All about Nectarines

                

The Nectarine is the smooth-skinned peach of the family Rosaceae and it is thought to have originated from China. It has been known for more than 2,000 years and grown throughout the warmer temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. 

Peaches vs. Nectarines

When the tree shape and leaf characteristics are compared, the peach and nectarine are indistinguishable, but nectarine fruits look more like plums than peaches because of the smooth skin.

As with peaches, nectarines can be white or yellow. When ripe, its smooth skin is a brilliant golden yellow with generous blushes of red. with On average, nectarines are slightly smaller and sweeter than peaches, but with much overlap.

Health Benefits

Nectarines provide vitamin A precursors, B carotene, B Cryptoxanthin, Lycopene, and Lutein which provide the red, orange, and yellow colors to fruits and vegetables.  These phytochemicals are beneficial in the maintenance of heart health, and overall cellular functions. They are also a good source of potassium, flavonoids, and natural fruit sugars for sweetness.

Nectarines are wonderful eaten out of hand and can be used in salads, a variety of fresh and cooked desserts and as a garnish for many hot and cold dishes. Nectarine juice concentrate is an excellent ingredient to add a fruit serving for beverages, cakes, pies, pastries, sauces, jellies and other processed foods like nutrition bars and snacks.

Shopping tip:

 

Look for fragrant, brightly colored fruit that gives slightly to the touch. Avoid those with bruises or other blemishes as well as those that are hard or overly green. Slightly underripe nectarines can be left to ripen at room temperature for a couple of days.  Ripe fruit should be refrigerated and used within 5 days.
 

 

Turnip Salad with Cottage Cheese, Hazelnuts and Pomegranate Dressing

When I posted this photo on Facebook, it became an instant hit which still seems like a mystery to me. I didn't and don't see what is so terrific about the combination of the ingredients in this salad. I, once again, used all the possible vegetables, dairy products, and nuts on hand together. Fine, it looks pretty appetizing though. If you can find some pomegranate dressing, use it freely with some olive oil, you won't regret. I won't make a long list of things in the salad, however, it's better to inspire others with ideas. So, next time when you feel like a bowl of mixed salad, remember to add lettuce, turnips, cottage cheese, carrots, hazelnuts (delicious right out of the shell), and dried dill into the bowl and dress your salad with a mixture of olive oil and pomegranate sauce.

(Meyer) Lemon Bars

I happened to find this recipe after I fell in love with photo. I saw the photograph first and with a few google tricks I got the recipe from Treats. However, when I read the ingredients, I had a feeling that the taste of so many egg yolks used for the filling would ruin the overall lemon flavour of these great bars. To prevent such a catastrophic effect, reduce the number of egg yolks to 4, use only 1 egg and add more heavy cream (around 200 ml). You can even add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Slice nice even squares with a silky smooth texture and serve with black tea. It's such a wonderful evening treat on a rainy evening in Sarajevo. Don't worry if you can't find Meyer lemons around, use any lemons nearby. They would work.

Ingredients

Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more to sprinkle on the finished bars

pinch of salt

8 Tbls unsalted butter, still cool and cut into 8 pieces

Filling

7 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 cup + 2 Tbls sugar

2/3 cup meyer lemon juice (from about 4-5 medium lemons)

finely grated zest from the lemons
1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tbls unsalted butter, cut in to 4 pieces

3 Tbls heavy cream

Directions

For the crust

1. Cover a 9-inch square cake pan with two sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil, perpendicular to each other.  Spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Put the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a food processor and process briefly, about 2 seconds. Add the butter pieces and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then process until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second pulses. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared cake pan and press firmly with your fingers into an even layer over the entire pan bottom.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

For the filling

1. In a medium saucepan whisk together the egg yolks and whole eggs until combined. Add the sugar, meyer lemon juice, zest and salt until well combined, about 30 seconds.  

2. Add the butter pieces and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the curd thickens to a thin sauce-like consistency (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), about 6 minutes.

3. Immediately pour the curd through a fine-mesh steel strainer set over a medium bowl.  Stir in the heavy cream and then pour the curd into the warm crust.

