Hopkins Neolithic Eggnog

Hopkins Neolithic Egg Nog

I got this recipe from my brother Mark. I have cut it into a fourth as I do not have room in my fridge for any more. If you quadruple what I have written it would be enough to serve 15-20 people.

fresh eggs from the market

3 egg whites
25 grams sugar

3 egg yolks

50 grams sugar
1 pinch salt
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream, beaten
250 ml milk
250 ml bourbon- I use whiskey as I do not know what Bourbon to buy and always feel rushed to get out of duty free so have to pick quickly
65 ml rum, I use about ½ cup

Fresh nutmeg and more rum for later when you serve it

Beat egg whites until stiff, beat in 25 grams sugar.
Beat yolks and 50 grams sugar until very light, add salt.
Combine the two and stir.
Add cream, milk, then Bourbon/whiskey.
Beat well.
Add rum.

Store in a cold cellar (I don’t have one, so I use the fridge) for a week.

I gently stir the eggnog daily because I do not like the layers- your choice. When you serve it, add freshly grated nutmeg and a little rum. Enjoy!

Aji de Gallina

Aji de Gallina a Turquia

Adapted from The Art of Peruvian Cuisine, by Tony Custer

(a beautiful gift from the Lemleys)

This is one of Kelani’s favorite dishes. I was not sure if I could pull it off without all of the Peruvian spices available. It worked. Not certain how a Peruvian would have felt about the substitutions, but other than being more red than yellow in color, the results reminded of us our time in Peru.

• 1 chicken (about 2 kg, 4 pounds or 3 complete breasts)
• 1 medium chopped white onion
• 1 clove (3 really), crushed (I chopped instead)
• 7 tablespoons aji marisol paste (recipe below)
• ½ loaf sliced bread without the crust (I took a loaf of fresh bread, sliced it, and toasted it in the oven, then put it in the food processor), about 1 ½ cups of crumbs, I think
• 2 cups plus chicken stock (I made this as you have to boil the chicken and peel the meat off the bone, so I kept the chicken water, added the bones, salt, and cooked some more)
• 1 ½ cups evaporated milk- we do not have this, so I used whole milk, about 2 cups (I do not like the after taste of evaporated milk either)
• 100 grams chopped walnuts
• 125 grams grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 dozen black olives
• 6 – 8 yellow potatoes (I used rice instead)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Start making the aji marisol paste if you do not already have it.

In a pan of water boil the chicken gently. Cool. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return the bones and skin if you want to the pan, add salt and boil gently to make your chicken stock.

Add milk to bread crumbs.

In a large heavy based pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil. Sauté the onion until golden, add the garlic and aji marisol paste and fry them well.

Add the soaked bread mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes and then begin to add ladles of the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly. Each time the sauce thickens add the chicken stock. While stirring continually add the olive oil.

Finally, add the shredded chicken, parmesan cheese and nuts. If it is too thick add some more stock while stirring gently so as not to mash the chicken. Simmer gently until the oil comes to the surface.

Serve hot (accompanied by rice) and yellow potatoes. Garnish with olives and hard boiled eggs. (I do not serve rice and potatoes, also baked french fries are a good substitute).

Pasa de Aji Mirasol

Pasta de Aji Mirasol

Adapted from The Art of Peruvian Cuisine, by Tony Custer

I did not have the proper peppers. Aji Mirasol is a yellow or orange colored pepper.

I used my dried peppers from Mexico, California and New Mexico. Not certain what they were just various sizes of dark and light red chilies.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 lb (500 grams) dried aji marisol (I used about 1.5 handfuls of ? dried chilies, 2 big ones about 10 little ones)
• Water

Stem and seed the ajies. Toast them in a dry skillet over high heat for a few minutes (careful- the odor can be painful on the breathing and eyes), then put them in boiling water for a few minutes. If you are worried that the chilies will be too spicy, change the water and blanch the chilies again (a third time if necessary, but I found twice was just right). In a blender or food processor with steel blade, process the ajis with just enough vegetable oil and water to make a thick paste. Push the mixture through a sieve and discard remaining skins.

Tomato Sauce and Meatballs

Meatballs and Tomato Sauce


I have adjusted the recipe from a January 2009 Gourmet. It calls for canned tomatoes which are too heavy to carry home from the store, plus there are usually plenty of tomatoes year round here in Turkey.

For tomato sauce:

2.5 kilos or 5.5 pounds tomatoes
2 medium onions, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Boil water; add enough tomatoes so that you can still see them all. Boil until the skin starts to split, take those out and continue with the remaining. Peel tomatoes and cut out the top part. Now you can crush them with your hands, or put them in the food processor so they are not so lumpy (Kelani’s preference).

