Generally bad 'film', summer frustrations and chocolate salami

Everyone, who at least once had been strolling around this blog, knows that I dislike summer. 'Dislike' is probably the mildest version of my real feelings towards this particular season, but I won't be enter into negative monologue. I have promised myself to try and to use negative words to the minimum, so, I would like to keep the promise.
Summer has not been kind to me, but this particular one has driven me to the very edge of my sanity, up to the point that sometimes I need to pinch myself and check if I'm awake or it is just a bad dream. 
Ever since it started, I have not been out, except to grab a couple of groceries and hang the laundry on the roof. And even those, seemingly simple and harmless tasks have had negative impact on my well being.
I remember what my brother told me last summer when he came to visit: 'It's just a bad film, it's all in your head.'
I can partly agree with that statement, except for the part that it is 'in my head'. I've been plagued with nightmares, haven't had much luck with the choice of books that I'm reading and I don't even want to start talking about the choice of movies on offer.


Fortunately, the scientist have discovered that the simple act of eating CHOCOLATE triggers the release of endorphins. Those little buggers that are giving the humanity that happy feeling. In that case, I should be just about the happiest person in the Universe, but I won't be going to pick that bone now. 


I was going through some scribblings (let's call them 'manuscript' for sake of argument), and I came to the realization that if I pushed myself a little more and a little harder, well, certain best-seller wouldn't be a best-seller today. It would have been my book.
Still, I do have 200.000 words to inspect, re-check, re-think and mostly other 're' tasks, but when I will feel confident enough, then I will put the machinery in motion. Not a moment before that and not a moment after.
Silly thing, while most people have been known to have fear of failure, I have been told that I have fear of success. It seems even 15 odd years since I got that feedback that nothing has changed on that plan.
Don't take me wrong, there is nothing wrong with success, but I really dread what other things would come with it. Like people trying to get a picture of you, asking one too many questions and generally invading the space that one would like to keep private and intact. 
I must admit that I never felt comfortable on the pedestal. I'm one of the people that can do their 'magic' best behind the scenes.


So, I'm sitting nicely yesterday, fantasizing of a cool breeze and hoping for at least a waft of fresh air, when I remembered something that my mom used to make. It was a dessert that we called 'sweet salami.' Unfortunately, I didn't remember the measurements or the complete list of ingredients and calling my mom was out of question. I mean, I love talking to my mom, but when it comes to recipes, a simple conversation will turn into a seven course dinner conversation, so I just jotted down the ingredients I had remembered and went on to look through books and the Internet for something similar.
The finished product came out divine. Even Mr.F who is not chocolate fan, said that he loved it. And that is (just about) all that matters.

While we're on nice subjects and good results, I just want to say that I got a really nice surprise from a certain company that I'm buying stuff from, but that deserves a post of its own and I shall write it when my gift arrives. Probably in a week or so.


Without further ado, here's what is most important today:

Chocolate salami with nuts (no pun intended)


Ingredients:


200 grams good quality dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa solids)
100 grams unsalted butter
1 tsp cocoa powder (I used NoMU. Expensive, but gorgeous!)
2 tbsp Cointreau or other orange liqueur
3 crushed pettit beurre biscuits
60 grams roughly chopped walnuts
80 grams roughly chopped pistachio nuts
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp sugar
icing sugar for dusting


Method:


Beat the yolks with the tablespoon of sugar until pale and set aside.
In a double boiler melt the chocolate (broken into pieced) and the butter (cut into large chunks). Stir occasionally to combine. When melted, add the cayenne pepper, cocoa and salt and mix well. Remove from the heat and add the nuts and biscuits. Stir to combine and then add the orange liqueur. Mix well again and add the yolk mixture. Give it one final stir to combine everything and when the mixture has cooled down, put in the fridge to chill about 30 minutes, so you can shape it easier.
Take a piece of cling film and pour the chilled mix onto the centre. Pulling the ends, form a sausage/salami shape, secure the ends and wrap in aluminium foil. Put in the freezer for hour or so.
On a piece of waxed paper or baking parchment sift some icing sugar. Take out the chocolate salami and roll in the icing sugar, to cover completely. Discard the extra icing sugar, wrap the chocolate salami in the parchment and return to the freezer.
It is best to remove from the freezer 5 minutes before serving, so the slices won't break (like mine. I didn't have the patience... 5 minutes IS long time).
Enjoy!

