Yam or sweet potato pockets

This week sweet potatoes, or better known here in our corner of the world as yams, were on sale. Of course I bought a bagful of them and looked around for recipes. These buns appealed to me because for our afternoon coffees we always have to have something sweet as an accompaniment. My husband is able to finish off a whole plate of cookies with one mug of coffee. So I am always on the lookout for things that are at least healthier than those commercial cookies I was forced to buy during my lengthy illness I thankfully have behind me now.

But to get to the point, I made a small batch of these buns and, sure enough, they were gone before I could snap a picture of them. So I had to breach copyright laws and use the photo taken by Manang, the creator of the recipe. Actually I may as well send you to her website because she has a slideshow that details all the steps necessary in the creation of these lovely and healthy little gems:
Kusina ni Manang

Turkey nuggets

I discovered half of a large turkey breast lurking in the back of my freezer. Unfortunately it has been sitting there for almost two months, so I was worried about "freezer taste". I figured that if I soak the meat for a good while in lukewarm water and then marinate it with some exotic spices, things will turn out all right. And they did.

I read somewhere about using cardamom in a meat dish but I did not taste such a dish yet. So I thought that this was as good a time as ever for experimentation. This is what I did.



I cut the meat into relatively small pieces, then I marinated them for half an hour with the following spices:

1 lb turkey breast pieces
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 crushed garlic
dash ginger powder
salt, pepper

Then I made a batter by putting in the blender:

½ cup grated Cheddar cheese
3 tablespoon sour cream
½ teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
salt, pepper to taste

I poured this on the meat pieces and let it sit for another 15 minutes. In the meantime I lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil and sprayed that with PAM. Then I mixed into the meat 2 tablespoon cornmeal and arranged the pieces on the baking pan. I drizzled a little extra oil on the whole thing and then let it bake under the broiler. When one side got a nice colour, I turned the pieces over to give the other side a chance.

We had a nice coleslaw as an accompaniment, as well as some dipping sauces. Some of us had pitas alongside, refreshed under the hot grill, others who have wheat sensitivity (like myself) went with parsleyed rice.

It was a bit of an unusual taste experience but we liked it, I will definitely repeat it!

Chayote soup

I have recently discovered this wonderful vegetable. It is actually a member of the squash family. It grows on vines, and they harvest it when it is still quite tender, about the size of your palm.


For a long time I eyed it with suspicion, until one day I read that its taste is not unlike that of kohlrabies. I LOVE kohlrabi, particularly in the form of kohlrabi soup. So when I ventured to give chayotes a try, I made a nice soup out of them.

Chayote soup

2 chayotes, peeled, seed removed, chopped
a handful of parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups or more of stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk
salt, pepper to taste

Prepare the chayote, chop the parsley, then heat the butter in a saucepan. Throw in the parsley and saute it for a minute to release the flavour.


Add the chopped chayote, sprinkle the sugar over it and saute until some of the pieces start to develop a golden edge. Pour the stock in, cover the pot and let it cook gently for some 10 minutes. Doesn't need much time, it becomes tender very quickly.


When it is crisp tender, make a paste using the flour and a little milk. Stir it until smooth, then dilute it with the rest of the milk and add it to the soup. Adjust the saltiness of the soup, and let it simmer few minutes longer.


That's it!

The resulting soup lacks the robustness of kohlrabies, I still prefer those instead of the chayote version. Not that it is not enjoyable, because it is. But I will look around for other ways to make use of these. Actually I very much enjoy eating chayote raw, as is. I did not try the salad recipes I saw on the net.

All in all, chayotes now joined my culinary repertoire.

Middle Eastern rice casserole (pilaf)

This is a wonderful one pot complete dish that needs only some veggies or pickles on the side to make it a full dinner experience.



2 ½ cups rice (preferably Basmati)
2 cups green lentils
1 pound ground beef (lamb is even better)
2 large onions
2-3 potatoes
1/3 cup raisins
a handful of dates
salt, pepper
saffron (or a pinch of turmeric)

For this dish you wash the rice until the water stays clear to make sure that there is no starch left that could make the rice sticky. Then you have to pre-soak it for up to four hours, until the grains will become nice and plump. Finally you bring a big pot of lightly salted water (about 6 cups) to boil, add the rice and bring it back to boil. Keep checking the rice while simmering it on low for a few more minutes, the grains should be slightly al dente when you drain the rice off in a colander. When drained properly, pour it back into the pot, add a little oil to keep the grains separate, taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary.

In the meantime, cook the lentils until tender but not falling apart. Drain.

