As soon I arrive home, I always check my e-mail. This particular day, I found an interesting e-mail that I received from one of the Blogged.com editors. The e-mail informed me that they evaluated my blog "The Art and Science of Food". Blogged.com. awarded my blog a score of 8.3 out of 10 in the Family & Home category. Thank you, Blogged.com.

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It's been long time I was trying to find fillo pastry without L-cysteine at groceries, finally I found it through Yunike's review. Today, I went to check it at Vita Health, a natural food store; to see if they had it. I saw in their freezer 3 organic fillo pastry products; spelt fillo pastrydough, whole wheat fillo pastry dough and mini fillo shells. If you have no idea what spelt is, go visit this link.

I have tried this product and made them for berry mascarpone mini tarts. They turned really good and crunchy. A recipe of berry mascarpone mini tarts will be posted next time.

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This dish was renamed after Lobster Thermidor, which is thought to have been created in 1894 by Chez Marie, a Paris restaurant, for the opening of Victorien Sardou's play Thermidor. Others say it was first tasted by Napoleon during Thermidor, the 11th month of the calendar invented during the French Revolution.

Well, I saw a recipe of Lobster Thermidor in Canadian Living magazine, issued on February 2008. Two days ago, I remember I still had frozen lobster tails in my freezer. I convinced myself to give a try this recipe since it was my first time cooking lobster and modified the recipe as well by adding crushed chili, substituting chives for green onions.

I enjoyed this lobster tails with drizzle lime over, not lemon. Folks, enjoy the pictures and give a try the recipe.

Rock Lobster Tails Thermidor
Adapted from Canadian Living magazine and modified by me

Ingredients:
6 frozen rock lobster tails, thawed
minced green onions
crushed chili
lime wedges


B�chamel Sauce:
1 tbsp (12.5 mL) unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
1 white part of leek, chopped
1/2 stalk celery, diced
1 tbsp (12.5 mL) all-purpose flour
3/8 cup (67.5 mL) milk
1/8 cup (25 mL) clam juice
1/2 tbsp (7.5 mL) sherry (I omit this and substituted for lime/lemon juice)
1/8 tsp (1/2 mL) each salt and white pepper
Pinch ground mace or nutmeg (I grated whole nutmeg)

Directions:
1. Fill large deep pot with enough salted water (1 tbsp/15 mL salt per 4 cups/1 L water) to completely cover lobsters; bring to full rolling boil. Grasp back of each lobster; reduce to bubbly simmer; cook for 10 minutes or until lobster is bright red. Remove from water; let cool.


2. Halve lobsters lengthwise.


3. Set on foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.


4. B�chamel Sauce: In small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; fry onion and celery for 6 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in milk, clam juice, sherry, salt, pepper and mace/nutmeg; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until thickened. Strain through fine sieve into small bowl. (Make-ahead: Cover and set aside for up to 30 minutes; reheat.)


5. Cover lobster meat with sauce. Bake in 450�F (230�C) oven for about 14 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Sprinkle with green onions and crushed chili. Before eating drizzle with lime wedges.

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My laziness was coming back. I just made easy dinner for us. While I enjoyed this soup with warmed rice, my husband enjoyed it with open face ham sandwiches. The ham is not a real ham but soy ham for the vegetarians.

Open face Soy Ham Sandwichies

In this recipe I didn't use vegetable homemade, but I used vegetable broth for clear soup that is sold in a can at Asian groceries. It's just a modified simple chicken and vegetable soup that I used to have while I was in Indonesia.

I love nutmeg flavor and prefer use the whole one than the ground one.

Tofu and Vegetables Soup

Simple Tofu and Vegetable Soup
My very own recipe


Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 -1 whole nutmeg, grated (I prefer use whole nutmeg than ground nutmeg)
750 L vegetable broth
750 L water
300 g carrots, peeled and cut as desired
250 g cauliflower florets
6 frozen fried bean (tofu) balls (Indonesian: tahu pong/tahu sumedang), halved
ground white pepper
salt (only if you like saltier food, I didn't add any salt, since the broth has salt in it)
Chinese celery leaves, chopped (I didn't have them, so I added cilantro instead)

Directions:
1. Bring vegetable broth and water to a boil. Meanwhile, saute garlic, onion and nutmeg until fragrant.

