Pear Bread

Faced with a surfeit of pears from Boston Organics, I decided to make Smitten Kitchen's Pear Bread. I'd never eaten pear bread before, but after trying it, I'd describe it as banana bread, only without the bananas. I don't taste the pears at all, but the fruit does add a lot of moistness to the cake along with just the tiniest bit of the gritty pear texture. I actually substituted 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour with 1/2 cup of white whole wheat flour since I'm trying to use up the sack I bought by accident.

Pear Bread (from Smitten Kitchen)
makes 2 loaves or one tube cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 to 4 pears firm, ripe pears, depending on size (you’ll need 2 grated cups total, but don’t grate them until you are about to use them so that they don’t brown)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. If you’re using nuts, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and combine it in a small bowl with the chopped walnuts, stirring and tossing to coat the nuts with the flour.

Peel and core pears, then grate them. You’ll want two grated cups total; set them briefly aside. In a medium bowl, combine the butter or oil, eggs, sugar, grated pear, nuts (if using), and vanilla, and stir to mix everything well. Scrape the pear mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears and the batter is evenly moistened.

Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the bread is handsomely browned and firm on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

I ended up not adding the sprinkle of confectioner's sugar or glaze that Deb suggests because it was sweet enough as is. It's also pretty crumbly, so I didn't want to have to deal with another potential factor for messiness. I think if I were to make this again, I might add some chocolate chips to it (giving them the same flour coating treatment as the nuts so that they don't sink). Deb says in her post that the bread got better day after day. I'm not sure if I'd agree, although it certainly doesn't get worse. I'd say that it remains a good, homey slice of comfort. And if I wanted to be super decadent, I'd toast this and spread some honey butter on top.

Edited to Add (on 1/26/10): I take back what I said about this bread not getting better. I just had some for breakfast 3 days after I baked it, and I don't know what happened between yesterday and today, but it is definitely better today. It seems like the baking soda and salt are standing out a bit more leaving this tang on my tongue that demands more pear bread. I can't stop eating it!

One year ago:  Luo Buo Gao (Chinese Turnip Cake)

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Salate

Dani su dugi,temperature visoke,a djeca na skolskom raspustu.
Ovo zadnje mi najvise zadaje glavobolje,jer uobicajeno Januar mjesec idemo negde van NSW,ali ove godine smo kuci..ma nije mi tesko palo jer prosla godina je bila jako naporna i jedva sam cekala da se odmorim.Kako su velike vrucine,tako nema ni nekog velikog spremanja jela!Pretezno se jede pasta,salate i voce,sokovi i voda se pije u neogranicenim kolicinama!!
Nedavno sam napravila tri salate koje su nam se jako svidjele,tako da cu ih zapisati,pa neka se nade nekome pri ruci,jer su zaista osvijezavajuce.



SALATA OD ROTKVICE

-crvena rotkvica
-jogurt
-kiselo vrhnje
-hren(iz stklenke,gotovi)
-soli ,po potrebi

Rotkvicu oprati,isjeci na snitice,pa dodati ostale namirnice.
Dobro ohladiti i ohladeno posluziti!
Kolicine stavljate,po zelji!




PUNJENI PARADAJZ

-paradajz
-krastavac
-luk
-feta sir
-svjezi origano
-maslinovo ulje,ocat balsamico

Paradaj,ako je veliki,prepoloviti,idubiti(ocistiti)unutrasnjis,tako da ostanu samo stjenke paradajza,a ako je manji,odrezati pri vrhu,iscistiti unutrasnjost,pa puniti sa ostalim povrcem i sirom,koje izrezemo na kockice,
Odozgo preliti s mjesavinom maslinovog ulja,balsamico octa i sitno sjeckanog origana.
Dobro ohladiti i uzivati u osvjezenju !




SALATA OD SPINATA I PARADAJZA

-250gr cherry paradajzica
-100gr sinata(mladi listovi)
-3 luka(mladi i zeleni dio)

Oprati povrce,sloziti u zdjelu za salatu.
Paradajz,prepoloviti na pola ,ako je veci.

