Strawberries & Champagne

Strawberries & Champagne preserves

750 g strawberries
375 g sugar
250 ml champagne
1 bag jam-fix (the one that is for 250 g sugar)

Slice strawberries, mix in a pot with champagne, sugar and jam-fix. Cook on high heat, stirring continuously until it boils and then lower the heat and cook for another 4 minutes.

Prepare the jars: Wash jars thoroughly, and wipe them. Place them (without lids) in the oven and turn heat to 50°C. Keep them there until they heat up.

Pouring the jam into jars: Place jars directly from the oven, while they're still hot, on a wooden surface, a cutting board for example. This is necessary to prevent glass from braking from heat. This amount is enough for 3 small jars. Pour one spoon of jam into each jar and continue while you ran out of it. When you finish, return jars into preheated oven on 50°C, turn of the oven, and leave the jars inside until jam cools down completely.

Alternative recipe: Omit jam-fix and instead of regular sugar use self-gelling sugar (Gelier Zucker). I couldn't find it, so I used jam-fix, but this is the original recipe. If you decide to use jam-fix Dr.Oetker makes a good one.

Note: This is my contribution to the Putting Up event hosted by Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Piece of Cake and Pixie from You Say Tomahto, I say Tomatyo. Go here to visit the roundup of 60+ entries.

WHB - Marjoram & New Potatoes Terrine

600 g new potatoes
300 g cream cheese
2 eggs
1 Tbsp dried marjoram
40 g grated Grana Padano cheese
20 g butter
salt
pepper

Cook potatoes in a boiling water for 20 minutes. Remove from water and crush them with a fork.

In a bowl stir together cream cheese, a pinch of salt, pepper, Grana Padano and marjoram. Add eggs and mix into homogeneous mass.

Line loaf pan with baking paper. Pour cream cheese batter, place potatoes on top, sprinkle with pieces of butter and bake in a preheated oven on 180°C for about 20 minutes.

Note: This is a part of Weekend Herb Blogging event hosted this week by Gay from A Scientist in the Kitchen. Recipe source: Sale and Pepe.

SHF #43 - Mojito Dessert

Fort the biscuit:

3 eggs
1 egg yolk
150 g sugar
1 vanilla sugar
100 g flour
25 g corn starch
1 tsp baking powder

With a mixer beat eggs and egg yolk on a highest speed for 1 minute. Add sugar and vanilla sugar and beat for another minute, and then 2 more minutes.

Mix flour, starch and backing powder, and sift half of it over beaten eggs and beat on lowest speed for a short time. Do the same with the rest of flour.

Bake in a preheated oven on 200°C for about 10 minutes in a 25x35 cm baking pan.

For the mojito filling:

400 ml heavy cream
2 1/2 tsp gelatin
250 g yogurt
juice from 1 lime
75 g caster sugar
50 ml white rum
2 tsp dried mint leaves

Mix yogurt and lime juice and sprinkle gelatin over. Beat stiff heavy cream with sugar. Add rum and yogurt and beat on lowest speed for a short time.

Crush mint leaves with your fingers and stir into the cream.

To assemble:

Cut biscuit into 4 parts: 2 for wider sides, one for the bottom and one for the top, shorter sides stay free. Line bottom and sides of a loaf pan with biscuit. Pour filling inside, cover with the last piece of biscuit. Leave in the fridge for about 4 hours.

Decorate with whipped cream and lime slices.

For the non-alcoholic version, omit the white rum.

Note: This recipe was adapted from Dr. Oetker Cocktail Torten for the Sugar High Friday #43, the monthly event created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess, hosted this month by Tartlette.

Pineapple Sesame Chicken

650 g boneless, skinless chicken, cut to bite-sized pieces
250 g pineapple, cubed
40 g sesame seeds
1 egg
polenta
1 large yellow pepper
1 Tbsp brown sugar
350 ml lite soy sauce
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped


On a very little oil, fry sesame seeds. Reserve for later. Beat egg, soak chicken in it and then, coat the chicken with polenta.

Heat some oil in wok, fry garlic until lite brown, then add chicken. Stir fry until chicken is almost done. Take out on a plate, and use wok to fry pineapple until it's soft. Toss back chicken, sesame, soy sauce, pepper and stir fry some more.

Thicken the sauce with corn starch dissolved in 1 Tbsp water.

Note: This is a part of Chinese Take-Out Party oranized by MOCA CHOCOLATA RITA

Silly Tag :)

Medena from Café Chocolada tagged me for this, as she called it, silly meme :). Here is how it goes, and it is desired to keep the foodie theme :

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

So, since I don't have cookbooks in English, I'll do the oldest Serbian cookbook: "My Cookbook and Adviser" by Spasenija Pata Marinković popularly called "Pata's Cookbook". It was first published in 1907, and in the preface she quoted Ibsen: "The best books are cookbooks, most of the others should have never been written. Too bad cookbook writers are usually unknown." Ironically, after WW2, communist regime arrested her as a traitor, banned her name, and all editions published during 1945 - 1990 were signed with her initials only. Still, it is the most praised cookbook in Serbia, and I have 1953 edition, bought by my grandmother, with underlined titles of the recipes she tested and liked.

Pata's Cookbook from 1935

Page 123, fifth sentence: Add one old bread roll, crumbled and soaked in milk.

I'll post the next three sentences (and the whole recipe at the and of the post), but first, I am tagging:

1. Farida from Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbok
2. TOONTZ form Okara mountain
3. Chloe from The Froth
4. Pete and Melissa from The Toasted
5. Ellie from Kitchen Wench

And finally the recipe:

Beef burgers

On the meat grinder, grind 500 g beef meat. Fry 1 finely chopped onion and combine with meat. Add one old bread roll, crumbled and soaked in milk. Add one whole egg, salt and black pepper and stir until the mass is almost foamy. Now knead the meat for about 10 minutes, and then flour your hands and make flat burgers. Beat one egg with a little milk, coat each burger in flour first, then into the egg and milk. Just before the lunch, heat oil in a black pan and fry burgers on medium heat.

Bookmarked Recipes - Okara Waffles

With chocolate

This is a recipe by TOONTZ form Okara mountain. Her blog is a real treasure for all of us who make soy milk at home.

The recipe: (original recipe here)

In a large mixing bowl sift: 2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 Tbsp brown sugar.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together: 2 eggs, beaten until fluffy, 1-1/3 cups soy milk, 1/2 cup oil and 1 cup wet okara straight from your machine.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. Make waffles according to your waffle iron’s manual.

When the waffles cooled, I piped melted chocolate and jam with a syringe into the holes in waffles.

With my Rosa Canina marmalade

Note: This is a part of Bookmarked recipes event.

WHB - Oregano Crusted Wavy Skewers

Recipe:
(adapted from Sale & Pepe, Serbian issue, March 2008)

600 g very thin pork steaks
1 large zucchini
200 g smoked cheese
60 g bread crumbs
zest of one lemon
1/2 Tbsp oregano
1 egg

Cut zucchini into thin wide ribbons and grill them a little. This is necessary so they become soft. Cut steaks and cheese into wide ribbons.

Assemble the skewers: Take one meat ribbon, place one zucchini ribbon over, then cheese, zucchini and one more meat ribbon. Put on a skewer.

Coating: Mix together bread crumbs, lemon zest and oregano. Beat egg. First, using a brush, coat skewers in egg, then in bread crumbs.

Fry in oil, for about 5 minutes on both sides,or until meat is done, it depends on the thickness of steaks.

Note: This is a part of Weekend Herb Blogging event hosted this week by Laurie Helen Constantino from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.