2. Transfer garlic mixture to a broth pot. Add vegetables, keep cooking until all vegetables slightly tender. Add frozen fried bean balls and cilantro. Let simmer for 10 minutes more. Remove from heat.

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Blueberry! I love the color and the taste as well. Blueberry is one of my favorite berries. It's not on season yet, but the price is going down, just wait and and see until summer, it will be so cheap and everywhere is blueberry :).

Meanwhile, please let me share blueberry soy dessert that I usually get from groceries. It's smooth, delicious and not too sweet.

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I had been craving for fried chicken with Indonesian spices, since my husband is a pesco-vegetarian (still eats fish and seafood), I barely eat chicken at home, only at work and they're always seasoned with Western style. Last night, I finally made Ayam Goreng Bumbu Kemiri dan Serai (Candlenuts and Lemongrass Fried Chicken), served with warmed rice, sambal terasi (dried shrimp paste chili sambal), and vegetables.

Ayam Goreng Bumbu Kemiri dan Serai
My very own recipe

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
1 lime
5 candlenuts, grated
1/4 cup frozen ground lemongrass, thawed
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp sambal ulek (you can add more)
salt as desired (only if you need)

Directions:
1. Rinse off chicken under running cold water. Place in a bowl, drizzle and rub lime over and let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Rinse off chicken under running cold water again. Combine candlenuts, lemongrass, garlic, and sambal ulek. Marinate chicken with candlenuts mixture for 20 minutes.

3. Deep fry chicken until golden brown. Serve with warmed rice, sambal terasi, and vegetables.

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Tempted by several posts of my contacts on multiply. By far, I know Dwiana had made Cumi Goreng Pedas, Eva with her Calamari Bumbu Paprika, mbak Ienas with Cumi Goreng Tepung, and mbak Yeni with Cumi Goreng Tepung.

I came up with my idea to use Cajun seasoning and rice flour instead of all purpose flour. I like garlicky flavor so, I added more garlic powder even in the Cajun seasoning has in it.

Cajun Calamari Rings
My very own recipe

Ingredients:
340 g frozen calamari rings, thawed*
2 tbsp Cajun seasoning** (it's mixed seasoning which already has spicy taste)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
canola oil for deep frying

Directions:
1. Combine calamari rings with 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning and let stand for 15-20 minutes.

2. Coat the calamari rings in rice flour, shaking them out to get rid of any excess.

3. Dip them into egg and garlic mixture

4. Dip them into the bread crumbs mixed with 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning, coating them well, and shaking off any excess.

5. Up to this point may be done in advance, and the calamari rings refrigerated for a couple of hours, until you are ready to fry.

6. While you ready to fry the calamari, heat the oil (the secret to crispy calamari is hot, hot oil, just below the smoking point). Fry the rings (in batches) about 1 minute, or until they are golden.

Notes:
* Tips to thaw: Place unopened bag of calamari under cold running water for 10 to 15 minutes. Open bag and let drain in colander for about 2 minutes
** You can add Cajun seasoning as desired.

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My husband had been craving for nachos, I tried to make with any ingredients that came up on my mind :). Please do come back to read the directions :)


Vegetarian Nachos
My very own recipe

Ingredients:
300 g veggie ground round
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp crushed chili (optional)
350 g restaurant style nachos
1/2 can sliced black olives
1/2 can sliced green olives
hot chunky salsa
150 g Tex-Mex Kraft cheese
4 green onions, slices
1 jalapeno or Anaheim or harbanero or serano pepper, angle cut


Directions:
1. Saute onion and garlic until fragrant. Add veggie ground round, cumin, coriander, and chili; stir evenly and cook until veggie ground round done. Set aside.

2. Place nachos in a serving bowl, sprinkle over veggie ground round mixture, black olives, green olives, hot chucky salsa, and cheese. Bake just until cheese melted. Sprinkle over green onion and jalapeno pepper right before serving

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I'm still staying up till late night, browsing around my external hard drive, and found a picture of apricot. I almost forgot that I have this picture. This picture was taken last month. Please go and visit wikipedia to know more about apricot.

