Best of The Best

The name of the dish says everything. I made these pancakes for dinner this weekend. I had used a buckwheat pancake mix from Wegmans. This pancake mixture does not have any sugar in it. I tried turning into a uthappam by adding some yogurt and topped it some grated carrots and onions. This went very well with podi and vegetable kurma. Just one tablespoon of yogurt gave enough sourness to the batter.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Any pancake mixture, (I have used buckwheat pancake mix) – 1 cup. Check out my Chocolate chips pancakes. The same recipe can also be used for this minus the honey, cinnamon powder, chocolate chips.

2. Finely diced onions and cilantro ¼ cup.

3. Grated carrots, ¼ cup.

4. Yogurt, 1 tablespoon.

5. Asafetida, 1 pinch.

PREPARATION:

Mix the yogurt and asafetida to the pancake mix and dissolve it into a smooth batter. Heat a nonstick pan or cast iron pan and apply and thin layer of oil on the pan. Take a ladle full of the pancake batter and pour it over the hot pan. It starts spreading as soon as it is poured over the hot surface. Sprinkle the diced onions, cilantro and grated carrots randomly over the pancakes. The pancakes are ready to be flipped after a minute when bubbles start forming all over the surface. Flip them over and let them cook on the other side for a minute and transfer to a plate. Serve hot with any type of chutney or sambar.

Variation: Around ¼ teaspoon of finely chopped ginger can also be added to the batter for extra taste.

As you already know I made Southern themed dinner for my group The Dinner Divas on Saturday. I wanted to go traditional with the sides without it being too heavy and hopefully I achieved that. I really liked the peas more than the green beans. The peas are basically cooked in a bechamel sauce which is very tasty. Thank you to my friend Carolyn from bakespace for helping out with this recipe! My issue with the beans are that they are sweet and sour. I like sweet and sour meatballs but not my veggies. I should have remembered that I made spinach this way once before. It just didnt appeal to me but the girls liked it...well, at least they said they did!


Southern Style Green Beans

Courtesy of Rachael Ray

4 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds green beans, trimmed and chopped into 1-inch pieces
2 slices bacon, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

Cook green beans in 1-inch simmering water, covered, for 6 minutes. Drain and set aside. Return skillet to stove and set burner to medium high. Add bacon and brown. When fat begins to render, add chopped onions to the pan and cook until tender with the bacon. Add cooked green beans to the pan and turn to coat in bacon drippings and onions. When the beans are hot and bacon crisp at edges and onions translucent add vinegar to the pan and season with beans with sugar. Allow the vinegar to evaporate and the sugar to combine with pan drippings, 1 to 2 minutes, then serve.


Creamed Peas

Courtesy of Carolyn - posted on bakespace.com

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk*
about 2 cups fresh or frozen peas

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and salt, stir well until combined add milk and bring to a boil. Stir until slightly thickened. Stir in cooked peas. Serve over mashed potatoes if you wish.


*Micheles Note - If the roux becomes too thick when you add in the peas just add a little more milk and it will thicken up again.

Oh my.  This was our Valentines Day treat this year and holy cow, will it be hard to top.  Jeremy claims it is the best cheesecake hes ever eaten, and I think I have to agree.  It was just perfect.  Smooth and creamy with a great flavor and texture.  This comes from Americas Test Kitchen, so its no wonder that it turned out so well.  I followed the recipe to a "t" and it was amazing!  No cracks, no problems.


If you are a cheesecake lover, you need to try this recipe!  I dont think Ill ever try another.  It was that good.  I was so surprised by how easy it was.  This was my first real cheesecake and I think I had put off making one because it sounded so hard.  Well, it really wasnt any harder than any other cake!  This could be a dangerous revelation, because now Im sure Ill make it all too often.  (Except for the fact that it is so not low-cal).  Weve enjoyed eating this every night since lovers day.  In fact, I just finished off a piece and it was amazing!

