Nostalgia-Inducing Sweets

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been fighting off a cold for almost two weeks now, and any time that has not been taken up by sleep has been taken up by studying and classes. Because of that, I have not made much food and I also haven't had anytime to write. I'm starting to feel a little better though, so I thought I'd write a short post.

For easter, I was given a cookbook that I had recently fallen in love with--Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights. This cookbook is organized by seasons, with breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for each. The photography is beautiful and the dishes are simple but inspired. This is an extremely easy recipe but it makes for a perfect snack. Sophia Dahl says that these british snacks remind her of her childhood and encourage her to cuddle up to a book, "sticky-fingered", while enjoying these little bites of heaven.

Flapjacks
Adapted from Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights

Makes 12 squares

Ingredients:
Butter for greasing
1/4 Cup honey
1/2 Tablespoon molasses
3/4 Stick butter
3/4 Cups rolled oats
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 pan.
In a saucepan, heat the honey, molasses and butter on low heat, until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and add the oats, and vanilla.
Press the mixture into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden. Let cool. While it cools, the liquid will stiffen so that the flapjacks become solid. Once they are solid, cut the squares and enjoy them while they're still warm! Store the leftovers in an airtight container.

As a child I could not eat processed sugars, for health reasons, so all of the sweets my mom and I would make used honey and molasses for their sweetener. Smelling the liquid mixture heating up took me back to those childhood days. To me, molasses and honey will always smell sweeter than any sort processed sugar. Dahl was right, I just wanted to curl up in a blanket and read my favorite books while munching on these warm treats.

Food Weekend Post #1

Last weekend, mom came into town on Friday for a visit and to take me home for easter. It was a weekend full of delicious food! After I got out of class on Friday, I took her to Fat Face (of course) and had a delicious meal made up of 3 different sandwiches, a bowl of soup and a salted carmel custard for dessert. Then we stopped next door at Let Them Eat Cake to get a few cupcakes--they had a new one, tiramisu, and it was so tasty! That night, we went out with my roommate, Caitlin, to Katmandu--my favorite place in davis for Indian/Himalayan food. The next morning, we woke up early to go on our next food adventure at the Davis Farmer's Market! We bought plenty of delicious food for our Easter meal and then we settled down to a breakfast sandwich and beignets from Fat Face (yes, they are at the Farmer's Market too!) delicious! I love being able to show my mom around all of my favorite food places when she visits.

Mom eating her dessert at Fat Face.

Then, we set out for Berkeley to have lunch with my brother (and convince him to go back to Fresno with us). We continued our incredible food weekend there by stopping by The Cheese Board Pizza Collective for lunch. The Cheese Board Pizza Collective was born from the original Cheese Board Collective which began as a small bread and cheese shop and was (and is) an employee owned business. They eventually started making pizza a few days a week and it became so popular that along with a new, larger space, they were able to make their pizza sales a full time thing. The 6 members of The Cheese Board Collective searched for new members to form The Cheese Board Pizza Collective and thus it was born. They only serve one type of pizza a day and you can find out the Pizza of the Day by stopping by their website.

The Cheese Board Pizza Collective 
1512 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA
510-549-3055

As we waited in the massive line outside the pizzeria, the walls/doors were opened up so we could see the inside of the shop and hear the musicians playing. After ordering our pizza, we took it across the street to the meridian--a tad weird, I know, but this is what you do at The Cheese Board. Despite numerous signs around the restaurant and on the grassy meridian telling people not to, it seems to have become quite the tradition to take your pizza and picnic on the meridian. By the time we left, the whole meridian was completely covered by people eating their delicious pizza. What a tradition!

Tomato with gruyere cheese, onions and fresh herbs

I'm not a huge pizza fan...actually in might be a better description to say that I'm an extremely picky pizza eater. But this pizza was delicious! I'm surprised I was able to stop at 2 pieces and not devour the whole thing in one sitting. The ingredients were simple, but they worked so well together. (Once, my mom went and the pizza had lemon olive oil, caramelized onions, figs and blue cheese! Oh my.) Normally, I really don't like fresh tomatoes on pizza, but somehow they made it work here--I think it was the thinness of the slices of tomato. I can't think of a better lunch than sitting in the grass with the sun shining down and eating a slice of Cheese Board Pizza.