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I still remember somebody asked for a recipe of Caribbean Roti that I had at Tropikis while I posted a review of Tropikis here.

According to one of our friends who is her family from Caribbean islands (I'm not sure which country), they say curry vegetable not vegetable curry. So don't think I mistype if I write Curry Chickpeas Vegetable.

Tropikis restaurant itself sells frozen roti shells in a package. I just made the curry with Jamaican spicy curry powder, chick peas, carrots, potato, bird's eye chillies, red onion, and garlic. I found some of Caribbean curry recipes on the internet. Most of them are called for Betty Blind's hot sauce, the Caribbean style hot sauce which I don't have it, so I substituted for chopped bird's eye chillies. This roti shell is very wide and has dhal puri inside, so if you don't have time to cook the curry just warm up the roti shell in the microwave and enjoy it, it's already tasty due the dhal puri stuffed inside :).

Chickpea or garbanzo bean information can be read on wikipedia. Chickpeas vegetable roti's recipe is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging this week, hosted by Katie of Thyme for Cooking.


Chickpeas Vegetable Roti
Internet sources and modified by me

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 large red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic,minced
2 -3 tsp Blind Betty hot sauce (I omit this and substituted for chopped of bird's eye chillies)
3-4 tbsp Jamaican style spicy curry powder
1 1/2 cups homemade vegetable broth ( I usually made the pesco vegetarian version by adding shrimp heads and skins)
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 carrots, peeled and cubed
250 g cauliflower florets

frozen roti shells ready to use

Directions:
Curry Chickpeas Vegetable

1. In a large skillet saut� garlic, onion and chilli 3-4 minutes. Add curry powder and saut� 1-2 min.

2. Add vegetable broth, potato, carrots, cauliflower and as much water as needed to cover everything. Simmer till potato is very tender and begin to reduce broth.

3. Add the chickpeas and cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and turn off. This can now stand till just before serving time. It will thicken a little as it cools.

At serving time, heat the curry mixture to a boil stirring with a wooden spoon. You want a nice thick curry stew.


Chickpeas Vegetable Roti

Warm up dhal roti in a microwave, place on plate, put generous portion of curry chickpeas vegetable in center of roti. Fold into flat tube with ends folded under. Salad and rice are good accompaniments.

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I still remember when I was a kid I liked staring and browsing my mom's cook booklets that she had been collecting from the Indonesian women magazine, Sarinah. At that time, I never tried to make one of those recipes. As I recall, there were two of the fritter recipes that I love in that booklet, Nanas Goreng (Pineapple Fritters) and Bayam Goreng (Spinach Fritters).

The International Women's Day, hosted by Zorra; invited us to cook or bake something yellow. A recipe of Nanas Goreng (Pineapple Fritters) that brings my memory back to my childhood is my entry for that event.

Nanas Goreng can be eaten as the way it is, can be served by sprinkling over sugar and cinnamon generously, with whipped cream or your favorite ice cream. That is the reason why I put a dessert/snack recipe for the title. I don't remember exactly the ingredients' measurement in that cook booklet. I tried to make my own version on measurement.

Nanas Goreng
My very own recipe. Makes 8 rings.

Ingredients:
1 whole fresh pineapple
200 g rice flour(can be substituted for pastry flour)
320 ml cold water, 4 degrees C or 40 degrees F (can be substituted for cold milk)
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
a pinch of sugar
a dash of salt

Directions:
1. Place the pineapple on its side on the cutting board and remove the stalk. By using a pineapple slicer, you will get a clean pineapple without core and pineapple juice, once the core has been removed, separate into rings, mine got 8 rings. If you don't have a pineapple slicer, this link will be helpful for you who never cut a pineapple before.

2. Drain each pineapple ring with paper towel. Meanwhile, place and dry ingredients in a bowl, add cold water; whisk quickly. Dip gently eggplant rings into batter. Deep fried in hot oil until it turn golden brown and cooked through. Suggestion serving: sprinkle over sugar and cinnamon generously, enjoy with whipped cream or your favorite ice cream. I myself enjoyed them they way they are.

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These apples are almost going bad, should use ASAP. I might use them for mulligatawny soup.

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