Okay, my turn now!

After MORE espresso, some scheduling, and a furious knitting bout, I'm SO READY for this challenge!

Alas, without my own computer (hard drive's on the fritz) blogging is proving a little difficult.

I'll try my best though, and with Katherine's generosity, hopefully you won't be able to tell the difference:)

Check back later!
-Sophia

P.S. The ratatouille last night was fantastic.

Dreams of Pan Relleno and Candied lemon tarts

While we're at it, we might as well throw in a couple of reminiscent photos from our first cooking extravanganza!

Tartlets with candied lemon







First time that I had tried candied lemon, Sophia set the bar very high.


Pan relleno or stuffed bread with tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, mushrooms and roasted garlic

Challenge #1 for Katherine

For this week, I required that Sophia challenge me to a dish:

1) with zucchini as its main feature because there was a sale!

2) that was vegetarian

3) and was without dairy

I had leftover basil, thyme, peppers, parsley, and tomatoes so she was very resourceful when she challenged me to ratatouille! Not to be confused with the movie...




















I used the roasted ratatouille recipe from epicurious.com. I had never cooked eggplant before and we decided that it is the most beautiful vegetable!







Unfortunately it was not as successful as I had hoped. :( It was too mushy and I left the vegetables in the oven for a wee bit too long. The eggplant should have sat out salted for about an hour to retain its firmness. Perhaps it would have also been more sucessful had I used the original method of cooking the vegetables over the stove. I toasted the couscous that I made to accompany it for a little too long as well! Better luck next time!

Challenge #1 for Sophia

Although the chicken pot pie and curried lentil soup are long gone, I thought I’d post some pictures in their memory.


Mmmm so flavorful




















Nothing like good ol’ comfort food.


To be honest, I’ve had a hard time thinking about food lately. I’ve felt sick over the last couple of days. Quite frankly, I’ve been in recovery after these beasty little treats.










When Sophia mentioned her craving for BEEF, the first thing I thought of was chili. But I don’t like chili and I don’t know if I trust Sophia on her first challenge to blow me away… no offense, Sophie. Because I know that she also has a considerable amount of Serrano peppers in the fridge, I figured I thought of Mexican food. I know that she’s already pretty equipped in Mexican/north American food already. Antojitos, enchiladas, burritos, etc.
Then I thought curry. Not thai curry but Indian curry. Then I thought the spiciest curry that there is in Indian cuisine.

Thus Sophia I hereby challenge you to the infamously hot Beef vindaloo, which I’ve never made before in my life.



vindaloo pic courtesy of
www.niyasworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/beef-vindaloo-goan-cuisine.html


Good luck! Vindaloo actually was a Portuguese dish originally known as carne de vinha d’alhos, which literally translates as beef of wine and garlic. I may or may not accompany her challenge dish by making naan and basmati rice.

How to make beef vindaloo tutorials:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5118108_make-beef-vindaloo.html


http://video.google.com.ar/videosearch?q=indian+recipes&hl=es&rlz=1T4ADBF_enCA249CA250&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=LwdhS-vHKJu-MvXhwMEP&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CFYQqwQwCg#emb=0&hl=es&q=beef+vindaloo&view=0

Here is her recipe to follow by :

http://www.newkerala.com/recipes/Indian-Recipes/More-Recipes/Beef-Vindaloo-Recipe.html

We're going to add serranos that Sophia has leftover... just to make it even hotter!

Ahhh let's throw in a picture of that quiche, which I plan to eat for lunch

We've Had a Breakthrough

So the idea is that Katherine and I set challenges for each other every week, adhering to a set of guidelines. These will be:

1) The Challengee may insist on three rules, either to omit or include ingredients.
2) The Challenger must be available to help with the preparation, and any concerns the challengee may have
3) Shopping will be done together, and the challenger must be available for consultation on proper ingredients
4) the cost of ingredients will be shared

So, now that the boring part's over, my three rules are!

1) something beefy!
2) nothing too too complicated: no roasts!
3) That's all I can think of right now, but you get the idea.

-Sophia

Day One: Technical Difficulties

Our first day in the kitchen was momentous. What started with "maybe we'll have stuffed bread and soup" turned into a loaf of stuffed bread, a pot of curried lentil soup, quiche with sausage and broccoli, and lemon tarts.

On the menu for today we start with espresso and a plan for chicken potpie and see where the whim takes us.

Alas, the documentation is not ideal. First day of a pictoral blog and suddenly none of our cameras work! Oh, except my cell phone, but I don't know how to get those pictures on here. I promise though, send me your address and I'll come over and show you the whole process!

In the meantime, you'll have to trust us that this:
eventually became this:Also, this tart is a thing of beauty.

We really need to work on getting the hang of this. Right now, though, my espresso maker is calling out to me.

But later! Special guest Caroline makes banana bundt bread! Sophia attempts chicken potpie! Katherine probably does something crazy! Let's hope it's nachos!

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!