Exotic Eats Give Away – Argentina. Win a Bottle of Dulce de Leche or Malbec Jam!!

(This give away is now closed. Go to this post to see who the lucky winner is! )

I picked up some wonderful things (all edible of course!) on my recent trip to Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina. The Historias y Sabores (history and flavor) chocolate factory in Mendoza, particularly had very delicious chocolates, liquors and jams. Surrounded by the smells of caramel, limoncello and wine, I thought of my readers and how much you’d enjoy the stuff the chocolate factory sold.

So I bought 2 exotic products from the chocolate factory, just for you. And I’m giving them away in this post! Before I tell you how you can easily enter to win the free random drawing, let me tell you what I bought for you..

One 100g bottle of Malbec Jam

Argentina is famous for its Malbec wine, and wine in general. There is wine in everything – wine sauce, wine jams and they even have wine shampoo! Malbec jam is a fitting representation of this part of the world.

This jam is made from local Malbec wine. It tastes almost like honey with a mild grape and red wine flavor. It’s not as thick as you’d expect a jam to be, but it’s great to drizzle over muffins, granola etc. I think the simplest way to enjoy this Argentine Malbec jam is over toast.

Here are some ways to enjoy the Malbec jam..

Use it in any recipes that calls for honey
Use as a glaze on tofu
Roast some sweet potatoes and toss in Malbec jam
Drizzle over toast, muffins or granola
Add the jam to pear poaching liquid
Make a cocktail with Malbec jam, vodka, grenadine and prosecco

One 100g bottle of Dulce de Leche with Hazelnuts

Dulce de Leche or ‘milk sweet’ is ubiquitous in Argentina. It is made from boiling and reducing sweetened milk. It tastes like caramel..only a lot better! The bottle I have for you is also from the Historias y Sabores chocolate factory in Mendoza. It has hazelnuts it in that lend the dulce de leche a luxurious butteryness.

Ive already made whole wheat cinnamon waffles and served them with dulce de leche – a huge success!

Here are some ways to enjoy the Dulce de Leche with Hazelnuts

Use it in any recipe that calls for caramel
Make caramel apples with it
Drizzle over popcorn
Make dulce de leche icecream by blending vanilla icecream with dulce de leche
Mix into coffee or hot chocolate
Stir into brownie batter while making brownies

How to enter the Exotic Eats Giveaway
You can enter the random drawing to win one of these Exotic Eats from Argentina

Malbec Jam

or
Dulce de Leche with Hazelnuts

Its very simple..

____________________________

Leave a comment in this post.. 

1. In the comment, tell me which one item you’d like to win – Malbec Jam or Dulce de Leche

2. Also tell me how you’d use it or what you’d make with it; be creative!
3. Leave your email address in the comment (so I can let you know if you win).

Increase your odds of winning!

If you blog about this giveaway and link to this post on your
blog, your entry will be counted twice in the drawing! Just let me know that you’ve linked to this post.

____________________

You don’t have to have a blog to enter!
Entry deadline is 11 pm EST on Saturday, January 24th ’09.
One random winner will be picked and announced on this blog on Sunday, January 25th ’09.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Waffles with Dulce de Leche

 

whole wheat waffles

My sister was visiting and shes a big fan of sweet things. I thought it would be the perfect time to use the wonderful dulce de leche with hazelnut that I brought back from Argentina. So we started the new year with some home made whole wheat waffles topped with lots of dulce de leche. I used this recipe, but made some changes.

Dulce de leche, or “sweet milk” is popular in Argentina and tastes like caramel. I bought mine from the Historias y Sabores chocolate factory in Mendoza. I also picked up a bottle of this dulce de leche with hazelnuts for my readers. I will be giving it away on my blog soon, so watch this space!

 
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Waffles with Dulce de Leche
(about 6 servings)

Whole wheat flour or all purpose flour – 1 1/2 cups (or use half of each type of flour)
Corn starch – 1/2 cup
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Buttermilk – 2 cups
Melted butter – 3/4 cup
Egg – 2
Sugar – 6 tsp
Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
Cinnamon – 1 1/2 tsp
Dulce de leche or syrup or honey for topping

In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Mix well using a whisk. Then add in all the other ingredients, except the dulce de leche or syrup or honey. Mix well. Let the batter stand for 30 minutes.

