Tag: Valentines

TOMATO-CARROT SOUP…DELICATELY FLAVOURED WITH STAR ANISE

“Men are like soup: you always want to have one on the back burner, just in case.”
Unattributed feminist quote
Tomato-Carrot Soup with Star Anise
Tried my hand at a tomato-carrot soup this morning, flavoured delicately with a spice that has intrigued me endlessly over the past few days. None other than the pretty star anise ! A nice & gentle vegetarian soup, beautifully flavoured & great for the winter chill that has descended upon us. This is an adaptation of a soup my mother makes almost everyday in the winter months.Star Anise…the pretty spice!
Star anise plays a key role in the slow cooked dishes that characterize Eastern Chinese cuisine. Its licorice flavor enhances red cooked dishes. It is also the secret ingredient in many Indian stews and curries. And yes…literally…’No croutons required’!!
Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 8-10 medium / quartered
Carrots – 2 / chopped roughly
Onion – 1 / quartered
Garlic – 2 cloves
Red Lentil (Masoor dal) – 1 tbsp (optional/I add it to increase food value)
Star anise – 2 flowers
Salt to taste
Butter – 1 tbsp
Freshly ground white pepper
Method:
  • Put all the vegetables + lentils + star anise in a cooker or pan with salt & about 2 cups of water.
  • Cook until soft.
  • Remove the star anise (reserve for garnishing if you like) & run the soup in a blender . Strain.
  • Take some butter in a pan & saute the white pepper for a minute. Turn the soup into the pan & simmer till it comes to a boil. Serve with a drizzle of cream & freshly ground pepper.

Warm soup for the soul…pipe a heart on top & you’re all set for V-day!!

‘No Croutons Required‘ a new monthly food blogging event alternately hosted by Lisa’s Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes. Each month the host will invite bloggers around the world to submit a vegetarian soup or salad recipe, sometimes with a theme, sometimes not. The theme for February is simply vegetarian soups…which fits me in quite warmly! My entry’s on its way…

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

HEARTY ALMOND SHORTBREAD…How deep is your love?

“I am still convinced that a good, simple, homemade cookie is preferable to all the store-bought cookies one can find.”
James Beard
Almond Shortbread Hearts…delicious to the last crumb!

These are one of those cookies that disappear before you can say Jack Robinson! Very easy to make, non-demanding or challenging, & above all, full of taste! Great cut-out cookies! Perfect hearts for Valentines!

Nutty, Buttery & Crisp…goodness in every bite!

I made hearts & flowers since I love the flowers too, but you can make an assortment of graduated hears if you like…or heart cut-outs in larger cookies! These are cookies I make just at the whim of it. Not involved or bothersome, these are nutty ‘n’ buttery … a treat to have. I practically took under an hour to make these; some for a friend, & between the DH, the kids & their friends, the rest vanished! Boxed some for a friend with a quick card on top…

Ingredients:
Butter – 100gms
Castor Sugar – 5 tbsps / ground in coffee grinder
Flour – 1 1/2 cups
Almonds – 1/2 cup / ground in coffeee grinder with skins on
Almond Essence – 1 tsp
Extra castor sugar for sprinkling on top

Simple indulgence…

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.
  • Beat the butter & almond essence with 5 tbsps of castor sugar. ( I do it by hand).
  • Mix in the flour & ground almonds together to make a firm dough.
  • Chill for 30 minutes if the dough is soft.
  • Roll out to 1/8″ thickness & cut out desired shapes. Sift castor sugar lightly on top.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown.
  • Leave on cookie sheets for a minute & then cool on racks.
  • Drizzle with melted dark chocolate.
  • Store in an airtight container. These keep for upto 2 weeks.
  • Note: Makes about 2- 21/2 dozen cookies.

How deep is your love?

Pooja read this somewhere…” Spend your life such a way , so that when you get old you will have nice memories to cherish about “ & says, “Let us try to add one more such memorable day to our life and share here with others”. Onto building memories, this one is off to Pooja’s at ‘My Creative Ideas’ for her Valentine’s event.

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD….

