Easter Sunday with Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes #SundaySupper

Happy Easter one and all! Easter means so much to me ever since I can remember. Most importantly, for me, it is the day Christ rose again from the dead and gave us all hope in the promise of eternal life. I've been blessed to have grown up and be part of a most wonderful family that is held together tightly by the love of God, which translated beautifully in the love we shared for each other and everyone around us. I can never finish counting my blessings for all the love and care my parents showered my brother and I with.

Growing up, we traveled a lot around India because of the nature of my dad's job. We'd move cities every four years or so and with each move, came the painful goodbyes and the rounds of settling in and making new friends. But, you won't believe it. More than making friends in every city, we made new "family" wherever we went. Every city. They went over and above the call of close friends and didn't make us feel the absence of our close family at all.

So, every celebration and holiday didn't leave us missing the laughter and fun that people usually share with family because, we DID have family around us.

Candied Sweet Potatoes by Elizabeth Andoh

(Part of a weekly series by a group of bloggers, featuring Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game Changers in Food - see end of post for list of bloggers participating & their blogs)

I know I'm not a child, but, I unconsciously went into my own mode of Spring Break - ending up with a Blog Break. I haven't blogged in over a week and somehow it was good to take that break. I did miss blogging and not catching up on a lot of my favorite blogs. I will be getting to all of them this weekend and I apologize for not being there all this while. I did something for my blog during this period though - I bought my own domain name! :D It's not a big deal but it felt like my home got a face lift. And over the next week or so, I'll be tweaking some design stuff too. But next week's going to extremely busy, with Easter coming up and a lot of choir commitments during Holy week, so let's see. It's going to be fun!

Source: The Japan Times

For now, I'm getting back to my blog with the 50 Women Game Changers Series and we have one of the culinary world's leading experts in Japanese cuisine at #41 - Elizabeth Andoh. Though she's not of Japanese heritage, Elizabeth's heart and home have found their place in Japan for over 4 decades now. How she ended up in Japan happens to be a "happy accident" as she puts it. She was born in America, grew up here and studied in New York and the University of Michigan. While she was a student here, she learned of this unclaimed scholarship to Japan and took it thinking it would be interesting. So, in the mid 60s, she landed in Shikoku in rural Japan, where she later met the love of her life. Overcoming the initial cultural shock, she grew to love the place and all of Japanese culture and food. She learnt a lot from the Andoh family during her initial years - Senior Mr Andoh was the one who first took interest in teaching young Elizabeth how to speak Japanese and his wife was an inspiration when it came to food and matters of the kitchen. Her mother-in-law was a vegetarian much like the people born in the late 19th and early 20th century in Japan - Elizabeth later dedicated a book on Kansha cooking, inspired by this. 

Having developed a deep interest in the philosophy and art of Japanese cuisine, Elizabeth enrolled at the Yanagihara School of Traditional Japanese Cuisine in Tokyo. Shortly after, she launched her own culinary arts program in 1972, called A Taste of Culture. The program hosts tasting sessions, market tours, cooking classes and workshops for foreign tourists and expats who are interested to learn the intricacies of Japanese food and cuisine. She has since been the greatest advocate for Japanese cuisine among english speaking chefs and cooks.

Potato and Caraway Cakes by Darina Allen

(Part of a weekly series by a group of bloggers, featuring Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game Changers in Food - see end of post for list of bloggers participating & their blogs)

At #38 this week, we have Darina Allen, a culinary visionary and celebrity in Ireland. She's got two grand founding achievements under her belt - she's the founder of (a) the internationally renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School, Country Cork and (b) the first Farmers Market in Ireland. She still teaches at their family-run school and is actively involved in sourcing and setting up new farmers markets.

Credit: Koster Photography / Source: Cookstr

Her love for all things organic and locally-sourced also manifests itself in the way she runs the school, which is strategically located on a 100-acre organic farm. The emphasis of all teaching and operations at the school is on using the finest quality of home-grown and locally sourced ingredients and making a sustainable use of resources. The farm grows countless varieties of produce and seasonal goods, so students learn with the freshest ingredients possible and also experience first-hand the advantages of supporting your local farmers. 

