Pears and Camembert--I'll never get enough!

Pears and Camembert--I'll never get enough!

by Victoria Challancin

I admit it:  I'll never get enough of fruit with lovely cheese.  In any form.  And pears with any cheese in the world may just be the best combination!  I made this in a cooking class for Mexican cooks, who at first made faces, and then loved it.  L-o-v-e-d it.  And what's not to love?  It is so very easy and fast to prepare; it tastes delicious; and it never fails to dazzle guests.  A winner recipe--thank you Martha.

Note:  I'll be pulling this from draft mode as I will be somewhere traveling in Paris, Morocco or Turkey when I post it.  And I promise to have new recipes from the trip soon!

Brandied Pears with Rosemary and Camembert

(Recipe from Martha Stewart Living)

Note:  The cheese should be cold so it can be sliced; the glaze with warm it when 
poured
on top.  I posted another similar recipe for Roasted Pears with Gorgonzola Cheese.  
Knowing how good this combo is, I doubled the amount of pear compote...I also added 
dried cranberries for color.

1 8[oz wheel Camembert or Brie cheese, cold
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large Bosc pear, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
8 walnut halves

Slice cheese wheel in half crosswise, set aside.  In medium skillet over medium heat, 
melt butter.  Add diced pear, and cook until tender,about 3 minutes. Stir in brandy,and 
cook 1 minute more.  Add rosemary,and stir to combine.  Removed from heat and 
spread pear mixture over bottom half of reserved sliced cheese wheel, 
reserving 2 tablespoons mixture 
for garnish.  Transfer to a serving plate.


Return the skillet to stove, and heat balsamic vinegar and honey until simmering.  
Simmer mixture until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.  Set aside to cook, about 
5 minutes.  Pour half the glaze over cheese and reserved pear mixture; top with 
remaining half of cheese wheel and pears.  Drizzle with remaining glaze,and garnish 
with walnut halves and 
rosemary.  Serve immediately.


Enjoy!

Victoria Challancin

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School

San Miguel de Alllende, México

@Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved. (I'm happy to share all recipes but reserve rights to my photos--thank you!)

Coconut-Garlic Chutney--Lively and Tempting

Coconut-Garlic Chutney

Coconut-Garlic Chutney--Lively and Tempting

by Victoria Challancin

Recently, I cooked an Indian dinner for friends.  This chutney, which I learned to make from an Indian colleague at Bahrain University, just had to be a part of the meal.  Easy to prepare, pretty (what a color!), and delicious.  A bit different for most palates, it never fails to entice.  I can't tell you how many times I have shared this recipe--and now I am sharing it with you!

Coconut-Garlic Chutney

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

9 medium green jalapeño or serrano chiles, seeds removed, destemmed, and deveined

6 large garlic cloves

2 cups dried coconut

Enough water to make blending easy

Salt, to taste

Place ingredients in a food process and puree to desired consistency (I like this a bit chunky).  

Note:  Obviously, you can adjust the heat and the amount of garlic to suit your taste.  Don't use red chiles as they will make it chutney brown--I just had a pretty one on top for color and to shot my guests that this was a spicy dish!

This product from Costco works well with Indian food as well--Mango, Pomegranate, and Chipotle Chile Sauce.

Victoria Challancin

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende, México

©Victoria Challancin.   All Rights Reserved.

Recipes are meant to be shared--my photos aren't.

Thanks!

Roses...with Palm Sunday offerings

Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller

Oyster Mushrooms, setas, in Spanish

Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller

by Victoria Challancin

Now don't get me wrong, I think mushrooms are beautiful.  A true work of nature.  But mushrooms as food just never seem to photograph well for me. But here you have them, thanks to a vegetarian husband and the pressures of a quick week-night dinner, hastily prepared.  With love.

