Corn flour - milk cake, aka mâlai dulce

The polenta from last night reminded me of a cake I ate last summer at a bakery, more like a pastry shop, in the former capital of Transilvania, Cluj Napoca. While walking around the Opera I found two places, the pastry shop, and a street food vendor that served delicious yeast dough filled with all sorts of great things.

While my son was enlarging his head with mathematics, I quickly googled the net to find some recipes, and as I got home I adapted one to be my very own 5 minute whip-up cake.

On the internet everyone is claiming that they ate this at grandma's. Hmmm... Seriously? Apparently I have not visited my Romanian friend's grandmas, because last summer was the first time I ever ate this cake, but it definitely felt like I missed something out in my childhood for not eating this!!!

Maybe they weren't Transylvanian grandmas, but rather Oltenian grandmas who baked this.. will just keep musing.. That should make me feel a bit better for missing out.

Will let you know tomorrow how it tastes, or look likes, keeping fingers crossed that at least remotely will resemble the pastry shop's cake, but tonight I am typing the ingredients and amounts in to be able to reproduce it in case it turns out good.

Ingredients

1 1 /2 cup corn grits, aka polenta

1/2 cup grits (cream of wheat)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

lemon zest of 1 lemon

3 large eggs (I used 3, but wasn't fluffy enough, so tomorrow will bake one with 4)

1 cup sugar

2 cups yogurt ( I actually used my last bottle of creamy kefir with a little extra store bought)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

Serve on its own with a tea, or with a dollop of jam, maybe even whipped (sour)cream if you wanna be extra fancy. I will definitely try it with some whipped sour cream tomorrow.

Preheat the oven to 320 F, 160 C.

Grease a 9" x 13" (30 cm x 40 cm) with butter and flour, or line with parchment paper.

Mix the dry ingredients together (corn meal, grits, flour, salt, baking powder).

Beat the eggs gradually with the sugar, add vanilla, yogurt, milk, and oil, and mix in the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth, no lumps at all.

Bake on the medium rack for 45 minutes, until light golden brown.

Just checked mine, and the smell is ahhhmahhzing!!! Can't wait to get it out of the oven, and I already feel the guilt for eating those coconut thins that were way too sweet, and not needed in my diet. 😜

Bon appetite! 

Ps. Now you are on a journey of developing this recipe to perfection. If you have time wait until I bake some more varieties, but if you are adventurous join me and bake along to fix mistakes :).

Green tomato - sorrel soup

 

Very excited about this one, not only all main ingredients came from my yard and raised beds, it is also a very fond childhood memory, us, kids, picking sorrel

It is a new soup for me that I tried once and immediately fell in love with. As with everything I'm not a person of recipes, I will prepare how and what I feel good for my own taste.

Using what I have is my main priority. I get frustrated of complicated recipes, and well, basically I never follow any recipe for cooking, like I definitely do for baking.

Soo.. long story short, don't forget this is home cooking, twist it to your taste. The ony trick, if you haven't gotten one yet, go get an immersion blender like... yesterday, but latest now..

Here is what I used today.

Ingredients (for about 2 liters - 2 quarts) of soup

50 g (half a stick) of butter

2-3 tbspoons of vegetable oil 

1 shallot , I used half of those giant onions that sell around here

300 g green tomatoes

200 g of sorrel 

750 ml (3 cups) of  broth (I used chicken-little beef and veggies broth I made in the InstaPot)

500 ml + 500 ml (4 cups) of water 

2-3 boiled yellow gold potatoes (or 4-5 tbsp Idaho potato flakes)

salt and pepper

Greek yogurt (any yogurt, really) for serving

 

Boil the potatoes (or microwave them for about 10 minutes using a lightly closed plastic bag, reuse one from the veggie packaging), peel and chop them into smaller chunks.

Chop the onions, small enough to saute fast, but don't fret about the size, they'll be pureed.

Chop the tomatoes into small chunks, or you can use a turmix to puree them slightly. 

Chop or tear the sorrel into smaller pieces, like half or a third of a leaf.

Melt the butter, add the onions and start sauteing, adding small amount of oil as needed, not to stick the onions to the bottom.

When glassy add the tomatoes and the sorrel, saute them for about 2-3 minutes, and 500 ml (2 cups) of water. Add the broth, salt and pepper to taste, and when starts boiling reduce the heat to low / medium low to just simmer, coverand simmer for 25 minutes. Add the remaining 500 ml of water.

Reduce from the heat, use the immersion blender and blend it all together, add 2 potatoes and blend well. Check consistency, if prefer thicker add the extra potato. Same with the potato flakes, add 4 tbsp potato flakes first, and add more to adjust consistency of needed.

Serve with yogurt and your favorite bread or crackers. I love Finnish rye bread buttons, lightly toasted naan, or toasted bread cubes, anything you have in the cupboard, really.

Bon appetite!

Potato wedges

With young guests coming and going I am always looking for a crowd pleaser, but I try to avoid overdoing the preps.
With kids I had the most trouble, obviously, as many of them are unfortunately picky, and even if they eat home made food or veggies, they like the taste of home..

I have another reason to publish these very simple recipes. My only daughter won't enjoy my prepared meal, so I'll post some she can reproduce on her own :). Maybe I won't miss her so much by doing so :).

These potato wedges are soo simple, that in 50 minutes they were baked, eaten, and this blogpost was born :) (well, almost :)),  obviously not so artistic pictures, but you can't feed pre and teenagers with pics :D.

