Today it's the usual Daring Bakers Invasion Day and it's getting to be more and more like an invasion with the membership growing in an exponential way. So for your sake I hope you like Cinnamon rolls and Sticky buns as this is what you are going to see in/on a lot of food blogs today! This month it was the turn of the sweetest Argentinian of them all, Marce's of Pip In the City to choose a recipe for the challenge and when I saw her choice I knew I didn't have to worry because Cinnamon rolls is more or less a national sweet in Sweden; when I was a child the ideal mother was a mother feeding you with cinnamon rolls and glasses of milk when you came home from school . My mother didn't and I don't but I think we are doing OK as mother's anyway. Still I do make Cinnamon rolls with my children and my neighbours here absolutely love them! But if the cinnamon rolls themselves weren't a challenge, following a recipe without changing it is always a challenge to me!
Again I was lucky enough to do the challenge in the company of Tanna of My Kitchen In Half Cups and Karen of Bake My Day, they are such dedicated DBers that they made the buns several times and then they gave me a free ride and let me profit from their experiences, it couldn't be better for a busy and slightly lazy person like me could it? I'm just so lucky. Karen and I did our baking online, chatting and via web cam, well I could see Karen but she couldn't see me (she even took me on a tour of her house) but that was just as well I thought when I saw how elegant she was looking and looked down on myself and saw the usual bum outfit. If there ever was a chance of me becoming ladylike that has definitely evaporated into the corners of the universe. But it was delight for the eye to see Karen! Tanna got up at four in the morning just to be able to participate and I am as usual full of admiration, what a woman she is! I have to say that baking with those two is a delight and I'm very happy they have included me into their little circle!
You know how I always complain about how ugly my challenges look compared to the other Daring Bakers'? Well this month I was furba as you say in Italian, I used my youngest daughter who is 5 to assist me so that I could blame it on her! And then they portray us mothers as unselfish madonna like beings - HA! this just proves what a unfitting cliché that is! But the tragic part of it all is that this time the visual result was better than the other times, I sort of stabbed myself in the back here which serves me right! Maybe I should try to adapt to the boring and unfitting cliché after all.
So what do I think about this month's challenge? I only made the Cinnamon Rolls because I don't have that much time to spare right now and because the Sticky Buns are a bit too sweet for my liking. I filled half of the buns with cinnamon sugar and for the rest I used my Bay leaf & Vanilla sugar which gave it a nice dimension but I still prefer them in the traditional way. I wasn't impressed with this recipe compared to my usual one, the buns are a bit dry and you have to eat them quite quickly. I did like the addition of lemon zest in the dough and I will use that again! And Marce, even though I might seem negative, I really enjoyed this challenge because Cinnamon buns are always Cinnamon buns, thank you for choosing them for this month! You can find the recipe over here and please take a look at what the other Daring Baker's thought about it, here's the complete blog roll!
I knew you were nice but not soo nice! I am overwhelmed by your comments, this morning I felt tears prickle my nose when I read your comments, not to speak about the emails I have received. Thank you, it just confirms what I wrote yesterday! And shows that I have the best readers in the Universe! I could go on writing on this subject but I know that I'm getting boring so I'm posting a recipe today, I haven't been very diligent on that front this week so I'm here to make amends. You may remember the asparagina that I bought, three bunches of the sleekest asparagus. One bunch I used to this lime and asparagina frittata and the second bunch I used for this little dish. When I saw the quail eggs in a shop I bought them immediately because I just can't resist their looks, I know, it shows a very superficial streak in me but I can hardly pretend to get to know them in a deeper sense so when it comes to eggs I think I'm justified to stop at the appearance. They are so small and freckly and quite beautiful. But I want to eat them as well and this is one way to do it, it was quite delicious!
QUAIL EGGS IN TOAST AND ASPARAGUS CREAM SCENTED WITH WHITE TRUFFLE OIL
Quail eggs but you can use small normal eggs
Asparagus, if you can't find fresh you can use frozen because it's going to reduced to a cream anyway
White truffle oil
Bread in slices
Salt
- Steam the asparagus until soft and then blend them into a cream. Use the steaming water to dilute the cream a little.
- Add salt and as much white truffle oil as you like, it's matter of taste!
- Find two cookie cutters, one bigger and one smaller that fits into the bigger one. If you want to simplify this, you just use one cookiecutter and keep the shape of the slice of bread.
- Cut out a shape with the bigger cookie cutter and then make a whole in that with the smaller one.
- Fry the bread on one side in olive oil or butter, turn it over and slip one cracked egg into the whole.
- Go on frying until it's ready. If you prefer your eggs to be fried on both sides, flip it over.
- Put it on a small plate, add some of the asparagus cream and enjoy life!
