Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Yin Yang Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Fudgy dark cookie on one side with chewy oatmeal cookie on the other side, these two halves complete or more importantly, complement each other.


This month’s Creative Cookie Exchange theme is love and hearts which started me thinking about what love really is, I mean, beyond the heady first rush and tumble of quick emotions, all the highs and lows that are often the hallmarks of young relationships. I’m talking about the comfortable love that settles in, where you can complete each other’s sentences and anticipate each other’s needs, and still thoroughly enjoy spending time together, laughing, traveling, playing. And that brought to mind yin and yang, the Taoist concept of two halves that together complete wholeness.

I’m not sure that’s something two people can ever truly accomplish, but let me just put it out there that this year, in just a couple of short months, my husband and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage and 32 years of laughing, traveling and playing together. Of raising babies to young women of whom we are most proud, moving about the planet making homes in six of the seven continents and sharing the joy of life with friends and family too numerous to count. We have been so blessed.

Since we are both flawed human beings (Ain't nobody perfect folks!) still growing and learning about each other and life, I will never complete him and he may never complete me. After this many years of experience, I believe that complementing each other seems a much more worthwhile goal anyway. Together, we make a pretty solid team. Just like these cookies. These aren’t traditional cookies for Valentine’s Day but bake them for someone you love anyway.

And just because everyone's thinking it anyway, this scene:



Note: Start early in the day to allow chilling time for the two doughs.

Ingredients for about 3 dozen cookies
For the yin:
1/2 cup, firmly packed, or 100g brown sugar
3/4 cup or 150g granulated sugar
1/3 cup or 75g butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or 125g flour
3/4 cup or 60g unsweetened extra dark cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the yang:
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups or 156g flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 95g uncooked quick rolled oats

To decorate: handful each white and semi-sweet chocolate chips
Useful tool: 5 in or 13cm length of stiff wire for marking where to cut the cookie dough

Method
For the yin dough:
Cream your butter with the two sugars.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat again.



Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the mixing bowl. Mix well until thoroughly combined.



Roll into a thick log about 2 inches or 5cm in diameter and cover tightly with cling film. Put the dough log in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.



For the yang dough:
Cream your butter with the sugar.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat again.



Sift in your flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

Add in the oats and keep mixing until thoroughly combined.



Roll into a thick log about 2 inches or 5cm in diameter and cover tightly with cling film. Put the dough log in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.

Try to get your logs the same approximate size


While the dough is chilling, bend your wire around the neck of a bottle, first one way and then the other, to make a tool the approximate outline of the division between the yin and yang.


Once the dough is well chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your cookie sheet by greasing it with non-stick spray or lining it with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

Putting the two together 
Slice your two cookie dough logs into even slices. Use your wire tool to press down on the slices to mark where to cut them into two. You can, of course, do this free hand. But the pieces might not match up as neatly.

Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut each slice apart. Fit them back together, one half light, the other half dark, pressing gently to make them one on the prepared cookie sheet.



Decorate each with one white and one dark chocolate chip.



Bake in your preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes or until just done for chewy cookies.



Leave to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.


Enjoy!



These would also be pretty cool for Chinese New Year, another holiday coming upon us shortly. Many thanks to Deepti of Bakingyummies for handling the hosting responsibilities this month!

Check out all the other interpretations of love and hearts from my fellow Creative Cookie Exchange bakers this month.


We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life). We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!


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Posted by at 5:15:00 AM 0 comments
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Friday, January 15, 2016

Parma-wrapped Fish with Mediterranean Sauce #FishFridayFoodies

Add extra flavor to your fish by pan-frying it wrapped in Parma ham, then sit it on a succulent bed of spicy tomatoes and olives, perhaps with pasta underneath, for a beautiful and satisfying meal.

I’m not sure if the two things go hand in hand for everyone, but we are beach people and we love seafood. There's nothing we enjoy more than traveling somewhere where the catch is fresh and putting it straight on the grill or into a pan! In fact, our favorite fish dish, ceviche, doesn’t even require heat!

So when my friend, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm, asked me if I’d like to join a group she was forming, with the aim of putting more seafood on our tables in the name of health, I thought, sure, and yes, please! We do already eat quite a lot of seafood here - easily once or twice a week – so I’m looking forward to seeing all the great recipes my fellow bloggers will share for Fish Friday Foodies.

