My Blog Awards

Blog Awards Given to me by Some Wonderful Fellow Bloggers:

Mahalo Kim!

Thanks Prudie!

Thanks Teresa!

Mahalo Natashya!

Gracias Teresa!

Thank you Laurie!

Mahalo Cathy!

I feel very loved!

Tuna with Sesame Soy & Smoked Salmon Rolls for Weekend Cookbook Challenge #35: Appetizers

I realized I haven't done a Weekend Cookbook Challenge since July. I'm not sure how that happened but when I saw that this month's theme was Appetizers, I decided it would be a good time to jump back in.  I love trying new appetizer recipes and adding to my "pupu repertoire".  I like appetizers that are easy, both look and taste great and any time I can work ahi or salmon in I do. (Both for the taste and how it looks on my blue and white dishes!) For this challenge, I have two simple but delicious appetizers, Tuna with Sesame Soy & Smoked Salmon Rolls from Very Simple Food by Jill Dupleix.  Jill is a chef from Australia, currently in London and I have several of her cookbooks. I like her easy, relaxed style of cooking. 

Tuna with Sesame Soy

Very Simple Food, Jill Dupleix

Serves 4

Jill says:  "Really fresh tuna has a pure, sweet flavor and melt in the mouth texture.  This no-cook, no-fuss first course makes the most of tuna by teaming it with soy sauce, sesame oil & mirin (sweet rice wine), available from Japanese food stores & helpful supermarkets."

12 oz fresh sashimi-quality tuna

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp mirin

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup watercress leaves

1 Tbsp minced chives

Trim the tuna of all bloodlines and cut into a neat shape to enable you to cut it into small dice, around 1/2 inch.  Discard any obvious sinews or icky bits. Whisk the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, and mustard together in a bowl.  Add the tuna and toss lightly to coast in the dressing.  Mix the rice vinegar and olive oil with sea salt and pepper in a second bowl. Add the watercress and toss in the dressing, then arrange on four serving plates.  Place the tuna in little pyramids on top of the leaves, and scatter with the chives.  Serve with chopsticks.

Smoked Salmon Rolls

Very Simple Food, Jill Dupleix

Makes 8

Jill says:  "These glamorous rolls fulfill my three main criteria for easy entertaining: they take only minutes to make; they can be done ahead of time; and they look like a million dollars. Serve as a sit down first course or with drinks."

2 Tbsp hot horseradish sauce

2 cups mascarpone or creme fraiche

2 Tbsp minced chives plus extra to serve

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

8 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon

Beat 1 Tbsp horseradish into the mascarpone or creme fraiche. Gradually add the rest to taste, until the mixture is hot enough for you.  Add the chives, sea salt, and pepper and fold them through the cream.  (You can make this beforehand and refrigerate it.)  Trim the smoked salmon into 8 strips, each 2 x 6 inches.  Place a spoonful of the horseradish cream on one end of each strip and roll up.  It doesn't matter if the edges are a bit ragged.  Sit each smoked salmon roll on its end, and scatter extra chives on the exposed cream at the top. (You can even do this an hour or two beforehand and refrigerate until required).  Serve one or two salmon rolls per person.

Notes/Results:  As promised by Jill, two easy and delicious pupus.  I changed a couple of things of course.  For the tuna, I plated it with my metal ring onto one dish and added some toasted sesame seeds to the top as garnish.  I liked all of the flavors in the dish, the peppery arugula was great with the ahi and the sauce was very good, as was the dressing for the arugula.  I would probably add some chili or chili oil next time for a bit of spice.  For the smoked salmon rolls, I decided to drain some low-fat Greek yogurt (to make a cream cheese textured yogurt cheese that would be a bit healthier than the mascarpone or creme fraiche). I was sure I had horseradish but I guess that was before I had the great fridge meltdown a couple months ago.  Instead of running to the store for some, I substituted some wasabi powder and mixed it in for a similar kick and more of an Asian flair to the dish.  The wasabi was delicious but I will try it again with the horseradish to compare.  Also the smoked salmon I had in my freezer is already sliced but cut a bit thick. It is delicious but I would try using a thinner salmon next time so the rolls hold together a little better. I would make both of these recipes again.  