“For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous.”
Anthony Bourdain

Rice Noodles with Stir-fried Chicken & Veggies…& a mild chili sauce!

And my search goes on, carrying me further into the far-east in search of pan-asian cuisine. Thanks to Andaliman I’ve figured out that there are many more sauces than I ever thought there existed. AB from HomemeadeS gave me some more direction, & I made a chunky chili sauce from her blog. I’m getting there….this meal tasted really nice & with a lot of flavour! Me thinks it was the sauce that did the magic!

A sauce full of flavour…Not too hot & spicy too!

Sambal (chili sauce), is one of Indonesia’s traditional food seasonings. Almost every region in Indonesia has its own special chili sauce with different taste and ingredients.Sambal is thicker and richer tasting than Mexican salsa. It ranges in spiciness. There are a number of varieties which are popular in Indonesia.

I adapted AB’s sweet chili sauce recipe with shallots, garlic, tomatoes, red chilli flakes & tamarind that figured in its long list of ingredients. I used whatever I could find easily & made a chili sauce which wasn’t sweet but turned out really nice.

Chili Sauce from HomemadeS. Recipe link HERE.

Only changes were red onions (iso shallots), lime leaves (iso kafir), demerera sugar (iso palm sugar/reduced too), & no galangal (since its available here in special stores only & I didn’t have time to go).

Ingredients for the main meal:

Chicken – 3 breasts /cut into bite sized pieces
Garlic – 5-6 cloves (chopped fine)
Button mushrooms – 200gms / quartered
Baby corn – 100gms / sliced
Brocolli -1 small head/ divided into florets
Bok choy – 2 heads /chopped
Bell peppers – 1 red/1 yellow/1 green/ diced
Spring Onions – 4-5 / chopped with greens
Cashewnuts – a handful/ dry roasted
Prepared Noodles (with a little love!)

All chopped up & ready to go…check out the heart!!

Method:

  • Steam brocolli & baby corn separately till crisp tender. Keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a wok & stir fry mushrooms on high till they release their liquid & become dry. Remove from oil & reserve.
  • Add chopped garlic, saute for a minute & add chicken pieces; saute till nicely done.
  • Add 2-3 generous tbsps of chili sauce & lime leaves & give it a good stir.
  • Put back the mushrooms, & also all the remaining vegetables except the spring onions & bok choy. Stir well on high for about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
  • Heat some oil in a big pan & add a tbsp of chili sauce (its not very hot at all), followed by the prepared noodles & stir well.
  • Now add the chicken & veggies to this, & also the spring onions, greens & bok choy. Stir well
  • Top with roasted cashewnuts & serve hot with sauce on the side.

The ‘Kitchen of Love’ invites entries for quote… “an appetizer, dinner dish, or side item that includes at least one food considered an aphrodisiac. As February quickly draws near, so does Valentine’s Day. While commercialism causes the adverse effect for many, Valentine’s Day remains a day for love, etching a small moment for adornment and thoughtfulness into our busy lives. And so, I have decided to host an event that celebrates Valentine’s Day and many food aphrodisiacs that offer endless possibilities to this affectionate day.”…unquote.

This is my entry for the loverly event…& to wrap it up with dessert, do head to Zorra’s site!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Strawberries in a Trifle … Quite Literally So!!

“That most wonderful object of domestic art called trifle…with its charming confusion of cream and cake and almonds and jam and jelly and wine and cinnamon and froth.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Dressed up with grated chocolate, melted chocolate, sliced strawberries & fresh mint leaves!

I made these in dessert cups with the leftover sponge that I had frozen. Simple & effective, a rocking good dessert in one of our favourite combinations this season…‘Chocolate & Strawberry’!! Ready in minutes, with nothing very involved, this is indeed a whimsical way of using left-overs!!

A hearty trifle for Valentines…
The word “trifle” comes from the old French term “trufle,” and literally means something whimsical or of little consequence. Many puddings evolved as a way of using up leftovers and trifle originated as a way to use stale cake. A proper English trifle is make with real egg custard poured over sponge cake soaked in fruit and sherry and topped with whipped cream.

