Recipes / Food - Drink

[Ea]

Originally Posted by beppe

Of course. But please tell me. What is inside a 9% cream? It looks like a thicker milk.

It's cream with a fat content of 9 %. It's usually only sold UHT pasteurised and meant for coffee. The 18 % is only sold mixed with a little flour, ready for use in sauce. Then there's the 12 % coffee cream and the 38 % whipping cream. I think that's all

[beppe]

The garden is pushing up zucchine like it should. I got a bunch and selected the two biggest for this exploit.

1) I cut two large zucchine in long slices (about 1 pound each, slices of 1/2 a centimeter). Put them on the hot grill on the stove (after lightly brushing them with olive oil).

2) I took a large glass pirofila, pomaded the bottom and the side with a stick of butter, covered with bread crumbs and thrown out the excess. Laid 2 layers of zucchine, sprinkled with salt.

3) I beat up two eggs, with 1/2 a cup of grated Parmesan, 1/2 a glass of milk and some salt. Little Daughter helped. Poured the egg batter on top.

4) With great joy of Little Daughter, we cut in small cubes a mozzarella di bufala and layed on top of the dish.

5) I cut two tomatoes in rounds and arranged them neatly around the dish.

That is how it looked
Attachment 72563

6) The oven was set at 200°C, no air. There it goes for about 40 minutes, till I could not see liquid bubbling. Than for 20 minute at 100°C, so that it became more solid.

7) In the mean time I split 3 rolls, toasted them, caressed them with a garlic clove and brushed them with olive oil. That is called bruschetta. It is needed to give the crubchy texture that is missing from the torta that is rayher limp by itself, although delicious.

That is how it looks the torta, after baking. The herbs are thyme and parseley from the garden and some dry oregano. It shines because I brushed it with a bit of oil.
Attachment 72565

The torta with the bruschetta
Attachment 72564

And the table.
Attachment 72566

Wine is that famous Chardonnay. Girls gave me full marks. All in all it took about 30 minutes of work with a 4 years all jumping up and down and having a lot of fun.

These are the ingredients:
for the torta

2 large zucchine (zucchini in English)
1 mozzarella (of bufala preferably, but any melting cheese will do)
2 eggs
1/2 glass of milk
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tomato
1 piece of butter (to spread on the pot, but any fat will do)
3 spoons of bread crumbs for the bottom
herbs (oregano, thyme) for postprocessing
salt

for the bruschetta

pieces of bread toasted
1 clove of garlic
olive oil (tiny bit)
salt

[Stitchawl]

:y ahoo:

There is no way I can begin to express just how happy I am right now! I just returned home from a supermarket run where I discovered my favorite fruit in the whole world!

MANGOSTEENS!!

(Not 'mango' but 'mangosteen')

This has never been available to me here in Japan. When I wanted it I had to go to Thailand, Malaysia, or Singapore. And it tastes soooooo good, it would be a motivation to go often!

Considerably more expensive here, about $1 each compared with $2 a kilo in S.E. Asia, but worth every penny!

:y ahoo:


Stitchawl

[kindlekitten]

alrighty then!

[wannabee]

Now that's a post with attitude.
Makes we want to find a mangosteen and check it out but haven't even heard of them let alone seen one to buy in this neck of the woods.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Now that's a post with attitude.
Makes we want to find a mangosteen and check it out but haven't even heard of them let alone seen one to buy in this neck of the woods.

Let me put it this way...
Queen Victoria offered 10,000 pounds in gold to any seaman who could provide her with fresh mangosteens. Unfortunately, they don't travel well. I was so surprised to see them, I was sure they'd be well past their prime. The calexs (the green leaf around the stem) were quite brown and dry so I was a bit reluctant to buy... but I've since been back for another bag-full! There is a company that puts out a canned mangosteen in syrup that does justice to the name, but only at about half volume.

This will give you a better idea of the size of the fruit.

Stitchawl

[Ea]

What do they taste like?

[wannabee]

They look yummy. Tracey tells me they're full of good vitamins and stuff too.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Ea

What do they taste like?

