Corn Pancakes

These turned out to be little flavorful morsels. The Corn Pancakes for today´s FFWD recipe were my dinner on Tuesday. It was not supposed to be that way, since they are more of a side dish, but I started making them and then continue to eat them, and before I knew it dinner was over. Standing in the kitchen by myself; I know, it´s the only way I can get away with this small pancakes for dinner. There is such joy in eating alone sometimes. The mixtures and reheated leftovers that turn out to be so satisfying, yet you wouldn’t dream of offering them to anyone, much less post about them.

Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

I tasted a cake some weeks ago, that I can´t seem to forget about. This cake is nothing new, but for me it was inspiring the moment I expected the usual sweet familiar taste and found something tingling in my mouth. After baking many, many carrot cakes, I ate one a few weeks ago that was a welcome change. It was extremely moist, spicy and perfect ratio crumb to frosting, which is a big deal for me. The piquant flavor came from ginger in the frosting. Of course, when I searched for information as whether to use powder, fresh, candied ginger or a combination, I realized it´s nothing new, and the cake I bake all the time has ginger as one of the spices in the batter.

Pain D´epices

The interesting thing about this kind of bread is that there´s no butter, oil or eggs. Somehow it doesn´t feel like it´s going to come together, rise, crack and turn into a moist, spicy slice of anything. The fact that it does is one of those incredible baking results, the ones that defy many laws or ideas. 
The texture is weird at first, the knife sort of doesn´t want to dive into it and offers a bit of a resistance. A thick skin, that´s what this bread has. And shiny. So, it´s better to leave it wrapped for one or two days, like the recipe advices. But it looked so nice that of course I cut it before that. And then I wrapped it and left it unbothered for a day. 
It was so much better the next days. It becomes a more uniform thing in terms of flavor and texture. The spices and nuts and dried fruit and honey are what this bread is all about. Kind of obvious, right? I went ahead and used up almost everything I had. Mainly pistachios and figs. Man, I love that stuff. 

Dill and Red Onion Bread

I don´t think I ever made a bread dough that looked as pretty as this one. The little flecks of green and bits of purple. Don´t you agree? I´m sure you do.

Looking for ways to use some fresh dill I came upon this gorgeous recipe. I own many bread books so it´s fair for me to say that most dill recipes involve seeds and rye flour. A good rye bread is a treasure, but, without denying that, it´s also fair to say that there are very few recipes with fresh dill. I´m not talking here of throwing a bunch of chopped dill into any white or rye dough; that would constitute a dill bread but can pretty much be made with any herb lying around.

Brownies with Nutella or Dulce de Leche

We’re having a mild winter here, but with the days getting shorter the kitchen is the place to be. I know many will cringe reading about warm ovens and hot soups, but, hey, we´re glad the sweltering summer is over, at least for a few months.

The cold months always give way to nesting and deep thinking. How natural to bury myself in the kitchen and pretend that´s my only thing to do all day. Bake whatever I want. For as many hours as I want.

Sesame Sablés (FFWD)

I almost didn´t make today´s FFWD recipe. I had already missed last friday´s because I was sick for more than a week. I was fine by monday afternoon, but had to hurry and put together a little birthdayparty (mine!) for a bunch of girlfriends who came over for dinner tuesday night.

Caramelized Red Onion Dip

A night of friends, laughter, good food, a trickle of rain, empty bottles and glasses, music, dessert plates with chocolate remains, pictures, gifts. That´s how I spent my birthday. The day began foggy, which year after year indicates that my birthday is up. I cannot say for sure it will be tremendously cold, but it will definitely be foggy. It marks the beginning of winter, shorter days, more kitchen hours and less sun in the terrace.

French Strawberry Cake (TWD)

 

This recipe was bound to happen in June, I realized after a few days of nominations. So, right after they were posted I set out to buy some berries, in case they disappeared just as I needed them. French Strawberry Cake, by contributing master baker Flo Braker, is all about the strawberries. There was no place for substitutions here.

Roasted Beet Soup #Sunday Supper

I had this post already in line, (my 100th!), when I heard about and joined Sunday Supper. 
The idea of the family supper, the gathering around the table to share a homemade meal speaks of warmth and care and love. Today´s theme is father´s day, or a male figure in our life. This is one of the few celebration days where the north and south calendars match (I´m in Buenos Aires, so we are starting our winter).

