Za'atar Flatbread

The bread-baking craze that has been sweeping the nation in the past couple of years has certainly visited here regularly, though mostly during the winter. I am a firmly entrenched acolyte in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (AB5) movement. I own the book, I read the website, I make the recipes. Well true confession: I'd been borrowing the book, but have had it WAY too long and need to return it to its rightful owner (Thanks Mama P!), so I ordered my own copy and it should arrive tomorrow.

Anyway, the flatbread recipes are some of my favorites, mostly because I am completely impatient and I LOVE being able to have fresh bread seven minutes after I decide that I want it. One of the recipes that I had been wanting to try was the Za'atar Flatbread (page 161, for those of you with the book).

My first challenge was a lack of the Za'atar itself. Za'atar is a middle-eastern spice blend with ground sumac berries as its base, its a spicy, tart flavor that I just love. Then a couple of months ago I happened upon a new Middle-Eastern market in Des Moines that had bags of ground sumac and a great price. So a $3 bag of sumac, a little recipe research on the net and I had my very own Za'atar blend. I combined parts I liked out of several recipes, so here's what I used:

Za’atar

¼ c. ground sumac

2 tbs. thyme leaves

1 tbs. sesame seeds, toasted

1 tsp coarse salt (skip if sumac contains salt)

* optional, 2 tbs oregano

Grind together.

Besides the flatbread recipe, Za'atar is great with chicken, lamb or pork. It's also nice on green salads or sprinkled over olive oil as a dip for bread.

The Za'atar Flatbread recipe in the AB5 book makes a foccacia-type bread, that you bake in the oven but I was in a serious hurry, so I made the Naan recipe (page 173) that cooks in s cast iron skillet on the stove top. As soon as the first side cooked, I turned the bread over, brushed with garlic olive oil and sprinkled on the za'atar. Three minutes later it came out of the pan and onto the plate. It was delicious! Seriously, buy the book, make the bread and enjoy...you wont be sorry!

The Chicken Hat

This might very well be the best gift I've ever received...certainly the funniest, if nothing else!


The backstory: My very talented and slightly crazy friend Claire arrived at the Winter Market this past December wearing a hat that looked like a 3-D, hand-knit chicken perched on atop her head. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen at market (that's saying something) and I nearly had to walk away I was laughing so hard.

So last week when I attended our annual spinner's party at Claire's home, she presented me with a very special gift, a chicken hat of my very own. Now you must understand, this is a special-occasion hat, not something you wear out wood-cutting or doing chores. I'm not sure who had the better look on their faces when I modeled it, Sean or Blue.
But I have to tell you, this hat is a built-in attitude adjustment. Its awfully hard to be grouchy or stressed out when you look like this!
(Thanks to my personal photographer, aka Mom, for the chicken hat photo shoot!)

Ice, Ice Baby

Yeah, I know...passe pop culture reference, but I just couldn't help myself. Our whole world is ice right now, everything is covered in a solid 1/2" casing of slick crystal weight.


So far though, no real complaints as we still have electricity. There was one little hiccup at 4:05 this morning, whereupon we lay in our warm bed discussing how we would ever get the generator out of the barn and up the hill in this ice rink. Fortunately, we've had steady power since then, so no immediate need to figure out that little issue.


We did finally acquire two pairs of YakTrax yesterday, so now we are much more sure-footed in our current glass world. Blue is not so lucky and she would undoubtedly prefer the world of sod, or even snow under her paws.


Late last night when out to do boiler chores, the world was rather remarkable. Sparkling wherever light touched any surface, but the sound was unearthly. Trees all around creaked and groaned under the enormous weight of the ice. Now and again a loud, shattering crack as a limb gave up the fight and crashed to the ground. Dangerous beauty, indeed!

Socked!

I know the following post will be a total non-starter for some of you, but I also know that a select few will get a small surge of joy that one more person can be added to the ranks of

"Seasonal Affective Sock Disorder!"

Yes, here it is folks...My very first hand-knit-by-me sock!

And look...
It even fits!!
Now I just have to finish the other one...

Good Frosty Morn

The temperatures have finally returned to a more normal realm for this time of year, enough so that we actually had fog this morning. Winter fog often produces one of my favorite weather-related phenomena, hoar-frost. It seems to me that nothing else can create quite the same magical quality.
After so much snow and WIND (sheesh! Enough already!) our poor little tool shed looks about to be overtaken by the unstoppable and ever-changing snow dunes...

Its hard to judge from the picture, but the snowdrift on the right is at least 4' tall, has completely encompassed our picnic table and is about 6" from the top of the herb garden gate.

A few days ago on my way to nightly boiler chores, I actually tobogganed down our lane on one of our big marine coolers that needed to be returned to the packing shed. It was full dark out, but the massive, white snow reflector gave off quite enough light to see by. It was a ridiculous amount of fun, making me yell and laugh like a loon, fully convincing Blue that something was terribly wrong. She ran alongside, barking and whining as though the cooler was taking me off towards the dark woods against my will. Ah, such is the life of a lunatic farmer in the deep clutches of an Iowa winter!

Annual Conference

As long as we can dig out of our lane (no certainty there) and safely manage the nasty road conditions, we are headed to the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) conference today in Marshalltown. We look forward to this gathering of innovative farmers all year long. Will talk more about it upon our return, and will bitch bitterly if we can't make it. Details on one or the other to follow...

Winter Night Song

As I've mentioned before, the late night stocking of our wood-fired boiler is a mixed blessing. It is awfully hard on sub-zero nights to don winter clothing and make the walk down to the shed just as I am thinking about going to bed, but it also affords a few benefits.

Without this forced evacuation from our snug home (well, yeah we'll just let that go) I would miss any number of nature's gifts. Tonight, the temperature is -4° and the sky is crystal clear. As the moon hasn't yet risen, and stars blanket the heavens from horizon to horizon. It is so cold that the snow squeaks underfoot and passing the line of pine trees I could hear the faint clicking of the pine cones opening and the seed being dispersed out onto the ground. The first winter we were here, it took me nearly a week to figure out that sound, as it only happens at the coldest temperatures and seems be limited to the nighttime hours.

Finally, my fire chores complete I stopped on my way back to the house, my favorite sounds wavered across the snowy landscape. A pair of Barred owls were calling to each other across the timber. The chatter went on for a long time and standing still, it was the only sound I could hear. Beautiful! Its moments like these that I truly appreciate the life we live here.