Today's "recipe" is kind of a non-recipe, but it is a really quick, easy and neat trick for making little caramel or chocolate tarts with an oat base with minimal effort.
In Australia, we have oatmeal cookies called butternut snap cookies, made by Arnotts. They are the hard, non-flexible type of oatmeal cookie. They can be used to make little tart cases by heating them, four at a time, in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees Celsius, until they are soft (takes around a couple of minutes), then while they are still soft, pressing them into a patty cake tin or with the back of a teaspoon so that they form perfect little tart cases. You must only work with a few at a time because they harden again very quickly, and they crack or break rather than curve if you don't work quickly.
Here are the results:
You can then fill them with whatever you please, but for a super easy, super quick treat, I filled them with chocolate pie filling from a can - mine was from Aldi, but you can also buy one made by Nestle. See the photo at the top of the post for the end result. Ta da - quick, tasty and no baking skills required.
The recipe idea has been printed all over the place, but one source is here. I ate one of these little tarts and deemed them good.
Now for a really sad story. I attempted to take the rest of the tarts to work on the train in a cupcake carrier - and I mean attempted. A very rude, very arrogant person pushed past where I was standing on the train. He didn't say excuse me or ask me to move so he could get past - he just shoved through. As a result, he knocked the cupcake carrier out of my hand, and all the tarts fell face down onto the floor of the train. This created a terrible mess, as you can imagine, and I had to do my best to scoop up the wreckage into the carrier, and went to work with goo all over my hands. Now here is where it takes the cake - after glancing at what he had done, this person went to move on without saying or doing anything to help or apologise. I am no wilting violet, so I asked him if he was going to help to pick them up. His response was to the effect that it was my fault for being in his way, and did little or nothing to help before moving on as though nothing had happened. And there he was, wearing a fancy suit, and probably going to work to schmooze clients and pretend that he was a great guy.
I refused to let this individual spoil my day - I stood with my head held high, cleaned up my person and my cupcake carrier at work, and got on with my day.
For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, Kayte chose Creamy Spring Vegetable Soup from p18 of Modern Classics I. You can find a list of ingredients here.
This soup had so many green vegetables in it so as to make the soup itself the side to the vegetables; however, this may have resulted from me trying to quarter the recipe but not succeeding to do so with the vegetables. I took it to work to eat with my chicken for lunch. It was pretty good if you like veges.
To see what Kayte, Margaret, Chaya and Sarah thought of this soup, visit their websites.
On our first night in Chicago, at the start of our Route 66 adventure, we did not hit our hotel until around 7.30pm, so you can imagine that we weren't in the mood to go exploring. Our hotel was in Michigan Avenue, and was shared by lots of Comic Con visitors, so we were keen to find something close by and get back to our room before a zombie or a super hero came after us.
Luckily for us, the Artists Café on Michigan was a short stroll down the road on Michigan Avenue. What I immediately loved about the Artists Café was all the terrific old advertising prints that they had framed on the wall. I am a huge fan of old advertising, so it gave me plenty to look at while we ate.
The menu outside the café is what made us decide to venture inside; the Artists Café has a great range of sandwiches and burgers. I chose the Carolina BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich ($11.95) with coleslaw, onions and BBQ sauce:
Interestingly, I found that a lot of sandwiches in the US come on a burger bun rather than between two slices of bread. This is not a criticism; it is just unusual from an Aussie's perspective. I am a huge fan of pulled pork, and this tasty sandwich did not disappoint. The shoestring fries came as a side.
To make me feel virtuous by having some greens with my meal, I ordered a Café Salad ($6.95) to share. This was a typical garden salad of garden greens, tomato, capsicum and cucumber:
Tim and I both ordered alcohol and we were amused at being asked to produce ID; I think that sadly we both look older than 21, but I guess it was still nice to be asked. We also ordered coffees, but although they came from an espresso machine, they weren't quite what we are used to.
Our waitress was friendly and helpful, and we went to bed with happy tummies that night.
To finish off, here's a gratuitous shot of the Chicago skyline from the shore of Lake Michigan with my mug out in front. The day was bright and sunny, but don't be fooled - there was a killer wind that cut straight through your jacket, and I spent the day wishing fervently that I had worn my polar fleece hat.
412 S Michigan Avenue
Chicago IL 60605
USA
Ph: + 1 312 939 7855
As regular readers will know, I have just completed Route 66 from one side of the US to another - by coach. Yep, that's right folks, I did it in comfort and style, and someone else did the hard thinking for me. As our tour director told us at the start of the tour, "No, we are not doing what Billy Connolly did." That set us straight up front.
