Sun, Sea and Sand.....

What is it about a holiday in Goa that gets all of my family on the same page – is it the sun? The sea? Or sand?

My usual idea of a vacation consists of seeing as many new places as I possibly can in the time frame allotted to me. This may result in visiting Delhi (24 hrs), Vaishno Devi (36 hrs), Pahalgam (20 hrs), Sri Nagar (40 hrs), followed again by Delhi (36 hrs) and finally my in laws place (5 days) as we did over our vacation prior to the Goa one. Let’s just say that with two boys under 5, some people may consider the above a bit much……

However, under consideration of the overall sanity of my spouse and for the sake of relaxation, I was once again cajoled into taking a 5 day break in Goa. Kids wanted a vacation at the beach and all my insistence on showing them the beaches of Port Blair, Bali or for that matter Sri Lanka were shoved under the carpet by stating that “a beach is a beach and our kids will not care where they are”. I concurred….grudgingly. So off we trudged to Goa for the 3^rd time in 3 years. A record by all accounts! So far, I have only done this with Hawaii (3 visits to the same place i.e.).

We went to a lovely resort in North Goa and were given lovely cottage style rooms with sit outs and hammock in a garden. Kids were in bliss on the onset and I was furtively looking for any possible excuse I cud think of to get out of the resort and explore the nearby markets, specialty stores etc.

By day 3 we had our routine down to a pat – breakfast, beach, pool, lunch, pool, beach, dinner, beach, bed.  Kids and spouse were thinking this is too good to be true and I in turn started to have withdrawal symptoms.  

On our departure day, three of us had long faces and me, I cud not wait to get back to real life…..

But, I did manage to get inspired by one of dishes that I ate there to try and recreate at home. It was called a “roasted vegetable gratin” and I just really loved the roasted vegetable flavors in the bake combined with the different textures of the vegetables.

 

Gratin with Roasted Vegetables

Serves 4

3/4 cup carrots – cut into 2 inch pcs.

1/2 cup green beans – cut into 2 inch pcs.

1/2 cup baby corn – sliced into 2 inch pcs.

3/4 cup cauliflower florets – 1 inch pcs.

1/4 cup Green or Red Bell Peppers – 1 inch pcs.

1.5 cup milk

Butter – 3 tsp, plus 1 tsp for greasing dish

All purpose flour – 1 tbsp

Green chili – to taste

Olive oil – 3 tsp

Sweet Red Paprika – to taste

Salt – to taste

Garlic salt – 1/4 tsp or fresh garlic

Pepper – to taste – 1/8 tsp

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

1/2 cup of grated cheese – I used gouda and cheddar

 

Take the chopped vegetables and toss them together with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper. In case you don’t have garlic salt, add 1 clove of freshly grated garlic to the vegetables with some salt. Adding some fresh pineapple pieces (1/4 cup) is also a good option for this dish - I did not have any handy :(.

Put the mixture in a pre-heated oven at 220C for 20-25 mins till well roasted and cooked through. A little browning will be great. Make sure to check every 10 minutes or so, to ensure that the veggies don’t get charred.

Cool the roasted vegetables and cut them into smaller sizes for the gratin or you can leave as is, depending on your preference.

 

Start making the alfredo/white sauce by taking the butter and all purpose flour and sauteing it in the pan using a whisk to constantly stir the mixture. The mixture should be well cooked (reach a pale brown color), but, not over cooked.

 

Add hot milk while stirring continuously till the sauce thickens. Add the green chili and paprika powder as per taste. Also, add approx. 1/4 tsp of salt with the sugar. Mix together.

 

 

Add the vegetable mix and combine well with the sauce. Pour into a well greased baking dish. Top with the grated cheese.

Bake in the oven at 200 C for 15 minutes and then broil for 3-5 minutes to ensure that the cheeses are browned slightly.

Serve hot with warm garlic bread!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can I have my cake and eat it too?

 

We have been dealing with stifling heat in Bangalore and in the midst of the rising temperatures, I decided to host a dinner party for some friends.

When it came to picking the correct recipe for deserts, I could only think of limes, coconuts, vanilla, mangoes, mint, etc. Somehow the idea of serving heavily creamed and chocolate centric desserts seemed very unappetizing.

As usual I started going thru multiple websites and came across three separate recipes which I combined to make my final dessert for the evening –

http://www.food.com/recipe/key-lime-cake-with-white-chocolate-frosting-paula-deen-304828

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/quick-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-recipe/index.html

http://www.lovefood.com/guide/recipes/11455/lorraine-pascales-mojito-genoise

I decided to go for it!!! After all, where else will I be able to combine some of the most cooling ingredients for a sweet in this heat, other that in my head J.

 

 

Making the cake was fairly easy. I simply followed the recipe but made only 2/3 of the portions. So used 2 eggs, ½ cup butter, etc. However, I kept the key lime juice and zest amount same as original and also included the 1 tsp of baking soda.  I baked the cake in a round pyrex dish and did not split it into two separate cake dishes. It did take almost 35-40 mins for the cake to bake!

For the mojito syrup recipe from Lorraine Pascales, I simply followed her syrup recipe, except I only used ½ cup of light brown sugar in all. The rest was same as stated.

Finally, the buttercream icing was made as noted above with the only changes being in halfing the recipe and using vanilla powder instead of essence (simply because I was out of it), and adding ½ a tsp of lemon zest together with 2 tsp of fresh lemon juice.

I sliced the cake in half and applied the sugar syrup on the bottom half and the upturned top half. Then I put 1/4^th of the icing in the cake’s center and used the remaining to ice the top and sides. I garnished using fresh cut lemons and mint leaves.

There are those who say that if you don’t follow a recipe as it is stated, then you really have created a recipe of your own. But, I am one of those who likes to add her own touch/ideas to any recipe to truly make it work for me.  To the extent I have acknowledged my source and stated my modifications, I think I am being fair to both the originator and my own limited creativity J.

For those who are wondering what to call this cake.....I am open to suggestions....but, my thought is "summer is sweet"....enjoy!