Sweet excuses - Apple Crostata

You know, I don't really like apples all that much. Yet, I always seem to have some lying around in my pantry! Funny, isn't it ?! And, because of their omnipresence, I end up thinking up ways of using them. Or perhaps, it is the other way around and I subconciously pick them up. They do make yummy desserts, after all! Hmmm...

Anyway, ofcourse, I had apples on hand. So, this time I decided to make something simple with clean flavors and little effort. That last part did not quite work out but the end product was delicious nevertheless.

You see, I spied a box of pie crust mix in my pantry and decided to make a Apple Crostata (crostata is really a tart that looks very rustic and homemade). Which is all fine, except, I have never made a crust from a box-mix before... ever. I flippantly thought that it would be a breeze. After all, that is the value proposition of a premade mix!

Oohh, was I wrong?! Sigh... The crust wouldn't come together and when it did wouldn't stay together. It really was a me or it competition, which, I somehow managed to emerge out of, with a semblence of a crust... eventually! Here is a note to self for the future; make dough from scratch or use only the pre-rolled pie crusts from a box!

Thankfully the rest of the assembly was simple and truthfully low effort. A couple of apples sliced, pickled in sugar and lemon juice and piled in the centre, edges crimped and popped into the oven. As the apples cook down in the oven, the whole house (ok, atleast your kitchen if you live in a house rather than an apartment) smells deliciously warm and inviting. (hmm.. I am starting to think there may be reason to suspect I might be deliberately accumulating apples!)

Note: Incidentally, in a fit to make it *rich*, I was a bit heavy handed with the almonds as you can see. In all honesty, you can skip them altogether and the crostata will be just as satisfying.

Apple Crostata

1 uncooked pie crust rolled into 10 inch round
2 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin (these aren't as tart as granny smith yet hold up well when baked)
3 T sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 T cinnamon sugar for garnish
1 T melted butter brushing
1-1/2 T roasted sliced almonds (optional)

Toss together the apples, sugar and lemon juice and set aside for a few minutes. Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spoon the apple mixture onto the center of the dough leaving about 2 inch as border.

Fold the dough border over the filling leaving the apples exposed in the center. Pleat loosely and pinch the dough to seal any cracks. Brush the crust with the butter and lightly sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over.

Bake the crostata until the crust is golden and the apples are tender, about 40 minutes. Cool the crostata to just warm. Sprinkle with roasted almonds and serve.

Crab Stuffed Manicotti

Pasta - I love it! What's not to like about it?! It's warm and comforting, satisfying, soulful and most important of all, real easy to make. And, it is even easier to jazz up many notches to make a special, thoughtful meal that can stand its own with fancy French dishes. And, ofcourse, you all know, I love crab meat! So, this dish was a winner from the word "Go"!

With a few simple ingredients and little effort, this can easily become one of the more luxurious meals that you can enjoy on any night, even week nights. Oh, and, it is a really versatile seafood pasta. You can easily substitute the crab with any firm fleshed seafood like shrimp, cod, halibut, baby scallops etc.

I made the stuffing with lump crab meat; you can easily use tinned meat but if you find fresh crab at your fish store, it would be even better. Tossed with light and fluffy ricotta cheese, minced scallions and mild spices, it adds just enough richness and flavor without being overpowering.

For the sauce, I used the basic Béchamel sauce flavored with thyme (you can use any other dried herb that you like). Doused over the stuffed pasta shells and topped with grated parmesan, it keeps the stuffing moist and also creates a lovely golden crust.

This dish just gives me yet another reason to continue my love for this Italian staple! :)

Crab Stuffed Manicotti
(serves 3)

6-7 manicotti shells
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan
2 T chopped scallion for garnish

For the stuffing:
1-1/2 cups creamy ricotta
3/4 lb fresh lump crab meat
5 scallions chopped fine (only the white and light green portions)
1 tsp tabasco sauce
1 tsp worschestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Béchamel Sauce:
2 T of butter
2 T AP flour
1-1/2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta shells for 5 minutes in salted boiling water, until they are soft but not fully cooked. Do not over cook the shells as they will break apart while stuffing. Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Use this recipe to make the Béchamel sauce. Meanwhile, lightly toss together all the ingredients for the stuffing. Be careful to not break the crab lumps. Stuff the manicotti shells with the crab mixture and arrange on a greased baking dish.

