Very Berry

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yoghurt berry parfait

This cute little parfait is quickly becoming my favorite go-to healthy dessert. It satisfies my sweet tooth without a ridiculous calorie splurge, and the best part is that it literally takes all of 2 minutes to make, which makes it perfect for busy weeknights. Just throw together layers of frozen berries, low-fat vanilla yogurt, and a crumbled biscuit for some crunch (I like Special K mini breaks but a handful of granola or a crushed digestive cookie would also work). You could also obviously use fresh berries, but thanks to my friend Mike I’ve recently discovered that using frozen berries makes it feel like super low-guilt ice cream.

You will need:

parfait ingredients

In good health,

F

All you ever need to know about knives

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I have often been made fun of for saying that I am obsessed with knives… but anyone who likes to cook can attest to the fact that a good knife can really make a huge difference in the kitchen, right?

To that end.. you can imagine my excitement when I came across this handy knife guide on Pinterest… Enjoy!

In good health,

F

Eggplant glory

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This weekend I tested out the cover recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, which I blogged about a couple of days ago. The chef himself described this dish as “rustically elegant”- and indeed it was. See for yourself!

Eggplants:

  • 2 large and long eggplants
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • Pinch sea salt
  • Pinch freshly-cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Cut the eggplants in half lengthways, cutting straight through the green stalk (the stalk is for the look; don’t eat it). Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45-degree angle to get a diamond-shaped pattern.

Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with olive oil—keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down completely.

Sauce: 

  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
  • 1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed
  • Pinch of salt

Whisk together all of the ingredients. Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed. Although this was not in the recipe, I added 1.5 tsp of freshly-squeezed lemon juice.

Assembly:

  • 1 medium pomegranate
  • 1 tsp za’atar
  • 1-2 whole thyme sprigs
  • Drizzle olive oil

Seed the pomegranate: cut into two horizontally, hold one half over a bowl with the cut side against your palm, and use the back of a wooden spoon or a rolling pin to gently knock on the pomegranate skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start coming out naturally and falling through your fingers into the bowl. Once all are there, sift through the seeds to remove any bits of white skin or membrane.

Spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle za’atar and plenty of pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with lemon thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. This wasn’t in the recipe, but I added some grated lemon zest as garnish for good measure.

Nom nom!

In good health,

F

200 calories

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200 calories

Ever had a candy bar and wondered to yourself as you munched away on it how much more “healthy” stuff you could be eating for the same calorie count? Well.. thanks to this handy visual guide by WiseGeek, you are now one step closer to knowing: the study compares what 200 calories look like in different foods. ~600 grams of broccoli, or 40 grams of chocolate? Hmm… I wonder which one is more filling!

In good health,
F

Plenty

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plenty

Well, darlings…I’m back! After three months of living on a plane and commuting between Doha during the week, and Dubai (where I’m technically “based”) on weekends, I have managed to get myself staffed on a local project for the next three. My hotel room at the W Hotel in Doha -basically my home for 4-5 days a week over the last 3 or so months- was nice enough, but with one obvious fatal flaw: no kitchen. And let me tell you, this foodie was not amused by such a long separation from her beloved kitchen. So now that I am serving a client here in Dubai, the idea of sleeping in my own bed every night, eating at home, and not having to see the inside of an airport unless I choose to for a good 12 weeks has never sounded better. It turns out heaven is indeed a place on earth.

To celebrate my homecoming, I am so excited to share my newest obsession: chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetarian cookbook, Plenty. I love vegetables anyway, but I must admite that with such a delectable-looking selection of recipes, covering everything from root veggies to eggplants to grains, wholesome eating  has never looked so good. I cannot wait to try every single one!

While I could not possibly pick favorites, at least not yet, here are a few photos of the dishes that jumped out at me. Don’t they just make you wish you could reach out through the pages of the cookbook and take a bite?

Clockwise from top left: Watercress, pistachio and orange blossom salad | Caramelized fennel with goat cheese | Eggplant with buttermilk sauce | Caramelized garlic tart | Crusted pumpkin wedges with sour cream

Clockwise from top left: Watercress, pistachio and orange blossom salad | Caramelized fennel with goat cheese | Eggplant with buttermilk sauce (the cookbook’s cover photo) | Caramelized garlic tart | Crusted pumpkin wedges with sour cream

In good health,

F

Lucky number 13

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Happy new year my darlings!!

I just got back from a quick trip to Istanbul to ring in the new year with a big group of my childhood and work friends. 2012 was quite a challenging year for me, both personally and professionally, so I must admit I was quite glad to see it go. And now that 12.21.12 has come and gone and the world did not explode into a giant ball of Mayan flames, here’s to a fabulous, fabulous 2013. May this year bring you all nothing but happiness, success, and -as always- delicious food.

For better or worse, 2012 was a year of change in my life. To quote my good friend Raja, hopefully 2013 will be the year everything comes together and finally makes sense. I am hoping that means plenty more time to do the things I love, including, naturally, being in the kitchen.

In good health,
F

* Photo via Pinterest

…and have yourself a merry little Christmas

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Merry Christmas my darlings!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday filled with love, laughs, and -as always- lots of good food.

Speaking of good food, here’s a yummy little black forest cake recipe that is perfect for the holidays…if it’s too late to make it for Christmas, it makes a great new year’s celebration cake. Or really, any winter-time celebration cake. As soon as I saw this gorgeous cake design on Pinterest I knew I had to try to re-create it for my Grandma’s wintery birthday celebration last night.

Chocolate cake

See here for my recipe for sinful chocolate cake. The recipe makes two 9-inch rounds, but I did 1.5x the recipe to get 3 tiers and give the cake a little more oomph.

