A Sail to the Caribbean

Dear Bloggers,
    Good evening. I tried my hand at making yogurt, making doughnuts, making Mandel bread and all three did not turn out right. However I also tried making  coconut rice with pigeon peas and that turned out beautifully accompanied by my grilled dolphin with mango chutney. Both of these recipes come once again from Cooking With Frogs. At this time, I have cooked 8 recipes from this book, with only 17 to go.
     Tonight was a night in the Caribbean and man, was it good! Let me begin with the delicious meal of grilled dolphin. The coconut rice with pigeon peas started by sautéing celery with1 red pepper, garlic, thyme, oregano, cilantro and olives in some olive oil. I then added the pigeon peas until sizzling. I added the rice to let it slightly brown and then added in the coconut milk and water. I let it cook for about 50 minutes until it was moist and topped it with cilantro. While the rice was cooking, I began by salting and peppering my Mahi Mahi, threw some oil on the grill, and let it cook for about 4 minutes each side until tender. It took about 10 minutes total. Then I worked on the mango chutney. I combined olive oil, mango chunks, salt, pepper, and orange juice in a food processor until smooth. I plated the fish with the mango chutney and a side of the coconut rice. It was divine. The creaminess of the coconut milk gave such a  nice consistency to the rice. It was so delicious. The fish was perfectly flaky with the sweet and slightly soured mango chutney. Overall, it was probably one of the best meals I have made in a while. I also decided to whip up some quick strawberry margaritas. Can you say yum?

I made some mandel bread as well, however this was not what it was supposed to be. I accidentally overlooked the 1 cup of butter and thought it was actually 1/2 cup. So, you can see how things got messed up there. My Mother's Mandel Bread turned out more so like a bread than it did a hardened cookie. Oh well, thank you Brooke, your photograph looks far superior and more delicious than mine turned out... I tried.





P.S. this is what my yogurt turned out like, but next time I make it, I will be sure not to have the temperature so high when I was letting the milk culture. I think I burned the milk because it is not as smooth as I had hoped. Anyways, until the next blog, stay healthy, don't make the same mistakes I did when cooking these recipes, and happy cooking!

A Delightful Day for Cream

Dear Bloggers,
      Today I embarked on a journey that I thought was a simple snap in between my fingers, making cottage cheese. I had my rennet, my milk, I thought I was set.... until I looked at the recipe, 6 tablespoons of cream it read... I didn't have a drop of cream and thought it probably wouldn't cause much of an effect if I omitted the cream. It's the coagulating process of whey separating from the fat in the milk. I was using 1% milk, I thought that would be enough. Well, to my four hours of patient waiting I came to find nothing had happened. Well, cottage cheese, we must meet again, but I better not waste a half gallon of organic milk again, or else!

     Nonetheless, I also tackled two more recipes from Cooking With Frogs. I managed to have my boyfriend pick up some cream, since I yet again failed to have what I really needed. Firstly, I cracked open those pistachios and damaged my fingers severely and added them to the melted butter in the pan along with the cream, chicken stock, and mascarpone. By the way, Anna, I love mascarpone cheese, it has been there for me through some dark times with a slice of fresh bread. I wish Americans realized the true quality difference between cheeses. Cream cheese has been banned from my refrigerator. I chose to use whole wheat pasta in exchange and tossed it in with the creamy sauce and plated it. I could not have been more pleasantly surprised. The smoothness that the mascarpone brings with the nutty, sweet flavors from the pistachios. It was an 10, hands down. I will opt to cook this recipe when I am feeling the need for some serious comfort food.

     I served the pasta with some beautiful bread I brought back from San Francisco, the one and only with lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. That tangy, sour, magnificently glutenous bread was topped with some freshly roasted garlic, Stonehouse olive oil. If you haven't checked them out, please do so here. They have one of the largest selections of olive oils that are so well bodied with the most fragrant, olive flavor. I topped the roasted garlic with some oregano, basil, and chili flakes. Bread always pleases.
    To end the evening, I opted for Ava's banana bread and was yet again happy. I am not a huge fan of banana bread, to be honest, but this bread was so simple that I forgot how good banana bread is. I loved the soured milk idea, although I wasn't sure scientifically how that would change the bread. Have any thoughts Taylor? Anyways, the banana bread might just have to reserve a place in my heart as being one of the most moist, flavorful breads I have tried. I hope you have the opportunity to appreciate and create some of these decadent dishes. Until next week, or maybe the week after, stay healthy and happy cooking!