Pumpkin bars with Cream Cheese frosting

It is exam time in London. We're cramming every last piece of information into our brains until the moment we let the flood gates open. Every student has their coping mechanism to get through four weeks of monogamy with nothing but the books to keep them company.

My coping mechanism has been baking and I have to say, it is working for me. Today I wanted some comfort from home. Every recipe I make has a memory and when I think of pumpkin bars, I think of Aunt Lori. She makes them better than anyone. So I thought, why not? My friends will love them! I took them to study group and they did!

The tricky thing about pumpkin in Europe is that it really is an American ingredient. Every now and again a boutique bakery will have a pumpkin flavored something, but it is rather rare. At home, I can get canned pumpkin year around. Here I have a few options. I can order normal Libby's Pumpkin from Amazon like the good little American I am. I can get a pumpkin and roast it myself, which isn't too bad actually. Or I can get pumpkin puree from Whole Foods. Every option will work for this recipe. The main consideration is the liquid content.

Canned pumpkin has more oil so it keeps cakes moist. If you roast your own pumpkin, it is important to season and oil it very well to retain the moisture. Pumpkin puree from the store is just roasted and mashed pumpkin so it needs to be seasoned and it has a lot of water, so cut back on the wet ingredients until you know you need them in the recipe, you may find that the puree makes the batter too loose.

Other than that, the recipe is very easy. This is the first time I've made this recipe and I have a few observations. Make sure you are using a larger pan, around 13 x 9 inches. If you are using smaller pans, back in shifts. If there is too much batter, the cake won't cook evenly and the cake won't turn out light and fluffy.

Ingredients for cake:
15 oz of pumpkin
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup of vegetable oil (sunflower oil works well too)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting:
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of butter (softened)....1/4 cup for thinner/healthier frosting
2 cups confectioner/ icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
Also calls for 2 tablespoons of milk. You do not need milk if only using 1/4 cup of butter.

Recipe:

1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until well mixed.
2. Add baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Gradually add the flour, half a cup at a time until incorporated, but don't over mix.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.
5. For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until combined. Add vanilla. Then gradually add sugar. If too thick, add milk slowly for consistency.

Voila!!!! Enjoy!

Sarajevski Sahan, oh yea

Admittedly, the cuisine of the Balkans could be a bit iffy for the untrained traveler. But there are a few things about Balkan, particularly Bosnian and Serbian cuisine that you have to remember.


First, it is based on the basics that Russian, German and even English cuisine is based on. Meat, Bread, and a few basic veggies. I can speak far more to Bosnian cuisine because I've had more traditional food in the country than I have in Belgrade. So I'll stick with it here. For more information on the food I had in Belgrade, wait for a new post sometime next week.

Secondly, the veggies are fresh. The meat is very good quality. Third, the food doesn't have the preservatives that our Western cuisine does. So don't feel so guilty about the calories. Yes, it is a heavy cuisine culture and you WILL be full. But enjoy it! It is proper home cooking.

The food in Sarajevo is honestly my favorite, with Polish Pirogi in a close second. This food is simple, rich, and based on simple ingredients. My favorite is Sarma, cabbage leaves pickled in vinegar wrapped around a mince meat filling. The mince meat is ground beef or lamb, onions, carrots and a bit of rice. These little bundles of flavorful joy are boiled in a soup of water, tomato puree and onions.

This cooking method is also used for Sogan Dolma, or Puntene Paprike. The difference is that Sogan Dolma is onion stuffed with the meat mixture. And the Puntene Paprike are stuffed bell peppers.

To serve, place the cabbage bundles, the onion or pepper in a bowl (when served all together it is known as Sahan), pour the broth over the top and a dollop of sour cream. The cream seeps under the surface of the liquid tomato and is perfect to soak up with bread. Amazing.

Something you may not expect is that Sarajevo is a dessert paradise. The Baklava is amazing of course. But the sweets culture there goes along with the coffee culture.

Starbucks will never make it in Sarajevo because Turkish coffee or traditional coffee is the best and far too popular for a frappacino to beat.

Everyday I tried a different sweet. Proper and thorough research for you folks. You'll see my absolute favorites in the next post. The loppsided tower of sugar above was part of this research. Can you guess what it is?

