On Monday, Jay and I made a little trip to our local farmers market at Sorauren Ave Park near Dundas West and Lansdowne. It’s open on Mondays from 3pm to 7pm, Summer to Fall. It’s a very small market and even though we were disappointed by the lack of variety, we still managed to spend close to $50 on produce, meat, cheese and chanterelles. After visiting the farmers market I realized I should have been buying a large portion of my groceries at markets like this one. We bought a cucumber that Jay kept marvelling over, “This looks like a real cucumber, not like the cucumbers we see at the grocery store. This is what a real cucumber looks like.” I was drawn to the beautiful summer squash and zucchini so I had to buy some. They’ll be perfect for the eggplant pizza I’m planning to make this week.
There was a stall with all types of dried mushrooms and jellies and Jay decided to smell all the dried mushroom sample jars. I wasn’t too impressed and I began to walk away thinking he’d also be done shopping. That was not so. Jay would not budge from that stall until he had asked the vendor how to cook, store and use the mushrooms. He eventually bought a bag of orange-coloured chanterelles, excited at the prospect of making something with them.
“Smell them!” he said. I did and I was surprised by their apricot-y scent. They had a very subtle smell.
Anyway, last night Jay decided he would use the chanterelles to make dinner and forbade me from entering the kitchen. I was only allowed to be in the kitchen long enough grate Parmesan cheese, for the risotto he was making, and to make dough for French bread. I left after placing the dough in the oven to rise I and went to do other stuff. When I went back to the kitchen about 40 minutes later, I was welcomed by a delicious tangy aroma.
The risotto was amazing, lots of Parmesan cheese, carrots, white wine. I bit into a chanterelle and was pleasantly surprised at how much flavour it had absorbed and yet it had kept most of its fruity taste. Why hadn’t I known about chanterelles before!
Later that night, I finished making the bread. A bit too late for dinner but no matter. I have to say it’s probably the best French bread I’ve made to date. I guess I must have followed the directions in the book. This French bread recipe comes from a Company’s Coming book, Bread edition. I “borrowed” the book from my mom.
French Bread, makes two loaves
2 cups All purpose flour
2 tsp Salt
2 8g pkgs Active dry yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
2 cups Warm water
3 cups approx. All purpose flour
Sprinkle of cornmeal
1 Egg white
1 tbsp Water
Stir the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add warm water, beat on low to moisten. Work in enough of the remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Or use the dough hook on your stand mixer, which is what I did. Thank God for that stand mixer!
Place dough in a greased bowl, cover it and place it in the oven with the light on and door closed for 1 to 1 1/4 hrs until doubled in bulk.
Punch down dough and divide into two equal portions. Roll each portion into a rectangle on floured surface. Roll up from long side, pinch to seal, press ends to taper and place seam side down on greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Beat egg white and water together and brush over loaves. Cover and let it stand in the oven with the light on and door closed for about 45 minutes. Make 3 diagonal cuts across each loaf and bake at 375F for 40 to 45 minutes.
Risotto with carrots and chanterelles.
French bread
