Because it isn't all about the kids!

There is nothing like a living room full of children to make one flee for the kitchen and a spot of blogging. I say "full of children", when in actual fact there is only one non-farrar added to the mix, but the impact of that addition seems to be a twelve-fold increase in energy level and particularly volume. My hearing may never be the same again. Anyway, it has sent me fleeing for my laptop, hence the blog post.

Given my mood, I felt it only right to blog about a not-very-kid-friendly recipe I tried recently. I'm not entirely sure why it was such a non-starter with all three children, particularly since two out of three eat all of the ingredients, and have lapped up other seemingly similar dishes.... Of course, I am forgetting that logic is irrelevant. Nevertheless, I will be adding this to my repertoire, because it can't always be about pleasing those particular three Farrars, particularly since the other two thought this was a great dish. As Annette Bening and Julianne Moore would no doubt point out: the kids are alright.

The recipe comes from a book by George Geary and Judith Finlayson 650 Best Food Processor Recipes, but you can do it easily without a food processor (see instructions below). It is so simple, but so much tastier than a boring old omelette. And it has a way more complicated-sounding French name, so there.

Roasted Leek, Mushroom and Tomato Clafouti
Serves 5

1 lb cherry tomatoes
12 cremini mushroom caps (cut the bigger ones in half)
2 leeks cut into 1/2" slices
2 TBSP olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBSP finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
ground black pepper
4 eggs
1/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Butter a 6 cup (1.5L) gratin dish
3. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, mushrooms and leek with olive oil and toss well. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in oven until mushrooms and leeks are lightly browned and tomatoes have collapsed (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Transfer vegetables to prepared gratin dish and sprinkle with garlic, parsley and pepper to taste.
4. In a food processor with a metal blade, place eggs, flour and salt and pepper to taste. Pulse to blend (about 5 times). Add milk and cream and process until smooth (about 30 seconds). If you don't have have food processor, then I see no reason why you can't just do all of this with a handheld mixer.
5. Pour mixture from processor over vegetables. Bake in preheated oven until edges are set and center is still slightly jiggly (about 30 minutes).
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan. Place under a hot broiler until lightly browned. Let cool slightly before serving.

More heavenly wholegrains

Yes, I'm a goody-two-shoes, but I really am enjoying the recent Farrar forays into the wonderful world of wholegrains. I've been on a quest to improve our diet in this house, yes, but also to increase the variety. Quite frankly I was getting bored of rice and cous-cous. Today's heavenly wholegrain addition to the Farrar repertoire is bulgur wheat. This is a form of wheat (so those who are gluten intolerant should steer clear) that has been parboiled, cracked and dried. I have had it in the past, but only in Tabbouleh, a delicious Middle Eastern salad (if you are interested, then there is a Barefoot Contessa recipe for Tabbouleh here)

This dish is a great addition to a spot of summer evening barbeque. I found the recipe in Cooking Light, but tweaked it a bit: the supermarket had run out of kalamata olives (except for the disgusting canned kind), so I used green olives; and I added more vinegar to the dressing, as my family like sharp tasting foods. Oh, and I added more feta because.... well just because.

Enjoy :-)

Bulgur Wheat Salad with Feta and Olives
Serves 5

1 cup medium bulgur wheat (denotes the size of the grain - not crucial here, but might affect cooking time)
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup thinly sliced fennel
1/2 cup olives, halved
1/2 cup shelled, roasted, salted pistachios
5 oz feta cheese, crumbled
3 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Cook bulgur wheat according to packet directions, drain (if necessary) and cool slightly.
2. Mix bulgur wheat with remaining ingredients and serve at room temperature.

