Unleash some Daring Magic!

I suspect that our lovely hostess for this challenge added the "knead it with your hands" just for me...
You might know that my hands and a sticky gooey mass are not a happy combination, not because I'm afraid I will ruin my manicure (pfff mani what?) but because I dread having all these stuff sticking to, in and between my fingers, I love to bake bread but I seriously love my DeLonghi! Tanna must have had so much fun writing this down! I love you! Really I do! Well not at the time of kneading but before and after..oh yesssss!

In comes the magic! With a little help from my friend Monique who had been a witness and active participant to a memorable challenge, went to New York and came back with.....this!

Don't worry, I will show and tell in my ""Gadgets that.." series, for now the Challenge comes first. I managed to bake this particular recipe three times....
Every time I made a part of this dough in rolls and loaves and saved a part to play with. I must say that I like the loaves better than the rolls, I think the extra handling to make them into rolls made the crumb tighter than I would like to see in a roll.

Inspired by the potatoes in the dough ánd the fact that we Dutch thrive on our PMV (potatoes, meat, vegetables) I decided I'd combine the three in one bread. Added leek to the dough, and rolled cumin seasoned ground beef in the braids, et voilà: "all in one Dutch Dinner Fare". Can't find my pic..will add later if I can find it... together with my notes for baking this with Dutch flour and how many potatoes I used...

Our scheduled bake-off with Challenge Master Tanna and Ilva (who had to back out and watch from the side lines due to unforeseen circumstances, she baked a couple of days later .... missed you!) resulted in focaccia as per the recipe suggested. I must say that I love love love this dough for focaccia! After second rise I spread the dough (without degassing) in a brownie pan, dimpled and drizzled generously with olive oil, topped with chopped black and green olives, capers, raw onions and some lost bits of red pepper. Seriously good! In fact it was so good I had to rescue this part to make a pic!

Part of the dough was rolled out, filled with Tandoori Chicken and mock-braided and was devoured still warm during a weekend afternoon: crispy crust, succulent chicken breast and spices...yum!

Next was trying to bake this particular dough in a Romertopf (or unglazed cloche), which turned out really well, as usual I love the rustic looks of these kinds of bread. Especially when a dough is wetter than most, a cloche is the ideal vehicle to bake in. Follow these hints and it's easy.

All in all a very pleasurable experience, I for one was glad that cows and hens got time off to rest a while, although I suspect they have to be ready for the next challenge! Follow our adventures and click! As she stated in issuing our challenge, Tanna stood up for all savouries out there in saying "you see I am a savory girl and must protect my reputation". Well she did, with a vengeance! Tanna, thanks for dreaming up this challenge, I owe you...big time!

How can it be too chocolatey? Chocolate and Ginger cheesecake

(Nederlands recept onderaan de pagina!)
Mmm, I should think so. And I know what you don't know yet (and wouldn't have guessed by the looks of it) is that I replaced almost half of the 70% stuff with milk chocolate. Come again? Yes, that would be milk chocolate. Mind; not any ordinary milk chocolate, this is Callebaut milk chocolate we're talking about. Milk chocolate drops which I happen to have a large bag of and occasionally dip a hand in. Only whenever I pass the nook where I hide it. Only. On. Occasion.

I noticed before and will say it again, although the claim is that we women neeeeeed our chocolate, in our house it's the other way round. Come to think of it, DH's genes must have been very insistent little fellas, all three kids are very sweet oriented.

I know it's nearing the end of November but since I missed each and every deadline of any food blogging event during the last weeks months I am very happy to add this one to Sunita's Think spice!; a monthly event at Sunita's world in which she chooses a particular spice and participants blog about a dish featuring the spice of the month. In this case: Ginger!

This dessert goes a long way, it is so rich, fudgy and powerful that it's best served in tiny slices, together with an after dinner coffee...

