Squash Blossoms a delicacy

With the arrival of summer squash comes the dainty beautiful yellow orange flower of the vegetable. I didn't know that these flowers are edible till my niece made a dish out of those.  These bright orange  flowers are available only in the farmer's markets or specialty stores.  The best ones can come from your kitchen garden.  These blossoms have a very short shelf life.  They are so soft and perishable that they can last only for a day even in the refrigerator.  They are available only from July to September.

It is true that squash blossoms can be used for garnishing the salads and soups but to turn these into a gourmet dish would require stuffing them with some soft cheese and frying them.  My niece, the culinary expert stuffed it with ricotta cheese and thyme combination and fried them.  When she invited us over to have a squash blossom,  my sister asked for ketchup.  Her response was: "Mom, this is a delicacy and you are supposed to eat them like that in order to enjoy the true flavor of the blossoms."

The squash blossoms are not just pretty looking, they are high in calcium and iron and especially high in vitamins C and A.  They are excellent for dieters as one cup of squash blossom has merely five calories, unless you are stuffing and frying them.

Ingredients:

16-20 squash blossoms, 3/4 cup white flour, 1 cup beer, salt to taste , oil for frying.

Ingredients for filling:

2 liters of milk, 2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 small onion chopped finely, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp lemon pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

In a big pan put milk to boil.  When it reaches boiling point, add lemon juice to curdle the milk.  Strain the curdled milk through a muslin cloth to allow all the whey and moisture to drain.  Hang it on the kitchen sink tap.  Once water drains completely(it may take two hours or so), take out of the cloth and mash it well with your fingers.  Heat one tbsp of oil, add cumin seeds.  When they tsp spluttering, add onion and sauté them till they turn light pink.  Add mashed paneer(cheese), salt and lemon pepper and mix it well.  Keep aside so it cools off.

In the meanwhile make batter of white flour, beer and salt and mix it well.  Stuff the blossoms with the paneer mix by opening the petals gently.  Coat the stuffed ones in the batter mix.  Heat the oil to 325 degrees F and fry them until golden brown. Place the fried ones on the paper towel to drain the oil.  

Enjoy.

Fresh strawberry cake

My niece who is an excellent cook made this amazingly delicious cake for the July 4 barbecue party. Her almost four-year-old son helped in this.  The result was velvety textured cake with the freshness of strawberries.
The cake was so yummy that guests asked for second helpings.  The best part is you can put all the ingredients in the food processor and let it work to a perfect cake batter.  Other than baking time, this cake can be made in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

Butter 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp, white flour 1 1/2 cups, baking powder 1 1/2 tsp, salt 1/2 tsp, sugar 1 1/4 cups, eggs 2 small or 1 big,  milk 1/2 cup, vanilla essence 1 tsp,  strawberries 1pound washed and halved.

Method:

Sift white flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a nine inch pie plate and keep it aside.
Put butter and one cup of sugar in a food processor bowl and mix it on a high speed till fluffy and creamy.  It should not take more than 4 or 5 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium and mix in eggs, vanilla and milk.

 

Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture.  Once done pour this mixture on the buttered pie plate and arrange the strawberries on the batter. Place the cut side of strawberries down.  Try putting them very close to each other.


Bake cake for  one hour and ten minutes on 325 degrees F.  When last 15 minutes are left for baking, bring the cake out and sprinkle rest of the sugar on the fruit and cake.


 If you like the caramelized look you may sprinkle the sugar before you start to bake.

Leftovers turned into a Risotto-pasta dish

Leftovers are something we all have to deal with at times.  We are often faced with the extra rice or boiled pasta at the end of the day and very reluctantly we keep it in the refrigerator to toss it in the garbage the following day.  If we stretch our imagination a little, we can come up with innovative dish, something not available in any cookery book.  Moreover you don’t want your family to accuse you of feeding them stale food.

One such day I saw the leftover rice and boiled pasta in my refrigerator.  So I decided to turn that into something relished by everyone.  Here is my experiment.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed cooking it.

Ingredients:

1 cup leftover cooked rice, 1 ½ cup pasta, 1 cup washed and chopped broccoli, ½ cup chopped carrots, ¼ cup chopped green peppers (bell pepper), ¼ cup chopped onion, 1 clove of garlic crushed, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp cream cheese, 1 tsp chives, 1 tsp lemon pepper, ½ tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, ¼ cup ketchup, salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan; add garlic and onion and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Add broccoli, carrots, green pepper to it till vegetables turn little tender.

Mix chives, salt, lemon pepper, coriander powder to it and stir.

Add cream cheese and mix it well so that everything gets well blended.

Now add your leftover rice and pasta and stir it for a couple of minutes.

Sprinkle the red wine vinegar and toss it.

At the end pour the ketchup over it and mix it.

Serve hot.

No Cook Chocolate Ice cream

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” has been rightly said by Charles M Schulz.  On a hot summer day, what else can you ask for other than chocolate and ice-cream.  This no cook chocolate ice-cream has cream, condensed milk, nuts and gobs of chocolate.  In other words this is no low fat, low calories or low anything so if you are looking for something guilt free, go for salads and carrots. I must tell you this ice cream is loved by everyone and it is hard not to go for second and third helpings.

