Cook the Collection #3: Baking Illustrated
I’m still on 
I made yellow cupcakes and instead of frosting them with the chocolate ganache in the recipe I used the vanilla buttercream recipe from the same book. The recipes were clear and easy to follow but I just wasn’t very happy with the results. The cupcakes tasted dry to me, and the buttercream was too buttery for my tastes. It was disappointing because I love a good cupcake and I was really looking forward to this one. I’ve baked other things from this book before that were more successful, but its definitely not one of my go-to baking books and the next time I have a choice I’ll try one of my others first.
Bacalao a la Vizcaina – Good Friday Salt Cod Stew {recipe}
I hope you all had a happy Easter! Wow, the weather was absolutely unbeatable this spring weekend here in the Pacific Northwest and we really got a chance to enjoy it. We kicked off the holiday weekend on Friday, dyeing Easter eggs and eating Bacalao a la Vizcaina. The recipe for this salt cod stew with tomatoes and garbanzos was passed down to me from my Peruvian mother-in-law – this is the traditional Good Friday meal in Peru.
If you have trouble finding Bacalao (salt cod) check with a European or Latin American market or food importer, or ask the fishmonger at your local supermarket if they can order it for you.
Bacalao a la Vizcaina
serves 10
1 1/2 lbs. Bacalao (salt cod)
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 10.75-oz. can tomato purée (305g.)
5 cups water (I usually actually use four tomato puree cans full which is about 5 cups)
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans
2 4-oz. jars diced pimientos (with liquid)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 bag frozen shoestring potatoes
olive oil for sauteing onions and garlic
white rice to serve on the side
parsley for garnish
1. Prepare the salt cod by soaking it in several changes of cold water – overnight is best. If you need to do it the same day, start by covering the cod with boiling water and letting it sit for 30 minutes, then draining that water and covering it with cold water, changing it a few more times with a hour soak between changes. The saltiness can vary from fish to fish, so the longer you soak it the more likely you won’t have overly salty stew.
2. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until it has softened but not browned.
3. Add the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the water and fish and bring the stew to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the fish is cooked through, softened and has broken into small pieces and the liquid is almost all gone. This should take a few hours – if the stew begins to look dry too quickly you can add more water with no problem.
4. Add the pimientos and garbanzo beans and cook another 20 minutes (use this time to fix the rice and shoestring potatoes that accompany the dish).
5. Just before serving, add the heavy cream and stir thoroughly. Serve the stew with white rice, and top it with some shoestring potatoes and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Of course, if you’re not serving 10 people this is the kind of recipe that tastes even better the next day, so you’ll be happy if there are leftovers – and if there are not quite enough leftovers for the amount of people eating, you can always add another can of garbanzo beans to stretch the stew.
Cook the Collection #2: Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook
(Disclosure: The cookbook links below are affiliate links and if you happen to make a purchase through them I’ll receive a small percentage of your purchase – and of course would be so grateful!)
I tried out the Challah recipe the other day – I’m a big challah fan but I never make it at home for some reason. The recipe was easy to follow and the bread looked great. It was a bit dry and the crumb seemed lighter in color than I’m used to, like it wasn’t quite eggy enough. I’d make it again if I didn’t have another recipe, but as it is I’ll probably try another source next time. I feel like I’m selling this book a bit short though, because its pretty comprehensive and all the recipes sound great. I actually wish I had made one of the bread pudding recipes because it might have wowed me a bit more. The final verdict is that this book will stay on the shelf, and I’m looking forward to the next recipe I try from it.
You can see the previous posts in my Cook the Collection challenge here.
IFBC in Seattle this Fall!
I’m excited to be able to attend the IFBC (International Food Bloggers Conference) this fall in Seattle. The conference is September 20-22, 2013 and will be held at the W Hotel, located right in the middle of downtown and so close to everything. Mid-September is such a great time to visit Seattle; we always have really beautiful weather that time of year. The speaker and session schedule is still evolving but its already a strong lineup, with keynote speaker Dorrie Greenspan leading the way.
There’s a three part focus to the conference: Food, writing and technology. Each session has a breakout group focusing on one of the three topics and from what’s been announced so far it’ll be hard to choose which to go to! This will be my first blogging conference so I don’t know exactly what to expect but I’m sure it will be so fun and educational.
I wish it was September already; I can’t wait to attend! Are you planning on going? Let me know in the comments if you are!
Disclosure: This post was written in part to take advantage of the IFBC discounted rate for bloggers – but all opinions are my own! For more information about the IFBC blogger program, check out the Discounted Blogger Price for conference registration.
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Make a Succulent Planter from an Olive Oil Tin
The other day I saw a post from Kaitlin at Wunderbar about tea tin terrariums and it got me thinking about a project I’ve had on the back burner for awhile – a succulent planter from an olive oil tin. We buy our olive oil in large tins from a food importer and I always save them when the oil’s gone. Sometimes I use the empty tins for vases, but once I used one for a planter as a gift and I’ve been meaning to make another one for our kitchen.
The process is quick and easy: first buy a few succulents for your planter (I bought two and transplanted two).
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| Look at these beauties! |
Add plastic as a liner and then stones at the bottom for drainage. I had a bit of a problem with the plastic so I had to push it to the sides as I filled the tin with soil so that the dirt stayed inside the plastic.
Fill the tin with potting soil (I used cactus mix) almost to the top, then add the plants and fill the soil in around them. Water well and you’re done!
I have my olive oil planter sitting on the windowsill above the kitchen sink – its a spot where succulents thrive and also I can admire it while I do the dishes.
Signs of Spring in the Garden
Spring came in with a roar around here this past week with a wild windy Wednesday and snow on Friday, and since we’ve all been sick around here the sun today was a real relief. It can really lift one’s spirits to be able to get out into the garden and poke around after a time stuck inside. I brought my camera out with me and took a few photos of the young blooms and buds.
