Jam Tart

We the Gourmet Seven decided on the theme of Pies/Tarts/Quiches for this month from the Smitten Kitchen. Though I very readily agreed to the theme, only after a while did it don on me that I had tasted tart ages ago and I did not remember how it tasted. I am really apprehensive about cooking something which I haven’t tasted before. The reason is very simple, I really can’t justify whether the outcome is the expected one.

Last week I happened to visit one of my relatives. They talked about a new bakery that had opened nearby, which sold all eggless bakes. My luck, I should say, among other baked goodies like pastries, and cookies they had also bought baklava and a tart. They very happily shared some of it and the taste is still lingering.

So finally, I gathered all my courage and decided to take up the challenge of baking my first tart – Jam Tarts. The experience was really good. Since the pastry shell called for eggs, I slightly modified the recipe and it worked out well for me. The crust was crisp and flaky and the jam filling not only made it look pretty but attracted my children immediately. Next time, though, I would like to go for something savory.

Adapted lightly from Smitten Kitchen

For the crust

1. All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
2. Powdered Sugar – 5 tsp
3. Oil – ½ cup
4. Cold Milk – 4 tbsp

For the filling

1. Jam or any kind of fruit preserve (I used Mixed Fruit Jam) – ¼ cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a wide bowl mix the dry ingredients.
3. Now add the oil and lightly mix with your fingers until it resembles bread crumbs.
4. Now add in the milk and gather to form dough. Do not work too much on the dough.
5. Press the dough into un-greased tart mould.
6. Poke holes on the base and sides of the dough.
7. Bake it for about 20 to 25 minutes.
8. In the meanwhile, take the jam in a bowl and stir well, so that it is loosened.
9. Fill the pre-baked tart shell with Jam. Fill 3/4^th of the shell, or the jam will boil over while baking.
10. Bake the tart for another 15 to 20 minutes or till the edges are browned.
11. Cool the tart completely before removing from the molds else it may crumble.

 Check out what the other Gourmets- Anamika, Anusha, Radhika, Sangeetha, Vardhini and Veena are upto......

English Pancakes

English breakfast was the theme that we Gourmets decided upon for this month. This was quite challenging for me as I am not familiar with English Cuisine. I chose on trying out Pancakes. While searching for a good recipe, I got to know a lot of interesting facts about these humble pancakes.

Pancakes are a westernized version of the Indian Dosa. They are very popular in the Europe and the Americas. Now, the English Pancakes are very thin when compared to their American counterparts. These are traditionally served with a sprinkle of caster sugar and a squeeze of lemon and rolled. Did you know that there is a day called the “Pancake Day”. (I did not know until I started searching for the Pancake recipe). Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is celebrated a day before “Ash Wednesday” or a day before Lent. It is called Pancake Day because it is the day traditionally for eating pancakes as pancake recipes were a way to use up any stocks of milk, butter and eggs which were forbidden during the abstinence of Lent.

Almost all the recipes used eggs in them. (They have to isn’t it, since the idea behind pancake day was to use up the eggs.) But I did find a good recipe which did not use eggs and the pancakes turned out really good. Though I wanted to try the traditional sugar and lemon, but I could not as I was not of stock of lemons. Instead we had it with a drizzle of honey and they tasted yummy. Making thin round pancakes is an art which needs some practice. I’ll have to make them a number of times to get that perfect shape.

So here comes the recipe

Original recipe here

What you’ll need

1. All purpose flour – ½ cup (100 gms)
2. Milk – 1 cup
3. Sugar – 1 tsp
4. Baking Powder – 2 tsp
5. Oil – 2 tbsp
6. Water – 2 tbsp
7. Oil for cooking

Method

1. Sift the flour, and baking powder.
2. Combine the milk, sugar, oil and water. Mix well.
3. Slowly add the milk mixture to the flour and mix with a whisk, until it resembles a runny batter.
4. Heat a flat pan. Grease lightly and pour a ladle full of batter and move the pan quickly such that the batter forms a thin a uniform layer on the pan.
5. Drizzle a tsp of oil and let it cook. When edges turn light brown, flip over and cook for another 30 to 40 seconds.
6. Remove from pan and serve with a topping of your choice.

The choice of toppings is innumerable. You can serve them with Jam, honey, golden syrup, chocolate syrup or any savory filling too.

This recipe goes to the Gourmet Seven. Curious about what the other Gourmets whipped up this month. Hop over to their spaces: Anusha, Anamika, Radhika, Sangeetha, Vardhini, Veena

Strawberry Watermelon Smoothie with Ginger

Summer is at its peak in most parts of our country. Summer in India is synonymous with watermelons, mangoes, jackfruit, and tender coconut. The roadsides are laden with mounds of watermelon. Usually you can see a lot of tender coconut vendors as well. But this year, due to the heavy cyclonic rains, in and around Chennai, many coconut trees were uprooted, due to which the supply of tender coconut is very less and hence this natural coolant has become a luxury drink in Chennai.

