Daring Cook's Challenge : Pork Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppyliciousand she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

I really enjoy being part of the Daring Cooks especially when we get challenges we have never dared to try or even eat before.

In Rome there are only two Thai restaurants and we are lucky to have one at walking distance. Whatever we order we always get satays even if the owners of the restaurant (I thing they are from Malaysia) being Muslims do not serve pork, so it is chicken satay.

Therefore I was very happy Cuppy chose this recipe that we really have enjoied a lot ! Thank you Cuppy !

RECIPE

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Chill Chart

Pork	Beef/Lamb	Chicken	Vegetables	Tofu (no oil)
4-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	6-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	1-4 hours Up to 12 hrs	20 min – 2 hrs Up to 4 hrs	20 min – 4 hrs Up to 12 hrs

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

TWD : Mrs. Vogel's Scherben

This week is was Tanna who choose the recipe and it's something I guess you can find with different names in every corner of the world. In Italy we eat them during Carnival along with other fried sweets. In every town they have a different name (and shape sometimes) in Roma they are called frappe and I can't tell you enough how well they were welcomed ! My husband kept saying:' This is the last one !'. Until they were gone.

The recipe is very simple (and luckily doesn't yield a big number of scherben or frappe !) , I didn't add all the liquid it called for and substituted it with sweet wine, and used my pasta rolling machine to make the dough extra thin.

I'd like to thank Tanna for this fun and delicious choice !!

Please visit her for the recipe and the blogroll for more versions (even sin-less oven ones !)

BBA Slow and Steady : French Bread

I know it may seem that I don't know my alphabeth and posted kaiser rolls before french bread, but my first french bread was so awful I had to wait a few days to try it again !!

I used Pate Fermentèe and a little yeast and I'm afraid I overfproofed it a bit or I'm very bad in slashing or both.

The bread was fabulous anyway and I really want to make it another tons of time so I'll get to know its secrets !

The wonderful Nancy recently posted the Slow and Steady roundup for the Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread ... we are moving on !

To check all the bakers of the big group go here !

I Heart Cooking Clubs : Lemon-Syrup Loaf Cake

The theme for this week's gathering is Resolutions which scares me because I'm not good in resolutions so I keep it small and hope to partecipate as much as I can to ' I Heart Cooking Clubs' !

I really love lemons and this is a quick cake to make even in a busy afternoon .

Recipe from 'How to be A Domestic Goddess'

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs sugar

2 Large eggs

zest of one lemon

1 cup plus 1 Tbs self raising flour

pinch of salt

4 Tbs milk

9x5 inch loaf pan (I used a silicon round one)

For the syrup

juice of 1 and 1/2 half lemons (about 4 Tbs)

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°

Cream butter and sugar then add eggs and zest. Add flour and salt and milk. Spoon in the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes.

While the cake is baking prepare the syrup boiling juice and sugar until the sugar dissolves.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven prick ir and pour the syrup all over. (I would have loved more syrup !) .

BBA Slow and Steady: Kaiser Rolls

After Focaccia here come the Rolls ! I really suggest you to try them because they were gone in minutes !! Very very delicious !!

As you can clearly see I don't own a kaiser roll cutter and actually had never needed one, so I tried to imitate the artistry of the baker here but I'm very far away from him !!

I used my starter for them substituting it for the Pate Fermentée and used sesame and poppy seeds on them.

Please visit the BBA site for more news.

TWD : A very Tatiny Birthday !!!!

It all started two years ago with Laurie wondering if anyone would bake with her the whole book 'Baking from My Home to Yours' by Dorie Greenspan and now we are 308 bakers !!

To celebrate we could choose between Tarte Tatin and Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake.ù

I really felt tatiny on New Year's Eve ( maybe wishing for a total flip-over?) so I made the apple tarte as in Dorie's recipe and a savoury shallott's one from an italian cookbook ('Fare Festa' Michela e Paola Brengola).

