First Monday Favorites- May 2018 - 17

It's Time.
First Monday of the month and time to link up your favorite recipe for First Monday Favorites, from last month. This is the day you can link up your favorite recipe from last month, not the one with the most views, but your own personal favorite, the one recipe you made that amazed, delighted and blew you away.  You know the one you will be making again and again.  And again. #FirstMondayFavorites

The one recipe I made last month that I will make again and again are these.  In fact it made a repeat appearance last Friday at a gathering. I call them Crazy Squared Deviled Eggs.   I got the recipe from Food Network and then played with them.  I have to tell you, these will be in my rotation on a regular basis from now on. 

I started First Monday Favorites because I missed the Secret Recipe Club I'd been a member of for several years. It was a large group, and we were divided into smaller groups.  Every month we were assigned a blog from our group to make and post a recipe from. Each group got one Monday a month.  I was in two different groups, at different times, so I got to know a few blogs. I got so many great recipes from this, and looked forward to each Monday to see what great recipes other bloggers  had made and posted.
And I'm doing this one Monday a month, the first Monday of the month.  My own little homage to a great group of bloggers and cooks.
Actually last month was a great month, we had an SRC reunion, giggle.  And we got assigned a blog to make a recipe from and then we had to wait until we could tell everyone about it. 
In other words, we all posted it on a Monday. 
How cool is that? 
I made a Crab Rangoon Dip which was outrageously good and gave me ideas.   I'll definitely make it again. 

Actually April was a busy month for me, I didn't get a chance to make or bake or participate in some of the groups I'm used to participating in.  I had to go out of town and gasp, did not enter a kitchen except very briefly, one day at my daughter's place for almost three weeks.   I made her a vegan Chile Verde and I'll tell you about that later on this month.  Cause it was totally awesome.  Even if I do say so myself.
Last month I made Tiramisu Cupcakes for #BakingBloggers,

well, actually I'd made them in March but had to wait to tell everyone about them until April.   They were so good, I actually did a repeat on them this past weekend for a gathering.  And I'll make them again, but will wait awhile to do so.  Mainly because I'm out of Mascarpone cheese. And not planning a trip to the big city for a couple of weeks. 

Please add a link to the roundup and let's see what recipe you made last month that you'll be making again and again.  

An InLinkz Link-up

SRC- Crab Rangoon Dip

I got so excited when Sarah said she was going to have an SRC reunion, and that we were going to be assigned a blog to stalk, find a recipe and then make and blog about it.
And we were all going to post the same day, a Monday.  Which is today, and here's my recipe find.
Check out some of our past posts here at SRC
Boy what a find, I had so much fun going through Kathy's blog, and looking at the recipes.
Check out her other great recipes at A Spoonful of Thyme
Although, I stopped looking when I found this recipe. 

Open Face King Crab Rangoon
I mean Crab Rangoon? Really, who doesn't love this stuff.  When I find it on the menu at Chinese restaurants I order it. I've even made it a couple of times.  But Kathy's recipe was for Open Face King Crab Rangoon.
As much as I love King Crab, it's not in my budget, but I do buy snow crab and crab in little pouches and play with that.  I'm kinda well known for my crab cakes in these parts, having won the Peoples Choice the past two years in a contest in my part of the world.
I got so excited and picked up the ingredients, well, the affordable to my pocketbook ingredients, and proceeded.
Our local store didn't have any wonton wrappers, but they did have eggroll wrappers so I cut some of them down to size,  and then fried them up nice and crisp.

Set them aside and then proceeded to the topping.
And here is where I made an oops.  I relied on my memory, sigh and it played tricks on me.  I'd written down the ingredients list, got them all together, but ummm, mixed in the crab too soon. sigh.

I served this at our usual monthly Tapas Night and it was well received.   And just because it's me, I did change it up a little.
Here's my take on this great dish.

