burn

(adapted from Didi Emmons' Vegetarian Planet)

This pretty cake is one of my favorite things to do with potatoes. Pan-frying helps the potatoes caramelize a bit, making for a lovely presentation, especially if you have a large platter that isn't as ugly as mine is. :)

The sweetness of basil, the bite of raw garlic, the sourness of lemon and the creaminess of mayo are enchanting against the earthy backdrop of carrots and potatoes.

( recipe and photo )

(last night's dinner)

My first ever attempt at cooking pork (besides sausage or bacon) and I couldn't even bring myself to follow a recipe. :)

Sauce of Winter Fruits:

I had some leftover cranberries from the cranberry chocolate orange bread I made earlier this week. Not quite enough to make a cranberry sauce though. So I brought about 1/2 cup of roughly chopped dried apricots in about 1/4 cup sherry and the juice and zest of one blood orange and one clementine to a boil, then covered this and let it steep for about an hour.

I then brought just a bit of water with some raw sugar, a cinnamon stick and six cloves to a boil, then added the apricot mixture, some honey and about 3/4 cups cranberries. I turned down the heat and let it barely simmer for about 15 minutes before adding one chopped pink kiss apple. I cooked it for about 15 more minutes (?) until the apple was just cooked (not soggy!)

Roasted Purple Potatoes:

Chopped the potatoes, then tossed them in a bowl with Spanish olive oil, crushed dried thyme, rosemary and marjoram, salt and pepper. Roasted them at 180C/350F until done, about 45 minutes.

Pork with Apple Glaze:

My brother made some Tuscan style pork earlier this week with the German Schweineschnitzel cuts, and after all his praise of pork (and enjoying it myself) I decided to try my hand with it. So I had four Schweineschnitzel (pork cutlets? I really don't know what exactly what cut of pork this is in English). I fried them for about 1.5 or 2 minutes per side in olive oil, then poured out some of the excess oil and added a fair amount of apple juice. I covered them, turned down the heat and let them simmer until done (not very long). I then took the pork out of the skillet and covered them with foil to stay warm. In a small bowl I had whisked together some cornstarch, sugar and water. I added this to the skillet slowly, stirring, and continued stirring until it had thickened.


Why I'm happy: this meal was delicious, wintery, used up ingredients that needed to be used (cranberries and apple juice), had fantastic colors and was a successful first attempt at cooking pork.

( the delicious delicious photos )

I have never been a fan of cupcakes, as they are usually too sweet for me. But these Halloween cupcakes are so delicious that I can't stop eating them. I used to make them every year. It looks like this year I won't have time. :( I've altered the recipe to work with ingredients available in Germany but I didn't write it down, so this is the original version (ok, with slight modifications, I just can't help changing things to my taste)of the recipe. It comes from, of all places, the October 5, 1999 issue of Family Circle. I bought the magazine just for this recipe and it certainly was worth it. Everybody loves the chocolate spiderwebs on top...the frosting is especially yummy. Since I haven't made them this year, I don't have a picture of mine, but I did take a photo of the picture in the magazine...and I have to say that mine actually look better.... :)

( the recipe )