What better way to beat the summer’s heat, than with a glass of chilled fruit juice. So, for this month the Gourmet Seven decided to come up with some refreshing fruit drinks from the Epicurious. So here comes my pick:

Recipe Source: Epicurious

What you’ll need

1. Watermelon – 4 cups, deseeded, cut into 1 inch cubes
2. Strawberry – 1 cup, hulled and roughly chopped
3. Ginger – 1 tsp, grated
4. Juice of ½ a Lemon
5. Sugar – per taste

Method

1. Squeeze the grated ginger and extract the juice.
2. Blend the watermelon and strawberry until smooth, without adding water.
3. Add the lemon juice and the ginger juice and stir well.
4. Add sugar if required.
5. Transfer into glasses and serve chilled

Fresh Pea Salad

Salads and I are poles apart. As far as I remember I have always said no to that simple plate of sliced tomatoes, onions and cucumber seasoned with salt, pepper and a dash of lemon juice, that mom used prepare every day. Since I was least interested, my knowledge about these was restricted to a very few kinds. The few kinds included the ones with the creamy dressing, like the Russian Salad, Waldorf Salad etc. But of course, I never tried making any of them at home.

For this month, The Gourmet Seven decided that we whip up some exotic salads, from 101cookbooks. It was a great experience going through the website and exploring the recipes. Salads as we know are prepared with lots of vegetables, sometimes fruits and also meat with a dressing. The dressing could be anything from a simple lemon juice, salt and pepper to a creamy mayonnaise or hung curd. They are very low in calories, high in fiber, and having a whole bowl can make for a light lunch or dinner. Keeping all this in mind, l will definitely make an attempt to have these at least once in 2 to 3 days.

I picked up this Fresh Pea Salad, for two reasons, one I was intrigued by the mint and date dressing of this salad and second, my lil one loves green peas. I am happy that my younger one likes vegetables, unlike my elder one. Fresh green peas are tossed in a minty date dressing, with the crunch of toasted melon seeds in every bite. It was totally yummy and all of us enjoyed it as a healthy snack rather than a salad. And as expected my daughter loved it.

Source: Adapted from 101Cookbooks

Serves – 2

What you’ll need

1. Fresh Green Peas – 1 Cup
2. Dates – 2
3. Fresh Mint Leaves – 1 handful (tightly packed)
4. Green chilly – 1 or more (adjust according to taste)
5. Lemon Juice – from ½ a lemon
6. Lemon Rind – few scrapings
7. Melon Seeds – A handful

Method

1. Blanch the green peas until almost done. Don’t cook until too soft. Retain some crunch.
2. Heat a Kadai and dry roast the melon seeds until they start popping. Transfer into a plate and keep aside.
3. Grind together, mint leaves, green chilly, dates, lemon juice and lemon rind until smooth.
4. Toss the green peas, 2 to 3 spoons of Mint – date dressing and the melon seeds with a touch of salt.
5. Mix well, add more dressing and adjust salt according to your taste.

Mix with the dressing just before serving.

Gingered Carrot Almond Soup

Yesterday, while I was in the kitchen, preparing the subject of today’s post – Gingered Carrot Almond Soup, both my daughters would just not leave my side. From the time I started chopping the carrots, and blanching the almonds, till blending the cooked carrots. They gave me a tough time yesterday. The moment I started cutting the carrots which were just right in quantity for the soup, my elder one, grabbed almost ¼ th of the chopped carrots and simply popped them in her mouth, saying innocently, mom these carrots are so sweet in taste, why don’t you pack some for my snack box, tomorrow”. I really had to get stern with her, to stop munching on them, so that I had some left for the soup.

Next comes my younger one, eyeing the blanched almonds. “Amma! Give me the cashoos, (pointing to the de skinned almonds)”, she did not leave the place, until I had parted with 5 to 6 almonds. Elder one was not behind; in she came demanding her share of badams. Poor me! Had to give in! Finally I did prepare some soup which would have been just enough for 2 adults but was shared by 4 adults and 2 kids! I had to run into my room with my precious preparation and lock it so as to click some pictures. Phew! All done, served both of them their share and they were very happy. Both my kids just loved the soup and were asking for more!

Though I was fretting about it yesterday, but now while writing this post I am all smiles and I think I did really enjoy the session with my kids. Sometimes, I really wish they wouldn’t grow up so fast!

Soups as I have said in my earlier posts are definitely not my cup of tea! But who would say no to such an exotic combination – Carrots, Almonds and Ginger. I definitely love to try out unusual combos such as these. The velvety smooth and creamy texture of the soup was wonderful. The original recipe called for almond milk, but since I did not have that in hand, I blanched the almonds and ground them along with the cooked carrots. So here is another heartwarming soup perfect for a wintery evening.

