Wednesday, February 18, 2009

fake it till you bake it


MARBLE CAKE. another classic chez moi. this egalitarian cake is perfectly light and moist and the amount of sweetness is just right. we'll have it for any occasion and it never gets old.
so it was my friend's bday this week and since im completely broke i thought i'd build her this cake instead. It is especially inexpensive (our friendship is priceless...) when all the ingredients are readily available at your parent's house. Also, your (my?) parents are more likely to have things like rum extract, and dr. oetker's vanilla sugar, and a glorious Kitchen Aid mixer. actually, i dont advise attempting this recipe without a stand mixer unless you have superhuman upper-arm strength. It's a good recipe to make when you have an assignment due tomorrow and you've already re-organized your entire room and are looking for another way to procrastinate. basically it takes fooorrrreeevvvveer to make. but the results are completely worth the while. your whole house will smell like vanilla, which is an aphrodisiac in case you didnt know. so people will love your cake and they will love you...probably.


first you'll need:
- 250 grams butter
- 250 grams sugar
- 1 package vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp rum extract
- pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cups milk
- 500 grams all-purpose flour, sifted
- 5 tsp baking powder (mix this in with flour)

then you'll need:
- 5 tbs cocoa (unsweetened dutch-process) + 5 tbs sugar
- 3+ tbs milk
- 1 more tsp rum extract
ok, so traditionally this cake is supposed to be 2/3 vanilla vs. 1/3 chocolate but I sorta reversed that since chocolate is the best. if for some weird reason you prefer vanilla, only add 3 tbs of cocoa and sugar... it has something to do with math i think.......

1. Beat the butter until it's very very fluffy. This will take about 10-15 minutes, the butter will turn very light yellow. This is a crucial step so don't rush it!
2. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure it's fully incorporated.
3. Add packet of vanilla sugar.
4. Add eggs, one at a time.
5. Now add the vanilla, rum, and salt.
6. Now you'll mix in the flour/baking powder and milk. Alternate between spoonfuls of flour and milk. You should end up with a smooth thickish batter so that when you dip a spoon into your bowl the batter will ooze off slowly.
7. Eyeball about 1/3 of the batter and spoon it into your buttered cake mold.
8. To the remaining batter add the cocoa, sugar, and rum.
9. Now its time to marble! This part is sortof hard to explain, so I've added this visual to help! You need to spoon the chocolate batter over the vanilla. Then using a fork swirl the batter around to get the marble effect.
10. Bake the cake for 50-65 minutes at 175 C. When you insert a knife into your cake it should come out clean! Once it's ready immediately remove from the mold otherwise it will continue to cook. Flip the cake over onto a plate and let it cool
down.
11. Dust the cake with some icing sugar et voilà!

Brioooooooche

Nasya, I saw this tonight and thought of you!!

* * * * * *

Brioche
1/2 Cup Garbanzo Bean Flour
1 3/4 Cups Plain Soymilk
1 .6-Ounce Cake Fresh Yeast
4 Cups Bread Flour
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Black Salt
1 Teaspoon Table Salt
1/4 Cup Plain Soy Creamer
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Cup Margarine, Cut into Small Cubes

Place the garbanzo bean flour in a medium saucepan and stir in a small amount of the soymilk to form a paste. Once smooth, add in the rest of the soymilk, and whisk thoroughly. Cook over medium heat for about 5 - 10 minutes, until bubbles begin to break on the surface and the mixture feels significantly thickened. Turn off the heat, and continue to whisk occasionally for the next 10 minutes to help it cool down without forming a skin on top. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the garbanzo mixture, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, until just barely warm to the touch.

In your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, crumble the cake of yeast into the flour, and mix briefly to incorporate all the pieces. Add in the sugar and salts, and mix once more. Once cooled enough that it won’t kill the yeast, (less than 120 degrees F) scrape the garbanzo and soymilk “pudding” in and begin to mix on low speed. Combine the soy creamer and vinegar together before introducing them to the main mixing bowl as well.

Once you have all of the dry and wet ingredients incorporated but the dough is still weak in structure, begin to add in the margarine, a few cubes at a time. They should get folded in to a point that you can’t see them any more, but be patient because it takes time. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes once it seems smooth.