Here is a sign marking the start of Route 66 in Chicago, Illinois:
It may be spring in Chicago, but you would never know it. It is absolutely freezing by my standards, though clearly not by the standards of the native dwellers. I think Chicago is a fabulous city and I want to go back there to explore (we were only there for a day and a bit), but I'll go in the height of summer so that my poor old Queensland thin blood can cope with the temperature.
Purely by coincidence, right next to the sign marking the start of Route 66 is Russian Tea Time. My friend E said that she had the best time ever dining there, and recommended that I check it out. Being a bit time poor and not really having a good grasp of my bearings, I wasn't going to seek it out, but there it was, magically appearing on Day 1 of my Route 66 tour where we all stopped to pose with the sign. Neat!
Fate having played its hand, Tim and I went to dinner that night at Russian Tea Time. The premises have an old world feel, with dim lighting, red leather booths, chandeliers, white tablecloths and dark wood panelling. It also does high tea in the afternoons. Russian music plays in the background to remind you that it is a Russian restaurant.
On arrival, Tim and I were presented with a lovely bread basket full of delicious rye bread, and a "garden salad". I was to learn that the garden salad is ubiquitous at US restaurants, and is your standard salad of lettuce, carrots, tomato and cucumber with vinaigrette.
For entrée (called a starter in the US), Tim and I both ordered the Ukrainian Borscht ($12), made from beets, carrots, cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes:
It was served piping hot with a dollop of crème fraiche in the centre. It was really delicious and a great way to start our meal.
For main (called entrée in the US!), I ordered the Moldavian Meatballs ($23), made from ground chicken and onions in a sweet and sour sauce with buckwheat kasha, marinated beets and sauerkraut:
The name of this dish reminded me of the fictitious travel guide, Molvania, by Santo Cilauro. These meatballs were different and tasted just fine, but I preferred the sides, which were all fabulous.
I washed my meal down with a glass of Italian red (yeah, I know, but there weren't many US wines on the list and I am a pinot noir fan), and Tim had a beer.
The service was charmingly eccentric, and certainly prompt and attentive. The people on the next table were having a laugh-out-loud good time, so that is a ringing endorsement.
Verdict - I'd go back - it was a fun experience.
77 E Adams Street
Chicago IL USA
Ph: +1 312 360 0000
Today is French Friday with Dorie and it is Food Revolution Day, so Mardi has asked us all to join in to "get kids excited about food". She has asked us to choose a recipe from Around My French Table that we think every child should know how to make, and explain why.
My choice is not going to be necessary popular with children, but I think it is one every child should know how to make. I chose the Lemon Steamed Spinach from p331 of Around My French Table because (a) it is super healthy; (b) it is tasty; (c) it is bright and colourful; and (d) it is easy to make.
I used baby spinach as I think it is easier to swallow and nicer than fully grown spinach, which I believe is a plus for children. It is definitely easy to make - you just boil a pan of water, put a steamer basket over it, fill the basket with spinach flavoured with olive oil, lemon zest and salt and pepper, and steam it for around three minutes - and ta da, ready to serve.
Spinach counts towards your "five a day" target for veges, and it tastes really good cooked like this.
To see what the other Doristas made for Food Revolution Day, check out the LYL section of the FFWD website.
This is my first blog post back from my Route 66 trip. I scraped in making this week's recipe for Wednesday with Donna Hay the night before it was due. The last thing I wanted to do was to peel, core and grate six apples, as I am still suffering from jet lag. But hey, Cinnamon Sugar-Coated Maple Apple Cakes was my pick, and I had to do it. You can find the recipe online here. It is out of Donna's Seasons book.
The recipe calls for 12 x 1 cup mini bundt pans - unfortunately I didn't have these, so I made one huge bundt cake instead.
Here's a peek inside the cake:
The verdict: delish. Warm and comforting and sweet, this is the perfect tea-time cake for any time of the year.
To see what Kayte, Margaret, Chaya and Sarah thought of this recipe, go check out their websites tomorrow (Wednesday their time).
This week for Wednesday with Donna Hay, Sarah chose a popular Middle Eastern dip - baba ghanoush, on p86 of Modern Classics I. Baba Ghanoush is a dip made from roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic and olive oil. I roasted my eggplant in the oven rather than on the stovetop.
I found this homemade version of baba ghanoush tastier than its commercial counterparts. I would cut down on the garlic if I made it again, as it seemed a little overwhelming, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this dip.
To see what Margaret, Sarah and Kayte thought of this dish, visit their websites.
