Giardiniera Salad | Spicy Italian Salad Pickle

Giardiniera Salad is that delightfully spicy pickle that can wake up even the dullest of all sandwiches!! Every self-respecting deli and sandwich shop carries some version of this pickle. It's flavor can vary from just salty and sour to flaming hot depending on the kind of chili peppers that are in it. Cauliflower, carrots, celery, olives, and gerkins all pack this mouth watering salad pickle with loads of tang and flavor.

Zucchini and Potato Fritters | Farm Fresh Produce

Its that time of the year again when our favorite farm is open to 'Pick Your Own' seasonal vegetables. Saturday was the first time this year we drove down to pick delicious sun kissed vegetables including summer squash, zucchini, kohl rabi, kale, green onions, and beets! Quite a haul you might say - but we have been waiting for over a month for the farm to open up. Extended winter and an unusually cold spring delayed the vegetables this year and I can't believe that it is July when the produce actually began to show up in quantities that has allowed the farm to open! But we are not complaining - we are ready and willing to pick:)

Artichoke, Ricotta, and Chickpea Calzone | Italian Kitchen

Calzones make for a hearty and filling snack in a picnic basket or an entree for a meal on a hot platter. I love making calzones as they are so easy to put together, can be refrigerated for up to three days and taste super hot or cold!! Just add a salad and a cup of milk and you are good to go.

Three Pepper and Sweet Corn Salad

Its unseasonably hot in my part of the world with temperatures touching the 90s!! Its the first time I have experienced such a warm May here. The average temperatures are in the 70s at this time of the year, warm but a cool breeze and some rain. On Sunday it was so hot that we actually went out for ice cream. Boy did it taste good!!

Rustic Savoury Crostata: A Daring Baker's November

As always a winner from the Daring Bakers. I tweaked the recipe for the crust quite a bit to avoid eggs!! As for the filling - well it just had to be savoury:) This Crostata came out lip-smacking yummy!! The use of multiple flours in the crust gave a really nutty flavour and the filling was delicious. Don't be scared off by the darker crust - the colour comes from the Ragi or Finger Millet flour!! All I can say is that this recipe is a keeper and I am delighted that I decided to fiddle with it to suit our tastes!!

The Daring Cooks: Challenges 1 & 2

So here I am finally. When I joined the Daring Cooks in the footsteps of the Daring Bakers a few months ago, I had no idea summer would turn out so busy!! I did manage to complete both challenges in time periods specified, but got nowhere close to uploading my successes to this blog. A little window today has allowed me to do the needful:)


The very first Challenge presented to the Daring Cooks was Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi. The recipe looked fabulous, but as I hardly use eggs in cooking, I decided to create my own version of the same!! I followed all the instructions as provided by the recipe, but replaced the eggs with some beaten rice which I soaked in water for half a day, drained, and then mashed thoroughly. I also substituted tarragon leaves for the sage.


The Challenge for this month was Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers also known as Gyoza in Japanese. This was a great recipe and as I often make steamed dumplings at hoe it was easy and quick too. For the filling, I used my usual vegetarian recipe which included finely chopped carrot, mushrooms, spring onions, zucchini, ginger, blanched bok choi, and bamboo shoots. Rest went as suggested by Jen!! Hope everyone who has joined the Daring Cooks enjoyed these challenges as much as I did.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Herby Oven-Baked Chips

With Thanksgiving round the corner, I am sure that everyone is drawing up a special menu for the meal that forms the centre piece of the day. While its great to have all the traditional favourites, vegetarians can sometimes face a bit of a challenge. And it can take a tremendous amount of self-education, thoughtfulness, and care if you are expecting friends who follow a vegan or gluten-free diet or are simply allergic to multiple ingredients that are a part of the treats prepared for the day.

My contribution to this effort is as humble as it is simple. Herby oven-baked chips are one of my very favourite recipes and I hope that they would appeal to all the above diets!!

