Povitica

I have never have povitica before and was very excited to try it.  In my mind, I was envisioning something like a bread version of baklava.  Although the final result looked nothing like the some of the beautiful pictures of povitica I saw on the web, it quickly became a family favorite.  Thank you, Jenni, for a great challenge! 

 The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

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Return to the Daring Kitchen - Moo Shu

It has been a really long time since I participated in a Daring Cooks and Bakers challenges.  One thing I could not pass was Moo Shu.  How can you not love the moo shu?  I was very apprehensive about making it, as the dish I typically would get in a Chinese restaurant looked like a lot of work.  It was adventure from the beginning to the end – things did not worked out as planned (the pancakes stuck together, scrambled tofu was ended up completely breaking down while cooking and nothing really tasted as expected).  Despite the challenges, it was a fun experience, though, and I might try making moo shu some time in the future again. 

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Cassoulet -- a daring challenge with a French flare

I came across this quote and it was simply perfect:

"Cassoulet, that best of bean feasts, is everyday fare for a peasant but ambrosia for a gastronome, though its ideal consumer is a 300-pound blocking back who has been splitting firewood nonstop for the last twelve hours on a subzero day in Manitoba."

-Julia Child, Julia Child and More Company, Cassoulet for a Crowd


Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk
and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.


I can't remember anything else I ever made that required this level of planning, preparation and effort. And I definitely can't recall when all of that time and effort paid off with such a bang.

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Christmas Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Ahhh, the stollen. What a wonderful surprise -- thank you, Penny, for a great challenge!



Stollen very quickly became our new family tradition. What's not to like -- the sweet (but not too sweet) bread, dried fruits, the looks and, most importantly, that amazing smell of baking bread. In my attempt to make the stollens I used whatever I managed to get my hand on that evening -- pine nuts, dried apricots, cherries, craisins and, of course, orange rum- soaked raisins. Delicious!!! Stollen also proved to be very, very, very forgiving, as I ran out of yeast and it still turned out simply fabulous. I made two mini-stollens and m family devoured the first one in less than 24 hours. We sort of slowed down on the second and it took us maybe 48 hours to finish it off.

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This is probably the latest submission for December Daring Cooks' Challenge but I just had to share...



Jenn from Jenn Cuisine and Jill (jillouci) were Daring Cooks' hosts for the month of December! For this month, they decided to focus on a technique that seems intimidating to many, but with a little practice it’s really not that hard at all – poaching. All poaching means is cooking something in simmering (not boiling) water. And what more perfect way to practice the skill of poaching than learning how to poach an egg? They can make a tasty breakfast, or salad accompaniment; there are so many different ways to use poached eggs, and they are used in cuisines from a variety of cultures.

Since poaching technique was the only thing required, I deviated a bit from the suggested recipes but I really wanted to try out Poached Green Eggs & Smoked Salmon from HERE. Absolutely delicious! Smoked salmon taste was a little too strong for otherwise a very delicate combination of the falvors -- avocado, tomato and an egg, poached in green tea. But it was oh-so-good!

Thank you, Jenn and Jill, for a fun and a delicious challenge! Will be definitely making this again!

Russian Christmas Cookies

These cookies is one of our Christmas traditions. They might not be all that good -looking but they compensate by being absolutley delicious. They truly melt in your mouth and don't last more than a day (regardless of the quantity made).

Ingredients:
1 cup of butter
1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
6 tablespoons of powdered sugar
2 cups of flour
1 caup of chopped walnuts
powdered sugar for decoration

Process:
Preheat oven to 350F/175C
Cream butter with vanilla and sugar, add flour
Mix in nuts
Roll dough into 1-inch balls
Bake for 15 mins
Roll in the powdered sugar
Enjoy!

Tarte Tatin aux Pommes

I don't typically blog outside Daring Kitchen challenges but this tart is simply divine and I just have to share. Out of this world good!



Gazillion thanks to Belonika, http://belonika.livejournal.com/199040.html#cutid1, for the recipe and very detailed step-by-step instructions.

A quick recap:
- 220 g of sugar
- 1kg of sweet apples
- 100g of unsalted butter
- 1 sheet of puff pastry
- vanilla, cinnamon

Steps:
- peel, core and half apples
- dissolve sugar until golden brown
- arrange apples in the baking form
- cover with puff pastry
- bake 40 min at 180C/375F
- cool, flip over
- boil the caramel drippings and glaze the tart

Voila! Kick back and enjoy!