Appetising lettuce rolls with smoky red fish

All kinds of snack rolls are essentially cool. But as is the case with most dishes, there's something inside us screaming 'I WANT TO EAT SEASONAL'! And despite all the coolness factor in ham rolls with cheese filling, I don't quite feel like them now. Come on, it's not even raining. And the hold-your-skirt-or-you'll-go-home-without-it wind does not really count.

Even though I didn't know it before, I now know that lettuce can be rolled into a cool summery appetiser.

That's why they invented the phrase sex, drugs 'n' lettuce rolls, baby!


Lettuce rolls with smoky red fish

lettuce leaves
light grapes
raisins

about 200 g garlic flavoured cream cheese
1/2 dl diced tomatoes
1/2 dl pieces of smoked red fish
1 tbsp raisins

1. Mix cream cheese with diced tomatoes, smoked fish and raisins.
2. Spread the mixture onto lettuce leaves and make them into rolls. Place them into the fridge for a half an hour (I didn't do that, but it will make the filling stiffer).
3. Cut the rolls into bite-sized pieces and top with a grape and a raisin.

They actually have this fresh feeling to them, which is unusual for this kind of appetisers. There's just about enough smoky fish flavour that is complemented by the sweetness of the raisins. The grapes are good on the rolls, but I'm wondering if olives would do an even better job. Next time, right?

Overdose of sweet from coconut honey

When I take home a can of coconut milk, it's almost always with the thought 'I have no idea where it's going to take me this time'. Sorry if I'm making it sound like an adventure story, but guessing where the canful will eventually end up is like guessing where Indiana Jones will find himself after climbing down a suspicious ladder.

Poor coconut milk found itself in a jar this time, stuck in there together with some sticky good honey and vanilla seeds.

Never seen Indiana Jones in a sweet situation like that after climbing down any ladder, that's for sure...


Coconut honey with vanilla

3 dl coconut milk
1 dl honey
half a vanilla pod
1 tbsp butter

1. Measure coconut milk and honey into a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half and add.
2. Boil the mixture without a lid over low heat until it turns thicker, about 15 minutes.
3. Add butter.
4. Pour the mixture into a jar, close it and leave to cool at room temperature. Store in the fridge.

So what does it taste like? Imagine the word pair 'coconut honey' melting on your tongue, sweet and gooey, girly from the touch of vanilla.

I had my first taste on a chocolate dessert with bilberries, but I imagine it being syrupy good on ice cream or just plain yoghurt. And I'd like to drizzle it onto a bowlful of fresh strawberries. How's that for adventurously good?

This recipe will also take part in the A Fruit A Month event hosted by Tasty Palettes, themed Coconut. Coconut's a fruit, my friends, a fruit:)

Hazelnut rum balls

Chocolate-y rum balls made with cookie and cake crumbs are quite a classical favourite treat for me. I think I've tried almost every kind they sell in Estonia, I've chosen my favourites and over time I've eaten a ton. A big ton, not a small one. A ton of rum balls.

Although I've never succeeded in making the perfect rum ball at home, I've now succeeded in making quite a perfect variation of it. Hazelnuts have always seemed like good company for a decent rum ball and condensed milk is probably good company for anyone interested in the very quintessence of company.


Pardon for the blurry pictures. I had a bunch of wide-smiled compliment-throwing hungry friends over and they didn't like the idea of leaving any truffles alone.

Hazelnut rum balls

2 dl ground hazelnuts (if you have time - from about 200g hazelnuts, dry-roasted on a skillet and rubbed while warm in a cloth to remove peels)
1 dl cookie or cake crumbs
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp butter
1 dl sweet condensed milk
vanilla
rum essence
dark chocolate and hazelnuts for decorating

1. Mix ground hazelnuts, cookie crumbs and cocoa powder well.
2. Melt butter and mix well with condensed milk. Add rum essence and vanilla, then pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix very well.
3. Place the mixture into the fridge for a half an hour, make small balls from it and then let them harden in the fridge again.
4. Melt dark chocolate over a water bath, dip the balls into the chocolate and place them onto foil or parchment paper. Before they harden, decorate each ball with a hazelnut. Store in the fridge.

Although the taste differs according to the crumbs you use, the flavour of hazelnuts is still nicely obvious. Teasingly flirtatious with the rum flavour in the truffles, it really creates a good mild combination that goes together really well with chocolate.

The balls are best eaten when they've spent a day in the fridge. The taste is smoother, the texture is harder, the delight is grander.