My own mission impossible

There are times when I suspect there must have been a mix-up at the hospital when my kids were born, in fact three separate mix-ups. I realize that this seems far-fetched, but consider my grounds for such suspicion: gastronomically speaking, there is compelling evidence that these children cannot genetically be mine. Firstly, my daughter does not like chocolate cake (in fact, this may indicate that she comes from alien stock, as it is simply not human to dislike chocolate cake). No child that emanated from me and my husband can NOT like chocolate anything, let alone chocolate cake. After all, my husband has spent a lifetime making sure to order chocolate fudge cake whenever it appears on a menu. Secondly, my oldest son doesn't like melted cheese on top of things. I know. Ridiculous. Particularly since unmelted cheese is fine, as is melted cheese IN things, such as grilled cheese sandwich. Just not on TOP of things. He is happy to slurp up three or four servings of your delicious pasta bake, but will meticulously scrape all evidence of toasty melted deliciousousness from the top first, with a look of indignant distaste on his face. Sigh.

Perhaps the most anomalous of the Farrar offspring though, is my youngest son, who doesn't like... wait for it.... pasta. WHAT? Firstly, pasta is a blank canvas for all sorts of delectable sauciness, and does not have a taste of its own, well not really. Secondly, this zero-tolerance policy towards pasta seems like a recipe for starvation in a house where pasta is indubitably a staple food and always has been. I have therefore made it my culinary mission to keep trying different pasta recipes. Not, as you might surmise, as a form of sadistic torture for the poor boy, but in the hope that at some point, a huge lightbulb will appear above his head, as he chews on some delicious morsel, and he will, at this moment, realize the error of his pasta-hating ways, break into a huge grin, and of course express extreme gratitude to his long-suffering but perseverant mother.

The latest dish on this culinary mission came from Giada de Laurentiis. From what I can tell from her cooking shows on TV and her books, Giada lives a perfect life. Her kitchen looks spotlessly clean even when she is in the middle of preparing a complex dish, she manages to keep her lipstick flawless whilst eating a bowl of spaghetti AND I have never once witnessed her adorable offspring turn down what she cooks with a whiny cry of "BUT I DON'T LIKE PASTA". I am sure such behavior just wouldn't happen in Giada's house.

I have to confess that the light bulb moment didn't happen this time round. Beloved, but misguided, youngest son, ate everything surrounding the pasta, but managed to leave a sizeable pile of denuded farfalle on his plate. Oh well, the mission continues.... On the plus side though, this is a dish which the remaining four members of the family found delicious, and in my house, even if not in Giada's, four out of five is reason for celebration (and a blog post).

Farfalle with Sausage and Kale
Serves 6

3 TBSP olive oil
1 lb uncooked Italian sausage, casings removed (I used Trader Joe's Italian chicken sausage)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 bunch kale, largest stems removed, and chopped (about 4 cups)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 lb farfalle pasta
Grated parmesan to serve

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
2. In a large heavy pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until golden, breaking up sausage. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside. Add onion and garlic to same pan and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms and onion start to brown (a further 5 minutes or so). Add canned tomatoes with juice and stir to get browned bits off base of pan. Add salt, pepper and sausage back to pan,
3. Meanwhile blanch the kale in the boiling water for 5 minutes and then remove from the water with a skimmer or sieve. Add kale directly to the sausage mixture. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Add cream and stir to combine, then remove pan from the heat.
4. While the sauce is simmering, add farfalle to the water the kale was in. Cook until desired firmness is reached, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta and add to sauce, tossing to combine.
5. Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.

Feeding the masses

The title of this post refers to the fact that I think I have made enough batches of this over the past few years to sink a ship. I have, by now, made this recipe for pretty much everyone I know, and it is one of my go-to quick and embarrassingly easy baking recipes. Of course, if I have never made them for you, that means that either I don't value the friendship as much as you thought I did, OR I haven't seen you for way too long, and you need to rectify that.