Yesterday it was two years ago since I started Lucullian Delights. So prepare yourself for some sentimentalism here, you know how I get when I start. I don't think anyone really think about the future when they start a food blog, I didn't for sure but then I rarely do at all so I can't really judge by that. I find it quite surprising that I'm still blogging but I do know why I'm doing it. I do it because of you! Yesterday I spent some time pondering upon the subject, I wanted to see if I could pinpoint why I like blogging so much and I realized that it depends so very much on you. Of course it's nice to write and to take photos but if I didn't get the wonderful response I get from you it would be and feel rather flat and boring and I am sure that I wouldn't have gone on for so long without it! So I want to thank all of you because you enrich my life so much (oh oh, here comes the sloppy stuff), they may say what they want about this 'cyber' world but it has given me so many things that I never expected at all: real friends, beautiful and encouraging emails from all over the world (please forgive me for being so lousy at answering them, I read and relish them all!), positive comments and a reason (excuse?) to experiment in the kitchen! Not to speak about job opportunities! Thanks to Lucullian I have landed a big photo job for a food encyclopedia/ food guide by QA International in Canada. It doesn't end here, if you click over too Culinate you will find an interview with me here. When Liz Crain contacted me about this I was very surprised, I never expected to be interviewed by her but can't say I wasn't flattered. To tell the truth I have a very ambivalent feeling about being interviewed since they ran a story about me and Marco in the local paper in Uppsala, Sweden years and years ago, we happened to defend our PhD degrees within two weeks of each other and don't ask me why the journalist thought it was worth to write about, obviously nothing else was happening. Anyway, that interview was horrible and I still haven't been able to read it all, just the thought makes me cringe... But when I saw Liz's questions I felt calm, not a hint of my previous experience!
So food blogging has so far only brought me positive things but the best thing about it are you! Thank you! And as it is a sort of birthday I would like to make a birthday wish- I would love to hear from you who never comment, I'm so curious about you so please delurk just for this once!
Sorry for letting you wait but I had to finish writing a review, what is really sad is that I haven't finished it still but I can hardly let you wait more can I? So here we go with the seventh roundup of the Heart of the Matter - eating for life. This month the theme was fruit and berries and we have a surprisingly varied menu here as you will see!
The first entry to arrive and the first I forgot was this Cherry-Orange Compote from Jugalbandi, please forgive me for being so scatterbrained! It is a lovely fruit compote and they provide us with several really appetizing serving suggestions.
When I saw Amanda's Fresh Figs with Fleur de Sel, Aged Balsamic, & Hazelnuts over at Figs Olives Wine I brazenly asked her to submit it as an entry for this month's HotM, such goodness cannot be passed by, can it? Judge for yourselves, I'm sure you will agree with me!
Lakshmi from The 'yum' blog gives us a Plum Banana Spread that sounds really interesting and simple to make! And you can eat with bread and/or ice cream - I love versatile food!
This is a great fruit salad where Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen mix watermelon, pink grapefruit and raspberries to make a very fresh Red Fruit Salad I must say that I find the choice of fruit and berries very attractive!
Simona over at Briccole has made a brilliant salad in which she mixes pears, radicchio, baby spinach, and pecan nuts! I love it! And she gives us linguistic information as well...
My first entry was Grilled Chicken Breast with Fig & Balsamic Salsa
And then it was me again, this time with a Hot but Cold Fruit Soup with Walnuts, Cardamom and Coffee.
Blackberry Jam is the next on the list, Pravs of Simply Spicy gives us the recipe of a lovely jam using apple and lemon as natural pectin. I'm really sad that the blackberry season is over here but next year...
This is surely one of the most delicious recipes for tea that I have seen for a long time, Linda's of Make Life Sweeter entry is Vanilla Roibos Nectarine Ice Tea with basil in it! As soon as I find some Vanilla Roibos I'm making it!
My co-host Joanna from Joanna's Food gives us a recipe of a pastry dough without butter, talk about heart healthy. And then she filled it with plums, I think it looks beautiful! You can find her Butter-less pastry - & a fruit tart here.
This is the first time John from Hungry Again participate in an event and I am very flattered that he choose ours. His Peach and Pumpernickel Panzanella sounds really good, my father would have loved it, he was crazy about pumpernickel bread!
After a lot of sweet entries it's time for a savoury one, Maryanne presents this impressive Stuffed Baked Acorn Squash where she uses rice, orange, walnut and mint. It definitely worth to click over to Finding La Dolce Vita to check out the recipe.
Another beautiful salad, this time it is a Spinach-Strawberry-Almond Salad that Mansi of Food and Fun has made, it's so attractive! I'm getting hungrier and hungrier over here!
Will you be able to resist Mercede's Fish Baked with Pomegranate and Lime? I'm not sure I can especially as the pomegranate season is here but I'm not so sure I will find the loumi needed. You don't know what a loumi is? Check it out over at Desert Candy!
Christine of Christine Cooks always makes the most delicious things for the HotM, this time she has made a Peach Blackberry Crumble and as usual she has included a lot of useful information about what she has used!
