Tiramisu Trifle with Brown Sugar Cake, Chocolate Cream and Strawberries

 This began as a mistake.  A Dorie Greenspan recipe, which can be found in Baking: From My Home to Yours, for Brown Sugar Bundt Cake.  It was okay, though in the unmolding, quite a bit stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Not a thing of beauty, and as these things can happen, sat around for a few days.  So, yes a trifle (ha ha) stale.

I had been wanting an excuse to make Trifle, and this was it.  As well as another use for my Margarita glasses.  Not that they don't get enough use.  Multipurpose being  good.  Frugality also.

Trifle is so charmingly adaptable.  If your cake or cookies are plain, go hog wild on the layering ingredients.  This being a fruity sort of cake, including fresh pear and apple as well as dried figs and raisins, I kept the layers to a minimum.  Chocolate flavored cream cheese at the bottom, then cake pieces drizzled with Amaretto, followed by whipped cream, strawberries, then more whipped cream.

You could use ricotta or other fresh cultured cheese instead of the cream cheese in this, blended with your flavorings of choice. I used kefir cream cheese, agave nectar, and cacao powder.

The fresh strawberries came from our Volcano Village farmer's market.

Tiramisu Strawberry Trifle

For 2 large dessert glasses:

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup cream cheese or ricotta
1/4 cup agave nectar or light honey
2 tablespoons cacao powder
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
2 cups (approx.) left-over cake
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1 cup strawberries, sliced  (2 reserved whole for topping)

Whip the cream and add in confectioner's sugar toward the finish.  Set aside.  Beat the ricotta and tablespoon of cream with honey or agave nectar and cacao powder until smooth, or whip together in your food processor.  Set aside.

Slice the strawberries, reserving 2 for topping.  Set aside.  Cut the cake into slices or pieces to fit your serving glasses.

Assemble layers, beginning with the chocolate cream at the bottom, next add a layer of cake pieces and drizzle with Amaretto or rum.  Add a layer of whipped cream, then the sliced strawberries, more whipped cream and a nice looking, smallish strawberry on top.

Chill for at least 2 hours so all the flavors can meld.  Serve it up with a little Sicilian (er... Mexican) tap dance.  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Truly delightful, and pretty darn easy too.  Especially if you have some slightly stale cake or cookies that need to be creatively resurrected.

Guava Dutch Baby or Clafouti Goyave with Sourdough Starter

I have always called this a Dutch Baby, but you may know it as Clafouti.  The recipe is pretty much the same, and you probably don't need me to post that, as it's been done, a lot.  This is a version, using once again that ever present sourdough bread starter, lurking in my refrigerator.

When I am going to make bread (usually about once a week), a few days ahead of time I put a small portion of starter in a separate jar and begin to feed it more, leaving the jar out on my counter, and put the rest back in the fridge.  Every time before feeding that new batch, about half of it is first poured back into the "mother" starter, kept in the fridge.  This is the accumulating, lurking entity I am talking about.  It takes some attention and culinary creativity putting it to good use, i.e. English muffins, crumpets, pizza, coffee cake, flatbread, pancakes, all of which I have posted about, and now this Dutch Baby or Clafouti thingy.

As two lovely guavas were ready to fall off the tree, I thought of adapting a favorite breakfast dish - the Dutch Baby (who knows where that name came from).  The recipe is very simple, with 3 eggs and equal portions of flour and milk (3/4 cup), whipped up in a blender.  The idea on this version was to sub out the flour and milk for a cup of starter,  plus a small portion of milk to bring the batter to a similar pancake consistency.

Kinsey's Tequila Chili Verde

What inspires my cooking varies.  Probably like most of you.  It could be the random remark someone drops about a restaurant meal, or particular dish they had, a pristine vegetable shining out from the produce bin, or a character in a book mentions a food that strikes my fancy.

For instance,  I was recently reading an old Sue Grafton novel, G is for Gumshoe.  I think she's gotten to V at this point in her alphabet murders.  Kinsey and Dietz were eating Chili Verde at a Western style restaurant, talking about how good it was, slurping juices, digging in with gusto, mopping up with fresh tortillas.  And that was it.  I had to have some.

Claudia and Nancy's Chocolate Factory - Lavender, Lemon and Strawberry Marshmallows on Chocolate Bark

Yes, that's chocolate on our faces, hands, arms and clothing.  Getting in touch with our inner child here.  Deb actually gave that as one of her reasons for picking our current Cook the Books Club selection,  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl.  It was just partly this lightweight, but charming fairy tale's fault for inspiring me to do the chocolate making thing once more.

 Kealani (my granddaughter) remembers me saying the last time, that it was the LAST TIME.  A lot of work, in other words.  Or, maybe not so much work as MESS.  You might compare the process to having a baby, in that you don't ask the just delivered mother if she's going to do it again.  If I wait a bit I might even want to.  You have to weigh the good with the not so.

We did lick up a lot.  And it was good.  It also means I won't be buying any chocolate bars for quite awhile.  Four pounds worth.  And if anybody happens to wonder why I don't post more dessert recipes, well this is your answer.  I'd most always rather just have a little chocolate.  Preferably this kind.

Mean Mr., Honey Wholegrain, Mustard

Song lyrics that date me.  This is just a quick post because of how thrilled I am with the way my mustard turned out.  It all started innocently enough in my favorite market, looking for a wholegrain type jar of mustard.  I don't know about you, but when I'm looking for something, most of the time there is an ideal lurking in the back of my mind.  If that is not met, then everything comes to a screeching halt, pardon the drama.  Not a world crisis..  But the selection was pitiful, sorry to say.  So, I said to myself,  let's just do it ourselves.  I wasn't totally talking to myself.  My granddaughter was present.