Oyster mushrooms abound in the part of Mexico where I live, and setas, as they are called here,  are much prized.  Often they are cooked a la parilla, with rings of dried guajillo chiles and garlic.  Today, I prepared them Rockefeller style, as in the oyster recipe, using a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times as a springboard.  Basically, I read the recipe and then just recreated some version in the kitchen.  I didn't have but 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise and knew my husband would squawk at the idea of mayo in his dish anyway, so I added some organic Caesar dressing with asiago cheese.  Heavy and rich.  And yes, it is a purchased dressing...And yes, oddly enough, the mushrooms feel rather like oysters in the mouth!  But don't let that put you off if that doesn't appeal.  It's just that I finally understood the name once I ate this particular dish.

The scattered mushrooms with sautéed spinach on top

A topping of sliced imported Emmenthal cheese and a sprinkle of sumac, because I love it

Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller

(Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times, link above)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves

250g (1/2 pound) oyster mushrooms, separated and with coarse stems removed

284g/10 oz fresh young spinach

1/4 cup mayonnaise, (I used Hellman's Light)

1/4 cup Yogurt-Asiago Caesar dressing (or use all mayonnaise, yogurt, or Ranch dressing)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

100g Swiss, Emmenthal, Cheddar, or melting cheese of choice, sliced or grated

Sumac or paprika for the top

Preheat oven to 375F (at a lower altitude you might want to use a 3350-degree oven).

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick sauté pan.  Add the garlic and sautée for two minutes to soften, but not brown.  Add the spinach.  Stir to mix with the flavored oil, top, and allow to steam until wilted, about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place the mushrooms in the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish.  Top with the spinach.

Place the mayonnaise and dressing in a small bowl and mix in the mustard.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spread mixture over the spinach.  Top with the sliced or grated cheese.  Sprinkle with sumac or paprika.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbling.  Pass under a broiler if you want to brown the top.  Serve with a nice salad, lightly dressed.

Enjoy!

And voila!  An easy week-night main dish, unctuous and delicious, served with a huge mixed salad and a light vinaigrette to cut the richness of the main dish.


Victoria Challancin
Flavors of the Sun Cooking School
San Miguel de Allende, México


©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

An Insanity of Color and a Summery Bougambilia Drink

An Insanity of Color and a Summery Bugambilia Drink

by Victoria Challancin

Every March here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, when the temperature begin their startling climb, the startling dryness begins its work.  Forget what it does to the skin, I say, and look what it does for flowering plants.  Right now, the bugambilias (Spanish spelling), or bougainvilleas, burst into glory and the jacaranda trees shed their lavender-hued grace all over the city.  Dazzling.

When I worked as Culinary Producer for Food Network's Mexican Made Easy's Season Two, Marcela Valladolid, the chef and star, wanted to make a bugumbilia limeade for a show on Baja cooking. And  remembering from when my child was young how Mexican mothers taught me to make a gentle tea for coughs from the blossoms of the purple, only the purple, bugambilia plant, I thought a limeade a perfect idea.

Photo by Zachary Popovsky

We tested Marcela's Bugambilia Limeade, which I absolutely loved.  Pretty and so "green" tasting.  Yummy.  In the end,though, she opted to showcase a Baja-Style Limeade, which reflects her origins and the wild rosemary which proliferated there.

This recipe is a non-recipe, really.  Make limeade as you normally would, preferably with Mexican or Key limes (not Persians), sweeten with desired sweetener (agave nectar would be lovely), and add a cup or more of tea made from steeping purple bougainvillea blossoms in boiling water.

Bugambilia Limeade

1 cup water

One large handful of clean, purple bougainvillea blossoms (no need to remove stamens)

8 limes (approximately) or 1 cup of fresh lime juice

3 to 4 cups water, or more as preferred

Sweetener, to taste

Bring a coup of water to a boil in a small pot.  Add a large handful of purple bougainvillea blossoms, pressing to submerge.  Allow to steep for 10 minutes.  

