Food is my Love Language

Paprika Vegetable Cream Cheese

2012-02-15T11:00:00.000+01:00

I've found myself using a lot of paprika since I moved to Poland - to think I used to only sprinkle it on top of deviled eggs! When La Chinata asked if I would like to sample their smoked paprika powder, I was interested. (The CPA in me feels a need to disclose that I was provided two tins, sweet and hot, of their paprika at no charge and with no obligation on my part. If it wasn't too my liking, I would have simply conveyed this to the company and not mentioned them here, but that was not the case.)

I've only had smoked paprika once before. It was from a top, American purveyor of spices, and I found the smoke flavor overpowering. I was delighted that the smoke is a note in the La Chinata smoked paprika, but the peppers are still the main flavor.

The first recipe I tried with this paprika was a veggie cream cheese spread. I mixed up a big batch; we've been eating it on rye crisps, celery; I think it would be great on bagels or crackers too. I love the flavors and the color. Paprika is right up there with garlic in the must have seasonings category.

This is the sort of recipe that you can use as a starting point, adapting to suit your own tastes and what you have on hand - maybe finely diced celery or radish, other herbs. I'd love to hear what you add to it.

Ingredients

1/2 red bell pepper
1 - 2 cloves roasted garlic
1 green onion (white and green parts), finely minced
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
dash pepper
pinch of dried thyme (or the leaves stripped from 2 or 3 small stalks of fresh thyme)
8 ounces (250 g) cream cheese, softened

Directions

Wanting the mellow, sweetness of a roasted red pepper, I finely diced the pepper and sauteed it in a little olive oil. You could also wrap the 1/2 pepper in foil and toss it in the oven when you roast the garlic, and then dice after it's cooked. I still had the green onion to add a little bit of crunch to the texture.
Add the pepper, roasted garlic, green onion, paprika, salt, pepper, and thyme the cream cheese.
You can stir until thoroughly combined, or if you want a smoother texture, use a food processor.

Roasted Garlic

2012-02-15T09:39:00.001+01:00

raw garlic

I love garlic, and I especially like the mellowness of cooked garlic. If you''re adding garlic to a recipe that won't be cooked, you can get that soft, garlic flavor by roasting a head of garlic.

Just slice the top off of a head of garlic (the pointy end) and wrap it in foil. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for about an hour. The garlic cloves will be brown and soft. Give the head of garlic a squeeze and they'll pop right out, or you can easily dig them out with the tip of a knife.

The roasted garlic is a great addition to mashed potatoes, or as a spread of bread. I've used it in this appetizer, Chutney Brie Bruschetta and in a Paprika Veggie Cream Cheese spread.

roasted garlic

Apple Art

2012-02-15T07:45:00.001+01:00

I first noticed designs "grown" on apple peel in the produce section of our Polish supermarket. It seems like a clingy sticker (or maybe a wax stamp) is placed on the side of the apple getting the most sun, the side that will get the reddest. The lack of sunlight, keeps the area under the sticker green. I wonder if children are more likely to want smiley apples. Are they popping up in your markets too?

Chocolate Devil's Food Cake with Espresso Swiss Meringue

2012-02-07T18:00:00.004+01:00

A new cooking challenge, please vote for me by clicking on the thumbnail of my recipe (#36) at the bottom of this post. Thanks!

I've been following ButterYum's food blog for years. When she posted a Bailey's Irish Cream and Pistachio Fudge recipe, I had to take a look. The white fudge with green bits of pistachio looked so good (and sounds so easy) that I know I will make it one day. So many wonderful recipes out there but too few calories in a day!

ButterYum's post is also where I first learned about the once a month Crazy Cooking Challenge. After participating in a weekly baking group (which I loved, please don't misunderstand), a monthly activity sounded like just the thing. (So now I'm in two monthly group, stay tuned to see if it grows to four!)

Every month the Crazy Cooks will prepare the same item, whether it's fudge or a chocolate cake, from a recipe found on a food blog other than their own. We're all selecting different recipes, so the entries are the same, but different if you see what I mean. What a great way to visually sample the best of what's out there!

My challenge this month was to find a yummy chocolate cake, other than my own go-to chocolate cake, which I have bake for two recent birthdays. (You can catch the second one at the end of this post.)

I found what I knew would be a delicious chocolate cake with striking appearance on lululu at home. Thanks so much for sharing this, Fanny! Fanny's blog captures some wonderful recipes along with posts about her life as a mom. I hope you'll pay her a visit.

the original recipe calls for a 5 layer8 inch cake - I have 9 inch cake pans, so I only got 3 layers

I also had the perfect reason to make a cake; our friend Remi had invited us to stop by the Cocktails of Dreams club to have a birthday drink with him. The cake was a big hit with Remi and his friends.

Ingredients

for the cake:

3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

for the frosting:

5 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt
1/4 cup strong espresso, cooled
1 cup sliced almond

Directions

for cake:

Preheat oven to 350
Grease five 8-inch round or three 9-inch round cake pans, lining the bottoms with parchment paper
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
In a small bowl, whisk the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth
Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy Beat in eggs, one at a time
Beat in buttermilk and vanilla extract
Reduce the speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the chocolate mixture
Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining chocolate mixture
Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with a spatula
Bake 13 to 15 minutes (for 8 inch), 20 to 25 minutes (for 9 inch), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean
Cool the cakes (in the pans) on a wire rack
Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack, making certain they are completely cool before frosting

for the frosting:

Put egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water
Use an electric hand mixer to beat constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot
Remove from heat
With whisk attachment, continue whipping the mixture in a stand mixer (I only have portable) until thick, glossy, and cool
Switch over to paddle attachment and mix on medium speed, continuously adding softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and it has a silky smooth texture
If curdles, keep mixing and it will come back together
Add vanilla and salt, mix well
Add the espresso and beat for another 10 seconds
Reserve 1 cup of buttercream for piping on top
To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread the buttercream
Repeat this process until all cake layers are placed
Spread buttercream on top and sides of the cake
Garnish with the sliced almonds
Using a large star tip to pipe a decorative border on the top edge of the cake
Cover and refrigerate the cake
Leave out in room temperature for at least an hour prior to serving

Please vote for me below (#36), thanks!

Can't visit Cocktails of Dreams without one of their beautiful creations

My favorite artist

2012-02-01T12:52:00.000+01:00

Lisa Britton

Hi friends, click above to check out some of my daughter's artwork - ever so grateful for your vote!

Chinese Style Vegetables

2012-01-29T22:31:00.000+01:00

I'm always trying to incorporate more vegetable into our diet. This dish is a great way to pick up several plus the many health benefits of ginger, garlic and red chili peppers. "What health benefits?" you may ask - cancer fighting, antioxidants, that can alleviate the pain of arthritis to name just a few.

I should start off by saying that I know almost nothing about Asian cooking. We used to stir-fry early in our married life, and Ed had just lived in Korea for a year, so I guess he had some credibility as we prepared those dishes. Stir-frys are one of many recipes forgotten as we were raising our daughters. They liked foods to be separate, not jumbled together, and certainly no sauce! I'm sure those of you with children can relate.

Ingredients

1/4 cup canola or olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 head broccoli, cut into florets and then sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 head Napa cabbage (from top), sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup bean sprouts
4 green onions
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon water

Directions

Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok on medium-high heat
Add ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes, cooking for 30 to 60 seconds
Remove and reserve the ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes. I did this by straining the oil into a cup and returning the oil to the pan. The spices will return to the pan later
Cook the onion in the oil until translucent and set aside
Add the red bell pepper and cook until almost tender, set aside
Add the broccoli, stir-frying for two or three minutes
Add the chicken stock, and cabbage to the broccoli, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan, until the vegetables are tender
Add the bean sprouts and green onions, stirring to combine
Add the soy sauce, chili sauce, and the reserved ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes
Dissolve the corn starch in the water, stirring until no lumps remain
Add the corn starch and water to the veggies and heat until the liquid thickens

Almond Parmesan Crusted Chicken

2012-01-22T07:55:00.001+01:00

We're back in Poznan, missing our family, but looking forward to the new year. To me, it's not about big, bold resolutions; it's about a return to the pleasure of a normal routine, finding the time to make better choices regarding meals and activity - all the things that are joyfully forgotten during holiday celebrations.

After finding this article on a friend's facebook wall, I'm incorporating vegetables into my diet in a big way. The article talks about using the Hunter-Gatherer Diet to combat MS. I don't have this disease, but it's hard to argue with the benefits a nine servings of vegetables and fruit a day. The question will be can I find ways to make them interesting. That will determine my success. The Chinese style veggies pictured here will be posted in a few days. Incorporating organ meat once a week; I don't know if I'm ready for that part of the diet just yet.

My husband is cutting back on carbs for a week or so to break the cycle; "do widzenia" bread, potatoes, and beer. I found a recipe that mentioned crushed pork rinds as breading for chicken breast, but alas, no pork rinds in our Polish market. I was trying to think of something to add a bit of crunch and remembered that I had sliced almonds in the pantry. Voila, the Almond Parmesan Crusted Chicken is born, and it was so tasty that we're fixing it again in a few days for dinner guests.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten

Directions

Butterfly the chicken breast by laying it on a cutting board and slicing horizontally, ALMOST to the other side. Open it up and pound with a meat tenderizer (mallet) until the breast is about 1/4-inch thick
Season both sides with salt and pepper
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat
Run the almonds and Parmesan cheese in a food processor until the texture is breadcrumb-like
Spread half of the nut mixture out on a plate
Dip the chicken breast in the beaten egg
Spread the chicken out over the nuts and cheese and sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the top side of the chicken, pat the crust to secure it to the meat
Put the chicken in the hot oil and cook until browned on both sides
Divide into two servings. You can keep this warm in a 200 degree oven (100 C) if you're fixing more than one breast

Serves: 2

Homemade Wine

2012-01-20T13:26:00.000+01:00

My parents are quite the do-it-yourself-ers. These handy folks built their own 3-car garage, two greenhouses (now home to orchids and year-round tomato plants). They have been beekeepers, bakers of artisan breads, the list goes on and on.

At one time, they were growing their own grapes for wine making. Water is an expensive commodity in the desert, so eventually the grapevines had to go. Now they buy wine kits at the home brew shop, ranging in price from $90 to $150 that yield 30 bottles of finished product. The kits contain the grape juice, yeast and all of the additives needed in the process.

I got to take pictures of a recent bottling session. I can share with you a few of the things I learned:

They've collected a lot of gadgets in the last 10 years that make the process much faster. Bottling a batch used to take 3 or 4 hours; they now have it down to 45 minutes.
Items worth having - faucet attachment for easy rinsing of bottles, One Step Sanitizer, bottle tree for sanitizing and draining, a siphon kit, bottle filler wand, and a compression corker. If you want to make wine, these should be on your wish list.
Red wine needs to be in a dark green or yellow bottle. Otherwise you'll loose the color and flavor as the wine oxidizes from exposure to light.
Wine bottles with flat bottoms are the easiest to fill.
The wine will be nicely drinkable about a year after bottling. As it's going into the bottle, it reminds me of the wine we used to pay 35 pesetas (50 cents) for at the bodega in Spain back in the early 80s (provided you brought your own bottle, of course.)

Check out the video; you'll feel like you were there with us! :)

My folks shrink wrapped a couple bottles of their wine for us to bring back to Poland. We had the 2009 Amarone last night, and it was wonderful. Amarone is the wine bottled the day we visited. It's made with a combination of partially dried grapes, yes, I guess you could say raisins!

Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Pancakes

2012-01-18T01:07:00.000+01:00

with huckleberry syrup

One of my daughters is vegetarian, a choice that I've gotten pretty good at accommodating over the years, if I do say so myself. When we got together over Christmas, she threw me for a loop with the announcement that she was more and more eating vegan. Vegan stumps me - no butter, no eggs, no cheese, no fun, no ideas!

Don't get me wrong. She looks trim, healthy, fantastic, and I'm glad that she's making thoughtful choices about her food and her health. I just can't think of anything to fix that the rest of the family would want to eat.

Lisa to the rescue with a new cookbook she's picked up - babycakes: covers the classics, the second cookbook by Erin McKenna. As the cover says, this book provides gluten-free, vegan recipes from donuts to snickerdoodles. We tried the Gingerbread Pancakes, and I have to say they were delicious and would qualify as fun.

Ingredients

2 cups garbanzo and fava bean flour (I wasn't paying attention as Lisa read ingredients and used AP flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon xanathan gum (didn't have - substituted a small handful of flax seeds soaked in equal volume of water)
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon (didn't have, so we omitted)
1/ teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (this wasn't in the recipe, but how can you have gingerbread without ginger?)
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut or canola oil
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup molasses
2/3 cup rice milk (we used almond and added extra milk to get a good texture maybe because of the flour substitution)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat pancake griddle
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, xanathan gum, cardomon, clove, and ginger
In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients
Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients until just combined
Spray or lightly brush griddle with oil
Ladle or pour batter onto hot griddle; cook until bubbles form in pancake and pop
Carefully, flip pancakes, browning other side
Serve with desired toppings. Lisa used soy butter, Ed and I, real butter and huckleberry syrup

Made: 25 6-inch pancakes

Kegerator - Homebrew without bottles

2012-01-16T13:00:00.001+01:00

My parents have been making wine and beer for the last 10 years. They seemed to make wine much more often than beer. Dad said it was because bottling the beer was such a chore. We discovered a way around that, and now there's always homebrew when we visit.

We found a kegerator at WalMart. The kids all chipped in, and it made a gift that's used a lot. The kegerator uses a 5 gallon, corny or cornelius keg and a CO2 bottle that's refilled at the welding supply store.

My dad uses homebrew kits that he buys at Brew Your Own Brew in Tucson. If there's a need for beer between batches, our local brew pubs are happy to fill the corny keg.

PS - if my mother is appalled by the wire running across the tap, I will gladly replace that photo if someone sends me a photo without the wire. ;-)

Christmas Tamales

2012-01-07T22:11:00.001+01:00

The Mexican tradition of tamales at Christmas has carried over into many homes in southern Arizona. My parents make their own in December, but we usually have them on the first time all of the family are in town; that usually means the night my brother arrives from NYC.

I asked if I could help with the preparation a couple of years ago. It may have been before I began this blog because I don't remember taking any pictures. My parents cook the meat one day and do the assembly the next. Even so, it's labor intensive, and reminds me of pierogi making. It's best done with many hands. Even Rick Bayless says don't make them by yourself, adding that it's a ritual suited for a collective, special occasion. I have a few in the freezer that will be packed for Poland soon.

Thanks, Mom, for sharing your recipe!

