I had a bit of time over the long weekend to do some relaxing cooking for myself. It’s funny how that works, I cook for others for a living yet still find it relaxing and exciting cooking for myself in my spare time, which is why I love what I do so much.
Now, my plans for cooking today started off pretty normal. I was going to head out to the butcher and pick up a nice big bone-in pork butt, smoke it slowly all day and by dinner time, turn it into a huge pile of pulled pork for delicious smoky sandwiches all week long. I also planned on making some cornbread in my trusty cast iron skillet.
Neither of these things ended up happening, as my butcher’s shop was closed (for the holiday of course) and upon starting the cornbread I realized I was fresh out of cornmeal…somewhat of a key ingredient in making cornbread.
Determined to make something tasty and time consuming I ravaged my cupboards and found an old recipe I printed out a long time ago for everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure: brioche.
A quick scan revealed I had all the necessary ingredients and I went to work (don’t worry, I’ll post the recipe at the end). After some measuring and mixing the dough needed a couple hours to rise, and I was still looking for something tasty to cook up in the meantime. A raid through my spice rack and I found something interesting, some Ethiopian Berbere spice powder I picked up at Gourmet Warehouse awhile back. A fiery blend of spices, this was to be my starting point for a unique dinner, though not necessarily a traditional accompaniment for brioche, to say the least.
After a bit of searching I decided to make a traditional Ethiopian dish called Doro Wat, which is basically a spicy chicken stew garnished with hard boiled eggs. I’ve eaten this before at an Ethiopian restaurant but never prepared it myself.
The aromas in my house as I cooked were amazing, and before I knew it my brioche was in the oven. After a few hours of running around, improvising and cooking, here’s what I ended up with:
I did end up finding some pita bread in my freezer to simulate the traditional inerja bread of ethiopian cuisine, however I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dip a bit of the brioche in it too, and I’d also be lying if I said it wasn’t awesome.
Two complete culinary opposites in classic French cooking and Ethiopian came together in one strange and wonderful day of holiday cooking today.
Oh, and before I forget, here’s the recipes for the brioche and the Doro Wat:
Ethiopian Doro Wat (Chicken Stew)
Ingredients
- 1 (3 lb) roasting chicken (cut into pieces, rinsed and patted dry)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup berbere
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced for garnish
Directions
- Heat oil in a pan and brown the chicken. When all pieces are light brown, remove chicken.
- In the same pan, without removing the oil, add butter, onion, ginger and garlic; cook until golden brown.
- Add berbere and saute the mixture over low heat until it browns.
- Add chicken stock and lime juice, simmer 3-4 minutes.
- Return the chicken to the pan, cover, and simmer slowly for 30 minutes, turning the chicken from time to time.
- Transfer the stew to a platter, garnish with eggs, and serve with injera or pita bread.
Brioche (This recipe is a little tricky to perfect, so follow it precisely and take your time)
Ingredients:
For starter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm milk or water (105°F)
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
For dough
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon hot milk or water
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch slices and well softened
*Special equipment: a standing electric mixer with whisk and dough-hook attachments
Method:
Make starter: Stir together sugar and milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir flour into yeast mixture, forming a soft dough, and cut a deep X across top.
Let starter rise, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature, 1 hour.
Make dough: Combine salt, sugar, and hot milk in a small bowl and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.
Fit mixer with whisk attachment, then beat 2 eggs at medium-low speed until fluffy. Add sugar mixture and beat until combined well. With motor running, add in order, beating after each addition: 1/2 cup flour, remaining egg, 1/2 cup flour, about one fourth of butter, and remaining 1/2 cup flour. Beat mixture 1 minute.
Remove bowl from mixer and fit mixer with dough-hook attachment. Spread starter onto dough with a rubber spatula and return bowl to mixer. Beat dough at medium-high speed 6 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Add remaining butter and beat 1 minute, or until butter is incorporated.
Lightly butter a large bowl and scrape dough into bowl with rubber spatula. Lightly dust dough with flour to prevent a crust from forming.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature until more than doubled in bulk, 2 to 3 hours.
Punch down dough and lightly dust with flour.
Divide the dough into 3 equal-sized balls. Roll each ball into a 10-inch long rope, and then braid the ropes together. Tuck the ends under and place the braid in a greased 9-inch by 5-inch baking pan. Alternately, you can punch the dough down and form it into a simple oval. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rise for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, until it is doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough covering, gently brush the loaf with the beaten egg, sprinkle with a small amount of sugar, and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes, until the brioche is golden brown. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and then transfer it to a wire cooling rack.
Cooks’ note:
• Dough may be chilled up to 3 days. Punch down dough each day.