I had just had lunch with my dad a few days ago and had been laughing about one of our greatest issues when I was growing up. This is not his favorite dish, but since I´ve been in bed with pharyngitis for the last week, I´m posting this which, after all, is about sharing time with my father and having a good time together.

Lime Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Someone once told me `even if you make one new recipe every single day for the rest of your life, you wouldn´t  use a fourth of your cookbooks and magazines´.

That was ten years, about 50 books and maybe 60 magazines, ago. You do the math.

I really thought having a food blog would decrease my to-do recipes fast, but the list is getting larger. Aha. There are more recipes to try than ever. Then there are fresh ingredients I surprisingly find at the market, new ideas from browsing other foodies, baking groups.

Take this cake for instance. Why would I want to make another pineapple upside down cake? So thoroughly baked and tested that there´s no need to add to the stack. Unless you have leftover pineapple in the fridge, the one that you´re so dutifully cleaning (the fridge), and, since you have no idea when you used the other half of it (the pineapple), expected to find it a bit fermented, but it´s sweet and perfect. So the search for a recipe begins.

Grilled Eggplants with Honey and Spices

I´ve been sick for five days now, a pharyngitis that developed I don´t know where, but it´s making myself miserable with fever, sore throat and all those annoying little extras that come with house confinement. All mixed together with a humid dose of winter and the occasional rain, let´s say I´m not in my sunniest mood.

I have a dinner with my friends to prepare for next week, but can`t even get myself interested in looking for a few new recipes to make. The list of ideas is getting shorter by the minute; it started with a bit of everything, which is the way I like to do it. 
I haven´t had them over for a long time, not once since moving into the place where I live now. So my vision is of great food, flowers, music, a table with a display of gorgeous dishes, all very colorful and tasty, the refrigerator brimming with even more inviting things to eat… you get it right?

Marsala Roasted Olives and Garlic

It was raining last night and I had a friend coming over for dinner. I cleaned up my fridge a few days ago and continue to do so, not intentionally, so I´m even prouder of myself than I was days ago. If it´s such a good feeling why don´t I do it more often? There´s a thought for a rainy day.
Well, so the meal consisted of a few things, one of which was this finger-licking appetizer. I had to use my fresh mint and had my little ciabattas ; they were just dying to be torn up and slathered with soft garlic that had been roasted with olive oil and marsala.

I also used up some fennel and steak, and it was raining a lot and it was almost the weekend, so we ended up eating greedily. When I opened the refrigerator this morning, looking for my morning fix of coffee with a bit of milk, which I know can´t really be called a breakfast, it gave back the cleanest, most organized image since I started with this blog. It put a smile in my face, so again, why don´t I do it more often? Never mind, it made for a happy morning so let´s leave it at that.

Coconut Dulce de Leche Bars

As far as bars go, these take the pole position often. I can´t begin to tell you how good coconut pairs with our sweet milky jam. On a layer of shortbread. They could pretty much be called coconut billionaire shortbread. I wonder how a layer of chocolate would go. Maybe too much, or maybe not. Another thing to try, since my list is so short...

There was a time when coconut was only found as a lame decoration in old bakeries across this country; the popular alfajor and the even more popular pasta frolla. All had a sprinkling of coconut that forever put that poor ingredient in the ugly category.

Years later, that was changed. So much, that nowadays coconut and dulce de leche bars are a sell-out everywhere. You´ll understand when you taste this. Because I know you will make them and remember the pushy lady that insisted you try this buttery, sweet, caramel-y thing.

Corn and Bacon Rolls: Breaking Bread Society

Another month, another bread for the newly founded Breaking Bread Society.I like everything about this group, from the terrific girls Lora, Shulie and Marnely who put it together, to June´s recipe, a corn roll that has a soaker, a new term to me, to the idea of playing around with a recipe.

I´ve never made cornbread. Another thing that greatly appeals to me, but just never got made. I use a lot of cornmeal, grew up eating it, since it´s a staple in our kitchens due to our strong Italian roots. Polenta really, which I always use when a recipe calls for cornmeal, but I think in some countries they are two different things. Like grapefruit and pomelos; for me pomelo is the Spanish word for grapefruit, but apparently they are related but different. Anyway, I used polenta for this rolls. It worked like a charm.

