Navratan Korma

Navratan Korma is a lovely vegetarian and gluten free dish that tastes divine.  Navratan is a Muglai Indian dish meaning nine gems for the variety of vegetables, nuts and cheese used in it.  Korma is a term used to describe the method of cooking which is the braising of the veggies, its also used to describe a dish that has a thick cream based sauce or gravy.
Like many recipes, there are many variations out there, for example, Muglai cuisine generates from the Northern parts of India while the addition of the bay leaves is something more commonly found in Southern regions.

Chanterelle Mushrooms, The Hunt Is On

With the fragrance of an apricot and a slight peppery flavor, Chanterelle mushrooms are one of the very best in the mushroom family, in my humble opinion.  They are considered by many to be as special and gourmet as a truffle and their cost is not cheap. They are a beautiful color, an orange yellow shade that shines brightly from the green it attempts to hide in while growing.  Ours were mostly growing in mossy areas close to trees.

Photo by Jenn @ I'm Cookin' In My Kitchen

Happy Birthday Julia Child!

August 15th 2012

Happy Birthday Julia

How to make the perfect French omelette

Bon Appetit!

Lemon Bundt Cake & My Birthday

Lemon Bundt Cake

 This isn't your ordinary Lemon Bundt Cake.  With the addition of a few fun ingredients, and baked in an angel food pan v/s a traditional bundt pan, it transforms into a denser, very moist and flavorful cake.  

There are a few differences between a bundt pan and an angel food pan although a similarity is the hollow tube in the center, there to allow even cooking.

A bundt pan is a round one piece fluted cake pan with a tube in the center, it's sides make for a very decorative cake.  The bundt pan has thicker walls allowing a crust to form on the outside of the cake to help cook the cake on the inside.

An angel food cake pan is a round cake pan with tall smooth, flat sides, usually with a removable bottom piece.  These pans are not greased before the baking process so that the batter can stick to the sides and double in size.

The batters for the two cakes are very different so it's recommended that you don't use them interchangeably.  Angel food cake batter is very light while the batter for a bundt cake is heavier leaving the risk that the batter might leak out from the angel food pan.  Though my experiment using my bundt batter came out fine in the angel food pan, I would not suggest you pour an angel food batter into a bundt pan, it will not come out as airy as it should, it will be very difficult to remove and will not rise properly while baking.

Call me a rebel : ) I used a bundt batter and poured it into an angel food pan.  Was it the additional ingredients that made my batter thicker than a regular bundt batter, I'm not sure, but I will say that the batter was very thick and it did not leak : )  It did though require a longer baking time.  It did not double in size like an angel food cake, nor did it puff up very much, and unlike a bundt cake there was no dark crust to the cake, it was very light in color and soft to touch.  It was a deliciously moist cake with a denser texture than a normal cake, a very pleasant surprise...and the bonus?  Everyone loved it!

Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe

Original recipe: Allrecipes

NOTE: This recipe is for a bundt pan not the angel food pan I used

Ingredients:

1 (18.25) package lemon cake mix

1 (3.4oz) package instant lemon pudding mix

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup lemon-lime flavored carbonated soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray cooking spray on pan and flour it well 

Mix cake mix & pudding mix together

Stir in oil

Beat in eggs, one at a time

Stir in lemon-lime soda

Pour batter into pan, bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  (If using an angel food pan, bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean)

I used a cream cheese frosting I bought from the
store.  I am by no means a professional cake
decorator but gave it a whirl : )  I used some of the
remaining frosting & colored it with yellow food coloring for the flowers and then added green food coloring to the yellow to make some stems and leaves.  Just add one drop at a time and mix until you get the color you like.  I also placed 1 pink heart sprinkle in the center of each flower.

After inverting the cake out of the pan, I left the cake bottom side up because I wanted a nice flat top to frost.

It was a tasty cake and a fabulous birthday and I thank everyone who came to share in the celebration.  The weather was beautiful and I couldn't have been happier : )

Mom made a nice fruit salad at the request of my sister...the recipe follows.

