soirée celebrations

my friend erika came for a visit! although we both studied English lit. at the same university, and have a number of common friends, we never met until we both worked for the afore mentioned university in China. she then moved to australia, and i to switzerland, and it was the first time we've seen each other in years.


for lunch upon her arrival, the mister made a simple salad and i made some savory cuppycakes. inspired by this recipe, i decided to make a cupcake version with smoked salmon, dill, kalamata olives, lemon, and a bit of gruyere.

ive seen plenty of le cake salé at picnics and gatherings, but ive never seen one with fish instead of meat.

i used:
3 eggs
pinch of sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 blobs crème fraîche
1 packet smoked salmon
big handful of kalamata olives
small handful of grated gruyere
a few healthy shakes of dill

the fish was soaked in the lemon juice, and the zest, sugar, and eggs went for a ride in the kitchen aide until frothy. meanwhile, i combined dry ingredients. when i was happy with the egg consistency, the dry team was introduced to the bowl. then i added the crème fraîche, salmon, olives, oil, and cheese.

i papered my muffin tins, filled the cups, sprinkled on some dill, and baked for about 15 minutes at ~180°C. we did a good job gobbling them up.

the mister has previously stated that he's not always a fan of le cake salé, but i couldnt help but notice he wasn't shy about eating these.

after lunch, we walked around town, visited the cathedral, went to the lakeside and ate ice cream, and soaked up the coveted sun.


that evening, the mister made his famous fondue.




during her time with us, erika introduced us to the world of bananenweizen (she lived in germany for a time)--banana juice and beer. i was not sure about this taste sensation, but i trust erika, and i trust the germans and beer (when i visited europe for the first time, as a teenager, i fell in love with lemonade and beer), so i went for it. not bad! in fact, quite refreshing! we had smitten kitchen's tacos with our bananenweizen.


oh, bananas. i am reminded of the banana temple--a place just outside of xi'an thusly named because of a mistake i made when describing the pagoda i found near where i taught. you see, the name of the temple is xiāngjī (香积), and a banana is called xiāngjiāo (香蕉). i was explaining the pagoda discovery to my students and accidentally said banana instead of xiāngjī. the banana temple was a place i frequented often during my time in xi'an.

I took erika there on a rainy day in the spring of 2008. and lo, it was only appropriate that i take her to the place of interest i visit the most here--Château de Chillon.


after our castle tour,erika bought some wineat the gift shop and we celebrated the 4th of july (and some good news!) in style: a few glasses of wine and whipped cream and berries.

last night we had some friends over and i prepared mojo verde for our guests. i served roasted trout with tomatoes, garlic, and lemon peppered potatoes to go with the sauce, plus corn with lime juice.



for dessert, i made a crisp with leftover berries, nectarines, peach, and apricot. following smitten kitchen's lead, i added ground almonds to my usual sugar, flour, and oats mixture.

and this morning for brunch, i treated us to a USAian breakfast:

we leave this upcoming week for a month in china. i fear the drool might wash us away before we get to the airport. we can. not. wait. to eat some of our favourite and missed dishes.

My mojo. I'm useless without it.

mojo sauce: it is so good..you should make some. poste haste.

i made some simple chard, potato, and black bean tacos with mojo sauce and avocado the other day and it was pure joy.

first, i steamed some taters.  I set them aside and let them cool. the chard was washed and the stems separated. i chopped the stems and sauteed them in a little olive oil first. then came the potatoes and beans. i added the chopped leaves last.

concerning tacos and burritos, i have experimented a great deal here with cheese. i am a fool to make such a declaration in the land of cheese, but... i really adore jack. it's just that i prefer something simple and gentile for my tortillas. asiago has won a prize for being an acceptable burrito and taco and quesadilla cheese. it melts well, it has a mild flavour, and it's tasty.

i shredded some asiago and sliced half an avocado.

then i put the whole thing together:

corn tortilla, cheese, avocado, chard bean potato mixture, mojo.

Bon Appétit

mojo you di'n't! (oh yes i did)

the cuisine of the canary islands is not what i expected.  i should have known because 1) we were in a touristy town and 2) menorca was the same.  we were expecting to find awesome local foods to sink our teeth into, and we did, but it took some serious trial and error.  emphasis on the error.  however, even in the not-so-awesome-i-think-this-paella-came-from-a-box restaurants, there was one thing that was always present and most of the time awesome: mojo sauce.  mojo is a staple condiment--it came out with bread (bread was brought to the table whether or not you asked for it, and even when you specifically said you didnt want bread so please dont bring it but it was brought and you were charged for it anyway)--much like msg in china.  it's awesome on bread before dinner, it's awesome with the potatoes that usually came with dinner, it's awesome on one's vegetables... i was in love.  i fell hard and fast.  and so, i decided to try and recreate it myself.  and i was pretty darn successful.

there are two mojo sauces--red and green. after scouring ingredients list in the supermarket, i discovered that the red one was pepper based and the green one was cilantro based. but what else was in there? garlic, certainly, oil, yes, but what spices? i decided to try cumin and paprika. and i think i'm right.

