Garlic bread anybody?

More often than not I crave for Italian food… cheesy garlicky pastas, nachos with salsa, olives, sun dried tomatoes, thin crust pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven, the Tiramisu … ohhh all this makes me drool…and when I do  get these cravings there is no way to resist them. To fulfill these cravings I bully people into taking me to Little Italy, Deli 9 or the other famous local chains which I consider to be places that serve up decent Italian khana. I have observed that whenever I dine at these places I end up feeling guilty of over-stuffing myself with garlic bread and end up eating very little of the main course. I get so carried away eating the garlic bread that I keep asking the waiter for more and keep refilling the jar with salsa many a time ... so over time I have learnt that making garlic bread at home is so dead easy. I use any kind of bread and butter+garlic+cheese. How can anything with garlic and butter ever go wrong?

P.S:-This post is dedicated to Sandeep Anna who introduced me to Italian khana...I love you and love the fact that you never let me pay for all the innumerable trials at Italian joints :)

Garlic Bread
WHAT YOU NEED

•  1 loaf of bread or sub rolls( i use whatever is handy)
•  1/2 cup Amul butter
•  6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
•  3 tbsp of parmesan(again i use whever is availble)
•  Seasoning oregano,parsley(optional)

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

• Slice the bread
• In a small bowl heat the butter until slightly warm add chopped garlic
• Pour this mixture onto the bread using a spoon
• Top it with cheese and herbs(optional)
• Bake  in a preheated oven at 200°C for 6 to 10 mins until the cheese melts or slightly golden brown

All in a days work!

This brownie is a result of N’s and my day out in the kitchen.The day out in the kitchen was'nt the original plan,we actually met to finish an assignment. while we were almost doing it,N spotted a cook book under the rubble of other books. Now N is the kind who with mere mention of chocolate salivates was oohing aahing over the pics of dark chocolate oozing from the pies.I am not much of a chocolate lover! yes you 5 ppl in the world who read my blog you heard it right..i never get chocolate cravings when pmsing, never get weak kneed at the sight of chocolate,never gobble down a chocolate bar to give myself comfort,never squabble for chocolate pastry like N & L do.I am just happy if given a sweet white chocolate.The brown stuff doesnt impress me much..But this indifference doesnt keep me away from adding chocolate goodness in my bakes just for the sheer beauty of the colour and richness and to keep ppl like N & L happy & loyal..so we decided we break for an hour and bake ourselves brownies to keep us gng for the day..This recipe comes from one of my first cook books i bought at a book sale sponsored by v "fresh baked" by Louise Pickford.The brownies are very rich and chocolatey with a slightly unusual melt-in-your-mouth texture that makes them seem almost like cake.This recipe also calls for some maple syrup that gave the brownies a little moisture.The brownies were not too fudgey nor cakey but somewhere in between.Exactly the way i like them and what a relief that i didnt have to scrape the bits of it stuck in the pan it came out without much hassle..
In the end we had a pending assigmnt and two brownie fans!

P.S- I am still learning at the lens and I use my phone cam to click food pics,hence the haze please bear with me till i gift myself a fancy new cam !!

Double Chocolate Brownies
Adapted from "Fresh baked" by Louise Pickford

What you need
• 275 gms Dark chocolate
• 250 gms Unsalted butter
• 3 Eggs
• 175 gms Caster sugar
• 50 ml Maple syrup
• 100 gms Self-raising flour
• pinch of Salt
• 100 gms Walnuts toasted
What you need to do
• Melt the dark chocolate, Butter in a pan over a pot of simmering water
• Using electric beaters, whisk eggs, sugar, maple syrup till pale
• Stir in the choc + butter mixture and the flour, salt & walnuts
• oil and line 20x20 baking tin, spoon the mixture into the tin
• Bake in a preheated oven 190c for 30 to 40 mins until top sets but the cake still feels soft underneath

A la Lamingtons!!!

Lamingtons are to Australia what chocolate Brownies are to America.
Lamingtons are cubes of sponge cake coated with chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut to finish. So when I did my research to make Lamingtons I learned that they neither come in varieties, nor do they traditionally have fillings. However, getting creative in the kitchen can always be fun. Ms Humble of http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/ did something so creative to spruce up her Lamingtons that inspired me enough  to make my own interpretation of one of Australia’s most famous dessert. Of course, I bordered on sacrilege by  re inventing my version of rolling them in chocolate shavings, sesame seeds instead of desiccated coconut. And the result was Pleasing else i would have called  it something else and not Lamingtons.