In the apple one I used a sweet crust while for the savoury tarte I used a store bought puff pastry.

You can find this week's recipes on Laurie's blog I'll give you the similar recipe for the shallots tarte .

RECIPE

1 Kg of big shallots (mine weren't so big but I added some fresh cipolline)

90 gr brown sugar

90 gr butter

Puff Pastry

Melt butter and sugar in an oven proof pan and arrange as neatly as you can the quartered shallots on top. Let the sugar melt and become caramel color on a very slow flame (around 20 minutes) and let cool. Cut a disc out of your pastry slightly larger than your pan and put on top of the shallots tucking the hanging in (?). Bake in a 200° C oven for around 20 25 minutes. Reverse the tarte on a serving dish while the sugar is still warm.

Sweet and Simple Bakes: Cranberry, Pecan and White Chocolate Cookies

And here you go with the Sweet and Simple bakes recipe. We are spoiled and the recipe is a hit as usual !!

My following batch coloured a bit more (I got there just in time !) but I really enjoied the toasted flavour ! My only change was substituting almonds for pecans.

Recipe

Cranberry, Pecan and White Chocolate Cookies

Makes 30

Ingredients
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g rolled oats (not instant)
125g soft butter
75g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar (superfine)
1 egg (large)
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries (or dried fruit of choice)
50g pecans, roughly chopped
150g white chocolate chips (or chocolate of choice)

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.

Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.

Cook for 12 to 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula to cool fully on a wire rack.

Recipes to Rival: Olive Straws

This month Lori selected three appetizers to choose from (or make all three) and I chose these nice straws also because of their look !

If you use store-bought puff pastry they come together in a breeze (allow some fridge time before cutting them, while heating the oven), and your guest will love them (Andrea brought me the last one in the kitchen !).

Visit R2R blogroll for more appetizers.

Recipe

The demonstration can be found here.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/olive-straws.
And this is the recipe.

* All-purpose flour, for work surface
* 13 ounces Puff Pastry
* 15 large green pimento stuffed olives, about 1 1/4 inches long
* 1 medium egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon milk

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 12 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Using a large sharp knife, cut the rectangle into a 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle and a 7-by-6-inch rectangle. Place both rectangles on a baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.
2. Place the 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle on a baking sheet. Place 5 olives, end-to-end, in a straight line along the short side of the rectangle, leaving about a 5/8-inch border. Repeat process two more times to make three lines of olives.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and milk. Brush egg mixture on all exposed spaces between olives. Cover with the 7-by-6-inch rectangle of puff pastry, pressing the whole surface of the dough between the olives firmly with your fingertips. Transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using a very sharp knife, trim edges of dough; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide straws. Lay flat-side down on a baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until pastry is golden and crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer straws to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm

BBA Slow and Steady :Focaccia

Hi , and happy new year everybody ! I've read in many blogs about commitments for the new year but I'm not so good in keeping them so I almost repeat the same ones over and over and the first one is: not to procrastinate ! This is the last time (???) , at least I hope, I'm so late baking with the Bread Baker's Apprentice's group . We are baking the whole book by Peter Reinhart in alphabetical order and now it was Focaccia's turn, being born in Roma I would call what I ended up with : Pizza Bianca.

Pizza Bianca (obviously as a pose to Pizza Rossa) is a wonderful creation of the romans bakers and most of us brought it to school for midday snack (no peanut butter and jelly around here). In most bakeries you can ask to halve it and fill it : mortadella is the top choice !

Well you might have understood I was glad of the results I got, and the recipe was not hard at all ! You must start the evening before but that's it ! I made it with sourdough but I want to try it even with yeast next time.

TWD : Low andLuscious Chocolate Cheesecake

I knew I was making something wrong (not letting it cool in the oven , not passing a knife along the border or ?) and it cracked ! But I'll copy Amanda and glaze it tomorrow !

