Walnut butter ... tomato... curried... hummus????

Today was one of those days where I create a complete kerfuffle in the kitchen.  A day where I start with a recipe in mind, and then snowball in to something completely different.

I decided I was going to make something with a homemade walnut butter, still inspired by this months Daring Cook challenge.  I didn't have a lot of walnuts though.  So I started making the butter and decided that it was not enough.  I see sage and walnut butter go well together so I put in sage.  In my hurry it turned out that I put in thyme, which was next to the sage.   So then I put in some sage also.   My blender is working so hard, but the butter is just not forming because it is a grandmother of a blender with the torque of a cooked noodle.  So, as the snowball continues,  I threw in the last of my table cream.  I thought, walnut sage butter.. thyme.. cream sauce?

I tasted it.  It wasn't terrible by any means, but it didn't have a wow.  Or even a "let me lick the spoon again."   So, I think to myself, maybe I should add more vegetables.  Before I know it i've dumped in the remaining pint of grape tomatoes I desperately need to use up.   I blend that down and it tastes just TOO tomato-ey.    Over powering tomato.  Gross!  So I think to myself, what goes well with tomatoes?

Salt.... Pepper....  Basil... Those go in..  Then? Curry powder??  Seemed like a good idea at the time so I put in the curry powder and blended down.   Still, way too tomato-ey.   So, I add some spice.   I put in some of my spicy fajita seasoning.   Obviously, this doesn't counter the tomato taste.  Then it comes to me.  What do I always use to cut through an overpowering taste that I don't like? GINGER!  So I throw in a teaspoon of minced ginger and voila! Fixed!

Not exactly.  Though if finally did taste a lot better, I couldn't stop myself from continuing in my snowball.   I open my pantry doors and what do I espy? Chick peas!   So I dump in a can of chick peas, but what do you always need if you're going to blend down chick peas? Garlic.  So in goes two cloves of garlic.

I cross my fingers thinking, this is kind of like a hummus with all the chickpeas.   I dip in my spoon and taste, and what do I find?  Deliciousness!  How wonderful!  So here is my approximate recipe!  Yes, don't mind the massive amount of ingredients, its as I said.  Just one of those snowball days.

Walnut curried tomato hummus

• 1 cup walnuts


• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 1/4 tsp thyme


• 1/4 tsp sage


• splash of balsamic vinegar


• 1 tsp spicy fajita seasoning


• 1 pint grape tomatoes


• 2-3 tbsp table cream


• salt and pepper to taste


• 1/4 tsp basil


• 1 tsp curry powder


• 1 tsp minced ginger


• 1 can chick peas


• 2 cloves garlic

Blend all.  Or read my incessant ramblings above.  I'm quite sure as long as you grind down the walnuts first, you should be in the clear.

Now, before I sound too biased, being a self made recipe that I myself enjoy, I did test it on my family.  Their verdict was,  it was good!  It could use more garlic in my opinion, but the reason I didn't put in that much is because the longer something sits with garlic in it, the more the garlic starts to take over the flavour.  I figured this might be in the fridge for a week, imagine the garlic taste by then!  The problem with their verdict is though , that no one in this family is quite used to hummus.  So I tested it on my father, and he said "yea it doesn't taste bad. I just have to get used to this type of food".  Which means, hummus isn't traditional old Czech, therefore out of his food-comfort range.  Obviously.  I need to find someone with hummus experience to taste it.

Daring Cooks July challenge : Nut Butters!

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

I joined the Daring Cooks a few months ago but I've yet to actually recreate any recipe on site. I got the idea from a friend who started it, I thought it would be fun. It would give me kind of a personal challenge every month for my cooking so that I don't settle in to a culinary rut. I was putting around their message boards today having seen their tag on random cooking blogs I Google and thought now is as good a time as any to get going! So my first challenge? Nut butters! I chose the pecan, because it is a soft nut and I do not have a food processor. Maybe if I'm good, Santa will bring me one this year. A soft nut, like pecans, have a chance in a regular kitchen blender. Something like an almond is too hard for a regular kitchen blender unless you have something heavy duty.

