Birthday Dinner!

For my 25th birthday, I decided to try making coconut milk pancakes. I followed a recipe from Flatbreads and Flavors, ending up with a dozen or so fluffy cakes.

These were not the best pancakes I have ever had, but the hint of coconut went well with a dash of cold maple syrup and some strawberries (not pictured)- especially on a warm summer evening. The directions called for a particular method of pouring the batter as a means of creating a light, lacy texture, which I ignored; perhaps when I try these again I will follow the instructions to the t.

-Kris

CSA- Week 4

Lots of Greens this week-

In no particular order:

Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Zucchini, Broccoli, Kale, Peas, Parsley, Basil

I have some fun ideas for the vegetables - Just finished off the turnips from a few weeks back mashed up with potatoes and served with garlic and parsley crusted chicken for dinner tonight.

For tomorrow, I am planning on some cumin beef with broccoli and tomatoes. The recipe comes from a book I just got for my birthday.

On the baking front, after some experimental breads, one which I dubbed a zucchini fudge foam (It looked somewhat bizarre, but tasted quite good, almost like a bread pudding),

I made a Portuguese Sweet Loaf. Should serve as good sandwich bread for lunches for the upcoming week.

Chicken Stir Fry

A nice and simple dish today- Chicken stir fry. With the chicken, I added the CSA's garlic scapes and snap peas, as well as a savory sauce with chili paste, Chinese cooking wine, and soy sauce. Roasted corn and peppers and rice rounded the dish out. The meal was good- the greens where a little undercooked (I find that scapes always need more cooking time than I expect.)

Roti and Meatballs

A fun meal tonight. Made roti (and Indian wheat bread) with ground beef meatballs. Roti seemed like a good replacement for naan, which I have to stay away from due to the presence of yogurt in the latter. The bread was ok, but far from perfect. I need to use a low gluten flour next time to get the correct texture (A good chunk of my baking experience is founded upon creating as much gluten as possible, which requires different flour and different techniques from what Indian breads need). As accompaniments, we had hummus, a mint pesto, and quick pickled radishes. All of the pieces rolled up inside the bread to make a tasty sandwich of sorts.

Marble Rye-

Baked my first rye bread last night-Recipe from The Breadmaker's Apprentice-
Seems to have come out alright. Rather dense, same texture but different flavors from the light and dark doughs. This one might earn a spot in the daily bread rotation.

Chocolate (and Avocado) Mousse

Heard about this one on The Splendid Table- The use of a vegetable to introduce a creamy, silky, texture sounded intriguing. And it worked. Amy suggested that the mousse would work well as a sauce over some baked good. Now we just need to figure out what pastry to try.

Turtle Bread

After Amy pointed me to an inspiring website, I decided to try my hand at bread sculpture. Instead of the Sourdough that Boudin Bakery uses (as they are from California, their choice of bread makes sense), I used the Challah recipe from The Bread Maker's Apprentice, replacing the sugar with honey. The dough shaped quite well, as you can see in the before and after shots below.

Suggestions for other animals?

-Kris