Barefoot Bloggers: Panzanella

Today’s event, Panzanella, is being brought to you by a 10-hour tape delay. (Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll have to catch up on sleep when the Olympics end!)

It’s been awhile since I’ve made panzanella, and this recipe looked delicious. I headed to the farmers market for fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and a huge bouquet of freshly picked basil. This is such a colorful salad, with the peppers, tomatoes, onions, and basil. I really loved the flavor of the toasted French bread as well. While I didn’t have champagne vinegar, I did have some California Grapefruit vinegar, which added a nice citrus touch to the dressing.

This was definitely a favorite dish, one that I will be making again in the future. Thanks to Melissa, of It’s Melissa’s Kitchen, for a delicious choice. Check the Barefoot Bloggers site for the other variations.

TWD: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

During the last week of July, my neighbors flew back to Michigan for their summer family vacation. While they were gone, I took care of their house, pets, and garden, which meant going next door twice a day to feed and care for the fish and the frog and bring in the mail. One of the perks was that I could use any food out of the refrigerator that might spoil during their absence. So, I took the milk and I took the container of fresh blueberries. With that, I had all I needed to make this week’s TWD recipe: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. Dolores, of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, chose this fun dessert. I just couldn’t let those blueberries spoil now, could I?

What I love about this ice cream is that it is nice and thick and a most beautiful color. In about 15 minutes (as I write this), I’m going to settle in in front of the television for a night of Olympic action and a bowl of blueberry ice cream. Yum.

My neighbor brought a souvenir from Michigan back for me – several jars of Sanders Dessert Topping. Looks like I’ll have to stock up on some chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

Thanks, Dolores. Go to the TWD blogroll to see everyone else’s version of blueberry ice cream.

China, Part 2

In keeping with the theme of China and the Olympics, I made Kung Pao chicken last night for dinner. It was only ok. It wasn't the dish's fault -- I love Kung Pao chicken and order it every chance I get. No, it was the recipe's fault this time. It was way too salty for one. The recipe didn't even call for extra salt, so I'm trying to figure this one out. Then, it had way too many peanuts in it. I think the nuts outnumbered the chicken pieces. I'll probably search around for a different recipe and try it again, but I decided to post it just the same.

China on My Mind

Last week I joined yet another blogging group: My Kitchen, My World, hosted by Susan, of She’s Becoming DoughMesstic. On a weekly basis, this group chooses cuisines from around the world, creates a meal representing the chosen country, then posts on Saturday. Since I need to fix meals anyway, this fits right in to my regular routine, and it also serves as a pleasant antidote to all the sweet baking and cooking that I do.

China was the theme this week, most appropriately, since the Olympics began yesterday. (I really want one of those lime green bodysuits with light bulbs!) Someday I would love to travel to China as a personal quest of sorts. It has to do with family history in a way. At age 15, my father was living in Iowa with his sister and widowed father and going to Catholic school. Well, my father was no angel, and was at a cross-roads in his life, so with some finagling, he enlisted in the Navy. At 15. And before long, he found himself in China, on a gunboat running up and down the Yangtze River. He was there for quite a few years. As a child, I loved hearing him talk about all his adventures in China, especially his description of walking on the Great Wall. So, in memory of my dad and his stories about China, I would love to see it in person.

Tonight I’ll be making Kung Pao Chicken, which I love. It’s what I usually order at restaurants, because I like my food spicy! I’ll post on that later for part 2.

But last night I made potstickers, courtesy of Alton Brown.

They turned out so deliciously! I highly recommend them. I also made a special dessert, Almond Jelly. Years ago, I had a friend who was a rabid Sinophile, and she fixed a dinner one night for a group of us: potstickers and almond jelly. (while I’m sure there were other dishes, those two are the ones that made the strongest impression on me.) I wasn’t able to locate her exact recipe among my files for this post (I’ll keep searching), but the recipe I am including is similar. It can be made with either plain milk and sugar or with condensed milk. I’ve always loved this simple dessert, although it may be an acquired taste for some.