Can someone tell me why this wonder is called Low ?

This easy and delicious (I licked the spoon ) recipe was chosen by Margaret of Tea and Scones and I'm sure it will be very appreciated tomorrow after the due cool rest.

Please visit Margaret for the recipe and the others TWDers for more lusciousness !

Daring Baker's Challenge : Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

In the past days I have been very very busy cooking for a sort of Christmas catering : I made 43 meals, 35 for Christmas eve and 8 for the 25th !! The worst part was delivering everything to 4 different groups of people (obviously living in different parts of Rome) coming back home and cooking for our dinner !! It was very funny when Andrea and Paolo, the husband of my friend and abetter (?) Cristina, had already packed everything and I arrived with my camera... no pictures this time !!

Anyway I'm glad I had made this little houses for a charity sale well before time because I needed some kitchen-free time !!

As you can see the houses have been decorated by my children with lots of fun (I actually plan on making them again during the holidays).

I used the Great Scandinavian Baking Book's recipe but I didn't like the results: the dough was not good to eat and it shrunk a lot while baking. I had another batch from a previous try (it's darker ) that worked much better, I got it from a youtube video .To glue the house I used the simple syrup : it's much faster and holds forever !!

Please visit the blogroll for many more houses !!!

Recipes

Anna's Recipe:
Spicy Gingerbread Dough (from Good Housekeeping)http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/spicy-gingerbread-dough-157...

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

Directions

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.

2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.

3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43x36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)

5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.

9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.

Y's Recipe:
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas http://astore.amazon.com/thedarkit-20/detail/0816634963

1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.

4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]

5. Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

Simple Syrup:
2 cups (400g) sugar

Place in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.

TWD : Café Volcano Cookies

These cookies, chosen by Macduff of The Lonely Sidecar , are called in Italy 'Brutti ma Buoni' (Ugly but Good) and who could say the name is not right ?!

So, at least this week, I have a good excuse !

Please visit Mcduff for the recipe and the others TWDers for more goodies !

Daring Cook's Challenge : Salmon en Croute

The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

This month's challenge was a very nice recipe even for an evening when you want something more than the usual dinner (I made the crust but skipping that part the rest is quite easy) or could be a nice idea for the holidays.

I didn't try the beef recipe even if I intented to but my day are shorter or I'm getting old or I don't know, so here we are on the 14th again !

Please visit Simone to see her wonders and visit the Daring Cooks blogroll !!

RECIPE

Salmon en croute:
Ingredients
Mascarpone or creamcheese 5.2 ounces/150 gr
Watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach - 0.6 cup/4.2 ounces/120 gr
Shortcrust pastry - 17.6 ounces, 500 gr. Use a butterversion such as Jus-rol which is frozen or dorset pastry. or... make your own!
Salmon fillet (skinless)- 17.6 ounce/500 gr
egg - 1 medium sized

Directions:
1.Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well.
2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test wether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked. Serve with the rest of the watercress puree as a sauce.

Shortcrust pastry
While this is not mandatory to do, I highly recommend making your own shortcrust pastry as it is very simple to do! As mentioned in the notes; please make sure to not add too much water as that is the key to having a successful shortcrust pastry. Watch this video to check the correct consistency of the dough Making shortcrust pastry

Ingredients:
450 gr (15.8 ounces or 3.2 cups ) of plain all purpose flour
200 gr ( 7 ounce) cold butter
pinch of salt

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you have a food processor you can use that as shown in the above video.
Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.

For best results make sure the butter is very cold.

