So it's the last day of 2011.
I'm currently in Calabria stuffing my face with foods that are contributing to my ever growing love handles. Eating 4 course meals everyday for lunch and dinner including dessert. Feeling disgustingly blissful, while at the same time panicking and studying for my exams that are quickly approaching.
So obviously I haven't been cooking. I wanted to do restaurant reviews of some sort. But I don't think I'd be good at it. I've visited Alia, which is in Castrovillari, and Le Cucine di Palazzo Salfi. Alia's said to be one of the best restaurants of the country, serving Calabrian food with a modern twist. I'll perhaps do a more detailed post about these two places later, I've taken photos, but right now, in summary, it was a big disappointment. I've given it a 2.5 stars out of 5 in my book. it was average. Merely average. It was good, but it wasn't splendid. Maybe 2.7 stars.
Palazzo Salfi on the other hand was extraordinary. I'm going there again tonight. Mind blowing to say the least. But details will follow in another post (just a slight preview: 30 hour roasted lamb with liquorice sauce..)
Calabria is where my dad's from. Please visit if you get a chance. It's got a nice..ghetto charm. And it's a foodie's paradise.
Anyway. New Year's resolutions.
1. Gym at least once a week (I've paid for gym membership and it's so far cost me 33 pounds per visit, so I need to go to get my money's worth more than anything else)
2. Pass all my assessments
3. Get into Honors
4. Take Chinese/Italian/Spanish lessons
5. Learn some elementary French
And now the foodie bits
1. At least 5 Daring Baker challenges
2. At least 5 Daring Cook challenges
3. Make at least one traditional Chinese dessert
4. Make at least one traditional Indian dessert
5. Roast lamb
6. Make pate
7. Make my aunt's Torta Caprese
So this is it. Celebrate it with food, alcohol, friends and love. If missing one or more of those elements that's okay as well, I'm not judging. Tonight I'll be worrying about my weight gain and my exams.
love,
Maria
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Chinese Dumplings (饺子)
Mommy helped me with these.
I'm a complete jiaozi amateur.
These are eaten all year round in China but it's one of those things that you must eat on Chinese New Year. I remember my grandparents making these in the kitchen every Chinese New Year --my grandmother making the fillings and my grandfather making the dough. Shame I won't be spending Chinese New Year with them this year :( For the first time I won't be in China for Chinese New Year. God. What am I supposed to do, go to China Town? :( I'm a Northerner, I feel like China Town is filled with Southerners. We don't eat the same thing! Oh it's so soon...It's going to be the year of the Dragon. It doesn't really mean anything but it's just if you're curious. Are you a Dragon, you ask? Well, if you're turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 50, 62... you are. Every 12 years it repeats. I'm a Monkey.
Method
To make the filling
We made 2 fillings, one vegetarian with eggs, onions and spinach. Another with minced pork and onions only.
1. Scramble some eggs, set aside. Blanch the spinach in hot water until wilted, mix with eggs. Fry the onions until translucent and fragrant, mix with spinach and egg mixture. Season to taste with soya sauce and sesame oil.
2. Sautee some onions and once translucent add the minced pork and cook over medium high heat until..cooked. Season with soya sauce, sesame oil and 5 spice.
(See below for more filling ideas)
To make the dough
2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup water
Gradually add the water to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it just comes together as a dough. It should be a very soft dough but it shouldn't stick to your hands, so adjust the amount of flour and water accordingly. Leave that in a bowl, cover with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Take the dough onto a floured surface. Knead for a couple of minutes. Roll into a hoop, cut in the middle so it becomes a long tube, about 1 inch in diameter. Then just cut it into 1 inch cubes.
Press down on them so they become little circles. Adjust the cube to more of a cylindrical tube before you press down on them.
Then you put a reasonable amount of filling onto the center and you close it up with your hands like so. There are many ways of enclosing this, it doesn't matter how you do it, I find this to be the easiest way, just make sure it's nicely shut. Use some water to help the skins stick together if necessary. Remember to keep the filling right in the center, so it doesn't burst while cooking.
There should be no air bubbles, so close them tightly!
I'm a complete jiaozi amateur.
These are eaten all year round in China but it's one of those things that you must eat on Chinese New Year. I remember my grandparents making these in the kitchen every Chinese New Year --my grandmother making the fillings and my grandfather making the dough. Shame I won't be spending Chinese New Year with them this year :( For the first time I won't be in China for Chinese New Year. God. What am I supposed to do, go to China Town? :( I'm a Northerner, I feel like China Town is filled with Southerners. We don't eat the same thing! Oh it's so soon...It's going to be the year of the Dragon. It doesn't really mean anything but it's just if you're curious. Are you a Dragon, you ask? Well, if you're turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 50, 62... you are. Every 12 years it repeats. I'm a Monkey.
Method
To make the filling
We made 2 fillings, one vegetarian with eggs, onions and spinach. Another with minced pork and onions only.
1. Scramble some eggs, set aside. Blanch the spinach in hot water until wilted, mix with eggs. Fry the onions until translucent and fragrant, mix with spinach and egg mixture. Season to taste with soya sauce and sesame oil.
2. Sautee some onions and once translucent add the minced pork and cook over medium high heat until..cooked. Season with soya sauce, sesame oil and 5 spice.
(See below for more filling ideas)
To make the dough
2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup water
Gradually add the water to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it just comes together as a dough. It should be a very soft dough but it shouldn't stick to your hands, so adjust the amount of flour and water accordingly. Leave that in a bowl, cover with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Take the dough onto a floured surface. Knead for a couple of minutes. Roll into a hoop, cut in the middle so it becomes a long tube, about 1 inch in diameter. Then just cut it into 1 inch cubes.
Press down on them so they become little circles. Adjust the cube to more of a cylindrical tube before you press down on them.
