Saffron Fruit-and-Nut Bread

If you've been reading this blog regularly, then the chances are that earlier in the week you read about my new blog event "Make it with ...... Mondays", giving you an opportunity to explore and cook with some of those ingredients that you don't use everyday, or maybe take up the challenge to take a common ingredient and try using it in an unusual way.  This week we're cooking with saffron - you can visit this page to learn a little bit more about saffron, and how to join and cook along with "Make it with ..... Mondays".

Saffron is an ingredient I use quite often, usually in a dressing, sauce, or broth, as well as in risottos and pilafs, but I was keen to try and use it in a different way.  So, looking for inspiration, the first person I decided to turn to was Mark Bittman.  Now if I was fortunate enough to own a copy of Bittman's big red book, How to Cook Everything, then in an instant I would have had it off the shelf for a browse - sadly I don't.  I do, however, have the next best thing (maybe even better) - I have the How to Cook Everything iPhone application.  This handy application contains every single one of the 2000 recipes, plus variations, that appear in the big book, as well as "how-to" illustrations - what's more I don't need the benefits of a weight-lifting programme to be able hold it;  I can cross-reference recipes with built-in shopping lists; and I can take it to the supermarket in my handbag - can't do that with the big red book!  Sounds great doesn't it - well, here's something that will sound even better - I have one of these handy-dandy little apps to giveaway (works on iPod Touch or iPad as well), so keep reading.

But for now, back to the saffron.  A quick search of "saffron" in the HTCE app turned up 38 great-sounding possibilities, but the one that really jumped out at me was this Saffron Fruit-and-Nut Bread, a variation on Bittman's Rich Golden Bread.  Now, you already know that I like making things from scratch - though to be honest this often has more to do with wanting to know exactly what is in my food, than any desperate need to make every single thing I eat a "hands-on" experience.  Bread is a really good example of this.  I love home-made bread and making my own - there are few things more wonderful than the smell of baking bread wafting through the house.  However, I'm not really that enthusiastic about getting my hands in there and getting down and dirty with dough - I just don't seem to have the right touch for bread dough (same with pastry).  This is where my trusty bread machine comes in handy - I know exactly what I'm getting in my bread, there are an infinite number of variations I can try, and the machine can do all the work for me - that's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

So I set about converting Bittman's recipe for use in my bread machine, which is really just as easy as working out the order in which you should put the ingredients into your pan.  Obviously you should check the instructions for your own machine, but in most cases the appropriate order of ingredients seems to be liquids and fats in the bottom, then the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, etc), then any other additions (fruit, nuts, seeds), and lastly the yeast.  This order is particularly important if you are setting a delayed start on your machine so that you wake up to a fresh loaf of bread in the morning, for example - so you wouldn't want your yeast sitting in the bottom with the liquid and sugar as it would start activating long before your bread starts mixing - make sense?  If you would like the original version of this recipe (and all its variations, which include Rich Golden Rolls, Rich Golden Sandwich Bread, Cocoa Swirl Bread, Poppy Seed Swirl Bread, Cinnamon Buns, Orange Date Buns and Bacon-Cheddar Buns) then you will need to get either the How to Cook Everything cookbook or iPhone application (don't forget my giveaway - keep reading).  Here is my adaptation for using a bread machine:

Saffron Fruit-and-Nut Bread Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Mark Bittman

How to Cook Everything iPhone Application

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

(Important Note:  Because this recipe uses fresh milk and eggs, I do not recommend that you use the delayed start function of your bread maker)

1 cup dried fruit (raisins, cherries, cranberries, apricots, or mixture)

1/2 cup brandy or rum or apple juice (I used Marsala)

1 cup milk

2 large eggs, preferably free-range

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3-1/2 cups high-grade bread flour

(I used a stoneground, organic white flour)

pinch of saffron threads

1/2 cup almonds or pecans or walnuts (I used almonds), coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons active dried yeast

(if using Surebake, or other yeast with improvers, then use 3-1/2 teaspoons)

Before you begin put the fruit into a small bowl, heat the alcohol or juice, pour it over the fruit and set it aside to soak for about 30 minutes.  Then drain well, reserving the soaked fruit.

