Cooking Around the World

Go for it ... Mushroom-Tomato Bucatini with Rocket and Mozzarella

2013-05-16T14:14:00.000+02:00

Time is flowing away. What else should it do anyway? After all we don't want to be trapped in a kind of space time continuum sort of thing. The key, though, is to use your time wisely. You have every minute only once. You don't want to regret anything, do you? However, if you have to, no worries ... time goes on anyway. Well, then, I keep trying to use my time in a good and nice and wise way ...
So in the spirit of the lately announced Bloggers Around the World - Italy, I go for it and I might even do it again. Therefore I start things easily. Mushrooms always go ... eh tomato sauce, too.

I also was able to get hold of some rocket, so it's only natural for it to make it's appearance in the following Mushroom-Tomato Bucatini with Rocket and Mozzarella.

What we need:
All we need is love ... eh ... sorry, I was supposed to give the ingredients, but cooking with love won't hurt either.
Splash of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Few leaves of basil
400 ml tinned tomatoes
Splash of red wine vinegar
300 g mushrooms, chopped up into small pieces according to your desire
500 g Bucatini (or other pasta)
150 g mini Mozzarella balls (or pieces of mozzarella)
50 g rocket
Salt and pepper

What we do:
Heat up some olive oil in a large pan. Toss in the garlic and slightly fry the slices. Add the leaves of basil just briefly before you are ready to pour in the tomatoes and some extra liquid. Bring it to the boil and let it all simmer for 30 minutes before you start crushing the tomatoes - poor fellas.
Give the sauce a splash of red wine vinegar and unload your chopped mushrooms in the pan. Take a lovely (suppose so) wooden spoon and give it a gentle (cooking with love) mix up.
Have a look onto your watch. For sure you agree to boil the pasta, don't you?
What are you waiting for then? Go for it and cook the pasta ... drain it and add it to the Mushroom-Tomato sauce and ... yes ... mix it well.
All done - so you can plate up. Place some rocket leaves over your pasta and some mini Mozzarella balls as well. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over it and ... there you go. La vita e bella!

Somehow I have the feeling I have something more in mind for Bloggers Around the World. Anyway, what do you have in mind?
Just go for it then!

Bloggers Around the World Round-up: India

2013-05-13T13:00:00.000+02:00

You should stop when things are at their best. Why is that? How am I supposed to know. However, there is something I do know. One month has past again, so it's time to finish our stay in India for Bloggers Around the World.

Did you have a pleasant stay and enjoyed some nice food? You have to speak for yourselves, but I did. Let's see, what everyone came up with ...

First was Nicole from Yumsome! That was the fastest entry for Bloggers Around the World so far. Right the next day Nicole entered her Tomato Masala. When I see it, I get hungry again. Above that it comes with all the facts you need, like cost per serving and nutrition facts. Good!

We go on with some more lovely food from Janet at the taste space - steam, bake, boil, shake! There we get good taste with Basmati Rice Pilaf with Caramelized Onions and Broccoli. Just look at how fresh it looks.

Enjoy it! What else? Are you familiar with garam masala? For sure you will enjoy Diane's Garam Masala Chicken. Head over to Simple Living and Eating to find out more and ... as a bonus ... so to say ... find some more lovely Indian food.

Any thoughts on cheese? I couldn't live without it. Great thing we also have some cheese in India - paneer. So, just have a look what great food Caroline conjured with it ... Caroline Makes ... Paneer Curry. Sounds intriguing? Find out.

Do you want something for pudding? Then have this rice pudding.

So far the entries I found around here.

Back to this stopping thing ... stopping when things are best. How am I supposed to know when things are best. They still could get better.

I myself might be down at something somewhere, but I refuse to give up (for now). Where do we go then next. I guess the following would be nice. Let us go back to Europe and do ...

ITALY

There is still so much lovely food to enjoy. Italian food is one of my favourites. I reckon I need to get some basil ready.

A few words for the trip ...

Leave a comment with a link to your post here in this very post or send me an email at cookingatworld@yahoo.co.uk or even - if you don't have a blog of your own - post a fitting photo on my Facebook page.
Link to my blog and this challenge in your post.
Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge (the one you find at the beginning and end of this post ... you know!).
You can use a new or an old post, but it has to be adjusted accordingly (you know, all the linking).
You can have up to three entries, but ... if you just post on my Facebook page, you can have as many as you want.
Enjoy cooking, eating and posting. La vita e bella ... I reckon.

So, make sure to check in before the 13th of June to leave something here with us.

We see us when we see us!

Roast leg of lamb with aubergines and onions

2013-05-09T17:04:00.000+02:00

Sometimes I get the idea I want a leg of lamb. Well, that happens not that often, maybe not even a hand full of times during the year. What do I do then? I go through all my cookbooks and see what I can do . The last time I did some French version with beans and something. That was very delicious.
Now I wanted to try something else. I ended up with a classic Italian way of cooking lamb with aubergines. Therefore I had to trust Jamie Oliver again to have a fantastic meal: Roast leg of lamb with aubergines and onions. You find the recipe in his book Cook with Jamie.

Apart from the lamb, the aubergines and onions, there were a lot of herbs involved, such as rosemary, oregano and parsley.
First of all the leg of lamb goes into the oven just rubbed with olive oil and salt and pepper.
After that the rosemary, aubergines and onions join.
In the meantime you have to prepare a tomato sauce with the usual suspects, garlic, chopped parsley stalks, anchovy fillets, tinned tomatoes, dried red chillies, vinegar, salt and pepper.
When the lamb is cooked, it gets removed from the roasting tray to sit around for some minutes.

While that is happening and having some room in the roasting tray, the tomato sauce is going to assimilate all the flavours and vegetables in it. So you pour the tomato sauce to the aubergines and the onions and cook it for a couple of minutes on a gently heat.
Afterwards it's time to eat. Get your usual lovely bread to it and dig in. If you fancy a salad together with it, fell free to do so.

For one person or for even two persons, you have quite some food here, the chance to eat a few times from it. It would be perfect, delicious and fantastic as it is, but you could have it as a pasta dish, too.

All in all I can say, Jamie hasn't disappointed me. Once more, it worked out totally perfectly.
Do you like to have a leg of lamb at times? What is your favourite way of having it?

It's useless to resist - Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

2013-05-04T13:16:00.000+02:00

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...

... "It's useless to resist." ...

... "I am your father!" ...

... "No, no, that's not true. That's impossible!"

CUT! CUT!

Let's start over: A few weeks ago in a small, normal kitchen ... It's useless to resist. No, not the dark side. No, rather the dark chocolate of those Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. I'm your cookie. Yes, it is true, it is possible. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Just have a look at the list of ingredients first and you will see ...

Ingredients (get them and join):

200 g icing sugar

200 g butter

25 g cocoa powder

60 g macadamia nuts, chopped up

300 g flour

100 g dark chocolate, broken or cut into chunks

Method (no tricks, no nonsense):

Carefully melt the butter in a large saucepan. Then take it from the heat and stir in the sugar and the cocoa powder.