The Parma-wrapped fish in this particular recipe is so good that we had it twice in one week! Once one its own, and then with this chunky sauce.

Ingredients to serve two
For the fish:
Sea salt
Black pepper
2 thick sustainable white fish fillets, skinless, 7 oz or 200g each
4 slices Parma ham
Olive oil

For the sauce:
1 small red chili pepper
1/2 large purple onion
1 large clove garlic
2 large tomatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup, sliced, or 65g black olives
Good handful fresh basil leaves – keep aside the tiniest ones for garnish

To serve:
About 4 oz or 113g dry pasta of your choice, cooked as instructed on package.

Method
Mince your garlic and chili pepper and chop your onions and tomatoes.

In a large non-stick saucepan, sauté the garlic, pepper and onion in a good glug of olive oil, over a low flame, until soft.



Add in the chopped tomatoes and give them a good sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.



Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft just starting to break down.



While the tomatoes cook, season your fish fillets with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then wrap them in the Parma ham.



Add the olives to the saucepan and cook for another 5 or 10 minutes.

Pile the chunky sauce into a bowl and set aside.



This is also a good time to boil and drain your pasta, according to package instructions!

Drizzle some more olive oil into the saucepan and turn the heat up. Cook the wrapped fish for about 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Actual times will vary depending on the thickness of your fillets.



While the fish is cooking, stack your basil leaves one on top of the other and roll them tightly, then slice them finely. This is what the fancy chefs call chiffonade.

When the fish is done, remove it to a warm place and return the sauce to the saucepan and reheat it till bubbling. Remove from the heat and stir through the basil.



Divide the pasta between two shallow bowls, spoon on some sauce, then perch the fish on top. Drizzle with a little good quality olive oil. Add a bit of the sauce and tiny basil leaves for garnish, if you have some.





Enjoy!






Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of every month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Posted by at 12:27:00 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Shaved Broccoli Stalk Feta Salad #BloggerCLUE

Finally, a fabulous use for the oft-wasted broccoli stalks, this salad with lime juice and feta is simple, fresh and delicious!

This month for Blogger C.L.U.E. Society, my assigned blog is Taking on Magazines, internet home of Christiane, one of the founders of our little group, where we get together once a month using the same clue - ingredient or theme - and search through our partner blog to find tastiness to recreate. With many people trying to start the new year off right, our clue for January is “healthy eating.” Christiane says herself that her recipes don’t have a focus on health but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t tempted by several of them, including her Bibb Lettuce with Citrus Herb Dressing, Vietnamese Caramel Pork and Garlicky Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Spinach, which she swears is healthy, honest! I can tell you they all look delicious!

In fact, I ended up making two dishes, her Superfast Crispy Chicken Thighs, which are started on the stovetop and then finished in the oven, crisp fried in only 1 scant tablespoon of oil, and the fresh salad I’m sharing today. Man, those thighs were good! So good, in fact, that they were eaten before I could take a decent “finished” photo. And I cannot tell you how long it’s been since that happened!

Exhibit A


Thank goodness I had planned to make the broccoli stalk salad too. I was excited to use a part of the broccoli that I know many people discard and put it on center stage.

Even though Christiane says, “serve immediately,” I wasn’t taking any chances with not getting a photo of the salad. I made it in the afternoon and took the photos well ahead of dinner. I am pleased to say that the shaved broccoli was still crunchy, fresh and delicious a couple of hours later!

Ingredients
Leaves and stalks from 1 bunch broccoli (2-3 fat stalks)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Flakey sea salt and black pepper
1/4 cup or 28g crumbled cotija or feta cheese
Optional: few slices of radish - my addition.

Method
Cut the very hard outsides off of the broccoli stems. Nip off the leaves and save them. My broccoli didn’t have very many leaves, so just for a little more green, I also kept one tiny floret cut into small bits.



Use a sharp potato peeler to trim off any more stringy hard bits and discard them.

Continue shaving off thin slices of the stalks with the potato peeler until they are all gone.



And you are left with this:

Pile the strips in a bowl and add in the oil and lime juice. Sprinkle on the sea salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Give it all a good toss to coat.



Crumble on the feta and stir gently. Add a few slices of radish if desired.


Serve immediately or refrigerate covered until ready to serve.



Enjoy!

Our participating society members this month, with their Healthy Eating picks:
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Posted by at 2:50:00 AM 0 comments
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