Pour the sauce over the shells covering all of them generously. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over and bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden.

Let rest for a few minutes. Garnish with green scallions and serve immediately.

And, so the legacy continues - Mom's Fish Curry (Meen Kozhambu)

Ok, no immodesty here; I am a pretty good cook. Now, how could I not be given my maternal lineage?! My mom and grandmom are simply phenomenal home cooks. But, despite my culinary adroitness with many a global cuisine successfully executed in my kitchen, South Indian cooking, specifically, my mom's variety, has always proved something of a thorn on my side.

In my few attempts to replicate her dishes, I could not match up to the flavors of my mom's cooking at all. In my annual visits back home, my only request to mom is to recreate those simple flavors that so elude me, so I could, for a brief time, bask in their deliciousness. In an effort to distance myself from these dismal failures, I shunned these dishes from my kitchen in totality.

Until today... Today, I decided to put my pride aside and tap into all my culinary resources and experiences in yet another attempt to make my mom's much-loved-by-me Meen Kozhambu. The sauce (kozhambu), the fish is incorporated into, is a base version that is also used to make many other South Indian dishes (vegetarian as well). Which, ofcourse means that mastering it is a must for a true conquest of the cuisine!

And I did it! I recreated the tangy tomato sauce that makes the sort of roux for Tamilian curries like vetha kozhambu, kaara kozhambu and ofcourse this fish curry. Even as I was making it, I knew this time I would get it right. The flavors came perfectly together. And when after a few minutes of simmering and resting, I lifted the lid to serve, the escaping steam had the same exact aroma as my mom's curry. And, even better, the curry tasted just the same as mom made it!

My fears have finally been laid to rest. I can now truthfully say I am my mother's daughter after all!! :)


Mom's Fish Curry (Meen Kozhambu)
(serves 4)

4 serving size fillets of any firm fleshed fish
1 onion diced fine
4 tomatoes blanched and crushed
4-5 whole cloves of garlic peeled(if you thought Italians used a lot of garlic, this one beats it!)
5-6 curry leaves
1 tsp whole mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
3-4 whole dry red chillies (we use the fat variety that you probably find only in Indian stores. You can substitute with dry long red chillies, chilli flakes or dry chipotle peppers)
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp coriander and cumin powder
1-1/2 tsp red chilli powder or 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 small lime sized tamarind ball or 3 T tamarind extract
2 T minced fresh coriander/parsley leaves
2 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
salt to taste

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil until glossy. Add the mustard, fennel, urad seeds until the mustard starts popping. Lower heat and add in the curry leaves, garlic and dry red chillies. Saute for a couple of minutes until the garlic cloves become golden brown. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and the powder spices. Over medium heat, cover the pan and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes are fully cooked and the oil separates.

Meanwhile, if using fresh tamarind, soak the ball in 1/4 cup of hot water and squeeze out all the juices. Once the tomato-onion mixture cooks, add the tamarind extract and water. Increase heat to medium-high to bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Lower heat to medium, add the fish slices and let the sauce simmer for 10-11 minutes (with lid closed) until the fish is flaky and cooked through. Sprinkle the coriander leaves on top, close the lid and remove from heat.

Let the curry rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend together. Do not lift the lid till serving time. The escaping aroma is simply delicious!

Serve over hot white rice.

Note: This kozhambu/curry can also be made vegetarian. Instead of fish add diced eggplant, okra, potato, zucchini or any firm fleshed vegetable that will not disintegrate into the curry.

Buttermilk Tea Cookies

For some reason, I had a carton of buttermilk at home and I was craving something sweet (but ofcourse!). I have seen quite a few cake recipes that use buttermilk but I was not in the mood for cake. I wanted something more bite sized, like cookies (yes, my cravings can be quite particular! :-) ).

So, I googled for a recipe and came across this super simple one to make buttermilk cookies. They came out crisp on the outside and nice and soft on the inside; sort of like a sweet biscuit. Well, actually since biscuits are made with buttermilk, not very surprising is it?! Anyway, these cookies are not flaky like a scone but more dense and chewy in the centre.

And, they make the perfect accompaniment for milk tea; they taste great dipped in tea, just the way I like them!! :) Also, they have have a reasonably long shelf life when stored in an air tight container.

Now, I made these plain but you can also make them extra pretty by topping them with a bit of lemon or vanilla glaze.


