For the Love of Food

Time sure does fly when you have a lot to do.  I want to apologize to my Taste&Create partner for being over a whole week late to post…even though i did have my recipe done with plenty of time left.

For those of you who are curious – this is what I have been working on: Columbia Bakery Café for over a year now, and I will finally be opening my café in July.

And, let me tell you, this soup is GOOD! really good. It tastes like silky smooth sweet and slightly savory buttery potatoes. Please check out Samayal Arai for her recipe. It’s really quick to put together and so delicious!

Here’s her recipe.

For this month’s Taste&Create I was partnered with Seduce Your Tastebuds…. who has a whole slew of exotic dishes on her blog.  I searched through her blog for a while not able to decide on exactly which dish I would make – they all looked so good – until I came across her Kiwi Salsa recipe and I knew then and there that that was the one I had to make.

I LOVE salsa: fresh tomato salsa, cooked tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, roasted tomato salsa, mango salsa…but I had never heard of kiwi salsa.  And, I thought that it was quite fitting since I am currently on vacation in Texas to go ahead and make a salsa.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how well all the flavors harmonize together.  The acidity and subtle sweetness of the kiwis left little need for added acidity (lemon juice) and perfectly replace the traditional tomato.  I did add more kiwi than the recipe originally called for because I thought it tasted good, but needed more kiwi to really hold the name kiwi salsa, and I reduced the onion to 1/4th of an onion, which I still found a bit over powering – I will reduce to 1 Tablespoon in the future.  The cucumber gave the perfect body to the salsa helping to diminish the heat of the huge jalapeño I added.

As opposed to PJ, I went ahead and threw my ingredients, individually, into the food processor because I don’t like chunky salsa since I feel I don’t get all the flavors in one bite.  That and (sorry mom) my mom has a tiny knife that I don’t get along with when chopping vegetable…I really miss my cook’s knife.

Ironically enough, I didn’t have any tortilla chips on hand to go with the salsa, but crackers work well too.  I will be using the salsa tomorrow as an accompaniment to fish which I can’t wait to try because I think they will go perfectly together.  I will keep you informed on that!

Here’s my version of PJ’s recipe: Continue Reading »

For this month’s Taste&Create I was partnered with Kris from Behold the Metatron. And, when I came across her meatloaf recipe, I knew exactly with recipe I was going to make! I looooove meatloaf, but I rarely take the time to make it. So, since we hadn’t had it in …well months… now was as good a time as any to make some.

I have to say that it was very easy to put all the ingredients together, and the addition of the oatmeal gave it a lighter less dense texture that we all enjoyed. I did use a mixture of ground beef and pork since I have no access to ground turkey. I would have really liked to have tried it with ground turkey..maybe when I’m in the US on vacation I can. I really liked the addition of the red bell peppers – I’ve never had meatloaf with bell peppers in it. In the future, I may go ahead and add roasted bell peppers instead so that they are softer – even after an hour of baking the chopped bell pepper retained it’s crunch. I also think the smoky flavor of a roasted bell pepper would really complement this recipe.

Also, another first for me was tomato sauce on top of my meatloaf. I’m still not sure if I really like it or not with tomato sauce on top – barbecue sauce on the other hand would convince me a bit more.

All in all it is a great recipe that is really easy to put together. You can find the original recipe here!

I have to say that I’ve learned quite a bit from my Project Foodblog experience:
-Step-by-step pictorial blog posts get the attention of more readers – probably because they are more helpful
-Taking time to set up a true photo shoot for a meal can produce amazing results

and

-Making a good cooking video is easier said than done

What I enjoyed most about the experience was getting to know myself and my new limits and being introduced to new recipes.

This recipe is one of those recipes. For years I had considered making it, but often decided against it because of lack of knowledge. So, when bell’allimento made a cooking video for Project Foodblog demonstrating just how simple it was, I had to get right to it.

First I dug out the bacon that we smoked with some friends last winter, then rummaged through the refrigerator for the other ingredients – which most of us would always have on hand. I used Pecorino cheese instead of Parmesan because my son is lactose intolerant and can only eat goat and sheep cheeses – Pecorino being a sheep cheese. And, I whipped this recipe up in a mater of 20 minutes. It’s quick and delicious.

Check out bell’allimento’s video recipe here.

Last week I promised that I would reveal to you the hidden location of these meringue mushrooms and the walnut forest. Well, they’re sitting on top of what is, currently, one of the proudest moments in my baking history.