Non bake Chocolate and Ginger cheesecake
Crust ingredients:
6 oz cookies, crushed to crumbs in a food processor
(I used a mix of gingersnaps and chocolate biscuits)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix together and press the mixture over the bottom of a prepared 8-inch spring form pan. (Oil insides and line with waxed paper, oil paper again). Refrigerate to set.

Filling ingredients:
14 oz good quality chocolate
(I used half 70%, half milk chocolate, I would advise against using 70% for the full quantity)
2 oz sugar
2 knobs of preserved ginger, finely chopped
2 knobs of crystallized ginger, finely chopped
2 tbs ginger syrup (from a bottle or the jar)
1/8 to 1/4 cup alcohol*
(eg. dark rum, Tia Maria, Cointreau, Mandarine Napoleon, Baileys, Kahlua)
1 cup fromage frais (or low-fat sour cream)
1/2 cup whipping cream, beaten to soft peaks

Break up the chocolate, and melt in a large bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Add sugar and gingers, syrup and alcohol and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat and let cool, give a quick stir every now and then.
Beat in the fromage frais, fold in whipped cream and pour into the pan. Cover and refrigerate until set and firm (approx. 3 hours).

Verdict: Rave reviews by serious chocolate lovers (teenagers and adults alike), for me it was a little too dense and I would have preferred a softer alcohol, I felt that the Stroh rum "38" I used was a bit too harsh, I wished I had thought of Baileys at the time...

* As this cake is not baked, the alcohol will not evaporate so you might want to substitute for maybe orange juice or milk.

=================

Recept in het nederlands:
Bodem:
1 rol (200 gram) chocoladekoekjes/biscuitjes/bastognekoeken!
45 gram gesmolten boter/margarine

425 gram chocola (half om half puur en melk)
60 gram kristalsuiker
2 bolletjes stemgember, fijngesneden
2 bolletjes gesuikerde gember, fijngesneden (of gebruik nog 1 bolletje stemgember)
2 el gembersiroop (uit een flesje of uit de pot)
2-5 el alcohol* rum, koffie- of chocolade likeur
225 dikke magere kwark (of magere zure room)
150 ml slagroom, lobbig geklopt

Voor de bodem verkruimel je de koekjes (gebruik evt. een keukenmachine) en meng de krummels met de gesmolten boter. Op de bodem van een ingevette springvorm leg je een op maat geknipt stukje bakpapier, dit vet je ook even in. Vervolgens duw je de krummels vlak op de bodem, zet in de koelkast om op te stijven.

Voor de vulling: smelt de in stukjes gebroken chocola in een pannetje (au bain marie) op laag vuur, voeg suiker en gember toe, vervolgens ook de siroop en de alcohol. Roer totdat de chocolade goed gesmolten is. Het ziet er nu glad en glanzend uit. Van het vuur af (even goed laten afkoelen en af en toe roeren), klop je nu de kwark erdoor en spatel je voorzichtig de lobbig geklopte slagroom door de massa. Giet dit over de bodem, dek af en zet wederom in de koelkast om de boel op te laten stijven (reken op zo'n 3 uur).

Broccoli terrine with parmesan and ginger: Adult baby food

equally suitable for children.. dressed up nicely it might even make an appearance at your Christmas dinner table. Tonight our dinner consists of pureed broccoli (and I used the stems as well, peeled and sliced), tagliatelle, bacon bits and caramelized onions. Smooth food..

This is what you do:

some 600 gr broccoli

small knob of butter

5-6 tbs chicken broth

5 tbs water (ahum...guestimated, just make sure it doesn't cook dry)

3 eggs

salt, (pink schezuan) pepper

2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbs fresh grated ginger

100 ml cream

dressed tagliatelle:

100 gr. bacon bits

1 large onion

1 ts sugar

Combine broth and butter, bring to a rolling boil, add chopped broccoli. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until tender (10 min). Use a food processor, or a -hand held- blender and puree. Add eggs one by one, proceed by adding cream, Parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Coat 5 ramekins with oil, butter or cooking spray. Divide broccoli mixture over ramekins. Cover and set aside until ready to cook. Preheat oven to 175C/350F, place ramekins in a large ovenproof baking dish and pour hot water into baking dish (approx. 2 cm/1 inch). Bake in oven until edges are firm and the center is set (30-45 minutes). Test with -heat proof- finger or the back of a spoon (latter may be the wiser).