Recipe loosely adapted from here.

Serves 4

What you'll need

1. Carrots – 4 Medium sized
2. Grated Ginger – 1 tbsp
3. Almonds – 6 to 8 + 4 for garnishing
4. Onion – 1 small
5. Red Chilly Powder – ½ tsp
6. Rasam Powder – 1 tsp
7. Black Pepper Powder – ½ tsp
8. Butter – 1 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Fresh coriander leaves – few sprigs

Method

1. Wash, peel and chop the carrots roughly.
2. Blanch the almonds and remove the skin from them.
3. Slice 4 of the blanched almonds and keep aside for garnishing.
4. Heat a pan with butter, add the chopped onions and grated ginger. Saute until the onions turn translucent.
5. Next add the chopped carrots and sauté for a minute.
6. Now add about 2 cups of water and salt to taste. Cook covered till the carrots are done. Cool.
7. Blend this along with the blanched almonds into a smooth paste.
8. Transfer to the pan, add the chilly powder, rasam powder, pepper powder and adjust salt.
9. Adjust consistency by adding more water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Transfer into serving bowls and serve garnished with sliced almonds and a sprig of fresh coriander leaves.

Linking this soup to Magic Mingle - Almonds and Ginger, Healthy Diet Event - Warm Soups and to Show me your HITS and to Soup it Up event by Kalyani hosted by Nupur

Chocolate Truffles - For The Gourmet Seven

Here comes my first post for The Gourmet Seven. Chocolates are synonymous with Love, be it the love shared between a parent and a child or a husband and a wife or simply between two friends. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is in the air. So the theme for this month was chocolate and the source was BBC Good Food. Scouring the website was a visual treat in itself. To tell you the truth I was going through it for the first time and I have a big list of bookmarked recipes to try out.  For today’s post I chose these simple yet decadent Chocolate Truffles. These could be the perfect gift for your loved ones.

Chocolate truffles, rich bite sized rounds, made from a creamy mixture of chocolate, cream and butter. These are generally flavored with a small quantity of alcohol or any other extracts or fruit purees. A chocolate Truffle is purposefully rolled into mis-shaped rounds to resemble their namesake fungi that grow around the roots of trees in France and Italy. These are traditionally rolled in unsweetened cocoa powder to give them the look of dirt that the real fungi grow in, they can also be coated in toasted chopped nuts, icing sugar or toasted desiccated coconut.

What you’ll need

1. Bittersweet Chocolate or Milk Chocolate – 250 gms
2. Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream – 125 ml
3. Unsalted Butter – 2 tbsp

For coating the truffles

1. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2. Icing Sugar
3. Toasted Chopped Nuts
4. Toasted Desiccated Coconut

Method

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a glass bowl.
2. Add the cream and butter to a saucepan.
3. Heat this on a medium flame and remove from heat just when you start seeing the sides of the cream bubbling. (Do not let it boil)
4. Add this cream and butter mixture to the chocolate and let it sit for about a minute.
5. Now slowly stir in and mix well, until and chocolate is melted and blended well with the cream. This is called Ganache.
6. If the chocolate hasn’t melted fully, microwave for about a minute.
7. Mix it well, cover with a cling film and refrigerate for several hours or overnight until the ganache is firm.
8. Keep the ingredients for coating the truffles ready in separate bowls.
9. Remove the set ganache from the refrigerator, scoop out about a tbsp of ganache, with the help of a spoon or a melon baller or a small ice cream scoop, and shape them into balls quickly. Roll into any of the coatings of cocoa powder or chopped nuts, icing sugar etc. The choice is entirely yours. Place the prepared truffles on a plate and keep the refrigerated until serving.

Note:

1. I have not flavored them with any kind of alcohol or puree. If you want to, then add it to the ganache mix well and refrigerate.
2. Work quickly while preparing the truffles as the ganache tends to melt easily.
3. Keep the truffles always refrigerated.
4. They store for about a couple of weeks when refrigerated.

The Gourmet Seven – On a Gastronomic Journey

Blogging started as a past time hobby but has now become a part of me. It has not only given me a window to express myself and showcase my recipes, but also introduced me to a beautiful world of virtual friends. Though we have not met in person, our faces light up with child like delight as soon as we see a good post or a beautiful picture on a friend’s space.

Anusha of Tomato Blues

Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds

Radhika of Tickling Palates

Sangeetha of Spicy Treats

 Vardhini Zesty Palette

Veena of Veg Junction

Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal

So what is common to us? You’re right!  No marks for guessing, we are all bloggers whose common interest is cooking. When like minds met, The Gourmet Seven was ignited and you will see it glow, in the coming months.

So what is the Gourmet Seven all about?

In the first week of every month, starting Feb 2012, The Gourmet Seven will serve a visual feast of gourmet food from a commonly available recipe source.  Our journey starts with some chocolaty treats. So come join us, in this Gastronomic Journey.