Thursday, November 27, 2008

trying new recipes

I recently saw this recipe on Foodbuzz, I cut the recipe down to fit my "50 gram butter restrictions". (If you have been following this blog, I cut all recipes that call for butter to 50 grams then scale down the rest of the ingredients to stretch a block of butter. This way I don't make a lot (which I would end up eating myself if I made the full batch) and instead of 1 recipe I can try 4 different ones because 1 block of butter is 200 grams. Oh and unsalted butter is still kind of scarce where I am).

Because I cut the recipe down, I wasn't too certain as what to bake it in, so I filled a greased round tin and baked it for the amount of time suggested.

The recipe calls for lavender sugar, which I had, but I only put in 1 tablespoon and subbed regular sugar for the rest because I feared it would be bitter with that much lavender in there. I also added some slivered almonds and a handful of cacao nibs. The edges came out a bit crispy and overall it was thinner than the recipe suggests, but it was delicious with a light lavender taste.

Another recipe I tried was on the Queen Creek Olive Mill site. The recipe was for Vanilla Bean Vinaigrette. It actually calls for vanilla infused olive oil, but because I didn't have that, I scraped 1/2 a pod and put that into my food processor, then I added 1/2 a teaspoon of dried tarragon, 3/4 tablespoon of honey, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. While whizzing it, I added 6 tablespoons of EVOO.

The vanilla flavor was subtle....drizzled on my warm steak salad...Delicious.

Today is Thanksgiving in the States, we don't celebrate it here in Japan, I've never even seen turkey in the markets. In fact, Japan has skipped over Thanksgiving totally and is in Christmas mode. As soon as Halloween was over, the next day up went the Christmas displays. I'm going to miss all the good food but mostly I'm going to miss being with family and friends. Hope you have a great day--Happy Thanksgiving!

12 comments:

Donna said...

Even with celebrating Thankgsgiving in the States, all the Christmas stuff was out in the stores after Halloween here as well!

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving Kat :)

You and satoshi are invited to come over to our house for turkey, prime rib and spiral ham :) candied yams and butter rolls !

Dins is at 6ish :)

goobles :)

hugs

Anonymous said...

Although it's nice to be here for T-day, I am already looking forward to returning home. I dunno...just not the same this year. Maybe because it's so hot instead of so cold! Yummy recipe experiments you've done!

Tamakikat said...

They sound go-od.

Can you have another brownie for me?

Thanks.

TK

K and S said...

Wow that is fast, Donna :) Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Thanks Shar :)

Oh no, Rowena...I hope you enjoy the day :)

I have had most of them since I posted this, Tamakikat :p

Take care everyone.
Kat

Phoebe said...

You are so skillful with your ingredients!! Everytime I twitch receipes here and there just by a tad, it ends up too sweet or too bitter.

The salad must have been very fulfilling.

K and S said...

Thanks Phoebe, with my calculator and easy algebra formulas, somehow I figure it out. Sometimes the recipes work, sometimes not, but for the most part they do :)

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

I'm glad your recipes turned out well. They both look really good. I love how you were able to play around and cut down some of the ingredients and it turned out just right. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving! T'm thankful for you!

Paz

Martin J Frid said...

Have a nice, slow Thanksgiving, I know you will.

Did you know that it wasn’t until the fall of 1941 that Congress declared it to be the 4th Thursday?

"Thanksgiving was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War. While many other states already had a “Thanksgiving,” it was more to celebrate the harvest than celebrate country. This holiday was meant to do both and so is a truly American holiday. Thanksgiving was a way to unite the divided country, remember our pioneering spirit, and heal the wounds of war. It had been a bad year for the Union and Lincoln needed to boost morale. Under the pressure of famed magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale, Lincoln decided to issue a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November Thanksgiving."

Sarah Josepha Hale sounds like an intereting woman to read more about!

From:

http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blog/

K and S said...

That is so nice Paz, I'm thankful for your friendship too :)

Thank you Martin, I will check out that blog link you have there :)

Take care you two.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

That vanilla vinaigrette sounds delicious (and your salad looks really good too!) The brownies sound great as well. New recipes are fun.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving celebrating at least a little in your own way there!

K and S said...

Thanks Deb, it was a nice day, but still miss the family and friends :)

Take care.
Kat