got rosemary? got scones?

I think it's time to get back on track! The recipes are piling up and every day for the past two weeks I had started my day thinking, "Today I am going to get on my recipe blog and start updating the recipes."

And then someone pushed "fast forward" on my day and the day is gone and I went to bed, belly full, but my poor recipe blog neglected yet again. Today this shall change. It is July first. Half of the year officially gone by and milestones like this lights a match under my butt. After the strawberry harvest two weeks ago I had made two batches of strawberry sauce that went really well with a golden vanilla cake (our summer solstice dessert), strawberry-banana muffins, strawberry cream scones and a strawberry summer cake that had also been adapted into a sour cherry yummy cake. Yesterday I made a batch of scones that totally embarrassed me later (hang on for that story, it comes with a recipe!), chocolate coconut scones and gluten-free brownies from a box (review to come later). In-between I found a new salmon recipe that we loved, and also the rosemary-rubbed pork chops that were simply divine. All recipes shall be posted within this month.

I said it. I said it!! Now I am going to do it.

So I have been making scones. I don't even know why. I do not own a scone pan, and scones are not my favorite recipe. But I had rosemary. They looked so good at the local co-op I bought more than I intended to (for the pork chop recipe, which will be posted later) so I was left with extra rosemary. I think some mysterious divine energy wanted me to make these most scrumptious rosemary-carrot scones in the world, because my mouse clicked on this recipe over at Patent and the Pantry. And while a recipe search often ends up with me sending myself a dozen or more recipes to pick from, that fateful day I picked this one, and this one only.

And it embarrassed me.

I made them yesterday, and realized they only made a dozen. I took them to the local moms group annual potluck picnic anyways. I was the newbie and I wasn't going to show up empty-handed. 

Minutes into the picnic one mom walked to the middle of the ramada with my container raised high and asked loudly, "Who made these?!"

I was afraid she found some dead flies in there but I raised my hand, because honesty was the best policy. She looked at me and then announced, "These were AMAZING! They were FANTASTIC!! You need to give us the recipe!" And then she turned to the rest and said, "There is only one left." and then with that one scone in hand she marched to her seat, unapologetic that she had chosen not to share. This morning she emailed me and asked for the recipe again. These are good signs, calling the very following day and I hope you agree.

Gosh I was glad she enjoyed those scones! But I also did not expect that reaction and I felt my ears burning. People turned and smiled and I heard my name repeated a few times but I just lowered my head and focused on tearing apart the chicken drumstick for my girls. Inside though, my heart was grinning itself silly, and I already made plans to get more rosemary and make more scones.

 

Ready to take a bite into a most delicious rosemary-carrot scone? I hope so!

As I said, I found this recipe on Patent and the Pantry, who adapted this recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini. I prefer the former's version, her no-fuss approach to cooking is what I love. I modified a tiny bit, adding a tad more garlic, which I feel marries with the aroma of the rosemary most beautifully, and I also decided to add 3/4 cup finely grated pecorino which I had found at a local Italian bakery called Perreca's. Fine-grated is the key, to keep the texture of the scones tender and fluffy. Your kitchen will smell heavenly (and deliciously garlicky, laced with the aroma of rosemary) while these scones bake. Prepare napkins to wipe your drool. I did not have any cutters whatsoever with me and used a drinking glass as Gwendolyn did and I think that worked well, but pull out your fancy cutters if you wish! Rosemary is the herb that represents remembrance. If you make these and bring them to a potluck, you will be remembered.

Coarse-grated carrots, and rosemary also coarsely chopped

Makes 12 scones. I made a small one from the scraps, so I could sample

Rosemary-carrot Scones

Recipe adapted from Patent and the Pantry
 Makes about 12 scones (depending on size), doubling recipe recommended

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 9 tbsp. chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
• 2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (I did add one more clove, I could not resist!)
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup cream
• 3/4 cup fine-grated pecorino 

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Place rack in middle of oven. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingers or using a pastry blender. It should resemble coarse crumbs when it’s blended enough. Add the carrots, rosemary and cheese.
2. Mix together the mustard, cream and garlic and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix together gently until the dough comes together and then empty out onto floured counter. Pat together into a ball and then roll out until the dough is about a half-inch thick. Cut out using biscuit cutter or whatever is handy. 
3. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until nice and golden. Cool on a rack.

 

veggies in the oven

Growing up and watching my mother and my grandma prepare food, nothing was ever prepared in the oven. Vegetables were steamed, sauted, stir-fried, deep-fried, braised, cooked in a broth, but never in the oven. The oven was used by my aunts for baking cookies, fruit cakes, pineapple tarts (that people die for) and the most delectable chicken pot-pies.

What I have now, this kitchen that I cook and bake in, is the second kitchen I can call my own. Prior to this house in the United States, R and I lived in a tiny apartment in Hong Kong. It was a tiny little place we rented near to the university where we studied and worked (and met). The so-called kitchen was a very small room plunked right in the middle of our teensy apartment. It was about 40-square foot, and now that I think about it, our bathroom was even bigger than the kitchen, which contained the sink, a small fridge, the cooking range (no oven), two small cabinets for storage, and a washing machine too. Usually I am the lone person in there, cooking up a sweat; it had an accordion folding door that afforded me all the privacy (and focus!) I needed while I struggled to balance colanders of washed vegetables on barely-existing counter-tops (usually I used the top of the closed washing machine as my counter-top when cooking), stirring the other simmering pot (there were only two burners), reaching for condiments and all that. It had a small square window that allowed me to look out over to what was happening in the pet store next door. Mostly I see (and hear) dogs yelping while being manicured and shampooed.

