Egg suppers

Current favourite: Souffle!




From a Dutch (as-big-as-a) baby pancake recipe, courtesy of Orangette, which goes a little something like this:
1/4 milk
2 T. butter
4 eggs
1/2 cup flour

Mix together. Pour into a cast iron and bake at 425 for 20 minutes max. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with fresh parm and s&p. Or, if it's for breakfast, drizzle with lemon juice and icing sugar.

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They weren't kidding

When i went hunting for some recipes with which to use the preserved lemons I had made, i came across more than a handful that named them the "secret ingredient". After this tagine, there is no longer any doubt in my mind. Not capers, nor caraffe olives or saffron...it was these humble lemons that put the salmon right over the top:

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And finally sourdough bread

This fabulous blog has a whole wheat sourdough take on no-knead bread. I made a loaf and a boule, both had the classic sourdough holes and a not-too-sour taste. All with no yeast!
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Scratch that

I used to think, after a year of testing out the theory in central France, that creamed leeks were unmatchable. I have recently had this opinion swayed....by a simple batch of braised leeks. They are phenomenal.

2-3 leeks
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup shallots or onions
fresh thyme
1/4 cup sherry or white wine
1 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper

Heat skillet. Add half the olive oil. Cut leek stalks in half and braise on both sides for 5 minutes each. Salt and pepper generously while doing so. Place in baking dish. Add remaining oil to skillet. Toss in shallots and thyme. Saute with sea salt for 5 minutes. Add sherry and reduce. Add stock and bring to a boil. Combine onions with leeks. Bake for 30 minutes on 400.

Empanadas

A new addition to my mental collection of good foods to freeze. These were filled with stewing beef, tomato sauce, leek, peas, and a pinch of cheddar, and turned out to be a perfect hand-held snack and not at all too doughy.





Empanada pastry:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup soft flour
Salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/3 cup cold water
1 T vinegar

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Radicchio salad

1 head radicchio, quartered and dry-roasted in a skillet
1 cup fennel, sauteed
1 cup thompson raisins
1 orange or 3 clementine
1/2 cup roasted walnuts
Splash of balsamic
2 splashes of olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon
Salt & pepper




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Truffles II

Found some ganache in the freezer and decided to make some more truffles. I got the original recipe here but no need to be daunted... It's really about rolling some ganache between your hands, dropping it in a bowl full of bittersweet chocolate (70%) and dousing it in cocoa or coconut. Easy peasy.

Stars and lights, stuffing and ice

Making sesame stars with the boys

I've never liked stuffing...all that soggy bread and dried fruit, i don't get it. So when it came to Christmas, the first chez nous in three years, we decided to skip the big turkey and each picked a dish instead, and i chose stuffing. (Me and it have to do right after all.) The recipe i found had dried ciabatta, sauteed leeks and fennel, artichoke hearts, spicy sausage, chilies, and orange zest.

We had it with spaghetti and drumsticks, and for the first time, it wasn't all that bad.

We finished our Christmas meal with lemon ice, an old food & drink recipe that involved lemon juice, sugar, eggs, whipped cream, and double/triple churning. My favourite way to make ice cream - no need for an ice cream maker...it turns out just as fabulously by hand.

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Boerenkool

Dutch food is infamously bland, but tonight it felt entirely comforting.

Boerenkool - literally "curly kale" - is mashed potatoes mixed with cooked kale and served with smoked sausage. I altered it by adding minced garlic as well.

Boerenkool has it's own set of condiments, including pickled onions, applesauce, cider gravy, pickles, and hot mustard.


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Bedpost

I'm trying to keep up with my little (nightime) nurser with fatty foods and quick snacks. There's also the time factor - i keep forgetting to eat...or i opt to sew instead of a lunch break. Then i tell myself to stock the cupboards with more snacks, but when i'm at the store staring at the ingredient list or price tag on say, a box of granola bars, i just can't quite do it.
So this afternoon, in between Christmas decorating and baking an apple strudel for a dessert potluck, we made spiced almonds.
First, they're coated in olive oil, then pan-roasted and drizzled with honey and spices - cayenne, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and salt. Finally, they are left to carmelize a bit longer in the oven.




Now i'm using this post to help me fall asleep....

