Cantuccini and my new oven

Darling,

You remember how in March I did a whole lot of vegan bakery for the various green events happening at my work? And do you remember how you said you had a whole lot of filthy dreams about one particular Italian-inspired biscuit? Well now you can make your own dream come true!

The first time I made these spectacular little treats I was living with a friend and her capricious oven that blew out the electrics every ten minutes. Ah the joys of Parisian housing. A very frustrated evening ensued but they turned out more or less perfect, a little crumbly I think because I got impatient after the first baking. Cantuccini need to be baked twice to get that authentic bone-dry crunch, perfect for dunking into coffee (or wine, let's try that this evening)

Another awesome thing about this is you don't really need any fancy measuring equipment, just one cup for everything (and a little guesswork with the raising agent if it isn't an approved american measuring cup, but as we all know, experimentation in the kitchen keeps us young and lively). This system is just perfect for a person like me who was homeless up until 3 days ago, and therefore not too keen on lugging my scales and measuring jug about with me on the metro...

So now I have a proper bedroom, two charming housemates and another capricious oven that I have yet to master. I grew up with a gas cooker, and it was one of the reasons I was so excited about moving in here but this one has something of a temper. I have to keep a close eye on it to stop it from incinerating everything I put inside. I had yet to unpack my boxes but my desire for hard Italian cookies got the better of me and I dove straight into the kitchen to tame the beast. So this batch of cookies is more than a little bone-dry, but delicious nonetheless and now me and my housemates have something crunchy to dunk into our morning coffee. Now, to unpack...

These cookies keep for a good few weeks in an airtight container.

Original recipe here:

[update, also definitely delicious dunked in wine]

Rocking Red Beany Soup

Hey!

Do you remember our little field trip to Rice & Beans the other day? Great restaurant, amazing burrito's, lovely cheesecake! And remember how we were craving their black bean soup? And how it turned out to be not as veggie as we thought it would be? I decided to make one myself. I was just hoping black bean soup didn't really need pork to be tasty! With red beans instead of black (because they have been sitting around in my kitchen waiting to be used for ages), I got to cooking. Needless to say the result pleased me, or I wouldn't feel the need to share it with you and our humble peckettes.

Here is what I did:

1 TBS sunflower oil

2 red onions, sliced

3 cloves of garlic

2 tsp chili paste

1 tsp fresh oregano

1 tsp cumin seeds

12 half sun dried tomatoes

700 gr. red beans, cooked

750 ml vegetable stock

lime juice

Heat the oil in a big sauce pan. Putt in the onions and let them 'melt'. Make sure they don't golden. Add the garlic, chili paste, oregano and and cumin. Let it cook for 5 minutes to let the cumin work in it's flavors.

Add the tomatoes, the beans and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and let it cook for about 30 minutes. Season with the salt and the lime juice. Putt everything in a blender and blend until you get a thick, liquid mixture. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve the soup. Non-vegans can garnish with a bit of creme fraîche and some fresh chopped cilantro. The soup is even more interesting if you top it of with a cilantro salsa. This fellow blogspot user has an awesome salsa recipe:

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/cilantro-salsa-dip-recipe.html

Some mexican beers and you are good to go!

Blue Cheesy Mmmmuffins!

Hello dear,

just wanted to tell you about some baking I did last night. Again inspired by my latest purchase 'mon premier diner végètarien'!

As a pastry chef I have sugar coming out of my ears. Sometimes I find myself at home, with an unstoppable desire to bake. But the mere thought of sugary goods.... Aaaargh! So, a big shout out to SAVERY BAKING! It just never gets old. This time I made some rocking muffins with blue cheese and chard. To eat just like that or with soup.

Promise me you will try to make them, or even better, come over and taste them! They are here, with your name on them, and I miss you!

Megalove!

For 12 muffins:

25 gr. butter, melted

150 gr. chard, leaves washed and cut

190 gr. self-rising flower

2 TBS finely grated parmesan

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

175 ml milk

1 small egg, beat

75 gr. blue cheese, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Prepare the muffin tins by greasing them with butter or putting in a muffin paper.

Cook the chard for about 2 minutes. Get rid of the water and push the extra water out.

In a bowl, mix the flower, 1 TBS of the parmesan, the salt and the nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk the milk in with the butter and the egg. Mix the dry ingredients in with the liquid. Add chard and cheese and mix with a wooden spoon. Don't over mix the batter. It's fine when there are some chunks.

Fill the muffin tins with the mix. Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan on top and put them in the oven immediately. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the muffins are big and golden. Eat them when there cold, or straight out of the oven. Enjoy!