The one-year anniversary of Revel + Gardener came and went with me mostly sick in bed.  It also came and went with me nursing that cold with a bowl of hearty chicken soup and rosemary buttermilk bread. And I didn’t even give you the recipe.  Sorry, dear, I didn’t mean to be cheap or forgetful.  The chicken soup was so basic as to not warrant a recipe.  Suffice it to say, it is a one-pot wonder that starts with oil & butter and lots of onion and garlic, and takes the better part of the morning.  Throw in left-over brown rice, handfuls of parsnips, carrots, celery, tons of spices and a sprinkle or three of cayenne, and you’re good to go.  As for the buttermilk bread, it’s one that I make when I’m too lazy to sourdough it, and it’s usually some quick reminder recipe (the kind you find online to give you just the basic proportions and you make it your own from there).

My basic recipe came from Thekitchn.com, and goes something like this:

2 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar (scant)

1.5 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1 t. kosher salt

2 T. dried whole rosemary*

1 c. buttermilk

1 egg

1/4 c. olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Prepare a bread pan but greasing it and lightly dusting with flour.

Whisk the dry ingredients together, including the rosemary.

*The rosemary I use for this comes from Kauffman’s Country Store in Beloit, Wisconsin.  My mother surprises me with occasional gift packages stuffed with lots of treasures from there, or packs it in her carry-on bag when she comes to visit.  I was hoping when I went to search for the link just now that maybe they delivered but it doesn’t look like it.  The blue box on their website that says “Shop Here for All of Your BAKING Needs,” means literally shop here, as in Kauffman’s Country Store on Hwy. 81 in Beloit, not as in click-n-shop here on this blue box that looks like it should link to an online shopping experience.  But, I digress.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, and olive oil.  When that’s well whisked, pour the wet over the dry and stir together till you have a moist, sticky batter.  Be gentle with the stirring.  You want them to meet, not mate.

Pour the batter into the prepped pan.  Pop it in the oven.  Pull it out 45 minutes, give or take a few, later, when a toothpick comes out clean.  Let it sit on a cooling rack for about ten minutes, then enjoy it with a pat or two of butter.

This bread is very excellent warm.  It makes for tasty toast, too, but is prone to crumble.  You’ll be okay, so long as you’re prepared.  Always remember to unplug the toaster before going in search of stragglers.

So, I may have missed the one-year mark since I started this blog, but that’s okay.  There will be more. (Mayans be damned).