Weave a Thousand Flavors

GoodBye, Thanksgiving Leftovers & Hello, Lighter Fare - Grilled Caprese & Salami Paninis

Fresh mozzarella, Basil, Vine ripened Tomatoes & Salami with A Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette On Ciabatta Bread

 
Chances are we've all been in the same boat this week and the name of that boat is Gluttony!

I must have taken a few extra rounds in this boat than most of you because you can literally stick a fork in me and roast me on a spit! Hence this week I'm all about the lighter fare - fresh flavors that are big on taste and light on my best friends - buttah, dear-buttah & more-buttah. I am sure you've met them all but this week and for this week only, they've all been packed off on a little cruise.

 Which brings me back to this delightful meal. Insalata Caprese is a wonderfully simple salad from the Italian region of Campania. It is a quintessential summer salad (but we're just going to ignore that one and let our Aussie friends have a little fun) using the best of Nature's bounty - vine ripened tomatoes, fresh aromatic basil leaves, fresh buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Such a description is all I need to gobble up a plate. However, my boys tend to view this salad as an invitation to play with their food - one announcing that he doesn't like fresh tomatoes, the other eating only the tomatoes and nibbling on the rest, leaving behind a plate full of half eaten bits, unfit for further consumption.

Mr. Hubby looking forlorn at the sight of a plate with only tomato, cheese and herbs goes What! no meat?

And it is so that I learned that the Panini Grill is a girl's best friend. Pull  that sucker out from the cabinet and whatever I put on it, as long as it's between 2 layers of artisan bread, gets eaten up with never a peep!

In this case, I've taken all the ingredients of Insalata Caprese,  added some thinly sliced hard salami, nestled it in a balsamic vinaigrette with garlic cloves and what you end up with is a plateful of Ooohh......

 

Warm Wishes & A Thanksgiving Treat : Autumnal Pumpkin, Cream Cheese & Spice Swiss Roll

 
Oh Alright, I give up, I give in!

I know you're all 'pumpkined-out' but I have fallen trap with those millions who cannot but help post a pumpkin recipe come Thanksgiving. I have tried to ignore these orange globes all season but Alas! It is not be be! I have been haunted  by the thought that as Thanksgiving approaches at neck breaking speed, I must follow suit after my fellow brethren in the blogosphere and magazine publishers and post one, just one pumpkin recipe.

For those of us who belong to the category of people who have eyed recipes containing the terms 'swiss rolls' and 'jelly roll pan' with some trepidation, I'll have you know that for all our sakes, I have had a breakthrough - swiss rolls are forgiving!

I never thought I'd hear me say these words - but there, I've said it and I mean it. I have never claimed to be an ace baker but mainly some who loves to cook and happens to bake because I love, absolutely love the sweet scent and taste of fresh baked oven goodies. That and the fact that my two little munchkins cannot be denied their weekly treat.

So when I decided that for these holidays I would bake something with pumkin, after tossing the swiss roll idea around face book and oscillating between that and pumkin muffins with cheesecake and streusel, the populace spoke and the swiss roll won hands down.

Here's a mantra that I would recite while I fix these "Even if it looks like I'm screwing up, I'm not - it's going to be fabulous!" And it will be. Take it from me because there were times throughout the process that I kept thinking - "no way it's supposed to look like this" or " how come mine doesn't look all smooth & flat? " but in the end, it matters not! All said and done, they look fab, they taste fab, you'll get rave reviews and honestly, what else is there?

Now before I bury myself in the general mayhem of grocery list making, menu planning and cooking that is going to take over everything this coming week, I leave you and yours with my warmest wishes ~

 Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

 

A Lazy Sunday Brunch & Smoked Salmon & Mascarpone-Brie Filled Pastry with Chive Butter Sauce

 

My time for procrastination has come to an end.

It has been a week of throw together one dish meals and with the exception of a Steak and Ale pie & those delightfully quick guacamole morsels that I was compelled to prepare for a community gathering a few days ago, I have done neither any noteworthy cooking nor blogging.