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 small garlic clove, grated on a microplane
1/2 tsp. Lime Juice
1 tsp. Sweet Soy Sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 small bunch green onions, chopped
6 oz. package crab meat (fresh pack)
1/2 package egg roll wrappers cut into quarters
oil for frying

Cut the egg roll wrappers into quarters, and fry them until nice and crisp and golden.  Set aside.
Combine the cream cheese, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce.  Heat through and add the heavy cream, then add the crab and warm through.  Add the chopped green onions at the end, and stir in.  Reserve a few pieces for decoration if desired.
This was actually quite dip like so I choose to serve it as a dip, and added a bowl of sweet and sour sauce at the side for the non seafood eating guests.  They dipped the wonton crackers I'd made and I was told this was so good.  My guests  left me a scant 1/4 cup so I knew it was good.
All recipes and their respective images are either original or adapted and credited, and are all the sole property of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking © 2011-2018, with all rights reserved thereof.  
Check out the rest of the great recipes from what I hope is but the first of many SRC reunions. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Final SRC Post- Tapenade topped Tomatoes aka Hairy Eyeballs

This is a hard post to write.  I've been a member of the Secret Recipe Club for several years now, and the Secret Recipe Club will be no more after this month.

Lack of bloggers who would sign up each month contributed to the demise, and it's sad.  I got to know so many bloggers through this club, got some great recipes, many of which I've made over and over.
But I'm gonna stay in touch with many of the bloggers, mainly cause they keep posting wonderful recipes that are truly make again and again and again recipes.

One of the bloggers who I'd never been paired with up until now, was Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious.
I have stalked her blog before, and now I have permission to dive in and find a recipe to make for this, my final "sad face here", Secret Recipe Club post.  Dorothy not only blogs, she creates recipes, and has won lots of awards and contests and also been featured in Saveur Magazine as well as Sunset Magazine. WOW.
And she's also a nice lady.  Maybe a little competitive with some of the other bloggers? in SRC.
 Nah, it's all good clean fun. 
I've been wondering if maybe Dorothy and I might have crossed paths in the past, maybe down the aisles of Ralph's or Cook's?  I was lucky enough to 'winter'  in Malibu some years ago, and I miss it still.  It was one of those places that called to my heart. My dog Mauli and I walked on Dan Blocker Beach, a lot.  Mauli would play with her tennis ball for hours there, and loved to watch the dolphins. 
But I digress...

And as is my wont, I looked at Dorothy's Appetizers first.   And gee, guess what, I picked a recipe almost right away. 

It happens.

I was going to a Halloween party, and saw this and adapted it a little.  And umm, renamed it. 
Her name for it is Tapenade Tomatoes, but pardon me Dorothy, I renamed them, for Halloween.
Hairy Eyeballs.

I used her tapenade recipe for it,  and then adapted it a little.  Cause that's what we do? I also served this in a Orange Pepper that I'd cut the top off of, and taken the seeds out of.  Peppers make great dishes, and you don't have to wash them later on.  Just eat the evidence.  This was so good alongside some Naan.

I also liked her Maggots on Meat,.
But I'm bookmarking that to make next year when the watermelon are ripe and in the stores.  And I won't be calling it that.
These Cheese Crispies are on the list to make.  As are these Fiery Frico Cheese Crisps.
and then there was this, Dates stuffed with Chile Chevre.  But I need some of that Chile Chevre, I wonder if they deliver?  Sigh...

For now though, here's the Kalamata Tapenade, which I used to top the cherry tomatoes. 

yield: 2 cupsAuthor: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from Shockingly Deliciousprint recipe

Kalamata Tapenade

prep time: 5 MINScook time: 5 MINStotal time: 10 mins

Everyone needs a great Tapenade recipe. Not only is this good on crusty bread or topping cherry tomatoes it also works as a spread on Muffelattas. This is a great appetizer to have on hand, it keeps for weeks in the fridge, and is ready to go in seconds.

INGREDIENTS:

• `1 cup Kalamata Olives, drained
• 1 can Black Olives, drained*
• 2 tablespoons, rinsed Capers
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (a microplane works great for this)
• 2 teaspoons Anchovy Paste (you can also use drained and rinsed Anchovy fillets finely chopped)
• a few grindings of black pepper about 1/4 teaspoon
• 2 tablespoons Cognac or Armagnac (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Orange Zest
• 4-6 tablespoons EVOO

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and process until finely ground. Serve with crackers, or Naan or a nice crusty bread. This does keep in the fridge for a little while.   I topped some Cherry Tomatoes with it.
2. I added the black olives, they weren't in the original recipe, but I had some in the fridge that needed to be used. 

Created using The Recipes Generator

I used some of the Tapenade on top of some Cherry Tomatoes as Dorothy suggested.
First off, cut the tomatoes in half, place them cut side down on some paper towel to drain.

  Otherwise the Tapenade slides right off again. I tried to top them right away, and the Tapenade slid.   I used a piping bag to get the Tapenade on the tomatoes after they had drained.