Kanafeh (Kadaif) & Hummus recipes

I just love healthy disagreement. However, when someone is too craven to introduce themselves on a blogpost that I have written, I'm not dignifying their comment with a publication and/or a reply. Simple as that. I made an exception recently, just because it was too funny not to.
When you come on my turf, it is my castle-my rules, it can't get simpler than that. I don't expect (or want) the whole world to agree with me, it would be boring and mind-numbing, but oh boy, do the research before you enter into the ring, as 'just because I said so' is not an acceptable argument... except when my mom or my dad says it.
And remember: I'm responsible for what I have written, NOT for the way you interpret it!


On a cheerier note, for the people of the Muslim faith, it is the Holy Month of Ramadan. That means that the ethnic shop in my town is stocked to the gills with delights that usually aren't on the menu.


A simple thing like kanafeh is not easy to come by around here and it is a pity, because I do love it! I remember my mom cooking it, usually in winter. The syrupy sweets were always reserved for winter, while the creamy, fluffy ones we were indulging into were sort of 'summer sweets'.


Originally, I went into the shop to purchase some tahini paste, to make me some hummus when I spotted 2 large dishes of ready made, sliced kanafeh. I didn't wanted to get the ready one, as it is too sweet for my taste, so I asked the lady on the checkout if they have the pastry. To my absolute delight, she went to the freezer and came out with a bag of fresh kanafeh pastry. I felt like hugging her! 
"Armed" with my goodies, I knew that it was going to be a good day, and indeed it was.
I made myself batch of hummus and happily dipped with toasted pita bread. Some call that a snack, but I call it dinner. 


OK, OK, I'll get to the recipes before you get bored of my rant.


Kanafeh (Kadaif) recipe


Ingredients:


400 grams fresh OR 500 grams dried kanafeh pastry
350 grams sugar
600 ml water
juice of 1/2 lemon + slices of the other half
1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 generous handfuls sultanas
100 grams chopped walnuts* (I used cashew nuts this time)


*see note*

Method:


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Arrange half of the pastry into a baking dish taking care not to break too much of it. Sprinkle the sultanas and walnuts, saving just about 1/3 and then arrange the rest of the pastry on top. Sprinkle the reserved sultanas and walnuts and put in the oven for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown on top.
While the pastry is in the oven, you have to make the syrup by combining the water, sugar, lemon juice & slices and vanilla. Put all ingredients into a pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to boil, then turn down the heat and let it bubble for 7-8 minutes.
When you take out the kanafeh from the oven, fish out the lemon slices and arrange on the top. Using a ladle, pour some of the syrup all around the pastry. Do NOT pour it all at once. You have to use up all of the syrup.
Pop in the oven for another 10-15 minutes and then remove. Leave it to cool completely before serving.
This dessert is best made a day in advance.


*Note: 
Some recipes call for melted butter, but I find it best not to use it. In my personal opinion, it loads the dish with unnecessary calories and fats. However, if you do decide to use it, you have to melt 200 grams of butter and pour over the pastry before putting it into the oven (before the syrup too, the syrup is just about the last step).
You can completely omit the walnuts and/or sultanas. The dessert can be served plain or with topping of your choice. I never tried it with cashews, but it was too hot outside to embark on an adventure of going out to buy walnuts, so I made a do with whatever was available in the pantry. The result? Excellent, of course!

Hummus

There are just about million recipes for hummus on the internet and every imaginable cookbook, but I'm going to share the one that works best for me. It is not exactly a labor of love, as I use canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), but still, the result is decent dish.

Ingredients:


1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) that amounts to 200-260 grams of drained weight
1 clove of garlic
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
pinch of ground cumin 
pinch of smoked sweet paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of salt
1 generous tbsp of tahini paste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
water as needed


Method:


Drain and rinse the chickpeas and remove the outer skin. Put them in a food processor together with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse until you get homogeneous mixture. If the mixture is too dry, add a tablespoon or two water and continue pulsing until you're happy with the consistency. 
I like mine on the dry side for spreading and on the runny side for dipping :)
Serve with toasted pita bread or crudities.
Enjoy every bite!

