Thursday, March 3, 2011

Japanese Challenge


The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

I did it! Everything was easy. I wouldn’t say that the tempura was weeknight-after-work-easy, but if someone were to request it I’d definitely make it again. I made a dipping sauce with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, hot chilis, mustard, honey, and green onions. It was a perfect pairing with the all that fried food. 

Tempura:  Shrimp, sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, and carrots.


These are the soba noodles. I had never had them before, but they were pretty good.

The cold noodles with a soy-based sauce. It was a fun and exciting Japanese meal!

Panna Cotta

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I didn't make the florentines. Not yet. But I did make the panna cotta because I love panna cotta. So I made two versions:


The first was a classic vanilla panna cotta with strawberries macerated in honey and orange.

The texture was firm but soft, with a nice creamy finish.

The second one I made was a saffron-cardamom panna cotta...

With an apple-raspberry puree.

Another creamy, dreamy Valentine's Day treat.