The rum balls will also be taking part of this month's Waiter, there's something in my... event, themed Dried fruit and nuts which is hosted by Andrew of Spittoon Extra.

And in the Monthly Mingle event, hosted by Mansi of Fun and Food, themed Appetizers and Hors'Doeuvres.

I really have to make these rum balls when no guests will be coming around;)

Lemon truffles with a pepper-warm coating

Sneaky truffles, I'd say. In a sense that their lemon-y filling and pepper-warm coating together create an almost healthy feeling in your mouth. Lemon-y and warm. Just like a cuppa hot tea, only that actually you eat a handful of truffles!;)

Lemon and black pepper are another great combination magnifico that I strongly advise to try in all variations that come to mind!

Lemon truffles with a pepper-warm coating
(makes about 30)

200 g white chocolate
½ dl double cream
at least 1 tbsp lemon juice

160 g white chocolate
¼ - ½ tsp black pepper

1. Chop the chocolate to little pieces.
   
2. Heat the double cream to boiling point and pour it onto the chocolate ight away. Mix well, until the mixture is smooth. Add lemon juice. Place the mixture into the fridge for about a half an hour.
3. Make little balls out of the mixture and then place them into teh fridge to harden for some more time.
4. Melt te remaining chocolate over a waterbath and add pepper to it. Coat the truffles with this chocolate and let them harden on foil or on parchment paper. Store in the fridge.

White chocolate, that often feels so cloy, gains freshness and vividness from the lemon juice. If white chocolate were a lady of respectable age then in these truffles she'd certainly be young again...:) At first the pepper is a balancing flavour but in the end it leaves the mouth sighing warmly in the most pleasant way possible. Contrasts and novelty. Freshness and warmth.

One thing's for sure. Black pepper declares itself as a true dessert spice. I recommend to remember that;)

This entry also participates in the most gorgeous food blogging event of all, Sugar High Friday. This time the host is the wonderful Helen of Tartelette and the theme (again!) CITRUS.

Favourite ice tea smoothie

I'm quite a fan of tea. Not an expert, rather quite far from the worst expert ever there is. But I love my tea: sometimes with herbs or flowers we've picked ourselves, sometimes great quality black, usually green and always without sugar.

And I crave quite everything flavoured with tea (especially when it's this cake). This dessert however, breakfast or whatnot is as easy as it gets, but it's great when made with different teas. You know, something different each time!

Favourite ice tea smoothie
(serves 1)

2 dl yoghurt
1 dl strong tea (any kind), cooled
about 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp sugar
(vanilla)
(ice cubes)

1. Mix tea with yoghurt, adding as much sugar as you like. If desired, flavour with vanilla.
2. Enjoy with a straw or with white moustache!;) Add ice cubes, if desired.
   

The smoothie is only as good as you make it;) Good tea equals good smoothie, subtly sweet, thin enough to drink smoothly through a straw. I guess it's a good variation of iced tea for those hot hot days that are yet to arrive..

But it's also a contribution to the Spring Tea Party event held by Erin of The Skinny Gourmet. Now I want to see what people come up with when thinking 'tea'!

Pineapple and lime curd with apricots

Warm weather magically disappeared with a 'puff', leaving behind rain and wind and bad mood.

Hey, khm, with no sun here the least I'm worth is a good long TROPICAL VACATION, right?

But with none coming around...I'm gonna have to do with some tropical curd instead, dreaming of ripe (preferrably peeled and sliced) pineapples falling right into my hands from up above while I myself am sunbathing in my new pretty blue bikinis. (Yes, that would totally fix my mood)

So...

Pineapple and lime curd with dried apricots

5 dl pineapple juice
10 dried apricots
3 eggs
100 g butter
2 1/2 dl sugar
vanilla
1/2 dl lime juice

1. In a saucepan, combine pineapple juice and dried apricots. Boil vigorously without lid until the apricots are soft and the juice is reduced to about 1/2 dl, 20-30 minutes.
2. Measure out 1/2 of reduced juice and dice the apricots into little pieces.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, add sugar and slightly beaten eggs, whisk until combined. Then add reduced pineapple juice and lime juice. Whisk at moderate heat until the mixture thickens.
4. Flavour with vanilla and add apricot pieces, making sure they do not stick to each other.
5. Pour the curd into jars, close them and leave to cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge.