Nut butters are really easy to make it turns out.  Stick your nuts in a blender or food processor and just run it until you have the butter.  (atleast 1 1/2 to 2 cups of nuts people!)

my pecan nut butter

chicken with Pecan Cream & Mushrooms

Pecan Cream:

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Pecan butter


• 1 cup (240 ml) water


• 3/4 teaspoon (3 ml) salt, more as needed

• 1 tbsp deglaze (water, white wine, whatever. optional)


• 1/2  pound (225 g) egg noodles or pasta


• 4  boneless, skinless chicken breast halves


• 1 teaspoon olive oil, more as needed


• Salt & pepper to taste

Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed


• 1/4 cup (60 ml) finely chopped shallots


• 1/2 pound (225 g) mushrooms, sliced


• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) fresh thyme leaves


• Chopped pecans, (optional garnish)

Make the pecan cream, mix the nut butter with the salt and water  until smooth, set aside.

Cook noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Drain, rinse, and keep warm.

Sprinkle chicken with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside cooked chicken on a clean plate, cover to keep warm.

Add deglazing liquid to pan if using and stir up any browned bits. If needed, add another teaspoon (5 ml) of oil (or more) to pan for sautéing the shallots and mushrooms. Sauté the shallots and mushrooms over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and starting to brown. Add fresh thyme to the pan. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 minutes till reduced slightly.

Slice chicken into thin strips. Divide the noodles among serving plates. Add a scoop of the mushroom pecan sauce on top of noodles. Lay sliced chicken on top. Garnish with fres

h thyme and/or a pinch of chopped pecans if you want to go all the way.

Now to make this quicker for me I bought the already pre-sliced raw chicken breast.  It also happened we are officially out of chicken and my husband won't be home until I am finished cooking this so I had to run out with both children.  It is not fun walking through a grocery store with two kids, no car, and no cart! So the raw strips works out for now.

Strawberry Bread Pudding

A delicious failure!

Strawberry Bread Pudding

• 1 pound fresh ripe or frozen strawberries (if using fresh, save 1/4 lb. unsliced for topping)


• 3/4 cup orange juice


• 4 cups French bread cubes


• 4 Tablespoons butter, melted


• 1 cup half and half


• 3 eggs, beaten


• 1 cup sugar


• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Soak strawberries in orange juice. Place bread cubes in a bowl. Pour melted butter over all, toss to coat. Then you whisk half and half into beaten eggs.

In a mixer on medium speed; combine sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Blend well. Add the egg/milk mixture and mix well and add strawberry/orange juice mixture, mixing until fully combined. Pour mixture over buttered bread cubes; cover and refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

Bake this at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered, and at 400 degrees for 10 minutes uncovered.

This was a failure.  I'm not sure what i did wrong but the cake just wouldn't set!   I must have hit an hour mark in the oven and it still just wouldn't set in the middle.  I'm wondering if the pan I used was just too small, so it couldn't cook through properly.

Even though this failed though, in presentation and directions, it tasted mighty delicious!   I'm thinking after I go berry picking I'm going to attempt this again.  If it doesn't work I think i should stick to cobblers.   No pictures exist of this but I kind of wish I took a few because I could use them as learning points.

Bolognese Sauce

So it comes to that time of day again. I'm standing in front of the freezer wondering which meat to defrost, and what to do with it. So I decided that I want to try another recipe. So I bust out my veggies and get dicing, then i hit the store and get anything I don't have. I decided today I'm going to experiment with my first sauce, something that isn't just a regular tomato sauce. So I decided, after some recipe searches, to make a variation of a Bolognese sauce.

Bolognese Sauce

• extra virgin olive oil


• 1 med onion chopped finely


• 2 stalks of celery chopped finely


• 2 carrots chopped finely


• 4 cloves garlic minced


• 1 cup mushrooms chopped finely


• 1 lbs extra lean ground beef


• 1 lbs lean ground veal


• 1 cup of white wine (pinot grigio works well.. Something dry)


• 14 oz crushed peeled tomatoes


• 1 quart of chicken stock


• dash of cayenne


• 1 tsp curry powder


• 1 tsp dried oregano (or tbsp fresh)


• 1 tsp dried basil (or tbsp fresh)


• 1 cup table cream ( I used 18% m.f.)

start by heating up a big pot with the olive oil. Toss in your onions, celery, garlic, carrots and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat.
Raise the heat a little and add your meats, cook it until its no longer pink.
Add the white wine and simmer until the wine evaporates. This could take a while.
Add the tomatoes, and the chicken stock, the cayenne, curry powder and some salt and pepper to taste, add basil and oregano.
At this point it gets easy. Lower the heat and simmer for around 2-3 hrs until its thickened.
Once its thickened up add the cream and simmer for another 20 or so minutes.