Then the difficult stuff. I do this at the speed of a turtle, pros like my grandfather do it at the flash of light. So here's the difficult bit, you're meant to have the dough skin so that the middle is thicker than the outside. Now in all honesty I don't know if this is necessary. I heard you could simply roll out the dough and cut out little circles with a cookie cutter and so it's all the same thickness. My mom swears that with that way it tastes awful. I hear that the thick in the middle way is only for steamed dumplings. But, again, mommy swears that they're different.
So hold the round discs by one end and with the other hand on the rolling pin, roll to just about half way, then with your other hand turn it gently and repeat. So you're turning and rolling at the same time, resulting in a round piece of skin that's thick in the middle and thin on the outside.
So hold the round discs by one end and with the other hand on the rolling pin, roll to just about half way, then with your other hand turn it gently and repeat. So you're turning and rolling at the same time, resulting in a round piece of skin that's thick in the middle and thin on the outside.
Then you put a reasonable amount of filling onto the center and you close it up with your hands like so. There are many ways of enclosing this, it doesn't matter how you do it, I find this to be the easiest way, just make sure it's nicely shut. Use some water to help the skins stick together if necessary. Remember to keep the filling right in the center, so it doesn't burst while cooking.
There should be no air bubbles, so close them tightly!
Put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes until they float. Take them out and serve with Chinese vinegar and a dash of sesame oil. The Chinese vinegar, Lao Chen Cu, is easily found in all Asian supermarkets, however, if you can't find them, serve with a mixture of soya sauce and white wine vinegar instead.
Fillings
The traditional ones are cabbage with minced pork, cabbage with minced beef. Remember that everything in the filling must be cooked, because these dumplings will only be blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes to cook the dough. Good vegetarian ones are basically scrambled eggs with some other vegetable. Scrambled eggs and cabbage, scrambled eggs and dill, scrambled eggs and julienne carrots and mushrooms. Something with shrimps maybe. Shrimps and eggs, shrimps and rice noodles. Seasoning is typically with soya sauce and sesame oil. With spices, 5 spice is often used. Be creative.
Other ideas
Have you seen those pretty colored dumplings? So easy to make, it's simply a colored juice, instead of water, added to the flour to make the dough. You can puree some spinach and strain it to obtain a green juice; do the same for carrots for something orange; beets... What else...
Oh look there's a site here dedicated to Asian dumplings! Be inspired!
The traditional ones are cabbage with minced pork, cabbage with minced beef. Remember that everything in the filling must be cooked, because these dumplings will only be blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes to cook the dough. Good vegetarian ones are basically scrambled eggs with some other vegetable. Scrambled eggs and cabbage, scrambled eggs and dill, scrambled eggs and julienne carrots and mushrooms. Something with shrimps maybe. Shrimps and eggs, shrimps and rice noodles. Seasoning is typically with soya sauce and sesame oil. With spices, 5 spice is often used. Be creative.
Other ideas
Have you seen those pretty colored dumplings? So easy to make, it's simply a colored juice, instead of water, added to the flour to make the dough. You can puree some spinach and strain it to obtain a green juice; do the same for carrots for something orange; beets... What else...
Oh look there's a site here dedicated to Asian dumplings! Be inspired!
Monday, 26 December 2011
How to: Artichokes
It's so nice at the end of the year. People go crazy over preparations for Christmas, and once Christmas is over it's New Year's. Two big celebrations, one after the other, it's nice. It keeps your mind off other things. Like the fact that Economics is driving me off the edge, the fact that I'm surrounded by negativity, the fact that the heating doesn't work. Yea, it keeps my mind off these things.
Christmas was nice this year. I perhaps ate a bit too much, as usual, so here's something you might consider eating to keep fit.
I like artichokes, I especially like those small marinated artichokes actually. It's so nice in salads, pastas and pizzas. It really does steal the show from the other ingredients even when it doesn't even mean to. I remember once buying a whole box of those canned artichokes -- I put it in everything. A lot of people don't like artichokes, surprisingly.
For the sensible people out there: here's how you prepare fresh artichokes.
What disappoints me the most is when I buy these huge globe artichokes and by the time I'm done with all the prepping it ends up being half the size I bought it for. They've got these tough outer leaves that are unfortunately inedible, which you have to peel off.
Actually, not leaves, petals, I believe.
Step 1. Cut off the stems and remove all tough outer leaves. Yes, you may end up with something very small, it's layers and layers of those tough leaves.
Step 2. Cut off the stems, and a couple of cm off the top. Just cut a big chunk off, don't worry. Yes, I know, it's a lot of waste and it can be worrying. Also trim the stems.
Step 3. You then want to cut around the head to make sure you've cut off all the tough tips from the outer leaves.
Step 4. Rub all the cut edges with a slice of lemon. This prevents them from browning.
Step 5. Fill a pot with an inch of water, add some salt, a whole lemon, cut into 4 slices. Place the artichokes in, head down. Cover, and put it over high heat for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your artichoke. Check frequently to see if the water's dried out, if it has, add more water (obviously). They're done when they feel tender on the fork.
Dressing: I love it with just some good olive oil and some capers. They've already got the acidity and the saltiness from cooking. You can also do a nice herby dressing with oil, mixed herbs (like parsley and mint), minced garlic. Keep it simple.
Tip: I find it easier to cut with like a serrated knife or with scissors.
Christmas was nice this year. I perhaps ate a bit too much, as usual, so here's something you might consider eating to keep fit.
I like artichokes, I especially like those small marinated artichokes actually. It's so nice in salads, pastas and pizzas. It really does steal the show from the other ingredients even when it doesn't even mean to. I remember once buying a whole box of those canned artichokes -- I put it in everything. A lot of people don't like artichokes, surprisingly.
For the sensible people out there: here's how you prepare fresh artichokes.
