tomato blossom

warning! high self-importance factor. the writer of the following contents is not liable for physical symptoms or other reactions of the reader.

if you want to keep me happy...

• do not eat my tomatoes. i am very serious about this. always keep at least one tomato product around. preferably fresh tomatoes as long as available (iris doesn't like watery tomatoes. nassty tomatoes.), canned tomatoes, passata - you get the idea.


• we also need some kind of cheese like parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta, feta, pecorino etc.


• and olive oil. good olive oil, at least one bottle. i have had as many as six different kinds crowding together in my cupboard. my all time favourite is greek olive oil (mani olive oil to be specific, they have great capers too) to dip bread into, for drizzling over fava...


• oregano. the herb that is most integral to my cooking as it is much used in greek cuisine as well as in italian cuisine. parsley is very versatile, too.


• keep my supply of tea and milk (at a pinch even uht milk or cream will do) steady. and don't let the sugar cubes run out. sugar cubes are cute and facilitate dosage. two cubes per mug (à two cups), two mugs of tea per day on average. i know i am an addict but that's not a problem.


• do you really think one or two meak onions and a couple of shrivelled cloves of garlic are enough to get over the weekend? ha. too smelly to use a lot? well, i am prone to misanthropism anyway so potentially offensive smells are a welcome option to keep unlooked for social interaction at a minimum.


• don't even think of smuggling reduced-fat "butter", margarine or the likes into my kitchen. doesn't taste good, useless for cooking, low quality fat.


• there are few things that i detest more than the sight of a wet, smelly dishwashing sponge/cloth hanging around in the sink until it turns into a dirty brownish colour and gives off evil smells that make any decision on what to have for breakfast unnecessary.


• check bananas for banana spiders, i really appreciate it. i am not afraid of spiders but this is a special case (probability of encounter low, toxicity of venom high means iris in fits of hysteria. not rational? don't make me laugh, who and what are rational anyway.)

enough - see you later.

Posted by iris at 14:58 | Permalink | Comments

i never noticed that really ripe plums have a delicately lingering flowery aftertaste until recently. then the idea to make same sort of cake including plums and rose flower water popped into existence. and now that the plum season is finally over for this year i have enough time to write about it. but that's the way things go i guess. (or am i the only one to discover new and interesting recipes as soon as the fruit or vegetable in question is not available any more?)

anyway, the following recipe was adapted from a recipe in a baking book by dr. oetker.

plum tart

cake batter

• one heaping cup of flour


• two level teaspoons of baking powder


• one third of a cup of sugar


• three to four teaspoons of rose flower water


• one medium egg


• half a cup of ricotta cheese


• 6 tablespoons of milk or half and half


• 6 tablespoons of good quality vegetable oil or melted butter

for the pie pan

• flaked almonds

topping

• one and a half pounds of plums, halved and stoned


• 6 tablespoons of half and half


• 2 heaping tablespoons of ricotta cheese


• 2 heaping tablespoons of sour cream


• 2 tablespoons of honey


• one vanilla pod


• two medium eggs

mix all dry ingredients for the batter thoroughly then add the liquid ingredients. butter a pie pan and sprinkle with flaked almonds (the surface does not have to be completely covered). pour batter into pan.

arrange plum halves on batter (pieces must overlap or they won't fit into the pan).

scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod with a knife and add the remaining ingredients. pour over plums.

bake at 150 degrees centigrade for about 45 minutes.

the result was really pleasant (the slightly waxy flavour of the sage honey i used came out brilliantly) but there is still room for improvements. for example the vanilla taste could develop far better if you infused the half and half with the scraped vanilla pod. will definitely make this again though.

Posted by iris at 00:18 | Permalink | Comments

i was busy studying in september, so no posts - i did play around with my moms digital camera though to share the few (culinarily speaking) memorable moments.



my first attempt to make brioches didn't turn out too bad. they looked like ducklings and some lost their little heads but nobody seemed to mind - the whole lot (twenty pieces) was gone within two days.



some people cook dumplings and creamed chanterelle mushrooms at home and some eat them in ikea restaurants (free coffee for ikea family members included). the recipe for creamed chanterelles from delicious days is actually very close to the one i remember from the days of my childhood - the only difference being that we used sour cream instead of double cream.



last but not least i got around to reproduce one of the five things to eat before you die.



more about that later...