This month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge is being hosted by it's creator, Sara at i like to cook and you'll find the round up and I am sure some great appetizer recipes, there, on her site soon.

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart

Normally I wouldn't post or even make a 4-part recipe because of my basic laziness and lack of patience, but this one for a Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart was so good I thought I should share.  This recipe comes from the Cacao Crazy class, my usual partner in crime, Michelle from The Accidental Scientist, and I took through Kapiolani Community College's culinary program a couple weeks ago. The funny thing was, for some reason both Michelle and I thought we were going to taste and learn about chocolate in this class, not cook with it, but cook we did.  Along with this recipe we also made a Chocolate Pumpkin Bread Pudding stuffed in a Kabocha pumpkin and tried some spicy Aztec Hot Chocolate.  The class was given by Chef and Chocolatier, Melanie Boudar, who recently opened a chocolate store in Kailua: Sweet Paradise Chocolatier.  (I just may need to have a field trip over there to sample soon).  

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart

Melanie Boudar, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier

Serves 6

Sweet Pastry

3/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp almond flour (or substitute any nut flour)

2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar

pinch salt

6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and sliced

1 large egg yolk beaten with 2 Tbsp ice water (may not use all--don't get dough too moist)

Mix the flour, almond flour, confectioner's sugar and salt in food processor. Pulse the butter into the flour mixture.  Gradually add egg until dough is moist but not too moist.  Gather into ball and flatten on plastic wrap, chill for 2-12 hours.

Roll dough onto lightly floured surface to 1/8" thickness and line a 9" tart pan with removable bottom.  


Prick with fork and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place tart on baking sheet.  Line with parchment and weight with pie weights, rocks or beans.  Bake 10-12 minutes until dough is set.  Lift off paper and set aside.  Bake until golden brown, about 12 more minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.  

Salted Caramel Cream

1 tsp powdered gelatin

1 Tbsp water

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 large egg yolks

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/8 tsp sea salt (Fluer de Sel)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a custard cup and let stand 5 minutes. Bring the cream to a boil and set aside. Put the sugar in a separate, tall saucepan without any liquid and cook over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until melted and dark caramel in color.  


Carefully whisk in the hot cream (it will boil up) and cook until caramel is dissolved.  Whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl and whisk in the caramel mixture, tempering the eggs slowly first with some of the caramel).  Return to the saucepan and add the soaked gelatin. Stir over low heat until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon (about 4-5 minutes).  Remove from the heat and stir in butter and sea salt.  Strain through a wire sieve into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it begins to set. Spread in baked pastry shell and refrigerate until fully set.

Dark Chocolate Whipped Cream

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled until tepid

Whip the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Whisk 1/3 into the tepid chocolate until smooth.  Fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Nut Brittle 

1/2 cup sugar

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter sliced thin

3/4 cup toasted, peeled nuts coarsely chopped  (almonds, peanuts, mac nuts, etc.)

pinch salt

Lightly oil a metal spatula and rimmed baking sheet on a heatproof surface. Cook sugar and butter in saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer read 310 degrees F., about 10 minutes.  Add the nuts and salt and swirl in pan to mix.  Pour onto baking sheet and spread thinly with spatula.  Cool completely and break into pieces.

To assemble tart:

Spread Salted Caramel Creme evenly in baked pastry shell.  Cover evenly with a layer of Dark Chocolate Whipped Cream and garnish by dotting the surface of the tart with small shards of Nut Brittle.  You can also drizzle melted dark chocolate over the top before serving.

Notes/Results:  As usual, Michelle was the perfect cooking partner. She willingly took on the shell, I did the salted caramel cream (which was easier and less scary than I thought it would be) and we assembled our tart together. The instructor and her helpers demonstrated the whipped cream and the nut brittle and made enough for all of us to use.  We each ended up with half a tart to take home.  I garnished mine with some drizzled melted dark chocolate on top.  Delicious!  It met my sweet salty needs perfectly. I think I would have been just as happy without the whipped cream but it was tasty and added a nice fluffy texture and more chocolate flavor to the tart.  I  think even being NOT A BAKER!, I would maybe buy a tart pan and attempt this at home sometime.  