Now Franz from Einfachkoestlich.com reminded me of something I haven't eaten for eons, he presents us with Calf's heart with Balsamico and pearl onions, my mother and I used to feast on calf's heart when I still lived at home so I know that this is delicious! Just remember to substitute the butter with heart healthy oil!
Over at Vanielje Kitchen you not only find a lovely breakfast suggestion with Pomegranate seeds, you are also entertained with the story of Persephone, could you ask for more?
Last but not the least we have Aagje's Stewed pears with star anise and cardamom, they are simmered slowly for at least 2 hours and this incredible and simple dish can be eaten as a dessert or why not as a condiment? I just have to tell you to go to Leafy Cooking to check out Aagje's new kitchen, I turn green of envy over here every time I think about the window corner...
Update:
There's no need to throw yourself at my mercy Jeanne, I'm more than happy to include your lovely Gingery Baked Nectarines even if you missed the deadline! Steer over to Cook Sister! to get the recipe, it's worth it.
So this is it, I think we have a wonderful and inspiring collection of heart healthy recipes here and I thank all of you for participating! Next month it's Joanna's turn to host so keep your eyes open for her announcement!
It's still warm enough to live without socks but I fear that soon, very soon I have to adapt and put them on. But that means that I have to start using normal shoes and I'm not looking forward to that. Why is it that nice shoes are so difficult to find and that when you do find them they cost far too much? I have always had problems finding shoes that I really like, sure I see lots of them but they are all designer's shoes that cost what it costs to feed a family in India for a month or more and I can honestly not spend that money on a pair of shoes. Apart from not having that kind of money to spend of course so all this is rather hypothetical. But still, I do wonder how this world is evolving really. Yes I know, I'm boring and depressing and I know it's Monday and who wants to start the week reading about this but I can't help that all this abundance of ours make me feel uneasy. OK enough.
A couple of days ago I bought three big bunches of what was called asparagina or very thin asparagus. It definitely not the season for normal asparagus but I couldn't resist these. (Talk about not resisting our abundance, what a hypocrite I am. ) And now I am standing here with a lot of asparagina that has to be used so you know what you have in front of you... Saturday I made a lime and asparagina frittata that I definitely will make again, maybe for lunch today actually hmm...
LIME AND ASPARAGINA FRITTATA
1-2 servings
15-18 asparagina stalks, they are really thin so it's not that much. If you use normal asparagus you obviously use half the amount of less.
1-2 limes, it depends on how big they are
2 eggs
3-4 tblsp freshly grated parmesan
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
- Grate the zest of the limes and squeeze one of them.
- Clean and trim the asparagina stalks and braise them in a pan in olive oil. Add the lime juice and a little salt. Braise slowly until they are soft.
- Put the asparagina in a greased oven-proof dish
- Whisk eggs, lime zest and parmesan cheese together, not too well. Add a little salt and then pour the frittata batter over the asparagina and put the dish into a pre-heated oven (175°C/347°F) until it's ready, sorry but I forgot to check the time but I would guess 15-20 minutes maybe..
Peperonata is a very typical Italian dish, I'm surprised I haven't posted a recipe of it before but maybe I thought it was a too obvious a dish. Anyway, here it is. One of the reasons why I want to share this with you is that it is such a perfect example of how I have learnt and apprehended Italian cooking throughout the years. I always loved to eat cold peperonata with bread to dip in it so I started to cook it quite early on but I made two mistakes, I added too much tomato and I let the bell peppers overcook. I started with the classic version which includes bell peppers, onion and tomatoes but over the years I have picked up ingredients here and there so now I have my own version of it. First to be added was black olives, I got that from Romana, my mother in law's domestic help with whom I have spent lots of time with in the kitchen, asking her about what she was cooking. The celery comes from my neighbour Paola, we are endlessly swapping recipes and talking about food when we meet. Sometimes we manage to speak about something else as well but most of the time we seem to be discussing food! The leek is my own addition, I love the flavour of leek, it's so subtle and in certain dishes it's much nicer than normal onions. A little here and a little there and you learn some more of how to cook Italian. So here it is, make yourself and your family a bowl, dip some nice bread into it, preferably when it's cold, and think of me!
PEPERONATA
2 big bell pepper, red or yellow or both
1 leek
1-2 sticks of celery
200 ml /0.85 cup tomato sauce
15-20 black olives
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
- Cut the leek and the celery into thick slices and braise them in olive oil.
- Cut the bell pepper into strips the width of your ring finger or little finger (it obviously depends on how big handed you are) and when the leek and the celery begins to soften you add the pepper. Be careful not to burn the leek.
- After 4-5 minutes you add the tomato sauce and then leave it to simmer for about 10-15 minutes, the bell pepper should be soft but absolutely not mushy.
- Five minutes before the dish is ready you add the olives.
- Serve it hot or cold and don't forget the bread!
