I’m very particular about peanut butter. Offer me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on honey whole wheat bread and I’ll be unreasonably happy, but offer me a peanut cookie or slice of cake with peanut butter frosting and I’ll be less inclined to accept.

I can never tell if I’ll like a particular peanut butter dessert, so I usually just make recipes and hope I like them.

The other day I stumbled upon this recipe for peanut butter oatmeal bars while looking for a recipe to make for friends. They looked delicious so I decided to make them, figuring that if I didn’t like them others would.

I didn’t have any Reece’s and planned to add chocolate chips instead, but halfway through making the bars I remembered seeing a recipe for peanut butter jelly bars, and decided that, yes, that was what I needed in my life.

I was right.

These bars are intensely good. The peanut butter flavor is subtle but still evident, and the jelly adds a delightful gooeyness. They’re soft and buttery and fragrant. Yum.

If you’re looking for a fun recipe to try, I would definitely make these bars (now, optimally). If you’re gluten free or vegan, I’ll post a similar recipe that you can enjoy soon!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Recipe adapted from here.

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temp
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup peanut butter baking chips
• strawberry jelly or jam

1. Cream together the butter and brown sugar.
2. Mix in the peanut butter.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture until smooth.
4. Stir in the vanilla.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and peanut butter baking chips.
6. Fold in the wet ingredients until no flour streaks remain.
7. Pat 2/3 of the dough into a greased 9×13 inch pan.
8. Spread a layer of strawberry jelly or jam over the dough, using however much desired. (I added just enough so the bottom was completely covered.)
9. Add the remaining dough to the top of the jam in small chunks.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until golden the top is light to medium golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the bars comes out clean.

Gluten Free Bialys

When I was younger and my dad still ate gluten, we use to walk to a local bagel store every morning before he dropped me off at preschool.

I would have a sesame or poppyseed bagel with cream cheese (and remember being disgusted by the horribly uneven bagel to cream cheese ratio) while he would order a bialy.

Well, he would order one but I would usually toss aside my bagel and eat it instead. As picky as I was, I knew a good breakfast when I tasted it.

That morning routine seem so far away now, especially considering my dad hasn’t eaten a bagel, let alone a slice of bread, in nearly a decade.

Since I’m interested in gluten free cooking, today I decided to make gluten free bagels. As I was making the dough I remembered the bialys from my childhood, and was inspired to recreate them.

I can’t take credit for the dough because I used Pamela’s bread mix, but the final texture was fantastic. Of course, like all gluten free breads, the bialys were distinguishable from normal gluten ones, but they still tasted great.

Seriously, look at the beautiful texture of the bialys:

However, in the interest of giving you full disclosure, there is one issue with the bialys I made.

In my defense, I tried to cut the onions, I really did. It’s just– I had my glasses on and the sink running and glass of hot water by the cutting board to boot, and I still was chopping wildly with one eye closed and the other one in severe pain. Eventually I just gave up.

For anyone still confused, here’s the problem with these bialys: the onion pieces should be finely diced while mine are the size of small spaceships.

Also, while I’m being honest, I didn’t cook the onions nearly long enough. Don’t be like me and cook them until they are golden brown.

Moral of the story: be stronger than me – chop the onions finely and cook longly.

Still, these bialys were delicious and even though I may have to accept my failure and scoop off the topping, I will be making them again. Just with precut onions (or someone else’s help).

Gluten Free Bialys

Dough:

• 3 ½ cups Pamela’s Bread Mix
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• ¼ cup oil

Filling:

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbs oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp poppy seeds

1. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix the Pamela’s Bread Mix, instant yeast, warm water, and oil. Whisk on medium speed for 3 minutes.
2. Scoop out ½ cup sized portions of the dough and flatten into disks on a greased baking sheet.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for an hour.
4. Bring water to a boil and boil each disk for 25 seconds. Return to a baking sheet. (Technically bialys are not boiled, however I like the texture it gives the final product and chose to include this step.)
5. Create divots in the dough by smoothing the insides of the disks with wet fingers.
6. To make the filling, heat up the 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan.
7. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown.
8. Stir in the salt and poppy seeds and remove from heat.
9. Divide the filling among the bialys and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.