Now put the milk, eggs, butter, salt, sugar, flour and saffron into the pan of your bread machine IN THAT ORDER (or whichever order is recommended for your machine).

Then add the previously soaked fruit and the chopped nuts.  Last of all sprinkle the yeast over the top of everything.

Now you could finish this bread completely in the bread maker (as I did on this occasion), in which case choose either the Basic cycle or Sweet cycle and press Start.

Alternatively, you could choose the Dough only cycle.  At the end of the cycle, remove the dough from the machine, form it into a round ball, place it on a lightly floured bench, sprinkle with a little flour, cover with a clean teatowel, and allow it to rest for about 20 minutes.  Butter a shallow baking dish or cake pan that will comfortably hold your loaf of bread, but which the loaf is not yet filling.  Cover with the teatowel again and set aside to to rise for at least an hour, until approximately doubled in volume.  Brush the top of the loaf with a little melted butter and bake in an oven preheated to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) for about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden.

Once removed from the bread maker or oven, turn immediately out onto a wire rack to cool.

When you can control yourself no longer, slice and serve.

This bread had a beautiful, rich moist texture, and kept beautifully - when I ate the last slice this morning (5 days after I made it), it was still fresh and moist.  It was also extremely good toasted.  Normally when I use saffron I always infuse it first in some warm liquid, but since the original recipe called for just adding the saffron into the dry ingredients I resisted the urge to the contrary and did the same thing.  I'm glad I didn't give into temptation.  Certainly if I had infused the saffron first the colour would have been much deeper, but then really who could complain about the colour of this?  Also, infusing would have certainly released more of the flavour - as it was, the fragrance came through quite strongly and wafted up towards me in a heady rush each time the knife sliced through the loaf, and the flavour was just enough to give that "what's that unusual taste?" quality without dominating - complex, earthy and interesting without slapping you in the face.  Any more would have been too much.  So, as it turned out, I don't think infusing the saffron strands first would have enhanced this in any way, and may even have been detrimental.

Final verdict - this one is a keeper - I am definitely trying this again - next time I'm going to experiment with some other fruit and nuts, and I'm thinking that next time I will maybe turn this into some rolls or a braid and finish off in the oven.

Now about that giveaway.  Firstly, in order to win you need to have either a US-based iTunes account (in which case the appropriate code enabling you to download the application will be sent to you), or if you live outside the US then you need to have a PayPal account (in which case the value of the purchase price of the application in your country will be sent to you).

Then one entry to win this application is as simple as leaving me a comment below.

For a further entry, link up a post featuring our special ingredient (saffron) here at "Make it with ..... Mondays".  Older posts are welcome, and you can link as many posts as you like as long as the featured ingredient is used, and each one will get an entry.  If your post also happens to be a Bittman recipe then it will score an extra entry.

And for a further entry still, link up any post featuring a Bittman recipe here at the Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop.

Entries will close midnight Thursday 13 January (NZ time) and the winner will be chosen by random number generator and announced on Monday 17 January.

Interested in cooking some more with Mark Bittman?  I highly recommend any of these Mark Bittman books:

     

Available from Amazon, Book Depository UK, and Fishpond NZ

This post is my submission to "Making it with ..... Mondays" # 1 challenge saffron and Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop 3.  I'd love you to come on over and join in the fun.  I'm also submitting this post to the Tackling Bittman Giveaway hosted this month by girlichef who is giving away a copy of Mark Bittman's "The Food Matters Cookbook".