Add the macadamia nuts and incorporate them as well.

It's time for the flour then. Sift it in if you like or ... just go for it.

Finally give in to your feelings and use the chocolate chunk to make the cookie dough complete.

Did I say finally? Well, must have been for the cookie dough.

Almost there!

We only need to put small pieces of the dough on baking trays that have baking parchment on them and then put the whole lots of them into the oven for 15 minutes at 180 °C.

After a bit of cooling down ... for the cookies ... but if preparing them was too much hard work for you, you might cool down as well.

Said and done! Now it's useless to resist those lovely Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies.

On the other hand you might reconsider your strategy. While Wookies might pull out the arms of innocent droids when they loose, you might let the cookies win anyway, but they might change something in connection with your body, if you eat them all at once on your own ... Don't ask!

Well, as far as I can see it, it's May the 4th. Does this have anything to do with Star Wars? Or with cookies?

Don't have a bad feeling about this. Remember, if you go and make those cookies now, the 4th will be with you ... always!

Alternatively, you can put the cookies into your cookie jar and eat responsible. Well, this month's Tea Time Treats from Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked is about that Eh, not necessarily about eating responsibly - we are doing that anyway ... most of the time - but the theme is rather: The Biscuit Tin and Cookie Jar! Biscuits and Cookies. So for sure you find also some alternatives as to cookies at Lavender and Lovage, who is hosting Tea Time Treats this very month.

So ... have a look around and join forces for that ...

Christine & Christian - Episode 7: From Chicken Cutlets to Pancake

2013-05-02T12:52:00.000+02:00

It can be very enjoyable to put together some lovely, well tasting dishes. However, it is even better to share with others. While doing so online, there is nothing better than sharing a good meal with family or friends. It can even be fun cooking together.
So far 22 days have pasted since cooking from Tasting India. Up to this day, I managed 25 recipes. Recently I enjoyed some Bengali-style mashed potatoes and the day after that even something for breakfast: Breakfast Potato Parathas. I didn't manage to take some nice photos from that. The breakfast was really nice ... a simple dough with wholewheat flour and water and then stuffed with mashed potatoes mixed with coriander and chilli.
But let us now go on with cooking and eating with friends ...
That's really more enjoyable than eating alone all the time. The cooking together part is also a great thing. A side effect of it is, you manage greater variety with less work.

It's good to prepare some naan breads to go with the meal. You can learn also a lot and you get encouragement to do things better. If you eat alone, it's easier to like everything you cook.

That's a way, how ready naan breads can look like. Maybe it's good to have a mint raita with it, too.

That one was really fresh, although it included a green chilli. But what about the main course? There was a vegetable dish with potatoes and chickpeas.

Lovely tasting that was. Then we got something meaty as well: Chicken Cutlets. That recipe was from Tasting India.
The pieces of chicken breast were to be marinated in yogurt mixed with spices and ... how dangerously ... with 40 g of chopped up green chillies. Do you have any idea on how many chillies these are?
Roughly around 20 small green chillies that would have been. Argh! I decided to go for 4 chillies instead.
After the marinating of the chicken pieces they went into a batter, which had 4 eggs in it. Then the job was to fry the pieces.

Already with 4 chillies it was quite hot. Still, it tasted good. Fine, I didn't manage to get the presentation on the photo right ... again ... but ... no worries.
It was only a chance, that there was still some yogurt of the marinade and some batter left afterwards. I just mixed both together and thought ...

... why not have it as an Indian pancake to start the meal with. Well, it could have made two or three thinner ones as well, but this way, it was fine, too.
Altogether, the meal made at least four people happy instead of just one person for more than one time ... and still there were leftovers.
Do you also like to make people happy by cooking for them even if it's not your family?

Text over Photo or Photo over Text? Onion and Feta Puff Pastry Pie

2013-04-29T11:58:00.001+02:00

When you buy a new cookbook, what's more important for you, the text or the photos? Do you appreciate well written texts with lots of information and how to do things and some extra tips? Or will you rather go for books, which have delicious pictures in them?
Questions over questions. It seems, I have just questions for you today. But do you have answers?
Decide for yourself. Maybe you like to comment and leave your thoughts. For sure you know a lot of good cookbooks that don't have many pictures in them, yet to speak about photos. For example, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck has no photos at all in it. There are some illustration, though. To me, that's a great book, despite the lack of mouth-watering photos. Still you are able to create some mouth-watering dishes by following the detailed instructions.
Do you know any other brilliant cookbooks without photos?
Oh, another question, sorry, but I did this deliberately. Now we like to turn the tables. What about cookbooks with mainly photos and not much text or not so well written or useful text?
I don't have any examples for that. Do you?
Anyway, it wasn't my intention to just go on talking and talking and asking and asking and so forth. I still have some food for you. Once more there was a bit of experimenting going on in my kitchen. Here we go for an Onion and Feta Puff Pastry Pie.
However, we are doing things slightly different today. I give you the list of ingredients and some photos and you figure out the rest. Have a try!

Ingredients (in order of use):
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
Splash of Greek Raki
180 ml cream
300 g puff pastry
Olive oil
200 g Feta
A small bunch of freshly chopped Parsley
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
20 ml cream
2 eggs
Salt and pepper

Method (if you can call it like that):
I told you, you'll be getting just some pictures. So, here we go ...

Did you enjoy it? Are you now able to do such an Onion and Feta Puff Pastry Pie?
Of course, you only would be willing to have a try, if the photos would have made you hungry for it. Come on, there is feta in it!
What do you think? Maybe I should try it the other way around sometime and post a recipe without photos and try to make you hungry just by the description.
What do you think is easier? Text over photo or photo over text?

Christine & Christian - Episode 6: Dal, Naan and beyond

2013-04-27T15:53:00.000+02:00

I need a plan ... again. Or I simply need to be careful. There is no way I am going to buy new clothing just to have it comfortably fitting. Loosening the belt from time to time isn't what I want to imagine.
Since I've started Christine & Christian, I had quite some Indian food not meaning I didn't have anything else as you can see from my previous posts. After 17 days of cooking from Tasting India I managed 22 recipes so far. I didn't have so much help with eating things up, but still I cope.
What did we have on the menu then last week? Maybe you remember the white dal from the last post. The leftovers were taking some time to be dealt with. Therefore I just made some naan bread to go with it and got any idea as well.
The dough for naan bread is quite easy to make, similar like your familiar yeast dough you might use for pizza. For the naan there was just some yogurt added, roughly spoken.
I made dough that would go for four average sized naan breads. they tasted quite good. I was satisfied. The dough for one bread, though, I decided to turn into something else ...

White dal stuff! Hm, let's rather say naan bread stuffed with white dal, almost like an Indian calzone, if there would be something like that. Samosas are prepared slightly differently. You most probably will read something about that at another time on this blog.
What else was on the menu?