Obviously even Mum has noticed because she happened to mention casually yesterday that she hadn't seen any of my 'draft' posts or writing go up. Nor have I discussed any new meals with her with my usual fervor that overshadows most of our conversations. 

I therefore awoke with more gusto than usual this Sunday and was determined to put to use some of the groceries that I have hoarded in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks awaiting such a morning.

I am delighted that I will be using smoked salmon which I love  and by the way can scoff down in large quantities and with such swiftness that were it put to the test it would be to the embarrassment of all my family members & certainly give Mr. Hubby a run for his money!

I also know I want to use Brie just not sure how I'm going to use it just yet. Also some stalks of asparagus, frozen puff pastry and a sort of buerre blanc sauce. Though the concept is firmly embedded in my noggin, the details are somewhat sketchy and like so many of my culinary adventures I have decided to don my apron, Chef's thinking cap and go with the flow.

The flow as it were, led here.

 
The initial idea for this recipe began with vol au vents which Mum and I always made for dinner parties stuffed with chicken & Mushrooms back when I was growing up. The idea was further crystallized by a recipe for salmon stuffed puff pastry rolls in the Australian Womens Weekly. The decision to use Brie, walnuts, asparagus and chive butter sauce has more to do with the Sound of Music song really - These are a few of my favorite things - Well, they are! 

And when in doubt use puff pastry!

 

Holiday Finger Foods : Filo Cups with Crab & Pineapple Guacamole

 
I don't care how organized we are, the Holidays are a time when most of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off!

Now if you're anything like me, you'll take any help you can get to keep the troops loaded and complacent while waiting on the feast ahead. No matter how much wine and beer is guzzled down, eventually folks will always meander back to the table looking for small bites.

Have I got just the thing for you!

 

These little guacamole delights are absolutely wonderful and are just the thing as a go-between munchie so much so that even the young ones love em'.

Now there is no shame in admitting - I go right for those frozen filo cups sitting in the freezer section for this one. Hey, between all the other cooking we have to get done, I say let's take the help where it's offered!

 

Authentic Yakhni Pulao - My Childhood On a Plate

 

If I were asked to sum up my childhood in one meal then that meal for me is undoubtedly Yakhni Pulao. If what you see before you is just a plate of meat and rice then let me share with you what you aren't seeing - this is a plate with a story to tell.

A story about tradition, knowledge passed down from father to son and now father to daughter and daughter to sons not by the written word but by little anecdotes and "see here's" and sentences that invariably begin with "Your Grandfather, your Dadaji would say........."

This plate also tells the tale about honesty - honest ingredients meet on a plate and the the story that then unfolds is less about the Cook and more about the Dish. Just a handful of excellent ingredients come together and unleash an explosion of flavors. And the true foundation of this dish begins not in the kitchen but at the butcher shop where only the finest quality of meat can yield the perfect result of a perfect pulao.

As is tradition, the meat here is spring goat and unlike it's smellier cousin, the lamb, it is full of iron and protein and is very very lean. But there is an art to selecting the perfect cut of meat, so before you venture out to fix this dish, I suggest, No, I insist that you read the next post on - Once Upon a Goat! Everything you ever wanted to know about 'Select' Goat meat and Wish you Never Asked

Growing up, it was quite common to see my father wake up in the wee hours of the morning and drive to the butcher shop so he would be able to select the finest slab of meat, still unloading off the delivery truck. On days that I would join him, he'd say "You know your Dadaji (paternal Grandfather) would be able to choose the perfect quality of meat that would cook in 20 minutes flat!"

Back at home Mum would be busy preparing for the meat that would soon make an appearance. Probably still huddled in their jammies, the dinner guests, friends of the family who have savored the delights of this dish in the past, would often call Mum voicing their anticipation for the evening feast ahead.

 
It is even more delightful that today this meal is being prepared by Dad himself because when it comes to this signature dish, no one does it better! I silently stand back in the wings, taking notes while Mum is scurrying about the kitchen handing him the next ingredient. This is a dance that I have always watched them do when Dad is at the helm in the kitchen.

So without further ado, for the sake of my sons, here is Daadu's pearls of wisdom as he brings us all his signature Yakhni Pulao!