Shopping lists rarely work for me. To be more specific, in the sense of adhering to what I actually had in mind when I wrote the list. Often times I change things on the fly or end up with more than I had planned. One thing I have successfully managed to avoid, is to go shopping with an empty stomach. Bad idea. Regardless of any list, walking by a well assorted food stand is what always gets me in trouble. I fall for any eye-candy-qualifying fruits and have to know what they’re like. Fortunately not all exotic fruits are as expensive as pink pitayas.

What made me stop this time where limequats. Miniature limes or the green equivalent to the kumquat, in fact they are a cross between the two. Had to have them. Didn’t want to go overboard and in an attempt to control damage I only took a handful of each, limequats and kumquats (which I had before).

Eating the sour fruits raw wasn’t an option for me. What to do? Standing in the kitchen, still a little clueless, I glanced over to the fruit basket, saw the only orange left and knew what to do: limequats, kumquats, orange & vanilla jam.

Wash kumquats and limequats (untreated) thoroughly under water and filet the orange. Slice both kumquats & limequats thinly, remove small seeds. Leave about one third (of the slices) or per your preference intact, puree the rest together with the orange filets. Add slices, puree and juice into a pot. In case larger amounts are used, make sure the pot is only filled half way (prevents it from boiling over).

For the sugar I chose the 1plus1 type (1 part sugar used with 1 part fruit) to make sure the outcome was not too bitter. Add the sugar and the vanilla bean (scraped out seeds and shell) to the pot and bring the mix to a boil rapidly, while stirring. When it begins to bubble vigorously, let boil for another 4-5 minutes. As the mixture thickens, keep stirring to prevent sticking.

Normally I would pay close attention to sterilizing the jam jars (washed empty jars with screw lids) with boiling water…however, since I knew the small jam jar wasn’t going to last more than 2 days I generously skipped that part.

Pour boiling hot jam into jars, cover and allow to cool down for a few hours.

Resume: Even though I’d classify the result more as a classic English marmelade, a little on the sour/bitter end (which O. is totally into), the vanilla does great job compensating for it and thus won over my heart as well. Very yummy.

We almost forgot Blog Day 2005…
Today is Blog Day 2005. BlogDay was created with the intent to share 5 new blogs with the readership, allowing the web surfer to discover new, previously unknown blogs. Our take on “new” blogs is to sneak a peek outside of the food blogging space and share some design oriented blogs:

port2port
Daily Design Blog (G)
design*sponge
37signals
Design Observer

Check out more Blog Day 2005 entries.

When I read about this months theme for IMBB – Summer’s Flying, Let’s Get Frying! – over at “At Our Table“, I was thinking: OK, summer didn’t much bother to stop here (it basically flew by), so why not just ignore the fact and use it as a good excuse for some appeasing, comfort food. Not, because the smell of fried anything seems to stay forever in our apartment, like an unwanted house guest, and each time we tell ourselves that next time will have to wait. But deep down I love everything hot and greasy, no matter how unhealthy it might be, so next time became now.

Before I turned to some well-proven recipes, I did search for new challenges. My first thoughts were about those delicious Churros, which I had fallen in love with at a recent trip to Madrid. While skimming through Spanish cookbooks, the recipe immediately attracting my interest was for Pasteles fritos. The recipe seemed straight forward and to be prepared in the blink of an eye, the churros dropped to second place. Mistake? The outcome was OK, but nothing compared to the sensational Churros I had in mind. Granted, the preparation didn’t take long, but it was one of the most annoying doughs I have ever worked with, crumbly and dry, almost impossible to roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. Taste wise nice, perhaps a bit on the boring side, as I couldn’t tell the added sherry – should I’ve added more than the recipe called for…? No recipe here, as this one was more a mediocre experience.

So I had to turn to something more tasteful and happy making: Apple crullers. Pastry I used to enjoy – back in the years – at a friend’s house, while we were doing homework or having fun. This is the one and ONLY recipe I ever prepared using dry yeast, which never results in a dough, I’m fully happy with. Maybe it is just me, I don’t know. But while the dough is very tough and not easy at all to handle, the final crullers are a real hit. I remember searching for endless excuses to return to Mrs B’s kitchen and eat another one and another one and … Best eaten still warm!

Blend soft butter, sugar and eggs until creamy. Add salt, zest of a lemon.