Chile Con Carne - Meat Filling for Tamales:

Ingredients

2 pounds lean pork
2 pounds lean beef
2 tablespoons (or more) lard
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 cloves garlic
2 cups red chile sauce (Las Palmas or any other good brand)
4 cups cold water in which the meat was cooked

Directions

Cut the meat in small pieces, not more than an inch
Braise in hot lard in small batches, so that it browns a bit, transfer to stock pot as each batch is braised
Add salt, garlic, and enough water to cover
Simmer unti the beef is tender (the pork will be done by then)
Drain, reserving ALL of the liquid
If all the lard is gone from the pan the meat was browned in, add a couple of spoons more and when it's hot, add the flour and cook to a golden brown.
Add the flour mixture, the chile sauce, and 4 cups of the reserved water (you'll use more of the reserved water below) back into the meat, stir and simmer another hour or so
Cool enough to handle
Shred each cube of meat, removing the garlic when you come to it
The filling should be the consistency of slightly runny gravy
Refrigerate until cold or overnight

Tamales:

Ingredients

5 pounds masa, or 5 pounds masa harina plus water to make a pliable dough
1 1/2 cups lard
1 cup beef stock, more or less (use the reserved water the meat was cooked in)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
corn husks
chilled chile con carne
pitted green olives (optional)

Directions

A heavy-duty mixer is needed for this.
Before you start, place the corn husks in warm water to soften. The sink works best. There are usually some silks remaining, remove all that you can
Place lard in a large mixer bowl, beat until VERY light and fluffy
Add masa (or the dough made from the masa harina), the baking powder, salt, and beef stock, mix thoroughly (probably 3-4 minutes). It should be slightly fluffy, add a bit more liquid if needed
Spread the masa mixture, just less than 1/4 inch thick, on a well-drained corn husk, covering about 2/3 of the husk, don't do all the way to the top or bottom
Spread a heaping tablespoon of the chili con carne down the middle of the masa
If you're using green olives, add one to the middle of the chile con carne
Fold the two sides into the center and roll up
Fold up the bottom, and place upright in a steamer (or freeze at this point - when ready to use, thaw and steam)
Steam for about 60 minutes over low heat; they're done when the corn husks come away from the masa cleanly

Makes approximately 5 dozen tamales

Horseradish Soup

2011-12-31T11:34:00.001+01:00

We often walked by Cymes (the Polish spelling of a Yiddish wording meaning something delicious, exquisite and unique), a Jewish restaurant in Poznan, and thought that we should eat there. We finally did a few weeks ago on our anniversary. Our meal had a sense of adventure to it - trying many tasty things we'd never had before - from horseradish soup to buckwheat.

We decided to try our hand with the horseradish soup as part of our Christmas dinner. Despite its many medicinal qualities, I must confess that before I moved to Poland, I'd only used horseradish in two ways: with Prime Rib and mixed with ketchup to make shrimp cocktail. Now, we're mixing it with beets and putting massive quantities in soup. We made our version vegetarian; you could certainly use chicken broth if you prefer.

horseradish root and grated horseradish

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
8 cups vegetable stock
8 inch piece horseradish root, peeled & finely grated
1 large potato, peeled, and diced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Add olive oil to a stock pot and saute carrot, celery, and onion until tender
Add stock, horseradish (a generous cup full), and potato
Simmer one to two hours
Process in blender, food processor, or with immersion blender
Season with salt and pepper

Alton Brown's Baked Apples

2011-12-27T23:14:00.002+01:00

We're all big fans of Alton Brown; my family appreciates his wit and thoughtful culinary explanations. My daughter, Lauren, is especially fond of pointing out when my way of making something differs from Alton's. If she doesn't care for mashed potatoes, it's probably because I'm not making them the right way (Alton's way).

Lauren emailed a link to this recipe to us in Poland and suggested that we try making them when were home for Christmas. It was our Christmas Eve breakfast and very yummy indeed. I've made baked apples before, but these were the best.

Ingredients

3/4 cup oats
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, diced
4 Braeburn apples (or Fuji)
4 teaspoons honey
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Combine oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.

Cut in butter until the mixture resembles crumbs

Cut a small slice from the bottom of each apple to make a stable base

Cut a 1 inch circle around the stem, much like cutting the top off a jack-o-lantern

With a melon baller, remove the rest of the stem, making sure you don't puncture the bottom

Put a teaspoon of honey inside each apple

Fill apples with the oat mixture, packing it in
Place apples in a baking dish and bake for 40 minutes

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving

Serve with ice cream, if desired

Zapiekanka

2011-12-14T12:43:00.000+01:00

Kebab zapiekanka with ketchup and garlic sauce

Zapiekanka comes from a Polish word which means to bake. Zapiekanka can mean a casserole, but the more common use is this popular street food - a bagette half, topped with cheese and other toppings, baked until crisp and then finished off with ketchup and or other sauces.

Broccoli Cheese Soup and I.O.U.

2011-12-05T23:29:00.000+01:00

Today is the second finalle of the Heaven's Cake Bakers. We're supposed to be telling you about the 3 tier wedding cake we've prepared. I'm one that advocated for including a wedding cake, but I'll have to give you and I.O.U.

I've been cooking two mornings a week at a ministry coffee shop - mainly their menu items, but occasionally something special from my repertoire. You know a few of Rose's recipes will make an appearance. You can read more about Sweet Surrender on their website or on my Polish blog.

With the time I spend in the kitchen at the coffee shop, I've been baking less at home, but Rhonda was kind enough to let me share the recipe for their broccoli soup. It's quick, easy, and delicious!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth
2 pounds frozen broccoli florets
2 cups frozen carrot slices
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Melt butter in a large pan and cook onion until translucent
Add broth, broccoli and carrots, bring to a boil, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender
Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break the broccoli into bite-sized pieces as you're stirring
In a bowl, combine the flour and milk until smooth
Add milk mixture and cheeses to the soup, heating until melted
Add seasonings as needed

Serves: 8

Salt (Bread) Dough Ornaments

2011-12-03T23:11:00.004+01:00

When we were stationed in Spain, the squadron used to deploy to Turkey for a month at a time, and since there were three squadrons, it happened every third month. You can imagine the toll this could take on families and morale. It was the squadron commander's wife's job to keep all of the pilots' wives left behind occupied and entertained. The schedule of potluck meals, trips, and activities planned was referred to as our "Turkey Calendar."

During a December Turkey Calendar thirty-one years ago, the commander's wife invited us to her home to make Christmas ornaments - bread dough ornaments to be exact. Those ornaments still hang on our tree every year. It was a fun day and something that I've done again over the years, with our daughters, and today with the ladies from my Bible study group.

Since this is a food blog, I should say that this dough is not edible; for decorative use only!

Ingredients

for dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water, approximately

for assembly and finishing:

plastic wrap
aluminum foil
toothpicks (to add texture and patterns to dough)
garlic press (for making hair, etc.)
paperclips and wire cutters
watercolor paints and brushes
Sharpie pens (optional - for very fine detail)
Clear spray sealant

Directions

to make the dough:
Combine flour and salt
Add just enough water to form a dough
Kneed the dough to work in a little more flour - just to the point where the dough is no longer sticky. The dough should be soft, not stiff.
Keep the dough wrapped in plastic to keep it from drying out.

to make the ornaments:
Use a small (6 inch square) piece of aluminum foil as your assembly/baking tray for your ornaments
To create your personalized ornaments, analyze your design, breaking it down into individual elements, as illustrated in the angel assembly photos below
Begin making each part of your design by rolling a little ball of the dough between the palms of your hands. This serves two purposes: it give you a smooth finish on the outside of your dough and will work out any air bubbles in your dough. You don't want a hollow spot that would weaken the structure.
Keep the scale of your finished piece in mind as you create the "parts." For example, it you're making a head that will be on a body, the head should be about the size of a nickel. If you were making just Santa's face, the head could be as big as two inches in diameter. The "parts" should be no more than a 1/4 of an inch thick if you'll have more than one piece on top of another. Unless it's required by the nature of your piece, such as a teddy bear's belly.
Open a paper clip so that you have sort of an S shape. Using the wire cutters, cut off the top and bottom of the S, to give you two very long thin U shaped pieces of wire.
Add a loop to the top of your ornament (to give you a place to attach a hook) by inserting the open end of the U shaped cut paper clip into the dough and pushing it in until only about 1/4 of an inch remains above the dough.
Fill a cookie sheet with your ornaments on foil and bake at 200 F or 100 C for about an hour; it may take much longer. The dough will become lighter as it dries out. You want it to be dry, but not burnt.

the ball of dough is made into a cone shape and then flattened for the body

a smaller ball is flattened and attached to the top of the body

cone shapes bent at the end for wings, candle added, sleeves and hands

a little hair, made by running dough through the garlic press and inserted the wire loop into the top of the head

texture added to hem, sleeves, and collar with a toothpick point

The finished product

to finish the ornaments:
After the ornaments have cooled, paint with water colors. I use the kind that comes in a tube (especially for the very necessary white) or a tray of kid's watercolors. If borrowing the kid's watercolors, you'll want them to be very thick, so let a few drops of water sit on each disk of paint for a few minutes before starting.
After the paint has dried, lightly spray with a clear sealant. For best results and a long life for your ornaments, repeat the spray coating at least three times.

Other examples--

Caroline's stocking and wreath

Coralanne Y.'s Christmas bell and candy cane

Klaudia's "brooch" and teddy bear

Santa in a F-16 for Janet's son the fighter pilot

For my friends at the Sweet Surrender coffee shop

Ed's shooting star

I opened up a wire hanger, putting ridges along the bottom to make a drying rack. It allows you to spray both sides at once.

I had an air bubble that broke off part of Santa's F-16

My first ornament - Snoopy flying an F-4 wearing the squadron's blue & white gingham scarf

When the girls were very young, they made some with cookie cutters

Christmas Day Menu (for vegetarians and meat eaters)

2011-12-01T14:56:00.007+01:00

Meal planning for my extended family is no easy task (and I'm sure that's why I didn't iron my tablecloth). We have many dietary restrictions to take into account:

One of our daughters is vegetarian.
Her twin sister eats fish and seafood, but just doesn't like other meats.
Our youngest daughter and my husband don't feel like they've eaten a meal unless there's a big hunk of meat.
My brother doesn't eat beef and doesn't like fish or seafood.
My sister doesn't eat mammals.

And me? I never met a meal I didn't like. This Christmas dinner was my attempt to make everyone happy.

Starter -
Grilled Polish Cheese

Butternut Squash Galette
Creamed Corn and Spinach with Potatoes
Baguette with Garlic - Paprika Butter
Grilled Salmon
Marinated Chicken Breast Tenders

Beverages -
Water
An Assortment of Beers (including Kriek)
Apricot Brandy Slush

Hot Buttered Rum Mix - Hot Toddy (Metric included)

2011-11-22T08:21:00.002+01:00

I have loved hot buttered rum mix since I was a child. No! I wasn't drinking in elementary school; I was snitching a pinch of the mix that my parents made and kept in the fridge. They were purists - Trader Vic's style, butter, brown sugar, spices. Yum!

Many years later, when I was following in their footsteps, a neighbor and I were comparing recipes. When she told me that she added vanilla ice cream to her mix, my only thought was sacrilege! But I've come around. I kind of like the creaminess the ice cream adds, so that's what I'm serving this winter.

We have a road trip planned with friends for Thanksgiving weekend. We're all piling in our minivan and heading north to Turin (home of Copernicus), Malbork Castle (the largest in the world and where I believe the Matla Knights made their last stand), and on to Gdansk on the Baltic Sea. What does this have to do with hot buttered rum mix?

I thought it would be the perfect thing to take along for an evening drink with our friends at the hotel - you know to warm up and debrief the day's events. After all, it's much easier to make hot water in a European hotel room than to find ice. No, American friends, there are not ice makers on every floor - even at the Hilton. If you're really lucky, you might talk the bartender out of a glass of ice to share with your friends, and that's if you're buying your drinks in the bar!

I'll include both versions, so you can decide for yourself. My husband thinks the creamy version is a little too sweet. Also included the metric packaging measurements for European readers. Cheers!

Creamy Hot Buttered Rum Mix

1 quart (1100 ml) vanilla ice cream, softened
1 pound (500 g) butter, softened
1/2 pound (250 g) brown sugar
1/2 pound (250 g) powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (1 rounded tablespoon) cinnamon
1 teaspoon (1 rounded teaspoon) nutmeg

Combine all ingredients. Keep covered and frozen until ready to use. Add 2 tablespoons mix and a shot of rum to a mug, fill with boiling water. Stir until mix is dissolved.

Hot Buttered Rum Mix

1 pound (500 g) brown sugar
1/4 pound (125 g) butter
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon (1/2 rounded teaspoon) cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (1/2 rounded teaspoon) nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon (1/2 rounded teaspoon) cloves

Combine all ingredients. Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to use. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of batter with a shot rum to a mug, fill with 6 ounces of boiling water. Stir well.

Grilled Cheese and Jam Sandwich (Oscypek)

2011-11-21T14:44:00.001+01:00

I first tried oscypek, a salty Polish smoked cheese made from sheep's milk, at an outdoor barbeque. It was cooked on the grill and served with lingonberry jam. It's a staple at outdoor festivals, so I had to take some home with me two summers ago for a 4th of July party. Our friend, Mike, graciously stepped up to do the grilling since my husband was away. He was more than a little surprised that I had cheese as well as meat and veggies for him to cook. I must say that he did a great job; you would have never known that it was his first time grilling cheese.

Not Mike and obviously not 4th of July, grilled cheese at the St. Martin's Parade

As I did a little research, trying to find the name of this "smoked cheese from the mountains," as our Polish friends always translate it for us, I found that the oscypek has been at the heart of a controversy with European Union regulations on one side and Polish tradition and the slow food movement on the other. I don't know if this has been resolved. Perhaps the cheese I'm buying is a sterile, pasteurized, corporate knock-off.

This post was originally just going to be about the cheese, but I also came across the idea for a grilled cheese and jam sandwich on Grilled Cheese Social. Strawberry jelly was the recommendation on the cheese blog, but I decided to slice up a sunflower seed roll and do a taste test with apricot jam, strawberry jam, and oscypek's usual accompaniment lingonberry or cranberry preserves.

It may just be my sweet tooth, but in this little kitchen, the apricot and strawberry jams were the big winners. The juxtaposition of the salty, smoked cheese with the thick, sweet fruit jam was surprising and fantastic!

Hot Tea with Sambuca

2011-11-20T22:11:00.002+01:00

This isn't really a recipe, just a suggestion for your hot drink repertoire. Try a cup of weak black tea, with a little sugar and about half a shot of sambuca or other anise flavored liqueur. Paco, the Spanish bartender at the Officers' Club at Torrejon Air Base recommended this to me when I had a cold back in the 80s. It's been filed away in the back of my brain, to be dusted off recently when I was recovering from pneumonia. It's very soothing for a sore throat. Now, I've decided that it really tastes amazing and should also be consumed by healthy people.