After having our fill of pizza, we ventured over to the cheese and bread part of The Cheese Board Collective to buy a few cheeses for appetizers on Easter. I've never seen so much cheese in one place! The cheese wrapped around the store and you had to take a card and wait to be called by one of the employees. Once you were called, the employees were so nice and would help you decide what you wanted by giving plenty of generous samples.

The Cheese Board Collective
1504 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley
510-549-3183

We ended up buying a triple cream that completely melted and tasted almost like butter and a brie that was much stronger and went perfectly with a nutty bread that we bought from the Davis Farmer's Market that morning. Ever since, I've been wanting a really good cheese, but Safeway's collection just doesn't cut it. I see a trip to the Davis Coop in my near future.

All Wrapped Up

When my Greek Professor first said that we were going to have a potluck on our last day of class, I knew I wanted to make either Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) or Spanakopitas. When the grocery store didn't have any grape leaves, I knew I'd be making Spanakopitas--fine by me! I absolutely love these little pockets of heaven.

Spanakopitas
Adapted from The Best Traditional Recipes of Greek Cooking

Ingredients:
1 Onion, chopped
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
3 Eggs, beaten
1 Pound fresh spinach
8 Ounces chunk feta, crubled (it just tastes better when it's not pre-crumbled)
1/2 Cup cream cheese
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
1 Pound thawed phyllo pastry
Olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375º
In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil and saute the onion until translucent. Add the spinach and cook until wilted.
Meanwhile, combine the eggs, cheeses, salt and pepper.
When the spinach is ready, drain and then add to the eggs and cheese mixture.
Unwrap the phyllo dough from it's box. Lay one sheet of pastry in front of you, lengthwise. Brush the dough with the olive oil and top with another piece of phyllo dough. This part is a bit tough, just because phyllo dough is so fragile. Cut the layered dough into 5 strips from top to bottom.
Place a few tablespoons of the spinach mixture at the bottom of the phyllo dough and roll it up to the top. Repeat this until the mixture is gone. This should make between 25 and 30 Spanakopitas.
Place the pockets on an oiled cookie sheet and gently brush the tops with olive oil. Bake the Spanakopitas until they are lightly browned, 30-35 minutes.

I've been wanting to make these for ages. You really can't go wrong with spinach, cheese and phyllo dough. These actually weren't as hard as I thought they would be. Phyllo dough is hard to work with, but it's doable. And the finished product is just so delicious!

Snacktime Really Shouldn't Involve Work

Okay here it is. My favorite snack. It's nothing fancy, it doesn't take much work and many of you have probably already had this, but I can't help but to stand up on my soap box and advocate for this tasty treat.

Avocado Toast

Ingredients:
1 Piece of bread...or 2 or 3. I just can't get enough.
1/2  avocado per piece of bread...or more or less, depending on your preference.
Butter
Salt

Directions:
Like I said before, this doesn't take much work at all. Toast your bread and spread some butter on top. Mash the avocado onto the toast and top with salt to taste.

Something is so satisfying about this simple snack. The avocado tastes so refreshing and homemade bread makes it even more delectable.

Looking Back

When I was a kid, I developed a skin condition called Psoriasis. Though it’s not a horrible disease by any means, for a kid it really, really sucked. It causes patches of extremely dry skin that can’t be fixed simply by applying a normal lotion. Though there are medications for Psoriasis, they are pretty rough on your body and must be taken for the rest of your life—not an appealing thought to me and my parents. Instead of starting me on medications, my parents spent a lot of time and energy researching the condition and finding alternative methods to get rid of it. We tried everything! Lotions, shampoos, bath salts, you name it. Finally, they found a book that described in great detail, the causes of the condition and a diet that could help it. This diet was intense! No processed, fried or hydrogenated foods; nothing from the nightshade family (which includes potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant); no red meat; certain foods I could have only on and empty stomach; certain foods I could only have with other food in my stomach; no dairy; a huge plethora of foods to be avoided…the list goes on! It was definitely not a fun diet to follow, but within a week of starting the diet, my psoriasis started disappearing! I was on that diet for 8 years, until my body was able to remain relatively psoriasis-free without it. That whole 8 years, my mom was super-mom. She made all of my food from scratch; read all of the ingredients on any foods that she bought; made food for me to take along to friends' houses because they most likely wouldn’t have anything that I could eat…she was amazing. I think that a lot of my love for cooking comes from that stage in my life because I learned a lot about food and how to prepare everything from only the best of ingredients. Though I no longer need to be on the diet, a lot of my eating habits stem from this diet. One recipe that my mom modified for my diet was just simple guacamole. Still to this day, I much prefer guacamole the way that my mom made it when I was little (no tomatoes or peppers).

