Artichoke Pesto

Due to some miscommunications and a kitchen cabinet that has the ability to hide dry goods within its depths, Tim and I found ourselves the proud owners of not one, not two, but three Costco-sized jars of marinated artichoke hearts recently.

In an effort to work our way through this ridonkulous overabundance of artichoke hearts, I did some Googling on ye olde interwebs and found this artichoke-centric recipe for lemony artichoke pesto.  I followed the recipe, a pretty standard pesto, for the most part, but substituted fresh basil leaves for the parsley, as flat leaf parsley is nowhere to be found in Jakarta.  My nut of choice (or convenience, really) was almonds, toasted, of course.  

Good stuff!  I put it on pizza, topped with mozzarella, halved cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.  It looks pretty good as a pasta sauce, too.  A fun, but not too crazy, adaptation of your typical pesto.

Chocolate Ricotta Pie

Mmmmm... this pie is good.

Tim and I had some leftover ricotta after making lasagna over the weekend.  I wanted to do something sweet with it (visions of cannoli dancing in my head... but that's too complicated for a weeknight), so I did some Googling and found this well-reviewed Giada recipe for chocolate ricotta pie.  I made a couple substitutions... almonds instead of pine nuts [much cheaper], milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet [it's all I had at the house] and I decreased the amount of simple syrup in light of the milk chocolate substitution.

Tim and I really liked it... the filling is creamy and light and the crust has a nice nutty crunch from the almonds and cornmeal.  Good stuff.  This would make a good fancy looking but not actually hard to make dish for a dinner party or holiday.

Granola Bars: Finally, a Winner!!

I have made what seems like endless granola bars, searching for the perfect combination of taste and texture...  usually the recipes are good in one department and not so much in the other.   This recipe, though, is a winner on both counts.  Chewy and crunchy (not too sticky or crumbly), sweet, salty and nutty.  Mmmm.  Thanks, Ina.

I made them last minute (hence the blurry airport cell phone pic) as a travel snack for our looooong one taxi-two flights-one car-two boats journey to Bunaken... good stuff.

Feta Stuffed Dates

After working with dates for my homemade energy bars, my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to try more date recipes, so I bought another box.  A quick Google search unearthed these feta-stuffed dates with nuts... sounded like a good second date with dates (har har).

Super easy: mix some cream cheese with a bit of feta and parmesan, stuff the mixture into pitted dates, top each with an almond, baste with olive oil and drop them in the oven.  Then, inhale with a glass of wine like Tim and I did.  Or, alternatively, serve them as an appetizer at a party because they look fancy despite their simplicity.

I took these photos before baking them since I was quickly losing the natural light, but they look even more appetizing once baked.

Bulgur Maple Breakfast Cereal

I recently came into what I think is bulgur wheat from some friends who moved on from Jakarta to greener pastures (Hi Brooke and Rob! Miss you!)... it came in an unmarked (but for a stylized drawing of what looks like a wheat stalk) bag, but looked fairly bulgur-y, if that's a thing.  

I've used bulgur a little bit in the past... tabbouleh, Moroccan spiced stuffed squash, bulgur and ricotta pancakes... but was intrigued by this idea I saw in last week's NY Times for a maple bulgur breakfast porridge.  

I always think the concept of oatmeal is nice: a hearty, warm bowl of breakfast goodness.  But in reality I find oatmeal to be kinda gluey and gross.  The texture of this bulgur wheat porridge is better somehow... it's got a creaminess, but the little bits of wheat retain some appealing bite and pop.  Add a hint of smokey sweet maple flavor?  Pretty awesome.

I followed the super simple NY Times directions to a T (soaking the bulgur overnight in hot water then cooking it briefly in milk in the morning), but switched up the accoutrements, using quartered strawberries and roughly chopped almonds in place of the blueberries and pecans.  Yum.  As an experiment, I also tried Martha Stewart's cook it all at once methodology, but I found the overnight method creamier and more appealing.