After it has rested, dump the dough out onto a clean surface. DO NOT use extra flour here, despite how sticky the dough is. Simply use a bench scraper if you can’t get it off the counter. Kneed it briefly by hand, stretching and folding it to strengthen the structure, for about 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly greased bowl, and cover it lightly with a towel. Place it in the fridge and let it rise overnight, between 8 and 12 hours.
In the morning, cut the dough in half, and then cut each half into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball, and then place 3 balls all lined up evenly in a lightly greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover with a towel again, and let the loaves rest in a warm place for around 2 1/2 hours, until doubled or tripled in volume. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees as your loaves near the end of their rising time, and lightly brush them with vegan egg wash. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until well-browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the loaves rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto wire racks to cool.

Makes 2 Loaves.

Got it from http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/bread-with-a-heart-of-cake/

<3

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Corn & carrot pancakes


I completely bastardized a recipe from "1000 Vegetarian Recipes From Around the World" for these - it's a great cookbook!

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 teaspoons ground flaxseed
6 or 7 teaspoons flour
1 carrot, finely grated
some chopped onion
1 egg yolk
2 egg whites
shake of salt
sprinkle of brown sugar
couple shakes of toasted sesame seeds
shake or so of each:
cinnamon
coriander
cumin seeds
chili powder
ground turmeric

cooking oil of your choice
***

Blend up half of the corn in a food processor or blender ( I used my Bullet - so handy!).
Put all of the ingredients except the eggs and the oil into a bowl and mix them up well.
Mix in the egg yolk.
Whip the egg white into peaks. (I failed to whip mine into proper peaks, but they seemed to still work ok).
Fold half of the egg whites into your mixture, then do the same with the other half.

Put some oil into a pan and heat it up. Drop some spoonfuls of mixture into the oiled pan. Cook for about 3 minutes on one side, then flip them and give them another 3 minutes or so. Rinse and repeat, you get the idea. I put the cooked goodies onto some paper towel on a plate to soak up any excess oil.

I think my little culinary bastards are pretty healthy, other than the oil! So just go light on the oil. These recipes always tell you to use too much oil, in my opinion.

Enjoy! I ate mine with some hot green salsa & sour cream, but get creative! Tell me about it if you try it.

PS: I'm sorry I can't get a better photo - that will have to do. I do promise they're tasty! :)

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Glacial Meltdown Martini



As the gastronomic experience is not complete without the proper spirits, I decided to add this delectable and politically topical drink recipe.
It's incredibly easy but also rather sweet, so sugar-tooth's beware.

Drink (makes about 3 servings)
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1 cup lemon-lime soda beverage
- 1/3 cup blue curacao
- 1/3 cup white rum
- 10 ice cubes

Ice Bowl
Take 2 different sized plastic bowls filling the larger one about half way with tap water. Take the smaller bowl and place it inside the larger one pressing it down until the water comes up the sides until it reaches the top of the bowl. This will take some experimentation as you need to find appropriately sized bowls in order for this to work. The bowls should allow for about a 1.5 inch thickness of the ice and should be deep enough to hold about 1.5 L of the drink.
Once you have filled the bowl, tape or weigh down the smaller empty bowl so that water bowl keeps its form. Place this in the freezer/outside for about 4 hours. To remove the bowls, pour some warm water on the outside of the larger bowl until it starts to come loose taking care not to crack the ice bowl. Do the same to the top bowl while trying to wiggle it loose. This part takes a delicate touch as the bowl can crack during this process. Test your bowl to make sure it will hold liquid before actually putting your booze in the bowl.

Iceberg
I just used store bought ginger bread mix and made it into a glacier shape. I also used canned icing for the snow/ice look (be sure to tell your guests the name of your drink if you are not artistically inclined...everyone thought my glacier was a half white/half blue triangle). I know, I know, I'm sure there are good homemade recipes for ginger bread mix, my mom has one, but I was busy when I made the one in the picture.

Presentation
Place your Glacier behind your ice bowl (place ice bowl on some sugar sprinkled on a serving tray to keep the bowl from sliding around). Pour your martini into the ice bowl, make some joke about Al Gore or a fervent and incendiary speech about Stephen Harper's calamitous disregard for climate change, and serve to your guests!
(Bow tie is optional)

Enjoy,
Chef James

Pan-seared Salmon Fillet, Beet Risotto, and Brown butter Béarnaise sauce.


