PLATTER CHATTER WITH PATRICIA

Testing

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:21:00 +0000

Edmonds Coobook Mustard Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:03:00 +0000

Mustard Sauce For Corned Beef and Cabbage

Now I know this is the spur of the moment...so close to St. Patrick's Day but I wanted to post this recipe for Mustard Sauce for those of you who would like a little something different than plain old mustard from the jar on your Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day.

I have been using this recipe each time I make a Corned Beef for almost 12 years now. When I first moved to New Zealand I came across the most wonderful cookbook called 'Edmonds Cookbook'. It is a New Zealand icon, and it is chocked full of some of the most amazing recipes. To be honest, and as some of you know my husband loves to cook too, and it is the only cookbook that he refers to. I am more the cookbook collector in this household, and I have a huge collection which I have been collecting since I was a teenager. Anyway the Edmonds Cookbook has the most fantastic recipe for mustard sauce and it is so nice for a change on your Corned Beed than just using plain old mustard. You can also save yourself several dollars from not having to buy a bottle of mustard sauce in the grocery store. A bottle of that is very pricey. This is such a cinch to make...it will take you five minutes at the very most.

So I am posting this recipe from the Edmonds Cookbook for you to enjoy, but just one more thing. I put my own two cents worth into the recipe if interested. Once you have made the recipe you can add 1-2 tablespoons of honey for another little different taste which is really great, so that will be up to you, but it tastes so lovely. You can't get it better than this.

Here is the recipe!

Enjoy!

Hugs From Patricia

Ingredients

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 cup corned beef stock or ham stock (that corned beef or ham has been cooked in)

1/4 cup vinegar

salt & pepper

Directions

1. Beat egg and sugar together.

2. Add flour, mustard, pepper and salt.

3. Stir in liquids gradually.

4 .Cook in saucepan over medium heat until mixture thickens.

5. Serve over hot sliced corned beef or hot ham.

Malcolm's Homemade Rhubarb Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Well I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I have had plenty of committments over the last year and more, but I do hope to be posting more regularly now that things are quieting down.

I was recently mentioning on FaceBook about my husband's wonderful Rhubrab Pie recipe and I have had quite a number of people messaging me and e-mailing me to post his recipe. Well he just typed it up for me so I am including it here below for all those that might be interested. This is his own personal recipe, and Malcolm always bakes from scratch....one of his passions is baking of course as many of you know. I did a search on the Internet on Google images to find a photo of rhubarb pie which I thought would closely resemble the ones that he makes just so you can get the idea of what it will look like. As for my own two cents here, you can also add some cut up fresh strawberries to the mixture for some additional taste. Malcolm made us a rhubarb pie about two weeks ago...I should have taken my own photo but the above will do.

If you would like to see more of our recipes and others, feel free to Follow Me on FaceBook and/or Network Blogs.

Here is the recipe:

MALCOLM'S HOMEMADE RHUBARB PIE

This could not be easier - you can make a pie from fruit of just about any sort using this method (rhubarb of course is not a fruit). If you thought rhubarb was boring you might change your mind after trying this. It is dead easy to grow in a sunny spot, is perennial and above all makes a very cheap but delicious dessert. Since the recipe is basically just stewed rhubarb, the pastry pie topping makes it attractive to the children which is a bonus.

METHOD:

Choose your favourite pie dish and cut enough stalks of rhubarb into pieces about an inch long to fill it to about an inch below the rim. DO NOT use the leaves - they contain oxalic acid which is not stomach-friendly. The stalks are just fine!

Prepare a topping of flaky pastry sufficient to cover the top of the pie dish with a little to spare.

Place the chopped rhubarb into a pot (saucepan), put in about half a cup of water and half a cup of white sugar.

Bring to the boil stirring occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom. Simmer and stir occasionally until the rhubarb is soft and basically mushes up easily.

Taste and add sugar a tablespoonful at a time, stirring each time until the sugar is dissolved before re-tasting until the tartness (or lack thereof) suits your liking.

Preheat the oven on BAKE to about 160C (about 320F).

Remove the pot containing the rhubarb from the heat and pour into the pie dish. Wet the pastry on both sides and place over rhubarb in the pie dish, pushing the excess into the sides of the dish to form a moat with a mound in the middle. Make a cross-cut in the centre of the pastry to give expanding liquids in the pie an escape route should they need it. Sprinkle some raw sugar over the top and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 - 40 minutes or until the pastry is somewhat golden on top.

Done.

We hope you will enjoy this one...it is absolutely scrumptious!

Patricia

Chicken Vegetable Soup And Red Lobster Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Patricia's Homemade Chicken Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

6 chicken drumsticks

2 large zucchinis

cut circular

2 large carrots cut into small pieces

1 large red onion chopped

2 celery stalks with some leaves chopped into small pieces

1 parsnip cut into small pieces

2 bay leaves

8 peppercorns

salt

1 tbsp. fresh or dried parsley chopped

5 tsp. chicken stock powder

4 liters of water

Directions:

Place the drumsticks into a medium sized pot and cover well with water and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let simmer for one hour. I prefer to do the chicken separately first and then remove the meat from the bones rather than having to remove the bones from the completed soup.
While the chicken is simmering, cut the veggies and set aside.
Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. Reserve liquid for stock.
Remove the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces.
In a large soup pot add the reserved liquid from the chicken and add 3 of the 5 tsp. of chicken stock powder. Add 4 liters of water and bring to a boil, constantly stirring to dissolve chicken stock powder.
Add chicken and all the vegetables, bay leaves, parsley, and peppercorns. The chicken stock powder tends to be a bit salty so it is possible that no salt will be required. Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for 3 hours. Taste at regular intervals to determine whether you might want to add any of the remaining chicken stock powder from what you have set aside initially, and add salt to your taste only if required.
Serve with biscuits.

This is my personal recipe for homemade chicken vegetable soup which I have been making for many years. Feel free to pass it on.

Copy Cat Recipe For

The Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits

2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix
¾ cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese

Brush on Top:

2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
½ teaspoon garlic powder
pinch salt

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

3. Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

5. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.

Corn Chowder

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:04:00 +0000

In my estimation corn is one of the most versatile vegetables I can think of. Not only are there endless ways to prepare and serve corn but there are also many health benefits to be derived from corn as well.

One of the benefits of corn is that it is high in nutrients. A few of these important nutrients are:
Thiamin (vitamin B1) which is used in the metabolism of carbohydrates. Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) which helps with physiological functions. Folate which helps the generation of new cells, and especially important before and during pregnancy and Vitamin C which fights against diseases.
Corn is also a good source of fiber. One cup of corn provides 18.4% of the daily recommendation of fiber. Its high fiber content is one of the biggest benefits of corn. Fiber has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels and help reduce the risk of colon cancer. Fiber is also useful in helping to lower blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Corn is a low-fat complex carbohydrate that deserves a regular place on any healthy table. These high-fiber, fat-fighting kernels of goodness are also hearty and satisfying.

Nigella Lawson, world famous British Cook and Cookbook Author has a great recipe for

Sweet Corn Pudding

I made it last week after seeing her prepare it on one of her videos. You can also find her recipe at the above link. Although I am not very big into eggs, and there are a few in the recipe, but my husband just loved it.

Another wonderful way to enjoy corn is to grill corn on the cob on the barbecue. It is quick and easy and one of my favorite ways to have corn.

Yes! You Can Grill

Southern Cornbread is another favorite of mine. I love the flavor and texture of freshly baked cornbread right from the oven with butter. It tastes especially spectacular with Mexican dishes too, and goes very well with my personal family recipe for Corn Chowder below.

Iowa Corn Au Gratin is the next recipe with corn I am going to try. There are not as many eggs in this recipe as in Nigella's Sweet Corn Pudding, but I am anxious to give it a whirl.

Simple Corn Stuffed Tomatoes is another great recipe I found on the Internet. Now this one is so easy to prepare and takes so little time. It is a great "go with" with chicken and pork dishes. I have oodles of wonderful recipes that I have collected over the years from the Internet and there a millions of them out there. I have a huge collection of cookbooks as I have been an avid cookbook collector for eons, but I just love to search for new and exciting recipes from other people throughout the world.

Now here is my personal recipe for Corn Chowder. I feel that it is one of my favorite food items to prepare and I must admit it is so yummy. I make it quite a bit during the cold winter months, and just made some a couple of days ago, and there is plenty of it sitting in the fridge for my lunches. I have shared this recipe with many of my family members and friends and everyone seems to enjoy it so much. By the way the Southern Cornbread goes very well with this chowder.

