I just made this, too, but I did add the 44 tsp. sugar (44 sugar cubes). If you read on, you'll find that this person used rum in the recipe, and I think that could be a good addition, more flavorful. That's not to say this isn't flavorful, but I'm intrigued with using rum instead of the vodka I used.
Other that that difference, the rest of the recipe is the same.
I wonder how it would be if cloves were used, instead of the coffee. . . anyone ever tried?
Here are the notes that go with the photo:
"44
750mL white rum, one orange with 44 holes, one coffee bean in each hole, aged 44 days.
Discard the orange (although it seems a shame to waste that much juice and whatever rum has soaked into it - I might try squeezing it into the jar first next time).
Filter the liquid and add sugar - the traditional recipe says to use 44tsp in the beginning, but the jar didn't have room. I just added simple syrup to taste. It turned out tasting best with about 200mL syrup, and 44tsp is about 200g of sugar, so I think it turned out right.
There was a little liquid lost in the process (spillage / absorption) so it ended up being about 550-600mL liquid after filtering. This fit nicely back into a 750mL bottle after doing some taste testing and adding syrup.
And the tasting: Smells mostly like oranges. The flavor starts off like sweet, mild coffee and then turns strongly orangy, which fades and leaves a nice combination of the two aftertastes. In short it's friggin' delicious. I'll definitely be making this again."
* * *
(Actually, I did squeeze as much liquid as I could from the orange into the remaining liquor.)
And I still think the rum might be better than vodka.
While Visions of Sugar Plums Danced. . .
Monday, November 9, 2009
44 Cordial
Friday, November 6, 2009
pumpkin soup
Mmm. . .
Photo note:
"color explosion - pumpkin soup (hokkaido pumpkin, potatos, onions, red lentils, ginger) with chives and freshly fried bacon bits"
Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Soup for the soul~
Photo note and links:
"When we are at the fruit shop the other day they had a large bin of Butternuts for $1 each, so I grabbed one though in retrospect I should have grabbed a couple more.
I had planned to use the Pumpkin Soup recipe I have used before but to play with it a bit more. However, then I got thinking about the fantastic Roasted(?) Pumpkin Soup that Mary had had when we went to the Chocolate Buffet so I googled Roast Pumpkin Soup and lo and behold the first result up is from the ABC :) The various ABC radio stations all feature various recipes and then the recipes from all across the country are placed in the one index - Backyard Recipe Index.
So seeing that the first result up was an ABC recipe I thought why the hell not, I'll use this one, sure I made a few changes but it was so good, even Mum was chowing into it!
Roast Pumpkin Soup
adapted from a recipe by Elaine Wilson
Ingredients
1 butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced into medium sized cubes (3.5cmish)
4, 5, 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled (I would say use a clove per serving, it just enhances the flavour a bit)
a couple of tablespoons of soft brown sugar
1 large onion chopped
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 carrot chopped
1 stick of celery chopped
4 cups chicken stock
natural yoghurt, butter milk or sour cream, to serve
chopped fresh herbs, to serve
rye bread, to serve
Method:
Preheat oven 180C. Place the pumpkin and garlic on a well oiled tray and sprinkle with the brown sugar (to caramelise the pumpkin and just enhance the flavour more. Roast for 30 minutes or so until the pumpkin is cooked through
Whilst the pumpkin is roasting, add a little oil to a large pot and fry the vegetables until the onion is soft. Add the cumin. Add the chicken stock to the pot, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or so. Add the pumpkin to the pot, peel the garlic and then add to the pot. Remove the pot from the heat.
In batches puree the mixture until smooth. If you are making this in advance and have time to allow the mixture to cool before pureeing do, or if like me and the clock is fast approaching dinner time before pureeing, pour the mixture into a separate container and then after each batch pour the pureed soup back into the original pot over a low heat to warm it up.
Serve with sour cream or natural yoghurt or butter milk, fresh chives or parsley if you have them and some hearty rye bread to dip with."
Pumpkin soup with cinnamon creme fraiche
Intriguiing! Follow the link for more:
"Spiced pumpkin soup, topped with cinnamon creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds. More information at saraskitchen.blogspot.com"
copenhagen, thursday lunch, pumpkin soup
Photographer's note:
"i have been craving pumpkin soup ever since i enjoyed peter’s version of it last week at charlotte and peter’s.
so, today, i made my own.
this one is made with slow-roasted hokkaido pumpkins, which are afterwards boiled in a ginger-garlic-red curry broth... all of the ingredients are then puréed, pumpkin skin and all, together with coconut milk... the seeds are then roasted and later used for garnish. to the purée, i have added sautéed chanterelles, steamed then flash-roasted cauliflower that have been marinated in tamari, as well as pan-seared tofu... final touches include cilantro leaves (coriander), a touch of creme fraiche, the aforementioned pumpkin seeds, a bit of austrian pumpkin oil and vietnamese chili sauce... f*ckin-a, it was good."
Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Pumpkin Toast
Photographer's note:
"Pumpkin soup in adorable pumpkin soup bowls, served with pumpkin toast.
Check out the full recipe here "
Pumpkin Soup
http://www.vegalicious.org/2009/02/06/pumpkin-red-lentil-and-date-soup/
Gorgeous! So pretty, and served in bread bowls. There is also a link to the recipe for the bowls, from the Vegalicious site.
Friday Soup
the last 1/4 can of organic black beans,
last tablespoon or two of pasta sauce in the jar,
cup of chopped roast from when a friend was over,
pork roast from two days ago,
peas that went with,
and the slices of onion the roast roasted in,
bit of pizza sauce not doing anything but taking up room in the fridge,
a couple of heaping soup spoonfuls of cooked pumpkin
and some water to last night's dregs of
rice, still in the pot?
Left-over Pumpkin Soup
Pan de Muertos, Next Day
So what does one do with a shell of bread? Make more orange glaze!
And oh was it good. . . amazing what a little sugar and fresh squeezed orange will do for dry bones, I mean bread.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Pan de Muerto
Friday night I was told we needed to make Pan de Muerto for DS's school for a Monday party. Fair enough - I actually got more than one day's notice on that one. Never mind that Saturday was Halloween, and yesterday All Saints Day at church. We started mid-afternoon yesterday.
What we had to go by was a few pages in graphic novel format, with the characters in each frame telling us how to make it. For example, "We don't have much to work with, but we can still prepare some kind of ofrenda. Get me 1/2 cup of butter, 2 pkgs of dry yeast, 1 tablespoon of whole anise seed. . ." Meanwhile, all sorts of ghoulish things are creeping into the room. The baker appears to be a zombie of sorts. But they all seem to know what they're doing.
So, at 4:30 pm DS and I began to make our bread. Here is a little excerpt from the recipe we used:
". . . heat milk, butter, and water until warm but not boiling.
Uh. Measure out a cup and a half of the flour, saving the rest for later. Mix that cup and a half with the saly, yeast, anise seed and sugar.
Take your warm liquid and beat it well into your solids mixture until they're all combined. Add all your eggs and beat in another cup of flour. Keep adding flour until you have a dough that's soft without being sticky. Knead until smooth (about 10 minutes should do.)"
All was going well, and we got a nice dough going - easy to knead, and smooth. The scent was nice, too, with all those anise seeds and the sugar. We formed our dough into the usual ball, and set it into our "rising bowl."
An hour and a half later, it really hadn't risen. I tried an old trick of kneading more yeast into it, but to no avail. At 7:30 it became apparent I needed to start a new dough. I'm wondering if adding the warm liquids to the yeast killed it the first time around? Not sure. This is not normally how I make bread. Though, I was willing to give it a try.
Recipe #2: What I used, loosely:
Pan de Muerto: Bread of the Dead
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg1096/panmuert.html
This time, I sprinkled the yeast over the warm water, and separately softened the butter in the milk in a pan - but only just, because I didn't want that liquid to be so warm it might kill the activated yeast. I then added a half cup of flour to the yeast and water mixture, then added the milk/butter mixture. To this I added the anise seeds, sugar, salt, and added more flour until I had a decent dough. Not too stiff, but not glued to the sides of the mixing bowl.
It worked. My dough was rising nicely.
So what did we do with the first dough? Used it. I cut it into four pieces, shaped two larger ones into skull shapes (wish I'd taken a photo!), and two smaller pieces I shaped into bones, complete with knobbly ends. The first skull rose a bit, the second skull and two bones didn't rise as much. I think the reason for that was I had rolled the first bit of dough in my usual way: punch it down, and fold the edges into the center like a flower. Turn the dough over, and continued to coax the dough inward until the ball is nice and tight. Then I poked two eye holes with my fingers, a nose cavity, and four fingers for the teeth. Like I said, it didn't stay that way; most of the face filled in.
I put those in the oven after letting them rise another hour.
The second dough responded beautifully. After punching it down, I cut off portion of it (about 1/3) and set it aside. The larger portion I formed into a ball. Now for the bone decorations. I divided the smaller portion into about eight pieces, formed one into a ball for the center, and make bones out of the other seven pieces, radiating them out from the center ball, or tear. Let that rise an hour.
This I baked for about 45 minutes. Near the time it was ready to come out of the oven, I made the glaze: 1/2 C. sugar and 2 Tb. grated orange rind mixed with 1/3 C. squeezed orange juice. (I basically grated one orange for the zest, then squeezed the orange and used most of the juice I got from it.) Boil two minutes.
When the bread came out, I coated it with the glaze.At 11:20, I was done, and headed to bed, the smell of anise in the air, and sweet taste and scent of orange on my fingers.
This is a photo of one of the first (skull) loaves:
The main bread, second dough, photographed this morning.
By the way, why is the top knob off center? It rose so well in the oven, the top element was in the way, and "rearranged" it.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Ofrendas
Day of the Dead demonstrations and displays at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Foods to Love, Words to Savor
