Samosas AGAIN!

Well, I seem to be in a rut, but it's a good rut! I am loving these Samsosas! You can use many different ingredient combinations for the filling. To be a real samosa, it must have peas and potatoes, but then the world is open! I took them to a potluck and there were no left-overs! So I had to make them again. I used the dipping sauce recipe that was in the updated version of the cookbook (thanks Val!). And then the filling ran out, so made up some cream cheese filling (I softened the cream cheese with a little half and half) and added chopped peppers, basil, onion, and rosemary pepper. I am taking them to a potluck, so made these as a vegetarian option. To distinguish them, I have sprinkled those with paprika.

I love the pastry made with yogurt. The 6 oz container of yogurt is 2/3 of a cup..... EXACTLY enough for two recipes of the dough. It's so flaky and lovely. I find the dough recipe will make 20 rounds (~4"). I make the dough in my food processor, roll into 20 balls about the size of a large walnut, and refrigerate (covered) for a few hours. Then I roll them out in a folded piece of waxed paper, peel it off, then fill with the stuffing in my handy dandy pocket maker.

One change I made this time was to melt the butter in a dish in the microwave, but let it cool almost back to "solid" stage. That way it didn't go into the flour hot. Since I was doing it in the food processor, I probably could just use room temperature butter instead of melting it as the recipe requires.

Samosas - kind of

After reading Krispi's entry about the Samosas, I had to give them a go. First, I must say that I want that lovely little gadget she has to create the pockets. Incredibly cool and it makes the samosas look so pretty. Mine were not beautiful, (Are you seeing a pattern here with my cooking?) but, they were delicious.


I followed the recipe out of the most recent edition of the book (here is the link: Samosas). I guess "followed" should be used loosely. My first change was that I used whole wheat flour and as a result I had to add some water to the dough to make it pliable. For the filling, I cut up two sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes and boiled and then mashed them. I sauteed onion and garlic and then I threw in a bunch of spinach. Again, are you surprised? No. I mixed all of the filling together with a little toss of mozzarella (cheese makes everything better), salt and pepper.


The final result:

Like I said, they aren't beautiful and the dipping sauce (in the most recent edition, here is the link again: Samosas) is a MUST.

Side note: My 3 year old had been refusing to eat dinner for the last week and he usually is a great eater. He said he wanted pie and that was it. Can you blame the kid? So, we had pies for dinner!! He was very excited to have pie and LOVED the dipping sauce. He actually ate 2 large pies! 


When we had leftovers the next day for lunch, his first question was, "Mommy, where is my dipping sauce?".  


Thank you Krispi for trying this one out.

Montana's Mom's Dynamite Cheese Cake with Berry Sauce

I haven't made a cheesecake in a few years. I love cheesecake, but I've never had great luck making it. This recipe looked pretty simple and and straightforward, and it was. I'm glad I decided it to give cheesecake another try.

I prepared and baked the cheesecake the day before I served it to give it plenty of time to chill. I always feel a little nervous unmolding cakes from my spring form pan, and I felt especially wary this time as I realized that the recipe didn't call for greasing the pan. I needn't have worried, though; this one released easily in one piece. The distinct crust, cheesecake, and sour cream layers looked fancy on the plate over a dollop of berry sauce.

This cheesecake seemed lighter than others I've eaten, which everyone seemed to like. I think almost everyone had a second slice, and my friend's 8-year-old son ate maybe one quarter of the cake.

The berry sauce came together easily as well. I doubled the recipe using fresh strawberries and lime. It added a nice fruity flavor to the dessert.

Gypsy Soup

This soup was VERY easy to make.  I used chicken broth instead of water to give it more flavor.  It was not a favorite of mine but friends loved it.  Unless I have guests or am making dinner for friends I most likely will not make this one again.

Cardamom Coffee Cake

My friend Cere and her daughter Vida saw me checking out this cookbook from the library and told me I had to try the Cardamom Coffee Cake (p. 195). I love coffee cake, (what I really mean is I love any cake), and I had cardamom in my pantry (not sure why) so I thought that's not one, but two good reasons to give it a try.

Before we get to it, let's be honest: with a pound of butter and 2 cups of brown sugar, you could add a cup of dirt to this recipe and it would still be pretty good. On top of that, you use 4 eggs. In the past, this wouldn't have mattered much to me, but I got my cholesterol reading back last week and it's now over 200. So, this recipe had to be really, really good to make it worth all the saturated fat, cholesterol and calories. In short, it just wasn't that good.

I kept waiting for that bite of spice that I now know I like in coffee cake. It just wasn't there. I have no idea why cardamom was in my pantry or what I used it for, but it tastes to me like a really mild cinnamon. (I think I probably used it in some Indian dish.) This coffee cake tastes like a brown sugar cake - sweet, moist, but otherwise nondescript.

So, all in all, it's fine, my husband liked it a lot, but it's not one I will make again. (By the way, I am guessing that, with all that butter, this recipe was not "trimmed down" from the prior editions of this cookbook. So, it should be the same recipe as in the prior editions.)

OLD cookbook/Other versions

I guess I have the original 1977 version of the Moosewood Cookbook. I understand that there are several revisions for clarity and a nod to less fat. I am interested in hearing which version each of you is using. Also, I understand that the page numbers may be different in the revisions. I am also interested in knowing if people are using other Moosewood cookbooks for this time through.... I have several and the library has lots. What do you think? Are we using just the plain "Moosewood Cookbook"?

My cookbook has notes next to recipes I like and paper tabs on the pages I really liked and used all the time! One recipe has a note with the date of 1988 next to it! It was my birthday cake made for me by my friend Marty (of FH Elementary School fame) ... Date-Nut Torte on page 183. It was delicious!

Samosas/Calzone

Last night I started out to make Calzone (page 159), but the page flipped and I unexpectedly ended up making the dough for Samosas (page 155). I guess I was really pretty asleep! They are very similar, although one is a yeast dough and the other is a "pie crust" dough, and one deep fries the other bakes. I made the Samosas dough and baked them. I also varied the stuffing. I have one of those Pocket Gourmet makers, so was able to stuff them with more filling than you can by hand. If you like this type of little pocket things, this plastic gizmo useful. You can probably find them at the thrift shop.

I used the yogurt samosas recipe for the dough, rolled it out and created the pockets. The dough was a little wet, but seemed ok.... ended up tasting fabulous. It was flaky and really nice.

For the filling, I used some of the ingredients, but made some changes. I used: 1 baked sweet potato, mashed, ~1/2 cup thawed frozen peas, 1/2 cup shredded spinach(Thanks, Val!), garlic, sliced onion, grated carrots, salt, 1 T. lemon juice, 1/2 t. powdered mustard powder, 1/2 t coriander. I also had a left over piece of cooked steak, and chopped it fine and added it to the mixture. This packed up very well and held together in the dough.

After forming the pockets, I brushed them with melted butter and baked them for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

They browned around the edges, but were not overall brown. I used a piece of non-stick aluminum foil on a cookie sheet to bake them on, so sticking wasn't an issue. Craig even liked them. We each had two of them and a green salad for a filling dinner.