Patricia's Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

1 large can fresh corn kernels

1 large can creamed corn

(You can also use fresh corn of desired)

1 large can whole plum tomatoes (drained)

1 large onion diced

1 red capsicum (sweet red pepper)

6 cups of chicken stock

(I use chicken stock powder - 1 level tsp to 1 cup of water)

1 tbsp ground coriander seeds

4 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp of unsalted butter

1 cup of dry white wine

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp basil

salt

pepper

1/4 tsp. chili powder

Directions:

Dice the red capsicum (also know as red pepper) and set aside.

Boil enough water for 6 cups for the chicken stock and add the chicken stock powder to the boiling water and stir thoroughly and set aside.

In a food processor blend all the canned corn and plum tomatoes for about 20 seconds and set aside.

Dice the onion, and in a large soup pot saute the onion and ground coriander in the olive oil and butter. I love to use coriander seeds which I grind up with my mortar and pestle first. I think the aroma and flavor of the coriander is much more pronounced using seeds vs. already ground coriander in a jar. Saute for approximately 5 minutes using moderate heat, and stir frequently.

Add the white wine and continue cooking for just a few minutes until the majority of the wine has been evaporated. Add the chicken stock, cream, and the corn and tomato mixture and red capsicum, 1/4 tsp. chili powder and bring to a boil on High. Then lower the heat and cook at a good simmer for about 20 minutes. Be sure to stir frequently. You can add the basil and stir into the chowder about ten minutes before the corn chowder is done. Add salt and pepper to your own taste.

Garnish with croutons or serve with Southern Corn Bread or any of your favorite soup "go withs".

I would love for you to try this recipe. I think it is one you will want to have over and over again. If you decide to give it a try I would love to hear from you.

Enjoy!

Patricia

Foodscapes

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:33:00 +0000

A dear friend from Alaska sent this wonderful Power Point Presentation to me this morning....a Food Art Photography presentation which is a must see for all foodies. And by the way if you would like to know how to embed Power Point Presentations on to your blogs, be sure to read my post on Power Point Presentations on my Every Day Matters Blog. My blogs are listed on the right hand sidebar panel of my blog.

To view a full screen beautiful view of this presentation click "presentation" below. The link will take you to the SlideShare web site and then you can click on "Full View", although you can view a smaller version just by clicking on the forward arrow below.

Enjoy the Presentation!

Patricia

Foodscapes

view presentation (tags: food art photography foodie)

Look Who's In The Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Gorday Ramsay Interview

Watching him go into expletive overload on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (in which he struggles to rescue failing restaurants, and which returns this month), it’s easy to assume that it’s all done for the benefit of the cameras. It’s not.
This man effs and blinds the same way most of us breathe. If swearing was an art form, he’d be Da Vinci, Monet and van Gogh rolled into one. If Michelin gave out stars for bad language, he’d have a fistful of them, too.
When he arrives rather late, in the dining room of his restaurant at Claridges, he’s not the only one ready to do a bit of swearing. However, he’s so apologetic, courteous and solicitous, it’s impossible not to warm to him.
He offers tea, coffee, orange juice, and a full English breakfast from the kitchen, while staff bustle about ironing the tablecloths onto each table. It’s tempting to imagine poached plover eggs, organically-reared Wild Boar bacon, sausages flown in direct from Cumberland, and truffles fresh from Tuscany. But conducting an interview is difficult with a mouth full of meat, while egg runs down your chin.
Ramsay, however, takes the refusal as a sinister sign. “I’m not sat with a vegetarian, am I?” he scowls. His relationship with our herbivorous brothers and sisters is a notoriously volatile one.
He has been the bête noir of the vegetarian community ever since he confessed in an interview to having fed a dish to a vegetarian party that contained chicken stock. He has also been known, on the odd couple of hundred occasions, to make scornful pronouncements about vegetarianism, so what he says next is something of a surprise.
“We have the most amazing vegetarian menu here. For me, the biggest frustration about vegetarians is that chefs don’t look after them enough. They oust them as if they’d been diagnosed with leprosy.
They don’t treat them as normal customers. Here, we make sure they have just as exciting food.” Not that every dish meets with their approval. “We always get the trendy student vegetarians protesting outside here when I put a new Foie Gras dish on the menu. The General Manager says ‘Oh, your mates are here again.’”
He does, however, insist on acquiring meat that has been ethically reared and collected. “That’s absolutely paramount. We have traceability across the board, where we have a certification of whether it’s organic beef, or whether it’s a hand-picked scallop or a line-caught sea bass.
We’re anti-fish farming. We have a problem with our waters in this country where everything is over-fished because we’ve been so indulgent. No one’s understood the preciousness of cod.”
Sourcing food, and buying the correct ingredients, is one of the key fundaments of running a restaurant. It was the first thing Ramsay discovered that chef and restaurant owner Alex was getting wrong at La Lanterna, an Italian restaurant in Letchworth that is the subject of the first of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.
He recounts their opening discussion. “’So, it’s a local Italian restaurant. Where do the peppers come from?’ ‘Tescos’. ‘Where do you get your courgettes from?’ ‘The butcher’ ‘Where did you get the ‘Lazy Lemon’ juice in plastic bottles?’ ‘Oh, Cash & Carry’. ‘So what’s Italian about your restaurant?’”
It didn’t end there, as the appalled Ramsay discovered. Food was left to defrost under running water, while Alex ate Pot Noodles for lunch. Vegetable platters were prepared and then left sitting all over the kitchen, and sauces pre-prepared from packets.
Meanwhile, the business was losing £1,000-a-week, Alex had re-mortgaged his house, and hadn’t slept in months. “At that stage, I was just more upset for the customer,” says Ramsay. “It was them that were getting the mickey taken out of them.
I’ve never seen anyone so far removed from the reality of what it takes to get a restaurant right… All that horrible brown glue and white béchamel sauce. I wouldn’t even serve that to my kitchen porters if they hadn’t turned up to work for three weeks. It was just gunk. It wouldn’t even go down the sink.”
Hygiene, too, was somewhat lacking. “I was horrified. There was a microwave that looked like it had come out of a Harry Potter movie. It was like someone had sprayed it with glue, doused three kilos of porridge oats inside, then shaken it up and lined it with things dripping from the inside. He said it had been on the floor, tucked away and forgotten about. I asked how long he’d had it. He said two years, so I asked when he’d last cleaned it. He said ‘I don’t think we have’.”
Alex was out of his depth, and more intent on playing golf than putting in the hours of food preparation. There was also a distinct lack of culinary know-how.
On one occasion, Ramsay prepared three pasta dishes, to test which one a blindfolded Gavin (the Maitre d’) and Alex thought would best complement grilled swordfish. “They both went for the third one as being the most textured and best to go with Swordfish. They took the blindfolds off, and they’d chosen the Curry Pot Noodle.”
One more surprise awaited the astonished Ramsay; Alex’s luxury new car with the number plate reading A1 CHEF. “I came out of the kitchen and saw it and was absolutely gobsmacked. If I saw a car like that outside Claridges, I’d stone it with eggs,” he says, showing a healthy disregard for the need for stones to be involved in a stoning.
“He was so carried away with the cosmetic and glamour side of cooking. And there’s nothing glamorous when you’re busting your nuts off.”
It will surprise nobody to hear that Ramsay is unimpressed by such an approach to cooking, and had no qualms about conveying his disdain in a more than forthright manner. But he refutes claims that he is an unpleasant man to work for. “Everyone thinks you’re an arsehole to work for because you get straight to the point. I’ve the most amazing relationship with my guys, and yeah, if things go wrong, they have to take it.
But I expect just as much from myself as I do from them.” The fact that he’s still got 85 per cent of his staff from 1993 working with him in some capacity seems to indicate a degree of loyalty that few would expect from employees of such a reputed tyrant.
The truth behind the headlines, as is so often the case, is somewhat different. In truth, Ramsay comes across as something of a softy. He talks tenderly about his family, from his social worker mother who runs a refuge in Taunton to his brother, who is recovering from drug dependence. There is real pride in his voice when he announces: “On June 1st this year, my little brother is clean for a year”.
But the real centre of his moral compass is his own young family. Unlike in the kitchen, here his wife is in charge of discipline. “Tanya’s a schoolteacher, so I’m very lucky there. They sit on the naughty rug. I think I spend more time on there than they do… I leave that side to her – I’m quite chauvinistic about that, because she’s better at it than I am. The one thing I don’t do is bring any problems home. I lived with that throughout my childhood, and I saw how much humiliation and pain my mum suffered because my dad brought all his problems home.”
He doesn’t smack his kids, and rarely raises his voice to them. He doesn’t see them as much as he’d like during the week, but insists “weekends are special. Saturday mornings is Jack and football on Wandsworth Common, and the girls go to ballet. A few months ago, Jack wanted to go to ballet too, and I said: ‘Mate, no! I loved Billy Elliott, but you’re not going to ballet!’”
This is said in jest, but you wonder if Ramsay has invested some of his own (failed) football ambition into his son. He was released by Glasgow Rangers Football Club at the age of 18, in 1981, shattering his dreams of a career as a professional. He says he was “mortified for ten years. So,” he continues, “I hid myself in food”. He studied for years, learning his trade under chefs including Marco Pierre White, Albert Roux, Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon, and a culinary star was born.
Just as well, then, that he didn’t take the advice of his school careers officer, who suggested he become a police officer. “I’d have been the most bent copper in London,” he roars. He would also have had to re-sit O Levels. It seems unfeasible, given his articulacy, entrepreneurial ability, hard working nature and fluent command of French, but he only passed two O Levels, English and Maths.
Ramsay’s kids are not allowed to watch dad’s programmes, largely on account of the agricultural nature of his language. The eldest, Megan, who is approaching six, is dimly aware that her dad is famous, thanks to questions from friends at school. Indeed, Ramsay’s reputation seems to precede him here; when he takes Megan to school “all the mothers bolt back into their 4x4s in their tracksuits”.
On the subject of school, Ramsay is hugely supportive of Jamie Oliver’s recent campaign to improve the food we give our children there. “The guy opened a can of worms… and I think he helped create a level of guilt in every parent in Britain, and rightly so, in the sense that they had taken for granted what their children were being fed was adequate, and he shone the light on inadequacy beyond belief. A tremendous campaign, absolutely brilliant.”
At the other end of the scale from Oliver’s popular campaign is chef Heston Blumenthal’s own, rather more exclusive food revolution. What does Ramsay make of The Fat Duck, Blumenthal’s unconventional restaurant that some consider to be the world’s best? “He is definitely the Willy Wonka of cookery. We’re mates. I always say to my customers: ‘Go, but don’t go to eat, go and have fun. Go and watch an egg-white being poached in liquid nitrogen – just stand back if the wheel falls off the trolley, because your fingers will fall off with it.’
It’s very clever and diverse. The smoked bacon and egg ice cream sounds revolting, but it tastes phenomenal. And there’s a chocolate fondant that’s like Space Dust – you put it in your mouth and there’s a snap, crackle and pop taking place on your tongue. It’s hilarious.”
The Fat Duck is a far cry from the restaurants Ramsay visited for the filming of Kitchen Nightmares. If anything, things became even more desperate after the first programme. In a restaurant called D Place, Ramsay arrived on Valentine’s night, the trade’s busiest evening of the year, to find six bookings for the evening. “I took a picture of the wife with me, and sat it opposite me at the table. I sat there like Nobby Nomates talking to her all night.”
The dining experience offered little relief. “I asked for the watercress soup, and the waitress came back saying the chef had only made three portions.” The main course was, he says, awful, while the Crème Brulee was liquid. The chef, Philippe, later admitted: ‘I was in trouble today, so I went to Tescos and bought them, but I forgot to cook them’.”
That, though, was nothing to a later incident, which we shall call Potatogate. Potatogate erupted when Ramsay gave instructions about preparing a potato salad for a wake. The next day, he enquired of Philippe how he’d cooked the potatoes, and was told they’d been roasted. Ramsay suggested they’d been deep fat fried. “He argued that he hadn’t deep fat fried them, so I flipped my lid. He was clearly lying. From a cook’s point of view, working with a liar is worse than working with a guy who can’t cook, because you’ve got no form of trust.”
“I punched a hotplate and said ‘You’re going to tell me the truth’,” says Ramsay. Eventually, another member of the kitchen staff was questioned about how the potatoes had been cooked. “There was an air of silence for about five minutes, then he turned around and said ‘Philippe deep fat fried them’. And then it all kicked off.” Just verbally? “I don’t know about that! That’s not for me to say. I’m going to get into trouble here!”
He could be forgiven for just playing at Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares; he’s busy enough as it is. He runs three top restaurants, has interests in a further four, with two more opening. He’s published six books, writes newspaper columns, runs a scholarship for trainee chefs, and has several different food ranges on sale commercially. But to hear Ramsay speak, or to watch him tearing strips off Philippe in a kitchen, it becomes apparent this is far from playtime. He means it. All of it.
Indeed, he says that the programme he filmed in Brighton for this series was an extraordinarily emotional experience for him. The restaurant was run by a woman who had a heart as big as the kitchen at Claridges. “This woman’s amazing! She reminds me of my mum. She fostered 35 children. She’s an absolute sweetheart.” Too nice to tell her staff off, she was being taken for a ride by her employees, who left her to do all the work. Enter Gordon Ramsay, exit niceness.
It would spoil the series to give away the endings of any of the programmes, but suffice to say, there are plenty of fireworks along the way. In the end, it is up to the individuals themselves to stick to the regime introduced by Ramsay. “They’re given a database of information and recipes. It’s like a passport, like a bible that they get given with everything in there. So we’re not setting them up with something they can’t maintain after we’ve gone. So much work goes into it. It’s far more normal for me to do that than stand in a kitchen with Edwina Currie [as he did in the series Hell’s Kitchen].”
After what seems like a few minutes, but turns out to be an hour, our time is up. Ramsay is already late for about 312 appointments. He is quickly bustled out, and the austere dining room seems much quieter and emptier without his presence. In the background, his highly-trained staff are working diligently, as the occasional gentle hiss of an iron confirms.

