Ptasie Radio, Poznań, Poland

Blogging makes one part of a global community, no doubt about it.  Last December, I posted a recipe for an apple tart and talked about trying to duplicate a dessert that I'd enjoyed in Poznań (slightly revised and reposted this May).

After seeing this post , a reader named Borys recommend that I try Ptasie Radio the next time I was in Poznań (translates to "bird radio" & there is definately a bird cage/garden theme to the decor.)  The restaurant can be found at the top of the winding staricase.  The dim lighting and interesting, architectural details give the impression that there is always more to discover.  The scrabble box I noticed stacked in a corner gives the impression that guests are invited to linger. 

We had to have the apple pie, since that's what led to this discovery.  My husband had a large coffee, and since it's strawberry season, I enjoyed a sparkling wine with strawberry puree.

The apple pie was wonderful, as good as mom might have made.  It was served with a rich, creamy vanilla ice cream.  There were also many other tempting dishes on the menu.  So many restaurants, so little time. . .

It looks as if I'm enjoying this lovely drink way too much, but I assure you, this was my first and only.

Crawfish Smoked Cheese Potatoes

These potatoes have been in the back of my mind since New Year's Eve.  We sampled something similar in Sedona.  This is a dish where exact measurements aren't necessary.  To your usual mashed potatoes, add finely diced, cooked crawfish, grated smoked cheese, and a little finely diced jalapeño or red pepper flakes. 

 

We missed the fresh fish and seafood day at the market, so we bought a container of crawfish tails (thank goodness for the translation app on the iphone).  It was packed in a salty brine.  I added a small amount of the liquid with the milk for the mashed potatoes.  I used about 1/4 cup of diced crawfish for 4 potatoes.

The restaurant in Sedona used smoked gouda, but that wasn't available.  This smoked cheese was a fine substitute.  Again, I used about 1/4 cup for 4 potatoes.  We weren't able to find jalapeños in the market, so we went with red pepper flakes, to taste.

Polish Pottery from Boleslawiec

We had a productive shopping trip to the Ceramika Artystyczna factory outlet.   I'm eager to try out some of our purchases.  Polish pottery, especially quality 1, is safe for the freezer, oven, microwave, and dishwasher and looks great in the process.  We were also fortunate to have a friend give us a tour of the local clay mine, the source of this high quality clay.

Mesquite Pancakes

 
Today is my blogoversary; the first post on Food Is My Love Language was a year ago today.  To celebrate, I offered to fix breakfast for my mother and sister rather than going out as we have on many a Sunday morning.  I was a little nervous about experimenting on them.  I wanted to try out a packet of Mesquite Pancake & Waffle Mix that I picked up from Skeleton Creek at a farmers market recently.  I was pleasantly surprised by the pancakes.  They had a light fluffy texture and a slightly sweet, almost nutty taste - definitely worth doing again!

I also have a small bag of mesquite flour that I'm eager to bake with.  And to think that for all these years, my mother has considered the masses of mesquite beans that drop in her yard to be just a nuisance! 

If mesquite flour isn't available in your area, you can order online from Casa de Fruta.  You'll also find recipes at their website.  

Prickly Pear Lemonade Fizz

What a light refreshing drink!  Fill your glass 2/3 full with lemonade,  add a splash of prickly pear syrup  (I'm sure grenadine would make an excellent substitute), and top off with sparkling water or sparkling wine.

Eggplant Stuffed wtih Ground Lamb

I don't have a lot of experience cooking with lamb, but I recently picked up a pound at the farmers' market.  It’s supposed to be so healthy – a lean red meat, lots of iron and B vitamins, and I liked the idea of, in this small way, being a locavore (one who eats food produced locally).

The lamb became part of this recipe, inspired by a dish I used to order in an Italian restaurant many years ago. The original used beef to stuff the eggplant, but surely artistic license carries over to the kitchen.

