Sunday, April 24, 2016

Long Beans with Coconut

Fresh long beans with coconut milk are rich and spicy, though the coconut milk helps mellow the potency of the red chili peppers.



This week my Sunday Supper group is sharing their favorite regional recipes, the ones that define home for them, whether from their place of origin or an adopted city or state that became home. I must confess that I struggled with this one. I’ve called so many cities home, growing to love each and every one from the little Podunk oilfield town of Balikpapan, Indonesia to Paris, the City of Love. And, of course, that doesn’t even take into account my birthplace New Iberia, Louisiana or Houston, Texas which I list as my hometown on Facebook. How to choose just one recipe?

One of the first things I do when we move to a new place is to wander up and down every aisle of the nearest local grocery store or food market. My goal is not necessarily to make an immediate purchase but to see what they have that we love or to discover new unfamiliar ingredients. Take these long beans, for instance. They are common in Asia, often easier to find than the normal green beans I grew up with. And since the long beans are locally grown, most of the time they are cheaper too. They look a bit alien, all curled up in bunches tied with a bit of string or a rubber band to keep them tidy. The little beans inside are larger than our US green beans and have a tinge of purple around the edges.

While I have made my grandmother’s green beans with baby new potatoes and Clara’s Garlicky Green Beans and Carrots with them, somehow they seem to go better with a more Asian style recipe. This one with spicy coconut originates in either Indonesia or Malaysia. They both claim it, but since I’ve called both places home, I’m not going to name one and get the other riled up.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g long beans
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1-2 red chili peppers
1 tablespoon canola or other light oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup or 60 ml thick coconut milk (Scoop out the stuff that floats to the top of the can.)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Cut the tips off one end of your long beans and then cut them at an angle into more manageable pieces, discarding the tips at the other end as well.



Cut your peeled onion in half and slice it thinly. Slice the garlic and finely chop the peppers.



Bring a large pot of water to the boil and tip in the long beans.

Boil for 2-3 minutes then drain them in a colander. Run cool water over them to stop the cooking process.



In a pan large enough to stir the green beans later, sauté the onions, chili peppers and garlic in the oil until they soften. Add in the ground spices and sauté for a few minutes more.



Pour in the thick coconut milk and stir well to combine.



Add in the blanched long beans and stir again to coat the beans with the now spicy coconut milk.



Sprinkle on salt to taste and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper and stir again.


You can cook the beans longer if you like them softer. We prefer them pretty crunchy so I cook them just a couple of minutes in the coconut milk so it evaporates a bit and clings to them.

This dish can be served warm or cold so it's perfect for bringing along to your next potluck or barbecue as well.

Enjoy!



What meal or dish means home to you? Perhaps you’ll find it in this list of favorite regional recipes from the rest of the Sunday Supper tastemakers. Many thanks to Sue from Palatable Pastime for hosting this great event!

Appetizers
Beverages and Breakfast 
Salads and Sauces

Side Dishes and Soups

 Main Dishes
Desserts



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Thursday, April 21, 2016

Sock It To Me Cake #BundtBakers

A throw back to the ‘70s, Sock It To Me Cake is made with a simple cake batter, all fancied up inside by the addition of pecans and brown sugar, and outside with a little glaze. 

My mom says that my grandmother didn’t bake much when she was growing up. I guess my grandmother didn’t have much time for that sort of thing, working a full time job running the family and the family business next door to their home. She and my grandfather had their own store, selling major appliances like washers and dryers and refrigerators. Paw would take care of sales unless he was out on a service call or in his workshop making repairs. Mo answered the phone, did the bookkeeping and billing and handled the sales floor when my grandfather was out. She would nip home each morning and get lunch started on the stove, returning occasionally to check on the smothered round steak or simmering chicken stew. At least that’s how I remember it.

But some time in the 1970s, that began to change. Different desserts started to appear at Sunday dinner.  Banana Split Pie with a graham cracker crust, strawberry shortcake made with those little store bought sponge cakes with the indentation in the middle, some sort of “salad” with pistachios and green Jello (Yuck. I think it was called Watergate Salad. Just why?) and Sock It To Me Cake made with Duncan Hines cake mix. I loved Sock It To Me Cake because of the brown sugar and pecans in the middle. But more that that, I liked the name.