Make sauce: Cook onions in oil in pot over medium heat, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Simmer sauce uncovered stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, 45 minutes to an hour.



For meatballs:

1 medium onion finely chopped

¼ cup olive oil, maybe less

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1.5 cups torn day-old Italian bread

1.5 cups milk

3 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (cheese)
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup finely chopped oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried crumbled
½ tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 ¼ pounds or 1 kilo ground meat- I use lamb and beef, the recipe calls for veal, pork and not lean beef
1 cup olive or vegetable oil

We do not usually have day-old Italian bread lying around, so we take a nice loaf and slice it, then put it in a 180 C or 350 F oven for about 8-10 minutes to toast it. Then put it in the food processor to turn them into crumbs.

Cook onions in oil in skillet over medium heat until soft, about ten minutes. Add garlic and cook about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

Soak bread in milk in another bowl until soft, about 5 minutes. Squeeze bread to remove milk and discard milk.

Stir together cooled onion mixture, bread, eggs, parmesan, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add meats to bread mixture gently mixing with your hands until just combined.

Form meat mixture into meat balls and arrange on cookie sheets.

Heat 1 cup olive or vegetable oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking, then brown meatballs in batches (without crowding), turning frequently, about 5 minutes per batch. Return to cookie sheets.

Add meatballs to sauce and gently simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes.

Lemon Squares

Today Kelani made Lemon Squares. She did not want the butter crust, so she substituted sweet crackers (biscuits?) put in the food processor and one half cup melted butter. Pressed all into the pan (9 by 13 as we doubled the recipe), and baked about 7 minutes.

I prefer the crust in the recipe as the sweet cracker crust absorbed most of the liquid.

Lemon Squares
From: Portfolio: Culinary Art; Denver Art Museum, 1974. Pg. 36
I usually double the recipe and put it in a 9 by 13 inch pan.

180 C or 350 F oven

Crust:
1 cup flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup powdered sugar

Cut butter into flour and sugar until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Pat firmly into 9 inch square pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at . Do not brown.

2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons lemon juice (Peruvian or Hawaiian limes are great)
Grated rind of one lemon (or lime)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder

Stir lemon juice into eggs. Add grated lemon rind, sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder all at once and mix only until well blended. Pour over the baked srust and return to oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at . Watch closely so top doesn’t brown. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar immediately after removing from oven. Cool and cut into squares after several hours.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I do not know where this recipe came from; it is in my binder of recipes. My mom makes something similar (but richer and rumy).

Cake

12 ounces (350 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 large eggs, separated
12 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze

½ cup whipping cream (125 ml)
½ cup dark corn syrup (125 ml), if you cannot find corn syrup it will work without, just double cream
9 ounces (250 grams) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

The cake:

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Butter 9-inch-diameter (22.5 cm?) springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper, butter paper. Wrap outside of with foil.

Stir chocolate and butter in saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool to lukewarm stirring often.

Beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar in large bowl until very thick and pale (about 3 minute with electric mixer). Fold in the chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar, beating until medium form peaks are formed. Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture in three additions. Pour batter into the pan.

Bake the cake until the top is puffed, cracked and the toothpick inserted into the center comes out with some moist crumbs, about 50 minutes. Cool cake on rack- the cake will fall.

Gently press down the crust top to make the cake evenly thick. Cut around the pan sides to loosen the cake, remove pan sides. Invert cake onto plate, and peel off the parchment paper.

The glaze:

Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.

Pour glaze over cake and chill until form. Serve at room temperature.

Baked French Fries

The "tortilla" soup I made today was a little too spicy. So I figured some french fries might sooth some of the spice. They are so easy and quick and tasty without deep frying them in oil. I also like to leave the skin on the potatoes (more vitamin something).

For two people:

scrub three nice sized potatoes.

slice up the potoatoes put them in a bowl

add about 1/3 cup of olive oil to coat them well

add a generous amount of garlic salt (and/or Lowreys seasoning salt would be good too if we had it)

pepper too if your other part of the meal isn't too spicy
bake in the oven at 180 C or 350 F, stirring every 20 minutes until crispy - about 45 to 50 minutes total.

Eggs Benedict

Kelani has been asking to have this for breakfast since eating it at The Epicurean in Steamboat Springs. Ours is the Turkish version as we did not make crab cakes nor did we have English muffins. We did enjoy though.

We took rye bread, spread it with dijon mustard, put on a couple of slices of a beef salami (no bacon here), then some slices of sweet onion, on top we put a mixture of hard cheese (like parmesan) and a sheep or goat feta. We then heated it up in the oven.

I poached the eggs (I need to work on that), placed on on top of the bread combo and added the Hollandaise sauce.