That is, they are on top of a six layer Fall hummingbird cake that I made. Originally, this would have been my 8th Project Foodblog post, but, I am sad to announce, that I didn’t make it to round 8.  However, I am quite proud that I made it this far

So, you are probably asking yourself at this point:

a – what is a Fall hummingbird cake

and

b – why is this one of the proudest moments in your (my) baking history??

You may be familiar with the traditional hummingbird cake. It’s deliciously sweet, is filled with bananas, pineapple, and pecans, and has more granulated sugar than flour in it. It’s sweet. And, it’s good.

So, why mess with something so fantastic?

why not!

I went ahead and substituted half of the bananas with homemade pumpkin puré (by volume) and the pecans with walnuts (because walnuts are in seasonal over abundance in Europe right now). In the end, I created a cake as delicious as the original with the added flavor of pumpkin pie…hence the name the Fall Hummingbird Cake.

And, to answer your second question, this is why I am so proud of myself:

That (3,5 years ago) was my first and last attempt at a multi-layered cake covered in frosting. Then, I chocked my oozing cake off to lack of knowledge and a bad recipe. Now, after much research…and a lot more practice…I am pretty sure that the recipe I used 3,5 years ago was perfectly fine and that I just should have planned to make the cake over 2 days instead of 2 hours. In the case of a mulit-layered cake, patience is key.

Now, I’m not saying that my cake is perfect – it does taste perfect – but I would love to achieve something that looks more like a professional cake next time and less like a hill. And, yes, there definitely will be a next time.

And, for those of you who would love a meringue mushroom forest on top of your cake, you can find my recipe (with accompanying video) here. Just remember to add the mushrooms at the last minute with a dab of some left over frosting. Then, sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

You will love the look on everyone’s face when they see this cake! It brought big smiles to my kids as well as the 5 guests we had over that evening and the 3 friends we visited the next day…it’s a big cake.   And, if the cake is too large for you to finish in a few days, slice it up, bag it, and freeze it…then you can enjoy it at your leisure for months to come.

The original recipe, and my inspiration for this cake can be found here. Sweetapolita used 8″ round cake tins, and I only have 1 10″ round spring form which is why my recipe yields 4 cakes and not 6. I intend to remedy this as soon as a find a place that sell cake tins in town. I definitely need something smaller in diameter and at least 3 or 4 so it doesn’t take me 4 hours to bake 4 cakes (for 8 layers). I ended up with 6 because I became impatient and my first cake crumbled.

The cake recipe comes together really quickly, but turning it into a multi-layered, beautifully frosted cake, takes time and patience.  Don’t let that frighten you – it is amazing what you can do with practice and time.

Cakes
Ingredients:
780 grams Flour
800 grams Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Cups Sunflower Oil
4 teaspoons Vanilla extract
220 grams Walnuts, finely chopped
454 grams canned crushed pineapple (with the juice)
2 Cups mashed Bananas (about 5-6 Bananas)
2 Cups homemade Pumpkin Puré

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

Prepare 4 10″ round cake pans by spraying the bottoms and the sides with cooking spray and then lining the bottom of each pan with a cut-out round piece of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together – by hand – the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, walnuts, pineapple, bananas, and pumpkin puré. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix well until everything has incorporated.

Pour the batter, in equal measure, into your prepared cake tins, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack and let sit for 20 minutes – do not remove earlier or your cakes will crumble! Once 20 minutes have elapsed, turn over the baking tins onto the rack to remove the cake, peel off the parchment paper, and let the cake completely cool.

Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap each cake with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator over night.

…the next day

Prepare the frosting (see recipe bellow) and then continue.

Remove your cake rounds from the refrigerator and prepare to cut each round in half. To do so you will need a large cutting board and a long serrated knife. Before cutting through the cake, score all along the edge of the cake where you wish to cut, then, with even, sawing strokes, cut each round in half.

Place 1 cake half top-side down on your cake plate (I used the removable bottom of my tart pan) and place a few scoops of frosting on it – spread so that it is evenly coated, then top with another cake half and repeat until all layers are used up.

Now your cake is ready to be crumb coated – which means that you need to cover the cake with a this layer of frosting on all sides and the top to seal in the crumbs – it does not have to look pretty – and then refrigerate for 1 hour before proceeding.

…1 hour later

Remove from refrigerator and cover with the final (pretty) coat of frosting. Refrigerate over night before slicing.

…the next day (again)

Remove from refrigerator just before serving. Slice, serve, and watch everyone smile and enjoy the silence of delicious cake.

Serves 28.

