What to Cook?

Deciding what to cook is not only an exercise in frustration at times, but these days, it is a privilege for many. This week's column looks not only at highs and lows of meal planning, but it also asks how all of us can rethink meal planning given the current world food crisis: "I don’t want to sound overly nostalgic, I know that often the “good ole’ days” were also “hard ole’ days” But perhaps the time has come for us to think of meal planning in a different way because if we are not careful, the ability to feed ourselves will have nothing to do with wants and desires as our constraints will be money, health and availability." Click here to read the rest of the column. And for an interesting read, you might like to check out Tea's post: No Words.

This particular dish featured here today is Fried (sauteed Bora & Shrimp) Bora is also know an yard-long beans or snake beans. It is one of my go-to dishes when I'm wondering "what to cook". Click here for the recipe.

My dear friend Zuzana of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen is hosting yet another unique event, Tried & Tasted. I was honoured and just a little nervous :) when she asked that Tastes Like Home be the first blog to be Tried & Tasted. I'm excited to see your creations and interpretations. Please do not hesitate to email me for any of the recipes you'd like to try. If you have questions about the ingredients or about substitutions, I'd be more than happy to answer.

This week I'd like to thank Madhavi, Swati & Vege Yum for bestowing the Yummy Blog Award on Tastes Like Home. Thanks to Roopa of Kitchen Treats for creating this award. Now, I'm supposed to pass this award on to 5 blogs but let me tell you, I had a really difficult time picking just 5 blogs so I picked 6. I thought that since I was awarded the award 3 times I could present the award at least once more than stipulated. Truth be told, I want to give it to everyone! However, I know that the blog love will be passed on just as in pay it forward. So here are my picks.

Lori-Lynn of Taste With the Eyes - the name of this blog says it all;
Sig of Live to Eat - whether she's at home cooking, dining out or travelling abroad, she never neglects those of us who are food-porn lovers :);
Peter of Kalofagas - this man can turn some tricks in the kitchen;
Suganya of Tasty Palettes - I've already threatened to invite myself over to her house;
Marie of Proud Italian Cook - this is homemade gourmet cooking at its best
Coffee of The Spice Cafe - this woman could feed me anything and I'd eat it, even if I didn't want to.

And finally, when I saw this Orange-Lemon Cake last week on Patricia's blog, I could not resist. All I could think of was a big cup of tea and a warm slice of this cake. You've got to try it. The recipe can be found here.

An Event-ful Weekend

This is a big weekend in the Caribbean not just because of Easter; it is even bigger in countries like Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago because these are such diverse societies. Thursday was a national holiday as they celebrated Phagwah (Holi)- the Hindu festival that heralds the beginning of spring. The riot of colours, the food, the music, the laughter! Gosh I miss it! Today is Yuhman Nabi, a Muslim holiday celebrating the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet, Muhammad. And of course, spread throughout the weekend is the most important celebration of the Christian calender, Easter! Wow, what a weekend, I feel so blessed to have grown up in such a society. The appreciation I have cannot be put into words. Here in Barbados, the public holidays are only for Easter, the other two would be celebrated quietly as the Hindu and Mulsim communities here are very small.

Moving on to other event-ful things... I don't generally get the time to take part in blog events because of the myriad of things I have to do, but sometimes I am able to sneak in an entry here and there or someone would tell me that a dish I've made can be submitted to an event :) So, this week, because I got a little break from writing my column because there is no weekend newspaper in Guyana given the long holiday weekend, I thought I'd get a couple of entries in.

First up is CLICK, the theme this month is METAL. A few weeks ago I found these small beautiful karahi pans and fell in love with them immediately. This is my entry to CLICK.

I have been a good girl and dutifully cooked fish yesterday (Good Friday), I made curried fish (gilbaka) and threw in some okras and finger squash.

Speaking of squash, my friend, Charlotte over at Great Big Vegetable Challenge, will, beginning Monday, March 31st, be featuring a variety of recipes using squash so if you have any, be sure to send them along to her.

The squash I am most familiar with is the bottle-gourd squash. When we cook it, it is generally, steamed, sauteed, stewed or curried. Here, I sauteed mine with lots of herbs. I find it to be a bland ingredient and so you have to aggressively flavour and season it, but is a healthy and delicious vegetable.

I am therefore submitting this dish as my contribution to the Great Big Vegetable Challenge.

Given that we also eat a lot of veggies for breakfast with roti, I am submitting this dish also to dear Mansi of Fun & Food who is this month hosting Weekend Breakfast Blogging with the theme balanced breakfast.

