Christmas Dinner 2013

For our Christmas Dinner in 2013, we decided not to have a turkey for the simple reason that we did not want to eat leftovers for days. We all agreed on having a roasted stuffed chicken instead.
In addition to beer and wine, onion soup and lots of fresh baked sourdough bread, we had all the stuff below.

Clockwise: Chicken slices, Tenderstem broccoli leaves,
Mozzarella and antipasti salad, Carrot diamonds

Mozzarella and grilled eggplant antipasti with fresh basil and
cherry tomatoes

Roasted chicken stuffed with Ethiopian style stuffing ( curry flavored rice,
veggies and nuts) and basted with Dijon Mustard and olive oil

Sourdough Panettoni with fresh cream frosting and
 ice cream cones
( decorated by my five grandchildren)

Red Velvet Cake

2014

JANUARY 2014 : Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me....

Last year, I decided to start celebrating my birthday( and those to come!) by making red velvet cake and then sharing it with those who could come and make the day a memorable one  for me. Its red color certainly symbolizes energy and vigor and I think that those are "must-haves" at this stage in my life.  

The  Red Velvet  Cake I baked for my birthday (2013)

The Red Velvet Cake for my birthday (2014)

Red Velvet Cake is also called "Devil's Food Cake" and is called so "because it is supposedly rich and delicious that it must, to a moralist, be somewhat sinful", according to John Mariani (author of The Dictionary of American Food and Drink). I think I would stick to the name Red Velvet Cake just to avoid the "falling into sin" part! lol

The Red Velvet Cake I baked in 2015 (Flowers from Hiyori)

The 2015  Red Velvet Cake: icing and frosting stage

No, I didn't use the instant Devil's Food Cake Mix. I made it from scratch and followed the recipe provided by the Joy of Baking...but made few adjustments as to its sweetness.

The cake could be had with tea, coffee or wine! Yummmm

2015

For my 2015 Red Velvet Birthday Cake, I used two new ingredients. For the flour, I used お米の粉 ( Rice Flour)* because I could not find one labeled "Cake Flour" at the supermarket. For the cheese, instead of mixing cream cheese with Mascorpone cheese, I used drained yogurt which made the filling less caloric and therefore more nutritionally healthy. The taste of the cheese filling was not as rich but the difference was not that outstanding. The result was great!

*The Rice Flour bag indicated that it could be used for chiffon cake and tempura batter, so I thought I'd try using it for this purpose.

2016

Like the past four years, I celebrated my birthday with my Japanese friends. My Red Velvet Cake - which did not turn out to be reddish this year (too much chocolate powder?) - was there. With the champagne and the other dishes they brought, my birthday lunch celebration was perfect! 

2017

2018

2019

2020

Empanadas

June 2013

The book entitled "Meze" that I had ordered through Amazon was delivered three days ago. It contained recipes that seemed appetizing and easy to prepare that I soon found myself preparing my original "meze" for lunch.

A slice of toasted roasted garlic sourdough bread, topped with lettuce and seasoned seaweed-cod egg preserve and cucumber and tomato slices on the side.

Roasted Garlic Sourdough topped with seasoned kelp seaweed-cod egg preserve

I don't know how others would rate this open sandwich but I thought it was an innovative culinary creation! Who would ever think of eating seaweed preserve with bread?



Yesterday, I thought I'd try the book's recipe for "Sambusak", meaning spicy meat pie. 
The moment I saw the photo in the book,  the "empanadas" that I had made many times before came to my mind. Isn't it funny that we all eat almost the same things but call them differently?  Sambusak is what people from the Arabian world call meat pie. It is what people in the Latin world call "Empanada" ; and in the Indian world,  "Samosa".

Here is the recipe for this mediterranean appetizer called Sambusak:

 SAMBUSAK ( spicy meat pies or EMPANADAS) 

For the pastry:

• 175 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 egg yolk , lightly beaten

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. 

Make a well in the center, add the oil and mix with your fingers.

Add the water and knead until a soft, neat ball is formed.

Cover with cling film and let rest for 30 minutes.

For the filling:

• 3-4 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 large onion, minced
• 200 g lean minced lamb ( or beef if you prefer) 
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• a large pinch of ground cinnamon
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 3 Tbsp raisins, rinsed 
• 150 ml hot water
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted in a dry frying pan
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in saucepan, add the onion and sauté on medium heat until it turns transparent or near light brown ( about 10 mins) .

Increase the heat and brown the minced meat until it sizzles ( moisture must have evaporated).

Add all the spices and salt and pepper. Continue to brown for another 2-3 minutes.

Add the lemon juice, raisins and hot water, cover and cook for 20 mins till fairly dry.

Turn off heat, add mint and pine nuts. Let cool.

Cut 8 cm round pastries and put 1 tsp of filling in the middle of the round pastry.

Moisten edges with water, press firmly to seal and put on baking sheet.

Brush tops with egg yolk and bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Farenheit for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy with tea, beer or wine!