Garam Masala Pears

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:20:00 +0000

I received this recipe from Emilie and I can't wait to try it. You can visit Emilie's excellent Food Blog at:

The Conscious Kitchen

Thanks for sharing your recipe Emilie!

4 small ripe Comice pears (Anjou or Seckle are good alternatives)

4 Tablespoons agave nector

4 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon lemon juice optional

toasted sesame seeds or toasted coconut for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

peel and core the pears, cut in half and arrange cut-side down in a baking dish

whisk the agave, water, oil, garam masala and lemon together

pour mixture over the pears

bake for 20 minutes, basting the pears halfway through.

I was mentioning to Emilie that all I needed to find now was some agave nectar, but in having done a little research I found that it is available in most food specialty shops and also in health food shops. The following is some useful information about the agave nectar.

The Awesome Agave

The agave (uh-gah-vay) plant has long been cultivated in hilly, semi-arid soils of Mexico. Its fleshy leaves cover the pineapple-shaped heart of the plant, which contains a sweet sticky juice. Ancient Mexicans considered the plant to be sacred. They believed the liquid from this plant purified the body and soul. When the Spaniards arrived, they took the juices from the agave and fermented them, leading to the drink we now call tequila.
But there is a more interesting use for this historic plant. Agave syrup (or nectar) is about 90% fructose. Only recently has it come in use as a sweetener. It has a low glycemic level and is a delicious and safe alternative to table sugar. Unlike the crystalline form of fructose, which is refined primarily from corn, agave syrup is fructose in its natural form. This nectar does not contain processing chemicals. Even better, because fructose is sweeter than table sugar, less is needed in your recipes. It can be most useful for people who are diabetic, have insulin resistance (Syndrome X), or are simply watching their carbohydrate intake.
Fructose has a low glycemic value. However, according to some experts, if fructose is consumed after eating a large meal that overly raises the blood sugar or with high glycemic foods, it no longer has a low glycemic value. Strangely enough, it will take on the value of the higher glycemic food. So exercise restraint, even with this wonderful sweetener. It is a good policy to eat fructose-based desserts on an empty stomach, in between meals or with other low-glycemic foods. Use it for an occasional treat or for a light touch of sweetness in your dishes.

FYI

This sweetener is sometimes called "nectar" and sometimes called "syrup". It is the same food.
The light syrup has a more neutral flavor.
In recipes, use about 25% less of this nectar than you would use of table sugar. ¾ cup of agave nectar should equal 1 cup of table sugar. For most recipes this rule works well.
When substituting this sweetener in recipes, reduce your liquid slightly, sometimes as much as 1/3 less.
Reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees.
Agave nectar can be combined with Splenda to counter Splenda's aftertaste and to control the amount of fructose used.
The glycemic index of agave nectar is low.
As a food exchange, a one-teaspoon serving of agave nectar equals a free food. Two servings or two teaspoons equals ½ carbohydrate exchange.