Finally, my fellow crabby-chick, is letting off some steam over at Forgive Me My Nonsense... about some blog readers and their rude comments. Be sure to go over and weigh in.

Thanks for all the kind emails and comments, I am feeling much better :)

Enjoy the Easter, Holi & Birthday celebrations everyone!

A Year in the Kitchen

I think that smart, intelligent, beautiful woman over there at One Hot Stove said it best when she wrote: “The end of the year compels a lot of people to take stock of the past 12 months… It compels people to start making lists, and all kinds of year in review lists will appear in the media…” She is of course absolutely right. My column this week is entitled “A year in the kitchen” and it looks at the things I made for the first time. Some of them have been favourites which I had always enjoyed but never made personally. Others I had heard of but never tasted. Click here and you can read my thoughts on the making of these dishes.

This has been an amazing year for me, particularly on the food writing front. Through my columns and this blog I have met so many fantastic people and we have shared so much. You are all very dear to me and this experience would not be what it is if I had never met any of you, albeit virtually. Some of you I know for sure that one day we will meet, we must, we have to!

I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support. Week after week, you’ve been encouraging, and cheering me on. I will say this now, there have been times when I’ve felt completely overwhelmed balancing the job that pays my bills and this job which I love - writing the columns, taking pictures and managing this blog. However, I was always sustained in the knowledge that you are there to appreciate my efforts. I thank you most sincerely.

My column and blog would not be possible without 2 women who I am fiercely proud to call my friends. C, I want to thank you for being a visionary and the best editor any writer could ask for. I’m excited to continue our trip into 2008.

S, there are not enough words to thank you. I know that I will never be able to repay you for your kindness, your generosity, your patience, your guidance, your understanding or for you just being there. None of this would have been possible without your encouragement. You embody what a true friend really is. May fair winds always blow your way.

So, what’s in the kitchen for 2008? a widening of the Caribbean food experience. I hope to feature not just more of the foods of Guyana and Barbados but also other Caribbean countries. Don’t forget that you can read this week’s column here which I am dedicating and sending along with this post to Nupur’s Best of 2007 event.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Peppers and a Pickle

I'm taking a break from the baking this week, well, baking sweet things :) but I have savoury treats for you. First let's start with the Greek Style Stuffed Peppers. At the beginning of June, The Left Over Queen announced the first Royal Joust. We were to make dishes that included three particular ingredients, cheese, dried fruit and nuts. I tasked The Foodie Sidekick to come up with something so that I can make it for this inaugural event and what she came up with is this Greek Style Stuffed Peppers.

Before you click here for the recipe, I want to let you know that my photograph of the stuffed peppers was accepted by the All Recipes dot com team for publication for this recipe - Yay! Go ahead and click here for the recipe. While the stuffing includes ground meat, you can most definitely substitute and make it vegetarian.

The stuffing, if you do not want to use peppers, can be put into individual ramekins, baked and be served as a side dish.

And now it's pickle time. The theme for this month's Monthly Blog Patrolling event is Preserve It. For 2 months now I've had Manisha of Indian Food Rocks pickle recipes for limes and lemons bookmarked. So when the well-brewed Coffee announced this month's theme, I knew exactly what I was going to post. But here is the thing, what you see is the pickle still in the process of pickling, it has only been bathing in the sun for about a week and according to the recipe, it takes a month to properly cure and pickle.

So I invite you to view my pickle in the process. You can click here for the recipe. If you are wondering why my lime pickle does not look the same as Manisha's or any others who have made it, it is because I switched the ingredients. The ingredients for the lemon pickle, I used to make the lime pickle instead. What can I say, I liked the colour of the lemon pickle when I first saw the post :)

Baked Eggs

Okay, stop drooling now :)

I am not going to bore you all with info like: eggs are so versatile, they are essential to many things that we cook; what would cooking be without them or the fact that top chefs are now making gourmet egg dishes and giving this humble ingredient the respect and honour it deserves. Rather, I am just going to tell you simply that instead of boiled or scrambled, I thought I'd try having my breakfast of eggs, baked.



These were so good, so simple to make and I am beginning to feel that for a long, long time, this is how I am going to have eggs whenever I feel like having them (at least for breakfast or brunch).

Here's what you need

Baked Eggs
2 eggs (or 3 egg whites)
1 1/2 tbsp finely diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped green onions (white & green parts)
2 tsp oil
Salt and pepper to taste
A pat of butter or margarine

Equipment
1 small saute pan
1 small oven-proof baking dish
1 baking sheet

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Heat oil in pan, add onions and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and saute for 1 - 2 mins
3. Turn off heat and set aside the pan
4. Rub the pat of butter all over the inside of the baking dish
5. Crack one egg into the dish
6. Season with salt and pepper
7. Add sauteed onions and tomatoes
8. Crack the other egg into the dish
9. Season again with salt and pepper
10. Place the dish onto a baking sheet
11. Slide into oven
12. Bake for 15 mins if made with egg whites
13. Bake for 20 mins if made with whole eggs

Serve with toast or whatever you like to have your eggs with.