Sock It To Me, baby. And cut me another slice, please. In other news, it's entirely possible that I was an odd child.

This month my Bundt Bakers group is taking retro desserts and turning them into Bundt cakes. Very creative, right? But since my favorite retro dessert was already a Bundt cake, how could I not share it? I’m not much of one to use cake mixes, especially for simple yellow cake – not that I have anything against them – so I adapted the batter from my favorite yellow cake recipe in The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition. The filling is straight off the Duncan Hines site, adjusted for size (and the fact that I'm not using their cake mix), plus a pinch of salt. Nowadays, Duncan Hines wants you to warm some of their icing as glaze though. Just no.

Many thanks to our Bundt Bakers host this month, Felice from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Make sure you scroll down to see all the other hip retro desserts made into Bundts at her instigation below.

This will bake you a smaller cake using a 6-cup Bundt pan.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1 1/8 cups or 140g flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/3 cup or 80g canola or other light vegetable oil
1/3 cup or 80ml sour cream
2 eggs

For the filling:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup or 65g finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

For the glaze:
1/2 cup or  62g powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour 6-cup Bundt pan. (Mine is called the 6-cup Anniversary Bundt pan by Nordic Ware, in case you are curious.)

In a small mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the filling.


In your large mixing bowl, whisk together your oil and sugar.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, whisking until light and creamy.



Add in the sour cream and whisk again.



Tip in the flour mixture and whisk one last time.

Pour two-thirds of the batter into your prepared Bundt pan.



Spoon in the filling mixture.



Pour the last third of the batter over to cover the filling.


Bake in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Leave to cool for about five minutes in the pan.

Run your toothpick around the edges of the cake to loosen, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely before drizzling on the glaze.


To make the glaze, mix the sugar and the vanilla. Add teaspoons of milk till you reach your desired consistency. Pour or drizzle over the cooled cake.

Enjoy!



What was your favorite retro dessert? Here are some of ours, either originally Bundts or Bundtified.

BundtBakers

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest Board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.


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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Rhubarb Sauce Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Rhubarb sauce cookies make the most of tart spring rhubarb in the most deliciously portable way. Their subtle pink hints at the lovely rhubarb flavor inside. 

I’m pretty sure I might have told part of this story before, but when we lived in Paris 20-odd years ago, on a visit in our last year there my sharp-eyed mother-in-law pointed out that we had rhubarb growing in the front garden. It was hiding under some other big green leafy bushes. Life is full of small regrets and that I missed two springs of fresh homegrown rhubarb is one of mine.

Since then I’ve tried to make up for it by buying rhubarb when I can. It makes me think of Fiona, she of celebrated wheat bread and sausage roll fame, and I know she’d like these cookies. This month’s Creative Cookie Exchange theme is Mothers Day so, while Fiona was not my actual mother, or even my husband’s mother, she treated her stepson like a son and me like a daughter. Like most grandmothers, she thought our girls were such fun to spend time with and she was especially good at making storybooks come alive. They loved it when she did "voices." Her classroom full of students were all her beloved children and they'd come back regularly to visit long after they had moved on. She was a special lady.

Ingredients – Makes 2 1/2 dozen
1/2 cup or 115g butter
1 cup or 200 sugar
1 large egg
2 cups or 250g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 190g thick rhubarb sauce

For the rhubarb sauce:
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
12 oz or 340g rhubarb
1/8 cup or 25g sugar – or more to taste
Good pinch salt

Optional for serving: powdered sugar

Method
Trim the ends off the rhubarb, cut into chunks. Combine with the sugar and the orange zest and juice in a pan and gently cook for 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb begins to soften.

Cook a bit longer, until some of the juice has evaporated. You want a nice thick spoonable sauce. Set aside to cool.

Note: You won't use it all of the sauce in this recipe since it makes more than one cup. Stir the balance through some yogurt or serve it on pancakes. Its bright fresh taste will have you making the sauce again just to eat.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your cookie sheet by lining it with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisking brings in air, much as sifting does so you can sift them together if you prefer.

