Friday, December 16, 2011

Tuscan Pigeon Peas and Artichoke Bread with Smelt

2 cups of soaked Pigeon Peas
artichokes
& tomatoes,
olive oil, garlic, basil, and onions, sea salt and ground dried chili
cheese
 Bread recipe:
2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast
Sprinkle of sugar and salt
Mix well and let rise for 2 hours. Roll out and spread Pea mixture.
 Roll up tightly. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.
 Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.
Smelt can be fried or baked, either way they are tasty little bites.


This Bean bread is usually made with cannellini, but I found these beautiful Pigeon Peas and decided to see if they would translate well in this recipe. They were an excellent substitution. Little, firm, earthy, they added a different level of flavor to the mix that were quite enjoyable.

4 comments:

  1. I am so inspired by this Bread recipe, I have some pigeon peas too - so may just have to make it.

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  2. I'm delighted with your use of gandules (pigeon peas)- so many people shy away from their strong flavor- in this wonderful bread! However, I'm puzzled that you call for two cans of dried pigeon peas. Do you mean canned, cooked (formerly dried) pigeon peas? If, yes, cool! I don't doubt this is on the market somewhere, though I've only ever seen the green (picked fresh, just barely mature) ones canned. The flavor of the green ones, while fairly strong to some palates, is much milder than that of the dried ones, while still being very "meaty" in taste and texture. I often cook with fully mature dried pigeon peas that are sold in bulk or bags. These do have an especially strong flavor, as you describe, and are about the same color as your picture shows. When I do the bread, I'll just cook up the gandules and go from there! And I'll take a swing at the baked smelt, too, using whatever I can get my hands on.

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    Replies
    1. Hi! I am so glad you messaged me about the peas because it's so wrong! I just can't believe I made such a silly error. I appreciate you taking the time to message me. I love pigeon peas, super tasty. I found them bagged and a three hour soak plumped them up beautifully. I tweaked the recipe.
      Thanks!

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  3. Yep, I see the change in the recipe. I thought the picture looked more like dried gandules. Thanks again for this wonderful bread- I'll be doing it soon. I've done some strange breads in my day, but this one is so much more fun. I'll probably use 1/3 mild white cheese, perhaps queso blanco or something like that, and 1/3 something stronger- say goat or sheep. I think I can find smelt here in the SF Bay Area, and I'll probably bake them with a light coat of seasoned corn meal. I know I can find medium/large sardines. Anyway, thanks for writing back- I've got your blog bookmarked!

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