When you have the rice and lentils both ready, chop the onions and saute them in a little oil until translucent (some like it fried to golden). Add the ground meat, some salt and pepper, and saute it until looses its pink, then add half a cup of water and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the water evaporates. Wash the dates and raisins, then chop the dates into quarters or smaller, and mix them into the ground meat, together with the lentils. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust.

Now generously oil a Dutch oven, peel and slice a few potatoes, just enough so you can cover the bottom of the pot with the slices. Pour half a cup of water over them, then pour in half the rice. Now add the meat mix and top it with the second half of the rice.

Poke a few vents into the mix all the way to the bottom, place a folded kitchen towel over the pot and place the lid on top of it. The reason for this is that if you just cover it with the lid, the water gets condensed, drips back and will make the rice soggy. On the other hand, if you cook without the lid, the top of the casserole will get too dry and not completely cooked through. Now put the pot over low heat and let it cook for about 20 minutes. At that point lift the lid and towel and smell. You should smell a bit the fried potatoes at the bottom. If not, let it cook just a little longer.

Remove the pot from the heat, dissolve the saffron (or turmeric) in a bit of warm water, pour it over and lightly mix the rice and meat, while making sure that you do not scrape up the potatoes from the bottom. Turn the mix out onto a platter, then lift out the potatoes and arrange them in a circle around the edge, golden side up.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

Since this year we bought a couple of oversized pumpkins for Halloween, I decided to make good use of them. One of them is processed already: I peeled it, cut it into inch thick cubes, steamed the whole thing in a large pot, then I left the cooked mass in a colander for a couple of hours, until most of the liquid drained off. Then I mashed the pumpkin into a puree and packed it in plastic containers that went in the freezer. I left one box out.

The next step was to look for a recipe. The boys wanted pumpkin pie but I felt that this time maybe we should do something different, so I promised them a pie for next week. Then I looked around on the net. I found this easy recipe on the blog called Culinary in the Country.



It sounded good, so I decided to try it. We did not regret it. Very nice! The recipe is definitely staying in my repertoire. It did turn out looking a little different, though. The pumpkin layer is much lighter in colour, and the 3/4 cup topping was not enough. Next time I will use only 2/3 of the dough at the bottom, and 1/3 on top, or maybe even half and half. As for the recipe, you can just go there for it. One more thing, the 16 tablespoons of butter is actually half a pound, no need to fiddle with a measuring spoon.

Super easy banana ricotta ice cream

Wow! I just discovered a great new, and what is also important, super fast and easy ice cream recipe. We had a long hot and steamy stretch of weather here in Toronto and I looked around for something easy to make. Since I did happen to have a few frozen bananas in my freezer, this recipe at "the minbaker" caught my attention. I did make ice creams with frozen fruit and whipping cream before, but that is too calorie rich to have it too often. This idea of using reduced fat ricotta really works! I made it for the family today and it was an instant success. No time for taking pictures, though... This photo is from the source of the recipe...


Easy Banana Soft Serve

2 ripe frozen bananas
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar

In a food processor, combine frozen bananas with remaining ingredients. Process until smooth. Divide into 4 serving bowls and serve it right away.

Blog hopping

I have been cooking a lot of East Indian dishes in this past year. As such, I have visited a lot af good blogs that offer Indian fare. The last such successful contribution to my family's culinary experiences came from Show Me the Curry. We had their Chicken kofta curry. It is particularly helpful that they have a lot of videos that demonstrate the right techniques for preparing their recipes.



Another Indian blog with very detailed explanations is Kajal's Dreams. I am planning on preparing her spinach dhokla sometime in the next few days.

I also discovered a set of Jordanian blogs that each focus on certain dishes. One of them is the Hummus blog, another one is dedicated to Falafel, while another one is dedicated to Rice recipes. So I suppose my direction is in the process of changing...

Balsamic Mushrooms

I make mushrooms as a side dish often, but I just found a recipe with a very simple extra ingredient that can make a whole lot of difference. From Cherry at sakurambokitchen. It is very quick, just as good at room temperature as hot off the stove. And it is nutricious. What else do we need?

Balsamic mushrooms

1/4 cup olive oil
12 ounces to a pound of white mushrooms, halved, quartered or sliced
1 tsp garlic
1 corn
1/4 red pepper, diced
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (the magic ingredient)
salt, pepper

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Fry garlic. Add mushrooms, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, salt, and season with pepper. Add corn and red pepper. Cook 1 minute more.

I served it as a side dish for meatballs, with rice.