A pudding/dessert I made with a layer of strawberry sponge that I reserved while making the Chocolate Strawberry Cake(pictured right). I saved a layer of the sponge because I thought the cake looked a trifle higher than I wanted it to be.

Ingredients:(Makes 4-6 strawberry trifles)
Strawberry Sponge:
Eggs – 2
Sugar – 50 gms
Cornflour – 1 tbsp
Flour – 50gms
Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Strawberry essence – 1 tsp

Strawberry cream:
Whipping cream – 300ml
Strawberries – 100gms / reserve 1-2 for topping
Castor sugar – 1-2 tbsps
Grated chocolate,dark melted chocolate,sliced strawberries,sprinkles,mint leaves etc for topping.

Method:

  • For the sponge:
  • Line & grease a swiss roll pan or an 8″ square tin.
  • Sift the cornflour + flour + baking powder + salt 3 times. Keep aside.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
  • Beat the eggs & sugar well till it holds thick ribbons; about 10 minutes.
  • Beat in the strawberry essence.
  • Gently fold in the flour mix, a tbsp at a time, in figure 8 hand movements so that the beaten air doesn’t escape.
  • Turn into the prepared tin & bake for about 15-20minutes/ until done.
  • Remove from tin after 5 minutes; take off the lining & cool completely on rack.
  • For the strawberry cream:
  • Chop the strawberries into small pieces.
  • Whip the cream with castor sugar till firm. Fold in the chopped strawberries.
  • To assemble:
  • Take a round cookie cutter & cut circles to fit dessert cup. Alternatively, crumble cake roughly & line the bottoms of the cups with half the cake.

  • Put a layer of strawberry cream, followed by another layer of cake.
  • Top finally with the remaining strawberry cream.

  • Border the cream with grated chocolate, drizzle melted dark chocolate over the top & place sliced strawberries & mint leaves. Use sprinkles if you like.
  • Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

In the shadow of the setting sun!

This month for Leftover Tuesdays #12, the challenge foodie Pam presents is ‘to create something for your sweetheart and if you can use up some leftover Chocolate in the process your creation with be extra sweet!’ This trifle has got to be it from me. Even the chocolate I used to border the rifle is from a left-over bar of toblerone!! Sending this off to Pam…

This one is off to Zorra‘s as well for her hearty event…‘A heart for your valentine’. Do drop by her place and check out all the beautiful entries…

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

PANNA COTTA with STRAWBERRY COULIS…Elegant & Sublime!

“Good food gladdens the heart.”
Author Unknown

Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis…

An elegant, simple Italian dessert. Creamy & incredibly satisfying! Having read about it several times, I always wondered of how beautiful & versatile something like this would be. Somehow never got down to making it till now when strawberries started showing up in the market. Sublime…& a sure winner. DH loved it & the kids found it AWESOME!!

The pudding before it was sent to chill!!

I scoured plenty of recipes on the net, & I finally settled for this one from Good Morning America by Chef Emeril Lagasse…I had to do one with strawberry coulis. Coulis is a French sauce which can be sweet or savoury, depending on what it is meant to accompany.There are as many sauces as there are versions of panna cotta on the web. A hot caramel sauce, a mocha sauce, a chocolate sauce, a mango sauce…the list is endless. And then the versions…a chocolate panna cotta, strawberry, mango, pistachio, a cookie base…how much more versatile can an eggless desert get. This is one desert I shall explore more & more!!

“Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. An Italian phrase which literally means “cooked cream”, it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is eaten all over Italy where it is served with wild berries, caramel or chocolate sauce. It is not generally known exactly how or when this dessert came to be, but some theories suggest that cream, for which mountainous Northern Italy is famous, was historically eaten plain or sweetened with fruit or hazelnuts.”

Recipe as modified from GMA, which I adapted it a bit here & there.

