Bookmarked Recipes 24

This week's round up is over at Pam's blog Sidewalk Shoes. (Thanks Pam!)

Go check it out!!!!



I'll be back for next week's round up!

Daring Baker 8 - Lavash Crackers & Toppings

This month's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by Shelly and Natalie who decided to do a gluten free/vegan recipe - Lavash Crackers from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (pp 178 - 180) and to create a dip to go with them.

There was a lot of creativity to this challenge. I decided to make a roast sweet pepper dip and used a variety of toppings on the crackers - poppy seeds, salt & pepper, paprika and dried basil.

I enjoyed this one, thanks ladies!



Lavash Crackers

Ingredients
1.5 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
1 Tbsp (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
1 Tbsp (.5 oz) vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings



Recipe
1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bre … ong-Enough for a discription of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

or

2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

or

4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.



For my topping I ended up making this off my own bat with no recipe and I have to say it was rather tasty.



Roast sweet pepper dip

Ingredients
3 red peppers, cut into large slices
1 green pepper, cut into large slices
1 red onion, skinned and quartered
1 tomato, quartered
5 closed cup mushrooms, quartered
Olive Oil
4 garlic cloves
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
handful of fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Lay the peppers, onion, tomato, and mushrooms on a baking tray. and drizzle olive oil over the top.
2. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
3. Transfer the vegetables to a blender. Add the garlic and lemon juice and blend until smooth.
4. Stir in the basil and serve.

Omnivore's 100

This has been doing the rounds on the food blogosphere for a while and now I've finally got round to doing it myself.

Very Good Taste's Omnivore's 100
Here’s what to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I think that's 23 I have eaten and 18 I wouldn't consider eating, meaning there's 59 I've still to try.

Bookmarked Recipes 23

This week's round up is over at Ning's blog Heart and Hearth. (Thanks Ning!)

Go check it out!!!!



Because our holiday was changed in location and dates I'll not be around for next Monday's round up. Pam from Sidewalk Shoes is taking over next Monday and I'll be back for the following week.

Saffron

My parents, sister and her boyfriend were on holiday recently in a favourite place of ours - Gran Canaria - and they came back with a few little gifts, which included a big toblerone (which has vanished already), a bracelet for me, a photo album, some seatbelt covers for my new car and a lovely little box of saffron! The saffron made me smile because I had just used the last of mine the night before and was dreading spending a fortune on a little more, whereas this box was at least 100 times the quantity but about the same price!

I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes with this.... any suggestions or ideas anyone?

Bookmarked Recipes 22

This week's round up is over at Deeba's blog Passionate about Baking

Go check it out!!!!

Monthly Mingle - Sensational Sides

Meeta from What's for lunch, Honey? holds a great monthly foodie event called the Monthly Mingle with a theme each month. Past themes have included one dish dinners, Spring Fruit Sensations, Bollywood Cooking and Appetizers & Hors D'oeuvres to name just a few.

This month I'm helping Meeta out by hosting the Monthly Mingle. Side dishes are so often neglected in our house, and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that, which is why I've decided that the theme for this month's mingle is Sensational Sides the idea being that whoever wants to take part makes a great side dish using whatever ingredients you like and send it in for the round up.

Here’s how it works:

Create a dish that fits the theme of “Sensational Sides” as described above
Post about it on your blog (entries must be in English, please) and include a link back to here and Meeta's blog
Link to this post and send the details to me at ruth.e.babes[AT]gmail[DOT]com anytime from now until 13 October with “Sensational Sides” in the subject line with the following information:

your name
the name of your blog
the name of your dish and a link to the relevant post
a copy of the main photo of your dish 200px wide (and compressed so that it is below 1MB!)





Hope you can take part!!!!

Cake Wrecks

Stuff Yer Bake just posted about a blog called Cake Wrecks which after looking at about 2 posts I fell in love with and just had to share here too.

Bookmarked Recipes 21

I'm going to be away the next couple of Monday's but I've got details of who will be looking after the round up at the bottom of the round up

Let's have a look at what people have been recreating from their own Bookmarked Recipes this week.



Arika from My Yummy Life has made corn toasties using a recipe from A good appetite



Pam from Sidewalk Shoes has sent in a recipe for roast chicken thighs with late summer veggies using a recipe from fine cooking magazine.



Dhanggit is back with fried honey orange puffs in sesame using a recipe from the Oriental Patisserie cookbook.



Ning from Heart and Hearth this week has made fried shrimp patties with the recipe taken from The Filipino Cookbook of the Maya Kitchen.



Jin Hooi from Smell and Taste are my Memory has made Oreo Cheesecake based on a recipe from Jo's Deli & Bakery



Gloria from Canela's Kitchen has made bread pudding with vanilla sauce based on a recipe from allrecipes.com.



Dell form Cooking and the City has made some awesome Sticky Pork Ribs using a recipe found on taste.com.au



This week I made a recipe that was made for last week's round up by someone else: crash hot potatoes




Now for the details about who will be hosting the next couple of weeks.

Next week Deeba from Passionate about Baking will be hosting on the 15th September, then the week after (21st September) will be hosted by Ning from Heart and Hearth. So be sure to check their blogs for the round ups!!!!

Thanks everyone for your submissions!!! It's always exciting to see what people have been making and recreating as well as meeting some new bloggers.

Remember if you want to take part here's all you have to do....
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from

Crash Hot Potatoes

On last week's bookmarked recipe round up Teresa from I'm running to eat submitted crash hot potatoes which I couldn't help but make straight away.

They were simple and delicious. Great texture to them too. I'll be making these again.

