Peach cake - need I say more?

Yesterday we tried to beat the summer heat by sipping drinks and eating delicious food on our friend's lovely new deck. Neil and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make the peach cake from Cook's Illustrated. I have made cakes before, but never with fruit. Before reading the article I did not realize how many things could go wrong (e.g., soggy cake, slimy fruit, bland fruit), but fortunately the magazine had detailed steps to overcome all these hazards and give me a great product the first go around!

Peach Cake

adapted from Cook’s Illustrated July and August 2011

The cake was a success! Not soggy and had a robust taste of peach. Better yet, the combination of brown sugar and almond extract in the cake batter gave the cake a caramel-like taste. And having a serving (or two) of the cake is relatively guilt-free (only 1 stick of butter - I promise!).

Taste: 4.5 out of 5
Cost: <$1 for one serving (we got peaches on sale for $1 per lb!)
Healthiness: 250 calories per serving
Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5 (mostly because it is time consuming - leave about 2 hours plus time for cake to cool)

Recipe

2 pounds peaches

5 tablespoons peach schnapps

4 teaspoons lemon juice

6 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup sour cream (perhaps I'll try low-fat next time?)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (I was more liberal with the extract- it was so good!)

1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Directions
1) peel and slice peaches in 1/2-in wedges (about 8 wedges per peach)
2) toss 24 wedges in 2 tablespoons of schnapps, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp granulated sugar and set aside
3) cut remaining slices cross-wise into 3 pieces. toss with 3 tbspns schnapps, 2 tsp lemon juice, 2 tbspns sugar.
4) bake diced peaches on sprayed, aluminum covered pan for 20 minutes in 425 degree oven (or until the edges of pan become browned as the juices caramelize). Allow peaches to cool.
5) whisk brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, eggs. Add and mix butter, sour cream, vanilla, and 1/4 tsp almond extract
6) in separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add to wet mixture (mix by hand!) and stir until just incorporated (some chunks are ok - you do not want to over mix the cake batter or it will be dense and rubbery)
7) toss cooled peach chunks with bread crumbs
8) put half of cake batter in greased cake pan (I used a bundt cake pan instead of springform as that is what I had handy)
9) layer chunks of peaches on batter and slightly press down
10) add remaining batter
11) arrange the peach slices on the cake in a ring
12) bake for 50 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean) in 350 degree oven

Ice cream bowls!

As a tasty aside from our Cooks Illustrated challenge - I made some ice cream bowls to share with friends who were making Guinness ice cream and caramel sauce... yummmmm. I have found a website: joyofbaking.com that appears to have some great recipes - sugary ice cream cones being one of them! I used their recipe with some modifications with fabulous results.

Ice Cream Cones (made 7 small bowls)

2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1) beat eggs and sugar until frothy and then add remaining ingredients
2) warm pan to medium-high heat, spray pan (I like to use Pam for Baking because of the sweet buttery taste with less hassle then brushing the pan with oil or butter)
3) put 2 tablespoons of batter in pan and spread quickly by moving pan in circles - you want to create a thin layer a batter with about a 4-5 inch diameter
4) cook for 3 minutes (underside should be browned) then flip and cook for another 2 minutes
5) while still hot, place crepe-like dough over a bowl or the bottom of a glass - carefully press down sides to create bowl-like shape. Allow to cool.

With my early attempts, I found that the batter did not completely harden - but I discovered a way to fix the mistake. If you find that the bowl/cone is still soft (as opposed to brittle and crunchy), put the waffle bowl in your toaster oven and toast for 2 minutes. You'll see that the batter will get soft again, however, as more moisture is being released the dough will be more likely to harden properly this time. You can avoid all this extra hassle if you make sure to cook the batter long enough in the pan initially.

Sometimes perfection is not worth it...