Summer Fruit Salad
8oz carton of frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 1/2 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 orange peeled and cut up
2 cups crushed pineapple w/ juice
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 banana's, sliced
Fresh Strawberries

In a bowl, combine the whipped topping, pudding mix, orange, pineapple & marshmallows.  Cover and refrigerate.  Before serving, place layers of bananas and strawberries on top before serving.

(The recipe mom has is a photocopy from a spiral book of some sort, the name on the salad is Jeanette Allard, Dayton's Fargo.  I don't know anything about the author nor could I find anything on Google, my mom couldn't remember where she got the recipe)

Till Next Time, Ciao & Happy Cookin'

Summer Panzanella Salad with O Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

I grew up in Michigan, a state with four distinguishable seasons and I loved them all, but there was always something special about long summer days. Those summer sounds that now take us back to our childhoods, the catchy & very recognizable sound of the ice cream truck, the laughter and sounds of children splashing in a pool, the neighbor mowing his lawn. Those beloved summer moments like picnics on the beach, baseball games at the park, barbecue's held in the backyard and the arrival of strawberries became some of my most cherished memories.

This past April, eRecipeCards and O Olive Oil partnered together for their Rites of Spring Cooking Contest and began searching for people to do a product tasting & review paired with a recipe creation challenge. When I was chosen as one of the lucky people to participate, I was excited and began to think of summer...I was hoping for some warm weather inspiration.

I received my surprise set in the mail and was delighted to find O Meyer Lemon Olive Oil paired with their O Champagne Vinegar. Their products are of the highest caliber. Organic citrus crushed together with ripe mission olives produces a golden, silken olive oil that is light in texture and flavorful in taste. It was truly an easy task when it came time to write the review. Using a french baguette so as not to interfere with the taste of the oil, I used the same for tasting the vinegar, and also after emulsifying the two together. There were so many recipes flying through my thoughts I was happily surprised to finally settle on a classic that has had a place in history since the 1500's.

When you're working with gourmet quality ingredients such as O Olive Oil and their oak barrel aged vinegars, you want to follow through by using fresh ingredients that not only shine in your final dish but are at the same quality level as the oil and vinegar you're using.  It's the vinaigrette flavors that pull any salad together to make it exceptional...a dry salad is still only a salad...with O, it's taken to a whole new level!  It turns a good salad into a great salad...and in this case, a real masterpiece.  I'll keep this new recipe in my box and make it again and again for family and friends knowing it will always be a crowd pleaser.

Agnolo di Cosimo, a 16th century Italian was not only an accomplished and highly skilled artist but was a

poet as well.

 

Agnolo di Cosimo famously and
best known as Bronzino II
1503-1572

In his book, "Li capitoli faceti editi ed inediti di mess", he wrote  "In lode delle cipolle", which translated in English reads, "In Praise of the Onions".  He speaks about a salad of onions that readers construe was a description of a Panzanella Salad.  An onion salad mixed with a vinaigrette, it wasn't until later that tomatoes were added to make it a classic tomato, onion and bread salad.   Italians, priding themselves on not wasting anything, developed this recipe as a way to use day old bread by rehydrating it and serving it with fresh vegetables.   I thank them, and believe you will too once you try this absolutely fantastic salad with the addition of the O Olive Oil & O Vinegar vinaigrette...it's elevated to a culinary work of art!  It's a summertime treat : ) Fresh, clean and vibrant...