What disappoints me the most is when I buy these huge globe artichokes and by the time I'm done with all the prepping it ends up being half the size I bought it for. They've got these tough outer leaves that are unfortunately inedible, which you have to peel off.
Actually, not leaves, petals, I believe.
Step 1. Cut off the stems and remove all tough outer leaves. Yes, you may end up with something very small, it's layers and layers of those tough leaves.
Step 2. Cut off the stems, and a couple of cm off the top. Just cut a big chunk off, don't worry. Yes, I know, it's a lot of waste and it can be worrying. Also trim the stems.
Step 3. You then want to cut around the head to make sure you've cut off all the tough tips from the outer leaves.
Step 4. Rub all the cut edges with a slice of lemon. This prevents them from browning.
Dressing: I love it with just some good olive oil and some capers. They've already got the acidity and the saltiness from cooking. You can also do a nice herby dressing with oil, mixed herbs (like parsley and mint), minced garlic. Keep it simple.
Tip: I find it easier to cut with like a serrated knife or with scissors.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Panettone [Trial 1]
It's my favorite time of the year. I'm not Christian or anything, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy Christmas. Oh by the way, check out The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, with funny tips and anecdotes written by atheist celebrities, writers and scientists.
I love Christmas because of the atmosphere, the decorations, the music, and most of all, the food. All these countries have so many wonderful things to offer at Christmas. As a family we don't really celebrate Christmas. I mean we'll make an effort to all have a meal together but that's it. I think the most christmasy Christmas we've had was when my sister brought her American husband home and we went through such an effort in trying to have a proper Christmas dinner with a roast and presents and everything. So I don't really know what Italians normally eat for Christmas, maybe nothing in particular at all, like my family. The only Italian Christmas food I know is panettone. The slightly sweet, light as air, melt-in-your mouth fruitcake. It originated from Milan.
Etymology
1. Coming from the Italian word "panetto", meaning small loaf of bread, and the suffix "-one" means large. Therefore, a large..small loaf of bread.
2. Deriving from Milanese, "pan del ton", meaning bread of luxury.
3. Resulted from a 15th Century love story. A nobleman fell in love with a poor baker's daughter, Toni. To win her love, he disguised as a baker and invented this bread for her. Obviously with such a grand gesture of love the Duke of Milan agreed to the marriage. This bread was known as "Pan de Toni" (Toni's bread).
4. The cook burnt his dessert at an important court dinner on the 24th of December. Just when he thought he was about to lose his job and much more, his assistant, Toni, suggested putting some old dough together with some candied fruits, eggs and buter. The desperate cook agreed and served what actually became a huge success. The cook was a nice man and gave all credits to Toni, thus naming it Pan de Toni.
Sadly the name probably originated from panetto or pan del ton without much of a story behind it, but I'm going to believe the 3rd one just because I like it. I think inventing something as wonderful as panettone as an act of love is just the most romantic thing. Imagine a rich noble man inventing, say, croissants, for you. Men nowadays have got to step it up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now. Before I get your hopes up I need to tell you that I failed. But I don't want to say that it was a complete failure because I think it still tasted quite nice.
I didn't start this with high hopes. Panettone's difficult stuff. But I thought: if I can make panettone, I can do anything. I can make anything imaginable, I can take over the world, I may even be able to ace my Economics test. Yea, it was too ambitious of me.
After reading dozens of recipe I decided to go with Loretta's. She gives very detailed instructions and if you go on the Italian website, you can watch the video of it as well. HOWEVER, you never see the final product... <.<
But as you can see from below, it actually had quite a nice texture. It didn't have the characteristic thread-like pull-apart texture, but it was soft and spongy. So I simply didn't call it a panettone. It's a sweet bread.
So trouble shooting:
The key is it just didn't rise properly. I probably should've let it rise in the oven over very low heat (30C) for all three rises. It was meant to double in the first rise, triple on the second and third rise. The only successful rise was the third one when I put it in the oven. The second rise was especially shameful as it barely doubled in size.
This was after the third rise in the oven. Oh I had a flicker of hope when I saw them like this. But as you can see from below they..stayed that way. They're meant to rise even more when baking.
Obviously I'll try again. Maybe not anytime soon. Probably next Christmas. This Christmas was stollen and panettone. Next one will be yule log and panettone. And then gingerbread house and panettone. I'll make one every Christmas until eventually I succeed.
If you're not feeling like making your own panettone this year, The Guardian has a nice rating of the panettones that are available in the UK.
I love Christmas because of the atmosphere, the decorations, the music, and most of all, the food. All these countries have so many wonderful things to offer at Christmas. As a family we don't really celebrate Christmas. I mean we'll make an effort to all have a meal together but that's it. I think the most christmasy Christmas we've had was when my sister brought her American husband home and we went through such an effort in trying to have a proper Christmas dinner with a roast and presents and everything. So I don't really know what Italians normally eat for Christmas, maybe nothing in particular at all, like my family. The only Italian Christmas food I know is panettone. The slightly sweet, light as air, melt-in-your mouth fruitcake. It originated from Milan.
Etymology
1. Coming from the Italian word "panetto", meaning small loaf of bread, and the suffix "-one" means large. Therefore, a large..small loaf of bread.
2. Deriving from Milanese, "pan del ton", meaning bread of luxury.
3. Resulted from a 15th Century love story. A nobleman fell in love with a poor baker's daughter, Toni. To win her love, he disguised as a baker and invented this bread for her. Obviously with such a grand gesture of love the Duke of Milan agreed to the marriage. This bread was known as "Pan de Toni" (Toni's bread).
4. The cook burnt his dessert at an important court dinner on the 24th of December. Just when he thought he was about to lose his job and much more, his assistant, Toni, suggested putting some old dough together with some candied fruits, eggs and buter. The desperate cook agreed and served what actually became a huge success. The cook was a nice man and gave all credits to Toni, thus naming it Pan de Toni.
