FIRST MONDAY FAVORITE: NOVEMBER 2017

Posted in First Monday Favorite by sallybr

First Monday of the last month of the year… How on Earth did we get here so fast?

I suppose it is a good sign when I have a hard time picking my favorite post from last month. After a lot of deliberations with myself, I will go with this one:

To read the full post about it, click here….

The link below takes you to the favorite post of my virtual friends who participate of this event. If you are a blogger and would like to join us, contact Sybil at http://www.sidsseapalmcooking.com

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An InLinkz Link-up

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30Nov2017

MINI-FRITTATAS WITH BROCCOLI AND CHEESE

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

Another great recipe from Kalyn, who knows her way around a low-carb way of life. If you feel like taking a step back from the excesses of Thanksgiving, this is a very nice option for breakfast, brunch, or a light lunch. I used my beloved tart pan, but you can make it in muffin tins, or even go for a single, larger pie type pan, increasing baking time a little bit.

MINI-FRITTATAS WITH BROCCOLI AND CHEESE
(slightly modified from Kalyn’s Kitchen)

2 1/2 cups broccoli flowerets (cut into small, bite-sized pieces)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
6 T coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
8 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

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Comments: I absolutely love this type of recipe that I can make in the weekend and then enjoy for lunch the following week. I prefer to warm them up in my little electric oven, because it gives much better texture than the microwave, but if you follow Kalyn’s advice and keep the microwave time short, it will still prevent the dreadful rubbery-egg-syndrome.

Cottage cheese was – for me – an acquired taste. When I first moved to the US, I did not like it at all. But for one reason or another I kept trying it and started to enjoy its unique texture and mild taste. Nowadays I can even eat it straight from a spoon, as long as it is crowned with a little shower of salt and coarsely ground black pepper. A little za’atar would not hurt either. In this preparation, it offers a perfect creamy texture to the frittata.

I love to pair these babies with some juicy tomatoes, but the time for that is unfortunately over…. Must wait for Spring, which obviously cannot come quickly enough for me (sigh).

ONE YEAR AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

TWO YEARS AGO: Anne Burrell’s Focaccia

THREE YEARS AGO: Double Chocolate and Mint Cookies

FOUR YEARS AGO: Cappuccino Panna Cotta

FIVE YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

SIX YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

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27Nov2017

MONDAY BLUES

Posted in General by sallybr

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving celebration!

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26Nov2017

YOU SAY EBELSKIVER, I SAY FALAFEL

Posted in Appetizers, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

Have you heard of ebelskivers? With a fun name that twists the tongue around, ebelskivers are creatures conceived in Denmark, designed to make your mouth water and your waistline expand. Think pancakes in round shape, served as a bite-size delicacy. To properly make them, you need a pan like this one.

With that pan calling the Bewitching Kitchen home, I was eager to make my first batch of ebelskivers. The perfect opportunity shaped up: a bunch of golfing friends came to stay with us and play in a tournament with Phil. My plan was to offer them a special breakfast on Sunday morning before they headed to the golf course. But, I kept that plan well hidden. It would be a surprise. Guess who was really surprised? Yours truly. Their performance on the golf course on Saturday made them all want to get up at the crack of dawn and go practice for a couple of hours before the final outing. Breakfast? Who needs breakfast when there’s golf? They grabbed a bunch of cereal bars and off they went. Oh, well. So much for a carefully planned ebelskiver extravaganza…

So I was left with a virgin ebelskiver pan. Then serendipity hit. I was talking to my friend Elaine and she mentioned making falafel in her “special pan.” She had no idea I had the same type of pan! You can check her recent blog post about it with a jump here. It turns out hers is a slightly different version, with a larger number os smaller cavities. Falafel… We both love falafel. My pan would no longer be a virgin.

FALAFEL
(adapted from Elaine’s foodbod)

250g dried chickpeas, placed in a large bowl of water and soaked overnight
1 medium shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cayenne pepper (optional)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
chickpea flour, about 1/4 cup (depending on moisture of your mixture)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Wash and drain the chickpeas.

Put everything except the flour in a food processor and chop to a chunky crumb, then put it all into a large bowl. Add the baking powder and enough flour to bring the mixture together in your hands, then create small balls of the mix and flatten them slightly to make the falafel shape.

Put your ebelskiver pan over a low/medium heat and place a small amount of oil in each dip and allow it to heat up briefly. Place a falafel in each dip and cook until done, moving the pan around to make sure it heats evenly. Turn the falafels gently with a fork when the underside is golden brown, to brown the other side. Remove them to a low oven while you prepare the rest of the meal, or serve right away.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: These turned out delicious! At first I thought that it would make too much filling and I would have a bunch of falafel mixture leftover. Not the case. For my size pan, with the seven medium-sized cavities, it was almost the exact amount. Because my falafels were bigger than Elaine’s, I decided to add a little baking powder to help lift them a little more. After I “fried” them on both sides, I placed them in our small toaster oven just to keep warm while I finished the rest of the meal. Great to have an additional use for this pan, in fact I have a few savory recipes that might cook very well in it. A fun toy to play with, that’s for sure….

I served ours drizzled with a mixture of yogurt and tahini, seasoned with a touch of salt and lemon juice. It was quite tasty, but unfortunately the photo did not do it justice, so I skipped sharing it. Elaine served hers over hummus, her picture is worthy of a cooking magazine. Go check it out…

😉