ALMOND JELLY WITH MANDARIN ORANGES

1 env. unflavored gelatin

Cold water

1 1/2 c. water

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 c. milk

2 tsp. almond extract

1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange sections, drained

In small bowl, sprinkle again over 1/4 cup cold water; let stand 5 minutes to soften.

In medium saucepan combine water with 3 tablespoons sugar; bring to boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in milk. Add softened gelatin and almond extract, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

Pour into 9x9x2-inch pan. Refrigerate until firm and well chilled, about 1 hour.

At serving time, cut almond jelly into small cubes. Spoon mandarin oranges on top. Makes about 8 servings.

TWD: B&W Banana Loaf

This week, for Tuesdays with Dorie, I returned to an old friend. Ashlee, of A Year in the Kitchen, selected Black and White Banana Loaf for our event. I made this last fall when I needed to use up some ripe bananas. I liked it then, and I liked it even better this time around, plus I had someone to share it with, so it didn’t last very long.

The batter turned out just right – not too runny. I baked it for about 90 minutes, although it could have stayed in the oven another 5 minutes or so; but even so, it turned out just the way we like it. I may experiment next time and use a slightly larger pan, say a 9’ x 5” one, and see what difference, if any, that makes.

I love the marbled effect. Each slice is just a bit different from the other, so from one end of the loaf to the other, it’s fun to watch the slices change.

We also like the subtle flavors of banana and chocolate. The hints of nutmeg and rum accentuated the banana without overpowering it.

Speaking of the rum, I used my very last tablespoon of dark rum that I had purchased at the Bacardi factory in Puerto Rice a number of years ago. I felt like it was the end of an era, so to speak. I still have some of the light rum left, but when that is used up, my souvenirs from that trip will be gone.

Enjoy looking at all the other variations from the TWD bakers.

Macarons: Take One and then some

On my kitchen blackboard I have a 'to make' list. Last week I was able to check off one of the items: macarons. Sort of. The results are the cause of great humor here, so I will share my story to lighten up everyone's weekend.

First of all, I think this was my first conscious attempt at making macarons. I may have made them before and not realized it. I know I've made amaretti, which are similar. So, following a standard recipe, I beat the egg whites with the sugar, folded in the powdered almond/powdered sugar mixture, and then piped the little beggars onto parchment paper and let them dry. The end result was sort of ok. They all had the little feet and looked like macarons, but they weren't flat enough or really shiny on top. Guess I have to work on that.

I decided to use some leftover chocolate ganache (from the DB challenge) as the filling. The final cookies were funny-looking but tasted just fine, but clearly I can't check them off totally from my 'to make' list just yet.



Now, onto the second part of the story. I decided, in a fit of stupidity most likely, to enter these guys in the County Fair. I forgot that my name had to be attached to them.

So, last Monday, I took half a dozen macarons down to the fairgrounds and tried to fill out the form. This should have been easy, but no. There was no category for macarons. There was one for macaroons, but mine weren't the American-style cookies loaded with coconut. So everyone was puzzled. You could here the wave as the question was passed from person to person. and on and on and on. Finally, we put them in the Filled Cookie category. To be fair (ha ha), the Fair supervisor did say she had heard of macarons before and said she would make a category for them for next year. I also suggested that she add a holiday category, too, because the other cookie I entered, zimtsterne, had to go in the Foreign category, and you can't enter more than one item in the same category.

All week I wondered how those cookies faired at the Fair. Today we went. We had to look at the Photography exhibits first, so my patience was really strained for awhile. Finally, we made it to the Home Arts building and I searched for my cookies. The Foreign zimtsterne didn't win a thing, which is ok. But, the funny-looking macarons took an Honorable Mention. How hilarious is that? The ugly cookies with no home category actually got some recognition! Just goes to show.........

Once I recover from all this, I'll attempt round two.

Bread Baking Head's Up

Earlier this week, when I stopped by the County Fair here, I picked up a flyer announcing a bread baking competition in 2009. So this is just a head's up for all the bread bakers out there:

2009 National Festival of Breads Baking Competition

Visit King Arthur Flour or the Kansas Wheat Commission later this summer for forthcoming details. You could win a trip to Wichita!

I'm going to the Fair for real on Sunday to check out all the entries and exhibits.