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Mi Favorito

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Hi it’s Valerie again!  I haven’t been on here in a long time.  One reason for that is I was traveling in Europe most of the summer.  Well, now that I’m home, people keep asking me very hard to answer questions like:

“How was your trip?” (How can I summarize 11 weeks in 7 countries in just a few sentences?)

“What was your favorite place?” (How can I choose one favorite?  Every place had things I loved about it.  Seriously, I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of it.)

“Wasn’t the food wonderful?” (Yes and no.  I was traveling on a budget, so I ate a lot of sandwiches, yogurt, and trail mix.)

Still, I can tell you what my favorite restaurant was: Taverna Basca Irati in Barcelona.

This was the only place that had me wishing I had more time in the city so I could come back to the restaurant. This Taverna serves Basque ”pintxos” – which are open-faced sandwiches with a delightful variety of toppings. You stand at the bar (Mediterraneans think sitting is overrated), ask for “Un plato, por favor” then take your pick of the beautiful array of sandwiches displayed along the bar.  At the end, they count your toothpicks in order to charge you about 2 Euros per sandwich.

I loved this place because the ingredients were high-quality and super fresh.  Also I loved the system where you could eat whatever you fancied instead of having a portion of food that may be too big or too small.  I often was not able to finish what I was served while I was traveling.

Mouth-watering Basque sandwiches

Mouth-watering Basque sandwiches

I found out about Taverna Basca Irati from my Rick Steves travel book.  As I was traveling alone, I considered Rick to be my travel buddy.  I met a lot of other Rick Steves fans on the road, and we had fun swapping tips, or even following the same walking tours together.  We love you, Rick!

Posted in Food Talk | No Comments »

The Silly and Serious Sides of Dessert

Monday, April 19th, 2010

I made some fun desserts these past two weekends!  One was definitely “grown-up” and sophisticated, while the other was more whimsical and fun.

French Baguettes with Brie and Raspberry Sauce

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

I tried my hand at making homemade baguettes after finding this recipe.  I made them for my Mom’s birthday party.  We actually ate the bread as dessert rather than cake.  To go with it, I bought some brie and made raspberry sauce:

  • 2 cups fresh raspberries
  • 4-6 tablespoons sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • a few mint leaves, torn into small pieces

I put the raspberries into a small saucepan with the water and sugar and cooked them over medium.  While they were cooking, I continuously stirred them and added the honey, lemon juice, and mint leaves.  The raspberries quickly lost their shape and became part of the sauce.  I brought the sauce to boiling for a short time, but mostly I let it steam and cook down until it thickened a bit.  Taste the sauce to see if it needs more sugar – the raspberries can be really tart!

I served this by slicing the bread and placing a couple of pieces on each plate with slices of brie and a serving of raspberry sauce.  Everyone had fun combining the pieces as they ate.

Candy Sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

I simply had to try this when my friend tweeted about making Rice Krispy sushi.  I used this recipe (using Fruit By the Foot instead of fruit leather), which made a lot of pieces!  I thought it would be too sweet with all that candy, but the Rice Krispies helped to balance out the strong flavors.  Besides, it was really cute, and that’s all that matters in this case!

Posted in Breads, Desserts, Recipes | No Comments »

Spinach and Shrimp Crepes

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

More experimentation with seafood!  Tonight I improvised a recipe for crepes, and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.  This was yet another adventure answering the question “what can I do with the food I already have?”  The shrimp came from the same former roommate who left us the tilapia.

First I mixed up the crepe batter, which I refrigerated while I prepared the other ingredients.  Here’s the recipe I used:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c milk
  • 1/2 c water
  • 2 T butter, melted
  • 1 c flour
  • 1/4 t salt

Mix the wet ingredients together first: that makes it easier to stir in the flour.  Beat until smooth, then put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.  You may need to add more milk to get the batter runny enough.  My first couple of crepes were more like pancakes.