Profiteroles

Hot. I mean really, really hot. And I'm not talking about me, I mean the birds outside know that I'm hot, let alone the people.
I don't function well in the heat, I'm getting the strangest of ideas and sometimes I even bake. Scary thought at 42ºC (or 107.6 ºF if you will). The kitchen is kinda the hottest room in the house even before I turn on the oven, so you can only imagine how it feels having the oven turned at 200ºC. Hell, I'm tellin' ya!


In a fit of insanity (courtesy of the heat), I decided to make profiteroles. I haven't done them probably in 15 years or so, but one thing I remember was auntie Desa telling me 'do not be tempted to open the oven while baking them!'


You see, it was the village/town feast here and as every year, I was to go for lunch at my mother in law. I knew that she will have the traditional trifle (she makes mean trifle, by the way), but every year we get her a bottle of wine and some store bought sweet. Not this time. I mean I didn't made the wine, granted, Mr. F bought it :)


I'm admitting, before I even type out the recipe, I cheated... I didn't made the custard that went in them from scratch :( I'm kinda bummed about that, cause my home made tastes awesome, but again, blaming the heat for that. I simply did not have the will to stir and pay attention to my custard, so I took the easy way out... got ready made :( 


I'm going to go on a limb here and tell you that these are quantities for 2 dozens profiteroles, but that depends on the size, so more or less, it's just right.

Ingredients:


300ml cold water
6 tsp sugar
128 grams unsalted butter
173 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten


Method:


Preheat the oven to 200ºC and place small roasting tin filled with water at the bottom of the oven. You need to generate steam in order to have crunchy choux pastry.
Place the water, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. Crank up the heat and in one go, pour the salt and flour into the pan. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the pastry comes away from the edges of the pan. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for 15 minutes.
Beat the eggs with a fork in a measuring jug and add some to the pastry while beating with electric whisk. It will look crumbly, but do not fear, all is good. Pour the eggs into 3 times and when everything is mixed, place the pastry into a piping bag fitted with plain nozzle, or you can use 2 teaspoons to drop pastry onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Leave about 2cm space between each.
Bake for 25-35 minutes (depending on the strength of the oven), and DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.
After taking them from the oven, pierce them with a knife at the side, so the steam will go out. This will prevent your profiteroles from being soggy.
Cool on a wire rack.
You can fill them with custard or whipped cream after they have cooled down and glaze them with some chocolate ganache.
For the chocolate ganache, scald half a cup of double cream and add 60 grams of dark chocolate chips into the cream. Add small knob of butter and stir until you have shiny, glossy mass. Pour over the profiteroles and let cool down before storing them.


Enjoy responsibly :D

Raspberry mousse cake

I never could understand why some people dreaded Mondays. I have been quite fond of them since I can remember. Early on, that meant that I would go to kindergarten and color to my heart's desire, then it was school (which I LOVED by the way), then work. 
Every Monday was a new beginning, new adventure for the week, until this past one.


I don't think I will hate Mondays, but now I can say that I have had a bad one.


So, I'm sitting nicely and trying to sort out my cooking books when one of them opened on a desserts page. Mousse! I love mousse. Fluffy, light and delicious. 
Couple of weeks ago, I was glancing through some blogs and the idea was born. It was the day for the Raspberry mousse cake to be made.