Cheers From Patricia

Garam Masala

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:15:00 +0000

My husband and I love having Indian food and the spicier the better. Hubby is an excellent cook and loves taking over when it comes to preparing all our Indian meals. Garam Masala is one of the main ingredients in most Indian foods, so I thought I would share an easy recipe for making your very own Garam Masala. By the way I will be sharing a few posts in the near future of various Indian recipes. One coming up will be for a Chick Pea Gravy...a recipe which my husband received from a friend at work. He and his friends were having a luncheon at the office and a friend had made some Chick Pea Gravy which my husband claims was "out of this world". It is served with bread or rolls. Now I haven't made it yet, although I have already added the recipe to my personal cookbook files...but I purchased the Chick Peas last Saturday and just need to get a couple of more ingredients and I am set to go. Looking forward to making it on Saturday.

Well on with the Garam Masala.

1 /2" Cinnamon Stick (about 1 heaping tsp broken)

2 Bay Leaves, broken

3 tablespoons Green Cardamom Pods

2 teaspoons Fenugreek Seeds

1 tablespoon Whole Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Whole Coriander Seeds

1 tablespoon Black Peppercorns

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Whole Cloves

1 teaspoon Blade Mace

Preparation Instructions

Break the cinnamon sticks into pieces.

Crumble the bay leaves.

Heat a heavy frying pan and after 2-3 minutes put in the whole spices.

Dry roast over medium heat until the color darkens, stirring or shaking the pan frequently to prevent burning. Burns very easily!

Leave to cool, then grind.
Apparently stored in a airtight jar this will last 3-4 months.
You can add 2 teaspoons of ground tumeric after grinding to add a golden color and/or add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger to give some heat, or to taste."

Let me know how yours comes out!

A little info about Garam Masala....

Garam means Hot and Masala in this sense means spice mix, although not many are hot as the name implies, but . There are hundreds of varieties, but suprisingly not many are available to public viewing as their secret content is often jealously guarded by families and chefs alike.

Garam Masala is often used towards the very end of the cooking process, and sometimes just sprinkled over the dish as it is being served. It creates that wonderful smell and taste we are so used to, and because most spice mixes are delicate they would not withstand a long cooking time and still preserve their aromas and flavours.

The typical spices found in Garam Masala are; Coriander, Cumin, Cinnamon or Cassia, Asian Bay leaves, cloves, Cardamoms, Turmeric, and Chillies. Quite often these are roasted whole and when cool they ground to a fine or coarse powder. A grinding stone is the best method as it releases the flavours, but you can use a coffee grinder which will do a reasonble job; but beware some spices like Cumin cause the spindle to seix=ze and attack the plastic also. So make sure you clean the grinder thoroughly each time.

It is always preferable to make your own Garam Masalas as commercial packaged varieties are often contain fillers, additives and inferior spices. Make up in small quantities, keep them in a glass jar (spices affect some plastics) and store them in a dark cool place, and don't keep them for too long as the soon lose their qualities.

Cheers From Patricia

Baked Peach Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:45:00 +0000

One food item I have truly missed since I moved here to New Zealand ten years ago is Bisquick. It is just so easy to use and very convenient to have on hand in the cupboard. Unfortunately it is virtually unavailable here, but just recently I was browsing some food categories on TradeMe New Zealand which is the New Zealand equivalent of eBay and I found a lovely lady that had some for sale which she had brought over from the States. So I immediately bought 6 large boxes and found myself in seventh heaven. I hadn't used any for ten years so this was definitely heaven sent as far as I was concerned. Now I know many of us are Gordon Ramsay fans and I would probably get a "white thumbs down" if he ever knew I was using anything but the natural ingredients from scratch, but sorry Gordon we all have a comfort zone and now was my chance to get busy in the kitchen again making some great Bisquick goodies. I thought you might all enjoy a great recipe for Baked Peach Pancakes....using Bisquick of course, and I will include the recipe here for you, but for those of you who prefer the "from scratch method" it is here for you as well.

Baked Peach Pancakes (Bisquick Style)

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup Original Bisquick® mix

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

2 medium Green Giant® Fresh peaches, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Place 2 tablespoons butter in each of two 9-inch pie plates. Heat in oven until melted.
2. Stir together Bisquick, milk and eggs. Arrange half of the peach slices in each pie plate. Divide batter evenly between pie plates. Stir together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Baked Peach Pancakes From Scratch

4 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

4-5 medium peaches, peeled and sliced

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Beat eggs and add sugar, milk, oil and salt. Add flour and mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter two 9 inch round cake pans and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Arrange peach slices on pans and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar and brown sugar. Dot with butter. Pour batter over peaches and bake 30-35 minutes until top is golden.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:29:00 +0000

Although it is quite cold here in New Zealand right now, I have spoken with several family members and friends up in North America and all I am hearing is how hot it has been. I am quite envious actually and I would swap weather with any of you in a heartbeat. So I have decided to share something refreshing from the heat with all those sweating in those hot spots all over America and elsewhere. A nice Pineapple Smoothie should do the trick. I have always loved pineapple during the summer especially, and even now we enjoy having fresh pineapple here in the winter months as well. I love to munch on it, and I really do enjoy cooking with it too. Pineapple is terrific on homemade pizzas, and great in a pork stir fry too. Give it a try!

Here's your Smoothie!

Ingredients:

2 c. orange juice

2 (16 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained

4 med. bananas

4 tsp. sugar

2 (16 oz.) carton plain yogurt

2 c. crushed ice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except yogurt in blender and process until smooth.

Add yogurt and process until blended.

Garnish with a pineapple .

Yummy Cupcakes...But Take A Closer Look!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:21:00 +0000

Greetings From New Zealand!

Setting all food aside for a moment....you will just have to have a look at these great cupcakes.....But....they are pincushions! I couldn't resist sharing them on Platter Chatter. Almost good enought to eat, right?

If you are a stitcher, sewer, quilter or an all-around craftsperson than you will absolutely adore these wonderfully glitzy cupcake pincushions created by my dear and talented friend Jana way up in the woods of British Columbia, Canada. I was so excited when I saw Jana's cupcake pincushions that I just had to share them with all my blog readers. They are so reasonably priced that you won't be able to resist adding one to you collection of needlework or craft accessories. They are sooooo soft and ever so colorful. I use mine every day....it is just so pretty to look at in person and serves your every day pincushion needs for your crafting. The pincushion comes with some bright glitzy pins which really top it off to a perfection that you will almost want to eat one. Just click on any one of these excellent images and it will take you to Jana's wonderful web site for pricing and additional details...and while you are there have a good peek around at all the other magnificent goodies that Jana has to offer especially for those of you interested in graphics for computer graphic design and scrapbooking. There are gigabytes galore of beautifully designed and created goodies for all your special needs.

Enjoy your cupcake.....mine is so good...I'll just have to have another!

Jana's Wonderful Web Site

A Whimsy Dust Affair

Patricia

Food Lovers Unite...I'm Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:28:00 +0000

Well I'm back blogging after a very long hiatus due to some health issues, and more recently busy with my jewelery business. I hope to be able to stay more current so that I can provide all of you that read my Blog all kinds of interesting goodies and items worth noting. Yes, all these months away from blogging has been a bit disheartening but hopefully things will pick up. I thank all of those who have still been reading my blog during my absence and look forward to having you all back again.
A very special Happy Fourth of July to all of my American Family and Friends and Readers. Actually the 4th happens also to be my Wedding Anniversary. This year on the 4th my husband and I will be married ten years. So hard to believe that I moved here to New Zealand from New York just ten years ago to marry my Kiwi fiancé It seems like just yesterday quite frankly.
I have been pretty busy just lately setting up my new web site for my jewelry business:

Irresistibly Ewe
At
Patricia's Beaded Treasures

I would love for you to stop by for a visit, although I do not have any jewelry uploaded as yet but hope to be ready to go within the next week or two weeks. All of my jewelry is hand-crafted personally. I will be offering beaded jewelry, beaded charms fobs, and beaded bookmarks. There will also be links for other items for offer such as Home Decor, Vintage Treasures, and Shabby-Chic. You may also have interest in auctions, and they will be available via my boutique as well. I will post to my blog to let you know when I am up and running, but feel free to have a peek at my web site itself.
Well...good to be back all.....and as always I welcome your feedback at any time. Have a good look around as there are lots of things to see and make you think on my all my blogs.