The curd has really got a nice pineapple flavour to it, with a huge hint to lime. The apricot pieces are soft and full of taste when stumbled upon with your teeth! It's gorgeous like the classical lemon curd, only better;)
Good with cookies, ice cream, between cakes, pancakes, good to dunk a spoon into to enjoy the sensation of a whole mouthful. Just good.

And this good curd will also take part in the brand new event Putting up hosted by Rosie of Rosie bakes a peace of cake and Pixie of You say tomato...I say tomato that is all about preserves!

Blogging By Mail: Little things

I was excited enough to even forget posting about my BBM package from Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food when I got it last week. And although we now have REAL REAL spring weather, there were big heaps of snow outside at that time.

It was like Christmas. It was the first proper snow of the winter. It was the biggest present I was carrying, climbing over the heaps of snow in our local park-forest. Magic, I tell you.

The moment I got home I RIPPED THE PACKAGE OPEN.
Wonderful! She nailed it!

I've been wanting to try cake decorating and Glenna totally saw it happening. She sent me a package of decorating bags together with a bunch of different tips and four bottles of icing colours.

PLUS a package of Gourmet Jelly Candy. I've been taking these candies to school with me, as a little dessert, one every day. The lollipops are still waiting for me...

Thanks, Glenna, you're sweet!
Oh, I hope my package will reach its recipient in one piece too. Wouldn't want to see all that sweet stuff shaped like one big pancake... Thank you, Stephanie, for organizing the swap!

My favourite quick carrot soup

You say 'pureed soup' - I think 'carrot soup with coriander and aniseed'

For me, it's the quintessence of pureed soup, it's a liquid dream, it's the warm comfort of a cold evening, the cooling pleasure of a hot afternoon. It's versatile, it's under my skin.


I've almost always got organic carrots in the fridge that we've grown ourselves. They're full of taste and have got a homely flavour. Making this soup is very easy and, fortunately, someone has usually peeled the carrots before I get my hands on them:) In wintertime, it's great to enjoy it warm, but it's just as wonderful when eaten cold. I especially love that during summertime! We do have 1-2 weeks of hot weather here!;)

Chicken broth can be replaced by vegetable broth, heavy cream or sour cream can be used in place of cream cheese. Whatever you've got handy! Cream cheese can also be flavoured with herbs /onion/garlic/whatnot.

Carrot soup with coriander and aniseed
(serves 4)

400 g carrots
1 onion
1 tbsp butter
8 dl chicken broth
ground coriander seeds
ground aniseed
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper

1. Slice the onion and the carrots, sautee in butter in a saucepan until onion is transparent, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the broth and boil until carrots have turned quite tender, 20 minutes will do fine.
3. Puree the potful, then return to the saucepan.
4. Add cream cheese and flavour with coriander, aniseed, salt (if needed), pepper and sugar to taste. Heat, but don't let the soup reach boiling point.

The soup is creamy, even a little portion of cream cheese does wonders! The flavour of carrots is sweetish, but the spices push it to a limit. Coriander and aniseed are not very strong flavourers, they're rather mild, so they suit carrot perfectly. What pleasure!

This time I served the soup with some crispy rye bread cubes, but it's equally good with white bread cubes or grilled chicken. More often than not I like to eat it plainly, without a topping, because the soup itself completes the taste. That sounds weird enough:)

So I guess it's also the perfect recipe for this month's Monthly mingle, themed Comfort foods. Although it's not something from my childhood or anything I'd eat together with my family, I'm sure this soup will guide me through the best and worst moments of the life still ahead of me:D

A healthy onion tart, three ways

A bag of onions makes me happier than a bag of candy.

Like...really. As I'd managed to somehow eat all our onions, I was happy as hell to eye a bunch of them when I went to the kitchen, looking for food. I knew exactly what I'd make - and it's not just that the recipe is called 'healthy onion tart' (it wouldn't be healthy if I ate half of it anyway).

I've made it several times and been really happy with it, although I've always been annoyed with the crazy salt amount the recipe calls for. How is it that cookbook authors sometimes really mess up? How is it that they sometimes manage to leave some parts of the recipes out? Or some ingredients? Don't they like...read their work over again and again?
Whatever. But that's lame. Let's just stop whining and stuff our mouths full.

