White Chocolate & Berry Souffle

Why what have we here? Pretty little bowls of light-as-air fluffy goodness? Smoothly sweet from the white chocolate ganache with a delightful tartness from the berries and a flavour reminiscent of turkish delight, this is, simply put, a bowl of heaven. Please come in, have a seat, make yourself comfortable. I'll put on some Edith Piaf for us or perhaps some Enya to delight our ears while our tongues curl in ecstasy around  these soufflés. What is the occassion, you ask? 

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Dolmades, South African style

I am to dolmades what TheHusband is to hotdogs. Or chow mein. Or pizza for that matter. In other words, addicted. Whenever I spot them in our local shopping haunt's deli section I have to grab a small container to scoff as snack before supper time. Containing just 4 or 5 dolmades, it is usually enough to satisfy my gastronomic desires.

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Apple Butter

Um. Would you mind helping out a confused blogger? Okay, I need you to assess the situation and confirm a few things for me:

a) What year is it? and
b) Where am I?

Because up until Sunday I was fairly certain about both my whereabouts and the approximate date, but since then things have become slightly blurry. Don't tell anyone, but I think that I might have somehow landed up in colonial America. Oh you need evidence? 

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Uszka (Polish Dumplings)

I remember my first encounter with these mushroom filled dumplings vividly. The year was 2006 and I had innocently borrowed a book on Eastern European food from the library. I had no idea what to expect from the book, a fact which contributed greatly to my curiosity of course. The more I turned the pages, the more pleasantly I was surprised by the variety of dishes and I admit, I fell a little bit in love.

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Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

When I think of nuts, my thoughts invariably wander to chunky chocolate brownies stuffed to the gills with nuts, asian stirfries featuring cashews or a simple snack of wasabi peanuts (my latest guilty pleasure). Not to mention peanut butter - a sandwich filling hero for kids around the world. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be making a nut butter from scratch though. 

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Green Chili and Chicken Enchiladas

Yes it's that time of the month again friends: time to dust of our aprons, sharpen our knives and get daring. Daring with a capital "D" that is!

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

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Brunswick Stew

I still can't believe it. I *actually* went to the store and I bought a piece of warthog. Not many people will have the balls to pick up a packet of warthog meat, nevertheless actually buy the thing. I don't even have to mention the actual cooking and eating part do I?

As the cashier so eloquently put it (with slightly raised eyebrows I might add) "Is it for dog food?"

My answer? A slightly embarassed "No".

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Bokkom, Lemon & Basil Risotto with Fried Aubergine Slices

We recently visited Paternoster and while there I had a delicious dish of homemade pasta sheets layered with chillies, bokkoms and toasted breadcrumbs. In fact I was so taken with the bokkom flavour, that I bought some to take home with me (vacuum packed to give our nostrils a fighting chance...). I confess, they were lying on the kitchen counter for a few days, staring at me accusingly, then I unceremoniously dumped them in the kitchen cupboard, for later usage.

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Daring Cooks - Mezze

People adopt smug smiles for various reasons. Maybe you know something that no-one else does. A juicy secret definitely ups the smug factor (or at least it does for me!) Smug smiles can also be caused by the knowledge that you are somewhat (in some way at least) superior to someone else.

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Chicken Satay

Mark this date on the calendar people! For the first time I'm actually posting the Daring Cooks recipe on time! Third time lucky as they say.

Besides marking the calendar though, you should definitely bookmark this recipe.

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. 

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Daring Cooks - Salmon En Croute

I'm not a big pastry person. Chocolate - yes, bring it on. But pastry? Meh. I can take it or leave it. Most often I abandon the pastry in favour of the filling. So when I saw this:

"The December 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online."

I kind of quivered in my boots a little bit. Because see, not only am I not a big pastry eater, I'm also not a big pastry maker. But, I reasoned, that's exactly the point of the Daring Kitchen. To step out of our comfort zones. To go boldly where no (wo)man has gone before! Or so it felt.

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Daring Cooks Challenge - Sushi (with a twist!)

Get your party hats on people, because I've completed my first Daring Kitchen Challenge! Better late than never, right?

The November 2009 Daring Cooks' Challenge has been chosen by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of Bite Me Kitchen. They chose Sushi, specifically Dragon Rolls, Nigiri and Spiral Rolls)

But (and this is a big 'ole butt), like I teased you in my previous post, my sushi had a twist. Better get out your saris and slap on your bindis now, because it's an Indian twist!

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