Green Tea Truffles

In my previous green tea confection post, Wandering Chopsticks suggested I make green tea truffles as a way to use up my aging matcha. It was a brilliant idea and what better time to make them since June is National Candy Month. The truffle center is a white chocolate ganache flavored with green tea. White chocolate is a powerful flavor so it is the first thing that you taste but as the truffle melts in your mouth the floral flavors of the green tea slowly emerges. The truffle is then coated with a shell of white, dark, or green chocolate (white chocolate with more matcha mixed in). Finally it can be rolled in some matcha powder or cocoa powder, or drizzled with a different colored chocolate. The truffles covered in dark chocolate are especially fun because people will be surprised to see a green center when they bite into the chocolate and find out it is green tea and not mint.

This was my first time making truffles and tempering chocolate seemed very daunting. I was going about it blindly since I didn’t have a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the chocolate so it didn’t work. Properly tempered chocolate has a shiny appearance, a crisp bite, and snaps when you break it. If chocolate is not tempered, it is soft, crumbly, dull, and melts too easily. The truffle coated with dark chocolate looks a bit dull. Since I was working with only 1 ounce of chocolate it wasn’t a big deal that my chocolate wasn’t tempered. Plus if you coat them in powder, no one will know. :)



Notes:
- This was an experiment so the quantities are quite small but it can be doubled. The original recipe makes a dozen truffles.
- In the recipe I specified to use 1 teaspoon of matcha but taste the mixture before chilling it to see if you wish to add more.
- If you choose to coat the center in green chocolate and roll it in matcha you might want to use a little less matcha in the filling.
- The truffles are best served a little chilled, at room temp the centers are a bit too soft.

Green Tea Truffles
Ganache Filling
4 oz. white chocolate, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tsp matcha or more (to taste)

Outer Shell
1 oz. white chocolate, roughly chopped (covers 6 truffles)
1 oz. dark chocolate, roughly chopped (covers 6 truffles)
Matcha and or cocoa powder for rolling


For the filling, add the roughly chopped chocolate, whipping cream, and matcha in a heat proof bowl and melt over a double boiler or in the microwave heating in short bursts.

Taste the filling first to see if it needs more matcha, then chill it for a few hours in the fridge before using.

Using a melon baller or teaspoon, scoop mounded spoonfuls of the ganache mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can also wear some gloves and use your hands to roll the drops into uniform balls. You should end up with around 11 – 12.

Chill the ganache balls again for a few hours in the fridge or 30 minutes in the freezer.

Melt the chocolate for the outer shell. There are two ways to coat the truffles, you can either use a toothpick and dip each ball into the melted chocolate, or you can wear a pair of gloves, add some melted chocolate to the palm of a gloved hand, and roll each ball in your palm. Set each coated truffle onto the same parchment lined baking sheet. Let the chocolate harden a little then you can roll it in cocoa powder or matcha powder (and dust off the excess).


Here are some combinations you can do:
White chocolate shell + matcha powder
Green chocolate shell + matcha powder
Dark chocolate shell + cocoa powder
Dark chocolate shell + white or green drizzles
White or green chocolate shell + dark chocolate drizzles


Links:
This will be my entry for I Heart Candy hosted by YumSugar

Interested in more in-depth truffle making guides?
Cooking engineer has a great guide for chocolate truffles and tempering chocolate
I wish I found this sooner! Helen makes gorgeous truffles!

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Green Tea Cheesecake White Chocolate Brownie

Green tea is one of my favorite flavors for sweets, from cakes, cheesecakes, puddings, ice cream (I cant tell you how much I adore green tea mochi ice cream), to drinks like milkshakes and frappucinos (I would be drinking this stuff 24/7 if only it wasnt so expensive and not to mention fattening). Up until a few years ago, its use as a dessert flavor was fairly localized to Asia but now its growing in popularity around the world, working its way into very French desserts like macarons and madeleines. I received my bag of green tea (matcha) powder a long time ago from Stevens parents who brought it back from Taiwan. It is absolutely precious to me so rather than using it, the bag of matcha sat untouched safely in the pantry. A few days ago I looked at the bag again, and although it was entirely in Japanese, from what I could understand it expired last month. Ack! Now I need to use up the powder and theres no excuse for letting it sit around, so stay tuned for a flurry of green tea sweets.