Healthy onion tart on an oat flake and carrot crust (adapted from '100 pirukat', serves 8) Crust: 1 dl oat flakes 1 dl flour 1 dl grated carrots 100 g baking margarine (or butter) at room temperature 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt Filling: 3-4- onions 1 tbsp butter 2 dl milk 2 eggs 3/4 tsp salt Mix grated carrot, oat flakes and margarine. Mix flour with salt and baking powder, add to the mixture. Take a 24cm round baking pan and press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pan (it's easier to do so when you've chilled the dough in the fridge for some time). Place the pan into the fridge for a half an hour. Meanwhile slice the onions and cook them with the butter until they're golden. Mix eggs with milk, add salt. Bake the crust in the middle of a preheated 200C oven for 15 minutes. Spread the onion slices onto the baked crust and pour the milk-egg mixture over them. Bake at 180C for 20 more minutes.

Feel free to add herbs to the onions (thyme, maybe? rosemary? sage? or oregano?) or cheese on top of the tart when it has been baking for some time already (I allow you to keep the name 'healthy' even when you add cheese;))
I'd definitely go for some green salad on the side for serving, be the tart warm or cold. I love to warm up the cold tart in the microwave, too. The onions are so mild, the crust is sweetly speckled from grated carrot. It's not very crisp - the crust - only the bottom and the sides are, the filling kind of melts into its upper layer.

Long long time ago - in the summer - I used the very same recipe for onion tartelettes.



I think I pre-baked the crust for some 5 minutes and added 1-2 tbsp of both onions and milk-egg mixture to each tartelette, also adding cheese in the middle of baking. They were marvellous snacks to eat with fingers! As this method used up all the crust dough, there was left-over filling and I baked it in bread slices that I placed in a muffin pan. For bread and onion tartelettes I added cheese right away.



Talking about 'marvellous'? These were perfect when eaten warm and definitely on a green salad! I don't think there's a need for a more accurate recipe. Just...look!

This post will also be taking part of the 11th WTSIM event Topless tarts, hosted by Jeanne from Cook sister. Fortunately being underage can't stop one from participating...:D

TGRWT#5: Meat with chocolate - are you kidding?

To try and eat meat with chocolate – that’s no easy challenge. Like – no way. But the more I thought about it, the more tempted I felt. Not only to test myself but also to shock others to see what they’d say and if they’d have anything to say at all. Well, they had. Amrita’s challenge for this months TGRWT#5 – combining meat and chocolate – has been the most intriguing one this far.

A traditional mole would have been a safer choice, I guess, because it’s widely known that it has chocolate in it and people actually eat it and like it and they actually do. No mole this time, amigos. I used an Italian recipe (Cinghiale in agrodolce) that actually called for wild boar (not a good idea to spend a pile of money if you’re mixing meat with chocolate for the first time – trust me), but used pork, I also lessened the amount of red wine vinegar. Otherwise I followed the recipe, word for word. Quite a scary afternoon.

Pork in chocolate and prune sauce
(adapted from Hans Joachim Döbbelin’s ’Italy’)

100 g prunes
75 g big raisins
600 g pork chops
75 g bacon
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
50 g bitter chocolate
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 dl red wine vinegar
3 laurel leaves
cinnamon

1. Soak prunes and raisins in lukewarm water
2. Cut the meat into slices
3. Chop bacon and heat it with olive oil until transparent
4. Add pork chops and fry them on both sides, then add salt and fry for additional 10 minutes on lower heat.
5. Drain prunes and raisins and grate chocolate (for me it was easier to just chop it into little pieces)
6. Heat sugar, laurel leaves and red wine vinegar on a pan until sugar dissolves, then add the mixture to the meat
7. Also add raisins, prunes, chocolate and some cinnamon, then heat almost until boiling point (don’t let it boil!)
8. Mix meat and sauce well and heat everything for another 15 minutes, not letting it boil.
9. Serve with pasta or be a traitor like me and serve with rice instead.

I don’t imagine eating something like this with pasta. Really really really. Pasta with sweet and sour chocolate sauce? No. Rice was definitely much better.

Cooking this dish filled the kitchen with overwhelming vinegar smell – that was a bit alarming, especially for my mother. ’If I had known you were going to use it for meat, I wouldn’t have bought you this bottle of vinegar,’ she said when she came home. And also – ’If you asked me to buy meat I thought you’d be making something really good, but you made something sour.’ Okay, not a very bad start.

The dish is best described as sweet and sour chocolate meat. The taste of chocolate, most of all, is strange. It may be strangely good, but it’s still strange, strangely chocolate-y. What I actually like the most, are the prunes – delicate, soft, somehow maintaining a good balance between tastes. I’d rather eat the meat and pick out the prunes (into my mouth, of course), adding some yoghurt to my rice instead of chocolate sauce! The meat has an interesting accent to it, but isn’t flavoured by the sauce in a taste-killing way.

