Nuffingk. Nuffingk at all. Nor is adding five-spice powder. “What? What?” you ask. Yes, warm sticky pudding made with prunes and dates, especially if one runs out of dates but finds a nearly full bag of prunes, and especially with five-spice and ginger and cardamom — “Bwah! Madness!” you exclaim. Ah, but this pudding does turn out well, especially when, er, since I had an abundance of caramel sauce just begging to be used.
I got the hankering for such a pudding when I saw the recipe for American Masala’s Sticky Toffee Cake at Zoë Bakes. The adding of Indian spices to this comforting pud, not to mention the easy blending of ingredients, caught my heart (er, stomach) and mind. But I needed a recipe that gave weight measurements for flour (yes, obsessed I am, Young Skywalker), and found David Lebovitz’s Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding — in which the sticky goodness bubbles along with the baking pudding.
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Yemisir wat (a.k.a., misir we’t, mesir wot, and so on, because I’m poorly transliterating it from another alphabet) is my go-to dish at any Ethiopian restaurant I visit. I’ve always wanted to make it at home, mainly to control the amount of fat that goes in, but most importantly, to consume it without having to drive far each time. 
I’m still trying to find the Best Spice Proportions, so if you have a favorite recipe for this dish, I’d love to hear about it. But I think this one is a good start.
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I love many mustard greens and other cruciferous vegetables, but have had a tricky time with kale. No matter how much we sautéed it, with lots of oil and garlic, it remained a bit too tough and a bit too bitter for me. The trick, I found, is to slowly cook it in a soup, where it becomes tender, but not mushy, and tastes more mellow.
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Wednesday, 16 February 2011
The inspiration for these nutty-dusty-tender cookies come from Russian tea cakes I used to get many years ago in cafés. There are also called Mexican wedding cookies (or cakes). My version has a faintly Middle Eastern flavor, just to throw in another regional description.
Though less sweet, uncoated cookies are still yummy.
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I had a bread disaster, using a starved sourdough starter for a Sally Lunn. The bread came out rubbery. In spite of that texture, it was filled with bubbles, so not a complete brick. Bread pudding ended up a great way to repurpose the failed Sally Lunn. I’ve always enjoyed the pudding from the Station House Café in Point Reyes, but this one has no raisins and more apples.
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Thus a round-up of books read in 2009. Late in coming, I know; I blame the remodeling. O:-)
Once again, I’ve marked recommended titles with the lightbulb icon, 
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Hellllooo, Winter! Brussels sprouts and cauliflower star in this cheesy, creamy seasonal dish. Mine is a somewhat lighter version of the Epicurious recipe, taking copious hints from comments mentioning how heavy the original felt. Already crisp panko breadcrumbs gave me a head-start, so I didn’t need to fry the topping. I also added cornstarch to the cheese for additional binding power.
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[Yipes, nearly three months since I've posted an entry! I've been busy with cooking and whatnot, just haven't gotten to the writing bit for some time. Thank you for your patience.]
Okay, so maybe not quite a tarte Tatin, since we serve these tarts with the crust topside, to reduce the sogginess factor. These are more like a pandowdy topped with a flaky tart crust.
Plums being cooked on stovetop
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Monday, 20 September 2010
I’ve always approached making tart crusts with some amount of trepidation. What are the right amounts of ingredients? How do I avoid overworking the dough so it doesn’t turn out like cardboard?
I’m still a wimp about how to roll out and shape the dough. Simon has that skill down pat. But I have figured out how to make the dough itself, thanks to Sonya and Robert, who pointed out that using chilled vodka greatly reduces the gluten development. Update (19 Dec 2010): Simon found the dough a bit too crumbly without any water added: it does help the dough stick together better while rolling out. We now incorporate a little bit of ice-cold water at the end of step 4.
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Saturday, 11 September 2010
I kept forgetting that we were running out of mayonnaise, until I was reminded by Sonya S. how easy it is make at home. It ended up taking me about five minutes to make this mayonnaise, but more time to clean up!
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