     

Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop Volume 3 & a Give-away

My goodness a month rolls around quickly!  In case you hadn't noticed today is the first Thursday of the month (first Thursday of the new year in actual fact), and that means it's Tackling Bittman time again.  If you've been following this blog for a while then you know that I am a big fan of Mark Bittman's, and you will probably have stumbled across several of the dishes I posted while I Heart Cooking Clubs was cooking with Bittman.  In order to keep that passion alive I've joined in with my friend Alex at A Moderate Life (founder), Christy at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy, Dr Laura at Who is Laura?,  Chaya at My Sweet and Savoury and Pam at Sidewalk Shoes to co-host the monthly Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop.  We're "hopping" the first Thursday of every month, and posting up a linky for you to join in, which will be open for one week.  This month, we're also joined by Heather at girlichef who is giving away a copy of Mark Bittman's book Food Matters - but, seriously, don't bother rushing over there to check it out, because I'm sure you won't want it - no really, come back, come back.  For goodness sake, the more of you that go rushing into this the less chance I've got - don't you care about that!

Ok, all joking aside, go drag your copy of How to Cook Everything down off the shelves, and get cooking.  You may of course use any other Mark Bittman book that you can lay your hands on, or even the How to Cook Everything iPhone Application (which I highly recommend - I'm also giving away one of these apps so keep reading).  Other places to source Mark Bittman recipes are here on the How to Cook Everything website and here on the Mark Bittman website.  Post your dish, and then join in the "hop" by linking your post here (or at any one of the other hosts - your link will automatically show up on all six host sites), following the instructions below.  You could of course link up one of your previous posts - it may be an old post to you, but it could well be new to our audience.  I do hope you'll join us.

Now for the necessary part - the rules. They are pretty simple, especially if you are familiar with hops.

Rules for linking:

Please use your best blog hop etiquette when linking. The rules are in place to help everyone have the best blog hop experience possible.

If you are new to a blog carnival, or blog hop, it is very easy to learn how to join in the fun! Simply go to the current blog post for the hop and scroll down to the bottom where you will see a small box that will say, "You're next" or "Your link here". When you click on that link, you will be asked to enter the URL of your recipe or article.

• Please link to your article only and not directly to your blog front page. The linky may ask you to upload a photograph from your computer, then you click next and leave a comment on the blog host's post.

• We also ask that you place a link back to the blog host at the bottom of your post - this means adding in the URL of the blog hop post, which you can copy from your browser address bar.  You could also choose to place a blog badge into your post, which is explained below. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

• At least one host will visit each link before the next linky period opens, because this is personal for us … we want you to know that we appreciate that you’ve taken the time to create a post, add a link back to the hop, and add your link!  We’ll be sure to acknowledge this with a comment and a tweet on Twitter (using hashtag #bittyhop).

• One link per blog monthly on the Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop, please.

• Must include a link back to one/any of the host sites (through worded link or badge) in your actual post, not just on your sidebar … although we love having links on your page as well (this benefits all of us). You will be sent a gentle reminder if no link is added to your post, we understand that sometimes people forget … but if it becomes a regular occurrence, (even though we don’t like to do it) your post may be removed.  It’s just not fair to those who do take the time and show the grace to link back.

• Linky will stay open from 5:00 AM the first Thursday of Every Month, to 11:59 pm the following Thursday (EST).

If you would like to use a badge, please copy the code in the box beneath the badge below and paste that into your post, and also into your sidebar if you wish:

<a href="http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/p/tackling-bittman.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa476/Susan_Busch/-1.jpg" border="0" alt="TacklingBittman"></a>

Lets's get cooking and thanks for joining in!
Sue, Alex, Christy, DrLaura, Chaya and Pam

Now about that giveaway - every comment you leave here and every post linked to Tackling Bittman (no matter whether you link it here or on any of my co-hosts' sites) will automatically get an entry to win a free copy of the How to Cook Everything iPhone application (also works on iPod Touch and iPad).  You can find full details here about this giveaway and how you can get even more chances to win.