When my parents came home, I kept repeating, ’Really-really, you don’t have to eat this, you can just have rice with smoked chicken, really. Really.’ But strangely this time they wouldn’t listen, although I refused to reveal the components of the dish and hid myself in my room, doing all kinds of, you know, important stuff. After they’d called me for several times to go and explain the mystery, I heard the words ’this meat was good’.

I’m in awe. I’m confused. Something’s wrong in the world.
My parents liked meat in chocolate sauce.

TGRWT#4: Cauliflower gratin that leaves the breath fresh. No kidding!

Another round of the event They Go Really Well Together has been announced and this time the host is Dennis of kookjegek.nl and the theme - mint an mustard. The event is about combining ingredients that have similar volatile aroma compounds and testing if they really do go together in real life.

While last round's strawberry and coriander combination seemed easy-peasy, my mind got quite stuck with this one. *** mint with *** mustard? Oh come on! But I managed to create a dish that I really liked and didn't sound like it originated from the Fear Factor TV show.
This dish can of course be prepared without peppermint - just drop cauliflower florets into boiling water without any additions. Or use broccoli instead of cauliflower. I must admit it was my attention at first, but due to the fact that there was no broccoli at the store where I went...well, cauliflower sounded nice and turned out to be successful in the dish.

I give you...

Peppermint flavoured cauliflower gratin with cheese and mustard

At least about 400 g cauliflower
100 g grated cheese
1/2 dl heavy cream
1 tbsp mild mustard
1 eggyolk
about 1 dl loosely packed dried peppermint leaves (or even better - use fresh ones, this is what I had at home)
salt
white pepper

1. Fill a saucepan with over one litre of water and add dried peppermint leaves. Boil from some minutes.
2. Cut cauliflower into florets and add to water, also add some salt. Boil for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile mix the eggyolk with mustard, then add heavy cream and grated cheese. Season the sauce with salt and white pepper.
4. Drain the cauliflower florets and discard peppermint leaves (or if you want to have a stronger peppermint flavour - you can chop some of them and mix into the sauce). Mix the florets with the sauce.
5. Grease a baking dish and fill it with the cauliflower and gratin sauce mixture. Bake at 200C for about 20 minutes.

I didn't actually recognise peppermint when I tasted a floret after boiling them and was a bit disappointed. But when it was time to try the finished dish, the taste was there! First the comfortable (and quite rich!) taste of cauliflower gratin with cheese, then came the taste of mustard trying to overwhelm the one of cheese and finally the taste of peppermint - somehow melting into the mustard taste and leaving a quite fresh feeling into my mouth.

I do feel I used the right amount of peppermint - it calmly reminded itself in the dish, without shouting I'm here! Mustards are of course different, I used Finnish mild mustard and the amount seemed okay. I even got a good comment from my mother - something like 'quite good' which means more than the usual Estonian 'normal' and should - I guess - be taken as a compliment.

TGRWT#3 round-up: Strawberries and coriander

Tu-dum!

It's finally time for the round-up of the third round of the flavour pairing event They Go Really Well Together (Originally created by Martin from Khymos.org) that was all about pairing strawberry and coriander.

Or should I say already?
It seems like I've been writing the round up for the whole night now. I'm kind of busy over here as I'm leaving for a training camp tomorrow morning (or should I say today?) and I haven't even finished packing! Luckily my mood couldn't be better than it is right now. Today was the most important day for all Estonians - the day of our song festival. Imagine over 26000 young people singing together as one, singing to their nation! It did get me crying there on the stage, seeing all the people standing up, holding hands.

But let's not get all that weepy now, we're here for some really good food and experimental dishes:)

This round brought together 14 participants. More than one half of them were skeptical at first, but chemistry has sure done it's job here! Although several had their unlucky attempts (including me!), they tried again and succeeded in creating a dish which made strawberry and coriander go really well together. Well, almost, it's a matter of taste anyway. But there was noone to claim that the combination had been inedible.

I'm really proud of all the participants, you've done a whole lot of work and what you've created is really interesting! It's been a pleasure reading all this, it's been a pleasure even in the middle of the night.
Let's dig in!


Johanna from Melbourne at Green Gourmet Giraffe got inspiration from her shampoo and conditioner bottles to prepare Berry Guacamole.