 Ingredients:

1 cup grated semi sweet baking chocolate,  ½ cup grated white chocolate,  ½ cup almonds roasted and chopped into small pieces, ½ cup cashews chopped, ½ can condensed milk, 2 cups whipping cream, ¼ cup milk

Method:

Take out half of condensed milk in a big bowl.

Beat the whipping cream till it is smooth and creamier.

In a double boiler, melt dark and white chocolates.  Mix milk into this to make it more liquefy.

Immediately pour this into the bowl of condensed milk.  Wisk  it vigorously so there are no lumps formed.

Now add half of whipped cream and nuts to this and mix it very well.  Save the other half of cream in the refrigerator.

If you feel it is less sweet you may add a spoon full of sugar to it.  Remember we shall add other half of cream to it so add sugar accordingly.

Freeze it in a flat dish for 3 or 4 hours.  Take it out of the freezer, when it melts a little, add the other half of cream to it and blend it well.

Freeze it overnight.  

Note that the ice cream may be quite hard when you first take it out of the freezer, so may want to let it sit for a few minutes to soften it before trying to scoop.

Mango Ice cream

Mango ice-cream is a delectable dessert and the best part is, it is easy to make.  The sweet and scented aroma of this king of fruits gives this ice-cream a creamy texture.  When mangoes are not in the season, you may use ready made mango pulp available in the market but I must acknowledge that the flavor and aroma of fresh mangoes imparts this dessert a luscious and heavenly taste.

 

Ingredients:

3 Alphonso mangoes or any other sweet mangoes, ½ can of condensed milk, 2 cups of whipping cream

Method:

Peel off mangoes and take out the pulp.  Put it in a blender and puree it.

Take out the condensed milk in a big bowl.

Add mango pulp to the condensed milk and mix it very well.

Beat the whipping cream with an electric beater.  Creamier the better will work here.

Add half of this cream into the mix and save other half in the refrigerator.

If your mangoes were a bit tart, you may add a teaspoon of powdered sugar.  It just depends on how sweet is your tooth.

Freeze it for 3-4 hours.  Take it out of the freezer and mix it well with a tablespoon.  Now add the other half of the whipped cream to this semi frozen mix.  Blend it well and freeze it overnight.

If you have extra mango, chop it into small bits.  Top these pieces on the ice cream while serving.

Berrry and Lemon Smoothies

Last week the temperatures were above normal.  Every time I opened the outside door it seemed you have opened an oven door. In that kind of heat wave, you just feel like having smoothies and ice-creams, especially when it does not involve any slogging over a gas stove.  That made me come up with berry and lemon smoothies, no cook mango ice-cream and rocky road chocolate ice-cream.  I want to share my easy recipes.  Let us start with berry and lemon smoothies today.

Berries are loaded with fibre which helps you feel full and in a hot weather one can get away by eating less.  Berries are full of anti oxidants.  All berries contain vitamin C which is needed for our immune system.  In a nutshell berries feed our every cell with pure life giving nutrients; they fight bacteria and maintain healthy balance.  The best part is berries can be eaten fresh or frozen and their nutritional value stays intact.  They can be easily preserved so their availability is always handy in the house.

Lemon smoothie is very refreshing and it just needs lemonade powder along with other smoothie ingredients.

 

Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries, raspberries, blueberries (frozen or fresh) or any other berries of your preference, ½ banana (especially if it is two day old or little soft kind),  2 cups plain non fat yogurt, ½ cup cold water or crushed ice.

Method:

Blend all the ingredients in a blender and mix until well blended.

Banana gives it a creamy texture but if you want to omit banana you may add vanilla ice cream to make it creamier.  Of course that will add the calories count but taste would be heavenly.

Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Lemon Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 cups low fat yogurt, ½ cup crushed ice or chilled water, 3 tablespoon lemonade powder

Method:

In a blender combine all the ingredients and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Serve in a tall glass and garnish with lemon wedges if you desire.

Easy Lemon Pie

Light lemony and semi sweet pie is very easy to make.  It just requires three major ingredients condensed milk, lemon juice and whipped cream and you can make this fabulous dessert which is hard to resist for anybody.  In a nutshell this pie is blend, pour and freeze.  It is so easy and delectable that you will keep this recipe handy for last minute dessert.  

Ingredients:

12 to 14 Marie light biscuits(or any other semi sweet cookies), 1 ½ tbsp olive oil or canola oil, 1 can condensed milk, ¼ cup fresh lemon juice,  8 oz of whipping cream.

Method:

Break biscuits with your hand and then powder them in a mixer.

Take out this powder in a bowl, add oil and mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula... 

Scrape this mixture on a pie plate and press with your fingers.

Bake it for 10 minutes in a preheated oven in 180 degree C (300 degree F).

Remove from the oven and let it cool off completely for an hour or so.

Squeeze lemon juice in a small bowl.

Empty can of condensed milk in a big bowl.

Pour lemon juice on the condensed milk and let it stay for 2 -3 minutes.

Use wire whisk to mix the both.  It will turn creamy.

Now put the whipping cream on the condensed milk mixture and gently mix the both with a wooden spatula.

Spoon this creamy lemon condensed milk mixture into the already baked pie crust.

Freeze for 5 to 6 hours.

Garnish with thin lemon slices (optional) before serving.