Shrimp & Curried Coconut Risotto for Magazine Mondays

You might recall that a couple of months back I decided it was time to try and whittle down the embarrassingly large pile of food magazines I have lying around the place.  In order to do that I set myself the challenge of cooking something out of the magazine pile at least once a week.  Well I'm pleased to say that I've been doing just that, even though I haven't always been able to post the outcomes.  I also can't really say that I've made much of a dent in the pile, as some of these magazines are so good that I've been stuck in the same one for a month!  But, never mind, at least I'm using them, and I've even finally managed to discard one or two.

As you may have noticed, when I have managed to actually get one of these magazine gems posted, I've joined in with the Magazine Mondays group which is usually hosted by the lovely Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice.  Since, Ivonne is a little busy this week I'm honoured to be hosting on her behalf this week.

My contribution this week is a Shrimp & Curried Coconut Risotto, which I adapted from a recipe for Crab & Coconut Risotto which appeared in the December/January 2004-2005 issue of Delicious magazine.  I made a few minor changes to the recipe, firstly using shrimp instead of crabmeat (which is not readily available here), secondly replacing lemongrass with freshly grated lemon zest, and lastly adjusting quantities because I didn't have four people to feed.  You can see the original version of the recipe by following the link above, or my adaptation at the end of this post.

Other contributions to Magazine Mondays this week came from:

Kimberly of Couple in the Kitchen who made Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake with Raspberry-Cranberry Compote from the December 1998 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine;

Mary of Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats who made Crisp Maple Shortbread Cookies from the current issue of Chatelaine;

Chaya of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog who made Cornmeal Dumplings for Chicken Soup from the current issue of Bon Appetit Magazine;

Tina Marie of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor who made Julie's Noodle Casserole from Family Circle Magazine;

Grace at La Mia Vita Dolce (My Sweet Life) who made Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream from the November issue of Food and Travel;

Allyson of ReTorte who made Bobby Flay's Toasted Coconut Cake from the holiday issue of Food Network Magazine; and

Jamie of Life's a Feast who made Portugese Cream Tartlets from the December 2010 issue of Delicious Magazine (UK).

Shrimp & Curried Coconut Risotto Recipe

Adapted from recipe in Delicious Magazine

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

grated zest of 1/2 a lemon

1 teaspoon medium curry powder

3 large handfuls of arborio rice (1 handful per person & 1 for the pot)

4 cups fish or chicken stock, hot

250g fresh shrimp, peeled & uncooked

3/4 cup coconut cream

generous handful chopped coriander

toasted shaved coconut to serve (optional, also see note at end)

Heat the oil and half the butter in a large frying pan, set over medium heat.  Add the shallot and cook until softened, approximately 2-3 minutes.  Add the garlic and grated lemon zest, cook for another minute, then add the curry powder and rice.

Stir until the rice is well coated with everything, then add a ladleful of stock and continue stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.  Then continue in the same way, adding the stock one ladleful at a time, and each time stirring until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next spoonful.  You want to continue doing this until the rice has begun to release its starches and becomes "creamy", but still has a little bite left to it.  When you feel as though the rice is almost done, and you feel as though you are probably only going to add one more ladleful of stock add the shrimp to the rice at the same time.  By the time the rice has absorbed that last batch of stock the shrimp will be almost cooked and will finish off cooking in the final resting time.

Now remove the pan from the heat, stir in the rest of the butter and the coconut cream, cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Stir the coriander into the risotto and serve.  Garnish with a little extra coriander and the toasted coconut shavings if using.  (Note I used toasted shredded coconut, and I have to say that even though I love toasted coconut, I didn't like the texture of the "crispy" coconut with the soft, unctuousness of the rice - it just seemed to be too much of a contrast, rather like coming across toenail clippings in your dinner!  Maybe if I had fresh coconut which I was able to shave and then toast it might have been better.  Either way - you choose)

One more ingredient that would really finish this dish off nicely - a tropical island paradise in which to eat it!

While you're here, check out my new event "Make it with ..... Mondays" - this week we're cooking with saffron and I'd love you to join in.  