I never understood blondies. It seems only natural that if brownies are made with chocolate, then blondies should be made with white chocolate. Instead, blondies are more like bar cookies made with brown sugar and chocolate chips rather than melted white chocolate. So this leaves the poor white chocolate brownie without a proper name. Its a tragedy. :( As a result, this dessert has an abnormally long name, but I cant think of anything better. This will be my entry for Myriams 2nd Browniebabe of the Month. Helen and Meeta also made white chocolate brownies, we must all be on the same Daring Baker vibe.

Notes:
- Matcha powder can be quite expensive especially the high quality stuff used for tea ceremonies, baking quality matcha is often more affordable.
- The green tea cheesecake swirls can be omitted for a regular white chocolate brownie/blondie
- The amount of matcha you need will depend on its strength. Since mine is really weak (perhaps due to the expiration date), I had to use almost 2 tablespoons in the cheesecake filling, but this is highly unusual. Usually 1 to 2 teaspoons of matcha is enough so start out with a little bit and taste it.
- The brownies were almost a tad too dense (I usually really love fudgy brownies) but next time I will add 1/4 tsp of baking powder to the batter.
- When I made these I was expecting something identical to a regular brownie but with white chocolate flavor. However, the texture of these brownies was very different from what I was expecting, I cant put my finger on it exactly. I think it might have to do with the different proportions of cocoa butter and other stuff in white chocolate vs. semi/bittersweet. They also didnt have a crust on top.

Green Tea Cream Cheese Swirl White Chocolate Brownie

Brownie base
8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), cut into 1-in pieces
5 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour

Cheesecake swirl
8 oz bar of cream cheese, room temp
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp green tea/matcha powder
About 2 tsp of water, hot but not boiling

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.

Mix the green tea powder with a bit of hot water to form a paste. Mix the cream cheese, egg, and green tea paste until smooth. Taste a bit and see if its strong enough.

Melt the butter with the white chocolate. Mix in the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour (and baking powder if you want to experiment with it). Whisk until smooth but do not over mix.

Line a 8 x 8 square baking dish with a sheet of foil (with overhang for easy lifting) or grease and flour it. Pour in half of the white chocolate batter. Then drop half of the cream cheese mixture on top in spoonfuls. Top the batter with the rest of the white chocolate brownie batter, then finally add the remaining half of the cream cheese mixture on top. Use a knife and swirl the brownie and cream cheese together to create a marbled pattern.

Bake the brownies at 325ºF for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. The center should be almost set. You dont want the toothpick to come out clean because that would mean the brownies have overbaked. Cool in the pan for 5 then lift the brownies out and cool to room temperature. Theyre best served cold so chill them in the fridge for about 3 hours.

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Crispy Pork Cutlets with Creamy Jalapeno Green Onion Gravy – Say Auf Wiedersehen to the 3 Pan Breading Station!

This is what happens when you have two food wishes in your head at the same time. I’ve wanted to do a schnitzel video für immer, but thanks to another recent food wish, I was also craving biscuits with cream gravy. So, I sort of did both, and it worked out well. Very well.

The crispy pork cutlet part of the presentation is very simple and straightforward, but it did afford the opportunity to share my new breading system. With all the time you’ll save, you can hit the gym to burn off this less than light, but extremely satisfying meal.

I’ve never been a big fan of the 3-pan breading system. Once you dredge meat in the prescribed dish of seasoned flour, you have to toss the rest. The whole idea is to simply coat the meat with flour, so why not just sprinkle on already seasoned meat? We use much less flour that way, and with zero waste.

From there, we’re not dipping these in a bowl of beaten eggs. Why do that, when we can just dump one egg on to the same plate and toss to coat. Faster, easier, and one egg is plenty for four cutlets.

As far as the cream gravy goes, the jalapenos and green onion probably seem logical, but some may raise an eyebrow over the diced dill pickle. I’m not sure exactly why I added them, but I just had one of those feelings. Pickles and pork, dill and cream sauce, it felt right, and it tasted even righter.

