Walnuss Torte

Here's my random-adapted walnut tart version of pecan pie, using olive oil, that I made for a work gathering recently... and was quite pleased with the result.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/4 c flour
2/3 c cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil

(alternatively, second time I made it, as mini-tarts for a party, just made regular pie-dough with 1.5-2 c flour, ~3-4T olive oil, salt, and a bit of water)

Filling:
1 1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c water
1/3 c olive oil ( a LIGHT-flavored olive oil, though olive oil will loose a lot of its olive smell and taste when heated, hence in something baked or stir-fried, etc, but still would use a light-colored&light-flavored one)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
~ 2/3 to 1 c walnuts (coarsely chopped, and maybe some whole pretty ones reserved for top-decoration)

Crust-- mix all ingredients with a pastry blender with a drizzle of water, until it comes together in a good mass of dough (just enough water will make it the right amount of elasticity so it won't break while rolling it out, but not too much otherwise it will become stretchy like breaddough, and contract when baked), roll and fit to a tart pan (i had a mini-tart's-worth of leftover filling when using 24cm/9.5" tartpan). slightly pre-bake it if you want it crispier, otherwise it'll stay pretty soft from the filling's juices.

Filling:
First in a small saucepan, combine 1 c sugar and 1/2 c water, stir to dissolve over low heat, then wihtout stirring put to medium-high heat until sugar carmelizes to a rich brown (when carmelizing brown sugar, it's easier for me to smell when it's gotten carmelized to the right amount rather than visually, since it starts out as a brown solution anyway). when done (should give nearly 1 c solution, add the olive oil (helps to cool down the sugar before adding it to eggs--you don't wnat to get scrambled eggs, and also helsp cook out some olive flavor in advance. Beat eggs and salt in another bowl, add walnuts & rest of sugar, then add&mix in the carmel&oil.
Pour into crust, and bake at 350F/175C until the center is solidified, probably at least 30 min, (the top crust of floating walnuts will harden and rise up (but will settle back down slowly when removed from the oven).


Made them into mini-tarts the second time-- I think it's even better this way, being bite-size!!

...... and... John caught red-handed with his escapade in the cookie pot!!!

Now that's what I call a TV dinner...

Jalapeno-veggie cornbread with mushroom-chicken 'stroganoff'

mmm... i love me a tasty cornbread!

Cornbread:
finely dice 1 large onion, 1 medium carrot finely diced, a 1/2 c of corn
-sautee onions and carrot till soft and starting to carmelize (set aside to cool a tad)
-over a bit higher heat, sautee the corn to get slightly golden and more flavor

chop some jarred-pickled jalapeno slices (to spiciness desired)
In another bowl:
~1-1.5 c cornmeal
~ 3/4 c flour
~ 2 tsp baking powder
~ 1 tsp salt
~ some seasoning (pepper, garlic powder, paprika,
chopped chives
(mix)
Then whisk in :
2 eggs, 1/3 c olive oil, ~1.5 c milk
Pour into pan
( I topped mine with a sprnkling of grated Sbrinz :) )

I put some in muffin cups, some in a big cake-pan... bake at 180C/375F till starting to golden brown.

"Stroganoff" ingredients:
* 1/2-lb chicken
* 2 onions
* 1/2-lb mushrooms
* red wine
* boullion
* something to thicken (eith erflour, starch)
* more seasoning!
perfect accompaniament to the movie "Iron Man" on that night :)

First Attempt at Bagels!

I MUST learn to make a good bagel! I so so enjoy them, and maddening lack of availability here is not supportive! This first batch wasn't a total disaster, but definitely not yet the ideal product. Texture wasn't too bad-- fairly good crispy outside, soft-chewy inside.... but flavor was off for sure... I think this is for the major part due to that while I was planning to use "Ruch-mehl" here which is a decent protein-rich flour, more processed than a whole wheat one, but didn't have any and didn't feel like going to buy a few kilos on top of the few sacks of whole wheat flour I had. So these were 100% whole wheat bagles. Mind you that a "whole wheat" bagle when chosen as among the flavors in a bagle store is NOT 100% whole wheat... but a finer-ground flour and some rougher whole-wheat-grain flour mixed in. So overall they were very Dark bagles with a very whole-wheat flour taste, which is great on one side, but when aiming for one specific idealized USA-style bagel.... then not quite satisfying that craving.I already have some Ruchmehl ready and waiting, maybe for next weekend :) I still have 2 frozen from this batch to finish.

Oh! And second thing I found (not indicated in the recipe that I almost accurately followed with the biggest exception being the whole wheat flour), was that the toppings do not actually stick on all that well when just applied to the wet bagles straight out of the boiling water (these were boiled bagles, by the way, not steamed ones!) ... so next time I'll definitely have an egg-wash ready also so that when eating them, just barely touching the top of the bagle wouldn't send all the poppyseeds careening off! :)

Here's half-way through the process, forming the shapes before they finish 'poofing' overnight:

And here were the final results:

Asparagus Pinenut Roulade

I did this one a while ago, but am looking forward to asparagus being at a good price again here-- it's fairly expensive (if even in stores) at about 13.-/kg...

Whole-wheat dough (a slightly-more-levening pie dough like dough preferrably)
Filling:
one egg beaten
plentiful herbs
slightly-roasted pine nuts
diced sharp Gruyere cheese
minced garlic
Seared in a skillet: chopped onion, and asparagus spears--searing them quickly with salt, pepper, olive oil, a small dash of chicken-broth, and a dash of soysauce (I tend to like the flavor that soysauce seared onto asparagus leaves)

Alligned all into the roll, baked at 170C/350F until beginning to golden on top.

The time in this pictures, didn't make the dough as puffy as I would like, so next time will make it so that it will puff up a bit more during baking on the outside than this which was more like a soft pie-crust dough, which also worked. Yet, I think a slightly more bread-like or light puff-pastry-like crust would be even better
...... AND come to think of it, I should really make an attractive color-contrast in the presentation of it, via a drizzle of a red-wine reduction sauce..hrmm!