Green coucous with celery root and pesto

I have eaten about 400 g of couscous in my life, so I'm obviously no expert. But I feel I've found my perfect way of having it (already? how dull it's gonna be later on!) - with a good splash of pesto and a good deal of onion and garlic. This time I also added celery root (which kind of just got into the way...) for an extra green dish. But probably just because my father would then only try a bite...did this subconsciously, of course. And who could blame the great ideas of subconsciousness?

Green couscous with celery root and pesto (serves 2-3) 100 g couscous 1 dl water oil, butter 1 medium onion 1 garlic clove about 100 g celery root 2 tbsp pesto salt, sugar (for serving: feta cheese, sliced cucumber/cucumber salad) Heat about a tablespoonful of butter on a skillet, add chopped onion, garlic and celery root. Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low. Cook until onion becomes transparent and slightly light brown. Add salt and a bit of sugar to the skillet, mix well and cook for one more minute. While the vegetables cook, bring the water to a boil with a dash of oil. Also add salt, but consider the saltiness of your pesto and the fact you flavoured the vegetables too. Remove form heat, stir in couscous. Cover with a lid and let steep for some minutes. Return to heat for a few minutes, adding the pesto. Use a fork to stir and separate the grains. Mix in the contents of the skillet. Serve warm. I love adding feta cheese and cucumber slices.

Lately it has often happened that I've not eaten warm food for several days, so this was a true pleaser, considering the slow arrival of winter outside (the so-called snow can only be referred to as the Estonian word 'plöga').

The dish is fragrant and has a lovely green colour, tastes the way a comfort food should taste. The salty feta and mild-fresh cucumber make a perfect extra. Hey, wait, maybe it was the colour that drove my dad away? We have, after all, been living in a world without pesto, a world of potatoes and pork. I'm the villain, you see, trying to destroy everything.

An maybe I'll even succeed one day, but there is quite much green couscous to eat on the way.

Hazelnut cake with curd cheese and black tea cream : My layered cake dream just came true

I've kept my promise.
I'VE KEPT MY PROMISE!

Who would have guessed? I made this yum curd cheese mousse with black tea in late August and promised to make a layered hazelnut cake with black tea egg-buttercream filling. And...well...I almost kept it. That's a start, right?:)

Maria Öhrn is a fabulous Swedish cookbook author. I browsed through her 'Tårtor' (or 'Tordid' in Estonian, I don't know if it's been translated to English) in a bookstore, said some kind words about it and ended up getting two of these books for my birthday.

Woosh.
Better 2 than none, right? Anyway, although the book contains only about 30 recipes, they are all so very different and most of them have this nice twist to them. I love twists. I could eat twists every day. For this layered cake I used Maria's recipe for hazelnut cake (originally paired with canned pears and Nutella!)


Hazelnut cake with curd cheese and black tea cream
(cake base recipe from Maria Öhrn's 'Tårtor' (Cakes))

200 g hazelnuts
1 dl potato starch
1 tsp baking powder
1 ml salt
6 egg yolks
6 egg whites
2 dl sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 batch of curd cheese mousse with black tea
for decorating: black tea glazed apples and caramelized hazelnuts

1. Grind hazelnuts well using a food processor or a coffee grinder
2. Mix hazelnut flour with potato starch, baking powder and salt.
3. In a clean and dry bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
4. Beat the yolks slightly with sugar using a whisk, add dry ingredients and milk to the mixture
5. Gradually add the egg white.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 24 cm springform pan. Bake at 175C for about 45 minutes (it took me only about 35). Let the cake cool completely
7. Cut the cake into two layers and spread the curd cheese mousse between them and on the top and the sides (Use quite much of it between the layers). Chill at least for a couple of hours before serving.
   
8. If you wish, decorate with black tea glazed apples and caramelized hazelnuts, setting the apples in the center of the cake and the nuts along the sides. This can be done either before or after chilling the cake.