Admittedly, I could have gone to a mega, national chain Supermarket and found the perfect mustard of my dreams, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.  So over to the bulk bins for a bag of mustard seeds.  Once home I quickly Googled recipes to see how difficult the process might be. 

Chicken Pozole Rojo for Daring Cooks

I realize that some (well okay most) might consider this a soup, however it is more than that, much more - a stew, a braise, a hearty meal garnished with fresh herbs and vegetables, a Mexican National treasure.  So, maybe I can be excused.  Originally  from the state of Guerrero, Mexico, where pozole, is practically the state dish. While in California and New Mexico pozole is traditionally served on Christmas eve, in Guerrero it is served every Thursday and Saturday, all year long..  I think I could handle that.

Dry hominy corn kernels, which add an incomparable corn flavor to this soup, are soaked overnight and next day cooked for several hours, (though many recipes just call for canned hominy and you can do that) then added to the meat, which has been braised separately.  It can be pozole blanco, in which case chicken is used and there are no red chilies or tomatoes in the braise.  So rojo, as you might have gathered, is red.  Previously I had made a pork version, which was delicious, and so wanted to try chicken this time. 

This was soooo good, I especially enjoyed the contrast of a savory stew with the fresh toppings, an assortment including slices of avocado, radishes, cabbage, onions, tomatoes and cilantro.  With tortilla chips on the side.

Mapo Tofu with Pak and Ong Choy

Though Mapo Tofu came originally from the Sichuan province in China, it is now served in Chinese restaurants all over the world, and is known to have hundreds of variations.  So, I feel fairly safe with my designation here. Bob objects to dozens of those tiny, bright red, searingly hot chili peppers scattered throughout a dish of food. So that was the first thing to go.  Instead, I just added a healthy sized dollop of Mae Ploy Chili Sauce, with the thought that what you don't see can't hurt.  Right?  And, then for it's vibrant color, sliced strips of red bell pepper.

The Ong Choy is at the very bottom of the photo.  Pond desperately in need of weeding.

Our pond, thanks to a water garden tour I took last year, now has Ong Choy growing in there.  I have read that in some places this hardy little green is taking over bodies of water and considered noxious.  A point of view that depends upon your perspective.  A good remedy would be for more of you folks to eat this plant.  It is a popular Asian green with scads of other alias', such as Swamp Cabbage, Water Convolvulus, Water Morning Glory, Pak Bung, Rau Muong, and etc.  I didn't care for the sound of Swamp Cabbage, but with so many names to choose from, we can take our pick.  The Chinese around here all know it as ong choy, so ong choy it is.

Chickpea and Potato Curry with Pattypan Squash

This is a warming, deliciously spicy dish for those meatless nights  (economic conditions are helping me with doing more of those), and you won't at all  be missing meat here either.  Caramelizing the onion gives it an extra jolt of flavor.  I made enough soaked and boiled chickpeas for two dishes, this and a nifty bowl of hummus with lots of mint and garlic.  I figure if you're going to the trouble of doing them yourself, might as well fix a bit extra.  Once the beans are ready, everything comes together pretty easily. 

The first thing is to soak your chickpeas, covered with water by at least 3 inches, overnight.  Next day, drain and cover with water, again by 3 inches,  in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to just simmering, skimming froth, and cook til tender (not mushy).  This depends on the age of the beans, etc. perhaps 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.  Drain in a colander, reserving some of the water for later, rinse and remove any loose skins.  Set aside.

Braised Beef with Pioppini Mushrooms and Dumplings, from Book Reviewed Culinaria Germany

I have to admit to being given this book, Culinaria Germany, almost a year ago, and never having been particularly interested in the cuisine of Germany, (sad to say) hadn't gotten around to really digging into it until this week.  What made me pull the heavy tome off the shelf was reading Cynthia Bertelsen's review of Culinaria Russia, which she entitled: A Picture Cookbook for Grownups.  It made me realize that I owned one of that series of big fat picture cookbooks and needed to get it out immediately.

This is a fantastic book, and if the rest of the Culinaria set is as good, I want them all.  With it's lavish photography,  fascinating historical background generously mixed in, the geographical and cultural notes with meticulous attention to detail, the FOOD, and RECIPES, what more could anyone want?  Since I love history, I love good travel photography, and then of course food and recipes, you know I love.  Bertelsen says in her review:  "I don’t know about you, but for me the best “foodie” thing since sliced bread is the Köneman Culinaria regions-of-the-world series, Christine Metzger, editor (now published apparently by H. F. Ullmann)."  And, I would have to agree.

Unfortunately for those of us in Hilo, Hawaii, where bookstores fold to be replaced by ever more drug stores, I may have to wait.  These are heavy books and the postage would be astronomical if ordered online.  They are at least on my wish list.

I determined to work my way from front to back, but kept getting sidetracked, jumping around with so much to absorb, leaving various bookmarks.  The book is organized according to the country's regions, the first area being Thuringia.  And, it is here that dumplings first begin to be mentioned in all their splendid variety, appropriately in a section entitled "Dumplings with.... "  Now I do have an old recipe favorite, Chicken Paprika with Dumplings, which I haven't made in quite a few years (it too needs to come back into circulation) but that was the extent of my dumplings acquaintanceship.