Mediterranean Tuna Salad Sandwiches on Rosemary Foccacia Bread

I served this great sammie with a simple green salad for our dinner tonight. I think it would be equally good made with chicken in lieu of the tuna fish.

Mediterranean Tuna Salad:

The original recipe from the Whole Foods Cookbook calls for 24 oz of tuna...I scaled the recipe back for us to have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. Just use whatever amount of any of the ingredients you like. It's all subjective to taste anyhow.

* 18 oz chunk light tuna in water, drained well
* the better part of a can of quartered artichoke hearts, drained
* 1/3-1/2 cup chopped roasted red or Piquillo peppers
* ~1/2 cup sliced Greek olives
* ~2-3 Tbs red onion, finely minced
* 2-3 Tbs fresh Italian parsley, minced
* 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
* 1 large clove garlic, minced
* mayonnaise to your taste (I used about 1/4-1/3 cup)
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the tuna, artichoke hearts, red pepper, olives, onion, parsley, basil, garlic, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together well. Serve on bread, atop a green salad or in lettuce cups.


Spelt Focaccia:

This is moist and delicious with a nice tender crumb. Easy peasy too! This from a chickie that has no idea how to make bread. :-)
The original recipe was found on Cook Anything's blog. Check there for much lovelier photos of this foccacia.

300 grams wholegrain spelt flour (sorry...I don't have a cup measure on this)
1 teaspoon Sucanat (or sugar)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
fresh rosemary
garlic powder
red pepper flakes
grated Parmesan

To make the Topping:
Strip the rosemary from the stalk and place in a small bowl with red pepper flakes to taste, about 1-2 Tbs grated Parm., a shake of garlic powder and fresh ground black pepper. Add about 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil and mix.

To make the Focaccia:
In a large bowl, sift in the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Make a little well in the center and slowly incorporate the water and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. You want the mixture to come together and lose most of it's stickiness (but honestly, mine stayed pretty sticky). Transfer to a spelt floured board and knead very briefly (10-20 seconds at most) to form a smooth ball. Place this in an oiled bowl and rub more oil on the top of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap - leave in a warm place to double in size (took about 30-40 min). Just a quick note...see all those little holes in the surface of the foccacia? Not the dimples, but the wee holes. I think I let it rise a little too long on the sheet before getting it into the oven, but it really didn't make a lick of difference in the quality of the bread. It was way better this time in fact than the last time I made it.

When doubled, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and using your hands push the dough to form a rough oblong shape (I made more of a rectangle this time, but the oblong is good for dipping in soups). Put this on a tray, dimple the surface with your fingertips then cover the top evenly with the rosemary topping. Place this in a warm place to rise again, covered with plastic for about 30-45 minutes. Make sure the dough is well oiled by the topping before covering with plastic, so it doesn't stick and deflate your dough.

Preheat the oven to 400 - sprinkle the bread with kosher salt and cook for 20-25 minutes (I took mine out at 18 and it was perfect...I spread it out a little thinner than usual though) or until the bread is golden and feels cooked through.

Cool on a wire rack.

If you made a thicker foccacia, you can slice it in half for sammies, or if you made it thinner, just use one layer per side of your sammie. This was so delicious!

Farro and White Bean Soup with Escarole and Rosemary-Parmesan No-Knead Bread

This is a start-it-the-night before meal. Around 22 hours before you plan on eating dinner the next night, for me it was 9pm., soak your farro for the soup and start the bread making process.
It's an unbelievably simple method in which time does all the work for you. I added Parmesan and fresh rosemary to the original recipe and found that you could probably add any number of different goodies to this base with terrific results. The base being everything except the cheese and herbs as I've typed it up below. I baked this loaf at 500 for 30 min and 450 for the last 15, but with all the cheese (4 oz. this time...will use less next time), I think baking at 450 the whole time would have been preferable.
I'd have taken photos of the process, but there are so many good ones already on the web for me to link to. :-) Jaden of Steamy Kitchen has a great step by step with a cute kid to boot for the basic bread. I kind of combined her basic recipe and added the amendments, the original NYT recipe, and Cook's Illustrated's cooking method for last night's bread. Confusing? Doesn't have to be...just try it out, you'll be amazed with the results.

The soup is delicious, if a little salty for my tastes. Just make sure to use reduced-sodium chicken or veggie broth, and no-salt added tomatoes and it will be great. Especially with a slab of homemade bread to dunk in it! Quick note...I used the called for escarole tonight, but really felt that the Swiss chard I used last time was a lot more flavorful. I also use more than the 2 cups of greens called for in the recipe, since they cook down considerably.


Farro and White Bean Soup with Escarole:

1 cup farro (I found it in the bulk section at Central Market...I'm sure Whole Foods would have this too)
2 15oz. cans white beans (I usually use cannelini beans for this, but had a can of Great northern beans and a can of butter beans in the pantry today. Note to self, CM Organics beans would have less salt.)
~2 Tbs olive oil
2 oz. pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 medium carrot, chopped (I use a handful of organic baby-size carrots)
1 rib celery, chopped
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 sprig of fresh marjoram (didn't have so added a little herbs de Provence)
1 14 oz can no-salt added diced tomatoes, not drained
pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
1 Parmesan rind (save those rinds! I used the one leftover from the bread :-)
4 cups reduced-sodium, organic chicken or veggie broth
2 cups escarole leaves, chopped (Swiss chard, or kale sub nicely and I always use at least double this amount of greens!)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the farro in a sieve, then soak in lots of water to cover overnight. Discard any bits that float to the surface—these are hulls, and not pleasant to eat. [Another option I read but haven’t tried yet: Put farro in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside 1 hour.] Drain well.

Purée 1 can of beans with its liquid in a food processor or blender. Drain the other can of beans and rinse well. Set both aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy stock pot on medium heat.
Add pancetta or buffalo bacon and sauté 2-3 minutes.
Add onion and sauté 4 minutes.
Add garlic, carrot, celery and herbs; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.
Stir in farro, undrained tomatoes, nutmeg, bean purée and whole beans, Parmesan rind, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add escarole and pepper. Continue cooking an additional 15 minutes. Test farro for doneness—it should be softened but still have some texture. Remove herb stems before serving.

Add salt if you feel it needs it. I've rewritten the recipe to use no-salt-added tomatoes because I felt it was too salty even not adding any extra salt. But, I didn't use farro tonight so that could make a difference. I do know that when I've made it before it seemed too salty then too...so stick with the no-salt added tomatoes and at least that way you can add if needed.


Rosemary-Parmesan No-Knead Bread:
Yield: one 1½ lb loaf

3 cups unbleached bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tsp regular salt, or 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (might adjust salt down if using more Parm)
2-4 oz grated parmesan (I just blitzed it in my food processor til crumbly)
2 tsp-1Tbs fresh chopped rosemary (I used 2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)
parchment paper

1. Mix dough: The night before (I did this at 9pm so that we could eat it at ~7pm the next evening), combine all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Then add the warm (not hot or you'll hurt your wee yeasties!) water and stir with your hand, my prefered tool, or a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. It will be a shaggy ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop (I think I went about 19 today).

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over about 4-5 times with the spatula or a dough scraper and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Cut a square of parchment large enough to overhang a skillet. Lay parchment inside skillet and drop a little cornmeal on it. Place dough onto parchment and cover with floured towel, or oiled saran for 2 hrs.. When you've got about a half hour left to the dough rest, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Using the parchment to cradle the dough lift and place the whole thing into your pot, paper and all. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Remove the cover from your pot, and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.