I gathered all of the ingredients, measured everything and started. So far, so good. No glitches, no hitches. I made the cake, stashed it in the fridge and I was pretending to watch TV. I use the TV only as a background noise, to drown the construction works going right, left and centre, but I had few hours to kill until the cake was set, so I can add the final touch, the chocolate topping. I stared at the TV with no purpose, read the online newspapers and 'killed' those couple of hours. Oh yeah, it was chocolate time!
So, I'm melting the chocolate (in the microwave) and seeing that the blasted chocolate chips aren't losing their form. Hmm, lemme check if they're still cold, maybe there's something wrong with the microwave.
BIIIIGGGG mistake! Touched one of the chocolate chips in the dish and in that very instant, I got me a blister on the left forefinger. That will teach me not to use short-cuts. Chocolate SHOULD be melted only in double boiler. Period.
So, I did the double boiler thingy and started stirring the chocolate with a little oil to cool it down. Then, the doorbell rung. OK, I said to myself, here goes another concerned citizen about the state of my soul. Lately, I've been plagued by people that claim that want to save my soul. 
I picked up the intercom and was ready to say 'no speak English', but then I heard familiar voice: 'Hiya, it's the vet!'
I had totally forgotten that Fluffy had to get his vaccine and Mikki (the cokatiel)  had to have her wing checked, as she was holding it on a strange angle.
I buzzed the vet in and left my bowl of chocolate on the counter top.
We had a little small talk before he got around the animals, Fluffy was fine, he was a very brave boy, didn't even blink when he gave him the needle. Mikki was a proper lady, a little scared, but not biting (which surprised the vet, as cokatiels are somewhat ferocious biters). The verdict was that she had broken her wing, but it will mend on its own. All righty... Paid the vet, saw him to the door and went back to my cake.


By the time I was back in the kitchen, the chocolate looked a lil' bit thick, but I really didn't feel like reheating it (hey, you can't blame me, it was 40 degrees Celsius in the house).


So, I poured the chocolate over the mouse and uh-oh... it wouldn't spread. 
After some unladylike behavior and bunch of profanities spewed at inanimate objects, I shoved the cake in the fridge and decided that Tuesday should roll out as soon as possible.


Several hours later.....


Tuesday


I woke up in a good mood, but the cake bit was bothering me. Opened the fridge, stared at the cake, no changes... lumpy chocolate covering. I sighed, made some oatmeal and while mindlessly eating it and staring into some of the ceiling patterns, I decided that dessert after breakfast is the new 'in'.


Took the PINK knife, poured some water over it and cut me a slice. I removed the lumpy mess of a chocolate and slid the spoon through the mousse. Like a hot knife through butter. 
It was a love at first bite! Yummylicious, delicious, everything wickedly -icious! 
So, the day went fine and after dinner, I offered Mr. F a slice of cake. He's not very keen on desserts, but he didn't find a fault. Yay me!


Wednesday


As usually, I spend the day reading, writing, doing some housework until dinner. Mr. F wanted spaghetti with 'surprise me' sauce, so I made for him, but I wasn't hungry, so I 'attacked' a peach. After taking the dishes to the sink, I couldn't believe what I heard:
'Do you still have a slice of that raspberry cake?' 
Mr. F ASKING for a cake!!! Second time in the history of our togetherness!


Thursday


Despite the lack of aesthetics, I decided to share the recipe with you, hoping that you'll do the chocolate bit right. So, here it goes:


For 20cm cake mould you will need


1 small (store bought) Swiss roll

450 grams raspberries

70 grams sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

500 ml heavy cream

4 tsp gelatin granules

For the chocolate topping:

50 grams dark chocolate chips

2 tsp cooking oil

Method:

Cut the Swiss roll into thin slices (3-4mm thick). Line the bottom and the sides of the cake tin with the slices.

Puree the raspberries with a stick blender or in food processor. Pass the puree through a sieve to remove pips. You'll end up with about 350 ml of nice, pip-less puree.

In 1/3 of the puree, add the gelatin and let it stand for 5 minutes. In the remaining 2/3 add the lemon juice and sugar.

Heat the puree with gelatin on low flame, until the gelatin has melted. Add it to the rest of the puree and put it in the fridge until you whip the cream.

When the cream is nicely whipped, ad the raspberry puree and stir to combine. 

Pour into the cake tin and chill for at least 5 hours before you do the chocolate glazing.

For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate in double boiler and add 2 tsp of cooking oil. Stir until cool and pour over the top of the cake. Spread evenly with a palette knife and return to the fridge until serving time.

Bite my... bagel!

Ah, New York! Home of the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge...
Home of millions of people, smells and flavors. Fusion of the old, new and ultra modern.
And you know what? I never been there *sad face*


I have seen one too many movies and documentaries back in the day to know the landmarks and I even went as far as asking native New Yorker how the city smells.


