Happy Pi Day!

It’s March 14th, and you know what that means?  It’s Pi Day!  (3.141592)

This is actually one of Sam’s favorite numbers, so we had to have a little celebration.  We’ve made a number of pie’s over the years, but our favorite is Sam’s speciality, the Rhubarb-Blueberry Pie!  We’re enjoying a piece right now and hope you are too!

We’ve also made a Tart Cherry Pie, it was delicious and should be on your list to try this spring!

For other ideas check out The Kitchn for some sweet and savory pies.

Food Matters Project #10: Cod in Spicy Rhubarb Sauce

Another Food Matters Project recipe.  This week’s recipe was chosen by Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla.  She had chosen Mark Bittman’s Fish Nuggets Braised in Rhubarb Sauce.  You can find the original recipe in The Food Matters Cookbook, other interpretations of this recipe can be found in the comments section in this blog post.

It seems that rhubarb was difficult to find for some of us trying out this dish.  I hadn’t seen fresh rhubarb in the store for the last month or so, all of a sudden it had disappeared.  Fortunately, Whole Foods had frozen rhubarb which I snagged for this recipe.

We had never caramelized sugar and used it as a base for fish sauce, and since we were unsure of the outcome, we stuck to the recipe.  Although, we’ll admit that this was not our favorite Mark Bittman dish.  I’ve made some notes, so please read it before trying this out.

Cod in Spicy Rhubarb Sauce
Adapted from: The Food Matters Cookbook (pg. 454)

We had followed the recipe, and the one thing that has thrown us off was the amount of pepper which it called for.  If you were to make it again, our suggestion would be to halve the amount of pepper.  In addition, we’d add some garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper to the sauce.  This would give it more depth, and taste.  If you don’t have cod, other fish that would hold up well are: halibut, tuna steaks or tilapia. 

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lb rhubarb, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
5 Thai chilies (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
juice of 2 limes
3/4 lb cod, defrosted/fresh
2 tbsp green onions, chopped

Add sugar and 1/4 cup of water to a large skillet heated over medium heat.  Stir every once in a while, while the sugar dissolves, then bubbles and darkens- about 10 minutes.  Then turn off the heat, and stir in another 1/4 cup of water.  Again, turn on the heat and stir the sauce until the caramel dissolves and thickens.

Then, add the rhubarb, onion and chiles.  Cook the vegetables for 10 minutes, until they are soft and the sauce begins to melt.  Mix together the salt, pepper and lime juice, then pour into the pan.  Stir well, and then add the fish.  Cover the skillet and allow the fish to cook until it is done.

We served this with some rice and garnished with green onions.

Travel Photos- Bonn, Germany

My second part of the trip included the area around Bonn, Germany.  Here is the photo version of the trip:

I took the train from Frankfurt to Bonn.  Although it is winter, the trip wasn’t as pretty as it could be, but I can imagine how beautiful it is here during the summer.  Along the way, there are small towns on the Rhine River:

I really didn’t get much of a chance to walk around Bonn; but I did get to explore a bit.  Just steps away from the Bonn Hauptbahnhof (Bonn Central Station), is the Münsterplatz.  It’s a large plaza, filled with a lot of shopping (H&M, department stores, chocolate stores, etc).  It also has:

the Beethoven Monument!  This bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was unveiled in 1845 in honor of the composer’s 75th birthday anniversary.  Bonn was his birthplace.

On the other side of the plaza is:

is the Bonn Minster, one of the oldest churches in Germany.

I couldn’t leave Germany without having a delicious pretzel!  There are so many bakeries, almost on every corner, which sell fresh bread, pretzels and sweets.

At the hotel I stayed in, I had some delicious meals:

This was a chicken and egg sandwich.  The chicken was breaded and fried, with an egg on top.  Another dish I had was:

a salad with a schnitzel (a boneless, breaded, fried piece of meat) and another fried egg!  There is something to be said about egg yolk on top of of some fried meat and salad- I think we should try this for dinner sometime.

I did stop in a grocery story, got an extra large Ritter chocolate (hazelnut and milk chocolate), and some strawberry-rhubarb jelly (my favorite!).  I almost never see this in the US, so I had buy some to bring home.

And that is how my Europe trip ended!  I wish I had some more time to explore (and a partner in crime!) but we’ll save that for another time!

Caramel, Pretzel & Nutella Bars

I picked this up from the Farmer’s Market today:

So I think a certain someone will have to make some blueberry-rhubarb crumble this weekend!  Cannot wait!

But for a richer, and more chocolatey dessert, this is a great recipe.  And it’s fairly simple, and easy for anyone to assemble.  Alice from Savory Sweet Life is very creative.  So when I saw this recipe, I also wanted to try it!  Who can resist Nutella?!?  But I would like to give her all of the credit for creating such a treat.

Key thing to remember is that when you do soften the caramels, use parchment paper between them and the plate.  We had a bit of a sticky disaster on our hands…it took a while to get it off the plate.

Caramel, Pretzel & Nutella Bars
Adapted from: Savory Sweet Life

2 bags of Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels (24 candies in each bag)
26 honey-wheat pretzel sticks
1/3 cup of Nutella
10 oz milk chocolate
3 tbsp half-and-half

Cut each rectangle caramel in half.  Then take 3 of the pieces (or 6 half pieces)and line them in a row on parchment paper, on a plate.  (Parchment paper is really important!)

Put the plate into the microwave for 8-12 seconds (depending on your microwave).  They should be soft enough to push the pretzel sticks onto caramels and sticking; but not too mushy that they melt.  Take 2 pretzels and push them into the caramels.

Next comes the chocolatey goodness.  I used a cheese knife to spread Nutella gently over the top.  Place all of the bars onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Lastly, I took the bars of chocolate, and melted them.  (I poured water into a pot, placed a bowl on top of it, and turned on the heat.  While the water is boiling, it heats up the bowl and the chocolate begins to melt.)  Remember to add the half-and-half, it makes the chocolate more liquidy, making it easier to pour it over the bars.

Once the chocolate melts, I picked up each bar and smeared the chocolate on the bottom of the bar.  Then I placed the bar back onto the parchment paper, and poured more chocolate on top of it.  I tried to fill in any sections which did not have chocolate on them.

Place the cookie sheet, with the bars, into the freezer for about an hour.  They are read to eat!