Mango & Tomato

1/6/13

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing

From time to time I get opportunities to receive preview copies of cookbooks. At the end of 2012, I received a copy of Washington, DC Chef's Table by Beth Kanter with photographs by Emily Pearl Goodstein.

This cookbook is composed of recipes from Washington DC restaurants (and a few food trucks!) and provides readers with a bit of the restaurants' history.

Let's start with the good: the photographs by Emily Pearl Goodstein are beautiful. I really liked the layout of the book and the background stories on the restaurants and the recipes, as well as the people who make them. For example, did you know the beautiful cake on US Postal wedding stamps was made by the chef of the Blue Duck Tavern?

On a closer look, I began to question whether some of the recipes have been tested for a home cook: some of the directions were not very clear, not to mention that a few recipes had a list of ingredients that took up an entire page! Luckily, other recipes, such as Galletas de Chocolate de Amor {Chocolate Chip Cookies} from The Blind Dog Cafe seemed a lot more approachable.

Personally, I'm planning to use this book more as a guide or an inspiration to visit some of the DC area restaurants. If you know someone moving to DC or visiting DC, this will be a fun gift. If you are an incredibly brave cook, I dare you to try Carpaccio of Herb-Crusted Baby Lamb with Caesar Salad Ice Cream from The Inn at Little Washington.

In the end, I decided to make Charred Cauliflower Salad with Garlic Confit & Tahini Dressing from Room 11, but changed some of the steps and ingredients to suit my style of cooking. You can see my version of the recipe below.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing
Adapted from Washington, DC Chef's Table

Ingredients
for the dressing
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 lemons, juice and zest
1/2 cup tahini
salt & pepper to taste

for the cauliflower
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
salt & pepper
olive oil to drizzle

garnish
chopped parsley
smoked paprika
lemon wedges

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 475F.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor.
3. Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45-60 minutes, turning it occasionally.
4. Once out of the oven, season the cauliflower with a bit more salt and top with fresh parsley and smoked paprika.
5. Serve the roasted cauliflower on a platter with a side of the tahini dressing and lemon wedges.

You will have more dressing than you'll need for this recipe. Clearly, you can add it to other salads or even drizzle it on baked chicken or fish.

I used the leftover cauliflower to make a cream of cauliflower soup by adding some water and a bit of cream.

Question for you: how do YOU evaluate a cookbook?

1/4/13

Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage

I love soup year round, but especially when it's cold outside. There is just something so comforting about a hot bowl of soup. Over the weekend I wanted to make Aviva's Split Pea soup, but then I would not be able to blog about it again, and what's the fun in that? So I decided to make a few changes to her recipe and turned it into a Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage.

Note: have you commented on this post for a chance to win 2 Wasa boxes and a $25 gift card?

Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chile in adobo sauce, minced
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, diced
2 teaspoons bourbon smoked paprika
32 ounces reduced-sodium chicken broth
5 cups water
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 pound yellow split peas, thoroughly rinsed
1 cup chopped turkey smoked sausage
chopped parsley
homemade croutons {cube a baguette and brown the cubes in a bit of olive oil in a skillet with a bit of salt}

Directions
1. Heat a large soup pot. Add oil, heat. Add the onions, garlic and chipotle in adobo and saute for about 5 minutes. Add carrots and saute for another 5 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and bourbon smoked paprika and saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add the liquid, salt & pepper and the yellow split peas. Bring everything to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the sausage and continue to simmer uncovered for 40-60 minutes until everything is cooked through.
3. Serve in a bowl topped with parsley and croutons.

This is quite a filling soup. It also only gets better as it sits in your refrigerator and is a good candidate for freezing. Keep in mind that the soup does thicken up as it sits.

What's the latest soup you've made?
Happy weekend!

1/1/13

"Bagels & Lox" Savory Cheesecake: WASA Crispbreads Recipe Development

Earlier last month I received a recipe development request from Wasa Crispbreads.

Have you heard of Wasa crispbreads? They have been a part of my breakfast rotation routine for a few years, and I love that they are crispy, low in calories and come in whole wheat varieties. I must admit that I tried one of their Light products and did not like that as much.