This recipe is one that is close to my heart for another reason also - it comes from a recipe book called The English Rose Restaurant Cookbook, named after a little tea shop in San Carlos California. The restaurant was founded by two English ladies, who had clearly made the effort to export for the interior all of the most stereotypical (and perhaps tasteless) aspects of English decor - from the wildly patterned floral wallpaper, to the little doilies weighted down with beads that draped over the sugar bowls, and the ghastly oil paintings of thatched cottages, their doorways surrounded by magnificent English flower gardens. My favorite though is probably the numerous framed photographs of the late Queen Mother, smiling down beatifically on patrons as they munch on their ploughman's lunches or fruit scones. Going to the English Rose was like walking back in time (and across the Atlantic) to a 1970s England, where if you liked patterned wallpaper AND patterned carpet, then it was OK, you could safely fill your living room with both, because so did everyone else, and there was no such thing as too much. {Insert wistful sigh}

I am also posting this recipe because I have been asked to so many times before. Its addictive qualities are by now legendary. It's a great one to take camping, as it doesn't spoil if out of the fridge, and it also keeps for AGES (assuming your family don't scarf it all in less than a day... If you cannot get butterscotch morsels, then it also works with Heath Bar bits, or chocolate chips.

Most recently, I baked a batch for my youngest son's teacher. I am happy to say that she enjoyed it - happy primarily because she is such an excellent teacher, and someone whose love for the job and for every one of the students in her classroom was palpable. Thank you Mrs W, and happy baking!

Pecan Slices
(Makes 24)

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 14 oz can condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup butterscotch morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray the inside of a 9" x 13" baking tin with canola oil spray.
3. In a bowl, combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg and beat with a handheld mixer on low speed until crumbly.
4. Press mixture into base of prepared pan.
5. In a small bowl, beat together condensed milk, the other egg and vanilla extract until blended.
6. Stir in pecans and butterscotch morsels.
7. Pour mixture over cake mixture in pan.
8. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden.
9. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

So much more than a side

If I were a salad, I'd be pretty annoyed to be called a side; a mere accompaniment. To put all that tasty effort in, and be condemned to the ignominy of merely sitting alongside a more important dish? Yep, that would not be satisfying. What I can say, is that this side is worthy of a starring role on your plate. How do I know this? Well, firstly because this one is a doozy in the taste department, and secondly, because I stupidly over-catered and doubled the quantities below, meaning that we have all been eating leftovers for lunch for the last few days. I have a habit of over-catering, but I blame the fact that my kids can often eat an incredible amount of food, and that when they will do so is completely unpredictable. Also, I have a pathological fear of under-catering, a sin which would send my guilt complex into an over-drive from which it might never recover. So forgive me. Otherwise, you'll merely contribute to the guilt problem - vicious circle, p'raps?!

Another sin, of which I am definitely guilty, is that I add recipes to my bulging 'I need to try this' folder, without always noting the source. This in one such recipe - someone lovingly typed this out for me, and I have no idea who it was. Whoever you are, you are lovely, and so is the recipe. Enjoy.

Malaysian Summer Salad
Serves 4 as a main course, or 6-8 as a side ("Ahem! Who you calling a side?")

Dressing:
3 TBSP toasted sesame oil
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP orange juice
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP orange zest
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Salad:
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced
4 scallions, finely chopped
3 cups cooked short grain brown rice
1/2 cup roasted peanuts (no salt)
1/2 cup roasted cashews (no salt)
2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 cup snow peas, trimmed and sliced
1 cup bean sprouts

1. In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients, and whisk until well blended.
2. In a large bowl, combine celery, bell peppers and scallions. Add rice and mix well. Sprinkle in nuts, seeds and raisins and mix well. Add snow peas and bean sprouts to the mixture. Pour over dressing and mix well. Chill until ready to serve.

The best cheesecake ever...

I know. I am asking for it. It is a deliberate ploy.

Firstly, I feel an impulse to do myself harm right now, because my kids broke for the summer vacation three days ago. Three LONG days ago. By issuing a challenge on my blog, I am merely resisting the urge to rip my own ears from my skull, lest I be forced yet again to hear a child issue those three words "I am bored!" Instead I am opening myself up to waves of online indignation, something along the lines of "You cannot be serious, because my recipe is ten times better than this one". Still masochism, but of the verbal variety. Crafty, eh?

Secondly, the last time I issued this kind of challenge, (see post on 4/12/13), I was pointed in the direction of an alternative recipe (see post on 5/24/13) which has now also entered my repertoire, and I am very glad to have it there. Yes, this is, in part, a ploy for people to send me equally delicious recipes to try.