Instructions for Beef Wellington (serves 4)
Button mushrooms - 17.6 ounces/500gr (stalks removed and finely chopped)
Olive oil - 2-3 tbsp
thyme - 1 sprig
Beef fillet, center cut piece - 21.16 ounce/600 gr
English mustard - 1 tbsp
puff pastry (all butter pastry pack) - 17.6 ounce/500 gr
parma ham (prosciutto) - 3 slices
egg yolk - 1 pcs, beaten

For the herb crepes:
plain (all purpose) flour - 0.3 cup/1.76 ounce/50 gr
milk - 0.5 cup/125 ml
mixed herbs - 1 tbsp (chopped, use herbs such as cervil, chives and tarragon
butter - 0.5 tbsp

Instructions:
1. To make the crepes, whizz the flour, egg and milk with a pinch of salt in a blender or processor until smooth. Pour into a jug and stir in the herbs and some seasoning. Leave to rest.
2. Fry the mushrooms in a little oil until they give up all their moisture and it has evaporated, leaving you with a thick paste. Add the thyme leaves and some seasoning and keep cooking for a few minutes. Cool.
3. Stir the melted butter into the crepe batter, heat a 15 cm crepe pan and oil it lightly. Pour in enough batter to make a thin layer on the base of the pan, cook until the top surface sets and then turn over and cook briefly. Remove and repeat with the rest of the batter. This will make a couple more than you need so choose the thinnest ones for the recipe.
4. Sear the beef all over in a little oil in a very hot pan. Brush with the mustard, season and allow to cool.
5. Lay a large sheet of cling-film on a kitchen surface and put two crepes down on it, overlapping a little. Lay over the parmaham (prosciutto). Spread the mushroom mixture over the ham and put the beef in the centre. Roll the cling-film up, taking the crepe with it, to wrap the beef completely into a nice neat log. Chill for 1 hour.
6. Heat the oven to 200°C/390F. Roll out the pastry, remove the clingfilm and wrap the beef in the pastry like a parcel, with the ends tucked under. Trim to keep it nice and neat. Brush with egg, score with shallow lines across the top and chill for 20 minutes.
7. Cook for 20 minutes. The best way to test if the meat is done to your liking is to neatly and carefully stick a skewer into the beef, count to three and then test it against your inner wrist. If it is cold, the beef will be raw, if it is warm then the beef will be rare and if it’s hot, it’ll be cooked through. Leave to rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Some video tutorials to watch:
Rolling out pastry
Making shortcrust pastry
Making salmon en croute

TWD: Sablés and a very long Week - End

This week it was Barbara's turn to choose and she chose these cookies that are fast and can easily be decorated for the holidays.

I usually am very optimistic but after this failure I'm afraid I can't bake these kind of cookies without spreading !! (it happened with the world peace cookies and with the molasses ones !)

I made the hazelnuts variation and left a log in the freezer for a quick treat (spread) in the future !

Please visit Barbara for the recipe and the TWDers for more variations.

I'm kind of tired today (for us it is a festive day that remembers the Immaculate Conception of Jesus and the children had a 'bridge' and didn't go to school neither yesterday) because I baked a lot starting from this cake on Friday for a friend's birthday (the recipe is here)

On Sunday it was Anita's sixth birthday so I prepared a lunch with the granparents and made Dorie's Sweet Crust with pastry cream and strawberries.

And yesterday some friends came for a cooking party were they made sandwhiches

and decorated cupcakes

As you can see Anita went for the Carioca Style !!

The cake was a semi disaster because I was baking too many things (in the end I even forgot the brownies on the terrace !) and was too late for it but Anita liked it anyway ! (you can see her body 'fat' as Anita said because it was not dry !!)

Recipes to Rival: Old World Rye

This wonderful loaf was baked thanks to Temperance the host of this november challenge. I 'm desperately running out of time so I made it in the bread machine (as I used a cup of my sourdough I turned off the machine to let it proof longer). I added some walnuts, pecans and raisins and 'substituted' sourdough for part of the white flour and water, I don't know why mine got so dark maybe too much cocoa ? Anyway the bread is very very delicious It's waiting for me for breakfast !!!