Then I piped a 'pupil' right in the middle with some cream cheese.  I used a piping bag for that as well.

Next I took some shredded/grated Romano Cheese, sprinkled that on top and served them. 

  Although they were also tasty all by themselves. Simply topped.

An InLinkz Link-up

Fruited Chicken Salad for SRC

My assigned blog this month for the Secret Recipe Club is The Spiffy Cookie.  

I've told you about the Secret Recipe Club before.

We're a bunch of bloggers who are split into groups, we then get assigned a 'secret blog' to make and post a recipe from and then we all post them on the same day and see just which recipe from our blog that appealed to our assigned blogger.  I'm in group A, which means I have to make and post a recipe on the first Monday of the month.

This month I got The Spiffy Cookie   Erin seems to be not only a talented baker, cook and all around majorly accomplished person, but she's also a microbiology researcher.   Wow...  And did I mention she's also a proud aunt.  A very busy lady. 
And with all that she also has a great blog and I had so much fun looking up recipes.

Confession time here, I didn't get much beyond her appetizer section until I realized I had yet another potluck to go to and then I looked up salads.   I had some chicken, grapes and apples and I found 'the recipe', but in the way of bloggers I did change it up a tad. I didn't have any yoghurt, but I did have some Litehouse Ranch Dressing and some lovely buttermilk in the fridge, so I mixed them together.   Why not?  And I added some Miracle Whip, cause it needed, something more.  There wasn't a great deal of dressing on here, but that's a good thing for me.

Recipe:  Fruity Chicken Salad  Serves 8 or so

2-3 Chicken Breasts, broiled, cooled and chopped, about 4 cups worth
1/2 cup Litehouse Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 tablespoon Miracle Whip
1 tsp. Celery Seed
1 1/2 cups Seedless grapes (I had some
1 apple, diced (I had some new crop Gala apples)
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1 cup Pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Toasted Sunflower Seeds  (can also use regular seeds)

Chop the chicken, apples and grapes so that they all have about the same size.  Whisk together the ranch Dressing and Buttermilk.   Place the chicken, grapes, apples, cranberries and nuts into a bowl.

Pour the dressing over and toss to combine.

Serve however you like to eat Chicken Salad.  Erin suggests eating them wrapped in whole wheat tortilla.    Although I think this would be so good in some mini croissants or maybe piled on some patty shells or ?

 I was going to add some Dried Cranberries to this salad cause I thought they would add not only a nice pop of color, but a little something extra.  However, the cranberries that I 'knew' I had, are hiding, somewhere in the pantry and won't come out when I go look, so I opened up a package of golden raisins and added them instead.  It was a good thing. 

I was also intrigued with the idea of making Shepherds Pies in a Potato Skin.   I'm thinking it would be a fun take along to a potluck when it gets cooler here.   It's still too darn hot outside to think about keeping the oven on for any length of time.
Erin had lots more recipes that I've bookmarked, along with her site.  
There was her Banana Bread Granola Bites which I actually had decided to make but then forgot to buy the Dried Bananas for it.   But I will be making them, sometime.
The Bacon Fig Asiago Grilled Cheese Sandwiches sounded great  as well.
I'm just so glad I got her blog, cause as soon as I can carve out some more time, I'm going to dive in, headfirst and look at the rest of her recipes.   Even though I got stuck in the Appetizer section for way too long this month.

BTW...  The leftover salad, and there wasn't much left, made a great breakfast.  I thought it was pretty healthy, fruit, protein and nuts.  And the apples stayed nice and crunchy and white.

An InLinkz Link-up

White Bean, Celery and Carrot Salad for SRC

My Secret Recipe Club blog is Thyme for Cooking and I'm so excited.  Katie got me last month for SRC and did a total riff on one of my recipes using one of my favorite veggies, Swiss Chard.  Love that stuff.  
  
 Katie lives in France and a lot of her recipes reflect that French influence.  She's also got a couple of cookbooks out as well. 
But since we do a monthly Tapas Night and I love my appetizers, (did I mention I'm writing a cookbook about appetizers?), I had to go and check out her starters. 
 I had to share a picture first of the dish I did make. 

Back to the rest of the blog...
And there were lots I wanted to make.  But so many of them required baking.

Unfortunately my oven is on strike.  I need to replace the whole stove as some of the elements are also starting to be cranky.  I've already spent more money trying to repair the stove than it warrants.

