Archive for July, 2008

Berries all around me

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

 BlueberryFinanciers12
A wonderful cook-book stand Avi bought me on his last trip
to the US, really useful for not messing the book up while cooking

This post is dedicated to my Mother, who is a huge fan of berries, in all shapes and colors. I have clear memories of us taking mountain hikes in Romania and looking for fresh berries. You have never seen true happiness until you saw my Mom’s look on her face when we found some! So she doesn’t know it yet (well, now she probably does :) ) but I’ve saved her the biggest portion of this sweetalicious berry treat!

Blueberries

Israel is not a country rich with berries, that’s true. Their season here is very short and during it they’re very expensive. But I can never take my eyes off of them when I see them. I’m not a very big fan of their taste, though. They’re OK, but I won’t normally crave for them. Except strawberries, that is. Strawberries succeed at sweeping me off my feet everytime I see them, I simply cannot resist them - always have to buy some.

BlueberryFinanciers

Since the strawberry season is long gone, and the sight of all the fresh berries at the market was too tempting to resist, I chose to make a blueberry dessert. Avi suggested blueberry brioche, but since I’ve never even made simple brioche before, I chose to do that first. So I chose financiers, who, together with madeleines, are the most tempting small cakes in my book. Such a summery and refreshing treat!

Blueberry Financiers

This is also my entry to July’s SHF #45, hosted by the very talented Susan from Food Blogga. Wanna participate too? Hurry up, only 3 days left to post! You can find all the details here.

And I’ll leave you with my most exciting news of this week. We bought a new Nikon D300 camera, and I finally got my first macro lens (Sigma 70 mm)! I’m so excited that I must’ve made like 200 shots for this post. Maybe more :)

Blueberry and Lemon Financiers / Slightly adapted from “101 Cakes and Bakes” by BBC Books
For 6 big financier, or 12 smaller ones

Ingredients:
100 gr butter, unsalted
125 gr icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
25 gr all-purpose flour
85 gr ground almonds
3 egg whites
grated zest of 1 lemon
100 gr blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 392F (200C). Butter the financier or muffin tins. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
2. Sift the icing sugar and the flour into a bowl. Add the almonds and mix well. Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add in the egg whites and lemon zest, then lightly stir in the butter, to form a soft batter.
3. Divide the batter among the tins. Sprinkle a handful of blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes, until just firm to the touch and golden brown. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

BlueberryFinanciers

פיננסייר אוכמניות ולימון / עיבוד קל למתכון מתוך הספר “101 עוגות ומאפים” בהוצאת ה - BBC
עבור 6 פיננסיירים גדולים או 12 קטנים יותר

רכיבים:
100 גרם חמאה, לא מלוחה
125 גרם אבקת סוכר
25 גרם קמח
85 גרם שקדים טחונים
3 חלבונים
גרידה מלימון אחד
100 גרם אוכמניות

הכנה:
1. מחממים תנור ל - 200 מעלות. משמנים תבנית פיננסייר או תבנית מאפינס. ממיסים חמאה ומניחים אותה בצד להצטנן.
2. מנפים אבקת סוכר וקמח לקערה, ומוסיפים את השקדים. מערבבים היטב. מקציפים את החלבונים בקערה נפרדת עד ליצירת קצף רך וגמיש. יוצרים גומה במרכז החומרים היבשים, מוסיפים את קצף החלבונים ואת גרידת הלימון. מערבבים ולבסוף מוסיפים את החמאה המומסת, ומערבבים קלות ליצירת תערובת רכה.
3. מחלקים את התערובת בין השקעים בתבנית. מניחים חופן אוכמניות מעל כל אחת מהעוגות. אופים 15-20 דקות, עד שהעוגות יציבות למגע וצבען זהוב. להגשה - מאבקים במעט אבקת סוכר.

 

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A pie that’s really nice to meat

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Every time I prepared minced meat dishes, they came out OK, but not more than that. Until this one. This one is everything a minced meat pie should be - full of flavors, not dry at all - a celebration of tastes in your mouth. Seriously! And I have high standarts about minced meat pies, since a past very good friend of mine’s Mom gave me the first taste of her minced meat pie. From different reasons me and that past good friend are just past (and not present) friends, but everytime I make a minced meat pie, I keep my fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe, it will be similar to his Mom’s.

