Recipes | Page 13 of 27 | The Rambling Epicure

Simple Sustenance: Green Goodness — Broccoli and Pepita Pesto

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Permalink 0

“When you’re green inside, you’re clean inside.” – Dr. Bernard Jensen

Today it’s all about green goodness in our diet. Yes, I mean green vegetables. We all know they are good for us, but why do some of us ignore them? Maybe, we just don’t like their taste, or they sound like diet food. In that case, we should try making them different ways than we usually do — something out of the box. Give them a new twist and explore a little. Who knows, they may surprise us.

Speaking of green vegetables, broccoli comes to my mind instantly. Its health benefits are several. But I know, it’s not an exciting vegetable for many of us. We have memories of eating bland steamed broccoli that we wished we could throw under the table. At times, it was topped with some plastic-like yellow cheese to make it more enticing. Even then it wasn’t very appealing. Since Mom insisted it was good for us, there wasn’t anyway to escape it except to wolf it down as fast as possible and forget about it until next time it showed up at the dinner table, staring at us.

Simple Sustenance: Roasted Cauliflower with Kalamata Olives and Lemon-Parsley Gremolata

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Thursday, March 29, 2012 Permalink 0

Mediterranean Flair: Roasted Cauliflower with Kalamata Olives and Lemon-Parsley Gremolata

by Renu Chhabra

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.– James Beard

Spring is in the air, a season for new growth and rejuvenation. Everywhere we look, nature is awakening from its long winter rest. With flowers blooming and landscape covered with a blanket of green, there is a sense of new life welcoming the ever-inspiring spring, signifying a fresh start. And what better way to celebrate this beautiful time than to cook up something delicious with fresh ingredients and clean flavors just like the season itself.

Growing up I was always intrigued by cauliflower, a vegetable that came in a beautiful green leafy package. Peel off the leaves, and a white head of tiny trees clustered together greeted me. It was like removing gift wrap to find a lovely present inside. And who doesn’t like presents? I guess, that is why I have always loved this vegetable — a beautifully packaged gift from Mother Nature.

Sauce for Thought: Sweet Flower of Dreams

Published by Alice + Monday, March 26, 2012 Permalink 0

by Alice DeLuca

A little prehistoric flower has been grown, re-created really, from 32,000 year-old seeds found in the ancient den of an artic ground squirrel. The photo of the little white flower in the New York Times [i] brought a rush of excitement and a feeling of kinship with the scientists who sought to cover those seeds with earth and add water, to cup their hands and breathe warm air over the planting, revealing the sprouts last seen by the tiny ground squirrel so long ago. I have the same feeling when reading an antique recipe that might bring back the flavors of the ancestors. Can we breathe life in to an antique delicacy and resurrect a better flavor? Why did people add rose geraniums to their jelly, infuse herring pie[ii] with grains de paradis[iii], or even stir and stir to create cornstarch pudding for that matter? Perhaps they knew a marvelous flavor-way or texture that has been lost to us, overtaken by food fads and conveniences of the present day?

Simple Sustenance: The Rustic Comfort of Eggplant and Pea Stew

Published by Renu-Chhabra + Thursday, March 22, 2012 Permalink 0

Garam masala

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.” — Julia Child

This past weekend, we got much needed rain. It was a welcome relief to the parched hills and landscape around us. All day long dark clouds played hide and seek, and brought spurts of heavy showers, at times accompanied by loud winds. I sat at my kitchen window observing nature’s enormous beauty. Washed in the rain, it had come alive.

cilantro

The Macaron: A Dessert of Legendary Proportions

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 20, 2012 Permalink 0

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by Meeta Khurana Wolff

The macaron is a desert of legendary proportions, which easily transcends the cookie genre. Technically, it is simply a pastry, in which two shells made from ground almonds, egg whites, icing sugar and sugar encase a delicate filling flavored with a symphony of different flavors. In reality, its finesse goes far beyond that of cookies.

History of Macarons

It is believed that macarons made their way to the French court from Italy with the chefs of Catherine di Medici who married King Henry II of France in 1533. This dessert of all desserts really came into its own in 1792 when two nuns seeking asylum in Nancy during the French Revolution baked and sold macarons to support themselves and became known as the macaron sisters! At that time, the macaron was just plain pastry no flavor and no filling.