Beet, Leek and Goat Cheese Galette

2011-11-19T14:33:00.002+01:00

This is a variation on butternut squash galette, one of my favorites, but sadly, I haven't been able to find butternut squash. This week, my usual substitute, sweet potatoes, were also unavailable. Beets, on the other hand, are always available in Poland - fresh, canned, shredded, with horseradish, how ever you want them. The flavors were great together; I love this crust, but since I have leftovers, I'm wondering if the crust will be pink tomorrow.

Ingredients

For the pastry:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped sage leaves (I used a teaspoon of dried poultry seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 to 8 tablespoons cold water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon canola oil

For the filing:
3 large beets, peeled, quartered and sliced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 leeks, the white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 ounces soft, mild goat cheese, crumbled
1 to 3 teaspoons, horseradish (optional and to taste)

Directions

To make the dough, pulse the flours, butter, sage, and salt in a food processor until it has the texture of a coarse meal. (I'm not intimidated by making pie crust, so I usually don't bother with using the food processor - too many parts to wash, but in this case, it seemed like the best way to insure the sage was finely chopped and evenly distributed.)
While pulsing, slowly add ice water, using just enough for the dough to form a ball. Don't overwork it.
Shape the dough into a 5 inch disk, wrap in plastic, and chill at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Toss the beets with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt.
Spread beets over a baking sheet and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until tender. Turn once during the roasting (exercise EXTREME caution when opening the oven door to do this. The blast of steam that hit me in the face was frightening.)
Remove beets from the oven and reduce temperature to 375.
While the beets are cooking, saute the leeks in the remaining olive oil, with a sprinkle of sea salt, over medium high heat loosely covered for 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer leeks to a large bowl and mix with goat cheese, pepper, horseradish, and beets. (Both the dough and the filing can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated. I lined a 9 inch cake pan with plastic wrap and spread the filing around the pan, bringing the wrap around the top of the filing before refrigerating. That way my squash mixture is the right size to plop in the middle of my pie crust.)
Roll dough into a 13 to 14 inch circle.
Put filing in the center of the dough leaving a 2 to 3 inch margin all around the filing.
Fold the edges of the dough up to cover the filing, pleating as necessary.
Whisk the oil into the beaten egg and brush the pastry with the egg mixture and bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 as a main dish, 8 as a side dish.

Rogale swietomarcinskie (St. Martin's Croissants)

2011-11-10T00:04:00.003+01:00

I've been wanting to make this local specialty for a long time. It's traditionally made for November 11th, St. Martin's Day. The first year Ed was in Poland, he told me about them. The second year, he put one in the freezer for me because I was coming for a visit just a week later. I began reading recipes online back in August. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to be invited to a Rogale swietomarcinskie workshop hosted by the head of the bakers' guild. That was so much fun, and I picked up some good tips. And now I know that if I make thousands, this pastry dough will become a simple matter for me, as it was for the professional bakers. It wasn't simple today.

The filing was easy to put together. I can see myself using this in other ways - in thumb print cookies, in kolachi rather than a canned filling. The dough was such a chore to prepare that it maybe be prepared less frequently. The professionals have a giant rolling machine that I would love to have. I think with that roller, I could be unstoppable - making fresh croissants every couple of days. I would have to be riding my bike every waking moment that I wasn't in the kitchen.

Source: This recipe is adapted from Regionalna Kuchnia Polska, a cookbook I picked up in the train station and have been translating withe the help of google.

For the filling:

Ingredients

2/3 cup poppy seeds
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
2/3 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup shortbread cookie crumbs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter
pinch salt
1 tablespoon almond extract

Directions

With a steel blade, process poppy seeds, walnuts, raisins, almonds, and cookie crumbs in food processor until the texture is a coarse meal.
Dump the mixture into a sauce pan , add cream, sugar, butter, and salt.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. The mixture will still ooze a little. As it cools it will become more firm.
Stir in almond extract, cool.

For the pastry:

Ingredients

7/8 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 packet dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
4 egg yolks
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter chilled,sliced

for egg wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon canola oil

for glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
milk or cream, to create spreadable consistency

Directions

Heat milk to 110 degrees.
Add 2 tablespoons butter, yeast, and sugar.
Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes, should be foamy.
Add egg yolks.
Stir in flour and salt.
Place in a clean bowl, cover the top of the dough with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.
Top dough with butter slices.
Fold dough into thirds, and roll it out to the original size
Fold into thirds and roll 4 more times (you now have 243 layers of your original butter topped dough)
Cut dough into long triangles
Top with filling, I used my hands and rolled it into ropes 1 inch in diameter
Roll up starting with the short side
Place croissants on baking sheet , cover and let rise 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine egg, water, and oil. Lightly brush rolls with egg wash.
Bake until brown, about 15 - 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and frost with glaze made of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
Sprinkle with sliced almonds, or chopped peanuts.

Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pepita Brittle

2011-11-07T05:49:00.003+01:00

I wasn't excited about this cake. The flavors just didn't seem to go together. It just shows you how wrong I can be. The cake was sensational! You see it boxed up here - on it's way to a dinner party. There were seven of us at dinner that night and we ate almost the entire cake, maybe one slice left. There were no complaints about being too full, diets, or the cake being too rich. We just cleaned our plates - everyone of us.

Rose garnished the cake with pecans around the perimeter - a nut I've yet to find in Poland, so my cheesecake went architectural with shards of pepita brittle. The lacy scroll of caramel was just the right flavor compliment for the pumpkin cheesecake. Without its usual accompaniment of spices, the pumpkin cream cheese mixture was very mild. I used a box of Dutch ginger cookies with a light flavor to make the crust, and I doubled the crust recipe. I love a cookie crust; it's one of my favorite parts of a cheesecake.

While we don't publish the recipes in Rose's Heavenly Cake bake along, I can give you the recipe for the pepita brittle. It can add a special element to other baked goods. It seems very appropriate with carrot cake (or cupcakes) too.

Pepita Brittle

Ingredients

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 T. butter
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
1/2 t. vanilla extract

Directions

In a large saucepan, over medium-high heat, combine sugar, water, corn syrup, butter, and salt.
Cook, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 290 degrees.
Stir in pepitas, cook stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 300.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla..
Quickly spread mixture on large greased baking sheet.
Cool, break into pieces, and store in airtight container.

Unlike peanut brittle, this is translucent because I've left out the 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda usually added with the vanilla. The baking soda makes the syrup fizz up, giving it an airy, almost honeycomb texture. I like the look without, almost glass-like.

Zosia's Birthday Cake - Chocolate and Nutella!

2011-11-04T06:44:00.000+01:00

I didn't get around to making a HCB free choice this week, but I did make the chocolate cake with Nutella flavored Italian Meringue Butter Cream for Zosia's 10th birthday. Perfect for the chocoholic! I also made the pumpkin cheesecake last weekend (to post on Monday). HCB friends, if you're on the fence about this cake, it was fabulous! By all means, make it. You and your friends will be glad you did .

For the cake:

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/4 vegetable oil
1 3/4 c. water
2 1/2 T white vinegar
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 1/2 c. flour
3 c. sugar
1 c. dutch process cocoa powder
1 T baking soda
1 t. salt

Directions

Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans. (I also line the bottom with parchment paper - no risk of anything sticking that way.)
Preheat oven at 350.
Whisk together wet ingredients.
In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients and stir until smooth.
Divide batter evenly into the three pans.
Bake for 40-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool

For the frosting:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar (1 7/8)
2/3 cup water (1)
5 egg whites (8)
pinch cream of tartar
1 pound butter, chilled and cut into chunks of 1 or 2 tablespoons (1 1/2)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 jar Nutella
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted (optional)
8 Ferrero Rocher candies

For the main ingredients, I used the amounts in parenthesis because I wanted to be sure I'd have enough frosting for 3 layers and to do some piping. I had more than enough and froze the leftover. If you're only frosting 2 layers or not piping extra buttercream on the cake, the basic amounts should be fine.

Directions

Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Stirring only until the sugar dissolves.
Cook to soft ball stage, 238 degrees
While the sugar is cooking, prepare the egg whites
Beat whites until foamy, add cream of tartar
Beat until stiff peaks form
With the mixer running, slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the egg whites. I was using a hand mixer, so I drizzled between the beaters and the edge of the bowl. Stopped drizzling and moved the beaters to incorporate the syrup, over and over. If the syrup hits the beaters, it will just get flung about rather than mixed in.
Continue to beat for about 3 minutes
With the mixer running, slowing add the chunks of butter, the buttercream may look like it's seperating, but just keep beating. It will magically come together with a fluffly, even texture and enough body to make a nice frsoting to work with.
Add the vanilla, Nutella, and melted chocolate.
Frost the cake. Pipe any pattern you wish along the base of the cake; make 16 large stars around the outside of the top.
Place 1/2 a Ferrero Rocher on each star.

Pumpkin Soup

2011-10-27T19:06:00.000+02:00

Thick and creamy, this soup had just enough spice. The heat was ever so subtle, almost an afterthought. I can see wanting to have this again before winter is over. I may have to roast another pumpkin and freeze it.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cumin
dash cayenne
3 cups pumpkin puree
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used a dark Muscavado)
1/4 cup cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Melt butter in soup pot over medium high heat
Add onion and cook until translucent
Add garlic and cook for about 2 minutes
Add the next four spices, cook one minute
Add pumpkin and broth, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes
Remove from heat and puree, I used an immersion blender
Add milk, brown sugar, and cream over medium heat, stirring until combined and sugar has dissolved
Adjust seasonings as needed. I make my broth with bouillon cubes, so mine needed very little salt, but I did give it a generous grind of black pepper

Spiced Pumpkin Latte

2011-10-25T21:09:00.001+02:00

I'm not a barista, but I play one on TV. No, seriously, my daughter is a very experience barista, and I know just enough to say I might be playing fast and loose with the term latte. I frothed with great abandon, just for the fun of it, with no thought about the proper amount of foam.

I'm whipping up this autumn treat with the pumpkin I roasted over the weekend.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
espresso to taste, approximately 1/2 cup

Directions

Combine milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and pumpkin. I used and immersion blender to froth the mixture, and then heated it until steaming.
Fill cup(s) with espresso and top with hot milk mixture.
This made enough for two normal sized coffee cups, or one huge mug.

Pumpkin Log

2011-10-24T20:29:00.000+02:00

Ed's aunt and uncle used to travel the country in their motor home; we always looked forward to them stopping in Tucson. One year, Aunt Eva Mae brought me copies of all of her favorite recipes, and this is one that I've made MANY times. When our daughters were young, they weren't fans of pumpkin pie, so this was a popular substitute for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert.

It doesn't take much pumpkin, only 2/3 of a cup. I've roasted a whole pumpkin this year, but in the past when I used canned pumpkin, I would use a whole can, but make three of the cakes. When wrapped in foil, they keep frozen very well - great to have on hand for holiday guests or to give as gifts.

Ingredients

for cake:
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
powdered sugar, for dusting

for filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar, approximately

Directions

for cake:

Preheat oven to 350.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Spray with baking spray with flour.
Beat eggs for five minutes, until light and fluffy.
Mix in sugar until well combined; add pumpkin.
Add remaining dry ingredients (except nuts) and mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl during the process.
Pour batter into prepared pan.
Sprinkle the top with nuts, if you're using them. (I intended to, but forgot until it was too late.)
Bake about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or the top springs back when touched lightly.
Spread out a tea towel or parchment paper, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Flip the cake out onto the tea towel so that the top (with nuts) is down and on the powdered sugar.
Gently roll the cake up, and cool. This forms the cake, so that it will roll around the filling without cracking.

for filling and assembly:

Combine all ingredients, adding a little more powdered sugar if the filling is too runny. It should be on the thin side, not too stiff, beat until smooth.
Gently unroll the cake and remove the parchment which was on the bottom as the cake baked.
Spread with filling and roll up the cake.
Wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to slice and serve.

Roasted Pumpkin (cooking with fresh pumpkin not canned)

2011-10-23T15:51:00.002+02:00

Canned pumpkin isn't available in Poland, so cooking with pumpkin is a very seasonal. I want to say everyone is roasting pumpkins this time of year; it seems that way among the American cooks anyway. We returned home with a pumpkin from the market Friday evening, to see on facebook that my friend Rhonda was "baking pumpkin and roasting seeds" just a few buildings away.

I have always been a fan of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction; a couple of years ago, I read her non-fiction work, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. The book recounts her family's year long experiment to only eat what was raised locally. I remember her lamenting in the book that every autumn when the local cooking columnist published pumpkin recipes, they always called for a can of pumpkin - never a fresh cooked pumpkin. This, my first attempt at pumpkin roasting, is for you Barbara.

We picked out a small pumpkin, just 7 or 8 inches in diameter. I cooked it just like I do acorn squash. Everything I've read suggest that small pumpkins are best for cooking. When you combine that with the fact that we walk home carrying our groceries, it was an easy decision.

I sliced it in half.

I scooped out the seeds and slimy strings from the center.

I had every good intention of using the seeds - relishing the idea of apply the nose-to-tail philosophy to this gourd-like squash. But I like pumpkin seeds hulled and the two methods I found online seemed like too much work!

I lined a baking sheet with foil, for easy clean-up, and placed the pumpkin on the foil, cut-side down. I baked it at 350 F or 175 C for about an hour, until a fork is easily inserted.

Let the pumpkin cool and then scrape out of the shell.

I pureed it in three batches with my immersion blender. You could also do this with a regular blender or food processor. Our small pumpkin made 5 cups of pureed pumpkin - more than enough for two pies. I'll be making family favorite pumpkin log, and trying out pumpkin soup, maybe even a pumpkin spice latte!

Decorating Halloween Cookies (flooding with royal icing)

2011-10-21T14:04:00.001+02:00

Gingerbread houses - that's what I associated with royal icing, until I took a Wilton cake decorating class at my neighborhood Micheal's store. Now, I know that the egg white and powdered sugar frosting that dries like cement also allows for a beautifully smooth, detailed finish on cookies and cakes.

I would describe my color flow or flooding work as rustic. It's as nice as the seasonal cookies turned out by one of my favorite bakeries in Tucson, but it is no where near as fine and precise as the sugar art being turned on my some of the food bloggers I follow.

I know a couple of American girls living in Poland, and I wanted to send them some Halloween cookies. So I mixed up half a batch of sugar cookies. I cut the rolled dough into squares to avoid having to re-roll the scrape dough.