This cheesecake is plenty delicious on its own, but we ate it alongside a simple raspberry sauce which tasted divine!  I used this recipe here, from a Valentines dessert I tried a few years ago (recipe at the bottom). 

New York-Style Cheesecake

CRUST
8 whole graham crackers, broken into rough pieces
1 T. sugar
5 T. unsalted butter, melted

FILLING
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese (5 packages), cut into 1" chunks and softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sour cream
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 large eggs plus 2 large yolks
1 T. unsalted butter, melted

For the crust:  Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Process graham cracker pieces in food processor to fine crumbs, about 30 seconds.  Add sugar and melted butter, and pulse until evenly moistened (or combine in a bowl).  Empty crumbs into 9-inch springform pan and, using bottom or ramekin or dry measuring cup, press crumbs firmly and evenly into pan bottom, keeping sides as clean as possible.  Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown around edges, about 12-13 minutes.  Let crust cool in pan on wire rack while making filling.

For the filing:  Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.  Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat cream cheese on medium-low speed until broken up and slightly softened, about 1 minute.  Scrape down bowl,  add 3/4 cup sugar and salt and beat on medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute.  Scrape down bowl, then beat in remaining 3/4 cup sugar until combined, about 1 minute.  Scrape down bowl, add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute.  Scrape down bowl, add egg yolks, and beat on medium-low speed until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute.  Scrape down bowl (again!), add whole eggs, 2 at a time, beating until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute, and scraping bowl between additions.

Being careful not to disturb baked crust, brush inside of pan with melted butter and set pan on rimmed baking sheet to catch any spills in case pan leaks.  Pour filling into cooled crust and bake 10 minutes; without opening oven door, reduce temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until cheesecake registers 150 degrees, about 1 1/2 hours (I chose not to use a thermometer to check since I read a few reviews saying it cracked where the thermometer was inserted; so I just trusted my gut - and the recipe time - and it turned out great!  If youre unsure though, go with the thermometer).  Let cake cool on wire rack for 5 minutes, then run paring knife around cake to loosen from pan (but dont remove yet).  Let cake continue to cool until barely warm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours.  (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days).

To unmold cheesecake, wrap hot kitchen towel around pan and let stand for 1 minute.  Remove sides of pan.  Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving platter.

*The flavor and texture is best if you let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.  When slicing, have a pitcher of hot tap water nearby.  Dip the blade of the knife into the water and wipe it clean with a towel after each cut to get neat slices.
Source: Cooks Illustrated Cookbook

I had planned to post a sandwich loaf recipe much earlier, but since I rarely make them and when I do I don’t use a recipe, I had to find a set recipe first. I finally did find it, in fact several of them, which I will be posting in the following weeks.

Sandwich loaves, or ‘bread cakes’ as they are called in Iceland, are an enduring presence at Icelandic celebrations where cakes are served. While not an Icelandic invention (I think they may have originated in the USA), they have been popular here for at least 50 years and there seems to be no stopping them. While the fillings change according to fashion and whim and we don’t use half as much mayonnaise in them as once was the case they continue to be a vehicle for cooks to display their talents with garnish, and a savoury palate cleanser in between nibbles of all the sweet cakes usually served at traditional birthday parties.

They are generally made from white bread, and you can buy the bread pre-cut for the purpose.

There are two kinds of sandwich cake bread available. One is basically a pan-baked loaf of white sandwich bread that has been sliced lengthwise, like this (for a bit of a laugh at the expense of yesterday’s cookbook authors, keep clicking the “next” button until you get to the end of the pictures).

The crusts are removed, leaving between 4 and 6 long slices of bread.

The other kind are rolls. These are big, thin slices of bread that look like the cake layer of a jelly roll before its rolled up. They can either be rolled up or layered to make large sandwich cakes. In a pinch, the other kind can be used instead, but care is then needed when rolling them up.

These cakes can be made using any sandwich filling or anything you will find as a topping for Danish smörrebröd, but certain fillings are more common than others.