"The wholesome, all-natural ingredients in Wasa Crispbreads make them naturally low in fat. Unlike some crackers, Wasa Crispbreads do not contain trans fats (fats that have been shown to elevate cholesterol) and only have 1 gram of sugar. "

Before I brought a toaster to my cubicle, I had two choices: eating soggy bagels or toast OR bring in Wasa crispbreads. I chose the later of the two. Most times I would spread two of the Wasa crispbreads with cream cheese and top them with smoked salmon. Other times I would use a combination of peanut butter and jam or Greek yogurt and slices of fresh fruit.

For this recipe development challenge I decided to turn my favorite Wasa crispbreads, cream cheese and smoked salmon combination into a savory cheesecake!!

Make sure to read the entire post for a chance to win two boxes of Wasa crispbreads and a $25 gift card!

"Bagels & Lox" Savory Cheesecake
Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients
3 ounces butter, melted
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups crushed Wasa crispbreads (I used the multi grain variety)
24 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces sour cream
2 large eggs
4 ounces smoked salmon, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped dill

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Combine the melted butter, egg white and crushed Wasa crispbreads and press them into the bottom of a 9" spring form pan. Put the spring form pan on a cookie sheet and bake 8-12 minutes, or until the crust crisps up. Allow the crust to cool.
3. Lower the oven to 250F.

4. In a food processor, combine the cream cheese, cornstarch, and sour cream. Fold in the smoked salmon, lemon zest, capers and dill. Add the mixture to the cooled crust.

5. Bake the cheesecake for an hour. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven without opening the door for another hour.
6. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and allow to cool on a rack for at least 4 hours.

This is not something you whip up on a whim. This recipe required a lot of waiting time, but the final presentation is beautiful and would be a fun dish to have for a brunch with your family or friends.

The crust made from Wasa crispbreads was crispy, while the "cheese" layer was dense and very filling. I'm glad I added lemon zest to brighten up this dish.

~~And now it's YOUR chance to win a $25 Gift Card and two boxes of Wasa Crispbread.~~

Required: Leave a comment letting me know WHICH Wasa variety you would like to try and HOW you will eat it.

WARNING: if all you do for a living is leave comments to win stuff, you will be disqualified.

~~You must have a US address. I will randomly choose one winner January 14th. Make sure there is an easy way for me to contact you.~~

~~Good luck!~~

And the winner is Kristine!!

My computer is flipping out for some reason and is not letting me upload a picture of the random number generator that picked her number, but I hope y'all trust me ;)

Disclaimer: I received four boxes of Wasa Crispbreads and a stipend for recipe development. All opinions are my own. Wasa is sponsoring this giveaway.

12/31/12

Happy 2013!!

I wish everyone a very healthy, happy and successful 2013! May you and your family be surrounded by good people, delicious food and fun adventures.

If there is something you'd like to see on Mango & Tomato in 2013, let me know!

Photo credit: Stephen Gosling

12/28/12

Sour Cream Cake (Smetannik): Russian Recipes Revisited

It's almost the end of December, so it's time for the monthly Russian Recipes Revisited post!

Today I bring you a recipe for Sour Cream Cake, aka Smetannik (in Russian, sour cream is smetana).

Growing up in Moscow, Russia, children's birthday celebrations weren't spent at a restaurant and involved way more than two hours, a cake and a clown. Anna and I (since we are twins!) would have our close friends over to our house, eat a ton of food our mom has prepared, play games, go out for ice cream and come back for cake and tea. These birthday parties often lasted at least four to six hours. Good times!

The cake that my mom often made for our birthday was smetannik: Sour Cream Cake. You are shocked I am a fan of the cake, right? After all, I often go for dessert that has dark chocolate in it. But this cake brings such fond memories from my childhood.

My mom has been baking this cake for celebratory occasions ever since we moved to the States, but because my entire family is in Seattle, while I'm in DC area, I miss out on many slices of this particular cake. Finally, after many phone calls and pleas, my mom agreed to write down the recipe for the cake and send it to me.

Yes, that's my mom's handwriting with a few notes from me. You can tell beautiful handwriting is not our strongest suit ;)

I read over the recipe, called my mom with questions about a few steps, nervously listened as she made suggestions and edited some of the directions, and then I started to FLIP OUT! Will I be able to make this recipe? Will it turn out as delicious as my mom's? Will it be good enough to bring to a friend's house for Christmas dinner?

Let me just say that I was a nervous wreck until I took a bite of the cake and realized that I succeeded!!!

This recipe is not a 100% perfect. One of my cakes totally burned on the bottom. I'm not sure if it's because of the unevenness of my oven or because of the cake pan I used. But all in all, I'm happy with the final result.

