Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

The temperature has dropped these past few days, so I have been shivering in my room watching movies and eating cookies and coconut butter hoping to boost the old circulation while I still have free time. Oh, and shopping - sales are wonderful! I love having a job! I wish I lived next door to a mall.

I watched The Birds - so-so, shots of flying birds very fake. Donnie Darko - extremely confusing, with a hilarious rabbit. A Beautiful Mind  - depressing, but well-acted. And I've been re-watching bits and pieces of Mad Men and remain more convinced than ever of its brilliance. I am anxiously awaiting Season 5.

These past few days have been quite eventful, cooking-wise.

I made chewy oatmeal-raisin cookies from Veganomicon. I used atta instead of all-purpose flour and dark brown sugar instead of white. Highly recommended for dunking. I don't think I can post the recipe, for copyright reasons. Enjoy the pictures :) I am slightly sad that I made these two days ago and there is not one single solitary cookie left. I accuse my parents and especially my leetle sister of eating more than their allowance.

Also eating super-cheap super-delicioso soba noodles from a Japanese grocery I found with super-cheap super-magnifico tofu from another grocery. Mon Dieu, I am in LOVE with cheap Asian groceries.

I have recently rediscovered how much I adore fried marinated extra-extra-firm tofu.

Have a good weekend! See you next time for a recipe post.

Lemony Cashew Basil Pesto

I've never made nor eaten pesto before, but I decided to make some today anyway, to top my rather splendid spaghetti. I didn't have any pine nuts, because they are wickedly expensive, so I used cashews, since I have about twenty tons of them dans le frigo. I was verrry pleased with my effort, and I have decided to selflessly post the recipe instead of bottling mah pesto and selling it ;)

I used wholemeal spaghetti, because I was feeling virtuous. I personally like it as much as white pasta, but I know some strange people who don't. It is nuttier  heartier and chewier, so if you don't like to exercise your jaws then get the more delicate white stuff. 

Mihika's Non-Traditional Pesto

Makes about 2 heaped tablespoons, can easily be increased to make a larger amount

• 12g fresh basil (weigh it unwashed, because the water from washing it will add weight)
• 15g raw cashews
• 8g fresh lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp best-quality fruity extra-virgin olive oil
• garlic (I used 1 clove, about 2g, but it was from the jar of marinated red capsicum so it is probably much milder than fresh garlic. Use about 1/4 tsp for fresh garlic)
• 3g nooch (don't leave out! I use Now Foods brand, from iHerb)
• salt to taste

Chuck everything in a mortar and grind with a pestle until pasty. Or use a food processor. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

If you don't have scales: (these are all approximates, keep in mind)

12g basil is a large handful

8g lemon is just under 2 tsp

15g cashews is about 7 whole nuts

3g nooch is about a heaped tsp

This delightfully green concoction is: green with basil, fresh with lemon, creamy with cashew, pungent with garlic, fragrant with olive oil and cheesy with the nooch that I have grown so fond of recently. 

I finished my lunch, which was so lovely and sunny that it felt somewhat inappropriate to eat it given how chilly it is, with the two last slices of a magnificent winter-appropriate open-faced apple pie I made yesterday, and I may have popped the last truffle in my mouth to round it all off. Recipe for the most sublime apple pie to exist to come soon:

As I made this late yesterday afternoon, the lighting unfortunately does not do this pie justice. But, dear reader, rest assured that it tasted so sublime I might have fainted with joy at the first bite were I not made of sterner stuff.

Les truffes au chocolat les plus décadentes

Aha!

Today I had exactly the same thing for lunch that I did yesterday. Except the weather was better, so I could take a better photo:

Marinating while pasta cooks

Done!

After that, I had dessert:

There were 10 originally, but I forgot to take a photo of them all together. Hence this rather shoddy example.

I know the photo's awful, but OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS these were the MOST AMAZING chocolate truffles I have ev-ahhhh eaten. I mentioned yesterday that I would try out a truffle recipe I've been working on and I was so excited with the result and the INFINITE number of variations that I had to drag myself to my desk and start typing out the recipe. It is so divinely lusciously scrumptiously intensely chocolatey! The above is variation b (Almond and Coconut), but I shall test out the other variations too. Except maybe the peppermint, because I hate mint chocolate (except for Crazy Rumors mint chocolate lip balm).


Luscious Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffles - à mon avis, ces sont les truffes au chocolat les plus décadentes du monde and why does everything sound better in French?

