Cooking Challenges

I've had some fun these last couple months cooking some new types of cakes from the ordinary. Some of it has involved learning different types of European ingredients, or discovering that some seemingly European dishes are actually American in nature.

German Chocolate Cake is actually named for an American man named German, and is not German in origin. It is a delicious chocolate cake with a carmel coconut frosting. Yummy, but not German.

Apple Brambleberry Crumble is a classic British dessert. We made it with Bramley Apples, the large green cooking apples that I bought at the local farmers market, and wild blackberries that I picked in our park and along the canal where they grow in abundance over the summer.

Apple and Damson Pie is another classic end of summer pie. It is made with Bramley Apples and Damson Plums. They are small dark purple plums. They are often made into jam. When cooked in the pie, they color the whole pie a reddish color. I used a cherry pitter to remove the stones from inside the Damsons, but they were a bit of a challenge to remove. Sadly, I can't find a picture of it.



German Apple Cake. Coming back from Austria, I was inspired to make some cakes from that part of Europe. I made this apple cake using Braeburn Apples and Bramley Apples. I found the recipe on-line, and it was really delicious. Very cinnamony and tastey.





German Peach Kuchen. The recipe actually called for plums, but Tony doesn't really like plums, so I substituted peaches, which is probably a bit more of an Americanized version of the cake, but it tasted really good.






I even tried my had at a French Pear and Cranberry Galette. Actually a very easy dish made with a freefrom crust.







We bought a small Gooseberry Pie to eat. It was tart, and tasted a bit like Rubarb Pie. It is everywhere in the summer time, and goes particularly well with Ice Cream.


Marmalade. Even though the oranges came from Spain, Isreal, or Africa, and Marmalade is most likely a Portuguese invention, the British have made it their own, and it is a very popular spread for crumpets. I bought some oranges at the market, and decided to try my hand at making some. It came out great, very tastey.

There are some specific very bitter Spanish Oranges that come available in March. I plan to get some and make another batch then.

Not all of the cooking challenges have been sweets. I tried my hand at the classic Italian pasta dish, Penne a la Vodka. I made a large batch when we had a bunch of friends over for dinner. It was a lovely evening full of good pasta.