Mix flour and dry yeast, add curd and the above mixture and knead the dough with a kitchen machine until it becomes shiny and flexible – which mine really never does! Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise at a warm place. NOTE: Admittedly, this dough didn’t rise the tiniest bit, it never did when I prepared it in the past (at least 10 times)… But since the outcome is so yummy, I simply ignore the fact ;)

Peel the apples and cut them into small cubes or grate them coarsely. Mix under the dough, using a big spoon or even the knead hooks of your kitchen machine. This is the tough part, as the tenacious dough and the apple pieces just don’t want to stick together… Keep fighting!

Heat the fat in a deep pan to about 160 ° Celsius (320 °F) to 170 ° Celsius (340 °F) and form little dumplings with the help of two tablespoons. This starts out as fun, but as this dough-apple mixture is anything else but easy to handle, it develops quickly into hard work – the little balls have either too many apple bits in it or none at all. Let them glide into the boiling fat slowly and keep turning them every 30 seconds, so they gain a nice and evenly dark golden-brown outside. If you take them out to early, the dough in the center might not be done. I always cut the first one in half, for a quick check. The crullers need to freely swim in the fat without touching others or the bottom of the pan, so don’t fry too many at the same time.

Take them out and drain them on a sheet of kitchen paper. Roll them in a bowl of (vanilla) sugar while they are still hot. Done & enjoy!

With my sweet tooth being all happy now, what about something savory? Here is a quick one, that also goes well with other antipasti: Fried Cheese Tidbits. Their taste and consistency depends – of course – on the chosen cheese (my favorite is Manchego) and the time between frying and eating them. I prefer them still hot with a slightly molten core, but then, I am also the one who’s famous for burning her tongue nearly every single time because of being so impatient…

Heat the olive oil in a pan until it starts producing little bubbles, when holding a wooden stick in it.

Put the egg yolk in a little bowl, add some freshly ground pepper and whisk well. Mix the breadcrumbs with the dried herbs and pour them in another bowl.

The Manchego is cut into little cubes or sticks and dipped into the egg mixture, until evenly covered, finally roll it in the bowl with the breadcrumbs.

Carefully put the coated cheese cubes into the hot oil and fry them, until they gain a nice brown color (happens quick). Turn them a few times and take them out before they get too dark. Drain on a paper towel and serve immediately.

It easily felt like a thousand miles between Haidhausen and Viktualienmarkt, fighting my way through pouring rain to “follow a call” from our favorite food stand. But first things first, the reason for getting out in the wet to begin with was a promise made by the owner of the said food stand last week.

When we, as part of our Saturday morning routine, came by his stall (Leo’s Obst-Standl), which is one of the nicest around (a magnet for a lot of food stylists, too), we noticed – it literally jumped at us – an ALL pink dragon fruit (with super intense dark pink flesh!) on his neatly arranged tables. We already had tried a white one earlier this year, which in all honesty didn’t wow me too much and certainly wasn’t worth the money, it was quite expensive.

The stall owner claimed that the pink dragon fruit, the one I couldn’t get my eyes off (its beautiful pink color was just too mesmerizing), would be much better in taste than its white buddy. He picked a big one from the few he still had left, weighed it and for a moment I thought I heard him say 13 Euros. Nothing wrong with my hearing – he did say 13 Euros and was both confused and amused by looking at O. and I, as we were giving him different signals: O. shaking his head from left to right (in a nooo-waaay, are you out of your mind? manner), I was nodding, though maybe a little shy. How often do you pay that much money for one, and only one single fruit? Grabbed my wallet and paid him; off we were, looking forward to a new experience with one of the most intriguingly colored fruits I’ve see in a while. The price tag, I was successfully blocking out.

Back at home the disappointment couldn’t have been bigger: he just sold us another white one. Needless to say I twirled on the spot and returned it to him, who very friendly apologized and took it back, offering to give us a call once he had another pink pitaya come in. That was then.

This week I finally received the awaited call from his daughter to come and pick up the reserved pink pitaya. Great timing, with the weather and everything. Radio just broadcasted severe weather warnings in most Bavarian areas and in some even raising red alerts and here I am in my rain boots dreading to step outside. I rushed back as quickly as my feet allowed me to and got started right away. This dragon fruit beauty had an even more intense pink than the one we had seen the week before – simply amazing. On top, the taste fully delivered on its visual promises. Much more intense and flavorful, I’d describe it as kiwi-melon-pear-ish. Despite the obscene price tag, I think it was definitely worth it and would clearly recommend it over the pitayas with the clear/white flesh. For curious souls, some more tidbits on pitayas can be found here.

Bottom line: sometimes size color does matter.