There was this spiced eggplant (aubergine) salad served at room temperature. It was spicy, so it was fine.

Potatoes in curd, also a rather colder dish. That doesn't mean, though, there wasn't any chilli in there in some way.

Another quick one, sweet and sour tomatoes. While they were sweet, I couldn't detect so much the sour part in it. There was, however, something else apart from the sweetness. Oh, sure, the recipe mentioned to use chilli powder in it. Sweet and spicy would be fine.

I go on with eating more fish after I just had this Italian-style tuna, poached in tomato sauce, this time it's Indian-style fish fry. Very nicely you get the taste of ginger with a hint of lime beneath that breadcrust. Besides that the marinade included mustard and garlic. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Yes, it tasted lovely and ... there was no chilli included.
There also was no chilli in the last dish for today ...

Do you know how long it takes to cook 1 litre milk so that it thickens? Well, it was okay in the end, although the rice pudding was a bit sweet. I guess 150 g sugar would do as well. Maybe one or to pistachio and almond more wouldn't hurt, either. At least it wouldn't hurt me. I know others, who cannot even eat a single piece of almond.
Anyway, I like to take this rice pudding along on our food trip around the world for Bloggers Around the World for as you might know, our current stop is India.

Do you notice another ingredient from the rice pudding picture? Have a guess and tell me. It shouldn't be so difficult.
In the meantime hang on and keep cooking!

Going digital - randomly - Tonno di Nonna Fangitta

2013-04-25T13:59:00.000+02:00

Analogue or digital? When you have to write a letter do you use a typewriter or even a pen or your computer? Is your television reception analogue or have you gone digital? What about your phone? Analogue or digital? Or is it now even smarter than you? Hm ... could have mentioned the same about the television these days. That is all irrelevant now! Although it would be quite nice these days to spent more time in nature instead of the virtual world ...
However, today it's time for random recipes #27 - Get Random Baby!

For random recipes I used to take out my analogue randomizer (dice) and go on with choosing a recipe to cook. This time, though, Dom decided to let us go digital with his
random recipes number generator thingamidoodah he put up on his post. No worries! Here we go ... 27 ... what a coincidence. Counting backwards from my cookbook collection brings us to Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver.
Well, I would never think of cheating at random recipes. That would take away all the fun. So, what's cooking then? Just take a moment and think about it ... Last time we had an Indian fish curry. Last year in June we had grilled mackerel with pomelo salad. Oh, I checked it, the result was not so much what I expected. There was also some lasagna and some chicken. Nevertheless, random recipes makes me think of fish ... and that's what is going to be again: tonno di nonna fangitta. That is a tuna dish from a lady called Nonna Fangitta, who lives on the island of Favignana off the coast of Sicily. I would like to imagine myself sitting down somewhere around that area now.
It was as it should be I opened the book randomly and came to this very recipe. First thought: How am I going to make that? Where shall I get fresh tuna? That isn't going to be a cheap meal. I might not do it. Since I don't cheat, the other option was not to participate in random recipes this month. I left a marker in the book and went about with the usual business.
Now, here I am, having a whole day off. A good chance to get a hair-cut. No, I don't have so much hair, it takes a whole day, but strangely I rather go in the morning instead of after work.
Nearby ... in the vicinity of the hair-dresser ... there is the farmers market. Checking the fish stall wouldn't harm. If you have a half-decent farmers market around, that's the place to go. The fish monger had tuna on offer. I went for it ... after the hair-cut.
Back to the kitchen ...
Peeling 1 kg of tomatoes isn't that funny, but not so bad either, if you know how to.
The tuna is prepped with some garlic, chilli and rosemary.

Don't get me wrong now, I like Jamie Oliver, but the photo of that dish in Jamie's Italy is somehow a cheat photo. It doesn't show the cooked dish, but rather the raw materials arranged in a pot. That might look cool, but isn't food reality. On the other hand, that might be intentionally, because it helps you to prepare the tuna correctly.
Anyway, in the end, mine will by far not look so nice as in the book. Still it represents the cooked dish more correctly.
With some more garlic, chilli and rosemary and some other things like a cinnamon stick, dried oregano, capers and anchovy fillets, we start out with cooking a tomato sauce. Of course we add the peeled tomatoes as well and above that as a bonus some tinned tomatoes. Seasoning with salt and pepper is obligatory, too.
The tuna is poached in the tomato sauce in under 30 minutes. That will definitely look like that.

Jamie was right, it tastes lovely with some bread. Dig in!

You can't go wrong with tomato sauce ... Thank you Nonna Fangitta, thank you Jamie, thank you Dom.
The recipe said 'serves 4'. Lately, I'm really lacking help in that department. That means leftovers. According to Jamie, it can be used well for pasta. That reminds me, I still have another post in the pipeline in pictures waiting to be written and published. It is about lamb and the never failing tomato sauce business. Watch out for that!
Meanwhile, enjoy that tuna dish. Have you cooked with fresh tuna before? For me it was the first time and ... I luved it! Going digital with random recipe was really fun again! In other areas, I'll rather be careful with going digital. Those things that are still analogue, shall remain that way. I really don't want my phone or television to be smarter than me! Really!

I just got another idea after publishing this already. This dish goes also well for the April Herbs on Saturday April from Lavender & Lovage.

The Last Crusade - Arabian-styled Chocolate, Fig and Pistachio Cake

2013-04-23T20:53:00.000+02:00

It's time again to put these glasses aside, hang the suit into the cupboard and get the leather jacket, hat and bullwhip ready. Well, usually I don't wear a leather jacket and a hat for baking, but sometimes you have to whip things up. By the way, now it has been quite some time someone called me Professor or Doctor, but that doesn't matter now.
Anyway, I didn't want to call this post 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Cake'.
Just remember: "We do not follow maps to buried treasures and X never ever marks the spot." We are just baking an Arabian-styled Chocolate, Fig and Pistachio Cake (note: Arabian-styled is just for the atmosphere and for a reason revealed later).

This now is a 'leap of faith' ... "Only in the leap from the oven shall it prove its worth." Kind of. Let's start our cake adventure ...

What we need (apart from the leather jacket, hat and bullwhip):
3 eggs
100 g sugar
300 g spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
100 ml olive oil
1 tbs rosewater
40 g dark chocolate chunks (feel free to use more)
Juice of 3 lime
3 tbs honey (feel free to use more)
100 g dried soft figs, chopped up
2 tbs water
50 g pistachios, roughly chopped up

The quest begins:
Originally, the whole idea was, to bake something with chocolate and honey and ... soon things got out of hand. Such things happen, when the mind gets the chance to roam freely (ah, I hate those long drives to work).
Get yourself the average round cake tin, line it with baking parchment and - just to make sure - lightly oil it.
To the cake batter...
Cream the eggs with the sugar ... time for some whipping. Then sift in the flour and the baking powder. Pour in the oil and rosewater and while you're at it, toss in the chocolate chunks as well.
While your oven is heating up, spoon your batter together completely ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... "Ten. X marks the spot." The marked spot is first the cake tin where the cake better goes and then secondly the oven where the cake tin goes (together with the cake batter ... obviously). 35 minutes shall be the time for the cake to remain in the oven to prove its worth.
Do you believe? I mean, will it be a nice cake? I mean not 'nice' in the 'sense' of 'okay', but ... will it taste good?
As the cake comes from the oven we are far from being through. Let the cake take its time to cool down.
Meanwhile we whip up some kind of lime, fig and honey syrup. Cast those ingrediens together with the two tbs of water into a saucepan and heat it up until most of the liquids have been evaporated. Spoon this over the cake. Time for some chopped up pistachios. They follow ...