But once I get an operating stove, I've got a list of things to make.  Like these two tarts.  What can I say, I love tarts. And I love Acorn Squash and Feta and Capers so these two are no brainers for me. 

Acorn Squash Tart
Feta and Caper Tart
  
She also had a couple of great ideas for Spring Rolls.  I always have rice paper in the pantry, it's really pretty versatile and I love my Spring Rolls anyway.   I'm going to try my hand at both of these, soon.

Avocado, Yellow Pepper and Tomato Rolls
Spinach, Mozzarella Tomato Rollups

I found this recipe, White Bean, Carrot and Celery Salad and made it for lunch, ok, I ate it for breakfast. sheesh. 
I'm really not into classic breakfast foods, what can I tell you.  But the lunch was great too. 

As I said, I ended up making the salad.  I was going to make it last week, but a hurricane and loss of power stopped me in my tracks. 

It's kinda hard to saute anything when you don't have electricity and all you have to cook on is an electric stove.

Recipe: White Bean, Celery and Carrot Salad

1 (15 oz) can Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed.
1 cup chopped celery, about 2-3 ribs
1 carrot, sliced into thin coins
1 clove garlic, smooshed and chopped
1 small onion, finely diced 
1 tablespoon chopped Garlic Chives (I had some lovely garlic chives in the fridge so I used them)
1 tablespoons Thai Basil, cut into chiffonade  ( I substituted some Thai Basil and cut the amount in half.
1-2 tsp. EVOO 

Vinaigrette  Dressing
1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar **
1 teaspoon finely minced tarragon leaves **
1 tablespoon Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoon EVOO

Chop the celery, drain the beans, and mince the chives.  Place the beans, celery, chives into a bowl. Chiffonade the basil, I used the Thai Basil I'm rooting and getting ready to transplant into some dirt.

  Saute the onion and carrot until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic for an additional minute.   Add to the bowl with the beans, stir to combine. 

Mix the vinaigrette together

and pour over the bowl full of vegetables, stir to combine, then add the chiffonaded basil to the bowl

and stir once more.  Serve right away or chill for later.  This salad does taste great either warm or cold.

**I did make a couple of changes to the recipe.  I didn't have tarragon vinegar but I did have a tarragon plant and I macerated a teaspoon of the tarragon leaves and added them to some white wine vinegar and let that sit for a little while before making the rest of the vinaigrette.   I now have Tarragon Vinegar to use for other recipes.

I kept taking pictures and tasting this salad.  But I left enough for lunch...

Here's the rest of the Secret Recipe Club reveal for this first Monday of the month. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Savoury Oat Pancakes for SRC Back to School

WOW, has this summer flown by.   And it's time for the kiddo's to head back to school, which means that most moms and dads out there are besieged with all the after school stuff, like band practice and sports and drama club and debate club and ...
Which means that sometimes dinners with the family takes a back seat.  But you still want kids to have a decent meal or snack when they come home or breakfast before they leave for school. 

Since we have 5 Mondays this month, and only have scheduled reveals the first three Mondays, our fearless leaders, of the Secret Recipe Club, with some input from their fellow bloggers decided to make a Back to School or After School themed reveal. 
I  was assigned a new to me, blogger, Trisha from My Hobbie Lobbie

Trisha has so many recipes I want to try, and I'm going to 'woman'fully make my way through some of them, soon.
So, so many...

Choices, choices, choices...

I got caught by all the Indian inspired dishes she has on her blog, and I'm so glad I got her blog, I want to make some Rava Idli with Coconut Chutney, and some Mixed Raita and the Gulab Jamun is calling my name as well.
Did I mention the Namakpare, which is a crispy fried cracker.  
  .
I ended up making the Savoury Oat Pancakes.
I thought they would make a great after school snack.   Just a little something to hold you over til dinner. Or eat for breakfast cause that's how I do things. 
 

And Trisha had this hint for spreading the oil on the pan before making the oat pancakes.   Here's her hint:
"Take the whole onion and leaving the skin on, cut it flat at the base so that it can stand. Make sure the broader part of the onion forms the base. Pierce a fork into the opposite end. This will now be used to smear the pan with oil. This lessens the amount of oil used to fry the pancakes."
I thought that was brilliant.  Mainly because I could  use the onion later on.  I mean that little bit of oil on the onion wouldn't hurt a thing.  I could then throw the whole onion in the pot when making chicken stock, so long as the skin has been washed, the skin adds a lovely golden tinge to the stock.  But I didn't use the onion, I used my cooking spray and a little EVOO.  