Yup, marshmallow. I've never had freshly made marshmallow and it was exquisite and painful at the same time. Pure sugar, fluffy, gooey sugar. It was amazing for about three bites and then I had enough. Thank goodness I had a large coffee with it or I'd never get rid of the taste. Yikes. My suggestion in Bosnia is to stick with the cakes and fruit and steer clear of this dish or the custards. While the custards are tasty, they are sitting out for most of the day and build a thick film sort of like pudding does when it is in the refrigerator. It isn't texturally pleasant AND may not be stored properly. 

Egipat Baklava -- Old Towne Sarajevo

Bosnian food is amazing and I intend to spend the next couple of posts proving it. But of course, my most obvious (and delicious) starting point is the desserts.

There are many to choose from so I split them into two categories: traditional and continental.

Traditional desserts in Bosnia are gooey, savory and rich. Bosnia is my baklava paradise.

Baklava can be made with any type of nut, but every region, country or family has its variation. Baklava in the Middle East or Greece uses a combination of nuts, mainly walnuts and pistachios. Bosnian baklava is generally made with walnuts.

Egipat in Old Towne Sarajevo is known in guide books as the place to get ice cream, especially in the hot summer. But their gateaux and baklava are amazing.  Their baklava uses walnuts that are very finely ground. They layer the phyllo and nuts very thinly and because the syrup is soaked up into the phyllo, it stays gooey, moist and decadent.

When I make baklava, I use what I have or what sounds good. Always with walnuts mixed with almonds, pecans, or pistachios. The mix can also include dates, raisins or anything else I suppose. I've added the basic recipe, feel free to play around.

Baklava from Egipat, Old Towne Sarjevo

Ingredients:
Phyllo dough (store bought)
Nuts
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup melted butter
1/4 cup of sugar (for a different flavor, use brown sugar instead)

Simple Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tblsp lemon juice (can use fresh orange juice)

Recipe:
1. Thaw the phyllo dough. Begin by buttering/ greasing a cake pan. Layer five sheets of phyllo dough, by brushing each layer with melted butter. Sprinkle the mixed nut filling. Then repeat. It is up to you whether you want more phyllo or nut mixture to come through. I like to keep the layers consistent. The top layer should be 8 phyllo sheets thick.
2. Cut into equal portions with a very sharp knife. Back at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
3. While in the over, prepare the syrup by bringing the water and sugar to a boil, until the sugar is dissolved and add the honey and lemon juice and reduce. Take off of the heat and put aside to cool.
4. Once out of the over, pour the cooled syrup evenly over the hot baklava and allow to cool and set for at least four hours.
5. Do not heat before serving! Keep it cold and gooey!
 

My Old Dutch-Holborn

My Old Dutch

020 7242 5200

http://www.myolddutch.com/Contact/Holborn.aspx

 It's tough to find a cheap dinner in London, especially in a place that has delicious food. But we've found it in My Old Dutch on High Holborn.

My Old Dutch is known for its traditional Dutch pancakes, which are more like crepes than American pancakes. They serve a variety of sweet and savory, making the decision on what to get more perilous. I choose a sweet and a savory and when the waitress come to take my order I say the first I can think of.

The sweet variety is best for breakfast. The first time we went, I had the very simple and delicious pancake with butter and maple syrup. My friend Rebecca ordered her pancake with apples and vanilla ice cream and Richard had apples with bacon and maple syrup.

The pancake is thin but it is amazing how full I was, and I couldn't finish it.

Their savory plates are delicious as well. My favorite so far is the Ratatouille with creamed spinach. The ratatouille has massive chunks of vegetables and a nice zesty sauce. The spinach is wonderfully creamy. They fold the pancake over to keep it from running out. A lovely combination of cream and zest.




My friend Aurore ordered a Smoked Salmon and Mushroom in a creamy dill sauce number that was also very good. Finally, Rebecca ordered an asparagus, olives, spinach and mushrooms.

All day Monday, all pancake dishes are 5 pounds. There are multiple locations but the Holborn branch is in the best company with the historic Princess Louise just across the street.

A British Thanksgiving

Finished pumpkin pies! If you are in Britain, use flan pie tins. 

There are rules in every family when it comes to a Thanksgiving dinner. And of the three Americans at Thanksgiving this year, there were many expectations. Some families have marshmallows on their yams, others keep their sweet potatoes mallow-free. Most people have turkey while we did not. And every single family has a dish or side that is unique and an annual favorite. For my family that is scalloped oysters and 7-up salad. The former was well received by all, the latter—not so much. All in all, Thanksgiving was a blast this year but I definitely faced a few challenges

Grandma's 7up Salad. Write me for the recipe!

