Reprint/blog from NYT

I want to make this. If anyone else has made this, please let me know how it turned out! (I might make it and bring it to the in-laws for Easter celebrations.

GREEN TEA AND RASPBERRY CAKE

Adapted from Kaori Endo at Rose Bakery, Paris
Serves 10-12

1 heaping cup flour
½ teaspoon instant yeast
½ teaspoon salt
2 heaping tablespoons matcha green tea powder (see note)
¼ cup unsalted butter
⅔ cup crème fraîche
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1¼ cups sugar
¼ cup raspberries (can use frozen).

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, yeast, salt and matcha powder. In a small pot, melt the butter. Add the crème fraîche to the butter and whisk; remove from heat.

2. Using electric beaters or a food processor, whip the eggs, yolks and sugar until the mixture is white and thick. With a spatula, gradually fold in the dry ingredients. Then add the crème fraîche/butter mixture. (If the result is very thick, don’t hesitate to reheat it a tad.) Pour half of the mixture into a buttered cake pan. Distribute half of the raspberries into the batter. Pour the rest of the mixture into the pan, then the second half of the raspberries, using your finger to press them just below the surface.

3. Bake until lightly golden and a knife inserted comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

Note: Matcha powder available at Asian supermarkets, such as Sunrise Mart.

London Food Update!

Attention, all Americans living in the UK and wondering where to get garlic powder... Asian markets. There's two that I went into in Chinatown (London:Soho) that had big bags of it for sale.

Baa, baa

I really wish there were a way to have an audio file of a sheep bleating when your eyes pass over the title of this blog post.

Shy of that, I'll just have to be satisfied that I now have you hearing the sound now.

We all know (or should know) that I'm a knitter. Sometimes knitterly things show up in the media. Most of the time they're cutsey or just plain shit.

This, however, is brilliant.

As I told B, if we lived in Belgium, we would be going through this company for our natural gas needs based on this commercial alone.

What's even better is that the company did a follow up on how the commercial was made.

I'm of two minds. First off, "all that work, gone!"

Second, "did they get to keep the yarn? How many ball winders were involved? And, just awesome!"

For the first time in a while, I don't feel like the use of knitting or yarn/wool is gimmicky. I think that this commercial verges on art.

Chicken Taquitos... Of a sort

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to make the Baked Chicken Taquitos posted in Foodgawker.

I had to make some alterations in the recipe as London is not generally known for being the bastion of Mexican food ingredients.

Green salsa (salsa verde) is not easily obtainable at supermarkets so I used standard salsa. When tomatillos come in season and are accessible via Borough Market, I'll grab some of those and some Anaheim chiles and make a damned fine roasted salsa verde for future use. The good news is that salsas generally freeze well.

For all Americans living in the UK (or UKers using American recipes), be aware that when cilantro is called for in a US recipe, it can be found in grocery stores as coriander in the UK.

Instead of shredding the chicken, I poached 6 chicken thighs (approximately 1 pound/450 grams/2 cups) in chicken stock with some onion powder and garlic powder. When I make this again, I'll probably put some taco or fajita seasoning in the stock. After the thighs were poached, I pulled the additional fat from the meat, put it in the food processor and pulsed until the chicken was akin to mince. Not the same as shredded, but with the mix of cream cheese and spices, I figured it would give more even distribution of meat protein through the filling.

Mexican cheese was another one that isn't exactly ubiquitous over here. I used shredded Monterey Jack (available at Waitrose/Ocado and Sainsbury's), but another substitution would be half cheddar and half a mild, soft cheese like Edam or Mozzerella. I would avoid Gouda. In a pinch (and if I didn't care about plastic cheese), I might use jarred nacho cheese. But only if I were desperate.

Topped with sour cream and store-bought guacamole, these were quite nice. I have four in the freezer for leftover eating this week. They should be quite good.

I wouldn't call them taquitos or burritos. More like sauceless enchiladas.