My best ever scalopped potatoes

This was one of those inspired moments when you add a bit of this, a bit of that, and you end up with a dish that turns out better than any other version you ever prepared before. I must put it up here to make sure I will be able to repeat it again, to make sure I will not upset my family with lesser casserole. This is what I did:

cca 9 lbs potatoes
½ to 1 lb dry sausages, preferably smoked, like a Chabai
½ cup oil
¼ cup bacon bits
5-6 eggs
1 pint (500 gr) sour cream
2 cups milk
1 Tbs chicken soup powder, or Mr Dash, or any other flavour enhancer
salt, pepper

Cook the potatoes, let them cool, then peel and slice them. While the potatoes cool, slice up the sausages and fry them slightly in the oil. This will make the sausages tastier and the oil will be infused with the sausage flavour. When you take it off the heat, stir in the bacon bits, also. Scoop the coins out with a slotted spoon, the bacon bits can stay.

Oil a large casserole dish. I prefer the wider, flatter variety, as that produces a casserole with lots of crunchy corners and surfaces. As you peel and slice the potatoes, they can go directly in the pan. Layer them down alternately with the sausages so that the top layer will be potatoes.

Now take a bowl and whip the sour cream in it until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, then the oil with all the bacon bits. Stir in the milk, eyeballing it to have approximately enough liquid to cover the top layer of potatoes also, then flavour this sauce, making sure that the flavours are quite stronger than normal, because the potatoes will absorb and mellow them.

Pour a spoonful or two of extra oil on the top, and bake it (350F-) until the edges are golden and the top is crunchy. In our family this constitutes a hearty meal, served with pickles, beet relish, or tomato salad.

Pesto crescents

This recipe will yield a relatively large amount of crescents. If you want, you can fill half of the dough with jam, a nut or chocolate filling.

2 lbs flour
2 Tbs fry active yeast
2 c milk
1/2 c white wine (or soda water)
1/2 c butter (margarine)
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
2 or 3 egg yolks
a jar of pesto (basil, olive, or sun dried tomato)

Knead all these together to get a nice, smoothly elastic dough. If too stiff, you can add a few spoonfuls of sour cream. If sticky, add a little extra flour. Let it rise till double.

Separate into balls and roll each ball into a circle. Cut the circle into wedges, smear a little pesto on each and roll them up. Arrange them on parchment lines cookie sheet and let them rise a little. You may brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle some Parmesan or sesame seeds over them.

Cardamom coffee cake with almond filling

(Picture) – to follow

flour, altogether 3 ¼ - 3 ½ cups
1 package active dry yeast
2/3 cup milk
6 Tbs butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 ts salt
1 egg + 1 yolk
½ to 1 ts ground cardamom


Heat the milk, butter, sugar and salt together in a cup. It should be still comfortably warm to your hand. Take a large bowl, put in it 1 ½ cup flour, cardamom, egg and yolk, and beat it with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes. Then add enough of the remaining flour to have a moderately stiff dough. Turn this out onto a floured surface and knead it for another 3-4 minutes. Now put it in a greased bowl and let it rise to double it original amount.

In the meantime prepare the filling:
½ cup almonds
½ cup sugar
1 ts cinnamon
1 egg white

Toast the almonds spread on a sheet of aluminum foil in a toaster oven. When cool enough to handle, grind it in a grinder or blender. Beat the whites to stiff, gradually adding the sugar. Then gently fold in the almonds and the cinnamon.

Now take off 1/3 to ½ of the dough. Roll out the rest into a 10x10 inches rectangle. Spread the filling over it, then roll it up jelly roll fashion. Make a ring and place it on a parchment lined sheet. Now make a rope out of the smaller ball of dough, wet the top of the large ring and form a ring on top of it with the rope. With a pair of scissors snip diagonally into the rope at regular (cca 2 inches) intervals, then twist these leaf shaped sections one outward, one inward, all around.

Let it rise again a little, then bake the cake at 375F for about 25 minutes. You can put some aluminum foil over it if the top seems to brown too quickly. When done, let it cool, then drizzle the icing over it.

Brown butter icing

Heat 2 Tbs unsweetened butter, stirring constantly, until it turns brown. When cool, gradually add 1 cup powder sugar, adding ½ ts vanilla and further easing it with drops of milk to get it to drizzling consistency. Now pour this by tablespoons over the top of the cake and let it dry.