Black tea glazed apples
(adapted from Epicurious)

2 smaller apples
1 dl sugar
2 teabags of black tea
powdered sugar

1. Combine sugar with 2 dl of water in a saucepan and add teabags.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile peel the apples, slice both into 8 wedges and cut out the cores.
4. Remove teabags from the syrup and add apple wedges. Simmer at low heat for about 15 minutes.
5. With a slotted spoon, transfer the apples onto a rack (used in the oven) set over a baking tray and drain them for 10 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven's grill function. Then sprinkle the apple wedges with some powdered sugar and put both the rack and the baking tray into the oven (you need the tray so that the liquid that drips from the apples doesn't stick to the bottom of your oven). Grill for 3-5 minutes. Let cool.

Caramelized hazelnuts

1 1/2 dl hazelnuts
2 tbsp powdered sugar
a pinch of salt

1. Use unpeeled nuts for a rustic effect or peel them. To do that, just roast them on a dry skillet for some time and then rub the peels of with the help of a kitchen towel.
2. Combine all three ingredients on a pan over moderate heat.
3. When sugar starts to melt, reduce heat to low and stir the nuts constantly until they are covered with caramelized sugar
4. Pour the nuts onto a piece of foil in a single layer and cool.

My expectations were sky-high, because OF COURSE I'd tried bits and pieces of the cake when I cut it into 2 layers and it was, even at that moment, moist and rich in hazelnut flavour. I love that cookbook. In the end, it worked out really well for me, the flavours melted into each other and each bite was moist and had the sensational taste of 'I did it'. The flavours of black tea and hazelnut are both strong and I have a hunch there's something similar to them. I got the permission of making the cake again. Honoured, really, I'm honoured:D

I love how the decorations came out. The apples are really into tea, I'd say, and could make a great dessert by their own. Not peeling the hazelnuts was also a good choice, for this rustic appearance is perfect for an autumn-y cake. And if this cake doesn't say autumn then they're certainly is no autumn outside.

And I'd eat this cake every time somebody brings a store-bought obviously &#"@! vegetable fat cake with &#"@! vegetable fat cream to a family gathering. And I really don't care about good will if the cake is really lousy.
This cake isn't. Hah.

The overwhelming taste of cashew nuts, with just a dash of rosewater

I haven't yet recovered from the rosewater virus. After rosewater lassi I made rosewater and black tea granita and the illness probably isn't going to stop after this fudge either...

This fudge is actually called Kajoo Barfi, it's an Indian dessert, rather a candy, that's especially popular in southwestern parts of the country.

Cashew nut fudge with rosewater (Kajoo Barfi)
(Julie Sahn's Classic Indian Cooking, Epicurious)

4 3/4 dl cashew nuts
1 3/4 dl sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp rosewater

1. Place cashew nuts in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, soak for 1 hour.
2. Drain the nuts and grind them to a fine paste in a food processor or in a blender. Add sugar and turn your food processor/blender on once more to mix it with the paste.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the nut paste. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook the paste for 20 minutes, frequently stirring it and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan. The fudge has to become thick and sticky.
   
4. Meanwhile prepare a surface for the fudge: a greased cookie sheet, a greased baking pan, foil or silicone mat. It has to be about 22 cm x 22 cm (9 inches)
5. Mix in the butter and pour the fudge onto the prepared surface and spread it evenly. Let cool thoroughly.
6. When cool, brush with rosewater
7. Cut into squares or diamond-shaped pieces. The recipe suggests about 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) pieces, but I like smaller ones better.

I decided to brush only half of the fudge with rosewater (on the right in the picture on the right:)), worrying about what my family would say. I accidentally used all of it, though! The fudge took more time to dry, but the amount of rosewater was actually perfectly OK. The fudge itself is chewy and sweet, quite soft too, I'd say. An overwhelming taste of cashew nut must be one of the best tastes in the world - this is one good recipe for achieving it.

And this fudge is something I could eat...forever.

Warm sweet-savoury feta cheese

An impressive appetizer that's ready in 5 minutes.
OK, so you'll be washing the dishes afterwards, but that like...doesn't count. Let someone else do that.