Minced Meat, Eggplant and Mushroom Pie

I made this one for a dinner with my Mom when she came to visit us for the first time at our new apartment. Preparing food for my Mom is never easy, cause you can’t fool her. It really has to be that good in order for her to like it. So now can you imagine me sweating in the process of making this dinner? :)

An egg

Minced Meat, Eggplant and Mushroom Pie

Avi was afraid that the meat filling would be too dry, I was afraid that it would be a little under-spiced, but it was simply wonderful. Everyone felt it was just perfect - from all the points we worried about. And you know what? I think it even tops that mean minced meat pie of my friend’s Mom, since it has all that many more flavors.

Minced Meat, Eggplant and Mushroom Pie

Minced Meat, Eggplant and Mushroom Pie / Adapted from a recipe found on an Israeli web-site
For a loaf pan sized 24 X 12 cm

Ingredients:
1/2 kg puff pastry
1/2 kg beef minced meat
250 gr shampinion mushrooms
1 medium sized eggplant
1 big onion
2 Tbsp brandy
5 Tbsp red wine
3 big garlic cloves, chopped
vegetable oil, for frying
2 Tbsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

For glazing:
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
1. Slice the eggplant into 1 cm wide slices, powder them with salt from both sides, and let rest for one hour on a surface that will be able to contain the liquids the eggplant will release.
2. Chop the onion into cubes, wash the eggplant from the salt excess and chop it into cubes as well. Slice the mushrooms into thin slices.
3. Preheat the oven to 302F (150C).
4. Heat some vegetable oil in the frying pan, add in the onion cubes and fry until golden. Add the eggplant cubes and fry until they begin softening, and finally add in the mushrooms and fry until all the ingredients of the mixture are soft.
5. Add in the minced meat and fry until it looses its pink color. During frying the meat, break the big clumps in it using a wooden spoon.
6. Add in the brandy and the red wine and fry for 10 more minutes.
7. Add in the garlic and fry for 1/2 a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir well and remove from the fire.
8. Spread the puff pastry onto the greased loaf pan, so that the margins will be enough to close upon the filling.
9. Fill the puff pastry with the meat mixture, close the pastry upon the filling and brush its top with the beaten egg.
10. Bake until the puff pastry raises a bit and gets a golden color.

Minced Meat, Eggplant and Mushroom Pie

פשטידת בשר, פטריות וחצילים / עיבוד למתכון מ - Ynet
עבור תבנית לחם אחת בגודל 24 על 12 ס”מ

רכיבים:
1/2 ק”ג בצק עלים מוכן
1/2 ק”ג בשר בקר טחון 
1 סלסלה פטריות שמפיניון טריות
1 חציל בגודל בינוני
1 בצל גדול
2 כפות ברנדי
5 כפות יין אדום
3 שיני שום כתוש גדולות, פרוסות
שמן לטיגון 
2 כפות פפריקה מתוקה 
1/2 כפית פלפל שחור גרוס 
1 כף אבקת מרק עוף 
1/2 כפית מלח 

לזיגוג:
1 ביצה טרופה 

הכנה:
1. פורסים את החציל לפרוסות בעובי 1 ס”מ, ממליחים משני הצדדים ומשאירים לנוח כשעה על משטח שמוכן לקבלת נוזלים רבים שהחציל ישחרר.
2. קוצצים היטב את הבצל, שוטפים את החצילים מהמלח, פורסים לקוביות, מנגבים את הפטריות ופורסים אותן לפרוסות דקות.
3. מחממים תנור ל - 150 מעלות.
4. מחממים מעט שמן במחבת, מוסיפים את הבצל, מטגנים עד להשחמה, מוסיפים את החצילים ומטגנים עד שהם מתחילים להתרכך, ולבסוף מוסיפים את הפטריות ומטגנים עד שהן רכות.
5. מוסיפים את הבשר הטחון ומטגנים עד שהוא מאבד את צבעו הורוד. בזמן הטיגון שוברים את גושי הבשר בעזרת כף עץ.
6. מוסיפים את הברנדי ואת היין האדום וממשיכים לטגן עוד 10 דקות.
7. מוסיפים את השום ומטגנים עוד כחצי דקה. מוסיפים את שאר התבלינים, מערבבים היטב ומסירים מהאש.
8. מרפדים את התבנית המשומנת בבצק כך שנותרים שוליים שמאפשרים כיסוי של הפשטידה.
9. ממלאים בתערובת הבשר, סוגרים את הבצק על התערובת ומושחים בביצה הטרופה.
10. אופים בתנור עד שהבצק תופח מעט ומשחים.