Cheers From Patricia

Apple Butter: Granny Smith Working Overtime

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 01:07:00 +0000

I have all of my ingredients set for the weekend.....it's time for me to make some Apple Butter!

Apple Butter Festivals are a great pastime in the American South, but making apple butter itself seems to be virtually unheard of in many other parts of the world, so I thought I would share a great recipe for making your own apple butter. Apple butter is wonderful as a spread on toast bread or a bagel, and even better, served on a cracker with a nice slice of brie or camembert. In some areas, making apple butter is a family or community project where everyone contributes the apples and the other ingredients and all the components are simmered together in large outdoor kettles. However it could not be more simple, in that you can make it on your own stove top or also in your slow cooker or crock pot. Once you have had a taste of this luscious treat there is no turning back. I use Granny Smith apples because I feel they offer the best taste for apple butter, however any good cooking apples can be used. The term butter is is used because when the apple butter is complete it resembles a soft rich consistency much like butter, but there is no actual butter in the recipe. I am making my Apple Butter on Saturday, and with the 4 lb bag of Granny Smiths that I have in the kitchen it should yield about (6) 8 ounce jars or the equivalent. It is helpful to have either a chinois ( a conical shape sieve) on hand or a food mill for use in this recipe. They can be purchased very inexpensively, and usually found in the gadget section of the supermarket or even in the $2 stores. The following are photos of the chinoise and the food mill, but have a look at the recipe as you may be able to improvise with something you have in the cupboard.

chinoise

food mill

Enjoy the recipe, and I would love to know how your apple butter turns out!

APPLE BUTTER

SOURCE: Simply Recipes

Ingredients

4 lbs of good cooking apples (we use Granny Smith or Gravenstein)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 cups water Sugar (about 4 cups, see cooking instructions)

Salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Equipment Needed

1 wide 8-quart pan (Stainless steel or copper with stainless steel lining)

A food mill or a chinois sieve

A large (8 cup) measuring cup pourer

6-8 8-ounce canning jars

Preparing the Fruit

1 Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels), cut out damaged parts.

First Stage of Cooking

2 Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Measure out the purée and add the sugar and spices3 Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve (or foodmill) and using a pestle force pulp from the chinois into a large bowl below. Measure resulting puree. Add 1/2 cup of sugar for each cup of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add a dash of salt, and the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Second Stage of Cooking

4 Cook uncovered in a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust is not forming at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth when a bit is spooned onto a cold plate and allowed to cool (1 to 2 hours). You can also cook the purée on low heat, stirring only occasionally, but this will take much longer as stirring encourages evaporation. (Note the wider the pan the better, as there is more surface for evaporation.)

Canning

5 There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

6 Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal. If you plan to store the apple butter un-refrigerated, make sure to follow proper canning procedures. Before applying the lids, sterilize the lids by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Wipe the rims of the jars clean before applying the lids. I use a hot water bath for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.
As an alternative to stove cooking the puree you can cook uncovered in a microwave, on medium heat to simmer, for around 30 minutes.

Makes a little more than 3 pint jars.

A Lovely Recipe Using Your Homemade Apple Butter

Baked Prosciutto and Brie with Apple Butter Recipe

Courtesy Tyler Florence

Show: Food 911 Episode: Texas Tea Party

1 loaf crusty French bread

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup apple butter

16 thin slices prosciutto

about 1/4 pound 2 pears or apples, thinly sliced

1 pound Brie, thinly sliced

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Cut 16 (1/2-inch thick) slices out of the loaf. Butter each side of the slices and put them onto a baking sheet. Spread 1 tablespoon of apple butter onto each slice. Top this with 1 slice of prosciutto and 3 or 4 slices of pear or apple. Cover this with the Brie slices, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Wikipedia: Apple Butter

The Plump Persimmon

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:43:00 +0000

Computer Desktop Wallpaper 800 x 600

(click above image)

I have long loved the taste and freshness of a nice juicy persimmon, but it has been ages since I have had one. They are great in salads and some desserts and make a wonderfully colorful presentation in your cooking. My husband is an avid gardener, but we have yet to plant a persimmon tree, so I think it is high time I started making some new recomendations for some fruits that I have truly missed.

I have made a new Desktop Wallpaper with a Persimmon Theme, so feel free to snag it. Just click on the Desktop Wallpaper image above to see the larger view and save to your hard drive. The size is 800 X 600 pixels but feel free to resize it to accomodate your screen resolution. From time to time I will be creating more Desktop Wallpapers with Culinary Themes, so be sure to stop by often to see what I have available for you. I will more than likely create a list on the sidebar with the theme links so you can grab them on the go.

In the meantime here is a very good article by Mary Robertson about persimmons, and some links I have found where you can find some persimmon recipes.

Persimmons

Source:

Mary Robertson

National Radio Talkback Host and Newspaper Columnist

Known as the fruit of the Gods Persimmon have been a major fruit in the diet of more than a billion people in Asia. But new Zealanders have been slow to appreciate this gorgeous looking and deliciously sweet and crunchy “good for you” autumn and winter bearing fruit. The glossy orange round fruit are available in supermarkets right now and easy to eat, just like an apple without the skin. Use in fruit salads, desserts, cakes, ices and sorbets. Whole fruits and pureed flesh freezes well and will remain in perfect condition for months sealed in polythene bags. Persimmons contain high amounts of Vitamin A and C which make them the ideal pick me up after a night of alcoholic over indulgence.
There are two types of Persimmons available---- astringent and non astringent. Modern varieties are non astringent which means you can eat the delicious ripe firm fruit straight off the tree. Astringent varieties are highly acidic and give you that pucker up feeling unless they are soft and very ripe. Most of the older mature garden specimens are astringent varieties and to hasten ripening harvest the pale orange fruit and seal in a plastic bag with a ripe banana or apple.
The Persimmon is a highly decorative ornamental deciduous tree. Its wide spreading arching branches grow in weeping tiers to give an oriental appearance. The large glossy dark green leaves turn vibrant orange, yellow and red in autumn. They fall to reveal the ripening fruits. These start out as pale green then apricot and finally glowing orange. Fruit will remain on the tree until discovered by birds and deemed ripe enough to eat.
Persimmons need to grow in fertile, free draining soil. They especially dislike having wet roots in winter so good drainage is critical. Choose a sunny wind sheltered site. If space is a problem espalier against a wall or fence. They also make good subjects as container plants where they will fruit for many years in a Bonsai state. I saw a specimen recently growing on a raised wall where the branches were cascading and I could look up at the hundreds of pendulous fruit. Quite a marvelous sight.Stake well when planting and be prepared to support young branches with props when laden with fruit. As the tree matures it will be able to support the fruits weight. Keep pruning to a minimum as fruit is produced on current wood or from the tips of the stems.
Feed your persimmon twice a year with a fruit tree fertilizer, the first in late winter and the second straight after flowering in spring.
In the orient there are over one thousand varieties to choose from but the standard in N.Z is Fuyu. This non astringent variety produces medium sized fruit of great quality. The pale yellow-orange fruit has a fine texture and is very sweet.

Wikipedia: Persimmons

Epicurean.Com

Don't Miss Lucille Ball's Persimmon Cake At Epicurean

Persimmon Cookbook

Mighty Foods

The Recipe Link

Check Out What's New On My Netvibes!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:38:00 +0000

Platter Chatter With Patricia (309)

Just click on the above link and sign into Netvibes to check out all my yummy culinary goodies for you today.

A Thanksgiving Celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:32:00 +0000

With Thanksgiving not too far off I am offering a free download to a wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration Cookbook. I have uploaded the file to "YouSendIt" and the file is only good for 7 days (from September 18th through September 25th) or 100 downloads, so you may like to add it to your Computer Cookbook Library. There are some fantastic Thankgsiving recipes, especially if you are looking for something new to try for the Holidays. The cookbook contains around 115 pages and there are even some excellent leftover recipes for turkey as well. Here is just a small sampling of some of the recipes you will find in this lovely cookbook.

Tangerine-Glazed Turkey

Maple Roast Turkey and Gravy

Cranberry-Tangerine Stuffing

Minnesota Wild Life Dressing

Candied Yams With Bourbon

Corn Pudding

Lemon Garlic Steamed Broccoli

Roasted Parsnip and Thyme

Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie

Shaved Fennel and Apple Salad

Zucchini Slaw

Indian Pudding With Nutmeg Ice Cream

Cookies N' Cream Peach Cobbler

White Chocolate Almond Torte

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ambrosia Salad

Scalloped Corn and Tomatoes

Turkey Croquettes

Here is the link for the cookbook

Thanksgiving

A Celebration Of Food

I have quite an extensive collection of Cookbooks in (.pdf) files which I will be making available regularly on this blog, so stop by frequently to see what is available for download. All that is necessary is to download and save the file to your own hard drive. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file and you can download Adobe at the following link for free.

