Weave a Thousand Flavors

4th Of July ~ Red, White & Beautiful : Berryful Parcels in Buttery Coconut Pastry with Ricotta, Lemon & Coconut Cream

  

As a cook I am grateful that either by the hand of fate, the intent of the founding fathers or simply a roll of dice on histories game board that Independence Day in the US falls in July.

As is norm for this celebration, all desserts that grace the 4th of July BBQ table in some form or the other replicate the red, white and blue colors of the US flag in edible representation. Can you imagine, celebrating Independence Day in the dead of winter? What possible seasonal fruits (and vegetables) would we use? I for one draw a blank at korean purple yams and orange sweet potatoes! Hardly, the colors of the hour.

Case and point, as a cook I for one am glad the  holiday falls smack, dab in the middle of summer where there is a plethora of summer produce namely berries. What a no-brainer that is.

And yet, instead of the creamy concoctions I love the thought and bite of berries nestled in the butterest, flakiest of crusts, melting-in-the-mouth with each savoring bite, only to be outdone by the flavor of sweet summer berries, simply un-messed with and topped with a flavor-blasting lemony, coconutty ricotta topping.

 
Take into account, that even if the thought of dealing with pie crust makes you want to back into a corner, these very forgiving, frayed, dough tatters will bring out the 'Thor' in each one of your shrinking hearts. And after a single bite, you won't just have to take my word that these little morsels create red, white and beautiful fireworks entirely on their own! 

 

Quick & Easy Summer Watermelon & Honeydew Melon Salad

 
 
I love watermelons. Actually I love melons - period!

And as the summer temperatures continue to rise, these delicious globes find their way more and more frequently to our table. However once in a while, its nice to find a way to dress it up a bit.

So when friends were popping in for a quick bite I decided to do a good ole' melon salad dressed up like prom queen - elegant & pretty. And how better to do that than with herbs, mint & honey?

Make this part of your summer potlucks will ya!

 

Mediterranean Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Apricots, Sweet Potatoes & Polish Sausage

 

I sometimes keep secrets from my husband.

Not the kind that involves stupidity like going out for lunch with a high school crush and not telling him because that would tantamount to taking a very long walk on a very short pier!

But the kind where I don't always tell him what I am fixing for dinner even when he asks especially when it is something special I have been planning for sometime. Well, so much for secrets because sometimes even the most well intentioned ones can come back to bite you in the ass.

Look at my day for instance, we decided to take the boys to see Gulliver Travels which was a lot of Jack Black, fun. Little did I know that between the three of them they were going to get two mega bucket refills on the popcorn.

So what do you think happened? Come dinner time, here I am fixing what I think is a lovely dinner and I end up with my little one pushing food around his plate, my older barely finishing what's on his and Mr. Hubby not asking for seconds! You hear me, no seconds!

Niether was dinner accompanied by the usual flattery, ovation and flourish!

See what I mean? Bite me in the ass!

Well, boys with full bellies aside, this is a lovely dish with beautiful flavors and shouldn't be missed. Unless you too have a belly full of popcorn ofcourse!

 

Kicked Up Chicken Teriyaki Drumsticks

 
This right here is rocket science.....nawt!

But it one of those things that qualifies as 'Pillars of my Kitchen'.

What I mean by that is : if I used the last sprinkle of my truffle salt , I probably won't pull the car out of the driveway in my jammies in the wee hours, haul my kids in their jammies into the back, forget the make-up and make it at neck breaking speed to the nearest store to get that last bottle of truffle salt.

No, ma'am.

But if I run out of everything that's needed to make this week's batch of my kicked up Teriyaki sauce, I probably would. So just remember the next time you run into someone at the store who looks like she just rolled out of bed and the ghouls are chasing her, that's probably me!

Now here's why, whether it's chicken breasts, wings,  thighs or drumsticks (the size of them reminds you that they want to grow up to be turkey legs) like I've got today, this homemade teriyaki sauce works oh so well that I don't recall the last time I picked up a bottle of Kikko......infact, kikko who?

And since it takes all of five minutes to put together as long as you're not suffering from carpal tunnel and can wield a whisk, I say what's stopping you? So go on, get you some drumsticks....naow.

