Blue Mondays

            When I first looked through "Zumbo" book with an amazing collection of his creations, I especially loved a chapter dedicated to bar-shaped cakes, and one of it – a chocolate cake with raisins, walnuts and blue cheese (!) stroke a core in my heart. I wanted it to be the first recipe that I would try from the book; it turned out, however, that I cooked almost a dozen other Zumbo-ish things before I finally made this “gateau de voyage”.  There were a few reasons for the delay; one of it was that my husband is not a big fan of cheese and he especially hates those pungent varieties with the blue veins. No wonder, when I finally made this extraordinary cake, I suggested we should take it to the office and share with our colleagues who are more tolerant to this dairy product.

               So, the box with the cake got into the office (should I say that it was Monday or is it pretty obvious anyway?) and my husband took the first piece during the coffee break.  The cake smelled delicious and the blue cheese insert together with the chocolate custard made it look mouth-watering. “Honey, – can we take it back home? It’s way too good and should be eaten by me alone!”

               Of course, we couldn’t take it back home – other people were quick to help themselves to the cake as well. Which was too good – my husband was absolutely right about it. Probably, he’s gonna change his attitude towards blue cheese now…at least when it is served in a form of a dessert!

Scone Festival

         Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I've never made the scones before but they were always on my list of “trying-to-cook-one-day dishes”. It turned out that they are very easy to make, fast to bake and – amazingly – very versatile! These small biscuits can be savory and sweet, with any kind of added ingredients, and can be served as a tea/coffee accomplishments, as a cocktail snack or as a side for a main course.

As Audax provided us not only with the detailed instructions for making the perfect scones, but with the links to the recipes of scone variations as well, I couldn’t resist a temptation to visit my all-time favourite web-resource where I discovered the dishes that use basic scone dough for creating something new. I got really inspired to cook quite a number of different things and it turned out that during this month’s challenge I made a journey around the world!

Beetroot Risotto with Apples, Walnuts and Brie

          When I was working on my post about Apple and Cream Cheese French Toast I made some research about Vicky Ratnani, an Indian celebrity chef (whose recipe I used) and accidentally came across another dish of his – beetroot risotto with apples and brie. Quite a quirky combination, I know, but that’s what usually makes any dish so appealing to me!

            Since it is a vegetarian risotto I decided to make it for breakfast (with a carnivorous husband at home a meal containing not a single piece of meat is a strict no-no during lunch or dinner time). So, as my husband walked on a weekend morning in the kitchen and saw a purplish something simmering in a pan he frowned and asked: “Honey, what are we gonna have for breakfast?” “A beetroot risotto. With some apples and walnuts.” “Oh….Wow…Ok…” (poor thing! as if  he had a choice!) But as he tried a spoon of it he quite liked it! And as far as I am concerned I came to the conclusion that it was probably the best risotto I’ve ever had (or was I way too hungry that morning?) Anyway, it’s definitely a winning combination and I will be happy to cook and to have this dish again!

Buckwheat Pancakes with Pear and Blue Cheese

            Recently I fell into conversation about barbeque with some of our friends (yes, people in India talk about barbeque in winter – when, as it gets colder outside, the season starts) and they recollected the summer days in the USA when they used to have barbeque parties and to grill all sorts of meats, vegetables and even fruits – pears, served with the blue cheese sauce, was a favourite. My husband was a bit confused by the “gourmet” twist that the conversation took and I realized that I should actually introduce him to this combination of flavours – just in order to broaden his gastronomic outlook.