Now, one of two options: serve as it is, or prepare to live life dangerously and loosen edges with a sharp knife and invert on plates (which is not so tricky as it seems). I like to serve these hot but you could serve them chilled as well as part of a larger buffet style dinner. If you plan on serving them chilled take care in seasoning; chilled food needs some more pizazz. Hmm, I'm getting all kinds of ideas here.....this quantity in a loaf pan and served in slices, decorate with chives/basil, cherry tomatoes, baked parmesan cookie-swirls maybe?

Tagliatelle was served shaken (not stirred..) with drained bacon bits, reserve the fat to use 1 tbs to caramalize onions on low low heat, add 1 ts of sugar if you like and take your time to get a nice brown colour on your onions. Cook tagliatelle al dente, drain and toss with bacon and onions.

Serve....and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

PS: variations on a theme: use green asparagus, toss pasta with cooked shrimps, chives and roasted garlic and some olive oil. Serve with a bowl of grated parmesan and some reduced balsamic glaze for sprinkling. Next time I think I'll leave out the bacon and instead toast bread crumbs and hazelnuts in some olive oil... equally yummy!

November twijfels

Heeft u ook zo genoten? U was er toch wel bij hè? Alle filialen van Bart Smit, 6 november, tussen 17.00 en 21.00? 15% korting op bijna alles?

Ik was er ook, in die ellenlange rij voor de kassa, tussen alle mensen die tassen vol dozen met hun voeten vooruit schoven (tassen werden ruimhartig ter beschikking gesteld door B.Smit). Naast mij stonden twee van mijn zoons, portemonnee met zakgeld c.q. bankpasje in de zweterige knuistjes, want immers 15% korting is niet niks, scheelt toch al gauw veel geld op zo'n veel te duur spelletje voor de Wii (overigens ook aangeschaft van hun spaarcentjes...hier spreekt de gierige boze wolf in moeder-verpakking). Dus daar stonden we. Ruim tijd om de Sinterklaas-kopende medemens en hun conversaties eens in ons op te nemen.

"hedde gij al zun spelleke? Ik het die Holle Bolle Beukenboom gevat...".."Nou ja, hij kékt er volgend jaar toch niet meer naar om" terwijl ze met haar voeten de 2 andere tassen een stukje verder schoof.

Voor me stond een echtpaar, hij beladen met dozen Lego Technic, zij struinde door de winkel en legde er af en toe nog wat bovenop, discussie over wat en voor wie. Eenmaal bij de kassa kwamen er nog wat reserveringen boven, kennelijk was deze avond al vantevoren groots aangekondigd en was ik de enige die er om 18.00 op geattendeerd werd door mijn zoons. Intussen ging de transactie aan de kassa gewoon door: 1x een Wii, 1x een ds lite, verschillende attributen en spelletjes, de Lego dozen en die Playstation kwamen ze dan morgen wel ophalen.... Kassa: 386 euro en 65 centjes. Mijn kinderen stonden het in verwondering te aanschouwen. Mam, Mám, zag je dat?