Grilled Panzanella Salad 

1/2 a pint of grape tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 red onion, chopped small

1 sm clove of garlic, minced

8 slender spears of asparagus, ends broken off & stems peeled

1 zucchini, halved

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, remove pith and quartered

1 bag of focaccia bread croutons

1/2 cup O Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

1/4 cup O Champagne Vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chiffonade (sliced into thin strips)

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon fresh basil, chiffonade (sliced into thin strips)

1 tablespoon fresh curley parsley, chiffonade (sliced into thin strips)

Salt & Pepper

Place halved grape tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over tomatoes and season with S&P

Place into a pre-heated oven set at 350 degrees for 15minutes

While tomatoes roast...prep red onion, garlic, asparagus, zucchini and bell pepper

Preheat grill...remove tomatoes from oven when ready-set aside to cool

Brush olive oil over asparagus, zucchini and bell pepper & season with salt and pepper, grill zucchini & bell pepper for 4 min on ea side, grill asparagus for 2 min flipping over once to create grill marks, remove from grill and set aside to cool

Once cooled, slice veggies into bite size pieces

Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup O Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

1/4 cup O Champagne Vinegar

minced garlic

Whisk well...

Note: You don't need additional seasoning for the vinaigrette as the meyer lemon olive oil and the champagne vinegar are really the stars here...there is a ton of fresh flavor in these products and letting them shine through on their own is the key to making this salad.  As some may say, you don't have to meddle with something when it's already been perfected.

 

Putting it together:

Place croutons into a bowl, drizzle approx. 1/2 the vinaigrette over the croutons, 1 teaspoon at a time while tossing them in the bowl

Place asparagus, zucchini, bell peppers, red onion and tomatoes into the bowl

Sprinkle fresh and dried oregano, basil and parsley in with everything

Toss gently together

Allow to rest in refrigerator for 1 hour before serving to allow the vinaigrette to soften the croutons.

Remove from frig, taste and drizzle additional vinaigrette over salad if needed

(I served mine straight away at room temp and it was delicious, the vinaigrette softens the croutons in the first step and they were soft around the edges with a slight crunch in the center...not too hard, just firm with a slight bite)

Serve and enjoy : )

Ideas:

*For a quick simple preparation, substitute cucumber for the zucchini, omit the asparagus and keep all veggies raw.

*This salad is traditionally made with day old bread/stale bread cut into cubes, I used the croutons as a quick prep idea, but feel free to play with different types of bread, Italian, Ciabatta...etc.

*Use any fresh herbs you enjoy and omit any from the recipe you don't, try mint for a tasty change.

* You can add thinly sliced salami or prosciutto and a wide variety of different vegetables, be creative : )

 I want to thank O Olive Oil and eRecipeCards for choosing me and allowing me the chance to participate in this cooking contest.  It has been tons of fun : )  I enjoyed trying this great product and will not hesitate to try the many, many different oil and vinegars they offer.  I also want to thank you, my readers for visiting and I hope you'll try making this salad with the addition of these tasty O Olive Oil and O Vinegar products, I know you'll enjoy it.  It's the flavors of the O vinaigrette that pulls everything together and it gives it it's great taste.   

My mom was very hesitant, she likes her lettuce salads...and she asked, No Lettuce???  Lol...but! She ended up eating two bowls of it! Yay!  And although my stepdad didn't throw caution to the wind and try the salad...he didn't want it to interfere with his homemade tacos & in his defense, he is true blue meat & potatoes man : ) He did though ask the next night if I had any of "that vinaigrette" leftover! Score! (I had him sample it when I was done whisking it for the salad).  My sister also shared with us and she really liked it as well, she said it reminded her of a bruschetta flavor.

If you'd like to show your support of my recipe, I would truly appreciate it.  Visit and sign in to eRecipeCards and save this recipe to your recipe box to show you'd like to try it. It takes a few moments to sign up, the site is very user friendly, and you can find my recipes if you click this link.

                                                         

You can also visit O Olive Oil and eRecipeCards on Facebook, let them know how ya feel : ) Just be sure to let them know "I'm Cookin' In My Kitchen" inspired you : )  "Like" their page and keep up to date with all that's new.

While you're surfing...take some time to stop by O Olive Oil's web site, they offer awesome information on what they do, how they do it, and where they get their inspiration.  They offer beautifully wrapped packages that make wonderful gifts for the people you love who deserve something uniquely special. 

And of course any time you take the time to say hello here on my blog makes me do my happy dance : )

Till Next Time, Ciao & Happy Cookin'