Ingredients:

For the custard:
Cream – 400ml
Whole Milk – 1 cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Zest of 1 orange
Gelatin – 1 1/2 tbsps
Water – 1/4 cup/warm
For the Strawberry Coulis:
Strawberries – 200gms
Sugar – 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Zest of 1 orange
Water – 2 tbsp
Method:
  • To make the panna cotta:
  • Combine the cream + milk + sugar + zest in a pan & simmer till it comes to a slow boil.
  • In the meantime, warm the 1/4 cup water & sprinkle the gelatin over it & leave to soften. (Since I increased the gelatin from the original recipe, it didn’t quite soften completely.Also became a dense glob! So I stirred in a little more warm water & then strained it.)
  • Take the milk/cream mixture off the heat. Whisk in the gelatin & pour into ramekins 0r bowls. I saw a recipe in which they even used a cupcake tray!

  • Leave to set/chill for 4 hours minimum to overnight.
  • To make the strawberry coulis:
  • Quarter the strawberries & put in pan with remaining ingredients. Simmer just till sugar dissolves.
  • Remove immediately, cool & blend. Strain & chill.
  • To serve:
  • To demould, place the bowls in warm water for 15 seconds & turn onto serving platter. Drizzle with strawberry coulis
  • OR, Serve in bowls with strawberry coulis on top. (I found this version simpler, though will get proper moulds & try it demoulded again.)
  • Garnish with sliced strawberries & serve.

Demoulded OR…

… Served in bowls

Zorra at Kochtopf has a LOVEly event on for Valentines…‘A Heart for your Valentine‘ & invites us to treat our Valentine with something sweet or savory but always heart-shaped or heart-decorated. Here’s an ‘edible heart ‘ & a sweet one at that for her event…

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

SWEET AFFAIRS OF THE HEART…Small Tarts Have Big Hearts

“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”
Mother Teresa

SMALL TARTS WITH BIG HEARTS!

Its time for event # 2 at the Mini Pie Revolution HQ – “Small Tarts Have Big Hearts”. ..time to show off our small tarts for Valentines. Manggy sent me to the Mini Pie HQs…& I was hooked. Have always had this penchant for making small bites/petits fours…thanks a ton Manggy!

Mini Pie Revolution Event # 2 ‘Small Tarts Have Big Hearts’.

TOPLESS TARTS…hmmmmmmmm?

As the Mini Pie Revolution HQs say ‘Tarts, being sexy little things, like to go topless. Some tarts leave a little more to the imagination with strategically placed whipped cream or garnishes. No tart likes complete coverage!’. All that is required is that they must be mini-tarts (bite sized), sweet & baked from scratch.

An assortment of topless tarts on the platter.
A combination of chocolate, strawberries, cake, sprinkles etc. Great fun to make for your valentine…great fun to make anyway!

I made small tarts in assorted round fluted sizes from a left-over dough from a basic pie crust recipe. This was the dough remaining from the Daring Bakers Lemon Meringue Pie challenge; but you can use any other pie crust that you like. ( Approximately 1/4 the recipe should give you a dozen assorted small tarts).

For the Crust:
Pie recipe courtesy of Wanda’s Pie in the Sky by Wanda Beaver, 2002
Cold butter – ¾ cup ; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
Flour – 2 cups
Granulated sugar – ¼ cup
Salt – ¼ tsp
Ice water – ⅓ cup

For the Tops of the tarts:
  • I put a dollop of chocolate ganache on each tart.
  • I cut some small circles out of a layer of Strawberry sponge cake & placed a circle each on a few tarts shells. Topped the sponge with ganache, sprinkles & a slice of strawberry. Recipe for the sponge & ganache can be found here.
  • I mixed cake crumbs with melted chocolate, rolled them into flattish balls & placed them on others. Topped them again with a ganache, followed by sprinkles/strawberry slices.
  • Marbled one with cream; edged another tart with valentine sprinkles after drizzling melted chocolate around the edges; topped others with chocolate flakes; used sliced strawberries for others.
  • They were all extempore & loads of fun. I used whatever I could lay my hands on.
  • The kids had an absolute blast devouring them!
  • These can be made a couple of days in advance & stored covered in the fridge. Do place the strawberries just a little before serving otherwise they lose their fresh look & appeal.

    SMALL TARTS DO HAVE BIG HEARTS!!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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