I am submitting this as my entry to WBB #12 hosted this month by the patient, kind and beautiful, Trupti of The Spice Who Loved Me.

Icon courtesy of Nandita of Saffron Trail

Party Time!

Parmesan Crisps

You will not believe how easy these crisps are to make and you can see how attractive they are! :) From now on, this is going to be a staple appetizer whenever I entertain. The great thing also, is that they can be served in a basket made from the same ingredient!

This is my entry to Meeta's Birthday Party Bang!

Recipe - Parmesan Crisps

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• A few grinds of black pepper

Hardware

• A large baking sheet
• Parchment paper or a silpat (silicone baking mat) if you have one
• A small bowl turned upside down to work as a mold

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree
2. Mix cheese and black pepper

To make basket:

1. Take 1/2 cup of mixture and spread it in a thin circle
2. Bake it for 5 - 7 mins
3. Remove round disk and drape over the bottom of the bowl, gently pressing against the sides of the bowl
4. Leave to cool and harden

To make crisps:

1. Spoon 1/2 tbsp of cheese onto baking sheet 1-inch apart
2. Flatten the top of the cheese a little with the back of your spoon
3. Bake in oven for 3 - 5 mins
4. Remove from oven and let cool
5. Place in Parmesan basket, garnish with chives and serve

Notes:

• You can vary the size of the crisps to suit your needs for example to 1 tbsp or 1 tsp.
• You do not have to make a molded basket to serve the crisps, they can be served using a plate, bowl or platter
• Finely snipped chives can be added to the cheese mixture and be baked right into the crisp

A Favourite Dessert

I have not started to grade the exam papers sitting in my study but I found the time to patrol blogs and enter an event. (lol) This is my entry to the Monthly Blog Patrol hosted by the lovely Coffee, of The Spice Cafe.

My entry is inspired by the very talented Gattina of Kitchen Unplugged. She recently made a creamy rice pudding with strawberry sauce that had me obsessed and yearning for rice pudding. Besides I was itching to try it with the strawberry sauce.

Here is Gattina's recipe. The recipe is in two parts, for the rice pudding and the other for the strawberry sauce. I created my own recipe for the rice pudding but used her recipe and method for the strawberry sauce though I used frozen strawberries.

Recipe - Rice Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 4 cups whole milk
• Condensed milk to sweeten to taste
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeded
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup rum (I used Malibu Coconut White Rum)
  

For Strawberry sauce

• 1 pk frozen strawberries, thawed
• A few drops of lemon juice
• Sugar to sweeten sauce to taste

Method - Rice Pudding

1. Soak raisins in rum and set aside
2. Wash rice and strain excess liquid
3. In a heavy-bottomed pot combine milk, rice, cinnamon stick & vanilla bean seeds and bring to boil.
4. Turn heat to very low and let rice cook uncovered (approximately 1 hour)
5. 10 minutes before the rice is finished, sweeten with condensed milk then stir in rum and raisins that have been melding together
6. Set aside to cool
7. When the rice is cool enough you can chill it in the fridge

Method - Strawberry Sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree
   Pour into a container and place in the freezer for 30 minutes before you are ready to serve the dessert
2. At the 15-minute interval, give the sauce a stir and return it to the freezer

There are a variety of ways to serve:

• You can place the rice pudding in individual glasses or bowls and top with strawberry sauce OR
• You can serve it buffet style - rice pudding in a large dish and sauce in a jug for easy pouring/drizzling or the sauce can be put in individual shot glasses.

WARNING: It is dangerously delicious! :)

Agrofest

Last Weekend, Agrofest, an annual agricultural exhibition by the Barbados Agricultural Society was held at the Queen's Park, Bridgetown. There were lots of produce on sale and display. It was like a large open air market, lots to buy, lots to see and lots to learn. Click here for more Agrofest pictures or on the Agrofest album on the right hand side of the blog.

I could not resist taking this photograph. This is the kind of can that women carried on their heads long ago as they walked about selling mauby. When they had a customer, they would skilfully fill a cup without looking up and without spillage!

I also took some pictures of farm animals at Agrofest and here is my take on what they seem to be thinking:

"Why am I here?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Get me out of here!"

"Don't touch me!"