Although eating coriander was quite a challenge for her, she decided to try it. Again. Johanna substituted the usual tomato bits in her guacamole with strawberries and added fresh coriander. She suggests eating it with a simple toast with sauerkraut. Is there someone out there who wouldn't want to try this out (except for my parents, of course) ?

Johannas verdict:The guacamole was great – the sweet succulence of the strawberries contrast nicely with the creaminess of the avocado and the coriander adds an interesting flavour – but still seems a little soapy!

***

Martin of Khymos.org made foamy strawberries with coriander.

He added balsamico vinegar because it emphasizes the strawberry aroma and adds acid which he finds important. He warmed the foam up, well, because he could... I wish I had a whipper like he has!
Martin suggests that the reason why many people don't like the taste of coriander might just be because they've used too much of it in a dish. He advises to try it first in small amounts because the taste will come through well.

Martin's verdict:I was very satisfied and my wife liked it too! There’s a good balance between the strawberry and coriander aroma. Sugar rounds of the taste and the balsamic vinegar balances the sugar with it’s tangyness.

***

Helene from Germany at Neues aus der Küche (New from the kitchen) made a Strawberry and cilantro terrine.

After being disappointed at the combination of strawberry, cilantro and asparagus where cilantro appeared to be really soapy, he decided to just go for adding yoghurt and made a terrine using agar agar. Simple and wonderful, isn't it?

Helene's verdict: It went well, also the yoghurt flattened the dish. My family and I would vote for a simply strawberry salad with cilantro and perhaps a tiny bit of balsamico.

***

Amrite from Singapore at Le Petite Boulanger made a strawberry salsa.

Although she never would have thought the combination to work well, she gave it a try and liked it. A mixture of strawberries, corinader leaves, tomatoes, jalopeno peppers and onions was left to mingle overnight and was served on a bruschetta. Yum.

Amrite's verdict: The result was a fantastic salsa, which was surprisingly not sweet at all. It had a lovely savoury flavour to it, much like regular salsa, but the difference with this salsa was that it had a more delicate flavour. The coriander worked really well in it.

***

Sprenger Robert from Basel in Switzerland at lamiacucina made Strawberries with Campari and coriander filling.

His dessert uses coriander seeds, strawberries are filled with a smooth jelly. The original idea of strawberries with Campari filling is said to come from Ferran Adria himself, the chef of El Bulli. Don't you think it's really really really mouthwatering?

Robert's verdict: The resulting strawberries are a very tasty pre-dessert. The corinader seeds fit very well with the bitter Cmpari and the strawberry. May be, that the bitterness of the Campari did mask the strong taste of the coriander a little bit. Try it!

***

Klaus Dahlbeck from Germany at der Kompottsurfer prepared Roasted coriander ice parfait with marinated strawberries and green tea sauce.

He extended the combination to a triple pairing by adding green tea. This is even more experimental! He discovered that green tea should also be 'chemically ment to be' with strawberry and coriander.

Klaus's verdict: He was impressed by how well the flavours went together.

***

M from M's blog made Freeze filtered cold strawberry consomme.

He roasted all the ingredients, including strawberries and simmered them for one hour. To achieve a cristal clear consomme, he used the freeze filtering technique introduced by Ideas in Food. I'm very impressed by how much work went into this soup. Brilliant!

M's verdict:I didn't recognise the coriander seeds as such but I think that without the 'lemony' seeds the soup would have missed the 'sour' taste. I did like the taste of the soup - something for a warm summerday

***

Alexis and Giao from San Francisco at See Us Eat prepared Coriander custard with fresh strawberries.

They were worried that coriander might overpower the dish and decided to just infuse the custard with coriander seeds by heating them together with it. This fabulous dish definitely made me think of coriander creme brulee...with fresh strawberries of course!

Alexis's and Giao's verdict: This method proved effective in that the custard was subtle in coriander flavor, yet also unmistakable. True to the name of this event, coriander and strawberries really do go really well together.

***

Mari Gordon from the Netherlands at Mevrouw Cupcake made Strawberry Shortcakes with a Coriander Buttermilk Biscuit and Balsamic Cream.

She, although pretty ambivalent on the subject of molecular gastronomy, prepared a wonderful dessert containing both the leaves and seeds of coriander. A good idea for those who just cannot decide!

Mari's verdict: The result, however, was a curiously delicious adaptation of my favorite childhood dessert! The addition of coriander imparts the slightly sweetened biscuit with a savory fragrance. The dark balsamic syrup is pungent, spicy and sweet; but when added to the whipped cream, mellows, allowing the caramel and citrus flavor of the syrup to take center stage.