One of my favorite TV programs was taking place in New York, Ugly Betty. Now, Betty was far from ugly and she was very smart girl, so whenever her boss would feel angry or hungry, she would bring him a bagel. Cream cheese and onion one. 


I always wondered how bagels taste. You see, living in a world couple of worlds away from NY has some disadvantages. I just can't pop out and get me a bagel. In fact, I could, if I wanted a dreadful little thing called bagel, full of additives and heaven knows what. There's a place that brings frozen bagels and bakes them, but I'm not after that experience. In fact, I had tasted one of those and it was rather disappointing, so I rolled up my (proverbial) sleeves and set to make me a NY style bagels. And the adventure began....


I'm sitting nicely yesterday, mumbling about the heat and hating summer before it even (officially) started, and in a fit of sheer insanity, I decided to bake! 
It's not that I am a bad baker, mind you, but the thing is, the thermometer was about 37C or 98.6F if you will, and I'm not blasting the air conditioner just yet. Insanity, I know, there's no other word for it.


I made the dough and let it prove, it said you need to let it hang in the bowl for an hour. Yeah, no problem, I'll just play some mind numbing game on a social network and the time will pass soon enough, I said to myself.


It did pass fast enough and I was doing whatever I had scribbled in my little notebook, oven heated at 220C/425F, large pot of boiling water hissing at the stove, adding a couple of degrees to the overall heat and I'm profusely losing great percentage of my body water, but that didn't stop me. Despite the fact that I suffered moderately mild dehydration just few days ago.


So I did all things in order and put the first batch in the oven, happily baking. After some 10 minutes I went to peek through the oven glass and pouff! The oven light went off. Oh well, I shall call someone to change it, I made mental note. But then... it was too quiet... I couldn't hear the monster fan in the living room. That means two things then:


1. I made some booboo and cut the electricity supply
2. The electricity company made some booboo and we have national blackout


I went downstairs where the electricity meter is, opened the box and everything seemed fine. Then I heard Jane shouting out of the window, asking Mary if she has electricity, it was in the lines of: "Aww, Mariiii, ghandek dawl?" and Mary shouting back "Leeeee, m'ghandix!"
So, I put two and two together, or Jane and Mary in the case, and figured out that it is the number 2 on my possible scenarios. It might not have been national blackout, but good half of the island didn't have electricity. 


Well, that wasn't problem for my bagels, my oven is not running on electricity (one of the things I'm very grateful about), but it was not going to be very convenient to live in the house for the next couple of hours. Yeah... I'm "strange" allright... I DON'T have doors between the rooms. Of course, there's the front door, the door to the bathroom and the stairway door, but that's pretty much it. Doors make me feel restrained and I'm not the type that likes restraints. 


Long story short, I finished my bagels which came out divine, by the way, but the electricity was out for whole 4 1/2 hours... at the worst (read HOTTEST) part of the day. And now, I vented, said what I wanted to say, the only thing that is left to do is give you the recipe for

New York style bagels (with my twist, of course!)


Ingredients for 8 medium sized bagels:


2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar
1 ½ cups of warm water 
3 ½ cups (500g) of bread flour or high gluten flour
1 ½ teaspoons of salt


Little olive oil for greasing the baking sheet


Large pot of boiling water
2 tbsp honey

If you would like to use topping:

1 egg white

1 tbsp cold water

For (optional) topping you can use sesame seeds, caraway seeds, poppy seeds... whatever tickles your fancy. I used poppy, sesame and nigella seeds.


Method:


In ½ cup of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for 5-6 minutes and then stir until it all dissolves in the water.
Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and make well in the middle. Pour in the yeast and sugar mixture.

Pour half of the remaining warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed. 

It needs to result in a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it.

On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Try working in as much flour as possible to form a firm and stiff dough.

Lightly brush a large bowl with some olive oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Let prove in a warm place for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces and form a ball. Work it against smooth surface, so the ball would be seamless. Repeat the procedure with the rest of the dough and place them on lightly oiled baking sheet.