The three recipes we made from the Cook's Illustrated magazine were, Thai beef salad, "perfect scrambled eggs" and a cucumber salad. A change from previous weeks is that Neil and I did not prepare all the recipes together; Neil made the salad and I made the eggs as Neil won't eat eggs! Here is the break-down of the recipes:

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

So when first reading this article, I was surprised that scrambled eggs could vary so much in their texture. Apparently, cooks want to avoid rubbery or wet scrambled eggs, and strive to achieve large fluffy eggs with what the article refers to as "curds." As I love eggs, I was looking forward to trying this recipe out. The method involves using half and half and an extra egg yoke per 2 egg whites in the scrambled mix, and cooking on two heats (high then low). They also suggested cooking in a smaller pan but I did not have one handy.

Taste: 3.5 out of 5
Cost: $1.50 for one serving
Healthiness: 279 calories, over 60% fat - oh why do eggs have to taste so good!?
Difficulty: 3 out of 5

Despite the good taste and nice 'curds' of scrambled eggs, I doubt I will make these again for several reasons. (1) when I make eggs it is usually because I want something easy that is not cereal and this recipe can be time consuming with the extra steps (2) I rarely carry half and half around the house (3) it wastes an egg white in order to achieve the perfect egg taste!

My Favorite Eggs
One reason I hesitate to convert to the perfect scrambled eggs is that I make some pretty tasty (albeit sometimes wet) eggs.
Recipe:
1) beat two eggs, tablespoon of goat cheese, and add herb of your choice (basil or oregano work well)
2) cook on medium heat, constantly scraping pan

and voila! the eggs taste delicious - a small amount of goat cheese goes a long way!

Thai Beef Salad
Now this recipe is a keeper (with some adjustments)! I will not touch thai food - likely due to the coconut milk and peanuts that do not settle well in my stomach; however, Neil loves the complex flavor of Thai foods. This recipe did not involve curry, coconut milk, or nuts - yet still had the complex and well-balanced hot, sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and earthy flavors. The only substitutions we made were using soy sauce instead of fish sauce and buying a more affordable steak than was suggested by the recipe.

Taste: 4.5 out of 5
Cost: $12 for two servings
Healthiness: 380 calories per serving, < 30% fat, high on iron and vitamin C
Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5

Truly a delicious recipe but next time we will (1) go ahead and get the good steak or at least learn how to make a cheap steak well... (2) skip the rice. The recipe calls for browning and then grinding rice with a mortar and pestle as it is supposed to enhance the texture/taste of the dish. We are not sure that it made much a difference - so we will skip this time consuming step and see what the product is like!

Cucumber Salad
The recipe produced a refreshing, summer salad. The recipe suggested simmering the vinegar on the stove in order to reduce it and make the taste more concentrated but less watery. We skipped the olives in this one (not a fan of the taste and did not have any lying around). May consider doing this recipe again - but we actually think the cucumber salad from our African cooking may beat this one!

Taste: 2.5 out of 5
Cost: $3 for two servings
Healthiness: 99 calories per serving, over 40% fat, but loaded with vitamins A and C
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5

Next week...
To wrap up the Cook's Illustrated challenge we will be making a peach cake!

Next challenge....
We will be taking a break from our challenges in August due to travel plans but will resume in September. More details to come!

Reevaluating personal goals

So, since the last post, we have prepared three meals from the Cooks Illustrated book and three from their app. We really have been enjoying the recipes and we always like an excuse to cook something new. But, before we discuss our reviews, we want to share some obstacles to our original goal of preparing all the recipes in the cook's illustrated book.

For those of you who have read the description of us/our blog - you'll see that we enjoy "making and eating affordable, healthy, and tasty food together." Cook's Illustrated definitely helps us make tasty food; however, healthy and affordable seems to vary based on the recipe. The corn chowder and panzanella we prepared definitely met the affordable, healthy, and tasty criteria - but some of the recipes in the book would be impossible for us mainly because of the affordable factor (e.g., stuffed pork loin). So we have accepted our "defeat" - as we know some of these recipes would be delicious but really too much of a financial burden. We will continue the challenge though - minus the more expensive meals.