By the way, you can substitute veal, beef, turkey or chicken for the pork without missing a beat. Anyway, I hope you give this easy pork cutlet, delicious cream gravy, and/or new breading system a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Cutlets (makes four entrée size portions of 2 cutlets each):

2 fully trimmed pork tenderloins, cut into 8 pieces, pounded flat

salt and pepper to taste

flour as needed

2 eggs

about 3 cups panko breadcrumbs

For the gravy:

2 tbsp melted butter

1/3 cup diced dill pickles

1 or 2 jalapeños, small dice

1 bunch green onions, chopped

salt and cayenne to taste

1 1/2 tablespoon flour

1 1/2 cup cold milk, plus more to adjust thickness if needed

View the complete recipe

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Zespri Kiwifruit Recipes Kiwi Lime Mint Cooler Avocado with Gold Kiwifruit Salsa and Pan fry Salmon with Green Kiwifruit

Using fresh fruits in either Cooking/Baking is always something that interests me. As you can search through my recipes list, I have tired many dishes with fresh fruit like mango, apple, orange, avocado and etc. And this “Kiwifruit” feast featured here was inspired by the ZESPRI Kiwifruit tasting event held at Heart Bistro which I have missed out last week.

With the goodwill of the folks from Edelman(ZESPRIs PR), they have sent me a set of their press kit which includes fresh kiwifruit, kiwifruit recipes, cute kiwifruit 2GB thumb drive and etc. Below are 3 recipes using fresh ZESPRI Kiwifruit which I would like to share with you and hopefully it would inspired you to in-cooperate some kiwifruit in your daily dishes too.

In Singapore you can easily get a pack of these yummy ZESPRI Kiwifruit from any leading supermarkets or fruit stalls. And do you know ZESPRI Kiwifruit are the most "nutrient dense" of popular fruits that belong in the "Super Fruits" category. Each bite contains more essential nutrients than the other 27 most popular fruits.

ZESPRI Kiwifruit also contains more than 210% of the recommended daily intakes of Vitamin C which gives you 2 times more Vitamin C than an orange. Furthermore it is also a good source of folate which is essential for healthy development of the foetus in early pregnancy. You can read more details HERE with a kiwifruit skin firmer recipe too.

KIWI, LIME AND MINT COOLER

If resources is possible do use fresh Green or Gold kiwifruit in your drinks if you are preparing kiwifruit juice or puree to get the full goodness out of them. Here to start off, lets have a glass of freshly blended "Kiwi, Lime and Mint Cooler" to refresh your body after a hectic day at work. And by adding mint leaves it also act as a fresh and aromatic flavor to the drink with a cool aftertaste.

(serves: 2 | Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
2 ZESPRI Gold Kiwifruit, cut into halves
2 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit, cut into halves
1 Teaspoon of Honey
15ml, Juice of Half Lime
1/4 Cup Mint Leaves
1/2 Cup Ice Cubes, optional
150ml Chilled Sprinkling Water/Sprite/Wine

Method:-

1. Blend kiwifruit with honey, lime juice, mint leaves and ice cubes till combined. (I prefer mine without ice so usually i will used chilled sprinkling water/sprite)

2. Divide into cups and top with chilled sparking water and serve.

AVOCADO WITH GOLD KIWIFRUIT SALSA

For starter lets have some crunch to go with the cooler. Does this "Avocado with Gold Kiwifruit Salsa serve on Corn Chips" sound good to you? It is a refreshing dish with hint of sweet, sour and spicy taste due to the adding of lime juice and chopped chilli. This definitely serves well as a party food or tapas to go with cocktail or beer.