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eggplant in the summer

i found a recipe, when making a batch of tandoori veggie and lamb skewers this afternoon, that reminded me so much of a summer version of eggplant curry - or bhurta. we put spoonfuls of it on naan bread for dinner. it definitely had more colour than its winter counterpart, but it didn't last for a photo op.

eggplant salad:
roasted eggplant (i still had some left in the freezer), coarsely chopped
2-3 tomatoes
scallions or spring onions (i used purple scallions)
vegetable oil
1 t. ginger
1 clove garlic
1 T. garam masala
1 T. gr. coriander
1 T. gr. cumin
salt and pepper
chopped cilantro

chevre chaud

buttercrunch lettuce from the farm, roasted walnuts, baguette broiled with goat cheese rounds, drizzled with olive oil, sherry vinegar, spring onions, and dijon.

picnic

there are sheets thrown up, rugs rolled, furniture moved throughout the house while the wiring gets down. the other night, we pulled down one of the sheets and laid it out like a picnic blanket, though Eily claimed it was a raft and tied us to the coffee table so we could eat quesadillas, nachos, and raspberry mousse.
the mousse was a lucy waverman recipe, although it was as simple as blending frozen raspberries and folding them into whipped cream. it's like a quick version of homemade ice cream, and i would bet you could make it with any frozen fruit with equally delicious results.

rotis

the other night, we tried making rotis - something i'd never done and Brett had tried only once. usually, when i make something ethnic, particularly something that involves dough, it either needs a lot of fine-tuning or i decide it's more worth it to order in the next time. but this time was different. they were great: spicy chickpeas and potatoes in a thin roti wrap. we had them with homemade plum chutney and hot mango chutney from ten thousand villages. which reminds me, next summer, i think i'll try freezer chutney so it won't be so vinegary. we made the roti dough using this recipe and the filling was from here.

roasted sesames

i've been trying to master a sesame ginger dressing over several attempts, and i've finally figured out the secret: roasted sesames. grind them up and add brown rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, a bit of fruit juice (i used peach from the canned ones we have), minced garlic and ginger, a spoonful of dijon, and salt and pepper. it's delicious.

a mid-winter barbeque

after tearing off the ceiling tiles in another three rooms, wrestling with a curtain (and mistakenly thinking i could make shirring hooks to fit the existing, old hardware from paper clips), and doing another pile of dishes, it was a relief that dinner was planned, and easy, and delicious.

Grilled Tandoori Vegetables
Cut, in large chunks, an assortment of vegetables (we used broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, onion, fennel, carrots, and one roma tomato that E snuck in) and a lemon if you have one. Since we had tandoori paste (a bottle i couldn't resist buying within a week after getting back from india), we mixed it with yoghurt and a bit of vegetable oil. You can also easily make your own. Marinade veggies and lemon wedges in sauce all day if you have it.
Make a pot of rice. Barbeque the vegetables and toss with rice.

kitchen milestones

unfortunately, one of them will translate into more work (just look up), but i'm nonetheless happy to conclude the yoghurt experiment (100% milk is delicious but a little too pricey; all milk powder is much to plain, and a portion of each is nearly perfect), to have mastered a homemade recipe for puff pastry (no pictures unfortunately, it was gobbled up too quickly; if you have any wits about you, try this dish), and to have confronted those mushy squash loitering in the cellar (now, i'm on the hunt for fabulous squash recipes).

the reward: blueberry and buttermilk cake, from this fabulous cookbook. I actually adapted it to a loaf and stuffed the blueberries (frozen, albeit not recommended) inside instead of saving them for topping. i haven't tried the original, but i'd make this one again.

Sunday morning

while the boys went birding, i spent the weekend morning trying out a blanket stitch on an eyeglass cover, first with my own handpsun which was incredibly lumpy, then with embroidery floss, then i gave up and machine stitched it.


these little owls line the inside and hold the wool stuffing in:

the finished case:

i also made a book, after a very long interval, for a dear friend; watched the sprouts grow; and ate too many licorice all-sorts. a decadent morning.

the lentil sprouts made it to last night's salad with carmelized leek and potato soup and delicious little rolls from 101 cookbooks, found here, and i say delicious because they were grainy and healthy too! (made up for the all-sorts accident.)

yoghurt

I finished a batch of yoghurt at 11pm last night. I pulled myself out of bed to uncover it from its wool blanket cover. I used the method here and the result is fantastic, especially with granola and the peaches from last season (a perfect crop). I've also tried recipes from Laurel's Kitchen and my mom's which use non-instant skim milk powder. I'm wondering if there's a change in flavour when sticking to milk, and I must do more experimenting.

Last night was a mini date night, possibly more decadent than a dinner out.

pita chips with baba ganoush, crackers a la lesley stowe (see here), organic and soo sweet orange slices, baked brie with raspberry cayenne sauce, bruschetta topped with goat cheese, grapes, bavarian baby blue cheese.

we moved the couch in front of the fireplace and savoured it all.