I consider myself a decent baker. I make a mean pie crust, and most baking endeavors don’t intimidate me.

Except for bread.

I’ve made focaccia many times, and homemade rolls once or twice. I never really did much else with yeast; its unpredictable nature scared me. I never thought I was capable of making bread this delicious. I had a hunk of it, fresh out of the oven and dripping with butter, and I swear I heard the angels sing from the heavens above. OK maybe it was my contractor’s air hammer from the second floor. But I clearly heard something.

Props to Chris at the LBC for recommending this recipe. I was wondering what to make in my new enamelware Dutch Oven*, and he piped in with this winner. I can see now why he refers to the no-knead bread as a bit of an obsession.

If you’re on the fence about getting a Dutch Oven? Do it. Do it so you can make this bread. Do it so you can make Ina Garten’s Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic. As devoted as I am to my slow cooker (and grateful to my friend Stamford Talk for tweeting** about honey hoisin chicken, which I will be making again tomorrow… this time with shallots, mushrooms, cashews and water chestnuts), I definitely am developing a crush on my Dutch Oven for its versatility.

We’re supposed to go out for dinner in an hour. But I think I’d rather stay home and make out with the bread.

*Yeah, I know. Hold the fart jokes, please.

**Twitter. It’s what’s for dinner.

The answer was almost always the same: lasagna. Angel food cake with fudge icing.

Except for those dark, early years when I seemed to favor layer cake with lemon (ewww!) filling and buttercream frosting.

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I cooked Italian for my Irish father on St. Patty’s Day

Escarole and Beans the Patty way

Inspired by Giada Whosis and Mark Bittman

• Chicken broth. Homemade.  End of discussion.
• 2 or 3 minced garlic cloves
• olive oil
• Small dried white beans, soaked overnight and cooked. No canned. End of discussion.
• A couple of heads of escarole, rinsed well and roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Small piece of a parmesan cheese rind
• Parmesan cheese for topping

Cook the garlic in olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the escarole and cook until it’s wilted. Add chicken broth, cheese rind and beans. Heat thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve topped with parmesan and maybe a little olive oil. We also had spicy Italian sausage which were a perfect complement.

I had never made this before. It was a fresh and quite tasty dinner.

Although it was green, serving Italian-style food on what my father refers to as a high holy day seemed a little wrong. Although he did proclaim it the best escarole and beans he’s ever had.

And somewhere, my half Irish, half Italian mother is smiling.