Adobe Reader

If you have any questions about the above or need assistance you can contact me at the following email address:

Patricia

The Leftover Queen

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:22:00 +0000

Whether you are seeking ways to serve up some rather ordinary leftovers and turning them into a visual feast for the eyes and the soul, or looking for some other mouth-watering recipes to reward you long overdue palate, then look no further and take some special time to visit

The Left Over Queen

Jenn's brilliant Blog is chocked full of all kinds of wonderful delights including a Pantry and Herb Garden with some superb and very selective information for every individual who enjoys spending time in the kitchen. I especially enjoy having the convenience of a Food Safety Section available on Jenn's Blog....it is so perfect if you would like to know more about food handling and storage. Jenn also has a wonderful Forum available on her Blog....a great way to communicate with other Food and Culinary Bloggers and to share our love of cooking. Best of all is Jenn's absolutely fantastic Foodie Blog Roll. What a great way to have just heaps of other Food Blogs available at your fingertips. I have been invited to add it to my own Blog here for easy access to so many other Blogs. You can find it in my right hand sidebar, and you can contact Jenn on her Blog if you wish to add it to your Food Blog too. It is an excellent blogging tool for all food bloggers.

Thanks so very much for inviting me to your Foodie Blog Roll Jenn!

For The Love Of Sushi

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:17:00 +0000

Photo By Don Kurfurst

Sushi Platter At Takara

Islandia, Long Island

New York

Photo By Don Kurfurst

Takara Sushi Bar Restaurant

Islandia, Long Island

New York

California Roll

It was in February of 1989 when I had my first scrumptious taste of sushi. I remember exactly where I was when I decided to try my first piece. It was at my nephew Michael's Christening party.....first bite and I was instantly hooked forever. I recall the party as being a pot luck and one of my brother's friends brought two huge platters of sushi....enough to feed an army I thought. I was amazed how absolutely lovely everything looked on the platter and so beautifully presented with the colorful and neatly organized layout on the trays and all the marvelous sushi combinations that made it all look so appetizing. I immediately sensed an urgency to have a go with the sushi, wasabi and all. It was then that I realized that sushi was definitely"my thing", and I try to have it as often as I can, but still not often enough. Another wonderful recollection was the night another brother took my husband and I out to a Japanese Restaurant on Long Island when we were visiting the family in New York in May 2001. Well I never saw so much sushi in my life, and to be honest I ate so much of it that night that I almost had to roll out of the restaurant. It was the best sushi I had ever had. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant so I could give them credit. Everything was so wonderfully fresh and it was a very special treat being able to watch the chefs make it right in front of us. I will have to speak to my brother and get the name of this place because I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys sushi and lives on Long Island. The interesting thing is though that I have never made it myself. I am dying to do so but I just do not have the supplies needed such as the sushi rolling mat. I am definitely putting it on my Christmas wish list for this year though. I think one of the best things about sushi however is that it is so easy to prepare, and providing that you have all the proper ingredients at hand you can actually put something together in less than 2 minutes. My favorite of all the sushi is the California Roll. Not only is it one of the most colorful, but I happen to adore avocado which is one of the ingredients that can be used in making it.

ADDENDUM TO THE ABOVE: September 15, 2007

It has been a few days since I posted about "For The Love Of Sushi", and since, I have been in contact with my brother in New York and he was kind enough to send me the link to the fantastic Sushi Bar Restaurant I spoke of above of which I could not remember the name the other day off hand. I just felt that I wanted to post the link so much for sushi lovers in New York that may not have been to TAKARA before. It is the finest Japanese Sushi Bar Restaurant I have ever been to, and well worthy of receiving the credit here for their superb Japanese Cuisine. I have quite a number of readers from Long Island, so whether you are a local resident on Long Island or planning on a visit to Long Island, TAKARA is not to be missed. I have uploaded a couple of additional photos since I lasted posted as well from TAKARA. You are surely in for a wonderful treat at TAKARA'S....the cuisine far surpasses that of most of the restaurants I have ever been to in the past, and the ambience at TAKARA'S as well as the culinary skills of the brilliant masterchefs is worth every moment of your dining pleasure. At TAKARA'S Japanese cooking is an art worth feasting your eyes on.

Here is their address

TAKARA

1708 Veterans Memorial Highway in Islandia

(In the Islandia Shopping Plaza)

Take the Long Island Expressway west to exit 57 (Route 454, Veterans Memorial Highway). At the light make a left, heading south on Veterans Memorial Highway. Stay in the right lane and continue south for about a quarter mile. You will see the Islandia Shopping Center to your right. Make a right into the shopping center. Takara is on the far right section of the shopping center next to Starbucks.

Here is a good recipe for the California Roll.....very simple and straightforward. I will also include here for you my favorite web sites for sushi and also a link to a video for making a quick and easy preparation of the California Roll.

How To Make A California Roll Uramaki

The most popular sushi dish and a favourite with the Japanese. California Rolls are the perfect introduction to the healthy fast food that's here to stay.

Uramaki is a sushi roll made with the rice on the outside and the seaweed on the inside. Uramaki can be made with a number of different fillings. This recipe uses a crab, avocado and mayonnaise filling. This is known as a California roll Uramaki.

You Will Need:

Crab meat

2 Avocado strips

Japanese mayonnaise

1 nori/ seaweed sheets

1 knife

1 bowl of water

Lay It Out

Place the rolling mat on a flat surface, we have covered it in cling film so it can be cleaned easily.
Lay the nori, that's the seaweed, on top, closest to edge that is nearest to you.
Moisten your hands in the bowl of water. Then spread a thin layer of the specially prepared sushi rice on top of the nori. Make sure the rice evenly covers the nori and press it down firmly, ensuring the rice has stuck, without mashing the kernels.

Arrange The Fillings

Flip the nori over so that it is laying rice side down.
Lay the avocado strips horizontally across the centre of the nori. Squeeze a line of mayonnaise next to this. If your mayonnaise is not in a squeezy container you can use a knife to spread a thin line instead.
Arrange the crab on top of the mayonnaise. Make sure the fillings lie evenly as this will make for a better roll.

Roll
Carefully lift up the side of the mat nearest to you and fold it over to make a cylindrical shape. Tuck in the edge of the nori with your fingers to make a complete roll
Continue pressing the roll gently, using your fingers to compress and shape the Uramaki. Make sure not to press it too hard but do ensure it is of a good even size.

Roe

To complete the roll place the Uramaki in a container of roe and keep turning it until it is covered. If you don't have such a large amount of roe, you could use your hands to press the roe into the roll.

Slice It Up

Cut the roll in two. Lay the two sides parallel to each other and slice them into 6 pieces.
TOP TIP Dipping the end of your knife in the water bowl will make it easier to slice cleanly through the roll.

Presentation

Turn each slice on its side allowing you to see the colours and pattern of the fillings, and display on a serving plate.

Video: Making a California Roll

Takara

Sayonara!

Chef Daniel Scherotta: Graduation Speech And Recipe For Gnocchi Ferrarese with Acorn Squash and Brussels Sprouts

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:17:00 +0000

Chef Daniel Scherotta

As some of my readers know I also have an Inspiration Blog called Treasures In The Attic where I post items of inspirational and motivational interest to brighten and cheer one's day. Well yesterday I came across a wonderfully inspiring Graduation Speech given by Chef Daniel Scherotta to a graduating class of culinary students, and it inspired me so much that I decided to post it here at Chatter Platter With Patricia since it is related to the world of culinary arts. Hopefully you will find it as inspiring as it was for me.

Chef Daniel Scherotta is the Chef-Owner of Palio d' Asti which is a top rated Italian Restaurant in San Francisco. He is also the Vice President of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, and California Culinary Academy Alumnus.

He was the guest speaker at the August 18 commencement ceremony in the Careme Room. I am also including one of his famous recipes for Gnocchi Ferrarese with Acorn Squash and Brussels Sprouts. Here is what he said to the graduates.

