Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Daring Bakers- Fresh Frasiers - Challenge #6

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

I was initially going to skip this challenge because life got in the way, but then I was visiting a friend who encouraged me to pick some fresh raspberries and strawberries from her yard.  The fresh fruit made me think of this challenge.  I decided that the combination of both of these fruits would go great with the chocolate chiffon cake.  The making of all of the components was easy.  I learned that I am not a huge fan of pastry cream.  I can take it or leave it.  The challenging part was the assembly of the cake.  As you can see in the picture, the berries can be seen around the sides, but not as pretty and nice as I was hoping.

The taste of the cake was very nice; the pastry cream and cake still let the taste of the berries shine through.  The two other people that were lucky to have a piece, said it was very tasty.  I can see making this again, definitely for more practice on the assembly part.




Friday, July 15, 2011

Daring Cooks- Homemade Noodles- Challenge #6

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks‟ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

I was excited to see this challenge, because a good friend had recently introduced me to Chinese hand-shaven noodles at a restaurant in Seattle's International District.  Initially, my goal was to attempt to make these at home. Then life got in the way, so I decided to attempt those at another time and decided to make German Spätzle.

It is a recipe I definitely will put in my rotation of things to make. It was quick and easy and quite tasty.  It made a great light dinner for me one night.  I mixed in thyme, oregano, basil, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. It was quite tasty.  Below is a picture of the dish.