Simple pleasures – Rustic mini baguettes

Posted on March 12, 2012 by petitedecadence

Those who enjoy life know that the true spirit of it is found in simple pleasures; waking up to birds and trees outside your window, having a good talk over coffee with a close friend, sunny afternoons on a terrace, silly jokes that make your stomach hurt from laughing, ceviche on hot days, feeling the sea breeze on sunset, going out for a walk after its rained, flowering bushes…you name it. It’s the simple things that keep us content and give meaning to our day to day lives. And one of those excruciatingly delicious simple pleasures is bread. I think very few people can deny it, unless you’re allergic or on a diet…bread, particularly when warm from the oven, will never fail to give you a satisfied smile, even if its just from smelling it and thinking…yuuuum, that looks delicious, and then letting your mind wander with all the possibilities of toppings or accompanying goodness that can go with it. At least I can’t deny it. And for me one of the simplest, but most enjoyable of breads, is rustic bread. There’s just something about the soft and perfect butter-absorbing interior, full of flour flavors and smells, and the crunchy crust combination. There’s no way to eat it that’s not delicious. With butter. With butter and jam. With butter and ham. With mustard. With soup. With nutella. With cheese. With sugar. With olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And the sandwich-ing possibilities are endless..there are no ingredients that can taste bad in between two slices of it right? And if you happen to have a roast turkey breast laying around (because that’s what normal people do) then your life might almost be complete. (Read more for the recipe)

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Roast turkey breast or – I’m a chicken –

Posted on March 1, 2012 by petitedecadence

Things change. Plans change. Life changes. Most of the time, we resist it, but fortunately, there’s no escaping it; because change is good, even if endings are hard and letting go is a unimaginable task. But sometimes you’re stuck in a period of nonchange. A period of stagnant, boring, incredibly defeating, un-motivating, seemingly neverending, nonchange. And that, THAT, is when I feel the need to do something drastic, to get out of bed and get in the car and drive until gas runs out, to paint my bedroom walls a crazy neon color, to tell everyone around me about that time when they said something I didn’t like and was hurt, to chop my hair off…anything. But since I am me, and behaving properly always ends up winning and I never do any of those crazy, apparently liberating things, I’ve roasted. I’ve roasted a turkey breast in my need to do something big and exciting. I know…most people would say I’m not even slightly walking out of the boundaries of the nonchange box, and they would be right, I am not. But I’ve had three hours of therapeutic smells coming from the frying pan, the oven, and the delicious platter that comes out of it. So in my opinion, this turkey roast is great, even if it’s not neon-colored. And there’s nothing like soft, warm potatoes roasted in turkey juices and served with a dollop of cream to make you forget about that ugly, stinky box.

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Tiny dinner again? – Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tartlets

Posted on January 29, 2012 by petitedecadence

I have continued to neglect the uploading of recipes….I know…I’m terrible. But I’m always busy or sick. Right now I’m recovering from my 4th respiratory disease of some sort in less than two months. It’s crazy. Just when I’m getting back on the wagon, back to a good daily routine with lots of exercise, cooking, crafting and gazillions of endorphins per day (either from exercise or chocolate…you guess)….no, my body says. And its back to resting for three days straight without doing anything fun. Hmmph. This has to stop! The good part of not posting though, is that I’ve cooked a lot of new things in between posts, and so I can pick the yummiest! This time I present you with a hard to surpass combination; chocolate and peanut butter, on a crunchy, buttery, flaky tartlet. Sounds delicious? That’s cause they are. I created these because I had a birthday dinner party for one of my best friends, but she’s super tiny (tinier than me) and so I made mini everything for dinner. (Yes, again) Tiny burgers, tiny fries, tiny salads, tiny stuffed portobellos, and of course, tiny desserts! Pavlovas, which I’ll post as soon as I sort the photos out, and these incredibly good chocolate peanut butter tartlets. The tartlet shells are a bit tedious, yes. But you can skip that and make a regular size tart using a pastry ring, because the filling is really really easy and fast. Just make sure you weigh your tart shell properly. Read more for the recipe!

(The above mentioned tiny dinner. See why I had to make tarlets?)

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No more Christmas – Fried rice with quail eggs over bok choy leaves

Posted on January 5, 2012 by petitedecadence

I’m back from the holidays! I know I left without any warning, but I figured everyone would be eating so much anyway that the internet could do without one more food blogger for a month. I’ve been cooking like crazy though, and since I didn’t actually have a proper holiday, I had quite a bit of time on my hands to think up new things to simmer, bake, reduce, fry and chop. I’ll start today with a not-very-holidayesque recipe, but still quite delicious and apt for all those who are sick of having leftovers, as is my case. This mainly because in my house we have a yet to be diagnosed kitchen disorder which prevents us from cooking anything in small, appropriate amounts, leaving us with enough to go around for a week. And so our Christmas turkeys (in Mexican tradition we have turkey for Christmas dinner) become staple diet until sometime in January. Not that I’m complaining, it’s only once a year, and hey, I got to make my own turkey this year (and it was scary. I never thought weight mattered, but when you’re facing a naked empty 23 pound animal all sorts of things can go wrong) which turned out delicious, if I do say so myself.
Enough Christmas rambling, I intended to write a post sans the holiday references, but failed. So I’ll get on to today’s recipe: Fried rice with rib-eye and quail eggs over bok choy leaves. No need for further description, it is every bit as delicious as it sounds. Read more for the recipe. (And make it even though it takes quite a bit of chopping! its worth it!)

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White cloudy goodness – Cauliflower Leek Soup

Posted on November 26, 2011 by petitedecadence

It’s a little hard to believe, but when I was little, I was the pickiest most annoying eater you can imagine. I disliked almost anything that wasn’t meat or cookies. And I ate around the same amount a country sparrow does. And I hated crumbs around my plate with a passion. My mom tells me I used to obsessively pick them up one by one and put them back in the plate. I loathed when people tried to feed me more than three spoonfuls per meal. So much so that I once threw a chicken leg at my father. (I know). And don’t even get me started on vegetables. I don’t think there was one I liked. (except for mushrooms but they don’t count as vegetables. they are too delicious) None of them seemed sugary, crumbly or meaty enough for me. And among those was cauliflower, which had a big place on the house table. As I grew older, I started to venture out a bit more, and I came to like a few of those green critters. But cauliflower always remained in my eyes as a glorified broccoli with no flavor, even if it’s cloudy shape was as endearing as a baby sheep to an 8 year old. And then somewhere after I went from eating nothing to eating everything with a shameful passion, I re-discovered cauliflower. And I came to the conclusion that it was not a glorified broccoli, but that it was it’s whiter, fluffier, softer, more subtle tasting cousin. And we became best friends after I realized that cream and cheese and an oven could transform it into puffy clouds of greatness. But not only that; when turned into a creamy soup…all I can say is that for sure no broccoli soup I’ve ever tried can match it. So I bring you today a light version of this puffy friend; a creamy cauliflower leek soup minus the cream. That way you can enjoy three platefuls of it and not feel like you might explode afterwards. But don’t think it’s any less rich because it hasn’t got cream in it. The golden leeks and nutty flavor give it a warm fulling kick that won’t make you miss it. Read more for the recipe.