            The other day, when I was almost ready to go to bed and was thinking about the following day’s breakfast, I remembered about the conversation and decided to make some buckwheat pancakes with pears and blue cheese. I turned to Larousse Gastronomic for the recipe of buckwheat blinis (I had the idea of making them of a big size – more of a breakfast rather than hors d’oeuvre type) and oops! – I discovered that the recipe required the use of yeast! The perspective of getting up one hour earlier in the morning (just to wait for the dough to rise) was not so appealing. On the other hand, I didn’t feel like having anything else for my breakfast! So, I checked a trust-worthy website and got a “cheat’s” yeast-free recipe for the buckwheat blinis and, promising myself that the next time I will definitely go for the original type of dough, I printed down the list of ingredients. To say true, the pancakes that I made the following day turned out to be so good that I started to think of a decent excuse not to use yeast next time as well – in the long run, if I’m happy with the recipe, what’s the point of making life more complicated?! And my husband…well, he also loved the pancakes. However, since he has definitely got a less adventurous palate than me, he didn’t enjoy the blue cheese and asked for some sour cream and honey instead. Well, I didn’t mind to get extra cheese on my plate, though!

“Golden Key” special occasion cake

          It was a kid’s sixth birthday and I was entrusted with an honorable task of making a cake. The theme of the party was Pinocchio, or, to be more precisely, the Russian version of this story in which a wooden boy with a big nose gets a magic key that opens a door to the secret room. So, I had a clear idea about the decoration of the cake right from the beginning and only had to make a decision about the cake itself. I didn’t want something ordinary: taking a time-tested recipe and simply making a good version of a traditional cake was not an option for me – I felt like coming up with something new, elaborate, specially created for the boy!

            With the strongest confidence in my creativity, I took a piece of paper and a pencil and started to draw a sketch of my cake. After looking through a few cookbooks and magazines (well, when it comes to pastry, you cannot merely rely on your own talent – you need a solid support of trustworthy selection of basic recipes) I got really inspired by Ispahan French Yule Log which is a multi-layered cake consisting of rose-scented dacquoise biscuit, lychee mousse, crème brulee, ganache, feuillete crisp insert and icing. Having taken it as a starting point, I gave full freedom to my imagination and pretty soon I got the draft of my future cake in front of me:

Apple Delight for Weekend Breakfast

          One of the things I love to do in the kitchen is to use different sources and recipes in order to create a new dish. It’s quite exciting for me to imagine how the flavours will work together and, if all the elements on the plate compliment each other, the final result can become a real hit.

            For quite a long time I felt like trying to combine three different dishes that have the same core ingredient – apple – in order to create a bright and flavourful, fiber-rich meal for breakfast. One of the elements was a toast (something that I actually make quite often in the mornings), another one was a soufflé - omelette (I cooked it once and was impressed by its subtle taste and delicate texture), and the third one was a mousselin (I wanted to try the dish since I saw the recipe in my “Larousse Gastonomique” dictionary). The first two elements seemed to be more or less traditional options for breakfast while the third one was definitely more of a dessert type, so I figured out that I should better make the whole dish on a Saturday or a Sunday, when the first meal of the day can be of a brunch type and you can afford having something really sweet and fancy.  Besides, I wouldn’t have managed to cook all the three parts on a busy morning in the middle of the week, so I had to wait for a weekend anyway.

Banana Walnut Tart

      
          If you ask my mum what was my favourite fruit in the childhood, she would be quick to give you an answer: banana! Yes, I was a banana-obsessed child. Nowadays, however, I feel rather indifferent to it – probably, I’ve had too much of it (there is a theory that you can consume only a definite amount of a particular edible substance and once you reach your limit, you can’t see it for the rest of your life) or finally realized that it is a rather rich fruit to snack on constantly. In spite of that, you can always find a big bunch of bananas in our fridge – for my husband’s late evening fruit salad and for my early morning oatmeal (yes, I still have this fruit sometimes – haven’t reached my limit yet, only slowed down the pace). And the only problem with the bananas (they ripe fast) is easily soluble – you can make stuffed French toasts, pancakes, muffins, a coffee cake or even a banana bread. Last time I got overriped bananas, I decided to go for a tart with caramelized honey and walnut topping. Luckily, I had some home-made ice-cream at the time which served as a lovely accomplishment to the dessert.