4. Bake until the filling is shiny and opaque and the center 3 inches jiggle slightly when shaken, about 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 45 minutes.  Remove the bars from the pan and transfer to a cutting board.  
5. Cut into 2 inch squares, wiping the knife blade clean between cuts as necessary. Sieve powdered sugar over the bars, if you'd like.

Za'atar Manakeesh with Fresh Tomatoes and Feta

''Manaqish is a Palestinian breakfast specialty that is likely to have come to the Arabian Peninsula with Palestinians who were making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Originally, women baked dough in communal ovens in the morning and prepared smaller portions of dough, which they topped with spices and eggs, so that they wouldn't have to make a separate breakfast.'' says Amy Riolo in her book Arabian Delights: Recipes & Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula. 

Well, I didn't have the faintest idea that I was making some kind of manakeesh until I read this passage. The reason why I ended up with this manakeesh with tomatoes, feta and za'atar is that I didn't have anything else to cook in the fridge. Whatever the reason would be, women have had such a sophisticated mind to come up with practical solutions to hunger-related problems at home. Even when you have only flour, water and salt on hand, the result might be fantastic most of the time only with the sprinkle of some spices. 

As the garnish this time, I used za'atar that a friend of mine brought from Saudi Arabia and it was such a treat for all of us at home on a Sunday morning to the accompaniment of black tea. I only regret not having been generous while sprinkling of it. Here comes the photo and the recipe.

             

For the Manakeesh:

Ingredients

500 g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 300 ml luke-warm water

Directions

1 To make the dough, sift the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl.
2 Make a well in the centre and add in the water and knead till the dough has come together leaving the sides of the bowl clean.
3 Transfer onto a clean work surface and knead for about 10 minutes till the dough is smooth and elastic.
4 Lightly grease the bowl and transfer the dough into the bowl and cover with cling film and leave it in a warm place till it has doubled in bulk, for about 1 1/2 hours.
5 Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 220°C.

Topping

Ingredients

1.5 -2 cups feta

1-2 medium ripe tomatoes

za'atar

olive oil

Directions

1.Slice the tomatoes and crush the cheese with a fork.

2. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil.
3. Top the dough with the cheese and tomato slices. Sprinkle with olive oil and za'atar.

4. Bake it until crust is golden brown and crisp at 200C, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Chinese Dumplings with Minced Beef

I received a pack of cards with illustrations showing items from Chinese culture including traditional food and drinks. The first card was one with dumplings on it giving some information on the word itself in Chinese language. I was happy to see that people noticed my curiosity in Chinese culture especially Chinese cuisine. So, inspired by the first card in the pack and motivated by the hunger we felt on Saturday afternoon, I decided to make some Chinese dumplings with minced beef. However, since the necessary ingredients to stuff the dumplings with, following Ken Hom's recipe on BBC Food Recipes, were difficult to get immediately, I decided to use the same recipe with a slightly different stuffing a completely different sauce which gave the dumplings an air of traditional Turkish cuisine. You can compare the original recipe with mine below and see the changes. Well, let me tell you about the result. It was terrific! Although it was my first time, it was a success. We devoured them right away!

 
Interestingly, dumplings can be found in Bosnian cuisine in a different shape and they are called "klepe" in the local language. The photo shows two different stuffings, one with spinach and the next one with minced beef.
  





Ingredients

For the dough

140 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

125 g very hot water

 

For the stuffing 

110 g minced beef 

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 medium onion 

1 clove garlic

½tsp sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

To cook

1 liter water

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsps salt

For the dipping sauce

16 tbsps yogurt

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or minced

ground paprica

1 tbsp olive oil

 

 

Directions

1. For the dough, place the flour into a large bowl and stir the hot water gradually into it, mixing all the time with a fork, until the water is incorporated. Add more water if the mixture seems dry.
2. Tip the dough mixture onto a clean work surface and knead it with your hands, dusting the dough with a little flour if it's sticky. Continue kneading until it is smooth - this should take about eight minutes. 
3. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a clean damp towel and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
4. For the stuffing, while the dough is resting, combine the stuffing ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together thoroughly. Set aside.
5. After the resting period, take the dough out of the bowl and knead it again for about five minutes, dusting with a little flour if it is sticky.
6. Once the dough is smooth, shape it into a roll about 23cm long and about 2.5cm in diameter, using your hands.
7. With a sharp knife, slice the roll into 16 equal-sized pieces. Using your hands, roll each of the dough pieces into a small ball and then, with a rolling pin, roll each ball into a small, round, flat, 'pancake' about 9cm in diameter.
8. Arrange the round skins on a lightly floured tray and cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out until you are ready to use them.
 

