Under the Tuscan Sun (wishful thinking, that is)

Baguettes and Bruschettas sound so exotic, it makes me want to go to Tuscany, or vice versa rather :)

This is my first time with plain baguettes and i figured a lot of cool stuff can be whipped up in no time. They go well with soups or as a starter or a simple snack as for that matter. Its easy to prepare if you have all the ingredients and most of these, are stuff you'd have in your refrigerator.

Stuffed baguette

French baguette- one, half

Cheddar cheese- 4 tbs

Tomato puree- 1 tsp

Cream cheese- 100gms

Olives- 1/4 cup finely chopped

Pepper powder- to taste

Garlic- 2 pods, finely chopped

Slice off both the ends of the baguette and hollow it out carefully, leaving about half an inch of crust.

Mix the cream cheese and cheddar till nice and soft and add the rest of the ingredients. Check for salt and add if required.

Scoop and fill the baguette with the cheese mix. Wrap with a cling film and refrigerate for upto 2 hours.

Slice and serve with soups or as an appetiser.

I am sending this entry to the No Cook Event hosted by PJ of Seduce your tastebuds.

Notes: Add sun dried tomatoes, meats or any other cheese of your choice and make it more exciting

If you want you can heat it a wee bit just before you serve, but i prefer it cold.

Bruschetta

With left-over baguette, use it as a Bruschetta and be creative with any topping of your choice. Here are a few options:

Pre-heat the grill and grill the bread for one minute, on either side, till they are crispy. Drizzle olive oil and top with mashed tomato and basil, feta cheese with garlic and chives, pancetta, season with freshly ground salt and pepper and drizzle some more olive oil on top and serve. Its brrrriiilliant!

'Brunch' ed Up, eh?

Oh don't you just love the whole idea of a brunch? Well, I do and i love going out to brunch rather than staying at home and making one. Especially after a night out on Saturday, you wake up late on Sunday and head out to a restaurant, have a 3 hour long brunch and if you have friends joining you, even better. So today was brunch day and for a change i decided to do it at home. Boy was it so much more easier and fun to have brunch than to have breakfast at 10 and then get prepared for lunch by the time you are done cleaning up after breakky.

We started off with a rather rich and heavy Frittata, washed it down with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice followed by buttermilk blueberry pancakes and a cuppa freshly brewed coffee. Yes, you guessed right..we were so full after that to even clean up and now i have a messy kitchen staring back at me. I thought id take a breather, come and blog about it and then get back to cleaning up (which basically means loading the dish washer) ;)

Bacon and Spinach Frittata

Frittata is an Italian omelet mixed with veggies, meats, cheese or rather anything of your choice and served open..and not folded. It is initially cooked on a hob top and finished off under a grill.

Bacon- 3 rashers, cooked and crumbled

Baby Spinach- 1 to 2 cups (depending on your taste. Ro didn't let me put more than a cup)

Garlic pods- 3, chopped fine

Spring onions- 3, chopped fine (both bulb and greens)

Garlic sausages- 3, cooked and chopped (optional)

Eggs- 4

Heavy cream- 30ml

Mature cheddar cheese- less than a 1/4 cup

Pepper powder- as required

Salt- to taste

Baking powder- a pinch (optional)

Clean the spinach leaves, drain and transfer them to a bowl and close with a lid. Cook in the microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Drain off the water and keep aside.

In a large frying pan, cook the bacon and sausages (if using) and preserve the oil.

If there is way too much oil, discard some and in the remaining, sautee the garlic and spring onions till light and fragrant.

Add the spinach, crumbled bacon and sausages. Season with some pepper powder and sautee for a few minutes. Check for salt and only then add, since the bacon and sausages will have some salt content in them.

Beat the eggs, cheddar cheese, cream, salt pepper and baking pwd in a bowl till light and fluffy.

Add this to the frying pan and mix well, without disturbing the ends too much. Try and distribute the filling evenly.

Cook on low fire for about 2 minutes and then cover and cook for a minute or two again. Transfer to a pre-heated grill for another 5 mins max..just to brown the top.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Notes: The garlic sausages were about to expire and so i added that too. The bacon would be good on its own or rather better, because somehow there was a conflict of flavours.

Whole milk can be used instead of heavy cream. I wanted to make sure we don't eat healthy today :)

Add mushrooms, carrots, peas or any veggie of your choice and make it an egg-etariandelight.

If you do not have an oven, you can just carefully turn the egg upside down to brown the top. Be careful though...you shouldn't crack the beautiful round shape. Invert it on to a plate first and then insert that plate back into the frying pan to be double sure. Am i making sense?

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

This is my first time with buttermilk pancakes and i must say it does make a difference to the texture and a slight taste variation. Or am i imagining it, i don't know. I asked Ro and he said he cant remember eating pancakes made by me at all....but clarified that the Tesco one tastes a whole lot different (good different or bad different is a very time consuming argument, so i left it at that)....Thanks for that baby, i am so stupid i didn't know! DUH!