Shrimp ready to be peeled

Shrimp ready to be peeled

Next I boiled the shrimp (I boiled 2 pounds, but used less than half a pound) and sautéed the spinach just until it was wilted.  I peeled the shrimp and diced it, and cut the spinach into smaller pieces.  I made a creamy filling out of 3 ounces of softened cream cheese and about half a cup of sour cream, which I mixed with powdered garlic and ground mustard.  Mmm the mustard made the filling slightly spicy.

I prepared the crepes (I don’t want to go into detail about that process).  Next I spread the filling on them and placed various combinations of spinach, shrimp, and feta cheese on top.  I rolled up the completed crepes, and they were ready to eat.  Yummy!

This crepe had fresh spinach, feta, and the creamy filling.

This crepe had fresh spinach, feta, and the creamy filling.

Posted in Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »

Fish Made Tasty

Friday, February 19th, 2010

I’m not usually a fan of fish. My mom, who is an awesome cook, always fixed it the same way. I never thought of it as something I’d want to experiment with. However, this week when I ran low on food again (this is a theme with me since I try not to spend too much on groceries), I decided to try using some tilapia fillets we had in our freezer. We had a roommate move out in the summer who left behind all sorts of food, particularly fish and shrimp. She moved to Wilmington, where I guess she’ll get better seafood.

Anyway, this is what I made:

  • 3 small tilapia fillets
  • 1 onion
  • 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 2-3 T pesto
  • 1 T olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Spaghetti noodles
  • Mozzarella cheese
Tilapia Pasta

Tilapia Pasta

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in olive oil, then added in the fillets.  I was amazed at how fast fish cooks!  I’m used to working with chicken or ground beef. Next I mixed in pesto and squeezed lemon juice over everything. Meanwhile I boiled the spaghetti, which I added to the frying pan so it could cook with the sauté for a while (I learned this trick from The Splendid Table).  Wow, it was good!  I served it with mozzarella cheese melted on top.

Posted in Italian, Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »

Pink Peppermint Pie – A story of unrequited love

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

I made a beautiful pie for Valentine’s Day. In order to make it, I scraped the cream off half a box of Oreos, whipped up cream by hand (this took a loooong time), and invented my own recipe for chocolate drizzle. It turned out splendidly – a work of art that made me proud. I’m sorry to say it didn’t receive the love I hoped it would.

See, I made this pie for a party. And this party had a ton of sweets. Everyone was handed a little molten chocolate cake (which tasted awesome, by the way) at the beginning of the party. After molten chocolate cake, how could anyone have room for peppermint pie? Sadly, only two or three pieces of my pie got eaten. It was disappointing to see my beautiful pie cut up and melting (it needs to be refrigerated) and not even being eaten.  This may seem silly, but it really was an unfortunate situation.

Pink Peppermint Pie

Pink Peppermint Pie

Anyway, the recipe is awesome, and I hope your experience with this pie will be better fated than mine. I found this recipe in Betty Crocker (the copy from the 70’s that my parents gave me for my 15th birthday). Here it is:

  • Oreo crust (I made my own)
  • 24 large marshmallows
  • 1/2 c milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 6 drops peppermint extract
  • 6 drops red food color
  • 1 c chilled whipping cream
  • 2 T crushed peppermint candy

Bake pie crust.  Heat marshmallows and milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, salt, peppermint extract, and food color.  Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon.

Beat whipping cream in chilled bowl until stiff.  Stir marshmallow mixture until blended; fold into whipping cream.  Pour into crust.  Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

In order to decorate this, I melted chocolate chips (about 1/3 cup) with shortening (about a tablespoon) in a saucepan. I dipped a heart-shaped cookie cutter in the melted chocolate, then made heart-shaped impressions on the pie. Then I used the cookie cutter again to sprinkle peppermint candy inside the hearts. I had so much melted chocolate left over, I covered the whole edge of the crust too.

Posted in Desserts, Recipes | 1 Comment »

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