From now on, when we review recipes we will rate: (1) taste, (2) cost, and (3) healthiness, and (4) difficulty. It seems like these are the factors we really value in our meals and could be useful to discuss in our blog. Hopefully these changes will work out!

Reviews of cucumber salad, perfect scrambled eggs, and the Cook's Illustrated app to come!

When life gives you tomatoes... make Panzanella!

For our July challenge, we decided to cook each of the featured recipes in our new Cook's Illustrated magazine subscription. Unfortunately, we doubt we can legally post the recipes (Neil is cautious - being a JD and all) - so we will post our reviews of the magazine in general and recipes that we prepare.

We started out with Panzanella and Corn Chowder (no pics this time - sorry!).

Panzanella
If this tells you anything, we have already made the Panzanella three times - twice for ourselves and once for a picnic AND we plan to have it again this week (when we like something - we tend to reeeaaalllyy like it). We had never had this dish before, and usually avoid raw tomatoes in our daily cooking - but this mix of crusty Italian bread, tomatoes, olive oil, cucumber, basil, and shallots really hit the spot on a warm summer day.

Taste: 4 out of 5
Difficulty: 2 out of 5

One of the highlights of the magazine is how they test several methods of preparing each dish to create a 'fool proof' and tasty outcome. This was particularly helpful when getting the bread to be the correct texture and to soak up the juices from the tomatoes.

Corn Chowder
This was our first time making chowder, so we really did not know what to expect! Fortunately, one feature of the magazine subscription is a supplementary e-newsletter that includes links to 3 minute videos showing the steps to create the dish. The videos were very useful and sped along the cooking process - given that we are visual learners :)

Taste: Sarah: 4.5 out of 5 Neil: 4 out of 5 (we just could not agree on this one...)
Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5

Wrap - Up
Two recipes into the challenge we have already found two recipes we will (and already have) replicate in the future. Lessons learned:
(1) raw tomatoes can be tasty - as long as that gooey stuff and seeds are removed
(2) fresh corn on the cob is a must when making corn chowder - so next stormy day (which there will be many in Pittsburgh) we will make sure to have some fresh corn handy
(3) a picture is worth a thousand words - video guides to recipes can be helpful and speed up the prep work

This coming week we are making cucumber salad and "perfect scrambled eggs." And given our enthusiasm for the recipes thus far - we have already downloaded the free Cook's Illustrated app and will be preparing several of those recipes.

Denmark - the land of butter, heavy cream, and MEAT

Last week we completed our last stop of our International Food Challenge. We had a much easier time finding recipes from Denmark than our previous countries and actually used several recipes from the Foreign Ministry's website. We loved the food from this country the best; however, in some ways we had to compromise our desire to eat "healthy" food as each course was filled with either eggs, heavy cream, butter, or red meat. But we both agreed that the taste was worth the calories - at least this once.

We started out with some creamy mashed potatoes topped with bacon and onions (sauteed in the bacon fat of course) and then helped ourselves to some beef and pork meatballs. Then we wrapped things up with a bowlful of creamy rum pudding. While we may not repeat these recipes regularly - we are looking forward to a get together with friends to share these recipes... especially the rum pudding!

So what is next for the Tour de Palette? We have subscribed to Cook's Illustrated and want some added motivation to try out some of the recipes. For July, we will cook through the 10 featured recipes of the magazine. This week we are doing corn chowder and panzenella - looking forward to sharing our experiences with you!

Side Dish: Burning Love - Brændende kærlighed

Taste: 4.5 out of 5
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Tip: whipping up the potatoes in the food processor saves a lot of time and makes it nice and creamy

3 medium sized potatoes
1 tablespoon butter
About 1/6 pint heavy cream
3 thick rashers of fat bacon
1 onion
Salt
White pepper
Pinch of nutmeg

1) Peel the potatoes and place in microwaveable bowl. Fill with water to cover potatoes and microwave until tender (5 minutes in our microwave).
2) Put potatoes, butter, and cream in food processor and chop until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
3) Dice onions and bacon and fry in pan together until cooked (it smells amaaaazinng).
4) "Pile" the mashed potatoes onto plate and create a well in middle to place the onion, bacon, and some fat if you are feeling ambitious. 


