Saturday, June 27, 2009

Creamy herb paste/spread

(Edit: I changed the name to herb spread, as it is a better name for it I believe, but haven't changed this in original post)

A recipe I actually invented myself (dont praise me, anyone could come up with this <.<).. I wanted to make blini's at that time (little pancakes) after I had it in a restuarant. They were so delicious I had to try!

The blini's were made of a american pancake-mix, and then, according to the recipe on it, making little pancakes. Take one pancake, royally spread the herbpaste over it, royally put salmon on that.. Then on top of that, more herbpaste and another pancake.. Just like a sandwhich ^^ Make sure to do everything ROYAL! That really does make it taste a lot better ^^ In my case, the pancakes turned out pretty floury - but then again I never tasted american pancakes and have no idea what they are supposed to taste like - but the result was VERY good ^^

Anyway, the herbpaste is very simple to make ^^ My mom also really liked it on her bread without anything else.. It's really nice as a sandwhichspread on warm these. It's very airy and light, but it's creamy and cool too (you have to keep it in a fridge, so that one was logical <.<) You could use it for anything else you can think of I suppose.. and since this recipe is so easy.. you can give your own twist to it just as easily ^^

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Ingredients:
- mon chou
- herbs (like parsely, chives, anything!)
- garlic
- lemon juice (just a bit, one squirt xP )
- anything else you want to put in it XD


Cut it and then: MIX IT!!!
I told you it was simple! For the cutting: make small pieces and try using siccors, it really makes things easier! Do make sure you've cleaned it beforehand, or you have a special foodsiccor..
The most simple version I made was with just mon chou, a bit of lemon juice, leek and parsley.. It's really good ^^ Of course you can change this one in whatever way you like.. By using more herbs, different kinds, or using spices.. I bet the same recipe would be really good with pepper and chilli powder.. that would give it a cool red colour too!!

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Although you can add practically anything to the mon chou, getting the right combination can take some time and experience ^^ The lemon juice is actually not for the taste.. It's to make the paste a bit more smooth and spreadable.. I would advice to use it, but feel free to just leave that out too ^^
Note: there are no measurements for this recipe. It really just depends on the amount of mon chou you feel like using or need and how "herby" you want it. You should really just try out how much you like. Make sure you notice you can always put more in, but never take anything out!

Chocolate slices

These were supposed to biscotti (do I spell it right?).. The hard biscuits that you can drink with coffee or so.. but I stopped halfway the recipe, and declared them done! They were really nice actually.. especially with some topping, like jam, or just vanilla topping out of a jar (yes, I know, evil xP).. Anyway, as there are the first posts for my blog, yet again some copying from what I already typed xP
I feel like I should have done more cranberries, they did give it some extra (sweeter) taste.. how that is possible when cranberries themselves arent sweet at all, I dont know, I just remember I really liked those in it. If you don't like chocolate though, you shouldnt try this. It is very rich!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of butter (room temperature)
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 big eggs
- 1 big egg yolk (egg yellow xP)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (coconut extract is real good too :d)
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 cup cranberries (can try raisins too)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (white or milk)


Mix the sugar and the butter in a bowl untill it's light and fluffy (2-3 minutes) with a handmixer or mixingmachine (whatever you've got). Add the eggs and yolk one by one, mixing properly after you add each one of them. Beat the vanilla extract into the mixture.
In a second bowl add the flower, baking powder, salt and cacao powder and mix them. Add the other mixture in it and stir it again with a hand mixer. Add the cranberries and chocolate chips and mix again.
Heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius or 340 degrees Fahrenheit. While it's heating up, make two long rolls of the cake-mixture and put them on a baking sheet. Put them in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes.

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The cut them into thick slices and DONE! ^^ You can also add some icing on it.

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Type: HEAVY! Dun eat too much at the same time xP It will make you FULL! xD But it's chocolate :3 and very delicious :3 you could eat it with fresh fruits.. that's nice ^^ it's like a cookie.. it's not really good as desert.. at least, I can come up with better things XD

Forgive me my photographic skills please! I'm working on it :)

Simple sushi

Making sushi really is one of the most simple things to do. It does take a lot of time though. But it's really fun to do with some company ^^ Watch out that you dont eat too much while making it! You might not have anything left for when you need it xP
I wrote the recipe on another site once, and actually was too lazy to adjust it, so just copied it. It doesnt make the recipe less though xP
Just to show you how my table looks like when we are making sushi again, I have a picture. Due to the lack of any better pictures, I'll update as soon as possible.

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Ingredients:
- sushi nori (seaweed leaves)
- sushi rice
- sushi vinegar if you want it xD
- egg
- sugar
- crabsticks
- salmon
- mayonaise
- cucumber, tomato or whatever kinda vegetables you can think of!


First cook the rice! With enough water, dun burn it.. Then let it cool down. In the meanwhile mix the egg with a bit of sugar (I dunno, two eggs with a spoon?) and frie it in a pan. Let this one cool down too. Make sure you have a knife, spoon, breadcutterknifethinggiething, a plate and space! Dumb all the food you need on the table and sit down :) take a sushi nori leaf, dump rice on one edge and spread it out. Put mayonais on it (if you like) and then put crabsticks on it (these go best with mayonaise). You can also add the egg and a bit of cucumer. Really tastes nice, make sure to role it up and use rice as glue to make the end stick. Make sushi with whatever other ingredients you have too and eat them! Make sure to add some sauce, just to make it taste a bit better xD Soy sauce is cool for it.. or mix a bit of wasabi paste with say sauce for ehh.. wasabi sauce.. also tastes really good :)

Type: This is the kinda food you wanna be making when you have A LOT of time (it takes a lot of time, believe me, can take two hours for just a small amount of sushi) and still want to keep it simple. It's really not hard to make. Also good for when you're not too hungry, but want to eat a lot... Or for when it's really hot, and you don't want WARM food inside of you xD

This picture is from my Christmas dinner '09. Ready to start making sushi!

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Some sushi we made, ready to eat! Including wasabi saus. It's lovely!