After shaping the dough, dip the handle of a wooden spoon into little flour and make a hole in the centre of each piece. Stretch the hole about 3cm (1 1/4 inch), and let them rest for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 2 tbsp of honey in the boiling water and reduce the heat to simmer.

Use slotted spoon to drop the bagels in the water. Do not overcrowd them, they need their space. Let them boil for 1 minute on each side, or if you want the NY experience, make that 2 minutes on each side. Drain the water and place them on oiled sheet. If you want to use topping, make eggwash from 1 egg white and 1 tbsp of cold water. With a pastry brush apply the eggwash and then your chosen topping.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden. The sound should be hollow when tapped at the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack to cool down and enjoy! 

You can freeze them for up to 3 months.

Choco-mint cupcakes

Lately, I've been hung up on mint, like there's no tomorrow. (OK, besides my mint smokes. Bad, bad, bad Dijana.)

Out of the gazillion (and then some) cooking books around the house, I couldn't find one thing that appealed to me mint-wise, so I decided to experiment. 

Earlier in the day while running an errand, I took a quick turn to the supermarket and a bottle of green food coloring caught my eyes. Pretty, I thought, but then I do like green (a lot), so of course that green equals pretty. I picked up a couple of odd things and the tiny bottle with the green color too. What's better than having a minty idea and getting a bottle of green food color, eh?

Well, I still had bunch of errands to run, but I had about 2 hours to kill at home, so the choco-mint cupcakes were born. Oh so light, oh so fluffy, oh so delicious *HUGE smile*, oh so NOT green *sad, sad, sad face*.

However, the lack of 'greenery' didn't affect the taste, so it is worth sharing the recipe. I cannot stress enough, use your trusted brand of coloring, do not try new one just because it looks pretty.

For 6 cupcakes (regular size, or slightly smaller than regular) you will need:

50 grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)

50 grams of sugar

50 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

1 heaped tablespoon (unsweetened) cocoa powder

1 tablespoon of milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon mint extract

1 teaspoon green food coloring (your trusted brand, NOT the one that looks pretty in the bottle)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix the flour with the baking soda and baking powder and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until amalgamated. Add the flour and then the milk while still beating.

When all is well amalgamated, divide equally between 2 bowls. Beat the cocoa powder and vanilla essence in one and the mint extract and the green food coloring in the other.

Line muffin tin with paper cases and spoon alternatively of both colors into the cases. With a toothpick, give a little swirl, but do not overdo it, it has to be green AND brown.

Bake 18-20 minutes (depending on your oven, or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean).

Cool about hour or so before frosting, if you decide to frost them, although they're delicious even without the frosting.

Microwave made Strawberry jam

Sometimes I wonder if it's 'old' age catching up with me or it is simply the fact that I have too many things, that I'm getting forgetful. Scary thought, either way.
So, I'm rummaging through the fridge and searching for that blasted piece of cheese that I know I have and it pops out a whole box of strawberries! I had forgotten that I bought them!


I don't like wasting food, so I decided to see what can be saved. Out of 600 grams of strawberries, I managed to come up with 400 grams of a bit sad strawberries, but I wasn't in the mood to eat them. Looking through some magazines, I came upon a recipe for strawberry jam made in a microwave oven. Well, it was time to try it. I adjusted the quantities and I came up with a full jar and 2 teaspoons of pure delight.


Ingredients:


400 grams of strawberries
55 ml lemon juice
300 grams jam sugar (or caster sugar)


Method:


Put the strawberries into a deep dish and put them in the microwave on high setting for 4 minutes. Remove them and add the sugar and the lemon juice. Make sure that the dish is really DEEP, as the melting sugar and the juices will rise.
Set the microwave oven to high and the timer to 20 minutes.
Voila! You've got yourself a strawberry jam! Pour into a sterilized jar, seal and let it cool completely. Refrigerate after it has cooled down. It won't last ages, as it doesn't have preservatives, but that's good for you :) 

Gluten free cupcakes (Almond cupcakes)

Ingredients:


300 grams ground almonds

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoons of ground nutmeg

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons demarara sugar

5 large eggs

125 grams grated carrot

100 grams crushed pineapple

150g sultanas or raisins

handful of chopped walnuts (optional)


Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C

Whisk lightly by hand: the eggs, the oil and the sugar until they are completely combined.