Recipe adapted and modify from ZESPRI, Singapore website HERE.
(serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Ripe ZESPRI Gold Kiwifruit, cubes
1 Ripe Avocado, cubes
1/2 Tablespoon Runny Honey
Juice of 1/2 Lime
1 Red Chilli, seed removed and chopped
1 Tablespoon Shredded Basil/Mint Leaves

Method:-

1. Mix honey, lime juice, chilies and herbs in a bowl.

2. Stir in kiwifruit and avocado cubes and marinate for about 15 - 30 minutes.

3. Upon serving, spoon mixture on corn chips and serve it as starter or pairing with wine and beer too.

You can also serve this salsa on its own by the side of the main course or mix it together with some shredded chicken and salad greens and serve as a quick salad too. No matter which is your preference style I am sure this appetizing salsa will make your meal taste great.

PAN-FRY SALMON WITH GREEN KIWIFRUIT

Salmon has earned its research reputation as a health-supportive food based on its amount of omega-3 fatty acid content. Here we are using two nutritious ingredients to form a main course which is so easy to prepare and yet so healthy for the whole family.

Recipe adapted and modify from ZESPRI, Kiwifruit Recipes booklet
(serves: 2 | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking: 6 - 8 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 - 3 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
1 Small Chilli, seeded and diced
1 Teaspoon Maple Syrup/Honey
450g Salmon Fillet, halves
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Servings of your desire Salad Greens

Dressing:
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Honey
2 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste

Method:-

1. Place salmon in a deep bowl together with chili, vinegar and honey. Marinate for at least 15 - 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, peel and slice the ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit in wedges.

3. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and saute the drained salmon for 3 minutes or until just cooked (according to your own preference).

4. To assemble, pile the salad greens in individual serving plates, top with kiwifruit and salmon.

5. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and drizzle over the salad. Garnish with extra black peeper if desired.

Dont back off from this dish if you are worry about the "smell" of the salmon fish as the marinade from the chopped chilli and apple cider vinegar actually has mask it quite well to flavour this dish. And furthermore to ease your cooking chore, you can even place the salmon on a grease disposal foil tray and bake in the toaster oven for about 8 minutes(turning once) depending on your preference for cooking the salmon.

Coming Up Next

KIWIFRUIT AND LIME CUPCAKES

Lastly I hope you would enjoy the above 3 Kiwifruit Recipes which I have shared with you. And to finished up our kiwifruit feast with some yummy dessert, I have also prepared some "Kiwifruit and Lime Cupcakes" too. If you are keen to find out more about the above-mentioned recipe do stay around for the next upcoming post on Baking with Kiwifruit.

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Green Tea Spritz Cookies

Exams are over and I can finally start my holiday baking. I planned to do the 12 days of cookies again this year but Im running out of days before Christmas! I hope no one objects to two recipes today so I can catch up.

My original idea was to make green tea Christmas tree spritz cookies. Instead of using green food coloring, I was hoping matcha powder would give the cookies a natural green shade. Sadly, my Christmas tree cookie press disc was nowhere to be found so I used the wreath/flower disc instead (its probably a flower but lets pretend its a wreath). My green tea powder is technically not real matcha, instead its a weaksauce green tea beverage powder so I had to use 3x (3 tablespoons!) what I normally would if I had matcha. Even with extra powder, the cookies only tasted faintly of green tea and instead of the lovely emerald colored cookies I envisioned, my cookies looked seasick with a sickly green tinge. Not exactly what I was hoping for but theyre terribly addicting, with each cookie being bite sized, I easily ate half a dozen in one sitting.

Ive written the recipe to call for a healthy dose of matcha but feel free to scale down if you want a more subtle green tea taste. The key to working with a cookie press is to use cool, ungreased cookie sheets. Do not use nonstick cookie sheets, parchment paper, or silicone baking mats because the dough wont stick. After baking, use a spatula and run it under all of the cookies before they cool, otherwise the cookie will stick to the cookie sheet when they cool and it will be nearly impossible to get them off. If you dont have a cookie press, you can use a pastry bag with a large star tip and pipe the dough into various designs.

Green Tea Spritz Cookies
makes nearly 5 dozen cookies with a cookie press

1 Tbsp matcha (green tea) powder
1 Tbsp hot water
1 1/3 - 1 1/2 C all purpose
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C unsalted butter at room temperature (1 stick/4 oz.)
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Dissolve the matcha powder in hot water and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour with the baking powder and salt. Set aside the remaining flour to add as needed to the dough later.

Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until fluffy. Add the sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract, almond extract, and dissolved matcha. Beat until evenly mixed and fluffy.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt mixture to the ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix until the flour is just incorporated. The dough should look shaggy and somewhat fluffy. If it is too wet, add a little more flour.

Load the dough into the cookie press barrel and press the dough onto a cold, ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden brown around the edges. Rotate the cookie sheet 180 degrees halfway through baking. After removing the cookies from the oven, run a spatula under all of the cookies to separate them from the cookie sheet. Cool the cookies on the sheet.

Cool and rinse off the cookie sheet before each batch.

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Nanas Green Tea Cafe At Plaza Singapura

Nana’s Green Tea Cafe is well-known in Japan as the “Japanese Starbucks” amongst a new generation of tea drinkers who are looking for tasty and artistic matcha creations. And on 21st December 2012, the cafe opens its flagship store at the newly renovated Plaza Singapura which is located near Dhoby Ghaut Mrt Station. For information, other than Green Tea (matcha) beverages, they also offering food items to compliment the beverages and desserts too.

All green tea leaves served in Nanas Green Tea Cafe are imported ONLY from Kyoto (most famous production center of Matcha) where the cafe aims at delivering genuine Japanese taste and health to modern consumers. Matcha is a finely ground and powdered green tea which has many health benefits such as controlling high blood pressure, cholesterol, reducing the risk of diabetes, improving mood and alertness, boosting immune system and metabolism, reducing strokes by 21% as well as supporting anti-aging and etc.

Matcha Latte (Hot/Cold) @ S$7.00

I always love the Matcha Latte from Starbucks but now after trying the above I knew I am going to switch my choice to Nanas since both are of similar pricing but taste wise Nanas has a more fragrance and smoothing aftertaste when compared with the rest I tried.

Locomoko Don @ S$15.80

During the tasting we had two rice don and and one cold noodle dish. The first dish that arrived was Locomoko Don which is beef patty (burger) served on warm Japanese rice together with lettuce, cherry tomato, broccoli and a sunny-side egg. The beef patty could be slightly more juicier but overall it still goes well with the warm premium Japanese rice and accompany tomato sauce.

Our tasting portions of the Mini Locomoko Don

Salmon Don @ S$14.80

Next we had Salmon Don which was my favourite among the three tasting dishes. The bowl of Japanese rice was topped with fresh Salmon Sashimi and garnished with Japanese pickled ginger, spring onion, Daikon Cress and a touch of mayonnaise sauce

There is also an accompany sauce which taste similar like a mixture of Japanese Soy Sauce and roasted sesame seeds which goes well with the Salmon Don.

Mushi-Dori Goma Dare Udon @ $13.80

Lastly we had this Mushi-Dori Goma Dare Udon which was one their cold noodle dish. The Udon noodles was topped with steamed chicken fillets and garnished with cucumber, cherry tomato and served in Nana’s special sesame sauce.

This is one type of my favourite Japanese cold noodles which soaked in light and fragrance Japanese sesame sauce. The crunchy cucumber strips and tender steamed chicken makes it a prefect dish for hot summer meals. But personally I felt the sesame sauce could have be slightly better if the taste is stronger.

Matcha Shiratama Parfait @ S$11.80

Their new menu also offers a range of delightful dessert creations that are artistic and healthy like the Soft Cream Anmitsu, a soft serve vanilla ice-cream with red bean paste, white mochi and ‘Kanaten’ (traditional Japanese herbal jelly).

As a matcha lover especially on desserts and ice-cream, the Matcha Shiratama Parfait above definitely captured my attention and I really love the texture and taste of their matcha ice cream as well as all the surprises that I could dig out from the parfait. I would re-visit the outlet soon to try out other items on the dessert menu!

NANAS GREEN TEA CAFE
The Atrium @ Orchard
Plaza Singapura
60B, Orchard Road
#03-80/82
Singapore 238839
Telephone: (65)6684 4312
Site: http://www.facebook.com/NanasGreenTea


Lastly I would like to thank Nanas Green Tea Cafe and Alisa from Publicist PR Consultants for the invite tasting.