New Year's Day open house

We had a great New Year's Day open house. It is a recent "tradition" that our family started a few years ago. Our doors open at around lunch time (12:30 this year), and goes on for whenever the last guests leave. There is a little detail about this year that I did not appreciate: the first guest arrived at 12:20, ten minutes before the official opening... Please, people, don't do that! (...they are my relatives and I know they won't mind my public disclosure here :) Give a little extra time to the hosts, they are NEVER ready right on time, there is always something forgotten that they remember in the last minute.

Anyway, aside from me still being in the shower when guests started to arrive, we had a successful open house this year. The fireplace was crackling invitingly, the buffet table was laden, the coffee machine was exuding its heady aroma, and the mulled wine was gently warming on the stove. For the earlier guests we had finger food, both savoury and sweet, then around dinner time we had a few warm, more substantial dishes added to the menu.

This is the list of this year's offerings: cold turkey breast stuffed with chicken liver pate, olive pesto rolls, almond rice, cabbage salad. On the sweet side: cardamom coffee cake with toasted almond filling, the all-time favourite Bacardi rum cake, brownie-cheesecake slices, walnut slices, and peanut brittle. For the later warm fare I always make a big pot of chili, because that always tastes even better when prepared ahead and reheated. We also had an artichoke cheese cake that was reheated in the toaster oven, and I had some puff pastry cups that I filled with a salmon-scrambled eggs filling, both prepared ahead of the time, just assembled and heated before serving.

I managed to take only a few photos, I will post those recipes in the coming days.

Happy New Year!

Armenian khurut

Here is a recipe I inherited from my Armenian great grandmother. My grandmother still used to make it occasionally, but my mother did not bother with it any more. I still remember the taste of it and one day I will make some (I promised to myself...).

So what is this mystery food? It is a potted mix that is used to flavour dishes, mostly soups. I did try to look for it on the net without success, so maybe modern Armenians don't bother with it either. If so, then I consider it doubly my duty to post it here as a heritage recipe. Of course, it may happen that in Armenia it goes by another name. I would appreciate if someone who happens to pass by could comment on it. There is another recipe I never found anywhere and which unfortunately I do not own, I just remember it from my childhood. It was called HARSNEMADNAG and it was a cigar shaped cookie. I would very much appreciate the recipe if you happen to have it...!!!

For now here is the description of how khurut was prepared in my great grandmother's house:

Bring 1 liter (4 cups) milk to just below boiling point, let it cool a bit, then mix in ½ liter (2 cups) pure sour cream (which does not contain any gelling agent), cover it and let it stand at room temperature overnight. Next day bring large quantities of milk, 6-8-10 liters, again to boiling point, let it cool and mix the previous day's clotted batch into it.

Cover and let this big pot sit in a warm room for three weeks, stirring it every day. After the three weeks put the resulting yogurt on the stove and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until it becomes as thick as good sour cream.

Meanwhile get a huge amount of parsley (about the size of a 10 lb bag of potatoes, or maybe even more), pick the leaves off the stems and grind these leaves in a food processor (the old recipe suggests a meat grinder), adding 10-12 celery tops (leaves only), and maybe some fresh tarragon leaves. Put the ground mix into the yogurt and keep simmering while stirring until it becomes as thick as marmalade.

Distribute this among jam jars while still hot, screw the tops on, turn them over for a short while, then store the jars in a dark closet. It will last indefinitely, or at least until next year. They usually prepared it in August or September.

It is used by adding a spoonful or so, mixed with fresh yogurt or sour cream, into soups or sauces, adjusting the amount to get a pleasingly sour taste.

Bean curd rolls

This dish is really nice... in a rustic Chinese way. I like it, my younger one likes it, other members of the family thought it tasted "too Chinese"... It is true that the five spice taste was very prominent. So one can tone that down a bit.

My main problem, though, was not the taste but the bean curd sheets that I used. I bought fresh sheets that do not need soaking. But they turned out to be much thicker than the soakable dry variety, I couldn't wrap the rolls properly, and they did not allow proper steaming to take place. Even after an hour the filling was still uncooked. So I just made balls of the rest of the filling and steamed them separately. You can see a couple of them, behind the rolls on the photo. Then I dried the rolls and panfried them under a lid. This made the stuffing cook nicely and had the sides of the rolls crispen up, but the ends remained chewy.

In the end I also cut the remaining bean curd sheets up into smallish squares, marinated them (dipped them) in the sauce that I prepared for the rolls, and fried them. They came out a bit leathery but tasty. They did not seem to soak up any of the oil. I had to wipe them dry after they cooled. You can see also some on the photo, peeking out from under the balls.

