Monday 30 May 2011
This is my standby easy everyday supper. Upma is a breakfast dish from the South of India, and normally made with rava or sooji (semolina). But I love this vermicelli version, as its so kid friendly and easy to prepare. In fact, today it took me less than 20 minutes to make this dish for supper, and that includes the prep.
The nice thing about this upma is that you can really make it your own with the addition of any kind of vegetables you have on hand. I chose not to add any, as we already had a vegetable side dish, and I wanted to keep it quick.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
This post has been a while coming, and I have been thinking about if I should post it or not. I finally decided to do it, after reading Melissa's post here, and Mardi's post here, and nodding along with them all the time. I apologise for the long meander, but I just want to make a few things clear to myself. I want to recapture the reasons for the existence of this blog, and make sure I don't promise more than I can deliver.
This is the tandoori masala I use for a wide variety of purposes, including marinating, and making my famous butter chicken and butter paneer, my tandoori chicken and my tandoori prawns. I have trialled many different versions of this versatile spice mix, before finally being satisfied with this one. So, in that sense, it's very much adaptable to your own tastes. Mine is also not as spicy as some of the store bought ones, but still needs to be treated with a little spice caution.
Thursday 19 May 2011
You can probably tell that I've been giving my new pasta machine a good workout, right? I love it so much, and I've been making loads and loads of pasta. Mostly I make linguine with it, and we have it as a light supper with some fresh pesto or tomato sauce. Kay reckons I've shot myself in the foot with this one, as he doesn't think he can go back to the dried pasta anymore, and to be honest, neither can I. Fresh homemade pasta is amazingly light, with a delicate texture that just totally trumps the store bought versions, and we all just love it.
I have taken to making fairly big batches of pasta, and either freezing them or just popping into the fridge, so we can always have a easy supper on hand.
Monday 16 May 2011
When I think of Nigella, the last thing I think is salads. Indulgent, rich, dark desserts, maybe, but salads? All this was about to change when Dom at Belleau Kitchen who is hosting this month's Forever Nigella challenge announced that the theme was Salad Days.
Suddenly I was looking at Nigella in a completely different way. But Nigella being, well, Nigella, there were some pretty decadent looking salads in her recipes. I borrowed Kitchen, Feast and Nigella Bites from the library, and after much poring over the recipes, finally settled on this gorgeous looking Panzanella from 'Kitchen'. OK, I admit it, the name hooked me at first. As Nigella herself says in the introduction to this salad, how can you resist such a pretty, princessy name like Panzanella? Not me, of course, so I set my heart on making it.
First off, I am well known for making easy things difficult, right? Yes, that's true. So I decided I was going to make my own bread for the recipe. I looked up Pugliese bread, and ruled out making it almost immediately, as most of the recipes had it made with either a Thermomix or a Kitchenaid. Not having either, I had to fall back on my basic bread recipe. Instead of baking it in a loaf tin, I shaped it into a round loaf, then baked it up.
It was gorgeous! All yummy and bready and soft crusty. The perfect loaf to tear up and make a salad with, yes!
I made a few adjustments to the original recipe, and so am posting it up. Nothing major, just a few tweaks to quantities and a couple of additions and substitutions. The original recipe can be found in her wonderful book 'Kitchen' and I think this is one book I am going to have to buy, as I have already found a ton of recipes I want to make from it.
And the most important question - the taste? I honestly cannot describe it without going into Nigellaesque raptures. It was quite tangy, and the bread soaked up the dressing beautifully. It was hearty and rustic, but with the complexity of a much more sophisticated dish. It was so easy to prepare, yet looked like I'd spent hours on it. And Nigella suggests that its better to make it ahead, so it even passes the 'can-I-make-it-in-advance-because-I-am-a-lazy-sod?' test.
A princess among salads, indeed!
Recipe:
Adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'Kitchen'
(Printable Recipe)
3/4 loaf bread, cubed or torn into smallish chunks
1 big bunch basil
1 small red onion, diced fine
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 small clove garlic, grated
2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2+1 large ripe tomatoes
100ml extra virgin olive oil
Handful pine nuts (opt)
Method:
In a small bowl, whisk together the diced onion, vinegars, garlic, salt and sugar.
Place 2 tomatoes in a heatproof bowl, and pour over some boiling water. Leave for 3 minutes, then carefully take out the tomatoes, peel and deseed, then crush coarsely.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the whisked vinaigrette mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Put the dressing in the fridge, if possible, overnight, as the flavours really come together.
To assemble the salad, place the bread into a large bowl, and pour over the dressing, and the 100ml olive oil. Mix together well.
Thinly slice the remaining tomato into wedges, and add to the salad, along with a bunch of roughly chopped basil leaves. Stir again.
Serve with a sprinkle of pine nuts, if you want.
Note: Nigella suggests making the whole salad, except the basil, and putting the fridge overnight. But I didn't want a super damp salad, so I only put the dressing in the fridge overnight, and assembled the salad the next day. Feel free to do whatever you want here.
This salad is heading over to Sarah at Maison Cupcake's Forever Nigella Blogging Event, hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen
Saturday 14 May 2011
One of the reasons that I joined the Daring Kitchen was so I would be pushed out of my comfort zone, and cook dishes that are not on my radar. This gumbo is an excellent example. Previously the only time I had heard of this dish was in the song 'Jambalaya' by Hank Williams :-) Y'know?
'Jambalaya and a crawfish pie
And filè gumbo,
'Cause tonight
I'm gonna see by ma cher amio
Pick guitar,
Fill fruit jar
And be gayo
Son of a gun,
We'll have big fun
On the bayou'
Thursday 5 May 2011
Dom over at Belleau Kitchen announced that this month's Random Recipe Challenge would be 'Just Desserts'. Yesss! I do desserts. In fact, I actively seek them out and do them. Kay, not so much, as he's watching his diet, but me and Aditi, we indulge. Luckily we are home most days so all signs of our dessertly activity can be hidden well before poor Kay gets back home.
Sunday 1 May 2011
A few weeks ago I had blogged about how I finally got off my backside and decided that I needed to meet some of the wonderful foodies here in Edmonton. My very first event was Eat Alberta, organised by Slow Food Edmonton. I was very apprehensive at first. This was my first time out of the house and doing something of my very own, and meeting people who I usually know via their blogs or Twitter. Almost like a first date of sorts, after a lot of internet flirting :-) It also added an element of seriousness to my food blogging.
When I first started this blog, it was a sporadic collection of recipes. I started it after receiving requests for recipes that I made on Masterchef. However, in the last year or so, I have started taking it quite seriously, and enjoying it a lot more. I have learnt how to write better, take better pictures (not quite there yet, but hopefully improving) and well, blog more, in general.
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