So.. Delicious.  My 1 year old is doing laps around the rooms acting like my wooden spoon is a lollipop! My husband set aside a container full for tomorrows work lunch before he was even finished his dinner.

Spicy Cherry Tomato and Pesto Spaghetti

Pasta is a way of life.   Pasta is possibly the only food you can buy for ridiculously cheap and feed an entire family with.  It maintains ridiculously well, it cooks nice and easy, and you can make virtually millions of versions of the same dish.  Also, when I run out of groceries,  its the first (and only) thing that I reach for.   This happened to me not to long ago, during a week we were rather tight pocketed and I was at a loss on what I could make to nourish my babies, and have them actually want to eat it.   So I thew together a tiny inventory, and reached for my spaghetti.   This is what I came up with and I absolutely loved it!  I actually thought I entered this here awhile ago since i'm making it again tonight but turns out I did not.  To the recipe!

Spicy Cherry Tomato and Pesto Spaghetti

• 2 cups of Cherry or grape  tomatoes, halved


• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 tsp hot pepper flakes (use less if you prefer less spicy, or none at all if you dislike spicy.)


• 1 - 2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 - 3 tsp fresh oregano)


• 3 tbsp chopped parsley (from my garden. Woohoo!)


• 3 tbsp chopped basil  (or more)


• 4-5 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil


• spaghetti


• Pesto sauce (I just use that from a jar)

Boil your pasta in a nice pot of briny water.  A pasta water should taste like a nice day at the beach (near the ocean.. obviously haha).   While your doing this, heat up the olive oil in a pan with the garlic and hot pepper flakes.  Let the garlic cook for a bit.    When cooking things in oil on the stove, you have to make sure that you get the pan super hot before putting the food in.   If you put cold food in to a cold pan the food absorbs all the oil and everything will just taste like oil. Once thats softened and cooked a bit pop in the tomatoes, let them cook for a minute or two before adding the herbs.   Cook that down until the tomatoes are cooked through, soft and wrinkly.   When that's done, just wait for the pasta to finish, if its already finished obviously drain it, and put in 1 - 2 spoons of pesto sauce, depending on your taste.  Stir those up, and then toss in the cherry tomatoes mix.

Each cherry tomato just pops in your mouth.  It is a flavour and experience I have neglected to give myself growing up when my mothers garden yielded seeming mountains of them every summer.  My mother would never cook them, and to this day I still can't manage to eat an uncooked tomato.   You can refrigerate any leftovers, my husband loves taking them to work so he can show his colleagues that he doesn't have to eat sandwiches every day.

I will edit this entry with a photograph once I take one tonight.   I'm also in the market for a smaller personal camera.  The one I use now is amazing, it is the photographic love of my life, but it is to valued, expensive, big and precious for me to want to haul it around for my various exploits.  I have a few leads, be patient.   I'm also soon to update my newest regular recipe.  The Esmeq Zucchini bread supreme! No fail, and when stale, tastes like gingerbread.  Delicious.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Tis the time of the year where my parents garden begins delivering they're wonderful treats to us who are waiting.  First for us, comes the rhubarb.  I love rhubarb.  My parents always grew rhubarb when I was a kid and we would eat it like celery (after trimming the leaves obviously, since we're all still alive.)   So, when I went over to their house with the little birthday girl, I took as much as I could get.  Originally I was going to make  a pie, but I don't have a rolling pin at the moment.  So I thought maybe a crumble.  I don't have any rolled oats!  So I settled on a Cobbler!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

• 1 cup  + 1 tsp Flour


• 2 tbsp sugar


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1/4 cup butter


• 1/2 cup milk


• 2 1/2 cup fresh rhubarb (trimmed, and cut in to 1 inch strips)


• 2/3 cup sugar


• 1 1/2 tbsp quick cooking tapioca


• 2 tsp lemon juice


• 2 tbsp water


• 1 tsp rum extract


• 2 1/2 cup strawberries (trimmed and cut in pieces)

Preheat the oven to 425

First mix up your cobbler dough.  Put the flour, 2 tbsp sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  mix it up, then cut in the butter until it takes on a coarse crumbly texture.  Stir in the milk afterwords.

