Peach and Ginger Flaugnarde: An Ode to Summer

I hate summer. Especially summer time in the South.
It was around 105 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon. Absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for. I don't care if it really is just God hugging us closer.

Why an ode to summer then?
Well, I've read other bloggers going on and on about how a clafouti is just a must-have for the summer. It's almost sacrilegious to be a foodie and not eat it at least once during this season. Too bad I couldn't find any cherries at the store. But, I did find peaches. And, that works, right? You would think so. But, no. Because a clafouti is strictly made from cherries. So, I made a flaugnarde instead.
Other than the type of fruit being used, I honestly don't get what the difference is between the two. It's pretty much the same thing. Really.

I guess that still doesn't explain my ode to summer. So, I'm just going to go right out and say this. This is my desperate attempt at hanging on to my break. School's starting on the 15th, and I'm already getting kind of depressed. I thought that maybe this would keep me in summer mode.

Anyone here know Presidents of the USA? They had a song called "Peaches". You know, I'm movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches? No? Come on, no 90s baby here?

Well, I was thinking of that song as I was making this. It's a nice little song. And, I have feeling that it's not at all about peaches...

I found the recipe here. I was immediately intrigued. Peaches and ginger? That's classic.
It was supposed to be made with yellow peaches, but I couldn't find any at that day, and I didn't really feel like using nectarines. So, I decided to use the white peaches. I like them. They're pretty.

Peach and Ginger Flaugnarde

3 to 4 peaches
100 ml of whole milk
25 ml of cream
3 eggs
60 grams of sugar
35 grams of flour
2 cm of grated fresh ginger (that's about 1 inch, folks)
3 tbs of cold butter

1. To prepare the peaches, fill a large bowl with boiling water, and another large bowl with ice water. Cut one peach in half (like in the previous picture) and plunge it into the hot water for one minute. Take it out and place in the ice water bath for one minute. Then, gently peel back the skin. Using a pairing knife would be very helpful. Cut each of the halves into four. Now, prep the other ones.
2. For the batter, beat the 3 eggs. I used a hand mixer, but a nice whisk should do the job just fine. Add milk, cream, the grated ginger, and sugar. After the sugar is all combined, add the flour and beat just until everything is combined.
3. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Grease a tart pan or a baking dish generously with butter. What's the point of making this if you're going to let it stick to the pan, right? Now, pour in the very liquid batter. Arrange the peaches in the baking dish. 
5. Cut the cold butter into 1 cm cubes and place evenly around the dish. Sprinkle some extra sugar on top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

The thing does deflate. Don't worry. That's just the way it is.

I love that little bit of pink on the peaches. So pretty. I feel so healthy for eating all this fruit.

Chicken Tandoori...supposedly

I've always been kind of freaked out by the red chicken. I mean, I eat it, but I had no idea what was on that chicken. Is it food coloring? Is it some kind of spice? Does the tandoori oven turn it red? No idea.
So, since I had some garam masala lying around in the cupboard, I thought I might as well learn how to make it.

Some people actually use red food coloring. I was surprised. The traditional recipes, however, use annatto seed paste--otherwise known as achiote. I usually see achiote in Latin American dishes, so I was really surprised when I read about this. But, being the amateur that I am, I don't have that in my cupboard. I mean, really, I don't ever use it for anything. Therefore, my chicken was not red. It just looked like roast chicken. It smelled ten times better than regular roast chicken though.

Creepin' on the chicken...

I've gotten very addicted to bon appetit lately. What a great magazine. I spent a whole day online last week, looking at their recipes. What great pictures they have!

bon appetit's version

I don't know what the heck they did to make it look that way. I love the tinge of orange on those chicken.

Easy Tandoori Chicken (adapted from bon appetit)

1 cup of plain, whole-milk yogurt

1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro, or 2 tbs of dried
3 tbs of oil
1 generous tbs of garam masala
2 to 2 1/2 tsp of salt
1 large garlic clove, smashed
8 pieces of chicken thighs (Man up; use dark meat.)
1 medium-large red onion (I like red onions better.)

1. To make the marinade, mix yogurt, cilantro, oil, garam masala, and garlic. Set aside.
2. The original recipe asked for 2 tsp of salt mixed into the marinade. But, I like sprinkling the salt directly on the chicken so that I know how much salt each chicken is actually getting. So, do it whichever way you like.
3. To marinate, get a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and place the chicken pieces and the marinade inside. Get as much air out of the bag as you can and seal it. Move it around with your hands so that each piece of meat is covered with the yogurt mixture. Leave it in your fridge for 24 hours.
4. When you are ready to roast, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Slice the onion into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices, and spread on to a rimmed baking sheet. Lay the chicken pieces on the onions and roast for about an hour, or until juices run clear when the biggest piece of meat is pierced with a knife.

See, told you. It looks like regular roast chicken. I love the color on that skin though. I think Ina Garten would be proud. Now, just serve the chicken with the sweet, roasted onions, and maybe a little bit of rice. That sounds like a wonderful evening.