I'm also giving away a free copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything iPhone application (also works on iPod Touch and iPad) - full details here.  There are lots of opportunities to win, and this application really is brilliant, so do go and check it out.  All comments left on this post automatically get an entry to win.

Make it with ..... Mondays # 1

Welcome to the very first "Make it with ..... Mondays".

As I told you the other day, when I first started this blog one of the most important things I wanted to do was to create a platform to both educate my readers and push my own culinary boundaries, to learn more about making good food choices and develop my cooking skills - this blog, after all, is just as much about my own education and growth, both as a cook and as a person, as it is about sharing my knowledge with you.  I wanted to develop a platform where we could learn and cook together, exchanging ideas and knowledge along the way, and I got such a great response last year to my mystery photo series that I'm pretty sure you're interested in that too.

With that in mind, I came up with the idea of "Make it with ..... Mondays", where each week I will choose a different ingredient, challenge you to use it and post about it, and by offering a "linky" tool provide you with the opportunity to exchange your ideas and recipes with others.

Now, don't worry, I'm not going to challenge you to try and come up with an appetising dish made from something as obscure or unappealing as reindeer urine and, given that living at opposite ends of the earth means that not everyone is enjoying the same season at the same time, I am mostly going to steer clear of seasonal produce.  But we all have less frequently used ingredients in our pantry that perhaps we bought to make a special dish, used a 1/4 teaspoon out of the jar/packet, and now two years later we're still wondering what to do with the rest - aw, come on, I know you have - I just know I'm not the only one who does that.  Or, maybe you even bought an ingredient when you saw it at the market because you just knew that you had seen a recipe somewhere that required it - now, if you could only just remember where you saw that recipe!  Maybe you just bought that special ingredient because you were intrigued by it, liked the sound of it, or liked the look of it, liked its pretty packet, but now you're really not sure what to do with it.

So, that's what "Make it with  ..... Mondays" is all about - getting out those not so frequently used ingredients and cooking with them, and sometimes we'll cook with a more commonly used ingredient (like chocolate) but I'll encourage you to try and find a less conventional way to use it - mmmm, wonder which one of you is going to come up with a recipe for chocolate body paint!

I do hope you'll join in.  Just remember that this is very much about exploring the ingredient and sharing your experiences, and especially about having fun.  I want to know what you thought of the ingredient, other ideas you might have for using it, etc, as well as seeing your recipes - I want you to share the successes and the failures.

So, exactly how do you join in?  I'll get to that at the end of the post and, by the way, you don't have to have a blog to join in, which will also be explained at the end.  But first let's look at this week's ingredient .....

Saffron

Long considered the world's most expensive spice by weight, saffron comes from a crocus flower native to South America.  Each flower bears three stigmas which, after harvesting, are dried and used in cooking as well as a colouring agent.

Most of the world's saffron production takes place in a belt of land across Spain, Greece, Italy, Iran (which produces in excess of 90% of the world's total crop), Morocco, Azerbaijan, India, and Kashmir.  Smaller boutique crops are also grown in New Zealand, France, United States, Switzerland and England.

It takes between 50,000 and 75,000 flowers to produce about one pound of dry saffron (about 150,000 to 200,000 threads), which would require an area of cultivation approximately equivalent to the size of a football field, and which would take approximately 20 hours of labour to pick.

Egyptian healers used saffron to treat a variety of gastrointestinal illnesses, as well as making medicines to treat colic, coughs, wounds and scabies, and Cleopatra is reputed to have used saffron in her baths to make lovemaking more pleasurable.

Used in cooking, saffron imparts a rich golden-yellow colour to food, together with an earthy flavour, and grassy, hay-like aroma;  but, be warned, use it with restraint as too much will result in bitter and somewhat muddy flavour - not at all pleasant.  For best results the saffron strands are infused in a warm liquid before using to release the most colour and flavour.  When purchasing look for a vivid crimson colour, and lack of broken threads, both of which indicate freshness, and if possible choose threads over powdered saffron which can be adulterated with tumeric, paprika and other powder fillers.

