If there is a “flavor profile” that I think of as “very American”, it is “Ranch” — every culture has one or a few signature flavors, and this one I think is pretty American. The packets that you can buy (like the Hidden Valley ones) are also a popular request item when I go to Germany. It’s actually not all that hard to make yourself — just got to get those ratios right — and this time, I decided to take my spice mixture to another level by adding tomato and chili powders. I know there may be some “Ranch Purists” out there that might not agree, but I think it is pretty darn good.
Dinner
Last week, I was talking about “early summer” fruits and veggies, so here I made something with some of my favorites: asparagus, peas and snow peas. Added a light pesto sauce (my fallback when I don’t know what else to make), and voila! A great little lunch or dinner and a really simple, straight forward recipe. What are you making with those fresh fruits and veggies out there?
Spelt and Honey Sourdough Rolls
Today is National Doughnut Day, but these clearly are not donuts. 🙂 I didn’t know that it was national doughnut day until this morning, and I already had these lovely dinner rolls on deck so I decided to make these after all. I added in a bit a spelt flour, for flavor — really delicious. Best eaten the same day, but these freeze well too.
Today is National Pretzel Day (this should really fall on the same day as Beer day!) and these are a massive labor of love. Despite being German — and Southern German at that! — I am not a very good pretzel maker. My Opa, the Bäckermeister. wouldn’t be too terribly impressed with my shaping abilities. The dough is great — high protein flour from Kin Arthur is great — and these are sourdough, though if you search my site, you will also find the yeast version. The first batch, the “arms” kept on coming off the sides, so I started tucking them under and that worked better. The pretzel salt (also from KA) kept on falling off the bottom bit when I made the slits, so I put it on the side. Not traditional, but they’ll do.