 Sauce Hollandaise- from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck

  

So that the egg yolks will thicken into a smooth cream, they must be heated slowly and gradually. Overcooking scrambles them. You may beat them over hot water or over low heat; it makes no difference as long as the process is slow and gentle.

For 1 to 1 ½ cups hollandaise- serving 4 – 6 people

• 6 to 8 ounces of butter ( to 1 cup or 1 ½ to 2 sticks)
• A small saucepan 

Cut the butter into pieces and melt it in the saucepan over moderate heat. Then set it aside.

• A 4 to 6 cup, medium weight, enameled or stainless steel saucepan
• A wire whisk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Big pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon cold butter
• 1 tablespoon cold butter (one for the beginning one for the end)
• Salt and white pepper

Beat the egg yolks for about 1 minute in the saucepan, or until they become thick and sticky.
Add the water, lemon juice, and salt, and beat for half a minute or more.
Add the tablespoon of cold butter, but do not beat it in. Then place the saucepan over very low heat or barely simmering water and stir the egg yolks with a wire whisk until they slowly thicken into a smooth cream. This will take 1 to 2 minutes. If they seem to be thickening too quickly, or even suggest a lumpy quality, immediately plunge the bottom of the pan in cold water, beating the yolks to cool them. Then continue beating over heat. The egg yolks have thickened enough when you can begin to see the bottom of the pan between strokes, and the mixture forms a light cream on the wires of the whisk.

 Immediately remove from heat and beat in the cold butter, which will cool the egg yolks and stop their cooking.

 Then beating the egg yolks with a wire whisk, pour on the melted butter by droplets or quarter-teaspoonfuls until the sauce begins to thicken into a very heavy cream. Then pour the butter a little more rapidly. Omit the milky residue at the bottom of the butter pan.

 Season the sauce to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Mango Salsa- in memory of "family"

The vegetable market is absolutely fantastic at the moment. Peaches are on the way out, okra is starting to make an appearance. The tomatoes are beautiful- I think they are summer tomatoes, they have beautiful tomatoes here year round, it is just the shape and slight change in the taste.
So on Saturday, I went a little overboard at the market. We had gone the week before but due to the end of Ramadan/Ramajan it was closed. I am safe in the candy store- but the vegetable market- watch out! We had a Turkish speaking friend this trip, for the first time so I got to learn a little more (more quickly), so now know where to get the dried fruits (without sulfur) and nuts, and a good place for a snack. And the place I always go for spinache- he told my friend that I was his big sister (that made me feel old).

Marinated eggplant is posted. I will have to test the others tomorrow as I did not have all the ingredients for the recipe and improvised.
So I am posting the Mango Salsa, which I got from my friend Ann S.C. in Peru. I have been thinking about her wonderful family and the fun dinners we had, and just learned that her father passed very recently. So here is something which is wonderful for family/friend gatherings. You can use it as a dip, or throw it in the lasagna.

Mango Salsa

3 cups of mango (or pineapple) chopped small
1 cup white onion chooped small
1 cup red bell pepper
¼ cup aji Amarillo- minced
¼ cup rocoto pepper- minced, that would be a spicy bell pepper, sub something spicy
1/3 cup cilantro- minced
2 cloves of garlic- minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger- minced
1/3 cup lemon/lime juice
1 tablespoon cumin powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.
From Ann St. Clair

Peach Orange Marmalade- for Mom

For Mom from Ilga
Ilga’s Peach Orange Marmalade
Mom asked for one of my grandma’s recipes (I have her recipe box). I think I found it.




12 peaches
4 oranges
1 cup water
2 cups sour apples diced
Sugar

Peal and slice peaches. Cut the peel of 2 oranges into shreds. Squeeze the juice from all 4 oranges.

Cook the peaches, apples and orange shreds with the water until tender.

Add juice and measure. Use cup for cup of sugar. Cook until thick.

If my grandmother had written this for me instead of herself, she would have added some more details (like "this takes patience Terie" plus a little more). Cook until thick is a little ambiguous for me, I know what thick is for custard, but for marmalade I only know what is in the grocery store...

I had to add 8 cups of sugar to my mixture, which created a full pot that eventually boiled over. I then took the solids and put them through the food processor, then re-added them to the liquid and cooked it until it was "thick" (but not as thick as custard).

Now I need to get canning jars..

Pavlova

the perfect summer time dessert- light melt in your mouth meringue with fresh fruit and lemon (or lime or passion fruit) curd.

The Pavlova
5 egg whites
2 pinches salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed in
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (I use a little more).

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until they begin to form soft peaks. Gradually add the 1 cup of sugar (about a tablespoon at a time) beat until stiff peaks are formed. Fold in the remaining sugar cornstarch mixture and the lemon juice.

Put the mixture on the parchment paper in a circle. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the meringue sit in the oven for another hour.