Now you could go on and enjoy your cake. Really? Yes ... although we could have used a little bit less lime juice and a bit more honey ... hm ... eh ... maybe - that is in case you have - you could also use more chocolate. Obviously, 40 g chocolate can't be enough. 100 g would sound better. Whatsoever, I did what I did and next time there would be the chance to change it.
Before we proceed we still want to have a closer look at the cake ...

Is that close enough? Well, you can always go and whip up some cream and throw on a dollop of it.

Now we go back to the roots ... eh ... to the original reason we started all this ... We Should Cocoa #32 featuring chocolate and honey.

Hm ... I just noticed, I had all the ingredients here I got rid of some figs, limes and pistachios. Good job! You could call this quite a deal of money saving and ... "You can never have too much cake:-)" Therefore, here is another cake for Credit Crunch Munch from Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All ... right, not Fab Foods 4 All :-)

It isn't over yet. We already know, that I'm not a food wasting kind of guy. Due to that fact and because of figs being fruits this post enters also Elizabeth's Kitchen's No Waste Food Challenge - Fruit.

For a moment you thought now, it would be over, but wrongly concluded so. I made this all from scratch and with a lot of luv. So it would be a shame not to enter this cake to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays.

We nearly forgot. The other reason - apart from the atmosphere - for calling this cake Arabian-styled. You may call me cheeky now (or crazy or ... make a suggestion), but the AlphaBakes April 2013 has the letter "A" for ... Arabian-styled Chocolate, Fig and Pistachio Cake.

Give me just a moment. I need to think a bit ...
...
Yes, I reckon that's all. Really? I guess so!
Ah, just to make sure that no one starts to panic again. The title of this post isn't suggesting that this is my last cooking adventure here. In fact the post doesn't really have anything to do with any kind of crusade. It's just a title ... just a crazy title.
By the way, should I change the blog title to "CCC - Crazy Chef Chris"? Nah, I don't think so. See thee!

Bookmarked Recipe: Chocolate Guinness Cake

2013-04-21T11:49:00.000+02:00

You know and I know it as well, that you don't have as much time as you would like to have to read through all the interesting blog posts around and read also new blogs. At times I read only those catching my interest already with the title.
The next step: trying things you read on other blogs. While I wouldn't limit it to those, the recipes I tried - on the average - where mostly those that contain chocolate in some form. Tricky!
There were times I even managed to try a recipe that I have just read. So, it's like going from computer to kitchen and go for it. That's good.
Sometimes, though, things are not that easy. A recipe I would have tried right away was the Chocolate Guinness Cake, JibberJabberUK wrote about.
When I first read it, I was short of one ingredient. So the cake would have looked like that ...

Looking like that wouldn't be a problem in itself, but I wanted to go for the whole thing.
Due to this, I first had to get some cream cheese. Obviously, without it the cake wouldn't be complete.
Some people to whom I talked about a chocolate Guinness cake shrank back at the thought of beer in a cake. However, for those experimenting regularly in the kitchen and not being afraid of trying new things, you know that it works perfectly and gives a rich intense chocolate flavour. I liked that.
Now back to the baking. As I was shopping for food one day, I remembered I need cream cheese. So I bought a pack.
Finally I was getting ready to do the cake. Proper planning and shopping would have been better. I didn't have the yogurt mentioned in the recipe. What now? I replaced it with milk that got a splash of lemon. I thought that might do the trick. I didn't notice anything negative afterwards.
The other fact hitting me was, that while I got some cream cheese, it was just a little bit of half what I needed. Consequently the cake ended up like this ...

I got a bit of icing training, but somehow it should have been more. No matter how it looked like now, it was absolutely worth trying that recipe. So, why don't you head over to JibberJabberUK and try it, too.
As we have come nearly to the close of this post I add it to the April Bookmarked Recipes over at Tinned Tomatoes.

For sure there will be more recipes worth trying ...

Christine & Christian - Episode 5: Caramelised Bananas with Incredible Caramel Sauce

2013-04-19T19:17:00.000+02:00

Things are still going on. I have been quite busy. After 9 days of cooking from Tasting India by Christine Manfield, I managed 16 recipes so far. Just this week, until now, I used up ... hm ... about 16 chillies: green ones, dried small ones, dried long ones, but so far no fresh red ones. Whatsoever, my supply is going down.
However, this week I also tried two recipes, where I didn't need any chillies at all. One of it were the carrot dosas I tried just this morning after leaving the batter at room temperature the whole night. The result was ... edible.
The other recipe is called in the book Sanjay's Caramel Bananas. Have a look ...

Well, um, eh ... it doesn't look so incredible now, but ... to me, in the end the TASTE counts.
The bananas are just rolled in sugar and then fries in butter.
What's important about the whole dessert is the caramel sauce. How to do caramel, you should know. Yes, you know ... sugar with a bit of water in a pan at high heat, no stirring, changing colour to brown and things like that. Whatever happens, don't be tempted to use a spoon to stir things up ... by no means.
As the colour changed to brown, add some cinnamon and also some chopped up ginger. Toss it in (don't stir), add cream and a few splashes of brown rum. Mix it, but don't stir.
Pour the sauce over the fried banana in the other pan and coat the banana with the incredible caramel sauce.
Whatever happens now ... just make sure you eat the bananas soon.
For sure I will make this again ... before I try all the other recipes from Tasting India. Even if I would stop cooking through Tasting India now (which I don't), that bananas with this caramel sauce was worth it. I have also been thinking about a version including chocolate. Hm, I will have to see about that.

What else did I cook. Here some further impressions:

That is curry-leaf chicken, which tastes great as well. The brownish bits are the fried curry-leaves. Sorry, I didn't have fresh curry leaves, but so far, I don't have an idea were to get them. I would go for planting or sowing in my garden, if I get the chance. Ah, do you notice the long dried red chilli in the background as well?

A white dal, enjoyable, but not as good as the other dal I tried. There is a cinnamon stick to be seen here and ... have a guess ... there are three dried red chillies in it. For this dal it was necessary to prepare an onion paste. So far I have found out, that it is quite important to have these pastes, although I still need to find out, why exactly. I still have leftover dal and so I might end up using them to stuff some samosas, but I might eat it just as it is as well.