So now it's time to get cooking.  To give you a little bit of inspiration you might want to check out these previous posts of mine, which all used saffron in some way ...

Baked Aubergine with Saffron Yoghurt Sauce & Pomegranate

Spaghetti with Zucchini & Shrimp

Pork Chops with Saffron Baked Potatoes

Now, down to the nitty gritty.  There are really only two rules:

1. Your post must feature this week's ingredient.  If, however, over time you have found a good substitute when you come across this ingredient in recipes (maybe because you don't like it, or it's not readily available in your area, or someone in your family has an allergy to it), then, please tell us about it, show us what you use instead and explain to us why, and then of course link up - this is after all a learning experience and it's good to know about alternatives.
2. Your blog post must link back to this post and mention "Make it with ..... Mondays"

That's it - create your post (or feel free to link up an old post if you have one that uses this week's ingredient);  multiple posts are welcome;  then scroll down to the bottom of this page where you will see a small box that says "You are next, click here to enter". Click on that link, and follow the simple instructions - please link directly to your post, not just your blog home page.

Want to join in but don't have a blog?  No problem - just email me your thoughts, ideas and recipes, and I'll include them in a round-up the following week.  To email me just go to the "Contact Me" button on my sidebar.

This link will be open 2.00 pm Monday 3 January to 11.59am Monday 17 January (NZT).

If you would like to use a badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beneath the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

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Lastly, don't forget my giveaway of a free copy of the How to Cook Everything iPhone application (full details here).  All comments here, or email contributions, automatically earn an entry, and every post linked also earns another entry.  If the post you link up also happens to be a Mark Bittman recipe, then you earn an extra entry.

Now go, get cooking .... what are you waiting for?!

Cranberry & Pomegranate Bellinis

Well, this is a first for Couscous & Consciousness - I'm kicking off the New Year with a beverage.  You know that I like to cook along with the I Heart Cooking Clubs group, where every six months a different chef is chosen whose recipes we follow for that period.  If you read here regularly then you also know that at present we are cooking with Giada de Laurentiis, and our theme for this week, naturally enough (it being New Year, and all), is "Celebrate".  You know - break out the party food, finger food, nibbles and dips, cocktails, etc.

Well, right now I am on my own - my partner has just gone to India for two months - so somehow making plates of crostini or the likes just didn't seem right.  I mean, really, if you're making crostini you make 24 of them, right? - not just 2!

So then I decided that a special drink to celebrate the start of the new year might be nice.  Now, on the whole, I'm not that keen on cocktails or mixed drinks - I'd really usually prefer just a glass of wine or, on a hot day, a beer.  I'm not that fussed on creamy concoctions and I really don't like sweet drinks of any description either - I much prefer bitter and sour tastes - so I'm more inclined to steer towards a gin and tonic or a Campari and soda, maybe even a Sangria for something fruity but still tart.

Leafing through my newly arrived copy of Giada's Kitchen I stumbled across her recipe for Pomegranate & Cranberry Bellinis.  I love the tartness of cranberry and pomegranate, and I just happened to have half a pomegranate to be used up;  I also had a bottle of Prosecco sitting in the fridge, so I knew this would fit the bill perfectly - serendipity.

Now I did adjust the quantities, because the original recipe is for 8-12 servings and there is only one of me remember.  Also the original recipe called for mixing the Prosecco in with everything else.  I didn't want to do that and end up with a big jug of cocktail that was going to go flat and be wasted.  So this is what I did ...

Cranberry & Pomegranate Bellinis Recipe

Adapted from recipe in Giada's Kitchen

Serves 4-6 people

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup pomegranate juice, chilled

1/2 cup cranberry juice, chilled

bottle of Prosecco (or other sparkling wine)

strips of lemon zest (original recipe called for lime wedges)

pomegranate seeds

mint leaves for garnish (if you have them - I didn't)

Firstly make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar, in a small pot, over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and keep stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.  (Makes about 3/4 cup)

Next, put a good handful of ice into a jug, add the simple syrup, pomegranate juice, and cranberry juice, and stir well.