My Mom’s Guacamole

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1/2 a cucumber, peeled and diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
salt to taste

Directions:
Mash up the avocado and mix in the other ingredients.

This is such a simple guacamole recipe—no bells or whistles—but it is so much better than any other guacamole I’ve ever tasted. The cucumbers add such a great crunch to the dish. Maybe it’s just for nostalgic reasons, but I do really think that this guacamole is fresher and tastier than any guacamole I’ve had with tomatoes, peppers and all the works! Thanks mom.

Experimenting with Polenta

I remember falling in love with Polenta the first time I tried it. Something about Polenta is just so different from any other dish. I think its flavor is one of the most comforting flavors out there. Until now, I’ve always just bought it in the prepared logs and fried it and topped it with a sauce (Usually, a spinach and cheese sauce! Mmmm). However, I’ve been wanting for a while to try to make Polenta from the dried cornmeal. Since it’s been cold around Davis lately, I decided that it was a perfect week to make one of my favorite comfort foods.

Parmesan Polenta with Eggs and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
For the Polenta:
Salt
1 Cup instant Polenta (this will yield leftover Polenta which can be used in my next recipe)
3/4 Cup Parmesan
4 Tablespoons butter
For the Tomato Sauce and Eggs:
Olive oil
1 Onion
3 Cloves of garlic
15 Ounce can of Italian tomatoes or diced tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tablespoons chopped basil
4 eggs

Directions:
Start the water boiling for the Polenta. When it comes to a boil, add the salt and the Polenta. Stir continuously until it thickens. This should take about 3 minutes. Once it has thickened, add the butter and let it melt. Then add the Parmesan.
Meanwhile, heat up the olive oil in a large skillet and chop the onions. Add the chopped onions to the oil and then mince in the garlic. Once the onions start to soften, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let it all come together for about 5 minutes then add the basil.
Move the tomato mixture to one side of the large pan and then crack the eggs onto the empty side of the pan, without breaking the yolks. Top with salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Check the eggs every few minutes until the yolk is the consistency that you like. I like mine to be runny but for all of the whites to be well cooked (covering it with a lid helps ensure that the whites won't be runny).
Once all of the components are ready, spoon some Polenta into a bowl and top with the tomatoes and a couple eggs and extra parmesan if you want.
Take the leftover Polenta from and place it into a greased 8x8 pan. Place in the refrigerator over night to allow it to set up for future use.

A perfect meal for a cold, rainy day! I made this for my friend, Melanie, while we were "studying". Much better than reading a textbook. Much better.

Rosemary and Parmesan Polenta Chips
I saw Giada make these on the Food Network a few years ago and I have wanted to make them ever since. I searched for the recipe, but with no luck, so I decided to just experiment a bit on my own.

Ingredients:
Left over Polenta (You could make Polenta just for this purpose if you don’t want to make the previous dish. Just follow the directions on the back of the bag to make the Polenta and then put it in a pan and chill it till it is set.)
Olive oil
Rosemary to taste
Freshly grated parmesan to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Take the left over Polenta and gently turn it out of the pan. You may need to urge it a bit by taking a spatula or a knife along the edges. Cut the Polenta up into 2cm x 1.5 inch pieces…approximately. Heat up enough oil in a pan so that it will cover the Polenta slices. To place the Polenta strips in the oil, place them onto a spatula and then lower them into the oil. There is a lot of moisture in Polenta so it will spit out a lot of hot oil. A thorough clean up will be necessary afterward. Let the Polenta strips fry for about five minutes or until they start to become golden brown. When they are ready, take them out and place them on a paper towel to drain some of the oil. Top with rosemary, parmesan, salt and pepper while the Polenta is still hot. Continue frying in batches until all of the Polenta is used.

My roommates and I could not stop eating these! I could barely make them as fast as we were devouring them. They are reminiscent of french fries but so much better! Experiment with the toppings to find what flavors work for you.