Here comes another lovely potato dish: sesame potatoes. Apart from the sesame and some ginger paste, there was the need for some ... yes, green chillies. It was also the first time ever, I used fenugreek seeds.
I guess, there are a lot more adventures to come. After all, next I have a whole weekend for that. Who knows!?!

If you want more pictures, just check out my Facebook page here.

Creamy Smoked Pork Chops Hawaiian ... sorry, no Hula

2013-04-17T07:47:00.000+02:00

There is quite some Indian cooking going on in my kitchen right this moment, but that doesn't mean I can't write you some other things, too.
Do you like Hawaiian pizza or Hawaiian toast? Strangely I can't see the direct connection to Hawaii here ... must be the pineapple. However, it was invented or made popular in Germany in the 1950s according to Wikipedia. Didn't give that much thought to that before and I most likely will forget about again tomorrow or one or two days later.
However we want to use that idea now on some smoked pork chops.

Once more, it's no big deal putting it together ...

Ingredients:
600 g smoked pork chops
6 slices of pineapple
200 g crème fraîche
200 ml full fat milk
Black pepper
Olive Oil

Preparation (or call it assembling):
Start heating up your oven to 200 °C. The preparation won't take too long.
Mix the milk and the crème fraîche together. Unintentionally I ended up with a version of crème fraîche that included herbs ... no worries ... if you like that. Season with pepper.
Now get your oven proof dish and put in the smoked pork chops and pineapple ... chop, slice of pineapple, chop, slice of pineapple and so forth.

Then pour the milk and crème over it and add a few little splashes of olive oil.

Transfer to the oven for 40 minutes and ... do something else in that time. You could ready a book for a change.

Eat it with some nice bread for mopping the lovely cream sauce. It would be nice to have a salad with it as well. You will get some ideas. Whatever suits you.

Dig in! Well, since this is not reall to do with Hawaii, there will also be no hula right now, although we might try that another time ... as soon as I figure out ...

Christine & Christian - Episode 4: Up and running

2013-04-15T21:02:00.000+02:00

After a few hours of warm up by leafing through the pages of Tasting India, I started cooking from it on Thursday April 11th.
I mentioned there would be over 250 recipes in the book. Now after carefully counting ... that is if I really was that careful, but that would be too many 'ifs' ... I came to the number of 283 recipes in the book, not counting any variations. I added, though, also individual recipes for spice mixes and pastes, of which I might need some more then once. That also means there are also some quite simple recipes in it.
While cooking for 5 days I managed 8 so far, including one for garlic and ginger paste ... or was it ginger and garlic paste. No worries. I was also invited to cook some Indian food with some friends. On that day, there was also butter chicken on the menu, which tasted very very luvly. Fine, that doesn't count for the recipes, because I didn't make it from the book.
I contributed a gorgeous dal, which tasted as luvly as the chicken, although one of my friends said, it was even better than the chicken. Ah, whatever, very lovely.
I leave you with some food impressions before I have a few more words.

Dal Makhani - one of the best dals I ever had ... with that ginger and garlic paste, tomato puree, butter and cream it promises a lot of taste and ... guess what? Have no fear!

Butter Chicken - I wonder, why it has this name. There were a lot of spices, yoghurt, milk and obviously chicken.

Just give me a large plate of it ... anytime!

Sweets for the sweet - Wholemeal Halwa. Don't ask, just taste ... there is a touch of cardamom to it ... if you do it right. All that stirring was some good exercise. Was it half an hour? It was supposed to be less.

That would be something for hot days - Ginger Lime Soda. I just hope we will have some days this year, so I can put that drink to proper use. It's really refreshing. The ginger isn't too intrusive.

Eggplant (Aubergine) Masala - There were two green chillies and two dries red chillies going into it. I wonder what that will do, if you have properly hot chillies. Those fresh green ones from my windowsill need some more sun. This eggplant masala is delicious how it is with some rice ... good I have a rice cooker.

I hope, that gives you also some good inspiration for our current Bloggers Around the World - India. If you like to know more about one of those dishes, ask away ...

Now I had also chance to stock up some things. While sitting at home unprepared and pondering about what to cook, I was still in need of some vital ingredients and there was no chance for shopping. By now, it's fine! I'm up and running ... as you can see above as well.
What about fresh coriander, though? That might cause a problem, searching through shops for some. Parallel to that I started my coriander growing program again. Better late then never, although it will take some time before I can use some of that ... if it works at all. I definitely should get some more ready plants for the garden, when the time is right.

Christine & Christian - Episode 3: Use your Imagination

2013-04-14T13:30:00.000+02:00

Just imagine: You are sitting relaxed at a beach in the shades of a palm tree. There is even a cool breeze, as well as a cold drink in your hand. You take a sip. The sound of the water of the ocean hitting the beach makes you feel even more relaxed. The sky is shining brightly and everything is perfect.
Did it work? Did you see yourself there at this beach with this pure fine white sand? No? Maybe you need to close your eyes in order for it to work or the description wasn't vivid enough.
Anyway, that is not going to happen!
But since you trained your imagination a bit now, we can go on with step 2. Let's get Tasting India ready and have some Curd-cheese Balls in Rose Syrup. How does that sound? Use your imagination ... for that is not going to happen either.
Let me show you a picture and you might get a faint idea ... or simply faint.

While looking for some easy going recipes to start things off with, I selected to make these Curd-cheese Balls in Rose Syrup. They looked lovely in the book and I imagined them to taste that way as well ... with a nice almond surprise in the center.
However, as you have seen from the picture ... eh ... there was a different surprise and ... eh ... well, you haven't seen any balls.
What happened?
Hm ... good question!
Maybe at first it was the syrup going into a wrong direction ... turning into candy rather. Nevertheless I got things simmering again and was ready for the balls to be poached.
Carefully placed and resting in the simmering syrup-like water they decided to do something else ... falling apart.
In the end it was just a gooey semolina curd-cheese something. I added another splash of rose water, stirred until everything was smooth and spooned it into a bowl. Tasting! Well, it has a nice rose water taste. Now it was rather a semolina pudding. I thought, a few fruits on top would be nice. Then there where these coloured chocolate sprinkles. The least I could do. Make it colourful. That gives it an Indian touch probably.

If I get chance, I have to try it again and get some real Curd-cheese Balls. Could it be, the semolina wasn't coarse enough? Just use your imagination ... I'll be off to the beach ...

Bloggers Around the World Round-up: Japan ... and guess what?

2013-04-13T13:30:00.000+02:00

Inevitably this was going to come, the end of our trip ... eh ... stay in Japan. What shall we say? Where all our dreams fulfilled? What about yours?

Let's see what everyone was busy with. So, without any further ado, we start our Japanese food round up with ...

Some lovely Matcha Madeleines from Choclette. For sure you love that colour and ... most probably that cake stand as well. Who doesn't? Go, have a closer look. You can't see it all from here.