All purpose flour- 1 cup

Sugar- 4 tbsp ( optional)

Baking powder- 3/4 tsp

Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Egg- 1

Buttermilk- 1 cup

Butter- 2 tbsp, melted and cooled slightly

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Fresh Blueberries- 100 gms

Mix all the dry ingredients (first 5) together and keep aside.

Whisk together the remaining, except the blueberries, and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until it is just blended and then add the blueberries. Give a final stir and keep aside for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick skillet and pour in one ladle full of batter. After about 3 minutes, bubbles start appearing on top and at that time, flip and cook for another 2 minutes or till golden brown. Repeat till the entire batter is used up. I got about 10 medium size pancakes.

Drizzle some maple syrup, butter or even honey and serve with fresh blueberries on the side. Wanna die sooner? Add some whipped cream :0

Note: Buttermilk can be substituted with whole milk

I tried using an electric grill for the pancakes, but it was surprisingly taking too long and the bubbles were just not there...Hob top skillet is the best.

Use bananas, chocolate chips, strawberries in the place of blueberries, and I'm sure the result will be as 'fruitful' :)

Phew! that was awfully long, i think i'll get Ro to clean up ;)

Another dal recipe spiced up with a Chicken fry

I am seriously obsessed with baking and cant wait to try out new recipes. But when it comes to the usual, normal, everyday cooking i cringe. I dread the cleaning, the cutting, the stirring and everything about it. I crib about it to Ro every night before we fall asleep and he is now fed up of trying to get me to enjoy it. To prove that its fun, he took over cooking for whole of last weekend and i just sat back and cribbed about life in general. If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a sneak peak at my other blog, and you'll know ;)

Dal Tadka

Now I'm back on my feet and have decided to make proper meals again (the not-enjoying cooking bit is still in tact). Since there was a sudden burst of cakes and bakes on the blog, i decided to post a dal recipe passed on by my best friend R. She was with me in India a couple of months back and made this dal with hot kulchas and they were so so tasty. She 's an amazing cook and made it look incredibly easy. So i bugged her on chat the other day and got the recipe. Unfortunately for me, the impatient one, it didn't taste as awesome as hers, but did taste different from the previous ones i have tried (Dal Fry, Spinach Dal and the Mallu Parippu Curry).

Moong Dal- 1 cup, cooked with water in a pressure cooker. Not mashed.

Dry red chillies- 4

Shallots- 2

Tomato- 2, chopped fine

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric pwd- a pinch

Salt- to taste

Coconut oil- 2 tbs

Coriander leaves- a handful

Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp to temper

Grind dry red chillies and shallots to make a fine paste.

In a kadai, heat 1 tbs coconut oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the ground chilli-shallot paste and cook till the raw smell goes.

Add tomatoes and cook till the water evaporates and the oil is visible. (Add green peas at this stage if you want)

Add turmeric, jeera pwd, salt and the cooked dal. Mix well. Add water at this stage if its too thick. Simmer on medium heat.

Add the coriander leaves, give it a final stir and take it off the heat.

Just before you serve, add a dash of cream, butter or ghee (optional)

I however did a tadka with the remaining oil and cumin seeds and avoided the cream/ butter bit.

Chicken Fry

I also tried out an easy chicken recipe from this blog and it turned out just great. I followed the recipe dot to dot, except instead of settling for a dry version, i masala-fied it with a lot of onion and curry leaves and one tomato. The pic however was taken before the masal-fied version since that was a complete after-thought.

Peach Upside-Down with a French-Yoghurt cake base

My previous experiment with an upside down cake was not too successful, but my husband convinced me to try it out once again, this time using canned fruit. I had sworn not to try it out ever again. This one, however, turned out perfectly well and tasted oh-so-good..a perfect way to celebrate our 4th Wedding Anniversary. This was my gift to Ro.

I have tried a completely different method this time and it worked out fine for me. The last recipe i followed, i somehow didn't like the cake base which was not moist enough and was dry and crumbly. So i decided to do my own version with the French-Yoghurt cake base and it came out just the way i liked it. Although Ro kept saying it was more pudding like, i am on a sugar-high just looking at it.

Topping

Packed Brown sugar- 1/2 cup (dark or light..i used dark)

Butter- 1/4 cup/ 4 tbsp

Peach slices- 1 can (about 400gms)

Place a saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter and sugar. Mix well and keep stirring till the mixture starts bubbling and caramelising a bit. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool a bit.

Butter a 9 inch round cake pan and once the mixture has cooled down a bit, pour into the pan and evenly arrange the peach slices (refer pic. below)

Base: French-Yoghurt cake

All purpose flour- 1 cup

Sugar- 1 cup

Eggs- 3

Baking powder- 2 tsp

Flavourless Oil- 1/2 cup

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Plain yoghurt- 1/2 cup

Salt- a pinch

Centre a rack in the oven and preheat to 175C.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric beater, whisk together the sugar, eggs, yoghurt and vanilla extract till they have blended well.

Still whisking, add the dry ingredients bit by bit, till they are all mixed well.

Pour the oil into the mixture and using a large rubber spatula fold in the oil. Do not mix vigorously.

Pour this batter on top of the peach slices and even it out.

Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Take it out of the oven and cool on a rack for about 10 minutes.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a serving place carefully.

Serve with cream.

