european vacation

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I have just returned from a ten day holiday in Europe so alas I have not been cooking or baking and thusly have no recipes to post this week.  However, I did do my share of eating so I thought perhaps I’d share a few photos of the food on which I dined.  (My speech sounds very formal right now.  Must be leftover from being exposed to the Queen’s English in Cornwall…)

The first half of my trip was spent in Germany and one of the first things I did there was attend a birthday party in a castle.  Yep, a castle.  It was pretty neat. 

The surroundings were lovely and so was the food.  Below is the main course which consisted of spaetzle (ah-mazing), fingerling potatoes, roasted vegetables, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, some sort of smoked fish pate, meatballs, fish cake, baked fish, and thinly sliced cured meat.

There was also a venison stew, several kinds of German potato salad, cabbage and carrot salads, and probably a few other things I am forgetting but I wanted to save room for dessert so I showed a little restraint.

After the main course the waiters brought out dessert which was lovely and light: strudel, fresh fruit, pudding, and sorbet.  There was actually a second dessert later after coffee and cappucinos that consisted of various pies and cakes but I was way too full to partake.  Probably should have eaten less spaetzle… I couldn’t help it though– it was just too good!

I realized upon returning home that I had taken approximately 35 photos of food, 20 of landscapes, and 3 of family.  Oops.  Do my dad’s hands in the background of the below picture count as another family photo?  Guess I got 4 of family then.

The above were some very lovely, very tasty sundaes we ate at an Italian gelateria in Germany.  Apparently the family that runs the place do such a booming business during the warmer months that they return to Italy and relax during the off-season.  Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.  Pun intended.

Later in the week I will be posting pictures of a food market I visited in Stuttgart.  The selection and presentation were incredible!

Vanilla “malted”

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Fact: I love all things malted. I attribute this to the many “chocolate malteds” that my grandparents treated me to as a child. Malts are way better than shakes in my humble opinion.

I decided to make vanilla ice cream with a little malted powder thrown in for good measure. This is me opening a vanilla bean. Look at that manicure! Yeah, that didn’t last very long… Did some dishes later that day and there it went. Ah well.

I love the way the vanilla bean flecks dot the custard. Beautiful.

This ice cream was the perfect compliment to the strawberry pie that I made the other day but of course it is quite good all by itself too…

Malted Vanilla Ice Cream (adapted from a recipe from www.countryliving.com/icecream)

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 cups half-and-half
  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup malted milk powder

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Drop in split vanilla bean. Place pan over medium-high heat and whisk until mixture reaches a simmer. Lower heat to medium and whisk for 5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Strain mixture into large bowl, then whisk in half-and-half, cream, vanilla, and malted milk powder. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

Pour mixture into ice-cream maker; process according to manufacturer instructions.

strawberry pies forever

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There’s going to be a moratorium on strawberries in my house soon.  Not because I don’t love them (I do) but because I have eaten a lot of them recently.  A LOT.   

Today it’ll be my grandma’s strawberry pie and every pie starts with a crust.

This pie is an easy one because the only baking required is for the crust.  Of course, you could buy one of those pre-made crusts but I’m a big fan of doing as much as possible from scratch and when it’s so easy, why not?

The rest of the pie is done on the stovetop.  You boil some sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup and pinch of salt until it’s thick and clear and then remove from heat and add a packet of strawberry Jell-o.  (I’m not gonna lie: the almost neon color of the Jell-o sort of freaked me out, but the part of me that felt nostalgic for all the Jell-o I ate in my youth overrode the freaked-out part.  You could use clear gelatin to avoid the color additive and I may try that next time.) 

Then you stir in strawberries and pour the mixture in the pre-baked pie crust.  Let it cool in the fridge for a few hours and eat.  Easy as you-know-what.

Strawberry Pie

  • ¾ sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup water
  • Dash of salt
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • Small package of strawberry Jell-o
  • 1 quart (4 cups) hulled and cleaned strawberries

Boil sugar, cornstartch, salt, water, and light corn syrup in medium saucepan over medium-high heat until thick and clear.