Allo bonjour! This is my friend Michael's recipe. He's made it for me and a couple of friends, and I have since made it twice for family and friends. It sounds complicated but is a bit easier than you would think and is well worth the effort. You get to stretch your culinary skills with this one and try your hand at slow-boils, sweating, proper sears, and emulsion sauces. Also, the beet risotto is the centrepiece of this meal. It is quite unique, but delicious, and it makes a great accompaniment to all kinds of seafood and some bird dishes. Marry this dish with a dry white, such as a Chablis or a Riesling. Also there is nothing sustainable or development friendly about this - it's probably quite indulgent in that sense. Bon appetit!



Pan-seared Salmon Fillet, Beet Risotto, and Brown butter Béarnaise sauce. (serves 4)

For the Risotto·
One Bushel fresh beets·
1-2 large Spanish onions·
Arborio (short grain) rice·
Chicken stock (16oz)·
Parmesan·
Brie·
Parsley·
8-10 garlic cloves·
Kosher salt·
Pepper·
Olive oil

For the Bernaise·
½ butter·
3 egg yokes·
Tarragon·
35% cream·
3 shallots,·
Splash of white wine

For the Salmon·
4 Salmon Fillets (SKIN ON) bones removed, nice and fresh.

To start· Peel and cut the ends off of the garlic, then in a small sauce pan cover in oil and bring to a boil. As soon as the oil boils, remove from heat and let stand in the oil while you prepare everything else.· Cut off the stems of the beets and place in a pot with lots of cold water. Add a touch of salt, but the water shouldn’t taste salty. As soon as the water boils, turn it down and leave at just beneath a boil. It will take about a hour, and they’ll be finished when you can push the skin off with your bare hands.o

When they are finished drain and peel them by hand. If you have latex gloves they will aide in preventing a lot of red fingers. Finish peeling and push off the tips of the beets (it will all just slide off) and cut into a dice and reserve.· In the mean time, chop the parsley, tarragon and grate the parmesan.· The tricky part is the caramelized onionso Peel and remove the tips of the onion and cut in half from tip to tail. Cutting across the poles (if the tips are the south and north poles, you’re cutting lines of latitude).o Do this very slowly and carefully, they don’t need to be hyper thin, just all equal, otherwise some will burn in the pan and others will be under cooked. If you get thick pieces near the end just throw them out.§

Do the same for the shallots.o Bring a large sauté pan to high heat and line with generous amounts of oil. Place the sliced onions in the pan and move around quickly (If you tilt the pan away from you when you place the onions in, you won’t get splashed with oil). Continue on high heat until there is lots of steam rising, and they start to turn translucent.o Turn heat to low, and stir occasionally. If the pan becomes dry, add more oil, and continue as such until they turn a nice cark brown, but are not dried out.o Finish with a slab of butter and remove from heat. This will take about 45-60 min.·

Bring a pot to a rolling boil. Add rice· Stir and taste often, it is finished when it is just under al dente. As soon as the crunch is gone from the rice remove it from the heat and run under water till it is both cool and not sticky.

To make the risotto.· Heat a sauté pan, err on the side of smaller than you think you’ll need.· Place beets, garlic cloves, and sautéed onions into pan for around 30 seconds. Spinkle with salt and pepper· Add 4 oz of stock per person, (16oz) and when it boils add the rice. You want to do the rice by and use just enough to add texture, use less than you think you need, the rice is just for structure.· Stir and reduce until when you tip the pan towards you there is about a tablespoon of liquid for each person.· Remove from heat add in a helping of parmesan, and a 8 thumbed sized chunks of brie. Fold the risotto over the cheese· and let stand in a warm place. IE beside the stove.

