Food Tag

Sara over at Three Clever Sisters recently tagged me to participate in a “food holiday tag” menu. The rule is to share menu suggestions of a couple of dishes previously posted on your blog for an upcoming food holiday, with photos and links to the recipes. Then, you tag 10 more bloggers. I told Sara I didn’t have time to participate, but then I thought about it again and realized I had a holiday coming up. Not an official holiday, though. But I want to celebrate the end of me eliminating almost all fruit and vegetables from my menu for a couple of weeks which was due to the scary E.coli outbreak here in Germany. Thus, I picked a couple of dishes that feature (raw) fruit and vegetables. Here you go.

Bake! – Kyra’s Hot Milk Sponge Cake

The 11th recipe I made from Nick Malgieri’s “Bake!” was Kyra’s Hot Milk Sponge Cake. I know, this recipe hasn’t been on the official lineup yet, but let me explain what happened.

Bake! – Cream Cheese Scones

The 10th recipe I made from Nick Malgieri’s “Bake!” was Cream Cheese Scones. Wow, these were really quick to put together. Only problem – I didn’t have cream cheese, but I DID have cottage cheese and thought I’d give it a try. Worked out perfect . These scones were heavy, but so delicious! We served them with homemade jam – YUM! Others who made these scones: Abby and Phyl.

Modern Baker Challenge – Sour-Cream Apple Pie

The 9th recipe I made from the Sweet Tarts and Pies section for the Modern Baker Challenge – Sour-Cream Apple Pie. I sooo looked forward to making this pie because I love apple pie and sour cream. So the recipe sounded like the perfect combination. It called for the Sweet Tart Dough, and making the apple filling, sour-cream custard and the crumb topping wasn’t complicated at all. I should have listened to my instinct feeling when I read the recipe called for Golden Delicious apples. I’m not a Golden Delicious apple person. Not at all! These apples don’t have a character, soft, bland and sweet. I prefer firm apples that are sour and sweet at the same time, but the recipe said Golden Delicious, so I bought Golden Delicious. I should have gone for tart apples. Really! The pie was ok, and to be honest, the hubby really loved it, but I thought it was without character, just sweet… I didn’t even notice the sour cream. So, next time I’ll try this pie with a different kind of apples, because the custard and crumb topping were great!

Modern Baker Challenge – Lemony Cheese Tart with Sour-Cream Glaze

The 8th recipe I made from the Sweet Tarts and Pies section for the Modern Baker Challenge – Lemony Cheese Tart with Sour-Cream Glaze. You need the Sweet Tart Dough, and the ingredients for the filling are: cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon zest, eggs, egg yolks, and sour cream. For the sour cream glaze, you need more sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract. The filling comes together easily, next time I’ll probably add the lemon juice from the lemon I grated the zest of. The filling is scraped into the tart crust, then I baked it for 35 minutes. While the tart was baking, I prepared the glaze which you spread on the tart when it is done baking. Then, I returned the tart to the oven and baked it 10 minutes longer. My verdict: AWESOME TART!!!!!!! I refrigerated the leftovers and we had them the next day right from the fridge: EVEN BETTER than at room temperature!!!!!! This one is a keeper!

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Pasta e Bisi (Pea Soup with Pasta)

I have to admit I’ve bought a new cookbook. I know, I know, I didn’t want to buy it, but Kayte`s blog posts forced me to! She’s been involved in a challenge called Thirty Minute Thursday, a challenge momentarily cooking through Giuliano Hazan’s “Thiry Minute Pasta” which was set up by Glennis. The dishes Kayte blogged about sounded and looked so delicious that I couldn’t resist: I HAD to get the book. Now, I cooked the first dish from it: Pea Soup with Pasta. A very simple recipe. You need yellow onion, butter, peas (fresh or frozen), salt, pepper, vegetable stock (the recipe says beef bouillon cube), flat-leaf Italian parsley and pappardelle. Definitely a keeper, because it’s yummy, quick and everybody just loved it!

Bake! – Best & Easiest Carrot Cake

The 9th recipe I made from Nick Malgieri’s “Bake!” was the Best & Easiest Carrot Cake. Phyl picked this recipe, you can find his take on this cake here. I am still not sure what to think about this cake: yes, it was very easy, but is it the best carrot cake? I can’t really compare because I haven’t had much carrot cake yet, and the little I had I can’t remember to compare. The recipe for the cream cheese frosting is a little off, it does taste wonderful, but is way too runny and does not look like in the book at all. Phyl noticed the same thing. Less cream cheese? More confectioners’ sugar? I don’t know why it was so runny… I followed the recipe to the T. As I said, the frosting was yummy. The cake was weird. Maybe it was the combination of lots of cinnamon and carrots which already SOUNDS weird to me? My family loved it, though.

Others who have made this cake: Kayte & Abby.