 

9. Place about two teaspoons of filling in the centre of each 'pancake' and moisten the edges with water. Fold the dough in half and pinch together with your fingers. 

10. Pleat around the edge, pinching with your fingers to seal well. The dumpling should look like a small Cornish pasty with a flat base and rounded top.
11.Transfer each finished dumpling to the floured tray and keep it covered until you have stuffed all the dumplings in this way.

 

12. * Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Put the dumplings into the boiling water. Simmer gently for about 12 minutes. Uncover the pan and continue to cook for a further two minutes. 

13.  For the dipping sauce, combine all the dipping sauce ingredients, except paprika, together in a small bowl.

14.  To serve, remove the dumplings from the pan with a large slotted spoon and serve with the dipping sauce. Sprinkle with paprika.

 

* You can, alternatively, cook the dumplings gently in a saucepan for about two minutes until they are lightly browned. In that case, remember to heat some vegetable oil into the saucepan first and then add the dumplings.

Walnut Balls

I've been collecting metal cookie and chocolate boxes for a couple of years. It all started while I was managing a pâtisserie in Istanbul. How I ended up in that wonderful shop deserves more than a few lines here so I will keep aside that story for another post. Anyways, keeping an eye on the stock and making lists of things to purchase was one of my favourite jobs to do there. I would walk around to see if we had run out of anything of vital importance for baking pastries, for example, vanilla powder or baking powder. The orders were always in big amounts, of course, and whenever we ran out of vanilla powder, it would turn into a tense moment between me and the cake chef. He also liked those dark blue metal boxes of vanilla powder which made us keen rivals over them. He was in a way priviledged to keep the boxes for himself, he was the chef after all. However, I would always find a way to fetch one for me every other purchase time. It still makes me smile thinking back on those happy fights to the smell of baking croissants and other  pastries.  

A week ago, I found the heart-shaped chocolate box in the photo below at a supermarket here in Sarajevo. I bought it at once hoping to find the chocolate inside as pleasant as the packaging. It was just ordinary, nothing special. I felt so disappointed by the flavour of the chocolates inside that I decided to fill the box with something that might look as attractive as the painting on the lid itself. So, here it comes: walnut balls. As usual, I used basic ingredients that you might find in your own kitchen such as regular petite beurres, walnuts, butter or cinnamon.

Ingredients:

100 grams walnut pieces

100 grams petite beurres

100 grams powdered sugar

75 grams butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons raisins, chopped

3 tablespoons powdered chocolate

orange juice and walnut pieces for rolling

 Directions:

1. Place walnuts and petite beurres in food processor. 

2. Process them until very soft and crumbly. 

3. Add butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, powdered chocolate and orange juice. 

4. Process until well combined and dough gets a slightly wet consistency. *

5. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in raisins. Form into ball shape. Dip balls in orange juice and then roll them in walnut pieces.

* If dough seems slightly too dry add 1 tsp. of orange juice at a time to desired consistency.

                         

Harry Potter's Garden

Of Magic and Medicine

Holly
When the young wizard battles vile Voldemort for the last time in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he'll wield a wand made of ordinary holly. Only it turns out holly isn't so ordinary, even in the Muggle (or nonmagical) world. Long ago, healers made a tea of its leaves to induce sweating and relieve fevers. They also believed that juice from its berries could cure jaundice. many real plants studied at Harry's wizardry school have ancient or modern medicinal uses. But Potterites shouldn't brew any home potions: Though holly berries are said to ward off evil, their juice is toxic. 

For detailed information on holly, please visit  british-trees.com.

Yew 

Voldemort's wand is crafted from this evergreen, a symbol of death in Renaissance literature and a cancer fighter in the medical world. The drug Tazol, prescribed to treat breast, lung, and ovarian cancer, was first synthesized from a compound in the tree's bark and needles.