Sadly the name probably originated from panetto or pan del ton without much of a story behind it, but I'm going to believe the 3rd one just because I like it. I think inventing something as wonderful as panettone as an act of love is just the most romantic thing. Imagine a rich noble man inventing, say, croissants, for you. Men nowadays have got to step it up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now. Before I get your hopes up I need to tell you that I failed. But I don't want to say that it was a complete failure because I think it still tasted quite nice.
I didn't start this with high hopes. Panettone's difficult stuff. But I thought: if I can make panettone, I can do anything. I can make anything imaginable, I can take over the world, I may even be able to ace my Economics test. Yea, it was too ambitious of me.
After reading dozens of recipe I decided to go with Loretta's. She gives very detailed instructions and if you go on the Italian website, you can watch the video of it as well. HOWEVER, you never see the final product... <.<
But as you can see from below, it actually had quite a nice texture. It didn't have the characteristic thread-like pull-apart texture, but it was soft and spongy. So I simply didn't call it a panettone. It's a sweet bread.
So trouble shooting:
The key is it just didn't rise properly. I probably should've let it rise in the oven over very low heat (30C) for all three rises. It was meant to double in the first rise, triple on the second and third rise. The only successful rise was the third one when I put it in the oven. The second rise was especially shameful as it barely doubled in size.
This was after the third rise in the oven. Oh I had a flicker of hope when I saw them like this. But as you can see from below they..stayed that way. They're meant to rise even more when baking.
Obviously I'll try again. Maybe not anytime soon. Probably next Christmas. This Christmas was stollen and panettone. Next one will be yule log and panettone. And then gingerbread house and panettone. I'll make one every Christmas until eventually I succeed.
If you're not feeling like making your own panettone this year, The Guardian has a nice rating of the panettones that are available in the UK.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
White Chocolate Limoncello and Almond Truffles
I want a well stocked liquor cabinet. Not to drink them or anything, but to cook with them. I love cooking with alcohol. What's better than a chocolate mousse with a shot of rum or a stew with half a bottle of red wine or an almond cake with a generous glug of amaretto. Mmmm. Currently as a poor college student all I have is wine and limoncello (thank you Ross and Caitlin for the limoncello <3)
Limoncello's a lemon flavored liqueur originating from Southern Italy. Traditionally served as a digestive after a meal, it's sweet and creamy and delicious. It's actually quite easy to make at home, it's essentially just lemons marinated in vodka for a looong time, and then you mix it with milk and sugar (please find a proper recipe, I'm not at all confident in what I just said). But the key lies in the lemons you use. The best limoncello uses lemons from Sorrento -- large, beautiful, vibrant, intensely flavored lemons.
However, I prefer using it as an ingredient rather than just drinking it. It can be used in anything that incorporates lemon juice or zest. One day I'll upload a post about this divine torta caprese al limone with limoncello -- a flourless lemon cake made with ground almonds, lemon zest, juice and limoncello. Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.
Anyway, think about adding it to your lemon cheesecakes, your custards, your ice creams. Or even just mix it with whipped cream and serve it over a dessert of your choice.
With limoncello I thought I'd make some truffles. Truffles are one of those fancy little things that take no effort at all to make. Normally I prefer dark chocolate truffles (with a bit of rum or brandy) but I so desperately wanted to use my limoncello, and you know what, these were the best truffles I've ever made. Lemons, white chocolate and almonds make a heavenly alliance that can do no wrong in any circumstances.
Ingredients
250g white chocolate, broken into peices
175ml double cream
2 tbsp limoncello
1 tsp almond extract
Ground almonds for rolling
Method
Melt white chocolate with the cream over medium heat, remember to stir.
When melted, add the limoncello and almond extract. Mix well to incorporate and put the mixture in the fridge to harden for about 2 hours.
Take the mixture out and shape into balls. Roll them in ground almonds and place them in the fridge until ready to serve.
I got a new photographer for these truffles, my friend, Kirsten, came over from Ireland and I forced her into taking photos of these babies whilst my usual photographer, Sarah, was busy working on her 4000 word essay..or was it a presentation.... But thank you Kirsten and come visit again soon :)
However, I prefer using it as an ingredient rather than just drinking it. It can be used in anything that incorporates lemon juice or zest. One day I'll upload a post about this divine torta caprese al limone with limoncello -- a flourless lemon cake made with ground almonds, lemon zest, juice and limoncello. Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.
With limoncello I thought I'd make some truffles. Truffles are one of those fancy little things that take no effort at all to make. Normally I prefer dark chocolate truffles (with a bit of rum or brandy) but I so desperately wanted to use my limoncello, and you know what, these were the best truffles I've ever made. Lemons, white chocolate and almonds make a heavenly alliance that can do no wrong in any circumstances.
250g white chocolate, broken into peices
175ml double cream
2 tbsp limoncello
1 tsp almond extract
Ground almonds for rolling
Method
Melt white chocolate with the cream over medium heat, remember to stir.
Take the mixture out and shape into balls. Roll them in ground almonds and place them in the fridge until ready to serve.
I got a new photographer for these truffles, my friend, Kirsten, came over from Ireland and I forced her into taking photos of these babies whilst my usual photographer, Sarah, was busy working on her 4000 word essay..or was it a presentation.... But thank you Kirsten and come visit again soon :)
Monday, 19 December 2011
Breakfast Sesame Bread Pudding
Yes, bread pudding for breakfast. Nothing better than desserts for breakfast. It may seem like a lot of effort, well, it certainly is compared to your cereal and milk, toast and jam or protein shakes. BUT I say this again and again, I'm a breakfast person and I truly believe a good breakfast can make your day. I gave this to my flatmate and it immediately brightened up her day, I swear.
It's filling and healthy. You could make this even better by adding some jam, add some cream to make it richer if you wish to. So versatile.