Chocolate ganache filling

  • 100 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Heat cream in a saucepan (over medium-high heat) until it begins to simmer. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over them. Let sit without stirring for a minute or two, then whisk the mixture to incorporate. Add butter while mixture is still hot and stir to combine.

White butter cream frosting

  • 2 sticks (225 grams) softened unsalted butter
  • 3-4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • up to 4 tbsp heavy cream

Using a hand or stand mixer, beat butter for a few minutes on medium speed. Turning the mixer to the lowest speed, veerrryy slllooowwlly add 3 cups of powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, until the it has been incorporated into the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of cream. Beat for 3 minutes. If frosting is too runny. If if is too stiff, add more cream until you achieve the stiffness you are looking for.

Chocolate trees

  • 200 grams chocolate chips

To make your “forest” you can use any kind of chocolate chips you like – milk, dark, bittersweet, semi-sweet, or a combo. You can even use white chocolate chips and make it a “white forest cake.”

Temper chocolate: place 150 grams of chocolate in heat-proof bowl, and heat for 20 seconds. Stir the chocolate and heat for another 20 seconds, repeating this process until the chocolate has completely melted. Immediately add the remaining 50 grams of chocolate and stir to incorporate.

Working quickly, place melted chocolate in a piping bag with a small round tip, and casually pipe squiggly tree shapes onto a sheet of cling film. Let dry completely, then carefully peel off.

Assembly

Place first layer of cake on a cake stand, and cover with 1/2 chocolate ganache mixture. A traditional black forest cake would also incorporate some sort of fruit at this stage, usually cherries, but I omitted this step as my family is not a fan. However, if desired, you can spread a layer of chunky cherry jam (jarred or homemade) before the ganache. Carefully place second layer of cake on top and repeat. Place final cake layer on top of second layer of filling.

With an icing spatula, cover the cake with a thin layer of butter cream – the “crumb coat.” Place cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow crumb coat to set. Once 30 minutes have elapsed, evenly coat the cake with a thick layer of butter cream and smooth out as much as possible to create an “untouched snow” effect. Carefully place chocolate trees around cake.

In good health,

F

12 days of Christmas cookies…squeezed into three

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So I’m beginning to believe that, sadly, the life of a nomadic management consultant who lives on a plane may well be mutually exclusive with that of a homebody foodie who loves spending time in the kitchen. That’s right, darlings. Today was the first time I set foot in a proper kitchen since….(cue gasp) Thanksgiving. Although I live in Dubai, I am currently serving on a client project based in Qatar, which means I have been away from home at least four nights a week, every week for the past eight weeks. And my weekends have been, well.. back-breaking busy.

Anyway… I had this whole cookie advent calendar planned for December that I wasn’t able to start on time because I was traveling, so then I told myself that ten or so days into the month I’d start a “12 days of Christmas cookies” feature, which I wasn’t able to do either… so now that I am FINALLY on vacation I’m hell-bent on cramming in at least some of that holiday baking.

First stop: the humble sugar cookie, out of which I made a festive cookie “Christmas tree” using star-shaped cookie cutters of different sizes. But sugar cookie dough is like a blank canvas, so go crazy. Super easy, super versatile, and super yummy.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 225 grams butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp milk

Directions:

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve to eliminate any lumps. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar using a stand or hand mixer until pale yellow. Whisk in egg and milk and beat to combine. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture and beat until the dough starts to come together.

Divide the dough in half onto two pieces of parchment paper and loosely form into a disc shape with your fingers. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling out. Bake cookies at 190C/375F for 20-35 minutes, depending on size and thickness of your cookies.

Royal icing recipe

To make my cookie tree look like it was covered in a nice blanket of white snow I, I covered the cookies with royal icing, another super versatile basic recipe that is like a blank canvas you can play around with. Royal icing dries hard with a matt finish and makes the cookies looked extremely polished. There are two ways to make royal icing; one with fresh egg whites, and the other using meringue powder. Below is an egg whites recipe, but if you would rather avoid using raw eggs then you can use 2.5 teaspoons of meringue powder and about 2.5 tablespoons of water in place of the fresh egg whites.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large egg white
  • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted – plus more to thicken icing if needed
  • Juice of half a lemon

Directions:

Beat eggs white with a hand mixer until fluffy and stiff. With mixer on low, slowly mix in the sugar and lemon juice. To ice the cookies, you will need two different consistencies of icing: “flooding consistency” which you will use to cover the surface of the cookie, and “piping consistency” which you will use to pipe around the edges of the cookie before “flooding” it. Icing of the flooding consistency is runnier because it contains less sugar, so make it first. To make piping consistency icing, take a few tablespoonfuls of the flooding consistency icing into a small bowl or cup (in the meantime, cover the rest of the royal icing with cling film so the surface doesn’t dry and form a “skin”), and add sugar gradually until the icing is stiff enough to be piped. Place in a pastry bag with small piping tip and pipe icing around the edges of each cookie. This is basically your outline. Fill the inside of the outline with flooding consistency icing icing a small spoon. Allow icing to dry for at least 5-8 hours.

In good health,
F

So…how was it?!

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Wow, what a weekend it was! I am delighted to report that my belated Thanksgiving celebration with 25+ of my friends on Friday was a smashing success…and by “success” I mean that there was not a morsel of food left over the next day. I had a blast cooking up a storm all day with help from my best friend Amir while we gossiped, listened to music, and danced around my much-too-small kitchen. But most importantly, all my guests ate, drank, and were merry, so I think is safe to say that I was a very happy (but very tired) hostess by the end of the evening. So sad that Thanksgiving is now a whole year away!

How was your Thanksgiving celebration?

In good health,

F