Heat a waffle maker, ladle the batter onto it and cook according the waffle maker directions.

Serve with dulce de leche, syrup or honey.

Buenos Aires – Helados and an Argentine House Party

As you can see from the picture of the Recoleta cemetery above, Buenos Aires is a piece out of Europe. The architecture is Spanish-Italian, the people are fashionable and the food is great.

I had lots of fresh salads, home made pasta and amazing ice cream. There were helado (ice cream) shops every where. Helado is lighter but more flavorful than regular ice cream and Argentines are crazy about helado (who wouldn’t be!). We almost always had to wait at least 10 minutes get a seat at a heladeria. Even the smallest heladeria had at least 20 exquisite flavors. They all give you two flavors with each purchase.

Here are some we had – passion fruit and strawberry (no picture), dulce de leche and mascarpone berry, lemon mousse and chocolate, banana and dulce de leche.

As if the helado in Buenos Aires wasn’t enough to make our trip there memorable, we hung out with a bunch of very handsome Argentine men and sampled some great local food. Juan, an Argentine psychology student was kind enough to invite us to a dinner party at his apartment. We met several of his friends, sipped wine, talked about Argentine culture, art and politics and had a great evening.

Juan’s friend, Manu made some amazing Paraguayan Chipas – little baked balls of tapioca flour, corn and cheese. They were sooooooo good, I had to ask Manu for the recipe:

Me: “Manu, these chipas are so good, you must give me your recipe.”
Manu: “Go to any grocery store and buy a box of chipa mix. Then follow the instructions on it.”
Juan: “It’s like Betty Crocker, you know?”

The evening ended with some insanely good brownies and helado topped with lots of dulce de leche….and me determined to come back home and make some chipas.

Eva Peron, fondly known as ‘Evita’ is buried here at the Recoleta Cemetery.

Exotic, Warming Teas – Kashmiri Kahwa and Moroccan Mint Tea

 

lashmiri kkawa and moroccan mint tea

Any south Indian family will know how to make and enjoy a good cup of coffee. The day always starts with a stainless steel tumbler full of strong, sweet, frothy coffee. But not in my family. Most my family are tea drinkers. Serious tea drinkers at that. Tea time at my grandmother’s house in India is an elaborate affair reminiscent of the British era. Every morning and evening, tea is carefully brewed and poured into a bone china tea pot with pink roses on it. A matching creamer with full fat milk, tea cups with saucers, little teaspoons and sugar are all placed on a tray. The tray is then ceremoniously placed on a teapoy before my grandmother. The tea is mixed, Marie biscuits are dunked and the slurping starts.

One day my grandmother offered a sip of tea to my 13 year old cousin, T. He loved it and wanted more. Then there was a great discussion whether a 13 year old boy should be drinking tea or not. But T had his way. And from that day on, my cousin had his daily tea, with his own little teapot, tray and teapoy. He is 35 now and still takes his tea with the same pomp and ritual.

Me…I’m not into 19th century teapoys or pretty British teapots. But I do have cute mugs and some great tea recipes that will be just perfect for a cold winter’s day.

 

Kashmiri Kahwa (makes 2 cups)

We use to live 3 doors away from a Kashmiri family. Every time we visited them they would offer us Kahwa (or Kehwa) – Kashmiri green tea spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, saffron and walnuts. The saffron gives the tea a beautiful golden, honey color. The walnuts impart a delightful buttery flavor.

Green Tea – 1 tsp (I used Chinese gunpowder tea)
Cloves – 2
Cardamom – 3
Cinnamon – 1/2 tsp powdered or 1 stick
Walnuts – 4
Saffron – a pinch
Sugar to taste
Water – 2 1/2 cups

Coarsely chop the walnuts. Using the back of a wooden spoon, lightly crush the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon stick, if using.