This, like my breakfast souffle, is not as time consuming as you might think. It's all about time management. You wake up, preheat the oven and you do the preparation, which takes 5 minutes. While the bread soaks up the liquids, you check your mail and stuff. Then you place it in the oven and you take a shower and get dressed. All about time management.
It's filling and healthy. You could make this even better by adding some jam, add some cream to make it richer if you wish to. So versatile.
Prep time: 5 min + 10 min of resting Cook time: 30 min Serves: 1 Suitable for: brightening up your miserable days
Ingredients
1 cup cubed stale bread
1 cup cubed stale bread
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1tbsp butter + more for greasing
2 tbsp sesame paste
1tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp sugar
Method
Grease your bowl with butter and dump in your bread. Whisk the egg with the milk, sugar, melted butter and sesame paste. Pour on top of the bread and let that rest for about ten minutes so the bread absorbs it all. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
Place in a preheated oven at 180C for about 30 minutes.
Place in a preheated oven at 180C for about 30 minutes.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Stollen
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I love stollen. Christmas is upon us and I had to choose between making mince pies, stollen or panettone. My flatmate makes the best mince pies (with a ridiculous amount of alcoholic cider -- I think that's the secret), panettone seems too challenging for the moment, and thus I went for stollens.
Anyway, as a Christian thing, the shape of stollen and the fact that it's dusted with icing sugar symbolize baby Jesus wrapped in white clothes. Today there are these stollen festivals in Dresden every year with massive stollens. They take place every year sometime in December I believe, and they have this huge stollen, weighing around 3 tonnes. It's cut with a special 1.2m silver-plated "stollen knife" and then sold to the crowd.
.....Definitely on my bucket list.
It's so worth making your own stollen. Yes, it takes forever, but really, it's not that much work, 4 of the 5 hours of prep work is just waiting for your stollen to prove and rise. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.
Prep time (including proofing): 5 hrs Cook time: 50 min Serves: 10 Suitable for: Christmas or just any other occasion to show off
Recipe adapted from here
Ingredients
1 packet dry active baking yeast (7g)
400g bread flour
75g caster sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
175ml warm milk
75g melted butter (cool or warm but don't have it hot)
1 large egg, lightly whisked
50g currants
50g raisins
50g red glace cherries, diced
175g mixed citrus peel
200g marzipan
1 tsp each of ginger, cloves and cinnamon.
1 tbsp icing sugar
Method
Mix the dry ingredients together then slowly mix in the milk, butter and egg.
Put it on a lightly floured surface and press it down. Roll your marzipan into a long cylinder and put it in the middle of the dough. Roll the dough over and seal the marzipan in. Place on a baking sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rest for about one hour. Again, don't worry if it doesn't rise much, just make sure it's resting in a warm place.
Have your own preheated to 180C. Dust your stollen with the last couple of spices to form a nice spicy crust. Put your baby in the oven and after 10 minutes turn the heat down to 150C. Let it bake for about 40 more minutes or until golden brown.
Leave to cool (resist tearing it apart and devouring it), and dust with icing sugar and some more spices if you'd like, I like spicy things.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Crostini with Peas, Onion Chutney and Cheese
I'm finally on holiday. Yes, I have exams right after my holiday in January but it's okay because I am giving myself a couple of days to just rest and cook and be happy. I've got a stollen currently resting happily in my warm and cozy room, ready to be in the oven in about half an hour. I've got my suitcase open, ready to be packed. I've got my laundry done. It's all good. I'm leaving tomorrow to go back hom to sunny Italy at 17C.
Hopefully the stollen will be good, here's an easy and elegant appetizer that you could serve on Christmas or..in my case I just ate it as a mid afternoon snack.
These are pretty self-explanatory.
You get your bread nice and toasted, rub on some garlic, spread on chutney, cooked peas and top it off with some hard cheese and thyme sprigs. Bake at 200C for just a couple of minutes until the cheese melts. Mmmm.
I'll be back soon with my stollen and other Christmas goodies. xxx
Hopefully the stollen will be good, here's an easy and elegant appetizer that you could serve on Christmas or..in my case I just ate it as a mid afternoon snack.
These are pretty self-explanatory.
You get your bread nice and toasted, rub on some garlic, spread on chutney, cooked peas and top it off with some hard cheese and thyme sprigs. Bake at 200C for just a couple of minutes until the cheese melts. Mmmm.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Pork and Roasted Vegetable Salad
I love roasted vegetables. I love roasted vegetable salads. In a restaurant if I see a roasted vegetable salad I'll immediately order it. And if it's with some sort of meat on top then even better. I love roasted vegetable salads. They're so simple and cheap and I had never made it at home, I always order it in restaurants and it costs a fortune when you think about how cheap the ingredients are. These fancy restaurants are robbing us blind! This is so good, this is what you'd pay 9 pounds for in a restaurant. I made 4 portions of this and my ingredients cost....can't remember but it was surely less than 5 pounds.
And isn't this pretty? You can imagine this being served at a restaurant, right? I'm so proud because usually I'm so bad at presentation. Food is one of those things in life that gets judged unfairly based on its appearance.
Anyway, based on my recipe below I probably made waaayy too much roasted vegetables for the amount of pork that was there, I could've used another pork chop and made it into 6 servings instead.
Total time: 1 hr Serves: 4 Suitable for: healthy and fancy dinner parties
Ingredients
For the Pork
2 pork chops
1/2 cup white wine
2 sprigs of thyme
For the Balsamic sauce
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp runny honey
For the Roasted Vegetables Salad
2 bell peppers, cut in half
2 courgettes, thinly sliced or grated into long strips
about a dozen of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tsp oregano
olive oil
1 aubergine, thinly sliced into round discs
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cups rocket
Method
Start with the vegetables: Fry the onions over medium high heat until softened, reserve. Put all the other vegetables, except for the rocket, in a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper (for the tomatoes add the oregano as well).