Main Course: Meat Balls - Frikadeller

Taste: 3 out of 5
Difficulty: 2 out of 5

1/2 lb. ground beef (ground steak or chuck)
1/2 lb. ground lean pork
1/3 cup flour
1 teasp. salt
½ teasp. pepper
1 small onion, grated
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

1) Mix the first six ingredients then add eggs and milk.
2) Form into small meatballs and fry in butter until brown. Turn down the heat and cover to cook thoroughly.

Dessert: Rum Pudding - Romfromage

Taste: 4 out of 5
Difficulty: 4 out of 5
*disclaimer: we really played around with this recipe. We recommend trying out the original recipe from the website - but ours turned out well too! Our version does not have the gelatin in it - we substituted instant pudding gelatin-free mix for the sugar and gelatin.

2 eggs, separated
1 box trader joe's instant pudding
1/4 cup milk
1 ½ ounces rum
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped

1) Beat egg yolks
2) Mix pudding mix with milk, egg yolks, and rum - let stand until it begins to thicken
3) beat eggs whites to stiff peaks and beat whipping cream until whipped
4) fold egg whites and then whipped cream into pudding mixture
5) chill for an hour or until firm

Happy 4th!

So no time to update about our amazing danish meal last night (probably the most indulgent meal yet!) as we are leaving for the long weekend and will have not Internet access. Will update with recipes/reviews by next Tuesday as well as info about our next challenge.

But here is something to satisfy your appetite for fresh, affordable, and delicious food until then...

We had a great lunch at Smoke, a small restaurant located in West Homestead.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/23/1597860/restaurant/Pittsburgh/Homestead-Munhall/Smoke-Homestead
Although we rarely venture to West Homestead, we went out of our way to try this place out because of the amazing Urbanspoon reviews. We have always been disappointed about the lack of good BBQ or Mexican food in Pittsburgh (sorry Madmex does not do it for us - and the BBQ we have had here is hardly noteworthy). But believe it or not - this place has both! BBQ tacos! The owners are originally from Texas (which makes it promising) and the combination of brisket and smoked meat with BBQ sauce in a freshly made flour taco - well let's just say it is divine. For $15 we got 3 tacos and a glass of Horchada - yum.  So we definitely recommend this place - but be careful of the hours - only open for breakfast (breakfast tacos!!) and lunch! Cash only -

Bosnia-Herzegovina Cuisine

This month's challenge has definitely been tasty - but also time consuming as each meal we cook a three-course meal using unfamiliar recipes (between planning, buying all the ingredients and cooking the food., etc.).  But the show must go on! Fortunately we have found several recipes that we will incorporate within our own everyday cooking.

We have persevered this week and (with some delays)  experimented with Bosnian cuisine.  We initially thought (naively) that this European cuisine would be less challenging than the African meals during the past two weeks but surprisingly we had some trouble finding Bosnian recipes. We had to "settle" for hummus as the appetizer (tasty but too familiar) but we made a vegetable and beef stew and "poached" apples for dessert. Here's the run-down:

Appetizer: Hummus with Pita Bread

difficulty: 3 out of 5 (would have been easier if we used the food processor, and canned beans)
taste: 4.5 out of 5 (yummmm)

We've made hummus before (tapping into Sarah's Egyptian roots), but this time we tried some new tricks to make it interesting and new.  The new tricks (namely, pressure-cooking the beans and adding some of the liquid from the pressure cooker to the final product to get desired texture) did improve the final product!  All in all this hummus ended up tasting very good and was really smooth....

Main Course: Bosnski Lonac (served with pita bread)

difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
taste: 3.5 out of 5

One thing we learned is that apparently Bosnian cuisine does not incorporate as many spices and herbs as American cuisine. In fact, this dish was only spiced with salt, pepper, and vinegar! Nonetheless the stewed meat and vegetables had a light and sweet taste, but next time we would spice it up.