 

'A Strawberry Battle' Kick off with Summery Strawberry Crumble Cake

  
With mercury rising to a hot 94 deg today, summer is finally here! Aah..... welcome to long days filled with pool splashes, canon balling, barbecues, fire flies, mosquito bites and sveltering heat!

 

But for the folks down under, summer brings the promise of these and along with it all yet another joy, especially for us cooks. Farmer's markets, fresh produce which for me especially translates into days of  stocking up on summer berries.

I have no doubt that by the time autumn rolls in, you will have had enough of me and my berriful recipes. Every week I find yet another excuse to incorporate black, blue or straw - berries into a dessert or cake so much so that my kids have stopped asking what they can have for snack. They know well enough they'll either be chowing down a bowl of the fruit or digging into some berry-concoction or the other.

And yet, you know me to be of discriminating tastes and of the plethora of recipes that grace our seasonal kitchen, I have my favorites - kinda like the 'bill of rights' of my culinary world.

I am embarrassed to say that this crumble cake right here is one I disguise in oh so many ways and sneak it back into our weekly rotation. I am waiting for the days when my kids finally wise up to the fact that their Mum is actually baking the same cake over and over again, disguised under a blanket of crumble, sometimes without and always switching the seasonal fruit around.

So when Ananda at A Pinch of Love whose culinary skills when it comes to cakes and desserts far out weighs mine and the magic she wields with the camera  leaves me panting, announced me as the winner of her Zucchini contest, I was surprised and delighted! Yippee!!! And then she asked me to host a contest of my own!

 

I had little choice but to turn to my love of summer fruit and announce the secret ingredient for the June 2011 contest to be, the ruby of summer berries -strawberries!

Strawberry time will be held throughout the month of June on Weave A Thousand Flavors. Entry. Submissions begin on June 6 - June 30, 2011, 11:59pm PST and I will announce the winner who may choose to host the next month’s edition of this contest on July 1st, 2011. We are all too busy with our lives for me to make this compulsory. Open to anyone, anywhere in the world.

 So please submit your fave strawberry recipes at Linky Tools - Click here to enter your blogpost link. 

 

 

 

• Only one entry per person & please link back to this post on your blog.
• The entry does not have to be a new post and may be an archived post.

 

 

 

 And what may you win? 

 

My favorite, gourmet 'secret ingredient' for your pantry!

Thank You!

I for one can't wait to see what you kitchen divas come up once you don on your culinary thinking caps and bring out the creative 'strawberry side' of you, here is my favorite strawberry recipe to inspire you to kick up those creative juices.

Humble as it may be but I bet you anything, you too will be trying to sneak this back on weekly rotation and potlucks more often than not!

 

'A whole lotta less' Spinach & Ricotta Spanakopita Pie

I am not often fond of words such as 'challenging' because when used in reference to things such as exercise for example, they denote a greater level of commitment that I am usually willing to give.

However, when the same word is used in reference to out of town guests with food restrictions, the word 'challenging' is one I welcome because it means putting on my creative hat and finding a way to make the meal a memorable one for all at the dinner table.

The guests we had to dinner early last week were about as challenging as one could get for a cook such as me who thrives on carnivorous meals. Not only were my guests devout vegetarians they also did not eat onions, garlic, eggs or any root vegetables.

I know what you're thinking "What on earth do these people really eat?" You will be surprised to know that these sect of Indians from Gujarat are known as Jains and have been so for about 3000 years and they also eat some of the most delicious foods. I should know - my grand mother is one.

So the easiest thing I could have done was to pull out my Nani's recipes and we could have had a wonderful traditional Gujarati dinner. But no! I decided I wanted to do a dinner with dishes from around the world all adapted to Jain cooking.

Fortunately, providence was on my side because when I came across Kat's recipe for spanakopita on her wonderful blog Food Advokat, I was quick to shoot her a couple of emails asking if I could substitute this for that - all to make the dish completely Jain friendly.

After that I went on my very own tweaking spree. The result a delicious egg-free, onion free spinach & ricotta spanakopita! See for yourself -