zucchini fritters.

A thousand apologies for being M.I.A on this blog. I've got SO many posts to catch up on, all from Glasgow...


I believe this dinner was a collaboration with Ariel. I chopped up some zucchini, added flour, cheese, egg, salt, pepper, and fried little patties in olive oil. Ariel prepared a little salad in a bowl for each of us. The fritters went on top and we drizzled the whole thing in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. What a perfect amount of food.


(sorry for the crappy quality)

YUM!

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homemade gyoza, rice, and miso soup.

As you know from my previous post, I bought lots of delicious Japanese ingredients at the local Chinese food store. One of those things was gyoza skins.

Originally I had planned to do a dinner party and make tons of gyoza...thank goodness I didn't because the pack mad much less than I thought!

I chopped up garlic, leeks, kikurage mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, edamame and sesame seeds and put them in a bowl. Add a little bit of sesame oil and mirin and tadaaa, you've got the mix for the inside of the gyoza! Ariel helped me make them; it was her first time! I ended up finishing them, but she did a pretty good job. I guess I'll have to thank my mom for turning gyoza-making into a family activity.

Then I fried them up and they were ready to eat! They were delicious, but definitely don't beat my mom's. I think next time I need to include some cabbage and tofu. AND SHRIMP.

udon noodles etc. in miso.

I don't often make Japanese food for myself (which will mostly likely change next fall, when I will have to cook for myself in a country where a rice cooker would be a convenient investment). I think it's because my mom does such a great job making dinner, so that whenever I try to make Japanese food, it just doesn't taste as hearty.

HOWEVER, sometimes the craving is so great that I can't resist it. I found a Chinese food shop that sells a handful of good quality Japanese foods (!!!), and there I indulged my inner Japanese. Things weren't too expensive but I made sure to calculate how much I was spending as I went along, just so I didn't go overboard. The first thing I went for was a decent pack of miso paste. As I've experienced from my mother's past experiences in miso testing, unless you're in a particularly explorative mood, don't mess around. Stick with what you know; there's nothing more upsetting than getting cozy for Japanese breakfast (rice + miso soup+ whatever) and having it taste too sweet. Or too salty. My favorite is shiromiso.

When I got home, I obviously made myself miso soup with tofu and a bowl of Japanese rice. A couple of nights later, this made its way into my stomach:


Udon noodles with shiitake mushrooms, carrot slices, and bamboo shoots in a miso broth. I made sure to drop an egg in right before the noodles were done. The egg cooks (boils?) in the heat of the broth so by the time the food makes it into a bowl, it's cooked just right – softly cooked with a little bit of goo in the middle.


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butternut squash spread and custard tart.

Whenever pies and tarts are made at my house, it's always with pre-made crusts. Don't get me wrong, they're always deliciously buttery so there's no complaining. It definitely saves time and anxiety.

Buuuut, I've always wanted to make one! There's something about being able to make your own tart crust that really appeals to me. I know, I'm getting more domestic every day.

It definitely came out much better than I had anticipated. A bit unfortunate about the fork marks though (they were mandatory).


I still had tons of that butternut squash spread leftover, so I filled the bottom of the tart crust with it. I sprinkled some extra cinnamon to give it a little kick, and then covered the entire thing in custard. Duh.


The slice looks really pretty. Tasted pretty darn good too! It really was a perfect way to use the squash spread. As for the crust, well, the amount of butter and sugar in it was perfect! It wasn't overpowering at all (as in, I didn't feel guilty having two slices in one sitting).



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cinnamon and white chocolate cantucci.

Cantucci strikes again.

This time, I've tried a new combination: cinnamon and white chocolate bits.


I apologize for the lack of a macro shot.

My original plan was to do a pistachio-white chocolate combination, but then I realized how expensive they were (last time there was a 2-for sale). The white chocolate bar was only 89p, and I had the other ingredients at home, so that pretty much determined what the outcome would be.

They tasted pretty fabulous. Ariel was a huge fan. One of my other flatmates even paid me for one. The cinnamon flavor was quite subtle (I should've added maybe another teaspoon). You could definitely taste the white chocolate; unfortunately, I forgot how sweet white chocolate is, so I didn't decrease the amount of sugar I put in....aka this was DEFINITELY a dessert (as opposed to a morning coffee accompaniment). Well, at least I know now so that when I make the pistachio-white chocolate batch, I should balance out the sweetness.

I wish I took a photo of the plain (amaretto/vanilla) batch that I made for a friend's whiskey tasting party. They were literally two-bite size and absolutely adorable!

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olive oil bread.

Ariel and Hannah bake bread all the time. After baking so many batches of biscotti, I decided that it's about time to try bread. I've always wanted to try, but I guess I never really got around to it.

So I tackled olive oil bread. On the farm, Maria and I made fives loaves together, so I knew what the dough should look like...she bakes bread all the time, so she didn't need to use a recipe. Which is great for me, really.

Pictured here, is my attempt.




It was fairly good! I think another 10 minutes in the oven would've made it pretty delicious. Because of the olive oil, it's kind of thick, I think. It probably could've used more salt. More bread-related updates to come...I haven't had a loaf that's good enough to call it a completely success yet.

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