Next, have some Yakisoba from Elizabeth ... and don't pay too much attention to what her brother says. Judge for yourselves and get some noodles ready. That is, if you have any.

Caroline has something completely different for us: Jap Cakes. Is that any sort of trick? I wouldn't know. Do YOU remember Jap Cakes? No? Then have a look and find out some more details ...

Before we leave, let me remind you of something you read here on this blog some time ago, something with rice and salmon: Rice Balls with Spring Onions and Smoked Salmon.

However, what is travelling without some surprises. So, here it comes ...

Ruth still has to offer us some Japanese food. Let's grab some nice tofu and go for Lemon & Ginger Soba Noodles with Tofu and Salmon Gari. Above that, if you want some Matcha ice-cream, you have to check out Ruth's blog at another time.

Thanks for all who had a share! It's always be a pleasure to travel with you.
Did you miss your blog entry? Yes, we missed it, too. Or maybe it's just some great misunderstanding and I didn't see it. In that case, let me know. In the other case, just hang on as we travel westwards ... to ... have a guess ... maybe it's simply inevitably ... it couldn't be any other way ...

INDIA

Do I have to say anything more? You know what to do, don't you?
In that case ...

Leave a comment with a link to your post here in this very post, below (ha ha - can't comment anywhere else on that post).
Link to my blog and this challenge in your post.
Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge (the one you find at the beginning and end of this post ... you know!).
You can use a new or an old post, but it has to be adjusted accordingly (you know, all the linking).
Have fun and enjoy it (and maybe tell others)!

If we don't hear or see us again in this regard or connection, you know, we will meet here again at the 13th of May (Have you ever wondered why 13th?).

In case you are lacking inspiration, just tune in to Christine & Christian here on this very blog. It's all about India.

Christine & Christian - Episode 2: Mind the Ghee

2013-04-12T15:46:00.000+02:00

Since the book arrived on Wednesday, I had a bit of time to check it out. Not too much, though. I don't want to rush anything. Too often in life we have to rush and so we miss some good parts.
Therefore, I decided to take it easy on that cooking business. There are over 250 recipes in the book and when I say I want to cook them in over 250 days, that could mean ... hm ... 500 days ... or ... 444 days ... or even ... 250 days. Due to that, it might mean nothing at all.
Now, Tasting India is divided in 10 regions food wise. So far I had a glimpse at the first section: Kalkata & Darjeeling. First thought?
Mine was tea. I appreciate a good cup of Darjeeling tea once in a while. In this section of the book are 35 recipes. So, if you would like to take on a mathematical approach and would assume that there are equally numbers of recipes in each section, you would get 350 recipes. I don't want to confirm anything and I don't want to take a mathematical approach either. Just in case, you want to do anyway, you can tick 2 off, because I already had a go at two of those. I went for something simple, where I don't have to spent a lot of money on ingredients. I simply got a few potatoes. The rest I have at home.
As to that, I consider myself to be well equipped, also for taking on a lot of Indian cooking. At least that is what I thought. Some weeks ago I was in need of some cardamom pods. I knew they had to be somewhere, but I couldn't find them.
This time, when I needed them, it was just opening the cupboard, quick glance and here we are. I don't know what it was back then.
To the two selected recipes ... the first is Alur Dom and the other Luchi, in other words Curried Potatoes and Puffed Puri Bread. Both recipes were in need of ghee, the bread recipe even heavily.
There was still ghee in the house, but by far not the amount mentioned.
To put it simple, ghee is clarified butter, that can stand more heat and adds more flavour to your meals. I have to check again some shops for ghee. I guess I need to have some in the house at all times, unless I want to make my own, which has to be possible somehow.
In the meantime, I have to select a few recipes without ghee until I get chance to stock up some more of it.
I guess, at the essential points this time I used sufficient ghee, as things tasted fine.
For the curried potatoes I had to do my own spice mix with turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper, coriander seeds and sugar.
While the preparation for the curried potato wasn't in need of any attention, I went for the puffed puri bread.

You can already see, where this is heading ... a lot of food. Well, they are not all evenly sized on the picture, but hey, enjoy! There was enough dough for 36, but I decided to put half of the balls to the fridge to make some fresh puffed puri breads tomorrow. Fresh is better.
The balls were flattened, rolled out and then, normally in ghee, deep fried.

Simply try to imagine the smoke in the house. I opened each and every window afterwards. The luchis (puffed puri breads) will only puff properly, if the ghee (or oil) has the right temperature. I must have done everything right, for there was a lovely puffing going on.
After all the luchis had been fried, the potatoes were ready, too.

Time to enjoy an Indian meal. To create some atmosphere, I switched my newly acquired Internet radio to an Indian radio station and went for it ...

I for sure will have some more of it. The recipe for the Alur Dom stated it would serve 8 people. Maybe it holds true, if you have some fish with the potatoes as was suggested in the recipe or ... alternatively it stated to have the puri bread along with it. Hm! I thought it would last at most for 4 people ... Oh! I hope I'm not that greedy. I was supposed to use 1 kg of potatoes. So, judge for yourself.
Anyway, if I want to go through the whole book, I need some time to eat up all the food in a reasonable way or I need some guests. Any volunteers?

Getting Angry ... Arrabiata Pasta

2013-04-11T14:52:00.000+02:00

Who's angry? Sometimes I'm not so sure about that ... I manage! Whatsoever, the Italian word 'arrabiata' means 'anger'. So we are just having some angry pasta. Maybe it helps as well to channel your feelings and don't make life bad for any people.
This recipe is for a few weeks already on my list to post. I don't know, what kept me so long. Maybe I wasn't too sure about it. Just have a look and say what you think ...

A better picture would have helped to post it earlier, but I do it now anyway.

Ingredients:
500 g Orecchiette pasta, cook it at some point
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, cut in slices
A splash of Vermouth, extra dry
2 tbs of tomato puree
2 red peppers, cut into small pieces
2 red chilies, or more if you are really angry
A handful of black olives, without stones
2 tbs of capers
Salt
Parmesan for serving

Method:
Start with heating up the olive oil. Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Then add a splash of Vermouth, followed by the tomato puree. Continue for 2 minutes.
At this point add the peppers, the chilies, the olives and the capers. No big deal!
Let it all cook in for a while. Maybe you have your pasta ready then.
Check, whether the sauce needs some salt.
Mix in the pasta with the sauce, adding some of the cooking water as well.
Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Well, I'm not feeling angry right now, but maybe another day. For me, though, cooking in general helps me to get into a better mood. So, get your pan ready and go for it!

Christine & Christian - Episode 1: Welcome Home

2013-04-10T19:28:00.000+02:00

They say, never judge a book by its cover. What about judging it by the weight?
On Monday, in a kind of a spur of the moment thing, while browsing on the Internet, I ordered a new cookbook. I expected it to be ready for picking up on Thursday after I got the confirmation it had been send out. Today, being at work the whole day, I wouldn't be able to receive it personally. However, a friendly neighbour stepped in and took the package from the delivery service.
Well, I didn't expect the package to be so big and it turned out the book was over 3 kg in weight. Judging by the weight? Let me show you the cover first.