To make the dirtiest secret of sauces·
This is the most taboo way to make what is known as an Emulsion sauce. So to start,· In a small pan with some oil heat the shallots, but don’t let any color get on themo
Deglaze with wine and let the wine reduce to a bare amount, remove from heat.· In a small sauce pan, place the butter whole into it and get on high heat. Don’t touch it.o It will melt and then start to bubble, you want this. You want to actually burn the butter slightly. It will be ready when it “foams up”, believe me you’ll know when it happens as it will appear it is going to come over the top of the pan.o Remove from heat and skim the foam on the top of the liquid. What we want is the clairified butter in the middle. You don’t want stuff at the bottom either.·

Now the taboo part. Get out a food processor. Place the egg yokes in and let it rip. Let it go for a good 3 min, and it will actually cook the eggs perfectly in there. Slowly add the butter, very slowly to the spinning mix. Then add the shallots and wine, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Go easy at first on the salt as when it stabilizes it will be stronger.·

Take out of the processor and manually add the tarragon, otherwise in the machine it will turn your sauce green.· Keep in a warm place

For the salmon· Bring a pan big enough for all the fillets to fit to as hot as you can get it. Line it with some oil and bring the oil right to the smoke point.· Lightly salt and pepper the fillets and get them in the pan flesh down skin up.· If you shake the pan as you drop in the fillets they won’t stick.· Get as much color on them as possible without anything going black. When you reach that point, “kiss” the fillets on the sides for 5-10 sec and then place skin side down and place in oven at 400-475fTo complete·

Heat the risotto to eating temp and reduce out any remaining liquid as it’s a dry risotto,·
Add in the parsley and with a soup spoon place little by little onto each plate in a pile· Take the salmon out of the oven and place on the risotto· Spoon on the sauce and have at it.Of note,· Taste the risotto and sauce as you make them, if they need something, then correct it, the cheese you get, or the water content in the beets can all be variable along with a number of other things.· Serve with a nice dry white wine, like a sauvignon blanc or chardonnay· Enjoy this with friends, people you want to be with, not people you are obliged to be with. The effort will be more appreciated.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Vegan Sushi!? and Cupcakes?!

I believe amidst our discussion today of George Sr., Social Constructivism and the innate value of nature, there was some talk of making sushi and/or cupcakes in the near future...

well lo and behold what I have just discovered....

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Hello friends (I am sooo happy we have upgraded from classmates!).I have been pretty much living off of this recipe for the past month or so, which means it will not kill you for sure! Best of all, it only takes about 20 minutes...

For this fine recipe you will need:

  • 4 cups water
  • 4 cups broccoli florets
  • 2 tablespoons margarine
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 large stalk celery, chopped
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder
  • 2 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • To make it a little interesting:
  • 3 pounds of weed
  • 1 ounce of cough-syrup
  • 3 books on micro and macro economics
  • 3 hairs from Florez-Malagon, PhD.

You then must follow these directions to the letter, or else bad things will happen...

  1. In a medium-sized cooking pot, add water and broccoli florets and bring to boil; reduce heat and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain, reserving all of the water.
  2. In a food processor or blender, process half the cooked broccoli until fairly smooth. Chop remaining broccoli and set aside.
  3. In a heavy-bottomed cooking pot, melt butter or margarine, add onion and celery and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes until soft. Stir in flour; cook, stirring constantly for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add reserved water and chicken bouillon granules, and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, stirring constantly until thickened.
  4. Stir in milk, nutmeg, pepper, and processed and chopped broccoli, and heat through. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve garnished with grated cheddar cheese.
  5. In a parallel universe, add Florez's hair and the economics books in boiling water and see which item lasts longer. Legend has it that if the hair wins, the Multitude shall rise against the Empire...
Enjoy!

Muffins Muffins Muffins....

There was a mischevious old lady in my last building who used to ambush us sneakily in the hallway and regale us with 45-minute-long-epics-about-the-time-she-met-Jimmy-Carter-and-learned-the-true-meaning-of-Christmas. One particularly excellent story involved a bunch of CSIS guys on a cold-war 'business trip' to Moscow. When they arrived in their hotel room, they scoured the place for listening devices and, sure enough, found a mysterious lump under the carpet. Enterprising young spies that they were, they deftly cut the carpet away to find an odd little box screwed into the floor. Naturally, they decided to unscrew the item for a closer look. Loud crash and much angry slavic shouting ensues. I'm not sure whether CSIS picked up the tab for the multi-thousand dollar chandelier they unhooked in the dining-room below, but I would have liked to have been there when these 3 gangstas casually strolled down to the front desk to inquire what all the racket was about...