In a saucepan, combine the rhubarb, 2/3 cup sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, water and rum extract and on low heat bring it to a boil.  Stir it often, sugar is nasty if it burns.  Once its come to a boil let it simmer for 2 minutes covered.  This will let the rhubarb soften up nicely.  Once that's done take it off the heat and put in the strawberries.  Mix it until its coated and put it in a buttered pan or glass baking dish.   This recipe yields about an 8X10 baking pan so if you have company coming you might think about doubling up the recipe.

Put the cobbler dough on top and spread it as best as possible.  It won't be perfect, and it won't cover the entire wet mixture but it will be pretty close. Bake it for 25 to 30 minutes and you got cobbler!

Happy Birthday!

So my darling baby girl has officially turned one year old today!  I mentioned awhile ago that my plan was to bake her cake myself, this turned in to the idea of cupcakes.  I went with the cupcakes, and I must say they were a hit!  They were absolutely delicious and very fresh and spring-like.  Though her family gathering was a bit ago, thanks to the long weekend, I wanted to save her special cupcakes for today.  I chose to make chocolate bumblebees instead of butterflies, because I call her lil Lizziebee most of the time.  I don't know where that started, but its caught on with me to make it a most likely permanent nickname.  I digress now though, onward to the cupcakes!  I made Lemon-Poppy Seed cupcakes, the recipe for which I got out of my precious "Hello, Cupcake!".  This book has not steered me wrong yet!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour


• 2 tbsp poppy seeds


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 4 oz cream cheese (softened)


• 1 cup butter (softened)


• 1 1/2 cup sugar


• 3 eggs


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1 tbsp grated lemon peel

Preheat your oven to 350, and paper line your muffin tin.

Start by whisking together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and then reduce the speed to low and alternately add the flour mixture, and the milk, in batches.  Beat until just blended, then stir in the lemon peel.

Bake this 15 - 20 minutes, or as the rule of cake baking goes, until a toothpick inserted in to the middle comes out clean.

When these are nice and cooled down, you can start with the Strawberry Meringue Buttercream!

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 3 egg whites


• 3/4 cup sugar


• pinch of salt


• 1 cup butter, cut in to 16 smaller cubes


• 1/3 cup strawberry jam of your preference

This is a little tricky.  I used a pot too big the first time and dropped by bowl in scalding my arm.  But, in a Stainless steel or glass bowl (do not use plastic!) whisk the egg whites with the sugar over a pot (or saucepan) of simmering water until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mix is warm to the touch.

Put the bowl back on to your electric mixer.   I used a vintage stand mixer my mother in law loned me.  I call it vintage because it is from the 70's, and it shows.  With the whisk attachment, whisk the mixture until you get firm, stiff peaks and its cooled down, probably around 6 minutes.   With the whisking going at a med-low, add the salt and the butter one cube at a time beating well between.  If the mixture ends up too runny, just keep beating it until its right.  Then, gently fold in the strawberry jam.

Molded Chocolate Bumblebees

• Dark chocolate molding wafers


• Yellow molding wafers

This is what you do for virtually any hand made chocolate decoration.  Draw your design on a piece of paper.  I used a permanent marker so it would be very dominant.  Put the design sheet in a cookie sheet and cover with wax paper.

Melt your chocolate in top opened zip lock bags, 30 seconds at a time.  After each 30 seconds, massage the chocolate to help it melt.  Its important to take it slow when melting chocolate because it burns quickly, and burnt chocolate is not very tasty.

Once your chocolate  is melted cut a tiny piece of the tip off a corner of the zip lock and then seal the top making sure you get as much air out as possible.

Then, just trace your design carefully.  Work as quick as possible, you don't want the chocolate to solidify in the baggie.  When you're done all your piping put it in the fridge for atleast 10 minutes.  The chance of the pieces breaking depends solely on how well you chilled it, and how carefully you peel it off the wax paper. So take it slow.

Finished product?