Roast in a preheated oven of 200C for about 20 minutes or until all tender. You should then be able to peel the skin off the red peppers. Discard the skin and slice into strips. Mix all the veggies and onions and rocket together. Cover and keep warm.
Now with the roast pork: Season the pork chops with salt and pepper.
Put some oil in a pan over medium high heat and add the pork chops. Just let that sear for a minute and turn it over and let that sear for a minute as well. Then add the white wine and thyme. Cover and let cook for a couple of minutes until cooked through. Slice into strips when done, so you can actually cut them up in the middle of cooking to see if they're cooked through.
The balsamic sauce: Pour the balsamic vinegar into a sauce pan over high heat and let that reduce to about 1/4, then add the honey and whisk that in.
Plating up! Put a blob of the vegetable salad onto the center of the plate and place the strips of pork on top, then drizzle with the sauce.
Plating up! Put a blob of the vegetable salad onto the center of the plate and place the strips of pork on top, then drizzle with the sauce.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Healthy Chocolate Avocado Mousse
Admittedly not the most appealing color
I had read so many of these chocolate avocado mousse recipes. Apparently the avocado taste would be completely offset by the chocolate and it gives a silky texture making the dessert sinlessly delicious.
I thought I'd give it a go, I always like to try out new healthy dessert recipes.
So it's obviously not the same as your average decadent chocolate mousse with a whole cupful of double cream folded into it. It's...interesting. Different. It's not bad, I'd happily eat a whole bowl of it, but it's no competition to the real, fattening, artery-clogging stuff. *Sigh* such is life.
The cocoa didn't completely cover the taste of the avocado so I added a banana and some mint. Take these measurements with a pinch of salt since you should just keep tasting it on the way, seeing if you want it more chocolaty or banana-y or minty or avocado-y. Just use them as a general guideline.
Total time: 10 min Serves: 4 Suitable for: satisfying a level 2 sweet craving (i.e. you want something sweet but you don't need a slice of devil's food cake. That's level 5)
Ingredients
2 ripe avocados
1/2 cup cocoa
1 banana
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Scoop out the flesh of the avocado, chop the banana, and add all the ingredients into a food processor. Process until smooth and adjust the ingredients according to your own taste. Place in moulds and chill in fridge until ready to be served.
Variations
The aim here I suppose is to just keep the consistency of a mousse. So you can add other flavoring agents, add a shot of rum, add some other fruits.
I had read so many of these chocolate avocado mousse recipes. Apparently the avocado taste would be completely offset by the chocolate and it gives a silky texture making the dessert sinlessly delicious.
So it's obviously not the same as your average decadent chocolate mousse with a whole cupful of double cream folded into it. It's...interesting. Different. It's not bad, I'd happily eat a whole bowl of it, but it's no competition to the real, fattening, artery-clogging stuff. *Sigh* such is life.
The cocoa didn't completely cover the taste of the avocado so I added a banana and some mint. Take these measurements with a pinch of salt since you should just keep tasting it on the way, seeing if you want it more chocolaty or banana-y or minty or avocado-y. Just use them as a general guideline.
Total time: 10 min Serves: 4 Suitable for: satisfying a level 2 sweet craving (i.e. you want something sweet but you don't need a slice of devil's food cake. That's level 5)
Ingredients
2 ripe avocados
1/2 cup cocoa
1 banana
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Scoop out the flesh of the avocado, chop the banana, and add all the ingredients into a food processor. Process until smooth and adjust the ingredients according to your own taste. Place in moulds and chill in fridge until ready to be served.
Variations
The aim here I suppose is to just keep the consistency of a mousse. So you can add other flavoring agents, add a shot of rum, add some other fruits.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Peanut Butter and Sesame Mousse
It was a bad day and we all needed some cheering up. *** you, Hurricane Bawbag, **** you.
So, peanut butter and sesame mousse.
I had to create a stunning dessert using at least one of the designated ingredients: sesame seeds, cinnamon, rhubarb, yoghurt and peanut butter. It was part of my awesome birthday cooking challenge.
There are so many ways of making mousse. You can use gelatin, you can use a soft cheese like cream cheese or mascarpone, you can just use whipped cream and egg whites. Whipped cream and egg whites make the mousse a lot light and fluffier, which is what I like. When I was small my dad would always make this chocolate mousse by incorporating mascarpone with eggs and cocoa, different, a lot richer, but good as well.
Peanut butter. It's such a humble ingredient, and I love pairing humble ingredients with sophisticated and elegant concepts. Something that's in our snack sandwiches in a luxurious and decadent dessert. Mmmmm...
I tried this with Chinese sesame paste. It's a really versatile ingredient in Chinese cuisine, used in both savory and sweet dishes. I especially like it in sweet things with just a bit of sugar. So I'll be using it a lot more now that I found this at the Chinese supermarket! :D
Prep time: 10 min Rest time: min 2 hrs Serves: 5 generous wine glass portions or 10 stingy shot glass portions Suitable for: de-stressing in times of bad weather
Ingredients
1/2 cup double cream
3/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp sesame paste
2 eggs
to garnish:
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
chocolate crisps
Method
Beat double cream with the sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in the peanut butter, sesame paste, sesame seeds and 2 yolks. Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks and fold that into the peanut butter mixture.
Leave to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours
Garnish with chocolate and sesame seeds
Variations
Replace the sesame paste and peanut butter with whatever spread you have at home. Do a nutella one or something.
I had to create a stunning dessert using at least one of the designated ingredients: sesame seeds, cinnamon, rhubarb, yoghurt and peanut butter. It was part of my awesome birthday cooking challenge.