I felt I needed to repay her somehow for the invaluable life lessons and so made her these vegan-friendly muffins during my last week in the building;
(i snagged this recipe from a blog that snagged it from the book that I once owned but have since lost... take that intellectual property.)

Strawberry Lavender Muffins for Monique the storyteller
(Recipe courtesy of “Fresh at Home” by Ruth Brown)


1 1/4 cup vanilla soymilk
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoon dried lavender
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
4 cups light spelt flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
1/3 cup canola oil
1. Prepare muffin tins and preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Heat the soymilk, maple syrup and lavender in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Watch it closely, mine bubbled over naturally!!!
3. Remove from the heat, cover and steep for 5 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and add the applesauce. Set aside and cool completely.
4. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, add strawberries and toss to coat.
5. Add the milk mixture and the oil to the dry and mix gently until the batter comes together. Try not to overmix.
6. Scoop into muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out dry.
7. Remove from muffin tins and set on a rack to cool.
Makes 18 medium muffins

In England a 'tart' is an insult


Chocolate Truffle Tarts


It only seems appropriate my first blog here (and ever!) is of tarts.


I stole and mixed this recipe from two other sites which i will post below, so technically this is 4 recipes (it's finite math, trust me), not just 1!

Crust site: http://www.jonathoncihlar.com/index.php?Post=fruittart

Filling site: http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8907

This recipe makes enough dough for probably 8-10 tart shells and more than enough chocolate truffle to fill these cups sufficiently. If you have excess filling, consider covering your hand in the chocolate for a tasty treat for the grad student on the go!

Crust Ingredients

- 3/4 cups flour
- 1/8 cup sugar

- 1/16 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 cup vegan margarine

- 2-3 tablespoons ice cold water

- Apricot preserves


Crust Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Blend the flour, sugar, and salt until well-mixed.
  3. Chill the flour mixture in the freezer for 15-20 minutes
  4. Using a pastry cutter, fork, or your hands, cut the margarine into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles small pebbles.
  5. Chill this mixture in the freezer again for another 15-20 minutes.
  6. Slowly add water by the tablespoon incorporating it with a wooden spoon until it just holds together. Do not add too much water and definitely do not overmix.
  7. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to relax the gluten.
  8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and lightly flour the surface you will roll it out on. Take off a small walnut-sized portion for a 3-4 inch tart tin and roll it into a circle that is about 1" larger than the size of the tin. The dough should be about 1/8" thick.
  9. Place the dough in the tart tin (I didn't have a tart tin so I used muffin tins) and press down lightly to fit the shape of the tin. Do not stretch the dough to fit the tin. Prick the dough with a fork to prevent excessive bubbling.
  10. Bake the tart at 400°F for about 15 minutes. The edges should be turning slightly brown and the body should look dry and flaky. Remove from the oven and cool.
  11. Once each tart has cooled to room temperature, brush a light coating of apricot preserves. This layer forms a barrier between the crème filling and the crust keeping the crust light and flaky.

Chef James’ Note: I didn’t do the apricot coating cuz I didn’t think it would jive with the chocolate filling, but might be worthwhile if you had a different filling.

Chocolate Truffle Filling

- 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp coconut milk, using thick cream (the junk from the top of the can, suggested you leave the can in the fridge, not shaking before opening and extract your portion from the top layer of coco milk, the fatter portion)

- 3 1/2 tbsp - 4 Tbsps organic unrefined virgin coconut oil (coconut butter) [I used sunflower oil cuz I couldn’t find coco butter]

- 3/4 tsp pure almond extract (or can use pure vanilla)

- 2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips (or can use non-dairy chocolate bars)

Directions:

  1. In a double boiler (or fit a metal/glass bowl over a saucepan filled with several inches of water) over medium-low heat, combine coconut milk, oil, and extract, stirring occasionally for several minutes until melted.
  2. Add chocolate chips (reserving a small portion, about ¼ cup), and stir until the chocolate chips are just about melted. Then, turn off the heat and add remaining chocolate chips and gently stir through.
  3. Once just melted (do not overwork the chocolate), remove saucepan from heat and place in fridge to cool mixture while cleaning up.
  4. After the filing has cooled slightly (maybe 10mins) pour the filling to the top of the cups. Place back in fridge for another 15mins to let the mixture solidify before arranging your own fruit mixture.