I'd like to congratulate you all on making it this far. Now, for the sake of your career, forget that you have this degree. Forget that you endured a year and a half of knife skills, garde manger, culinary history, safety and sanitation, table service and wine service, French, Italian, and Chinese cooking, mother sauces, and classical garnishes. Instead, pretend that you've just woken up from a long, Burgundy-induced slumber to realize that you want to be a chef and you have no idea how. Now, your real education is about to begin. I can't give you the key to becoming rich and famous, but I can tell you some habits of successful real chefs and also why people fail.
At my graduation from the CCA, Jan Birnbaum gave the address. Jan compared cooks to pans; there's the cheap aluminum pan that gets hot real fast, speeds you up on the line, is easy to clean and cheap to replace when it warps. Then there's the cast iron skillet; it's heavy and it takes time to heat up, takes time to season, and takes time to maintain, but once it's there, it stays hot, cooks evenly, doesn't stick, and lasts for a long time. Most cooks and chefs are aluminum pans. These are people who are the flavor of the month, the hot new thing, the rising star. So many of these one-hit wonders have disappeared since I became a chef a decade ago. You're here to build a career. Careers take time and effort, blood, sweat, and tears, but they last. In these days of fly-by-night celebrity chefs and Food Network stars, resist the impulse to become famous fast; the greats -- Keller, Vongerichten, Danko, Puck, Batali, Soltner -- all took their time. Be the cast iron skillet and do it right.
In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray kept on living the same day over and over again, gradually improving, finding his way around, preventing accidents from happening, learning from his mistakes, and earning love he passionately sought, until he finally got it right. That is life in the kitchen. When you start working somewhere, choose well and stay with it. Keep pushing yourself. Choose a place that will kick your butt every day and twice on Sundays. Work where you will learn, where even the prep guy from south of the border can teach you something. Stay there for at least a year, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much you get yelled at, no matter what kind of anxiety dreams you have, no matter how much your feet hurt. Work hard enough to get promoted, ideally to every station in the kitchen. Show your passion.
Most importantly, do not leave before one year, EVEN if you get a better offer, because if you do, down the road, the people you want will NEVER hire you. We want to see dedication and short stints say Flake with a capital F. When you've learned a chef's style and worked his menu for four seasons, ask for advice. Go someplace new and learn what they have to offer. Learn how to cook volume and how to cook fine dining. Listen. Show loyalty and respect to those above and below you, as you will want it in return.
General Rommel, the brilliant German tank commander in World War II, had a habit of burying ammunition in the desert on his advance so that he'd be able to move faster and have supplies on hand if and when he had to retreat. Ours is a very tight industry, so when you move on, leave goodwill behind you. I've seen too many cocky cooks and chefs make themselves unemployable by not playing nice in the sandbox with others, either above or below them, and burning bridges behind them.
When you finally get promoted to sous chef, and you finally get the opportunity to be creative, remember one thing: you aren't the boss, you're the middleman. You are there to help everyone succeed above and below you. Once you start telling people what to do, you're on your way out the door, despite what you may have seen on TV.
Cooking is a trade; therefore, knowledge and experience are bankable assets. Generally speaking, for cooks on their way up the ladder, the better the restaurant, the less they pay. However, the better the restaurant, the more you learn and the faster you get to the place where you can start to pay back your student loans. Think about it: who will become a sous chef first, the woman who stages for two years in a Michelin-starred restaurant for room and board, or the guy who takes the fry job at Chile's for $15 an hour? Now is the time to force chefs to teach you their secrets. Commencement means start, not finish, and that's just what you're all about to do.
You're probably all here because you are passionate and you want to create. How you handle that first opportunity matters. Limits are what force you to be creative. Necessity is the mother of invention and we all work within the limits of the seasons and the concepts and budgets of our restaurants. Remember, cooking wasn't invented by chefs but rather by poor women trying to feed their families with nothing -- keep that in mind every time you're writing your menu and you're lamenting that you have nothing interesting to use because it's January and there's not much on the market or you're over budget. Never use the words "my food" as though you don't fall into that long and noble tradition of turning lemons into lemonade; it implies arrogance and ignorance at the same time. Do not believe the press, unless it's bad, and then learn from it. To paraphrase Woody Allen, there's nothing worse for a young chef or new restaurant than a good review. In my opinion, it's better to have loyal customers and employees than three stars and closed doors. I've had both, I know.
Finally, when you're ready and you finally become a chef, realize that you are not a god. You are the center of a wheel that supports your investors, your employees, your guests, and you answer to all of them. Your job is keep them all together. Nothing you did as a cook prepares you for the balancing act of keeping everyone happy. You will need to earn their respect to get the help and cooperation of everyone around you. You will need to build both a team of workers and a congregation of regulars. You will need to listen to unhappy customers, unflattering critics, unruly cooks, disrespectful waiters, and demanding investors. In your spare time, you may even get to do a little cooking.
So take it slow enough to learn things right, show up on time, stay long enough to learn the fundamentals, focus on doing the best job you can, build your repertoire, develop your network, and always, always leave some ammo behind in the desert, if not in the dessert.

Gnocchi Ferrarese with Acorn Squash and Brussels Sprouts

"The Northern Italian autumn harvest tastes of pumpkin, nutmeg, butter, potatoes, nuts, sage and cabbages. The food is warm, soft and rich; comforting and exuberant at the same time. In this dish, we showcase these flavors in a fun, attractive combination. While a few steps are required in advance, the final assembly of the dish takes almost no time or effort at all. this vegetarian plate pares quite well the meatiest of red wines. I'd recommend a Zinfandel, Syrah or Barbaresco."

Serves 6

Gnocchi Squash

2 lb. russet potatoes

3 ea. two-lb. acorn squash

1 large egg

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ - 2 cups flour

Kosher salt

Nutmeg

½ cup parmesan cheese

Butter

Brussels sprouts To Finish

2 lb Brussels sprouts

¼ cup unsalted butter

½ cup parmesan cheese

Kosher salt

½ cup toasted hazelnuts

To Prepare Gnocchi:

Quarter potatoes and put in cold salted water, bring to a simmer, never allowing a rolling boil (it breaks the potatoes). When potatoes are cooked (knife goes through like butter), drain and put through a food mill or potato ricer. Let cool 15-30 minutes. Spread out mass on a wooden surface lightly dusted with flour. Build a volcano. Dust volcano with a snowfall of ¾ of the flour and all the cheese. Beat the egg and drop into the middle of the volcano. With a fork, gradually work more and more of the volcano and the snow into the egg until you have a dough you can work with your hands. When all is one, roll out into long tubes ¾-inch thick. If the dough sticks, flour the surface and hands. Cut gnocchi about 1 to 1½-inches long. If you like, then roll each gnocchi over the tines of a fork for the traditional sauce-grabbing ridges. Put onto floured cookie sheet without stacking and freeze. If this is too much trouble, buy the gnocchi; the rest is easy.

To Prepare Squash:

Heat oven to 350°. While the potatoes are coming to a boil (above), cut the squash in half from tip to stem and scoop out all of the seeds. Lay the squash halves face up in a deep baking dish with half-inch of water on the bottom. Sprinkle with brown sugar, salt and a pinch of nutmeg. Rub rim with butter and drop a pat of butter in each squash. Cover dish with foil and put into the oven, bake until the squash is soft (40-60 minutes; test with a knife). These will keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

To Prepare Brussels Sprouts:

Trim stem and outer leaves, cut in half. Put into a wide pot with butter, salt to taste and almost enough water to cover and bring to a boil, occasionally stirring gently. the ideas is that when they're totally cooked (never al dente), the water will have evaporated and the sprouts will be glazed with Brussels Butter. Let cool, spread out on a cookie sheet.

To Finish:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If squash are no longer hot, put them back into a 500° oven. Drop gnocchi into water. Brown butter in a sauté pan, add Brussels sprouts and some pasta water. When gnocchi float to the surface, gently add them into the pan with the heated sprouts and sauce. Put a piece of squash into a bowl. Toss gnocchi with sprouts and sauce (add water if you need more sauce) and fill each squash with the dumplings and top with parmesan cheese and toasted hazelnuts.

Chef Daniel Scherotta Details

Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:56:00 +0000

Photo and Recipe By: Ann and Ming

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours making a Greek Bean Soup called Fasolada. We are having it for dinner with sub sandwiches which I am making with some left over pork roast. I honestly wish I had seen this recipe for Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes sooner as I would have certainly loved to have made them as a little something special on the side with our dinner for tonight. They would make a lovely and colorful presentation and appetizer on any table and they appear so simple to make. I will have to try these soon for sure. Thanks to Ann and Ming for the photo and this lovely recipe.