Mam's hoofd was al geheel zelfstandig aan het tollen...is dit nu normaal? Doet iedereen dit? Ben ik nu de enige zot? Was overigens niet de eerste keer, het gebeurt me namelijk ieder jaar rond deze tijd. Ik struin voortvarend zo'n winkel binnen, vast van plan cadeautjes te scoren voor hét kinderfeest van het jaar waarbij ik van mezelf mijn voorzichtigheid/opvoedingskunsten een beetje mag vergeten. Want dat mag dan he, het is immers Sinterklaas. Dus ik zoek en ik kijk, beetje origineel, iets wat ze niet verwachten, beetje leuk, aardig prijsje, dingen die ze ooit geroepen hebben... Ik ben ook nogal van het gezamenlijke kado (toegegeven dat is wat gemakkelijker met 3 jongens die niet zoveel van leeftijd verschillen), het gezelschapsspel, het boek en het klapper-kado. Binnen grenzen natuurlijk hè, altijd weer die zelf opgelegde grenzen. En elk jaar weer kan ik het niet laten om sokken in te pakken...liefst apart...weer een pakje extra...grijns!

Ik denk namelijk nog steeds dat een verlanglijstje een verlang-lijstje is, waar je op schrijft wat je eventueel wel zou willen krijgen. Nooit gedacht dat het een bestel-lijst is. Totdat ik elk jaar weer mensen met die lijst in hun handen het een na het ander zie afstrepen. Afstrepen! Letterlijk! Dat heb ik, dat heb ik, nu nog ... en dan gewoon die hele lijst afwerken... We hebben het over A4-tjes. Zouden die kinderen als de avond daar is, boos de schoorsteen in roepen: "hé, Sint, je bent nog iets vergeten?" en: "ik had toch gezegd een blauwe, geen groene!"
Wat voor kinderen krijg je daarvan?

Even voor alle duidelijkheid en niet om op te scheppen, het gaat om het principe hier en nog niet eens over geld (uiteindelijk wel natuurlijk maar niet om het niet kúnnen uitgeven maar om het niet wíllen uitgeven, niet omdat ik het niet heb maar omdat ik het niet nódig vind).
Ik merkte bij mijn kinderen een grappige mix die avond. Een mix van: nou jaaaaa, beláchelijk en sjonge...ik wou dat mijn ouders eens een keer zo gek waren...Coooool!

De uitsmijter van de avond: We liepen door het lege donkere winkelcentrum naar de uitgang. Voor ons liep toevallig dat bewuste echtpaar, en ooh ik ben toch zo kinderachtig... hoorde ik mezelf voldaan fluisteren: "hmm, ze heeft wél een dikkere kont dan ik"
zegt oudste zoon: dat is misschien wel zo, maar ik weet zeker dat ze ook een dikkere portemonnee heeft!

Nu niet meer zoon, nu niet meer!

November twijfels...
Vorig jaar rond deze tijd: lezen!

Stromboli in spinach

Had your share of cream and eggs? In between preparing for Thanksgiving and planning for Christmas? Feeling at a loss for a quick little savoury? Still in a rolling mood? Let's try a bready roll, filled with pizza elements. The official stromboli, apart from being a vulcano, is in essence a rolled variant of pizza. The dough however is more bready.

The name of this particular kind of bread stems from the holes you prick in the top prior to baking. The cheese filling will ooze out, resembling the lava from the vulcano.
What I liked about my version is the addition of spinach. My kids love the canneloni dish (I'm afraid it's in Dutch...) I make and keep asking for it (and I keep stalling because I tend to make a mess in the kitchen preparing). So I came up with this variation in an easy to eat, easy to slice, happy party-goer.

This particular dough was made using a biga, or a pre-ferment which you leave out on the counter overnight. Don't be scared by the terms, it's no more than mixing a part of flour, water and a tiny speck of yeast. Make the biga like this, cover and leave it on the counter for 6 hours or so, punch down by sticking a knife in it and store in the fridge for later use, but do make sure your container is big enough!

Biga
1.2/3 cups warm water
1/4 ts instant yeast
3.3/4 cup unbleached ap flour/bread flour
Mix and knead to a stiff ball of dough, approx. 10 minutes and you're done!