Dessert: Tufahije

difficulty: 2 out of 5
taste: 2.5 out of 5

This dessert was made with cored apples poached in a simple syrup and filled with fresh whipped cream, walnuts and raisins.  While the pictures and the recipe seemed really promising, the end result was somewhat of a let-down.

Wrap-up:

Overall, the Bosnian meals we created were not particularly mouth-watering - but, we will definitely make the Bosnski Lonac again as it was a great way to incorporate vegetables into a meal. The apples we could live without- but it really could have been an issue with the recipe/preparation as opposed to the dessert itself. I guess we will not know until we visit Bosnia ourselves!

Recipes:


Bosnski Lonac
Ingredients:
1 lb stew beef
2 cups cabbage
2 carrots (sliced)
2 large potatoes (peeled and cut into wedges)
1 can of diced tomatoes (15 oz)
1 onion (diced)
1 garlic clove
1 green bell pepper
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
water

1) cut meat into 1 inch cubes and brown to seal in juices
2) cut up vegetables
3) layer meat and vegetables into large soup pot
4) add enough water to cover vegetables/meat
5) simmer for 3 hours
6) enjoy with some pita bread!

Tufahije
no link for this one - as we combined several recipes... perhaps that is what went wrong...

Ingredients
2 Fuji apples, peeled and decored
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup walnuts
1/8 cup raisins
1/2 cup whipping cream and powdered sugar to taste

1) prepare apples and put in water/sugar/lemon juice mixture (enough to cover apples) in a baking dish
2)bake for 30 minutes on 350F, rotate apples half way
3) make whipped cream and mix with nuts and raisins
4) remove apples from liquid and allow to cool, keep some of the syrup to serve with dessert
5) once cool, stuff apples with whipped filling with extra whipped cream on top. drizzle with syrup.

Trader Joes vs Giant Eagle

Update: we have completed the Bosnian meal and plan to update later today - but until then I thought (Sarah that is) I would briefly write about an experiment Neil and I did. We have found ourselves shopping more at Trader Joe's (TJs) (love their prepared foods!) but wanted to know how the prices compared to Giant Eagle (our typical grocery store). Being systematic people, we completed our full shopping trip at TJs and took our receipt to Giant Eagle and "replicated" the shopping trip using their prices. And (of course) we took into account the different amounts/quantities in each package. Drum roll......

We saved $8.59 by shopping at TJ's (about 20%). While a few things were less expensive at Giant Eagle, a majority of items were 20-30 cents cheaper at Trader Joe's. Many sale items at Giant Eagle would be less expensive than regularly priced items at Trader Joe's, but most of the items on our list were not on sale. Given that we would prefer to do all our shopping in one place - we have decided to continue to go to Trader Joe's. Love to get other folk's opinions though!

	Trader Joe's	Giant Eagle
Cannelloni beans (2 cans)	1.78	2.10
Valencia oranges (4 lbs)	3.29	4.89
black beans (2 cans)	1.78	2.10
bananas (2 pounds)	0.95	1.08
lemons (5)	1.59	3.95
organic kidney beans (2 cans)	2.38	2.73
dozen eggs	1.49	1.48
jumbo red onion (per onion)	0.79	1.25
pita chips (per bag)	2.29	3.99
rice pudding (2 cups)	1.99	2.13
orange juice	1.99	3.39
bell peppers (per 12 oz)	2.29	1.49
boneless pork cutlet (per lb)	4.49	4.19
ground beef extra lean (per lb)	4.49	4.69
instant pudding (box)	0.99	1.59
unsalted butter (2 cups)	3.39	3.49

Ivory Coast

Neil being Neil...

Thursday night we traveled further up the horn of Africa and ate food from the Ivory Coast. When we searched for recipes, we also read about some unique mealtime customs (some reminded Sarah of the rules at her family etiquette meals growing up). Some of the notable ones were (although we do not know how authentic the customs are...)