Preliti da umakom(dressing) za salatu

1/2 zavezljaja(bunch) listova bosiljka
1 zlica maslinovog ulja
1 zlica limunovog soka
Staviti sve u mali multipraktik i isjeckati da bude kao namaz!!
Dodati soli i bibera,po ukusu i preliti samo pola umaka,pa laganim pokretima salatu izmijesati da umak oblozi svaki listic.

Dodati jos umaka,ako je potrebmo.

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter

I had two sweet potatoes left from my Boston Organics delivery, so I decided to try to make sweet potato gnocchi. The only other time I had ever made gnocchi was when I made the ricotta gnocchi for the Daring Cooks challenge back in May. That was definitely a pretty complicated recipe, but the sweet potato gnocchi recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything was a lot simpler.

That recipe didn't mention what sauce to pair with the gnocchi, though, so I turned to Google for some inspiration. The first hit for a search for "sweet potato gnocchi" was Giada's "Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter". Can you say yum?

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter (based on Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything and Giada De Laurentiis' recipe here)
makes 3-4 servings

1 lb. sweet potatoes (about 2)
Salt and pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
15 fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg

Start boiling a pot of water.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into small 1" chunks. Place in a microwaveable bowl with a little water and cover. Microwave for five minutes or until the sweet potatoes are done. Drain, season with salt and pepper, and mash with a fork.

Add about a half cup of the flour and stir. Continue adding the flour in small increments until you get a dough that you can handle. You want to add as little flour as possible to keep the gnocchi from being too dense. Pinch off a small piece and drop into boiling water to make sure it will keep its shape.

Place the dough onto a floured counter top (or cutting board). Divide in half and roll each piece into a 1/2 inch wide snake. Cut the dough into 1 inch long pieces and roll over the tines of a fork. Place shaped pieces onto a floured plate without them touching one another.

Cook the gnocchi in the boiling water in batches. You don't want there to be more gnocchi in the pot than can cover the surface of the water. The gnocchi is done about a minute after it starts floating.

While the gnocchi is cooking, melt the butter in a separate small saucepan. Once it is melted, add the sage leaves and continue to cook until the milk solids in the butter have browned. Remove from heat and add the maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to taste.

Toss the cooked gnocchi with the browned butter sauce and serve hot.

Leftovers can be refrigerated and pan-fried the next day for a slightly different texture.

I found dough could be quite sticky and gluey before I finally added enough flour for it to be workable. In hindsight, I probably should have drained the potatoes better before adding the dough. While this gnocchi was considerably heavier than the ricotta gnocchi I had made before, it was still a lot lighter than say, the big, thick Shanghainese and Korean rice cakes. The gnocchi itself didn't have much flavor, but the brown butter sauce more than made up for that. I really liked how the sage and maple syrup brought out the flavor of the sweet potatoes. What kind of surprised me was that I actually wanted to add a little more black pepper to this dish even though I normally don't really like black pepper.

I had some leftovers, which I pan-fried in the butter sauce (no additional oil needs to be added), although I removed most of the sage first and added it back in when the gnocchi was almost done so that it didn't burn. While I did like the light crispiness the pan-frying added to the gnocchi, I think it was better overall when it was fresh.

One year ago:  Scallion Pancakes

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Za ljubav moga muza!!

20.01..Krsna Slava,Sv.Jovan

Kazu da razlicite vjere ne mogu zajedno,da svako vuce na svoju stranu i da dolazi do razlaza bracnih parova.
Istina,do rastave dode i kod bracnih parova iste vjeroispovijesti,pa zato ja ne vjerujem u to,a to mogu licno da potvrdim !!
U mijesovitom braku sam 23godine i ako se supruznici podpomazu,razumiju,sve nesuglasice se mogu rijesiti bez problema.
Moj muz je prije 5 godina izgubio majku,a to znaci da su oba roditelja otisla na vjecni pocinak,a kako je po Pravoslavnom obicaju red,sin preuzima Krsnu Slavu!!
Moj muz nije nikada bio bogomoljac,nije pridavao vaznost za obicaje,tradiciju..
Ja sam uvijek zeljela da vidim kako to drugi rade ,te sam svake godine,dok smo bili u Bosni posmatrala moju pok. svekrvu kako to ona radi.
Svekrva je uvijek voljela da ja napravim sarmu i ispecem kolace,a sve ostalo je uradila ona i djed,tako je zvala svog muza.
Ja danas u znak zahvalnosti mojim pok. svekru i svekrvi, sto su mi podarili divnog muza,a mom muzu za svu ljubav i paznju koju poklanja meni i nasoj djeci,odrzavam tradiciju Krsne Slave,jer vidim da taj obicaj,moga muza cini sretnim.
Vidim da je radost na njegovom licu svake godine kad se susretnu najblizi nam prijatelji,kumovi.