Put a spoonful of pomegranate seeds into the bottom of a champagne flute, along with a strip of lemon zest.

Half-fill the glass with the mixture of syrup and juices, then fill to the top with the Prosecco.  Enjoy - cin cin!

Now, obviously, even though I basically halved the original recipe here I still had a lot of leftovers.  The beauty of not mixing the Prosecco into the juice mixture was that I used the rest of the bottle to make a jelly with fresh cherries (yes, yes, another day I promise I will share the recipe), and today I enjoyed the remainder of the juice mixture topped up with chilled soda water for a refreshing middle of the day drink.  Keeping the fruit juice base in a jug separate from the Prosecco also means that if you were serving this to a crowd you could offer the option of a non-alcoholic alternative.

In summary, I really enjoyed this drink and would definitely make it again.  It was tart and refreshing, and it reminded me quite a lot of Sangria.  I hope you'll give it a try.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to Cookbook Sundays, hosted by the lovely Brenda at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.  She's worth a visit any day of the week, but why not head over there right now and see who else has dusted off their cookbooks - you'll almost certainly find some great recipes, and maybe you'll discover a new book you'd like to add to your collection.

Happy New Year, Forthcoming Events, & a Give-away

Happy New Year to you all - this is always probably my favourite day of the whole year.  A day when I look back over the previous year with gratitude for all the good things that happened;  acknowledge and surrender the not so good things that happened;  and look towards the future with hope in my heart.  This year I feel this more keenly than ever.  Set against the backdrop of a year which was both tumultuous and challenging at times, especially financially (we are still in the depths of a recession after all), great things nevertheless happened in my life in 2010 and I have much to be grateful for - I'm grateful of course for the good health that I continue to enjoy, but mostly I am grateful for some truly wonderful people in my life - I don't need to say more, you know who you are.

Of course it goes without saying that I'm also incredibly grateful for all of you, my readers, for without you this blog wouldn't exist.  I'm so grateful for your support, your readership, your comments (every single one of them), and for the friendship with many of you which has grown from that - I even, over Christmas, got to meet one of my "bloggie friends".  The lovely Sasa of Sasasunakku was the second person to ever leave me a comment on one of my posts, and I was so excited to meet her when I went up to Auckland for Christmas, and she was visiting her family there at the same time.  Now you might expect that two bloggers, drawn together across the continents by a common love for blogging and food, and who don't know each other very well, might while away the time by talking about ... well, food.  Nope.  Although we are almost 25 years apart in age, we chatted away as comfortably as old friends, talking about family, travel, boyfriends, husbands, relationships, religion, politics, work, study, the future - food and blogging scarcely rated a mention.  Sasa is beautiful, talented, witty, interesting, engaging, intelligent, well-travelled, thoughtful, and definitely someone I would like to get to know better, oh and did I mention beautiful (okay, maybe that makes me sound like a stalker now).  Anyway, she creates a wonderful blog - if you haven't visited her before please go and check it out - you won't be disappointed.

As the year drew to its close, the winds of change began to blow - this seemed to begin as a subtle shift in energy a couple of months ago, and gathered momentum over the last few weeks, steering me towards a shift in course on many levels.  Where will that lead?  Who can say, but keep watching this space to see how things unfold - I feel certain that there are exciting things ahead.

In the meantime, while I've been absent from my blog over the last few weeks I've spent much time reflecting on where my blog has come to and where I want it to go from here.  When I first started my blog some 18 months ago, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted it to deliver.  I wanted to learn and explore my ideas about making good ethical choices about the food that I consume - such choices are not always easy or convenient, and the solutions are not always as simple as they may at first seem.  Getting all the facts about what we eat is never easy, and we don't always make the right choices, but we cannot live more consciously without having the dialogue, investigating, asking the questions - we then at least make a conscious decision about our consumption (on many levels).  Even if we don't get it right, I believe that is better than acting thoughtlessly, unconsciously, without care for the consequences.  I also wanted to share with you something of the importance that my yoga practice plays in my life, and how my constantly evolving practice also influences more conscious behaviours and decisions.  I also wanted to explore and share with you interesting and more unusual ingredients and ways in which they might be used.  I wanted to encourage you to make food from scratch and discover the joys and rewards of nurturing your families with food prepared with love.