Olive Oil Ice Cream + Hot Fudge

Today´s new and very interesting recipe is olive oil ice cream. Our group, FFWD, has chosen it from Around My French Table, the book by Dorie Greenspan that has us cooking up different things every Friday.

I can eat ice cream anytime of the year. It has nothing to do with the weather; though of course I eat more during hot months; that´s when I go walking to get it or have it as dessert at every dinner and party going on. It´s a no brainer really, ice cream by itself or paired with so many other things and you have an instant dessert.

This recipe proved a bit of a challenge because, though I have an ice-cream maker, it needs a transformer (due to the different voltage we use here) which I seem to have lost at one point. I had a big one which was good for my bread and ice cream machines. My bread maker ended up at a friend´s house after the initial interest died, and I really don´t know what became of my transformer, a heavy dark thing that was a pain to carry. Probably the reason why I graciously lent it to someone and planned to buy another, smaller one. That never happened, and now I find myself needing to make ice cream but find I can´t use my good (but not great, it churns decently but not thoroughly) appliance.

Orange Almond Bread Pudding

The idea of cleaning up bits and pieces, odds and ends is a great one, in theory. I somehow manage to add to the leftovers. In this case I did use the bread I had from this recipe, but now I also have almond paste and egg whites lying around. Not that I really complain, because I love finding good recipes to use them. It´s just that I never really do what I set out to in the first place. Well, they say one should let life unfold (by the way, who is the they that´s always referred to in these cases? Isn´t it great how that phrase just makes us unaccountable for the results of our doings?). So, in the kitchen, I do just that. It tends to unfold in piles and bags and containers of so many things.

Oasis Naan: TWD

I´ve always had an interest in naan, the Persian flatbread, though this is my actual real-life encounter with it.

Oasis Naan is the recipe for our TWD group. It´s from the book Baking with Julia and was contributed by bakers Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.

The recipe was quite easy, very pizza-like without the olive oil. Mix together flour, yeast, water and salt, let it rise and then shape and bake the little breads in a very hot oven. Very, as in maximum mark, at least in mine.

The mixing of the dough specifies using a wooden spoon and stirring in one direction. I followed it exactly, just found it curious. My dough was pretty wet, like the fougasse. Since it was my first time baking these, I only used half the recipe first and put the rest in the refrigerator. This is an additional step that can be used if you can´t mix and bake in one stretch.

One Lovely Blog Award

I received this lovely award, bestowed on me by one of my first blogging friends, Susan from Create Amazing Meals. We met through TWD group and she is constantly sharing a lot of recipes and putting together whole meals; usually there´s a bonus picture at the end of each post, which I´m always attracted to, since they are beautiful and mostly have to do with the natural beauty of things. Thanks for this Susan!

It´s the perfect way to send a good vibe to other blogs that I like and follow, and to open them up to new friends and followers. In the end, it´s all about the nice feeling that comes from others liking what you share. The more the merrier.

Marinated Rump Steak with Broken Potatoes

Just like some people like to evoke summer in the middle of winter by doing something lemony or colorful with frozen berries, I like to capture it with marinated meat that would, in the best scenario, be part of a barbecue in the terrace with friends. My idea of a picnic.

I could pretty much barbecue everyday, all year long. I do it in winter too, but let´s just say that not everyone is on board with eating out unless it´s a starry, warm night. They have a point, I know, and I didn´t want to barbecue alone and miss out on the friendly chat.

Caramelized Fennel with Goat Cheese

I´m very intrigued about new ways to use fennel. I remember it from my early childhood, but of course it was labeled as rabbit food. Fast forward many years, and here I am with raw fennel in my fridge, seeds in my pantry, anise extract, recipes bookmarked everywhere. I can say I have a strange fascination with it now. I bought a mandolin just to slice it thin for salads.

But while a salad is nice with a little anise taste, it´s not something I would eat much of. At least the versions I´ve tried so far. But then this extraordinary book came along, entered my life and decided to make a believer out of me. I sound like a cheesy, corny, 70´s love song, but it´s true.