The most common are:
Ham and asparagus
Ham and egg
Shrimp salad (shrimp, egg, ham or shrimp, ham and pineapple)
Roast beef (roast beef with French-fried onions, remoulade sauce, and either sliced pickled cucumber or slices of canned peaches or apricots)
Tuna spread (tuna and egg and sometimes either chopped onion or sweet corn)
Salmon and egg

Traditionally, the fillings are held together with mayonnaise, and here arises a problem: Commercially made Icelandic mayonnaise is like no-other kind I have tried. It is not only thicker, but it is not as vinegary-tasting. I have on several occasions tried to make these kinds of fillings (in small portions suitable for sandwiches) with imported mayonnaise, but the only time it has worked out was when making tuna spread, and then only because I not only drained the tuna thoroughly, but I actually squeezed out all the juice before making the spread. Still, the flavour wasn’t as good. When I tried making shrimp salad with Hellman’s mayonnaise, the mayonnaise turned soupy and ruined the salad.

These days, a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream is generally used, and sometimes the mayonnaise is dispersed with and cream cheese is used instead.

I never, ever use a recipe myself, but when you have never made one of these before a recipe is a good starting point. I rarely get the opportunity to make sandwich loaves, but I plan to take photos whenever I get the chance and will add them to show how these creations can be decorated. This and the other sandwich loaf posts are therefore going to become rerun posts, so if you leave comments, I will append your comments to the bottom of the appropriate post whenever I refresh it and bring it back to the top because Blogger erases the comments when you repost a blog entry with a new date.

And now for todays featured sandwich loaf:

Salmon & egg sandwich loaf
This is a delicious variation on the traditional salmon and egg salad loaf. A traditional loaf includes mashed hard-boiled eggs, but this uses scrambled eggs instead.

3 layers of sandwich bread

Salmon spread:
300 g smoked salmon, thinly sliced
5 eggs, hard-boiled
200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream

Keep back some extra slices of salmon

Chop the salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix well with the mayo and cream. Chill.

Scrambled eggs with salmon:
4 eggs
3 tbs cream
100 g smoked salmon
Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly whip together the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper. Purée the salmon in a food processor and add to the egg mixture, stirring lightly together. Fry the scrambled eggs until well done and set aside to cool.

Put 1/3 of the salmon spread on the bottom layer of bread, top with the second bread layer, then the scrambled egg, then more bread and end with salmon spread. Smooth the remaining salmon spread on the ends and side of the loaf. Decorate with thin slices of salmon (or cover the whole thing with salmon slices) and garnish with vegetables, e.g. tomato roses, slivers of red bell pepper or cucumber. Egg slices are also suitable decoration.

Saag Paneer Resturant Style

Ingredients
Spinach - 1 bunch
Paneer / Indian cottage cheese - 300 gms
Thick cream - 4 tbsp
Onion chopped - 1 no + 1 no
Tomato chopped - 1 no
Green chilli - 1 no
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp

Palak Paneer Restaurant Style

Method
1. Wash the spinach, chop it and set aside.
2. Chop the paneer into pieces, soak it in hot water for 10 mins, drain and set aside.
3. Heat 1 tsp butter in a pan, add 1 no chopped onion, sauté for few seconds, remove on to plate and set aside.
4. In the same pan add the chopped spinach and sauté for 2 mins until spinach had shrunk, cool the spinach and purée in a mixer blender with green chilli.
5. Wipe the same pan and return to heat. Add 2 tbsp butter to the pan, when butter starts to melt add cumin seeds and allow to crackle. Increase pan heat, add the other chopped onion to the pan and sauté till onions are soft.
6. Add ginger & garlic paste to the pan and sauté until raw smell leaves.
7. Now add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and cook till tomatoes are soft.
8. Next add red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and required salt
to the pan, sauté for a minute on low heat.
9. Add the puréed spinach and soaked paneer to the pan, stir well until everything is mixed.
10. Remove pan from heat, finally add the thick cream and butter sauted onions to the pan and stir
well.

Restaurant Style Recipes