RECIPE

Old World Rye
A World of Breads by Dolores Casella, 1966

2 cups rye flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 T yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp salt
2 T caraway seed
2 T butter
2 1/2 cups white flour or whole wheat flour

Combine the rye flour and cocoa. do not sift.
Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
Mix molasses, 1 cup warm water, salt, and caraway seed in large mixing bowl.
Add the rye/cocoa mix, the proofed yeast, the butter and 1 cup white flour or whole wheat flour.
Beat until the dough is smooth.
Spread the remaining flour on a breadboard and kneed it into the dough
Add more flour if necessary to make a firm dough that is smooth and elastic.
Place in buttered bowl and cover. Allow to rise until double (about 2 hours).
Punch dough down, shape into a round loaf and place on a buttered cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
Let rise about 50 minutes.
Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Notes:
You can add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup each of raisins and walnuts.
Don't limit yourself to round loaves, have fun.

And to prove that man CAN live by bread alone....
Back in the 1930's, a Cornell University professor named Clive McCay developed a bread recipe named Cornell Bread. It makes a complete protein that rats can live on exclusively. (The only reason that humans can't live on it exclusively is that it lacks vitamin C, which rats don't need.)

The Cornell formula to enrich bread consists of 1 tablespoon each soy flour and nonfat milk powder plus 1 teaspoon wheat germ for each cup of flour used in a bread recipe. These enrichments are placed in the bottom of the measuring cup before the flour is spooned in.

Sweet and Simple Bakes: Snow-Flecked Brownies

This month this is the wonderful recipe Maria and Rose chose for us.

You can be sure that their recipes are as the group's name implies: in fact they are a joy to bake even if you do not have time !!

Even if Maria warned us not to I split the recipe and diminished the sugar a little bit the results are fantastic !

Please visit the site from the 2nd to see more brownies !

here is the recipe :

Snow-Flecked Brownies

Ingredients
375g best quality dark chocolate
375g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
6 eggs (large)
350g caster sugar (superfine)
1 teaspoon salt
225g plain flour
250g white chocolate buttons or chips, or white chocolate chopped into chunks (or your own choice of chocolate)
2 tsp icing sugar, for dusting

Tin measuring approx 33cm x 23cm x 5.5cm

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/350F.

Line the sides and base of a 33 x 23 x 5.5com baking tin with foil or baking parchment.

Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan.

In a bowl or wide mouthed large measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the caster sugar and vanilla extract.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or choped white chocolate. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for 25 minutes, You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Even with such a big batch you do need to keep checking on it: the difference between gungey brownies and dry ones is only a few minutes. Remember, too, that they will continue to cook as they cool.

To serve, cut into squares while still warm and pile up on a large plate, sprinkling with icing sugar pushed with a teaspoon through a small sieve.

TWD: Rosy Poached Pears and Pistachio Tart

Lauren of I'll Eat You had the chance to choose this beautiful and wonderful tart.

The preparation is a bit time consuming but I'd love to have a picture of the happy face my two lucky neighbours had when they opened the door and saw it !

I made it exactly as the recipe but didn't have pistachios left to caramelize so I used almonds.

Please visit Lauren for the recipe and the blogroll for more !

Daring Baker's Challenge: Cannoli Siciliani

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele ofParsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I'm sorry I'm posting very late !

Our challenge this month was very familiar because we were asked to make cannoli siciliani and demanding because even my mother in law who is from Sicily never thought of frying the real thing. Once I started to make them I decided to try two recipes the one from our host and the one from Enza my dear friend who is responsible for my blogging.

You can see in the picture above the two cannoli on the left are the ones from the DB and the others are from Enza. Comparing the recipes the main difference is that in Enza's recipe there is less fat and no egg white.

As a filling I used simply the traditional ricotta and sugar (my mother in law lets it rest for a day but I wasn't so patient !)

The recipe

Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes

RECIPE NOTE: THE EQUIVALENTS FROM THIS RECIPE WERE PREPARED USING THIS CONVERSION SITE: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp.

CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios

Note - If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.