I thought to post this recipe because I tried a "thai-inspired" chicken curry from Anne's Food that burnt my lips off. I overdid the red curry paste and though it was tasty -- how can chicken breast, zucchini, baby corn, red bell peppers and coconut milk be otherwise? -- I had to call on some leftover whipped cream with ginger thins to rescue my charred tongue. I'll be more careful in the future. However, the general seasoning reminded me of the best soup I'd ever had when I was in Stockholm in 2001. It was a curried carrot soup made with coconut milk, and I've tried to recreate it several times, usually without success. Most recipes that I used as a jumping off point were too sweet, and it was hard to call up a clear memory of the soup, anyway. (I just remember loving it.) Anyway, I think I found an equivalent, slightly modified, at whfoods.org (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=27) but may try it again with the red curry paste instead of cayenne in the future. Here's version 1:
Ingredients
3 cups vegetable stock
1 large onion chopped
2 TBS fresh ginger sliced, or 1 tsp dried
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups sliced carrots
1 tsp curry powder
5 oz canned coconut milk
Healthy dose of cayenne (according to your preferences)
Salt and white pepper to taste
Sauté onion in a medium sized soup pot for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and fresh ginger and continue to sauté for another minute. Add curry powder and dried ginger if you are not using fresh, and mix well with onions. Add stock and carrots simmer on medium high heat until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
Add coconut milk and blend in batches making sure blender is not more than half full. When it's hot, if blender is too full it can erupt and burn you. Salt, pepper, and add cayenne to taste. Return to soup pot and reheat.
Jessica
Monday, January 1, 2007
Happy New Year!
This blog is part of my New Year's resolution to improve my cooking and expand my food repetoire. As I was talking to Cisco (my husband) yesterday, I realized that though I'm a fairly good cook, overall, but it can be definitely hit or miss. And, I feel limited in the recipes I can pull off without disaster. So, I need to work on it. I had previously started a food blog with my dear friend Krista, but got out of the habit, and wanted to create one that I could really target to my cooking goals and interests, so that's why I've taken up a new one (though I will hopefully contribute more to the Recipe Coop, as well). I was really motivated to start this blog after happening upon some utterly fabulous food blogs by accident a week or so ago. First and foremost is A Cat in the Kitchen, but Anne's Food, Food and Thoughts, and Farmgirl Fare (which also has adorable pictures of her pet lamb Cary) have become fast favorites. I'm only worried that when the new semester begins I'll have a hard time getting back to work!
So, here are my resolutions ...
1. To experiment with new cuisines, including Indonesian (we've only made gado-gado so far), Ethiopian, and Scandinavian and Polish, thanks to "A Cat in the Kitchen," as well as "Anne's Food."
2. To be more adventurous with ingredients, especially by shopping at the nearby Midway Asian Market that, in addition to much needed ingredients for Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food also has a good selection of ingredients for Middle Eastern and Mexican cuisines.
3. To not eat out too much, because -- in addition to being expensive and not very time-saving -- it robs me of good opportunities to practice cooking :)
4. To learn how to preserve foods: mostly jams and jellies and peaches!
5. To master yeasted breads. Okay, at least figure it out enough, so that I'm not utterly terrified by recipes that call for yeast.
6. To get more involved in the local foodie events in Madison and the surrounding area -- and there are ever-so-many ...
I'm sure there's more, but this is a start ...
So, here are my resolutions ...
1. To experiment with new cuisines, including Indonesian (we've only made gado-gado so far), Ethiopian, and Scandinavian and Polish, thanks to "A Cat in the Kitchen," as well as "Anne's Food."
2. To be more adventurous with ingredients, especially by shopping at the nearby Midway Asian Market that, in addition to much needed ingredients for Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food also has a good selection of ingredients for Middle Eastern and Mexican cuisines.