Prepare limeade by mixing the lime juice with 3 cups of water.  Sweeten to taste.  Strain the bougainvillea tea into the limeade.  Check and adjust.  Add more water or lime juice as preferred. Serve over ice and decortate with a spare blossom or two.

Enjoy!

I'm sendindg this post oever to Rachel at The Crispy Cook,  where Rachel is hosting the Weekend Herb Blog event this week for Haalo at cookalmost anything.blogspot.com.  This interesting idea was originally begun by Kalyn at kalynskitchen.com.   Thank you fellow bloggers!

Victoria Challancin

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende, México

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Italian Wedding soup

Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

by Victoria Challancin

Note:  For those of you receiving this via email subscription, check out my homepage for some updates!

I love apocryphal stories.  Not because I lean toward that which isn't inherently true.  Quite the contrary. But there is something in the stories that swirl around us pretending to be authentic, pretending to state the truth, usually something whimsical that grabs the imagination.  Food stories abound in this very realm--just think of Puttanesca Sauce (How many versions of the true root of that delicious sauce are there?)  Just think of real food, made by real people, made the same way it was always made by their mothers, their grandmothers, their neighbors, their village.  That's how names come into being to describe so many dishes.  Hunter's wife's chicken?  Oh yes.  Seafarer's sauce?  Definitely!  Italian Wedding Soup, served at all Italian weddings.  Not so fast...

In fact, supposedly Italian Wedding Soup gets its name from the fact that it is such a perfect marriage of flavors and is not served at weddings at all.  Se sposano, the Italians say.  The ingredients "marry," hence the name Minestra Maritata, which somehow, somewhere along the way was  translated as "Wedding Soup."  And it stuck.  Forever.

Mention Italian Wedding Soup and you know what to expect.  Well, more or less.  There must be as many versions as their are Italian nonnas.  Strong broth, meatballs, greens of some sort, pancetta, Parmesan--these are the hallmarks of this soup; however, the recipe begs for interpretation.   I would like to tell you that I learned to make this particular recipe at the feet of my Italian aunts, but it would be untrue (though I learned other recipes that I will surely share at some point!).  And although fun food stories, yes, apocryphal ones, make me smile, I like to stick to the truth.  And the truth is that this recipe comes from a wonderful source:  thekitchn.com.  Check it out for great information and recipes as well.

Italian Wedding Soup

 (Recipe from thekitchn.com)

Serves 6-8

Note:  this is an extremely flexible recipe.  You could add other greens such as kale or chard, add grated lemon zest to the meatballs and some lemon juice to the broth, or add red pepper flakes to the onions and garlic as they cook. The name is actually a mistranslation as it isn’t traditionally served at weddings; rather, it refers to the marriage of greens and meat, which make a good union indeed!

3/4 pound ground organic meat (chicken, turkey, pork or beef)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
3 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken stock
1 bunch greens trimmed and torn into bite-sized pieces (about 6 lightly packed cups) (Natura often has escarole, which is a traditional ingredient

Lemon juice, to taste

Combine the ground meat, bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of each cheese, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix thoroughly, then form the mixture into 3/4-inch to 1 1/2-inch balls. You should have 20 to 30 meatballs, depending on how large you form them.

In large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high heat. Add the meatballs in batches, and cook, turning, until browned all over, 3 to 5 minutes. (If they are still a bit pink in the middle, don't worry, they will continue to cook in the broth.) Set them aside on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

In a 4 to 6 quart soup pot, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until onions are tender and garlic is soft, but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the greens, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the meatballs and cook another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 eggs and remaining cheeses in small bowl and stir with a fork to blend. Slow pour the egg mixture into hot soup, stirring constantly. Cover and simmer just until egg bits are set, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, maybe even a squirt of lemon juice, and serve immediately in a low bowl if possible so the meatballs are visible.  To re-heat, simmer gently over low heat.

Enjoy!

Victoria Challancin

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende, México

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.