 Recipe:  Savoury Oat Pancakes

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats, toasted lightly and ground up (I used my broiler to toast the oats)
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup semolina
1 tsp cumin seeds (I also toasted the cumin seed a little.
1 onion, finely chopped
 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper corns or a few grinds of fresh pepper
1 Jalapeno, seeded,  chopped fine  (I always have Jalapeno's in the freezer so just pulled one out and chopped it.
Salt, to taste
Enough water to make a runny batter (about 1 1/2 cups. I put in a 1/3 cup at a time)
EVOO  for frying and to saute the onion and pepper

Toast the oats in a dry pan or put under the broiler til they just brown and toast a little.  If using the broiler, keep a careful eye on it.  I burnt the first batch. 
Cool the oats a little and then process in a grinder, til they become powder.  (I didn't process mine enough and ended up putting them back into the grinder and processing them a little more.)

In a pan, heat a little EVOO, about a tsp. and saute the chopped onion and Jalapeno until the onion and pepper are soft. 
Put the toasted oat flour, rice flour, semolina, cumin seeds, the sauteed onions, the crushed pepper and salt into a bowl and mix it together.

 

Add  water 1/3 cup at a time, enough to make a runny batter.


Spray a pan with some cooking spray and 1/2 tsp. EVOO.  Heat over medium high heat.   Using a scoop put about a 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl it around to cover the bottom of the pan.  I used a spoon to spread mine out.   

 You have to work fast, and make sure your batter is thin.  I ended up adding more water to mine.  Cover the pan and let cook for a couple of minutes, then flip it over and cook on the other side.   It should come out nice and browned.   When it has cooked to a nice crispness, take out and serve with some Chutney.  

I have a confession here.  I forgot I used up my chutney last week, and I didn't have any in the pantry either. So...
I pulled the Duck Sauce out of the fridge and served that with these.  And it was good.   I also had them for breakfast alongside an egg and some bacon.   
What can I say, I love not eating traditional sides with my breakfast. 
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Pork Kebabs (Souvlaki or Marinated Pork)

I've been a member of the Secret Recipe Club for several years now, and have gotten some fantastic recipes and gotten to know a lot of blogs and bloggers along the way. 
We're separated into groups, and are assigned a blogger to stalk for a month and then make something from that blog and share it on a specific date.  My group is Group A and we 'reveal' all on the first Monday of the month.  Which is today. 
Now this is going to be fun.   Emily got me last month as the SRC reveal, and I get her this month.
Turnabout is fair play?  Her blog is Life On Food
She writes about the food she makes on a regular basis, as she puts it. The pretty, the ugly, healthy and sweet.  She got to spend a semester in Paris, sigh, jealous here.  She's also lived in Georgia, (me too), and in Maine.  I got to visit there once, but never got a chance to try the lobster.  The next time I'm in Maine, I'm going to attempt to become a lobster snob as well. 
 
Since I love appetizers, making and eating them, I went first to her appetizers.    Then I just started going through the blog, alphabetically.  And found this Breakfast Sausage Ravioli . 
And these....
Asian Fried Quinoa  
Shrimp Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ginger Soy Beef with  Chile- Tomatoes 
Choices, choices, choices.

I had wanted to bake something, but my oven is on a self imposed time out.  I've got a repairman coming again to try and track down the problem.  (For some reason the broiler element works but not the bottom element) So...  

Then when I went back to make my final choice, she'd posted a recipe for Pork Kebabs. 

Yes I know I've had all month to make and find a recipe, but I like to wait to the last minute, it keeps life interesting.
Besides which, sometimes you miss the best stuff.  Like this. 

And Souvlaki has always been a big favorite of mine anyway.  In years past I used to go to a restaurant called Jim's and I always ordered their marinated pork for breakfast.  Sometimes that's all I ate, the egg on the side was incidental.  

TMI?

But for now, the memory of the breakfast at Jim's Restaurant stayed with me and I had this for breakfast alongside an egg, and some home fries and some lightly fried tomatoes.  
And it was so good.   

I did halve the recipe however, as I was the only one (apart from my dog) eating this.  She loved them as well, btw.  I do share, sometimes.

I mentioned earlier that I love appetizers, and I'm thinking this would be a great recipe to make for the next Tapas.

Gotta think ahead.