Besides being a chef and teacher, Darina has written many popular, award-winning cookbooks including Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cooking School Cookbook (nominated for best international cookbook by the James Beard Foundation) and Irish Traditional Cooking (winner of the Langhe Ceretto Prize in 1996). She's also food-writer and has appeared on many television shows and series as well. Darina was named Cooking Teacher of the Year by the IACP in 2005, and was the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Ulster in 2003. You can read more about her achievements on her website.

Now, Darina is exactly the kind of chef/cook I love learning about since I just discovered a whole treasure-trove of recipes on her website. It's an interesting mix of Irish and international recipes, which has now been added to my list of go-to sources. I had the toughest time choosing a dish for this week since I literally wanted to make ALL of them. Seriously! I'm going back to the website for more!

Deviled Eggs by Edna Lewis

(Part of a weekly series by a group of bloggers, featuring Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game Changers in Food - see end of post for list of bloggers participating & their blogs)

We have another inspiring story this week as we look back on the life of Edna Lewis, who's at #36 of Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game Changers in Food. Edna is one of the legends of southern cooking. She grew up in Freetown, Virginia, a town founded by freed slaves, one of whom was her grandfather. All the families in Freetown lived on farms and that's where Edna's foundation was established. Every morning, all of them would help harvest crops and vegetables and raise poultry, which was their basic livelihood. At the age of 15, when the great depression struck, Edna left Freetown in search of a better life. She landed in New York and sustained herself through odd jobs. She worked as a seamstress, window dresser and also in the office of the Daily Worker, a communist newspaper. 

Edna loved cooking for her friends and slowly, her cooking started gaining popularity and praise among friends and acquaintances. In 1948, her friend, John Nicholson, an antique dealer, asked her to take on the role of head chef at the restaurant he was opening. The restaurant was a huge success and attracted famous guests like Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and Truman Capote, who were regulars. She worked at the restaurant, serving up delicious southern food, until 1954.

She went on to travel, teach and write her own cookbooks. Her landmark book, The Taste of Country Cooking, was one of the first cookbooks by an African-American woman to reach a nationwide audience and is credited for starting the interest in genuine Southern cooking. While cooking for one of the festivals in Atlanta, she met Scott Peacock, who was in awe of her and wanted to follow her to learn everything she had to impart. Over the years, they both developed a deep friendship, working on recipes together, and even co-authored the popular cookbook, The Gift of Southern Cooking. Edna passed away in 2006, at the age of 89.

So, to honor her, I picked the recipe of Deviled Eggs, that was a dish Edna and Scott developed. This is a lovely, light appetizer that's both simple and tasty. It's extremely easy to whip up and highly customizable. Once you have the base, you can throw in either cayenne pepper to add a little bit of spice or add a herb to infuse some flavor. This is something ANYONE can make since all it involves is boiling an egg and mixing stuff with it. Unless, of course, the eggs you're working with don't co-operate with you. Like mine did. I use brown eggs that take much longer to cook and I can never figure out the right time to pull them out. So, I may have had to fight with the shell to get it off and it made my job a little harder to hide all the flaws on the outside of the egg white. But, otherwise, it's a fool-proof recipe!

While preparing the eggs, I suddenly thought of mixing things up a bit and utilizing the egg mixture in a couple of different ways. It works beautifully as a cracker topping and I'd nibbled on all of them by the time I cleaned everything up! All you have to do is chop the egg whites into tiny pieces and mix it up along with the yolk mixture (this is perfect especially if you have un-cooperative eggs like mine that come out damaged when you try to take their shells off). Then, spread away on your favorite cracker.

That same egg mixture can be used as a sandwich filling too. This is something familiar to me since my mom makes similar egg sandwiches. So, experiment and have fun with it! The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination! 

Deviled Eggs by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

Ingredients and instructions:

• 1 dozen large eggs
• Fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons snipped chives and chervil (I couldn't find either so I used scallions and they tasted delicious too)

Put the eggs in a large saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Pour off the hot water and fill the saucepan with cold water. Gently crack the eggs in the water to loosen the shells.