Notes: If the sugar mix has hardened while you have set it aside to cool, place it back on the hob and lightly heat it.

I had some extra batter after filling the tin, which i used for small cup cakes. I got about 9 of those

After a while the sugar boils and might bubble up over the cake batter, but that's ok, it kinda adds a caramelised flavour to the whole cake. I loved it.

Take extra care while you invert the cake, as this is the trickiest part. It can all crumble down or get stuck to the bottom. I prefer to invert it as soon as its been taken out of the oven as it will still be a bit buttery at the bottom and the peach slices don't stick to the pan.

I am also sending this entry to a few blog events:

Contribute Your Recipes Event- Cakes & Cookies hosted by Indian Vegetarian Kitchen and

Cakes n Cookies hosted by Sara's Corner

Wanna punish your husband when he's fought with you?

Then you've come to the right place...hahaha...(evil laugh)

Make this utterly delicious gooey, chewy double chocolate brownies, eat them in front of him and he'd come begging back to you...at least for the brownies :)

It will also come in handy when you can blackmail him later, saying you shall NEVER make it again, if he behaves this way ;)

Without ranting and raving much, i shall move on to the recipe, adapted from the joy of bakingwebsite. This is a very simple recipe, but yields awesome results. Now isn't that what we all want? Better outcome with less work.

Cocoa powder- 1/2 cup

Butter- 1/2 cup

Sugar- 1 cup

Egg- 2

All purpose flour- 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Bitter sweet/ Dark chocolate, broken into small pieces- 1/4 cup

Walnuts, cut into small pieces- 1/4 cup

Salt- a pinch

Pre-heat the oven to 165C. Place a baking sheet into an 8 inch brownie tin.

Place a saucepan with water and bring to boil. Simmer, place another heat-resistant cooking vessel on top of it and melt the butter and cocoa powder. Mix well and keep aside.

Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each. Stir in the sugar and vanilla extract and mix well.

Finally add the flour, salt, walnuts and the dark chocolate pieces. Make sure you don't mix them too vigorously.

Pour the batter into the brownie tin and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for a minimum of 30 minutes. Cut them into as many pieces as you like, store in an air tight container and munch on them whenever you want or even better, warm it for 5 seconds in a microwave and serve with ice cream.

Notes: I used dark chocolate with 70 percent cocoa in it and the chocolate taste was just marvellous. We are huge fans of the bitter chocolate. But if that's not available, any milk chocolate will do..our very own Cadbury milk chocolate for example.

Walnuts are also optional. I liked the whole crunchy munchy feel.

I used self-raising flour, which worked just fine.

Make sure the brownie is cooled on a rack for as long as possible, as it is still a bit gooey when you take it out of the oven

Spicy, garlicky potato wedges

I am on a recipe-trying spree...meaning trying out recipes from other blogs. Yeah, i know i have been doing so for a long time now, and its only getting better:)

There have been quite a few disasters as well. Like the other day i tried red velvet cakes and had to chuck it all because it tasted awful. I shall attempt it again when im in the mood.

It was such a cold day and Ro worked from home which meant constant nagging about lunch, tea, nibbles...and he claims i secretly enjoy showering him with all the attention.DUH!

Anyway, I was blog browsing and came across this awesome blog ...drooling, i decided to make something . Unfortunately the only ingredients available were for the Garlicky Baked Fries and i didnt think twice. Give me potatoes in any form any day and i'll be a very happy person. Carbs carbs, i know, but who cares when its so bloody awesome.

I made a few modifications here and there and the result was marvellous. I paired it with a chilli mayo dip and a shot of espresso and I couldnt have asked for more on the cold winter evening.

• I used baby potatoes- 6 of them cut into wedges
• I added 3 dry chillies, crushed, to the garlic and EVOO since i did not have cayenne pepper.
• I also added a half tsp paprika.

The mayo dip is pretty easy as well. I use store bought garlic mayo (4tbsp), add chilli sauce or ketchup (1 tsp) and a few drops of water and mix well to get a smooth paste. Dip dip dip and chomp chomp chomp.

Ah, so thats how a thoran is made!

As you might have already guessed from the title, yesterday i learned how exactly to make an authentic mallu speciality- the thoran (vegetables of your choice with coconut). Till now i was making a mezhukupuratti (something entirely different), throwing in some coconut and calling it a thoran and wondered why it never turned out the sadya (feast) way. Ro used to shout at me asking why i am so stingy when it comes to putting coconut in my thoran and i used to retaliate saying, too much was not healthy. This time i went home, i saw my mom, mom-in-law using coconut oil lavishly and when questioned they said according to recent developments coconut oil was the healthiest..it apparently maintains cholesterol levels. Now that's news. So anyways, yesterday i decided to go veg. (basically i was lazy to go out and shop) and made a carrot and beans thoran and boy did it taste good. And its easy too. I followed Maria's recipe to the dot and it was perfect. Thanks Maria, i now know how different a thoran is from the mezhukupuratti. Ro thought it tasted different. 'Dude that's cos its the real thing.' He is so used to eating the shit i make, that if you give him the real thing he would say its horrible. Now i would say that's good training :)