All in all it was OK, there were no leftovers. But I will have to make some further adjustments before repeating it. And if someone can enlighten me as to how to handle the thicker non-dry bean curd sheets, what recipes are they really meant for, I would appreciate a comment about it here below... :)

And now for the recipe (taken from Paula at NibbleDish)

Wrappers:
• sheets of bean curd

Filling:
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2/3 cup of grated carrot
• 1 1/2 cup bean sprouts, blanched
• 4-5 dried shiitake (I used soaked wood ear)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons of potato starch

Sauce:
• 3 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Chopped spring onions for garnish

Soak the mushrooms, then chop them. Mix all the filling ingredients. If you use dried curd, soak that also first, then cut the sheet into smaller squares. Fill them with the few teaspoons of the filling, arrange them in the steamer and steam them until done.

Home made cough syrup from ribwort

Home made cough syrup can be made using the lowly ribwort, a much maligned weed from your lawn. I just went through a bad case of cold, and while looking for home remedies I found this recipe on Klostersuppe mit Haube. Since I have ribwort growing in abundance on my lawn, it wasn't hard to gather the necessary amount, which I did, the syrup then I prepared, tested, and I can report to you that it worked quite nicely. :)

So now I am going to share with you the recipe in good old English:

½ - ¾ lb ribwort leaves
3 cups water
1 thick slice of a lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ lb brown rock candy
2 lb sugar (or honey)

Wash well the leaves and chop them up roughly. In a pot bring the water, lemon, lemon juice and and the rock candy to a boil, add the chopped leaves and then let it simmer on the lowest possible heat for 20-30 minutes. Now sieve it through a cheese cloth lined sieve, pressing out the juices thoroughly. Add the sugar to this liquid and let it simmer for about an hour, until it becomes thicker, more syrupy. Pour this syrup into prepared bottles and keep it in a dark cupboard until needed.

Good bye!

Our beloved Mother, Grandmother and Mom-in-Law has passed away this week.

May her rest be peaceful!

Maque choux - a Louisiana dish

After a long period of hurried slamming together whatever ingredients happened to be available in my kitchen, I had a short period of smoother sailing. I used these calmer days to add some new entries to my other pages, but then I did a little coasting around in the culinary world, too, peeking into other people's pots, looking for exotic dishes. That is how I discovered the maque choux. Doesn't this name itself have an intriguing sound?

The original (I suppose Native) recipe sounded too blah, Emeril's recipe needed Emeril's own sauce, so I opted for Nola's New Orleans Maque choux recipe. Of course, I used bacon drippings. I tend to cook healthy, low fat dishes most of the time, noone in my family has cholesterol, diabetes or any such ailment, so the occasional little indulgence does not upset our overall health. The dish turned out very nicely, I will repeat it.

Maque choux, my version

bacon drippings with oil added to measure about 4 - 5 tbs
3 cups frozen corn
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup green peppers, sliced paper thin
1 ts chopped garlic
1 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped
salt, pepper
a few spicy sausages, I used some chipotle flavoured ones from European Meats in Kensington Market. They sell them frozen in 5 and 10 lb batches.

Saute the onion until glassy, add the celery, garlic and green peppers. Saute a bit, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes, then add the tomatoes, corn, adjust the seasonings, and place the sausages whole on top of the simmering vegetables. Let it simmer simmer for 15 to 30 minutes, then take out and slice the sausages to be distributed and arranged on each plate of food.

For added flavour and colour you can also sprinkle some freshly chopped basil, thyme or parsley on top of the dishes.

Buffet style spaghetti pie

We just had a birthday party, and I have to tell you about one of the most successful dishes I put on the buffet table. It was so successful in fact that I did not manage to get a picture taken at all before it was gone. Instead, I decided to use the photo from the blog where I found the recipe, whose owner by the way is also a magnificent photographer in the Netherlands, and give full credit to her for the whole package. It truly is a package, as it has extensive photo instructions on the whole process of putting the dish together.

So, please, go and visit her blog, What's cooking?.

Beef with fresh mango sauce

12 thin slices of lean beef

Marinade:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind juice (optional)
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or regular white)
1 small onion (or 2 shallots) chopped

Sauce:
2 ripe mangoes
3 teaspoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoon lime juice
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
a few drops of hot chili oil (Saigon) - to taste
chopped basil leaves

Place the beef slices with the marinade ingredients in a zippered plastic bag and let them marinate overnight. Then just before serving fry, broil or barbecue them to desired doneness.
Blend the sauce ingredients and serve it with the meat, accompanied with rice. Sprinkle it with fresh. chopped basil leaves. I served the chopped basil on the side in a small bowl, and I also added grated zucchini as a side dish, sauteed with garlic in a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.