"Lemon" Curd
I prefer to use passion fruit (lilikoi or maracuya) but cannot always find it. This time I used limes as I find them a bit stronger than lemons.

5 egg yolks and one egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup "lemon" juice
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Slowly heat them on the stovetop until the mixture thickens. Place in bowl and cover with plastic and refridgerate.

Note: I forgot the butter when I made this over the weekend, and it still was great.
Putting it all together

1 cup heavy whipping cream
mixture of various fruits- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, kiwi- you may want to mix in a little orange juice to keep them fresh

Whip up the cream and combine with the curd. Carefully spread the curd mixture over the top of the cooled Pavlova. Top with your fruits. Enjoy!

Garlic Ranch

From Cooking From the Heart with Sam Choy

3 cloves garlic- I use more and the fresh garlic is the best
1/2 cup minced onion (put in micro for 30 secs if friends can't eat raw onions)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I mix rice vinegar and balsamic when I don't have red wine vinegar)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp dry mustard (I use wet dijon)
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped

Mix all ingredients until well mixed and chill.

Good for salad dressing or dip for vegtables.

Apologies

My hard drive was corrupt and replaced. However, when they replaced it they did not include all the "stuff" that was on the original. Thus, I have no word processing program. I am trying to post, but am much slower without my MS word.

Freezing Fruit

The International Counselor wanted to know about freezing fruit. I have not thought about it, but here it goes.

I usually buy more fruit than we can eat, as it all looks so good. For peaches and strawberries I usually freeze the excess. For raspberries, apricots, and cherries I make preserves to put on toast in the morning (or inside a quesadilla).

I clean and cut up the fruit before it is too ripe. I put the fruit in plastic bags designed for freezing- that keeps the freezer burn out. When I am ready to use the fruit, I take it out of the freezer and place the bag in a bowl or on paper towels (there will be condensation). The fruit is also good in smoothies- you can pack your little bags for smoothies too.

Luckily for me, my freezer consists of two drawers, so it is much easier to store things. For the freezer that things get thrown into, you may want a rectangular Tupperware container to keep your bags of fruit in so that they do not wander away.

Peach Cobbler

Some people are already enjoying their summer vacation. My friend, Lucy who got me started on this blog, has asked for a Peach Cobbler recipe. It is below. The peaches in summer are fantastic, so we often cut them up and freeze them so we can also enjoy peach cobblers in the winter. You can add additional fruit too, not too much at once though. No picture yet, Lucy will need to send me one!

Peach Cobbler

This is a basic recipe from my mom; I do not know where she got it. And I am doing this from memory, which should be okay; however I have been working on reports and grades.

Buttered 9 X 13 inch rectangular pan
Peaches, sliced- enough to comfortably cover a 13 X 9 inch pan 3 -5 sliced peaches deep
1-2 tablespoons lemon, lime or liqueur (I like Grande Marnier)

1 stick or half a cup or 4 ounces butter, softened but NOT mushy falling apart soft
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar- in Turkey I use white sugar and two tablespoons
molasses as we have no brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or 180 C. Place sliced peaches in the pan, squeeze a little lemon or lime or liqueur over the peaches.

Place butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a food processor. Pulse until it is like crumbs. Cover the peaches with the topping, spread it evenly.

Cook in the oven until the peach juice is bubbling (about 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven). It should make the house smell good too. Goes great with home-made vanilla ice cream!

Chocolate Glazed Hazelnut Mousse Cake

This is actually very easy to make and takes less than an hour. It is delicious and improves with good cream.

Chocolate-Glazed Hazelnut Mousse Cake
Gourmet February 2006

For shortbread base
• 2 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off.
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ cup all purpose flour (no sin stuff)
• ½ stick ( ¼ cup) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (don’t know used Cadbury that I found in fridge)
• teaspoon salt

For mousse
• 1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• ½ cup chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella
• ½ cup mascarpone ( ¼ pound)
• 1 ½ cups chilled heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar

For Ganache
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 3 ½ oz fine quality bittersweet chocolate
8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan

Make shortbread base:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to F (180 C). Invert bottom of spring form pan, then lock on side of pan and line bottom with round of parchment paper.
Pulse hazelnuts and sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add flour, butter, cocoa, and salt and pulse just until a dough forms.
Press dough evenly onto bottom of spring form pan with your fingers (what if I had said toes?). Prick all over with a fork, then bake until just dry to the touch (about 18 to 20 minutes). Transfer to rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove side of pan and slide out parchment from under shortbread, then reattach side of pan around shortbread base.