Recipe: Pork Kebabs

Marinade:
2 cups red wine, I used Merlot
2 tsp. dried Oregano or 
1-2 tsp. fresh Oregano, chopped  (I raided my Oregano plant and just did a rough chop on the leaves)
2 tsp. Ground Cumin
2 tsp. Kosher salt, more to taste (I used a half tsp. of salt)
1 tsp. Dried Thyme  
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 cloves garlic, smashed up a little and rough chopped
1 teaspoon EVOO  (extra virgin olive oil)

2 lb. Pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2" cubes  (I used some loin chops I had in the freezer)  

Mix the marinade up and pour over the pork.

  Place in a plastic bag or small container and put in the refrigerator at least two hours or overnight.

   Turn the broiler on in the oven, then take the pork out of the marinade and let them drip for a second.

Place in a well greased rimmed baking pan, dribble the teaspoon of EVOO over top and broil til just browned a little, about 5 minutes, turn over, then broil the other side for about 6-8 minutes or until the meat is browned and cooked through.  I also tried frying some of the meat, but liked it done under the broiler better.

  So I dumped the ones from the frying pan into the other pan and finished them off that way. 

Serve with some Home Fries, an egg (cooked how you like it) and some broiled tomato slices.

If you're making this for dinner, here's the recipe for the Yoghurt sauce or Tzatziki that you can serve with the meat. 

1 cucumber (12 oz)
1 1/2 cups yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
2 Tbsp. EVOO
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Kosher salt, to taste  
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup parsley, roughly chopped
Pita Breads, warmed


My breakfast was fantastic.

 

 

I was a little skeptic about this recipe, I've always marinated my pork in a mixture of lemon juice and garlic with a little EVOO.  But the red wine was great and the flavours were lovely.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Parmesan Cake for SRC

I admit it, I've been a lurker.
Yup, I've been at this blog before, Bewitching Kitchen just looking...

And then I got it as my assigned blog this month for the Secret Recipe Club.
I was happy.  There are so many recipes here I want to try.

Sally makes the most incredible range of food.  From Mexican Pizza to Brazilian specialties, I was in a quandary, big time, but I managed to find the 'one' recipe to make and feature.

Although if I ever find Lamb Shanks at an affordable price I'm so going to make her Lamb Shanks en Papillote with the Cauliflower-Celeriac puree. 
Of course with 90 degree + temps around here, it wouldn't have been a good choice even if I managed to find some.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I finally settled on her Sophie Grigson's Parmesan Cake.

Why?
Well, I got some totally awesome fresh, organic tomatoes at the Farmer's Market, and I thought the combo would be brilliant. 
OK, so her picture decided me. sigh.
But it made for an incredible dinner alongside some fresh corn, those tomatoes and a grilled chicken breast.

I will be trying her Gougeres, along with the Feijoada alongside a nice glass of Caipirinhas.
I think I need to have a dinner party so I have an excuse to make all these.   

 Without further ado, and no drum rolls either, here's the Parmesan Cake. 

Recipe:  Parmesan Cake  375 deg.  25-30 minutes

1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. salt (opt. if using salted butter)
2 oz.  Grated Parmesan (pay the money and get the good one as in a chunk of Parmesan and grate it yourself.)
1/4 cup Semolina Flour
grated black pepper
6 Tbsp. melted, unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I actually used salted butter so I omitted the salt)
3 lg. eggs, separated. 
3/4 cup milk

Sift the dry ingredients together and then add the grated cheese. Beat the egg whites together until stiff and set aside.

  Whisk the egg yolks, milk and melted butter together.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the milk and egg yolk mixture, mix well.

Then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Spoon  into a greased 8 inch round pan (or in my case, dump)  You can actually see the egg whites here, if you squint a little.  I also swirled about a teaspoon of melted butter into the pan after greasing it.  It was a good thing. 

and bake in a  375 deg. oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch.
Cut into wedges and serve warm or cold.

I also decided to see how some strawberry jam would go on this, and I have to report, it went very well.
I just couldn't resist, it was fresh out of the oven and smelled heavenly.  Really, heavenly and oh boy did it hit my taste-buds right.  A hint of salted butter from the butter I'd greased the pan with alongside the saltiness of the cheese and the strawberry jam.  A bit of a surprising combo, but one I repeated, but don't tell anyone, K?

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.   I can see serving this at one of our Tapas Nights, and I bet it would go so good with a nice home made tomato soup or even the one in the can.   Maybe even a nice bowl of chili? 

An InLinkz Link-up