by Krista | May 19, 2010 | Compatriot Wednesday
Monday was one of those ghastly days where everything seemed to go wrong. I was exhausted and on the verge of tears as I worked feverishly to fix one mess after another when suddenly, like a burst of sunshine after days of fog, everything righted itself and all was well. Phew.
Just in time too, for it was Deep Fried Game Hen night at CEC, my cooking club, and I so didn’t want to miss that! My brain was mush by this point so I sent a plea over Twitter for recommendations for gluten-free desserts. @saffronberry recommended financiers, @Valerie_78 suggested my favorite Nanaimo Bars, and @DuchessinBK urged me to try mini pavlovas with cream and berries. Although they all sounded divine, a quick scan of the contents of my cupboard and fridge decided it for me: the pavlovas. Duchess was lovely enough to type the recipe out for me (thank you!!) and after reading it through I figured I could tweak it a bit to suit my ingredients: limes and mangoes. Oooee, I could hardly wait to give it a whirl. 🙂
I arrived at CEC with arms full, oh so ready for a glass of Petite Sirah to calm my frazzled nerves. Selwyn started us off with a dazzling array of fabulous cheeses: Stilton with Dried Cranberries, Hot Wasabi Aged Cheddar and Smoked Gouda with bacon. Mmm, mmm!!
This was followed by a lovely mixed green salad topped with Toby’s delicious Reduced Balsamic Dressing.
We could smell the main course before we saw it, heavenly scents of deep fried game hen and grilled veggies wafting in through the screen door.
At last Cameron brought in the first batch of hens, slicing through the salty, crispy skin to reveal a spiced pear stuffing inside. Amazing!!!
Deb and Darren grilled asparagus, squash and sweet peppers, and they were the perfect smoky accompaniment to the sprightly salad and savory chicken.
Alas, I cannot share the chicken recipe with you for it involves a “Secret Family Recipe” of spices, but if you can come up with your own concoction of spices, simply rub it all over the chicken before frying to give the skin an out of this world flavor.
We ended the evening with my Lime Pavlovas topped with vanilla cream, fresh mangoes and blackberries. I gotta say those meringues were fantastic. Duchess knows what she’s talking about!!! I adored the addition of lime zest and the mangoes went beautifully with the citrus.
What is the best food you’ve eaten this week, dear ones? 🙂
Before I forget!! I got my RSS feed and email subscription sorted out. If you’d like to receive blog updates, feel free to sign up. 🙂
Today is my first day of participation in WanderFood Wednesday! 🙂 It’s a place for travel writers to share photos, stories, recipes, book reviews and any other food-related topics with other foodies (and non-foodies!).
Toby’s Reduced Balsamic Dressing
3-4 teaspoons reduced balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, peeled, green germ removed, and minced
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
7 ounces (210 g) mixed salad greens (8 cups, loosely packed), such as escarole, oak-leaf, and romaine, rinsed, patted dry, and torn into bite-size pieces
Directions:
- Place the vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and garlic in a medium-size bowl and whisk together until blended. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking constantly, until the dressing is emulsified.
- Add the greens and toss well until they are coated with the dressing. Season with pepper to taste and serve the salad immediately.
Lime Pavlovas with Mangoes and Blackberries
(Adapted from @DuchessinBK)
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbs vanilla
fresh berries
2 tbs orange zest (optional)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 230 degrees, and cover a cookie sheet with parchment.
- Start whipping whites, when just broken and slightly frothy, add tartar – whip it in well.
- Slowly, painfully slowly, add sugar while whipping (scrape down sides gently with rubber spatula)
- When soft peaks form, add 1 tbs of vanilla. Keep whipping until firm peaks form but be careful not to over-whip.
- Very carefully fold in orange zest
- Spoon onto cookie sheet. Depending on size, you’ll get 12+ per sheet. You’ll probably need two sheets.
- Bake for 1 hr. If its humid, 1 hr 20-30 minutes. (By the way, if its super humid, don’t even bother, the whites won’t whip up enough.)
- When finished, they should be completely white, give a hollow noise when you tap them, and still just slightly gooey inside.
- Let them cool completely.
- Meanwhile whip cream with 1 tbs of vanilla.
- Add a dollop of whipped cream to each meringue and add fruit on top.
by Krista | May 18, 2010 | Spring
After our wild drive through the back country of Bosnia and discovering this oh-so-gorgeous lake, we continued to meander through thickly-forested mountains, catching our breath at towering cliffs, turquoise lakes, and pristine rivers cascading through deep, rocky gorges. Although five members of our party were very talkative womenfolk, silence reigned as we gazed in absolute awe and delight at the stunning vistas on every side. I felt that we had stumbled into a magical fairyland. THIS was where giants lived and trolls fought and beautiful maidens spun things in tiny cabins deep in the forest.
In homage to this beautiful country, I researched some of the exquisite food we ate while we were there, and stumbled upon recipes for a dish I absolutely loved: cevapi.