Shell the eggs. Cut a very thin slice from the bottom of each egg so the eggs will stand up. Slice off the top third of each egg and scoop the yolks into a coarse strainer; reserve the whites. Press the egg yolks through the strainer into a bowl. If you're too lazy like me to use a strainer, just mash them with a fork.

Blend in the mayonnaise, cream, sugar and vinegar. Season with salt. Using a teaspoon or a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, generously fill the egg whites. Arrange the eggs on a plate, sprinkle with the chives and chervil and serve.

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Here's a list of the other bloggers participating in this series. Do go over to their blogs to see what yummy dishes they've whipped up. If you'd like to join the group, please get in touch with Mary of One Perfect Bite.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast [] Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed [] Susan - The Spice Garden [] Heather - girlichef [] Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney [] Jeanette - Healthy Living [] Mary - One Perfect Bite [] Kathleen - Bake Away with Me [] Sue - The View from Great Island [] Barbara - Movable Feasts [] Linda A - There and Back Again [] Nancy - Picadillo [] Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits [] Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen [] Annie - Most Lovely Things [] Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook [] Alyce - More Time at the Table [] Amrita -Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Creamed Spinach by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

(Part of a series featuring Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game Changers in Food)

I was pleased to learn about the two ladies in the spotlight this week at #33- Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, the dynamic duo behind Canal House Cooking, a food magazine that dishes out seasonal delicacies. They're the brains behind Canal House (opened in 2006), a unique little food and design studio that's quite intriguing to read about from other articles. It's apparently laid out like a kitchen, dining room, office, workshop, studio all rolled into one where they cook up delicious food, write, create recipes, shoot and much more. Hirsheimer and Hamilton have known each other for about 15 years and have a bunch of credits they each carry in their bags. Hirsheimer, a writer and photogrpaher, served as the food and design editor for Metropolitan Home magazine, and was a founding editor at Saveur magazine. She shoots food photos for Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, Mario Batali, and Rick Bayless. At the other end of the table, Hamilton, a chef, food stylist and recipe developer, has worked at Martha Stewart Living, Cooks Illustrated and also served as a food editor and director of the test kitchen at Saveur magazine. Both the ladies come from different cultural backgrounds - Hamilton's french heritage and Hirsheimer's california childhood - and that reflects highly in the food they lavish in their cookbooks.

When it was time to pick a recipe from their treasure trove, I first settled on their stewy roasted root vegetables. It looked so earthy and delicious that I couldn't resist. I'd planned to have the food and pictures all set by midnight Thursday so I could post it early on Friday. 

So, I gathered all the ingredients and started roasting. Every time I peered into the oven to check its done-ness, the aroma from the roasted vegetables was so heavenly. I smiled contently thinking I had a success of a dish. But, then, things slowly didn't turn out as I hoped they would. It could also perhaps be that I just discovered I can't stand the taste of parsnips. In addition, the liquid quickly dried up and my vegetables had still not completely softened, so I had to add a little more here and there. It didn't help. When I tasted the final product, all I could think was 'Blech'! No offense to the lovely ladies, but it is most likely me making a disaster of a good recipe.

There went all my plans of having the recipe and post ready for early Friday! I went back to the drawing board and started hunting for new recipes. I decided to stick with something really simple so I couldn't mess it up again. And my eyes took me straight to their version of creamed spinach, and my heart and hands followed. 

BOY, was I right to pick this one! This creamed spinach is one of the best I've ever eaten and the potatoes really add a new dimension to the dish. Me being thrilled with the results, is an understatement. I was grinning like a buffoon, is more like it! So, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Bon Appetit!

Creamed Spinach by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton (recipe found here and in Canal House Cooking Vol. 6)

Ingredients and instructions:

For the ginger-garlic paste

• 1 5-inch finger fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 6 cloves garlic
• Salt
• Really good extra-virgin olive oil

For the spinach

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1potato, peeled and diced
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 pound washed young spinach

For the ginger-garlic paste, pulse the ginger, garlic, and a pinch of salt in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add a little water to thin the paste. Store in a covered container with a little olive oil on the surface. Keeps for about a week.