Coconut Energy Bars

I keep seeing all of these copycat energy bar recipes floating around the internet lately... many different variations on the same theme: 

nuts + dried fruit (usually dates) + extra flavorings x a quick zip in the food processor = 

raw energy bars similar to Larabars

I thought these might be a good grab-and-go breakfast option for me and Tim.  We've been exercising in the mornings before he heads to work and I start my work-from-home routine, but since we're not very good at getting up early, there's not a lot of time in between for a sit down breakfast of any sort.

I decided to use this recipe for chocolate and coconut flavored energy bars.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a bust and required much troubleshooting to achieve the ultimate product.  The recipe calls for dates (Medjool, but I used Deglet Noor, which perhaps was part of the problem), nuts (almonds and walnuts), dried unsweetened coconut and cocoa powder.   The ratios (dry to wet) seemed to be off for me, though, as my final product was much too dry and very crumbly:

I had to almost double the amount of dates in order to get a sticky enough consistency to form the bars.  Plus a couple tablespoons of honey, just in case:

In the end, we liked them ok, but we want to try one of the other recipes for a different flavor combination.  I think I was hoping for a little more chocolate flavor myself.  I'll definitely give it another try.  Perhaps chocolate chip?  Or peanut butter chocolate?

Adventures in Challah Stuffing

One half batch of my favorite challah dough... two loaves of challah stuffed with various delicious ingredients... two explosions in my oven.

First:  almond stuffed challah.

I got the idea after impulsively buying a bag of almond meal (finely ground almonds).  I thought that maybe I could make a filling for the challah that was reminiscent of the sugary almond paste that they put in those buttery, delicious almond croissants.

I made the filling according to this recipe and wrapped it into my usual no-knead challah dough.  Apparently I didn't wrap it tight enough, though, because after a few minutes in the oven it looked like the explosion you see below:

Luckily, all of that sweet, toasted almond shrapnel was pretty tasty, and a good amount of the filling stayed in the bread, creating a subtle swirl of almondy goodness throughout:

Second: spiced apple stuffed challah.

This one was to use up some Malang apples I had sitting in the fridge... I wanted to follow this recipe from What Jew Wanna Eat because I found her blog title and premise to be really hilarious, but I worried that the raw apples wouldn't cook sufficiently inside the bread and I wanted to make sure the spice flavors came through... so instead I sauteed 2 large peeled and diced apples in a teeny bit of butter, a couple dashes of cinnamon, a sprinkle each of cardamom and nutmeg, and about a tablespoon of honey.  Then I wrapped them up in the remaining challah dough, braided it and stuck it in the oven, at which point, you probably guessed, it exploded.

This one didn't have as much leakage as the almond challah, but was still bursting (literally) with apple pieces.  Tasted pretty damn good, though.

The next day it was a little soggy from the moisture of the apples, but a quick warming in the oven took care of that.

Leftover Cranberry Sauce?

Got leftover cranberry sauce?  If so, make these cranberry crumble bars.  Super easy and quite a big hit at the Thanksgiving party we went to in Jakarta...  they went slowly at first, but at the end of the party, as we were leaving, I had at least 6 people pull me over and tell me they were awesome.  Pretty ringing endorsement.

I used this cranberry crumble bar recipe from the November issue of Martha Stewart Living, which conveniently arrived here in Jakarta the day before Thanksgiving.  The recipe looked pretty easy and delicious, but I had to make a few changes out of necessity:

• First, a 9"x13" pan doesn't fit in my mini oven, so I decided to switch up the pans.  I went with my removeable bottom tart pan so I would end up with pie-shaped bars... I split the dough recipe into 2 and made 2 tarts, each cooked for 30 minutes. 
• I probably used 1 and a half cans of cranberry sauce between the 2 tarts, though.  
• Also, I substituted toasted, slivered almonds for the walnuts, which I couldn't find for some reason (the Real Martha thinks there is a walnut shortage of some sort this year- she says prices of walnuts have skyrocketed of late).