It was not until the 1900s that Ladurée‘s Pierre Desfontaines revolutionized the macaron by taking two pastry shells and filling them with ganache. Today, besides Ladurée, there is, of course, Pierre Hermé, both whom have elevated the macaron to new heights and made them celebrated.

Continue Reading…

Thoughts on Jamie Schler’s latest HuffPost article: You are What You Eat: a Food Blogger’s Dilemma

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, March 16, 2012 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Jamie Schler‘s latest article on the The Huffington Post, “You are What You Eat: a Food Blogger’s Dilemma,” is a must-read for any serious food blogger.

You might ask, “what is a serious food blogger?” One who has 2 million followers, one who gets a zillion hits a month, one with a goal in mind, such as a book or television show, or is it someone one who encourages healthy eating, who is interested in educating the public and sees it as almost a civic duty? That is a really good question in today’s topsy-turvy world, where famous is not necessarily good or good for you, and on the Internet, anything goes.

Image courtesy of CoffeeMuffins.com

Simple Sustenance: Healthy and Easy Bell Pepper, Garbanzo Bean, and Bulgur Salad

Published by Esha-Chhabra + Monday, March 12, 2012 Permalink 0

by Renu Chhabra

“Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.” — Marcel Boulestin

Healthy and easy might not sound very complicated, but I’m not talking about a cup of yogurt or a bowl of fruit. I am thinking of something hearty and flavorful with a farm-fresh bite. When the vegetable drawer in the fridge is begging for a visit to the produce market, it can become challenging to bring farm-fresh bite to the plate. This was the dilemma I was facing last night.

When I opened my fridge, I found just a couple bell peppers and a bunch of parsley were keeping each other company in the vegetable drawer. While I was wondering how to make the most of what was available, I found two slender carrots and a lemon hidden in a corner of the drawer. I was hoping to come up with something that would satisfy my appetite. A look in the pantry to find some bulgur and a can of garbanzo beans completed the recipe — a well balanced meal of vegetables, whole grains, and protein. It seemed like another victory over a culinary battle!

After the Cheese Making comes the Cheese Tasting

Published by Diana Zahuranec + Thursday, March 8, 2012 Permalink 0

by Diana Zahuranec

A black trash bag is tossed onto my desk. When I peer inside, four rounds of cheese stare up at me, one with a small wedge like a Pac-Man smile sliced out of it.

These raw cow’s milk cheeses are the result of the efforts of a group of students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences who, for one January day, were cheese mongers. After a year of visiting cheese producers, tasting cheese in class, and going a little crazy at the biennial Slow Food Cheese 2011 fair, the next logical step was a DIY cheese-making party (see how here). Five and half weeks later, and the two big and two small rounds are set on the picnic table outside in the approaching spring’s warmth.

The knife squeaked when I pushed it through the small cheese with both hands. It definitely had grate-able potential. Tiny flecks of dark blue mold gathered on the bottom of the rind, but it was mostly creamy white and clean-looking. I sniffed the small cheese, and it smelled like butter. Tentatively biting a small piece, I tasted the saltiness first, and then a slight acidity cut through. It was crumbly and reminded one girl of pecorino cheese, nevermind that it’s cow’s milk, not sheep’s. It had a faint animal-like taste (normal enough in a cheese), but a weird, pungent aftertaste. A little salty overall, but not bad. A few friends thought otherwise. The most exciting thing about it was that we had made it.

How to Make Perfect Brownies like your Grandma’s

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, February 16, 2012 Permalink 0

How to Make Perfect Brownies like your Grandma’s

We love this beautifully illustrated recipe for making the perfect brownies. This is a keeper!

The explanations are better than a video because they let you go on with your work and refer back to the photos when you need to.

Click here to go to the recipe.

Spontaneous Cuisine: John Dory, Italian Green Wild Asparagus and Blood Orange Sauce

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Italian Blood Oranges are in Season and Reasonably Priced Now!

One of my favorite ways of creating tasty but healthy dishes is using fruit and vegetables as sauce. There are millions of ways to do this, depending mainly on the season.

Oranges are abundant at the moment, so I’ve been using a lot of orange juice to liven up dishes. It adds a burst of flavor, yet requires no cream or butter, thus making it low in calories and high in fiber.

The season is short for wild Italian asparagus, so take advantage of it in April and May.