The cheesecake in question here is undoubtedly a fine specimen. I mean just look at it, and I dare you not to salivate. In fact, fair warning, back away from the keyboard lest you dribble on your laptop:

Granted, the list of ingredients are enough to make your waistline quiver in anticipation of imminent expansion. But, for a special occasion, I highly recommend you try this cheesecake, waistline be damned. I am not a fan of many baked cheesecakes, as I find them grainy in texture. Not so here: this one is rich, smooth, and deliciously creamy. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com, a frequent hang-out for recipe addicts like myself.


Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 TBSP white sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Middle:
3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
8 1oz squares of semisweet chocolate
2 TBSP whipping cream
1 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup Kahlua (coffee-flavored liqueur)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TBSP powdered sugar
2 TBSP Kahlua
1 (1oz) square semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter one 9-10" springform pan.
2. Combine ingredients for crust. Mix well, and then press into base of prepared pan. Set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Whilst continuing to beat, gradually add 1 cup white sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating at low speed until mixture is very smooth.
4. Melt the semisweet chocolate with 2 TBSP whipping cream in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water. Stir until smooth.
5. Add chocolate mixture to cream cheese mixture and blend well. Stir in sour cream, salt, Kahlua, coffee and vanilla and beat until smooth.
6. Pour over crust in prepared pan.
7. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes. Center will still be soft, but will firm up when chilled. Do not overbake! Leave in oven, with heat turned off and with door ajar, for a further 45 minutes. Then remove from oven and chill for 12 hours.
8. To make topping, beat cream until soft peaks form, and then add Kahlua and sugar and beat a little more until cream holds its shape, but isn't stiff. Use piping bag to pipe rosettes over top of cheesecake. Then sprinkle over grated chocolate.

Wholegrain home run

My family loves food, and a recurring dinner conversation of late starts thus: "If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be...." I shouldn't be surprised that this conversation recurs so frequently, since limiting oneself to but one dish would be a trial indeed for a family as food-loving as mine. Needless to say, if, as is occasionally the case, the sought after dish is what actually lies steaming in front of them at the time, it is a huge compliment to the chef!

For my oldest son, the one food that would satisfy him solo in the years to come is chilli. Any kind of chilli really, whether veggie, meaty, soupy... you name it, he will lick the bowl clean then reach for seconds. And if there are any leftovers, then he'll eat them out of a thermos the following day for lunch, and then lick that clean (not an easy feat, with a thermos, you try). So this may not be the last chilli recipe that makes it on to this blog. It is a good one though, and unsurprisingly, since it comes from my idol Judith Finlayson, yet again, from her book The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook. I have tweaked it a little, since I prefer to cook with ground turkey instead of ground beef, and therefore with chicken stock, rather than beef stock, but either way you'll get a steamy one-dish meal of satisfaction. Moreover, it fits with my current aim to get more wholegrains into our diet, featuring as it does, wheat berries. One serving of this deliciousness delivers 7.5g of dietary fiber.

Satisfaction guaranteed

Chilli con Wheat Berries
Serves 8 (well, it serves 6 Farrars)

1 1/2 cups uncooked wheat berries (soft or hard red)
3 1/4 cups water
1 TBSP olive oil
1 lb lean ground turkey
2 onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 28oz can diced tomatoes in juice, no salt added
1 cup chicken stock
Chopped avocado and shredded cheddar to serve.

1. Put wheat berries and water in saucepan and bring to boil. Turn heat down to low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes, then drain off any remaining water and set wheat berries aside.
2. In a large dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat and add ground turkey and onions. Cook, stirring and breaking up meat until no longer pink (about 6 mins).
3. Add celery, bell pepper, jalapeno(s) and garlic and cook until vegetables start to soften (about 3 minutes). Then add chili powder, caraway seeds and pepper and continue to cook, stirring, for a further 1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes, kidney beans, cooked wheat berries (should be 3 cups of them now they are cooked) and stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until flavors meld, about 30 minutes.
5. Season with salt to taste, and serve in bowls, topped with avocado and cheddar.