Peeling beetroot for dinner last night left me with a really pretty colour on my hands!
Archive for the ‘cooking’ Category
Spargel (asparagus)
I never really thought much about asparagus when we lived in Australia.. I like the taste of it, but never really went crazy for it.
Germans, on the other hand are crazy for it in a big way.. particularly the big white variety that only grows at exactly this time of year, and only for a very limited time. Restaurants have entire menu’s dedicated to it, stores have specific Spargel stands, and little road-side shacks pop up next the fields selling their Spargel goodness. But they all only last for about a month and a half, and then it’s gone again (much like my beloved Peonies!). And so, for this month and a half, Germans really make the most of it.
Initially I was a little bit confused by this German variety of Spargel.. where I come from, asparagus is thin and green, and you eat it without much preparation. Lets just say, having now learnt from experience (twice), giant white German Spargel needs to be rigorously peeled and boiled before you can eat it.
Lesson #1 – unpeeled Spargel is extremely tough and bitter.
Lesson #2 – Peeled Spargel that clearly isn’t peeled enough is only marginally less tough and bitter. Spargel Fail.
That latest lesson was only learnt two nights ago, after I courageously decided to attempt cooking Spargel at home for the second time in 2.5 years (the first time was when I learnt lesson #1). Next time (if I dare attempt it again), I will shop at the supermarket down the road that is also equipped with a high-tech ‘Spargel Peeling Machine’. I’m not kidding.. it has a conveyor belt that you lay your stick of Spargel on (one at a time, please), and then you watch it ride through the clear-sided machine where it’s peeled and washed, and then it pops out the other end for you to collect. I think I’ll just stick to eating it in restaurants..
And in case anyone was wondering, white Spargel is white because they grow it underground covered by plastic sheets, so that it doesn’t ever see daylight. If it did, it would turn green.
Not-so-red velvet cupcakes
Hello hello! I’m still here, and very sorry (Dad) for the silence these last few weeks! I really feel like we haven’t been doing much that warrants pretty photos and exciting stories.. I’ll have to change that :)
One thing that we’ve found pretty exciting is that my little sister has been staying with us for the past week or so. She’s been calling our place home while she does a little bit of travelling around, and we’ve been really enjoying her company (and cooking)! At some point last week, we decided that we would attempt to make some red velvet cupcakes. They turned out really nicely, except that our tiny little tube of red dye only produced half a tablespoon worth, instead of the 3 that we needed. Consequently, our cupcakes were pretty much just chocolate.. extremely tasty but lacking in the overall red-ness. Too bad!
These photos were taken at night, and really didn’t turn out very well.. so I decided to just photoshop the crap out of them and make it look like we were cooking in the 50’s (not so hard to imagine if you’ve seen/used our oven).. I also have to send a hello! to Bianca, who was kind enough to give me these gorgeous measuring cups and spoons for my Birthday, with the express instructions to post about them on my blog.. consider it done!
Hello hello! I’m still here, and very sorry (Dad) for the silence these last few weeks! I really feel like we haven’t been doing much that warrants pretty photos and exciting stories.. I’ll have to change that :)
One thing that we’ve found pretty exciting is that my little sister has been staying with us for the past week or so. She’s been calling our place home while she does a little bit of travelling around, and we’ve been really enjoying her company (and cooking)! At some point last week, we decided that we would attempt to make some red velvet cupcakes. They turned out really nicely, except that our tiny little tube of red dye only produced half a tablespoon worth, instead of the 3 that we needed. Consequently, our cupcakes were pretty much just chocolate.. extremely tasty but lacking in the overall red-ness. Too bad!
These photos were taken at night, and really didn’t turn out very well.. so I decided to just photoshop the crap out of them and make it look like we were cooking in the 50’s (not so hard to imagine if you’ve seen/used our oven).. I also have to send a hello! to Bianca, who was kind enough to give me these gorgeous measuring cups and spoons for my Birthday, with the express instructions to post about them on my blog.. Thanks B!
Delicious Granola Bars
I found this granola bar recipe over on Smitten Kitchen and decided to give it a go.. and I’m glad I did – they are seriously delicious! They did turn out a little bit crumbly (ok, a lot crumbly) for any number of reasons, but I think storing them in the fridge should do the trick. The recipe below is a slightly different version to that on Smitten Kitchen, because I couldn’t find some of the ingredients.. but this recipe is really flexible, so don’t feel like you have to stick to my recipe either!
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats processed in food processor until finely ground)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 cups (approx.) dried fruit and nuts chopped how you like it (I used: 2 cups mixed nuts (walnuts, pecans, blanched almonds), 1 cup mixed dried berries (cranberries, cherries, blueberries), 1/4 cup dried apple, 1/4 cup dried apricots)
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
2 tbs honey (the recipe asks for corn syrup, but I don’t know what that is – or where to find it in our local Germany supermarket!)
1 tbs water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line and grease a tin (the one I used was 23cm x 23cm).
Stir all the dry ingredients together (including fruit and nuts) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, vanilla, peanut butter, maple syrup, honey and water until it looks like caramel. Combine this with the dry ingredients and stir until it’s all combined.
Put the mixture into the prepared tin and press the mixture into the pan firmly until it’s well compacted (I used the back of a metal spoon to really compact the mixture and make sure it was all even).
Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, or until it’s browned around the edges and browning in the middle. The slice must then be completely cooled in the tin before being cut, and if it’s still too crumbly, put it in the fridge for another 30 minutes and try again.