Place the water, crushed cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and gently boil the water for about 5 minutes. Then add the green tea. Immediately turn off the heat. Let the tea steep in the water for about 2 minutes. Stir in sugar. Strain the tea.

To serve, divide the walnuts and saffron and place in tea cups or mugs. Pour tea over the saffron and walnut pieces.

Moroccan Mint Tea
(makes 2 cups)

We first had this refreshing mint tea when we went to Morocco. The tea was ubiquitous – every home and every shop always served a glass. We were even offered mint tea in the middle of the sahara dessert!

Green Tea – 1 tsp (I used Chinese gunpowder tea)
Mint – about 5 sprigs
Sugar to taste
Water – 2 cups

Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Turn off heat and add the green tea. Let tea steep about 2 minutes. Add sugar and mix well. Strain the tea.

Place the mint sprigs in tea cups or mugs. You’ll need to use about 2 full sprigs of mint per medium sized cup/mug. This might seem like a lot of mint, but that’s what imparts flavor to the tea.

Pour hot tea over the mint and serve immediately.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous

My friend V introduced me to pearl couscous. Last year, she made us a delicious, spicy dish with sauteed pearl couscous, cumin and crushed peanuts. That got me hooked onto these little chewy ‘pearls’. Also called Israeli couscous, pearl couscous is actually a pasta. I bought mine at Trader Joe’s and V told me its available at Whole Foods as well. I love its texture in soup and it cooks in under 10 minutes. In keeping with this weeks ‘easy cooking’ theme, I made a soup with lots of crushed peppercorns, spinach, kale and pearl couscous.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous
(about 6 servings)

Pearl Couscous – 1 1/4 cup, raw (or use any kind of small pasta – orzo, small shells or macaroni)
Frozen Spinach – a 10 oz package, thawed. (or use fresh spinach)
Kale or any kind of greens – 2 cups, chopped
Cannellini beans – 1 can
Onion – 1 large
Garlic – 4 cloves
Parsley – 1/2 cup chopped
Bay leaf – 1
Peppercorns – 1/2 tbsp
White wine – 1/4 cup
Vegetable stock or water – 10 cups
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
Olive oil or butter – 2 tbsp

Place the peppercorns in a zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, roughly crush the peppercorns. This method makes the soup peppery. If want your soup milder, throw in the peppercorns whole, and fish them out before serving.

Finely chop and onion , garlic and parsley. Chop or shred the kale.

Heat the olive oil or butter in a deep pot on medium heat. Add the bay leaf and crushed peppercorns. When the bay leaf is fragrant, about 30 seconds, add the onion. Saute till onions are soft. Then add the garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium high. Add the parsley and pour in the white wine. Let the wine come to a boil. Now pour in 10 cups of water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, work on the pearl couscous. Heat a skillet on medium-low heat. Place the pearl couscous in the skillet (without any oil) and toast the couscous, stirring occasionally, till its slightly brown.

When the soup has simmered for 12 minutes, remove the lid and add the toasted couscous to the soup. Also add the chopped kale (if you are using a different kind of green, add it to the soup later, depending on its cooking time). Let the couscous boil in the soup for about 7-8 minutes. Check to see if its done – it must be cooked but chewy.

When couscous is done, stir in the spinach and cannellini beans. Turn off heat. Taste the soup and add salt and lemon juice.

To serve, spoon the soup into bowls. Drizzle each bowl with some olive oil. Top with chopped tomatoes, chopped green olives or grated Parmesan cheese.

Walnut Raisin Rice

This is a simple, easy recipe. If you have cooked rice on hand (I did), this will only take a few minutes to put together. I am only now recovering from Thanksgiving cooking and eating. And we leave for Argentina on vacation next week. So I’m trying to keep my cooking this week simple.

Walnut Raisin Rice
(about 2 servings)

Cooked long grain rice – 2 cups, I used Basmati
Walnuts – a big handful
Raisins – 2 tbsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt – about 1 tsp
Pepper

Put the walnuts in a zip lock bag and crush them lightly using a rolling pin. Place the crushed walnuts in a pan and toast on medium heat till they are slightly browned. Be careful not to burn the nuts.