I made the royal icing from Joy of Baking . After roughing out my design on paper, I knew that I needed a tiny bit of yellow and green. I put a small amount of the royal icing in two bowls and tinted it Wilton's gel colors. I mixed up a larger amount of orange, and left the rest white.

The first step was to outline the jack-o-lantern face in yellow.

Next, I outlined the pumpkin in orange.

Then, a white outline around the cookie edge.

To fill in the pumpkins, I thinned the orange royal icing with a few drop of water so that it would flow inside the orange outline. I helped it into tight spaces with the point of a toothpick.

The white icing was thinned similarly and used to fill in the background. A green stem was added as a final touch. The cookies were then allow to dry overnight before packaging. They freeze very well, and the decorating possibilities are endless.

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Bacon Wrapped Prunes

2011-10-20T13:31:00.008+02:00

One of our favorite spots in Poznan is Kriek Belgian Pub and Cafe. On a recent visit, we wanted a little something to nibble on with our beers. We ordered a plate of the bacon wrapped goodies we'd seen on another table. Imagine our surprise to find out they were prunes - half of them were stuffed with cheese. They were surprisingly delicious!!! The combination of flavors and textures is amazing - sweet/salty, chewy/crisp. Yummy juxtaposition! They were easy to make at home and let's face it, your guests will be impressed by anything wrapped in bacon.

Note: let me offer a variation inspired by a bag of prunes and the peanut butter jar sitting next to each other on the counter. Rather than stuffing the prunes with cheese, just use your finger to open up the hole left in the pitting process, wrap with bacon, and continue as below. When the bacon wrapped prunes have cooled to room temperature, pipe a little dab of peanut butter into the opening.

Ingredients

12 prunes, pitted
2 - 3 ounces cheese, of your choice
6 slices bacon, cut in half
oil for frying

Directions

Fill the cavities left by the pits with cheese (I used small cubes of marinated goat cheese)
Wrap 1/2 bacon slice around each prune, secure with toothpicks
Heat oil over medium-high heat and cook wrapped prunes until bacon is cooked and crisp
As an alternative to frying, try baking at 350 until bacon is crisp

Yields - 12 appetizers

Note: You can also bake the bacon at 350 on parchment until it begins to brown, wrap the prunes, and return to the oven until the bacon is crisp.

Golden Lemon Almond Cake

2011-10-18T11:11:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #63

Jenn is leading the Heavenly Cake Bakers in preparing the little Molten Chocolate Souffle and Lava Cakes this week. If you view her blog later this week, you can check out everyone's efforts. I made these mini-chocolate cakes last October, so I'm taking this as a free choice - catch up week.

We left Poznan on Monday, hence my late post. Ed is working at the air base near Lask this week. The last time we were here, he said that the guys took a break for tea-time at 4 PM - a wonderful ritual to me, a tea drinker. I thought it would be nice to send in a cake to go with their tea this week. I spent some time studying the list of cakes I still need to make that aren't on the remaining baking schedule and looking for something on that list that would travel well. I decided upon the Golden Lemon Almond Cake; it seemed to be perfect - stays moist for days and no messy frosting.

Preparing the cake, which baked in a bundt pan, was similar to many we've done in the past a basic butter/sour cream batter with the addition of ground almonds, lemon zest, and lemon oil. The batter was sublime, but you probably already know about my weakness for almond flavored baked goods.

A text message (or SMS, as we say here) has just arrived from the base. The guys said it was delicious and they appreciated me baking an American cake for them. It reminded them of babka - a yeast dough baked with fruit filling and topped with a glaze. They told Ed that babka means pretty girl, or pretty girl's cake, in this case. Actually, babka means grandmother. Can you blame them for bending the translation a bit to flatter the cook? LOL

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 because I wanted to join in.

Second Attempt at Macarons

2011-10-14T11:13:00.001+02:00

My friend, Faithy, is an accomplished macaron maker. I know that among her cookbooks, she has the french book Macarons by Pierre Herme. When Faithy said this book was coming out in English, I knew I should get a copy.

Everyone in my family loves macarons; who could resist these little jewels? I've only tried making them once before. I used David Lebovitz's recipe. While the basic ingredients are the same, Pierre Herme's technique is different. I feel like I had better luck with it, even though I know I need more practice. There were no bad and ugly ones this time, but the batter needs to be a little bit thicker.

I made the coffee macarons for my first effort. It seemed like the most straight forward (simplest) recipe - just a ganache filling, no cubes of jelly inserted into buttercream.

I was very happy with the taste and texture of the final product, as good as the ones we had in Paris - just aesthetic improvements for next time.

Ed took these to work for his Name's Day, and they were a hit!

Butternut Squash and Barley Soup

2011-10-03T15:58:00.003+02:00

Just before I moved to Poland, my friend Charlotte gave me this recipe. She had tasted it at a church dinner the week before, and tracked it down. She said that she knew I'd like it, and after all, a woman moving to Poland should have a really good soup recipe in her hip pocket.

This soup would have hit the spot when I arrived last March, but butternut squash was not to be found. It's now autumn - soup weather again, and I still haven't come across butternut squash. Determined to make this highly praised soup, I substituted sweet potatoes.

I was a little worried when I read about adding 2 inch cubes of raw butternut squash. I was imagining very large cooked chunks of squash that would need to be cut with the side of a spoon as you were eating. I chickened out and cut the sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes. I shouldn't have worried. The sweet potato (and I expect the squash will too) sort of disintegrated becoming part of the broth and adding great flavor, color and texture. The soup was delicious and one that I know I'll make often because it was so easy. Preparing it as I did with 2 sweet potatoes, the soup has 118 calories per cup and over 5 grams of fiber.

The recipe was submitted by Faye Pietsch and published in the February 2007 issue of Guideposts.

For a vegetarian option, I suggest using vegetable stock instead of water and omitting the turkey.

Ingredients

1 turkey wing (or leg, I used 3 turkey drumettes)
1 large butternut squash peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks
4 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 onion, coarsely diced
5 parley sprigs, minced
10 sage leaves, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups barley

Directions

Place all ingredients except the barley in a large soup pot with 16 cups of water over high heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to simmer, cook for 45 minutes.
Add the barley and cook 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the turkey from the soup and let it cool.
Pick the turkey meat from the bones, cutting into bite-sized pieces if necessary, return to the soup.
It's ready to serve.
If you're reheating and find the soup is thicker than you'd like, just add a little water.

PS - Ed took this soup to work, and Major Demel felt that this soup was missing one classic Polish ingredient. . . sausage!!! I have to admit he's right; it would be a great addition. If you're not counting calories, tossing a little kielbasa in with all of the other ingredients wouldn't hurt.

Salatka Warzywna (Vegetable Salad)

2011-09-30T13:12:00.002+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #10

We've both been fighting colds, so last week, I decided to visit the little market near our building rather than walking a kilometer both ways to shop at the supermarket. Now the big dilemma - what will I find in this tiny shop that I can make into a meal? They had ground turkey, so our protein would be turkey meatloaf with sauce. The very limited fresh produce wasn't appealing that day, so I went with a jar of mixed vegetables. I didn't notice until I took the photo below that it was a Mexican veg mix. (It didn't jump out at me as a Mexican combination, but who am I to rob Polish households of their international flair?)

My plan was to make this into a molded, mayo based salad like I've seen in so many Polish restaurants. It always reminds me of the ensalada ruso (Russian salad) that was so common in Spain. I wasn't working from a recipe, but I decided to garnish these starchy vegetables much like I would a potato salad.

To the corn, peas, carrots, and kidney beans, I added a couple generous spoons of mayo, a small spoon of Dijon mustard, a little finely diced onion, and a diced hard-boiled egg - seasoning with a little salt and pepper.

In my mind, the key to this salad is keeping everything very small and uniform in size. Whatever you decided to add, make sure it's no bigger than a pea.

Now for other ingredients that could be added to salatka warzywna:
finely diced boiled potato
finely diced granny smith apple
finely diced pickle
finely diced celery

The dish makes a striking presentation when smoothed and garnished with parsley, tomatoes slices, or cucumber slices.

Next time: a MoPo special, Red Onion Marmalade

Heavenly Cake Bakers - Individual PIneapple Upside-down Cakes

2011-09-26T10:25:00.000+02:00

The Heavenly Cake Bakers are making the Individual Pineapple Upside-down Cakes this week. I've already made this cake. I had hoped to do a catch-up cake, but I'm a little under the weather, so no new cake today.

:(

Roladka Drobiowa (Polish Chicken Roulade)

2011-09-23T01:06:00.000+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #9

This dish appears on almost every Polish menu. I first had it on a golf outing. The club house restaurant at Amber Baltic served the chicken breast rolled around sliced mushrooms, chopped pickle and cheese. This recipe comes from Barbara Rolek, the Eastern European Food Guide on About.com. Barbara came across this recipe on a culinary vacation in Poland. This technique could be used with any combination of items that you like to have with chicken - green chilies, black olives, and cheddar - kind of a low-carb chicken enchilada. :)

Ingredients

1 pound chicken breast (I used one whole chicken breast, both halves, after pounding it out, I cut it into 4 portions)

salt, pepper, Maggi (Barbara used Vegeta, you could use Worcestershire sauce)

bacon

prunes

flour

canola oil

Directions

Rinse the chicken and pound (using a tenderizing mallet) to 1/4 inch thick.
Season with salt, pepper and Maggi. (Yes, I know some say Maggi and Vegeta are just MSG)
Cut into portions of a 5 or 6 inch square.
Place two prunes and a small piece of bacon on each portion. (Next time, I'll cook this bacon a bit first)
Roll the chicken breast up around the filing, wrap with a slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks.
Lightly dredge in flour and allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes. (You can prepare it to this point well in advance, keeping it in the fridge until your ready to cook and serve.)
Place enough oil in a pan to come at least half way up the roll. Heat (I started out on medium-high and half way through the frying turned it down to medium).
Cook 7 - 8 minutes on each side. Remove toothpicks before serving.

Makes 4 roulades or 2 servings

Next time: Salatka Warzywna (Vegetable Salad)

Ginger Cheesecake with Gingerbread Crust

2011-09-20T12:47:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #62

As I write this, I'm waiting for the cheesecake to chill. I can't wait to try it. The batter was delicious before baking. I found the ginger flavor very subtle. Putting the batter together was super simple. Cream cheese, sugar, eggs, sour cream, a little vanilla and cornstarch. You may recall the trouble I had buying cream cheese last night we made a cheesecake. I splurged on Philly cream cheese to make sure I was getting unflavored cream cheese.

The only unusual step was grating the fresh ginger and then squeezing the juice out of it. I put the grated ginger in a strainer and pushed on it, surprisingly a there was a good deal of ginger juice that dripped through.

I found a box of German ginger cookies in the market, so I used them for crust and intended to use them to decorate the side, but they wouldn't stick even with a little jam.

Now that I've had a chance to try this cheesecake, my first reaction was that it tastes like Christmas - I guess that's what ginger means to me. The texture is light and fluffy. It's very good but not the best cheesecake I've ever made. I would fix it again for someone who loved ginger.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Kapuśniak (Sauerkraut Soup)

2011-09-16T11:02:00.000+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #8

This recipe comes from Nela's Cookbook. As I've said before, soups are very popular in Poland, and this one caught my eye because I've never thrown a slab of ribs into a soup pot before. It worked out well. My sauerkraut must have been on the mild side because the soup was not nearly as tart as I thought it would be.

My friend, Sally, tells me her Czech grandmother used to make this soup, so I'm curious about how Nela's recipe differs. Comment and let us know, Sally.

Ingredients

1 pound sauerkraut
4 cups beef broth or 4 cups water and 2 Knorr beef bullion cubes
2 pounds pork spareribs
2 bay leaves
8 peppercorns
2 medium carrots, diced
2 ounces dried mushrooms (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Rinse and drain the sauerkraut.
In a large pot, add the broth, spareribs, bay leaves, peppercorns, carrots, and dried mushrooms (fresh chanterelles were in the market so I sliced 2 cups and used them instead. I think this was also easier than retrieving the dried, cooked mushrooms for slicing).
Cook, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove the mushrooms and cut them into strips. Return them to the pot and add 4 more cups of water.
Melt sugar over medium heat until it colors and caramelizes. Add the sauerkraut and the caramelized sugar to the pot, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove the ribs from the pot. Pull the meat off the bones and slice into bite-sized strips; return to soup. It's ready to serve.

Next time: Roladka Drobiowa (Polish Chicken Roulade)

chanterelles

Deep Chocolate Rosebuds

2011-09-13T10:42:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #61

This week's cake called for a rosebud pan; I used the alternative - a cup cake pan. The little chocolate cakes are light and very tender. Something I would like to make with a fluffy white frosting. I had some trouble with the dark chocolate ganache puddles which are dabbed onto of the cake batter before baking. The ganache is supposed to run through the cake, but mine sank to the bottom and clung to the bottom of the pan.

The texture of my ganache was probably off, but I don't feel compelled to try it again. White frosting next time for these delicious little cakes.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Scottish Tablet (Fudge)

2011-09-06T22:30:00.000+02:00

Scottish tablet, a non-chocolaty, fudge-like sweet, has been around for hundreds of years. We fell in love with it on a recent trip to Scotland. There's nothing better to keep your energy up as you're touring castles and distilleries than some scotch flavored candy. Fortunately, all of the gift shops are selling it.

Travel always adds things to my "must make this at home" list, and tablet went right to the top of that list. Kim and I both thought that we didn't like Scotch. Now, we know that it just needs a hefty load of sugar and cream to be palatable.

Ingredients

2 pounds sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 cup butter
2 cups milk
1/2 cup Scotch whisky

Directions

Butter a 9-inch square dish.
In a large saucepan, combine sugar, syrup, butter, and milk over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the whisky and boil until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 240 degrees. (All you're getting is the flavor of the whisky because you're boiling the heck out of it.)
Remove from the heat and beat the tablet for approximately 5 minutes. The mixture will be almost cool and thick, but still pourable.
Pour into prepared pan.
When the tablet is cool, cut into 1 inch squares. When it is completely set up, wrap each piece in a small square of greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container.

Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers

2011-09-05T12:06:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #60

It's free choice this week for the Heavenly Cake Bakers, and Tiramisu is a favorite in our household, so I had to give it a try. I made the ladyfingers Sunday night.

They're basically very fluffy egg yolks, fluffy egg whites, and a little flour and sugar. The batter is piped and baked. The little cakes are light and tender - a great on their own or as a base for other ingredients.

The rest of the tiramisu begins with a marsala flavored custard. The next step is adding mascarpone, and then whipped cream.

The ladyfingers are dipped in sweetened espresso and then layers with the custard/mascarpone/cream mixture. The final touch is a light dusting a cocoa.