Ingredients
Gold potatoes or baking potatoes, about 2 large, or 3 smaller / person
oil for brushing
pink pepper (if you don't have at home I recommend buying some!, but you can use rosemary as well if you prefer or you can;t get pink pepper)
salt 

Serving
Greek or Strauss' European yogurt
sour cream, about 1/3 of the amount of the yogurt
1 larger green onion chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp mustard
salt, pepper
1 small cucumber, optional
shredded hard cheese, optional

Preheat the oven for 425-450 F, 225-250 C.
When it comes to potatoes, for this purpose I prefer Costco's Premium Gold Potatoes, those that are beautifully yellow when peeled. Unfortunately they don't sell consistent quality, but this batch I bought last was among the best ones!
Peal the potatoes, and depending on their size, and your preference, cut them into 4-6-8 slices. They don't have to be perfectly same. The smaller the crunchier, and a bit dryer, too.
Place them in a tray covered with parchment paper, brush them with oil, sprinkle salt to taste, and grind some pink peppers as well.

Bake on the higher rack in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, depends on the type of tomatoes you use and your oven.

Enjoy!

Light chocolate muffins/mini cakes

So many things going on right now.. Number one priority is the house, but no matter what else is on my plate I still have a family to feed. And they like goodies..
On top of all there is Easter, and making plans ahead wouldn't hurt.. so I kinda try.

I decided to make some Easter egg nests, and combine some idea prototyping with a "light" chocolate/baking therapy to accompany a hot rum tea on a late afternoon. One additional reason for choosing muffin was the cooooooold weather, it is not the most convenient to bake yeast based goodies when I can't heat my kitchen.

Instill don't have my triple chocolate muffin recipe, which was THE best, but I thought I'm gonna use my friends' recipe as a base.
I didn't haven measuring cups at hand so I just threw things in the bowl, but cupcakes are NOT rocket science, so one can hardly go wrong if there are enough moisturizers.
The original recipe I used is from Ripaus ja hyppysellinen, without the cream, 'cause I just simply don't like creams unless absolutely needed.
I used mini cake forms because they reminded me of little nests, and I will use these as a bases to decorate for Easter.

Ingredients
200 g grated chocolate, preferably on the darker side, or roughly 1 1/2 cups small semi sweet chocolate chips. It would be even better to mix and match dark and milk chocolate chips, or even white one.. next time.. 
1 1/3 stick butter (150 g)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs
3-4 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar, can be humpy
2/3 cup yogurt
1 tbsp oil, something with no flavor

Preheat oven to 430 F, 225 C. Prepare about 18 smaller (not the mini though) muffin forms any eay you want. I like to lightly
Mix butter with sugar until creamy. Mix in the eggs, one by one, blending in each properly.
Mix the dry ingredients, except chocolate and start adding them to the buttery mix. Mix in the yogurt, the tbsp oil,  and last just fold in the chocolate.
Divide the dough in the baking form, filling about 2/3.
Bake for 15 minutes, and let cool.
Next, you can do as wish, decorate with melted chocolate wiggles, add butter cream, castor sugar..
I will most probably make various decorations before Easter, for Easter, so check back if interested..
Bon appétit!

Creamy beetroot soup ala Baltic style

The flu decided to mess with me, and kept me in not so good mood for some days. With the sun shining is not so bad, but my energy level is halved, to say the least.
I baked fresh bread and promised accompanying fresh salad with it for dinner for the family, but maybe because of my flu-ish mood I wanted something warm, something liquid. I think European soups are the best food on Earth for whatever occasion, but especially for somebody sick..
Why European in particular? Because the "soups" here in US are so thick, they remind me of the Hungarian főzelék, which is of course great, it just has nothing to do with soups :).
I bought some, much more than needed, beetroot at the local Sprouts because the organic beetroot bunch was sold for a steal, $3 for 2 bunches, each with 3 tennis ball size beetroot.
I made a huuge amount of soup, but here I share with you the recipe for just a decent sized 4-5 person family.
With Easter coming, it is a food to keep in mind, it is a delicious way to use up all those hard boiled eggs you have left over or your hubby brought home from locsolás :).

Ingredients
2 tennis ball size beetroot
1 similar size potato, preferably the type meant for mashed potatoes
salt, pepper
1 small onion
water
500 ml, half quart natural, unflavored yogurt, I used Bulgarian yogurt
2-3 tbsp oil, use olive oil if you prefer
water, about 1 litre, 1 quart
lemon to taste

Serving

yogurt or sour cream to serve. If you wanna get fancy, and add to the taste, mix some finely grated horseradish in the yogurt/sour cream

hard boiled eggs, at least 1 egg/person
It can be also served with hot boiled or baked potato wedges
rye bread, or white bread, fresh or toasted, whichever you prefer

Peel the potato and the beetroot.
In a medium, about 3 litres, 3 quarts, pot add the oil, chop the onion finely, and over medium heat fry the onions.

Toss in the beetroot and the potato, let it simmer shortly in the hot oil, and add the water, just enough to have the content of the pot, eg. the beetroot and the potato covered. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Let it simmer on medium heat under a lid, for about 20 minutes, until the potato is soft, and the beetroot is "crunchy"- soft.

Let it cool a little, and in a food processor blend until smooth, at least as smooth as possible..
If you prefer smother taste, choose a less sour yogurt instead of the Bulgarian yogurt. we are a sour-tooth family, I can never add enough vinegar or lemon, so we love the sourness of both the yogurt, and even some extra lemon juice.
Mix in the yogurt, adjust sourness with additional yogurt or and lemon. Serve with the sour cream/yogurt and the hard boiled eggs.
The most wonderful thing about this soup is that can be served hot or cold.
If you choose to serve cold, adds to the harmony of the taste if you serve with hot, fresh boiled eggs (or hot boiled/baked potato wedges), but don't stress about it, they are good cold as well.
Enjoy!