Well... they remind me of a 'berry' flavor. If you mixed a strawberry with a blackberry and a grape. But with less grape flavor. And maybe not so much strawberry...
I just asked my wife what she thought. She said, "Like a marshmallow but not sweet and with a different taste...

It's definitely its own flavor.

Although segmented like an orange and the size of a mikan, mangosteen isn't a citrus at all. Inside 2-3 segments there is a large seed. The outer skin is so thick and leathery that if you don't cut it with a knife, the only way to open is to crack it like a peanut! You can easily do this with your hand, and only restaurants actually cut them open, by squeezing the top and the bottom towards each other until the skin cracks, then you just pull the skin off leaving the white fruit. Do a Google Image search of 'Mangosteen' and you'll really get a good idea of the looks of it, if not the taste.

In Asia, people call the Durian the King of Fruits. Mangosteen is called the Queen. (They don't at all alike... and mangosteens smell good!)


Stitchawl

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Well... they remind me of a 'berry' flavor. If you mixed a strawberry with a blackberry and a grape. But with less grape flavor. And maybe not so much strawberry...
I just asked my wife what she thought. She said, "Like a marshmallow but not sweet and with a different taste...

It's definitely its own flavor.
...

Thanks I think I get an impression of the taste all the same - I know it's difficult to describe something like that.

I'm glad my favourite fruit is something that grows very well locally

[Ea]

Nordic hummus with yellow split peas and ramson leaves

I made this recently and discovered it's not only good, it's F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!*
If you like legumes, you should really try this.

4-6 servings

300 gram yellow slit peas
100 gram hazelnuts
24 ramson leaves (or 1-2 cloves of garlic, mashed)
Apprx. 2 table spoon apple cider vinegar
3 table spoon coldpressed rapeseed oil
salt to taste
Water to adjust consistency
Fresh, chopped parsley for garnish

Boil the split peas until tender (half an hour).

Roast the hazelnuts in the oven 10-15 min at 175-200 C until they are dark brown. Rub the thin dried-out membrane off with a kitchen towel. Roasting the hazelnuts is not an optional step, it's really important for the taste.

Process the nuts lightly, before adding the rest of the ingredients. Then add the rest of the ingredients. If you like a coarse consistency, you can reserve some of the peas until the very end. Adjust the consistency with water and perhaps more oil.*

Enjoy.

[BenG]

I stopped by the Dekalb Farmer's Market while visiting friends and family in Atlanta. Stocked up on yellow and red lentils, whole wheat couscous, Thai curry paste, pecan pie cookies, and spices in bulk - herbes de Provence, cinnamon, cumin, ancho chili powder, black peppercorns, paprika etc.

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by BenG

I stopped by the Dekalb Farmer's Market while visiting friends and family in Atlanta. Stocked up on yellow and red lentils, whole wheat couscous, Thai curry paste, pecan pie cookies, and spices in bulk - herbes de Provence, cinnamon, cumin, ancho chili powder, black peppercorns, paprika etc.

I haven't been over there in quite a while -- I need to plan a trip! We used to have handspinning guild meetings near there, and we'd go there for lunch.

[BenG]

I mainly go there to stock up on herbs and spices. They are really cheap there.
I made a trip over to South Carolina and got a few bottles of BBQ sauce- the mustard sauce and the vinegar and pepper sauce. Also some chow-chow, Cheerwine, and Blenheim's Ginger Ale.

[vivaldirules]

I'm sure there is a more proper way to cook this but I completely winged this and it came out so good that I was slurping up the sauce out of the pan afterwards.

Cod or other fish fillets
Sesame oil, 1 tbsp.

Fresh whole tomatoes, chopped
Green pepper, half, chopped
Green onions, 2, chopped
Garlic, 1 clove, diced
Lemon juice, 2 tbsp.
White wine, 1/4 cup or less
Salt and pepper
Cumin seeds, big pinch
Paprika, two big pinches
Cardamom, big pinch

Sear one side of the fillets in hot oil for two minutes. Flip and then immediately add the rest all at once and lower the heat a bit. Let it cook for about 6 more minutes or so.