Sweet Paradise Chocolatier
20-A Kainehe St.
Kailua. HI
808-640-5749
Wed-Sat 11-6

Hungarian Mushroom Soup for Souper Sundays

Many moons ago, when I lived in Portland, my roommate and I would go to Old Wives' Tales, a casual, funky, reasonably priced restaurant with a huge variety of options.  They have many vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc. menu items and list out the ingredients so you know exactly what is in them. We went often to have their salad and soup bar for lunch, dinner and take out but we went mostly for their Hungarian Mushroom Soup, an impossibly pink and delicious blend of mushrooms and sour cream.  It wasn't a low-fat soup but it was so good that we treated ourselves often and it is so popular that it is always on their soup bar.  The other day I was thinking about it and started looking for a recipe on the web.  I found one from the restaurant itself on The Food Network (that makes enough for an actual restaurant to serve!) and also learned that the Old Wives' Tales soup recipe is based on the one from the Moosewood Cafe Cookbook. I ended up going with the Food Network recipe (drastically cutting it down of course).

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Food Network, Courtesy of Old Wives' Tales
(16-20 servings)

1 pound butter
6 cups yellow onion
10 pounds mushrooms, chopped
1 cup dill
1 cup paprika
2 cups tamari
2 gallons water
2 pounds butter
6 cups flour
1 gallon milk
1.75 gallons sour cream
1 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoons pepper

Melt butter. Add onions, and saute until wilted. Add mushrooms, saute until juice is rendered out.  Add dill, paprika, and mix well.  Add tamari, water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  In a large stockpot, make roux using butter and flour, cook 10 minutes. Drain some water from soup and beat into roux in stockpot until smooth. IMPORTANT- you will get flour lumps if you try to skip this step!  Add water-smoothed roux to kettle. Add milk and simmer until it thickens again, coating back of spoon. Turn off heat, beat in sour cream until well blended, then beat in salt and pepper.

Notes/Results:  I cut this down to make 4-5 servings and used a low-fat sour cream, a lesser amount than the reduced recipe called for and also used 2% milk.  The flavor of the soup was delicious and very similar to what I remembered. I wasn't able to get it the really "pink" color that the one from Old Wives' Tales was, even adding a bit more paprika but it was still very good. The Moosewood recipe is slightly different so I am going to try that one at some point to compare. Even cutting down the fat in the milk and sour cream and using less sour cream in the recipe, it is not something I would make all the time but if you love mushrooms, creamy soups and of course paprika you will love this soup too.  

My usual partner in crime, Natashya, from Living In the Kitchen With Puppies, brought along a delicious Turkey Pot Pie with Onion-Sage Dressing to share.  Using up the last of her Christmas turkey, this pot pie looks like a great way to get a little holiday comfort.  Thanks for dropping by and sharing another great recipe Natashya!

If you want to join in on a Souper Sunday, sharing a soup, stew, chili or any comfort food creation, leave a comment or send me an email by Sunday and I'll add you to that week's round up.  

Coconut Bread with Sweet Pineapple Butter for Tyler Florence Fridays

My pick this week for Tyler Florence Fridays (TFF), Coconut Bread with Sweet Pineapple Butter, comes from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen, which is the first of his five cookbooks.  I was attracted to this recipe because I love anything coconut and it's always nice to have some tropical-inspired breakfast and snack recipes in my repertoire when people come to visit. 

Tyler says: "If you're ever in Sydney, Australia, there is a breakfast place in Darlinghurst called bills. The name is simple, and the place serves simply some of the best food I've ever had. When you order coffee, the waiter brings out small plates of warm toasted coconut bread freshly dusted with powered sugar. After one bite, my girlfriend and I decided to go back for breakfast every morning for the rest of our trip. This bread really holds up if you wrap it in plastic or put it in a storage container. You’ll still be snacking on it days later."