Which makes me very grateful for the oven I have right now. It is nothing fancy or top of the line. In fact, since it's the same thing the previous (and first) owners of this house had installed, it should be about 20 years right now. But it still works, thank goodness! I love how it helps me prepare delicious vegetables without too much time and effort involved. No splattering oil, no skillets to scrub. No need to stand and flip, or stir. And honestly, I don't think any vegetables that came out of the oven, nicely roasted and served onto a platter with steam still billowing all around, had been rejected by any of my children. Never ever. I love how roasting vegetables in the oven intensify its flavor and free up hands and space for other components of the meal.

And really, there is no recipe, and therefore no limits. And I am not the only one who loves preparing veggies in the oven. This week I got some really good-looking asparagus from Trader Joe's and while checking out, we got talking about how to prepare the asparagus (oven-roasted) and how we also roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts in the oven, and how people fight over their yummy goodness.

Of course, variety is key, so not every meal in our house ends up with an oven-roasted veggie. There are many ways to cook, but today I am here to sing the praises of oven-cooked vegetables. I think when my children grow up they are definitely going to remember how their vegetables came out from the oven, hot and alluring.

The greatest virtue of veggies in the oven is its simplicity. Wash the vegetables, cut into chunks if necessary, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and whatever seasoning you fancy. (Sometimes I roast garlic cloves with the vegetables, which becomes really sweet, and we then eat the garlic with the vegetables.) Pop into the oven and roast to how you like your vegetables. Usually we like to see a few brown spots on our sprouts and cauliflower. For the asparagus I made last night, it only took about 12 minutes in a 350F oven. After it came out, I shaved some pecorino cheese over it.

Oven-roasted asparagus

Sometimes I cut up a few strips of bacon and toss it with the vegetables, leaving the saltiness and smokiness of the bacon to flavor the vegetables, making them even more irresistible. I have also roasted Brussels with lemon zest and black pepper, and sometimes I toss the vegetables with some chopped roasted nuts. I've also experimented with green beans roasted with a bit of sesame oil, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Thankfully, my children do not say "yuck" to vegetables, and we endeavor to eat them in various ways, but veggies in the oven? -- they rock.

Savory Winter Soup

I know, I have titled this blog "My sweet life" but everyone knows that life is not all just sweetness and that sweetness is not the sole thing we taste. There are sour, bitter, savory and spicy, too. It is indeed very good to be able to taste everything, so our taste buds remain alive to all possibilities and can appreciate all the flavors possible by way of comparison and contrasts.

Though winter in Phoenix seldom gets very bitter cold, it is still wonderful to have some nourishing savory soups to enjoy when the temperatures go for a southward dip (especially this past weekend, with overcast skies, rain and the chill). One of my family's absolute favorites is this Slovenian cabbage bacon soup, adapted from a recipe I first saw in the September 2006 issue of the now-defunct Gourmet magazine (how I have missed you, Gourmet!). I have made some adjustments which I feel adds more punch to the soup. Everyone whom I had made this soup for had loved it and asked for the recipe. It is an easy recipe to make too: all in one pot, with just some chopping involved!

 

Slovenian Cabbage and Bacon Soup

Adapted from Silva Cigoj Arkade Farm, Crnice.

Ingredients

• 12 oz smoked bacon, preferably nitrate- and nitrite-free
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (I always use more!)
• 4 large organic red potatoes
• 8 cups finely chopped cabbage (about 1/2 large head)
• 4 carrots, diced
• large handful of italian flat parsley, finely chopped (reserve a tablespoon for sprinkling)
• 1 (19-0z) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (if I'm feeling virtuous, I make this from scratch)
• 2 salt-free vegetable boullion cubes
• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions

• Cut bacon into bite-sized pieces and cook in large pot over medium heat, stirring often. In the meantime, chop the onions, mince the garlic, peel and dice potatoes and carrots, and chop the cabbage and italian parsley.
• Just when the bacon pieces begin to get crispy, add chopped onions and cook, stirring often until soft (no additional oil is needed, just cook in rendered bacon grease). Next add the minced garlic and saute quickly.
• When garlic begins to turn golden (oh the aromas! This is about the time when the girls come trooping through the kitchen, noses bobbing in the air, asking what that mouth-watering smell is?), add the chopped cabbage, diced potatoes and carrots, drained kidney beans and stir around so everything gets coated in some of that bacon grease. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Add the water, pop in the bouillon cubes (you can also be diligent and make your vegetable or chicken broth ahead and use that instead) and bring the soup to a boil.
• Cover partially and continue to simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, until potatoes are just tender. Stir once or twice while waiting impatiently. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired, then stir in parsley and let simmer a minute more.
• If desired, sprinkle more minced parsley over soup before serving. This soup is great with a crusty bread or buttermilk biscuits, and a big green salad.
• Enjoy!!