Ingredients

2 eggplant
1 lb. ground lamb
½ T. olive oil (optional)
½ t. salt
¼ t. black pepper
dash nutmeg
dash cayenne pepper
3 T. Italian parsley, chopped
2 T. mint, chopped
½ c. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. tomato paste
3 tomatoes, diced and seeded

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Pierce the eggplant three or four times with a fork; place on a baking sheet and bake until tender, 30 – 45 minutes. Cool.
• Slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out and dice the eggplant flesh and seeds leaving ¼ inch attached to the skin, save the eggplant halves.
• In a frying pan, combine the diced eggplant and all other ingredients except the tomato paste and diced tomatoes; brown the lamb, adding the olive oil if the meat is very lean.
• Stir in the last two ingredients.
• Return the four eggplant halves to the baking sheet, fill with the meat mixture, and bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes.

 Serves 4

Flan

This is my submission for

Portugal Day 2010

organized by Casey at Eating Gardening and Living in Bulgaria

Portugal Day caught my eye because I spent a week in Portugal many years ago.  We spent most of our time in the costal town of Ovar just south of Oporto.  An overnight trip to Estoril rounded out our our stay before catching the train from Lisbon back to Madrid, where we were stationed at the time. 

Lest you think this sounds glamorous, let me tell you that this was in the days before ATMs.  Our inability to speak the language led to spending much more than we intended on dinner our first night there, and we spent the rest of the trip watching our centavos. 

I remember learning two lessons on this trip - to take great care when ordering seafood at market price, and Port wine makes for great sipping. 

The dish I chose to make, flan, could call many countries home.  Portugal is just one of them.  My aunt fixed this more me when I was a teenager.  She had been living in Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, so I think in my mind there's alwasy been a link between flan and Portugal. 

My aunt's recipe used sweetened condensed milk, as many recipes do.  Lately, I've been making this version. 

Source: Mexico: One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless

Ingredients

3/4 c. sugar (for caramelizing the molds)

1/3 c. water

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/3 c. milk

1 1/3 c. half-and-half

3 eggs

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 t. vanilla

Directions

• 
  
  Using six 6-oz. molds, place them in a baking pan at least 2 inches deep. 
• 
  
  Place 3/4 c. sugar and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, continue cooking until an amber color. 
• 
  
  Immediately and carefully pour the hot sugar into the molds.
• 
  
  Heat the overn to 325.
• 
  
  In a medium saucepan, combine remaining sugar, milk, and half-and-half.  Over medium heat, stir until it comes to a simmer.
• 
  
  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks, slowly pour in warm milk. 
• 
  
  Stir in vanilla.
• 
  
  Strain through a fine mesh strainer, as you pour or ladle the custard into the molds. 
• 
  
  Add simmering water to the baking pan to create a hot water bath for the molds. 
• 
  
  Bake 50 - 60 minutes or until barely set int he middle.  
• 
  
  Let the custards cool in the hot water bath, which takes about an hour.  
• 
  
  Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.  
• 
  
  To serve, run a small knife around the top edge of each flan.  Place a serving plate on top of the mold.  Holding them together tightly, turn them over, and give a shake until you hear the flan plop onto the plate.  

Serves 6 

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #16

In our family, I have a reputation for not reading the fine print.  I've been know to buy volumizing shampoo for our daughters, who already have very thick, poofy hair.  So we really shouldn't be surprised when I overlooked (alkalized) in front of cocoa in the ingredient list. 

I'm wondering if this may account for the difficulty I had with this and the last chocolate cake.  The finished product was dry and cracked much too easily. 

My mistake aside, these cupcakes were easy to make, the chocolate flavor was wonderful.  I couldn't leave them plain; in my book, cake is a frosting delivery system.  I made my creamy vanilla frosting.  The first step in this frosting is to heat milk and flour; I added a pint of finely diced strawberries to the milk and a few drops of red food coloring.  I reduced the milk by 1/2 c. to make up for the moisture in the berries.  The rest went according to the recipe. 

This may sound silly, but I just can't take these to work right now.  My boss and friend, our senior pastor, just retired, or more accurately, quasi-retired.  He's going from a church of 1,100 members to two small churches in Alaska that may have 150 members combined.  We've been celebrating our shared ministry in the last week, and it's involved a lot of sweets.  Last Wednesday was the last day we'd all be in the office together.  Paul brought in cinnamon rolls for morning coffee.  Sandi brought in a coffee cake.  That was also the day I brought in carrot cupcakes for our birthday lunch.  Friday night was our staff farewell party.  I made Baked Alaska to top off our Mexican food buffett.  Yesterday, was the farewell open house with the congregation; there was cake.  It feels like December 26th, time to swear off goodies and eat some vegetables. 

Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don't post recipes from this book on the internet. One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook. That strategy worked on me! After follow the group's baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.

Frozen Yogurt Dog Treats (like Frosty Paws)

Our somewhat pampered dog, Benson, loves frosty paws, but they're so expensive.  I realized that I could make my own for pennies.  The basic ingredient (in my version) is plain yogurt.  I had planned to stir in a little tuna or salmon, but couldn't find any in the pantry, so I used dry dog food and oats.  Ben didn't seem to mind the substitution.  You could use anything that's safe for dogs to eat.

I saved single serving applesauce containers, and filled them with the yogurt mixture.  Keep them in the freezer until you're ready to serve.

Classic Carrot Cake

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #15

Free choice 

I'm grossly late with this week's HCB post.  The unimaginable happened; I couldn't find my cookbook!   It finally turned up last night; it was hidden under a pile of papers.  I need these cupcakes for our June birthday party at today's staff meeting; I was about to resort to my usual carrot cake recipe from Silver Palate, but I'm so glad that I got to try Rose's version.

The Silver Palate recipe calls for a lot of add-ins: nuts, coconut, pineapple, and it makes a great cake.  Rose's recipe calls for raisins and a secret ingredient, that I (being a bit of a blabber mouth) will reveal if you keep reading.

The cake begins with the usual two step process, the dry ingredients are sifted together.  The wet ingredients are combined.  The dry are added and then the shredded carrots and raisins.  (I was baking late at night, so I didn't take time for the 2-part addition of raisins.)

The batter filled my 2 cupcake pans (24 cupcakes) and a few mini cupcakes.  I frosted them with Rose's Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting and topped it off with a swirl of white chocolate ganache and a shard of pepita brittle.

The inspiration for the brittle comes from a Primavera Cooks! fundraising dinner our birthday girl attended recently at J-Bar, a casual restaurant owned by Tucson's culinary star, Janos Wilder.  You'll notice the cooked sugar is clear rather than opaque.  I used a peanut brittle recipe and omitted the baking soda.

I sampled mini cupcakes this morning, and I can tell you that the taste is fantastic.  If I didn't know what the secret ingredient was, I don't think I'd be able to identify it, but the addition of cocoa adds a certain depth to the flavor.

Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don't post recipes from this book on the internet.  One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook.  That strategy worked on me!  After follow the group's baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.  This week, I was so panicked that I was ready to order a second copy!

Greek Yogurt (Yogurt Cheese) with Honey and Berries

My husband and I dined at the bar of a Greek restaurant and got to chat with the owner.  He told us how he learned to speak English when he came to the US (maybe in the 1970s) by watching television, and how wonderful he thought this country was.  He said his family had so little in Greece, but when they came here they got giveaways with their laundry detergent, a dish towel or a glass.  How could they not prosper in such a place?

He treated us to dessert that night.  Yogurt with honey and berries.  He told me that they made their own yogurt, allowing it to drain overnight.  Then a spoonful of the thick, creamy yogurt was served with a drizzle of honey and fresh berries.   It was the perfect warm weather dessert, cool and refreshing.

I immediately had to duplicate it, and started by making my own yogurt.  (I'll save that process for another post.)  For this batch, I used a large container of full-fat, plain yogurt.

Ingredients

Plain yogurt
Honey
Berries

Directions

• The day before you plan to serve (or at least 8 hours), line a colander with cheese cloth (about 4 layers).  I understand that coffee filters or sturdy paper towels can substitute for the cheese cloth.  
• Place the colander over a bowl, and pour yogurt into the cheese cloth lined colander. 
• Refrigerate over night.  Expect to lose about 1/3 of the volume at the whey drains off.  
• Plate a scoop of the thick yogurt and top with honey and fresh berries.  

Note: Some cooks save the whey to use in bread making or soups.  It imparts a tart taste.