Zuppa Tuscana and Banana Bread

Alex has been talking about this soup that he really likes. It turns out to be a specialty of the Olive Garden restaurants. But easy enough to make at home.

[Because I can't follow any recipe without making changes my version is slightly different from what you get at Olive Garden. Mostly mine has a lot more kale.]

Zuppa Tuscana

1 (16-ounce) package mild or spicy Italian sausage links
6 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 quart water
2 medium all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
salt & pepper to taste
1 bunch shredded kale (cut out the stems and chop the leaves)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

1. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, cook sausage links over medium-high heat until done, about 12 to 15 minutes, turning to brown all sides. Remove from pan; bias-slice sausages into 1/2-inch slices; set aside. Drain fat.
2. In the same cooking pot, fry bacon until crisp; remove; drain on paper towels; crumble and set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat from pot.
3. Add the onion to the same cooking pot and cook over medium heat until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the water and potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
4. Add salt and pepper and taste.
5. Return the cooked sausage and crumbled bacon to the pot. Add the kale (and crushed red pepper, if using), and simmer for 4 minutes. Stir in the cream and cook until heated through, without boiling. Serve hot.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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I also made:

Easy One-Bowl Banana Bread

Pre-heat the oven to 350°
Butter and flour one bread pan

Blend, in the mixer, until creamy:

1/3 cup shortening (butter)
2/3 cup sugar (white or brown) (white gives more of the "candied" effect on the crust)

Add, and beat until homogeneous:

1 to 2 eggs
2-3 overripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla

Mix in until smooth (don't over mix, we aren't going for gluten here):

2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups flour (any kind, white or whole wheat. Let me know if you do it with gluten free.)

Optional Additions (fold in):

1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
1 cup chocolate chips

Scrape into greased loaf pan. The batter is stiff. I spread it out and make a depression in the middle.
Bake at 350° for one hour, until the crust is brown and the loaf has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.

The recipes always say "cool before slicing" I don't know why. It is really crumbly when it is hot but also really good.

Bread and Hungarian Goulash

I have a lot of time right now so I decided to make that No-Knead Bread Maria introduced us to last winter.

No-Knead Bread
New York Times, Published: November 8, 2006
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cups water
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

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Tonight I made:

Dad's Hungarian Goulash

(Although he always made it with home made Spaetzle (Spätzle) instead of store bought egg noodles.)

Ingredients

• 2 lb. beef, cubed (The beef can be fairly low quality because it will be slow cooked in moist heat.)
• 4 med. onion, chopped
• 3 Tablespoons paprika (regular paprika will do but hot paprika is more authentically Hungarian)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• oil

• 1lb bag extra wide egg noodles

Instructions

Spread a little oil on the bottom of a heavy stew pot. Coarsely chop the onions and cover the bottom of the pot. Put the cubed beef on top of the onions. Sprinkle on the spices. Cover and cook on low (If you cook it too hot the meat will harden.). Stir occasionally. Don't take the lid off very often, all the sauce comes from the onions dissolving.

While the meat is cooking, cook the 1lb bag of extra wide egg noodles according to the package directions.

When the meat is cooked stir in the noodles and let sit for 5 min, then serve.

Spaetzle Dumplings or Knopfli

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs (beaten)
• 1 cup water (more of less)
• Ground pepper
• Paprika (optional)
• Nutmeg (optional)

Additional (optional) Dumpling ideas

• Scallions
• Grated Cheese

Instructions

Mix the dry ingredients and form a well in the middle. Add the eggs and begin to stir, drawing in the dry ingredients. Gradually add the water and continue stirring until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in but the batter is still thick.

For noodles: put the batter in a ricer and push through over a pot of simmering salted water or soup. The noodles will float to the top when done, about 4 minutes.

For dumplings: drop dollops of batter off a spoon into simmering salted water or soup. Cover the pot and let simmer (not boil) for about 10-12 minutes.