U Australiji smo nas cetvero sami,pa sama pomisao da su sestre i braca daleko od tebe,smisao starih obicaja dobiva na jacem i snaznijem sjecanju,sjecanju na djetinjstvo,roditelje kojih vise nema i jacu povezanost s ostatkom rodbine.



Spremaju se raznorazne delicije iz rodnog kraja,od juhi,corbi,sarme,pecenja,pa sve do kolaca,vina,rakije,piva,...


Ja sam pravila i isprobala divne recepteod svih Vas,tako da Vam se ovom prilikom zahvaljujem!!


Delicije su spremljene s puno ljubavi i postovanja,prema Njima,Vama i mojim bliznjima !!

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Kalua Pork

Nope, that's not a typo. This isn't pork made with Kahlua. This is kalua pork, the Hawaiian roasted pork served at luaus. Traditionally, a whole salted pig is put into a pit filled with hot rocks and banana leaves and covered so that it can cook all day. I got to go to Hawaii years and years ago for a family reunion (relatives from Taiwan and the US met halfway) and still remember loving this dish. The pork was moist, fall-off-the-bone tender, and had a depth of flavor that I thought could only be delivered via cooking in a pit for hours and hours.

Luckily for those of us who don't have easy access to whole pigs, pits, hot rocks, and banana leaves, you can make kalua pork in a slow cooker with only 2 ingredients: pork butt and smoked salt! The first you can get from almost any grocer store; just make sure it'll fit into your slow cooker. Apparently, pork butt is actually the same thing as pork shoulder, so either would work.

I found smoked Hawaiian sea salt at Narrin's Spice and Salt in Cleveland's West Side Market. I had actually bought this a couple of years ago but never figured out what to use it in until now. This particular product has a blend of Hawaiian black and pink salt along with regular white sea salt. If you can't find smoked sea salt, you can also use liquid smoke with regular sea salt.

Kalua Pork
makes about 6 servings

2.5 lbs. pork butt (or shoulder)
2 tablespoons smoked Hawaiian sea salt

Using a steak knife, poke the pork all over and then rub the salt all over.

Place the pork in a slow cooker and cook on low for 20 hours, turning once halfway through. Pork is done when it can be easily shredded with a fork.

That's it! With only two ingredients and two lines of instructions, you'll be surprised how flavorful the finished product is. During the slow cooking process, all the fat starts to render out of the meat so that at the end, it's cooking in its own juices, a sort of pork confit if you will. While I wouldn't consider the top half of the meat (that isn't sitting in the juices) to be dry, it is drier and less salty than the bottom half. I tried to turn the meat again when it was done to try to even it out, but the pork was so tender, I wasn't sure I could get it flipped without totally mangling it. If I had had more time, I would've shredded all the meat and served it with the reserved juices on the side for people to add if they wanted. Instead, I just brought the whole thing to a potluck and served it with some shredded cabbage sauteed with garlic and rice, letting people shred off as much as they wanted.

One year ago:  Mayonnaise Shrimp with Candied Walnuts, Char Siu Bao

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Banana Bread Yeasted Waffles

When I was originally looking for yeasted waffle recipes, I stumbled across this one for Banana Bread Waffles. I know, right? What an awesomely yummy idea! The more I thought about it, the more I was tempted to skip the waffle face off and just make these. But ordinances must be followed, so I saved this one for last. The only thing I changed was that I added some walnut pieces to the batter right before cooking since I had some lying around, and since I didn't have ground ginger or ground cloves, I added a pinch of allspice. Oh, and I halved the original recipe since I only had 2 bananas.