There are so many ways of making mousse. You can use gelatin, you can use a soft cheese like cream cheese or mascarpone, you can just use whipped cream and egg whites. Whipped cream and egg whites make the mousse a lot light and fluffier, which is what I like. When I was small my dad would always make this chocolate mousse by incorporating mascarpone with eggs and cocoa, different, a lot richer, but good as well.
Peanut butter. It's such a humble ingredient, and I love pairing humble ingredients with sophisticated and elegant concepts. Something that's in our snack sandwiches in a luxurious and decadent dessert. Mmmmm...
I tried this with Chinese sesame paste. It's a really versatile ingredient in Chinese cuisine, used in both savory and sweet dishes. I especially like it in sweet things with just a bit of sugar. So I'll be using it a lot more now that I found this at the Chinese supermarket! :D
Prep time: 10 min Rest time: min 2 hrs Serves: 5 generous wine glass portions or 10 stingy shot glass portions Suitable for: de-stressing in times of bad weather
Ingredients
1/2 cup double cream
3/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp sesame paste
2 eggs
to garnish:
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
chocolate crisps
Method
Beat double cream with the sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in the peanut butter, sesame paste, sesame seeds and 2 yolks. Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks and fold that into the peanut butter mixture.
Leave to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours
Garnish with chocolate and sesame seeds
Variations
Replace the sesame paste and peanut butter with whatever spread you have at home. Do a nutella one or something.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Orecchiette with Dry Tomato Sauce
Only have 15 minute lunch break? This takes 9 to make.
I made these with orecchiette, which literally means "little ears". They're actually from my father's region in Italy, Puglia. Aren't they cute?
Anyway, I made this for my friend, Elliott. He's actually the reason I named this blog "Happy Belly". He always does this ridiculous heart with his hands, not the usual hand heart with the thumbs forming the bottom point of it, no, that's cute. He does it the other way around, making the heart look limp and thin He always does it over his stomach -- and I thought, love in the belly, happy belly.
Ok I'll stop boring you with these anecdotes. This is a dry sauce with both fresh and sun dried tomatoes. I actually pickled the tomatoes myself! But that'll be another post :)
Ingredients
Ok I'll stop boring you with these anecdotes. This is a dry sauce with both fresh and sun dried tomatoes. I actually pickled the tomatoes myself! But that'll be another post :)
Ingredients
Pasta
Sun dried tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Salame
Garlic
Parmesan
Method
Cook the pasta until al dente. While it cooks, make the sauce.
Chop everything finely and place everything together in a pan over medium high heat. Keep tossing it around and let the flavors get to know each other for about 10 minutes.
Add the pasta. Remember, keep it very al dente because it will still cook in the pan. Anyway, add the pasta and a bit of the pasta water.
Stir until well combined and give it a generous grating of parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Pasta Salad
"All pastas are the same, it's just all different tomato based stuff."
Oh, the urge to slap this man.
There are so many different types of pastas. Let's first just divide them into two categories, filled and not filled. With filled we've got tortellini, ravioli, cannelloni, agnolotti. I absolutely love filled pastas. Cannelloni used to be my favorite thing in the world. And pumpkin filled ravioli. And the cheeses one. Mmmm, these are best matched with just a simple butter and sage sauce.
Then there's soup pasta. These are the small ones likes stellini and risoni. I used to absolutely love them as a child. I vaguely remember my grandmother making delicious fish soup pastas...Oh my grandmother can make everything, everything you'd expect from an Italian grandmother. I know everyone says their grandmother is the best cook in the world, I don't care what they say, my grandmother is the best cook in the world.
Then there's the rest, we can divide them into different shapes, there are long pastas, tubular pastas, ribbon pastas etc. but I'd like to divide them according to the sauces. You have the white sauces and the red sauces. I usually prefer the red sauces with tomatoes. Even the white ones can be divided into actually creamy sauces and dryer sauces. Anyway, do your own research, just know that it is incredibly diverse and wonderful. So no, not all pastas are the same.
This is more of a summer salad (yes, I know it's December in Scotland). There aren't any measurements to this because it really is with whatever you have at hand and the amounts are completely up to your own preference. Add anything marinated, add some roasted vegetables, add some different cheeses, add some rocket. Pastas are one of my favorite things to make, it's essentially using whatever I have at hand. It can be as easy or complicated as you'd like. This took absolutely no time. As you can infer from the title, it's just tossing a bunch of ingredients together. It's healthy and light, perfect for the summer or a well heated home in the winter.
Total time: 15 min Suitable for: a light meal in a warm environment
Ingredients
Pasta
Olives, sliced
Capers
Ricotta
Tomatoes, diced
Sun-dried tomatoes, diced
Artichokes, diced
Parmesan, freshly grated
Olive oil
Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain and rince in cold water.
Toss with all the other ingredients and end with a generous drizzle of olive oil.
Oh, the urge to slap this man.
There are so many different types of pastas. Let's first just divide them into two categories, filled and not filled. With filled we've got tortellini, ravioli, cannelloni, agnolotti. I absolutely love filled pastas. Cannelloni used to be my favorite thing in the world. And pumpkin filled ravioli. And the cheeses one. Mmmm, these are best matched with just a simple butter and sage sauce.
Then there's soup pasta. These are the small ones likes stellini and risoni. I used to absolutely love them as a child. I vaguely remember my grandmother making delicious fish soup pastas...Oh my grandmother can make everything, everything you'd expect from an Italian grandmother. I know everyone says their grandmother is the best cook in the world, I don't care what they say, my grandmother is the best cook in the world.
Then there's the rest, we can divide them into different shapes, there are long pastas, tubular pastas, ribbon pastas etc. but I'd like to divide them according to the sauces. You have the white sauces and the red sauces. I usually prefer the red sauces with tomatoes. Even the white ones can be divided into actually creamy sauces and dryer sauces. Anyway, do your own research, just know that it is incredibly diverse and wonderful. So no, not all pastas are the same.