Although many of my early posts may have been a little "rough around the edges" (okay so they've still got a long way to go, but I think they've improved a little) in terms of style and execution, I think the content was definitely true to my message.  As the months went on, I feel as though I've drifted off course somewhat (seduced by page views, SEOs, and craving comments), resorting to just recipe-swapping instead of expressing my point of view, indulging in quantity rather than quality.  Time to get back on track I feel.  As a way of doing that I have decided that each week I will choose a particular ingredient, write a post about it and use it in a recipe, and I will also put up a "linky" so that if you'd like to cook along with me using the week's chosen ingredient then you can join in too.  I hope that this will be both fun and informative, and give you all the opportunity to perhaps try an ingredient you haven't used before or don't use too often.  I'll be kicking this off this coming Monday, and the event will be called "Make it with ...... Mondays".

Of course, I hope that you'll come back on Monday to read more and join in the fun, but by way of sneak preview I can tell you that the first ingredient will be saffron.  So get that little box of saffron out of the back of the pantry, dust off a few cookbooks, and "Make it with ... Saffron".  What's more, to celebrate this new event, I have a give-away, so keep reading - I'll explain more about that at the end of this post.

Another event I want to remind you all about is the monthly Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop.  A month flashes by very quickly and it's that time again - we're Tackling Bittman again this coming Thursday 6 January.  So get out one of your Bittman books, get cooking, and link up with us on Thursday - remember that linking up old posts is fine.

Now about that give-away.  If you've been following this blog for a while then you know that, not only am I big Bittman fan, but I also regularly use and swear by the How to Cook Everything iPhone Application. 

This application works on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and provides every one of the recipes and variations that are contained in the big book, as well as how-to illustrations, ability to cross-reference recipes with shopping lists, built-in timers and more.  In short I love it, so when Mark from Culinate, Inc contacted me and said he would like to offer me a few free copies of the application to give away to my readers I was pretty excited.  Now I could go to great lengths at this stage to do a full review of the application, but my friends Alex at A Moderate Life and Pam at Sidewalk Shoes have recently reviewed this product, so "why invent the wheel?" is my motto.  I'm just going to tell you how you can win one of these applications and then you can go and visit Alex and Pam if you would like more information about it.

Firstly, in order to win you need to have either a US-based iTunes account (in which case the appropriate code enabling you to download the application will be sent to you), or if you live outside the US then you need to have a PayPal account (in which case the value of the purchase price of the application in your country will be sent to you).

So now, getting your first entry to win this application is as simple as leaving me a comment below telling me some of those more unusual ingredients that you'd like me to feature on "Make it with ..... Mondays".  Maybe you already have some of them in your pantry and are not sure what to do with them.

For a further entry, come back during the week and link up a post to "Make it with ..... Mondays".  Older posts are welcome, and you can link as many posts as you like as long as the featured ingredient is used, and each one will get an entry.  If your post also happens to be a Bittman recipe then it will score an extra entry.

And for a further entry still, come back on Thursday and link up an appropriate post to the Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop.

Entries will close midnight Thursday 13 January (NZ time) and the winner will be chosen by random number generator and announced on Monday 17 January.

I hope you all enjoy what remains of your New Year's Day, wherever you are in the world, and that you'll come back tomorrow for Cranberry & Pomegranate Bellinis to welcome in the new year.

I'm also submitting this post to the Hearth and Soul blog hop, a place where you'll find lots of wonderful people who are passionate about great food and cooking from the heart - do go and have a look at what they're all cooking this week.