 
 For detailed information on yew, please visit british-trees.com.

 Sage

In fiction, stargazing centaurs burn the herb to bolster senses, In fact, sage has properties that disinfect; some herbal mouthwashes use it as an ingredient.

Sage leaves

Nettles

Wizards use the stinging plant to cure boils. Scientists add it to anti-nosebleed medicine, and German doctors prescribe nettle products to treat enlarged prostate.

 Willow

Harry's late mum, Lily, had a wand made from this tree, a traditional symbol of grief. Actually, folks once drank willow leaf tree for pain relief. In the 1800s, a forerunner of aspirin consisted of an extract from the leaves. But the modern pill is all synthetic. 

Mandrake

The toxic, tangled root helps Harry's teacher reverse a turn-to-stone spell. The Bible alludes to its use as an aid  in conception. Ancient Greeks added it to wine as an anesthetic. Today, eye-drops contain a mandrake derivative that temporarily paralyzes eye muscles so the pupil can stay open.

Mandrake lore: Its root seems to have a head and limbs, and it issues a maddening yell if yanked.

Wormwood

An ingredient in slleping potions in the potter series, this bitter plant contains santonin, a substance that expels parasitic worms from the body. The old-fashioned remedy fell out of favour as pharmaceutical treatments were developed.

Aconite

Potter's potion makers use the plant, aka wolfsbane, to keep werewolves from going loco. Real doctors once pounded it to a pulp, diluted it with alcohol, and applied tiny doses to unbroken skin to relieve pain. Ingesting just one gram can be fatal; a Pakistani cricket team coach, found dead in March 2007, reportedly had traces of aconite in his system.        

The text is adapted from the article Harry Potter's Garden by Melody Joy Kramer in National Geographic, August 2007.

Exploring the SECRETS of LONGEVITY

What if you could add ten years to your life? It begins with good genes, but also depends on good habits. Researchers studied three hot spots of longevity around the world and found living proof of lifestyle's powerful effect.

In JAPAN, Okinawans' average life expectancy of 82 years is among the longest in the world. The strong sense of purpose these seniors feel may be a buffer against stress and diseases such as hypertension. Many older Okinawans also belong to a moai, a mutual support network of friends and neighbours, bearing out studies that show elders who stay social are less prone to heart disease and depression. A low-calorie, plant based diet could be a factor too. The home-grown herbs, spices, fruits, and vegetables that fill their plates contain compounds that may block cancers before they start.

Okinawa Diet

In ITALY, Sardinian men reach 100 at a rate more than twice as high as the average for Italy. Their isolated villages have preserved a traditional way of life that promotes longevity. Up before dawn doing chores, walking miles each day with their sheep, and turning over the stress of the household responsibilities to their wifes may explain the nearly one-to-one ratio of male to female centenarians. A daily glass of red wine with a high concentration of a component thought to prevent heart disease could help too. As does a strong family dedication to care for the elderly - gerontologists say seniors who live near loved ones tend to live longer.

Shepherd Giovanni Atzeri pours the milk he has hand-drawn from his sheep. He’ll use the milk to make cheese. Pecorino cheese made from grass-fed sheep—a traditional part of the Sardinian diet—is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Goat’s milk, another staple, contains components that might help protect against inflammatory diseases of aging such as heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Photo by Mauro Bottaro/Anzenberger/Redux

In CALIFORNIA, Seventh-day Adventists live four to ten years longer than the state's average, following a faith that preaches and practices health. Their lifestyle forbids smoking and alcohol and discourages consuming meat, caffeine, and rich foods. Instead, they eat mostly grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and drink five glasses of water each day - all of which may lower risk of certain cancers and heart disease. Many are also active as volunteers, feeling valued while avoiding life-shortening loneliness. As one 112-year-old observes, Of course I feel lonely once in a while, but for me that's always been a sign to get up and help somebody."

Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts add, on average, an extra two and a half years to their lives. 

Text from Complex Miracles of Health and Simple Ways to Enhance It by Philips (National Geographic, August 2007)