Cabbage and Leek Pancake

I have been very interested in cabbage lately. I don't know why, but the vegetable intrigues me. It has such a bad reputation, but until now I had only had it in sauerkraut and coleslaw, which I both find pleasing. Especially sauerkraut. Ever since I actually dared try it, I can't get enough.

Anyways, when I saw this recipe for okonomiyaki in the archives of 101 cookbooks, I knew I had to try it.

My leek was not at all gritty!

It is basically a pancake/omelet with very little batter and a lot of cabbage and leeks. The greens sort of caramelize in the pan, bringing out their natural sweetness. However, I did encounter a few problems.

First of all, the recipe says to mix the veggies with the flour, and then add in the eggs. I found that this left some spots of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl and on some of the cabbage. I also felt that the "pizza" tasted too much of flour and not enough of caramelized leeks and cabbage. Another problem was that the cake did not at all hold together, but that may be due to cutting the cabbage into too-wide ribbons.

A quarter cabbage gave me just over 2 cups, but my ribbons are wide

Next time I make this (because I will be making it again) I will probably decrease the flour, slice the cabbage thinner, and maybe add a third egg.

To complete the meal I also made some garlic sautéed mushrooms and a mustardy salad, and thus discovered the delicious combination of mushrooms and salad.

After dinner, I had a craving for madeleines, so I whipped up small batch. Unfortunately, I only had an old, soft, half of a lemon, and so was unable to put in any zest :(

They were tasty anyways.

Squash and a Pepper

Guess what? My pepper turned red! Red! RED!

After six years, my thai dragon pepper plant has finally produced a ripe pepper.

See, four years abo it started making a fruit, but then the baby pepper was eaten by a bird. What kind of bird eats Thai dragon peppers? Did it breath fire? (Scoville: 75,000-100,000.)

Anyway, this year my plant got flowers again, so I brought it inside to protect them. And it has produced 4 peppers. After several weeks, one of them has finally turned red!

And I have no idea what to do with it...

Do I dry it? Use it fresh? How could I let its homegrown flavor stand out? Is it even ripe yet?

The packet said 70-80 days maturity, so probably not. It probably needs another month :(

On another note, on Vegetarian Thursday I made Nut-Stuffed Acorn Squash. (The recipe called for delicata squash, but I couldn't find any.) It was perfect as a hearty, vegetarian, winter dish. The stuffing, made with almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, onions, and sage was rich and flavorful, but I should have diced the onions smaller to let them blend with the nuts better.

This recipe is open to infinite various, and I'm sure it would also be delicious with some diced celery added to the onions at the beginning, or some more spices

Nut-Stuffed Squash

(http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1842377)

Total Time: 1 hour(s)
Yield: Serves 4 (One half squash was largely enough for one person, and I only used 1/4 of each nut)

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter (used olive oil, and less of it)
• 2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup chopped pistachios
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds
• 1/3 cup chopped pine nuts
• [a pinch of chili flakes]
• 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• About 1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese (Fresh parmesan is essential)
• 2 delicata squash (or acorn) (about 2 lbs. total), halved lengthwise and seeded

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in sage and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in nuts. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, eggs, and 1/2 cup parmesan. Stir in nut mixture. Divide stuffing among squash halves, sprinkle with more parmesan, and bake until tender when pierced with a fork and tops are browning, about 45 minutes.

Pass around any left-over parmesan at the table.

Upside-down Apple-Pear tart

I have often admired the soft, moist fruit, and the crispy upper crust in American apple pies, but I like the appearance and lightness of a french apple tart. How could I combine the two? By jumping off the Tarte Tatin.

Tart tatin is an upside-down apple tart where you first make a caramel (with a stick of butter and a cup of sugar) and spread it at the bottom of the pie plate. I wanted something lighter, less sweet, and less time-consuming. Enter: Upside-down apple-pear tart.

Upside-down Apple-Pear Tart

• Make a flaky pie crust dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for an 45-60 minutes.
• Cut 6-7 apples and pears into thick slices (~8th)
• Pre-heat the oven to 375F
• Butter 1 large or 2 small pie plates. (The crust was enough for me to make 1 9in and 1 5in)
• Place the fruit neatly on the bottom.
• Roll out the pie crust and lay it over the fruit, tucking the edges around the fruit
• Using a fork, make some holes in the crust to let steam out.
• Bake at 375F until the crust is golden brown (it took me an hour, but I was at a high altitude)
• When the tart is done, use a knife to loosen the crust from the pie plate.
• Just before serving: Put your serving plate upside-down on top of the tart and flip the everything so that the serving dish is right side-up underneath the now upside-down pie plate. (Does that make sense?)
• Slowly lift the pie plate, gently shaking it to free the fruit.
• Manually take any fruit pieces that remain stuck to the pie plate and put them on top of the tart.
• Serve hot or room-temp, with optional ice cream or whipped cream.

I made a mini cranberry tart with the leftover crust

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Ok, well, I didn't make it. My mom did! For my birthday! Isn't that nice?

This is pretty much one of my favorite cakes out there. It's like nutella, but better, and in a cake. More hazelnutty too.

I love this cake because it is quite light and airy for a nut cake, and the flavor combination is delicious. Make sure you use good hazelnuts though, rancidity is just not very tasty...

This is a french recipe from Elle magazine, so it is in grams. Just get yourself a balance and be happy I translated the instruction for you.

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 200g shelled hazelnuts
• 3 eggs
• 150g sugar
• 20g flour
• 60g melted butter
• 50g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C (350F.)
2. Butter a 9in diameter round cake pan.
3. Using a food processor, grind the hazelnuts to a coarse sand-like texture.
4. Separate the whites from the yolks and beat them into stiff peaks.
5. In a medium-large bowl combine the sugar with the egg yolks and beat until pale and mousse like. (about 3 minutes with an electric mixer)
6. Slowly, still mixing, add in the flour.
7. Add the melted butter, mix it in, then add the hazelnuts.
8. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
9. Fold in the chocolate chips.
10. Pour the batter in the buttered pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until golden.
11. Let it rest 10 minutes out of the oven before un-molding
12. Enjoy! You can decorate with a thin dusting of confectioner's sugar if you like.