Coconut Bread with Sweet Pineapple Butter

Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen

Coconut Bread:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of I lemon, finely grated
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, toasted (see Note)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Sweet Pineapple Butter:
1(8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5-inch loaf pan with butter. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another large bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Pour in the coconut milk and whisk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold everything together with a spatula until you have a smooth batter. Gently fold in the shredded coconut until evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and set it on a cookie sheet, Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the bread. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning. Cool the bread in the pan for 20 minutes or so; then when cool enough to handle, remove the coconut bread to a cutting board and let it cool completely before slicing.

Press the liquid out of the crushed pineapple using the back of a spoon. (If there is too much juice, the fruit will separate from the butter.) In a small bowl, mash the pineapple with the softened butter until well blended. A food processor is a quick alternative to making the compound butter, so use it if you have one, Mound the butter in a small serving bowl. Toast the slices of coconut bread. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with the creamy pineapple butter.

Note: To toast the coconut: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring it periodically Toasting will fluff up the coconut and increase its volume (as well as make it taste better).

Notes/Results:  Being NOT A BAKER!, I took my bread out of the oven right at an hour and still managed to get it a bit too brown, but otherwise, I really liked this recipe.  The coconut flavor is excellent and the bread stayed moist, even though I over-baked it. The toasted, warm bread with the pineapple butter is delicious. I would make this recipe again and the pineapple butter would also be great on scones or muffins.

Do you love Tyler as much as we do? If so, consider joining us for Tyler Florence Fridays (TFF). You have the flexibility to choose which Tyler recipe you want to make each week, based on your needs. You can get the details at the TFF site here and also check out the weekly round up to see what the other TFF bloggers made this week and get their expert feedback on their picks.

Feeling soupy? (or noodle-y, or stew-y) and want to drop by and share your comforting creation? Join me for Souper Sundays! All you need to do is make a soup, stew, chili, slow cooker dish, etc. (Really almost anything that is served in a bowl will work!) Send me an email or leave a comment before Sunday and let me know you'll be stopping by and I'll add you to that week's round up so you can share your souper creation. You can make and post the soup any time, I just round them up on Sundays.

Pappa Al Pomidoro--Barefoot Bloggers

Well the best laid plans... I am not writing this post from Portland, hanging out with my family as anticipated but instead from Hawaii. Bronchitis and inclement weather morphed into a sinus infection and inclement weather and I am stuck at home, sick for the holidays.  I guess there are worse things--I am not freezing, trapped at an airport or bus station and can go to the beach when I feel better but it doesn't really feel like Christmas right now.  I have become Max's favorite napping companion these past few days and have been getting lots of sympathy snuggles (of course a 15 pound cat on your chest doesn't exactly help with the breathing, not to mention his little drool problem but it's done with love), so life is not all bad.  


It also helps to have a warm, comforting bowl of really good soup. Ina's Pappa Al Pomidoro, selected by Natalie of Burned Bits, is definitely that, REALLY good soup...I mean REALLY, REALLY good. The kind of soup that warms you up, fills your tummy and your soul and makes you crave more, especially with the topping of ciabatta cubes, basil leaves and pancetta, all crisp and toasted. The smell alone is incredible--I may just make a pan of the topping every day.  I am not normally a tomato soup fan, but this one is so complex and flavorful and the bread really adds a nice, hearty texture. This may actually be one of my very favorite Ina recipes so far.   

Pappa Al Pomidoro

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Ina Garten

1/2 cup good olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)
1 cup medium-diced carrots, unpeeled (3 carrots)
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and medium-diced (1 1/2 cups)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes, crusts removed
2 (28-ounce) cans good Italian plum tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
For the topping:
3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes
2 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped
24 to 30 whole fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for serving
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, fennel, and garlic and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until tender. Add the ciabatta cubes and cook for 5 more minutes. Place the tomatoes in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process just until coarsely chopped. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.



For the topping, place the ciabatta cubes, pancetta, and basil on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the ingredients are crisp. The basil leaves will turn dark and crisp, which is perfectly fine. Reheat the soup, if necessary, beat with a wire whisk until the bread is broken up. Stir in the Parmesan and taste for seasoning. Serve hot sprinkled with the topping and drizzled with additional olive oil.