Ingredients:

Cherry tomatoes,

Black olives,

Garlic,

Olive oil,

Basil,

Shredded cheddar & Monterey jack cheese

Directions :

1) Hollow out the tomatoes & fill them w/cheeses (cheddar & monterey jack)

2) Place the tomatoes under the broiler for about 5 mins /until the cheese starts to melt

3) Ligthly brown some garlic in olive oil

4) Drizzle the tomatoes w/ some garlic & olive oil

5) Garnish w/ basil & black olives

Cherry Tomatoes: Wikipedia

A cherry tomato is a smaller garden variety of tomato. It is marketed at a premium to ordinary tomatoes, and is popular as a snack and in salads. Cherry tomatoes are generally considered to be similar but not identical to the wild precursor of the domestic tomato. They are often sweeter than standard tomatoes. They are often referred to as tommy-toes.
Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from being spherical to slightly oblong in shape. The more oblong ones often share characteristics with plum tomatoes, and are known as grape tomatoes.
The cherry tomato has 24 chromosomes, and its scientific name is Solanum lycopersicum cerasiforme.
There are a number of cherry tomato varieties. The Santorini cherry tomato is cultivated in Santorini (Greece), and is known for its flavour and body. International conferences dedicated to the cultivation, horticulture and agriculture of the cherry tomato are also held at Santorini. Another popular variety often grown in American gardens is Sweet 100, named for its flavor and prolific production.

How To Grow Cherry Tomatoes

Designer Cupcakes.....Too Pretty To Eat?

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:25:00 +0000

Photo By: cakejourmal

Photo By: cakejournal

Photo By: busybaking

Photo By: busybaking

Now here is food art in its best form! A cupcake that is too pretty to eat.....well I am sure there are more where these came from. Cupcakes seem to be the biggest rage in baking these recent days. Well if you have a creative imagination and a little flair for decorating you just might find yourself tipping the cupcake tins with some gorgeous yummies just like these. Here is a VIDEO with Dede Wilson, author of "A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes" as she talks with the "Today Show's", Natalie Morales about ways to add these delightful treats to your holiday menu.

You might also like to have a peek at the following Cupcake Blogs where you will find some fascinating recipes for cupcakes and decorating them.....mind you..... enter with a joyful heart and a sweet tooth.

Cupcake Fun

Crunchy Croutons

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:27:00 +0000

Photo By: By Money Mi$ty

Photo By: krisalis903

Croutons are a fantastic crunchy addition to any salad or soup and make a lovely looking garnish. They are as simple as can be to make and a great way to use up older bread that you may be on the verge of wasting. You can experiment with the spices you use to make the croutons as there are many variations, but the following recipe is a pretty standard one and will take no time at all.

See the full video for making croutons HERE with Rachel Edelman and our friends at About.Com

Prepare the Crouton Bread

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Start with a firm bread such as a baguette. Thinly cut the bread into slices. For something a bit fancier, cut the bread at an angle. You can also cut it into cubes. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet. Line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil for an easy clean up.

Crouton Seasonings

Take 4 tablespoons of melted butter add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder 1 tablespoon of dried parsley flakes 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese a pinch of salt and pepper Mix all of the ingredients well.
Season the Bread now, dip a pastry brush into the butter mixture. Dab each slice with the brush to cover the entire top of the bread. Place small cubes of bread into a bowl. Put the butter mixture into the bowl and gently toss the cubes with the butter.

Bake the croutons:

Arrange the cubes on the baking sheet in a single layer. Put the pans into the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Thicker slices may need a longer bake time. If you like softer croutons, use a shorter bake time. When the croutons are dried and slightly brown, remove them from the oven. Remove the croutons from the pan and store in an airtight container. Serve the croutons with your favorite soup or salad.

Crouton: Wikipedia

A crouton is a small piece of dry or fried bread, often seasoned, that is used to add texture and flavour to salads, notably the Caesar salad, and as an accompaniment to soups, while some prefer to eat them alone, as a snack food. The word crouton is derived from the French croûte, meaning "crust".
Making croutons is relatively simple. Typically the cook cuts bread into small cubes and fries them lightly in butter or vegetable oil, to give them a buttery flavour and crunchy texture. A healthier option is to bake the cubes of bread in an oven until dry.
A dish prepared à la Grenobloise has a garnish of small croutons along with brown butter, capers, parsley, and lemon.

Food Down Under Crouton Recipes

Olivia's Crouton Recipes

Epicurious Crouton Recipes

Big Oven Crouton Recipes

Egg In A Basket

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:20:00 +0000

Photo By: Wikipedia

Photo By: Superlocal

Have you been looking for some ideas of how to jazz up some of your food presentations when the crowd arrives for breakfast? This is a wonderful way to serve eggs and toast with lots of 'eye appeal'..... 'Egg In A Basket', and it is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Egg In A Basket: Wikipedia

Egg in the basket refers to a chicken's egg fried in a hole in a slice of bread. Known by countless names in various regions, it is a common American comfort food. This dish was famously featured in the 1941 Betty Grable movie Moon Over Miami, earning it the name "moon-over-miami" eggs (although it was referred to in the film as "gas house eggs").
It later made a notable appearance in the 1987 film Moonstruck, and several recipes for the dish have since been named "Moonstruck Eggs".
The dish also appeared in the 2006 V for Vendetta film as "eggy in the basket".
Musician Brian Wilson said in 1965: "I love "egg-in-the-hole". It’s about the only thing I can cook, but it is great. You pinch out the center of a piece of bread, butter it, place it in a frying pan and put a raw egg in the hole. The entire thing cooks together and is very, very tasty." [1]
Musician Rob Crow composed the song "Eggy in a Bready II" in honor of the dish. The song was recorded by Crow's band Heavy Vegetable for their 1994 release The Amazing Undersea Adventures of Aqua Kitty and Friends. The lyrics of the song outline the ingredients and implements necessary for preparing the dish.

On a personal note, you may be wondering what to do with the centers you have cut out of the bread for the holes.....how about making a batch of croutons. Simple as can be to prepare and always excellent with salads. See my next post for a recipe on how to make croutons.

Here is your recipe for Egg In A Basket!

eggs

bread (thick)

buttercup/glass (to cut the hole easily)

salt & pepper

sugar (optional)

Make a hole in the bread and fry one side of the bread in butter for a few minutes on medium heat and add a little more butter and crack open the egg and drop the into hole. Salt & pepper to taste. Use lowest heat possible. Using thick slices of bread is helpful so no egg overflow occurs.

Cinnamon Roll

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:51:00 +0000

by veggiechick74

I happily recall a perfect day back in the late 80's while visiting my dear friends in Anchorage, Alaska, when we had the highlight of the week to embark on a day at The Alaska State Fair. I seem to remember so clearly the sights and aromas at all the concession stands we passed. The fondest memory of that day was enjoying and savoring the wonderful cinnamon rolls we had with our morning coffee while we anxiously awaited the rain to stop so we could delight in the rest of our day together. I often recollect those lovely memories with my friends, and I must admit the cinnamon rolls, although sticky, yet yummy, truly set out to be a treat I will have never forgotten. The funny thing about it however is that I can honestly say I don't think I have had a cinnamon roll since then. I have just not seen them anywhere and just never took the opportunity to make them myself. But I think the tides have turned as I found this delicious looking recipe from 'veggie chick' and I just have to try it out. I thought you might like to try it too.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1 cup warm soy milk

1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup organic granulated sugar

1/3 cup melted butter substitute (Earth Balance is good)

egg substitute to equal 2 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour (or as needed)

1 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

butter substitute to help the filling stick

Directions:

Place the yeast, a pinch of the sugar, and the warm soymilk in a large mixing bowl (I use a Kitchenaid). Let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy. Add the melted butter substitute, granulated sugar, egg substitute, half the flour, and lastly the salt. Stir on low with the paddles attachment on until the ingredients are incorporated, about a minute. Add the rest of the flour in two intervals (I'd switch to the dough hook here and reserve some of the flour - add only as much as needed for good dough consistency). Knead it for about 3 minutes until it's soft and pliable. Let rise for 1 hour (or until double in size). While the dough is rising, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Once the dough has risen, flour a clean surface as needed and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 16"x21". The dough should be about 1/4-1/8 inches deep. Spread on the butter substitute on the top side to coat (leaving about half an inch on one long side for sealing the dough once rolled), sprinkle on the brown sugar/cinnamon mix to coat. Roll it up width wise, cut into 12 equal lengths (or however many you want) and place them into two cake pans (or large rectangular pan) and bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or more. They should be slightly soft when you take them out.

Serves: 12