Looking very much like American breakfast sausages, these lovely morsels are a combination of ground beef, lamb and pork, mixed with onions and garlic, and are served in flat bread or pita and topped with an assortment of condiments depending on the specific Balkan region you’re in.
I did not have ground lamb or pork, so I substituted half a ham. I grated it finely and added it to the beef, mixed in grated onion, pepper, salt, finely minced garlic, 1 tsp of baking soda and an egg white to bind it together. Taking a small handful of meat mix, I molded it into the shape of a breakfast link, repeating until all the meat was used, then covered the cevapi and chilled it for an hour. (The combination is not very wet and must be chilled for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld and the mixture to bind.) Finally I fried them until they were nicely browned on all sides.
Traditionally they are served on bread with ajvar (a roasted pepper spread), diced onions, diced bell peppers, tomatoes, and sour cream. I skip the bread entirely and pile on the condiments, or simply dip them in grainy mustard for a quick afternoon snack. They are splendid hot or cold. 🙂
This post has been entered into the Grantourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.
Rambling Tart version of Cevapi
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 cups grated ham (traditionally made with 1/2 pound ground pork and 1/2 pound ground lamb)
4 cloves minced garlic
1 red onion, grated
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg white
Salt and pepper to taste (you won’t need much salt at all if you use ham instead of ground pork/lamb)
Flat bread or pita
Toppings: ajar, chopped onion, bell pepper, tomato and sour cream.
Directions:
- Mix everything.
- Mold into breakfast link sized pieces. Chill for 1 hour.
- Fry or grill until browned on all sides.
- Serve with flat bread/pita, chopped onion, bell pepper, tomato and sour cream.
by Krista | May 17, 2010 | Bootstrap Monday
Happy Monday, dear ones! How was your weekend? You inspired me with your “simple pleasures” on Friday, and I hope you each found time to indulge in at least one thing that made you happy.
My weekend was a lovely hodgepodge of solitude and company, sunshine and gray skies, rest and hustle.
Friday night was grand fun with a jolly Classic Movie Night with a gang of dear friends. We popped corn and settled in to watch that hilarious John Wayne classic, “The Quiet Man.” I grinned all over again when I found this collection of Memorable Quotes from the movie.
Saturday dawned gloriously sunny and I slept in luxuriously. The rest of the day was spent with beloved rellies. We had such fun exploring our favorite discount stores and emerging with all sorts of treasures. I was especially excited about all the new herbs, soil, and containers I found, and had such fun expanding my little garden with English thyme, variegated sage, spearmint and all sorts of lettuces.
I kept my food simple but delicious this weekend, drawing from my herb garden for inspiration. With fresh basil and gorgeous tomatoes at hand, I could think of nothing better than grainy bread spread with pesto and topped with diced tomatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil, and sea salt. Mmm. 🙂
I was tempted to be overwhelmed today, my mind racing with all the things on my to-do list, but decided that stressing out was not a good option. So I thought through everything and reckoned that papers could be sorted another day, vacuuming could wait, and learning how to use Adobe Elements could definitely be bumped down the list. Instead I had a beautiful day of puttering: cooking interesting things for my lunches, reading a good book in a puddle of sunshine on my bed, taking a nap on the creek bank. It was just what I needed and I feel ready to face a new week with a rested, happy me.
What is one thing you’re looking forward to this week, luvs?
by Krista | May 14, 2010 | Fabulous Friday
Hello dear ones! I’ve truly missed you these last few days as I’ve scrambled to put together a semblance of a blog after much fuss and bother with my last one. There is still work to be done, but I’m so happy to have a place to put down my blog roots for a good, long while.
How have you been? How was your week? Are you so excited for the weekend?
With so much craziness in my life this week, I’ve been delighting in very simple pleasures: reading on the creek bank, one foil-wrapped Dove dark chocolate each evening, and, on a particularly beautiful day, a stroll in the woods.
I love the above trail so much. 🙂 I felt sure that it would lead somewhere quite delightful if only I had time to follow it.
I think this branch got blown down in one of our recent windstorms, but isn’t it lovely against the green?
Wildflowers were everywhere! Teensy tiny ones carpeting the forest floor and clinging to the banks of the stream. These little ones are so perky, aren’t they?
My happiness with simple things has extended to my food as well. I was too tired to muster up anything exotic, so I took a cue from Tracy at
Amuse-Bouche for Two, and turned to wine and pasta. Tracy waxes poetic about pasta, rendering it so dreamy and wonderful that I simply had to see what all the fuss was about. A glass of chilled Aussie white was the perfect accompaniment…
…to simple whole wheat thin spaghetti dressed with pesto, fresh tomatoes, and basil from my garden.
What simple things are delighting you this week, my friends?
by Krista | May 14, 2010 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Good evening, dear ones!! I’m in the process of transitioning to a new blog, fumbling and fussing as I go. Yipes! This is just a little test to see if everything is posting smoothly. I will be back tomorrow with a real post. Sleep tight!!
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