• 100g chopped dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa (I used Whittaker's 72%)
• 50g + extra non-dairy milk (I used a creamy soymik)
• 30g liquid sweetener (I used 15g maple syrup + 15g dark agave nectar. You could use all maple/golden syrup/sugar syrup if you don't have agave)

Heat milk in a saucepan. Measure heated milk out into a small 250ml glass measuring jug and add more milk to bring it to 50g again. Add chopped dark chocolate and whisk briskly until melted and smooth (you shouldn't have to heat it again to melt it all, whisking seems to be enough). Add liquid sweetener, whisk again, cover jug with cling and leave in the fridge to set. Then half an hour later or so, use a spoon and your hands (a melon baller would work beautifully; mine is flimsy so I use a teaspoon) and make little balls. Mine are obviously not perfectly spherical, because I don't have a melon baller. 


Now for variations!

a)       Classic: Roll in cocoa powder.

b)      Almond-Coconut: Add 1g almond essence and roll in desiccated coconut

c)       Coconut: Roll in desiccated coconut.

d)      Orange-Pistachio: Add 2g orange essence and 20g chopped toasted pistachios.

e)       Almond: Add 1g almond essence and 20g chopped toasted almonds.

f)       Espresso: Add 1/2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in the milk.

g)      Nut: Add 20g chopped roasted peanuts/cashews/walnuts/macadamias/hazelnuts.

h)      Orange-Rose: Add 1g rosewater essence and 1g orange essence. Add 20g chopped toasted pistachios for Orange-Rose-Pistachio! I shall probably try this variation next. 

i)        Peppermint: Add 1g peppermint essence.

j)        Vanilla: Add 2g vanilla bean paste.

k)   Stuffed nut: Stuff a whole nut in the centre.

My goodness! This may be one of my most brilliant inventions yet. I shall take better photos next time and post them, to do the beauty of this sublime chocolate truffle true justice.

By the way, you could also use the melted ganache to cover a chocolate cake. It would be seeemply divine.

Try this out and let me know how you go! I ate mes truffes while watching Spellbound with Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. I love Alfred Hitchcock movies! And they go so wonderfully with truffles!

Spaghetti con Pomodori secchi, Basilio e fagioli Lima

Like the title? :D

Today we went grocery shopping and now I am typing glowing with the self-satisfaction that comes from buying 750g of firm tofu for $2.70. Ah! I'm absolutely thrilled. I bought it from an Asian grocery; why on earth did I buy my tofu from the supermarket before??? Have I told you all how much I love Asian groceries? I also found Sichuan peppers for $1.50, so I'm going to try and make something with that soon. I bought soba noodles too. Yay!

I also bought Whittaker's 72% Dark Ghana chocolate, to make chocolate ganache truffles - if all goes well, a recipe shall be up soon. I wanted to compare it to Lindt 70%, and it's quite lovely for a fraction of the price. It has divine roasted coffee notes that the Lindt doesn't have; the Lindt is a lot smoother, milder, more delicate I think. I wish Whittaker's made an 85% bar. I also ordered Ghirardelli 100% dark chocolate online a while ago, and it really should have come last week. I suppose Customs is holding up. That or it got misrouted and someone somewhere has got my chocolate smeared all over their thieving chops. Argh. What to do, what to do? I hate waiting for packages to come in the mail.

This picture is not exactly sublime, because it's a cold dark rainy depressing day. 

Anyway, when we got back from grocery shopping it was way past lunchtime so I made pasta in 10 minutes flat. Honest. The pasta took 8 minutes to boil and while that was happening I fished around in the cavernous depths of our fridge and managed to throw a not half-bad meal together. Finished by some chocolate, naturellement. I couldn't think of a good name for my dish, so I google-translated one :)

Spaghetti con Pomodori secchi, Basilio e fagioli Lima

about 60g tubular spaghetti

about 130g canned lima beans (I usually use 1/2 a can, so I can get 2 whole serves)

handful fresh basil (wash well!)

about 30g sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil

60-70g roasted whole red peppers (I used jarred)

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, I use Now Foods)

Boil pasta in salted water. While that's happening, throw your limas in a pasta plate, then shred your basil, tomatoes and red peppers over (I feel so Jamie Oliver-ish not using a knife). Add your cooked pasta, stir in your nooch and wolf down. 

I have to go do homework, then I'm going to relax and maybe watch a movie. Grocery shopping when it's blustery and rainy and frrrrreezing requires pasta and a movie to recuperate from. 

Also, I've been cooking lots of new things recently; hopefully I'll have enough free time to blog about them.