NOTE/Warning: you want to have two full days to make this cake!

Sour Cream Cake (Smetannik)
Makes 2 cakes

Ingredients
For the cakes
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
8 ounces unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the sour cream "frosting"
32 ounces sour cream (full fat!!)
2 cups sugar

For the topping
You can use 1 1/2 cups of toasted walnuts per cake or 1 bar of dark chocolate, grated, per cake.

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400F. {If I were to make this again, I would probably do 375F.}
2. In a large bowl, add sugar and beat in one egg at a time with a hand-held mixer.

3. Melt the butter and let it cool.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together flour and baking soda.
5. Add honey and cooled butter into the sugar/egg mixture and combine.
6. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ones.

7. Line the bottom of the two 9" round baking pans with parchment paper. {I used one cake pan and one spring form; the cake in the cake pan burned on the bottom, while the one in the spring form didn't.}
8. Divide the cake batter equally between the two pans. Wet your hand with cold water and carefully smooth out the batter until it's even.
9. Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes.

The cake in the picture below is the one that burned on the bottom. What did I do? I called my mom and started FREAKING out!!! That's my typical response to when things don't go my way. My mom tried to calm me down, but it wasn't working.

I was not happy the cake was burned on the bottom. I was not happy the top of the cake was too rounded instead of flat. I was FREAKING out about cutting this not-so-tall cake into THREE layers.

My mom offered to go on Skype with me so she could actually look at the cakes, but I was not having any of this.

I told her I was not discussing the matter at hand any more.

I never claimed to be calm and collected.

After hanging up, I turned on Latin music and got to work.

Back to directions...

10. Let the cakes cool and remove them from the baking pans.
11. Level off the top of the cakes and trim the edges (remove the crust). If your cakes burned on the bottom as one of mine, cut off the burned part.
12. Breath!

13. Using a long serrated knife, divide each cake into three layers. This will not be easy. But I did it, and so can you!

14. Combine the sour cream with sugar.

15. For each cake, put the bottom layer on a plate and make holes in each layer with a fork. Spread the sour cream sugar mixture and allow the cake to stand for 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining layers and top each cake and the sides with sour cream sugar mixture.

16. Let the cakes stand for 1-2 hours in your kitchen before moving them into the refrigerator for at least one day!
17. On the day you will be serving the cake, "dust it" with either dark chocolate or toasted walnuts. My mom also decorates the top of the cake with jarred pitted sour cherries or halved mandarin slices.

Isn't it a beauty? I think it was worth all the freaking out and self doubt I went through.

The cake is not really tall, but it's pretty filling. The layers are saturated with sour cream mixture and the added crunch of the shredded dark chocolate brings another dimension to the cake.

This is the second cake with toasted walnuts:

Phew! I think this took almost as long to write up as it did to make ;)

Please let me know what other Russian Recipes Revisited you may like to see in 2013!

Special thanks to my mom for sending me the recipe and doing her best to be patient with me.

12/27/12

Lamb & Potato Enchilada Casserole

Remember the Lamb Tacos I posted a earlier this month? Well, I had a bit of roasted lamb left, not to mention the corn tortillas, so I decided to make enchiladas. Alas, the tortillas were quite small and would be a pain to roll, so I thought of something else: a Lamb & Potato Enchilada Casserole! It's incredibly easy to make, tastes delicious and is great for leftovers.

If you don't have lamb, you can use chicken, beef or pork.

Thanks to Anna and a few of my twitter followers for the suggestion to use potatoes! What's not to like about carbs and more carbs? :)

Lamb & Potato Enchilada Casserole
Serves 4-8 depending on how hungry you are

Ingredients
28 ounce can Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
10-15 5 1/2" yellow corn tortillas, halved
2 cups shredded roasted lamb
2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
5 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cubed and cooked in salted water until tender
chopped cilantro
pickled red onions

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Add enough enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of your baking dish.
3. Add a layer of tortillas followed by lamb and cheese.
4. Add another layer of tortillas, potatoes, enchilada sauce and cheese.
5. Alternate the layers with lamb and potatoes and finish the casserole with a layer of tortillas, enchilada sauce and cheese.
6. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the cheese is bubbling. Let the casserole stand for about 10 minutes before cutting into it.
7. Serve topped with cilantro and pickled red onions.