When the nuts are done, add all remaining ingredients to the pan and mix well.

Any combination of nuts and dried fruit will work in this recipe. Try toasted pine nuts or hazel nuts with chopped, dried apricots or figs. You could also use brown rice or packaged microwaveable rice. If you are boiling your own rice, make sure it is al dente and not mushy.

Cranberry Crumb Cake Minis

Living in Virginia, I really enjoy the four seasons. They are so much more than just changing weather. The seasons signify mother earth’s cycles of renewal and replenishment. And cooking seasonally is a way of celebrating that. It is so easy to pick up the same old potatoes, carrots and tomatoes every time you go grocery shopping. But if you are thinking about cooking whats in season, you’ll discover all sorts of fruits and vegetables – rutabaga, dandelion greens, kohlrabi and so much more. Now, I’m not someone that cooks with seasonal produce all the time. I have no problem buying that unseasonal pineapple that traveled here all the way from Hawaii.

I picked up a beautiful packet of fresh cranberries at the market. Why consume cranberries that were canned or dried and packaged months ago when I can try them fresh and unprocessed?

I’ve never tried fresh cranberries before, but I wanted to use them in Ina Garten’s Blueberry Crumb cake recipe instead of the blueberries. It turned out perfectly. The cranberries were ruby red and had just the right amount of tartness. The crumb topping with butter and brown sugar was just magical.

I made a few changes to Ina’s recipe:
I cut the sugar in half – Ina’s recipes are fabulous, but always a bit too sweet for me
Used 1/2 cup cranberries instead of the 1 cup blueberries the recipe calls for
Used orange zest instead of lemon zest
If you use mini cheese cake pans or muffin pans, the cakes will cook in about 20 minutes (Ina’s recipe calls for 50 minutes baking time in a cake pan).

Ina’s original recipe is here.

I also decided to make the crumb cakes into crumb cake minis. I was itching to use the new Norpro Mini cheesecake pan that I won. Yes, I won it! The wonderful Mari, at Once upon a Plate Blog had a random drawing and I was one of three winners! Mari is a passionate cook and her blog is full of beautiful food. She sent me the mini cheesecake pan a few days ago and I decided to make the crumb cake in it. It turned out perfectly.

Thanks Mari!

Thanksgiving Menu – You voted, I cooked. Results are in!

Thankyou all so much for participating in my Thanksgiving menu vote! I truly appreciate your input. The results are in!

We are celebrating thanksgiving at my in-law’s place. My father in law is making the turkey (which I dont eat) and I volunteered to bring the rest of the food. I had great trouble deciding what to cook for Thanksgiving this year. So I had a poll. Thankyou for your votes, you’ve picked a great menu and Ive cooked it!

Polled by www.polldaddy.com

Semolina cutlets won the appetizer category. Many of you were curious about this dish and voted for it so you could see the recipe!

In the side dish category, wine and thyme mushrooms was the clear winner. This dish was also the over all winner, getting the most number of votes. I’m not surprised you picked this, its a great tasting dish!

Minty veggie kebabs won as entree. But I did not make this dish today. I just found out that I will be the only vegetarian at thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws. So it didnt seem worth while to make an entree just for myself. That doesnt mean you wont get the recipe for the minty veggie kebabs. I made these last week, the recipe is in this post.

Dessert – up untill the last minute there was a tie between apple baklava and pumpkin pie. I guess tradition won in the end. Pumpkin pie it is!

Now for the loser. The least number of votes goes to Tofurky! No surprises here :)

So heres the Thanksgiving menu:
(click on each or scroll down for the recipe posts)

Appetizer – Semolina Cutlets
Side – Wine and Thyme Mushrooms
Entree – Minty Veggie Kebabs with Creamy Cucumber Raita
Dessert – Pumpkin Pie
Orange Mulled Wine (not in poll)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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