Serving Up Fun

watermelon agua fresca

Watermelon (Sandia) Agua Fresca

several cups of watermelon

limes

at least 1/4 cup sugar

ice

water

mint

1. Cut the rind off of the watermelon and place it in a firmly sealed ziplock bag.

2. Place the bag on the counter and either roll over it repeatedly with a rolling pin, squeeze, pummel or otherwise crush the watermelon into pulp.  Alternatively, you could run it through a food processor.

3. Pour your watermelon pulp into a pitcher.  Juice at least 1 lime.  You may need 2, depending on how much watermelon you have, how sweet it is, and how tart you like your juice.  Pour the lime juice into the pitcher.  Add 1/4-1/2 cup sugar and some water (start with 1 cup)  into the pitcher and stir to blend.

4.  Allow the watermelon to macerate in the fridge for at least a few hours.

5. Take the chilled watermelon juice and pulp and use a strainer or sifter while pouring it into a 2nd pitcher.  Taste for sweetness and adjust as necessary with additional water, sugar or lime.

6. Serve over ice in a frosty glass.  Garnish with mint.

A few of my favorite things

My little friend Becca just watched The Sound of Music for the first time.  My list of favorite things isn’t quite the same as Maria’s, but I thought I would give it a shot.

1. Whiskers on kittens – One of the little girls in my class has a new fuzzy gray kitten.  Her mom occasionally brings it to class in a little basket.  She is impossibly tiny, so small that she still drinks from a bottle.  Her fur is the fluffiest, softest stuff I’ve ever seen.

2. Raindrops on roses (I know this is first in the song.) – My roses have already bloomed, but my agapanthus is blooming for the first time in 7 years.  That’s pretty exciting.

3. Bright copper kettles – I don’t have a bright copper kettle.   I did find a Le Creuset blue kettle at the thrift shop for $5.  That pretty much made my month.

4.Warm woolly mittens – It is too hot to think about mittens right now.  If I try really hard I can think about my wool cloche with the flower on it.  It made me very happy this winter, but right now it makes me want a big glass of ice water.

I had to leave Maria behind for the second half of my list.  I do love snowflakes on my eyelashes, but right now I am thinking about hot, sticky Houston summers.

5. Summer produce – I can’t get over how good watermelon is in the summer.  I have had perfect watermelon, blackberries, mangoes and avocados all in the last few weeks.  The stores are overflowing with 1015s and I have even seen Vidalias at Central Market.  Cherries are starting to show up and I don’t think we have much longer to wait for peaches and plums.  My class tomato plant finally has some tomatoes on it, the fig tree is starting to produce and my new lemon tree has tiny green lemons.

Watermelon Salad

Cut up a small bowl of watermelon.  Slice a few olives and put them on top of the watermelon.  Crumble feta over the top.  If you like, drizzle some olive oil and/or lime juice or rice vinegar over the bowl.  Toss gently.  Sprinkle a little kosher salt on your salad and enjoy it with an icy beverage.

6. Horchata – Ice-cold creamy cinnamon and vanilla might be the secret to happiness.  Once the temperature hits ninety I don’t think I am going to want anything else.  I wish El Rey had some sort of frequent visitor punch-card system.  Mmmm…horchata.

7. Home by Julie Andrews – Julie Andrew’s autobiography only covers her life up until the Disney days, but would be a nice summer read.  She is surprisingly funny.  Be aware that it will probably make you want to re-read The Once and Future King.

bagels pt. 1

bagels pt. 2

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 T dry yeast (a little more than 1 packet)

1 T sugar

1 T oil

2 t brown sugar or powdered malt

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 c bread flour

2 t salt

cornmeal for pan

optional toppings: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, salt, dehydrated onions, dehydrated garlic, cinnamon sugar

1. Mix  together water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl.  A standing mixer makes the kneading easier, so if you only want to dirty one bowl mix it in there.  Put the dough hook attachment on your mixer.

2. Let yeast mixture stand until it has begun to bubble and you can smell the yeast.  It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.  At this point, stir in 1 cup of the flour, the oil and the brown sugar or malt.

3. Add the salt, and most of the remaining flour.  Knead on low speed for 10-12 minutes.

4. Cover the bowl with a dishtowel and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

5. Fill a large pot with water, 2 tablespoons brown sugar or malt and 1 tsp salt.  Bring the water to a boil.

6. Preheat the oven to 450.  If you are using a baking stone, put it in the oven now.

7. Divide the dough into 10-12 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and then make a hole in the center with your thumb.  Gently pull on all the sides to widen the opening. My son wanted his bagels to look like the DeathStar in Star Wars.  If you would rather have a DeathStar than a bagel, don’t put a hole in the middle and just flatten the ball.  Place the bagels and DeathStars on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

8. Let the bagels rise for 15-20 minutes.

9.  Drop a few bagels at a time into the boiling water.  Boil them for 30 seconds on the first side, flip them over and boil them for 45 more seconds.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and place the boiled bagels on a  baking sheet covered with a dishtowel.  If you are adding any toppings, now is the time to sprinkle them on.

10.  Put the boiled bagels on either the preheated baking stone or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Turn the oven down to 425 and bake for 18 to 22 minutes.  Midway through, switch the baking sheets so the bagels brown evenly.

Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman

Adapted from the New York Water Bagel recipe in A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman

note: Ms. Goldman says that if you are going to try to mix the bagels by hand rather than with a dough hook, use all purpose flour instead of bread flour.