In a larger bowl, cream together butter and sugar until they are light yellow and fluffy. Add in the egg and beat again until blended.



Add in the rhubarb sauce and mix till blended.

Now beat in the flour mixture briefly until just blended. Don't over beat.



Drop by spoonfuls or a cookie scoop, onto your prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the first batch is just starting to turn golden around the edges.

Leave to cool on the pan for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat until all the cookies are baked.



Once cool, sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, if desired.



Enjoy!

Needing some inspiration for Mothers Day? We've got some lovely cookies for you!




Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. 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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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Grilled Lamb Skewers with Roasted Carrots

These grilled lamb skewers are made with tender marinated leg of lamb chunks, cooked over high heat in a grill pan, then left to rest on sweet roasted young spring carrots. A sprinkle of feta and mint lend even more flavor and just the right touch of saltiness to this flavorful dish.
 


A number of years ago, when we were living in Kuala Lumpur, I had a friend who would buy the organic new baby carrots, greens still attached, that would turn up on occasion in one of our grocery stores. They weren’t cheap but she said that they were worth the splurge. As much as I like carrots, I didn’t imagine that she could be correct. Who would pay that much – don’t remember the exact amount except that it seemed like a lot – for carrots? Not me. After all, how special could they be?

Last week I decided that a simple spring vegetable minestrone would be the perfect recipe to share on the Sunday Supper Movement website for today’s Welcome Spring event, and since it was for the website and not just this little blog, I did splurge. I bought freshly hulled peas, fine French beans, baby zucchini, baby leeks and tiny corn on the cob along with a large bunch of spring carrots, greens still attached. Such a pot of sweet wonderfulness.



I used just a couple of the carrots in the soup so I started looking for another recipe to show off the rest. My original plan for this post was simply spring lamb but when I came across a recipe on Bon Appétit for lamb skewers with carrots, it seemed like kismet. (Which comes from the Arabic word for fate, by the way.)

Of course, Bon Appétit being Bon Appétit, the dish was complicated with two marinades and then a dressing, so I simplified it down to one marinade for the lamb and a mere sprinkling of feta and mint for the finished dish. Ain’t nobody got time for all that. I can’t imagine how this could be improved upon. It was perfect in every way and the carrots were fabulous. Sweet, tender and with such wonderful flavor. Now I know what my friend was talking about! Next time I make this, I will double the carrots so I suggest you do too. I’ve already been back to the store and bought another bunch.

Ingredients to serve 2-3
For the spring lamb skewers:
1 lb 3oz or 540g leg lamb chunks

For the lamb marinade:
2 large garlic cloves
1 small red chili pepper
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 cup or 60ml dry white wine
1 teaspoon large grain sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil

For the oven roasted spring carrots:
9 1/3 oz or 265g spring carrots
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (a good drizzle to coat)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
8-10 fresh mint leaves
2 oz or 57g crumbled feta
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Cut the lamb into bite-sized pieces and put them in a Ziploc bag.


Mince your garlic and red chili pepper. Strip the rosemary leaves off of the stems and chop them finely.

Add all the marinade ingredients into a mixing bowl up to and including the black pepper, then whisk in the olive oil until well blended.



Pour the marinade into the bag with the lamb. Mix it around until the lamb is well coated, then press all of the air out and seal. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but you can also make this early in the day and leave it marinating till you are ready to cook dinner. Mine marinated about three hours.

To roast the carrots, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Scrub the carrots well and cut the long tops of the greens off. You can leave on a little bit for color, if desired. If some of the carrots are thicker than the others, cut them in half lengthwise.

Pile the carrots on a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then spread them out so they aren't touching each other.



Roast in the preheated oven until lovely and golden and caramelized, turning once in the middle of roasting time of about 20-25 minutes.



Thread your lamb onto wooden skewers cut to fit snugly in your grill pan. Discard the bag with the marinade.


Heat the pan over high heat. You’ll need to turn your extractor fan on or perhaps even open a window because this is going to smoke. But it’s going to be fast and worth it, I promise.

Once your pan is scorching hot, lay four of the lamb skewers in it, quickly searing one side. You don’t want to crowd the grill pan so don’t try to cook them all at once.