Banana Bread Yeasted Waffles (from seven spoons)
makes 2-3 servings

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 teaspoons yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of allspice
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana, about 1 1/2 bananas
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1/4 cup walnut pieces (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, milk and vanilla. Set aside, the mixture should be warm but not hot.

In a large mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, brown sugar, yeast, salt and spices. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, whisking until smooth. Stir in the beaten eggs. Cover the bowl loosely and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, but up to 24.

About 30 minutes before you want to make waffles, take the batter out of the refrigerator to come up to room temperature slightly. It should be doubled in size and the surface will be covered in bubbles.

When ready to begin, stir the sour cream into the mashed bananas and then mix the fruit and walnuts (if using) into the batter. It will deflate, but use a light, quick hand to thoroughly combine.

Heat your waffle iron and bake the waffles as per the manufacturer's instruction.

Serve with maple syrup and additional slices of fresh bananas and walnuts, if desired.

Leftovers can be frozen and then reheated in a toaster or in an oven; keep the heat low and an eye on them though, they brown quickly.

I found that I needed more than 30 minutes at room temperature for the batter to double, so I stuck it in a slightly warm oven for 15 minutes. In the end, I found these waffles to be more soft than crispy and the flavor wasn't very memorable. In fact, right now I'm thinking that griddling a slice of real banana bread on a waffle iron might be even better....

One year ago:  Nian Gao (Mochi Cake), Red Bean Ice Cream

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Peceni ricotta sir sa rajcicom i slaninom

Ako od ranog jutra krenete sa obavezama,tada se cesto nademo u situaciji da smo propustili dorucak,a rucak nam je jos daleko.
Sprijeciti glad ili uzeti neki "slatkis"uz kavicu,pa cemo na glad zaboraviti!!
To moze proci kod mog muza,jer on ustvari ne pije kavu s kolacem,on jede kolac
s kavom !!Mogu ja i tako,ali ce mi u podsvijesti stalno biti na pameti dorucak koji sam propustila.
Danas sam se nasla u slicnoj situaciji,ali sam imala sve namirnice kuci,tako da sam pocela s pripremom i dok se sve to peklo,mi smo popili kavicu bez kolaca,ali smo zato imalo ovo !!

Sastojci- 3 krompira(oko350gr)
- 250gr suhog mesa(po vasem izboru)
- 2 jaja
- 1kg ricotta sira
- 50gr parmezan,izrendanti
- 1/2 case,mix zacina(persun,bosiljak,origano,vlasac)
- 250gr cherry rajcica
- maslinovo ulje,balsamic ocat
- extra slaninice i kruh,salata

Priprema
Zagrijati rernu na 180C
Krompir ocistiti i staviti da se kuha.
Ne smije biti prekuhan !

Isjeckati sto sitnije suho meso(po vasem izboru)
ja sam koristila suhi vrat.

Isjeckati sve zacinske biljcice.

Skuhani krompir izrendati,pa staviti u vecu zdjelu i dodati
zacisko bilje,suho meso.

Siru dodati jaja i DOBRO izmutiti(mozete staviti u multipraktik)
da bude maziv,pa dodati u zdjelu ostalim namirnicama.
Dodati soli i bibera,po ukusu .

Lim velicine10×30cm obloziti papirom za pecenje,pa napuniti
dobivenom smjesom ,te staviti peci
Peci oko 25-30 minuta,da dobije finu rumenu boju !!




Izvaditi vani i pustiti jos 10 minuta da stoji u limu .

U medu vremenu staviti na drugi lim chery rajcice,politi malo s maslinovim uljem i slaninicu,koju zarezete kao lepezu,da se pece na 200coko 10minuta!

Na tanjur staviti par listica zelene salate,poslagati pecenu rajcicu,odrezati dva komada sira i uz sir sloziti slaninicu.

Preliti sa malo mijesavine maslinovog ulja i balsamico octa.
Posoliti i pobiberiti,ako zelite !!

Pazite na slaninicu ako je previse tanka,bice brze pecena od rajcice!!

Mozete dodati prepeceni kruh !

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