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April 27, 2009

Cheesecake - Daring Bakers

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. I guess I have never baked a challenge that late, like this one. I was standing in the kitchen and wondering how I should flavour it. After a while I decided to add elderflower syrup to the cake and served among in elderberry syrup poached rhubarb.




April 14, 2009

Rhubarb Wähe

When doing the shopping for Easter I found rhubarb in my favourite farmer's shop. She told me that she has just cut them fresh in the morning, the first rhubarb of the season!


I decided to bake a wähe. If you want to compare wähe to something than probably the best comparison is a quiche.
In the west part of Switzerland it is common to bake wähe without custard. Traditionally it is baked with a shortcrust, but I had some leftover puff pastry and I used that instead.


Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
5-7 tablespoon sugar
200 ml heavy cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoon corn starch
grated hazelnut


Slice rhubarb and mix with sugar or vanilla sugar. Place rolled out shortcrust or puff pastry in a round, flat baking form and sprinkle hazelnut on the bottom. Add rhubarb and pour a mixture of cream, eggs and corn starch over it. Bake on 180°C for 20-25 minutes. I think it is best served lukewarm or cold.

April 13, 2009

Weekend Herb Blogging #178 - Roundup

Weekend Herb Blogging, that is already in its 3rd Year, created by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and now Kalyn has passed it on to Haalo, of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. Prof. Kitty of The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty is going to be next week's host. If you'd like to participate, make sure you check out the new rules and send your entries to profkitty AT gmail DOT com. I have received many interesting entries with ingredients unknown to me, great recipes showing different ways of using the ingredients I find in my pantry.



Now enjoy those great entries that I received from all over the world!

The first entry has arrived right from Sydney, Australia from Anna of Morsels & Musings.


Anna introduces hominy, also known as nixtamal, is dried corn kernels which have been treated with an alkali, a process known as nixtamalisation. She shares the recipe of Pozole Verde (Mexican Hominy, Tomatillo & Pepita Stew).

TS and JS of the
[eatingclub] vancouver, from Vancouver, BC, Canada shows us how to prepare Suan Cai (Pickled Mustard Greens).

They cooked a pig trotter and suan cai soup. Doesn't it looks delicious?

Bird's eye view of Food and Laughter, from India, says she loves potatoes in any form, except raw.
She shares a recipe of one of her favourite dish of her childhood: potato raita.

Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once from Melbourne, Australia shares a recipe for Tonno di Coniglio.

For flavouring the rabbit she uses parsley and basil. What a lovely dish!

Graziana of Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs) from Italy.

She shares a recipe of baked broad beans with balm.

Muneeba of An Edible Symphony from Long Island, NY, USA shares a Chicken Qorma recipe.


The chicken gets cooked in a delicious broth flavored wih mint and coriander so it turns out fresh and aromatic.

City Girl of City Girl Lifestyle, from Washington, DC, USA participates first time in WHB.


She shares a recipe of a cabbage salad, that became one of her favorites because it is fast, and despite the strong bite of the chile, really lets the flavor of the cabbage emerge.

Genie of The Inadvertent Gardener from Oakland, CA invites us for a glass of Thyme Bloody
Mary.


She had the idea of this while daydreaming about which ingredients would go well with thyme.

Joanne from Boston, MA, of the blog Eats Well With Others submitted Cilantro-Jalapeno
Hummus.


She had some forgotten cilantro left in her fridge, so she used it in this tasty spread.

B of My Clean Eating from Nashville, TN shares a recipe of a spring roasted vegetable salad.



Christine of Kits Chow from Vancouver, Canada shares her Bibimbap recipe.


It is a dish of steamed white rice with fried beef surrounded by namul and topped with a fried egg. Namul is a Korean spinach salad. Among namul she also serves asparagus that is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables.

Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, from Salt Lake City, Utah USA shows us How to Cook Artichokes in a Pressure Cooker.


She shares some information about artichokes and lets you know that the bud is completely edible in younger artichokes, but in more mature plants, only the center heart and tips of the leaves are edible, and there is a choke which must be removed.

Jerry of Jerry’s Thoughts, Musings, and Rants from Ontario, Canada shares a recipe for
Skewered Chicken Tikka with Cilantro Sauce.


He is always up for a challenge and though he particpate since long in the event and already shared loads of infos about their favourite herb, cilantro he still found something!

Laurie of A Canadian in King Parakramabahu’s Court from Colombo, Sri Lanka introduces Gotukola, that is an herb that grows wild in that part of the world.



She also share a nice recipe of Gotukola Sambol. Interesting culinary journey!

Cinzina of Cindystar from Bardolino, Lake of Garda, Italy who shares a recipe of an Easter
Tomato, Ricotta and Anchovies Plum-cake.


Finally my entry about arugula:


Thank you all for participating! I hope you had as much fun as I did hosting. Thank you Kalyn and Haalo!

April 9, 2009

Fuzzy Rabbits

Finally I managed to bake some bunnies for Easter. No, of course not real ones, but cookie bunnies! Pretty simple recipe with a delicious and refreshing lemon cream. Why fuzzy? Nah, because of the coconut! Among the traditional braided bread I think I am not going to bake anything else for Easter, however never say never!