Bon appetit, y'all.

What's crispy, spicy, and completely wonderful?

Samosas. That's what. Easiest riddle ever.

Look at that crispy, golden brown goodness. Slightly flaky pastry outside, and fluffy spiced potato filling inside. It's delicious.

I made this samosa to try out my homemade garam masala. I thought that the samosas were going to be just some kind of vehicle for the spices. You know, just a vessel. But, no. Oh, no. It was so much more than that. It's a superstar in its own right.
I wasn't in the mood for meat (weird, right?), so I made some vegetarian samosas instead. The filling was supposed to have potatoes, carrots and peas in it, but I didn't have the latter two ingredients. So, I settled for just potatoes. Don't worry. It's still awesome.

The recipe said that it would make about 24 medium sized samosas. I wouldn't know about that since I made bite-sized ones. So, try it out and see how it works out for you. The dough was wonderful. Most people say that samosas are difficult to make, but I didn't find it that troublesome. The dough was wonderful, and definitely one of the friendliest dough I've ever worked with.
The original recipe for the filling (click here) is wonderful, but I didn't have a couple of the ingredients on there. So, I just adjusted it according to the things in my cupboard.

Vegetarian Samosas

Dough

• 225 gr of flour
• 2 tbs of oil
• 2 tsp of salt
• 80 ml of water

Filling

• 2 large potatoes
• 2 green onions
• about 1/2 inch of ginger, smashed
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• 3 tbs of oil
• 1/2 tsp of garlic, minced
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric (if you have dried sliced turmeric, use 2 to 3 pieces)
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder
• 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt

1. For the dough, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a hole in the center of the mixture and pour in the oil and the water. You'll need all of it. Then, use a fork to combine. After a couple of minutes, go in there with your hands. Dump on to a clean surface, and knead into a smooth ball. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, or until they just become fork tender. Don't make it mushy! After that, use a fork to break up the potatoes into small, crumbly pieces. Don't mash it completely.
3. Saute the garlic, green chili, ginger, and coriander in oil for a minute.
4. Add the green onions and let it cook for a minute or two. Add turmeric, chili powder, salt, and garam masala. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, and add the cooked potatoes. Only cook until everything is nicely combined.
5. After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, divide it into two parts. Then, the divided the two parts into six portions.
6. Roll out each portion into a circle as best as you can. Mine were jacked up, too. Don't worry. Cut the circles in half, making two half moon shapes. Take one of them and brush the straight edge with water. Don't overdo the water; it'll make your dough mushy and more prone to tearing when you stuff it. 
7. After brushing it with water, fold it over and crimp it together to make a cone. Open it up, and insert about 1 tbs of filling. Brush the inner edges of the top of the cone with water and crimp it up nice and tightly.
8. Fry the samosas on low to medium heat until they are golden.

The frying part is a little tricky. You kind of have to watch the temperature with these guys. If the oil is too hot, the shell will start to form bubbles that look like tiny blisters. You don't really want that. If the oil isn't hot enough, the thing won't really puff up. So, uh, good luck with that.

Making your own garam masala...

I have a hankering for spicy foods right now. Like, I want some--badly.

Most Indonesian dishes use a lot of spices. We love us some spices. I remember when I was in elementary school, I was in pramuka, or Cub Scout. One day, we were told to prepare for an outing, and one of the things the instructor told us to do was to go home, and sniff some spices. We were weirded out also. So, I went home, and rummaged through in our family's spice baskets (Yes, that's how much we use them).
Sure enough, on the outing, they asked us to identify around 15 different spices by sniffing them. I owned.
I got everything right--galangal root, tumeric, fingerroot, cutcherry, and so on--except for two. I confused shallots for onions. Big deal. I was feeling pretty good about myself. But, then again, I think I had an advantage because I probably helped out my mom more than the other girls helped out theirs. Not my fault.

Anyway, I made some homemade garam masala today. For those of you who don't know what it is, garam masala is a spice blend that's very important in Indian cuisine, especially Northern Indian cuisine. The blend usually has cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, and etc. It's very pungent stuff.

Garam Masala (makes about 1/4 cup)

1 tbs of cumin seeds
1 tbs of coriander seeds
1 tbs of cardamom
1 tbs of black peppercorns
1.5 inches stick of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of whole cloves
1/2 tsp of grated nutmeg

1. In a small skillet, toast cumin, coriander, cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves over medium-high heat for about 5 to 7 minutes. Don't try to be smart and turn up the heat! You'll burn the spices instead of cooking them through!
2. Pulverize the toasted spices along with the grated nutmeg. You can use a coffee grinder or a small food processor. But, if you have a mortar and pestle, please utilize it. I did most of the work using a small grinder, but there are just some things your grinder won't get. I had to use a mortar and pestle to get a finer powder. 
3. Store in a Tupperware in a cool, dry place. It'll keep for about 3 months.

Seriously, use a mortar and pestle if you have one

Finished product

It's now ready to be used in all sorts of different dishes--chana masala, tikka masala, samosas, tandoori chicken, dahl, and etc.