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Green Bean Casserole

First a confession: the green bean casserole you see in the picture is the very first one Steven and I have ever tasted. That is to say, we cannot attest for the tastiness of the original Campbells recipe but Im willing to bet this fancy pants recipe blows Campbells out of the water. My original plan was to make this as a side dish for Thanksgiving dinner and when I told Steven of this plan he said was "Bleh, I dont like casseroles." Upon seeing or hearing the word casserole he immediate assumes the worst. Im sure there are some bad casseroles out there but I think when done right, casseroles are comforting and delicious. I tried to convince him, "Ill be using fresh green beans and homemade mushroom cream sauce! The sauce is a French mother sauce so it has to be good!" but no, he continued to resist. Oddly enough, none of my local (5 of them) grocery stores had green beans on sale during Thanksgiving time, and I dont buy stuff at regular price (that would simply go against my Chinese upbringing), so this recipe had to wait. While I was mildly peeved that I couldnt make this traditional side dish for a traditional holiday dinner, Steven thanked the food gods that he escaped the dreaded vegetable casserole. Well, I finally did buy some green beans and he had to face the inevitable.

The original green bean casserole, created in 1955 in the Campbells Soup Company test kitchen, is made with canned green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and french fried onions. Frankly, I detest canned vegetables. Canned tomatoes are perfectly fine, canned beans are also acceptable, canned corn is tolerable (though frozen corn is much better), but canned green beans? Honestly, that stuff is atrocious. I mean cmon, they dont even look green anymore! Frozen green beans are another popular choice for this dish but Im not a fan of frozen veggies either (corn and edamame are the exception). Vegetables have to be fresh and crisp so I needed fresh green beans for this dish. Even before cooking, I knew the version I planned to make would be delicious and it was going to be even better than the Cooks Illustrated version everyone raved about when their recipe first came out. Secretly, I knew that Steven would like it because the gourmet ingredients would call to his inner foodie. First, fresh green beans, not canned green beans, so that gives me +5 foodie points. As much as I love Campbells, I cant used cream of mushroom here because I had to go all out for this fancy foodie version. The cream sauce is made with a roux, homemade chicken stock, cream, crimini mushrooms, and porcini mushrooms, which is +10 foodie points for homemade sauce and a bonus of +20 points for using porcini mushrooms. The one thing you cant change is the french fried onions. Those have to stay on and there is no substitute. When I first bought the can of Frenchs, Stevens first reaction "Eww gross..." but I told him that Im sure they taste just like Funyuns and he relented. When I opened the can to scatter the pieces on top, he started, believe it or not, snacking on them (now whats gross?)! And the final foodie touch on this fancy smancy pants casserole, toasted almond slivers (another +10). The crunch and nuttiness adds the perfect finishing touch (Im sure we can go on and on about how it adds another flavor profile, yadda yadda, but Im sure we can all do without the food snob/Top Chef schpeel) ;) .

Steven took a bite and chewed for a very, very, very long time (he said he was chewing for the full nuttiness of the almonds). Suuuuure... But it was truly delicious, dare I say the best green bean casserole ever? Is Steven a casserole convert? Well see. Chicken Tetrazzini has been on my to cook list for a very long time.

The Foodies Green Bean Casserole

1 lb green beans, ends trimmed and broken into about 3 inch pieces
8 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 oz dried porcinis
3 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp flour
salt and pepper
1/2 C chicken stock
1/4 C heavy cream
1 C canned fried onions
Handful of toasted almond slivers

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toast the almond slivers beforehand. You can toast them in a dry skillet on the stovetop over medium heat until they look golden.

Rehydrate the porcinis in 1/2 C of hot water. Using a fork, scoop out the porcinis, give them a quick rinse in some water to wash off any remaining dirt, and chop. Wet a paper towel or coffee filter and place it in a sieve. You wet the filter so it doesnt absorb the precious porcini water. Pour the porcini water through the filter. Take the filtered porcini water and add it to the 1/2 cup of chicken stock

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chopped crimini and porcini pieces, minced garlic, some salt and pepper, and cook until the mushrooms are starting to release their liquid. When the liquid is starting to reduce, add the beans and cook until they are bright green and still a bit crunchy, about 5 minutes. You will only bake the casserole for a few minutes in the oven so cook the beans a little less than your desired tenderness.

