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.