coconut and a move

over the weekend, i moved to a new apartment. the most exciting part? finally having a real kitchen. i inaugurated it with lasagna, quickly followed by coconut macaroons. my great grandmother would make these when i was little, and i had a serious craving for coconut

one of my roommates is allergic to eggs, however, so i had to make them with condensed milk. it actually worked out great.

coconut macaroons

[ingredients]
1/3 cup flour
2 3/4 cups shredded coconut
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 oz (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) condensed milk (sweetened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

[directions]
mix flour, shredded coconut, and salt. add condensed milk and vanilla. mix well. if it’s not holding well, add a bit more condensed milk until it’s possible to form half-domes of the mixture that hold relatively well together. place 1.5-2 inch diameter half-domes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes or until coconut is lightly toasted

*sorry about the blurriness of the pictures, i had to take them quickly before we ate them all. they did not last*

dulcelate

dulce de leche + chocolate = dulcelate.

delicioso. la cosa mas rica del mundo.

dulce de leche comes from my little country (i guess we must share credit with argentina. lame.). although other countries have similar concepts – cajeta, manjar, arequipe – they are not the same. dulce de leche is creamier and softer

mix in cocoa powder and you get bliss.

i was invited to my friend’s house for easter and made these:

they are my great grandmother’s recipe : dulcelate truffles

unfortunately, it’s not a formal recipe, but i’ll do my best

i sandwiched the left-over dulcelate between two cookies

dulcelate truffles - makes about 30 truffles

[ingredients]
450 g dulce de leche
2-4 tablespoons cocoa powder
10-15 well-crushed galletas maria (maria biscuit)
dried, shredded coconut

[directions]
in a medium bowl, empty out the jar of dulce de leche. add cocoa powder (start off with two  tablespoons) mix well. taste – if it needs to be more chocolatey, add a bit more until it’s to your taste. add in the crushed galletas maria. grab a teaspoon-size amount of “dough”, roll between your palms to form a ball, roll in the dried coconut and coat completely. this part is really messy. if you are having trouble rolling the truffles between your palms after a while, scrape your palms off with a silicone spatula, that should help. keep refrigerated

lemons and raspberries

my absolute favourite dessert? lemon bars.

no chocolate. i know. but i love them. so much that i actually wrote an assignment on them for my french class.

i’m moving in a week and a half (cannot wait!) and am thus trying to get rid of the stored up food i have so i don’t have to move it all. this includes way too many frozen raspberries. to significantly diminish this, i added raspberries to lemon bars. it worked surprisingly well

i also had frozen crusts so i used those rather than making a shortbread crust (which would’ve required me to buy more butter), so they ended up being more pie than bars. but still delicious

i am completely in love with the colour : )

lemon-raspberry pie/bars adapted from here

[ingredients]
pastry crust
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 egg whites
1 whole egg
2/3 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
2 tablespoons lemon zest (1-2 lemons)
2/3 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 cups raspberries, blended (if frozen, defrost first)

[directions]
whisk sugar, egg whites, egg, lemon juice and zest, flour and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. add raspberries and mix. roll out pastry crust in an 8×8 or 9×9 greased pan. pour in filling. bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until the filling is set.

mediterranean quinoa

wow. i have been seriously neglecting this blog. my apologies. it was the last week of class and now i’m in exams, but i have a little break now. i will try to be better, i promise

i have been hearing and reading about quinoa (pronounced kin-wa, or so i’m told), and finally, i just decided to try it. and it was delicious. i will most definitely be making it again.

mediterranean quinoa salad

[ingredients]
quinoa (about 1 cup, uncooked)
2 cups water
grape tomatoes, cut in half
green onions, sliced
cucumber, cubed
feta cheese, cut into little squares
kalamata olives
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano

[directions]
boil 2 cups water, add uncooked quinoa, lower heat, let simmer for 15 minutes. remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. mix cut up vegetables, feta, lemon juice, olive oil, seasonings. serve warm or cold

porque tu defecto es el mio

seriously missing uruguay.
hope to go back soon.

spring

ottawa has been warming up.

now, i should put an enormous asterisk next to this, because it has been warmer, yes, but it’s also been rainy and it’s supposed to snow tonight. but this past week we had two days of sun and some warmth, so i can’t really complain.

and, for me, spring leads to summer and summer means citrus fruits : )

i am one of those people that absolutely despises winter. i refuse to acknowledge it. and yes, i know, canada is not really conducive to this kind of behaviour. but during winter, underneath my sweaters and my coats and my boots, i still dress like it’s summer. bright clothes and short sleeved tee-shirts.

i often also eat like it’s summer. “fresh” fruits and veggies imported from the south. bright salads. ice cream. and yes, also citrus

the other day, i made an orange-raspberry cake

the orange cake is one my mum made semi-regularly when we lived in uruguay. it helped me deal with my nostalgia while the raspberries gave it a bit of divergence from my mum’s

orange raspberry cake

[ingredients]
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
5 egg yolks
2 1/3 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
5 egg whites (whipped)
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
orange syrup

[directions]
cream sugar and butter. mix in egg yolks. add, alternating between dry and wet ingredients, the flour, baking powder and the salt and the orange juice and zest. fold in egg whites. stir in raspberries. pour into well-buttered loaf pan

bake at 350 F for 40 minutes

{syrup}
[ingredients]
2 cups orange juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

[directions]
in a small saucepan, mix orange juice, sugar and water. bring to a boil. let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly

once the cake comes out of the oven. pour the syrup over it without taking it out of the pan. let cool completely. remove from pan

from El Libro del Crandon

curry

i have a problem.

i am incapable of making foods in small portions. let’s take today for example. i’m making some delicious garbanzo curry and all is well, until i realized i made enough for approximately 10 people. so now i will either be (a) eating curry for the next week and a half or (b) inviting all of my friends over for dinner.

ah, well, as that saying goes “mas vale que sobre a que falte” (better to have too much than not enough)

at least it was good! ; )

garbanzo and pea curry

[ingredients]
1/2 large white onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 red pepper
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 19-oz can garbanzo beans, drained
1 14 oz can peas, drained
basil
2-3 tablespoons curry paste
skim milk
salt and pepper to taste

[directions]
sautée onion, garlic, and red pepper. add the can of diced tomatoes, allow it to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until about half of the liquid is gone. add the garbanzos, the peas, the basil and the curry. simmer for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. add milk (i didn’t put a measurement because i have no idea how much i added. maybe a cup? just enough to add liquid to the mixture, but not too much so that it’s soupy). season with salt and pepper. lower heat and cover (i left the wooden spoon between the pot and the cover so that some of the liquid would evaporate). let simmer for 20 minutes. serve hot over steamed white rice