 

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Posted in Main Courses | 10 Comments »

A sad happy day

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

This Wednesday was supposed to be a very happy day - it was Avi’s father birthday, and we were all about preparing for it - thinking of what present would make him happiest, and looking forward to the birthday dinner at the great restaurant we were about to go to.

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake

Chocolate

And then I opened the news page as I woke up in the morning, and my eyes instantly filled up with tears. The 2 soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, that have been kidnapped by Hizbullah 2 years ago, have been returned dead. Israel signed a prisoner exchange deal with the Hizbullah a few weeks ago, as part of which Eldad and Ehud were supposed to return home. Hizbullah refused to reveal their condition until the very second their caskets arrived to Israel. It was pretty clear from the strategy they’ve chosen to take that Ehud and Eldad have been dead for a long time now, but a whole nation still refused to believe it, and kept hoping that maybe, in a miraculous way, they’d come back alive. Including me. My heart goes out to their families, whose hope and hearts have been shattered that day.
As all of you regular readers already know, this is by no means a blog that shares political views in any manner, this incident simply hurt me so bad, that I had to share it with you.

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake

After that, it became nearly impossible to feel festive for Avi’s father birthday, but since he loves sweets so much, I was determined to make him a birthday cake. I chose this chocolate and halva mousse cake recipe from Niki B’s food blog, one of my favorite Israeli food blogs. Every recipe of Niki’s that I’ve tried came out just wonderful, including this one. Fans of halva and chocolate will thank you for making this for them, and in fact, even the ones that are not suckers for halva will simply love this dessert, since the halva taste doesn’t take over. If you make just one dessert from this blog - let it be this one, since it’s one of the tastiest desserts I’ve made in a while. I may make this declaration again in the future, and that’s ok, cause it only means that the future one tops this one :)

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake / Slightly adapted from Niki B’s recipe
For a 24 cm pan

Ingredients:
For the base:
150 gr Graham Crackers, ground
100 gr butter, melted
zest of half of a medium sized lemon

For the mousse:
2 tsp gelatin powder
4 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup milk
150 gr halva, crumbled
200 gr bittersweet chocolate
500 ml heavy cream

For the ganache:
150 ml heavy cream
150 gr bittersweet chocolate

Directions:
1. Prepare the base: mix the ingredients of the base to a uniform mixture. Spread the mixture out evenly on the bottom of the cake pan. Place the pan in the freezer until finishing making the cake.
2. Melt the gelatin: put the 4 Tbsp of milk in a bowl, scatter the gelatin over it, and let stand for 10 mins. Then heat in the microwave for 30 secs and stir.
3. Melt chocolate, halva and milk until a uniform mixture is formed.
4. Add the gelatin into the chocolate mixture and stir.
5. Whip the cream, and fold the chocolate mixture into it.
6. Pour the mousse onto the base we’ve prepared earlier, and freeze for an hour.
7. Prepare the ganache: heat the cream nearly to its boiling point, pour it onto the chocolate and wait for 2 mins. Then stir until the chocolate melts totally.
8. Pour the ganache onto the mousse, and freeze overnight. Afterwards keep the cake in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake

עוגת מוס שוקולד חלבה - עיבוד קל למתכון של ניקי ב
עבור תבנית עגולה בקוטר 24 ס”מ

מצרכים:
לבסיס:
150 גרם ביסקויטים, טחונים
100 גרם חמאה, מומסת
גרידה מחצי לימון בגודל בינוני

למוס:
2 כפיות ג`לטין
4 כפות חלב
חצי כוס חלב
150 גרם חלבה מפוררת
200 גרם שוקולד מריר
500 מ”ל שמנת מתוקה

לגנאש:
150 מ”ל שמנת מתוקה
150 גרם שוקולד מריר

הכנה:
1. מערבבים את מצרכי הבסיס, מהדקים בתבנית ומכניסים למקפיא.
2. ממיסים ג`לטין - מניחים בקערה ג`לטין ו- 4 כפות חלב, משאירים ל- 10 דקות בצד, מכניסים למיקרו ל 30 שניות ומערבבים
3. ממיסים חלב, חלבה ושוקולד לתערובת חלקה.
4. מוסיפים את הג`לטין לתערובת השוקולד ומערבבים היטב.
5. מקציפים שמנת מתוקה, ומקפלים את תערובת השוקולד לקצפת.
6. יוצקים את המוס לתבנית מעל הבסיס, מקפיאים למשך שעה.
7. מכינים גנאש: מחממים שמנת מתוקה עד סף רתיחה. יוצקים את השמנת על קוביות השוקולד ומערבבים לתערובת חלקה.
8. יוצקים את הגנאש על על מוס השוקולד חלבה, ומקפיאים ללילה. לאחר מכן שומרים במקרר.