1. elders eat first to detect contaminated food
2. you cannot reach across the table for food
3. coughing, sneezing, and TALKING is discouraged at the table

Course One: Cucumber-Zucchini Salad
Difficult: 1 out of 5 stars
Taste: 4 out of 5

We were surprised how refreshing and tasty this simple dish was. It is also gluten-free and low fat (no oil required). We will be sure to add this to our family recipe book.

Course Two: Kedjenou (Seasoned Meat and Vegetable Sauce) with rice
Difficulty: 2.5
Taste: 4

Using the pressure cooker made this recipe easy and quick to make. Definitely recommend it to families in a hurry to create a flavorful, inexpensive and healthy meal.
The rice was the Basmati Rice Medley from Trader Joe's. Only $3 for 8 servings and it includes wild rice, seasoning, and dehydrated veggies. It was a simple side dish - but be forewarned if you do not like mushrooms then this rice is not for you!

Course Three: Cornmeal Cookies
Difficulty: 3
Taste: 4

We wonder if these cookies are actually authentic...but they were tasty! They were like a sugar cookie with a gritty texture (but in a good way) and the corn flavor was a nice touch to a traditional sugar cookie.


Wrap-Up:

Yet again, we have benefited from this 'gastronomic gamble' by finding several recipes that we like and anticipate preparing again in the future for our friends and family. Preparing the 3-course meal was much easier this time, partially because the meals were less intensive but also we were able to divide the tasks more efficiently. So - we definitely recommend these recipes - all in all it took about 45 minutes (at most) to prepare and cook everything and the cost was less than $15.

Recipes Used:

Cucumber-Zucchini Salad

      Ingredients

1 medium zucchini

1 medium cucumber

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 Tbs. sugar

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 Tbs. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

Procedure

Thinly slice veggies and drain any water formed from cucumbers

Dissolve sugar and salt in hot water

Mix all ingredients together and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour

Kedjenou (Seasoned Meat and Vegetable Sauce)

Ingredients

1 pound of chicken breast, cut into pieces

1 large onions, chopped

1 15oz can diced tomatoes (keep the canning liquid)

1 tablespoon ground ginger (Neil said we could have used more)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

Salt, to taste

Hot red pepper, to taste

Procedure

Place all ingredients in pressure cooker and use as directed. We cooked it for about 20 minutes but it probably only needed 10 minutes.

Cornmeal Cookies 

Ingredients

¾ cup margarine

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1¼ cups flour

½ cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, beat margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the margarine mixture and mix well.

Drop dough in spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Cameroonian Cuisine

After years hours of preparation, Thursday was our first stop of our "Tour de Palate." To reiterate the challenge, we randomly selected one country per week to serve as the basis for a three course meal--providing us with an opportunity to sample diverse foods from around the world over the span of a month.  While we initially thought that this challenge would break the bank, at least for this first week we were pleasantly surprised with how affordable (and tasty) Cameroonian cuisine can be.  As promised, each week we'll share our experience with the food, as well as the recipes we used and any general tips we learned in the process. We will rate the difficulty of preparing each dish and the taste - obviously we may not always agree so two scores (his and hers) and may be provided!

Course One:  Plantain Chips

*Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 stars
*Taste: 2.5 and 4 out of 5 stars

We thought we would start with something somewhat familiar but with a Cameroonian twist - despite our avoidance of fried foods. Outside of finding a place to buy plantains, slicing these up and frying them was straight-forward.

Course Two: N'Dole with Corn Fufu

*Difficulty: 3 out of 5 stars
*Taste: 3.5 out of 5 stars

N'Dole is considered by many to be one of the national dishes of Cameroon. While we had to make some ingredient substitutions due to the lack of  certain ingredients (e.g., 'bitterleaf'), we tried to stay true to the recipe. While the dish was slightly time consuming, it was surprising how good peanut butter tastes with steak! As for the Corn Fufu...well let's just say that did not taste much at all but when you see the recipe you will understand why.