***

Jen from Sydney at Milk and Cookies prepared Avocados with Strawberry Salsa on Crispy Tortillas.

She just added coriander leaves to an existing strawberry salsa recipe. In fear, it's true, but she's more into molecular gastronomy now than she was before. Doesn't that prove something about the combination?

Jen's verdict: I could taste the strawberries with little hints of coriander here and there and combining the nutty flavour of the avocado somehow neutralised the flavours. I would say that if you did want to try the combination of strawberry and coriander but you’re a bit of a chicken, then this is a recipe you will be able to stomach.

***

Dennis from the Netherlands at Kookjegek made Strawberry and coriander smoothie and a Strawberry and coriander dessert.

As for the smoothie, he just mixed together strawberries, coriander, yoghurt, melon juice and some balsamico in a blender. Perfectly easy, isn't it? Balsamico was also used in his dessert for marinating strawberries that were later served with crème fraîche and coriander.

Dennis's verdict: He also thinks that balsamico is a good addition to the combination, coriander gave both his smoothie and dessert a nice after-taste.

***

Paula Schramm aka Jokerine from hdreioplus.de made Cilantro panna cotta with strawberry sauce.

She decided to go with the motto 'easy does it' and prepared panna cotta with a simple sauce, flavouring both of them with lemon. So nice that a woman in science has decided to join the event!

Paula's verdict: What I always liked about Panna Cotta was the soft creamy consistency. This is really brought out by the freshness of the lemon and cilantro. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

***

Stephanie from the USA at Cupcake, my love made Deep-fried strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce.

Now she is enthusiastic! For the strawberries, she made a deep-frying batter flavoured with cinnamon. But what is a strawberry without chocolate sauce? She ate her warm strawberries with a coriander-infused chocolate dipping sauce.

Stephanie's verdict: My Fried Strawberries with Coriander Chocolate Sauce will easily become a dessert that you will not be able to take your mind off of, so I apologize in advance :0) But you're gonna love it!!!!!!

***

My contribution was Coriander and coconut syrup over sunny strawberries.

I made a syrup using coriander leaves, strained it and mixed with coconut milk. We ate it mixed with fresh strawberries, we ate it with everything.

My verdict: The flavours of strawberries and the syrup 'complete each other. It might be a matter of taste, but I was positively surprised. Coconut had been like a missing link in the combination for me. I believe the syrup is a keeper. On strawberries or on anything.

***

Sarina Nicole from Trinidad over at TriniGourmet made a strawberry-coriander cake with coconut glaze.

This lovely cake contains strawberry jam and ground coriander seeds. Sarina was happy to try adding coriander instead of allspice, because its slightly citric quality would lend itself well to this kind of dessert . And it seems like it did! And well!

Sarina's verdict: ...boy do I think this was the most successful pairing to date!

***

Tara, the wonderful host of TGRWT#2 from Australia at Should you eat that? prepared Strawberry and coriander crumble.

The filling for this dessert is made of diced apple that is caramelized together with crushed coriander and mixed with a strawberry sauce flavoured with balsamico and dried coriander leaves. Ooh. And the topping has crushed coriander seeds in it as well. I don't believe Tara would use the word hate when talking about coriander now...

Tara's verdict: The crushed seeds gave a lovely nutty flavour and aroma to the crumble and in all I think they added a different layer of flavour. It was delicious!

***

Now keep your eyes open as the fourth round has already been announced! Dennis of kookjegek.nl asks us to pair mint and mustard. I'll definitely try to figure something out!
Haven't read about the previous rounds? They're right here!
TGRWT#1: garlic, coffee and chocolate
TGRWT#2: banana and parsley

TGRWT#3: Strawberry and coriander - only 4 days left!

A big thank you to everybody who has already sent in their recipes for They Go Really Well Together#3!
There are still 4 days left to write about a recipe using both coriander and strawberries. 4 day's - that's...96 hours?:)

So, let me know about your entry by the 1st of July.

Details of the event are right here.

Hope to hear from a lot of you!

TGRWT#3: Coriander and coconut syrup over sunny strawberries

Pairing strawberry and coriander for the flavour pairing event They Go Really Well Together#3 has got me excited.
Well...not always. It's true that this dish was the first one that actually made me use fresh coriander leaves, but its seeds have been good friends of mine for a long time. So of course I thought these friends could give me a hand. But when I wanted to make strawberries with coriander-flavoured chocolate...no matter how much ground coriander seeds got mixed into the chocolate, no flavour whatsoever revealed itself. I know chocolate has a strong taste and I know that strawberries in chocolate taste heavenly even when only dipped into crushed almonds and even without doing that, but I got mad at coriander seeds (I got mad at coriander seeds) and just went and bought fresh leaves.

