Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

I've been recently struck by cravings for all things Louisiana. Upcoming shows include Louisiana Dirty Rice. . .one of my favorite side dishes of all times. Flavorful little bits of green onion, sauteed livers and chopped gizzards-or as I like to call them-Givers and Lizzards! And, since it's my "party", I decided I would indulge another craving for Seafood Soup. I've already steamed a half dozen Blue crabs and made a fish stock to simmer the crabs, shrimp, fish fillets and some Campari tomatoes. Simple, flavorful and "feels like home!" I'm thinking . . . Chocolate Martinis to round out the evening!

This was a beautiful bag of peppers offered at a reduced price at a local farmer's market! I couldn't resist buying it - if for no other reason than to photograph it!

This was a very successful experiment and one that I will definitely continue to work on.  I might consider ordering German flour from GermanDeli.com for a more authentic German taste . . .although this was very good with the flours I had on hand. My goal was to bake a loaf similar to the brown farmer's bread that I enjoyed as a child while living in Germany. I started with the basic bread recipe that I have on the Home At Last! website-but changed up the recipe by swapping out a cup of rye flour for one of the five cups of flour.  I have made just about every combo I can think of. This particular loaf was rye, unbleached, Italian flour and a white whole wheat. Everything else was the same except that I spritzed the oven through-out the entire bake process (about every ten minutes) and added a jar of water to create a crispy crust.

Fall weather presents the perfect weather for a plum galette with homemade blueberry syrup-using local blueberries. I also love this idea for an easy dessert at a garden party or ladies luncheon. I made a simple cheese mixture with cottage cheese, neufchatel, cream cheese and a beaten egg. ( I didn't add the beaten egg until the morning) The plums were tossed with brown sugar, a dash of lemon juice and vanilla to brighten the flavors. This morning all I had left to do was cut my puff pastry using a small fluted tart pan with removable bottom. I baked the puff pastry and the pastry cream for fifteen minutes before putting the sliced plums on top. I baked the galettes for another ten minutes until the puff pastry was golden and crispy and the plums softened a bit. The results were a delicately sweetened galette with a clean taste and a wonderful delicate crispness.