Remove from heat and add the small package of strawberry Jell-o.  Cool.

Fold in strawberries and put mixture in baked piecrust.  Chill to set, approximately two hours.  Top with whipped cream if desired.

Basic Flour Pie Crust

  • 1 ½ cups flour, sifted
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter, chilled and cut into cubes
  • ¼ cup (approximately) cold water

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry knife, two knives scissor-style, or food processor with dough blade.  When mixture resembles peas, add water slowly and blend with fork.  Shape dough into a ball and roll out to size slightly larger than pie plate.  Place dough in pie plate and pierce with fork. 

Bake 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

how about cupcakes???

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I had kind of a rough day at work a few weeks ago– it happens.  My cube-mate/friend/very-talented-artist painted this lovely picture for me to cheer me up.  And it worked!  It still makes me smile when I look over at it in the glare of the fluorescent office lights.  You need stuff like that.  Not only does it make me happy, but it inspired me to recreate it in real life!

 Who doesn’t like cupcakes?  I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t.  They’re cute, fun, pretty, taste great– what’s not to like?  I have made them in many iterations over the years but never strawberry-flavored, and since I picked a whole bunch of the lovely little berries last weekend I figured now is the time.

I did a bunch of research for a recipe before making them and wound up shooting from the hip with an adaptation of a strawberry cake recipe I found from Martha Stewart.  Her recipe was unfrosted and suggested baking the strawberries into the top of the cake but I wanted to mix them into the batter instead.

I decided that a cream cheese frosting might be nice on them, but then thought I’d shake it up a bit with mascarpone cheese instead of cream cheese.  I think it was a wise decision.

Voila!  You would have thought that my friend painted the picture after I made the above, right?  Nope.  Other way around.  Good thing I have a small flowered plate!

Strawberry Cupcakes (adapted from Strawberry Cake recipe found at www.marthastewart.com)

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup finely chopped cleaned strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place muffin cups in 12-cup muffin tin.  Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.  Fold strawberries into batter with a spatula.  Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.  If desired, frost with strawberry mascarpone frosting (recipe below).

Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting

  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 4 oz mascarpone cheese, softened
  • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ strawberries, cleaned and pureed in food processor or blender

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat butter and mascarpone cheese until smooth.  Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla, beat until light and fluffy.  Stir in pureed strawberries with a spatula.

chicken curry

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I’m a big fan of one-pot meals.  In the colder months I use my Crock-Pot like it’s going out of style: I make stews, roasts, you name it.  I also love Indian food for probably this very reason: much of it involves simmering a bunch of ingredients in one pot to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

This curry starts out with onions.

Then you add ginger, garlic, cinnamon, curry powder, cumin, yogurt, flour, tomato paste…

…chicken stock, applesauce (yep, applesauce!)…

…chicken, peas, and finally sour cream, and coconut milk along with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe intimidated me at first because of the amount of ingredients (or as a character on my favorite version of Bravo’s Real Housewives series might say “ingredientses”) but actually  it’s a piece of cake.  It takes a little more prep work than your average recipe but once you get the curry started all you have to do is keep adding stuff to the same pot.  So simple.

This curry is great over rice and lately I’ve been into black rice as I have read that the health benefits are numerous.  It also makes for a beautiful and colorful plate so that’s not too bad either. 

Curried Chicken (adapted slightly from “Bon Appetit Keep it Simple: Easy Techniques for Great Home Cooking”)

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cups chopped onion
  • ¼ cup minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
  • 1 10-oz package frozen peas
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.  Add onions and sauté until golden, about 15 minutes.  Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute.  Add curry, cumin and cinnamon sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add flour, then yogurt and tomato paste, whisking until sauce is smooth, about 1 minute.  Add stock and applesauce.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat; simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Add chicken and peas to sauce.  Simmer until chicken is almost cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Add sour cream and coconut milk.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Stir until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, about 5 minutes (do not boil).  Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer to bowl.

Serve with rice.