The incredibly artistic fruit decorations on the top (in case you didn’t notice i cut the strawberries into hearts as these were Valentine’s Day gifts) were my own creative genius. But I invite you to create your own designs! Possibly commemorating some other important days, such as Martin Luther King Day, Roshashana, or Waitangi Day (Feb 6, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document). One can only imagine what innovative designs you can cut strawberries into to celebrate these momentous occasions!

Enjoy!

Chef James

Milchreis, for John Casey


When I lived in Germany me and my friends would rush to the grocery store during recess to pick up 50 cent Milchreis.  It's basically delicious delicious rice pudding that can be served hot or cold and with 100000 different toppings.  I kind of forgot about milchreis till last term when I craved this comfort food. After looking at 100000 sketchy online recipes, and some trial & error, I came up with the following recipe.  
Bonus Fact: I remember hearing about some pagan christmas tradition of serving rice pudding and whoever gets the bowl with the almond in it wins a prize. and the prize is the almond. 

You will need:

- 2/3 cup short-grain white rice
- 2 1/3 cups milk (any % depending on how fat you think you are) 
- 2 tbs. butter 
- 2 tbs. sugar 
- pinch o' salt 
- rind of 1/2 lemon (peel into larger chunks for easy removal!) 
- 1 tsp. vanilla 
- cinnamon sugar (2 tbs sugar + 1 tbs cin.) 

1. Pour the milk, butter, salt, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind into a teflon pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. 
2. Stir in the rice. Turn down heat to low and cover with lid. Let it cook for approx. 45-50 mins. 
3. You will get the urge to open the lid and look and stir but REFRAIN! 
4. At the 45 minute mark check on the rice and taste to see if it's ready. The milk should be absorbed, the rice should be soft and the dish should have the consistency of pudding. 
5. If it's not ready, do not panic. It just needs a few more minutes and perhaps more milk.  Use your judgement bro. 
6. Once the pudding is done remove the lemon rind. Let it cool down, or not. Plate it and top it off with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.  It's also yummy with some fresh fruit or nuts or raisins if you're crazy like that.. 

 i hope you like this, its one of my favs!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup

Alright, so as requested I am posting the delicious pumpkin coconut curry soup recipe I made earlier this week! This is basically a cut and paste from Allrecipes.com:

Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil (I subbed olive oil)
1 cup chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin
1 cup light coconut milk

Directions:
1. Heat the coconut oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Mix in the vegetable broth, curry powder, salt, coriander, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a gentle boil, about 10 minutes. Cover, and boil 15 to 20 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the pumpkin and coconut milk, and cook another 5 minutes.
2. Pour the soup into a blender, filling only half way and working in batches if necessary; process until smooth. Return to a pot, and reheat briefly over medium heat before serving.

ENJOY!

food is for lovers

Today at all-u-can-eat sushi (this still sounds wrong) we all decided that food is good, and Darryn suggested we start some sort of recipe-sharing-network thingy.  Five hours later I made this web log!  yeah that's how im spending saturday nite and on valentines day. all sorts of pathetic but this is not my bridget jones diary so back to biznass.  This is a blog about food but also sometimes about feelings and world issues and celebrity gossip (wtf chris brown?) but mostly about food.  so post your favourite recipes frequently and vigorously! 

I ripped this first recipe off my dad. its a salad, apparently from the city of shiraz. while it may be simple its bloody amazing and goes with just about any meal. im not sure of measurements, it depends on how much you want to make. there should be an equal amount of tomato and cucumber. the key is lots of lemon juice and to chop all the veg very finely or my dad will be vexed and make me go back to the cutting board and try again. 

salad for 2: 

- 2 ripe tomates, chopped  
- a chunk of cucumber, chopped 
- 4 green onions, chopped 
- juice of  approx. 1/2 lemon 
- 2-3 tbs olive oil 
- salt and pepper 

Toss all the ingredients together and done!  

happy v-day <3 
nas