Cauliflower with Ginger, Garlic, and Green Chiles...and The Sucré Winner!

I had my first experience at an Indian restaurant the other day and it's literally been on my mind ever since.  Although I tried a variety of dishes, I found that what I really enjoyed most were all the vegetarian dishes (the crispy pakora, the creamy saag paneer, the comforting dal, and a really delicious vegetable aloo dish with potatoes and green beans).  I'm craving another visit! 

Until then, I've vowed to try my hand at a few more Indian vegetable dishes at home, starting with this cauliflower dish.  This is a tasty little dish of toasty cauliflower loaded with spicy Indian flavor.  Cumin, mustard seeds, ginger, garlic, green chiles, and cayenne pepper really come together to make for one spicy dish.  In fact, my chiles were quite hot and I found that I had to turn on the exhaust to alleviate my coughing.  The aromas from this dish reminded me of the Indian restaurant and made me feel like I was capturing the essence of it at home in my kitchen.  I can't wait to explore a little more.

Cauliflower with Ginger, Garlic, and Green Chiles

Adapted from Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

by Madhur Jaffrey

Serves 3-4

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into fine shreds

1 pound (4 cups) cauliflower florets

1-3 fresh green chiles, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (*I omitted)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

Using a nonstick skillet or wok, add the oil over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, put in the cumin and mustard seeds.  As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop (this just takes a few seconds), put in the garlic, ginger, cauliflower, and green chiles, all at the same time.  Stir and fry for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cauliflower has turned somewhat brown.  Now put in the salt, black pepper, garam masala (if using), and cayenne and give the florets a good toss.  Put in 1/4 cup water and cover the wok/skillet immediately.  Cook for 2 minutes and serve.

And, finally, the winner of the Sucré giveaway was Teresa of A Blog About Food.  Teresa will receive the Sucré Signature Macaron Collection!!  Congratulations Teresa!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the contest!

Theme: Meat-Free But Flavorful

The Homesick Texan's Strawberry Sheetcake & The Eggland's Best Giveaway Winner!!

This Strawberry Sheetcake is so rich, thick, dense, and satisfying that one little piece is all you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.  The strawberry flavor is perfectly balanced.  It's neither too sweet or too subtle, but just right.  The cake itself has a wonderful thick texture with a lot of body to it.  And, let's not forget the frosting on the cake....a creamy pink strawberry cream cheese frosting.  As far as I'm concerned it really doesn't get any better than cream cheese frosting, especially if that cream cream frosting is pink with little chunks of strawberries running through it and just a hint of lime to wake things up a bit.

I made this cake for my Eggland's Best Pink Party in honor of Susan G. Komen for the cure.  While this cake would be great for any pink party, it would also be great for a little girl's party, or any other party where you need to serve a large number of guests.   I imagine it would be even better at the height of strawberry season.

 

Strawberry Sheetcake

Borrowed from Lisa Fain/Homesick Texan

Serves 16 (at least)

12 oz fresh strawberries, stems removed and chopped (about 3 cups)
2 cups of sugar plus 2 teaspoons
2 cups of flour
2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Method:
Over the chopped strawberries, sprinkle 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Let them sit for an hour at room temperature so they can release some of their juices. The berries should reduce to about 1 1/2 cups. In a blender of food processor, crush the berries on a low speed for a few seconds—you want them juicy but still with some texture. Take 1/2 cup of the strawberry mixture for the frosting and leave the remaining crushed strawberries for the cake.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift the sugar and flour together in a bowl.

Melt the butter on low in a saucepan and then whisk it with the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and baking soda. Add the liquid to the flour and then stir in one cup of the crushed strawberries.

Pour batter into greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cake is done when a knife comes out clean from the center. Let it cool and then frost with the strawberry cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

Note: The cake will be a little brown. This, I hear, is because of the alkaline reaction of the ingredients. Do not be alarmed!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 pound of butter (1 stick) at room temperature
8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup crushed strawberries
2 teaspoons of lime juice (about half a lime)
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Whip together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until blended. Add the strawberries, lime juice, lime zest and vanilla. Spread over cooled cake.

Note: Depending on how juicy your berries are, your icing may be runnier than usual. If this is the case, I'd add more cream cheese to thicken it up.

Note: The strawberry cream cheese frosting makes quite a bit and could easily be cut in half depending on how thick you like your frosting.  While I did love the frosting I found that I only needed to use about half  to frost the cake. 
 

The winner of the Eggland's Best Giveaway is Mimi of Mimi's Kitchen!  Congratulations Mimi!
I will contact Eggland's Best and have them send out your prize package.  

Winner of the Lush Giveaway!!

The winner of the Lush giveaway is.......................................


Krista over at Krista's Kitchen!! If you haven't had the chance, please head over and check out Krista's site. She is a sweetheart and has wonderful recipes!!

Congratulations Krista! I hope you and your girls enjoy the products:D

The Winner of the Lush Giveaway is.........

Congrats to Arlene at The Food of Love! Arlene is the winner of the Lush product giveaway. I will be sending Arlene a message so that she can collect her prize. Arlene has a great shrimp and mushroom ravioli dish over on her blog right now, go check out : )

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing. I really enjoyed reading the comments about your first "trials" in the kitchen. Sounds like pasta is a popular choice!! Here is what Arlene had to say about one of her first dishes in the kitchen:

I love pasta, too, but it isn't the first "dish" I remember cooking. No, that would be toasted mozzarella. Yes, I did say toasted and I didn't mean on a sandwich. When mom wasn't around, I would spear a big hunk of mozzarella on her big fork and hold it over the gas flame until it got nice, blistery char marks--yes, and made a mess, which I'd clean up after devouring the melted cheese.

Well, I think most of us will agree that any kind of cheese, especially melted, is also a good reason to get into the kitchen! Thanks to everyone who shared their stories.