Make Mousse while shortbread cools:
Sprinkle gelatin over water in a 1 to 1 ½ quart heavy saucepan and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Heat gelatin mixture over low heat, stirring, just until gelatin is melted, about 2 minutes. Whisk in Nutella until combined and remove from heat.
Whisk together mascarpone and chocolate hazelnut mixture in a large bowl. Beat together cream, cocoa powder, and sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined, then increase speed to high and beat until cream just holds soft peaks. Whisk one third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream until well combined.
Spoon filling onto shortbread base in pan, gently smoothing top, then chill, covered, at least three hours.

Make ganache and glaze cake:
Bring cream to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan and remove from heat. Add chocolate and let stand 1 minute, then gently whisk until completely melted and smooth. Transfer ganache to a small bowl and cool stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened but still pourable, about 20 minutes.
Run a warm thin knife around inside of spring form pan, then remove side (of pan). Slide cake off bottom of pan and transfer to a serving plate. Pour ganache onto top of cake and spread allowing excess ganache to drip down sides.

Cake without glaze can be chilled up to 2 days.
Cake can be glazed 6 hours ahead and chilled uncovered.

Sticky Buns

Coming soon....

Sheep's Cheese Bread

The bread before going into the oven.

Ella- here is the proper recipe.

Sheep’s Cheese Bread


1 kg strong plain flour
30g fresh yeast or 1 tbsp dried yeast
250g feta or other sheep’s cheese (I add a little gruyere)
1 tsp sugar
½ litre tepid water
1 tsp salt
3 large onions
1 tbsp oil

Cream the yeast with the sugar and the tepid water. Leave the mixture in a warm place until it is foaming, about 15 minutes. Sift the flour and salt into a warmed mixing bowl and add the onions. Stir in the cheese and the yeast mixture and knead the dough thoroughly for about 10 minutes. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours or until doubled in bulk.
Knock back the dough and knead it again for about 5 minutes, dusting it with flour if it sticks to your fingers. Shape the dough into an oval 30cm long (yeah right) and leave it to proof on a buttered baking sheet for about 30 minutes, or until it has doubled in bulk again. With a very sharp knife (or just a serrated one), make three shallow diagonal slashes in the top of the loaf. Brush the oil into the loaf, but do not brush it into the gnashes. (I do the oil first and then the gnashes, no problem). Bake in an oven preheated 180C ( 350F ) oven for 50 minutes to 1-hour until golden brown.

The Good Cook Breads; Time Life Books

Sausage Burrito (sausage optional)

A very nice woman from work brought us some pork sausages from ?somewhere here in Istanbul. So I made coleslaw and baked the sausages to make a burrito. My oh my.

The Burrito

one tortilla (lavash)
spread onto the tortilla:
1-2 tablespoons spinache pesto (JH sauce)
1-2 tablespoons marinated eggplant
1 tablespoon grated cheese
1-2 tablespoons tomato sauce
a couple of sausages down the diameter(middle?) of the tortilla/lavash

Roll it up and enjoy

Here is the finished chocolate babka. I have not yet learned how to control where the pictures go on this blog. I have tried to insert them between text or paragraphs and they all end up in a jumble at the top. Makes it difficult for me to be sneeky and hide Waldo.

Chocolate Babka- for Zeynep

As my friend has asked me to post this recipe, and my daughter has decided we should make it again as she helped me find the recipe. This is a very nice bread with chocolate, not as heavy as a chocolate croissant, rather heavenly.

For my friend, Zeynep.

Chocolate Babka
From Gourmet, December 2006,
Makes 2 loaves

This bread melts in your mouth and is very buttery in texture. Nice for breakfast with a good cup of coffee or tea. The entire process takes about four hours with all the rising time.

FOR DOUGH
¾ cup warm milk (105-115 degrees F- 40 degrees C)
½ cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
2 whole large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons- 5 ounces or 140 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

EGG WASH
1 large (ha) egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk

CHOCOLATE FILLING
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened (2.5 ounces or 70 grams)
7-8 ounces (200-250 grams) fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao) finely chopped
¼ cup sugar

Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add ½ cup flour to yeast mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt and remaining ½ cup sugar and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in remaining 2 ¾ cups flour, about ½ cup at a time. Increase speeds to medium, then beat in butter, a couple of pieces at a time, continue beating until dough is shiny and forms strands (?) from paddle to bowl, about 4 minutes. (Dough will be soft and sticky).

Put dough into lightly oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (1-lengthwise, 1-across).
Punch down dough with a lightly oiled rubber spatula, than cut dough in half. Roll one piece out on a well-floured surface into an 18- by 10- inch rectangle (45 X 25 cm).

Beat yolk and cream together. Spread 2 ½ tablespoons softened butter onto dough, leaving a ½ inch (1.5 cm) all around (no butter). Brush some egg wash on the long border.