Every journey has a beginning ... but not necessarily an ending. This is supposed to be the beginning. For as to where this will be going, who knows!
It may all have sound like me having a plan about cooking through a complete book, blogging about it and all that like. However, I'm not that planning kind of person, although that would help a lot at times, I reckon.
Now, here we are with a copy of Tasting India by Christine Manfield. I've set my mind on completely going through this book ... over 250 recipes and over 450 pages. A first glance inside revealed, that it will not all be about cooking.
Why that book? Who knows!
By the way, do you know Christine Manfield? So far, I only know, she has written a few other cookbooks, is from Australia and has a restaurant there in Sydney, and apparently, has written the very cookbook you see on that picture and that I'm going to work through.
Why that book? You might know, that I have mentioned it before, I wanted to do such a thing. I didn't want to go with a book I already have or that already has been done quite popular or from a person, I've cooked a lot from already. So my mind was blank and I asked around on the net.
Strangely, there was not so much of a suggesting mood around there, but one person, which name is not to be mentioned at this point, suggested this book and ... eh ... well, since I have a whoever knows what relationship with Australia, I thought by myself ... go for it.
Fine, the book is not about Australia, but about India ... and there are a lot of people out there, who love a good Indian meal. What more reason do I need? Right, the name of the author would make a fine title for this project: Christine & Christian.

"Welcome Home!"

That's what I can say to this book, since it finally arrived. Here is its new home and now it's the time to work with it.
For now I can say, watch out for more episodes from Christine & Christian. As time goes by I will write more about it, while I continue doing the normal things around here on the blog as I used to do so before.

Christine & Christian - Trailer

2013-04-09T18:08:00.000+02:00

Every journey has a beginning ... but not necessarily an ending.

I already started so many things, but never really finished them. Well, I finished school … sort of.

Fine, it’s time to boldly go, where no man has gone before. Well, maybe others did, but ...

Before a story there is a story and yet another story and some stories have yet to be told …

The past is gone and the future is shrouded in mystery. Will we learn from the past or will the past catch up with the present once more? Are we bound to make the same mistakes again and again and again?

Where the North meets the South and the West meets the East, there will be one man … one book … one kitchen …

Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do ...

Over 250 recipes … over 250 days (who knows) …

… sometimes happy, sometimes sad …

… for good or for worse …

… there will be food …

… there will be flavour!

Catching up ... Tray Bake Plum Cake

2013-04-08T12:09:00.002+02:00

There are still a few things to catch up with. I already planned some posts ... and that already for quite some times. For sure, I mentioned it before. In fact a few things I already cooked/baked, photographed and ... eh ... well, have also eaten up completely.
In an effort to catch up with a few things of those, I present you today the tray bake plum cake I had.

As I was checking up on my pantry what needed using up I came across this glass of plums and so things were set in motion.

Ingredients:

Cake dough:
125 g butter
125 g sugar
2 tbs vanilla sugar
4 eggs
250 g flour
2 tsp baking powder

1 large jar of plums (more wouldn't hurt)
A few splashes of plum liqueur (if you have)

Crumble to cover:
125 g butter
125 g sugar
2 tbs vanilla sugar
200 g sliced and ground almonds mixed
1 tbs milk

Method:
For the dough, cream the butter, the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the eggs.
Then add the flour and the baking powder. I used whole-wheat flour. Turn it all into a dough
Give the dough onto a lightly oiled or covered with baking parchment or both baking tray.
Place the plums on it ... without the juice. You have to get other ideas with that.
Sprinkle a bit of plum liqueur on the plums, if you like and/or if you have it.
Now, we don't want to forget the crumble.
You can already heat up your oven to 180 °C.
Melt the butter and then mix together all the ingredients for the crumble and then cover the plums on the cake with it.
Bake it for about 30 minutes, depending on the reliability of your oven.
Enjoy the cake!

Now the plums are gone and so is the whole-wheat flour. That were some of the things that needed to be used up. Well, I didn't need to buy any additional ingredients for everything was either leftover (the liqueur as well and I'm still working on using it up) or standard ingredients.
I guess that cake does well for the April Credit Crunch Munch pages on Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All. This month Camilla from Fab Food 4 All is hosting. So, have a look.

Quick Pasta, if you dare ... Tortelloni with Garlic Yogurt

2013-04-05T17:46:00.000+02:00

I'm not exactly sure how we got into this conversation, but at one point I found myself in it with a workmate. Well, I guess it's no big deal. However, he made me try something: Tortelloni with Garlic Yogurt.
Do you dare try it as well?
Why 'dare'? I simply bought this ready tortelloni and had a go. Or maybe it's because the garlic in the yogurt? Whatever! Originally the idea is based on a Turkish filled pasta dish called manti. While I haven't tried to do them myself, this is basically a cheat version, although I might simply check it out at some other point and do a non-cheat version.

Basically this cheat manti version is so dead simple and quick, you can go for it on any weeknight even though you don't have time for cooking.
Simply cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
In the meantime mix some plain yogurt with finely chopped, squashed, or grated garlic, a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Pasta ready? Reserve a tiny bit of the cooking water and then mix the drained pasta with the yogurt and the reserved cooking water and then simply eat it.
It's just that simple.
How do things look? From that you might guess I have started to get lazy again and stopped cooking properly or getting proper ideas ...
Well, you might be right, but then again, we will see about that ...

Rice Balls with Spring Onions and Smoked Salmon

2013-04-01T12:35:00.001+02:00

On our current part of our virtual food journey for Bloggers Around the World I asked everyone to do something Japanese, or with typical Japanese ingredients, or ... whatever, let's go on with it.
I hope you are all busy ... brains working what to do ... or already cooking or baking ... or even writing up something. Whatever you do: Have fun!
I was thinking and looking around, too. So I came up with some rice balls with a spring onion an smoked salmon filling.

All we need is cooked rice, smoked salmon, spring onions, some sesame seeds and a bit of ginger, if you like. No big fuss about it! Pure and simple!
A good thing, that I have a rice cooker. So I simply put in three cups of rice with sufficient water and let it do it's job, while I relax and do something else.

Oh, the rice is already done. No worries! The cooker will keep it warm. So I head over into the kitchen and cut the smoked salmon and the spring onions in a very relaxed way. Here goes a bit of ginger in it.
In fact the rice could be a little to hot. So I better turn the cooker off and open it a bit before I proceed.
With wet fingers I take a handful of the rice and form it into a ball. Then I make a hole into it to squeeze in one or two teaspoons of the spring onion and smoked onion mixture. I just need to make sure the rice closes around the filling.

To serve them I sprinkle a few roasted sesame seeds on them. That's it!
You can have them anytime. I even had some for breakfast. Above that, I reckon, you can also go for a different filling, like maybe a total veg version. What about cucumber or zucchini or ... you will get ideas.
If you have the feeling, you might need some kind of sauce with the balls, why not mix some wasabi and soy sauce together, and there you go.

