Holiday Loaf

A new favorite!  

Based on a recipe from The Greens Cook Book (a long-time favorite), how have I never made this before?  I didn't know it's what was missing on our holiday table.  It took Tribute Pizza (another favorite) sharing how it's their favorite on the holiday table for me to seek the recipe out and adapt it:

3/4 c brown basmati rice, cooked
3/4 c walnuts or pecans, toasted
1/4 cup cashews, toasted
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 T butter
sea salt
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes in hot water
1 T fresh flat parsley leaves, chopped
1 t fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/2 T fresh marjoram or rosemary leaves, chopped
1/2 t fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1/2 c cottage cheese
6 oz grated cheese (gruyere, asiago, jarlsberg or your favorite cheese blend)

2 backyard chicken eggs, beaten

freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice (or reuse leftovers).  Finely chop the nuts.  Chop the soaked mushrooms and reserve the liquid for a later use.

Saute the onions in butter until translucent, season with salt and add the garlic, mushrooms, and herbs. Cook until any liquid released from the mushrooms is reduced.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.  Add nuts, rice, cheeses, egg, and pepper and mix to combine.  Pack into a small, buttered loaf pan and bake uncovered for about an hour at 375 degrees, until crusty and golden.  Allow to cool slightly to set before serving.

Serve with mushroom gravy or onion sauce.  It would also make a great neatloaf or veggie patty!

Double the recipe to bake in a standard loaf pan.

4-6 servings

Crackers - plain, herbed, seedy, or peppery

Crackers are a pretty simple recipe to pull off, but I've never made them before!  The trick was getting the dough rolled out as thin as I could and baking until golden, not brown, on the edges.

1 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1 t course sea salt
1 t evaporated cane sugar
3 T butter, melted, or olive oil
1/2 c water

Flavor options:

2 t fresh thyme or rosemary, chopped fine
1 t fresh ground black pepper or other spice

2 t seeds (poppy, sesame, flax, chia...)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and any herbs, seeds or spices in a food processor until well mixed. Add the butter or oil and pulse 6 times.  Add the water and pulse about 10 seconds, just until the dough starts to stick together.  Remove dough, press together to form a ball, and cut into four, and let rest for 10 minutes.

For each piece of dough, roll out on a lightly-floured surface as thin as you can.  Cut into whatever size and shape you want.  Place on the baking sheet.  Bake 4-5 minutes, then flip each cracker and bake another 4-5 minutes, making sure they don't get too brown.  Let cool to crisp.

Makes roughly 50 small crackers

Based on Carla Hall's and Alton Brown's recipes.