In another bowl mix the almond with the spices, salt, carrots, dried fruit and nuts (if using).

Mix both together until thoroughly incorporated.

Place a tablespoons each of this mix into silicone muffin shapes: there should be exactly for 12.

Bake for around 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool
thoroughly (around an hour) and then smear with a cream cheese frosting: a mix of cream cheese and, if you like, icing sugar (or even sweetener: since there is no cooking involved it will keep its flavour). Decorate if you like.

Pindjur

If there's one thing I sincerely miss from my homeland, it would be pepper. Not the black pepper or the bell pepper or whatever. The one called 'banana pepper'. Subtle and mild taste, the lovely crunch and the yellow/green color. Oh, and the versatility!
In 12 or so years I have been living on this little rock, once only I found these peppers in supermarket. And that was it. Never again.


Just a couple of weeks ago, while shopping for fruit and vegetables, I found some green (bell) peppers that looked well, a bit strange. They were quite light of color and the flesh wasn't as thick. Got me a couple, I like throwing them into salads. Our summers aren't cook friendly.
So I was going through the fridge and thinking what to do for lunch, and then, I found my funny green peppers, 1 red and 1 yellow pepper. I decided to make my very favorite pepper dish, Pindjur (pronounced pin-joor for the English speaking world).
If peppers and tomatoes could dream, their dream would be to be made into pindjur. Yeah, it is THAT good. All you need is a piece of white (Feta style) cheese and some crusty bread. Forget forks, forget manners and dip your heart out. I know I did.
I'm not going to give you quantities and persons of number serving size, but there's a rule. The more-the better. Oh, and it tastes soooo lovely the day after... when all flavors have mixed.
The original recipe calls for the above mentioned 'banana' peppers, but nothing wrong with the regular green ones. 


3 large green peppers
1 large yellow pepper
1 large red pepper
1 chilli pepper (optional, for those that like it hot)
3 cloves of garlic 
4 large tomatoes
salt to taste
4 tbsp olive oil (any vegetable oil will do)


Method:


Roast the peppers in the oven until they have the skin blackened. Turn them several times, so they blister nicely on all sides. Close them in a plastic bag (or pot with lid) and let them cool down. Peel off the skin, remove the seeds and tear them into strips with your hands.
Cut up the tomatoes into small chunks and set aside.
In a mortar and pestle, ground the garlic with little salt into a paste. Add the pepper strips and pound and ground. Don't overdo it, you still need some texture. Add the tomatoes and continue pounding and grounding. 
Pour the contents into a deep dish and add salt to taste.
In a separate dish, pour the oil and bring it to sizzling point. Remove from heat and pour over the pindjur. Mix well. If you're using chilli, add thinly chopped chilli just before you add the oil.
Serve with crusty bread and a chunk of white cheese.

Persian rose water ice cream

For the fast version of this wonderful ice cream, you will need:


1 litre vanilla ice cream
1 pinch of saffron (about 100 micrograms)
1 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon rose water
4-5 tablespoon shelled and chopped pistachios


Method:


Let the ice cream soften at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Mix the saffron in the hot water and add to the ice cream.
Add the rose water and pistachios and mix well to combine.
Return to the freezer for 3-4 hours before serving.
Scatter some chopped pistachios on top and enjoy!

Glutton's Heaven (aka Chocolate zucchini cake)

I had prepared a long rant before I wanted to share the recipe. Now, it is all forgotten.

Why, you ask?

Let me tell you why.

Because I just ate a slice of what seems the most wonderful cake in heaven, hell, Earth, Middle Earth and the Universe, that’s why.

I’m in glutton’s heaven and the world is at peace. Birds are chirping, the breeze is swaying the curtains and wonderful smell of spices fills my house.

Because I’m up to my elbows covered in cocoa, chocolate and spices.

Because I was able to forget my troubles for blissful couple of minutes and enter a different dimension, preceded by explosion of flavours on my tongue. A feast for all senses allright. Almost, just almost as good as s*x.