Luckily. Because this dish here ain't no weird experiment! This dish here makes my mouth water like Niagara Falls. I found the idea of adding coconut milk to coriander syrup on the Internet and created a recipe that would suit my taste the most.


Coriander and coconut milk syrup
(about 3 1/2 dl)

2 dl sugar
2 dl water
1/2 dl chopped coriander leaves
1 dl coconut milk

1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. When the syrup starts to boil, remove it from heat and add coriander leaves.
3. Leave the syrup alone to cool for 20 minutes and then strain it.
4. Add coconut milk to the strained syrup and mix well.



This syrup is moderately sweet and if tasted, coconut strikes first, but coriander taste will stay in the mouth afterwards. It isn't overwhelmed by neither of the components. I imagine it on pineapple cake, I imagine it on ice cream, I imagine it with bananas.

And I imagine it on strawberries. You can add whipped cream when serving this dessert, because a strawberry dessert is not a true strawberry dessert without whipped cream!

The flavours of strawberries and the syrup 'go really well together' and complete each other. Who could have guessed? Okay, but who could have guessed them to go that well together? It might be a matter of taste, but I was positively surprised. Coconut had been like a missing link in the combination for me. I believe the syrup is a keeper. On strawberries or on anything.

Now I'd like to remind that the deadline for sending in your strawberry and coriander recipes is on the 1st of July. Hope they go really well together!

TGRWT#3 is here!

This month Martin from Khymos.org asked me to host the fabulous They Go Really Well Together foodblogging event, which has only reached its third round.

Never heard of the event? Really? Or just curious whether it really is what you think it is? Well, TGRWT is about pairing ingredients that have similar volatile aroma compounds. Or in less words - smell alike. It is about bringing together certain ingredients just because chemistry tells you to do so. Why are we talking about smell, but not taste? It's been discovered that only 20% of what we "taste" is perceived by the tongue and 80% by the receptors in the nose. Ingredients that have similar volatile aroma compunds should, in theory, go together well. Wanna test?

Round one was hosted by Martin himself and used garlic, coffee and chocolate, round two was hosted by Tara from Should you eat that and mixed together banana and parsley. This month's theme is my favourite so far. Get ready for cooking with... (can you feel the excitement?)

Strawberry and coriander!


The rules of TGRWT#3 are as follows:

1. Prepare a dish using strawberry and coriander. Use an existing recipe or create your own. You can use whatever ingredients that you like besides these two in you dish.
2. Post about the recipe in your blog (with TGRWT#3 in the title!) and add a photo of it. Include a link to this post and a link to the round-up once it has been posted. Readers will be particularily interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the succession of taste and aroma and whether or not you liked the dish and why.
3. The deadline for posting is the 1st of July
4. Send me an email at evelingrauen (at) hotmail (dot) com with the following details: your name, the country/city where you are from, the name of your blog, the URL of your post and a picture of your dish to include in the round-up.
5. The round-up will be posted in a few days after the 1st of June
6. If you don't have a blog, but want to take part of the event, just email me your entry with your details and description of the dish - I will gladly include it in the round-up.

Now off you go to buy fresh strawberries and coriander! Or feel free to use coriander seeds, dried strawberries, strawberry juice...whatever you like. And don't forget - let me know how things worked out in the kitchen by the 1st of July.

Still curious?
Learn more about flavour pairings and what Martin has to say about the combination of strawberry and coriander in his blog.

Good luck! Don't burn your fingers!

Fruit stuffed fruit

...stuffed marzipan stuffed chocolate.
Ooh. Today I'm proud of myself. Just like for the first time in my life I had prepared something...elegant. If that's the word. I wasn't sure what I was going to make or how I was going to make it, but I took out a can of apricot halves, some chocolate, marzipan and dried apricots. And then I stared at them, just stared at them for a little while before my mind cleared up.
Ding!
And that's what I got.


Chocolate balls filled with apricots and marzipan
(yields six balls)

12 canned apricot halves
6 dried apricots
120 g marzipan
100 g dark chocolate

1. Drain the apricot halves on paper towels so that they're quite dry.
2. Place dried apricots between two apricot halves.


3. R