Ingredients:
150 g flour
50 g powder sugar
16 g vanilla sugar
1 egg yolk
zest of one lemon

100 g butter, cold
For the cream:
1 egg
100 g sugar

16 g vanilla sugar
50 g white chocolate
juice of 1 lemon and zest
125 g butter
dark chocolate and coconut flakes for coating

First prepare the cream: whisk egg, sugar and vanilla sugar together. Place it over steam and add white chocolate, and stir until it is molten and it thickens, about 5 minutes. Set aside and let it cool. After stir in butter and lemon juice and zest. For the cookies sift powder sugar, flour, add vanilla sugar, egg yolk, a pinch of salt and lemon zest. Knead a dough while adding butter in chunks. Roll out and cut in any shape you desire. Bake for about 10 minutes on 180°C. Let it cool and cover half of the cookies with molten chocolate and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Smear cream on the other halves and put them together.

April 8, 2009

Túrós Palacsinta

While cleaning the freezer I found some hidden boxes of Hungarian túró, cottage cheese. I thought the best way to use is if I bake some palacsinta that I served with chilled vanilla sauce.
Ingredients:
200 g flour
2 eggs
500 ml milk
1 pinch of salt
50 ml oil

250 g cottage cheese
150 g sugar
juice of a lemon and zest
500 ml milk
2 egg yolks
50 g sugar

1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a vanilla pod



Whisk all ingredients together and let is stand for at least 3 to 5 hours. Oil a saucepan and bake thin palacsinta one after the other. For the filling mix cottage cheese with sugar, lemon juice and zest. Whisk egg yolks with 100 ml milk, sugar and flour. Bring the rest of the milk to boil and add to the whisked egg yolks, while stirring constantly. Put it back to the heat, but do not cook! As soon as it is thick enough, remove from the heat and chill.
 

April 6, 2009

Weekend Herb Blogging #178 - Arugula

It is already the second time that I am allowed to host the Weekend Herb Blogging, that is already in its 3rd Year, created by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and now Kalyn has passed it on to Haalo, of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. I am already very curious about the entries of the fellow foodies out there!



Here is what you have to do: prepare a recipe using herbs, vegetables, plants, edible flowers or fruit on your own blog, and email the link over to me ( friedblogs [at] gmail [dot] com) before Sunday the 12th April.

The rules:

Post about any herb, plant, fruit, vegetable or flower - read the rules to ensure that your post does qualify. Please include a link to both this post and to Haalo’s announcement post.


Send an email to friedblogs AT gmail DOT com with WHB#178 in the subject line and the following details:


Your Name

Your Blog Name/URL
Your Post URL
Your Location

Attach a photo: 300px wide

Emails must be received by:
3pm Sunday - Utah Time
9pm Sunday - London Time
8am Monday - Melbourne (Aus) Time

or you can use this converter to find out the corresponding time in your location.

You can also check out who’s hosting for the rest of the year at this post and find information about hosting WHB.

When I hosted first, it was Christmas knocking on the door, now this time it is Easter. Spring is in the air, beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables growing everywhere. In my entry I would like to show you an arugula salad with goat cheese dressing, oven dried tomatoes and sweet violet. Arugula is used as a leaf vegetable, which looks like a longer leaved and open lettuce. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium. It is frequently cultivated, although domestication cannot be considered complete. It has been grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and is considered an aphrodisiac.


Before the 1990s it was usually collected in the wild and was not cultivated on a large scale or researched scientifically. In addition to
the leaves, the flowers (often used in salads as an edible garnish), young seed pods and mature seeds are all edible. It is now cultivated in various places, especially in Veneto, Italy, but is available throughout the world. (source:wikipedia)


Ingredients:
2 handful of arugula
50 g fresh goat cheese
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

4 tablespoons olive oil
juice of a 1/2 lemon
oven dried tomatoes
salt, pepper

Slice tomatoes as thin as you can and dry on 50°C for 3-5 hours. With a fork whisk goat cheese and stir in vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve arugula with the goat cheese dressing, dried tomatoes and sweet violets.

April 2, 2009

Cinnamon & Sticky Buns - Double DB

Slowly I am back on the track of the double challenges, this time I baked the sticky buns. I was pretty curious about them and indeed they are sticky but yummy!


There are still quite a bunch of challenges left, so I rather get back to the kitchen soon!

April 1, 2009

Topinambur Puree

I think liver and mashed potatoes is always good in combination. I decided to prepare topinambur puree, but I also added purple potatoes because of the starch content. To give the dish a fruity note I poached slices of a pear in cognac, flavoured with balsamico.

Ingredients:
150 g topinambur
150 g potatoes
100 ml heavy cream
salt, pepper


Peel topinambur and potatoes and cut in cubes. Cook both in boiling water but in two different pots. Mash both and add to the warm heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper. I served beef liver together with the puree, that I fried in butter flavoured with sage.