Monday 7 March 2011

Pasta with Artichoke, Mushrooms and caramalized onions


I regularly buy food magazines and I also have subscription to some food magazine which I really look forward to get in the post.
So you can Imagine how much food magazines I have here at home. And I dont throw them away, why should you, they are like cooking books but then in form of magazine.
So last month I was looking to one of th  magazine I got and I saw a recipe for pasta wish mushroom and artichoke etc...........and showing to hubby saying I should make this, ofcourse hubby was really excited that I am planning to make a totally new pasta dish.
After few weeks I said Ok now I will make that new pasta dish I saw in the magazine, just that I didnt know which magazine it was and I told hubby well it was a pasta dish so it has to be in the Italian magazine I get. So I was looking to all the magazine page by page nothing to find and then ofcourse hearing me grumbling, hubby said he will look as I must have missed it but he also didnt find, so all this was happening in the evening and then in the end we deicided to go for sleep, next day I got up and told hubby it could be in a another magazine and indeed it was, I took another bunch of magazine and in few minutes I found this recipe back to both our delight.
We both loved the pasta dish, I had some left over well much more as the recipe was for four so I took the rest to my in laws place, MIL lloved it but my niece didnt like it, saying she didnt like arichoke etc.....
So I guess if you dont like the ingridients you should not make it :-)
The recipe is from Delicious Magazine
Sending this delicous pasta dish to
 Presto Pasta Nights organised by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast which is hosted at Maison Cupcake this week.

Serves 4-6
500 gm spaghetti
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large red onion slices
250 gm Chesnut mushroom quaterd
200 gm marinated artichoke hearts quaters ( you can buy in bottle from the shop)
300 gm large tomatoes , skinned , desseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves finley chopped
200 ml white wine
100 ml single cream
Hand full of finley chopped parsley, I didnt have i used fried.
50 gm parmesan, shaved

Cook the spaghetti according to the pack instruction. Drain well.
Meanwhile, heat the oilve oil in a large saucepan and fry the onione ofr 10 minutes over a low heat.
After the 10 minutes increase the temperature, add the garlic and then the mushroom , the wine and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Then add the tomatoes, artichoke pieces and cook for 5 minutes more.
Add the cream and parsley
Season with peper and salt.
Mis in the cooked spaghetti.
Serve in a bowl sprinkled with the parmesan shavings.
Will post the step by step pics later.
I am taking a week holiday from blogging and blog hopping, hubby is in holiday .



Wednesday 2 March 2011

Suikerbrood/Sugarbread Step by Step making


Suikerbrood ( Sugar bread) is a very popular bread in Friesland, originally the shape was round but in time it changed into a square bread.
In friese suikerbrood it is 40% sugar and there is Cinamon inside the bread.
Sugarbread has no real reason for making nowadays. Make or buy it when you like to have it....Long ago it was given (in North-Holland) as a present to pregnant women who delivered a girl. ( those who delivered a boy got a raisinbread .
If you want to see how the Friesland bread is then hop over to Aparna's place here.
I didnt know the above information till latley, itis hubby who told me this information.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you would know how delighted I was to find a recipe for Suikerbrood last year.
But this recipe  below is from a famous belgian baker and I have been using this same recipe for atleast half a year and we all love it.
Here my daughter Shyama loves Suikerbrood, so these past weeks I have been making every friday evening as she is home on weekends and that she can also enjoy this delicious bread every saturday morning for breakfast.
I have to admit you should not start making this bread if you dont have time as it takes time to make, not that much work but as it takes several turn of raising the dough, add things, and then again keeping for fermenting etc.....
Now to the recipe, I have this book calle Basic Bread in Dutch and in that book they have most of the breads available in Belgium. I have made few of the recipes and each of them tasted as good as the one we buy from the bakers or better as when we make at home one is not looking for profit, one make with good quality items.
First you have to make this Basic dough for making Sweet breads
If you want you can make with the above sweet bread dough this Chocolate buns
Now for the Suiker brood.










I portion of Sweet bread  use the measurement for 8 piece of small bread as I had given in that post for making big and small portions. So used the ingridientsfor smaller portion.
100 gm Pearl Sugar
15 gm melter butter
Mix above ingridients and ste aside.
1 egg yolk mixed with a table spoon of milk. ( If you dont like to use egg you can use just milk, but i would suggest use egg yolk otherwise you dont get the shinyand brown glaze on the finished bread.

Use a scale and weigh 125 gm of dough make into a ball shape , this portion of dough will be used to cover the bread.
(This covering method is used so that the peal sugar does not burn while baking)

You will have 2 portion of dough. I with 125 gm and then another dough ball with the rest of the dough.
Greas a baking tray and keep both the dough portions on the trey and leave it to rise in warm place coverd with a tea towel for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes take the biggest portion of dough mist the sugar pearls into this dough, shape into a ball and keep both the balls of dough again for rising for 30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes roll yhr ball of 125 gm into a circle of 2 mm thick.
Make a nice sball shape with the dough with the sugar peals.
Keep this sugar dough in the middle of the rolled our dough.
Close them/ Cover them the way shown in the picture below.
Closed side should be the underside, when you keep on the tray.
Leave the bread in a warm place covered with a tea towel for 45 minutes for raising.
After 45 minutes brush them with the egg yolk and milk mixture.
With the edge of a sharp knife cut a circle and fill the circle with few sugar pearls.
Let the bread again rest for another 15 minutes covers with tea towle in a warm place.
In the mean time preheat the oven 180° c.
Bake tha bread for 35 minutes.
When it is finished baking cool on a rack.
Only slice when the bread is fully cooled down.
Edited later
I have made the bread in a trey and in round cake tin.
For this post I made in a tray but these days I bake them in a 18 cm round cake tin as I like the bread higer as when you bake in a open tin it spread a bit . It is your personal choice.
Sending this delicious bread for Yeastspotting