Presentation for St Augustine Cruiser’s Net “Cooking on a boat”

Had a blast last night with the St Augustine Cruiser’s Net group, talking about cooking on a boat! I don’t think anyone took pictures, so we are picture-less. I made the Italian Bread (see the recipe below) and added Garlic and Rosemary and I also did a loaf of Cheddar/Jalapeno. Both came out very well and people seemed to enjoy them! Yay! I also shared our Dutch Pig’s in a Blanket recipe, which is a great snack when you are heading offshore. They taste great cold and you can easily add some spices to the meat mix to kick up the flavor, or dip it in some mustard. Any way you look at it, they are a tasty treat!

Tips of the day:

• Make your pasta in your coffee percolator! Very interesting idea, from Phyllis, she says that it saves her from spilling pasta all over the cockpit floor. Boil water, add pasta, place lid on when done and just pour the water out…
• Use an Iron Skillet, they work great on the boat. After each use, just rinse, heat and oil… if you don’t use it for a few weeks, just heat, rinse, heat and oil. They are fantastic and we store ours in the oven.
• Ceramic plates and bowls, make your own silicone buttons by dabbing 4 dollops of silicone gel on the bottom of each one of your dishes to prevent slipping

Hope you enjoy the recipe’s!

Italian Bread
Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois

Yields: 3-4 loaves

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 ½ tablespoon granulated yeast (1 ½ packets)
1 ½ tablespoon salt
6 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal (if desired – prevents sticking while it’s raising)

Directions
Mixing and Storing the dough:
1) Warm the water slightly, (about 100 degrees)
2) Add the yeast and salt to the water (I prefer to use my wooden salad bowl)
3) Mix in flour (kneading is not necessary), mix until it is all moist and without dry patches.
4) Allow to rise (about 2 hours): Cover with saran wrap (poke a hole or 3 in it, to let the gases escape)

On Baking Day:
1) Prepare parchment paper, cookie sheet or wooden bowl with flour or cornmeal
2) Cut off a grapefruit sized piece of bread from the larger loaf
3) If you want to add something to the bread, like garlic and rosemary, now is the time. Typically, I add 6-7 cloves of garlic, lightly chopped and 2 Tbsp of Rosemary
4) Gently dust the dough with flour and stretch the dough around itself until it is smooth, rotating the dough as you go.
5) Rest loaf for 40 minutes on pizza pan or parchment paper or cookie sheet, or in a wooden bowl. (Dough does not need to be covered and will not rise much)
6) Dust the top of the loaf with flour and slash the loaf with a serrated knife, ¼” deep, scallop or tic tac toe pattern
7) Preheat oven to 450 degrees, put your pizza stone or skillet in the oven to preheat as well.
8) Bake with steam. After preheating the oven, slide the loaf onto the preheated pizza stone or skillet
9) Add 1 cup of hot water to a broiler or smaller skillet and let it rest in the bottom of the oven OR use a mister and mist the bread with water every 10 minutes throughout the cooking time
10) Bake for about 20-30 minutes until bread is browned and sounds hollow when you tap it
11) Allow bread to completely cool

Store remaining dough in the refrigerator in a lidded (not airtight container) and use it over the next 14 days

OFFSHORE FOOD:
Dutch Pigs in a Blanket (S/V Perfect Partner Recipe)

Yields: about 25 Dutch Piggies

Meat mixture:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb lean ground pork (shoulder is good)
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp allspice
Mix together well

Dough:
(We have used crescent rolls as well, in a pinch)
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp sugar
¾ cup margarine or butter (work through)
1 cup milk (add more if needed)

Roll out dough to ¼” thick
Cut into rectangles, place 1 Tbsp meat into dough and roll up. Bake 1 hour at 325. These can be stored in fridge, or frozen and are great for offshore trips