Cook for 2-3 minutes on that side, then turn and cook the other side for another 2-3 minutes.

This will leave your small bites of lamb still pink inside. If you want them done more, cook for another minute or two on each side. I encourage you to leave them pink inside though, because they will be more tender.

As you remove the cooked lamb from the grill pan, rest the skewers on the roasted carrots.

Continue until all of your lamb skewers are done and are resting on the carrots. Give the whole pan another few grinds of fresh black pepper.

Crumble the feta and rip the mint leaves onto the lamb and carrots.



Enjoy!



Who is ready to welcome spring with me? My Sunday Supper family sure is. Check out all the lovely spring recipes they are sharing today!

Breakfast:
Appetizers:
Beverages:
Main Dishes:
Side Dishes:
Desserts:




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Friday, April 15, 2016

Pan-fried Sardines #FishFridayFoodies

Pan-fried sardines cooked quickly and simply in a drizzle of almost smoking hot olive oil, with a good sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, are a delight to eat. You can taste the sea. 

Sardines, if you can find them fresh, are usually one of the least expensive of fish at the fish market. In fact, when we lived in Singapore, where local fish was abundant and mostly inexpensive, the markets never seemed to sell sardines. I finally started asking around to find out why because when we lived across the causeway in Malaysia, they were always available. These were the same fishing waters, right? Why would Singapore not have sardines?

What I found out is that it wasn’t worth the small price the fishermen would get for them in Singapore, so they didn’t bother bringing the sardines to market. Apparently the Malaysian fishermen, with lower living expenses, could make enough for their needs. As much as we enjoyed our year and a half in Singapore, I was thrilled when we were transferred back to Kuala Lumpur. Ah, fresh sardines again!

If you'd like to read about the first time I ever ate whole fresh sardines - not from a can - it was on a holiday in Portugal. I talk about recreating the piri piri chicken, but we've been eating the sardines ever since too. Sometimes grilled but most often pan-fried.

This month my Fish Friday Foodies group is being hosted by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. She set us the task of cooking whole fish or seafood, head to tail or head to tentacle, whichever the case may be. It was a toss up for me between imported whole pink trout, which we have every time I see it in my local market, (Perhaps once a month. It’s not cheap so it’s a treat.) or sardines, which are always available and inexpensive. All of the sardines I cooked for this post cost me Dhs. 7.50 or only two dollars total.

Count on at least three or four pan-fried sardines per person, depending on size for a main course. Two per person as an appetizer.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs or 675g small sardines (sometimes I get six or eight, depending on size, for the two of us)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

To serve:
Lemon or lime wedges
Chopped cilantro

Optional to serve: fresh French radishes

Method
Use a sharp knife with a pointy tip to cut open the belly of the fish.



Gently scrape out all the stuff inside the cavity and discard.

Rinse the sardine under cool tap water to clean it out completely. Repeat until all the sardines are clean inside.



Smaller sardines won’t have any hard scales but sometimes ones that are a little larger do. Run your knife blade sideways up from the tail to the head to check. If there are a few scales, put the sardine in your sink with some cool water and scrape upwards to remove them.

Lay the cleaned sardines on some dry paper towels and allow them to drain.

Salt liberally inside and out with some sea salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.



Drizzle olive oil in your non-stick pan and heat over a medium high heat.

When the oil is quite hot, but not quite smoking, put the sardines in, alternating head to tail so they fit in the pan. If you are cooking more than will fit comfortably, fry them in batches rather than crowding the pan.



Cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side, then gently turn the sardines over to the other.



Cook for another 3-4 minutes on the other side.

Turn again for perhaps one more brief minute on the first side. For fish as small as these sardines, that’s usually long enough, with a few minutes resting time after, to be fully cooked. If you have any doubts, poke a pointy knife in just behind the head to check. The flesh should be white and no longer translucent.

Transfer the sardines to a warm platter and scatter with chopped cilantro. Arrange a few lemon or lime wedges around the platter so each person can add some juice, if he or she so chooses. The radishes are optional, but we love their spicy crunch with bites of sardine that taste freshly of the sea.


Enjoy!

Check out all of the lovely whole fish or seafood recipes we've cooked for you today. We hope they will inspired you in the kitchen!



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