So far for my contribution to the current Bloggers Around the World. I never have been to Japan, but I suppose it would be very interesting. However, you can't have everything or go everywhere.

Now it's still up to you. There are still 12 days left to do something Japanese for Bloggers Around the World. I'll be waiting on you ...

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

2013-03-29T13:07:00.000+01:00

Once in a while, when I see mushrooms I go and buy them. Well, if I would have the expertise, I would go and get them from the woods. However, I'm still planning on someone with knowledge taking me along. Maybe it works out this year.
In the meantime (it's not the season anyway) I use what is available.
While doing this, why not have some creamy mushroom pasta!? I always enjoy it for a quick meal.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
400 g mushrooms, dirt brushed off, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200 ml double cream
250 g of your favourite pasta
Salt and pepper
Grated parmesan to serve

Method:
Heat up some olive oil in a large pan. Then toss in the mushrooms. Larger ones, you have to cut into smaller pieces, maybe. In the meantime you could also start to get your pasta ready. We don't expect any extensive cooking for this recipe.
Have the mushrooms taking on some colour. When that happens, it's time for the garlic to join. The smell and the flavour and the garlic will start to blend in.
Add the double cream and season with salt and pepper.
Finally, when the pasta is ready as well, add some of the cooking water to the creamy mushroom sauce and ... the pasta as well. Toss everything together and plate up.
Serve with grated parmesan and some parsley ... if you want to.

What now? Well, there is always something to do. Suddenly, when you have a lot of free time available, nothing planned, then you can do what you always wanted ... Really? Oh, I guess not. I'm sure I'll end up with not doing many of these things ...

Tomato and Feta Slice

2013-03-25T19:13:00.000+01:00

Did I mention feta cheese lately? I reckon it's about time I do. You can have something lovely to eat by ... eh ... just eating it. Some friends of mine used to eat a slab of it simply with a few onion rings on it and then sprinkled with olive oil. Well, that's not much of cooking, but who cares, if it tastes good. Quick, simple, enjoy!

Anyhow, I'm not just telling you to do just that, but I like to go a step further and add a few more things to the ... eh ... eh ... eh ... dish. I think may brain isn't doing me some good lately.
Whatsoever, here we go:

Toast a slice of bread.
Have some lovely garlicky thick tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce ready. I had some left from my latest pizza adventures. Spread this lovely garlicky tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce on the toasted slice of bread.
On top of the lovely garlicky tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce on the toasted slice of bread you place a good slab of feta cheese.
Said and done! It's time to put the slice of toasted bread with lovely garlicky tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce and a slab of feta cheese on top under the grill or into the microwave. You decide how long. We want the feta cheese to start melting. Either just slightly softened or totally running over the bread.
Get your toasted slice of bread with the lovely garlicky tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce and melted feta cheese on it out, throw a few pieces of onion on it and finish off with a bit of parsley and good olive oil. You might season it with pepper as well, if you want to.
Then ... we stop this repeating of the lovely garlicky ... stop! Enjoy your feta!

I hope you do!

Somehow over the past few weeks a few things ... photos and dishes have been piling up. There were a few things I wanted to write about, but simply haven't managed yet. There is always a lot going on in my head ...
Another thing was this cookbook cooking thing. I had this voting going on at my Facebook page. There wasn't really too much participation. Maybe it's too hard to find now or it is simply too boring. I don't know.
Anyway, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I narrowed the book thingy down to three books. I'm planning now on getting them. Do you have any experiences with one of these?

Tasting India - Christine Manfield
Bill's Sydney Food - Bill Granger
Jerusalem - Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi

I have to get things rolling before something rolls over me. I'm having this strange feeling each time I pass the place were I had the ugly accident about 11 years ago.
It seems to me I'm getting into this distracted mode again.
There is yet another thing. When I started out this blog I had in mind cooking something African I got to eat when visiting some refugees around here a few years ago. Have to do this soon.
Besides that, I wanted to cook a dish from my favourite TV series, which you most probably will never guess. But then again, you never know.
You see, there is still plenty to do. Sadly, though, you might be familiar with the gap (mind the gap) between knowing something and doing something. I reckon you will know, when I managed to do just that.
On the road there will always be feta and some lovely garlicky tasty yummy delicious self-made tomato sauce ...

Drink with me ... Piña Colada Dessert

2013-03-21T15:27:00.000+01:00

Will you drink with me to days gone by? They won't come back. We are not the persons we used to be anymore. Time moves on. Things change - to good and to bad. However, it's not the time or place to ponder such things.
All the more so I am happy today to be able to do a live post again. I prepared a drink for you and me, took some photos and ... here we are.

Fine, it's not exactly a drink, but don't be fooled by the sounds or looks of it, for it is quite strong and I don't advice to still drive with your car or bike afterwards.

I'm glad to be able to join my favourite Blog Hop once more,
the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop. Just look what a lovely theme
we have this month: Cocktail Party!
So it's time to get the equipment ready and shake it up again ...
as in the days gone by (you wouldn't know, though).

We are having a Piña Colada Dessert then ...

Ingredients (makes three - I just had three of those glasses):
4,5 sponge fingers
6 cl white rum
10 cl pineapple juice (or syrup)
4 cl cream of coconut or coconut syrup
4 slices of pineapple (fresh or from the tin)
6 cl pineapple juice (or syrup)
250 g mascarpone
3 tbs sugar

Shaking up:
A note before we start: If you just take the above mentioned white rum until the coconut syrup and add 2 cl of cream you can have a normal Piña Colada. However, that is not what we want to do right now.
Here we go then ...
Divide the sponge fingers among three glasses by breaking them (not the glasses) into smaller bits and pieces.
Get a cocktail shaker (or something else) and pour the rum, pineapple juice and coconut syrup into it. Give it a good shake. Maybe you can do a bit of fancy things by shaking behind your back, above your head or by throwing the shaker into the air and (hopefully) catching it again. Otherwise, you could just mix together the aforementioned ingredients thoroughly.
Pour a third of the almost Piña Colada into each glass (that, hopefully as well, you didn't break).

Our attention goes over to the mascarpone. Have a suitable vessel ready for it, where you mix it together with the 6 cl pineapple juice and the sugar. Keep stirring until all lumps have vanished.
Take the pineapple slices and cut them in half. Put three nice pieces to the side and cut the remaining parts of the pineapple slices into even smaller bits.
What then? You have guessed right, if you divide those pieces among the three glasses again and hang a half slice each across the rim of the glasses respectively.
Almost there. We just need to use up the mascarpone by pouring it over the pineapple pieces we just used. You know!

If you feel like decorating, go ahead ...
It was really nice having a drink with you. Had I simply a drink on my own, it wouldn't make such a good impression. Hopefully, you enjoyed your Piña Colada Dessert and didn't break any glasses or who knows what else.
What's on your mind now?