Sprinkle half of the chocolate evenly over the buttered dough, then sprinkle with half the sugar. Starting with the long side, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along the egg washed seam to seal. Bring the ends of the log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of the lined loaf pans.

Repeat for the second loaf.

Loosely cover pans with buttered plastic wrap and let babkas rise in a draft free place at warm room temperature until dough reaches top of pans, 1 – 2 hours.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 F- just under 180 C.

Brush tops of dough with remaining egg wash. Bake until tops are golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped, about 40 minutes. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Stress and Anxiety

Stress and Anxiety
That simply explains our household lately. The onset of puberty is major contributing factor, the moderation of MYP and DP a minor contributing factor. I read an article off the Yahoo site regarding foods to help deal with stress and anxiety, the following help alleviate some of this:
Dark chocolate- that would be for the mom
Skim milk- does whole milk count a little?
Oatmeal- we can find oatmeal bars as a snack
Salmon for its omega 3, I hope tuna is a reasonable substitute
Walnuts- no problem
Sunflower seeds- they are abundant here but they’re not the same (can’t easily get the skin off), but this just might require more experimentation.
Spinach- got it in abundance
Blueberries- when are they in season? Haven’t seen them yet in Turkey

Tonight K-dog wanted pasta with red sauce- no problem.
I made a sauce with:

Part 1:
2 cups spinach
¼ cup walnuts
4 tomatoes
½ cup tomato sauce (I thought it was puree but it was too runny)
4 cloves garlic
I put all of this in the food processor and ground it up.

Part 2:
1 ½ cups of the marinated eggplant
2 tablespoons capers (green blueberries con salt?)
Slowly heat up part 2 in a large-ish pan, when warm and a little bubbly add part one.

Part 3:
Boiled noodles- your choice, lots of stores have the “fresh” ravioli or just bowties or elbows

Once the noodles are ready, add a little oil to a wok, start frying the noodles and add the mixture of 1 and 2. I like to add a little cheese, that is optional. Mix it all up and enjoy!

I have noticed that after dinner my little darling is feeling much better about herself. And if I give her an oatmeal bar after school she is less dramatic and emotional. Or maybe the idea just works well with me?

Pizza

The recipe for basic bread dough is what I use for my pizza dough. I cut the recipe in half. To the flour mixture I add various things depending on my mood- cumin, chili powder, dill seeds, garlic salt, curry powder- about a table spoon of the mood for the day.

As I did not have any red sauce left I made a quick tomato and spinache sauce (below) which was good with the crust (I had added chili powder). K-dog loves Hawaiian pizza, so she had a green Hawaiian.

The carmelized onions make their own sauce. And the fun new pizza was with the tomato sauce, pickled jalapenos, and capers- salty and spicy.

BASIC BREAD DOUGH

Ingredients:(for pizza I cut the recipe in half)

1.5 kg flour
30 g fresh yeast or tbsp dried yeast
1 tbsp salt
900 ml tepid water

Procedure:

Sift the salt and flour into a bowl. For pizza dough add about 4 tablespoons olive oil and the extra dry spices (curry powder, corriander seeds, etc. and mix- should be dry). Mix the yeast with the water; if you are using dried yeast, leave it to soften in the water for about 15 min. pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Mix the flour and liquid together into stiff, sticky dough. Put the dough on to a floured board and knead it thoroughly, until it is elastic and glossy-about 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl- I put a couple tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave the dough to rise until doubled in bulk-1.5 and 2.5 hours, depending on temperature and humidity. (For pizza I ususally only wait an hour, unless I am a day ahead- then I just let it sit in the fridge).The dough is ready when a finger pressed into it leaves a dent that does not immediately smooth itself out.

For pizza: After the dough has risen, divide it up into 4-8 balls depending on the size of your pizzas. If you are not making pizza till much later, place balls in a strong container and place into the refridgerator until you are ready to use them. Other wise you can begin rolling them out and letting them start rising on the pan as you put all the stuff on top.

For bread: Put the dough on a working surface and divide it in half. Knead each half into a ball, cover it with a cloth, and leave it to rest for 10 to 14 minutes. Reshape the dough into two balls. Lay the loaves on a board sprinkled with coarse semolina and cover them with a cloth. Leave them to prove until doubled in bulk again, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. With a razor blade or sharp knife, cut a cross about 1 cm. Deep in each loaf.

Preheat the oven to 230degrees C (450 deg F)HA! I have yet to get my oven to do that 180 is okay (350 just cooks longer and finishes rising). The rest of this paragraph is for bread, not pizza-Put an ungreased baking sheet in the centre of the oven. Lay a wide dish on the oven floor and pour hot water into it so that steam is released into the oven as the water heats. Slide the loaves off the board and on to the baking sheet. Using a plant sprayer, spray water all over the inside of the oven. Bake the loaves for about 45 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the wide dish containing water. Bake for a further 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200deg C (400 deg F)for the rest of the baking time. The loaf is baked if it sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom with the knuckles.
Cool the loaves on wire racks. Do not slice them until they are cold, preferably the next day.