It's a dish inspired by Cretan cuisine, both salty and sweet and can confuse your taste buds to the point where they stop analyzing and just start enjoying. As the flavour is quite intensive, I wouldn't serve as big portions as the original recipe suggests. I cut them in two - this wasn't all I was eating, OK? This is actually called an appetizer, not a Huge Main Dish. The aniseed's flavour - that's not less intensive. So if you're not too fond of it, add just a teeeny bit or skip and be proud of it.


Grilled feta with honey and aniseed
(Epicurious, serves 4-8)

400 g feta cheese, cut into pieces
4 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp whole aniseed
ground/crushed black pepper

1. Preheat your oven's grill element
2. Divide feta between 4-8 small baking dishes and brush or drizzle with oil
3. Grill about 3 minutes, the cheese should turn golden (Mine didn't, but tasted good anyway)
4. Meanwhile, combine honey and aniseed in a saucepan and heat until hot or do the same thing in a small bowl with the help of a microwave oven.
5. Drizzle 1/2 - 1 tsp honey mixture (according to the size of the serving) onto every portion and sprinkle with ground/crushed black pepper.

The feta, salty as ever, doesn't get any milder in my opinion, but rather gets this strangely addictive extra nuance of good gooey sweetness. I like how the texture changes in the grilling process and the cheese is a bit grainy afterwards. If the dish is almost empty, there are still tiny pieces of feta that have been soaking in honey and have the richest taste. Aniseed, though voluntary for all the (silly) picky eaters, gives the cheese a very different flavour and is a must if you want to impress someone. Including yourself.

If served warm, I'd recommend serving the feta with crisp bread. I also imagine it over some green salad with just a drizzle of olive oil for the summer. When the dish has cooled, the cheese becomes firmer, but the good flavour remains. I Enjoyed the leftovers with some juicy oven-baked salmon this evening - a good combination.
Thank God I'm not a picky eater:)

Lime marmalade

A friend gave me four limes that she had but knew she wouldn't use, making me responsible of preparing something mouthwatering out of them that she'd love too. It's not easy to find recipes JUST for limes, but when I found a recipe for lime marmalade, I was Yes yes yes yes I'm going to make it.


To reduce bitterness, I planned to leave the white rim out of the marmalade. Doing this took more time, but was worth the effort. I didn't reboil the jars in a water bath, but if you want to preserve the marmalade for a longer period (let's say you already want to make Christmas gifts), do it. As it has a heap of sugar in it, I believe well-sealed jars should keep well without doing it too.

Lime marmalade
(adjusted from Food down under)

4 limes
3/4 l water water
about 8 1/2 dl sugar

1. Wash limes very carefully. Remove the green zest (make sure you only remove the green part) and cut into thin strips.
2. Remove the white layer and slice pulp into thin slices, discarding seeds.
3. Place the slices and zest in a bowl, cover with the water and let the mixture soak overnight.
4. Next day pour the mixture into a large pot and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
5. Measure the cooked mixture and add the same amount of sugar. I had 8 1/2 dl of the mixture, so I added 8 1/2 dl sugar to it.
6. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves.
7. Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches the jell point. (I think that took me up to 40 minutes)
8. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
9. Pour into clean jars (I had enough for 3 little ones) and seal. (If you want to boil them in a water bath, leave a 2 cm space between the marmalade and the lid)
10. Process in a water bath: place the jars into a big pot so that water covers them and boil for 10 minutes.

Although I left out the white layer under the zest, the marmalade is still a bit bitter, but that's not a bad thing as it's got the bitter taste of the zest itself. Even on a slice of bread the marmalade creates the effect of a lime bursting in the mouth. In a clean and nice way, of course. It's filled with strips of zest and looks good.

How to use it? Some of my marmalade is for sure waiting for a decent cake to crawl between its layers. Glazing some meat with it could be a good idea, too.

And my friend? She began screaming when she received a jar. And today she spent almost 5 minutes telling me how good the marmalade is and how her parents wanted her to call me and say thank you.
Oh, thank you:)