Now, as we get ready for the upcoming holiday (SIX MEALS!), the kitchen is full of delicious wafting odors. Here are only a few things on the upcoming menu.
1. Chicken roulade. I've only made it once before and can't wait to restart. First I use the meat mallet to make the chicken a bit more flexible and flat. On the side I mince sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, GF bread crumbs, zest, garlic, and oregano. I roll this mixture into the chicken and stick a tooth-pick in it to hold it together. I fry the chicken for just a bit, but then put it in a skillet with a sauce made of chicken broth, lemon juice, cornstarch, and a few other ingredients. This takes about forty minutes to make, but when it's presented, it's so elegant, so appetizing... really a special recipe here.
2. Here is an original recipe. Not such a big one, but really harmonious mixture of flavors. Dice brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. Put a tiny bit of olive oil in an oven-proof pan, and put in the brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. Add thyme (fresh, of course!) and let it cook in the oven, for not so long. This dish is delicious, and the colors are very beautiful. The sweetness of the sweet potatoes really plays off the more banal taste of the brussel sprouts.
3. Gazpacho. This is the first time I attempt to make this, but it came out really great! Simply dice garden vegetables (cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion) and put it into a pot. Fry cubed eggplant and put it in as well (un-fried mike make the gazpacho too liquidy). Add salt, to help get the juice out of the vegetables, and a bit of tomato sauce and water. And you just leave it on a low-medium fire, let it simmer a bit, and cook. You can serve this with different things which the eaters can add to their liking, like cheese or croutons.
4. CHEESE CAKE!! YUMM!!!! The trick with this cheese cake is to beat the cheese for very long, to make it airy and soft. I added lemon juice to it, which gives it a nice tangy twist. The crust, which is only on the bottom, because I made it in a spring-form pan, is a mixture of cookie crumbs, margarine, ground walnuts, and some more. This cheesecake, of course, must be served very cold, and probably with strawberries or another red fruit.
5. Alright, one more. Chocolate foundant. These are so tasty, so easy to make, and so worth it! It simply reuires beating egg whites and mixing them into melted chocolate, eggs, potato starch and sugar, and baking for FOUR minuted, not more. Then you take out the small tins and turn them upside down, and the small cake will come out, just soft on the outside, and 'fluid' on the inside. Meaning that when you serve each person one foundant, they sink their spoon in, and the chocolate will come oozing out. I love this one! Really fun recipe, and really fun to serve and eat.
Happy eatings!
