Dinner in a pocket

Last night I came home to find a delightful little note from my roommate on the table welcoming me home and informing me that dinner was in the fridge. The note by itself pretty much made my evening, and the fact that there was food too was just icing on the cake. And it wasn't just any food either. It was food in a pocket! My favorite kind. My roommate had made empanadas (they are some specific kind that I can't recall now). But they were delicious. I'm sure I've shared my thoughts about pocket foods of the world before, but I really do find it appalling that so many cultures have awesome meals in pockets and America fails completely. For example, here is a super broad and thoroughly incomplete list roughly by region of some of the awesome pocket-shaped foods out there:

South/EastAsia: samosas, eggrolls, pot stickers 
British Isles: pasties,
Latin America: empanadas
Europe: calzones, pierogies
US: hot pockets

Seriously? Hot pockets were the best we could do?

Hot Cross Buns

So back in 2010 I posted about Hot Cross Buns and you probably thought it was a one-time occurance. Well, I've made them again (though I don't think I made them any times between then and now). And today I want to tell you a little more about their history. These buns are a traditional Good Friday food, and so naturally that's when I made them. It seems that the cross represents the crucifixion but Wikipedia (aren't my sources great? and I call myself a librarian) doesn't seem to say anything about how it came to be a tradition, so I guess we will just have to remain unenlightened for a while longer (maybe next year when I make them I'll be inclined to doing more proper research).

When I went to make these this time I looked for the recipe I used ages ago, but I really have no idea where it came from and the one I ended up using was significantly easier, though I didn't actually love it. (I also have no recollection to what my last attempt tasted like for a comparison.) I think that next time I'll try another recipe yet again because these ones were kind of dry and I didn't love that. One thing I did like though was that I used cherry juice-infused craisins instead of raisins and that was pretty tasty. Though I was just reading about a variation that uses chocolate chips instead and that would probably be even better. I was prompted to try these fancy craisins to see how the might work to solve the great tea-ring debate. I have another package of craisins and I want to try them in the tea-ring in concert with a recipe for glace cherries I found to see if that will solve the issue--I'm not sure that it will really be an adequate substitute.

Brigadeiros

I mentioned in my last post that I was preparing for a new adventure while using up all my food. I guess I'll tell you a little about my new adventure before I talk about how I finished up my canned goods. I am once again packing up all my junk (which never fails to amaze me at how much of it there is) and moving. (no surprise there, huh?--when am I not about to move?) And since moving within the same city or the same state gets boring after a while (though I'm not actually bored of Maryland, I love it here) I've opted for a new state. Massachusetts here I come!

Now, on to canned goods. So what are Brigadeiros you ask? They are a phenomenally delicious Brazilian treat that I learned to make while living in England two summers ago.  Basically they are sweetened condensed milk and chocolate powder. You boil them together until it's thick enough to more or less hold its shape and then you make little balls. (I let it cool enough so it didn't burn my hands and that helped it to thicken even more.) You can roll the balls in something if you like, but you don't have to. I rolled some in cocoa powder and some in plain sugar just because I could. Or if you feel like rolling things into balls is too much work you don't have to cook the milk as long and it makes a pretty awesome sauce on things like ice cream (which is how I had it the first time). 

Brigadeiros

As you may remember (or maybe not) I went to England two summers ago for a couple months (unfortunately I think there was only one post about it, sorry.) Anyways, while I was there I was assigned to attend the Portuguese branch for church. I don't really understand why since I don't actually speak Portuguese, but I'll serve where ever I'm asked to. So one Sunday one of the Brazilian families in the branch invited us (there were 5 of us from my program that attended that branch) over for dinner. Oh man, think traditional Brazilian barbecue, only better. The food was so good. And they made us the best dessert ever.

In Brazil, they have this kind of bon-bon called brigadeiros. They're made from sweetened condensed milk and nesquick, boiled till it's thick enough to make into balls. But before it's that thick it can be used as a sauce. Which is how it was served to me the first time I had it. It was a sauce over ice cream with little bits of kit-kat bars mixed in. Heaven in a glass.