Challenges:

1.     Pumpkin pie filling

2.     Oysters

3.     Oven

The first challenge was probably the silliest. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. In the end, we did have this American favorite but the road to getting it was a long one.

I ordered pumpkin pie filling well ahead of the day. Three weeks ahead!! I waited patiently until Tuesday of the week for the postman to come through, but alas, no luck. Unfortunately, it was lost in the mail. I had to figure something out fast. There are two places in London to get pumpkin pie filling, Waitrose and Whole foods. Waitrose was a trek to get to, so Whole foods was the best option. Of course, all Whole foods had Pumpkin Puree. I grabbed three jars and hustled home to get baking.

Before I arrived home, I thought hard about what else I needed to make this pumpkin puree work. Luckily I had everything I needed.

Ingredients

Pre-made shortcrust pie dough

2 c. Pumpkin Puree

2 Eggs (Plus the yolk of a third)

½ c. Brown sugar

1/3 c. Granulated Sugar

½ tsp Allspice

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2  c. Evaporated Milk

The recipe I found called for much more, was wonderful and can be found at this link:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/

But I planned to make three pies, and this was a recipe for one, so I improvised. Instead of tripling the recipe, I only tripled the ingredients that were vital for the pie to set. I tripled the pumpkin, and eggs and doubled the evaporated milk, the brown sugar and the spices. I also added 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Then I crossed my fingers.

The wonderful thing about my oven and most British ovens is their consistency. It bakes evenly and at very high temperatures.

To make the pie:

1.     Preheat the oven the 425

2.     Mix the sugar, spices, and mix with the eggs. Add the pumpkin puree and evaporated milk.

3.     Pour into the pie crust and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

 

The second challenge was finding canned oysters! Like my friend Hugo, you may be thinking that Oysters should be fresh on the half shell. But our family also enjoys canned oysters.

The recipe is simple.

2. cups crushed Club crackers or Ritz, or any buttery-flaky cracker you can find

2 cans  or 3 tins of canned or smoked oysters

1/4 cup of oyster juice

3/4 cup of cream

1 tsp worchestershire 

1/2 cup melted butter

If you have trouble finding crackers, you can also make it is with 1 cup of saltine crackers and a cup of breadcrumbs. I ordered club crackers online and they were on my doorstep quickly. It was little more expensive, but I don’t mess with my grandmother’s recipes.

The real challenge was finding canned oysters. British grocery stores have nearly every other fish or seafood creature canned and preserved. I could find canned mussels everywhere, but no oysters. I went to three stores before I found smoked oysters at a big Sainsbury’s in Camden and that was my only option.

The recipe turned out wonderful and the smoky flavor worked well with the worchestershire and cream. Once you’ve found oysters, making it is simple.

1.     Crush or crumble the crackers to fine crumbs in a food processor or with a mallet.

2.     Melt the butter and mix with the crumbs. Put 1/3 of the crackers in the bottom of a square baking dish and alternate with layers of oysters. Save the last third of the crackers.

3.     Mix the cream, oyster juice, worchestershire and pour over the oysters and crackers. Top with the last bit of crackers.

4.     Bake at 425 for 30 minutes until golden brown.

The final challenge was the oven.

Even though it works well and bakes well, it is tiny! I spent a good part of the time running up and down stairs to check my over as well as my friend Rebecca's to make sure that everything was on schedule.

Despite the challenges, it had a wonderful time cooking for my new family in London. I am so happy I could spend my favorite holiday with people as kind, generous and supportive as Rebecca, Aurore, Hugo, Yannik, Jacobi, Flatmate Michael, Chris, Stone, and Pamela!!!

The Diner- Camden

 So it’s been awhile. I know that, but the thing is I am in London and there is so much to do and see that I have to expand the mission of this blog a little bit. With that said, I am also a master’s student, playing on the volleyball team, and I have very little time to cook. Which is another reason to expand the blog. Ergo, I am also doing restaurant reviews.

But not just any restaurant, restaurants that claim they serve amazing breakfast. Breakfast food is a big thing in the United States and even though any one can get a massive English breakfast here (contains: toast, fried eggs, sausage, bacon/ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, and baked beans), I look for a little more variety.