3. To not eat out too much, because -- in addition to being expensive and not very time-saving -- it robs me of good opportunities to practice cooking :)
4. To learn how to preserve foods: mostly jams and jellies and peaches!
5. To master yeasted breads. Okay, at least figure it out enough, so that I'm not utterly terrified by recipes that call for yeast.
6. To get more involved in the local foodie events in Madison and the surrounding area -- and there are ever-so-many ...
I'm sure there's more, but this is a start ...
Almond Apple Cake
This lovely recipe is adapted from the Hazelnut Plum Cake on epicurious.com, but you have to have quality plums for the Hazelnut Plum Cake to work out and in Wisconsin in mid-winter, quality apples are much easier to come by. I tried the following version for New Year's Eve dinner (following up homemade pizzas -- which were okay despite too-doughy crusts), served with maple whipped cream. Unfortunately, my digital camera isn't working, so I can't photograph the nice results :( Anyway, here are the details...
Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. almond meal (Bob's Red Mill sells this; otherwise, get 1/2 c. or so of raw almonds and process in a food processor)
1/3 c. oat flour -- This was a new component, as the recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I thought the oat flour would give a nice flavor and moistness to the cake. It does, but if you don't have oat flour (Arrowhead Mills makes some), you can use regular flour with no problem.
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 apple, thinly sliced -- you can peel or leave the skin on, either way works
1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, in whatever proportions you like.
First, preheat oven to 425 F and butter and flour 8-in. round cake pan. You can also line the cake pan in parchment paper, if you'd rather.
Blend together almond meal, flour, and brown sugar. If you're using whole almonds, blend in food processor until well mixed. Melt butter and add vanilla when cool ... Set aside.
Combine egg whites and salt, and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in almond-flour-sugar mixture, then add melted butter/vanilla mix (batter will deflate). Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Top batter with apple slices, then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top. I do find that the center takes a little too long to finish cooking if you layer too many apples in the center (as usually happens when trying to make pretty concentric circles), so be careful not to cover the center completely with apple slices.
Place in center rack in oven and bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. As I mentioned, I used whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup and vanilla, for which the recipe is quite simple: 1 c. chilled whipping cream, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 1-3 Tbs. maple syrup (go on the light side if you don't like things too sweet--the only disadvantage is that you then can't really taste the maple flavor). Mixed in a chilled non-reactive metal or glass bowl and beat on high until desired consistency. Be careful not to beat too long, or you'll have very sweet butter :)
Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. almond meal (Bob's Red Mill sells this; otherwise, get 1/2 c. or so of raw almonds and process in a food processor)
1/3 c. oat flour -- This was a new component, as the recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I thought the oat flour would give a nice flavor and moistness to the cake. It does, but if you don't have oat flour (Arrowhead Mills makes some), you can use regular flour with no problem.
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 apple, thinly sliced -- you can peel or leave the skin on, either way works
1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, in whatever proportions you like.
First, preheat oven to 425 F and butter and flour 8-in. round cake pan. You can also line the cake pan in parchment paper, if you'd rather.
Blend together almond meal, flour, and brown sugar. If you're using whole almonds, blend in food processor until well mixed. Melt butter and add vanilla when cool ... Set aside.
Combine egg whites and salt, and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in almond-flour-sugar mixture, then add melted butter/vanilla mix (batter will deflate). Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Top batter with apple slices, then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top. I do find that the center takes a little too long to finish cooking if you layer too many apples in the center (as usually happens when trying to make pretty concentric circles), so be careful not to cover the center completely with apple slices.
Place in center rack in oven and bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. As I mentioned, I used whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup and vanilla, for which the recipe is quite simple: 1 c. chilled whipping cream, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 1-3 Tbs. maple syrup (go on the light side if you don't like things too sweet--the only disadvantage is that you then can't really taste the maple flavor). Mixed in a chilled non-reactive metal or glass bowl and beat on high until desired consistency. Be careful not to beat too long, or you'll have very sweet butter :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