Meze

While netsurfing, I encountered the word "meze". According to one article, "Meze, short for mezethes, denotes small dishes served typically at small eateries like `mezethopoleion'; ouzeri, similar to the Italian wine shop; and the tsipouradiko, serving Greek eau-de-vie. The object of these establishments and their meze fare is to offers its patrons a place to eat, drink, and have conversation in the hours between large meals. Although there is a strong similarity in portion size and preparation similarity to Spanish tapas, the dishes were specifically developed to be eaten only as an accompaniment to drink in the middle of the day, not as a `before the meal' bite to get you started on the main meal of the day. It is much more comparable to bar nuts, pretzels, and pickled eggs on American bars."

Meze is pronounced  "mezei"  and I like the sound of it.  I thought that if ever I decide to name a cafe or a bakery, I would include it. "Mezecafe" or "mezeicafei"? Either one would be all right but definitely not "Mezethopoleion" , a difficult term to remember that simply means an eatery of mezethes. 

After knowing about the phonetic symbols of the word, I started to carve an eraser with the word "mezei"- and instantly used it to stamp the new brown bags I had in store. 

My brown bag original stamper

After stamping my bags, I searched the internet for books on meze and got one through Amazon.

The book I bought and the "Sambusak"
(meat pie) I made using the recipe in the book.

Check out my posting entitled "Empanadas" for the Sambusak recipe.

Bread Spread Hummus

Today, I decided to concentrate on preparing various spreads for the bread that I have made and will make. As a starter, I made a low fat red paprika hummus.

Hummus is a dip/spread that I started to like while visiting Israel a few years back.  I noticed that it seemed to be part of every meal - hummus at breakfast, hummus at lunch and hummus at dinner. It could be eaten with slices of bread or with fresh cut vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 120 grams or 4 oz. of mixed beans of chickpeas, green peas, and kidney beans 
• 1 Tbsp ground white sesame seeds 
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 
• 1 clove of crushed/pressed garlic 
• 1/4 cup of minced pan roasted red paprika 
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder 
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 
• 1/3 tsp coriander ( substitute parsley if unavailable ) 
• 1/4 tsp salt 

Preparation:
In a food processor or a an electric blender, put the drained beans. Mix the spices and salt, then sprinkle the mixture over the drained beans. Mix, then blend the sesame seeds, lemon juice, crushed garlic and roasted red pepper. Serve in a small bowl topped with some greens like cilantro or Italian parsley. Enjoy!

Note:
Since storing food in the fridge for days isn't my preference, I usually recalculate the recipes I find on the web to make the amount I want - and that is usually for 2 or 3 persons.

Focaccia and Hummus

I love focaccia. I love it much better than pizza. And it so easy to make even with sourdough starters. Forget about using dry yeasts or any commercial yeasts. It is good plain or elaborately topped with any kind of toppings you fancy.

Focaccia topped with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and anchovies

One evening while watching the Travel Channel on TV, a pizza place in Nice, France was featured. The pizza at that place was topped with sautéed onion, black olives and anchovies. That reminded me of the foccaccia I made just 3 days before I saw this TV feature. The only difference, aside of the pizza dough and the foccaccia dough, was that the anchovies they used were much much bigger ( maybe 4 times bigger) than the canned salted anchovies I had used. Hmm, now I will have to find a store that sells 'huge' salted anchovies!

Focaccia with sautéed onions, black olives and salted anchovies

     

One day, as focaccia was baking in the oven, I started doing other chores in another room. 
I got so engrossed with what I was doing that I did not hear the timer ring that the foccaccia ended up like a hardened flat bread! But as frugal as I am, nothing that tastes good should be wasted, so I cut it up into sticks and thought of something to dip them into. Aha! Hummus! That beany stuff I tasted so much of while visiting Israel some years ago.

                          

                       Over-baked plain focaccia served with hummus

This is the recipe for the HUMMUS in the above photo:

• Ingredients A: Dried Parsley 1/4 tsp; Cumin Powder 1/2 tsp; Chili pepper powder 1/4 tsp; Salt 1/4 tsp
• Ingredients B: Chick peas or mixed beans 120 gms
• Ingredients C: White Sesame seeds, powdered, 1 Tbsp; Lemon juice 1 Tbsp; Grated garlic 1 tsp; Paprika(red), lightly grilled, 1/4 cup
• METHOD: Put ingredients A with ingredients B in a blender and mix well. Refrigerate till just before serving. Garnish with C as desired.

My first "chef"

JANUARY 2012

On my birthday, January 15th, 2012, I started to take care of new lives. Yes, the lives of yeasts! The more they grow, the more they'd keep me 'live' and happy.

Below is a photo of my first "chef" ( yeast 'starter')- bubbling and kicking. It's alive! It gave the impetus to my sourdough bread making adventure and to widening my circle of friends who love eating bread as well!

My first "chef" or sourdough starter made with rye flour and flat beer

DECEMBER 2014

Below are a few of the various breads I have baked in the past 20 months.

     

Sourdough Focaccia cut to serving size pieces

Rye Sourdough Bread with Black Sesame Seeds

 Sourdough Bread with Poppy Seeds

Sourdough Bread with Roasted Garlic

  

Sourdough Bread with Chocolate Chips & English Muffins

Bauernbrot (German Farmer-style rye bread)
has a dense crumb, full flavor and a chewy crust.

Basil-Parmesan Focaccia with Fresh Tomatoes

 

Sourdough Bread (30% All Wheat Flour) 

   

Sourdough Scones