 

Granola Bars, Take 2

After my success with granola bars last week, Tim requested that I make some more, but with peanut butter.  I made mine based on a different recipe, one that didn't involve cooking the bars after forming them.

 

The end result was quite tasty- I like the flavor of these much better than last week.  The consistency was much softer... more like Rice Krispie treats.  Thumbs up, except that they crumbled somewhat when handled.

I used the same technique as the recipe, but switched up the ingredients a bit:

1 cup oatmeal (mine wasn't instant, so I toasted in the oven for about 10 minutes)

1 cup Rice Krispies

1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted along with the oatmeal)

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

Heated the honey and brown sugar together until the sugar dissolved, then added peanut butter.  Tossed together all of the dry ingredients and poured the peanut butter sauce over the top.  Pressed it all into a lightly greased 9" x 9" pan.  Cooled, cut and ate!

Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of those funny things here in Jakarta.  You can get them, sure, but you will pay an arm and a leg.  And your brand and flavor options are limited, too.  I wouldn't call myself a granola bar connoisseur or anything, but I like to have them on hand for a quick breakfast or snack to take hiking or biking, so this situation is somewhat frustrating.

I wondered if I could make my own and whether they would taste as good as (or hopefully better than) the store bought ones.  I'm not quite sure that this recipe achieves any sort of economical success for me, as the ingredients for making the homemade version are not particularly cheap here, either, but the flavor is pretty nice! 

I made my version basically based on Alton Brown's recipe... I used whole almonds (which I then chopped), roasted and salted sunflower seeds, regular brown sugar, and raisins.  Also, I threw in some chocolate chips when stirring the dry and wet ingredients together... the chips melted throughout so the whole bar has a chocolate-y flavor.  Maybe next time I'll try adding some peanut butter?

Individual Peach Cobblers

A couple weeks ago Tim came home from work with some super fresh and ripe local peaches. We ate most of them straight up as a snack, but eventually there were two of them still sitting there, getting a little wrinkly and begging to be mixed with butter and sugar and turned into dessert. Luckily for us, Joy the Baker had just posted this cute recipe for Peach Cobbler for One...

Joy's topping recipe is really delicious- a little body from the oatmeal, unexpected tropical flavor from the coconut, lots of butter and sugar.  

Since we had 2 peaches, I doubled the topping recipe. This may have been an unnecessary step. I never thought I'd say this, but there was actually too much topping. 

What?! 

Yes, too much topping. 

I think I could have done one topping recipe and split it among the 2 peaches...

Mini Farfalle with Eggplant, Cherry Tomatos, Almond Pesto and Feta

Kate passed on this recipe for labor-inducing eggplant Parmesan so I could share it with Jamie, who was nearing her due-date... it made me hungry for eggplant, which I had conveniently bought from the CSA this week. I didn't have all the ingredients for the parm, but I did have the world's biggest bag of basil, also care of Star Hollow Farm, so I decided to merge the eggplant with some basil pesto and serve it over pasta.Using this recipe from Giada "Boobs and Teeth" De Laurentiis as a general guideline for cooking the eggplant, I chopped it up, sauteed it until brown, and threw it all together with fresh basil pesto (basil, parm, olive oil, almonds, garlic), cute mini farfalle, a pint of halved sweet orange cherry tomatoes, and salty feta. Awesome warm, and also delicious cold the next day.

PS: Yes, the eggplant parmesan apparently did work for Jamie- she went into labor the day after eating it! Introducing my beautiful brand-new baby niece, Zoe:

Ricotta- and Berry-Filled Crepes

O'Brien and Brewster came over this past rainy Sunday for brunch. The Real Martha had given me a gift basket she received that had crepe mix in it, so I decided to bust it out for the occasion. I know it's cheating to use a crepe mix, but I made up for it by making the ricotta with which the crepes were stuffed, right?

The ricotta-making went very well... the curds formed and hung together better than last time I made it. Perhaps my cheese-making skillz are improving?