Optional: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil when mixing the liquid with the flour and salt.

You can use this dough for pizzas! I add about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and I try to use at least ½ the weight in whole wheat flour (that was before Turkey-I think my flour here is already mixed).

Quick Tomato Sauce for Pizza

I was rushed to make a quick sauce- and it was tasty and fairly healthy too.
I took:
5 smallish ripe tomatoes
5 gloves of garlic
2 cups of spinach (whatever fits into the food processor)

Put it all in the food processor (some tomatoes should also be on the bottom to provide liquid) and mix until saucy.

Lamb Ribs

Some Saturdays I don’t feel like making the 25 minute uphill walk to the market, but am always happy we did it. This time, besides the usual greens we bought some pink grapefruit (K-dog’s favorite with honey) and leeks so I guess I’ll be making some soup. We also bought 7 colorful U C Bennetton t-shirts for 50 TL.
I had bought some lamb ribs. K-dog loves baby back pork ribs which are extremely difficult to find and certainly not within walking distance. The lamb ribs look similar to the pork ones, just not as meaty. I was afraid that our dinner would have to be thrown into a pot to make brown sauce, but it worked out.
I put a 9 by 13 pan in the oven (the usual temp) with a couple of tablespoons of butter in the bottom. Once the butter had melted I put chopped leek and onion on the bottom, then the lamb ribs (which I salted with garlic salt and peppered) on top and cooked for 10 minutes. I flipped the ribs over and covered with chopped tomatoes (which I had stirred a tablespoon of curry powder into) and cooked for 20 more minutes. I did not separate the ribs until after they were cooked. I served it on top of Basmati rice. It reminded me of the trip to Xin Jiang province about 11 years ago. It was good, but I should have trimmed some of the fat before cooking, next time.

Cooking With K-dog Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie
K-dog has been asking for a lemon meringue pie- my mom usually makes them for her. I remember that when I started baking I was about her age and it was lemon meringue pies- so I figured it was time for her to get started.

For the crust she did not want your typical pie crust, but the one on oowie gooey butter cake.

PIE CRUST

Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F.

1 small package biscuits (the Peruvian Margaritas are perfect for this)
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
Put the biscuits in a food processor and turn into crumbs. Put in a bowl add egg and melted butter to mix. Then press into the pie pan. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.


THE LEMON CUSTARD

Sift these into a saucepan
1 ½ cups sugar
6 tablespoons corn starch
¼ teaspoon salt

Slowly blend in:
½ cup cold water
½ cup fresh lemon juice

Add, blending well:
3 well beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter

Stirring continuously (so as not to make scrambled eggs in your custard) slowly add:
1 ½ cups boiling water

Bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring gently. (K-dog did not know what a boil looked like). As it thickens reduce the heat and allow to simmer slowly for 1 minute. Take off the heat and add
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Pour into the backed pie shell.

The Meringue- we do not have cream of tartar so I used a splash of white vinegar

Whip until frothy:
3 egg whites

Add a splash of vinegar or ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Whip the whites until they are stiff. Beat in 1 tablespoon at a time:
4 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar).

Beat in
½ teaspoon vanilla.

Spread on pie and bake 10 to 15 minutes at 180 C or 350 F.

Lasagna- Part 4 Putting it all together

Putting it all together-Well here is where I am a real novice. I did not try making lasagna until about 3-4 years ago in Peru. You will have to use your expertise/intuition in some spots here.

450 grams (1 lb) lean ground beef- of course you are welcome to substitute
1 ½ cups marinated eggplant- drain off the oil
1 ½ cups (?) red sauce

Béchamel and JH sauce combo

Lasagna noodles- I like the no-cook ones (I don’t know what they are called; they soften while cooking with everything else.)

Cheese- I mix a mozzarella type cheese with a crumbly salty goat cheese type (feta?)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (350ish F)-actually that seems to be the most consistent temperature these overseas ovens can maintain.

I use a pan that is a little bigger than a 9 X 13 pan, and rub some butter in the bottom of the pan

Fry the beef, add the eggplant and red sauce. Taste test (I do not like to do that, spoils the surprise at the end) or smell test if you want to make sure it is flavorful enough. The carrots in the red sauce should have acted as enough sugar for the sauce.

Assemble the lasagna-
1. Green sauce on bottom of pan
2. Noodles
3. Red sauce
4. Cheese
5. Green –noodle-red finish it-cheese
6. Noodle-finish green-cheese

Cover with foil, bake 20 minutes. Take off the foil; bake another 20 minutes until it is bubbling. Cool for 15 minutes before cutting up.
Enjoy!