 

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Posted in Cakes | 12 Comments »

A summer celebration: apricot cake

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

What does home taste like? Well, many people may recognize home in various tastes (after all, we all grew up in different homes :) ). For me, two weeks ago, it was this cake’s taste exactly.

Apricots

Summer is here in all its glory, and the heat everywhere simply calls for light and refreshing dishes. In my book refreshing is anything fruity, and these past weeks the fruit I craved most was apricot. I’ve been wanting to make something apricot but couldn’t set my mind on what exactly (if you are a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed that making up my mind about stuff is not my strongest quality), and was afraid that I wouldn’t get to it, considering the very short apricot season here. I saw so many tempting apricot posts among the various food blogs I’m reading, and finally I gave in. That’s what urges are for, isn’t it?!

Apricot Cake

This simple cake turned out really great, I’m so keeping the base recipe for any white cake I need next. It’s really moist and filled with wonderful flavors. The vanillated sugar helps sweetening the apricots, which tend to turn quite sour after baking. Try to pick the ripest apricots you can for this cake, the riper the are - the sweeter they’ll be in the cake.

Apricot Cake

The recipe calls for self raising flour, if you don’t have it, you can use regular flour, and for each cup of flour, add 1 tsp of baking powder. In this case, for example, we need 350 gr flour, which is 2.5 cups, so we need to add in 2.5 tsp of baking powder and Ta-Da - we have “home made” self raising flour :)

Apricot Cake / Slightly adapted from Benny Seida’s recipe
For a rectangular 27X33 cm pan

Ingredients:
350 gr self raising flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
the zest of half of a medium sized lemon
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
800 gr apricots, pitted and halved
20 gr vanillated sugar
200 ml sour cream

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 356F (180C).
2. Put all the ingredients except the flour, apricots and vanillated sugar. Whisk well for several minutes, until the mixture is uniform.
3. Add the flour and mix only until incorporated.
4. Pour the mixture into the oiled pan, arrange the apricot halves keeping them close to eachother, the round side up.
5. Sprinkle the vanillated sugar above the apricots, and bake for an hour approx. or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with moist crumbs on it.

Apricot Cake

עוגת משמשים בחושה / בני סיידא בעיבוד קל שלי
עבור תבנית מלבנית בגודל 27X33 ס”מ

רכיבים:
350 גרם קמח תופח
1 1/2 כוסות סוכר
4 ביצים
גרידה מחצי לימון בגודל בינוני
3/4 כוס שמן
1/2 כוס חלב
800 גר’ משמשים טריים, מגולענים וחצויים
20 גרם (2 שקיות) סוכר וניל
200 מ”ל (גביע) שמנת חמוצה

הכנה:
1. מחממים תנור ל-180 מעלות.
2. שמים בקערה את כל החומרים פרט לקמח, משמשים וסוכר הוניל וטורפים מספר דקות, עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
3. מוסיפים פנימה את הקמח ומערבבים רק עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
4. יוצקים את הבצק לתבנית משומנת ומסדרים עליו את חצאי המשמש בצפיפות, כשחלקם הקעור כלפי מעלה.
5. זורים מעל המשמשים את סוכר הוניל ואופים במשך שעה, או עד שקיסם המוחדר למרכז העוגה יוצא עם פירורים לחים.

 

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Posted in Cakes | 16 Comments »

Room for change

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

If you visited the blog lately and saw that it looks a bit (or a lot) different, don’t worry, I’m not trying to mess with you guys :). Room for Dessert is looking for a new look, and it’s hard for me to pick one of the so many available.
So please bare with me for a little longer, until I can finally decide. Hope it will be soon…
You are more than welcome to leave a comment and suggest any theme that you know, love, and think will be suitable here.

Thanks!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »