Back Track

The last few weeks have been kinda crazy on the work front and school front.  However, not too busy to complete the last three challenges, just their associated blog entries.

Just before leaving for a week long business trip, I attempted to do a vintage recipe.  This time, it came from a cookbook that of course escapes my mind at the moment.  This is why I try to do my blog as I have cooked the dish so I remember.

In any event, these were small cakes with frosting.  The batter tasted like a cake batter right out of the box.  Which was nice though it wasn't as sweet (good for my taste buds).  The two pictured here are the only ones that came out "perfect."

Small Cakes with Frosting

 While I was away, the boyfriend drew out of the magic hat, East Timor as our country for the week.  Of course, I didn't really get a chance to research very much since on this business trip, I was required to go out all nights I was away.  Either way, I did find out quite about East Timor.

East Timor is primarily influenced by the other Southeast Asian countries and their other colony holders, such as Portugal.  Unfortunately, not many recipes listed as East Timor proper, so I found a recipe that quickly became a favorite for both the boyfriend and myself: Pastel de nata.

Pastel de Nata

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup milk 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 vanilla bean

1 cup white sugar 6 egg yolks 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed

Pastel de Nata

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) Lightly grease 12 muffin cups and line bottom and sides with puff pastry.
2.	In a saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into egg yolks. Gradually add egg yolk mixture back to remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Remove vanilla bean.
3.	Fill pastry-lined muffin cups with mixture and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is lightly browned on top (http://goo.gl/uI1Enz)

Immediately after exploring this recipe, we went vintage and tried to go back to our healthier eats.  Unfortunately, the boyfriend had picked the cookbook, A Book of Good Dinners, which encompasses the entire dinner, from appetizer, to main dish to desert options and what each are paired with.  For the sake of our appetite and our waist lines (which by the way are actually shrinking due to our dedications to the gym and kickboxing/kung fu respectively), we only attempted to do a salad.  And since I was back from the East Coast, it was only fitting to do a salad called "California Salad."

California Salad

1 cup crab meat

2/3 cup celery

4 small tomatoes

Remove the meat from crabs and cut in pieces of uniform size, add the celery finely cut and tomatoes cut in quarters.  Marinate with French Dressing, and garnish with Mayonnaise Dressing

Mayonnaise Dressing

1/2 teaspoon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

few grains cayenne

Yolks 2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 tablespoon vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil

California Salad

Mix dry ingredients, add egg yolks and when well mixed, add oil gradually, at first drop by drop stirring constantly.  As mixture thickens, thin with vinegar and lemon juice.  Add oil and vinegar or lemon juice alternately, until all is used, stirring constantly.

French Dressing

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3 drops onion juice

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

Mix ingredients in order given and stir well until well blended.

Now I know that this is a lot of food to digest, but remember, we did span it over the last few weeks.  This week, we'll explore the French culinary delights.  Fortunately for me, French fries aren't on the list.  French fries are actually Belgian so no French fries on the menu, unless I decide to put them as a side dish (most likely not, we'll see though...).

Twist without Stain

Pomegranate Relish

For this week's challenge, pomegranate came to mind of the boyfriend.  We still had a couple of left from our first Farm Fresh to You delivery and we thought, why not use them for the challenge.  Besides, what is there to do with a pomegranate aside from just opening one up and eating it.  That's normally how I handle my fruit, no matter how complex it is.  Pomegranate on my list of fruits that I enjoy but dislike in getting into.  Simply because when you open a pomegranate you face it staining things.

I have ruined a few things from opening up a pomegranate but it doesn't stop me enjoying one.  The juicer they are, the more trouble they are.

Anyways, as far as the challenge, it wasn't enough to just get one open and call it a day, so I found a recipe that didn't require much in terms of preparation or extra ingredients.  I also figured, it is getting close to family food gatherings so I better see what I can prepare to satisfy even the most picky of tasters.

For this pomegranate relish, it took only a shallot and some cilantro to add an extra boost of flavor to the pomegranate.  It also was a relatively quick dish to "cook" once all the pomegranate was extracted from the fruit itself.

Hopefully the challenges for the remainder of the year will be one of less mess.  Fortunately, the mess of this dish was minimal since the pomegranate was just under full ripeness and wasn't too juicy.

Rosemary...California's Herb Abudance

I didn't realize that picking a dish with fresh rosemary was harder than picking a needle out of the haystack, no pun intended. Well maybe a slight pun since the rosemary I picked up was out of the boyfriend's apartment complex.

In California, rosemary can be widely found and so I don't ever find the need to go and buy it for the various dishes I prepare that call for fresh rosemary.  Also, fresh picked rosemary to add to some olive oil and fresh garlic adds the extra kick to most dishes without being over powerful.  If the rosemary is dried, it is just as potent.

In any event, I was at a bit of stumping point when it came to choosing something I hadn't done before when I wanted to cook with this ingredient.

I chose to do a batch of cookies.  It isn't often I feel like baking since it is an art form out on all its own.

These cookies are essentially sugar cookies with rosemary added to them.  A Victorian era favorite and apparently, instead of rosemary, one could use lavender too.

Either way, a good cookie to pair with a spot of tea.