Rather than make this is a 9 x 13 inch pan. I decided to make it in 3 loaf pans - easier to share with lots of friends. Of course, there was also a little dish for us to taste. It was a wonderful combination of flavors and textures - a recipe that we'll definitely make again.

Polish and American Differences

2011-09-01T10:00:00.000+02:00

The rest of the story on my Polish Housewife blog.

Coffee Chiffonlets with Dulce De Leche Whipped Cream

2011-08-29T10:45:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #59

I wasn't excited about this cake, but I should have been. It's a real winner! It involves several components, and the flavors go together beautifully.

I made the little chiffon cakes in silicon cupcake pans. The fluffy batter is flavored with a little instant espresso. After baking, they're brushed with a Kahlua syrup, also flavored with instant espresso.

The whipped cream topping is flavored with Dulce de Leche, caramelized sweetened condensed milk. I've never used dulce de leche before, but I'm a big fan of the ice cream flavor. The recipe includes instructions for caramelizing a can of sweetened condensed milk. Our grocery store only had evaporated milk, not sweetened condensed milk, but on the same aisle, they had something that appeared to be dulce de leche. When I used the translator app on my phone, the label said, "ready cooked sweetened mass." I decided to go with that. This dessert was a big hit at our dinner party Friday night.

We're ding a road trip tomorrow and won't be back until Sunday evening. Time may be the deciding factor for my free choice cake.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)

2011-08-26T04:39:00.004+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #7

As Polish dishes go, bigos is about as traditional as you can get. You'll be sure to find it in the food booths at any festival in the old square. A simmering pot of several meats, wine, mushrooms, and sauerkraut - the perfect thing to warm the heart and the belly.

This bigos recipe is adapted from Nela's Cookbook. I left it on the stove overnight on very low heat, I guess that's the equivalent of putting it in a crock-pot. With the slow cooking, the flavors mellowed and blended. It was hearty and delicious!

This differs from my earlier attempt at bigos in a few ways. My other recipe includes beef as well as pork, and it didn't include the caraway seeds or the grated apple. I think from now on, I'll make Nela's recipe and add a little beef.

Ingredients

2 pounds pork, diced
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium onions, sliced
1 pound slab bacon, diced
2 cups beef broth, or water and Knorr bullion cube
1 container mushrooms, sliced
2 pounds sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
4 apples, peeled, cored and grated
2 pounds canned diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
12 peppercrons
1 pound Polish sausage
2 bay leave
1/2 pound ham
1/2 cup dry red wine

Directions

Season the pork with salt and pepper.
Add olive oil to a large dutch oven, and saute the pork and onions in batches, cooking until the pork is browned and the onions begin to caramelize.
Brown the bacon.
Combine all the ingredients, and simmer at least two hours, or overnight. This is something that will be even better the next day.

Next up (in two weeks): Kapusniak (Sauerkraut Soup)

White Gold Passion Genoise

2011-08-22T09:28:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #58

There seems to be no passion fruit, fresh or frozen, in Poznan, so Ed's birthday cake became a papaya genoise. I was able to find canned papaya which I pureed with the syrup from the can and a little lemon juice.

The batter for this cake was a basic genoise. My 9 inch cake pans aren't 2 inches tall, so I baked it in my 9 inch springform pan. In the past, I've referred to our Polish apartment oven as an Easy-Bake oven. It's not perfect, but this cake was the most lopsided yet.

Fortunately, buttercream can cover a lot! I used the pureed papaya to make the curd filing and the syrup. The buttercream has no fruit but is a creamy, fluffy, cream cheese frosting, sweetened only with white chocolate.

To assemble the cake, the genoise is split horizontally. The top and bottom of both halves are brushed with papaya syrup. The halves are then sandwiched together with the papaya curd, then frosted with the white chocolate cream cheese buttercream.

I made this cake the same day we served it, and the sponge was still a little dry and firm. The next time I will warm the syrup. With the fruit puree, it was a little thick and seemed to sit on the surface rather than be absorbed by the cake. It was much better two days later when the moisture from the curd and syrup moved into the cake. So making it at least a day in advance, as Rose recommends, is a must do too.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Bailey's Pinwheels and Bailey's - Espresso Jigglers

2011-08-17T03:27:00.078+02:00

Somewhere on the Internet, I saw Bailey's made into little dessert cubes with gelatin. That has been in the back of my mind for months. So when I saw marshmallow pinwheels for kids, Baily's Pinwheels for adults couldn't be far behind. Even though I used plain gelatin and reduced the marshmallows, they're still very sweet, but what a pretty presentation.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon plain gelatin
1/2 cup Bailey's
1 cup marshmallows

Directions

In a saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over Bailey's
Warm over low heat until gelatin dissolves
Add marshmallows, stir until they dissolve
Spray 8 or 9 inch square pan with nonstick spray
Pour mixture into prepared pan
Chill for 4 hours
Remove from pan, and roll up
Wrap thread around the roll, cross over the top and pull to cut clean slices

While I was playing with Bailey's and gelatin, I came across this blog post with beautiful photos. I'll need better molds and more patience to even come close but this did inspire my Bailey's - Espresso Jigglers.

Ingredients

1/2 cup espresso

1 1/2 tablespoon gelatin

1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup Bailey's

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat espresso
Sprinkle gelatin and sugar over espresso, stirring until dissolved
Remove from heat and add Bailey's
Spray mold (I used a very small non-silicon ice cube tray, a silicon mold would have been better) with nonstick spray and fill with mixture
Refrigerate for 4 hours before unmolding

German Chocolate Cake

2011-08-15T00:15:00.003+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #57

My grandmother used to make German Chocolate Cake, but this is the first time for me. I hate to say it, but I think this one is better than Grandma's. The cake has a lighter texture, more chocolate flavor and the filing is thicker and richer. Since this is my first German Chocolate Cake, I was surprised to find the filing has to be made 3 hours in advance. Because I hadn't planned for it, it became a two day project.

The cake and filing were easy to prepare. I wasn't able to find the sweetened condensed milk for the filing, so I used evaporated milk and planned on a little Internet research to find out how to sweeten it. No research was necessary; Rose had anticipated my dilemma and included everything I needed to know in a note to the recipe.

As I planned to share the cake with Polish friends, I began to wonder about the name and background of the cake. It didn't seem German to me. Come to find out, the cake was originally created by a Dallas housewife in the 1950s; she used German Baking Chocolate. The manufacturer got news of this and began distributing the recipe on its chocolate which was developed by Mr. German in the 1850s, Back to the subject of sharing with friends. This yummy cake was very popular. Ela said that it was now in first place for the things she's sampled from my kitchen - with chocolate chip cookies coming in a close second.

Rose mentions in the book that, in the past, she had found German Chocolate Cakes to be too sweet. This made me smile; one of the reasons I didn't crave Grandma's German Chocolate Cake was that it wasn't sweet enough. A chocolate cake without piles of chocolate frosting - what kid's going for that?

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 because I wanted to join in.

Dill Sauce

2011-08-12T09:13:00.000+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #6

If countries had a national herb, Poland's would be dill. I have bought more dill for cooking in the last 5 months than in the rest of my life combined. Before I moved to Poland, I would have associated dill only with pickles. Now, I'm tossing it in a salad, soup, or an omelet. This new fascination with dill is why this sauce caught my eye. It's quick and easy. Nela recommends it with boiled beef or chicken, but we paired it with salmon.

I modified the recipe a bit, substituting 1/2 cup of heavy cream for part of the broth. I would have liked a little tartness with the fish, but I didn't risk adding lemon juice for fear that the cream would curdle. Sour cream or yogurt might have been better dairy options in this case.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups chicken broth, or 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube dissoved in 2 cups water
2 tablespoons finely cut dill

Directions

Cook the flour in the butter, stirring until it is thickened and sooth
Add the broth, stirring and cook until it is thickened and the flour no longer tastes raw
Add the dill, and simmer slowly for 10 minutes
Taste the sauce for seasoning

Next week: Bigos

Homemade Marshmallows

2011-08-10T14:17:00.003+02:00

There are a few things I haven't been able to find in Poland. Until recently, that list included marshmallows. Once I'd made up my mind to make my own for use in a recipe, I saw them in the food section at Mark's and Spenser's, a British department store. Making marshmallows was so much easier than I expected. Since my cake baking buddy Jenn just made her own graham crackers for a cheesecake crust, I'm dreaming about from scratch s'mores - one of my family's winter favorites. These marshmallows have so much more flavor and texture than the mass produced kind.

I followed Alton Brown's recipe, so you know it's going to be good.

Ingredients

nonstick spray
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 packets of unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (item number two that I can't find in Poland - I subbed Golden Syrup, giving the marshmallows a hint of a treacle flavor)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Prepare a 9 x 13 pan by coating with cooking spray
Combine corn starch and powdered sugar, dust the pan with this mixture, saving the rest for coating individual marshmallows.
Add gelatin and half of the water to a mixing bowl
In a small saucepan, combine remaining water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cook, covered, over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes
Uncover, cook for 7 to 8 minutes more, until 240 degrees or soft ball
Slowly add the hot syrup to the gelatin, mixing on low speed until combined (when mine got to this point, it started to "climb" the beaters)
Increase mixer to high speed and beat until thick and lukewarm.
Add vanilla just before finished
Pour into prepared pan
Allow to set up for at least 4 hours
Cut into 1-inch squares, coating all sides in the powdered sugar mixture
If they last long enough, store in a cover container

Gold Ingots and Chocolate Ingots

2011-08-08T00:57:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #57

Financiers are little sponge-like cakes usually baked in rectangular shapes, like a bars of gold. The predominate ingredients are ground almonds and browned butter. YUM! The only thing better than a financier may be financier batter. For the free choice this week, I'm doing two financiers. the basic one and a chocolate version with caramelized cocoa nibs. Yes, I brought cocoa nibs to Poland with me.

The Gold Ingots are the same batter that we used recently for the Plum Round Ingots. The almonds are roasted before processing, mixed with the browned butter, the taste is toasty, but even though I weighed the egg whites the cakes were a little eggier than I would have liked.

caramelized cocoa nibs

The chocolate version was an interesting change. The first step is to caramelize cocoa nibs by cooking them with a little sugar and then a little butter glaze. They're really tasty prepared this way. I can see popping a few to take care of a chocolate craving. I imagine they would also be a nice crunchy topping on ice cream. The nibs go in the batter and a few piece are sprinkled on top. The cocoa added in this recipe seemed to take care of my issue with the eggs. This may be my favorite financier.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Kurczaka z Sosem Pomarańczowym (Orange Chicken)

2011-08-05T09:50:00.001+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #5

The recipe comes from Nela's Cookbook. My husband selected it for this Friday's recipe. Rather than a whole chicken, we cooked two packages of thighs. The meat was so tender - just delicious. It would be perfect served over noodles or rice.

Ingredients

3 pounds chicken, cut in serving pieces
salt and pepper, to taster
4 tablespoons flour, approx.
3 tablespoons oil
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup chicken broth, or 1/2 Knorr chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1/3 cup chopped mango chutney
1 bay leave, crumpled
garnish: 1 small navel orange, peeled and sectioned

Directions

Season the chicken, and dust with flour
Brown the chicken in oil in a heavy skillet
Remove the chicken and keep it warm, discard all but one tablespoon of the oil
Add the apple, celery, carrot, and onion to the oil and cook for 4 minutes
Sprinkle the mixture with the curry powder and cook 1 minute more
Stir in the orange juice, chicken broth, orange rind, chutney, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil
Add the chicken pieces cover the pan, and simmer for 30 minutes
Serve garnished with orange sections

A definite Indian influence in this dish with the curry and chutney, but I think Polish cuisine changes and grows over time. There are as many (if not more) places in Poznan offering kabob as pierogi. Speaking of kabob, I hope to have the magic spice combination from an Armenian friend soon.

Next week: Dill Sauce

Fancy Egg Salad

2011-08-03T10:48:00.000+02:00

I tried following the instructions on Simply Recipes for making the perfect hard boiled egg. I never seem to get the timing right. This technique helped a lot, as long as I remember to set a timer. If you forget the eggs long enough, you still get a green outline on the yolks.

I tried to dress up my usual egg salad a bit by adding 1/4 of red bell pepper, diced and a handful of herbs. I think any mix of fresh, savory herbs would work. I used parsley, sage, thyme, and chives. Have I mentioned how much I love having herbs in our window boxes? In case you're wondering what's in my usual egg salad, it includes:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
2 heaping tablespoons mayo
1 rounded tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup diced onion (this time it was shallots)
1 pickle, diced
1 teaspoon pickle juice
salt and pepper, to taste

It makes a great sandwich or in this case, salad on a bed of greens and topped with cherry tomatoes.

Plum Round Ingots

2011-08-01T14:57:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #56

These little cakes are financier batter (predominately ground almonds, browned butter, and egg whites with a little flour and sugar thrown in) topped with thinly sliced plum and powdered sugar.

I only have four little pans, so I made tiny financiers with the extra batter. I should preface the following confession, by saying that Ed and I have been watching what we eat for the last few weeks - lean protein, salads, only the occasional shot of vodka. We had both been thinking about just splitting one little tart, but we decided to splurge and have a whole one. It's amazing how quickly eating a whole tart can turn into eating two.

After going through sweet withdrawal, the plums were so fruity, the crust so nutty, we couldn't help ourselves. I didn't even use a fork - just picked the little thing up and ate it like a cookie.

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 because I wanted to join in.

Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes)

2011-07-29T22:53:00.001+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #4

My copy of Nela's Cookbook arrived yesterday. I've only had a chance to skim through it, but I'm loving it. The cookbook, published in 1983, has drawings illustrating techniques, and it's written as if it were a food blog. Every recipe is preceded by a little story; Nela might talk about the source of the recipe, what she serves with it, or some family chuckle related to the dish.

In my perusal, I did have time to notice that Nela makes her potato pancakes a little differently than other recipes I've seen. She uses no flour - preferring instead to use the potato starch that has drained from the grated potatoes.

So I made two different recipes today - Nela's and one found on All Recipes. Before I give you more details, let me say how thrilled I am to have mastered potato pancakes. I've been trying to do this for years, only to end up with the a batter that dissolves in the oil. Where did I get the crazy idea that I was supposed to use mashed potatoes? No matter what I added - flour, egg or how I handled the dough - disaster. Not any more.

First, I made the recipe that uses flour. Grating the potatoes was time consuming; other than that, it was very easy.

Ingredients

3 potatoes (1.5 pounds)
1 small onion
1 small egg
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
canola oil for frying

Directions

Peel potatoes and grate on the fine side of the grater.
Grate onion.
Drain potatoes and onion.
In a bowl, beat egg, stirring in flour, salt, and pepper until smooth.
Add drained potatoes and onion, stirring until well combined.
Heat 1/4 inch oil in frying pan over medium high heat.
Add potato batter, 1/4 cup at a time. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter until the pancake is about 1/2 inch thick. I was able to make 3 at a time.
Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side. My frying pan is larger than the largest burner, so I also rotated them half way through each side to keep the middle from cooking and the outside edge from not getting dark enough.
Drain on paper towels.