I added a sprinkling of paprika to my verison but pretty much stayed with the Pioneer Woman's original recipe



Crash Hot Potatoes

Ingredients
Baby potatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Thyme

Recipe
1. Boil the potatoes for about 15-20 mins
2. Oil an oven tray and spread potatoes on top.
3. Crush each potato slightly with a masher.
4. Drizzle a little more oil over the top of the tatties.
5. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, paprika and thyme
6. Roast in the oven at about 180˚C for 25-30 mins.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

I've blogged about Thai green curry and Thai red curry before but both of those recipes used a store bought paste and I was really wanting to try making them without a pre made paste someday. I recently bought First Crack Your Egg, a fairly basic cookery book, but I thought it may encourage my hubby with a kitchen phobia to try some simple dishes. While looking through it I found a great recipe for thai green chicken curry and just had to try it.

I had added ginger to the recipe to add a little more flavour and texture to the dish and used only 1 small lime instead of 3 large ones. It was definitely tasty and not as complicated to make as I thought but this recipe tasted a little blander than I'm used to. I'll be trying it again sometime but adapting a little more.

This is my entry for Bookmarked Recipes (20).



Thai Green Chicken Curry

Serves 2

Ingredients
6 spring onions
2 large green chillis, deseeded
3 garlic cloves
1/2" ginger (My addition to the recipe)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts, diced
juice and zest of 1 small lime (original recipe calls for 3 large)
1 tsp ground kaffir lime
1 tsp ground lemongrass
1 tsbp fish sauce
400ml coconut milk
1 tbsp coriander leaf

Recipe
1. Chop the spring onions. Blitz the chilli, garlic and ginger together in a mini blender or crush in a mortar and pestle.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Add the spring onion and chili, garlic & ginger paste and stir so as not to burn. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the chicken and cook for 4 minutes or until sealed.
4. Stir in the lime and lemongrass, making sure it is well mixed.
5. Add the fish sauce and coconut milk. Stir well and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Mix in the coriander and cook for a further 2-3 minutes before serving with jasmine rice.

Bookmarked Recipes 20

Let's have a look at what people have been recreating from their own Bookmarked Recipes this week.



Deeba from Passionate about Baking kicks off this round up with middle eastern chicken burgers using a recipe from Akalaty.



Tina from Wycked Sweets is back with JAM!!!! - to be specific, Strawberry Lemon Marmalade.



Sharon is our first newbie this week from Culinary Adventures of a New Wife and she's made delicious and healthy Lemon Blueberry Oat bars based on a recipe from Susan's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen



Ning from Heart and Hearth has brought fish fillets in Vietnamese caramel sauce from Eating Club Vancouver.



Jen from Real Good Taste is back for her second round up with Summer Vegetable Gratin adapted from Flexitarian Menu.



Teresa from I'm running to eat has brought crash hot potatoes to the round up based on the Pioneer Woman's recipe



Jin Hooi from Smell and Taste are my memory is another newbie to the round up all the way from Melbourne, Australia and has made some Serimuka based on Lily's recipe



Ivy is another newbie this week from Kopiaste who has made some Lavraki (sea bass) in parchment paper using a recipe from About.com by Nancy Gaifallia.



Gloria from Canela's Kitchen is back again with a favourite of mine - Apple Crumble from a book called Classic Essential Puddings.



Amy from Runs with Spatula has returned with some a gorgeous purple potato recipe from foodnetwork.com



And finally my entry is a Thai Green Curry from a new cook book of mine called First Crack Your Egg, which I haven't posted the blog entry for yet but will do it tomorrow.



Thanks everyone for your submissions!!! It's always exciting to see what people have been making and recreating as well as meeting some new bloggers.

Remember if you want to take part here's all you have to do....
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from

Victoria Sandwich Cake

A few months ago a new food event called Sweet and Simple Bakes started up and I've been wanting to participate since it began but between one thing and another I wasn't able to..... until now!!!!

This month's challenge was Victoria Sandwich Cake which I decided to make to celebrate my 1 year blogaversary for this blog! I left out the buttercream, but I'll give it a go sometime. A great cake to celebrate with... and pretty much have any time! Also a great simple recipe to have on hand for throwing together a cake in a rush.

Thanks Rosie and Maria!



Victoria Sandwich Cake

Ingredients
Sponge
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Pinch of salt

Filling
4-6 tbsp strawberry jam, or your own choice of flavour
1 tbsp caster sugar

Buttercream (optional)
75g (3 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g (6 oz) icing sugar
Few drops of vanilla extract

Recipe
1. Prepare 2 sandwich tins (8 in). Grease and base line the bottom of the tins with greaseproof paper or baking paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl using a wooden spoon or mixer until the mixture is pale in colour and light and fluffy. This can take up to 5 minutes or more to achieve depending on if you are using a wooden spoon or mixer.
4. Add the beaten egg, a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Sift the flour and salt and carefully add to the mixture, folding in with a metal spoon or spatula.
6. Divide the mixture equally between the tins and smooth over with a spatula.
7. Place the tins on the same shelf in the centre of the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until well risen, golden brown and beginning to shrink from the sides of the tin.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 3 – 5 minutes.
8. Loosen the cakes from around the edge of the tins using a palette knife. Turn the cakes out onto a clean tea towel, remove the paper and invert them onto a wire rack (this prevents the wire rack from marking the top of the cakes).
9. When completely cool, spread the jam on the bottom sponge and place the 2nd sponge on top to sandwich them together. To finish off, sprinkle the top of the cake with caster sugar.

If you wish to add the optional buttercream, add the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Spread the buttercream carefully over the jam