And now, I’m not going to taunt you, but will share the recipe for:

Chocolate zucchini cake

Ingredients for the cake:

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of light muscovado sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
½ cup of yogurt
2 cup of all-purpose flour

½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of espresso powder
2 cups of  grated zucchini
½ cup of dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa)

seeds of 6 cardamom pods, ground with a mortar and pestle

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Ingredients for the ganache:

1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cup of chocolate chips

generous knob of butter at room temperature

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease your baking pan and dust with cocoa. Shake the excess.  In a bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the oil, sugar & vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Stir in the yogurt alternately with the flour mix. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder and the spices, mixing well until smooth.

At the end, fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the baking dish. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the dish and transfer the cake on a wire rack.  Cool for hour or so before pouring the ganache.

To prepare the ganache, scald the cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until completely combined and glossy. Add the knob of butter and let it cool.

...Let me play among the stars

I sincerely cannot explain my fascination with stars. Not the people that we call stars, but the real deal and the geometrical shape.
Every time I talk on the phone (usually with my mother, as those calls are really, really long), I have piece of paper and a pen and doodle stars and hearts. Maybe it's the child in me, never wanting to grow up, attracted to all things cute, shiny and pretty.
So, when I got a baking magazine and found a recipe for star shaped cakes, that day, my world was complete.
The recipe is adapted from 'Baked & Delicious'.
If you don't have little star shapes, you can always make cupcakes :)

Espresso flavored star-spangled bites

Ingredients for the sponges

50g unsalted butter at room temperature
100g caster sugar
125g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
95ml milk
2 tsp espresso (or any instant coffee granules)
2 tbsp hot water
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the buttercream

50g unsalted butter at room temperature
125g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp milk
a few drops vanilla essence

Equipment:

Star shaped silicone mini moulds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and beat to fine crumb consistency with electric whisk. Pour in half of the milk and beat until just combined.
Dissolve the coffee granules with 2 tbsp of hot water. Add the coffee, egg and vanilla to the remaining milk and whisk together. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix until smooth.
Use a teaspoon to fill the moulds. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the tops are springy to the touch.
There should be enough batter to make 36 stars.

For the buttercream, beat the butter with electric whisk until fluffy and light. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar, milk and vanilla essence. Beat until pale and creamy.

Cool the star-spangled bites on a wire rack for about 50-60 minutes and then spread or pipe some buttercream and decorate as you wish.

Bread pudding (Pudina tal-hobz)

In our house, sometimes, there's so much bread that we could feed a small army. However, since no hungry army ever showed up, we end up wasting the bread and it is a pity.
In these times when people go hungry even in first world countries, food wasting is not something to be proud of.
So, I have been looking at almost whole loaf of bread and thinking what to do. Then it dawned on me, bread pudding!
Usually, this pudding is eaten in winter, but trust me, after you pop it in the fridge it can be a real treat on a hot summer day.
Thanking my mother in law for the recipe, I'm sharing it with all of you who stop by.


Ingredients:


1 stale loaf of bread (or bread rolls, baguette, whatever makes up about 400 grams)
1 heaped cup of flour (plain or self-raising)
5 tbsp of sugar (I used Demerara sugar)
1 egg
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 heaped tbsp mixed spice
1 heaped tbsp cinnamon
handful of dried raisins
10-12 glacee cherries
about 2x5cm lemon, orange and mandarin peel, diced
handful of hazelnuts
10 dates, roughly chopped
4 tbsp candied peel
30 ml of brandy, whisky or bourbon (optional)
some butter for greasing the baking dish (if you're using non-stick dish, you can omit the butter)


Method:


Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Tear the bread into chunks and soak in plenty of water for 15 minutes.
Squeeze out as much water as you can and put the bread into a mixing bowl. Knead well with your hands, so there are no lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients (in no particular order) and mix well with a wooden spoon until you have the consistency of a lumpy porridge.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish, level the top with a spoon and loosely cover the dish with foil.
Bake for 40 minutes like that and then remove the foil and return to the oven for additional 15-20 minutes, so the top gets little crust.
Let it completely cool in the baking dish before serving.