Cucurbita maxima – Halloween Pumpkin Chutney

Posted on October 3, 2011 by petitedecadence

This time I’ll rant to you about something that’s happened to all of us. (I hope, unless I actually am crazy, as my family repeatedly likes to remind me). I walked into the supermarket about a week ago and dia de muertos/halloween euphoria had begun. And my supermarket mounted right on the entrance a huge display with the best looking, bright orange, smooth, with-appropiate-stem, shiny pumpkins they could find. And I knew the prettiest ones were carving pumpkins, but I could not resist. Yes, its true. I brought home an ingredient solely based on its looks. I know, I’m shallow. I could have gone for its uglier, paler, bumpier sister, the squash. But I didn’t, even though it’s flesh is softer and tastier. (Because what really matters is on the inside! *cough*men*cough) And my reward was 20 minutes of hand-pain after trying to get its lovely shell off. (Does this happen to men that only go out with models?) But in spite of its hard, not-as-strong-tasting flesh, the result was great. The resulting chutney is tangy, spicy and sweet, and very strong flavored. Great to combine with meats. AND you can actually serve it on halloween, on a dish made from itself. (But trust me, you should bribe your grocer into peeling it for you, as my hands will tell you). I’ll probably come back with the recipe for the meat to serve it with, but meanwhile, on to the recipe.

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The cake that disappeared – Berries and cream crumble

Posted on September 26, 2011 by petitedecadence

So I’ve been not posting for a while. And I’ve been cooking like crazy! I know, it’s not right. But I just haven’t had the time to be organized and write the recipes for the stuff I’ve been doing. (Not to mention a couple failures like uncooked cannelloni of which we ate only the filling after they’d been in the oven for hours. Shame.) But not to worry, I’m back with a killer recipe. This weekend was my sister’s birthday, and we had a lovely dinner party. This crumble was the dessert in a menu of shrimp dumplings, rib eye in caramelised shallots, green beans, sticky jasmine rice and oven-cooked baby portobellos. It was a lovely dinner with incredibly fun guests, but whom I loved all the more because they ate absolutely everything and even came into the kitchen to ask for seconds. But the one that was really complimented was the crumble cake, which after having extinguished it’s happy birthday song and candle was left for a few seconds in my sister’s hands to be cut and served while I took a few pics. When I put down the camera, it had pulled a disappearing act and not a crumb of the crumble was left! (I did get to try it of someone else’s plate though, and I got to see why, If I may leave all modesty apart). As far as cakes go, it’s incredibly easy to make. And I’m guessing with a side of vanilla ice-cream, pretty close to going into several favorite dessert lists. On to the recipe?

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Teatime heavenly bites – Butter and sugar biscuit thins

Posted on September 19, 2011 by petitedecadence

I confess that I’ve been saving this post because I couldn’t come up with words good enough to describe these biscuits. As I’ve said before, (and have shown in the shameless invasion of cookie recipes in this blog) I absolutely adore cookies, in any form. And while there’s no such thing as the perfect cookie, because the perfect choice depends on the moment, weather, accompanying beverage, and previous meal, these ones are pretty close to being the perfect teatime bite. (Also could be the perfect coffetime bite, but people never say 5 o’clock coffee, for some reason). I love having something to accompany my tea, and I always childishly try to eat it in as small bites as I can, to see if I can make it last until I see the bottom of my cup. These, for sure, will NOT last until the bottom of your cup. They don’t melt in your mouth; they crumble, ever so thin and light. Buttery-sweet-flakey. The vanilla ones are perfect for tea, and the chocolate ones for coffee. But be careful and serve only a bit, or you’ll find yourself having a whole meal comprised solely of these biscuits. To add to their wonderfulness, they keep very well as long as they’re placed in an airtight container, preferably with a sign on the tin that reads “don’t grab anymore, you’ve already had 10!”) .
They’re a variation on the recipe for the traditional french sablés below, of which I baked about a ton for a special order. These are also delicious, but quite heavier and best served with a glass of cold milk.

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Onion’s sweet cousin – Caramelised Shallots in red wine

Posted on September 10, 2011 by petitedecadence

This is a dish I first tried when I was living in Paris (I know, insane to think I went all those years before that without knowing the heaven-in-your-mouth that these are!) and they are constantly lurking in the back of my mind as something I want to cook, but whenever I go to the supermarket the shallot box is always so pitifully hidden away in a corner with only a few sad, small, shrivelling shallots scattered in it. And so I lose my inspiration. It’s strange, because as far as I know Mexico does produce a fair amount of shallots….apparently my supermarket seems to think it’s okay to sell only what’s leftover in the crates. Granted, I’ve never seen big, round, beautiful shallots as they have in France around here, and I can’t even imagine the ones they have in Asia, but I did find a few decent sized bulbs on my last trip there. And paired with a couple of rib-eye thin steaks I had in my freezer and green bean crocant salad, I finally got around to having these in the comfort of my own home. They can be served as a side dish, on top of meat or chicken, on rice, or whatever else you fancy. They could probably also be a main dish if you can find big enough shallots and are a vegetarian, I would just reduce the sugar amount a bit. And, if you find that your local supermarket is imitating mine, you can do this recipe with only very small shallots, and make a delicious sauce, which would go superbly over a few slices of turkey. (In fact…I’ll probably come back and post that sometime soon). But no more rambling, on to the recipe!

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Baking Frenzy Part III – Blueberry cream scones

Posted on September 5, 2011 by petitedecadence

I haven’t forgotten the third installment of the baking frenzy. I was just saving this to be posted on monday, when you can look at it, then think about it on tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday….nevermind. You should just stay up late and make these today. Seriously (Imagine your breakfast tomorrow morning). The recipe comes from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, who very aptly puts it, has occasional dreams of scones (and so do I) and hence has provided us with this heavenly heavenly recipe, originally from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook (which I’ve already made a mental note to get, if all the recipes turn out like this one!). They truly are scone perfection, especially because of all the recipes from the baking frenzy, these were the easiest and fastest to make. Only bad point to them is that they don’t keep well (do any scones ever?) – but don’t fool yourself, they’ll be gone before you find yourself reaching for the tupperwares.
The original recipe called for currants, but I substituted with blueberries, which where slightly crushed as I was forming the dough and gave the scones some moist and sweet purple spots. Read more for the recipe.