While the beans are cooking, make the sauce. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the flour, whisk and cook until the roux is slightly golden. Slowly pour in the porcini chicken stock mixture, while continually whisking. Simmer the mixture for about a minute (if it looks too thick, add a little milk). Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the 1/4 C of heavy cream, and add the green bean and mushroom pieces, and toss to coat.

Pour the mixture into an 8 x 8 Pyrex or equivalent baking dish. (I made a mini one for the photo and an 8 x 8). Sprinkle a cup of canned fried onions on top or more if you wish. Bake for about 5 - 10 minutes or until the onions look golden brown. (I overbaked a little so my onions are a little darker than I would like).

Sprinkle the toasted almond slivers on top and serve.

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Georgian recipes green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt mtsvane lobios borani

Its a season for green beans (aka French beans, fine beans, string beans), though Im getting my beans from the market stall just now and not from my garden. Back in April, when all decent gardeners were sowing their beans, I was in Tuscany with my dear K. and our three small kids, so some of my vegetables will be ripening later than usually this year, as they were planted or sown later than they ideally should have been planted or sown :)

Todays recipe is a flavoursome Georgian (= the country in the Caucasus region, not the state in the US :)) vegetable dish, with loads of herbs and a garlicky yoghurt dressing. Simple to make (and during winter you can cheat by using frozen beans) and a great way to use a great variety of herbs from your allotment or backyard.

Enjoy!

Youll find all of Nami-Namis Georgian recipes here.


Green beans (haricots verts) at a Lyon market in France, August 2009

Georgian-style green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt
(Rohelised oad ürtide ja küüslauguse jogurtikastmega)
Serves four to six

450 g green beans
1 onion, chopped
4 Tbsp butter
0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped fresh herbs, including (purple) basil, tarragon, coriander/cilantro, dill, savory

Yoghurt dressing:
250 g strained Greek yoghurt
1 small garlic glove, minced
0.5 tsp salt

Garnish:
1 Tbsp fresh spearmint, finely chopped

Trim the beans, cut into 2 or 3 and blanch in a salted water for a few minutes or until al dente. Drain. (If you use frozen beans, then these are pre-cooked and just need to be defrosted.)

Heat the butter on a large frying pan/skillet, add the chopped onion and sauté till translucent. Add the pre-cooked beans, then season with cinnamon, cloves, pepper. Fry gently on a medium heat, stirring every now and then, until the beans are fully cooked and soft.

At the same time prepare the yoghurt dressing. Place the minced garlic clove and salt into a bowl and pound into a paste (or simply use a fine Microplane zester/grater). Mix with yoghurt. Put aside.

Add the chopped herbs to the cooked green beans, toss thoroughly and heat for another minute. Transfer the herbed beans into a serving bowl, drizzle the yoghurt dressing on top.

Garnish with mint. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Playing Russian roulette with Pimientos de Padrón or green Padrón chiles

I addition to all those lovely tomatoes, weve got a pretty good crop of Padrón peppers (Pimientos de Padrón) and various aubergines/eggplants from our greenhouse. Last weekend we met up with some friends and roasted some of the green chiles, then drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled sea salt flakes on top. Its a popular tapas-dish in Spain, and the added excitement is that while most of this green chillies are rather mild, then about one in ten is fiery hot (hence the nick-name "Russian roulette peppers").

When I first had these at Johannas place couple of years ago, I didnt encounter a single hot one. Now we didnt have any mild ones - they were all oh-so-hot! Not such a roulette after all :D This can be explained by the timing - we visited Johanna in April (early in the season), and now ate our own crop in August (late in the season) - young and new Padrońs are generally mild, and old ones hot.

Padrón Chillies are originally from Mexico, but are named after a town in Galicia, Spain, where they first started to cultivate these chillies in Europe.

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