BASIC PASTRY FOR TARTS

This is a simple and easy to make pastry recipe. This "PÂTE BRISEE" or "SHORTCRUST PASTRY" is very useful when making "QUICHES" or any fruit tart. It is fitted for any sweet or savoury dish. The quantity of ingredients is sufficient for a 30 cm tart case. I never measure the quantity of water I add, so I hope you'll not have big problems while making this pastry!...

Ingredients:
300g Plain white flour (no self-raising flour)
1 Tsp Salt (you can add 1/2 Tsp more if you like to taste the salt)
150g Unsalted butter or 100g Unsalted butter & 50g Lard
~80 ml Water

Method:
1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl/bassin.
2. Add butter and rub between the fingers until the mixture is flaky.
3. Pour in water, gradually, while continuously cutting and stirring with a knife. Stop adding water when the dough is stiff. It should not be sticky or wet. Gather up into a soft ball.
4.Dust your working area and rolling pin with flour and shape the pastry by rolling away from you and always turning the pastry around in order to achieve a round shape.

Remarks:
Always lift the flour out of the bowl while rubbing; it makes the butter/flour mixture airy.
Be careful not to add too much water as the pastry should not be stick to the touch.
While mixing the water to the flour/butter mixture never work the pastry like a bread dough, otherwise you would end up with a stiff, hard and elastic pastry.

(Shortcrust Pastry -Pic by www.theyummyco.com)

BRAZILIAN FOOD

Since I'm a fan of exotic food from all around the world, my interest has lately directed itself to Brazil and it's culinary art.

I was watching a documentary on tv about this country and it's mouthwatering food/culinary history, and I realised that this part of the world was unknown to me, so I decided to enquire a little about traditional Brazilian dishes...

I've found many great recipes which in some sense remind me of the Southern Asian and Caribbean cuisine (cocunut milk, coriander, tomatoes, limes, dried shrimps, peanuts, tapioca, etc...).

Tomorrow, I'm going to cook my first Brazilian dish (Spicy meatballs with orange and ginger sauce) and I'm really looking forward to tasting it!!! Well, actually, I've already cooked a side dish (" Arroz Brasileiro") which I loved, so that'll really be my second incursion on this yet undiscovered and vast land that is Brazilian cookery.

If anyone could recommend me detailed and complete books about Brazil and it's food, then you are welcome to contact me!... Thanks.


(Salvador De Bahia -Pic by www.earthtrek.com)

BABA GANOUSH

Today I decided to make "BABA GANOUSH". This Lebanese eggplant paste/dip is a perfect accompaniment to the white bread I baked.
This special oriental eggplant puree was really delicious and spicy! Since I love the taste of garlic I have added one clove more, but if you prefer to not have an overwhelming breath the next day, thenyou can half the quantity of cloves!!!...

Yields a medium bowl.

Ingredients:
2 Medium eggplants/aubergines, cut in half lengthways
4 Cloves garlic
5 Tbs Tahini paste
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Lemon, pressed to extract it's juice
1 Pinch paprika powder
2 Pinches cumin powder
Salt, to taste

Method:
1. Spread salt on the inside of the cut eggplants and leave them to rest for about 15 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven at 190° celsius.
3. Rinse the eggplants under running water and then dry them with kitchen paper.
4. Place them on a tray and cook them for about 25 minutes in the oven or until they are soft.
5. Once they are out of the oven, peel them entirely. You'll see that if they are well-cooked, the peel is easy to take away by gently pulling it off the vegetable.
6. Put the cooked and peeled eggplants in a mixer with all the other ingredients (garlic, tahini paste, lemon juice, olive oil, paprika powder, cumin powder and salt). Mix them until you get a smooth puree/paste.

Serving suggestions:
This fabulous paste is best served as an accompaniment to bread. The Mediterranean "PITA" (or "KHUBZ" which is the oriental equivalent of Pita bread) is sensational with "BABA GANOUSH", but of course, you can also serve it with Indian "NAAN", Turkish "EKMEK", any ordinary or flat bread if you wish.

Remarks:
"Tahini" (or "Tahina") is a paste/cream which results from a mixture between sesame flour and oil. It is a typical Turkish, Greek and Arabic speciality that can be found in all oriental food stores.

(Baba Ganoush -Pic by www.ziyad.com)
(Beirut -Pic by Shanon Daghet www.trekearth.com)

HAPPY!!!.......

Today I bid on a cookery book and I won the auction. Yippeeeeee!!!! Since I'm a big fan of Könemann's Culinaria book series, I try to buy those I'm still able to find as the whole collection in now out of print and quite hard to find. Those books are really great as they give exhaustive and detailed informations about a country and it's cultural background. Not forgetting that they are crammed with recipes and illustrated magnificently. Those books are so big that they could be compared to food encyclopedias.

A fantastic and unforgivable journey through the world's yummy lands!!!!!!

I already have the following books from the Culinaria collection:

Southeast Asian Specialities
The Caribbean
Greece
USA

SUPER TASTY CARAMELIZED ONIONS

As far as I could remember, at home, we always ate hamburgers accompanied by those succulent caramelized onions and I loved them soooo much!

So, here is a recipe I developped over the years according to my own taste. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do...

~ Super Tasty Caramelized Onions ~
Recipe by Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums

Yields a medium bowl.

Ingredients:
5 Big white or red onions, cut into rings
2 1/2 Tbs Melted butter or ghee
1 1/2 Tbs Runny honey
1 Tbs Castor sugar
1 1/2 Tbs white vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 Pinch paprika powder
2-3 Clove garlic, crushed or 1 Tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tsp Dried thyme
1/2 Tsp Dried oregano
1/4 Tsp Dried basil
1 Tsp Dried rosemary
Tabasco sauce, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Pound the dried herbs in a mortar in order to obtain a fine powder.
2. Heat up the frying pan, add the butter and let it get a little golden in colour (be careful not to let it burn), then add the onion rings. Stir.
3. When the onions are a transparent, add the crushed garlic, the paprika and the powdered herbs. Stir for about 1 minute.
4. Add the sugar and honey and keep on stirring.
5. Add the vinegar, and stir for about 3 more minutes or until the onions have a gluey coat around them.
6. Add some Tabasco sauce.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remark:
Be careful to never let the onions burn. They should be golden.

Serving suggestions:
These caramelized onions are delicious when served hot with hamburgers and meat patties or just simply as an accompaniment to barbecues or strong cheese (Cheddar, Brie, Gorgonzola).

(Hamburger -Pic by www.americanwesternmagazine.com)

A LITTLE HELLO!.......

Well, hi everybody!...

This is my first blog ever. Since I continuously like surfing the net in search for new recipes, I have ended up on many great food blogs and that's what got me into the idea of starting my own blog since cooking drives me bananas!

"Rosa's Yummy Yums" will then be a blog dedicated mainly to cookery. I intend to add recipes as regularly as possible. But since I don't yet own a digital camera, pictures will be a little rare at the beginning. Sorry!

Thanks for reading me and have a nice day full of soothing food!!! CHEERZ!