Notes/Results:  This makes a lot of soup--Ina says it serves 6 and as usual, they would be "ginormous" servings.  I made a half batch, which was at least six, decent-sized servings, but I ate it all the past few days and actually wish I had more. Don't omit the topping--if you don't do meat, still bake the basil and ciabatta cubes and then grate some Parmesan over it when you serve.  This soup is delicious and I will make it again. Thanks Natalie for a great recipe pick!  Since it's Christmas, the Barefoot Bloggers have until 12/31 to post this recipe and you can check out their results here.

This may not be the most fun or festive Christmas I have ever spent but I am grateful for family and good friends worrying about me and checking on me and I'll make it back "home" soon.  Here is to a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year for everyone.

Baked Salmon in a Saffron-Tomato Broth for Souper Sunday

It's Souper Sunday time and following my own guidelines of being able to make soups, stews, chilis and any soup-like creation, I decided to do a Baked Salmon in a Saffron-Tomato Broth. I just made a batch of soup this week for next week's Barefoot Bloggers post and I am still trying to get to Portland tomorrow for the holidays (I'll keep you posted as it isn't looking pretty right now), so I wanted to make something smaller and more manageable and this seemed like it would fit the bill.  The original recipes comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, 5 Spices, 50 Dishes, by Ruta Kahate.  I have adapted this recipe before (see here) and since I love saffron, had some salmon in the freezer and some leftover fennel fronds. I thought the combination would be good.

Baked Salmon in a Saffron-Tomato Broth

adapted from the recipe Baked Fish in a Spice Broth, 

5 Spices, 50 Dishes by Ruta Kahate

2 (5-6 oz) salmon fillets, at least 1" thick
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 1/2  Tbsp olive oil
2 large shallots, finely minced 
1/4 tsp finely minced garlic (about 1 clove)
1/4 cayenne pepper

1 pinch saffron
1 cup water or broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium Roma tomato, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
fennel fronds for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

In a small skillet. toast the fennel seeds over low heat until browned and fragrant. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the shallots, and stir until they turn golden. Add the garlic and cayenne and stir constantly over medium heat heat for another 30 seconds, taking care that the mixture doesn't burn. Meanwhile place a pinch of saffron into a mixing cup and add 1 cup hot water or broth (or place saffron and liquid into microwave and heat), stir thoroughly.  Add the saffron broth and salt to shallot mixture and bring to a boil.


Place the fish pieces in a casserole large enough to hold them in a single layer, and sprinkle the tomatoes evenly over the top. Pour the spicy broth on top and bake until the fish is cooked through but not over done, about 13-15 minutes. You can use a fork to test one of the pieces of fish discreetly; if it flakes easily, it is time to remove the fish from the oven. Serve sprinkled with the fennel fronds over rice or cous cous
Serves 2

Notes/Results:  Exotic, slightly spicy, I really liked this dish and love the beautiful color too. I love the slight anise/licorice flavor that the fennel seeds and fronds add, combined with the savory pungency of the saffron and the kick from the cayenne. I served it over some Israeli cous cous, as the thicker texture is more pasta like, and ate it with a spoon. Even if you aren't a fan of fennel and saffron, the beauty of this recipe is that you can change out the spices any way you like; curry, cardamon, cumin, etc.  It's  quick and easy and fits the need for a soupy comfort food.

It's that busy holiday time and the Souper Sunday kitchen is pretty quiet today, but guess who popped in, all bundled up from the cold? Of course, it is my friend Natashya from Living In the Kitchen With Puppies.  I can always count on Natashya to come by with a gorgeous soup and this this week is no exception with her beautiful and exotic Carrot Soup with Harissa. Being such a spicy girl herself, Natashya doubled the spices in her soup for delicious results. It looks like the perfect, warming dinner for this time of year.  

Thanks Natashya for coming to another Souper Sunday!  If you want to join us sometime and share your soup, stew, chili or any soup-like creation, leave a comment or shoot me an email and I'll add you to the next round up.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season, staying warm (or cool depending on where you are in the world) and getting to spend time with family and/or friends.  Have a great week!