Course Three: Sweet Potato "Cake"

*Difficulty: 2.5 (if you use a food processor and microwave!)
*Taste: 3.5 and 4.5 

After seeing that the recipe called for a stick of butter, we knew it would be good :) We were excited because it was the first flourless cake we have made, but we have to admit it turned out more like a really good sweet potato pie than a cake. Next time we makes this (and we definitely will), we will whip the eggs to stiff peaks so that the dessert will better hold its shape. Also - make sure not to peek as the dessert is souffle-like and will fall if you are too eager.

Wrap-Up

We did not realize this when designing the challenge, but it was really two challenges in one: correctly cooking and timing the preparation of a three course meal and cooking a new type of cuisine. So our top three
1) If it looks like corn meal, and smells like corn meal... it will taste like corn meal.
2) Food shared with company is always better than eating leftovers by yourself (thanks Cath and John!).
3) When preparing a multi-course meal, always look at the cook times required by each and plan accordingly.

Recipes Used

All the ingredients we used!
Estimated total cost: $15!

Plantain Chips

2 plantains
frying oil (vegetable oil)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Preparation
1) heat pan and oil (enough oil for frying - we used about an inch of oil in the pan)
2) peel and wash plantains. Cut into thin chips.
3) put onion, pepper, and salt in Ziploc bag and mix. Add plantains and mix until covered by seasoning.
4) once oil is heated (test by adding single chip and seeing if it sizzles) add single layer of plantains. Cook until golden brown on both sides (about 15 minutes total and flip halfway through or when edges look golden brown).
5) Remove plantains to plate covered with paper towel to remove excess oil.

N'Dole

1/2 lb sirloin steak
1 bundle collard greens (or any bitter leafy greens)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1/2 tbsp celery seed
1/2 tbsp thyme
1/2 cube beef bouillon
black pepper to taste

Preparation
1) Boil large pot of salted water.
2) Chop collard greens into small pieces and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes.
3) Slice steak into strips and pan fry (use some oil if needed).
4) Add cooked steak, beef bouillon, onion, salt, celery seed, thyme, 1 cup of water into pot and cook for 5 minutes.
5) Add peanut butter to pot and cook for 2 minutes or until thickened.
6) Add collard greens and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.

Corn Fufu

1/2 cup corn meal
2 cups water

Preparation
1) Microwave 2 cups of water until boiling (about 2 minutes).
2) Add half of water to pot and return to boiling. Add all of corn meal and stir to remove clumps.
3) Add 1/2 cup of water and allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds and then stir to mix.
4) Add remaining water and allow mixture to boil until consistency is like thick mashed potatoes.

Sweet Potato Cake

1 lb sweet potato (about 1 large sweet potato)
7 tbsp butter
2 eggs
7 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp orange peel (recipe called for lime zest)
1 tbsp rum (yummmm)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt

Preparation
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2)Peel and slice raw sweet potato (thick slices are good) and place in a large microwavable bowl filled with water.
3) Microwave potatoes until cooked and knife easily pierces potato (ours took about 12 minutes)
4) place potatoes into food processor and pulse until texture of mashed potatoes (do not over do it!)
5) add butter and pulse

7) Add egg mixture to food processor and pulse to mix.
8) Add to well-greased cake pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick through center comes out dry.

Food Challenge #1

We have wanted to start a food blog for quite some time but did not quite know where to begin... Recently we came up with the idea of writing about our desire to develop our palates - a "Tour de Palate" if you will--through a number of food challenges developed by ourselves or suggested by readers.

To get things started, we have developed our initial challenge "Cafe du Monde" in which we make a 3-course meal from a randomly selected country's cuisine each Thursday of the month. To begin with, given our systematic ways, we found an alphabetical list of all the countries in the world and used a random generator to select four cuisines that we will make (and of course eat!) in June. Which seemed like a simple idea until we discovered the following countries were selected:

Week 1 (June 9th): Cameroon
Week 2 (June 16th): Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Week 3 (June 23rd): Bosnia and Herzegovina
Week 4 (June 30th): Denmark

On Fridays, we will reflect on the meal and post pictures as well as the recipes we used. Stay tuned and feel free to give suggestions for July's challenge!