Makes 9

Now for Nela's version:

Ingredients

3 potatoes (1.5 pounds)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon onion
1 small egg
2 teaspoons salt
lard for frying

Directions

Peel and dice the potatoes.
Add water to blender or food processor with a steel blade attachment, process the potato and onion in two batches. Using the same water for both batches. Process in bursts, so the potatoes are grated finely, but not liquefied.
Drain the potato mixture; reserving the water. Let the water sit for just a minute. The potato starch will settle to the bottom. Pour off the liquid, being careful to leave the starch in the bowl.
Add egg, salt, and potato onion mixture to the starch and combine.
Heat lard over medium high heat. Drop batter 1/4 cup at a time into hot lard. Using the back of the spoon to spread out the batter until pancakes are 1/2 inch thick.
Cook until brown on both sides.
Drain on paper towels.

Makes 9

Which method did we prefer? I will probably combine the two recipes in the future. If I have lard, I'll use it. It added a great flavor. The food processor was a time saver. As for the flour vs. potato starch question, I'll probably opt for flour. My potatoes may have been lower in starch than some, but I was a little worried when I put them in the oil that they were just going to dissolve like all of my past potato pancake failures. They didn't, but any difference in taste did not justify the stress. The batter just wasn't quite as cohesive as I wanted.

Finally, let's get around to serving these crisp and tender creations. We had our potato pancakes topped with Pork Goulash. Polish friends have told me they like to eat them with sugar and cinnamon, or maybe sour cream. How about sour cream and a dollop of caviar. The possibilities are mouth watering. Oh yeah, plain was really good too.

Next week: Kurczaka z Sosem Pomarańczowym (Orange Chicken)

Double- Chocolate-Whammy Groom's Cake

2011-07-25T20:03:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #55

The Heavenly Cake Bakers are making the No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake this week. I have already made the cheesecake, so I decided to try the groom's cake from the wedding cake chapter.

The first thing I want to do is give you a link to Marie's post on this cake. You'll see what it should look like. I don't own the stadium pan, so I was using a more conventional bundt pan. I always worry about getting the cake out of a bundt pan in one piece. We'll come back to this point after I tell you how the cake is made.

First, you make a pan of the most chewy, fudge-like brownie. The brownies are allowed to set up around the edge, the center is still a little soft when the pan comes out of the oven. I thing they would be perfect served warm with a scoop of vnailla ice cream. Pazuki, anyone? Not familiar with pazuki? It's a half-baked cookie (usually chocolate chip) with ice cream.    The brownie firm up in the fridge before being sliced into little chocolate chunks.

Now, you whip up chocolate cake batter and fold in the brownie chunks. All of this goes into the bundt pan to bake.. If all goes well, after baking the cake is spritzed with whiskey. I told a group of people I was planning to bake this cake, and the group quickly renamed it "Choco-Choco-Whiskey Cake."

Now back to the moment of de-panning. After being in the oven much longer than expected, I topped the pan with a cooling rack and flipped the whole thing over. I could see that the cake had dropped about an inch; I was just hoping the top of the cake had stayed attached and dropped with the bottom of the cake. As my confidence began to rise, molten, chocolate goo began to gush out of the cake pan. I quickly righted the pan, and with a large spatula scooped up the escaping batter. This hodgepodge of baked, partially baked, and unbaked cake went back in the oven. When it came out again, the top, which becomes the bottom, was like a mountain range rather than the nice flat surface you would normally expect. Half of the cake came out well, half of it split through the middle, leaving part of the cake stuck in the pan.

A perfect bundt presentation was out of the question, so I just sliced the cake layering it on a plate. We'll be sharing it with friends Wednesday night. I was unable to find a spray bottle or atomizer, so I used a pastry brush to give each slice a wash of brandy.

What my cake lacks in appearance, it more than makes up in flavor. It is wonderfully sweet, moist, dense, and chocolaty. I'm sure I'll give it another try. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I suspect that at some point the oven was turned off before it should have been.

Zupa Pomidorowa (Tomato Soup)

2011-07-22T04:02:00.002+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #3

Every dinner in Poland begins with soup. Order a salad as a starter and nine times out of ten, the waiter will try to talk you out of it. Soup is the norm. My inspiration is the tomato soup at Filigando, a popular restaurant with a shabby chic decor in Stary Browar mall. Their tomato soup has such a complex taste, rich, with layers of flavor from the many ingredients. I can see why our friends Princesa and Donald recommend it so highly.

I've used canned tomatoes here - making it a year round possibility. If you're lucky enough to have an abundance of fresh tomatoes, that would be even better. Just add a little tomato juice to replace the liquid from the can.

Smacznego!

Ingredients

3 14-ounce cans of whole tomatoes

3/4 cup olive oil, divided

salt and pepper, to taste

1 onion or leek (white and light green parts only), diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery or 1/2 cup celery root, diced

1 parsnip, diced (optional)

2 - 4 tablespoons brandy (or sherry)

2 tablespoons basil and or parsley, chopped

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 - 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

Drain the tomatoes, reserving liquid, using your hands, open the tomatoes, removing the seeds
Laying the tomatoes out flat on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1/4 olive oil, sprinkle with salt and peper. Bake at 400 F until the edges begin to brown, about 20 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup olive oil to a large sauce pan, add onion, carrot, celery, and parsnip. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add brandy, and flame. (You may not have enough alcohol to get a flame with sherry)
Add the herbs, reserved tomato juice and the stock. Simmer until the veggies are tender.
Process the soup using an immersion blender, blender, or food processor. (You may want to let it cool a little bit so you don't get splashed with hot soup.)
Add cream, using enough to get the desired texture. Heat.
Garnish with a bit of cream and or herbs.

Next week: placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes)

Armenian Almond Cookies

2011-07-20T12:53:00.002+02:00

In need of a baked goody to say thank you to a new Armenian friend, my first thought was to make one of Rose's Heavenly Cakes, I may still do that in addition, but I decided that Armenian Almond Cookies were a must do.

I can see these easy to make, almond scented shortbread cookies making an appearance again on my Christmas cookie tray. I love any sweet with almonds, and shortbread has long seemed like a special, indulgent treat to me -- ever since a friend visiting the hospital when our first daughters (not a typo, we have twins) were born brought a box of shortbread. She said, "these are for you when you're up during the night." Obviously, my friend had children, and her thoughtful gift was greatly enjoyed but never during the light of day.

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup almonds, finely ground
24 whole blanched almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C)
Cream butter and sugar
Add flour and salt
Mix in extracts and ground almonds until the batter is well combined
Roll the dough into 24 balls about the size of a walnut (27g in my case)
Place on a baking sheet and flatten with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern, as you would with peanut butter cookies. No need to flour the fork, the dough isn't sticky
Lightly press one blanched almond on top of each cookie
Bake until the bottoms are lightly brown, about 25 minutes

Yields: 2 dozen

Cold Bób Salad (Fava Bean, Broad Bean)

2011-07-15T08:02:00.002+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #2

This recipe comes from my friend, Gosia. She emailed to ask if I'd seen bób (broad or fava beans) which were in season and had just made their annual summer appearance in the markets. Her timing was uncanny. I had purchased a packet, thinking they might be fresh lima beans, and cooked them that afternoon. Gosia's cool, bright green bean salad is a much better use of bób than my experimentation.

Peeling the beans does take a bit of time, but it's well worth it. (I didn't the first time I cooked them.) The skins are very tough, removing them reveals a tender bean and lets the beautiful, green color show. Two of Gosia's sons still live at home, and she says if you can recruit helpers, it goes very quickly.

Ingredients

bób, fresh fava or broad beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup diced fresh herbs (I used chives, parsley, basil, thyme, mint and dill)

Directions

Boil the beans in salted water until tender, 5 - 10 minutes. Drain.
Using a sharp knife, make a small slit in the skin of each bean; peel and discard the skin.
Gently toss with remaining ingredients; Chill.

Serves: 3 - 4

Next week - Zupa Pomidorowa (Tomato Soup)

Galloping Gourmet's Sauteed Mushrooms

2011-07-13T15:29:00.000+02:00

When Ed and I were living in Spain, so this is about 30 years ago, we were home on leave visiting our families, and we saw an episode of the Galloping Gourmet. I don't remember if anything else was featured on that show, but Graham Kerr made sauteed mushrooms that caught our attention. We used to fix them all the time, they became one of our signature dishes, but over the years, we forgot about them. It's likely that sauteed mushrooms with cayenne were something that our daughters wouldn't eat as they were growing up, so they were bumped from the rotation.

Now, we find ourselves living in Poland - the mushroom capital of the world and we've loving the GG's mushrooms again. I've always liked mushrooms, but there is something about the addition of lemon juice and cayenne pepper that really brightens the flavor.

As I recall, and it has been a while, Graham Kerr suggested storing mushrooms in a brown paper bag in the fridge and using them as soon as possible.

Ingredients

large container button mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Clean the mushrooms as you usually would. I think Graham urged viewers to use a damp paper towel. I tend to give them a quick rinse under running water even though that seems to be a mushroom sin.
Quarter the mushrooms and saute in butter. I like them to get a little brown.
Season with salt, a light sprinkle of cayenne, and a spritz of lemon juice.

Pork Steak Au Poivre with Roasted Peppercorns

2011-07-12T18:09:00.002+02:00

Rich, spicy, and decadent, but easy enough to fix for a midweek meal. We made this twice last week with different cuts of pork. This is inspired by a recipe that came with our Weber grill many years ago. The original uses beef, but when in Poland. . . I always love the flavors; you just can't go wrong with shallots, brandy, cream and mustard. The sauce is luxurious and it makes you feel rich eating it.

This time we used roasted peppercorns after reading Vicki's comment on another food blog. (I tried to go back, so I could link to the original comment, but I just couldn't find it.) We bought a variety of pepper corns and tossed them in a frying pan, stirring the over medium heat for about 15 minutes. For this recipe, we gave them a very coarse grind in a coffee (or spice) grinder that we have dedicated to pepper. A pepper mill or mortar and pestle would both work as well. Some will say that roasting intensifies the pepper flavor. I thought it was more mellow, less harsh - kind of like roasted garlic compared to raw garlic.

Ingredients

Pork steak or chops, to serve 4
salt & coarsely ground peppercorns (roasted as described above)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup diced shallot
2 - 4 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

Season the pork with salt and generous amounts of pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
Add the meat and cook to desired doneness, adjusting the heat as necessary.
Transfer the meat to a serving platter.
Add butter and shallots to the frying pan.
Cook until translucent.
Add brandy, allow the liquid to heat up and then carefully, light with a match.
When the flame has burned out, stir in the mustard and cream, keeping on the heat for just a minute or two.
Pour the sauce over the meat.

Serves 4

Hegetova Cihelna, Prague, Czech Republic

2011-07-10T00:21:00.001+02:00

A little road trip and we were able to join friends from Tucson in Prague as they begin a tour of Eastern Europe with a community orchestra. They look really good for folks who just traversed the Atlantic.

Next to the Franz Kafka Museum on Kampa Island in the Vltava River, Hegetova Cihelna comes highly recommended by friends who have visited Prague and the front desk staff at our hotel. This was our first trip to Prague, and we couldn't have had a better finish to the day - sitting along the river watching the boats go by, enjoying a fantastic meal.

Our city exploration included a river tour. As our boat passed Kampa Island, our tour guide pointed out the Kafka Museum. He mentioned that this was an unusual place to locate the museum. The building used to be a brick factory (producing many of the bricks used to construct the neighboring buildings) and the well known novelist from Prague never lived in that part of the city. This is all making sense now. The name of the restaurant means Herget's Brickworks in English.

As our tour boat went by, we were wondering if this was where we would be dining. It was and the view is even better from the other side of the wall.

Ed and I began the meal with bouillabaisse which led to the request, "let's make this at home."

For my main course, linguine with parmesean and black truffle - wonderful flavor, but more pasta than I could eat.

Ed had a fillet, excellent beefy flavor. We don't get much beef in Poland.

Our friends Alice and Dennis had the rack of lamb and the duck. Both were big hits. The service was subtle and attentive. Flatware was replaced for the next course in a stealth like manner.

Three of us had this chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate with candied orange peel for dessert. Ed, however, chose the tiramisu.

How's that for presentation? Is the spun sugar giving anyone Saint Honore Trifle flashbacks? I'm sure there are a lot of wonderful restaurants in Prague, but you can't go wrong with this one.

Wisniak (Polish Sweet Cherry Liqueur)

2011-07-08T01:56:00.004+02:00

Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #1

PS - Let me put the post script at the beginning, so I can convince you to give this a try. It's now December; I left my jars of Wisniak undisturbed for months and months. My patience has been rewarded! I just now strained out the cherries; the liqueur left behind is dark, fruity, sweet, and smooth. I will make much more next summer when cherries are in season. It's so wonderful, that I want to share it with everyone I know!

Popular all over Eastern Europe, I've been served this liqueur as an after dinner drink in Polish restaurants. That happened recently on a trip to Lodz, on the very day that I had just purchased cherries from a vendor in the pedestrian underpass. At 6.5 zl per kilogram (about $1.10 per pound) I couldn't pass them by. We ate the first kilogram, so I bought a second one to bring home and turn into Wisniak. I'm sure Ed could see the "I can make this" light bulb appear over my head as we sipped our cordials.

Similar in taste to our Cherry La La (which is ready in a week rather than months), Wisniak is fruity and very smooth - an ideal way to end a meal. I've been told that if you make Wisniak when cherries first come into season, it reaches perfection in time for the holidays and should be served with a honey cake. I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long.

Ingredients

1 pound pitted cherries
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used superfine sugar because I had some on hand)
2 - 3 cups vodka and brandy (I used enough to fill my containers in a 3:1 (respectively) ratio)

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in sterile containers. (I submerged the jars and lids in boiling water for 10 minutes.) Make sure you have enough alcohol to cover the cherries.
Store the containers for 4 to 6 weeks, strain and re-bottle.
Allow to age 2 to 3 months.

Note: we attended a luncheon recently and were served a homemade, non-alcoholic cherry cordial. If cherries are still a bargain, I'm going to give this a try too. Non-alcoholic was very important in this case. The blood alcohol limit in Poland is .02 and it's strictly enforced with penalties of up to two years in prison. So people who are driving just don't drink. Fortunately, for us and establishments serving liquor, the public transportation is excellent and taxis are very affordable.