For the dough you'll use:
300 gr. biga (10.75 ounces)
460 gr. bread flour/ap flour (16 oz)
100 gr. semolina (or sub bread flour)
290 gr. tepid water (a little over 1 cup)
1.1/2 ts yeast
2 ts salt
1/4 cup olive oil
(I added some dried herbs in the dough as well, go for italian mix or oregano)

Mix all of this in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 10 minutes. You might want to cut the biga in small pieces with a pair of scissors, or pull pieces off with your hands, and mix it in the flour. You could leave it whole but it will clump a little and incorporate less easy.
The result will be a very soft elastic dough, a little sticky, not exactly a firm ball of dough and it will stretch when you get it out of the bowl to let it rest in an oiled bowl. Let this proof for 1 hour or so, it will nearly double in size.

In the meantime, get your filling ready, no real guide lines here, you might as well sort through your fridge and see what you have that would give you a nice filling. But this is what I did:

Filling:
4-6 tbs dried breadcrumbs (and some extra to use as a base layer)
500 gr spinach (frozen, squeeze well to get rid of the moisture)
250 gr ricotta
1/3 cup grated cheese
pepper and salt (Combine in a bowl and mix well.)
300 gr sausage meat, removed from their casings
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
oregano, pepper, salt
smoked paprika powder, ground
2 garlic cloves, chopped

Combine the latter and brown slowly on medium heat in a skillet. I didn't use any oil/butter here, the sausage meat doesn't need any extra, just make sure you start slow.

Topping
grated cheese
salami, thin slices
mozzarella, sliced
Your dough should be almost ready by now, turn it out on a floured counter (silpat mat), divide into thirds and starting with one, roll into to a rectangle, not too thin, about 1/2 cm.

Sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs on top, leaving a border on each side. Make sure you divide your filling into thirds as well and spread the spinach over the top, again watch the borders. (You could use a scraper but in the end there's nothing better than your hands to do this).

Deck with sausage mixture, spread evenly and top with cheese, mozzarella and salami. Now, get ready to roll, starting with the longer side.

What I like to do here is to fold the shorter sides inwards first. It will help prevent the filling squeezing out on the ends.The hard part is to get your roll evenly shaped. As you go along try to tweak a little here and there, some pulling and stretching. Whatever you do, make sure you're not stretching the dough too thin. Let the rolls rest, covered, for 30 to 45 minutes. Preheat your oven at 400F. Just prior to baking, prick the stromboli with a skewer and punch holes all over the top. Apart from a nice effect this will also help let off steam from the filling while it cooks and keep your dough nice and crispy. Depending on how much cheese you use, you'll get the Stromboli effect. Aim for approx. 45 minutes baking time but keep an eye on it to prevent overbaking.

It smells like... marmalade en het is.....siroop!

In het Nederlands? Even scrollen!This big pot of fruit and herbs cooking on the stove is about the only thing that tickles my nose at the moment.

Apart from the smell one of the cute little kitties left in my son's basket ball shoe last night that is...I did smell that..briefly... Happens that one them escaped up the stairs and was accidently locked up in the room by basketball shoes owning son and it happened that she well .. er.. had to go. In her distress she left a ..er.. scent mark in said shoes...

Having cats in the house works miracles for dotting the i's and crossing the t's in terms of training your kids. Close the doors behind your back, tidy your stuff, don't leave any food out, drink your milk.... As in any training there are these little setbacks.

Where was I... the wonderful smell of apples and clementines cooking...

I used about
1 kg of clementines
a pound of cooking apples
both just washed (don't peel, don't core) chopped in large pieces
toss in two or three large sprigs of lemon balm, top with water (slightly under a liter) and cook until soft. This will take an hour or so.

Line a colander with cloth, or use a jelly bag and strain for at least a couple of hours or overnight. Add sugar (ratio 400 grams of sugar to 600 ml of juice) and cook again until set stage. Or... as I did, stop just before you reach that point and be rewarded with a wonderful orange marmalade syrup. Lovely on pancakes and french toast or drizzled on cake or pumpkin pie. Had some in my tea the other day...mmmm

Clementines are a nice diversion from oranges in this marmalade, they are very juicy and their thin skins provide the right amount of tang without being too in your face that a real orange marmalade can have.

