Quick now, here,now,always-
A condition of complete simplicity
(costing not less than everything)
t.s. eliot
Has it ever occurred to you that the phrase "slim chance" means pretty much the same thing as "fat chance"?
Or have you ever considered that when a thing is easy, although we may say
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| "piece of cake!" |
or
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| "easy as pie" |
neither pie nor cake is easy. Simple, but not easy. People who say that cake and pie are easy are the sort of extraordinarily clever people who, having met with success on a first try, refuse to give failure an opportunity by ever trying again.
Okay. On second thought, I suppose there are a few pies that really are as easy as pie.
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| This is pretty easy. |
I've been thinking this weekend about how many of the things we think of a simple turn out to be well, rather fraught with peril.....
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| "just a simple little trim, Okay?" |
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| "Wait! It was just supposed to be a picnic at the zoo!" |
Case in point: biscuits.
A simple little staple, revered for centuries. And I mean centuries:
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| Look at that busy biscuit-baking kitchen. I'll bet you thought the pharaohs all preferred grits. |
But if homemade biscuits were easy, they wouldn't be quite so easily available in the freezer and fridge sections of your local grocery store, now would they?
You know what though?
If you have a little time, and if you're the sort who's not afraid of being lightly dusted with flour, they're an awful lot of fun.
I usually start here, with a recipe for buttermilk biscuits
This has been a pretty food indulgent week (more on that later), so I cut the butter in this recipe by a third, cut down on the sugar, and replaced a third of the flour with whole wheat flour. Wait! you'll say- whole wheat flour is denser and heavier that white flour! The leavening agents in the dough can't do that much heavy lifting and you'll be left with biscuits that just didn't rise as high as they could have! You're right to warn me; I was aware that by adding fiber, I was sacrificing fluff. I decided it was worth the trade off.
Simple step 1. Cutting in the butter.
Do you know what makes flaky biscuits flaky? Little tiny shreds of butter in the dough that melt and leave a little pocket of air behind. So, the trick is to get the butter bits small enough so that the biscuits aren't greasy, while leaving them big enough to make the biscuits flaky.
Lots of right ways to do this....
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| You can use this tool or this one or this one |
Or, if you're really in the mood for some fun, go ahead and break out your best tools:
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| The very best tools in any kitchen are the ones at the ends of your arms. |
Here's what it looks like:
Cut the cold butter into little cubes and rub it into the flour with your fingers, or spin it in the food processor, or use a pastry cutter. Whatever method you choose, stop the rubbage when the bits are small, but still recognizable as bits.
LIGHTLY stir in the buttermilk until all the flour is moist and the dough holds together. I almost always have to add more buttermilk than this recipe calls
for.
Pat the dough out on a floured surface, fold it over, and pat it out about. Repeat that about 7 times or until the whole fold pat business gets boring.
Now you get to choose whether to use a knife and cut square biscuits, or a round cutter. I find I get better results when I remember to cut straight up and down: don't slide the knife; don't twist the cutter.
Pop those little dough disks on a baking something (cookie sheet or baking stone) and let them touch each other. Biscuits are happier and rise a little higher when they're supporting each other.
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| insert supportive friendship metaphor here. |
About 20 minutes in the oven- time to poach an egg, or brew some coffee, or make yourself feel all virtuous by sauteing a veg or two. And look! You've made the perfect weekend breakfast, or brunch, or dinner.
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| Simple. Easy as pie. Piece of cake. No, really. |
See those virtuous veggies? They're on the table in an attempt to counteract a pretty delicious Valentine's day indulgence. Not just the indulgence of protein that cost more than $3.99 a pound- molten chocolate lava cake indulgence. These little cakes, to my consternation, turn out to be just as good frozen and reheated as they are when fresh. This is a problem, because now there's no good reason to throw the 10 or so leftover after Valentine's day away; we'll just have to eat one a night until they're all gone. Sigh. Too much chocolate. A relatively nice problem, don't you think?
The broiled flank steak turned out acceptably:
And playing a supporting role in a broccoli beef stir fry on Friday night.
I've just realized that I have actually taken a quote by one of the greatest literary minds of the 20th century and kneaded it into biscuits.
I may have just baked my way into a sort of blasphemy.
Except.... I understand that what Eliot says is true.
Simplicity costs.
Those simple things you do for the people you love? Those simple acts of caring, feeding and providing?
They are at times nothing less than acts of courage and nobility.
They are, quite simply, acts of love.
And love, like most simplicities, can be fearfully difficult.
Yet, brave soul that you are,
I'll bet that you find yourself this week scoffing at cost and danger as you give and receive the simply beautiful sentence,
I love you.
At least, I hope so.
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