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Ungodly Lazy Recipe of the Week
The other day, I got a chicken into the oven when I glanced up and realized I had exactly three minutes to be walking out the door to an appointment. I had wanted to make brown rice in my usual way (sautéing some garlic in butter before adding the rice to the pot), but there wasn’t any time. So I dumped about a tablespoon of the Golden Fig’s Sel de Cuisine in there with a cup and a half of short-grain brown rice and three cups of water and chucked the cold pot in the oven. Many hours later, when I pulled the rice out, I had extremely low expectations. But, by golly, if that rice didn’t taste like a pilaf I had slaved over: Harmonious, complexly herbal, and, to my great surprise, perfectly seasoned. If I had gotten that in a restaurant, I would have figured some complicated chefly thing went into its making.
If you don’t know Golden Fig’s sel de cuisine: It’s their signature blend, a really gray and chunky looking product made with sea salt, rosemary, cinnamon, tarragon, chili peppers, green peppercorns, and ground pepper. It’s sold at lots of places, including Kowalski’s and the Golden Fig store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.
I don’t want to brag, but I think that pot of rice is the laziest thing I’ve ever made. So, what about you? What’s the laziest thing you’ve ever made that’s surprisingly good?
http://www.goldenfig.com
Golden Fig Fine Foods
790 Grand Ave, St Paul
(651) 602-0144
Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Can my lazy thing be a concept? The no-knead bread recipe by Jim Lahey that appeared in the Times a couple years ago explained how to make excellent bread without kneading. The recipe is infinitely adaptable; you can make it your own and the results are always absurdly good.
I've also been able to use the no-knead concept with my sourdough starter (instead of commercial yeast) to make four pound loaves that would have left my wrists aching or choked my mixer.
Ooh, you were able to do the no-knead with soudough starter? Tell all. I tried the regular recipe once, and Cooks' Illustrated's modified beer one once, and while I liked the crust and the texture, I didn't think it had the depth of taste of bread I wanted to eat again.
My laziness and my snobbery, at war again...
Inside every lazy person is an efficiency expert.
Here is the short version for the sourdough junkies. I keep the hydration at 80% as in the original recipe, but I use 2% salt. My starter is a couple weeks old and I refresh it at four parts water to three parts flour by weight. I figure this ratio into my 80% calculation. I used quite of bit of my starter in my first loaf, about a fourth of the total weight of the loaf because 1) I had a lot of starter and 2) I had no idea if it would work. It worked.
I mix the flour, water, starter and salt together in a big bowl with a big spoon. I let it rise, covered, at room temperature (mine is 68-72) for about 9-10 hours, depending on the activity of the starter. I refrigerate it overnight.
I follow roughly the original no-knead recipe’s baking instructions, EXCEPT I don’t pre-heat the pan. For the second rise, I let the dough rise in the baking pan using either a covered clay Italian baker or a cast iron pot with parchment paper.
The longer, detailed version with a couple photos is posted at www.braisedandinfused.com. Your results may vary. I attribute my recent success to years of persistent luck.