One of the girls assigned to the Portuguese branch actually spoke Portuguese and had served her mission in Brazil. So she taught me how to make these brigadeiros. I've made it as a sauce a couple of times, but I've never had the time and energy to actually form it into little balls, until today.

I've had a can of sweetened condensed milk lying around my cupboard for months and months ear-marked especially for this recipe. And since I'm movingthis weekend it was finally time to use the can up (I hate moving food, it's so much extra work--though I'll move canned goods over things like pancake syrup any day). So while I'm enjoying being unemployed in DC this week I made brigadeiros. So good! I dare you to eat just one.

Food with a Face

Much has changed in my life since I last posted--many, many moons ago. I have relocated across the country, travel 2 weeks a month for my job and don't cook nearly often enough. But I did take a picture of some bird that I consumed in Singapore a few weeks ago. It was delicious. Enjoy.

One a penny, two a penny

Everyone remembers that song they learned in third or fourth grade called "Hot cross buns," right? Did you ever stop to think that maybe that song was based on a real kind of food? Well, if that thought never occurred to you, then maybe it's time for it to. Today (well and yesterday) I made Hot Cross Buns. I had some raisins left over from my adventures in December, and since I had some extra time because of the holiday today I thought that I would make buns. These buns are rather time intensive so I actually had to make the dough last night so it could rise in the fridge overnight, but it was so worth it. They really are delicious. It was nice to take a moment and remember the good times in England. They still eat these there. In the old days one a penny buns were larger than two a penny buns, but if you get the two a penny buns then I think you still ended up with more bun at the end.

Panna Cotta

Well, these aren't exactly the long awaited pictures of my Panna Cotta, but they are pictures from when I made it about a week ago. I went up to my grandmother's house last weekend and together we made this delightfully creamy and light, yet rich dessert. Panna Cotta is an italian dessert, much like France's Creme Brulee, or Spain's Flan, though it contains no eggs. I think that custards are one of the finest desserts. Panna Cotta is rich enough that a little will suffice and so a nice ramekin size is perfect. This Panna Cotta we served with a warm strawberry coulis, though it is also quite nice with fresh peaches and blueberries. I think that by far this dessert has been my favourite one I've made this summer. It is always just so cool and creamy.

Thai Desserts

I realized on Wednesday that I haven't cooked anything new in several weeks and decided today that it was time to remedy that. I have long enjoyed Thai food, perhaps because my dad made it a lot growing up, and so today I decided to experiment with a Thai dessert that I first tasted a few months ago. Sticky rice with mangoes is a delightful treat in Thailand and it is a delightful treat at my house. It turned out quite spectacularly and I already am looking forward to making it again. This dessert is ridiculously easy to make. You make rice, and boil some coconut milk with a little sugar and mix the two together. Let it sit, serve with some mangoes, and some additional coconut milk. It is a sweet yet refreshing dessert. I'm sure it's especially nice on a hot night, though I can't say for sure since we're having lovely cool weather this weekend. With luck it will turn out as well next time I make it. And maybe that time I can procure some nice Filipino mangoes.

Indian Curries from Scotland

Last time I visited my local Macey's I picked up a bottle of chicken tikka masala paste. my next door neighbor had made it a month or so prior and I felt that it was delicious enough for me to give it a go. At length I finally got around to defrosting my chicken and marinating it. I found it quite amusing that on the bottle of curry paste it says to marinate the chicken for "an hour or overnight." Apparently if you marinate for some length of time between one hour and twenty-four then it won't work. I decided to defy the directions and I marinated the chicken for something like five hours. The chicken tikka masala turned out quite well. I was glad, though next time I think I'll use a little less yogurt and a little more of the paste, it wasn't quite as picante as I might have liked.As it turns out, chicken tikka masala isn't really an Indian dish at all. According to legend it was it was conceived in a Bangladeshi restaurant in Glasgow in the '60s. While that can be neither confirmed nor denied it does appear that it originated in the British Isles. Though the article that I read mentioned that it's popularity has broadened and that it is even served in restaurants in India now. Which I think is quite comendable.

No matter that origins of the delicious dish I still think that it is delicious. And I am quite proud of this delightful tikka masala paste in a jar.