For the crepe stuffing, I mixed the ricotta with some lemon and orange zest, a couple squirts of honey, some toasted almonds, and fresh blueberries and raspberries. Then I topped the stuffed crepes with a blueberry raspberry sauce (frozen blueberries and raspberries, a little sugar, a little water, a little lemon juice, simmer, puree). Pretty good! I think next time I would mix some sour cream or something creamy into the stuffing to give it some more moisture. That's probably my only complaint, though. The flavor was pretty good!

Blueberry Almond Tart

Alejandra from Always Order Dessert frequently raves about almond paste and its many uses, so when I saw it at the grocery store, I grabbed a couple cans just to have on hand.

When the CSA provided me with a ton of gorgeous plump blueberries, I thought they might go well with the almond paste. I did a quick Google search and found this blueberry-almond tart recipe which used those two main ingredients, plus other pantry staples.

Wow, this tart was really pretty. And tasted really delicious, too! The almond paste gave it a really rich, sweet, nutty flavor.

Quinoa Salad with Blueberries, Snap Peas, Feta and Almonds

Inspired by some snap peas from Star Hollow farms, some blueberries from the store and the ginormous bag of quinoa I got at Costco, I decided to make a healthy quinoa salad for lunch. Riffing on these quinoa salad recipes, I added raw blueberries and snap peas, feta, toasted almonds, minced green onions and parsley and a lemony dressing to my salad. Really easy, pretty good and definitely good for you!

Fro Yo with Rhubarb Compote and Toasted Almonds

So DC, being approximately 2-3 years behind New York and L.A. in all things cool/hip/trendy, has recently had a proliferation of tart fro-yo joints, a la Pinkberry (OMG, the song on this website is heinously bad!). I'm not complaining about the fro-yo, because I love it, but I am complaining that I had to read about how awesome Pinkberry and its brethren are for months and months before any of it hit DC.Anywho, the stuff is addictive like a mofo. Fro-yo like a mo-fo. But not cheap. However, lucky for me (and you), it's super easy to make at home. It's basically Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt, strained to thicken it up), mixed with some sugar, and thrown into the ice cream machine. This recipe is great, although I might ease up on the sugar a bit to ensure the final product is super tart.

Topped it with a simple rhubarb compote and some toasted almonds.

Mocha Meringue Bark: Fail.

I saw this mocha meringue bark recipe being made on Claire Robinson's 5 Ingredient Fix and thought it looked easy and pretty tasty... how could it go wrong? It's got almond, chocolate chips, coffee, meringue... seems straightforward and good in theory.

I'm not sure where it went wrong, the recipe or my methods, but it somehow tasted wrong... not very coffee-like, kinda flat and strangely textured, generally odd. No likey.

Moroccan-style Quinoa with Butternut and Chickpeas

I made a tasty vegetarian quinoa salad with Moroccan spices the other night, very loosely based on on this recipe from Closet Cooking. I liked the idea of his salad, particularly his spice mix, which I made to spec, but I used different ingredients for the salad base, according to what I had on hand.

Here's how my substitutions broke down:

• I used regular quinoa rather than a mix of red and regular
• I substituted butternut squash for the carrots
• I steamed a bunch of spinach towards the end of the quinoa cooking
• I used toasted almonds in place of the pine nuts
• I threw in dried cranberries where raisins were called for

In the end, the spice mix complimented these ingredients very well!

Seared Salmon with Luinguine and Ramp Pesto

This week I got a bundle of ramps in my CSA share. Ramps are wild onions grown and gathered mainly in Appalachia in the spring... they have an oniony, garlicky flavor to them, and you can eat the entire thing- from white bulb to red stems to leafy tops.I thought this salmon recipe with a ramp pesto looked simple and tasty, so we tried it out. Very good! The onion flavor is pretty powerful- no making out for any of us tonight. But delicious anyway!
My trip to the grocery store didn't turn up any Marcona almonds, so I used regular roasted almonds, which worked out fine. Otherwise, I made the recipe as instructed and give it two thumbs up!