In het Nederlands:
Een siroop gemaakt van mandarijntjes, die hele kleintjes (clementines) die op dit moment volop in de winkels liggen en een deel zure moesappels. Clementines hebben die mooie dunne schil die ervoor zorgt dat het fris genoeg is zonder de "volwassen" smaak van de echte marmelade met de reepjes sinasappelschil.

Simpel genoeg:
1 kilo clementines (gewassen en grof gehakt)
1 pond moesappels (gewassen en grof gehakt)
2 of 3 grote takjes citroenmelisse
ong. 1 liter water, misschien iets minder

Voor het opkoken: gebruik 400 gram suiker op 6 dl sap.

De vruchten worden met schil en klokhuis/pitten en al gebruikt dus het is een kwestie van wassen en hakken, in de pan, het water erop en zachtjes laten koken tot alle vruchten zacht zijn. Even porren en pletten met een houten lepel, je voelt het vanzelf. Duurt ongeveer een uurtje.

Dan laten uitlekken. Gebruik hiervoor een geleizak op pootjes (stoer!) of gewoon een vergiet boven een kom. Het vergiet bekleed je met een uitgespoelde theedoek of, als je dat hebt, een dubbele laag kaasdoek. Rustig laten uitlekken, duurt een paar uur, je kunt het gewoon ook een nachtje laten staan. Vooral de zak niet uitknijpen want dan wordt je sap troebel. (Heb ik natuurlijk wel gedaan....ik had weer haast en ik kon het niet laten...maakt niets uit voor de smaak, is puur voor het mooi).

Dan meet je het sap af en gebruikt per 6 dl sap ong. 400 gram suiker. Zachtjes laten opkoken en borrelend laten koken tot het stollingspunt bereikt is. In dit geval voor de siroop heb ik het iets eerder van het vuur gehaald. Laat je het langer doorkoken dan wordt het echt gelei: smeerbaar. In dit geval heb ik siroop: gietbaar en erg lekker op flensjes, wentelteefjes of over cake. Of, als je strontverkouden bent (wie? ik?) erg lekker in de thee!

Waiter, there is a hair in my bread!

In other words: meet the new Bakers....

We finally bit the bullet, it has taken us many years but as son nr. 2 stated at the dinner table three days ago: wow, we have animals in our house. Well we had before, once we were the proud owners of a tiny white rabbit. The tiny white rabbit quickly grew out to be a humongous white rabbit monster who defended his property with all the strength he had. Let me tell you, that was a lot! Picture a guard/attack dog in rabbit disguise.

This rabbit needed two people to feed him (no, not to carry the amount of food). One to distract his not so loving attention, the other one to quickly fill his bowl. Can you imagine how it was to clean his cage? Thick sweater, muscles, leather garden gloves... This one was not to be cuddled. So sad, rabbit not happy, kids not happy, mum not happy at all. So, he was lovingly adopted by a care farm where he had the room to roam and manifest his ability to rule...(scared the sh** out of the cattle there).

Enter a couple of years nothing, a year debating whether we should have a dog... a little one? A larger one? We were so tempted after having our dog on "loan" for a week. We decided we were not up to that challenge yet, especially since I am so easily scared by dogs.

Enter Milo and NaNa the kittens! I used to have two cats long long time ago so this is something I'm familiar with. Called the animal shelter and last week we could come and get them. Brother and sister, one blue-eyed white with red points (nose, ears and tail), one a tortoise-shell. Now these are from one litter, NaNa is a small playfull little pleaser and takes the lead in exploring the house and us, but have a look at Milo.... he is almost twice her size already and they are only 4-5 months now. He is white. He is big. He already has this regal attitude... Does that sound familiar?

There is not much cooking/baking going on at the moment, I "suffer" from a serious cold and have trouble keeping my eyes open long enough to cook, let alone take pictures, but I promise the kitchen counters will be off-limits for animals. No hairs in my food!