Lasagna for Lucy- Part 3 JH and Bechamel sauces

Spinach Pesto aka Jeff H
When I go to the vegetable market here in Bacesehire, I buy spinach and lettuce and a number of great vegetables from a particular vendor. It has taken me 6 months to learn the word for half (yarum), thus when I have tried to buy half a kilo of spinach I have ended up with 2 kilos (maybe one but it looks like a lot). So I have been experimenting with the abundance of spinach.
A spinach pesto is perfect to add to a béchamel sauce, which is then used for lasagna, or a pasta sauce. I name it in honor of my math friend, Jeff H. who once dared me to drink a dipping sauce at the “Elephant” restaurant in Beijing which was as nuclear looking as this pesto.

Jeff H
½ kilo spinach (okay a pound or little more will do)
About 5 or 9+ cloves of garlic
Olive oil to smooth things out
Optional- some sort of nut (pine nut, walnut, pecan) about ½ cup

Clean the spinach well and take off the stems. Dry it. Put the spinach, nuts and garlic in a food processor.
Start the processor, if it doesn’t like all of the dry ingredients you might have to add some olive oil to get it moving. Process until you have a nice nuclear looking sauce/paste.

I also like to add some parmesan or hard cheese, grated after all is complete (about half cup)



“Béchamel Sauce”

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Salt
2 cups milk- heated in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes

Melt the butter. Add the flour and salt and mix until it starts turning golden. Add the warm milk, continue cooking and stirring with the wire whisk until it gets thick.

Add about 1 cup of the JH pesto to the Béchamel Sauce and mix.

Part 2- Marianted Eggplant

Italian Marinated Eggplant
Adapted from: Gourmet Magazine, August 2002

I use the marinated eggplant in many dishes- on top of salad, in the spaghetti sauce, in the fired rice, on top of a tortilla then cheese and in the oven to melt the cheese, and in lasagna when all the other vegetables were used in the red sauce or spinach pesto.

Makes about 4 cups.
Active time: 30 minutes plus a little more
Start to finish: 1 day

3 lb eggplant, peeled and cut into ¼ inch sticks
1 white or brown onion, chopped
A red or yellow bell pepper (optional but adds nice colour), chopped
3 tablespoons salt
4 cups wine vinegar –use a strong vinegar or mix in some strong with mild
4 cups water
4 garlic cloves (I use more)
4 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried (I use a little more)
½ teaspoon black pepper

Toss eggplant, onion, and pepper with salt and drain in a colander set over a bowl, covered, at room temperature 4 hours. (Eggplant may turn brown.) Discard liquid in bowl.

Bring vinegar and water to boil in a 3- to 4- quart nonreactive saucepan. Add eggplant and boil stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes (I think it takes me ten minutes or more). Drain in colander, then set colander over a bowl and continue to drain eggplant, cover and chilled 2 hours more. Discard liquid in bowl.

Stir together eggplant, garlic, oregano, pepper and 1 cup of the olive oil in a bowl-I do this ahead of time so it can rest. Transfer to a 2-quart jar with a tight fitting lid and add enough olive oil to just cover the eggplant. Marinate the eggplant, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Scoop eggplant out of jar with a fork to drain excess oil.

Marinated eggplant keeps up to one month.

Additions:
When I tried to grow tomatillos I ended up with peppers. I used this recipe with the peppers and onions (no eggplant) and it worked very nicely.
Beans (fresh) might work as well.

You can half the recipe if you want.

Lasagna For Lucy- Part 1 Red Sauce

I have broken this up into pieces. Today is the red sauce. Please be patient as I’ve not blogged before. This was the best lasagna I have had in a longtime. The vegetable market on Saturday was fantastic.

Red Sauce
• Two carrots- cleaned and peeled, cut in half length wise
• About a pound of beautiful tomatoes-the ones that have their vines attached, cut in half
• 2 brown or yellow onions
• Red bell pepper- cut in half and seeds cleaned out
• Yellow bell pepper- cut in half and seeds cleaned out
• 5 cloves garlic- peeled
• A pepper-they have green jalapeño looking ones here, but they are not spicy
• Olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C or 350 F. (Normally recipes ask you to broil the vegetables, I cannot remember the last time I have lived in a place that has a working broiler. I have found that this method is tasty too).
Pour enough olive oil in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch pan to generously coat the bottom. Place the vegetables all in the pan and salt and pepper them before placing in the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes, check to make sure everything looks okay and stir if you feel like it. Then cook for another 20 – 30 minutes. The vegetables should be a bit brown and the tomatoes very juicy and falling apart. Cool, then puree in the blender.