Posted by iris at 22:04 | Permalink | Comments

one of my favourite fruits at the moment are elderberries. they taste good, they are easy to spot during walks in parks or wienerwald, can be stolen from branches hanging over fences (an old family tradition) or bought at farmer markets.

i made elderberry compote which goes very well with grießbrei (semolina cooked in milk, vaguely resembling warm custard).

grießbrei mit hollerkompott

• 2 cups of milk


• 3 tablespoons of semolina


• 2 tablespoons of sugar


• one tablespoon of butter


• vanilla and/or lemon zest to taste


• eight to ten panicles of elderberries


• five plums or an apple or a pear
  
• honey to taste


• cinnamon to taste, a pinch of ground cloves

bring milk to the boil, wisk in semolina and cook until soft (about five minutes). stir in sugar, butter and vanilla extract/lemon zest.

strip elderberries from panicles into a saucepan with a fork. add halved plums or diced apple/pear, spices and a little water to prevent burning. bring to the boil and simmer until fruit is very soft and mushy. adjust sweetness with honey to taste (about two tablespoons).

serve together in bowls

grießbrei is often considered babyfood but it has a long tradition as comfort food in my family. i like it sprinkled with cinnamon or chocolate shavings and with chunks of banana stirred in. you can prepare a sort of pudding by cooking grießbrei until it is very stiff, cooling slightly, mixing in three or four eggs (separated) and baking it for fourty minutes on medium heat.

i also made a batch of elderberry jam but i won't post a recipe because i just followed the basic rules for canning: equal amounts of sugar and fruit (added a couple of plums and a pear here as well), cinnamon, cloves, sterilized jars - you know the drill.

next time i will use a little less sugar though, because the one to one ratio produced a very sweet jam (well to my taste at least, other people don't seem to mind that).

Posted by iris at 00:21 | Permalink | Comments

a while back melissa at the traveler's lunch box started compiling entries for her food blogger's guide to the globe. everybody is invited to participate but as usual i need an extra kick in the *** to get moving and thus didn't post my suggestions for what to eat before you die - anyway as soon as you have recovered your appetite after having pondered over this grave matter - until matt tagged me.

i decided to exclude fresh fruit and vegetables of all kind simply because nearly every freshly picked sun warmed fruit/vegetable at the peak of its ripeness tastes divine. i also do not include dishes that are realistically not reproducable.

1. deep fried paneer in tomato sauce
   i came across this gem during our last stay in dublin at govinda's vegetarian restaurant. the paneer cubes are crispy golden on the outside and chewy and milky on the inside and the sauce is simply spectacular. if you accidentally find yourself in dublin one day, try out one of the two restaurants. if your are not so fortunate, you can still test your skills at this recipe (in dublin they omitted the egg plant and chili though). it's part of the hare krishna cookbook the higher taste which can be accessed online. if you are not interested in religious doctrines, jump directly to the recipe section.



2. (greek) rose syrup over vanilla ice cream
   so far my favourite kind of rose syrup is the one used in the greek restaurant plaka in perchtoldsdorf near vienna (austria). it tastes a bit like greek rose incense smells and has a very subtle aroma. but then nearly every (high quality) kind of rose syrup i have sampled had its own characteristic, delicious flavour, so don't despair if you prefer to stay where you are.
   when making this divine dessert at home, keep in mind that rose syrup is very sweet so don't choose an overly sweet ice cream.



3. risotto alla milanese
   there is no excuse not to make a really good version of this classic dish. i have developed my own ideas concerning the best texture and ingredients (and will post my recipe as soon as possible) but i think with so simple a recipe and so few ingredients everybody should be able to produce a good risotto. and don't leave away the saffron if you can afford it - don't take everything angelo pellegrini writes too literally (as much as i like his book).



4. erdäpfelnudeln (lit. potato noodles, austrian specialty)
   erdäpfelnudeln are (obviously) made from potato dough . the thick fingershaped noodles are usually tossed in butter with a mixture of ground poppy seeds and powdered sugar ("mohnnudeln"). they can also be served with breadcrumbs roasted in butter, powdered sugar and a fruit compote ("bröselnudeln").
   either way they are yummy, especially when prepared by my grandmother. she makes the fluffiest melt-in-the-mouth erdäpfelnudeln you can imagine. personally i am still working on producing acceptable results, but i might share a recipe with you in the near future.



5. sformato di spinaci
   in my family we call it simply "spinach pudding" because at the time my mother first made it, my italian was non existing (it is converging towards that state again but this is another matter). basically it consists of bechamel sauce with parmesan cheese, sauted spinach and eggs (like a soufflé). sformato di spinaci is steamed in a pudding mold lined with breadcrumbs. and as usual the mere ingredients and my clumsy description can not do justice to the finished product. the recipe can be found in a time life series on international cuisine (unfortunately out of print i guess, it's not on their website). the closest approximation i could digg up online (in english) is this. an italian recipe site comes even closer to what i have in mind. anyway - some day i might get around to post my own recipe...

well, that's it.

i considered including more typical austrian dishes but i realized that - probably due to being vegetarian - mostly dumplings came to mind how boring. and with autumn and winter approaching fast i will be posting more about things like that anyway, that is if i actually find the energy to do so - see above.

oh yes, and as there are almost no food bloggers - whose blogs i read of course - left over who have not already been tagged by someone or other, i tag sebastian and andi. i know they both care about food in their own strange ways and their choices might be interesting.

Posted by iris at 00:27 | Permalink | Comments