Frosting
Ingredients:
230 grams Butter, at room temperature
2 kg Powdered Sugar (yes – that’s 4 just over 4 pounds!)
4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
907 grams Cream Cheese, cut into chunks, cold

Directions:
In an electric mixer with whisk attachment, cream the butter and sugar until just combined. Add the vanilla extract and all the cream cheese and whisk on medium speed for about 4 minutes. Turn the speed to high for one more minute, and it’s done.

My husband loves sweet salad dressings. I, on the other hand, love savory vinegar-based dressings. But, unlike many American families, we don’t have multiple bottles of salad dressing in our refrigerator so that everyone can use the dressing of their choice on their salad. Here we make a fresh salad dressing every meals, and most of the time they are vinegar and herb based.

And, since we can’t get American bottled salad dressings here, we have to make our own. My husband found this recipe the other day, and he modified it by making it with tomato paste instead of ketchup and upping the vinegar – and I bottled it

Enjoy it on your next salad! Continue Reading »

And, now for the final dish in my Luxurious Iraqi Dinner Party series: velvety smooth, fragrant, and delicious saffron and rose petal labaneh.

This was the crowning moment of my evening. Not only was it stunningly beautiful, it was so delicious! In all my research on how to host a luxurious dinner party, one important piece of advice is that your first dish should be stunning – both in appearance and taste – to really impress your guests. And, while this is true and important, I find it just as necessary to end the meal with an equally stunning dish…you don’t want them to think you ran out of energy at the end!

However uncomplicated it is to make this dish, it does take some planning and time – as well as access to organically grown/pesticide-free fragrant roses. I happen to grow some in my garden. Unfortunately, mine bloom and are most fragrant in early summer. By the time September rolls around, they are on their way out. Luckily, one of my fellow gardeners, and author or Naturlich Fürth, had plenty still left growing on her garden plot that were a million times more fragrant than mine…and she was happy to share!

Now, the part that requires time is “making” the rose honey. The longer it sits, the more fragrant it becomes. I let mine sit for a week before using, but I’m sure it can be used as early as 2 days after making – it will just be less fragrant.

Just remember that when it comes to the fragrant roses for this dish that you pick some with a sweet smell. I have some beautiful, very very fragrant, red roses growing on my garden plot, and they smell like a nice, clean rose soap…not exactly a flavor that I would enjoy in a dish.

The original recipe can be found here. This is originally called a panna cotta, but labaneh is yogurt that has been strained to give it a much thicker consistency which is a major component of this recipe. So, I just renamed it. Continue Reading »

For this month’s Taste&Create event, I have been paired with Corina from Searching for Spice. She has many delicious-looking recipe, and I came across one that really peeked my interest: roasted chickpeas.

I love chickpeas. In my humble opinion, they go well with every meal and can even enhance a meal. Now, I’d never heard of roasted chickpeas, so this sounded like a lot of fun, and I had no idea what the outcome would be.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that roasting chickpeas turns them into a delicious crunchy snack – like a croûton or that crunchy roasted corn that you can find at many convenience stores in Texas. Corina used hers in a salad – which sounds delicious, I, on the other hand, just used it as a sort of party food or snack food and set it out on my table in a little bowl during one of my garden meetings. The flavors were very delicious – with a hint of spice – but I believe the roasting dulls them down, so don’t be alarmed by the high amounts.

I plan on bringing a bowl of this to our garden’s Halloween party this weekend. I think that everyone with get a kick out of them! Continue Reading »

For the luxurious dinner party I held a few weeks ago I wanted to serve a salad that reached into the heart of the middle east and was quite different than the typical Fattoush or Tabbouleh salads.

After many days of searching, I came across a sandwich called Sabich a few times, and decided to leave out the bread and let it be an interesting salad.

The components of the salad really harmonized well together, and the salad was light, but hearty and filling. I can see why it is loved as a sandwich/wrap filling.

You can find the original recipe here. Continue Reading »

Most of them figured I slaved over this dish for hours, others could not believe how creamy it came out. This is my favorite part about cooking for guests – watching someone’s face light up when they eat my food. What I love even more is telling them how easy it was to prepare and encouraging them to try to make it at home as well…hence my love for blogging!

The recipe technically takes roughly 3 hours to finish, but you only have to take port in the preparation process for about 5 or so minutes of that time. This recipe practically makes itself.

Feel free to make this well ahead of time. I made mine 1 week before my party and it was deliciously creamy – and didn’t freeze into a block of ice – until the last scoop!

The original recipe can be found here. Continue Reading »