My first breakfast adventure took me to Camden town, a short fifteen-minute walk from my home to The Diner. From the name of the establishment, it is easy to imagine that The Diner is also heavily themed like an American diner. I really wonder if there is a website that pops up when you Google, “Pictures of small, middle of nowhere towns in Texas.” If there is, that is where the decorum for this diner is from, clad with red, white and blue.

As cliché as it is, the place was oddly comforting for we three Americans and one Dutchmen who sought a decent shortstack. Now this is the tricky part about finding “American” classics in Europe, they will never rise quite to the occasion and that is simply because of the change in ingredients and the market. I’ve learned to just be happy to get maple syrup. Luckily, The Diner doesn’t disappoint.

The pancakes were massive, a portion size you would expect in Texas. The pancakes were delicious but the batter was more crepe-like sweet and dense rather than the fluffy flapjacks of the United States. Even then, it was a lovely taste of home with over easy eggs and hashbrowns. Although, if you expect hashbrowns the American way, I guarantee you will not find it unless you make them yourself. (Which is not all that difficult, my next blog post I think!)

Typically, the hashbrowns are just like the McDonalds or Burger King variety, fried into some geometrically accurate shape and thankfully more delicious at The Diner than other places.

My friend Michael had Eggs Royale—a play on the classic Eggs Benedict, but with Smoked Salmon instead of ham-- Very tasty.

 

On another occasion, I’ve had their French Toast. It was wonderful, as close to home as it could be without making your own bread.

After a rough night out, it seems like the best place to grab a Bloody Mary, or their version called the Bloody Maria made unique with Tequila and hot sauce. 

You can find other locations in Islington, Kensal Rise, Soho, and Shoreditch or visit their website at www.goodlifediner.com. Let me know how you like it!  I will continue to add to this post when I try other dishes.

Presto Pesto

Probably the easiest thing I make is pesto and I make it all the time. It's pretty healthy, delicious and it takes a couple simple ingredients.

Typically it is made with basil, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil, but you can mix this recipe up as much as you want.

I typically have spinach so I play with the flavors. I'll use walnuts instead of pine nuts and the result is a full aroma and flavor from the walnuts and tons of great nutrients.

The ingredients for this simple pesto are:
1 cup of basil (fresh)
1/4 cup of pine nuts
2 tablespoons of parmesan
about 1/2 cup of olive oil

Use a food processor to break down the pine nuts and parmesan with a little olive oil, then add the basil with a pinch of salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil while the processor does its work. The mixture emulsifies into a creamy and full sauce that can literally be used for anything. Pizza, past, bread, dressing. The list goes on.

Now, as my blog says, I've had to make some changes to this process because I moved to London. I'm using ingredients that I am not used to and the product last night wasn't a failure but it wasn't to standard either.

 Let's start with the basil. Basil, as you may know, can get expensive to buy fresh so while I was shopping I came across a basil bush and immediately bought it. It is vibrant, smells fantastic, and adds a little life to the otherwise pathetic kitchen table. It has been easy to live with. Just water here and there and relieve the plant of some leaves so it can continue to grow. With the rainy and cloudy days ahead, I hope it survives. Luckily, it cost me a cheap (GBR) 1.99 (about three dollars), to by Nebraskan standards, that's a steal.

The pine nuts where an interesting revelation too, because they were also very reasonably priced (GBR 2.85). However, they are not cleaned or shelled nearly as well as the packs I've bought in the past. I found that out the hard way when I just tossed one in my mouth after opening the package. It was just like I ate dust. Ick. There, you are warned. The taste of the pine nuts were still very earthy and gave the pesto a very full flavor. The next time I make pesto, I'll probably cut down on the number of kernels I use.

Finally, the Parmesan. This may be obvious, but Parmesan, when aged, develops a very robust and rich flavor. It, along with the olive oil, give pesto the creaminess we taste. I couldn't find a block of Parmesan to grate myself so I settled for Parmesan shavings and processed them down. This Parmesan was very full and after reading the label again, I found that it matured/aged for 18 months. Boy, it had kick. Next time, I'll pull back the reigns on the Parmesan too.

I decided to make pizza with the pesto. A simple pesto with mozzarella on top. Nothing fancy. it was great, but could be better. Follow the recipe with ingredients from home, and you'll be good to go. But if you enjoy a full Parmesan flavor, add more. If you like the earthy taste of pine nuts, toss another hand full in. There are no rules. Ciao!