If I could bear the thought of storing a picture on my iPhone of my front yard so I could post it for you, I would. But looking outside makes me figuratively ill. Realizing my truck's gas gauge was on 'E' and needing to make a late night gas run in the middle of an almost-blizzard... that made me literally ill.
I've lived in upstate New York all of my life. I should be fairly proficient at shoveling snow and walking on ice and all of those talents that all good northerners should have. You would think. Unfortunately, every year, as much as I enjoy the snow on occasion, I spend about 90% of the time either ignoring or fighting with winter.
Don't get me wrong. There are tons of fun things to do in winter if you just look for them. I'm all for ice skating, snowmobiling, fishing and sledding. And yes, I'm 26 but sledding is still a hobby of mine. The trouble is, when you're done with the snow, the snow is not done with you. It doesn't care that you're boots have no traction, or your tires for that matter. It doesn't care that the Vitamin D in your system is virtually depleted and you're on the brink of a nasty case of Seasonal Affective Disorder. It doesn't care if your pipes burst, or if your power goes out, or if an icicle-covered tree branch falls on your most important possessions. As much as New Yorkers love the stuff, we readily admit that it's a pain in the butt about 90% of the time.
So where am I going with this? Well, thanks for asking. When winter comes, I invariably become a huge hermit by where I don't leave me house unless someone is paying me to. It also means I have to be a little bit more creative because the things I take for granted in the summertime are no longer in reach for me. That includes my snack shop and coffee shop stops. In fact, if you look back through some other posts, you might notice a trend where my fast food copycats are more commonly posted in winter months. That's no coincidence when you consider there's about 10 miles of below zero weather separating me from my favorite foods.
So, in honor of my newfound hermit status for 2014, I am sharing a list of some of my favorite copycat recipes from restaurants I love. This particularly recipe is a fairly well known bread served in a popular national Italian dining chain. The bread is served in the restaurant piping hot from the onion and served with an herb blend drowned in olive oil.
I don't often make yeast bread because it always seems like a hassle. I really need to invest in a good bread maker to do all the work for me. Until that happens, this is my favorite way of making bread for a delicious Italian meal. It's baked on a cookie sheet in the oven and comes out warm and chewy and all sorts of perfect. It's worth the hours of waiting for the dough to rise to get a bite of this herb-filled side!
Rosemary Bread
(adapted from Cooking Classy)
1 cup lukewarm water (about 105F)
1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp. sugar
3 cups flour
1/4 cup fresh cut rosemary
1 tsp salt
Dipping Oil:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Combine water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Stir with a fork. Watch for bubbles to form on the surface. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Add the rest of the bread ingredients to the yeast mixture and knead for 10 minutes, or until bread is elastic. You may wish to hold some of the rosemary out of the bread to sprinkle on top of the bread prior to baking.
Cut the dough in half and transfer to a greased cooking sheet and cover with a towel for 1 hour in a warm place. You can freeze one for later use if desired.
Preheat oven to 400F. Brush the tops of the loaves with a little additional olive oil. Bake loaves for 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown.
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