Our Asian plum tree is just getting started – when its in full bloom its a giant puff of white, and as the blossoms fall it looks like snow on the grass below. The plum is the first flowering tree to bloom in our garden – next will come the apples and European plum, then the flowering cherry.
The blueberry bushes are just starting to leaf out as well – with their promise of fresh organic blueberries this summer. We’ve got four bushes now but at the height of berry season its not enough to satisfy my little blueberry monsters!
What’s starting to bloom in your area? Happy Spring!
Easy Decorating with Plastic Easter Eggs
This weekend we did some Easter decorating in the yard. My philosophy for holiday decorating is to make sure it’s fun for the kids and easy enough for them to help with, and decorating with plastic Easter eggs fits that description well. One thing we like to do is to thread eggs on heavy duty thread and hang them from the trees and shrubs in our yard – we actually made these eggs last year.
Another easy trick is to stick wooden skewers into the bottom of plastic eggs and line them up in the garden or lawn – I had to use a bit of force with the skewers to get them into the bottom of the eggs but once the stick is in it’s pretty stable. As long as the ground is reasonably soft the kids can stick the skewers into the ground themselves. We’ve stuck them into planters as well and those usually have nice soft potting soil.
Finally, my daughter decided to place eggs into little nest piles around the lawn – someone else in our neighborhood actually covers their lawn with plastic eggs. We initally didn’t weight or fasten them down but it got quite gusty this morning and eggs were flying all over our cul-de-sac so I ended up adding stones to each egg to keep them in place. We’re not in a busy part of town so I don’t think any eggs will ‘walk off’ but it could happen – we’ll see.
Another super simple idea for plastic Easter eggs is to draw or doodle on them with sharpie pens. I did these last year with a henna style and they were fun to do. The only thing to note is that if they’re handled much the sharpie markings will rub off – these were played with a bit too much so you can see some worn spots in the photo.
What other ways have you come up with to decorate with plastic Easter eggs? I’d love to hear them or link up to your blog in the comments so I can check them out!
Create A Restaurant Activity Kit To Keep Kids Entertained At Dinner
As anyone with young kids knows, eating out can be hit or miss, especially if you’d like to go somewhere a step up from fast food! I came up with a way to ease the pain of dining out by bringing along a restaurant kit when we go out (and since it lives in the diaper bag it does double duty as a busy bag when necessary).
Here’s what I put in our restaurant kit for kids:
1. Start with the bag. A small cosmetics bag would work great – I used a bag with a clear front so that I could see inside easily, and its heavy duty material lets me clean it off.
2. Little blank notebooks for each of the kids – fun for drawing, tic tac toe, or pretending to be the waiter.
3. Extra plastic utensils – just in case (sometimes the restaurant only has large heavy utensils which are unweildy for little kids, and sometimes the fork is on the floor with no replacement in sight).
4. Assorted little toys – I tried to pick things that both kids would enjoy and that could spark some imaginative play.
5. Extra straws. Sometimes restaurants don’t have straws, or they’re only giant straws. I have some thin straws in our kit, and I also cut down some straws so that they fit kid-sized glasses better.
6. Little card games. I printed these ones out from nickjr.com and used wide tape to ‘laminate’ them – one is a memory match game and one is an easy number game.
7. Crayons. I put them in ziplock bags which hold up better than the little cardboard boxes and I have a baggie for each kid.
8. Little books. We have a Velveteen Rabbit set which breaks the story up into 6 little books, but any little books would work.
9. Sticker books or stickers. The reusable sticker books are great for a restaurant kit because then you know that the stickers won’t permanently bond to the table, chairs or floor of the restaurant!
10. Printable coloring pages from nickjr.com. Of course you can also find coloring and activity pages at a lot of other sites as well. I’ve found on some printers you can adjust the print settings to print 4 pages on one, which shrinks the images down to a smaller size – great for going in the kit and for coloring on the table without taking up a ton of space.
Of course, a phone with some kid-friendly apps works well too, but I try to avoid the electronic crutch when possible. What are some things you use to entertain your kids at restaurants?
Cook the Collection #1: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook
If you’ve ever been to Seattle, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten at one of Tom Douglas’ restaurants. At last count he’s operating 11 restaurants in the city, plus a catering venue and a line of dry rubs for cooking at home. Frankly they’re all pretty great and even the newer restaurants seem to become instant classics, but the grand dame of them all is the Dahlia Lounge – and its offshoot the Dahlia Bakery. Last year the Douglas empire released its newest cookbook: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.
I received the cookbook this past Christmas and baked some cookies right away (the molasses ginger cookies, which were excellent) but then set it aside for awhile. I picked it back up again this week and was reminded right away by what a great instructive book it is. The recipes are written clearly and simply and there are plenty of baking tips (like quickly warming up refrigerator chilled eggs) that will improve my baking even when I’m not baking from it.
I was looking for a quick recipe and decided on the Prizewinning Pecan Brownies. Now I have to confess I’m a boxed brownie gal (really embarrassing confession time – I’ve never made brownies from scratch before) but these brownies are the best ones I’ve ever eaten. Really. The best ones ever. I’d make another batch right now except then I’d eat the whole batch myself, so I’ll refrain.
Embarrassing confession #2 – even though these are supposed to be pecan brownies, I don’t care all that much for nuts in brownies and we didn’t have any pecans in the house so I skipped that ingredient altogether. Also, I love a bit of cinnamon along with the chocolate in brownies, so I added a half teaspoon of that to the recipe. This recipe alone is worth the price of the book, and this cookbook’s earned it’s place on the shelf!
Do you have the Dahlia Bakery cookbook? What do you think of it?
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