Lamingtons
yield -9 cubes
What you need
Sponge cake one day old
(fresh cake will crumble while coating it with chocolate icing)
A little desiccated coconut
Dark or White chocolate shavings(optional)
 For the chocolate icing
80 gms icing sugar
30 gms cocoa(i used hershey's)
1 tsp butter
35ml to 40 ml hot water

What you need to do

• Mix  castor sugar, cocoa, butter &  hot water well
  
• Now cut the one day old sponge cake into 2 inch cubes
• Cut the cubes horizontally and use a filling of your choice. It could be nutella, chocolate syrup or whipped cream
• Join the halves and dip them into chocolate icing or pour the chocolate  icing over it till well coated 
• Leave it on baking paper to set
  
• Now roll the chocolate coated cubes in desiccated coconut or chocolate shavings

BarbeQUe TIme!!!

You know how they say better late then never...well i think they are right!!

Statutory Warning : This post is going to be insecure self deprecating rant.Lately i've bin away from my oven and hence writing. How i wish i were a terrific writer and i could exactly write about how depressing it is to see a flat cake,soft cookies,over baked brownies,unused kitchen tools,wasted ingredients...my heart cries and i almost gave up ..but then somebody told me "They are cakes and u cannot stay away from them for too long" so i decided to overhaul my baking life albeit disheartned & I baked a batch of Dorie Greenspan choc chip cookies www.purplefoodie.com advice and voila!! they did turn out crisp & chewy precisely how a choc chip cookie should be.Everytime i chewed on my perfect cookie i was'nt reminded of the wasted chocolate chips of my former trial's but was rather thinking of making these delectable cookies everytime V would ask for some,of passing this fool proof recipe to my grandchildren and of feeding them to my brother R's kids who would otherwise be food deprived because of their dad's not so thrifty ways of spending money...errrr wait!!!this month was not all depressing like i make it sound! this month i did some terrific cooking i did barbeque twice once before sammy left :(...and then again at pedda aunties place(my second home) where i usually carry out my experiment dinner's god bless their hearts how they(jai & sand anna,swa& P bhabhi) praise to skies whatever i make even if slightly palatable...so here is a shot & recipe of paneer tikka & chicken makhmali kabab from my last trial!

Murgh Makhmali kabab
loosely adapted from sanjeev kapoor's khana khazana
 what you need

• chicken breast 800 grams
• green chillies 4-6
• ginger 1 inch piece
• garlic 5-6 cloves
• yogurt 2/3 cups
• processed cheese 1/4 cup
• fresh cream 1/4 cup
• nutmeg powder 1/2 tsp
• garam masala powder 2 tsps
• honey 1 tbsp
• lemon juice 1/2 tbsp
• salt to taste
• butter 1/4 cup

what you need to do

• clean and cut each chicken breast into two.
• hang yogurt in a muslin cloth for half hour to drain away the whey
• grind chillies,garlic & ginger to a paste,rub this paste onto the chicken pieces and keep aside for 15 mins
• mix the hung yogurt,cheese,cream,nutmeg powder,garam masala powder,honey,lemon juice and salt to taste.
• whisk the ingredients well and marinate the chicken pieces in this for three hours atleast in a refrigerator
• place chicken on the grill & cook brushing butter every five minutes

Paneer tikka
adapted from a random cooking website
http://www.indianfoodforever.com/snacks/paneer-tikka.html
 what you need

• 500 gms paneer
• 1 onion
• 1 Capsicum
• 1 Tomato
• Few Mushrooms
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves

For the  Marinade:

• 1/2 cup Curd  (plain yogurt)
• 1 tsp Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Ginger Paste
• 2 tsp Tandoori powder
• 1 tsp cumin (jeera) powder
• 2 tsp Chaat powder
• Salt to taste
• Red chili Powder to taste

what you need to do

• Cut Paneer into long 1/2" thick cubes.
• Cut all vegetables into cubes.
• Mix all ingredients for marinade and keep aside.
• Add the left marinade to the vegetables.
• Brush the marinade to the paneer and refrigerate it for 3 hours. 
• grill over coal until done
  
• Serve tandoori paneer tikka hot with green chutney

Baking Bread

By Carol Lynn Pearson  in "Women I Have Known and Been"
There seemed more accusation
Than admiration
In Vivian's voice
When she said,
"Well, I wish I had time
to bake bread!"

And so sometimes when
The loaves were in the oven
And Vivian was at the door
Louise mumbled something about
Another bake sale again

And never even tried to explain
Her near-religious ritual:

How the flour on her fingers
Was the sun and the rain
And the earth

How the thump of her palms
On the dough
Was the dance of women
On the ancient threshing floor

How the smell of the baking
Leavened her
And left her believing that
We rise, we rise

And
How the cutting
Of the first warm slice
For the first child home
Made her a bounterous goddess
With life in her hand.