Within hours, osmosis has begun

Next week - a cold bób salad (fava bean, broad bean)

No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake

2011-07-04T15:27:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #54

The Heavenly Cake Bakers are making the Lemon Canadian Crown this week. I made this cake last November. I had come to Poland to spend Thanksgiving with my husband and our daughter, who was en route from Austria back to AZ. It was a fun trip and a wonderful, creamy cake. Since I've already made this one and still have many on my "to-do" list, I decided to flip to another recipe in the cheesecake category and make the No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake. Due to another of my many Polish language oversights in the grocery store, this became a Neapolitan cheesecake.

The recipe calls for a pound of whipped creamed cheese. Cream cheese is serek in Polish, and they have several varieties in the dairy case. I know because they have pictures of chives, herbs, peppers, berries on the label. Bitą would be whipped; none of the cream cheese had this word on the label. (Have I mentioned how much I love the iSpeak Polish app on my iphone? I should use it more often.) I found a brand without pictures, I bought it thinking that it must be plain cream cheese.

When I got home, I noticed that I had two different kinds of cream cheese. The translator app told me that I had strawberry cream cheese and "taste of chocolate" cream cheese. I could go back and buy the Philly cream cheese. They had it, but as an imported item it was more expensive. I decided to use the flavored cheeses. This would be the kitchen equivalent of "play the ball where it lies."

My plan was to keep the cream cheeses separate. I wanted them to keep their pink and brown colors rather than become a muddy gray. I also worried that as I added the custard and Italian meringue the flavors would become too diluted to be recognized, so I added some raspberry coulis to the strawberry, and 2 ounces of melted dark chocolate and a tablespoons of cocoa to the chocolate.

I don't remember seeing graham crackers in the store here, so when I came across these from the folks who makes rye crisps, I bought them. They were more like a rye crisp (airy & bland) than a graham cracker, so I doubled the sugar and salt in making the crust. The crust turned out well, but the texture was still a little different. More like a pretzel crust than graham cracker.

We served it with the raspberry coulis. All I can say is YUM! The texture is so light a fluffy. It's calling to me from the fridge right now. I can see why Rose risked being late returning for work when she ran out to get a slice of this on her lunch hour. It melts in your mouth - no chewing required.

Polska piątek

2011-07-01T13:56:00.001+02:00

According to Google Ananlytics, the Polish category on this blog gets a lot of activity. That's not surprising, the Polish entries have far surpassed my Spanish entries, and we lived in Spain for four years!

In order to be more intentional about learning to make Polish dishes and to give readers what they're looking for, I've decided to regularly post Polish recipes on Fridays (when I'm in town). A new feature is born - Polska piątek (Polish Friday).

I have one Polish cookbook, Polish Cookery by Marja Ochorowicz-Monatowa, and I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of Nela's Cookbook by Nela Rubinstein. Nela's Cookbook has been published in English and Polish. The English version appears to be out of print, but I was able to find a used copy on Amazon.

This book come highly recommended by my friend, Gosia. Gosia is also a source of Polish cooking ideas. She's the friend who spend the day teaching the foreigners in our book club how to make pierogi. Gosia will also email when a new item comes into season and appears in the markets and tell me how she fixes it. That's so exciting for me; we share a passion for food and it's obvious that Gosia is a teacher on the job and off.

My friend, Elżbieta, has also opened my eyes to new dishes. Every visit to her home teaches me something new in the kitchen.

The first Polska piątek recipe that I'll post next week will be Wisniak, a sweet cherry liqueur. The inspiration for this recipe isn't coming from a cookbook but from the complimentary cordial, a cherry liqueur, that we were served at Espanada (in both Warsaw and Lodz) and at Amber Restaurant and Gallery in Tucson. Oh yeah, now that I've been to Poland, I understand reason behind naming a Polish restaurant Amber.

Red Fruit Shortcake

2011-06-27T04:47:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #53

Our friends, Janet and Bill, were hosting a dinner party last week for a bunch of Americans. I asked if I could bring this shortcake for dessert. It's good to have help eating these cakes. It turned out to be the birthday of one of the guests, so thankfully, our hostess had candles, and the shortcake became a birthday cake.

I think the timing of this cake was perfect. I was able to find both strawberries and raspberries in the market, and Ed and I thought they were both the best we've had all season. I can buy fresh currants here too.

I was so excited the first time I saw currants. I had to buy a package and had visions of whipping up some yummy dessert. Sampling the red currants turned out to be a huge disappointment. They were tart, as expected, but the little red gems were also chock full of little seeds. I was hoping for a texture more like a seedless grape. The package of currants sat in the fridge for a long time and eventually, went in the trash.

I decided to substitute dried cranberries for the red currants. I soaked a cup of cranberries for about 20 minutes in 2 tablespoons of brandy and enough boiling water to fill the cup. The liquid took the place of the Chambord in my syrup, and it was delicious!

The cake was baked in a 9 inch springform pan, and I hollowed out the center to make room for the berries.

I made adorable pink meringue kisses, that were much larger than they should have been - a tasty addition never the less.

We served the shortcake with a bit of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious.


He looks pleasantly surprised, don't you think?

Polenta

2011-06-25T17:33:00.000+02:00

We tried the rolls of prepared polenta from the grocery store years ago, just to see what it was like, and then promptly forgot about it. I guess the rolls just aren't that memorable.

Last year, I had polenta in a restaurant and it was a totally different experience. I've made it several times since then. I like to use it as the base in a vertical presentation, copying the restaurant chef. I'll top the polenta with a sauteed green and whatever protein I'm serving. It might be short ribs, oxtail, or grilled salmon.

I made a batch recently to serve with salmon. I didn't have any Parmesan cheese, so I added a can of diced green chiles. I think whatever savory herbs you have growing would make a great addition too, thyme, basil, parsley, sage.

The leftover polenta from this meal went into a bag in the fridge. It formed such a nice solid little loaf that I sliced it and fried it in a little butter and olive oil to serve with a pot roast the following day.


fried polenta with green chile

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
3 cups water or stock
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted stock)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
7/8 cup corn meal
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Add olive oil to a sauce pan, and saute shallot over medium-high heat until translucent.
Add garlic, cook for just a minute or so.
Add liquid, salt, pepper, and corn meal, stir.
Bring to a boil and simmer about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in butter and cheese.

Serves: 5 - 6

Catalan Salt Pinch Cake

2011-06-20T19:29:00.004+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #52

I made the Mud Turtle Cupcakes back in February. As I recall, my favorite part was the topping. When choosing my free choice for the week, finding something simple was a consideration. There's just so much going on in Poznan this weekend: Ethno Port music festival, a horse show, a new driving range to check out. Baking will probably have to be squeezed into non-daylight hours, and we don't have many of those this time of year.

Catalan Salt Pinch Cake was the lucky winner. It looked like an easy cake. I still need to bake it and Jenn doesn't. So there you go.

Rose talks about this being known as pinch bread in Barcelona. I can only imagine that it is a very localized dish. We spent four years in Spain, but never made it to Barcelona in our travels. This bread or cake is new to me.

The cake was easy to make and reminds me a lot of angel food cake, but it does use yolks.

Lining the pan with parchment was one of the more complicated steps.

Rose recommends using sliced almonds to make it easier to grind the nuts before they begin to turn into almond butter. I was only able to find whole almonds. After roasting, I gave them a rough chop with a knife before adding them to the sugar in the food processor. They ground down nicely.

The next step was to beat egg whites with a little sugar; then fold in the ground almonds. I took the full 25 minutes to add the beaten eggs to the almond meringue. Then carefully folded lemon zest and little cake flour into the fluffy almond egg mixture.

My cake took just over 35 minutes in the oven. It came out perfect and fluffy.

Within a few minutes, the sides and center began to shrink and pull in.

But the shrinking didn't go too far. Rose does tell us to expect the center to drop a bit.

The cake was a hit at our house. Ed planned to have only one slice, but instead had three. It's so light and fluffy; it was easy to do. I guess that's an advantage to pinching rather than slicing. You won't know how much you've had.

RQC2Q37Z2TBT

Pierogi Ruski

2011-06-18T01:05:00.000+02:00

A friend recently hosted a day of pierogi making. We made this ruski filing, as well as a sweet filling, and a cold beet soup. This was the first time I've made the ruski version with potatoes, onion and cheese. It would be really difficult to choose, but this may be my favorite. You can't beat the combination of flavors, and the filling has enough body that it's easier to work with. You can make a plump little dumpling and stretch the dough around the potato mixture without it oozing out.

I've compared making pierogi to make tamales back in Arizona. It's labor intensive, and makes more sense when you've got a large group of people to work on it - making the dish perfect for extended family gatherings and holiday meals.

Ingredients

for filling:
6 small potatoes, boiled, peeled, and riced
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup diced onion
1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese (this is the closest stateside substitute for Polish cottage cheese)
2 teaspoons Maggi or soy sauce
salt and pepper, to taste
smoked bacon, diced, for garnish

for dough:
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup boiling water

Directions

for filling:

Place riced potatoes into a large bowl
Sautee onions in butter until light brown
Lightly toss potatoes, with onion, cheese, maggi, and seasonings until combined

for dough:

Place the flour on a clean work surface
Add the salt
Make a well in the top of the flour and add the egg.
Work the egg into the flour
Slowly add the water to the flour mixture, mixing it in as you go
Knead dough until smooth

to assemble:

Brown bacon and reserve
Roll the dough out very thin, approx 1/16 inch
Cut into round circles using a glass or a cookie cutter
Add a spoonful of the filing to the center of each circle, compacting the filling
Fold the dough around the filling, sealing the edges, creating a half circle or crescent shape
When all of the the pierogi are filled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, cook the pierogi for use a few minutes.
Serve with butter and bacon

My other versions of pierogi:

Mixed berry

Spinach

Asparagus Vichyssoise

2011-06-17T05:47:00.002+02:00

I bought fresh white asparagus for the first time a month ago. When I found out that it had to be peeled before cooking (what a hassle!) I said that from now on, I would only buy green asparagus.

Last week, a farmer's stand at the tram stop had white asparagus for 1 złoty (37 cents) per bundle, and I bought two. I just can't pass up a delicious bargain, even if the preparation is s bother. Because it does have to be peeled, working with thick stalks is much easier than thin stalks. With the skinny little ones, it seems as if you have nothing left after peeling.

I used a food network recipe, and we all loved it. Even Benson, our dog, likes his food more with a spoon full of asparagus vichyssoise.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced
2 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
4 cups chicken broth
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 bunch white asparagus (green would be good too), peeled and diced
1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
olive oil
chives, sliced

Directions

In a large saucepan, melt butter and saute leeks and shallots for 5 minutes
Add garlic and cook 2 more minutes
Add broth, potato, and asparagus; cook until potato is tender
Process soup in blender or with immersion blender until smooth
Add cream for desired consistency
Season with salt and pepper
Serve chilled (although warm would be good too)
Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of chives

Note: the original recipe had me reserve the asparagus tips for garish as well, but I don't think I'll do that again. The crunch distracted from the rich creaminess of the soup, and visually, I found it more pleasing with just the oil and chives. I filled a teaspoon with oil and drizzled it in circular motions to get the pattern you see in the top photo..

Chlodnik

2011-06-16T13:01:00.000+02:00

My friend, Gosia, recently shared her recipe for Chlodnik, a cold beet soup that is a summer staple here in Poland. This soup is so cool and refreshing on a hot, humid day, and our mutual friend Yvonne summed it so so well, "you can just taste how fresh and healthy it is."

I tried my hand at this soup last summer, but I'll be making this version from now on. Gosia not only shared her recipe, she invited several of us to her home for a day of traditional Polish cooking.

Ingredients

4 or 5 young, tender beets, with tops if possible
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cucumbers, peeled and grated
6 radishes, grated
3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 green onions (white and green parts), chopped
4 cups plain yogurt
4 cups kefir or buttermilk
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper, to taste
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Directions

Prepare the beets by removing and dicing the stems up to the leaves. Add the chopped stems to a large soup pot.
Peel and grate the remaining beet roots. Add them to the pan.
Add enough water just to cover the beets. Add salt and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.
Cool the beet mixture.
Add the cucumbers, radishes, dill, green onions, yogurt, kefir, and sour cream.
Season with salt and pepper.
Chill and serve garnished with hard boiled egg.

Serves: 7 - 8

Beets with Horseradish

2011-06-14T08:47:00.000+02:00

It's difficult to imagine that I seldom ate beets before moving to Poland. Now, we have them all the time. A friend has just suggested a new flavor combination - beets and horseradish. It's a traditional part of a Polish Easter breakfast, but I contend it's suitable any time of year. The flavors complement each other very well.

For each serving, you'll need 1/2 cup shredded or julienned beets (canned or roasted); stir in a scant teaspoon of prepared horseradish (adjust according to your own taste.) Serve at room temp or chilled.

Hungarian Jancsi Torta

2011-06-12T22:13:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #51

Free Choice

I've looked at this cake before, but I hadn't realized that it's flourless - basically fluffy eggs with ground walnuts and chocolate. We served it with rhubarb sauce and ajerkoniak. The rhubarb seemed to be a good substitute for the sour cherry preserves that Rose uses to top this cake, and the ajerkoniak - it pretty much goes with everything.

The most difficult part of this cake was preparing the pan. The recipe calls for cake strips, and I didn't pack mine. I seem to recall someone making her own, I think it was Toni. So I followed her example by putting damp paper towels between two sheets of foil and wrapping it around the pan.

We served this cake to dinner guests last week. They loved it; the consensus was that it was so light it melted in your mouth. Half of the cake was left over and it went to work with Ed the next day. Apparently, I'm collecting marriage proposals, which are conveyed via my husband, from Polish airmen who know me only by my cakes. Little to they know it's really Rose they want to marry.

Farmer's Cheese Vegetable Spread

2011-06-10T12:16:00.001+02:00

I visited a small Polish dairy farm recently and came home with some of their farmer's cheese - made from the last evening's milk. I've never used used this cheese before, but I've been told most Poles eat it sliced with salt and pepper. One of my friends likes to have it drizzled with honey.

I chose to make it into a vegetable spread and to have it on slices of toasted homemade baguette. It made a tasty snack; it all seemed so wholesome and healthy.

Ingredients

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced
5 radishes
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 small onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces farmer's cheese
plain yogurt and/or milk

Directions

Place the sliced cucumbers on paper towels, sprinkle lightly with salt. This will draw out some of the water. Dice these last.
Finely dice the vegetables. I used a mini-food processor, doing each veg separately.
In a food processor, combine the cheese with enough yogurt and/or milk for a stiff, but spreadable consistency. I made mine the perfect texture for spreading, and after the vegetables went in, it was a little too runny.

Combine the cheese with diced vegetables; season with salt and pepper.