Ingredients:
6-8 baby red potatoes
1/2 tsp mixed Italian herbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed pepper
1/4 tsp dehydrated garlic powder
1 tsp olive oil

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes and do not peel. Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Then slice each half lengthwise once again slices just under 1/2 " thick.
2. Once all the potatoes are cut, wash once again in cold water, drain, and place in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle the olive oil on the potatoes. Next sprinkle the herbs, salt, garlic powder, and crushed black pepper.
3. Mix well to coat the potatoes well. Place them on a cookie or jelly-roll pan.
4. Bake at 425F in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the slices are well cooked, and browning around the edges.
5. Remove and serve warm.

These chips are soft on the inside, but really crispy and crunchy on the outside. I found that while they are already very flavourful, adding the garlic gave them a lot of added punch. They can be made in advance. Just place them in an ovenproof dish and leave in a warm oven until ready to serve. Though these chips are great for a quick snack, I often combine them with a hearty soup. They are a great substitute for bread. But they do make a simple, easy to put together, colourful and spicy addition to any Thanksgiving table:)

This recipe goes out to Allergy Mom @ The Allergic Kid who is hosting the 'Thanks for "Nothing" Thanksgiving Roundup.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

The Way of the Daring Baker: To Mix, To Knead, & then To Toss....

This Daring Bakers Challenge involved an excellent choice of recipe. It comes from Peter Reinhart's: The Bread Baker's Apprentice. This recipe Pizza Napoletana is simply lovely - and as described by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums yields a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, yet chewy pizza crust.

The Challenge
This challenge required the Daring Baker to try and use the tossing method for at least 2 Pizza Crusts. of course, a switch to the rolling method was permitted, but tossing was the key to the challenge. And the moment of the toss as it were had to be captured on film for all posterity!!!! Talk about taking it up a notch....

Vegetarian Chilli Con Soya

Vegetarian Chilli? Sounds contradictory, huh? Well, not really. Soya Granules or what is sold in many health stores as texturised vegetable protein makes the perfect substitute for this spicy dish, the original recipe of which is Chilli Con Carne or chilli with meat and calls for minced meat.

This is a recipe that I put together after I discovered a box of soya granules in the pantry of our home on returning from my travels. My husband had seen them at our local desi (Indian) store and as he remembered them from his childhood, he purchased them on a whim! This happened a couple of years ago and since then I have discovered that vegetarian cilli is actually a very popular dish. However I have been both surprised and excited to see the number and types of ingredients that are used as a substitute for the meat. These include chilli with mixed vegetables and beans, firm tofu, lentils, potatoes, beets, and grape nuts!!

Spinach & Ricotta Manicotti

My friends and visitors to this blog are already familiar with the fact that I really don't enjoy using raw egg in my recipes. I try as far as possible to avoid them and where necessary replace them with relevant alternatives. All the recipes that I have come across for manicotti tend to use egg in the filling, I believe to bind together the ingredients. When I set out to make this recipe egg free, I was not quite sure how the filling would hold up. I was really pleasantly surprised to see it turned out perfect!!

Dreamy Vegetarian Pizza

So, I was surfing the internet for interesting food events.... Yup, feels like I have been doing a lot of that lately!! But then there are so many wonderfully enthusiastic chefs out there, each dreaming up new ways to challenge our skills and creativity!! I still continue to be quite literally gobsmacked at the variety and range of food events online.

Anyway, the first site to pop out from the blogosphere was Stephanie's blog announcing a Pizza Party. Just perfect I thought. And then, almost simultaneously - what exactly is a pizza? I mean I know what a pizza is, I have eaten it often enough, I bake it at home quite frequently - and yet - what is a pizza?? Quite simply, a pizza as we know it today is an Italian open pie usually made of thin bread dough spread with a spiced mixture of a.k.a tomato sauce and cheese. According to the Smithsonian, the pizza could be said to be a descendant of the focaccia or bread rounds covered with herbs and spice which made their debut in Naples around 1000 years ago. Essentially a peasant food, it was a way of recycling leftovers by placing them over thin crusts of dough and the baking them. Indeed there was no tomato on the earliest pizzas as Europeans came to know of this beautiful fruit sometime in the 16th century, and it was added to the pizza only subsequently.