Buttermilk Tea Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in the middle. Whisk together the dry ingredients and the zest. Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then stir in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches at low speed, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until smooth.

Drop level tablespoons of dough about 1 1/2 inches apart onto a greased baking sheet. Bake until cookies are puffed and edges are golden about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheet for a minute and then transfer to a rack.

If you want to add the glaze, whisk together a cup and a half of confectioner's sugar, a tsp of vanilla extract or lemon juice (depending on what glaze you want) and 3 tablespoons of buttermilk. Brush on top of cookies and let cool. Glaze will harden.

Independence hike into the Catskills!

Yes!! We declared independence from the weather monsters and decided to hike up the highest peak in the Catskills, Slide Mountain. Oh and yes, we did it on July 4! :) It was a lovely, clear morning with just a hint of nip in the air, unusual for July certainly, and some cummulo-nimbus clouds looking down at us nastily. But, we threw caution to the winds, rolled down the top of our car and headed three hours away from the (rather empty) city into the Catskills area and the town of Big Indian.

We have been in the area before; last year when we were camping in Sullivan County, we had attempted this hike by another route but could not summit due to lack of time and fast-approaching dusk. Well, actually, we had not really planned the trip and the sign post at the start was a bit misleading. Anyway, we made a promise to ourselves, then, to come back and tame the mountain!

So, after a bit of researching, we decided to hike up the mountain via the Curtis-Omsbree (CO) trail. As a background, there are three ways to hike up - Pheonecia East Branch (P-EB), Curtis-Omsbree (blue marked) and the Burroughs Range (red marked) trails but only the Burroughs trails goes all the way to the summit. The CO trail took us through all three.

The trail head is conveniently located at one end of the parking area for slide mountain. We started on the yellow blazed P-EB trail, skipping across a tiny brook, up a rather steep rocky climb and continued on a reasonably gradient climb for 0.7 miles. At this point, you can either continue on the yellow trail to the summit or proceed another 0.8 miles to the junction with the blue blazed CO trail, which, we did.

The junction is hard to miss. There is a stone marker erected in memory of William Curtis and Allan Omsbree, who had laid the trail out and unfortunately died in a snow storm while hiking in New Hampshire. Continuing up the blue blazed trail we passed through rocky outcrops, more heart pumping climbs, some sunny fern patches and a great lookout point.

The look out point is at 3500 ft altitude, approximately half way up the way to the summit, and offers a spectacular view (the photo at the start) of the Catskills ranges. Continuing along the blue trail, we came to a fork, where we turned right onto the red blazed Burroughs range trail. A short distance later we summitted. OK, this one is a tricky summit. There is well actually no view from here. Just a small concrete block marking the highest point. There is spot just before the summit which does have good views of the East.

But, a bit further over on the other side of the red trail, there is a rocky outcrop; the perfect location for a pit stop to enjoy the breeze (rather chilly it was actually) and our homemade chicken salad sandwiches (oh! and laughing cow cheese! I can eat just the cheese as a snack!!).

After a leisurely lunch, we discovered that John Burroughs (after whom the trail is named) had rested many a time at the same exact spot and drew inspiration for many of his essays. This fact was subtly pointed out to us by a large plaque on the underside of the rock (just in case, you didn't know the history going in).

Incidentally, the Burroughs Range trail traverses three peaks - Cornell, Whittenberg and Slide Mountains, a total of 14 miles round trip. We had thought of hiking this trail but being cognizant of the fact that there are only 14+ hours of daylight and the place was about three hours from the city, we decided to stay with the shorter one.

After resting for about 45 minutes, we descended via the red Burroughs Range trail almost all the way. For the last 0.7 miles we took the yellow trail again down to the parking area. The red trail is more rocky and definitely wasn't as much fun as the blue one. We also realized that this was the trail that we had climbed up last year. Anyway, I would definitely recommend going up via the yellow or blue trails.

The total trail length was 6.2 miles which we completed in 4 hours including the 45 minute lunch stop, a few minutes at a couple of outlooks and a few more in photo-taking. The trail was well-marked and I would classify it as a cusp between easy and moderate (The descent definitely made the ascent look tougher, but hey, that's already behind you! :-)).

So, all in all a great day out in nature! And not a drop from up above! Pays to take risks sometimes :)