This makes a great spread for bread or crackers or a filling for cherry tomatoes.

Elderflower Syrup - Cordial

2011-06-09T17:23:00.004+02:00

We tried out the elderflower syrup today. I strained the mixture by lining my strainer with a paper towel (coffee filter or layers of cheesecloth should work too), and I'm keeping it in the fridge.

We mixed the syrup with sparking water and sparkling wine. Ed and I both thought both tasted great, very refreshing. This glass probably holds just over half a cup. Add the syrup to taste. Ed's thinking 1 tablespoon for a manly mix, 2 or more might make it a little girlie. It made our very cheap, not all that drinkable sparkling wine very tasty!

Italian Wedding Soup

2011-06-08T06:56:00.000+02:00

I learned to make this soup from my sister-in-law, Carol, and then my co-worker, Carole, told me how she makes it. I think the common thread is chicken broth, meatballs, and spinach, beyond that there's a lot of room for creativity. This homey soup has a wonderful array of flavors and textures.

Ingredients

for meatballs:
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 egg
2 teaspoons mustard
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

for soup:
chicken stock (I made mine by boiling 2 chicken carcasses from the Polish market in water)
chicken meat (in this case, just the meat I removed from the bones after simmering for a couple of hours)
vegetables (I used a prepared packet of soup veg: 4 carrots, 2 parsnips, 1 leek, 1 slice celery root)
1 bag of frozen spinach (my frozen spinach turned out to be pureed, I should have purchased fresh)
meatballs
1/2 cup orzo (optional)
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

for meatballs:

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients
Form into small meatballs, less than 1 inch in diameter
Bake until lightly brown, about 20 minutes.

for soup:

While the meatballs are baking, simmer stock with chicken and soup vegetables, until veg are tender.
Add meatballs and spinach, simmer another 15 - 20 minutes. I sometimes add orzo at this point.
Slowly add egg while stirring the soup. You're ready to serve.

I made this in a large dutch oven and it made about 10 or 12 servings.

Rhubarb Sauce

2011-06-07T17:16:00.002+02:00

I grew up in the desert; no one grew rhubarb. You'd see it in the store occasionally, but no one I knew cooked with it. My best guess is that transplants from other parts of the country created the demand. My mother made a rhubarb pie. . . once. Chocolate pie was most popular in our house. As a parent, I can just imagine her hopefulness, thinking she'd get her kids to eat produce by disguising it as a dessert.

I'm seeing a lot of rhubarb in Poland. It's in all the markets, friends and bakeries are using it in pies and cakes. My husband and one of the American pilots stationed here were reminiscing how their mothers used to prepare rhubarb in Pennsylvania and Ohio. I decided to give it a try. I'm making a cake that calls for a sour cherry preserves; I think rhubarb sauce will make a good substitute.

Since I was clueless about these red celery-like stalks, Allrecipes gave me a good recipe to work with. The result is a delicious, thick, creamy, sweet and sour sauce. If it turns out to be too thick for my cake topping, I'll warm it with a spoon or two of water to thin it just a bit.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
4 rhubarb stalks, thinly sliced (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

Directions

Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
Add remaining ingredients and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
Surprisingly, the rhubarb breaks down quickly. The sauce isn't perfectly smooth, but the identifiable bits of the rhubarb fiber are small.

Swedish Pear and Almond Cream Cake

2011-06-06T11:35:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #50

I've been looking forward to making this cake for a long time. I love anything with almond! I wish my results had been better. The bottom (which becomes the top) of my bundt cake stayed in the pan. It wasn't pretty, but the taste was fantastic! My bundt pan is smaller than the recommended size, so I put a bit of batter, almond cream, and pear in a small bowl to bake.

We sampled this as soon as it came out of the pan with a little Ajerkoniak. Dellicious if not beautiful!

I was surprised to read that Jenn's batter was thin because mine was so thick. The sour cream I used was very dense. I wonder if that was part of my problem.

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 because I wanted join in.

Ajerkoniak - Polish Egg Liqueur - Dessert Sauce

2011-06-05T20:03:00.001+02:00

Every time I visit my friend, Elżbieta, I learn a new dish. During my last visit, we put a very thick Ajerkoniak (sounds like ayer-cognac and translates to eggnog) on our desserts.

This thick version of the liqueur was so rich and yummy - different from anything else I can think of. The closest thing I could name would be the brandy butter than my mom puts on plum pudding at Christmas. I had to try making this at home. I can imagine putting this on all kind of baked goods or ice cream.

Now that I've done all that gushing, I have to tell you that this recipe makes me, as an American cook, a little nervous. It has egg yolk and milk, and the finished product is not to be refrigerated. That's what Elżbieta told me, and when Ed mentioned to two guys as the base that I was going to make this, they both said, "whatever you do, don't put it in the refrigerator. It will turn into a brick." Since the mixture is cooked, and the spirits added are so high in alcohol, I'm going to trust the advise of experienced Polish cooks, and keep this in sterile jars in the cupboard. I'll let you decide for yourself.

Ingredients

8 egg yolks
2 cups sugar
1 can of evaporated milk (about 1 1/3 cups)
3/4 cups spirytus (grain alcohol, 95% or 190 proof)
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

Combine yolks and sugar in a bowl.
Heat milk until just about to boil.
Add 2 tablespoons hot milk to egg mixture while whisking. Continue adding very small amounts of hot milk to egg mixture until all milk is incorporated.
Sit the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 70 C or 160 F.
Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the egg mixture, and allow it to cool to room temp.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Store in clean jars until ready to use.

I was a worried that my Ajerkoniak would be too thin after I added the booze, but it magically jelled giving me the thick creamy sauce I was after.

Elderflower Liqueur and Elderflower Syrup

2011-06-02T00:05:00.003+02:00

When I lived in England many, many years ago, the elderly lady who lived in the other side of the duplex cottage, Mrs. Meade (sounds like she could be a character in the game of Clue), invited me to help her pick elderflowers. She was going to make elderflower wine. It's been so long that I can't even remember if I ever sampled some of the finished product.

Elderflowers lead to elderberries. The elder plant doesn't grow in my part of the world (Tucson, AZ), so that was the extent of my knowledge - until last week.

I was dining al fresco with other members of the Poznan International Ladies Club, when the woman next to me pointed out that our hostess had a large elder bush in bloom and that's what you need to make elderflower cordial, something that she had grown up with in Denmark.

That led to some internet research on my part and the decision to do a little foraging on my bike ride today. There's a wooded area near our lake, and I snipped just 20 flower stalks from a long row of plants. When I got home, I gave the flowers a shake to remove bugs, and there were plenty. I then rinsed them in a bowl of water. Some recipes I've read online specifically said not to wash the flowers, but I'm American, I can't help it. I want to refrigerate everything too. The water drove off several more bugs that I hadn't been able to see.

My friend, Rob, is a fellow food blogger and the chef at the Curious Kumquat in Silver City, NM. He's into slow food and cooking local in a big way. (If you're in the Silver City area add this restaurant to your must do list. He's crazy creative in the kitchen. I hope to take Ed went were home in December.) Rob includes foraged items on his menu, so I had to tell him about my outing. He mentioned that the flowers are also used in desserts - more internet research.

I decided to make an elderflower syrup that I can mix with sparking water or sparking wine and an elderflower liqueur that I can use in cocktails and to flavor desserts such as sabayon.

For the Elderflower Liqueur, I put 10 flower stalks in a small jar (8 to 10 ounces) and filled it with vodka. It will sit in the cupboard for a month, at which point I'll strain it and add 1/4 cup sugar.

For the Elderflower Syrup, I put 2 cups sugar in a container and added 2 cups of boiling water, stirred until the sugar dissolves. Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon and 10 flower stalks. This will sit in the fridge for a few days before straining.

I'll let you know how they turn out.

Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

2011-06-01T11:40:00.001+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #49

I served this trifle Monday- U. S. Memorial Day in Poland. We had friends over, more because Gail was leaving to return to the states than because of the holiday. We made Spanish food, some of my favorites - sangria, gazpacho, pinchos morunos. We deviated from the Spanish theme for dessert, trifle rather than flan.

Raspberries aren't available here yet, but cherries are, so I my trifle was Black Forest-like. There's nothing complicated about it, but I did start making it several days in advance.

First the cake - a gensoise, flavored with lots of dark chocolate. The batter has 8 eggs, and I beat them for 25 minutes to get the right texture and volume. After reading about Rose's failure on her blog, I'm glad I didn't skimp on the time. I was using a very flared salad bowl rather than a trifle bowl, so I didn't try to make 2 9-inch pans (they won't both fit in my oven), so I just made a 9 x 13 and placed slices to make my layers of cake.

The Creme Anglaise was next. A dozen egg yolks go into this component. The custard is layered with cake which has been coated on one side with cherry preserves (in my case) and brushed with a cherry syrup on the other side. Fresh cherries which were patiently and lovingly sliced and pitted by my own little hands are also included in between the cake layers. (It didn't take many cherries for me to realize that raspberries would have been much simpler.)

The cake/custard/fruit layers were finally topped with a lucious pink, cherry whipped cream. It was a big hit with our dinner guests.

Our Polish friend, Aga, said, "you couldn't buy something like this: it's so special. It should be for a wedding or something." Aga's brother is getting married next weekend, and she had just told us that the festivites go on for about 3 days, so you would need more in the way of dessert around the house than just the wedding cake.

Bill L. liked it because it wasn't too sweet.

Patrick hit the nail on the head when he said that there were so many different flavors.

This has been quite the week for eggs. This dish took 20 eggs. And yesterday, I came home with 20 farm fresh eggs and half a kilo of farmer's cheese. A gift of eggs and time from my Polish friend, Elżbieta. She took me to visit the farm where she and all of her friends buy their eggs. It was a fun day and you can read more about it on my Polish blog.

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 because I wanted join in.

Barcelona Brownie Bars (Rounds)

2011-05-24T15:39:00.000+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #48

I have to resort to cliches to describe these brownies and that just doesn't seems right, but they are smooth as silk, melt in your mouth, CHOCOLATE! With three daughters that are all fond of chocolate, we've made a lot of brownies in our house. A few things set this apart from my usual recipe: the addition of dark chocolate (as well as cocoa), the addition of cream cheese, and no chemical leavening. They are wonderfully fudge-y.

As with most brownies, they are easy to make, and can pretty much be whisked together in the saucepan you use to melt the butter (or bowl if you're using the microwave).

I made the cherry version, soaking dried cherries in brandy for a few hours before chopping them up to be added to the batter.

I'm having lunch at friends' homes twice this week, so I made a double recipe, found some cute plates at TK Maxx, and the brownies topped with Chef Jean-Pierre's buttercream rather plugged with chocolate ganache will become hostess gifts.

I'm happy to find out that Rose has published this recipe on her blog, so you can make these too. But if you'd like to have more than just this recipe, you can buy the book on Amazon like I did.

Chef Jean-Pierre's Cooking School, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2011-05-22T22:40:00.001+02:00

Rolling up the Roulade

I was visiting my daughter in Boca Raton recently, and we were trying to think of something fun to do. We considered all kinds of options - a day-cruise to the Bahamas, an amusement park, deep sea fishing, an air-boat ride. We decided to focus on our mutal culinary interest and took a cooking class. Chef Jean-Pierre was kind enough to let us sit in on the dessert class of his series, Cooking 101.

There were about a dozen students, so it was possible to ask questions and interact with Chef Jean-Pierre during the class. The evening was focused on desserts, but to get something other than sugar in our stomachs, we started off with the Spinach-Artichoke Dip featured in this YouTube video:

The chef went on to make a Creme Anglaise and Berry Coulis which were later used to decorate our dessert plates. I've made both of these before, however, I had no idea coulis was the proper name for the raspberry or strawberry sauce I've made in the past.

We had a warm zabaglione over strawberries. An impressive treat, and something that I've always eaten chilled before. I learned something about proper equipment with this one. My Heavenly Cake Baking buddies will remember the sabayon that we made a few weeks ago for Zach's La Bomba. I had to whisk my sabayon for much more than the suggested 5 minutes to get a thick foam, and I know some of the other bakers did too. It may have been because I was using the wrong whisk. Rose Levy Beranbaum recommends a piano wire whisk; Chef Jean-Pierre recommends a balloon whisk; my whisk was neither.

The chef went on to make a Chocolate Roulade (rolled cake) with a buttercream and fresh strawberry filing, finished with a chocolate ganache glaze. We also enjoyed a Black Cherry Clafoutis. This custard pie was my daughter's favorite of everything we sampled.

The theme for this dessert class was eggs and the many ways they're used in desserts - in custards, to bind ingredients, to make a batter lighter. We left with all of these recipes (which you'll see in coming weeks) and a good education in several techinques. No matter what your level of experience, there's always something new to learn. Chef Jean-Pierre has a wealth of knowledge, which he shares with his students enthusiastically.

Apple Galette

2011-05-18T07:59:00.001+02:00

As I've mentioned before, my husband loves apple pie, and this is one that would be perfect for new bakers who might find making and crimping pie crust intimidating. I used the savory crust from my butternut squash galette omitting the sage and adding 1/4 cup of sugar to the dough. This makes a beautiful rich crust that's so easy to roll out, no cracking or splitting.

for the filling;

Ingredients

1/4 cup apricot preserves
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.
Roll the crust into a 14 inch circle; no need to make it perfect.
Warm the apricot preserves, and spread in the center of the crust. I marked a 9 inch circle in the center of the crust by lightly pressing a cake pan into the dough.
Comine the remaining ingredients and arrange the apple slices in a 9 inch circle on top of the apricot preserves.
Fold up the edges of the dough. Brush the crust with beaten egg and oil (from the crust recipe).
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes.

Zach's La Bomba

2011-05-16T07:55:00.003+02:00

Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #47

This is the last cake for Marie and many of our bakers. What a finish! My bombe is far from the perfection in Rose's photo (didn't you love the cake plate used in Rose's shot? It looks both antique and futuristic at the same time!), but those who ate it didn't seem to notice.

Other than a slice enjoyed at home, we took this dessert to our friends at TGI Fridays. Everyone wanted to know what was in it - it was like ice cream, but not. Was it difficult to make? That's a tough question to answer. There was nothing terribly complex in the methods used (no hot sugar flung about the kitchen), but there were pages and pages of things to do.

This blackberry dessert was missing any sign of blackberries - just not to be found at my Polish market right now. So I used black currant tea for the sabayon and blueberries for my pureed fruit. It was still a hit, even with the substitutions.

This note was returned with my clean plate before we left the restaurant.

For those of us that got a late start on this project, Jenn will continue to lead us on our way through the remaining recipes. I may even repeat some because for most of this project I was in AZ and my husband in Poland, so he hasn't tasted many of the cakes.