Cooking Challenge 3

This weeks menu offered nutty potato cakes, asparagus and tomotoes with a basalmic reduction, and chocolate truffle bars.

Nutty Potato Cakes (The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook)

3 medium potatoes
1 Tb. butter
Milk
1 cup sunflower seeds finely ground
2 Tbs. green onion, finely chopped
Pepper
Wholemeal flour for coating
Oil for frying

Peel the potatoes, and cut into pieces and boil until soft. Drain, and mash with butter and milk until creamy. Add seeds, onions, and pepper. If necessary add a little more milt to make a soft texture that will hold together. Form cakes and coat with flour, fry quickly in as little oil as possible. Drain on paper towels.

I could not find wholemeal flour so I used regular white flour, this made the frying part very difficult.

Balsamic Reduction (eHow)

1. Pour the balsamic vinegar into the pan. Use enough so that you allow for it to reduce by half--I like to reduce a whole liter of vinegar and keep it on hand.

2. Heat the pan to high.

3. Whisk briskly, even prior to boiling. Once it starts boiling, keep whisking constantly to prevent burning.

4. The vinegar naturally sweetens when reduced, but if you like a very sweet reduction, sprinkle in a tablespoon of sugar.

5. Reduce by half, or until the vinegar takes on a syrupy quality. Allow to cool.

Chocolate Truffle Bars (The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook)

2 cups graham crackers, broken up
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs cocoa powder
2 Tbs corn syrup
1 cup raisins (optional)
8 oz chocolate

Crush the graham crackers finely with a rolling pin and place in a mixing bowl. Put the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and syrup into a pan and melt over a low heat, stirring all the time. Add to the crumbs with the raisins. Mix very thoroughly. Press the mixture into an 8 inch square pan. Break the chocolate bar into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water until melted. Cover the cake with the melted chocolate. Refrigerate until cook, cut in squares and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy ~SJ