For the spinach, melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add 1 big tablespoon ginger-garlic paste and cook for a minute, swirling it in the butter. Add the potatoes and stir until well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until tender but not browned, about 10 minutes.

Add the cream and pile the spinach into the pot, pressing it down so that you can fit it all in. Cover and cook until the spinach wilts, about 10 minutes. Fold the spinach into the potatoes and cream, and serve.

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Here's a list of the other bloggers participating in this series. Do go over to their blogs to see what yummy dishes they've whipped up. If you'd like to join the group, please get in touch with Mary of One Perfect Bite. 

Val - More Than Burnt Toast [] Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed [] Susan - The Spice Garden [] Heather - girlichef [] Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney [] Jeanette - Healthy Living [] Mary - One Perfect Bite [] Kathleen - Bake Away with Me [] Sue - The View from Great Island [] Barbara - Movable Feasts [] Linda A - There and Back Again [] Nancy - Picadillo [] Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits [] Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen [] Annie - Most Lovely Things [] Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook [] Alyce - More Time at the Table [] Amrita -Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Honey Sesame Tofu

Tofu is an ingredient I came to love during my stay in Singapore. My favorite preparations of Tofu were a deep fried dish that accompanied our steamboat meal and a variation called Tao Huay, which is a silken custard in syrup. Now, Tao Huay was my absolute favorite dessert there and I could eat it day in and day out. The fact that a little food shop in the opposite block sold this sweet, heavenly goodness, made me go nuts over this nearly everyday!

So, when I walked past the Tofu aisle in a Korean supermarket here, I grabbed it hoping to try my hand at a Tofu dish. I haven't ventured into Tao Huay yet but, I settled for mixing up a version of Honey Sesame Tofu for starters. This recipe is an inspiration from a lot of places I was looking at and also my new habit of just throwing things together as the spirit leads in the kitchen. So, hope you enjoy...Bon Appetit!

Ingredients:

For the sauce -

• 4 teaspoons Soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• ¾ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
• ½ teaspoon dried onion
• Pinch of garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons finely cut coriander leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon Sesame oil

For the slices -

• 1 carton (12 oz or 350 gms) firm silken tofu, well-dried 
• Cornflour to dredge

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and keep aside.

Before you start working with the tofu, make sure you dry it out completely since that is critical to the cornflour sticking to it properly while frying, to give it a nice crispy crust. After you've got it nice and dry, cut the tofu into ¾ inch slices.

Toast 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds in a flat pan on medium flame till lightly browned. Set aside.

In the same pan, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan.  Dredge the tofu slices in cornflour and place in pan. Fry for 5 minutes, till the lower side is browned. Flip over and fry another few minutes till the other side is brown as well.

Once the sides are well-browned, add the sauce and let it cook for a few minutes. Turn the tofu slices over gently to coat all slices with the sauce.

Top with the toasted sesame seeds and serve.

Potato Salad with Bacon

This is another recipe that tastes yummier than store-bought potato salad. If you have all the ingredients at home or are up for a quick grocery run, I'd go with this recipe any day over the ones I get from the store. It's simple and easy to whip up, especially if you're using ready-made bacon. It doesn't get easier than that! I adapted this from a Food Network recipe by chef Robert Irvine.

This creamy goodness has a lot of flavor. Bon Appétit!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds small red potatoes scrubbed and quartered 
• 1 pound bacon, chopped 
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise 
• 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard 
• 6 scallions, chopped in 1/4-inch segments 
• 1 red onion, diced 
• 2 tablespoons sugar 
• Salt and pepper 
• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped 

Place potatoes in cold water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to medium, letting them cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes.

In a skillet, saute bacon on low heat until crispy. Place bacon on a paper towel and discard the grease. Or if you're using ready-made bacon, you can omit this step!

Drain the potatoes, but DO NOT rinse them under cold water. Rather let them cool for about 6 to 8 minutes on a sheet pan.

In a small bowl combine vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard, scallions, onion, sugar, and salt and pepper.

Transfer potatoes to a mixing bowl and sprinkle bacon and hard boiled eggs over them. Then fold mayonnaise mixture into the potatoes and serve at room temperature.