This is more of a summer salad (yes, I know it's December in Scotland). There aren't any measurements to this because it really is with whatever you have at hand and the amounts are completely up to your own preference. Add anything marinated, add some roasted vegetables, add some different cheeses, add some rocket. Pastas are one of my favorite things to make, it's essentially using whatever I have at hand. It can be as easy or complicated as you'd like. This took absolutely no time. As you can infer from the title, it's just tossing a bunch of ingredients together. It's healthy and light, perfect for the summer or a well heated home in the winter.
Total time: 15 min Suitable for: a light meal in a warm environment
Ingredients
Pasta
Olives, sliced
Capers
Ricotta
Tomatoes, diced
Sun-dried tomatoes, diced
Artichokes, diced
Parmesan, freshly grated
Olive oil
Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain and rince in cold water.
Toss with all the other ingredients and end with a generous drizzle of olive oil.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Green Beans and Mushrooms with Hazelnuts and Capers
Ok. Not nearly as exciting as my last posts with the saffron and cardamom scones and whole wheat bread. But we need to eat our greens.
This is a nice and simple side dish with a bit of a twist since it's got exciting ingredients like hazelnuts and capers. Hazelnuts and capers enjoy a particularly harmonious relationship in most forms of sauces actually. I once had a roast lamb with a hazelnut and caper sauce. It was basically cooking the chopped hazelnuts and capers in a stick of butter and soya, forming the most beautiful sauce.
Anyway, this takes no time at all, really healthy blah blah blah. What I eat on daily basis as a part of my meal basically. This will be very short since I'm half asleep and I'm still waiting for the caffeine from my cup of coffee 2 minutes ago to kick in.
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 10 min Serves: 2 S uitable for: fulfilling your 5-a-day in an exciting way
Ingredients
150g green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices
1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp capers
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
Method
Steam the green beans until tender, about 10 minutes. Saute the garlic in some olive oil and add the hazelnuts. Add the beans, mushrooms and capers and let all the ingredients mingle in the pan for a bit more. Season to taste and garnish with chopped parsley and bits of parmesan.
Variations
Like I said, just be inspired with the hazelnut and caper combination. Serve with meats or other vegetables of your choice.
This is a nice and simple side dish with a bit of a twist since it's got exciting ingredients like hazelnuts and capers. Hazelnuts and capers enjoy a particularly harmonious relationship in most forms of sauces actually. I once had a roast lamb with a hazelnut and caper sauce. It was basically cooking the chopped hazelnuts and capers in a stick of butter and soya, forming the most beautiful sauce.
Anyway, this takes no time at all, really healthy blah blah blah. What I eat on daily basis as a part of my meal basically. This will be very short since I'm half asleep and I'm still waiting for the caffeine from my cup of coffee 2 minutes ago to kick in.
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 10 min Serves: 2 S uitable for: fulfilling your 5-a-day in an exciting way
Ingredients
150g green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices
1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp capers
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
Method
Steam the green beans until tender, about 10 minutes. Saute the garlic in some olive oil and add the hazelnuts. Add the beans, mushrooms and capers and let all the ingredients mingle in the pan for a bit more. Season to taste and garnish with chopped parsley and bits of parmesan.
Variations
Like I said, just be inspired with the hazelnut and caper combination. Serve with meats or other vegetables of your choice.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Saffron and Cardamom Scones
It was 22:45 and I had done just about enough integration for the night. The only sensible thing to do was to bake, obviously. My double cream was about to expire so I had to use it, and I thought scones. I thought spiced scones. I thought saffron and cardamom scones with white chocolate chips.
Cardamom and saffron are soul mates. They're meant to be together in desserts. Indian desserts always feature the two together, they may be the first matchmakers to do so actually. I don't know if it's the work of God or India, I'm just happy that they got put together.
It took literally 5 minutes to prepare and your whole house will smell of saffron and luxury. I love saffron, I had bought some from Italy and I was just dying to use this overpriced ingredient. It is the world's most expensive spice, costing more than gold. Worth it? I don't know. You only need the slightest bit each time though because it's such a powerful spice.
Cardamom on the other hand is a much more humble ingredient. Please don't let saffron overshadow her partner though, cardamom's contribution to the dish is just as wonderful.
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 25 min Serves: 4 Suitable for: midnight snacks/fancy tea parties
Ingredients
200g self-raising flour
50g sugar
1 packet of ground saffron (1 tsp)
8 cardamom pods, shelled and ground
1/2 cup white chocolate chips/chunks
1 tsp salt
200ml double cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 250C or as high as your oven goes. Sift the flour and mix in the sugar, salt, ground cardamom and white chocolate chip.
Add the double cream and mix just until combined.
Take out and put on baking sheet, don't mess around with it too much. Cut into desired shapes*
Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
I believe good scones don't need butter and jam as company. Good scones are like pretty girls who don't need any make up. This is a beautiful, expensive and high-class girl. Please don't let any jam overpower the purity of cardamom and saffron.
*since it was a late night snack the last thing I cared about was presentation so please cut out cute little circles or something for your fancy tea parties
Variations
The beautiful relationship between cardamom and saffron can blossom in any dessert. Make them the stars in your next porridge, pancakes, muffins etc.
Ingredients
200g self-raising flour
50g sugar
1 packet of ground saffron (1 tsp)
8 cardamom pods, shelled and ground
1/2 cup white chocolate chips/chunks
1 tsp salt
200ml double cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 250C or as high as your oven goes. Sift the flour and mix in the sugar, salt, ground cardamom and white chocolate chip.
Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
*since it was a late night snack the last thing I cared about was presentation so please cut out cute little circles or something for your fancy tea parties
Variations
The beautiful relationship between cardamom and saffron can blossom in any dessert. Make them the stars in your next porridge, pancakes, muffins etc.
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