first up, mojo rojo.
into the food processor i threw:
2 roasted red peppers
about an 8th of 1 spicy wow hot hot hot pepper
a few garlic cloves
cumin
paprika
a pinch of salt
a splash of vinegar and a healthy glug of olive oil

whirl whirl whirl and done!

the whoa-oh mojo rojo tasted pretty much spot on.

next, verde!


i decided to approach this one like one might take on a cilantro pesto without nuts or cheese.

i usd:
garlic!
2 bunches of cilantro
1/2 a bunch of parsley
a little cumin
a pinch of salt
a splash of vinegar
a healthy glug of olive oil

this one is my favourite.  now, it did not taste like the sauce we were served at one particular restaurant in costa adeje (the rest of the food was subpar but their mojo verde... i just wanted to drink it in mass quantities. [all the restaurants had their own version of the sauce and some were better than the others]).

victory is mine!

as i mentioned earlier, mojo is usually eaten with bread or potatoes. or both. i boiled us some potaters to go with our sauce since i had some handy. i used a firm potato--one that is used for raclette--as it doesnt disintegrate when boiled. i boiled the taters with salt to try and approximate the papas arrugadas from canaria.

and then i baked some fish.

the fish was stuffed with lemon and bell pepper. and parsley.  



and they all lived happily ever after.

seriously, mojo is delicious.

later in the week, i made tacos...

stay tuned...

c’est le dernier cri: cilantro inspired salad and chocolate basil cake with balsamic ganache

we are back from tenerife and i have some new freckles and a deepened love affair with cilantro. i adore cilantro. so when i discovered mojo sauce, well, i was swept off my feet. mojo sauce, like enchilada sauce, is either red or green. the red sauce features red peppers and the green sauce is more or less cilantro pesto sans nuts or cheese. i warned christian that upon our return home, i might be a little mojo obsessed. traditionally, mojo sauce is served with potatoes but it's equally delightful slathered on bread. i envision tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and vegetables bejeweled with it. the experimentation shall commence shortly.

meanwhile, the mister and i love salad and we have not had enough of it lately. we were craving fresh crunchy vegetables something awful. and so for lunch, i made a super salad, complete with cilantro, that left us feeling ready to take on the world.

salad is good. 

i gathered the following:
2 carrots
1 head broccoli
1/4 cup quinoa (uncooked)
spinach
avocado
strawberries
bunch of cilantro
half bunch of parsley
dried cranberry
raisins
1 lime
honey
olive oil

in the food processor, i chopped the living daylights out of the carrots, broccoli stem, parsley and cilantro. while i was busy with that, the florets were steaming. i prepped a bowl of cold water and once the broccoli turned a magically vivid green colour, i drowned them in the cold water to stop the cooking process. they were drained and chopped and set aside. then i used the water from the steamer to cook the quinoa.

once the quinoa was cooked and fluffed and cooled, i threw it all together with the raisins and the cranberries. i made a dressing with the juice of one lime, some honey, and a healthy splash of olive oil.



i served the veggies on a bed of spinach with strawberries and a few slices of avocado for good measure.

yummo.

and then... we had plans to meet with friends for some pétanque (bocci ball) so i decided to bake a cake.   ive had it in my head to combine chocolate and basil and balsamic vinegar... so i gave it a whirl.

the cake recipe itself is a pretty standard vegan chocolate cake recipe (though i use half the sugar and salt).  the trick was adding the basil.

i went onto the balcony and plucked our basil plants until i filled a small bowl (roughly a cup-ish) with leaves. into the food processor went the leaves along with the sugar.  i ground them together and made a sticky green mixture.


3 cups flour (680 grams)
1 cup basil sugar (225 grams sugar + about one cup basil)
6 heaping tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cup cold water

dry ingredients were combined, wet ingredients were combined, and then all the ingredients got together in one bowl and had a good time blending.

next, i greased a cake pan with olive oil and instead of flouring it with, er, flour, i used cocoa powder. i poured in the batter and baked it for about 40-ish minutes at 350/175 degrees.

while the cake was baking, i made ganache for the frosting.

some folks swear by making their ganache with cream but i use butter.

this time i used:
200 g baking chocolate
100ish g butter
lively splishysplash of milk (this helps keep the ganache spreadable. with a 2:1 ratio, the frosting can be a devil to spread)
2+ tbsp balsamic vinegar

melt the butter on the stovetop, or warm the cream if that's what youre using, and once melted/heated through, pour over broken-up chocolate bits. then, whisk until the chocolate is melted and combined, and the whole thing has a nice shine.

i let it cool for a bit then stuck it in the fridge.

once we got to the park, i realized the knife i brought to frost the cake seemed to have run away with the spoon and the dish. luckily, i was with a gathering of swiss folk and lo and behold, there was also a swiss army knife. i frosted the cake during a game intermission and i dont think lionel the lion has ever seen his knife used in such a fashion. i promised him i'd get the knife clean of chocolate. i let him cut the cake too.
 
and there were smiles all around.

the basil added a whole new dynamic to this cake. it almost had a peppery taste, and it sure was divine. for folks who are neither basil or balsamic vinegar enthusiasts, fear not: later in the evening, my father-in-law, hardly a devotee of either of those specific flavours, devoured his slice of cake.